The Monster is Coming

Chapter 375 A New Goal: We Will Eventually Meet Again

The guidance he received at the time filled Ji Chen with immense excitement.

Although he knew that the monster world was the real world, he initially did not think that the Dragonborn would appear here.

After all, the void is boundless, and the probability of encountering a Dragonborn in the same world is close to zero.

But as he gradually came to understand the monster world as a player.

A bold conjecture began to form in my mind.

He discovered that the monster world was a super world that was countless times larger than the other world he had traveled to years ago.

The quality and concentration of the energy elements of heaven and earth, as well as the output of spiritual resources, are not on the same level.

Even the homelands of many descending forces were once more expansive than the other worlds he had visited.

The Reverse Tide Legion, the Ancient God Clan, the Soul Return Clan, the Book Words, the Ascended Clan, the Earthly Tyrant, the Combat Insect Clan, the Bliss Clan, the Mechanical Legion, the Virtual Rune Legion... what players encounter is only a corner of this vast world.

This is a vast world where billions of races flock to compete for the pinnacle.

Above the sky, a colossal beast spreads its wings, its massive form stretching across the heavens. In the Little Mage's live stream, a life form comparable in size to a small planet even appeared.

Beneath the abyss, evil lurks, weaving deadly traps in the darkness.

In the forest, plant life wields the power of nature, with vines and ancient trees obeying commands and transforming into endless barriers.

In the desert, mechanical life forms ride a torrent of steel, engines roaring, energy cannons tearing through the sky.

Sea creatures ride giant waves, casually stirring up storms, and the power of the tides makes the seas hang upside down.

The savage tribes raised their battle flags high, their blood boiling, their battle roars shattering the mountains.

The undead army rises from ancient tombs, bones and the power of mist sweep across the seas, and the whispers of death erode life.

Rules, nature, elements, technology, magic, spells, incantations, qi and blood... countless power systems compete to appear.

Demons, evil spirits, gods, contracts, schemes, cultivators, world farm owners... the development models are diverse, and many powerful forces are rising in this vast world in their own way.

Together, let us compose an epic chapter of countless races vying for supremacy, where the strongest emerge in droves.

Every inch of this land is stained with blood and ancient history of rise, and every battle could rewrite the future destiny of the race.

And this world has never been divided into good and evil.

However, many weak people appear to be good in the eyes of players.

For example, the Spirit Breath race, ruled by the Little Mage, is seen as a friendly faction by many new players who are unfamiliar with the Spirit Breath race.

In the monster world, they are timid and submissive, and their development model mainly relies on farming and animal husbandry.

But behind this pattern is the fact that the Spirit Breath Clan dares not easily launch a war of plunder.

They also lack the strength to plunder and grow unchecked in the monster world.

Players familiar with the background of the Spirit Breath Clan know that it was once a barbaric force that developed based on plunder.

Countless creatures from smaller worlds have been turned into nourishment under their killing hooves.

They even built a blood pool within their territory, using the bodies of potential beings as replacements for immortality.

From a human perspective, the Spirit Breath Clan is an utterly evil force.

However, in the monster world, the Spirit Breath race appears quite friendly in terms of both its development model and way of life.

This includes the "Earth Eaters" that players encountered back then, who relied on farming for survival. This faction also descended upon the monster world as raiders.

They devour the weak and trample on civilizations, but by the time they encounter players, they are already in a state of barely surviving.

Their change was not due to a "change of heart," but rather because they had failed.

They were defeated by a stronger force, and by more ruthless rules.

In this world, the plunderer will eventually be plundered, and the predator will eventually become the prey.

The spiritual energy and resources between heaven and earth are like a surging river, greedily absorbed and transformed by countless races, becoming the foundation for advancement.

The pinnacle of world power remains vacant, enticing billions of lives to follow one another, pouring their blood and sweat into the path to the summit.

Standing on this magnificent stage, Ji Chen recalled the words that the Dragon Descendant had once spoken deep in his memory.

