Chapter 86-1: Guide Upgrade System (1)

Monsters Are Coming

At the Primordial Altar.

After observing for several days, Qi Sheng noticed that the livestream room hosted by Grind Kings player Li Zheng had become a permanent fixture at the top of the livestream popularity rankings.

Many players would enter Li Zheng’s livestream during their revival cooldown periods to spectate and enjoy the show.

Every day during the meal-time brawls, the chat would explode with flying comments, making the livestream extremely lively.

The fierce performance of Li Zheng and the other Grind Kings players, along with their insane hunger endurance tactics, earned them a nickname on the forum: The Hungry Wolf Squad.

Their conduct stood in stark contrast to that of Lu Xing, who had backed down and submitted.

Some enthusiastic onlookers even created a whole set of memes for them.

For example: Nobody Eats Anymore (flipping a dining table with one kick), Hunger Training Begins (Grind Kings walking into the cafeteria), Muscle Man Elbow Strike, I Rule the Cafeteria, Late Night Sneaky Eating (Grind Kings players shutting the door and stuffing their faces), Smack, Food’s Gone (Four-Eyed trainees staring in despair as their trays are knocked over), and many others.

These screenshots from the livestream, paired with captions, had become as popular on the forum as the Explorer Series and God of Wealth Series memes.

The difference was that Li Zheng and the others’ memes were mostly used for positive contexts.

Whereas the God of Wealth Overheating Series and Explorer Series were more commonly used to express negative content.

One thing that left Qi Sheng slightly regretful was that he still hadn’t been able to learn anything about the Anti-Tide Legion’s true situation, who exactly Anti-Tide was, or where they were currently located.

The first-phase training camp was only one small area within the vast territory controlled by the Anti-Tide Legion, and there was no way to trace Anti-Tide’s exact whereabouts from here.

However, Qi Sheng was in no rush over this matter.

During the time Li Zheng and the others spent inside the training camp, the Player Legion had been growing at a remarkable pace.

In the meantime, the terrifying Black Tide had once again swept through, and Qi Sheng issued another round of game access passes.

The total number of players had now reached 17,523, with Sacrificial Power income continuing to surge. Everything was developing according to plan.

Among the biggest gains were the successful containments of three new Primordial Monsters.

These three Primordials were hunted and contained by players in the Bone-Burial Wasteland north of the Earthfissure Furnace. They were:

[Sluggish (Third-Generation Primordial)]:

Primordial Trait Description: Domain-type trait. When activated, generates a domain centered on itself. Targets entering the domain will be pulled by its force, reducing movement efficiency (consumes mental power continuously while active; coverage area is adjustable, the larger the area, the higher the consumption).

The monster possessing this trait was a 3-meter tall black boulder, covered in intricate spiritual runes. Its Hunt Level was 34. It moved slowly in combat, and its domain ability inflicted a ‘slow-motion’ effect on any player who approached.

It was captured by the God Temple Guild led by Guild Leader God King, who, together with his members, fought a prolonged battle lasting over two hours. In the process, they spent nearly 1500 Sacrificial Power points on potions from the item shop just to sustain the battle.

[Thunderburst (Second-Generation Primordial)]:

Primordial Trait Description (Active): Continuously consumes mental power to transform into a lightning sphere, delivering electric shock damage to any target it contacts, accompanied by physical paralysis (paralysis strength varies based on target’s physical aptitude; the stronger the target’s body, the weaker the effect).

This monster was a floating orb surrounded by electrical arcs, with a Hunt Level of 23.

It was contained in a beast bone littered area west of the Bone-Burial Wasteland.

The hunt was extremely intense. The Thunderburst Primordial was a close-combat nemesis, anyone who approached would be electrocuted and paralyzed. In the end, a squad of independent players managed to contain it by slowly wearing it down from range.

The squad received generous rewards for their efforts.

[Roar (First-Generation Primordial)]:

Primordial Trait Description (Active): Emits a conical sonic attack centered on itself, causing sustained mental shock damage to affected targets. Once damage exceeds the target’s mental threshold, they enter states of mental disorder, dizziness, and other negative effects.

This Primordial resembled a real-world brown bear, with red and blue interwoven fur, a massive five meter long body, and an overwhelming presence when standing upright like a tower blocking the path. Its Hunt Level was 39.

In addition to its formidable physique and terrifying regenerative abilities, its most fearsome trait was its roar, which spread in a cone forward. Any player caught by the roar would instantly become dizzy, disoriented, and completely lose combat ability for a short period.

The containment of Roar was exceptionally difficult.

The initial 18-player squad that discovered it was wiped out shortly after engaging. Then waves of players arrived, sacrificing themselves in relay-style assaults. Only after exhausting Roar’s stamina was it finally slain and contained.

The successful containment of these three new soul cores brought many fresh combinations to Star Vein builds.

Especially Sluggish, which was hailed by players as the strongest soul core of the current version, bar none.

The initial tests of the Sluggish soul core seemed to suggest it was most suited for melee players, as it slowed enemy movement and enhanced the user’s close-combat efficiency.

However, in subsequent tests, players discovered that domain-type soul cores were even more powerful when combined with other magic-type soul cores in primary form.

For example: Sluggish + Bonefire + Qi Eater + Bind.

When these four abilities were combined in primary form, the player could release an Inkflame domain centered on themselves, dealing continuous area damage to all targets within the field. Every target inside would also be affected simultaneously by the Sluggish and Bind traits.

Or: Thunderburst + Sluggish + Qi Eater + Bind, which created a lightning-wreathed domain centered on the user, delivering terrifying destructive power.