Sheyan realised that he might have missed the notification from the Realm.He thought back and realised that the notification was issued when he was still fighting on planet Uplos, and in that d.a.m.n place....well, even the nearby Kitty Hawk base had to risk its reactors being damaged permanently just to carry out a one-way communication. It made sense that the Realm"s notification could not reach him.
"d.a.m.n it," Sheyan was really annoyed. "I haven"t been notified yet! Which world is it? I"ll make some quick preparation."
Zi looked at Sheyan and said slowly, "It"s...2012."
"2012?" Sheyan was a little stunned. The only thing he could think of when he heard the number was just a certain year in the AD. But he quickly came to a realisation, and his expression became rather dark.
"The disaster film 2012? The movie that made NASA publish a statement to refute rumours of the end of the world?"
Zi nodded. Sheyan took a deep breath before he screamed, "Sh*t!"
(Spoiler: It won"t be just "2012".)
There was a reason why Sheyan failed to control his emotion. The mysterious mastermind would most probably continue to hunt Party Ace down in the next world, and in such a catastrophic world, the ability of that fellow could be displayed to the extreme!! For example, when a cliff collapsed, he could just make someone slip; or when a plane took off, he could make the landing gear get stuck on something! Nature would effortlessly help him take care of Party Ace after that!
Sheyan immediately requested the Realm to send him the notification again, which he received shortly after.
[ Your current rank: Colonel ]
[ Your current party: Silver Party, Party Ace ]
[ Your next world of adventure: 2012 ]
[ Warning: This world is a party battle world. You may encounter other hostile parties in this world. ]
[ This world is the world of a disaster movie. No progress will be kept in this world. Even those who have experienced and pa.s.sed the world will have to start again from the beginning. ]
[ Upon calculation, the difficulty rating of your main mission is: C ]
"The difficulty rating of the main mission is C? Why is the Realm so kind to us this time? Doesn"t it mean that the pressure on us from the hostile parties will be exceptionally heavy?"
Sheyan"s heart felt heavy when he thought of that. He could not help thinking about the members of his previous temporary team on planet Uplos. Those people were right b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, but their personal abilities were truly outstanding, especially Pokan, the terrain modeler. Pokan"s amazing support ability really left Sheyan in awe.
"Wouldn"t it be great if that sh*thead Pokan is in my party....Wait, Pokan!?!" Sheyan suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Pokan is just a geologist....he was nothing compared to Sanzi"s newly-obtained little Cyclops! The Cyclopes manipulate the earth as naturally as they eat, drink and breathe; even their footprints would disappear by themselves! That means...."
Sheyan instantly checked the time. The party still had an hour and fifty minutes before they had to enter the next world. There was still time!
He immediately applied for a training s.p.a.ce with his position as a Colonel. He managed to apply for a ten-day training s.p.a.ce after spending five achievement points and 100,000 utility points. He kicked Sanzi into the training s.p.a.ce together with his two-headed little Cyclops.
In order to carry out Sheyan"s plan, Party Ace fell into an economic crisis again. The rare minerals and unknown mysterious items Sheyan brought back could be traded in for a considerable amount of achievement points, but everyone had to promote their rank, not just Sheyan. In addition, all of them had the habit of spending all their utility points to strengthen themselves before entering the next world. Mogensha joked that in order to raise the extra 100,000 utility points, they"ve even sold off Zi"s dowry.
Sanzi"s time in the training room was only equivalent to a few minutes for the rest of the party. When he came out again, he looked completely exhausted. Next to him was a giant about 2.3 meters tall with dark skin. The two-headed little Cyclops would occasionally drool and occasionally laugh. On his chest was the natural battle mark called the Scar of the Earth.
The first impression the monster gave Sheyan and the party was not his height, but how ripped he was!
He towered there like an immovable fortress. As long as he stood firm, no one could shake him! But to be honest, his silly laughter, the constant wiping of drool, and his action of stuffing a piece of dried meat into his mouth every few minutes did not do his image much good.
