Chapter 59: The World Remains, But People Have Changed

After selecting the Six-Armed Enchantress as his target for the life seed hunt, Lin Huang began his preparations for battle.

He scoured the web for any information on the Six-Armed Enchantress, including a handful of rare combat videos, which he watched over and over. The more he saw, the more unsettling it became.

One video in particular left a vivid impression. It showed a squad of five reserve hunters who accidentally encountered a Six-Armed Enchantress in the Forest of Forgetfulness. Upon spotting the hunters, the creature immediately launched an assault, annihilating the entire squad in less than a minute.

“Her movements are ghostlike, her speed terrifying, and each of her arms is a deadly weapon...” Lin Huang frowned as he finished the video. He couldn't help but admit that the Six-Armed Enchantress was an exceedingly formidable monster.

Once he had gathered all the detailed information on the Six-Armed Enchantress, Lin Huang turned his attention to the two regions where these monsters were distributed—the Forest of Forgetfulness and the Ghostly Burial Grounds.

In this world, any place referred to as a “burial ground” was typically a domain where entering meant certain death. The Ghostly Burial Grounds was just such a place. It was said that, for hundreds of years, no one below the Transcendent rank had ever returned alive after entering. With just a cursory glance at the available information on the Ghostly Burial Grounds, Lin Huang immediately struck it from his itinerary. Such ominous territory was not something he intended to tempt fate with; he still wished to live a long life.

Closing the information page for the Ghostly Burial Grounds, Lin Huang then examined the details of the Forest of Forgetfulness. The Forest of Forgetfulness was a vast, fourth-level wild zone, reputed to have once hosted transcendent monsters, though they had since been slain. Now, the strongest creatures in the forest were at the gold rank, and there were more than one. Silver-rank monsters were even more abundant.

“A fourth-level wild zone... that’s troublesome.” Lin Huang’s brows furrowed again as he finished reading. For him, such a wild zone carried a high risk of death. Even in a second-level wild zone, he would feel considerable pressure. Bronze-ranked monsters were already much stronger than those at iron rank. While Lin Huang now could easily slay third-tier iron monsters, he wasn’t sure he could even break through a bronze monster’s defenses, let alone those of silver or gold rank.

“This wild zone is rather far away, under the jurisdiction of another medium-sized stronghold, more than twenty thousand kilometers from my current location. Figuring out how to get there is another issue...” For the first time, Lin Huang realized just how immense this world was. The distance between each medium-sized stronghold was at least three thousand kilometers, sometimes over five thousand. Large strongholds were separated by at least twenty thousand kilometers. To put it in perspective, Earth’s equator is only forty thousand kilometers long.

Small strongholds had no spatial transfer devices. Medium-sized strongholds had spatial gates, but their range was limited, generally only connecting to nearby medium-sized strongholds. To reach the Forest of Forgetfulness, Lin Huang would have to transfer through six spatial gates. Each gate not only charged exorbitant fees every time it opened, but there were daily limits on both the number of openings and the number of people who could be transferred. During peak times, if you hadn’t booked in advance, you might wait two or three days without getting your turn.

Riding wind hawks was another option, but their stamina for sustained flight was unimpressive, so you would need to change mounts at every stronghold. Moreover, the journey would take so long that stops at hotels along the way were inevitable.

There was also the option of taking a magic crystal airship. These ships came with suites for lodging, their speed matched that of the wind hawks, but riding them was far more comfortable. They stopped for only five minutes at each medium-sized stronghold before departing again. The downside was the astronomical ticket prices, and only one passenger ship ran weekly, with limited cabins, making tickets both expensive and in short supply.

The inconvenience of travel made Lin Huang increasingly eager to acquire a flying-type summoned beast. He also considered obtaining a spatial artifact like the Greenwood Gate, but that was clearly much harder.

