Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 9 - : Origin of the Tenth Generation

Monster World, Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Ancient Battlefield.

A skeleton burning with ink-colored flames wanders aimlessly, surrounded by piles of debris and shattered weapons.

"To become a powerful hunter, first learn to hide yourself and seek opportunities for sneak attacks."

"Then lock onto your target, gather strength, swift as the wind, kill with a single blow... Ahhh!"

Accompanied by Li Zheng's shout in the regional voice channel, players lying on the ground playing dead suddenly leap up, twist their bodies in mid-air to switch to Monster Form, and pounce on the First Generation Primordial Monster "Bone Fire".

By this time, Li Zheng and the others had all leveled up to 5, their Body Strength more than doubled from the start, and their figures had significantly grown.

This was their third encounter with Bone Fire.

The first two contacts were an undeniable defeat, sparking Li Zheng and the others' competitive desire.

Most importantly, they discovered a special game mechanic that could help them kill monsters above their level.

This game had no monster rollback setting!

The so-called monster rollback setting refers to a common game mechanic where, if the player disengages from a monster fight and leaves a certain range, the monster would automatically return to its territory and recover all health, removing any negative effects the player had applied.

But this game had no such setting.

All damage inflicted by players on monsters would be preserved.

For example, the bite marks they left on Bone Fire in their previous fight did not disappear upon their deaths; when they engaged Bone Fire again, they found the same bite marks.

This gave them the possibility to defeat higher-level monsters by whittling down their health.

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

Of course, this was all predicated on the monster's self-healing ability being slow.

The tactic of whittling down health would be pointless against monsters with a strong self-healing ability, but against Bone Fire, which lacked such ability, the tactic was perfectly viable.

Compared to their first encounter, this time Bone Fire's body was covered in bite marks, particularly its left leg which was nearly broken.

All these injuries were caused by their attrition warfare.

This time, Li Zheng and the other players continued to focus their attack on Bone Fire's left leg.

Upon contact with Bone Fire, their monstrous bodies were ignited by the ink-colored flames; enduring the scorching pain, they wrapped around Bone Fire, tearing at its nearly disintegrating left leg.

Before long, the leg bone, already full of cracks, finally gave in under the strain and shattered, causing the body to tilt and fall to the ground.

Chi Tu and other watching players decisively rushed forward, joining the battle.

The Black Armored Snake's binding and tearing, the stone-statue ghost's frontal heavy punch, the Eagle-Headed Demon's beak strike... Bone Fire, overwhelmed by the relentless assault, finally could not hold on; the ink-colored crystal stone in its skull exploded, and the ink-colored flames engulfing its body extinguished.

Black mist emanated from the dead Bone Fire's body, dispersing into ten parts in the air, each drifting towards Li Zheng and the others.

Their bodies made contact with the black mist, absorbing the energy within, and a scarlet glow swept across their skin.

The surging energy within made their bodies rapidly grow.

The ink-colored flames still burning on their bodies dissipated as well.

The body remodeling that came with the level up restored them to peak condition.

At this moment, thick smoke once again appeared on the body of the dead Bone Fire. It was possible to see a miniaturized outline of Bone Fire's form, flickering in and out of visibility within the billowing black smoke.

The nearest Guiding Water Ball suddenly opened its mouth, and instantly the Life Soul of Bone Fire was sucked in, transported in a flash to the fourth compartment of the containment wall, reassembling into Bone Fire within.

At that moment, a pale blue energy hose extended from the top of the compartment and connected to the confined Bone Fire's skull, beginning to continuously extract sacrificial power benefits.

At the same time, Li Zheng and the others received continuous notifications in their minds:

[Challenger Tips: Contained First Generation Primordial Monster Bone Fire, completing the Primordial Hunting mission.]

Mission Reward 1: All participants receive 1000 points of sacrificial power (reward amount affected by the number of participants)

Mission Reward 2: All participants receive free access to open a second Life Soul Slot.

"Awesome, we finally took it down!"

"Hahaha, guys, this feeling is fantastic, the joy I've long missed."

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"1000 points of sacrificial power gain, much faster than killing Curse Soldiers!"

