Chapter 691: Beneath the Snow
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang woke up past 6 a.m. the next morning, and the first thing he did was to ask Bloody about the investigation about the ruins.
"How is it? Have all the Leech Pods spread everywhere?"
"The pods have covered the entire last night past 11 p.m., but the ruins seem to be barren without anyone around. There're no buildings. There's nothing at all besides snow and monsters," Bloody said.
"But there's something odd though. I checked several times last night, and I couldn't find the two teams from the Division 3 Union Government. Even the Dynasty team has disappeared."
"No buildings and three teams missing…" Lin Huang frowned as he sat up from his sleeping bag slowly.
"Since it was the Division 3 Union Government who organized this trip, it's impossible for them to exit this place after a day in here. There're so many powerful people in Dynasty that it's impossible for them to retreat just like that. The three teams must still be in this ruins. I think they've probably discovered something."
"Are you sure you didn't miss out any corner of the ruins?" Lin Huang asked Bloody again.
"I don't think so. I've released millions of Leech Pods this time, so the coverage is complete. There's one every five to six kilometers. There shouldn't be any spots that have been missed out." Bloody was confident in its own ability.
"I managed to find the resting spots of the other teams easily last night."
"If you're sure that you didn't miss out any spots, there's only one explanation for this. They're under the snow." Lin Huang thought that was the highest possibility.
"That's what I thought too. I'm speculating that all of the buildings in the ruins are covered under the year-long snow as all my Leech Pods can see is a land of snow from the top."
"If that's true, we can't find the exact location of the buildings." Lin Huang frowned again.
"My Leech Pods could be sent underground, but the ruins are just too big. I've no idea where to even start." Bloody felt helpless.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just monitor the monsters' whereabouts from above then. I have the Treasure Card for the underground."
After speaking to Bloody, Lin Huang did not have the mood to sleep anymore, so he got up from his sleeping bag. When he opened the tent, he saw Lancelot sitting nearby and munching on dried vegetables. There were five empty packets arranged on the ground neatly. Since there had been no monsters last night, Lancelot had been eating out of boredom.
"It's your sixth packet now. Aren't you sick of it yet?" Lin Huang was speechless. Lancelot shook his head immediately.
"Don't throw the packets everywhere." Lin Huang walked over to him and kept the five empty packets into his storage space. Lancelot was afraid that Lin Huang might take the packet that he was still eating away, and he retreated his hand slightly.
"Wow, you're protecting your food!" Lin Huang thought it was funny. "Alright, nobody's taking your food away from you."
Lin Huang put the tent away and started eating his snacks for breakfast. As he swallowed his last morsel, Lancelot finished his sixth packet of dried vegetables. Lin Huang then took out a Treasure Card and crushed it after recalling Lancelot.
"Treasure Card has been activated!"
As soon as Xiao Hei's voice was heard, there was a red arrow pointing at Lin Huang's 10 o'clock not far away.
"A red arrow! It looks like I'm in good luck today." A red arrow indicated that the treasure was rare which excited Lin Huang.
When he got to the cave, a chill blew frigidly. It was snowing, and the sky was gray. Lin Huang looked at the time. It was not even 7 a.m. yet. He cocked an eyebrow as he realized that it was too early. However, he summoned Thunder anyway and rode on its back.
"Let's go, 10 o'clock!"
Thunder flapped its wings and followed the direction that Lin Huang had instructed it. In less than 20 minutes, he saw the end of the arrow that the Treasure Card was pointing at. It was an empty land, and there was nothing at all. He would have thought that the Treasure Card was faulty if he had not figured out that the treasure was hidden underground.
"Thunder, land in another two to three kilometers."
Thunder started slowing down, and soon it landed less than 200 meters from the end of the arrow. Lin Huang then flew towards the arrow after recalling Thunder into its card form.
"Is this the end of the arrow?" As they came to a stop, Bloody looked around and asked because it could not see where the Treasure Card arrow was.
Yes, it's under my feet." Lin Huang nodded.
"Seems like our speculation is right. There's nothing here. The treasure has to be underground." Bloody was thrilled when it realized that their speculation was correct.
"Who's good at digging?" Lin Huang stood less than 20 centimeters above the snowy ground and mumbled to himself. He was thinking about which monster he should summon to dig a hole in the ground.
"You don't have to look for anyone. I'll do it." Bloody said after hearing him mumble.
"You?" Lin Huang was surprised.
"Not me. I'll get someone to do it." Bloody smiled.
Just as Lin Huang was puzzled, he sensed Bloody releasing many Leech Pods into the ground and soon, a big hole appeared. The depth of the hold increased in an instant, and a spiral staircase that led underground was formed.
"What's happening?" Lin Huang was puzzled as he watched.
"I controlled some Frost Helminths to dig the hole. The Frost Helminths can absorb heat, and on the other hand, it can release heat too. That's how they move around the snow," Bloody explained.
Bloody was now an immortal-level rank-3 since Lin Huang had leveled up to purple flame-level whereby it could cast Leech Seeds on Frost Helminths that were on immortal-level rank-1 to rank-3 easily.
"So, I don't have to worry that the Frost Helminths will attack us anymore?" Lin Huang was just thinking that there might be many Frost Helminths underground. He still undoubtedly remembered what had happened to the Divine Alliance yesterday, but it seemed like that would not happen anymore.
As he waited where he was for three to five minutes, Bloody finally spoke again, "It's ready now. Let's go."
Lin Huang then walked down the spiral staircase that was made of snow. Suddenly, the light from above disappeared when he was seven to eight meters below the surface.
"I got the Frost Helminth to block the entrance with frost so that nobody can follow us." Bloody's plan was thorough.
They finally reached the end after walking 200 to 300 meters down. As he stepped out of the cave, he finally saw the mystery that was hiding underground.
Chapter 692: Duo Er
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
What Lin Huang was looking at was not a building, but rows and rows of buildings. It looked like it used to be a city. However, it seemed to have gone through a catastrophe. The buildings had collapsed, and even the houses were destroyed. There seemed to be no activity anymore.
"Bloody, go take a look." Lin Huang stood where he was, not wanting to get closer to the city at the moment.
Bloody released its Leech Pods which then floated in the underground city sky. Soon, it came back with results.
"This should be an empty city. There're no signs of human or monsters."
Lin Huang was not surprised. After all, this ruins had existed for many years. Judging from the damage, there should not be anyone living there anymore.
"There's a tower-like building in the middle of the city that seems perfectly fine. If there's really any treasure here, it's most probably in the tower," Bloody added.
Lin Huang nodded as he noticed the red arrow from the Treasure Card which appeared once they got to the underground city. It pointed at the center of the city. He then flew up and headed towards the direction that the arrow was pointing at. As he flew up in the sky, he observed the buildings in the city. From the colony of buildings, this city should have been a busy one. Although it could not compare to most of the A-grade footholds, it was similar to most B-grade footholds albeit much smaller. However, he could tell that this unknown civilization was developed for a city that had been founded before the new epoch.
