Chapter 44: Chaos Underground |
“Damn it, another soul tailored for mage builds. As a Black-Scaled Serpent player, I can’t accept this.”
“Hahaha, this soul is excellent. Owl-Headed Fiend + Bonefire + Qi Eater, greatly improves endurance. I’m very satisfied with this Primordial. Brothers at the front, hurry up and kill it!”
“Finally some relief from the no-mana dilemma. Thank nature for this mana-recovering soul. The mage builds just keep getting stronger!”
“Nobody move, let me get one hit in before you all attack.”
—
The level 12 Primordial Monster posed no threat to players at this stage.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Since the rewards from killing a Primordial Monster were shared, even landing a single hit would yield sacrificial power. Players went wild, charging toward the Primordial and quickly killed the Qi Eater, completing its containment.
News of the successful containment reached the players further back via livestream, sparking great excitement, especially among ranged DPS players.
The only complaints came from those who hadn’t participated directly in the kill, missing out on the shared sacrificial power.
This successful hunt also increased Qi Sheng’s fixed sacrificial power income.
After this brief interlude, the purification mission for the Shadowed Cavern continued.
What pleased Qi Sheng even more was that Guide’s report indicated another Primordial Monster’s presence within the third underground level.
As long as players kept advancing, it was only a matter of time before they contained this one as well.
—
One corner of the Shadowed Cavern’s third level.
Li Zheng and his brothers looked helplessly at the long line of queued players.
Just a week ago, they had been lamenting how few players were on their server.
Now, they had to wait in line just to enter the mine.
Still, compared to before, they preferred the larger player population, it was great news for gold-farming players like them.
After guilds led by cash-spending whales like the Dinner Gang joined, sacrificial power sales were booming.
No matter how much they produced, the whales would buy it all.
Last time, they sold 50 sacrificial power to Dinner Gang’s guild leader Vosnidia, earning 5,000 credit coins.
Since then, sacrificial power prices had skyrocketed, and Li Zheng decided to stop selling for now, choosing instead to invest in his own growth.
In his eyes, spending sacrificial power to improve strength was a guaranteed return.
Only by growing stronger could they hunt tougher monsters and produce more sacrificial power.
While waiting in line, they didn’t waste time. Li Zheng and his brothers hammered away at the nearby rock walls, searching for embedded spiritual ore.
The surrounding players did the same, the sound of metal striking stone echoing non-stop.
Mining was the safest income source in the game, but it relied heavily on luck. With good fortune, one could dig out several embedded ores in a single day; with bad luck, one might work all day with nothing to show for it.
Compared to the clear rewards of monster hunting and leveling, mining involved much more chance.
That’s why many newcomers chose mining as their first income method. After all, in the Waning Moon zone, even the weakest Blood Corpses were level 10, making solo hunting extremely difficult without a team.
“Heh, got another one.”
The rubble broke away to reveal a glowing white Enerstone, and his teammate Dirt Poor looked smug.
“Don’t get cocky. Watch me dig up a level 2 ore right now,” said Murderous Intent Rising, standing on Li Zheng’s other side, suddenly accelerating his mining.
Just then, startled shouts erupted from the rear of the queue.
Li Zheng’s group stopped mining immediately, looking back to see what had happened.
[Challenger Notification (Regional): Congratulations to a player for obtaining a level 5 spiritual ore ‘Soul Crystal’ while mining in Shadowed Cavern – Third Sublevel, achieving the server’s first level 5 ore milestone. Bonus reward: 500 sacrificial power.]
Soul Crystal: A mineral formed from condensed soul energy of the deceased. Nourishes and repairs damaged souls.
Usage: Forging, consumption (consuming grants Body Tempering experience), sacrifice.
—
The notification made Li Zheng and his group realize someone behind them had struck it rich while mining.
The Soul Crystal, a level 5 ore, could be directly consumed to enhance Body Tempering level, a massive temptation for players.
At this stage, leveling up Body Tempering was extremely difficult. Unlike the gradually increasing costs of Star Vein upgrades, every Body Tempering level from 1 to 10 required 10,000 sacrificial power to advance.
This was the first time players learned they could gain Body Tempering experience by consuming special resources.
“Such luck… too bad it wasn’t me,” Dirt Poor said sourly, watching the regional chat flood with offers of cash purchases.
After this brief episode, just as Li Zheng’s group prepared to resume mining, they noticed the commotion behind them was only intensifying. Some players had even transformed into monster forms and begun fighting each other.
“Damn, something’s wrong!”
The chaos made Li Zheng suspect a possibility. He quickly turned to Dirt Poor.
“Dirt Poor, use your perception mode and take a look.”
Without hesitation, Dirt Poor nodded, shifting into Owl-Headed Fiend form. He released a wave of sound and guided his awareness through the crowd to the center of the disturbance.
What he saw made his heart pound.
The shattered rock wall revealed large amounts of purple crystals embedded within, shimmering under the flickering torchlight.
Retracting his awareness, Dirt Poor quickly reported to Li Zheng.
“Brother Li, an entire rock face full of level 5 Soul Crystals, at least 20 visible pieces, probably more deeper inside.”
“No wonder it’s so chaotic. They’re fighting over the spiritual ore,” Family-Sharing Stepdad realized aloud. Then he turned to Li Zheng for instructions.
“Brother Li, what do you say?”
“What else? We’re taking it. The Emperor’s Sign never said finders-keepers. If we can grab it, it’s ours.”
“I’m a college student, I must have one Soul Crystal,” someone chimed in.
After a brief discussion, Li Zheng’s group decisively switched to monster forms and charged into the brawl.
Many players had the same idea. Driven by greed, they too transformed and joined the scramble.
As players clashed, many were slain and dissolved into black mist.
More and more players learned of the massive level 5 ore find, continuously flooding in, one group falling, another replacing them.
The fighting even spilled out of the cavern into the waiting lines outside.
It all started when a Dinner Gang player was killed by members of the Divine Wings Guild during the ore snatch. The victim immediately contacted guild leader Li Siyu for reinforcements.
Soon, members of both guilds clashed violently outside the mine.
Allied players friendly with either guild joined the free-for-all, turning it into a wild brawl.
Thus, Monster World saw its first large-scale civil war since it’s launch.
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