Chapter 57: The Summoning Skill
If there was someone who could unveil the mystery of time to him, it would be Venomous. It also meant that KongFu's pride didn't allow him to speak about it with Michu, so all monkeys spent time in recuperation.
Their health points and mana along with stamina regenerated at their respective pace. They sat with closed eyes and each dreamed of different things.
However, in this silent tent, KongFu's eyes remained locked on Michu. He felt some reaction that only his keen eye could notice. It was suspicious as The Monkey God's lineage didn't have such fluctuations.
In other words, it wasn't a skill that Michu had received from the monkey god's will!
What was happening was related to Azure Lake's event. Michu's Azure Liquid Control skill activated itself as he had entered the meditation-like state. Before that, Michu shared sausages with others and stuffed his belly with various nutrients.
Food.
The player had to be wary of their hunger. Even if their bellies didn't ask for any food, their game systems would alert them about their hunger level and reduce their abilities and stats at worst.
Each food, even Michu's cheap sausages, had a determined percentage that would help with stamina regeneration. At this level, no player had exquisite dishes that could do wonders and miracles upon biting.
But humans could lose a few percent of this process by eating thoughtlessly or by not finishing the food. Even if one ate everything, some nutrients would be lost.
But this Azure Liquid Control gathered all nutrients and distributed these across Michu's body according to his needs.
KongFu commented, "It increases his raw speed, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. This Liquid Control, once mastered, could bring out the tough muscles effect like Yakuzan can and possibly much more wonders that would supersede the experience Michu lacked so far." The first assessment was that this technique could accompany Michu up to sixty levels or a little more, but KongFu had to change his opinion.
He wasn't entirely sure, but it had to be that Azure Liquid Control.
He was on the spot, though.
[Azure Liquid Control has washed over your body.]
[Your body has been completely regenerated.]
These two messages flashed before Michu's eyes but instantly dispersed when his eyes opened. Was it because they'd hovered for too long already or exactly because of this careless motion?
Though it would be a pity for Michu to miss it, KongFu was here to share what he had seen so far, "You should get acquainted with the player with cooking class. I am confident that your farmer class will evolve to the point where normal bananas will give everyone some kind of passive effect, not just nutrients. But the raw banana is the raw banana at last. You should get the cooking class player."
"I will try! I think that bananas have unlimited potential for dishes and it would be nice to see my bananas top over every other fruit and vegetable!" Even if the cook would prepare something with bananas as one of many ingredients, Michu wanted to feel his bananas' taste dominant.
It sounded fun and challenging, for both him and such players.
However, Michu wasn't that optimistic anymore. His friend, Feng, had been with a woman whose eyes weren't mostly looking at him and their joint future. He lacked a proper term to call her personality, but she was a really egoistic woman.
Michu could see through her and he was worried that finding such nice players as Venomous and Sandra would be harder. At the very least, Michu didn't think that things would be that easy.
This was where KongFu stepped in with a sneer. Rather than stepping, he made one big jump with his baby monkey soul and latched himself to Michu's arm, "We always can try to summon someone... from another leaf."
"Summon someone?" Michu's ears trembled to this fantasy and epic-sounding skill! He ignored the last words, but more astute people would focus on it instead. Fortunately, KongFu knew what he had to do, so he ignored the more serious matter and spoke about the summoning skill.
"There are two kinds of summoning skills. The first one is when the summoned person wants to be called by the summoner. We call it - The Contractor Summon." KongFu raised his head jovially then, "The second one is the forced call! The majority calls it - The Spiteful Summon."
"Why are you laughing?"
"Heh."
[Tidbit: KongFu used The Spiteful Summon and aimed for the phoenix woman. Because of his status, The Phoenix Empress had been called. Her sheer power and hubris heart shattered the call, then the phoenix feathers rained over the monkey god's jungle.]
"I remembered something... romantic.... and beautiful..." KongFu caressed his chin as he closed his eyes. A few humming sounds escaped him and one could wonder what romantic event he had gone through!
The summoned races were mostly those who didn't have a god to rely on. Even humans from the second leaf gladly followed the beasts if their god abandoned or ignored them. Similarly to them, the races would never mind honest refugees.
"Wow! That sounds awesome! However, if the second leaf has gods already, then what about the third and fourth?" Michu asked curiously.
KongFu just scoffed, "The world is so big and power ranking often shifts. The second can be the strongest, then it suddenly falls in ranking because other idiots achieved enlightenment or other crap."
"Oh."