As Lin Huang passed through a toy store, he saw movement from a doll that was placed in the broken window. He stopped immediately and floated mid-air, observing the toy store from far away.
"Did you see that?" He asked Bloody.
"Yes, I did. The doll moved." Bloody noded.
"You saw that too. I thought it was an illusion." Lin Huang changed his direction and teleported outside the toy store.
"Don't go in yet, let me take a look first," Bloody said.
Bloody then released a couple of Leech Pods that flew into the toy store through the broken window.
"There's nothing in there." Bloody was puzzled.
"Let me go in and take a look." Lin Huang summoned a couple of flying daggers that surrounded him as he crawled in through the broken window.
The toy store was small at only 60 square meters and consisted of only one floor. Lin Huang stood by the window and could see everything that was in the store. The only place that was covered was the cashier. He walked carefully and looked behind the cashier, but there was nothing there. Lin Huang frowned as he turned around and observed again. Besides all sorts of dolls, there was nothing else in the store, and there was nowhere to hide. If it were not for him and Bloody who noticed that the doll had moved, he would have thought he had seen an illusion. Since the both of them saw it, Lin Huang did not think so.
He walked back to the window and picked up the doll that he had seen moving earlier. The doll was just a cartoon puppet with a big head and googly eyes. It was only 30 centimeters tall with a pink dress and dark red hair with a yellow flower clip in it. Lin Huang took a good look at the doll, but there was nothing wrong with it. Recalling that the doll had moved its head, he attempted to touch the doll's head to see if it could be moved or not.
Just when his left hand was reaching for the doll's head, a female voice was heard.
"What are you trying to do?"
Lin Huang looked around immediately as the flying daggers surrounded him, ready to attack. However, there was nothing around.
"The voice seems to have come from the doll," Bloody said.
Lin Huang then looked at the doll in doubt. "Were you the one speaking just now?"
"It wasn't me!" The doll insisted, but noticing that she had revealed herself again, she struggled her way out of Lin Huang's hand.
"It's alive?" Lin Huang thought it was unbelievable as he had never seen such a monster in the monster encyclopedia.
The doll then hid behind a bunch of fluffy dolls as it revealed half of her face, looking at Lin Huang in fear. Lin Huang then squatted down without going closer to her.
"Little fella, are you a local here?" Lin Huang asked.
"Don't call me little fella. My name's Duo Er," the doll corrected him.
"Duo Er, what a nice name!" Lin Huang smiled. "My name's Lin Xie. Nice meeting you."
"Lin Xie… You must be a human from the outside world then?" Duo Er asked.
"That's right." Lin Huang nodded. "You've seen humans from the outside world before?"
"I've seen them from far away, but it's my first time looking at one up-close." Duo Er was curious about Lin Huang.
"My father doesn't let me get close to humans from the outside world. He told me that they're bad people."
"I'm not a bad person." Lin Huang was surprised because what Duo Er said proved that she was not the only one in the city, so he attempted to get her to talk more.
"Duo Er, you must be an aboriginal here."
"Of course." Duo Er was proud of herself.
"Besides you, there must be many of your tribe in this city?" Lin Huang glanced at the other dolls that were in the store.
"Of course."
Duo Er noticed that Lin Huang was looking at the other dolls, so she laughed while covering her mouth.
"That's so funny! You thought all of us look like dolls?"
"Is that not how it is?" Lin Huang was puzzled.
"Only a few of us including myself are dolls while the rest are in different forms. After all, dolls aren't a great fit in battles. Our father and the rest chose their bodies to be fit for battles." Duo Er seemed to have her guard down as they chatted, then she walked out from behind the dolls.
"They get to choose their body?" Lin Huang was puzzled.
"I don't know how to explain to you. Follow me if you'd like to know. I'll bring you to where our tribe is. The tribe leader and my father will explain to you." Duo Er thought about it and decided to bring Lin Huang to see her tribe.
"Does your tribe welcome outsiders like me?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow.
"Usually, they don't as most of the humans who came were bad people. But I can explain to the tribe leader that you're not bad," Duo Was said in all seriousness.
"Will your tribe leader listen to you?" Lin Huang was skeptical.
"Of course, the tribe leader loves me." Duo Er was sure.
"Loving you and trusting me are two different things…" Lin Huang thought to himself, but he decided to go with Duo Er as he wanted to know more about the ruins.
"Alright, follow me!"
Chapter 693: The Forgotten Tribe of the Middle Ages
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Duo Er was enthusiastic as she led the way after Lin Huang agreed to see her tribe. Duo Er flew out of the toy store immediately and shouted at him from the broken window, "Keep up with me!"
Lin Huang nodded and followed her after recalling his telekinetic daggers.
As they left the toy store, Lin Huang trailed behind Duo Er. The direction she was flying towards was the city center that the Treasure Card's arrow had been pointing at. Lin Huang was guessing that Duo Er was bringing him to the tower that Bloody had discovered earlier. In a couple of minutes, she started slowing down when a rock tower appeared not far from them. The rock tower was quite short at only 20 meters tall. However, it occupied thousands of square meters of the place.
Before Lin Huang could get closer, an angry roar was heard.
"Human, why are you bullying our people? Are you digging your own grave?!"
Lin Huang was shocked to hear that as he looked towards the source of the voice. There was a gigantic human face that appeared on the tower.
"Uncle Rock, you've misunderstood him. He didn't bully me!" Duo Er shouted immediately.
"It was I who brought him here!"
"Duo Er, don't be deceived by him. He's a human that comes from the outside world," the rock face said to Duo Er.
"He didn't deceive me. He's a nice person. That's why I brought him here," Duo Er defended Lin Huang.
"Sir, I really didn't deceive Duo Er. I've told her that I'm a human from the beginning." Lin Huang landed on the ground slowly, but he did not get any closer to the tower.
"Really? Since you're being honest, why do you have to disguise your real face?" What the rock face said stunned Lin Huang. An imperial-level person could easily reveal his disguise without a Disguise Card. He had forgotten entirely about that.
Since he was exposed, Lin Huang removed his disguise and revealed his real appearance.
"I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose. I've offended some top organizations in the human world, so to avoid getting myself into trouble, I've been in disguise for the past two months. I know that I'm not good at this and imperial-levels will see through me easily. If I really wanted to deceive you, I wouldn't have to disguise myself at all as it would lower your trust in me if I were to be exposed. I came into this ruins in disguise and forgot to remove it when I followed Duo Er."
"That's just an excuse." Even though Lin Huang's explanation made sense, the rock face did not believe him.
"Alright, Rock, this kid is telling the truth." Another voice was heard, and it sounded older this time.
A hunched human skeleton walked out of a museum nearby the tower. There were monster samples and bones following behind him. It was the human skeleton who had spoken.
The human skeleton seemed almost three meters tall. Suddenly, a black robe appeared on him, covering everything besides his head. A red walking stick that was nearly two meters long appeared in his hand. As he took a step, he appeared less than three meters away from Lin Huang while the monster samples, bones, and dolls surrounded him.
