[Wild Golden Serpent King]

Zhou Sui had no idea what was happening outside. From the initial unfamiliarity with the three skills, he had already become proficient at controlling the timing of their usage. Throwing medicine and striking the enemies became seamless. After just a few minutes, his level had risen from the initial 12 to 16, making it easier to challenge higher-level snake monsters.

When his health was low, he would create some distance and use the healing skill, then quickly turn around and strike the monsters once his status was restored.

[You have picked up [Serpent Gall] [Serpent Skin]]

Dead snakes had a chance to drop items. Zhou Sui wasn’t sure if these items were useful, but after killing the monsters, he picked up everything he could, with a constant stream of +1+1 notifications popping up on his screen.

The narrow cave passage was littered with snake corpses. After leveling up, he had additional attribute points to distribute.

Distributing attribute points was one of the fastest ways to enhance a player’s combat power at this stage.

There were five main directions to distribute the character’s attribute points: defense, attack, speed, endurance, and luck.

The Divine Tree’s attribute distribution only had two paths: equipment and attribute points. Zhou Sui’s equipment attributes were practically blank and insignificant, so after looking at the attribute points from the quest, he decided to allocate all of them into endurance.

The Qi Ling Village’s talent was skill effect enhancement, which fell under the endurance category, meaning that by investing in it, he would get additional bonuses.

This meant that the effectiveness of the skills Zhou Sui used had increased. For instance, the paralysis effect of the medicine now had a slightly larger range, expanding from one meter to maybe half a meter or less, but it was noticeably broader. Zhou Sui’s heart stirred; so the skill effects are enhanced in this way. This meant that in a short period, he could attack more snake monsters.

When Zhou Sui’s newbie inventory reached its capacity, he realized he had collected over a hundred snake gall and skins, and there were no new snake monsters spawning in the passage.

“No more monsters?” Zhou Sui asked.

The surroundings were silent. After a brief pause, Zhou Sui spoke again, “Say something.”

The game AI, which had been forced to be silent, finally spoke: “Player, you can proceed deeper into the cave.”

The AI reminded Zhou Sui to complete the main quest, and the boundary of his vision showed a reminder: [Qi Ling Village · Serpent Cave (Remaining time 34:14:44)]. However, Zhou Sui’s attention was focused on the stone walls around him.

There were many forks in the cave. Zhou Sui leisurely circled the cave, taking his time. The initial adjustment period for the holographic game had passed. Now, he could naturally immerse himself in this specially designed challenge environment. As a former athlete, Zhou Sui had a high sensitivity to his surroundings. He immediately noticed the varying depths of markings on the cave walls, and the unique plants growing at certain corners. He also discovered several small gaps hidden behind the stone walls.

If it was just one path, there wouldn’t be so many forked passages and gaps.

As expected, after bypassing a few maze-like forks, a few lone snake monsters appeared in the cave.

These snakes lived deep within the cave. When Zhou Sui remained quiet, they quietly coiled up and didn’t actively attack him. However, when Zhou Sui instinctively checked their levels, the information floating above their heads read [Serpent Monster (Level 16 · Egg-laying Period)].

Zhou Sui: “?”

“Is the game really this realistic?”

Game AI: “Player, our game is very precise.”

Since this was a snake cave, it made sense there would be snakes laying eggs.

Zhou Sui: “Do I get experience for killing them?”

The game AI didn’t respond, as Zhou Sui had already picked up his machete and moved forward, mercilessly attacking the snake nest. The snakes in the egg-laying period immediately attacked Zhou Sui, but with his proficiency in killing snakes, he threw the powdered medicine, and with a flick of his scythe, slashed at the snake’s body, earning an experience gain notification.

Game AI: “…”

Not only did he get experience, but it was three times more than the roaming snakes outside.

The mother snake died on the spot, leaving behind a nest of eggs.

Game AI: “Player?”

Zhou Sui tossed aside some snake skins and collected the entire nest of snake eggs into his backpack. Serpent eggs had high nutritional value. “Can these be eaten in the game?”

Game AI: “…”

Eat what? What is this person talking about?

It cautiously replied, “Player can explore gameplay on your own.”

Zhou Sui understood, avoiding the passage he had passed through earlier. He continued to find a few more snake nests, killing the larger snakes and collecting the smaller ones ^[1] Eggs into his backpack.

He didn’t stop until he couldn’t find any more snakes, then made his way deeper into the cave.

The path deeper into the cave was wide and straight. As Zhou Sui entered the cave, a few more monsters appeared.

After clearing them out, he finally saw the massive creature inside the cave.

A giant snake, five or six times taller than a person, coiled up on the cave ceiling. Surrounding it were twisted and gnarled tree branches and roots, growing through the stone walls and reaching up to the upper layers of the cave. In the dim light, a pair of golden pupils glowed.

The Serpent King’s eyes locked onto Zhou Sui. When Zhou Sui stepped into its attack range, the enormous snake immediately began to move, and with a powerful flick of its tail, it smashed the ground, creating a large crater.

