Sheyan returned a feeble smile.
“This is because I don’t belong to Middle-earth…..I was sent here on a special mission, that is the reason why. Take note of that door ahead, right, walk to the left.”
As they chatted, they arrived at the third floor. Upon reaching here, Sheyan’s face turned stern and he warned.
“This floor is Saruman’s cloning room. There should be at least one Tentacled-freak monitoring his experiments inside, in order to adjust the temperature at times. If not, the uruk-hais that are cloned out would malfunction. Do you think you can swiftly dispatch the Tentacled-freak?”
Melody delayed for a moment before replying.
“I should be able to. As long as it isn’t one of those larger tentacle models.”
Sheyan nodded and performed a gesture to Melody to prepare to burst in. Gesturing three, then two, but he hadn’t reached one!!! Sheyan had completely forgotten he wasn’t in the present world, and Melody had no knowledge of the standard ‘3,2,1 ready go!’ action!
He could clearly see Melody’s crystal spring-water pupils dilating as she raised her pure untainted slender fingers, swiftly carving out abstrusely as a splendid gold ancient elvish character floated out. It rapidly undulated into form in midair, before a turbulent surge of force was emanated out. The character ultimately congealed into a golden chain shackle, shimmering brilliantly as it directly broke through the stone door ahead!
Twilight Silencing-shackle!!
A tentacled-freak was currently jabbing away towards one cloning process with its tentacles. However though, that single eye, filled with densely packed compounded eyes, on its brain was like a 24 hours CCTV without a blind spot. Still, when facing the sudden crashing in of an alienated golden shackle spinning in, it had totally no chance of resisting.
Melody twisted her hands with a flower blossoming gesture; the golden chain shackles suddenly crisscrossed and morphed into an ancient archaic golden lock, locking down over the brain of that Tentacled-freak!
The Tentacled-freak was now locked to the ground. Melody then strolled in, her slender fingers consecutively formed 3-4 different gestures, as she commanded the golden lock to morph back into a chain shackle, then back into the golden elven character, and finally disappearing back into her fingertips. The Tentacled-freak then slumped to the ground, from henceforth, it was pronounced dead.
Presently, an astonished expression flushed on Melody’s face. Truthfully, she too didn’t believe her spell would be so fearsome! Instead, it was Sheyan that appeared rather relaxed. Just based on the awe-inspiring might of this one spell, it wasn’t really out of reason; besides, throughout 317 years, she was the first twilight elf that had appeared in Rivendell.
The following events were needless to say. The guards in this Wizard tower were all rather weak and frail, and Sheyan knew the insides and out of every mechanism those orcs had installed. Very quickly, they sped up to the fourth floor. This was Saruman’s research dissecting room, and 3 orcs were currently accomplishing several odd jobs inside. In a flash, Melody unleashed 3 ‘Twilight Dictum’; the nature based javelin impaled their chest, turning them into a tree puppet.
Placed within this broad room were 8 crudely manufactured wooden tables. The granite on the floor displayed dense crisscrossed flaws, and this place could be the model of uninhibited. Massive amounts of organs like hearts, kidneys, livers and so on were arranged on the tables, while a dissected orc corpse was piled against a corner like a piece of junk.
Black ponds of blood congregated on the floor along with clumps of flesh that looked like pebbles. A piercing and pungent stench forced Melody to frown instantly, as she executed a nature spell to envelope her own body.
Sheyan’s attention halted at an ordinarily looking door located at the remote end of this hall. The sliding door was made with wood, which wasn’t at all sturdy as it contained distinct cracks. Even through the cracks, one could easily view the contents inside the room. Yet Sheyan knew this was just an illusion. Once this door was opened, it would lead to the passageway towards the fifth floor of the Wizard Tower.
As the saying goes, the closer one gets to completion, the tougher the task gets. From here onwards, Sheyan and Melody weren’t just facing those crude physical mechanisms; instead, it was the true authentic defense mechanisms of the Wizard tower.
This signified that mithril killing weapons or murderous talismans could be embedded in unimaginable places, or perhaps other lethal deviations that issues immense threat could occur. Traps that weren’t limited to just acid, flames, storms, lava, deadly spokes, poison gas but also untold dangerous creature summons, or incomparably deadly magic pitfalls.
The golden ancient character glittered in front of Sheyan’s face. Melody once again executed the formidable ‘Twilight Dictum’, sending the golden javelin tearing through the wooden door. Then it seemed like the empty space rippled for a moment, before swallowing the golden javelin in.
At this moment, glorious sparks erupted. Black and white magic lines interweaved and finally everything settled down. A shocking and spotlessly white flight of stairs built with mica stones could be now seen stretching upwards. The lateral walls of the flight of stairs was vandalized with an appalling writing – ‘City of Silver Streams’.
This crooked upwards flight of stairs wasn’t particularly long. In fact, it was so short that even by raising one’s head to look, one could see the flooring of the roof floor. The handrails of the stairs radiated a metallic brilliance. Although it didn’t emit a splendorous and majestic aura, it still carried the imposing aura of a sovereign king!
From here onwards, physical common sense would no longer work anymore. Based on its construction itself, it was already established that it contained a supernatural foundation, like arcane magic or devil witchcraft etc.
The only good news was that strictly speaking, the genuine portion of this tower was only one floor. Therefore, whatever enchantment magic or mechanisms were all situated on this floor. Besides, the main resident of the Wizard tower was probably still battling an octopus. This undoubtedly meant the threat of this Wizard tower had probably declined by half.
Sheyan deliberated carefully. Although he wasn’t able to recognize or destroy any magic mechanisms; when he entered as a alchemy assistant previously, he still had his 25 points of perceptive sense. Hence, his perceptive sense had already warned him of this fatal region. Moreover, he had previously sense the tremendous threat jabbing at him from different positions, and could now pinpoint them for Melody.
After a series of squandering spells, the passageway was now a chaotic mess with billowing smokes. Only half of the writings on the wall were left after the explosion. As for Melody, she had previously summoned 13 ancient elf characters but was only left with 3 characters now.
Melody’s face was terribly pale; though her pupils remained clear as water, a distinct weariness could be seen within it. Fortunately, those ancient elf characters wouldn’t vanish after forming, and only its internal magic would be exhausted. After meditation and adequate rest, she would gradually recover.
Along with the final magic trap mechanism being destroyed, the entire interior of the Wizard tower abruptly pierced out with a warning siren. The siren was like a lunatic female ghost screaming mournful shrills tirelessly as though it would go on forever. The siren extended throughout the entire orc metropolis, and proceeded to sorrowfully echo through the snowy peaks. Its loudness was essentially like an anti-aircraft defense alarm in the present world, amplified by several folds.
Upon hearing this ghostly female screech, Sheyan instantly celebrated. Obviously, this was the final desperation method installed by Saruman’s doppelganger, and was merely a helpless distress call. Actually, no matter if the final mechanism had been destroyed with brute force or triggered in a legit fashion, it would similarly emit this horrifying screech and stir up the entire orc encampment. If Saruman did not utilize his booming voice technique to calm the orcs down within 5 seconds, then the orcs would have to rush here immediately.
Yet the current orcs who were left to guard this camp, were probably the weaker or injured insignificant ones. According to Sheyan’s deductions, they amounted to not more than a pathetic ten! Even if those orcs dared to rush here as reinforcements, the 3 tree-puppets would put an end to them. Sheyan and Melody overlooked down from up above, but only witnessed a line of sparse orcs limping and hobbling over. He released a long sigh.
Time was tight as the two hastily rushed forward. The area of the fifth floor wasn’t exactly huge, and was roughly a hundred square metres. In the middle was a huge experimental stage made with a glossy stone material, it resembled marble but distinctly revealed vestiges of undulating magic. It had been probably solidified and polished with a small small cleansing spell. On the stage were several filthy looking metals/crystals refining apparatus, even a magnifying lens, crystal ball etc.
Pasted against the surrounding wall were several large chests. Some of them appeared like they were constructed with bronze metal, looking extremely solid and fortified. Sheyan opened them in succession, his ears then rung with a list of delightful and wild notifications.
“You discovered a precious metal: Mithril (14.65 pounds).”
“The value of Mithril is a hundred folds that of gold, and is the most desirable metal of this world. It can be beaten like copper, and polished like glass. Dwarves used it to forge metals that are harder than tempered steel, yet light as a feather. Its beauty is likened to common silver, but the beauty of the mithril would not tarnish or grow dim. It contains a cloth-like flexibility, but remains cool as ice and tougher than steel.”
“Its greatest value lies therein its rare affinity with magic. If forged into a mithril mail or mithril weapon, it would not influence the casting of spells, but enhance the deadliness of it. This would bestow the magic wielder with unparalleled supremacy. Moreover, by the Third age, mithril became exceedingly rare, its only source was Khazad-d?m, the kingdom of the dwarves in Moria. It became incomparably priceless after the kingdom was destroyed by a Balrog.”
“You discovered precious gems: Ruby x3, Sapphire x4, Cat’s eye (Chrysoberyl) x 2.”
“These rare gems after being embedded can cause an equipments to be ‘born again’. One rock is sufficient for one to exchange for a thousand slaves in any kingdom.”
“You discovered 3 pounds of Adamantine. This extremely solid, rarely seen metal can raise the intrinsic quality of an armour or weapon. A weapon forged with Adamantine has an innate strength of neglecting hardness. When being struck by other weapon or destroying materials, it can neglect a hardness of less than 20. An Adamantine armour will provide damage reduction for its wearer. Normally, only a metal based weapon, armour or shield can be forged with Adamantine. A weapon, armour or shield that is forged with Adamantine has a durability that is stronger than others by a third.”
(TN: Probably referring to durability. A lower hardness weapon will not deal damage to its durability, or when the weapon is striking against a hard material)
Obviously, the items stored here by Saruman was the outcome of industrious labour by the olden day dwarves, the ancient past of the mines of Moria. In the past, there was a great War of the Dwarves and Orcs in Carn D?m, capital of the dwarves. Afterwhich, Saruman had enslaved many orc tribes, and thus naturally the loots of the orcs were dominated by him.
As Sheyan gazed upon his notifications, his pupils almost exploded up; especially the mithril. If that metal was forged into a shield, there would be a high chance an insanely powerful attribute, something similar to Sheyan’s innate ability ‘Endurance’ would be created. No doubt, that attribute was critical for a high-offense low-speed contestant model. Yet, yet! This metal could not be brought out!
“Even if I can’t bring it out, I won’t leave it here!” Sheyan clenched his teeth, as he started to store all his good fortune into one of the chest.
At this moment, Melody was stunned. Although young, she was no fool; even in Rivendell, Mithril and Adamantine weapons were insanely rare. It was said that only elvish royalty, for example the elvish princess, Arwen, had a pure mithril princess ornament, and the elvish prince, Legolas, possessed a pure mithril weapon and a refined mithril inner coat!
In Rivendell itself, only 3-5 equipments/weapons were known as ‘refined’ mithril (Mithril content between 10 – 20%), as well as only 1 other Adamantine weapon. As for weapons known as ‘plated’ mithril (only the blade coated with mithril), it would only be given to powerful individuals in Rivendell. As for Adamantine, it couldn’t even be used for ‘plating’ but even the lowest level of adamantine belonged to the ‘refined’ category.
The reason why Melody was knowledgeable in this, was that she had previously worked odd jobs like cleaning weapons and armours…….
Although Sheyan had been demoted to an ordinary mortal, they way he managed items was still capable and experience. After storing the materials efficiently into a chest, he then pulled a rope from a side and tied it up. He then glanced down from the window of the Wizard tower, before speaking to Melody.
“When I leave, I won’t be able to take these items. Thus, you have to immediately flee with this chest. After leaving the orc camp, cast a twilight elf blessing onto it and bury it deep underground before carving a marking sign.”
“When Saruman realizes his secrets here have been leaked out, he wouldn’t wait for the elves of Rivendell to arrive but choose to forsake this place himself! When it happens, you can then move the items metals away. Remember, you mustn’t tell anyone you possess such wealth! Seek any expert dwarven blacksmith in secrecy to forge an equipment for you! Rely on your own strength as your source. If you doubt my words, just think about how your fellow elves had behaved when they didn’t know of your identity as a twilight elf!”
Melody bashfully gazed at Sheyan, her eyes tearing up.
“Your words are really harsh, then what about you?”
Sheyan returned a reluctant smile.
“Obviously I will stay behind, but don’t worry for I will not die here. How about this, take this chest and bury it first before coming back to receive me. Before the orcs come back, go now!”
The final two words sounded extremely stern. The schemes in his heart was utterly shameless; if the realm didn’t allow him to reap benefits, then he’ll get someone to do it for him! Counting on Melody’s meek nature, she would definitely be extremely obedient and attentive to him. “If she gets stronger, doesn’t that mean I’ll be more powerful too? Besides, I’ll definitely come back to this Lord of the Rings world in the future!”
Melody stared at him with teary and sorrowful eyes, taking one step at a time reluctantly. Finally, she ran back and hugged Sheyan’s legs as she cried profusely. Sheyan observing this scene, couldn’t help feeling twisted, but he finally did what he had to do. He scolded her loudly and shoved her away before she ran off with tears trickling down her cheeks.
At this time, Sheyan, who had affirmed his decisions, started to calm down and search for his objectives – obviously that was Saruman’s research diary!!!
The research diary recorded Saruman’s research data, containing data on efficiency, speed and many other attributes. If he were to slowly compile them in the future instead, then that would be twice the effort for half the result in the end! Therefore, the first thing he did was to stand at the experimental position that Saruman normally stood, as he scanned the radius for it.
Table, nothing.
Inside the table……nope not the drawer, nothing.
The interior of this experimental lab was filthy, apparatus were flung everywhere; indicating that Saruman’s doppelganger wasn’t a very orderly person. Thus, there was a possible he would randomly placed his diary around.
Thus it could be inferred that the tables around, the dining table, even the toilet had a chance of containing the diary.
Sheyan continued his search, although to no avail, he didn’t give up. Yet after his repeated failed attempts, it meant that though Saruman’s doppelganger was disorderly in appearance, he was extremely particular towards his research diary. Then, the most suitable place was definitely in a drawer.
However, after consecutively scrolling through every single drawer, big or small……it yielded no results. Right now, he had already been inside this orc encampment for half an hour. Counting the time they travelled here and if Saruman’s army wasn’t totally wiped out, then they would at least be enroute back after his victory.
Although Sheyan appeared calm, he couldn’t help feeling flustered inside. With an agitated yell, he crazily swept his hand across the nearest table! The crystal glass apparatus crashed to the ground and shattered, and then he proceeded to vent this anger on a wooden stool.
Since he understood Saruman was conspiring against Ocean-freak Moria, he had been nervously plotting; throughout the way here, his plans were without a hiccup……yet now at the final moments, he was faced with an impregnable hurdle!!
“Don’t tell me, although Saruman carries an arrogant and haughty appearance, he is actually someone that lacks a sense of security. Hence, before leaving the Wizard tower, he had installed a powerful mechanism; conjuring a magic type stronghold to store his item?”
Sheyan huffed, feeling the increasing possibility of that occurring, his heart begun welling up with disappointment……If Saruman really did that, then undoubtedly it meant that he really had no fate with that research diary, and he could kiss goodbye to it. As time passed slowly, Sheyan couldn’t help but sigh to the heavens. Feeling annoyed, he casually slammed his hands heavily onto the experimental desk in frustration…….
“Woah!” Sheyan suddenly felt something wasn’t right. He currently only had the strength of an ordinary person; after losing all his enhanced strength, why did he still felt a slight depression on the table?
Sheyan hurriedly observed the place he was standing on, he then looked back at the unusually smooth floor beneath the wooden table. He suddenly realized; actually the place he was standing, should be the place where Saruman stood the most and longest while doing experiments.
His heart stirred, as he pressed down with his left hand. He immediately felt that this flawless table was indeed pressable, but the table itself wouldn’t bulge. Sheyan carefully deliberated, then he proceeded to press down lightly onto the wooden table, finally pushing it downwards!
Still no reaction.
Sheyan breathed deeply; this small glimmer of hope had arisen, but he felt like it was as brittle as porcelain, completely viable to shatter anytime. Yet with this glimmer of hope, he definitely wouldn’t give up so easily as he lightly pressed against it and pushed upwards!
Still nothing…….
“Then, how about I press and push towards the left?” As he pushed, he immediately heard a clicking sound. Suddenly, a wooden block roughly the size of a book, ejected out from underneath at the right; extending 10 cm out of the desk.
Then the wooden block opened up like a book; on its left side, it held horizontal rolls of parchment paper, while on its right was an ink bottle and a spotlessly white goose feather pen! Pressed under the ink bottle was a clump of wrinkled, black, stained white cloth; probably used to wipe off any spillage of ink.
It was obvious, this was the place that Saruman recorded his experimental research. This ingenious mechanism was triggered only after pressing down and sliding to the left. This was extremely convenient, the right wooden slab would be used to record his findings. Then he would use simple magic to control the goose feather pen to record anything.
Pulling frenziedly, he started to unroll the parchment papers, before flipping through them fanatically. Then, his heart abruptly sank. The long rolls of parchment paper were brand new!! Don’t even mention words, there wasn’t even a drop of ink on it. It seemed like Saruman had recently concluded a task, and probably tore off his recorded findings!
Sheyan shut his eyes in anguish. If he knew this was going to be the outcome, he would rather not uncover this mechanism! Finding hope only to be disappointed. Suddenly, that wrinkled black stained white cloth flashed through his mind once again….. “Those black stains….doesn’t it seem rather systematic?”
Thinking of that, Sheyan’s heart was stirred. His eyes popped open as he seized that clump of white cloth,
Unfold!
Written on the cloth, were lines of disorderly black handwriting. These writings seemed to have no discipline but were just a bunch of ranting of Saruman…..random graffiti that was left behind by Saruman.
Sheyan shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Something is better than nothing” He then earnestly started reading it; yet contrary to his expectations, these random absent-minded writings had not a farts relation to his alchemy endeavour!!!
Recently I discovered an error. When throwing out a curse-gene mix concoction, the angle, strength and accuracy is crucial; if factoring in wind speeds and other elements….it is simply too complicated.
Recently, I discovered that adding lead to that new blend in the crystal flask……”
“The feeling of throwing a curse-mix gene isn’t bad.”
“Today’s dinner was a little bland.”
“If there’s a slight flaw in that concoction……”
“That idiot, Lurtz, messed up 3 portions of experimental materials again.”
Beneath were over 300 more characters
“………”
………
After he read finished with a dejected heart, he could confirm something crucial – there was indeed not a single news pertaining to any relevant concoction of gene-mix…..No idea what that insane old man was thinking, apart from his rubbish gibberish; everything else recorded were mostly queer fantasies pertaining to throwing or hurling out gene-mix concoction. Sheyan couldn’t believe his eyes as he carefully read through the gibberish again. Cold sweat broke out over him as he felt this wild absurdity absolutely crushing him; really, this was the case of ‘man proposes but God disposes’.
Yet when it felt like his entire life was in vain; a split second later, the nightmare imprint rung in his ears:
“Contestant no.1018 has discovered Saruman’s experimental insights, and read through it in detail.”
“Scanning: Contestant no.1018 possesses a compatible skill ‘Uruk-hai genetic mix (Incomplete) .”
“Calculating……”
“Contestant no.1018, you will now enter comprehension state. Under this state, you musn’t be attacked or moved; if not comprehension state would be brokened.”
“Your intelligence/spirit is too low. Comprehension state will require a longer time, and failure may occur.”
Sheyan was emotionally moved, he had actually triggered a relevant matter! Following the nightmare imprint’s notification, he stood there silently but pathetically failed 3 times. After a full 8 minutes, he finally received a sweet sounding notification:
“Comprehension state concluded.”
“Contestant no.1018 has obtained a new appreciation for Saruman’s experimental log.”
“Your Rank 6 ability ‘Black Art mix Technique (Incomplete)’ has received a passive upgrade.”
“When throwing a curse-mix at the enemy, the curse-mix will now explode with a shockwave. Any enemies within that shockwave will suffer a 1 second confusion/stun.”
“Shockwave is limited within the radius of the poison fog of the curse-mix.”
“Any enemies within the poison fog will have their movement speed and attack speed reduced by 20%, until the poison fog dissipates or until they leave the poisonous zone.”
“Duration of curse-mix poison fog is extended by 15 seconds; but it is still susceptible to being dispersed or purified.”
“You can now throw gene-mix bombs to allies, which explodes with a 10 seconds vapor. Within a 10 metres radius, all allies will receive the relevant buff of the gene-mix. Movement speed and attack speed raise by 3%, speed boost last for 120 seconds.”
“However, the buff vapor will produce a weaker effect than direct consumption.” (A +3 strength gene-mix thrown out would be reduced to an AOE +2 strength effect.)
“Warning: Henceforth, every time you throw out a concocted mix, it will consume 2 MP.”
“Wow, how did this happen?” Suddenly receiving such news, Sheyan really felt this was an unexpectedly surprising reaping. He hurriedly scrolled out his skill tree to examine in disbelief, confirming that everything was true!!
“Then, if it’s like that……” Sheyan’s eyes flashed a glint. He begun examining the items in front, his gaze fell on the rolls of parchment paper on the right, and then towards that solid goose feather dip pen. He then gasped loudly, his gasp contained a certain comprehension, amazement, regret, annoyance, impatience…all sorts of complicated emotions.
He then hastily seized the few parchment papers and stuffed it into his pocket before snatching a clump of thin cloth on the table beside, and sprinted to towards the Wizard tower stairs! His anxiousness now was as though his butt was being roasted!
**
It could be said that Sheyan was lucky; but after escaping from the Wizard tower till the edge of the Orc metropolis, nobody had noticed him.
But it could be said that he was unlucky; because when he just needed at most 10 seconds to disappear into the rocks and into the icy vegetation shrubs, he was instead noticed by the first batch of returning orcs, leading to a frenzied chase.
Never forget, Sheyan was now at his weakest state! His stats were – Strength (8 points) / Agility (6 points) / Physique (12 points) / Perceptive sense (11 points) / Charm (6 points) / intelligence (5 points) / Spirit (4 points). He was a total garbage!!!
Crunching sounds emerged as he trampled over the loose snow, it was a long time since he had experienced such breathlessness; it was as though his lungs were about to explode. Grasping a snowflake and popping into his mouth, he breathed heavily as he enjoyed the melting coolness to satisfy his insatiable thirst.
If not for that twilight elf blessing he received from Melody allowing him to assimilate into nature, those pursuing orcs would’ve long arrested Sheyan over a hundred times.
Still, his fleeing footsteps on the snow surface occasionally betrayed him, guiding the pursuing orcs behind.
“Those damnable orcs, I definitely mustn’t be caught now!!” His heart howled agitatedly. Although his willpower was strong, the weakness of his body was fully displayed.
Due to packed terrain of rocks, snow and shrubs, the pursuing orcs couldn’t see Sheyan’s figure. Suddenly, a snowy slope at least angled 75 degrees down surfaced ahead. If Sheyan was in perfect state, no, even if it was just his innate ability present, he would dare to directly charge down this slippery slope. Yet now…..if he did, no doubt it was courting death, no, it was returning early to the realm.
The 3 orcs panted heavily as they gradually closed up the gap till roughly a hundred metres. Sheyan grit his teeth; his butt stuck on the snowy slope as he slid down with his hands, trying to maintain balance. But not even halfway in, his entire being lost balance and he started rolling down; resulting into 2 mournful cuts across his face! Several minor cuts also surfaced on his limbs.
Still, Sheyan endured this agony as he continued to stagger forward breathlessly. Although his physique was reduced to its mortal origins, the experiences and hardships he had gone through previously were his greatest treasures! It supplied him with the strength to continue fleeing. Drips of blood scattered onto the snow, as a lone ghastly blood trail lead his enemy’s on!
Ahead was a region of quiet, desolate forest. Some trees possessed tenacious vitality, forcing out fresh green sprouts even in the snowy ice. Sheyan didn’t even notice this point, without looking back he hurriedly charge into the desolate forest. The 3 orcs behind continued to close the gap, from a hundred metres to fifty.
The orcs were clearly physically larger than Sheyan, they roared angrily as they charged into the forest; occasionally bumping into the trees clumsily, triggering snow to fall down in piles. The leading orc fume angrily with nasty language, as snow fell into his mouth, causing him to cough as he swallowed two mouthfuls of snow.
Roughly 7-8 seconds later, all of the orcs suddenly heard a sound.
This sound was exceedingly queer; it sounded like a mix of boiling beef stew in a cauldron and farting.
The leading orc immediately halted, vigilantly scanning around.
Because he could feel this queer sound closing up on him, yet nothing was happening. The other two orcs shot him an eccentric look, their gaze stopping over their boss’s stomach – because the sound had originated from his stomach.
