Chapter 225: Ninth-Generation Precognition, The Rookie is Fierce (Thanks to Armored Vehicle)

Meng Yuan Chu Altar.

Qi Sheng's consciousness followed the guidance, descending upon the "Senluo Forest Realm" region of the Pale Continent.

From a perceptual perspective looking down upon the earth, a world composed of plants presented itself in his mind.

To the north of the region, massive vines coiled across the surface like azure dragons, their branches and leaves weaving an endless green canopy that blocked out the sky and obscured the sun.

To the south, towering trees pierced the clouds, standing like natural towers upon the land; their trunks were covered in glowing patterns, with life energy flowing within.

To the east, fluorescent flowers swayed in the breeze, with glistening droplets spewed from their cores floating in the air, illuminating the gloom of the forest.

Sky-Rending Flowers with leaves as sharp as blades, bushes covered in purple poison thorns, poisonous mushrooms, Iron-Eating Tree Demons... this was a kingdom composed of plant-based life.

Beneath the abundant vitality, countless green plants grew wildly, their bodies emitting glistening light points that decorated the earth under the night sky like a dream.

The air here was filled with dense life particles, making it a rare "AFK" treasure land among the regions Qi Sheng had found.

It was also the region he decided to set as the space node for the next beginner village.

Being able to find this place was thanks to the intelligence provided by the Lord of Welfare.

The average hunting level of the plant-based monsters here was not high, especially in this eastern region.

Secondly, while exploring this region, he found a Meng Yuan Chu monster here.

At this moment, the view jumped to the far western end of the Senluo Forest Realm, where a colorful giant mushroom stood on the horizon, resembling a towering mountain peak.

【Precognition (Ninth-Generation Meng Yuan Chu)】:

Hunting Level: Divine Realm.

Meng Yuan Chu Monster Introduction: A Meng Yuan Chu monster mastering the Precognition trait, capable of learning information about the future through deduction (the deduction process simultaneously consumes mental energy and vital energy).

When he first saw the mountain-sized Meng Yuan Chu monster, Qi Sheng was shocked.

This was his first time encountering a Ninth-Generation Meng Yuan Chu, and it was a Ninth-Generation Meng Yuan Chu of the Divine Realm level.

The rule ability it mastered was even more formidable.

The guidance's explanation of the "Precognition" trait was that it analyzes existing information to then precisely predict future events.

This kind of predictive deduction is like a weather forecast.

Both are future trends composed of existing information, rather than directly seeing future content, requiring a process of deduction.

The guidance stated that even the Star Net possesses a similar future-deduction ability like Precognition.

For example, the Star Net can grasp future trends through powerful data processing capabilities.

However, there are still many potential pieces of information the Star Net cannot acquire, and the quantity of information determines the accuracy of predicting the future.

The manifestation of the Ninth-Generation Precognition ability is completely different.

When using this rule ability, information related to the deduction target (event) is automatically collected, then combined with the future trends of this information to form a future result.

To give a real-world example.

The Star Net and the Precognition rule, both deducing a fighting tournament held by the Night Demon Clan and the Giant Python Clan.

Before starting the deduction, the Star Net can collect all existing data, such as the historical records of the participating fighters, their physical conditions, venue conditions, etc.

Then, based on this data, the Star Net builds a deduction model, using an algorithm formed by combining information to predict the match result.

Finally, it produces a probability number.

The reason it is a probability number, rather than an accurate result, is that there are too many potential variables, and unexpected events may still occur.

These potential pieces of information could be a participating fighter suffering from insomnia the night before the match, leading to poor mental state the next day.

It could also be that the participant temporarily changed their fighting style during the match.

Or even that the participant accidentally fell while walking on the road that night, injuring their knee, and so on.

This is just variables in reality; a greater variable would be aliens suddenly invading tomorrow, causing the match to be cancelled.

The existence of unknown factors will inevitably affect the match result the next day; even with big data, the Star Net cannot obtain all information.

The advantage of the Ninth-Generation Meng Yuan Chu "Precognition" lies in the collection of current information.

Using the fighting tournament example again, after locking onto the tournament with the Precognition ability, all information related to this match will be automatically collected.

Including known information (records of both participating sides, conditions of both participating sides, etc.), and even potential information that is difficult to notice (such as the psychological state of the participants, on-the-spot performance, sudden events, etc.), will be included in the information statistics phase for deduction.

However, during this process, the ability user will not see the content of the information collection.

During the deduction calculation process, the vital energy and mental energy within the player's body are like electricity during computer operation, continuously supplying energy consumption for predicting the future, and then directly obtaining the answer.

