Chapter 1275: Expedition Teams
Sam entered the selection process of the Second group. It is a simple tournament between the applicants. Needless to say, it was easy for Sam. After all, the strongest person in the second group is only at the Peak of the Pre-transcendent stage.
Saying Sam had an unfair advantage is an understatement.
Sam ended every fight faster and he made sure that his original cultivation is not shown.
The second group selected him.
"The expedition is tomorrow. Everyone should gather at the mount of the southern cliff, we will be climbing from there. The rest of the details would be explained then."
The next day, Sam went to the cliff and the group is waiting. Team 2 which is the main attack force fully consists of warriors and there is only one mage.
"We are going through the Death Eating Spider Valley. We would be going through a lot of narrow areas, that is why we specifically asked for the warriors.
For any of you who didn't know about the Death Eating spiders, they are very peculiar creatures. They move towards everything that has vitality. First, they would shoot their webs that would suck your vitality slowly. The longer you stay in contact with the web, the harder it would be for you to get out.
The vitality will be sucked out faster and faster as time goes by.
Once you are completely devoid of vitality, they would make you into a small cocoon and slowly eat savor you.
So, be careful with them. I have vitality beads and every one of you would get one. If you are cornered, throw them high inside the valley towards a wall. Make sure that there is none there. The spiders will be attracted to them because of the burst of energy. Be careful with that.
Next, we would be going past the piranha lake. We discovered a small underground cave that was dug by the Stone Mole and our scouts discovered something valuable there. So, our target is what is inside.
As for what exactly it is, you will know it when we get there."
Everybody nodded at the briefing and they were distributed with the vitality beads. This is just a gimmick used by cultivators to travel freely inside the areas with undead creatures.
These things really do work on the Death Eating Spiders.
The group proceeded forward, but first, the Scout team climbed up the cliff and checked the surroundings, they gave the signal that everything is clear and the attacking team climbed over the cliff.
Then they proceeded forward as they walked for an hour carefully under the lead of the scout team before they reached the Death Eating Spider Valley.
Here, they didn't bother with the scout team and the main team difference. Because they know exactly what is going to happen and what they are going to face. There is no need for a scouting team to go and confirm that.
They slowly walked into the valley. Sam could already feel the gazes of the spiders. They are looking at them carefully as they waited for them to enter deep into the valley.
When they are in the middle of it, the spiders suddenly dig out of the walls and the ground. They came out of the cliff wall cracks. It would be more accurate to say that they were squeezed out of the cracks.
"Defend yourself. Don't let the webs touch you."
The spiders shot the webs and Sam just used his energy shield to barricade himself from the webs as he proceeded forward. He only attacked at the spiders when they are near him and they were dealt with a single blow.
Meanwhile, he is also focusing on the original members of the second group. The leader of the group is solely focused on guiding the rest of the team.
He is shouting out orders and he is frankly good at that. When the spiders managed to get near him, he was actually being helped by the rest of the group members.
In contrast, the scout team's leader, the necromancer has a better battle sense.
Sam collected a few carcasses of the Death Eating Spiders so that he wouldn't stick out and cause suspicions and walked forward with the rest of the group.
For some reason, the spiders are not coming out of the valley. They are confined to it and they are not willing to get out of that space. It is an advantageous situation for them, so they didn't care much.
They arrived in a forest and there are some undead skeletons that came at the group now and then which were quickly destroyed.
In the process, they came across three undead creatures that were the undead made of the three Dark Mountain Lion corpses. This small group attracted the group's attention as the skeletons of the Dark Mountain Lions are great materials for being curse carriers.
Particularly, the earth elemental curse.
This is the best time for the leader of the group to act, but even now, he couldn't manage to perform that well.
As the journey proceeded further, he finally understood that the second group's leaders are not as good as he needed them to be, they are definitely not a great material for making a deal.
They finished the rest of the expedition and when they reached their destination, he finally realized another thing. Half of the warriors that are recruited as the temporary aid for the main attack group are not exactly outsiders, from his observations they are definitely working with the Second group from the start.
The second group seemed to have cut a different deal with them so that they would support them, group when the time for the division of the profits came.
The impression of this group further dropped.
Sam went back to the town with the group, the division of profits was done, and he took that measly change, and went back to the inn he was residing in.
He waited for the next notice and the first group posted the expedition notice. He went for the selection, got selected, and moved.
The main members of the group are indeed good, but they are not what Sam is looking for. These guys are even playing dirty. The rest of the group members might not have noticed this, but Sam clearly did.
These guys have deliberately directed the extra member to certain places so that they would die there and they don't have to give them a share.
The rest of the group is not noticing the problem as they are too afraid to even think. Sam heard the rumor that the first group goes on the most dangerous expeditions of all, now Sam understood why the rumor came to be.
The main members of the group are also entering these special places and they are giving a great performance of them 'barely' escaping the clutches of death, but the temporary people are just not able to cut it.
He really wanted to quit this crap in the middle and turn back, but he just endured it to see if he can find anyone remotely interesting. But there is no luck.
He came back and waited for the Three Ghosts to post the notice. But for a week there is no action from them. Meanwhile, the first two groups went on to do another expedition.
Sam has half a mind to give up on people and just go with finding a specter. He even wanted to task the second group for that, but then the three ghosts posted the notice.
The three people only want another extra person for their next expedition. But the requirements are a bit strict. They need someone with the cultivation of Peak stage Pre-transcendence and they also need someone who is capable of both long-range and short-range attacks.
It is indeed a strict requirement considering that the leaders of the expedition groups are all Peak stage Pre-transcendent cultivators.
The selection venue is actually inside the Dark Range. A small patch of the forest invested with the undead trees.
Sam was really intrigued by this.
He went into the forest for the selection the next day.
He was the last person to go there. As soon as he entered, one of the three ghosts spoke out.
"The selection process will now begin. So, get ready."
He directly announced. Sam looked around and there are only around six participants. One of the reasons is that the selected venue is in the dark range.
No one wants to get into the Dark Range by themselves, even the leaders of the expedition groups wouldn't take the risk. There are just too many dangers, but the three ghosts deliberately did this.
This is a direct elimination of the unworthy candidates. Easy and precise.
Sam really started liking these guys. At least these guys are better than those cunning assholes who are killing the teammates and the other group that is putting out some false fronts.
And the next test only increased Sam's interest in them more.