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Chapter 534: Island of Devil’s Maw (40)

Translator: Lonelytree

After his teammates finished having a drink out of the mountain goat’s blood, Feng Bujue raised the sharp cleaver and used his impressive cutting skill to dissect the mountain goat. First, he cut open the stomach to remove the internal organ and used the cleaver to debone the beast, leaving behind large slabs of meat and the large goat’s legs. And then he chopped up these pieces into 10 different portions and split them among his three teammates. He himself took three portions and placed them inside his inventory.

“Okay, time to move on.” After dealing with all that, Feng Bujue put away the cleaver and urged for the teammates pack up and resume their journey.

“I say… you have not stop moving since we started this journey… are you really not tired. We can rest a little while longer if you need to.” Now even Pegasus, the walking battery himself was shocked by Feng Bujue’s seemingly endless stamina. While Brother Jue was chopping up the mutton, Pegasus, Ambitionist and Atobe sat to the side, at the very least they had rested slightly and restored some Stamina Points. However, Feng Bujue finished his job so fast that the recovery that they gained was extremely limited.

In contrast, Brother Jue had not stopped moving and was caught up in so many activities since they entered the tunnel until now… leading the way inside the tunnel, the battle to the death with the Blade Butterfly Queen, saving his teammates who were stuck on the web, escaping from the Silkworm Mother, and then coming back to the crime scene and now leading the way again… Just earlier, he got into a physical wrestling match with a large mountain goat and now he had just finished the job of a butcher. After doing so many things, he did not show the sign of wanting to rest at all… It was not surprising that other people would be curious about his store of stamina points.

“It is fine, I can still hold on.” Feng Bujue answered casually and with ease. He did not provide further explanation, and the reasoning was the same as before, he did not want to expose the title skill of Pot of Hatred in absolute detail unless he absolutely had to. What his teammates did not know was… when Feng Bujue was ‘fighting’ the mountain goat, Brother Jue had once again recovered some Stamina Points through the effect of Pot of Hatred. Of course, the exhaustion caused by the activation of Body Enhancement Spell- Upgraded was not reimbursed because that was not counted as effective ‘hostile damage’. But part of the damage to his Life Points caused by the mountain goat had been restored as Stamina Points according to the skill’s inherent restoration ratio. Therefore, Feng Bujue’s Stamina Points had returned back up to 20 percent of the maximum. As long as he gritted his teeth and pushed himself… he could even unleash a shot of Northern Flying Dragon Fist.

“There is no need for you guys to get worried about this man…” Ambitionist who walked at the back of the group piped up to say, “Do not forget that when the combat stat ranking was still around, this man is ranked at the same level as that Shiva. Even top players like Lying Drunk, Uncle Worthless and Smiling Divine Question were placed behind him.” He paused. “A player at his level cannot be understood and explained through common sense. In fact, if he come out and tell us directly that he has a passive skill that can double the maximum threshold of his Stamina Points, I would not have been surprised. Hell, I might even believe him.”

“Hmm… I have almost forgotten about that.” Atobe mumbled. “Due to the strange way the man has been acting, I have forgotten that he is a real expert player in this game…”

“Ah~ Speaking of that…” Pegasus continued weakly like he had the wind knocked out of him. “After the latest version upgrade, my name has disappeared from that new ‘Players’ Overall Ability Ranking’.” He paused for half a second as if to lament his loss and then added, “And the new ranking has a full 30 slots, how am I not one of them?!”

“That sounds very normal to me…” Ambitionist narrowed his eyes and said. “I thought it was already a miracle in itself that you were able to be among the top 20 players before the latest update.”

“Hmph! Ishida, all I can hear is envy talking.” Pegasus turned his anime face around to tell Ambitionist.

“Then you need to go and have your ears checked! Why the hell should I be envious of you?” Ambitionist countered with apparent annoyance. “I am only telling the truth, okay? When facing a player such as yourself, in a one on one match, your enemy can easily come up with the solution to have an upper hand over you. In fact, you can go and simply pick out a player with medium mastery in marksmanship and give him a workable tactic and he will easily win over you.”

“Now, that I can agree with.” Feng Bujue concurred with Ambitionist. “In fact, off the top of my butt, I can poop out around 47 tactics to kill Pegasus in a one on one match.”

“Don’t you think that statement is extremely disgusting and draw unnecessary hatred to yourself?” Atobe could not help but chide the man. Brother Jue ignored him and continued to say, “By the way, Pegaus, there is something that has been troubling me and I wish to ask you about it. But if you feel like it is too uncomfortable for you, feel free to not answer it.” He turned his head around and used a tricky gaze to look at Pegasus up and down before asking the question, “Your overall ability should have a great increase after getting the ‘mystery prize’ that was meant for the first place winner of the Tournament of the Best, right?”

