Chapter 17: Spirit Weapon Build | Monsters Are Coming
For Li Tie, who was dead set on defeating Force Savage, the Dinner Gang members chose to continue supporting him with sacrificial power.
They purchased sacrificial power from Li Zheng and the other gold-farming players at a 50:1 exchange rate, then transferred the sacrificial power to Li Tie via their portable Guides.
This left Li Zheng's group delighted.
While mining, they chatted again in the team chat.
Murderous Intent Rising: I just watched the fight livestream, and I couldn't stop laughing after thinking about Brother Li's explanation. Their situation really is a group of younger folks spending money to fund their Grandpa's soul-raiding journey.
Game Gold-Farmer: Stop laughing and keep mining. Every ore we dig is worth several hundred in profits!
Leopard-Headed F2P: I've heard of this Dinner Gang before from when I played Conquest. They're a pretty strong guild, and the team members are all second-generation rich kids. Hopefully, we can build a long-term partnership with them.
Dirt Poor: Just found another Enerstone! Extra meal tonight, hahaha.
Family-Sharing Stepdad: Brothers, I suggest we save up and buy better pickaxes first. Don't sell all our sacrificial power immediately. We need to grow stronger quickly to make even more profit later.
—
While they cheerfully discussed the Dinner Gang's spending, a regional notification suddenly popped up.
[Challenger Notice (Emperor's Mound Mountain Range): Player 'Iron Forge' has successfully contained the Primordial Monster Force Savage. Exclusive sacrificial power reward: 10,000. Unlocked second star vein slot.]
"Holy crap!"
The gold-farming players mining nearby all burst out in exclamations.
Opening the star vein interface, they discovered a new monster soul available for embedding.
The soul was a battle axe, completely crimson, with glowing red energy swirling on its surface. The edge gleamed coldly, its handle carved with demonic patterns and intricate totems, overwhelmingly fierce in appearance.
[Force Savage (First-Generation Primordial)]
Monster Trait: All physical attacks carry the 'Brute Force' effect, increasing damage by 50%.
Purchase Cost: 1000 sacrificial power.
—
Staring at the newly added monster soul, the gold-farming players suddenly stopped laughing.
In the distance, cheers erupted, clearly, the Dinner Gang was celebrating Li Tie's victory.
"Tsk… he really pulled it off," Dirt Poor marveled.
"No surprise. This was basically the bleed-and-grind tactic we talked about earlier. Back to mining for now. No more selling sacrificial power, clearly hunting monsters generates far more. We still need to strengthen ourselves."
Li Tie's success spurred the gold-farming players to reconsider selling sacrificial power, instead focusing on growing stronger first.
Five hours later.
Another Iron Shell Bug swarm appeared. The gold-farming players, still mining, quickly retreated alongside the Dinner Gang.
Bug swarms were a common occurrence in the Shadowed Cavern.
Continuous mining strikes would attract the Burrower Race deep underground, who would then lead hordes of Iron Shell Bugs to attack.
With their current strength, they couldn't handle the massive swarms controlled by the Burrower Race, so retreating was the best option to avoid entering the one-hour death cooldown.
Once the swarm subsided, they could return to mining.
Outside the cavern, the world remained in its gloomy dark-red hue. There was no day or night here, only a strange crescent moon hanging eternally in the sky.
As the players prepared to hunt monsters and Evil Entities on the Blood-Soaked Plains, another regional notice popped up.
[Challenger Notice (Emperor's Mound Mountain Range): Player 'Iron Forge' has successfully contained First-Generation Primordial Shatter. Exclusive sacrificial power reward: 10,000. Unlocked third star vein slot.]
The sudden message left all players stunned.
In just a few hours, this player called Iron Forge had personally contained a second Primordial Monster.
Many players, spurred on, began searching for Primordial Monsters in the Blood-Soaked Plains and Ancient Battlefield, hoping to claim their own rich rewards.
By the early morning.
Another regional notice appeared:
[Challenger Notice (Emperor's Mound Mountain Range): Player 'Iron Forge' has successfully contained First-Generation Primordial Soul Sever. Exclusive sacrificial power reward: 10,000. Unlocked fourth star vein slot.]
This notification drove the players into a frenzy, flooding the regional chat.
