“Other people are dead, so be it. You’re not dead, are you?” Bai Qiu said coldly, seemingly unaffected by the deaths of others.
Just as Onipur was beginning to feel both anger and confusion, Bai Qiu spoke again.
His expression darkened as he said:
“I still can’t pass through the barrier established by the System to reach the Safe Zones outside Zones 2200–2250.”
“But Hydra Serpents from other regions can cross over here and evolve into Two-Headed Hydra Serpents. That’s the real issue!”
“In less than five days, the Shattered Celestial Realm—Kalevala Temple will open. At that point, a large number of players, myself included, will head there to level up.”
“Will the Safe Zones here be able to withstand a month-long assault from Two-Headed Hydra Serpents—or even Three-Headed Hydra Serpents?!”
Only then did Onipur understand why Bai Qiu had spoken with such apparent coldness.
It was because there were things more important than mourning the dead.
Compared to those who had already perished, the people still alive needed saving far more.
Preventing another tragedy was more important than grieving over the last one.
Onipur’s brows furrowed deeply.
The problem Bai Qiu had raised was indeed serious—so serious that it had become an urgent crisis.
That was right.
Although the Sanctuary had already reached Level 5 and possessed defensive capabilities many times stronger than a Level 1 Sanctuary, it was still not invincible.
This upcoming leveling expedition would draw away most of the high-level players, leaving the Sanctuary vulnerable.
If the monsters lurking nearby chose that moment to strike, how would they possibly respond?
Seeing that Onipur had no better solution, Bai Qiu could only shake his head helplessly.
It seemed he would have to deal with the matter himself.
“Forget it. Before I leave, I’ll patrol along the System’s magical barrier and eliminate as many dangerous monsters as possible. You should make your own preparations as well.”
After saying that, he left directly for the blacksmith’s shop.
Although he had already forged the Heaven-Earth Shattering Bow, he had not yet crafted arrows worthy of it.
That was why he needed to make another visit today.
To withstand the power of the Heaven-Earth Shattering Bow, the arrows had to be made from at least Crystal Iron or Crystal Silver.
Bai Qiu had plenty of Crystal Iron in storage, making it a suitable material for standard ammunition.
After an entire morning of work, he produced three thousand Crystal Iron arrows and three thousand Crystal Silver arrows.
Drawing inspiration from the spear-quills of the Boiling-Blood Armored Porcupines, he designed the Crystal Iron arrows with exceptional penetration power.
Once embedded in a target, the barbs lodged within the flesh would tear and shred tissue, causing severe bleeding.
Combined with the Heaven-Earth Shattering Bow’s characteristics, their destructive potential was highly promising.
As for the Crystal Silver arrows, Bai Qiu opted for a conventional design.
Since Crystal Silver arrows only needed to maximize flight speed and accuracy, they served primarily as high-grade enchanted arrows.
Once fired, they were essentially magical artillery shells.
Crystal Iron Arrow
Quality: C++
The arrow measured 135 cm in total length.
Its inverted triangular arrowhead alone reached a maximum length of 20 cm.
Because of the arrowhead’s shape, the bow could draw it to a maximum of 121 cm.
The arrow itself was the primary source of damage.
Crystal Iron was fairly heavy.
The shaft’s core was made from ordinary Darksteel, while the exterior was coated with Crystal Iron to increase durability.
Each arrow weighed a staggering 72 kilograms.
Crystal Silver Arrow
Quality: C++
Total length: 120 cm.
The arrowhead was shorter, measuring only 12 cm.
Maximum draw length: 111 cm.
Unlike the Crystal Iron Arrow, its primary damage came from enchantments.
The Crystal Silver Arrow was much lighter, weighing less than 15 kilograms.
Like the Crystal Iron Arrow, its shaft used Mithril as the inner core.
There was no special reason for this choice.
Bai Qiu was simply too reluctant to use pure Crystal Silver to craft expendable arrows.
