Wen Yuncheng knew nothing about any of this.

Not only did she not know, but she also pulled off a “hat trick.” This time, however, her hat trick didn’t kill a dragon. The Dragon Race was on high alert, so she aimed her attack directly at the Huanling army’s rear. The moment she finished casting her skills, she returned, her mind instantly flooded with a dense stream of fragmented experience points.

“It feels like this isn’t that much less experience than dragon slaying, especially since each kill comes with 2 points. As long as the blast radius is big enough and there are enough people…” During the cooldown period, Wen Yuncheng did some serious calculations and concluded that this was a viable strategy no matter how she looked at it.

[That Huanling general just tried to mark you. He even burned his life force and lifeblood essence to do it,] 1947 said.

“…Does he know my position now?”

[No, I blocked it for you.] 1947’s pride was palpable, all but explicitly saying, “Hurry up and praise me.”

So, Wen Yuncheng obediently praised it, “You’re amazing!”

“But, are you going to deduct my points for this?”

[Of course not, what do you take me for!]

Wen Yuncheng felt a pang of guilt and was about to apologize when she heard 1947 say:

[That general was too stupid. If he had burned his lifeblood just to mark you, I wouldn’t have been able to interfere. But he was trying to use the power of the Huanling Continent’s Child of the Plane to permanently lock onto your position.] 1947 scoffed. [For this kind of cross-planar transmission that also involves my bound host, I can intercept it directly without needing to apply for permission.]

For a moment, Wen Yuncheng felt a strange mix of emotions. The Child of the Plane from another world? Was the Huanling Continent really going to target her like this? Damn it!

After fuming for a bit, Wen Yuncheng took out a row of spherical Self-Destruct Dogs from her storage ring. She counted out ten, then wrapped them in a piece of cloth. Next time, she would blow that Star Emperor dragon to bits!

-Although she really wanted to blow up the Huanling general to vent her anger, the experience from killing him was simply too low.

[Mission Issued: Decapitation Strike – Huanling (Repeatable)]

[Mission Details: Go forth! Slay the powerful experts of the Huanling Continent at or above Level 89!]

[Mission Reward: For each expert killed, receive 10,000 experience and 100 points.]

This mission was issued…

Level 89 was a third-layer Phantom Emperor, which was… a half-step Phantom Saint.

After all, whether it was the third layer or the peak, just a step away from the next realm, it was all considered the same level when the template converted it into experience points.

“But 1947, that’s only ten thousand experience. It’s not even as much as a Star Venerate dragon,” Wen Yuncheng said, hesitating before tentatively asking for a price increase. After all… 1947 was being surprisingly easy to talk to today, issuing missions and helping her block attacks.

[You wish! Scram!]

Her attempt to push her luck having failed, Wen Yuncheng wore a disappointed expression. She had just praised 1947, and now her old man’s menopause was acting up. Wait, do systems even have menopause?

[…I heard that.]

Wen Yuncheng: …Ah.

In the awkward silence, Wen Yuncheng lowered her head and continued assembling machinery next to Number Two. When Number One’s cooldown finished, she summoned it as well. The next target for a swap was clearly Number Two.

Back in the tournaments, a single round was so short that she could only use each skill once. She would wait for the five-minute break for her skills to cool down, then go on stage, unleash them, and her opponent would usually be down for the count. Now, she could hit and run, wait for her abilities to recover, then go back and unleash a wave of skills to reap a harvest of kills. It was as if she had rediscovered her initial joy.

When Wen Yuncheng appeared in the battle zone for the fourth time, she found that the Huanling army had completely withdrawn. She was a bit speechless. It’s not like I was planning to keep killing you guys, why retreat so quickly? Now my Little Ice Mountain has no one to practice on.

Wen Yuncheng didn’t think this was her fault; it was clearly Huanling’s problem! How many people had died? Just a few hundred. She hadn’t even completed her 1500-kill mission, and they were already chickening out? Why weren’t they this cowardly when they were invading? So many of the Empire’s Dragon Tiger Guard had died… Wen Yuncheng considered the probability of infiltrating the enemy’s rear camp without being detected by a half-step Saint and decided not to risk it. She’d wait until she leveled up a few more times; the effect of her disguise would surely be better then.

Wen Yuncheng set her sights on the Star Emperor dragon elder who had roared in fury when she killed the second Star Venerate dragon. Since this guy had acted so enraged just now, she would grant him his wish.

“You’re courting death!-” The moment Wen Yuncheng appeared, the dragon elder was not only furious but also pleasantly surprised. It thought Wen Yuncheng was here to die, and it would definitely-

Its vision went black.

The Magnetic Pulse actually triggered a blind debuff? This must be fate, Wen Yuncheng thought. Despite her surprise, her hands didn’t stop moving. After unleashing all her skills at once, she also threw out the specially wrapped package containing ten Self-Destruct Dogs. The instant the package left her hand, she swapped places and vanished.

The half-step Phantom Saints who rushed over once again hit empty air. But this time, they instantly felt a profound sense of crisis. “Fall back!-“

Everyone could retreat, including the dragons who were a beat slower, all of whom rapidly pulled back. But the dragon elder, who had been hit, still affected by the levitation effect and afflicted with the blind debuff, could not retreat.

With a deafening boom, the ten spherical mechanical dogs exploded instantly. The blast was so powerful that even the Empire’s half-step Saints, who were far away, were grazed by the aftershock… Of course, it was just an aftershock. They were unharmed.

