Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
It was daytime again.
Zhang Che packed his belongings… Uhm, there wasn’t much to pack, actually. All of it had disappeared. Only the leftover skeleton of the Titan Python remained, giving him some small consolation.
Once he thought of that huge pile of purple-gold crystal, Zhang Che couldn’t help but feel an ache in his heart.
-Right!
-Not only did the pile of purple-gold crystal disappear, even the purple crystal card Ding Feng Corporation gave me, with a balance of several tens of millions of dollars in it, has disappeared without a trace!
-And the bunch of four-star silver-quality beast cards I didn’t sell were also gone…-
Zhang Che’s eyelids drooped, his heart calm as water.
-A freaking mountain of gold was gone; what did that little bit of money count for…
-Mmm, when I bring back this pile of Titan Python bones and sell them, I can get at least a few million, or even a dozen million dollars or so. There’s no way I will lack money.-
The only regrettable part was that without the purple-gold crystal, he wouldn’t be able to set up a reward to request the help of others to cure his mother’s illness.
However, Zhang Che wasn’t too worried about this.
What kind of a place was he at now? There were terrifying exotic beasts everywhere around him. If he found an opportunity or two and killed some of those beasts, obtaining a few beast cards or a bunch of high quality materials, would he still be unable to hire those beastmasters with healing-type subdued beasts?
“It’s time to leave this place. Hopefully after I cross that area of mountains, I’ll find the traces of other beastmasters. I’ll be able to ask for the directions to the safety zone then. Perhaps, if I’m fast enough, I could even make it back in time to take part in the examination.”
Zhang Che didn’t have any subdued beasts or pets summoned at his side. He only wore the Maneater Leech King soft armor and wielded the Mutated Puffersword in hand. He oriented himself and headed in the direction of the high mountains he saw yesterday, slowly walking forward.
After all, it was quieter when he moved alone. It would be easier to avoid attracting the surrounding huge beasts’ attention.
Moreover, if a powerful exotic beast discovered him, he still had the time to summon the Purple Crystal Tortoise and the Steel-Armored Tyrannosaurus to fend it off.
———-
Zhang Che advanced cautiously, avoiding the nests of several huge beasts. He spent close to an hour before he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain range.
Looking at the tall and precipitous mountains before his eyes, Zhang Che finally let out a slight sigh of relief. Those huge exotic beasts shouldn’t appear in such terrain. It should be much safer going forward.
However, Zhang Che would soon realize he was thinking too much.
Just as he started up the waist of the mountain, he felt an ominous wind blowing from the mountain forest ahead. A yellow and white striped exotic beast directly pounced at him from a dozen meters away.
“I hate being ambushed the most!” Zhang Che raised his head. A multi-colored ray of light shot out from between his brow and turned into a purple tortoise about a meter in width and height, blocking in the attack path of the exotic beast.
The Purple Crystal Tortoise landed on the ground safely with a loud bang. On the other hand, the white and yellow striped exotic beast let out a pained howl. It bounced back from the impact and fell on the grass, rolling a few times before it crawled back up on its feet.
At this moment, Zhang Che finally got a good look at this shameless fellow’s appearance.
-What a big tiger!
-What long fangs!-
It was a huge, ferocious tiger over six meters long. Well, although there were some differences between it and tigers, it was still undoubtedly a tiger, because there was the word “tiger” in its name.
========
[Sword Fanged Tiger]
Level: Four Star (Level 39)
Quality: Silver
Characteristics: Excels in Ambushing Prey, Pounces at Shocking Speed. Its Fangs Are as Sharp as Swords, Able to Penetrate the Scales of Large, Powerful Prey.
Weakness: Lacking in Defense
Potential: D Rank
========
Zhang Che pursed his lips. -With only this level of strength and it actually dared to ambush me? Did this fellow really think it’s that strong?-
Seemingly sensing Zhang Che’s disdain for it, the Sword Fanged Tiger actually let out a low roar and intentionally went around the Purple Crystal Tortoise, pouncing towards Zhang Che once more in an arc.
Zhang Che stood calmly on the spot and gave an order to the Purple Crystal Tortoise, “Little Tortoise, get rid of it!”
In the next moment, the Purple Crystal Tortoise opened its mouth, and the Sword Fanged Tiger’s large figure immediately flew backwards, as if it had suffered a heavy blow. A bowl-sized hole appeared at its throat, fresh blood gushing out of it.
Zhang Che didn’t even see what the Purple Crystal Tortoise’s rock spear looked like. He didn’t even catch its shadow.
As expected, an attack at supersonic speed was extraordinary!
However, why wasn’t there a sonic boom when it shot the rock spear?
Zhang Che couldn’t understand why, but this kind of stuff couldn’t be explained with science, anyway. So be it if there was no sonic boom; it only made the Purple Crystal Tortoise’s attack more stealthy.
At least, it wouldn’t draw the attention of the surrounding beasts.
Having its throat punctured by the rock spear, not even this Sword Fanged Tiger could withstand it, despite being a four-star silver-quality beast. It collapsed in its own pool of blood, struggling, and soon it slowly stopped moving from excessive blood loss.
“Not bad, not bad!”
Zhang Che looked at the Purple Crystal Tortoise at the side, the corners of his eyes revealing his joyful mood.
This fellow didn’t take his invaluable purple-gold crystals in vain; just a normal rock spear attack contained such might. If it was using its Rock Spear Gatling, wouldn’t this Sword Fanged Tiger disintegrate?
After a brief moment, the Sword Fanged Tiger finally turned into a streak of light and dissipated under Zhang Che’s slightly disappointed gaze, only contributing some soul force points to him.
-Doesn’t matter that it didn’t drop a beast card. I don’t care about such trash.-
Now that Zhang Che was spoiled by a bunch of powerful pets and subdued beasts, he truly didn’t care much for a silver-quality beast card. It was fine if there was only soul force points.
Zhang Che had no idea how many more exotic beasts he had to hunt before he would rise to Tier Five. On his way back, he had to hunt as many exotic beasts as he could, since the exotic beasts here were of a higher level, and the amount of soul force points they gave were pretty considerable.
As he cautiously climbed towards the top of the mountain, Zhang Che didn’t encounter any more exotic beasts. It seemed like there weren’t many exotic beasts active around here.
After all, even that Sword Fanged Tiger from earlier was over six meters long!
After crossing this tall mountain, what laid beyond was the road home!
———-
As the mountain summit was getting within reach, Zhang Che couldn’t help but feel agitated.
He hastened his steps and rushed up to the peak. Looking into the distance, his face instantly froze.
It turned out that after crossing this mountain, there were many more behind it…
A neverending spread of mountains extended as far as he could see, to the ends of the earth. Heavens knew how vast this mountain range was.
“Can I curse out loud?” Zhang Che sat on the ground weakly. It seemed like it was impossible for him to get home in the near future.
He had no other solution but to continue climbing the mountains.
Behind him was a huge lake, or even a sea, with no end in sight. All kinds of powerful and shocking water exotic beasts lived in there; there was no way Zhang Che could go in that direction.
“Let’s get going, then. In the past, the Red Army went on a twelve hundred kilometer Long March; what do I have to fear?!”
{TLN: Reference to real life. The Long March was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China.}
