Chapter 43: s.n.a.t.c.hing and mad rus.h.i.+ng!
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: TN and Elka.s.sar
Thinking of that, Sheyan’s heart was stirred. His eyes popped open as he seized that clump of white cloth,
Unfold!
Written on the cloth, were lines of disorderly black handwriting. These writings seemed to have no discipline but were just a bunch of ranting from Saruman…..random graffiti that was left behind by Saruman.
Sheyan shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Something is better than nothing” He then earnestly started reading it; yet contrary to his expectations, these random absent-minded writings had not a farts relation to his alchemy endeavour!!!
Recently I discovered an error. When throwing out a curse-gene mix concoction, the angle, strength and accuracy is crucial; if factoring in wind speeds and other elements….it is simply too complicated.
Recently, I discovered that adding lead to that new blend in the crystal flask……”
“The feeling of throwing a curse-mix gene isn’t bad.”
“Today’s dinner was a little bland.”
“If there’s a slight flaw in that concoction……”
“That idiot, Lurtz, messed up 3 portions of experimental materials again.”
Beneath were over 300 more characters
“………”
………
After he read finished with a dejected heart, he could confirm something crucial – there was indeed not a single news pertaining to any relevant concoction of gene-mix…..No idea what that insane old man was thinking, apart from his rubbish gibberish; everything else recorded were mostly queer fantasies pertaining to throwing or hurling out gene-mix concoction. Sheyan couldn’t believe his eyes as he carefully read through the gibberish again. Cold sweat broke out over him as he felt this wild absurdity absolutely crus.h.i.+ng him; really, this was the case of ‘man proposes but G.o.d disposes’.
Yet when it felt like his entire life was in vain; a split second later, the nightmare imprint rung in his ears:
“Contestant no.1018 has discovered Saruman’s experimental insights, and read through it in detail.”
“Scanning: Contestant no.1018 possesses a compatible skill ‘Uruk-hai genetic mix (Incomplete) .”
“Calculating……”
“Contestant no.1018, you will now enter comprehension state. Under this state, you musn’t be attacked or moved; if not comprehension state would be brokened.”
“Your intelligence/spirit is too low. Comprehension state will require a longer time, and failure may occur.”
Sheyan was emotionally moved, he had actually triggered a relevant matter! Following the nightmare imprint’s notification, he stood there silently but pathetically failed 3 times. After a full 8 minutes, he finally received a sweet sounding notification:
“Comprehension state concluded.”
“Contestant no.1018 has obtained a new appreciation for Saruman’s experimental log.”
“Your Rank 6 ability ‘Black Art mix Technique (Incomplete)’ has received a pa.s.sive upgrade.”
“When throwing a curse-mix at the enemy, the curse-mix will now explode with a shockwave. Any enemies within that shockwave will suffer a 1 second confusion/stun.”
“Shockwave is limited within the radius of the poison fog of the curse-mix.”
“Any enemies within the poison fog will have their movement speed and attack speed reduced by 20%, until the poison fog dissipates or until they leave the poisonous zone.”
“Duration of curse-mix poison fog is extended by 15 seconds; but it is still susceptible to being dispersed or purified.”
“You can now throw gene-mix bombs to allies, which explodes with a 10 seconds vapor. Within a 10 metres radius, all allies will receive the relevant buff of the gene-mix. Movement speed and attack speed raise by 3%, speed boost last for 120 seconds.”
“However, the buff vapor will produce a weaker effect than direct consumption.” (A +3 strength gene-mix thrown out would be reduced to an AOE +2 strength effect.)
“Warning: Henceforth, every time you throw out a concocted mix, it will consume 2 MP.”
“Wow, how did this happen?” Suddenly receiving such news, Sheyan really felt this was an unexpectedly surprising reaping. He hurriedly scrolled out his skill tree to examine in disbelief, confirming that everything was true!!
“Then, if it’s like that……” Sheyan’s eyes flashed a glint. He begun examining the items in front, his gaze fell on the rolls of parchment paper on the right, and then towards that solid goose feather dip pen. He then gasped loudly, his gasp contained a certain comprehension, amazement, regret, annoyance, impatience…all sorts of complicated emotions.