After the excitement, Li Zheng turned to the Guiding Water Ball floating beside him, and asked curiously:

"Guidance, how much sacrificial power is needed to normally unlock the second life soul slot?"

[Unlocking the second life soul slot requires the consumption of 500 points of sacrificial power.]

"Does that mean we can embed the second life soul now?"

[Correct, the function panel has the Star Vein Inlay feature, and you can now embed the second monster life soul to unlock the second monster form.]

Following the guidance given, Li Zheng summoned the function panel.

There were seven options displayed: Map, Spatial Baggage, Character Details, Star Vein Enhancement, Item Mall, Resource Sacrifice, System Settings.

He clicked on the Star Vein function, and the inner view of his body appeared in his mind.

The spinal column was as luminous as the Milky Way, with his human form at the topmost part, and the first socket below embedded with the Black Armored Snake Life Soul.

To the right was the control panel, which displayed detailed information about the Star Vein.

[Challenger: Game Working Party]

Certification Name: Li Zheng

Star Vein Level: 2 (Next Level Sacrificial Power Consumption: 2000)

Star Vein Inlay Slots: 2

Embedded Monster Life Soul 1: Black Armored Snake Lv5 (Trait: Vicious Poison)

Embedded Monster Life Soul 2: None

...

On the right side of the Star Vein attribute panel was a "Purchase Life Soul" option.

Upon consciousness tap, the screen switched to the monster life soul mall.

Before Li Zheng's eyes, four embeddable options were presented.

1. Petrification (Stone-statue ghost Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Traits: After using the ability, the body enters an immobile petrified state, significantly reducing damage from any form of attack (effects are affected by the physical fitness).

Purchase Consumption: 1000 sacrificial power.

2. Resentful Chant (Eagle-Headed Demon Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Traits: After using the ability, can preemptively warn of nearby dangers (malice, hostility, aura, fluctuations).

Purchase Consumption: 1000 sacrificial power.

3. Fierce Poison (Black Armored Snake Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Traits: Any form of physical damage is accompanied by a poisoning effect, inflicting continuous damage on the target (the potency of the poison is affected by physical fitness).

Purchase Consumption: Already owned, cannot be purchased again.

4. Ink Flame (Bone Fire Form: First Generation Origin):

Monster Traits: Consumes spiritual power to release Death Intense Flame, which can be controlled by conscious will, causing continuous burning and deathly infiltration damage to the target when hit (specific damage is affected by the Monster Level and spiritual strength).

Purchase Consumption: 1000 sacrificial power.

...

"Guidance, what does the suffix 'First Generation Origin' mean attached to the monster life soul?" Li Zheng asked the Guiding Water Ball curiously.

[Emperor Zhao created primordial monsters and conducted ten mysterious experiments in total, each time divesting a part of his own power. The Primordial Life Balls from the first batch were scattered around Monster World and eventually evolved into First Generation Origin, while 'Second Generation' refers to the second batch of created primordial life. The same logic applies onwards.]

[The process of Emperor Zhao's self-divestment was from weak to strong. The power traits of the First Generation Origin are the weakest, and those of the Tenth Generation Origin are the strongest. Therefore, the potential for growth of a Tenth Generation Origin monster is far higher than that of a First Generation Origin monster... But potential for growth does not necessarily indicate strength; there could be Second Generation Origin monsters with low Hunting Levels, while some First Generation Origin monsters might have extremely high Hunting Levels.]

"I see."

Understanding the meaning behind the monster suffixes, Li Zheng fell into thought.

There were three choices before him at this stage: Eagle-Headed Demon, Stone-Statue Ghost, and Bone Fire.

Among them, the elemental damage of Bone Fire was not compatible with the Vicious Poison Trait of the Black Armored Snake, so that option was eliminated first.

Of the remaining two, Eagle-Headed Demon leaned towards function assistance, a general-use type of monster trait, while Stone-Statue Ghost tended towards defense.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he decided to exit the Star Vein function interface first and discuss with his companions about the choice to make.

As the inner view faded away, Li Zheng turned to look at his brothers beside him but was surprised to find that Chi Tu had already embedded the second life soul and switched to the Bone Fire Form with ink-colored flames burning all over.