Before parting, he curiously asked the Dragonborn what kind of world it wanted to pursue with all its might.

The Dragonborn's answer was:

"It was a world where steps were paved with corpses, and the weak didn't even have the right to look up."

He offered his blessings, believing that it would one day stand at the pinnacle of that world.

But upon hearing his blessing, the Dragonborn smiled, turned around, patted him on the shoulder, and said:
“Wrong. Although I am confident, I also know how difficult the challenges will be if I choose this path. I will most likely die in that world, but I will dedicate my life to paving the way for my people to climb up. Through the success of one generation supporting the next, I firmly believe that my descendants will be able to stand at the pinnacle of that world.”

The Dragonborn's narrative bears a striking resemblance to the structure of the monster world.

This also gave rise to an idea in his mind.

Is it possible that the Dragonborn are currently fighting alongside their people in the monster world, climbing to the top of the world?
The answer to this question cannot be found in the Teizuka Village Library.

So he asked the omnipotent guide and received an affirmative answer.

They learned that the Dragonborn and their race were currently in the Dark Territory of the Monster World, separated from the Pale Continent by billions of mountains and rivers, making it nearly impossible for their physical bodies to cross.

I once thought that our parting years ago would be forever.

Unexpectedly, they crossed the barriers of the world in this way and found themselves under the same sky once again.

He once thought that his story had already ended with the conquest of another world, that his broken body would eventually turn to dust in his home world, and that the obsession in his heart would be worn away by time.

But fate gave him an absurd yet magnificent turn of events.

He descended upon this vast and boundless world of monsters.

Once again, share the same world with the Dragonborn.

As a player, he embarks on a new journey in this super world, carrying an immortal life.

Meanwhile, the Dragonborn and their race, in the distant Black Domain, are fulfilling their vow to climb to the summit with their own flesh and blood.

What was once the distance between life and death has now become two parallel life trajectories in the same world.

He no longer needs to worry about his lifespan running out; he only needs to become stronger on this vast stage to have everything.

Upon learning the truth, Ji Chen felt a sense of destiny that transcended reincarnation.

His conquests in that other world were for survival and for protection.

Now, in his journey through the monster world, besides becoming stronger, he has an additional, clear goal.

Go and meet the elder brother, "Dragonborn," who once pulled him out of the abyss of death and led him and his brothers to overthrow the invincible White Demon Dynasty.

Unlike his time in the other world, he is now the true protagonist of this world.

Thinking of the astonished expression on the Dragonborn's face when he saw him, Ji Chen was filled with anticipation.

As a forum member once said: "To return home in glory is like wearing fine clothes at night."

Ji Chen wholeheartedly agreed.

Similarly, if you meet an old friend in a foreign land, you'll only have a wasted reunion if you don't put on airs.

He could almost picture the shocked expression on the Dragonborn's cold and proud face, and even wonder if he was imagining things.

After all, in its mind, it should have been a dead person whose lifespan had ended and who was buried in another world long ago.

At that time, he will definitely say something casually:
"What, don't you recognize your old friend?"

Then, to the Dragonborn's astonishment, he revealed the rule-based abilities that only players possess.

Showing off is a man's romance.

Showing off in front of old friends is the ultimate form of romance.

The plot has already been arranged; now all that's missing is the mastery of spatial knowledge.

But he was almost sick of studying.

Even with the implantation of a brain-overclocking life essence, the learning progress still cannot be accelerated.

Dimensional formulas, spatial node analysis, spatial coordinates... Every time I study the structure of a teleportation array, I feel like my brain is boiling.

Ji Chen rubbed his temples, his gaze sweeping over the floating spatial runes below.

At the current pace, let alone traversing billions of miles of mountains and rivers.

I can't even get past the step of editing spatial coordinates.

However, if one does not take shortcuts and tries to cross the Dark Domain with one's physical body, one may never have the chance to meet the Dragonborn in this lifetime.

For a physical crossing, distance is only one of the issues.

