Bai Zemin's bellow was filled with fury, but mostly filled with despair.
The requirements that the Soul Record imposed on him this time to allow him to break through the barrier of the First Order and advance to the Second Order were too demanding. No, to even call them demanding was too great an understatement.
Bai Zemin could only look at those requirements with the same eyes he would look at a First Order beast while he was still just an unevolved level 0 human.
This was not about desperation due to lack of strength, not at all. Bai Zemin was very confident of himself and was sure that even if he ended up exhausted to death he definitely had the power to end the lives of 2000 Second Order enemies.
The same was true for Third Order existences; Bai Zemin was at least 70% confident that he could defeat Third Order beings within the early stages.
For example, the current he was confident that somehow and another he could defeat a level 100 enemy. However, he would definitely not be able to defeat a level 150 one with his current strength. Therefore, depending on the level of the other party, Bai Zemin was confident that he could manage to fulfill this requirement where he was required to claim the lives of 100 Third Order enemies.
As for the 10 Third Order Soul Stones…. Although it was extremely difficult since of those 100 enemies he needed to kill 1/10th of them had to have formed a Soul Stone or Bai Zemin would be forced to continue killing until he obtained the required amount, since he had the power to kill Third Order beings then obtaining Soul Stones from this stage was also not an impossible thing to despair over.
The real reason behind Bai Zemin's despair was the number!
2000 Second Order existences?
100 Third Order existences?
"Where the hell am I supposed to get enemies with that magnitude of power?" he muttered as he sat on his bed and then pointed out, "I've barely encountered four Second Order beasts and three of them were only encountered by sheer luck. The Soul Record, that little bitch, wants me to kill 2000 of them? As if it wasn't satisfied with making my life miserable, that little bitch also wants me to kill 100 Third Order ones. For god's sake, even if there are any on the actual Earth who knows if they are in China or not!"
Even in the deepest parts of forested areas, the most that lived there were Second Order existences of different levels. As for Third Order, Bai Zemin had not perceived a being with overwhelming Soul Power when he went into the heart of the forest, which meant that for at least several thousand kilometers from this forest to the north, there shouldn't be any of them.
Otherwise, that Third Order creature would most likely not have stood idly by when the previous night Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue caused great chaos within their area.
"Perfect, now not only will I not be able to advance to Blood Mystic but I will also lose a year of time stuck on an impossible mission, and then I will have to choose another job, which will leave me stuck for even longer while I complete that mission." Bai Zemin shook his head and sighed wearily.
His earlier shout had attracted the attention of everyone inside the village and if it wasn't for him appeasing them they might have already broken down his door to see what was going on. The only good thing was that the villa was considerably away from the rest of the houses in the privileged area of the North Camp, and thanks to Bai Zemin not shouting at the top of his lungs, the survivors were not alerted; otherwise it could have been another small headache, something he wanted to avoid as much as possible.
Lilith said nothing at Bai Zemin's complaints. She kept silent with a small frown on her beautiful face and after about 5 minutes her eyes flashed.
"I think I know what you can do." She said with her clear voice.
Bai Zemin's ears twitched softly and his heart was moved when he heard this. At this point, with his mind clouded, he could not think of anything clearly and thus could only rely on the existence he trusted the most at the moment.
Seeing that he was paying attention to her, she continued, "One of your requirements is to acquire control over China, isn't it?"
"Yeah… It probably has something to do with the description of the Blood Mystic class." Bai Zemin nodded.
"Since that's the case, then I think you should focus on acquiring control over the country as quickly as possible for now," Lilith said with an extremely serious expression, confusing Bai Zemin slightly.
"Acquire total control over China in 1 year?" Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Lilith, could it be that you forgot? It's been over 1 and a half months since the apocalypse broke out on this planet and in that time I only managed to acquire control over what…? 1000? 2000 kilometers? I haven't even acquired control over a District yet, how am I supposed to acquire control over this entire earth in such a short time?"
Bai Zemin was aiming to sometime acquire control over China, but that was a goal he was aiming to be able to achieve in approximately 2 to 3 years of time. As for 1 year; such a thing never crossed his mind. From his point of view, it was impossible to dominate humans, beasts, and who knows what else in such a short time.
"That's where you're wrong," Lilith smiled slightly and pointed out, "Although your requirements are indeed insane, this isn't the first time the Soul Record is asking an existence to control an area."
"Oh?" Bai Zemin was immediately interested.
"Look, the Soul Record is an unknown entity but one which within the reasonable is quite fair. Let me give you a clear example of this," Lilith pointed out earnestly, "While intelligent beings receive 2 stat points every time they level up, unintelligent creatures receive a large amount of stat points when they cross the threshold from an Order to the other since they are naturally unable to decide which stat to enhance."
