Volume 3 Containment Operation Chapter 16 Phoenix Feather
After a fierce battle, the enemies on the thirteenth underground floor were finally cleared out. No entrance to the next floor was found. What appeared in front of them was a parallel long and narrow corridor. Fearing that there might be an ambush in it, several zombies were assigned to explore the way ahead. Unexpectedly, they were able to pass through the corridor smoothly. There seemed to be a wide hall at the other end. Due to the low visibility, the specific layout could not be seen clearly. However, judging from the change in the layout, it seemed that this was the habitat of the Skeleton General mentioned by Old Mason. As long as they entered the hall, it meant that the mission was completed and there was no danger.
Success was just around the corner, but I still didn't dare to be careless. The corridor was too narrow, and only two zombies could walk side by side. There was no way to protect me in the middle. If some powerful mechanism suddenly activated in the middle of the journey, it would be difficult to dodge it. It's better to be safe than sorry. More haste, less speed. It's better to be safe. There's no need to rush. Five more teams of pathfinders were sent out, and they walked almost every inch of the corridor, brushing against the walls on both sides, and confirmed that there were no mechanisms before they stepped into the corridor.
Since I couldn't provide adequate protection, I simply didn't let any of my men go with me. Even Taotao was left behind to maintain maximum mobility. Although the results of the exploration have confirmed that the corridor is not dangerous, I still feel a little uneasy. It is really weird to set up such a long and narrow corridor that is of no use. According to common sense, it should take another life-and-death test to achieve the desired result.
The "Undead Shield" was circling steadily around my body, which meant there was no danger. I had already reached the middle of the corridor, and still nothing had happened. I couldn't help but doubt my own judgment. Maybe there was really no mechanism in this corridor, but I was just too suspicious and was scaring myself.
Under my feet was a one-foot-wide yellow line running across the corridor. This was the center line . After crossing it, only half the distance was left. Just as I was about to take a step, I glanced at the ground inadvertently and suddenly found some irregular shadows on the yellow line. They looked like some Chinese characters. Curious, I squatted down to identify them carefully. Sure enough, they were words. They were originally covered by a layer of loose soil, which was wiped away by the scouts in front of me, revealing a part of them, which was then discovered by me.
After wiping off the loose soil, eight black characters appeared on the yellow line: "Stand on this center line, your life will be saved." I was shocked. What did this mean? Was there really something dangerous in the corridor? I stood on the yellow line as I was told and waited for a while. I turned around and looked around. Everything was the same. There was nothing unusual. At this time, I should be close to the exit. Could it be a psychological warfare, a false threat to delay the time of the participants?
I was muttering to myself, hesitating about what to do, when suddenly there was a loud bang. Except for the one-foot center line, two rows of thick stone pillars fell from the top of the corridor at the same time, almost filling up all the space. Not to mention a person, even a cat would not be able to find a place to stand.
I was caught in the middle and broke out in a cold sweat. If I hadn't followed the instructions and stayed on the middle line, the stone pillar would have fallen on my head and I would have definitely died. I didn't know how the system was set up to distinguish between the main body and the summoned creatures. It would only work if I entered the corridor in person, and the means were sophisticated. If I didn't carefully send my men to explore the way ahead, I wouldn't be able to wipe off the layer of loose soil on the yellow line. No matter how careful I was, I couldn't see through the mechanism and couldn't stop the stone pillar from hitting me. Even if I sent out a team of explorers, if I thought I was safe and relaxed my vigilance when I entered, I wouldn't have noticed the abnormality on the yellow line, or if I noticed it but doubted the warning and ignored it, thinking that success was imminent, I'm afraid all my efforts would have gone to waste and the mission would have to start all over again. Fortunately, Taotao, Laojiang and Phosphorus didn't come in with me. The stone pillars slowly rose and the corridor returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened. After waiting for a while, nothing happened, so I hurriedly used the "Yiqijuechen" skill to gallop towards the hall. Fortunately, as I guessed, the mechanism should only be used once. There was still no movement until I was close to the exit.
Arriving safely at the hall, I finally felt relieved. After so many twists and turns, this highest level of difficulty not only tests one's strength, but also requires analytical and judgment abilities to pass successfully. If one is not careful enough, it would not be so easy to complete.
