[Mud Monster Lv2]: A mud element monster. It will drag its prey into a swamp and devour them.
"An elemental monster, but it is a low-level one," Xia Chengfeng muttered, then tried to attack it with his long sword. The sword easily sliced through the mud monster's body, but it did not cause any lasting damage.
Elemental monsters like these do not have flesh and blood. He could only kill this monster by severing the connection between its magic core and body.
The mud monster attacked Xia Chengfeng by firing balls of mud at him. It also tried to tangle Xia Chengfeng's body with mud and attempted to drag him into the swamp.
Xia Chengfeng had the boost from the Life Alchemy Array and could easily avoid the attacks of the mud monster with his speed alone.
He wanted to test out Xiaozi's abilities, and yelled, "Xiaozi, attack it!"
"Roar!" Xiaozi growled at the mud monster. However, she was too small and did not have enough power. The mud monster ignored her.
Xiaozi became angry when she saw the mud monster ignore her. She pounced forward and bit down on the mud monster. In the end, she only got a mouthful of mud and was sent flying by a slap from the monster.
"Yelp! whine, whine…" she cried indignantly. The little creature had failed in her first battle.
It's still too early for her as she's just a newborn baby dragon, Xia Chengfeng thought. But he didn't give up and shouted, "Xiaozi, don't be discouraged. Try again!"
"Use a magic attack!" Xia Chengfeng hollered, guiding her, "Dragon's Breath, those are dragon flames. Spew fire and burn it!"
There was a contract between the pet and owner. Xiaozi could intuitively understand what Xia Chengfeng was saying.
She stopped crying and suddenly spewed fire at the mud monster.
Xia Chengfeng saw a bolt of blue flame shoot toward the monster. It was about the thickness of a thumb and interlaced with a few bolts of lightning.
Xia Chengfeng thought to himself, even though Xiaozi belongs to the lightning element and is a battle-type dragon, it is still too young… But before he even completed his thought, what he saw instantly changed his opinion.
The thin bolt of lightning-fire immediately pierced through the mud monster when it reached its body, and the monster's magic core cracked and shattered into pieces. The little dragon had killed in an instant!
System Notification: Your pet [Xiaozi] has killed [Mud Monster Lv2]. You receive 20 points battle experience. Xiaozi receives 20 points battle experience.
A pet would share the experience with its owner if it killed a monster. However, a person could only have one pet at the moment.
"Great job! Xiaozi!" Xia Chengfeng praised, "You did great!"
"Rrrr!" Xiaozi flew onto his shoulder happily and gloated her victory.
"Continue!" Mud monsters appeared around them. Xia Chengfeng started to fight them off alongside Xiaozi.
He noticed that his elf bow was much more useful than his beast bone sword in battle as it was imbued with elemental damage.
System Notification: You killed [Mud Monster Lv2] and received 40 points battle experience.
…
20 minutes later, Xia Chengfeng had killed all the mud monsters in the cave. His battle experience bar showed 480/1000.
Xiaozi had also become Lv2, though her body did not change. She was now resting on Xia Chengfeng's shoulder, likely too tired from the battle.
System Notification: Decomposed [Mud Monster Lv2]. Obtained [Earth Element Crystal Lv2], [Soul Rock Fragment Lv2], [Clay Lv2].
There was nothing valuable in the cave. Xia Chengfeng only found a few earth element crystals.
"Conquer this cave," Xia Chengfeng informed the system.
System Notification: You have successfully conquered the cave. Obtained [One Star Space Crystal] x1.
Xia Chengfeng looked at the scoreboard again. He had gained ten points, but his ranking had only moved up by one.
By this time, because of the allure of the rewards, many of the survivors had explored caves more actively. The points of the frontrunners were all increasing.
The player count of area 2222 had also dropped by a few people. It reminded the players that cave exploration was not a vacation or a game. They could not be brought back from the dead.
They had to be extremely cautious if they wanted to survive and get the rewards!
After resting for a few hours, Xia Chengfeng ate his fill and started to explore the area again.
"What will I discover if I dig to the back?"
The divination crystal ball did not change. Its prophecy read: Absolutely nothing!
Xia Chengfeng dug the tunnel and found that the cave was not even a One Star cave. It was an ordinary cave with a few large gophers and sweet potatoes. He gathered them as food.
