Chapter 33: Superiority
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: TN and Elka.s.sar
Of course those pursuers wouldn’t treat it that as unforgivable crime and throw you into Azkaban. They would only treat the arrested contestant as a tourist that coincidentally encountered a bowtruckle and generously donated it to the museum. Therefore, even if he was caught, there will only be a flash of light and his memories erased.
However, this may seem like a light punishment but is is extremely disastrous. The flash of the pursuant will erase whatever experiences the contestant had in the world as well. Therefore, if Sheyan received that spell, Hagrid wouldn’t recognize him, even the items acquired from the troll would be erased…..when that time comes, completing the mission will be tough and the completion rate would be horrendous.
At this time, the boss of the Magical Menagerie was about to return. If not for that old man needing to settle some things outside, Phelps wouldn’t dare to invite anyone in. Thus, Sheyan and Gale left in a hurry. When they walked out onto the streets of Diagon Alley, Sheyan was a little curious why Gale would exert such superiority over Phelps and yet Phelps could only tolerate in silence. Gale immediately started explaining enthusiastically.
Actually from all chosen contestants, roughly 3/5 were close combat fighters. However, amongst these contestants, roughly 1/3 took the close combat with high agility route. The remaining concentrate on their attributes of strength and physique. Under normal situations, such contestants would be more resistant and more valiant in battle, thus they commanded the front lines.
After counting, contestants who were able to hold the frontlines were relatively common, roughly 2/5 of the total amount of contestants.
However, everyone understands the cruel nature of the nightmare realm. Especially after experiencing several worlds, long distance combatants would have a much greater survivability rate than close combatants. Thus, contestants who emphasized on strength and physique had a shocking mortality rate, comparing to long distance combatants it was at least 2:1! A party who has experienced 2-3 worlds later, would be faced with an extremely awkward situation. That was that the amount of close combatants that could directly engage the enemy was extremely scarce.
According to Gale, parties who were lacking such individuals were unable to complete or challenge many missions. Of course, amongst long distance combatants who entered the nightmare realm, some of them may have reached the peak of their abilities, and thus function fine without close combatants. But such an argument can only be made in the present world and not in the nightmare realm. Especially when the world’s difficulty level increases, creatures and challenges would be much stronger as well.
Citing a simple example, Qiao Gun’s a.s.sembled 6 man team was able to slay the mountain troll, but if there were 6 Diazes would they have succeed? The answer is obviously no. Primarily, when a gunner is moving, his accuracy will definitely drop and wouldn’t be able to dish out the maximum damage. Therefore, being able to cripple the troll was completely impossible.
Secondly, without someone restricting it, once the troll releases a Tree Toss of Slaying it would have instantly killed off a gunner! With their lives under threat anytime, who would be able to steadily dish out attacks? Moreover, the troll was a creature that was smart enough to flee. Once its HP plunges to critical level and escape, would the gunmen chase? And who would attempt to lure out the troll if it hides inside the lair.
Furthermore from a psychological viewpoint, this group could never have been a.s.sembled. When one’s life is under threat, they would certainly fight for their lives. Yet under normal circ.u.mstances when their lives weren’t under threat, who would dare to step forward and fight with their lives on the line.
This is like a long distance contestant telling another long distance contestant. “Bro let’s form a party to kill the troll, although some of us may die it may not be you. We will definitely be able to kill the troll and reap some benefits.” However, such a risky and dangerous outcome, who would be crazy enough to join your party.
Therefore, close combat contestants who were able to drag out and sustain in a battle were extremely rare. Thus, such contestants within the party would have high status and their words were highly influential. This was because the risk they took was undoubtedly several folds of those who hid behind and engaged in long range combat tactics. In respect to those ordinary party members, their status was on an entirely different level.
Just like in the previous party, Qiao Gun’s strength was vastly inferior to the metals professor yet he was able to become a core member of the party. Moreover, he even dared to threaten the metals professor’s interest and hog the loots from the troll by himself. Following this plan, if every close combatant in the symbiosis sect died except him, then the metals professor wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.
Thinking in-depth, there was no such thing as love or hatred without reasons in this realm. Gale treated Sheyan with such friendliness, his ulterior motive was due to the fact that the responsibility of the symbiosis sect’s position of a close combat contestant fell onto the both of them. Furthermore, Sheyan’s earlier display of strength was pretty good, if Gale wanted to replace Qiao Gun’s position, then he would definitely have to earn Sheyan’s support.
“So that’s the case…..” After hearing Gale’s explanation, his eyes flickered and his lips curled into a slight smile. Ever since he entered this party, he had already experienced noticeable convenience. Gale’s information further firmed Sheyan’s confidence on forming his own party.
“Let’s go. According to the party’s regulations, we have to a.s.semble every afternoon at a secret location to exchange information. Of course special exceptions may happen. Professor instructed me to let you a.s.similate with the party first, and at the same time try to start the ‘warmhearted man’ mission.”
Gale had already led Sheyan to the end of Diagon alley. Glancing at the time, he then tapped on the wall a few times and once again return to the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron. The customers had started to stream in at this hour, and old Nick was extremely busy behind the bar counter. Yet when he saw Sheyan, he instantly glared at him intensely as Sheyan couldn’t help but toss 5 pounds over. In the next few days, he would have to frequent here quite often and there was no need to come to blows with that old man over a bottle of beer.
Old Nick gestured a ‘you better watch yourself’ hand signal and could not be bothered with him. As Gale strolled across the bar, he purposefully slowed down his footsteps and smile to every single storyline character. He then whispered to Sheyan.
“When the Metals professor first entered this world, he encountered a wizard in his very bar. His charm wasn’t very low from the start, and was relatively compatible with the wizard thus he managed to rake in several opportunities and got to where he was today. In this d.a.m.ned world where dangers lurk in every corner, as long as one seize their opportunities, they would be able to make it big!”
Sheyan noticed that Gale’s usage of words were that the metals professor ‘raked in several opportunities’ and not ‘raked in several benefits’. This meant that nothing in this world was served to you in a silver platter, one still had to work hard when opportunities arrive. The tragic fact was that many wouldn’t even encounter such opportunities! Just like Qiao Gun who was an ambitious and shrewd individual, yet he never encountered any good opportunities and had to create his own in the end by gambling everything he had…..yet this was an opportunity that Sheyan exploited.
Naturally, both didn’t meet any miraculous chance encounter. Especially Sheyan, he carried zero hope with his measly charm. Back in the real London, Gale brought Sheyan to a building that looked pretty old-fas.h.i.+oned. Upon entering the building, Sheyan could even feel a faint threat tugging against his heart, there was obviously a sniper or something close.
Sheyan remained emotionless as he entered the building, when he arrived at the third floor he was shocked to find an extremely luxurious hall. 5-6 people sat inside and based on their sitting arrangement, one could infer their statuses within the party. According to Gale, the Symbiosis sect used a rare item an ‘a.s.sembling rock’ to gather the members together. This this should be most of the members of the Symbiosis sect.
It looked like Gale’s words were not fabricated. The Symbiosis sect consisted of 12 people, and within those 12 there were only 5 contestant who focused their fighting style on strength. From the earlier battle performance, within those 5, two of them were average. As Sheyan thought of this, this party was clearly lacking in strength.
Sheyan’s appearance undoubtedly attracted many suspicious galres. Instead, Gale simply smiled and rudely sat down on one of the front seats. Naturally this invited several bewildered looks from the other people, and one of the male wearing a golden spectacles who was on pretty good terms teased at him.
“Gale, you can sit there for now, but when Qiao Gun arrives you still have to give it up.”