No one on the Spacetime Continent knew that the Alliance was preparing to end their training early.
Of course, Aoki, who was confined within the barrier of the Spacetime Mountain, did not know either.
However, this matter did not affect Daigo and the rest much. They had enough training on the Spacetime Continent, and if they continued, they would just fight and grow step by step. Compared to the Elven World, the speed of improvement would definitely be faster, but the difference was not huge.
Due to Aoki's forceful intervention, the church had fallen apart, and the difficulty of training for Daigo and the rest was even lower.
However, other than this group of people who had successfully gathered, there were still many people who were wandering outside. No one knew how they were doing, and whether they had successfully survived the oppression of the church.
Aoki, who did not know, was now focused on researching the reverse scale of the Knight Ratina.
Such high-quality materials, when placed in the world of elves, could be used by a few researchers who were knowledgeable about elves and a few high-level cultivators, as props for lifelong research projects.
To most people, the Knight Ratina was just a legend. If there was such a precious reverse scale, it would definitely open a new window for all the elven scholars, and give them a deeper understanding of the nature of the Elven World.
Aoki might not have as much professional knowledge as those scholars, but he had something that others did not have.
That was the A.I. Chip!
The A.I. Chip's existence, which had been intentionally expanded by Aoki, could be described as a sea of data.
When Aoki became the Alliance's Sandstorm King and the top operatives of the Rocket Team, he had intentionally expanded the A.I. Chip's data. It was no exaggeration to say that its internal data was comparable to that of two or three Ph.D. level elven scholars.
The A.I. Chip also had an advantage, and that was its calculation and analysis speed, which was tens or even hundreds of times faster than humans. To others, it might be a lifelong research project, but to the A.I. Chip, it was just a more special and complicated tool.
Especially when Aoki had a certain degree of ability to decompose the energy of the Knight Ratina's reverse scale.
Three days later, with the A.I. Chip's complicated calculations and Aoki's multiple attempts, he was able to determine the method to extract the dense ghostly energy from the reverse scale.
Among them, the survival of Da Klei also played a very important role.
The Knight Ratina's spectral energy in Dakrai's body was like a stubborn stain, an obstruction, an external object. Because it was in his body, there were many things he had to worry about, making it much more difficult to get rid of.
However, if it was energy that was already in the reverse scale, then it was a different concept.
Aoki once again took out the reverse scale of the Knight Radina that had been placed there for three days. The rich energy on it had not dissipated because of the time it had been placed there.
On the contrary, the reverse scale of the Knight Latina became more like a special kind of off-topic creature after leaving the Knight Latina. Its own energy formed a circle of energy flow inside the reverse scale, as if it could maintain the stability and continued development of its own energy.
"It's not easy to create this after spending three days. Fortunately, I've gathered enough materials this time, so there weren't too many obstacles in the process." Aoki held a bottle of orange-yellow reagent in his other hand. This was what he had created with the A.I. Chip's help in the past three days.
"Dakrai, Geng Gui, I'll need you to make your move later. Get ready," Aoki said to Dakrai and the eager Geng Gui.
Among Aoki's elves, only the Geng Gui could make use of the Knight Latina's spectral energy.
Dakrai's role was to help Aoki and the Geng Gui cut off the energy in the reverse scale when the time was right. Only Dakrai was up to this task.
"Keke!" The Geng Gui nodded, slowly calming his excitement.
"Queke!" Dakrai still had that cold look on his face, but from his expression, it seemed like he valued Aoki's instructions. After all, he had tasted the pain of the Knight Latina's energy. Even if it was just a reverse scale, he had to take it seriously.
Seeing that his two elves had no problems, Aoki slowly poured the yellow reagent onto the black reverse scale.
The patterns on the black reverse scale were filled with large amounts of the yellow reagent. This reagent was being absorbed by the reverse scale at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In fact, the most difficult part of decomposing this reverse scale wasn't decomposing the energy within, but extracting the energy without harming the reverse scale itself.
As the yellow reagent was completely absorbed, Aoki immediately threw the reverse scale away and quickly retreated.
At this moment, the energy in the forest had become extremely unstable. After the yellow reagent entered the energy cycle, it was destroyed, and large amounts of energy escaped.
