Chapter Seventy-Five: Soaring Power and New Strategies

More than ten days had passed since the last attack came to an end.

Only after this period of peace did everyone finally begin to feel that the dust had truly settled.

Life and death were always common among explorers.

The members of Peach Blossom Cove, too, finally accepted the old president's sacrifice.

With Zhao Nanxing and Lin Grape working together, several of the older members began to take sides, gradually overshadowing Anqing’s influence and forming a new team.

Anqing’s position as acting president was neither legitimate nor convincing, and his actions had been far from satisfactory. According to Peach Blossom Cove’s usual procedures, it wouldn’t be long before the selection for a new president began.

It was rumored that Anqing harbored other intentions, but under the scrutiny of the special investigation team, he dared not act recklessly for the time being.

As for Yi Shen—

These ten days of peace afforded him a much-needed respite.

Previously, through his own efforts, he could already achieve the feat of leveling up over thirty times in a month.

But now, he could openly use his family’s resources, and even access some of Peach Blossom Cove’s permissions through Lin Grape.

So he once again entered a period of terrifying growth!

First, in terms of skills, Yi Shen thoroughly screened a vast number of element-related abilities via Peach Blossom Cove’s trading guild!

This allowed him to study elemental skills not only from other mages, but also from priests, warlocks, rogues, rangers, swordsmen, and even some rare professions, giving him a far more comprehensive development!

Next, when it came to attributes, the materials hoarded by Peach Blossom Cove’s guild were far greater in quantity than those from the previous materials factory. Through his mother, he managed to rotate nearly thirty million contribution points, collecting and dismantling a wide variety of materials. This colossal research effort propelled all his attributes past twenty thousand, to a level verging on monstrous.

He also made some explorations into equipment and secondary professions. Previously, his leveling up had been rapid, but now, after reaching the thirties, each new level required hundreds of thousands of experience points. Even solo grinding couldn’t speed things up much. So he simply updated all his gear, dividing it into offensive and defensive sets as before.

Nevertheless, neither skill and attribute improvement nor equipment upgrades were his main focus during this period.

What occupied Yi Shen most these days was increasing his control over his own body.

Ever since witnessing Jiang Jinying’s fighting style and watching the follow-up videos of Warfish, he’d found himself deeply interested in such techniques.

His attributes were already formidable.

His perception of his surroundings had reached an extremely refined level.

During training at home, he would automatically focus on his sensations. With deliberate practice, his reaction speed improved tremendously, and his skill usage and analysis became much sharper. He had reached a point where even a flicked flower petal or plucked leaf could become a lethal weapon.

What’s more, he realized that regular physical training was immensely helpful for mastering his own body.

No wonder the school maintained courses on physical fitness and combat skills to this day.

For explorers, these were far from a waste of time.

Unfortunately, although Yi Shen could now easily sense a kind of latent energy within himself, throughout these ten days of experimentation, he still hadn’t found the threshold for breaking through the system’s data limitations.

Forget conjuring a small fireball with his bare hands—without the system’s assistance, he couldn’t even move objects at a distance.

He could sense the energy within him, but had yet to discover a way to use it autonomously.

All he could do was hope that, as his level and attributes increased, he might someday shatter this bottleneck.

...

Aside from improving his own strength, Yi Shen also took steps to avoid resting on his laurels. In the Jingmen Safe Zone, he began to put his earlier business plans into action.

After discussing with his mother, he acquired ownership of a shop in the core commercial district, intended as the foundation for his own enterprise.

He planned to have Zhu Qing come manage the shop for him, which would make collecting materials and skill books much more convenient in the future.

After more than a month of interactions, Yi Shen had come to know this woman very well.

Zhu Qing was indeed efficient and driven—if nurtured properly, she was a rare talent.

Naturally, Zhu Qing accepted the offer.

Quietly, a shop called “Small Town Stories” opened on the streets near the city center.

The store bore no sign of Peach Blossom Cove, focusing instead on buying low and selling high when it came to equipment and skill books.

Such shops were not uncommon on the street, and they were far less renowned than the major guild stores. Apart from a sign offering high prices for all kinds of rare skill books, the shop had little else to distinguish it.

