“What on earth? This wallpaper is really…”
“Tsk, tsk.” Ren Suo snorted—but that was his only reaction. He was already in his twenties and would not get so excited by seeing an obscene image.
At the least, it had to be a film to spark his interest.
Nevertheless, who was that guy in the iron seat?
At that juncture, the young man on the iron seat looked up slightly, in the direction of the mage.
However, the gaze in his eyes seemed like it could pierce through spatial dimensions, from the game into reality. It seemed as if he could see Ren Suo, who was only wearing his boxers, lying on the couch, and playing the game!
The man said: [This is interesting. Although the gem cannot be enchanted with too powerful magic, it is still able to cast ‘visual illusion’. I thought that it would be sufficient to conceal everything.]
He laughed and continued: [The mages under the World Tree live up to their name, indeed.]
What did he mean? Ren Suo looked at the other people on the screen and found that they were not watching Luo Wenjie at all. At the most, a speech bubble appeared above some of their heads in their confusion:
[Did the necklace on that Xuan Nation man glow just now?]
[Is that an Extraordinary accessory?]
[That was a huge energy wave, what did he do?]
None of them could see the hole in the space!
Was the hole in the space invisible?
Ren Suo thought of what the man in the iron seat said. If what he said was true, then the space hole might have been concealed with an ability called [Visual Illusion]. It could be deduced from the name of the ability that it was able to conceal the presence of the space hole from others!
In that case, why was Mage able to see the space hole?
Ren Suo quickly understood—Mage might not actually be able to see the space hole. Instead, it was Ren Suo himself, as the player, who saw it.
The ‘invisibility’ effect of Visual Illusion seemed to be achieved through distorting light rays. As such, anyone who made use of light rays to see should theoretically be affected.
However, what was Ren Suo’s perspective?
It was a third-person perspective!
At the third-person level, abilities that affected the first-person perspective would be meaningless to that!
However, as the man in the iron seat was not actually inside the arena, his name was not shown above his head.
However, it was sufficient for the silver-haired mage to put up his act. He said: [It’s a pleasure to meet you, Strong Warrior of Xuan Nation. Your seat is truly stunning.]
It did not seem overboard for the mage to say that he was a ‘Strong Warrior’, given that he could tear a hole through space, and it also sounded like he could enchant accessories with magic.
The man in the iron seat smiled slightly, as if thinking about something. Then, he turned the computer screen on his right side away.
‘Too late, I already figured out that you are from the outside.’
The silver-haired mage asked: [Can you send people in?]
The man in the iron seat shook his head and replied: [No. There is a space barrier preventing access into the mystery realm—or rather, the mystery realm has not integrated completely with this world, so all space abilities are meaningless to the mystery realm.]
[Having watched the videos recorded by the Changjiang Team, I fully believe what you mages have said. When the mystery realm descends completely, which is also when the space barrier disappears completely, the monsters of the mystery realm would be able to enter and exit Earth on their own, at their will…]
[The best way would be to clear the monsters in the mystery realm before it descends. It appears that you were the mage who cleansed the mystery realm that appeared in Xuan Nation?]
The silver-haired mage replied: [Indeed, I am.]
The man in the iron seat said: [Please, allow me to express my gratitude. After you purified the mystery realm, the space barrier disappeared completely, and the mystery realm fully descended onto Earth. Although monsters still continue to emerge in the mystery realm, they are unable to leave the mystery realm, while humans can enter and exit freely at will. All of this is thanks to you.]
The silver-haired mage replied: [Since you said that space abilities are not effective in the arena, how are you able to…]
The man in the iron seat laughed and explained: [I placed a positioning pin on him, and I barely managed to tear open a hole in the space by sensing the position of the pin. Although I am unable to bring anyone back to Earth or affect anything inside due to the restrictions of the mystery realm, video, and audio communication would not be a problem.]
Luo Wenjie finally had an opportunity to interrupt the conversation:
[Sir Mage, we are now able to request for more supplies from the outside. What equipment do you think we would need?]
Ren Suo hesitated slightly.
