Chapter 573: Blackie’s Growth
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Your Super Divine Mount, Nightmare Dragon Steed, Blackie, has reached Level 50 and successfully triggered ’Pet Evolution.’]
[Effects: HP +5000, MP +5000, Attack +3000, Defense +5000, Movement Speed +10. All learned skills increase by 1 level.]
[Skills: ’Black Dragon Flame Wave’ has evolved into ’Darkfire Dragon Wave.’ Automatically learned skills: ’Nightmare Aegis,’ ’Nightmare Teleport,’ ’Nightmare Charge,’ and ’Nightmare Trample.’ Additionally, Blackie has learned several advanced Five-Element skills. Due to its abundant dark energy, its body has undergone further growth, allowing up to three riders to mount simultaneously.]
Marcus stared at the system notifications for several seconds, completely stunned. ’Unbelievable.’
A Super Divine Mount really wasn’t a joke. The increase in stats alone was ridiculous, and the sheer number of new skills Blackie had gained made the whole evolution feel almost unfair. Marcus quickly opened Blackie’s skill panel, eager to see exactly what his newly evolved mount could do.
—
Darkfire Dragon Wave: Active attack skill. Unleashes a wave of burning Hellfire that engulfs enemies like the breath of a dark dragon, inflicting continuous burn damage.
Nightmare Aegis: Active trigger skill. Has a chance to envelop the rider in a veil of dark energy, completely evading an incoming attack.
Nightmare Teleport: Active skill. Draws upon the Nightmare Dragon Steed’s dark energy to teleport the rider to any location within a 50-meter radius. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Nightmare Charge: Active skill. The Nightmare Dragon Steed charges toward an enemy within 20 meters, greatly increasing attack damage and impact force. The charge has a high chance of knocking back and stunning the target. The larger the rider’s weapon, the wider the area affected by the charge. Additionally, there is a 3% chance of triggering Lethal Strike.
Nightmare Trample: Active skill. In close combat, Blackie rears up and tramples its opponents with its front hooves. Attacks inflict Hellfire damage and have a 70% chance of knockback, a 50% chance of knockdown, and a 30% chance of stun.
—
’Holy crap.’ If Marcus had to describe those stats and skills in only two words, they would be simple: completely broken.
This was the power of a Divine Beast. No wonder players went insane trying to obtain them. A creature with this kind of growth potential and skill set was practically a walking cheat code. Of course, Marcus wasn’t exactly in a position to complain. If anything, he was more than happy that Blackie had finally evolved into the kind of mount he’d always imagined a Knight should have.
More importantly, the new skills fit his fighting style perfectly.
Until now, he had been a Knight with a powerful mount, but he hadn’t been able to fully exploit the advantages of mounted combat. Nightmare Charge changed that. With Blackie’s increased size, terrifying impact force, and the ability to follow up with Nightmare Trample, he could finally fight the way a Knight was meant to fight, charging straight into the enemy line instead of simply treating his mount as extra transportation.
Just imagining the scene made Marcus grin: a massive black steed tearing across the battlefield, Hellfire blazing around its hooves, while he crashed straight through the enemy ranks...
’Yeah, that was much more like it. Too bad there weren’t any mobs nearby to test the new skills on.’
"Good boy."
Marcus reached down and patted Blackie on the head.
The Nightmare Dragon Steed gave a low, satisfied whinny, sounding almost as though it were saying, Obviously.
Marcus couldn’t help laughing. Above them, the Seven-Colored Divine Eagle chirped excitedly and circled Blackie’s head, its brilliant feathers catching the faint light as it traced shimmering arcs through the dark mist. In the dim, ice-blue world around them, the sight was almost surreal: Blackie stood wreathed in Hellfire, Marcus sat atop the enormous shadowy steed, and the radiant eagle wheeled overhead, its rainbow-colored plumage cutting through the gloom.
It was an imposing sight.
Marcus enjoyed it for a moment before finally giving Blackie’s side a gentle nudge.
"Come on. We’ve still got work to do."
"Go!"
Blackie surged forward.
The steed had grown considerably larger after its evolution, and the difference wasn’t merely cosmetic. Its movements were powerful without being cumbersome, each stride carrying Marcus forward with frightening speed and effortless strength. Before long, they reached the corpse of the Iceflame Black Serpent Man.
