Chapter 2626 – Ancient Mana

The sight of Crimson Star guiding Zero Wing’s team through Violet Light City triggered discussions among the players residing in the city.

“Who are those people? Violet Sword’s Crimson Star is actually guiding them.”

“It’s not just Crimson Star. I heard that Violet Sword’s Instructor Torre personally welcomed those people at the front gate just now.”

“Amazing! Could those people be bigshots of some Super Guild?”

...

Mythology’s members grew curious when they saw Shi Feng’s group. Violet Sword’s members, on the other hand, found this situation astonishing.

Crimson Star was one of Violet Sword’s Grand Elders. Even when the Guild Leader of an ordinary superpower visited Violet Sword, she would appear only to give a brief greeting, at most. She definitely wouldn’t take the initiative to guide them.

Meanwhile, standing on the walls protecting the ancient castle in the heart of Violet Light City, a team of 30-plus players was quietly observing Shi Feng’s group. Every member of this team was a Tier 3 expert at Level 113 or above.

“Zero Wing’s members are finally here,” an Assassin youth with two short swords said coldly as he eyed Shi Feng with killing intent.

“Sandstorm, you’d better not do anything rash. They are currently Violet Sword’s guests,” a tall woman carrying a war hammer and a sturdy shield, standing beside the youth, warned.

“Relax. I know that much,” Sandstorm assured as he concealed his killing intent. “However, our agreement with Violet Sword is limited to the city. Once they enter the secret land, they’ll be fair game. At that time, we’ll get our revenge for the humiliation we suffered at the Starlight Fortress! I’m going to teach Zero Wing how foolish it is to offend our vice commander!”

“That’s for sure,” the tall woman said, nodding. “Although the vice commander’s orders were to investigate first what Zero Wing and Violet Sword are up to inside the secret land before taking action against them, I’m sure she won’t say anything about it if we just take care of Zero Wing as soon as they enter the secret land. After all, the Demon God has clearly specified that if we manage to kill Black Flame even once, we’ll receive a large number of Contribution Points and be able to train in the battlefields inside the Demon God’s Shrine. If we bring him to the Demon God, we can even receive the Demon God’s Legacy directly.”

“Previously, Black Flame only managed to win against us because of his fully unlocked Mana Body. However, he won’t be as lucky this time,” Sandstorm said, a smirk appearing on his face. “This time, he’ll learn what true despair feels like!”

The Demon God’s Shrine was an extraordinary training ground, which was something every superpower on the western continent knew. However, most superpowers were still unaware that the Demon God’s Shrine contained some Legacies related to unlocking the Mana Body, which one could obtain only by completing one of the Ten Great Quests offered in the shrine.

Mythology was one of the few superpowers that had managed to complete one of the Ten Great Quests and obtain a Mana Body Legacy. As a result, Sandstorm and a few other members in Mythology had already fully unlocked their Mana Bodies. With the support of the Super Guild’s special Advanced Battle Array, their combat power had now reached a completely different level. Just their team of 30-plus players were more than capable of defeating the entirety of Netherworld Empire’s Hell Legion.

During the time Sandstorm and the other members of Mythology were discussing how to attack Zero Wing’s group, Shi Feng and the others had arrived before the ancient secret land’s entrance, which was inside the central castle.

The entrance to the secret land was a spatial tear leading to the Otherworld where the ancient city stood. Normally, spatial tears were incredibly unstable. However, a magic array had been laid to stabilize the spatial tear, so instability was not a problem.

Unfortunately, due to the ravages of time, the magic array was no longer as powerful as it was before. Now, it could grant the teleportation mark, which held the spatial coordinates of the ancient secret land, to only a maximum of 400 players that entered the spatial tear. These teleportation marks would be replenished only after the players that held these marks had left the secret land.

So, this is an ancient secret land? When Shi Feng arrived before the spatial tear and sensed the Mana flowing from it, he was astonished.

In the past, he had only heard and seen pictures of Violet Sword’s ancient secret land. He had never experienced it. Now, just brushing against the excess Mana flowing from the ancient secret land filled him with energy.

If even the effects of the excess Mana were already so potent, Shi Feng found it difficult to imagine how standing inside the ancient secret land itself would feel like. For a moment, he wished he could stay inside the ancient secret land forever.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, here is your alchemy array,” Crimson Star said as she handed a black cylinder to Shi Feng. “Make sure to use it before you enter. It will help you fend off the overly strong Mana inside and prevent you from exploding from Mana Overload. At the same time, it will allow you to regulate the flow of your Mana effectively so that you won’t die from energy exhaustion.”

“Thanks.”

Shi Feng nodded and accepted the black cylinder from Crimson Star. He then activated the magic array on the device. A special rune appeared on his body, followed by a faint layer of light wrapped around him.

Although the ancient secret land was an excellent location for training, for current players, it was both a curse and a blessing.

Incredibly dense Mana filled the ancient secret land. The ambient Mana in the secret land was so dense that players would have their Mana’s volume and flow rate forcibly increased to a point where they would lose control over their own Mana. As a result, their energy consumption rate would increase drastically, which led to death by starvation within half an hour of entering the ancient secret land.

