Heroes' Prison

Chapter 834 - 790: Dragon Spike Joins the Group

"You want to meet him?" Si Chengcheng asked in response.

"Yes!" Huang Yi nodded heavily.

From Qin Shiyu’s intel, he already knew a catastrophe of unprecedented scale was about to unfold. Naturally, he needed to quickly recruit a team of super-strong masters to join forces and resist this crisis. Someone like Dragon Spike, a super first-class master, was a must-have ally worth pursuing.

If possible, he also wanted to bring Sharp Sword into the fold. That would be another extraordinary force of support.

These super first-class masters had mostly kept to themselves in the past, barely interacting with one another. If this time they could unite, cooperate, and fight side by side, the chances of staving off this calamity would greatly increase.

Si Chengcheng’s face revealed a trace of hesitation. She bit her lip and said, "Dragon Spike is usually a lone wolf and rarely interacts with other players. He might outright reject you."

Huang Yi shook his head with a smile and said, "Just tell him I have the thing he needs most. He won’t be able to refuse."

"Alright, I’ll send him a message and see." Si Chengcheng thought for a moment and finally nodded. Then she sent a message to Dragon Spike.

After a while, Si Chengcheng seemed to have received a reply. She beamed at Huang Yi and said, "He agreed. He’ll meet you at Piaomiao Peak at noon." After speaking, she suddenly seemed a bit embarrassed, and her tone softened quite a bit. "However, he asked me to warn you that if he finds you’re wasting his time, he’ll kill you on the spot."

"Thanks for passing along the message! He won’t kill me." Huang Yi nodded.

Then, taking Si Chengcheng’s textbook, he quickly wrote down a series of strokes on the question she had just asked about. "The solution to this formation problem, I’ve written it down here."

Si Chengcheng took the textbook, glanced at it, and then widened her eyes in disbelief. She turned to Huang Yi in shock. "You... you only attended one class, right? This formation is from the later Chapters. You shouldn’t have learned it yet!"

"The teacher was going too slow in class earlier, so I went ahead and read through the later Chapters on my own." Huang Yi shrugged casually.

...

Time passed quickly, and noon arrived in the blink of an eye.

Huang Yi teleported to Piaomiao Peak, where the place was almost devoid of human presence, surrounded by primeval forests everywhere.

He initially tried using his treasure-sniffing ability to perceive Dragon Spike’s location but found nothing at all.

Huang Yi wasn’t surprised. Since Dragon Spike had already graduated, it was highly likely that he had used internal refinement to absorb the power of his equipment and discarded the physical items, which rendered the treasure-sniffing ability ineffective.

He flew into the air, scanning the ground from overhead. Soon enough, he spotted a man standing on the edge of a cliff, dressed in a purple assassin’s outfit.

The man had his hands clasped behind his back, gazing into the vast expanse of wilderness below the cliff. His posture was straight, and he stood with the wind, exuding an aura as sharp as a dagger’s edge.

Just by witnessing the man’s demeanor, Huang Yi knew this was Dragon Spike.

Using his true appearance, Huang Yi descended beside Dragon Spike, standing alongside him to look down at the boundless terrain below.

"God of Slaughter." Dragon Spike turned to glance at Huang Yi, the calmness in his eyes briefly flickering with a trace of surprise.

Huang Yi also turned to look at Dragon Spike. His features were quite ordinary—a military-style crewcut and an inconspicuously common face that wouldn’t warrant a second glance in a crowd.

"Dragon Emperor. Congratulations on becoming the first Heaven-Sent Hero. Must’ve been tough?" Huang Yi expressed his congratulations. He also wanted to clear the Hero Trial but was too weakened in his current Reincarnation state, making it risky to attempt.

"Yes," Dragon Spike replied with a nod. He was a man of few words, speaking only when necessary.

Huang Yi didn’t mind Dragon Spike’s aloofness and said, "The reason I sought you out today is to ask you to return to Hero’s Continent, join my Hero Legion, and contribute to the national battle. My intel indicates that an unimaginable catastrophe is headed our way. I alone cannot stop it and must unite all masters in Hero’s Continent. With your immense strength, you’re an indispensable ally."

"What’s in it for me?" Dragon Spike asked. Unlike Dao Feng, who was driven by a strong sense of justice, Dragon Spike would need proper incentives to participate in the national battle.

Instead of answering directly, Huang Yi posed a question. "Your race involves the Golden Holy Dragon, doesn’t it?"

Saying this, Huang Yi’s gaze nonchalantly swept over Dragon Spike’s neck. Around the neckline of his outfit was a row of intricate golden scales faintly glowing with a soft light. At a glance, it looked as if he were wearing armor, though the scales grew naturally from his body.

Dragon Spike gave a noncommittal nod. By now, his connection to the Golden Holy Dragon was no longer much of a secret. Many players and NPCs already knew.

Huang Yi smiled faintly and offered an irresistible reward. "I can give you the Blood of the Golden Holy Dragon."

"Deal." It seemed Dragon Spike had anticipated this condition. Without hesitation, he agreed—an offer like this was something he truly couldn’t resist.

Huang Yi flipped his palm, retrieving a magic bottle from the storage ring that held a golden liquid inside. It was the blood of Little Dragon.

