civilwarnovels Chapter 303: Shared Kills?
Chapter 303: Shared Kills?
On the dragon's back, the group conversed.Aria was informing Shadow about what had happened to the team after she left.
Shadow listened quietly the entire time.
Meanwhile, Gauss began attempting to teach the Drake Hephaestus about the Draconic Language.
If one were to find the human most suited to be Hephaestus's Draconic Language teacher in this world, or even expand the search to all species, Gauss was likely the most suitable candidate right now.
Even if a true dragon came, it couldn't compete with him.
The reason for this confidence was, first, his own Draconic Language proficiency wasn't low, having already reached the intermediate level, and it was visibly apparent he would become a Draconic Language Master in the future.
Second, he also possessed Dragon Bloodline within him, making the Drake instinctively feel close to him.
Third, and most crucially, with the help of the white egg, there existed a subtle telepathic connection between him and Hephaestus.
As long as he made some form of physical contact with it, it could roughly understand the meaning he conveyed.
So, even if Hephaestus couldn't understand the Draconic Language, he could completely use this telepathic connection to simultaneously convey the same meaning. As long as they kept repeating, even with its blockhead, it should be able to grasp some Draconic Language knowledge, right?
As for whether it could truly cast spells after mastering some Draconic Language, that was the next step of the plan.
Gauss felt he had raised Hephaestus quite well;both its mind and body had begun developing during this period.
As long as both he and Hephaestus wanted to strive towards becoming stronger, there was hope for it to progress from the Drake stage towards becoming a true Dragon.
While communicating with Aria, Shadow watched Gauss intently "gibbering" with Hephaestus, unable to resist feeling somewhat nostalgic.
"By the way, Shadow. Later, could you demonstrate the changes in your abilities after your rank-up for us?"
As if sensing Shadow's gaze on him, Gauss spoke without turning his head.
"Okay."
Shadow nodded.
Her gains from this breakthrough were truly substantial.
"Whoosh—"
Because it was receiving tutoring from Gauss, the Drake Hephaestus wasn't flying at maximum speed.
By the time it reached the airspace above the destination, it slowed its wingbeats and gradually descended.
The moment Hephaestus's feet touched the ground, it let out a long sigh.
Its spirit seemed somewhat listless, shaking its large head repeatedly, looking dizzy and confused.
Before it could relax further, Gauss's voice came from above its head.
"After the battle ends, we continue."
"Roar~~"
Hephaestus went completely limp.
Learning this knowledge was far more exhausting for it than fighting and killing.
The kind of exhaustion that affected both body and mind.
Its head wasn't particularly smart to begin with, and the Draconic Language was inherently profound knowledge, placing a tremendous burden on the brain.
Think about it—even someone as intelligent as Gauss, when first receiving Elementary Draconic Language knowledge, similarly felt his brain nearly short-circuit, right?
Although the amount of knowledge Gauss received back then couldn't be compared to now, the gap in mental capacity between him and Hephaestus was also worlds apart.
Seeing its dejected appearance, Gauss patted its head again and spoke earnestly.
"Students who struggle need to work harder, understand? You've already fallen behind at the starting line, Hephaestus."
"Roar~~"
Gauss.jpg, hoping his child would become a dragon.
......
"It really stinks!"
"Cough, cough."
The area near where the Goblin-like creatures lived indeed didn't smell pleasant.
When Gauss and the others arrived at the mountain range where the Goblin-like creature tribe was located, they quickly detected a persistent foul odor drifting in the air.
"These lizard bastards..."
Gauss looked at Shadow.
Shadow nodded.
The air around her suddenly rippled.
In an instant almost too fast for Gauss's eyes to follow, Shadow's body flickered, and two other humanoid dark figures split from her sides,
standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
"This is..."
"A kind of shadow clone."
"They can also perform tasks like reconnaissance and combat."
"I can currently only split into two at most. When there's one, its combat power is stronger than when there are two."
!!!
So powerful?
Hearing her introduction, everyone present was somewhat astonished.
This was a complete qualitative transformation.
In the past, only her main body could transform into shadows.
But now it was equivalent to having two additional helpers.
Although it was unclear exactly what percentage of the main body's strength they possessed, even if it wasn't much, having them provide distraction on the side would create a completely different situation.
