Up in the sky above the deep and boundless oceans of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“I, Meng Lei, pronounce upon you… The death sentence!”
A man bathed in lightning stood proud and arrogant in the sky. With a lightning spear in his hand and wings of lightning on his back, he was like the God of Thunder that had descended from the heavens as he pronounced the mighty and imposing judgment!
Crackle!
A pair of strong and muscular lightning dragons descended from the heavens. They struck at the two gigantic creatures in front, carrying with them a terrifying aura that could destroy all in this world!
On the left was a Golden Colossal Dragon with wings that spanned more than 1,000 meters, and shone a bright and resplendent gold all over its body!
On the right was a Thunder Titan that was as massive as a mountain range, and holding a pair of golden hammers in its hands!
“Damn! That lunatic!”
Upon sensing the destructive aura within the lightning dragons, the Golden Colossal Dragon and Thunder Titan’s pupils constricted sharply and they reacted nearly simultaneously!
As their powers surged, golden light and a purple thunderbolt rose, forming a power shield around them for protection!
However, it was to no avail!
The lightning dragons descended from the sky and easily broke the power shield!
“Ahhh!”
Both the Golden Colossal Dragon and Thunder Titan let out sharp and shrill screams at the same time. Clouds of black smoke rose around them—the attack had actually split open their flesh and skin, charring them all over!
Then, they plummeted straight into the vast ocean as though a couple of meteors shooting down from the sky and emitted a great boom!
Meng Lei could barely contain his agitation as he watched!
He was filled with great emotion over today’s events as he went through memories of the past in his mind!
He had done it!
He had finally done it!
To think that in his past life, he had merely been a nobody that wasn’t even worth mentioning. He had gone through jobs spending all his days with a keyboard and leading an ordinary and mediocre life!
However, his destiny had changed after he came to this world. He had started from humble beginnings and went on to create a series of unbelievable miracles before he finally stood at the pinnacle of this world and trampled beneath his feet Heaven’s Vault Continent’s most ancient and most powerful lifeforms—the Golden Colossal Dragon and the Thunder Titan!
Meng Lei’s gaze swept around his surroundings. His brows pointed upward sharply, and his eyes sparkled like stars as he gazed down upon the world…
Bam!
A dull sound rang out!
The Golden Colossal Dragon disappeared!
The Thunder Titan also disappeared!
Everything had disappeared!
Meng Lei opened his eyes, a dazed look within them!
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
Fine!
So it’s just a dream. No wonder it felt so fake!
Meng Lei let out a self-deprecating laugh. He had probably only had such a strange dream because he had just arrived in this world and couldn’t adjust to it yet, right?
Bang, bang, bang!
“Little Meng Lei, wake up! It’s the beast tide!”
Deafening knocks came from the broken and rundown wooden door. Outside, the village head, Old Peter, shouted anxiously, “Little Meng Lei, it’s the beast tide! Hurry, go to the underground shelter and take shelter there! I’ll go and inform the others!”
“The beast tide is here!!”
A start went through Meng Lei. He rolled and scrambled to his feet and ran toward the village central!
A beast tide!!
Damn! To think I’ve actually encountered a beast tide! I must be too down on my luck!
Meng Lei inwardly cursed as he made a wild dash!
A few days ago, he had still been a normal office worker on Earth. He had been traveling between home and the office, spending his days exhausted to make ends meet!
Then, he had woken up one day to find that he, for some absurd reason, had transmigrated to this world and come to the Magical Beast Village, becoming a normal villager here!
Heaven’s Vault Continent!
That was what people of this world called this particular world!
This was a miraculous world that was different from Earth!
There were no computers, no Internet, and no technologically-advanced products here. Instead, there were huge dragons that could destroy the world, giants of colossal strength, strange and peculiar beast people, fairies that could manipulate nature, and all sorts of wondrous magical beasts… and also mysterious magic and powerful Battle Aura!
This was an amazing and inconceivable world!
Everything here terrified and unsettled Meng Lei. However, what distressed him the most was that this world was extremely unfriendly to the normal human race!
This was because…
The ones ruling this world weren’t the human race, but… Colossal Dragons with wings, Titans dozens of meters tall, Beast People of various strange and peculiar forms, Fairies in the woods, highly destructive magical beasts, and other races!
As for the human race?
They were but mere appendages to the various major intelligent races. They had no civilization, no empires, no culture, no freedom…
They had absolutely nothing!!
This world is so dangerous! How am I supposed to live on?!
What distressed Meng Lei the most was that he was actually encountering a beast tide when he had only just frickin’ transmigrated here. This was practically a hellish way to open things!
“Hurry! The adults are to follow me outside the village to stand against the beast tide!”
“The old, weak, women, and children, go to the shelter!”
A strong, muscular, and well-built man that was over two meters tall stood on top of a large rock and directed the villagers. His name was Hudders, and he was the captain of the guards in the village. He was also the strongest fighter in the village, so the villagers respected and trusted him very much.
Under his command, all the adult men congregated in front of him one by one, while the old, weak, women, and children ran toward the shelter at the village center. Although everyone was in a panic, they moved in an orderly manner, nevertheless!
It was evident that this wasn’t the first or second time such a situation was occurring!
True, Magical Beast Village is situated at the Magical Beast Ridge’s fringes, after all. Therefore, it is the easiest to come under a beast tide’s attack. The villagers must have experienced beast tides more than just once!
Meng Lei sighed inwardly.
The Magical Beast Ridge passed through the entire continent, nearly dividing Heaven’s Vault Continent into two halves, the east, and the west. Countless wild beasts and magical beasts lived within, and it was known as “The Most Dangerous Place On The Continent”!
The wild beasts in the forest frequently went berserk and attacked the villages at the forest’s fringes. The villages suffered huge losses every time, and fatalities were commonplace. The parents of this particular body’s original owner had precisely died in a beast tide!
It could be said that human lives were the most worthless thing in this world!
I wonder how many people are going to die in the beast tide this time?
Before Meng Lei knew it, he had already reached the village center. The old, weak, women, and children filed into a long line. Uncle Leo, who was in charge of guarding the shelter, called out loudly, “Don’t crowd around, go one at a time! The ones at the bottom, hold the ladder steady!”
The shelter was built dozens of meters underground. It was like a tunnel, or a basement, and was connected to the surface by a ladder. Next to it was a large rock that would be used to block off the shelter’s entrance later!
The large rock was very big. Two to three meters tall, one could tell with just a glance that it was very sturdy. Meng Lei couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief. With such a large rock blocking the top, the shelter should be very safe, right?
No, wait. If everyone outside died in battle, would a bunch of old and weak people, women, and children be able to push off the large rock and exit from within?
Uncertainty and nervousness welled up in Meng Lei!
Howl!
Growl!
“Kill them!
“Kill all of these b*stards!”
Beast howls and the sounds of fierce battle could be heard coming from afar, conjuring fear in everyone’s hearts. Although Meng Lei wished he could take a look at and learn more about this world’s magical beasts, that was all he could do—wish!
He was just a youngster that was slightly older than a child now and belonged to the domain of people being protected. What he should be doing right now was to enter the shelter, and not run over to create more trouble!
“What are you spacing out for? Hurry and go down!”
At this point, Uncle Leo’s chastising voice rang out beside his ear. Meng Lei gave a start and hurriedly responded. Just as he got ready to enter the shelter, he suddenly noticed a ball of glowing white light dropping off Uncle Leo!
“Uncle Leo, you’ve dropped something!”
Just as Meng Lei paused in his tracks and was about to point it out, a cold and emotionless voice suddenly rang out in his ear. “Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stunned. He subconsciously looked in Uncle Leo’s direction. In just that short amount of time, all the old, weak, women, and children had gone into the shelter. He and Uncle Leo were the only two people left now!
“What are you looking at? Hurry and go in!”
Uncle Leo berated him furiously with a fierce expression on his face, “Don’t waste time and stop hemming and hawing. I need to go to the village entrance to fight against the beast tide!”
Very evidently, the voice from earlier hadn’t come from Uncle Leo!
Am I hearing things?
" }, { "id": 2, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-2", "title": "Chapter 2", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Ding! The Most Powerful Pickup System at your service!
“The Most Powerful Pickup System can pick up all dropped items in the world, including but not limited to money, items, skills, vitality, spiritual power…
“By picking up money and items, the host can become rich!
“By picking up skills, vitality, and spiritual power… The host can become powerful!
“Pick up everything!
“Everything can be picked up!”
In tandem with the cold and emotionless voice’s explanation, a stats interface appeared before Meng Lei’s eyes!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 0
Physical Body Constitution: Normal Human Being (0.5/10)
Spirit: Normal Human Being (1/10)
Skill(s): None
Meng Lei’s mind felt foggy. Was his cheating device finally here a month after he had transmigrated here?
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“P-pick it up!”
Meng Lei subconsciously responded.
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +1!”
A warm current appeared out of nowhere in his body and surged into his limbs and bones. Meng Lei’s body felt pleasantly warm, and it felt very comfortable. It seemed like his strength had increased a little, too?
Damn, is this really a cheating device?
Meng Lei found this incredible!
Physical Body Constitution +1?
It can also pick up physical body constitution?
“Meng Lei! What exactly are you doing?! Why aren’t you going down?!”
Uncle Leo shouted at him in great anger, so much so that his eyes could even spit flames.
However, the amazing thing was that yet another ball of silver light dropped from him.
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
Meng Lei didn’t hesitate at all this time!
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Spirit +1!”
An icy cooling aura flowed into his mind. Meng Lei felt like his mind had become a little clearer. His thoughts and consciousness also became active and dynamic.
It’s true! I can really pick it up!!
Meng Lei pinched himself hard. This wasn’t a dream nor a hallucination—the cheating device was real! Was he going to make it big now?
Should I go to the village entrance and try my luck there? Maybe there’ll be more dropped items there?
I’d better not. There’s a beast tide breaking out over there. It’s too dangerous!
Or how about… I just look from afar?
There shouldn’t be any problem if I’m a little more cowardly!
…
Magical Beast Village was situated in a canyon. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, while the last remaining side was also encircled by thick, heavy, and sturdy wooden fences. They formed a thick and heavy wooden enclosing wall to defend against beast tide attacks.
This place was the village entrance for people to enter and leave the village!
Currently, a horrifying scene was taking place there. 20–30 strong and well-built men waved and brandished their weapons as they constantly attacked the wild beasts charging toward the village walls!
There were Sword-Toothed Tigers, which had a blood-red color throughout their bodies, Steel-Furred Wild Boars with teal-colored faces and long fangs, and covered in sharp spikes, as well as gigantic Two-Headed Vultures with wings on their backs.
…
Close to a hundred ferocious wild beasts let out furious roars after roars. They pounced toward and charged at the village walls fearlessly while attacking madly!
Despite some of the wild beasts getting killed, the remaining beasts continued to advance wave upon wave, as though they had been bewitched and gone berserk!
The team of guards with Captain Hudders in the lead resembled killing machines as they constantly slashed at and cut down the wild beasts charging toward the village walls!
Blood sprayed everywhere, and broken limbs flew about haphazardly!
The strong stench of blood assaulted Meng Lei’s senses, causing his guts to churn wildly, and he nearly threw up his meal from the previous night.
When had a keyboard warrior that wandered the world of the Internet like him ever seen such a bloody and grisly scene like this?
It was only after quite a long while that Meng Lei finally got a little used to it. His line of sight couldn’t help but fall onto the huge sword in Captain Hudders’ hands!
So that’s… Battle Aura?
A layer of glowing pale yellow suffused the area around the sword in Captain Hudders’ hands. As though a divine weapon so sharp that it could cut through iron like it were mud, it easily rendered the wild beast into two!
His speed at hunting and killing the wild beasts was much faster than the others. He was practically a killing machine!
“As expected of the number one expert in the village!” Envy filled Meng Lei’s eyes as he muttered, “If only I’m as strong as he is…”
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
Meng Lei noticed that quite a few light balls had dropped onto the battlefield, and they were exceptionally dazzling!
Wouldn’t he power up significantly if he picked up those drops?
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Spirit +1!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +2!”
Warm currents manifested and flowed through his body one after another, strengthening Meng Lei’s physical body constitution and spirit at high speed.
An extremely relaxing and comfortable sensation accompanied his continuous powering up. It couldn’t feel better than this!
His power was constantly increasing!
His thoughts were increasingly clear!
Yes! That’s the way! Become stronger! I want to become stronger!
“What are you doing here?!”
Right at that moment, a furious bellow suddenly rang out beside his ear like a clap of thunder. “Is this somewhere that you should be?! Go back at once!”
Meng Lei lifted his head. Right away, he saw Captain Hudders glaring at him furiously. An invisible wave of pressure surged toward him as if a raging lion was watching him intently!
Meng Lei’s heart trembled. The pressure was intense!
“What is Leo doing? He actually let you run out here?”
With a brandish, Hudders cut a pig-species wild beast into two as he ordered, “Return to the shelter immediately!”
Meng Lei was just about to explain when a loud, melodious, and sonorous roar resounded!
A wolf-like beast, whose body was a fiery red all over and as big as an ox, walked out of the beast tide’s back.
Everywhere it passed through, the initially brutal and ferocious wild beasts docilely stepped aside and made way for it!
The wolf-like beast sauntered elegantly, two licks of flames flickering in its eyes. All of a sudden, it leaped into the air, opened its mouth, and shot out a fireball the size of a basketball!
The fireball was alarmingly hot. Meng Lei could feel a burning heat on his face despite being a far distance away!
A wolf?
A wolf that can spray fire?
Is this what a Magical Beast is?
" }, { "id": 3, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-3", "title": "Chapter 3", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Damn! It’s actually the Magical Beast, Fire Wolf! We’re in trouble now!”
Captain Hudders sliced the fireball hurtling toward them in two with his sword. He shouted, “All of you, handle the other wild beasts! Leave this Fire Wolf to me!”
