Chapter 428 - New Race: Locust Dragon

Chaotic divine realms, where the core races slaughtered one another and even defied the commands of their own gods, were a sight rarely witnessed in the long history of the Divine Civilization.

Those afflicted by this condition couldn’t figure out why it happened and had no means to resolve it. That changed when a God known as Snow Wolf revealed that Han Wu of Imperial College could resolve it.

When the news spread, every God and Major God who heard Han Wu’s name felt their hearts twitch. Just ten days earlier, they had tried to kill him. How could they turn to him for help? Still, they were hoping that Han Wu wouldn’t recognize them and started contacting him.

Unbeknownst to them, Han Wu had orchestrated the situation to uncover who had invaded his divine realm. Those who contacted him had unwittingly exposed themselves, while his so-called medical fees quickly swelled his account balance.

After enduring the invasion of his divine realm, Han Wu decided to invest all his newfound wealth into strengthening it. Instead of patiently studying and exploring his Divine Authorities to upgrade them, he chose to pour Divine Essence into them.

The cost was steep, but the results were remarkable. It took 100 Divine Essence to improve one Divine Authority by 10%. At present, his two Divine Authorities stood at 60% and 20%, meaning he still needed 1,200 Divine Essence to raise both to their full potential.

For a regular God, that amount was nearly unattainable even after years of effort. For Han Wu, who demanded immense tributes from them, acquiring it was effortless. As long as they wanted to preserve their divine realms, his source of income would never cease.

Beyond increasing his own strength, he also improved all of the units in his divine realm.

Steely mastered the Hurricane Aspect and became a God that controlled wind in Han Wu’s divine realm. Dark Locust mastered the Darkness and Reproduction Aspects and oversaw the locusts’ propagation.

The black dragon Alpheus obtained the Darkness Aspect and was a God that presided over darkness itself. The silver dragon Erebard controlled the Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind Aspects and presided over his divine realm’s four seasons. The gold Great Dragon Smog mastered War and Massacre and was now a God of War.

Han Wu slowly formed the many Gods within his divine realm. With them, he would stand as the God above all Gods, free to focus on furthering his own growth.

Naturally, the Origin of Mutation was the one who benefited the most. Once it regained its freedom, it devoted itself to pursuing that freedom without restraint. With Han Wu granting it unlimited access to Divine Essence, it continued to improve itself.

With enough resources, it embarked on research to create a new life form based on the locusts. The life form needed to retain the locusts’ incredible reproduction capacity while possessing great strength.

For that reason, it sought materials from the Great Dragons. Persuading them required great effort. After spending a lot of Divine Essence and thirty realm years, it finally managed to create a new life form in its lab. Proud of its achievement, the Origin of Mutation eagerly called for Han Wu to witness it.

Inside of the chamber, Han Wu saw a locust-like creature with a dragon head crawling along the floor.

The Origin of Mutation presented its creation with pride. “Vessel, this is a new life form that I call the Locust Dragon. It’s the fusion of a locust and a Great Dragon.”

Han Wu’s curiosity deepened. “Anything special about it?”

The Origin of Mutation, an expert in its field, explained, “From a genetic perspective, it's a type of dragon subspecies. It possesses the reproductive capacity of locusts, along with the Great Dragons’ incredible breath attacks and defensive capabilities. By the Divine Civilization’s standards, they qualify as Heroic life forms from birth.”

“Wait, Heroic life forms from birth?!” Han Wu was shocked.

Although his divine realm housed hundreds of millions of Heroic life forms, that didn’t mean that they were weak. Once a Unique life form broke through to the Heroic rank, it transformed into an entirely different life form.

A Heroic life form surpassed a Unique one in every aspect. If Han Wu could make the Locust Dragon reproduce naturally, his units’ baseline rank would be Heroic! Even a Major God didn’t have units of that caliber.

“Wait, how many resources would it take to raise one? Do you have any data on its growth?” Han Wu asked anxiously.

The Origin of Mutation slowly answered his questions. By the end, Han Wu understood that the Locust Dragon would bring sweeping changes in his divine realm and dramatically improve his units’ overall strength.

“Use every resource you need to nurture them, no matter what.” Han Wu needed powerful units at any cost. Strength was the most fundamental and important factor for him to dominate Imperial College.

The Origin of Mutation loved to do that and agreed. “Sure thing.”

It then asked something else. “Wait, why do you need so many units from the other Gods?”

Han Wu replied, “Two reasons. First, I need to punish them for invading my divine realm. If they lose 99% of their units, it will take them more than five years to recover. Secondly, I have a Divine Power that requires the sacrifice of units to obtain treasures. Those units will be my sacrifice.”

The Origin of Mutation grew curious. “Aren’t you afraid that they will cheat you and won’t surrender 99% of their units?”

“No worries. I will calculate their total units based on what they actually surrender. If they truly give me 99%, you can just send a signal to the Mind Worms to kill themselves. Just make sure only the remaining 1% die.

“If they try to cheat me, some Mind Worms should survive in their divine realms. Then a second wave of Mind Worm infection will follow, and I can charge them more.”

Han Wu wouldn’t let them go so easily, even if they united and pressured Imperial College to let them go. The ball was in Han Wu’s court, and the college would back him.

The Origin of Mutation had to admit that Han Wu was much more devious than it had expected. If it had been the victim, it would’ve let them go after they paid the price by making all the Mind Worms in their divine realms die. That method worked only once, while Han Wu’s method promised multiple compensations.

“Vessel, I look forward to seeing them sacrificed. I wonder what kind of treasures you will get.”

“You will know soon. Want to see the ceremony?” Han Wu asked.

“Of course!”