40: Chapter 4: First Battle in the Secret Realm! Skill Fusion for Clearing the Field Was Incredibly Satisfying!

Lin Feng stood before a massive metal gate.

The gate was ten meters high and six meters wide, cast entirely from a dark-silver alloy, its surface covered in intricate energy circuits.

Eight guards in deep blue uniforms stood on either side of the gate.

Every one of them had an aura of Rank 3 or higher, with eyes as sharp as eagles.

"Identification."

A guard captain with a scar on his face reached out, his voice stiff.

Lin Feng pulled out his c-rank explorer badge and the entry documents given by Zhao Tianhai.

The guard captain checked them carefully, then looked up at Lin Feng.

"Rank 1? C-Rank?"

He frowned.

"Kid, it's true the minimum entry Rank for the Desert Golden Sea is Rank 1, but the mortality rate is as high as 70%."

"Are you sure you want to go?"

Lin Feng nodded. "I'm sure."

The guard captain stared at him for three seconds before returning the documents.

"Fine. If you're looking for death, I won't stop you."

He turned to the console next to the gate and pulled a fist-sized purple crystal from his coat.

[Void Crystal (Purple)]

[Use: Stabilize spatial tunnels]

[Description: A rare crystal containing spatial power, worth a fortune]

The crystal was embedded into a slot on the console.

Vroom—

An ear-piercing sound of machinery operating rang out.

The energy circuits on the metal gate lit up one by one, spreading from the bottom all the way to the top.

Rumble!

The gate slowly opened inward.

Behind the gate was not a room, but a swirling Void Realm vortex shimmering with an earthy yellow light.

"Go on in."

The guard captain stepped aside.

"Just a reminder, the time flow in the Secret Realm is different from the outside world; three days inside is one day outside."

"The maximum stay is thirty days. If you exceed that, you'll be forcibly ejected."

"As long as your greed isn't too strong, just crush this if you encounter danger. You won't die...!"

He tossed a jade talisman to Lin Feng.

[Emergency Escape Talisman (Blue)]

[Effect: Can instantly leave the Secret Realm and return to the entrance after being crushed]

[Usage: 1/1]

Lin Feng took the jade talisman, thanked him, and understood his meaning.

Then, he took a deep breath and stepped into the Void Realm vortex.

...

His vision blurred.

There was a momentary sensation of weightlessness.

When he opened his eyes again, Lin Feng was stunned.

Yellow sand.

Endless yellow sand.

The sky was a blinding bright white with no clouds, and the sun hung right in the center like a burning fireball.

A heatwave hit him, the air so dry it felt like it could suck the moisture right out of his lungs.

As far as the eye could see, there were only dunes upon dunes, undulating and stretching to the horizon.

"This place..."

Lin Feng swallowed.

If someone with weak mental fortitude saw this, they would probably break down on the spot.

But he didn't.

On the contrary, his eyes lit up.

"No one... Great!"

No other Explorers, no surveillance, no interruptions.

He could grind mobs, test new skills, and... get stronger to his heart's content!

"Find some monsters first."

Lin Feng pulled a palm-sized metal disc from his wanxiang ring.

[Exploration Drone (Green)]

[Effect: Can fly and scout within a five-hundred-meter radius for ten minutes]

[Description: An essential gadget for Explorers]

He pressed the start button.

Buzz— buzz—

The disc levitated, blue light shooting from its base as it flew into the distance.

Lin Feng closed his eyes, and the shared visual feed from the drone appeared before him.

Dunes, dunes, and more dunes.

Occasionally, he could see a few withered cacti and some lizards scurrying past.

But no monsters.

Ten minutes later, the drone ran out of energy and automatically returned.

"Change direction."

Lin Feng adjusted the angle and released the drone again.

In this way, he changed directions four times, scouting for over forty minutes.

Just as he was getting a bit impatient—

A low-lying area appeared in the feed from the fifth drone.

It was a sand pit about a hundred meters in diameter, looking like it had been hit by a meteorite.

At the bottom of the pit, hundreds of... scorpions were lying densely packed!

Each one was the size of a washbasin, with an earthy yellow shell that almost blended in with the desert.

