Chapter 144-3: Core of the System, Striving to Cross Upstream (3) |
Rimewinter Snowfield.
The bonfire flickered in the cold wind. A dozen-plus Skyfeather players sat together around it, roasting by the fire and eating to replenish their strength.
They were all wearing gear eliminated by veterans, most of it item shop equipment.
Item shop gear did not require worrying about whether it was handy. In any player’s hands it would automatically adjust into an adaptive wearing mode.
“This damn weather is freezing me to death.”
The leader, Yu Ling, exhaled a puff of white mist, put his hands over the fire and rubbed hard, unable to keep from complaining. He then reached up and patted his hair, brushing the snowflakes off his white hair.
Once his hands were warm, he took a food can from his inventory and ate in big mouthfuls to replenish his strength.
“Slow Bird, why are we not going to have a big battle with the Purple Tide? Why are we opening our own exploration route?” The Skyfeather player sitting beside him asked curiously at this moment.
“Of course it is for hidden rewards. Did you not see many guide posts on the forum say that many special rewards are discovered when exploring unknown scenes? The Rimewinter Snowfield is still in the initial exploration stage. There must be quite a few Easter egg scenes hidden. Find them and we get rich.”
Directly ahead, a handsome white-haired Skyfeather player used a stick to poke the bonfire and spoke irritably at the same time.
Hearing this, Yu Ling swallowed the food in his mouth, raised his head to look at his good brother.
“You just have a hard mouth. Every time you talk about slaughtering the Lunar Eclipse race, and every time you are beaten until you run with your head in your hands, then after reviving you keep mouthing off that next time you will definitely kill them back. The problem is, have you won?”
“Of course I have. I kept stats in the last Conquest game. I killed at least 300 Lunar Eclipse people.”
“How many times were you killed?”
“That was not recorded. Not important.”
Hearing this, the group of Skyfeather players gathered around the bonfire burst into laughter.
Opposing the Lunar Eclipse race had always been a tradition for the Skyfeather players when playing virtual games, and it was also a gaming tradition for many Earth races.
In every game there was an alliance of alien races opposing the Lunar Eclipse race’s dominance in virtual games.
This game was no exception. Although they had not yet encountered Lunar Eclipse race players, they were already prepared for future resistance.
After a brief rest, under Yu Ling’s lead they beat their wings and took to the sky.
The cold wind above was bitter, howling past their cheeks.
Acting in their primary forms without the blessing of inherited soul attributes, the Skyfeather players felt every inch of skin assaulted by cold currents, their teeth chattering from the cold.
Struggling to maintain balance in the strong air currents, every flap felt like a battle with nature. With each breath the icy air poured into their lungs like something tangible, making breathing difficult and painful, as if a pair of invisible hands were choking their throats tight.
Snow kept pelting their bodies, piling on their white hair, then being blown away by the gale, over and over again.
“Oh my god, I am going to freeze to death. Why not switch to inherited soul form and just walk over?”
A Skyfeather player in the team voice channel complained.
“As a Skyfeather player, do you not feel ashamed to say the word ‘walk’? We are eagles who soar in the sky. The sky is our home field. We do not fear the biting cold wind. We battle the vast heavens.”
As Yu Ling spoke, his body shuddered. The cold wind pouring into his mouth made his face change drastically, his body shivering, drawing a burst of laughter from his friends.
Chatting idly, a dozen figures streaked across the snow-white landscape, weaving through a silent and deep winter scene.
Half an hour later, the Challenger Notification rang in their minds:
[Challenger Notification: New scene discovered: Snow Giant Mountain Range. Reward obtained: 300 points of sacrificial power (shared by party members).]
With the prompt, the map popped up automatically. The fog at their location cleared, revealing four golden words marking ‘Snow Giant Mountain Range.’
Cheers erupted in the team chat channel.
At this moment the dozen figures dove, folding their wings to land after cleaving through the swirling snow.
Ahead lay a stretch of snowy ridges, blanketed in pure white.
Between the ridges, ravines crisscrossed and glaciers interlaced, like the veins of the earth.
Yu Ling and the others decided to begin their exploration here, searching for potentially hidden welfare scenes.
Climbing along the rugged mountain path, their sight pierced the flying snow to see a brilliant starry sky lying across the heavens, the vast river of stars magnificent and awe-inspiring.
“Bring out the gear.” Yu Ling said in a low voice.
With that he raised his hand and condensed a Scatter Arrows bow, while the others who had not embedded the Scatter Arrows inherited soul took out various weapons purchased from the Trading House.
Gazing ahead, they saw a group of chubby, adorable snowfield Monsters.
Focusing their gaze, analytic info poured into their minds:
[Snow Fluffball]
Hunt Level: 2
Target Analysis: A low level Monster that grows in the Rimewinter Snowfield region, at the bottom of the snowfield food chain, and one of the main foods of higher-hunt level snowfield Monsters.
