Chapter 34: The Weaver of History: The Stone Gate Opens

A young dragon is inside?

Pate hesitated and said, "My lord, why tell this news to a lowly servant like me?"

"And where are your subordinates, my lord?"

Pate feared the man before him might kill the ox after grinding the millstone, wiping them all out after they dug through the passage.

Fang Shi directly snorted, "Why ask so much? You only need to know my needs differ from yours."

"I only need one thing; I look down on all the rest as trash."

Hearing this, Pate's heart rejoiced. My lord looks down on it? That means the rest is left for us.

As for whether we'll be silenced in the end, wouldn't we be silenced anyway if we didn't work now?

Better to work honestly; at least there's a sliver of hope.

"I remind you, more than just these few people know the news of this place; you must be fast."

"Otherwise, when others arrive later, it won't be easy to handle."

After Fang Shi finished speaking, he silently walked to the passage entrance of the hall.

Along the way, no one dared to block him; all made way.

Hearing this, Pate was startled. So others are coming too. No wonder this master didn't call his subordinates and let us dig; he's in a rush.

Moreover, this master now stands at the passage entrance sharpening his nails with a sword; the threat is unmistakable.

Thinking of his own life, Pate finally began directing his brothers to chip away at the door.

……

At the hall passage exit, Fang Shi leaned against the wall, standing with his sword held.

He held an energy core in his hand, breathing in and out the primal force within it through a breathing method.

Pure primal force overflowed from the energy core, entering Fang Shi's body through pores all over his skin.

Relieving muscle fatigue, repairing bodily damage, and strengthening his physical constitution.

Residual flame elemental energy scattered into the air.

Fang Shi's body was scorching hot like fire; the air distorted, evaporated sweat dispersed above his head, and clouds and mist swirled.

Combined with waves of firelight, he did not seem like a mortal.

Seeing such an extraordinary phenomenon, Pate and the others dared not show disrespect to Fang Shi.

They believed even more firmly in his power as an Ascended One.

Ascended Ones are also called Transcendents.

What is Transcendent? Surpassing mortals is Transcendent.

Whether strength, speed, or constitution, none can compare to the mortal stage.

For many, there is another important characteristic: mastery of supernatural power.

But humans lack energy cores, making mastery of supernatural power less easy than for other races.

For most physical classes, even after Ascension, mastering supernatural power is very difficult.

Typical examples are warriors, rogues, and similar physical classes; they might rely entirely on basic strikes until before Legend.

Only some physical classes with inheritances can master supernatural power after Ascension.

Thus, in many people's eyes, an Ascended physical class does not necessarily master supernatural power.

But a physical class that masters supernatural power is definitely Ascended.

As for some spellcasting classes like warlocks and mages, they are exceptions.

Priests and rangers, backed by deities, cannot be counted either.

Druids and monks have long inheritances and also belong to those with inheritances.

Someone like Fang Shi, clearly a swordsman class, yet surrounded by flame power.

Clearly, he is Ascended and a class with an inheritance.

For Pate, Harris, and others, they had only seen such things on nobles amidst eight hundred li of yellow sand.

They wielded various miraculous powers, far beyond what Ascended Ones without inheritances could compare to.

So Pate and the others became even more obedient and worked even harder.

This was exactly the result Fang Shi wanted.

The reason he revealed the breathing method in such an environment.

Besides cultivation and recovery, it was to intimidate this band of bandits.

Fang Shi knew clearly that compared to humans within the Mystical Realm, humans on Blue Star could be considered lucky.

Not only did they have attribute panels formed by laws of the Dao, accelerating their own evolution.

But most basic classes were freely selectable; even high-status spellcasting classes like druids, warlocks, and priests were no exception.

Even those meeting conditions could select special basic classes like Daoist Priests or Buddhist cultivators.

Upon advancement, those meeting conditions received prompts to switch to advanced classes.

These advanced classes are the precious inheritances Pate and the others spoke of.

Simply too happy to be true; of course, it would be even better without the apocalypse crisis.

Conversely, it could also be called compensation for the apocalypse crisis.

Fang Shi's Martial Artist class was also a special basic class.

So after his rebirth, he chose the Martial Artist without hesitation.

Not only because of familiarity.

Moreover, a special class does not necessarily mean powerful; if developed poorly, it is worse than a common basic class.

Of course, Fang Shi was also unclear about what the so-called special conditions were; he only understood later that he was different from others.

"Actually, I'm a little curious. The multiverse has so many humans, so why was Blue Star specifically chosen?"

"What unknown secret lies behind all this?"

This question had puzzled Fang Shi for a long time, and it had also puzzled every Blue Star human before the rebirth.

For instance, this Mystical Realm also has humans, yet it wasn't chosen.

The so-called Mystical Realm is only the name on the key; in reality, it can be said to be another world.

The worlds within the Mystical Realm are very, very large; some are even far larger than Blue Star itself.

Within the Mystical Realm there are civilizations, nations, all manner of races, and even gods.