At this moment, a series of "creaking" sounds were heard, and a huge skeleton gradually emerged from the darkness. It was more than four meters tall, fully armed, and holding a long-handled sword in his hand. He looked majestic and imposing. It should be the owner of this place - the brave Skeleton General.
"Welcome, young warrior!" The Skeleton General conveyed this message using mental waves.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, great General!" I also extended my greetings. Even if he is an NPC, the strong should be respected. Who knows if it will be another dead old man or a copy of old Mason.
"Okay, this is my evaluation of you. Take it, and you can walk out of here smoothly without being attacked again." The Skeleton General didn't say much, and directly handed over a dark green ball. This is the "Evaluation Ball". Green represents the fourth-level profession, and different degrees of color represent the level of evaluation obtained.
I gladly took the "Evaluation Ball" and once again expressed my gratitude to the Skeleton General. The dark green color represents the highest level of evaluation, which also means that I can get better rewards when I advance and maximize my strength.
After saying goodbye to the Skeleton General, the way back was indeed smooth. There were no skeletons blocking the way, and the traps and ambushes were no longer activated. I successfully walked out of the general's tomb and returned to the undead hut.
After successfully advancing to the fourth-level professional senior necromancer, because he received the highest level of evaluation in the "General's Evaluation" task, the improvement of several attribute values is also quite obvious. The mental strength value has increased the most, showing a medium green color, and the health and physical strength values have also increased significantly, both reaching light orange. The agility value has only increased slightly, showing a medium orange color, and the strength value has not changed much, still medium red. These are the original data values, minus the additional effects of the equipment, and the actual attribute values are hidden and can only be estimated by the player himself.
The newly learned fourth-level skill of the Undead Wizard is "Cloud of Death", which can be said to be a relatively insidious attack skill. It releases a small ball of blood-red cloud, and when it hits the target object, it will stick to it tightly, constantly corroding and consuming its health and stamina. It usually stays attached for two or three minutes before automatically dispersing. Although the coverage area is limited and the attack speed after the magic is released is not fast, it is relatively quick to release. It can be performed continuously without waiting to hit the target, and once hit, it is difficult to clear and get rid of . If it is subjected to continuous attacks, it will cause fatal damage.
"Tian Media" has published a report by reporter Long Da about the four hidden professionals fighting the three-headed flame wolf. Although the text reported the battle situation truthfully, it did not deliberately exaggerate their combat power in order to highlight and promote Bai Yunjian and Bajiugaoge. However, most of the pictures published were close-ups of the two of them fighting bravely, which could arouse people's attention better than text. It was both true and had a good publicity effect.
Long Xing Tian Xia has officially established the "Longteng" mercenary group, and has a base in the Howling Plains. It can respond to us and become the fourth mercenary group in the Eastern Continent after the United Alliance, the Never-Setting Sun, and the Blue Wheel.
I learned all this on the way back to the base. Originally, after I leveled up, I wanted to go straight back to the "Dead Space" to avoid the long journey. Unexpectedly, I suddenly received an emergency call from the Tongxin Alliance. It took six hours to go to the "Dead Space". I had no time, so I had to rush back desperately. Fortunately, I had Taotao to get around, so I could feel much more relaxed. It's great to have a mount. No wonder so many players like to be knights.
I returned to the base through the teleportation array in the city. Everyone else had already gathered in the meeting area. I was the last one to arrive. I greeted everyone awkwardly, said sorry, and quickly slipped back to my seat.
As the earliest formed mercenary group, although Tongxinmeng has now expanded to fifty-six members, it still has the smallest number of people among the four established mercenary groups. It is the only mercenary group that has not yet been fully staffed and is the weakest. It is said that many forces are secretly planning to replace us through war. From time to time, some players are found sneaking around our base, but after seeing the powerful defense shown by our base when attacked by monsters, they have given up the idea because they feel they are not strong enough. The rumors of cooperation with Long Xing Tian Xia have completely stopped the plans of many forces lacking a strong background to occupy our base, and the number of evil spirits near the base has suddenly decreased a lot.
