Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 225: The Flame Duke

"I understand."

"In general terms, Spiritual Power is quite durable. Even with 1 point of Perception now, the drain won't be severe — that's passive Perception at work."

"But the Perception granted by a title isn't truly mine. So wearing one causes massive consumption the moment it's equipped."

"To put it simply: if I equip the Tracker title right now, my Perception becomes +3, and my Spiritual Power will be depleted within twenty seconds."

"But if I spend four Free Attribute Points to raise my Perception to 3 naturally, I can enjoy the same effect with dramatically lower consumption."

"Only what's truly yours is truly yours."

"It seems that continuing to raise Destiny Grid is very worthwhile indeed."

With that thought settled, Li Wei decisively activated one One-Star Stamina Card and two One-Star Strength Cards — boosting his Stamina to 270 and his Strength to 28. With the Bear Hunter title equipped, Strength would reach 29.

Now, Defense was the only attribute he hadn't pushed to Level 1 Awakening yet.

"Gurgle—"His stomach started growling again. And 28 Strength left him slightly unsteady — when he stepped out of the tent, he nearly pulled the whole thing down with him.

"Cousin, there's a problem — more and more crows are showing up. They've been cawing since dawn. I think it's going to attract trouble. Should we have Adai go up and have a word with them?"

Leon came over and said this in a strange tone. The noise was getting too conspicuous. As he spoke, he slipped two One-Star Agility Cards across in a transaction so smooth it was almost invisible.

Adai?

Li Wei quietly pocketed the two One-Star Agility Cards and glanced back at the creature hopping along behind him. Couldn't Leon see that Adai didn't even dare take off right now?

"Then we move. We'll head back to camp before evening — drop off the fish. Time is limited, we can't afford to waste it."

"Understood!"

Leon passed the order along. Everyone packed up quickly. The fish from the previous afternoon had been almost entirely eaten; this morning they'd only caught a dozen or so — nowhere near enough.

The group moved their camp eastward along the riverbank, leaving the old site to the crows.

After about ten kilometers, they found a slightly elevated position and set up again.

Thomas handled patrol. Leon and Zhang Jinjun fished. Zhao Xuanxuan boiled fish glue. Li Wei processed the catch.

Five people, five roles — smooth and efficient. The only nuisance was the crows, which quickly caught up with them again, circling and cawing endlessly. Li Wei was sorely tempted to shoot them all down.

By midday, Leon and Zhang Jinjun had pulled in over thirty more mutated river fish — an excellent haul. The river had even more mutated fish than the ruined town had mutated rats.

Good news: their food crisis was solved. A resource point was a resource point.

"Li Wei — trouble. Someone's coming!"

Thomas called out in a low voice.

Li Wei immediately waved Leon and Zhang Jinjun out of the water, called Adai into the air — and the moment Adai launched, every crow scattered in an instant, as if he were some kind of freak they wanted nothing to do with, and if he kept circling they might actually attack him.

Adai came right back down, spooked. Three-star hunting pet — you're an embarrassment, Big Bro.

But in that brief moment, Li Wei had already seen the newcomers through Adai's vision. Five Ability Users, apparently. Whether they'd been drawn by the crows or the smoke from the fire, he couldn't say.

They were less than a kilometer away.

Not a big problem.

Li Wei stayed calm. He washed his hands in the river, dried them on a cloth from the tent, then put on his Noble Crest Armor.

The others geared up in an orderly fashion as well. Talk if possible, fight if necessary.

Nothing to get worked up about.

And running into Ability Users in this world was practically inevitable. They'd been lighting fires and drawing in flocks of crows — it would have been strange if nobody noticed.

Soon the five Ability Users approached to within a hundred meters. Seeing Li Wei's group standing ready, they stopped immediately. The one in front called out: "We're wilderness mercenaries under the Flame Duke. We carry mercenary badges that prove our identity. Who are you?"

Huh. Surprisingly formal.

Leon, Thomas, and the others all looked at Li Wei. Li Wei found it a bit awkward, but stepped forward a dozen paces. "Pardon me, friends. I'm a wilderness mercenary under the Frost Duke. I also carry a mercenary badge that proves my identity. So — what can I do for you?"

The Frost Duke?!

Leon and Thomas exchanged deeply strange looks. Brother, your ability to make things up on the spot is genuinely impressive. They quietly readied themselves for a fight.

But to everyone's surprise, the five Ability Users across from them didn't react with suspicion at all. After exchanging glances among themselves, the one in front stepped forward. "Friend, no offense — but this is the Flame Duke's territory. By custom, we need to confirm whether you're natural humans. Of course, you're welcome to check us as well."