After he spoke, he lifted his sword and rushed forward!
Magical Beasts were completely different from normal wild beasts. Not only were their physical body constitution far superior to normal wild beasts, but they could also use magic! They possessed a shockingly high level of destructiveness!
The moment a Magical Beast appeared in a beast tide usually implied a significant increase in the beast tide’s level of danger!
Clink, clink, clink!
This particular Fire Wolf was indeed extraordinary. The sword in Hudders’ hands clashed against the Fire Wolf’s sharp claws. However, apart from producing a series of sparks, it couldn’t deal any real damage to the Fire Wolf at all!
On the other hand, the Fire Wolf launched sneak attacks and shot out fireballs the size of a human head while it engaged in fierce combat with Hudders.
Hudders didn’t dare to take the attacks head-on. He wielded the large sword and struck the fireballs into pieces. However, every time he did so, the ocher yellow glow around the sword would dim and turn a notch duller.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take that many strikes before the ocher yellow glow disappeared!
“Go, Captain!”
“Kill that Fire Wolf!”
The other guards in the team didn’t realize this problem. They encouraged and cheered for their captain while they tried their best to defend against the wild beasts!
Although the Fire Wolf was a Magical Beast, it was just a first-grade one, the weakest of the lot!
However, the captain was a Second-Grade Warrior. Against a mere Fire Wolf, wasn’t this a piece of cake for him?
“Damn! This isn’t a normal Fire Wolf!”
Hudders was alarmed and furious, however!
Which part of it was a Fire Wolf? It had clearly already evolved into a Fire Wolf King, a Second-Grade Magical Beast!
Although it was impossible to tell just by looking at its outer appearance, there was too big of a difference in its actual combat ability.
A Fire Wolf couldn’t match up to a Fire Wolf King at all, be it in terms of agility, strength, or nimbleness!
Moreover, Magical Beasts were usually stronger than humans of the same grade. Hudders was just a Second-Grade Warrior. The battle aura technique that he cultivated was also just run-of-the-mill. How could he possibly be a match for the Fire Wolf King?
Cold sweat broke out on Hudders’ forehead. He could sense that the odds weren’t in his favor today!
“S-so powerful!”
Meng Lei was also watching the intense battle between Captain Hudders and the Fire Wolf. Astonishment filled his eyes!
In his eyes, both parties could be said to be Superman, whether it was the Fire Wolf King or Captain Hudders!
A leap of theirs reached five to six meters high!
A strike of the sword created a fissure in the ground!
A fireball was comparable to a bomb!
Could he even still be considered a goddamn human?
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
The system’s cold and emotionless voice sounded in his ear. A red light ball had dropped from the Fire Wolf King!
“It dropped from the Fire Wolf King? Magical Beasts drop items too?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
That’s a Magical Beast, you know! I wonder what it dropped?
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have received the First-Grade Spell, Fireball Technique!”
The voice notification ringing out in his mind stupefied Meng Lei.
Fireball Technique? The drop this time is actually a spell? You can even pick up spells?
Meng Lei was delirious with joy!
Humans didn’t possess the Colossal Dragons’ physique, nor the Titans’ strength. They didn’t have the Fairies’ talent for magic, nor the other races’ unique talents!
It wasn’t an exaggeration in the least to say that the human race was one of the weakest and frailest intelligent races in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Apart from Battle Aura and magic, there was no other way for someone to become strong!
Yet the saddest thing was that as an appendage race, 90% of humans had no chance of coming into contact with Battle Aura and magic in their whole lives, not to mention cultivating them!
The Magical Beast Village wasn’t so bad!
With Hudders, a Second-Grade Warrior, around to provide advice and guidance, the villagers’ overall strength was the strongest among the eight villages within a radius of five kilometers. But even so, Hudders was still the only one who truly managed to cultivate Battle Aura!
Meng Lei longed to cultivate Battle Aura and magic, of course. He wanted to become an expert so that he had a better chance of living on!
However, harsh reality told him this—”You’re daydreaming!”
His physical body constitution was too weak, so he wasn’t suitable to cultivate Battle Aura!
As for magic, did he have any talent for it? Where was he supposed to go and learn magic?
He couldn’t cultivate Battle Aura!
Yet he had nowhere that he could learn magic!
Meng Lei was close to losing hope!
However, never did he expect that this crazy system could pick up even spells!
First-Grade Spell, Fireball Technique!
Meng Lei checked out the technique at once. Then, he understood all the information about Fireball Technique, such as its discharge theory, destructive power…
I’ll give it a go?
Meng Lei took a deep breath and raised his right arm… But there was no reaction!
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stupefied.
What’s going on? Is the Fireball Technique that I picked up pirated goods?
“Ding! A friendly tip: Discharging magic requires consuming Magic Power and Spiritual Power!”
Then, the system gave another reminder and said, “Both requirements are necessary!”
“Magic power? Spiritual power?”
Meng Lei was speechless. It was only then that he noticed the Magic Power field on the stats interface—it was a big fat zero. In other words, there wasn’t the slightest bit of magic power in him!
No wonder I couldn’t use the Fireball Technique!
However, Meng Lei was relieved.
At least, the Fireball Technique that I picked up isn’t pirated goods! But where am I supposed to get magic power from?
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
Another red light ball had dropped from the Fire Wolf King!
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power +1!”
M-magic power +1? It’s magic power this time?
He felt a warm sensation where his dantian 1 was. It was as if he had drunk erguotou 2 . Meng Lei knew that this was likely the magic power that he had just assimilated into his body!
He raised his right arm again!
True enough, there was a reaction this time!
A spark of fire appeared out of thin air in the middle of his palm. Then, it swiftly swelled. In just a few short breaths, it had swelled to the size of a pomelo!
The fireball was small, and it flickered and swayed. However, the astonishingly high heat that it emitted was such that no one would dare to doubt the terrifying energy contained within this fireball at all!
Magic!
This is magic!
Meng Lei was so agitated that his blood was boiling. This sensation was indescribable with mere words!
How exciting!
How stimulating!
This is an entirely different experience!
It was just a shame that the fireball didn’t sustain that long before it turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated into the air.
Meng Lei felt a sense of debilitation come over him. It was as though his body had been emptied…
What the hell!? I’ve used up all my magic power!
" }, { "id": 4, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-4", "title": "Chapter 4", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Upon feeling the emptiness inside his body, Meng Lei was rendered speechless—one single fireball had actually exhausted his magic power!
This consumption is overbearing! I need more magic power!
Meng Lei set his sights on the Fire Wolf. Meng Lei had never come into contact with magic before, so he did not know how to acquire magic power. Currently, he could obtain it by picking it up, and when looking around the whole field, only the Fire Wolf may drop the magic-power light balls!
Although no more magic-power light balls dropped in the next few minutes, some other light balls dropped. Meng Lei’s wild wishes failed to be fulfilled, but his strength was steadily growing, and the Physical Body Constitution column quickly broke through 10!
The system’s cold cue tone sounded just in time. “Ding! Congratulations, host, for achieving a breakthrough and becoming a Trainee Warrior. Please keep working hard, host, and strive to make another breakthrough!”
“Trainee Warrior?”
The stats interface changed as well!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 0
Physical Body Constitution: Trainee Warrior (10/100)
Spirit: Normal Human Being (4/10)
Magic Power: 0 (0/10)
Spell(s): Fireball Technique
I’m a Trainee Warrior now? Meng Lei was a bit dumbstruck. This speed of advancement is too fast, right?
A Trainee Warrior!
Though there was the word “trainee” in it, it actually made him much stronger than ordinary people!
Magical Beast Village was located on the edge of the Magical Beast Ridge, and people relied on the ridge to make their living. The villagers made a living by hunting and collecting herbs, but great strength was required to traverse the Magical Beast Ridge, and the villagers were all tough and strong!
Yet among the almost one hundred villagers, there weren’t but a few Warriors. Many villagers were limited in natural talent. Despite being slightly stronger physically, there weren’t many who could become Trainee Warriors!
For Meng Lei to get promoted from a member of “the old and the weak”, who were to be protected, to a Trainee Warrior, his improvement speed was definitely astonishing!
Trainee Warriors are very strong!
I’ve seen them tear apart tigers and leopards with bare hands and beat up wild boars with fists. They are even fiercer than those Ding kings on Earth!
I’m also a Trainee Warrior now!
Am I just as strong as them?
Should I give it a go?
Meng Lei looked at his thin arms and legs, picked up a rake, and moved cautiously!
His footsteps became lighter!
And the rake felt lighter!
Roar…
A wild boar with a black face and protruding tusks, almost two meters long, just happened to be rushing over. Its hair stood up like steel pins, while its tusks were extremely sharp, shining with cold light.
If an ordinary person got hit by this thing, they would definitely be ripped apart.
“Take my rake hit!” Meng Lei yelled, waved the rake, and smashed it at the boar!
“What are you doing? Retreat immediately!”
Job, a member of the guards standing beside him, got shocked, and his eyelids twitched. He hurried to raise his big sword and slashed it toward the Hairy Wild Boar!
The Hairy Wild Boar is extremely strong and destructive, and even I have to use all my strength to fight it. Meng Lei is only a little kid, isn’t he looking for his own death, running up to it?
Yet in the next moment, Job was stunned!
Crack!
The rake crashed onto the head of the Hairy Wild Boar, and like a rake hitting onto a watermelon, it produced a crisp cracking sound, and the Hairy Wild Boar’s head directly opened up!
Its brain burst, and blood splashed!
The Hairy Wild Boar made a wail and then went silent. Then, under inertia, it continued running for a distance before loudly crashing onto the ground, eventually lying motionless and completely dead!
“It’s… dead?”
Job’s mouth opened wide. He was feeling that his brain was not working properly. “Meng Lei… actually killed the wild boar? How is this possible?”
“I killed this wild boar? A Trainee Warrior is actually this strong?”
Meng Lei was inexplicably excited!
“Ding! 1 Hairy Wild Boar killed, 10 gold coins gained!” The cue tone of the system sounded!
“10 gold coins?”
Meng Lei was stunned!
“Ding! Friendly reminder: After the host kills the target, the corresponding wealth points can be obtained!”
The system explained coldly, “Wealth points represent the wealth owned by the host. It has many uses. It can either be used to improve various attributes or for consumption!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei nodded to show he understood. He was not in a hurry to use these 10 gold coins, so he charged forward to kill the other beasts!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3!”
Yes! That’s the way!
That’s the feeling of becoming stronger!
Coming to the village entrance was the right decision indeed!
The pleasure of becoming stronger was intoxicating!
Meng Lei loved this feeling!
Continue!
Meng Lei advanced and attacked the next beast. This time, it was a python-like beast, about 10 meters long, covered entirely in green scales!
Its tongue moved in and out, its eyes shone with a cold light. It came attacking in an S-shaped route, its slippery body looked nauseating!
“Go and die!”
Meng Lei waved his rake and directly severed the python’s head!
“Ding! 1 Green-Scaled Python killed, 20 gold coins gained!”
" }, { "id": 5, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-5", "title": "Chapter 5", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Scarlet blood formed a river, and its pungent smell enshrouded the village entrance!
Twenty or thirty strong men held the city walls and continued to kill the beasts, but the beasts seemed to be endless—they kept coming, and the men continued to kill. However, the beast tide still showed no sign of dying down!
The guards gradually got tired, and their combat effectiveness continued to decline. Soon, the situation became unfavorable for the guards!
“This won’t do. We’ll fail to hold on sooner or later!”
“Captain, hurry up and find a way to kill that Fire Wolf! Otherwise, the beast tide won’t die down!”
When Hudders, who was entangled in a fierce battle with the Fire Wolf King, heard his subordinates’ shouts, he became extremely anxious. He knew that the root of the beast tide not dying down was this Fire Wolf King!
It was very likely the beast tide’s leader!
If the Fire Wolf King didn’t die, the beast tide wouldn’t die down!
The problem was he was unable to kill the Fire Wolf King. He had actually been at a disadvantage in the battle with the Fire Wolf King!
Killing the Fire Wolf King was but a dream, so Hudders could only be anxious inside!
In comparison, Meng Lei, on the other side, achieved repeated successes!
“Ding! 1 Green-Scaled Python killed, 20 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! 1 Wind Wolf killed, 18 gold coins gained!”
In less than 10 minutes, Meng Lei had killed 5 beasts in succession and accumulated hundreds of gold coins. At the same time, he had also picked up 4 light balls, including 4 Physical Body Constitution light balls and 1 Spirit light ball!
His attributes were quietly changing!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 108 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Trainee Warrior (20/100)
Spirit: Normal Human Being (5/10)
Magic Power: 0 (0/10)
Spell(s): Fireball Technique
Surprisingly, his physical body constitution had received a fortyfold increase from the initial 0.5 to 20!
His Spirit had received a fivefold increase from the initial 1 to 5!
As for his Wealth, he now had 108 gold coins!
This wasn’t a small amount!
One had to know that the spending of an ordinary villager of Magical Beast Village was just a few gold coins, and 108 gold coins would be enough for them to spend for 2 to 3 years!
All of this happened in only a quarter of an hour!
I’m this much stronger!
This system is so buggy!
When sensing the strong powers that were about to gush out of his body, Meng Lei had an urge to look up at the sky and laugh.
With such a buggy cheating device, it’d be hard for me to not be awesome!
“Ahhh!”
At that moment, a scream of pain echoed. Hudders was seen flying out backward, smashing against the village walls, and knocking out a hole in it. His chest was a charcoal black, and his clothes were also on fire. He was clearly hit by a fireball!
“Captain!!!”
“Are you alright, captain!”
“Captain, how are you…”
This sudden scene frightened all the guards. Their captain was a Second-Grade Warrior, and he was actually injured by the hit of a First-Grade Magical Beast! How was this possible!?
Roar!
