170 The Seventh Stronghold (2/2)

After thinking for a bit, Wang Baole sat down and opened up the Dharmic Armament guidebook. He went down the list, his eyes finally pausing on a third-grade Numinous Treasure named Dragon's Tooth.

Among third-grade Numinous Treasures, the Dragon's Tooth was considered a top-tier treasure. It was a challenge to refine; not only were the inscriptions complicated, the materials required to craft it were extremely rare. Besides metals and precious stones, a large quantity of teeth had to be harvested from monsters.

There was even a note in the Dharmic Armament guidebook stating that the more monsters' teeth used, the greater this Numinous Treasure would turn out. In theory, if one could venture into the unfathomable Sea, slaughter the Sea Dragon—a fearsome beast whose sightings started in the Spirit Inception Era—and harvest its teeth for crafting, the final treasure created would have power rivaling that of a fifth-grade Numinous Treasure!

The same principle applied for the use of any teeth belonging to monsters stronger and more fearsome than the Sea Dragon. With such teeth, the power of this Numinous Treasure would increase exponentially!

This Numinous Treasure looks like a mace. Wang Baole stared at the picture of the Numinous Treasure on the Dharmic Armament Scroll hesitantly. He was ambivalent.

After studying the other Numinous Treasures in the guidebook though, Wang Baole concluded that he could only guarantee a smooth advancement by crafting the Dragon's Tooth.

Monsters' teeth are sold in the Dharmic Armament Pavilion, but there aren't many for sale, and the variety's limited. Besides, this Dragon's Tooth will need a core tooth… what should I choose for its core tooth? Wang Baole thought. His mind instantaneously brought up the image of the Diamond Ape grinning fiercely at Wang Baole.

The stupid monkey's teeth are very white. They look to be in pretty good shape. If I can get my hands on one of its teeth and use it as the core material, this Numinous Treasure of mine should turn out to be pretty strong.

The temptation was strong, but Wang Baole knew that the task was too challenging. Putting aside the question of whether he would even succeed in the first place, even if he did successfully get his hands on one of the teeth, he would not dare to flaunt its use in public. With some regret, he moved on to consider other potential options.

Even though there were few monsters' teeth available in the Dharmic Armament Pavilion, Wang Baole received many replies from Upper Academy Island disciples after posting his request on the Spirit Intranet. Many of these disciples were from the Combat Pavilion. They had many monsters' teeth in their possession. After some hunting, Wang Baole finally had his eyes set on the tooth of a Severed Finger Wolf; it would form the core tooth of the Numinous Treasure that he was going to craft.

Severed Finger Wolves traveled and lived in packs. A fully-grown wolf would rival one who was at the second, maybe even third, level of the True Breath realm. In addition to its brutal nature was its gruesome appearance. Tentacle-like cartilage in the shape of human fingers grew all over its body.

For someone seeing a Severed Finger Wolf for the first time, a glance at a distance was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Its teeth were razor-sharp and poisonous. Wang Baole spent quite a number of Spirit Stones on the purchase. After a few tests, he was impressed and awed; at the same time, he believed his choice of the tooth as the core tooth for his Numinous Treasure to be quite the sound decision.

Before he could continue his purchase of other monsters' teeth, a piece of news turned up and spread across the entire Upper Academy Island like wildfire.

”There's a Beast Tide approaching! Think it won't be long before we are summoned to fight!”

”These wretched monsters! Not only do they compete with us for Spirit Qi, evolve faster than us, and leave us in the dust, they even intrude upon our lands every year!”

”Who cares? During the Beast Wars, we were the ones who won! We annihilated every one of those monsters in all the Beast Tides that followed!”

”We've had casualties every year, but the senior brothers who returned were all richly rewarded with wealth and other benefits!”

The spreading news was a surprise to many new disciples. After all, they had not had full access to such news when they were at the Lower Academy Island. They had some vague semblance of awareness, superficial and limited.

Now, having entered Upper Academy Island, they finally understood the order of the world and the horror that were the monstrous beasts. The news traveled. Wang Baole heard it all. More information surfaced on the Spirit Intranet without pause.

Wang Baole set aside his shopping and instead focused on the upcoming Beast Tide. He browsed through some readings and a number of Spirit Intranet posts, which cemented what he had known previously. The Federation had seven generals. In the Beast Wars, the seven generals had expanded Federation territories, pushed the frontiers ever closer to the primordial lands, and finally established the seven primary strongholds!

Surrounding each primary stronghold were hundreds of minor strongholds that guarded against and exterminated all encroaching monsters. For the strongholds in the entire Federation, the Beast Tide every spring was a season of war.

The four Dao Colleges that enjoyed elevated statuses were also obliged to shoulder a portion of the responsibility. Every year, the respective Upper Academies would send out numerous disciples to join the seven primary strongholds. The disciples would fall under the military's command. Their assistance in the monster extermination also served as a form of cultivation.

Combat disciples killed; Alchemy disciples healed; Array Formation disciples supported with their array formations; disciples from the other pavilions were tasked with their own responsibilities. As for the Dharmic Armament disciples, they repaired and restored damaged Dharmic Treasures, especially the large-scale composite Numinous Treasures in the stronghold.

Every disciple who headed toward the stronghold faced the threat of death. If they returned, they would be gifted with praise and rewards from the college. There would even be a record made in their academic dossier. When they took up a position in the Federation in the future, this would form a part of their qualifications.

The news on the Beast Tide spread further and wider. It was then that Wang Baole received a missive from the college. He was to join Chen Yutong and head for the seventh primary stronghold.