Chapter 323: Players Should Take On The Hardest-core Quests And Fleece The Strongest Npcs
City of Light Chasing, underground of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
In the huge space completely wrapped in unknown metal, Lu Fanchen, Lin Xinyao, and Li Tianxing all could not help but let out a deep sigh of relief as they watched the three-meter-tall robot man stop moving and stand motionless.
“At last we have drained this robot’s energy.” Lu Fanchen swept a glance over the thousands of people lying all over the field and could not help wiping his sweat.
Originally he thought that with their current strength, even if they could not match the robot man, they should still be able to have a proper fight with him. But only after actually crossing hands with the robot man did he realize he had been overconfident.
When they were still only martial artists, the robot man’s attacks were not that terrifying. But after their strength reached the Bone Forging Realm Intermediate Level and they came back in, the robot man was simply like a war god possessed. The greatsword in his hand seemingly had no cooldown at all, and he continuously used transcendent level sequence martial skills.
Even when the three of them activated their transcendent state, they were wiped out in no time, completely no match for him.
Fortunately, with the experience from dealing with the guard robot in Wushan Prison, they united everyone to exhaust the robot man’s energy. After all, in such a realistic High Martial Arts Descend scenario, the robot man’s energy had to be limited. As long as they could force him to continuously expend it in large amounts without replenishment, they would eventually be able to drain him.
It was just that the brutality of this war of attrition was far beyond his expectations.
The robot man’s sequence supernatural level martial skills seemed endless. Only after thousands of players had all died several times did they finally exhaust his energy, and they themselves had almost been sent back again.
“Vice President, we should hurry. I feel this robot is probably recharging now. If we wait until it finishes recharging and moves again, all that effort will be for nothing.” Li Tianxing glanced at the robot man and urged repeatedly.
This time, for Mythical Paradise to be certain of taking down the robot man, they had not only mobilized everyone, but also paid a huge price to hire thousands of players to come, just to create a chance for them. Otherwise, the three of them could not possibly have survived until now.
“Alright.”
Lu Fanchen also could not be bothered to rest. He immediately rushed with Li Tianxing and Lin Xinyao toward the tightly closed metal gate opposite, not daring to delay even half a second.
To drain the robot man’s energy, those hired players were each rewarded with ten thousand points for Organ Refining Realm Martial Artists, and fifty thousand points for Bone Forging Realm Martial Artists, plus the condition that they could freely collect the Molten Crystals in the space after the robot man was drained. In one go, Mythical Paradise had spent over one hundred million points.
Without a version event, saving up over one hundred million points would take Mythical Paradise a very long time. After all, now B-grade battle armor and tier 2 battle armor, as well as many tier 1 and tier 2 weapons, were already all over the street. The exchange price when sold to martial arts halls was much lower than before. It was mainly for earning contribution, and not as profitable as digging energy veins and hunting lord grade and above monsters.
And their own daily expenses as players not only were not decreasing, but instead increasing. There were very few points left over.
If not for the blue quality weapon from the epic quest, they would not have spent so many points.
As the three reached the metal gate twenty meters high, the gate that had been locked seemed to have fully unlocked because the robot man had lost energy.
And when the three pushed open the metal gate, the scene behind it directly stunned them.
“What is going on?”
“Shouldn’t this be the place that produces C-grade and above Primordial Ore?”
Looking inside the gate, one side was a lava hell with flames soaring, the other side was an ice space with bone-piercing cold. Though separated by several hundred meters, they could still clearly feel the scorching heat from the lava hell and the freezing cold from the ice space. This heat and cold were not only temperature; the three could clearly feel scorching and freezing on the level of the soul.
In this vast underground world of lava and ice, at the center hovered a translucent crystal with a radius of one hundred meters. Inside the crystal they could vaguely see a huge figure.
That figure was a woman over fifty meters tall. She wore strange snow-white clothing and had a humanoid appearance similar to the human race, but with four arms. Her eyes were tightly closed as she lay there quietly. One could faintly sense the rhythm of her breathing, which made the three feel a trembling from the soul, not daring to imagine what level of NPC she was.
Danger.
Death.
This kind of instinctive warning from the brain almost made the three slam the gate shut, but a sudden system prompt forcibly stopped that impulse.
System: congratulations, player, for triggering the epic quest “Collection of Earth Vein Essence.” Collect one hundred thousand units of Earth Vein Essence and hand them over to the hall master, and report the relevant situation of the collection area. Reward: rental rights for the Third Floor Training Room of the Cultivation Tower for three natural days. For every additional ten thousand units of Earth Vein Essence collected, an extra reward of five hundred thousand points and two thousand contribution, plus rental rights for the Third Floor Training Room of the Cultivation Tower for three hours.
“Vice President, are we doing this quest?” Lin Xinyao, her face pale, looked at Lu Fanchen with great hesitation.
