Chapter 64 - 58: Hidden Attributes, the Foggy Void Realm Opens

Chapter 64: Chapter 58: Hidden Attributes, the Foggy Void Realm Opens

"Thank you, Lord! You’ve given me a new life!" Hellish Roar knelt on one knee, his eyes filled with loyalty as he looked at the human before him.

Shen Xing nodded in approval. "Well done. This is also a commendation for your achievements in battle."

"The same goes for the other warriors of the territory. Strive to become stronger, constantly improve yourselves, and contribute."

"And I will help you break through your limits, just as I did for Hellish Roar and Blood Roar."

Upon hearing this, the group of Beastmen held their breath, their eyes filled with intense desire.

Given their toddler-like intelligence, they probably couldn’t grasp anything too complex.

But they understood one thing: their Lord had said that if they worked hard, they would get the chance to become as powerful as the other two Beastmen.

Even the mindless skeletons and Inferior Demons felt their morale surge, filled with a new motivation.

[Your encouragement has increased the Talent of all Soldier Types in the territory by +20 for 48 hours.]

(Note: Talent is a Hidden Attribute that affects the speed of learning Skills, the absorption rate of Soul Stones, the probability of awakening a Talent, etc.)

...

’Huh? A boost to Talent? And it’s a Hidden Attribute?’

This was the first time Shen Xing had ever seen such an attribute.

Filled with curiosity, he exited the game and went to the forums to look it up.

Just as the system prompt indicated, [Talent] was a Hidden Attribute and wasn’t directly displayed on the stat panel.

In addition, there was also [Charisma], which could influence an NPC’s initial favorability and increase the trigger probability of hidden quests.

And then there was [Luck], which affected the Success Rate of breakthroughs and the chance of triggering rare encounters, among others.

These Hidden Attributes were all very important, and extremely difficult to increase.

’This empty promise... no, this morale boost gave all my Soldier Types +20 Talent. A pleasant surprise.’

Just then, his phone vibrated gently in his pocket. Xia Wanyin had sent a voice message.

He listened to it: "Shen Xing, are you online? Let’s go take on the Silver Holy Land today!"

Shen Xing could hear the excitement in her voice; she seemed really eager.

"Er... I’m busy for the next few days. If you can’t wait, you can go by yourself."

He was now 100% confident he could conquer the Silver Holy Land, but he wasn’t planning on doing it today.

This was because Hellish Roar had already reached Level 9, and the next step was to prepare the materials for his breakthrough to Tier Two Extraordinary Level.

And those materials were located in the Foggy Void Realm.

So today, he planned to let the Beastman get used to his new Boss Level Power, so he could unleash his full strength tomorrow.

Hearing he didn’t have time, Xia Wanyin sounded a little disappointed. "Oh, never mind then. I’ll wait until you’re free and we can go together."

Shen Xing didn’t reply.

He put his glasses back on and gave the [Black Water War Axe] to Hellish Roar.

As for the other Steel-Cutting Double-Bladed Axe he had, he passed it down, bestowing it upon the Beastman who had killed the most enemies.

Then, he lit the Horse Lantern and led Blood Roar and Dahou on a few exploratory laps around the territory.

After three hours, he had obtained a little over a hundred Soul Stones in total.

Compared to grinding mobs at the Black Water River, where he could get three to four hundred Soul Stones a day, the difference was quite large.

But he also knew that such opportunities didn’t come along often.

Besides, the Naga Priestess had told them they couldn’t go back to the Black Water River to kill Dark Naga anymore.

Otherwise, they might provoke an even more terrifying existence in the river.

As for what that existence was, she didn’t say.

Just mentioning it made the Naga Priestess’s face turn pale, as if it were a deep taboo.

Shen Xing decided that once things were settled in the Foggy Void Realm, he would expand his exploration range to see if he could find a new grinding spot.

He quickly completed his daily quests for the day and distributed the Soul Stones to his soldiers.

Shen Xing took off his glasses, his view switching back to his rental apartment.

He boiled a pot of dumplings for dinner.

Then he went back to bed, opened his phone, logged into the forums, and researched a large amount of information about the ’Foggy Void Realm’.

