Chapter Eighty-Six: Rising Strength

Quan Fei watched the snowman’s movements and seemed to realize it was trying to hand him the shrunken metal rod.

After a brief hesitation, he took it from the snowman’s hands.

It ought not to be some kind of bomb or other dangerous device.

After all, with that giant snowman’s build, killing Quan Fei would take nothing more than a single punch. There was no need for tricks or traps.

The rod was no more than four inches long, small enough for Quan Fei to hold in one hand.

The moment he took it, the diamond crystal on his wrist suddenly burst into blue light.

At the same time, the metal rod in his hand transformed into a stream of digitized information and flew into the diamond crystal.

Quan Fei’s sample implant has been upgraded with a strength-enhancement module.

A strength-enhancement module?

Quan Fei was stunned.

He had never imagined that the metal rod was actually a data file, like a storage device, used to upgrade a survivor’s sample implant.

He had always thought it was some kind of weapon, like the legendary staff of old.

Still, that made sense.

In truth, the entire Ark world was neither some ancient age nor a realm from myth and legend.

It was merely a prehistoric-style world created by future humanity through advanced technology.

So it was only natural that high-tech creations were found everywhere in the Ark.

After the giant mechanical snowman handed the strength-enhancement module to Quan Fei, it reached out and shoved aside the enormous ice spike blocking the entrance to the divine artifact chamber.

With its massive body, the mechanical snowman moved the ice spike effortlessly.

Then, perhaps because its power had run out, the snowman leaned against the chamber wall and ceased all movement.

Its eyes dimmed little by little, and the machine-like rumble within its body finally faded into silence.

Quan Fei looked at the powerless mechanical snowman before him, lost in thought.

If this giant could ever be recharged, perhaps it might move again.

But there was no way his backpack could carry something that heavy, so Quan Fei could only grit his teeth and leave the colossal robot behind.

After obtaining the strength-enhancement module, the diamond crystal on his wrist changed as well.

When Quan Fei’s backpack capacity had been increased before, a bag icon had appeared on the diamond crystal.

This time, having obtained the strength-enhancement module, a fist icon appeared instead.

The bag symbol represented increased backpack capacity, while the fist symbol should represent strength.

Sample Implant / Ancient Divine Artifact

Sample Number: 2374

Sample implant enhancement acquired: triple backpack expansion. Triple strength enhancement.

Quan Fei was somewhat astonished.

He had not expected this strength-enhancement module to instantly triple his power.

Combined with the passive skill he had previously obtained, "Beginner Physique Enhancement," Quan Fei now possessed six times the strength of an ordinary person.

Since the ice spike blocking the chamber entrance had been pushed aside by the giant snowman, Quan Fei followed the path he had come by and returned to the earlier cavern.

Now that the Strength artifact was in hand, there was no need to remain in the great ice cave any longer. Quan Fei decided to leave at once.

Before departing, he gave one of the firestones from his backpack to the snowmen and taught them how to use it to make fire.

It was not that Quan Fei did not want to take the snowmen with him.

Each of them stood about thirteen feet tall, more than twice the size of an ordinary human, and if he could gain their assistance, the overall combat strength of his group would rise dramatically.

But the problem was that, aside from Friday, the other snowmen seemed unwilling to leave the ice cave with him.

Still, Quan Fei felt it was already quite good to have Friday join his team.

The snowmen’s bodies were too large to pass through the cave exit.

So only after using the low-temperature chamber’s storage function was Quan Fei able to bring Friday out of the great ice cave.

Pulse had already been waiting outside the ice cave for a long time.

Together with Egg Boy, he had obtained the Sky Lord artifact days earlier.

Ancient Artifact of the Sky Lord: Whoever commands the skies holds the victory.

With the Strength artifact and the Sky Lord artifact now obtained, the ten artifacts on the island had all been collected by Quan Fei.

It had taken him only twenty-two days in total to gather them.

This was mainly because Quan Fei knew the game inside and out.

Only a veteran who had played Ark before could have collected these artifacts in such a short time.

To further strengthen Friday’s combat ability, Quan Fei took out some equipment from his backpack and handed it over.

Friday was enormous, so armor made for humans was useless to it.

However, although a snowman’s body was twice the size of a human’s, its head was not large and was actually quite similar in size to a human head.

That meant Friday could wear Quan Fei’s helmet.

As for weapons, Quan Fei gave Friday a metal baseball bat he had once used in the world of Seven Days to Die.

Given Friday’s size and strength, finely honed weapons such as swords and blades were not especially easy for it to use.

Nor could it use firearms.

Perhaps all the snowman’s talents had been poured into strength and endurance, for Friday’s accuracy in throwing and shooting was extremely poor.

Whether using a bow, a crossbow, or a firearm, it could barely hit a target with any precision at all.

Its hands and fingers were also twice the size of a human’s, making it very awkward to pull a gun’s trigger.

By contrast, the blunt and straightforward metal bat was much better suited to Friday, a creature of sheer brute force.

What Quan Fei and the others had to do next was challenge the three ultimate creatures on the island.

And through that, obtain the key to enter the Tek Cave.

The island’s ultimate creatures, ranked from weakest to strongest, were the Broodmother, the King Kong, and the Fire Drake.

Quan Fei and the others planned to begin with the weakest, the Broodmother.

To summon an ultimate creature with the artifacts, one had to operate the terminal beneath the Ark tower.

The great ice cave lay at the foot of the snowy mountain, and the nearest blue Ark was conveniently on its summit.

The three of them followed the mountain path and arrived directly beneath the blue Ark.

After more than twenty days of changes on the island, one-fifth of the top of the blue Ark had now completely shifted from blue to purple.

These purple sections were also covered in fine, tentacle-like tendrils, as though it were overrun with octopus limbs.

Upon reaching the terminal beneath the blue Ark, Quan Fei opened its operating interface.

Tribute Terminal: Summon Broodmother Portal.

Required materials for summoning: Ancient Artifact of the Steady Hand x1, Ancient Artifact of Wisdom x1, Ancient Artifact of the Hunter x1

Inside the terminal was a storage space similar to the one within the diamond crystal.

Following the materials listed on the terminal, Quan Fei placed the artifacts of Wisdom, Hunter, and Steadiness into it one by one.

Broodmother portal initializing...

When the countdown ends, survivors near the terminal will be teleported.

Countdown: 2 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds...

Up to twenty survivors and other living beings may be teleported...