The Wizard World - Storm Is Coming (1)
Storm Is Coming (1)
“That leg was definitely a part of a human’s body but it was walking like it was attached to an invisible person… slowly but steadily…”
Angele narrowed his eyes, but he did not say anything.
The basement became silent.
Angele opened his mouth again after several minutes. “Well, although the environment was bad, it should be a safe place to stay since you’ve been living here for so long.”
“Of course”—the man nodded—”the entrance is sealed with the last blessed stone slate and the monsters won’t be able to detect us.”
“What’s your name? I’m Green by the way.” Angele pursed his lips into a smiled, deciding to use his fake name.
“Just call me Todd.”
The man hesitated for a second and asked, “Actually, can you let us stay in your place for a while? I’ll be fine, but my kids deserve a better environment…” He looked at Angele in the eyes and started begging, “I can stay in the basement my whole life with no problem but my kids can’t. I can do anything for you, what do you think?”
Todd patted his kids’ heads. “I’m the best Colin Hunter in this area and my soul stone card level is three. Although it has no energy left, with the soul stones, I’ll regain my power and I can teach you how to fight.”
‘Colin Hunter? Soul stone card?’ Angele had no idea what the man was talking about. He assumed that those terms could only be understood by the people living in the Nightmare Realm. It seemed like they have some unique fighting skills.
Colin Hunter did sound like a class.
“So, with the soul stones, you’ll be much stronger?” Angele wondered.
“That’s correct.” Todd raised his right hand, pulled his sleeves up, and revealed his bare arm.
There was a black mechanical device, which looked like a metal armguard, attached to his arm. In the center of the armguard, a blue stone sat there, covered with cracks and surrounded by a dim glow.
Todd shrugged and pointed at the blue stone: “There is still some energy left in the stone and I’ll use it when I have to. Although I tried to save the energy, a lot of black smoke beetles appeared in the area for some reason and I had to use my power. Also, living in such an environment had already permanently damaged my body; however, my kids still have hope.”
He looked at his kids and the dedication in his eyes could be seen by Angele.
“Your clothes are still clean in such an environment, meaning you have access to clean water. You also don’t look tired at all, indicating that you have enough food supplies and a place to rest. Green, you have a nice and safe shelter, right?”
Angele shrugged. “You’re right. That’s the only possible reason why I can keep my body and clothes clean. However, I want to see what you can do first. You said you’re a Colin Hunter and your soul stone card level is three. Prove it to me.”
There was a bitter smile on Todd’s face. “This is the last soul stone I have and I can only release an offensive or defensive skill with a power level of two. I was once a high-rank hunter that was given the title called ‘Sky Locker’… I just need more soul stones…”
“Power level of two, huh? Can you control the effective range and demonstrate it to me here?” Angele questioned in a deep tone. He wanted to compare the power level in the realm with the power degree in the main world.
“Of course, but, without the energy…” Todd hesitated.
Angele raised his right hand without saying a word.
*CHI*
Flame spurted out of the tip of his index finger, the bright orange light brightening up the basement immediately.
Todd was surprised.
“You still have soul stones?!”
“NAPA! WUINAPA!” The two kids started yelling with excitement after seeing the fire. They stepped forward and stared at the burning flame.
The light illuminated their faces. Angele noticed their faces and saw that the two kids were trembling due to the low temperature in the basement.
Angele smiled but did not respond to Todd’s question. However, he learned that it seemed like people in the Nightmare Realm could use the soul stone to control the energy particles.
“Alright, show me what you are capable of.” He extinguished the fire and lowered his hand.
Todd smiled and nodded several times. He thought Angele was their new hope.
He raised the right arm and drew a line in the air.
*CHI*
A blue string appeared in the air, it was glowing with crystal-like texture. The temperature of the air around the string was decreasing rapidly.
The blue light illuminated on the people inside the basement.
Todd took one step back and looked at the string quietly. He moved his right hand to the chest and started doing strange gestures.
*WOO*
It sounded like something was vibrating.
Suddenly, the whole basement was filled up with the blue strings. The strings were about one meter in length and they were releasing strong energy waves.