Speaking of this, the guidance used an ant as an example to explain.

It stated that using 100 points of energy to predict the future of an ant allows one to see the ant's future trajectory within 20 days.

But using 100 points of energy to predict the future of an "ant colony," affected by more information, the consumption of the predictive deduction intensifies, allowing one to see only the ant colony's future half an hour later.

Because an ant colony is a complex dynamic system, every ant is a variable, and the interaction between variables exponentially increases the amount of information, thereby increasing the cost of deduction.

Therefore, the smaller the target, the simpler the information the Precognition rule needs to process.

The larger the target, the more complex the information.

Secondly is time.

To predict the future and see further, the amount of information involved by the deduction target increases, and the consumption increases as well.

For example, predicting an ant's future 20 days later.

Although the amount of information is small, the time span is large, so more energy is consumed on the time span.

Whereas predicting an ant colony's future half an hour later, although the amount of information is huge, the time span is short, so the focus of energy consumption is on the level of information collection, rather than the level of information amplification brought by the time span.

Secondly, the strength of an individual life also affects energy consumption.

Raising the target from an ant to a sentient life form, the complexity of the information quantity will significantly increase.

An ant's behavioral patterns are relatively simple, mainly driven by instinct, and its activity range is also relatively limited, resulting in lower information complexity.

Sentient life possesses complex thinking and logical abilities; behavior is influenced by a series of factors such as personal experience, social environment, level of cognition, and emotional changes, significantly increasing information complexity.

If intelligent beings still possessed the ability to fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, crossing one hundred and eight thousand li in a single second, then the amount of information would become even more massive.

Because the very next second would require factoring in a series of events that might occur one hundred and eight thousand li away.

So target intensity, time span, event range, and target group all affect the energy consumption of the precognition ability when acquiring future information.

In the eyes of the Guide, the Ninth Generation Precognition is an extremely powerful Meng Yuan Chu ability.

It might even be the strongest Meng Yuan Chu monster in the Pale Continent region; at the present stage, player legions simply lack the ability to contain it.

As for the other powers on the Pale Continent, even if they had the strength, they were unwilling to challenge this Meng Yuan Chu.

West of the Forest Realm lies the territory of the Soul Return Clan.

But the Soul Return Clan had never, from beginning to end, expanded eastward to challenge this Meng Yuan Chu blocking the way.

Apart from the heavy price required to destroy this Meng Yuan Chu, the most important reason was that the Soul Return Clan simply could not gain any benefit from killing a Meng Yuan Chu—only negative losses.

The soul beasts created by the Soul Return Clan could obtain all of a target's abilities through body-snatching, including their memories.

But facing the concrete manifestation of Monster World's rules, the "Meng Yuan Chu," even if killed, not a single trace of rule characteristic could be body-snatched.

This was also the core reason why "Precognition" could always stand tall upon the earth, with no faction daring to challenge it—including the Reverse Tide Legion, which had never taken any action against this Meng Yuan Chu monster.

Another reason was the personality of Meng Yuan Chu monsters.

Different Meng Yuan Chu monsters had different personalities; this Precognition seemed very easygoing.

It neither expanded its territory nor actively killed surrounding life, simply quietly rooting itself in the earth, devouring the earth's energy and continuously growing.

Being no threat was also one of the reasons Precognition had survived until now and grown to Zhi Shen Jing.

But the most core reason was only one.

Seeing the future allowed it to avoid all possible dangers, escaping calmly before crisis descended.

Theoretically, giving itself a precognition deduction every three days.

Could stably guarantee remaining in a safe state for the next three days.

But the Guide also indicated that the Precognition rule had two unbreakable deduction limits.

The first limit: unable to deduce the future of "Gao Wei rules."

No matter how strong Precognition was, it had once been a part of the Beneath Di Zhao god.

So Precognition could not deduce the future of the possessor of Beneath Di Zhao's Self-Fixed Origin—that is, his future.

Precognition also could not deduce the future trajectory of that super deity behind the Black Tide.

Regarding this, the Guide explained the principle.

Viewing the world as a network world, once Precognition's deduction ability activated, it would automatically query all information in the network world related to the deduction content.

More accurately, it issued a command to the network world, and information related to the deduction target would automatically be integrated.

And Gao Wei rules referred to the encrypted information of the network world; no matter how many commands Precognition issued, it could not access this encrypted content.

For example, if Precognition wanted to deduce whether Beneath Di Zhao would resurrect in the future.

This part of the deduction involved "Beneath Di Zhao's Self-Fixed Origin," so this information could not be obtained, and the future pieced together would no longer be accurate.

