Chapter 154: Let’s Go, We’ll Gift the Spadehead a Buff (Or Debuff)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The System protested, “It’s just a piece of brick, why do you keep staring at it?”
Fang Ning replied, “No, one of its attributes might help. Say, why did you add the attribute of IQ Strike to it in the first place? It’s not just because you wanted to take revenge on my precious game book, is it?”
[Beginner-level Game Book Attribute, Beginner-level IQ Strike. Effect: If it was thrown and hit an enemy on its head, there will be an extremely low chance to slightly lower the enemy’s Intelligence for 24 hours. Upgrading it will unlock more effects.]
That was the attribute Fang Ning had been having his eyes on.
The System said, “Well, it’s purely because it was only compatible with that offense skill.”
Fang Ning said, “As if I would believe you. You probably knew you’re not very intelligent, so you tried to lower your opponents’ Intelligence instead and beat them with your vast experience, aren’t you?”
The System replied, “Stop bullsh*tting, what do you want to do with it?”
Fang Ning said, “Oh, I just wanted to lower the spadehead’s Intelligence to your level. If it works, it wouldn’t be so cunning and would charge headfirst into trouble, just like you.”
The System, “…”
System Notification: [The System consumed 1,000,000 Experience Points and upgraded the Beginner-level Game Book to Intermediate-level Game Book.]
[The System consumed 1,000,000 Experience Points and upgraded the attribute Beginner-level IQ Strike to Intermediate-level IQ Strike. Effect: If it was thrown and hit an enemy on its head, there will be a low chance to slightly lower the enemy’s Intelligence for 3 days, as well as an additional chance to Taunt it.]
[The System consumed 5,000,000 Experience Points and upgraded the Intermediate-level Game Book to Advanced-level.]
[The System consumed 5,000,000 Experience Points and upgraded the attribute Intermediate-level IQ Strike to Advanced-level IQ Strike. Effect: If it was thrown and hit an enemy on its head, there will be a moderate chance to lower the enemy’s Intelligence for 1 week, as well as an additional chance to Taunt it. The effect can be stacked. After recovering from the lowered Intelligence state, the enemy will be resistant to the effect for a month.]
Fang Ning said, “That’s good enough. Let’s go, we’ll gift the spadehead a buff. Being so intelligent all the time must be tiring for a demon like it.”
The System threatened, “I’ve invested twelve million Experience Points in this. If anything goes wrong, I will stop your internet for half a year.”
Fang Ning said, “As long as you were not caught by that snake.”
The System said, “Don’t you worry, I have my ways to avoid its attacks.”
***************
At a rarely-seen cliff in the Land of Heritage.
The king cobra, Shaz, was currently coiled up on a boulder extruding out of the cliff wall. Its flat head was raised as its eyes were fixed on a giant eagle.
The eagle was covered in hard, steel-like feathers with a silvery glint. Its claws were clutching at a withered tree branch and its sharp eyes staring alarmingly at the king cobra.
“Sky Eagle, my brother. We are natural enemies, but you know the real secret of the Land of Heritage. If you would join forces with me, I will have the Indians worship you as well.”
The eagle said, “Hah! And when you have advanced, you can come back and eat me, wouldn’t you?”
Shaz responded, “How would I? We would both be Indian deities, we can go out to the immense world and enjoy the worship instead of being stuck in this tiny place and constantly worrying for our lives.”
The eagle seemed slightly hesitant, but it shook its head nonetheless, “Compared to the Chinese, I don’t trust the Indians that you speak of. They tried to steal my children from me. With characters like this, would I believe that they would truly worship me?”
Shaz tried harder, “That’s because they didn’t know your strength. Those Indian thieves had already died in the hands of the Chinese people. The Indian people would not do the same mistakes again.”
The eagle mused, “If that’s the case, I have to thank the Chinese for avenging me, how could I help you to fight them?”
Shaz’s persuasion fell on deaf ears. It understood that being natural enemies of each other, it would be nearly impossible to earn the eagle’s trust, so it slowly slithered down the cliff.
The eagle watched as the huge king cobra worked its way down the cliff, its eyes filled with avarice. It knew that it could easily escape from the king cobra if it needed to, but if they were to fight in a close combat, it would very likely end in the eagle’s death.
It thought for a while and spread its wings, flying toward the walled city in the valley.
Shaz raised its head and looked at the massive eagle, grinning viciously, “Idiot, if the Chinese were willing to worship demons, would I have spent the last eight years waiting until the Indians snuck in?”
It then started making its way to the opposite direction.
***************
A fire dragon was circling in the sky.
“Why haven’t we found the spadehead? Are your dragon eyes not good enough, sir System?”
The System snapped back, “Nonsense, these are your dragon eyes… Say, it’d be nice if I could eat the king cobra’s bile. Not only will it improve my eyesight, it can also bring some special effects.”
Fang Ning reminded the System, “Wait until we finished farming the berserk beasts that it controls. That’s over a thousand experience packs, you know? Where will we ever find that again if it weren’t here?”
The System said, “Do I look like I needed the reminder? Wait, hold on. A fellow cultivator is approaching, let me go and ask.”
Sky Eagle had seen the fire dragon from afar. Even though it had suppressed its Dragon Force as much as it could, to the other creatures, it was still shining as bright as a torch at night.
It had wanted to avoid an encounter with the dragon, but the dragon flew straight at it. If it were to avoid the dragon, it would look as if it was scared.
