Chapter 1987 – Giant Race

The flames that surrounded the Fire Spirit’s body expanded drastically, transforming from their original crimson color to a scorching white. Even the space around the Flame Dragon began to show signs of crumbling under the power of its flames.

Tier 3 Archaic Species? Shi Feng’s heart skipped a beat when he examined the Attribute Panel.

He hadn’t thought that a measly two dozen or so Tier 1 Mysterious Flames would be enough to upgrade the Fire Spirit to a Tier 3 Archaic Species. So many powers in his past had fed their Fire Spirits a large number of Tier 1 Mysterious Flames, yet the results of their efforts had been disappointing. Most powers had only nurtured their Fire Spirits into Tier 3 Archaic Species after feeding them a significant number of Tier 2 flames.

Shi Feng had assumed that his Fire Spirit would grow to the Tier 3 standard at most, and he’d have to feed it Tier 2 Mysterious Flames if he wanted it to become an Archaic Species. He hadn’t expected the Advanced Fire Spirit’s absorption rate to be so effective.

Now that his Advanced Fire Spirit was a Tier 3 Archaic Species with higher intelligence, its combat power should be even greater than an ordinary Grand Lord of the same level. Though, if it really came down to a one-on-one fight, the Advanced Fire Spirit would still have a high chance of losing since actual Grand Lords had far more HP.

However, Shi Feng was satisfied with these results.

Although he could summon Kite and Anna to help him with his quest, he did not want to risk them. Resurrecting Personal Guards was very troublesome, and even if he resurrected them, they’d need quite some time to recover their losses.

Fortunately, the Fire Spirit was a different story. Even if it died, he could simply spend Magic Crystals to resummon it. Furthermore, each time he summoned the Fire Spirit, now that it was a Tier 3 Archaic Species, he only had to spend 300 Magic Crystals. Moreover, its Cooldown was even shorter than the Bible of Darkness’s Demon Summoning. He only had to wait 30 minutes to resummon the Fire Spirit. However, unlike the Bible of Darkness, he could only summon a single Fire Spirit to fight for him at a time.

Once Shi Feng had finished upgrading the Fire Spirit, he collected a small stock of Magic Crystals and left the Candlelight Trading Firm. He then made his way towards the Adventurer’s Association in Star-Moon City.

Although God’s Domain didn’t have many super-large-scale neutral cities, there was one near every few empires and dozen or so kingdoms. Like the Fairy Country’s Forest City, these super-large-scale neutral cities served as trade hubs between the game’s neutral races and the nearby empires and kingdoms.

To enter super-large-scale neutral cities, like the Sea of Trees, players had to complete specific quests.

The neutral city Shi Feng aimed to activate was called Thunder Axe City, home to the Giant race.

Appearance-wise, Giants looked no different than humans, only larger. Generally, Giants stood at least four-meters tall, and their physiques were even more powerful than Ores’. Giants were born for combat.

Aside from the Titan race, Giants’ Defense was the highest among the numerous neutral races.

In the past, Giant Shield Warrior and Guardian Knight players had been incredibly popular among the various major powers. Some of the various superpowers had even pressured some of their members to convert to the Giant race since there was nothing that prohibited neutral race players from joining human Guilds. However, they would be restricted within human cities. But how could such a small issue compare to the benefits of having a powerful MT?

Of course, while the Giants’ advantages were obvious, their flaws were just as glaring. Giants weren’t very skilled with magic, and their mobility was atrocious compared to humans’. Defeating players or monsters that were particularly fast and agile would give Giant players a massive headache.

These obvious weaknesses were the reason many players refused to become Giants. There had been far fewer Giant players than Half-elf and Beastkin players in the past.

Meanwhile, as a super-large-scale neutral city, Thunder Axe City had a wide variety of unique aspects. Chief among them was the city’s location within the Icefire Mountain Range, a neutral map that was rich in ores. Due to their environment, Giants were experts in the art of forging. Their forging techniques had been passed down from the Titan race, making their standards even superior to the Dwarves’.

This was also one of the reasons that Shi Feng had chosen Thunder Axe City.

Although Zero Wing current had many advantages, its position in the Ore Empire was still precarious, and it would only get worse as time passed. The Guild’s foundation was too weak, and it had too few experts. While Zero Wing had enough manpower and resources to defend its current position in the empire, it didn’t have enough to launch an assault against its enemies.

Zero Wing might possess more resources and experts than ordinary first-rate Guilds, but it was an infant compared to the various superpowers. Zero Wing didn’t have nearly as much territory as the various superpowers, after all.

Star-Moon Kingdom, Star-Moon City:

Once Shi Feng had arrived in Star-Moon City, he immediately headed for the kingdom’s Adventurer’s Association. Star-Moon City hadn’t developed nearly as much as White River City, and most of the players that visited the Adventurer’s Association were Level 55 or 66 elite players. Level 58 or higher expert players were still far and few between.

Without hesitation, Shi Feng headed to the second floor and approached one of its counters.

“Lord Spirit Slayer, how may I be of service today?” the NPC beauty manning the counter asked with a smile.

“I wish to pick up an Exploration Quest,” Shi Feng said.

“Very well.” The NPC clerk revealed a list containing a large number of Exploration Quests and handed it to Shi Feng. “Lord Spirit Slayer, these are all of the Exploration Quests you can accept right now.”

With a nod, Shi Feng carefully examined the list.

The Adventurer’s Association had many quests to offer, and among them, the most difficult were Crusade and Exploration Quests. Meanwhile, only players who had reached Level 70 and three-star status in the Association could accept Thunder Axe City’s Exploration Quest.

Although three-star adventurers could accept the Exploration Quest, it was even more challenging than ordinary Epic Quests.

Players had only entered Thunder Axe City in Shi Feng’s previous life after he had reached Level 75. At the time, peak experts had already reached Level 77 and beyond and were geared in Level 75 top-tier weapons and equipment.

“I’ll take this quest,” Shi Feng said as he pointed to a quest named Giant’s Hideout.

“Very well. I will mark you down as this quest’s challenger. Please pay a 1,000-Gold deposit. Should you abandon this quest, your deposit will not be returned,” the NPC clerk informed him.

The other Tier 2 experts picking up quests on the second floor were astonished to hear the NPC clerk’s comment.

“Crap! What kind of quest is that? A 1,000-Gold deposit?”

“That can’t be real, right? Even my two-star quest only required a 3-Gold deposit.”

Many of the Tier 2 experts stared at Shi Feng’s cloaked figure in shock.

Normally, the Adventurer’s Association only charged 3% to 5% of a quest’s reward as a deposit fee, preventing players from picking up quests they had no hope of completing. The fact that Shi Feng’s quest cost 1,000 Gold meant that its reward was worth at least 20,000 Gold...

After Shi Feng accepted the quest, the sound of a system notification reached his ears.