Zane walked out of the bungalow at midnight. There was a veiled trial somewhere around this area—and doing it would easily cause him to trial up to
The trials he'd done up until now were what opened up in front of him.
[Veiled Trial: Massacre of the Yuis]
[Veiled Trial: Escape the Celestium]
He raised his head to study the large gates, embroidered with old artwork of tales retold. At the crack that would lead to the opening, he traced the inscriptions with the tip of his fingers and reached to push away a wine.
This gate would become a 'main' trial in the future. It would cause the
Zane concentrated some of his mana into his fingertip as he touched the midst of the gate. As he did so, the gold seeped from his finger and began giving light to the artwork. This trial would present itself in the next two years, when the System would start getting more and more violent. Now…
[Veiled Trial: ??
Grade: C+
Time Limit: 20 minutes
Conditions: Hunt the Qingshe
Failure: death
Reward: 5000 species]
Five thousand wasn't a bad number. If Zane was sure in his linguistics, then the 'Qingshe' should be a serpent—a serpent of light, that too. In fact, the serpent of light was part of the <43 Serpents of The World>. Its ranking was somewhere in the end—maybe 42nd.
The Serpents belonging to the <43 Serpents of The World> all possessed a 'mana gem' on their forehead. For example, the strongest serpent in the group, Vasuki, possessed a gem on his forehead known as Nagamuni. Or, the second in line, the Leviathan was the sea serpent who resided in the Heraum Sea on the coast of Vandeleur. That serpent had a silver gem on its crown.
[
[A few
The great gates opened to reveal what they hid. Zane had already triggered Wisteria, which had uncoiled and was buzzing with faux energy on the ground. He swallowed heavily as he heard the telltale hiss of a serpent leering.
The snake wasn't the largest he'd seen, but it was big—perhaps a good twenty-five feet in length and having skin that seemed as good as impenetrable.
Zane took a step back and the serpent bared its fangs at him before it charged ahead. The stairs that led up to the gates broke under the weight of the serpent, and Zane forced himself to keep a bemused expression.
[The 2nd attribute of Wisteria is triggered!]
[Wisteria is responding to your heightened spiritual energy!]
[Your mana is fusing with Wisteria along with your spiritual energy!]
[Hidden property of Wisteria is unlocked!]
[2nd attribute: Electric Flame lvl 1 is activated!]
[Mana core in use > 0.8%]
As the serpent charged at Zane, he snapped the whip against the ground before he moved out of the way. He couldn't see his stats at the moment, and the main knowledge he had about the Qingshe was their weakness.
The Qingshe had a golden gem on the crest of their head, which was what gave them the power to last for eternity. Originally, these serpents were hunted for these gems—but ever since the Xiaoluo Clans began fostering them, those hunts have been low. In a way, if Zane got his hands on the gem…
Zane carefully began climbing the tree, as silently as he could. Once he reached halfway to the top, he glanced down to see the snake was already slithering towards him. Zane exhaled sharply and let go of the tree trunk, causing his body to fall on top of the serpent's head. Wisteria automatically coiled itself around the Qingshe's neck.
[2nd attribute of Wisteria, Electric Flame lvl 1 is strongly activated]
Qingshe roared at the burning sensation at its neck.
Zane quickly opened his skills and was surprised to see that Rhian still hadn't officially ended their temporary agreement on 'Golden Thread'. He licked his lower lip and tasted the blood that was supplying all the energy.
[Temporary skill, Golden Thread lvl 1 is activated!]
[Time limit for temporary skill: 4 minutes]
A golden thread shot out of his fingertips and worked its way to remove the gem from the Qingshe's head. It would be tricky, given that the serpent seemed to have caught on and was flailing to get Zane off him.
[Time left: 9 minutes]
Zane winced sharply and tried to work the thread harder to get the gem out. If he got it out, not only would it be worth more than 20,000 species, but it would also grant him the power to raise his stats without the consequences.
Just as the time lessened, the gem came loose in his hand and Zane jumped off the serpent before it dropped to the ground.
[Time left: 5 minutes]
He twirled the gem in his hand before he pocketed it. It should help him if Li Feng decided he'd need 'that'. Zane walked towards the Qingshe, crouching down beside its mouth. "Can't have you tearing everything in the future," he murmured.
In a way, similarly to the dragons, until the serpents were harmed, they were benevolent creatures. In fact,
He looked at the Qingshe in front of him, who was bleeding from the missing gem on its crown. Its eyes were no longer golden gleamed—a telltale sign that it had been possessed by external interference.
Zane triggered
The serpent made a weak attempt to hiss, but it would have to tell Zane some information. "How long?" he asked.
[Time limit
[Past… past ten years] the Qingshe replied, its voice a whisper to Zane. [I was promised safety]
'Of course it would be promised 'safety',' Zane thought. 'The System would give it more 'powers' and then expect it to be alright with defending itself… Thus, 'safety'. Furthermore, wasn't it ironic that that was when the System began interfering with the world?'
"When was the last new moon?" Zane asked.
The serpent inclined its head to rest it against Zane's hand. [Eight years ago.]
"I see," Zane murmured, "How many before me?"
[Fuuf. Are you feeding your ego? Little human?]
"I'm asking… because there are scars on your scales," Zane replied. And indeed there were, on the beautiful silver scales that reflected the moon—dark and deep.
[Funny thing you are] the Qingshe said. [If you're looking for justification, you did what you had to.]
"Are you not angry?" Zane asked.
[I'm past that. All of us, <43 Serpents of The World> are doomed. So are you, little human. Doomed ever since you gave your life to that 'System'.]
"And I'm going to end it." Zane wondered if he was petting the serpent, but he couldn't tell much.
[A few
[Premium
The Qingshe let out an odd sound. [In that case, I wish you luck.]
Zane nodded, letting his hand rest on the top of the creature's face, before he raised it and continued petting it.
[A few
Did he? Neither did he know.
[Time limit has ended for
[Time limit has ended for the
[You have killed the Qingshe!]
[You have 5000 species]
[The 'Stone of Eternality' has been earned]
Zane looked at the snake and took out one of the vials he had stolen from Hua Yi's medical equipment. He bent down and slowly collected the serpent's blood in it.
[You've earned the blood of the 42nd serpent!]
Zane glanced at where he had wrapped Wisteria around the serpent's neck and noted that some scales had indeed come loose as he had planned.
[Scales of the 42nd serpent have been earned!]
Once a serpent died, its fangs also came loose. Sporadically it was so that even after the creature was dead, its poison would still seep into the other person that it would fight with. Zane pushed the sleeve of his robe ahead and covered his fingers with it before he wrapped them around the fang and gently tugged, the entire weight coming loose in his hand. Then he moved on to the second one.
[You've retrieved the fangs of the Qingshe!]
[Fangs of Qingshe:
Grade: B-]
He rested them on the ground. There were two options now, he could definitely put them up for sale or could store them in a player's chest. But apparently (quite unfortunately) there was a term in the player/character recognition contract that required two people to be present while opening a 'clandestine chest'.
Thus, he had no option. He reached for the pouch attached to his belt which he'd stolen from one of the troublesome disciples and reached into it—taking out two linen cloths and wrapping the fangs in them before he stuffed them inside the pouch. He did the same with the scales and the gem.
[
[100 species are sponsored]
Zane exhaled through his nose and stood up, looking over the body of the Qingshe. In his past life, although his memory was still a little foggy, he remembered that he hadn't known about the serpents being controlled by the System until he'd killed the Leviathan.
"May you see another life," he whispered.
He would reach the 'end' of the System.