Train Survival: Can I get a treasure chest by touching my goddess?

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Shen Wen countered, "Can't this black dragon be slain?"

The tavern fell silent for a moment.

Then, laughter erupted.

It wasn't a friendly smile.

The burly man at the table by the window slammed his axe down on the table, the blade embedding itself in the wooden tabletop and cracking it open.

He didn't care at all, tilting his head back and laughing loudly, his stubble twitching with each laugh.

"Slay the Black Dragon? You?"

The three men in chainmail at the middle table also laughed, laughing so hard they were doubled over, their helmets rattling loudly on the table.

One of the tall, thin men pointed at Shen Wen, laughing so hard he couldn't speak, tears streaming down his face.

There were a few tables in the corner that didn't make a sound, but their eyes drifted over, scrutinizing, examining, and carrying a kind of indifference that comes from someone who's used to seeing clueless newcomers.

Shen Wen ignored them.

He looked at Alicia, waiting for the zero parchment.

Alicia did not laugh.

Her hand rested on the wooden frame, her fingertips pausing for a moment at the edge of the parchment tied with a red cloth strip, but she didn't take it off.

"Do you know how long this quest has been pending?"

Her voice was a little lower than before, and her tone was tinged with sorrow.

Shen Wen didn't speak.

"Three years," Alicia answered herself.

"I put it up three years ago, and so far, seventy-three people have taken on this task."

She paused, then moved her fingers off the parchment and rested them on the edge of the wine cabinet.

"Eleven have returned."

She spoke in a flat tone, but her slightly upturned eyes drooped for a moment.

"None of those eleven completed the mission. They just... escaped."

"I don't recognize at least half of the people on that wall now."

They're all new faces, changing batch after batch.

But I've never taken that task off my shoulders.

She looked up at Shen Wen.

The candlelight flickered in her eyes for a moment, then dimmed again.

"It's not that I don't want to pick them. It's that I don't know how to pick them yet."

Her voice softened, as if she were talking to herself.

"My father died at the hands of the Ashes. Before he died, he told me to guard this tavern and not to avenge him."

"I didn't listen. I put the quest up and figured someone would eventually kill that beast."

Three years have passed; seventy-three people went in, and eleven came back.

Those who returned were missing limbs, mentally unstable, or even unable to speak fluently.

Her gaze shifted from Shen Wen's face to the wall behind the wine cabinet.

"You're younger than my father was when he died."

Shen Wen followed her gaze.

On the wall behind the wine cabinet hangs a portrait with a simple wooden frame and slightly curled edges on the canvas.

The painting depicts a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a smile on his lips. His right hand rests on the hilt of a long sword, and he stands casually, as if he was suddenly drawn while chatting with someone.

Shen Wen asked calmly, "How strong is your father?"

"Having just entered the Silver rank, many of those who have died were also Silver-level. Even the Archmages of this defensive line can only contend with this beast, let alone kill it."

"Disaster!"

After Alicia finished speaking, she thought Shen Wen would back down, but instead raised an eyebrow and said, "I can give it a try."

Alicia looked at his hand and remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he took the zero-size parchment off the wooden shelf and handed it over.

"Here are the map and intelligence."

She pulled a small, palm-sized oil paper package from under the bar, tied with hemp rope, and pushed it over.

"The terrain explored in this area is all on it, along with the activity range and habits of the Extinction, pieced together by those... who came back alive."

Shen Wen took the oil paper package, untied the hemp rope, and inside was a neatly folded parchment and several yellowed notes.

The maps on the parchment were much more detailed than the previous ones, marking the direction of the mountains, the distribution of rivers, the approximate location of the dragon's nest, and even some with notes such as "There is a mineral vein here, and dragons frequently appear."

The handwriting on the notes varied, some neat and some messy, and the content was scattered, recording the black dragon's size, attack methods, and guesses about its weaknesses.

Shen Wen quickly scanned the contents, wrote them down, and put the items into his spatial pocket.

Thanks.

He turned and walked towards the door, with the five women following behind.

The boots made a dull thud on the wooden floor, which was particularly clear in the quiet pub.

The burly man's voice came from behind, filled with barely suppressed sarcasm: "He actually went? Another one sent to his death."

"Shut up." Alicia's voice wasn't loud, but it was cold. "You don't even dare to take on a bronze-level mission, what right do you have to laugh at others?"