Since Practitioners were the only people who could enter the mystery realm, there were also restrictions on the weapons that they could bring in with them. They had to be in contact with their limbs, and at the most, they could bring in an additional backpack. It was not possible for a strong hulk to drag boxes of equipment into the mystery realm—the box would be stuck at the entrance. Such boxes could only be dragged out, but not into the mystery realm.
As such, there was only a limited number of items that the Practitioners could bring with them into the mystery realm, and most of them carried typical weapons for combat. Although the combat power was decent, it was not specific to the target.
However, because the mystery realm was separated from the outside world and they could only enter but not exit, there was no way for those who were outside to know what equipment was needed inside.
The man in the iron seat said: [I must remind you that the highest quality necklace which this guy is wearing is the only one whose coordinates I can connect to and open a space hole through. Even so, it will break upon usage, so you only have one chance to request for additional support.]
[Also, in another 97 seconds, this space hole will disappear. Please make your decision as quickly as possible.]
Was this a test?
The silver-haired mage replied: [It is you who control the weapons, not us mages. Commander Luo Wenjie, I trust that you already know a way to defeat this horde of frenzied monsters?]
[This is not to help the World Tree but to help yourselves. We are supporters of one another, and not differentiated by hierarchy and class.]
[The World Tree is not interested in building prestige, as it is known.]
Luo Wenjie smiled.
Twenty minutes later, Practitioners carrying stun grenades, flash grenades, and flamethrowers appeared in the arena.
Thirty-six minutes later, the mages stepped on the revolting path paved by human-faced locusts and finally set foot inside Candy Town.
After four hundred and sixty-three minutes—
Most of the human-faced locusts were killed, and very few remained. Although new monsters still spawned from time to time, the spawn rate was nowhere close to the elimination rate of the monsters, in the face of the sufficiently-equipped Extraordinaires.
The stun grenades and flash grenades caused all the human-faced locusts to collapse onto the ground, and the flamethrowers dealt as much damage as the mages’ magic damage. Even though the human-faced locusts attempted to launch multiple suicide attacks, none of the Extraordinaires died with the treatment and support from Mage.
However, they had been rotating amongst themselves in multiple shifts for over eight hours, and even though they were Extraordinaires, they still felt extremely exhausted.
Ren Suo noticed that some of the Extraordinaires had already left their respective teams and began collecting the remains left behind in the town. In particular, they put in all their efforts to break down all the remaining houses of candy.
In the mystery realm, there might be things that the mages did not need, but were relatively useful in the real world. One of the reasons why the nations on Earth were willing to send their Extraordinaire forces into the mystery realm could be because they wanted to acquire such resources first.
The victory this time was quite a bit of a fluke. In fact, the challenge in that arena was merely due to the ‘large-scale damage ability’. In the typical arenas, the regeneration ability and defense ability of the bosses were high enough to defend against the firearms from Earth. They would not be afraid of the stun grenades and flash grenades at all—since most of their attacks were full-map attacks, visual and auditory hindrances would not impact them in any way.
When the mage killed the last human-faced locust, the corpses of all the locusts in the arena suddenly began to vibrate!
[Wah—-]
[OMG OMG OMG!]
It was difficult for people who had not experienced such a situation before to understand the horror.
A brief comparison would be the feeling when an ordinary person woke up to find the bed filled with slimy cockroaches, but not only that—the person would open his eyes to see the wall, the floor, the ceiling, the lights, and the windows of the room all brown in color. As the person began yelling in horor, he would feel something crawling into his mouth–
Indeed, that was a similar situation to what the Extraordinaires were faced with: the human-faced locusts which had been killed, burned, and torn into pieces, suddenly fluttered in the sky. As if following a tide, they flew and gathered in the center of the town.
Ren Suo was so shocked that he covered his mouth and took a deep breath as well.
Even he could not stand the sight of the locusts.
“Thankfully, I’m behind the screen…”
After a moment, the congregated locust corpses solidified together and shrank. Finally, it turned into a cute pair of siblings who gave of a sweet scent, as if they were made of candy.
The silver-haired mage approached them and saw tears on their faces. However, the tears they shed were golden-colored, sugary liquid.
[Salvation]!
On the screen, heart-stirring memories of the past of the candy siblings flashed:
[That fateful year, the entire area plunged into a famine due to a locust plague.]
