The midday sun grew increasingly scorching. The small boat had been sailing on the sea for some time now.
Inside the boat cabin, Chen Qi took out the sea chart and examined it.
The target crack this time was not far from Maro Town. The only troublesome point was that the target was close to a dangerous sea area.
The near seas of Witch Sea had many dangerous areas frequented by sea beasts. These areas were marked by merchants and listed as dangerous sea regions.
Unless pressed for time, merchants generally avoided these danger zones.
However, for Chen Qi, these areas were actually safer.
If he had time, he could easily visit these dangerous areas.
Due to his Deep Sea Affinity talent, many things he did couldn't be seen by the crew. For now, he had no plans or capital to recruit crew members.
Hence, this fast small travel boat under his feet was quite a good choice for the early stages.
After finishing his examination, Chen Qi hung the sea chart on the wall and then scanned the boat cabin.
The boat's area was not small. It had a resting sofa and bed, a refrigerator, and a simple small kitchen. However, the good furniture had been removed, leaving only odds and ends, and the deck was covered in dust.
The sofa and chairs were all dilapidated.
The ship's lantern was also broken and needed a new one.
Chen Qi shook his head. Although the foundation was decent, many of the boat's facilities were too old and outdated.
It needed to be refurbished, and new furniture had to be added.
His small home in Maro Town was already in shambles. If he bought this boat, it could solve two major problems at once: transportation and housing!
Chen Qi liked to call it his other-worldly "small houseboat."
Then, he took the food and prepared freshwater from his backpack and placed them in the small refrigerator.
The refrigerator was not powered by electricity but relied on special magic energy stones.
As long as he had money, he could even put a heater in the boat.
"Not bad, not bad."
After glancing around, Chen Qi thought that although it was a bit rundown, it was still pretty good as a new home.
It was 130,000 shell coins. If he were to go alone, he'd need about two trips to the crack.
Of course, the actual harvest largely depended on luck. After all, the output of the crack was not fixed.
At that moment, a strong smell of fish suddenly hit his nose.
"We've arrived..."
Chen Qi looked out of the boat.
On the azure sea surface was a huge flip-belly fish corpse, like a giant piece of white cloth spread over the sea.
That was the crack location the novice mentor had told him about – the flip-belly fish corpse.
Chen Qi stopped the boat and lowered the anchor, then carefully approached the massive flip-belly fish corpse.
On the upturned belly of the fish, he could see a giant mouth full of sharp teeth, similar to the mouth of a worm.
At that moment, a prompt appeared before Chen Qi's eyes.
[You have glimpsed a crack, Inspiration Appraisal in progress...]
The higher the Inspiration, the more information would be gathered.
In team dungeons, usually, the tasks of Inspiration Appraisal were handed over to the Transcendent of the Book Phase.
As far as Inspiration Appraisal was concerned, he didn't need anyone else's help right now.
Chen Qi rubbed his hands, anticipating the appraisal results.
[Appraisal Great Success!]
[Crack Name: Monster Kitchen
Description: In an age when the sun had not yet extinguished, a group of persecuted chefs stumbled into the belly of a giant fish by chance.
They thought they would die but unexpectedly found that the fish belly was surprisingly suitable for survival.
This was a rare giant fish, desired by many fishermen who longed to hunt it.
Driven by greed, the weak chefs came up with a survival method.
Whenever fishermen caught the giant fish, they would come out from the fish belly, kill the fishermen, and snatch all the fish on the fishermen's boats.
They lived a life of feasting on fresh fish in the giant fish's belly.
However, they did not notice the fish's decay. Unknowingly, fish scales started growing on their bodies, making them a part of the "giant fish," completely becoming monster chefs devouring innocent people at sea.
Crack Rating: E
Clear Condition: Kill the final monster deep within the crack.
Crack Distortion Rate: 12%.
Crack Rank Limitation: This crack can only be entered by First Order Transcendents or below.
Nature Form: Cup, Blade.
Inspiration Insight: The mindless scaly monsters, showing excited smiles, want to bring you to the dining table, bleed you out, and cook you into a delicious meal with chili, pepper, cumin, and barbecue.
Inspiration Insight: You noticed that this crack might be passable through sheer force.]
Chen Qi glanced over the information about the crack.
A 12% distortion rate, a clear condition that was the most common — kill the boss, rated E...
"This familiar feeling."
Chen Qi clapped his hands.
Now before him was a truly standard fresh crack!
Previously, the Crack Sea Beast Cave he had entered with the Black Whale Group had a distortion rate of 0%, which in some sense was an already explored crack.