He didn’t fall into a deep sleep until one or two in the morning.

...

...

「Meanwhile, in the Land of Mist.」

The thick black Fog rolled like an ocean tide, seeming to swallow everything.

In a certain corner, a pillar of fire shot into the sky from a crude territory.

Wooden huts were engulfed in flames, surrounded by the charred, hunched corpses lying scattered about.

They had green skin and protruding fangs, looking like goblin Soldier Types.

Amidst this pile of corpses, a voluptuous, mature woman from the Middle East Region was collapsed on the ground, her eyes filled with profound terror.

"N-no... don’t kill me..." she stammered, stumbling backward, her voice trembling.

"Oh? It seems you already understand that if you die in the game, you die in reality."

A flippant voice sounded from behind her as a young man with short brown hair walked out.

Gideon slowly approached her, a flippant smile on his lips. "Good. Saves me the trouble of explaining."

The woman, still terrified, trembled and asked, "Wh-what are you going to do?"

"Heh heh..." Gideon chuckled and asked, "Do you want to live?"

"Yes..." the woman replied without hesitation.

"Then let me have some fun with you."

Gideon stared at her provocative figure, his eyes filled with undisguised lust. "I’ve never tasted a woman from your country before."

The woman froze for a moment, then, realizing what he meant, a blush crept onto her mature face. "This... this is a game."

"So what if it’s a game?" Gideon said casually. "It’s a one-hundred-percent synchronization. The sensations in here are exactly the same as in reality."

The woman slowly lowered her head, her fingers clawing at the ground, seemingly in the throes of a fierce internal struggle.

"Gideon, that’s enough." The red-haired woman beside him couldn’t bear to watch any longer. "It’s one thing for you to prey on these Novice Lords, but there’s no need to humiliate her like this."

"Oh?" Gideon turned his head. "Reina, you’re a member of my territory. We have a contract between us. Are you defying my will now?"

The red-haired woman didn’t speak, merely staring at him coldly with her amber eyes.

Being stared at like that, Gideon knew he wouldn’t get his way today.

’This damn woman! She’s my subject, yet she repeatedly defies me, her Lord.’

’If it weren’t for your great combat strength, I would have kicked you out of the territory long ago.’

’Just you wait. Once I step into the Extraordinary realm, I’ll take you down too and let you have a taste of me!’

Gideon snorted and looked away.

After that, he lost interest. He walked up to the mature woman and said coldly, "Transfer two million to this card. US Dollars. Or die."

"T-two million!?" the mature woman stammered. "I... I don’t have any money."

"No money? Heh heh... that’s fine too." Gideon stared at her greedily. "You still have plenty of valuable things here."

As the woman watched in terror, several shadows rapidly closed in.

A few minutes later, Gideon left the territory with his Werewolf Legion.

"Heh heh, I’ve finally scraped together enough money to buy the materials for an Extraordinary Level breakthrough."

Gideon weighed the Unit Nest in his hand, his eyes full of delight. "With this, no one within a twenty-kilometer radius will be my match."

"This time, I’m going to make that guy in the wheelchair feel what it’s like to have his whole body caught in traps!"

...

...

「The next day.」

Today was the 15th day since Shen Xing started playing this game—exactly half a month.

Still groggy, he was woken up by his phone ringing. It was a call from an unknown six-digit number.

"Hello, is this Mr. Shen Xing?"

A mature, middle-aged man’s voice came from the other end of the line.

"This is he," Shen Xing said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up in bed.

"I’m with the Jiang City Anomaly Handling Bureau. I’ve been sent to escort you to the anomaly site. The car is already downstairs."

The man’s voice was calm and very polite.

Shen Xing remembered Zhou Zheng mentioning yesterday that someone would come to pick him up.

’I didn’t expect them to be here so early. They’re being surprisingly formal about it.’

"Okay, I’ll be down in a moment."

He hung up the phone and slowly looked out the window.

Today was the day he would officially enter the Foggy Void Realm and compete for rankings against the other Novice Lords from Jiang City.

’After half a month of development, it’s time to see if I can secure a good rank.’