Chapter 85

Chapter 85

The vibrant green cactus oasis stood proudly amidst the endless yellow sand, bursting with life like the very heart of the desert. It brought tears to the eyes of the players who had been braving the harsh sands for nearly a month.

"Wow, these cacti are massive!" Wandering Bee dashed straight into the forest of giant cacti, excitedly circling amidst the sea of green.

The others were equally pumped: "Should we relocate the alliance here? We can keep the one in the dungeon as an outpost."

"Of course we should move! We worked hard to find this; it means something."

"But there are only cacti here. It’s not very convenient for foraging flowers or harvesting honey."

"I don’t see any water source nearby either. How do these cacti even survive? Could there be groundwater?"

...

Shen Yi and Xi Ye, hidden, eavesdropped. Shen Yi actually supported players spreading out and establishing alliances across different maps. It meant he could set up Teleportation Circles in each area, with the players acting as the perfect guardians and pioneers.

He believed they would build prosperous towns and settlements.

The blending of Earth’s culture with this fantasy world might give birth to unprecedented miracles. The collision of reality and imagination would spark boundless creativity, and the underground city falling into place was proof of that.

Shen Yi had a thought, and the system issued an in-game announcement:

"Congratulations to players Wild Mushroom, Wild Grandpa, Wandering Bee... for discovering the Desert Oasis and unlocking the achievement of exploring a million kilometers of the map. Awarded the title [Exceptional Explorer]."

The server-wide announcement instantly sparked heated discussions among players. It had been a long time since the game handed out title-based announcements. Even titles like [Ungrateful Child], which players had been grinding for, hadn’t made much of a splash even after upgrades.

[Brother Pidan]: "No way, they found it!"

[Langlang Mountain]: "A new map is out! Kinda wanna check it out. Wild Bro, drop some clips! How come you’re not streaming lately?"

[Jiangnan]: "We’re still building the dungeon. Why jump to a new map? Not sure what to focus on first."

[Chen Meng]: "Just a title? No actual rewards?"

...

While players were buzzing with excitement, Wild Mushroom and his team also received system notifications.

"Congratulations on discovering the Desert Oasis... Awarded the title [Exceptional Explorer]."

"Congratulations on obtaining the alliance contract spirit plant [Drunken Dodder]. After contracting, alliance members gain 50% alcohol resistance (this value can increase)."

Unlike Shen Yi and the others, the players' bodies were created by the system, allowing their bodies to be enhanced to some extent.

As the system kept updating, its capabilities grew.

Upon hearing the system prompt, Wild Mushroom immediately checked his backpack and found a new seed inside. He pulled it out and summarized the system announcement. Wandering Bee couldn’t wait to examine the seed’s details.

"Whoa, a flower used for brewing! Definitely one-of-a-kind in the game. If we open a tavern in the game, we’ll clean up!"

"Is that all you ever think about?" Old Town said, shaking his antennae in exasperation. "The most important thing is that the alliance can contract spirit plants! That’s the real game-changer."

Wild Grandpa opened the alliance interface and asked Alliance Leader Wild Mushroom, "Old Shan, did you notice this function before?"

"Nope, and I still don’t see it in the interface."

"Maybe it only shows up after we grow it?"

"Ah," Wandering Bee suddenly realized something crucial, "look at the description. [Drunken Dodder] is a parasitic plant of the giant cacti. For the alliance to contract it, we need enough giant cacti in our territory. Seems like we have to move here after all..."

"But this alliance contract spirit plant only gives a sobriety buff. Seems kinda useless. Maybe we’ll get stronger contract spirit beasts in the future..."

While Wild Mushroom and the others were still hesitating, Shen Yi had already picked a spot in the oasis and started building the other half of the Teleportation Circle.

Though Shen Yi remained hidden, the golden light of the Teleportation Circle was unmistakable. The players noticed the anomaly immediately as golden light traced mysterious, intricate patterns in the air. Wild Mushroom and his team were the first to react.

"A Teleportation Circle! It’s a Teleportation Circle!"

They flew over quickly, but by the time they got close, the circle was already complete. Wild Mushroom inspected it and announced, "It leads to the beginner’s village!"

