Chapter 230 - 143: Protection Fee
Neng Hua quickly refused, "No! No! No! I didn’t mean it like that. I was just a little curious why your territory was undefended. It seems I misunderstood!"
"Enough of that," Mei Yuan cut in. "Are you going to join us or not? If you want in, bring out your army and join us. If not, we’re leaving."
Neng Hua hesitated. He didn’t want to miss this opportunity. If he had a large number of Exceptional Tier heroes and participated in Mei Yuan’s organized attack on the ranked lords, his Combat Points would increase significantly. He’d almost certainly make it onto the leaderboard.
However, Mei Yuan’s act of being so solicitous for no apparent reason was just too suspicious. All that talk about despising the nobility and their heirs, about being discontent—that might fool a naive, recent graduate, but he certainly wasn’t buying it.
"Lord Mei, could I perhaps pay to have some heroes promoted? Then they could take a portion of my forces to join your army, just to provide support."
"Sure, that works too. If you integrate your heroes into our legion, I can even give you a discount."
"On the market, an ’Excellent Tier Hero Summon Scroll’ sells for 1024 points. Let’s round that down to 1,000 points. I’ll give you a 50% discount. For every Excellent Tier hero you want to promote, you pay 500 points. How does that sound?"
Neng Hua glanced at the 20 Excellent Tier heroes behind him and swallowed hard.
He only had a little over twenty thousand points left. ’If I upgrade all of my Excellent Tier heroes to Exceptional Tier, it’ll cost me Ten Thousand Points. If I still don’t make it onto the leaderboard, wouldn’t that be a devastating loss?’
He mulled it over, then gritted his teeth and stomped his foot. ’I’ll risk it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I’m not willing to spend the points, I’ll never make the leaderboard!’
"Lord Mei, please go ahead and promote them to Exceptional Tier for me. I’m transferring the Ten Thousand Points to you now."
"Alright. Bring them over."
Neng Hua led his heroes to a spot not far from Mei Yuan, then motioned for them to approach Mei Yuan on their own.
Mei Yuan wasted no time. After confirming receipt of the points Neng Hua had transferred via private message, he had his people lead the 20 heroes into the legion’s formation.
Each of these Excellent Tier heroes was flanked by several of Mei Yuan’s own Exceptional Tier heroes. Once they were deep within the formation, Mei Yuan’s heroes seized Neng Hua’s.
One of Mei Yuan’s men stepped forward. "Don’t be nervous," he said. "This is a necessary part of the promotion process. Conditions are a bit crude here, so it might be a little painful. We just need to hold you still."
Dubious but seeing little choice, Neng Hua’s heroes stopped struggling.
Once they fell still, the soldiers placed their hands on them. Out of the heroes’ sight, Eye Demons emerged from the soldiers’ backs, creeping through the shadows and crawling onto the bodies of the Excellent Tier heroes.
Before the heroes could process what was happening, the creatures slipped under their clothing, latched onto their spines, and plunged their tendrils in.
"Nnngh..."
These were elite Eye Demons, hero-ranked themselves. Unlike common Eye Demons, which need time to take control after infesting a host, these elites could seize control the moment parasitization was complete.
Neng Hua’s men twitched once, then fell completely still.
Once the parasitization of all the Excellent Tier heroes was complete and their attributes had been elevated to the Exceptional Tier, the heroes holding them released their grip.
"So, how does it feel?"
"It feels great! This is the first time I’ve taken over a hero so easily. What a strange sensation!"
"This is all thanks to Lord Ah Pu—the one controlling Mei Yuan. Because he was clever enough to take control of that lord, we were able to claim these prime vessels with ease."
"I heard one of Lord Alando’s subordinates also took control of a Human Lord and is planning an invasion of the human homeworld."
"What are you thinking? That’s impossible. Once we completely control these creatures, they may appear to belong to the Human Race and have all the traits of that faction, but their true allegiance will be to us, the Eye Demons."
"So, when this stage of the competition ends, they’ll be teleported back to our homeworld, not the human one. How could there be any invasion?"
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that. Seriously, who started that rumor? Didn’t they stop to think for a second?"
"Haha, what do you mean ’almost’? You completely forgot."
...
Once the Eye Demons had adapted to their new hero-class bodies, they formed a line. Led by the other Exceptional Tier heroes who were also under Eye Demon control, they marched out of the legion’s formation and returned to Neng Hua’s side.
Neng Hua looked at his men and excitedly pulled up the system interface. Sure enough, he saw that the heroes’ attributes had reached the appropriate values for the Exceptional Tier, and he broke into a gleeful laugh.
"Lord Mei, that ability of yours is truly incredible! You’re guaranteed to make it to the third stage this time. If I’m lucky enough to advance as well, I’ll have to make sure to ride your coattails!"
"Then why not start now? For something like this, the sooner the better. After all, isn’t helping someone in their time of need much better than adding to their success when they’re already on top?"
"Let’s not. I’m a naturally cautious person, and I’ve already joined the Cuiwei Lord Corps. If I’m seen with you, I won’t be able to handle the official inquiries when I get back to Cuiwei Star."
"Hahaha, don’t you worry about that. I have a way to ensure you’ll never have to worry about official inquiries."
Mei Yuan’s laugh was even more genuine this time. ’This is the absolute truth,’ he thought. Once Neng Hua joined the Eye Demon race, he would be sent directly to the Eye Demon homeworld at the end of the second stage. He would never return to Cuiwei Star, so naturally, he wouldn’t have to worry about any trouble from the Cuiwei Star Race’s officials.