He knows the truth about the game, so he understands that the player has an infinite lifespan, and therefore, theoretically, all regions can be reached.

The biggest problem, in fact, is death.

As a player, you can revive an unlimited number of times, but each revival will return you to the starting point of your journey.

And within these vast mountains and rivers lie countless insurmountable barriers, enough to crush life.

Players who enjoy exploring new areas are best positioned to comment on this.

After collecting information from players who enjoy exploring new things, some forum users who are serious about research compiled a table.

The data above proves that players who prefer exploration generally do not survive more than a week when exploring foggy (unexplored) areas.

The dangers encountered on the journey include not only ferocious monsters, but also various unknown traps.

The most notorious cunning and manipulative player on the forum is Lord of Bliss.

It's called an entertainment city, but it's actually a hidden teleportation trap. Any creature that encounters it will be teleported to a palace of bliss, where it will fall into depravity and die.

Secondly, the game space of the Ghostly Council is also a hidden trap.

The monster world is teeming with "Voldemors" who specialize in ambushing passing creatures and using them as cattle and horses to generate rule-derived energy.

The ancient gods also belong to this category of forces.

Players who explore the game have proven through their actions and accumulated data that there are ten thousand bizarre ways for players to die on their journey.

The most reliable option is to build a space teleportation array.

At present, the Gold Coin Merchant Guild has the strongest space technology, but they have only learned how to build basic space teleportation arrays.

There was absolutely no way to help him.

He'll have to figure out a solution to this problem himself.

Standing high in the sky, after observing the flow of the formation, Ji Chen landed at the center of the formation and began to re-edit the formation nodes.

Energy flowed through his fingertips, and spatial nodes appeared in his mind under the perception of the Eagle-Headed Demon and the Spirit Eyes.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Ji Chen's forehead. His brain was operating at its maximum speed, and his consciousness was frantically deducing in the ocean of dimensional formulas.

"Come again."

He murmured softly, his fingers tracing the final energy paths in the air.

In an instant, the illusory spatial runes floating on the array trembled violently.

A blinding beam of light suddenly shot out from the center of the formation, and Ji Chen's pupils contracted sharply.

This time it looks promising!

However, the next second, the entire formation suddenly twisted and deformed.

The spatial node, like dough being kneaded by an invisible hand, emitted a cracking and tearing sound. A pitch-black crack appeared out of nowhere, and violent void turbulence surged out.

"It's over!"

Ji Chen decisively flew backward and used his telekinetic power to levitate his body and create distance.

He watched helplessly as the teleportation array he had painstakingly built was swallowed up by the void, and the runes at the center of the array collapsed one after another, turning into specks of starlight and dissipating into the air.

This attempt also ended in failure.

They also lost the space materials they had recently accumulated.

He let out a heavy sigh, collapsed wearily onto the ground, and sat down, staring at the large crater in the distance, his mind replaying the scene before the spatial node collapsed.

A tiny calculation error triggered a chain reaction within a fraction of a second.

"Sure enough, it still doesn't work."

Ji Chen rubbed his temples; the excessive mental exertion from overclocking his brain made his vision blur.

This level of spatial computation is beyond his capabilities.

Although it's an old guy who's lived for over two hundred years.

But back then, all the problems were solved by the Dragonborn, and he only started learning about space after he became a player.

To be more precise, I only started learning about Dragonborn after I learned that they also existed in the monster world.

The sky in the distance was turning a pale white, and a new day was about to begin.

He gazed at the rising sun, a hint of helplessness appearing in his eyes.

Back in the day, I could face thousands of troops in another world without flinching and risk my life, but now I'm stumped by a bunch of spatial formulas.

It seems that I still need to earn sacrificial power through hunting to improve my strength first.

Let's consider the next step.

At the very least, you need to boost your brain's overclocking to level 100, which will significantly improve your learning progress.

As for decomposing other life souls and focusing all your energy on brain overclocking, it's completely unnecessary.

