Chapter 78: Sublimation Cycle

Chapter 78: Sublimation Cycle "Mission accomplished like a charm!" Before heading out, Carlos didn’t forget to use Skeleton Revival one more time, summoning another ordinary skeleton soldier. "Time to head home!" He stored all the skeletons and took off toward the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar... On the way, efficiency-minded Carlos first deployed 4 Purple Thornblade Shield Guards and the brand-new ordinary skeleton soldier in that low-spirituality monster pack. He let them farm monsters while keeping the ordinary skeleton soldier safe so it could soak up death energy. Then, he made a loop around the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar and started deploying the rest of the Purple Thornblade Shield Guards, specifically going after monster groups with beefier spirituality. Around the 13-17 spirituality range. With the Purple Thornblade Shield Guards’ fighting power, they could easily and efficiently farm monsters for him. Just to be on the safe side, Carlos ordered that when the Purple Thornblade Shield Guards’ health dropped to half, they should holler at him through the soul link to bring them back for some R&R. After getting all that squared away, Carlos finally made it back to the top of the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar. He looked up at the sun that had already climbed high and muttered after pulling an all-nighter: "Sleep? What sleep? First, let’s power up that ordinary skeleton soldier and all the Redrose Sword Guards!" He splashed some water on his face, knocked back a few swigs of alchemical pick-me-up potion, and his energy bounced right back! First, he drew a first sublimation magic circle, pulled out the Redrose Clan Sword, had the skeleton soldier step in, and fired up the magic circle... A blinding pillar of light shot up, and the eleventh Redrose Sword Guard was born! Then, he immediately drew a second sublimation magic circle. "What a pain! Such a royal pain!" Carlos bit back his irritation and finally got the thing finished. He pulled out 1 piece of Fearless Shield Equipment, had Redrose Sword Guard #1 step in, and the second sublimation ceremony kicked off... The fierce gray-white flames died down, and the first Redrose Shield Guard came to life! A 10-foot-tall powerhouse bone body! Incredible sharp presence! The lion-tiger beast head on the shield face had an absolutely commanding aura! The Redrose greatsword in its bone hand radiated bone-chilling coldness! [Redrose Shield Guard] [Health: 200 (Constitution x50)] [Strength: 18] [Constitution: 4] [Speed: 7] [Skills: Redrose·Variant, Redrose Shield Tactics (1+3) Level] "Same total of 29 attribute points!" Having the Purple Thornblade Shield Guards as a reference point, Carlos stayed pretty cool this time around. "Speed is still 7 points. That’s not too shabby." After checking the stats, the real showstopper was the info about [Redrose·Variant]. [Redrose·Variant: A powerhouse talent born from the fusion of the Redrose Clan Sword and the Ersbah First Legion Fearless Shield Equipment (1) Redrose Shield Tactics level +3 (2) When using Redrose Shield Tactics, damage +10%, defense +10% (3) Bond: Fearless Redrose! Redrose Shield Guards sync up during battle. Each additional one pumps up 1 point of Strength and 1 point of Speed, and grants immunity to nasty effects. (Each point of Constitution can last 10 minutes)] "12 working together - Strength will hit an incredible 30, Speed will reach a mind-blowing 19 points!" The only catch was that with 4 Constitution points, it could only last 40 minutes. However, with future power-ups, Constitution would climb again. "Step aside, next up!" After checking the stats, Carlos ordered Redrose Shield Guard #1 to move it immediately and had Redrose Sword Guard #2 come over to start the sublimation... Soon, gray-white flames rose again on the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar, then faded away... The second Redrose Shield Guard was born! On the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar, gray-white flames kept rising, surging, and fading in a never-ending cycle... Time rolled by, the sun climbed to its peak, then slowly started its descent. By evening, the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar finally settled down! Carlos was feeling fantastic. In front of him, the Redrose Shield Guards gripped their massive shields tight in their left hands and held their greatswords straight up in their right hands. They lined up neat as pins in formation, their sharp aura reaching for the sky, their presence downright intimidating, respectfully waiting for Carlos’s orders. However, at the end of the line, there was one ’short’ Redrose Sword Guard that stuck out like a sore thumb. Carlos pretended not to notice that one and declared in a booming voice: "Shield Guards! Now, use your incredible strength to go out and raise hell! Bring a feast of souls to your master, Carlos Valois!" "ROAR!" The Redrose Shield Guards’ soul fire flickered with excitement. They raised their greatswords high, and the terrifying undead aura inside them exploded outward. The temperature around the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar immediately nose-dived, becoming ice-cold. "Move out!" Carlos waved his hand, stored all the skeletons, spread his crimson-gold wing bones, and swooped down... He first made a circuit around the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar and deployed the 10 brand-new Redrose Shield Guards among monster groups with high spirituality to quickly butcher monsters for him. Then he flew to the spot where four Purple Thornblade Shield Guards were helping 1 ordinary skeleton soldier farm. "Well, well? Death energy’s all stocked up." This ordinary skeleton soldier’s soul fire had gotten really thick, and its bones had grown quite a bit. Carlos touched down in the circle formed by the four Purple Thornblade Shield Guards and stored this ordinary skeleton soldier. Then he summoned the newly born Redrose Sword Guard. "Keep it safe while you’re killing. You can head toward other monster groups!" Protecting the Redrose Sword Guard while killing meant they didn’t need to play it overly safe - they could take on monster groups with higher spirituality. "Creak!" After getting all that handled, his wings flapped, and Carlos headed back to the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar... Soon, the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar shot up another thick pillar of light, and the twelfth Redrose Sword Guard came to life! "Keep the deployment rolling!" Carlos immediately swooped down again, deploying the newly born Redrose Sword Guard with the four Purple Thornblade Shield Guards, having them protect the two Redrose Sword Guards while they did their killing... After wrapping up the deployment, Carlos flew back to the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar, folded his crimson-gold wing bones, and collapsed into the reclining chair. During the sublimation process, his mind had to stay wound tight and completely focused. Those mysterious whispers ate up a ton of mental energy. The moment he relaxed, bone-deep fatigue hit him from every corner of his body, and Carlos felt a wave of sleepiness crash over his brain. "Finally... finally time to take a breather!" Since there weren’t any powerful flying monsters in the Desolate Desert, Carlos activated several alarm protection magic devices, downed several nutrition potions, and drifted off peacefully... Night fell, and the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar was quiet, with only barely audible breathing sounds. But on the dune clusters surrounding the Flat-Top Mushroom Stone Pillar like spokes on a wheel, the wild roars of monsters, the sounds of greatswords slicing through flesh and chopping off limbs, and the hissing sounds of blood splattering could be heard non-stop... Bloodthirsty and brutal monster packs charged forward one after another, mobbing a 10-foot-tall skeleton shield guard. The skeleton shield guard stood rock-solid among the monster crowd, swinging its greatsword and freely slaughtering the monsters that rushed at it. On the sand, the monsters’ chopped-off limbs carpeted the ground, and nasty-smelling blood kept spraying everywhere... The same scene played out over and over on different patches of sand nearby. If nothing went sideways, this situation would keep going until their master woke up...