Xia Chengfeng headed out to explore every day for the next few days.
System Notification: You have conquered [Ordinary Cave]. Obtained [Space Crystal] x1.
System Notification: You have conquered [One Star Fire Slime Cave]. Obtained [One Star Space Crystal] x1.
System Notification: You have conquered [One Star Skeleton Cave]. Obtained [One Star Space Crystal] x1.
…
System Notification: You have conquered [Ordinary Cave]. Obtained [Space Crystal] x1.
System Notification: You have conquered [One Star Red Bronze Ore Cave]. Obtained [One Star Space Crystal] x1.
Ten days later, Xia Chengfeng had amassed 94 points and broke into the top ten rankings.
Xia Chengfeng's ranking in the top ten was not due to his abilities, but rather more so because of the time he spent building his space bubble and managing farms and medicinal fields. He had also built a crafting room out of stone.
His level had increased to Lv3 and his experience bar was 90% filled. Xiaozi's level had also increased to Lv3 0%. Her weight had reached roughly four pounds at the cost of completely devouring the boar meat that Xia Chengfeng had kept as reserve.
Xia Chengfeng felt frustrated as he gazed at Xiaozi happily munching on the meat of a gopher, and said, "You are truly a food bucket! I'm going broke from your eating! Do you hear me? Ration your food!"
"Growl!" Xiaozi tore off another piece of meat.
Xia Chengfeng smiled and started another divination.
"What will I discover if I dig upward?"
Xia Chengfeng realized that the difficulty of the caves was higher if he dug upward or downward.
He could easily deal with ordinary Lv2 or Lv3 monsters now. It was time to challenge a higher difficulty.
The divination crystal ball gradually turned red. Its color was dark and the prophecy read: The aura of magic beasts mixed with the aura of humans to create a dangerous aura!
"Magic beasts and humans? Xia Chengfeng mumbled as he analyzed the prophecy, "That should be a monster like a beastman. The ball has turned so red this time. The level of the monster must be rather high!"
"Looks like I have to make sufficient preparations."
Xia Chengfeng had only suffered minor injuries during these few days of constant combat. He had fully recovered after he used the [Hemostatic Elixir Lv1] combined with the recovery rate of the Life Alchemy Array.
But he needed more items this time. He first made two doses of [Rage Elixir Lv2], then quickly crafted a batch of arrows. He coated the arrows with [Corrosive Poison Lv3] and did the same with the sword.
As for armor, Xia Chengfeng was now wearing a set of clothing made out of a beast's hide.
He had a shirt, skirt, shoes, belt, and hat made of a beast's hide. Unfortunately, this outfit was made out of low-level materials and did not have any attributes. But he was still in a better state than most other survivors.
"Let's dig!" Xia Chengfeng dug with his [Exquisite Steel Pick]. Fragments of granite flew about and littered the floor as he chiseled through the ceiling.
Xia Chengfeng finally finished digging the tunnel after a few hours.
He discreetly stuck his head out to observe the situation in the next cave. He saw a few simple straw huts, much to his surprise.
A cohort of beastmen was battling outside the huts while another group of beastmen was observing the battle taking place around them. Close by, two half-naked beastmen were tearing at each other.
[Violent Tauren Lv4]: A violent tauren. It is inclined to attack manically.
In total, there were 11 ordinary taurens. There was even a muscular three-meter-tall tauren amongst them.
It was presently engaged in a fight with another tauren. Xia Chengfeng heard an angry roar as it crashed its sturdy horns against its opponent.
The opponent's horn snapped, and the muscular tauren's horn pierced into the other party's head. Then, it raised its hoof and stomped on the head of its opponent. It raised its opponent's head and started to drink its blood and brain matter.
"Moooo!" The taurens around the battlefield cried in excitement when they saw blood.
Xia Chengfeng read the information of the muscular tauren.
[Wild Tauren Chieftain Lv6 (Elite)]: The chieftain of the tauren village. It is also the strongest warrior in the village.
"To think that it is an elite!" Xia Chengfeng became cautious. Elites were normally much more powerful than ordinary monsters. Furthermore, elites were all Superb Individuals and possessed supernatural power! They might even have powerful equipment and techniques.
He would die a pitiful death if he dealt with them using his low-level abilities!