Chapter 266: This Game Isn't Right!

Before formally beginning to experience the game's content, Ji Chen was already convinced by this game's flawless performance.

The images captured by his eyes and the sensations felt by his body were all telling him that this was a real world.

If not for entering through a game pod and the existence of spatial nodes, he would surely believe he had once again transmigrated to another foreign world.

"This technology... is truly powerful."

Recalling his fantasies from back then, he chuckled wryly.

Having transmigrated to a foreign world years ago, influenced by various transmigration stories, he had once worried about why he hadn't activated a system yet.

Wondering if the timing simply wasn't right.

After all, according to the standard process for transmigrators, one must inherently possess a cheat.

The hardships of the early stage were merely paving the way for showing off and slapping faces in the later stages.

A counterattack life was coming soon.

From initial expectation until finally plunging into complete despair, he had spent a period of time fantasizing.

In his fantasies, he rose from obscurity, advancing with vigorous momentum.

For instance, whenever deep night fell after ending cultivation, he would always rest his head on straw, fantasizing that perhaps upon waking tomorrow, a mysterious star pattern would emerge on his left palm.

When he touched the glowing spirit pattern with his finger, a sound like a great bell and massive drum would explode in his mind:

"Host Must Be Awesome System activating, beginning automatic generation of the novice gift pack..."

Or perhaps, one day an old man's voice would suddenly ring out in his mind:

"I am the last Grand Elder of the Ancient Sword Sect; having been secretly plotted against by villains, only a wisp of my remnant soul remains. Having lain dormant for a thousand years, I have finally waited for a fated person. Your perseverance has moved me; today I shall transmit to you the 'Nine Turns Sword Body'..."

This was also a way of life he used to comfort himself during those hardships.

Perhaps it was also the reason he could persist while the majority of other foreign beings summoned at the same time had perished.

Most of them died from mental collapse under hopelessness.

Although his body suffered pain, he at least always maintained expectations for the future.

This persistence amounted to nothing more than: perhaps tomorrow, everything will be different.

Ridiculous as it sounds, he indeed relied on daydreaming to survive the most cruel life of slavery.

This differed from the innate confidence possessed by the Dragon Kin.

Even when bound by chains, the Dragon Kin firmly believed in their bones that they were divine dragons lying dormant in shallow waters, destined to one day tear apart their shackles and return to the nine heavens.

But he relied not on belief, but on the aftereffects of reading too many web novels.

As an ordinary person from modern society, how could he possess a strong heart or firm willpower after transmigrating?

To speak frankly, having been raised in modern society, he had never even engaged in manual labor in his entire life.

He was merely fitting the "protagonist templates" he had read onto himself, like playing a game of self-deceptive role-playing; today fantasizing he was a trash-flow protagonist, tomorrow substituting himself into an invincible system novel template.

The more desperate reality became, the more manic his fantasies grew.

He did not truly possess perseverance; he simply dared not stop fantasizing.

Because once he stopped fantasizing, what rushed at him was despair sufficient to drive him mad.

He brain-complemented every day's suffering into inevitable trials a protagonist must undergo, merely muddling along to survive.

Those foreign beings who died did not lose to the pain brought by cultivation, but lost to the sober realization that this was inescapable despair.

Thinking back now, perhaps it was precisely this ridiculousness.

That prevented him from sinking continuously into despair like the other foreign beings.

He clearly remembered a plot he had brain-complemented during that period, concerning returning to Earth.

He had fantasized about many scenes of showing off.

For example, after mastering a divine art, returning to Earth to start a livestream titled: "Livestreaming Cultivation."

Performing flying through the sky and burrowing into the earth for the fellow villagers in the livestream room, attracting more villagers to join, then scrolling through the barrage of viewers shouting "Awesome."

He had also fantasized about his bored self returning to campus, enacting a plot of playing the pig to eat the tiger and slapping the Iron Face of a bullying rich second generation, encountering the school goddess...

Although these past fantasies now seemed incredibly childish, they also led him to ponder which stage of development Earth would have reached by the time he returned.

Would there be an alien invasion, with him appearing as the savior?

Or would the motherland Iron Face a crisis, with him standing firm against nuclear bombs in the guise of a god, destroying aircraft carrier groups with a flick of his finger...

The fact was, upon his return, Earth's development was far more advanced than he had imagined.

Especially after initially experiencing the Monster World.