With his standard ammunition completed, it was time to create his trump-card enhanced arrows.
For these, he would use Star Iron and Star Silver.
Under the guidance of Marta and Li Zhu, the enhanced arrows were finally completed at around 5:30 PM.
A total of 180 special arrows were produced.
Star Iron Armor-Piercing Arrow
Quality: B
Description:
Based on the Crystal Iron Arrow design, this version incorporates several modifications to the arrowhead.
A toxin chamber and a specialized impact-pin mechanism were added.
Whenever the arrowhead experiences an impact force of at least 7,000 kilograms, the impact-pin mechanism activates, detonating the concentrated Sand-Gravel Poison stored within.
Sand-Gravel Poison possesses a petrification-like property.
As long as the target is a living creature, no matter how high its resistance may be, once the arrow breaks through its defenses, the toxin can transform portions of its flesh into sand-like stone.
That was the entirety of the Star Iron Impact-Needle Arrow’s functionality.
It retained performance far superior to ordinary Crystal Iron arrows while adding a layer of poisonous damage.
Bai Qiu crafted a total of one hundred Star Iron Armor-Piercing Arrows.
Next came the Radiant Star Silver Arrow, essentially the enhanced “Pro Max” version of the Crystal Silver Arrow.
Radiant Star Silver Arrow
Quality: B
Description:
Crafted using the Crystal Silver Arrow as a template, the arrowhead conceals a small piece of Gilded Stone.
After the arrow is enchanted and fired, the Gilded Stone will detonate after three seconds.
The interaction between the internal and external energies creates an explosion whose destructive power is difficult to predict.
Gilded Stone was one of the extraordinary materials Bai Qiu had acquired from the Tower of Heaven.
However, the substance was extremely unstable.
Aside from turning it into expendable ammunition such as arrows, there was virtually no other practical way to utilize it.
Each arrow was engraved with intricate mana circuits.
Upon striking a target, the resulting resonance explosion could rival the power of a Noble Phantasm.
For a durable projectile like the Star Iron Armor-Piercing Arrow, there was still a possibility of recovery after hitting a target.
The Radiant Star Silver Arrow, however, was an entirely different story.
It was a purely disposable weapon.
There was absolutely no possibility of recovering it after use.
Its very nature was to destroy itself upon impact, unleashing an equally devastating blow upon its target through its own annihilation.
Bai Qiu struck while the iron was hot and crafted a batch of arrows for Zhang Shiyao as well.
The arrows he made for her had little to do with iron, however.
Arrows without enchantment potential simply weren’t suitable for her Spiral Sonic Bow.
……
After finishing everything, Bai Qiu left behind the Sanctum Coins and prepared to leave.
To his surprise, Marta and Li Zhu stopped him.
“Take the Sanctum Coins back,” Marta said.
Given her personality, hearing such words from her was almost unbelievable.
Li Zhu nodded in agreement and said with a pleased smile, “She’s right. We’ve already accepted payment once.”
“No matter what, we can’t take payment a second time.”
Then he added, “If I’m not mistaken, a new leveling area is about to open, right?”
“Give it your all, young man.”
“Mm.” Bai Qiu nodded.
…
Afterward, Bai Qiu headed to the Advanced Ecological Greenhouse and harvested bunch after bunch of ripe Narcissus Grapes.
Returning to the courtyard of his small villa, he summoned A Yuan from the Contract Space.
He fed it several bunches of Narcissus Grapes, along with every Bloodline Enhancement Potion he had accumulated.
Once the feeding was done, Bai Qiu spent quite some time petting and playing with it before saying,
“Go back and get some good sleep. Try to break eighty meters in length the next time you come out.”
“Woooo~~~”
Ever since evolving, A Yuan’s growth rate had been astonishing.
Its size increased every single day.
It had already reached a length of seventy meters.
Once the time was right, Bai Qiu could use a designated Transcendent Attribute Blueprint to elevate it into a true Monarch-class creature.
— The end of the Chapter–
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