Chapter 411: Najenda's Hunting Journey

"So this is... the Samsara Game?!"

No wonder the village boy who had just entered the Imperial Capital reacted so strongly after becoming a player.

A passage of text regarding the Samsara Game appeared in her mind.

"It really is terrifying. Even if it's an illusion, the tactile sensation, smell, hearing, vision... I can't find a single flaw."

Najenda looked around.

A gloomy cave, with Corpse Thieves and zombies wandering about, was very similar to the hunting map Tatsumi had just been in, yet it was different.

The air was scorching and dry, with large pools of magma bubbling and boiling.

It illuminated the cave walls with a red glow.

"Lava Cave?!"

Looking at the game text prompt, Najenda frowned slightly and muttered to herself, "An environment similar to underground magma; if one is the least bit careless and falls into a magma pool, they will be burned to ashes. It really is a dangerous game."

She crossed the fractured ground, and gravel fell with a rustle, only to be swallowed by the magma, splashing up waves of heat.

A Corpse Thief clawed through the rocky ground, crawled out, and lunged at Najenda with a ferocious expression.

Bang.

Najenda swung her right arm, and her Iron Fist slammed hard into the Corpse Thief's rotting cheek.

Her right arm and right eye were both scars left behind from when she defected from the Empire and campaigned against Esdeath.

Two whole Teigu Users had died, easily frozen into ice sculptures by Esdeath.

The gap in strength was too great.

If the Revolutionary Army wanted to conquer the Imperial Capital, Esdeath was their greatest obstacle.

Although Najenda constantly encouraged the Revolutionary Army and Night Raid,

she, who knew the terrifying strength of Esdeath, was actually the one with the least confidence in her heart; she could not think of any way to eliminate that monster.

"If what the mysterious merchant said is true..."

As the Revolutionary Army was the disadvantaged side, Najenda knew very well that if the Samsara Game were real, she had no right to ponder the mysterious merchant's motives.

What lay before her was to cooperate with the other party and overthrow the Imperial Capital.

A White Treasure Chest dropped.

Najenda continued to walk forward; two Corpse Thieves blocked her on a rock Pillar that had fallen across a gap in the ground like a bridge, with scorching magma at the bottom.

"If I had known, I would have borrowed Mine's Pumpkin cannon or requested a Teigu from headquarters."

Najenda shook her right arm; although the mechanical arm could launch a powerful strike, the internal mechanical gears required cooling, and the hinges rotated to retract, making it impossible to operate continuously.

Furthermore, the weight burden was significant.

Like the others from Night Raid, Fang Yi, who was watching Najenda's hunting battle, shook his head lightly.

"If Najenda had a Teigu, the Pollution Monsters she encountered would also become stronger; the result would not change."

It must be said, she was worthy of being a former general of the Empire.

Even without a Teigu, relying on combat techniques and a crude mechanical arm, Najenda had actually killed twenty-seven Corpse Thieves, fifteen rotting zombies, and two Elite monsters, Burning Hela.

In the end, she was killed by a fire elemental lifeform that crawled out of the magma.

"Mr. Fang Yi, can these treasure chests be opened freely?"

Returning to the Diju Shijie, Najenda couldn't wait to take out the treasure chests, surrounding herself with them.

Fang Yi nodded and smiled, "The treasure chests are rewards for players hunting Pollution Monsters and can be disposed of freely."

Upon hearing this,

Najenda nodded slightly, reached out to pull open her black suit jacket, and threw it on the ground.

The Lava Cave was too hot, and the fire elemental that finally killed her made her feel the sensation of being scorched.

Even after resurrection, the heat still lingered in her nerve endings.

"Miss Najenda, you... stop, quickly!?"

Lubbock's face flushed, and he waved his hands frantically, as if trying to drape the suit jacket over Najenda from a distance.

Now, Najenda was left with only a black bandeau wrapped around her neck like a ribbon, exposing a large expanse of fair, delicate skin.

Lubbock, who had a crush on her, was usually lecherous, but now, Bulat, Tatsumi, and the lecherous mysterious merchant were also present.

"Lubbock?"

Najenda turned her head and stared at Lubbock in confusion. Lubbock hurriedly covered his nose, turned his head away, and waved his hand to signal that he was fine.