Suddenly, the leading orc’s face cringed painfully as he collapsed to the ground, a lifeless look in his eyes. In a short span of time, his life left his body. Then shockingly green shoots starting growing out of its ears, eyes, nose and mouth. It was as if his entire inner body was flourishing with new sprouts!
Within a minute, the orc looked as if it had been rotting for a month. Even its bones were decayed to dust, like a dried corpse in shambles! Over the dried corpse, were huge patches of emerald green grass sprouting.
Viewing such a strange situation unfolding, the other two orcs glanced at each other with horrified expressions. One orc grasped his wooden club tighter, while the other prepared to send out a warning call. Still they hesitated for a moment.
The orcs had strict regulations; if they unnecessarily released a warning, they would be beaten up, or would have to endure a rough scolding. Saruman’s orcs were a vicious and malicious race, they had many different punishment tools up their sleeves. Finally, they would mercilessly press a glowing branding iron onto the offender.
Writhing in pain and smelling the dense burnt aroma of their own flesh; after the offender awoke, they would realize they had been demoted to a slave ranking, only by labouring non-stop would they regain their freedom.
Due to these various reasons, it determined the tragic fate of the two orcs! They couldn’t sense the deep lying danger hidden in the dark, thus they paid the price of their lives!
Amidst their hesitation, they caught a whiff of a scent.
An alluring scent, like a warming alcohol or a sumptuous soup broth. The faint aromatic scent enchanted their flesh, the scent of freshly matured fruits. The two orcs were cold and hungry as they couldn’t help swallowing their saliva.
In a flash, shoots started to swiftly shoot out from the nearby tree, wrestling as it enlarged with green leaves rapidly emerging. A surge of vigorous nature vitality governed the cold desolated ground, as though spring had been prematurely induced. In a flash, this powerful strength receded as quickly as it came. In that moment, the two orcs awakened from their stupor as they hurriedly transmitted the magic warning!
Yet though they had the notion, their actions couldn’t match up. Their bodies jerked and surged with burning anguish, golden sparks flashed before their eyes as an ancient elf character swept past their eyes. In that instance, it felt like their souls were sucked into that ancient character, and were being eroded with scalding burns.
“Idiot…..” An orc tried to wave his hatchet, but only managed to raise it halfway before his hand turn limpid. As he uttered out that profanity, the tree beside it suddenly snapped into two, which was coincidentally at the same time his waist was snapped. His body slumped to the snowy ground like two splintered pieces of wood, blood gushing out tremendously as it warmed the snow. Quickly, it coagulated into fresh red ice.
In its horror, the other orc tried to turn and flee, yet that ancient elven character shot forth like a plague. Following that, the orc discovered a terrifying puncture through its back, before seeing the character swerving behind. The orc felt neither pain nor leaked any blood, he was oblivious as he continued dashing 10 metres ahead in panic; before abruptly collapsing to the ground without a single movement!
Inside the forest, Sheyan knelt onto the ground, his hands holding against a tree as he panted heavily. While he tried catching his breath, he cursed at the realm for stealing away his strength. Only after a moment did he stand up, as he staggered forward for a few steps. Then a graceful figure shot out from the woods and supported him. Indeed, it was Melody.
Sheyan glanced backwards and asked.
“How is it? Have you buried the chest?”
Melody nodded but didn’t say anything else, she didn’t like mindless slaughter in her heart. Sheyan observed her strangely pale face as he frowned slightly.
“Are you alright?”
Melody lowered her head as she gazed at her finger, shyly speaking.
“I followed, followed your plans and buried the chest. Yet I coincidentally came across a…..a wounded bear. Its fur was extremely soft, its eyes filled with fear and horror. Thus, I helped to treat its wounds……”
“I understand.” Sheyan sighed. There were no reasons in finding fault with this kind hearted elf maiden. In actual fact, a twilight elf’s recalled memories wouldn’t cause her entire inherent nature to change. As for a recently coming of age elf maiden, equivalent to a 16 year old girl, this string of arduous events had already demonstrated her resolute courage.
“I’m sorry…..” Melody’s current state seemed like she was about to cry anytime. “My strength was almost drained, I could only use one more ancient elf character. Killing 3 orcs is already my limit.”
“Don’t worry.” Sheyan earnestly replied. “We should hurry up and go, while they haven’t caught up yet.”
His heart was feeling a pinch of regret. It is said that every wise man would have his moment of folly, he was regretting allowing Reef to take off with all the Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs! If they had 1 now, Melody would be able to recover her perfect state!
“Are you sure it’s fine?” Melody whined a little.
Sheyan nodded.
“Yes, but if we don’t leave now, it won’t be.”
The two continued trudging forward. Although they had slayed the 3 pursuing orcs, his heart was still pricked by an ominous premonition.
It was obvious, Saruman’s losses could only be described as outrageous. Just based on those precious gems, even the incredibly rare mithril and adamantine metals were a one-of-a-kind fortune in the entire Middle-earth! Under such circumstances, Sheyan definitely believed Saruman wouldn’t just swallow this and let him off! Furthermore, he was actively known as a ‘burden’ now. With their current pace, he was afraid a terrifying group of pursuers will arrive shortly.
Since that was the case, Sheyan hurriedly advised Melody to search for a sheltering cave, then asking her to leave first. Although her spirit and vitality were exhausted, without this ‘burden’, she would still be able to advance more quickly. Instead, Melody resolutely refused, as she dragged Sheyan along with a teary face. Helplessly, Sheyan continued to advance forward with her.
Although he could sense a tremendous threat; their way ahead was shockingly smooth, without a single orc chasing up. It was unknown whether it was the formidable covering of the twilight elf blessing, or that Ocean-freak Moria had dealt such devastation to Saruman; hence, he was unable to deal with others.
***
At present, they were passing through a treacherously cold and slippery route.
The winds were howling, and snowflakes cut against their bodies like knives. So much so that Sheyan had to bend himself, and force himself forward through the winds. Occasionally, green flashes appeared, the twilight elf blessing dispelling any negative status on him.
On their left was an icy gorge at least a hundred metres deep, the gorge was as broad as 200 metres. Looking down, they could see fearsome bony, fang like stalactites crisscrossing the entire gorge. Death by a thousand impale was guaranteed if they fell. The opposite bank of the icy gorge was roughly 7-8 kilometres away from the orc metropolis. From here, they could even see that snowy peak with the white honeycomb like holes that those orcs had dug.
Before being imprisoned and escorted, Sheyan had already noticed this unique terrain. The orc metropolis should be situated inside the depths of the Misty Mountains, within a depression of an ice mountain. This depression could only be accessed through a narrow mountain pass at the southern end of the depression. Yet beneath this mountain range and after the narrow mountain pass, was a frightening horizontal stretch of icy gorge. It was like a nightmare stretching all the way throughout the foot of the mountain.
Without this incomparably treacherous ice gorge; to pass through that narrow mountain pass, one just needed to continue walking straight for 5-6 km before reaching the orc metropolis. However, because of this ice gorge; even after bypassing the narrow mountain pass, one had to first walk alongside this horizontal ice gorge for roughly 7-8 kilometre. And once they arrived at the narrowest region of the gorge, they had to travel through a previously constructed wooden bridge, braving through the threatening winds to cross over the icy gorge.
This simple wooden bridge had been worn down by years of unrepair. Previously the inexperienced captives had to cautiously cross through this dangerous bridge. Because of this, the real distance from the narrow mountain pass to the orc metropolis, exceeded 15 kilometres.
Naturally, this was a favorably advantageous vital spot for Saruman; a place where if one held the ground, ten thousand could not pass. There was no way Saruman wouldn’t arrange for guards here. Under normal circumstances, there would be 3 Uruk-hais, and a dozen orcs sitting inside a little shed at the head of the bridge. They would constantly take turns patrolling through day and night. Not even a house fly could infiltrate.
But because of the immense enticement of a legendary creature like the Ocean-freak Moria; without hesitation, Saruman had withdrew the main forces here. Hence, this place was left with only a sickly and frail orc to keep watch.
The only responsibility of this orc was; when it encounters any suspicious activity, it had to rip apart an enchanted scroll to warn Saruman. Regrettably, this old orc wasn’t a diligent and responsible person.
When Sheyan and Melody caught sight of him, he was currently dozing away by a bonfire. Yellowish teeth leaking out of its lips as his saliva dripped down. A huge puddle of saliva had accumulated on the ground. Hence, Sheyan had ample grounds to believe that Reef who had fled earlier, had simply strutted through this area like a boss.
Not wanting to count his chickens before they hatch, Sheyan decided to wreck this bridge to foil any possible pursuing orcs. Although Melody agreed to this, she didn’t wish for any more mindless bloodshed. Hence, she summoned the remaining vitality spirit she had to activate the ancient elf character. Massive amounts of new roots shot out from the wooden stool, shoving the old orc to the ground and constricting him completely. Even his eyes were covered by a piece of leaf. The only thing the orc could do was roar and yell in shock!
3 minutes later, Sheyan and Melody had successfully crossed over the treacherous icy gorge. Undoubtedly, the bridge behind them was recklessly destroyed. Of course, the two fugitives had hastily and wantonly destroyed the frame of the bridge, its foundations were still restorable. However, under normal situations, it would’ve at least won them 10 hours of buffer time.
After continuously trekking alongside the opposite bank of the icy gorge for another hour, the narrow mountain pass was finally in sight. After passing through there, it would then signal a perfect escape. The towering majestic mountain range had effectively obstructed the northern cold winds; hence, though the temperature was still freezing ahead, it wasn’t the state of ice and snow like on this side.
The narrow mountain pass was right ahead!!
A hundred metres,
Fifty metres,
Thirty metres,
Arrival!
Begin the ascension!
This narrow mountain pass was extremely bizarre, like a giant formless knife that plunged down from heaven; cutting a narrow wound onto this southern majestic peak. Though that was the case, it was still several hundred metres high, black cliff rocks covering it entirely. For some unknown reasons, snow wouldn’t accumulate onto these cliff rocks, hence, it earned itself the name ‘Black Tooth-pass’.
Sheyan summoned his strength to welcome the winds, his limbs pushing forward. Every breath required his hand to cover his nose first, if not the winds of winter would pierce into his belly.
Undoubtedly, the twilight elf was like nature’s darling, completely unaffected by the vile climate. Actually, the winds now were considered average. Previously, when they were captured and made to climb through this pass, Sheyan had personally witnessed a raging billowing wind roll past which lifted up a dwarf as he struggled and shrieked miserably. Then his life was ended at the bottom of the gorge.
The summit of the narrow mountain pass was in sight, just 3 metres away. After that, would be a blissful path down. Sheyan could even see the distant snow capped trees beyond here amidst the lucious greenery. Melody was smiling slightly as she squatted at the summit of the mountain pass, extending her hand to him…..Sheyan stretched his hand out, exerting his body forward.
Yet somehow, at this very moment, he decided to look back.
He himself didn’t understand why he had looked back,
It was like a passing black cloud covering the sunlight, causing people to reflexively raise their heads to look.
This one glimpse.
At the bottom of the narrow pass, the opposite bank of the icy gorge, atop an erected cliff rock.
An astounding Uruk-hai.
Though the gap between them stretched out to more than 300 metres, though the Uruk-hai was only the size of a thumb from here….yet his appearance…..the dancing snowflakes and breezing glacic cold winds orbiting around this uruk-hai…..in a mere split second, it was as though an insurmountably terrifying hurricane was churned up with him as its core.
The uruk-hai stood still as he panted, naturally he had dashed here frantically. The uruk-hai should’ve been closely tracing their trail, but was finally obstructed by that wreckage of a bridge. Yet he instantly considered one thing, whoever wishes to leave had to pass through that natural landmark ‘Black Tooth-pass’. Thus, he frantically made his way along the opposite bank of the icy gorge.
This uruk-hai was outstandingly familiar. Even in the entire Lord of the Rings world, it played a vastly critical role!
White disheveled hair flowing against its shoulders,
Protruding eyebrows doubling his maliciousness,
A pair of triangular eyes piercing forward with a sharp mournful glow,
His arms were ridiculously thick, and outrageously long! Clear wounds covered it, but it only served to intensify his brutality.
A dreadful longbow, the sickle of the death god. Just by looking, Sheyan’s soul trembled!!
“Lurtz……” Sheyan exclaimed. “F****! Saruman this bastard!”
Just in mere seconds, he would have reached the summit of this Black Tooth-pass, and enter the other side of the mountain range; completely out of Lurtz’s shooting range. However, Lurtz’s arrows were so formidable that it could kill Boromir, and even inflict heavy damages onto Ocean-freak Moria! Even if Sheyan was in his optimal state, he wouldn’t be able to evade his arrow, what more now he was a useless ordinary mortal?
“If I were Lurtz……” Though his strength was drained, his thoughts still remained as clear as day! His mind flashed with several ideas as he ferociously pounced forward. Without a slightest hesitation, he pulled Melody towards him! Directly shielding her beneath his embrace!
Meanwhile, Lurtz had clearly raised his bow, mounting the arrow and drawing the bow and then he…..released!
A complicated set of movements, yet executed like flowing water. It was perfectly completed within an unbelievable short duration!
Lurtz had immensely perceptive eyesight; instantly from his vision of the two fugitives, he could tell Sheyan was the weaker and negligible individual. Probably a random wind could easily fling him off the icy gorge. The real threat was that twilight elf, Melody!
Hence, he immediately regarded Sheyan as an ‘ant’, directly hoisting his special bowman techniques and released a devastating shot!
He was fully confident, this arrow would deeply lodged into the elf maiden’s body; a +2 devil arrowhead crafted specially for Sindarian bodies wouldn’t penetrate through it, but directly explode the body innards into smithereens! Even a legendary creature would receive unbearable damage!
Yet he never expected, the unmissable arrow, was actually blocked by Sheyan with his own body! As Lurtz lowered his hand, Sheyan’s back and chest immediately erupted into a fountain of blood. A silvery light acute arrowhead pierced out from the right of his belly! Then like a twinkling star, it dimmed and exploded blindingly! Transforming into chaotic beams piercing out in all directions!
Simultaneously, a ghostly vengeful screech resounded in the air. This strange sound resulted from a vacuum tear that was sucking in all matter!!
Sheyan’s expression erupted with a flurry of emotions; mocking, triumph, sneer, conceited and anguish. His lips curled into a sneer. The nightmare imprint released a tide of notifications:
“You suffered an assault from the Uruk-hai leader, Lurtz.”
“You receive a calculated damage: ‘Sky-fall (Ability and explosive strike)’ – 17,787 points + ‘Sindarian attached devil arrowhead’ – 6,671 points.”
“You are inflicted with a negative buff of ‘Vitality Evaporation’ – You will lose 5% HP of blood loss damage every 20 seconds, duration of 800 seconds!”
“Details: When ‘Vitality Evaporation’ is inflicted on a legendary / Elite/ leader (head or boss) /world leader class creature, the resultant effect will be 300 points of blood loss damage every 5 seconds, duration of 30 seconds.
“Details: ‘Vitality Evaporation’ negative buff has a precedence!!”
“Warning, warning!! Contestant no.1018’s current maximum health is 120 points. Calculated damage inflicted is 24,458 points.”
“Contestant no.1018 has suffered a fatal blow!”
“Details: World regulation triggered! Contestant no.1018 is currently engaging in a party establishment mission. Any fatal blows will only reduce him into a critically wounded state. 10 seconds of immunity!”
“Total resultant damage to contestant no.1018: 108 points.”
“Warning: You are left with 12 HP! You are now in critically wounded state – Movement speed decreased by 80%, attack reduced by 80%, all attributes reduced by 50%.”
“You receive a domain: “Absolute defence’, duration of 10 seconds.”
“Under the state of ‘Absolute defence’, your current negative buffs will be ineffective, any damage dealt would be absorbed. You are not allowed to attack.”
“Domain takes precedence over any effects.”
Sheyan violently pushed away the dumbstruck Melody as he shouted furiously.
“Go! I will cover you! This is the protection bestowed by my god, it only lasts for 10 seconds. You have to leave his shooting range within 10 seconds!”
After speaking, he widened out both arms, and turned to glare at Lurtz! His face carried an unperturbed expression, he pulled out the arrowhead as his blood wildly gushed out. A huge regiment of mutilated flesh dangled from his wound, yet he steadied his gaze towards the disbelieving Lurtz, and pointed a middle finger…….
Of course this formidable uruk-hai didn’t understand that obscene gesture, but he could tell Sheyan’s expression essentially meant “Pathetic fool”! Having his ego crushed, Lurtz’s eyes became bloodshot. Nobody had dared to take his bow skills lightly, not even the mighty Saruman!
But this ant………this damned ant was actually so brazen!!!
“Fine, since that arrow wasn’t enough to slay you……”
(That arrow contained a 10% chance of 5x attack and a lower 20 points of defence effect; coupled with the difficulty level of this world, thus the resultant damage was so frightening)
Lurtz howled so furiously that even the showers of snowflakes couldn’t conceal it, as it echoed throughout the mountain range. Then he drew his lowered bow and mounted the arrows.
Mounting a total of 3 arrows!
The three arrowheads looked mediocre; yet it released a sensation of being dipped in molten gold, it possessed a flicker of scorching gold brilliance.
The fuming Lurtz didn’t hesitate to use his strongest arrow – +7 Adamantine arrow,
Infused into the arrow was Saruman’s personal magic – ‘Arcane pursuit/Chain lightning’ !
3 beams left the longbow, flying steadily forward as they curved into an upwards arc, volleying in at astonishing speeds.
The moment he released his arrow, a blast of wind slammed back against Lurtz’s head! The wind slowly dissipated into the snow winds. He instantly recoiled to the ground, taking in deep breaths as blood trickled down his eyes.
This strike appeared like he was lightly sketching, yet it produced a thundering boom, resembling that of a sonic boom. Three golden flashes swept over the icy gorge like a chain lightning.
The rocks beneath had been frozen for thousands of years and were more solid than steel itself; yet the lightning tore through it like it was beancurd, rock fragments scattering everywhere. Tearing through paths of deep craggy crevices which were as long as hundreds of metres, that stretched up the narrow pass! It was as if three terrifying scars were carved onto the ‘Black Tooth-pass’!
The three lightning paced arrows pierced straight towards Sheyan’s face. But in that instance, roughly a metre around Sheyan, a crystal yellow transparent curved shield suddenly appeared. Ripples flashed over it, as though Sheyan was protected by an eggshell.
Once the three arrows collided against the transparent egg shell, it strangely evaporated. Every arrow, evaporated. That insanely domineering might was reduced to tranquility in an instance, utterly fading away. The overbearing chain lightning then crashed into the eggshell, but was reduced into a headless dead snake. It fanatically and chaotically bounced around, rocks were sprayed in all direction before thoroughly fading in the face of the egg shell!
Witnessing such a strange scene, Lurtz’s pupils almost split apart. Right at this time, Sheyan had even tilted his head and casted a condescending expression towards him, as he faintly shook his head.
Lurtz, who had a heroic potential regardless if it was pertaining to the darkside, possessed an unbreakable confidence in his heart. Once he released an arrow, no matter the outcome; his heart was already convinced it was enough to slay the opponent! This was the result of thousands of hours of bitter practice, forming such wild and obstinate conviction.
Yet solely because of Sheyan’s current action; he had become the cornerstone that had toppled Lurtz’s unwavering conviction. Of course to Lurtz, he understood his arrows weren’t flawless; yet he had never expected the 3 arrows he exhausted his full strength to release, couldn’t even touch the hair of an ant like Sheyan!!!
“What power…….incomparably praiseworthy!! In the face of such power, my abilities are not even worth mentioning!!”
Lurtz’s bloodshot eyes leaked out an unfathomable decadent expression, as he howled bitterly to the heavens. His howl carried the grief of his shattered heart. Picking up his beloved bow, he no longer released anymore arrows; instead, he viciously bent it to the limits!
“Crack!” That heart-wrenching longbow snapped in two.
“WHY! Why is it like this?!” Lurtz raged in his heart. He once again gazed towards that transparent yellowish screen at the tip of the black narrow pass. His heart expressed his heart contents, exposing a shred of flustered dread.
Men always possesses an underlying fear for the unknown and freaks of nature; hence, even the primitive ancient men worshipped lightning, fire, rain, snow, earthquakes. Lurtz wasn’t such a case; but after witnessing such a puny toe-like undying ant like Sheyan, henceforth, an unerasable shadow had been cast in his heart!
This was also the primary reason why although he could be hailed as a legendary creature created by Saruman, he would never be able to surpass the elvish prince, Legolas!
Lurtz was no Saruman. Once he lost his bow, he was no longer capable of dealing any threat to Sheyan and Melody. They were an entire 300 metres away, with an unpassable icy hell in between!
Within the eggshell, Sheyan released a long sigh. He turned around and walk but immediately fell to the ground weakly! The yellowish screen around him dissipated!
10 seconds had elapsed!!!
In that instance, the frailty of a severely injured and trembling mortal returned, the searing pain in his chest returned. More frighteningly, massive amounts of blood came pouring out of his chest, soaking and drenching Sheyan completely! Sheyan clutched his chest, groaning in anguish.
This was that negative effect ‘Vitality Evaporation’ that Lurtz’s first arrow carried. It still remained, and its cruel effects were now manifesting within his body!
The merciless tone of the nightmare imprint rung out.
“You are still affected by ‘Vitality Evaporation’ – 5% Hp will be drained every 20 seconds, current duration left: 780 seconds!”
Naturally, this horrific negative effect was based on his maximum health; after suffering this negative effect, 13 minutes was all it takes to kill a person even if they had two lives! If one didn’t possess medical supplements, death was the only way out!
To Sheyan, he was slightly advantaged because his current maximum HP was only 120 points…..every 20 seconds would only deduct 6 HP! Yet! Never forget, Sheyan was only left with 12 points of health in his critically wounded state! Which goes to say, in the next 20 seconds if he didn’t return to the realm of find a health restoration method, then he would be a tragic death.
The faraway Lurtz had naturally caught on to this. Although he was incapable of knowing such data, the sixth sense of a wild beast was manifested in the exceptional perceptive sense of a formidable uruk-hai leader. The prior feeling of respect for Sheyan had vanished, once again discovering the weak and pathetic ant ahead!
At this moment, Lurtz suddenly felt a surge of incomparably regret. “If I hadn’t destroyed my bow….then he would be dead by now!” He once again directed his focus into the distance, he was extremely clear on the devastation his arrow could cause. He thirsted for the pesky undying ant ahead to bleed to death! Then the shadow in his heart, would utterly disappear.
20 seconds of time, what could Sheyan do? What can he do?
Medical supplies, he had!
But everything was stored inside his nightmare imprint! Currently, it was impossible lay hands on them.
Divine healing arts, Melody was capable!
Yet it required three ancient elvish characters to activate.
Was returning to the nightmare realm his only option?
It seemed like this was the only path. However, according to the original plan, Sheyan was to remain inside the Wizard tower and continued rummaging and searching, finding any useful information he could fine. Until the fuming owner had returned, then he would politely salute and terminate his journey in this world.
Yet Sheyan suddenly changed his plans and fled the Wizard tower for some unknown reasons. But one thing was sure, he had a definite reason for doing so.
Then, if he returned to the realm now, this no doubt meant the struggles he had gone through fleeing the Wizard tower was all for nought!
*
It appeared that he was at the end of his route. There were absolutely no moves left to make, his only course of action was still a bitter return of defeat. Yet he still maintained a calm expression, he smiled at the teary face Melody in front of him, holding onto her hand in consolation. Then he flipped his body round as he gazed towards the distant bank, his eyes sparkling with venomous hate; yet it contained a sinisterly conceited trace towards the uruk-hai Lurtz.
Sheyan released a faint smile.
His smile was warm, but still carried a trace of conceitedness.
An all knowing conceitedness.
He then reached his hands towards his waist, and hooked out an item.
It was roughly the size of two palms. On it there were dried clumps of bloodstain and dried flesh.
Uruk-hai Lurtz had a tremendously sharp eagle like vision; once he saw that item, a buzz resounded in his mind. His body shivered as though his blood was all rushing towards his brain! Because this item, was indeed something he had in possession right now! This item, was something Lurtz was even more familiar with than his own fingerprints!
An ordinary wine pouch.
Back at the summit of the icy mountain, he had stolen this very cowhide pouch from the mutilated mess of a Tentacled-freak corpse!
(TN: This happened in chapter 19, the mutilated clump of flesh he retrieved from the Tentacled-freak)
But more crucially, the contents inside this pouch wasn’t alcohol!
It was the outcome of Saruman’s experimental breakthrough; a gene-mix – ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’ !!!
This item was a miracle; the more severely injured the consumer was, the more ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’ would trigger its potential, allowing his health to swiftly replenish! HP regeneration speed would be raised; to ranging from ‘every 10 seconds restores 1 HP’ to ’10 HP restored every second’, duration last for 120 minutes.”