After one successful hit, the Fire Wolf King walked step by step toward Hudders, elegantly. Fire-elemental magical substances gathered in its mouth, and a fireball was in formation! It was going to launch a fatal blow to kill Hudders completely!
“Captain!”
“Protect the captain!”
“Beast, stay away from the captain!”
The guards revealed shocked expressions, but they all rushed toward the Fire Wolf King, roaring angrily!
“Don’t come here!!!” Hudders yelled hoarsely, “Leave me be! Do your own duty! Don’t let the beast tide destroy the walls!”
“Captain!”
The guards’ eyes were blood-red!
“Don’t you even listen to me now?” Captain Hudders struggled and stood up. “Everyone, guard the wall. This beast is mine to take!”
“Captain!!!”
The guards’ eyes were red, but they dared not disobey their captain’s order. Captain Hudders had an extremely high reputation in Magical Beast Village, and nobody dared to question his words!
“Beast, come here if you dare!”
Captain Hudders’s face was grim. His huge sword pointed toward the Fire Wolf King, and he roared furiously!
Roar!
The Fire Wolf King released a low roar, opened its mouth, and spat out the fireball!
“Beast, come here, I’m not afraid of you!”
Hudders looked at the high-temperature fireball coming right at his face and held the huge sword in his hand, his eyes full of determination. “Since it’s come to this, I’ll have to fight with my life by burning Battle Aura…”
Boom!
The fireball was shot over at high speed and was about to hit Captain Hudders when another fireball suddenly shot out from the side! It hit the Fire Wolf King’s fireball accurately!
The two fireballs collided together and exploded!
The fire blasted into the sky, while sparks spattered and dust flew around them. The surroundings were in a mess!
“What’s going on?
Hudders froze!
The guards froze!
The Fire Wolf King also froze!
A fireball?
Where did the fireball come from?
“Captain Hudders, kill it first!” shouted Meng Lei, pointing at the Fire Wolf!
“Little Meng Lei?” Hudders was stunned, but when he saw the fingers of Meng Lei’s right hand, his whole body felt a shock. “Flames? You actually know how to use magic?”
A pinch of hot, red flame was swaying on the tips of Meng Lei’s fingers, releasing an astonishing heat. Nobody would dare to doubt the terrible energy contained in this small flame at all!
“Captain Hudders, let’s talk about everything after finishing off this Fire Wolf!”
Meng Lei could understand Captain Hudders’s feelings, but this wasn’t the time for an explanation at all. The top priority was to kill the Fire Wolf and stop the beast tide!
Captain Hudders nodded hard. “You’re right, we’ll kill this beat first! Go to the back and use magic to sneak attack and constrain this beast’s movement. I’ll take it head-on. We’ll kill this beast together!”
After he finished speaking, Hudders used his final strength and rushed forward!
This time, Captain Hudders saw hope, and his eyes were full of fighting spirit. He rushed with big strides in front of the Fire Wolf King and swung his huge sword instantly, aiming for the Fire Wolf King’s head!
Roar!
The Fire Wolf King let out a low roar, scratched the ground with four claws, and retreated. If this had happened earlier, it could have easily jumped away and spewed out a fireball, attacking while dodging!
Unfortunately, this time, when the Fire Wolf King just jumped up, a fireball flew over forcefully through the air, striking right at the Fire Wolf King’s abdomen!
Boom!
The fireball exploded instantly, and like a detonated grenade, it released a fiery flame!
Howl!
The Fire Wolf King howled, and its waist arched!
“A good opportunity!”
Captain Hudders fixed his gaze, his right foot kicked on the ground, and then he dashed like a flash of lightning. A faint earth-brown halo covered the surface of the huge sword as it stabbed out forcefully!
Pfft—
Blood oozed out wildly, and the Fire Wolf howled!
“Slash again!”
" }, { "id": 6, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-6", "title": "Chapter 6", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Boom!
Hudders’ sword pierced right through the Fire Wolf’s throat!
The terrible Second-Grade Magical Beast collapsed on the ground!
“Ha… Haha… Hahaha…”
Captain Hudders staggered, almost unable to stand stably, but his expression was high-spirited. He was so excited that he looked up and laughed.
His laughter was heard by everyone around the village entrance!
“It died?”
“The Fire Wolf is dead!”
“Captain killed the Fire Wolf!”
“That’s wonderful…”
Everyone felt ecstatic!
“Phew! Finally killed it!”
Meng Lei breathed out a mouthful of dusty air, and he relaxed completely. But, when he saw the empty Wealth column on his personal attributes interface, he couldn’t laugh anymore.
His 108 gold coins were all gone!
He only got 5 fireballs…
“So costly!” Meng Lei smacked. “Fortunately, the Fire Wolf is dead!”
The Fire Wolf King’s death had a huge impact on the beast tide. The madness and fierceness in the wild beasts’ eyes gradually disappeared. Soon, they lost all their fighting spirit and retreated.
This was what a beast tide was like. Once the leader died, the remaining beasts would all scatter. There was no way they would stay and continue risking their lives to fight!
After all, the leader had forced the vast majority of the beasts to come. Once the leader died, they would run away immediately!
This was indeed the case!
The initially wild and bloodthirsty beast tide retreated like a tide, and within a few minutes, they retreated completely, leaving only corpses, wreckage, and blood all over the ground!
“Retreated?”
“The beast tide retreated?”
“The beast tide finally retreated!”
“F*ck, I thought I was going to die…”
The top of the village wall was suddenly filled with noises!
Some waved their swords and roared loudly with faces flushed red, while others collapsed on the ground and breathed heavily!
The beast tide had finally retreated, and they had obtained victory!
“Captain, are you okay?”
Several guards jumped off the village wall and helped Captain Hudders up, their eyes full of concern and admiration!
“I’m fine!” Captain Hudders shook his head, and his gaze actually fell on Meng Lei. “Little Meng Lei, it was thanks to you just now. If not for you, we’d be in danger today! But you hid pretty deep, huh, boy? I didn’t even know that you, boy, are actually a Magician!”
Meng Lei was actually a Magician!
Upon hearing that, all the guards looked at Meng Lei with a completely different look in their eyes than before!
Shock!
Confusion!
Disbelief!
As compared to Battle Aura, which didn’t have much requirement on natural talent, the cultivation of magic was much stricter!
Battle Aura!
With Battle Aura cultivation methods, so long as the physical body constitution was not too weak, all ordinary people could cultivate it!
However, magic was different—it was really strict with its requirement for natural talent. Among 10,000 people, there may not necessarily be one person who possessed talent for magic!
Thus, Magicians were much rarer than Warriors!
What was rare was precious. Therefore, Magicians became the “nobility” among the strong, becoming the word that represented prestige, mysteriousness, and strength!
There were numerous legends about Magicians on the continent, but most people had never seen a Magician in their whole life! And because of this, there was a little bit of… awe in the looks that everyone gave Meng Lei!
Whatever Meng Lei was in the past, at the moment, he released magic, he was covered with the halo of mysteriousness and prestige, and nobody dared to look down on him anymore!
“I can only use the Fireball Technique!”
Meng Lei scratched his head. He knew himself the best—he wasn’t a proper Magician yet, not now!
“That’s still very awesome!”
…
The beast tide ended!
The old and the weak walked out of the shelters. They started post-disaster clearing up, treating the wounded, dealing with beast corpses, mending village walls…
Everything was going smoothly and orderly!
For a village that relied on natural resources like Magical Beast Village, the beast tide was definitely a disaster, but it also often meant a great opportunity. After every beast tide, a lot of carcasses would be left behind!
The fresh meat could be consumed, the furs and skins could be made into clothes and armor, while the extra things could be used to exchange for daily items, such as salt, sauces, and ironware!
Also, because there were no deaths during this beast tide, it was pretty much a big harvest. Every household got their share of fresh meat, the villagers were joyful, and their faces were full of happiness!
All this food would last them for a very long while!
Meng Lei also returned to his simple home carrying a big wild boar. In the following days, this big wild boar would be his food!
I’ve got to enjoy myself properly today!
He split firewood, made a fire, and roasted the meat!
After half an hour, oil dropped from the golden roasted meat, releasing an amazing fragrance. Meng Lei swallowed his saliva, and his eyes were full of hunger!
Food shortage had always been a problem for the village. For someone who had no parents, was weak, and completely unable to fight like him, he could only pass his days by getting food rationed by the village!
He wouldn’t die from hunger, but he couldn’t eat till full either!
Today, he was finally having a filling meal!
After a period of torturous waiting, the roasted meat was finally cooked. Meng Lei could no longer contain the hunger in his belly, so he grabbed a light brown boar leg and started nibbling.
“Hmm… Nice!”
When one was hungry, whatever that they ate tasted nice. There were no sauces on this roasted meat, only some rough salt, but Meng Lei ate it like it was a great delicacy!
“Eating alone?”
Captain Hudders had walked over when he wasn’t noticing. He held a jar full of good wine in his hand!
“Captain Hudders, why are you here?”
Meng Lei put down the boar’s leg in his hand. He looked a bit ungraceful with oil all around his mouth.
“Haha, I was wandering around alone, and I arrived at your place… Come, let me try it!”
Captain Hudders handed the wine jar in his hand to Meng Lei, grabbed a piece of roasted meat himself, and started eating. “Eh? It’s good! Your roasted meat is so fragrant…”
“Wine?”
When Meng Lei smelled the fragrance of wine coming from inside the wine jar, his throat moved a little. In a resource-scarce small village like Magical Beast Village, wine was a rare item just like books!
Ordinary people definitely couldn’t get to drink it!
Gurgle…
“Sh*t! So hot!”
" }, { "id": 7, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-7", "title": "Chapter 7", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The alcohol burned and tasted bitter. Not only was it muddy and unbearable, but it also tasted awful. It couldn’t even match up to erguotou!
Meng Lei didn’t really like it, but he still took a few sips nonetheless. After a month since his transmigration here, he was already close to puking after consuming day after day of cool water and smoked jerky!
Now that there was finally alcohol, how could he not drink it?
“Take it easy, you’d better not finish it!”
Captain Hudders laughed as he derided him. He said, “I had spent 1 gold coin to buy that from a passing trade caravan. That’s the only bottle I have. Once it’s finished, it’s all gone!”
“Got it!”
After a few rounds of drinks and flavorful meat, almost half of the large wild boar had entered Captain Hudders’ and Meng Lei’s stomachs. The two of them leaned against the doorframe and made small talk as they chatted away, turning into Master Ge 1 .
“Meng Lei, you have a talent for magic. Be sure to seize this opportunity well. This is your chance to change your destiny. You absolutely mustn’t let it slip by you!”
There was a deep and profound look in Hudders’ eyes as he said, “I was in the army in the past, so I’ve been to quite a few places. You can say that I’m the most experienced and knowledgeable person in our village!”
“Yes!”
Meng Lei nodded silently!
“Cultivation techniques are out of reach for most people, so they are unable to learn magic! But at the same time, cultivating magic also requires talent. Without magic talent, even if one had cultivation methods, they can’t become a noble Magician, either!”
Captain Hudders stared right at Meng Lei and added, “You, on the other hand, have actually unknowingly become a Magician before any of us even realized. It’s highly likely that you possess astounding magic talent…”
Captain Hudders couldn’t find the appropriate words to describe this anymore!
Incredible?
Inconceivable?
Astonishing?
However, what he could be sure of was that Meng Lei definitely possessed exceptional magic talent—precious talent that countless people dreamed of and longed for, yet couldn’t have!
Do I have magic talent?
Meng Lei was uncertain and nervous, though!
“Meng Lei! Remember this! Be sure to seize this opportunity well!”
Hudders belched, somewhat drunk. He said, “You should know that our village is under the jurisdiction of the Fire Dragon Kingdom, which is also one of the kingdoms under the Dragon God Empire’s command!”
Meng Lei nodded silently!
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, innumerable races existed!
The most powerful, and the most ancient, of all were the four great intelligent races—the Dragons, Titans, Fairies, and the Beast People!
The four great intelligent races dominated Heaven’s Vault Continent and occupied a good half of the continent’s land. Upon which, they built the four great empires that had ruled over Heaven’s Vault Continent for as long as 10,000 years!
The Dragon God Empire!
The Titan Empire!
The Fairy Empire!
And the Beast People Empire!
Out of the four, the Dragon God Empire was situated in the east of Heaven’s Vault Continent, overlooking the endless oceans in the east and facing the Magical Beast Ridge in the west. With 15 Kingdoms and 48 Dukedoms under its rule, it was a multi-racial empire governed by the Colossal Dragons!
“The Colossal Dragons have a strong and powerful physique and are also skilled in Dragon-Language Magic. They are one of the most powerful races in the continent. Unfortunately, the Colossal Dragon bloodline is simply too strong, so their reproduction rate is extremely low!”
Captain Hudders spoke like someone who had experienced the many vicissitudes of life. He went on and said, “Looking at the entire Dragon God Empire, there is only an extremely low number of pure-blooded Colossal Dragons. For the sake of convenience in governance, the Dragon God Empire has divided the races under their rule into four classes!”
“Four classes?”
Meng Lei’s spirits perked up!
“Yes, four classes, which is also known as the Four-Classes Stratification System!”
Captain Hudders let out a wry laugh and went on. He said, “The four classes represent four completely different social statuses. Their racial obligations and the way the law treats the four classes are also completely different!
“Pure-blooded dragons belong to the first class. They are born into nobility and are conferred as the empire’s Marquises the moment they are born. Not only do they own a large amount of land, but they also get to enjoy all sorts of special privileges that we would never have even in our dreams!”
First-class: Pure-blooded dragons!
Born into nobility!
Conferred as Marquises the moment they were born!
Meng Lei quietly digested these pieces of news. Then, he asked, “What about the second class? Which race is in second class?”
“In second class are the Drakes!”
