Chapter 664: The Strife Zones

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader: Arya

“Have you seen the latest news?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“How could I have not? The current situation is no longer one where it’s a simple loss of personnel anymore” the old man showed a bitter expression.

“Did something else happen?” Gu Qing Shan became more cautious.

“The World Layer where God Institute was situated suddenly broke out from the restraints of space and is heading straight towards our Spire Keeper Association headquarters” the old man said.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the old man again.

The old man waved his hand helplessly and explained: “It’s quite far apart, so it’ll be at least a few hours until the two worlds clash, after finishing your business here, I will have to close shop and return”

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “I’m sorry to hear that, unfortunately I’m still too weak to help”

“I’m grateful for your thoughts” the old man seemed a bit less tense: “Our World Layer is very close to the 900 million World Layers alliance, so various Combatants of the 900 million World Layers will surely come to help”

“Well, I’ll buy what I need so that I won’t leave you preoccupied”

Gu Qing Shan explained: “This is the first time my friend came into the 900 million World Layers, so please give her a spell or magic that can immediately let her learn the various languages of the infinite worlds”

“You’re going into the Strife Zones correct?”

“Yes, we’ll be going in 1 hour”

“Then there won’t be time to slowly learn, you will have to use the most expensive one”

The old man took down a small book from the shelf.

“This book will allow you to immediately learn about 3000 common languages, but it’s also quite pricey. As you are an esteemed friend of our association, I can give you a discount”

“How much?”

“Only 99%” (1)

“Can’t you go a bit lower?”

“This is already the highest discount, sir, I really can’t go any lower”

“An excellent discount! I’m extremely grateful! Then—— please put it on my tab, the Justice Iron Fist Club, Gu Qing Shan”

“…”

The old man’s expression turned sorrowful.

He waited for a bit, then suddenly spoke: “Wait! You only intend for your friend here to use it once, correct?”

“Yes”

“Then you didn’t need to buy such an expensive book in the first place”

“What should I do then?”

“I remembered we once gave you a white-cover book”

“That is true, but the book was supposed to be only for one person to use”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan tapped his Inventory Bag and took out the book.

The old man took it, stroked the book’s cover as he chanted an incantation.

“There, I have given you another single-use quota, you can now give your friend this book and have her quickly learn the languages on it”

“Do I have to pay for it?”

“You are our esteemed friend, if everything needs to be paid for, then that would be too petty of us”

“How generous of you! I really don’t know how to thank you’

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“There is no need to, please take a look, there are three other bookstores on this street, the best way to thank me is simply to visit their stores the next time you need something”

“Ah, understood, farewell then”

“Farewell, hope to see you—— erm—— again in another store”

The old man sent them off and quickly closed the door with a ‘bang’.

Gu Qing Shan brought Ning Yue Chan outside.

He then gave her the white cover book.

“What should I do?” Ning Yue Chan asked.

“Simply hold it in your hand, it will teach you the languages of each world—— since there are too many languages in the 900 million World Layers, you’ll probably need around 100 breaths’ worth of time to understand a few billion of them”

“…” Ning Yue Chan.

She held the book close to her chest.

Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit and told her: “Don’t throw the book away after you’re done, I can probably use it again to help others learn languages”

“Got it, but you didn’t seem to have paid for it earlier, did you?” Ning Yue Chan asked.

“My name is money” Gu Qing Shan answered her.

Ning Yue Chan stared at him with eyes wide open, a clear look of being impressed.

Gu Qing Shan walked ahead as he muttered under his breath: “Ah, yep, this is the first time I’ve attempted this… it really does leave a lingering taste in one’s mouth”

They quickly arrived at the outpost gate.

The process was simple.

A military personnel at the registration table took their cards, stamped each of them and gave it back.

Once he was done, the man offered them a small green card and asked in a low voice: “I can arrange for novices to get a small advantage here, you want to buy it?”

“You can provide arrangement services in the Strife Zones? Does that mean a novice can immediately carry the [Order] right here?” Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised.

Seeing him intrigued, the man patiently explained: “The Strife Zones consist of 200 million World Layers, so of course we don’t have the ability to do that, but we’re very familiar with the novice’s first zone. We know which zones have more Black Demon Goats and which zones would it be easiest to kill Black Demon Goats, so we can directly transport you to those zones!”

Black Demon Goats were the weakest kind of mob in the Strife Zones, one that commonly appears in the First Zone – the so-called beginner’s area.

Only through killing Black Demon Goats could you get the attention of the [Order] and become one of its envoys.

———the [Order] here was one created by the Old Gods, not only did it not harm living beings, it could even help them evolve and grow.

Of course, the catch was that——– you have to get it interested in you first.

As a beginner, the easiest way to do that was killing large amounts of Black Demon Goats.

The more you kill, the easier it was to get the [Order] to notice you.

The man whispered again: “This is the best shortcut to make it through the First Zone, you want it?”

Gu Qing Shan also whispered: “I didn’t bring any money, so can you put it on a tab?”

The man looked at Gu Qing Shan with eyes of admiration.

To put it on a tab…

This youngster has quite the future.

After thinking for a bit, the man nodded: “If your organization’s credit score is decent, it’s not impossible”

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“That’s great, I’m a member of the Justice Iron Fist Club, my name is——–”

Justice Iron Fist Club!

As soon as he heard that, the man couldn’t help but tremble a bit.

He cut off Gu Qing Shan’s words and sternly told him: “We won’t accept any bribes or sell you any information here, this is an important measure to ensure fair competition”

He righteously waved his hand to urge them to quickly go through the gate.

