Chapter 2 Marauders and the Invisible Descender <TOC> Chapter 4 City of Marauders
Translator: SumTLMan
“Through this bone, you can advance further within the fifth level. But are you satisfied with just this? Don’t you want to have a true holy relic?” spoke the husky and vague voice from the snake-like mouth of Bushegaro.
Levels are the division of strength in the wasteland world, with five levels from five to one. The lower the number, the stronger the power. Each level is a leap in strength, and awakeners of higher levels can easily defeat those of lower levels.
At the mention of holy relic, the greed on Goldbeard’s face faded, becoming somewhat solemn.
The blood and bones of Descenders can emit strange radiation, and humans who continuously receive the irradiation have the possibility of awakening, transforming the source essence in their soul into psychic energy.
The holy relic goes a step further. After completely mastering the abilities passed down from the Gods and Demons within their bloodline, powerful members of Descenders can convert them into holy relics and imprint them within their bodies.
The various types of holy relics are like leaves on a tree, with the ones closer to the trunk being more powerful. Descenders divide all holy relics into three levels: sun, moon, and stars. There is a huge gap in potential and power between each level of holy relic.
As long as one digs out the holy relic, separates it from the flesh, and implants it into their own body, they can inherit the abilities within.
However, most of the awakeners who can awaken holy relics are the strongest existence among those of the same level, and almost overwhelmingly dominant against humans of the same level.
Just colliding with one without being hunted down is already extremely lucky.
The only other way to obtain holy relics is to join various sects or major powers, who have various means of passing them down. But as a marauder, it is almost impossible for Goldbeard to gain trust and receive holy relics.
However, trading with Descenders is proportional in terms of the cost and reward. Even ordinary bones require so many sacrifices, and the cost of obtaining a holy relic, even the lowest level star-grade one, may be something he cannot bear.
“What do you need me to do?” Goldbeard licked his chapped lips, his voice husky, even scaring himself.
“A Xia person hunted my people and took his holy relic. I want you to kill her, take her head back, and not only will the holy relic she took be yours, but I will also give you an additional ‘Gluttonous Stomach.’ Although it is only a star-level holy relic, I believe it is precious enough for you.”
The claws of Bushegaro’s forelimbs traced a map on the ground with psychic energy.
“She is on duty at Outpost 37 by Lake Loban. The entire outpost has only seven people, so taking over the whole outpost shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
“What is the target’s energy level?”
Goldbeard said that he would give up if the target was at the fourth level. A fourth-level being could easily kill everyone here, including Bushegaro.
“She’s only at the fifth level. This wretched woman shamelessly ambushed my people while on patrol. At the time, Feshegaro was playing around chasing a group of fishermen catching fish and was caught off guard by this woman’s ambush.”
Bushegaro licked the meat scraps off his teeth as he spoke.
“The radiation there is too high, otherwise this good opportunity wouldn’t be yours.”
Li Mu lay in the reeds, listening to Bushegaro and Goldbeard’s transaction clearly. Compared to the Western Xia people who breathed through their noses, he had a stronger sense of belonging to the Eastern Xia people.
Right now, Goldbeard and Bushegaro’s plan was the best declaration of intent.
According to the original body’s memory, although Bushegaro spoke lightly, a fifth-level being could not be hunted and killed by mere ambush. A being awakened with psychic energy had a black membrane composed of psychic energy covering their body’s surface.
The black membrane is a unique organ of beings awakened with psychic energy, covering the surface of their body, with extremely strong resistance to shear force, impact force, compression force, as well as high and low temperatures. It directly immunizes light weapons of humans, and even large-caliber cannons can only cause effective damage when they hit directly. According to military school textbooks, at least three power armor vehicles and a platoon of infantry are needed to suppress a fifth-level being.
Without heavy weapons capable of firing special ammunition, no matter how many ordinary soldiers there are, they will only become food for the being awakened with psychic energy.
Being able to hunt and kill a fifth-level being alone is clearly a prodigious talent coveted by beings awakened with psychic energy. If she could be saved, there would be no obstacles to integrating into the Eastern Xia people.
Li Mu made up his mind. Although he was now in the Exile Realm, where food and water were no longer a problem, he couldn’t just dwell in the swamp forever.
……
Beside a waterway, Li Mu constructed a fish trap fence that intercepted the fish swimming in the waterway and funneled them into a trap from which they could not escape.
