Chapter 41: All-Player Quest

Di Zhao Village, Meng Yuan Chu Altar.

Under the guidance's pull, Qi Sheng's consciousness passed through the continuous volcanoes and followed the departing Evil Spirit Warrior to the northern district of the Di Zhao Mountain Range.

He saw the Evil Spirit Warrior stumble onto the platform atop Gao Ta; at that moment, several pitch-black tentacles extended from the dark red eye above and pierced into the Evil Spirit Warrior's body, and the wounds on its body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It seems this journey was not smooth." A crack split open on the dark red eye, and a hoarse voice came from within.

"I did not lose." Hearing the eye's slightly mocking words, Di Nian said in a deep voice.

"Win or lose does not matter; I can still sense the aura of the Reverse Tide Legion warrior. He is not dead."

"I know. He is stronger than I imagined, but if a group of beings controlling rules had not blocked me, I would have certainly killed him."

"Beings controlling rules? I did not sense any other life auras while you were fighting."

"A group of weak mysterious beings. They can, through some unknown method, cause me to briefly fall into a state controlled by anger, making me attack them involuntarily."

Upon hearing this, the dark red eye fell silent briefly before speaking:

"You must have encountered a Meng Yuan Chu monster. This is an extremely special creature. According to intelligence shared by other nodes, Meng Yuan Chu monsters are very likely evolved from the primordial power of Di Zhao, the creator of this world. All Meng Yuan Chu monsters are manifestations of rule power; they cannot be truly killed. Even if they die, they will be reborn in some corner of this world in the future."

"I see. But apart from using rule power, the strength of these Meng Yuan Chu monsters does not seem very high."

"You are wrong. Never underestimate the strength of this world. According to intelligence provided by other nodes, the power gap between Meng Yuan Chu monsters is enormous. Powerful Meng Yuan Chu monsters can even kill our clan's Commander-level, and even Monarch-level warriors."

"Monarch-level?" Hearing the dark red eye's explanation, Di Nian was startled.

"The Dungeon World you once assisted in conquering was merely a low-energy world, far incomparable to the world beneath your feet. According to my judgment, your strength in this world can only be classified as mid-to-lower tier, or even lower. Do not overestimate your strength. You are young, but overly arrogant. This world might be the end of your growth."

"What do you mean?" Di Nian asked coldly.

"Countless Commander-level warriors of our clan have died in the conquest of this world. You will likely be one of them... But as your Strategist Eye, I hope to see you grow into a Commander-level, and even a Monarch-level warrior of our clan."

Di Nian took a deep breath at this moment:

"I understand."

"There is an infinite source of power beneath Gao Ta. Next, I will extract its energy to create warriors for you, aiding you in conquering nearby node domains. Until then, wait patiently."

As the words fell, the dark red eye blinked.

Immediately, surging black qi spread upward from the tower base; Gao Ta was instantly ignited by black flames. A large amount of black qi converged and compressed at the furnace in the center of Gao Ta, rapidly forming ferocious and terrifying evil spirits that fell from the half-sky like dumplings being boiled.

At this moment, Qi Sheng's consciousness followed the guidance to probe downward beneath Gao Ta.

Through their conversation, Qi Sheng realized that this Gao Ta was built upon a domain node.

What made him curious was what the characteristic of this domain node was.

Although intelligent evil spirits could use the energy of domain nodes, they could not use the domain characteristics.

Compared to energy, he cared more about powerful domain characteristics.

For example, the characteristic of Di Zhao Village, "Flesh and Blood Reshaping," is a key link in the player recruitment plan.

The consciousness sank into the earth, and the guidance's analysis ability activated accordingly.

A massive amount of data flooded Qi Sheng's mind, finally being translated into text introduction information he could understand.

【Domain Node: Tian Yuan】

Territory Type: Rule Type

Territory Characteristic: Myriad Phenomena Furnace

Characteristic Introduction: Smelts abilities of the same attribute, causing the ability effects to undergo wonderful changes.

Domain Status: Black Tide Occupation

Judging solely from the analysis information, Qi Sheng could not understand what the effect of this domain node characteristic actually was; the specific function could only be known after integrating with Di Zhao Village.

What he cared about was that this domain node was actually a Rule Domain.

Compared to resource domains like the Dark Cave, the function of a Rule Node is more powerful.

【Boss, you are coveting it.】

"Nonsense. I will definitely take down this Rule Node."

【Unfortunately, your physical body cannot go out at will. Every second spent outside consumes a huge amount of Shou Shou Jili. To take this place, we must wait until the players are strong enough.】

"Although this place cannot be taken down for now, it is time to reclaim the domain node of the Dark Cave... Let us return."

As Qi Sheng's words fell, the guidance pulled his consciousness to fly toward the direction of Di Zhao Village.

The instant his consciousness returned to his body, Qi Sheng issued a message to all players:

【Challenger Notice (All Players): The first battle between players and intelligent evil spirit lives has triggered the All-Player Hidden Quest: Purify the Node.】

Quest Description: Go to the fifth layer beneath the Dark Cave and purify the domain node crystal corrupted by Black Tide energy (shatter it).

Quest Reward 1: Expansion of Di Zhao Village's area, connecting with the Dark Cave; players can directly enter the Dark Cave through Di Zhao Village to mine spirit ore resources.

Quest Reward 2: Players participating in the purification of the node crystal receive generous contribution rewards (Star Vein unlock permission, Body Tempering level increase, Shou Shou Jili rewards).

Note: The rewards for this Purify Node quest will determine contribution values through a series of actions such as killing monsters and dealing damage to the corrupted crystal. Specific rewards will be distributed based on contribution values after the quest ends.

The appearance of the All-Player Quest immediately attracted the attention of all players.

The forum even launched heated discussions regarding the All-Player Quest.

Realizing that this issued All-Player Quest was profitable, major guilds began organizing personnel one after another, all wanting to earn considerable profits through this quest.

Lone players were no exception; the reward of being able to reach the Dark Cave directly via Di Zhao Village held huge attraction for them.

Normally, to mine ore, one had to depart from Di Zhao Village and travel for about an hour to enter the mine cave. If luck was bad and one was trapped and killed by Iron Shell Beetles, logging back into the game would require spending another hour traveling, which truly made them feel distressed.

Qi Sheng also realized this problem.

In other games, functions like teleportation would be used to solve the problem of time-consuming travel.

But he could not do so.

Teleportation arrays cannot be used infinitely once built; maintaining a continuous open state consumes Shou Shou Jili every minute and every second. He would only consider opening a paid teleportation service function when the number of players was sufficiently huge.

But as long as players complete the global quest he issued, a convenient direct passage to the Dark Cave would open in Di Zha Village thereafter, saving a vast amount of travel time.

Half an hour after the global quest was issued.

Players scattered across the various regions of the Di Zha Mountain Range set out toward the Dark Cave on the Bloodstained Plain.

(End of this chapter)