This particular invasion had cost him 18 skeleton soldiers.
However, the 30 goblins he killed got him 150 gold in return.
This bit of income was more than enough to cover his losses by several times over.
Besides that, there were the five Hero's Souls.
Their actual value can be counted in thousands of times their number in gold!
Zhang Nu proceeded to sacrifice the Souls on the Altar.
[You've sacrificed a level 1 Hero's Soul. 2 talent points gained!]
[You've sacrificed a level 1 Hero's Soul. 2 talent points gained!]
[...]
[You've sacrificed a level 1 Hero's Soul. 3 talent points gained!]
Five Hero's Souls total. Four of them got him 2 talent points per, and one gave him 3 talent points. All together, it made 11 points!
A level 1 Demon King needed 10 points to activate each Talent.
Zhang Nu still had 4 talents to activate.
Them being: Dragon Flame, Dragon Fear, Lightning Control, and Beginner Anti-Magic.
Zhang Nu made his choice without much hesitation.
[Talent "Dragon Flame" successfully activated!]
Dragon Flame.
It's the signature ability of the dragon race.
Whether it is in dragon form or draconian form, it can exert a tremendous amount of power.
With this skill, Zhang Nu's total battle power has greatly increased!
He didn't just get the Hero's Souls from killing these five players. This time, the spoils also included a skill stone.
[Skill stone: Healing]. Use to gain the Healing skill.
Not bad!
Zhang Nu had seen Chen Hu use this skill.
Back then, when his torso was ripped open by a dragon claw, he was near certain to die. It was thanks to this skill that let him quickly heal up his wound.
There's one major difference between normal skills and Talents.
Talents are core abilities that one is born with, and normal skills are standalone abilities that one can learn later on.
One isn't necessarily stronger than the other.
For those with poor racial bloodlines, their talents will also be weak.
However, they can still become strong if they were to learn a lot of skills.
Not bad at all.
His first time killing Heroes managed to get him a rare skill stone as a drop.
Those things have a very low drop chance after all.
[You've gained skill: Healing (D rank)!]
Normal skills are divided by rank.
Healing wasn't a very high ranked skill.
However, as a recovery type skill, it's still quite useful.
Although this sneak attack from Heroes didn't do any real damage, this was still something that Zhang Nu took very seriously. Who could have thought that Heroes would come so quickly?
A point of note, the Darkness Valley is a very remote location.
If even this kind of place got attacked, then what about all the other Demon Kings?
Zhang Nu opened up his player menu and was stunned by what he saw. In the beginning, the number of Demon Kings online was 1 million. Now though, it has dropped to about 920 thousand.
Holy shit!
Over 70 thousand were gone In a just one day.
How did so many Demon Kings get disqualified?
Zhang Nu scanned the chat logs. A lot of people were discussing the Heroes.
"Shit. Several Heroes have locked onto me. How did they come so quickly? I didn't have any chance to develop yet. This game's design is unfair!!"
"Shock! A famed mercenary company's captain here is actually a Hero!"
"Everyone be careful. Based on trustworthy sources, the Tempest Empire's ninth prince had publicized his status as a Hero and he's currently assembling a Anti-Demon Knight Order aimed straight at us!"
"Heroes are in a much better situation compared to us Demon Kings. Everyone must not attract attention from Heroes before you've developed your own army and faction!"
"What's to be afraid of! I've just killed three Heroes who have come for me!"
"..."
The two factions differ greatly in their situations.
Demon Kings physically descended from out of nowhere. They need to start from level on and build up their territory from nothing. In the early game, if their bloodline isn't strong, then the overall power of their faction won't be particularly powerful either.
It's for that reason that they need to keep a low profile and accumulate power while keeping their heads down.
Only though such methods can they possibly eventually conquer the world and stand above all.
Heroes came down as possessing souls. Thus, they have the advantage of preexisting social connections and are able to quickly integrate with the native population.
If a Hero player was lucky enough, they could technically directly descend as powerhouses, generals, or royalty. They'd be able to inherit great power or authority from the start and enjoy a great advantage from that.
No wonder so many Demon Kings were shouting about the game being unfair.
However, Heroes have their advantages, but Demon Kings have their own advantages as well.
Demon Kings have unlimited potential to grow stronger and expand their forces. So long as they're given enough time and resources to grow, they can very well single handedly destroy the world.
From the current look of things, Heroes far outnumber Demon Kings.
The number of Heroes who start with great status are the extreme minority.
The vast majority of them are mere commoners, with little choice but to just grind mobs for experience.
Most Demon Kings end up descending upon extremely remote and unpopulated areas with no signs of civilization within hundreds of kilometers. Baring a few unlucky individuals, the vast majority are still safe for the time being.
At this moment, ten draconian soldiers had assembled before him.
"Master!"
"The soldiers have all assembled!"
"Please give us your orders!"
"We will serve the master to our deaths!"
Chen Hu's group came from a nearby village.
Zhang Nu had decided to remove this particular threat, root and stem, and at the same time continue expanding his territory. Thus, after the battle, he had immediately sent out orders to assemble his forces.