Chapter 87: The Disdain Chain of the Starsea Races! The Small Village on Woniu Mountain!
【Player "Little Bell" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +1600!】
【Player "Ye Li Meng" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +2000!】
【Player "Lone Boat" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +2000!】
【……】
This squad was completely wiped out.
In one breath, they brought 8800 points of essence.
Current territory essence reserve: 144,000!
The essence dropped from the deaths of high-level players was indeed plentiful!
The results and efficiency of this operation were very satisfying!
Hang Yu had already seen the opposing territory’s vassal soldiers through the Lord’s perspective.
"My opponent this time is a Dragon Lizard race lord?" Hang Yu muttered to himself while stroking his chin. "Although it's a bit tricky, the situation isn’t too bad."
The Dragon Lizard race had little to do with dragons.
Rather, it was a rare mutation among lizardmen.
Lizardmen were merely a lower race, whose innate conditions were not much better than humans.
Of course, as a rare variant among lizardmen, Dragon Lizards were not only naturally stronger, but also possessed more powerful magical abilities, placing them at a mid-level among the myriad races of the Starsea, and could not be taken lightly.
The players were attacked so quickly.
At least two things could be inferred from this.
First, this lord was very vigilant, immediately deploying forces at the first moment.
Second, the Dragon Lizard Lord’s strength was not weak, and he had a considerable degree of control over the Woniu Mountain area; otherwise, without enough Blessed Teleportation Points, it would have been impossible for his vassals to be deployed near the Mist Gate so quickly.
Hang Yu knew well that those who could successfully map the Abyss World’s Eternal Night Layer were not necessarily top-tier lords, but at least they were not mediocre; lower races simply could not survive in such places.
What was a higher race?
What was a lower race?
In theory, every Starsea race had nearly infinite growth potential; the difference between higher and lower races lay not in their maximum potential but in their starting point.
Some races were born with high-level strength and powerful combat skills — these were higher races.
Some races lacked innate strength and skills — these were lower races.
The starting lines were different.
That was the only difference!
Although it seemed like the difference was not that great — since the maximum potential was infinite — theoretically, even the weakest race could grow to become the strongest, shouting out proudly, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; my fate is determined by myself, not by heaven!"
But in reality.
The Starsea races’ disdain chain was rigid and strict.
It was almost impossible for lower races to make a comeback.
Because lower races could usually only develop in the shallow layers of the Abyss, where resources were far inferior to the deeper layers, and thus the lords that grew there often would not be strong.
Then was it possible?
For lower races to grow in the deeper Abyss?
This possibility was not zero, but it was close to none.
Take the Human Lords for example; their starting difficulty was hellish, and even if they worked hard for a year or half, they might still struggle to gather thirty thousand essence points.
Even if they finally cultivated a high-level unit.
A single mistake or accident could wipe it out completely!
Hang Yu managed to clear the first map in ten days entirely because he had the undying, invincible Fourth Calamity Army.
Now, players killing a Yellow Turban Headless Fiend Soldier could earn 500 essence points, and even if they were accidentally counter-killed, there would be no major loss; instead, it would increase the territory’s essence reserves.
For every 1 point of essence a player lost.
Hang Yu could gain 5–10 times that amount.
Under such a terrifying multiplication effect, Hang Yu almost never had to worry about a shortage of essence. He could even multiply the players' losses through tasks, thereby creating a positive cycle for his territory.
Meanwhile, a normal lord killing a Yellow Turban Headless Fiend Soldier would only get 50 essence points, and if they accidentally lost a level-7 soldier during the process — even one without any skill training — the permanent loss would still exceed 5000 essence points.
Killing a hundred Headless Fiend Soldiers would not make up for it.
Because every soldier had to be nurtured from level 1, normal lords required a tremendous amount of time to develop and grow, and every organized hunt had to be extremely cautious.
A single misstep could return them to square one; how could their efficiency possibly be high in such fear and hesitation?
Not to mention.
The fallen ones in the deeper Abyss were powerful and keen.
They would not give a lord a year or even three to five years to slowly train and grow.
If a lord could not quickly rise within a month, they would be wiped out by Abyss forces with no chance of recovery, unable even to survive the arrival of the second Day of Ultimate Darkness, almost guaranteeing no chance for growth.
This was why.
Those forces that had initially intended to invest in Hang Yu.
All withdrew after learning that his Abyss was located on the Eternal Night Layer.
To be fair, if Hang Yu had been the investor, he too would not have chosen such a low-success-rate project.
At such depths, it was simply unsuitable for lower races; only mid-to-upper-tier races were qualified to develop there. And because the deeper Abyss had extremely rich resources, it could cultivate powerful lords, further consolidating the status of mid-to-upper races.
