One day later, at the break of dawn.
Rainstorm in a barren basin in northern Western Continent.
Dark clouds loomed overhead, and torrential rain poured down. Dawn had just broken, and the sky was a mix of purple and black. Large swathes of night were being driven away by the light, and as far as the eye could see, everything was shrouded in mist. The rain poured down, and the water vapor rose into the mist.
From the sky, countless wild beasts dwell in this black basin, their numbers astonishing, their species diverse, including giants tens of meters in size. There are many natural enemies, each a rank above the other in the food chain, occasionally clashing and fighting, splashing mud everywhere, with the gnawed skeletons of wild beasts scattered on the ground.
At the edge of the herd, a player was lying on a hilltop, peeking out to observe the massive horde.
His ID is "Nine-Tailed Fox," and he is a core member of the Drizzle Jianghu Guild. He accepted the [Lock On to the Source] quest and happened to discover this herd of beasts.
The herd of beasts stretched for miles, a magnificent sight. The detectors could not probe the situation inside the basin. The Nine-Tailed Fox was thinking of a solution. Infiltrating the herd was unrealistic, as stealth was not his forte, but he was a Mechanic Class and carried a small remote-controlled drone that he had previously purchased from the Six Nations.
"If the target is right in the herd, missing it would be a huge loss. It's just a remote-controlled drone; if we lose it, we lose it. We'll take the gamble!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox swallowed hard, took out a slender remote-controlled drone, attached a detector to it, and controlled the drone to rise to a height of thirty meters, piercing through the rain and flying towards the herd of beasts.
The heavy rain provided natural camouflage, and the wild animals on the outskirts did not notice the drone flying overhead.
As the drone ventured deeper into the mud, it flew for a short while when suddenly, a dark, viscous substance struck it like a cannonball, knocking it down into the muddy water.
Kerala...
The next moment, the black substance entangled the drone. It was elastic, like a colloid, and quickly contracted, instantly crushing the drone into pieces. Before the detector could even lock on, it also shattered and became unusable.
A humanoid Mutation Source, completely black, emerged from the pack of beasts. The surrounding animals seemed oblivious to it. The black mass that had shot down the drone rolled on the ground, merged into the Mutation Source's calf, and vanished without a trace.
"What shot it down?"
The Nine-Tailed Fox looked puzzled. His control interface was completely black. The connection was lost when the drone was hit. Just as he was wondering, the countless beasts that had been resting suddenly stood up and looked in the direction of the Nine-Tailed Fox, letting out all sorts of roars.
The sound waves roared like Thunder!
"Holy crap! We've been spotted!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox was terrified and took off running. However, he hadn't gone far when a dark shadow flashed by like lightning, bringing with it a torrential downpour, and blocked his path. It was the Mutation Source.
"What is that? It's so fast?!" The Nine-Tailed Fox looked at the monster in front of him with surprise. It had a humanoid shape, bulging muscles, and was pitch black all over with slightly reflective skin. It had no hair at all. At first glance, he thought it was a life-sized figurine.
"I'm a level 62 character, how could I not see this monster's movements?" Nine-Tailed Fox was secretly alarmed and hurriedly cast a Detection.
[Mutation Source - Semi-mature stage (red name)]
[grade:?]
[property:?]
[Danger Level: Extremely Lethal]
[Note: This objective is the origin of the [Mutation Disaster] main storyline.]
"Found it!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox's eyes lit up.
Before he could react, the Mutation Source suddenly closed in, its arms spewing out surging black matter that, like splitting tentacles, wrapped around his lower body. The next second, the tentacles suddenly contracted, and the force of shattering gold and splitting rocks was applied to his lower body from all directions. In just an instant, more than a dozen damage numbers popped up above the Nine-Tailed Fox's head, his health instantly dropped by more than half, and he also received the negative status effect of [Leg Crippled].
Fortunately, the player's body structure is unique, shielding them from the pain of the reproductive system; otherwise, the Nine-Tailed Fox would have already become a crotch-covering type.
At the critical moment of life and death, the Nine-Tailed Fox did not hesitate for a moment. Ignoring the attacks from the Mutation Source, she quickly took out a spare detector, threw it out, and stuck it into the damp and soft mud.
You can complete a mission by buying a single detector, but Han Xiao didn't limit the number of detectors you could buy. Since detectors can be damaged, a small number of players bought more than one as backups, and Nine-Tailed Fox was one of them!
The next second, her health bar was depleted, and before turning into white light, the Nine-Tailed Fox revealed a wildly joyful smile.
"Hahaha, I've won the lottery!!"
As long as we can complete this mission, what does dying once matter!
The Mutation Source retracted its tentacles, seemingly puzzled as to why there was no corpse. It stared blankly at the spot where the Nine-Tailed Fox had disappeared, lost in curiosity. The detector buried in the mud was a motionless, inanimate object, Mutation Source completely ignored.
In the mud, the detector's readings rose rapidly, finally breaking through the critical point. This data was converted into electromagnetic waves and transmitted through the communication components.
At the same time, players who were searching various parts of Planet Aquamarine received notifications on their screens.
[The Lock On to the Source has ended.]
[Quest Completer: Nine-Tailed Fox]
Players around the world were suddenly stunned.
"This... this mission is over after only one day?!"
Who is the Nine-Tailed Fox?
"I know him; he's a core member of the 'Drizzle Jianghu' guild within the Rainstorm Club.'"
The players were in an uproar. The mission ended too suddenly, there was only one winner, and the others didn't even get a thank you participation prize. The speed at which their dreams shattered was all too real.
However, since the cost was very small, the other players weren't too disappointed; they were just envious of the player named Nine-Tailed Fox.
The Drizzle Jianghu Guild immediately inquired with Nine-Tailed Fox, obtained the information, and quickly posted an announcement on the forum, publicly revealing the coordinates of the Mutation Source. The mission was already completed, so the coordinates were no longer important; for the guild, disclosing this information to the wider player base was a very popular move.
In no time, a large number of players rushed towards the basin. Although their mission had failed, according to the mission description, there would obviously be a follow-up story after finding the Mutation Source, and no one wanted to miss it.
Players on other continents were helpless, as they couldn't cross the sea to reach the scene in a short time, while players on the Western Continent had the advantage of being close by.
Before long, players arrived at the edge of the basin, some in vehicles and others on foot. Hundreds of players quickly gathered, maintaining a safe distance from the beast horde and observing from the edge in the rain.
Among the onlookers were many guild members, including Jupiter, the guild leader of the Gods Guild.
"Guild Master, what should we do next? Should we attack the beast horde?" a member of the Gods Guild asked.
Jupiter's eyes darted around. "We've found the Mutation Source. Next up is definitely battle, and we should have a chance to participate in the story, probably gaining more progress on the main quest."
Looking around at the other players, Jupiter decided to organize them and loudly attract their attention.
"Gentlemen, this might be the main boss of the Mutation Disaster storyline. As you've seen, the enemy numbers are enormous; one guild alone can't handle it. We'd better act together and not rashly Raging Beast. Let's wait for more people to join us..."
There was nothing wrong with what they said. Faced with wild beasts roaming the mountains and plains, their small number of people was simply not enough. The hundreds of players present already held this view, and they all showed expressions of agreement.
Before Jupiter could speak, a sudden hissing sound came from the sky.
Rumble--
Hundreds of people on the edge of the basin instinctively looked up and saw the Blacklight Stealth across the sky, piercing through the rain clouds, and stopping in the sky above the center of the basin.
"That's... Black Star has arrived!"
The expressions of hundreds of players changed.