Because few fishermen dared to fish in the depths of the swamp, there were many large fish in the waterway. After a while, a large fish entered the trap, crashing against the fence and causing the sound of splashing water.
Li Mu hooked a big fish by its gills with a flick of his finger and lifted the entire fish, examining it closely.
“It should be some kind of mutated carp species.”
This fish was about 1.5 meters long and weighed about 80 catties. In his previous life, it was rare for carp species to grow to this size. If Li Mu had not developed a very strong physique during his time in military school, he would not have been able to subdue it so easily. He reached into the Exile Realm and released the fish into a large pond dug by the civilian people.
After sorting through the fish in the trap, Li Mu threw back several clearly aggressive and gregarious catfish into the water, then released the rest of the fish into the Exile Realm.
He discovered that under the dual influence of radiation and psychic energy, many creatures had a tendency to grow larger, and some had changed in form and habits.
A giant black crane descended from the sky and landed on the ground. It was as tall as a person and exceptionally majestic. Its feathers were shiny and mostly black, with only a metallic luster on its neck and wings.
After drinking from the Sun Spring, its physical condition had become much stronger than that of its parents.
Due to the difference in time flow rate, in just one day, the fledglings in the Exile Realm had already grown into adult birds.
The long beak plunged into the murky water and grabbed a catfish, which it swallowed before affectionately rubbing Li Mu’s hand with its head, then soared into the sky again to track the whereabouts of the Goldbeard.
Li Mu discovered a hidden setting in the Exile Realm, whereby if creatures entered the realm and were not stronger than him would subconsciously be drawn to him and willingly follow his commands.
If not for this, he would not have been able to track Goldbeard so easily. The airship had a speed of at least thirty kilometers per hour, and he could not keep up with it on foot. Only the black crane in the air could track and monitor it without leaving a trace and guide him in the right direction.
With a thought, Li Mu entered the Exile Realm.
At this point, the Exile Realm had undergone earth-shattering changes. The bare mountain tops were now covered with vegetation, all of which Li Mu had transplanted from outside and propagated by Wang Liu’s family. On the plains below the mountains, fields crisscrossed, and the rice planted in the fields had begun to ripen.
The pond excavated by Wang Liu’s family ripples with reeds and teems with fish.
Li Mu stood by the pond, took a deep breath, and compared to the foul air in the swamp that occasionally brought a painful sensation to his lungs, the air in the Exile Realm was so refreshing.
【Speed-Run Achievement: Vibrant, the number of animals in the Exile Realm exceeds fifty, rewarding the God and Demon’s Nest, with an essence of eighty-eight points.】
【God and Demon’s Nest: Rare treasure, the dwelling place of great existence, able to float in the sky by using ascending cloud energy and earth magnetic power. The great existence can control the spirits by using the formation in the nest, and inflict divine punishment on those who defy their existence.】
A palace appeared in the sky of the Exile Realm. The palace was magnificent, with high eaves and standing tall among the clouds. There was not a trace of the eerie atmosphere of the God and Demon’s Nest.
Li Mu sat in the grand hall, eyeing the fine-grained dome supported by delicate ribs overhead, with various patterns, carvings and paintings that were exquisite. The hall’s spirit energy turned into mist, sometimes turning into auspicious birds and animals, and sometimes turning back into mist.
This should have been an object of the cultivation civilization, but he didn’t know why it was named the God and Demon’s Nest.
Two little Taoist apprentices were also included in the God and Demon’s Nest.
【Qing Feng, Ming Yue: Echoes of the old era, they possess a power called Immortal, and are able to survive because they serve a great existence.】
“Qing Feng, Ming Yue pay homage to the Holy Lord.”
The two beautifully dressed little Taoist apprentices saluted.
Li Mu nodded, with enough essence, he immediately chose to draw the lottery.
【Xianyin Mountain: Rare, the mountain range captured from another world by a great existence, containing various minerals and resources, and containing spiritual veins in the mountain body.】
【Giant’s Blood: Rare, the giant who pursued the sun, fell on the road because of thirst, after his body decomposed, a strange fruit tree grew, known as the Giant’s Blood by scholars.】
【The Great Power of the 72 Earth Devils: Excellent, godly power, increases strength.】
【Civilian Group Five】
【Iron Ring Sword: Excellent, a hero fell and became a killing demon, with this sword, he killed all enemies, and the sword still carries his killing intent.】
A mountain range stretching for tens of miles appeared in the Exile Realm. The rocky peaks were jagged and barren.
