Chapter 111: Arriving In Xiaoxia City
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The weather was good in Xiagong City the next morning. Lin Huang had just got up, he received a notification from the Union Government.
"The murder cases that happened in foothold No.7B61 has recently have been identified. The culprits were offenders with mental illnesses who escaped from Xiagong Prison. There were 15 of them who escaped. We have managed to capture 12 of them and we are still hunting down the remaining three. Please stay calm, thank you."
"To prevent the offenders from escaping from the city, we're tightening the security at the four gates in the city. Please do comply. We will be increasing the patrol rounds in the city and you are prohibited to stay out after eight at night. If you must head out at night, please apply for a permit with the local government before five in the afternoon…"
"They've really covered up the truth!" Lin Huang thought with his eyebrows raised in surprise. The notification from the Union Government showed how severe the issue was.
After breakfast with Lin Xin, Lin Huang rode on his Viridian Wolf to the west gate. Lin Xin sent him off and went back to the hotel room with Bai. When he arrived at the west gate, there was a long queue for both entry and exit due to the screening processes done by the city soldiers. Lin Huang felt obliged but there was nothing he could do. He recalled the Viridian Wolf and queued along with everyone else. He had left the hotel right after breakfast and it was almost 10 when he got out of the gate. He did not have any time to waste for this gross cover-up of an inspection by the government. He then summoned the Alexandrian Eagle and arrived at Xiaoxia City in less than 10 minutes.
Xiaoxia City was a D-grade small foothold. Theoretically, there should not be any footholds between a B-grade foothold like Xiagong City which was merely 80 kilometers away as building a foothold required massive resources. Having a foothold at such a short distance was a waste of resources. However, due to the existence of the Xiagong Ruins, the Union Government decided to build an exclusive foothold just for the ruins. The main reason for the foothold was not merely for developing tourism but also for archaeological purposes.
Before Xiaoxia City was built, the Xiagong Ruins were surrounded by a wild zone. The archeologists who stayed there long-term would be regularly attacked by monsters. It was inconvenient for them to get supplies as they had to travel 80 kilometers away whenever they needed them. That was the reason why the Union Government decided to spend money on building a small foothold surrounding the Xiagong ruins, which was now known as Xiaoxia City. Later on, more and more archeologists left as most of the items in the ruins were already excavated. The Union Government thought it would be a waste to let the foothold be left abandoned so it was developed into a tourist spot.
The Xiagong ruins had a mysterious aura on its own. Together with the tourism publicity, it was now a hot tourist attraction. As more people were visiting the ruins and due to its geological advances being so close to Xiagong City, many moved to the city permanently. With the supportive strategies the Union Government had come up with, the small foothold continued to strive.
Entering Xiaoxia City, Lin Huang thought he was in the wrong place as the people in this D-grade foothold was similar to those in the C-grade Baqi City. He was not sure if it were the attractions that brought the tourists or was it its vicinity with Xiagong City. Once he was in Xiaoxia City, Lin Huang summoned the Viridian Wolf and entered the coordinates into his ring. They arrived at the Xiagong Ruins in a blink of an eye.
The hotel that he booked for the first night was less than one kilometer from the south gate of Xiagong Ruins. Following the map, Lin Huang found the location of the hotel. He realized that Xiaoxia City was not small at all. It was almost five times the size of Wulin Town and one-third the size of Baqi City. It was not even 10:30 a.m. when he arrived at the hotel. He thought he was too early to check it out but he then found that he was allowed to check in early at the reception itself.
The hotel was a small antique building with five floors and it had no elevator. After checking in, Lin Huang walked up the wooden stairs to his room. The stairs were old and they creaked loudly but it was clean. Lin Huang's room was on the fifth floor in Room 505. He noticed that there were only five rooms on each floor. Excluding the first floor, there were only 20 rooms in this hotel.
"Is this an off-season period?" Lin Huang thought. It seemed strange to him as it was summer break, he assumed there would be many tourists. It was odd that this hotel which was in such great location and such limited rooms was not fully booked.
He entered the room and looked around. It was quiet and pleasant considering its age. He was satisfied with his room. It had a city view and the Xiagong Ruins could be seen from the balcony. The ruins were underground and there were no tall buildings around it. Lin Huang could see a portion of the ruins that were not covered when he stood on the balcony. After taking the moment in, Lin Huang headed out and bumped into a young couple who was staying next to his room. He headed to the first floor and saw a plump middle-aged man who was the hotel owner at the reception.
He greeted the man, "Boss, is it the offpeak season now?"
"It's summer break now and people who visit here would usually visit Xiagong City for a few days before coming here, so business is slow. You are here early so there are still rooms available. It would be hard to get any rooms if you come three to five days from now," the hotel owner smiled as he explained.
"Is that so…" Lin Huang thought there was some other reason that this hotel had slow business, but after the owner explained, he thought it made sense.
"Boss, I see that this hotel has been here for long. You must have been in Xiaoxia City for a long time now?" Lin Huang asked.
"I have been here for more than 20 years and this hotel has been up and running for 18 of those years," the hotel owner said proudly and nodded.
"Do you have any tales about the Xiagong Ruins that we outsiders haven't heard of?" Lin Huang asked, "I would like to hear about them if you know any," he continued, politely.
"The Xiagong Ruins have always been a mysterious place and there are not many tales about it. However, since I've been here for so long, I have heard of one that you might like. If you're interested, you can treat it as a story, but don't take it too seriously, young man," the owner said.
Lin Huang nodded as the hotel owner began to tell him the story.
"During ancient times, there was a powerful man named Xia Huang. He built an empire and the ruins were his palace. He ruled over billions of people and he was loved. One day, a disaster struck. Nobody knew what had happened and the entire empire disappeared overnight like it never existed… However, no one knew if the Xiagong Ruins were really the legendary palace that disappeared," the owner said in a low voice.
Lin Huang was quiet as he heard the story from the owner. He nodded in satisfaction and said, "I've never heard of this story before, do you have more?"
"That's all I know. The rest were just rumors on the Heart Network," the hotel owner waved his hands while shaking his head.
"Alright then, I'm heading to the ruins now. Thank you, boss!" Lin Huang said and left the hotel. He then headed to the south gate of the ruins which was not far away.
Chapter 112: Xiao Hei's Discovery
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although the Xiagong ruins were a popular attraction in Division7, the admission was free. There was only one entrance to the ruins which was through the south gate. There, visitors would have to scan their identity at the entrance before entering. He was told by the hotel owner that it was the off-peak season but there were many people queuing at the entrance. It took Lin Huang more than half an hour to through it.
A lady in red uniform approached him once he entered the ruins, "Sir, do you need a tour guide?"
"I'm sorry, I'm just looking around." Lin Huang waved his hand as he declined. He was not here as a tourist but instead, he was looking for clues left by Xia Hao so naturally, he did not need a tour guide for that. He followed the crowd, walked 100 meters down the stairs and arrived at the ruins. It was a building that was similar to the ancient city gates with three doors in the middle.
Lin Huang was listening to a tour guide talking to the visitors, "Do not be fooled by these three doors, there are actually two hidden doors on the sides. This is the first palace that has such a structure. The experts who joined the excavations said that Xiagong could be the only one…"
The building was a complete replica of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City on earth but bigger. There was a sign on the entrance that said 'Heaven's Gate'. Lin Huang was sure that this Xiagong was related to Xia Hao.
After passing through the entrance, there was a drain not far away with five small bridges on top. There was a huge palace door that looked like the main passage taken by the ministers in those Qing dynasty dramas. On top of the palace door, the sign read ' Earth's Gate '. Ahead, there was a glorious hall with a sign that said 'Xia Hall'. Lin Huang knew the majestic hall should be the main hall and proceeded to go in.
Once he entered the hall, the cracks in the ground caught his attention. The tour guide explained the cracks.
"The cracks on the ground were the result of something powerful stomping on it because it was made of sea rocks, something even a transcendent would not be able to crack…"
"Now, look at the roof. There was a hole; about a meter wide but archeologists restored it. Now, it looked no different from the original roof. This was the only damage throughout the entire ruin while the rest was in good condition…
"It seemed like something may have dropped from the roof or maybe he sensed an attack coming his way so he escaped this way…" Lin Huang looked up as he thought of the possible scenarios.
Suddenly, he heard a notification from Xiao Hei.
"Unusual energy wave detected underground. You can collect the energy to obtain new functions!"
"Are you sure?" It was Lin Huang's first time hearing Xiao Hei asking him to obtain something.
"Confirmed! According to the detection, the unusual energy was the remaining energy from a destroyed Goldfinger belonging to someone else. You can absorb the energy to strengthen your Goldfinger."