Moreover, Shadow's function was never frontal combat.
Her shadow ability already made her unique in reconnaissance, unaffected by terrain, with stealth characteristics maxed out, and fast movement speed...
Now all these reconnaissance advantages were multiplied by three.
At Shadow's command.
The shadows beside her quickly merged into the ground, then fled into the distance,
disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
So fast...
"Roughly what percentage of your strength do they possess?" Gauss asked curiously.
"Well..." Shadow touched her chin, falling into thought.
This question clearly stumped her a bit.
Strength was difficult to describe with numerical values.
"30-60%? They're a bit more fragile when split into two." She said uncertainly. "When shattered, they'll return along the path back to my body."
In the end, she could only give a relatively vague range.
She had almost come straight to Gauss right after finishing her seclusion. Apart from practicing her abilities a bit along the way, she hadn't conducted detailed tests herself.
"Not bad, already quite impressive." Gauss nodded.
Somewhat similar to his clay magic, but with higher strength and greater flexibility.
Of course, clay magic was only a 2nd-circle skill, while her shadow ability was intricately connected to her entire being.
Comparing clay magic to the shadow ability was actually somewhat unfair.
Over 90% of Shadow's strength was concentrated in abilities related to shadows.
Gauss and the others waited outside the mountain range for a moment longer.
Soon, two shadows returned from the distance and merged into Shadow's feet.
"Found the target tribe."
Shadow said steadily.
"Then let's set off."
While moving through the cave, Shadow informed Gauss and the others of the intelligence gathered using her abilities.
Including the number of Goblin-like creatures, their main weapons, how many Elite Goblin-like creatures, tunnel environment, etc...
What was particularly special was that this group of Goblin-like creatures also enslaved a small-scale Goblin tribe.
This situation didn't occur frequently.
Both Goblin-like creatures and Goblins were common low-level humanoid creatures, their relationship more like competitors and mutually hostile neighbors.
On one hand, their individual strengths were similar, their ecological niches overlapped, they both preferred living in caves, ruins, forests, etc., and competed for similar food and treasures.
Only under some powerful external force, such as a strong leader like a Dragon, Ogre chieftain, etc., or when one side had overwhelming numerical superiority, might they possibly capture some individuals from the opposing tribe after crushing them, forcing them to perform the most dangerous labor.
Thinking that this Goblin-like creature tribe had likely cleared out another Goblin tribe of considerable numbers made Gauss feel a bit heartache.
If only they could live respectfully together in the cave, cooperating fully, then waiting for him to show up, how great would that be.
Truly regrettable.
As they advanced continuously through the tunnels.
The group methodically eliminated the sentries, both overt and covert, distributed within.
They soon arrived at the space deepest in the cave, a natural cavern.
This place was much smaller in scale compared to the Goblin-like creature nest Gauss encountered outside Gold-Silver Town not long ago, but it was still sufficient for them to operate.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
When Gauss and the others entered, some Goblin-like creatures were holding mining picks, clanging away at the rock walls, unsure if they were mining or expanding the cave.
"Gah?"
A Goblin-like creature's pick-wielding arm stopped mid-air, looking at the suddenly appearing group of humans, seeming somewhat slow to react.
But the next moment, before it could show ferocity.
A sword energy floated to its neck.
"Ghk!"
Its sound caught in its throat.
However, although it didn't raise the alarm, the Goblin-like creature beside it fulfilled its dying wish.
Like a spark thrown into an oil barrel, the entire Goblin-like creature nest was "stirred" with a "whoosh".
To demonstrate her strength changes to Gauss and the others, Shadow proactively stepped forward, splitting into two shadows.
The shadows stood beside her like two guards.
Suddenly.
The shadows moved.
They condensed two long spears in their hands.
Then thrust attacks towards the Goblin-like creatures not far away.
"!!!"
The spearheads extended rapidly, finally piercing through the Goblin-like creatures' necks, nailing them to the rock wall.
Two blood plums bloomed soundlessly on the rock wall.
Witnessing this scene, Gauss's pupils rapidly contracted!
As if he saw something unbelievable.
Not because he was particularly surprised by the shadows' killing ability—every being present could easily accomplish that.
Just..