The Mystical Realm key merely sends its user to a place in this world that matches the user's own abilities, to carry out an exploration.

Then it lets the explorer obtain benefits.

Rather than, like a dungeon in a game, creating a small space.

Inside are just some stages and bosses, and the explorer can only move within a restricted area.

After the explorer arrives at the Mystical Realm, they can go forward or back, left or right, even ascend to the heavens or descend into the earth.

It has absolutely nothing to do with it; it's just that the exploration completion might be a little low, that's all.

And there's something even more astonishing.

Namely, no matter how the explorer acts, they will never encounter events exceeding the level limit set by the key.

For example, a Level 5 explorer enters the Mystical Realm, and hears that a nearby evil legendary powerhouse is slaughtering a city.

This Level 5 explorer, out of anger, hurries off to stop it.

Of course, whether they can actually win is another matter.

As a result, this Level 5 explorer, no matter what, will never face that legendary powerhouse.

They won't even run into the legendary powerhouse's powerful subordinates.

They'll only encounter some miscellaneous soldiers around Level 5—everything stays within the level range set by the key.

Some people call this phenomenon fate.

And the master of fate, they call the Weaver of History.

It was He who decided that Blue Star would enter the apocalypse.

And it was also He who granted Blue Star's humans the potential for infinite evolution.

Therefore, on Blue Star a church devoted to Him also sprang up.

Naturally, there are many people who believe in this church.

Even those who don't believe still grow superstitious.

Fang Shi doesn't know if it's true or false either, but he'd rather call it nihilism—that way his own struggle can seem more meaningful.

……

Behind the pale-white temple gate, on the central high platform, the rock-grey spherical object trembled once more.

"Who is it, who is it, disturbing my sleep!" A childish voice brimmed with fury.

Like someone who had just fallen asleep and been woken up, a chest full of rage with nowhere to vent.

The spherical object activated its ability, sensing the pulse of the earth.

A scene thus surfaced in its mind.

A group of figures, taking turns swinging tools, kept pounding and smashing something at the temple gate.

They let out clanging and clattering sounds—this was the noise that had been disturbing its sleep all along.

After discovering the culprits, the spherical object grew so angry that the stone clusters on its body all stood on end.

"How dare you disturb the great King of Earth and Mountain's sleep—I will definitely make you pay the price."

"Roar!"

A string of dragon-tongue words came from within the spherical object, and the entire hall began to change.

……

"Ding, ding, ding."

"Crash!"

A bandit from the Giant Scorpion Bandit Group hacked down a few stones with all his might, then immediately switched with another.

Don't laugh—efficiency like this is actually pretty high.

The Giant Scorpion Bandit Group had around thirty people; each one took turns hacking at the door with all their strength, and a passable passage was formed just like that.

If they had proper tools, their efficiency could be even faster—at least doubled.

Pard wasn't idle during this time either.

He had been boosting the Giant Scorpion Bandit Group's morale, promising all sorts of rewards once the job was done.

Otherwise Pard feared some young, foolish brothers might cause him trouble.

In any case, Pard still carried quite a bit of authority, aided by some persuasion from the older members.

The matter of Pard cutting off his own man's arm was considered settled.

The bandit group gradually settled down as well—after all, no one wanted to be killed for no reason.

Regarding the man with the severed arm, Pard had already promised him a sum of money afterward, to retire at the oasis.

As for whether the now-disabled man could actually keep that money, that was another matter.

Some people understood this in their hearts, but all chose to stand by and watch coldly.

The man with the severed arm also knew the consequences, but he was powerless to resist and could only silently accept.

"Harris, have you ever seen a dragon?" Pard asked Harris beside him.

"Never seen one. What's up, boss?"

Harris, a level 5 rogue, was unmatched among the thieves.

Pate wanted to talk with him and have him join the thieves.

"Then if you've never seen one, how do you know how to slay a dragon?"

Harris scratched his head: "I figure, no matter what, dragons are creatures with heads and hearts, right? One slash and they're dead."

"Besides, how powerful can a young dragon be? I heard a bard say the white dragon whelps of the North can't even beat a wild boar."

"Uh, just as I thought. No wonder I value you." Pate patted Harris on the shoulder.

"Haha," Harris laughed along, then spoke in a low voice, "Leader, do you think that my lord keeps his word?"

Pate froze, then said solemnly, "My lord is a noble; he certainly keeps his word."

Harris snorted: "Come on, nobles are the most treacherous people."

Pate sighed, thinking that Harris had only just joined the thieves and the stakes weren't that high yet.

So he said, "You must trust my lord before you can think about the future, and then..."

Before he could finish, a strange sound interrupted their conversation.

The pale white palace doors, unchanged for a long time, suddenly trembled with a rustling sound, as if the entire underground palace was shaking.

This left everyone present bewildered and suspicious, with no time to discuss what had happened.

"Boom—!"

The palace doors slowly swung open outward.