[A couple decided to abandon a pair of siblings—their own children—in the forest. The reason they did that was simple: the children were too young, and no one would buy them even if they put them on sale.]
[The abandoned siblings were too young to even find food for themselves, and very soon, they felt extreme hunger.]
[The two siblings recalled the candies which their mother used to feed them.]
[In their memories, the candies tasted extremely sweet, and their laughter were also filled with happiness.]
[As the memories lingered on their taste buds, their hunger became even more unbearable.]
[At that time, they saw an incredible cup.]
[In order not to feel hungry again, they longed for food.]
[How sweet. The brother licked his sister, and the sister licked her brother. Perhaps it was because of their memories, their bodies turned into candy.]
[After they were full, they did not only care for themselves. They had the strength to return home, and wanted their parents to fill their stomachs by eating them.]
[By doing so, could they return to the happier times when laughter filled the air?]
[However, when they returned home, they were chased away by their parents and townspeople instead. They thought that the siblings had become monsters and had returned to take their revenge. Neither did they dare to taste the siblings—tales of monsters and what was left of the reason in them only made them chase the siblings away.]
[The desperate siblings returned to the forest. They hugged each other and cried, but even their tears were sweet.]
[After some time, the locusts which caused the famine all gathered on their bodies.]
[However, the siblings felt extremely happy–]
[There was finally a place where they could be accepted and not be hated by people, even if that was the stomach of the locusts.]
[At that time, the incredible Holy Grail appeared once again.]
[The siblings made another wish: they wanted a family, and they did not want to be lonely.]
[Three days later, everyone in the town was completely devoured by the horrifying locusts.]
[The locusts were able to excrete the candy in solid and liquid form. They made those sugars into houses and arranged them neatly, making the area look like a town…]
[Whenever a traveler passed by, the locusts would emerge and capture the traveler. Before long, a new locust would appear in the house.]
[The human faces of the locusts should be proof that the wishes of the siblings had come true—finally, they had so many family members who were inseparable.]
A system message appeared: [The Candy Siblings have been successfully granted salvation.]
“What on earth? This wallpaper is really…”
“Tsk, tsk.” Ren Suo snorted—but that was his only reaction. He was already in his twenties and would not get so excited by seeing an obscene image.
At the least, it had to be a film to spark his interest.
Nevertheless, who was that guy in the iron seat?
At that juncture, the young man on the iron seat looked up slightly, in the direction of the mage.
However, the gaze in his eyes seemed like it could pierce through spatial dimensions, from the game into reality. It seemed as if he could see Ren Suo, who was only wearing his boxers, lying on the couch, and playing the game!
The man said: [This is interesting. Although the gem cannot be enchanted with too powerful magic, it is still able to cast ‘visual illusion’. I thought that it would be sufficient to conceal everything.]
He laughed and continued: [The mages under the World Tree live up to their name, indeed.]
What did he mean? Ren Suo looked at the other people on the screen and found that they were not watching Luo Wenjie at all. At the most, a speech bubble appeared above some of their heads in their confusion:
[Did the necklace on that Xuan Nation man glow just now?]
[Is that an Extraordinary accessory?]
[That was a huge energy wave, what did he do?]
None of them could see the hole in the space!
Was the hole in the space invisible?
Ren Suo thought of what the man in the iron seat said. If what he said was true, then the space hole might have been concealed with an ability called [Visual Illusion]. It could be deduced from the name of the ability that it was able to conceal the presence of the space hole from others!
In that case, why was Mage able to see the space hole?
Ren Suo quickly understood—Mage might not actually be able to see the space hole. Instead, it was Ren Suo himself, as the player, who saw it.
The ‘invisibility’ effect of Visual Illusion seemed to be achieved through distorting light rays. As such, anyone who made use of light rays to see should theoretically be affected.
However, what was Ren Suo’s perspective?
It was a third-person perspective!
At the third-person level, abilities that affected the first-person perspective would be meaningless to that!
However, as the man in the iron seat was not actually inside the arena, his name was not shown above his head.
However, it was sufficient for the silver-haired mage to put up his act. He said: [It’s a pleasure to meet you, Strong Warrior of Xuan Nation. Your seat is truly stunning.]
