Chapter 3: Monster World

Summoning the function panel, he opened the game map.

A translucent pale golden scroll unfolded before his eyes. The four characters "Di Zhong Mountain Range" were printed in the center of the map, with most of the area covered in fog.

The map exploration rate displayed in the top right corner was 0.001%, with a line of small text marked below: Crescent Moon (Low).

"Guide, are there no quests to accept in the game?"

Closing the map function, Li Zheng looked at the Guide water ball floating beside him and asked.

[This game triggers quests randomly; there are no specific NPCs to accept quests from. As Challengers, your most important task is to kill and contain Origin Monsters while exploring the Monster World. Every successful containment will earn you rich rewards.]

"Contain Origin Monsters? What does that mean?"

[The background of this game tells of how, over ten thousand years ago, the supreme deity of the Monster World, 'Di Zhao,' decomposed his own power and scattered it across the Monster World to explore the unknown mysteries of life, evolving into various types of Origin Monsters. Ten thousand years later, the Monster World has been swept by a terrifying black tide, and the world is on the verge of collapse. You, who have gained the power bestowed by Di Zhao, need to fight against the evil spirits brought by the black tide, and at the same time, hunt and contain Origin Monsters to allow the sleeping Di Zhao to gradually recover his power until he completely awakens.]

[Simply put, the more Origin Monsters you contain, the stronger the Di Zhao behind you becomes, and the more game functions he can grant you.]

[When you created your character upon entering the game, the blue crystal wall you saw is the Origin Containment Wall located beneath Di Zhong Village. Every time a player kills an Origin Monster, a new monster form option will appear in the containment cell.]

Hearing the Guide's explanation, Li Zheng was even more confused:

"So we can change our initial monster form later, right?"

The Guide water ball nodded upon hearing this:

[Of course you can change it after selecting an initial form. Besides that, you can also master multiple monster forms and abilities, switching freely via the Star Vein function. Each monster form can provide you with a special ability and a corresponding attribute bonus.]

[And the Body Tempering level allows you to inherit monster attribute bonuses in your main form, as well as use the abilities of monsters in various forms.]

As it spoke, the Guide waved its hand and pointed forward, and a huge light screen appeared in front of them.

The four characters "Ability Demonstration" were printed at the top of the light screen.

In the screen stood a human male with an ordinary face, with three monster phantoms floating behind him.

The Guide reached out and tapped, and the man's attributes appeared:

[Challenger Name: Test Subject 1]

Main Form: Human

Body Tempering Level: 3 (Can inherit all attribute bonuses of three monster forms)

Star Vein Embedding Level: 3

Slot 1, Black-Armored Snake Soul Lv30 (Trait: Venom)

Slot 2: Thorn Ball Soul Lv30 (Trait: Thorn Shot)

Slot 3: Long Sky Soul Lv30 (Trait: Flight)

The Guide pointed at the screen and explained:

[Test Subject 1's Body Tempering level has reached level 3. Even without turning into a monster form, the main body can inherit all attribute bonuses of three monster forms simultaneously and use the trait abilities of three monsters at the same time.]

Accompanied by the Guide's explanation, Test Subject 1 in the screen moved.

He saw a large number of worm-like monsters refresh in front of the character. Test Subject 1 conjured a pair of wings behind him and took off, waving his hands forward, and countless steel thorns fell toward the worm swarm like raindrops.

All the worms hit by the steel thorns had a green "Poisoned" prompt appear above their heads.

"I understand. Different monster traits can be mixed and used in the main form. The Black-Armored Snake Soul's trait is that all physical attacks cause poisoning, and the Thorn Ball Soul's trait is releasing area-of-effect physical damage. Combining the two traits can cause group poisoning to targets within the attack range."

[That’s right.]

"How many monster forms can a player have at most?" Li Zheng continued to ask.

[There is no limit. Star Vein level and Body Tempering level can be improved infinitely. Later, you can master hundreds of monster traits and combine various interesting skill combinations in your main form, provided that you contain enough Origin Monsters and have enough monster souls to choose from for embedding.]

[Of course, in the early stage when the Body Tempering level is 0, the main form cannot inherit monster attributes, so it is recommended to switch to monster form for combat.]

Hearing this, Li Zheng and the others understood what the Guide wanted to express.

The initial form can be changed, and each player can master multiple monster forms, each possessing a special ability.

"Very interesting setting!" Killing Intent Moved in the team nodded at this time:

"Can I understand it this way: containing Origin Monsters is a world-class main quest shared by all players. Players who complete the containment can not only enjoy rich rewards exclusively but also bring shared monster form choices to all players."

[That’s right.]

"By the way, what does the Crescent Moon displayed in the top right corner of the map mean?"

[The moon phases in different regions of the Monster World are different. The intensity is divided into five levels from low to high: Crescent Moon, Last Quarter Moon, First Quarter Moon, Full Moon, and Great Evil Moon. The lower the intensity of the region, the lower the level of evil spirits that appear. The higher the intensity, the higher the level of evil spirits. However, the intensity of monsters is not affected by the moon phase. They can move freely in regions of any moon phase intensity. Great Evil Moon scenes may contain low-level monsters, and Crescent Moon scenes may contain high-level monsters...]

