Scourge Messenger

Chapter 337 Monster Lineup

Yan Qing, Ying Rushi, and Murong Hui gasped. Having followed Yan Qing in training puppets, they had some understanding of the mechanics of the Demon Gathering Ground and could naturally see the power of these three accessories.

The "Ascension Altar" can reliably ascend a puppet every two days. Keep in mind that Yan Qing has only had one ascended dragon servant in three days!
Besides Yan Qing's good luck in receiving rewards that accelerated his ascension progress on the first day, it was also because he had already decided to use the Dragon Servant as his core card in the early stages and poured all his resources into it.

The next day, he also played the "poop-blowing stone pillar" game, but he didn't get any ascension progress rewards. Instead, he only increased the attribute of a random puppet card by 1000/1000. This shows that even if he frequently plays on amusement facilities, he may not necessarily gain ascension progress.

Among the flesh and blood mutations that Yan Qing could choose at the beginning, one of them was to make a puppet ascend, which could only be used once in the entire game. The "Ascension Altar" could be used to ascend once every two days, and its value was beyond doubt!
As for the benefits of ascension... Putting aside everything else, just looking at the data on paper, the Mountain Stone Demon's health is at least a hundred times that of the Ascended Dragon Servant, and its attack power can easily kill the Ascended Dragon Servant. However, the Ascended Dragon Servant was able to defeat the Mountain Stone Demon. Besides Yan Qing's ingenious tactics, the most crucial factor was the ascension trait [Soul Salvation].

Ascension, while not comparable to the messenger's gold-seeking ascension, the puppet's flesh and blood ascension is arguably equivalent to having an additional foundation-building supernatural power.

But these were the very accessories that Yan Qing needed least.

The reason is simple: Yan Qing doesn't have a core puppet to ascend to. This is an accessory that can accelerate the snowballing of his lineup, but Yan Qing hasn't determined his snowball yet, so even if he chooses "Ascension Altar," he can't use it immediately. And now all of Yan Qing's puppets have perished, so he can't continue collecting high-level puppet cards. This means that Yan Qing won't be able to find a suitable puppet to use [Flesh and Blood Ascension] until tomorrow at the earliest.

If Yan Qing intended to delve deeper into this instance, the "Ascension Altar" would undoubtedly be the most profitable choice. However, the fourth quest for the Thieves' Home was coming up in a few days, and Yan Qing had to return. No matter how good the mysterious supernatural powers rewarded by the True Demon were, they could never be more important than the Thieves' Home, not only because of the Pharmacist's Wish and the Merchant's Tears, but also because they were Yan Qing's greatest source of security.

However, speaking of which, Yan Qing remembered that there was a puppet called "Inverted Immortal" that could make the effect of "[At the end of each day]" occur twice. Combined with "Ascension Altar", that would mean obtaining two "Flesh and Blood Ascension" cards every two days... This should also be a kind of strategy.

The "Jade Purification Bottle" accessory is undoubtedly more suitable for Yan Qing. The three daily "Heal the Wounded and Rescue" abilities mean Yan Qing can engage in more battles. Putting everything else aside, if Yan Qing chooses the "Jade Purification Bottle" and continues to use the Ascended Dragon Servant strategy, he'll still have three more chances to challenge the Eight Demons today!

If the "Ascension Altar" can accelerate the snowball effect, then the "Jade Purification Bottle" represents even more opportunities!

Yan Qing was tempted for a moment, but quickly dismissed the idea.

It's very simple. The Mountain Stone Demon is just a special case. The other eight demons cannot all be 'low-speed' or 'ranged' monsters. The Ascended Dragon Servant strategy may not work every time.

Moreover, he has already used his [Resurrection] mutation. Even if he resurrects the Ascended Dragon Servant, he can only summon two Soul Dragon Servants. Four Servants would take five minutes to fight, so two Servants would naturally take ten minutes. There are too many variables involved.

In comparison, the "Blood Demon Sect Exchange Token" is Yan Qing's best choice. Having discovered two fourth-tier puppets, Yan Qing has a high probability of finding a core puppet to switch his lineup, and could even start snowballing his power today!

Yan Qing didn't hesitate much and decisively clicked on the "Blood Demon Sect Exchange Token." A flash of golden light appeared, and three puppet cards surfaced on the bracelet:

"Fourth-Tier Dragon Clan - Crimson Flame Heavenly Dragon Sacrifice"

Initial attack power: 1500

Initial HP: 1300

"Trait - Dragon King's Power: At the start of battle, all dragons gain a 1000/1000 attribute bonus. For each Variation card you play, you permanently increase this effect by 100/100."

/
"Fourth Turn of the Ghoul: Drought Demon"

Initial attack power: 1000

Initial HP: 2000

"Trait - Underworld: For each ghoul you summon, all your ghoul puppets gain a permanent bonus of 200/200."

/
"Fourth Reincarnation: Alchemist"

Initial attack power: 500

Initial HP: 600

"Special Feature: Flesh and Blood Elixir: Allows a puppet of level 3 or below to ascend."

Yan Qing fell into deep thought.

They all felt good, but neither was quite right.

The first to be rejected was "Crimson Flame Dragon Sacrifice". This puppet undoubtedly has great potential. As long as enough change cards are found, the value of [Dragon King's Divine Power] can be stacked up quickly.

However, it has two shortcomings: First, Yan Qing currently only has three puppet slots, while [Dragon King's Divine Power] clearly requires seven puppet slots to reach its maximum effect; second, the effect of [Dragon King's Divine Power] only occurs [at the start of the battle], meaning that once Yan Qing finishes the battle, all previous bonuses will be eliminated.