It did not seem overboard for the mage to say that he was a ‘Strong Warrior’, given that he could tear a hole through space, and it also sounded like he could enchant accessories with magic.
The man in the iron seat smiled slightly, as if thinking about something. Then, he turned the computer screen on his right side away.
‘Too late, I already figured out that you are from the outside.’
The silver-haired mage asked: [Can you send people in?]
The man in the iron seat shook his head and replied: [No. There is a space barrier preventing access into the mystery realm—or rather, the mystery realm has not integrated completely with this world, so all space abilities are meaningless to the mystery realm.]
[Having watched the videos recorded by the Changjiang Team, I fully believe what you mages have said. When the mystery realm descends completely, which is also when the space barrier disappears completely, the monsters of the mystery realm would be able to enter and exit Earth on their own, at their will…]
[The best way would be to clear the monsters in the mystery realm before it descends. It appears that you were the mage who cleansed the mystery realm that appeared in Xuan Nation?]
The silver-haired mage replied: [Indeed, I am.]
The man in the iron seat said: [Please, allow me to express my gratitude. After you purified the mystery realm, the space barrier disappeared completely, and the mystery realm fully descended onto Earth. Although monsters still continue to emerge in the mystery realm, they are unable to leave the mystery realm, while humans can enter and exit freely at will. All of this is thanks to you.]
The silver-haired mage replied: [Since you said that space abilities are not effective in the arena, how are you able to…]
The man in the iron seat laughed and explained: [I placed a positioning pin on him, and I barely managed to tear open a hole in the space by sensing the position of the pin. Although I am unable to bring anyone back to Earth or affect anything inside due to the restrictions of the mystery realm, video, and audio communication would not be a problem.]
Luo Wenjie finally had an opportunity to interrupt the conversation:
[Sir Mage, we are now able to request for more supplies from the outside. What equipment do you think we would need?]
Ren Suo hesitated slightly.
Since Practitioners were the only people who could enter the mystery realm, there were also restrictions on the weapons that they could bring in with them. They had to be in contact with their limbs, and at the most, they could bring in an additional backpack. It was not possible for a strong hulk to drag boxes of equipment into the mystery realm—the box would be stuck at the entrance. Such boxes could only be dragged out, but not into the mystery realm.
As such, there was only a limited number of items that the Practitioners could bring with them into the mystery realm, and most of them carried typical weapons for combat. Although the combat power was decent, it was not specific to the target.
However, because the mystery realm was separated from the outside world and they could only enter but not exit, there was no way for those who were outside to know what equipment was needed inside.
The man in the iron seat said: [I must remind you that the highest quality necklace which this guy is wearing is the only one whose coordinates I can connect to and open a space hole through. Even so, it will break upon usage, so you only have one chance to request for additional support.]
[Also, in another 97 seconds, this space hole will disappear. Please make your decision as quickly as possible.]
Was this a test?
The silver-haired mage replied: [It is you who control the weapons, not us mages. Commander Luo Wenjie, I trust that you already know a way to defeat this horde of frenzied monsters?]
[This is not to help the World Tree but to help yourselves. We are supporters of one another, and not differentiated by hierarchy and class.]
[The World Tree is not interested in building prestige, as it is known.]
Luo Wenjie smiled.
Twenty minutes later, Practitioners carrying stun grenades, flash grenades, and flamethrowers appeared in the arena.
Thirty-six minutes later, the mages stepped on the revolting path paved by human-faced locusts and finally set foot inside Candy Town.
After four hundred and sixty-three minutes—
Most of the human-faced locusts were killed, and very few remained. Although new monsters still spawned from time to time, the spawn rate was nowhere close to the elimination rate of the monsters, in the face of the sufficiently-equipped Extraordinaires.
The stun grenades and flash grenades caused all the human-faced locusts to collapse onto the ground, and the flamethrowers dealt as much damage as the mages’ magic damage. Even though the human-faced locusts attempted to launch multiple suicide attacks, none of the Extraordinaires died with the treatment and support from Mage.
However, they had been rotating amongst themselves in multiple shifts for over eight hours, and even though they were Extraordinaires, they still felt extremely exhausted.