Without the support of a combat-type spirit, one will find it difficult to make any progress in the monster world.

Perhaps you'll be killed by a sudden external force as soon as you're teleported there.

Since the test failed again, Ji Chen decided to focus on improving his strength in the future, and use his spare time to study and research.

Ji Chen brought up the map and checked the locations of the guild members.

The guild is called "Rebirth and Return," and he created it himself.

Now that lifespan is no longer a shackle, and his player identity grants him unlimited growth potential, he no longer needs to struggle for survival like he did in the other world.

So this time, he set himself a new goal: to stand at the top of the player's pyramid.

Go see the most expansive scenery.

This guild was the starting point of his ambition.

The entire guild currently has only 129 members.

Unlike most player guilds that pursue expansion, Rebirth Guild takes an elite route.

Each member was a powerful player personally selected by him, or a lone wolf player with amazing combat power.

These types of players share a common characteristic: they are indifferent to large guilds with many members. They prefer small, cohesive groups, which is precisely the initial development direction that Ji Chen set for the guild.

To ensure that every member of the guild can get to know each other and build friendships and trust.

Just like how the Dragonborn selected warriors from the prison, starting from a small scale until they overthrew the White Demon Dynasty.

The guild's symbol is a longsword that was broken and then rejoined, its blade covered in cracks, which he designed himself.

It symbolizes that the sharpness that was once broken will now return in a more powerful form.

This is a true reflection of his life.

Having spent his life on the battlefield, he ultimately returned to Earth with a broken sword. Now, the broken sword has been rebuilt, and he should set sail anew with an arrogant attitude.

On the guild interface, in addition to the activity tracks of guild members, you can also see the resource points controlled by the guild.

The Rebirth Guild now controls two resource points, both of which are small spirit ore producing areas.

Originally, the plan was to recruit a group of mining players to provide mining sites, with the guild sharing the profits from the mining areas. However, the mining players looked down on the two resource mines they controlled, feeling that the output was far inferior to their own mining areas, so the deal was never finalized.

We are considering partnering with an arms dealer guild, as they sell robots that can mine cryptocurrency automatically and offer a three-month warranty.

Maintenance and upkeep services can also be provided afterward by paying a fee.

Mining robots are quite useful, and many player groups purchase them from the Arms Dealers Guild and invest them in resource mining areas.

This way, even if you do nothing, you can still have a decent and stable source of income.

Players willing to mine are a tiny minority in the faction, and many resource nodes in the wild that players occupy will quickly become abandoned if they are not equipped with automatic mining equipment.

After all, not everyone is like the Little Mage, who has a whole race working for him, all of them free labor.

However, the arms dealers' guild's price was not low.

A brand new "Excavator-66" is priced at 5925 sacrificial points on the Sacrifice Emperor's Mark page.

Most of the sacrificial energy consumed in its creation is stored in a small space warehouse within the robot's body.

However, the arms dealers' guild sells them for 13.8, and their average lifespan depends on the conditions of the mining area, but they generally do not last more than 6 months.

Based on this price, one-third of the profits from ordinary small mines would be taken by the arms dealers' guild.

Adding in the maintenance costs caused by various malfunctions later on, unless it's a high-quality "rich mining area", the arms dealers' guild earns nearly 3.5% of the profits from ordinary small mining areas.

After careful consideration, Ji Chen abandoned the idea of ​​purchasing equipment from the arms dealers' guild.

Ultimately, I decided to do it myself.

During his years following the Dragonborn, he learned many secret arts, one of which was a technique called "Stone Bone Golem".

This secret technique was once used to create cannon fodder soldiers. It can be made using the bones of living beings as a base and refined with energy converted from spiritual power, or it can be refined with spiritual materials.

Although this puppet is not as sophisticated as the "Dig-66", it is more durable.

The energy turbulence and radiation damage in the mining area cause minimal harm to the puppets, and they can even repair their bodies by autonomously absorbing spiritual energy.

