Chapter 18: Origin: Taunt

The consciousness bypassed the golden crystal and, following the guide's guidance, swept through every corner of the fifth-level space of the Gloomy Caverns.

Here, besides Ice Blade's shell and the Black-Armored Army who died following him, Qi Sheng also discovered a deeply dug tomb in the corner of the main hall, where a large number of corpses were buried.

【The owners of these corpses should be Ice Blade's clansmen. After hiding underground, they were eventually buried underground due to the lack of food and other resources.】

"What about the Cave-Dwelling Clan? What is their origin?"

【They should be underground life controlled by Ice Blade's clansmen through some means. They can survive by swallowing ore, without worrying about food shortages. After Ice Blade's clansmen died, they still followed the commands implanted in their brains when they were controlled, directing the Iron-Shelled Insects to dig underground spirit ore, throw it into the smelting furnace, and continue to charge the golden crystal.】

The guide's analysis seemed very reasonable to Qi Sheng.

The consciousness swept toward the back of the main hall, where a light blue crystal the size of a fist was suspended, covered with pitch-black fungal hyphae on the surface, and next to it was a meat ball beating like a heart.

"Is this a domain node?"

【That's right, you can understand it as a core puzzle piece of the Monster World. It is precisely countless core puzzle pieces that constitute the main framework of the Monster World.】

While the guide was explaining, the analyzed information was fed back to Qi Sheng's mind.

【Domain Node: Gloomy Caverns】

Domain Type: Resource

Domain Trait: Spiritual Proliferation

Trait Introduction: Continuously point-transform spirit mine resources.

Domain Status: Black Tide Energy Corrosion (Not Occupied)

……

After reading the analysis information, Qi Sheng's gaze turned to the beating pitch-black meat ball next to the crystal.

This was the Corrosion Core.

To seize this domain node, one must purify the node crystal and completely remove the corrosion roots.

But wanting to do this was not easy.

Just now, the guide analyzed and checked the Black-Armored Soldiers standing inside and outside the palace, discovering that these dead warriors' remnant bodies had also been eroded by corrosion, turning into evil spirit lives similar to Cursed Soldiers.

And the hunting level of the Cursed Soldiers here was generally 25+.

Fortunately, Ice Blade's remnant body was not controlled by the Black Tide corrosion power.

More accurately, Ice Blade's remnant body had fought until it was exhausted, leaving only an empty shell, and the Black Tide corrosion power could not drive the hollow shell.

Even if thrown into the altar for refining, no sacrificial power could be extracted.

If it were Ice Blade in his prime, his hunting level might be over 500, possessing the power to move mountains and overturn seas, and the players would be no match for him at all.

……

After investigating the information on the fifth level underground of the Gloomy Caverns, Qi Sheng's consciousness returned to Di Zong Village with the guide.

As for the energy crystal Ice Blade left for the new Di Zhao, he had no intention of going to get it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he had no startup capital.

His exploration mode when going out of Di Zong Village was different from the players'. Players had a free-to-play + mall, Star Pulse, Body Tempering, and other in-app purchase modes.

And after he went out, he had to turn on the "burn point card" mode.

When the four great servants injected the remaining sacrificial power into Di Zong Village, the disposable sacrificial power reached more than 80 million, which could support him in exploring outside in the Di Zhao body while covering his aura, not afraid of being discovered by evil spirits.

It was also at that time that he contained the Eagle-Headed Demon, Black-Armored Snake, and Gargoyle.

But now the sacrificial power in his hand was only five digits. The sacrificial power needed to cover the aura of Di Zhao's Solidify My Origin was calculated by the second, and each second required more than 1,000 sacrificial power. The inventory could not withstand the consumption.

The task of occupying the domain node could only be left to the players.

This investigation action, although there was no substantial harvest, Qi Sheng already had expectations.

The energy storage crystal left by Ice Blade could extract at least more than 10 million sacrificial power, which was enough to recruit 10,000 players, which could greatly accelerate the development speed in the early stage.

