Afterward, Lu Yuan chatted with Frank Ming about Gene Warriors for a while longer. Soon, night fell.
Lu Yuan bade Frank Ming farewell and returned to his small compartment.
He sat on the bed and turned to look out the window.
Under the silent night sky, distant neon lights flickered, outlining the prosperity of West Li City.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, easing his tense emotions, then closed his eyes.
It was time.
His consciousness merged into the Gene Battle Tattoo.
The golden patterns on the Gene Battle Tattoo flickered with a faint glow.
Within Lu Yuan's consciousness, white mist surged and formed a gate of light beside the Gene Chain.
Though he had never entered it before, Lu Yuan's instincts told him that it was the door to the Origin Land.
Lu Yuan pursed his lips and moved his consciousness closer to the gate.
The next moment, his consciousness went dark. When Lu Yuan opened his eyes again, he saw a blazing red sun. His body immediately felt the scorching heat and dry air.
Lu Yuan looked around. He was standing in a huge square, with numerous earthen-yellow buildings rising beyond it.
The sky was dim and yellowish, filled with blowing sand.
A trace of shock appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.
The Origin Land was truly miraculous. It had brought him to an unfamiliar place so easily.
It was said that every intelligent species in the universe could enter the Origin Land.
In other words, the Origin Land connected the entire universe!
No one knew where exactly the Origin Land was located in the universe, or why it could connect with every intelligent species.
The noisy clamor pulled Lu Yuan out of his shock.
"Need a defense-type warrior for the Yellow Sand Worm nest! Elves only!"
"An Elite Gene elemental warrior is leading a team to kill sand scorpions in the Gobi! Any race is welcome, except kobolds!"
"New human player looking for a human team! Any pros willing to carry a newbie~~"
Listening to the marketplace-like din, Lu Yuan's expression turned strange.
Many living beings had gathered in the square, calling out to form teams.
Lu Yuan discovered that, besides humans, there were other races here as well.
There were elves, often seen in Earth's fantasy stories, with tall, slender bodies, pointed ears, and handsome faces.
There were kobolds with dog heads.
When he saw a beautiful cat person with a pair of cat ears and a tail constantly swaying behind her, Lu Yuan's eyes widened.
Cats really had come to repay their kindness?!
What old pervert could resist those cat ears and that cat tail?!
Lu Yuan was ecstatic inside.
This world was wonderful!
In this square, there were only four races: humans, elves, kobolds, and cat people.
This starter city belonged to those four races.
As for where this city was, Lu Yuan already had a good idea.
The blazing heat, the yellow sand in the square, the murky air—it was obviously located in a desert Gobi region.
At the thought of Sandstone City, Lu Yuan recalled the information he had read earlier.
Sandstone City was located in a desert region, surrounded by yellow sands and Gobi terrain. Most of its monsters were rock-type, poison-type, and wind-type.
As Lu Yuan recalled the surrounding environment and monsters, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.
Lu Yuan frowned slightly and turned to look.
A handsome elf wearing yellow leather armor stood there with a beaming smile.
"Human friend, are you alone?"
Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"What do you need?"
"Hahaha, we're planning to hunt Graystone Beetles. Want to come with us? The profits will be distributed according to contribution."
As the elf spoke, he pointed behind him. Not far away stood three others: a tall, thin elf, a kobold, and a human.
Lu Yuan glanced at them and shook his head. "No, thanks."
He turned to leave, but the elf stopped him.
"Hey, don't go, friend. It's dangerous to adventure outside alone. Come with us?"
Lu Yuan looked at him and smiled.
"Who said I'm alone? My friends are already waiting for me outside."
At those words, the elf's smile stiffened.
"So you already have companions? All right, then. I won't disturb you."
He stepped aside, and Lu Yuan walked past him.
The elf curled his lips. "What bad luck."
The three beings in the distance walked over.
The kobold smiled.
"Boss, how'd it go?"
"That guy has friends waiting outside."
Hearing that, all three revealed disappointed expressions.
"What a pity. His reaction made it obvious that he was a newbie who had just entered. Didn't expect someone to be guiding him."
"Let's pick another target."
The elf sighed. "Newcomers are getting harder and harder to fool. Should we change our approach too?"
