The Boss King actually disguised himself as a novice village chief?!
Chapter 457 - 386: Collecting Cards, I Have the Highest Rarity

Chapter 457: Chapter 386: Collecting Cards, I Have the Highest Rarity

The Undead guarding the outside saw the castle engulfed by flames once again, and the fungal mats wrapping the exterior no longer struggled and curled up but quickly fell off.

The teardrop-shaped black spheres hanging under the eaves were also "ripe," falling to the ground and exploding, releasing a foul-smelling black sludge.

This blaze lasted for a day and a night; at first, the Undead gathered to watch, but eventually, they lost interest and turned to attend to their own affairs.

When Lind pushed open the gate again, a terrifying hot wind howled out, making one involuntarily furrow their brows.

Boyd immediately hugged his drawing board.

Seeing Lind’s skin red and steaming, Boyd cautiously kept his distance and then asked loudly, "My Lord, are you alright?"

"Me? I’m great!"

He was indeed fine, having unexpectedly harvested over eighty Abyssal Calamity Hearts, though he didn’t know the difference between these and regular Calamity Hearts. They looked even more disgusting.

The stones were covered in vein-like patterns, which undulated in sync with his breathing when he held them in his hand.

No matter what type of Calamity Heart it was, it couldn’t be used for breeding, or it might just cultivate a new Abyssal Race directly.

The gate to the Abyss had already opened, and now the Undead could pass through the great hall to the front lines of the Abyss, to the real Great Rift.

Lind could finally breathe easy. Having taken full control of the fortress, he could now activate various defensive functions and forge it into a true military fort.

Let those Undead eager to pioneer go ahead; the more they fight, the more they consume, and the more profit they generate.

"My Lord, this is what I’ve painted."

Boyd presented his latest artwork.

After learning of Boyd’s artistic talents, Lind had considered using them for profit.

A successful game must have collectible cards.

Depicting every key figure from each battle, whether the editions were limited or not was irrelevant; the important thing was to get them out there, to stimulate consumption.

And another thing about Boyd’s paintings was that they each featured different attribute modifiers.

Several paintings included Lind, as well as gentle William and Lord Iris Flower.

They also depicted scenes of their battles.

"If you replicate these paintings, can you ensure they retain these effects?"

"My Lord, even if I paint them myself, they would just be replicas."

"You sure have made quite a number of those replicas," Lind stated bluntly.

Boyd grinned sheepishly, "I can paint, and it’s very easy, as you know. Creation is the hardest part because inspiration is fleeting."

"That’s good to hear."

"But the effects might be much weaker."

"As long as there’s some effect, that’s fine!"

"Are you thinking of selling them to the Undead?" Boyd’s perceptions were very sharp.

During his time with Lind, he had seen many of Lind’s schemes and realized that the death-defying nature of the Undead was essentially that of mercenary. They were loyal because it seemed Lind knew exactly what to offer in payment for their services.

Even if Boyd occasionally mimicked Lind in offering rewards to get the Undead to work for him, most of the time, his rewards held no appeal for the Undead, so after a few attempts, Boyd had lost interest.

Lind pointed at the paintings, "Yes, like the zombies, we could start with tens of thousands of those; Exiles could start with ten thousand, Scavengers five thousand, Iris Flower a thousand, William and Wen each only a thousand, and as for me, ninety-nine."

Since he was the Lord, it wouldn’t be too much to raise his own rarity, right?

Additionally, characters like the Crystal Mage, Mico, Lania, and Tione also held significant value to be captured in paintings; cards of female characters would definitely be rarer than those of male characters.

"My Lord, our Expedition Army doesn’t even have ten thousand Undead," Boyd felt he should remind Lind that he might want to give up on painting zombies and instead produce ten thousand of the Iris Flower and others.

And he had even forgotten that he’d be the one painting the tens of thousands of paintings.

"I know, we’re painting fewer because there are so few Undead now," Lind nodded, speaking matter-of-factly.

These cards would all be entered into his magic system in the future, then stamped and listed as "authentic."

As they encountered more and more Undead in the future, tens of thousands of cards thrown into the market would be like a drop of oil in the ocean.

"Paint fewer?" Boyd thought he must have heard wrong, unable to comprehend what Lind was saying, "My Lord, the Undead might not be willing to spend money on them, I don’t think they’ll like those ugly zombies."

"I know!" Lind nodded and then countered, "Who said I was going to sell to them?"

"Not sell?"

It had been a long time since he’d opened a prize pool, and with such excellent material from the Abyss, it would truly be a waste not to open one.

Lind felt the Undead had accumulated a bit too much Military Merit, so he needed to harvest it quickly.

Only the hungry would work hard.

Only the penniless Undead would strive for the new equipment they desired.