Qi Sheng, sitting cross-legged on the altar, closed his eyes at this moment, switched to Di Zhao form, and then jumped his vision to the player's perspective.

……

Gloomy Caverns.

After another round of fierce fighting, the players began to clean up the battlefield.

They picked up the loot on the ground, then summoned the sacrifice mode in the function panel, and threw all the shells into the altar to refine them into sacrificial power.

After these days of fighting, the players were already familiar with the Iron-Shelled Insects' combat rhythm.

The Iron-Shelled Insects' attack method was divided into two types: spitting silk to wrap the target, and then dragging it to the front to tear the target with sickle-shaped mandibles.

The interval between spitting silk was the best time to launch an offensive.

After many battles, players familiar with the rhythm were already able to flexibly dodge the silk spitting.

The only thing that gave players a headache was that the terrain in the cavern was narrow. When encountering an Iron-Shelled Insect tide, the improvement of combat power by technique was limited, and the only way to win was a fierce charge.

Every time the battle ended, it was the players' happiest harvest time.

The physical fitness boost brought by level improvement, the sacrificial power income brought by sacrificing loot, the joy of victory after unity and cooperation... these were all part of happiness.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the remaining players continued to explore downward along the cavern tunnel, entering the second level underground space.

The second level space was relatively spacious, and one could see a large number of rock walls that had been mined and hollowed out.

Magically, the rock walls were covered with a layer of light green crystal. After focusing, the analysis information surfaced:

【Spirit Gathering: Gathering heaven and earth energy, continuously gestating spirit mines...】

Realizing that the spirit ore in this cavern was a renewable resource, the players didn't have much emotional fluctuation and continued to follow the team to explore further down the cavern.

After killing several more Iron-Shelled Insects along the way, they stopped in front of a stone cave that was clearly chiseled out.

They could clearly hear a dull roar coming from inside the cave.

Li Zheng of the Liver Emperor group went first, throwing the torch in his hand into the cave.

After the torch drew an arc in the air, it landed in the cave, rolled a few times, and illuminated the internal environment.

I saw eight chains nailed to the rock wall at the end of the cave, imprisoning a huge monster at the end.

Its design looked like a beetle, its body covered with layers of white scales, and the intricate patterns on it were pieced together, looking like a ghost face at first glance. A pair of huge pincers were constantly dancing, and the exposed scarlet eyes were like two burning lanterns in the dim environment.

This monster didn't know how many years it had been imprisoned, but it was still alive.

【Taunt (Second Generation Origin)】

Hunting Level: 29

Guide Analysis: A special monster that controls the Origin power of "Taunt," possessing the ability to weave mental illusions, causing targets within the ability's coverage to fall into an extremely crazy state, attacking Taunt uncontrollably.

Hint: Once hit by the Taunt ability, the target will experience a large number of memory-edited plots in a short time based on their own memories, and the caster (Taunt) will become a part of the edited memory, becoming the target of hatred.

……

After reading the monster's analysis information, the most excited on the scene were the players who chose the Gargoyle.

Marble: Hahaha, the perfect option for the Gargoyle's second soul. Taunt to pull aggro and then activate the petrification ability to resist damage. It's simply more perfect than the Eagle-Headed Demon + Bone Fire school. I already have a premonition that the Gargoyle is about to rise.

Is This Beaver: The spring of Gargoyle players has arrived so suddenly. Taunt + Petrification, the strongest defense school of the version is out.

Squad Leader Class: Although the petrification skill can significantly improve damage-bearing ability in a short time, the disadvantage is also fatal: you cannot move after activation. Now there is an extra taunt skill, which is simply invincible. If you add the ability to bear and reflect damage, this school feels cool just thinking about it.

The regional voice channel had a heated discussion about the trait characteristics of "Taunt."

Whether it was the Eagle-Headed Demon or the Black-Armored Snake, at the current stage, they already had suitable second soul choices, only the Gargoyle did not.

The Second Generation Origin monster imprisoned in the cave made this group of Gargoyle players see the hope of rising.

"Kill!"

I don't know who shouted, and immediately the players swarmed toward Taunt.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 23 =====