Heroes' Prison

Chapter 639 - 614: Sand Thief King’s Dream

This ring is exquisitely crafted, entirely gold in tone, as if an item of the royal family. The whole ring takes the form of a dragon about to take flight, with the dragon being incredibly lifelike, its scales even visibly detailed. The dragon’s two claws reach downward, forming a curved arc, just like a ring. Once worn on the finger, the two claws seem to embrace the digit, giving the impression of a tiny golden dragon coiled on the finger.

Yet the most extraordinary feature has to be the golden dragon’s wings, which are not static but continuously flapping as if constantly in flight! With each flap of the ring’s wings, two golden trails are drawn, exuding faint golden aura, making it look like a living creature!

Just by its appearance alone, this ring vastly surpasses common equipment, at least of legendary quality, or even more exquisite than some legendary gear!

Filled with anticipation, Huang Yi checked the attributes of the ring.

[The Sand Thief King’s Dream] (Epic, temporarily demoted to Legendary, Jewelry - Ring)

Magic Defense: 350

1% chance to inflict a Nightmare state on an enemy for 3 seconds, causing the following adverse conditions

2% chance to Immobilize an enemy for 3 seconds, during which they cannot move

3% chance to induce a Silence state on an enemy for 3 seconds, during which they cannot use any skills

4% chance to inflict a Slowing state on an enemy, reducing their movement and attack speed by 50% for 3 seconds

5% chance to inflict a Blinding state on an enemy for 3 seconds, causing them to lose all vision

6% chance to inflict a Bleeding state on an enemy, causing them to lose health equal to 5% of your maximum Health Points over 3 seconds

Attached Skill:

[Chance Increase]: Upon use, increases the chance of all attached attributes by 5 times for 10 seconds. Each use consumes 5% of Life, with a cooldown time of 30 minutes.

Durability: 2574/3000

Required Level: increases with Level, currently level 145

Equipment Score: 1450

Item Description: "Dreams are like oases in the desert - after persisting for a long time, they turn out to be but a mirage." — In his youth, the Sand Thief King dreamed of becoming a hero, having his epic story sung by the peoples of the desert. He led his people to establish a prosperous and extensive Desert Empire, cultivated the desolate land, and named this desert the Hope Gobi. However, he later lost himself in the lavish royal life, forgot his once beliefs, and signed a Master-Servant Contract with King of the Fallen, Biliev, eventually running counter to his youthful dreams. The once hopeful Gobi turned into the Desolate Sands of today. If you could realize the Sand Thief King’s youthful dreams by transforming the desolate sands back into the Hope Gobi, rebuilding an empire in the desert, this ring would then be promoted to Epic Equipment.

After reading the ring’s attributes, Huang Yi was slightly surprised to find that it was another piece of Semi-Epic equipment!

He already had two pieces of Semi-Epic equipment, the Bloodstained War Halberd and the Thunder Left Hand, and if he added the Cursed King’s Crown given to him by the King of Curses, that would make three pieces! This type of equipment was clearly a notch above regular legendary gear, needing only to acquire the remaining parts or fulfill certain conditions to advance to the powerful Epic tier!

And this ring was a rare piece of Semi-Epic equipment too; its advancement required meeting one condition: to rebuild an empire in the Desolate Sands. This condition might be exceptionally difficult for others, but for Huang Yi, it was a matter of course. He already possessed the Imperial Jade Seal and once the preparations were complete, he could construct an empire within the bounds of the Desolate Sands, thus upgrading the ring to Epic Equipment.

This was the first piece of Legendary Jewelry Huang Yi had ever obtained. His past legendary items were either armor or weapons, but he had never gotten Legendary Jewelry before.

The attributes of this Legendary Ring were completely different from other equipment, with a unique set of additional attributes! Besides the base attribute of Magic Defense typical of jewelry, it had six additional effects, all presenting negative status effects rather than direct attribute bonuses. The chances of inflicting these six adverse conditions increased incrementally, from 1% to 6%, with the rarer conditions being more potent.

The attached skill also related to these six negative states, enabling a fivefold increase in their chances upon use. For example, the first attribute, which had a 1% chance of inflicting the Nightmare state, would rise to 5%, and the last, with a 6% chance of causing the Bleeding state, would jump to 30%.

In general, this Ring was an unusual one that could bring new changes to Huang Yi’s future combat style. If used skillfully, it might even alter the outcome of a battle at critical moments.

Huang Yi immediately slipped the Ring onto his finger, replacing a previous Ancestral Ring.

Instantly, his Attributes slightly weakened as this Legendary Ring, aside from its basic Magic Defense, had no other direct Attribute Bonuses. It wasn’t even as good as the Level 100 Orange Gear Ancestral Ring. Its true worth would only show during battle.