Unable to break through the encryption barrier of Gao Wei rules, one could not deduce the future related to Gao Wei rules.

Moreover, Gao Wei rules could not only encrypt but also possessed self-protection mechanisms; any attempt to deduce Gao Wei rules would be shielded or interfered with.

For example, if Precognition deduced his future, he would become aware of it.

This process was like someone knocking on a door, asking whether they could obtain the information inside the room.

Regardless of whether he opened the door, the knocking had already occurred.

So he could learn that someone was deducing his future, and if his strength was sufficient, he could even follow the network cable over and beat the deducer severely.

The second limit: information interference.

Once the future results deduced by the precognition ability were exposed to the outside world, they would influence the development of events.

Thereby causing the deduction results to become distorted.

In other words, the conclusion could not be exposed to the outside world.

Speak it, and it becomes inaccurate.

Upon learning the deduction results, beings who knew the future would adjust their behavior according to the "answer," thereby changing the future's trajectory.

Taking real-world energy prices as an example.

If the Star Net used precognition to deduce that energy prices would drop tomorrow and spread the news, it would indirectly cause energy prices to drop further due to precognition's influence.

The result would exceed the expectation Precognition had seen.

The Star Net's influence determined the trajectory of precognition's results, so the higher the influence of the target knowing the deduction conclusion, the greater the factor by which the deduction conclusion would be changed.

Conversely, after the Star Net obtained the conclusion that energy prices would plummet tomorrow, it instead publicly stated that energy prices would surely surge tomorrow, which would also cause the situation that should have occurred to develop in the reverse direction, forcibly altering the established trajectory of events.

If the target speaking the deduction content had relatively small influence, the spread of the precognition conclusion would also trigger a butterfly effect over time, with tiny influences being gradually amplified through chain reactions, ultimately causing the future to differ vastly from the deduction result.

The longer the time, the greater the influence.

So the Guide indicated that deduction conclusions were affected by Gao Wei rules and information interference.

To make the future seen by Precognition inevitably occur, first one must not deduce the future of Gao Wei rule controllers, and second one must not inform the outside world of the future content seen by Precognition; otherwise, the future would be changed, causing the precognition answer to become distorted.

Perhaps the future would still follow the same trajectory, but in details and trends, different manifestations would inevitably appear.

Without a doubt, the Meng Yuan Chu ability of Precognition was extremely powerful.

But the limits were also very numerous.

The stronger one's own strength, the stronger the performance of the precognition ability.

One could view the body as the power source and processor, with Precognition as the rule Yan Suan Fa; only by combining them could effects be produced.

But Qi Sheng knew that his current self simply lacked the ability to take down this "Zhi Shen Jing" Meng Yuan Chu.

In the future, it would most likely require him to take action personally.

And only he was not subject to the Yan Suan Fa prediction of Precognition's deduction.

Even with the strongest ability to foresee and deduce, it was useless to him, who mastered the Beneath Di Zhao and his own primordial source.

His perception swept through the "Forest Realm" following the guidance, and Qi Sheng finally returned to the East District with the guidance.

The plant-type monsters here were the weakest in the entire region, so he decided to build the fifth new player village spatial node right here.

After leaving an information coordinate point and contacting Yan Ming to establish a spatial node here, he then turned back with the guidance to Di Zhao Village.

Next, he prepared to distribute five hundred thousand player qualifications to the outside world.

To accelerate the speed at which players entered the game.

Earth, Trade City.

The city was shrouded in a curtain of rain.

Jiang Luo stood beneath a holographic billboard, watching the neon above blur and spread in the rain curtain.

This sleepless city, forged from the fusion of multiple races, was forever shrouded in hazy light and shadow; the skyscrapers towering into the clouds in his eyes were like glowing pillars, cutting the sky into irregular geometric shapes.

The air was filled with the scent of machine oil and synthetic spices.

On the streets, floating cars moved silently, their headlights dragging long trails of light across the wet ground.

Occasionally, a holographic advertisement girl would leap out from a street corner, pushing the latest alien-tech devices with a cloying voice.

"Number 28."

Hearing the call, Jiang Luo tightened the collar of his trench coat and walked into a food shop at the street corner.

The shop's decor was abstract in color, very much in line with the characteristics of the Spice Clan.

The Spice Clan's original name was very complex; the translated meaning was roughly "Taste Bud Walker," "Food Time Traveler," "Spice Weaver," "Taste Alchemist," "Food Rhyme Singer," "Taste Roamer"... and a whole string of blah-blah.

Finally, based on this clan's characteristics, the Eclipse Clan gave them the name Spice Clan.

