Chapter 9: First-Generation Meng Yuan Chu

Monster World, Imperial Tomb Mountain Range.

An ancient battlefield.

A skeleton wreathed in ink-black flames roamed aimlessly, surrounded by mountains of remains and shattered weapons.

"If you want to become a powerful hunter, you first have to learn to hide yourself and look for ambush opportunities."

"Then lock onto your target, build your momentum, strike swift as the wind, and finish it in one blow… Awooo!"

The moment Seeing Li Zheng's cry rang out over the regional voice channel, the players lying on the ground playing dead leapt up in unison, twisting their bodies mid-air to switch into monster form and pounce on the first-generation Meng Yuan Chu monster, "Bone Fire."

By now Seeing Li Zheng and the others had all reached level 5; their bodies were more than twice as strong as at the start, and their size had grown noticeably.

This was their third engagement with Bone Fire.

The first two encounters had ended in defeat without the slightest suspense, which had stirred up Seeing Li Zheng and the others' competitive spirit.

Most importantly, over the past two days of play they had discovered a special mechanic in the game.

This special mechanic could help them kill monsters above their level.

This game actually had no monster reset setting!

The so-called monster reset setting referred to a mechanic common in other games: when a player moved beyond a certain range during combat, the monster would automatically return to its territory and restore its full health, shedding all negative statuses the player had applied.

But this game had no such setting.

All damage dealt to a monster by players would be retained.

For example, the bite marks left on Bone Fire during their previous battles did not vanish with their deaths; when they engaged Bone Fire again, they found the bite marks still on its body.

This gave them the possibility of defeating higher-level monsters through attrition.

Even if each battle only dealt 1% damage, a hundred fights would be enough to kill the monster.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was that the monster's self-healing ability was slow.

Against monsters with powerful self-healing, attrition was meaningless, but facing Bone Fire, which had no healing ability, this tactic was entirely viable.

Compared to their first encounter, Bone Fire's body was now covered in all manner of fang marks, especially its left leg, which was nearly broken.

All of these injuries were inflicted through their attrition tactic.

In this attack, Seeing Li Zheng and the other players continued to focus on Bone Fire's left leg.

Upon contact with Bone Fire, their monster bodies were ignited by the ink-black flames; they endured the searing pain, clung to Bone Fire, and bit at its left leg, which was on the verge of falling apart.

Before long, the already cracked leg bone could bear no more and shattered with a crash, the body tilting and collapsing along with it.

The players like Eating Dirt, who had been watching from the side, rushed in decisively and joined the fight.

The Black Armor Snake's coiling bites, the Gargoyle form's frontal heavy punches, the Eagle-Headed Yao's beak strikes… Bone Fire, battered by the successive onslaughts, could barely cope and finally gave out; the ink-black crystal within its skull shattered, and the ink-black flames wreathing its body went out.

The black mist pouring from Bone Fire's body dispersed into ten portions in the air, drifting separately toward Seeing Li Zheng and the others.

When the mist touched their bodies, energy seeped in, and a streak of crimson light immediately swept across their skin.

The surging energy churned within them, causing their bodies to grow rapidly.

The ink-black flames still burning on their skin also dispersed.

The body reshaping brought on by the level-up restored them to peak condition.

At this moment, a thick plume of smoke rose again from the fallen Bone Fire, and a shrunken silhouette of Bone Fire's form could be seen faintly within the churning black smoke.

The nearest Guidance Orb suddenly opened its mouth, and Bone Fire's Painful Painful Minghun was sucked inside; in an instant it was teleported to the fourth cell of the Containment Wall, where it reconvened into Bone Fire.

At the same time, a pale-blue energy tendril extended from the top of the cell, connecting to the imprisoned Bone Fire's skull and beginning to continuously siphon off Shou Shou Jili gains.

At the same moment, prompts sounded one after another in the minds of Seeing Li Zheng and the other players:

【Challenger Notice: Containment of first-generation Meng Yuan Chu monster Bone Fire complete; Meng Yuan Chu Hunt quest accomplished.】

Quest Reward 1: All participants receive 1000 Shou Shou Jili (reward amount affected by number of participants).

Quest Reward 2: All participants receive permission to unlock the second Painful Painful Minghun slot for free.

"Awesome, we finally took it down!"

"Hahaha, bros, this feels amazing, the joy I've been missing for so long."

"1000 points of Shou Shou Jili gains, way faster than killing Curse Soldiers!"

After the cheering, Seeing Li Zheng turned to look at the Guidance Orb floating beside him and asked curiously:

"Guidance, how much Shou Shou Jili does it normally cost to unlock the second Painful Painful Minghun slot?"