"Will the game load Teleportation Circles every time we explore a new map?"

Now there was no reason to hesitate. With this Teleportation Circle, they didn’t have to worry about the desert’s isolated spot—they could return to the beginner’s village anytime.

Once they realized this, Wild Mushroom immediately deployed half the guild’s players to establish a settlement here, while the other half stayed behind to continue building the outpost in the dungeon.

The soil near the cactus forest was much better than elsewhere in the desert. With water-element players providing water, they could easily grow drought-resistant plants and gradually improve the environment, expanding the oasis further.

These giant cacti had numerous pores on their surfaces, allowing entry into their interiors.

Inside each cactus was a vast natural space, perfect for a hive.

Wild Mushroom and the others built their nests directly inside the cacti and planted the [Drunken Dodder] on a nearby cactus, nurturing it with the help of players with wood skills.

The players took care of these cacti regularly. Like countless symbiotic relationships across the world, the cacti provided shelter, and the players returned the favor with spiritual energy and protection.

As the hive was established, the map marked the location with the [Ambition Alliance] insignia, signifying it as their territory.

At the same time, their alliance interface gained a new page for the contract plant [Drunken Dodder], currently at two stars, granting alliance members a 50% alcohol resistance boost—a unique feature in the entire game.

Once the news spread, other guilds started probing about it. However, the [Drunken Dodder] seed was a reward directly given by the system. After moving their alliance here and nurturing it, the contract was auto-locked. There was no other way to obtain it yet.

To contract alliance spirit beasts, they could only try to replicate Ambition Alliance’s process of developing new maps and gamble on it.

Ting Yu sighed disappointedly as she touched the great oak tree that supported their entire alliance. Under their care, the oak had grown stronger and larger, its leaves now radiated spiritual energy. If possible, she would have loved for the great oak to become their alliance’s contract plant.

As the flowers bloomed, the emerald green cactus forest was blanketed in fiery red, and the air filled with a sweet boozy scent. True to their word, Ambition Alliance opened taverns in both the dungeon and the beginner’s village, triggering a booze craze in the game.

"Never thought I’d get to drink in a game."

"Ugh... I can’t handle it. One sip and I’m down. Can’t even enjoy it properly."

"If you want to drink without getting drunk, you’ll have to join Ambition Alliance. They have the sobriety buff."

"Well, not necessarily. You can build resistance with practice. I can handle two cups now."

Before long, the game was filled with players stumbling around drunk.

Shen Yi issued a side quest to find Solar Essence Fragments. Players flooded into the new map via the Teleportation Circle, using the cactus oasis as a base to explore the quicksand desert.

As more players ventured into the desert, they soon discovered that defeating desert monsters could drop loot.

[Brother Pidan]: "Damn, this feels more and more like a real game. Monsters actually drop items now."

[Guoli Chen]: "What are Solar Essence Fragments for? Anyone figured it out yet?"

[Wild Mushroom]: "Ambition Alliance is buying Absorbent Stones indefinitely. Prices are negotiable."

……

Shen Yi had a sudden inspiration and had the system add a new feature—the trading market. For this purpose, he specifically designated a pea vine branch covered in lantern buds as a trading hub.

Players could post bounties in the trading market, placing the rewards in the market center in advance. If someone accepted the task and the system determined it was completed, the rewards would automatically transfer to the corresponding player’s backpack.

Additionally, players could also directly put items up for sale in the trading market.

As soon as the new feature went live, Shen Yi, using an alt account, listed a Wind Starlight Point in the market, specifying that it could only be exchanged for Solar Essence Fragments.

Currently, the Starlight Points available in the Favor Store were only of the five basic elements. Special Starlight Points like the wind attribute could only be obtained with a certain probability from dungeon boss treasure chests or, even more rarely, as rewards from some random tasks.

Rare is valuable. Everyone playing the game wants to be unique. Shen Yi set the price quite high—one Wind Starlight Point required 1,000 Solar Essence Fragments. After listing, hundreds of players bookmarked it, but it hadn’t sold yet.

Currently, players had just begun exploring the Shifting Sands Desert and couldn’t save up that many fragments.

The system suggested that Shen Yi add a player Trait conversion feature.