This was very similar to the situation when the Eclipse Clan descended upon the Moon back then and was named "Eclipse Clan" by the Human Race.

The Spice Clan's specialty was being extremely skilled at making various delicacies; food was also regarded by the Spice Clan as a power to assist their own growth, and basically every kind of food would be infused with spiritual particles.

But that was limited to back then.

Spiritual resources on Earth were scarce; the days when the Spice Clan ate spiritual food at every meal had long become a thing of the past.

The new generation even thought the older generation was bragging; the days of eating spiritual food every day were something they couldn't even dare to imagine.

The current Spice Clan could only earn foreign currency by opening food restaurants in the cities of various races.

Sitting down at the wooden dining counter, a holographic ordering screen automatically popped up, following Jiang Luo's pupil focus and movement.

While ordering, Jiang Luo felt somewhat puzzled.

The usually bustling food restaurant was exceptionally quiet today; there were many diners, but no one made any sound.

Walking here, he could see that all the diners were staring at their phones.

Without thinking much, he placed an order for his usual favorite "Rainbow Heart Soup Set" and waited for the meal, his stomach growling.

The heating in the shop was turned up high; a thin layer of fog formed on the glass. Bored, he began drawing smiley faces on the fog with his finger, then watched them slowly disappear.

Just then, a phone ringtone suddenly sounded.

Taking out his phone and looking down, he found it was a call from his best friend "Ma Hua."

His friendship with Ma Hua came from two generations prior.

His grandfather and Ma Hua's grandfather were sent to Trade City together back then to participate in city construction and became permanent residents here.

The friendship extended from the grandfather generation to the present; the two families often gathered for meals.

With a puzzled look, Jiang Luo picked up the phone and held it to his ear:

"What matter do you report?"

"Where are you? I sent you a message and you didn't reply?"

"Hungry late at night, came out for a midnight snack. What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you order takeout? You're dropping the ball at a critical moment. The Monster World official website has been distributing game qualifications for more than half a day. The exact number of qualifications is unclear; everyone is snatching them up now, and you still have the mind to eat a midnight snack..."

Hearing his best friend Ma Hua's reminder, Jiang Luo instantly got excited:

"Damn, heading to the official website right now."

When he came in, he had already noticed something was off; the food restaurant was too quiet, and everyone was staring at their phones.

Now he figured it out; these guys were all snatching up game qualifications for Monster World.

Using his phone to log onto the Monster World official website, the countdown showed 1 hour and 32 minutes remaining.

"That was close!"

He decisively clicked "Qualification Acquisition."

Immediately, a block of text popped up on his phone:

【Identity-bound account has applied for qualification acquisition. Please wait patiently: Qualification lottery will open in 1 hour and 37 minutes.】

He put down his phone, then couldn't help but pick it up again.

Watching the jumping countdown numbers, Jiang Luo's mood inevitably grew tense.

Although the probability was slim, he desperately longed to become the one-in-ten-thousand Chosen One.

Becoming a qualified player had already been his lifelong pursuit.

Every day, he spent a large amount of time in the Monster World livestream rooms, and even in the forum exchange sections, indirectly experiencing the game content as a visitor.

Several times he dreamed of successfully obtaining a game qualification, but upon waking, it was just empty joy.

Every time this happened, he felt the entire world dim at that very moment.

Now that the qualification distribution time had finally arrived again, his heart was in immense torment, fearing he would miss it again.

His gaze was fixed tightly on the still-jumping countdown numbers, but his perception of time had become blurred.

"Hello, your Rainbow Heart Soup Set." The delivery robot arrived at this moment, placing the set he ordered on the dining table.

Jiang Luo's gaze remained fixed on the countdown numbers on his phone as he reflexively picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of meat slathered in spices, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The food he once loved now tasted like nothing; his mind held only four words repeating on loop: game qualification.

Time slipped by, and with every tick of the numbers on the screen, Jiang Luo's heart thudded heavily against his chest.

Three minutes remained before the lottery began. He swallowed unconsciously, his throat so dry it ached.

He could even hear the sound of blood rushing through his temples, like rising tide waves, one after another.

The excessive tension even gave him tinnitus.

With two minutes left on the countdown, Jiang Luo's fingertips went numb and a thin layer of sweat seeped down his back, sticking to his clothes.

The final minute.

Jiang Luo bit down hard on his lower lip, his breathing growing rapid.

He happened to glance up at the window, and the whole world had gone utterly still.

In the restaurant, only Cu Zhong's heavy breathing could be heard; even the chefs of the Spice Race behind the glass partition had stopped working.

