Heroes' Prison

Chapter 740 - 705: Undercurrents Surge

After watching the annual festival, Huang Yi returned to his prison cell, lay comfortably on the bed, and had a good sleep before logging in again the next day.

When he logged in, he reappeared in a hidden corner of that courtyard, but his body was slightly larger now. He had recovered to level 3, a bit stronger than the little kitten he used to be.

He immediately used the Oracle from the storage ring, directly passing through the highest level of the Tower of Pantheons that current players could clear—floor 170. After ten consecutive clearances, he gained a ton of Experience Points. However, these Experience Points were temporarily stored in the Oracle and could not yet be added to his character.

Other players might have fallen far behind after reincarnating, but Huang Yi had the powerful Commandment of the Pantheons, and even with reincarnation, it wouldn’t much delay his level-grinding progress. However, in a reincarnated state, the Experience Points accumulated and would only take effect after the reincarnation ended. He couldn’t level up by hunting monsters now.

After taking a quick look around, Huang Yi noticed that the five girls were not in the house, and the courtyard door was open.

He decided to leave this place; after all, he was not really a Spirit Cat, and intruding into others’ private lives was not quite appropriate.

He tiptoed quietly out of the courtyard door and into the alley outside.

Turning his little head around, he suddenly didn’t know where to go.

In the future, he had two places to go: one was to have his Incarnation summoned, then board the Hero Guild’s Dragon Fang Battleship, and return to the Hero’s Continent.

The other destination was to go to the Central Continent after his main body recovered its Holy Domain strength of over 100 levels.

There were many things he needed to do in the Central Continent, like searching for the Spirit of Thunder and Lightning, studying at the Oskan Royal Academy, resolving the grudge with the Half-Beast Holy Land, and obtaining another part of the Thunder Guard Bracers, among other tasks.

At only level 3 now, it was too early to go anywhere; he would have to wait.

"Meow~ Sweetie! Where are you?! Wuu~" Just then, Huang Yi heard a girl’s crying from the entrance to the alley.

He turned his head and immediately saw a woman dressed in a white priest’s robe, looking around, seemingly searching for something.

There were tear stains on her face, she looked like a pear blossom bathed in rain, filled with worry.

This woman was Yue Yue, the one who had taken him home that time.

"Could she be looking for me?" Huang Yi thought to himself. He had only known Yue Yue for less than half a day, and yet she was crying because she couldn’t find him.

At that moment, Yue Yue suddenly saw Huang Yi in the alley, her expression stunned!

She rushed over, saying as she approached, "You little rascal, so you were here! You scared me to death!"

Her voice made no attempt to hide her joy at regaining what was lost, as if she had found something incredibly important.

She arrived in front of Huang Yi, scooped him up in her arms, and pressing him tightly against her face, she said with a cry in her voice, "You little troublemaker, you little imp! We’ve been looking for you all day! Where did you run off to? What if someone else killed you?!"

"You are not allowed to run away anymore, okay? We will buy you lots and lots of fish and fatten you up beautifully." Yue Yue dried her tears, kissed Huang Yi on the forehead, stood up, and carried him back to the courtyard.

As she walked, Yue Yue messaged the other girls, telling them that Huang Yi had been found and that they could come home.

Soon, Haitang, Shuimo Qingxiang, Tingxi, and the others rushed back from outside, each one out of breath, as if they had been searching for Huang Yi throughout the town for a long time.

The one who returned with Haitang, another girl just as plump and still with a childlike air about her, was biting on a candied haw stick—she must have been the high school student Tiantian Shuijiao.

"Oh my! My Little Slayer, where did you go to cause mischief? I’m glad we finally found you!" Haitang was the most excited, immediately rushing over and taking Huang Yi from Yue Yue’s arms, holding him tightly.

The rest of the girls took turns hugging Huang Yi, even Tingxi, the tomboy, was no exception.

They soon calmed their breathing and began to chat about everyday life.

"Yue Yue, it looks like we’re not going to find a job, huh! The results of the last interview were not great either, this is already the tenth company!" After a while, Haitang turned the conversation to job searching, looking rather dejected, "If it really comes to it, I’ll just have to go back home with my boyfriend and get married. Yue Yue, I don’t want to leave you!" Saying this, she snuggled tightly against Yue Yue’s shoulder, her face full of reluctance.

"Did that bookworm Qing Yan actually agree to marry you?" Yue Yue exclaimed in surprise, finding it somewhat unbelievable.

"Yes!" Haitang said, patting her chest, proudly stating, "I’m a female delinquent, he couldn’t escape from the palm of my hand! If we can’t find a job, getting married first isn’t so bad, considering our age. I’ll have a baby with him to play with you guys! It’ll be perfect to have fun together with Little Slayer." After speaking, she patted Huang Yi on the head again.

Huang Yi quietly nestled in Yue Yue’s embrace, listening to the conversation among the girls.

