Chapter 55: Emperor’s Mound Village Upgrade |
[Challenger Notification: Global mission ‘Purify Shadowed Cavern’ has been completed. Rewards will now be distributed based on battle contributions.
Contribution Rankings:
1st place: Game Gold-Farmer (Body Tempering Level +3)
2nd place: Divine Wings (Body Tempering Level +2)
3rd place: Iron Hammer (Body Tempering Level +1)…]
—
As the game notification sounded, all players who had participated in the battle received their rewards.
At the same time, the Corrosion Core that had been shattered by the players transformed into shimmering black specks of light and dissipated. Qi Sheng’s Emperor’s Sign power once again enveloped the Territory Node crystal.
The crystal, once covered in black speckles, finally turned into a pure, translucent crimson.
Viewed from above, a massive black vortex formed with the Shadowed Cavern at its center, rapidly expanding until it swallowed the entire landmass into the vortex.
The terrain twisted and deformed, eventually stabilizing into a vast flat expanse of black earth.
As the Shadowed Cavern vanished, Emperor’s Mound Village trembled, its internal area expanding visibly at an incredible rate.
On the village’s southern edge, near the border of the black mist, a massive beast head structure rose skyward in a howling pose, this marked the entrance to the Shadowed Cavern.
A new Challenger Notification echoed in every player’s mind:
[Challenger Notification: Emperor’s Mound Village has expanded. A special new area ‘Shadowed Cavern’ has been added. Players may now directly access the Shadowed Cavern through the southern entrance of Emperor’s Mound Village to mine spiritual ore resources.]
As the notification appeared, large amounts of guidance feedback also surfaced in Qi Sheng’s mind.
Shadowed Cavern.
Territory Type: Resource Class
Territory Trait: Spiritual Proliferation
Trait Description: Continuously transforms and generates spiritual ore resources.
Territory Status: Occupied
—
Though it wasn’t a Rule Territory and couldn’t provide Rule Traits like “Flesh Reconstruction,” Qi Sheng still found the Spiritual Proliferation trait very practical, as it could greatly assist the early-stage development of the player army.
This meant the spiritual ore within the Shadowed Cavern was essentially inexhaustible. Even if mined out, new resources would continue to regenerate.
Like harvesting leeks: cut one batch, and another grows.
From the players’ perspective, they no longer needed to travel long distances to reach the Shadowed Cavern. They could now enter directly from Emperor’s Mound Village, saving enormous amounts of travel time.
This significantly improved mining efficiency.
It also indirectly increased his sacrificial power tax revenue. The wealthier the players became, the greater his sacrificial power earnings.
Star Vein upgrades, inherited soul purchases, body tempering upgrades, item shop purchases, wherever players spent sacrificial power, they couldn’t avoid taxation.
Even player-to-player trades were taxed.
For example, the custom weapons produced by the Doomsday Technology Guild used materials purchased from the shop. Even when sold at cost price, he still earned 30% profit from material sales.
From reading player discussions on the forum these past few days, he was already planning a marketplace feature to give players a more convenient trading system while also setting a reasonable transaction tax rate.
At that point, player-to-player resource and item circulation would generate him even more income.
—
Northern Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
In a massive ravine, a towering black spire rose from the ground. Ethereal black tentacles extended from the tower, flailing wildly in the air.
Thick black mist shrouded the base of the tower. Countless Evil Entities merged into the mist, sometimes solidifying into grotesque forms, their shapes shifting between reality and illusion as they followed the mist’s ebb and flow.
Atop the tower, a dark red Evil Eye gazed toward the Blood-Soaked Plains, its pupil quivering slightly.
“What’s wrong?” asked Dinian the Evil Spirit, now fully recovered from his injuries, as he turned to look at the Evil Eye.
“The area where you once fought the Anti-Tide Legion warrior, I had previously sensed a Territory Node corrupted by Evil Moon power. I originally planned to send you there once the Death Legion had grown strong enough to completely seize it. But now, that Territory Node has mysteriously disappeared.”
“Why?” Dinian immediately asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t analyze the exact reason. It may be related to the continuous expansion of Monster World’s territory. As portions of other plane worlds are merged in, the structure of this world undergoes certain unknown changes. Territory Nodes may shift locations during these world adjustments. This happens quite often in this world.”
Hearing the Evil Eye’s explanation, Dinian expressionlessly nodded, then asked another question.
“I’m curious about something, why does our race integrate the worlds we’ve devoured into Monster World?”
Facing the question, the Evil Eye turned its gaze toward Dinian.
“It is my master’s decision, and naturally has its reasons. My own speculation is that this world is far stronger than any of the other worlds we’ve invaded and devoured. My master wishes to transform this world into our race’s future base, possibly even abandon the main world entirely, making this world our new core world.”
Hearing this, Dinian looked somewhat incredulous.
“Make it our core homeland? This world?”
“I’ve explained to you many times, do not underestimate this world. This is not one of the tiny secondary worlds you once helped devour. It’s a super world that cannot be compared. Perhaps you were a top warrior during the devouring wars in other worlds, but here you are just one of our race’s ordinary warriors. Countless Commander Class warriors have died trying to conquer this world. Even King Class warriors haven’t been spared, how much less you?”
“Based on intel shared from other nodes, the former supreme deity of this world, the Emperor, may have once been an existence not inferior to my master.”
The Evil Eye’s words made Dinian fall into deep thought. After a long silence, he spoke coldly.
“I will not die here. One day, I will stand atop this world.”
“Ambition is good. But similar words were spoken by the previous Commander Class warrior I assisted. Back then, I encouraged him too. Unfortunately, he eventually died a most pathetic death in battle.”
“Tell me more about him.” Dinian’s curiosity was piqued.
“His name was Black Worm. Before arriving here, he fought in the Celestial Origin World campaign. After our race completely devoured Celestial Origin World, he was transferred to Monster World. I was assigned to guide him and assist in his devouring campaign here.”
“On the second year of our partnership, he was summoned to join a devouring war led by King Class warriors. There, he was instantly slain by a native of Monster World called Iceblade. His death was utterly worthless. I was also destroyed in that battle, leaving only a shred of consciousness which my mother later recovered.”
“I was only recently revived and assigned to this land, rebuilt the war tower, and then came your arrival.”
“How powerful was the one who killed him?” Dinian asked in shock.
“I don’t know. Black Worm and I were just cannon fodder in that war, killed almost as soon as we entered. From our race’s database, I discovered that we lost five King Class warriors in that battle. As for whether Iceblade was killed afterward, there are no records.”
Taking a deep breath, Dinian was once again shaken by the Evil Eye’s words.
“Dying in this world is likely to be your fate,” the Evil Eye continued. “But I also hope you can one day reach King Class. This world holds countless Territory Nodes. Every time we seize one, I can extract enormous power to enhance you. Your growth rate here will far surpass anything you’ve experienced in other worlds. Work hard and grow.”
“I understand,” Dinian replied, fully setting aside his pride.
Standing at the edge of the tower platform, he looked down at the black mist below, where Evil Entities continued to gestate. He knew his devouring war was about to begin.
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