Chapter 113-2: A Journey That Ends Only in Death (2) |
“Eh, where’s the fish meat?”
Seeing that after the big black fish died there was actually no disassembly prompt and no fish meat dropped, Gu Chen was instantly dumbfounded, and a nearly unbelievable thought surfaced in his mind.
He jerked his head up to look. Guide floating beside him opened its mouth and absorbed the black mist.
Then, in his mind and in the regional voice channel came the Challenger Notification:
[Challenger Notification (All Channels): Congratulations to player ‘Battle Unceasing’ for killing the second-generation Primordial Monster Extreme Speed, gaining 20,000 points of sacrificial power, Star Vein slot level +1.]
[Extreme Speed (Second-Generation Primordial)]:
Primordial trait: By burning vitality, speed up all action efficiency. The specific acceleration effect is affected by Inherited soul level, and the duration is affected by one’s vitality strength.
Purchase cost: 3,000 sacrificial power.
—
The prompt in his mind blew Gu Chen’s thoughts apart.
Fishing to him was just a leisure hobby. He was not like the fishing-party players who fished day and night.
Yet he never expected that the achievement of ‘reeling up a Primordial,’ which even the fishing-party players had not attained, would be accomplished by him, a casual passerby.
It was like a group of professional lottery players buying tickets every day and never winning.
He just happened to pass a lottery shop and casually bought one ticket, and it hit a get-rich jackpot.
This surprise came too suddenly, and Gu Chen had no mental preparation at all.
At this moment, the guild chat channel where Gu Chen was also exploded.
“You dog, you really deserve death. I was just saying you went to Colorful Mist Coast for vacation today while we are still fighting in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, and you were going to gradually pull away from us in combat power. What is this you are doing, I ask you what is this you are doing… aaah, this is more painful than killing me.”
“Waaah, hurry up and send a red envelope. Getting this unlucky prompt early in the morning, when I see other players get a Primordial reward I also feel bad, but after cursing a couple of times it passes, since we do not know them. But you getting the reward is different. I will not be able to sleep for at least three days. I really feel awful.”
“Everyone was poor together just fine. Why did you have to get rich first? You getting rich breaks the balance between us. Were the days of us all struggling in poverty not happy enough? How did you get rich alone? I suggest donating all this money. If you do not donate, my heart aches. Pick one, good brother or sacrificial power. You can only choose one.”
—
Glancing at the wailing of his friends-and-family group in the voice channel, Gu Chen burst out laughing.
Though it was a small guild, all the members were old friends of over five years. They had even met offline multiple times, and when several veteran players got married, he had served as a groomsman.
Compared to profits, what he cared about more was the friendship of his friends-and-family group.
In his joy, he sent a lucky red envelope of 3,000 sacrificial power in the guild group chat channel. Instantly, the howls in the guild chat turned into congratulations and blessings.
He brought up the regional voice channel. Just as he expected, the screen was full of cordial and friendly greetings.
“Great!”
The sudden windfall put Gu Chen in a great mood. He then turned his head toward the raft, preparing to continue his delightfully fatal fishing.
Yet to his astonishment, the raft was drifting away with the waves.
Realizing the situation was bad, he decisively swam hard toward the receding raft, trying to close the distance.
But without a speed-type Inherited soul, the raft, pushed by both sea wind and waves, grew farther and farther from him, shrinking in his sight until it completely vanished at the end of his vision.
At that moment, the smile on Gu Chen’s face disappeared.
“Crap, how am I supposed to get back?”
As he spoke, Gu Chen, floating on the surface, subconsciously looked at Guide water orb hovering beside him.
Their gazes met. Guide’s avatar, wearing a bored expression, manifested two arms, spread its hands, and said.
[Why are you looking at me? Do you expect me to carry you back? Of course you should swim back, or hold your breath and drown yourself. If you die, you go back. Next time do not ask me such an idiotic question.]
Gu Chen: …
Looking around, with not even a shadow of land in sight, Gu Chen knew he was in serious trouble.
He called up the map function and found that the straight-line distance from his current location to the Colorful Mist Coast was 27 kilometers. Swimming back against the wind would take at least most of the day, and it might still not be enough.
As for holding his breath to drown himself, he felt that was really not easy to do.
The only relatively reliable way to die was if a ferocious marine lifeform happened to pass by and send his soul back to Emperor’s Mound Village.
But the problem was, where was he supposed to find a ferocious big fish?
“Forget it, I’ll try first.”
With that, Gu Chen took a deep breath and dove underwater.
Guide hovering at his side followed him into the underwater world.
—
An hour later, on the player forum.
[Version T0 tier Inherited soul +1, initial evaluation showcase of the Extreme Speed Inherited soul, and suggestions for Inherited soul pairings]
Poster: Darkness Approaches
Content: At last, a new Primordial has been contained. Upon seeing the prompt I decisively went to the test tower for pairing tests.
