After purifying the Filth Root, Mu Yuan left at top speed with the glee of someone who had stolen a chicken, afraid that the monster would discover him after hearing the commotion.
He had no intention of continuing his exploration.
For one thing, he had to return to his territory before night fell over the Eternal Continent. For another, Deathbone had gone through several battles and was already considerably drained.
Skeletons simply did not tire or fear, but they were not perpetual-motion machines. Consecutive battles or intense exercise would still cause their condition to decline.
Following the route they had surveyed on the way there, the one man and four skeletons quickly retraced their steps.
Along the way, Mu Yuan could not help tallying up his gains.
The Filth Root had contributed two Remnant Souls, while the Wolf King had contributed one earlier. The Great Goblin had also lived up to expectations. That made a full four Remnant Souls.
Not long ago, when Mu Yuan had been browsing the forums, he had still lamented that his pockets were empty and complained alongside the other players that Remnant Souls had such a low drop rate and were so hard to obtain.
"But now that I look at it, Remnant Souls aren't that hard to get. I got four of them so easily."
Well, aside from those Game Second Generation Whale Players, there probably wasn't a newcomer at this stage who could deal with that Great Goblin. Even a Lucky One who had initially obtained a Three-Star Troop would not dare fight a level-four Great Goblin head-on. If their troop was lost, where would they go to cry about it?
After the Filth Root's huge haul and the earlier battles, his Soul Sand had accumulated to 65.3g. He could now be considered one of the wealthier newcomers.
Of course, the Remnant Souls and potion items were worth even more.
The Energy Potion could rapidly restore a target's stamina. It was also effective on Skeleton Soldiers, though its effect on restoring energy was weaker.
What Mu Yuan valued was that he could use this potion himself.
He was already prepared to stay up all night grinding away at the game, but his body could not take it. With the Energy Potion, that would no longer be a problem. One cup would keep his eyelids from drooping, and it would even stop him from going bald.
"Among this batch of drops, the most valuable item is still this Amulet."
Amulet (Common) Description: Can block three fatal attacks no higher than ninth level of the Zero Rank. Remaining uses: 3/3.
This was a life-saving item. Mu Yuan immediately equipped it on his game character.
His sense of security soared.
The Amulet was a Common Grade item, as were the Energy Potion and Crimson Blood Fruit, but their value was clearly not equal—just as there was an obvious gap between Little Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers.
After trudging over mountains and across rivers, negative statuses such as "Fatigue" and "Sore Muscles" had appeared on Mu Yuan's game character. Only then did he finally return to his territory.
"Going out is way too difficult."
"Looking at the map, it seems like I didn't even go that far. Oh, is my game character just too useless? In that case, never mind."
The rugged mountain forests were difficult to traverse. When he had left, his speed had been about the same as Little Skeleton's, but on the way back, he could no longer keep up at all.
He did not even possess the strength of a single skeleton!
If he wanted to explore farther places in the future, he himself would be the weakest link.
That would not do.
Mu Yuan already had some ideas. The Crimson Blood Fruit could improve his physical constitution, but the improvement would not come quickly. If he wanted to travel more conveniently, then after thinking it over, finding a mount might be the better option.
But what kind of troop was suitable to serve as a mount?
As he pondered this, he arrived before the Altar.
"Let's try recruiting a troop."
Mu Yuan placed a Random Remnant Soul on the Lord Altar and lightly tapped Recruit.
Ding! Prompt: Proceed with troop recruitment? The probabilities of obtaining troops this time are 90%, 9%, and 1%. Prompt: You have consumed 'Remnant Soul ×1' and 'Soul Sand 5g'. Random recruitment in progress. Prompt: You recruited the troop 'Falcon (Common ★)'.
--
Falcon (Common ★): A flying troop with a sharp beak and sharp eyes.
It was a Common One-Star Troop.
That was normal.
Mu Yuan had only done a single pull. If he wanted to recruit a Two-Star Troop, he would at least need to do a ten-pull, right? As for Three-Star Troops... the drop rate was 1%. That was higher than in some gacha games, but there was no pity system. An unlucky player might not get one even after a hundred pulls.