"Is it below where I'm standing?" Lin Huang asked.
"Yes, it's about 3,000 meters below where you are standing."
"Alright, I'll need to plan this properly, I'm heading back now." Since he had identified what he wanted, he did not want to stay any longer. He needed to plan how he was going to get it from the ground below him.
It was one o'clock in the afternoon after he got back to the hotel from Xiagong ruins. Lin Huang got back to his room and locked his door. He talked to Xiao Hei again.
"Xiao Hei, aside from the unusual energy you spoke about, what else is there underground?"
"From the waves detected, there's a mutated monster that went through two mutations as it upgraded to silver-level."
"What kind of monster is that?" Lin Huang asked.
"Unidentifiable."
"Mutated twice? The only monster I have that could fight it would be Charcoal…" Lin Huang frowned. "How is the environment down there? Is it big enough for Charcoal to perform?"
"Sufficient, it's spacious down there."
"I'll try to get Charcoal to fight it then." Lin Huang was confident with Charcoal's ability since it also went through mutation twice. No matter what, Charcoal was a true dragonkin.
He then checked the cards that he had and realized that he did not have any Transformation Cards anymore.
"I almost forgot that I've used all of my Transformation Cards last time. I don't have any more to transform myself into the Specter and dive underground. Lin Huang did not know what to do.
"Xiao Hei, think of a plan!"
"You can trade for a Specific Transformation Card at the card pieces mall."
"A Specific Transformation Card?" Lin Huang was stunned, "Do I have enough card pieces?"
"The card pieces required are the same as when you're trading for a particular monster card. The Specter that you own is a common bronze-level rank-1 card so you will need 60 bronze-level card pieces."
"Special notification: The effective duration of the Specific Transformation Card is only one hour."
"To be safe, I'll get five of them!" Two transformation cards would be sufficient for the two-way trip but Lin Huang was concerned so he got more than he needed.
"Consuming bronze-level card pieces x300, you have received Specter Specific Transformation Card x5."
"There are too many people at the Xiagong ruins. I'll do it when it's later at night." Lin Huang did not want to be discovered when he transformed himself into the Specter or he may be captured for research. The ruins were open until 10 at night, Lin Huang planned to go around 9:30 and stay there until everyone left before he carried out his plan.
He decided to take a nap. He woke up at six o'clock, had dinner and stayed in his room while waiting for the night to come. When it was almost 8:30, he heard a squeaking sound from the bed next door and screams from a woman followed. The soundproofing of rooms was poor. He shook his head and proceeded to read the news.
When it was nine o'clock, the squeaking bed stopped but the lady screamed again. Lin Huang wanted to check it out but he thought he might be overthinking. He thought for awhile and sat down again. There was complete silence next door. Soon, he heard footsteps in the corridor approaching his room. He was staying in Room 505, the last room on the left. People should not be walking to his room. He took out his BlackEagle33 and aimed at the door…
Chapter 113: Attack By The Parasites
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sound of footsteps stopped right in front of Lin Huang's door.
Lin Huang frowned. He pointed his gun at the door and prepared himself for a battle.
After a moment of silence, a loud knock at the door was heard.
"Who are you?" Lin Huang asked.
"Hello, it's me," said the voice of the boss of the hotel.
Lin Huang was relieved. Soon, he asked, still a little doubtful, "Boss, what's up?"
"You asked me about the story of the Xiagong Ruins this afternoon. I recalled something and I guess you might not have heard before," the boss said.
Lin Huang frowned. It was almost nine o'clock at night. It felt peculiar and he wondered why the boss would come to his room and talk about this at this hour.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm heading off to bed now," Lin Huang simply answered but he did not let his guard down.
There was complete silence outside the door.
No response from the boss was heard and the sound of footsteps were not present as well.
Just as he wondered what was happening, a sound was heard from the balcony. Lin Huang turned his head and he saw the man in the room next door climbing into his room.
He was naked, holding a short knife stained with blood. He kicked the glass door in and pounced on Lin Huang.
Lin Huang pointed his gun at the head of the young man and pulled the trigger without a moments hesitation.
The Life Power bullet was fired out of the gun, penetrating through the head of the man who was holding the knife. Blood splattered out of his head and the dead body collapsed instantly.
Lin Huang then heard someone unlocking the door with a key. He kept quiet and again, he pointed his gun at the door.
After a short while, the door was opened and the hotel boss entered the room. He was shocked when he saw a dead body inside the room.
"Freeze. Otherwise, I will just shoot you. In my defence, I will say you are the host of the parasites!" Lin Huang shouted and stared coldly at the hotel owner. "Now, answer whatever I'm asked, or you're dead. What brings you here at this hour?"
The hotel boss then shifted his gaze from the dead body to Lin Huang, a wry smile on his face and said, "Master told me that he could sense something in your body and he wants it. He asked us to kill you and bring your dead body to him..."
After finishing his sentence, about 10 people hiding at the corridor rushed into Lin Huang's room, and attempted to pounce on him.
Lin Huang turned back and ran towards the balcony. He took a leap and summoned the Alexandrian Eagle.
The Alexandrian Eagle fluttered its wings, grabbed Lin Huang mid-flight and flew off into the sky.
Lin Huang frowned as he looked below.
"Why are there so many parasite hosts here?!" He thought in a panic.
As he looked down and more than 10 of them were on the balcony of his room. They were staring at him, emmiting inhumanly loud roars. He then looked further and saw that there were more than 100 of them outside the hotel running towards him.
Despite knowing that they would not be able to catch him in the air, they still chased after him, extending their hands towards the sky and screaming.
Lin Huang suddenly thought of what the hotel boss told him just now. The master that he mentioned should be the master parasite. "The parasites control the hosts and used them to attack me because I have something in my body that it wants…" He thought.
"Xiao Hei, when you sensed the unusual energy in the ruins, could it be possible that the source of the unusual energy sensed your existence too?" Lin Huang recalled what happened in the Xiagong Ruins.
"It is indeed possible that it could sense my existence," Xiao Hei replied.
"That being said, if you wanted to seize its energy, it would probably want to grab yours too?" Lin Huang suddenly felt that the fight Goldfinger encountered was quite intense too.
"It can't seize my energy. However, my Will can be replaced and I'd become a new Goldfinger provided that it's strong enough," Xiao Hei explained.
"Yes, I understand. Basically, it can be said that the underground monster that possesses the unusual energy is a parasite. The parasites were probably triggered by the unusual energy and that was why it would order hosts under its control to attack me," Lin Huang concluded as he finally knew what was happening.
Lin Huang immediately called the Hunter Association, seeing hundreds of people were roaring after him as he looked down below.
"Hi, may I help you?" the operator's voice was heard.
"Listen carefully. Somewhere near the south gate of Xiaoxia City, there are hundreds of infected humans enslaved to the parasites. Please send some backup to round them up immediately to prevent more serious problems from happening. You can track my location and I'll be right here waiting for you," he told the operator.
Lin Huang did not want to kill them. If the hosts did not carry the parasites within them longer than a certain period of time, the parasites inside the human body could still be killed. Basically, they were still human but were just being controlled. It would be best if they were passed to the Hunter Association as they would handle it without casualties.
Lin Huang did not recall the Alexandrian Eagle as well. He knew that once he left the place, the hosts would lose their target and disappear. Then, it would be difficult to catch them.
Aside from the hosts, some of the people noticed Lin Huang hovering mid-air and started approaching him.
Lin Huang frowned and shouted at them, "Are there any hunters there? Please help control the crowd. Don't let ordinary people come over here!
Some of the hunters noticed that the number of infected was abnormally large. They dared not go near them too, but they could carry out the order, ensuring that the ordinary people did not go near them.
Despite Lin Huang being the primary target of the infected, ordinary people would become their targets as well if they were too close to them.
After less than 10 minutes, the hunters of Xiaoxia City arrived.
The crowd dispersed quickly and the hunters began to catch the infected.
Including the boss of the hotel, they caught hundreds of the infected within five minutes.
Lin Huang ran into the crowd when the hunters were busy and entered the Xiagong Ruins once again.
The first thing he did as soon as he entered the ruins was to use the Form Changer to change the look of his face
Form Changer was the skill he obtained when he killed the Formless Worm. It was also the 10th monster skill that he obtained.
He decided to change the look of his face because he was not sure that if there were any other hosts in the ruins. The previous hosts had seen his face. Therefore, he could be easily recognized if he entered the ruins as himself.
"You have troubled me and now, it's my turn to bring the trouble to you!" Lin Huang grinned, heading deep into the ruins…
Chapter 114: The Terrifying Parasite Species
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was 9.20 p.m. Lin Huang arrived at the Xia Temple in the Xia Palace ruins earlier than he expected.
