A Burst of Rapid Growth to Astonish Everyone!

Shen Xing paused, surprised that she had told him her real name.

"Hello, Spark."

The player named Xia Wanyin looked thoughtful. She also knew that the name he had given wasn't his real one, but she didn't mind.

"Did you just say I couldn't take the Naga corpses because they're your spoils?" Shen Xing asked directly.

She had clearly killed these monsters. If she wanted them back, he could give them to her and avoid further trouble.

"That's not why. It's because these corpses will bring you trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Yes. Didn't you see their race information? These are Dark Naga."

Xia Wanyin explained softly, "This race holds grudges, and they have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. If they find out their kin have died, they'll follow the scent until they find their enemy."

"There are a lot of Dark Naga in this river, including some at the Tier Two transcendent grade. You can't afford to provoke them lightly."

Shen Xing looked startled. He really hadn't known that.

That was close, he thought. He had nearly brought unwarranted disaster upon his territory. He hurriedly called for the orcs to put the corpses down.

"Thanks for the warning," he said with heartfelt gratitude.

"You're welcome. I'm the one who killed these Dark Naga."

A gentle smile rested on Xia Wanyin's face, though her gaze was vacant. "I was worried the corpses hadn't been dealt with properly, so I came back to check. Luckily, I made it in time."

Shen Xing noticed that although she was speaking to him, she was looking in another direction, and her pupils were white.

Realizing something, he asked, "Are you blind?"

"Yes, I am. Why?" Xia Wanyin replied matter-of-factly.

"It's nothing. I'm just a little surprised." Shen Xing wore an odd expression. "I didn't expect blind people to play this game too."

"Is that strange? You're disabled too, and don't you play this game all the same?"

Shen Xing's expression grew even stranger. He even began to doubt whether she was really blind.

"Hehe." Xia Wanyin seemed to have seen through his thoughts and let out a clear laugh. "Although I can't see, my senses are sharper than a normal person's in this world."

Shen Xing fell silent for a moment, then cupped his hands. "I'll be on my way, then. Thanks again."

Xia Wanyin could sense Shen Xing's wariness toward her. Without saying anything more, she picked up her lantern and headed in the opposite direction.

As the two sources of light parted, she suddenly said, "Spark, you're the first Hua Country player I've met in the game, so I'll give you a few extra bits of information."

"Go about five hundred meters ahead and to the left, and there's a [Tower of Afterglow]."

"Then go three hundred meters to the rear and right, and there's a [Black Crystal Tower] too."

Shen Xing paused and nodded to her, then disappeared into the depths of the thick fog.

Xia Wanyin led her group in another direction, dragging the Dark Naga corpses with them.

After traveling some distance, she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I forgot to warn Mr. Spark to watch out for the lords nearby."

"There are a few lords from other countries in this area, and they don't seem very friendly."

"But Mr. Spark seems very cautious, so he should be fine."

Xia Wanyin pondered for a moment, then continued toward the river.

Seated in his wheelchair, Shen Xing directed his group while opening the forum on his phone and looking up information about the Dark Naga.

He hadn't completely believed Xia Wanyin, but she had been stronger than him, so he had done his best to avoid a conflict.

His search revealed that she had been telling the truth. The Dark Naga really were a race that held grudges.

Shen Xing was a little surprised. He hadn't expected her to actually be a good person.

Like me, she seems to have only recently entered the game, but she's very strong.

And... light elves aren't the sort of troop type an ordinary player can get. They aren't an initial troop type, and there's only a small chance of obtaining them in certain elemental areas.

It looks like there's more to Xia Wanyin than meets the eye.

But... were the locations of those two resource points she mentioned real?

With some doubt, Shen Xing headed toward the first location.

When he arrived at a stretch of dust-covered ruins, he was briefly stunned again.

Before him stood a white tower about four meters tall, seemingly made of marble.

[Afterglow Sacrificial Tower (extinguished)]

[Effect: Touch it with a lantern to relight it, periodically producing Fire of the Afterglow for the territory]

[Rate: 1 Fire of the Afterglow per 1.5 hours]

There really is an Afterglow Sacrificial Tower. How did she find it? Shen Xing was even more surprised.

He carried his lantern forward and lit it.

At the base of the tower, in a shrine-like area, a white flame slowly came to life.

Another green dot appeared on the minimap, indicating that the [Afterglow Sacrificial Tower] had become his resource point.

