Chapter 213: Chapter 213 – Troubled
Dinner was very peaceful. Gu Yueyan was present for dinner as well, but she did not taunt Ren Suo, so he was not in a good position to pick on her first.
Instead, it was Dong Chengling who initiated the conversation. She asked when Gu Yueyan would be returning home, but Gu Yueyan replied, “I will be staying in school throughout the break to continue Practicing.”
It was not surprising that Gu Yueyan chose to do so. Although the Practice Stadium in the school was not open during the vacation break, the Reiki Acc.u.mulation device in the dormitory rooms could still be used as per usual. Most of the students were willing to have such ‘tuition’ during their vacation break to Practice, and Gu Yueyan, who strived to be like Dong Chengling and be able to fight Star People in the future, would naturally not waste the time during the break either.
Suddenly, Dong Chengling asked, “In that case, do you wish to stay with me?”
“What?” Gu Yueyan replied.
“I have a guest room in my house, so you can come anytime you like,” Dong Chengling said with a smile. She continued, “The environment here should be better than your dormitory room. If you need it, you may just stay in my house, and you would not need to travel back and forth for your meals too.”
“That… that would be nice, but…” Gu Yueyan replied.
“It’s alright, Xiao Yan. You are a younger sister whom I am the closest to in school, so I will definitely not hesitate to provide any help you need.”
Gu Yueyan really wanted to agree to the invitation, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see Ren Suo eating coldly (from her perspective). She thought of something, then suddenly refused vehemently, saying, “I still have a roommate staying in the dorm, and I want to spend my vacation break with her!”
“Ah, if you still have friends around, it would still be more fun to stay with them,” Dong Chengling replied in agreement. She added, “The friends.h.i.+ps established in our youth are the ones which are more likely to last.”
At that juncture, Dong Chengling held Gu Yueyan’s hand and smiled warmly. She said, “Nonetheless, as long as you are willing, I will continue to be your friend, your sister, and your teacher. If you have any trouble, you may always share it with me.”
For some reason, a trace of guilt suddenly arose in Gu Yueyan’s heart.
——————
After feeding spicy dried anchovies to the black cat downstairs, Ren Suo headed home and turned on the Mini Worlds game console. It was only then when he suddenly remembered that it was already the 9th of July; it was two days past the Minor Heat solar term.
He navigated to the [Exclusive Level Up Games (Level 3)] section in the [World Shop], and found that there indeed was a new free game—of course, however, it was not selectable.
The new game was still a 3-star game, but its maximum reward was 560 merit points!
However, that game was actually… a series of games. It consisted of multiple chapters that required the game score to be uploaded multiple times, like in “The Hitman” or “Over My Dead Body”.
Of course, the length of each chapter was definitely not shorter than games of the same star rating, so it could be considered a game that required a huge amount of time to complete.
If everything went smoothly according to plan, Ren Suo would likely choose to play that game next month without refres.h.i.+ng the games in the section.
However, he felt that he could not bring himself to select that game…
[Eternal Beauty]
[This is a role-playing game. The player would take on the role of five concubines in the harem of the last Emperor. In order for them to be able to Practice, they fought to win the heart of the Emperor. Beside him, they would be able to nourish their body through his energy. However, during the process, they saw how insignificant their individual struggles were, compared to the vast history of time. This is a complete game with a total of three chapters. The highest reward is 560 merit points in total, and the exclusive reward upon completion is ‘Perfect Beauty’. In-game purchases are available. The difficulty rating of the game is: 3 stars.]
Ren Suo felt that he would rather play two separate games than play one female-oriented love adventure game… Such a game would likely contain R18 CG!
Moreover, thinking about how he would be constantly putting in his best effort to please a man, Ren Suo could not help but quiver.
Rhythm was important…
When Ren Suo entered the fifth checkpoint, an idea suddenly struck him.
Instead of creating another mage with a different appearance, he chose one from those which he created previously.
The fifth checkpoint was set in a strange town that appeared completely undamaged. There was absolutely no one at the entrance to the checkpoint. Every building there looked as if they were built with candy, like in a fairy tale kingdom. On the ground, however, were several dead bodies who had been fed on, and traces of the black-colored leather uniform they had been wearing still remained on the bodies.