Even if the mine collapses, the compression of the rock strata will not cause much damage, and the materials can continue to be used as long as they remain.

It is more than enough to handle ordinary mining areas.

Furthermore, with the superior spiritual materials from the monster world, the stone bone golems created will undoubtedly see a significant increase in work efficiency.

In terms of operation, you only need to preset the commands in advance to execute them.

Compared to the Arms Dealers Guild's excavation of No. 66, the biggest drawback of the Stone Bone Golem is that it lacks the internal space to store spirit ore, requiring it to mine by transporting it, which is less efficient.

He conducted numerous tests and adjustments in order to create a usable stone golem.

Using bones imbued with spiritual substances as a base, supplemented with spiritual materials from the monster world, it is crafted according to the records of the "Stone Bone Golem" secret technique.

However, the first few attempts all ended in failure.

Either the spiritual materials and the skeleton were not sufficiently integrated, causing the puppet to crack as soon as it was formed, or the energy converted from spiritual power could not stably drive the core runes, making the puppet's actions uncoordinated and unable to produce continuously.

After repeated adjustments, he gradually mastered the balance of material proportions.

At the same time, the output efficiency of the rune inscriptions inside the puppets has been optimized and enhanced based on the materials from the Monster World.

The finalized stone golem was successfully put into use.

The biggest advantage is that the cost is very low. Each stone golem only requires 1300 sacrificial power to create. The subsequent maintenance cost is cheap, but the specific price depends on the fluctuation of material prices in the trading market.

Thus, he successfully bypassed the arms dealers' guild's continuous "exploitation" and created a batch of stable mining robots suitable for his own guild.

Now he calculates the output and revenue every week, keeps 50% for himself, and distributes the rest to guild members.

In the future, he also considered creating a batch of stone bone golems to list on the trading house in exchange for rewards.

However, the prerequisite for implementing this idea is that there are members in the guild who are willing to switch to engineering and crafting gameplay.

He was naturally unwilling to create stone golems himself every day.

This will severely impact the speed at which his strength grows.

After confirming that the guild members were active near the "Earth Nest Node", Ji Chen closed the guild page, summoned a vehicle, and flew directly to the location of his teammate's cursor.

With the roar of its engine, Ji Chen's custom-made flight vehicle, "Shadow Falcon," pierced the sky and plunged straight into the churning poisonous fog ahead.

The thick, dark green mist instantly engulfed the field of vision, but the corrosive venom was repelled by telekinesis before it could even touch the body.

After one hour.

Following the map navigation, Ji Chen passed through the area with the densest poisonous fog, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

This is a strange valley covered with giant fungi.

The fluorescent mushrooms, reaching up to 100 meters in height, resemble ancient trees reaching for the sky, with glowing spore vines hanging from their caps.

The ground was covered with a fungal carpet, and stepping on it would cause a pale blue, toxic liquid to seep out. The guild members' location cursors were positioned in front of the valley.

This is a domain node referred to as "Earth Nest" in the analysis, which mainly produces a kind of spiritual material with toxicity.

This is also the domain node that their guild is working hard to conquer.

Compared to resource points in the wild, guild containment domain nodes allow users to permanently enjoy the benefits generated by the nodes.

These types of spiritual plant resource production nodes, once contained, are basically rewarded with spiritual fields, which are more profitable than the mining areas of the contained nodes.

The price of spirit plants of the same grade in the trading market is always higher than that of spirit ore.

The sound of energy explosions echoed from the depths of the valley, faintly mixed with the shouts of guild members.

Ji Chen entered the guild's group chat channel, and immediately a heated conversation filled his ears.

"Damn it, my vision is blocked by the poisonous fog, old bird, turn on HD mode (Eagle-headed Demon), give me a warning!" Little Black's angry roar rang out first in the channel, accompanied by the crisp sound of an axe blade chopping through the carapace.

"Stay calm, the ultra-clear vision is coming. Little Black, run to your left, we're here." This was said by the team's veteran mage/support.

