Chapter 154 : Thousand-Eyed Centipede! A Tier-Three Monster Right Off the Bat!
Chapter 154: Thousand-Eyed Centipede! A Tier-Three Monster Right Off the Bat!
Hang Yu arrived at the Skill Tower accompanied by Captain of the Personal Guard Zhou Cang.
After being upgraded, the Skill Tower in the Main Urban Area had undergone a considerable transformation in appearance, evolving from a simple stone tower into a pavilion-style ancient high tower, now harmonized with the architectural style of the Lord Fortress and other structures within the Main City.
Of course, appearance wasn’t the point.
The improvement in functionality was key.
The Tier-One Skill Tower offered: five Skill Comprehension Rooms, five Skill Training Rooms, and one Skill Transmission Room.
The Tier-Two Skill Tower offered: ten Skill Comprehension Rooms, thirty Skill Training Rooms, and two Skill Transmission Rooms.
The Skill Comprehension Room, also known as the Skill Learning Room, was where Skill Stones could be embedded to allow quick understanding of a skill. Regardless of whether it was a Fourth Calamity player or another resident of the territory, as long as the corresponding fee was paid, they could swiftly comprehend a skill here.
Compared to the Tier-One Skill Tower—
The Tier-Two Skill Tower had +5 comprehension rooms,
and most importantly, it could now embed blue-quality Skill Stones.
As for the Skill Training Room?
This was a space where one could slowly enhance skill proficiency and level through focused cultivation!
For a person with Tier-One cultivation, a day of training in the room produced a skill improvement roughly equivalent to the effect of consuming 200 to 400 Essence Points.
Each Tier-Two Training Room could accommodate five people, and thirty rooms could host up to 150 people simultaneously. Theoretically, this setup could save the territory between 30,000 to 60,000 Essence Points every day.
And that’s only assuming all the trainees were Tier-One.
If trainees had Tier-Two cultivation, their skill improvement speed would be even higher.
Currently, the training rooms were only open to Azure Dragon Guards and some promising native residents—players were not allowed to train skills here.
After all, Fourth Calamity players had ten times the drop rate and undying bodies.
Letting them grind monsters for Essence to train their skills was far more cost-effective.
If Hang Yu allowed players into the Skill Training Rooms, they would hole up inside day and night, mindlessly grinding skills. This would not only be inefficient compared to monster hunting but also affect their personal growth and the territory’s income.
As of now, the training room population was half Azure Dragon Guards, half native soldiers. Together, they saved the territory 100,000 Essence Points daily. Once the second Tier-Two Skill Tower was operational, this daily savings would reach 200,000.
Not a small number!
While for a massive territory boasting tens of thousands of troops this may be a mere drop in the bucket, for Hang Yu, it was already more than sufficient.
Hang Yu asked, “Have you tried the Skill Tower yet?”
Zhou Cang replied respectfully, “Reporting to My Lord, your humble servant has already trained for several days in the Skill Tower. A single day of training here is worth ten days outside. The results are nothing short of mystical!”
Hang Yu nodded in satisfaction.
Ordinary natives had slow progress in training skills and cultivation techniques.
Facilities like this, found in the Starsea Lords’ territories, were like cheat codes to them.
These would become important resources for the Starsea Lords to win over native experts.
Although Zhou Cang’s body was demonized, as long as he was a resident of the territory, he could utilize all these facilities.
Not only could Zhou Cang train in the Skill Tower, he could also acquire new skills via Skill Stones. As he lived and stayed longer in the territory, his foundation and strength would continuously grow.
Hang Yu walked up to one Comprehension Room.
“Wait outside.”
“Yes!”
Hang Yu stepped into the room and formally embedded the Skill Stone: The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes into the stone slot. From this moment on, this powerful skill became an open skill available to everyone in the territory.
【Essence -100,000!】
【You’ve comprehended “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes”!】
The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes, a blue-quality skill, current level 1.
For 10 seconds upon activation, the user’s three slashes or slash-type skills gain +40 speed, +25% critical damage, and 50%, 80%, 100% cumulative enhancement effects with each strike.