"Sir." Lin Huang bowed to the human skeleton.
"Kid, do you know where you are right now?" The human skeleton supported his body with the walking stick as he looked down on Lin Huang.
"I know. Duo Er told me that this is where your people live." Lin Huang nodded.
"And how dare you come here?" The human skeleton asked.
"I didn't do anything wrong. Why wouldn't I dare to come?" Lin Huang looked right into the hollow skeleton's eyes and asked.
What Lin Huang said made all the discussion stopped. The human skeleton was speechless for a moment before he started guffawing loudly.
"Oh, wow, you surprise me! Yes, you didn't do anything wrong at all. Because of that, you're now our guest."
"Follow me." The human skeleton turned around and walked towards the tower. Just when he took a few steps ahead, he turned around and looked at Duo Er.
"Duo Er, come with us too."
Duo Er was sitting on the shoulder of a sample of an Iceberg Bear and talking to it. Noticing that the human skeleton was calling her, she responded immediately and dashed towards his shoulder. She then turned around and pulled a funny face at Lin Huang. Lin Huang followed the human skeleton and walked towards the tower. As they arrived at the tower, the face on the town appeared again.
Lin Huang frowned as he thought the face was going to attack him, but he did not expect the face to speak to him again.
"I'm sorry, I was rude to you because I thought you were chasing Duo Er."
"Don't worry about it. It really looked like that, so it's normal that you misunderstood." Lin Huang accepted the face's apology.
After they walked into the tower, the door shut immediately. The human skeleton brought Lin Huang into a quiet room.
"Take a seat. It's been years since we last had a guest. Please forgive me if we're not welcoming." The human skeleton sat on the couch.
Lin Huang sat across the human skeleton. He had many questions, but he did not know how to start the conversation.
"My name's Bai Gu. What's yours?" The human skeleton introduced himself.
"His name's Lin Xie," Duo Er replied on behalf of Lin Huang.
"It's actually Lin Huang. Lin Xie's the name I use for my fake identity." Lin Huang smiled in embarrassment.
"Liar!" Duo Er stared at Lin Huang angrily.
"Duo Er." Bai Gu patted Duo Er's head. Duo Er then stopped staring at Lin Huang and turned her head away.
"It's understandable that you're using a fake identity because you don't want to be exposed by your enemies." Bai Gu returned a smile.
"Thanks for understanding, sir. I'm forced to do that." Lin Huang fidgeted awkwardly.
"Kid, since you're from the outside world, can you tell me more about what's happening out there?" Bai Gu seemed to be curious about the outside world.
Lin Huang thought about it and decided to tell the story of 800 years ago.
"800 years ago, a person who called himself God came and summoned many monsters into the world… We have 12 safe zones now, and one of them is called the No. 0 safe zone which is also named the Land of Origin."
"So many things have happened in 800 years?"Bai Gu was shocked, and Duo Er's jaw dropped.
"When did this piece of landed detach from the ground?" Lin Huang asked.
"Should be 30,000 years ago when that era was coming to an end," Bai Gu explained.
"30,000 years ago. That's the middle ages. The era ended after the war 800 years ago. The one we're living in now is called the new era." Lin Huang did not expect the piece of land to have existed so long ago.
"So, what exactly happened during the middle ages that caused the entire era to end?" Lin Huang was curious as there was no accurate documentation since the related information had become lost in between time. What he heard was just speculation from the later generation.
"The abyss broke, and countless powerful monsters poured out of it. The least powerful one was similar to a demigod, and there were even True Gods…" Bai Gu was shaking as he recalled what had happened many years ago. The trauma lingered like a shadow for the past 30,000 years.
Lin Huang's heart skipped a beat when he heard that.
"The Abyss Brink?!"
Chapter 694: The Tribe's Past
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang did not expect that the reason why the middle era had perished was due to the crack from the Abyss Brink.
"Sir, could you tell me more about it?"
"At first, there was an odd energy change from the Abyss Brink that we ignored. By the time we found the source of the issue, the crack in the third layer of the Abyss Brink was unsalvageable. Even a virtual god could not seal it anymore. It was too late when we realized that. The only thing we could do was to watch the crack getting bigger day by day. Until one day, catastrophe struck when many monsters came out of the crack.
"Within seven days, everyone above imperial-level was wiped out by the monsters. 200,000 imperial-levels, 8,000 demigods, hundreds of virtual gods and two True Gods were killed within those fateful seven days."
Lin Huang was shocked to hear that. The number of powerful people during the middle era was tens of times more than what they had in the new era. However, such a powerful era was obliterated by the monsters that had come out of the abyss, proving just how powerful the monsters were.
"What happened after that?" Lin Huang asked.
"Was everyone in the middle era killed?"
"Those who were trained in Witchcraft were killed." Bai Gu shook his head sadly.
"Those monsters that came out of the crack could sense Witchcraft energy easily, so it was useless to hide. On the contrary, ordinary people who hid well managed to survive. The monsters weren't interested in ordinary people anyway."
"We managed to escape as our Sorcerer Goddess moved the entire land above the Peaceful Ocean. Another reason that allowed us to escape is that we transformed into how we look now, hence the monsters could not sense the Witchcraft energy."
"So, it was your choice to transform into how you look now?" Lin Huang though they had been cursed to transform themselves from humans to their current appearance.
"Yes, the Sorcerer Goddess thought that it'd be the best way for us to survive. She transferred our souls into the bodies of different puppets. As long as we don't use Witchcraft, we're no different from an inanimate thing. Nobody could tell, not even the monsters. That's how we survived."
"After making sure that we were safe, the Sorcerer Goddess went back to the war. A white glow shot into the sky on the third day that the Sorcerer Goddess left. A defense layer then covered the sky above the land, and that was how we realized that she had passed on as the defense was her god relic, the Frost Fortress. It often snows here, and the snow is the Frost Fortress' tears."
After listening to Bai Gu's story, Lin Huang finally understood what had exactly happened. He now realized the reason why the land was above the Peaceful Ocean and why all the people were in such odd forms.
"If that's the case, there shouldn't be many who survived. Is there any other foothold in the underground?" Lin Huang immediately realized that might be the consequence.
"There are other footholds here, but not many people are alive anymore," Bai Gu said.
"What happened?" Lin Huang asked.
"Many people want to live forever, but it's actually boring. We've paid the price for immortality by giving up our ability to grow or to increase our combat level. We've lived our life on a loop for the past tens of thousands of years every day. Many of them killed themselves as they couldn't take how boring it was anymore. Some of them went crazy and started wars. We can't bear offspring, which is why our population is dying out."
"Why don't you guys leave this land since it's so boring?" Lin Huang thought that it was strange.
"There wouldn't have been so many people going crazy if we could leave." Bai Gu shook his head as he pointed at the sky outside the window.
"Not long after the Sorcerer Goddess passed away, the Frost Fortress shut down by itself. Although it's protecting us, it's also stopping us from leaving."
"Shut down? Could that be a mistake? We're able to get out of the layer when we want to." Lin Huang thought Bai Gu must have been mistaken.
