Chapter 48: Scenery Seeking Player |
[Player Count: 10,652]
Contained Primordial Traits: 13
Player Sacrificial Power Yield Today: 68,552 points
Average Player Monster Level: 7
Owned Territory Node: Emperor’s Mound Village (Flesh Reconstruction).
After reviewing today’s earnings, Qi Sheng nodded in satisfaction.
The players were growing faster than expected. At this stage, one-fifth of the players had already unlocked their second Star Vein, and the amount of sacrificial power produced was steadily increasing.
The only shortfall was that the Shadowed Cavern Territory Node still hadn’t been taken.
The player teams had struggled after reaching the fifth underground level, where the Corrosion Core, having developed sentience, controlled the corpses of its Iceblade subordinates in battle, causing great difficulties for the players.
But it was foreseeable that in the near future, the Shadowed Cavern would be purified and contained, becoming part of Emperor’s Mound Village’s expansion.
After that, the players would face a major crisis.
According to intelligence gathered by Guide, the Territory Node region where the Evil Spirit Warrior Dinian resided was siphoning node energy to rapidly spawn Evil Entities.
Soon, countless Evil Entities would ravage the entire Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
Through communication between the Dinian Evil Spirit and the Overseer Eye, Qi Sheng learned that their goal was to fully occupy all Territory Nodes in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
The Shadowed Cavern, Spirit Weapon Valley, and other Territory Node regions would all be targets of the Dinian Evil Spirit.
By then, the players would directly confront the Evil Entity army led by the Dinian Evil Spirit.
The time left for the players to develop was running short.
But Qi Sheng never cared about the influence of the Dinian Evil Spirit.
Among the terrifying forces of the Black Tide, there were many powerful Evil Spirits; Dinian was merely a Commander Class ordinary Evil Spirit Warrior, not a formidable opponent.
At the peak of the Four Retainers’ era, the Dinian Evil Spirit was nothing more than an ant that could be crushed with a flick.
The army of Evil Entities it led would only serve as the starting point for players to campaign across the vast Monster World, nothing more than a stepping stone to the grand stage of war.
Without dwelling on the matter, Qi Sheng switched to his Emperor’s Sign form at this moment.
His body became shrouded in crimson flames, and his vision switched to one of the players under Guide’s feedback.
—
Northwest of the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
Amidst a ring of scorching volcanoes lay a tranquil pool, its emerald-green waters glowing under the light of the Evil Moon, clear enough to see numerous creatures swimming beneath the surface.
[Challenger Notification: Discovered a new region in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range: ‘Ripple Pool.’ Sacrificial power reward: 300 points.]
Hearing the notification ring in his mind, Lu Xing, standing by the pool, couldn’t hide his smile.
Opening the map, a section of fog northwest of the Ancient Battlefield was dispelled, revealing a new area centered on the pool, like a green gemstone embedded on the map.
Two large characters were marked above, ‘Ripple Pool.’
This was the first region he had explored and unlocked in the game, proving that exploration could also yield sacrificial power, it wasn’t limited to monster hunting and resource gathering.
For a scenery seeking player, the joy of playing a virtual game did not lie in competition or progression, but in admiring the scenery along the way.
In this turbulent new world filled with alien races, the Human Federation generally discouraged citizens from venturing outside the cities.
But Lu Xing always harbored a deep curiosity and yearning for the unknown regions of the world. The mere thought of traveling would ignite an indescribable excitement within him.
This passion finally found its home within virtual games.
The advent of virtual worlds filled the void in his heart.
After entering Dark Land, he discovered that he had finally found the perfect travel game.
The realism of this world was beyond imagination, no frame drops, no latency, every step felt incredibly real, every breath filled with the unique atmosphere of this world.
He didn’t know how others played games, but for him, there was only one way.
To journey far, witness the bizarre and marvelous virtual world, collect and piece together hidden historical lore of this world, and behold the wonders of nature crafted by the fantasy world… for him, this wasn’t merely sightseeing, but a spiritual dialogue with the world itself.
The hardships, challenges, fatigue, and even occasional loneliness and confusion along the journey were all indispensable experiences in his eyes.
Stopping for a moment, Lu Xing activated Guide’s analysis ability to observe the surroundings.
He then opened the forum interface to record information on newly discovered plants in a forum post.
Documentation was one of his travel goals.
The game forum did not include monster or plant encyclopedias.
He believed that he could share his hobby by documenting and compiling information for other players.
Creating a monster encyclopedia and plant encyclopedia for this game was an excellent way to share, allowing others to quickly find their desired hunting targets or resource gathering locations.
Over the past week, he had already documented 32 entries and shared them in his posts for other players to use.
There were three previously unrecorded plants near the pool. After copying the analysis information, Lu Xing edited and published it in his forum thread.
He summoned the livestream screen. Currently, 13 players who were in death cooldown were watching his travel livestream, leaving comments below.
One particular comment caught Lu Xing’s attention.
I’m A College Student: Bro, look across Ripple Pool! Something’s staring at you, looks super creepy!
Lu Xing immediately turned toward the opposite side of the pool. Amidst the tangled vines and wildflower-decorated bushes, a pair of deep emerald eyes were locked onto him.
Lu Xing immediately took two steps back.
It wasn’t that he was afraid of combat. Along his journey, he had fought monsters and died many times, returning to the respawn point.
However, each death required a one-hour respawn cooldown, and without teleportation devices, he would have to retrace his entire path, so he needed to avoid death as much as possible.
Earning sacrificial power and improving his strength was also a way to prepare for risks along the journey.
“Guide, analyze.”
But thinking of building a complete monster encyclopedia, Lu Xing ultimately chose not to retreat. Instead, he turned toward Guide and spoke.
[Distance insufficient. Unable to analyze target.] Guide replied lazily.
Upon hearing this, Lu Xing hesitated briefly but then gritted his teeth and moved closer toward the opposite side.
Once within analysis range, the information on the hidden creature with emerald eyes surfaced in his mind.
[Mystic Butterfly (Fourth-Generation Primordial)]:
Hunt Level: 7
Guide Analysis: A Fourth-Generation Primordial Monster that wields wind manipulation powers. It possesses intelligence and can control wind elements for flight, combat, or significantly enhanced movement speed.
Personality Analysis: Bullies the weak, fears the strong, lazy.
Seeing the ‘Fourth-Generation Primordial’ suffix, Lu Xing panicked internally.
But upon seeing the Hunt Level, his eyes widened, and the livestream chat was instantly flooded with exclamations from other players.
Their general sentiment was, ‘Put that Primordial down and let me have it!’
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