Morning sunlight filtered through the cracks between the stones. William opened his eyes, feeling his demon king's body fully recovered. There was no trace of fatigue from last night's battle.
The stone platform that had been filled with the lamias' limp bodies last night was now clean without a trace. Only a faint sweet aroma still lingered in the air, reminding him of the sensation of smooth scales and the constriction of powerful snake tails.
Serena and the others he'd sent out should have been hunting by now. Whether his theory about his subordinates gaining Sovereignty Points for him through killing enemies depended on this wave.
"I hope I guessed correctly."
Taking a deep breath, William shifted his awareness to his personal status and focused on the Sovereignty Points counter.
Before William had forty points remaining, now, after 2 days, daily claim 100 sovereign points, the Sovereignty Points have 247 points! And this number didn't stop; it continued to increase. Seeing this scene, William felt great joy in his heart. His theory had proven correct; his followers could earn him Sovereignty Points by hunting and killing enemies.
This way, he didn't need to worry about insufficient Sovereignty Points in the future. He could even grow stronger smoothly alongside the fox tribe.
William didn't use these two hundred-plus Sovereignty Points immediately. He wanted to see how many points Serena and the others could provide, and once the count truly stopped growing, he would use all these points at once for Legacy Inheritance.
At the same time, part of his reason for coming to the river was that William wanted to try letting his blood essence flow into the downstream river along with the water. If he could harvest a few more lamia this way, his combat effectiveness would significantly increase. After upgrading the fox girls' equipment, the speed of harvesting Sovereignty Points in the future would be faster than now.
After a long wait of another hour, the points on William's panel finally settled at four hundred.
No more, no less. Next, he just needed to wait for Serena and the others to return. Before that, William planned to spend all four hundred points on Legacy Inheritance.
"Great Sage, I want to use Legacy Inheritance."
«Acknowledged. Initiating Legacy Inheritance Protocol.»
«Cost: 100 SP per attempt. Current balance: 400 SP. Proceeding with four inheritance attempts.»
«Accessing Demon King Database spanning 74 generations...»
With four successive resonant chimes, colored lights appeared before William, one pink, one green, one gray, one green.
Seeing the pink crystal before him, William's heart filled with excitement. Though not red or gold, he felt quite fortunate with his luck. He eagerly anticipated what good things this color tier would provide.
«Legacy Inheritance Complete.»
«Acquired items:»
- «Ring of Abyssal Oath [Pink Tier]»
- «Nether Spear Magic [Green Tier]»
- «Grenade x2 [Gray Tier]»
- «Devourer Seeds [Green Tier]»
However, William wasn't in a hurry to extract all these items. Instead, he checked their uses one by one, naturally skipping past the grenades. It's just a product from human countries in this magical world. Normal explosive power alone is not enough to fight creatures that have defense magic, healing magic, and object magic that can instantly throw away or detonate the grenade before it gets close.
First was the pink crystal item called the Ring of Abyssal Oath.
"Great Sage, explain the function of this Ring of Abyssal Oath."
«Answer: Ring of Abyssal Oath, Ancient artifact forged in the deepest abyss. When worn by the demon king, it creates a soul-binding pact with all subordinates. As long as the demon king remains alive, all sworn followers receive a 10% increase to all attributes through the abyssal connection. This blood-bound enhancement applies regardless of distance, transcending physical limitations. The oath cannot be broken except for the death of the demon king.»
"Oh? This is insanely good!"
After hearing Great Sage's explanation, William looked at the Ring of Abyssal Oath again with shining eyes. The dark obsidian band pulsed with faint crimson veins, like blood flowing through ancient stone.
Though a 10% increase in all attributes currently seemed modest, if this applied after everyone's attribute points increased substantially, the benefits would be terrifying. The abyssal nature of the ring meant the bond grew stronger with each sworn follower, a perfect artifact for a Demon King building his domain.
Overall, this Ring of Abyssal Oath was a treasure biased toward long-term investment. No wonder it fell into the pink bonus tier.
The only regret was that this dark pact couldn't amplify itself. If it could strengthen him, too, that would be wonderful.
Moving past the Ring of Abyssal Oath, William directed his attention to the second item, Nether Spear Magic.
The name carried an ominous weight, speaking of death and dark magic.
"Great Sage, explain Nether Spear."
«Answer: Nether Spear, it's an Ancient magic from the 42nd Demon King's arsenal. Condenses dark energy and life force into lance-shaped projectiles capable of piercing through steel armor and magical barriers. Caster channels dark elemental through staff, wand, or bare hands to manifest spears of solidified death energy. Masters can rapid-fire multiple spears. Knowledge can be imparted to others through a blood teaching ritual.»
William's eyes gleamed with interest. This wasn't just a simple attack spell, it was demonic magic specifically designed for demon kings and their armies. The fact that he could teach it to his subordinates through a "blood teaching ritual" meant he could create an entire squadron of Nether Spear users.
"Much better than I expected," William murmured. "A proper demon king's magic that can pierce defenses. This will significantly upgrade our combat capability."
Finally, William directed his gaze to the last item, Devourer Seeds.
"Great Sage, tell me about this one. Why do these seeds have green rank categories the same as nether spear magic?"
Though William spoke casually, Great Sage's answer remained cold and precise.
«Answer: Devourer Seeds, Carnivorous plant seeds from Abyss Realm flora archives. After planting and blood-binding to the master, it grows into an enormous purple-scaled plant creature with a gaping maw. Born with second-tier strength, possesses a retractable root system allowing limited underground mobility. Attacks by lunging forward to devour enemies whole, consuming flesh, bone, and equipment entirely. Growth potential is unlimited, size and strength increase exponentially with each consumed victim.
Warning: Requires substantial feeding. Historical record shows the largest specimen reached 15 meters, fourth-tier strength after consuming approximately ten thousand monsters.»
After reading Great Sage's explanation about the devourer seeds, William's mind raced with possibilities.
This man-eating plant had unlimited growth potential through devouring prey, not just corpses, but living enemies it could ambush and consume enemies whole body. The fact that it could move underground via roots made it perfect for defensive ambushes around the tribe's perimeter.
However, since it required many victims to reach an impressive size, it would take time to cultivate properly.
"After planting several around the tribe, we won't need to worry about harassment from those first and second-tier magical beasts. The plants will consume intruders automatically and grow stronger in the process." William's tactical mind was already planning placement locations. "I wonder how fast they can lunge and whether they can differentiate between friend and foe after blood-binding."
After washing the filth from his body, William stood and returned to shore, heading back to the cave.