No doubt to the current Sheyan, his wounded state was of the extreme limit! This signified…once he drank down this potion, it would completely negate the negative effects of ‘Vitality Evaporation’! As for the repercussions of consuming it, to hell with it! If the realm wouldn’t be able to treat the side effects, then Sheyan would live with it!
Without panicking, he raised the wine pouch, swirling it around before pressing upwards with his thumb. “Pop!” he pried open the cork. At this moment, he was smiling while nodding, as he faced Lurtz whose eyeballs were about to erupt, and raised the wine pouch. Then he gulped it down. His string of actions were courteous and refined, carrying the air of a gentleman; the appearance of a toast done by an european nobility!
Actually, it was because of this item that Sheyan was willing to allow Reef to carry every single Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs away. But he miscalculated one point; that was ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’ could only restore health, but the egg was a full restoration.
Lurtz was ruined. He shut his eyes, as he quietly leapt down the cliff rock and headed back to the orc metropolis; even any energy left to fume was depleted. Although Sheyan’s powers in his eyes was akin to an ant, but…..this pesky ant, had actually left such a crushing defeat and torment in his heart!!!
Dancing shadows cast onto the cavern wall by a flame.
A gentle resin aroma filled the air. Occasional sounds of crackle could be heard.
Placed horizontally above the bonfire was a thick branch, with a fat trout pierced through it. The roasting fire shriveled its skin, splitting it and exposed its snowy white flesh. The fish oil dripped into the lapping flames, ignited it further. Small explosions of indigo surfaced amidst the flames, fumes spiralled up constantly.
After a short roasting, numerous cracks appeared on the fish, its alluring fragrance permeated into the air. Sheyan was awakened by the fragrance; previously when passing out at the narrow pass, it wasn’t because of ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’, but because of losing too much blood and the freezing winds. Sheyan was basically no different from an ordinary human, naturally he passed out. However, its regenerative effects were indeed miraculous, completely suppressing the vile effects of ‘Vitality Evaporation’.
Once he woke, Melody who was roasting the fish hurriedly rushed to support him. Sheyan attempted to move his limbs, sighing with relief when he could. His wounds seemed to have been treated by Melody using her healing divine arts. Apart from the weakness of losing too much blood, he was fine.
Sheyan suddenly recalled something, he instantly asked out anxiously.
“How long have I been unconscious?”
Melody tilted her head to blow the fire, stroking her silver hair as she gently replied.
“Around 4 hours. Don’t worry, we’ve successfully escaped. It is relatively safe here, those orcs will never find us.”
Sheyan immediately heaved a sigh of relief. The reason he had taken the risk to flee, was regarding one extremely crucial matter; which would probably require more than half an hour of time. From Melody’s statement, he still had roughly 3 hours left in this world, which was more than enough time to spare.
His mind relaxed, suddenly feeling rather hungry. Without being courteous, he received the fish before wolfing it down. The trout lived in a cold environment, it was extremely fat, its flesh incomparably exquisite. Especially its black rolled skin, though its appearance was subpar, delicious flavors burst out with one bite; leaving behind a memorable after taste.
After Sheyan wretchedly consumed half the fish, he suddenly realized there was only one and Melody hadn’t eaten yet. He couldn’t help embarrassedly snickering.
“This……I will catch another later.”
Melody giggled and lightly whistled. 7-8 plump squirrels started scurrying in as they dumped 16-15 pinecones. Melody easily removed the shell and ate the nut, shooting a sneaking expression at him.
“Don’t bother, I’ll just eat this. Anyway, back in Rivendell, I don’t eat flesh.”
Sheyan leaned against the wall comfortably, raising his hand to eat his fish but this action slightly tugged against his chest wound, causing him to frown. Melody was rather sensitive, sitting beside him as she ate. Sheyan was probably too hungry, after finishing the trout, he still wasn’t satisfied. As he observed the slender white fingers stained with glossy oil, he couldn’t help licking her finger.
With this one lick, Melody instantly trembled violently. It felt like a current shot through her fingers, numbing her entire body; in a flash, her breathing became heavier. Her body all along contained a fresh odour enshrouding her body, now this odour gradually transformed into an unbelievable fragrance. It was like a raging summer heat fumigating the night, a hint of tuberose that pleased the spirit; inciting an intoxicated urge.
This sensation was something Melody had felt before, it was the same back in the cave when she crawled atop Sheyan to voice out her feelings. Amidst the long life of an elf, there had a patience that of a tree, calm and graceful; hence, it was hard for them to feel this sort of fragrant burning sublime passion.
Because he still felt hungry, Sheyan licked her finger totally clean. Right now, he suddenly felt the atmosphere was weird, he couldn’t help noticing that rich charming aroma. He then observed Melody’s red flushed face, as she lowered her head; her gaze extremely alluring. Sheyan was moved, trying to think of a way to ‘abduct’ this maiden. Instead, he heard Melody’s sheepish timid voice.
“What sort of feeling is this? Why is it so strange? So weird…..it’s like my entire body is burning up, I haven’t felt this weird before.”
She suddenly stretched out her slender white hand again, looking somewhat bashful.
“Although this may seem rather overboard, but…..protector can you kiss my hand? I really want to understand that weird sensation.”
Faced with such a request, how could Sheyan reject. He pulled Melody’s hands in, starting from her fingertip as he slowly kissed upwards. His tongue wantonly lingered over the snowy white skin of Melody. The thick intense aroma became denser, the smell becoming as heavy as a rose.
When Sheyan’s passionate lips touched against Melody’s pointed ears, she couldn’t resist any longer. Throughout the tiny gap of her lips, she suddenly emitted an impatient yet feeble and shivering yelp.
That yelp sounded like a kitten purring, brimming with ignorance and purity, hinting a subtle enticement.
Suddenly, without the constant refuelling of firewood, the bonfire gradually extinguished, leaving behind tiny wisps of embers flickering in the darkness. Under the dim lighting, Melody’s bare snowy skin radiated, her slender long legs were coincidentally wrapped around Sheyan’s waist. Her eyes shut tightly, her cheeks dizzily red as she started actively searching for Sheyan’s lips to return his kisses. Though the snowy winds brewed outside, this cave was filled with romantic harmony.
Sheyan was originally a person with great self-control, yet gradually bit by bit, he removed the covers on the elf maiden’s body. He couldn’t help gasping at the pure glossy whiteness, and unable to maintain himself, he kissed her while gently fondling. A low shaky moan was returned.
Moreover, this elf was rather different than most humans; she did not host a bashful reluctance, instead she allowed nature to take its course, sincere and calm. To many of Sheyan’s request, Melody had tried her best to complement, causing Sheyan’s heart to be determine in cherishing this one. Yet a burning ruthless impulse gradually built up in his heart, it was like a fire burning slowly, licking as it burnt brighter…..his thirst and hunger was at its maximum, only by venting would it extinguish this flame!
“Damned!” Sheyan suddenly became aware. “Don’t tell me this is the side effect of that Ocean-freak Moria gene-mix? It can sink a person into a burning fervor in an instant?” Then his rationality thoroughly submerged………
The following was naturally violent winds and rainstorm, an insatiable plundering, lapping and chewing. The miserable Melody endured silently, timidly welcoming, occasionally issuing a frail, incomplete hum, as though it carried a secret grudge. This undoubtedly fueled Sheyan’s flame, his brazen wanton flames…..
Sheyan reluctantly removed his hand from the elf maiden’s skin. Although he had caressed the refined jewels of her body, and even wantonly galloped over her for a relatively long time, he was still mesmerized by the sleek, pure cleansing sensation; it was similar to satin. Not only was her skin unbearably alluring and comforting, her kisses were pure joys of life. Moreover, her resentful moans and indescribable yells seemed to still be echoing within the cave.
Right now, Melody had sunk into deep sleep, like a miserable little deer that had fainted on the grass. Probably because the earlier excitement had caused her extreme exhaustion, her twin slender white legs were still tightly locked. Her silver hair lodged beneath her left hand like a pillow, her upright but not huge bosom still covered with several red traces; as she still appeared rather tasty and inexperienced.
Her face even had two trails of dried tears, yet her expression was shy and faintly blissful. To Sheyan’s strokes, she had completely no resistance. The sensual rose aroma slowly lightened, once again a peppermint like, fresh fragrance drifted into the air.
Sheyan bent in, and pecked her face lightly before straightening himself. He still had the luxury of time for his following matter, still it was better to act now. He tossed several loose pieces of pine wood into the reignited bonfire, the flames coiling once again.
Sheyan carefully positioned his body to block the skipping flames, preventing the glaring illumination from disturbing Melody’s sleep. Then, he retrieved that parchment paper he stole from the Wizard tower, and attentively scrutinized it.
After a brief observation, Sheyan acted. He first selected a carbon strip (like charcoal) from the bonfire, before pinching and breaking it into fragments. Wrapping the fragments inside the silk cloth, he used a nearby stone to lightly pulverize it; grinding it into fine black particles that would act as a toner.
Then Sheyan picked up the topmost plain parchment paper, and sprinked the toner like black particles over it. Then he used another carbon strip and lightly smeared over it. Very quickly…..that blank piece of parchment paper shockingly displayed clear writings!
In this era, writings and recordings were done with dip pens, or rather goose feather pens. Although it is called goose feather pen, the feather of a crow was the most suitable to be used as a dip pen. Mastery of the dip pens would cause the writings to be smooth but heavy. Hence, it was normal for writing traces to be pressed onto the lower piece of parchment paper, beneath the one that was being written on. Even ordinary pen/pencil would leave writing traces on the paper underneath in the present world. Though its surface wouldn’t reveal any writing; by sweeping one’s fingertips to stroke across the parchment, one would be able to feel the minute depressions of writings on the paper.
Previously, Sheyan had only casually read through loose scattered writings of Saruman, but it had already upgraded his concoction abilities; and those writings were no doubt gibberish on a wiping cloth. Then if he had the chance to comprehend the actual writings on the parchment paper, then no doubt, his harvest would be much greater.
At that point in time, it wasn’t wise to stay to look for any suitable particles to use as a toner, and secondly there was still that frustrating comprehension state. Though he may be able to uncover the writings of the previous parchment paper through this unorthodox method, he didn’t have the luxury of time to support his comprehension state. Hence, the wisest decision was to flee to a secure place before slowly analyzing.
This was the reason why he made such a resolute decision back at the Wizard tower, and hastily fled!
Following the cautious smearing of the black toner, fluent strokes of the common Middle-earth tongue surfaced. It is said that calligraphy and handwriting reflects a person’s character. That was the case of Saruman; every letter was civilized, steady, clear but the occasional strokes reflected his thriving ambitions, showing of his ability!
“………..”
“………..”
The gene-mix purification seems complicated but is essentially a simple process. Last month during an experiment, I easily accomplished this matter with a crucible, test tube and 137 degrees temperature. A uruk-hai managed to possess an outstanding raise in strength……..
The weather is an essential consideration, yes, the weather. Where else in the entirety of Middle-earth is as cold as the Misty Mountains? Previously when Gandalf visited, wasn’t it because of that pestilence, which was due to high temperature? This is bad, some of these potions seem to degenerate under hot environment.
Uh huh! It must be that smoking weed I added in, I’m sure of it! This bottle of Dragon gene-mix is only able to last 2 hours in a scorching 50 degrees temperature.
This experiment is a dead end, perhaps I was wrong in its selection path?
Yes, no doubt, the truth lies in this. This green-mountain flower from the Shire is the catalyst I have been seeking. The research is done, but for this obnoxious hot temperature. I can only preserve this concoction for 2 months, and this has already vastly exceeded my expectations.
Since I’ve reached the end of this phase of concoction experiments, I have to continue upgrading the strength of the Uruk-hais. Ocean-freak of Moria, how could it be that your genes are so mystical. When can I have the great fortune to slice you open and closely examine you?
Then, the recordings were concluded on this parchment paper. Naturally, Sheyan was once again forced in comprehension state. This time, he sat by the bonfire for nearly half an hour. This comprehension failed a total of 8 times, before the nightmare imprint voiced a joyous relief to his ears.
“Contestant no.1018 has successfully appreciated Saruman’s experimental logs.”
“Contestant no.1018 has received a new inspiration.”
“Your Rank 6 ability ‘Black Art mix Technique (incomplete)’ receives a passive upgrade.”
“Tier 2 of the skill tree receives a direct upgrade.”
“Uruk-hai gene fluid (Bear), Uruk-hai gene fluid (Fox), Uruk-hai gene fluid (Eagle) is upgraded to lvl 3.”
“Relative effects from the concoctions would now raise attributes by +4.”
“Expiry of concocted gene-mix has been upgraded to 2 weeks.”
“Due to your intelligence and spirit, you are unable to receive anymore inspirations.”
Sheyan shrugged his shoulders; although infiltrating into Saruman’s experimental lab was a pretty risky move, the benefits he had gained vastly exceeded his expectations.
Firstly, throwing out a curse-mix had an AOE confusion/stun effect, although it only lasted for a second, the 20% speed plague from the poison fog was still pretty incredible. Moreover, he could now throw a normal gene-mix to supply additional speed and attribute boost.
Furthermore, due to this second tier upgrading to +4 attributes instead of +3, this implied that one blended-mix of his would provide an 8 points attribute boost. Although currently he still wasn’t able to concoct a gene-mix that would enhance physique; this upgrade of various supporting attributes, could at least be compared to a Black grade equipment! Just based on this itself, Sheyan would be able to play a critical role in a large scale party!
“Yes!” Sheyan clenched his fist with a vigorous excitement. He then started dreaming of that perfect party establishment mission reward, and couldn’t help being overwhelmed with emotions.
Probably because his movements were too disrupting, Melody lightly twitched a little and rolled her body. Then she gazed at Sheyan, her clear eyes sparkling with crystal as she leaned against Sheyan. She finally whispered.
“You’re about to return to your kingdom right?”
Sheyan was currently vexed by this, after hearing Melody he became slightly distressed.
“Forgive me, I cannot leave with you……”
Hearing that, Melody begun choking with sobs.
“As a twilight elf, I cannot shirk my responsibilities from Rivendell. My comrades will be facing a tremendous tribulation, I cannot abandon them. Also, because my prowess have been enhanced too quickly due to absorbing the essence of Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs, I am in a very dangerous predicament. If I don’t return to Rivendell to accept Lord Glorfindel’s guidance, I may perish. Apart from that, to advance my twilight magic, I have to borrow the might of Sire Vilya…..”
Sheyan’s eyes flickered upon hearing that, he curiously asked.
“Sire Vilya……are you talking about that ring?”
Amazed, Melody glanced at Sheyan.
“How did you know Sire Vilya is a ring?”
If Sheyan didn’t know about the 3 elvish rings that could contend amongst the rings in Lord of the Rings, then that would be strange. If he could lay hands on it, it would be at least, at least of a Golden storyline grade equipment; perhaps even a divine artifact.
One must know, all 3 elvish rings had immensely unimaginable origins, and could safeguard the elves in a city from the evil one’s corrosion.
Vilya, was known as the Ring of Air, adorned with a sapphire over it. It possessed the ability to heal and preserve and even control elements; this was speculated by how the elf Elrond had summoned the torrent of water. Probably, Melody wanted to borrow the elemental strength to advance her cultivation.
Another known as Nenya, also hailed as the Ring of Water, was in Gandalf’s possession. Its mystery might was to bestow a fearsome protection. Without it, Gandalf would’ve been crushed by the balrog in the Mines of Moria, how would he have made a comeback?
(ED: In LOTR Gandalf has the Ring of Fire, Narya. Nenya is borne by Galadriel. The author wrote Nenya though so Nenya it is.)
(TN: The author may have made a research error, but Narya is the Ring of Fire held by Gandalf instead, and it is unclear whether it provided him with enhanced power against fire. However, on account that he didn’t i will keep it as it is, so just take it with a pinch of salt)
Although Sheyan was exceedingly knowledgeable of the 3 elvish rings; he obviously couldn’t lecture Melody directed on its history as though he was an elven lord himself. He only smiled faintly.
“God is omnipotent.”
Melody had personally witnessed that heaven defying domain ‘Absolute defence’ of Sheyan. Such a domineering might had vastly eclipsed her understanding. Because of her unfamiliarity, her admiration towards him was doubled! She gazed into Sheyan’s eyes, her tears flowing as she continued.
“Forgive me please, my protector, you……won’t you be happy?”
Sheyan’s heart currently was also conflicting. Such a pure youthful maiden, yet tender and obedient; whatever female position he desired, she was willing. She even had a naturally perfumed scent, much superior to that of even an imperial concubine. He was really unwilling to part with her, but this was inevitable. Sheyan held Melody in his embrace, then he looked into her eyes sincerely.
“We have no choice but to part, but can you promise me one thing?”
Melody nodded passionately.
“Mmn!”
Sheyan continued.
“I don’t know the customs of elves, but since you’re already so intimate with me, you cannot become companions with other male elves; or be intimate with any elf.”
“Oh.” Melody obediently nodded her head. “I promise you…..hug me one last time.”
“Oh it seems like there’s still some time, after hugging we can still do something else.”
“Hey why are you tearing my skirt! I just weaved it again!”
“Listen to me, be good, open up your mouth.”
“What are you doing?”
“Umphh……”
“……….”
“……….”
*
An hour and a half later,
Back in the Nightmare realm,
Inside Sheyan’s personal room.
Jinkuang was currently using a huge ladle to stir a huge pot of black viscous liquid. An intense and vile smell occasionally drifted out, where it seemed to contain a bunch of junk inside.
Suddenly, a tiny black vortex appeared, its depth as deep as the mysteries of space. In a flurry, it spreaded into a perfect long line, emitting a buzzing sound before forming into a black door.
Very quickly, Sheyan emerged from the door, his leg seemed to be floating slightly. When he appeared, he instantly pinched his nose and sneezed twice. Stumbling forward due to the smoke, he furiously raged out.
“Jinkuang, what the hell are you doing?”
Jinkuang raised his brows and replied.
“I’m undertaking a small capital but huge profit business. From the liquid of the richly nutritious rotting fats and proteins of the city sewer, I can extract a top quality condiment. It contains 5 ‘S’ grade pure natural nutrition; omega oil acid, Linoleic acid, vitamin e, low cholesterol, brain and blood circulatory benefits.
“What the heck, cut the crap, that’s just disgusting drain oil.” Sheyan angrily clutched his nose. He couldn’t afford to piss this ancestor off and could only head out. If he couldn’t bear this anymore, he would just share Reef’s room.
Jinkuang hurriedly obstructed Sheyan as he inspected him from head to toe, then he let off a sly smile.
“Master, your face is pale, your footsteps are weak, your eye bags are huge, you seem extremely fatigue and exhausted in spirit, your hands are icy cold. I’m afraid you have caught a cold, look you even have a bloated tummy. One glance and I could tell you have indulged in excessive debauchery!”
Sheyan’s face turned ashen as he immediately ran off. Jinkuang then brandished a herbal plaster and yelled loudly.
“Master, you can try my herbal plaster, it’s only 3000 credits! Once you paste it on, the desired hardness and vigor will surge up within 3 seconds, guaranteed to become the next ‘Liu Xiang’ of the bed, it is an ultra pellet……….. How can this master be so unrefined and impolite, at least listen to what I have to say right.”
(TN: Liu Xiang is an olympic gold medalist and world champion of China)
*
After returning, Sheyan quickly contacted with Reef. He then anxiously asked the sole affair pricking his heart.
“Did you manage to bring the eggs out?!”
That’s right! This was his other huge motive for insisting that Reef safely fled first! In the previous realm, the rules were extremely peculiar – During the party establishment mission process, any utility points, potential points, equipment, items will be unable to be brought back to the nightmare realm (Includes concocted potions / forged equipment). As for the others, there were no restrictions.
No doubt, Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs were an unparalleled precious item, belonging to the restricted category. Yet Sheyan hadn’t forgotten that when he first picked up an Ocean-freak Moria’s egg, there was not a single notification. Furthermore, without a twilight elf like Melody, this item wouldn’t even be able to exhibit its greatest potential! Hence, Sheyan wanted to take a gamble, to see if it could be brought out. To be more blunt, he wanted to see if they belonged to the classification of unknown strange object.
Faced with Sheyan’s anxious inquiry, he smiled bitterly.
“I could say yes, but I could also say no.”
Sheyan was taken aback.
“What kind of answer is that?”
Reef helplessly replied.
“Head over to the roof of the realm first. This matter is slightly complicated, it is better to explain when we meet.”
Sheyan hastily rushed over. On the way, he didn’t forget to check up on the appraisal status of his “Hydralisk Rare acid gland’. Sadly, it only displayed ‘Appraising, please wait’. After a familiar journey to the roof, Sheyan realized that for some unknown reason, this place was filled with an unprecedented booming of activities. At least 20-30 others were here queueing up. Reef was currently conversing with someone at the side, as he repeatedly made hand gestures as though their discussion was extremely intense.
Viewing Sheyan’s appearance, Reef signalled towards him, and introduced the other person.
“This is Aldaris, a scum from Northern Europe who loves to deliver money to me.”
After hearing that, Aldaris folded his arms on his chest and snorted coldly.
“Reef you moron, only adept in using words, how can you call that delivering money? I only lost a few times when we compared pointers, because you have better equipment…..you must be Seaman? Reef was just telling me what a remarkable alchemist you are.”
Sheyan smiled.
“I’m not worthy of remarkable. I only place all my efforts in that aspect, that’s all.”
At this moment, the group ahead queuing up called for Aldaris. Aldaris saluted and said his farewells, then he left. Reef observed his leaving figure and earnestly uttered.
“Never ever underestimate him. That guy is a thorn in combat, he belongs to a rare class who possesses dual capabilities. His three peak attributes are strength, intelligence and spirit; and is able to contest fairly against close combatants and exercise long range abilities to assault enemies.”
Sheyan listened with a curious expression.
“Sounds like a mage-warrior dual combatant? But how is he going to maintain his vitality in close combat?”
Reef seriously replied.
“Strictly speaking, he is really somewhat like what you said. During close combat, he uses different methods to preserve his life. His magic shield ability can absorb large amounts of damage, moreover his high spirit powers can cause the enemy’s accuracy to greatly decline. Also, he still has other life preservation methods employed by intelligence/spirit based contestants.”
“Aldaris’s greatest specialty is that he also possesses a skill tree ability. Previously when I crossed pointers with him, I was left in bitter disbelief at one of his ability ‘Vampirism-Touch’ of his abilities. He is able to attach a vampirism magic onto his weapon; when he deals any damage to his opponent, he can steal the opponent’s life force from the damage (Lifesteal)! Due to his relatively excellent spirit and intelligence, he is able to reach roughly 50% of lifesteal!”
“Wow he does sound incredibly daunting!” Once he heard the words ‘lifesteal’ he felt a certain headache. This kind could be said to belong to a category of becoming stronger as one fights. Fortunately, it seems like currently he didn’t have to deal with this Aldaris. Sheyan shook his head, then he brought their conversation back to subject.
“What is with the Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs?”
Reef forced out a smile.
“Those coconut sized eggs couldn’t be brought out. The realm gave it a dual evaluation of being a living body, and a rarely seen item. Their decision is extremely clear; eggs that have been incubated completely, cannot be hailed as an unknown strange object.”
“Instead, those eggs that had been incinerated by the Balrog can be brought out. The realm’s evaluation is that Ocean-freak Moria is originally an exceedingly rare creature, and that Balrog is most probably the last Balrog of Middle-earth. The chances of them encountering is extremely small. As for the Balrog using his fiery whip to torch the soul of Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs, that is a minute probability within small probabilities. This object that was formed from such impossible origins, was something that was completely neglected in the realm’s calculations. Hence, it is silently recognized as an unknown strange object, and can be brought out.”
Sheyan nodded his head.
“That means we brought 5 eggs out?”
Reef nodded, then directly traded the 5 Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs over. Sheyan kept 3 eggs and left 2 with Reef. They had already ascertained the uses of achievement points with regards to the military rank, and potential points were needed to further advance abilities; therefore both of them similarly required these unknown strange objects urgently. As an important core of the party, obviously he was worthy of such valuable investment.
Seeing that they had to queue for long, the two decided to head over to the appraisal room first to evaluate the unknown strange object ‘Ocean-freak Moria’s egg’ and sell it to the realm. They were greeted with an unexpected delight, with every egg selling for 2 achievement points!
After a brief wait, it was finally their turn to enter the core area of the realm to settle their affairs. After they sat down, a laser network beamed out to scan their bodies. Following closely, was a mechanical emotionless voice.
“Congratulations on returning, contestants engaged in a party establishment mission.”
“Retrieving data…….”
“You accepted the mission ‘Survival’ as your party mission.”
“Mission summary: Live, try your best to survive, hold on until you no longer can….”
“Mission progress check…..you passed the first phase and relevant checkpoint! Mission score increases by 30.”
“Mission progress check…..you passed the second phase and relevant checkpoint! Mission score increases by 50.”
“Mission progress check….you passed the third phase and relevant checkpoint! Mission score increases by 100.”
