Chapter 316 - Level 50
The title Irregular was literally as if the whole world was crying and begging Bai Zemin to get out of here. For what other reason would it give him the possibility of opening a gate to an unknown world once a year so that he could leave?
However, after thinking it more carefully, Bai Zemin realized that it was not so simple; his thoughts were too naive.
Okay, he was an anomaly. This was a fact that he had gradually come to accept.
Considering that usually every intelligent existence in the universe only gets 2 stat points to distribute among stats for each level up, one could imagine how difficult it was to obtain a large power boost unless one wished for death and sought to face higher level beings.
Higher level = More stat points: This would consequently lead to the existence with less stats dying... At least that was the general pattern and trend.
However, there were also some rare existences that could fight by skipping levels and some even more special ones that could fight against beings that were in a higher Order than them.
As for Bai Zemin himself... He could probably have his own scale of power at this point.
When he was an Unclassified existence he killed with a single attack a First Order existence, and now that he was a First Order existence he managed to kill with a single attack a Second Order existence that was above level 70... No, he didn't just kill a Second Order existence, he killed 2 Second Order existences with a single attack and destroyed several kilometers along the length and breadth of a mana mutated forest!
If all this was taken into consideration, it was nothing unusual for him to receive such a rare title.
However, the world definitely did not want to throw Bai Zemin out of there. After all, although his existence represented an enormous danger, the world was also benefiting from him; the evolution of the entire Earth would accelerate, which would consequently lead to the beings that inhabited it also growing faster than normal.
Instead of saying that the Earth wanted Bai Zemin to leave, it would probably be more correct to say that the Soul Record was opening a new door for him.
If Bai Zemin stayed on Earth, with his current growth rate he would definitely end up being stuck for years waiting for Third Order or Fourth Order beasts to appear; after all, in the past he could previously fight against Second Order existences, let alone the current him who would have received a boost of roughly 70% in his overall stats.
However, by suddenly gaining the possibility of opening a gate to another world, the fear of having to wait years for the other living beings on Earth to evolve could be partially ignored by Bai Zemin... Of course, there were many things to analyze about the strange skill of the rather unique title he had just acquired; but this would be for when everything calmed down a bit.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he felt the inside of his body; more specifically, he focused on his soul.
If Bai Zemin visualized the human body as a vase, then the soul would be the water inside; only when the two joined to form a perfect team could the rose, which would be the representation of the life, continue to exist.
At this point, his soul was something vaguely visible to him. His soul was like a quantity of liquid that circulated through every part of his body, tirelessly nourishing and strengthening it.
After absorbing such a monstrously high amount of statistics, that "liquid" inside his body became noticeably thicker than before; its quality improved, its purity increased, and there was even a slight radiance in the center that he could not comprehend.
These were all changes that probably all sentient living beings in the universe had ever experienced or would experience at some point. It was also very plausible that at higher stages it represented the path of evolution that one would walk for the rest of one's life.
Unfortunately, the current Bai Zemin was only a First Order being who had only just reached the peak of his stage regardless of how strong he was.
He squirmed in pain for several minutes as his body was reshaped to fit his much stronger soul. He felt his flesh being cut and then regrown, he felt his muscles being torn again and again to grow stronger, he felt his bones seem to crush and then re-form with a stronger quality.
It could be said that this was the first time Bai Zemin felt this.
Although in the past he had also experienced it when he acquired a huge amount of stats after killing his first-ever First Order enemy while he was just a level 15 Unclassified existence, back then the pain he felt had made him indifferent to more pain and the exhaustion had made him faint as soon as the battle concluded.
Therefore, this was the first time he had experienced firsthand what it felt like to receive an abrupt and unexpected boost out of nowhere.
The rain continued to fall non-stop as lightning crackled through the clouds.
The sound of thunder together with the roar of the mutated and evolved beasts running in fear throughout the forest created an extremely suffocating atmosphere capable of driving even the bravest man on Earth crazy.
As the violet-blue light of the lightning struggled to illuminate the world, the huge dome of fire that had risen more than half a kilometer high slowly began to recede. However, the heat of the crimson flames that composed it was high enough to cause all the raindrops that fell a kilometer or two around it to vaporize even before they touched the ground, transforming into a great cloud of steam that rose silently into the sky to merge with the dark clouds that covered the stars and the moon.
Shangguan Bing Xue's leather armor was soaked and due to its special freezing characteristic, a thin layer of ice had formed on and around the surface. Her silver hair was completely wet, losing its luster and giving it a darker appearance compared to when it was dry.