Angele’s expression changed as he scanned the strings using Zero. He was surprised after checking the report. Those strange blue lines were like time bombs and there were hundreds of them. They could easily deal more than 100 degrees of damage if detonated together.
“That’s it…” Todd suddenly sighed.
All the blue strings disappeared from the basement like they were never there.
“What happened?” Angele looked at Todd.
Todd showed the crystal on the armguard to Angele, it has lost its color and it looked like the crystal could break at any time.
“Crap!” Todd covered his mouth with his right hand and coughed several times. Blood leaked out of the gaps between his fingers.
“I’ll look after your kids if you can teach me that ability and your language.” Angele scanned Todd using the biochip and the man’s attributes were identical to an average mortal but his mentality was high. The man did not have much life energy left, it seemed like he would be killed by the disease he had soon.
He had wanted to find someone to take care of his children before he died.
“You want to accept my offer?” Todd questioned.
“Yeah.”
****************************
Angele stayed in the basement and asked Todd to teach him the language first. The language was similar to the universal ancient language but it was slightly improved. Angele mastered the language after studying for two days.
As a wizard with a biochip in his brain, Angele absorbed new knowledge faster than others.
Todd even said that Angele was the smartest man he had ever met.
Angele finished learning the language and acquired some basic information about the ranking system in the Nightmare Realm.
The hunters and the hunter kings were the main ranks in the Nightmare Realm.
Strong monsters and mutated creatures were everywhere in this Realm. The human beings had to learn to kill other races just to survive.
Some people developed the method of utilizing the energy from the soul stone and soul stone cards. Those people were called the hunters and the strongest hunters were given the title “hunter kings”.
There were not that many hunters, only one person out of a hundred could become a hunter. Only the hunters that were awarded titles were considered as elites and the hunter king was the strongest.
Hunters with titles were stronger than normal hunters. The most basic title was “Colin Hunter”, and it was awarded by the Mother of Iicolin.
Mortal, hunters, hunters with titles, and the hunter king. This was the basic ranking system in the realm.
The hunters from different continents had different skill levels, including the hunter with titles. The hunter kings were authorized by the churches and they all had recognizable achievements.
Of course, things had changed after the plague struck the land.
So many years had passed and—according to Todd—most of the survivors were hunters. The rest of the survivors were lucky mortals that somehow found a way to live in this mess.
Todd told Angele most of the things he knew and his condition became worse day by day.
The third day.
“Thanks for your meat jerky. They taste great.” Todd leaned against the wall and put on his black outfit.
“The black beetles are coming. I need to drive them away. I don’t want to risk anything although I have the blessed slate.” He was still chewing the jerky.
“You should rest. Let me handle them for you.” Angele stood up. “Even though I replaced the soul stone for you, you’re still too weak to fight.”
The soul stone was identical to the high-quality magic stone that Angele had. Although the energy structure was different, it was still better than nothing. However, the energy from the magic stone contained too many impurities so Todd had some trouble using it.
“But you’re not familiar with the landscape!” Todd hesitated. “I’m not looking down on you, it’s just there are certain situations you don’t know how to handle. Let me go.”
“It’s alright, I’ve fought those black beetles before. Don’t worry.” Angele smiled. “I’ll be going now. I’ve already told you the location of my shelter. Head to there if the situation allows.”
He walked upstairs before Todd could respond.
“Green, please come back in one piece!” The boy shouted with a loud voice.
“Of course.” Angele smiled again. He gave many different foods to the two kids in the last several days and warmed the place up with a force field. The two kids had never experienced the warmth from the energy particles before since they could not burn dried branches in the basement as they needed the oxygen.
Angele had engraved the temperature-increasing magic circle on his mentality crystal and it was the first time he had activated in such an environment.
Pushing the slate up, he scanned the surroundings using the biochip, but no danger was detected.
Todd and his kids remained silent. It was the most important moment as they could not expose the location of the basement to the mutated creatures.
It was dark outside. The blue stars in the sky looked like diamonds that were laid down on a large piece of black blanket. They were beautiful and shiny.
It was such a beautiful thing to look at.
There was no moon in the sky, only the stars were blinking.
He carefully opened the slate and stepped onto the floor.
The air was clean and refreshing; however, a rotten odor was blown into Angele’s nose by the gentle wind.
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