Goblin Dependency

The sword horn from the beetle had unknowingly fallen to the ground.

And in the gap where the original sheath met the flesh, there was now a longer form, a silver-gray bone-iron longsword densely covered with nerve-like patterns.

The sword hilt, with grooves designed for better grip, extended from the side shoulder at the optimal length and angle for a Wolf Mouth to bite onto. A bone-white chain like a medal chain hung down to the chest, linking both the hilt and the opposite shoulder for stability.

A cold machine of war forged from metal and flesh.

Many times, even for an adventurer who knows nothing about such a creature’s identity, just one look can give an intuitive sense of its exaggerated combat power.

To put it simply, a demon that looks like this can never be weak!

And indeed, this is the truth.

As Xia Nan, the actual experiencer of the evolution, he could very clearly feel the tremendous changes coming from all over his body.

A longer, deeper breath, heightened senses, and a tidal wave of surging, magnificent power inside...

Compared to the third evolution of the Soros Blade Wolf, this elite individual was a significant enhancement in all aspects.

As for why there were no two additional path choices like in prior evolutions, Xia Nan speculated it might be one of the "airdrop" mechanisms in the ritual.

While gaining enhancements far exceeding those offered by normal evolution, he continued deepening along his original evolution route.

For other adventurers in the Secret Realm, absorbing this life energy likely meant locking in a promotion path without the risks of random evolution, advancing along a fixed path.

Of course, for those unlucky adventurers who had taken the wrong path in previous evolutions, it wasn’t exactly a favorable experience.

But for Xia Nan, who had an attribute panel and always selected the best options in every evolution, it was a chance for significant enhancement without risk.

Initially planning to further explore and refine the combination of Teeth Hunting and Vortex Slash using this wolf body, the current evolution into an elite Soros Blade Wolf, preserving its original type of body structure and combat style, perfectly met his needs.

While feeling the changes in his body and reviewing the slash he delivered in the previous combat, he carefully captured the smooth sensation of using Teeth Hunting and Vortex Slash in wolf form.

Noticing something, Xia Nan’s attention suddenly shifted from the Secret Realm back to reality.

In the human perspective hovering above the sea surface, within the confronting teams of adventurers ashore, three adventurers in the Wind Forger’s team lost their blue aura one after the other, weakly landing on the ground, evidently after dying in the ritual.

Among them was the captain of the Wind Forger, the pureblood elf Sefeng.

In his mind, Xia Nan saw Sparrow Salisa and Black Bear Sasha approaching as the battle ended.

"How do you feel?"

Salisa scratched on the ground with its delicate bird claw.

On one side was an incredibly powerful creature that had undergone four evolutions, on the other, just an ordinary, most common little sparrow.

Noticing that even though Xia Nan hadn’t done anything, Salisa’s palm-sized body still quivered slightly due to the vast life-level difference between them.

Observing this, Xia Nan restrained his aura and nodded towards the two with his newly-evolved Iron Armor-covered head, resembling a wolf-shaped helmet.

"Not bad, much stronger than before."

Saying that, his wolf eyes, hidden within the crevices of the helm, turned towards Black Bear Sasha, who was covered in injuries from the battle with the lynx.

"What about you, how are the injuries? Do you need to find a place to rest for a while?"

According to their earlier plan, Sasha was supposed to act as bait to probe the Wind Forger team, who likely rushed to the airdrop location early. The emergence of the lynx adventurer was totally unexpected.

Thankfully, the final outcome wasn’t greatly altered, and the life energy left by the lynx adventurer greatly aided Xia Nan’s evolutionary upgrade.

In response to Xia Nan’s inquiry, Sasha decisively shook his head, writing on the ground with his forepaw:

"Just minor injuries, doesn’t affect daily actions."

"Let’s hurry and find other adventurers, don’t waste this opportunity."

Now that Xia Nan has completed the fourth evolution, while he’s unsure of the other adventurers’ progress in the Secret Realm, without someone like Salisa capable of sensing the positions of others, it’s unlikely any could match Xia Nan’s progress.

If they want to quickly harvest life energy and ultimately stop Algae Scale Dodd’s ritual process, now is the best chance.

Seeing the other party’s firm stance, Xia Nan chose to say no more.

Standing in place, stretching his forelimbs outward and lowering his body, he performed a typical four-legged creature stretch, adapting to his newly-strengthened body.

He then looked toward Sparrow Salisa:

"Let’s not rest for now, let’s see if there are any adventurers nearby."

...

...

Simultaneously, in the depths of a desert at the other end of the Secret Realm.

Asleep in a sand cave, Algae Scale Dodd was awoken by the gradually shrinking boundary of the Secret Realm.

It was like an invisible, slowly moving wall that pushed his body nestled in the den forward with the suspended air.

Having never slept for so long, one could see the lizard pupils in his eyes filled with post-slumber confusion and bewilderment.

The nearly two-meter long translucent body instinctively stretched in the ground burrow.

Then suddenly, as if realizing something, the entire body tensed up abruptly, pupils slightly constricting.

"Wait!"

"How long did I sleep?"

Despite having Dragon Descendant bloodline in reality, Dodd had never had such a hibernation experience before, causing his awakening time to be much later than anticipated.

If the Secret Realm boundary hadn’t coincidentally shrunk to his den’s location, he might have continued sleeping indefinitely.

The good news is, through this sleep, the injuries he sustained in previous battles have self-healed, restoring him to full form;

The bad news is, it’s an unexpected nap that completely disrupted his original plan, which can be considered a huge blunder.

Within the Secret Realm, devoid of clocks and calendars to ascertain the date, he’s clueless about how many days he has missed.

Instinctively, Dodd can only gather his spirit to perceive the positions and numbers of scattered adventurers in the Secret Realm, using the comparison of their changes before his sleep to judge the degree of his oversight.

Paying close attention, he swept his consciousness over each adventurer in his senses.

You could see a somber expression on Dodd’s lizard face, which then slightly relaxed.

Luckily, it’s not as severe as imagined. Based on the number of remaining adventurers, he probably hasn’t missed much, with the three-times evolved species likely still at the top tier.

He can catch up!

However, as the time progresses and the Secret Realm’s map size decreases, the adventurers caught in the ritual mostly have gradually realized the Secret Realm’s mechanisms.

Many of the light spots representing adventurers in his perception are gathering together in multiples, indicating they’ve found allies to cooperate with;

While others have clear blank zones around their light spots, indicating they might have noticed they can evolve through killing other adventurers and have begun actual hunting actions on nearby participants.

Suddenly, sensing something, Dodd’s attention shifted to the other end of the Secret Realm in his perception.

There, he saw three light spots representing adventurers gathered together in a nearly overlapping manner, evidently having formed a team.

Surrounding them was an imposing, large blank area.

Clearly, adventurers nearby had already been cleared by this group.

Dodd estimated that the leader of this small adventurer team must have reached at least the second evolution level, possibly even the third.

Anxiousness rose in his heart.

"Judging by the time, the airdrop life energy should soon refresh, need to quickly prepare."

"Wonder how things are with Flynn over there. If he progresses smoothly, he could help me catch up on the progress missed over this period when we meet."