Chapter 85: The Black Wasteland

The next morning, with Sara's reluctant gaze, I bid farewell to the Ral family. After buying enough food and daily necessities for a few months in the West District, I slowly entered the teleportation station of the Dark Forest.

The Dark Forest is located at the foot of Mount Maharas. Looking eastward from here, one can see the Maharas Mountains, which stretch endlessly like giants holding hands. Just the poisonous snakes and fierce beasts in the Dark Forest at the foot of the mountain are already extremely powerful, some of which even the Hell Clan dares not provoke. The journey up the mountain is fraught with danger; even the most powerful members of the Hell Clan dare not get too close to the mist-covered, towering peaks.

To the west, however, lies the once-renowned Black Wasteland. Yes, once!

Before the Hell Clan's invasion, it was not called the Black Wasteland. Instead, it was known throughout the Dark Continent as the Black Fertile Land, a place of great fame and wealth. The lord of the Black Fertile Land was even richer than the king of a country. On his territory stood a massive castle, which began construction during the reign of the second lord and was only completed by the fifth lord, taking over 300 years. The entire castle was built on a mountain that had been artificially flattened, with a steep cliff on the other side. There was only one path up the mountain, making it a strategic stronghold. The luxury inside the castle rivaled that of the palaces of kingdoms with thousands of years of history. The most famous feature was the towering stone tower in the center of the castle. The lord gave it a very fitting but rather vulgar name: the Tower of Wealth, symbolizing that everything visible from the top of the tower was his wealth. The common people of the Black Fertile Land secretly gave it another name: the Tower of Whipping, because from the top of the tower, one could use a magic array to monitor most of the Black Fertile Land. If a commoner was caught slacking off, they would be in big trouble.

Later, the Hell Clan invaded, turning the entire Black Fertile Land into a blood-red wasteland. The once-glorious castle was occupied by monsters, and the famous "Tower of Wealth" was taken over by the Queen of the Black Wasteland, the Fallen Countess. Over time, people gradually forgot the tower's original name, so they simply renamed it the Tower of Forgetfulness, meaning a tower whose name has been forgotten.

This is part of the description of the Black Wasteland in Cain's book. At this moment, I am riding on Xiao Xue's back, standing at the edge of the Dark Forest. After three days of rapid travel, we finally left this detestable Dark Forest. Before me lies a vast expanse of black land. Even I, a homebody, can see at a glance that this dark brown, soft soil is rich in nutrients, truly a black land. One can imagine the fertile land and prosperous people of the past, but now only a handful of black soil remains.

The Black Wasteland gives a particularly desolate feeling. Many villages have been abandoned, with collapsed wooden houses covered in dust, broken doors and windows creaking in the wind. The atmosphere is so desolate and quiet that it makes one feel depressed. Around the villages, one can still see traces of farming, with decayed farming tools scattered in the fields. Occasionally, one can see a few skeletons, half-buried in the soil, almost fossilized. Some skeletons, corrupted by Hell's power and re-energized, might have been the original owners of these fields. They enjoy wandering around the fields, attacking any enemies that approach their territory. Interestingly, they still retain some of their living consciousness, occasionally clearing weeds from the ground and even cutting down excess trees at the edge of the Dark Forest to prevent it from spreading. Because of this, adventurers generally do not attack them. They are not projections, their strength is weak, and they do not drop good items. Moreover, if you do not want the annoying forest to spread and turn the Black Wasteland into the Dark Forest, you must protect them. This black land is very suitable for plant growth. In our original world, if these skeletons were a bit more docile and cute, they could be considered beneficial insects (or something like that) for maintaining ecological balance and promoting harmonious development.

After passing through several desolate villages, I finally encountered the characteristic monsters of the Black Wasteland: the pitch-black Night Clan. Compared to their original form, the Moon Clan, they are essentially just wearing a different skin. A goat is still a goat, no matter how much it evolves, it will never become a wolf. So, they are still no match for me.

There are also the evolved monsters of the Black Wanderers, the Evil Archers. These monsters, dressed in yellow, are particularly cunning, shooting and running, fully utilizing guerrilla tactics. I think if they had the awareness to dig tunnels, they might even use tunnel warfare. Fortunately, with Xiao Xue, I can chase these hateful archers without transforming. Of course, I also have the other four ghost wolves, and controlling their instant teleportation to chase a few Evil Archers is a piece of cake, though it is quite tiring. After a few rounds of air-dropped encirclements, I get dizzy. As for the Venomous Flower Vines and Lazy Crows, they have started to work together. The Lazy Crows harass from the air, while the Venomous Flower Vines approach from the ground, then launch a surprise attack. This tactic is almost invincible against ordinary small monsters, and its deviousness makes even me, their master, feel ashamed.