He lowered his head again, and the numbers on the screen seemed to stretch out infinitely.

59, 58, 57… every second felt as long as a century.

In the final ten-second countdown, Jiang Luo's ears buzzed, as if countless bees were fluttering about.

The tautness of his emotions was like a bow drawn to the limit, every part of his body straining.

3, 2, 1!

His vision blurred from the extreme tension. He nearly crushed his phone, his knuckles white, his palms covered in cold sweat.

Suddenly, the page jumped!

【Congratulations, you have obtained the Monster World game qualification.】

"Holy shit, hahahahaha!"

Seeing the prompt, Jiang Luo sprang to his feet and let out an excited laugh.

Then he couldn't help pinching his own cheek hard.

He was afraid this was another dream of empty joy, and that when he woke, he'd still be that humble viewer typing in livestream chat rooms, often getting his messages censored.

Confirming he had really snagged the game qualification, joy instantly ignited his heart, and Jiang Luo let out an irrepressible cry of excitement.

At the same time, the once-quiet food hall was instantly filled with all manner of noise.

The various curses from nearby diners:

"Damned Eclipse Tribe, didn't give me a win again — how many times is this now, I xxx your xxx."

"My good mood for the next few days is ruined. Why do they release Monster World game qualifications so slowly? Can't take it, pissing me off, damned Eclipse Tribe is so annoying."

"Which bastard next door got picked? Even if you got picked, what do you mean shouting it out? I seriously suspect you're trying to provoke us — I'm coming over to beat you up later."

"Count me in, let's beat the crap out of this lucky dog next door, just taking it out on you."

"Me too…"

At this moment, Jiang Luo was still immersed in the joy of obtaining the qualification.

Just then, he suddenly noticed the surroundings had gone quiet again.

Jiang Luo looked up and saw the table surrounded by members of different races, their faces bearing undisguised envy.

"Human kid, keep a low profile when you're out. Consider this a lesson."

As he spoke, an alien member nearly three meters tall rolled up his sleeves:

"Beat him!"

……

"Authentication passed. Welcome home, Master."

He pushed open the door; the lights inside turned on automatically, and the still-busy robot vacuum automatically "returned to its dock" and entered sleep mode.

He closed the door, Jiang Luo returned to his room, and came to stand in front of the mirror.

The him in the mirror had a bruised and swollen face.

Facts proved that snagging the Monster World game qualification couldn't be done out in public.

The joy of success simply couldn't be suppressed, making it easy to get beaten up by jealous passersby and become a punching bag.

During the last round of qualification distribution, he had seen a news story.

A man of the Strike-Through Tribe held his phone high on the street, excitedly cheering that he'd snagged the game qualification.

Then he was pinned to the ground and beaten by passing members of his tribe, brutally so.

During the incident, a kind passerby stopped to ask what was going on, wanting to mediate.

Upon learning the beaten man had snagged a Monster World qualification, that passerby also stepped in and kicked him twice to vent.

When he'd seen that news story at the time, he'd thought it was absurd — snagging a qualification was annoying, sure, but passing tribe members had no reason to throw punches.

This is a society ruled by law; assault is illegal.

Until a similar incident actually happened to him.

Staring at his sorry-looking self in the mirror, Jiang Luo couldn't help but grin.

This bit of pain was nothing compared to obtaining the Monster World game qualification.

He took out a spray from the medical kit and applied it to his bruised wounds, then Jiang Luo pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed his sworn brother "Mahua."

Before long, the video call connected.

On screen, Mahua was carrying a can of nutrient solution in one hand, climbing the stairs.

Seeing Jiang Luo's battered face, Mahua on the video call looked quite surprised:

"Da Luo, didn't you go out for a late-night snack… was it fists and feet you ate?"

"Exactly, delicious." Jiang Luo couldn't help rolling his eyes. Just as he was about to speak, his gaze focused on the nutrient can in Mahua's hand:

"What are you doing, hauling a nutrient canister around in the middle of the night?"

"Of course I'm swapping out the nutrient fluid. I've got a little bit of good news I want to share with you, but I don't know how to bring it up."

Jiang Luo's heart gave a sudden jolt:

"You little punk — you didn't actually snag a Monster World game qualification, did you?"

"Hehe, yesterday my mom went to the Star Net temple next door and burned an incense stick for me on the Star Net. Didn't expect it to actually come through today. Cyber gods really are more reliable than the real ones, because cyber gods actually exist."

At this point, Mahua suddenly frowned, his expression looking thoroughly puzzled.

"What's wrong with you now?" Jiang Luo couldn't help but ask.

