Broken-Spine Mountain Grand Rift (2-in-1)

Insight prompt: 30 Psionic Points deducted.

[Gray Ear (Boss Tier Level 3) / Challenge Level 7]

[Race: Beast Species / Terrestrial Beasts]

[Attributes: Strength 21, Agility 30, Constitution 17, Spirit 9]

[Skills: Agility, Claw Strike, Crippling Bite,???]

"Split them, surround them, and take them out," Bai Xiaowen said.

This Leader Tier Rat King, Gray Ear, has similar attributes to Rageclaw, but in terms of skills, [Agility] is just a passive evasion skill, and [Claw Strike] and [Crippling Bite] are not very good. In terms of strength, it is much weaker than Rageclaw's two ultimate moves, which shows the inherent disadvantage of the species.

Four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier charged forward side by side.

Squeaks rang out, and four Elite Ironhide Rat pounced, but one was swatted away by a [Rend] from Rageclaw. Angry Claw then grabbed the second with a [Bite] and slammed it to the ground, leaving it dizzy. Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier surrounded them in perfect unison, their gleaming iron blades raised, and a flurry of chopping flesh ensued.

It must be said that the Elite Ironhide Rat's fur provides strong defense against physical attacks. It withstood a beating from four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier for a full 10 seconds before dying.

The Skeleton Mage unleashed Lightning Throw, striking the third Ironhide Rat. The magic damage ignored armor, instantly reducing the Elite Ironhide Rat's Life Value by a third. Then, the Shadow Assassin appeared beside it, slit its throat with a critical Critical Hit and a Vital Strike, finishing it off instantly.

Before the fourth Ironhide Rat could pounce, it was met with an angry Rageclaw, its head darting out as it scurried away even faster than it had come.

In the blink of an eye, Gray Ear, the Boss Tier of the rat pack, was left all alone, with the four of his roosters either dead or having fled.

A hint of human-like fear appeared in Gray Ear's tiny, bean-sized eyes. Its mental attribute was as high as 9 points, indicating that its intelligence was quite high.

Looking at the other fronts, the Mutant Rat suffered countless casualties, but not a single human fell. Gray Ear finally realized that these humans were not ordinary people; they were all terrifying Awakened Ones.

"Squeak..."

Gray Ear let out a sharp cry.

In several other parts of the rat swarm, low screams echoed, clearly coming from other rat Boss Tier. The entire swarm retreated rapidly, like the receding tide.

After calling out, Gray Ear turned its rear end and tried to run away.

"Keep it, it's Psionic Points!"

Bai Xiaowen now saw the Boss Tier monster as if it were a walking Psionic Points, and immediately ordered Rageclaw to activate its ultimate attack and Pounce on it.

With a swift movement, Gray Ear seemed to have eyes in the back of its head, strangely twisting its body to the side to dodge Rageclaw's powerful attack.

"This is... the effect of the passive ability [Agility]?" Bai Xiaowen was somewhat amused and exasperated. "Well, my almost never-missing ultimate Suppression was actually dodged by a mouse. It seems that you can't underestimate any enemy."

Bai Xiaowen used his Intimidation, freezing Gray Ear in place. Four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier surrounded him, raising their iron swords in unison.

crackling sounds...

The Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's frenzied slashes didn't actually do much damage to Gray Ear, but the Shadow Assassin's attacks were much more painful. And the Rageclaw, which had just missed its ultimate, came rushing in with a belly full of rage, biting and slashing.

Li Shuyi also joined in, immediately activating the Demonfire Dance. The hissing sound was incessant, and streaks of fire shot out along with sword shadows.

The light of the Demonfire gradually accumulated within Gray Ear's body.

The Gray Ear Rat King howled in pain and launched a counterattack, but its Crippling Bite was blocked by the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's iron shield, leaving two rows of dents with a crack. Then, its whole body trembled violently, and a cloud of green smoke billowed out.

Bai Xiaowen received a notification:

"Gray Ear, the Boss Tier of the rat swarm, has activated an unknown skill."

"Shu Yi, get out of here immediately!"

Bai Xiaowen said loudly.

Li Shuyi retreated without hesitation, but a trace of green smoke still clung to her. Immediately, she received a notification:

"You have been poisoned. The poison effect is: loss of 20% of maximum Life Value over 5 seconds."

Fortunately, Li Shuyi's original Life Value was at full, so losing twenty or thirty points of health wasn't a big problem. She immediately activated the [Demonfire Jade Pendant] +7 special effect burst, unleashing the accumulated fire energy within Gray Ear's body all at once.

The summoned creatures braved the poisonous fog and ganged up on the rat swarm. A few seconds later, with a thud, the rat Boss Tier, Gray Ear, fell to the ground, and a Small Golden Treasure Chest appeared above its corpse.

