Chapter 93-2: Colorful Mist Coast (2) |
Pale Continent, Colorful Mist Coast.
High in the sky, a golden disk hung suspended.
The coastline was covered with fine white sand, stretching like a silver ribbon, resting against the azure sea.
The sea breeze blew, carrying the salty scent of seawater across the land.
Waves rolled in layers, crashing onto the beach with a steady whoosh, playing a unique melody.
Seabirds soared leisurely across the sky, their feathers flashing a silvery white under the sunlight. Sometimes they skimmed low over the glittering sea, sometimes they shot up into the clouds, creating a magnificent scene with the blue sky and white clouds.
But at the edge of the sea hung a blood-red Evil Moon.
Under its light, the world was bathed in a dim red glow, splitting the same world into two starkly different scenes.
The coastline teemed with life.
This clear dividing line was slowly advancing toward the coast.
It was foreseeable that, in the near future, the coast would be swallowed by the Evil Moon and become part of its domain.
Qi Sheng’s consciousness, guided by Guide, swept across this area.
Spiritual resources, monsters, Primordials, underwater spiritual creatures… enormous amounts of information flooded his mind.
Just as his consciousness was about to leave, it paused.
“Guide, this place seems pretty good. It’s backed by rich ocean resources, very suitable for player development.”
[Indeed. Although players haven’t acquired any water-type inherited souls yet, I detected quite a few underwater Primordial creatures. As long as one can be captured, future development will become much easier.]
[However, there’s one drawback to this location: the Evil Moon at the end of the sea is encroaching. In at most three months, this entire area will be completely shrouded.]
What Guide said was exactly what made Qi Sheng hesitate.
“Let’s take a look over there.”
[Got it.]
His consciousness, guided by Guide, flew toward the far end of the sea, piercing through the crimson curtain.
The scene before him made Qi Sheng’s brow furrow slightly.
The sky was shrouded in heavy dark clouds, occasionally split open by pitch-black lightning, which tore through the cloud layers and revealed the dark red crescent moon hanging high in the sky.
Looking downward, he saw a massive island in the sea. A dead and twisted landscape unfolded before Qi Sheng’s perception mode.
Rotting plants, gnawed remains, dark creatures locked in brutal combat, and tentacles sprouting from the ground… the island was covered in twisted and tangled corrosion cores.
Even the surrounding ocean was controlled by the corrosion cores generated by the Evil Moon. The seawater had already turned blood-red, and beneath the surface, countless underwater Evil Entities could be seen circling the island at high speed.
This was an area completely occupied by the Evil Moon.
And the Evil Entities here were far stronger than those in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, with an average hunt level of over 40.
The only thing that comforted Qi Sheng was that the terrifying Black Tide had not yet arrived.
Guide had previously explained to him the difference between the Black Tide and the Evil Moon.
Although the Evil Moon was part of the terrifying Black Tide, its advance was not synchronized with the Black Tide’s pace.
The Evil Moon could be understood as the domain field of the terrifying Black Tide. Each time it invaded a world, the power of the Evil Moon would seep into it, creating a home-field advantage for the Black Tide. Only then would the intelligent Evil Spirits descend, and under this advantage, the Black Tide would be born.
This process generally proceeded smoothly.
All areas covered by the Evil Moon would generate a large number of corrosion cores, drawing energy from the region to stockpile power in preparation for the Black Tide’s arrival.
In addition, under the Evil Moon’s light, countless mindless Evil Entities like blood corpses and Cursed Soldiers would continuously spawn, attacking the region’s living beings to clear obstacles ahead of the Black Tide’s descent.
In Guide’s words. “The Black Tide strikes in three moves.”
Step one, the Evil Moon’s illumination. Step two, the Evil Spirits descend. Step three, the Black Tide sweeps through.
This was precisely what made the terrifying Black Tide so frightening.
Ordinary lifeforms had no way to drive away the Evil Moon. They could only watch helplessly as their regions were infiltrated and corrupted by the Black Tide’s power, ultimately welcoming the Black Tide led by Evil Spirits.
But for Qi Sheng, this problem did not exist.
As long as he dispersed the corrosion cores, he had the ability to repel the Evil Moon.
Without the Black Tide led by Evil Spirits, the Evil Moon alone was not a serious threat, making this area very suitable for player development and growth.
With this thought in mind, Qi Sheng began planning where to place the teleportation array.
Unlike Emperor’s Mound Village, which could exist independently from the Monster World and simply consume Sacrificial Power to resist external infiltration, safety was the primary concern when establishing a teleportation array in this new area.
Because the player territories established near the teleportation node could be destroyed.
In other words, this space node would not have a safe zone.
Additionally, when players died, their souls would still return to Emperor’s Mound Village, and they would have to teleport back again.
Sweeping his awareness across the area, Qi Sheng found that there was no such thing as a safe area here.
Without the protective territory traits of Emperor’s Mound Village, every location was the same.
In the end, Qi Sheng’s consciousness stopped about 530 meters inland from the coastline.
There was a natural barrier here made up of dense fruit trees. The tall, lush trees could effectively block the sea breeze and rainfall.
Back in Emperor’s Mound Village, Qi Sheng switched to his Emperor’s Sign form.
His head transformed into blazing crimson flames, and at that moment, Guide connected him to Yan Ming.
Before long, Yan Ming’s voice sounded in Qi Sheng’s mind.
“Leave this to me. I’ll inform you when it’s done.”
As Yan Ming spoke, a glowing, wandering blue spiritual rune appeared on the ground, outlining and constructing the stabilized teleportation array.
“How long will it take?”
“My current strength is too weak to complete it quickly. To accelerate the process, I’d have to burn ten times the Sacrificial Power,” Yan Ming immediately replied.
Hearing that quickly constructing the stabilized teleportation array would require ten times the Sacrificial Power, Qi Sheng decisively shook his head.
“Take your time. Notify me once it’s done.”
“Alright.”
After giving the task, Guide left an avatar above the formation to coordinate with Yan Ming, then led Qi Sheng’s consciousness back to the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
Compared to the beautiful scenery of the Colorful Mist Coast, the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range under the light of the waning moon appeared especially gloomy and oppressive.
One thing was certain, the breathtaking scenery of the Colorful Mist Coast would surely attract a large number of exploration-focused players.
Its proximity to the sea would also tempt fishing-focused players.
But to get there, players would have to pay.
Once the stabilized teleportation array was established, it would require a constant consumption of Sacrificial Power.
According to Guide’s calculations, the daily cost would be roughly 3,000 Sacrificial Power. The exact consumption would be recalculated once Yan Ming finished the array.
Naturally, this steady expenditure would be passed on to the players.
As for how much Sacrificial Power to charge per teleportation, Qi Sheng would decide after the array was complete.
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