Looking at the monitoring system which did not have a blind spot on either side and the huge crowd, he could not attack. He looked around, waited patiently for a chance.
When it was almost 9.50 p.m., a sound was heard from the speakers at each of the exhibition halls at the same time.
"Attention visitors... The Xia Palace ruins operates from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. We'll be closing in just a moment. You may now leave the exhibition hall in an orderly fashion. Please don't stay after the exhibition hall closes. We'll have our cleaning staff to clean up the hall later… We hope you visit us again soon! Thank you for your cooperation, and we hope you have a good evening," the announcer said.
Visitors were not allowed to enter the Xia Palace ruins after 9.30 p.m. Despite saying that the operating hours were only until 10 p.m., it was usually closed after 10.30 p.m. They would usually inform the visitors to leave 40 minutes in advance.
Listening to the announcement, Lin Huang immediately hid in the toilet.
Slightly after 10 p.m., there was almost no one at the Xia Temple ruins and the security staff began to sweep the venue for any hiding stragglers.
Although, it was strange that the security staff did not check any of the other places. Instead, they headed directly towards the toilet where Lin Huang was hiding.
Their footsteps became more audible in the empty exhibition hall.
Lin Huang could hear it when they were still quite a distance from where he was. He immediately used the Specific Transformation Card, transforming into a ghostly form and passed through the wall next to him.
"You don't have to hide anymore. Your transformation might fool our eyes but our master can still sense you!" A bearded man said; he was the leader of the crowd. The crowd had now stationed itself in front of the cubicle nearest to the toilet.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang! They kicked down the door of the cubicle. They were all stunned as nobody was inside the cubicle.
The security staff exchanged glances with each other and asked, "Why is no one here?"
"Check the other cubicles now!" the bearded man bellowed the order loudly.
They kicked down the rest of the doors and still, there were no traces of Lin Huang anywhere.
"Could it be possible that our Master...made a mistake?" They looked for Lin Huang again in the small toilet and left helplessly.
"I can't believe that Form Changer didn't work. Luckily I have the Specific Transformation Cards with me," Lin Huang said with a nervous smile. He slowly emerged from the wall and patted his chest in relief.
He stole a glance and realized that the people had left. Then, he came down to the ground with his ghostly form and headed towards the direction of the parasites.
After about five minutes, Lin Huang finally arrived at the entrance of an underground cave.
The underground cave did not look much like a karst [1] cave. It looked like a fault space that was formed due to movements in the fault-blocks instead.
The area was in pitch black darkness. Thanks to Lin Huang's Boundless Vision , he was able to see without difficulty even under such circumstances.
Since he was now at the base of the toilet, he could not determine which direction to proceed. He then asked Xiao Hei for help.
"Xiao Hei, which direction is the unusual energy coming from?"
"It's coming from the two o'clock direction," Xiao Hei responded.
"Wait, I guess it will not be able to sense my existence in this form. But it should be able to sense yours, right?" Lin Huang asked.
"It's only residual energy so the strength of its Will and abilities are limited. I've shielded my energy waves so it would not notice me beyond a distance of 100 meters," Xiao Hei said.
"Clever!" Lin Huang said and gave it a thumbs-up.
"Thank you for your compliment but I think you're not qualified to use that term yourself, yet." Xiao Hei replied coldly.
"Damn! I rarely compliment you and you're saying that I have low intellect? Do you believe that I'll be stupid enough to turn back to Xiagong City now?" Lin Huang questioned Goldfinger.
"Do you believe that I'll now activate all the remaining mission cards that you have?" Xiao Hei threatened in response.
"… Just great." Lin Huang said in defeat. He had no choice but to agree with it. He could still remember those days when he had to accomplish tasks from mission cards. He had said earlier that he wanted to activate the last mission card that he had. However, he had been busy practicing his Life Skills and had forgotten about it.
"When I return to Wulin Town, I'll use the mission card immediately!" Lin Huang said confidently. He was determined this time. However, he would always get difficult tasks when he activated mission cards at the last minute. He was afraid of mission cards now, and Xiao Hei knew his weakness.
Following Xiao Hei's direction, Lin Huang discovered the unusual energy that Xiao Hei mentioned after a few turns. There was a giant net of vines surrounding the unusual energy.
The energy source was a big, spherical, energy-based object with a diameter of about 10 meters and released a dazzling white light like a mini sun.
The light shone on Lin Huang's body and made him feel like his Life Power rotations became smoother. Apparently, such an energy had positive effects on human as well as the monsters. Otherwise, the vine-like monster would not entangle itself with the glowing sphere.
Lin Huang had never seen the vine-like monster in his monster guide before.
It had a blood-colored surface and each vine was roughly the circumference of an adults' arm. However, Lin Huang could not estimate how long its length was.
It looked like a bloody giant python had tangled itself around the glowing object as if it was guarding it and the treasure belonged to itself.
Lin Huang noticed that there was a purple bloom on vines every 10 centimeters.
They looked like dandelions which were a little fuzzy. However, they were even smaller and purple in color.
The flowers were beautiful but Lin Huang frowned as he saw them.
He recognized the flowers. It was actually a cluster of parasites. Each flower contained at least a hundred leech pods and he could now see that there were more than a hundred purple flowers here.
"Only a bronze-level and it could take over tens of thousands of people, turning them into hosts for parasites. If it were upgraded to a transcendent, a B-grade foothold like Xiagong City would be destroyed…" Lin Huang thought, and shuddered.
Looking at the leech pods that were floating around in the air, he noticed them gradually float up towards a crack high up in the cavern. Lin Huang finally knew how the monster transported the parasites to the surface, infecting the people of Xiaoxia City with parasites.
Despite Xiaoxia City being only a D-grade foothold, there was still a detection system at the entrance of the foothold. The parasites could hardly enter the foothold.
Furthermore, this species was living underneath the Xiagong Ruins. Since it was at the center of Xiaoxia City, the dispersal of the leech pods was way too easy. These seeds could be transported to the ground at the Xiagong Ruins through the cracks. Despite the opening being tiny, the leech pods were completely made of Life Power and under the control of their master, changing their form and path would not be a problem. The leech pods could be spread no matter how small the crack was.
The Xiagong Ruins was so crowded during the daytime. It was a piece of cake for the parasites to live inside a host of its choice.
Moreover, this species of parasites had never appeared before and it was a new species of parasites. It could not be detected with the devices they had now. Even if the leech pods were to leave the ruins of Xiagong together with the host, it would not stop at the exits. Also, it could be dispersed out of the Xiagong Ruins along with the winds…
Lin Huang was terrified as he thought of all the possibilities and consequences. If these parasites were given sufficient time, perhaps all the citizens in Xiagong City would be infected.
"We definitely can't have these parasites control the city!" Lin Huang said to Xiao Hei.
Upon closer observation of the surroundings, Lin Huang did not waste any more time and summoned Charcoal. Charcoal immediately pounced on the giant python-like vine.
Chapter 115: The Parasite Species Has Gone Insane
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Charcoal flapped its wings, propelling its huge body up to the upper spaces of the cave. Charcoal then darted down on the blood-colored vine with claws extended and a deafening roar.
As soon as the roar was heard, the blood-colored vine trembled a little in what seemed like fear. Soon, it entered a defensive state.
It resembled a lair infested with giant pythons. It was unwilling to let go of the energy sphere at all cost.
"Both of them are bronze-level rank-3's and have mutated twice but, Charcoal as a dragonkin will probably be a lot stronger than the parasites!" Lin Huang thought. He was confident of Charcoal's abilities.
As Charcoal flapped its wings and stopped mid-air upon its descent, it spat its Black Dragon Flames towards the vines.
Right when the vine was tainted by dragonflame, the body of the blood-colored vine turned black. It then growled from the pain it suffered and began rolling on the ground.
"Did the dragonflame just work?!" Lin Huang's eyes brightened as the parasite seemed to be pinned down by Charcoal.
Fire element monsters were the natural enemies of most plant-based monsters, let alone a dragonkin who could spit dragon flames.
Soon, he noticed that the burned, black patches on the blood-colored vine were slowly recovering on its own. It had completely recovered at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. Lin Huang frowned.
"This monster has an abnormally fast ability to heal…" He thought.
The parasite species was completely pinned down by Charcoal at first as the dragonflame hurt it quite significantly, causing it great pain. Moreover, black scars were left on the surface of the monster even after it healed. The vine was afraid of Charcoal but was not actually injured by it.
However, as soon as the wounds had recovered, it seemed to have realized that Charcoal could do it no harm and it had become more courageous.
Charcoal had been attacking it all the while and now it was about to counterattack.
