Chapter 2270 – Second Floor’s Effect

With his business in the Redstone Restaurant complete, Shi Feng quickly returned to Zero Wing’s main headquarters, instructing his people to work on improving their Tier 2 Skills and Spells’ Completion Rates. He also reserved some advanced combat rooms for the Guild’s core members in Zero Wing’s various Battle Arenas. The advanced combat rooms might not be as effective as the Tower of Four Gods, but they were better than nothing. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu began to organize the purchases to set up the virtual combat platform for the Heaven’s Rumble Training Center.

“Blackie, I’m afraid I’ll have to spend quite some time in the Tower of Four Gods. While I’m gone, I want you to focus on collecting Ancient Origin Wood and Diamond Wood. Also, have Qingxue lead the main force members to the Sea of Death’s Tide Vortex to grind monsters. The monsters there should drop something called the Tide Stone Fragment,” Shi Feng said. “Collect as many fragments as you can. I will need them.”

Players could only enter the Tower of Four Gods once every 360 days, and he couldn’t just leave the tower and waste the opportunity. After completing the trials on the first floor, however, he realized that completing the rest would take a long time.

Meanwhile, more powers had begun to shift their focus to the sea. As a result, Dragonheart City had become more important in the game.

If Zero Wing wished to continue its rapid development while collecting enough funds to set up more Heaven’s Rumble Training Center branches, it would have to establish itself in Dragonheart City as soon as possible.

To do that, Zero Wing needed to increase its Popularity in the city. That way, Zero Wing could establish a Guild Residence, allowing easy teleportation to the city for its members.

This was also why the various large Guilds were pushing their members to complete quests in Dragonheart City. Although many of these Guilds had collected the necessary Ancient Gold to purchase Land and build a Guild Residence, they didn’t have enough Popularity to establish a teleportation array within the Residences. As a result, their established Guild Residences could only serve as a resting place for Guild members, nothing more.

Unfortunately, gaining Popularity in Dragonheart City wasn’t an easy task. As an independent, neutral city, very few quests offered Guild Popularity, and with so many Guilds contesting for these quests, accumulating 50,000 Guild Popularity was incredibly difficult.

However, quests weren’t the only method of gaining Guild Popularity. A Guild could also accumulate Popularity in Dragonheart City through Tide Stone Fragments.

The only monsters that dropped these fragments were in the Tidal Vortex, which was located in the Sea of Death’s core area. Even the weakest monster in the area was a Level 90 Great Lord, and the Tidal Vortex was home to quite a few Level 90-plus Grand Lords. One would frequently encounter Level 90-plus Mythic monsters, as well. There was no doubt that the Tidal Vortex was a very dangerous place.

If a team entered the Tidal Vortex without a Tier 3 expert, even survival would be an immense challenge.

Initially, Shi Feng had wanted to lead a team to the Tidal Vortex to grind for EXP and Tidal Stone Fragments himself, but since he was stuck in the Tower of Four Gods and Zero Wing’s situation was growing tenser, he had to rely on Blackie and the others to complete the task.

Zero Wing’s main force was no longer weak; its members were Level 90 on average. The main force also had an MT like Cola, who wielded a Fragmented Legendary Shield. The main force members should barely be strong enough to grind efficiently in the Tidal Vortex.

“Alright, I’ll notify the others right away,” Blackie replied. He took the situation seriously when Shi Feng had stated that the Tidal Stone Fragments were of great importance. He left Shi Feng’s room immediately to notify the other main force members.

Once Blackie left, Shi Feng lay in his virtual gaming cabin and logged back into God’s Domain to clear the Tower of Four Gods’ trials as quickly as possible.

As God’s Domain appeared around him, he returned to the temple with the Six-headed Hellsnakes.

System: Kill 1,000 Six-headed Hellsnakes within 3 days. If you fail to complete this task in the stipulated time, the challenge will automatically be regarded as a failure.