He swallowed hard.
Two lines of text prominently floated past in his vision.
"Goblin-like creature killed *1"
Timing-wise, these two prompts appeared exactly at the moment the shadows killed the Goblin-like creatures.
Monsters killed by Shadow count as my kills?
Gauss didn't expect this change after Shadow broke through to level 6.
No..
There should also be a distance limitation.
Gauss recalled that when Shadow sent out two shadows for reconnaissance earlier, they also cleared away the few Goblin-like creatures blocking the path in the cave.
But, why?
Why did the monsters killed by Shadow after she returned count towards his kill count?
Her kills had never been counted before.
Although the Drake Hephaestus had achieved the shared kill count effect earlier than her, that was because the Drake seemed to have formed some contract relationship with him through the white egg.
What caused Shadow's change?
The shadow ability becoming stronger? Clearly not the reason.
How could the Adventurer's Manual calculation method change because of a teammate's ability strength?
But the Adventurer's Manual didn't seem to have explanations regarding this aspect, just like the shared kills with the Drake also had no explained reason;he could only speculate himself.
Or perhaps...
Some invisible existence like intimacy or trust level? Had Shadow's relationship with him broken through some boundary, causing her kills to be considered as his kills?
Gauss could only consider this possibility.
Under Gauss's astonished gaze, the two shadows continuously danced among the Goblin-like creature crowd, slaughtering them.
Besides the shadows transforming into weapons, they could also generate a "shadow ground spike" effect around them, erupting sharp shadow spears that pierced through the surrounding circle of Goblin-like creatures.
Seeing the fluctuating expression on his face, Shadow suddenly thought of something.
"Gauss, should I call them back?"
She suddenly remembered that Gauss apparently needed to kill monsters personally.
"No, no, no... it's fine as it is." Gauss shook his head.
Since he was here anyway, whether Shadow killed monsters or he killed them himself made little difference in the bestiary.
Of course, he wouldn't think about slacking off either;he would join the battle later too.
He needed combat to practice skills and combat techniques.
He was just thinking, if Shadow's kills could be shared with him, did that mean other teammates—Aria, Serlandul, Albenia—could do the same?
He might need to figure out why Shadow could do it, find the key mechanism.
If it were attributes like "favorability" or "trust," he believed even Albenia, who joined the team last, had considerable trust in him.
Hephaestus, Shadow...
He believed where there was one, there would be two;where there were two, there would be three.
After pondering briefly, Gauss summoned the Drake Hephaestus.
Hephaestus's appearance was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Many Goblin-like creatures stopped their actions, looking up dazedly at it.
As if seeing the white moonlight in their hearts.
"Boom!"
Under their shocked gazes, the Drake Hephaestus spewed blazing flames from its mouth, completely submerging them.
"Wah, wah, wah!!!"
The Goblin-like creatures lost their last shred of fighting will.
Especially the lower-tier Goblin-like creatures;their bloodline instinctively worshipped and feared such creatures.
After Hephaestus descended, the battlefield became completely one-sided.
Gauss's spellcasting speed was much faster than before.
This was the effect of Intermediate Draconic Language manifesting.
He was already sufficiently magically attuned, and now this attunement reached another level under the effect of Intermediate Draconic Language, reaching an inhuman degree.
Fast!
Spell after spell was continuously released.
Killing these monsters at the fastest speed was already Gauss's final mercy.
Amidst painful wails, the Goblin-like creature nest quickly fell silent.
Corpse after corpse of Goblin-like creatures lay fallen in the flames.
Even that enslaved small Goblin tribe was cleared away by Gauss.
"Congratulations! Upgraded to Intermediate Draconic Language (Elite)"
The number of Goblin-like creatures killed this time alone was sufficient for Intermediate Draconic Language to level up.
Gauss's Draconic Language also became more proficient.
He opened his mouth, feeling a strong desire to say something.
Of course, he also knew that Draconic Language couldn't be spoken casually.
It contained mystical power.
"Total monsters killed: 9214"
This Goblin-like creature nest, with Goblin-like creatures and Goblins together, contributed 284 kills.
Gauss let out a breath.
Every time he killed large numbers of monsters in a short period, he felt as if he was growing stronger.
As if invisible power was slowly integrating into his body.