If there truly were a plot of alien invasion, he, as a returnee transmigrator, would most likely have already been killed by the "invading" Eclipse Clan.

His gaze stretched toward the distance.

Across the vast land were ruins and remnants of ancient structures, weathered by the erosion of time, yet revitalized with a unique vitality by the arrival of countless novice players.

Between these architectural ruins were densely distributed various low-level monsters, which served as practice targets for players in the game's novice scenes.

Sweeping his gaze to the side, he saw a group of players clad in black cloth garments jointly besieging a rock monster of huge stature.

Every time the rock monster swung its thick arms, it elicited cries of alarm from the surrounding players.

But the nearby novice players feared nothing, rushing forward during the gaps in the rock monster's attacks to exert their efforts vigorously.

Various Spirit Artifact weapons smashed against the rock monster's surface, sending stone chips flying.

Magic-system players stood in the rear, releasing lightning, fireballs, and other elemental abilities.

Though the combat style appeared clumsy, it was filled with passion and hot blood, moving Ji Chen deeply.

Looking further into the distance, a group of players was engaged in a chase with agile little fairies.

These little fairies were small in stature, emitting a faint fluorescent glow from their bodies; they darted flexibly among the ruinous ruins, occasionally throwing small pebbles bearing spiritual fluctuations at the players, smashing the novice players until they fled in panic holding their heads.

The regional voice channel was even more lively:

"Ahhh, why is it all people? Where are the monsters? Where did my monsters go? You all stop, let me level up first."

"This is too lively; the opening game atmosphere is absolutely perfect. I don't even know where to start; are there any kind veteran players nearby to take me to a farther scene to grind monsters?"

"Brothers, look at the sky; another damn veteran player is coming on a flying sword to show off. These veteran players are so annoying; won't they die if they don't show off? I'm not jealous at all."

"The treatment for us batch of novices is too poor; veteran players in the first few scenes started with mindless monsters, but why do we have intelligent monsters like these little fairies? And they freaking attack by throwing stones from range; my head has already been hit by three enchanted stones, causing large bumps, I'm almost out of health, my rage value is skyrocketing, pity I didn't equip a rage skill."

The curses of novice players, excited cheers, and sounds of high-fives to celebrate... echoed in Ji Chen's ears.

To him, these novices were like the rising morning sun; the scene of their hot-blooded yet clumsy battles made him seem to see his former self, green but full of sincerity.

In contrast, he himself had long been worn smooth by the years.

Through long years of weary struggle, the passion and hot blood in the bottom of his heart had long flowed away through his fingers like sand.

At this moment, the youthful scene before his eyes was like a huge rock thrown into his dead Firefly Lake, causing ripples to rise in layers within his heart; a long-lost feeling quietly surged through his veins.

"Begin the struggle."

Ji Chen, who had already decided to spend his entire life in the game, a smile floating on the corner of his mouth.

He set a new goal for himself.

Since he had no pursuits left in reality, he would strive through the rest of his life to become a top player on the leaderboard.

Moving forward with the surging crowd.

Requests to form teams came from beside him from time to time; upon learning he had chosen the Eagle-Head Demon as his opening Spirit Soul, they all shook their heads and expressed apology.

This made Ji Chen realize that he had indeed chosen a Spirit Soul that was extremely weak at the start.

But after attempting to release his ability, his expression changed.

The familiar perception perspective unfolded, and the image in his field of vision suddenly exploded like a kaleidoscope.

Yet it presented an unprecedented clarity.

He saw that within a dewdrop condensed on a blade of grass ten-plus meters away, microorganisms were swimming in the rainbow light.

He also saw deep underground, where magma pulsed rhythmically like breathing, and even every particle of dust floating in the air was so clear.

In his perception field of vision, the entire world was shrouded by an energy network crisscrossing in all directions, with golden energy torrents representing spiritual energy surging like blood.

Under the illumination of three suns, spiritual energy rising from underground pumped toward the sky.

And he seemed to stand at the center of a vortex composed of pure energy, completely shrouded by energy particles of various colors.

Only until this moment did he realize how terrifying the concentration of spiritual energy in this virtual scene was.

What made him feel even more unbelievable was that the stretching of the perception perspective had become as instinctive as breathing.

With just a single thought, perception would ripple outward to expand, or contract.

The faces of the surrounding players appeared in his mind with every detail distinct.