"Understood. That's the way of the wilderness — perfectly reasonable."

Li Wei waved a hand and invited them to proceed.

The Ability User stepped forward and studied the noble crest on Li Wei's Noble Crest Armor carefully, then nodded. He couldn't read it, but it looked impressive — so it had to be legitimate.

Then he produced a white, egg-sized crystal of unknown origin and held it close to Li Wei. In that moment, the crystal began to change color — first pale yellow, then deep yellow, then a light red.

What did that mean?

At the sight of the light red, the Ability User visibly relaxed, and his manner became noticeably warmer. "Friend, you weren't lying. You really are a stable, safe Ability User — and a qualified wilderness mercenary. Now it's your turn to check me."

With what, exactly?

But at that moment, several lines of text appeared before Li Wei's eyes.

[You have undergone a magical radiation assessment by a native Ability User of this world. Your current radiation value is 70. You have been infected with Level 1 Blood Plague. If your magical radiation value reaches 80, you will contract Level 2 Blood Plague. You need to wear the Rat Slayer title for at least 24 hours to reduce your radiation value below 50, or consume a One-Star Resistance Potion.]

[Reminder: once you contract Level 2 Blood Plague, you will become a low-level Ability User. If you contract Level 3 Blood Plague, you will become a Magic Zombie — at which point you will be judged as a violation, and your mission will be forcibly terminated and you will be returned to the main base.]

[Reminder: if your magical radiation value drops below 30, you will be attacked by Ability Users. If your magical radiation value reaches 0, a critical violation will be triggered.]

What?!

Now it all made sense. Completely.

So in this world, the zombies were in charge, and the survivors were the illegal ones running for their lives?

What a picture.

Actually — wasn't that exactly how it worked? In any zombie-apocalypse setting, weren't the zombies always chasing the survivors?

The difference here was that these Magic Zombies had intelligence. They'd built factions. The Flame Duke, the Frost Duke — all of it.

The Frost Duke Li Wei had just invented on the spot might actually exist.

The Ability User across from him was still waiting for his assessment. Li Wei placed his right hand over the noble crest on his left chest — and simultaneously switched to the Tracker title. In that instant, he felt as though he could see straight through this man's past and future... well, that was an exaggeration.

But the man's heart was like a fire dragon coiled inside him — surging with life force. Roughly one notch below the Mutant Rat King.

If the Rat King was a four-star minus, this person was definitely a three-star plus.

A second later, Li Wei switched back to the Dog Butcher title. Agility was what he needed — keeping it at 23 points at all times, conserving Stamina.

"Friend, you weren't lying either. You're also a stable, safe Ability User — and an even better wilderness mercenary than me. So — shall we continue checking everyone one by one, or shall we talk about something else? Honestly, we're in the middle of fishing and don't have much time to spare."

"Ha, I understand completely, friend. Your passing the check is enough — it's not like you're planning to enter the Flame Duke's fortress. Though from what I know, there's a very powerful mutant crocodile hiding in this river. A wilderness mercenary team tried to take it down before and failed. Could it be that you've already hunted it?"

"Yes. We paid a significant price — three of our companions are permanently resting here." Li Wei said it with a hint of regret, though his face showed no grief whatsoever. His eyes were cold.

The Ability User's interest was visibly piqued. "Friend, you really are a formidable wilderness mercenary team. Would you be interested in registering as wilderness mercenaries in the Flame Duke's territory? The Flame Duke issues wilderness bounties every month with very generous rewards. In fact, I'm even thinking of inviting you to join our team right now — we could do something big together. Far better than catching fish."

Oh?

You're quite enthusiastic.

"That might not be the best idea, friend. The most important rule of wilderness bounties — and the most dangerous pitfall — is an uneven split of the spoils. So thank you for the kind offer. Would you like a couple of fish?"

"No, no, friend — you misunderstand me. If it were an ordinary wilderness task, I'd never invite you. But what we're doing right now is a wilderness outpost assault mission. We have reliable intelligence that a group of natural humans is hiding somewhere deep in the mountains and has established a base. These poor, pitiable natural humans — they can't feel the joy of true power, and they don't understand that the power of magic isn't evil. It all depends on us, the ones who wield it. Does a kitchen knife have good or evil in it?"

"As the great Flame Duke himself says: find them, embrace them, share our blood with them. Isn't that what a person of virtue strives for? If I knew a group of natural humans was hiding in the mountains — ignorant, cut off from the world — and I did nothing about it, would that be the act of a wise person? Ah, I worry that if I did nothing, disaster would not be far behind."