“Your mission score from the basics is: 30 + 30 +50 +100 = 210 points. Both contestants made it till the end.”
“Your mission completion score: Current difficulty – Maximum (lvlmax).”
“Please wait……”
“Signal connecting…..”
They waited for nearly 10 minutes before the screen ahead started to show a chaotic interference. After a brief while, that same hoarse voice projected out.
“If this damned signal machine doesn’t provide me with an adequate reason to wake me up, then I’m definitely replacing it. Dammit! What the heck requires our attention? Hello?”
“Party establishment mission completion score, maximum?”
“A young 2nd lieutenant’s application?”
“Uh huh! Look who’s here, no.1018?”
Upon hearing this hoarse voice, Sheyan instantly knew who it was. It was most likely that same person who awarded him with the honor of the 2nd Lieutenant rank. He sincerely issued.
“Very glad to see you again, sir!”
The hoarse voice laughed out bluntly.
“You can call me Mr Lieutenant Colonel. Indeed I haven’t misjudged you at all; although a party establishment mission isn’t considered tough, to be able to achieve this grade is already pretty rare. Oh, you completed it with the two of you? Besides you are only of a 2nd Lieutenant ranking, then the relevant reward will consider that factor. Alright, good luck to you lads! Party Ace is hereby officially established!”
Hearing the announcement from the hoarse voice, Sheyan and Reef simultaneously received the notification:
“You have withdrawn from your temporary party.”
“Your members have received an additional reward of a maximum completion score: Silver Prestige.”
Privileges of Silver Prestige: After party is established, you can draw 3 party skills for your members.”
“Privileges of Silver Prestige: When engaged in a party war, you can directly induce suppression on the opposing party’s skill; causing their effects to drop by 10% – 30% (Depends on the other party prestige). Probability of causing the opposing party’s skill to fail completely is 20% – 50% (Depends on the other party prestige).”
“Privileges of Silver Prestige: When drawing the relevant party skill, you can receive an additional drawing privilege.”
“Privileges of Silver prestige: Receive a party interspatial storage of 10x10x10 metre square.”
“Privileges of Silver Prestige: Every time the party’s standing is promoted, 2 points of party skill points will be received (normally, 1 point). You can utilize the party skill points to upgrade the party’s skill. Every 3 party skill points can be used to additionally open a new study field of party skill.”
Observing the list of notifications, Sheyan didn’t feel particularly shocked. Citing Jinkuang who sprouted unkind words while spitting he spat out melon seeds – Ignorance was bliss.
Instead, Reef gaped with astonishment following what he just witnessed. He recalled when he first established his reserve-duty party, there was no such thing as party mission, nor was there any party prestige…..which goes to say, this aspect of information was not simply leaked to anyone.
As for party skills, this previous party had that too; but they merely had a single skill slot. Moreover, it was randomly allocated, resigned to fate. Yet more crucially, why would they allow you to learn party skills for free? They issued 3 options which required learning fees:
The first option – Fee: 10,000 utility points, 10 potential points and 5 achievement points. According to Reef, the resultant skill most likely produced effects like movement speed +3 / strength +1 / Damage +1%. Of course the best draw was physique +1, because it was relevant to every single contestant in the party. Something worth mentioning was previously, the Symbiosis’s sect party skill belonged to this very category.
The second option – Fee: 30,000 utility points, 30 potential points, 15 achievement points. Naturally this learned party skill was stronger than the previous. It probably included effects such as strength +3 / explosive strike +2% / avoidability +2%. The Banks Syndicate’s party skill which triggers a shield that can absorb 100 points of damage while in critically wounded state, belonged to such a category. Obviously, it could also be because they had upgraded a skill from the previous category.
The third option – Fee: 70,000 utility points, 70 potential points, 35 achievement points. This particular classification of party skills weren’t something Reef was clear about. He only heard that others mentioned of an all attribute +1 party skill, which should belong to this category.
Yet more critically, was when Reef saw that whenever the party promotes a level, they would receive 2 party skill points. This almost caused him to black out……when his reserve-duty party promoted, they only received 1 party skill point!! Which goes to say in the long run, a Silver Prestige party towers over an average reserve-duty party by two folds!
But at present, Sheyan had no idea what Reef was thinking. He only recalled the advice that hoarse voice had offered him, it was really gems of wisdom. Then the lazy, hoarse voice spoke out once again.
“Are you done viewing, if so please prepare to draw your party skills. You can draw thrice, oh wrong, a Silver Prestige party can draw 6 times. You can then choose 3 out of the 6 as your primary 3 party skills.”
Sheyan listened as his heart stirred.
“Perhaps my Lieutenant Colonel has any advice for me?”
The hoarse voice laughed hysterically.
“Nothing none! I see you’re wise for a lifetime, but muddled for a moment. The principle behind that you should be clear. I just want to ask you, what is the name of your party?”
Sheyan listened as a wide panorama unfolded in his heart, it was true! To every single struggler within the realm, their only desire was to live on! Survival, that was essentially the basic!
Next, the procedures to draw the party skills were initiated. Yet before drawing the first option, the nightmare imprint ceased the process and delivered another notification.
“Contestant no.1018 and no.770123 entered the party establishment mission simultaneously.”
“Both parties lasted till the end.”
“Both parties received a mission completion score of maximum.”
“You have fulfilled the relevant criteria.”
“Calculating……”
“Planning…….”
“Determining……..”
After nearly 5 minutes, the next set of notifications appeared.
“You have acquired a covert party skill: ‘Life-link!” (Passive | Every upgrade requires 3 party skill points)”
“Unable to evaluate this skill.”
“Covert party skill: ‘Life-link’ – When simultaneously within party Ace, your life will be mysteriously linked together.”
“Any member once entering near death critical juncture, will engage ‘Boulder State’; having their movement speed decline by 50%, unable to attack nor use any items. Any damage dealt will be forcibly reduce by 50%! Then the other 50% of damage will be transferred to another member who is life-linked. (The transferred damage will factor in the other member’s defence, the member in near death state would not suffer damages)”
“When both parties involved in a life-link sinks into near death state, life-link will collapse.”
“The defence effect of boulder state is a domain precedence.”
(Details of conflicting abilities, and which takes precedence – No precedence < slight precedence < Authoritative (Crushing damages belongs to this) < Domain precedence < Domain authority)”
“You can choose to give up this covert party skill, and choose another randomly drawn party skill. Yes / No ?”
Sheyan and Reef glanced at each other; without a thread of hesitation they selected ‘No’! Seeing that word ‘covert’, they naturally knew this was a rare skill. The rarer something was, the greater its value, this was a thousand year old saying. Naturally, it applied to the specifics of the nightmare realm.
No doubt, the evaluation of this skill was primarily due to its applicable nature to them. No doubt, the effects of Sheyan and Reef linking up was the most compatible. If two brittle long range contestants were to link up; as long as the MT in their group doesn’t fall, this ability would be useless. Once the MT falls, then their link could barely be used as a below average fleeing skill.
One point to note was that Sheyan and Reef were both rare MTs. At present, their total life points had exceeded 1000 points. With this life-link, it was as good as having an additional life!
Of course, this ‘Life-link’ wasn’t that earth shattering actually. For example, it wouldn’t help if the enemy was overwhelmingly superior, or had isolated Reef. No matter how much Reef could tank, after entering in the ‘Life-link’ boulder state, he could at most hold on for several minutes or tens of minutes. The enemies wouldn’t need to seek out Sheyan who was linked, they could just surround Reef and dish out frenzied assaults.
No matter how weak their attacks were, it would at least present 1 point of damage. Hence, ‘Life-link’ wasn’t a totally immune state. Once they managed to transfer damage to Sheyan until he sunk into near death state, then the ‘Life-link’ would collapse; allowing them to kill two birds with one stone.
Yet ultimately, this ‘Life-link’ party skill had undoubtedly propelled the survivability of the two parties. Moreover, this skill could still be upgraded! Although it would require a painful sump of 3 party skill points……….
Following the confirmation of ‘Life-link’ as their first party skill, Sheyan and Reef were left with another 4 times of skill drawing; of which selecting 2 amongst them. Currently, Reef seemed to be the more excited one out of the two, as he actively incited the drawing. The 4 party skill options were as follows:
A. Asylum lvl 1 (Passive): An additional 100 HP and 100 MP is awarded to all members. Vanishes upon leaving the party.
B. Finance lvl 1 (Passive): Every member will enjoy 33% discount on personal items purchased from the realm, through the nightmare imprint; and enjoy selling their junk for 33% more to the realm.
C. Gloryheal (Active): The glory of the party can rescue members from the hands of death during critical moments. After activating this ability, 50% of health will be restored within 12 seconds. No activation cost required, cool down of 12 hours.
D. Pierce lvl 1 (Passive): All members receive 12% in attack.
After a series of deliberations between Sheyan and Reef, they eventually chose the two skills – ‘Asylum’ and ‘Gloryheal’. After confirming, the hoarse voice ushered.
“Very good. The party is successfully established, now I will take my leave. I wish you will attain an excellent battle score for your future skirmishes.”
Sheyan was currently contemplating on Uncle Dasi’s fingers, wanting to inquire of this officer that supposedly claimed to be from the future. Yet the officer abruptly left, which left him with a sour taste in his mouth. At present, an emotionless mechanical tone played again.
“Small Silver Prestige party: ‘Ace’ established!”
“You have joined the Small Silver Prestige party ‘Ace’ !”
“Party scale: Small.” (For certain missions that require a large scale party, small scale party members can choose to collectively join with other large scale party; however, you will be unable to enjoy the party skills of the large party. Under normal circumstances, it is hard for low prestige parties to view information from comparatively higher prestige parties, unless through voluntarily means.)
“Party Prestige: Silver.”
“Party level: lvl 1 (0/15) – Requires 15 party experience to upgrade.”
“Every time a party leader, vice-head or any official member accomplishes a main storyline mission / hidden mission, 1 party experience will be awarded. Apart from that, there are other methods like irregular party level private missions, or massacres during party wars etc.”
“Party leader: Contestant no.1018, Second Lieutenant. This information can be concealed from party members.”
“Details: To promote your party level, party leader must promote to Lieutenant Rank (First lieutenant). Before promoting to Lieutenant, party experience points would be stacked, but party will be unable to level up. (For example, stacking till 20/15 experience)
“Party vice-head: Contestant no.770123, Lieutenant Colonel (Reserve-duty). This information can be concealed from party members.”
“Covert Party skill: ‘Life-link’ lvl 1. This information can be concealed from party members.”
“Party skill: ‘Asylum’ lvl 1 (Passive).”
“Party skill: ‘Gloryheal’ lvl 1 (Active).”
“Official members can enjoy the privileges of Silver Prestige: When engaging in a party war, you can directly induce suppression on the opposing party’s skill; causing their effects to drop by 10% – 30% (Depends on the other party prestige). Probability of causing opposing party’s skill to fail completely is 20% – 50% (Depends on the other party prestige).”
“Unofficial party members can only enjoy the party skill ‘Asylum’.”
Seeing the eventual outcome, Sheyan and Reef were both gladly rejoicing. To be able to harvest such results was certainly out of their expectations. The previous Lord of the Rings world had dangers that left them both physically and mentally exhausted. An ‘A’ difficulty world was indeed horrifying, just two ringleader class mob could’ve easily crushed them both.
To survive under such circumstances, the pressure on them had indeed been amplified exponentially. Hence, after rejoicing, they immediately felt a tremendous fatigue enveloping them. After saying their farewells, they hurriedly returned to the present world.
*
At present, Sheyan was still situated in Hong Kong after he returned to the realm. Though Jessica phoned him for a date, he rejected her due to excessive fatigue; hence he first seeked a good hotel room, and took a nice bubble bath.
While falling asleep, Sheyan couldn’t help planning for his next course of action even amidst his mind fuzziness. As for him, the matters to be settled in the present world were fairly ample.
Firstly, after working for Saruman previously; he had tested if the specimens of wolf, freshwater fish, snake, dog man mantis could be used as raw materials for his concoction. He could then try experimenting on them slowly, and possibly enrich his own concoction varieties.
Next was pertaining to the awakening of his innate ability that Reef mentioned. Through his duel with Yi Wufu, Sheyan could sense he was on the verge of awakening his innate ability. If he had the chance to temper himself in Thailand, then he could possibly make a breakthrough.
Lastly, it was naturally considering Uncle Dasi’s illness. Firstly, he wanted to supervise his treatment, and secondly, he earnestly wanted to craft the ship according to the old man’s heart; finding something for him to do to prevent him from depressing thoughts.
From the perspective of personal gains, both concoction experimentations of new gene-mixes and of awakening his innate ability was equally important. Yet for Sheyan who placed utmost concern on kin, he constantly worried about the father like, Uncle Dasi. Eventually, he decided to return to Taiwan. He would rather he himself face harsher risks and dangers, in exchange for a few comfortable days for Uncle Dasi. Moreover, after returning to Taiwan, he would still be able to attempt to research his concoctions.
After affirming his decisions, Sheyan sunk into deep sleep within the bathtub, and begun releasing satisfied snores. He only woke up upon feeling the chill of the cold water, before he climbed out of the bathtub to resume his sleep on the bed; he only urinated once during this period.
He slept for a full 24 hours before being startled awake by the calling of several service staffs. Because there was a recent case of drug scandal nearby the hotel, the staff were all vigilant like a bird. Upon noticing Sheyan hadn’t left his room for 24 hours, they deemed it suspicious and feared that it was another suicidal drug scandal. They repeatedly knocked but to no response, and finally forced open the door.
Seeing this terrified bunch of hotel staff, Sheyan found it immensely laughable. He helplessly shrugged his shoulders, the only thing he could do now was settle the bill and leave. Yet after leaving the hotel, he felt his stomach growl before seeing a huge queue at the opposite side of the road. A wave of fragrance penetrated his nose, as he couldn’t resist the urge to walk over.
The street stall appeared simple and crude, definitely one that would fail the hygiene safety qualification test. Sheyan waited for his turn, and sat down at a table. Greasy print marks were all over the table. There wasn’t much ingredient, only a yellow skinny woman with a dashboard face. “Thump!” She slammed down a bowl. From the water traces on the bowl, it was obvious it was briefly rinsed after the previous customer just finished with it.
Sheyan was able to use a tissue to wipe the bowl dry; instead, the yellow skinny woman simply dragged over a huge metal ladle and unleashed a sticky liquid into the bowl. The liquid was pretty thick, mixed with crimson and snow white. Piping hot steam drifted out along with an indescribably strange aroma.
He couldn’t help pulling the bowl closer, before scooping with his spoon. The silky delicious porridge contained a splendid blend of seafood and cream. As he chewed gently, his teeth collided against fine threads of silk. It was chewy and flexible, the chinese vermicelli breaking easily in his mouth.
As he lapped the savoury thick soup and not being fully satisfied, he greedily poured down its entire contents into his throat. A wave of faint burnt charcoal taste slid down his throat into his belly, leaving a rich aftertaste.
“This……..” Sheyan carefully observed. “Isn’t this the commonly seen ‘Wun Tsai Chi’ ?”
‘Wun Tsai Chi’ is a common snack offered by street stalls in Hong Kong, usually sold in small bowls. It is also known to be an imitation shark fin soup without any notable valuable ingredients. Strictly speaking, it could be considered in the same category as chicken wing…..
This small bowl of ‘Wun Tasi Chi’ primarily consisted of shiitake mushrooms, shredded meat, ham, egg and vermicelli; such ingredients weren’t unique, and were thickly layered with cornstarch after slowly cooking for 3 hours. Its most distinct favour would be determined by the unique soup stock of the stall owner.
Sheyan craved for another bowl, as he raised his bowl to request for a replenishment. The yellow skinny woman strolled over to collect his bowl, her face grim as she thought Sheyan was just here for a free meal. Hence, she sternly issued a “No more” to him, turning around as she carried her basin full of soup away.
The next thing he saw was the male owner, along with two assistants, carrying over a huge covered wok and placing it on the stove. The boiling water within the wok seemed to weight 50 kg. The greasy surface at the tip boiled vigorously, producing foam and dispersed out with an unexplainable and thick aroma.
Witnessing this scene, some customers shook their heads and sigh, leaving their empty seats behind. Several waiting customers immediately pounce forward to occupy the vacant seats. Some people even starting phoning their colleagues, asking if they wanted takeaways.
Sheyan was a little curious, sitting quietly to observe. After a brief while, that yellow skinny woman marched over with a sullen face; using her greasy and filthy notebook along with a cracked pen, as she registered each orders of the sitting customers.
Sheyan was baffled internally, indecisive of what he wanted to eat. Yet one of his good points was not being picky, moreover that previous bowl of soup had left him with a favourable impression. He strained his ears to hear the nearby person ordering; when it was his time, he imitated the exact words.
“3 portions of the back leg, spice paste, a half portion of offals.”
*
After one of the serving attendants carried over a piping hot bowl, he finally realized that this was actually boiled dog meat! No wonder some weren’t willing to eat. Yet the person he imitated from was eating like as though he was an unruly duck on a wild goose chase.
In front of him, the dog meat was stewed skilfully, its furless sleek skin swivelled around in the soup. The snowy white thick soup had several fresh green shallots sprinkled over. A strong fragrance assailed his nose, at the bottom of the soup were rare pulps of yellow pea.
Not a person was muttering a single word here; everyone seated here had forsaken their societal identities as white-collared, black society, police, public servant, prostitutes and more. All that were left were gluttons. He could only hear the savory joy of people sucking and chewing on their food….
To Sheyan, his previous bowl of ‘Wun Tsai Chi’ didn’t count as proper food. He licked his lips and could hear himself swallowing his saliva. Moved by his surroundings, he coordinated his chopsticks as he tore of a large clump of robust meat off the dog leg. After blowing at it, he dipped it inside the spicy garlic paste by the side, and consumed it. He could clearly hear his teeth sinking into the tender flesh, releasing delightful joys. The unique flavor of dog meat and oil, mixed with random condiments slithered down his body, causing his fingers to move involuntarily to tear of a second slice.
With the enhancement of the spicy garlic paste and after eating 3 chunks of meat consecutively, Sheyan hiccupped with satisfaction; grabbing a bowl of soup to drink. The bowl was bland, probably lacking salt. Yet it was effective in rinsing away the greasiness in his mouth. The peas beneath the soup were soft; his tongue gently crushing it into pieces.
As he continued eating, he felt regretful after the third piece. When he was at his fifth, he felt an intense frustration. After eating two more mouthfuls, he finally called out loudly.
“Boss, get me another kilogram of dog’s meat!”
The skinny yellow woman walked over with an icy cold tone.
“No.”
Sheyan replied.
“…….and if I add cash?”
The skinny yellow woman became impatient as she gnashed her teeth at Sheyan.
“NO!!!! Scram after you finish, don’t disturb this lady boss’s business. This lady boss has a game of mahjong at 3!”
Facing the fierce and ferocious lady boss; Sheyan could only reluctantly finish his meat, drink his soup and finally finished up the mixed dog offals. It was here that he realized the dog offals weren’t chargeable, they were like pickled radish in restaurants. After paying his bill, he actually only had to pay for the 3 portions of dog meat. The price was extremely fair, no wonder customers flocked here like wild ducks.
After filling his tummy, Sheyan’s spirits were uplifted as he decided to shop around for gifts before flying back to Taiwan. Nothing noteworthy happened along the way. Sanzi had followed in accordance with Sheyan’s arrangement; renting a seaside detached house before inviting the old granny to care of Uncle Dasi.
After returning home, he only saw the granny sweeping the floor without Uncle Dasi’s and Sanzi’s presence. Sheyan then found out they had went to the hospital to change the dressing of his hand. Strangely, this process would normally only require an hour, but an entire half afternoon had elapsed already.
Sheyan was familiar with the hospital that Uncle Dasi frequented; he had recommended this to Uncle Dasi, which was known as the ‘Executive Yuan, military associated hospital for the retiree citizens’. Due to its relations with the military, they were known to be skilled in medical treatment.
Before Uncle Dasi got his treatment, his wound was always festering boils, but now it had finally healed up; probably only leaving a scar within a week’s time. Sheyan was immensely worried and reckoned that something was up. He hurriedly ran over to the road to flag a cab.
After reaching the hospital, Sheyan noticed several black sedans parked at its entrance. He didn’t really care as he strided in. After inquiring with the counter lady, and finding out the dressing treatment was at the fifth floor, he took the lift up. Suddenly, he realized the main door of the hospital were dripping with wet bloodstains, which appeared countless times until he arrived at the lift entrance. The bloodstains were fresh, and had probably surfaced several hours earlier.
After Sheyan went inside the lift, it was similarly a similar scene of blood where its interior carpet was stained with moist blackness. After reaching the fifth floor, he could see a frightened and nervous expression of a nurse. Even the doctors here carried a fearful expression and their spoken words were executed in whispers, as though they were frightened by something.
Sheyan probed a few steps in, before heading towards the lateral treatment rooms. After a corner he halted his footsteps. Ahead of him, inside the 30 metre long corridor, the stretch of two seats along it were densely packed with matured males, both young and old. Some were smoking, and had flustered expressions, some had flourishing tattoos and distinct scars; occasionally vulgarities could be heard.
Naturally, such a scene only happened in black society movies. Most probably, one of the gang boss had suffered a crushing blow. These gang members all carried sorrowful looks on their faces, along with traces of unwavering loyalty.
Although the atmosphere here was stern and stifling, Sheyan had experienced such scenes on numerous occasions before. In actual fact, not a single member gave him the shuddering sensation of a wild beast. He directly strolled into the corridor.
The gang members casted a cold and murderous look at him, being glared at like this was rather uncomfortable. When Sheyan arrived at before a gang member, who was wearing a suit with sunglasses, he was obstructed. Another male, with folded hands against his chest and wearing a gold necklace, stood up and warned.
“Little kid, what are you doing?” ¨C36CSheyan didn’t want any trouble, he slanted his head and gently replied. ¨C37C”Visiting a patient.” ¨C38CThe gold-necklace male continued. ¨C39C”Who?” ¨C40CSheyan answered indifferently. ¨C41C”Visiting my uncle. My little brother accompanied him to the doctor. The counter said treatment room 5-07.” ¨C42CThe gold-necklace male seemed like he didn’t want another unnecessary trouble, thus he let Sheyan go. Suddenly, an argument resounded at the treatment room at the end of the corridor. It swiftly escalated to loud scoldings, before a glass shattering sound pierced out. Then the door was smashed open, a curled out person was tossed out at the same time along with an unceasing torrent of obscenities. ¨C43C”Little scumbag! Before my big brother’s health report is out, nobody is fking allowed to get treatment, even the doctor has to wait! F off, get your medicine from your mum!”
Sheyan’s pupils instantly shrank; because the curled up figure was exceedingly familiar, it was shockingly Sanzi!
Seeing the shriveled Sanzi, Sheyan immediately charged forward. That golden spectacled male tried pulling him; yet to his horror, the male ahead was was trying to hinder suddenly released an unstoppable force against him. He instantly stumbled backwards several steps, as his back knocked against the wall to cushion him from falling. Within his heart, he was immensely shocked at this little kid’s unbelievable strength.
Sheyan immediately hoisted Sanzi up with one hand. Sanzi’s face was full of tears, as he fainted from a huge bruise on his head, as he quietly whimpered “Brother Yan’ before fading to silence. After sheltering Sanzi, Sheyan immediately caught glimpse of a man wearing a skull jacket striding over. His style was Chan Ho-Nam, his face shape like Liu Huan, and his built like Sammo Hung. He was wearing glossy black leather shoes, and had styled up greasy black long hair; pointing at Sanzi, he shouted.
(TN: The names above are all chinese actors/ famous persons or fictional chinese characters; which can be googled if you wish to see how they look)
“Not scramming yet? Let me tell you, you dare to whine in front of I, Matong. Then I won’t even spare the chickens and dogs in your household! Your meals will originate from the toilets!”
(TN: (��Ͱ) Matong, means toilet bowl in chinese)
Sheyan’s eyes were currently emitting a threatful blaze, he completely ignored Matong as he asked Sanzi.
“Where’s Uncle Dasi? Is he alright?”
Sanzi shrank behind Sheyan as he shook his head, his tears still flowing.
“He’s fine. I left him at the waiting room to sit. After noticing they were taking too long, I headed here to consult with the doctor. Instead, I was scolded by him, and he even hit me!”
Sheyan’s rage was materializing into a sword in his eyes. Sanzi understood the prowess of his brother, he immediately hid behind Sheyan and scolded in agitation.
“Moronic fat pig! Is this your father’s hospital? Based on what can’t I see a doctor!”
Matong’s eyes instantly widened as he berated back.
“Idiotic fool! You have eyes but yet you do not see Mount Tai. If I don’t rip your mouth into shreds, I won’t be called Matong!”
After scolding, he pounce forward! Attempting to seize Sanzi.