Their tails were curled high, tipped with stingers shimmering with an eerie light.

[Desert Scorpion (Normal)]

[Rank: 15]

[HP: 80]

[attack power: 12-150 (Poison damage included)]

[defense: 6]

[Skills: Poison Sting Pierce, Sand Lurk]

[Enhanced Desert Scorpion (Elite)]

[Rank: 15]

[HP: 150]

[attack power: 18-220]

[defense: 9]

[Skills: Poison Sting Rapid Fire, Sandstorm Assault]

"Found them!"

Lin Feng rubbed his hands in excitement.

A mixed group of normal and elite mobs, numbering over a hundred.

Perfect for testing his new skills!

He put away the drone and quietly crept toward the depression.

Two hundred meters away, he stopped and hid behind a dune.

He peeked out.

Most of the scorpion swarm was sleeping, with only a few elite scorpions on patrol.

Their tails swayed back and forth, their stingers glinting dangerously in the sunlight.

"Let's try long-range Fusion first..."

Lin Feng held his hands together in a hollow sphere.

In his left palm, green wind elements began to converge, forming a rotating wind blade.

In his right palm, golden light elements condensed into a light bullet.

"Wind Blade Technique... Light Bullet Technique..."

"Fusion!"

He attempted to fuse the two energies before releasing them.

Hum—

The Talent interface in his mind automatically popped up.

[Detected fusable skills: Wind Blade Technique (Lv1) + Light Bullet Technique (Lv1)]

[Skill Fusion (Release State)]

[Suggested consumption: 100 - 1,000,000 mana]

[Fusion direction: Cutting + Exploding]

"500 mana, let's see its power!"

Lin Feng chose a moderately high consumption.

Instantly, he felt a tiny bit of mana being drained from his body.

The green wind blade and golden light bullet in his palms began to intertwine and fuse.

The edge of the wind blade was plated with a layer of golden light, and rotating air currents appeared inside the light bullet.

Two seconds later, the Fusion was complete.

A brand-new skill appeared in his palm—

It was a crescent-shaped energy blade half a meter wide and about three meters long.

The blade was greenish-gold, with fine serrated light rotating rapidly on the edges, making a "whirring" cutting sound.

"This form... let's call it 'Wind Maelstrom'!"

Lin Feng grinned.

He aimed at the densest area of the scorpion swarm and pushed his hands forward.

"Go!"

The greenish-gold energy blade shot out from his hands!

It flew extremely fast, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air.

Moreover, Lin Feng deliberately controlled the release angle—horizontally!

The energy blade was like a giant scythe, flying close to the sand at exactly the height of the scorpions' midsections.

Thud thud thud thud thud!!!

The cutting sounds were continuous!

The first normal scorpion in its path was sliced clean in half!

Instant kill!

The energy blade didn't slow down and continued forward.

Second, third, fourth...

Everywhere it passed, scorpions fell like wheat being harvested.

The greenish-gold blade light swept across a fifty-meter-wide area!

The previously quiet scorpion swarm instantly exploded into chaos!

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

Piercing screeches rang out everywhere.

The scorpions that weren't hit woke up and waved their claws frantically, searching for the enemy.

But it was too late.

Wind Maelstrom swept through the entire depression, then ran out of energy and dissipated into the air.

A fifty-meter-wide "blank zone" was left on the sand.

Within that zone were the corpses of scorpions, all cut in two.

The yellow sand was dyed dark red.

[Killed Desert Scorpion, EXP +15]

[Killed Desert Scorpion, EXP +15]

[Killed Enhanced Desert Scorpion, EXP +30]

[Killed...]

Lin Feng's head was like a symphony, with notification sounds dinging and clanging non-stop.

Fifty-three times in total!

"Awesome!"

His eyes gleamed.

With one strike, he had taken out fifty-three scorpions!

Including eight elites!

"Using 500 mana seems like a bit of a waste."

Lin Feng checked his status.

That strike just now consumed 500, but he had over a hundred thousand mana, plus the 500% recovery speed from the wanxiang ring, so it would be full again in a few minutes.

"Continue!"

Lin Feng jumped out from behind the dune and charged at the remaining scorpion swarm.

The scorpions spotted the enemy and immediately entered combat mode.

