A scenery-loving player

[Player count: 10652]

Origin Primordial traits contained: 13

Sacrificial power produced by players today: 68552 points

Average player monster level: 7

Domain nodes owned: Emperor Tomb Village (Flesh Reconstruction).

After checking today's earnings, Qi Sheng nodded in satisfaction.

The players were growing faster than he had expected. At this stage, one-fifth of them had already unlocked their second star meridian, and their sacrificial power output was increasing by the day.

The only shortcoming was that they still had not captured the Dark Cavern's domain node.

After advancing to the fifth underground floor, the player teams had become bogged down in a bitter struggle. The corrosion core, which had already developed consciousness, controlled the mangled remains of Ice Blade's dead subordinates in battle, making the players' lives miserable.

Several times, they had banded together to take the Dark Cavern in one push, only to suffer a total party wipe.

But in the foreseeable future, the Dark Cavern domain node would be purified and contained, becoming part of the expanded Emperor Tomb Village.

After that, the players would face a major crisis.

According to the intelligence Guide had gathered through investigation, the domain node region where the Di Nian Evil Spirit Warrior resided was drawing on the node's energy to rapidly spawn evil spirits.

In the near future, countless evil spirits would rampage across the entire Emperor Tomb Mountain Range Region.

Through the exchanges between the Di Nian Evil Spirit and Evil Eye, Qi Sheng had learned that their goal was to occupy every domain node in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range Region.

Domain node regions such as the Dark Cavern and Weapon Spirit Valley would all be targets of the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

When that time came, the players would clash head-on with the Evil Spirits Legion led by the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

The players had little time left to develop.

But Qi Sheng had never considered the Di Nian Evil Spirit's influence important.

The Terrifying Dark Tide's forces included many powerful Evil Spirits. Di Nian was merely an ordinary Commander Level Evil Spirit Warrior, hardly a formidable opponent.

At the Four Devoted Servants' peak, the Di Nian Evil Spirit had been nothing more than an ant they could crush with a wave of the hand.

The Evil Spirits Legion he led would merely be the starting point for the players' conquest of the vast Monster World, a stepping stone onto the grand stage of war.

Without dwelling on the matter, Qi Sheng switched to Emperor Zhao Form.

Once scarlet flames enveloped his body, his view shifted to the perspective of a player relayed by Guide.

Northwest of the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

A tranquil pool lay hidden amid scorching volcanoes. Under the Evil Moon's light, its water was emerald green and clear to the bottom, with many creatures visible swimming within.

[Challenger notification: You have discovered a new region in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, "Windwave Pool," through exploration. Sacrificial power reward: 300 points.]

Hearing the notification sound in his mind, Lu Xing stood beside the pool, unable to hide his smile.

He opened the map. A patch of fog northwest of the Ancient Battlefield had dispersed, revealing an area centered on the pool, like an emerald set into the map.

The name "Windwave Pool" was also marked above it in large letters.

This was the first game region he had uncovered through exploration. It proved that exploration could also earn sacrificial power; hunting monsters and gathering resources were not the only two viable paths.

For a scenery-loving player, the joy of virtual games lay not in competition and growth, but in admiring the scenery along the way.

In the turbulent new world where the Alien Races coexisted, the Human Federation advised citizens against casually venturing outside the cities.

But Lu Xing had always harbored curiosity and longing for the world's unknown regions. Whenever travel came up, an indescribable excitement would involuntarily flare in his heart.

That passion had ultimately found a home in virtual games.

The emergence of virtual worlds had filled a gap left by his regrets.

After entering Darklands, he discovered that he had finally found the perfect travel game.

This world's realism surpassed imagination. There were no frame drops, lag, or similar issues. Every step felt utterly real, and with every breath, he could sense the atmosphere unique to this world.

He did not know how others played games, but he had only one way of playing.

Setting off on long journeys to witness a strange and fantastical virtual world, collecting and piecing together records of its hidden history, witnessing nature's extraordinary handiwork in a fantasy world... In this process, he was not merely sightseeing, but engaging in a spiritual dialogue with this world.

And the hardships along the journey, the challenges and fatigue, even the occasional loneliness and confusion, were all indispensable experiences in his eyes.

Stopping in his tracks, Lu Xing began using Guide's analysis ability to examine his surroundings.

Then he brought up the Forum interface and recorded information about the new plants he had discovered in a Forum section.

Keeping records was one of his goals during his travels.

The game's Forum had no Monster Compendium, plant encyclopedia, or similar features.

He felt he could certainly share his hobby with other players through his records.

Creating a Monster Compendium and plant encyclopedia for this game was an excellent way to share, allowing other players to quickly find the targets they wanted to hunt or locations where they could gather resources.

Over the past week, he had already recorded 32 encyclopedia entries and shared them in a thread for other players to use.

There were three plants near the pool that he had never recorded. After copying down their analysis information, Lu Xing edited it and posted it in his Forum thread.

He brought up his livestream screen. At that moment, 13 players on death cooldown were watching his travel stream, and their comments remained below.

One comment caught Lu Xing's attention.

I'm a College Student: Dude, look across Windwave Pool. Seems like something's watching you. Creepy as hell!

Lu Xing immediately turned to look across the pool. On the opposite bank, a pair of deep, eerie green eyes stared fixedly at him from bushes entwined with vines and dotted with wildflowers.

Lu Xing immediately took two steps back.

It was not that he feared fighting. Along the way, he had inevitably fought monsters and had died and returned to the Respawn Point many times.

It was just that every death required an hour's wait to respawn. With no teleportation device, he had to retrace his entire route from the beginning, so he needed to avoid death as much as possible.

Earning sacrificial power to improve his strength was also meant to help him handle the risks of his travels.

"Guide, analyze."

But thinking of his goal of creating a comprehensive Monster Compendium database, Lu Xing ultimately chose not to retreat and leave. Instead, he looked toward Guide and spoke.

[Too far away. Unable to analyze the target.] Guide explained in a languid voice.

Hearing this, Lu Xing thought briefly, then steeled himself and headed toward the opposite bank.

Once he was within analysis range, information about the hidden creature with eerie green eyes appeared in his mind.

[Wonder Butterfly (Fourth-Generation Primordial)]:

Hunting level: 7

Guide's analysis: A fourth-generation primordial monster that commands the power of Wind Control. It has developed intelligence and can manipulate the wind element to fly, fight, or greatly increase its movement speed.

Personality analysis: Bullies the weak and fears the strong, lazy.

Seeing "Fourth-Generation Primordial" after the monster's name, Lu Xing panicked badly.

But when he saw its hunting level, his eyes instantly widened. The players in the livestream also flooded the screen with exclamations.

Their messages all amounted to roughly the same thing: Leave that Origin Primordial alone. Let me at it!