Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“As you wish, Sir Hunter.”
With a small smile, Ye Kong retrieved the Forest Crystal Core from his backpack and presented it to the man before him—
“The treasure of the forest you were talking about should be this item, correct?”
“The Forest Crystal Core?!”
The young hunter’s face lit up, and he promptly nodded his head and said, “Yes that’s it! I felt its presence. I sensed something related to the forest, but I didn’t expect you to be carrying a Forest Crystal Core!”
Saying this, the young hunter stretched out a hand to receive the Forest Crystal Core. But as he reached out, he stopped midway, and a look of hesitation appeared on his face—
“Oh dear, I’m not carrying much with me to offer in exchange…”
The young hunter lowered his head, deep in thought as he weighed his options, his eyes flitting continuously to the Forest Crystal Core. His eyes revealed his reluctance and hesitation, but finally, he gritted his teeth and made his decision.
“Okay, I’ll take this off your hands.”
As he said this, the young hunter withdrew a branch from his waist, which then proceeded to grow in size, transforming into a long sword.
“This is the Sword of Thorns. It’s accompanied me for some time, but now, I’m giving it to you.”
Ye Kong didn’t reach out for the long sword. Instead, his gaze was drawn to the young hunter’s waist, because a familiar-looking badge hung there—It was another badge that had been split in half!
On the half of the badge, there was an engraving of a short sword and a longbow, and the two weapons overlapped to form a unique image. At the same time, this was only the right half of the full picture, and if one wanted to see the complete engraving, one had to find the missing left half and put the badge back together.
Funnily enough, Ye Kong had seen its missing half—Badge of the Three Stars (Left)!
The item at the youth’s waist was its other half, Badge of the Three Stars (Right)!
The two halves of the Badge of the Three Stars would combine to form a complete picture!
“Wait a second. The Badge of the Three Stars… Doesn’t the Three Stars refer to the Orion constellation?!”
Ye Kong was shaken by this discovery, and another essential detail immediately came to his mind: “And the Orion constellation corresponds to…
“The God of Hunters – Orion!”
Fwah!
Ye Kong unconsciously took a step back. At once, the young hunter asked, puzzled, “Mister, is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing…”
Suppressing his shock, Ye Kong thought to himself, “This man is the ‘incarnation’ of Orion! He has to be. I can’t be wrong. This man… No, I should say, this god!
“I never would have expected to actually bump into the incarnation of a god!”
An incarnation of a god refers to a god who has inserted their consciousness into one of their devotees, allowing them to successfully “descend” into a mortal body, and thus become an “incarnation.”
After the end of the “Age of Chaos,” the gods had retreated into the Void Realm, completely distancing themselves from the main overworld. At the same time, the Void Realm and the material plane were separated by a “Void Storm,” so none of the gods were able to return to the main overworld.
This was the reason why, in all of Demon Realm’s sixteen regions, one wouldn’t find a trace of a god’s presence. Only a devotee’s spiritual power could penetrate the “Void Storm” and reach the Void Realm, allowing the gods to absorb the energy as their own.
Spiritual power was capable of piercing through the “Void Storm.”
The reverse was also true. Since gods had very strong spiritual powers, they could penetrate the “Void Storm” from the opposite direction. This allowed them to reach and merge with devotees’ bodies in the main overworld, transforming them into “incarnations of the gods.”
Still, this was extremely risky.
The devotees’ spiritual power wasn’t attached to their “soul,” so they were able to send it out without needing to retrieve it again. It was like shooting a flare gun: they could shoot out the energy and just hope for the best.
On the other hand, the gods’ consciousness (spiritual power) was attached to their soul-—This was because a god’s motive for descending into the overworld was different from a devotee’s motive for transferring spiritual power, so their soul was embedded in their consciousness!
As such, if an “incarnation of a god” was ever killed, the god’s primary body would also suffer heavy damage. Best-case scenario, the god might fall into a coma. Worst-case scenario, they might fall from grace!
An incarnation of a god possessed incredible power, but it wasn’t even one-tenth of the god’s original strength. Furthermore, there were many strong enemies in the overworld, and any god who dared to brave the overworld risked attracting a pack of covetous people, who could gang up on them to “slay a god”!
In short, gods were unwilling to come down as incarnations, and preferred to enjoy their stay in the Void Realm.
They led a good life there, so why would they want to take the risk of going down to the overworld and getting killed?
There was only one “exotic” exception among them—
The God of Hunters – Orion!
This guy loved to come down as an incarnation.