Its attack pattern was the same, as he expected. It was trying to use its vines to hit and trap Charcoal in any way it could. Charcoal easily dodged its attacks and it was not a threat at all.
Both of them entered a stalemate; Charcoal could not cause any significant damage and the defense of the blood-colored vine rendered Charcoal's attacks useless as well. However, it had no means of retreating at all.
"If this continues, I wonder how long they would have to fight to know the results of this battle," Lin Huang thought. He frowned, looking at the battle between them. However, he did not help to attack.
The reason why Lin Huang did not attack the vine was simple. Since Charcoal's ability was not able to hurt the parasite at all, Lin Huang's attack would not have any effect on it as well.
He clearly knew that once he was involved in the fight, he would instantly become the target of the parasite. If this many leech pods were released in such an enclosed space, he would have nowhere to hide. The attack would definitely hit and infect him.
Fortunately, it seemed that the parasite species did not notice the presence of Lin Huang. It did not care so much as it had to defend itself against Charcoal.
Despite Charcoal attacking the vine nonstop, the parasite did not seem to intend on leaving the place at all and insisted on guarding the spherical energy object.
Soon, half an hour had passed. Lin Huang had reached the time limit set for the transformation. His body appeared on the ground in human form.
At that moment, Xiao Hei's voice was heard.
"We have been discovered," it said.
"How could it be? Didn't you say that we will not be discovered as long as we are 100 meters away from them?" Lin Huang asked as he felt it was strange that Xiao Hei could have been mistaken.
"It's not my problem. Your aura is dissipating," Goldfinger said to him.
Lin Huang then realized that when he appeared in his Specter form earlier, he would exude a different kind of aura. However, the effect of the Specific Transformation Card could only last for an hour. After that, his body would automatically give off his aura.
The blood-colored vine that was fighting with Charcoal seemed to have sensed Lin Huang's existence too. It became ferocious and its counterattack became more intense.
At the same time, the purple flowers began to leave its body, hundreds of leech pods were dispersed in all directions.
Seeing this to happen, Lin Huang crushed the Specific Transformation Card immediately, transforming himself into the Specter and hid behind one of the giant rocks. He was not sure if transforming into the Specter would have any effect on the leech pods but he was not going to push his luck.
The entire space was covered with leech pods in less than a minute and they did not leave any corners empty.
Lin Huang was not worried about Charcoal as the dragonkin had various types of immunities on its own. Even if it were to become a host, it could be recalled, turning it back into a card. He could figure out ways to resolve it later.
Indeed, Charcoal was not distracted by the leech pods at all. Despite many of them getting attached to its body, they could not penetrate through its scales.
Lin Huang's aura disappeared instantly causing the blood-colored vine to be even more furious. The leech pods were like its eyes. They covered almost the entire area and still, they found no trace of Lin Huang.
The blood-colored vine could vaguely sense the Will given off by the spherical energy object, knowing that the energy sphere wanted to own something on Lin Huang's body with great eagerness. The blood-colored vine had always been grateful to the glowing orb and wanted to satisfy it.
It was originally a vine seed that was as small as a sesame seed and it flew into this place unintentionally. It fell on the ground somewhere near the energy orb. In less than a month, it grew into a monster with self-conscious awareness in addition to becoming a monster that had mutated twice. All these were thanks to the energy sphere.
Not only did it treat the energy sphere as a precious treasure, the blood-colored vine treated it like family, something it could count on.
This was the reason why despite encountering Charcoal - a strong opponent, it did not retreat and insisted on fighting tooth and nail until the end.
However, the human that the energy sphere needed had disappeared making it very angry.
The blood-colored vine had only one target now. However, the target's ability was way stronger than the blood-colored vine. It would be impossible for the vine to win the battle. This had triggered its urge to become even stronger.
Once the blood-colored vine thought of this, the leech pods instantly reacted to its thoughts. The leeche pods that had completed their infection in the outside world started to absorb the Life Light of the body of the host.
This Life Light was then transfused into the blood-colored vine body through the air. Slowly, it was getting stronger.
The people at Xiaoxia City had no idea what was happening underground.
The infected people, including the hosts that were caught by the hunters began to faint due to the drastic drain on their Life Light.
Soon, Charcoal who was in the battle with blood-colored vine noticed the changes. The aura of the blood-colored vine that was originally bronze-level rank-3 was rising quickly and it was very close to silver-level.
Charcoal knew that it had to speed up the frequency of its attacks urgently. It tried to interrupt the blood-colored vine's upgrade to silver-level.
However, the blood-colored vine had gone berserk! It still felt that the power it had was still insufficient.
"It's not enough! I want to be stronger!" A thought suddenly resonated throughout the underground cavern.
That thought stirred up the atmosphere. What seemed like thousands of leech pods in the air drifted upwards, gushing towards the direction of the crack.
That aside, all the remaining purple flowers on the vines suddenly matured, turning into leech pods and left the body of the blood-colored vine, moving towards the crack high up in the space
Chapter 116: Charcoal VS The Parasite
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There were countless parasites emerging from underneath the Xia Temple as they moved along. They then headed towards the south gate of the Xia Temple's ruins and drifted away towards Xiaoxia City.
Leech pods dispersed in the air resembled purple clouds beneath the sunlight.
Those at the Xia Palace Ruins did not find this phenomenon peculiar. Instead, they opened the camera page on the Heart Network to capture this breathtaking scene but strange things began to happen. The leech pods began targeting the crowd as their hosts.
Only a small number of people noticed this and started running away.
The Life Light in the host bodies were quickly consumed and they fainted.
However, this was just the beginning. More and more leech pods drifted away from the Xia Palace Ruins towards Xiaoxia City and spread to larger areas…
Beneath the Xia Palace Ruins, the battle between Charcoal and blood-colored vine had intensified.
Charcoal eventually gave up the ranged attack using dragonflames and moved closer to the blood-colored vine after noticing the increasingly powerful aura of the blood-colored vine. Soon, they became tangled with one another.
Charcoal had a very sharp mouth claw enabling it to directly tear off a section of the blood-colored vine.
It was even more powerful when it used its dragonflame within such a short distance.
Charcoal launched consecutive attacks and caused the blood-colored vine to growl in pain; all counterattacks were useless because of Charcoal's strong defense.
Charcoal was finally showing the immense power of the dragonkin in battle.
Its sharp claws looked like pliers made of steel. Each time Charcoal stabbed the blood-colored vine using its claws, deep gashes would be formed. Its teeth were so terrifying that whenever Charcoal bit it, the blood-colored vine's body felt like it was being ripped into pieces.
Charcoal was a natural combat machine. It had wicked wings on its back that could cut and kill in a flash.
The blood-colored vine almost collapsed when Charcoal engaged in close combat with it. It tried to tie Charcoal with its vines but Charcoal was too powerful and broke free.
It indeed had amazing healing abilities as it healed each and every wound on its own almost instantly. As its aura grew stronger, its body gradually gave off a faint silver glow.
"We're in trouble now. It has upgraded to silver-level…"
Lin Huang panicked when the blood-colored vine upgraded to silver-level because its abilities would become significantly stronger and Lin Huang had no idea if Charcoal could stop it.
"Xiao Hei, any idea how we can kill this parasite?" Lin Huang was worried because unless his combat ability was stronger than Charcoal's, there would be no way to kill it.
"The cards you have now cannot solve this problem."
"What about in the card pieces mall?" Lin Huang asked.
"The most effective card right now would be the Primary Kill Card. It can kill any creature with combat abilities below that of a transcendent."
"Redeeming one for the first time will require one million card pieces. You do not have enough card pieces."
"Other than that, are there any other solutions?"
"The Primary Kill Card would be your best choice. The rest would require even more card pieces and you can't use them anyway."
Lin Huang frowned after listening to Xiao Hei's explanation.
"Perhaps we should retreat and come back when Charcoal and I are stronger?"
Xiao Hei heard Lin Huang mumbling and gave him a new reminder.
"This would be the best time to kill the parasites or else, you may not have a chance to kill it again."
"How could it be? I've been upgrading very quickly and perhaps I can upgrade to a transcendent in a year. Charcoal could probably upgrade once too…"
Before Lin Huang could finish his sentence, Xiao Hei interrupted...
"The growth of a parasite is faster than other creatures because it feeds off of the energy of the host. Based on a research on the life cycle of a parasite, it takes them less than 20 days to grow to its current form and it needs at most two months to upgrade to a transcendent. Even after that, there's a chance of a third of mutation."
"It has achieved bronze-level rank-3 in less than 20 days and had been mutated twice…" Lin Huang never thought the parasite would grow this rapidly since they lived underground.