"Where's the emotional value you owe me?"

"What emotional value?"

"From what I know of you, hearing this news, you'd already be wanting to kill me. First you'd go red-hot and lose your composure, then you'd start cursing up a storm, and you might even roll around on the ground like a fishwife shrieking in the street… The way you're so calm right now makes me suspect you've been body-snatched."

As he spoke, Mahua brought his face close to the camera:

"You're not normal."

Jiang Luo heard this and grinned:

"Is there any chance I also snagged a Monster World game qualification?"

"Holy shit, seriously?"

Jiang Luo didn't explain, just shared the screenshot photo from his album:

"It's exactly because of this — got too excited and yelled a bit too loud, and ended up taking a beating from a passerby."

"Hahaha, Daluo, we can play games together again, hurry up and log on."

"Mm, I'll swap out my nutrient fluid in a bit too, log on and we'll pioneer together."

After hanging up the call, Jiang Luo felt utterly delighted.

From now on he would have his own name on the Monster World forum, instead of a tourist prefix plus a string of numbers.

From now on he could speak louder in the forum and livestream rooms.

At the very least he wouldn't be called a cloud player anymore, let alone get one-click-muted from all chat.

Just thinking about it felt great.

The desire to enter the game kept surging in his heart, so he immediately got busy.

Monster World's playtime is measured in days, so the game pod must have its nutrient fluid pre-loaded — at the very least enough to cover a week's worth of game consumption.

Otherwise, constantly logging off to swap it out is a real hassle, which is also why Mahua had prepared his nutrient canister in advance.

Without a household robot to help, this kind of work could only be done by hand.

Before entering the game, he called his parents.

He told them he wouldn't be logging off for the next few days, and unless something was up, not to call him with emergency calls, to avoid affecting his gaming experience.

Upon learning he'd snagged a Monster World game qualification, his parents' expressions on the video call were priceless.

His father in particular, while happy for him, also looked quite sullen, saying he'd already tried several rounds and still couldn't get a qualification.

In the end his father also said:

"I'll monitor the game pod's maintenance through my phone. You just go fight it out in the game. If you don't log off in a week, I'll come over and swap out your nutrient fluid for you. What you need to do is earn more Shou Shou Jili in Monster World before your old man snags a qualification, so you can carry me to the top."

"Oh right, remember to start a livestream when you enter the game — your old man loves watching."

After one last call with his best buddy Mahua, where they agreed on a meeting spot for the new map, Jiang Luo entered the game pod.

As the translucent canopy pressed down, his excitement knew no bounds.

Half an hour later, Jiang Luo appeared at the teleport point of the fifth spatial node, "Forest Realm."

A cacophony of noise immediately came crashing in like a tidal wave.

Looking around, the spatial plaza was already packed wall-to-wall with a dense crowd — newb players of different races had gathered here.

Short but bursting with energy, the Green Sprite race players nimbly wove through gaps in the crowd, jabbering away, their shrill voices standing out sharply amid the din.

Beside him, a tall and mighty Stone Giant race player loomed like a walking hill, his towering figure a standout among the newb players.

"Move aside, move aside, my tail's stuck!" a cat-eared girl cried anxiously — her tail had been accidentally caught in the jam of players, and she was blushing bright red with frustration.

"Sorry about that, the newb village is just too packed," an apologetic voice rang out in response.

"Hahaha, from now on I'm the Chosen One — Monster World, here I come!"

"Anyone forming a party? No friends or family here, looking for a strong guild to grind with."

"Wah wah wah, so many people — everyone stop squeezing, let's go out hunting, what's the point of crowding here!"

Some players excitedly chatted up strangers beside them, sharing their hopes for the game.

Some players looked anxious, helplessly spinning around in the crowd, trying to find the way out of the village.

The lively atmosphere of pioneering washed over him.

At this point Jiang Luo summoned his map panel and, after quite a bit of effort, made it to the agreed meeting spot.

Just as he was about to look for his best buddy Mahua's figure, his shoulder was thumped hard:

"Daluo."

Turning his head, he saw his best buddy Mahua looking at him with an excited face.

"Let's form a party and get out of here first, it's too chaotic," Jiang Luo immediately sent Mahua a party invite, and the two then slowly pushed forward with the jammed crowd toward the newb village exit.

This stretch of road took them a full 18 minutes.

Passing through the spatial barrier, after a brief moment of weightlessness, what unfolded before their eyes was a green world shrouded in night.

Across the plain carpeted with greenery, all manner of glowing spores drifted in the air.

Drawing in a deep breath of air thick with life particles, Jiang Luo's spirit gave a sudden lift.

