Tenth-Generation Primordial

Monster World, Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Ancient Battlefield.

A skeleton wreathed in Ink-Colored Flames wandered aimlessly, surrounded by mountains of remains and broken weapons.

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

"Then lock onto your target, gather your strength, move like the wind, and kill with one strike... awoo!"

As Li Zheng howled in the regional voice channel, the players playing dead on the ground sprang up, twisting in midair as they switched to their Monster Forms and lunged at the First-Generation Primordial Monster, Bonefire.

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 they had grown noticeably larger.

This was their third battle with Bonefire.

Their first two encounters had ended in outright defeat, which had stirred their competitive spirit.

Most importantly, over the past two days, they had discovered 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 a common feature in other games: when players moved beyond a certain range during combat, the monster would automatically return to its territory, recover all its health, and remove every negative status inflicted by players.

But this game had no such mechanic.

All damage players dealt to monsters would remain.

For instance, the bite marks they had left during their previous battle with Bonefire had not disappeared when they died. When they fought Bonefire again, they found those bite marks still on its body.

This gave them a chance to defeat high-level monsters by whittling down their health.

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

Of course, all of this depended on the monster having slow self-healing abilities.

Against monsters with powerful self-healing abilities, this war of attrition would be meaningless. But against Bonefire, which had no healing abilities, the tactic was entirely viable.

Compared to their first encounter, Bonefire was now covered in bite marks from sharp teeth, and its left leg in particular was almost broken.

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

In this assault, Li Zheng and the other players continued to focus on Bonefire's left leg.

Upon making contact with Bonefire, their monstrous bodies caught fire with ink-black flames. Enduring the searing pain, they coiled around Bonefire and tore into its left leg, which was on the verge of falling apart.

Before long, the already cracked leg bone finally gave way and shattered, sending its body toppling to the ground.

Eat Dirt and the other players who had been watching from the sidelines charged forward without hesitation and joined the battle.

The Black-Armored Snakes coiled and bit, the Gargoyle forms hammered it head-on with heavy punches, and the Eagle-Headed Demon forms struck with their beaks... struggling to fend off the relentless attacks, Bonefire finally gave out. The ink-black crystal inside its skull shattered, and the Ink-Colored Flames around its body went out.

Black mist surged out of Bonefire's body, split into ten portions in midair, and drifted toward Li Zheng and the others.

When the black mist touched their bodies, its energy seeped into them, and a scarlet gleam instantly swept across their skin.

Surging energy coursed through their bodies, making them grow rapidly.

The Ink-Colored Flames still burning on their bodies dissipated as well.

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

Just then, another cloud of thick smoke rose from the dead Bonefire. Within the churning black smoke, the outline of a miniature Bonefire Form flickered in and out of view.

The nearest Guide Water Orb suddenly opened its mouth, sucking in Bonefire's Life Soul. In an instant, it was transported to the fourth compartment of the Containment Wall, where it re-formed into Bonefire.

A pale-blue energy tube extended from the top of the compartment and connected to the imprisoned Bonefire's skull, beginning to extract Sacrificial Power continuously.

At the same time, a series of notifications sounded in the minds of Li Zheng and the other players:

[Challenger notification: Contained the First-Generation Origin Primordial Monster Bonefire. Origin Primordial hunt quest completed.]

Quest reward 1: All participants receive 1,000 points of Sacrificial Power (reward amount affected by the number of participants).

Quest reward 2: All participants receive permission to unlock the Second Life Soul Slot for free.

"That felt great! We finally took it down!"

"Hahaha, guys, this feels amazing. I haven't had this much fun in ages."

"1,000 points of Sacrificial Power! That's way faster than killing Cursed Soldiers!"

After the cheering died down, Li Zheng turned toward the Guide Water Orb hovering beside him and asked curiously:

"Guide, how much Sacrificial Power does it normally cost to unlock the Second Life Soul Slot?"

[Unlocking the Second Life Soul Slot costs 500 points of Sacrificial Power.]

"So we can inlay a second Life Soul now?"

[Correct. The function panel includes the Star Meridian Inlay function. You can now inlay a second monster Life Soul and unlock a second Monster Form.]

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

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

He opened the Star Meridian function, and an internal view of his body appeared in his mind.

In this internal view, his spine shone like the Milky Way. His human form was at the very top, while the first slot beneath it held the Black-Armored Snake Life Soul.

On the right was a control panel displaying detailed Star Meridian information.

[Challenger: Gold-Farming Gamer]

Verified name: Li Zheng

Star Meridian level: 2 (Sacrificial Power required for next level: 2,000)

Star Meridian Inlay slots: 2

Inlaid monster Life Soul 1: Black-Armored Snake Lv5 (Trait: Deadly Poison)

Inlaid monster Life Soul 2: None

On the right side of the Star Meridian stats panel was an option labeled "Purchase Life Soul."

He selected it with his mind, and the view switched to the monster Life Soul shop.

Four inlay options appeared before Li Zheng.

1. Petrification (Gargoyle form: First-Generation Primordial):

Monster trait: Upon activation, the body enters an immobile petrified state, greatly reducing damage of any kind (specific effects depend on physical attributes).

Purchase cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power.

2. Grudge Chant (Eagle-Headed Demon form: First-Generation Primordial):

Monster trait: Upon activation, provides advance warning of nearby dangers (killing intent, hostility, auras, fluctuations).

Purchase cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power.

3. Deadly Poison (Black-Armored Snake form: First-Generation Primordial):

Monster trait: Any form of physical damage inflicts poison, dealing continuous damage to the target (poison potency depends on physical attributes).

Purchase cost: Already owned. Cannot be purchased again.

4. Inkflame (Bonefire form: First-Generation Primordial):

Monster trait: Consumes mental power to release Deathflame that can be controlled through perception and consciousness. Upon hitting a target, it inflicts continuous burning damage and death-energy infiltration damage (specific damage depends on monster level and the strength of the user's mental power).

Purchase cost: 1,000 Sacrificial Power.

"Guide, what does 'First-Generation Primordial' after the monster Life Souls mean?" Li Zheng looked at the Guide Water Orb and asked curiously.

[When Emperor Zhao created the Primordial Monsters, he conducted the Ten Mysterious Experiments, separating out a portion of his own power each time. The first batch of primordial life orbs he created scattered across Monster World and eventually evolved into the First-Generation Origin Primordials. The second generation refers to the second batch of primordial life he created, and so on.]

[Emperor Zhao's self-separation was a process that progressed from weak to strong. The First-Generation Primordials have the weakest power traits, while the Tenth-Generation Primordials have the strongest. Thus, Tenth-Generation Primordial Monsters have far greater growth potential than First-Generation Primordial Monsters... but growth potential does not necessarily represent strength. There may be Primordial Monsters with low hunting levels among the Tenth-Generation Primordials, and there may also be monsters with extremely high hunting levels among First-Generation Primordial Monsters.]

"So that's how it works."

After understanding what the suffixes on the monsters meant, Li Zheng sank into thought.

At this stage, he had three choices: Eagle-Headed Demon, Gargoyle, and Bonefire.

Bonefire's elemental damage did not complement the Black-Armored Snake's Deadly Poison trait, so he ruled that option out first.

Of the remaining two options, Eagle-Headed Demon leaned toward utility and support, making it a general-purpose monster trait, while Gargoyle leaned toward defense.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided to leave the Star Meridian interface first and discuss the choice with his buddies.

When the internal view faded, Li Zheng turned toward the buddies beside him, only to discover in surprise that Eat Dirt had already inlaid a second Life Soul and switched to the Bonefire form, wreathed in ink-black flames.