Bai Zemin nodded silently.
Indeed, he knew this and had to admit that within reasonable, the Soul Record was doing a good job whatever its goal was; if it had one to begin with.
Lilith continued, "Over the millennia, many beings have studied the Soul Record, and after many years, came to the conclusion that this entity for some reason wanted to make a perfect existence. As to what a perfect existence is, no one knows exactly. However, since that is the case, it is also reasonable to assume that the Soul Record works differently depending on the magnitude of difference between races and the limits imposed by the birth."
Seeing Bai Zemin paying attention, she continued, "So, for example, given that beasts and humans walk different paths at least until beasts acquire intelligence and humans acquire comparable physical bodies, I believe that the requirement to control China to evolve into Blood Mystic refers to controlling humanity within Chinese territory. After all, China exists because humanity exists."
Bai Zemin's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this and he slowly stood up.
Why did China exist? No. Better said; why did land, air, or sea boundaries exist? It was precisely because mankind marked those boundaries. Without mankind, China would not exist and the Earth would be just a huge piece of land bound together.
Seeing that he seemed to understand, Lilith smiled slightly and finished, "So, I think what the Soul Record means by acquiring control over China refers specifically to ruling over the humanity of the Chinese territory. While you will have to go all over the country to accomplish this, things are completely different from acquiring control while eliminating beasts, zombies, goblins, and who knows what."
A great weight seemed to disappear from Bai Zemin's heart when he heard this. Even if he had to traverse the entire territory of China to achieve this requirement, at least it no longer sounded as impossible as before.
Then, as if a little bulb was lit above his head, Bai Zemin's eyes glittered and he said loudly, "Then I just need to use the power of my Irregular title to travel to another world, and if I am a bit lucky, that world will have enough powerful existences for me to kill to my heart's content!"
Here, Lilith frowned slightly and said a little worried, "That Irregular title, I think it will be better for you if you don't tell anyone…. At least avoid telling it to too many people."
"Mm? Why?" He looked at her and the wariness in his heart immediately went up. He didn't think Lilith would say such a warning just out of boredom.
Indeed, Lilith's next words confirmed it.
"The power to open a gate to another world means that that title in a way grants you the power to cut through space and distance to travel across the universe. The power to control space is a rarity far greater than you can imagine, and only a handful of beings have managed to grasp some of this power to build incredibly valuable portals with great difficulty. If it becomes known that such a rare title as yours appeared, you will probably have a great deal of trouble in the future."
While Bai Zemin did not have the ability to control where he traveled or where he would be transported to when he activated the power of his Irregular title, since time immemorial and in any novel or movie, the control of space was one of the most powerful laws that existed. Therefore, it was not hard for him to imagine how valuable this seemingly ominous title really was.
"It's okay. I understand." Bai Zemin nodded earnestly. However, the joy in his heart did not fade in the slightest.
How could it?
Going from despair in which all he could see was darkness to finding a clear path of light toward what seemed to be the goal of achievement had made Bai Zemin's heart jump like crazy. Even if that path was extremely thin and the light that illuminated it extremely dim that it could disappear at any moment before being swallowed by darkness, Bai Zemin was willing to walk it!
It wasn't as if he had any other choice anyway. Of course, unless he was willing to waste a year stuck in the First Order for nothing, which was naturally impossible. For someone who wanted to finish everything as quickly as possible, wasting a year's worth of time was absolutely unforgivable.
"Well, let's do it that way then! I'd better get to work, the clock is ticking backwards." Bai Zemin nodded.
Just before he walked toward the door to leave, Lilith's voice sounded behind him again:
"Little brother Zemin, I will be gone for a while. I need to do some business and I also can't disappear forever or I might cause some unnecessary inconvenience."
"What?" Bai Zemin turned around hurriedly, but the only thing that greeted him was a room completely void of life except for his own.
Lilith's voice lingered even though she was no longer there:
"While I'm at it, I'll try to find ways to help you study the actual capacity of that title of yours. Don't miss me too much… See you again soon."
The smell of sweet, fresh roses floated silently into the room. The curtains lifted at a gust of wind and that exquisite aroma that Bai Zemin loved so much assaulted him, leaving him standing for a long time unable to react.
He didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but somehow he felt someone leave a small kiss on his right cheek. Maybe it was just himself, his brain playing tricks on him.
Bai Zemin didn't know. But the one thing he did know was that he suddenly felt a little bit emptier than he already did by default and a confused look appeared on his face.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with their Golden Tickets! <3
