Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Hey brother, it looks like you got a decent haul today,” greeted a tall man in green combat fatigues to the left as two groups of men in combat uniforms passed by each other.
“Not bad, we got lucky and bagged a Six-clawed Toad,” answered an 8-foot tall, grizzled man who was also the leader of his squad.
He might have been more cautious if he had encountered them in the wild. Since they were only a few miles from the gathering area, Old Hei was not worried about getting stabbed in the back.
The tall man said, “Brother, I’m new here and am not that familiar with the surrounding area. I bought this beginner guide book, but I’m not sure if it’s useful or not.”
He shook the black covered book in his hand before tossing a bag to Old Hei.
Old Hei caught the bag and peeked inside. There were Two Commander monster cores, which were worth something at least. He smiled and tossed the bag into the box behind him.
“So, you’re new,” he said. “I’ve been here for around a year, so I’m quite familiar with the local area. I suggest you go to the Land of 1000 Streams.”
“Land of 1000 Streams?” The tall man remembered seeing the name on the map in his guide.
“Hehe, the Land of 1000 Streams might not have a lot of monsters, but I’ve never seen any high leveled ones there before,” Old Hei said. “You won’t find many monsters there, so it’s relatively safer. The rewards are a bit lower, but it’s much safer and rewarding in the long run.”
This information was something one would usually find out after making some friends around the block. Thus, he decided not to hide it.
“Thanks.” The tall man nodded in gratitude.
After passing the desolate plains and continuing north, one would reach the Land of 1000 Streams. It was about half a mile from the Desolate Labyrinth. Even for a monster trainer, it took a whole day of traveling to get there. It was common to encounter monsters during the journey. Otherwise, the journey would be much shorter.
There was a small market located on the border between the Land of 100 Streams and the Desolate Plains that linked them together. The market was crowded with people and Familiars.
At first, some entrepreneurs with keen eyes came and set up shop. Eventually, houses were there and the population grew. Later, it became a gathering area.
An area as wide as the Land of 1000 Streams, containing numerous biomes like swamp lands, rivers, and plains should contain a larger number of monsters. Mysteriously, people only found a small population of low-level monsters, which made little sense.
The tall man and his team hunted around the Land of 1000 Streams for two days. The only monsters around were of a low level and dispersed, so there was little worry of being attacked while hunting.
“It’s strange that there are not many monsters here,” the tall man said.
“Perhaps this is a blessing from the heavens above,” one of his teammates said.
“Possibly, haha,” the tall man said.
Thump. The ground below trembled slightly.
“Hey, did you guys feel that?” a teammate asked.
“No, what’s wrong?” the tall man asked.
“Hahaha, it must be your imagination,” another teammate said.
That tremble disappeared as quickly as it happened.
****************************************************************************************************
“How’s the gathering area over at the Land of 1000 Streams doing?” Xu Qingzhi, who wore silver-framed glasses, was handling some documents in a makeshift room in the Desolate Labyrinth.
Six months ago, when the eight-year term for the Yuzhou Base City mayor came to an end, Ji Hanwu, CEO of the Southern Sky Group, was voted as the new mayor. However he was reluctant at the start. In a public speech before the election, he said, “A mayor needs to be responsible, capable, and accountable. I feel that I’ll not live up to those expectations as mayor.”
Ji Hanwu had a good reason to refuse. The Southern Sky Group had at least 100,000 employees. By taking his position as Chairman of The Explorer’s Union into consideration, there were millions of people working under him. That was more people than some smaller base cities, and his power was more centralized.
He was semi-retired. Now that his grandchildren had also made a name for themselves, he had let go of most of his powers within the group. Besides, he never had his eyes on the position of mayor anyway.
Somehow, Ji Hanwu won with 95% of the votes. He finally agreed to become the mayor after running out of options. He had said, “Since everyone decided to choose me, I’ll give it a try, but no promises.”
Ji Hanwu knew exactly what the people wanted. Deciding that he was not going to be caught up in their petty political games, he did a thorough shuffle of power. Those with abilities, whether they were related to the Southern Sky Group or not, were promoted to high promotions. Those who lacked it were demoted to the very bottom, no matter their affiliations.
Xu Qingzhi was sent to the Black Fog World as the Explorer’s Union regional manager.
“The gathering area in the Land of 1000 Streams is growing but lacks a permanent population,” Ji Hanwu said. “However, some companies are sending their workers there long term.”
Xu Qingzhi nodded. The Southern Sky Group had no other branches besides the one inside the Desolate Labyrinth to give others a chance. All the shops in the gathering area were required to pay a high amount of rent monthly.
“However, three days ago, people observed increased activities in the Black Phoenix Mountain Range,” Ji Hanwu said. “The monsters there are known to move to the Land of 1000 Streams every now and then.”
Black Phoenix Mountain Range. The mention of that name made Xu Qingzhi deepen her frown. It was five times the size of both the Land of 1000 Streams and Desolate Plains combined. Emperor Tier monsters were plentiful there. There were rumors of Overlord Tier monsters hiding in there as well.
“Launch additional drones and be on high alert,” Xu Qingzhi said.
****************************************************************************************************
Night time, the gathering area between the Desolate Plains and Land of 1000 Streams.
A 65-foot tall Brown-striped Earth Bear, which looked like a tiny hill, slowly approached the gathering area. As it drew closer, its hulking mass became obvious even in the darkness.
There was no hiding its Emperor Tier presence. Some Familiars could not summon the willpower to resist and simply collapsed on the ground. Others proceeded to soil themselves.
“T-that’s an Emperor tier monster!” someone screamed in panic. “Run! We’re no match for it! Run!”
Almost at the same time, the security section of the Desolate Labyrinth received the information through their drones.
“Alert! Seven-star Alert!”
The sirens rang above the labyrinth.