"The residual energy of the mutated species is magnificently powerful. Could it be because Xia Hao's Goldfinger is stronger than Xiao Hei?" Lin Huang could not understand how because Xiao Hei was a complete Goldfinger and should be stronger than the residual energy from Xia Hao's Goldfinger.
"The functions of all Goldfingers are strictly limited by rules and the host has to obey the rules as well. However, this residual energy has left its Goldfinger and existed on its own. It is no longer restricted by any rules and therefore, it had no qualms about supporting the growth of the parasite."
Lin Huang sighed. He was a little envious.
"If its power growth is unfettered, it would eventually self-destruct. This was the first message I got when I first became independent ."
Xiao Hei sighed with emotion and Lin Huang was stunned. He then recovered from his miserable thoughts and started thinking of ways to overcome this.
"The most troublesome part about this parasite was that it has great healing abilities." Lin Huang had changed his way of thinking and asked, "Xiao Hei, are there any cards that could suppress its healing powers?"
"No. The recovery ability did not come from its own. It gets its energy from the energy sphere. If you want to cut off its recovery ability, let me first complete engulfing the energy from the energy sphere."
"How does it work? How long does it take?"
"I need you to push against the energy sphere for at least three minutes."
"If I go near the energy sphere, it would kill me several times over in those three minutes…" Lin Huang lowered his head and looked at his body. He was in the form of a ghost and his physical defense power was weaker than Lin Huang's. He would die if his Life Power was attacked.
Lin Huang eyes brightened when he glanced at it.
The base of the energy sphere was in contact with the ground.
"Can the energy sphere move?" Lin Huang asked Xiao Hei.
"No, there are only two ways to move it. The first way would be when it's attacked by something with immense power and the second way would be if a new Goldfinger absorbs it and brings it away."
Lin Huang was happy and quickly shared, "I have an idea. I'll hide under the energy sphere so that I am able to touch its base from the bottom."
Lin Huang did what he said by melding into the ground and moved towards the direction of the energy sphere.
As he got closer to the energy sphere when Xiao Hei said "It's too near, he caught me."
Lin Huang did not bother and continued moving forward.
The blood-colored vine was getting agitated and angry because it sensed Lin Huang and Xiao Hei below it. It began hitting the ground. Lin Huang could feel the ground trembling but continued to move towards the base of the energy sphere.
The collapse of the underground soil would not harm it because as long as his Life Power was not attacked, he would not be injured in ghost form.
Lin Huang reached the bottom of the energy sphere and gradually moved up, having his hands touch the energy sphere above of him.
Just as he touched a warm object with his palm, Xiao Hei's shouted, "You may need to touch it for at least three minutes."
"Alright." Lin Huang was focused.
On the ground, the blood-colored vine predicted Lin Huang's intentions and began attacking the ground instead of Charcoal.
Thankfully, Lin Huang was hiding directly below the energy sphere and it was unable to attack Lin Huang because of the way he was hiding and also because the ground above him was incredibly thick.
The situation got worst. The silver glow on the blood-colored vine's body spread out all of a sudden and it was triggered, increasing its speed of upgrading to silver-level because it knew Lin Huang wanted to take the energy sphere from it.
Its abilities were enhanced and the ground collapsed due to its attack. It was now able to launch a frontal attack on Charcoal.
The number of purple flowers on its body increased after the upgrade. It seemed to have noticed that it was about to lose the energy sphere and it released all the newly grown flowers on its body so that it could increase the rate it absorbed Life Light.
At Xiaoxia City, more than 10,000 hosts were infected. The parasites absorbed their Life Light. One after another were infected, causing fear and panic in the entire foothold.
At the same time, the ground below the Xia Palace Ruins saw the upgraded blood-colored vine hoarding the Life Light, unwilling to let it go.
Lin Huang's field of view was blocked by the energy sphere since he was beneath it. He could not see what was happening out there.
Charcoal was pressured as well it sensed its opponent growing stronger…
Chapter 117: Demonic Dandelion Vine
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As time passed, the people infected in Xiaoxia City also increased.
In less than two minutes after it had leveled up to silver-level, a shockwave came from its body and it upgraded to silver-level rank-2 and with that, its body color brightened.
Charcoal continuously attacked it but the blood-colored vine retaliated forcefully. A loud bang echoed and this time, Charcoal was blown away by the hit, smashing its head on the rock wall. Lin Huang could hear Charcoal's growl of anger though he was unable to witness what was happening.
"Xiao Hei, how long more do you need?" Lin Huang was panicked but Xiao Hei did not answer him.
After blowing Charcoal away, the blood-colored vine went back to attacking the ground and Lin Huang underneath it. Soon, the ground collapsed. The energy sphere protected Lin Huang who was hiding right at the bottom of it.
Lin Huang was extremely nervous because he was afraid that the ground would collapse any moment.
Fortunately, the blood-colored vine stopped attacking after a short while because Charcoal attacked it after recovering from its previous attack.
Knowing that his power was reduced to absolute inferiority, Charcoal decided not to launch a frontal attack but to wrestle it instead.
Flapping his wings, Charcoal spewed fire at the blood-colored vine continuously while dodging its attacks.
The dragon flames had no effect on the blood-colored vine but the burning sensation in its body annoyed it even more. It swung its vines to stop the flames but missed.
Seemingly, the blood-colored vine had noticed that Charcoal was there to distract it from attacking the ground. It decided not to bother with Charcoal and turned the tip of its vine into a drill bit to drill into the ground.
Underground, Lin Huang was still in his Specter form. There were changes to his vision that he experienced; he was able to see through the soil as if it was semi-transparent. He was initially in an upright direction and now he was lying down, with his body adhered firmly to the base of the energy sphere.
The tip of the drill was less than one meter away from him. Lin Huang's back was drenched in sweat. It would certainly wound him badly if he was struck by the blood-colored vine since its combat abilities were now silver-level rank-2.
Charcoal needed to get the blood-colored vine's attention. Charcoal pounced on the blood-colored vine once again with a close attack.
Although the combat abilities of the blood-colored vine had become stronger in addition to a substantial increase in its defensive power, Charcoal's attack was no longer as effective as it used to be. However, wounds still appeared on its body right after it was attacked by Charcoal's sharp claws and mouth claw.
Charcoal had triggered the blood-colored vine again and it was angry. It gave up attacking Lin Huang and fought Charcoal instead.
The blood-colored vine wrapped its vines around Charcoal's neck. Its force was now beyond what Charcoal could handle. Charcoal could not get rid of it at all and struggled using its mouth and claws at the same time.
"Warning: Charcoal encountered a fatal attack. Please recall it immediately!" A notification suddenly popped up in front of Lin Huang.
"Recall Charcoal!" Lin Huang instructed because if Charcoal died, its monster card would disappear as well. It was not easy to obtain an Epic dragonkin.
Once the instruction to recall it was given, Charcoal instantly turned into a card and returned to Lin Huang's body.
The vines with the circumference of an adult arm transformed into a drill bit and penetrated the ground repeatedly.
"Xiao Hei, how long more do you still need? Please answer me!"
Lin Huang felt that he could not withstand the force anymore. The vine's attack had swept away most of the ground close to him. The closest attack it made was less than 20 centimeters away from the back of his head. If the vines twisted upward a little more, it would have drilled a hole in Lin Huang's head.
"Done!" Lin Huang could sense the warmth on his palm vanish.
The blood-colored vine growled loudly. One of its vines fell right on Lin Huang's head. It was so fast that Lin Huang could not avoid it. At this moment, Charcoal was summoned once again and it covered Lin Huang as he ran.
The blood-colored vine's fatal attack struck Charcoal's on its left wing and dragon blood splattered all over the place.
Lin Huang turned back and saw the scene.
"Summon Bai!" Lin Huang ordered.
The next moment, Bai appeared in the underground cavern too.
"Upgrade him the second time!" Lin Huang instructed again. The reason why he summoned and upgraded Bai was so that they could attack the parasite together.
"Are you sure you would like to use two Advance Cards to upgrade Bai?"
"I'm sure!"
Two beams of golden light filled the air, enveloping Bai. Soon, it had completely morphed into a big golden cocoon with Bai wrapped inside.
The strange aura Bai exuded caught the blood-colored vine's attention. As it saw a big golden cocoon on the ground, it sensed something alarming and immediately attacked the cocoon, stopping the mutation of the monster that appeared all of a sudden.
If this was an ordinary monster mutation, perhaps its attack could hinder the mutation. However, with the Advancement Card, the process would not be interrupted. Even if it was attacked by a demigod, the outcome could not be altered. The blood-colored vine's attack was useless.
In less than one minute, the golden cocoon disappeared.
A young man with white hair appeared again in front of Lin Huang, his aura was even more deadly and dangerous. However, there was a mask on his face that covered half of his face.