They were discussing everyday matters that countless people of their age were dealing with, the most ordinary affairs. Yet, to Huang Yi, these things seemed incredibly distant, as though existing in two separate worlds. He had envied such a life countless times.

Actually, becoming a common player wasn’t so bad: graduate when it’s time to graduate, find a job when it’s time to find a job, marry when it’s time to marry. Everything would proceed in an orderly fashion, not leaving one feeling lost.

But Huang Yi hadn’t been released from prison yet, so this ordinary life was destined to remain a fantasy. He suddenly recalled the common player friends he had met after arriving in The Second World.

Those from Thornbush City—Biyue Qingkong and her chubby brother carried away by the wind; Ruoshui from the Xuanyuan Guild; the two from Warcraft City, Ghost Shadow and Ghost Speech; and now these five girls.

The times he spent playing with these common players were always filled with tranquility and harmony.

"Ah! That’s great! Haha!" Just then, Haitang suddenly burst out laughing with joy, jumping excitedly in place.

"What’s the matter?" Shuimo Qingxiang asked crisply with curiosity upon seeing Haitang’s elation, her cute face showing a trace of bewilderment.

Haitang’s eyebrows danced with excitement as she said, "Just now a friend from our Godslayer Support Association sent me a message. In the recent competition for the Best Warrior Award, Godslayer beat Dao Feng and won the prize! Haha!" She then excitedly patted Huang Yi’s little head, saying, "Little Slayer, you’re amazing!"

Huang Yi was startled; he was only now learning of this from Haitang. He knew he was nominated for this award, but hadn’t paid much attention to it, thinking it wasn’t one of the top five prestigious awards and therefore not of substantial benefit.

Actually, the Best Warrior Award is a major prize, second only to the top five awards. There are seven great class types in The Second World with a total of 100 common classes. With many common class branches just for the warrior alone, there’s an award for every common class branch. The Best Warrior Award, however, is a collective prize for all branches, including a vast number of warrior class rare classes.

This type of award exists for each major class, and the winners are proclaimed the world’s number one of their respective classes. For example, the world’s number one hunter, Giant Bear; the world’s number one knight, Thunder God; the world’s number one mage, Pope, and so on. They are referred to as such because they have won such awards.

Previously, the world’s number one warrior title belonged to Dao Feng, but from now on, that title would fall on Huang Yi. For the next year, he would be the world’s number one warrior.

"There’s also the Best Wealth Award to look forward to. Godslayer has been nominated for it as well!" Haitang said with a laugh, clenching her chubby fists excitedly.

"He’s nominated for that award too? Isn’t Godslayer known just for fighting and killing?" Yue Yue exclaimed in surprise.

Haitang shook her head, "I don’t know either. I was also surprised when I saw the nomination list a while ago. I have no idea how he did it."

"It’s because of the betting during the martial arts competition; I won a lot of money!" Huang Yi silently said to himself.

...

Days passed by, one by one, and The Second World’s annual grand ceremony handed out dozens of awards each day. Masters from all over the world competed for their own honors.

But the super-first masters were waiting for the last day’s five top-level grand awards! That was the real battlefield! The whole world’s attention was on it.

Yet behind the spotlight of public opinion, the Hero’s Continent welcomed a batch of uninvited guests.

In recent days, the number of trade ships from Italy, Japan, and the United States heading to the Hero’s Continent had suddenly increased. Besides carrying a large quantity of trade goods, these ships also brought a significant number of players.

After entering the Hero’s Continent, they made no noticeable sound, quietly blending into the continent as if they were just here for sightseeing.

The Hero’s Continent wasn’t devoid of foreigners. Since the era of transoceanic trade began, players from various continents started interconnecting, with travel open to all places. Among them, the Hero’s Continent was the most popular destination because it contained many masters, and many international fans came here, hoping to witness the elegance of these masters. Thus, the people sent by these three countries did not attract attention.

In a short period of time, T.N.T, Miyamoto Musashi, and Pope had accumulated a large number of troops on the Hero’s Continent.

Besides, the Indian Continent, the Russian Continent, the Brazilian Continent, and others were all experiencing undercurrents. Some were vying for newly discovered lands overseas, while others were purging foreign powers from their own nations.

The Hero’s Continent was no exception. In recent days, the top-tier guilds that had been held hostage by Miyamoto Musashi were secretly plotting something.

Now, players had reached a relatively high stage of growth, with quite a few legendary equipment pieces appearing. However, the strategic resources needed to repair the durability of legendary equipment, such as the World Stones, Flowing Cloud Fabric, and Dragon Beast Skin, were very limited.

As these resources gradually depleted and became harder to find, people had no choice but to turn their eyes overseas, targeting the continents of other countries.

When players realized that leveling up was becoming increasingly slower, and Huang Yi had leveled up over ten times in just a few days through killing people in the national war on the Land of Dongying, countless individuals started to get restless.

An unprecedented world war was on the brink of eruption.