Game Gold-Farmer (Blood-Soaked Plains): Brother Iron Forge, are you accepting disciples? Please take us with you to hunt Primordials!
Family-Sharing Stepdad (Blood-Soaked Plains): Insane! Soloing three Primordials, he's stronger than our entire team combined.
Cute Baby (Ancient Battlefield): Brother Iron Forge, where did you find so many Primordials? Our team wants to try too!
Marble (Ancient Battlefield): We just ran into a First-Generation Primordial with a hunt level of 27 and got instantly wiped. Iron Forge must've found lower-level Primordials. I'm so jealous.
Drunken Milk (Ancient Battlefield): He's probably in the newly refreshed map area 'Spirit Weapon Valley.' We're heading there now.
—
Faced with the barrage of questions in regional chat, Li Tie didn't even glance at them.
At that moment, he received a video call from his granddaughter.
When the call connected, his granddaughter, still in her little fire-chicken form, excitedly shouted.
"Grandpa! We want to watch you challenge the Spirit Weapons!"
"Alright." Li Tie nodded, waving his hand to hide the floating video screen.
He was preparing to challenge the fourth Spirit Weapon.
Before the battle, Li Tie opened the star vein enhancement panel.
Spending 1000 sacrificial power, he removed his initial Gargoyle monster soul, then embedded Force Savage, Soul Sever, and Shatter into his star veins.
Next, he invested all his remaining 30,000 sacrificial power into raising his body tempering level.
Each level cost 10,000 sacrificial power.
After three bursts of white light flashed over him, his body tempering level reached level 3, allowing him to inherit the full traits of three monster souls simultaneously.
Stepping forward, Li Tie entered the Spirit Weapons' sensing range.
Immediately, Sweep Sword and Nether Ghost Staff shot toward him.
Li Tie stomped lightly on the ground. Behind him, three Spirit Weapon projections, representing the embedded star veins, spun and circled his body.
Their trait effects instantly filled his mind.
[Force Savage Lv1]
Monster Trait: All physical attacks carry 'Brute Force' effect, increasing damage by 50%, greatly enhancing strength.
[Soul Sever Lv1]
Monster Trait: All physical attacks carry the 'Soul Sever' effect, inflicting mental shock on the target and leaving a burning Soul Refinement Mark.
[Shatter Lv1]
Monster Trait: All physical attacks carry 'penetration' and 'shatter' effects.
Guide Notice: When hunting and killing monsters in your primary form, evolution points are shared across all monster forms.
—
Facing the incoming Sweep Sword.
Li Tie reached out, Force Savage Axe landed in his hand.
Crimson light spread from his right hand, engulfing his entire body as the Force Savage trait surged through him. Li Tie clearly felt his strength grow dramatically.
"Kill!"
The Force Savage Axe swung forward, directly clashing with the Sweep Sword.
The metallic clash sent the Sweep Sword flying.
But Li Tie didn't press the attack. He deliberately let go of the Force Savage Axe, which turned back into a swirling projection orbiting him.
Next, the Soul Sever Spear appeared in his hand.
The spear wasn't made of metal or iron but had a deep blue-violet hue like condensed starlight. Its shaft was slender and the tip gleamed sharply.
A faint, low roar seemed to echo from within the spear.
The Sweep Sword attacked again.
Pierce!
The spear struck out, meeting the Sweep Sword's edge and knocking it away once more, branding it with a ghostly blue mark.
Without Force Savage's brute strength boost, Li Tie slid backward two meters from the impact.
After regaining his footing, he released the spear, letting it return to its floating orbit.
This time, instead of switching to Shatter's saber, he fused the three Spirit Weapons midair into a single golden warblade.
Watching the livestream, the Dinner Gang members erupted in the voice chat:
Staying Up With Midnight Snacks: Ahhh! Grandpa Iron is too cool! My idol for years! He even dismantled his initial monster form, is he going full Spirit Weapon build now?!
Shrimp Heart Pig Heart: It's so cool! I want to go Spirit Weapon build too! Black-Scaled Serpent isn't nearly as flashy. Even just switching weapons looks badass, not to mention how awesome the fused traits look!
Is This a Beaver?: Finally, a star vein build I truly love. Spirit Weapon build is way cooler than the Bonefire + Owl-Headed Fiend ranged-perception combo!