Picking Up Attributes From Today - Chapter 214
Chapter 214: The Allure of The Divine Core, Traitor of the Dragons
“Ding! 1 Green Dragon killed, 3,829 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Frost Colossal Dragon killed, 2,573 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Thunder Dragon killed, 6,426 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Colossal Dragon killed, 7,218 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
…
As a half-deity and a Dragon, Thaniel took great pride in himself. Thus, making him a human’s mount was worse than killing him.
But when faced with the cold Meng Lei and looking at the Gods-Slaying Spear—from which Dragon blood was dripping—in his hand, Thaniel was taken over by fear.
As a half-deity, he had a near-eternal lifespan. How could he bear to die?
Once he was dead, everything would go up in smoke. There would no longer be any meaning to anything.
“I… I’m willing to submit!”
At last, Thaniel made his choice.
Freedom? Dignity? All of that can go to hell! I want to live!
“You don’t need to tell you what you should be doing, right?” said an aloof Meng Lei meaningfully.
“Yes, sir!”
With a wry laugh, a wisp of divine spirit origin energy flew out of the area between Thaniel’s brows.
Once Meng Lei refined the wisp of divine spirit origin energy, he would completely control Thaniel’s life and death.
He could destroy the wisp of divine spirit origin energy anytime he wanted and take Thaniel’s life.
Subduing a deity was simply this easy. It needed neither a contract nor a blood pact.
One needed only to refine the other party’s divine spirit origin energy, and they would be able to completely control their life and death.
“Elder Thaniel…”
A wave of grief and sorrow came over Amolin. Just how prideful and arrogant had Elder Thaniel once been?
Yet in order to live, he had actually abandoned his dignity as a Dragon and a half-deity to become a human’s mount. This was simply too ironic!
“Amolin…”
Upon sensing Amolin’s gaze, Thaniel felt incredibly ashamed and wished he could bury his head in the sand. However, he had no regrets. Compared to his life, what were freedom and dignity?
Meng Lei hopped onto Thaniel’s wide, fleshy back and ordered, “Let’s go. Bring me to the other remaining half-deities.”
“M-master, what do you mean?”
Thaniel was slightly taken aback. “Haven’t all the elders been killed by you?”
“Are you trying to take advantage of how unlearned I am?” Meng Lei sneered. “I have indeed killed seven half-deities just now, but three of them haven’t died. They have other divine incarnations existing, don’t they?”
Thaniel’s countenance changed slightly at his words.
“Remember your position, Thaniel. You’re no longer a half-deity of the Dragons!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Rather, you’re now my mount. Do you need me to explain what a mount means?”
“N-no!”
Thaniel lowered his head fearfully.
“Since it isn’t necessary, then let’s go and find those three that got away. If they manage to get away, I’ll skin you,” Meng Lei barked coldly.
“Yes, Master!”
Thaniel didn’t dare to dally, and he flapped his wings as he flew toward those three half-deities’ islands.
“Must you really kill them all, Meng Lei?” shouted Amolin.
“Elder Amolin, had I not been strong enough, would the Dragon Island half-deities have spared my life today?”
Upon hearing his reply, Amolin froze at once.
“You’re too slow, Thaniel. Speed up! Go forth!”
…
Had there not been any system notifications, Meng Lei would highly likely have been duped.
Unfortunately, he had the system. Therefore, he had noticed that he had only received four notifications despite having killed seven half-deities.
It was easy to tell from this that three of the half-deities among the seven had other divine incarnations existing. Thus, they hadn’t completely died yet.
On top of that, Meng Lei also knew who they were—the Earth, Blue, and Tempest Colossal Dragons, respectively. Meng Lei didn’t intend on sparing any of these fellows.
As they say, “If one doesn’t eradicate the source of the problem, they will resurge”. To minimize possible problems in the future, it was best that he wiped them all out.
However, the unfortunate thing was that no matter how fast Meng Lei tried to move, he nonetheless only managed to slay the Blue Dragon and the Earth Dragon. The Tempest Colossal Dragon had long since fled into the distance and vanished without a trace.
In fact, it had even taken away all of its treasures in its den, leaving not even a strand of hair for Meng Lei…
“It fled pretty quickly, huh?” Meng Lei gazed at the empty cave and said, “You’d better hope you don’t run into me in the future!”
“Where do we go next, Master?” asked Thaniel carefully, lest Meng Lei vent his fury on him.
“To the half-deities’ dens!”
A gleam flashed past Meng Lei’s eyes.
The Dragons loved glittering objects. Therefore, every Colossal Dragon was a tycoon, and every Colossal Dragon’s den was a great collection of treasures.
And the truth was indeed so!
Goblen, the Golden Colossal Dragon’s den, provided Meng Lei with a total of 360,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
The Green, Earth, Thunder, Blue, and Frost Colossal Dragons brought Meng Lei a hefty total amount of 1.17 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
Meng Lei’s Wealth had reached an astonishing 2,317,572 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
2.31 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! When converted into gold coins, that would make it 23 trillion gold coins!
23 trillion! Now, that was pretty dramatic!
However, Meng Lei wasn’t really that happy. What could this bit of wealth achieve?
Redeem 231 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity? Or raise his wood-earth laws of nature assimilation rate by 23%?
It was just a drop in the ocean!
“I’m still very poor…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but lament wistfully.
The corners of Thaniel’s lips spasmed upon hearing his proclamation, and he felt the urge to jump up and give Meng Lei a couple of hammer smashes.
You’ve just cleaned out six half-deities’ dens and robbed them of their lifetime’s worth of assets… Yet you still complain about being poor? And moan and groan so incessantly?
Damn you and your poverty! Goddamn it, do you know I’m so jealous that I’m close to becoming beyond recognition?!
