Chapter 267: Gathering Monsters
Chapter 267: Gathering Monsters
"Wolf Soul Wood."
Ji Xinghuo stood on a mountain ridge, gazing at the forest ahead.
Lurking within the seemingly tranquil trees were dozens of monsters. They resembled wolves, their bodies over two meters long and made of wood. Their rough skin resembled tree bark, and their shoulders and backs were adorned with lush green leaves that blended seamlessly with the surrounding bushes and shrubs, making them difficult to spot.
However, they were far too noticeable in electromagnetic induction.
Like the Serrated Mantises, Wolf Soul Wood was a common monster, frequently encountered in Level 1 areas. But they were adept at ambushing, waiting for their prey to enter their encirclement before attacking.
"You need to kill 24 Wolf Soul Wood to gain 1 Eternal Day Merit Point."
Ji Xinghuo clicked his tongue.
There were only about forty monsters in this group, and killing them would yield just 2 merit points.
He pretended not to have noticed and descended from the ridge, venturing into the forest. His electromagnetic induction constantly scanned the surroundings, ensuring there were no other monsters nearby.
Soon, Ji Xinghuo found himself within the encirclement of the Wolf Soul Wood.
The surrounding forest remained still, with the dozens of monsters biding their time as if waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Swoosh!
Ji Xinghuo took the initiative, pulling the trigger on his Crystal Light Gun and releasing a high-speed beam that blasted the nearest Wolf Soul Wood into pieces, its wooden body and leaves exploding. The rest of the hidden monsters were startled by the cry, emerging from their hiding places and surrounding him from all sides.
The swaying trees and bushes concealed the approaching green shadows.
The Wolf Soul Wood was adept at using dense vegetation to their advantage in attacks.
However, these tactics were useless against Ji Xinghuo. He stood his ground, continuously firing his gun while adjusting its direction, maintaining a rapid rhythm.
Each beam of scorching light was directed differently, yet it always managed to precisely penetrate the layers of leaves and bushes, striking the Wolf Soul Wood hiding behind.
Occasionally, Ji Xinghuo would turn around.
As if he had eyes on his back, he would shoot a beam from his gun, blasting the Wolf Soul Wood that had pounced to within a few meters.
The rapid gunfire continued for half a minute before finally ceasing.
Over forty Wolf Soul Wood lay in pieces around Ji Xinghuo, the closest one still five meters away from him. He remained unscathed.
"Easy!"
"This is the kind of battle I want."
Ji Xinghuo smiled calmly, glancing at the interface of the Myriad phenomenon Star Pupil. His spiritual source energy had increased by 45 points. He then opened the Eternal Day badge, which showed an increase of 2 merit points. This was likely due to the combination of yesterday's kill of the Serrated Mantis and the required merit, otherwise, it would have only been 1 point.
"That makes 7 merit points now."
He closed the badge's light screen and looked at the Wolf Soul Wood corpses on the ground, walking over to inspect them. The Spore Bats from yesterday had self-destructed, and the Serrated Mantises had been blown to smithereens by the laser cannon, leaving no bodies to examine. He hadn't found any of their exotic species.
The dead Wolf Soul Wood resembled nothing more than a piece of wood.
As he reached out to touch one, information appeared before his eyes.
[Monster: Wolf Soul Wood]
[Level: Common]
[Exotic Species: None]
"It doesn't have any exotic species!" Ji Xinghuo was taken aback, as this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and he couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Despite the ease with which he had dispatched the Wolf Soul Wood, their strength was not to be underestimated. They were slightly stronger than the average common monster, and common monsters in the Star Realm usually had one to two exotic species. Logically, the Wolf Soul Wood should have had at least one corresponding exotic species. This absence seemed abnormal.
Ji Xinghuo inspected several more corpses of the Wolf Soul Wood and found none with exotic species.
"Take a look at this."
After examining over twenty corpses, he finally found one that was different.
[Monster: Wolf Soul Wood]
[Level: Common]
[Exotic Species: Hardy Wood Bark]
Hardy Wood Bark was only a decent exotic species and wasn't particularly valuable.
Subsequently, Ji Xinghuo discovered another exotic species, "Bite and Tear," on another Wolf Soul Wood, but it was just a basic species that no one would want even if it were given away for free.
"The monsters on Planet Earth Abyss are too mysterious," Ji Xinghuo muttered as he collected the Hardy Wood Bark exotic species and stored it in his Dimensional Stomach Bag. Looking at the monster corpses scattered everywhere, he frowned.
From yesterday until now, the three types of monsters he had encountered, regardless of their strength disparity, had only provided 1 point of spiritual source energy each, a fixed amount.
They also had a pitifully small number of exotic species.
However, these monsters were by no means weak, and they even seemed slightly stronger than monsters of the same level.
The strength of the monsters was completely mismatched with his gains.
Ji Xinghuo recalled the information released by the Eternal Day Guardians' website, and his previous speculation that Planet Earth Abyss had been tampered with by someone. Now it seemed that there was a deeper secret behind these monsters and plants.
"In a Level 1 area, it's probably impossible to obtain a large number of exotic species or high-grade ones."
"It's also difficult to rapidly increase spiritual source energy."
He pondered, acknowledging one advantage of Planet Earth Abyss—an abundance of monsters, allowing for a steady absorption of spiritual source energy.
If quality was lacking, quantity could make up for it.
Moreover, not all monsters needed to be slain by his own hand.
Ji Xinghuo looked up at the sky, his enhanced vision unable to spot the space-based weapon system in orbit, but that didn't hinder his thoughts from racing.
