This isn't a souls-like game at all.

"Is it."

Ye Yiyi nodded, put away the [Profound Forbidden Code], and then stood up.

"Since the Deep Depression is north of the Vast Swamp, and happens to be on the same route as me, I plan to go there and take a look."

"Now?" The old hunter was a little surprised.

"Tomorrow, I'll transform the dung beetle first, and then go to the city to buy some things."

"Just tell me what you want, and someone will buy it for you."

"What should I do with all the money I stole from the bishop? I can't take it all with me. I might as well put it into the market and let it circulate."

"Sounds like something an imperial economist would say."

"Humph!"

"Okay, I'll let Gavin accompany you."

After feeding the dung beetle with holy blood, Ye Yiyi and Gavin, accompanied by an Eagle Claw Knight, came to the market in the lower city while it fell into a deep sleep.

This place is a bit like a flea market before time travel, with everything for sale.

Ye Yiyi walked around and bought whatever he liked, regardless of whether it was useful or not. He just wanted to keep it for now.

For this reason, a long line of Principality soldiers formed just to help him carry his bag.

At noon, Ye Yiyi had an imperial-style meal in the restaurant on Red Street, which made him wonder for a moment whether he had gone back in time.

We continued shopping in the afternoon, and when we returned to Uptown in the evening, Gavin was exhausted.

After resting for a night in the castle in Goergen, the next day Ye Yiyi took the transformed dung beetle, rode Virgil on the elevator that could accommodate a thousand people, and walked across the Tonghai Bridge.

Heading north, we set out on our journey again.

Chapter 125 Pioneer Town

"Finally we've reached the southern border."

Riding Virgil on the dry dirt road, Ye Yiyi looked back.

The screaming towers in the distance became blurred and finally disappeared into the treetops beside the road.

"Go back, no need to see me off!" He waved his hand towards the sky. "I'll come back to see you next time."

"Wow!"

An eagle's cry was heard, it was the eagle with spread wings circling high in the sky bidding him farewell.

Looking away, Ye Yiyi looked at the vast green and yellow desert in front of him and couldn't help but take a long breath.

Passing the Tonghai Bridge, Ye Yiyi officially entered the southern border area.

The southern border is a part of the continent that split from the ancient border.

Ten thousand years ago, in the great war between the ancient kings and the stagnant curse, the ancient bordering continent was shattered and split into the four continents of today.

Among them, [Eastern Border] has the second largest area, spanning the northern temperate zone and the northern tropical zone, with a superior climate and environment. It is the main location of many cities in the land group.

Its various infrastructures are well-preserved, it has the largest number of ancient sites, and it is also the continent with the largest current population and the most prosperous today.

[Bordered to the North] Because of its high latitude and location in the northern frigid zone, it has a harsh climate. As the starting point of a war, it has many dangerous ancient battlefields and ruins. Therefore, there are not many human countries and it is a wild land.

The Broken Continent was once the center of the Ancient Border, the location of the sacred temple of the kings, and also the area where the kings sealed the stagnant cursed bodies.

Its geographical latitude is equivalent to that of [Eastern Border], and it is west of the other three continents. It does not border the three continents that are connected to it, and cannot be reached by land. It can only be reached through the dangerous Wandering Islands.

Finally, there is the [Southern Border], located in the southernmost part of the world, with the largest land area, the second largest current population, the largest number of countries, and the largest number of Asian and non-human populations.

As a supercontinent spanning the equator, the southern temperate zone, the tropics, and the northern temperate zone, [the southern border] has complex and diverse terrain, complex ethnic diversity, complex religious beliefs, and a constant stream of wars, large and small, which can be described as quite chaotic.

From this perspective, the Principality of Ritter, located at the southernmost tip of the southern border and enjoying a huge geographical advantage, can be said to be quite safe and lucky.

Of course, this is the background that Ye Yiyi learned in the game. As for what the southern border is like in reality, he has to experience it personally.

According to the information provided by the old hunter, due to the complex international situation bordering the south, there are a large number of free mercenaries and mercenary groups.

Free mercenaries go with the flow and basically don't stay in one place for too long. The jobs they can undertake are basically small and dirty jobs that are not presentable.

Here, large mercenary groups are the mainstream.

Of course, their work was not as Ye Yiyi imagined. They would take a mission at the Mercenary Guild today, then go somewhere to kill monsters and collect materials, and then go somewhere to slay dragons tomorrow and fight demons or something.

The mercenary groups here don't do this kind of work, and their other name, "mercenary army", has already explained this point well.

They were employed by the state or the nobility, assumed military duties, and signed a "service contract", the main contents of which were what type of military service they would serve in, how long they would serve, and how much they would be paid.

There aren't many magicians in the southern border area, and even those who belong to religious sects won't lower themselves to become lowly mercenaries.

This lowliness is in the literal sense, because these mercenary groups are armies after signing the mercenary contracts, and work as part-time robbers and bandits before signing the contracts.

They killed people and robbed houses, and they did not miss a single one.

In comparison, the reputation of free mercenaries is much better.

Therefore, in order to experience the authentic life in the other world, Ye Yiyi decided to operate in the southern border as a free mercenary.

After leaving the territory of the Principality of Rit, he took out the equipment he bought at the market in the lower town yesterday and found a place to change.

After a moment, he looked at the black leather armor on his body, the black cloak behind him, and the black crossbow at his waist, and nodded with satisfaction.

【Black Mercenary Armor】

Item Description: Armor consisting of an iron breastplate and leather shoulder armor.

Able to travel through various battlefields and survive the journey of war.

The mercenary business in the southern bordering continent has a long history.

It is said that this originated from the third southern expedition of the Rodno Empire.