“Oh, right! Aren’t there supposed to be nine half-deities on Dragon Island?”
Meng Lei seemed to recall something. “Other than Elder Amolin and the Tempest Colossal Dragon that got away, there should be seven other half-deities, right?
“Seven half-deities should correspond to seven dens, but I’ve only cleaned out six!”
Thaniel felt his anus squeezing tight at once.
Meng Lei turned his gaze to Thaniel underneath him and asked, “So, where did the last den go?”
“M-master…!”
Thaniel gave him a smile that looked worse than a crying face and replied, “The last den belongs to me!”
“So it’s yours. Didn’t I say? There are clearly seven half-deities, so why would there only be six dens?”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei, and a look of “So that’s it! No wonder!” appeared on his face.
“Yes, Master!” replied Thaniel carefully.
Meng Lei was very considerate. He said, “Since that den is yours, then I won’t clean it out anymore. But what makes me curious is… Comparing yours to Goblen’s, whose den has more treasures?”
“As someone who had already achieved half-deification 30,000 years ago, Grandmaster Goblen’s savings naturally aren’t something that mine can compare with,” replied Thaniel truthfully.
“What about in comparison to the other half-deities?” asked Meng Lei.
“I have a bit more than them,” replied Thaniel honestly.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a tycoon. I really couldn’t tell. Speaking of which, though, what do you want that many treasures for?”
Meng Lei was awfully puzzled. “You don’t bring them with you when you come to this world, and neither can you bring them with you when you leave this world. Should someone accidentally jab you to death one day with a spear, wouldn’t it be a shame for all that treasure?”
Having lived so long, Thaniel had already become an incredibly shrewd one. How could he possibly not detect the thinly-veiled threat in Meng Lei’s words? He said with a crestfallen expression, “Say no more, Master. I’m willing to offer up my den!”
“What did you say? Offer up your den?”
Meng Lei waved him off incessantly. “How would that do? Those are assets that you’ve accumulated for a lifetime. How can I bring myself to take it? We mustn’t do that! No, we mustn’t!”
Thaniel was close to tears. “Just take it, Master. Considering my current position, I won’t be able to use all those assets anymore in the future anyway!”
A reluctant Meng Lei replied, “Oh, you shouldn’t have. But what you’ve said makes sense, too. Since you’ve become my mount, you’ll have to roam the world with me from now on. It certainly isn’t very safe to leave those treasures on Dragon Island!”
Damn you and your lack of safety!
Thaniel might be verbally respectful, but his heart was bleeding. Those were his life savings, yet they were all gone just like that?
…
Although Thaniel’s den couldn’t match up to Goblen’s, it was nonetheless still a place filled with magnificence and grandeur and was incredibly extravagant.
After taking inventory of the assets, they brought Meng Lei a large sum of 280,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
It was only after he had fully cleaned the den out that Meng Lei finally swaggered out of the den. Thaniel hurriedly came forward and asked, “Master, you’ve rob— Cough, taken them all?”
“Yes.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “We’re leaving, Thaniel. Go in and take one last look at your den.”
“I’ll pass. I have a weak heart,” replied Thaniel with a wry smile.
“Look at that good-for-nothing demeanor of yours.” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it just a few treasures? Do you need to be that petty!?”
Then, he took out a divine core and asked dispassionately, “Do you know what this is?”
“A divine core!”
A huge jolt went through Thaniel’s Dragon body.
“Good that you recognize it.” Meng Lei bragged. “I have an abundance of these things. I pop them like candy every day!”
“Master, that’s a divine core!”
Thaniel trembled all over as his eyes bore into the divine core in Meng Lei’s hand. His eyes were filled with desire, greed, envy…
“It’s just a lesser deity’s divine core.” Meng Lei patted Thaniel on the head and said, “Do your best in the future, and you can take your pick from among intermediate deities’ and higher deities’ divine cores.”
“Are you serious, Master?”
Thaniel’s voice was trembling. His rationality told him that Meng Lei was just bluffing, but a hint of longing in his heart and the beautiful imagery that Meng Lei had conjured couldn’t help but bewitch him.
Intermediate deities!
Higher deities!
He was just a half-deity that had just manifested his divine core. Even a lesser deity’s position was currently a far way off from him, let alone becoming an intermediate deity or a higher deity. Or rather, it was basically impossible!
To become a lesser deity, one must first become a true god.
To become a true god, one must first establish a divine nation.
And to establish a divine nation, one needed vast amounts of power of divinity.
Where did power of divinity come from?
It was a matter of detailed, intricate work where one accumulated it bit by bit.
Thaniel himself didn’t have any confidence as to whether he could save up enough power of divinity to establish a divine nation while he was still alive.
Therefore, to Thaniel, even a lesser deity’s position was one that was extremely distant and an extravagant wish.
But things were different with a ready-made divine core. Once he assimilated it, he would become a lesser deity right away. It was faster by not just a hundred times or ten thousand times!
“Yes, of course,” Meng Lei promised confidently.
“With this promise of yours, I, Thaniel, will die without regrets even if I have to work myself to the bones for you, Master!”
As an infatuated Thaniel gazed at the divine core, he said, “You may not know this, but actually by the time one reaches a half-deity’s level like ours, there’s no longer much longing for wealth anymore.
“But ordinary Colossal Dragons are different—they are the most passionate about collecting treasures and accumulating their wealth. Therefore, Dragon Island’s richest ones aren’t the half-deities like the few of us, but those ordinary Colossal Dragons. They are the true hidden tycoons.
“Ten ordinary Colossal Dragons’ assets, when put together, could rival a half-deity’s! How many ordinary Colossal Dragons are there on Dragon Island? Hundreds, even up to 1,000!”
