The old apprentice stopped in front of the boundary monument and burned the remaining snow on it with a fire, making the writing more complete and clear:
"The town ahead is the first stop for our exploration! Brace yourselves and be careful, those contaminated monsters may appear at any time!"
"Have you ever encountered those pollution monsters?" someone asked.
The old apprentice rubbed his nose: "Of course! I have brought two groups of apprentices in the past two days, and they all came back with a full load! If they were not in a hurry to return to the imperial capital to redeem their contributions, you would not be lucky enough to meet me. You must know that I can
Apprentices who can shield themselves from the wind and snow are a rare commodity here!"
His companions on the side also jumped out and said: "We are also trying to gather everyone's strength. Those monsters are not strong. If we gather together and each person casts a soul spell, they can be easily eliminated.
When the time comes, cut off the meat and seal it as a voucher. This is the fastest efficiency! Everyone can get a little more, and there is no risk!"
"As long as there is no threat, let's find a stronghold first. Just using torches to cover the wind and snow is not an option. It will not be convenient for a long time."
In the vast and boundless snowfield, it is particularly important to have a stronghold that can protect you from environmental damage and be used for rest.
Especially apprentices, they also need to eat to replenish their physical strength to produce soul energy.
"It's so cold in this damn place. Let's hurry up. The power of the torches seems to be weakening."
An apprentice tightened his robe. Even though the clothing could protect him from the wind and snow, the cold wind scratching his face was still uncomfortable.
"There seems to be someone in front!"
"The snow is too heavy and it's hard to see clearly. Let's go over and have a look."
"Be careful, there was no one near the boundary marker just now, and now a person suddenly appears, and his behavior... looks very weird!"
Everyone quickly discussed it and took their positions according to the soul arts they were good at.
Several apprentices of the [War Tower] consciously stood at the forefront. The tower was born for the Great Crusade... The system they inherited is mostly conducive to large-scale battles and close combat.
One of them even took out a huge brass ball from the storage equipment. The ball was illuminated by the light reflected by the snowfield and glowed golden.
Then on the ground is the spiritual manifestation of the apprentice in the [Spiritual Tower].
The apprentices in other high towers were also brewing soul energy fluctuations and took out pseudo-horcruxes to prepare for attack.
Everyone shouted excitedly and rushed towards the figure in the wind and snow. Their steps were surprisingly neat and their fighting spirit was high.
Hero was hanging at the end, fishing with several other apprentices who were watching.
In his opinion, these apprentices were just like kids who had just entered school, eager to express themselves, and they didn't even need anyone's supervision before they could unleash their amazing fighting power.
"Who?!" The apprentice of the leader [War Tower] rolled the brass ball and arrived not far away from the person.
The ball actually stretched out under his manipulation.
Two brass legs protruded from the bottom, firmly pressing against the snow to stabilize the entire center of gravity, and the round base still allowed the host to easily adjust its position.
On the upper part of the ball, a long hand lever and a rotating valve device are split.
The few people following behind also hid behind the brass ball, quietly waiting for a response from the other side.
But after everyone waited for a long time, they still didn't hear any movement, and the leading apprentice couldn't wait any longer.
The whole person jumped up and lay on the back of the ball, with his feet on the two brass legs, holding the valve in his right hand and turning it twice from time to time to adjust the angle.
Hero clearly saw that the head of the ball rotated slightly as the valve turned.
Before he could analyze what kind of object it was, he saw the apprentice pull the long rod with his left hand and heard a loud roar.
boom!
The snow under the brass legs was shaken into dust, and the loud noise made several people around subconsciously cover their ears.
"A thermal weapon has been developed?!"
A huge projectile broke through the wind and snow and hit the figure directly.
Another explosion was heard, and the area was blown to pieces.
The huge snow curtain made it difficult to see the specific situation, and some blocky objects could be vaguely seen being sputtered to the surrounding area.
"Wuhu~! Go, go, go! That man was smashed to pieces! Go up and have a look!"
The apprentice climbed down from the brass ball and quickly directed the people behind to rush up.
He showed off his accuracy like a heroic artilleryman.
Hero immediately followed everyone and flew past, without even saving his soul energy, he burst out with astonishing speed and reached the first row without anyone noticing.
He wanted to see the difference between these pollutants and the [nest].
Not long after, he came to a scattered object.
That's a broken arm.
Hero blew away the snowflakes covering it, revealing his true appearance.
"This is……"
"Ice crystals? No, it looks like porcelain pieces..." The apprentice who followed also saw the arm and expressed his guess.
Hero carefully took his arm in his hand.
The arms that were hanging down weakly felt very cold to the touch. This was not the effect of snowflakes. The original coldness of the arms had a warm texture.
It's like a porcelain that has just been born and its temperature is gradually fading.
The cracked patterns on the surface of the arm indicate that it is a piece of porcelain.
The apprentice behind him suddenly screamed in horror and slapped Hero on the shoulder, trying to get him to throw away his arm.
"Throw it away quickly, there are contaminants attached to it! This is a monster! If there is no sealing method, it will be infected!"
Sure enough, where the arm was broken, abnormal flesh tissue was growing.
It wasn't obvious at first, but when it sensed that there were living creatures around it, it suddenly started to speed up.
Hero made a quick decision, the soul magic formula in his eyes lit up, his crystal-clear arms instantly turned gray-white, and even the proliferated flesh tissue was petrified and lost its activity.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, and at the last moment he could clearly detect the resistance of the flesh tissue.
Thanks to his newly added [chaos] characteristic, the activity inside was shattered under the cover of petrification.
'The speed of active proliferation is not as fast as that of [nest] blocks, and there are no symptoms even on the surface of the limbs, only at the fractures... That means that these contaminations are in a latent state, and will explode when they suffer a devastating blow.
Proliferation is used to increase survivability.'
It's a pity that I didn't see the complete appearance and couldn't analyze more information.
Hero stood up, threw his petrified arm to the apprentice with bright eyes, and stood up to look away.
"Fortunately, the environment is harsh and there are no high-density living creatures for them to contaminate quickly. Otherwise, the contaminated activity will increase to a level that even the magician cannot bear."
"That's right! If you had told me earlier that you had the means to seal it, I wouldn't have worried. I'll follow you later! I'll clean it up, you can seal it, and the contribution will be divided equally!"
"Sorry, I haven't figured out the situation here yet. I'm not sure I will stay here for a long time for cleaning tasks." Holo declined him tactfully.
"It's okay, I have the same idea as you, let's go together without affecting the early stage!"
Bang bang bang!
"Great, you have taken a crucial step! You have overcome the fear of pollutants, you see! They are extremely fragile and will fall apart with just the slightest touch!" The old apprentice hurriedly followed the crowd and praised him.
Several people with severed limbs clapped and praised him.
But for some reason, Hero felt that look was too hypocritical.
"Next we have to go deep into Teacup Town! I know the map here, follow me!"