Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Decisive Victory The battle was declared over within four or five minutes. The addition of the Fire Child was the final straw crushing the black-scaled lizardmen. Wherever the little guy went, the black-scaled lizardmen one by one turned into torches, their bodies engulfed in raging flames, wailing and screaming as they fell to the ground, frantically rolling until they became charred corpses. As strong as the black-scaled lizardman chieftain was, even he could only hold on for a while longer under the Fire Child’s attack, and in the end, he too was unable to escape the fate of becoming a charred corpse. One could say the Fire Child, this kind of elemental creature, is the absolute nemesis of the black-scaled lizardmen who fight solely with their bodies and do not possess fighting qi. After the battle ended, everyone began to clean up the battlefield. Every person passing by Sunan secretly looked at him with eyes full of reverence. The Fire Child was indeed terrifying, but the ability to summon such a monster made Sunan even more deeply revered. Especially those soldiers who did not participate in the battle at the Black Stone Mine were shocked beyond belief. They never expected that the seemingly frail Sunan was actually so powerful. That strange, mysterious power seemed even stronger than the Lord himself! At this moment, they suddenly understood why those knightly leaders were always so respectful towards Sunan. It was clearly awe for a stronger person! "After today’s battle, I’m afraid the news of me becoming a Wizard Apprentice won’t be contained." Noticing the soldiers’ gazes around him, Sunan silently thought to himself. However, he didn’t care much, this kind of thing couldn’t be kept secret for long anyway. With the increasing number of knights in Black Stone City, and the activity of the Black Rock Cavalry Legion, more and more people would inevitably explore the reasons behind these developments. At that time, he wouldn’t be able to keep a low profile even if he wanted to. There were still some old, young, and women lizardmen in the tribe, about sixty or seventy of them. Kei did not order a complete massacre; instead, he ordered these black-scaled lizardmen to be tied up and brought back to Black Stone City, evidently planning to rear them as a continuous source of blood supply. The already dead black-scaled lizardmen corpses were not to be wasted either, all having their blood drained, kept in special preservation containers, and taken away. The same treatment was given to the captured giant lizard variant. Compared to those ordinary black-scaled lizardmen, the giant lizard variant no doubt was a better blood supply source. After all, it truly contained Dragon Lizard blood within its body. On the way back, everyone was very excited. Kei’s face was filled with an uncontrollable smile. This battle thoroughly solved the black-scaled lizardmen issue, a cancerous tumor. And the cost they paid was merely under fifty casualties. To achieve such glorious results, they had Sunan to thank. Sunan alone took down seventy to eighty black-scaled lizardmen, including nearly ten knight-level elite black-scaled lizardmen. This battle could completely be described as a major victory! More importantly, from now on, Black Stone City would have a continuous supply of materials to create secondary Dragon Blood Potions. Kei seemed to already envision the scene of Black Stone City’s knights’ numbers multiplying. The triumphant return of the army received a warm welcome from the people. Especially seeing the captured black-scaled lizardmen prisoners, the cheering was deafening. Many civilians who once had relatives killed by the black-scaled lizardmen couldn’t hold back and threw stones at the prisoners. The soldiers didn’t stop them, pretending to not see, letting the civilians vent. Back at the inner fort, Kei ordered the elderly butler Geller to prepare food and wine to hold a celebration banquet, which received an enthusiastic response from the knights led by Jordon. The inner fort was engulfed with a joyful atmosphere the entire night. ... Afterward, Black Stone City returned to its development track. Sunan also became busy. Apart from meditation, he spent most of his time creating secondary Dragon Blood Potions. A great deal of black-scaled lizardmen blood was transported into Sunan’s laboratory and subsequently turned into secondary Dragon Blood Potions. Almost every day, new knights were born in Black Stone City. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 Until all the blood obtained from the battle was used up, and he began drawing blood from black-scaled lizardmen prisoners for materials, the speed of Sunan crafting secondary Dragon Blood Potions slowed down. However, at this time, his attention began to shift to the giant lizard variant. The giant lizard variant’s vitality was extremely strong, and after ten or so days of recovery, the Fire Child’s inflicted wounds had already healed completely. Sunan specifically synthesized a batch of high-quality metal from Black Stone Iron to create a large cage to imprison the giant lizard variant inside. To prevent the giant lizard variant from escaping, it needed a daily dose of Weariness Touch. Making the giant lizard variant now recoil in immense fear every time it saw him. Inside the massive metal cage, under the giant lizard’s aggrieved gaze, Sunan, as usual, drew a large tube of blood from it, then walked out of the cage, closed and locked the door properly. The Dragon Lizard blood concentration within the giant lizard was even higher than he expected, reaching 18.35%. If using black-scaled lizardmen blood, it would take about twenty times the blood volume to synthesize such concentration of Dragon Lizard blood. "Having this concentration of Dragon Lizard blood saves me quite a lot of time." Sunan looked at the experimental table lined with bottles and jars filled with crimson liquid, containing the blood he extracted from the giant lizard over these days. If drawing from black-scaled lizardmen prisoners, it would probably take one to two months to accumulate this much Dragon Lizard blood. "This should be enough." Calming his mind, Sunan began synthesizing Sub-Dragon Blood and then started crafting secondary Dragon Blood Potions. With the production of many potions in this period, his [Potion Crafting] skill proficiency already exceeded the 2000 mark, only short of 800 proficiency points to advance to level 3. The success rate of crafting secondary Dragon Blood Potions also surpassed 30%. For a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice, this was already a quite astonishing success rate. By midday, there were more than twenty bottles of secondary Dragon Blood Potions on the experiment table. Three of them even reached mid-quality. Sunan placed each potion into the magic cube. After placing three mid-quality and five low-quality secondary Dragon Blood Potions, the synthesis interface’s potions finally underwent a qualitative change. [Dragon Blood Potion (1st Tier/Low Quality), enhances physique upon consumption, the extent of enhancement depends on the user’s physique, weaker physique results in stronger effects, multiple usages will diminish effects, user’s physique must be at least 5] "Not bad." Sunan smiled with satisfaction. If he crafted Dragon Blood Potions directly, given his current Level 2 potion crafting skill, the success rate would be a measly single-digit percentage. Even if luck favored him to craft one bottle, the material costs would be at least six to seven times the current amount. By comparison, crafting lower-tier potions and then combining them into higher-tier ones using the magic cube is far more cost-effective. Regaining his focus, Sunan unhesitatingly synthesized the potion and then consumed it on the spot. His current physique was 5.61, precisely meeting the consumption requirement. A familiar hot surge erupted from within him, instantly enveloping his limbs and bones. Sunan felt as if his entire body were immersed in scalding magma, experiencing painful yet a trace of ecstatic shivers. After a while, the anomaly slowly dissipated. Sunan let out a long breath, feeling as though his muscles and bones had become much denser, with a sense of overwhelming power surging inside him, ready to burst at any moment. Looking at the panel again, his physique attribute had become 11.46! An increase of nearly 6 points in physique! "A worthy 1st Tier potion!" Sunan’s face revealed a delighted smile. Now, in terms of physique alone, he was already nearly equivalent to a Middle Knight. The physique even surpassed the spirit power of 11.35. One could only say that enhancing the physical body is far less difficult for a Wizard (Apprentice) compared to boosting spiritual power. "The Star Ring Meditation Method is only 3000 proficiency points away from reaching level 4, which could be done within about a month." Thinking that he would soon advance to a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice, Sunan felt utterly exhilarated. Returning from his joy, he synthesized another Dragon Blood Potion using the remaining secondary Dragon Blood Potions. This potion he did not plan to consume himself but intended to give it to Kei. "Each person can consume at most four to five Dragon Blood Potions, after which further consumption becomes ineffective, but this quantity should suffice for Kei to advance to a Great Knight."