Chapter 100: Mission Accomplished (Please Bookmark for the New Week)

The next morning, after practicing his swordsmanship, Liu Zhi performed another summoning rite for the giant serpent skeleton and the dry lake, but there was no change to speak of.

Looking at the status panel, whose final countdown had already begun, Liu Zhi sighed. “Leave it to fate. Threading Spider Maiden, how many of the dispatched units have returned?”

“A total of seventeen teams have made contact. Six returned intact, nine came back with losses, and two teams have not returned yet.” Threading Spider Maiden gave an answer that was, unusually, brief and clear.

“Forget it. We will not wait for them. Vidnina, go out first and see whether any new giant serpents have entered the Golden City.”

Vidnina nodded at Liu Zhi and turned away at once, leaving the range of the Underworld Palace.

Then Liu Zhi glanced once more at the Underworld Palace, especially at the pair of red eyes that were beginning to hide themselves in the sky. “All units, return to your posts. Those with nothing to do, go back where you belong. We are leaving.”

When he finished speaking, he pressed his hand against the altar at his waist within the Underworld Palace, and in the next instant he reappeared at the pyramid in the Golden City.

As soon as he emerged, he saw Vidnina standing there with all four arms resting on her swords, looking around in every direction.

“Nothing happened?”

Vidnina shook her head, indicating that things were still safe for the time being.

Only then did Liu Zhi finally let out a long breath. He sat down on the pyramid steps. At the very moment he was about to leave, he at last felt a sense of relief. These one hundred and eighty days of gameplay had truly left him worn out.

He had already made up his mind: once he returned, he would not bother explaining to his family and friends where he had been all this time. He would rest properly, bury himself under the blankets, and sleep for seven full days and nights.

After waking, he would go out and eat and drink to his heart’s content. Hamburgers, barbecue, and cola all had to be on the list.

With such thoughts in mind, Liu Zhi’s gaze grew dazed.

He already felt as though a great many dishes were laid out before him.

But his illusion was quickly shattered. As the time reached zero, a new string of information popped up.

[Notice: Beginner Mission - Survival Game completed. This game has ended. The player will exit the game in ten seconds...]

[Notice: The player survived for a total of 180 days and completed the survival time limit, receiving one Survival Time Limit Pack.]

[Notice: During the survival game, the player obtained a city of his own, receiving one City Lord Reward Pack.]

[Notice: During the survival period, the player successfully acquired two secondary professions (Supernatural Sailor, Apprentice Poison Master), receiving one Secondary Profession Pack (Lower Grade).]

[Notice: During the survival period, the player mastered seven active skills (Basic Sailor Swordsmanship...), receiving one Active Skill Pack (High Grade).]

[Notice: During the survival period, the player mastered fifteen passive skills (Magical Knowledge...), receiving one Passive Skill Pack (High Grade), and the title: Learning Master (experience consumed while learning -5%).]

[Notice: During the survival period, the player obtained one servant with self-awareness (Vidnina), receiving one Charm Pack (Basic).]

[Notice: During the survival period, the player killed one player from a hostile faction, receiving one Combat Pack (Basic).]

[Notice: Beginner Mission score 131 (Survival Reward 30 points, City Reward 30 points, Secondary Profession Reward 8+2 points, Active Skill Reward 3*7 points, Passive Skill Reward 2*15 points, Servant Reward 5 points, Killing a hostile faction player 5 points), overall rank: A]

[Player exiting game. Connecting to Bonewind Academy in the Southern Marsh Plane...]

At first, Liu Zhi was still happy when he saw those messages. He thought his score was actually too low. Among his active and passive skills, many had already been raised to the Supernatural level, and that was no easy feat. Who knew why the game system had not given him a few more points?

If he had known that simply learning something would grant skill points, he might as well have stayed in Tortuga Port, paid people directly, and learned a few hundred passive skills from them. Why would he have needed to spend more than a hundred days living in a place like the Golden City?

But when he saw the final line, all those thoughts were instantly cast aside.

What sort of situation was this? Why was it connecting to the Southern Marsh Plane? Why the hell was it connecting to some Bonewind Academy?

Wasn’t completing the beginner mission supposed to send a person home?

I came from the Sea Blue Star in the Galactic Arm Plane. Even if you can’t send me straight home, you could at least send me back to Sea Blue Star.

Yet no matter how much Liu Zhi complained or struggled, the exit route from the game had already opened.

After a flash of white light, Liu Zhi and Vidnina beside him were dragged into the black hole behind it.

After Liu Zhi vanished, the Golden City slowly returned to its former tranquility, though by then no giant serpents would ever appear along the riverbank again.

Since there was no longer any food in the Golden City for the giant serpents to eat, their limited intelligence led them to believe that the city had secretly broken its contract with them. The giant serpents that had once guarded the waterways at the city’s entrances eventually left that place and entered the nearby jungle.

Compared with the fruit they had once eaten every day, life in the jungle gave the giant serpents far greater appetites.

After a period of fierce chaos and slaughter, the giant serpents divided the vast jungle among themselves.

The territories of each serpent were kept at a considerable distance from one another, lest they start fighting over food.

However, the tradition of going to the waterfall every seven years to eat the Namda fruit was remembered by the giant serpents.

And this once-every-seven-years tradition became the only safe window for the tribes living in the jungle’s interior.

After all, the giant serpents had grown spoiled by the Golden City. They were no longer like ordinary snakes, able to eat a little and go one or two weeks without food.

They demanded to be full every day, and the large beasts in the jungle were simply not enough to feed them. Thus the tribespeople who lived in the jungle, along with those white-skinned outsiders who came of their own accord to explore it, became their prey.

At the same time, the Empire of West Saise also received news that Demon-Slaying General Katler had died in the jungle. According to the final intelligence they obtained, Katler had gone in search of a Golden City occupied by demons, a city said to contain the secret of immortality.

This news greatly interested the Emperor of West Saise, and he dispatched large numbers of troops to search for clues related to the Golden City.

Pirates from nearby ports were also itching for action. For a time, the atmosphere of dread in the jungle attracted new players into this world as well, but that was already another person’s story. As for our Liu Zhi, he was now soaking in black mire, not knowing whether he should cry or laugh.