This one question caused the atmosphere within the group to become palpably nervous and intense. Undeniably… this was a question that crossed the ‘bottom line’ that was mentioned in the previous chapter. Even though the dust from the Tournament of the Best had already long settled, the speculation the players had regarding this ‘mystery prize’ was still going around the rumor mill. Almost all of Thriller Paradise’s players, including both Ambitionist and Atobe, were incredibly curious about the actual content of this ‘mystery prize’…

But the question was one… that had no answer or rather they were hard to find someone who was willing to give the answer. The parties who knew the truth included the higher ups at Dream Inc., the higher ups at Celestia gaming studio, and the person in question, the benefactor of the mystery prize— Pegasus himself. None of the parties would be willing to reveal the secret. First it was Dream Inc… the company would naturally would not reveal its secret, in fact any employee who was found to leak the secret might risk having their job or life eliminated. Secondly, the higher ups at Celestia had kept a tight lid on the content of the mystery prize. For them, the content of this ‘mystery prize’ was equal to an invisible but incredibly powerful haggling chip, only by not revealing it that it would retain its value. Therefore… there appeared to be only one last channel left to be able to find out about this ‘mystery prize’ and that was to go and find the winner, Pegasus and ask him the question openly and directly.

But who would go and do something like that? This kind of thing was no different from a business secret within the gaming industry, as long as the gaming studio did not give him the go ahead, Pegasus himself did not have the right to reveal the secret. And if you asked him in person… would that not have placed the innocent man in a hot spot?

“Erm… Let me think…” After hearing Brother Jue’s question, Pegasus contemplated for a whole full minute before he replied, “Your question appears to be a useless one, do you know that? Since I have already been squeezed out of the top 30 players’ overall ability ranking after the new version update, naturally the prize has not helped in any way to improve my overall ability, so what is the point of asking that question?”

“Qie… so I have been seen through after all…” Feng Bujue groaned but he did not sound regretful at all. “And here I thought you would accidentally let slip the content of the mystery prize for us to know.”

“Oh~ So that is what you want to find out…” Pegasus chuckled and said, “You should have asked me directly, I have no problem telling you about that.”

“What?!” Both Ambitionist and Atobe were shocked beyond belief. “So it is actually not some kind of deep hidden secret after all?”

“Ah… how shall I put this…” Pegasus crossed his arms behind his head and said as he walked. “I feel like… it won’t be that big of a problem even if I tell you guys. Of course, the gaming studio has indeed given me an order to keep it a secret.”

“Then you better do not tell us anything…” Feng Bujue warned. “I am just asking for fun. I do not wish for you to lose your job or make enemy of your studio because of this…”

“Ha ha… you have overthought stuff…” Pegasus chuckled with fun. “When I first joined the studio, I was one of the batches that was not valued by the company, so I have signed a ‘blue collar player’ type of contract with the company. In my contract, there is basically no clause about ‘rewards and prizes from in game competition’ probably because they did not expect us to win anything. There was only an additional clause about the whole thing—the players themselves have full ownership over the prizes that they have won.” He opened both of his arms and shrugged. “In reality though… even for contracts drafted for celebrity players, it rarely put down in writing that the players have to maintain confidentiality with regards to the winnings for any in game competition.”

“Well, that is true… Normally, when a game company organizes any kind of competition, they will place the focus on the competition on the prize. A company like Dream Inc that is so secretive about their prizes is indeed very rare within the industry.” Atobe added.

“You are not wrong there…” Ambitionist also chimed in, “This part of the contract normally will not be within the range of the confidentiality agreement.”

“Indeed.” Pegasus laughed brightly. “I suppose you can call it a loophole within the contract.”

“But… that is not enough reason for you to be so willing to share with us the content of the mystery prize.” Feng Bujue continued thoughtfully. “I think I have a good idea in mind already…” He gave Pegasus a side eye. “The actual content of that ‘mystery prize’ is probably something… that ‘even if we go around announcing it to the others, they might not believe us that we are telling the truth’.”

“Ha ha! Are you sure you are not a fortune-teller? That is so impressive!” Pegasus guffawed and declared. “I will let the secret out of the bag. The prize is a one by one, human sized Saint Seiya costume (known as Pegasus Garments in the anime)!”

