His consciousness passed around the golden crystal, following Guidance's pull as it swept over every corner of the fifth level of Gloomy Cave.
Besides Ice Blade's remains and the Black Armor Army who had followed him to their deaths, Qi Sheng also discovered a deeply dug grave in a corner of the hall. A large number of skeletons lay buried inside.
[These skeletons likely belonged to Ice Blade's people. After they fled underground, the lack of food and other resources eventually left them buried there forever.]
"What about the Dungeon Clan? What were they?"
[They were likely underground creatures controlled by Ice Blade's people through some method. They could survive by consuming ore, so they didn't have to worry about food shortages. After Ice Blade's people died, the creatures continued following the commands implanted in their minds while under control. They directed the Iron Shell Bugs to mine Spiritual Ore underground and feed it into the smelting furnace, continuing to charge the golden crystal.]
Guidance's analysis seemed entirely reasonable to Qi Sheng.
His consciousness swept toward the rear of the hall. A fist-sized pale blue crystal floated there, its surface crawling with black fungal threads. Beside it was a pulsing black mass of flesh, beating like a heart.
"Is this the Domain Node?"
[That's right. You can think of it as one piece of the Monster World's core. Countless such pieces form the main framework of the Monster World.]
As Guidance explained, the analyzed information flowed into Qi Sheng's mind.
[Domain Node: Gloomy Cave] Territory Type: Resource Territory Trait: Spiritual Proliferation Trait Description: Continuously imbues spiritual ore resources with power. Domain Status: Corrupted by Black Tide energy (unclaimed) ...
After reading the analysis, Qi Sheng turned his attention to the pulsing black mass of flesh beside the crystal.
It was the Corruption Core.
To claim this Domain Node, he had to purify the node crystal and completely remove the corruption's roots.
But that wouldn't be easy.
Guidance had just analyzed the Black Armor soldiers standing inside and outside the palace. It had discovered that the remains of these dead warriors had also been corrupted, turning them into evil creatures similar to Cursed Soldiers.
The Cursed Soldiers here also generally had hunting levels of 25 or higher.
Fortunately, Ice Blade's remains hadn't been controlled by the Black Tide's corrupting power.
More accurately, Ice Blade had fought until he was utterly spent, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell. The Black Tide's corrupting power couldn't drive a hollow body.
Even if it were thrown into the altar for refinement, it wouldn't yield any Sacrificial Power.
If Ice Blade had been in his prime, his hunting level might have exceeded 500. He would have possessed the power to move mountains and overturn seas, and the players wouldn't have stood a chance against him.
After investigating the fifth underground level of Gloomy Cave, Qi Sheng's consciousness followed Guidance back to Emperor's Tomb Village.
As for the energy storage crystal Ice Blade had left for the new Di Zhao, he had no plans to go retrieve it.
It wasn't that he didn't want to. He simply lacked the startup funds.
Exploring outside Emperor's Tomb Village worked differently for him than it did for the players. The players got free gameplay with optional in-game purchases such as Astral Veins and Body Tempering.
But once he went outside, he'd have to start burning through his subscription balance.
When the four great servants had poured their remaining Sacrificial Power into Emperor's Tomb Village, he'd had over eighty million points at his disposal. That had been enough to conceal his aura while exploring outside in his Di Zhao form, so he wouldn't be detected by evil creatures.
That was also when he had taken in the Eagle Head Demon, Black Armor Snake, and Stone Gargoyle.
But now he had only five figures' worth of Sacrificial Power. The cost of concealing his Di Zhao form's innate aura was calculated by the second—more than a thousand points every second. His reserves couldn't withstand that kind of drain.
The task of claiming the Domain Node would have to be left to the players.
This investigation hadn't yielded anything tangible, but Qi Sheng was already looking forward to what came next.
The energy storage crystal Ice Blade had left behind could yield at least tens of millions of Sacrificial Power. That would be enough to recruit ten thousand players and greatly speed up development in the early stages.