Ren Suo noticed that some of the Extraordinaires had already left their respective teams and began collecting the remains left behind in the town. In particular, they put in all their efforts to break down all the remaining houses of candy.
In the mystery realm, there might be things that the mages did not need, but were relatively useful in the real world. One of the reasons why the nations on Earth were willing to send their Extraordinaire forces into the mystery realm could be because they wanted to acquire such resources first.
The victory this time was quite a bit of a fluke. In fact, the challenge in that arena was merely due to the ‘large-scale damage ability’. In the typical arenas, the regeneration ability and defense ability of the bosses were high enough to defend against the firearms from Earth. They would not be afraid of the stun grenades and flash grenades at all—since most of their attacks were full-map attacks, visual and auditory hindrances would not impact them in any way.
When the mage killed the last human-faced locust, the corpses of all the locusts in the arena suddenly began to vibrate!
[Wah—-]
[OMG OMG OMG!]
It was difficult for people who had not experienced such a situation before to understand the horror.
A brief comparison would be the feeling when an ordinary person woke up to find the bed filled with slimy cockroaches, but not only that—the person would open his eyes to see the wall, the floor, the ceiling, the lights, and the windows of the room all brown in color. As the person began yelling in horor, he would feel something crawling into his mouth–
Indeed, that was a similar situation to what the Extraordinaires were faced with: the human-faced locusts which had been killed, burned, and torn into pieces, suddenly fluttered in the sky. As if following a tide, they flew and gathered in the center of the town.
Ren Suo was so shocked that he covered his mouth and took a deep breath as well.
Even he could not stand the sight of the locusts.
“Thankfully, I’m behind the screen…”
After a moment, the congregated locust corpses solidified together and shrank. Finally, it turned into a cute pair of siblings who gave of a sweet scent, as if they were made of candy.
The silver-haired mage approached them and saw tears on their faces. However, the tears they shed were golden-colored, sugary liquid.
[Salvation]!
On the screen, heart-stirring memories of the past of the candy siblings flashed:
[That fateful year, the entire area plunged into a famine due to a locust plague.]
[A couple decided to abandon a pair of siblings—their own children—in the forest. The reason they did that was simple: the children were too young, and no one would buy them even if they put them on sale.]
[The abandoned siblings were too young to even find food for themselves, and very soon, they felt extreme hunger.]
[The two siblings recalled the candies which their mother used to feed them.]
[In their memories, the candies tasted extremely sweet, and their laughter were also filled with happiness.]
[As the memories lingered on their taste buds, their hunger became even more unbearable.]
[At that time, they saw an incredible cup.]
[In order not to feel hungry again, they longed for food.]
[How sweet. The brother licked his sister, and the sister licked her brother. Perhaps it was because of their memories, their bodies turned into candy.]
[After they were full, they did not only care for themselves. They had the strength to return home, and wanted their parents to fill their stomachs by eating them.]
[By doing so, could they return to the happier times when laughter filled the air?]
[However, when they returned home, they were chased away by their parents and townspeople instead. They thought that the siblings had become monsters and had returned to take their revenge. Neither did they dare to taste the siblings—tales of monsters and what was left of the reason in them only made them chase the siblings away.]
[The desperate siblings returned to the forest. They hugged each other and cried, but even their tears were sweet.]
[After some time, the locusts which caused the famine all gathered on their bodies.]
[However, the siblings felt extremely happy–]
[There was finally a place where they could be accepted and not be hated by people, even if that was the stomach of the locusts.]
[At that time, the incredible Holy Grail appeared once again.]
[The siblings made another wish: they wanted a family, and they did not want to be lonely.]
[Three days later, everyone in the town was completely devoured by the horrifying locusts.]
[The locusts were able to excrete the candy in solid and liquid form. They made those sugars into houses and arranged them neatly, making the area look like a town…]
[Whenever a traveler passed by, the locusts would emerge and capture the traveler. Before long, a new locust would appear in the house.]
[The human faces of the locusts should be proof that the wishes of the siblings had come true—finally, they had so many family members who were inseparable.]
A system message appeared: [The Candy Siblings have been successfully granted salvation.]