Shen Yi thought about it—most games seemed to have a class change feature. Moreover, if players were allowed to convert attributes, it would certainly increase their demand for Starlight Points and stimulate the circulation of Favor Points.

In the future, if he created Starlight Points with special attributes, their value would greatly increase.

After weighing the pros and cons, Shen Yi agreed to the system’s proposal. That same day, players received a system notification—absorbing Starlight Points of other attributes had a chance to convert one’s attribute.

As soon as this update went live, the number of transactions in the Favor exchange store increased tenfold that day.

When attributes were first activated, most players had no concept and simply chose an attribute based on momentary preference. After playing for a while, everyone had gained a deeper understanding of the various attributes, and many players began to regret their initial choices.

Although attribute conversion was based on chance, at least it offered hope.

Players happily spent all the Favor Points they had earned from dungeons, praising the planners for finally acting like humans.

Shen Yi was also very satisfied with the feedback on the forums.

Since player attribute conversion was now available, should he hurry up and produce a batch of special-attribute Starlight Points?

Aside from the wind-attribute ones, he currently had a few Ice Starlight Points. These were created by using spirit stones to absorb the spiritual power of spirit beasts with wind and ice attribute Talents that he had encountered before.

He hadn’t intentionally collected them—he only stored a few special-attribute spirit stones when he happened to come across them. But now, with attribute conversion available, the value of special Starlight Points would rise. If he had the chance, he should stockpile more.

Shen Yi had a sudden idea. He took out several depleted spirit stones and had A Fu channel spiritual power into them. After more than a dozen attempts, he finally succeeded in crafting a Space Starlight Point.

Unfortunately, Second and the others couldn’t change their attributes freely like players. They were beings of this world, bound by its rules, while players were special beings created by him and the system. Theoretically, he and the system were the players’ natural law.

However, this Space Starlight Point sparked an idea in Shen Yi. He thought of Grandpa Tree’s healing ability—if he could replicate a Healing Starlight Point, the game would have healers…

No time like the present. Shen Yi planned to head to the Mystic Mushroom Forest immediately. Just as he rolled off his hammock, he heard Second and the others exclaiming in surprise.

Shen Yi’s interest was piqued. He followed the sound and saw them gathered around the pea vine, looking at something and repeatedly gasping in amazement.

Curious, he heard Fourth turn and wave to him: "Boss, come quick and look!"

Seventh was even more considerate—she directly flew over pulling a Phantom Insect: "Boss, look at Tang Yuan."

It wasn’t until Seventh pushed the Phantom Insect in her arms toward him that he realized the pale yellow mass in the transparent Phantom Insect’s sac wasn’t Essence, but a clone of Tang Yuan.

Tang Yuan, inside the transparent Phantom Insect sac, seemed shrunken and placed in a Lilliputian world, excitedly waving at Shen Yi through the "transparent glass."

Shen Yi instinctively grabbed the Phantom Insect for a closer look. It was intact, without any cracks. This Phantom Insect was more transparent than others, and the sac used to store Essence was noticeably larger—though Shen Yi wasn’t sure if it was naturally larger or had been stretched by Tang Yuan.

He asked Tang Yuan in surprise, "How did you get in?"

Tang Yuan zipped out from the bottom of the Phantom Insect. Shen Yi keenly sensed a slight fluctuation of spiritual power. Tang Yuan pointed to a small hole on the Phantom Insect’s sac and said, "Crawl here, release spiritual power, and you can squeeze in."

Fourth flew over eagerly, "Let me try."

As she spoke, Fourth slipped inside. From the outside, she appeared to have shrunk, with plenty of space inside the sac to touch and explore, as if she had fallen into a Lilliputian world and was curiously adventuring around.

"So amazing."

"I want to try too."

Ninth approached the Phantom Insect and released spiritual power, but there was no reaction. Though there seemed to be space, she couldn’t squeeze in no matter what.

This Phantom Insect’s sac could only accommodate one at a time.

Meanwhile, Fourth seemed to have discovered a fun new game. Whatever she did, the Phantom Insect suddenly swayed its tail and floated up, prompting the other fairies to chase after it, clamoring for Fourth to come out so they could try too.

