Chapter 317: Upgrade

Yesterday's research proved to them that Arcadia did not have what it takes to defend against the incoming threats. 

Even with the best-case scenario of just half a dozen space cruisers coming to look for their lost space cruiser, it would still mean that they would need at least two dozen magus-level fighters. Not only that, but they would also need the means to defend against the opposing units' attacks and a way to shoot the ship down.

Of course, an all-out war would be incredibly risky for them. However, having two dozen magus-level fighters when the enemy units arrived would certainly put them in a better position. It might even cause the enemy to have second thoughts about attacking them directly. 

If they could get lucky enough, they might even be able to make a deal with the opposing side to get some gains and avoid heavy losses.

Because of this, Tristan's current priority was to find these magus-level fighters to increase their fighting power. Of course, this also meant taht he had to increase his own strength.

And to increase his own strength, he would need to get more blood essence. Thinking of this, he checked his blood monarch status and skills.

[Blood Essence: 51,875]

[Blood Monarch Body - Stage 5]

[Blood Monarch Innate Skills:]

[Blood Extraction]

[Blood Seal - Stage 3]

[Blood Synthesis - Stage 3]

[Blood Legacy] 

[Blood Summon]

[Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

[Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

[Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

The first thing he needed to do was go into his Heart of Monarch to learn more about his blood monarch body. After all, apart from the enemy, he also needed to know about himself to know what he would need to go against them.

As soon as he arrived at the blood lake, he was immediately met with a woman with two black horns and short crimson hair. Despite the numerous dragon scales covering her body, they still could not hide her exotic curves.

It was the dragon, Nara, in her half-humanoid form.

Seeing Tristan's return, Nara promptly kneeled to greet him.

"My Lord Monarch, I deeply apologize for disappointing you in the last fight," Nara spoke with her head down.

Unfortunately for her, yesterday's analysis result put Tristan in a bad mood. Not to mention, the fact that she was the main reason for the ship's explosion was undeniable. The loss was not something that he could just brush off as if it did not exist.

If Tristan had a functioning space cruiser on his hand, things would be very different. After all, even if it would not be used to fight, he would still be able to use the ship to escape.

Not only that, but the time and resources they needed to expend to salvage the ship could have been used for something else, which would increase their power to resist the incoming enemy even more.

Although it was only one cruiser ship, it would have been a huge leap of both offensive and defensive power for them.

Seeing his unconcealed expression of annoyance, Nara felt even more guilty.

"Please, my Lord Monarch, please give me a chance to make up for my mistake!" she begged.

He coldly looked at the kneeling lady in front of him. He could clearly see that she was feeling guilty, but would that change anything? Just her guilt alone would not be able to improve their situation, and even Nara herself understood.

"I will take your word for it," Tristan simply said, not willing to miss any gains she could offer.

He then explained the current situation to her, including how at least half a dozen space cruisers were on their way and that he needed a way to increase his power to fight against dozens of magus-level fighters.

"Master, if I may... if I can successfully regain my complete form, even a hundred magus-level fighters will not be able to defeat me."

The currently-standing Nara reminded Tristan about opening the chains that were blocking the way to open his memory fragments.

[Soul Force: 2/10]

From what he could tell from Nara's words, it seemed that if he was willing to kill Jenkins and extract his soul, he would be one step closer toward his goal.

However, putting aside how tempting it was for him, especially considering the current situation, extracting Jenkins' soul would not bring him much progress. Although he was powerful, it was still only one soul. He needed at least a few souls to open the chain.

Before he could think deeper, the dragon's regretful voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Master, again, I'm sorry, but it will take at least a few more days before I can be summoned again… I'm sorry I am still unable to be of use to you…"

Tristan only hummed in response. Even if she could be summoned this instant, she would not be of much use. Not now, at least.

With this, Tristan exited his Heart of Monarch, returning with his hands empty. Quite a while had passed, yet he still had nothing to improve his strength.

With the amount of blood essence he currently had, he could only increase his Blood Seal to stage 4 at most. It was a tempting upgrade. Having witnessed how great Ghrall could perform, the first thing he planned to do after he could upgrade the skill was to create more orc overlords. Other than that, he was hoping that having Blood Seal at stage 5 would allow him to cast it on a magus-level fighter, but it was very unlikely to be possible so easily.

As for the other two upgrades, although it would prove to be quite useful in this condition, the blood essence needed was just too much.

Again, for him to get stronger meant that he needed more blood. With this in mind, he called Uriel, the fat elf, and asked him to go with a Kingsblade unit to check on Faunt, the hybrid trapper, for his legendary creatures to bring to the capital.

Next, before moving on to his next objectives, while they were still in O District, Tristan spent some time with Professor Emmet and his team.

He gave the professor all the items he collected from Siegfried's ship, hoping that it could be of use to them.

He also showed Professor Emmet the chip that was planted on his brain by the goblin scientist, as well as the scanner gloves from Pio.

The reason Tristan didn't install the chip back was that he was worried there might still be a way for the goblin to control him through the chip somehow. As for the scanner gloves, he no longer found them of use since they kept giving him [undefined message].

The chip took the professor aback. After all, the technology it was equipped with was quite advanced. Even so, fortunately, it was still simple enough for him to understand its structure, and after a while, he confirmed that the controlling device was already destroyed, reassuring Tristan.

As for the scanner bracelets, the professor had a better model, like the one they previously used in the analysis room.

"Would you like us to install these back to your body?" the professor offered.

Understanding the difficulty of the challenges that he would need to face soon, Tristan agreed. After all, although he was not sure of how much he would gain from these things, there were no losses. He had no reason to refuse.

Because of this, he spent the next few hours being operated on by the professor's team. However, this time, instead of the chip being inserted into his head, the professor and his team made it into a small circular device and placed it between his left eye and ear.

[Connecting to OPR Device Mark II...]

[Integrating system...]

[Device synchronization started.]

[20%... 60%... 90%...]

[Synchronization completed.]

When it was finally completed, Tristan was able to access his scanning device again.

He looked toward Sterling, his newest bodyguard, and Commander Cecilia and began scanning.

[Human]

[Saint-level combat]

[Battle Power: 235]

[Spirit Force - Nonexistent]

[Human]

[Magus - Crescent Moon]

[Battle Power: 185]

[Spirit Force: 1,050]

[Element Affinity - Light]

Tristan was elated when he saw the data. The scanner's ability to give information regarding the details of the subject's battle power was undeniably valuable. This would definitely be useful for their upcoming battle.

Before he was about to leave O District, one of the members of Professor Emmet's team handed him a small tablet-like device.

"We have stored whatever data we could gather from the spaceship into this device," the man briefly explained.

The device showed him some information about troops, weapons, ships, and even planets. And to his surprise, the information in the tablet could be copied into the installed chip.

It is very handy indeed.

Now, it was time for Tristan to look for fighters.