Bab 9: Chapter 9 Daring Ideas_1
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Feilin's depiction sent horrifying chills down everyone's spine, yet this was something that could very likely occur. Starvation could drive animals to turn against each other, let alone different races who used to treat each other as prey.
This part of history was too far removed from them, only an immortal Undead Witch like Feilin could remember the happenings of a thousand years ago.
"If you start to turn on each other, the surviving Undead Witches will stop believing in any kind of peaceful coexistence, and it will be just like Demon Valley - humans would be enslaved and slaughtered, or perhaps like Ice City, where the Minotaurs are merely used to pull carts, and Succubus are locked away to entertain guests. Instead of that, might as well create a scourge, the souls of thousands of people could produce more than ten Undead or Witches, and at least we would have a few peaceful souls left."
In the end, Feilin made the final decision. Food could last for another half a year, and no one talked about driving out the lower-class population during this period. Everyone was encouraged to eat freely. If they still couldn't find a solution after using up the food, they might as well die altogether, praying silently that they could retain their memories and be reincarnated as Witches or Undead.
Feilin set a harsh timeline for everyone, but he was not willing to see things progress to that stage. Therefore, after the meeting, he quietly came looking for Ange.
Although Ange had fled to a remote place, it was easy for Feilin to find him, as his spies were scattered throughout the Underground City. The ubiquitous ghostly apparitions were a security force's prided weapon. Without such efficient means, Feilin couldn't possibly have managed a race-mixed Underground City into a harmonious and prosperous place.
As soon as he saw Ange, Feilin quickly came up with a flattering smile on his face. He hurried to Ange and earnestly said, "My Lord, I'm sorry to bother you. I wouldn't have asked for your help if it wasn't for the hardships we're facing, mainly because the World Transit Station is closed and we have no channels to procure food. We have been barely hanging on for almost a thousand years and now can't hold on any longer. I came here to buy food and hope you could spare some."
Feilin bent over and rubbed his hands together, looking cautious as he pointed to Ange's bracelet, a stark contrast to his previous commanding demeanor in the conference room.
However, he didn't seem awkward at all. The man standing before him was Lord Observer, possibly a manifestation of the legendary Undead King who rules the countless realms. What's wrong with being humble? It was already an extraordinary honor to have a conversation with them.
Ange, with his head tilted, looked at him, bewildered.
Feilin seemed to recall something suddenly and said, "Equal exchange, equal exchange, here, here, ten Soul Crystals. The teleportation corridor has been closed for a thousand years, I wonder if the same prices still apply? Before the closure, one Soul Crystal could be exchanged for two hundred kilograms of food."
As he spoke, Feilin took out ten black crystals from his bosom and handed them to Ange.
Soul Crystal? What is that? Is it similar to the Crystal Stone that starts the stone pillar? Ange thought curiously and reached out to take it.
The moment the Soul Crystal was in his hand, Ange understood its purpose.
Soul Crystals, condensed Soul Energy, were a currency used among the Undead.
Different creatures used different forms of currency. Humans preferred precious metals, Wizards liked to use Demon Crystals, and the Undead favored Soul Crystals, which were condensed from pure Soul Energy. They could be used as money, or consumed to replenish Soul Energy.
Of course, Soul Energy was only beneficial to Undead, so Soul Crystals only circulated among them.
As soon as Ange touched them, he knew how to use them. Similar to how humans knew they could drink when they saw water, Ange looked at the Soul Crystals in his hands, then at the bracelet on his wrist, and started the refinement process directly.
Once the ten Soul Crystals were converted into Soul Energy, most of them were absorbed by the bracelet. After absorption, the bracelet shone brightly, and Ange's consciousness was suddenly pulled into another place.
As soon as he regained his senses, he found himself at the arch near the Resting Camp's farm, which Ange had surprisingly teleported back to.
However, it was only his consciousness, there was no physical body. As his thoughts moved, his consciousness arrived at the spot he thought of on the farm.
The seemingly deserted field was empty and even the chirping birds from before were gone. Besides that, not much had changed since he had left.
He thought about the granary, and instantly his consciousness was in there. Looking at the piles of grain that filled the granary, Ange thought about Feilin. He had used Soul Crystals to exchange for food, but how could he get these grains for him?