With the help of the Crystal English Clan's laser cannons, he could significantly increase his efficiency in acquiring spiritual source energy.
He immediately thought of a game he had played in the past.
"Luring and gathering monsters."
"Make a big commotion to attract more monsters."
Soon, he discovered another group of Wolf Soul Wood, numbering around sixty. Once again, he feigned ignorance and approached to within a few hundred meters before suddenly opening fire with his Crystal Light Gun, the high-temperature beam instantly incinerating several of the distant Wolf Soul Wood. As expected, the rest of the hidden Wolf Soul Wood were startled and charged towards him, howling.
This time, Ji Xinghuo deliberately refrained from shooting and instead turned to flee.
The Wolf Soul Wood were fast.
However, Ji Xinghuo was faster, maintaining a certain distance while using his electromagnetic induction to grasp the surrounding terrain, ensuring he didn't shake off his pursuers.
In the chase, the Wolf Soul Wood saw that they couldn't catch up and were about to give up.
Suddenly, Ji Xinghuo turned back and fired, shooting down one or two of the Wolf Soul Wood, and then slowing down a little, once again enraging the monsters, who continued the pursuit.
"That's it..."
As he ran, Ji Xinghuo paid close attention to his stamina and stellar energy.
With his current physical fitness, without activating the spinning magnetic field to boost his explosive power, he relied solely on his legs to run. Gradually, the Wolf Soul Wood would catch up, but as long as he burst with speed, he could create distance, then stop the burst and maintain a rhythm, allowing his expended stellar energy to gradually recover.
Stamina was even less of an issue; he could run continuously for several days without feeling tired, needing only the occasional food and water to sustain himself.
He glanced back at the pack of Wolf Soul Wood.
They, too, showed no signs of fatigue and relentlessly pursued him.
The monsters on the Abyssal Earth Star all possessed plant-like traits, and photosynthesis granted them exceptional endurance, far surpassing that of the average Evolver. Many Eternal Day Guardians had fallen victim to these relentless monsters, exhausted and then killed.
Ji Xinghuo's electromagnetic induction detected another group of monsters—a pack of over a dozen Spine Balls.
True to their name, Spine Balls resembled spherical hedgehogs, each about two meters in diameter, with dozens of vines growing from their surfaces. These vines could be soft or hard, and their ends were sharp wooden spikes, akin to the hands and feet of the Spine Balls, allowing them to swing and move at high speeds.
Spine Balls were far more dangerous than Serrated Mantises or Wolf Soul Wood; one only needed to defeat twelve of them to gain 1 Eternal Day Merit Point.
They lurked underground, and some even coiled around the giant trees.
Ji Xinghuo changed direction and ran towards them.
From a distance, he raised his Crystal Light Gun and fired at one of the Spine Balls, the high-temperature beam piercing its core. The other Spine Balls immediately scurried towards him, brandishing their tendril-like vines and rolling at incredible speeds.
Once again, he changed his running direction.
Soon, the Spine Balls were left behind, joining the pursuing pack of Wolf Soul Wood.
Ji Xinghuo slightly increased his pace, and over the next hour, he consecutively discovered several more groups of monsters—Wolf Soul Wood, Serrated Mantises, Thorn Vipers, and more. The number of monsters chasing him continued to grow, forming a grand procession like a train, creating quite a ruckus.
Even monsters over a dozen kilometers away were stirred by the commotion.
And they, too, converged towards him.
Ji Xinghuo had long suspected a hidden connection among the monsters of the Abyssal Earth Star. It seemed that even different types of monsters were subject to the same controlling will.
Indeed, a group of Serrated Mantises and two more packs of Wolf Soul Wood appeared simultaneously from the left and right ahead, forming an encirclement that blocked all of his escape routes, as detected by his electromagnetic induction.
In the distant sky, beyond the range of his electromagnetic induction, even more monsters were approaching.
Ji Xinghuo continuously altered his direction.
The encircling monsters adjusted their formation in response.
"Who's commanding them?" Ji Xinghuo's heart chilled. This was a phenomenon that was difficult for ordinary people to notice, and no one on the Eternal Day Guardians' forum had mentioned such a situation.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
More and more monsters gathered, and within a few kilometers radius, the number of monsters exceeded five thousand, as detected by his electromagnetic induction!
The encirclement tightened, constricting Ji Xinghuo's escape options.
In the distant sky, a group of Spore Bats appeared, not as numerous as the previous day's swarm, but still numbering in the thousands. Unless he unleashed his full speed, he would be caught by the Spore Bats, and if they self-destructed upon reaching him, it would spell trouble.
"Time to reap!"
Ji Xinghuo slowed down, adjusted his direction, and fled into a large clearing within the forest.
This was a spot he had chosen beforehand.
At the same time, a large group of Serrated Mantises charged from the front, blocking his path, but Ji Xinghuo had no intention of continuing his flight.
His gaze intensified as he activated his Hyperfrequency Thought.
Spiritual Release!
The Ling Jian (Spirit Sword) bracelet on his left wrist detached with a click, transforming into four half-meter-long hiltless swords—blue, red, purple, and silver. The blue ice sword unleashed a burst of cold, and beside it, eight identical ice swords materialized, bringing the total number of flying swords to twelve.
Ji Xinghuo multitasked, controlling the twelve flying swords to emit colorful sword lights as they shot towards the first wave of over two hundred Serrated Mantises.
The flying swords streaked like twelve vibrant threads of light.
Ji Xinghuo himself raised his Crystal Light Gun and fired at the monsters, the high-temperature beam and the sword lights' damage erupting simultaneously.
(End of Chapter)
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