Chapter 159: They Once Existed

Player name: Liang Shaoguang (0 level 0 Fourth Rank)

Player attributes:

Strength: 11

Agility: 12

Constitution: 10

Will: 10

Player talent: Moon Wolf Transformation (B-rank talent) Strength +1, Agility +2

Moon Wolf Transformation: After activating the skill, transform into a fantasy creature - Moon Wolf. Gain an additional +1 Agility attribute.

Talent trait 1: After Moon Wolf Transformation, gain night vision; you will see at night as if it were day, and can detect spirit energy movement traces.

Talent trait 2: After Moon Wolf Transformation, gain tracking scent; you will obtain scent information within a maximum range of 20 kilometers, and the effect doubles at night.

Talent trait 3: Under moonlight, you will gain Constitution boost, but Will attribute decreases; when seriously wounded, there is a chance to enter a berserk state. (Berserk: strength increased, Will decreased)

Equipment: none

Props: Fang (Moon Wolf) from a 3 Fourth Rank fantasy creature: Moon Wolf's sharp teeth, residual power has disappeared.

Combat ability is average, but indeed quite formidable in tracking and searching for enemies.

Pretty much as I expected.

With nighttime power boost, it will be somewhat better; the berserk state has pros and cons.

When facing non-psychic Awakened Ones, the power increase is quite good, but when encountering psychic damage...

The Will, already at the minimum 10 points (Awakened Ones' attributes all minimum 10), if further reduced... probably about the same as an ordinary person...

Even Lin An worries that after berserk, Liang Shaoguang's intelligence will be affected, turning him into a beast.

Lin Dui, how is my talent?

Liang Shaoguang felt a bit uneasy; he couldn't quite understand the description on his panel.

He only knew his strength increased, his speed increased, and his nose became more useful.

When previously dodging the dolls, he could smell the scent from afar; otherwise he would have died before Lin An arrived.

Not bad.

Lin An casually commented.

Just that.

He curiously stretched out his finger, touching the necklace hanging on Liang Shaoguang's neck.

The necklace is quite ordinary; in his perception, there's no difference from regular decoration.

Shaoguang, where did you get this necklace?

Lin An asked doubtfully.

3 Fourth Rank fantasy creature? He doesn't really know what it is.

But as long as you have 3 Fourth Rank, it shouldn't be accessible to a player of Liang Shaoguang's level.

Moreover, Lin An suspects that Liang Shaoguang's awakened ability likely comes from the Moon Wolf fang.

Otherwise, there would be no reason to awaken such an ability.

Most players' awakened abilities are related to their strengths.

For example, Wen Ya is a psychic mutant, mastering the Mental Power Barrier.

Gao Tian excels at archery, mastering the Hunting Lock.

And Zhang Tie...

Very likely the reincarnation of a black bear spirit... or the one who stole the cassock.

Liang Shaoguang looks big and sturdy; in normal state, he should be an awakened physical enhancement, or simply related to his profession.

Liang Shaoguang scratched his head, eyes in thought, somewhat uncertainly replied:

Um, Lord Lin An...

Just call me Lin Dui like Zhang Tie does.

Uh... that Lin Dui. Is this thing an heirloom of mine?

Anyway, I've had it since I was little; I heard my ancestors were hunters, you know. I live in a village behind which there is a mountain; long ago, everyone in the village were hunters.

Later the state banned hunting, so we could only go out...

Lin An raised his hand to interrupt Liang Shaoguang's chatter, fingertips turning over the somewhat whitened fang:

Hunting? Back mountain? Roughly when?!

His gaze solemn.

Lin An was somewhat surprised.

If according to Liang Shaoguang's words, this fang was passed down from his father or even earlier generations, then that would mean...

Moon Wolves existed in the real world even before the Apocalypse, even in ancient times!?

How is that possible?

Liang Shaoguang thought for a moment, as if recalling something.

Lin Dui, my grandfather used to be a well-known hunter, disappeared for many years, and when he returned he just died of illness.

Before his death he left me a hunting bow and this thing to my father; later the bow was left at home and its string rotted.

The back mountain is the Yin Mountain, the big mountain behind our village, barren as heck...

Disappearance, Yin Mountain, Moon Wolf...

Lin An slightly furrowed his brows.

Liang Shaoguang had no reason to lie, at least not in front of me.

Moon wolf, a fantasy creature, has disappeared for many years.

Strangely, he suddenly thought of the Cain's Blade rewarded in the savior mission.

If fantasy creatures existed before the apocalypse, or if fantasy creatures had appeared on Shady Mountain.

Could it be understood that beings from myths and legends also appeared before the apocalypse?

The more he thought, the deeper the idea became.

Lin An had never thought that the names in the game had any special meaning.

In his view, just like games before the apocalypse, it was simply equipment names, leaning toward the Western style.

But in recent days, after coming into contact with some secrecy and speculation...

Perhaps every piece of equipment and every awakened talent has a real origin, and perhaps they once existed in this world?

Like the Suturer's carcass, this white equipment.

He knew that this equipment was the Suturer's skin, its name came from the Suturer, and the suffix came from the body part.

What about Cain's Blade?

Cain:

In the Christian legend, the first humans, Adam and Eve's eldest son.

The originator of sinful mankind. The first murderer.

After killing his own brother with his own hands, he was punished by Christ.

And Cain's Blade is the weapon with which humanity first killed its own kind; in religion it is of great significance, praised as the root of evil.

If this equipment has a real origin, does that not mean the Christian legend is true?

Myths, epics, legends, Dao, Buddha...

Have these beings, once thought to be merely fantasy, ever truly appeared?

If they once existed, where are they now?

A chill ran down his back.

Lin An couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

He could not imagine what his world really was if these myths were intertwined.

After finishing the base's affairs, perhaps he could go take a look at Shady Mountain.

Lin An couldn't help but rub his forehead.

These past days he has never stopped thinking, yet he always feels like a fish entangled in a net.

He couldn't see clearly, and didn't know exactly what was troubling him.

「chi--」

The truck stopped moving, and a few brake sounds rang out.

「Lord Lin An, this is it... 」

The clear voice of the girl from the sports institute softly reminded Lin An.

She stretched out her arm, pointing toward the direction outside the glass.

The sky began to brighten at dawn.

After yesterday's rain, the mist rose.

In the distance.

The railings and granaries hidden beneath the white mist were somewhat indistinct.

Far off, a dark shadow swayed.