Chapter 116-1: Journey to Spirit Weapon Valley (1) |
Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, Spirit Weapon Valley.
The 15 person Kindergarten squad was slowly advancing into the valley, stopping from time to time to observe the surroundings.
Iron Hammer: Shh, lighten your steps. The monsters in here are too fierce. If we get focused down, we are dead for sure.
Drunken Milk: Quit shushing. I would have to float for my steps to get any lighter. Hurry up and open the radar to find the target.
Cute Baby: Can you stop making things so tense? At worst we go into the little black room. You keep putting pressure on me, and it is making me nervous too.
Class Rep: Nonsense. Of course we have to be tense. We finally rolled five enhancement boosts. We have to take this wave.
Gulu: For the sake of this unfilial son Cute Baby, we really are worrying ourselves sick. Hopefully there will be a payoff this time.
Listening to the voice-channel chatter of his teammates, Cute Baby, who was walking at the front of the team, closed his eyes at this moment. After the Owl-Headed Fiend ability activated, perception mode spread outward centered on him, scanning the nearby environment.
This was already their fifth time entering Spirit Weapon Valley.
This time, they drew five enhancement states with Infinity, and the lowest weakening was only 35 percent, so they decided to venture into Spirit Weapon Valley again.
Their goal on this trip was a Primordial Monster in Spirit Weapon Valley: a Blood Bow.
As a veteran player of many years, Cute Baby had always chosen ranged DPS classes in other games.
But he did not like magic classes.
The reason was that magic builds consumed too much mana and lacked sustained combat power.
By comparison, he preferred more stable sustained-output ranged physical builds, such as hunter or ranger, with the main weapon being a bow or a crossbow.
But there had never been any ranged physical attack weapons available in the game.
This troubled him greatly.
Just a week ago, he saw a forum post from a player who said they encountered a First-Generation Primordial monster called Blood Bow while exploring Spirit Weapon Valley, and stated that if this Primordial could be contained, a batch of ranged physical DPS builds would surely emerge.
Upon learning this, he was ecstatic and decisively pulled his good brothers to enter Spirit Weapon Valley to search for the Primordial Blood Bow.
But the difficulty of Spirit Weapon Valley truly overwhelmed them. After all, this was a place where even the Black Tide and the Swarm were unwilling to come. Inside were basically all Primordial Monsters.
The more players that entered, the stronger the reaction of the spirit weapons.
Half a month ago, God Temple Guild’s God King had organized a joint guild operation targeting Spirit Weapon Valley, and they had participated as well.
The result was that after thousands of players marched mightily into Spirit Weapon Valley, the commotion drew groups of spirit weapons to besiege them. During that time, there was even a Scepter of the Stars with Hunt Level reaching 103, and with one group spell it shattered the joint warband into a complete rout.
This made Cute Baby realize that it was simply impossible to explore Spirit Weapon Valley by organizing large numbers of players to enter.
After much thought, they still had to rely on the good brothers of the Kindergarten squad to help him achieve the goal of containing Blood Bow.
They felt their way forward. From time to time Cute Baby opened the map to confirm the direction of advance.
According to the forum post’s description, Blood Bow’s location was three kilometers to the northeast. They only needed to follow the river to reach it.
Walking along the way, the most eye-catching thing was the mighty river running from south to north straight through the valley, like a giant dragon winding through the mountains and nourishing the surrounding greenery.
Sheer cliffs rose on both banks of the great river, the rocks jagged. After untold years of wind and rain erosion, they had formed a myriad of natural landscapes. The river rushed through the gorge, sometimes stopping eerily to reflect the lush forests on both banks, sometimes surging forward with a roaring sound, splashing layer upon layer of spray.
Proceeding along the river, their line of sight through the dense forest could make out many floating spirit weapons roaming about.
Thanks to the explorations of many players, the terrain of Spirit Weapon Valley was clearly visible in the map function.
The entire Spirit Weapon Valley was divided into two parts, the outer valley and the inner valley.
The spirit weapons of the outer valley had long since been slaughtered by players and did not regenerate.
The most well-known spirit weapons in the outer valley were the five Primordial Monsters contained by Iron Forge, namely Force Savage, Shatter, Soul Sever, Nether Ghost, and Sweep from the Inherited Soul library.
Upon entering the inner valley, the strength of the spirit weapons increased dramatically.
The monsters inside fell into three types: Primordial spirit weapons, spirit weapons, and companion spirit weapons. Their Hunt Levels were generally above level 35, and they moved in groups.