Seeing the large amount of ghost-type energy escaping, the Geng Gui immediately walked to the front and absorbed a large amount of the black mist into its body.
The Geng Gui had already absorbed the ghost-type energy of the Knight Latina. However, after such a long period of assimilation, the energy in the Geng Gui's body now belonged to it. However, the energy in the Geng Gui's body was more or less similar to the energy in the Knight Latina's body.
"Keke —" As soon as the Geng Gui came into contact with the black mist, it cried out in pain. It was obvious that the pressure of absorption this time was relatively high.
Aoki was constantly paying attention to the changes in the Geng Gui's data.
The Geng Gui's energy absorption had a certain threshold. After this threshold, the Geng Gui would not be able to convert in time and would be assimilated by the Knight Latina's energy.
Therefore, the existence of Drakley was required. Only he could suppress the Knight Latina's energy to a certain extent and help the Geng Gui absorb the energy better.
Aoki had been paying attention. When he saw that the Geng Gui's threshold was almost reached, he was slightly surprised and immediately called out, "Drakley!"
"Quac —" Drakley immediately understood what Aoki meant.
A large amount of evil energy gathered in his dark hand. It looked like a claw burning with black flames as he grabbed the reverse scale.
As expected, after Drakley took effect, the energy escaping from the reverse scale was greatly reduced. The pressure on the Geng Gui to absorb the energy was also greatly reduced.
Seeing that it had stabilized, Aoki also let out a long sigh of relief. His heart was also slowly calming down.
As long as the Geng Gui could absorb all the ghost-type energy in the reverse scale, not to mention how much its strength would increase, just the quality of the ghost-type energy in its body would increase by at least one level.
In the future, when fighting with other elves of the same level and with the same skills, it would depend on the mastery of the skills and the strength of the energy within.
If an iron ball and a ball of water of the same weight collided, it was easy to imagine which one would be stronger.
Next, Aoki needed to think about how to make the best use of the dragon-type energy within, as well as the reverse scale itself.
The dragon-type energy was still manageable since the Berserk Dragon could absorb it. However, the reverse scale of the Knight Latina, apart from the ghost-type energy and dragon-type energy, was itself a very powerful tool.
There was definitely a large amount of Knight Latina's core blood in it. This was not something that could be easily absorbed. If something went wrong, there would definitely be uncontrollable changes.
...
Just as the Geng Gui was absorbing Knight Latina's ghost-type energy, far away in the destroyed world, Knight Latina, who was sleeping leisurely, suddenly opened its eyes.
Its scarlet eyes flashed with a trace of disbelief. It could vaguely feel that someone was touching the only reverse scale that it had plucked from its body.
Aoki's guess was not wrong. No human, no elven, could forcefully pluck the most important reverse scale from Knight Latina's body.
Therefore, this reverse scale was plucked by Knight Latina itself.
Different methods of plucking it also meant different results. The reverse scale that Knight Latina plucked itself was vaguely related to its own reverse scale. After all, this was the core and most important part of its body.
Previously, it had already felt that its reverse scale was being attacked. However, when it thought about the task that the reverse scale had to undertake this time, it did not think too much about it. However, just now, it felt that the energy on its reverse scale was actually being divided and absorbed?!
The first thing that came to Knight Latina's mind was that there was actually an elf that could absorb its energy?
As the ancestor of absorbing the energy of others, Knight Latina had always been proud of absorbing the energy of Dinya Luca and Palugia. To put it bluntly, its current achievements and strength had a lot to do with absorbing the energy of those two divine beasts.
Now, there was actually someone who dared to absorb its energy?!
This was something that Knight Latina could not tolerate.
However, it suddenly remembered that its reverse scale had been given to that person! He wanted that so-called organization of his to bring back what he needed.
Thinking of this, Knight Latina's aura skyrocketed. It could not tolerate its own thing being used as a stepping stone for others. It was not its style to sacrifice itself to help others.
At this time, Knight Latina was still in his original form. The six ribbon-like things on his back were his wings in this form.
In this destroyed world, he was the king. With a casual shake of the black ribbons on his back, he disappeared on the spot. However, this was not teleportation, but extreme speed.
In the blink of an eye, Knight Latina arrived in front of a floating island in a remote area of the destroyed world. This floating island was completely upside down, so the things growing on it were also upside down.
