The Last King Of Darkness

This bad news greatly ruined Rod's mood.

The Star Chart provided Rod with a lot of divinity, and the next time the stars shine, he will thus gain hundreds of points of divinity.

This number increases as he squeezes out more spirituality, and originally Rod hoped his divinity could thus exceed a thousand again.

Unexpectedly, there was a bolt from the blue.

The bald master told him that the corruption of the Star Chart did not begin recently; it stored a large amount of corruption a long time ago, and the loss of some core components might be the reason for it.

Such corruption is irreversible; the Black Fog can erode all materials with spirituality, turning them into twisted, deformed corrupt objects, and the lifespan of the Star Chart is doomed.

Rod felt heavy-hearted, meaning their schedule to look for the Horror Castle must be moved forward.

Trolian had deeply realized the importance of the Star Source, a product from the stars, the power of the stars, and its enhancement to combatants, especially high-rank combatants, is irreplaceable.

If the Star Chart completely decays, then they must find purer and stronger "Star Source" in other locations.

And "Horror Castle" is such a place.

Unfortunately, the Royal City has not yet found any clues, Horus arranged at least a hundred scholars, buried in the Great Book Library, searching for any mentions of it.

The Investigation Legion dispatched numerous high-rank investigators to delve into the darkness searching for its traces.

The importance of this task is second only to finding the other surviving Fire King City.

Rod sighed, knowing that this matter couldn't be rushed, so he had to squeeze out enough spirituality again, applying it on the Star Chart to buy time for the upcoming battle.

Meanwhile, the bald master led the researchers from the Mechanical Research Institute, continuously caressing this divine artifact, hoping to replicate it someday in the Royal City.

Rod held no hope for this, the civilization gap was too large, too much of history's relics were lost, and Trolian's current high-end technology was virtually unstructured, all scattered fragments, while the Star Chart wasn't a singular divine artifact, but a complex system assembled from multiple ancient gods and divine artifacts, the chance of replicating it successfully was almost zero.

After handling Starry Sky City's errands, Rod returned to the Royal City.

Now there was just one day left until the expedition, so Rod visited the largest training ground in the Royal City—Silan Military Combat Training Base, continuing to train his recently mastered close combat skills.

Everyone from the Black Battle Group was here; they had a dedicated training ground, only Rod rarely lingered here.

His arrival this time greatly delighted Anna and Kashan, they rarely had time to train together with Rod, it was a rare opportunity.

Quickly, Rod mastered the technique of close combat on horseback, and Kashan's punching insight.

But the key was the cooperation with them.

Kashan possessed the power of anger, her punch was extremely powerful, but it was only that one punch.

Anna possessed speed and control, if Rod's quick close combat rhythm could combine with theirs, it would definitely display even greater power.

For this battle, Rod planned to take the entire Black Battle Group out, except for the slaying King battle they couldn't participate in, all other battles could be fought.

As long as he leveraged their strength well, Rod would inevitably gain more divinity.

A day of training quickly ended, it wasn't their first cooperation, and Rod quickly adapted to the new combat style.

The only pity was that Mephit wasn't here; she was always at the Soul Church helping clear the evil seed from the souls that were being eroded.

Rod regrettably found that he did not gain divinity from this, evidently, Mephit's enhancement was not enough yet, she was not yet the "Divine Envoy" of the Dream Realm.

The training session concluded, and Rod took out two Star Source Potions he accessed with his privileges.

This ultra-strong spiritual medicine shone brilliantly in his hand, emanating a faint blue light, shimmering particles floated in the semi-transparent potion, as if a galaxy was stored within the crystal bottle.

Kashan's eyes lit up instantly, silently she took the potion, tilting her head and drank it down.

Anna widened her eyes, the galaxy reflected in her pupils sparkling: "Wow... so beautiful!"

Rod laughed: "Drink it, once you drink it your characteristics can be further enhanced."

Anna gently touched the potion bottle with both hands, cautiously examining it, then she twisted the cap off and drank it slowly.

"Wow, so cold, so cold!"

"The stars fell into my stomach!"

"Rod, how come suddenly you're so nice? Let me tell you first, I won't be your sleeping companion, okay."

"Such precious potions, do we just drink them straight like this?"

Rod replied with a laugh: "Yes, the higher level the potion, the simpler it is to consume, potions needing to be ingested with complex rituals are flawed and lacking, Star Source Potion is an absolutely perfect spiritual potion, without any taboos, after drinking it, you'll feel a change in your soul, and an enhancement in characteristics."

"Wow..." Anna's eyes sparkled brightly, she could only utter that single word.

Kashan's deep blue eyes stared intently at Rod, and she asked, "Why don't you drink it?"

Rod laughed: "How do you know I didn't drink it?"

Kashan fell silent, clenched both small fists, and with a determined tone, said, "I will surpass you."