Chapter 142 Treasure Hunting

Yesterday's faction war victory granted us 12 hours of double EXP, which certainly shouldn't go to waste. Where should I go for leveling today? I stood in the quest hall pondering this question. However, as I thought about it, I noticed a strange issue: my deep meditation hadn't triggered yet. It was very odd—could my experience be insufficient? Oh well, never mind; I'll check it again once I acquire more experience, and if all else fails, I'll talk to customer service.

Thinking of this, I remembered the equipment won from the faction war. I pulled it out to take a look, and it turned out to be a ring! Ah, accessories are extremely rare items. I immediately opened its stats:

[Blue Diamond Ring]
Grade: Purple Gold
Magic Defense +250
Agility Mastery +15
Water Resistance +12%
Increases the user's physical attack power by 7%
Required Level: Level 40

With no class restriction, I immediately equipped it. Next, I took out the treasure map obtained from the previous siege battle to check this time's location.

Treasure Location: Death Desert, local coordinates.

That Death Desert wasn't a place you could just visit whenever you wanted. Located past the Blood Wasteland in the central region, it was still an unexplored and unknown area. Quite a few players had attempted to explore it before, but every single one of them had ended up dying and respawning.

However, it had piqued my interest. Greater challenges came with greater opportunities, but going alone wouldn't be very efficient. I might as well invite everyone along, so I immediately sent out mail to the group, and also sent a copy to Phantom Moon. She liked soloing, so I wondered if she would come?

The open-air tea house in the Heavenly Dragon City player resting area.

Everyone had already arrived. Dragon Xin smiled as she picked up a fine porcelain teapot, pouring fragrant milk tea into each of our pristine white teacups. In the slanted rays of the setting sun, the buttery pine nut cakes emitted an incomparably alluring glow.

"Bro, what did you call us for? Is there some huge quest again?!" Comrade Ye Shuang asked greedily, stuffing a piece of cake into his mouth with a muffled voice, his eating manner making it look as though he had been starving for three years.

Instantly, the back of his head received a fierce smack!

"Ye Zi, could you please have some table manners and save us from the embarrassment!" Feng Xiaoyue withdrew her slender hand quite familiarly, then gracefully picked up her milk tea, took a sip, and smiled. "Dragon Spirit, what kind of quest is it this time?"

Ye Shuang mumbled, "None of your business."

"By the way, Big Bro, why did you guys want to see me today?" Dragon Xin asked.

I took the treasure map out of my backpack and said, "Today, we're going treasure hunting with your brother."

"Death Desert?" Everyone frowned. Xiao Xi asked, "That's an extremely dangerous place, Dragon Bro, where did you get this? I remember someone posting about some ruins at around these coordinates, but nobody went in to explore."

Hearing this instantly piqued my interest. Ruins and relics were practically the Dragon's Treasures of the Second World, especially those undiscovered remnants hidden deep within forests, mountains, and deserts—they were holy lands for getting rich in the eyes countless players. Generally speaking, as long as the first player to discover them wasn't too unlucky, they would always reap some rewards, and getting rich overnight wasn't just a myth.

"Right! This treasure map was a reward from the last siege battle. Today, relying on the double EXP effect, we're going to go explore it. I'm afraid my solo strength isn't enough, so I invited everyone to come along. More people means more strength. Are you guys willing?" I asked.

"Go! Of course we go, Bro, I'm definitely sticking with you!" Ye Shuang raised his hand in agreement.

I pondered for a moment and said, "Everyone must be very careful this time. These coordinates might be right in the center of the desert, and relying solely on our strength to break through won't be easy. I've been there before; not to mention the core area, even the monsters on the edge of the desert are extremely fierce!"

I had only lingered at the edge of that desert for a short while back then, and the sand worms there had left a deep impression on me, not to mention that Luo Sanpao. Even though my level and equipment were now far beyond what they used to be, I still wouldn't dare claim how deep into the desert I could venture.

"Well, what more is there to say? Big Bro, I'll go check it out with you guys. Who knows, we might strike it rich if we dig up a treasure!" Dragon Xin smiled. "However, we must make adequate preparations before that. The desert is far too vast, and going in means we won't be back in a day or two. If we don't prepare enough provisions, dying of hunger and thirst in there would be quite depressing."

"Food and water are definitely must-haves, but you can't rent camels in this game, which is a bit troublesome," Xiao Ai said. Indeed, rental camel spots hadn't appeared in the game yet because there were no towns there. Of course, you could try catching wild camels yourself, but that was completely unrealistic—the loyalty of captured camels was far too low, and they would kick and bolt at the slightest provocation.