"I know. Any outsider that is below imperial-level can enter and exit as he or she wants. That's the default setting considering that if humans discovered us after the war ended, they could come in and spread the news. But because outsiders might harm us, there's a restriction on the outsider's combat level," Bai Gu explained.
"The only way for us to leave this piece of land is to get someone to activate the Frost Fortress." Bai Gu then looked at Lin Huang imploringly.
"All of us here have tried, but none of us have managed to do it. We've had our hopes up on outsiders for a period.
"However, fewer and fewer humans came in through the layer the past tens of thousands of years. Most of them came in with the intention of wanting to benefit from us instead of wanting to help us. Moreover, none of them could activate the Frost Fortress. As time went by, we've since lost our faith in outsiders."
What Bai Gu said helped Lin Huang understand why some of them had not welcomed him at first.
"Some of you even attempted to attack us, which caused us to see outsiders as enemies. That's why some of the people came up with an evil plan towards outsiders, which is the spirit transfer."
Lin Huang had goosebumps when he heard that. Even if Bai Gu was not a demigod, he was just as powerful as one. Lin Huang might not survive if Bai Gu were to attack him.
"If we carry out spirit transfer on outsiders like you, we can get out of the bodies that we're currently in and be reincarnated into blood and flesh. As long as we have enough time to adapt to our new body, we'll be able to train again. Although we still won't be able to leave this land since our spirit is still in the body, at least we can train again.
"Since the suggestion came up, our tribe separated into two groups whereby some of the stubborn ones left and built their own footholds in other places. That's also the source of our contradiction. As the time went by, more and more people got bored of their lives, so they started joining the other group which has been growing gradually.
"Many years later, since not many outsiders have been coming in, they started asking us to give them the outsiders that we've been contacting. They've started wars because of this. Since the first war, the two groups became enemies. Many wars have happened throughout the years, and the groups then proceeded to divide into more groups. From one tribe, we are now more than 30 tribes. Ours is just a small one.
"Nevertheless, you don't have to worry as our tribe is friendlier to outsiders compared to the rest and we disagree with the idea of the spirit transfer," Bai Gu added after explaining the entire incident which made Lin Huang feel relieved. Lin Huang forced out a laugh without saying anything. It had been a long time since Bai Gu had chatted with someone like that. He could not stop talking when he met someone like Lin Huang.
Lin Huang proceeded to banter with him, but his head was occupied with what had happened to the Abyss Brink. If the mighty middle era had perished from the monsters' attack, the new era that he was in would not stand a chance at all.
Chapter 695: Sorcerer Goddess Tower
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bai Gu and Lin Huang's chat went on until noon. Besides the tribe's past, Bai Gu also told him many interesting stories about the people. As a courtesy, Lin Huang did not interrupt him and listened patiently. The conversation only came to an end when Bai Gu noticed the time.
"I'm sorry. You know old people are talkative and get easily carried away. Sorry to take so much of your time."
"It's alright. Lots of what you shared with me are what I wanted to know." Lin Huang smiled.
"Let me get you some food. We've been talking for half a day. I forgot that you need to eat." Bai Gu and the rest did not have to eat, so he had gotten used to that. He suddenly recalled that Lin Huang was a human who needed to eat.
"There's no need for that. I've got food in my storage space ring," Lin Huang rejected and savored the moment of silence before breaking the shocking news.
"Sir, we've actually found out that the second level of Abyss Brink experienced the cracks that you were talking about more than a month ago. Many demigods who investigated it have concluded that monsters will emerge from the cracks in five years' time."
Bai Gu was horrified to hear that.
"What? The Abyss Brink is cracking again?"
Lin Huang nodded in all seriousness and projected the picture that Bloody had taken earlier via his Emperor's Heart Ring. In the image, purplish-black fissures covered half of the wall like vines. Black mist was curling out of the cracks like tentacles and reaching towards the sky.
Bai Gu trembled when he saw the picture.
"That's really the abyss crack…"
"Sir, since you've gone through the same thing, do you know if there's anything that we can do to stop the cracks from getting bigger?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"Someone suggested that a True God can seal the cracks that happen within a year. The cracks might come back in the future, but it would take much longer since it's difficult to break through." Bai Gu became slightly optimistic when he mentioned that.
"From the picture, the cracks have just happened. You can get a True God to seal it as soon as possible. The next crack would then take tens to hundreds of years to reappear."
"Erm, we don't have any True Gods in the era now…" Lin Huang looked helpless.
"No True God?" Bai Gu did not expect to hear that. "Then, you can get tens of Virtual Gods to do it, but I'm not sure if they can seal it completely."
"We only have one Virtual God…" Lin Huang looked even more destitute now.
"Only one Virtual God?!" Bai Gu's eyeballs would have dropped out by now if he had any. "How weak is this era that you're living in now?"
"There are only 20 to 30 demigods and 2,000 imperial-levels that we know of." Lin Huang gave a rough number. "There should be more, but we'd be lucky enough if there're a third more than the figure that I've just told you."
"I forgot that your era has only existed for 800 years, so that sort of development is considered not too bad." Bai Gu felt powerless too. "There's nothing else that you can do besides sealing the cracks. All you can do is to watch them get bigger day by day, just like what we did at that time. There aren't many people in your era, so I think the monster will only take a day to kill all of you."
Lin Huang was not sure if he should cry or laugh about the looming truth that Bai Gu concluded with at the end.
"There's really nothing else that we can do?"
"Perhaps there is, but we don't know what that is. We only came up with that one solution then," Bai Gu said.
Lin Huang went into silence again. There was no reason for Bai Gu to lie to him. According to what he said, the catastrophe that was going to happen in five years would end the new era entirely.
"Kid, looking at your current combat level, I don't think you should join the battle in five years. Why not find ways to hide your body energy within these years and live with us before the catastrophe comes?" Bai Gu suggested fervently.
"Thank you, Sir." Lin Huang nodded with a smile. He knew that Bai Gu meant well, but what he wanted was a solution that did not involve running away.
"Don't dwell on this. Let the others worry about it. What you should think about now is how to increase your ability so that you can survive the catastrophe." Bai Gu patted Lin Huang's shoulder assuredly.
"You can stay here these few days. Training at the Sorcerer Goddess Tower is beneficial for you. Just let us know when you're leaving. What you told me about the Abyss Brink isn't something trivial. I'll need to inform the rest so that they're prepared for it."
"Alright." Lin Huang planned to stay there temporarily so that he could get more information about the ruins.
After Bai Gu left, the huge face that was previously on the tower appeared.
"Kid, Sir told me that you're allowed to get into the Sorcerer Goddess Tower as and when you wish. Let me tell you more about the tower. There're a total of nine levels. The one that you're on is the first level. The spirit energy on the first level is twice as thick as the spirit energy in the air outside. It's four times more on the second level, eight times more on the third level, and so on. It's 512 times more on the ninth level."
