Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

With a mix of wariness and excitement about exploring the new environment, the "Blue Shoulder Army" of the Dragon Abyss Guild began to take their first steps on this unknown land.

Although Wu Zhan often appeared carefree, he was extremely cautious in crucial moments. He immediately made arrangements: "All brothers above level 45, spread out in small teams to explore the surrounding area! The main objective is to ascertain the basic situation here—the terrain, the main types of monsters, and any potential dangers or usable resource points. Maintain communication, and retreat immediately if you encounter any situations you cannot handle! The rest of you, stay put and establish a temporary defensive line!"

The high-ranking team members received the order and immediately formed several elite reconnaissance squads, silently blending into the darkness ahead.

The team members who were waiting in place found an area naturally enclosed by several huge rocks and used it as a base to build a simple defensive perimeter.

Liu Nian is currently level 25. He has 7 skill points left unused since level 19, and now that he has some free time, he is starting to reorganize his skills.

(PS: Cough, it's definitely not that I forgot while writing...)

Hellfire Curse, Soul Drain, and Deliberate Fist were already maxed out before.

Unstoppable Force is activated every 5 levels. I previously added 2 levels, and now I'm using 3 skill points to max it out. The effect becomes:

(Level 5, 30-second cooldown, 300 mana cost): You are immune to crowd control effects. You strike the target area, dealing magic damage equal to (95% of your maximum health + 100% of your spell power) and launching all enemies into the air for 2.5 seconds.

Endless Fury is a skill that can be leveled up every 10 levels, but it has been increased to level 2 (there was a bug where 1 point was added when leveling up to 19 in Chapter 41, which has been fixed):

(Level 2, 90-second cooldown, no cost): You refuse to die for 7.5 seconds and your health cannot drop below 1. After the effect ends, you recover a certain percentage of your health based on the total damage you took during the effect (up to 25% of your maximum health).

With three skill points remaining, Liu Nian allocated them all to "Vast Mind," a skill that benefits from increased health.

(Level 4, 15-second cooldown, 100 mana cost): You unleash a roar that grants your basic attacks bonus physical damage equal to 13% of your maximum health for the next 10 seconds. You cannot critically strike during this duration.

Compared to his innate skills, the growth of these learned skills is much inferior. This skill previously had a 10% bonus to maximum health, but now each level only increases it by 1%. Compared to the 10% or 15% growth per level of skills like Intentional Fist, it's a world of difference. This also reflects the fact that his innate skills are beyond the expected level.

Having mastered the skills, Liu Nian sidled up to Wu Zhan and asked in a low voice with some curiosity, "Guild Leader, didn't you get that S-rank [Ghost Captain] job advancement? Why does it seem... like there's no change?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhan smiled and explained, "This kind of advanced job change isn't that simple, unlike learning a skill which is done in one go. It has a unique job change quest chain, requiring you to complete a series of challenges in specific scenarios before you can officially take the job. Right now, time is of the essence, and everything should prioritize guild development and dealing with the Six Races War. My personal job change can wait."

He paused, then added in a relaxed tone, "Besides, this kind of advanced job change directly inherits the current level and most of the attributes after completion, so there's no need to start from scratch. It's okay to do it later. Once we've established ourselves and leveled up a bit, I can do it myself when I have some free time."

Liu Nian suddenly realized that from the moment he met him, this person had always been focused on the big picture and didn't really care much about improving his own strength.

At this moment, Chen the Blacksmith, who had been quietly organizing his backpack, walked over with barely suppressed excitement on his face: "Guild Master, I've checked the materials, and there are enough to forge three pairs of [Dark Swiftness]! The only thing holding me back now is the [Mythical Essence] and my [Biology] level."

Wu Zhan patted Old Chen on the shoulder, saying confidently, "That's easy! Once we've completed our initial exploration here, we'll find a way to go to [Gearheart Prince City]. It's the dwarfs' main city, and there will definitely be shops selling [Mythical Essence]. As for the [Biology] skill book, there will definitely be relevant NPCs there. We can either buy it or get it through a quest! The guild will cover the costs, and we'll make sure you level up that skill in a short time!"