At one [Fire of the Afterglow] every 1.5 hours, it would produce sixteen a day, which was quite good.

Both surprised and delighted, Shen Xing continued several hundred meters to the rear and right, following the location the woman had given him.

On the desolate plain, an obsidian-like [Black Crystal Tower] stood silently.

The sight of the building surprised Shen Xing even more.

As noted earlier, exploring in the fog was very difficult.

For example, if you were placed on a plain, you could see everything around you at a glance.

But in the fog, you would need to spend several times, or even dozens of times, as long exploring, and you still might not manage to explore every corner.

This Xia Wanyin... has a big secret!

But Shen Xing soon thought nothing more of it.

After all, he had a heaven-defying talent like [Life-Sacrifice Evolution] himself. It was only natural for other players to have opportunities of their own.

Besides, as far as he could tell, Xia Wanyin bore him no ill will.

After lighting the [Black Crystal Tower], Shen Xing returned to his territory and took stock of his supplies.

He also distributed the Soul Stones and raised all the orcs to level 5.

Since he had used up the [lantern]'s exploration time for the day and the campfire was still being upgraded, there was nothing to do for the time being.

Shen Xing logged off early, discussed the game with Qin Lang and the others, and caught up on all sorts of information on the forum.

The next day was his fourth day in the game.

[Your territory building, the campfire, has successfully reached level 3!]

Shen Xing opened his eyes and immediately saw that the campfire before him had undergone a huge transformation.

It had grown from a small fire into a large campfire one or two meters across.

Its blazing flames illuminated the surrounding area for dozens of meters, greatly expanding the space in which he could move around.

"Good. At level 3, the campfire's illumination range has shot up from fifty meters in diameter to eighty, expanding the territory's area severalfold."

In addition, the cooldown on Shen Xing's talent ability, [Life-Sacrifice Evolution], had expired, and he could use it again.

He was still set on evolving Hellscream further.

After all, the orc was already an elite ★★★ powerhouse. If he advanced again, he would become a boss ★.

Just like the advancement from ordinary to elite, the step from elite to boss was a major qualitative change.

"In that case... let's continue strengthening Hellscream."

"Life-Sacrifice Evolution, show me your limits!"

With a thought, Shen Xing activated his talent ability on the orc fighter nearby once more.

Chapter 25: A Burst of Rapid Growth to Astonish Everyone!

Shen Xing opened his talent interface and used Life-Sacrifice Evolution on Hellscream, who stood nearby, once more.

This time, however, a different notification appeared.

[Target troop type is level 5 (Tier One novice grade). Its potential has reached the limit for its level. Forcing an evolution carries a chance that its body will explode.]

(Note: Upon reaching level 9, it can continue advancing to boss grade.)

[Proceed with evolution?]

"His potential has reached the limit for his tier, and forcing a breakthrough might make his body explode?" Shen Xing was utterly puzzled. It was the first time he had heard of anything like this.

After thinking it over, he decided to check the forum for any relevant information.

He entered keywords into the search bar and actually found a post titled "An Analysis of Troop-Type Potential Caps and Tier Restrictions."

He opened it, and a person named Song Rentou had written: "As everyone knows, in the Land of Mist, there are differences between troop types.

Some people are born in Rome; others are born to be beasts of burden.

Likewise, some powerful troop types have elite-grade potential from birth.

As they continue to grow, they gradually break through to boss and leader grade, and can even eventually grow into overlords.

Examples include troop types such as dragons, temple knights and vampire princes.

But some troop types are born with only a pitiful ordinary grade.

What's more, their upper limits are fixed. Some initial troop types can only reach elite ★★★ at best.

Examples include goblins, green-skinned orcs and skeleton soldiers.

Of course, there are some exceptional individuals among them who break through their upper limits as they grow.

But the probability is so low that it can basically be ignored.

For a new player, raising a troop type to elite ★★★ is already enough to make them one of the best among players."

The post had received many likes. Everyone knew how difficult it was for new players to obtain resources early on.

Song Rentou continued, "Besides their innate racial restrictions, troop types encounter another bottleneck as they grow, and that is level."

"Tier One troop types at levels 0-9 can only raise their potential to boss ★ at most, while Tier Two troop types at levels 10-19 can reach leader ★ at most."

"So while raising their potential, everyone should also make sure to raise their levels."