vncnus Page 112
Page 112
He took a few steps back, leaving the scalding lava, and returned to the mine, where he pondered for a moment.
"If simply building the Nether Portal would end the competition, why didn't everyone else give it their all on the first day? Even with some limits, building a Nether Portal in a day isn't impossible..."
Api blocked the lava passage with stones and shouted inside the mine tunnel.
"Old Deer! I've finished here!"
After waiting for half a minute without any response, Api scratched his head and called out again.
"Old Deer! The obsidian is all here!"
However, Old Deer still did not respond.
“Strange…” Api took out his diamond sword and began to slowly walk towards the other end of the mine tunnel, glancing left and right as he did so. He counted the torches stuck in the ground every two blocks as he pondered:
"In such a straight mine tunnel, any sound can generally be heard by everyone, unless she encountered some huge natural cave or ruins, but even then, she should have notified me first..."
"The mine tunnel is getting darker, and I think I'm seeing things. Am I just imagining things?"
squeak...
Api suddenly turned his head to look at the insect shadow that had burrowed into the stone.
"I told Old Deer to remember to light the torches, could she have been captured by a monster...?"
He put on his shield, took a deep breath, looked at the steps that appeared at the end of the mine tunnel, and went up.
squeak...
Api turned around quickly and slashed at the lurking insect monster with his sword. Without stopping, he leaped up again and slashed twice. The silver-white insect monster let out a mournful cry and died.
"Fortunately, they weren't any formidable enemies..."
Suddenly, a soft footstep caught his attention. Api raised his diamond sword and cautiously approached a cave entrance that was glowing in the dark stone passage not far away.
Api braced himself, darted to the entrance of the glowing cave, and just as he was about to swing his sword, he suddenly leaped backward, abruptly stopping his attack, and shouted:
"Old Deer?!"
The purple-haired woman turned around, smiled at Api, then turned back and inserted the eyeball-shaped object in her hand into the flat End portal.
"I've longed to explore this unknown world for so long, and finally I've been able to return to this fortress..."
Old Deer looked at the black particles that suddenly surged up on the teleportation array, nodded in satisfaction, and said to Api:
"I'll leave the competition to you. I just heard you say that you've collected the materials for the Lower Realm Gate, so I suppose you'll be able to fulfill your wish now?"
Then, to Api's astonishment, she stuck out her bottom, performed the blocky man's etiquette, and Old Deer waved his hand before jumping straight into the teleportation array.
"Old Deer!"
Api instinctively took two steps forward, watching the old deer's purple hair disappear into the black particles, and couldn't help but shout:
"It's not too late to find out what kind of world it is before you go!"
He tightened his grip on the diamond sword, took a deep breath, and subconsciously touched his chest, then suddenly froze.
—There hung a resurrection coin there, which Latis had given him last night. He had no fingers and was helpless against something that wouldn't go into his bag, so he could only let it hang on him.
"Anyway, thank you in advance, Mr. Latis..."
Apina's unchanging expression suddenly showed a hint of determination. He gripped the diamond sword tightly and leaped towards the portal.
"Don't worry about me, and don't feel like you've ruined me... because even without any safety equipment, even with danger right in front of me, I will still go!"
The boy's body was instantly engulfed by the black particles.
Chapter 123 You are a catgirl You are a catgirl
"Meow Nubis, stop fighting! You're not going to kill anyone like this!"
As Latis gathered the cat hair and whiskers from the ground, he shouted:
"Master Meow, cut her mid lane! Double Dragons Surge to turn the tide! No, you block! What do you mean by leaving the mid lane wide open? Sigh, you're really bad..."
Master Meow, held in the arms of another cat named Nubis, kicked her belly a few times and couldn't help but vomit. She glared fiercely at Latis, then gritted her teeth, rolled twice to break free of her restraints, and arched her back, shouting:
"I am the real Meow Nubis!"
Nubis, the second cat, licked its paw, gave a cold grin, looked at Pallas on the hill, and meowed:
"Your Majesty, when will this farce finally end?"
Pallas and Latis exchanged a glance, looked at the pile of cat fur in his arms, sighed, and said:
"You shouldn't have come out so quickly."
"Why?" Latis put away the cat hair he had intended to use as strings and scratched his head.
"These camps are the last places on this continent where the power of laws still remains."
Pallas shook his head and looked at Latis, saying:
"Once you come out, you will no longer be able to use Anubis's magic to increase the quality of your soul."
As Pallas spoke slowly, the story of the past was finally revealed.
[It turns out that around a hundred years ago, the people on this land hadn't yet become blocky beings, but existed in a form like yours.]
Back then, various power systems flourished, and people could fly and dive into the earth, seemingly capable of anything. In your words, it was like installing dozens of large mods on Minecraft simultaneously—chaotic, but vibrant.
Some people study the laws of life, using magic to create life, thus humanity began to gather and accelerate reproduction; others study the laws of death, manipulating the dead to wreak havoc on the world.
But regardless of what power they studied, they all ultimately made the same decision: to embark on the path to godhood. This wasn't because of any grand ambition, but simply because the path was there.
[After several decades, people at the pinnacle of their respective powers finally gathered, temporarily setting aside their prejudices and conflicts, and journeyed together into the starry sky.]
"As for what exactly happened, I'm not quite sure. I wasn't strong enough back then, so I didn't go with them..."
Pallas glanced at the two catgirls who were cuddling and rolling around together, and shook his head.