Yet how would Sheyan just let him do it? He reached his hand out to block Matong’s. That fatty was actually rather agile, and raised his legs in attempt to kick. Who knew that Sheyan’s feet shifted and effortlessly shoved against Matong’s heel when it wasn’t even 10 cm off the ground yet. Without giving him chance to react, Sheyan lifted it!
Matong instantly lost his balance, his hands waving about randomly as he stumbled backwards. His hands then dragged down a medical cart behind, as syringes and random medical supplies came crashing to the ground.
Being made to look like a clown in front of everyone, Matong’s face swelled uglily. Although his name was called Matong (toiletbowl), his brain wasn’t just filled with shit. He understood this person named ‘Bro Yan’ should be a martial arts expert, he immediately roared out.
“Si’er, Daliu, Danta, thrash this garbage!”
With one roar, a total of 4 guys suddenly rushed out of the treatment room, some plucking out daggers from their waists. One of them sneered as he picked up a glass shard on the ground, teasing at Sheyan maliciously with a throating slitting movement. The one named Danta was a mixed-blood, he purposely revealed a black pistol shaft at his waist.
“There’s actually…..a gun?” Sheyan tightened up. Of course he didn’t care about a gun, but was merely concerned for Uncle Dasi and Sanzi. Instead, Matong misinterpreted his expression. He laughed loudly as he pierced in, grabbing against Sheyan’s hair. Then he slapped his face and scoffed.
“Now you’re scared. Kneel! Come polish your big brother’s boots with your tongue, then I, Matong, will be benevolent and let you off!”
Sheyan’s face was solemn. Instead he didn’t act out but allowed Matong to seize him. That was because his face was still facing the corridor, he was looking at what Matong couldn’t.
When Matong marched towards him, that treatment room door that was heavily guarded swung open. The two guards in suit bowed silently in reverence. Two bodyguards walked out of the door first, vigilantly scanning their surroundings. Then another man walked out.
A man that was extremely familiar to Sheyan. It was that same gangster boss he had encountered back in Hong Kong, his name was Gu Yuean. Sheyan still remembered him, and his words that were said previously – “You’re actually sparing me?” It was as if the act of not killing him wasn’t giving him face.
Strictly speaking, Sheyan had killed many of his underlings. Yet Yi Wufu had violated the nightmare realm’s laws and wanted to silence Gu Yuean. Sheyan took a slash on his behalf, and was considered to have rescued this chairman Gu. It could be said that he had written off hatred with his saving grace.
To Sheyan, Uncle Dasi and Sanzi were bound to remain in Taiwan for a period of time. Hence, it was best to keep a low profile, but he was not a merciful person that would endure all the way until the last straw. “If Gu Yuean decides to stay neutral or decides to fend for his underling, then today this hospital’s doctors would have to work overtime…….”
From nearby, there were still a bunch of people about to act on impulse. Yet towards the big boss Gu Yuean of theirs, who was a total devil in their eyes, they naturally had to remain watchful. Ultimately, with one gaze into the near distant, Gu Yuean immediately noticed that face! That person!
That mediocre, unnoticeable face.
……that blood drenched slaughterer, that murderous madman!
Sheyan gazed at Gu Yuean, understanding that he recognized him, he humbly swayed his head to signal Gu Yuean not to reveal his status. At this point, Matong who was completely oblivious to what was happening, walked over and had seized Sheyan’s hair……with a frosted countenance, Gu Yuean, who was about to reach the commotion, coincidentally heard the sentence about ‘licking boots’.
Sheyan allowed his hair to remain pulled, as he gently announced.
“I just need a doctor to treat my uncle, and you want me to lick your boots?”
Matong gripped harder! Furiously raging out.
“Cut the bullshit. Let me tell you, kneel immediately! If not, I will break both your legs!!”
Suddenly, a hand stretched out from behind and ferociously tore off a chunk of Matong’s hair! Matong immediately cried out, cursing profusely. Instead, the moment he saw that the owner of the hand was Gu Yuean’s bodyguard, the vulgarities in his mouth immediately sank back into his belly.
The bodyguard released his grip; he had imagined a scene of skyfall of hair floating down before cool appearance, yet he didn’t expect that Matong hadn’t washed his hair for days. His hair was all greasy and revolting, dandruff and oily hair pasted onto his palm. It was a disgusting sight to behold, without saying a word he fiercely kicked out.
Finally, the bodyguard had halted his violence, with a loathing expression, he smeared the hair onto the nearby wall. Gu Yuean’s powerful voice then rung out.
“This brat is called Matong? The company’s aspiration has always been about providing a decent bowl of rice to our brothers, it is not for you to use our name to oppress the public, and jeopardize society! Your big brother Tiger is still inside, his fate is unknown; and yet you are here ruining his reputation. This is a public hospital, yet you prevent others from seeking treatment! Do you think he wants that? Do you think this is the behavior he wants you to have? Tiger isn’t able to discipline you, but I can! Break his legs for me!”
“Indeed he is the chairman” Albeit a chairman of a black society, his words were refined and cutting, smashing in heavily. The stupefied Matong trembled in agony, the fear in his heart would traumatize him for ages.
A small hooligan like him wasn’t even worthy of licking Gu Yuean’s spit on the ground. Being admonished by the leader today could already be considered mercy. He gazed blankly as the chairman spoke, nothing but fear cut into his ears; yet when the words ‘break his legs’ were spoken, it was clearly terrorizing.
In a flash, Matong immediately recalled the words ‘Break his legs’ he uttered to this ‘Bro Yan’. Wasn’t this retribution itself? Then the bodyguard actually pulled out a gun! This gun wasn’t the cheap counterfeit Danta had! His eyes flickered in fear as he witnessed a black barrel pointing at his left leg! His mind instantly blanked out, a stench begun emitting from beneath his waist……….
Sheyan frowned slightly, Gu Yuean was simply making it too obvious. This blockhead Matong was indeed irritable, but breaking his legs? Undoubtedly, it indicated that Gu Yuean was selling face to him. Besides, Sheyan dared to owe a favour to this United Bamboo boss. Although, he also dared to not give Gu Yuean face, he still had to think for Uncle Dasi and Sanzi.
Hence, Sheyan immediately pulled Sanzi up and allowed him to consult with the doctor. Then Sheyan casually took the chance to stab his foot into Matong’s butt; which was coincidentally the same time the bodyguard fired off. He hadn’t anticipated a kick from Sheyan. The bullet struck against the floor, sparks scattering about as it ricocheted into the corridor. Matong instantly shrieked in horror but immediately realized he didn’t feel any pain, his soaked pants was filled with his own pee and not blood……nevertheless, he slumped weakly to the ground.
After Sheyan’s actions, Gu Yuean waved his hand to prevent his bodyguard from taking other actions. He then turned to the rest amidst the corridor and commanded.
“Those who have other matters, you are dismissed. Those that don’t, go to the temple and pray for Tiger. What are you still idling here for? Do you think Tiger will get better with you guys idling around? Let the big boss, me, be flustered about Tiger’s safety! The rest scram! Run along now!”
The underlings of the United Bamboo gang didn’t dare reject the command of their head and hurriedly scurried away. Sheyan casted a glance at Gu Yuean, then he turned to enter the treatment room. He knew this black society head definitely had matters seeking his help. Yet, if Gu Yuean could use him, why couldn’t he use Gu Yuean? There were mutual benefits to be gained! Hence, he remained composed and without fear.
It didn’t matter what Gu Yuean was plotting; once the ship was completed and Uncle Dasi and Sanzi were accustomed to it, attempting to find them once they started sailing all year round would be futile. Sheyan also didn’t fear anyone, but if one hair of Uncle Dasi or Sanzi’s was touched, then Sheyan would slay his entire family!
Therefore, Sheyan wasn’t very fearful of this matter. At present, the black society members had left, and the clinic was back to its orderly state. After changing Uncle Dasi’s dressing, Sheyan let Sanzi and Uncle Dasi return home first. Sanzi had always been an attentive one, he understood there would be repercussions to his brother with that what happened, and whined that he didn’t want to leave. Sheyan had to pull out his big brother threatening schemes before he honestly led Uncle Dasi away, feeling aggrieved.
As expected, after waiting at the main entrance of the hospital for several minutes, a sullen face Matong hastily ran over with a teary expression to offer his gratitude and apology. He was holding onto wrinkled notes worth 300 dollars, which he probably took from his own underlings.
The person named Matong (Toilet bowl), didn’t literally have shit for his brain, he clearly recognized it was Sheyan who had spared his legs. Sheyan couldn’t be bothered to socialize with him; yet in hindsight, this local ruffian may prove to be useful in the future and thus he asked Matong to leave his number. Upon thinking that he had been overwhelmed by favor from a superior, Matong bowed respectfully before leaving.
Sheyan remained standing still for roughly 2 minutes before a black sedan came pulling over. A butler walked out and respectfully spoke to Sheyan.
“Sir, my house master invites you for lunch.”
Sheyan replied modestly.
“That isn’t necessary. Transmit this for me; if it is killing or setting fire, I will never accept. But if someone wishes to kill him, I can be his bodyguard. Of course, it comes with a price.”
Speaking till here, Sheyan paused before amending with five words.
“And it will be expensive.”
Without saying any words, the butler turned and left. After a while, he turned around and asked.
“Since that’s the case, can I request this sir to leave your contact information?”
No doubt, this move by Gu Yuean was a beauty. As the regional mafia chairman of the United Bamboo, if he wanted to find anyone, it would be simply faster than the police. Merely, just the fact that Sheyan’s uncle was a patient here, he would be even able to track his 18 ancestral generations back. Yet of course once he did that, it would be offending Sheyan. But if he got Sheyan to leave his contact details, then this simply suggested that he wouldn’t investigate his private affairs in the future.
After this matters concluded, Sheyan first returned to check on Uncle Dasi; and was relieved to see uncle Dasi’s inflammation had subsided. More crucially, though his fingers were lost, he still had his palms; after installing an artificial limb, he recovered a huge portion of functionality. At most, he could now steer a rudder and with adequate help, he would be able to navigate a ship.
In Dasi’s perspective; firstly, his new ship had started constructing and signalled the renewal of his hope. No doubt, now that he would be able to work with his own hands, he was exceedingly joyous. He started familiarizing himself with and practiced his artificial fingers, not caring if his wounds would turn sore with blood.
Witnessing Uncle Dasi straightening himself up, Sheyan surged with happiness. He was previously afraid Uncle Dasi would slowly wither without a lease on life. Seeing the joy of hope ignite within Uncle Dasi, was already his greatest desire.
Right now, Sanzi was still a youngster who loved having fun; besides Sheyan was extremely generous to him, and didn’t mistreat him with respect to money. On the second day, Sheyan couldn’t find him. After inquiring, he realized that Sanzi had left to seek entertainment at Xiwu pier.
Although Sanzi was still young, he had already gone through several voyages. Under influence, he had long ago interacted with activities like gambling and prostitution. Was gambling and prostitution a bad thing? Definitely so! However, everything had its pros and cons. A person with good self control going out for some fun wouldn’t necessarily mean losing his household fortunes, but instead it was a good way of relieving the pressure and emotions. Sheyan only lightly berated him after Sanzi returned, while Sanzi remained merry. However, after skimming through Sheyan’s list of purchasable items for him, he no longer laughed……
“Brother Yan! What do you need these things for? And so many!?”
The astonished Sanzi murmured to himself.
“Wolf, freshwater fish, snake, dog, mantis……and the more the better?! What’d you need these for!”
Sheyan impatiently scolded.
“Don’t meddle in my affairs. I’ll give you 3,000 dollars hurry up and get it for me, less nonsense.”
Sanzi shrugged his shoulders, feeling that this was all too strange, but he could feel Sheyan’s imposing demeanor increasing day by day. Though Sanzi had an indecisive personality, he was relatively adept in settling affairs. He immediately headed over to the Xiwu pier to engage in a huge shopping spree, on the pretext that he was purchasing for a wealthy tycoon. The merchants in the pier understood the eccentric nature of rich people, they didn’t really suspect anything, the most important thing to them was money.
Night time, a panting Sanzi just reached home. Since they lived near to the shore; amongst the 5 materials he required, the dog and freshwater fish were the most plentiful. As for the mantis, Sanzi managed to acquire 2 from the hands of 2 little kids after an entire afternoon. The two kids then excitedly waved their notes around as they sprinted home.
From then on, Sheyan cherished his time as he spent the next few days conducting focus research in the underground basement of the house. He obviously knew Sanzi was suspicious, but if he accidentally saw what Sheyan was doing, the nightmare imprint would instantly notify Sheyan of breaching the realm’s secret. When that happens, Sheyan would have to tragically terminate his own kin. Hence, he was extremely stern with the entrance of the underground room, securing it heavily.
This mischievous brat, Sanzi, had actually tried being a peeping tom twice, but was instead arrested by Sheyan; Sheyan then tied him up and locked him up in his own room. Sheyan proceeded to sternly discipline him until his nose bled, as he cried loudly till Uncle Dasi arrived to resolve the issue. However, being disciplined and beaten aboard was commonplace, and Sanzi was already accustomed to it. Moreover, he knew that this was indeed his fault. He could only hold back his tears as he refrained from sneaking around again.
After nearly half a month of experimenting and countless failures, Sheyan finally concocted a new gene-mix. Its materials included the mantis as its primary, hence the name ‘Mantis gene-mix’. Its effects were bizarre – attack speed increase 5%, movement speed increase 5 points, accuracy decrease by 5%.
This gene-mix could neither be described as strong nor weak, even containing a negative attribute. Yet the most important aspect was that it couldn’t blend with other gene-mixes! Since that was the case, using it in battle would be nearly worthless.
Yet Sheyan knew that in this world, there was no such thing as success with a single stroke, being able to concoct a new recipe was already pretty outstanding. His current product may be crude, but surely there was room for improvement. If he could use other variables to fine tune his concoction, then it would surely produce good fruits.
After a period of sleepless nights, Sheyan was rather exhausted, and immediately sunk into sleep. Only when Uncle Dasi reminded him to check out on the construction of their ship, did he receive a notification from the nightmare realm. His eyes sparkled with vigor, his spirits were raised and he couldn’t help breathing deeply.
Strictly speaking, the days spent residing in Xiwu pier were rather relaxing. However after 2-3 days, he constantly felt an unenthusiastic sensation; as though his every meal was without salt. In recent days, he even started to miss the thrill of the realm. If this continued developing, Sheyan wasn’t sure if he could maintain his sanity if he stayed in the present world for several months.
Noticing that Sheyan’s spirits suddenly soared and seeing him wave his hands excitedly, Sanzi was even wondering what wrong medicine did his big brother take. It was a complete contrast from a few days back; this lifeless visage was suddenly flourishing with elation. At present, Sanzi who wasn’t considered pure anymore, couldn’t help letting his vile imaginations run wild.
“He must have been feeling choked for these couple of days eh? Probably just received news of his lover coming to Taiwan, so he rushed off to extinguish his ‘flames’?”
If Sheyan had known of the wretched thoughts in Sanzi’s brain, he would surely display a good showing of fists and kicks to him; eliminating his vile thoughts. After seeing Sheyan leave, Sanzi visited Uncle Dasi before heading off to the pier for some fun again.
***
When Sheyan returned to the realm, the previously eerie and frightening realm in comparison, seemed rather cute now. When he stepped into his personal room, he discovered messages left by several people.
Amongst them, two were message requests by Mongensha, to enroll into the party.
One belonged to the person that purchased the zergling shell (Darkblue grade) from him previously, who wanted to purchase more,
7-8 messages were in regards to that silver storyline item ‘Hydralisk rare acid gland’, others had cited interest to appraise it! Sheyan rolled his eyes and sighed, what more could he say? This damned thing had been left inside the realm for so long, this was already belated news!
Lastly, Reef also issued a message to Sheyan – If any unusual matter arose, then he had to proceed with caution.
Sheyan then proceeded to the marketplace to check if his silver storyline item ‘Hydralisk rare acid gland’ had been appraised; upon reaching, he realized the marketplace was bustling with activities. After making a round, he realized there were strangely, much more purchasers than purchasables here.
He then hastily signalled the slut Jinkuang, paying him 100 utility points to provide him with the latest gathered information on the marketplace.
Sheyan frowned, as he slowly unfolded toilet paper that was stained yellow, instantly deciphering the several clues on the marketplace through the dog like handwriting of slut Jinkuang.
“The highest inflation here is medical supplies, food…..its inflation has reached 76.4%.”
“Next is the achievement points being sold….its inflation reached 47.1%.”
“Then various equipments/ weapons that enhances physique, defence, life points, evasion……its inflation is 38.2%.”
“The most valuable transaction belongs to a micro magic circle that can instantly transport one back to the nightmare realm……..”
“………..”
“……….”
Viewing this list of statistics, he couldn’t help his voice involuntarily turning shaky.
“What the heck, is the realm preparing for war?”
No wonder Sheyan was astonished. Actually this scenario that was playing out in the realm now, was a replica of inflating rates when countries prepared for war in the present world. Instead, he immediately observed Jinkuang standing still, scratching and feeling out his own body. Sheyan was taken aback.
What are you doing?”
Jinkuang solemnly stared at Sheyan.
“Master, recently I found an excellent pet to present to you.”
Sheyan was a little surprised, his heart filled with anticipation.
“Let me see it?”
Jinkuang started shivering, as though he was about to experience an epilepsy flare out and would collapse while frothing. After a brief while, he finally yelled.
“Come out! Cuisite! Oh wait, wrong, Basite!
Sheyan widened his eyes in anticipating as he stared the empty space around Jinkuang, yet nothing happened. Then his gaze finally paused at Jinkuang’s stretched out palm, causing him to nearly spit out blood.
“You…….are you telling me the pet, is this flea? Cui…..Cuisite, wait no! Basite!”
Jinkuang seriously continued.
“Master, it is extremely useful!”
“Sheyan refuted in grief.
“I know, are you going to tell me its greatest merit is not requiring money to rear it. Just sucking my own blood is enough.”
Jinkuang leaked out his trademark sly smile.
“Master is wise! Apart from that……..oi oi oi, don’t leave! I just need a small babysitting fee, just a little!”
Sheyan then easily used 200 utility points to dismiss the delighted Jinkuang, before he received a notification.
“Your party member (Vice head Reef) has entered the realm!”
“Your party members have been assembled.”
“Party ‘Ace’ current level: lvl 0.”
“Party scale: small.”
“Party prestige: Silver.”
“You possess the qualifications to participate in this time’s low intensity realm war!”
“Your party prestige: Silver. Your next world will be randomly drawn, unable to foresee it as of now.”
“Silver Prestige privilege: Once you draw a realm war world; if you are not satisfied, you can pay achievement points to re-draw another realm war world at random!”
“Do you wish to enlist your party? Yes / No?”
“You can choose to reject this enlistment. However, during your next enlistment, participating in the realm war will result in a higher intensity realm war!”
Viewing this information, Sheyan was momentarily stunned. He suddenly recalled the message left by Reef, hence, he requested a moment to consider. The nightmare imprint responded “You have 60 minutes to answer before entering the next world.” With this spare time, he hurriedly contacted Reef. After the two met up, Sheyan instantly got to the point.
“We probably have to participate in this realm war.”
Reef was surprised, then he produced a long sigh.
“So indeed it is so……I knew it…..I never knew that we would actually have to go to that damned place when the party was just established!”
Sheyan’s gaze flickered.
“Is the war very tough? But isn’t it the case, more powers comes with greater responsibilities. Isn’t this the norm?
“More powers comes with greater responsibilities?” Reef still surprised as he digested Sheyan’s words, then he smiled reluctantly. “Looks like running away is pointless. I originally thought I could temporarily escape from that nightmare, I never knew it would actually return in a swirl of dust!”
Sheyan smiled.
“Actually for some things, avoiding is futile. Only by genuinely facing it can you can utterly place it down.”
Reef sighed.
“I understand, your intentions should be to enlist into this time’s realm war?”
Sheyan nodded and smiled slightly.
“That’s correct.”
Reef sincerely replied.
“Since that’s the case, then….it is about time I tell you about a realm’s secret. You know our current realm limitation right?”
Sheyan nodded.
“Of course, the one about our attributes being capped at 50 points right.”
Reef slowly continued.
“Once an attribute reaches the 50 points limit, then you will automatically receive a powerful bonus. For example when i borrowed that +5 silver storyline accessory from you; after breaking through the 50 points physique boundary, I receive 3 options as my bonus, and could choose 2.”
Sheyan and Reef were both colleagues who walked on the path of physique, naturally he was curious about those options. Reef honestly leaked to Sheyan. The options were:
A: Defence +15 points
B: Physique +15 points
C: HP +300 points
Reef then continued.
“Not just that! After selecting the two bonus options, you can further select a secondary attribute amongst the other 6 attributes! Once you affirm your secondary attribute, you will be given bonuses, 3 options but choose 1. For me, I selected agility, and the 3 options are as follows.”
A: Movement speed +30 points/ Evasion +10%
B: Agility +15 points.
C: Long range combat attacks increases 15 – 60 points (Determined by the weapon’s attack speed – For example rapid fire rates like submachine guns would increase by 15 points, while slow weapons like bow and arrow would increase by 60 points) / Attack speed increase by 5% – 30% (Based on personal attack speed)
“Of course, you can only choose one option for your secondary attribute. Also, the bonuses are constant. If you select physique as your main attribute, then the 3 options would be exactly identical as mine.”
(Citing Mogensha as an example for those that do not understand. His greatest attribute is agility; thus when it reaches 50 points, he would have 3 options of bonus for agility. Then he would be able to assign a second attribute to his highest, perceptive sense. But he could likewise assign physique as his secondary attribute, and then receive the 3 reward bonuses for physique.)
After hearing, Sheyan was enlightened. For Reef who pursued defence wholeheartedly, he would’ve surely chosen options a and b; resulting in a total additional upgrade of 22.5 points of defence and 150 HP. Once he had chosen agility as his attribute, and chose evasion; then he naturally would make up for the shortcomings of a high defence. No wonder he was able to resist the terrifying assaults of the Tyrannical Spore Colony.
Reef continued.
“According to my inference, the nightmare realm probably feels that a person’s innate ability would represent his own development direction. However it may not suit their preferred long term growth plan, thus they allowed contestants an autonomous possibility; to let them decide their own growth direction through the initial phase of battling. Of course, this growth would take a long arduous, and treacherous process. Yet those who survived, they would be able to find a path that suited them the most!
Sheyan paused for a moment, and replied.
“If that’s the case, then I believe breaking through the boundary isn’t a simple thing. Beneath the primary and secondary attribute, there definitely lies many more relevant secrets!”
Reef forced a smile.
“Yes, but sadly, I don’t know because I haven’t gone past the boundary test. I’ve never stepped through that door, of course I wouldn’t know what lies behind it.”
Sheyan nodded.
“Then what is the extreme boundary test?”
Reef sighed deeply, his eyes exposing a challenging expression.
“In this world, gains would come with losses. Once you reach the 50 points boundary and selected your bonuses; following that, your current base attributes, inclusive of the interspatial region of your nightmare imprint, would be sealed up after a short period. Simply said, your base attributes would no longer make progress, and your interspatial region would be locked! Moreover, you won’t be allowed to trade! After completing any mission, selling any things would not provide you with rewards nor potential points! The only way out, is choosing to take on the boundary test, and breaking through the limits!”
“As for my previous party, they were annihilated in the process of assisting me with that boundary test…..” Reef’s words carried a solemn sadness, a devastation that could even pierce through Sheyan’s heart. It was a sorrow that had deeply lodge into his memories.
Sheyan furrowed his brows.
“Then why were you able to trade my accessory back to me?”
Questioned by Sheyan, Reef sighed deeply. He drank down a gulp of alcohol before sinking into his thoughts. Then he replied.
“The reward bonus at the boundary is extremely formidable, of course its test wouldn’t be a small thing. One wrong step would lead to future calamities, the realm wouldn’t force someone to their death. Even if you receive the bonus upon reaching the boundary, they will give you an adaptability period of a week. During this period, your will retain the boundary bonus, but once your attribute drops from 50 points, this bonus will vanish. You will be demoted back to an average contestant. But after a week arrives, and you still posses your 50 points boundary, then you will sink into the boundary test state!”
Sheyan’s pupils fluctuated, he was about to speak before Reef laughed bitterly and continued.
“I know what you want to say. Only when encountering a crisis will you wear your equipment to force yourself to the boundary right? In this way, you can display the greatest might within the entire week of 144 hours – That’s a joke! You really think the realm would let you exploit that? Every time you strip off the 50 points boundary bonus, the realm will penalize 36 hours off the adaptability period! When all’s said and done, you can at most tap into this strength 4 times!”
Sheyan couldn’t help but sigh. He gazed at Reef, his eyes still filled with expectations. Reef helplessly shrug his shoulders.