However, there was nothing growing on it. There was only a person wearing a black robe, whose face could not be seen clearly, sitting upside down on it.
Feeling the presence of Knight Latina gradually approaching, the person slowly stood up from the ground and looked at the aggressive Knight Latina in an upside down posture. This was a strange way of looking at it.
However, this person was not afraid of Knight Latina's arrival, nor was he worried because of Knight Latina's malicious look.
He was the only human in the entire elf world who could come in contact with Dragon Latina, the King of the Underworld. He also understood his personality, so he knew that the other party was not targeting him.
"Knight Latina." The black-robed person called out Knight Latina's name directly. It seemed like he was treating him as an equal.
"Roar —" Knight Latina did not reject the other party's attitude. Although he did not like the other party's attitude, at least the other party had the strength to make him accept the name.
Then, Knight Ratina told him everything he felt, and asked him in an interrogative tone.
"Your people are not stuffing their own pockets, are they?! Why do I feel like the energy on my reverse scale is dissipating at an abnormal speed! "Knight Latina growled.
Hearing Knight Latina's words, and feeling the fluctuations of the spatial energy around him becoming more and more active, the black-robed person was silent for a while. Then he said calmly, "It's not impossible."
As the true founder of the church, of course he knew what kind of people in his organization were. They were people who gathered through benefits, so it was not impossible for them to be blinded by Knight Latina's reverse scale.
However, he had considered this possibility from the beginning, so he chose Wallace as the person in charge of this mission. Relatively speaking, Wallace was the only one who was more reliable, and he also had enough strength to suppress everyone and complete this mission.
Logically speaking, this mission should not be difficult. With the difficulty level of the Spacetime Mainland, Wallace and his group should be able to completely crush them. Even if the group of little fellows from the Alliance were included, Wallace and his group should be able to crush them.
In terms of time, they should have found the things and returned, but there was no news at all.
There were only two possibilities. Either Wallace and his group had betrayed them, or they had encountered something that they could not stop with their strength.
No matter which it was, he could not care less now.
After another period of silence, the black-robed person said, "If we can't get those things, do we still continue with the plan?"
Hearing the black-robed person mention the plan, Knight Latina's eyes narrowed, and his aura rose again. "Continue! I'll deal with the matter of the reverse scale myself! Hmph! "
Having said that, he did not care if the other party really knew about his reverse scale. No matter what, they had to continue with the plan that they had been planning for a long time!
The black-robed man stared at the Latina mount that came and left as quickly as it came. Until the Latina mount completely disappeared from his sight, the black-robed man muttered to himself. "… Hades Dragon, riding Latina?"
...
The Spacetime Mainland.
In the secret plane within the barrier of the Spacetime Peak.
Aoki looked at the Geng Gui that had stabilized the absorption process with the help of Drakley. After confirming that there were no problems, he sat down cross-legged and prepared to take out other things to study the remaining two parts.
However, just as he sat down, something unexpected happened.
"Quaker!" Drakley roared. His hand that was holding Knight Latina's reverse scale emitted a violent hissing sound, and a large amount of black and white smoke spewed out from it.
At the same time, the Geng Gui's expression became somewhat ferocious.
Seeing this, Aoki's expression changed, and he immediately jumped up from the ground. The A.I. Chip's scan showed that the value had exceeded the threshold, and was close to the limit that the Geng Gui could withstand.
If this continued, the Geng Gui would gradually lose its rationality due to the energy spewing out, and become a collection of highly concentrated energy.
"What's going on?" Aoki asked in a low voice.
According to the A.I. Chip's analysis over the past three days, as well as Drakley's, theoretically speaking, the energy in the reverse scale should not fluctuate so violently for no reason.
"Quaker —" Drakley was also somewhat unable to resist, but he could not let go now. Once he did, the energy in the reverse scale would lose its suppression, and would definitely pour into the Geng Gui's body. This was something that the Geng Gui could not withstand at the moment.
Aoki's heart moved. There was no other way, and it seemed like there was only one way.
"Dream demon —" Aoki shouted.
Hearing Aoki's shout, the first to react was not the dream demon, but Drakley who was still holding onto the reverse scale. His hand trembled, and he almost let go.
"Dream —" The dream demon shouted, and flew to Aoki's side.
Aoki glanced at the dream demon, and then at the nervous Drakley.