He handed the magic bottle directly to Dragon Spike. "This is Growth Phase Golden Holy Dragon Blood. If you want the Adult Phase variant, you’ll have to wait a bit longer."

Dragon Spike didn’t stand on ceremony and readily accepted Huang Yi’s magic bottle, storing it in his own storage ring.

Huang Yi crossed his arms behind his back, continued gazing at the ground below the cliff, and said, "Right now, the Invading Army is at its weakest. Kid and T.N.T. are still in-fighting; Heavenly Dao and Dante are busy assimilating other nations’ legions; the Pope, Miyamoto Musashi, and Fuchan Fenrao have yet to return to Hero’s Continent. This is our last moment of peace. You’ll need some time on your journey back. If there’s nothing else, head out soon. The enemy could launch their calamity at any point, and the sooner you return, the better I’ll feel."

"I’ll leave in a few days." Dragon Spike nodded.

Huang Yi pondered silently for a moment. The sea voyage would take Dragon Spike at least a month, a dreadfully long time for Hero’s Continent to hold out.

Meanwhile, Dao Feng still had some unresolved matters to handle, and it was uncertain when he could join the fight. Hero’s Continent, with just a Reincarnated Huang Yi and the yet undeveloped Gentleman Divine Embryo of Dao Feng, wouldn’t be able to withstand the Pope, Fuchan Fenrao, Miyamoto Musashi, and others after their return, let alone stop the unknown catastrophe they planned to unleash.

The reason Huang Yi had been able to defeat them previously was entirely due to meticulous prearranged plans. Those backup measures had been used up and wouldn’t work anymore.

In the next large-scale battle, he would need to rely on true prowess, confronting the enemy head-on using the real strength of his legion. However, his legion’s current roster of super first-class masters was sorely lacking.

Looking at the situation, he had to find at least one more master to hold the line for over a month, at least until Dragon Spike could return.

This interim master had to be someone who could command respect and had super first-class level abilities.

"Anything else?" Dragon Spike asked after Huang Yi remained silent for a while. It seemed he intended to leave immediately to attend to his matters.

"Nothing more. You can go!" Huang Yi shook his head.

Suddenly, as if he’d remembered something, he turned to Dragon Spike with a grin. "By the way, my deskmate, Si Chengcheng, seems to have quite a liking for you."

Dragon Spike’s expression faltered slightly, showing a hint of awkwardness. Without another word, he activated his invisibility and disappeared into thin air. After a moment, his voice echoed from the distant sky, "Don’t attempt the Hero Trial until you’re past level 150, or you’ll just waste your time."

Huang Yi was momentarily stunned. Dragon Spike, who had been parsimonious with his words until now, unexpectedly offered such a long piece of advice—clearly a sincere warning.

Si Chengcheng had been right. Dragon Spike was merely outwardly cold but actually kind-hearted deep down.

Dragon Spike’s words also effectively extinguished Huang Yi’s earlier impulse to try the Hero Trial. He was still only just over level 120 in his Reincarnation state, far too weak to successfully complete the trial.

However, when he set a world record by conquering the 170th floor of the Tower of Pantheons, he received a unique item called the Hero’s Command. This item could lower the difficulty of the Hero Trial, and completing the trial would increase his level gains from 15 to 20.

He wondered if Dragon Spike had taken the Hero’s Command into consideration when offering his advice. If not, perhaps he could attempt to lower the difficulty and give the trial a shot.

Huang Yi contemplated briefly, then opened the level rankings to check Dragon Spike’s stats.

Dragon Spike was now at level 178, while he had only been at level 158 just the day before.

Clearly, completing the Hero Trial had given Dragon Spike a massive boost of 20 levels, which suggested he too must have used the Hero’s Command. Otherwise, the level increase should have only been 15.

Dragon Spike’s warning must have accounted for the Hero’s Command’s effects as well.

For now, Huang Yi decided to hold off and wait until his own level reached 150 before retrying the Hero Trial.

Just as he was about to close the rankings, his gaze inadvertently landed on the top of the level leaderboard.

Currently, the world’s level rankings were still led by the ordinary-class player leader—Yang Yuheng.

Yang Yuheng had now skyrocketed to a commanding 198 level, where he was caught in a bottleneck.

Staring at the name, Huang Yi fell into deep contemplation. He needed another master who could hold the line temporarily until Dragon Spike’s return. Yang Yuheng, without a doubt, would be the perfect candidate.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Yang Yuheng was just an ordinary-class player. While his strength couldn’t rival super first-class masters like the Pope, as soon as he broke the level 200 barrier, everything would change!

He would become the first Celestial Realm player in the world. At that point, any super first-class fighter—be it the Pope, Miyamoto Musashi, or Fuchan Fen—would have to bow out before him!

A super first-class master might seem overwhelming to peers within the same tier. However, there was no way to bridge the massive gulf between realms. The Holy Domain and the Heavenly Realm were separated by an insurmountable divide!

Even when Huang Yi was at his pre-Reincarnation peak, he couldn’t single-handedly take on a fully-powered Celestial Realm expert!

The most remarkable strength of Yang Yuheng was due to perhaps being only some ordinary filled barriers 阶轨 but one end/finger ..