"In short, when I found Teacher Mu Mu's body, she was already on her last legs. She only said to me, 'We will be separated in the lower realm and then reunite,' before she shattered and fell from the starry sky..."
[Pallas tells you that she was initially troubled by this riddle-like tale for a long time, and unlike you, she wasn't lucky enough to have a simulator that didn't like to speak riddles, so she searched for the answer for a long time in agony.]
However, in her search for answers, she discovered that the world's power system was gradually collapsing, and people's bodies were becoming flattened, as if a strange rule was taking effect on them. They gained superhuman abilities but lost much of their inherent human strength.
For example, differences mean that people will no longer jump at different heights; instead, they will all jump at the same height. Another example is reproductive behavior. Although the ability to reproduce remains, once the need for reproduction is lost, human desire loses much of its driving force.
After everything slowly faded away, humanity eventually lost the ability to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death.
"Isn't this a good thing?" you ask.
Pallas shook his head and said, "Without birth, aging, sickness, and death, life would be meaningless."
[Your mind flashed back to the fantasy of immortality you once imagined, but you didn't argue with her much, because even without birth, aging, sickness, and death, you believed your desires would continue indefinitely. But the cube-shaped people are different; you don't even know if they still exist.]
"After using up my last bit of magic to bind the power of the laws I could gather within the camp, I gradually lost my power and turned into a blocky figure," Pallas said. "During this time, I heard that monsters were causing trouble on the continent. When I went to investigate, I found that it was Anubis, who had transformed into a beast. Out of curiosity about what happened back then, I rescued her."
"No, I should say, it's them." Pallas glanced at the cat Nubis who were already grooming each other, and sighed with a headache. "It's only now that I realize what my teacher meant when he said that they had all split apart, perhaps even shattered in the lower realm."
You scratched your head, feeling that it didn't sound too complicated. It was just a matter of collecting dozens of Mumu fragments to summon the complete Mumu. As long as it didn't ask you to cut it again and give you 0.1 fragments, everything was fine.
"As for Anubis... Meow Nubis, her abilities are crucial..."
[It turns out that although Meownubis is a gluttonous cat, she is indeed well-versed in necromancy. Just as the legendary Anubis's function is related to the weight of souls, the daily morning weighing is Meownubis gradually increasing her weights, using her abilities to fuse the contestants' soul weights with the product, thus gradually reaching the point of going to the lower realm.]
That's right, the lower realm, or in other words, hell, requires a soul to be heavy enough to descend into.
"That's why I said you shouldn't have come out so early..."
Pallas said with deep sorrow:
"After you leave the camp, Meownubis's magic will slowly wear off, and the weight of your soul will gradually become lighter."
"I see." Latis stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face, and asked:
"So your goal is to go down to the lower realm, collect all the fragments of those old guys, and then fuse them together?"
“Yes…” Pallas hesitated for a moment before saying:
"Actually, I also wanted to select a few companions, but most people couldn't persevere in this trial, and the few lucky ones who were able to open the gate to the lower realm just took the reward and left."
"My apprentice!" Tears welled up in Mumu's eyes as he rushed into Pallas's arms and cried out, "You've really worked hard, my apprentice!"
She held Mu Mu's soul body in her hands, bewildered. She paused, instinctively reaching out to touch the soul's head, only to realize she had no fingers left. Helplessly, she said:
"Master, why are you acting like a child? I'm still waiting for you to return with your revenge and restore everyone to normal..."
Mumu held Pallas's face and said in a sorrowful voice:
"I don't know what to do next either! If Latis can't go to the Nether, I'll go with you..."
"Wait, who said I can't go?"
Latis walked up unhappily, waved to Meownubis, then casually picked a flower from the ground, took a deep breath, put the flower in his mouth, flipped over and jumped in front of Pallas, held his head and shook his eyebrows, saying:
“Little sister, your uncle is thirty years old this year. He has been killing fish at RT-Mart for ten years. My heart was originally as cold as a knife, but I didn’t expect that when I saw you, it became as warm as Brother Niu…”
"Although you're a cube, the legendary investigator Mr. Niu's motto is to bravely explore every unknown entrance. Sister, I don't know about you..."
Amidst the sudden explosions all around, Pallas looked up at Latis in shock. Beneath his flowing hair, she saw his weathered eyes, which burned like flames in the glow of the flowers.
"Holy crap! His soul weight has increased, meow!"
Meownubis cried out in shock. She was about to say something when she saw Latis turn around with a melancholy expression, pat her paw, and say:
"Master Meow, actually I've always been very interested in giant-sized doujinshi, and I'm also a Fury fanatic. More importantly, I just really love naked catgirls, so..."
Latis straightened his posture, bowed deeply, and shouted:
"Please let me be your slave! All you need is grass!"
Meownubis suddenly sprang twenty meters into the air, her fur standing on end, and she arched her back as she shouted:
"You're...you're insane! Wait, your soul weight has increased again, how did you do that, meow!"
"Maybe it's because my soul is filled with too much XP..."
Latis sighed, turned back, snatched Mumu from Pallas's hands, looked at her, and recited with deep emotion:
"I really wanted to be Miss Mumu's dog, but Miss Mumu said she liked cats, and I cried. I know why I cried, since I'm neither a dog nor a cat, because I'm actually a cow... I forgot the middle part, I forgot the end, anyway..."
"Aaaaaah!" Mu Mu screamed, clutching her head. She stared in terror at the man's wicked, grinning face and the sparks exploding behind him. She swallowed hard and muttered:
"What...what are you saying...?"