Marcus dismounted and began looting the body, activating Advanced Gathering to make sure he didn’t miss anything valuable.
Four materials were extracted: an Iceflame Dark Stone, two Iceflame Blue Pearls, a Frozen Serpent Gallbladder, and a Blackflame Ice Flower Seed.
Marcus inspected each one in turn.
—
Iceflame Dark Stone: High-grade material. Can be forged into weapons or socketed into weapons to grant powerful freeze and slow effects.
Iceflame Blue Pearl: High-grade material. The serpent’s blue eyes. Can only be socketed into weapons. The wielder becomes shrouded in a veil of black mist, increasing Evasion by 20% and allowing them to see through low-level black mist.
—
Marcus’s eyes lit up slightly. Finally, some high-grade socket materials.
Freeze and slow effects were extremely valuable in actual combat. Raw attack power was useful, of course, but being able to hinder an opponent’s movements could be even more decisive, especially against stronger enemies. A weapon that could slow an enemy down or partially freeze them could create openings that pure damage simply couldn’t.
And with the Soft Moon Stone already sitting in his bag, he now had several excellent materials for creating some seriously powerful equipment once he had the opportunity. This trip to Twin Wing Island had been far more profitable than he’d expected.
Marcus continued checking the remaining materials.
—
Frozen Serpent Gallbladder: High-grade herb. The inner core of the Iceflame Black Serpent Man. Can be used to refine at least high-grade potions.
Blackflame Ice Flower Seed: Can be planted in an environment rich in cold and dark energy to grow the Mythic-grade plant, Blackflame Ice Flower.
—
Marcus paused when he saw the final item. The seed had been extracted using his Seed Extraction skill, and its grade was actually Mythic.
That immediately made it worth keeping. He pulled out his communication interface and sent a private message to Alana.
The Blackflame Ice Flower itself had already been identified as a Mythic-grade herb. It could be used to refine numerous potions, and if it were fed to a pet with the same elemental affinity, it could greatly enhance that pet’s abilities.
Same element. Marcus immediately thought of the Twin-Winged Water Demon Cat.
Kitty was practically the perfect candidate. Unfortunately, there was a problem.
Would a single Blackflame Ice Flower really be enough to push Kitty all the way to Divine Beast tier? Probably not.
And even if it could help tremendously, Marcus didn’t currently have a proper place to cultivate a Mythic-grade plant. He couldn’t exactly scatter the seed somewhere and hope it grew. A plant of this level clearly required a suitable environment. So for now, it was little more than wishful thinking.
It was a shame Alana hadn’t come with him. The pool where the Blackflame Ice Flower had originally grown would have been the perfect place to plant the seed. The environment there was saturated with exactly the kind of cold and dark energy the flower required.
’If only I had somewhere with enough spiritual energy to grow it...’ Marcus sighed and put the thought aside. There was nothing he could do about it for the moment.
He finished looting the serpent’s corpse, and the remaining drops appeared in his inventory: one Mythic artifact, one Red Artifact, two pieces of Gold equipment, one special item, and a handful of miscellaneous junk. Not bad.
Actually, it was a very good haul. Even for a Level 80 Silver-tier monster, getting both a Mythic artifact and a Red Artifact was impressive.
His high Luck attribute, combined with the level-difference bonus from fighting an enemy so far above his own level, had probably pushed the quality of the drops close to its limit. Higher-tier equipment was naturally much harder to obtain, so Marcus wasn’t about to complain. Besides, he still had the village chief’s promised reward waiting for him.
All things considered, this trip had paid off handsomely.
Marcus began examining the more valuable drops.
—
Ice Serpent Staff: Mythic artifact. Effects unknown. Cannot be equipped.
Knight’s Frost Ring: Red Artifact. Effects unknown. Cannot be equipped.
—
He used Identification on the two Gold pieces as well. Both were decent Level 70 equipment, but neither was anything particularly special.
Marcus took a quick look before putting them aside. They might be useful later, either for someone else or as materials, but they weren’t worth getting excited over.
Then his attention settled on the final item: the special item, Black Mist Pouch.
Marcus’s interest immediately sharpened. Unlike the Mythic staff and Red Artifact, the pouch’s properties were fully visible. And they were... interesting.