If players wished to survive inside the ancient secret land for longer periods, they had to rely on alchemy arrays to regulate their Mana. Even so, players could remain inside the ancient secret land for only seven days.

The alchemy array used was a Consumable. Hence, Violet Sword was desperately trying to increase the production speed and volume of this alchemy array. Otherwise, even if they held the ancient secret land, they could only stare at it.

After Shi Feng and his group were all ready, Crimson Star led them into the spatial tear and disappeared from the castle.

Everyone was immediately teleported to a dense forest. All around them were ancient trees towering over 100 meters. Translucent crystals adorned these trees, giving the trees and the forest a mesmerizing beauty. The Mana inside the forest was also so dense that it had condensed into white mist. However, despite the white mist, everyone’s vision remained unaffected.

During the time everyone was enjoying the scenery around them, a roar suddenly came from a distance and echoed throughout the forest.

Upon turning toward the origin of the roar, everyone quickly noticed a 200-meter-tall, one-horned bear fighting an equally tall, six-eyed ape. Every one of the two beasts’ actions shook the entire forest and deformed the terrain around the monsters.

“Damn it! Why are two Region Chiefs fighting each other?!” Crimson Star frowned as she watched the battle of the two giant behemoths.

The ancient secret land was an incredibly dangerous place. Not only were there plenty of monsters here, but each region in the secret land would have a powerful Boss ruling over it; Violet Sword and Mythology had labeled these Bosses Region Chiefs.

The weakest among these Region Chiefs was already a Level 120 Mythic monster with combat standards at the Trial Tower’s sixth floor. In addition, all monsters found within the ancient secret land had incredibly powerful bodies; even an ordinary Level 120 Mythic monster here could rival a Level 120 Mythic ranked Archaic Species found in the outside world.

Normally, both Violet Sword’s and Mythology’s members would do their best to avoid these Region Chiefs when visiting the ancient secret land. The reason for this wasn’t just the high casualty rate incidental to challenging these Region Chiefs. There was also the fact that fights with these Region Chiefs would attract the attention of nearby monsters. Players that fought a Region Chief would end up having to fight a continuously increasing number of monsters and eventually suffer annihilation.

Two Region Chiefs appearing in this location could be considered to be the worst-case scenario.

In the outside world, there were indeed instances where players could take advantage of monsters fighting each other. However, the monsters inside the ancient secret land were incredibly smart. So long as they sensed the presence of players, they would promptly stop fighting each other and cooperate to kill the intruding players first before resuming their fight. They wouldn’t give players any opportunities to take advantage of at all.

...

“Why is our luck so horrid? We actually came across two Region Chiefs having a territorial battle,” Sandstorm, who was currently hidden on a tree some distance away from Shi Feng’s group, complained in frustration when he saw the two fighting behemoths straying closer to his team’s position.

“Alright, forget about Zero Wing for now. We need to leave this place quickly. We’ll be doomed if those two Region Chiefs discover us,” the tall, female Guardian Knight standing beside Sandstorm said.

“I know!” Sandstorm said, gritting his teeth as he shot a glare at the distant Shi Feng.

...

As Sandstorm’s group was preparing to leave the area, Crimson Star also had everyone on the team prepare for a hasty retreat.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, we need to leave this area fast. We’ll be in trouble if we stay here any longer,” Crimson Star said hurriedly as she looked at Shi Feng, who was still quietly observing the two battling Region Chiefs.

“Shouldn’t that way be the shortest path to the ancient city?” Shi Feng asked as he pointed toward the two behemoths. “If we circle around them, wouldn’t we need to waste half a day?”

“That is, indeed, the shortest path to the ancient city, but if we get caught by those two Region Chiefs, instead of wasting half a day, all of us will end up dying here,” Crimson Star snapped in exasperation when she heard that Shi Feng was actually still planning to take this route to the ancient city.

However, she also understood Shi Feng’s thoughts. They could stay inside the ancient secret land for only seven days. If they wasted half a day on a detour, they would be under much greater pressure when raiding the Hero Trial. After all, with how many monsters there were inside the trial, they would need five or six days just to reach the Trial Boss.

Moreover, the two Region Chiefs were Mythic Bosses. In the outside world, coming across two Mythic Bosses would be akin to hitting the jackpot.

However, they were currently inside the ancient secret land, facing monsters far stronger than those in the outside world. Challenging two Mythic Bosses simultaneously would simply be suicide. Otherwise, Violet Sword wouldn’t have to be so careful when exploring the ancient secret land.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, let’s leave. If we don’t go now, we’ll enter the perception range of those two Region Chiefs,” Wildfighter advised urgently. “Our main goal is to clear the trial. We don’t need to fight those two Region Chiefs.”

“I guess you’re right. We don’t need to fight those two,” Shi Feng said, nodding. He then turned to look at Crimson Star and Wildfighter and added, “I’ll lure them away. Use this opportunity to sneak past them.”

After saying so, Shi Feng dashed straight for the two behemoths.