A distortion rate of 0% meant that the crack had no clear rewards and no clear conditions.
"Rated E, huh..."
Chen Qi pondered.
This world's crack dungeons were roughly divided into five levels: A, B, C, D, and E.
Level E cracks were the lowest, which armed ordinary squads could handle.
Level D cracks required fully-armed First Order, or even Second-order Transcendents to deal with them.
Level C cracks were very dangerous at this level. Only fully-armed Second-order Transcendents, or even Third-tier Transcendents, could manage them.
From level B onward, the danger and distortion rate were both high. Even Third-tier Transcendents might lose their lives on the spot.
Cracks of this level were usually assigned to official Transcendent teams for purification and required containment procedures afterward.
Level A was about cracks that concerned many people's lives and deaths.
Cracks of this level had to be strictly contained and controlled.
If a Level A crack was not properly handled and continued to distort, it could bring a continent-destroying disaster.
According to the law, cracks starting from Level A must not be glimpsed or discussed.
And above that, those were not matters for the beta version, and he didn't know about them. No player had ever entered one either.
Chen Qi took a deep breath, stretched out his foot, and then stepped onto the flip-belly fish.
If he stripped away the immortal aura of the player, even the lowest-level crack required vigilance.
This crack before him only had a rank limitation, not a number limit; it might be a team dungeon and could pose some small troubles.
His hand might get a bit sore from all the killing.
With high agility attributes, the third-tier Transcendent weapon Black Blade, the pioneering divine artifact long-range weapon Collector, and the battle knowledge of Hunter Yu Huo.
His current setup was clearly a bit overkill.
If he posted this setup to challenge an E-level crack on the player forum, he would be accused of "fish bombing."
"Monster Kitchen, huh?"
Chen Qi reminisced for a moment.
The death rate for Monster Kitchen in the E-rank was not low; one could even call it a novice nightmare.
Generally speaking, the Nature Form of a crack would hint at how to clear it.
The Blade Phase was an absolute symbol of strength.
The fact that both the nature form and inspiration insight of Monster Kitchen included the Blade Phase meant this was a crack that could be cleared through brute force and rewarded extra!
Chen Qi took out the Black Blade, swung it again, and slashed out a breeze.
After absorbing Hunter Yu Huo's knowledge, he had become increasingly adept with this weapon.
Collector gave him the capability for long-range monster attacks.
His backpack had enough Healing Potions for use as well.
"Ready, almost ready..."
Chen Qi took a deep breath, his heart pounding.
Even the lowest-level crack could lead to death.
In an era of peace, he rarely experienced such a dangerous thrill.
But after the adventures of the past two days, facing the crack before him, he felt a sense of excitement stronger than fear.
After confirming that everything was ready, he gripped the Black Blade, stepped out with his left foot, and entered the wormhole on the flip-belly fish.
Whoosh!
Accompanied by a sense of falling and darkness, a giant kitchen appeared before him.
[You have entered the crack "Monster Kitchen."]
Underfoot was rock, with a strong fishy smell... Chen Qi gripped his Black Blade, cautiously moving forward.
"Battle, commence..."
Bang, bang, bang!
It was the sound of a cleaver chopping meat.
A sharp-nosed man wearing a chef's hat, with fish scales on his arms and face, noticed him.
He held a cleaver, smiled, and walked over:
"You're not wearing a chef's hat? Are you a guest from above? Ah, ah, the dining table is already set.
Guest, please follow me~"
"Uh-huh."
Chen Qi nodded slightly.
"Please follow me~"
As the chef hat monster turned around, its mouth stretched to its ears, revealing a smile full of sharp teeth while its crimson tongue wriggled incessantly.
It couldn't wait to savor the new delicacy.
Its culinary instinct told it that the smell from this person would make a delicious seafood feast!
Swipe!
However, before it could go on smiling, a long blade had already slashed through its head, turning it into two stinking halves in an instant.
The chop was so fast that it couldn't even call out for its companions.
[Killed Monster "Chef Hat Fish Monster," gained 11 Spiritual Points.]
There's nothing to say to monsters, just kill them.
Chen Qi enjoyed the sensation of the chop and then calmly shook off the foul-smelling pus from the long blade.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
At the moment he killed the chef hat, a drum-like sound of rapid chopping came from behind the door ahead.
Judging by the sound, there were quite a few chef hats.
Chen Qi gripped the long blade tightly and walked towards the door step by step.
Although Monster Kitchen was a novice graveyard, as a strategy video contributor, he had even published guides on clearing it with useless gear.
Of course, he wouldn't dare try that now.
For safety, he would use the most reliable stealth killing method.