In a low voice, Hudders said, “The dragons are innately lustful beings. In order to make up for their low reproduction rates, the pure-blooded dragons frequently commit lewd and immoral acts!
“This way, they would naturally give birth to some mixed-breed descendants that possess dragon blood. These descendants are known as the Drakes!
“The Drakes are also categorized into Dragon People and Dragon Beasts!”
Meng Lei was rather dumbfounded. He couldn’t help but conjure up some rather eye-stinging images in his mind. A Colossal Dragon riding on top of a wild boar, and then… Giving birth to a dragon-pig?
Or if it’s riding on a horse? Hmm, a dragon-horse?
And if it’s riding on a human…
A single sweatdrop appeared on Meng Lei’s forehead.
… A dragon-man?
“The Drakes inherit part of the dragons’ talent. Some of them have powerful physiques, and some of them are skilled in Dragon-Language Magic. Adding to this their terrifying numbers, they are the Dragon God Empire’s main forces. 80% of Dragon God Empire’s nobles are Drakes!”
Meng Lei asked another question, “What about the third class?”
“The third class is our human race’s nobility!”
Hudders sighed before he said, “In Dragon God Empire, the largest population is neither the Drakes nor other intelligent races. Rather, it’s us, humans, that make up 90% of the Dragon God Empire’s population!
“Most humans’ battle capabilities are weak, and they are of a lowly status. They are also unable to come into contact with magic or Battle Aura even in their whole lives. Thus, they can only be fourth-class commoners for all generations to come!
“But even so, there are always a few lucky ones born with exceptional talent! Through various ways, they come to possess methods of learning Battle Aura and magic, and end up possessing great power!
“In Heaven’s Vault Continent where the strong are revered, one’s battle capabilities will always be a status symbol. Thus, the strong among us humans can also receive high positions within the Dragon God Empire and become nobility!
“Among them, the most famous of all is the Swirling Snow Sword Saint, Master Galen Bonaparte!”
When he brought up Galen Bonaparte, Captain Hudders’ eyes were full of worship and respect. He said, “The legends of Galen Bonaparte are well-known throughout the continent. He is the idol and pride of the human race, and his existence motivates each generation of men among the human race!”
“Galen Bonaparte?”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. This name was the subject of innumerable traveling bards and minstrels. Songs and poems about him were so widely known that even three-year-old toddlers knew about him. He could be said to be the strongest person among the human race in Dragon God Empire, as well as the human with the highest position in Dragon God Empire!
“The fourth class is naturally normal people like us!”
Hudders said, “Normal humans have a lowly status and belong to the domain of people to be exploited. Not only are we not protected by the empire’s law, but we also have to shoulder the heavy obligation of military service!
“The empire’s law dictates that all humans, upon reaching 16 years of age, must head to various areas of the empire to carry out obligatory military service. This could be enlisting in the army, going deep into the mines to mine for minerals, or entering the nobility’s mansions to become slaves or guards…
“Such is the destiny of fourth-class people, and also the destiny of normal people like us!
“If I recall correctly… You’re already 15 years old, right?”
" }, { "id": 8, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-8", "title": "Chapter 8", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Upon reaching 16 years of age—obligatory military service!
Enlisting in the army, mining, becoming a slave, or a guard…
Such a law sounded very inconceivable and completely exploited normal humans. If any country on Earth dared to pass such a law, they would have been overthrown a long time ago!
However, very unfortunately, this was Heaven’s Vault Continent, a world where martial ability levels were unevenly distributed, and the strong were in power!
“16-year-olds must carry out obligatory military service… Is that so…”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together into a deep frown. As someone with a sane mind, he naturally rejected such a law that was practically ridiculous. Obligatory military service? Don’t even think about it!
“Captain Hudders, what should I do if I don’t want to perform obligatory military service?”
“Military service is an obligation that every normal human must fulfill!” Hudders shook his head and went on. “Unless you’re part of the nobility, the nobility’s descendant, a Third-Grade and above Magician, or a Fourth-Grade and above Warrior!”
“These four types of people don’t need to perform military service?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“In other words, as long as I become a Third-Grade Magician or a Fourth-Grade Warrior, I won’t need to serve the military anymore?”
“Yes! But that’s too difficult!”
Hudders shook his head lightly. He said, “I know nothing about magic cultivation, so I can’t comment on that. However, I know very well myself that it is impossible to become a Fourth-Grade Warrior within a year!”
Meng Lei frowned lightly and asked, “Is it very difficult?”
“Difficult doesn’t even cut it. It’s practically impossible! The cultivation of Battle Aura is a process that trains the endurance of one’s body and the accumulation of Battle Aura. Without the support of any external items or power, every grade requires a very long time to level up!”
Hudders laughed wryly and added, “When I was in the army back then, it was only after six years of hard training that I became a First-Grade Warrior. And it was only after another ten years of arduous cultivation that by a stroke of luck, I had a breakthrough to a Second-Grade Warrior!
“That adds up to 16 years in total, you know! Do you think that it’s possible for you to cross four grades in a year?”
Meng Lei was astounded. “You spent 16 years and only became a Second-Grade Warrior?”
“Yes! A whole 16 years!”
Hudders nodded lightly and added, “Of course, that’s also because I have very poor talent! Your talent in magic may be very good, so you shouldn’t take that long!
“I’ve heard of geniuses who are exceptionally talented in magic that managed to become Master Magicians within a few years. Take, for example, the students of our Fire Dragon Kingdom’s magic academies. They must reach a certain grade before they can graduate, and fourth-grade seems to be the lowest requirement!”
Magic? Do I have magic talent?
Meng Lei wasn’t very confident about that. His ability to use the Fireball Technique had no relation to magic talent whatsoever. It was completely thanks to his cheating device!
“Captain Hudders, where can I learn magic?”
“At the magic academies, of course!”
Captain Hudders patted Meng Lei’s shoulder and said, “There’s one right in the kingdom’s capital. It’s the start of August now, so it’ll soon be the magic academy’s enrollment period. If you wish to learn magic, you can go there and give it a try!
“If you can really enter a magic academy and study there, your life will change completely. Even if you can’t become a lofty aristocrat after you graduate, you can also become a noble Magician, and that’s a thousand times better than your current situation!”
Meng Lei nodded silently. Due to the system’s existence, he had the confidence to change his destiny. However, just having the system wasn’t enough. He needed to go out of the mountains and get to truly know this world!
Going to the magic academy to study seemed like a pretty good option. Not only would he be able to come into contact with people and things that he couldn’t right now, but he could also learn useful magic knowledge!
Broaden his horizons!
Learn and study magic!
The precondition to this was… Talent in magic!
“Looks like you’ve made your choice. That’s great!”
Upon seeing Meng Lei’s expression, Hudders felt very comforted. He said, “I’ll take you to the capital one month later. However, you’ll need 10 gold coins to take the magic assessment. You must get that ready by yourself!”
“10 gold coins? That’s such a scam!”
…
The onslaught of the beast tide had a rather significant influence on Magical Beast Village. Meat supply was just one aspect of it. It had only been the next day when trade caravans rushed over to the village upon receiving the news!
They collected beast fur and hide in exchange for salt and alcohol.
The adults bargained and transacted with the trade caravans, while the children laughed and played around the trade caravans’ horse carriages. It had been long since the usually quiet and peaceful Magical Beast Village last welcomed such a bustling and lively atmosphere!
Meng Lei also sold a few pieces of beast fur and hide in exchange for some salt. He also wished to get a jar of alcohol, but unfortunately, it was too expensive. Just a few pieces of fur and hide weren’t enough for that!
The good news was that there were a lot of people and the atmosphere was bustling and lively, so they dropped quite a lot of physical body constitution light balls. After Meng Lei collected and assimilated them all, his Physical Body Constitution field increased by 5 points, which was an unexpected bonus!
The trade caravan finally left after staying for a day. Meng Lei had an early night after having dinner. The next day, he set off alone with some smoked jerky and entered the Magical Beast Forest!
This was what he had decided to do after a lot of careful consideration!
The Most Powerful Pickup System was an excellent upgrading tool, but light balls weren’t going to come to him just by cooping himself up at home. He had to take the initiative to strike instead!
Moreover, he needed 10 gold coins for the magic assessment, but Meng Lei currently didn’t even have a single cent on him!
No money?
He could just forget about the assessment, then!
No matter which aspect he was coming from, he mustn’t just sit and wait for death to befall him!
Of course, if he had a choice, Meng Lei didn’t want to risk his life and enter the Magical Beast Forest alone, either. However, he didn’t have that choice. With the beast tide’s visit, every household had ample food and clothes, so the guards had no need to go hunting for the time being.
Thus, Meng Lei could only go by himself!
As a villager living at the Magical Beast Forest’s fringes, Meng Lei wasn’t entirely ignorant about the Magical Beast Forest. He knew which places were safe and which places he must stay clear of.
There are a lot of Magical Beasts in the Magical Beast Forest, but there are basically only wild beasts in the outer boundary!
As long as I stay at and limit my range of activity to the outer boundary, there won’t be any danger!
A forest appeared before his eyes after he exited the village.
A thick layer of fallen leaves was laid out beneath his feet, while ancient and strange trees, which gave off a damp and decaying stink, surrounded him.
It was quiet, deathly so!
Yet every once in a while, the roars of wild beasts, as though wailing coming from hell, would echo. It made one’s scalp tingle, such that no one would dare to become numb to their surroundings and be careless!
“If you cannot accept being mediocre, then the only thing you can do is to risk your life and fight! The road to becoming strong starts now!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath. The look in his eyes became strong and determined. Then, without looking back even once, he dived into the Magical Beast Forest. The forest was full of thick and dense foliage, which blocked out most of the sunlight.
With the help of a few rays of sunlight, he could see long lines of walnut-sized ants; caterpillars with sharp spikes all over their bodies slowly wriggling on trees; earthworms as thick as a person’s arm rolling under dry leaves, revealing their scarlet red bodies…
Meng Lei found everything in front of him very new and fascinating!
This was indeed an incredible world!
Splat!
Suddenly, a crisp sound came from under his foot. Meng Lei lifted his foot and took a look. It turned out that he had accidentally stepped on and squished a palm-sized… white maggot!
“Ding! 1 White-Lined Maggot killed. 2 bronze coins gained!”
(⊙o⊙)
“You can gain money even with this!?”
" }, { "id": 9, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-9", "title": "Chapter 9", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Towering ancient trees and thick undergrowth!
The forest was full of dangers, and one needed to be careful. Not to mention the magical beasts deep in the forest, even the wild beasts around the borders were not to be trifled with!
A tiny poisonous spider or an inconspicuous little snake could take Meng Lei’s life. He had to be extremely careful!
Rustle—
The grass in front of him suddenly shook. After pulling the grass away, Meng Lei focused his gaze and saw two pig-like beasts!
They were about the size of an ordinary wild boar, but their entire bodies were jade green. The tips of their tails hung high in the sky, with a green glimmer. He knew that those were very poisonous with just one look!
“Huh? It turned out to be Scorpion-Tailed Green-Skinned Pigs. I am so lucky!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help licking his lips. These were Scorpion-Tailed Green-Skinned Pigs and were delicious. They were loved by aristocrats, and a Scorpion-Tailed Green-Skinned Pig could be sold for 3 to 5 gold coins!
With two of these pigs, he could pay for the magic test!
Meng Lei raised the borrowed dagger and approached quietly!
The two pigs did not know that danger was coming. One was riding on top of the other, with its lower body shaking vigorously, performing some shameful thing!
After that… There was no after!
They sacrificed their lives in the midst of the great cause of reproducing offspring. They died a glorious and noble death, and their deaths were not in vain!
“Ding! Killed 2 Scorpion-Tailed Green-Skinned Pigs. 8 gold coins received!”
The cue tone of the system sounded promptly. Meng Lei opened his palm, and 8 golden gold coins appeared in his palms, obtained from killing the Scorpion-Tailed Green-Skinned Pigs!
“This cheating device is so useful. The wealth I obtained can actually be withdrawn!”
Meng Lei stacked up the gold coins. They felt heavy, made of 24K pure gold. After that, Meng Lei placed them into the system!
Not only could he withdraw gold coins, but he could also store it. This was another use of the Most Powerful Pickup System, which was very convenient!
This meant that he did not need to carry heavy hunting equipment like other hunters, This saved a lot of energy and enabled him to continue hunting non-stop—killing two birds with one stone!
“The only regret is that no light balls were dropped!”
Meng Lei shook his head and felt a little unsatisfied. Compared to the gold coins, he would rather have the attribute light balls so that he could improve his abilities!
“Continue moving forward!”
…
Splat!
Splat!
After moving forward for a few kilometers, a frightening noise suddenly traveled over. After parting the vegetation to take a look, Meng Lei couldn’t help but break into cold sweat.
The vegetation in the forest was too thick, affecting the line of vision and illumination. However, through the trees’ dense mottled shadows, Meng Lei managed to see a creeping giant beast!
A giant python as thick as a water bucket and 30 meters long was withdrawing while swallowing a black tiger as big as an ox into its stomach!
The python’s entire body was dark green, and its mouth was wide opened at almost 180°. The black tiger’s head had already been swallowed by it. If nothing out of the ordinary happened, this black tiger would become a meal for this dark green python!
If such a big python appeared on Earth, it would definitely cause an uproar!
Meng Lei swallowed his saliva as hesitation flashed across his eyes. This giant python was so huge. He would definitely be well-rewarded after killing it!
The question was—would he be able to kill it?
Meng Lei thought for a while and let it go. This creature was too big, and he could already feel its cold and sinister aura a long way away. Meng Lei was not confident in killing it!
If that’s the case, it’s better to just leave. My life is more important!
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
At that moment, the cold and emotionless voice of the system sounded. Meng Lei looked carefully and saw a light ball behind the dark green python!
No, not just one!
Two white light balls, a silver light ball, and even a green light ball!