He saw that not far to the left, a female player with a high ponytail was frowning while staring at nearby players stealing monsters; the slight tremor at the tips of her eyelashes was perfectly captured, and even the nearly invisible beads of sweat on her lips were clearly presented in his mind.

To the right front, a burly player swung a Mighty Axe, and the trajectory of sweat droplets splashing through the air was clearly visible.

As for the perception perspective, he was not unfamiliar with it.

During the years he fought in the foreign world back then, this was one of his crucial means of preserving his life.

But it differed from the perception image he saw now.

In his perception field of vision back then, the world seemed covered by a layer of semi-transparent gauze, with blurred outlines; it was mostly for distinguishing the trajectories of energy flow, or even the fluctuations of blood and qi when opponents unleashed abilities, thereby evading damage in advance.

Or for precisely locking onto the opponent he wished to strike.

But the image he saw now could no longer be described merely as clear.

In the perception image, every frame was dismantled into countless continuous slices; even the entire process of fabric on a player's body going from wrinkled to smooth during movement could be clearly captured, and even the image reflected in a player's pupils could be indirectly read by him.

This kind of perception had surpassed the limit that the two words "observation" could describe; it was more like directly reading the world.

During the process of releasing the Eagle-Head Demon ability, there was not a hint of stagnation.

Nor did the problem of information overload exist; the manner in which the read images were presented was incredibly natural.

Compared to this, the perception observation methods he had used in the past were like the weapons of primitives.

On his first attempt, Ji Chen was utterly shaken.

Just moments ago, he had been thinking that no matter how realistic this game's physical representation might be.

The abilities used within the game were, after all, fabricated settings; the sensation of releasing them surely could not perfectly mimic reality.

Only now did he realize he was wrong.

The developers of this game had actually managed to perfectly replicate the experience of unleashing "transcendent power."

More accurately, it was even more perfect than when he used his abilities in reality.

Every extension of his perception obeyed his will as naturally as an arm obeys the mind; the flow of spiritual energy and the resonance of consciousness were seamless, even eliminating the unavoidable sluggishness felt when using abilities in reality, as well as the slight dizziness brought on by switching perceptual perspectives.

With this test, the game Monster World rose even higher in Ji Chen's estimation.

Continuing to follow the crowd forward, he finally left the most congested area, then ventured alone toward the region shrouded in mist.

His true form was extremely frail, lacking any attribute bonuses.

He chose this moment to switch into the Eagle-Headed Demon form, transforming into a ground-bound chicken with fiery red wings.

The form switch occurred without the slightest discomfort.

Nor was any process of familiarization needed; the use of the body was imprinted in his mind like an instinct.

As he advanced, the figures of novice players gradually became sparse.

At this moment, Ji Chen also locked onto a lone little fairy.

It stood nearly a meter tall, its green skin shimmering faintly; four pairs of translucent butterfly wings grew from its back, its long pointed ears trembling slightly as it looked at him with eyes resembling cat pupils.

After activating Analysis, relevant information flooded into his mind.

[Little Fairy]:

Hunting Rank: 3

Target Introduction: A derivative species born in the Land of Chasing the Sun, possessing preliminary intelligence. It excels at condensing flying stones to attack targets, has a strong sense of territory, and fears no powerful enemy.

……

"Whoosh!"

A flying stone shot forth, heading straight for his Iron Face.

Ji Chen made no extra movements; he merely tilted his head to the right, easily dodging the attack.

Having failed with one strike, the little fairy appeared extremely furious, growling low as it condensed another glowing stone.

Ji Chen launched his offensive at this moment.

The incoming flying stone grazed past his wings; Ji Chen did not even deliberately evade, his body naturally twisting in the air to trace a perfect arc.

With Perception activated, he could clearly see the trajectory of force exertion in the little fairy's scapula as it threw.

When another stone came rushing in, his wings suddenly folded, his body dropping vertically three inches, causing the stone to pass over his head.

His claws curled upward; within his perceptual view, he could clearly see a pale green point of light pulsating at the back of the little fairy's neck.

Judging by the flow trajectory of qi and blood within its body, this was precisely its weak point.

In the instant he closed the distance, Ji Chen's right wing lashed out like a whip, the bone spur at the wingtip piercing precisely into the weak point his perception had identified.

The moment the little fairy's body stiffened and trembled, Ji Chen's raised beak had already pecked through its temple.

The entire sequence of movements flowed like drifting clouds and flowing water, as if rehearsed thousands of times.

