Underground Melee

Chapter 44: Underground Melee

"Damn, another soul that matches magic-type output. Black Armor Snake players find this unacceptable."

"Hahaha, this soul is excellent. Eagle Head Demon + Bone Fire + Eat Qi greatly increases sustain. I'm very satisfied with this Primal. Hurry up and kill it, brothers on the front lines!"

"The dilemma of running out of mana can finally be alleviated. Thanks to nature's gift of a mana-restoring soul, magic builds are getting stronger and stronger!"

"Nobody move, let me take one hit before you guys attack."

Hunting a Level 12 Primal Monster posed no threat to players at this stage.

The scene instantly devolved into chaos.

The rewards for killing a Primal Monster were shared. Even touching it once granted Sacrificial Power, so players went mad, rushing towards the Primal Monster. In a short time, Eat Qi was killed and contained.

Learning from the live broadcast that players ahead had successfully contained a Primal, those in the rear became extremely excited, especially players specializing in ranged output.

Compared to hunting evil spirits or monsters, containing a Primal Monster was a shared benefit for all players, giving them another soul option to embed.

The only dissatisfaction was that they didn't participate in the hunting process of the Primal, thus losing out on a share of the Sacrificial Power rewards.

This successful hunt also led to a steady increase in Qi Sheng's Sacrificial Power income.

After the interlude of hunting the Primal, the mission to purify Gloomy Cave continued.

What delighted Qi Sheng was that the information from the Guider indicated that within the third underground level, besides Eat Qi, there was also the aura of another Primal Monster.

As long as players continued to explore, containing this Primal Monster was only a matter of time.

A corner of the third level of Gloomy Cave.

Li Zheng and his brothers looked at the long queue with helpless expressions.

Just a week ago, they were lamenting the low player count on their server.

Who would have thought that now they had to queue just to enter the mine?

However, in comparison, they hoped for an increase in their server's player count, which would be a great thing for them, the "brick-moving" players.

With the appearance of guilds led by big spenders like Fan Zui Group, there was no shortage of buyers for Sacrificial Power.

No matter how much they produced, the big spenders could buy it all.

Last time, he sold 50 points of Sacrificial Power to "Wosinie Die," the guild leader of Fan Zui Group, and earned 5,000 credit points.

After that, the price of Sacrificial Power skyrocketed, and he decided to temporarily stop selling it, focusing on improving his strength before considering profits.

In Li Zheng's view, spending Sacrificial Power on improving strength was a sure-win investment.

Only by becoming stronger could they hunt stronger monsters and achieve higher Sacrificial Power output.

While waiting in line, he wasn't idle. He led his brothers in frantically striking the surrounding rock walls with Pickaxe, searching for potential spirit ores.

Nearby players were doing the same, all chipping away at the rock walls, the sound of metal striking metal echoing endlessly.

Mining spirit ore was the safest source of income in this game. The downside was that it required a certain amount of luck. With good luck, one could dig out several spirit ores embedded in the rock walls in a day. If unlucky, they might toil all day with no output.

Compared to the clear returns of hunting monsters and leveling up, mining had a larger element of luck.

This was also why many new players chose mining as their initial way to earn money. After all, the weakest monsters in the Waning Crescent Moon map were around Level 10, making hunting extremely difficult for newcomers, requiring coordinated team combat.

"Heh heh, got another one."

As the surrounding rocks broke away, revealing a glowing white Energy Stone, his teammate Eat Earth said triumphantly.

"Don't get cocky. Your dad will get you a Level 2 ore right now," said Killing Intent, standing on Li Zheng's other side, suddenly increasing the speed of his Pickaxe swings.

Just then, countless exclamations erupted from the rear of the queue.

Li Zheng and the others immediately stopped mining and looked back to see what was happening.

[Challenger Notice (Regional): Congratulations to the player for obtaining the Level 5 spirit ore ""Soul Crystal" " through mining in Gloomy Cave - Underground Level 3. You are the first to achieve the Level 5 or higher spirit ore achievement. Bonus reward: 500 Sacrificial Power.]

"Soul Crystal": An ore formed by absorbing the dissipated soul power of the deceased. It can nourish and repair damaged souls.

Usage: Forging, Consumption (Consuming grants Body Tempering level experience), Sacrifice.

The appearance of the notice made Li Zheng and the others realize that someone behind them had struck it rich through mining.

The Soul Crystal mentioned in the notice was a Level 5 spirit ore, and more importantly, it could be directly consumed to increase Body Tempering level.

This was immensely tempting to players.

At this stage, increasing Body Tempering level was extremely difficult. Unlike Star Vein levels, which increased incrementally in consumption, Body Tempering levels 1-10 each required 10,000 Sacrificial Power to advance.

This was the first time players had learned in the game that they could gain Body Tempering experience by consuming special resources.

"So lucky. Too bad it wasn't me," Eat Earth muttered enviously, watching the rapid refresh of cash purchase requests in the regional channel.

After the interlude, as Li Zheng and the others prepared to continue mining, they found that the commotion behind the queue had not subsided but was instead intensifying. Some players had even transformed into monster forms and engaged in combat with others.

"Damn, something's not right!"

The noisy scene made Li Zheng consider a possibility. He immediately turned to Eat Earth:

"Eat Earth, pull your perception over to take a look."

Eat Earth nodded immediately upon hearing this. His body distorted as he switched to Eagle Head Demon form, emitting a sonic wave towards the back of the team. His consciousness followed the wave through the crowd to the center of the commotion.

The scene that followed made Eat Earth's heart pound.

On the rock wall, cracked and broken by the Pickaxe, were embedded a large number of purple crystals, shimmering faintly in the flickering bonfire.

Withdrawing his consciousness, Eat Earth decisively looked at Li Zheng:

"Brother Li, the entire rock wall is Level 5 Soul Crystal ore. There are at least 20 pieces, and possibly more deeper inside."

"No wonder it's so chaotic, they're fighting over spirit ore," Family Shared Godfather standing behind them said with sudden understanding, then looked at Li Zheng and asked:

"Brother Li, what do you think?"

"What else can I think? Of course, we're taking it. Di Zhao didn't make any rules about who finds it first. If we grab it, it's ours."

"I'm a university student, I must have one of these Soul Crystals."

After a brief exchange, Li Zheng and the others decisively switched to their monster forms and charged into the brawling crowd.

Many players had the same idea as Li Zheng, and faced with the temptation of profit, they all chose to switch to their monster forms and join the scramble.

A large number of players were defeated and dispersed into black mist during the struggle.

During this time, more and more players learned that a large amount of Level 5 spirit ore had appeared on the third level underground, and they continued to rush in, wave after wave.

The battle even spread from the Gloomy Cave to the players queuing outside the mine.

The incident began when a player from Fan Zui Group was jointly killed by members of the Divine Wings Guild while trying to grab spirit ore. This player immediately contacted their guild leader, Li Siyu, for assistance.

Subsequently, members of the two major guilds erupted into a physical conflict outside the mine.

Players who had good relations with these two guilds also joined the melee, initiating an open-world brawl.

This marked the outbreak of the first large-scale civil war since the monster world server opened.

(End of this chapter)