The air in the game seemed to carry some kind of magic — cool and moist, it flowed through his nostrils into his lungs, instantly filling his entire body.

This was a sensation he had never experienced before.

Breathing felt like eating; every breath was brimming with countless tiny life particles, awakening the cells dormant within his body.

He often saw veteran players on the forum say that after staying in the Monster World for too long, they simply didn't want to log off.

Some even claimed logging off was torture, and they just wanted to log back on as quickly as possible.

At the time, he couldn't understand it, but this breath of air, brimming with life particles, made him understand the reason.

What an enjoyment this was; qualified players indeed ate very well.

Now, I am one too!

"Dalu, let's get to work."

Ma Hua's voice came, and Dalu turned to look, discovering that Ma Hua had already switched to Gargoyle form.

"By the way, should we try the Combining Transformer mode? The forum says this system is very suitable for new players to start with."

"I have something better." Jiang Luo grinned, and his body began to twist.

He transformed into a small sapling, then leaped onto Ma Hua's shoulder.

"What broken Painful Painful Minghun did you choose? I've never even seen this thing on the forum." Seeing Jiang Luo's Painful Painful Minghun form was a small sapling, Ma Hua immediately lost his composure.

In the early game, the Three Phantom Gods were the mainstream; even if one didn't choose the Three Phantom Gods, to hunt and level up quickly, one had to choose an attacker and pair them with a tank player to improve combat sustainability.

Having watched many livestreams, this was the first time he had seen a new player use a sapling-form Painful Painful Minghun for combat.

"You don't know shit. My Painful Painful Minghun form is named Extraction; in other scenarios it is indeed very weak, but in the Senluo Forest Realm, this newbie scenario, it is the undisputed T0-tier true god."

"Really?"

"What nonsense? How could I possibly mess around with an important opening?"

Afterwards, Jiang Luo shared the information of the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun in the team chat channel.

【Extraction (Generation One Painful Painful Minghun)】:

Painful Painful Minghun Introduction: By decomposing plant-based lifeforms, convert them into pure plant essence (Spiritual Plant Essence). The essence contains plant life energy and traits, and can be used for physique level improvement, healing injuries, and crafting potions.

As a veteran cloud player on the forum,

although he had never managed to obtain qualification, Jiang Luo's understanding of the Monster World was not shallow.

Star Pulse combination matching, usage of various functions, analysis of Painful Painful Minghun traits... including the popular strategy posts on the forum, he had read them all.

He had prepared very early for obtaining qualification.

He had never studied as seriously as he did now, having gone through all the mainstream knowledge involved in the game.

It was all so that when he obtained game qualification, he could grow quickly.

In the introductions by strategy-focused players on the forum, the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun was an ancient Painful Painful Minghun from the era of the Three Phantom Gods, but after its debut, it had always remained at the bottom of the version tier list, chosen by only a very small number of players.

During that time, the forum had a heated discussion, but it quickly subsided.

This was because for mainstream players, the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun could neither increase combat power nor provide support abilities.

Only the players of the Alchemist Guild used it to research special potions like "Gene Seeds."

The version strength of other Painful Minghuns had fluctuations; even the number one spot in the version had been occupied by Painful Minghuns other than Breath of Qi.

Only the bottom spot of the version was firmly occupied by the "Extraction" Painful Painful Minghun, never shaken.

However, when introducing the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun, the poster "Night Is Coming" also mentioned future prospects.

He stated that if the enemies of players in the future were monster legions composed of plants, the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun would reach the number one spot in that version, until the plant legions were completely destroyed, at which point it would fall back down.

Jiang Luo was deeply impressed by this because, after that sentence, "Night Is Coming" also stated:

Facts prove there is no weakest Painful Painful Minghun, only the most suitable Painful Painful Minghun.

Before having his late-night snack, he had read the forum players' analysis of the new map, where a player mentioned that the version for the rise of the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun had arrived.

So this time, upon entering the game, he instantly selected the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun from dozens of Painful Minghuns.

"Damn, why didn't you remind me?"

"If I reminded you, would you switch?" Jiang Luo looked at Ma Hua in Gargoyle form.

"Indeed, I still prefer melee; I definitely wouldn't switch."

"Stop wasting words, hurry up and kill monsters; leveling up early is the most important."

"Charge!"

Ma Hua let out a chuunibyou roar and launched a charge toward the plain ahead.

Along the way, there were figures of new players everywhere.

As soon as a plant-based monster popped its head up, a huge crowd of players would pounce to snatch it.

The scene could be described as a chaotic dance of demons.