Lin Huang had heard about the spirit energy from Mr. Fu before. It was an energy that wandered in the air and could be absorbed through a couple of ways to transform it into life energy. Before the new era, no matter which cultivation one was training, the only way to obtain life energy was by absorbing spirit energy. Just like the Army Attack Tactics, there was a technique to do so.
However, the spirit energy was called differently in each cultivation. Some called it 'spirit power' while some called it 'vitality power'. At the end of the day, it was energy particles that wandered in the air.
"Can I get to other levels of the Sorcerer Goddess Tower?" Lin Huang knew that the higher he went, the better it was for his training in the Army Attack Tactics.
"Yes, you can, but I can't let you pass through the levels. You'll have to break through them yourself." The gigantic face grinned.
"There'll be a stone tablet on each level. As long as you've completed the mission, you'll be able to go to the next level. You'll enter the ninth level as you wish after you've completed the first to eighth levels."
"Is there a stone tablet on the ninth level as well?" Lin Huang asked.
"There is."
"What will I get if I complete the ninth level?" There were only nine levels on the Sorcerer Goddess Tower, after all, so Lin Huang figured that there might be something for him if he managed to break through.
"If anyone can break through the ninth level, the Sorcerer Goddess Shrine will be activated. Once you've broken through the Sorcerer Goddess Shrine's test, you'll inherit the Sorcerer Goddess's memory." The large face revealed a sardonic smile as he did not think that Lin Huang would manage to pass the test.
"Inherit the Sorcerer Goddess's memory?!" Lin Huang was moved because he knew that the Sorcerer Goddess that the huge face mentioned was a real god.
"Even if you don't pass the test, as long as you manage to activate the Sorcerer Goddess Shrine, the Sorcerer Goddess will reward you. It's possible to get god relics and even the Sorcerer Goddess's blood," the gigantic face added.
Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he heard that.
"Where's the stone tablet?!"
"The stone tablet on the first level is located at the courtyard in the middle of the tower."
Chapter 696: The Stone Tablet's Test
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The courtyard in the middle of the tower was filled with greenery. Lin Huang had caught a glimpse of the stone tablet when he was walking into the room with Bai Gu, but he had ignored it as he thought it was just a piece of decoration. When he returned to the courtyard again, Lin Huang stood in front of the stone tablet and observed it carefully. The stone tablet was a charcoal grey without any inscriptions on it. There were only odd golden lines that looked like a complicated maze.
As Lin Huang was looking at the stone tablet, he suddenly felt woozy and found himself in a maze with gray stone walls surrounding him. He was standing at a crossroads with no idea what was happening. Just when he was trying to figure things out, a female voice came from above.
"The rules of the challenge are as below:
"Each time you're sent into a random location, you'll have to look for any of the exits in the maze within three minutes, and you'll win the level. Flying, space manipulation, and detection abilities are prohibited.
"Please get ready. We're counting down!"
A countdown timer appeared in the sky as the lady said that and the numbers were descending rapidly.
"10, 9, 8, … 2,1."
When the timer counted to '1', gigantic words appeared in the sky: "Go!"
Lin Huang stood where he was, frozen. He could sense clearly that his Territory ability was shutting down and he could no longer detect what was near him anymore. He looked at the four paths. It was fortunate that he did not have difficulty choosing, or else, he would not know which path to take. He was only given three minutes. Once he picked the wrong path, he would fail the test.
Suddenly, four telekinetic flying daggers came out of his body as he was thinking about it. He then controlled the four daggers to whiz down the four different paths. As long as any of them hit a wall, he would control the daggers to switch directions as well as summoning more and more flying daggers to go towards the crossroads that the other flying daggers had discovered.
In less than a minute, Lin Huang had summoned hundreds of flying daggers and eventually found where the exit was. As soon as he found the exit, he then recalled all of the other flying daggers as he charged towards the flying dagger that led him towards the exit. Finally, just as the timer flashed 2:08, he got out the exit.
As soon as he got out of the maze, a white glow flashed in front of him, and he was back at the Sorcerer Goddess Tower, standing in front of the stone tablet.
"Xiao Hei, did I leave this place just now?" Lin Huang asked Xiao Hei immediately.
"No, your consciousness was taken away from the stone table for about two minutes. I think that's the stone tablet's test."
Lin Huang looked at the stone tablet differently now as he found it terrifying that a god could remove and transfer his consciousness without him even realizing it.
"I didn't expect you to pass the test," The gigantic face appeared and boomed in surprise.
"I just happen to be lucky." Lin Huang grinned.
"Sir, since I've already passed the test, what should I do to get to the second level?"
"That's easy. Do you see the red dot on the stone tablet?"
Lin Huang noticed the red dot on the stone tablet that had not been there before.
"The red dot is the starting point of the maze that you were sent to earlier. Since you know where the exit is now, all you'll have to do now is to insert your energy into the stone tablet to control the red dot and go through the path that you took earlier until the red dot leaves the maze.
"However, there are two things that I must remind you. First, your control of energy has to be accurate and mustn't touch the lines on the stone tablet although the lines are just one millimeter away from each other. As long as you touch the lines, you'll have to start all over again by going into the stone tablet with your consciousness and finding the exit again. Second, you'll need to be fast when you control the red dot. You'll have to use the same amount of time that you used to pass the test with your consciousness earlier. If you fail to do that, you'll have to start all over again."
"So, there are two tests on each level. One in the consciousness and one in reality. The second test assesses the accuracy of energy usage." Lin Huang realized the breakdown of the tests.
The gigantic face smiled without saying anything. Lin Huang then looked at the stone tablet solemnly. The second test was just as difficult as the first one in which he had to look for the maze exit. It required a high accuracy in controlling his Life Power whereby he had to move across lines that were just millimeter apart.
Feeling up to the challenge, Lin Huang became excited. He wanted to know how much he could achieve. As he took his place beside the stone tablet and inserted his Life Power, the dark red dot then became bright red. He did not insert very much Life Power since the red dot rejected any more Life Power from him. A three-minute countdown timer appeared on the blank space on top of the stone tablet.
"3:00."
"2:59, 2:58…"
Lin Huang only took a glance at the timer. Then, he focused on moving the red dot forward. He did not panic as he moved the red dot carefully as he soon got the hang of it. A minute passed, but he had only managed to complete a fifth of the path although he was accelerating. When the timer was only left with a minute, he was only halfway there.
After peeping at the timer, Lin Huang then put all his attention on moving the red dot. Because he was getting used to it, the red dot was moving faster and faster as time went by. When he only had ten seconds left, the exit was still a distance away from the red dot, and there were some turns in between.
"You've only got ten seconds!" The huge face reminded Lin Huang. He did not expect Lin Huang to be able to get that far without failing. As he noticed that the time was almost up, the large face was rooting for Lin Huang to pass the test. Lin Huang obviously heard the face's reminder and accelerated when he was taking a turn. Although the gold lines were very close to each other, Lin Huang did not touch any of them. He did the same thing for the second and third turns, making his movements looked like drifting a car. After passing the three turnings, Lin Huang managed to control the red dot to get out of the maze with just three seconds left on the clock.