The dragon did not emit any killing intent, and both of them were similar in strength, so the eagle stopped flying.
“Fellow cultivator, please, spare a little time for me.”
Sky Eagle asked, “Brother Dragon, what is it that you need?”
The fire dragon said, “Haha, I was hoping to ask you about the whereabouts of a certain king cobra.”
Sky Eagle immediately knew who it was and answered, “Oh, you must be looking for the cunning Shaz. Please be careful, it was a deadly venomous creature. It had just gone west from that cliff over there. However, it would immediately detect your aura if you decided to pursue it. I don’t think you would be able to find it any time soon.”
The System asked, “What do we do now, Host? The eagle is right.”
Fang Ning said, “That’s easy. We’ll give it a reward in exchange for its help to fight the spadehead. I can tell from its attitude that it’s not fond of the spadehead as well. Oh right, if we lend my precious game book out, would we be able to retrieve it?”
The System said, “Sure, it’ll return as soon as I call for it.”
Fang Ning was speechless, “You really are its daddy…”
The fire dragon said, “Oh, the situation is this, my friend. The king cobra had conspired with the Indians to harm the whole land. I was going to fight it, but I need help. Would you be able to lend me a hand? I will reimburse you for the trouble.”
Sky Eagle thought of something and said, “I don’t need anything, really, I can even gift you with some of mine. As a dragon, you must be trusted by the Chinese. If you could persuade the Chinese to devote a part of their Faith through worship to me, I will help you.”
The System said, “What does it want the Faith for? Could it be that it wanted to emulate the king cobra and advance through becoming a deity? Its power was far from it still though.”
Fang Ning said, “Let me check this guy’s alignment.”
Fang Ning flipped open the game book to the Dossiers.
[Sky Eagle. Sex: Male, Likes: Flying freely. Age: N/A. Identity: Tribe leader of the Giant Eagle Tribe.]
[Alignment: Neutral Righteous.]
[Power Level: Pond-level Powerhouse. Description: A swimming pool-size, depth unknown, extremely dangerous.]
Fang Ning nodded in understanding, “It’s a Righteous creature, so it should be easy. Let me think. I think some places in China worship eagles, but I have to ask the Truth Department, since only they have the power to arrange for this to happen.”
When they finished discussing, the System spoke as the fire dragon.
It said, “Fellow cultivator, I can help you with talking to the Chinese people, but I can’t tell you whether they are willing to do so. How about you come with me?”
Sky Eagle nodded and said, “That was exactly my intention. Thank you, Brother Dragon. If they agreed to it, I will help you.”
The System said, “What a nice fellow. This is such a good day. Let’s hope the Truth Department wouldn’t be so tightfisted.”
Fang Ning said, “We could also ask the inmates to worship it. I wouldn’t have distinguished anyway.”
The System said, “Hey, Host, you’re such a conman. Can it work?”
Fang Ning, “It might. Those inmates have really strong spiritual sense. At their peak, one of them could be stronger than hundreds or even thousands of regular people. And we have more than twenty of those inmates now. If we’d just capture more of them, it would almost be a small nation with millions of citizens in it.”
The System said, “Let’s talk about it later. We need to lead it back to the walled city.”
***************
Back at the walled city, Elders Hai, Xu, and Qiao Anping were silent for a long time after hearing the request and only gave a vague answer.
The System asked, “What happened? What do they mean? Is it that hard to just say yes?”
Fang Ning explained, “Can’t you tell? I’m guessing it’s about the Celestial Dragon Form, you know, the one that was mention in system notifications a lot? It must have needed a huge amount of Faith.”
“But now, an outsider is trying to get a part of the worship. I think the three were concerned about the growth of the Celestial Dragon Form. After all, how would a Giant Eagle compare to the most sacred icon of China? They were not so desperate to need the Giant Eagle’s help at this point.”
Sky Eagle had a huge ego. As soon as it saw the three’s reaction, its face fell and flew out of the walled city without further delay.
It thought while it was flying, ‘Do I really need to agree to that sly snake’s promise? It was so obviously a trap.’
Just as it was debating with itself, a voice came from behind it.
“Please, stay a little longer,” yelled the fire dragon as it caught up. “If you don’t mind, I have an arcane realm with a tiny group who would be willing to worship you.”
Sky Eagle stopped and hovered in mid-air. It shook its head, “Brother Dragon, I appreciate that. However, the Faith had to come from the humans outside, not arcane realm creatures. The Land of Heritage is small, but I have plenty of descendants. If worships from arcane realm creatures could work, I wouldn’t have gone to the Chinese for help.”
The fire dragon said, “Don’t worry. Those creatures in my arcane realm are the soul of the humans from outside. They are bored inside and needed a spiritual guide. When they were alive, those souls were all talented humans. However, the number of those souls are currently limited, but they will increase in the future.”
Sky Eagle was tempted. If it could not be worshiped by humans, it did not mind being worshiped by souls. If these souls were indeed powerhouses when they were alive, their worship would be stronger than average humans.
It nodded and said, “If that’s the case, I shall give it a go. If I could amass Faith from them, I shall do whatever you want me to do.”
The fire dragon said, “No worries.”
Fang Ning told the System, “Look at that, I’ve recruited another helper for you. As soon as it received Faith from the dudes in the Penitentiary, it would definitely turn green, if not blue. By that time, Vigilante A will have an eagle and two dogs on his side, and ready to take on the world.”
The System said, “Clever.”