Zhou Sui dodged the attack, but the debris from the Serpent King’s tail hit him, instantly draining a quarter of his health.

He waited for the right moment to approach the Serpent King. The damage from his machete strike to the snake’s body was extremely weak. If earlier, Zhou Sui had taken a dozen strikes to kill the toughest high-level snake monsters, then against this Serpent King, even a dozen strikes might not cause it to lose 5% of its health. Meanwhile, any hit from the Serpent King could deal significant damage to Zhou Sui.

Seeing this, Zhou Sui furrowed his brows slightly. This area was not like the narrow passages in the cave, where the limited environment restricted movement. But at the same time, that also meant that in a confined space, it could predict his movements more easily. The deeper parts of the snake cave were much larger, and with the Serpent King’s massive size, the larger the area, the greater the need for quick movements and reactions within a broader range.

After thinking for a moment, the Serpent King’s attack came again.

Zhou Sui quickly slid his scythe behind him and leaped up onto the thick, twisted tree roots in the cave. In situations like this, the strategy was either to limit the opponent’s attack range or create a favorable environment for oneself.

The Serpent King’s tail struck the tree root, causing the surrounding area to shake violently. However, much of its attack’s power was absorbed by the root, lessening the damage.

Seeing that his actions were effective, Zhou Sui locked onto the Serpent King, whose tail was still moving, and took another chance to strike.

This time, he aimed for a precise spot—the snake’s vital point. The Serpent King went wild from the attack, thrashing violently and sending a gust of wind toward Zhou Sui. Zhou Sui seemed to anticipate the direction of its tail swing, grabbing a vine above him and swinging to the opposite direction just in time.

He quickly glanced at the battle record; when his scythe hit the Serpent King’s vital point, the damage dealt was significantly higher than attacking other areas.

The Serpent King seemed enraged, and its attacks came even faster.

As Zhou Sui jumped away, he felt his muscles stiffen for a moment. No matter how good his physical abilities were, they had peaked three years ago. His reflexes were slow now. After only two months of rehabilitation, every movement felt rusty to him. In the full-dive environment, his body should have felt lighter, but he was already used to his sluggish physical body in real life, and even the slightest changes in his body’s condition made him sensitive.

Zhou Sui quickly suppressed the odd feeling and turned to look at the thick, tangled tree roots above him, resembling a spider’s web. He made up his mind.

He gave up on close combat and quickly climbed higher. Using the complex environment of the tree roots, he led the Serpent King deep into it.

The snake’s body got tangled in some narrow spaces between the tree roots and branches. The once fast-moving Serpent King was now trapped, its movements greatly slowed down. Zhou Sui had been waiting for this moment. The tree roots and branches restricted the Serpent King’s body, while he, with his smaller size, could move freely in these narrow gaps, which also helped conceal his movements.

He just had to ensure that the Serpent King didn’t hit him three times in a row, and he would have the chance to defeat it.

In a brief moment, he seized the opportunity and struck the Serpent King’s body a dozen times, bringing its health down by 5%.

The Serpent King forcibly broke the roots holding it, charging toward Zhou Sui. Zhou Sui nimbly dodged the attack and used the opening to heal himself, mentally calculating the time the Serpent King would need to break free. He turned and led the Serpent King toward a more complex area.

However, when he reached a higher section of the tree roots, the Serpent King’s attack suddenly slowed down, and it hissed, as if warning him.

Zhou Sui noticed this slight difference and turned his head to look at the area he had just passed through. He realized that the spot was somewhat dim, and the tree roots above were tightly coiled. It suddenly dawned on him that the place where the Serpent King had initially jumped down to attack him was likely the very area he had just walked by.

With this in mind, Zhou Sui turned toward that direction, and the Serpent King’s speed of pursuit slowed down.

The most obvious sign was that it no longer used its tail to lash at him, as if it was wary of something.

This was a female snake.

Zhou Sui immediately understood.

Out of friendly consideration for new players, the system’s AI kindly reminded, “Player, there are 10 minutes remaining until the trial dungeon ends.”

Suddenly, Zhou Sui moved, rushing toward a darker, higher area that was barely visible.

In the shadowy high ground, hidden by the old tree roots, was a nest of golden, shining snake eggs.

System AI: “?”

Serpent King: “?”

…

Unlike the Serpent King inside the snake cave, there was another patrolling Golden Serpent King in the wild.

The Golden Serpent King was one of the wild map bosses that respawned in the Qi Ling Village region. After tests by high-level players online, it seemed to be related to the talent trials in Qi Ling Village, and they were able to roughly predict its respawn time. The two newly formed full squads were specifically here for the Golden Serpent King. The Golden Serpent King respawned once a day and had a chance to drop rare materials, which were often used to forge special equipment or refine weapons.

In the popular new player servers, the Golden Serpent King had long been monopolized or contested by other powerful player organizations.