As for the repeating crossbow at his waist, it was a gift given to him by the old hunter Eurost before he left.

【Hunting Life Crossbow】

Requirements: Strength 10, Skill 10

Attribute correction: None

Durability: 50/50

Skill consumption: None

Item Description: A crossbow capable of continuous firing used by elite church hunters.

It uses a mechanical winder and a disposable crossbow arrow box, which can fire three consecutive crossbow arrows.

You can fire continuously until all crossbow bolts are used up.

If it hits as expected, it can cause huge damage.

Hunters of the Church of the Hunting God are often in danger.

To hunt, a variety of sophisticated and fierce weapons are indispensable.

"Very good. From now on, the Power's identity is the new auxiliary hunter of the Church of the Hunting God, the black swordsman Guts!"

Carrying the flame-shaped two-handed giant sword on his back, he waved to the side, and a giant dung beetle with a dark red shell and two pairs of thin wings waving behind it flew over and landed on his leather shoulder armor.

After taking the Holy Blood Lord's Heart Blood, the little brother fell asleep for a whole day.

When Ye Yiyi returned from shopping in the evening, the dung beetle, whose body had almost tripled in size and had grown large, spade-shaped, curved horns on its head, had changed its appearance drastically. It immediately flapped its wings and flew onto his shoulder.

"You can actually fly?" Ye Yiyi was surprised.

Before he could rejoice, the old hunter coughed and whispered.

"Ahem...Mister Michaela, dung beetles can fly as soon as they arrive."

"Ah this..."

According to the dung beetle itself, flying is extremely exhausting, and it generally does not fly unless it is trying to escape.

After being baptized by the divine blood, the dung beetle can now fly freely.

In addition, it seems to have inherited the ability of the Lord of the Holy Blood from Ling Mengwu (one)? Qi Baba [Zero from Lu Yi].

Not only is the shell's defense increased to the level of ordinary steel, it also gains extremely strong self-healing abilities and is completely immune to the abnormal state of bleeding.

The old hunter commented on this:

"For an ordinary bug that drank the heart blood of a god, this improvement is somewhat less than expected."

Ye Yiyi didn't care about this. There were so many foreign gods in the border area anyway. He just needed to feed it with some of his blood. One day, it would grow up to be the master of the dung beetle.

Stepping onto the horse, Ye Yiyi continued to move forward.

The road in the desert was not difficult to travel. Along the way, he saw many convoys belonging to the Church of the Hunting God heading towards the Principality.

A sharp-eyed hunter noticed the crossbow on Ye Yiyi's waist and stopped him.

After Ye Yiyi showed the hunters a silver sword-shaped badge, he was not only not stopped, but also gained the hunters' goodwill.

Ye Yiyi has two such badges, both prepared for him by the old hunter.

One belongs to the identity of Michaela, and the other belongs to the identity of Gus.

[Hunter Assist Sword Badge]

Item Description: A silver badge with the symbol of the Hunter's Holy Sword.

Proof of the agreement with the Church of the Hunting God.

After equipping it, you will become the sworn bearer of the "Hunter's Holy Sword".

Assist the hunter to be the helper of the God Hunter.

When a nearby God Hunter is in trouble, he can respond to the call of the Holy Sword.

The fate of transforming into a spirit and going hunting.

When Ye Yiyi first received the badge from the old hunter, he was shocked.

It turns out that the Church of the Hunting God has mastered the technology to remotely summon spirits.

After carefully questioning Eurost, he found out that it was not the case.

This badge was once blessed and can emit light to alert nearby hunters in trouble. In other words, it is just a receiver for distress signals.

But when this thing fell into Ye Yiyi's hands, it became proof of the oath.

Ye Yiyi was puzzled by this and could only understand it as a game mechanic.

After chatting with the hunters from the church, the hunters specifically warned Ye Yiyi before leaving.

"Our convoy was attacked by emperor scorpions while crossing the Calamity Rift. Those giant insects became extremely agitated for some reason, and they became even more so the closer they got to the rift. Here's the antidote. Take some with you, and be careful on the road."

"Thank you! Be careful on the road!"

After bidding farewell to the church convoy they met, Ye Yi and his group walked across the vast desert, casually flipping through the map screen.

The map was provided by Gorgon and was a trade map used by his caravans for commercial activities.

"Gorgon's caravans would follow a fixed and safe route between the Empire and the Principality. This map details the villages and city-states along the way, but only provides a rough outline of the surrounding terrain, or those uninhabited areas."

Observing the map, Ye planned the route one by one.

His current goal is to travel to the deep depressions located north of the vast swamp to find traces of the cursed and dark magic.

To get there, you need to cross the Windblown Desert first, take a detour through the Pioneer Town near the Valley of Disaster, cross the Valley of Disaster through the Pioneer Bridge, and then head northwest.

"Disaster Rift..."

Looking at the east-west canyon on the map that almost cut the map in half, Ye Yi fell into deep thought.

"I remember in the game's background, this great rift was torn apart by the aftermath of the battle between the kings and the curse. There used to be an underground king's workshop there, but with the appearance of the rift, the workshop also fell into the depths.

"It seems that the first place to explore after leaving the Principality is this Royal Craftsman's workshop."

In Master Wang's workshop, Ye Yiyi can find the holy tablet, weapons made by Master Wang himself, blueprints of various weapons and armor, as well as Master Wang's forging experience and forging tools.

And if nothing unexpected happens, he should also be able to find a fragment of the universal cauldron in the workshop.

With Wang Jiang's forging experience and tools, the old blacksmith can open more enchantment holes for Ye Yiyi.

After making the current plan, Ye Yiyi immediately went to the town on the map.