Although she had only glanced once at the woman inside the translucent crystal, she could feel that this woman was definitely the most terrifying existence she had seen since playing the game. Especially that sense of looming death; this was a feeling that had never appeared in the game before, not even when she had died hundreds of times facing the robot man.
Yet from this woman she felt it, and incomparably strongly.
She felt that if she were attacked by that woman, she might really die.
“Fortune favors the bold.” Lu Fanchen looked at the peerlessly beautiful woman with closed eyes in the distant crystal and said through gritted teeth, “It’s precisely because that woman is terrifying that the quest rewards are so high. Cultivating for three days in the Third Floor Training Room is enough for us to break through to the Bone Forging Realm Advanced Level, not to mention that the more we collect, the more rental time we can get. This is our best chance to surpass Heavenly Might.”
His fear of the woman in the crystal was no less than Lin Xinyao’s, but the Third Floor Training Rooms of the Cultivation Tower were simply impossible to refuse.
One day of cultivation inside, combined with Type Three Energy Potions, could match several days of exercise outside. Three days were equivalent to having more than ten extra days of training compared to others. If they missed this, it would be very hard to encounter such a chance again.
“I agree.” Li Tianxing nodded. Although he was still terrified looking at that woman, he lowered his voice and said, “I feel she should have fallen into a deep sleep. When we look for the Earth Vein Essence later, as long as we do not wake her, there should not be any problem.”
“Alright, then let’s all move more lightly later.” Seeing the determination of the two, Lin Xinyao also offered a reminder.
The three then began to search for things resembling Earth Vein Essence in areas far away from the crystal woman.
Fortunately, the world beyond the gate was a pure world of ice and fire, without any other metal ores. All they could find were pieces of deep purple crystal, with no other items that seemed like Earth Vein Essence, allowing them to confirm that these deep purple crystals were indeed the Earth Vein Essence mentioned in the quest.
The three forced themselves to endure the soul-burning heat and biting cold of this world of ice and fire, collecting Earth Vein Essence as gently as possible, afraid of disturbing the woman in the crystal.
But after Lu Fanchen and the other two had been collecting Earth Vein Essence for over six hours, growing more and more excited and forced to approach the crystal woman, Li Tianxing suddenly made a hand gesture to them, calling them over.
“Tianxing, what is it? I just found quite a bit of Earth Vein Essence over there.” Lin Xinyao complained lightly.
By her estimate, the Earth Vein Essence she had collected by now was close to one hundred thousand units. Together with that small area she had just discovered that held quite a bit of Earth Vein Essence, it would be enough to make up one hundred thousand units and secure the three days of rental rights for the Third Floor Training Room. Compared with having to win those few hours from a weekly PK tournament, this was just too good.
Lu Fanchen also looked at Li Tianxing curiously, not understanding why he suddenly summoned the two of them.
“Look at this thing.”
Li Tianxing carefully took out a fist-sized piece of Earth Vein Essence with a drop of golden liquid on it.
“Liquid formed from molten gold? What use does this have?” Lu Fanchen looked at the golden liquid on the Earth Vein Essence in puzzlement, not understanding why Li Tianxing was being so mysterious.
From the pale golden liquid, he could not feel anything special. There was no dense energy, no strong life force. It was just like melted gold, with no special traits.
“Look over there.” Li Tianxing pointed to the woman in the distant crystal. “Isn’t there a tiny cut on her outer arm? Look at that cut.”
With his prompting, the other two, who had been afraid to look too much, also followed his gaze.
“How can this be! Could it be…” Lu Fanchen stared at the tiny cut on the woman’s outer arm, completely stunned.
At the tiny cut on her outer arm, golden liquid remained. It was clearly the woman’s blood, exactly the same as what Li Tianxing held, only vastly different in quantity.
“What do you think would happen if we consumed this NPC’s blood? Would it be even better than a monster’s blood?” Li Tianxing said with a smile.
Back when they hunted the lord monster in the wilderness area, they had shamelessly exploited it. With the blood of that Two-Horned Leopard, they had made rapid progress in a short time.
Now here was a terrifying NPC whose level was clearly far beyond that of the Two-Horned Leopard. It was easy to imagine that this NPC’s blood must be extremely valuable, possibly even more rewarding than this epic quest.
“Tianxing, you are amazing. You even managed to find this.” Lin Xinyao was excited as well.
The woman NPC before them was obviously stronger than the legendary Heavenly Human Realm Martial Artists, an NPC that surpassed the current game version. Being able to get even the tiniest bit of benefit from such an NPC would allow them to dominate the current 0 Game Version.
Lu Fanchen’s breathing turned slightly rapid as he urged, “Quick. Since a drop of that blood can fall onto one piece of Earth Vein Essence, there must be other places where it dripped.”
The three of them then searched for golden blood while continuing to collect Earth Vein Essence. After carefully combing through the area around the crystal woman for most of the day, they finally gathered twelve drops of golden blood. Only then did they, very reluctantly, leave a resurrection device in this world of ice and fire.