The two of them went through and entered the waiting room.

All sorts of humanoid creatures of all shapes and sizes were sitting here, each of them with a green card in their hand.

With this green card, they ensured to be warped to areas where it was easiest to kill Black Demon Goats.

They glanced at Gu Qing Shan and Ning Yue Chan to see that they didn’t have a green card and smirked.

“A couple of poor bastards”

“How dumb, unable to take such a simple opportunity”

“Stop talking, let them slowly enjoy their stay at the First Zone”

“Ahaha, why do you care, we’re going to pass through soon enough anyway”

“Don’t mind them, let those hard-headed types do what they like, there’s no point in paying attention to those”

These creatures of various races discussed among themselves.

Gu Qing Shan led Ning Yue Chan to sit down in a corner.

“It seems you angered that staff member just now” Ning Yue Chan commented.

“Hm, he didn’t want to put me on a tab” Gu Qing Shan regretfully spoke.

“I could understand what you were saying—— so we just won’t get an advantage when we go in right?”

“In the beginning, yeah. The Strife Zones isn’t a place that a person or group can control, so all they could do is provide a small advantage at the start” Gu Qing Shan answered her.

Across from him, a completely green man loudly scoffed: “A small advantage? You really don’t know how many fools are stuck at the First Zone for 7-8 years straight without being able to get out?”

His friend quickly: “Stop, he’s also one of those fools”

Laughter echoed across the whole room.

“Shut up!” a loud voice shouted.

The entire waiting room went silent.

A staff member then came forward and checked the cards in their hands.

He pointed to some of them.

“You, you, and all of you over there; follow me, your warp point is ready”

Those people stood up and followed him.

A few moments later, the staff member came back and led another group to their warp.

As Gu Qing Shan saw it, the staff member prioritized beginners who had green cards and transported them first.

The ones without the green cards could only sit there and slowly wait.

“What do we do now?” Ning Yue Chan asked.

“Just ignore it, things like these aren’t really something to worry about” Gu Qing Shan sighed and told her.

A few moments later, after everyone else had already been transported, it was finally their turn for the novices who didn’t have the green cards.

The staff member from before led them to their warp point and spoke full of implications: “I wish you all a good life in the First Zone”

“What does he mean by that?” a relatively naïve novice asked someone next to him.

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“He means that we won’t be able to get out of the First Zone” another novice angrily told him.

The screen of light flashed.

The final group of novices disappeared from the warp point.

…

The Strife Zones.

First Zone.

On the hill and plains area, the battle had already begun.

Empty fortresses were scattered all around.

Group after group of novices suddenly appeared, standing on the large walls of these fortresses.

The fortresses were a large distance apart, separated by huge energy barriers that prevented them from connecting, only allowing observation from afar.

Beneath the fortresses, several hordes of black goat-headed monsters had noticed the change in their world.

They roared in anger and charged towards the fortresses.

These goat-headed monsters were the Black Demon Goats.

They were a type of evil creature that used the power from spilt blood of creatures they kill as nutrition to evolve, these naturally cruel monsters were cold and indifferent towards any living beings that were not one of their own.

Just as the novices reached their fortresses, they already had to enter intense combat.

They had to protect these fortresses and kill as many Black Demon Goats as they could.

The more they showed their strength, the more likely they were going to be noticed by the [Order] and become its carrier.

“Kill——–!!!”

The novices roared, uttering a blood-curling battle cry.

The flames of battle came from every direction, the sound of killing and battle alone can cause any observer to feel excited.

Gu Qing Shan was also standing on top of a fortress.

He cupped his hand above his head to extend his gaze.

However——-

The fortress he and Ning Yue Chan were on was built into the cliff of a mountain.

The Black Demon Goats were all charging like mad towards the fortresses built on the plains but didn’t pay a single bit of attention to this fortress on the cliff.

With so many targets on the open plains, who would be willing to scale a high mountain to siege a fortress built on such a precarious location?

So this naturally happened.

As an experienced military General, Ning Yue Chan only needed to glance at the battle situation on the plains and their overall location to draw a conclusion.

Not just her, the rest of the novices who were transported here also appeared highly displeased.

“They purposefully put us here!” one of them called out.

He started to grow feathers all over that turned into a pair of wings, leapt to the air and flew towards the plains.

Bam!

With a dull sound, the novice crashed into the defensive barrier of the fortress and was bounced back a large distance.

This was a barrier set up by the [Order] itself, so the strength of novices wouldn’t be able to break it.

Ning Yue Chan put her Blade back into its sheath and shook her head: “We can’t leave and the monsters won’t come here, will we really have to waste time here meaninglessly without being able to advance?”

“Of course not” Gu Qing Shan answered her.

Ning Yue Chan’s eyes lit up and asked: “You’ve always been someone full of devious schemes and tactics, what ideas have you come up with now?”

Gu Qing Shan sighed and answered: “There is only one problem that we need to care about right now”

With those words, he caught the attention of every novice around.

“What problem is that?” Ning Yue Chan stared at him and asked.

“To conquer, or be conquered”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan selected the [War God Title] icon on his War God UI.

——very quickly, he found the title that he needed.

[Starflame War God].

Note:

(1) 99% discount: the way Chinese language describes their discount rates are a bit different, instead of saying ‘40% discount’, they’ll say ‘60% discount’, which means it’s being sold at 60% of the original price. So in this case it means he’s being given a 1% discount, not a 99% discount.