There were a total of four light balls!
“Pick them up! Immediately pick them up!”
Meng Lei exclaimed in his heart!
“They are too far for me to pick them up!”
“Let me move ahead! This small distance is 10 meters far?”
Meng Lei complained as he pushed aside the vegetation and quietly reached over. Although his life was important, he decided that this was a risk worth taking after seeing the light balls!
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Spirit +1!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host received the First-Grade Spell, Thorn Vine!”
A warm current poured into him, rapidly strengthening his body!
An icy aura flowed into his mind. His thoughts and consciousness also became more active.
Meng Lei ignored all this. He was attracted by his newly acquired spell. “First-Grade Spell, Thorn Vine? Wait… Spell?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but look at the giant python. A hint of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Ordinary beasts would not drop spells, not even the lowest level spell!
In other words, the dark green giant python in front of him was a… Magical Beast!
A chill traveled up Meng Lei’s back. At that moment, the dark green giant python also noticed Meng Lei’s presence. A pair of snake eyes looked over, with an icy stare!
“Run!”
Without even thinking about it, Meng Lei ran!
However, he was a step too late. Amidst the soft creeping sounds, dark green vines quickly traveled over!
The surface of the vines was covered with spikes, gleaming with the cold light of the forest. Meng Lei had no doubts about the power of these thorns. If he were entangled by them, even if he managed to survive, his skin would be ripped off!
At that moment of crisis, Meng Lei jumped with all his might. He was like a spring, jumping over the thorny vines in an instant and disappearing into the vegetation!
Hiss~
The dark green python stared in the direction where Meng Lei had disappeared and was motionless for a long time!
…
Puff~
I was scared to death just now!
Meng Lei leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. Luckily, he reacted quickly, and the dark green giant python was in the midst of its meal. Otherwise, he might have perished back there. Presently, he was definitely not a Magical Beast’s match!
Damn! The Magical Beast Forest is too dangerous! I encountered a Magical Beast immediately after I stepped into the forest! How dangerous would it be in the depths of the forest?
Meng Lei wiped the sweat from his forehead and became more vigilant. The Magical Beast Forest was more dangerous than he had imagined. He had to be extremely careful!
“Let’s attack together!”
“Kill this beast!”
Roar!
At that moment, fierce fighting noises traveled over to his ears. Meng Lei shook himself and pricked his ears to listen carefully!
Battle! People battling over there! It should be a group of people besieging a Magical Beast!
Meng Lei’s spirit was immediately roused. The more people there were, the more likely light balls would be dropped. Also, the stronger the person, the more bountiful the light balls would be!
Let’s take a look?
After hesitating for a moment, Meng Lei went ahead!
After which, he saw the intense scene!
A four-meter-tall blood-red giant spider was under siege. Its eight legs were like eight steel spears, waving wildly with an airtight defense!
It was besieged by four humans—three men and a woman!
The men were in front, wielding weapons and fighting fiercely with the giant spider. The woman was behind, holding a magic wand, chanting a tongue-twisting magic spell!
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
" }, { "id": 10, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-10", "title": "Chapter 10", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The giant spider was four meters tall, and its entire body was blood-red, as though it was made from a pile of blood Buddha jade. It was covered with needle-like spikes. Its six eyes were as big as grapefruits, cruel and bloodthirsty!
This was a Second-Grade Magical Beast—Blood Jade Demon Spider!
As a second-grade monster, the Blood Jade Demon Spider was extremely tyrannical, especially at the border where other Magical Beasts were scarce!
But today, this spider was in trouble because the four humans that besieged it were not weak. The three men surrounded the Blood Jade Demon Spider and attacked it continuously!
The woman at the periphery was holding a magic wand. Streaks of lightning bolts gathered on top of the spider’s head, threatening to strike any moment!
Roar!
The Blood Jade Demon Spider felt a strong sense of danger from the lightning above its head. It roared at the sky, and its eight long legs leaped as though they were springs, charging toward the woman!
It wanted to break the magic spell above its head and prevent it from completing!
“Protect Alison!”
A brawny man with a giant axe shouted as he slashed at one of the spider’s legs. Sparks spattered among clanking metal. The spider’s leg remained intact, revealing the sturdiness of its legs.
Even so, the spider paused for a moment. At this time, the lightning above its head finally finished gathering, forming an extremely dazzling and powerful lightning dragon!
“Dance of the lightning dragon!” yelled the woman, as she struck down with her magic wand!
Snap!
With a clear-sounding crackle, the lightning dragon suddenly descended!
Crackling—
The Blood Jade Demon Spider was struck, causing its blood-colored body to twitch violently. It appeared like it was on stimulants as it shuffled around!
“Here’s our chance!”
The three men would never miss such a good opportunity and took the chance to launch their strongest attack!
Snap!
Boom!
Splat!
Three attacks struck the Blood Jade Demon Spider at the same time. This terrifying second-grade magical beast let out a scream and fell down instantly!
After that, it was quiet!
S-so powerful!
Meng Lei, who was hiding in the shadows, witnessed everything. He was utterly stunned by the terrifying Blood Jade Demon Spider, the sharp lightning dragon that descended from the sky, and the three men with frightening attacks!
All these left him shaken as he experienced the power of this world and his own insignificance!
It would be great if I was so strong!
Meng Lei sighed.
At that moment, the cold and emotionless voice of the system sounded. “Ding! Falling object detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Spirit +1!”
“Ding! Pickup successful, received Meditation Method!”
As the series of prompts sounded, the familiar warm current and icy aura reappeared and began to strengthen Meng Lei’s body and spirit. However, Meng Lei was attracted by the Meditation Method that appeared last!
“Meditation Method? What is this?”
Meng Lei was curious and quickly checked it out!
After a look, Meng Lei was instantly ecstatic!
The cultivation of a Magician mainly compassed two segments:
First, absorb the magical elements between heaven and earth and refine them into magic power.
Second, increase your spiritual power!
Both steps could only be completed through “meditation”!
It could be said that meditation was the basic foundation of a Magician. Without meditation, one couldn’t get magic power or improve their spiritual power!
It could be seen that if one wanted to become a Magician, they must at least master meditation. At the moment, Meng Lei did not know anything about meditation!
This came at the right time. With the meditation method, I can gain magic power through meditation!
Meng Lei was inexplicably excited. He could only use the system to pick up the magic-power light balls under certain conditions!
Too many limitations!
The probability was too low!
Full of uncertainty!
It would be different after he had mastered the Meditation Method.
Being able to refine magic power was equivalent to having the ability to obtain magic power via his own efforts.
Meng Lei glanced at the four of them and was about to sneak away. He planned to look for a safe hiding spot to try out the Meditation Method he received.
“Who is there?”
Unexpectedly, at that moment, the woman who was closest to him suddenly turned her head and waved her magic wand. It shot out a lightning bolt as thick as a thumb and struck a small tree in front of Meng Lei!
Snap!
The small tree was split into two, and the fractured area was almost carbonized!
My god!!!
Meng Lei fell to the ground, his face full of horror!
“Alison, what’s the matter?”
“There’s someone over there!”
“Huh?”
The four soon discovered Meng Lei!
“Who are you? What are you sneaking around here?”
The brawny man with the giant axe yelled as he frowned and stared at Meng Lei. The other three also stared at Meng Lei, with threatening gazes. The Magical Beast Forest may be extremely dangerous but what was more terrifying were other humans!
When they were in fierce battle with the magical beast just now, had someone snuck up behind for an attack, they would be in danger!
“I… I’m a villager from nearby!” Meng Lei ‘trembled with fear’. “I… was attracted by your battle. I was simply curious and came over to take a look. I have no bad intentions…”
“Villager?”
“I didn’t sense any Battle Aura from him!”
“Alison, did you sense any Magic Aura?”
“No!”
“Looks like he is just an ordinary villager!”
The four of them immediately heaved a sigh of relief. The brawny man with the giant axe shouted, “You are so daring. A young brat that dares to barge into the Magical Beast Forest alone. Do you want to lose your life?”
“Go back quickly. This place is not for you!” The female Magician, Alison, reminded him out of kind intentions. She was plain-looking, with freckles on her face. However, she was tall, and he could see her exquisite curves even through the magic robe!
These four shouldn’t be bad people!
Although Meng Lei looked less than 15 years old, he was a middle-aged uncle in his previous life. He had met countless people and had some experience in judging people through their words and mannerism!
He could see that these four were young and were probably college students. He could tell from the badges on their chests!
Since they are not bad people, perhaps I can follow them? By doing so, I can find and pick up things!
Why not… have a try?
Just as he was thinking about this, Meng Lei squeezed out two tears and said with a sad face, “I… I… am lost! I can’t find my way home!”
“Lost?”
The four of them looked at each other and frowned at the same time. At last, Alison said, “He looks so piteous alone. Why don’t we bring him along? The Magical Beast Forest is too dangerous!”
“This… doesn’t seem like a good idea?”
A skinny young man holding a dagger frowned. “The Magical Beast Forest is so dangerous, and we will be targeting magical beasts for this training. Wouldn’t it be a burden to bring him along?”
“I’m not a burden, I am very strong!”
" }, { "id": 11, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-11", "title": "Chapter 11", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Boom, boom, boom!
A white veil several meters wide cascaded from the top of the cliff with a deafening boom. It crashed against the pool at the bottom, causing countless pearl-like water droplets to splash about. The water in the pool was clear, and one could see right to the bottom. Surrounded by dense and luxuriant woods, it formed a beautiful and picturesque scene!
A “crocodile” ten meters long sprawled on the sandy ground beside the pool, basking comfortably in the sun. Its eyelids were hooded and its breathing steady as it laid there leisurely and carefreely, very pleased with itself!
Crackle!
A loud sound suddenly rang out at this point, however. A bolt of lightning that was as wide as an arm came from the sky all of a sudden and struck the crocodile with great precision. At once, the crocodile’s enormous body started to convulse and spasm violently as though it had consumed Ecstasy pills!
“Go!”
The next instant, three well-built men sprang out of the bushes and attacked the convulsing crocodile!
“Millo, block its way and don’t let it go into the pool! This will become very troublesome the moment we allow it to enter the pool!
“Yale, Bobby, restrain it from the sides and keep it busy!”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
Then, Alison, the female Magician, started to chant magic spells!
Yes, that’s right!
This group of people was exactly the four-men team out for training that Meng Lei had encountered earlier. However, what was different was that there was now an additional “lost” person… Meng Lei!
Hehe, they’ve started fighting again!
As he hid in the bushes, Meng Lei watched Alison and the other three, who were engaged in fierce battle again. A look of anticipation flashed across his eyes!
This was the third battle that he was witnessing since he had joined the four-men team!
The first was an intense battle against eight Iron Fire Ants!
The Iron Fire Ant was a First-Grade Fire-Elemental Magical Beast. With herculean strength and bodies as tough as iron, Iron Fire Ants could kill even a normal Second-Grade Magical Beast when they teamed up. Their battle capabilities were fairly fearsome!
The second was a fierce battle against the Poison Swamp Frog!
The Poison Swamp Frog was a Second-Grade Water-Elemental Magical Beast. Apart from being skilled in water-elemental magic, it could also launch highly toxic attacks, as well as sound wave attacks. With endless tricks up its sleeve, it was a Second-Grade Magical Beast that was extremely hard to deal with!
The third one was a battle against the Chrysanthemum Sky Pig!
The Chrysanthemum 1 Sky Pig was a Second-Grade Earth-Elemental Magical Beast. Skilled in earth-elemental magic, the stench of its fart was terribly foul, so much so that normal wild beasts could pass out just from the smell! It wasn’t a beast that was hard to deal with, but it was extremely disgusting!
Also, it was proven that Meng Lei had made an extremely correct choice!
After personally witnessing the three battles, apart from having watched three thrilling blockbusters with visual effects, Meng Lei himself had also received great rewards!
And wasn’t that so? Because his personal stats had increased!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 239 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Trainee Warrior (75/100)
Spirit: Normal Human Being (9/10)
Magic Power: Normal Human Being (7/10)
Spell(s): Fireball Technique, Thorn Vine, Water Bubble
Be it his Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, or Magic Power, all of them had increased significantly as compared to what they were in the past. At the same time, he had also picked up a new spell—Water Bubble!
Although it was also just a first-grade spell, Water Bubble was still magic, after all. There was great value in it!
As for his Wealth that had reached 239 gold coins, Meng Lei had gained them from killing two Iron Fire Ants…
Cough, Meng Lei wasn’t capable of killing Iron Fire Ants, of course. However, giving the heavily injured ants a fatal blow when they were on their last breath and on the brink of death after being beaten up was something achievable for him!
And in the eyes of the system, this was no different from Meng Lei killing the Iron Fire Ants with his own hands!
Thus, Meng Lei had gained 200 gold coins after he killed two Iron Fire Ants. One could consider this as having exploited the system’s loophole, but it could also be counted as a pleasant surprise!
I wonder what I can pick up this time?
With his past experience, Meng Lei was full of anticipation toward the battle taking place this time. According to Alison and the others, the crocodile in front of them… No, to be more accurate, it was a Rampaging Pool Salamander!
It was said that this beast had a bit of Water-Elemental Colossal Dragon blood in it. Not only was its physique strong and powerful, but it was also skilled in water-elemental magic. Thus, it was a considerably strong Second-Grade Magical Beast!
This was especially true when it was nearby pools of water. Such an environment was extremely advantageous to the Rampaging Pool Salamander in bringing out its strength. Thus, it wasn’t that easy to kill!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
Hehe, items drop the easiest during fierce battles. What has dropped this time?
“Pick it up! Hurry and pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +8!”
Tsk, tsk, physical body constitution again… With that, my Physical Body Constitution field has reached 83 points. Soon, it’ll break through the 100-point milestone!
The 100-point milestone was indicative of a First-Grade Warrior!
