Chapter 145: The Third Stage

“This is strange,” Sila said to no one in particular. His system window indicated that the time was 5:25 AM, but there was nothing that suggested the sun had started to rise at all.

Pim was still in the process of regenerating her qi, and it would take her half an hour to finish. Sila decided to stop practicing Divine Raiment and let his magic power recover naturally while he inspected various things.

The first thing that he checked was Lookhin.

“Release Lookhin.” The small sparrow flew out of the ring and landed on the ground next to Bow.

“Eh? Lookhin has become smaller like the first time we met?” said Bow, which Sila was also curious about. His first guess was that it might be related to the Dark Age Sealing Ring being unsealed.

[(S) Dark Age Sealing Ring]

[Can be used to seal a single pet. Increases the ability to communicate with the pet by 100%. Increases the overall ability of the pet by 50%. When the pet is inside, it will recover three times faster. Increases the development speed of the Love Degree by 20%. Can keep 1,000 units of pet food inside.]

[The monster inside has received enlightenment regarding its main energy type [Fusion].]

[The monster inside will evolve when its body is ready for the evolution or when it encounters a special event. Other than that, it won’t evolve by normal means.]

[***Binds to a single pet. Player won’t be able to change the pet inside.]

“Fusion? Must have to do with qi type, then.” Although Lookhin possessed a lot of magic-type skills, its main energy type ever since it was born was qi, though Sila didn’t know what ‘Fusion’ was until he read Lookhin’s status window.

[Pet Status: Lookhin]

[Rank: Marquis]

[Level: 700]

[Race: Dark Brown Sparrowhawk]

[Health Points: 1,500,000/1,500,000]

[Special Points: 25,000,000/25,000,000]

[Satiety: 100/100]

[Affection Level: 75%]

[*Dark Brown Sparrowhawk can’t accumulate experience points until it becomes Lord Rank.]

Fortunately, the system window provided enough information for him. The Essence of Qi, Fusion, also wasn’t too difficult for Sila to comprehend since he had gone through a similar experience. However, he just discovered that even magic points and psychic points could be fused with qi.

In conclusion, all of Lookhin’s skills were gone, but it should still be able to use them. Moreover, the resource to use all the skills become a single entity: special points, which was the result of qi, magic, psychic power being fused together.

Admitting to himself that he didn’t understand it fully, Sila believed that he would know more about Fusion as time passed.

“So the reason why it became smaller must be the work of Formless Mind. Lookhin, can you return your body to normal?”

As it was ordered to, Lookhin canceled its skill, and its body doubled in size. It was its usual size after it had become a sparrowhawk.

“Hm? Is it because it was fused with qi and magic that the skill able to conceal the user’s stats turned into a skill that can even conceal the user’s body? How about other skills? What will become of magic-type skills that were fused with qi and psychic power?”

Realizing what Sila wanted, Lookhin summoned a small flame blade and let it hover in front of him. Sila looked closely at the blade.

“My guess was right. This blade no longer consists of only magic power. The power of hot-element qi and psychic power can also be felt from it... What about qi-type skills?”

The flame blade was suddenly clad with qi reinforcement. Sila was surprised by the fact that Lookhin was able to reinforce the power onto an object made from energy.

“Wow. You have become very awesome, Lookhin. Your control over magic and psychic power is already superior to mine.”

Lookhin canceled its power and its body shrank. It didn’t pay attention to Sila’s compliment and flew to play with Bow by summoning an earth pillar to push her up and down.

‘Um... Its personality seems to be a little haughtier than before, no? I wonder why,’ Sil inwardly thought. Lookhin usually clinged to Sila, so it was rather regretful that it started to ignore him.

For the record, once a monster’s level becomes high enough, they will develop their own personality and characteristics. When they start to become unique depends on their race. For example, members of the orc race are identical even at Marquis Rank, while members of the dragon race differ as early as at Knight Rank.

Lookhin was currently on the cusp of developing its individuality. Now was a critical time, because everything it experienced would influence what its personality would develop into in the future.

“Are you still able to eat cards, though?”

Sila opened his system window and took the Wind Dragon Card that dropped from the genuine Pythia.