If it was a fair trade, then it wouldn’t be harvesting crops; moreover, fair trading posed the risk of making large numbers of the Undead wealthy, and without official authority, Lind couldn’t adjust anything.

So there had to be a high-risk, high-reward element like a lottery. Every Undead thought they were the special one, so they foolishly threw out the money they had accrued over countless days and nights.

Even if a few Undead suddenly rose to the top and became lead players, it didn’t matter much.

How strong the top Undead were was not important; the value created by high-end players was just so much. He was not The Officials, so he could not benefit at all, and they were picky about what they did. They thought about enjoying life every day and were choosy about the tasks they took on.

The lower-middle ranks were always at the bottom, which was the most crucial aspect—they were the part that, as NPCs, needed to be harvested.

"I need to leave for a while," William instructed Lind and Wen to take good care of things, "Set up checkpoints up front. Any Undead with severe abyssal transformations should be killed immediately; we can’t let them get into the fort."

This was one of the fort’s most crucial uses.

"Yes!"

Boyd watched Lind leave before realizing something.

Hold on!

Am I expected to draw tens of thousands of these myself?

...

Lind returned to the Gate of Mephisto with the Heart of Abyssal Calamity.

There were not only Soldiers here but also a batch of Undead who had come on their own. They were newbies with low levels, only able to handle some tasks nearby.

When Lind found Mico, he found her deeply engrossed in reading several books, not even noticing his arrival.

"Ahem!"

After standing there for quite a while, Lind couldn’t help but cough to get her attention.

Scratching her head, Mico put down her book and looked in Lind’s direction. Perhaps it was an illusion, but for a moment, Lind thought he saw rings in her eyes.

"You’re back?!" Upon confirming it was Lind, Mico immediately slammed her book on the table, leapt off her chair, and ran over to him.

"What are you reading?"

"I’ve been learning some knowledge from my Mentor. You might not know this, but Mentor also studied at Sky Star Magic School. After learning about the disaster of the Abyssal Great Rift, he joined the Catastrophe Executioners..." Bunny-toothed Witch said a lot.

Lind nodded as he listened. This atmosphere slightly eased the pressure in his heart. Staying near the Abyss for long years, it was hard for his heart not to be affected.

"What do you need to do this time you’re back? Are you hurt?" Mico had already reached out to feel Lind’s body, checking if he was injured.

"No, this time I’ve brought you some good things."

"What?"

Lind took out the large, heavy bag full of Epic-level Hearts of Abyssal Calamity.

Bunny-toothed Witch smiled with satisfaction, "But I need to ask Mentor first, and I might not be able to brew Epic-level Magic Potions yet."

She liked that Lind gave her all the crucial materials each time, at least making her persuade herself that staying by Lind’s side was because she always got good ingredients for Magic Potions.

He didn’t stay long, saw the Crystal Mage, and especially found out about Mico’s learning progress.

"She has no talent in other areas, and her talent for Magic Potions is also quite ordinary," the Crystal Mage spoke frankly.

"Is that so?" Lind received a piece of news that did not make him very happy.

"Is it possible for her to become an Epic-level, or even a higher-level Pharmacist?"

"Brewing Magic Potions requires a flash of inspiration. Many pharmacists’ formulas come from such flashes, which you might consider a gift from the gods. Mico lacks this talent," the Crystal Mage turned around and said, "However, there is another method of exhaustive effort. With tens, hundreds, or thousands of times more effort, she can succeed. If it were for a Wizard or Knight, I might recommend this method, but she’s a Pharmacist, my Lord."

Mico, a Pharmacist, her thousands of times more effort meant investing thousands of times more cost than a talented Pharmacist.

"Only thousands of times more?" Lind stroked his chin.

Raising the price for the Undead should flatten this investment cost.

After all, there are Undead helping to gather materials.

If worst comes to worst, just stuff some useless things in the lottery pool to, so to speak, adjust the odds.

"What?" The Crystal Mage thought he must have misheard.

"She wants to become a Pharmacist, and I need a Pharmacist, so other issues are no problem. Please instruct her well," Lind said.

"I will!"

Previously, the Crystal Mage had been teaching Mico casually, letting her read books because his attention was all on the Abyss. However, if Lind maintained this attitude, he would have to go all-out in her instruction.

An apprentice’s talent is significant, but having a dedicated mentor to teach with all their might is also crucial.

Now, the Crystal Mage only wished Lind would seriously confront the Abyss. The cost of imparting everything to a talentless little Witch was truly minimal.

That being said, brewing the "Epic-level Storm Knight Path Magic Potion" still required Crystal Mage’s involvement. He wasn’t skilled in potion brewing, but his help could increase Mico’s success rate.

Lind needed to strengthen himself.

His busy schedule hadn’t ended. When he returned to the Gate of Mephisto, he received a message from Melulan; now, they needed to meet in person.

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