After weighing the options, Lin Huang decided to indulge himself and take a magic crystal airship, since he’d never seen what such a vessel looked like in this world. Luck was with him—he managed to book a ticket online through Imperial Heart. The ship would depart in three days from Stronghold 7C87, bound for Stronghold 7C82, covering twenty thousand kilometers at a cost of twenty thousand credit points.

Having booked his ticket, it was already past four in the afternoon. Lin Huang decided to visit Peaceful Residence before dinner, to pay his respects to the hotel owner and the burly tenant who had taught him sword techniques.

He had recently sensed that the hotel owner was no ordinary person, nor was the burly tenant a typical hunter.

It took him about ten minutes to reach Peaceful Residence, only to find that the front courtyard had changed dramatically. What had once been a small garden was now an open-air restaurant, with numerous tables and chairs set up.

At some of the tables, a few young guests sat scattered, leisurely sipping drinks.

Noticing Lin Huang pause at the entrance, a young waitress approached him. “Sir, may I help you with something?”

“Have you changed owners?” Lin Huang couldn’t help asking. He felt that, knowing the owner’s personality, it was unlikely he would have so drastically altered his beloved garden.

“Yes, sir, it’s been almost ten days now. Many regular guests like yourself have dropped by, and they all say our new dishes and drinks are even better than before. You should give them a try—I’m sure you’ll be satisfied.” The waitress, realizing Lin Huang was a regular, promptly recommended their offerings.

“Thank you, but I’m here to see the old owner...” Lin Huang politely declined, preparing to leave when he suddenly remembered the scar-faced tenant. He turned back to the waitress and asked, “Sorry to trouble you again. There used to be a very tall scar-faced man living here—does he still stay here?”

“Scar-faced? I’ve never seen anyone like that. If there were such a person, I’d surely remember.” The waitress shook her head.

“Oh, thank you.” Lin Huang turned and left, surprised that both the owner and the scar-faced man had departed the stronghold. Finding Peaceful Residence so completely transformed left him feeling somewhat disappointed.

Back home, Lin Huang watched the news for a while; nothing special was happening, so he began preparing dinner.

Just as the meal was ready, Lin Xin returned from school.

The two sat opposite each other at the table, and Lin Huang couldn’t help but ask Lin Xin about Peaceful Residence.

“Xin, when did Peaceful Residence change owners?”

“The day after you left, the owner left, and that fierce-looking uncle left too.” Lin Xin, who had stayed at the stronghold, knew all about it.

“We lived there when it was still just fine—how could a hotel so large be sold in just a few days?” Lin Huang found it odd.

“I heard the owner had some urgent family matters and needed money, so he sold the hotel cheaply and rushed home. The fierce-looking uncle became his bodyguard and left with him,” Lin Xin explained.

“Oh...” Lin Huang felt the situation was even more peculiar. Thinking back, it seemed the owner and the scar-faced man knew each other, and perhaps the owner had intentionally directed him to learn swordsmanship from the scar-faced man. But now both had vanished, and there was nothing more he could do to investigate.

“Forget it, best not to dwell on it. I’ve been busy enough lately.” Shaking his head, Lin Huang dismissed the thoughts from his mind.

~~~~~~

[I saw some readers in the review section mention minor detail bugs. Actually, I’ve been quite careful about these things. Wherever I foresee readers might have doubts, I’ve generally addressed it in the text. However, lengthy explanations could disrupt the pacing, so sometimes I gloss over certain points with just a few sentences, and some readers might skip past them. While I do my best to avoid such issues, it’s impossible to be completely thorough, and some things slip through the cracks. The major world settings are established, but the details and minor settings are written as I go, so please bear with me. As for updates, let’s talk about that after the book goes on sale in April. Although I write full-time, my pace is slow—each chapter takes two or three hours to complete. Readers familiar with me know I’m terrible with my hands; I only play turn-based games, and used to hate rhythm games the most. This book’s settings are more complicated than before, so writing is more brain-draining and time-consuming. However, in the first two months after launch, in April and May, there will certainly be lots of updates!]