The little ones noisily chased the Phantom Insect into the distance. Shen Yi, curious, called the fairy over to ask about this Phantom Insect. The fairy’s spirit wasn't fully awakened, so he could only perceive fragments of information through their contract.

"[gibberish]... mushroom..."

Shen Yi had a sudden insight, remembering that morning when the fairy had held a Phantom Insect out to him like a treasure. At the time, he was in a hurry to find the oasis and hadn’t paid attention. Now that he thought about it, wasn’t the transparent Phantom Insect the fairy had been holding exactly this one?

"Mushroom? Are you talking about the Mystic Mushroom Forest?"

For a while, he had often taken the fairy to the Mystic Mushroom Forest to study how to create Phantom Insects that could adapt to the spiritual energy of both sides.

Shen Yi stared intently at the transparent Phantom Insect flying farther away, with a shrunken Fourth inside making faces at her sisters triumphantly.

His original research into Phantom Insects that could adapt to both spiritual energies was precisely to allow Grandpa Tree to survive normally in the outside world.

The initial idea stemmed from the Phantom Insect’s ability to isolate spiritual energy. Theoretically, if he first cultivated Phantom Insects that could adapt to both environments, allowing them to absorb the toxic spiritual energy of the Mystic Mushroom Forest and recreate its spiritual environment, then found a way for Grandpa Tree to slip inside, he could move around in the outside world.

Now, seeing this Phantom Insect enveloping Fourth was exactly what he had envisioned.

Now, it was just a matter of whether it could adapt to the spiritual environments of both sides.

Shen Yi excitedly released his mental energy to pull the Phantom Insect carrying Fourth back, coaxed Fourth out, and personally slipped inside to try it out.

After entering the Phantom Insect’s body, it felt as if he had established a shared sensation with it, like wearing a layer of biological armor. He could control the Phantom Insect’s movement with his thoughts.

Shen Yi had an intuition—this Phantom Insect was exactly the result he had been seeking.

After piloting the Phantom Insect to float around the Queen Bee’s nest, Shen Yi remembered to have the system scan and analyze the differences between this Phantom Insect and others.

"This Phantom Insect has fused with Spirit Sand."

"Spirit Sand?" A legendary treasure used by fairies to cultivate clones.

Shen Yi suddenly recalled that when the fairy had followed him to the bud warehouse, she had indeed swallowed the Spirit Sand he had obtained from a blind box.

At the time, he thought the fairy was just being gluttonous. But connecting it to how the fairy had like a precious gift handed him this transparent little Phantom Insect that day—

Clearly, she knew he wanted such a Phantom Insect and had eaten the Spirit Sand specifically to cultivate this offspring.

Shen Yi’s heart instantly melted. He drilled out from the Phantom Insect’s sac and hugged the considerate fairy, petting her affectionately several times. Oh, his sweet little considerate one.

Just as he was deeply moved, another group of little darlings were fighting over the empty transparent little Phantom Insect, all wanting to try it out.

"My turn! I want to go in and try too!"

"I'm going first!"

"Why should you? I want to too!"

Shen Yi took the bull by the horns by confiscating the Phantom Insect that had caused the dispute, sparking a chorus of whines from the little ones.

Xi Ye was currently inside the Destiny Flower absorbing Solar Essence Fragments, so Shen Yi went to the Enchanted Mushroom Forest alone. It worked out well since he had originally planned to ask Grandpa Tree for some healing spiritual energy anyway.

Activating the Teleport Scroll that A Fu had made earlier, he transported directly to the Holy Light Mushroom Grove.

At this moment, quite a number of Phantom Insects were floating around in the Holy Light Mushroom Grove.

Surrounded by green specks of light, these Phantom Insects had already accumulated a fair amount of Essence in their sacs, giving off a soft purple glow.

He hadn’t expected the mutated Phantom Insect that Fairy had split off earlier to evolve into a Moon Spirit Butterfly so quickly.

Shen Yi first checked on the condition of the Spirit Sand Phantom Insect. After entering the Enchanted Mushroom Forest, it had no Poison Debuff—it really could adapt to the spiritual energy here!