Although a Trainee Warrior was only a grade short of a First-Grade Warrior, there was a huge difference in their strength. Meng Lei already couldn’t wait to become a First-Grade Warrior!
Boom, boom, boom!
At the other side, the battle was exceptionally intense!
The Rampaging Pool Salamander might look dumb, but it was extremely agile and nimble. With its thick and muscular limbs moving swiftly and its strong and forceful tail matching their movements, Millo and the other two somehow just couldn’t take much advantage of it.
“My warrior god! This beast’s armor is too tough. I can’t split it open at all! What should we do? C’mon, think of something!”
“Neither can I! Looks like we can only attack its weakness!”
“Alison, use your magic and paralyze the Rampaging Pool Salamander! I’ll attack its eyes!”
“Alright!”
At the end of Alison’s spell-chanting, a lightning dragon struck down from high in the sky and struck the Rampaging Pool Salamander viciously!
The lightning dragon’s power was obviously a lot stronger. The Rampaging Pool Salamander’s back where it had been struck was charred black, revealing crimson-red bloodied flesh. At the same time, it also began to convulse!
“Here’s my chance!”
While taking advantage of the split-second where the Rampaging Pool Salamander was paralyzed, Bobby, the small and skinny young man, seized the opportunity and instantly appeared where the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s head was. His dagger flashed across the air and stabbed right at the beast’s right eye!
“Die, beast!”
Bobby’s eyes were icy cold, with victory well within his grasp!
However, what he never expected at all was a wall of water suddenly appearing in front of the Rampaging Pool Salamander during this moment of life and death, and blocking the sharp dagger!
The dagger stabbed into the wall of water as though it was stabbing into a ball of cotton, and its speed was abruptly halted. The Rampaging Pool Salamander seized the opportunity, and its head ducked to the side, evading the lethal blow!
The dagger grazed the edge of the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s eye and stabbed into its neck, causing a series of sparks to fly about. However, it didn’t manage to cause any real damage to the Rampaging Pool Salamander!
“I missed!”
Shocked, Bobby retreated with a burst of speed, no longer pressing on with the battle!
“What a shame that such a good opportunity went to waste!”
“If Bobby’s attack had been successful, that beast would have died for sure!”
Upon seeing what had happened, regret filled the eyes of Millo, who was holding a giant axe in his hand, and Yale, the other muscular man with a large sword. After missing such a golden opportunity, it would be difficult for them to find another chance to kill the Rampaging Pool Salamander. Or at least, they would need to wait till Alison’s magic preparation was ready.
It was hard to say just how the Rampaging Pool Salamander might go berserk during this short period of time!
What a shame! thought Alison, the tall and slender freckled Magician, too.
However, what all of them didn’t expect at all was the Rampaging Pool Salamander suddenly letting out a sad and shrill cry. Then, its enormous body started to rock and sway forcefully!
“What’s going on?”
Alison and the other three received a huge shock. It was then that they noticed someone on the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s back. That person had a dagger in his grip and was stabbing the beast’s back forcefully with it, causing blood to fly everywhere!
“That’s…”
Millo, Bobby, and the others’ eyes widened dramatically. They had realized that the person was actually Meng Lei, and his dagger was stabbing right into the area where Alison’s lightning dragon had struck and mangled earlier. The area was charred black, revealing crimson bloodied flesh.
“Die! Die!”
As though he had gone mad, Meng Lei stabbed the Rampaging Pool Salamander again and again with a vigor that was almost crazed. However, he wasn’t just stabbing randomly without any target. Rather, his strikes were aimed at the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s… spine!
He had watched quite a few outdoor TV programs in his past life—some guy named Bear Grylls 1 had cut and broken an alligator’s spine and easily killed it after that!
Meng Lei wanted to try and see if this would work on a Rampaging Pool Salamander…
" }, { "id": 12, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-12", "title": "Chapter 12", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“That guy’s nuts! Does he take the Rampaging Pool Salamander for an Iron Fire Ant?”
“The Iron Fire Ant is just a First-Grade Magical Beast, and it was already on the brink of death from our attacks. That’s how he had gotten lucky. But a Rampaging Pool Salamander’s different. That beast is still fine and dandy…”
Upon seeing Meng Lei riding on top of the Rampaging Pool Salamander and stabbing wildly and mindlessly at it, Alison and the other three men frowned after getting over their momentary shock!
The Rampaging Pool Salamander was a Second-Grade Magical Beast, and moreover, it was still healthy and intact!
Under such circumstances, Meng Lei was actually harboring delusions that he could kill the Rampaging Pool Salamander when he was just a little brat that hadn’t even grown up?
What a joke!
And in truth, it was just as they had expected!
Despite Meng Lei giving it all he got, he still couldn’t cut through the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s spine. Not only was the beast’s armor as tough as iron, but its bones were also as solid as diamonds. How could it possibly be cut off that easily!
On the contrary, the intense pain coming from its back assaulted the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s senses, causing the Second-Grade Magical Beast with a bit of Water-Elemental Colossal Dragon blood in it to go berserk. It let out roar after roar and shook its body madly, as though a wild horse that had escaped its reins, and attempted to fling away Meng Lei, who was clinging onto its back!
Meng Lei could sense its strength. He knew that he would definitely be flung out if this went on. He was close to his limit now!
I can only go all out now!
Meng Lei gritted his teeth and shouted fervently in his mind, “System, exchange all of my gold coins into Physical Body Constitution Points! Power, I need stronger power!”
“Ding! Redemption successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +23!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve leveled up to a First-Grade Warrior. Please continue to work hard and strive to break through again!”
A powerful warm current that he had never experienced before flowed into his limbs and bones, swiftly strengthening every part of his body. Meng Lei felt his strength starting to rise sharply. Every part of his body was filled with explosive power!
I’ve finally become a First-Grade Warrior!
Meng Lei’s eyes were keen and brilliant. A sharp glint burst forth in his eyes. The dagger in his grip stabbed forward viciously and struck against the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s spine once more!
Snap!
The crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, as though melodious celestial music echoing in Meng Lei’s ears. Right on the heels of this, a strong wave of energy swept toward him, and Meng Lei was flung out uncontrollably!
He landed on the ground with a bam and fell flat on his face. However, Meng Lei was very excited. As he stared at the Rampaging Pool Salamander shaking all over, he let out a sneaky laugh and said, “Die, beast!”
Boom!
He had only just spoken when the Rampaging Pool Salamander fell onto the ground with a loud boom. It crashed against the ground heavily, and then, its breathing ceased!
“Ding! 1 Rampaging Pool Salamander, Second-Grade Magical Beast, killed. 270 gold coins gained!”
The system’s voice notification sounded in good time as the Rampaging Pool Salamander fell onto the ground and died. Meng Lei let out a long pent-up breath and exclaimed, “It’s finally dead! All my desperate efforts weren’t in vain!”
“The Rampaging Pool Salamander… is dead?”
Alison’s four-man team was stunned. Stupefied, they stared at the dead Rampaging Pool Salamander, feeling as though their brains had short-circuited and weren’t quite functioning!
“How did the Rampaging Pool Salamander die?”
“That’s impossible, right? That’s a Rampaging Pool Salamander, a Second-Grade Magical Beast, you know!”
“Hey, brat! How did you kill the Rampaging Pool Salamander?”
Meng Lei struggled to his feet and explained with a smile, “My luck was fantastic, and I accidentally cut through the Rampaging Pool Salamander’s spine. And then, it died!”
“What? You cut through its spine??”
“No, that’s impossible! The Rampaging Pool Salamander’s bones are very solid, and its spine is even the toughest part of its body apart from its teeth. How could you have possibly cut through its spine?”
A frowning Millo with a giant axe in his hand raised his doubts regarding Meng Lei’s explanation.
Bobby, Yale, and Alison agreed with him. A Second-Grade Magical Beast’s strength was all-rounded—be it physique, speed, bone makeup, or magic, all of its attributes were stronger than a First-Grade Magical Beast’s!
Although Meng Lei was capable of killing the First-Grade Magical Beast Iron Fire Ant, it was a lot more difficult for him to kill a Rampaging Pool Salamander!
These guys are really not easy to dupe!
Meng Lei was rather resigned as he shrugged. He replied, “You don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself, then!”
Yale, the muscular man, glanced at Meng Lei and began to check the Rampaging Pool Salamander. True enough, he discovered that its spine had been cut through. Astounded, he asked, “Brat, how exactly did you manage to do it?”
“I told you, I have a lot of physical strength!”
…
The Rampaging Pool Salamander’s death led Alison’s team to see Meng Lei in a completely new light. Their attitudes toward him also improved significantly.
The strong were respected, no matter where they went. Although Meng Lei was still weaker than any of the four, he ultimately still possessed fairly strong battle capabilities. It was sufficient to give his presence value!
Of course, this also led the four of them to become even warier of Meng Lei, rather than otherwise. It was alright for them to bring a powerless brat that they didn’t know along with them as they traveled. However, now that the same brat had displayed notable battle capabilities, they mustn’t let down their guard that they ought to put up!
Meng Lei could sense the subtle changes, but he didn’t mind in the least. He had no intention of becoming friends with the four of them. He only wanted to follow them to pick up light balls and gain gold coins along the way!
There was nothing else after that!
After they took care of the Rampaging Pool Salamander, the four of them decided to take a small break, have something to eat, and continue on their way after they had a good meal. After a few battles in succession, even they were rather tired.
Moreover, the scenery at the water pool was picturesque, and it had an ample water source. It was a fantastic place to take a break at!
Skinning, cutting, cleaning, and roasting meat…
All of these were Meng Lei’s specialties. He also readied some salt and condiments. Before long, an alluring fragrance wafted from the roasting stand!
“That smells great!”
“Brat, what did you put in the meat? Why does your roasted meat smell so good?”
Alison’s four-man team had also roasted their own meat, but none of theirs was as fragrant as Meng Lei’s. This greatly puzzled the four of them, and they came over to ask for tips about meat-roasting!
“That’s because I added all of these!” Meng Lei took out the salt and condiments and said with a chuckle, “I’d prepared all of these before I left the village. You can try it, too. Spread some on the meat when you’re roasting it. It’ll taste fantastic for sure!”
The four of them were rather doubtful. Although they took the condiments and tried them out, they didn’t completely trust Meng Lei. What if this stuff was poison?
However, when they saw Meng Lei eating the meat that he had seasoned with the condiments, the four of them finally set their hearts at ease and began to happily spread the condiments on their roasted meat.
Those four fellows are honestly too cautious…
Meng Lei shook his head. He couldn’t even be bothered to diss them anymore!
“This tastes pretty good!”
“As expected of a Second-Grade Magical Beast!”
After a good meal of roasted meat, the group of five continued on their journey.
In the following few days, the four-man team continued to look for first-grade and second-grade magical beasts to train their skills with, while Meng Lei continued to pick up dropped light balls and mature in a cowardly fashion!
At the end of the few days, his rewards were bountiful, and his personal stats had increased by leaps and bounds!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 916 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: First-Grade Warrior (126/200)
Spirit: Magic Apprentice (13/100)
Magic Power: Magic Apprentice (26/100)
Spell(s): Fireball Technique, Thorn Vine, Water Bubble, Earthquake, Wind Blade, Burning Hand
" }, { "id": 13, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-13", "title": "Chapter 13", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The number of gold coins he possessed had reached 916!
His Physical Body Constitution had reached 126 points!
His spiritual power had also improved by varying degrees!
And his magic spells, too!
Apart from the Fireball Technique, Thorn Vine, and Water Bubble that he already had, he now also had the Earth-Elemental Spell Earthquake, Wind-Elemental Spell Wind Blade, and Fire-Elemental Spell Burning Hand!
Although they were all first-grade spells, they greatly enriched Meng Lei’s repertoire of spells!
The only sad thing was that his magic power reserves were still too little. It was enough to release only about ten fireballs or ten wind blades. Anything more than that was out of the question!
In order to resolve this, Meng Lei had also secretly tried out the Meditation Method. However, even after several attempts at meditating, all of them had failed!
Magic elements in the universe?
They didn’t exist!
He couldn’t sense anything at all!
After a few fruitless attempts, Meng Lei became greatly perplexed, so he specially consulted Alison about it when he was chatting with her. The conclusion he drew in the end was—he didn’t have any talent in magic!
Yes, that’s right!
He didn’t!
Only people who had talent in magic would be able to sense magic elements!
Those who couldn’t naturally meant that they didn’t have any talent in magic!
This conclusion greatly disappointed Meng Lei. He had also had wild wishes that he could be like those main characters in web-novels, where they had terrifying cultivation talent, knew how to do everything, were gifted with an extraordinarily retentive memory, cultivated with half the effort yet achieved double the results, where one day’s work was equivalent to other people’s ten years of effort…
From the look of it now, his imagination had been too active!
In that case, I can only increase my magic power through pickups in the future?
Meng Lei was rather disheartened. Even his enthusiasm for snatching kills dwindled significantly.
Pickups?
Even with pickups, how much can that amount to?
Boom!
A gigantic creature crashed onto the ground, its enormous body convulsing violently. Upon seeing that it was about to die any moment now, Bobby, Millo, Yale, and Alison dusted off their hands. There had been great rapport in their teamwork this time, so they had successfully killed the Fiery Flying Pig!
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the First-Grade Spell, Fire Ring!”
A spell again!
Meng Lei sighed.
Without magic power, what’s the use of having so many spells?
“Little Meng Lei, why are you so down in the dumps?” asked a slightly surprised Alison as she walked over to Meng Lei with a magic staff in her hand.
Her impression was that Meng Lei was usually a very lively person and was very active in snatching kills!
Why was he all wilted today?
“Alison, is it impossible for someone to become a Magician if they don’t have magic talent?” asked Meng Lei, who couldn’t reconcile himself with the fact.
“Without magic talent, of course it’s impossible for anyone to become a Magician!”
