Within the bright-as-day Flame God's Cavern, Shi Feng ventured ever deeper.
He had previously killed a Lava Hound to warm up, which boosted his skill proficiency considerably. But compared to those proficiency gains, the experience points from a level 25 Lava Hound were quite meager.
This was hardly surprising.
All the monsters in the Flame God's Cavern had high attack, thick health pools, and gave very little experience. Ordinary players would never come here to grind levels. But with the Blazing Sun Scripture, it was a different story — dealing with the monsters here became simple. Besides that, these monsters dropped Flame Crystals.
Flame Crystals were the key ingredient for crafting Basic Fire Resistance Potions.
Once players reached levels 20 to 30, many small dungeons and team dungeons required high fire resistance, or they simply couldn't be cleared. Among them was a level 25 team dungeon called the Nest of Flames — without Basic Fire Resistance Potions, there was absolutely no way through. Yet this team dungeon dropped tons of great equipment and items, awarded the most guild prestige, and most importantly, had a small chance of dropping Guild Herb Garden Vouchers and Guild Mine Vouchers.
With these two items, a guild could take its development to the next level.
Generally, a guild with a guild stronghold was considered a true guild. On the guild stronghold, one could construct various buildings to aid guild development. Two of the most important were the herb garden and the mine — these two locations provided the guild with a daily quota of herbs and ore resources, reducing expenses significantly while giving alchemists and blacksmiths enough resources to improve their life skill proficiency.
It was a complete win-win.
That was why any guild with a stronghold would spare no expense conquering the Nest of Flames — all for those two vouchers, which would allow the construction of a herb garden and a mine on the guild stronghold.
For this reason, back then, there were countless guilds running the Nest of Flames. Basic Fire Resistance Potions became the hottest product on the market.
Shi Feng still clearly remembered that a single Basic Fire Resistance Potion had cost 50 silver coins, while one Flame Crystal fetched 15 silver. So many people would spend three or four gold coins to purchase the Blazing Sun Scripture, because in just two hours they could farm 25 to 30 Flame Crystals and make their money back.
Inside the Flame God's Cavern, an ordinary Lava Hound had a 3% chance of dropping a Flame Crystal — three times higher than fire-type monsters in the outside world. A level 25 Elite had a 100% chance of dropping one Flame Crystal, with a 10% chance of dropping two. And that was without counting the equipment drops.
For a level 25 Special Elite, the drops were even better — a 100% chance of dropping two Flame Crystals, a 20% chance of dropping four, and a 10% chance of dropping five to seven.
A level 25 Leader boss was even more rewarding: a 100% chance of dropping ten Flame Crystals, a 30% chance of thirteen to nineteen, and a 20% chance of twenty to twenty-five. Taking down a single Leader boss could net roughly two gold coins just from Flame Crystals alone, let alone the other equipment and items.
Shi Feng cleared out solitary level 25 Lava Hounds along the way. Even facing two at once, he could handle them with ease.
The only drawback was that kills took a bit longer.
The Lava Hound's Flame Breath was easy to dodge — as long as you spotted the hound's Adam's apple lighting up with a fiery glow beforehand, it was about to breathe fire. However, this attack's damage was negligible for Shi Feng, totaling less than a hundred points.
But the Lava Hound's other skill, Flame Burst, was devastating — it dealt enormous fire damage to all enemies within an eight-yard radius.
Without at least 120 fire resistance and 90% fire damage reduction, a single use would strip away three-quarters of a same-level main tank's health. Although the Lava Hound's animation for this skill was quite obvious — it would rear up its claws and slam them into the ground, erupting in a burst of flames — the area of effect was so large that it was extremely difficult to dodge, making it essentially unavoidable damage.
Fortunately, Shi Feng's fire resistance was sky-high, so it only dealt about a hundred points of damage — negligible for someone with over eighteen hundred HP.
After another hour or so, Shi Feng finally arrived at the core area of the Flame God's Cavern. Along the way, he had slain numerous Lava Hounds. Since he was wearing Shadow Blessing with its +3 Luck bonus, the Flame Crystal drop rate was remarkably high — nearly one crystal for every five or six kills.
By this point, Shi Feng had killed over forty Lava Hounds and obtained a total of 8 Flame Crystals. His experience had risen to level 14 at 37% — his leveling speed was practically flying. Slash, Wind Thunder Flash, and Flame Thunder Explosion had all risen to level 7, level 5, and level 3 respectively. With the Abyssal's bonuses, those became level 10, level 8, and level 6, boosting his output considerably. Unfortunately, no equipment had dropped, and even more regrettably, no forging blueprints — which were what Shi Feng wanted most.
The core area was an expansive field of cooled lava, surrounded on all sides by flowing, scorching magma. At the far end of the clearing, numerous crystalline formations reflected the magma's glow in every direction, illuminating the entire vast clearing as bright as day. The ground here was formed from cooled and accumulated magma — more like a swamp than a solid stone path, difficult to walk on. One careless step could send you tumbling and sinking in. Without a certain degree of body control, fighting here would put you at a severe disadvantage.
Not far into the clearing, Shi Feng spotted many level 25 Elite Flame Half-Serpents standing guard in silence, with the occasional patrolling level 25 Special Elite Flame Half-Serpent Warrior among them. These monsters were far more intelligent than the Lava Hounds — their attacks included not only fire but also significant physical damage, and they reacted swiftly. The Flame Half-Serpent Warriors in particular wore armor and carried shields, essentially functioning as Shield Warriors. They were tough opponents.
Flame Half-Serpent, Elite rank, Level 25, HP: 20,000.
Flame Half-Serpent Warrior, Special Elite, Level 25, HP: 50,000.
Shi Feng then raised his gaze toward the center of the core area.
From a great distance, he squinted for a long time, and only after activating Supernatural Vision did he make out a stunning figure atop a stone platform in the center.
It was a serpent woman. Unlike the other half-serpents who had snake heads and reptilian faces, this serpent woman had a human upper body and a serpentine tail. She possessed a bewitching beauty that any woman would envy, with eyes that radiated a dazzling glow like rubies. Her luxuriant black hair, lustrous and full, was tied into twin tails. Her delicate, fair skin glistened under the firelight like flawless, luminous white jade.
What drew the eye most was her elegant bearing and exotic allure, especially the shimmering silk top she wore, which accentuated her captivating figure and ample bust — one look and a person would be utterly enchanted.
It was hard to imagine that such a gorgeous serpent woman was the sole level 25 Lord-rank boss of the Flame God's Cavern — the Scorching Serpent Woman, Saira.
"So the benefit of being first to explore is truly great — a Lord-rank right off the bat."
In his previous life, most of the bosses Shi Feng had encountered in the Flame God's Cavern were Leader-rank. Only on very rare occasions would a Lord-rank boss appear, and encountering one was always pure luck.
Gazing at the enchanting form of the Scorching Serpent Woman Saira, Shi Feng's eyes lit up, his breathing quickened, and his expression grew excited. A brilliant smile — one never before seen — broke across his normally calm face.
Shi Feng was not, of course, entranced by Saira. A Lord-rank boss represented enormous wealth, and one from the Flame God's Cavern at that — defeating her would yield who knew how much experience and how many high-level items and equipment.
If Hei Zi and the others saw this, they would surely call Shi Feng heartless for not even sparing a delicate serpent woman — nothing short of a beast...
(To be continued...)