"Let's split up to make preparations and meet at the entrance of the Blood Wasteland in half an hour!" Feng Xiaoyue said, and everyone immediately dispersed to get ready.

Half an hour later... at the entrance of the Blood Wasteland, everyone had arrived. Just as we were about to set off, a voice called out, "Dragon Spirit, aren't you waiting for me?" We turned our heads, and instantly, everyone froze.

Clad in silver-white female armor, imposing and majestic, with long hair fluttering in the wind, her delicate snow-white face bore a hint of a smile. The silver-white armor accentuated her figure to absolute perfection, her full and upright breasts evoking wild imaginations, with a giant sword strapped to her back. Standing before us right then was nothing less than a stunning female warrior!

"Gulp~!"

I forced down a hard swallow, finally squeezing out a sentence from my throat: "Phantom Moon..." I simply couldn't imagine that Phantom Moon, who usually wrapped herself up like a zongzi, would show her true face to the world today. Surely the sun didn't rise from the west today, did it?

Ye Shuang nudged my waist with his elbow and asked, "Bro, to what stage have you and her developed?"

"What stage we've reached is none of your business." I pushed him away. Dragon Xin said happily, "Phantom Moon Sis is here, that's wonderful! Now we have one more layer of security for success. Big Bro, let's set off!"

The environment here was indeed as harsh as expected, with temperatures so high they were almost unbearable. To put it bluntly, this kind of heat would give you a high fever even if you didn't catch one elsewhere, and the thermal energy was ridiculously high, directly causing the sand on the ground to become scorchingly hot. After walking through the desert for a while, Xiao Ai was the first to collapse—she had clearly suffered a heatstroke.

Feng Xiaoyue had no choice but to carry her on her back as we walked. A bit further ahead, Ye Shuang and I couldn't hold on either. Our HP was constantly dropping. Phantom Moon was also panting heavily at this point, sweat dripping down continuously. Only Dragon Xin remained completely unaffected by this extreme heat. No wonder—as a Fire Elementalist, her natural fire resistance was high; otherwise, she wouldn't have lasted this long.

In the end, we had no choice but to pull out cold drinks. There was no help for it; currently, the system didn't sell items like hot or cold drinks—players had to source them themselves. As a result, the prices of these items had started skyrocketing. These things were undeniably crucial; you needed them for combat in deserts or frigid regions.

There were quite a few minor monsters along the desert path: desert lizards, blazing scorpions, sand gargoyles, and so on. After consuming the cold drinks (why didn't we use them earlier?), we immediately revived, and these monsters naturally couldn't stop us.

We forged ahead until 5:00 PM, when we stopped to log off for dinner and agreed to continue at night. When we logged back on at night, the weather had cooled down significantly. "Dragon Bro, monsters spotted at the one o'clock direction. Looks like a big scorpion!" Xiao Xi turned her head and said to me, "What should we do, shake it off or take it down?"

"Hmm, only one spotted, should be easy to handle! I'll take care of it!" Ye Shuang said as he stood at the very front. Soon after, we could clearly see a Level 47 Giant Claw Scorpion running toward us from about 20 meters away, waving its claws menacingly while raising its black, venomous stinger high in the air.

Once the monster had closed the distance to within five meters of the fallen debris, Ye Shuang rushed forward at top speed, stunned the Giant Claw Scorpion with a single spear strike, and then thrust into it three consecutive times, pinning it to the ground. Right after that, however, the ground began to tremble.

"What's happening?!" Ye Shuang yelled.

"Not good, there are monsters, and judging by the situation, it's definitely a big one!" Phantom Moon shouted while drawing her giant sword, gripping it tightly with both hands as her expression turned tense.

Boom!

The pile of sand beneath Ye Shuang's feet suddenly exploded, sending sand and gravel flying everywhere! He himself was blasted away, landing head-first in a tumble. Struggling back up, he still ended up with a mouthful of sand. "Damn it, what kind of thing is that, show yourself!" Following that, a roar echoed from the dust and smoke, "Roar!" Next, an enormously sized monster appeared before me. This creature looked somewhat like a lizard, but its head was massive and flattened, its mouth lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Ambush Dragon, Level 60, Elite Beast. Description: A fish-dragon type monster appearing in desert regions, which ambushes enemies by lurking beneath the sand. While underground, the Ambush Dragon determines the location of its prey through sound before launching an attack.