At present, Sheyan almost fainted from the thrill of having so many achievement points. Right now, there were two options.
The first option was to continue advancing the level of his 'Influenza' virus. According to his previous experiences, since this ability was already level 7, it would soon attain max status.
The second option was to upgrade his second tier ability – 'Bronchitis'. With the achievement points on hand, he should be able to upgrade it to level 4.
In actual fact, this tier 2 ability had already demonstrated its perversive formidability. Although its hemoptysis effect wasn't frequent and its damage relatively low, it had already caused two unfortunate kids to cough to death thus far…...one didn't need to elaborate more on its potency.
After careful contemplations. Sheyan felt that his 'Influenza' virus strain ought to be the foundation for his entire skill tree of pestilences. Clenching his teeth, he proceeded to resolutely advance his tier 1 ability, 'Influenza'.
At present, the 'Influenza' ability was level 7 and he didn't expend much achievement points to raise it to level 8.
On the contrary, to raise it to level 9, it required a full 15 achievement points! This meant that without the discount due to his 'Stairway of the Sun' virus system, this tier 1 ability needed 30 achievement points to upgrade!!!
How horrifying was such a figure!
Nevertheless, Sheyan reaped an astonishing harvest after this horrifying expenditure. Instead of raising from level 8 to 9, it indicated lvlmax!!! Moreover, the properties underwent earth-shuddering changes.
[ Tier 1 ability: Influenza virus lvlmax ]
[ Details: Upon activating this ability, all enemies within a kilometre radius will simultaneously contract the 'Influenza' virus. When the HP of enemies infected by the 'Influenza' virus falls beneath 50%, they will become carriers of the virus, spreading the 'Influenza' virus to enemies within a 200 metres radius of them, even if the enemy is no longer in your contamination zone ]
[ Details: The duration till the outbreak of the 'Influenza' virus is now 30 seconds ]
[ Details: In intervals of 10 seconds, Infected enemies will suffer a 50% probability of sneezing (disrupts casting action/normal attacks), shivering (movement speed decline by 50% for 3 seconds) or headache (mana cost doubled when casting abilities) negative effects ]
[ Details: Whenever an enemy contracts the 'Influenza' virus, you will receive a 5% boost to evasion and movement speed. Duration of 15 seconds and stackable for two times]
[ Details: You can choose to close or activate this branch ability anytime. Activating or closing this ability requires 2 potential points and 1,000 utility points ]
[ Details: After the 30 seconds duration prior to an outbreak, you can now choose the timing to commence the outbreak. However, once the outbreak begins, it will be irreversible ]
[ Details: This branch ability can coexist with other virus type branch abilities ]
Sheyan proceeded to share these attributes to his party channel. While Zi couldn't view anything, both Mogensha and Reef unanimously got a huge shock.
Evidently, the fearsomeness of the lvlmax stage of Sheyan's 'Influenza'
; ability had surpassed their expectations. A terrifyingly vast contamination zone, shortened outbreak duration from 10 minutes (lvl 1) to merely half a minute, and an outrageous 50% chance of virus symptoms.....
Sheyan calculated his remaining achievement points, and realized there was no way for him to upgrade his 'Bronchitis' branch ability to level 4 at one go. Thus, he distributed the remaining achievement points evenly to Reef and Mogensha. They were both overjoyed from receiving 7 achievement points each.
To Sheyan, he was exceedingly clear that greedily devouring all meat for oneself was a primary reason for a party's internal collapse.
The arachnid Overlord's flying speed was fairly quick. Roughly 30 minutes later, the outline of the building that housed the 'exploded head' Chedeliarchos Skoa surfaced before their eyes.
The gang of four then surveyed their surroundings while seated in the Overlord.
As an arachnid Overlord didn't have eyes, it normally perceived its surroundings through soundwaves and heat. Thus, very few concealed creatures could escape the arachnid Overlord's detection.
"There're people in the house." Sheyan abruptly whispered. He placed his hand on the fleshy wall of the arachnid Overlord and shut his eyes. Soon, he could sense several heat emitting lifeforms in the abandoned building. They would occasionally budge and were evidently 'guarding the tree-stump while waiting for rabbits'.
The gang of four then proceeded to scan the area, and confirmed there was no threat of ambush within a 10 kilometres proximity.
Following that, they flow back to the bottom of the building, and dismounted the arachnid Overlord.
With Reef and Sheyan leading the front, the gang slowly crept up the building.
To avoid any illusionary trap, Mogensha specially employed his 'Gold Pearl of the Carribean Sea', and coated himself with a layer of hazy fluorescent. Besides, being prepared was better than doing nothing at all.