Lin Huang whooshed out a long breath and pulled back his hand that was placed on the stone tablet. Suddenly, the gold lines on the stone tablet faded away while the red dot that Lin Huang had controlled earlier transformed into three lines, forming three unique paths on the stone tablet. The three paths were clearly drawn using lava. Around ten seconds after they appeared, they then shrunk into a light dot and shot in between Lin Huang's eyebrows.
As soon as that happened, Lin Huang realized what had happened immediately.
"That's a cultivation method, and this is only the first level!"
Chapter 697: The Witchcraft Rune
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After taking a rough look at the cultivation method, Lin Huang realized that it was actually a set of Witchcraft Rune secret skills. It was only the first level of the secret skill, which was the basic performance of Witchcraft Rune. The path that he had taken to get out of the maze, as well as the line that was drawn on the stone tablet, was actually one of the lines of the primary rune.
Lin Huang had also obtained the image of the first Witchcraft Rune from the secret skill and found out that he had only figured out one of the three exits of the maze.
"There are 108 lines in the basic rune alone. Each of them has different Witchcraft effects when combined together. My brain might explode if I cultivate such a mind-boggling skill." Lin Huang recalled the time when he had learned English on Earth. The combination of 26 alphabets was torturing enough for him, and he had a headache as he thought about the 108 complicated rune lines.
According to the secret skill, besides being carved on energy crystals and nonliving things such as weapons, the Witchcraft Rune could also be engraved on a person's soul. In reality, that was how the sorcerers cultivated back in those days. Lin Huang did not dare to do anything about it yet. If he made a slight mistake while carving the Witchcraft Rune on his soul, he might kill his own soul. Moreover, he was not ready to be a sorcerer yet.
Lin Huang then snapped out of it after taking a quick look at the secret skill. He then stared at the gigantic face nearby him.
"Sir, can you tell me how do I get to the second level of the tower now?"
"You've already passed the test. Just place your palm on the stone tablet and think about wanting to get to the second level in your heart. The stone tablet will take you there. The same applies if you want to get to a higher or a lower level. All you've got to do is to think about it in your heart. Of course, that's provided if you've already passed the test on each level, or else, that wouldn't work," the huge face explained.
Lin Huang then placed his palm on the stone tablet. As soon as he touched it, the blank charcoal grey stone suddenly softened. His palm was sinking into a material like a ball of clay, leaving an imprint of his hand on the stone tablet. Just when Lin Huang was trying to figure out what was happening, he looked up and noticed that his surroundings were different from before.
"I'm on the second level already?" Lin Huang looked around. The garden that he had been in was now a vast hall. The stone tablet was still in front of him, but it had transformed back to its original form with many golden lines on it. However, the lines were different from before. The stone tablet was not soft anymore, and there was no handprint on it too. Lin Huang looked at his palm, which was devoid of any grayish-black marks on it at all.
"Continue with the rest. I'm excited to see how far can you go." The large face appeared on top of the ceiling. Lin Huang peered up at the stone tablet. After staring at the lines for a while, his consciousness was brought into a maze again. Just as he entered the maze, the female voice was heard once more.
"Look for any of the exits in the maze within five minutes, and you'll pass the test. The rules are the same as the first level."
A countdown timer then appeared in the sky. Lin Huang looked around. He was standing at a crossroads that looked the same as the one on the first level. He then summoned his four telekinetic flying daggers again and controlled them to look for the way out just like before. The maze was much more difficult this time as he had to use more than 300 telekinetic flying daggers and spent almost three minutes finding the exit. The timer was showing nearly 4:30 when he got out of the exit.
As his consciousness returned to his body, he did not try to move the red dot on the stone tablet. Instead, he stood where he was and recalled the path that he had taken earlier with his eyes closed. A while later, he opened his eyes and inserted his Life Power into the red dot as he placed his palm on the side of the stone tablet. As soon as the red dot lit up, a countdown timer appeared on the black area of the stone tablet.
Lin Huang did not even glance at it as he was focused on moving the red dot. Time passed as he used his same old method to move carefully and only accelerated when he got the hang of it. His challenge was smooth this time as he controlled the red dot and got out of the maze in less than four minutes. A red dot entered in between his eyebrows again. It was the second level of the Witchcraft Rune. The rune lines were more complicated than the first level, but there were only 36 lines. The 108 rune lines were just the fundamental while the 36 lines were the advanced version with more complicated rune images.
Lin Huang took a quick look and realized that it had been challenging to be a sorcerer back in those days.
"I knew the second level shouldn't have been difficult for you, but I didn't expect you to pass it only on one try," the gigantic face spoke again.
"I didn't expect that too." Lin Huang smiled. He had stopped focusing on whether he could pass anymore, but treated it as a game instead. He just wanted to try his best at having fun.
"Third level, let's go!" Lin Huang exclaimed and placed his palm on the stone tablet again. As his hand was imprinted on the stone tablet, he was sent to the third level of the Sorcerer Goddess Tower. He still appeared in a hall with a slight change. He did not bother even to assess the place, and started the test immediately. The third level was almost the same as the first two levels whereby he had to get out of the maze. However, he was given ten minutes this time with an increase in difficulty.
This time, Lin Huang managed to exit the maze within the given time, but he was slow at moving the red dot and did not manage to exit within the given time. When he retook the test, he brushed the gold lines because he panicked. Eventually, he passed the test on his third try. The third red dot that went in between his eyebrows was the third level of the secret skill with nine high-level lines. They were even more complicated than the 36 advanced lines that he had gotten earlier.
"The third level is already high-level lines. The test on the fourth level should be different..." Lin Huang mumbled to himself.
"Seems like you're not that dumb after all." The gigantic face chuckled.
"You know what the test is about?" Lin Huang asked.
"Of course, I do, but you'll have to figure it out yourself as I won't reveal anything to you." The large face grinned.
"Whatever, I'll see it for myself soon anyway," Lin Huang said and placed his right palm on the stone tablet again.
Soon, he faded away and disappeared from the third level of the tower.
Chapter 698: Asking for Bloody's Help
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The fourth level of the tower looked different from the previous levels. It looked like a bright castle with a dome on top. It did not seem like it was in a tower, but it was more like a place that had nothing to do with a tower. Lin Huang was slightly surprised by the new environment, but soon he got back into the zone.
The charcoal grey stone tablet looked exactly the same as before, but the pattern on it was now different. The maze-like golden lines were now a complicated image formed by the 36 basic rune lines. Lin Huang frowned as he had no idea how he was supposed to pass this test. The gigantic face appeared on the dome on top of him, grinning as he noticed Lin Huang's knitted brows.
After staring at the image for a while and not seeing anything happen to the stone tablet, Lin Huang then realized that the way to activate it was different from before. He placed his palm on it but nothing happened. After giving it some thought, Lin Huang inserted Life Power into the stone tablet, but still, nothing happened. He then attempted to insert telekinesis and spirit energy, but nothing happened to the stone tablet at all.
