Chapter Seventy-Four: Intelligence

He then swallowed the Water Spirit Fruits, one after another, refining each as it went down. Yet, something strange occurred to him: it seemed he could sever the Space-Time Ant's absorption of energy and instead absorb it himself.

Lu Sheng hesitated, but in the end, refrained from meddling. Even if he truly could absorb the energy himself, he did not know the method, nor what consequences it might have—everything was an unknown. To play it safe, he allowed the Space-Time Ant to absorb the energy as before.

After absorbing eight Water Spirit Fruits, he broke through to the fourth tier. He left the remaining two untouched, returning them to the sub-dimensional space. Tomorrow, he would have a great deal to purchase in the main city; if he lacked funds, those Water Spirit Fruits could be sold.

Spirit fruits were of immense value; among items of the same tier and quality, spirit fruits were considered top-tier.

[Space-Time Ant]
Quality: Orange (formerly Red)
Tier: Early Fourth Tier
Skills: Sub-dimensional Space (30,000 meters range), 100-fold strength, Time Reversal, Spatial Stasis, Spatial Traversal.
Evolution Requirements: One third-tier material with spatial attributes, one third-tier material with temporal attributes.

With the Space-Time Ant elevated to the fourth tier, Lu Sheng’s own strength was again bolstered several times over. Now, he could take on the Windfire Twin-headed Serpent without even needing the ant’s full hundredfold strength.

In Lu Sheng’s view, the ant’s hundredfold strength had been enhanced many times without any real change—either it was accumulating foundations for a fundamental transformation, or it had reached its peak. Yet Lu Sheng didn’t believe the latter; he was only just beginning, how could it have reached its limit already?

All the other skills had improved; the range of Sub-dimensional Space was growing ever larger. Time Reversal and Spatial Stasis were unobservable unless used, but Spatial Traversal now had new changes: he could now traverse a distance of twenty meters with minimal expenditure, an increase of ten meters compared to before.

...

The next day,

Lu Sheng and Li Kuang, along with the others, left the settlement and set off for Celestial Ox City. Back in the settlement, Lei Yan was counting heads, preparing to enter Blade Mountain in search of Vital Grass.

A faint sense of unease flickered between Zhou Jian’s brows. “Captain, weren’t those monsters last night the same as the people who died in the Grey Wolf settlement?”

Though the monsters from last night differed somewhat from the corpses they’d seen before, they were quite similar: black bodies, razor-sharp claws—by all appearances, identical.

Lei Yan shot him a glare. “What are you so nervous about? Even if they were, they’re all dead now, aren’t they?”

Zhou Jian cowered. “But... but, what if there are more in the mountains?”

“Shut up. If there were, they’d have shown up last night,” Lei Yan snapped, growing irritable. If he couldn’t handle even this, how could he hope to cling to Lu Sheng’s coattails?

“No more ‘what ifs.’ Move out!”

...

Lu Sheng walked along the road to the main city, but this time was quite unlike before. Numerous teams emerged from all manner of side paths, converging on the main road leading to Celestial Ox City. Each team numbered at least a hundred, with some reaching five or six hundred; Li Kuang’s contingent of four hundred was neither large nor small.

This gave a rough sense of each settlement’s strength. At a glance, there were at least thirty or forty teams on the main road alone. Lu Sheng hadn’t expected so many settlements to exist within this safe zone. And even these were not all—the flow of teams emerging from forest trails seemed unending.

The Autumn Hunt was organized by the Xuanbing Sect of Celestial Ox City, but the greatest benefit was for the settlements within the safe zone. If the wild monsters were left unchecked, the safe zone itself would eventually be overrun. The wilderness was only so vast; once monsters grew too numerous to be contained, they would expand outward, with the safe zone first in their path. Should the safe zone fall to monsters, the settlements would not survive either.

Survival was at stake—humanity had no retreat.

Even traveling at full speed, the sheer mass of people slowed their progress. It took four hours, from morning till noon, before they finally entered the main city. Once inside, Lu Sheng parted ways with Li Kuang and the others. His goal today was to gather everything he needed: evolution materials for the Space-Time Ant, evolution materials for the Muscle Hound, and training equipment for the Muscle Hound.

Even if he couldn’t acquire everything at once, he intended to find out where they could be obtained.

The spatial stone would require a trip to the Xuanbing Trading Guild. On the way there, he passed a place specializing in the sale, purchase, and collection of information—a news agency called the Dorren News Agency. One could inquire about news or sell information to them. Even if they didn’t know something, for a fee they would investigate, and if they failed, ninety percent of the fee would be refunded.

This news agency was rather renowned in Celestial Ox City, as it was the only one of its kind, and quite capable.

Upon arriving, Lu Sheng was ushered into a small room—here, one could privately discuss the information needed or the news one wished to sell. Inside was a long table; across from him sat an elder in his fifties or sixties, with many wrinkles lining his face. His white-gray attire was immaculately pressed, his posture upright, and his eyes shone with a sharp intelligence.

A chair sat before the table. The elder extended his right hand in a gesture of welcome. “Young man, please sit. You may call me Dorren. Are you seeking news, or do you have information to sell?”

Lu Sheng took his seat, a little surprised; he hadn’t expected the proprietor to be such an elderly man.

“I need two pieces of information. First, regarding materials related to time—tier and effect do not matter. Second, something that appears very small but is in fact very heavy.”

Dorren didn’t hesitate, as though all the knowledge were stored in his mind; as soon as Lu Sheng voiced his needs, the answers were at hand.

“The information you seek is worth ten third-tier source pearls.”

With nothing to compare to, Lu Sheng wasn’t sure if this was expensive or not; but since he needed the information, the price was worth it to him.

“Agreed.”

Lu Sheng handed over ten third-tier source pearls.

Dorren smiled. “First, for time-attributed materials of any tier, in the Monster Domain of the wilderness lies the Flowback Desert, where slain monsters drop Flowback Sand. This booklet contains notes and comprehensive intelligence on the Flowback Desert. Second, for material that is small yet extremely heavy, the Gravity Iron produced by the Hero’s Fort in Python Mountain is highly suitable—this is a dossier on the fort.”

“There you have it—the information is yours. As for whether you can acquire the materials, that’s no concern of mine.”

Lu Sheng took the two booklets. “Thank you.”