On this first attempt, Ji Chen was already able to skillfully utilize the body of the Eagle-Headed Demon soul form.

Although the attributes of the Eagle-Headed Demon appeared extremely weak compared to other soul forms.

For a player like him, who possessed countless battles experiences, the visuals provided by Perception allowed him to exert his combat power to the utmost limit.

Ending the battle, the little fairy dissolved into a blood mist that seeped into his body.

A Challenger notification rang in his mind; the rank of the Eagle-Headed Demon soul had increased by one level.

The resulting attribute changes were entirely different from directly modifying data.

Ji Chen distinctly felt that the intensity of his spiritual power, as well as his physical constitution, had been amplified.

It also made him realize that perhaps, within the game, he could experience a manifestation of power forms even more perfect than in reality.

Hunting to level up suddenly became interesting in his eyes.

At this moment, Ji Chen developed a strong curiosity about this game's background, as well as its other settings.

Soon, the area nearby was filled by the figures of novice players arriving one after another; while continuing to explore forward, he summoned the Forum and began checking game data information, especially regarding the Land of Chasing the Sun where he was located.

As post after post was opened, Ji Chen gained a new understanding of the game Monster World.

He also gained some understanding of the Land of Chasing the Sun.

According to data published by lore-digging players, the birth of the Land of Chasing the Sun traced back to the ancient era of Monster World.

Secondary gods, empowered by Di Zhao, were conceived and born upon this land, but during the war against the Black Black Tide, a god named Kali had his divine body shattered, falling thus into demise.

Under normal circumstances, the fallen Kali would have been devoured by the Black Black Tide, becoming nourishment.

However, the war at that time was extremely fierce; the Demon God controlling the Black Black Tide simply had no energy to spare attention for Kali.

Ultimately, Kali's remaining corpse transformed on this land into three small suns that burned eternally, fixed in the sky in a triangular formation, neither rising nor setting, only alternating between bright and dim as time passed.

According to records within the library.

The golden divine blood spilled when Kali fell soaked the entire earth, transforming the originally barren rock into a crystal forest; His final exhaled breath became an eternal spiritual mist that never dissipated, making the spiritual energy content here incomparably rich.

As for those fragments of His shattered divine wings, they evolved into the fragments of the Heavenly Orbit that originally floated in the sky.

After vast ages passed, countless new derivative races were conceived and born upon this land, multiplying and thriving.

Within the bodies of these racial groups flowed power belonging to the God Kali.

During this period, countless new descending powers arrived.

Among them was a powerful descending force that set its sights on the power left behind by Kali, namely the three dazzling suns in the sky.

To protect the source power of Kali, the local forces clashed in war with the descending forces.

The final outcome was that the local forces were crushed by the powerful descending forces.

Afterward, the three suns symbolizing Kali's source power extinguished, and the earth plunged into eternal night.

Yet there were remnants of local forces that did not give up.

Among them, one local force paid a heavy price in order to reshape the suns.

This is the origin of the name Land of Chasing the Sun; they attempted to chase the direction where the suns had fallen, wishing to reshape the power of the God Kali, or even resurrect Him.

But in the end, they only managed to reshape three weakened versions of the suns, while their race marched toward extinction in a new round of war.

Eras changed; the descending powerful races that had once plundered the god's power had long since perished.

The present Land of Chasing the Sun had already become a desolate wasteland.

As for the Earth-Rumbling Continent where the Land of Chasing the Sun is located, players were not unfamiliar with it.

Prior to this, the players' sphere of activity had been in the Pale Continent region, having never traveled to other continents.

But veteran players had encountered powerful races from other regions.

Among them was a force very familiar to players.

Its name was the "Mechanical Legion," which now controlled nearly one-third of the territory in the Earth-Rumbling Continent region.

Many novices were relatively unfamiliar with the Mechanical Legion, but veteran players were extremely familiar with it.

Back then, the Mechanical Legion had descended upon the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region, plundering an underground mineral vein; with merely a casual move, they silenced both the players and the Earth-Concept Bullies.

At that time, the combat power of the Mechanical Legion, relative to the players and the Earth-Concept Bullies, was comparable to a dimensional strike.

Even their most ordinary troop types could easily slaughter players and Black Black Tide evil spirits; indeed, at that time, the strength of the Earth-Concept Bullies was not even comparable to the lowest-ranking combat troop type within the Mechanical Legion.