【Unlocking the second Painful Painful Minghun slot requires 500 Shou Shou Jili.】

"Then can we slot in a second Painful Painful Minghun?"

【Correct. The function panel has a Star Vein Slotting function; you can slot in a second monster Painful Painful Minghun right now and unlock your second monster form.】

Following the Guidance Orb's instructions, Seeing Li Zheng summoned the function panel.

It had seven options: Map, Spatial Pack, Character Details, Star Vein Enhancement, Item Shangcheng, Resource Sacrifice, System Settings.

Opening the Star Vein function, an internal view of his body appeared in Seeing Li Zheng's mind.

His spine shone like a galaxy in the internal view; at the very top was his human form, and in the first groove below was slotted the Black Armor Snake Painful Painful Minghun.

On the right was the control panel, displaying detailed Star Vein information.

【Challenger: Game Brick-Moving Party】

Verified Name: Seeing Li Zheng

Star Vein Level: 2 (Shou Shou Jili cost for next level: 2000)

Star Vein Slot Count: 2

Slotted Monster Painful Painful Minghun 1: Black Armor Snake lv5 (Trait: Deadly Venom)

Slotted Monster Painful Painful Minghun 2: None

……

On the right side of the Star Vein attribute panel was a "Purchase Painful Painful Minghun" option.

After the consciousness tap, the screen jumped to the Monster World Painful Painful Minghun Shangcheng.

What appeared before Seeing Li Zheng were four embeddable options.

1. Petrification (Gargoyle Form: First Generation Meng Yuan Chu):

Monster Trait: After using the ability, the body enters an immobile petrified state, greatly reducing damage from any form (specific effect is influenced by physical constitution).

Purchase Cost: 1000 Shou Shou Jili.

2. Wail (Harpy Form: First Generation Meng Yuan Chu):

Monster Trait: After using the ability, can provide early warning of nearby dangerous situations (killing intent, hostility, aura, fluctuations).

Purchase Cost: 1000 Shou Shou Jili

3. Toxic Venom (Black Armor Snake Form: First Generation Meng Yuan Chu):

Monster Trait: Any form of physical damage carries a poison effect, causing continuous damage to the target (toxicity strength is influenced by physical constitution)

Purchase Cost: Already owned, cannot be purchased again

4. Ink Flame (Bone Fire Form: First Generation Meng Yuan Chu):

Monster Trait: Consumes mental energy to release death flames that can be controlled by perceived consciousness, causing continuous burning and death- Qi permeation damage upon hitting a target (specific damage is influenced by monster level and one's own mental energy strength)

Purchase Cost: 1000 Shou Shou Jili

……

"Guide, what does the First Generation Meng Yuan Chu suffix on monster Painful Painful Minghun mean?" Seeing Li Zheng looked at the guide water sphere and asked curiously.

【When Beneath Di Zhao created Meng Yuan Chu monsters, he conducted ten mysterious experiments in total. Each time, he would split off a portion of his own power. The first batch of created Meng Yuan Chu life spheres scattered across the Monster World, eventually evolving into First Generation Meng Yuan Chu. Second Generation refers to the second batch of created Meng Yuan Chu lives, and so on.】

【Beneath Di Zhao's self-decomposition is a process from weak to strong. First Generation Meng Yuan Chu have the weakest power traits, while Tenth Generation Meng Yuan Chu have the strongest power traits, so the growth potential of Tenth Generation Meng Yuan Chu monsters is far higher than that of First Generation Meng Yuan Chu monsters… but growth potential does not necessarily represent strength. Among Tenth Generation Meng Yuan Chu, there may exist Meng Yuan Chu monsters with relatively low hunting levels, while among First Generation Meng Yuan Chu monsters, there may also exist monsters with extremely high hunting levels.】

"So that's how it is."

After understanding what the monster suffix represented, Seeing Li Zheng fell into deep thought.

At the current stage, there were three choices before him: Harpy, Gargoyle, and Bone Fire.

Among them, Bone Fire's elemental damage did not align with the Black Armor Snake's Toxic Venom trait, so this option was ruled out first.

Of the remaining two options, Harpy leaned toward functional support, belonging to the universal-type monster trait category, while Gargoyle leaned toward defense.

After brief deliberation, he decided to first exit the Star Vein function interface and discuss with his brothers how to choose.

Once the inner-vision screen faded, Seeing Li Zheng turned his head to look at the brothers beside him, only to be surprised to find that Eating Dirt had already embedded his second Painful Painful Minghun, switching to the Bone Fire form with ink-colored flames burning all over his body.

(End of this chapter)