Kill 1,000 of these things in three days? The second floor’s first trial is much harder than the first floor’s. Shi Feng could not help but frown when he read the system notification.

Although the first floor’s first trial had required him to slay 1,500 Twin-headed Netherfire Wolves, the wolves had been ordinary Lords. These Six-headed Hellsnakes, on the other hand, were Bloodline Creatures. Not only did the Hellsnakes have far more HP, but they also had special Bloodline abilities. Killing these monsters would be far more difficult than killing the Netherfire Wolves, and the Six-headed Hellsnakes roamed the temple in groups of two or three.

Even a Refinement Realm expert of the same level would struggle to kill all 1,000 Hellsnakes in three days.

Once the brief invulnerability buff he received for logging back in faded, Shi Feng wasted no time as he charged toward a group of two Six-headed Hellsnakes.

Sure enough, the Six-headed Hellsnakes were far more challenging than the Twin-headed Netherfire Wolves. The moment the two Hellsnakes noticed Shi Feng, all twelve heads attacked the Swordsman with perfect coordination. Such a well-coordinated attack could likely kill an ordinary Tier 2 expert.

To Shi Feng, however, the Hellsnakes’ attacks lacked finesse. He responded by unsheathing Killing Ray, countering the two Hellsnakes* attacks with his own.

Secret Technique, Lightning Flash!

When the attacks collided, sparks flashed between them. Both Six-headed Hellsnakes were thrown back as a series of damages exceeding -90,000 appeared above their heads.

What high Defense, Shi Feng thought as he looked at the two monsters. Killing Ray had only left a white mark on the Hellsnakes* scales, failing to cut through. The Hellsnakes’ Defense could practically rival a Grand Lord’s. Could this be their special ability?

Killing Ray was a top-tier Epic Weapon, and when paired with his Strength, he could easily slice through the flesh and meat of a Grand Lord of the same level, yet he had failed to injure the Lord ranked Six-headed Hellsnakes. The only explanation he could think of was their Bloodline ability.

This was the Bloodline ability that players detested more than any other.

Players’ damage in God’s Domain depended on their Basic Attributes, as well as any injuries they inflicted on monsters. Skin, muscle, and bone damage could significantly affect players’ overall damage.

This was why players constantly sought high-quality weapons later in the game. Even without incredibly high Basic Attributes, players could rely on sufficiently powerful weapons to deal even more damage than players with high Attributes and weaker weapons.

Fortunately, Shi Feng found Lightning Slash easier to execute here than on the first floor. Moreover, he had consumed 20% less Concentration.

Before Shi Feng could test the second floor’s effects, the two Six-headed Hellsnakes had launched another round of attacks.

Suddenly, inspiration struck as Shi Feng instinctively executed Lightning Flash.

This time, instead of 14 slashes, Shi Feng struck the two Hellsnakes with 15 slashes. Lightning Flash’s power instantly increased. Not only did Shi Feng’s counterattack repel all 12 heads, but it also left a bone-deep gash in each head, the injuries slightly affecting the Hellsnakes’ combat power. At the same time, damages of over -100,000 appeared above each head.

The technique already possesses such great destructive power with just 15 slashes? Shi Feng was stunned, staring at the injured Hellsnakes.

However, Shi Feng instantly felt the aftereffects. Not only had his entire body gone numb, but he had also lost nearly half of his maximum Concentration.

Fortunately, the numbness lasted less than a second, and Shi Feng was able to defend himself against the Hellsnakes’ next attacks.

The 15-slash Lightning Flash’s side effects were far more severe than Shi Feng had expected, but that didn’t stop Shi Feng from using the technique. Once he had recovered enough Concentration, he used the technique again to familiarize himself with the improved version.

After roughly eight minutes, Shi Feng slew the two Six-headed Hellsnakes.

The instant the two Hellsnakes died, Shi Feng felt a trace of their Bloodlines flow into his body, granting him one point of Bloodline Power. At the same time, the two Hellsnakes dropped a shining, crimson stone that radiated a strange, alluring energy.