Chapter 218: Despicable Foreigner

Chapter 218: Chapter 218: Despicable Foreigner

Following this chilling clue, he continued to work backward.

The Sword Scabbard’s background clearly stated it was related to an "ancient Red Dragon."

And the only thing about him currently that had a direct connection to a Red Dragon was his Second Source Material, [Crimson Dragon], and the Dragon Descendant bloodline it generated under his Specialty.

And the birth of all this came from the Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique he practiced.

To master this Breathing Combat Technique, he had to rely on his red Talent, [Hevagmir’s Boiling], which allowed him to infinitely restore his stamina.

What a perfect chain of calculations.

Each link was interlocked, leaving no room for error.

Even the smallest choice was paving the way for the final objective.

This even implied that the Heroic Spirit Baptism, ostensibly proposed by Uncle Rein, had actually been part of the mastermind’s calculations all along.

No wonder Uncle Rein had been saved by Molok when he was on the brink of death.

They had paid such a high price and laid the groundwork for so long.

It was all likely to guide him toward that destined ending at this specific point in time, during this Heroic Spirit Baptism.

Since all the clues pointed to the Sword Scabbard related to the Red Dragon...

Then the mastermind’s plot must have deep ties to the Pandragon Royal Family of the Iris Kingdom.

As Lance thought of this, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

Another piece of information flashed through his mind.

The mastermind had once interfered with the grafting of fates between the Legendary Adventurer Karen and the Star Night Witch Elisya.

’Could it be that the Legendary Adventurer Karen also has some kind of relationship with the Pandragon Royal Family?’

The mere thought of these mysteries, hidden deep in the mists of history, was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Fortunately, however...

...by relying on his talent for revival and the boons of his panel, he had already successfully interfered with his arranged fate multiple times.

’That should have been enough to foil the majority of the mastermind’s plot, right?’

Since that Sword Scabbard involved so much...

Lance was secretly glad that he hadn’t impulsively chosen the King’s Choice Sword just now.

That one was also related to the Red Dragon.

For his current, unfledged self, it was best to stay as far away as possible from anything connected to the Pandragon Royal Family.

Having figured out all the crucial points, Lance tightened his grip on the spear in his hand and gave his final response in his heart.

[You have selected the Treasure: Spear of the Lake]

[Reputation acquisition rules have been determined...]

[Detected that your special Source Material "Foreigner" (partially locked state) is affected by the Star Realm’s High-dimensional Energy and is now extremely active...]

Reading this prompt, Lance’s heart stirred.

’So the fluctuation of the Source Material I’d felt in my body earlier wasn’t an illusion.’

Even without being fully unlocked, the special Source Material, [Foreigner], stimulated by this unique dimensional energy, was already able to exert a partial ability to interfere with rules.

Lance suppressed his excitement and continued to gaze expectantly at the screen of light.

[Foreigner is attempting to use its Trait to overwrite the underlying rules of the current trial...]

[Overwrite successful!]

[Trial final objective has been forcibly changed: Travel the continent to reach King’s Canyon, and in the process, successfully accumulate 1,000 "General Concept Reputation Value."]

[Note: As a traveler from a foreign land, you need not demand humble faith, nor care for cheap gratitude. When you are no longer content to be a quiet observer, your every footstep will become an indelible mark upon this world!]

[Whether you become a benevolent Saint King revered by all, or a ruthless Tyrant whose name silences crying children.]

[As long as your name is remembered and sung by the masses, you will become a Legend!]

[Ever since backstabbing the Divine Chaos in that point-matching game, Foreigner seems to have become addicted to and started enjoying the thrill of cheating. —A Despicable Foreigner]

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the altered trial-clearing conditions, Lance couldn’t help but curse out loud.

’This is a fucking cheat!’

’This is just a single-player projected instance, and it’s already this awesome.’

’In the future, if I get into a large-scale multiplayer instance, wouldn’t this Source Material that can forcibly modify the rules be mind-blowingly amazing?’

It seemed his understanding of Source Materials was still too shallow.

These Source Materials were indeed successfully activated the moment he took on his Profession.

It was just that his current Level was too low, and his soul’s capacity and physical strength were limited by the rules of the Material Realm.

This caused the Foreigner Source Material to remain in a suppressed, dormant state.

But once he entered a dimension like the Star Realm, the Traits of [Foreigner] would pop out to give him some help.

Just looking at the effect of this alteration, Lance knew just how broken this Source Material was.

The so-called [General Concept Reputation Value].

It was worlds apart from the [Positive Reputation Value] originally required by the trial.

Previously, if he protected civilians and then demanded tribute, it would have been difficult to gain their positive gratitude.

But now...

