Spirit Artifact Valley

Chapter 15: Spirit Artifact Valley

Emperor's Tomb Village, in front of the Primal Containment Wall.

Qi Sheng stood with his eyes closed, his consciousness traversing the real-world internet as he searched for suitable recruits.

Without exception, the members of the several player groups he joined took him for a scammer.

Most deleted the link he sent, then kicked him out of the group chat.

Qi Sheng had no desire to explain himself. He decisively moved on to other recruits, casting his net wide.

The 50 spots were quickly filled, snapped up by players from three groups.

Just then, the Guiding Water Orb appeared:

[Boss, one of the players you recruited this time is a real badass!]

"How badass?" Qi Sheng turned toward the Guiding Water Orb and asked irritably.

[Last time, players complained about the pain settings, so you lowered the pain feedback to a minimum of 10% for first-time players, remember?]

Qi Sheng had adjusted it himself, so naturally, he hadn't forgotten.

Back then, the first batch of players, including Li Zheng, had complained in-game that the pain feedback was too realistic. That made him realize he had to address the issue.

After all, one of the main reasons players were so powerful was that they feared nothing. Pain feedback that felt too real went against that principle.

After careful consideration, he set the initial pain feedback to 10%.

He hadn't set it to 0% because pain was essentially a bodily response. Feeling pain could help players notice changes in their condition in time, and hone their combat skills while hunting, instead of just charging in recklessly.

[One of the players you recruited this time checked the game settings and voluntarily cranked pain feedback up to 100%.]

"Now that really is badass."

Curious, Qi Sheng's head suddenly transformed into a mass of crimson flames. Fire spread from the top of his head down his body, enveloping him in a roaring blaze.

After switching to Di Zhao Form, his vision shifted to the Guiding avatar accompanying the "badass player."

The sky seemed soaked in thick ink, no longer bright as before. Only an eerie Waning Crescent hung overhead, casting mottled shadows.

Black winds howled across the land, sending willow-fluff-like clumps of Ash swirling through the air.

Crack!

A sharp snap of breaking bone rang out. Li Tie broke the arm of the Cursed Soldier in front of him, then promptly activated Petrification. A layer of black material coated his body, allowing him to withstand the attacks of two more Cursed Soldiers rushing at him from either side.

So far, Li Tie was thoroughly impressed by how realistic the game felt.

His successive battles had also taught him how to properly use the Stone Gargoyle's Petrification ability.

He discovered that the game had no such thing as skill cooldowns. Petrification could be activated and deactivated at will.

Guiding explained that the game had two types of energy bars: Qi and Blood and spiritual power.

Using an active skill consumed one of these energy sources.

For example, the Stone Gargoyle's Petrification consumed Qi and Blood each time it was used, while the Eagle Head Demon's Wailing and Bone Fire's Inkflame consumed spiritual power.

With no skill cooldowns, timing the use of skills properly was especially important.

The Cursed Soldiers became Li Tie's training dummies.

Petrify, deactivate, counterattack... Whenever the Cursed Soldiers attacked, Li Tie activated Petrification to tank the damage, then deactivated it during the gaps between their attacks and struck back. Before long, he had mastered the rhythm of using the ability.

After several rounds of attacks, his heavy punches reduced the three Cursed Soldiers blocking his path to piles of broken bones.

After absorbing the energy that coalesced from the Cursed Soldiers' corpses, he successfully reached level 4. He could clearly feel another significant improvement in his physical abilities.

Picking up the damaged Warhammer the Cursed Soldiers had left behind, Li Tie continued east.

Half an hour later.

After crossing a hillside, Li Tie saw a valley. The ground was covered in a thick layer of black Ash, and the smell of scorched earth in the air had grown pungent.

To his surprise, several weapons hovered in midair before the valley, wandering about as if they were alive.

As he headed downhill and entered the valley, a line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Challenger Notice: Domain Node location discovered: "Spirit Artifact Valley."]

Along with the notice, the map automatically appeared. The fog cleared from his location, revealing three golden characters: "Spirit Artifact Valley."

After walking a little farther, he fixed his gaze on a battle axe ahead, its surface awash with crimson energy.

[Brute Strength (First Generation Origin)]:

Hunting Level: 10

Guiding Analysis: A special monster that controls Primal Power, formed from a portion of Di Zhao's killing power. It has developed basic intelligence and craves combat and slaughter.

His gaze shifted to the blue-green battle blade floating beside the axe, and another analysis appeared:

[Shatter (First Generation Origin)]

Hunting Level: 10

Guiding Analysis: A special monster that controls Primal Power, formed from a portion of Di Zhao's killing power. It has developed basic intelligence and craves combat and slaughter.

After checking the attributes of the floating weapons ahead, Li Tie was astonished to discover that they were all the extremely rare First Generation Origins Guiding had mentioned.

Although their hunting levels had reached 10, Li Tie didn't retreat. Instead, he walked straight into Spirit Artifact Valley.

The floating spirit artifacts reacted at once, shooting toward him before surrounding him and coming to a halt.

He'd expected them to attack him together, but Li Tie realized they weren't doing that.

The crimson battle axe at the front floated before him and trembled slightly. The other four spirit artifacts surrounding Li Tie immediately drew back, clearing an open space.

"Guiding, what does this mean?"

[My analysis is that it's challenging you. It wants a 1v1, man to man.]

"Interesting!"

Li Tie tightened his grip on the broken Iron Hammer, stepped forward, and swung it down hard at the battle axe.

Metal clanged against metal. Sparks flew, and the Iron Hammer in Li Tie's hand shattered, sending fragments flying. The spirit-artifact battle axe, however, remained unscathed.

Boom!

The axe's counterattack came in a surge of violent red energy. The battle axe rose high, then came crashing down toward Li Tie's head.

Crack!

The half of the Iron Hammer Li Tie had raised shattered instantly, leaving only the handle. The axe continued its descent without slowing.

Petrification!

Li Tie shifted his body to the right and promptly activated Petrification.

Clang!

He took the axe's blow on his shoulder. Its brutal energy seeped into his body, and the intense pain brought a ferocious grin to Li Tie's face. Excitement was unmistakable in his eyes.

The pain only roused the ferocity in his heart.

He let go of the broken handle. After deactivating Petrification, he slammed his fist into the battle axe.

But to Li Tie's surprise, the four weapons that had been watching suddenly shot toward him, piercing his body in an instant.

[Challenger Notice: Player has died. 10 points of Sacrificial Power deducted. One-hour respawn cooldown activated!]

The notice appeared, and the scene before Li Tie's eyes shifted into shades of gray.

An hour later, Li Tie appeared at the Emperor's Tomb Village respawn point.

"Guiding, didn't you say it was going to be a one-on-one? Why did the other spirit artifacts suddenly attack me?"

After a brief silence, Guiding gave its analysis:

[At the time, you dropped the broken Iron Hammer in your hand, and the other spirit artifacts attacked you. So the one-on-one challenge likely requires you to be holding a weapon. Once you dropped yours, you were no longer a valid target for the spirit artifacts' challenge.]

"I see."

Now that he understood what had happened, Li Tie wanted to return to Spirit Artifact Valley and fight again.

But the weapons on the Ancient Battlefield were all badly damaged. None could withstand even one round of attacks from the spirit artifacts. He needed a high-quality weapon.