However, in the 3145 new player server, the Golden Serpent King was far easier to contest than in other more active servers.

Servers with a high number of players naturally had their advantages, but in exchange, the competition for fixed resources was fiercer. In high-ranking servers, resources were often monopolized by in-game guilds that had prepared in advance. Rather than fight for convenience in the more crowded servers, some casual players preferred to go to less popular servers on the edges.

These two full squads, well-organized and disciplined, were clearly here to farm materials in the rural servers.

Dealing with such teams was not easy, and trying to steal materials from them would be even more difficult.

Two other teams had failed their trial inside the cave and were now coming out. The squads guarding the entrance wasted no time and began clearing the area, driving off the already battle-worn players.

“Some don’t want to leave.”

“Clear them out, don’t waste time. The Golden Serpent King will respawn soon.”

As they finished clearing the teams at the cave entrance, a subtle tremor suddenly shook the forest in the distance. Shortly after, a huge golden snake twisted its body and rushed towards the cave entrance.

“The Golden Serpent King has respawned!” someone shouted.

On the 3145 server, the news of the organized squads blocking the Qi Ling Village Serpent Cave sparked heated discussions on the regional channel.

This was a rural server to begin with. Not only had a group of players been taken advantage of after finishing the snake cave, but they were also being forcibly cleared from the forest and denied entry.

[Qi Ling Village] Playing Healer is a Scam: I hate this, not being able to finish the snake cave already sucks, screw them!

[Qi Ling Village] Flying Dragon in the Sky: Trying to steal the Golden Serpent King into their team, I can’t stand these people!

[Qi Ling Village] Slack Bro: These guys are too much. Coordinates [East 667, South 142], killing and looting, trying to monopolize the Golden Serpent King. No shame! The rare materials are gonna be snatched away!

[Qi Ling Village] Wa Wa is So Cute: Looks like they’re fighting now, let’s go in and kill them!

Stirring up trouble and gathering people was Slack Bro’s specialty. These teams wanted to clear the area and steal the Golden Serpent King, and although he couldn’t handle them alone, it didn’t mean he couldn’t rally others. Seeing that the two teams had just been cleared, Slack Bro immediately whispered to the leaders of several other squads, made a sob story, and organized people. Then, he stirred up trouble on the regional channel.

Slack Bro joined the team and noticed more and more people arriving. He thought to himself, “It’s not about being crude, it’s about being effective.”

So what if the squad is fully equipped! The power of the masses is even greater!

Seeing people pour into the regional channel, the elite squad that was blocking the Golden Serpent King was confused. ‘What’s going on? Why are so many people suddenly showing up? And they even have the coordinates for where we’re killing the Serpent King!’

“Captain, someone’s stirring things up in the channel,” one of the squad members said.

The captain shouted, “Which ID?”

The squad member replied, “Several of them.”

The captain: “…”

They had originally timed their appearance perfectly to sneak in and set up an ambush, even having their boss guard the forest’s edge to intercept other teams with the potential to contest them. They had planned to lure the boss into a secluded corner, kill it, and leave quickly, but they hadn’t expected someone to shout in the channel. Now everyone in the channel knew that the wild map boss had respawned, and everyone interested in the Golden Serpent King was rushing over.

“Kill faster, they’ll need time to teleport over,” the captain of the elite squad said, staying calm. “Full output!”

At his command, the two teams locked onto the enormous Golden Serpent King, with the closest players attempting to control it and surround it. Just as the Golden Serpent King’s health dropped to 20%, it suddenly went berserk, its entire body glowing blood red. With a tail swing, it sent several nearby players flying.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Is it enraged?”

“That’s impossible! It’s not even time yet!”

The blood-red Golden Serpent King ignored the players around it and charged straight for the snake cave.

The players watched as a blood-soaked figure emerged from the cave.

At the same time, two golden announcements appeared across all server messages.

[Server-wide Announcement] Qi Ling Village Trial, All Things Become One. Player [Cycle of Eternity] endured countless hardships to exterminate the Serpent King in the Serpent Cave, bathing in snake blood and seizing the snake’s heart. He also single-handedly eradicated the remaining snakes in the cave, achieving the [Not Letting a Single Serpent Escape] perfect annihilation achievement, becoming the first player to complete the [Qi Ling Village · Serpent Cave] perfect clearance!

[Special Event] Player [Cycle of Eternity] from the 3145 server achieved the [Not Letting a Single Serpent Escape] achievement during the [Qi Ling Village · Trial]. Unfortunately, he was spotted by the Golden Serpent King on his way home. Enraged by the death of its entire family, the Golden Serpent King has gone berserk, triggering the [Golden Serpent King · Berserk] special event on the 3145 server, lasting for 60 minutes!

Players frantically rushing towards the snake cave: “?”

Slack Bro, who had been waiting for an opportunity to steal the kill, almost fell out of the tree: “?”

Who had their entire family killed ???