“Ha?” Ambitionist was so shocked his glasses almost fell down from his face. Atobe also looked at the man with a blank expression. “Okay, you were right… I refuse to believe that is the truth.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Feng Bujue though started to laugh and mumbled as if to himself. “So the prize is custom made and will different depending on the winner? Hmph… truly it befits that person’s style and habit…”

“Hmm, what are you talking about?” Pegasus thought Brother Jue was conversing with him so he asked instantly.

“Oh, I was saying…” Brother Jue raised his voice and tried to cover up the slip of his tongue, “The prize does befit your own personal style and habit.”

“You cannot be more right!” Pegasus raised his nose pridefully and chuckled, “Once I heard that was the prize that I have won, I could not have been happier! I was shaking with joy when the delivery came. I have never been so careful in my life as I was peeling off the paper box and the bubble wrap of the packaging.”

“Hmm… don’t you guys think the value of this prize is a bit low? At most this is something of an omake of a popular anime, right?” Atobe commented. “The skill point reward aside, Lying Drunk and Yama who got second and third place respectively both got a legendary grade equipment. Even though they are bound items that cannot be sold, based on the current market value… legendary equipment will at least go for several ten thousand RMB at the moment.”

“How do you deem that it is not valuable?” Feng Bujue revealed a cool and indifferent smile. “If I am Pegasus, I too would be more willing to get the costume and not some legendary equipment.” He sighed a long sigh and looked up into the sky and said with the lamentation of an old man who had lived a much longer life than he did, “You need to understand that… one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure.”

“Yes… after all, the equipment in game, no matter how valuable it is, is ultimately virtual. One day, Thriller Paradise will shut its server and be replaced by a new generation game like any other of its predecessors, everything that exists in game then will lose its value…” Ambitionist agreed, “While a memento in real life can be preserved forever.”

“hey… how come you guys make it sound like I have been scammed or something like that?” Pegasus could not help but chime in. “Dream Inc has included a letter alongside the prize, they told me that the Pegasus garments is worth about ten large crates of ‘Tetradrachm’ (a kind of Ancient Greek currency. Silver coins)!”

“Ha ha… What kind of currency is that…” Ambitionist laughed. “It is calculated in crates as unit? Then it is probably worth as much as Vietnamese Dong then.”

Atobe also added on, “The party who gave the prize must have greatly hyped the value of the prize then.”

“No, no, I think that is quite accurate.” Pegasus tried to argue. “I have given the costume a try… the stitching of the garment is exquisite. Even though it is quite heavy, it will not hinder your dexterity and it fits you like a second skin; even the carvings on the outside of the garments are extremely well-done. There is no even a scratch on the surface and it glitters when the light hits it.” He paused. “Hmm… and… I swear when I put it on, I can feel a surge of energy keeps on coming out from inside my body…”

The more Feng Bujue heard about the description of the costume, the greater the suspicion he had in his mind and it was not a good suspicion either. “I wish to ask… when you tried on the garment, did you try to attack the wall or use Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken or something to that effect?”

“Ah? Of course not.” Pegasus replied. “I was not in game, who would do something like that in real life, are you a primary school student?”

“You are the person who is least qualified to say that about me…” Feng Bujue pouted his lips to say. Even though the four’s lips never stopped moving, neither did their legs. In fact, with Brother Jue’s purposeful leading, they had been moving at quite a fast speed. Since they had just quenched their thirst, so they were no longer bothered by the feeling of ‘thirst’, the drainage of Stamina Points had thus returned to normal. Under that condition, even when they were walking, their Stamina Points would slowly recover.

Naturally Feng Bujue had noticed that early in the journey, and he soon come up with the solution… In this scenario, as long as one was not ‘hungry and thirsty’, the loss of Stamina points would be according to the normal rate. With regards to ‘fatigue’, it was a kind of debuff that would only appear when the players’ Stamina Point was low and it would be neutralized once the players took a good rest.

Of course, there was another factor that one had to consider and that was ‘temperature’. On this point, for now they did not need to be worry. The surrounding temperature in the crystalline maze was relatively low, it was maintained at around 10 degree Celsius, this kind of temperature would not bring any negative effect. In any case, it was far more comfortable than sub zero temperature or over 30 degree temperature.

…

After walking for another distance, the group’s Stamina Points had basically all risen back to more than 20 percent. And at that moment, they were probably not that far away from the Leaf of Terror anymore.

“Ambitionist.” Feng Bujue appeared to have noticed something as he suddenly stopped moving as he looked at the space before him with alertness. He then said, “The infrared light that you have, is it still usable?”