As expected of a Skill Stone gifted by Lord Guan!
It was currently the highest-grade Skill Stone in the entire territory.
Even among blue-quality skills, it was a top-tier one.
This skill could be combined with all slash-type skills—not only massively increasing speed and critical damage, but also providing comprehensive buffs to skill effects. It was immensely powerful!
Of course, stronger skills came with higher requirements!
This one demanded 260 Strength just to learn. Even the cost to comprehend it was 100,000 Essence, and apart from Zhou Cang, no other resident could currently train it.
But Hang Yu wasn’t satisfied with just learning the skill.
【Essence -20,000!】
【Your “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes” is now Level 2!】
【Essence -30,000!】
【Your “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes” is now Level 3!】
【……】
【Essence -90,000!】
【Your “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes” is now Level 9!】
Hang Yu spent a total of 440,000 Essence Points, yet only raised the skill to Level 9.
To raise it from 9 to 10 would require a staggering 450,000 Essence in one go!
From learning to mastering this skill…
The total cost was 990,000 Essence Points!
Unprecedented!
Although “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes” was now a public skill, with such a high learning threshold and insanely steep upgrade cost, few players could hope to master it anytime soon. Presumably, all finisher-type skills were like this.
Hang Yu didn’t hesitate to invest more Essence.
【Essence -450,000!】
【Your “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes” is now Max Level!】
The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes, blue-quality skill, current level 10.
Permanently boosts Strength by +45. For 10 seconds upon activation, three slashes or slash-type skills gain +100 speed, +50% critical damage, and 100%, 200%, 300% cumulative enhancement effects.
Seeing the skill’s powerful effects, Hang Yu was extremely satisfied.
He felt its practicality wasn’t inferior to certain purple-quality skills—with this, his burst potential would dramatically increase!
And if used in combination with the Soul of the King trait—
Hang Yu could even instantly kill a foe of similar tier, equipment, and attributes!
That 1 million Essence Points? Worth every bit!
He immediately summoned Zhou Cang inside.
Hang Yu then spent another 100,000 Essence—
So Zhou Cang could also learn The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes.
As Zhou Cang comprehended the essence of the skill via the Skill Stone, his massive frame trembled. An expression of disbelief filled his eyes. Clearly, he had never imagined being able to learn and master such a profound martial art!
“Thank you, My Lord!”
Though he had long experienced the Lord’s miraculous methods, and had already trained in the mystical Skill Tower, he still couldn’t suppress the flood of emotions, dropping to his knees on the spot.
Hang Yu said, “The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes is a powerful finisher. Now that you have this skill, you’ll be able to dominate or even defeat opponents of the same level with ease.”
As Captain of the Personal Guard, Zhou Cang needed even greater strength and foundation.
Hang Yu had only taught Zhou Cang the skill—he hadn’t upgraded its level. After all, the Essence consumption was simply too terrifying. With the current reserves, he couldn’t afford to splurge like that.
Even at Level 1, the skill offered a major power boost.
Of course, Zhou Cang wouldn’t get such a powerful skill for free. Over the next few days, Hang Yu planned to have Zhou Cang teach him several of his core skills. Whether they would be useful or not remained to be seen—but at the very least, they could boost attributes or serve as fusion materials in the Enlightenment Tower.
Skill transmission was one of the three core functions of the Skill Tower.
Each person could teach or learn one skill per day.
During transmission, both the teacher and learner consumed Essence Points.
Additionally, learning skills through transmission took longer and had higher mastery thresholds compared to learning through Skill Stones, making it unsuitable for mass adoption.
After five hours of training—
Hang Yu learned Zhou Cang’s Fiery Tiger Battle Soul!
From learning to mastering it took only around 30,000 Essence Points.
Fiery Tiger Battle Soul, green-quality skill, currently max level.
Permanently boosts Strength +15. Consumes 50 Mana to summon the Fiery Tiger Battle Soul for possession. While possessed: Attack Speed +20, Damage Mitigation +50%, each valid hit deals an additional 185 fire damage.