Frightened, the Bullies decisively contracted their defensive lines, daring not to provoke them.

The players, knowing they had no chance of victory and facing such a vast disparity in combat power where charging forward meant only death, undertook no retaliatory actions.

The appearance of the Mechanical Legion dealt a significant blow to the players and once sparked heated discussion on the Forum.

The Forum's record of this event read: Mechanical Descent of a God, so terrifying.

But times today are different from days past.

Players posting believed that since the Earth-Rumbling Continent map had been opened, it meant that they, the players, were destined to erupt into total war with the Mechanical Legion in the future.

Any land they, the players, had set foot on must belong to them, the players.

What Mechanical Legion? It was merely an appetizer before stepping onto the world-class battlefield, destined to become nourishment for their growth.

Scrolling through posts, knowledge continuously flooded into his mind.

Ji Chen gradually formed a relatively clear understanding of the background of Monster World.

But there were simply too many posts to scroll through; he could not finish reading them all at once.

Whenever he encountered monsters along the way, he would temporarily hide the Forum interface to conduct hunting.

His rank soon reached level 4; with the Eagle-Headed Demon providing the movement trajectories of monsters, the hunting process concluded in a very relaxed manner.

Find the weak point, strike with precision.

Every battle prioritized killing efficiency; there existed no ineffective damage output.

Hunting battles, novices surging forth, continuing forward, scrolling the Forum along the way... repeating this process endlessly, the players behind seemed infinite.

Whenever he discovered an area where monsters were relatively dense, just as he was getting started, he would lift his head to find the vicinity already filled with the figures of novice players.

Various noisy shouts also followed, assaulting his ears.

He did not resist this noisy, hot-blooded environment; in fact, he genuinely loved this lively atmosphere.

The problem was, with so many novice players around, he wanted to hunt but could not find any monsters.

At this point, apart from moving forward, there was no other choice.

During this period, he also tried opening the map to find an area that no players had yet explored.

But evidently, quite a few novice players had the same idea as him; on the map, there simply did not exist any direction where players were not currently exploring.

Clearly, a large number of novice players were still entering in massive batches.

The game had no channel settings; all players existed within the same channel scene, spreading across the land like a vast carpet.

From the map, one could see the mist-covered areas dissipating in a fan-shaped expansion.

But even when zooming the map out to the entire Sun-Chasing Land, the players' efforts over several hours had only explored a nearly invisible speck in the corner of the map.

One had to zoom in and drag the view distance on the map for a long time before that corner could be magnified clearly.

Half a day later.

During the exploration, the scenery along the way felt incredibly novel to Ji Chen, truly giving him the sensation of having arrived in another world.

Coupled with the abundant spiritual qi brought by each breath, he felt utterly refreshed, a sensation he had not experienced in over a hundred years.

Before long, Ji Chen spotted two more monsters.

The monsters resembled lizards, their entire bodies covered in glowing scales, with two large horns growing from their heads and sharp crystal spikes at the joints of their limbs.

The analysis information revealed these were creatures called Erosion Maps, possessing the ability to spit poisonous mist.

One large and one small, their hunting levels were 4 and 6 respectively.

Combat erupted in an instant.

Just as the first lizard raised its head, Ji Chen's sweeping right wing slashed across like a blood-colored scythe.

The perception view provided assistance.

The wing blade precisely cut into the gaps between the scales on its neck, where a piece of soft flesh the size of a fingernail was pulsating.

The intense pain instantly caused the lizard to reflexively retract its head and push off with its hind legs, attempting to spring backward, but Ji Chen's sharp beak had already struck, piercing through its skull in an instant.

"Pah."

The second lizard also spat out corrosive crystal mist, but with the boost from the perception view, the trajectory of the mist spreading through the air was clearly visible.

His body flipped in mid-air; every change in direction allowed the poisonous mist to graze past his wings, the wind generated by his movement blowing the mist back.

Just as the lizard monster narrowed its eyes, Ji Chen's talons had already clamped onto its jawbone.

Crack!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of a snapping cervical vertebra, Ji Chen's head slammed down violently, instantly piercing through the lizard monster's skull.

The entire hunting process took no more than five seconds; when the two lizards dissipated into points of light, the crystal mist spat by one of them had not even fully reached the ground, completing this work of slaughter art with a fluid rhythm.