The explosion lit up half the sky for a moment. The dragon elder was buried in a deep crater. Blood poured from its massive eyes and mouth, and its scales were blasted open, revealing torn flesh. Its breath was faint. “Don’t… don’t…”

“Rest assured, Your Excellency, we will absolutely not let Wen Yuncheng go! We will definitely avenge you!” The Star Emperor dragons had tears in their eyes. “We will return to the clan and ask the half-step Saints to intervene! No matter the cost, the feud between Wen Yuncheng and our Dragon Race is irreconcilable!”

“No…” The dragon elder grew agitated, its already huge eyes widening even further. It seemed to want to say something, but as the word escaped its lips, it coughed up blood and bits of flesh. It had been gravely injured by the explosion and was clearly dying, beyond saving.

“Yes, irreconcilable!”

The dragon elder finally breathed its last, leaving behind several dragons who were mad with rage, their minds clouded by hatred, all roaring, “We must kill Wen Yuncheng.”

As for what the dragon elder truly wanted to say, no one would probably ever know. Whether it was “Don’t continue to fight the Empire” and “Don’t target Wen Yuncheng anymore,” or what the remaining Star Emperor dragons understood it to be… it no longer mattered. It was already dead.

[Mission: Dragon Slaying]

[Ding! Killed a Star Emperor-level dragon. Gained 30,000 experience!]

[Beep! Received Top-Tier Regret from a Star Emperor dragon!]

[In the final moments of its life, the dragon elder thought of many things. It regretted agreeing to cooperate with the Huanling Continent out of ambition when the Dragon King asked for its opinion.]

[Gained a 1% damage increase against the Dragon Race. Stackable.]

It regretted it? Wen Yuncheng, who had just swapped back, was completely baffled. The Huanling army had retreated, but Lin Jinyu hadn’t immediately returned to the resting point. She had stayed there and watched Wen Yuncheng kill another dragon before coming back. As she pushed open the door, she saw Wen Yuncheng staring blankly into space.

“What’s wrong? Did you level up?”

“Ah, I did.” Wen Yuncheng snapped back to reality and glanced at her panel. Level 71. This was excellent progress. As long as the Dragon Race and Huanling remained stubborn, and as long as they couldn’t figure out a new way to track her, she could continue to run wild.

Host: Wen Yuncheng

Race: Human

Age: 23

Class: Mechanical Overlord

Level: 71

Experience: 15505/110000

Points: 15321

“But I wasn’t thinking about leveling up just now. I triggered a… strange thing.” Wen Yuncheng explained the Top-Tier Regret and its effect to Lin Jinyu, feeling a bit speechless. “I don’t even know how it came to regret its actions.”

“Perhaps the Dragon Race has suffered too many casualties, far exceeding their expectations.”

“Oh, that makes sense. But they don’t look like they’re about to give up.” After all, they had already lost so much. If she had to use a term to describe it, it was… what was it again?

[Sunk cost?]

Wen Yuncheng: That sounds a little familiar.

Of course, Wen Yuncheng wasn’t concerned with whether the dragons felt regret or not. Her focus was on the 1% bonus. Although it was small, it was followed by the word “stackable.”

Wen Yuncheng thought that she might not only have to be a dragon slayer but also a deliverer who made dragons feel immense regret while slaying them. Could this be… picking up the butcher’s blade for a physical-style deliverance through repentance? It sounded rather grand.

“If the Dragon Race’s losses become too great, they might withdraw from the war and submit to the Empire,” Lin Jinyu said seriously after some thought. “After all, the number of dragons is limited. Although they’ve accumulated quite a few over the years, but…” Being killed by Wen Yuncheng like this was something Dragon Island probably never anticipated. If they were killed in a normal battle, they could accept it. But Wen Yuncheng would kill them and vanish instantly, not even letting them touch the hem of her clothes. This kind of isolating combat… anyone would be filled with regret.

Lin Jinyu put herself in the dragons’ shoes for a moment and suddenly understood the origin of this Top-Tier Regret.

However… “You should kill as many dragons as you can now. Once they surrender, you might not get any more experience.”

Wen Yuncheng was taken aback and nodded repeatedly. That’s right! A Star Emperor dragon was worth thirty thousand experience. She had to kill more. If the Dragon Race truly finished repenting, her leveling speed would slow down considerably. And she was still eyeing the 150,000 experience from the Dragon King… Hopefully, the Dragon Race had some backbone and wouldn’t surrender.

At the very least… let her farm them until she reached Level 80, right?

“Are those dragons still there?”

“Yes, they seem very angry. They’re roaring about an irreconcilable feud,” Lin Jinyu replied obediently. She had been far away and hadn’t heard the dragon elder’s last words, but the roars of the other dragons were very loud. “Now that you’ve killed an Emperor-level one, they will definitely send half-step Saints after you. That Dragon King… might be a Saint-level.”

“A Saint-level?” Wen Yuncheng thought about the 150,000 experience and found it acceptable. “Why hasn’t it made a move? Is it because of the Empire’s Star Saint? Strange, if it’s a Saint-level, why didn’t Baby Voice grab it for manual labor?”

Lin Jinyu processed this and was momentarily unable to answer. That’s right, why… why wasn’t the Dragon King of the Dragon Race taken away to be a manual laborer?

The Star Saint, who has become synonymous with being a manual laborer: Tragic.jpg

The Dragon King, who escaped this fate by being connected to key locations like the Dragon Island’s dragon veins: Clueless.jpg