"Changing is too difficult. How about we find a chance to hold a meeting and improve our scamming techniques?"
"That works too. If we really can't find anyone this time, we'll head out and kill Graystone Beetles."
"Mm."
Lu Yuan left the square and surveyed his surroundings.
Sandstone City's streets were covered in yellow sand. Buildings made of yellow stone lined both sides, while stone giants walked along the roads.
Lu Yuan had seen those in a forum post before.
Every starter city had constructs provided by the Origin Land to maintain the city's most basic operations.
Those stone giants were Sandstone City's constructs, responsible for maintaining order.
Fighting was forbidden within the city.
Sandstone City was huge. With time pressing, Lu Yuan jogged all the way and only reached the city walls after two hours.
The city walls were also built from yellow stone and stood around thirty meters tall.
Unknown massive cannons sat atop the walls, and constructs patrolled between them.
Lu Yuan arrived at the city gate. Two constructs stood guard, but no one inspected him. All Gene Warriors simply entered or left Sandstone City directly.
Lu Yuan walked out through the gate. Before him stretched a desolate Gobi, with howling winds and sand filling the sky.
Lu Yuan covered his nose, feeling rather uncomfortable.
Each of humanity's four starter cities had its own harsh environment. Around Stormwind City, for instance, storms raged everywhere. One careless step and a person could be blown into the sky.
Sandstone City, meanwhile, had terrible air pollution. Take one breath, and half of it was sand.
It was a little hard to bear.
After getting his bearings, Lu Yuan headed toward the right side of Sandstone City.
His destination was an area called Graystone Forest.
The primary ferocious beasts there were Graystone Beetles, which were weak even among apprentice-level ferocious beasts.
Graystone Beetles had almost no chance of dropping Gene Armaments or Extraordinary Genes, but their stone shells were materials used to forge Gene Armaments and could be sold for money.
For Lu Yuan, it was a safe choice.
Since he had not contracted an Origin Land ferocious beast as a mount, Lu Yuan could only run on his own two legs.
Two hours later, after spending four hours in the Origin Land, Lu Yuan finally saw a Gobi region covered in gray stone pillars ahead of him.
This was Graystone Forest.
This Gobi region stretched beyond the horizon. According to forum posts he had read, some bored Gene Warriors had specifically measured the size of these regions.
Graystone Forest spanned nearly a hundred kilometers in every direction. It was absurdly large.
Lu Yuan exhaled, took out a barrel of water and drank a large mouthful, then ate some energy bars.
He had been running the entire way and felt like he was about to dry up under the sun.
After replenishing his strength, Lu Yuan rested for a bit longer before entering Graystone Forest.
Not long after entering Graystone Forest, Lu Yuan heard sounds of battle ahead.
He looked forward and saw two cat people—one wielding a longsword and the other a bow—attacking a gray beetle the size of a small dog.
Five or six Graystone Beetle corpses lay on the ground.
The cat person with the bow had excellent archery. She drew her bow and fired, and the long arrow turned into a streak of light that sank into the Graystone Beetle's eye.
Instant kill.
Lu Yuan's pupils involuntarily contracted.
There were no precious resources in this area, so powerful people definitely would not come here.
Most who came were Gene Warriors who had only recently awakened and lacked the strength to explore other regions.
Even so, there were still differences in strength.
Lu Yuan felt that he might not even be able to defeat that archer in a one-on-one fight.
He really was still a newbie. He had to keep working hard!
Lu Yuan encouraged himself, then quietly left.
This was not the city, where fighting was forbidden. Forget different races—even members of the same race might fight when they encountered each other.
Dying would be far too much of a loss.
To be safe, Lu Yuan deliberately moved in a direction where there were no sounds of battle.
More than twenty minutes later, his surroundings had become very quiet.
Just then, Lu Yuan spotted a Graystone Beetle lying beneath a stone pillar ahead. Its huge mandibles were chewing on the rock.
Crunch, crunch. It looked like it was enjoying the meal immensely.
Lu Yuan looked around, and his eyes lit up.
He had not expected to encounter a lone Graystone Beetle. Perfect.
Get it!
Before you continue