Chapter 214-2: Inverting the Heavenly Dipper (2) |
After thoroughly analyzing the concept of the nanomechanical legion, Qi Sheng’s view switched to the Cavern world scene.
There was a new discovery here.
—
Cavern world, Scene No. 257.
A team of 23 players was walking carefully along a street.
The place they were in looked extremely unreal. The sky was like an overturned palette, with all kinds of gorgeous colors interwoven.
The suspended sun was a huge multifaceted crystal that refracted a seven-colored halo, shrouding the entire city in mesmerizing light and shadow.
On both sides of the street stood colorful buildings like those that would only appear in fairy tales, with walls set with gemstones of various colors.
Chains formed of flowing light connected the buildings. The chains of flowing light were hung with wind chimes that swayed in the wind and rang with a crisp sound.
Crack.
Just then, a crisp shattering sound rang out.
Teammates turned toward the direction of the sound.
One player in the party spread his hands with a helpless look.
“This is not on me. Blame the bird for not giving a warning. I triggered a trap.”
As he spoke, his hair rapidly turned white, wrinkles appeared on his skin, his bones began to bend, and his joints creaked under unbearable strain.
“Damn, this curse is vicious.”
The player who had stepped on the curse trap spoke in a hoarse voice, rapidly aging under the stunned gazes of the party.
Activating Analysis, the curse information appeared in the players’ minds.
[Aging Curse (curse-series ability)]
Ability Introduction: The Netherferry race created Trial Scene No. 257, Curse Source, for their new generation, to hone their judgment and observation. It is an important trial scene to test whether they are qualified to inherit the Nine Yin divine bestowal.
—
As the Analysis described, this was a scene filled with curse sources.
One careless step and you would fall into a curse trap.
According to Guide’s introduction, this was one of the core trial scenes the Netherferry race underwent before receiving the Nine Yin divine bestowal.
“Captain, I am done for.”
The afflicted player trembled all over and looked toward the figure at the front of the party. His health bar was already near the near-death line.
The captain at the very front was a woman who looked about twenty. She wore neat short hair, a black combat suit, leather bracers on her wrists, and a Scatter Arrows bow of vitality flames hung behind her.
“Do not panic. Within seven steps there will always be an antidote.”
Meng You said this and looked up at the wind chimes hanging from the nearby buildings.
Although the curse scene was fraught with danger, the core purpose of the Netherferry race in creating it was to test the new generation within the race, not to kill them.
Every curse could be dispelled in a specific way, and after completing the dispelling test there would also be a reward to claim.
The only problem was that the way to break the curses did not apply to players.
This trial was designed for the Netherferry new generation. From the start it did not consider beings of other races coming to experience it.
Moreover, the combat techniques cultivated by the Netherferry came with partial purification traits and could dispel different curses according to their circulation methods.
For example, the Aging Curse needed one to follow a Netherferry cultivation technique circulation method, traverse 203 internal nodes, and the effect released could offset the aging curse.
Other curses were the same. Each could be broken through different cultivation methods.
For the Netherferry new generation, this scene was like an exam, and all were subjects they had already studied.
But players were different. They had neither the Netherferry’s cultivation techniques nor a clear cultivation-path solution.
There was only one way to break the curses, and that was to find the nearby antidote.
According to Guide’s introduction, to be safe, the Netherferry left backup antidote information near every curse trap in the Curse Source scene.
It was placed inside the wind chimes hanging from the buildings.
If a curse could not be broken, the new generation would have to use the information in the wind chimes to reach a specific place in the city to break the curse before the curse killed them.
But even opening the bells required a special solution.
To players, this curse scene felt exactly like a testing hall where one gambled with one’s life.
As Earthlings, they had all experienced exams.
But at worst, a bad grade only earned a severe beating from parents. That was the harshest punishment.
It was different for the Netherferry.
If a student did not learn well, they died.
Upon entering the scene, the first test was your judgment, to identify the hidden curse sources. Avoiding them meant evading the curse’s invasion.
If you had not studied well or were careless and fell into a curse trap, the next test was your ability to break the curse.
It was like memorizing math formulas. If you could not solve it, it proved you had not studied well.
Fortunately, failing this step was not necessarily fatal.
The Netherferry elders had thoughtfully prepared a life-saving resurrection test.
The Netherferry new generation had to drag their bodies infected by the curse to solve the wind chime problems. If solved, it would tell you where the antidote was.
If you still could not solve it this time, parents outside would directly invite relatives and friends to a banquet.
—
Captain Meng You glanced at the wind chimes hanging from the building but did not go up to check what the problem was. In fact, looking was useless.
As players, they needed their own way to solve the problem.
“Brother Guide, what is recorded inside the wind chime?”
Guide opened his eyes helplessly and then placed a marker on the map.
[I have marked it on the map. You can break it here.]
“Go.”
Teammates decisively hoisted the already extremely weakened teammate who needed potions to sustain life and sprinted toward the location marked by Guide.
Soon, a golden light circle appeared in their field of view.
“Here we go.”
Within the team, a warrior shrouded in Vital Qi grabbed the cursed player in one motion and hurled him toward the golden light circle.
The instant the player touched the circle, billowing black mist rose from his body.
Golden light spread across his surface, seeped into his body through his pores, and the black mist sizzled as if scorched by fierce flames, gradually thinning.
The pained expression on the player’s face slowly faded.
The continuous aging state also dissipated, and even his health bar recovered somewhat under the golden glow.
When the black smoke completely vanished, the player stood up and gave his teammates a thumbs-up.
Just then, the golden light gathered before this player and formed a golden crystal.
Sweeping it with Analysis, the introduction appeared in their minds.
