Tenth-Gen Primal

Tenth-Gen Primal

Monster World, Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range.

Ancient Battlefield.

A skeleton wreathed in inky flames wandered aimlessly, surrounded by mountains of wreckage and shattered weapons.

"To become a powerful hunter, you must first learn to hide yourself and look for opportunities to ambush your prey."

"Then lock onto the target, build up momentum, move swift as the wind, and kill with a single blow... Awoo!"

Along with Li Zheng's cry in the area voice channel, the players lying on the ground pretending to be dead sprang up one after another, twisting their bodies midair as they shifted into monster forms and pounced on the First Generation Origin monster, Bone Fire.

By now, Li Zheng and the others had all reached Level 5. Their bodies were more than twice as strong as when they started, and their sizes had increased significantly as well.

This was their third encounter with Bone Fire.

The first two encounters had ended in crushing defeats without any suspense, stirring up Li Zheng and the others' competitive spirits.

More importantly, their experiences over the past two days had revealed a special mechanic in the game.

This special mechanic could help them kill monsters above their level.

This game actually had no monster reset mechanic!

The so-called monster reset mechanic was common in other games. Once players moved a certain distance away while fighting a monster, the monster would automatically return to its territory, restore all of its health, and remove every negative status inflicted by the players.

But this game had no such mechanic.

Every bit of damage players dealt to monsters remained.

For example, the bite marks they had left during their previous battles with Bone Fire did not disappear after they died. When they fought Bone Fire again, the bite marks were still on its body.

This gave them the chance to defeat high-level monsters by slowly wearing down their health.

Even if they could only deal 1% damage each time, they could still kill the monster after a hundred battles.

Of course, that depended on the monster having slow self-healing abilities.

This strategy was useless against monsters with powerful regenerative abilities, but against Bone Fire, which had no healing ability, it was completely viable.

Compared to their first encounter, Bone Fire's body was now covered in bite marks from all kinds of fangs, especially its left leg, which was nearly broken.

These were all injuries they had inflicted through their attrition strategy.

This time, Li Zheng and the other players continued focusing their attacks on Bone Fire's left leg.

When they came into contact with Bone Fire, their monster bodies were ignited by the inky flames. Enduring the searing pain, they clung to Bone Fire and tore into its nearly collapsing left leg.

Before long, the cracked leg bone finally gave way under the strain. It exploded apart, and Bone Fire's body tilted and crashed to the ground.

Eat Earth and the other players watching nearby decisively rushed forward and joined the fight.

The Black Armor Snake's constriction and biting, the Stone Gargoyle form's frontal heavy punches, the Eagle Head Demon form's beak strikes... Bone Fire was overwhelmed by the relentless assault. At last, it could no longer hold on. The inky crystal inside its skull exploded, and the inky flames surrounding its body went out.

The black mist pouring from Bone Fire's body split into ten portions in midair, drifting toward Li Zheng and the others.

When their bodies came into contact with the black mist, energy seeped into them, and a scarlet streak of light swept across their skin.

Surging energy roiled within them, causing their bodies to grow rapidly.

The inky flames still burning on their bodies also dispersed.

The bodily reconstruction brought by leveling up restored them to their peak condition.

At that moment, another cloud of thick smoke emerged from Bone Fire's corpse. Within the churning black smoke, the outline of a miniature Bone Fire flickered in and out of view.

The nearest Guiding Water Orb suddenly opened its mouth. Bone Fire's Monster Soul was immediately sucked inside, then teleported in an instant to the fourth slot of the Containment Wall, where it condensed into Bone Fire once more.

At that moment, a pale blue energy tube extended from the top of the slot and connected to the imprisoned Bone Fire's skull, beginning to continuously extract Sacrificial Power.

At the same time, prompts rang out one after another in Li Zheng and the other players' minds:

[Challenger Notice: Contained the First Generation Origin monster Bone Fire. Origin Hunting Quest completed.]

Mission Reward 1: All participants receive 1,000 Sacrificial Power. (Reward amount is affected by the number of participants.)

Mission Reward 2: All participants receive permission to unlock their second Monster Soul slot for free.

"This feels amazing! We finally took it down!"