The burly man choked for a moment, mumbled a couple of words, and then his voice trailed off.

Shen Wen pushed open the wooden door, letting in a gust of cold wind before closing it behind him. Those laughter and chatter remained in the tavern.

"They look down on people too much."

Jiang Youchu said coldly.

"That's normal. It seems that the top-tier strength here is slightly stronger than that of the Giant Beast Battlefield, but not necessarily by much."

Shen Wen would become stronger at an unreasonable speed every time he passed a station, especially when he first entered the Giant Beast Battlefield.

He only has two or three silver-level abilities, and his dual attributes are just over half a thousand.

His physique is already at the peak of the Bronze level, and his spirit is not weak either.

In addition, there's the Black King bloodline, the Titan bloodline, and numerous silver amplifications.

If I ever see that Silver Zhu Yan again, I'll take a knife from him first and see if I die!

The six of them crossed the gravel road and walked out of the city gate. Shen Wen did see Yun Yun and the others, but they seemed to have chosen to stay in the city to guard it.

That's normal. They haven't even reached the Bronze level yet, so it's only natural that they stay in the city to guard it.

The world outside the city gates is completely different from the world inside the city.

When viewed from afar from the city wall, one only sees continuous mountain ranges, sparse vegetation, and grayish-white rocks on the outside, resembling a skinned skeleton.

But once you step out of the city gates and into those mountains, you realize that observing from afar and being there are two different things.

The trees were taller than he had ever seen anywhere else.

The trunk was so thick that it would take three or five people to encircle it, and the bark was dark brown with deep cracks like a dried-up riverbed.

The tree canopies intertwine high up, blocking out most of the sunlight, with only scattered slivers of light leaking through the gaps and casting dappled patterns on the ground.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of pine needles and fallen leaves, which felt soft and spongy underfoot, like stepping on a sponge.

The air was filled with the smell of pine resin and humus, damp and stuffy, with a faint, sweet, and fishy odor.

A roar came from afar, deep and long, echoing through the valley, its direction indistinguishable.

Su Mu reacted the fastest.

She reached out, and a longbow materialized in her palm.

The bow is entirely silver-white, and the bowstring is as thin as a hair, gleaming with a faint golden light.

She became increasingly adept at using the abilities of the Hundred-Refined Divine Weapon.

She drew her bow, and the arrow materialized on the bowstring.

It wasn't a physical arrow, but an arrow of light, its edges gleaming with a pale golden light.

The bowstring twanged.

The arrow of light was almost silent the moment it left the bowstring, leaving only a faint trail in the air.

The arrow pierced a clump of bushes in the distance with a muffled thud, like a stone hitting the mud.

The bushes shook violently, then fell silent.

Jiang Youchu carefully parted the bushes, carrying her staff.

A creature the size of a tiger lay in a pool of blood, its limbs still twitching slightly, but it was already dead.

It resembles a fierce tiger, but its entire body is covered with dark gray scales, the edges of which are tinged with a rusty red.

Its head was larger than that of an ordinary tiger, and its mouth was slightly open, revealing two rows of dagger-like fangs.

A row of bony spurs runs along its back, extending from its neck to the tip of its tail, the tips of which gleam with a bony sheen.

Su Mu's arrow pierced its eye socket, went through its entire skull, exited from the back of its head, and embedded itself deeply into the tree trunk behind it.

Jiang Youchu squatted down and reached into the creature's skull.

His movements were incredibly skillful.

He rummaged through the sticky brain matter with his fingers for a while and pulled out a round thing.

Dark red, about the size of a pigeon egg, with a smooth surface and a faint glow flowing inside, like a solidified fire.

"Dragon Crystal".

Jiang Youchu rubbed the crystal core on her clothes.

"It's of the Black Iron grade. They say this stuff condenses inside magical beasts that have been tainted with dragon blood or the aura of dragons. This should be the proof used to determine whether a hunting mission has been completed."

"If dragon-like creatures eat it, it will increase their strength."

Shen Wen took the dragon crystal and weighed it in his palm.

The dark red crystal gleamed with an amber-like luster in the sunlight, with a faint light flowing inside, like a solidified flame.

He could feel this thing calling to him.

It's not an illusion.

The Black King's bloodline warmed slightly within him, like a sleeping dragon turning over, its breath spraying against the walls of his blood vessels, urging him to open his mouth.

"Eating this will enhance my strength? I'll try it first..."