The Yunmeng Forest was the largest forest that belonged to the nation. It was where all five clans got their weapons, magic items, and some gifts. All around Zane was the scent of petrichor, wet and sating.
Li Feng was leading the way in front of him, and beside the muscular man walked Rhian. It was a bit weird to see Rhian was shorter than Li Feng, reaching just up to his shoulder despite appearing to be just one inch short of six feet. Just how tall was Li Feng?
Zane felt his right eye twitch as he overheard their conversation.
"You lost your sword?" Li Feng asked.
Rhian looked a little embarrassed as he scratched his nape in front of Zane. "Haha. Well… yeah?"
Li Feng seemed to narrow his eyes. "The one you stole?"
"Um… I dropped it?" Rhian murmured, and Zane was once again left thinking what kind of relationship Rhian had with this Nation. In his past life, it was simply assumed that Rhian had always been a part of Selvaris or Vaelrun because of his language and his name.
Li Feng seemed to be judging the younger man.
"In my defense, it was a Dao," Rhian quickly said to which Li Feng crossed his arms against his chest.
"Doesn't mean you ditch it."
As Zane continued hearing their banter, he opened his stats window.
[Player Name: ␣␣ (pseudo: Zane)
Age: 22
Title: NULL
Statistics: stamina (lvl 4), strength (lvl 4), mana (max opened: 1.3%), spiritual energy (lvl 7), intelligence (lvl ??)…
Skills: Naturist Communication (lvl 1), Peek (lvl 2), Translator (lvl 3), ␣␣␣␣ (lvl??), Guidance (lvl 2), ␣␣␣(lvl??)…
Attribute: Wisteria (user; until 2nd), ␣␣ (??th)…
Stigma: NULL
Watcher: NULL]
Zane chose to invest some species into his stamina.
[Stamina (lvl 4) > (lvl 5)]
For the time being it wasn't bad. He still needed to get 'that' skill so that he'd be able to tie story strands in the next Level. Despite it all, Zane frowned in wonder as to why his skills and attributes were censored.
The only reason that the System censored some things was so that they wouldn't give anyone false headstarts. Sure, if one borrowed the powers of powerful Watchers, then they would be able to look into the future as 'prophets'. Otherwise, generic censorship existed to keep the players trapped.
But why was his own information censored from him?
Just as he was looking at the screen in front of him, his face bumped into someone's shoulder, and he belatedly realized that it was Rhian. The taller man glanced at Zane before he averted his eyes to the old-looking temple.
Zane's eyes widened. This temple had many names, but the name that was coined in Selvaris for this place was: Sanguinis Comites. It was one of the most important places in all the nations. Apparently, only the Hua and Lu clans owned them in this nation
Players from nationwide came there to collect their 'comites', or 'companion'. It was a place where….
"Refrain from touching anything other than the one you want," Li Feng spoke behind them. He hadn't opened the door to the temple yet, but the grand old gates were beckoning them forward. Zane watched as Li Feng walked to the temple's door and rested his palm flat on the middle of the door.
[The gates of the 31st temple have been opened!]
[An Auxiliary level has been triggered!]
[The creator of the 31st temple has allowed the passage to
The doors were opened and a cool breeze blew against them.
[
The God of Wealth, yet again depended on the 'origin' strand of the story it was referring to. However, considering his location and the given circumstances, the 'God of Wealth'…could be Tsai Shen. He knew that the pseudos the watchers went by mostly depended on when their 'origin' began. Caishen, if he considered Suravana, there were two other Watchers that went by similar pseudos there.
Li Feng walked ahead and stepped into the temple, and Rhian followed. Zane stepped in last, looking around before he let his body completely enter the temple. In Selvaris resided the
The interior of the temple was old, dusty, and sunlight only peeked in from drafts in the ceiling. "This is where the auxiliary trial will be held," Li Feng informed. "You may get your swords here."
The conditional in his voice wasn't promising at all.
These temples were dangerous. They were plagued with dangerous spirits belonging to those who never managed to get out of the temple with their sword. Li Feng was also not mentioning something vital.
There would be heavy time instability as they would be facing the repercussions of having 'stepped out' of the area they were assigned as the 'main' trial. It was a crux, given that the places these temples led to went against the repercussions.
"I wish you luck," Li Feng said, and he was turning around.
"What percentage of repercussions will we face if we spend more than forty-eight hours there?" Zane asked right before the muscular man left the temple.
Li Feng raised an elegant eyebrow. "I suppose that is for you to find out. You are paying with your time after all."
[Some
[
"I'm not sure about this trial, but the one hour we spend there would be around two and a half hours here," Rhian said. "At least that was what was written in the books."
The both of them watched as Li Feng closed the door, leaving them in the light of the small sun beams. "Well," Zane said, looking around the room. There should be some… lever that would let them 'transmigrate' to the place this temple connected them to. "Do you see anything helpful?"
"Depends on what 'help' you need," Rhian murmured, already stepping back and scouring the room as if he understood what Zane meant.
Zane inhaled sharply as he moved himself to the side of the room, running his hand down a pillar. It had a similar inscription to the walls of the temple he'd visited. There were five pillars—wait. There were five pillars circumscribing an elevated circle in the middle. "Rhian," he said.
Rhian stepped down the stairs and stood next to the pillar parallel to Zane. Then the latter's eyes widened. "I'll clear the dust. If you belong to this nation, only you'll be able to do the array techniques."
"Way to go with the bossing, nameless bastard," Rhian murmured.
"You're really calling me that?" Zane grumbled.
"Until you tell me your name." Rhian slowly took a step ahead and crossed his arms as he watched Zane stand in the middle of the circular platform.