At this moment, Drakley knew what Aoki was thinking. Apart from the Geng Gui, Aoki only had the dream demon among his sprites that could withstand Knight Latina's ghostly energy.
After all, the dream demon was originally a Draklyi. It was only because it had absorbed too much of Horadina's spectral energy that it was forced to become a Draklyi. In theory, the dream demon should also be able to withstand this energy.
"Don't worry, I've thought about this from the start. The chances of a problem occurring are less than 10%. If the dream demon can withstand it, I think it'll be of great help to her," Aoki said to Drakley.
The dream demon would definitely not reject Aoki, but if Drakley was concerned about his younger sister, he might very well refuse.
That was why Aoki needed to make sure Drakley wasn't worried.
In addition, Aoki had the A.I. Chip analyse the process of the dream demon absorbing the energy. Although the dream demon was not primarily in charge of battle, and her current strength was enough, he had considered that the Geng Gui might not be able to absorb all of it. When the time came, the dream demon would be able to absorb the remaining energy and increase her strength.
He hadn't wanted to waste it, so he'd left a backup plan behind. He hadn't expected it to become the key to saving the situation.
Knowing that Aoki wasn't spouting nonsense, Drakley could only suppress the uneasiness in his heart and do his best to control the rampaging energy in his reverse scale.
The dream demon obeyed Aoki's instructions and floated to the Geng Gui's side, sharing the pressure on the Geng Gui with him.
The pressure was suddenly alleviated, and the Geng Gui's absorption threshold was lowered to a dangerous level.
Although it was still not as stable as before, it was at least safe. It was just that Drakley might have to endure more pain.
However, this was a good thing for both the Geng Gui and the dream demon.
The berserk nature of Knight Latina's reverse scale was temporarily suppressed.
...
Two days later.
Seeing that the Geng Gui and the dream demon were in good condition, Aoki could finally relax.
However, Drakley had it tough. In order to stabilize the energy output, Drakley had used up all of his energy. Even with the help of Aoki's Energy Cube and various other items, he had barely managed to hold on.
The process was tough, but the result was outstanding, so outstanding that Takeshi Aoki was a little surprised.
Little Elf: Geng Gui (Dark Blue)
Gender: Male
Level: Level 89
Attributes: Specter + Poison
Special Characteristic: Cursed Body
Portable Items: Geng Gui's Advanced Fossil
Inherited Skills: Flame Fist, Ghost Face, Black Fog
Basic Skills: Shadow Fist, Hypnosis, Lick, Grudge, Black Gaze, Curse, Dark Shadow, Strange Light, Sudden Attack, Tooth for Tooth, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Evil Wave, Same Life, Misfortunes Never Come Alone, Nightmare
Imparted Skills: Sleep, Shadow Ball, Mental Telekinesis, Special Characteristic Exchange, Snoring, Song of Perdition, Frost Fist, Lightning Fist, Role-Play, Freezing Wind, Snatch, Change Venue
Skill Learning Device: Defend, Awakening Strength (Grass), Sleep Talk, Poison, Provoke, Poison Attack, Poison Impact, 100,000 Volts
In terms of skills, the changes were not very big.
However, not only did the Geng Gui's level catch up with Drakley's at Level 89, but its aptitude had also risen to Dark Blue. It was only one step away from Purple.
In other words, if the Geng Gui in this state underwent Super Evolution normally, its strength should be able to rise to the second level of the Champion Level in theory!
The increase in this level could be said to be the greatest qualitative change. Wallace and Everyard, who had suppressed all the members of the church, had Geng Gui that could break through to the second level of the Champion Level after Super Evolution!
Now!
Aoki's Geng Gui had also reached such a level!
However, in order to truly display its strength, it would probably take a long time. After all, it had absorbed quite a lot of energy this time.
Compared to the increase in level, Aoki actually cared more about the increase in aptitude.
Dark Blue aptitude!
It was only one step away from the Purple level.
Aoki was originally a little worried that after the Geng Gui's strength broke through to the peak of the first level of the Champion Level, its aptitude might be an obstacle that would restrict it from breaking through to the highest level.
Although it was not impossible to break through with a Blue aptitude, it was just that the time and price required was much more than a Dark Blue aptitude.