The size of the entire Exile Realm instantly expanded by tenfold.
Li Mu held back his excitement. Although he knew that the first draw would definitely yield some good items, he didn’t expect the first one to be an extremely rare terrain item.
To expand the area of the Exile Realm, one could only do so by drawing terrain items, which were the rarest. Their rarity level was comparable to other rare cards. If he hadn’t drawn the Xianyin Mountain, the development of the Exile Realm would soon hit a bottleneck.
Not to mention that the spiritual energy of the Xian-cultivation civilization is also a very useful energy. If in the previous life, this Xianyin Mountain could have been sold for over six hundred pieces of money.
And the giant’s blood that he had never heard of, after hesitating for a moment, he planted it on the edge of the Sun Spring. Its name looked intimidating, but it was just like an ordinary peach tree and there was no difference.
Under the nourishment of the Sun Spring, the peach tree spread its leaves and was full of vitality.
It was just that Li Mu was somewhat strange, and he didn’t know why many cards in the Exile Realm had strange changes, and some seemed to be different from the previous life.
Five groups of civilians, a total of twenty-five people, including Nordic blacksmiths, modern mechanical engineers, medieval carpenters, and elven hunters in a fantasy style. Finally, the desolate Exile Realm has gained some population.
With enough manpower, houses can be built. Just in time, the forest that was refreshed last time by the store was bought by Li Mu and placed on Xianyin Mountain as building materials. A forest covered about one-fifth of the area of Xianyin Mountain, causing the barren Xianyin Mountain to grow a towering tree.
The temperature in the Exile Realm was suitable, and it wasn’t too cold at night. The original Wang family lived in a straw hut, but who would sleep in a straw hut if there was a house.
As for the development of technology, a single engineer is simply inadequate. Unfortunately, he is currently unable to communicate with other players, otherwise the development of the Exile Realm would be much faster.
Li Mu infused power into himself. He saw a silver talisman like a firefly dance around his body and suddenly fall into his body.
He felt a surge of power rushing from his body and permeating his body, wrapping his body completely.
His entire body seemed to be linked to some existence, producing an endless supply of power.
Looking at his arms that had almost no change, Li Mu picked up a 110-pound rock from the ground, threw it three or four meters high, and then easily caught it.
“I didn’t expect that a seemingly insignificant spell in the game would have such amazing effects. It should be comparable to a star-level holy relic.”
He was very satisfied with the effect of his power, and it seemed more practical than the holy relic that Goldbeard worked hard to seize.
Accompanied by two novice cultivators, Ming Yue and Qing Feng left the Exile Realm and practiced some rudimentary techniques, which should have given them some resistance against the realm’s radiation. Unlike civilians, who might fall ill or even die instantly upon leaving the Exile Realm.
With enough manpower, upgrading the Exile Realm through external resources will become easier.
However, they did not expect that as soon as they left the Exile Realm, the sky changed dramatically. The sky seemed to be torn open, revealing a deep starry sky, with countless giant tentacles like arms moving in the sky, reaching into the cracks.
Suddenly, the tentacles opened dense clusters of eyes, rolling their pupils and scanning downwards.
Suddenly, one of the pupils locked onto Ming Yue and Qing Feng, and the other pupils quickly turned to look. An eerie and inexplicable gaze stared at them intently.
Ming Yue and Qing Feng suddenly let out a piercing scream, as if their true essence was about to boil.
“Holy Lord! Holy Lord!”
Li Mu made a split-second decision and brought them back to the Exile Realm.
Ming Yue and Qing Feng tumbled into the water pool in a disheveled state. Their bodies were writhing and their skin was undulating, as if they were about to go to the afterlife.
The piercing screams did not stop, and under the nourishment of the Sun Spring, they gradually calmed down.
A thick black substance flowed out of their bodies and into the Sun Spring, like sulfuric acid meeting with sodium hydroxide, producing intense white smoke.
“What is going on?”
Li Mu, who had left with them, was unscathed.
“True essence. The mysterious being in the sky sensed our true essence and immediately descended with great terror.”
Ming Yue and Qing Feng regained some of their strength and spoke hoarsely.
Li Mu was frightened. Descenders, Descenders, since there is a Descender, there must be an existence that cares for them. It seems that this world is far more terrifying than he imagined.
Chapter 2 Marauders and the Invisible Descender <TOC> Chapter 4 City of Marauders