Of course, Yi Shen never intended to make a splash.

This store existed solely to help him collect materials and skill books.

His main targets were high-level materials and skill books that were cheap and of little use.

High-level materials were difficult to use for equipment crafting or enchantment, so their prices remained low.

But for Yi Shen, his research valued only quality, so he could acquire a batch of high-level materials at extremely low prices.

As for skill books, those depended on luck.

Since he could now use research points to enhance skills, his need for new abilities was not as great.

He told Zhu Qing to keep an eye out for rare skills, especially those related to the elements. Though he’d already learned most market-available skill books, every now and then something truly useful would appear.

As for Bai Hongjiang, Yi Shen had also spoken with him.

Bai Hongjiang still wished to follow Yi Shen.

The reputation of the “Dark Mage” continued to circulate in private.

But Yi Shen didn’t have Bai Hongjiang return to Peach Blossom Cove. Instead, as many members transferred out, he had him join Blood Slaughter.

His father’s affairs were certainly linked to Blood Slaughter.

Yi Shen hoped Bai Hongjiang could infiltrate the enemy’s ranks and cultivate his own power within Blood Slaughter, making it easier to gather intelligence in the future.

According to his plan, Yi Shen would continue using this period of safety to improve his attributes and level.

Once he reached level forty or so, he’d be ready to confront Anqing directly—or venture into the Land of Moonlight to search for his father.

Things were developing far more smoothly than he had anticipated.

Because he was undisturbed, he spent another ten days sweeping all the low-level Plane Gates repeatedly, raising his level straight to forty-one! Relying on his monstrous attributes, he simply bulldozed his way through!

He tried to approach the Land of Moonlight.

But it seemed that area was now under strict official control.

Not only was the Plane Gate off-limits, but monsters periodically emerged from within.

Moreover, in recent days, not only had the energy fluctuations from the Land of Moonlight grown abnormal, but nearby Plane Gates also showed increased energy movements and rampant monsters.

Jingmen Safe Zone had already issued alerts and started organizing defenses, and the forums buzzed with speculation about possible interdimensional monster invasions.

This was not the first time such events had occurred in decades of Safe Zone history—several monster outbreaks had happened before.

While Blue Star’s explorers could only enter other worlds via a single teleport point, for those coming from the other side, there were likely multiple entryways. Especially in high-level Plane Gates, monsters sometimes burst out directly, bypassing the internal stronghold defenses.

Of course, as everyone’s levels rose and more elite explorers took up station, these scattered monsters no longer posed a real threat to Jingmen Safe Zone. People simply needed to remain vigilant and ensure their own safety.

But unexpectedly, this time the energy surge was far more intense than anticipated.

Especially in the north of Jingmen Safe Zone, near the Land of Moonlight, the various dimensional gates were greatly affected. Two high-level Plane Gates were officially declared off-limits for exploration!

All major guilds received notice to prepare defensive lines in advance to prevent monsters from assaulting the city.

The forums exploded with discussion.

These debates reached a fever pitch when a particular incident occurred.

Monsters really did emerge from the Land of Moonlight.

And they began to move toward the city, attacking the defensive lines!

Among these monsters, there was one especially peculiar entity.

It was a mirror image that resembled moonlight.

Originally, it should have been a boss monster from the Moonchase area within the Land of Moonlight—a monster previously tackled by Peach Blossom Cove’s raid team.

But this time, what appeared was not a monster’s mirror image.

It was a humanoid!

It launched attacks against the defenders stationed near the Land of Moonlight.

This humanoid mirror image was powerful, registering at level sixty-three on scouting spells. When someone finally glimpsed its true face, they were utterly stunned.

Though it was only a mirror image, its appearance was strikingly similar to Zhao Weimin, the Peach Blossom Cove president who had already perished!

Concealed among the monsters, it began mindlessly attacking the explorers!!

And the strength of this moonlit mirror image was overwhelming, causing over thirty casualties among official and Jingbei Industrial teams.

When the footage reached the major guilds, it caused an uproar among all who saw it!