Divinity Shard

Broken Sword Valley.

It was said that this place was originally a continuous mountain range, but due to the blasphemous actions of the Alliance, it incurred the wrath of the gods and became the deep valley it is today.

Legend has it that the gods turned their power into sky-obscuring giant swords. The blades shattered the mountains, and then, with undiminished momentum, vowed to annihilate the Alliance behind the mountains.

However, this terrifying sword intent, capable of slaying gods, suddenly vanished into thin air upon touching the semi-transparent God Banning Barrier above Iron Wall City, nullifying the gods' fury.

Iron Wall City thus earned its name.

And this sword mark, which traversed the entire mountain range, was named Broken Sword Valley because its shape resembled a broken sword.

"Not Iaido, But Drawing Sword" climbed out of his sleeping bag, glanced at his fully restored stamina, and walked out of the central tent of the camp, greeting the knight on guard duty.

He and "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees" had served as guides for this team for two days, successfully avoiding all the monsters roaming the valley and leading the team deep into the valley, earning the respect of most NPCs.

Even the scholar who had a bad attitude at first saw his favorability towards them change from (-10) Dislike on the first day to (+60) Respect today.

In fact, both of them were professional players focused on PVP and didn't pay much attention to PVE content.

Fortunately, the encyclopedia for "Despair Expedition OL" was very comprehensive, allowing them to avoid potential monsters by consulting the information on-site.

"Brother Dao, good morning."

"I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees" also emerged from the tent, greeting the Dragonkin energetically.

Due to the brain acceleration effect, there was a threefold time difference between the game and reality.

Even though it wasn't their turn to be on guard, they could only rest for just over two hours in the real world "every" night.

For the 19-year-old "Baron," this was already quite sufficient.

As a young professional player, he played relentlessly.

It was a shame that the game had a "stamina" anti-addiction system. Once stamina was depleted, the character could only walk slowly, and their attack animations would become sluggish.

Eating food could restore a bit of the yellow bar, but there was a daily limit. Currently, only logging off could fully restore it.

Not long after, the NPCs in the camp gradually woke up, packed their belongings, and prepared to begin today's exploration.

The constantly rolling thunderstorms in the sky made it impossible to distinguish day from night in Broken Sword Valley.

The goal of this hastily assembled team was the [Divinity Shard].

However, how to distribute it had not yet been decided.

Everyone knew in their hearts that the moment they found the [Divinity Shard], the team would fall apart.

While everyone was packing, the two players were still discussing on WeChat in the background which NPC would make the first move after discovering the [Divinity Shard].

Currently, the most likely candidate was the woman operating the mining mech.

Unlike the other NPCs with cold expressions, the mech woman was the most enthusiastic in the team. She had been trying hard to act as the team's adhesive, but it was always a one-sided effort, and no one was willing to engage with her.

Incidentally, their tents and sleeping bags were also provided by her.

However, this seemingly most harmless woman was the hardest to gain favor with.

She still maintained a (-50) Hostile state towards "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees."

As for "Not Iaido, But Drawing Sword," who was a Dragonkin, he was slightly better off, with only a (-10) Dislike status.

However, what the Dragonkin didn't mention was that last night, the woman had brought him into her tent.

It was just that after the Dragonkin took off his pants, he discovered he had nothing below. The woman's favorability inexplicably increased from (-10) Dislike to (+10) Indifferent.

This game had no R-rated content, so Brother Dao had some expectations.

But he hadn't had a chance to confirm it before, and discovering this problem when he was already aroused had truly wounded his pride.

The highest combat power in the team should be those three fully armored knights.

However, their favorability towards the two had reached Respect (+60), so they were unlikely to make a move against them, which was why they remained in the team.

The scholar was the same. After witnessing their profound knowledge, he had patted his chest and guaranteed that he would write them a letter of recommendation once they returned to the city.

Without contribution points, they could become esteemed citizens of the Alliance.

As for the (+0) Stranger bald mercenary, he had been ignored by the two.

Both of them were currently Level 1. When the level difference exceeded 10, they could only see a bunch of question marks regardless of who they viewed.

Only this Level 7 mercenary was an exception.

With this guy's strength, it was difficult to gain their attention.

After packing their luggage, everyone extinguished the campfire and left the makeshift camp.

Brother Dao, walking at the forefront, did not take out the simple map provided by Li Li. Instead, he switched to the browser in the background and led the way according to the detailed map in the expedition encyclopedia.

In the ten-person player chat group, they had discussed the matter of the [Divinity Shard].

Players who were proficient in PVE believed that the [Divinity Shard] was a random event, and if it truly existed, it could be located anywhere in Broken Sword Valley.

Since NPCs were also conducting large-scale searches, even if it spawned near the city walls, it would most likely be claimed by someone else first.

The deeper parts of the valley were more dangerous, and NPCs had a harder time reaching them, thus increasing the probability of finding the [Divinity Shard].

The dense vegetation in the valley could not block the metallic body of the mining mech at all.

The female mech pilot, who called herself "Secretive," pushed aside the giant trees blocking their path, crushed them, and stuffed them into the combustion chamber of her mech's belly, sending thick smoke billowing from the exhaust pipe.

"Stop here."

Standing on the shoulder of the five-meter-tall mech, the Dragonkin called a halt to the procession.

He slowly stood up and gazed into the distance.

In reality, he wasn't looking at all; instead, he switched to the backend map, compared it, and then said to the crowd below:

"The entrance to the Ancient Vine Spirit Temple is ahead. If this old man remembers correctly, there's a nest of Silver Rank Serpent Sirens there. Let's take a different route."

After saying this, he placed his hand on his sword hilt and couldn't help but show off again:

"These Serpent Sirens are distant relatives of mermaids. Their tears are naturally poisonous. If smeared on a sword, they can even wound Gold Rank powerhouses. It's a shame they only cry once in their lives, during childbirth."

This was all information from an encyclopedia, which he was simply reading aloud.

However, the scholar following behind treated it like a treasure, recording the information and preparing to ask for details later.

As for the others in the team, apart from inwardly marveling at the Dragonkin's long lifespan and extensive knowledge, they were already accustomed to it.

"BOOM!!!!!"

With a clap of thunder, everyone instinctively looked up at the sky.

The continuously rolling thunderclouds were still searching for entities hidden within the clouds, and the scorching lightning flashed incessantly, dense as a net, converging into a river that washed across the sky.

Suddenly, everyone saw a mass of writhing, scarlet flesh, as large as a small mountain, smash down from the trailing edge of the clouds, instantly engulfed by blinding white lightning.

In that instant, everyone's breath caught in their throats.

A Divinity Shard!

No!

It should be God's Flesh!

Watching the flesh rapidly dissolve in the lightning, everyone felt an unbearable ache.

This was the flesh of a true God! Even a fingernail-sized piece could allow a Transcendent who had been stuck at Silver Rank for many years to directly advance to Gold Rank!

Not to mention that this was the Thirteen City Alliance, full of wise scholars. If they brought God's Flesh back to the academy and analyzed it, they might be able to research new Scroll Divine Arts!

And how much could such a large piece of Divinity Shard fetch on the black market? It could probably buy an entire casino!

What if they offered it to the Master? Just thinking about it was enough to drive someone mad!