The meeting began, and as usual, Xue Wuxia presided over it. "The Mercenary Guild has released a public mission today. All players can take it. The mission is to obtain the 'Phoenix Feather'."
"Phoenix feather?" Many people exclaimed. Xiao Niao Yiren asked directly, "Is it the feather of the phoenix, one of the four sacred beasts?"
"That's right. As long as you get a phoenix feather, you can use it to exchange for a reward from the mercenary guild, which is a growable weapon suitable for your own use." Xue Wuxia gave an affirmative answer.
Everyone exclaimed again. The so-called growable weapons are not like pets that evolve automatically. Instead, the holes on the weapons used to embed magic crystals to enhance the power are replaceable. By replacing the embedded magic crystals, although the weapons will not be completely transformed, they can also make qualitative changes to a certain extent. For example, wind magic crystals have the effect of accelerating, fire magic crystals can increase attack power, and lightning magic crystals can increase additional damage. According to the level and needs of the user, embedding magic crystals of different levels and attributes can make a weapon play its maximum function. Moreover, the quality of growable weapons is generally the best among weapons of the same level. With the replaceable embedding holes, its value is absolutely inestimable. Most good weapons can only be made by craftsmen in the living profession. So far, it is said that there are only less than a hundred embeddable weapons in the whole "Tianxia". As for growth-type weapons, no player has been lucky enough to own them.
Although the reward is good, the task must be completed. "How can I get the Phoenix Feather? Do I have to challenge the Phoenix?" Once it involves a battle, I will definitely take the lead. It would be fine at normal times, but now I am facing the sacred beast Phoenix. I can't let go of my worry unless I ask clearly.
"Giving such a generous reward, it's not like the player is asked to pick up a phoenix feather. The phoenix won't pluck the feathers by itself. If you want to get it, you must fight." The frog made a judgment.
"That's impossible. With the current strength of the players, even if they rush forward with thousands of them, they probably won't be enough to fill the gaps between the Phoenix's teeth. Besides, if the Phoenix is tired of killing, it will just spread its wings and fly away. There is no flying mount right now, so who can catch up with it? It's probably not much easier to knock off a feather of the Phoenix than to kill a high-level monster." The Guardian of the Heart loves to contradict him the most.
We all looked at Xue Wuxia, waiting for her to reveal the answer. "We have to fight, but the target is a young phoenix, that is, we have to challenge a newly born phoenix. The Mercenary Guild gave a rough range of the Howling Plains, saying that a sacred beast phoenix will be born there at a certain time tomorrow. According to the system settings, the birth of a sacred beast must encounter a disaster, which may be a natural disaster or something else. This public mission is the disaster that the phoenix must go through. When the phoenix is just born, its wings are soft and it cannot fly high for a while. It takes several hours for the feathers to dry and harden. Moreover, its abilities are not complete and not very powerful. With the current strength of players, it is impossible to kill it, but if you just want to shoot down a few feathers, there is a chance."
"If multiple players get the Phoenix Feather, can everyone exchange it for a growable weapon?" Xiaoniaoyiren asked again.
"The Mercenary Guild's mission announcement does not limit the number of tasks. As long as you hold a Phoenix Feather, you can exchange it for a growable weapon. But this also shows that this mission is not easy to complete. The chance of getting a Phoenix Feather is definitely very small. Let alone a few, it is possible that you can't even get one after all the hard work." Xue Wuxia explained, "The rewards are generous and the opportunity is rare, but the risks are also not small, so please let's discuss it. Should the whole group act together and distribute it according to the contribution in case of lucky success, or should those who are interested fight on their own and try their luck?"
Everyone was thinking with their heads down. Both plans had their pros and cons. Collective action could increase the chance of completion, but new members with less contribution would lose the chance to get rewards. Acting alone against a powerful sacred beast like the Phoenix, even if it was a newly born sacred beast, would probably only be slaughtered. Moreover, there would definitely be a large number of forces and players involved. It would take a lot of luck to get a Phoenix feather in the chaos. It was probably not much better than the chance of winning the lottery. Moreover, even if a Phoenix feather really fell in front of you, it was still unknown whether you would be able to get it in the public eye. Who wouldn't want to grab the treasure?
