The radiation emitted by this green jewel was very peculiar, as if it were alive, actively combining with everything around it and changing its form.
This applied to both inanimate objects and living beings.
Chen Xu placed the jewel on the battlements of the Overlord's Castle. Once the cycle of radiation release began, the jewel emitted a faint green glow, staining the battlements below a deep green.
Plant sprouts even grew from the cracks in the bricks, clawing and stretching in all directions as if exploring the world.
However, these eerie sprouts came and went just as quickly. As soon as the radiation stopped, the jewel dimmed, and the sprouts shriveled and withered away. The green on the bricks faded instantly, returning the castle to its original appearance.
With a slight shift in thought, Chen Xu’s powerful mental strength enveloped the green jewel, applying a gentle pressure.
Crack!
The outer shell of the green jewel was crushed, and the seal vanished with it, releasing bursts of blinding green light.
This radiation was incredibly domineering. In an instant, it turned the entire viewing platform—the place where Chen Xu usually reviewed his undead army—into a vibrant emerald green.
Thick plant vines burst from the brickwork, twisting and waving in the air like roaming dragons.
This aggressive behavior triggered a counter-response from the Overlord's Castle. A wave of necrotic aura surged from the castle's core, gradually spreading toward the viewing platform.
The gray-white necrotic aura began to hunt down the green energy. The two forces clashed back and forth, but the green was soon defeated and driven out completely.
Chen Xu extended two fingers and picked up the jewel, now stripped of its shell and seal. But the moment his fingers touched it, the eerie green light vanished and the jewel dimmed.
“Oh, it has sensory capabilities too?”
Chen Xu’s interest was piqued. In his perception, the jewel had no soul; it was an absolute inanimate object.
Yet it could react to his touch, retracting its radiation as if it were startled.
Such a peculiar object triggered Chen Xu’s desire for research, wanting to trace its origins.
Unfortunately, the golden dragons had already been sent to the West. Many had even climbed out of the snow in Sindragosa’s kingdom to join the bone dragon army, making it impossible to obtain the origin of this mysterious jewel through a soul search.
However, besides soul searching, Chen Xu had other methods.
He injected a strand of Power of Creation into the jewel, instantly saturating it.
Next, Chen Xu carefully controlled the Power of Creation to awaken the jewel in an unprecedented way.
“Wake up!”
Chen Xu’s voice was like a muffled thunder at the dawn of creation, startling all sleeping life into consciousness.
“Ugh...”
A faint soul-voice emerged from the green jewel in Chen Xu’s hand. He carefully controlled his mental strength to browse the newly born soul.
A moment later, Chen Xu tapped his index finger, shattering the newly born soul. He then channeled the surrounding necrotic aura to reseal the jewel.
By sifting through the memories in that soul, Chen Xu had learned the jewel’s origin.
It came from the Emerald Realm, a world dominated by plants. Although it wasn't a special dungeon, it was quite similar to one.
He had heard that the Emerald Realm once attempted to become a special dungeon, but for some reason, there was no further news.
According to insiders, a ray of holy light had once descended upon the Emerald Realm. After that, the world lost its desire to pursue the status of a special dungeon, though its rulers remained a collection of plants.
The jewel in Chen Xu’s hand was the fruit of a special plant from the Emerald Realm. Its method of reproduction was through this strange radiation, which assimilated surrounding things into offspring to propagate its kind.
This unique method broadened Chen Xu’s horizons. Reproducing through radiation was a testament to the infinite wonders of the myriad worlds.
Unfortunately, Chen Xu didn't have much research on plants, so the seed wasn't of much use to him. However, this novel method of radiation-based reproduction gave him significant inspiration, sparking new ideas.
After putting away the plant seed, Chen Xu pulled out a box and retrieved the Defilement-Devouring Bug that Alifa had gifted him.
The Defilement-Devouring Bug fed on all kinds of filth and negative energy in the world. These energies would undergo various reactions in the bug’s abdomen, producing even worse energy. Finally, it would release all that energy through a world-shaking explosion.
Originally, Chen Xu wanted to combine the Defilement-Devouring Bug with ghouls to create a new type of insectoid race that could devour enemy flesh to strengthen themselves.
But now, the strange fruit from the Emerald Realm had provided him with a new idea.
Due to its nature, the Defilement-Devouring Bug was prone to exploding once it was full of energy. But if he modified it to guide the internal energy, he could release it slowly as radiation.
After all, both explosions and radiation were ways of releasing energy. While the former was violent, Chen Xu already had the Stygian Doll as a dedicated self-destruct unit. Adding another would only be a minor improvement.
What the undead army lacked now was a stable back-line long-range unit.
The original long-range damage dealers, the Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Mages, had all been transformed into skeleton heroes. While their numbers hadn't changed, Chen Xu preferred to let the skeleton heroes act freely due to their unique traits.
Therefore, a completely new back-line damage unit was necessary.
“If it consumes negative energy, can curses be integrated into it as well?”
Chen Xu looked at the ugly bug in his hand as another new idea surfaced in his mind.
Power of Creation flowed through Chen Xu’s hand into the Defilement-Devouring Bug. Unlike other creatures, the Power of Creation actually accumulated inside the bug, swelling its abdomen. In a short while, the bug’s size increased a hundredfold, and it still hadn't reached its limit.
“The Power of Creation is actually being identified as a type of negative energy by the Defilement-Devouring Bug?”
Chen Xu rubbed his chin. A spatial gate opened, and he vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, he was holding a handful of light wing fragments from an angel.
He extracted the holy light contained within the feathers and fed it to the bug. Seeing that the holy light was also absorbed and churned together with the Power of Creation in its gut, he was surprised.
“Defilement-Devouring? This is an Energy-Devouring Bug!”
Chen Xu tested several other types of energy and found that all of them could be consumed by the bug.
As expected, records could not be fully trusted. There was only a one-word difference between defilement and energy, but their value was worlds apart.
Since it devoured energy rather than just defilement, this bug would not only possess terrifying lethality but also absurd defensive capabilities. Devouring energy meant it could be immune to almost any attack other than physical ones.
After absorption, it could even counterattack, using the enemy's own power against them.
With this, Chen Xu made his decision. He pointed his finger, and a suit of black armor appeared out of thin air—the Nether Armaments he had obtained long ago.
Power of Creation spread from the Energy-Devouring Bug to the Nether Armaments, establishing a link between the two.
“Create!”
Rate on N.U.