Barely had the thought popped into his head when grain sacks started disappearing one after another in his line of sight. One sack, two sacks, three sacks, until forty-five sacks had vanished, Ange felt a resistance and the disappearance of the sacks ceased.
Where had they gone? Ange pulled back his consciousness, and when he looked around, he was surrounded by a circular formation made of sacks of grain. On the outside of the circle was Feilin, smiling so broadly that his eyes had disappeared.
"Forty-five sacks, a full forty-five sacks, five less than before, but that's normal. It's been a thousand years, and the price has just increased by ten percent. Very reasonable. I will have people move them right away." Fearing the night would bring more problems, Feilin summoned a team of skeletons which hoisted a sack each and in a single drill, moved all forty-five sacks of grain.
Looking at the restored tranquillity around him, Ange thought about Feilin's words. Five sacks fewer?
Most of the energy from the Soul Crystals was absorbed by the bracelet, but a small part was absorbed by Ange. Was it because this portion was missing, that there had been five less sacks? Upon examining his soul, he did seem slightly stronger.
Ange tilted his head, pushed this question aside, and shifted his focus back onto the bracelet. With his thoughts, the bracelet lit up again, and drew his consciousness back in with a whoosh.
Was it because the bracelet had absorbed the energy of the Soul Crystals, Ange could now return here at any moment?
Ange's consciousness returned to the farm and the granary, but he could no longer teleport the sacks of grain. Instead, he could teleport some stones. After a few tries, he realized that the energy he infused into the bracelet - most likely hooked to the weight - permitted him to teleport an equivalent weight and after meeting the requirement, he was unable to teleport anymore.
There could still be a quantity less than one sack left, which allowed him to teleport some lighter stones.
Having explored back and forth between these few places on the farm for over a thousand years, Ange was familiar with every corner. However, the game grew boring after a while. Just as he was about to exit, out of habit, he looked towards the direction of the Resting Camp.
The Resting Camp was venerable, even though its king had disappeared for thousands of years. It remained a place Ange would not dare to trespass. Driven to dire straits, he previously had to enter and search for usable bones, but only dared to root around the outskirts, not daring to venture in too deep.
Now that his consciousness could freely move and not once has he visited the deepest part of the Resting Camp, should he have a look? A bold idea suddenly sprang to his mind.
Bab 10: Chapter 10 Bronze Book_1
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
With a thought, clank! Ange bumped into something, his consciousness was flung outwards.
Composing himself, he found he'd been blocked from the core area of the Resting Camp where the Undead King was slumbering.
Clearly, some boundary was preventing Ange's consciousness from entering the area. Ange was not surprised or disappointed; he simply turned towards the highest tower on the east side.
The Resting Camp was incredibly large, with five main architectural compounds. The centre naturally was the most critical area of the Resting Camp, and the other four grand structures were distributed in the four corners, symmetrically placed. The eastern tower was the tallest.
His consciousness entered the tower without any obstruction.
From the outside, it looked like a high tower. But once inside, it seemed more like a chimney. The interior structure had no floors or divisions. It was a continuous cylindrical space reaching right up to the top of the tower.
It was completely empty, except for a small podium placed in the middle of the ground, which held a book.
Yes, a small podium and a book were the sole contents of the entire tower.
Ange's consciousness floated over, brushing the book, and he was stunned to find that it was made of solid, heavy bronze.
As Ange touched it, the Bronze Book flipped open, and a huge illusory shadow sprung into the sky, quickly filling the tower's interior space - it was the shadow of this book.
Ange began to comprehend why the tower was erected so high. If it were not this high, it would undoubtedly be incapable of accommodating the shadow of this book.
The shadow of the book was raised, showing its inside pages. There were no words on these pages initially, but once opened, golden letters gradually emerged.
Ange tilted his head, staring blankly for a long time without moving.
Out of the pages came an illusory shadow of a Bronze Giant Dragon who said with some confusion, "Why is there a skeleton? Ahem, do you not know how to read?"
Ange nodded.
"What are you doing in a library if you can't read? Fooling about." The Bronze Giant Dragon complained, "Well, although I can dictate, that's quite uncouth. You're in luck."
A surge of information flowed into Ange's soul and imprinted there.
