Volume 6, Chapter 1: Survival……
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
The notifications rolled down from the screen; emotionless, ruthless, grim and monotonous as Sheyan absorbed them.
“You will immediately receive the party establishment mission. Under normal situations, this mission would not post a risk to your life. Your final mission assessment will determine the welfare and party ability of your established party! Do you wish to continue?”
“Yes!”
“Maximum quota for mission is 5 people, mission difficulty will increase with mancount. Do you wish to take the temporary party member along with you for this mission?”
“Yes!”
“Final authentication of status……”
“Data in process…..”
“Confirming…….”
“Contestant no.1018, this is your first time establishing a party. You are required to pay a fee for this private propriety.”
“Achievement points – 0 / Potential points – 10 / Utility points – 10,000”
Sheyan was dumbfounded, immediately shooting a helpless gaze at Reef. Pooling their finances together, they managed to afford it with a heavy heart. However, Sheyan once again landed himself in a deficit, left with merely 1,000 utility points. Sheyan further inquired.
“If I’m not satisfied with the mission completion score, can I disband the party again and establish another one?”
“To establish a second party, it requires a fee of – 10 Achievement points / 30 Potential points / 100,000 utility points. Achievement points must come from yourself.”
“Reef…….”
“What?”
“Let’s do it well in one try.” Sheyan wiped his sweat.
The two waited for roughly 10 seconds. Suddenly, a list of orders appeared.
“Payment has been made.”
“Note: Special realm convoy channel has been generated for the party mission, please return to your personal room!”
“Note: Special realm convoy passage has been generated for the party mission, please return to your personal room!”
“Warning: The realm convoy passage will disappear after 600 seconds!”
“Warning: The realm convoy passage will disappear after 600 seconds!”
After they grasped this information, why would they delay? Hastily, they rushed back. Fortunately the realm was a peaceful zone, nothing obstructed them and 600 seconds was more than enough.
When Sheyan blazed back into his personal room, a dark greyish portal greeted him. The portal was roughly his height, ripples of formless grey emitted from it, drawing and enticing him in. Sheyan took a deep breath, taking a step into the depthless portal.
******************
He didn’t lose consciousness. A swarm of darkness enveloped his vision before a boundless mountain forest filled his eyes. The trees were tall and lofty, forming a spruce forest identical to the likes the Swiss Alps. The distance between each tree was great, thick leaves scattered throughout the ground; even the shrubs were sparse, grass was almost non-existent.
A layer of thick fog lingered around, seemingly non-existent. But when he relaxed his vision, the fog could be seen drifting against him.
In Sheyan’s vision, there were only 3 distinct colors. The dull brown of the rotting leaves, the sepia of the desperate tree trunk fighting to withstand the bitter cold, and the gloomy shallow grey skies. He took another deep breath, feeling the frosty air permeating into his lungs before releasing the converted warmth out. A queer pungent odour lingered around the atmosphere, foiling the freshness in people’s minds.
Sheyan was standing beneath a hillside. He could hear the tramples of leaves crunching, instantly looking up vigilantly. Very quickly, the culprit of the noise appeared, naturally it was Reef. Sweeping his legs against the floor, he sounded like a road roller, depressing and clamorous.
“Take a look.” Reef raised an object. “I found this on a tree stump.”
Sheyan received it, his brows raised. It was forged with metal, looking rather sharp at the tip with a flat body. The pointed tip carried a bloodstain, and seemed to be plated over with greyish black.
“It’s an arrowhead, one forged with pure steel and laced with poison above.” Reef offered his insights. “The arrowhead is incredibly sharp.”
Sheyan frowned.
“Can you bring me to where you found it?”
Reef similarly just entered this world. The place he found the arrowhead wasn’t far, roughly 10 metres up the hillside on a gigantic fir tree. From the mark, it seemed like the arrowhead didn’t sink in very deep, and was probably released just a while back. Thus Reef easily chanced upon it.
Sheyan carefully inspected the dent and orientation of it. He then turned to observe a spruce tree that the shooting direction came from. After a short examination, his face gradually turned sullen and his voice rough.
“We have huge trouble. I’m afraid this mission’s difficulty….is much more terrifying than our imagination!”
Reef suspiciously walked towards Sheyan, bending his back to inspect what Sheyan had examined. Then……he gazed towards the scenery that was originally covered by the thick spruce tree. Actually that arrowhead, had penetrated through that tree trunk, and finally came to a halt at the opposing fir tree!!! Yet the crucial point was that the surrounding of the penetrated hole was exceedingly smooth, more smooth than an electric drill; its penetration force was completely ridiculous!
Besides, the tree grew extremely slow and its bark was tough and dense due to the harsh winter. The entire width of the penetrated spruce tree was close to a metre. In fact, even by using a gun to shoot, it may not even achieve the effect of this arrowhead! The two glanced at each other, understanding their mutual shock. Both being MTs at the frontlines, they naturally thought of the same thing…..
“What will happen if that arrow lands on me!!!”
Reef picked up that arrowhead and inspected it again, furrowing his brows.
“Strange, where did the shaft go?”
Sheyan shook his head.
“From what we have now, I can only infer that we’ve arrived at an era where gunpowder isn’t popular or inexistent. The probability of where the shaft vanished too is too varied, perhaps it was chopped off mid flight, or it was a magic arrow. Or…..something that we definitely dread; the arrowhead didn’t have a shaft to begin with, it was directly thrown from a hand concealed weapon.”
Hearing his last deduction, Reef rolled his eyes.
“Oi Seaman, I really pray your sense of humour doesn’t turn into reality.”
Following that, the nightmare imprint started to notify them.
“Contestant no.1018, welcome to the nightmare world.”
“This is the first party establishment mission you’re experiencing.”
“Mission content: Survival.”
“Mission summary: live, try your best to survive, hold on until you no longer can…”
“Mission difficulty: Unable to assess.”
“Details: During the mission, you can choose to return to the realm anytime. If you choose to do so, any fatal damages being dealt will barely sink you into critically wounded state. In that state, you will have 10 seconds of peace to return to the nightmare realm. But please note, once the 10 seconds expire, you can similarly die from that fatal attack!
“Details: Anything utility points, potential points, equipments, items acquired within the mission process cannot be brought back to the realm (Includes medicine concocted/ forged equipment). The rest are not restricted. Your relations formed with storyline characters (Allies or foes) will last.”
“Time: Third Age, year 3018. (3 years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy)”
“Location: Middle-earth, Misty Mountains.”
“Setting: Lord of the Rings.”
“Difficulty: A (Nightmare).”
(TN: Just a slight clarification, difficulty of the world setting is different from mission difficulty.)
“Pain Limitator: 50%”
“Additional capabilities enhancement: 0%”
“Current setting exploration rate: 0.00%”
“Additional details: Other contestants are already engaging this world. Under normal circumstances, you will not have any interactions with them, but the current setting is free setting! You may suffer their aggression. For your safety, the regulations will be placed above others.”
“You automatically grasp the relevant language, able to interact with characters in the world. Language erased upon leaving the world.”
“Current mission count: 1.”
“Certain items you brought along are restricted, unable to be used for this mission.”
“Your appearance/identity has been settled, recovering after returning to the realm. You can modify your appearance inside the realm anytime. For any questions, direct them to your nightmare imprint. If your privileges allows, you will receive an answer.”