Chapter 10: Domain Node

Ancient Battlefield.

Bones piled everywhere formed mountains.

At this moment, a wisp of ink-black flame traced a crescent arc across the sky, vaulted over the bone piles, and precisely struck a Cursed Weapon; instantly, roaring flames engulfed the Cursed Weapon.

Before long, ten figures vaulted over the bone piles and arrived before the Cursed Weapon, which was still burning but already dead.

"Hahaha, the fusion of martial techniques is too absolute. From now on, I can kill targets without needing vision."

The speaker was a youth of about twenty; in his humanoid form, ink-black flames swirled around him, his expression smug.

Seeing this scene, Li Zheng and others could not hide their envy in their eyes:

"Damn, the Eagle-Headed Demon, weakest in combat power, has become the meta answer because of the Bone Fire form."

Through the Guide's demonstration and explanation, Li Zheng and others already knew that in humanoid form they could combine various monster power traits, yet they were still shocked by Eat Dirt's performance.

The Eagle-Headed Demon's monster trait is Lament.

After activating the ability, a perception perspective centered on oneself and expanding outward appears in the mind; the initial range is a radius of 50 meters, expanding to a radius of 100 meters after level 5.

The Bone Fire's ability trait is controlling death flames.

Combining the two allows locking onto units within a 100-meter radius through perception without vision, enabling precise long-range strikes.

This was the first time Li Zheng and others witnessed the power of fusing monster trait powers.

"It's good, but unfortunately my Body Tempering level is 0; in humanoid form I can only use traits from two monster forms, yet I cannot inherit monster attributes, so using two abilities at once makes me a bit dizzy," Eat Dirt couldn't help but complain, then continued:

"I just asked the Guide: raising Body Tempering from 0 to level 1 requires 10,000 points of Shou Shou Jili. In the early game, we must still rely on monster forms; the mental strength in humanoid form simply cannot support frequent use of monster skills."

After analyzing the power traits of different monster forms, only Eat Dirt and Hao Wan Bu Ke, the two players who chose the Eagle-Headed Demon as their initial form, embedded the Painful Painful Minghun of Bone Fire into their Star Veins as their second monster form.

Li Zheng and others decided not to embed new monster forms for now.

According to the Guide's explanation, the cost to raise Star Vein level increases step by step as the level rises.

Therefore, the second Painful Minghun can be embedded entirely when a matching monster trait appears; in the early stages, they should still fight in the Black-Armored Snake form.

The rewards for defeating Bone Fire also made Li Zheng and others look forward to containing new Meng Yuan Chu monsters.

One can foresee that in the late game, every player can combine various monster traits to create different school Star Vein combinations; just thinking about it feels very interesting.

Just as Li Zheng and others explored methods to fuse monster abilities, another batch of players entered the game at this time, pushing westward from Emperor's Tomb Village.

A massive team of 30 players swept through Cursed Weapons blocking the path like chopping melons and slicing vegetables.

At this moment, another Cursed Weapon rose again from the pile of wreckage ahead.

Instantly, the 30 players, like hungry tigers pouncing on prey, leaped toward the Cursed Weapon that had just risen.

Zui Nai: Brothers, make some room; I've fought Cursed Weapons all the way and haven't gotten a single one. Don't be too excessive.

Hei Qiu: This one is mine; whoever snatches it is my son!

Tie Chui: Meng Wa, you're already level 2 and still snatching? Do you have any public morality? You still owe me 200!

The scene instantly descended into chaos; players seeing a Cursed Weapon were like starving wolves, and before long they dismantled the Cursed Weapon into a ground strewn with bones.

Hei Qiu, who snatched the Cursed Weapon, beamed with joy, while the other players wore expressions of frustration.

But snatching monsters to level up, growing together, and pioneering the frontier gave them a long-lost sense of happiness.

"This game is too awesome; I thought it was exaggerated propaganda. How could there be a game with 100% realism? Now I'm convinced."

"Indeed, the attribute boost feedback from leveling up is too satisfying. Here I can experience a superhuman feeling, leaping several meters high in one bound."

Just then, the leader, Meng Wa, suddenly spoke:

"Brothers, the regional notification just said a team of players defeated a Meng Yuan Chu monster and received generous rewards. Let's go find Meng Yuan Chu monsters too."

Saying this, Meng Wa turned to look at the Guide Water Ball following beside him:

"Guide, where nearby can we find Meng Yuan Chu monsters to defeat?"

【Meng Yuan Chu monsters are scattered across the Monster World. Although their numbers are extremely vast, they are all free individuals with no specific territory restricting their movements. You might encounter one anywhere; perhaps you'll meet one after walking just a few steps.】

Realizing that Meng Yuan Chu monsters are special monsters that spawn at random locations, Meng Wa felt somewhat disappointed.

The team continued pushing westward.

Along the way, whenever Cursed Weapons appeared, everyone defeated them according to their own abilities, accompanied by various curses and shouts; the scene was joyful.