“Don’t look at me, I’ve already exhausted all my adaptability period, if I do it again, I would have no choice but to challenge the boundary test.”
Sheyan frowned internally.
“Since that’s the case, then we can mature first and grow our 7 base attributes above 40 points. Then we can consider the matter of breaking through the boundary.”
Reef smirked as he stared at Sheyan and asked.
“If you were the realm, would you allow a contestant to do that?”
Sheyan was shock, as he shook his head and forced out a smile.
“Never!”
Reef dejectedly continued.
“The realm definitely has a weighing factor, its methods are unknown to us. They are able to factor in your current base attribute points, the nightmare worlds you have experienced, your current equipments, your personal abilities, innate abilities etc and determine from there. As long as your prowess has reached a definite maturity, the realm will instigate your main mission difficulty rate. You will discover the missions getting harder, while the rewards become lesser.”
“Most importantly, the difference between a contestant that hasn’t broken through the boundaries, and one that has is immense, like the heavens and the earth. If you continue in that manner; when the realm reckons that you have reached the standards for boundary break through, they would install horrifying difficulty levels, missions that are impossible to complete without first breaking through the boundaries. Citing a simple example, missions like slaying Saruman of the Lord of the Rings; and if we cannot complete, the punishment may be as bad as utter obliteration!”
Hearing Reef’s words, he suddenly felt the realm was vastly cruel, it was honestly forcing you into a never ending, Ultimate Evolution! He paused for a moment, but suddenly raised his head and sneered. His eyes ablaze with a wild defying flame.
“What an interesting development, I love it!”
*
This time, Mogensha had entered the realm and very urgently inquired about the situation with their party establishment. Honestly, Sheyan was indeed a generous man. He straightforwardly told him about the negative aspects of joining – that was they had to enlist into a low intensity realm war.
Yet Mogensha didn’t mind, he forced his enrollment. After enrolling, Mogensha was aggrieved, as he complained about not being called to participate in the party establishment mission. Then after a rough scroll of the party welfare and benefits, the skills of the party, he was stunned shitless for a full 10 minutes……before squeezing out two words through the cracks of his teeth.
“Heavens, pervert…….”
Afterward, through Sheyan’s questioning, Mogensha also divulged the information he knew so far. Actually, this low intensity realm war wasn’t aimed at parties, but towards all contestants.
Mogensha’s explanation was close to Reef’s, the realm would engage in an evaluation of all contestants during intervals. Once a contestant/ party reaches a suitable level of power, they would be enlisted! Then they would be thrown into this realm war. Parties would be denoted by their average strength and their real circumstances. Hence, if a party schemes to lower the intensity by filling themselves with new recruits along with a small portion of veterans, it would be impossible.
The intensity of realm wars are separated into low intensity realm wars, medium intensity realm wars, and high intensity realm wars. It is said that beyond it, is even an insanely frightening realm crusade. For a low intensity realm war, it is more of an adaptability phase. Its difficulty level is roughly at the ‘C+’ difficulty setting of a world, except polluted with widespread slaughters.
One noteworthy point was that the headcount entering a realm war would fulfill hundreds. Moreover it was a free world setting, hence parties will rise against parties, parties will ally with parties, and parties will annihilate parties! More crucially, frequently, a unique mission would appear in the realm war, this mission was hailed as the ‘Golden side mission’! Only an individual or a single party would be able to accomplish it! Hence, the world would be destined to be a stage for bloody massacre.
Yet one must remember, when the realm establishes a mission, it would be under the pretext that all warring contestants united as one. Therefore……most of the time, this Golden side mission would never be completed.
Because contestants participating in that realm war were like a bunch of loose sand. To unite most people towards a common goal of selfless sacrifice, letting someone else dictate their moves, it was simply an impossibility!
Speaking till here, Mogensha regretfully sighed.
“Therefore up till today, it seems that not a single person knows what the rewards of a Golden side mission is.”
As Sheyan listened to Mogensha, he couldn’t help but earnestly pondered.
“What an interesting development…..since that’s the case, then I really have to deliberate over this.”
Although the realm’s medical supplies were inflating in unprecedented fashion, Sheyan and them were already prepared. Before they started the party establishment mission, they reckoned the mission would be of a high difficulty rate, thus they had prepared numerous medical supplies. Yet not long after entering the Lord of the Rings world, they activate the relevant checkpoint and their nightmare imprint was sealed. Hence, they didn’t even have the chance to consume those medical supplies! Strictly speaking, since they had settled the crucial factor of their medical supplies, then the rest of work was relatively easy.
The trio then separated to make their own preparations. Sheyan straightforwardly headed for the appraisal region, checking up on the status of his ‘Hydralisk rare acid gland’. As he headed over, he really wished for the appraisal to be a failure, then he could earnestly earn some gains from those brats that requested to appraise it. If it was still appraising, then he would terminate it.
Yet regrettably, Murphy’s law happened again. Things would always develop in the worst possible direction. The scenario that Sheyan didn’t want the most happened.
“Your Silver storyline item ‘Hydralisk rare acid gland’ is appraised, please retrieve it.”
“If it is not retrieved within 7 working days, then this appraised item would be transferred into your personal room with a fee.”
Sheyan silently stared at his application, then he suddenly realized this item was really an item and not an equipment:
Shrivelled ‘Tangerine’
Origins: Starship Trooper world
Rarity: Silver storyline grade
Material: Connective tissue, cortex, marrow, nervous tissues and lymph cavity.
Carrying effect: Strength +2 / Physique +2 / Intelligence +2
Carrying effect: Charm – 2 / Spirit – 2 (This is due to its repulsive pungent odour it emits, one that repels people…..)
Usage: Smear this disgusting lymph gland onto your weapon – your next 3 attacks will carry a corrosive acid.
Details: Corrosive attacks are classified as elemental damage, only an elemental resistance can reduce its damage.
Details: When using the lymph gland, you must focus and prevent the acid from splashing. Hence, it would require 3 seconds, if this 3 seconds duration is interrupted, then you will receive a backlash of 100 points of corrosive damage.
Details: Because the acid is volatile, every smear will only last for 12 hours.
Details: Because the acid secretion is limited, maximum of 5 smearing attempts every 12 hours.
Usage requirements: The ‘Shriveled tangerine’ is only effective on close combat weapons.
Wearing position: Bag
Weight: 0.8 kg.
Evaluation: I miss Katrina’s mesmerizing mouth, I miss Katrina’s sexy long tail, I miss Katrina’s delicious mucus, I miss Katrina’s sweet-sounding squeals……
*
“Yet another ridiculous charm drop.” Sheyan couldn’t help cursing internally.
Naturally, this item greatest merit was that it could be carried inside a bag, and didn’t require being equipped. To be able to receive such a delightful object that enhanced his might, it was a pleasant surprise.
One must understand, currently the realm was in a massive buying frenzy. Those contestants involved were all trying to increase their chances of survivability.
At this moment, Sheyan suddenly recalled an earlier notification:
“Your party prestige: Silver. You can use your achievement points, to change the world of your realm war!”
Immediately, Sheyan was determined to investigate several pieces of relevant information; for example how many achievement points he needed, what are the worlds available. Instead, he received a notification of unable to investigate……
“This is a classified aspect of the realm, please verify your military rank at the roof for further queries.”
Seeing the nightmare imprint’s notification, it was fortunate that Sheyan still had adequate time. Hence, he hastily headed towards the roof of the realm. Not a single person was around, it was just peace and quiet.
Sheyan sat down, inciting out a list of options.
Contestant no.1018……verifying.
Identity confirmation……
Your current nightmare imprint rank is Second Lieutenant.
Your current achievement value is 58 points.
Your current usable services are:
A: Purchase relevant military items. (A detailed menu list)
B: Access military rank related classified information. (This option requires a fixed fee)
C: Party establishment application.
D: Obtain military allowance. (Your current military allowance: A free purchase of a military rank relevant item, item purchased must be within your scope of authority)
E: Receive military rank mission. (Press to receive mission)
F: Leave your current party.
G: Others.
“Eh??” Sheyan instantly noticed that ‘Receive military rank mission’ could be initiated. He instantly hit it open, shockingly triggering it.
Your current military rank: Second Lieutenant.
Within the next two worlds, please hand over 2 Blood keys.
You can choose to exchange additional Blood keys to receive further rewards. Maximum of 4.
Sheyan straightforwardly voiced his queries, immediately getting answers.
Realm war will be carried out in several limited worlds. If you are unhappy with your random draw, a Silver Prestige party can use 2 achievement points to make another random draw.
Sheyan immediately asked.
“Which worlds would the realm wars be carried out in?”
The realm replied, “…………”
(TN: This is censored, not that the realm is speechless)
Viewing through the answers above, Sheyan took in a deep breath, his eyes becoming abstruse.
“Not bad, there is actually that world. I never knew that thing would come in handy so quickly! Then……it is it! Nobody has accomplished a Golden side mission? ……here I come!”
**
As time grew tighter, the crowd in the realm grew. It was obvious the contestants selected in this realm would be exceptional. Mogensha then asked Sheyan if he still required other manpower, if he needed, Mogensha would be able to call several helpers.
Sheyan shook his head.
“Now it isn’t about the lack of manpower. With the resurgence of our Silver party, along with this foundation of twin MTs; crowds of people would definitely trysee to join us. Hence, manpower is not an issue; we can overlook their prowess, but most importantly is if they are reliable. We cannot call others now; firstly, it is to prevent others from belittling us and secondly, we have to at least wait for others to beg to join us, at least they would then cherish this rare opportunity!”
Since Sheyan said it like this, Mogensha scratched his head in silence. There was still time before entering a world, Mogensha naturally transferred over the pandora crystals that he promised Reef, allowing him to upgrade his forging skills. Sheyan headed towards the training field in the realm, to engage in further training.
At present, it was time to begin the realm war. The bustling market place had already prohibited contestants from entering; gradually, a scarlet red speckle appeared. This speckle was mysteriously abstruse, as it slowly spread in both directions; releasing utterly intense sparks as though there was a formless huge hand forcefully tearing the realm apart.
Following closely, a gigantic blood red door materialized, appearing like an enormous mouth; as though it wanted to swallow everything in. The door contained unfathomable ripples, like the billowing tides that were incessantly churning; disallowing a single living being to escape its crutches.
Following the nightmare imprint’s notification, the protective shade vanished, as contestants poured in like fishe. Under the brilliance of the blood glow, different contestants of different parties emitedting a faint distinctively unique glow.
Most of the parties had thin glows, and required closer inspection to tell their differences. Yet when compared to Sheyan, the glittering silver covering his body held unrivalled distinctiveness. If they appeared in public, then they would exhibit a tremendous difference the likes of starlight and moonlight, causing others to be devastatingly envious! If not for the protective mechanism of the realm, they would’ve probably attracted everyone.
Sheyan hadn’t foreseen such a stark phenomenon, he hurriedly voiced to the nightmare realm to disguise it, to prevent himself from being a tall tree that attracts the wind. When the trio stepped through the blood door, a sensation of the sky spinning, and the earth going rounds soared around them. This was closely followed by a mysteriously deep cosmos backdrop. This was the same area that signified an end to their previous campaigns, yet now it was here that they were preparing for a realm war.
The nightmare imprint transmitted to Sheyan.
“Party Ace members have assembled.”
“Party Ace current level: lvl 0.”
“Party scale: Small.”
“Party Prestige: Silver.”
“You have the qualifications to enter this time’s low intensity realm war!”
“Do you wish to enlist? Yes / No?”
“You can reject enlistment, but during your next enlistment, the intensity of the realm war would be upgraded by a level, and you will be forced to participate!”
Sheyan had already made his resolve to participate, thus he selected ‘Yes’.
Following this was the crucial phase. With regards to the military information he garnered, he bluntly put forth his request.
“Party Ace’s prestige is Silver.”
“Using my authority as party leader, I request enlightenment on my realm war destination!”
The realm swiftly replied.
“Request permitted, drawing…..party Ace will enter the world ‘Star Wars’ Realm war.”
Sheyan instantly rejected it.
“Using my authority as party leader, I request a re-drawing of destination with 2 achievement points!”
“Request permitted, drawing…..party Ace will enter the world ‘Terminator’ realm war!”
Sheyan selected decline.
“Request permitted, drawing…….party Ace will enter the world ‘Avatar’ realm war!”
After exhausting 4 achievement points, Sheyan finally saw the word ‘Avatar’. He couldn’t help releasing a long sigh, and finally mustered his fist and swung towards the realm!
“Yes! That’s it!”
Immediately, a list of information surfaced, seemingly splashing Sheyan’s face with a basin of ice water.
“Warning! ‘Avatar’ Realm war lowest class has reached average!”
“Warning! ‘Avatar’ Realm war lowest class has reached average!”
“Detail: ‘Avatar’ Realm war intensity rate may reach medium intensity. You may encounter Reserve-duty limit-venators!
(TN: A venator is latin for hunter)
“Warning: You may encounter additional dangers!”
“In view of the unusual characteristics of this world, you will be permitted to draw another world for free.”
Sheyan was stunned, he had no clue what a ‘Reserve-duty limit-venator’ was. Yet Reef was knowledgeable; it referred to contestants that had reached the 50 points boundary limit, but hadn’t gone through the test! They had gained the formidable breakthrough powers,, although it was merely limited to few usable times. However, these reserve-duty limit-venators were like a ticking time bomb, and could very well explode in your face anytime!
Yet for a low intensity realm war, they wouldn’t be any reserve-duty limit-venators. Some may ask if Reef wasn’t one? Yes, he wasn’t. His adaptation period had already expired; once he dared to breakthrough again, then it would treading the path of no return. No matter if one was prepared for it or not, it would be forced upon them.
Essentially, once Reef broke through again, he would instantly be sealed and trapped in a bottleneck. Missions wouldn’t provide him with rewards. Hence, Reef wasn’t considered a reserve-duty limit-venator by the realm.
“Medium intensity, roughly what is the difficulty setting of such a world?” Sheyan frowned, as he slowly asked Mogensha.
Mogensha glanced at Reef, and the two begun a comparison and discussion before suggesting it should be roughly a ‘B+’ difficulty. If not, its lowest wouldn’t be beneath ‘B’, and definitely wouldn’t exceed ‘A-‘.
“If it’s this difficulty…..then at least it’s lower than the previous Lord of the Rings world by a level! Moreover, we would have enough people and parties to leverage on, then….what is there to hesitate?”
Sheyan’s eyes sparkled with vicious currents, before declaring word by word.
“Set…off!”
“Transporting……..the realm war of ‘Avatar’ !”
“Initializing entering of battlefield planet…….”
“Initializing data……..”
“Initializing allocation of regions…..”
“Space-time locked.”
“Initializing assimilation of character into the world…..”
“Initializing entry into world…………”
A powerful blue giant safeguarded its personal territory,
Micro highly toxic cyanide hydrogen diluted the atmosphere,
The night poured down with acidic rain,
Venom, bow and arrow, a variety of winged beasts were their weapons,
Before the rumbling Interstellar fleet surge over,
Conflicts and death had long multiplied within their inhabitation.
*****
Sheyan opened his eyes, gearing for an intense firefight,
Instead, his view revealed a block of white steel sheet, roughly the size of an air vent. Embedded within it was a crystal clear, liquid crystal screen that was flashing with a message.
“Second Lieutenant, welcome to planet Pandora.”
“Second Lieutenant. Welcome to planet Pandora.”
“Serving you today is AI (Artificial Intelligence) no.557 from the RDA (Earth’s Resource Development Administration) company. AI no.557 is permanently authorized by the ICA (Interplanetary Commerce Administration).”
“You have just awoken from your dormant state of 5 years, 9 months and 22 days. Your body will experience several light aftershocks, your mind and concentration may receive violent feedback, nauseated sensations and slight weakness may be felt. Do not fret, we have a list of effective methods to combat that.”
“Please follow according to the sequence……”
The writings were then abruptly cut short here. The liquid crystal screen then started displaying flowery designs and produced a distorted and fuzzy sound.
“Unknown malfunction of circuit……”
“Insufficient power, replenish immediately. Warning, insufficient power.”
“Please promptly fix…..circuit.”
Sheyan remained motionless, his pupils surveyed around before discovering that he was inside a large room. This room was primarily constructed in shades of silver, sketchy, bright, plain, simple and metallic. There was only a single broad exit in this room, with two sliding silver metal doors shutting it tightly.
20 – 30 cold cabin platforms were attached onto the room’s thick wall like drawers, he was lying on one of these cold platforms, just 30 metres away from the exit. Honestly speaking, these cabin platforms gave Sheyan the feeling of lying inside a corpse drawer in a morgue.
After ensuring there were no abnormalities present, Sheyan flipped and jumped down and instantly felt that his body had become pretty light and graceful. From earlier information gathered, this planet ‘Pandora’, which was also the fifth moon orbiting Alpha Centauri A in the Alpha Centauri star system, had a gravity lower than that of Earth; roughly only three quarters of Earth’s gravity. Thus, what he was experiencing was normal. Also, it was the main reason why the planet’s flora and fauna were relatively larger.
Sheyan then ejected another 5 cabin platforms, of which 2 shockingly produced Mogensha and Reef within. Suddenly at this moment, a violent explosion roared in from outside, sending slight tremors throughout the floor beneath.
Sheyan instantly understood, they should be currently residing in a large transport shuttle! If combining this explosion and the bizarre power failure of AI no.557, then the answer was obvious. Once again, their transport shuttle had encountered huge trouble!
Sheyan instantly called Mogensha and Reef as they swiftly sprinted out of the sliding metal door. A narrow channel greeted them, which was brimming with a high tech style; simply ice-cold and mechanical. Faint speckles of green illumination repeatedly flickered along the channel, as though it would be extinguished in the next second. Fortunately, the walls were fixed with clear fluorescent arrows pointing towards the safety exit, guiding the humans along.
The glows flickered and finally extinguished. Ahead, the end of the channel already exhibited the glare of natural light rays. Yet right now, there was a faint blood stench in the air, awful miserable cries and even a remote roar that Sheyan hadn’t heard before. The roars weren’t made by human voices, but instead sounded similar to a dog encountering a threat; the growling of the throat. It rose and fell in succession, its vocal range spanned tremendously.
Sheyan had already realized that this shuttle had already touched down, but it was hard to ascertain if it would explode shortly; hence, leaving the shuttle was now a priority. He quickened his pace as he surged towards the blinding end. The shuttle’s door was right ahead, his eyes flashed, exposing a wide panorama instantly. Compared to the foul atmosphere in the shuttle, Sheyan breathed in the fresh air which revitalized his vigor immediately.
At present, their location was shockingly on a comparatively high but gentle slope, there were no craggy cliff rocks; but it was more like the gentle soft arc of a female’s bosom. Gazing afar, they could see the exceptionally dense vegetation, a field of untrampled grass stretching into the distance. The sky was overcast, as pure white clouds chose to keep themselves high up this celestial body. Moreover, a distinct funnel atmospheric swirl, like a fantasy, could be seen. Therefore, though skies were not sinister looking, it gave off a neat yet sullen melancholy.
The surrounding mountains and vegetation were abundant. The temperature was roughly 23 degrees. Gigantic trees surpassing 50 metres could be seen everywhere. With one sweep, shades of emerald, soft green, dark green, lime green, olive green, and various greens could be seen in mesmerizing layers. Even the fresh green turf showcased its luxurious growth.
Sheyan didn’t know why. He couldn’t help feeling this grass, forest, mountains, waters, sky and earth were peculiarly dazzling. He leapt down from the exit, and plucked several strands of grass. Light greenish sap flowed from his fingers; and as he scanned the scenery ahead, he immediately realized the reason.
Strangely, everything, even the severed grass stalk, was erected and facing towards his very eyes, as though they seeked to stab in! This signified a strong and overbearing meaning:
Screw off!
A human standing on this remote planet was really treated as a foreign guest by the remote vegetation, remote skies, remote mountains and remote water bodies. It was as though the entire world wanted to severe them!!
Sheyan turned to look back. The enormous metallic beast behind them was obviously a ‘Valkyrie’ shuttle. This atmospheric public vehicle was currently resting atop a Pandora hillside. With its overbearing size it was rather unbelievable that this metallic beast was actually able to traverse at mach 3 supersonic speeds within the atmosphere. The terrifying sonic boom it emits during speedy travelling would require at least 3 minutes to completely dissipate.
Yet right now, this 200 metre long, 80 metres broad and 10 metre tall metallic beast was heavily sitting and thoroughly tranquil. It had plowed a deep ditch as long as 50 metres, and halted atop this hill. The rolls of deep mud indicated the tremendous force it dished out upon the crash landing.
Its left wing had a clear mark of being rammed off, clouds of thick black fumes spiralled out from within, slowly drifting into the environment and not scattering. (Note: In the movies, the Valkyrie shuttle is much smaller than written over here, it indicates that this shuttle was modified)
Blood stench, roars and gunshots were transmitted from a close neighbor towards the lateral side of this shuttle; the clamorous commotion was turning increasingly intense. Sheyan was about to race towards there, instead, his mind turned giddy. Instantly, the nightmare imprint displayed a list of information:
Time: Year 2149, 7th month. Afternoon, 5.00 pm.
(In the movies, the male lead had just set off from earth. He would require 5 years to reach here, the events of Avatar occurred in the year 2154. Noteworthily, humans discovered planet Pandora in year 2129. When the movie happened, constructions had been developed for 25 years already.)
Location: Alpha Centauri Star system, Polyphemus, fifth moon.
Setting: Avatar.
Difficulty: hard (B+).
Pain limitation: 50%.
Additional capabilities boost: 0%.
Current setting exploration rate: 0.00%.
Additional description: Base setting is free world setting
You automatically grasp the relevant language, able to interact freely with characters of this world. Erased upon leaving this world.
Accepted mission count: 1.
Your appearance/identity have been settled, and will be restored upon returning to the present world. You can also commence modifications within the nightmare realm. For any doubts, voice the relevant queries to the nightmare imprint; if your scope of authority is adequate, you will receive an answer.
**
Warning: Planet Pandora’s atmosphere is composed of ‘Nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide (18%), xenon gas (5.5%), ammonia, methane and cyanide hydrogen’. Without oxygen equipment, humans will die from cyanide poisoning. Hence, all humans must be fitted with breathing equipments.
Warning: A contestant’s body essence vastly exceeds the ordinary human. However, breathing the air for long periods of time will still sustain persisting harm.
Details: You can find an oxygen mask at any random human camp, these things are as commonplace as marijuana in Los Angeles bars. If you are trapped in an emergency predicament, then you can purchase one through your nightmare imprint. Of course, your finances will experience major devastation.
Details: This world would become an extremely high mortality rate battlefield. Therefore, once you remain inside the Valkyrie for a period of time, you will obtain the privilege of returning to the realm. The preparation time in doing so is 5 seconds, but it will break if contestant is attacked.
Note: Fleeing during this war is not advocated. You will have to pay a painful penalty of highest attribute -3 / achievement points -5 as your fee to return safely. Moreover, any benefits gained in this world will be forcefully discarded.
Warning: You are currently part of the ‘Avatar’ realm war. This means that you can randomly face immense dangers, vicious battles, and of course unparalleled opportunities. Of course, your primary objective is now to attempt to gain a footing in this mysterious, enticing, gorgeous, fertile but yet treacherous planet.
Contestant no.1018, you and your party have received a battle side mission: ‘Footing’ .
Mission summary: The transport shuttle Valkyrie is your only means of contact with civilization. Therefore, no matter what, you have to protect its core engine from being destroyed within 3 days.
Mission detail: When the transport shuttle Valkyrie landed, it startled numerous wild native species. Therefore, within a short time, the enemies you will face includes wild beasts and aboriginal inhabitants. Of course…….including your own kind.
Warning: Once the core engine of the Valkyrie is destroyed, the Golden side mission will not appear! Subsequently, everyone’s rewards would decrease by half!
Note: You can accomplish the following milestones in this world.
Salary Raise: Kill any 3 male Na’vi.
(TN: Na’vi are the blue people in avatar)
Fearless: Kill any formidable legendary creature upon encountering it, damage dealt must exceed 10%” (Not limited to – Overlord Great Leonopteryx, Rare elite Hammerhead Titanothere, Rare elite Thanator, Na’vi chief)
Meat owner: Kill 30 unique creatures in this world.
Plunderer: Gather 1000 units of of Pandora’s Unobtanium. (Crystal’s purity must not be lower than 16.8%)
Penetrate: Obtain the long horn of two Direhorses.
Race deserter: Achieve a ‘Respected’ reputation with the Na’vi race.
Due to insufficient information capacity, you are unable to obtain more milestone information.
In view of the latest information, Sheyan’s primary reaction was to instantly cover his nose to prevent himself from inhaling the deadly air. Then he immediately noticed that he was shockingly affected by a negative state of attributes declining by 5 points; lasting for a total of 100 seconds. With every increased breath, the duration compiled by 10-15 seconds. Bursting forth with energy, he charged back into the Valkyrie in search for an oxygen filter mask; and quickly discovered that they were neatly hung over a wall near the exit.