[Low level Crystal Source]
Resource Grade: level 5.
Resource Introduction: Formed by many elemental energies such as fire, water, wind, earth, pierce element, shield element, and others interweaving, colliding, and fusing through specific geomarrow spirit nodes. It is one of the assessment rewards the Netherferry race prepared for new students of the curse specialization. Rewards are divided into three tiers. New students who pass easily through identification receive the first-tier reward. New students who fall into a trap but pass through cultivating combat techniques receive the second-tier reward. Students who pass by solving the basic problem on the wind chime receive the third-tier reward (repeatable).
(Sacrificing to the Emperor’s Sign yields: 5,582 sacrificial power)
—
“Full heal and revival.” The teammate who had successfully dispelled the curse put his hands on his hips with a smug look.
“Do not show off. If not for me, your captain, with superior intellect, easily cracking the Netherferry’s problem, you would already be dead.” Meng You stepped to the circle, took the Low level Crystal Source from the teammate who had dispelled the curse, tossed it into her inventory, and then pulled the teammate out of the circle.
“Captain, what next?” a teammate in the rear asked at this moment.
“Fat Rabbit has already triggered a trap. According to Guide’s introduction, since we were teleported in together, we are considered one group. So we definitely cannot get the first-tier reward. We might as well stay here and farm the third-tier reward. With Guide’s help, we should make a good profit.”
“Heh heh, that is not bad. We might even earn more. Did Guide not say when we came in that solving all the curses can yield a hidden reward? Maybe we can complete it.”
“Give it a try.” Meng You nodded.
With the goal set, the squad led by Meng You changed their exploration strategy.
From moving cautiously, they switched to a carpet-style exploration more fitting for players.
Everything they encountered along the way had to be examined. They were not afraid of triggering curse traps, only of not triggering them.
Before long, with Guide’s help, the squad cracked three curses and gained a reward of 13,283 sacrificial power.
Different curses had different rewards.
The stronger the curse triggered, the more the reward after breaking it.
Unfortunately, they could only take the third-tier reward.
An hour later, a team member triggered another curse.
Captain Meng You immediately looked at Guide floating beside her.
“Brother Guide, sorry to trouble you.”
Guide did not waste words and marked the antidote location on the map.
The squad immediately headed for the antidote location.
They tossed the teammate afflicted by the Blood Poison Curse into a green light circle, and before long the teammate’s curse dissipated. A Low level Source Crystal formed inside the circle.
“Hahaha, this is truly a rare high-welfare scene in the Cavern world. We did not earn any money in the previous two scenes. This scene made it all back.” A teammate clenched his fist in excitement.
But just as Captain Meng You was about to reach out to take the Low level Source Crystal, a streak of black light flashed past, and the floating Low level Source Crystal vanished.
“Damn it.”
Meng You reacted swiftly, yanking her hands. The Scatter Arrows bow of vitality flames appeared in her grasp.
At that moment, two figures approached stealthily from the left and right.
Sensing something, Meng You suddenly turned to one side, her pupils tightening.
A black-clad figure flicked his right wrist, and a black chain shot out like a spirit snake, instantly coiling around her ankle and yanking hard.
Meng You lost her balance. The assassin on the right had already arrived. A dagger flashed with a cold light, aiming straight for her throat.
She barely twisted aside. The dagger grazed the side of her neck, drawing a string of blood beads.
Before she could regain her footing, the chain tightened suddenly and dragged her to the ground.
The squad members who had reacted rushed up. The damage-bearing build player at the front raised his Rock Shield, ready to unleash Heavy Hammer to stun the oncoming shadow.
But the shadow’s reaction was incredibly fast. With a flick of the wrist, the chain around Meng You’s ankle retracted by itself, and the figure quickly retreated.
Bang.
Just then, a streak of flowing light expanded rapidly in the eyes of the fallen Meng You. Realizing something was wrong, she tried to turn, but her body tingled numb. The poison made her a beat slower, and then her heart burst into a spray of blood mist.
Sensing something wrong, the teammates encircled Meng You at once, watching as the two black shadows retreated rapidly in different directions.
“Captain, you cannot die.” Seeing Captain Meng You already losing consciousness, a teammate decisively summoned Lightfeather and released a recovery beam.
But Meng You’s heart had already been destroyed, and the toxins were still spreading. The healing speed could not keep up with the rate of health loss.
“No saving me. Log off to relieve the Lunar Eclipse race’s server load a little. Remember to avenge me.”
Meng You quipped in a final flare of lucidity, then her body roared into black mist and dissipated.
“After them.”
Seeing their teammate dead, the encircling teammates chose to go on the offensive and charged at the fleeing shadows.
The warrior at the front activated Extreme Speed at this moment. His body twitched as if cramping, his running speed sharply increased, and then he activated Analysis on one of the rapidly fleeing shadows.
[Ecstasy Player: Huang Chi]
Hunting Level: level 55
Target Introduction: An Ecstasy warrior who has cleared the death trial five times and completed the ultimate trial, dispatched to the Cavern world by Darkwind, one of the thirty-two main gods of Ecstasy, to undergo training and search for resources obtainable in the Cavern world.
Mastered Abilities: Stealth (lv5), Instant Step (lv9), Poison Blade (lv5), Garrote (lv12).
Talent: Berserk
Bloodline (pseudo-race body structure modification): None
Weapons: Red-Blood Dagger, Black Armor
—
“Damn.”
Seeing the Analysis information a teammate shared in the chat channel, one player in the squad could not help cursing.
They had thought it was an ambush by scene monsters.
They had not expected it to be pirated players created by the Lord of Ecstasy.
This was turning the Heavenly Dipper upside down.
He’s bullying the official version.