"Alright, stop trying. No matter what you do, the result is the same. It's a sealing rune. You'll have to unseal it to enter the stone tablet's consciousness," reminded the face on top as he could not bear to watch him fail anymore.
"You were given rune lines on the previous three levels. On the fourth to the sixth levels, you'll be tested on the performance of the rune. Sealing and unsealing is a basic performance of the rune. If you want to go higher, you'll have the learn the rune diligently, but I think you won't be able to get to the fifth level in this short period."
"I'll learn then. I won't lose anything if I learn one more skill," Lin Huang thought to himself. Since he planned to stay there for a couple of days, he figured it would not hurt to learn. It was never too late to give up if he figured out that he had no talent.
He then turned around and walked a distance away from the stone tablet. He found a place with the sun shining and sat with his legs crossed. He then closed his eyes and started studying the rune secret skill that he had gotten earlier.
Lin Huang read the first level of secret skill over and over again. After memorizing all the 108 basic rune lines, he realized that there were just too many things to remember for each of them. There were tens of thousands of words that each rune could be combined into, so the total combinations came up to almost four million words. With his memory, he could definitely memorize all of them if he were given the time, but the thing was that it would be redundant if he could not understand the meaning of each term.
After all, not everyone could understand the dual-vector foil manual directly without learning. It was the same as the basic rune lines whereby some of them were hard to understand and there were some specific terms used in Witchcraft that Lin Huang could not understand at all. After failing to grasp it, he decided to summon Bloody. As he shared his memory of the rune with Bloody, he sat aside while waiting for Bloody to tell him more about it.
Bloody took two to three minutes to study it and suggested to him to read a dictionary that was specialized in Witchcraft. Helpless, Lin Huang then asked for the gigantic face's help.
"Sir, could you get me a dictionary that's specialized in Witchcraft?"
"That's simple." The face tossed him a crystal ball. "Look at it yourself."
Lin Huang brought the crystal ball to Bloody while it extended its tentacle to read the contents of the crystal ball.
"Kid, what's that summoning monster of yours that looks like a cotton candy? Why haven't I seen it before?" The gigantic face could not help but ask.
"It's a new type of monster that I call Violethaze."
"This fella doesn't look like it could fight. Why would you want such a useless monster?" The face could not tell that Bloody was a threatening parasitical monster.
Of course, Lin Huang would not tell him the truth.
"Although Bloody isn't good at fighting, it has an ability called Enhanced Intelligence. It has an extremely high intelligence and it can decide things for me whenever there are issues that I can't solve."
"A monster with Enhanced Intelligence. That's rare." The gigantic face was interested in Bloody now.
"Are you selling this summoning monster?"
"No," Lin Huang rejected directly.
"Alright then." The gigantic face knew that Lin Huang would reply as such, but he was just testing him.
"So, are you planning to get it to use its Enhanced Intelligence to learn the basic rune?" The face observed Bloody for a while before speaking again.
"Yes, there's just too much to learn. I've taken a rough look and found that it's hard to understand. If I were to learn it by myself, I might not be able to master it in a month. Bloody learns so much faster than I do, and it'll be easier for it to learn and teach me later."
Lin Huang had come up with a plan. He even planned to let Bloody share its memory with him if he could not understand the rune after Bloody simplified it so that he could just memorize them directly.
Bloody took almost half an hour before giving back the crystal ball to Lin Huang. It then started learning the Witchcraft Rune by itself. Time passed by on the fourth level of the tower. The gigantic face brought him some food in between, thanks to Bai Gu who had instructed the people to prepare food for him.
Bloody finally opened its eyes when it was 4 p.m.
"So, how is it?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"Almost there." Bloody nodded and shared the simplified programme that it had concluded with Lin Huang by using one of its tentacles. Lin Huang then started to learn the rune. The simplified version was much easier as the descriptions of many words were truncated in short sentences. The four million words were consolidated into 120,000 words.
Bloody had also arranged the combinations of each line since it had found more than 50,000 combinations for the 108 rune lines.
"This is only the preliminary step and I've only managed to come up with more than 50,000 runes. I might be able to make 80,000 runes if I'm given more than those lines. There'll be more for advanced and high-level rune lines. I'm still figuring them out and I need more time," Bloody explained.
"Let me memorize those that you've come up with first." Lin Huang nodded. Memorizing was the simplest way to learn.
Chapter 699: The Fourth Level of the Tower
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There were more than 3,000 completed runes in the first level of the secret rune skill. The completed runes were available to the public back in those days, so every sorcerer knew about the first-level runes and had to figure out the rest on their own. In less than a couple of hours, Bloody had come up with more than 50,000 highly useful completed runes. Although they were simplified, one would need a very long time to be able to learn and to come up with completed runes.
Because Lin Huang had limited time in the ruins, he planned to memorize all the completed runes as it would be much easier than learning them from scratch. After Bloody categorized the 50,000-odd completed runes, it then shared that part of its memory with Lin Huang.
"Elemental rune, amplification rune, sealing rune, spirit rune…" Lin Huang memorized the runes by their category. He finally memorized all of them within three days on the fourth level of the tower.
Meanwhile, Bloody came up with more runes within the few days including the combination of advanced and high-level runes. It then shared all of them with Lin Huang. After memorizing the completed runes, he figured out that he did not have much time left, so he did not pay attention to the more complicated runes that Bloody came up with again.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, Lin Huang finally stood up and walked to the stone tablet. He smirked when he saw the sealing rune on it. It was one of the runes that Bloody had discovered, so he knew which unsealing rune to perform to unlock it. He used a finger to draw on the sealing rune. A brand new completed rune made of 30 rune lines was formed on the stone tablet.
As soon as the rune was formed, the 30 golden lines lit up and covered the top of the original rune. Even the original sealing rune was lit up now. Soon, the golden lines started to fade away as the color became dull. Within seconds, the sealing and unsealing runes disappeared together. The stone tablet became blank again.
Just when Lin Huang wanted to ask the face what he should do, his consciousness was sent somewhere different from the maze that he had been in. It was a vast space with gray rocks that were a meter in diameter and were floating in the sky like floating islands. Lin Huang stood on the first rock that was around 20 centimeters away from the second rock. The third and fourth rocks formed into a straight line behind them whereby each of them was about 20 centimeters away from each other.
"The rules are as below:
There're 101 rocks on this level. Besides the first one, the other 100 of them behind have completed runes on each of them. The maximum rune lines are 36. You have three minutes to come up with a rune to decode the rune on each rock. If you don't manage to decipher them within three minutes, the rock will break, and that would mean that you've failed.
"Once that happens, you'll be sent back to the first rock, and you'll have to start over again. The runes on rocks that you've decoded will also change.
"You're not allowed to repeat the same decoded runes. That's the only restriction. You're allowed to use advanced runes and even high-level runes, as well as completed runes that have more than 36 rune lines."
After the rules were announced, the timer in the sky started counting down to 10. A Witchcraft rune was appearing on the second rock in front of Lin Huang. As soon as the countdown ended, the rune was displayed clearly. It was a rune with 36 primary lines. Lin Huang observed it carefully and found a completed rune that could be used to decode it.