Now, not only had its strength risen to the peak, its aptitude had also risen to Dark Blue.
As a little ghost that had followed Aoki out of the trial island, it probably would not have thought that it could reach such a level at that time.
To put it bluntly, a Geng Gui with the strength of the second level of the Champion Level was already comparable to those slightly weaker Mythical Beasts to a certain extent!
Other than the Geng Gui, there was also the Dream Demon.
Little Geng: Dream Demon (Light Blue)
Gender: Female
Level: 81
Attribute: Ghost
Special Characteristic: Float
Portable Items: Stone of Darkness, Bell of Comfort
Inherited Skills: Same Fate, Seal, Magical Space, Curse, Special Characteristic Exchange
Basic Skills: Cry, Spirit Wave, Grudge, Fright, Strange Light, Black Gaze, Misfortunes Never Come Alone, Illusory Ray, Shared Pain, Tit for Tat, Shadow Ball, Song of Perdition, Grudge, Power Gem, Magic Flame, Sneak Attack, Lucky Spell, Magic Leaf
Imparted Skills: Noise, Magic Space, Snoring, Snatch, Telekinesis, Special Characteristic Exchange, Sharpen, Healing Bell, Change Venue, Freezing Wind, Electromagnetic Wave, Trickery, Deception, Resentment
Skill Learning Device: Guard, Meditation, Spirit Force, Shadow Ball, Swallow Return, Will-O '-the-wisp, Dream Talk, Spirit Force, Sleep, Energy Ball, Dream Eater
Not only did the Dream Demon's strength break through to the Champion Level, her aptitude also rose from the original Dark Blue to Light Blue.
Originally, according to the Dream Demon's Dark Blue aptitude, the peak of the Quasi-Champion Level was her limit. However, because the Qiladina's reverse scale was filled with Qiladina's spirit energy, her aptitude successfully rose to Light Blue.
This way, the aptitude limit that was originally limiting the Dream Demon's strength was broken in one fell swoop with this unexpected gain.
Although the Dream Demon wasn't Aoki's battle type Fairy, this kind of increase in strength was still a good thing.
Seeing the Geng Gui and Dream Demon's strength increase, as well as the exhausted Dakraii on the ground, a smile appeared on Aoki's face.
However, seeing Aoki's smile, Dakraii and Geng Gui didn't know why, but for some reason, they both shivered at the same time, as if they had thought of something very bad.
Actually, Aoki was only thinking about the remaining energy in the reverse scale.
Just the ghostly energy within the reverse scale was already able to enhance his sprite to such an extent. Greenwood was very curious as to what kind of enhancement it would bring to his sprite if he used the remaining dragon energy and the reverse scale itself.
Of course, in order to help other Fairies absorb the energy in the reverse scale, he would inevitably need the most powerful Dakraii and Geng Gui to suppress the energy output of the reverse scale together.
"As expected of Knight Ratina's reverse scale. The energy it contains is really terrifying. Taking off this reverse scale will at least reduce his strength by one level or even more, right?" Aoki looked at the reverse scale lying quietly in his hand.
As the spirit energy had been completely sucked dry, the reverse scale not only turned dark red, but it also didn't have much of an effect on the person holding it.
Other than being a little hot, it didn't look much different from an ordinary scale.
Its restrained appearance didn't look like the ostentatious reverse scale of the Underworld Dragon King at all. However, this also made it easier for Aoki to separate the energy from it.
...
Seven days later.
Although the barrier at the top of the Space-Time Mountain was isolated from the outside world, the day and night here was exactly the same as the Space-Time Continent outside.
In these five days, Aoki finally extracted all the dragon energy from Knight Ratina's reverse scale.
The reason why it took seven days was that the energy inside was much more difficult to deal with than Aoki had imagined. At least, it was much more difficult than extracting the spirit energy from it.
However, it was all extracted in the end.
For some reason, the energy in the reverse scale didn't go berserk this time. Other than being a little stubborn, everything went very smoothly.
Dakraii and Geng Gui had a false alarm. To them, this was just a routine operation.
Looking at the red and blue egg in front of him that was taller than him and feeling the rich energy fluctuations in it, Aoki couldn't help but smile.
Among Aoki's Fairies, the only one who could absorb the dragon energy was the Violent Flying Dragon. Moreover, the Violent Flying Dragon now had the ability to absorb all the dragon energy in it.