This was a partial transformation buff, meaning although it caused slight visual changes when activated, it didn’t interfere with the normal use of other skills.
Hang Yu didn’t yet have a skill with similar function, so this was quite useful to him.
Zhou Cang had several other skills to learn from as well.
Besides Fiery Tiger Battle Soul, the most valuable one was Fiery Tiger Mountain-Crushing Drop—and both were prerequisite skills for Zhou Cang’s strongest move: Tiger Demon Descent.
No rush!
Hang Yu would take his time learning over the next few days.
He hesitated about whether to go to the Enlightenment Tower to continue training. Right now, he had far too many skills—most of the green and white-quality ones were no longer practical. It was time to consolidate and optimize.
This would significantly boost personal strength.
But it would also rapidly deplete Essence reserves.
With a new map freshly opened, perhaps it would be better to save some Essence for posting tasks to players. Just as Hang Yu hesitated—
【Player “Street Slayer” has died, Essence +8000…】
【Player “A Sword Comes from the West” has died, Essence +6400…】
【Player “Zha Jiang Mian” has died, Essence +5200…】
【Player “Salted Fish Thrust” has died, Essence +8000…】
【……】
【Player “Little Bell” has died, Essence +8000…】
【Player “Chimera Wraith” has died, Essence +8000…】
【……】
Hang Yu was slightly surprised.
The players should’ve just entered the Wan City Map.
Why were they dying so frequently already?
Wan City was an uncharted zone.
The current operation of the Fourth Calamity Army primarily focused on splitting into multiple paths for reconnaissance. In such situations, passing through different Abyssal Fog Gates from various directions should logically lead to different landing points.
If one or two teams had bad luck and were wiped out, that could still be considered normal.
But now, almost every squad entering the new map had encountered danger—
That could no longer be explained away as mere bad luck.
“Wan City is even more dangerous than I imagined!”
The number of player deaths was skyrocketing.
Hang Yu felt both joy and concern.
He was happy, of course, because this meant he could soon activate the nuclear-powered leek harvester—the territory’s Essence reserves were about to surge, enabling him to issue tasks far more aggressively.
Hang Yu roughly calculated that about four to five hundred players had joined the new map expedition. Among them, there were 192 Tier-Two experts. If an entire team was wiped out just once, it would generate at least 1.6 million Essence Points.
If each player died two or three times a day,
and considering additional earnings from over a thousand low-level players—
The territory’s Essence reserves could easily double, supporting high-quality, high-speed development.
As for why Hang Yu also felt a trace of unease or pressure, it was naturally because this Wan City Map appeared far more difficult than expected—perhaps even far more dangerous than Wo Niu Mountain.
“Let’s see what’s going on first.”
He opened the Lord’s Vision.
Located a squad.
…………
Ye Li Meng’s squad, about forty strong, had just exited the Abyssal Fog Gate.
A notification appeared in everyone’s status panel:
【You have entered Wan City!】
As the players emerged, they immediately scanned their surroundings.
They found themselves in a dark-red desert, with almost no green in sight. Even the distant hills were barren and crimson, as though soaked in blood.
“This is Wan City?”
“Why does it look so desolate?”
“Doesn’t seem like anyone lives here at all!”
“……”
No wonder the players were so puzzled.
They’d done their homework for this operation.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Wan City was located in Nanyang Commandery of Jing Province, a region rich with rivers, humid climate, and fertile land—historically a densely populated and livable area.
Who would’ve expected to see this instead?
If they hadn’t been told in advance that this was Wan City, they would’ve thought they’d entered some dark, sinister version of the northwest wastelands!
Mad Blade Old Wang said, “Nothing to be surprised about. This place’s been under Abyssal Corruption for too long. The terrain and environment must’ve changed. It’s normal that it doesn’t match our expectations.”
“Everyone, stay alert!”
Just then—
Ye Li Meng issued a warning: “I just got a message from Sharp Bro and Little Bell. Their team ran into danger and was almost completely wiped out.”
“What?!”