The Guide's detailed explanation gave Li Zheng and the others a preliminary understanding of the game's world background.

This was a broken world invaded by a terrifying black tide, where a large number of evil spirits descended with the black tide, wreaking havoc in the Monster World.

The main life forms of the world are divided into three types.

They are Origin Monsters, Monsters, and Evil Spirits.

Among them, Evil Spirits are evil life forms that descended with the black tide. Their range of activity is affected by the changes in moon phases, and high-level evil spirits only appear during high-intensity moon phase stages.

Origin Monsters and Monsters are the indigenous life forms of this world, and their range of activity is not affected by moon phases.

Among the three life types, the most important to players are Origin Monsters. After killing them, they can be contained in the containment wall beneath Di Zhong Village and become a form that all players can choose.

"Let’s go. It’s time to level up."

After a preliminary understanding of the worldview, Li Zheng led the remaining nine players in the team toward the Di Zhong Mountain Range.

At the foot of the mountain range was an ancient battlefield.

Tattered flags, broken armor, snapped weapons... piled up like mountains on the ground.

After walking less than a hundred meters, Li Zheng and the others encountered an evil spirit life form.

A two-meter-tall bone soldier slowly rose from the pile of bones, its tattered armor sliding to the ground. It turned its head to look at Li Zheng and the others, and ink-colored flames suddenly ignited within its pitch-black skull.

The overly realistic environment, coupled with the sudden appearance of the monster, startled Li Zheng and the others.

Focusing their gaze, the analysis information of the bone soldier appeared in the minds of Li Zheng and the other players.

[Cursed Soldier (Evil Spirit)]:

Hunting Level: 3

Target Introduction: A life form infected by the corrosive power of the terrifying black tide. In life, it was a devout believer in Di Zhao, and after death, it was transformed into a Cursed Soldier under the infection of the black tide's power.

"So smelly!"

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt covered his nose with his hand, his expression disgusted:

"Too realistic. This stench is making me dizzy."

"Stop talking nonsense. Let’s kill monsters and level up first." Li Zheng took the lead. In a split second, his body switched to Black-Armored Snake form, he launched himself, opened his bloody mouth, and bit straight toward the Cursed Soldier:

"Evil Snake Out of the Cage!"

Seeing Li Zheng take action, "Leopard Head Zero-Spend" in the team decisively bared his teeth and followed, switching to monster form while roaring:

"Second Snake Out of the Cave!"

"Third Snake Out of the Water."

"Fourth Snake Lunging!"

"Fifth Snake... whatever, Awoo!"

The players from the Hardcore group switched to monster forms simultaneously, shouting as they lunged at the Cursed Soldier, surrounding it and launching a fierce attack.

After a brief exchange, finding that biting couldn't break the Cursed Soldier's defense, Li Zheng and the other players decisively changed their combat strategy, attempting to kill the Cursed Soldier by strangulation.

"Big Snake Entanglement."

"Second Snake Follows Entanglement."

"Third Snake Follows Too."

This move was effective. Six Black-Armored Snakes entangled the Cursed Soldier simultaneously. As their bodies tightened, the sound of bones breaking continuously rang out from the Cursed Soldier, and it collapsed to the ground.

The other four players weren't idle either.

The two players who chose the Gargoyle form used their sharp claws to pull the Cursed Soldier's lower limbs from two directions, restricting it from getting up. The two players who chose the Owl-Headed Demon form used their sharp beaks to fiercely chisel at the ink-colored flame in the Cursed Soldier's head.

In less than a moment, the Cursed Soldier was dismantled by the fierce players, turning into a pile of bones.

At this moment, a black fog emerged from the head of the dead Cursed Soldier, flew toward one of the players in the team, and seeped into their body after making contact.

Suddenly, a prompt popped up in the team channel:

[Challenger Hint: Player "Family Shared Godfather" killed Evil Spirit: Cursed Soldier, gained Life Evolution Points +30, Sacrifice Power Reward: 5]

In the surprised expressions of Li Zheng and the others, Family Shared Godfather's body grew a size larger at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a fleeting Level +1 prompt appeared above his head.

"Uh, I think I leveled up. It seems only the killer gets the reward; it can't be shared." Seeing the gnashing expressions of his brothers, Family Shared Godfather's expression was a bit awkward.

"Thief, stealing my growth luck, take a bite from me."

"You have disappointed your father too much. Let’s see how the family law serves you."

"Although you didn't mean it, eating alone is wrong. We agreed to get stronger together, but you abandoned us and reached level 2 early. I won't feel better until I peck you once. Die!"

Looking at the brothers surrounding him with unfriendly faces, Family Shared Godfather decisively admitted defeat, but what he received was the heavy punches of his brothers.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 5 =====