During the night.
Ah`Kun went to patrol the area, and Xu Nan was sitting alone in his tent. He found it hard to enter the dreamland.
One aspect was because of Xin`er; he still didn't know what was the 'joke' his stepfather had cracked with him. What was it exactly?
Could it be that Xin`er was talking nonsense just to entertain his viewers?
Xu Nan wasn't able to understand it. Instead, he started suspecting other possibilities.
After all, that aviation accident was an overly painful and sad memory to him. Many things that happened after that were now blurry in his memories.
He was hesitating whether to send a text to Xin`er or not, but he discovered he was still blacklisted. Hence, he could only sigh.
Today, Xin`er's tantrum seemed to last longer than usual.
Xu Nan could only temporarily push this matter to the back of his mind.
The other aspect was that the matters regarding job-holders becoming public. This caused Xu Nan to feel some unease.
The police and military had locked down the riverbend. It was said that they were looking for a wanted criminal that was possibly a job-holder. Didn't this indicate that the world in the future would gradually become more chaotic?
Currently, the social order was disrupted. The ones getting hurt would always be the innocents and weak citizens like them. According to the 'future' seen by Xu Nan after he inherited the bloodline, after the two worlds fused, there would be many conflicts. And in the process, there would be countless innocents dying. Xu Nan didn't wish to see something like that, but he knew that even though he had obtained the Ron Warlock bloodline inheritance, it was impossible for him to deal with everything.
At most, he could only protect himself. If he was more powerful, he might then be able to protect the people around him.
There was no way for a single person to face the world. About this point, Xu Nan had thought very clearly. He had already passed the age where he would be hot-blooded. What he was thinking now was how he should protect himself and Xin`er when this calamity arrived. If it was possible, he wanted to be greedy and protect his senior school sister Yingluo, Lu Junyi, and some of his other friends.
"Ultimately, strength is the most important thing."
Xu Nan sat up.
Qin Lele was a level 4 thief, and his senior school sister was a level 3 templar knight. Yet, he himself was merely level 1. His progress was much slower than the others.
Moreover, from what Ah`Kun had said, there was a second-stage bard appearing in North America. Wasn't that a strength belonging to those level 5 and above?
"Ron Warlocks are indeed a very strong job. Templar knights have very strong willpower and immunity, which renders the majority of charm spells ineffective. But I simply depended on a passive specialty and could charm a level 3 templar knight. This proved that my job truly has a boundless future.
"However, isn't the leveling up process a pain in the ass? Up until now, I still have no idea how to level up. Could it be that I have to take the initiative and keep doing all sorts of strange shameless things as missions?
"What a headache."
Xu Nan silently mused. He opened up his character card and glanced at it before deciding to take action.
He temporarily had no way to level up. Thus, he could only wait for an opportunity and for his bloodline to awaken. However, he still had a way to increase his strength.
And that was the [Secret art - Lost Paradise]!
The Lost Paradise was a plane that belonged to the Ron Warlocks exclusively. Each level in it contained large amounts of treasures and opportunities, and there were even bloodline fruits in there. If he ate one, there was a chance that he might soar up into the sky with a single step.
In his knowledge regarding the Lost Paradise, Xu Nan even knew that there was once a level 1 Ron Warlock who shot to level 17 after eating a bloodline fruit left behind by a senior.
Of course, due to the monstrous level up, which caused the power in his bloodline to erupt, he lost his life after 7 days. It was because his metabolism was too quick, exhausting his lifespan.
Xu Nan naturally didn't want to encounter such a situation. But if he could really obtain a bloodline fruit that could allow him to level up, it would definitely prove to be a great help in increasing his strength.
He had to try it no matter what.
Before entering the Lost Paradise, Xu Nan decided to do more preparations first.
He opened up his spell list and used 6 shameless points to purchase six level-1 spells. They were respectively: Shield Spell, Mage Armor, Level 1 monster summon, Enlarge Person, Animate Rope, and Featherfall Spell.
The shield spell and mage armor were to protect his life. The former could negate some magic, and the latter could upgrade his physical defense. It was very rare for spellcasters to learn these two spells at the same time. From this, one could see how afraid of death Xu Nan was.
Level 1 monster summon could summon a random level 1 monster to serve him for 30 minutes. The effect was inferior to a magical pet, and the thing he summoned would also be weird. It was only good because it could be a cannon fodder that was unafraid of death.
Enlarge Person could cause humanoid creatures to increase their body size, or the size of a certain body part. Xu Nan learned this because he wanted to be prepared. After all, he already said he was a bard, so he should learn some supporting magic no matter what, right?
Animate Rope could allow him to control a flexible rope that was as nimble as his own fingers. In the past, Xu Nan read a book with DND settings named [Night Ranger]. The main character of the book loved to play with ropes and even had the title [Rope Master]; it was extremely cool. He also wanted to try it.
The Featherfall Spell was to prevent an accident in case he jumped or fell from a great height. Who knew what the terrain in Lost Paradise would be?
After purchasing these six spells, he used another 8 shameless points to unlock an exclusive secret art of the Ron Warlocks, [Soundless Howl].
Although this was just a level 1 spell, its effects and consumption of shameless points were directly proportional to each other. This secret art could forcefully interrupt the majority of spells that depended on chanting, reciting curses, or singing. With it, Xu Nan would have a very great advantage if he had to fight against another spellcaster.