"So the skill we didn't Insight was poison. I was wondering why this rat boss's three known skills were so weak; the essence was in the last skill." Bai Xiaowen sighed as he watched the Life Value of his summoned creatures drop by almost half.

A skill that reduces health by a percentage might not seem like much now, but it becomes terrifying at higher levels.

However, it's believed that Gray Ear's skill has limitations; against enemies of a much higher Tier Rank, its toxicity certainly wouldn't be as potent.

The rat swarm came quickly and left just as fast. In the short time it took Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi to kill Gray Ear, the rat swarm had completely disappeared.

Bai Xiaowen chose to open the treasure chest, and he and Li Shuyi allocated 3,000 Psionic Points according to their Kill Contribution ratio.

The Spirit Realm notified you. "Your Combat Score is C (passing). You have been awarded a chance to draw loot without missing a turn."

Strictly speaking, this level 3 Boss Tier is not as strong as Bai Xiaowen's, and with Li Shuyi's involvement, a C-Tier rating is already quite good.

Bai Xiaowen randomly selected a card.

"You have obtained a special item: Potent Life Toxin."

[Potent Life Toxin (Party Bound): Applied to weapons, it poisons attacked targets, reducing their maximum Life Value by 20% over 5 seconds. Currently has 2/2 uses.]

Special Note: "The poison will deal full damage to Standard Template of level 7 or below (including level 7), Elite Template of level 5 or below, and Boss Template creatures of level 3 or below. If the target's level is too high, the effectiveness of the life toxin will be reduced."

The golden light disappeared, Bai Xiaowen held a bottle of viscous black liquid in her hand.

"It would be great if there were no level restrictions. Unfortunately, the level restrictions make this special item much less useful."

With Bai Xiaowen's current strength, he doesn't need to use poison to deal with level 3 Boss Tier monsters. Only Boss Tier of level 5 or higher can be considered relatively strong enemies. And according to the special instructions, this poison isn't as overpowered as some might think.

However, Bai Xiaowen wasn't expecting to get anything good from killing this rat Boss Tier; the 3,000 Psionic Points he gained were the main thing.

Bai Xiaowen calculated that during this Rat Swarm, he and Li Shuyi had killed over a thousand level-less Mutant Rat, six Elite Tier Mutant Rat (without treasure chest drops), and one Boss Tier Mutant Rat. The two of them earned around 5,000 Psionic Points, and their total savings had finally reached over 10,000 Psionic Points again.

Bai Xiaowen's Black Soul Stone growth rate has climbed to 90/300, and he has 30 Soul Essence available.

Bai Xiaowen extracted a piece of Treasure Meat the size of a longan from the body of Gray Ear, the Boss Tier the rat swarm. It looked like jelly, trembling and very tempting. He took out a bottle of water from his storage space, rinsed it slightly, and then shared it with Li Shuyi, each eating half of it.

Eating the raw Treasure Meat, which melted in his mouth, Bai Xiaowen felt a pure Psionic Particles slowly permeating into his body.

"You have consumed Leader Tier Mutant Rat Treasure Meat for the first time."

"Your base agility has been permanently increased by 2 points. Your movement speed has been increased by 4% for 1 hour."

Li Shuyi gained 2 points of agility after eating the Treasure Meat, and also received the buff of increased movement speed.

The two also extracted the Treasure Meat from the other Elite Tier Mutant Rat they killed and ate it together, but they didn't receive any attribute increases; it was like eating a few delicious jellies.

"We've already eaten higher-grade Treasure Meat, so these lower-grade ingredients of the same type can't add any more attributes," Li Shuyi said. "Actually, the personal attributes that Treasure Meat can increase are limited, and are related to the number of Treasure-Meat Cuisine we've eaten before, as well as our level."

Bai Xiaowen nodded. "I understand. The more precious Treasure-Meat Cuisine you eat, the fewer attributes you gain, or even none at all, only some minor buffs."

Bai Xiaowen had put in the effort to study this, and someone had made a record. An awakened person, from low to high, ate almost all the common Elite Tier and Leader Tier mutated Treasure Meat ingredients below level 10, which increased their personal attributes by a total of 10 points. This is also a limit number.

Bai Xiaowen placed the Leader Tier Mutant Rat Gray Ear, along with the corpses of six Elite Tier Mutant Rat, into his Storage Space. The meat of ordinary Mutant Rat was naturally very cheap, but the meat of Elite Tier and Leader Tier rats was quite valuable.

"Venturing into the Wilderness Zone is indeed a place where risks and opportunities coexist."

Back in the off-road vehicle, Bai Xiaowen remarked with some emotion, "This location is probably over a hundred kilometers from the base city, right? To think there's such a large swarm of Mutant Rat; we could easily get several thousand Psionic Points."