Qi Sheng sat cross-legged on the altar and closed his eyes. After switching to his Di Zhao Form, his view shifted to the players' perspective.
Gloomy Cave.
After another fierce battle, the players began to clear the battlefield.
They picked up the loot, then opened the Sacrifice mode in the function menu and threw all the shells into the altar to refine them into Sacrificial Power.
After days of fighting, the players had grown familiar with the Iron Shell Bugs' battle rhythm.
The Iron Shell Bugs had two ways of attacking: spitting silk to ensnare a target, then dragging it close and tearing it apart with their sickle-shaped mandibles.
The pause between spits was the best opportunity to launch an attack.
After enough battles, players who knew the rhythm could now dodge the silk with ease.
The only thing that troubled them was the cramped terrain inside the cave. When they encountered a swarm of Iron Shell Bugs, skill alone could only improve their combat effectiveness so much. Their only way to win was a fierce charge.
After every battle came the players' favorite time: collecting their spoils.
The increased physical strength from leveling up, the Sacrificial Power earned by sacrificing loot, the joy of victory after working together... It was all part of the fun.
After clearing the battlefield, the remaining players continued down the cave passage and entered the second underground level.
The second level was relatively spacious, and they could see large stretches of rock wall that had been mined out.
Strangely, the rock walls were covered in a layer of pale green crystal. When they focused on it, analysis information appeared:
[Spiritual Gathering: Collecting the energy of heaven and earth, continuously nurturing spiritual ore...]
Realizing that the Spiritual Ore in this cave was a renewable resource, the players didn't react much. They continued following the group deeper into the cave.
After killing several more Iron Shell Bugs along the way, they stopped in front of a cavern that had clearly been excavated.
A muffled roar could be heard from inside.
Li Zheng of the Grind Emperor Group went ahead and tossed the torch in his hand into the cavern.
The torch traced an arc through the air before landing inside. It rolled several times, illuminating the interior.
At the far end of the cavern, eight chains were fastened to the rock wall. A gigantic monster was shackled to their ends.
It looked like a beetle, its body covered in overlapping layers of white scales. Intricate markings crisscrossed across them, forming what looked at first glance like a ghost's face. A pair of enormous pincers waved incessantly, while its exposed crimson eyes glowed in the darkness like two burning lanterns.
The monster had been imprisoned for who knew how many years, yet it was still alive.
[Taunt (Second-Generation Origin Source)] Hunting Level: 29 Guidance Analysis: A special monster that commands the Primal Power of "Taunt." It can weave mental mirages, causing targets within its range to fall into a state of extreme madness and attack Taunt uncontrollably. Warning: Targets struck by Taunt will briefly experience numerous rewritten scenarios based on their own memories. The caster (Taunt) will become part of those rewritten memories and a target of their hatred. ...
Of the players who saw the monster's analysis, those who had chosen the Stone Gargoyle were by far the most excited.
Marble: Hahaha, this is the perfect second Monster Soul for Stone Gargoyles! Taunt to draw aggro, then activate Petrification to tank damage. It's even better than the Eagle Head Demon plus Bone Fire build. I can already feel the Stone Gargoyles rising up!
Is This Okay: The Stone Gargoyle players' spring has arrived out of nowhere. Taunt plus Petrification—the strongest defensive build of the patch is here!
Class Monitor: Petrification can greatly increase your ability to take hits for a short time, but it has a fatal drawback: you can't move once it's activated. Now that we have Taunt, this build is practically invincible. If we add an ability to absorb and reflect damage, just thinking about it feels amazing.
The regional voice channel buzzed with discussion about Taunt's abilities.
Whether it was the Eagle Head Demon or the Black Armor Snake, both already had a suitable second Monster Soul option at this stage. The Stone Gargoyle was the only one without one.
The second-generation Origin Source monster imprisoned in the cavern gave these Stone Gargoyle players hope of rising to prominence.
"Kill!"
Someone shouted, and the players immediately surged toward Taunt.
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