Sheyan was puzzled. “Why didn’t anyone think of bringing more of these, and selling them off to gain profits.” Yet after careful inspection, he realized a small fine print – Not to be discarded, intentional damages will result in 10,000 utility points compensation….. This sort of conduct was almost identical to Jinkuang’s method with his black venom powder, causing one’s hair to stand on anger.
Instead, Reef and Mogensha came out a little later, and coincidentally met Sheyan who was presently trying out his oxygen mask. Thus, they easily avoided the hassle of breathing in the poisonous atmosphere. However, Sheyan immediately realized if he summoned Jinkuang in the future, that wretched slut may get poisoned to death. Hence, he instantly called him over.
Who knew that after Jinkuang understood what was going on, his rat beard erected up along with his squinted little eyes scanning around….then after several rustling sounds, he pulled out a sackcloth bag. Needless to say, he stole 7-8 of the hanging oxygen masks on the wall as he released a sly sneer. “Time is money, master. I have work to do.” Then in a twinkling of an eye, he disappeared round the corner.
Reef who hadn’t see this ‘David Beckham’ before, kneaded his eyes. Indeed, this matter was really hard to believe. Besides, such a shameless act wasn’t commonly seen by him. Yet Sheyan and Mogensha were both exceedingly familiar with it, and proceeded to survey around speechlessly. Fortunately, there were no other eyewitnesses. Coughing, Sheyan said.
“Let’s hurry up and join the fight. If we can’t hold this shuttle, then this would’ve been a wasted trip.”
The trio hastily wore their masks as they hurried off to the clamours of the intense war. The filtered air of the mask produced a strange smell, like a pesticide sprayed onto the grasslands.
After the trio headed left for 15-16 metres, and over the gentle slope of grassland, there arrived at a region; where at least close to a hundred contestants had formed a defensive line, and were fighting fiercely. On their lateral side, were even some contestants chopping lumbre, transporting and building temporary fortifications. Some were shifting random junk from the shuttle to construct a makeshift second line of defence.
They could tell there was completely no coordination between these contestants. Yet in view of the realm’s advocation of forming battle parties, everyone had still commenced resistive warfare against the common enemy.
The enemies they were facing were a horde of wild beasts. These beasts were similar to the wolves on planet earth, their bodies were clad in black, glossy skin. When moving, their bulging muscles beneath their skin squirmed like flowing water, displaying their powerful explosive strength.
The wolf had snake like jaws and obsidian teeth that were able to stretch open to a grotesque 150 degrees; dealing lethal chomps against any who suffered its vicious bites. Under the low gravity, its 6 legs are able to swiftly break or speed up. Its greenish triangular eyes glittered with a insatiable lust for death.
Although this breed of creature modeled the zerglings of the Starship Trooper world in terms of fighting style and appearance, where both relied on overwhelming numbers; within few moments, Sheyan immediately noticed the difference, their combat capabilities were akin to the gap between heaven and earth!
Bluntly speaking, zerglings utilized their claws and brute force, while these wild beast used their brains as well. Not only did they possess that devilish insanity of zerglings, they were able to display a clear sense of coordination, battle tactics, defence, and attack. Simply put, their instincts allowed them to shelter comrades and retreat! Therefore till now, the haphazard defence line of contestants had only slain a small amount of these beasts.
Naturally, Sheyan’s first action was to get a probe with his helmet’s ‘Pulse detector’, and gathered crucial information. His current perceptive sense was close to 30 points,and the probing ability of his black grade equipment was a great counterfeit replica of natural ‘insight’ abilities. With the influence of his outstanding perceptive sense, he naturally received excellent results. Very quickly, the target’s information was delivered.
Male Viperwolf (Average), in the Na’vi tongue: Nantang, scientific name: Caniferratus Costatus
Height: 74 cm
Length: 172 cm
Weight: 72 kg
Strength 18 points
Agility: 15 points
Physique: 10 points
Perceptive sense: 9 points
Charm: 11 points
Intelligence: 10 points
Spirit: 15 points
Basic close combat lvl4, basic footwork lvl 7
Creature ability: ‘Thunder-rock Embrace’ – Additional bonus of 1000 HP.
Viperwolf special ability (Passive): ‘270 degrees mandible’ – The jaw structure of this strange creature is unique and able to stretch ridiculously wide. A Viperwolf’s mouth is able to produce a pressure of 4kg/square centimetre, it can easily grind a rock into dust. When attacking, there is a 33% chance of an explosive strike.
Viperwolf special ability (Passive): ‘Silkskin’ – Reduce elemental damages by 15%. Its slippery skin provides a 10% chance of enemy missing.
Viperwolf special ability (Passive): ‘Dark Circulation’ – This creature has a developed cerebrum structure. Thus, they operate collectively and hunt mostly at night. They transmit messages with unique howl like hisses, accompanied with expressions during communications.
A perfectly coordinated strategy allows the viperwolves to hunt within a scope of 480 square kilometres. During collective battles, their health increases by 20%, attack power increases by 5%.
*
That viperwolf that was probed by Sheyan suddenly swung its gaze towards Sheyan in vigilance. Then, a flickering vengeance appeared in its eyes as it bared its deadly fangs and charged towards him. It was as if Sheyan was the killer of its dad and mom.
The leaping force of his viperwolf was astonishing; as it stomped onto the ground, rolling up the mud and grass beneath instantly, and kicked them an entire metre away. Drawing an unimaginable force with each stomp, it seeked out its claws in mid air, before baring down its vicious fangs!
Yet Mogensha was no vegetable. DA! DA! DA! 3 consecutive shots volleyed into its mouth, with blood spraying everywhere. Its head was forced upwards upon the impact, but this strike wasn’t considered fatal. Yet instead, an opening was created as Sheyan dodged easily to the side, swinging his elbow as he sent the beast crashing towards Reef.
Without panicking, Reef raised his shield and casted a ‘Faith guard’ on himself. His surroundings flickered as a crystal light screen formed around him. With a flurry of 3 strikes from his lightsabre, it produced that rank ‘B+’ passive ability ‘Rude lvl3’; immediately causing this unlucky beast to have its movement/attack speed decreased by 50%. He then simply intercepted the beast with ease.
Within a single hand supporting his rifle, Mogensha released consecutive rounds towards the viperwolf, causing it to howl in grief. With his other hand, he drank down a blended-mix that Sheyan had prepared long ago. His ‘Beastly instincts’ required MP, therefore during drawn out battles; the blended-mix of agility +4 and intelligence +4 was definitely an optimal compound.
As the saying goes, when an expert makes a move, everyone notices. This was a medium intensity realm war, contestants that were enlisted into this were more or less old veterans and sly foxes. Naturally, some were able to tell that the recently arrived trio had exceptionally adept coordination between themselves.
Though the trio of party Ace were all putting up a good show, at least 9 out of 10 people were attracted by that strange and horrible looking shield wielded by Reef. It was still that same line – a dime or a dozen could unleash devastating damage output, yet those that were experts in tanking damage……the ones that would do the dirty work of braving the frontlines… could only be described as precious rarities! To dare to display a shield out in this medium intensity warfare….this inevitably meant he belonged to those few scrubs; he was definitely not an imitation, if not the first to die would be him.
“Is it my good fortune, to actually encounter a solo flying MT?”
In that instance, this notion swirled in the minds of at least 20 others.
The viperwolf was indeed terribly unlucky to be pincered by the trio of Sheyan. Moreover it was only an average beast; currently, it was suffering a dozen gunshots, receiving burnt slashes everywhere by Reef, and getting pounded by Sheyan!
One must understand that at present, with the boost from his concoction, Sheyan’s peak strength had reached a breathtaking 44 points!
Although it seemed like Sheyan and Reef were thoroughly suppressed in the previous world, that was due to the the abnormal circumstances and difficulty of that world! Even the realm understood the demands were too harsh, and allocated an ultimate ticket for them to return to the realm at any time.
Right now, they were thrown into a fairly normal world; though it had a ‘B+’ difficulty, it was already 2 levels down from the previous world difficulty of ‘A’. Though his knucklers were white grade, with Sheyan’s outrageous 44 strength, he easily dealt crushing damages. Unable to last for even 10 seconds, the viperwolf’s skull was totally wrecked with dents and bullet holes; blood splashed chaotically in resonance to the wolf’s melancholic howls.
Sheyan and his buddies simultaneously received the notification:
“Your battle contribution to the RDA company is raised by 14 points……after the battle concludes, you can utilize your contribution points to purchase relevant supplies from the shuttle’s interior.”
After slaying the viperwolf, Reef and Mogensha naturally joined in the battle. Instead, Sheyan squatted down and started analyzing the viperwolf’s corpse; all because the claws it demonstrated had left him a distinct impression. After careful inspections, he realized that though this creature was hailed as a ‘wolf’, it actually had a grip like that of primates. Each paw had a soft padding, three toes and an opposable thumb, allowing it to climb trees and stalk its preys quietly, without leaving a trace!
After organizing these details, he recalled the pack nature of viperwolves; Sheyan could formulate their intrinsic hunting pattern – a three-dimensional hunting field. It could rely on trees as well as its silent trailing to encroach towards its prey, and finally sneak attack them within metres. This sort of vicious scenario caused even Sheyan whose HP had reached 800 to shudder in fear; deciding that it was best to avoid conflicting with these creatures in the dark.
Naturally, in view of other contestants around, Sheyan continuously allowed Reef and Mogensha to bask in the limelight. While he himself only produced a white grade shotgun, where he had no qualms about hiding his true prowess.
The crowd’s observation were exceedingly critical; though Sheyan seemed aggressive, his shotgun was indeed lacking. It boomed loudly and noisily, yet it couldn’t even slay a heavily wounded viperwolf. He occasionally stood forward, delivering two punches while taking several blows for Reef; all these happened concurrently with receiving the spiteful glares of others.
Facing such an awkward situation, Sheyan remained calm and collected. After learning that the battling front lines had eased a little, he then threw a blended-mix of ‘bear and eagle’ at the few contestants in front. A dull mist dispersed out, allowing them to enjoy the fruits of his latest research.
Though the buff effects were weakened by using the AOE aspect of his ability, strength +3 and agility +3 wasn’t considered poor. It was equivalent to the enhancement of a black grade equipment; a total boost of 6 base attributes! In view of the sparse nature of good equipments in the realm, the attribute bonus of his blended-mix could even surpass some average equipments of many contestants.
Being engulfed by a sudden mysterious mist; apart from an impulsive, incomprehensive fool who cursed out “What dog shit is this?!”, the other contestants realized something. They instantly noticed that their own base attributes were favorably transforming. Successive exclamations of delight – “oh, yes!” “Alright!” could be heard. Some even gestured a thumbs up to Sheyan.
Of course, Sheyan wasn’t one to discriminate. There was still the backline of long range combatants and supports, gunmen as well as mage/summoner etc. He casually tossed a flask of blended-mix, increasing their agility and intelligence. Nevertheless, he could only cast an apologetic glance to those unique contestants requiring intelligence at the front, and strength at the back.
The crowd glittered with admiration. After tossing out the two blended-mix, everyone was enlightened that Sheyan was indeed a hybrid support; one that could tank a little for the MT while providing massive crowd support. Normally, such a breed would belong to a core member of a party, delivering crucial support to everyone.
If such a person possessed a formidable damage output, he could very well vye for the leadership position in a party. But if not, his position would still be unshakable within the party, and welcomed by all. Numerous eyes were set ablaze; a MT plus another hybrid support, this was no doubt the twin thighs supporting their party’s body. Though they could experience this combination for only a short while, they were still relatively glad to have them for this battle.
The battle continued for several minutes; Sheyan was now slightly depressed, not because of the resources he sacrificed, but because the RDA company didn’t acknowledge his efforts as contribution. According to the realm’s normal method of determining, this was definitely an impossibility. During wartime, the frontline soldiers would definitely receive outstanding military service, but wouldn’t the logistics/transport factions too? The cooks and support staff? This was outrageously unreasonable!
While grumbling internally, a tremendous boom abruptly rattled over. Someone had managed to fling a grenade into the mouth of a howling viperwolf, undoubtedly the outcome was a splattering of brains and blood. Still, Sheyan hadn’t touched that viperwolf one bit, even Reef and Mogensha were fully focused at another side. However, he suddenly received a +5 contribution from the RDA company. Moreover, Reef and Mogensha who were basking in glory also received an external +2 contribution rate.
“So that’s the case.” Sheyan was enlightened. “If a contestant had received a strengthening bonus from me, then his contributions in battle……a dividend would be shared with me.”
Of course this dividend was linearly related. For example, if killing a viperwolf earned Reef 20 contribution points while hosting support benefits from Sheyan, then he would only receive 18 points, while Sheyan could receive 5 points. It definitely wasn’t calculated as Reef taking 15 points, while the remaining 5 goes to Sheyan. In other words, the total contribution rates would be increased.
Noteworthily, the contribution was tied to an individual creature. For example, when 10 support enhanced contestants worked together to kill a single viperwolf, Sheyan would only receive a single reward, and not 10x of that reward.
Since that was the case, Sheyan immediately retained his own plans. Ultimately, he still had a wealthy spendthrift backing in Reef, hence, he wouldn’t lack materials in the present world. Therefore, squandering a little now was fine, as long as he rationed his supplies throughout the course of this world. Rather as of now, he could earn much more contribution points.
Presently, he had already realized this wasn’t the only battlefield after digging information from the surrounding contestants! This humongous valkyrie had 4 different exits on the east, south, west and north. Large packs of viperwolves had appeared before all exits, attempting to invade the interior of the shuttle. Thus, an inevitable clash broke out at all exit fronts. No other words needed, there were now 4 other battles occurring at each side!
Presently, there was only one thing on Sheyan’s mind, and that was to be a good samaritan. He would service the contestants in this realm war with generous attribute boosts. By doing so, even if he remained motionless, wealth would come rolling in.
Right now, he was positioned within the west battlefield. Thus, he proceeded to detour to the north. Yet when he reached here, his heart skipped a beat; because all the viperwolves had been utterly annihilated! Moreover, there were lesser contestants here. Looking at the contestants here leisurely sitting around, they appeared rather accustomed and familiar with each other; chattering and laughing amongst themselves. Their bodies emanated a dull ocher glow, which obviously indicated they belonged to a large scale party. Those malicious and well-coordinated viperwolves had all been slaughtered cleanly, without a single one escaping!
Even the carcasses left behind were currently being carefully stored by some contestants, trying to maximize their benefits.
A lofty and tall contestant was currently squatting at the foremost of the battlefield, with a cigarette lodged between his fingers. The contestant wore an oxygen mask over the face, so what was this cigarette for?
Sheyan couldn’t expect this contestant to be a smoking addict; as he observed every few seconds, the contestant would pull down his mask and take a savoury puff. It seemed like the poisonous air was merely a secondary concern to him.
After puffing, he gently breathed out the fumes before turning to gaze at Sheyan. Without placing back his oxygen mask, he stood up and walked over.
Previously when he took down his mask, Sheyan had already noticed he was a fierce looking baldy. A deep red scar ran from his left forehead vertically downwards to the left of his lip. Though the scar was patched, it carried the cruel uneven mending of flesh; indicating the ruthless nature of the cut behind it.
Naturally, suffering such a ruthless chop, his left eye wasn’t spared. A chunk of plasma hung within his eyes, as black, white and red flowed out. However, his left eye was still dazzling like a gem. Naturally, it had been repaired by the realm. The scarred baldy stared at Sheyan and examined him. Instead when he spoke, his tone was kind and cut straight to the point.
“Hey, brother. What do you need? This northern exit belongs to our Illume-union now.”
“Illume-union……!!!” The words jolted Sheyan’s mind like a lightning bolt; he instantly recalled the report Reef had told him before.
“…….This is my second encounter with the Illume-union!!”
“Dammit, that means the Bowen that I killed back in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, is one of them.”
“One of their member announced he wanted to use my skull as a souvenir.”
“One of the core of this party, is a woman named Zi! An expert in the force of the Star Wars universe!”
(TN: The chinese character Zi ��, means beauty. )
“This party is definitely like the Banks Syndicate I tangled with previously, they are a considerably unified organization. The party’s scale means that it definitely has a certain hierarchical structure within the party……..”
These list of thoughts flashed through Sheyan’s mind swiftly. One must understand, this world setting was a free world, though killing will invoke slayer value, it will similarly produce good benefits. If this group of people saw through his identity as contestant no.1018, they would surge with joy and vanquish him to eternal death.
To the present Sheyan, he was terribly far from the stage of battling one against ten. Hence, it was best he quickly evaded them. Sheyan’s current perceptive sense was as high as 28 points, trying to pressure him with perceptive sense would be a difficult matter.
Moreover, his helmet possessed a ‘Pulse interference’ ability to guard against other’s probing, and moreover, it had precedence! Therefore unless he encountered a reserve-duty limit-venator, the chances of him being exposed as contestant no.1018 was slim. Even if he did encounter one; considering this world had just begun, there shouldn’t be a lunatic who would show their cards so quickly. One must understand, one could only go into boundary state for only 4 times before invoking the boundary test.
Though many thoughts ran through his mind; to others, this only seemed like a blank, normal reaction of a random stranger. Neither servile nor overbearing, Sheyan faced the scarred baldy and smiled.
“Hello, I am Seaman. I’m guessing, your party needs an additional support, for example one that would freely provide an incredible individual buff?”
The scarred blady instantly broke out into laughter, turning around to glance at a rather pale looking, scrawny male; wearing a black wizard robe and a staff.
“Ah ha, lovely Morda, and cute little Fr��a; someone is here to snatch your business.”
As a complete and formidable party, the Illume-union would definitely have nurtured their own supporters. Dead soul user, Morda, was one of them. Beneath the robe, his right hand had an eternally decaying wound, the ability he learned was called ‘Putrefy curse’. When casted against enemies, it would lower all defences by 10% while issuing a piercing agony.
However, whenever he casted the curse on himself, his mental powers would flare up; absorbing the dead souls from underground to disperse to his surroundings. His allies would then receive a darkness strength additional damage of 6 – 10% during their next attack. Because darkness is an elemental damage, only certain variables can resist the darkness element. Therefore, the actual resultant damage it would deal in the end was more or less 12 – 13%.
As for Fr��a, he was a sniper, he had a wonderful ability similar to Sheyan, actually they were like different melodies playing to the same tune. Strictly speaking, Fr��a was very much inferior to the dead Qiaoer, but he had managed to encounter a good fortune. Thus, he was able to obtain a Rank 4 skill tree ability, and had raised it to the third tier already.
The skill tree ability was called ‘Precision’. In combat state, whenever he targeted the same target, with every increased duration of 2 seconds; accuracy +3%, explosive strike rate +2%. Stacking of explosive strike rate would not exceed 20%.
As for his allies, every time Fr��a scored at hit onto the enemy, it would issue an area of effect ripple. Allies within that ripple will have their accuracy +1%, explosive strike rate +1%. At its current level, that effect couldn’t be stacked.
These two contestants were considered a class of combat supporters. When they matured, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Right now, the Illume-union was still rather pleased with them.
Yet why did the scarred baldy suddenly talked about business snatching? That was because of the realm’s regulations. Sheyan wasn’t their party member. If the Illume-union accepted his supporting effects, then the realm would automatically award contribution points to him during the battle. As for Morda and Fr��a, they would naturally not receive any.
Bluntly speaking; though beneficial buffs could coexist, the rewards would only be allocated to one person.
This was a protection scheme installed by the realm. To a solo contestant, a party would inevitably be stronger. Therefore, the goal here was to protect the weaker party’s interest, and also encourage parties to proactively attract supporting talents.
Morda and Fria were both individuals who thought highly of themselves. Upon hearing the scarred baldy’s words, one completely ignored him, not even offering a glance; It was as though Sheyan was completely non-existent. Another issued a sunken expression as he scrutinized his staff, as though the staff was a naked beauty. Their disdain for Sheyan were vividly portrayed.
Instead, a burly chap with a messy hair and long oddly arms snorted, and waved his hands.
“Archeaphill, you’re really long-winded. Just hurry up and get him to scram. In my previous world, I met a moron who blew his own trumpet, painting a deluge of heavenly flowers for his own supporting ability. In the end, he actually threw away his own face with that HP regeneration +3% broken toy! Our party is already cultivating several powerful main support members, there isn’t a place for you.”
Sheyan’s eyelids twitched, his heart was stirred; that was because this guy’s tone sounded rather familiar. It sounded as though it was the individual who had sworn to take his skull as souvenir. The burly chap was leisurely sitting on the grass, and beside him was a giant blade fused with lingering blackness. Its surface was dull but it appeared like it was boiling, as it occasionally emitted waves of black aura.
“Sable, I should have just let them viperwolves tear your damned mouth apart just now!” The scarred baldy, Archeaphill mocked. He then casted his gaze toward Sheyan and shrugged his shoulders.
“My apologies buddy, looks like you have to find another place to work.”
Sheyan could tell this Archeaphill should be the MT of the illume-union. From the start till now, he had been smoking without wearing his oxygen mask, it had already been a full 2 minutes. Yet he was still glowing with health and vigor, moreover the people around him weren’t even startled.
This undoubtedly meant that this guy had a strong resistance towards abnormal effects, and in fact was at a relatively terrifying level. If not the case, then he probably had an excellent equipment like his own ‘Monstrous Fighting Spirit’. Either that, or he possessed an immensely powerful innate ability! If an expert magician based combatant assaulted him, that constant would definitely be in for a massive headache!
Hearing the friendly notice to leave by Archeaphill, Sheyan had been dying to hear those words for far too long. Being one who harbored ulterior motives, he instantly turned to leave. But at this instance, his pupils shrank. A wave of domineering threat suddenly pressed down from the skies. His perceptive sense that vastly exceeded most people, had already forewarned him prematurely by milliseconds!
Sheyan raised his head; he could see that amidst the funnel like white clouds, 7-8 ruptures in the sky had been speedily broken through. The sudden outburst scattered the clouds like cotton wadding away. Not even 5-6 seconds later, winged creatures sped through for the ground; carrying the billowing winds as they emitted indescribable mournful screeches.
These uninvited guests had the appearance of pterosaurs of the ancient earth, yet it boasted of a decorative lizard like epidermis skin. Its broad flat wings had a divided translucent webbing, which covered its bones as it glided easily. It seemed like a stout and strong bat, yet exuberated the carefree nature of a wandering stingray. The most attractive spot was their mouth; drilling outwards for at least 7-8 cm, their lower jaws were filled with incisive pointed teeth.
These flying creatures displayed large as well as small versions. At present, while they approached in, one could observe their matured wingspan stretching as long as 12 metres! Even the smallest version of the creature had a wingspan that reaches 7-8 metres. They were called mountain banshees oin this planet Pandora, where its name originated from its own screech. Resembling that of a banshee; also known as a dead female in Irish mythology, with her crying and miserable plaintive wails.
In the movie, Mountain Banshees appeared frequently on camera. The Na’vi clansmen had relied on them to establish a formidably unrivalled aerial fleet. Moreover, there was even a rite of passage for one to become an Ikran Makto (Banshee rider, according to the Na’vi language). Riding one was akin to riding an Audi A6 in the present world. Of course, the Great Leonopteryx that the main lead, Jake Sully, finally succeeded in riding, could be compared to a Rolls Royce.Silver Ghost; which was the only one worldwide.
At the hundred metre mark, those 7-8 Mountain Banshees segregated and dove down in spirals; splitting into 4 groups to assault the 4 different regions of defending contestants. Currently, the long range combatants naturally started firing at them. Concurrently, a sentry started yelling loudly.
“Sightings of countless fast moving creatures from a distancet; I reckon they are a viperwolf pack, quantity of 50 – 100 heads!”
In this chaotic split second, Sheyan instantly recalled his experiences in the previous Starship Trooper world; where the skies were covered with mutalisks and the earth with zerglings. Fortunately, there wasn’t a combined and coordinated full frontal assault by the arachnids previously. If not, even if Sheyan’s life was multiplied by 10, or his innate ability was stronger by 10 times, he would’ve still been reduced to ashes!
Yet now! The viperwolf pack and the Mountain Banshees were ingeniously collaborating into a three-dimensional battle skirmish! The crafty and innumerable viperwolf pack, coupled with the vicious and threatening mountain banshees, had formed into a perfectly ruthless battle collaboration. Fortunately, Sheyan wasn’t the only one in this battle, he was stuck within the Illume-union party. Thus, a major portion of assaults from these formidable and cunning creatures would be tanked by the Illume-union.
Fortunately, the long range firepower of the Illume-union was naturally retaliating in advance, they were already unleashing their strength against the pack of viperwolves; and successfully aggravated the furious creatures and capturing their attention. As for Sheyan, he had successfully resigned himself to be just a spectator.