"Anyway! To make things funnier... and more complicated for the snake, we have to summon a woman! Hmm, if my memory serves... We should try to summon a sheep race woman... or maybe cow one. Hehe!" KongFu laid out a plan, but it would take some time for Michu to summon someone to help him.
Fortunately, KongFu had a fair share of experience with summoning skills, not only because he wanted a phoenix woman in his embrace, but also because of his mischievous monkey nature.
Thus, the whole process was limited to just a few items that Michu had to gather.
"You have time to choose. Sheep women are often shy and quiet, but they are diligent in their work. As for cow women, they are loud and stubborn, but once they set their mind on something, they will go for it until they achieve their goal. Both have their pros and cons."
"Hmm!"
Thanks for reading ^^
Chapter 58: An answer
[Earth, 23:59]
Venomous, the yummy, was scrolling through the auction website while resting her head on her free hand. Her face had been illuminated with various colors since she left the VR Capsule, thinking about red crystals.
There were many red crystals in The Four Leaf World, but there had been an uproar recently about particular red crystals.
Her finger stopped on the red crystal that Michu would recognize on the spot, "It has to be it."
Though Michu had passed the red crystal headfirst for Venomous' inspection, the crystal's description was blank. It just had a name, Red Crystal, and no information could be seen through the system.
Before her eyes, the crystal was called The Fire Dragon's Tears. The price next to it was shocking as just one red crystal could be sold for around one million gold coins.
The gold coin exchange rate had never fallen and it kept increasing! One million gold coins were around 10 000 real money, so Venomous would rather focus on something else. She didn't like to spend other's money and she didn't have much...
Why would Venomous be interested in those crystals?
"He has to be rich," The Handsome dude was the person Yumi spoke about, "So much money... Even those silver crystals... All for gold-diggers?" Although Michu didn't know the term, Venomous was different.
She called Feng's friend a gold-digger and researched him. There was no particular information about him, but some forum topics about casanova spreading his harem bullshit matched Feng's description.
Unfortunately, many women had fallen, or at least that was what the forum topic said.
Rich, Handsome, and probably smart as well. For level 40, Feng had too much information about The Impossible Quest. Just like Zerze, he had powerful backing or some friends from the top level!
Such a person was, at least, Michu's friend, but Venomous had to prepare for many more enemies, primarily the ones who were in The Impossible Quest for more than a month already!
"The quest..."
-
[The Impossible Quest, 6:30]
"The quest so far seems impossible for us," Venomous said after a few days of their stay here. In the beginning, Venomous gathered Ice Resistance Pills and camping stuff which weren't expensive items.
The food was also cheap, but it was for them to not die out of hunger.
All of this was planned in consideration of their budget. Their bodies were safe from coldness, their stamina was also in check and food wasn't a problem! But that was just for some time.
Sandra pointed out, "We are running out of Ice Resistance Pills. The food is no problem since we can hunt yetis and get their loot."
"Correct," Venomous nodded, "We are also keeping a good job of protecting our camp stuff." They have moved a few times and always choose a safe location that would give them enough time to react and keep their stuff intact."
However, the ice resistance was a useful pill, even if it was of low quality, "The Ice Tomb is nowhere to be found, but we found a spot where time flies slower. This man also left us with a good tip, so I will think about it." It was bad to leave the yetis alone and they were also a good source of experience.
Venomous wouldn't give up on such free exp after gaining an advantage over the yetis. Her poison potions were no longer needed to hunt them and she could tear through them with her sword just fine.
Her good monke giggled, "Don't think too much about it! Or your forehead will get slapped again! Hehe!" There was a time where Venomous thought too much about their plight and ended up getting slapped by the yeti's hand.
Michu reminded her about it, but his forehead got smacked as an answer, "Back at you."
"It hurt!" Michu's face said the exact opposite words as he laughed! Together with his party, they went for another yeti hunt.
-
[Earth, 00:24]
[Everything is possible in another world, isn't it? That's how the game is advertised. That's why The Impossible Quest didn't sound as such to me. I wholeheartedly believed that I had enough will to go through it and reach the end... With the support of Hyunge Company, I knew I wouldn't fail.]
[That's true! The Hyunge Company owns several guilds and their network often supports such young prodigies like you! Could you elaborate on this partnership? Was it them who sent you for This Impossible Quest?]
[Their help and advice from their guilds who had taken this quest in their early levels had helped me appreciably. I can't speak about our partnership due to the contract, but for me, the game is my life, the second chance that I am willing to embrace everything I got. They are the reason I will reach the top ranking in a few months. Look forward to it.]
[Yes! We are all looking forward to the new star! Do you think you would reach it regardless of their help?]
[It depends.]
[It depends on what?]
[...]