With the hunt concluded, Ji Chen's main soul rank reached level 7.

At this moment, he shook his wings, flicking off the blood splattered onto them by the lizards.

Fighting in a monster's body caused no physical discomfort, though psychologically, there was still a slight sense of awkwardness.

Compared to the monster flow style, he still preferred the forum's mainstream Star Vein combination gameplay.

He planned to first save up enough sacrificial power to unlock level 1 Body Tempering before considering other soul choices.

The exploration continued.

Opening the map, he discovered that his straight-line distance from the starting point was now 17.7 kilometers.

Yet even so, groups of novice players would occasionally pop up nearby.

It seemed that no matter where he went, he could not escape the expanding mass of players.

This half-day of exploration had made him thoroughly fall in love with this game.

His early life as a slave in the Otherworld meant that every subsequent cultivation session required him to endure pain, but he had no choice but to do so for the sake of growth.

In comparison, hunting and growing in the Monster World was sheer enjoyment.

Every hunt brought very intuitive feedback on his growth.

He even felt that it might not take many days before his mental strength intensity in the Monster World could easily surpass that of his real-world self.

This timeframe would likely be only one month.

If the evolution points and sacrificial power feedback from monsters increased in the later stages, and his Body Tempering rank improved, it might take only twenty days to complete the effort that had taken him over two hundred years in the Otherworld.

This sense of disparity even made him feel as though he was growing with a cheat.

Picking up the crystal stone dropped by the lizard monster on the ground, he listed it on the Exchange, pricing it based on similar energy crystals.

The next second, a Challenger Notification rang in his mind:

[Challenger Notification: Your listed item "Erosion Map Crystal Stone x2" has been sold successfully, totaling 122 points of sacrificial power (handling fee deducted).]

Ji Chen: ...

He felt he might have sold it too cheaply.

It had just been listed, yet it was snapped up instantly.

Shaking his head with a smile, he continued exploring forward.

After traveling a bit further, the road to the front-left was abruptly cut off by a sudden cliff.

The steep cliff Iron Face dropped vertically as if split by a giant axe, forming a deep valley shrouded in mist at the bottom.

At this moment, a player stood before the cliff, looking hesitant.

Following his line of sight, Ji Chen saw a spirit plant with a pure white body rooted in a crevice of the precipice; its nine semi-transparent leaves were carved like ice crystals, holding a teardrop-shaped amber fruit in the center, its skin so transparent that the golden liquid flowing inside was visible.

As the analysis swept over, relevant information appeared in Ji Chen's mind.

[Nine-Leaf Crimson Mist Grass]

Spirit Plant Rank: Level 6.

Spirit Plant Introduction: A species of spirit plant growing in the Sun-Chasing Land, commonly found in areas rich with Ka-Ci Divine Blood. It possesses high medicinal value; containing faint traces of Ka-Ci Divine Blood, it can be refined into medicine through special processes, greatly enhancing a player's physical attributes (Body Tempering experience) and having miraculous effects on repairing damaged bodies. Sacrificing it to Emperor Omen yields 2938 points of sacrificial power.

After reading the analysis information, Ji Chen immediately understood why this player was hesitant.

Such a precious spirit plant, judging merely from the fluctuating spiritual qi emanating from it, was no ordinary item.

Such a precious spirit plant could not even be nurtured in the Otherworld he had once traversed.

"Damn it, let's go for it!"

Just then, the player standing at the edge of the cliff suddenly took a deep breath, stepped back a few paces, then sprinted forward with sudden acceleration, leaping vigorously at the cliff's edge with arms stretched forward, fingers reaching for the Nine-Leaf Crimson Mist Grass growing in the crevice.

Under Ji Chen's gaze, the player's body traced a clumsy arc through the air, his coarse clothes fluttering loudly in the wind.

But still at least three meters short, his body lost the momentum to continue moving forward.

Through the perception view, Ji Chen could see the determined expression on the player's Iron Face gradually turn into shock.

Although his right hand maintained the grasping posture, his body had already begun to plummet rapidly.

"Shit!"

The distorted trailing sound stretched out rapidly as he fell, echoing through the cliff below.

Long after, a dull thud of impact came, startling several metal-winged, crow-like birds into breaking through the mist at the valley floor.

This scene made Ji Chen chuckle in amusement.

Striding to the edge of the cliff, he leaned his head out to look down.

Mist steamed up from the valley floor; even with the perception view, he could not see the bottom.