She brushed away a strand of hair that had stuck to her left side cheek and looked at the young man next to her who appeared to be in a great deal of pain as his eyes were closed and his teeth clenched.
While she was close to 24, this young man was barely 20. While in other parts of the world a difference of 4 years was no big deal, in a country like China 4 years was quite a considerable age difference. Therefore, to her, Bai Zemin would be similar to a junior that if on normal university days he had any doubts, she as the senior would usually have to help and answer for matters of morals and respect.
However, it was impossible for her to look at Bai Zemin as someone junior.
His determination, his actions, his prowess, most of his decisions, his strength; all were far beyond what Shangguan Bing Xue could ever have expected to see in a person not only of his age but of any age.
Bang!
A flash of lightning followed by a rumble of thunder illuminated the area of the forest they were in and during that brief flash of light, Shangguan Bing Xue thought she understood a little bit of the reason why a beautiful, kind, clever, talented, and with a great backstory person like Wu Yijun turned out to be attracted to the person she had in front of her.
Just at that moment, Bai Zemin finally opened his eyes and a small sigh escaped from his lungs.
Looking next to him he saw Shangguan Bing Xue looking at him calmly and he gave her a faint smile as he said in a somewhat stiff voice, "Well... Apparently, I killed the spider."
You killed the spider? Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him weirdly and the corner of her mouth twitched once or twice.
She said a little wordlessly, "Just the spider?"
"Well..." Bai Zemin coughed and added, "I might as well have accidentally killed the tiger..."
An 'I knew it' look shone in her eyes as she said with a raised eyebrow, "And you almost killed us too."
Cough cough...
Bai Zemin coughed softly once more and said quietly, "About that... To be honest with you, I don't know what happened... This is the second time I've used that skill but its power is something completely different from what I remember."
Even though he knew it was probably his fault for activating Gravity Manipulation x15, he didn't say it out loud and kept it to himself. After all, Crimson Blood Judgment was one of his most powerful trump cards and the fewer others knew about the skill, the better for him and everyone else.
Shangguan Bing Xue sighed and shook her head without commenting on it. She actually thought for a moment that they were going to die there when she saw the fiery dome that seemed to want to devour everything approaching them. Fortunately, the worst did not happen thanks to Bai Zemin's life-saving treasures as well as their skills, his body control, and his quick reaction; otherwise, both of their bodies would probably have turned into ashes at this point.
As if realizing something, she suddenly asked, "By the way, that giant ape also died?"
Bai Zemin shook his head and calmly replied, "That giant ape had an innate skill of fire. I'm afraid it must have survived the impact and the remaining flames weren't enough to kill it. Still, I refuse to believe that it came out of something so huge intact."
As the huge sphere of blazing crimson fire reflected in her sky blue eyes, Shangguan Bing Xue unconsciously nodded. She also didn't believe that anything could come out of such a terrifying attack like this unscathed.
Approximately 10 minutes later, the huge fire dome had finally been suppressed. The fierce storm raging in the area had managed to mitigate the fire and the scattered flames, which prevented the forest from going up in flames in its entirety.
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other and without the need for words, they rushed into the depths of the forest once again and, hopefully, for the last time tonight.
They had both had enough for today.
* * *
"What a pity..."
As he knelt on his right leg, Bai Zemin sighed as he stroked the white bones in front of him.
These bones were shaped like a feline and from the aura they exuded definitely belonged to a Second Order beast. Since Bai Zemin only received the message from the Soul Record informing him of the absorption of the white tiger's Soul Power, it was obvious who the owner of this skeleton was.
"I'm sure it would have been good forging material." Shangguan Bing Xue understood what he meant and could not help but smile bitterly.
Except for the bones; the flesh, the blood, the fur... Everything of the white tiger was either turned into a pile of scattered ashes or had evaporated.
"Something is something." Bai Zemin shook his head and stood up. He would take the bones with him when they left this place.
After looking around the corpse of the white tiger for a while, Bai Zemin found what he was looking for. His eyes lit up as he saw three treasure orbs, a skill scroll, and even an ancient sheepskin scroll!
Back then, right after defeating the Second Order Archaic Bear after an extremely tough battle to the death, Bai Zemin managed to obtain an ancient scroll made of what appeared to be sheep or goatskin. This scroll actually contained the prescription for creating a new kind of gunpowder called 'magic gunpowder' that in the future would definitely be the basis of mankind's new weaponry.
Therefore, he was incredibly excited to see that he had obtained a second sheepskin scroll and hoped to get a recipe or something similar this time as well!
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Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3