As though this was to be expected as a matter of course, Alison added, “Just like Bobby and the other two, all of them come from fairly impressive family backgrounds. Even so, they still couldn’t become Magicians precisely because they don’t have magic talent!”
“Magic talent is a hurdle. Just how many people has it obstructed and kept outside the grand hall of magic?” said Millo, the muscular man with the giant axe. Then, he raised his eyebrows and asked, “What, do you wish to become a Magician too, little Meng Lei?”
“Isn’t that obvious, Millo? Who doesn’t want to become a Magician?” teased Bobby with a laugh.
Yale nodded slightly, agreeing wholeheartedly with the statement. There were so many people in Heaven’s Vault Continent, and every one of them wished to become a Magician. Unfortunately, it was just that they didn’t have any talent in magic, so it was nothing more than just daydreaming!
Meng Lei let out a couple of resigned laughs and said no more.
“Let’s go on ahead!”
“Little Meng Lei, I’ll leave the next Magical Beast’s head to you. Remember to take the kill!”
“Meng Lei, my little old brother. Cheer up, you have a lot of physical strength, so you’re born to be someone who cultivates Battle Aura. Be a Warrior like me instead, magic doesn’t suit you!”
“Hahaha, that’s right…”
The group continued on their journey as they chatted and laughed. After a few days of interaction, the wariness that the four of them held toward Meng Lei had gradually lessened. Their relationship had also become a lot more harmonious, and they had become mutually familiar, so they could now somewhat joke around with each other.
Under Bobby and the others’ counseling, Meng Lei’s mood gradually improved. After they continued forward for a few kilometers, an earthshaking roar suddenly came from the sky!
Roar!
Horrifying sound waves spread outward as though an atomic bomb had exploded! It was so loud that everyone’s ears were humming. Looks of agony appeared on their faces!
“What’s going on?”
“Has a high-grade Magical Beast run out to the forest’s outer boundary?”
Everyone was alarmed and fearful. With such a fearsome roar, it was highly likely that it was a high-grade Magical Beast. With everyone’s current battle capabilities, only death awaited them for sure should they encounter a high-grade Magical Beast!
“Look at the sky!” shouted Bobby suddenly.
The others lifted their heads upon hearing him. Then, all of them started trembling all over as if they had seen a ghost!
In the sky, a long distance away, a terrifying behemoth more than 100 meters long was suspended in the air. It had the same physique as a Colossal Dragon, wings like an eagle’s, and the head of a lion!
With long narrow ears and sharp claws like a bull’s horns, it shone a brilliant gold all over its body. Covered in armor, it had a horrifying build and looked savage and ferocious!
However, the key was that unlike other flying Magical Beasts, the gigantic creature wasn’t flapping its wings, and yet it could still suspend itself in mid-air and fly about. Its identity was pretty much on the tips of everyone’s tongues!
“Could that be the legendary Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Golden Flame Dragonne?”
Alison’s teeth chattered, and her body shook as she uttered the question!
Bobby, Millo, and Yale were also shaking like a leaf. Their eyes were full of fear and alarm!
“A dragon’s body, an eagle’s wings, a lion’s head, and the ability to fly!”
Bobby swallowed hard repeatedly. He said, “That is definitely the Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Golden Flame Dragonne!”
“Oh my dragon god, aren’t Saint Domain Magical Beasts supposed to be in the Magical Beast Forest’s central region? Why is it showing up here?” asked Millo, who found this inconceivable!
“S-saint Domain Magical Beast? Oh my god!”
Meng Lei stared hard at the gigantic creature in the sky. Even his breathing had become quick and ragged. It had been quite some time since he had come to Heaven’s Vault Continent. In particular, after spending the last few days with Alison and the others, he had heard a lot of behind-the-scenes stories about this world!
For example, how battle capabilities were categorized!
Be it Warriors, Magicians, or other races and Magical Beasts, their battle capabilities were categorized, in ascending order, from first-grade to ninth-grade, with first-grade being the weakest and ninth-grade the strongest!
A First-Grade Warrior had a significant boost in strength and was nimble and agile.
A Ninth-Grade Warrior moved like lightning and was capable of killing someone from afar!
And higher than ninth-grade was an existence that belonged in legends—the Saint Domain!
Illusory and vague, the Saint Domain was a legend within legends. A Saint Domain existence could control the universe and fly freely through the sky. They had an endless lifespan and even possessed destructiveness that could ravage heaven and earth…
The Saint Domain!
That was an existence far above everything else and stood at the top of the pyramid of lifeforms in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Like a nuclear warhead, it was an existence of strategic significance!
Moreover, as a Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Golden Flame Dragonne was a king among Magical Beasts. This particular magical beast—a combination of the Colossal Dragon, a lion, and an eagle—was a creature that was neither here nor there. Given the Colossal Dragon blood running through its veins, it was considered an outstanding existence even among Saint Domain Magical Beasts!
“Look over there!”
Yale’s eyes suddenly widened as he pointed at the sky.
Meng Lei turned and looked over, and was stunned at once. In front of the massive Golden Flame Dragonne were two tiny floating humans—though the “tiny” here was only in relation to the Golden Flame Dragonne!
They were actually about the same size as ordinary humans!
It was an elderly man and a teenager!
The elderly man was wearing a purple magician robe, and he had a rosy complexion and a kindly expression on his face. The teenage girl next to him was about sixteen to seventeen years old. Her shining eyes were bright and alert, while her teeth were pearly white—she looked as if she were a fairy!
The wind blew strongly in the air. However, there was a purple protective shield around the elderly man and the teenage girl. Lightning snaked about on the outside of the shield. No matter how strongly the wind blew, it actually couldn’t move the pair at all!
“H-humans?”
Alison and the other three men’s jaws dropped. They were completely stunned. Human Warriors and Magicians could only fly in the sky like birds after they had reached the Saint Domain level!
Of course, this was with the exception of Wind-Elemental Magicians.
However, since the elderly man and young girl were standing so proudly in mid-air and had put up a lightning shield, they were definitely Thunder-Elemental Saint Domain Magicians!
“Lowly humans, to be so bold as to provoke the great Carlos, what are your intentions?”
" }, { "id": 14, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-14", "title": "Chapter 14", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The wind howled in the vast and boundless skies!
The mighty and savage gigantic Golden Flame Dragonne stood proudly in the air. Fury spewed from its lion eyes, which contained endless wrath. As a Saint Domain Magical Beast, it had been a very long time since any living being had antagonized it like this!
Yet two lowly humans had actually come up right to its doorstep to take advantage of it today. This was practically an utmost form of provocation and humiliation toward the great Saint Domain Magical Beast!
The Golden Flame Dragonne was very angry, and the consequences were going to be very serious!
“Golden Flame Dragonne, I don’t have any other intention in coming here!”
The purple-robed elderly man spoke, his voice kindly and mild as though an amicable and benevolent old man. He said, “This is my granddaughter. It’ll be her sixteenth birthday in a few days, so I’d like to give her a birthday gift!”
“Lowly human, what exactly are you trying to say?”
The Golden Flame Dragonne’s wild and violent voice rang out like an explosion in the sky!
“This granddaughter of mine has very high magic talent. Both her Wind and Fire Elements are superior-grade, and her spiritual power is 38 times that of her peers!”
The purple-robed elderly man added with a smile, “And you, the Golden Flame Dragonne, just so happen to be a Saint Domain Magical Beast that’s both Wind-Elemental and Fire-Elemental. This old man hopes that you can form a contract with my granddaughter and be her magical pet!”
Form a contract!
Become her magical pet!
These words of his were tantamount to a land mine going off out of nowhere, shocking everyone so badly that their minds were humming as if an explosion had gone off within!
“Oh my dragon god! Am I h-hearing this correctly?”
“Getting a great Saint Domain Magical Beast to be a little girl’s magical pet? What the hell, that must be the craziest joke I’ve ever heard in my entire life!”
“They actually want to subdue a Saint Domain Magical Beast! As expected, the Saint Domain isn’t a realm that mere mortals like us can imagine!”
“Who exactly is this Saint Domain Magician…”
Alison, Bobby, Millo, and Yale had received a rather huge shock. Their faces were full of incredulity as they stared at the purple-robed elderly man standing proudly in the sky!
Just what kind of existence was a Saint Domain Magical Beast?
That was a terrifying being standing at the pinnacle of innumerable Magical Beasts, you know!
Subduing a Saint Domain Magical Beast?
Practically unimaginable!
Meng Lei was astounded, too. However, what he felt even more keenly was fervency and excitement.
That’s too impressive! And too domineering! Wanting to subdue a Saint Domain Magical Beast the moment he stepped forward, that’s practically cool beyond belief, isn’t it?! If I could also subdue a Saint Domain Magical Beast as my mount, even death would be worth it!
“Foolish humans! You’re too much!”
The Golden Flame Dragonne was outraged. Flames of fury burst forth from its lion eyes. It roared, “I’m going to torture you to death and burn you into ashes to vent my fury!”
Booming thunder exploded and rang out in the sky. Fearsome Wind Elements began to gather around the Golden Flame Dragonne. Before long, a gigantic hurricane had manifested!
Boom, boom, boom!
The several meters-tall hurricane was as though a heavenly pillar spanning between heaven and earth. Sand and rocks flew about, and the whole place turned dark and gloomy. Darkness enveloped everything within a radius of a few miles!
“Oh my dragon god!”
“Is that the fearsomeness of a Saint Domain Magical Beast?!”
They gazed at the terrifying hurricane suspended in mid-air. Even with a distance of quite a few kilometers between them, all of them could sense just how fearsome the hurricane was. Should they be engulfed by the hurricane, they would definitely die a terrible death!
“E-everyone, should we go a little further away?”
“When celestials fight, it’s the mortals that suffer. A battle of that level isn’t something that we can watch. We’d better go further away. If…”
All of them exchanged a look and saw fear and alarm in one another’s eyes!
Then, all of them decided to wuss out!
“Let’s go!”
…
“Lowly humans, die!”
With a flap of the Golden Flame Dragonne’s wings, the hurricane crashed toward the elderly man and the teenage girl with a boom. The look on the pretty girl’s face changed slightly. She cried out in panic, “Grandfather!”
“There’s no need to panic!”
The purple-robed elderly man chuckled and ducked while bringing his granddaughter with him. With a flash, they disappeared into thin air. The ferocious hurricane missed its target and didn’t manage to cause any harm to the grandfather and granddaughter pair at all!
By the time they reappeared, they were already behind the Golden Flame Dragonne. What also appeared at the same time was an incredibly thick and wide bolt of silver lightning!
Crackle!
Lightning flashed across the sky and struck viciously at the Golden Flame Dragonne!
“You cunning humans!” roared the Golden Flame Dragonne.
Then, it opened its mouth and sprayed out a flaming dragon!
Boom!
The fire dragon and silver lightning clashed against each other. The impact was as though an atomic bomb exploding. Amidst the earthshaking explosion, an enormous mushroom cloud rose into the air!
The ground let out thunderous booms, and trees cracked and broke!
Electrical currents wreaked havoc, and sparks of fire flew everywhere!
“Oh my god!”
When Meng Lei and the other four, who were in the midst of running, saw what had happened behind them, the shock and fear in their hearts reached its peak. They ran madly and desperately, deeply regretting the fact that they had been born with only two legs!
Boom!
It was just a shame that they were ultimately still a step too late. With the point of impact as the epicenter, a horrifying shockwave erupted and spread outward in all directions instantly. In just a few short breaths, it had already reached right in front of them!
“We’re finished!!”
A powerful wave assaulted them. Meng Lei felt as if someone had knocked against his head viciously. Then, his vision blacked out, and he was lost to the world!
…
An unknown amount of time passed!
Meng Lei slowly regained consciousness.
My head hurts!
Meng Lei touched his head, which felt sticky to the touch.
I’m bleeding?
Meng Lei was on the brink of tears as he stared at his hand that had been dyed red. It was only at this point that he realized that not a single part of him was well and intact. His mind was foggy and dizzy, and his back and waist ached…
But fortunately… I survived?
When he thought back to the terrifying events before he had passed out, Meng Lei felt lingering fear in his heart.
That scene was practically doomsday itself. Little would I have thought that a battle between Saint Domains would actually be this scary!
As the saying went, “Youth knows no fear.” To be honest, he actually hadn’t wanted to flee just now. He had even wanted to widen his knowledge and take a look at close range at this world’s so-called Saint Domain. When thinking back about it now, this was practically laughable!
Widen his knowledge?
With my current battle capabilities, I don’t even qualify to watch the battle at close range!
Meng Lei shook his head with a bitter smile.
It would be considered good fortune to even just survive. Sigh, I’ve ultimately still thought too lightly of this world!
Meng Lei struggled to his feet.
The battle seemed to have already ended?
The Golden Flame Dragonne was gone!
The elderly man and the teenage girl were also gone!
However, judging from the surrounding forest that was in a terrible mess, one could tell that the battle earlier must have been extremely horrifying. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration even to call it “Destroying Heaven and Earth”. Fortunately, they were far away enough, so they were lucky enough to have survived!
“Alison, wake up!
“Bobby! Wake up!
“Millo! Yale…”
“Where am I?”
“I’m still alive?”
As Meng Lei patted them, Alison and the other three regained consciousness one by one. Like Meng Lei, all of them had sustained some light injuries, but they were still in passable condition. They would be back in good health after some rest!
“As expected, a Saint Domain-level battle isn’t something that we can watch!”
“That was too frightening!”
All of them rejoiced at their narrow escape from death. However, outside of their joy at their stroke of luck, they were also very curious about the battle’s outcome. After all, this was a battle between Saint Domains. It wasn’t something that they could encounter that many times in their entire lives!
“So who exactly won?”
“How about… We go over and take a look?”
“That’s not really a good idea, is it?”
“The battle has already ended. There’s no harm in going over to take a look!”