There is another type of monster that makes me particularly excited: the Blood Eagles, an enhanced version of the Foul Crows. As an evolved type, they provide much more experience than the Foul Crows, though still less than a quarter of the Night Clan. However, they are weak and numerous, with each group consisting of almost a thousand. After killing a few and seeing the experience increase, the idea of grinding monsters immediately came to mind.

Right now, there is a group of Blood Eagles in front of me, at least a thousand, densely packed, creating a blood-red landscape. The sound of their flapping wings can be heard from a distance. They are much cleaner than the Foul Crows, emitting only a faint bloody smell, which further solidifies my determination to grind these mobile experience points.

However, to grind them, one essential condition is a narrow terrain. In the vast wasteland, being surrounded by them is no laughing matter. Even if there is no immediate danger to my life, I need to consider the durability of my equipment.

First, I considered the abandoned villages, where the wooden houses might provide some terrain advantage. But I quickly rejected this idea—these Blood Eagles, like the Foul Crows, do not understand obstacles and will charge straight at people. The decayed wooden houses cannot withstand their impact.

While I was searching for a suitable location, a sudden protrusion in an open area caught my attention. Upon closer inspection, I was speechless. It turned out to be a man-made narrow terrain formed by dozens of huge rocks, with three sides blocked and only a narrow gap at the front, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Hiding inside to grind Blood Eagles would be extremely safe. Moreover, the rock at the back is movable, so in case of an emergency, one can push it away and escape, provided one can run faster than the Blood Eagles.

"Genius!"

I was moved to tears. How could I not have thought of this? I could have used my own strength to create a suitable terrain. What a shame, I am a three-having youth from Earth, a super homebody with over ten years of internet experience, and yet my intelligence is so easily outmatched by the natives here.

However, as the saying goes, "One generation plants the trees, the next generation enjoys the shade." Without their wisdom, how could I enjoy the fruits of their labor so effortlessly? Hehe, predecessors, I'll just borrow this place.

The Blood Eagles have low attack power. To save my equipment's durability, I only kept a few pieces of equipment with durability recovery attributes and removed the rest. I can always take potions, and if necessary, let Xiao Xue and the others take the hit. By the way, Xiao Xue can just fit into the gap, though she cannot turn around inside and is quite restricted in movement. Seeing her back into the gap, looking back every few steps with a depressed expression on her wolf face, I couldn't help but chuckle.

Everything was ready. I transformed into a wolf, holding a bottle of Throat Gas. This is a rare item; after killing Bisboso, I only got one, and with the remaining three bottles, I now have 18 bottles. If it weren't so rare, I could have killed these Blood Eagles with just the Throat Gas, without hiding in the gap.

"Hehe..."

As I approached the Blood Eagle group, the outer Blood Eagles noticed me. I gave a sinister laugh and threw the Throat Gas bottle forward. It drew a beautiful arc and landed in the center of the Blood Eagle group, immediately releasing a cloud of green smoke.

Provoked, the entire Blood Eagle group became enraged. They flapped their large, fleshy wings and charged at me. Thousands of Blood Eagles flew over, creating a black cloud, and the sound of their flapping wings was deafening. The sheer number of them made me shudder. Any thoughts of toying with them vanished, and I only wanted to quickly return to the gap to hide and calm my racing heart.

Before I could settle down, the Blood Eagles were already upon me. I quickly canceled the wolf transformation, as the gap could not accommodate the bear form. I took out a plain small shield and held the scepter, and a pale blue resistance aura appeared at my feet, increasing my defense by 70%.

The Blood Eagles charged over, just as I expected, unable to control their speed. A small part of them rushed in, some blocked by the shield, others rushing inside. With Xiao Xue and the Venomous Flower Vines, they were like lambs entering a tiger's den. More Blood Eagles, like bullets, either crashed into the rocks, dazed and confused, or narrowly missed them.

When the Blood Eagles that had rushed past turned around and desperately tried to squeeze into the gap, the real battle, or rather, the grinding, began.