Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons-Chapter 473 - 436 Book of Adventure_2

Kane thought for a moment and described the appearance of the altar from the information, noting that it was used for remote upgrades.

Then, the pointer on the compass began to turn, but its direction was not fixed, sometimes pointing to the right and sometimes to the left.

This indicates that Kane’s target has many locations.

Kane frowned. The compass turning shows that there is indeed an altar for soldier promotion in the dungeon. The frequency of the turning indicates that there is more than one and they have not been destroyed.

It might be that the location has changed, or it has been hidden.

Kane reconstructed the image in his mind and included the figure of the single bee like a sword hilt in front of him.

This time, the pointer finally stopped moving randomly and pointed straight ahead of Kane and his group.

"Let’s go over there."

With that said, Kane started moving in the direction the pointer indicated.

However, they hadn’t walked several hundred meters when the pointer suddenly pointed backward.

"Is it right under our feet?"

This indicates the altar is indeed hidden.

Kreya also understood the situation and joined Kane in carefully observing the surroundings.

How is it hidden? Walking over didn’t reveal anything unusual underfoot. Is there something strange around?

There was no magic power reaction either.

Unable to see anything around, Kane started looking up.

Hmm?

He suddenly noticed that from his direction, looking towards the mountain peak, he could see several trees with leaves and fruits forming a shape similar to a circular target.

In the center was a red apple.

When he discovered this scene.

A small circular spot appeared at his feet, exactly where a person could stand.

"What’s going on?" Kreya asked, looking at the circle that suddenly appeared at Kane’s feet.

Looking at the circle at his feet, Kane looked up at the naturally formed target.

He understood.

Kane turned to Kreya and said, "It’s nothing. I found a little puzzle."

With that, he conjured a longbow in his hand.

Kane looked at the longbow in his hand; it had been a long time.

Then, he conjured an arrow with his left hand, and as magic power flowed into it, the arrow became more solid, finally turning real.

Kane aimed the bow at the red apple in the center of the target.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow flew straight over.

It hit the fruit dead center and shot it down.

"Boom!"

The ground under Kane began to tremble.

With several quick leaps, Kane dashed to the side, and everyone else retreated quickly.

The spot where Kane had stood, the ground started shaking, and a massive circular stone platform slowly rose.

As the stone platform rose, the surrounding sand and soil began to converge towards the center.

Shortly thereafter, a sculpture of a remotely positioned soldier, bent bow drawn, half-kneeling, formed in the center.

However, this information was not included in the documents. Such crucial information couldn’t be deliberately hidden, indicating this was a unique case they encountered.

Kane remembered this incident in his mind.

"The altar has appeared. Haven’t Longbei and the others arrived yet?" Kane asked.

Kreya shook her head and said, "Although their distance to the altar is closer than ours, since we’re carrying mounted soldiers and their remote soldiers are infantry, their speed is definitely slower."

Upon hearing Kreya’s words, Kane nodded; he had forgotten about that.

He then patiently began to wait.

However, they didn’t have to wait long before hearing Longbei’s voice from afar.

"Hey~ Good brother, I’m here."

The shadow wasn’t visible yet, but the voice came first.

Far away, Longbei was jogging over with soldiers and Meizike.

As they arrived, Longbei began circling the altar, inspecting it.

He even touched it and asked Kane, "Good brother, is this the soldier promotion altar you were talking about? Why does its appearance look so shabby?"

Kane replied irritably, "Who cares about how it looks? As long as it works, and you’re not using it anyway."

"Hehe, true," Longbei said, scratching the back of his head and laughing foolishly.

Then, he motioned to the crossbowmen behind him, saying, "Come on, brothers, ascend this altar and upgrade yourselves."

Seeing Longbei eager to try first, Kane didn’t interfere.

After all, the order didn’t matter.

Kane glanced at the soldiers Longbei brought, estimating there were about 300, including ordinary crossbowmen and repeating crossbowmen mixed together.

Under Longbei’s summon, these soldiers stood on the altar.

They gathered around the statue in layers, filling the altar with 300 soldiers easily.

"Hey, why isn’t there any reaction? How do we upgrade?" Longbei asked.

"I’ll do it," Meizike replied from the side.

The military rank insignia on his chest was slightly glowing.

He reached out and tapped his insignia.

The altar was completely enveloped in a pillar of light shooting into the sky—a light that, if there were enemies around, would draw them over.

After the light rose, it dissipated after about thirty seconds.

And the crossbowmen on the platform completely changed their appearance.

Since the promoted soldiers included ordinary crossbowmen and repeating crossbowmen, the soldiers on top had two different outfits.

First were those wearing glossy light armor, wielding a giant crossbow; the size of the bow was almost as tall as the soldier’s upper body.

On their backs were no longer quivers but rows and rows of crossbow arrows resembling short spears.

A slender short sword was hung at their waist.

The other type of soldier wielded a hand crossbow as long as two arms, with slightly heavier armor than the others.

The helmet on their heads even had equipment similar to goggles.

Crossed on their backs were two quivers, and two crossbow arrow quivers were hung at their waists.

The hand crossbows they held also still featured magazines.

No need to guess; these soldiers had definitely been upgraded from repeating crossbowmen.

"Quickly, quickly, get down so I can have a good look," Longbei couldn’t wait to say.

Once these soldiers disembarked, Kane hastily let his own soldiers ascend the altar.

He was also eager to see what his soldiers looked like after upgrading.

The bow cavalry led their horses onto the altar, making it seem a bit crowded due to each soldier having a horse.

Seeing his insignia glowing faintly on his chest, Kane tapped it.

Information appeared in his mind.

Upgrade bow riders, 4 points of war merit per soldier.

This was equivalent to the cost of recruiting bow riders, but Kane had just finished two battles, so he had plenty of war merit and chose to use it right away.

The pillar of light rose similarly into the sky.

Kane waited expectantly for his soldiers to upgrade; this feeling was strangely exciting.

It seemed like a childhood dream of some sort?

In Kane’s anticipation, the light column lasted nearly a minute before fading.

Did more advanced soldiers with higher basic costs take longer?

Yet those crossbowmen seemed to be mixed together, also having repeating crossbows requiring five points.

However, Kane hadn’t had time to inspect those soldiers.

The screen in front of him was suddenly filled with messages from the Book of Adventure.

[Bond link with Abby]

[Bond link with Mark]

[Bond link with Clero]

[Bond link with Robber]

...

[Condition met, new information pending review]

A dense array of bond link prompts, with the last one being a prompt he hadn’t seen before.