Visibly clear, a Mountain Banshee jolted down against the heavy firepower, and though its skin was lacerating from the bullets and magic blasts, it still maintained its unbearably sharp screech through its incisive long beak! It was like a pebble instigating a thousand layered tide or screech as it dispersed forth! Through the piercing screech, circles of incorporeal ripples could be seen! Contestants caught in the ripples had seemingly met with a 12 grade stormy gale, as their eyes burnt bitterly with blurred vision; overflowing with tears as they attempted to cover their faces and retreat.
Rank B ability: “Throat Shudder” ! – Evoking a wildly ferocious gust, causing the surrounding enemies to fall into a persisted retreating stance. Duration of 5 seconds, accuracy drop by 70% due to irritated eyes!
Mountain Banshees travelled in a flock, their screeches were their primary form of communication. Because a Mountain Banshee don’t possess a windpipe, its breathing directly enter through its chest. Therefore, their lungs acted as a jet engine to propel air into its skull cavity to emit voice, thereby using its huge mouth to direct the sound towards a specific direction.
After a long time, such breathing and sound interactions caused the Mountain Banshee to develop such a formidable offensive technique. This class of terrifying creature had two pairs of eyes. One pair were normal eyes, while another pair were tiny eyes which functioned independently, and were extremely sensitive to movement. During the night, its eyes contained infrared sensors to see, while a transparent lid protected its exterior. Therefore, naturally they would be immune to their own wind attacks.
As this Mountain Banshee broke through the surrounding formation, another 2 slightly smaller Mountain Banshees swooped down; tightly seizing this rare opportunity. Their razor-sharp talons carved out a deadly line without effort, as they easily tore through the human’s flesh; with the aftermath force carrying fresh blood, as it formed into intertwined red lines in midair.
Miserably wails followed suit from long range combatants, who relied on their party to survive and naturally had a weakness of lower health. Specializing in their own various roles made it hard for them to obtain any survival enhancing equipment or ability scrolls.
Instantly, a few contestants had been thrown to the ground, with wounds that shocked the eyes and astonishes the heart. It was obvious that they had been dealt crushing damage by the Mountain Banshees, their blood repeatedly gushed out as though it didn’t care for money.
Closely after, another Mountain Banshee seized a contestant, while slapping its membrane wings about as it skyrocketed into the sky; and ultimately flung the contestant down from about 70 – 80 metres off the ground. A mournful long scream pierced downwards. “Thump!” An oppressive crash resounded from beneath the left wing of the Valkyrie, as the contestant rolled along the ground; his fate visibly unknown.
However, when the third Mountain Banshee surged down; right ahead of Sheyan, Archeaphill had already charged towards its front. Because of his prior location, this MT had arrived late. Therefore, the Rank B ability ‘Throat Shudder’ had only messed up his chest hair, and did nothing to hinder him.
At this moment, Sheyan could obviously leave this battlefield, but truthfully speaking, he was reluctant to. Reef’s defensive tactics had been scrutinized by Sheyan many times, yet this MT Archeaphill’s capabilities were indeed intriguing. As the saying goes, the other mountain’s stone can polish the jade. For Sheyan who was still maturing, if he could obtain a valuable lesson from him, then it would be worth more than gold.
Against the diving surge of the third Mountain Banshee, Archeaphill breathed in deeply and fiercely lunged forward; as though he wanted to perish with it! However, at a gap of 5-6 metres, Archeaphill reached out both hands as he pulled out a gigantic shield from the back of his head; welcoming the collision of the Mountain Banshee.
Sheyan could see it distinctly, the surface of Archeaphill’s gigantic shield was glittering with silver brilliance. As it swerved, glitter scattered about, forming a misconception of falling stars. According to a report gathered by Jinkuang and Sheyan, this was obviously a special effect resulting from an equipment that had at least a +7 upgrade to it.
The gigantic shield was at least as tall as a person when erected fully, it had a curved top while it’s bottom was conical. This design allowed it to easily anchor into the ground. When being supported, it appeared exactly like an impregnable solid door, where its exterior was reinforced with dense penetrating rivets. Every pitch-black rivet had the shape of a pyramid, extended several centimetres from the shield. It was easy to imagine the scene of someone crashing into it; an outcome of densely dotted mutilated blood holes. Thus, it could be described as a blood drawing machine.
The silver metal frame edges of the shield were at least 10 cm thick; it was obvious that though it was exceptionally sturdy, it came at the price of additional weight. Hence, Archeaphill required the usage of both hands to be proficient in it.
“Dang!” A thunderous boom followed by a weird shrilling squawk emerged. Although Archeaphill was instantly knocked 5-6 metres away by the tremendous force, the Mountain Banshee’s murderous dive had came to a spontaneous end. It lost its balance as it rolled several times on the ground, repeatedly fluttering its wings and squawking miserly. Bluish blood squirted out in large batches from its chest.
Seizing this golden opportunity, that long arms burly chap, Sable, roared loudly like a broken gong. He leapt highly as his hands clasped onto his giant black longsword, chopping down mercilessly!
The blade issued a mournful shrill in midair, as though an ability was triggered. Its sheer showing of force appeared as if he had already gained the upper hand.
“Yet another Venter.” Sheyan had already evaluated the guy.
Blood splashed as a chunk of flesh was torn off Sable’s left arm by the struggling Mountain Banshee. Instead, Sable roared furiously as his black giant longsword chopped down, his blade tearing halfway through the beast’s wing as it drew out a 10 metre fountain of blood. Blood gently drifted through the air, painting a spectacular sight.
Besides, for the Mountain Banshee to glide effortlessly in the air, the membrane covering its wings was thin and its carbon bones were mostly hollow. Hence, it was inevitably lacking in terms of sturdiness. The killing threat of the Mountain Banshee was currently in steep decline after landing on the ground; although it constantly issued forewarning mournful screeches, in a short span of minutes, it was overwhelmed by contestants. The concentrated firing of contestants reducing it to a meat paste.
Immediately, the other two Mountain Banshees consecutively dived down in raging anguish. Yet this time, Archeaphill was already fully prepared. The Illume-union also had a tacit understanding of each other, not leaving the slightest thread of hope for the winged beasts. They counter attacked and chopped down a Mountain Banshee.
However, the few aerial beasts had already successfully caused substantial chaos within the crowd of the Illume-union. More importantly, the organized defensive formation of the Illume-union had been utterly thrown into disarray. Therefore, this opened the path for the surprise assaults of the viperwolves.
They were already intellectual creatures. Seizing the chance when the formation of the Illume-union was in massive disarray, 8 viperwolves managed to craftily dodged past the frontline defence of 5-6 close combat contestant. They maliciously and viciously pounced towards the backlines of weaker long range combat contestants. It was really a scene of mercury flowing over the earth, not sparing a single hole*. In a flash, the area fell into a massive upheaval.
(TN: Chinese idiom, exploiting fully the given opportunity)
Spectating till now, Sheyan already had a rough understanding on the strength of the Illum-union. However, he had noticed – out of their core members, it seemed like only Archeaphill and Sable was around, while Sheyan had personally witnessed at least 6 core members previously. Which goes to say, 4 core members were in hiding, obviously prepared to command a reserve team.
At present, he no longer desired to continue loitering around. Thus, he turned around with an intention to observe the other regions, and actively seeking other battlefields to reap some benefits.
Yet at this very moment, the last remaining Mountain Banshee fanatically swooped down in assault. Its body was humongous, and hence it could be determined to have the most vitality. Even though its body was punctured with numerous blood holes, and even had a half a metre long bloodied wound torn across its chest, it remained incomparably savage. Probably losing the will to live after witnessing its companions getting slaughtered, it initiated a suicidal charge!
Diving down at breakneck pace, it just had to swerve towards Sheyan’s location! However, it appeared as if its primary target wasn’t Sheyan but another contestant that was being tightly hindered by a viperwolf. Its plan was naturally to first eliminate that fella before dealing with Sheyan; killing two birds with one stone!
As for the targeted contestant, his left hand gripped a pistol, and a dagger in his right. Naturally such an offensive combination was undoubtedly the most superior in the preceding periods of a contestant; not inferior in both close or far combat. But at this phase of development, such a balanced fighting style was merely mediocre; unless one was in possession of an incredible piece of equipment, if not one would find it hard to become a core member of the party.
At present, he was currently tangled up with a viperwolf ahead, having not the slightest clue of the unexpected murderous arrival; its gigantic frame hid the sky and covered the earth behind him. Sheyan could only smile bleakly, and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. In this circumstance, he had no choice but to step up in rescue; because once this peerlessly savage Mountain Banshee tore through the contestant with its sharp talons, it would be him that would suffer the devastating assault next! In this situation, he might as well save him on his own accord, and even earn himself a favor along the way.
Thus without hesitation, Sheyan lunged towards that contestant, braving the immense danger as he pushed him horizontally for 5-6 metres. After falling to the ground, he spun while half kneeling as he used his hands to cover his face. Wearing a pair of white grade knucklers with a resistive blocking attribute, his heart prepared to test out the domineering strength of this world with resolute enthusiasm.
A ferocious wind slapped against his face, carrying the piercing stench of the Mountain Banshee’s blood! Amidst the ear-piercing chaffing of metal, the savage raptor clawed out two long streaks of sparks across Sheyan’s wrists; the unstoppable might cleaving open two lines of mangled flesh on Sheyan’s arm.
As the immense force of the talons pressed against him, Sheyan was about to summon his strength in resistance; instead, his mind sparked and he immediately abandoned that thought. Allowing the immense force to drag and flip him over, he was thrown backwards for an entire 12-13 metres. Appearing like an absolutely tyrannical attack, yet in actual fact, it only dealt close to 80 points of true damage to Sheyan!
As his body was flipped through the air, many notions swirled within Sheyan’s mind. He could obviously stabilize himself and roll to cushion his fall, but he purposefully allowed himself to crash headfirst; landing himself into a terribly pathetic state. Finally, he struggled to get up, issuing a feigned horrified expression as he gasped for breath. In his current circumstance, hiding his personal strength naturally remained top priority.
However because of this, Sheyan who had been dragged into battle, was now being eyed by a viperwolf. Its intelligence mentioned previously; and after eyeing the wretched Sheyan crashing to the ground, it excitedly rummaged forward with insatiable thirst. Of course, it had no clue Sheyan was merely feigning!
In the end, the unlucky viperwolf naturally nibbled rice instead of stealing chickens. Its clawing and chomps were easily blocked by Sheyan; but of course to others, Sheyan made it appear as if he was bitterly resisting it, seemingly about to crumble at any second. Fortunately, the contestants around were not vegetarians*; after seeing that someone was tanking, they instantly unleashed their fervent assaults, quickly dispatching that damned viperwolf.
(TN: Author is probably implying weaklings lol)
By now, since he had already been dragged into this battle, Sheyan’s desire to avoid unnecessary attention was rendered impossible. Hence, he might as well just accomplished what he originally came here to do, briefly tossing out two blended-mix flasks. Naturally, they belonged to the composition of ‘Strength + Agility’ and ‘Intelligence + Agility’.
After the flasks shattered; while most of the contestants were locked in gruesome battle, someone very quickly transmitted through his party channel. His message started with an unrestrained gasp of surprise.
“Oh, my god! Hurry up and enter this fog, that guy’s buff effects are actually +3 points to both strength and agility! Its duration lasts for 120 minutes!”
“Eh hey? Why is my agility +3 and my intelligence +3?”
“A bonus of 6 base attribute points? Are you kidding me? Isn’t April’s fools over already? Oh, dog shit! It’s actually real, what a f**king surprise.”
“What are you guys talking about, what powerful bonus?”
“Can’t you see for yourself.”
“Oh shit, this guy isn’t part of our party. If we acquire his bonus buff effects, then we would be blocking off Morda’s and Fr��a’s buff effects.”
“Sorry, Morda. I’m just short of 3 points of strength to inflict crushing on these damned scums, I hope you understand.”
“Morda, Fria……3 points of intelligence is crucial to me.”
“Morda, Fria; with 3 points of strength, these devil spawn banshees cannot deal crushing damages to me anymore.”
“What luck! With 3 points of agility, these pesky viperwolves are now unable to keep up with my speed!”
“Holy, I’m starting to feel a connection with that Seaman guy.”
“He doesn’t like gays, your connection is worth farts.”
“……….”
“…………”
The contestants were no fools. An upgrade of 6 entire base attributes, it was definitely worth more than 1% accuracy and 1% explosive strike rate boost, that could at most increase their offensive capabilities by 13%! Because such an enhancement was totally comparable to a substantial upgrade of wearing a black grade equipment, or even a silver storyline grade equipment!
In an environment where life or death was at stake; in spite of acquainted sentiments, survival remained the only truth! Furthermore to these contestants, choosing Sheyan’s bonus buff didn’t come at an additional cost. Their only collateral was in the form of Morda and Fria’s gains.
Due to this situation, rapid flows of battle contribution points came pouring into Sheyan; which were clearly the collaterals of the two miserable dudes. However, even after adopting a terribly ugly expression, they obviously couldn’t beg others to forgo Sheyan’s buff right?
One had to admit that the prowess of the Illume-union was rather insane; after their earlier panic and once they grew accustomed, they simply took care of these crafty beasts with swiftness and ease. Yet at this moment, another massive pack of viperwolves had came charging out of the distant forest! Amongst them, several viperwolf had a distinctively larger body, which were naturally classified as smaller ringleaders or elites.
These swiftly encroaching viperwolves utterly spared no breathing space for the illume-union, delivering endless bouts of assault! Facing such persistence, the frontline of close combatants would undoubtedly produce casualties. At present, Sheyan had finally witnessed the formidable party skill of the Ullume-union ‘Drive’! Such a skill obviously came at a tremendous cost.
Once anyone was tackled into a near death state, and instant flash transport would occur. The destination of that flash transport had already been predetermined at one of their party member, where the member most likely possessed a regenerative and healing ability. Of course, the flash transport distance wasn’t infinite, and limited to only 50 metres radius. Similarly, it didn’t supply an invulnerable state against assaults; if someone suffered an instant death, then this ability was pointless.
It seemed like the close combat contestants were producing more and more casualties, as the gaps between the frontlines became wider. All of a sudden, a core member marched out of a channel from the Valkyrie. This person was called Yuan Zhan, who was obviously an asian. Sheyan hadn’t witnessed him in action previously. At present, he simply observed Yuan Zhan’s fingers flashing with green, and congregated into two green glows before impaling into the ground.
Not even 10 seconds later, all surrounding viperwolf carcasses withered and rotted in succession, paving the way for two stumps of 6 metres tall shrubs to sprout from the ground. Those shrubs had no leaves, its twisted roots and intertwined joints contained pointedly acute tips. Whenever a viperwolf closed in, its branches would ferociously stabbed forward and slice, while carrying a double negative property of repel and poisoning. Its performance was that of an extremely refined defensive mechanism.
Apart from that, Yuan Zhan summoned out 5 greater wolves to participate in battle. He was actually a fauna/flora summoner!
Sheyan immediately recalled about Phelps from before, that he too was a summoner. He had summoned wolves that time; and whenever they got injured, Phelps would display an expression of hurt. If it was Phelps who had just summoned 5 wolves, then wouldn’t his expression be nervous and apprehensive?
However, Yuan Zhan’s countenance revealed that he couldn’t care less, obviously treating his greater wolves as mere consumables. Thus, Sheyan could instantly determine one critical matter; this summoner definitely has a reserve and impossibly dangerous ability! Probably his success rate of taming is incredibly high. Hence, he dares to squander his animals in this manner! To become a core member of the Illume-union, he is indeed well-deserved of his reputation!
Even with the aid of the two ‘Poison-needle-giant-thorn’ shrubs, Main-Tank Archeaphill was beginning to feel exhausted.
Besides, he had to swing around with his wielded towering shield, which was called ‘Bulwark of Azzinoth’. To coincide his offense into his defense was no easy feat with the shield. In actual fact, Archeaphill’s base attributes had barely reached the requirements to forcefully utilize this doubled-handed shield; especially pertaining to the strength attribute.
(TN: This shield is actually from the World of Warcraft, you can google it to see how it looks)
Presently, Archeaphill couldn’t deny that this Seaman brat did have a pretty useful support ability. If not for that additional enhancement of 3 strength, he believed his proficiency in mobilizing his shield would be lacking now.
“SCRAM!” Archeaphill roared furiously, sweeping horizontally with the giant shield, smashing it against the body of an incoming viperwolf! The pointed pyramids stabbed a agonizingly deep memory in the creature’s mind; to the extent that if it dreamt at night, it would definitely relish in a nightmare of having its naked body ravaged by a thousand cactuses. Releasing a mournful howl, the viperwolf was flung off with blood splattering about.
Suddenly, an elite viperwolf who had been prying in a corner, instantly jumped on this chance and pressed forward ferociously. Archeaphill roared as he drilled his shield into the ground, before pressing his shoulder against the top; his frame instantly formed into a firm triangle with the shield as its front. Though his strength wasn’t adequate, but by using the shield in this manner, it would be hard for any collision to break through his defense.
“Thump!” A thunderous knock resounded.
The elite viperwolf had rushed head on into the impaling pyramids; before emitting a pitiful wail as 6 blood-gushing holes instantly surfaced on its body. The long range firepower then arrived and beat it into consecutive retreats. Archeaphill had consecutively repelled two viperwolves, but the repercussions of using this double handed shield excessively was manifesting fully. Though his defense was impregnable, it inevitably opened an immense gap during rotations or dodging. Hence, he required the collaboration of his party to compensate for that flaw.
Yet the supremacy of this model of shields was thoroughly clear as well; with its immeasurable depths of defence, it frequently absorbed loads of incoming damage. Citing a simple example, if Reef had wielded this shield to go against the Blood-gold Sunken Colony back in the Starship Trooper world, then he would’ve probably been able to handle it without breaking through the boundary. However, if he encountered an arachnid sea with it……then rotating 360 degrees around would be a nightmare.
Although he had driven away that elite viperwolf, Archeaphill remained depressed internally. This was because he had just witnessed one of this auxiliary tanking assistant being pounced to the ground, and having his throat ripped with one chomp; falling into a critically wounded state. The party skill had activated with a flash, and he vanished.
As for that viperwolf who had just sampled the wondrous taste of blood and flesh, it roared in rage; gazing direct towards the nearest Archeaphill, baring fangs and brandishing claws as it charged ahead.
At present, Archeaphill was already exhausted beyond limit, the consequential extent of using this giant shield. He panted deeply, but at that instant where his nape was about to be assaulted, that area of his skin shockingly turned ash-grey, as though it had transformed into granite. Evidently, that region of defense was substantially raised! This was definitely one of Archeaphill’s trump card! ‘Stone-Skin art’ ! Right now, if not for his party warning him that he cannot retreat or collapse now, Archeaphill wouldn’t have executed such a technique.
To the contrary of his expectation, that impending wild strike of pain never arrived! A fist that was shimmering with metallic glint abruptly stretched over, as it heavily pounded the head of the viperwolf; smashing it far away into the sky. Archeaphill turned to glance; just nice observing that Seaman brat lunging forward, before promptly guarding himself and the region to his side. This event of sending charcoal in a snowy weather was indeed welcoming to anyone. Archeaphill nodded in approval as he chuckled heartily.
“Many thanks, endure for 2 minutes until Huckle heals up and replace you.”
In the end, Sheyan stayed on for an entire 10 minutes! This wasn’t because Huckle didn’t return to replace him, but instead, it was that Archeaphill didn’t wish for him to leave.
In Archeaphill’s perspective, ever since he discovered the potions Sheyan had tossed out could grant 6 base attributes, he knew that he and Sable had underestimated this fella. After giving a rather good evaluation of Seaman afterward, now that he experienced defending alongside this Seaman brat, he had discovered that he underestimated him once again.
In actual fact, Archeaphill had already collaborated with Huckle for 4 entire worlds, having established a mutual cooperation between them. Yet once Seaman had replaced Huckle for that moment, Archeaphill could instantly sense a difference. His cooperation with Huckle beforehand could be described as a volatile gas of carbohydrate. Normally when Huckle held position beside him, he would only compensate for the gaps that surfaced when Archeaphill moved his giant shield. However, deep down in his bones, Huckle remained an offensive individual. Once any crack surfaced in the enemy, he couldn’t resist the urge to assault the enemy.
To the party, that appeared as a proactive action; yet to Archeaphill, that action wasn’t favourable at all. Due to the manifold instances of myriad changes in the battlefield, nobody could prevent sudden mishaps from happening. If something unexpected occurred and Huckle wasn’t holding fort beside him, then the severity of the matter would be grave.
Even though Archeaphill had advised Huckle several times, Huckle still remained obstinate without major changes. Moreover, there weren’t many who were willing to be an assistant defensive tank – Slaving bitterly while doing the dirty work, yet glories of it were still overshadowed by the brilliance of the MT. Simply put, it was like eating meat without drinking soup. Hence, Archeaphill could only helplessly come to terms with reality.
Instead, Sheyan was different, all his focus was placed on assisting Archeaphill! He definitely wouldn’t bother with other matters. Even if the situation changed vastly, his reaction was equally smooth! With such a conduct, Sheyan displayed an appearance of relative low profile, so low key that it seemed like he was slacking. For example; forgoing a near death creature nearby, letting off a beast that he could easily handle, or just appearing as if he was daydreaming at times.
Only the beneficiary, Archeaphill, understood. Ever since Sheyan made his entry, it was as though his blind spot hadn’t been exploited by the enemy a single time. Once a gap surfaced from rotating his giant shield, at first notice, Sheyan would be the one to eliminate the crisis. Furthermore, when Archeaphill needed a breather, without muttering a single word, this Seaman would proactively replace him and guard him.
As for the times when Sheyan appeared to be daydreaming, he was actually calculating the current statistics of the enemies, before advising the current state of the party to Archeaphill. He was judging the state of others recovering, when they would rejoin the battle, or if others were breathless due to their depleted MP, how long would it take for the long rage combatants need to refuel and reload magazines and so on. Hence, Sheyan allowed Archeaphill, who was wholly focused on defense with a disadvantageous viewpoint, to have a clear grasp and understanding of the entire situation.
In other words, after battling alongside Sheyan, Archeaphill had realised what the marvellous aid a qualified and professional assistant tank could supplement.
Actually in reality, Huckle was doing a pretty remarkable job as the assistant defensive tank. However, comparing him to Sheyan was an utterly colossal error.
There is a saying; only a woman can understand women. The same logic applied; only a MT would be able to understand another MT. Why did Sheyan have such qualifications, and could comprehend what Archeaphill required? Apart from his own intrinsic wisdom, it was due to the fact that his own position wasn’t an assistant tank, but an exact MT!
Moreover, during previous battles, Reef understood that both of them had to fight shoulder to shoulder in the future, complementing each other’s gaps. Hence, he had shared his personal wisdom with Sheyan. With all these factors combined, where the water flows a canal would form; Sheyan was naturally able to fulfil Archeaphill’s requirements.
Bluntly putting, if Archeaphill wanted to find an assistant tank like Sheyan, it was equivalent to seeking another MT. Yet since he governed this positioning authority, why would any MT be willing to take on the position of an assistant tank?
Hence, this topic was doomed to be a dilemma, unless the party had already determined to traverse down the path of twin MTs right from the get go. However, it wasn’t easy to find suitable candidates. Because, the current situation was that MTs belonged to a rare commodity. Many would’ve already held a notion of securing the chicken head, instead of the bull’s tail – Before when a MT matures fully, to establish a party with twin MTs would simply be a one-of-a-kind situation; a path of thousand hurdles. As for the many prerequisite conditions, one just had to recall the coincidental encounter between Sheyan and his recruitment of Reef.
As the battle gradually reached its climax, the other Illume-union members started to discover certain abnormalities. This was because, the Archeaphill of today was actually able to hold the frontlines for an excessively longer period! Those who had entered this realm war were mostly veteran contestants; moreover, they had coordinated with him for so long, obviously they understood the underlying mechanics of this phenomenon.
Logically speaking from the start of the battle till now, with the appearance of elite viperwolves, the war had already reached a menacingly intensified state. Right from the beginning, Archeaphill had been tanking the frontlines, and his substitution for a 30 seconds rest was already long overdued. According to their usual practice, this vacant space would normally be filled by a combination of Yuan Zhan, and another core member, Demondream. A summoner, plus another high damage output contestant to mend this gap.
However, Archeaphill hadn’t signalled for any substitute; hence, Yuan Zhan and Demondream, who were already prepared for action, could continue acting as the party’s insurance and observe the situation peacefully. Both their perceptions were incredibly sharp, and could very swiftly identify the crux of this smooth and unhindered battle. It was shockingly due to that outsider, Seaman!
With his gene-mixes, he allowed an overall surge in the party’s fighting capabilities, and even produced such a tacit coordination with Archeaphill. So much so that even when other close combatants nearby Sheyan encountered a crisis, they would similarly receive his emergency aid and attention.