This absorption process lasted for a total of five days, and at this moment, it was almost time for the absorption to be complete.
The Violent Flying Dragon's aptitude had already reached light purple. He just didn't know if it would be able to improve and grow through this enhancement.
After all, once a Fairy's aptitude reached the purple level, any increase in strength would have a very huge impact.
In theory, reaching the purple level was already beyond an ordinary Fairy's aptitude and had reached the level of a Mythical Beast.
At this level, it was even more difficult to improve one's aptitude.
"Ka ka ka —"
Just as Aoki was fantasizing about the Violent Flying Dragon breaking through the limits of its aptitude level and completing a qualitative breakthrough in both strength and aptitude, he would ride the super Violent Flying Dragon and sweep through the entire Fairy World. However, the sound of the eggshell cracking woke him up from his daydream.
"Roar!!!!" A domineering dragon's roar spread throughout the entire barrier at the top of the Space-Time Mountain.
A domineering and handsome dragon Fairy covered in blue appeared in front of Aoki!
It was the Violent Flying Dragon that Aoki had been looking forward to for a long time.
To a Fairy, every time it broke out of its shell, it was a qualitative transformation. However, the chances of such a transformation were very rare.
This time, the Violent Flying Dragon was only forced to form an egg with the help of abundant energy because the dragon energy was too dense.
Aoki smiled as he patted the Violent Flying Dragon's head.
Although he hadn't scanned the Violent Flying Dragon's stats and status, Aoki could still feel the dense energy fluctuations on the Violent Flying Dragon's body. Compared to before, the increase was quite considerable.
However, because of this, Aoki was also prepared to not achieve his ideal result.
Little Fairy: Violent Flying Dragon (light purple)
Gender: Male
Level: 84
Attributes: Dragon + Flight
Characteristics: Intimidating
Portable Items: Blue Sky Slate Fragment, Violent Flying Dragon Super Fossil
Inherited Skills: Water Cannon, Dragon's Dance, Flame Tooth, Dragon's Dive
Basic Skills: Flight, Guard, Dragon Tail, Flame Tooth, Lightning Tooth, Wrath, Spark, Glare, Bite, Dragon Breath, Hammer, Gathering Aura, Crush, Dragon Claw, Mental Hammer, Ghost Mask, Flame Spray, Sacrificial Charge
Imparted Skills: Meteor Swarm, Hot Wind, Dragon's Wave, Iron Tail, Snoring, Reverse Scale, Flowing Water Tail, Loud Sound, Fog Clear, Mental Hammer, Tailwind
Skill Learning Device: Guard, Feathered Nest, Earthquake, Tile Splitter, Swallow Return, Steel Wings, Shadow Claw, Sharp Stone Attack, Shadow Doppelganger, Dragon Tail
The first thing Shi Feng saw was the Violent Flying Dragon's aptitude. Sure enough, it was still light purple.
Although Aoki was slightly disappointed, he also felt that it was to be expected. If a single piece of Ratna's reverse scale could upgrade an Elf's aptitude from light purple to purple, then no matter how powerful Ratna was, it might still be plucked clean by others. After all, it wasn't as if there were no hidden experts in the Elf World.
However, although the aptitude didn't upgrade to the purple level, the density of its color was much deeper. He believed that if there was such an opportunity next time, it was very likely that it would upgrade to the purple level.
As for the Violent Flying Dragon's level, the extent of this upgrade made Aoki very satisfied.
In this state, the Violent Flying Dragon would definitely break through to the strength of the champion level after super evolution. Such strength was already the main force of Aoki's current main force.
The Violent Flying Dragon was able to grow to this stage so much later. Although there were endless opportunities, in Aoki's view, it was still because of its own hard work!
When the Violent Flying Dragon was a baby dragon, because of the environment in which it was born, it had always been one of the few that suffered the most among all of Aoki's Elves. It was also one of the few that was the most hardworking.
In Aoki's view, the Violent Flying Dragon's current strength had an inseparable relationship with its hard work.
Once again, he patted the Violent Flying Dragon's neck lightly to express his praise.
Aoki looked at the Ratna's reverse scale that had turned silver-gray in his hand. "How to use this next part really gives me a headache."
— — —
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