A large pit had been dug on the plain.
The Glowing Tridacna was tossed in, and the pit was slowly filled with dirt.
When the last of the dirt was smoothed over, the ground trembled faintly. A stone tablet sprouted from the earth, rising higher and higher until it surpassed eye level.
It stopped at a final height of about two meters, with text inscribed upon it.
The grave behind the tombstone slowly rose into a mound, and an invisible hand seemed to lift a pale purple shield, causing it to float out of the earth.
The shield settled at a tilted angle, as if it had grown right out of the burial mound.
Watching this fantastical scene unfold, Qin Ziwen was lost in thought.
’Plant a corpse, and a tombstone and a shield grow out of it?’
The tombstone was inscribed with ancient text in a language he didn’t recognize, yet the moment he saw it, Qin Ziwen understood its meaning instantly.
[Hunting Artifact] Glow
[Level] Level 1 (0/1000)
[Species] Mollusk/Shell
[Hunting Exhibition]
First Stage: Activated Bone Armor
Second Stage: Not Activated
Third Stage: Not Activated
...
*The Lord of Wonders may freeze this Hunting Artifact. Once frozen, its Hunting Exhibition cannot be activated.*
...
After reading it, Qin Ziwen found the information on the stone tablet to be simple and brutally straightforward.
Every Extraordinary Creature buried in the Eternal Hunting Tomb would, based on the powers it possessed in life, give rise to a unique, infinitely upgradable Hunting Artifact.
Hunting Artifacts had basic functions. A shield-shaped Hunting Artifact could be used as a shield, and a bow-shaped one could be used as a Bow.
These were its most fundamental effects.
Its true core abilities lay in its Species and Hunting Exhibition.
Qin Ziwen stepped forward and picked up Glow from in front of the grave.
The shield was a uniform pale purple, looking as though it were crafted from a single Tridacna shell. The front had a rough texture, and the back had a handle for gripping.
The shield was large, over one and a half meters in diameter.
Yet it felt surprisingly light in his hand, as if it were a prop made of cardboard.
The Species corresponded to the creature’s race in life. Since Glow was formed from a Glowing Tridacna, the corpses of any Extraordinary Creatures from the Mollusk or Shell types could be buried to strengthen it.
There was a conversion rate involved. The closer a corpse’s bloodline was to the Glowing Tridacna, the higher the conversion rate. The corpse of another Glowing Tridacna would provide 100% lossless conversion.
With a single thought: ’Activated Bone Armor!’
The Bone Shield in his left hand instantly came alive. Dense, chalk-white bone spikes extended from its edges, growing outward. In an instant, a hollow, white Bone Armor had formed, encasing him completely.
The Bone Shield in his left hand also transformed, becoming a massive 2x1 meter, pure-white square shield.
"This thing... is incredible." Qin Ziwen moved around a bit. He found that after Glow transformed into the Bone Armor, it wasn’t bulky at all. Instead, it was extremely light, with no sense of being cumbersome.
With another thought: ’Deactivate armor!’
The extended Bone Armor retracted, reverting to its base form in his left hand.
’This thing is nice, but it doesn’t suit me.’
’I don’t like using shields. I wish it had been a cooler-looking weapon.’
Qin Ziwen tossed Glow to Mogu. "You try it."
Mogu caught Glow. The moment he held it, the artifact expanded in a single breath. The Bone Shield instantly became a giant shield five meters in diameter. Other than the change in size, its appearance and proportions were completely unchanged.
"It’s very light."
Mogu swung the shield with his left hand, and the air let out a heavy WHOOSH.
He then tried the First Stage Activated Bone Armor. Once it formed, Mogu’s entire body was encased within the hollow, white Bone Armor. His face was almost completely obscured, leaving only a pair of cold, pale-gold eyes visible.
Qin Ziwen asked, "How is it?"
"It’s effective," Mogu nodded.
Qin Ziwen said, "As long as it’s effective, it’s yours. You like to charge into the fray, so an extra layer of armor is a good fit for you."
Mogu placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed slightly. "Yes, my lord."