“The mage already said in the first checkpoint that before the arena is cleared, humans can only enter but cannot leave, why did they still take the risk…?”
By then, Ren Suo could naturally guess that there was a chronological relations.h.i.+p between the checkpoints. The fact that the events which took place in the first checkpoint were known by Caroline and the others, who appeared in the third checkpoint, clearly explained his guess.
Given that there were deaths inside the arena, the outside forces would naturally not dare to send more people in to meet their deaths. It might not have mattered to the powerful forces if ordinary people were sent in instead, but only Pract.i.tioners could enter the arena, and Pract.i.tioners were precious resources at present.
Until Ren s...o...b..gan fighting the boss, there should not be any Pract.i.tioner coming in to court his own death.
However, unlike the previous four checkpoints, there was only one kind of monster in the current checkpoint.
It was a giant locust… with a human face!
[You are finally here.]
A young girl in a red dress and blonde hair emerged from a pool of fresh blood on the ground. She looked at the four mages, including Red Hood, behind Mage, and stuck out her tongue to lick her lips. She laughed and remarked: [Isn’t it enough for me, Ding Delan, to be here? What use is there for these ‘useless trash’? Why not let me cleanse their blood and turn them into something more useful?]
Nimue responded coldly: [Well, this place really suits you, Mosquito Girl.]
Ren Suo was not interested in listening to them argue amongst themselves. He hurried over to the locust that was not far away, but little did he expect to attract a huge mob of monsters instead!
After Mage entered combat, the female mages also stopped arguing and began activating their offerings to join the battle!
Ding Delan’s blood offering [Magic Red Moon] turned into a blood moon which floated in the air;
Lumpena used the sword offering [Sacred Seedlings of the Sword] to wield a wooden sword which cleansed the world;
Elaine activated the healing offering [Stubborn Bell], which gave all mages who heard the bell a recovery and defense buff!
However, when they killed the first locust, it did not turn into a black mist and vanish. Neither did it become a target who could be granted salvation!
At that juncture, Ding Delan said: [The Evil Demon here has completely integrated into the arena. It has become a part of the arena, and all of the monsters here have turned into its clone. In order to purify the Forbidden Fruit, all of the monsters have to be eliminated at once.]
While it sounded simple, Ren Suo knew that it was not going to be that easy when he saw the monsters who were fuelled by hatred fill the screen—
In the previous checkpoints, they had cleared the monsters by attracting the monsters toward them in separate groups. This time, however, they had to face all the monsters at once!
With the terrifying group of monsters in front of them, they could not move forward at all, and they did not even dare to teleport to another position. The attack speed of the locusts were extremely fast, and if they forced their way into the group of locusts, they would definitely be bitten to death instead!
“It does not look difficult, but it’s actually harder than any of the previous checkpoints…” Ren Suo muttered. He exhaled a deep breath and said, “This is probably the hardest fight when choosing the Holy Hand route…”
If he had chosen the Magic Wrist route and his damage output was high enough, the Mage could easily compete against the group of monsters by using attack offerings with a large area-of-effect.
However, the Mage could only rely on the damage dealt by his companions.
“It looks like I would not be able to clear this checkpoint this time… Eh?”
Suddenly, at the entrance of the arena, shadows of numerous people emerged.
[Fire!]
A barrage of bullets flew past the mages and into the air.
[The Changjiang Team of the Countermeasure Division of Xuan Nation has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
Extraordinaire forces from various nations appeared once again—the entrance to the arena must have been in a small nation this time as well.
However, the question was, why did they come before Ren Suo even started fighting the boss?
Ren Suo approached the problem differently and realized that in that checkpoint, the boss was actually just a small monster. That meant that when the mages killed the first locust, changes to the entrance of the mystery realm could already be observed.
Caroline was also there, but she was not the commander of the Watchmen of the Federation this time. There was another middle-aged man with a body of scars in front of her—
[Pleased to meet you, I’m Zach, Commander of the Watchmen of the Federation.]
He was Angel Zach, whose combat power was second only to the All-Devouring Spirit in the game, and one of the ten strongest men in the world!
However, at that juncture, the commander of the Changjiang Team of Xuan Nation walked forward with a shocked expression. He looked at Mage’s appearance and said in surprise:
[Are you… the mage who sacrificed yourself in the mystery realm which appeared in Xuan Nation?]