When Lookhin opened its beak, the card scattered into particles and was swallowed into its mouth. Checking Lookhin’s status again, Sila found that its level had reached 1000. As the explanation provided in the Dark Age Sealing Ring’s description said that it would be promoted when it was ready, he decided not to feed it the Emperor Qi Pellet.

“You should train your body as well as your power, Lookhin. Growing too fast can be counterproductive. Don’t worry. I don’t think it will take too long for your Rank to go up.”

The next thing on his list, and which he was quite curious about, was the Right Arm of the Sealed One. He should be able to unseal its third stage now. If it stopped malfunctioning, perhaps he would be able to work out how he could wield a weapon.

“Unseal.” Sila’s right arm vibrated and was replaced by a mechanical arm. Unlike before, it no longer looked bulky but looked very modern and futuristic. It was a combination of black and silver, and the entire arm gleamed.

His arm felt strange. Although he could move it like usual, it felt like it wasn’t a part of his body.

[(S) Right Arm of the Sealed One — Third Stage]

[The right arm that originally belonged to the Sealed One. It was repaired by the Android King using esoteric technology. It can block any attack without receiving damage.]

[You have gained a special skill: Weapon Crush.]

[You have gained a special skill: Strengthened Bones.]

[The Right Arm of the Sealed One cannot be unequipped under any circumstance.]

[You cannot equip a main weapon.]

[Special Skill: Weapon Crush]

[You can reinforce psychic power into your attack and get a boost in attack power. With this skill, your psychic power will have an easier time destroying weapons.]

[Special Skill: Strengthened Bones]

[Your bones are enhanced and have the same durability as the mineral you used to unlock the third stage of the Right Arm of the Sealed One.]

“This is bad!” complained Sila while immediately circulating qi throughout his body.

Most players probably didn't understand why he complained over getting two good skills, but Sila had undergone a similar experience. Thus, he could predict what was about to happen to him.

Once the qi completed its circulation, he sighed. The situation that he had expected really happened.

“I can only exert half of my power. Well... it’s still better than none.”

What Sila had been worried was the balance between qi and body. These two things are very complex and delicate. Take Tiger Dragon Qi for example; when he first got it, his body was unable to exert power at all.

A human body consists of bones, muscles, tendons, and nerves. Everything connects to each other and also connects to qi. If one wants to unleash his maximum power, both their body and qi must be in synch.

In fact, Sila had undergone similar experiences more than once. It was due to him rushing when trying to develop his qi and neglecting to train his body. If qi was too powerful for the body to handle, the body might be damaged; so the body will need more time to adjust itself to the qi, resulting in qi circulation taking longer for one cycle.

Although what he was experiencing right now was new to him, it wasn’t entirely new. What happened was that his body had developed more than qi; all the bones in his body became as sturdy as Orichalcum while his right arm transformed into metal. As a result, the balance between qi and the body was broken.

The relationship between qi and body was similar to the one between water and a pipe. If, suddenly, someone were to replace the pipe, the flow of the water would change. On the other hand, if the water current suddenly became fiercer, the pipe might be broken. Not to mention that the actual relationship between qi and body was much more complex than the one between water and a pipe.

It had already happened, so he had no choice but to accept it and keep it as a lesson. Unable to come up with how to fix the balance between qi and his body, Sila decided to depend on a traditional mean; sitting down and performing qi circulation.

Each lap of qi that circulated through his body was like rain washing the rough surface of a boulder, slowly smoothing it. His qi gradually adjusted to his body at a very slow pace. After more time had passed and he sensed that everyone had woken up, he stopped. Inspecting his own body, he found that he could now exert about sixty percent of his usual power.

Opening his eyes, he noticed that everyone was discussing something, so he joined the conservation.

“Big Brother Sila, look at the sky. It’s still completely dark,” said Tod while pointing his finger upward.

“It might be another event,” Aek shared his opinion.

Shifting his gaze from his system window, Tiger started speaking. “I checked the game forums. It seems this mysterious phenomenon is occurring everywhere in the game. However, the most absurd and noticeable change occurred in the Town of Beginnings, as it was the only city that has been under siege by a herd of werewolves since last night.”

“If the event happened last night, it should have already ended, right? The Town of Beginnings right now has a lot of skilled players present, even if their opponents are werewolves...” Pim took a glance at her own system window, “Level 500 Marquis Rank?! A hundred of them?! How can such powerful monsters appear on the Island of Beginnings?”