“Even Sharp Bro’s team suffered heavy losses?!”
“What the hell’s going on? Is it really that dangerous here?!”
“……”
Ye Li Meng’s expression turned grim.
“Based on their intel, the monsters here are extremely high-level—so high that their levels don’t even display!”
“What?”
“No level displayed?!”
The crowd was shocked.
So far, the strongest monster the Fourth Calamity Army had faced was the Level 16 Zhang Bao. Even among non-boss monsters, the Level 11 Yellow Turban Strongman and Level 10 Yellow Turban Demonized Soldiers were considered high-level.
But monsters in this place didn’t even show levels?!
That only happened when an enemy was more than 5 levels higher than you!
Sharp Bro and Little Bell were already Level 14 elites.
If even they couldn’t see the level—
That meant the monster must be at least Level 20!
In the previous map, common monsters were just over Level 10.
Now, in this map, they were immediately facing Level 20 monsters?
That was a huge jump!
Ye Li Meng quickly encouraged them: “No need to worry. The higher the monster level, the better the drops, and the more Essence they give!”
“True!”
“Let’s just do it!”
“Time to get moving!”
“I can’t wait!”
“Wanna see what these monsters even look like!”
Members of the Fourth Calamity Army never feared death.
Hearing that this land was dangerous only heightened their desire to explore.
Lone Boat and a few other Rangers immediately took action.
Before long, they spotted a monster lurking in the desert.
It was a massive centipede nearly forty meters long.
Its body rivaled a train in size, each leg as thick as a human thigh. A thick black carapace covered its body, while its upper half was bloated, deformed, and could rise like a snake. It had two whiskers like giant dragon tendrils, and four pairs of massive crimson mandibles. Even more terrifyingly, its abdomen was covered in countless strange eyes.
【Thousand-Eyed Centipede】
？？？……
Description: A terrifying monster born of the Abyssal Dream. Its power is sufficient to easily destroy a town.
Brother Xiao Ma: “Damn! The level really isn’t showing! Old Wang, Boss Ye—can either of you see it?”
He was already Level 13—
And still couldn’t see its level.
That meant this Thousand-Eyed Centipede was at least Level 19!
Level 14 Mad Blade Old Wang shook his head.
“Totally blank!”
Hiss—
Everyone inhaled sharply.
This confirmed the intelligence from the other squads—
If even Level 14 players couldn’t see the level,
then this centipede had to be at least Level 20!
Of course—
Level 20 wasn’t that terrifying.
It was still just Tier-Two, after all.
But the aura from this monster was terrifying!
Even though it appeared like a regular mob, the oppressive feeling it gave off rivaled some commander-class bosses, making everyone feel deeply uneasy.
Mad Blade Old Wang quickly asked, “Old Ye, can you see its level?”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Ye Li Meng.
Because Ye Li Meng was the first player to reach Level 15.
If the monster was Level 20, he should be able to see it, right?
But—
Ye Li Meng said nothing.
His face grew darker.
“No way!”
“Boss Ye can’t see it either?!”
“Then doesn’t that mean… this monster is Level 21?!”
“……”
Now everyone was stunned!
There might be a huge gap between a Level 11 and Level 20 monster—
But those were still within Tier-Two.
A Level 21 monster, however, crossed into Tier-Three territory.
And that was a game-changer!
Sure, they had mentally prepared.
Sure, they’d suspected the Wan City region would have high-level monsters.
But encountering a Tier-Three monster right off the bat?
That was outrageous!
“What the hell?!”
“Who makes maps like this?!”
“Why would a monster this high-tier show up immediately?!”
“Dev team, get over here! I promise I won’t kill you!”
“……”
Players entered full complaint mode.
Even if it was just an elite monster, a Level 21 foe gave off pressure comparable to a Level 14–15 commander!
Even one was a huge threat.
“Forget it.”
“No more complaining.”
“Twisted Three Kingdoms has never been a game that follows the rules anyway!”
“Not good! Looks like it’s already spotted us!
It’s too late to retreat—everyone, get ready for battle!”
……