Yan Xiaoxin said, "It must be the Boss Tier several groups of Mutant Rat who misjudged the situation, thinking we were an ordinary convoy. That's why they gathered together to attack. Once they realized we were all Awakened and there was no opening for them, they quickly fled. Mutated beast hordes of this size are actually quite rare."

Coach Guan said, "The depths of the Wilderness Zone are indeed a place where danger and opportunity coexist, but the claim that you can easily earn Psionic Points is unfounded. Even for Hero Class, facing Rat Swarm of this magnitude alone requires caution, because Divine Might will eventually run out, and physical strength will eventually give out. A single Mutant Rat may only cause one or two points of damage, but so many Mutant Rat rushing forward one after another can overwhelm a person."

After a pause, Coach Guan added, "Of course, for a summoner-type Hero Class like you, the safety level is much higher than other Hero Class. Undead Species summons have virtually unlimited stamina, and with four Skeleton Soldier protecting you, you're practically invincible."

Bai Xiaowen chuckled and said a few modest words, but he was secretly pleased.

The convoy drove for 200 kilometers beyond the base city before finally reaching its destination: the Great Rift of the Broken Ridge Mountains.

Although they encountered a few mutated beasts along the way, none of them had the courage of the rats. They dared not rush over to attack the convoy and usually only followed for a few miles before giving up.

Dozens of vehicles were already parked on the open, rocky ground in front of the Great Rift.

The convoy from Jinghai University slowly drove into the open space and came to a stop. The students from Jinghai University got off the vehicles one after another.

"Teacher Yan, you've arrived."

Several greetings rang out from the same direction.

Bai Xiaowen looked in the direction of the voice and saw several people who were about the same age as Yan Xiaoxin and looked like teachers. They greeted Yan Xiaoxin with smiles and then walked over.

Yan Xiaoxin smiled and said, "Teacher Jiao, Teacher Meng, Teacher Yu, and Teacher Zhang, you all arrived so quickly... Where's Teacher Zhu from Jiangnan University? I haven't seen him."

The teachers leading the teams from these four universities all seemed to have a good relationship with Yan Xiaoxin... at least on the surface. The scene Bai Xiaowen had envisioned—where the teachers leading the various University Team were at each other's throats, practically ready to fight—did not happen.

One of the teachers curled his lip and muttered, "The last one to arrive shows the grandeur of Jiangnan University, doesn't it?"

"There's nothing we can do; Jiangnan University is the top university."

Yan Xiaoxin shook her head and smiled, changing the subject. "What's the current state of the entrance crack to the Broken-Spine Mountain Treasure Site?"

"We just tested it, and the intensity just barely meets the level 2 standard. Let's wait a bit longer," a teacher said.

The teachers chatted about their respective University Team, concealing information about their own teams while praising each other and subtly probing for intelligence on the others. Bai Xiaowen listened for a few moments, then stopped paying attention.

What does "entrance strength of Spatial Rift" mean?

Sitting in the car, Li Shuyi asked in a low voice.

Bai Xiaowen always reads a lot of information and prepares thoroughly before doing anything. This time, when venturing into the special Treasure Ground Space, he also did his homework and gave Li Shuyi a brief explanation.

Treasure Ground Space are classified into levels based on the concentration of Psionic Particles, with level 1 being the lowest and level 10 the highest. For example, the Spinebreak Mountain Grand Rift Treasure Grounds land is a level 6 treasure land.

To enter the Treasure Ground Space, you need to go through Spatial Rift. To return, you don't need to, as long as the Treasure Ground Space isn't completely sealed off.

The energy intensity of Spatial Rift determines the strength of the individual capable of passing through it.

The entrance to a treasure land, or Spatial Rift, is cyclical. Under normal circumstances, it only opens once a year and lasts for more than ten days. The energy intensity of the Spatial Rift gradually increases and then Transformation.

Standard Level 1 strength is sufficient to accommodate Level 1 Awakened Beings. Standard Level 2 corresponds to Level 2 Awakened Beings, and so on.

The energy intensity of the rift at the entrance to the treasure land will gradually increase to a level that matches the "treasure land level," which is also the peak. Subsequently, the energy intensity of the Spatial Rift will slowly decrease.

The Spinebreak Mountain Grand Rift Treasure Grounds is a Level 6 treasure land, meaning that the energy intensity of the Spatial Rift can reach the standard Level 6 level, accommodating Level 6 awakened beings.

Most of the students from various universities who signed up for the Level 6 Treasure Land are Intermediate Awakened (levels 4-6), so they will need to wait another day or two.

However, Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, Xiang Hui, Chen Guowei, and others were all at level 3 or lower, so they could enter first and gain an advantage.