The Dragon Lizard race was not a very powerful race.
But according to Hang Yu’s knowledge, the vassals of this race, once summoned, already had the strength of levels 6–8, and their innate skill quantity and level were quite impressive, capable of forming good combat strength without the need for further training.
Not enough to dominate the Eternal Night Layer.
But they held a considerable advantage at least for the first two maps.
Under such circumstances, it was indeed possible to attract investment, and as long as there was investment and Abyssal Magic Crystals, more troops could be recruited to quickly form combat power, and then cultivate even stronger soldiers.
Barring accidents.
The Dragon Lizard Lord, upon descending into the Abyss, would already be around level 9–10.
Sweeping through the first Abyss region would not be difficult under such conditions; although normal lords found it extremely difficult and inefficient to obtain Abyssal Essence Points, it should not be hard for the Dragon Lizard Lord to break through to Tier 2, and he would have a very powerful army.
The Dragon Lizard vassal army that Ye Li Meng and the others encountered.
The leaders among them were all level 10 existences.
This alone was enough to prove.
Hang Yu estimated that for now, whether in terms of troop numbers or troop strength, he was far inferior to the Dragon Lizard Lord, but he did not worry because of this.
First of all, Hang Yu was also a Tier 2 Lord.
He had plenty of essence to upgrade his troops.
Secondly, as a latecomer, Hang Yu had triggered the protection of the Will of the Stars and now enjoyed a seven-day protection period.
During these seven days, Hang Yu’s forces could freely enter and exit Woniu Mountain, but the Dragon Lizard Lord could not counterattack Luoshui Base Camp. This time advantage might mean little to normal lords, but for Hang Yu, it meant a lot could be done.
At this moment.
【Player "Niu Shisan" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +1600!】
【Player "Artist Faction Leader" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +2000!】
【Player "Little Brother Ma" has died, Abyssal Essence Points +1600!】
【……】
Another squad was wiped out.
The Artist Faction Leader’s team was particularly unlucky.
They did not die at the hands of monsters, nor did they encounter an ambush from the Dragon Lizard vassals, but purely wandered into a poisonous miasma forest and were eventually poisoned to death by the deadly gases.
Hang Yu was speechless about this.
But it was not really surprising.
In the Abyss World, danger lurked in every corner; not only Abyssal monsters or other Starsea opponents could kill, but also natural traps and environments could easily annihilate an entire squad.
For lords exploring new environments.
It was truly a matter of staking their lives.
The Artist Faction Leader’s squad had a total of seven members: one level-8 player, four level-7 players, and two level-6 players, collectively recovering 10,900 Abyssal Essence Points.
In just a short while.
The essence reserve had already reached around 150,000 to 160,000.
This amount of essence could help several personal guards break through to Tier 2.
Hang Yu believed that even if the opposing Dragon Lizard Lord had a high starting point, with his pitiful efficiency in acquiring essence, it would be unlikely for him to cultivate a large group of Tier 2 vassals, and he wondered what reaction he would have upon seeing Tier 2 human units.
Two squads had been wiped out and returned.
There were still several squads continuing their operations on Woniu Mountain.
Hang Yu noticed that Black-Eyed Rui Ge and others had also entered Woniu Mountain, and he was looking forward to their performance, hoping they could achieve some breakthroughs in the next phase.
To this end.
He would continue to keep an eye on them.
And would issue missions at any time to guide them.
Hang Yu could easily control the overall situation without leaving his home.
Every player and every squad was a piece he sent out to seize the enemy’s territory; these pieces not only had decent qualities and adaptability, but he, as the player of the game, could also make bold attempts without worry.
…………
At this moment.
Near the Lord Core.
Lone Boat and Ye Li Meng revived one after another.
The five of them quickly opened their information panels to check the notifications.
【Ding, your team has completed the "Investigate the Demon Lord" mission and received 3000 essence points and 5000 contribution points as rewards (to be divided among participating team members)!】
Everyone was pleasantly surprised.
The gains from this trip were beyond imagination.
First, they had killed thirty-one Stone Monsters, obtaining 13,950 essence points, plus 3000 points from the mission reward, for a total of 16,950 essence points, each able to split 3390 experience.
What did this mean?
It only took 3000 essence points to level up from level 7 to level 8.
Iron Armor Technique needed only 3000 essence points to upgrade from level 1 to level 10!
Each of them could also get 1000 contribution points.
And all this only took a little over half a day!
Mad Blade Old Wang and Chenxi used the essence points to directly level up to 8.
Little Bell went to the Skill Tower to max out her Taiping Lightning Spell and learned the latest magic skill, Chain Lightning.
