Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng brought the block of white jade back to Chang’an city for further studying.
[Item name]: @%#% Bone
Damn it, cursed Gao Peng under his breath. What’s with this garbled nonsense?!
This was the first time something like this had happened since he had awoken his stat-reading ability.
This could mean that it still had room for improvement.
Gao Peng scratched his head. There was no denying that what he had stumbled upon was no ordinary object.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent’s reaction to it and the fact that its properties were simply beyond his stat-reading ability was proof enough of this.
Also, the word ‘bone’ in its name confirmed Gao Peng’s initial suspicions, that the object was in fact a piece of bone.
I wonder what would happen if I let Dumby take it with him? thought Gao Peng.
Dumby picked it up and swung it around a few times. It tried to place the bone in its chest. However, it didn’t seem to fit.
Then Dumby snapped one of its exposed bones in two and inserted the curious bone-like object between the two broken bone fragments.
The bone fragments immediately fused with the object. The cracks in the newly-formed bone glowed with an intense red light as white smoke billowed out from them.
Dumby let out a roar and fell to the ground, half kneeling. At that moment, the curious runes etched across the white jade bone seemed to have come to life.
A thunderous sound filled the air around Gao Peng. However, every time Gao Peng tried to focus on it, the sound immediately gave way to silence.
A spectacular display of light and colors swirled around him.
He saw the huge black figure before him cocking its head back and letting out a monstrous roar again.
It spread its wings out behind it, completely blocking out the sky.
The only thing that remained of the sky was a dim red outline around the figure’s wings. In the next instant, the monstrous figure folded back its wings, revealing the twinkling stars in the sky overhead.
Finally, the illusion ended, and the white jade bone that Dumby had inserted in its rib cage fell to the ground with a clatter.
Dumby fell forward with both hands planted on the ground.
Gao Peng frowned at the mysterious markings that had appeared on both of its arms before vanishing almost instantly. If he wasn’t mistaken, they looked a lot like the ones etched across the white jade bone.
“Are you all right, Dumby?”
“I’m fine,” mumbled Dumby, shaking its head. It waggled its arms around to show that there was nothing wrong with it.
Gao Peng checked Dumby’s stats and noticed that a new ability had appeared in the familiar’s “Ability” section.
[Dark Flame Mastery Level 2]
He asked Dumby to try and use its new ability. At first, Dumby fumbled with it clumsily. However, after a few tries, it finally got the hang of it. It was now able to conjure a dark red flame at the center of its palm that could engulf both of its arms.
With both arms ablaze, Dumby looked like a demon that had clawed its way out of hell to reach the mortal plane.
Strangely enough, the dark red flames that had engulfed Dumby’s arms didn’t seem capable of burning anything, as Dumby’s black robe was still intact in the flames.
Gao Peng then asked Dumby to put out the flames as he gazed at the white jade bone thoughtfully.
…
On the outskirts of Chang’an City, a strange figure was slowly lumbering towards the city.
“Something’s coming toward us.”
“We need to stop it.”
“That’s not good. It’s picking up speed!”
The soldiers stationed at the sentry towers outside Chang’an City were now panicking at the sight of the lumbering creature.
They left their posts, armed to the teeth. A couple of familiars had emerged from the nearby forest as well, ready to cut off the intruder.
The creature looked up at them and simply lifted its glittering right hand, then pushed its hand out, and what followed was a powerful shockwave in the air that managed to knock down all the trees around it.
The sentry towers, too, were instantly blown to pieces by the monster’s attack.
Every soldier and familiar was wiped out instantly.
The monster pulled back its right arm and looked up at the clouds in the air, then it continued trudging forward.
Alarms were now blaring throughout the eastern side of Chang’an City.
Helicopters and fighter jets streaked across the sky towards the edge of the city.
Every person from a secret organization in other parts of the city had begun their exodus towards the city’s eastern side.
A couple of powerful trainers had also answered the call to defend the city from the incoming threat.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on Gao Peng’s door outside his hotel room.
Two uniformed figures greeted him when he opened the door. “Are you Mr. Gao Peng?” asked one of them solemnly.
“Yes, that’s me. Is something wrong? I don’t remember committing any crimes recently,” said Gao Peng with a frown.
“We’re currently in a state of emergency. We’ve begun enlisting all available trainers to defend the city against an unknown threat.” One of them handed him a small red book.
Gao Peng had heard of such a thing before. However, back then, he still wasn’t a full-fledged monster trainer, so he had simply forgotten about it. “Hold on. Let me just grab my things,” he said.
Half an hour later, Gao Peng had reached Chang’an City’s eastern city walls. He looked out into the distance.
On the horizon, a dark figure could be seen edging closer and closer to the city.
It was at least 30 feet tall and human-shaped. Its entire body seemed to be made of transparent crystal.
However, it wasn’t completely transparent. The creature’s body had an iridescent shine to it.
All of a sudden, a sense of deja vu washed over Gao Peng. The creature’s material reminded him of the crystal that he had dug out of the desert not too long ago.
[Monster Name]: Nuclear Ruler (Radiation variant)
[Monster Grade]: Epic
[Monster Level]: Level 46
[Monster Attribute]: Earth
[Monster Ability]: Hard Body Level 3, Elemental Resistance Level 3, Gravitational Mastery Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Nuclear Core (In order to survive the nuclear radiation, its sand core developed the ability to absorb nuclear radiation. Passive Effect 1: It can strengthen itself using nuclear radiation. Active Effect 2: It can tap into the nuclear energy contained within its core in order to give itself a temporary power boost.)
[Monster Weakness]: Its hard body is now as brittle as glass.
[Description]: After being exposed to extreme heat and terrifying levels of radiation in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, the Desert Ruler has evolved into the Nuclear Ruler.
The Desert Ruler’s abilities had undergone a major change after being exposed to nuclear radiation. Even its physiology had changed completely. Gao Peng had no idea if this was a good or bad thing.
Its defenses and elemental resistances seemed to have increased considerably. However, it probably couldn’t heal its wounds as quickly as before, seeing that nuclear energy was a bit harder to come by in nature than sand.
The Golden Deity was now hovering in the air, carefully assessing the Nuclear Ruler in the distance.
The Nuclear Ruler looked up. Its eyes burned with rage when it saw its sworn enemy, the Golden Deity, flying high and mighty in the air!