Normal scorpions burrowed out of the sand, while elite scorpions raised their tails and aimed their stingers.

"Light Bullet Technique!"

Lin Feng fired repeatedly with one hand while sprinting.

Puff puff puff!

Three golden light bullets flew out, precisely hitting the heads of three normal scorpions.

-3425! -3425! -3425!

More instant kills.

"Poison Sting Rapid Fire!"

An elite scorpion attacked, its tail whipping violently.

Three stingers shot toward him in a triangular formation!

They were incredibly fast!

Lin Feng didn't dodge, raising his left hand instead.

"Earth Wall Technique!"

Boom!

A two-meter-high earth wall rose from the sand, blocking his front.

Thud thud thud!

The stingers buried themselves deep into the earth wall, their ends still vibrating.

"Lightning Strike Technique!"

Lin Feng pointed with his right hand.

Crack!

A bolt of purple lightning fell from the sky, striking that elite scorpion.

-5375!

The elite scorpion twitched all over, its shell charred black, but it wasn't dead yet.

"Wind Blade Technique for the finishing blow!"

A green wind blade flew out, slicing across its neck.

[Killed Enhanced Desert Scorpion, EXP +30]

The battle was one-sided.

Lin Feng was like a high-efficiency killing machine, using various basic skills with ease.

Light Bullet Technique for sniping, Wind Blade Technique for cutting, Lightning Strike Technique for burst damage, Earth Wall Technique for defense...

Although they were all white and green Rank skills, with the boost from his 475 spirit points, the damage was absurdly high.

A few minutes later.

The last scorpion in the depression fell.

The sand was covered in corpses, dark red blood seeping into the yellow sand, and the air was filled with a Rank, fishy smell.

"Done."

Lin Feng shook his hands and let out a long breath.

Over a hundred Rank 15 scorpions, completely wiped out.

His experience bar... had also increased by about a tenth.

"After Rank 1, the experience needed to level up really sky-rockets."

Lin Feng shook his head, not really caring.

He walked to the pile of corpses and took a strangely shaped device out of his wanxiang ring.

It was a cylindrical metal tube with a needle at one end and a transparent storage bag connected to the other.

[essence blood collector (Blue)]

[Effect: Can extract essence blood from monster corpses, extraction efficiency 3%]

[Description: An essential tool for Alchemists and those tempering their Physiques]

Lin Feng crouched down and inserted the needle into the heart of an elite scorpion.

He flipped the switch.

Buzz— buzz—

The extractor began to work.

Dark red blood was drawn out and flowed into the storage bag.

But looking closely, the blood was mixed with tiny golden specks of light, like gold dust in sand.

[Obtained: Desert Scorpion Essence Blood (F-Rank)]

[Quality: F]

[Effect: Contains a trace amount of earth attribute essence, can be used for low-level Body Tempering or alchemy]

[Description: Low quality, requires large-scale refining]

"F-Rank... this is trash."

Lin Feng curled his lip.

But he wasn't discouraged.

One by one, he extracted the essence blood from all hundred-plus scorpions.

In the end, he obtained over a hundred and twenty units of F-Rank scorpion essence blood.

Several storage bags were filled.

"Once I've gathered enough, I'll use the Fusion Talent to refine the quality."

"F-Rank to E-Rank, E-Rank to D-Rank... I'll eventually synthesize something good!"

Lin Feng happily put away the storage bags.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze suddenly caught something in the center of the depression.

There was a... hole?

He went over to check.

It was a pit about two meters in diameter, extending diagonally downward into bottomless darkness.

There were clear signs of digging around the edge of the hole, and the soil was still fresh.

Most importantly—

From deep within the hole came a "rustling" sound.

More scorpions were crawling out!

"Is this... the entrance to a scorpion nest?"

Lin Feng's eyes instantly lit up.

He looked at the pitch-black entrance, then at the essence blood he had just collected.

Then, he grinned.

"It seems... I don't need to change locations."

The youth gripped his tree demon scepter, an excited light flashing in his eyes.

He took a few steps back and stood directly in front of the hole.

He assumed a combat stance.

Come on.

The more, the better.

Today, I'm going to farm to my heart's content!