"A fire attribute rune. Is it a warning to me not to step on it directly?" Lin Huang mumbled to himself and soon thought of the strategy.
"It'll be the easiest to use an elementary rune for this. Since this is a fire attribute rune, using a water attribute rune on the same level should do, but this is tricky as it's not a regular fire attribute rune. It has the tendency to explode, so I should be using a frost rune."
After figuring it out, Lin Huang squatted down immediately and started drawing a frost rune on the rock. Around two minutes later, he had drawn the frost rune that was made up of 36 rune lines accurately. As soon as the rune was formed, the two completed runes disappeared, and the rock became blank. Lin Huang then took a step onto the rock.
As he stepped on the third rock, a rune appeared slowly. This time, Lin Huang could tell that it was an illusion rune right away and knew that he needed to use an illusion-breaking rune. As soon as he found a suitable rune in his head, he then drew the rune and decoded it immediately. When he stepped on the third rock, the rune on the fourth rock was a dimensional rune. Lin Huang then used a dimensional-freeze rune to decode it.
As he got further, more and more variety of runes came up on the rocks. Fortunately, he had memorized enough runes before this, so none of them were out of Bloody's knowledge base. All he had to do was to think about which type of rune it belonged to, what kind of effect it had, and which was the decoding rune.
He was given three minutes to go through one level. At first, he needed around two minutes to decode the runes, but as he got the hang out it, he managed to finish each level in around a minute as he became faster in searching for the suitable decoding ruins. Lin Huang spent less than two hours decoding all 100 runes on the rocks. As he stepped on the last floating rock, a golden glow came out of nowhere and flew into his head.
Lin Huang was sent back to the castle on the fourth level in the tower before he realized it. As he looked into his body, he soon found what the golden glow was. It was more than 10,000 completed runes. He took a quick look and found that they were not useful to him anymore as they all had been covered by the runes that Bloody had mastered.
"Let's see if the completed runes that will be given in the next level are in Bloody's collection." Lin Huang was excited.
Chapter 700: An Unfamiliar Rune
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After passing the test on the fourth layer, Lin Huang soon came to the fifth level, which was similar to the fourth level whereby he was sent to a castle of a different style. There was also a sealing rune on the stone tablet. However, this time it was made up of 72 primary rune lines and was much more complicated than the previous one.
Since Lin Huang had gone through the fourth level, he was familiar with the steps. He soon found a decoding rune in his head and started drawing on the stone tablet. After the deciphering of the 72 rune lines was completed, the sealing rune then faded away while his consciousness was sent into a virtual space. This time, he was still required to decode the runes on the rocks, but it was triple the number than before; he had to go through 300 rocks while the time on each rock was extended to five minutes.
Lin Huang went through all of the rocks with the runes that he had memorized in his head. After that, a golden glow went into his head. It was 6 a.m. in the next morning when he was sent back to the tower. He then looked at the 30,000-odd completed runes that he had just obtained. Only 16 of them were out of Bloody's knowledge base. He stood by the stone tablet and memorized the 16 strange runes carefully.
A while later, Lin Huang opened his eyes and placed his palm on the stone tablet. He was then sent to the sixth level of the tower. This time, he did not start the challenge right away. Instead, he took out a tent and slept in his sleeping bag.
Besides draining his Life Power, the drawing of the runes was exhausting as each of the lines were complicated, and there was no room for mistakes. The rune would not work it was different by a single millimeter. Moreover, he did not sleep the night before, so he wanted to have enough rest before starting the challenge.
The gigantic face was puzzled as he watched. He was excited to see how would Lin Huang finish the rest, but he did not expect Lin Huang to sleep instead. Now, all he could do was to wait patiently. Lin Huang slept until past 5 p.m. before he came out of the tent. He then walked to the stone tablet after eating some snacks and putting the tent away.
The stone tablet on the sixth level was still a sealing rune, but this time, it was made of 108 basic rune lines. Not only it was much more complicated than the previous one, but Lin Huang also found the rune unfamiliar after studying it. As he went through the runes that he had memorized, he realized that the rune was not covered under Bloody's knowledge base. He then summoned Bloody, which nodded after taking a look at the rune on the stone tablet.
"This really wasn't covered in the 50,000 runes that I went through the last round, but it's not difficult to decode it."
Bloody then shared the decoding rune with Lin Huang. After memorizing both the rune on the stone tablet and the one that Bloody shared with him, Lin Huang then recalled Bloody and drew the decoding rune on the stone tablet. As soon as the rune disappeared, his consciousness was sent into an opening again.
There were 500 rocks this time whereby each rock had completed runes with 108 primary rune lines while the time allocated to be spent on each rock was ten minutes. Lin Huang then started the test immediately and went through the first to the 183rd levels smoothly as he had all of the decoding runes in his head. However, he was stuck on the 34th level as he had never seen the rune before. He then realized that the rune was out of Bloody's knowledge base again.
He was worried that he could not summon Bloody in his consciousness, but he then realized that his concern was redundant.
"Another one that's out of coverage." Lin Huang forced a smile. Bloody was puzzled as it looked around. It did not ask anything and started looking at the rune of the rock.
"This is an illusion rune, and it's slightly complicated." Despite that, Bloody managed to come up with the decoding rune within three minutes. After memorizing the rune, he then started drawing it on the rock.
As he had taken some time to search for the rune in his head, he only managed to finish drawing the decoding rune two seconds before the countdown ended. He did not recall Bloody as he stepped onto the 35th rock.
"Don't go back yet. I haven't completed a tenth of the levels, and I think there'll be many unfamiliar runes later."
Bloody nodded and wrapped itself around Lin Huang's left arm.
Lin Huang encountered another unfamiliar rune when he was on the 45th level. As he was thinking about it, Bloody spoke directly, "I've never done this one before, let me think about how to decode it."
Bloody gave him the decoding rune in less than five seconds, and Lin Huang passed the level once again. Later on, he encountered 28 unfamiliar runes. He did not even have to check if those were runes that he had never seen before as Bloody would give him the decoding runes directly which saved a lot of his time.
Just like that, Lin Huang managed to pass 500 levels with Bloody's help. As he stood on the 501st rock, a golden glow went in between his eyebrows, and they were both sent out of the space. As soon as they got back to the sixth level of the tower, Lin Huang then looked at the runes that he had just obtained.
There were more than 50,000 of them this time, and Lin Huang was unfamiliar with half of them. He decided to find a seat in the tower with the sun shining through, and he started memorizing all the unknown runes. Two days passed just like that. Finally, he managed to memorize more than 20,000 unfamiliar completed runes.
It was on the third morning when he opened his eyes.
"I've been on the Sorcerer Goddess Tower for a week, and I'm only on the sixth level. Hopefully, I'll spend less time on the last three levels, or else, I'll run out of time." He was concerned as he looked at the time shown on his Emperor's Heart Ring. He could only stay a month in the ruins. As he stood up, he walked to the stone tablet again and placed his palm on it. Soon, his body faded away from the sixth level.