After all, for the majority of spellcasters, if their spellcasting was interrupted halfway, they would suffer from a grievous spell backlash. At that time, it would be Xu Nan's chance.
He also looked through the other spells, but in the end, he decided to retain 4 shameless points in case of emergency.
After that, he silently left the tent and found a spot where there was no one to silently execute his secret art, Lost Paradise!
A strange energy enveloped his body.
At the next second, Xu Nan vanished from the depths of the maple forest!
...
[Lost Paradise (first level) unlocked!]
[Because you enter the Lost Paradise for the first time, newcomer's protection is activated]
[Confirming coordinates, teleportation completed!]
Xu Nan opened his eyes, and a strange blended voice drifted into his ears. "Welcome to the first level of Lost Paradise. This place is the Greysnow Forest of Exxon. Please explore to your heart's content, young warlock!"
A tattered map made from leather appeared in his hands along with some additional simple information.
This was the first level of Lost Paradise. Because he had the newcomer's protection, no monsters above level 2 would be appearing in Greysnow Forest.
In the depths of the Greysnow Forest, there was an Exxon hut. If he followed the map in his hand, he would be able to find it.
Exxon was the name of a powerful Ron Warlock. He wasn't dead yet, but after he leveled up and became a legend, in order to repay the favor to the Ron Warlock bloodline, he left behind his hut in the first level of Lost Paradise, placing it there for the fated one.
In any case, the relationship between Ron Warlocks was friendly. Because they shared a common bloodline, everyone liked to help each other instead of competing and scheming against each other.
Only very few Ron Warlocks would intentionally harm their comrades out of malice.
However, Xu Nan felt that their good relationships were most probably because the fellow sufferers empathized with each other, right?
After all, they walked on the same path. Powerful warlocks would all be treated as a subspecies by others of the same kind, being seen as perverts or someone with mental disorders.
It was not so easy for them to encounter one another; hence, Ron Warlocks would mutually understand and show concern for each other.
"Seems like I won't meet any comrades in the plane this time around. I wonder what sort of opportunity senior Exxon had left behind in this hut?"
Xu Nan felt a little excited.
However, he still kept his calm as he observed the surroundings.
Evidently, the large trees blocked the majority of the sunlight. The leaves on these trees were grey; no wonder this place was known as the Greysnow Forest.
His position was only a few miles away from the hut. If he headed there on foot, it should take about an hour.
However, he didn't dare to be careless. It was possible for there to be other monsters in the Greysnow Forest.
Up until now, Xu Nan hadn't fought a life-and-death battle against monsters yet. Hence, he was extremely cautious on the way there.
He first cast the shield spell and mage armor on himself. After that, he used the level 1 monster summon and summoned an extremely common goblin to find a path for him.
His mageforce was still considered sufficient. When he was walking in the quiet forest, his wariness was raised to the maximum.
"If there's just one monster that appears, I will dodge to that direction and fight it like this…"
Countless battle plans appeared in his mind.
What astonished Xu Nan was...he didn't even encounter a single monster!
The entire forest was incomparably quiet. The most ferocious animal he encountered was a wild hare that ran faster than him.
"What? The atmosphere is so frightening, but there are basically no traces of monster activities."
Xu Nan rubbed his temples and relaxed, feeling a little disappointed.
He prepared for so long, but in the end, his virgin battle didn't occur. It felt like he was having a battle of wits and valor against the air. How depressing.
However, at this moment, from the hut up ahead, voices of an intense quarrel could be heard.
Xu Nan started. Stretching out his head cautiously, he discovered two somewhat different-looking squirrels that were quarreling on the roof.
"Pine nuts are best eaten after they are dipped in honey! This is our tradition!" one of the squirrels roared.
"Hehe, that's heresy." Another slimmer squirrel coldly laughed with disdain. "In my hometown, pine nuts should be eaten after being roasted with sea salt."
The two squirrels quarreled unceasingly.
Xu Nan felt somewhat baffled after hearing them. All of a sudden, the two squirrels rushed over. Their next action scared Xu Nan so much that he failed to react. He was hesitating whether to cast his arcane flying bullets or burning hands. But before he could use any of them, one of the squirrels spoke.
"Relax child. We are herbivores."
Xu Nan took half a step back. He cast an identification spell only to realize that it failed.
Next, he decided to completely give up. If an identification spell failed on the creature he was targeting, it meant that they must be much stronger than him. If these two squirrels had malicious intentions toward him, there was basically no way for him to live.
"Indeed, we are herbivores." The other squirrel then added, "Because all the animals that could be eaten have already been eaten by us. Hence, we could only become vegetarians."
Xu Nan trembled.
"Don't be afraid." The slimmer squirrel introduced himself, "We are Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I'm the female, he is the male."
"We are kind creatures Lord Exxon sent to protect the hut."
"Did our quarrel scare you earlier? We need a judge. If you agree with my viewpoint, you will be able to inherit the first-half of the treasures in the hut, but if you agree with my husband's viewpoint, you will only be able to inherit the remaining trash."
"Choose one. Honey or sea salt?"
The two squirrels stared at Xu Nan with anticipation.
At this moment, Xu Nan also relaxed.
He fell silent for a moment before taking out a jar of 'old godma' spicy sauce from the bag on his back.
"Why don't you guys try this out instead?"