With the removal of the Ancestral Ring, the Set Effects of his Jewelry—the Level Up—also diminished slightly. Originally, each piece of Ancestral Jewelry could temporarily increase the Level by 20 for 10 seconds. Using four parts together would result in a temporary increase of 80 Levels. But now, missing one part, the increase was only 60 Levels.

However, Huang Yi was at Level 147, so even with only a 60-Level increase, he would still break into the Heavenly Domain Level, so the weakening wasn’t too severe.

Next, Huang Yi looked around the Treasure Spot and felt a touch of sentimentality. The once mighty Sand Thief King had been killed by him. At the beginning, Huang Yi could only look up to the Sand Thief King, but now he had personally taken his life, showing just how swiftly he had progressed in the past year.

The Sand Thief King was among the longest-standing Holy Domain Warriors Huang Yi had encountered, second only to the White Dragon King. When Huang Yi was still a novice, not long after leaving Bai Long Lake, he arrived at the Desolate Sands. There he first clashed with the Sand Thief King when he helped the Murloc Nightcrawler, Slark, in search of his homeland.

The homeland of Slark, once a Dandelion Plains, had been transformed by the Sand Thief King into an Underground Palace to store his own heart. Later, Huang Yi stole that heart. From that moment on, his fate became entwined with the Sand Thief King’s.

The Skeleton Army of the Sand Thief King besieged Dragon City, and Huang Yi rescued it, leading hundreds of thousands of players to break the siege.

One of the three great Generals under the Sand Thief King, Guifu Heilang, tried to kill Huang Yi but ended up being killed himself, and Huang Yi obtained the Legendary Weapon, Ghost Axe.

Another of the Sand Thief King’s generals, Black Serpent, betrayed his master to fight over the Sand Thief King’s hearts with the Mysterious Python. He was killed by Huang Yi’s actions, leaving behind the Legendary Equipment, Black Dragon’s Hide.

And even when Huang Yi was avoiding the pursuit of Man Tian, a Celestial Realm Expert from the Half-Beast Holy Land, he did so indirectly with the help of the Sand Thief King. Without the Sand Thief King, he wouldn’t have been able to encounter a Celestial Realm Expert like the Fallen Messenger, nor would he have been able to use his power to drive back Man Tian.

The Sand Thief King was a character who grew alongside him, and although Huang Yi had met many, many powerful figures, none had as great an impact on him as the Sand Thief King did.

Huang Yi couldn’t help but touch the Ring known as Sand Thief King’s Dream, running his fingers over the constantly fluttering dragon-shaped wings as if he could truly touch the Sand Thief King’s dream. He remembered the line in the description of the item—"Dreams are like the oases in the desert. One may persist for a long time only to find them a mirage."

Through these words, he seemed to see the Sand Thief King of his youth—ambitious, filled with justice and hope. He led the inhabitants of the desert to establish an empire of hope, cultivating the barren sands. But in the end, he could not resist the opulence of the royal lifestyle and fell, becoming a lackey of the Seven Archdemons, and his youthful dreams dispersed like smoke.

In fact, often dreams are just like a mirage, no guarantee to materialize despite a long and determined pursuit. Like Huang Yi and the organization behind him, who had always dreamed of overthrowing the World Federation. They had sacrificed countless lives, and even with Huang Yi imprisoned, they had not succeeded. But still, they had not given up, continuing forward with an unwavering belief, no matter how many more sacrifices were needed, no matter how many more were imprisoned—they would keep going.

It is dreams, after all, that have the power to change the world.

"Let’s go! In a while, this place will become my territory," Huang Yi said to the Blood God and the Barbarian God, collecting them once again. The Treasure Spot had been cleared and was no longer special territory, so Huang Yi could fully integrate it into his realm.

He then took one last look at this Treasure Spot which he had visited countless times before, and summoned the Little Dragon.

With a chirp, the Little Dragon performed Holy Dragon Descent, and its body surged in size. It looked back at the Golden Holy Dragon’s Treasure Spot, seemingly familiar, its large eyes filled with curiosity.

"This is where you came from, where I found you. Let’s go! We should look to the future, not dwell on the past," Huang Yi patted the Little Dragon’s head, smiled slightly, and climbed on.

The Little Dragon immediately flapped its wings, racing towards Dragon City under the silver moonlight.

...

Meanwhile, on the Land of Dongying, far across The Ocean, in a corner of the Martial Arts Guild’s port, a fierce warship bristled with cannon ports slowly set sail. Like a waking Giant Beast, it drove straight toward Hero’s Continent, its massive silhouette fading into the night sea, as though it never existed. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Starting Point (qidian.com) to cast your Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)