Chapter 161-1: Official Site Goes Live, World Craze (1) |
Primordial Altar.
Before building Monster World’s official website on the Starnet, Qi Sheng decided to take down two more territory nodes.
Once the official site went live this time, he planned to release a batch of player slots to the public.
But the current starter village space had already reached its carrying limit and had to be expanded in area as soon as possible, which meant the containment of territory nodes.
He had selected two territory nodes this time.
The first target was the resource node Fallen Leaves in the Rimewinter Snowfield region.
This was a level 2 resource domain with spirit fields twice the size of Cloud Field, guarded only by a group of monsters with an average hunt level of 39.
For players at the current stage, taking it down would not be difficult.
During this period, first there had been the Written Word versus Ascension race war, and then the Soil-Eating race incident igniting conflict. Most players’ attention was on the Colorful Mist Coast region, causing this node to remain untaken.
This time he intended to post a mission for players to contain this node as soon as possible and expand the carrying area of the starter village space.
Next was the territory node Thunder Lion deep in the southwestern dense forest of the Colorful Mist Coast region.
This was also a level 2 resource node that produced spiritual energy resources. Once contained, it could raise the spiritual energy content of the space and speed up players’ body tempering experience gain within the space.
This node was occupied by a low-intelligence monster group with an average hunt level of 52.
Given the players’ current strength, taking it down would not be difficult either, though it would require more time.
To speed up the containment of these two nodes, Qi Sheng issued extra rewards for the containment missions.
[Challenger Notification (Full Channel): Purification mission triggered: Contain the Rimewinter Snowfield territory node ‘Fallen Leaves.’ Rewards for this containment mission will be issued according to contribution rankings. During the containment mission, gains from killing monsters in the node area are increased by 20%.]
[Challenger Notification (Full Channel): Purification mission triggered: Contain the Colorful Mist Coast territory node ‘Thunder Lion.’ Rewards for this containment mission will be issued according to contribution. During the containment mission, gains from killing monsters in the node area are increased by 20%.]
The purification mission notifications immediately drew player attention.
Especially the Fallen Leaves territory node, which was a spirit field type territory node. This meant the contribution rewards issued after containment would very likely be spirit fields.
Veteran players had already proven that obtaining a spirit field was tantamount to owning a money-printing machine, allowing irregular harvesting of spirit plants.
And spirit plants were among the most popular commodities on the Trading House.
The Apothecary Alliance and Spirit Chef players were customers for such goods. As long as the price was right, transactions could be completed in a very short time.
Alternatively, one could consume them personally to gain body tempering experience.
The benefits of owning a spirit field were too many. It was one of the few channels in Monster World that could yield extra resources.
Players already short on sacrificial power were eager for it.
Large numbers of players used the teleportation array to head for the Rimewinter Snowfield region. They formed teams through the regional voice channel, or gathered with fixed-party friends to head for the Fallen Leaves territory node.
There was no commander for this purification mission. Players adopted a free warfare mode.
Before long, they assembled into a vast calamitous torrent pushing toward the Fallen Leaves territory node.
The specific location of the node was in the western sector of the Rimewinter Snowfield.
Here the sky hung low, and a howling cold wind swept through the valley, rolling up layers of snow mist like a silver-white gauze dancing in the air.
The peaks on both sides of the valley pierced the clouds, clad in thick snow. The sheer rock walls looked even sterner under the ice and snow. The ridge-top accumulations were carved by subzero winds of the snowfield into all sorts of strange shapes, some like sharp blades, some like the spines of giant beasts.
At the valley’s bottom lay a frozen river, its ice surface smooth as a mirror. Vegetation nearby was sparse. Occasionally a few tenacious snow trees could be seen, their branches weighed low by the snow.
At the deepest point stood the Fallen Leaves territory node, a scarlet crystal suspended above the ground, creating a tract of fertile spirit field soil in this harsh environment.
Growing in the spirit fields were various wild spirit plants adapted to the snowfield environment.
Dwelling in this area was a kind of monster called the Obsidian Bug, which fed on the energy produced by the node and the wild spirit plants growing in the spirit fields.
It was a low level creature similar to the Gold-Claw Crab of the Colorful Mist Coast, at the very bottom of the food chain. In its normal state, the analysis introduction listed its hunt level as only level 0.
But sustained nourishment from the abundant node energy had brought most of them up to around level 39, and their life form had undergone certain changes.
From an initial finger size, they grew to about the size of a seven or eight-year-old child. Their bodies were divided into head, thorax, and abdomen. The outer shell was composed of a mineral substance, smooth and hard, with a dark purple luster like cooled lava crystal. It was covered in fine cracks, within which a faint snow-white energy substance could be seen flowing.
Their heads were triangular, with two long, slender antennae at the apex, the tips faintly glowing.
They could spit a freezing ray through their mouthparts.
Targets struck would experience a precipitous drop in body temperature, with frost spreading from the impact point across the whole body.
When the player legion arrived, they engaged the Obsidian Bugs defending the territory node.
During this, players discovered that the Obsidian Bug was valuable all over.
After being killed, materials such as the carapace and antennae dropped and could all be listed on the Trading House.
Compared with the penniless Black Tide Evil Entities, monsters like the Obsidian Bug that dropped materials yielded returns several times higher than Evil Entities of the same level.
The key point was that the Obsidian Bug’s combat style involved no tactics whatsoever.
Players did not need to endure the Earthmind bully’s dual torments on spirit and flesh to earn hunting gains and contribution gains easily and happily.
As more players poured in, the war for the territory node was completed in a nearly steamrolling fashion to achieve containment.
When players touched the node crystal, a pitch-black spatial vortex expanded with the node crystal at its center.
It devoured all nearby spirit fields together with the accompanying area.
As the full-channel announcement sounded, the three starter village spaces shook simultaneously and their area was expanded.
Qi Sheng did not disappoint the players and distributed spirit field areas according to contribution rankings.
But this time he cut the spirit field areas into smaller plots to ensure more players could obtain spirit field rewards and gain extra sacrificial power income through the fields. Each plot could plant roughly three spirit plants, though the exact number depended on the species.
Although the extra output from the spirit fields could not meet players’ demand for sacrificial power, it indirectly increased their usual sacrificial power income.
The Honor Album in the function panel also recorded the entire campaign, with many players’ brilliant performances archived through videos and screenshots.
With the battle over, players shifted scenes.
Only the newbie players were still hunting monsters nearby and searching for wild spirit plants.
The veteran players switched to the Colorful Mist Coast region and advanced toward the Thunder Lion territory node.
This territory node was in a relatively open scene within the dense forest.
And the environment of the Colorful Mist Coast region was undoubtedly the most comfortable among the three scenes. The sky was an azure wash, a few thin clouds floating lightly above the node scene, pushed slowly by a warm breeze. In the scene, the grass was lush, densely covering every inch of ground.
When the breeze brushed by, waves rippled through the grass as if the earth were breathing, and the air was filled with the fragrance of grass and soil.
This node was discovered by an exploration-party player, yet few players had ever come to contain it.
The reason was that the monsters in the node averaged level 52, and the abilities they possessed made players feel extremely disgusted.
The node was occupied by a kind of monster called Nightmare.