“Even though it’s true that many skilled players are in the Town of Beginnings, no more will be able to come easily as the merchants holding the Crystals of Connecting died in the raid. The werewolves are quite dumb so players can cope with them even with their superior rank. Even so, the amount of them is a problem and they’re all qi-type, so their stats are high. Less than twenty of them have died, but it seems as long as their pack leader is alive, they can respawn without limit.”

“Even if it’s an event, it’s happening in the Town of Beginnings, isn’t it? Isn’t this event too harsh?” said Jundtrathep.

“I think this is not related to a system’s event. It should be the work of someone. Lately, many big matters have happened on the Island of Beginnings for some reason. You still remember the slime rock and the Wind Dragon, right?”

“Talking about the Wind Dragon, it’s very unfortunate that we couldn’t kill any of them. And when the card dropped, we could only find one of them as Illusion Forest is quite far from the storm. If we were luckier and got our hands on four more cards, Pond would be able to change her race and we all would be at Knight Rank.”

As they said that, Sila recalled that he planned to give Pond the inferior Wind Dragon Cards he had, but he forgot to do so last night. Opening his palm, eight Wind Dragon Cards appeared, and he extended his arm to Pond. “I coincidentally found some of them. Please take them if you don’t mind.”

Tiger Team looked at Sila with surprise. “This is too much... Sila. We can’t take them.”

“Feel free to take them, I really mean it. I got them from someone too, and I don’t think they will be of any use to me,” Sila insisted.

In the end, Pond thanked him and took them to change her race. Finally, she showed a big smile as her Rank was equal to other team members after the longest time.

“Big Brother Sila, did you hunt another dragon? How many of them have you killed?” Jundtrathep was curious. She was with him when he first got the racial quest. After they had talked to each other, she was the first to know that he had a quest to break eight Slime Seals by killing eight dragons. At that time, she didn’t say anything as she thought it was an impossible quest.

“Five. I have to do three more to complete the quest,” replied Sila, and his response shocked Jundtrathep.

Everyone wanted to know what they were talking about, so Sila honestly told them what had happened. In the end, they came to see him in a whole new light. They didn’t know that Sila was strong to that extent.

“Why is the slime-race quest so insanely difficult?” muttered Aek.

“That’s not it. The racial quest is a quest designed for every player of that race to work together and accomplish it. Our races also have similar quests, remember? Sila, I don’t think you need to do all the tasks yourself. If someone of the slime race other than you does it, the quest will still proceed,” suggested Tiger.

“Unfortunately, I’m the only player from the slime race,” replied Sila.

‘And that’s the reason you are fixated on killing all of the eight dragons yourself?! What kind of logic is that?’

All members of the Tiger Team thought the same way. Regardless of how long they knew Sila for, he was still a man with strange logic in their eyes.

“What are you planning to do, then? As for myself, I don’t have anything left to do on the Island of Beginnings so I plan to return to the Main Continent.”

Tiger consulted with the team. “How about we go to the Town of Beginnings to gain experience by fighting those werewolves? It will probably be a valuable experience.”

“Wait, Big Brother Tiger. Isn’t that too reckless? They are Marquis Rank monster,” interrupted Alice.

“It shouldn’t be that dangerous. There are still many skilled players in town. Maybe we won’t even get a chance to do anything. In addition, we have Jund. If she uses Land of Promises, we can avoid the worst possible outcome.”

“I vote for a fight!” shouted Pim.

“If Big Brother decides to fight, we are in,” Aek and Tod simultaneously said.

Looking at their enthusiasm, Sila was both glad and concerned. Regardless of the reason, this would be the first time Tiger Team encountered a Marquis Rank monster. Of course, he wanted them to gain actual combat experience, but he was slightly concerned about their safety. “In that case, I will go with you and have a look.”

Everyone was ready to go. Nevertheless, Sila asked them to wait for three minutes before teleporting to the town. He told them he would go in advance and clear the area around the teleport zone just to be safe.

As his body was vanishing from Elven Village, Sila couldn’t help but wonder how in the world the Island of Beginnings became such a chaotic place.

Right, he was still unaware that all of the chaotic events over the past two days happened because of him and him alone.