Chapter 152: Great District Barrier, New Idea (April 2350 Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter)

"Projection…"

Qin Chuan was stunned by Yue Li's speculation, and countless associations instantly sprang to mind.

If the great flash-freeze bird before us is merely a projection of another true great flash-freeze bird, then who projected it? And where is that true great flash-freeze bird? The thought is terrifying.

Qin Chuan's thoughts were somewhat disordered.

He originally thought that as his strength continually increased, he would get closer to the truth of the Dream World, but he didn't expect that the stronger he became, the thicker the fog before him would become.

He shook his head, temporarily suppressing that speculation that still felt distant, Qin Chuan looked at Yue Li and said, "Songban Zhigui has left 3273 District; we don't need to worry about him targeting us for now."

"Next, we need to acquire advanced resources as quickly as possible and become stronger as quickly as possible."

"It's time to head to the game zone where the next target district's spirit beast is located."

"Good." Yue Li nodded, took out the pre-planned route map, and said, "The next target is the spirit beast of 2967 District, a Hall Tier Level 37 Swift Wind Wolf King."

The four spirit beasts that need to be defeated correspond to different district spirit beasts, their distribution on the map is completely random, and Yue Li's planning only considers the shortest route, not which resource corresponds to which spirit beast.

"Cry—"

Xiao Qing let out an excited cry.

Because the advanced resource obtained from defeating the Swift Wind Wolf King belongs to it.

"Let me check the route." Yue Li opened the full server map, zoomed in, quickly had the itinerary arranged, and said, "We're not far from the Great District Barrier; we'll first go to 3272 District, then transfer from 3272 District to 3172 District, and we can reach 3171 District today."

The routes of the past few days have also been planned by Yue Li, and it has been proven that Yue Li's planned routes are the most efficient.

This also relieved Qin Chuan considerably.

"Set out."

Qin Chuan swung onto Shui Hua's back, with Xue Gao closely following behind.

Yue Li then held Xiao Hong and sat on Xiao Qing's back.

The two immediately set out, and half an hour later, a pure white, semi-transparent light membrane appeared before them, extending from the ground through the sky, dividing everything.

That was the Great District Barrier; crossing it would cause their player names to disappear from the 3273 District leaderboard and appear on the 3272 District leaderboard on the other side.

This wasn't the first time the two had crossed the Great District Barrier, but upon seeing it now, Qin Chuan suddenly thought of something: "Isn't tomorrow the weekly settlement?"

"Exactly." Yue Li replied, and at the same moment the two had already passed through that light membrane at extreme speed, "What's wrong?"

"I was thinking that we could reach a Great District Barrier before the weekly settlement begins tomorrow, standing on opposite sides of it." Qin Chuan voiced his idea, "That way, during the weekly settlement we could earn more rewards."

Such an approach actually appeared in the first week after the leaderboards were introduced.

If a district becomes too competitive, players who cannot secure first place there will consider moving to a nearby, less competitive district to earn more rewards in the leaderboard settlement.

Qin Chuan and Yue Li previously did not do this because they traveled together, their talents highly complementary, making it impossible to part ways, and appearing on opposite sides of the Great District Barrier during the weekly settlement would not have yielded significant actual gains for them before.

The top rank on the Spirit Beast Leaderboard can obtain self-selected resources, ranks 2–10 receive random resources, and before the Prayer Blessing, random equals self-selected—why waste time taking detours?

Now it's different: the Elite Tier Spirit Beast Leaderboard reward is no longer resources but advanced resource fragments; with the two of them settling in separate districts, Yue Li can obtain two extra advanced resource fragments each week.

Two advanced resource fragments may not be many, but at a critical moment you might be lacking just those two.

More importantly, they have already been constantly crossing districts; conducting the weekly settlement by district is merely a convenience and not troublesome.

"Good." Yue Li instantly understood, smiling, and said, "I can finally refresh the 30% off Achievement Store once."

Only the first place on the Achievement Leaderboard makes the Achievement Store 30% off; starting from second place it's 50% off. Qin Chuan previously suggested they take turns occupying first place, but Yue Li didn't want to take that advantage, and three consecutive weekly settlements resulted in 50% off Achievement Stores. If it weren't for the Prayer Blessing allowing her to obtain more suitable resources in daily resource scouting, her progress would struggle to keep up with Qin Chuan's.

The gap in their Achievement Points is not large; as long as they are not in the same district, securing first place on the Achievement Leaderboard is easy for Yue Li.

Although the resources refreshable in the Achievement Store are basically useless for Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong to break through the Elite Tier, stockpiling resources in advance for the third spirit beast is entirely feasible.

"Actually, it could have been done before." Qin Chuan gave a helpless glance at the stubborn girl.

She seemed especially resistant to being taken care of.

Yue Li pressed her lips shut without speaking, as the low-altitude, high-speed gliding Xiao Qing and the high-speed running Shui Hua moved side by side, the surrounding scenery flying backward rapidly.

Two hours later, they crossed 3272 District and entered the range of 3172 District.

They needed to rest and adjust here, ultimately entering 3171 District before the Dream World Entrance closed.

The two found a resource-rich forest, stopped by a stream in the woods, with Shui Hua and Xiao Hong responsible for hunting, gathering edible fruits, and cooking, and they soon disappeared from the spot.

While waiting, Qin Chuan recalled Ji Huai's words before entering the Dream World, stood up from the ground, broke off a branch to use as a long blade, and approached Xue Gao.

"Xue Gao, starting today I will teach you a set of blade techniques!"

"Hng?"

Xue Gao's gaze turned to Qin Chuan, showing an expression of surprise and confusion.

In the past, it often saw Qin Chuan giving pointers to Shui Hua, but rarely received any guidance itself, causing it to frequently feel envy toward Shui Hua.

Now, will it also receive Qin Chuan's guidance?

However…

Teaching blade techniques, is a mere branch enough?

Xue Gao was slightly doubtful, but cooperatively moved its head up and down, expressing anticipation.

Sitting in the shade nearby, Yue Li propped her chin with interest and cast her gaze.

"Next, follow my lead."

Qin Chuan took a deep breath, gripped the thicker end of the branch with both hands, recalled the demonstration Ji Huai had shown him, then raised the branch high and brought it down heavily in a chopping motion.

"This is the chopping blade…"

On the clearing by the stream, Xue Gao manipulated the long blade, striving under Qin Chuan's guidance to master the basic movements of the blade technique; the two figures, one large and one small, made Yue Li's eyes flicker as she stared blankly.

Beside her, Xiao Qing folded its wings, observing carefully, as if in thought.

Its Instant Wind Slash could possibly refer to the blade technique to become even stronger.

Suddenly, Xiao Qing's gaze focused, as if sensing something, and it instantly looked toward the lawn beside it.

All that met its view were soft, tender green blades of grass.

Yet Xiao Qing, through the shadows cast upon the grass leaves, saw a clear cluster of energy.

After evolving into a Wind-breaking Falcon, Xiao Qing lost its original characteristic energy vision, but after the passive skill Eagle Eye was changed to Star Eagle Eye, the added effect happened to be exactly energy vision.

Something is hiding in the grass, yet it cannot escape its eyes.

(End of chapter)