Entering Battlefield: Outer Domain
Preparation Time: 55 seconds
Battlefield Intensity: Unknown
Evacuation Condition: After constructing a shelter (searching), remain inside for 30 seconds to successfully evacuate.
Evacuation Deadline: 24 hours
Evacuation Failure: Loss of synchronization
Random Side Missions:
1. Camping Master: Gather five edible ingredients (0/5)
2. Monster Hunter: Kill five types of mutated creatures (0/5)
3. Forest Ranger: Complete evacuation without engaging in combat.
……
The newborn Demon Sword stood in this unfamiliar wilderness, a hint of vigilance appearing on his face. Although he had only been here once before, both the Toothed Rhinoceros Beast that knew how to divert disaster onto others and the strange insect whose defenses had not even been broken by a full-power strike from the Sword of Hell had left an extremely deep impression on him.
But as he observed his surroundings, he quickly realized that this land was different from the previous place.
Compared to the woodland filled with towering trees from before, the vegetation here could only be described as sparse. At a glance, it looked almost like the last few strands of hair left on a bald man’s head.
Yet this place was not as flat and open as a desert or Gobi either. Instead, it was covered in all kinds of jagged, bizarre rocks, giving it something of the feel of a stone forest.
When the countdown ended, Demon Sword took a step forward, only for his movements to pause slightly, because the substance beneath his feet, which looked no different from soil, was clearly not soil to the touch. It was something loose and spongy, yet slightly sticky, bearing more than a little resemblance to the legendary fungal carpet.
At the same time, with the exchange of his breaths, he began to catch the scent in the air—the smell of rotting plants and rusted metal.
With a thought, the Heart-Telling Sword · Pseudo stabbed out from his palm and hovered at his side under the suspension field.
“Mental link normal. Sword art—The Sword of Hell · Modified has been identified. Experimental project 【Sword and Man as One】 has entered the deduction sequence. Estimated time required: twenty minutes. During this period, the AI autonomous combat module will be occupied. You may issue commands through manual operation or thought guidance.”
“Well now, so after downloading, it still has to install, huh? Do I need to compile shaders afterward too?”
He simply grabbed Heart-Telling · Pseudo directly in his hand and reached up to tap his own temple. Along with that motion, a program began running in his brain drive—
That was right. As the new Demon Sword equipped with a full Trauma Team configuration, he had an auxiliary brain and supporting software capable of running programs. He had even been tagged with the 【Human】 attribute to avoid being taken over by the auxiliary AI.
“Activate wide-area detection mode. Establish a simple map. Mark life signs.”
Following Demon Sword’s low command, waves of invisible detection signals spread outward with him at the center. This life detector, originally used to rescue members, was also quite handy for exploration. As an abstract map gradually appeared in his mind, the system’s built-in map also became clearer—only, the screen full of red dots nearly made Demon Sword’s heart stop.
“These things have life signs?”
With a thought from Demon Sword, the suspension system of Heart-Telling · Pseudo instantly operated at full power, directly lifting his entire body off the ground. He maintained a height of about half a meter above the surface. Seeing that he was not attacked for escaping the ground, he finally relaxed. From his backpack, he took out a probe and jabbed it into the sticky substance.
This was also part of the Trauma Team’s supporting equipment. Considering the special nature of the Outer Domain, Feng Xue had basically equipped Demon Sword with everything that could help with wilderness survival.
“Primary components are water, gel, and chitin fibers… There are also small amounts of animal remains. Mildly alkaline, non-toxic, contains a small quantity of allergens, rich in protein and sugars. Most likely fungal… Good grief, this really is a fungal carpet?”
Looking at the equipment’s test results, Demon Sword let out a slight breath of relief. These components showed that it did not possess the ability to move rapidly; at most, it could move slowly through growth and metabolism like slime mold.
And judging from its composition, this thing was very likely the bottom of the local food chain… if this rocky mountain and stone forest truly had living creatures.
Though that was what he said, the map currently showed no icon for a “buildable zone.” That meant this was not a location where a shelter could be established. In other words, by the cheat’s judgment, this place was not safe.
Compared to his own shallow survival experience, Demon Sword naturally chose to trust the cheat’s judgment. He took out his tools and collected some fungal carpet samples, preparing to set off. Then—
【Edible Ingredient (1/5)】
“Good grief, this thing can be eaten?” Looking at the “clump of dirt” inside the small jar, Demon Sword decisively stuffed it into a low-temperature storage box with an alarm function. As long as he wasn’t starving to death, he had no intention of eating this thing.
Continuing forward, Demon Sword raised his head and looked at the protruding rock walls. If he used the grappling function shared by the Devil Breaker series, he could move quickly through this chaotic stone field as easily as Spider-Man.
However, while the existence of the fungal carpet posed no substantial danger, it had turned the life detection system into little more than decoration. To avoid the blunder of flying straight into the forehead of the map boss, Demon Sword still chose to measure the land with his own two feet.
This walk lasted for two li. Just as Demon Sword’s tense nerves inevitably began wanting to relax a little, a low vibration came from the ground. It was not fast, but it had a strong rhythm, causing the image of the Toothed Rhinoceros Beast to surface in his mind at once.
He immediately crouched down, but Demon Sword did not directly flee. Unlike the old version of himself, whose entire body barely had a few usable skills, he was now armed to the teeth. Mirage was ready to be unleashed, while Time Dilation and Sandevistan could increase his margin for error. At worst, he still had Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell to use.
He carefully groped his way forward. In fact, to avoid the possibility that local creatures had evolved the ability to sense enemies through the fungal carpet, he deliberately avoided it, using the grappling function to hang himself from rocks as he advanced.
After shifting forward another few dozen meters like this, he finally peered through a crack in the rocks and saw, about fifty meters away, a colossal creature slowly walking past.
The creature was about twenty meters tall. At first glance, it looked like an enormous turtle. Its head was wedge-shaped, with no obvious eyes, and six legs as thick as stone pillars supported its rugged, rock-like body. Its body was a dark gray similar to the surrounding rocks. Under the sky that had already gone completely dark, were it not for the way each of its steps shook the ground, Demon Sword might not even have been able to distinguish it from the nearby rock walls.
“This thing… I remember seeing it somewhere!” With a movement of Demon Sword’s consciousness, Feng Xue on the other side immediately opened the materials left behind by the old man. Aside from all kinds of pretty girls, the old man’s database was basically all technical data. Feng Xue did not even need to think before directly finding the section on biological materials. He entered keywords like “stone,” “mountain,” “mineral,” and “giant,” and after a simple screening of a dozen or so seconds, an image at least eighty percent similar appeared before Feng Xue’s eyes. However…
“This thing is called a Rock Mountain Cockle? You call this a cockle?!”
Aside from the mass update when the book went premium last month, there were a total of five extra chapters. The previous book still owed 11 chapters, so I’ll continue paying them back with three updates a day. Also, because my hand slipped and I accidentally added an extra zero to the monthly ticket event, even though the event conditions weren’t met, I’ll still honor it and add five more chapters. There are also two alliance leaders; although they tipped before the book went premium, real money did come in, so I’ll add two more chapters for that too. In other words, there will be eighteen extra chapters this month.
As for afterward, mm, it’ll still be the same as the previous book: one extra chapter for every five hundred monthly tickets, settled next month. That’s all.