The farther in they went, the higher the Hunt Levels of the spirit weapons.
Among the known spirit weapons, the strongest was the Second-Generation Primordial Scepter of the Stars, with Hunt Level reaching 103, which current-stage players simply could not contend with.
According to Guide’s explanation, a resource-class Territory Node was hidden deep within Spirit Weapon Valley.
Spirit weapons and companion spirit weapons were a special resource nurtured by the Territory Node.
As for Primordial spirit weapons, they were most likely gathered here under the attraction of the node’s energy, forming the unique environment of Spirit Weapon Valley.
“Cute Baby, found it yet?”
Hearing Iron Hammer’s question in the voice channel, Cute Baby snapped back impatiently:
“Stepdads, stop rushing me. I am looking. I will notify you when I find it.”
“Oh, now you remember to call us stepdad. I bet the moment you successfully contain Blood Bow, you will turn around and flip your face, and start calling us unfilial sons again.”
“Good that you know. Right now I need a favor from you, so I have to bow my head, but sooner or later I will flip my face, my good stepdads.” Cute Baby gnashed his teeth.
“Eh.” (collective response)
“Everyone shut up. Do not interrupt my sensing.”
After the banter, Cute Baby continued walking at the front of the team, with perception mode constantly scanning the surrounding environment.
Along the way, they would occasionally run into high Hunt Level spirit weapons blocking the path ahead. By discovering them in advance through perception, Cute Baby would lead the team to detour and avoid triggering combat.
The spirit weapons in the valley were highly united. Fighting one spirit weapon would draw a group of spirit weapons.
Some players did try to follow Iron Forge’s solo-duel route, but the spirit weapons of the inner valley did not buy it at all. As long as you dared to make a move, the inevitable outcome was being swarmed.
Passing through the dense forest ahead, an open space appeared before their eyes. There were no tall trees blocking the view. It was covered with all kinds of wildflowers and weeds, emitting a faint fragrance. They could also see a large number of brightly colored flying insects circling and dancing among the wildflowers, a harmonious scene.
But in the center of the clearing, three meters above the ground, there floated a crystalline ice-blue greatsword. Its blade looked as if it were forged from ten-thousand-year cold ice. The sword tip pointed at the ground, exhaling wisps of chill that froze the nearby wildflowers and weeds. Fine patterns wound along the spine of the sword like streams sealed in ice, reflecting a ghostly blue sheen under the Evil Moon.
Analysis ability activated, and the introduction of the ice-blue greatsword surfaced in the minds of the Kindergarten squad members.
[Rimewinter (Second-Generation Primordial)]:
Hunt Level: 78.
Target Introduction: A Primordial Monster that controls the Extreme Cold trait. Its attacks carry a freezing effect.
—
“Cannot afford to provoke it. Go around.” Cute Baby decisively changed the direction of advance.
Before approaching the clearing, he had already discovered this Rimewinter greatsword in perception mode. He had not chosen to detour because there was only this one spirit weapon nearby.
He figured that if its Hunt Level were low, he would kill it in passing.
The proportion of Primordial Monsters in Spirit Weapon Valley was very high. If this spirit weapon was a Primordial, then it would be a big haul.
But after learning through analysis that the target’s Hunt Level reached 78, Cute Baby decisively gave up that idea and chose to detour and continue scouting ahead.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the coordinate.
Perception mode scanned the vicinity. There were three spirit weapons nearby, but he did not find Blood Bow.
At this, Cute Baby felt regret and had to continue searching forward.
Although the player who posted at the time provided Blood Bow’s location within Spirit Weapon Valley, spirit weapons were not dead things. They would move about the valley like animals.
The coordinate could only determine a general activity range, but the exact spot was still unknown.
Crossing a tributary stream, Cute Baby, walking at the front, suddenly halted and said with delight.
“Brothers, I have found the target.”
“Then what are we waiting for, charge it.” Iron Hammer immediately cracked his knuckles.
“Nonsense. If we could charge, I would already be taking you over. In perception mode there are three spirit weapons near Blood Bow. Their exact strength is unclear. We are not necessarily able to charge through. Let us sneak over first and check the strength of the three spirit weapons. Keep close to me.”
With that, Cute Baby slowed his steps and led the team to feel their way forward.
After a hundred or so paces, circling around a towering giant tree that would take ten people to encircle, they saw the target of this trip.