He then hastily seized the few parchment papers and stuffed it into his pocket before s.n.a.t.c.hing a clump of thin cloth on the table beside, and sprinted to towards the Wizard tower stairs! His anxiousness now was as though his b.u.t.t was being roasted!
**********
It could be said that Sheyan was lucky; but after escaping from the Wizard tower till the edge of the Orc metropolis, n.o.body had noticed him.
But it could be said that he was unlucky; because when he just needed at most 10 seconds to disappear into the rocks and into the icy vegetation shrubs, he was instead noticed by the first batch of returning orcs, leading to a frenzied chase.
Never forget, Sheyan was now at his weakest state! His stats were – Strength (8 points) / Agility (6 points) / Physique (12 points) / Perceptive sense (11 points) / Charm (6 points) / intelligence (5 points) / Spirit (4 points). He was a total garbage!!!
Crunching sounds emerged as he trampled over the loose snow, it was a long time since he had experienced such breathlessness; it was as though his lungs were about to explode. Grasping a snowflake and popping into his mouth, he breathed heavily as he enjoyed the melting coolness to satisfy his insatiable thirst.
If not for that twilight elf blessing he received from Melody allowing him to a.s.similate into nature, those pursuing orcs would’ve long arrested Sheyan over a hundred times.
Still, his fleeing footsteps on the snow surface occasionally betrayed him, guiding the pursuing orcs behind.
“Those d.a.m.nable orcs, I definitely mustn’t be caught now!!” His heart howled agitatedly. Although his willpower was strong, the weakness of his body was fully displayed.
Due to packed terrain of rocks, snow and shrubs, the pursuing orcs couldn’t see Sheyan’s figure. Suddenly, a snowy slope at least angled 75 degrees down surfaced ahead. If Sheyan was in perfect state, no, even if it was just his innate ability present, he would dare to directly charge down this slippery slope. Yet now…..if he did, no doubt it was courting death, no, it was returning early to the realm.
The 3 orcs panted heavily as they gradually closed up the gap till roughly a hundred metres. Sheyan grit his teeth; his b.u.t.t stuck on the snowy slope as he slid down with his hands, trying to maintain balance. But not even halfway in, his entire being lost balance and he started rolling down; resulting into 2 mournful cuts across his face! Several minor cuts also surfaced on his limbs.
Still, Sheyan endured this agony as he continued to stagger forward breathlessly. Although his physique was reduced to its mortal origins, the experiences and hards.h.i.+ps he had gone through previously were his greatest treasures! It supplied him with the strength to continue fleeing. Drips of blood scattered onto the snow, as a lone ghastly blood trail lead his enemy’s on!
Ahead was a region of quiet, desolate forest. Some trees possessed tenacious vitality, forcing out fresh green sprouts even in the snowy ice. Sheyan didn’t even notice this point, without looking back he hurriedly charge into the desolate forest. The 3 orcs behind continued to close the gap, from a hundred metres to fifty.
The orcs were clearly physically larger than Sheyan, they roared angrily as they charged into the forest; occasionally b.u.mping into the trees clumsily, triggering snow to fall down in piles. The leading orc fume angrily with nasty language, as snow fell into his mouth, causing him to cough as he swallowed two mouthfuls of snow.
Roughly 7-8 seconds later, all of the orcs suddenly heard a sound.
This sound was exceedingly queer; it sounded like a mix of boiling beef stew in a cauldron and farting.
The leading orc immediately halted, vigilantly scanning around.
Because he could feel this queer sound closing up on him, yet nothing was happening. The other two orcs shot him an eccentric look, their gaze stopping over their boss’s stomach – because the sound had originated from his stomach.
Suddenly, the leading orc’s face cringed painfully as he collapsed to the ground, a lifeless look in his eyes. In a short span of time, his life left his body. Then shockingly green shoots starting growing out of its ears, eyes, nose and mouth. It was as if his entire inner body was flouris.h.i.+ng with new sprouts!
Within a minute, the orc looked as if it had been rotting for a month. Even its bones were decayed to dust, like a dried corpse in shambles! Over the dried corpse, were huge patches of emerald green gra.s.s sprouting.