"Eh? Your soul is pretty solid. Why are you only at the Ashbone Level?" murmured the Bronze Giant Dragon int her perplexed tone.
Ange was puzzled. He didn't understand what it meant, but he could understand the words on the page. The information the Bronze Giant Dragon imprinted in his soul was the knowledge of words.
The words on the page read: The Bronze Book knows everything. Only one question can be asked each time.
A question can be asked? It knows everything? Ange tilted his head and inquired with his soul, "Who are you?"
"Hahahaha, at last someone has asked this question, at last, oh God, oh God, you are so smart, how did you think of asking this?" The Bronze Giant Dragon was so thrilled it appeared as if it would leap right out of the book.
Anyone allowed into the library would know the Bronze Dragon. Plus, as per the rules, only one question could be asked, so no one would waste that precious chance by asking who the Bronze Dragon was. The Bronze Dragon was just the Bronze Dragon, who else could it be?
"Good lad, you've asked the right question. Listen well. I am the Bronze Book, the God of Knowledge, the omniscient Negris!" The sound of Negris's voice boomed like a bell in Ange's soul.
Ange watched him curiously while Negris craned his neck to look at Ange. After a confrontation of stares, Negris could not contain himself and asked, "You haven't heard my name, have you?"
Ange nodded.
With a dejected sigh, Negris said, "I had figured. What would a skeleton know? Don't you have any other questions?"
Ange tilted his head and asked with an innocent twinge in his soul, "One question."
"Doesn't count, doesn't count. That just now wasn't a question, that was a reward. Anyone who knows my divine name can summon me by it, and ask me a question. One every day!" Negris hastily informed him.
Originally, that was a sort of cruel joke Negris had devised. If someone asked him who he was, he would respond that that was their one question, before notifying them that, as a token of his pity, they could summon him by his name and ask a question daily.
Managing to get into the library was no small feat, and only being allowed one question, within that pain, Negris would tell them they could ask a question every day. Of course, this was a reward. The unbelievably rollercoaster ride of emotions his victims would take from the despair to extreme joy would satisfy his twisted sense of humor.
However, from the moment of his confinement, no one has fallen into this trap for a thousand years. Who would enter without knowing the backstory, given how precious an opportunity it was?
As for his divine name, no one cared. How great a god could he be when he was confined here? Could he be mightier than the Undead King?
Thousands of years passed and finally, someone fell into the trap - the unconventional Ange, who after asking his identity, really didn't plan on asking anything else. This nearly killed Negris from frustration.
"Ask, ask another! I am the omniscient God of Knowledge, there is nothing I don't know." Ange's indifferent demeanor somewhat annoyed Negris, who was looking forward to a question from Ange so he could demonstrate the power of a God of Knowledge.
"Oh." After giving it some thought Ange asked, "Where did the King go?"
The huge illusion of the Bronze Book snapped shut with a thud, engulfing the Bronze Dragon within, then rapidly shrank back onto the podium as an actual Bronze Book with a distinct sound. The physical Bronze Book then closed.
The space echoed with the irate voice of the Bronze Giant Dragon Negris, "I don't know."
Of all the questions one could ask, he had to go for that one. Negris himself wanted to know where the Undead King had gone. Although it was just a small skeleton, Ange's question was unusually difficult and uncooperative. Negris was done playing, so he went on strike!
Looking at the restored state of the space, Ange tilted his head and withdrew his consciousness. The Bronze Giant Dragon's tantrum had no effect on him. Ange was just a small skeleton who had no need of answering many questions.
His consciousness shifted, intending to drift to another building, when Ange felt a nudge on his body signalling him his physical body was being shaken.
Ange's consciousness returned to his body, instantly feeling someone violently shaking him. Turning to see who it was, it turned out to be the Little Zombie.
Upon seeing Ange react, the panicking Little Zombie continued screeching, urgently pointing in a certain direction. Ange looked over in the direction the Little Zombie was pointing. A Tough Skin Zombie was lumbering from a distance, with white eyes and elongated arms indicative of preparing an attack, coming straight for Ange.
"Does this count as an 'active attack'?" A question arose in Ange's soul as he reached for the scythe at his waist and swung it deftly.
Hadiah
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