As far as Ye Kong knew, Orion was present at many of the great epics during the early stages of the game. It could even be said that he was a god who was constantly seeking death…
Still, this guy had a kind disposition, and he was also a stickler for “fairness.” That was why whenever he benefited from somebody else, he would insist on doing something in return, to ensure that both parties got a fair deal.
Unfortunately, this god finally met with a disastrous end. In the “Age of Turmoil” that followed, Orion incarnated himself into an elf, and in the Elven Court – Alfar, his true identity was exposed, and he was surrounded and finally killed by the elves!
After this incident, Orion’s primary body fell into a deep coma, and the Lunar Overlord – Artemis flew into a rage, setting off a huge catastrophe…
“Mister lacuna, are you alright?”
The young hunter… No, more precisely, Orion’s incarnate, saw that Ye Kong hadn’t moved or said anything for a while, and couldn’t help asking this.
This brought Ye Kong back to his senses, and he hurriedly replied, “No, I’m fine. I just got a little distracted.”
Saying this, Ye Kong reached forward to receive the long sword gifted to him—
Sword of Thorns (Platinum Gear – Evolving)
Weapon Attributes: Attack 12, Dexterity +4, Resistance +4
Special Effect – Poisonous Thorn: The blade of the weapon has been coated in a poisonous substance. When its user attacks a target, the target’s Movement Speed and Attack Speed will be lowered by three points, and their Accuracy will be lowered by four points. This weapon effect lasts for four seconds.
Level Requirement: Level 4
Class Restriction: Swordsman
Growth Stage: Initial Stage / 1st Stage (the maximum growth attainable is Top Stage / 3rd Stage)
Promotion Requirements: 10 vials of Soul Serum, five pieces of Deformed Bone, three pieces of Stone Beast’s Claw, and elementary Blacksmithing Skills. The player must also be at level seven or above.
Note: This long sword was transmogrified from a thorn, and unlike regular weapons, its poison is extremely strong.
“An evolving weapon?!”
Ye Kong’s eyelids twitched when he saw this. As expected of a god’s incarnation, he offered a generous reward—an evolving weapon!
The term “evolving weapon” refers to a weapon with an “evolution route.” As long as certain conditions were fulfilled, the weapon could advance into its next form!
In his past life, Ye Kong’s weapon was an evolving weapon, and he had brought it to the “Epic” stage!
This Sword of Thorns definitely wasn’t as good as the weapon he had used in his past life. Even so, it was still early in the game, and this weapon was Platinum Grade, and had three stages of growth…
It was definitely worthy of being called “high quality”!
The Sword of Thorns looked similar to a rapier, as its blade was equally fine. However, its blade was covered in a pattern of green vines, which looked like veiny blood vessels, and would be a chilling sight to Ye Kong’s foes.
As Ye Kong equipped the Sword of Thorns, his Dexterity became 25 points, and his Attack jumped to 37 points!
“This time, I really made a killing!”
Ye Kong was overjoyed. He never dreamed that giving up the Forest Crystal Core would net him an evolving weapon!
“Alright then. With this, our ‘trade’ is complete. I’ll see you around.”
Orion’s incarnation nodded to Ye Kong. Then, in the next moment, he walked to the edge of the platform, his figure slowly fading away until he finally vanished into thin air!
Seeing this, Ye Kong began to analyze the situation: “As expected, that youth was the incarnation of Orion. Over the years, the thorn he carried must have absorbed some of the energy he radiated, which transmogrified it into a weapon. If not, would the true weapon of the god Orion just be a piece of Platinum Equipment?
“Moreover, the youth is just his incarnation, and not his true body…”
Just then, the platform that Ye Kong was standing on began to tremble.
Kaboom!!!
From the looks of it, the Illusory Realm was beginning to crumble.
Ye Kong didn’t feel any sense of urgency, however, and chose to wait where he stood. Soon after, a large number of rifts started appearing on the platform. Ye Kong casually chose one of them, and ducked into it—
Fwah!
The scenery around him changed, and he was back in the center of the Dark Mist Forest, in the clearing lit by the moon.
The Illusory Realm was in essence a space sandwiched between the main overworld and the Void Realm, and was situated under the Void Storm. To use an analogy, if the main overworld was a large bubble, an Illusory Realm was like a small bubble stuck to its surface.
Between the two, there would be no storms or violent currents flowing, and if the small bubble burst, it would just be subsumed back into the larger bubble.
In summary, Ye Kong merely had to jump into any of the rifts to return to the overworld without any risk.
“Okay, it’s about time for me to go hand in the quest.”
Ye Kong got his bearings, then stepped off quickly, vanishing into the thick gray mist—
“I got some good rewards out of this quest, but it’s a pity that ‘Orion’ took that item away…
“Pandora’s box!”