Chapter 43: Discovering the Primordial One

Qi Sheng sat cross-legged on the sacrificial altar, multiple split-screen light panels hovering before him, displaying live broadcasts of players engaged in fierce battles within the gloomy caves.

After two consecutive days of offensive operations, the players had successfully advanced to the third underground layer.

The number of iron-shelled insects here had increased significantly, accompanied by a large number of controlled Cave-Dweller lifeforms roaming about, drastically raising the intensity of resistance.

While the frequency of player deaths rose, the yield of rewards increased accordingly.

What delighted the players was that the quality of spiritual ores in the third underground layer was far superior to those in the first layer they had previously explored.

The primary spiritual ore in the first layer was Energy-Abundant Stone, grade 1, whereas the ores excavated from the rock walls of the third layer were predominantly Primordial Energy Stones, grade 2; each one sacrificed to Di Zhao yielded a feedback return of over 10 points of sacrificial power.

The only drawback was the increased difficulty of mining.

The rock walls of the third underground layer were extremely hard; ordinary mining picks struggled to break through them, necessitating the purchase of higher-grade mining tools from the Mall.

Combat consumption, resurrection costs, equipment replacements, monster drops... since the quest to purify the gloomy caves was issued, Qi Sheng's income had seen a noticeable increase.

The daily commission of sacrificial power was sufficient to recruit 60 players.

The total daily income flowing into the sacrificial power pool hovered around 200, 00, but aside from the commissioned sacrificial power, he would not touch the portion belonging to the players unless under special circumstances.

Before launching the player recruitment plan, he had carefully considered whether to utilize the players' sacrificial power.

Essentially, the sacrificial power balance seen by players was merely a string of numbers; the sacrificial power was not stored on the players themselves. When they used sacrificial power, it was drawn from the sacrificial power pool beneath Emperor Tomb Village, converted into corresponding energy or items, and then transmitted to the players.

Therefore, all the sacrificial power earned by the players was in his hands.

However, this portion of sacrificial power could be withdrawn by the players at any time, consumed for Mall purchases, Star Vein enhancements, Body Tempering level improvements, and other aspects.

Excessive consumption carried the risk that when players wished to use their funds, he might have diverted so much sacrificial power that there would be no inventory available for expenditure.

The sacrificial power pool he controlled was like a bank, with sacrificial power understandable as real-world currency.

Players depositing sacrificial power also consumed it; the difference was that he could not earn profits by lending it out, so he could not employ leverage; whatever amount was spent had to be replenished later.

To avoid the issue of excessive depletion of the sacrificial power inventory, he chose a policy of never touching the portion belonging to the players unless under special circumstances, using only the portion that was his own after commission.

【Boss, they're fighting again!】

The voice of the Guide interrupted Qi Sheng's thoughts.

Looking up at one of the light panels before him, the screen showed hundreds of players encountering Cave-Dweller lifeforms leading iron-shelled insects, and the battle erupted instantly.

The players switched into monster forms to engage the iron-shelled insects in direct combat.

Through observations over these past few days, Qi Sheng discovered that while players would employ tactics reasonably during small-scale skirmishes, they became completely disorganized once the scale expanded, clashing head-on like brutes, resulting in an incredibly chaotic scene where everyone fought their own targets.

During this time, the local voice channels were even more chaotic.

"Brother playing with fire, stop throwing fireballs randomly! If your eyesight is bad, you can gift them away; if you hit me again, don't blame me for fighting back!"

"That brother ahead is truly fierce, charging into the swarm of iron-shelled insects and immediately using Taunt, but he couldn't last even three seconds before turning into black smoke; isn't that purely committing suicide? Hahaha."

"Don't push me! I'm low on health and need to go back to heal; please stop pushing! If I advance any further, I'll really die!"

"Hahaha, I picked up three Iron-Shell Insect Essences; even if I die in this wave, it was worth it."

In such an overly chaotic scene, friendly fire incidents were inevitable.

In reality, players would respond modestly and politely to accidental bumps and scrapes with passersby, but in the game world without any constraints, their true natures were fully unleashed; if they held a grievance, they would curse on the spot, and if they held a grudge, they would immediately start a physical fight.

Furthermore, after killing monsters, only sacrificial power and Evolution Points were obtained directly, whereas the shell essences dropped after the iron-shelled insects were refined had to be picked up manually.

Faced with benefits lying on the ground, players would never ask about ownership rights; they would all decisively reach out to pick them up.

Amidst the intensification of various conflicts, while fighting the iron-shelled insects, players would also turn their weapons against other players.

However, alongside these internal minor frictions, the primary target of the players' resistance remained the iron-shelled insects and the Cave-Dweller lifeforms.

The fierce battle continued; under the control of the Cave-Dweller warriors, the iron-shelled insects were equally fearless of death, and casualties on both sides continued to mount.

The players' advantage lay in the rapid follow-up of reinforcements; players in the rear would quickly fill the gaps left by those who died in the front to continue fighting.

From a macroscopic perspective, as the players advanced underground, they formed a long queuing dragon; although there were multiple forked paths in the middle of the third underground layer diverting players in different directions, the players in the first two layers were essentially just queuing and waiting for their turn to enter the fray.

These queuing players, aside from browsing the forums to chat or watching live broadcasts of other players battling at the very front, would also pick up mining picks to pass the time by mining ores, waiting for their turn to charge.

The rapid follow-up of reinforcements made the rhythm of the players' underground advance appear extremely steady.

Kill one batch, replace with another, slowly gnawing away at the iron-shelled insects and Cave-Dweller lifeforms.

The players' ability of infinite resurrection had limited effect when confronting Evil Spirit Warriors whose strength completely overwhelmed them, but when facing the evenly matched iron-shelled insects, it was virtually unbeatable.

Judging by the current trend of advancement, capturing the gloomy caves was merely a matter of time.

The battle on the screen lasted less than twenty minutes before coming to an end, with the deaths of 692 players exchanged for clearing this stretch of the path.

Ahead lay another forked path; after the players split up at this junction, they continued their advance.

Consequently, another split-screen view following the action was added to the light panels before Qi Sheng.

【Boss, discovered a Primordial One!】

Hearing the Guide's notification, Qi Sheng turned his head to look at a light panel on the right.

The monster in the image, like Chao Feng, was bound and imprisoned within the cave by special iron chains; it resembled an enlarged version of a giant salamander, dragging a large tail, with a rounded head and a body covered in a layer of crystal-clear mucus, currently glaring ferociously at the players and baring two rows of sharp teeth.

Analysis information quickly fed back into Qi Sheng's mind.

【Qi-Eater (First-Generation Primordial One)】:

Hunting Level: 12

Trait Ability: Qi-Eating

Trait Analysis: Can automatically filter energy particles from the air through breathing to replenish mental energy and qi-blood consumption.

Guide Annotation: The specific replenishment effect is influenced by the concentration of energy particles in the local area; for instance, regions with higher lunar phase intensity generally contain higher concentrations of energy particles in the air, resulting in faster recovery speeds for mental energy and qi-blood gained through breathing.

Containment Hint: Killing a Primordial One monster will automatically complete its containment; participants in the kill will share a massive reward.

Seeing that it was a Primordial One monster, Qi Sheng immediately perked up.

(End of Chapter)