Judging from the name of the Primordial trait, it seems like a trait that improves action efficiency, but in fact it is not merely that.
After activating Extreme Speed, besides instantly increasing movement speed, pairing it with other Inherited souls can produce effects beyond imagination.
Here is the first test video, paired with: Bonefire (Inkflame) Inherited soul + Extreme Speed Inherited soul.
(Attached: recorded video)
As you can see, originally it took several seconds of charge-up to condense a fireball, but with the Extreme Speed pairing, the charge-up is instantly shortened to 1.5 seconds. This is not even the limit. By choosing to accelerate the burning of vitality, I can instantly empty my HP bar and MP bar, resulting in the ultra high burst of continuous Fireball shown in the video.
This Inherited soul’s strength is T0 tier among burst builds in the current version, even better than the Flowing Shadow clone effect.
Next are a few ideas for combination pairings.
First pairing: Bonefire, Flowing Shadow clone, Extreme Speed, Qi Eater.
This setup can empty both the MP bar and HP bar within 10 seconds, causing terrifying burst damage in an instant. But the drawback is also very obvious: the consumption is too fierce. Even Qi Eater struggles to fill the deficit in vitality and mental power. This belongs to a Star Vein combo that becomes listless after the burst. It is only suitable for a powerful team to bring one for key moments. Solo players and small casual teams should forget it. Choosing this is equivalent to carrying a burden.
Second pairing: Gargoyle, Soul Sever spear, Black-Scaled Serpent (Venomous), Extreme Speed.
This is, in my eyes, the most perfect combination.
The characteristic of Extreme Speed is that it consumes vitality to activate. This constraint destined it to fit best with thick-HP melee builds.
I call this combo the ‘high-speed special-effects build.’
It focuses on dealing damage by triggering effects. With level 1 Inherited souls you can activate 1.5 times movement speed and attack speed. It has both toughness and output, with very high overall strength.
Third pairing: Duskhaze, Force Savage axe, Shatter saber, Extreme Speed.
Also a melee pairing, this Star Vein combo is an assassin burst build.
After closing in, you activate Extreme Speed to unleash extremely high burst damage in a short time, but it is only recommended for technical players. Ordinary players will find it hard to weave through packs of monsters.
These are the Star Vein pairing ideas provided in this evaluation. If you have better ideas, post them in the comments.
—
Comments:
Raging Chicken: So assassin builds are rising again?
Is This a Beaver?: Actually, assassin builds perform quite well. In the Skyfire campaign a lot of assassins went to the Black Tide and the Swarm to snipe last hits, and they really made a killing. The only drawback is the high technical requirement. Assassins who know how to play and those who do not are like two entirely different builds. But if we are talking about the current strongest assassin, it still has to be Ashes from our guild’s veteran squad led by Grandpa Iron.
Sea Walker: Lots of people here, so let me ask, any human brothers selling sacrificial power? Buying at 25 sacrificial power.
Dark Land Is Fun: The demo video of the first Star Vein combo cracked me up. Emptying HP and MP in 10 seconds and going limp immediately, this build is way too impractical. It is only suitable for a few strong teams to bring one and pull it out for burst at key moments. Solo players and small teams should pass. Picking this is the same as bringing dead weight.
Shadow in Tow: This is even better than that previous assassin build. The earlier one focused on triggering effects and required stacking poison and stacking curse marks. This one is focused on burst output. But Darkness Bro did not consider one issue. An assassin deep behind enemy lines is not suited to the weapon forms of Shatter saber and Force Savage axe. Dagger-type weapons like Blade Seal, which can attack rapidly in cramped spaces, are the most fitting option.
So your set needs to add a Cursed Blade Inherited soul, but inheriting all five Inherited souls requires body tempering levels that are truly too far off. I will try to get it done within the next two months. With my recent power gains, my killing efficiency has improved and my earnings have surged. It feels like my growth speed has also increased quite a bit.
—
The debut of the Extreme Speed Inherited soul set off a heated discussion on the forum.
Many guide-making players, after their evaluations, ranked this Inherited soul at version T0.
After activating the effect ability, players were like they had turned on an acceleration cheat.
Any action could be accelerated, including movement, casting, the frequency of physical attacks, and so on, including underwater action efficiency.
This opened up many more powerful combinations for Star Vein builds.
Subsequently, players even developed a functional playstyle that combined Bind, Light Shield, Extreme Speed, and Qi Eater, focusing on instant control and instant shielding. Functionality was greatly enhanced. Quite a few players who mainly play functional builds decisively switched to a new Star Vein pairing after reading the guide.
Later, actual combat performance against the Swarm and the Black Tide in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range proved that the suggestions put forward by the guide-makers were all feasible.
They brought considerable power boosts to both individuals and teams.
This is precisely what many players see as the charm of this game’s design.
Every time an Inherited soul is contained, all players benefit.
And the addition of a high-strength Inherited soul can also bring a significant improvement to the comprehensive strength of the player camp.
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