Hearing that, Ambitionist took out the egg-shaped metallic light from his inventory without saying anything. He walked forward and explained, “There is about half of the battery left.” He said as he switched on the infrared light. Instantly, the large circular area around them was lit up by a red light. And the silk webs that were within this radius were all exposed to the sight…

The group lifted their eyes to look and just at around 5 to 6 metres in front of them was a block of ‘web wall’.

“Hah… so my guess was right.” Feng Bujue concluded, “Just like those locusts from before, these threads can be seen through infrared light.”

“By the way… how did you know there will be webs in front of us?” AMbitionist looked at Brother Jue and asked with curiosity, “We have been moving at quite a constantly fast speed along the way but why did you stop here and know to tell me to switch on the infrared light?”

“if you look around closely, some details will jump out at you…” Feng Bujue lifted his finger to point above them. “In this maze, some of the crystal columns are more than 12 metres tall but there are only a handful that are more than 15 metres tall. And the web that is laid down by the Silkworm Mother averages its height at above 10 metres.” He pointed at a random crystal column nearby. “Using this 10 metres as a guide… switch off the light and you will be able to see the part where the silk thread is stuck to the crystal.”

Hearing that, Ambitionist did what he was told. He turned off the light and focused his eyes at the spot pointed out by Feng Bujue. Then he said, “The surface of the crystal is slightly blurry?”

“yes.” Feng Bujue nodded. “The theory is I believe similar to if you have used a transparent glue to paint a line down the surface of a lightbulb.”

“Hmm… if the crystals themselves do not glow, probably we would not be able to notice anything.” Atobe at the side added.

“Okay then, switch the light back on.” Feng Bujue told Ambitionist before he turned to tell Atobe, “Atobe, open your fan and lead the way.” In less than 10 seconds, the two separately made their preparation, one raised the light while the other raised his large fan and started to sweep away the hurdle that blocked their way.

“I so hate being ordered by others…” Ambitionist grumbled with pure exasperation.

“Aiz… without even realizing it, we have handed the commanding role to that guy again…” Atobe also sighed.

“Hey over there, less talking and more working!” Feng Bujue shouted behind them. “It is not good to complain among themselves! Have you forgotten the last words of the great Walker before he passed away?”

“He did not even have a chance to say anything before you was chopped up by you, okay!” Atobe roared in return.

“But if he was given a chance to say anything, it would be something like this…” Ambitionist mumbled, “I really do not taste that good… Ya ma te…”

While they spoke, Atobe had already swept away a few of the large webs. Once the web fell to the ground, they lost their threat and the path ahead could be passed through. The four continued on their journey until they entered a territory that was completely covered by a layer of thick powdery white substance. The crystal columns here were much taller and more crowded than the other places. The path on the ground also became narrower with more split in the ground. It felt like they had entered the lair of an insect.

“We are almost there already, I believe…” Ambitionist looked around with alert and added, “I feel like… it is best for us to come up with a fighting tactic first. Even though our body condition now is slightly better than we have just exited the tunnel, but to win that boss, it feels like we still have a long way to go.”

“Hmm, that caterpillar is indeed very strong.” Pegasus confirmed. “She was hit head on several times by my Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken but it does not appear like they have injured her in any way.”

“I say, the king of natural science.” As Atobe waved his giant fan to clear the way, he turned his face to the side to ask Brother Jue, “You should know what silkworms are afraid of, right?”

“Being exposed to cold winds, harsh sun, water, fire and spices…” Feng Bujue immediately concluded the lesson in a simple sentence and then proceeded to douse his teammates in a bowl of cold water. “Actually silkworms are a very fragile kind of creature, but unfortunately… even if the Silkworm Mother has similar weaknesses, we will not be able to make use of them because she is too big. Based on the ratio calculation… unless one of us has a skill like Dai Guren Hirinmaru, or else she will not feel threatened by us at all.”

But… as he finished, Atobe instantly followed it up with, “You should have told us that sooner, I do know a skill like that.”

“Ah?” Feng Bujue was stunned again. This was the second time Feng Bujue was surprised by Atobe after the time inside the tunnel. Ambitionist and Pegasus though appeared quite unfazed. Their attitude was the same. [Atobe, you are truly a man of greatness, no wonder you are the boss of Hyotei.]

“Erm… you really have an ultimate of that level?” Feng Bujue still had his suspicion so he asked for another confirmation.

“Don’t you worry, it is really a powerful ultimate.” Atobe did not mind sharing the name of this skill because it was a one-time use skill. “The legendary, ‘Ice Wheel Leaning Mirror Reflecting the Long Sky’ (shortformed as Ice Wheel from this point onwards), just from the name, you will be able to tell how powerful it is right?!”