Chapter 44: Underground Melee

"Damn, it's another Soul Soul suited for magic damage output; the Black Armored Snake players find this hard to accept."

"Hahaha, this Soul Soul is excellent; Eagle-Headed Demon + Bone Fire + Devouring Qi significantly boosts sustainability. I'm very satisfied with this Primordial; brothers on the front line, kill it quickly!"

"The dilemma of running out of mana can finally be alleviated. Thanks to nature's gift of a mana-regenerating Soul Soul, the magic cultivation path is becoming stronger and stronger!"

"Nobody move; let me hit it once before you all make your move."

Hunting a Primordial monster at level 12 posed no threat to players at the current stage.

The scene instantly became chaotic.

Since the rewards for killing a Primordial monster were shared, even touching it once granted Sacrificial Power rewards; players rushed toward the Primordial monster like madmen, killing the Devouring Qi within a short time and completing its containment.

Learning from the live broadcast that players ahead had successfully contained a Primordial, the players behind also appeared extremely excited, especially those following the ranged damage output path.

Compared to the rewards from hunting evil spirits or monsters, containing a Primordial monster was a benefit shared by all players, giving them an additional option for socketing a Soul Soul.

The only dissatisfaction was that they had not participated in the process of hunting the Primordial, losing a share of the Sacrificial Power rewards.

This successful hunt also increased Qi Sheng's fixed Sacrificial Power income.

After the interlude of hunting the Primordial, the mission to purify the Dim Cave continued.

What delighted Qi Sheng was that the information fed back by the Guidance indicated that besides the Devouring Qi, there was also the aura of another Primordial monster within the space of the third underground layer.

As long as players continued to explore, containing this Primordial monster was merely a matter of time.

In a corner of the third layer of the Dim Cave.

Li Zheng and his brothers watched the long queue with helpless expressions.

Just a week ago, they were still lamenting that the number of players on their server was too low.

They never expected that now, even entering the mine required queuing to advance.

But in comparison, they hoped even more for the number of players on their server to increase, which was a great thing for them as brick-movers.

After guilds led by big spenders like the Crime Drunk Group appeared, there was no worry about being unable to sell Sacrificial Power.

No matter how much was produced, the big spenders would buy it all.

Last time, he sold 50 points of Sacrificial Power to "Wo Si Ni Die," the leader of the Crime Drunk Group, gaining 5, 00 credit points in profit.

After that, the selling price of Sacrificial Power skyrocketed, so he decided to temporarily stop selling it, choosing to improve his strength first before considering profit issues.

Spending Sacrificial Power on improving strength was, in Li Zheng's view, a sure-fire investment.

Only with greater strength could one hunt stronger monsters and obtain higher Sacrificial Power output.

While waiting in line, he did not idle either; leading his brothers, he used pickaxes to frantically strike the rock walls beside them, searching for possible spiritual ore stones.

Nearby players did the same, all chiseling at the rock walls, the sound of metal striking stone ringing incessantly.

Mining spiritual ore was the safest source of income in this game; the downside was that it required a certain amount of luck. With good luck, one could dig out several spiritual ore stones embedded in the rock wall in a single day, but with bad luck, one might toil all day without any yield.

Compared to the clear rewards of fighting monsters to level up, mining involved a much larger element of luck.

This was also the preferred method of generating income for many new players; after all, even the weakest Blood Corpses in the Waning Moon scene were around level 10, making hunting extremely strenuous for newcomers and requiring team cooperation.

"Hehe, got another one."

Seeing the crushed stone beside him fall away to reveal a glowing white Energy Stone, his teammate Chi Tu wore a triumphant expression.

"Don't show off; your dad is about to get you a level 2 ore," said Sha Xin, standing on Li Zheng's other side, suddenly accelerating the speed at which he swung his pickaxe.

Just then, countless exclamations of surprise came from the rear of the queue.

Li Zheng and the others immediately stopped mining, all looking up toward the back to see what was happening there.

【Challenger Notification (Regional): Congratulations to the player who obtained a level 5 spiritual ore stone, "Soul Crystal," through mining in Dim Cave - Third Underground Layer, achieving the feat of being the first to obtain a spiritual ore above level 5; extra reward of 500 Sacrificial Power.】

Soul Crystal: An ore formed by minerals absorbing the dissipated soul power of the dead, capable of nourishing and repairing damaged souls.

Usage: Forging, Consumption (consumption grants Body Tempering level experience), Sacrifice.

The appearance of the notification made Li Zheng and the others realize that a player behind them had struck it big through mining.

The notification showed that the Soul Crystal was a level 5 spiritual ore; more importantly, it could be directly consumed to increase Body Tempering levels.

This was a huge temptation in the eyes of the players.

At the current stage, the difficulty of increasing Body Tempering levels was extremely high; unlike the Star Vein levels which increased consumption gradually, every level from Body Tempering 1 to 10 required consuming ten thousand Sacrificial Power to advance.

This was also the first time players learned in the game that they could gain Body Tempering experience by consuming special resources.

"Such good luck; pity it wasn't me," Chi Tu couldn't help but say sourly, watching the cash buy orders rapidly refreshing in the regional channel.

After this interlude, just as Li Zheng and the others prepared to continue mining, they discovered that the disturbance behind them had not subsided but was intensifying; some players had even transformed into monster forms and erupted into combat with other players.

"Damn, something's wrong!"

The clamorous scene made Li Zheng think of a possibility; he immediately turned his head to look at Chi Tu:

"Chi Tu, pull your Perception View over and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Chi Tu immediately nodded, his form twisting as he switched to the Eagle-Headed Demon form, emitting spreading sound waves toward the rear of the queue, his consciousness following the sound waves through the crowd to the center of the commotion.

The scene he saw afterward made Chi Tu's heart pound violently.

On the rock wall that had cracked and fallen from pickaxe strikes, a large amount of purple crystals were embedded, shimmering faintly in the flickering light of the bonfire.

Withdrawing his consciousness, Chi Tu decisively looked at Li Zheng:

"Brother Li, an entire wall is made of level 5 Soul Crystal ore; there are at least 20 pieces, and there might be even more deeper inside."

"No wonder it's so chaotic; turns out they started fighting over spiritual ore," Family Shared Godfather, standing behind them, nodded in sudden realization, then looked at Li Zheng and asked:

"Brother Li, what's your take?"

"What else can we do? Naturally, we grab it. Di Zhao never stipulated that finders keepers; whatever we grab becomes ours."

"I'm a college student; I must have one of these Soul Crystals."

After a brief exchange, Li Zheng and the others decisively switched to monster forms and rushed toward the crowd engaged in the melee.

There were many players with the same thought as Li Zheng; facing the temptation of profit, they all chose to switch to monster forms and join the scramble.

A large number of players were defeated during the scramble, dissipating into black mist.

During this time, more and more players learned that a large quantity of level 5 spiritual ore had appeared in the third underground layer; they kept relaying and surging forward, with one batch dying and another arriving.

The fighting even spread from the Dim Cave to the players queuing outside the mine entrance.

The cause was that a player from the Crime Drunk Group was jointly killed by members of the Divine Wing Guild while snatching spiritual ore; this player immediately contacted the guild leader, Li Siyu, seeking assistance.

Subsequently, members of the two guilds erupted into armed conflict outside the mine entrance.

Players who had good relations with these two guilds also joined the melee, initiating open-world brawling.

Thus, the first large-scale civil war since the launch of the Monster World broke out.

(End of Chapter)