"Your life?" Yumi hummed as she watched the interview with Zerze. Her eyes remained on the expressionless man whose eyes seemed cold and lost. The interview was done straight after he left The Impossible Quest, in the game.
The man looked like a serial killer if she had to be honest. Yumi's heart clenched as such thoughts sprouted within her, "What am I saying?" She hated this word, she hated when others spoke about it and yet she called Zerze a killer.
Of course, Yumi reprimanded herself and looked deeper at him, "The man... who has nothing to lose?"
Regardless of what he was and how strong his strength peaked, Yumi watched his interview while looking out for clues. She was lost and with no progress in the Impossible Quest, Yumi spent all her free time contemplating the quest's mystery.
The golden-haired man's words to Michu resurfaced, "The time flies slower... What do you think about it, Michu?" Time flew faster when one was enjoying something. It didn't matter what kind of activity it was, once enjoyable, the time would be faster than light itself.
Something like the time going slower was an absurdity, but she had confirmed it recently with her friends. Looking at the clock near the minimap, Venomous confirmed that the time was going slower.
The time outside the world didn't slow down, though. However, upon leaving the capsule, Venomous' clock remained the same. Even if she spent 12 hours in this slowed-down area, real life's time would still flow normally.
"It's absurd for this game to create such a setting. Is it really fine for the brain?" Thinking out loud, Venomous suddenly remembered something. Indeed, this whole absurd setting shouldn't exist in any other game.
[For me, this game is my life.]
"Would the time fly faster with gold-diggers?" The man who was willing to spend so much money on them would enjoy them and their bodies as long as possible. Even if it was romantic for Feng, the time with those women shouldn't fly 'faster' in the slowed area because of his enjoyment.
He said that he would be able to spend more time with his women after all.
"This game... is weird," Yumi inferred and went to bed with a headache.
-
[The Impossible Quest, 6:10]
Venomous stood at the helm.
Facing her was the yeti whose body was about to become the victim of her blade. She raised her blade, twisted her wrist a little. Her free hand clenched out the glass with green liquid.
This green liquid splashed on her sword and hissing sounds escaped its content. The green blood dripped down onto the snow, burying a deep hole within.
"Eh? Isn't your sword sharpened by the yeti's blood?" Sandra asked curiously.
"Even I sometimes get impatient," Venomous replied, then took a step forward, "This is my kill." She added, then ambled toward the monster. At the same time, Sandra let out her skill that was more flexible with her Tactician Subclass.
The water bubble went for the yeti's head, then wrapped itself around. The big bubble rained down water on its body. A few small rivers tumbled down on it... Sandra's staff let out another blue light, then these rivers became solid rope that pinned down the yeti and sealed its limbs!
That was one of the Tactician Subclass techniques. Her water got much more control and she could plan out additional effects to her water skills.
It was not her first time using this, but Yumi nodded with contentment as if her impatience got satiated a little. Her sword swept through the wind, leaving a faint green trail. She then rushed forward and thrust her sword while increasing its power through the swordsman's skill.
Her edge effortlessly dug within the yeti's chest. Once half of her sword disappeared, Venomous' poison spread across the yeti's system and brought him a lot of pain.
Its body shivered and a roar shook the whole forest! Some snow fell from the trees, but before it could become an additional layer on the ground, Venomous' sword long since retracted and returned with several more slashes that deepened the poison's effect.
"The area with time tickling slower... and the yetis," Venomous raised her eyes, looking at the falling monster, "There are just two things here, but less than 1% had managed to complete this quest."
The yeti's body dispersed into thousand red particles. The loot, which was fur and meat, slipped into Yumi's inventory. However, there was something new finally leaving its body, "It's the Impossible Quest for the newbie players. For us, everything is a game." The red orb appeared out of its body, floating up into the sky!
Venomous' sword slithered like a ravenous snake, snatching the orb for the mistress. On its tip, Venomous lowered her sword, "If we treat this time phenomenon as the real one, we will be able to find a clue. That's what I thought and it seems like I am on a good track."
[You have found Frozen Blood - 1/10000]
"It's not easy to think about it like that, though..." Sandra replied and glanced at Michu. She approached Venomous and asked, "If that's the case, then shouldn't Michu get the orbs from the start?"
"There is an easy answer to that."
"?"
"Have you seen Yeti in real life? There are a lot of things... you can just raise your weapon to and erase without any remorse."
And so, the key to the Ice Tomb had been found! What awaited the party on its gate's legs and how many players had reached this part already? "I can't wait to find out!" Michu giggled and congratulated Venomous for her finding!
Thanks for reading! ^^