Ye Li Meng directly learned the Earth Shock Wave skill and upgraded it to level 8 in one go, while Lone Boat learned the Qi Gathering Slash and maxed it out, becoming the first ranger to master a full-level Qi Gathering Slash.
It was amazing!
Even though they were ambushed!
They had still made a huge profit.
However, just as they were about to celebrate.
Level 8 Warlock Artist Faction Leader, level 7 Warrior Niu Shisan, and others came over.
It turned out that the territory had updated its missions again, and the Lord had begun offering bounties for Dragon Lizard soldiers; killing one would yield rich rewards, related to the target’s strength.
Niu Shisan and the Artist Faction Leader came over to cooperate.
Artist Faction Leader said, "Not long ago, Rui Ge and the others just unlocked a new teleportation point. This point is very close to the Abyss Mist Gate. We can quickly return to Woniu Mountain."
Niu Shisan said, "These demon lackeys will never expect that behind the recon team, there’s another recon team. If we turn around and attack now, we can definitely catch them off guard!"
Hearing this, Ye Li Meng became very active.
So he asked, "What do you all think?"
Little Bell said excitedly, "What else is there to say? These stinky lizards ambushed and killed us. This grudge must be repaid!"
Mad Blade Old Wang nodded and said, "Although their level is high, with the addition of Artist Faction Leader’s group, our strength may not necessarily be weaker."
Chenxi said, "This is indeed a merit-worthy opportunity worth trying!"
Lone Boat said, "Let’s give it a shot!"
Ye Li Meng laughed heartily, "Good! Since everyone agrees, let’s make a surprise attack. After all, the worst result is just dying once again. If we succeed, it will be a big win!"
Hang Yu observed from behind the scenes.
He had just adjusted the mission and issued the bounty.
Ye Li Meng, Artist Faction Leader, and others immediately responded.
Hang Yu was quite satisfied with this; in fact, compared to the Dragon Lizard elites, the Fourth Calamity Army’s current strength still had a big gap, but whether they achieved something or were wiped out again, he would not suffer any losses.
"Eh, looks like Black-Eyed Rui Ge’s side has found something too!"
Through the Lord’s perspective, Hang Yu saw Black-Eyed Rui Ge’s team.
They were cautiously exploring the Woniu Mountain map.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge learned that the mission to investigate the enemy lord’s race had already been completed by Ye Li Meng’s team, so they decided to tackle the remaining two reconnaissance missions.
One was to find local natives and enter a native settlement.
The other was to capture a stronghold in Woniu Mountain.
Without a doubt.
The first task was relatively easier.
So Black-Eyed Rui Ge and his team started searching everywhere for traces of humans, hoping to find a native settlement and make contact before the other teams.
This was not an easy task.
After all, Woniu Mountain’s map was quite large.
Just as the Luoshui Execution Ground map was not merely a single execution ground.
The Woniu Mountain map certainly contained more than just one mountain.
The reason the map was called Woniu Mountain was likely because it had the core pollution source; in fact, the scale of the Woniu Mountain map was very large, at least three to four times bigger than the Luoshui Execution Ground map, featuring all kinds of terrain.
"Look over there!"
Salted Fish Thrust suddenly spotted something.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge quickly stepped forward. "What is it?"
Following Salted Fish Thrust’s pointing direction, they saw that at the foot of the mountain ahead, there was a faintly visible small village, about the size of Hexi Village, surrounded by several newly cultivated fields, and seemed to be backed by a small mining hill.
"It’s a village!"
"And there are people!"
"It’s not an abandoned village like Heting Township or Shangyang Township!"
Chimera Wraith cried out excitedly, because for a story-loving player like her, the attraction of such native NPCs was simply irresistible; they could surely obtain a lot of useful plot and intelligence information.
"What are we waiting for? Let’s go and take a look!"
Midnight Pig Slayer couldn’t wait. "After all, this is so far the only inhabited village besides Hexi Village. If we can help the Lord capture it, it would undoubtedly be another major merit!"
"Don’t act rashly! Also, don't forget, these natives are usually hostile to outsiders!"
Black-Eyed Rui Ge carefully observed the village again. "Besides, something seems off about this village. It feels different from Hexi Village. We should be as cautious as possible."
That said.
Having finally discovered a village.
Emotionally and logically, they had to go and explore.
Even knowing there could be danger, it was still worth the risk and loss, because at worst, they would just die once, and compared to completing missions or triggering new plotlines, this risk and cost were nothing.
Of course.
Just because players were not afraid.
Didn’t mean they were careless.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge had the others stay hidden in the woods to provide support, while he activated Shadow Step to vanish instantly, sneaking toward the village in stealth to conduct a covert reconnaissance.