"Congratulations! You have gained an Epic Monster Card – Four-Winged Blood Baron (God's Servant)."
At this moment, the blood-colored vine launched an attack again.
All of a sudden, Bai's eyes turned bloody and he extended four of his crimson-colored wings, turning into a stream of blood and disappeared from the ground.
He acted so fast that Lin Huang could not capture it at all.
"Charcoal, you will assist Bai to kill the parasite!" Lin Huang ordered.
The wound on Charcoal's wing was recovering. He was born with extremely fast healing abilities.
He fluttered his wings again and spat dragon flames on the blood-colored vine repeatedly and it no longer had the recovery ability from the energy sphere.
On the other hand, four of the crimson-colored wings behind Bai had turned into four bloody, sharp blades that cut the blood-colored vine at a terribly fast speed. His body resembled a beam of bloody light, shuttling back and forth underground, cutting up multiple parts of the parasite's body.
Although the blood-colored vine defense was astonishing, Bai's sharp wings were more powerful than gold-rank equipment.
There were too many wounds on the vine's body because of Bai's wings and Charcoal attacked it from the other side. Soon, it was exhausted.
Lin Huang then noticed that the aura of the blood-colored vine rising again.
He did not know that there were more than 100,000 people infected in Xiaoxia City. Furthermore, many of them were bronze-level hunters and some were even silver-hunters.
The silver glow was constantly gushing out of the blood-colored vine's body. This was a sign that it was going to breakthrough once again to silver-level rank-3.
When he was underneath the blood-colored vine, he emerged from the ground and transformed back into himself. He grabbed a Sword Relic and used Thunder Sword on the wound caused by Bai earlier.
Lin Huang's lightning-fast action caught the blood-colored vine off guard. Its gigantic body was cut in half by the sharp relic but it did not die. A vine that was transformed into a drill bit fiercely penetrated Lin Huang's stomach and came out from his waist. This strike had blown his body away causing him to hang in mid-air, making him look like bacon hanging on a hook.
Lin Huang spat out a mouthful of blood. Before he lost his consciousness, he was able to say, "Use the Healing Card..."
As soon as Lin Huang regained his consciousness, he saw that Bai and Charcoal were beside him.
"Where is the parasite?" He saw that the blood-colored vine was no longer moving.
"It's dead?!" Lin Huang could not believe his eyes.
"Congratulations. You have gained an Epic Parasite Species Card. The parasite belongs to a new species of monster. It does not have a name. You may name it."
"Then I'll name it the Demonic Dandelion Vine." Lin Huang recalled the demonic dandelion tree that he read from a novel. It was a parasitic monster too. He chose this name.
Chapter 118: Reward
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang killed the Demonic Dandelion Vine underground. As the parasite body was dying, the leech pods collapsed automatically. Ten of thousands of people and visitors of Xiaoxia City who were previously contaminated are now safe.
Lin Huang recalled Bai and Charcoal then summoned Tyrant. Since he upgraded Bai here, he thought he might as well upgrade Tyrant before the transcendents arrived.
"Upgrade Tyrant twice!" Lin Huang took out the last two Advance Cards that he had and used them. The two cards transformed into a golden glow and enveloped Tyrant. Tyrant's gigantic body was covered by the glow like a giant cocoon.
Soon the cocoon broke, revealing a naked Sand Monster. The fats in its body cracked and fell off its body, it was now a muscular man. He was handsome and he was covered by a layer of gold armor attached to its body.
"Congratulations, you have received an Epic Monster Card - Gold Armored Genie."
Lin Huang read its description and nodded with satisfaction. He recalled Tyrant and used a Specific Transformation Card headed to the border of southern gate underneath the ruins. He arrived at a quiet alley and transformed himself back to his original.
He walked out of the alley, it was crowded on the street. He found it odd. After asking around, he found out that the Demonic Dandelion Vine contaminated tens of thousands of people and created an uproar. Lin Huang had figured that the leech pods were absorbing Life Power when it had a tremendous increase of combat strength easier but he did not expect its parasitic ability to be as terrifying as this considered that it was only silver-level.
After walking around and listening to some rumors, Lin Huang checked into a hotel nearby. Although the battle was tough, it did not consume too much of his time. The total time that he spent underground was less than 20 minutes while the battle only lasted for 10 minutes. It was past 11 at night when he checked into the hotel, the transcendents of Xiagong City had finally arrived. There were six of them, they did not know about the parasites but they came as soon as they could when they sensed Bai and Tyrant's presence.
When they arrived in Xiaoxia City, they were shocked to hear about the parasites. After failed attempts at searching for the two monsters, the transcendents did not leave but stayed in the city to investigate. Of course, Lin Huang was unaware of that. After he checked into the hotel, he was checking out Bai, Tyrant and the new Demonic Dandelion Vine card that he just obtained.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Epic"
"Monster Name: Four-Winged Blood Baron (God's Servant)
"Type of Monster: Blood Demon"
"Combat Level: Bronze-level rank-3"
"Skill 1: Blood Spirit"
"Skill 2: Holy Power (Beginner)"
"Skill 3: Blood Sacrifice"
"Skill 4: Enhanced Regeneration (Beginner)
"Skill 5: Ultimate Speed (Beginner)
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Remarks: When this monster is upgraded to a transcendent, the holy blood in its body will be activated and its abilities will increase tremendously"
"Card Remarks: Trainable"
"What does the god's servant in the bracket of its name mean?" Lin Huang asked Xiao Hei.
"There's trace amounts of holy blood in the monster's body which explains why he has holy power in his skill."
After hearing Xiao Hei's explanation, Lin Huang looked at the new skills once again.
Blood Spirit was the ultimate upgrade of Blood Power for higher attack ability, the holy power came from the holy blood in Bai's body. As for Blood Sacrifice , it would sacrifice its blood to increase its abilities temporarily. Lastly, Ultimate Speed would allow it to move at a transcendent's speed.
After reading Bai's card, Lin Huang then looked at Tyrant's card.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Epic"
"Monster Name: Gold Armored Genie"
"Type of Monster: Genie"
"Combat Level: Bronze-level rank-3"
"Skill 1: Golden Armor"
"Skill 2: Super Robust"
"Skill 3: Super Regeneration (Beginner)"
"Skill 4: Ultimate Explosion (Beginner)"
"Skill 5: Ultimate Strength (Beginner)"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Card Remarks: Trainable"
Lin Huang looked at the new skills. Similar to Charcoal's Absolute Defense , Golden Armor was a passive skill with a defensive ability was even stronger. For Ultimate Explosion , it was a passive skill that allowed its body to utilize the ultimate explosive force while Ultimate Strength was the ultimate form of Immense Strength , also a passive skill.
Lin Huang then looked at the last card for the Demonic Dandelion Vine.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Epic"
"Monster Name: Demonic Dandelion Vine"
"Type of Monster: Parasite"
"Combat Level: Bronze-level Rank-3"
"Skill 1: Leech Pod"
"Skill 2: Total Control"
"Remarks: Monster skill has yet to be fully discovered, three more skills on the way"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Card Remarks: Trainable"
"Xiao Hei, there are only two skills. What's with the three skills that are on the way?" Lin Huang could not understand that as an Epic Monster Card usually came with five skills.
"The Demonic Dandelion Vine is a new species, as it is the first generation; it only has basic skills now and would gain more skills from learning them in the future."
Lin Huang then looked at the two skills. Leech Pod would allow the Demonic Dandelion Vine to create leech pods that it could then control and target hosts. Following that, Absolute Control gave it the ability to control the host completely.
He then looked at his Exclusive Card, there were changes on it.
"Host: Lin Huang"
"Gender: Male"
"Age: 15"
"Combat Strength: Iron-level rank-3"
"Life Seed: Sly Hands (Rare)
"Combat Skill 1: Great Sword Scripture (Sword Skill)"
"Combat Skill 2: Thunder Sword (Sword Skill)"
"Combat Skill 3: Spectral Snowsteps (Body Movement)"
"Combat Skill 4: Cloud Steps (Body Movement)"
"Monster Skill 1: Blood Spirit"
"Monster Skill 2: Form Changer"
"Monster Skill 3: Super Robust (Intermediate)"
"Monster Skill 4: Supreme Breath (Beginner)"
"Monster Skill 5: Immense Strength"
"Monster Skill 6: Magic Eye Deterrence (Intermediate)"
"Monster Skill 7: Absolute Defence (Beginner)"
"Monster Skill 8: Blood Hunt (Beginner)"
"Monster Skill 9: Boundless Vision (Beginner)"
"Monster Skill 10: Third Eye (Beginner)"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Available Number of Summons: 2"
"Remark: Passable"
Blood Power was replaced by Blood Spirit while Robust was replaced by Super Robust . Lin Huang raised his eyebrow and said, "Extract Demonic Dandelion Vine's skill."