After leaving the Eternal Hunting Tomb, Qin Ziwen made a conclusion: if the Abyssal Ruins was a system for attribute points and Skill Points, then the Eternal Hunting Tomb was like an equipment system.
The common thread was that both were major resource sinks with infinite potential for growth.
He then grabbed a One-Handed Crossbow to test Glow’s Defense Power. Even within its brutal ten-meter effective range, a single Crossbow Arrow only left a faint white mark, the size of a millet seed, on Glow’s surface.
In less than a minute, the tiny white mark healed on its own, leaving the surface pristine.
The test yielded three conclusions.
First, Hunting Artifacts are incredibly durable, even a Level 1 Hunting Artifact.
Second, Hunting Artifacts can regenerate from damage on their own.
Third, Glow possesses a shock-absorbing effect.
...
After completing his tests, Qin Ziwen formally bestowed the Hunting Artifact, Glow, upon Mogu.
Just as the two of them were leaving, an excited voice called out from behind them. "Chief! Chief!"
From behind, Li Yue came jogging over with two others in tow, his face flushed with excitement and his steps hurried.
"What’s wrong?"
Qin Ziwen stopped him, looking the ecstatic Li Yue up and down. "Calm down and tell me slowly. What’s the breakthrough?"
"It was your brilliant idea, Chief," Li Yue gushed, laying on the flattery.
"Remember how you suggested having Lorne try to put an Enchantment on the Crossbow Wagon?" Li Yue grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.
Qin Ziwen’s heart skipped a beat. He turned back around, an undeniable flicker of surprise in his eyes. "...You actually did it?"
"We did it!" Li Yue nodded emphatically.
Qin Ziwen’s interest was instantly piqued.
’That was just a whim, an offhand idea. I can’t believe they actually made it happen.’
’Enchanting a Crossbow Wagon... So what’s the effect? Longer range? Faster speed?’
He followed Li Yue to the Divine Machine Workshop, where a special area had been cleared out behind the building.
A huge Car-Mounted Crossbow sat in the clearing.
As he got closer, he expected to see its surface covered in dense, mystical runes. Instead, the Car-Mounted Crossbow was perfectly clean, though its arms shimmered with faint points of starlight.
Clearly, this Car-Mounted Crossbow had been made with the new, advanced material, Starlight Bamboo.
"The Enchantment isn’t on the Crossbow," Li Yue said with a proud chuckle. He held up a metallic Crossbow Arrow that was grayish-white and seemed to absorb the light around it. "It’s on this."
Deep blue patterns snaked in overlapping layers along the Arrow’s shaft, like a network of breathing veins.
"The Enchantment is on the Crossbow Arrow?!" Qin Ziwen’s gaze sharpened.
Li Yue hurriedly explained, "Yes. At first, we tried to put the Enchantment on the Crossbow Wagon, but the effect was negligible. It just moved a little faster in a straight line when we pushed it, with no actual increase to the Crossbow Arrow’s power. I thought we’d failed, so I was too embarrassed to tell you. But then, on a whim, I thought we could try enchanting the Crossbow Arrows, and I never expected it to actually succeed.
An enchanted Crossbow Arrow flies at about twice the speed of a normal one. And because it’s faster, its accuracy has also slightly improved.
The only downside is that the increased speed makes the Crossbow Arrow very fragile. It could even deform in mid-air.
So I thought, since we already upgraded the Crossbow Wagon’s power once using Starlight Bamboo, we might as well go all the way. We spent a fortune to forge three enchanted Crossbow Arrows from pure Ghost Gold.
Even though it still looks like a Car-Mounted Crossbow, it’s had a full generational upgrade in both its material structure and its Arrow Enchantment! The destructive power is absurd now. If we run into another Tyrannosaurus, one arrow will be enough to send it packing."
Qin Ziwen lowered his gaze to the Arrow in his hand.
The purified Ghost Gold was a matte, grayish-white, yet the shaft was entwined with intricate, deep-blue patterns that clung to it like suffocating fingers.
The tri-pyramidal arrowhead was as sharp as a fang, glinting with a cold, sinister light under the sky.
...
...