The best comparison is Ye Si's mechanical lineup. All his puppets can now gain 1200 stats every day, while "Crimson Dragon Priest" can only gain 1000 stats, and it can't be accumulated. The difference is too big. Relying solely on transformation cards to enhance stats seems too slow.

Unless Yan Qing finds a puppet with a similar [one certificate for life] characteristic, which will not fall down once its size increases and will permanently retain the attributes increased [at the start of battle], there is no point in choosing "Crimson Dragon Priest".

"Drought Demon" is undoubtedly much simpler. Yan Qing had previously discovered that ghoul puppets often possess deathrattle abilities, either resurrecting or summoning other ghouls. Therefore, it's easy to build a ghoul lineup around "Drought Demon." However, it shares the same problem as "Crimson Dragon Priest": its benefits are maximized only when all seven puppet slots are activated. In other words, their peak performance period is from the eighth to the tenth day, and Yan Qing should return by the seventh day no matter what.

In comparison, although the "Alchemist" is not a core card, the returns are the most stable. At worst, Yan Qing can find another dragon servant to ascend to immortality, which can always be put to use immediately.

Having made up his mind, Yan Qing chose "Alchemist". The other two puppet cards disappeared, and then three more fourth-tier puppet cards appeared. This was the second choice. If he still couldn't find the core card, Yan Qing's exploration for today would have to end here.

"Fourth Turn of the Mystery: The Red-Clad Female Ghost"

Initial attack power: 100

Initial HP: 100

"Special Feature: Yin-Yang Convergence: At the start of battle, gain the attributes of all Puppet cards in your hand."

/
"Fourth-Tier Elemental Spirit - Snow Mountain Guardian"

Initial attack power: 500

Initial HP: 500

"Trait - Snow Mountain Ritual: At the end of each day, gain one [Accumulated Avalanche] card."

/
"Fourth-Rank Monster - Qiongqi"

Initial attack power: 1000

Initial HP: 1200

"Trait - Slaughter - Blood Sacrifice: This puppet gains one [Blood Sacrifice] card for every 3 enemies with more than 1000 HP that it kills."

Blood Sacrifice: Permanently increases the attribute values ​​of inactive Puppet Cards by 100/100. (This boost applies to all Puppet Cards you obtain.)

Yan Qing was taken aback, then her eyes lit up!

Needless to say, the "Red-Clothed Female Ghost" is a very stable big brother card. As long as Yan Qing prepares seven or eight puppet cards, it can soar to five or six thousand attribute values ​​when it starts the battle. It has a high lower limit and a high upper limit!
"Snow Mountain Guardian" is the avalanche generator that Yan Qing has been dreaming of. He previously believed that "Storm Inheritor" had the potential for exponential growth, but he was just struggling to find a stable avalanche acquisition channel. And here it is!
But Yan Qing still chose "Qiongqi" without hesitation!
Then Yan Qing immediately did two things: he used the last [Accumulated Avalanche] card to add the Ascended Dragon Servant's 4800/3800 attributes to "Qiongqi", and its attributes immediately soared to 5800/5000.

The second thing was to activate the monster puppet card "Six-Eared Macaque" that he had previously scavenged!
"Third-stage Demon - Six-Eared Macaque"

Initial attack power: 600

Initial HP: 800

"Special Feature: Secrets Must Not Be Told to Six Ears: Whenever you play a Transformation card, other friendly Yokai randomly eat one of your Puppet cards and gain its attribute value."

Upon seeing the characteristics of "Qiongqi" and "Six-Eared Macaque," Yan Qing immediately realized that these were the core puppet cards he had been waiting for! "Qiongqi" gains [Blood Sacrifice] by killing monsters. Consuming [Blood Sacrifice] increases the attributes of the puppet cards in hand and triggers the effect of "Six-Eared Macaque," causing "Qiongqi" or other monsters to devour the puppet cards in hand!

This is the snowball lineup he wants. As long as he gets enough kills, "Qiongqi's" attributes will expand rapidly like an inflating balloon!

The key reason Yan Qing didn't choose "Snow Mountain Guardian" was that its effect was to gain one Avalanche per day, which was too slow. Even though "Storm Inheritor" could double its stats when combined with Avalanche, it still required at least two Avalanches to double the stats, four to quadruple, and six to eight. Only with eight times the stats did it have any hope of defeating the True Demon, but six Avalanches would take six days.

If Yan Qing planned to stay in the Demon Gathering Land for more than ten days, the Yuanling Doubling System would definitely be his best choice, but he didn't have that much time.

In comparison, the monster system of "Qiongqi" and "Six-Eared Macaque" is undoubtedly more suitable for him, because he is the only player in the entire Demon Gathering Land, and the killing characteristics of "Qiongqi" can be brought into full play!

With the plan set, Yan Qing did not hesitate and used the "Alchemist" to send the "Six-Eared Macaque" to ascension!
"Third-stage Demon - Ascended to Six Ears"

Initial attack power: 1200

Initial HP: 1600

"Special Feature: Secrets Must Not Be Told to Six Ears: Whenever you play a Transformation card, other friendly monsters randomly eat one of your Puppet cards and gain double its attributes."

"Ascension Trait - True and False Monkey King: At the start of battle, Six-Eared Macaque's attribute value is the same as the maximum attribute value of the friendly puppet."

Not only does the trait "The Secret of the Six Ears" become doubled, but because "The Secret of the Six Ears" only applies to other monsters, the Six Ears monster itself cannot absorb cards and its stats cannot grow. However, the Ascension trait "True and False Monkey King" perfectly makes up for this shortcoming, and its attributes will be directly on par with the largest puppet!
Even if Yan Qing can't find any other monster cards, these two alone are enough to snowball!

(End of this chapter)