Sanzi was so tired that he looked like he would fall asleep any second, but he still forced himself to sober up and introduce the Cyclops to the rest of the party with a smile on his face.
"The left head is Kulu, you can call him Lulu, and the right head is Tego, just call him Gogo. Lulu specialises in launching a storm of melee attacks to tear the enemy up, while Gogo is obsessed with studying the gift of Mother Earth; he"s proficient in all kinds of earth element powers. Their names are linked together as Kulutego, which in the genealogy of the Cyclopes means "the children beloved by Mother Earth"."
Sheyan frowned when he saw how weak and tired Sanzi was. Sanzi"s eyes could barely remain open.
"Hang in there. Why did you exhaust yourself? We need you in the next world."
"Brother, I have to sleep well for a while, but don"t worry, Kulutego has already signed a blood pact with me. That means they"ll remain as long as I"m alive. Just give them the order if there"s anything you want them to do. Oh right, before I forget - they have a big appet.i.te. Remember to feed them every two hours."
Sheyan knew about blood pacts. It was a kind of pact that closely tied the summoner and the creature together. The blood of the summoner and the creature were closely connected from then on. There were a few advantages to this type of pact. First, the summoning would not consume MP. Second, it was easier for the summoner to communicate with the creature. And third, both sides would be strengthened somewhat.
But there were also disadvantages. If the creature died, it would die for real. An astonis.h.i.+ng amount of HP would also be forcibly deducted from the summoner, which may lead to death. This was the type of pact signed between Fanu and his stegosaurus.
Furthermore, this creature would also become the summoner"s main summoned creature. Regardless of its growth, it would permanently occupy 80% of the summoner"s MP limit. This meant that Sanzi only had 20% of MP left to summon creatures other than Kulutego. The price was really high.
More importantly, it was not advantageous for battles between summoners. Just like in basketball, a superstar with a bunch of scrubs for teammates could never hope to catch up to the record of a team which has three ordinary stars plus other blue-collar players.
Sanzi had made a huge sacrifice for the sake of the party.
An hour later, Sheyan stepped through the light portal leading to the next world with the half-asleep Sanzi on his back. The rest of the party followed close behind. They were about to face an unknown and confusing future, a future where the world was on the brink of destruction and mankind was on the brink of extinction....2012!
[ Commencing entry into nightmare world.... ]
[ Initializing data..... ]
[ Matching in progress..... ]
[ World selected. ]
[ Initializing characters and world a.s.similation.... ]
[ The world begins.... ]
[ A huge solar flare disrupted the Earth"s core. ]
[ The ruined oceans and the trampled earth are finally angered. ]
[ The end of mankind approaches. ]
[ Death or survival, ]
[ Purification or redemption. ]
[ Crazy or rational? ]
[ Destruction or salvation?? ]
***
"It"s so cold!" That was Sheyan"s first thought.
He could feel the heavy rain splattering on his body. Raindrops the size of beans carried considerable weight and caused pain when they hit his face, as if they were venting their cold and anger onto the humans. They hit so hard that they made pits on Sheyan"s skin.
Sheyan tried to move his hands and feet and found that they were soaked in cold mud. The cold crept into his bones, numbing his limbs. He leaned over and felt his control over his body recovering little by little. Then, he sat up and held his head in his hands.
The surrounding area was silent and dark, the only sound being the rustle that the heavy rain made when it fell on the trees. The vegetation was lush and the place was quite deserted. A fire was burning fiercely twenty meters away from Sheyan. Even the heavy rain could not quench it.
From the illumination of the fire, he could see that the fuel for the fire was a double-decker long-distance bus.
"We...seemed to have gotten into an accident?" Reef stood up, also holding his head. He cursed in a low voice as he shook mud off his head. "This d.a.m.n weather! And to make it worse, we probably have to camp outside in this weather! "
Sheyan narrowed his eyes as he pointed to a rock cliff to the west.
"That seems to be the highway. We"re probably the pa.s.sengers on the long-distance bus. On this night of heavy rain, the driver accidentally drove the bus off the highway in a moment of carelessness."