One hour later, the team crossed the Ancient Battlefield covered in bones; ahead lay a vast plain overgrown with blood-red plants, where a giant stone stood on the distant plain, resembling a monster's gaping maw roaring toward the sky.

Opening the map, the area previously shrouded in mist became clear, and a line of text annotation appeared: Blood-Red Plain.

Just then, a notification popped up in every player's mind:

【Challenger Notification: A Source Domain Node has been discovered. Seizing the Source Node grants massive rewards (shared by all participants).】

Along with the notification, a scarlet light-point annotation appeared on the map over the Blood-Red Plain region, pointing precisely to the giant stone on the plain.

The suddenly triggered mission instantly excited this group of players; it meant massive rewards were on the way.

Without the slightest hesitation, even knowing danger might lie ahead, the 30 players still moved forward without hesitation toward the direction of the stone statue.

When they arrived before the statue, they discovered that the statue's open mouth was actually an entrance to an underground cave, covered with crimson vines that hung down at the cave entrance like a curtain.

Meng Wa: Brothers, are we going in or not!

Zui Nai: Nonsense; since we're already here, why wouldn't we go in?

Tie Chui: Gargoyle form, activate! Brothers, charge with me!

After a brief exchange, all players agreed to enter the cave for exploration.

Entering the cave, the vision grew dim.

Walking at the very front, Tie Chui summoned the Shangcheng panel, spent 1 point of Shou Shou Jili to purchase a torch, and walked ahead to provide light.

The cave passage was narrow, accommodating only two people walking side by side, as the team formed a long dragon line to explore downward.

They had hardly walked far when Iron Hammer, leading the way, suddenly stopped, squatted down, and looked at a glowing plant beside his feet.

This was a plant half a meter tall, with slender, flexible leaves carved like jade, scattering points of starlight in the darkness.

Drunk Milk: Why did we stop? Is there something ahead?

Marble: Did we run into a monster? What's its hunting level?

Gulu: Iron Hammer, say something. What exactly is going on?

Facing everyone's inquiries, Iron Hammer, who was at the very front, shared the feedback information of this plant in the team channel.

【Empty Valley Grass】

Spiritual Level: Level 2.

Spiritual Plant Introduction: A low-level spiritual plant unique to the Di Zhao Mountain Range; consuming it enhances the sensitivity of the five senses, granting a permanent, slight amplification, and it can also be used for sacrifice to exchange for Shou Shou Jili rewards.

Note: Shou Shou Jili can be used for Star Pulse enhancement or shopping at Shangcheng, and can circulate among challengers.

Class Monitor Xiao Ban: Holy crap, we found something good just after entering the cave. I'm a college student; I want this one.

"Get lost!"

Facing Marble's shameless demand, everyone angrily scolded him.

At this moment, Iron Hammer looked at the Newbie Guide floating beside him:

"Guide, what does the 'sacrifice' mentioned in the information mean?"

【Open the Function Panel to see Sacrifice. Challengers can sacrifice anything containing spiritual substance to Beneath Di Zhao in exchange for Shou Shou Jili rewards.】

Following the guide's prompt, Iron Hammer summoned the Function Panel and clicked on the Sacrifice function.

Instantly, a translucent altar interface appeared before him; the altar base was built from massive black stones, its surface seemingly weathered by long years of wind and rain, slightly mottled, while the altar body was surrounded by intricately carved totems of various monsters, lifelike, with a crimson flame burning at its center.

On the right side of the interface was the spatial bag, containing 50 small slots for items.

【After throwing the Empty Valley Grass into the spatial bag, you can use your consciousness to drag the Empty Valley Grass onto the altar to perform the sacrifice.】

Hearing this, Iron Hammer squatted down and pulled the Empty Valley Grass out from the ground crack by its roots.

After summoning the Spatial Bag function, a black vortex appeared before him, and he directly threw the Empty Valley Grass into it.

Instantly, a miniature model of the Empty Valley Grass appeared in the first slot of the backpack.

Summoning the Sacrifice interface again, he used his consciousness to drag the Empty Valley Grass and threw it toward the crimson flame at the center of the altar.

The instant it touched the flame, the Empty Valley Grass was completely burned away, transforming into a ball of crimson energy that flew out of the illusory interface and merged with his body.

【Challenger Prompt: Sacrificed Level 2 spiritual plant Empty Valley Grass, received Beneath Di Zhao feedback Shou Shou Jili reward: 109 points.】

This prompt also appeared in the team voice channel.

Iron Hammer: Brothers, I tested the Sacrifice function for everyone. Facts prove this function is very useful; anything you don't want can be thrown in to convert into Shou Shou Jili.

"Get lost!"

Facing Iron Hammer's shameless words, the players following behind raised their middle fingers and strongly demanded that the rewards obtained after sacrifice be split equally, even if each person could only get 3 points of Shou Shou Jili.

(End of Chapter)