"Night Owl, use Life Link to heal! Can't you see I'm almost out of health? Is this how you protect your teammates?" This was the voice of the marksman, A Yu.

"Damn it, why isn't this barrier broken yet? Old Cat, come and relieve me!" Night Owl, one of the guild's main tanks, was cursing when he was suddenly engulfed by a violent explosion.

As can be seen from the guild warband channel, the battle at the front is extremely intense.

Just then, a member noticed Ji Chen joining the group and immediately shouted excitedly:

"The boss is here!"

Ji Chen didn't speak. After putting away the vehicle, his flight speed suddenly increased, and pale golden mental ripples suddenly burst out from his body.

With eyes slightly closed, an invisible psychic force spread forward like a tide.

He raised his hand and pressed down, and the pale green poisonous mist that enveloped the guild members seemed to be pushed aside by an invisible hand, instantly retreating to both sides to reveal the full picture of the fierce battle below.

Plant-based life surged out of the earth's nest like a green tide, forcing the guild members' defensive line to retreat step by step.

Ji Chen decisively joined the battle.

With five fingers aimed at the spore-producing mother fungus below, countless transparent strands of psychic energy shot from the fingertips, precisely piercing the wriggling pores.

He clenched his fist suddenly.

boom!
The mother fungus's enormous body suddenly convulsed violently, its body bulging out from the expanding psychic power, bursting like an overinflated balloon.

The dark green liquid was instantly suspended in mid-air by Ji Chen's telekinetic power, and then condensed into thousands of sharp spikes.

With a wave of its hand, venomous spikes rained down on the guardians newly emerging from the creep.

With the Eagle-Headed Demon's perception assisting it, each spike can precisely pierce the Fungus Beast's head, causing a secondary explosion inside its skull.

The monstrous horde that had been baring its fangs and claws just moments before was reduced to twitching carcasses scattered across the ground in the blink of an eye.

But the battle is far from over. This area node is characterized by its ability to "mass-produce troops," making it impossible to take it down in a short time.

Ji Chen decisively returned to the front of the battle and said in a deep voice:

"Take your medicine and get back to normal. I'll hold them off for a bit."

After speaking, the ripples of telekinesis spread forward, creating an invisible barrier of telekinesis.

A new round of node battles is about to begin.

For the next few days, Ji Chen fought alongside his guild members at the Earth Nest node.

They resurrected and fought again and again, constantly advancing towards the area where the node crystal was located.

The intense competition also made Ji Chen and his guild members cooperate more and more smoothly.

Familiar combat environment, familiar monster types, familiar teammates... these familiar processes allow guild members to often judge the current situation of their teammates and whether they need support without needing to communicate verbally.

In four days, the total number of resurrections exceeded 1000.

Each time they fail, they gather at the spatial nodes along the Rumbling Coast to replenish their potions, strengthen their bodies, and enhance their star veins... before returning to the Earth Nest node to continue their struggle.

On the final day, two smaller guilds joined the node battle.

But Ji Chen did not drive them away.

Node battles are a goal that all players work together to achieve, and node rewards are calculated based on contributions, so there is no possibility that newcomers will steal the majority of the benefits.

The intense pace of the battle reminded Ji Chen of the scenes where he fought amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood in another world.

The difference lies in the change of mindset.

The battles I fought when I followed the Dragonborn were filled with the shadow of death looming over me with every move I made.

Back then, the fight was about survival, and also about holding on a little longer for the brothers behind us, with negative emotions weighing heavily on our minds.

He didn't know if he would die on the battlefield the next second, nor was he sure if he could accompany the Dragonborn to the end.

Perhaps, like his brothers who died on the road, he will be buried in another world.

But now, death is no longer the end. The white light of resurrection will light up precisely one hour later, and having zero health points only means returning to the node space.

Guild members would even jokingly tease each other about who "died suddenly" due to a mistake.

This difference in mindset completely alters the rhythm of the battle.

Back then, when he faced the White Demon Legion, he watched his brothers fall one by one, the taste of blood in his throat mixed with despair.