"Hahaha, Brothers, this feels incredible! That long-lost joy!"

"A thousand Sacrificial Power is way faster than killing Cursed Soldiers!"

After the cheering died down, Li Zheng turned to the Guiding Water Orb floating beside him and asked curiously,

"Guidance, how much Sacrificial Power does it normally cost to unlock the second Monster Soul slot?"

[Unlocking the second Monster Soul slot requires 500 Sacrificial Power.]

"Then does that mean we can equip a second Monster Soul now?"

[Correct. The function panel has an Astral Veins equipping feature. You can now equip a second Monster Soul and unlock a second monster form.]

Following Guidance's instructions, Li Zheng summoned the function panel.

It contained seven options: Map, Spatial Inventory, Character Details, Astral Veins Enhancement, Item Shop, Resource Sacrifice, and System Settings.

After opening the Astral Veins function, an internal view of his body appeared in Li Zheng's mind.

In the internal view, his spine shone as brilliantly as a galaxy. At the very top was his human form, while the first slot below contained the Black Armored Snake Soul.

On the right was a control panel containing detailed Astral Veins information.

[Challenger: Game Brick Mover Party]

Registered Name: Li Zheng

Astral Veins Level: 2 (Sacrificial Power required for next level: 2,000)

Astral Veins Slots: 2

Equipped Monster Soul 1: Black Armor Snake Lv.5 (Trait: Venom)

Equipped Monster Soul 2: None

...

On the right side of the Astral Veins attribute panel was an option labeled "Purchase Monster Soul."

When he tapped it with his consciousness, the display switched to the Monster Soul shop.

Four equippable options appeared before Li Zheng.

1. Petrification (Stone Gargoyle Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Trait: After activating the ability, the body enters an immobile petrified state, greatly reducing damage from any source. (Specific effects are affected by physical attributes.)

Purchase Cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power.

2. Wailing (Eagle Head Demon Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Trait: After activating the ability, nearby dangers can be detected in advance. (Killing intent, hostility, presence, fluctuations.)

Purchase Cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power

3. Venom (Black Armor Snake Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Trait: Physical damage of any kind inflicts poisoning, dealing continuous damage to the target. (Toxicity strength is affected by physical attributes.)

Purchase Cost: Already owned. Cannot be purchased again.

4. Inkflame (Bone Fire Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Trait: Consumes mental power to release death flames that can be consciously controlled through perception. Striking a target inflicts continuous burning and death energy infiltration damage. (Specific damage is affected by monster level and the user's mental strength.)

Purchase Cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power

...

"Guidance, what does the First Generation Origin suffix after a Monster Soul mean?" Li Zheng asked curiously as he looked toward the Guiding Water Orb.

[Di Zhao conducted ten mysterious experiments while creating Primal Monsters. Each experiment separated a portion of his own power. The first batch of Origin Source life spheres he created scattered across Monster World and eventually evolved into First Generation Origin. The second generation refers to the second batch of Origin Source life created, and so on.]

[Di Zhao's self-division progressed from weak to strong. First Generation Origin possessed the weakest power traits, while Tenth-Gen Primal possessed the strongest. Therefore, Tenth-Gen Primal monsters have far greater growth potential than First Generation Origin monsters... But growth potential does not necessarily represent strength. Tenth-Gen Primal may contain Primal Monsters with low hunting levels, while First Generation Origin monsters may also contain monsters with extremely high hunting levels.]

"So that's how it is."

After understanding what the monster suffix represented, Li Zheng fell into thought.

At this stage, he had three choices before him: Eagle Head Demon, Stone Gargoyle, and Bone Fire.

Among them, Bone Fire's elemental damage did not suit the Black Armor Snake's Venom trait, so he ruled that option out first.

Of the remaining two, Eagle Head Demon leaned toward functional support and was a versatile monster trait, while Stone Gargoyle leaned toward defense.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided to leave the Astral Veins interface first and discuss the choice with his brothers.

When the internal view faded, Li Zheng turned to look at the brothers beside him, only to discover in surprise that Eat Earth had already equipped a second Monster Soul and shifted into Bone Fire form, his entire body burning with inky flames.