Thrilled, Shen Yi caught two Phantom Insects, extracted the Essence from them, and injected it into the sac of the Spirit Sand Phantom Insect.

This Phantom Insect seemed to have used all its Talent points on environmental adaptation and expanding its sac, making it unable to absorb Essence like the others.

But that was fine—he could simply extract it from other Phantom Insects.

After filling the Phantom Insect’s sac halfway, he immediately climbed onto a mushroom cap and was pulled into the stalk by the mycelium, entering the Mushroom Kingdom.

As soon as he entered, he called out, "Grandpa Tree, that Phantom Insect shell I mentioned before—any news?"

Before he could finish speaking, everything flashed before Shen Yi's eyes and he was transported to another space.

The vast space contained only a circular platform, much like the previous one, covered with a thick layer of plush carpet. Dandelion-like green spheres grew all over the platform.

Shen Yi immediately spotted the little bean-sized figure hiding within the green "carpet" on the platform.

With a dandelion-like green ball on its head, dark beady eyes, and natural pink blushes on its cheeks, it looked exactly like the little sprite from the NPC interface.

"You succeeded?"

The blush on the little one’s face seemed to deepen, and its childlike voice was filled with excitement and anticipation.

Shen Yi couldn’t bring himself to call out "Grandpa Tree" as he had intended.

He coughed, cleared his throat, and held out the Phantom Insect in his arms, now tinted light purple from the Enchanted Mushroom Forest’s Essence. "Ahem... you can go in and try it first. Just push some spiritual energy into it, and you’ll be able to slip inside."

As soon as Shen Yi finished speaking, he noticed a sudden glow around the little one. Only then did he realize that countless transparent threads were extending from its body, stretching infinitely into the distance. Shen Yi guessed these threads were connected to the Holy Light Mushrooms.

Suddenly, the threads retracted. The little one looked the Phantom Insect over for a moment, then followed Shen Yi’s instructions, channeling spiritual energy to slip inside.

Soon, an exclamation of surprise was heard, and the Phantom Insect began zipping swiftly around the space with astonishing agility—way faster than any Phantom Insect should move.

Shen Yi had tried controlling it earlier and knew he could never make it move that fast.

The Phantom Insect controlled by Grandpa Tree seemed incredibly agile, like a bird in flight, pushing past the inherent limits of Phantom Insects. Shen Yi thought of the transparent threads on Grandpa Tree’s body.

"Wow—"

Grandpa Tree excitedly controlled the Phantom Insect shell, flying through the stalk space. The sensation of the mycelium extending and connecting to the Phantom Insect felt surprisingly similar to being connected to the Holy Light Mushrooms, as if wearing a protective shell.

On impulse, Grandpa Tree controlled the Phantom Insect and darted out of the stalk space.

Since its birth, it had never left the Holy Light Mushrooms. Now, from inside the nimble Phantom Insect, it gazed at every part of the forest—the colorful mushrooms, buzzing insects, mycelium floating on the breeze, and the emerald leaves on the Holy Light Mushrooms.

From out here, the Holy Light Mushrooms looked completely different from how it had perceived them from within.

Entranced, it gazed at the snow-white cap and the verdant green atop it, whispering, "So this is what you look like."

……

Grandpa Tree darted off too fast for Shen Yi to react, but he understood Grandpa Tree’s excitement. Any being trapped for thousands of years would surely go wild for a bit upon suddenly gaining freedom.

He waited until nightfall, but Grandpa Tree still hadn’t returned, so he had no choice but to return to the Queen Bee’s nest.

And Grandpa Tree’s spree lasted three whole days. In those three days, it saw every corner of the Enchanted Mushroom Forest before finally contacting Shen Yi through the NPC interface.

When Shen Yi arrived, it was still reluctant to leave the Phantom Insect’s sac.

"Shen Yi, thank you." After expressing gratitude, Grandpa Tree hesitantly asked, "Can you give this Phantom Insect to me?"

"I’ll give you this in return."

A glowing cloud of golden light appeared out of thin air and floated toward Shen Yi.

Grandpa Tree’s childlike voice was full of pleading: "This is my most precious possession. Any creature would love to have it."

"Legendary treasure detected: Enlightenment Aura."