—
Seeing that this group of chubby Monsters had only hunt level 2, Yu Ling and the others grew excited.
These Monsters posed no threat and were perfect for leveling up.
The Skyfeather warriors all switched to inherited soul form and charged into the Snow Fluffballs, initiating slaughter mode.
Faced with the attack, the Snow Fluffballs puffed up like inflatable balls and headbutted the Skyfeather player, but this attack method posed no real threat.
Before long, under Yu Ling’s lead the squad killed dozens of Snow Fluffballs.
A heap of fur remained on the ground after Extraction.
Through analysis it could be seen that these furs were spiritual substances that could be used to sacrifice to Emperor’s Sign or crafted into warm clothing.
The unexpected harvest lifted the squad’s spirits.
One of the joys of gaming for them was killing Monsters to level up, especially the delight from Monster drops.
Although the Monster World had no setting for random equipment drops from Monsters, which removed the unknown thrill of loot runs, the drop-materials setting added a layer of realism.
After stowing dozens of pelts in their inventory, they set out again.
Calling up the map, they could see that their current position was 27 kilometers in a straight line from the starter village exit.
There was also a real-time local weather indicator in the upper right of the map, but the Rimewinter Snowfield region was always snowy weather and would not change at all.
“Are we going to die or fly back later?” Yu Ling asked in the voice channel.
“Nonsense, of course die. Flying back would be too much suffering. Hurry and push body tempering to level 1. Without inherited soul attribute blessing, this weather is far too unfriendly to us.” A Skyfeather player in the team shivered after switching back to primary form and complained.
Chatting as they went, the Skyfeather player squad continued deeper into the mountain range to explore.
Along the way they encountered two more packs of Snow Fluffballs, and everyone’s inherited soul levels rose to level 6.
Just then, the Challenger Notification rang in their minds:
[Challenger Notification (All Channels): Territory Node region discovered: ‘Space-Origin Peak.’]
[Space-Origin Peak]
Territory Type: resource
Territory Trait: spiritual ore generation (special spiritual ore)
Trait Introduction: Continuously generates a single spiritual ore, ‘Space-Origin Stone.’ which can be used to craft space-type items, or, when consumed, to open up inventory space.
Territory Status: occupied by Monsters
—
The discovery of the new scene was immediately relayed by Guide to Qi Sheng’s mind.
This territory scene made Qi Sheng’s eyes light up.
The special ore Space-Origin Stone is one of the important resources for opening up space.
At the current stage, a major expense for veterans is spent on expanding inventory space.
Although sacrificial power can transform all things, the higher the grade of the item to be transformed, the more resources are required.
Space-type resources are among those with the higher transformation cost.
Now there are more and more places to spend sacrificial power, and many veterans complain that the output of sacrificial power is too little and there are too many places to spend it.
If this Territory Node can be contained, then the price of opening space slots can be pushed down in the future, allowing players to spend more sacrificial power on improving their own strength.
His view then shifted to the players who had discovered this Territory Node.
—
“Holy crap, we really found a special scene, brothers.”
“What is the use of discovering it. How many Territory Nodes have already been discovered in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range. Whether we can take it is the key.”
“Is there a possibility that this node is occupied by weak Snow Fluffballs and that we can take it with our strength.”
“Go, let us go take a look and we will know.”
With the expectation of seizing the node, the group climbed up the snowy mountain.
Although they were all newbies, they also knew that Territory Nodes were generally occupied by various powers and were by no means something a small squad could easily take.
Crossing a boulder that blocked their sight, what lay ahead was a steep cliff face of the mountain ridge.
Just as the Skyfeather players were preparing to advance toward the map-marked location of the Territory Node, the ground suddenly trembled.
A terrifying creature with curved bull horns atop its head raised its head from the wind and snow, emerging from below the cliff.
So immense was the monster’s body it was like a moving hill. Even the towering snowy mountains paled slightly in comparison.
Its robust body was covered in sharp, hard spines that gleamed coldly in the ice and snow. Most striking of all was the pair of curved horns on its head, like ancient roots embedded deep into the firmament, and the two thick arms lifted over the mountain peaks were like two pillars of heaven.
Discovering the Skyfeather players invading its territory, the monster lifted its head and let out a deafening roar.
The sound rolled like a surging tide of thunder, echoing and reverberating among the snowy ridges.
The falling snow in the sky was shaken into reverse, forming a pocket of snowless world.
The terrifying scene before their eyes left the Skyfeather players stunned.
Focusing their gaze, the monster’s analytic info surfaced:
[Snow Ridge Great Wilderness]
Hunt Level: 92
Target Analysis: A Monster that evolved over many generations from Snow Fluffballs that over a long-term consumed the node energy of Space-Origin Peak, and that has mastered space-type striking capabilities.
—
On seeing the hunt level, the Skyfeather players were dumbfounded.