Besides—
"At least gacha games have an event rate-up. The Transcendent Game doesn't. There are more kinds of Common Three-Star Troops than there are stars in the sky. Even if I went all-in on gambling, it'd be nearly impossible to gamble my way into the mount troop I want, so..."
Compared with gambling, he might as well save up and purchase a specific Troop Remnant Soul from another player. That was more realistic.
"Actually, for newcomers, using all their Random Remnant Souls to gamble doesn't cost them anything. No matter what troop they recruit, it adds combat power. As long as they don't randomly get one of the few units that are even worse than Little Skeletons and Goblins, they'll be fine."
"But I'm different. I'm not suited to recruiting a pile of miscellaneous troops. Only by specializing in one system, or a few systems, can I maximize the power of evolution and cultivate top-tier troops that stand above the heavens."
"Still, the Falcon I just recruited is a flying troop. I can only say that I definitely didn't lose out."
It was a large bird with two long, narrow wings, a long, slender tail, and a curved beak lined with sharp tooth-like projections. Its black-and-white feathers made it look imposing.
In terms of appearance, the Falcon looked much better than the Little Skeleton, which was also at the First Rank. He simply did not know how much combat power it possessed.
Mu Yuan silently checked his Evolution Points.
Skeleton Evolution Points: 1.59 Falcon Evolution Points: 0.01
After the successive battles, he had gained quite a lot of Evolution Points, especially during the battle between Deathbone and the Great Goblin. Mu Yuan had noticed several "+0.1" notifications pop above Deathbone's head.
It seemed that Deathbone did not produce many points under ordinary circumstances, but intense physical clashes could still trigger a huge outburst.
Mu Yuan immediately evolved a third Skeleton Soldier and named it "Bone Three," then placed it under Deathbone's training and management.
As for this lone falcon—
"Based on the Little Skeleton's previous point-production efficiency, a single falcon can produce 0.4 Evolution Points a day. At that rate, it'll only take two and a half days to gather enough for its evolution. That isn't too slow."
"I don't need to use this falcon as a combat unit, either. If it can handle reconnaissance missions, that'll be quite good enough."
Night gradually descended over the Eternal Continent. In the areas outside the territory shrouded in dense white fog, the roars of monsters gradually rose and fell one after another.
Night had arrived. Time to serve dinner~
Compared with before, Mu Yuan's territory now had three Skeleton Soldiers guarding it, greatly increasing its safety. At the very least, ordinary wolves would only be delivering themselves as food.
However, the thunderous roar that rang out in the distance still left him terrified. Fortunately, the thunder-like roar gradually faded away. Perhaps it had been a powerful monster wandering past nearby?
The Eternal Continent was truly unfathomably dangerous.
The night over Baijiang City was as deep as water, and it gradually grew darker.
Sitting before his computer, Mu Yuan arranged every detail of 007's work tasks. Then he controlled his character to place several Crimson Blood Fruits, Energy Potions, and some Soul Sand on the Lord Altar like sacrificial offerings, praying to the heavens... Bah, selecting Extract.
The next moment, a glimmering light surged from the Altar and wrapped around each item.
The extraction process lasted for more than ten seconds.
Soon, Mu Yuan himself seemed to see light as well.
White light filled his vision. He saw vast land, ruined villages, ancient Altars, and blank-faced skeletons.
As the radiance slowly faded, several items also appeared before Mu Yuan.
An Energy Potion in a small jar, orange liquid flowing inside;
A round, translucent vermilion fruit that clearly looked extraordinary at a glance;
And some Soul Sand that glittered with a magnificent sheen, like crushed gemstones.
These treasures had really been materialized into reality through the game? Although Mu Yuan had long known that the game possessed supernatural properties, he still could not contain his excitement when he extracted actual treasures from the game for the first time. He immediately gulped down three mouthfuls of Happy Water.
Ding! Prompt: Item extraction complete. This extraction consumed 11.9g of Soul Sand.
Mu Yuan: "...Damn!"
Before you continue