Old Chen nodded vigorously upon hearing this.

After waiting for about half an hour, the reconnaissance teams sent back messages one after another. The situation was more complicated than expected. Even just by sketching out the outline of the surrounding area, it was clear that the area was enormous.

Directly ahead (southwest): About three kilometers away, sparse forests of luminous fungi begin to appear, and a small patrol of fungus people has been discovered, with a level of about 38-42, confirming that this is within the influence of the fungus people.

Left side (due south): The terrain gradually rises, and crystal cluster landforms appear. Traces of activity of [Mimetic Stone Man (LV35)] and [Shadow Bat (LV32)] have been discovered.

To the right (northeast): the faint sound of flowing water can be heard, suggesting an underground river. A cave spider (LV36) nest and underground dire wolf (LV38) footprints have been discovered on the riverbank.

Behind (east-southeast): Faint sounds of explosions and metal clanging can be heard. They seem to be quite far away, but there are definitely a lot of monsters there!

Wu Zhan and the others discussed this intelligence:

"Boss, I don't think we should venture too far into the Fungi's territory. We're currently carrying the title of 'Fungi Annihilator,' and we're afraid we'll be attacked by Fungi as soon as we go in!" said a player named Xiangyang.

"That's right! There are still many people whose levels are too low. It's better not to provoke organized monsters for now. After all, we don't know what the difference is between the mushroom tribe on the second level and the first level."

Some players have a different opinion, believing that with the "Fungi Extinction" title, they don't need to be afraid of fungi.

After much discussion, Wu Zhan finally made the decision: "Let's split into two teams. Players below level 40 will form a leveling team and go farm Shadow Bats and Mimic Stone Golems. Players above level 40 will merge into one team and explore southeast to see what's there and figure out why there was an explosion."

Wu Zhan was particularly concerned about the sound of the explosion, because it meant that there was probably some kind of "industrial" force present here.

The presence of industry indicates that the "things" that control industry have a technology tree, which means that this is a faction, not just a simple monster.

Given their current situation, finding a force to regroup with is still very necessary.

Upon receiving the order, everyone immediately began to split up and take action.

According to Wu Zhan's plan, players below level 40 formed several leveling teams and headed to the crystal cluster terrain that shimmered with various colored lights to the south.

The scene here is quite bizarre, with countless crystals of all sizes and colors emerging from the ground and cave walls, emitting a faint blue, pale purple, and emerald green light, making this area look like a dreamlike realm.

"Everyone be careful! Those things that look like crystal lumps are the [Mimetic Stone Golems]!" Wu Zhan warned.

As soon as the words were spoken, a cluster of crystals not far away suddenly came to life, with dirt and gravel falling down to reveal its trunk and limbs made of hard rock. It emitted a low hum and charged towards the group, brandishing its heavy stone fists.

"Here they come! Tank, engage the mobs! Ranged DPS, spread out and deal damage!"

The mimic stone golem has extremely high defense and is not weak in physical attack, but for the members of Longyuan who are used to challenging opponents of higher levels, the pressure is not too great.

Liu Nian was like a tiger descending the mountain. He didn't even need to use his main skills. He only needed to activate his [Vast Mind] skill and use his normal attacks, combined with [Lightning Kick], to quickly reduce the stone golem's health.

-10225!

-10225!

-10225!

duang~

-19771!

[Heart of Steel activated, HP +1770!]

Liu Nian was overjoyed. This thing has such high health points, almost 6!

So he simply went into a cave by himself and started soloing.

Besides the mimic stone golems, there are also Shadow Bats here. They swarm down from the shadows at the top of the cave, emitting piercing shrieks that not only cause physical and sonic damage but also inflict a mild curse effect, reducing the player's attributes.

During the battle, the players of the Dragon Abyss Guild quickly discovered a surprise.

In addition to dropping common coins and materials, these monsters have started dropping various gem fragments that shimmer with a faint light!