He bit down on the cut on the corner of his lip till he tasted blood. Ever since the contract, it seemed as though Wisteria worked by him just paying the repercussions, it didn't require The Hermit to grant him faux magic. The whip hit the ground and Zane triggered the second attribute of Wisteria.
[2nd attribute of Wisteria, Electric Flame lvl 1 is activated]
Zane carefully moved his hand back.
[Your mana is fusing with Wisteria!]
The whip glowed a little warmer, and the moment he struck it against the ground, it caused all the dust and dirt to rise in the air. And lastly, the skill he'd been practicing.
[You've concentrated mana in your palm]
He placed his palm flat against the ground, causing the dust that'd lifted into the air to be pushed to the side. When he stood back up, he was staring at the sight of an inscribed array. As expected, Zane's 'translator' skill only led him to hold conversations. Reading and writing were futile. He made a mental note to invest in some species.
"You learned mana concentration?" Rhian asked as he appeared behind Zane and crouched on the ground, running the tip of his thumb over the edges of the array. "I heard my sister say you did have impressive spiritual energy and had made a pact with the jiangshi."
"I have made no such pact," Zane replied.
"Oh?" Rhian asked. "Then perhaps with some weird 'watcher'."
"I haven't chosen anyone to 'watch' over me, thank you very much I enjoy my privacy," Zane snarked, immediately trying to ignore the dings that came through. That's right, recently, he'd been having a couple of Watchers that were trying to jump him by showcasing him beautiful contracts. None of them particularly appealed to him.
[
[
[Some
"Oh," Rhian said, making a gesture for Zane to move as he read the symbols.
Zane swallowed—suddenly he felt concerned. What if Rhian had picked that watcher?
"Did you choose anyone?" he asked.
"No," Rhian replied. "I need proof that this is something that won't bite me in the ass later."
He was right. If the Watcher that sponsored you was 'liberal' only then would you be able to access the world around you with ease or have other Watchers that sponsored you. "Anyway," Rhian said, "Move back, I've figured out this thing. I think."
"Alright," Zane said as he stepped to the center where there were no words or symbols present. He watched as Rhian stood up and scrutinized the array design for a few moments before he seemed to close his eyes.
[
[Exclusive skill
Zane heard him incant some unintelligible words before he was taking a hairpin he wore and poking it into his thumb. He then sat down and pressed his thumb against the ground on the small point in the middle of the array.
The inscriptions began glowing.
[The 31st Temple has approved your entry!]
[Repercussions for dimension grade travel will be taken through the mode of 'time']
Their surroundings began pixelating and Zane closed his eyes as he felt his body start to sway faintly. It was the feeling of closing one's eyes and walking down a narrow terrain. When the awful feeling was replaced with that of warmth, Zane opened his eyes.
They were no longer in the temple, in fact they'd transmigrated to a forest.
[The
[
"What sword do you want?" Zane asked, glancing at where Rhian was staring. The land was vast, with thickets of trees at random, some of them in patches that opened to reveal some paths. Otherwise the ground was rich with overgrown grass that brushed near his thighs.
"I want a Circe," Rhian replied, walking ahead and looking into the small pond that was next to them. The water in it was clear, and some insects sat disturbing it. "You do know what that is, right?"
Zane did. There were three categories of swords, each based on their difficulty to wield. For example the
[Low grade D+-F] - Dao, Forgiver, Vin'nyla, Sallow, and Cleric.
[Medium grade S-C-] - Vale, Chasm, Ember, and Executioner.
[High grade SSS-S+] - Hymn, Oracle, Circe, and Yin.
Zane paused—Rhian was aiming for a Circe?! Did he not know how difficult that would be? It wasn't easy to get the sword, sometimes swords just felt affinity towards a potential wielder and would appear in front of them. But that was only limited to the lower and medium grades. The higher grades were harder to obtain—they required 'rituals'.
"Hua HuiLiang owns the Circe, right?" Zane asked, remembering the sword the sect leader had owned in his previous life.
"You're right," Rhian muttered, moving away from the pond. "Don't let your guard down here. The pond is overflowing with aggressive mana. Nature ghouls may most likely attack you."
[Nature ghouls] were the spirits of people who died here, but they weren't able to level up enough to become monsters here. "I see," Zane said. Wait…
If the monsters were here, then there should be the 31st temple's disciple's soul here as well. The woman whom the master of the temple had abandoned here when she failed to complete a quest. Zane couldn't recall which quest it was, but it had been important.
That would get him to
"Why?" Zane asked. "Do we have to do it together?"
"Yeah," Rhian replied. "Apparently, you have to exit the temple with the same number of people who entered it. Which is why this place is rampant with ghouls and spirits."
Zane nodded. 'I didn't know that part.'
[
'Oh?' Zane glanced at Rhian. He wasn't sure as to why he was able to see his direct messages as well, but he would save that thought for later. For now, he should spend time collecting mana stones so he could make 'that'.
"Same place?" Zane said.
Rhian nodded. "Don't die."
'As if I could afford it,' Zane thought to himself. He nodded and turned in the opposite direction.
---
Zane hadn't done much except spend his time scouring the area. He had defeated numerous small ghouls and creatures. And now I was sitting down next to a stream.
[
Zane raised his brow at the message. It had been roughly five hours, and he had managed to collect almost fifty different mana stones.
[You've been deemed applicable for
'Already?' Zane thought.
[You must pay a flat fee of 1000 species to avoid repercussions!]
[You have paid 1000 species!]
[
Within a blue hologram, an inventory page.
[What would you like to store?]
[An Auxiliary Trial has arrived!]
[Auxiliary Trial: Choose Your Companion
Difficulty: B-
Conditions/Directions: To accompany you to battle, choose your companion (alternative: let your companion find you).
Time limit: ??
Failure: ??
Reward: Self-satisfactory reward]