Chapter One Hundred Fourteen: An Unexpected Entry

“What! They actually… all of them…” Li Ren became incoherent for a moment.

Of course, anyone who suddenly found people they had believed dead standing before them again would have reacted much the same way.

Fan Yunshan and Moran seemed to have witnessed situations like this many times before, and showed no particular surprise at Li Ren’s reaction.

After taking a moment to steady himself and finally calm the emotions surging within him, Li Ren drew a deep breath and said, “I suppose I have made fools of myself in front of you.”

Moran gave a soft laugh and shook her head. “Doesn’t that simply prove you are a man who values loyalty and affection? Why would we laugh at you for that? Besides, compared with you, certain people deserve far more to be thrown into the Netherworld and left to fend for themselves.”

As she spoke, a resentful aura involuntarily burst forth from within her.

They had put in an immeasurable amount of effort for the sake of the Netherworld’s Sky Demon. Never had they imagined that a group of reckless humans would become involved as well—humans who were actually helping the Sky Demon deal with the very people protecting their last refuge.

Moran had already lost countless seniors and comrades on the Netherworld battlefield. Naturally, she had no goodwill whatsoever toward such people.

“The most important thing now is to find out how those fellows managed to advance so rapidly, and then drag out the Sky Demon hiding behind them,” Li Ren said with a nod. After learning something of the Netherworld, he felt not the slightest shred of affection for Sauron and his companions.

“If that lord could still be contacted, dealing with those people would be simple. But it seems that something has happened to him as well.” Fan Yunshan sighed.

The lord he so often mentioned had always aroused Li Ren’s curiosity. Li Ren had asked about him before, but Fan Yunshan had refused to reveal the name, as though it were something taboo.

Li Ren eventually abandoned the idea of asking further. After all, everyone around him was mysterious to an absurd degree. One more enigmatic figure hardly mattered.

In the end, it was nothing more than a system. He could simply regard that lord as the system governing this game. It was just that they had originally been able to use cheats, and had now lost the tool that granted them those advantages.

It was merely a little more troublesome. In truth, it was nothing serious. As long as the basic rules of the game remained intact, everything would still be decided by strength.

Moreover, after learning that experience and attributes were actually strengthening his own soul, Li Ren placed far greater importance on levels and attributes.

After all, if he truly went to the Netherworld in the future, having strength would be far better than having none. And besides, there were people worth protecting waiting for him.

“As for finding Sauron, I’ll leave everything to you. The state of those forty people is clearly abnormal. For the sake of the future, I should focus on improving my strength again. There are still many things I haven’t done.” Li Ren spoke as though seeking the two men’s opinion. They understood the current situation far better than he did.

Fan Yunshan nodded. “Your strength does indeed need to be increased. Fortunately, the energy here is quite substantial, more than enough for you to absorb. And with your talent—so powerful that it borders on the absurd—I am truly curious to see how far you will eventually develop.”

He stroked his chin as he spoke. At the mention of his expectations, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“However, you must remember this: when your spirit fire is about to evolve next time, be extremely careful. You may encounter the most difficult trial you have faced so far. All I can say is that the Skeleton King is truly no good.”

Li Ren was puzzled by Fan Yunshan’s words.

“Forget it. You do not need to know yet. Evolving your spirit fire is no simple matter. By the time you are close to evolving, we should still be there. I doubt a mere fellow from the Skeleton race will be able to stir up much trouble.”

Fan Yunshan shook his head and ultimately chose not to reveal the truth. Even so, he had made Li Ren realize that he might truly have to face another difficult trial.

It really did seem to be connected to that strange Skeleton King. Li Ren simply had no idea what relationship his own spirit-fire evolution could possibly have with that creature.

But there was no use dwelling on it. Once it actually happened, he would know. He refused to believe that, as his own strength grew and the people around him became stronger as well, a trifling Skeleton King and a trifling Skeleton Mountain could truly turn the world upside down before him.

After the group spent some time discussing the future development of Fallen Cloud City, Li Ren finally left the city.

Before departing, he summoned Shadow and Lania to his side and entrusted them with a number of matters. All the shops that would appear once Fallen Cloud City expanded were handed over to Shadow. At present, its defensive forces were even more important.

Fan Yunshan’s physical condition was currently poor, so Li Ren could only assign that task to Lania. After receiving his stern instructions, Lania nodded solemnly.

Seeing the rare gravity upon the alluring face of the Vampire Queen, Li Ren could not help feeling somewhat stifled. It seemed that the moment he learned of these matters, everyone else had somehow known them as well.

Or perhaps they had already eliminated all those dangers before he ever found out, and had merely kept silent about it.

In any case, Li Ren had no time to concern himself with their condition. He had decided to improve his own strength.

Now that he knew this was not merely a game—and that his own safety was involved, especially with the bizarre Sauron showing signs of suddenly soaring to power and becoming a threat—he had no choice but to continue working hard.

After bidding farewell to everyone, Li Ren took Mao Mao with him, spread the pair of wings rising from his back, and left Fallen Cloud City with astonishing ease, flying directly toward the depths of the Illusion Forest.

His purpose was to find a place more suitable for grinding monsters and increasing his level—or, more precisely, for killing monsters to strengthen his soul power.

“Soul power” was a term Moran had taught him. Given their present circumstances within the game, experience represented the quantity of their soul power, while attributes represented its strength.

The more powerful one’s attributes, the easier it became to unleash overwhelming strength. At the same level—in other words, with the same reserves of soul power—the difference in power could be enormous.

As for the other established values, such as HP and MP, they represented one’s concrete ability to withstand attacks. In truth, they did not display anything particularly special when compared with people of the same level.

It was much like two experts of equal rank: if one were struck in a vital spot, one could still be killed instantly. After all, the attacks and defenses of experts at the same level were generally comparable.

Things were different when facing opponents of another level. A reduction in HP merely meant that the enemy had shaken one’s defenses to some degree; it had simply been quantified in numerical form.