At this moment, seeing his guild members being overwhelmed by monsters, he had only one thought in his mind: we have to start over again.

During this period, he did not count how many times he had died.

All I know is that whenever the battlefield becomes a stalemate, the guild channel will always ring out the cry of "Gather at the respawn point" on time.

This near-mad cycle of death finally came to an end on the evening of the fourth day.

As the final collective charge tore through the core defenses of the Earth Nest node, the light from the Domain Crystal pierced through the poisonous fog, and Ji Chen transformed into a streak of light to personally touch the crystal.

Immediately, a challenger notification rang out across the entire channel.

[Challenger's Note: Congratulations to the player team led by "Reborn Still Can't Beat" for capturing the Level 2 Special Spirit Field Node: Earth Nest.]

……

Along with the challenger's prompt, a new function, Spirit Field Management, was automatically added to the function panel.

All guild members who participated in this node containment were assigned a special spirit field where they could grow spirit plants. If they grew poisonous spirit plants, the production efficiency was three times that of a normal node spirit field.

As the battle ended, Ji Chen watched the guild members cheering excitedly and spoke in the guild channel:
"Brothers, you've worked hard. Tonight I'll treat you to moon clams at Rainbow Mist Coast."

Ji Chen's voice was filled with laughter, but as soon as he finished speaking, it was drowned out by a cheer.

……

The nights on the Misty Coast never disappoint players.

Pale blue sea mist churned under the moonlight. On the beach after the tide receded, Ji Chen and his guild members sat around a campfire. Some members were enjoying sizzling sea beast legs, while others urged the spirit chef players nearby to hurry up. Even the usually most silent assassin showed a rare smile.

There are no monster roars here, only the soft sound of waves lapping the shore, and the occasional burst of laughter around the campfire.

As night deepened, Ji Chen sat on a rock, silently watching the still noisy scene before him.

"Hey boss, wanna have a drink?" Ye Xiao shouted at him, holding up his glass.

Ji Chen smiled and shook his head:

"You guys keep playing, I'm leaving first."

Nobody asked any more questions.

The guild members all knew that their leader, though seemingly easygoing, possessed an undeniable stubbornness deep down.

After the dinner party, Ji Chen bid farewell to everyone and went straight back to Emperor's Tomb Village via the teleportation array.

With some rare free time, he planned to spend the rest of his time in the Imperial Tomb Village Library.

Learning is a lifelong pursuit. The field of space science is extremely complex, and mastering any one of its areas requires a significant investment of time and effort.

The moonlight outside the window gradually slanted westward, and only the rustling sound of turning pages remained in the library.

Several hours later, Ji Chen, who had turned off his brain overclocking, rubbed his aching temples.

Looking at the densely packed calculation formulas on the draft paper, he could understand why the Gold Coin Merchant Guild's space team was only willing to try small teleportation arrays.

The more complex the teleportation array, the more effort is required.

What he wanted to create was a rather complex "splitting teleportation array" used to break through spatial barriers in stable areas of space.

Deciding to rest for a while, Ji Chen took out a bottle of mental recovery potion from his spatial storage and drank it all in one gulp.

A cooling sensation immediately traveled down my throat and spread rapidly throughout my body, instantly dispelling the slight dizziness.

He then turned to look at the guiding water sphere floating beside him and asked, as was his habit:
"Guide, how's the situation with the Dragonborn?"

The monster world is fraught with danger, and he occasionally worries about whether the dragonborn are in danger, so he sometimes thinks of asking the guide.

But the answer that followed instantly brought Ji Chen to his senses.

Two days ago, the Black Realm "Ember Canyon," where the Dragonborn race resided, was attacked by the Devourer Clan. The entire race defended their core altar, suffering heavy losses. The war continues.

The guiding voice remained as calm as ever, seemingly unaffected by any major event, yet each word pierced Ji Chen's eardrums like an ice pick.

　Here are 8300 words~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)