In the end, when the contestant quartet were 20 metres away from that room, they immediately casted wry smiles at each other. This was because they could distinctly hear various sounds of grunts and roars echoing from that room, and waves of assailing fishy odour.
As it turns out, the arachnid Overlord didn't probe out an ambush, but a pack of famished creatures who sniffed their way here following the scent of blood and rotting flesh. They were presently feasting when.....the gang charged in and swiftly butchered this pack of hyena-like creatures.
In this place permeating with the stench of rot and blood, Zi composedly begun dissecting apart the stomachs of these four hyena-like creatures.
Eventually, she found the most crucial object for the continuation of her main mission – a ruby ring that the late Chedeliarchos Skoa previously wore....this ring was the special insignia of the Chedeliarchos clan.
While wiping off the blood stains on this ring, Zi received a list of notifications. Moments later, her countenance turned increasingly downcast.
Sheyan frowned and inquired.
"Could it be that you have to deliver this ring back to the Chedeliarchos clan? Damn, I heard their territory is like a lion's den with impenetrable walls. Going in is easy but leaving is excruciatingly difficult."
Zi gently shook her head in response.
"No, not that harsh but not that straightforward either. This ring is the key to convincing the Chedeliarchos clan, that their outstanding paleontologist scholar, Mr Skoa, is in our hands. Therefore, we don't have to fight in their main territory, but rather, arrange another location to conduct business with them."
"The crux of the matter is this – what can we use in exchange for that grain of amber?"
Sheyan shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"Mr Skoa has been on the 'plane to heaven' for over 48 hours already. Whatever is left of him has become food for these hyenas. Nevertheless, I can offer an insight. Perhaps, we can consider the sequence of events from the cause of Mr Skoa's death?"
Zi furrowed her brows and caressed her loose hair. This action enhanced her gorgeous countenance to a higher degree.
"But, there isn't a single clue!"
"There is." Sheyan smiled and continued.
"Coincidentally, I spent quite some effort in this place. Right now, we ought to find a person named Wester. Perhaps there are many individuals called Mr Wester, but I'm guessing only one or two can be called Lieutenant Colonel Wester."
Without a doubt, Zi's familiarity with this world wasn't inferior to Sheyan's familiarity with the Caribbean Sea world.
Under her guidance, the gang of four swiftly arrived at the outskirts of base thirteen, a strategic city located outside the perimeter of the dinosaur danger zone...….to be more precise, they arrived 20 kilometres away from that place.
Why 20 kilometres away from that strategic city? Of course it wasn't because Zi lost her way, but because the arachnid Overlord was slain.
This Arachnid Overlord was exceptionally loyal to its master. Till its final moment in life, it struggled to slowly descend onto the desert.
A minute later, it rapidly decomposed, turning into air bubbles that evaporated into the atmosphere. 2-3 minutes later, only a 2-3 square metres puddle of brown stain could be seen.
Sheyan could only smile bleakly upon encountering such a situation.
He had overlooked one matter – the arachnid Overlord was similarly a lifeform and required energy replenishments. However, where would Sheyan go to locate an arachnid base or 'creep' carpet to feed it?
Therefore, Sheyan was currently left with a single arachnid Overlord egg, which would only be employed in the most crucial of moments.
The number '13' is an extremely unlucky number in the west, analogous to the number '7' in China; citing an example, the hungry ghost month is also the seventh month.
Base 13 was originally a magnificent and grand military fort. Nevertheless, it was famous for its occasional 'incidents', where events such as fires became nothing out of the ordinary.
After dinosaurs in a region propagated to a certain extent, the amount of food available in the region would become insufficient for them. As such, the dinosaurs would strangely combine their forces and migrate. To date, the base had already experienced three waves of dinosaur migration.
Of course, each migration met with intensive resistance from the military. Nevertheless, the casualty filled dinosaur race would also momentarily escape the vicious cycle of food shortage.
As for the city of base 13, it fell during the second great dinosaur migration. After the base was repaired from the first migration, it never experienced peace anymore. Thus, nobody raised the topic of repairing this base anymore.
As for the dinosaurs, their excitement could only be instigated by edible objects. Hence, the main bulk of buildings of base 13 were preserved. As time went by, the base slowly transformed into a stopover point.
This stopover city was presently flourishing with an estimated population size of over a hundred thousand.
There was a specialty to this place. Civilians would normally take up residence in abandoned military base structures. Moreover, the base also became a storage to an astonishing amount of recreational and tow vehicles. As long as the inhabitants were willing, they could, at anytime, ride their modernized vehicles and disperse in confusion.
Furthermore, underground subway tracks had also been established and connected to this city. One could observe how accessible and convenient it was to travel to this stopover city.