After binding the resurrection point, each of them carried a person-sized storage box and retreated quickly, avoiding any entanglement with the robot man at the gate, who had finished recharging. They left at top speed.
Chiyue Town, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, inside an advanced training room.
“You three did well. You not only exceeded the quest requirements, but also discovered the secret beneath the martial arts hall.” Lin Qi praised after hearing their report. “For this quest, your rewards will each be increased by an extra fifty percent.”
“Thank you, Master of the Pavilion. This is what we should do as disciples.” The three were overjoyed at first, then responded respectfully.
A fifty percent increase in quest rewards meant their original three days would become four and a half, and every additional ten thousand units of Earth Vein Essence would also grant four and a half hours. This quest was simply a massive profit.
With so much rental time, they even had the opportunity to reach the Bone Forging Realm Advanced Level Limit in a short time and become the first batch of players to assault the Blood Condensation Realm.
“I knew it. That woman NPC is indeed prepared by the game for the next version.” Li Tianxing sighed softly. “This game is really meticulous. Even though we don’t know how long until the next Game Version, they have already filled in some of the details and plot for it. I really don’t know how big they want to make this game. Just the existing map is enough for tens of billions of people to play for years.”
“I guess the ambition of this game isn’t limited to within the country.” Lu Fanchen nodded in agreement. “Maybe they will open an internal test for foreign regions later and turn High Martial Arts Descend into a global Second World. With the current level of technology in this game, they can definitely do it.”
“Global players all playing it?” Lin Xinyao could not help feeling excited after hearing this.
If High Martial Arts Descend were truly made into a global game, its value would undoubtedly rise several levels again, possibly completely changing the current virtual game world and the real world. And they would be among the first players to enjoy the dividends.
After the three of them left the advanced training room chatting, Lin Qi’s expression became somewhat grave.
“A woman beyond the Heavenly Human Realm?”
Thinking of such a woman hidden beneath the martial arts hall, Lin Qi felt a chill in his heart.
Fortunately, nothing had gone wrong during the development of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
Otherwise, if such a terrifying woman had accidentally been woken by battle fluctuations, the entire Obsidian Martial Arts Hall might have been instantly reduced to ashes. Although he had now relocated to Chiyue Town, he could not say it was safe. For an existence on that level, wiping out a city with a flip of the hand would be nothing, let alone destroying Chiyue Town one hundred kilometers away.
However, there was at least some comfort.
Based on Lu Fanchen and the others’ description, there should be a large amount of Earth Vein Essence there for modifying beginner mental secret towers. That meant he would no longer have to worry about beginner mental secret tower issues, especially since the three had brought back over six hundred and thirty thousand units of Earth Vein Essence.
Transforming a beginner mental secret tower was very simple. They only needed to use energy ore to build a three-story tower twelve meters high, then spend thirty thousand units of Earth Vein Essence to transform it.
Six hundred and thirty thousand units of Earth Vein Essence were enough to create twenty-one beginner mental secret towers.
The improvement to spirit from these beginner mental secret towers was secondary. More crucial was that they could halve the resurrection time for players within a twenty-kilometer radius, which was heaven-defying for players.
As player strength grew, resurrection time grew longer. By now, a Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist already needed about seventy minutes to resurrect, while martial artists were around fifty minutes. If the resurrection time were halved, player combat power in the wilderness would more than double.
“Those players complain every day that resurrection time is too long. Now I am giving them this opportunity.” Looking at the beginner mental secret towers that could now be constructed, Lin Qi smiled and opened the system panel.
It was obviously impossible for him to provide such resurrection-time-halving beginner mental secret towers for free. As mature players, they should learn to build their own towers, guard their own towers, and conquer the world themselves.
Lin Qi then notified all players that the martial arts hall had opened the redemption permissions for beginner mental secret towers. Any core disciple of the martial arts hall could redeem one with three hundred million points and one hundred thousand contribution, as long as they constructed the tower structure according to the requirements.
Meanwhile, in the martial arts hall lounge.
The three, Lu Fanchen and his companions, gathered together. They did not rush to the Cultivation Tower; instead, they took out the golden blood obtained from the world of ice and fire.
“We don’t yet know what effect this golden blood has. Which of us will try it?” Lu Fanchen asked the other two.
Without knowing the effect of the woman NPC’s blood, to ensure they could maximize its use later, one person needed to test it first. Such a test would undoubtedly waste one drop of golden blood. They had only collected twelve drops in total, four each, and once used, it was one less.
“I will do it.” Lin Xinyao volunteered. “My head has already exploded four times. My spirit should be the highest among the three of us. Even if it is wasted, the loss will be the smallest.”
“Alright, then we leave it to you, Xinyao.” Lu Fanchen said, taking out one drop of golden blood for her, and added, “If we can find more golden blood next time we go there, you will get priority for one drop.”
Li Tianxing also nodded in agreement, feeling this was the best choice for now.
“Then I will start.”
Lin Xinyao took the golden blood, took a deep breath, and drank it in one gulp.