Various conflicts of interest also arose; the friendliness between clans in reality erupted into fighting in the Monster World, this unrestricted scenario, due to disputes over interests.

The lively atmosphere of opening up new territory, full of immersion, made Jiang Luo feel that this was what a virtual game should feel like.

Moving forward, there were more new players than monsters.

Passing through the paradise covered in greenery, a dreamlike scene presented itself before their eyes.

In a scene woven with fluorescence, blue flowers unfolded their pinnate leaves, and their branches expanded and contracted like breathing.

Orange fireflies and countless glowing spores, like tiny stars, drifted in the air, while blue fluffy light clusters, resembling meteors, constantly fell from the sky, lighting up the entire night sky like countless stars.

"Found it."

Ma Hua's voice came, and Jiang Luo, snapping back to his senses, looked up.

Not far away, a plant over one meter tall, its surface covered in thorns, was slowly twisting its body.

A scan analyzed it:

【Thorn Grass】:

Hunting Level: 3.

Target Description: A plant-based lifeform unique to the Pale Continent's Senluo Forest Region; its thorns secrete Painful Painful Minghun toxin (a mental toxin) upon striking a target, plunging it into excruciating agony.

……

Hunting Level 3 is still too strong for them, just entering the game.

But remembering how hard it was to find a monster, Mahua charged forward, his jet-black claws slamming straight at the Thornweed.

The strike hit the Thornweed with a dull thud, and the Thornweed instantly retaliated.

Countless thorn vines lashed out like whips, wildly whipping toward Mahua; the air hissed with "swoosh-swoosh" sounds.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The thorn vines struck Mahua before he activated his Petrified Form; he was instantly knocked to the ground, howling in agony.

Jiang Luo, who had just landed, immediately unleashed his "Extraction" ability on the Thornweed.

The sensation of draining spiritual energy felt like "psssh" as emptying the bladder; dense green bubbles surfaced across the Thornweed's body, which melted like butter in boiling water.

Before the Thornweed could launch a second assault, it vanished entirely, leaving only a cluster of green bubbles coalesced into Plant Essence.

"Holy shit, Extraction's output is insane—easily killing a higher-level target like this? Amazing."

At that moment, the Challenger prompt rang in his mind.

Killing the Thornweed grants only Evolution Points, no Shou Shou Jili reward.

This is clearly due to the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun—the Shou Shou Jili reward manifests instead as the Plant Essence cluster.

Jiang Luo switched to his Main Form, stepped forward, and collected the Plant Essence cluster into his Spatial Sack.

He turned to see Mahua still writhing on the ground.

"Mahua, is it really that painful? Even your Petrified Form gets poisoned?"

"It's mental toxin—try it yourself," Mahua rasped, his eyes blazing red.

"I'm not trying it. Everyone says 89% of Tank-Flow players quit early—what's your plan now?"

"I did think about quitting just now, but I crushed that thought. I'll try holding on a bit longer."

After a long while, Mahua finally stood up, his expression utterly drained.

Seeing Mahua's state, Jiang Luo could imagine how ferocious veteran Tank-Flow players must be to have endured this long.

Heaven to the left, Warriors to the right.

The forum didn't lie.

No wonder Tank-Flow players always get the best treatment in every team.

Just facing their first monster already made Mahua, a loyal Tank-Flow player, consider quitting—just thinking about it was terrifying.

While they chatted, a large wave of players surged from behind, filling their vision once more with newbie faces.

Jiang Luo immediately switched to his Painful Painful Minghun Form and followed Mahua deeper ahead, searching for plant-based monsters to hunt.

Initial testing showed the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun was overpowered in this environment.

It was practically a hunting god-tool—they had to seize the time to grow stronger, so they could explore other regions later.

Colorful Mist Coast, Frostwinter Snowfield, Di Ku Shi Jie… especially the Emperor's Tomb Mountain battlefield, where he'd once felt his blood boil during the Cloud Player era—that was their true home.

Before entering the game, he'd set himself a small goal: join a guild within the United Battle Alliance.

Ideally, the Divine Hall Guild under the Divine King's leadership.

But before that, they had to prove their strength, because the Divine Hall Guild recruited only elites.

"Let's go—the journey to the Emperor's Tomb Battlefield begins with hunting."

Half an hour later, Mahua, having successfully hunted another monster, lay panting on the ground, then turned to Jiang Luo, who was gathering the Plant Essence cluster:

"Da Luo, I want to talk to you about something."

"Go ahead."

"You play Petrified Form—I'll switch to Extraction Painful Painful Minghun, how about it?"

"Get lost."

(End of Chapter)