"Then... let's begin!"

Najenda took a deep breath, lifted the lid of the White Treasure Chest, and picked up the white orb of light inside.

Pop.

The orb of light shattered.

In Najenda's palm appeared a thumb-sized, pitch-black lump of iron.

"Steel Scrap, a relatively low-grade metal material from the Arad Continent."

Reading the game prompt for the pitch-black lump of iron, Najenda frowned slightly, feeling disappointed inside.

She had gone to such lengths to kill the Corpse Thieves, only for this scrap to drop? One had to know that a Corpse Thief, which had died after being infected by a plague and mutated continuously while buried in a tomb, had strength far exceeding some Danger Beasts.

Standing to the side, Fang Yi looked at the disappointed Najenda and smiled politely, "To become an excellent player, the most important thing is to know the strengths and weaknesses of the world."

"This piece of Steel Scrap is a cheap material in another world, but it is different in the Diju Shijie..."

【Arad Continent】 is a world where magic and technology, marksmanship and Qigong, and all kinds of extraordinary energies have been developed to the extreme.

It is a high-level map at the Second Tier, with the potential to advance to the 【Third Tier】.

Even the wild fruit that drops randomly in the Grand Forest is a treasure capable of restoring vitality when brought to the Diju Shijie.

Hearing the mysterious merchant's words, Najenda was slightly stunned; she turned her head to look at the green-haired boy and said, "Lubbock, use your Teigu 【Cross Tail】 to try and attack this Steel Scrap."

"Is something like this really necessary?"

If it were anyone else, Lubbock would have stood his ground without moving an inch; the threads of his Teigu, Cross Tail, were made from the hair of an extremely resilient Super Danger Beast, and cutting a piece of Steel Scrap with them would be like using Akame's Murasame to grill a fish.

But since the one speaking was Najenda, he did as he was told, even if he was unwilling inside.

"Miss Najenda, just put the Steel Scrap on the ground; I'm afraid of accidentally hurting you."

As Lubbock spoke, he didn't even lift his arm; he extended his fingers, and thin silver threads shot out.

Bang.

The silver threads struck the Steel Scrap, the force launching it into mid-air before it fell heavily back down.

Even the stone tiles beside the Steel Scrap were pierced through by the silver threads.

"I told you, ordinary iron chunks simply cannot withstand..."

Before Lubbock could finish his sentence, he noticed the strange expressions on the faces of the Night Raid members; he looked down and discovered that the piece of Steel Scrap was completely undamaged.

This time, Lubbock wiggled two fingers, twisting several silver threads into a steel needle, and thrust it toward the Steel Scrap.

Bang.

The Steel Scrap collided with the Teigu silver threads, sparking a wisp of fire, but only a slight indentation appeared on its surface.

Seeing the inquisitive gazes of the Night Raid members, Lubbock hurriedly shook his head and said, "I couldn't possibly slack off on Miss Najenda's orders; the steel needle condensed from my silver threads can even pierce through thick walls, so how could it fail to pierce a piece of metal?"

"Here, try piercing this."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Najenda directly detached her right mechanical arm and threw it on the ground.

It exposed the hideous scars and the severed arm left behind by Esdeath.

"Miss Najenda..."

"Pierce it!"

Najenda held her breath; there was no shyness in her eyes from exposing her scars, but rather a faint sense of anticipation.

Bang.

A single silver thread pierced through the mechanical arm with ease, leaving behind a thumb-sized impact crater.

"In the Imperial Capital... and even within the Revolutionary Army, the material used for this mechanical arm is the strongest metal aside from the materials used to craft Teigu."

Najenda's breathing became erratic.

A piece of Steel Scrap was not rare; it was not even as rare as the Deer Skin Boots that Tatsumi had opened.

However, she took note of what the mysterious merchant had said.

This piece of Steel Scrap was the lowest-grade metal opened from a White Treasure Chest, which meant there were even stronger metals hidden in the treasure chests?

The process of hunting for treasure chests, while dangerous, allowed for resurrection every day.

If they could provide every member of the Revolutionary Army with weapons forged from Steel Scrap that was second only to Teigu metal, the tide of the war would shift completely.

(End of chapter)