"It cannot be extracted; your storage for monster skills is full. To obtain more monster skills, you would have to combine Skill Cards or delete the existing monster skills."
"I thought I could get hundreds of skills if I accumulated hundreds of Monster Cards, I should have known there was a limit!" Lin Huang had always guessed that there was a limit but he did not know what it was. Well, he knew now.
He kept his Exclusive Card while showing off the three Epic Monster Cards he had in his hands. He was over the moon with his achievements. However, he did not forget that he owed Xiao Hei this time. He kept the three Monster Cards and smirked as he contacted Xiao Hei, "Xiao Hei, what did you get from engulfing the energy sphere?"
"Resurrection functions for cards."
"What does this resurrection do?"
"If a Monster Card of a higher rarity dies, it can be replaced by another Monster Card of a similar or lower rarity. Rare Monster Card get two chances at resurrection. The first resurrection could replace it with a Normal Card while the second resurrection will definitely replace it with a Rare Card."
"Epic Monster Card gets three resurrections. The first resurrection could replace it with a Normal Card while the second resurrection will definitely replace it with a Rare Card and the third resurrection, with another Epic Card."
"Legendary card and higher would have more chances to be resurrected with the same order as the above."
"All the replacement cards must have the same combat strength as the replaced card."
"If the required eligibility is not met, the card will automatically disappear."
"This sounds great!" Lin Huang was excited.
He had four Epic Monster Cards now, this new function could solve some of his concerns. Soon he recalled something important. He smirked again and asked, "Xiao Hei, I helped you get the energy sphere. Do I get anything as a reward?"
"I shall reward you 10 card draws but the kind of cards you get depends wholly on your luck, pal."
"10 cards!" It was the first time Xiao Hei was so generous.
"Delay no more!"
Chapter 119: 10 Card Draw
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"You have completed a special mission; you get 10 card draws as a reward!"
"There are 180 cards in the card pool so you can get 10 of the 180 cards as your reward."
"Warning: You can only select ten cards from the pool only once. Once selected, no changes are allowed!"
The cards then came to life and arranged themselves neatly in the air in front of Lin Huang. There were 10 columns and 18 rows which added up to a total of 180 cards. They were all identical; completely black with a golden question mark in the middle that looked more like a golden burning flame.
Lin Huang initially thought he could pick 10 cards from a pool of 18 cards. If that was the case, the probability of getting better cards would be higher. Now, his options were more and so, the probabilities of getting good cards were no better than a regular card draw.
"Bibbidi-Buddhadi-Boo [1], please give me some good cards! No mission cards please, I beg you!" Lin Huang pressed his palms together and said a short little prayer with his eyes closed. He then opened his eyes, took a deep breath and picked 10 rewards cards.
"This, and this…"
The remaining cards disappeared after he was done. The cards that he picked were arranged into two rows of five columns in front of him. One by one, the cards revealed themselves.
"Congratulations, you have received Epiphany Card x1, Advance Card x1, Small Destruction Card x1, Healing Card x2, Double Card x2, Provisional Transformation Card x3."
"I got one Small Destruction Card and two Healing Cards?!" Lin Huang was over the moon, for the very first time, he actually had good luck. He remembered clearly how powerful the Small Destruction Card worked on the Sand Monsters. As for the Healing Cards, he had seen how useful it was several times. He had just used his last Healing Card earlier and now he has replenished them.
"Too bad there's only one Advance Card. If I had two of them, I could upgrade the Alexandrian Eagle into an Epic Card."
The four Advance Cards he obtained earlier were used on Bai and Tyrant.
He was familiar with some cards, but not all of them. He took a look at them. The Epiphany Card was completely gold with a blue brain amidst a boundless starry night at the front of the card. He turned the card around to read its description.
"Epiphany Card: Gives the user a chance for an epiphany."
"Remarks: Consumable, it can only be used once. The effect depends on the user's credentials and talents."
"Good stuff!" Lin Huang was satisfied with the cards he selected. He got cards that could be used in practical situations and none of the mission card that was useless.
"My luck has finally changed for the better!" He happily kept all his cards and headed to the shower.
Maybe he was in a good mood, he had a good night's sleep and it was after eight in the morning when he woke up. After checking out from the hotel, Lin Huang ran out of the foothold and summoned the Alexandrian Eagle to head to Xiagong City. If not for the city curfew, he would not have stayed in Xiaoxia City. However, he was not so concerned about Lin Xin. Ever since the parasites were eliminated, even if a transcendent monster were to invade a B-grade large foothold like Xiagong City, he would be able to stop it.
Lin Huang arrived at the hotel in Xiagong City at 8:30 in the morning. He opened the room door with the keycard. Lin Xin was standing at the door with a gun pointed at him.
What are you doing?" Lin Huang raised his voice.
Lin Xin then put down the gun, "I thought it's a bad guy at the door… Why didn't you inform me beforehand that you're coming back?"
"I came back right after I woke up, I just realized I hadn't told you when I was already walking over." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders.
"Have you settled your stuff yet?" Lin Xin kept the GrayEagle17 back into storage.
"Yes, it's been done." Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction.
"Let's book the tickets back home."
"You haven't been to Xiaoxia City yet, don't you want to visit the Xiagong Ruins?" It was odd for Lin Xin to change her mind.
"I don't want to go anymore." Lin Xin shook her head.
"What's wrong?" Lin Huang could sense that she was upset.
"I want to go home earlier so that I could spend more time to train my gun skill." Lin Xin explained.
"Let's go to Xiaoxia City to see the Xiagong Ruins, it won't take too long."
"I still prefer to go home now." Lin Xin shook her head.
"Alright then. Since you insist, let's go home then." Lin Xin was persistent.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Lin Huang asked.
"Yes, I have."
"I'll have my breakfast downstairs first and we'll book the return tickets when I'm back." Lin Huang patted her head and left.
After he left, Lin Xin resumed the video that she was watching. There was a lady on the paused screen with a sentence at the bottom.
'If you don't want to be a burden, you must be strong yourself.'
Lin Xin pushed the play button and proceeded to watch the entire video. If Lin Huang was there, he would definitely recognize the lady in the video. She was a celebrity gunmaster whose videos went viral online - Ou-yang Bingli.
Ou-yang Bingli was an 18-year-old who ranked 14th on the Division7 Gold Hunter Leaderboard. She was also the highest ranked female gunmaster. She had fans who loved guns, most of them were teenage fangirls below 18.
As Lin Huang was having a buffet breakfast on the second floor, he received a notification from the Union Government.
"Last night at about 10:30, a serious parasite contamination happened in Xiaoxia City causing up to 130,000 people to get contaminated with parasitic pods. An anonymous transcendent managed to kill the parasites in time and saved everyone before leaving. On behalf of the Union Government, we would like to apologize for the unforeseen circumstance. We will prevent it from ever happening again. At the same time, we would like to thank the anonymous transcendent. Although we don't know who you are, what you did has earned our respect and we shall learn from you…"
"It seems like they have no idea what happened beneath the Xiagong Ruins. They just assumed that the parasite was a transcendent based on the contamination figures and assumed that I was a transcendent as well…" Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head. Theoretically, the most a gold-level parasite could infect would not be more than 10,000 people. The Demonic Dandelion Vine was just silver-level but it managed to infect more than 100,000 people. Perhaps it was because it had mutated twice or other unusual circumstance. It managed to mislead the Union Government to think that it was a transcendent monster. Of course, the main reason for their misinformation was because they did not see the battle between Lin Huang and the Demonic Dandelion Vine. Else, they could tell from the remaining aura in the cave that the Demonic Dandelion Vine was merely a silver-level.
After that, the Union Government sent another message.
"Around 11 o'clock last night, all of the 15 offenders who escaped prison were captured in foothold No.7B61. The security regulations and curfew have been lifted…"
"They haven't been telling the truth since the beginning…" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow as he read the news.
After breakfast, he went back to his hotel room. Lin Xin looked at him, eyes wide opened.
"Brother, it was you, wasn't it?"
"What is it that I did?" Lin Huang riddled back.
"The transcendent monster in Xiaoxia City, did you kill it?" Lin Xin waited for his reply.
"You're overthinking, do I look like a transcendent to you?" Lin Huang lied because he was afraid that Lin Xin might tell her schoolmates if she knew the truth.
"But the time Bai disappeared matched the time the transcendent appeared. I don't think it was a coincidence, brother." Lin Xin became factual.