His gaze shifted forward.

Carefully measuring the distance, the location where the Nine-Leaf Crimson Mist Grass grew was too tricky, situated precisely beneath an outward-protruding rock ledge.

Even with his enhanced Eagle-Head Demon body, a full-power leap could only reach at most two-thirds of the way there.

What made it more troublesome were the interlocking crystal clusters on the rock wall; the slightest carelessness would lead to the same fate as that reckless player.

Naturally, he did not want to miss such a precious spirit plant.

But the Eagle-Head Demon form could not fly, making acquisition a difficult problem.

If this were reality, he would use telekinesis to grab it, but this was a game...

Ji Chen suddenly froze.

He thought of a question.

Since the game perfectly replicated real-world physics, could his telekinesis also be used within the game?

"Let's try."

Closing his eyes, he began attempting to trace the familiar spiritual imprint within his body.

As his consciousness sank deeper, the mental strength in the game actually responded as effortlessly as moving one's own arm, constructing a mental circulation circuit within the virtual meridians of his sea of consciousness.

Soon, his mental strength was completely exhausted.

Without hesitation, he immediately summoned the Mall interface and purchased ten bottles of Mental Recovery Potion.

But this was far from enough; the ten bottles of potion were consumed quickly.

Constructing the Spirit Pattern Imprint required a far more massive amount of mental energy.

Thus, Ji Chen directly purchased eighty bottles this time, emptying his remaining sacrificial power balance and leaving only a single digit.

Drinking three bottles in succession, surging mental strength poured in like a breached flood, raising towering waves in his sea of consciousness.

During this period, his consciousness remained as steady as a rock, precisely controlling the influx of mental energy into his sea of consciousness.

The patterns of the Telekinesis Imprint gradually manifested during this process.

His traversing consciousness traced lines of brilliant blue marks across his sea of consciousness.

They then wound around the imprint, spiraling and intertwining to form an intricate mental circuit.

As one spiritual pattern after another lit up, mental strength was consumed violently.

But the energy from the continuously consumed potions filled the void endlessly.

Gradually, a complex pale blue imprint fully formed in his sea of consciousness.

This was the spiritual imprint of telekinesis that Ji Chen had mastered in the Otherworld, now perfectly replicated into this digitized body.

When the final stroke was completed, the imprint suddenly burst forth with blinding blue light, then subsided into silence, deeply branded into the center of his sea of consciousness.

Buzz~

Ripples visible to the naked eye suddenly rippled through the air.

The gravel at Ji Chen's feet suddenly trembled, then floated up one after another.

When Ji Chen opened his eyes again, a pale blue mark flashed across his forehead, and all the suspended objects began to orbit his body.

In an instant, their rotation speed increased sharply.

They turned into blurred stone shadows, forming an airtight protective barrier.

A sharp whistling sound rang out in the air as the gravel rubbed against it at high speed, as if countless sharp blades were slicing through space.

The Eagle-Headed Monster's perception spread out, and the coverage of its telekinetic power expanded accordingly.

Not just the gravel; the surrounding sand, withered branches, and even dust were all drawn in by the telekinetic power.

In an instant, a small storm vortex slowly took shape with Ji Chen at its center; sand and dust intertwined, withered branches danced wildly within it, and all matter moved according to Ji Chen's will.

His gaze suddenly locked onto a twisted, withered tree not far away.

A flash of blue light sparked in his eagle eyes, and telekinetic power clamped onto the trunk like an invisible giant hand.

Crack!

The withered tree emitted a groan of unbearable strain, its root system being forcibly ripped from the rock crevices, dragging soil along with it.

When the trunk hovered three meters high, it came to a halt; spiderweb-like blue patterns surfaced on it, revealing the energy meridians formed after the telekinetic power penetrated the wood fibers.

The next second, the entire tree rapidly disintegrated.

Large chunks of wood broke away from the main trunk, were decomposed into tiny fragments mid-air, and finally turned into powdery matter.

Subsequently, under the control of the telekinetic power, the powder formed a small wooden-dust vortex.

At this moment, Ji Chen was stunned.

This was a technique for using abilities taught to him by the Dragon-Blooded, yet he never expected it to be perfectly replicated in this game, Monster World.

Even more, with the augmentation of the Eagle-Headed Monster's perception, using it felt even smoother than in reality.

"There's something wrong with this game!"

(End of Chapter)