31 Chapter31-The Third Hero
The female knight, exuding utmost reverence, knelt on one knee and pledged her loyalty.
She said, "Respected lord, from this moment forth, I shall become your sword."
Jason quickly helped the new hero to her feet, "No need for that, let's fight side by side instead."
He then proceeded to check the new hero's stats...
[Tiffany]
[Level: 10]
[Quality: A-grade]
[HP: 8000]
[Attack Power: 500]
[Defense: 400]
[Magic Resistance: 400]
[Speed: 120]
[Skill: [Cavalry Enhancement]: When leading cavalry-type units, increases output by 20% and speed by 20%.]
By the standards of Jason's former life, she was actually quite strong.
However, he was somewhat spoiled by the other two heroes under his command, feeling that she was... somewhat average.
Nevertheless, since Tiffany could strengthen cavalry, Jason planned to entrust her with command of the considerable number of Death Knights at his disposal.
Subsequently, Jason gathered his three heroes together for introductions, helping them to become acquainted with each other.
Carolina, being the strongest among them, did not display any arrogance; instead, she welcomed the other two new "employees" with open arms, instantly creating a harmonious atmosphere.
As a knight, Tiffany, and Loreta, a scholar, didn't have much in common, but under the dragon girl's high emotional intelligence, they found much to enjoy in their conversation.
For a while, the atmosphere was incredibly harmonious.
Seeing this, Jason felt greatly comforted and simultaneously, he keenly caught onto something: "Could this be the effect of loyalty being locked in after infusing with Undead Essence?"
In his past life's memories, Carolina, being of draconic lineage, had some of her behaviors exposed to the outside world—the dragon girl was extremely proud, even disdainful towards other subordinates of the player she served.
But now, under his command, she was nothing like that.
This could only be explained by the excellent effect of the Undead Essence infusion…
Jason pondered to himself.
At the same time, he couldn't help but glance at the two new heroes who had joined his family, thinking that infusing them with Undead Essence should be moved up the agenda!
It wasn't just Jason being ambitious—even if the quality of the heroes improved, it wasn't urgent since the various attribute enhancements needed to be leveled up to become noticeable.
His main concern was for the harmony of the team!
...
After the three heroes became acquainted with each other, Jason thought it over.
Carolina would continue to divide her troops for exploration, while he would take the two new heroes with him.
He had discussed with the dragon girl in bed, knowing that she decided to throw in her lot with Jason because he could enable units to break through their tiers.
In short, Jason was about to seriously show off to improve his standing with the two new heroes beside him.
First off, was a bronze-tier dungeon in Rock Gorge.
Jason led the army all the way there, and the two new heroes were already immensely surprised along the way.
My goodness!
How is our master able to command so many soldiers?
Wait a minute...
He can actually allow us to command so many soldiers as well, how strong!
Too strong!
Why does our master seem to have a divine eye during our explorations outdoors, nothing escapes his sight?
It's as if he has been here before!
Meanwhile, Loreta, the scholar riding on Tiffany's steed, sensing the energy fluctuations around, couldn't help but exclaim, "Master, are you harvesting souls from the surroundings?"
"According to my studies in theology, this should be an authority exclusive to gods of death or eternal slumber. How did you manage to do it?"
Her expression was one of disbelief.
But Jason just smiled, playing the part of the silent expert.
You're asking me?
Who should I ask?
Though I have memories of my past life for over twenty years, what do I know about gods and authorities?
This mysterious demeanor instantly made Loreta look at her master with a spark of admiration in her eyes: "It seems my luck is incredibly good, to have met such a worthy lord to follow."
"I will dedicate my power to you," she reflected.
Tiffany, sharing the ride with Loreta, though confused and not quite understanding the high-level topics like Soul Harvest, followed the knightly spirit of inherent loyalty and quickly added, "Me too."
...
The gains from Rock Gorge were not too much.
After Jason fought his way through, accumulating a soul coin, they arrived in front of a special structure— a churning, black, peculiar mass.
"Is this a rift to the Dark Realm?"
Loreta, the scholar with the broadest knowledge, asked, "Master, are you planning to recruit creatures from the Dark Realm through it? I can help."
What she meant was utilizing her passive skill to help train the soldiers.
"Hmm," Jason nodded slightly.
Near the rift, there were quite a few special monsters, [Shadow Mimicry (5-tier)], with a total number likely in the thousands.
This was the most challenging area in the Rock Gorge, a map not considered too advanced.
Jason remembered these special monsters from his past life; some had been recruited before, with the ability to mimic the appearance of any enemy they saw, including their abilities...
Of course, if the opponent was above tier 5, they could only mimic to a certain extent.
Jason continued summoning soldiers, blocking them with Dragonsepulcher Sentinels.
Then, he thought of a clever maneuver—he decided to test his [Annihilation] ability after the class change.
He used [Shadow Realm Transit] to appear right in the middle of the [Shadow Mimicry] monsters.
Instantly, the entire field of monsters roared furiously, and upon noticing Jason, they shifted their forms.
However...
"AAAAHHH!!!" The wild monsters, having mimicked Jason's shadow form, screamed in agony.
Their bodies seemed to collapse, fluctuating unstably!
"Huh?"
"What happened?" Jason was confused, not understanding at all.
He felt that his rapid progress brought troubles of its own; sometimes he really didn't know why things turned out so absurdly...
He hadn't encountered such a situation in his past life of over twenty years.
Fortunately, the scholar lady in the rear reacted quickly, speaking in a very certain tone, "This is divine retribution!"
"The price of offending the gods."
"According to the records left by our True Knowledge Society from the era of the gods, there is a high similarity between the painful appearances of these monsters now and those described in the records!"
Loreta explained, adding, "Indeed, master, your power to harvest souls is the Authority of the gods!"
The scholar lady was very excited.
She became even more convinced that her master was no ordinary being, perhaps even a "new god" born in the era following the fall of the old gods!
Jason, observing her expression, could almost see the loyalty points increasing, loyalty +1, loyalty +1...
Only the knight Tiffany seemed like an outsider, slightly confused, managing only to remark, "Master's power is so strong, even these special creatures that live by mimicry can't imitate it…"
Meanwhile, Jason, looking around at the [Shadow Mimicry] creatures that had almost all perished without him having to lift a finger, and then at the two new heroes who were practically founding a fan club in his honor, was in an exceptionally good mood.
"It looks like infusing them with Undead Essence shouldn't be too difficult."
"And besides her abilities, Loreta's extensive knowledge could provide me with a lot of valuable information," Jason couldn't help thinking.
With the nearby monsters cleared, Jason collected a bunch of special materials that had dropped and approached the rift to the Dark Realm, reaching out to touch it.
Sure enough, a system prompt appeared— [Detected a Dark Realm rift, yes/no to train special unit: Shadow Mimicker (4-tier), trainable quantity: 300/300]
A low-level map like Rock Gorge naturally couldn't provide training permissions for 5-tier Shadow Mimicry, but for this special unit's lower-tier unit instead.
Jason did not hesitate to pay the training materials needed, which were just the items dropped by the group of Shadow Mimicry.
In addition, each Shadow Mimicker required 300 gold coins.
After paying ninety thousand gold coins and various materials, Jason then asked his new hero, Loreta, to handle the operation.
"No problem, master, you can leave first. I'll come and find you after I finish training the soldiers," the scholar lady said.
Loreta was feeling grateful at the moment, seeing her master as a being of great potential, and she eagerly took this opportunity to prove herself.