"I just happened to encounter some trouble at the time. It was a mere coincidence that the timing matched!" Lin Huang attempted to cover up the truth so he pinched Lin Xin's cheeks, "Look at you, why are you thinking of such ridiculous things at this hour of the day. I'm just iron-level, if I really did bump into a transcendent monster, I would run away real fast. How can I fight it?"
"Oh…" Lin Xin's face dropped almost immediately.
"I was looking at the spaceship schedule, there's one tomorrow and the tickets are available." Lin Huang then looked at Lin Xin, "Are you sure you want to be a recluse?"
"I have thought about it. Since I will be going to graduation class in September, I can always have fun after I graduate next year. I should spend time studying and training in order to get good grades next year." Lin Xin thought of a reason to convince Lin Huang.
"You've grown up; it's great that you are managing your time well." Lin Huang patted her head, "I'll go book the tickets now."
Translator's Thoughts
chubbybunnyboink chubbybunnyboink
[1] - The raw for 'Bibbidi-Buddhadi-Boo' is 天灵灵,地灵灵,观音菩萨快显灵. Lin Huang was asking blessings from the God so that he could he get better cards. As there's no direct translation to it, thus the Cinderella spell with a twist.
Chapter 120: Order Take-Out for Me
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It took the same amount of time - eight days - to return back to Baqi City via the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. The trip was smooth-sailing. On the third day, Lin Huang managed to upgrade Army Attack Tactics to level three. For the next five days, he trained in his room and accumulated more than 300 card pieces.
On the other hand, Lin Xin had been staying in her room to play Gun Master during the eight days. She was engrossed in the game. The spaceship arrived in Baqi City at three in the afternoon. After they got off the spaceship, they did not stay in the city and left for Wulin Town on the Alexandrian Eagle.
They had been away from home for more than 20 days. Once they got home, Lin Huang convinced Lin Xin to clean the house with him. After spending more than two hours cleaning, it was six o'clock and time for dinner. Again, after dinner, Lin Xin stayed in her room to play Gun Master while Lin Huang watched the news in the living room after he did the dishes.
The news of the parasite incident in Xiaoxia City finally came to an end. It had been more than a week since the incident happened. The truth of what really happened in Xiagong City was never discovered. Nobody knew what exactly happened beneath the Xiagong Ruins. During this period, there was nothing particularly interesting on the news in Division7 aside from the parasite incident in Xiaoxia City.
However, just as he opened the news page, he noticed one of the latest hot topics.
"Jiang You who ranked second on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard had recently leveled-up to transcendent!" The headline read. Lin Huang had heard about Jiang You but he did not know much about him. All he knew was that he had a nickname on the network, which was 'Eternal No.2'.
There were 1,000 people on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard, most of them were on gold-level rank-3. Basically, everyone who was listed on the leaderboard had high chances of becoming a transcendent, especially those who were within the first 100. Most of them would not stay too long in their level when they reached gold-level rank-3 with most of them staying only one or two years. As it was easy to accumulate Life Power, as long as they found a suitable transcendent monster and killed it, they would be upgraded.
However, Jiang You's story was slightly different. He had stayed in the second place on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard for seven years. There were four replacements to the champion throughout the years but he remained second. That was how he got his nickname. Many were curious, wondering why he remained at gold-level rank-3. Perhaps, Jiang You was the only one who could answer that question himself. Now that he had finally leveled up seven years later, it was a hot topic in Division7. The media had nothing to write about for the past few days so it was the perfect opportunity for them to cook something up from this topic.
"So I guess this news today had become an issue people would be interested in?" Lin Huang said in his head. After switching off the news page, he suddenly recalled having a Mission Card he had yet to activate. He had planned to activate it once he got back home. Since he had nothing much throughout the coming month, he decided to take out the Mission Card.
There same blonde lady in black maid attire on the card was still there.
"Activate Mission Card." Lin Huang instructed.
The blonde lady stretched her body and looked at Lin Huang.
"So we meet again." The blonde lady winked at Lin Huang. He smiled back.
"Now, let me tell you what your mission is."
"This is your mission! Upgrade Army Attack Tactics to level six within 30 days!"
Mission Completion Reward: Healing Card x1"
"If you fail to complete the mission within the given time, you will lose one functional card as punishment!"
"Mission announcement done. You can read more about the mission at the back of the card."
After the blonde lady finished talking, she winked at Lin Huang again, "All the best!"
"Upgrade Army Attack Tactics to level six within a month…" Lin Huang felt tricked by the Mission Card again. "How is that possible?!"
He had only managed to get to level three. From level three to level four, he will need 800 card pieces. He only had more than 300 card pieces on hand, which meant he would need more than 400 card pieces. That was not the worst news. He would need 1,600 card pieces from level four to level five and 10,000 card pieces from level five to level six! In total, he would need to obtain a grand total of 12,000 card pieces within a month.
Accumulating 12,000 card pieces within a month seem impossible!
"I don't care, since the mission has been activated, it's too late to complain now." Lin Huang stood up and walked upstairs. He sent Lin Xin a message, "I'll have to train Army Attack Tactics for quite awhile, we'll be having take-out for a month…"
He then closed his door and started training Army Attack Tactics . He was on level three now and it takes 15 minutes to complete one skill cycle. Training until midnight, he only managed to obtain more than 20 card pieces. The next morning, Lin Huang woke up at six to train and Lin Xin brought him breakfast at eight.
"From today onwards, I will make myself some oats for breakfast. You don't have to order food for me in the afternoon but please get me take-out for dinner." Lin Huang wanted to focus on training.
"No problem, I can do that for you but... Won't you be hungry if you skip lunch?" Lin Xin was concerned.
"Don't worry, I won't." Lin Huang assured her.
"Alright then…"
After breakfast, Lin Huang returned to his room and trained again all the way to bedtime. He only managed to accumulate 80 card pieces that day. For the next couple of days, Lin Huang repeated the routine of waking up at six with a bowl of oat and fruits before his training. He would spend around 10 minutes for dinner at six in the evening and train until 12 before he went to bed. He spent almost 18 hours on his training each day.
On the fifth afternoon, he finally accumulated 800 card pieces and upgraded Army Attack Tactics to level four.
Since then, the skill rotation became even more complicated. The time he took per rotation slowed down again. Five days passed and he saw the rotation shorten to 10 minutes per cycle instead of 30 minutes. He managed to accumulate more than 100 card pieces every day. As the days passed and time shortened, the amount of card pieces he was able to obtain increased respectively.
Finally, on the 20th day, Lin Huang upgraded Army Attack Tactics to level five."I will use the Epiphany Card as a hail mary during the last 10 days!" Lin Huang had planned this since the beginning.
He took out the Epiphany Card, took a deep breath and squeezed the card, hard. He proceeded with his training.
Indulged in the effects of the Epiphany Car, the first skill rotation took the same amount of time, which was half an hour. However, on the second cycle, it was reduced to 20 minutes while the third cycle took only 10 minutes. On the fourth cycle, it was reduced to three minutes and the fifth cycle was only one minute… The time he needed was reduced with each round. When it came to the 10th round, he managed to complete a rotation within a single second. In less than four hours, he had accumulated 10,000 card pieces and upgraded to level six.
However, the Army Attack Tactics rotation did not stop evolving. The level six skill cycle was a few times more complicated than level five. It took Lin Huang a full three hours to complete one cycle, two hours for the second one…
Seven hours later, he managed to complete a single cycle within one second once more. Eight hours later, he had finally accumulated 30,000 card pieces and upgraded Army Attack Tactics to level seven.
By then, Lin Huang had been training for more than 20 hours but the effects of the Epiphany Card went on…
The skill cycles went on automatically. After 30 hours, he had accumulated 90,000 card pieces and broke through to level eight! The effects of the Epiphany Card finally left Lin Huang.
He had no rest. Feeling satisfied, he got himself a cup of water immediately then went to bed.
When he woke up, he saw Lin Xin sitting by his bedside.
"What happened?" Lin Huang asked curiously.
"Brother, I was so scared!' Lin Xin told him what happened.
Lin Xin had been knocking on his door to get him to eat his dinner for the past two days but he did not respond at all. On the third day, he did not respond again so Lin Xin went into his room and found out that he was in a deep sleep. She thought there might be something wrong with his body so she called 911.
"Luckily the doctor said everything is normal with your body but you went into hibernation and promised that you would wake up soon." She was teary as she explained.
"Don't worry, I'm alright. I was just exhausted from my training so I rested." Lin Huang patted her head.
"Some rest? You slept for a week!" Lin Xin stared at him.
"One week? No wonder I'm starving… Xin Er, please order take-out for me, I'll go wash up now."
"Sure!" Lin Xin walked into the living room to order his meal.