...the civilians’ Fear and curses toward him would also be indiscriminately converted into Reputation Value by the system.

This was like taking a traditional RPG where you could only grind for favorability step-by-step...

...and forcibly modding it into a high-freedom sandbox game where you could cause destruction everywhere!

Although the prerequisite for gaining reputation was still to abide by the Lake Spear’s framework of "equivalent protection,"...

...with the heaven-defying loophole of [General Concept Reputation], dozens of unscrupulous playstyles instantly popped into Lance’s mind.

After all, since this Trial World originally required gaining Positive Reputation, the system must have populated the villages, towns, and cities along the way with many disgusting NPC groups who loved to guilt-trip and were insatiably greedy.

If Lance were just a "good person" struggling within the framework of Positive Reputation Value,

then when faced with these shitty situations, he would inevitably have to swallow his anger and be disgusted to the point of vomiting blood by these troublesome commoners.

But now the situation was completely different.

As long as he could break free from the moral shackles of worldly right and wrong at any time,

"Then don’t blame me... for taking the gloves off."

He couldn’t help but chuckle, and in high spirits, he twirled the heavy Lake Spear in his hand, creating a flourish in mid-air.

"What is it?"

Sensing the intense fluctuation in the spear wielder’s emotions, Ascalon immediately asked in his mind.

"It’s nothing. I just thought of something that makes me happy."

Lance gave a perfunctory reply.

He quickly turned his attention to the important matters at hand.

"Right, I saw that this trial requires not only traveling the continent but also accumulating reputation."

"This doesn’t seem like a task that can be completed in a short time. What about the Material Realm...?"

But before Lance could finish his question, Ascalon explained.

It turned out that the flow of time between the Star Realm space of the Heroic Spirit Baptism and the real Material Realm had a massive ratio difference.

Approximately 720:1.

In other words, if he spent an entire month struggling through this Star Realm instance,

only a single hour would have passed in the real White River City.

Therefore, all previous Heroic Spirit Baptisms have had a hidden elimination rule that was never explicitly written down.

If a Trial Taker spent a month in this world and still couldn’t complete the trial,

then as the energy for the Heroic Spirit Baptism Ceremony in the real world ran out and the gate closed,

that unlucky participant would be forcibly kicked out of the trial by the Star Realm’s Repulsive Force, marking a complete failure of their baptism.

"Time is tight."

Ascalon’s solemn voice sounded.

"Over the next month, you will travel and do quests during the day. At night, I will do everything I can to help you build a solid foundation in your Spear Technique."

"Since you’ve never touched a long spear before, I can’t directly teach you those Advanced Spear Combat Techniques yet."

"Because all those Skills require you to form specific Specialties before they can be learned."

"Also, you need to be mentally prepared."

"In the Star Realm, none of the results from your training will be synchronized and brought back to the real Material Realm."

"Here, you also cannot form any tangible Skill Specializations through training."

"This is a law unique to the Material Realm, one that not even gods can easily cross."

"However, don’t be too discouraged."

Ascalon’s tone softened slightly.

"Every life-and-death battle you experience here, the judgment of combat timing, and the memories of your training experience—all of it will be completely imprinted upon your soul."

"As long as you have the experience from a month of training here,"

"when you return to the Material Realm and pick up a spear again, you’ll be able to make up for all the lost progress very quickly."

"I understand."

Lance gripped the spear’s shaft, his eyes revealing his eagerness to try.

"There’s no time to waste. Let’s start learning tonight."

When he learned about the time dilation, an astonishing idea had occurred to him.

’If someone could train their body frantically for years, or even decades, in a completely safe environment like the Star Realm,’

’wouldn’t they be instantly overpowered when they came out and returned to the real world?’

Now, after hearing Ascalon’s explanation, he understood that the Star Realm could not, after all, completely replace the real physical tempering of the Material Realm.

This limitation had its pros and cons, but it could be seen as maintaining the balance of the world.

Moreover, this was his first time encountering Knowledge in the domain of Professionals.

It turned out that those astonishingly powerful advanced combat techniques couldn’t just be learned by anyone who got their hands on a Skill Book.

They all required corresponding prerequisite physical Specialties to serve as a foundation.

If one were to forcibly activate those advanced Skills that exceeded the body’s limits without the protection of the prerequisite Specialties,

not only would they be unable to unleash the proper destructive power,

but they would even suffer a backlash from Ether Energy, causing irreversible and severe damage to their own bodies.

It seemed there were truly no shortcuts in this world to becoming a top-tier expert.

However, as Lance began to practice the Spear Technique Ascalon taught him, he saw a prompt pop up on his panel.

[Frost Wind Tail Whip Gun Skill: Skill Level +1]

Huh?

Huh?!