“Let’s do that, then!”
Before long, the five arrived at the bottom of the battleground. They were completely stunned by the scene before their eyes!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
" }, { "id": 15, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-15", "title": "Chapter 15", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Everywhere within a radius of a few kilometers had become an expanse of charred land!
Sparks of fire were visible everywhere, and black smoke spread throughout the mountains and fields!
Trees were burned and greenery covered in ashes, while mountains were charred black and rivers dry!
This looked completely like the scene after a large-scale fire had erupted!
Ruins!
Doomsday!
Meng Lei stared at the scenery in front of him in shock, greatly impacted by how strong and mighty a Saint Domain was. This was true destruction of heaven and earth, and the scene of a real doomsday. This was too frightening!
“The Golden Flame Dragonne is gone!”
“The Saint Domain Magicians have also disappeared!”
“I wonder what the outcome of the battle this time was?”
Everyone stared at the scene in front of them with complex feelings!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
At that moment, the system’s voice notification sounded out of the blue. A jolt ran through Meng Lei. True enough, he saw quite a few light balls in the charred land in front of him!
Meng Lei became excited at once. This was the site of a fierce battle between two Saint Domains. What kind of items would drop from them?
Those were Saint Domains, you know!
Even if they had only dropped a strand of leg hair, it was still a Saint Domain-level strand of leg hair!
The moment the thought entered his mind, Meng Lei hurriedly walked into the ruins and picked up all the light balls!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +250!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +156!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power +104!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining Thunder-Elemental magic talent!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Eighth-Grade Spell, Like A Spring Breeze!”
A succession of voice notifications rang out continuously in his mind. Meng Lei was stunned. He stood where he was in a daze, unwilling to snap back to reality for the longest time!
“S-so many?!”
…
An unexpected windfall!
Meng Lei felt as if a windfall had fallen out of nowhere into his lap. Otherwise, how could he have possibly gained so much awesome stuff in one sitting?
Physical Body Constitution +250!
Spirit +156!
Magic Power +104!
The numbers for these three stats rose sharply, causing the numbers for all his other stats to change dramatically!
Physical Body Constitution: Second-Grade Warrior (376/500)
Spirit: First-Grade Magician (169/200)
Magic Power: First-Grade Magician (130/200)
His Physical Body Constitution was comparable to that of a Second-Grade Warrior!
Both his Spirit and his Magic Power were comparable to that of a First-Grade Magician!
The upgrade could be said to be significant!
The improvement could be said to be dramatic!
However, what excited Meng Lei the most was that he had actually picked up Thunder-Elemental magic talent!
What a surprise!
And a very big one at that!
It can pick up even magic talent? This system is practically awesome to the point of being broken!
Meng Lei broke into a silly grin. He found all of this so wonderful that he was even making snot bubbles!
He knew that the Thunder-Elemental magic talent had likely dropped from that purple-robed elderly man. Since he could level up to Saint Domain, then he definitely had great magic talent!
Since I’ve picked up a Saint Domain Magician’s magic talent, my magic talent should also…
Shall I give it a go?
Meng Lei couldn’t wait to find somewhere to try it out. As it just so happened, Alison’s four-man team was also planning to take a slight break to recover from their injuries!
All of them left the battleground and found a quiet place to rest.
At night…
After Alison and the rest had fallen asleep, Meng Lei began to meditate.
He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of thoughts. Soon, his spirit became ethereal and intangible. Then, he tried carefully to sense the elements!
In the past, he couldn’t sense any magic elements at all.
However, Meng Lei felt a difference the moment he entered a meditative state today. He saw a few tiny specks of silver light!
The silver light specks floated around him like fireflies as they twinkled softly. In the beginning, there were only a few sparse specks, as though stars in winter!
However, they slowly began to increase…
Toward the end, it had actually become dense and packed. It was impossible to count just how many there were, even if one tried!
I can sense it!
Hahaha! I can sense magic elements!
Meng Lei was overjoyed. He wished he could laugh loudly into the sky to give vent to the excitement in him. Being able to sense magic elements meant that even if he didn’t have the system anymore, he could still cultivate magic and become a powerful Magician now!
These silver light specks are probably thunder magic elements!
What I should be doing now is capturing all of these magic elements into my body!
Meng Lei suppressed his excitement and continued to meditate!
Meditation was separated into two steps:
Step 1: Sensing magic elements!
Step 2: Refining magic elements!
To people without magic talent, this was as difficult as crossing an insurmountable obstacle. After all, without magic talent, it was impossible for someone to sense magic elements. When one couldn’t even sense magic elements, how could they even speak of refining them?
Meng Lei was precisely in that state previously!
However, things were different now! He could sense them now!
Meng Lei started to attempt capturing the silver light specks. The amazing thing was that he managed to “eat” the first silver light speck very easily. Then, he ate the second, third, fourth…
Refining magic elements isn’t that difficult, either, is it!?
After eating almost 100 silver light specks in succession, Meng Lei smacked his lips in content. He was in a rather good mood now. He attributed all of this to his magic talent!
In Alison’s words, magic talent was categorized into strong and weak levels!
While the difference wasn’t apparent usually, how strong or weak one’s talent would show fully and thoroughly during the process of sensing and refining magic elements!
People with strong talent would be able to sense magic elements more clearly, and the refining process would also be easier. The amount of time necessary to refine the same amount of magic power was shorter, so it was naturally more efficient!
With half the amount of effort needed and double the results achieved, the speed of cultivation was faster and the accomplishment higher!
In the case of people with poor talent, it was the complete opposite.
…
It was a sleepless night!
At dawn the next day, the morning sun started to rise. Warm and pleasant sunlight shone through overlapping treetops and cast mottled tree shadows onto the ground.
Meng Lei stood up and stretched. He felt refreshed and in high spirits. There was no sign of fatigue in him at all. This was exactly the benefit of meditation!
Meditation could replace sleeping. Not only could it refine magic power, but it could also improve his spiritual power. Many Magicians rarely slept after they learned how to meditate!
I wonder how the results of last night’s meditation are?
Meng Lei took a breath of fresh air. Then, he turned on his personal stats interface and checked all the attribute fields!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 916 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Second-Grade Warrior (376/500)
Spirit: First-Grade Magician (173/200)
Magic Power: First-Grade Magician (140/200)
Spell(s): Fireball Technique, Thorn Vine, Water Bubble, Earthquake, Wind Blade, Burning Hand, Fire Ring, Like A Spring Breeze
Eh? My spiritual power has increased by 3, and my magic power by 10! That’s pretty quick!
Meng Lei was very surprised. Although the increments of 3 points and 10 points were certainly very slow in comparison to yesterday’s “unexpected windfall”, one mustn’t forget this—a windfall was ultimately just a windfall. It was impossible for something like that to happen every day!
A steady daily harvest was the way to go instead!
Just a night’s meditation had already increased his spiritual power by 3 points and his magic power by 10 points. What would happen in a month? Or a year?
Moreover, Meng Lei felt that as his battle capabilities increased, the meditation effects would also definitely become better and better. The upgrading of his spiritual power and magic power definitely wouldn’t just be this little. His future was bright!
Going back to the previous topic, though, an unexpected windfall really feels great!
The rewards from just that short amount of time yesterday could already match up to all my hard work from the last few days!
No wonder people say that horses don’t bulk up without feeding at night, and people don’t get rich without unexpected windfalls!
Looks like I need to head toward bustling places more often in the future…
" }, { "id": 16, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-16", "title": "Chapter 16", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "In the following few days, the group of five continued on their training journey. They swept through the outer boundary region at an average speed of killing three to four Second-Grade Magical Beasts per day!
Six-Tailed Poison Centipedes, Bloodthirsty Red Ants, Golden-Eyed Demonic Bats, Giant Swamp Crocodiles…
Meng Lei picked up dropped items and collected kills in the day, while at night, he boosted his spiritual power and magic power—and in turn, all of his other stats—through meditation. His battle capabilities were totally different every day!
However, all good things must come to an end!
A week later, Alison and the other three men’s training journey came to an end. The vacation was over, so they were returning to the academy, while Meng Lei also had to return to Magical Beast Village.
Everyone bade farewell reluctantly and went their separate ways.
“You’re finally back, kid!”
Upon Meng Lei’s return, Captain Hudders’ worry finally eased. Meng Lei hadn’t returned for more than 20 days, so he had been really worried that something had happened to him. However, Meng Lei was finally back now!
“I was only moving about in the Magical Beast Forest’s outer boundaries. What kind of danger could there be?” Meng Lei laughed and changed the topic. He asked, “Captain Hudders, can we make it for the magic assessment if we set off now?
“There are only a few days till term begins at the magic academy!” Captain Hudders shook his head and replied, “It’s fortunate that our Magical Beast Village isn’t far from the capital city, so it’ll take only five days to get there. Otherwise, you’d be crying right now!”
“As long as we can make it!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief. Fire Dragon Kingdom, as the kingdom nearest to Magical Beast Ridge within the Dragon God Empire, had always existed for the purpose of being the empire’s shield in the west. In order to better defend against Magical Beasts’ attacks and harassment, Fire Dragon Kingdom’s capital city was built right at the fringes of Magical Beast Ridge!
Thus, Magical Beast Village was not far from the capital city.
“Have a good rest tonight, Meng Lei. We’ll set off right in the morning tomorrow!”
“Alright, Captain Hudders!”
…
A night of pleasant dreams passed!
Meng Lei woke up early the next morning. After packing his things carefully, he headed over to Captain Hudders’ home. What surprised him when he reached was that Jonah, Joseph, Andrew, and their parents were actually there, too!
“Jonah, why are all of you here?” asked Meng Lei in mild puzzlement while looking at the three of them.
These three little fellows were his companions, the kind where they had grown up together playing with mud and wearing split pants 1 .
“Hehe, we’re following Uncle Hudders to the capital city to take part in the magic assessment!”
Jonah, who was wearing a long gunny dress, revealed a pair of adorable little canine teeth as she replied to his question with a giggle. She was the only girl among the three. Although her clothes were old and tattered, it couldn’t hide her attractive facial features, nonetheless. If she were to change into the kind of lavish long dresses that nobility wore, she wouldn’t pale in comparison to those rich young ladies at all!
Meng Lei nodded. “Is that so!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, I heard from Uncle Hudders that you went into the mountains alone. You didn’t meet with any danger, did you?” asked Jonah somewhat anxiously.
“I was only moving about in the outer boundaries. What kind of danger could there be?”
Meng Lei laughed and shook his head. Then, he changed the topic and said, “I’d thought that I’d be the only one going to the capital city. Now that you guys will also be with me, I won’t be lonely on the way there anymore! That’s great!”
“Yes, yes! Since all of us are going to the capital city together, we can look out for each other!”
Jonah clapped her little hands, her face red and rosy from excitement. She said, “Speaking of that, I’ve never been to the capital city even at this age! I wonder what it’s like over there?”
“I’ve heard that the city walls are very high and that there are a lot of Dragon People with dragon heads?”
“There are also big and tall buildings, and a neat and tidy Elysium Avenue?”
Joseph and Andrew’s eyes lit up. Their little faces were full of yearning and anticipation!
“We’ll be able to see them very soon!”
Meng Lei smiled. To villagers living in far and remote places like them, their activity range was solely limited to the villages nearby and Magical Beast Ridge. They might not even be able to go to the capital city even once in their entire lives!
One could say that it was thanks to the magic assessment that Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew could go to the capital city this time. If not for the fact that this concerned their children’s lifelong destinies, how could their parents possibly be willing to pay such a high price to send them to the capital city?
10 gold coins!
That was enough to make up a family of three’s expenses for two to three years!
Moreover, this was even a gamble where the chances of failure reached as high as 99.99%. It wouldn’t take much at all for their 10 gold coins to go up in smoke and not even get a single cent of their capital back!
Therefore, this must have been a huge decision for Jonah and the other two children’s parents. After all, there were quite a number of children in Magical Beast Village, but the only ones who really had the courage to send their children to take part in the magic assessment were just these three families!
“Jonah, listen to your Uncle Hudders’ instructions on the way there!”
“Andrew, be obedient. Don’t be cheeky and make any trouble!”
“Joseph, the capital city is not like the village…”
The doors at the village’s entrance opened. Under Jonah and the other two’s parents, the villagers, and their little companions’ looks of envy, an old ox cart slowly drove out of the village.
There were many children in the Magical Beast Village!
However, not many families dared to send their children to take part in the magic assessment.
…
Not only was the old and rundown ox cart constantly creaking, but the ride was also very bumpy. It wasn’t comfortable sitting on it at all. Νevertheless, the three young children, Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew, still looked very excited. They constantly chatted without a moment’s pause during the way there, just like three joyous little sparrows!
Unfortunately, their excitement only lasted for two days before it disappeared. The three children gradually couldn’t take the long, arduous journey anymore. Like plants shriveled from the cold, they became… all wilted!
Captain Hudders had expected this from the start, and there was no other way around it. The term was beginning soon. Even if they had to grit their teeth, they had to endure it all the way to the capital city, regardless! None of them were allowed to give up halfway at this point!
After five days of dry and boring traveling, they finally reached the capital city—Fire Dragon City!
…
Fire Dragon City, the capital of Fire Dragon Kingdom, was also the Dragon God Empire’s biggest and most prosperous city in the west. The city was situated on flat land and divided into two regions, the east and the west.
Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royal palaces, as well as the nobility and high-ranking officials’ mansions, were located in East City.
As for West City, it was mainly an academic city. The majority of magic academies and warrior academies were located there. Thus, West City was comparable to the college towns on Earth!
Meng Lei and the others entered Fire Dragon City in the afternoon that day.
“Wow!”
Fire Dragon City’s level of prosperity wasn’t something that Magical Beast Village could compare to at all. The smooth, level, and sturdy ground of Elysium Avenue, pure white and organized buildings, a dazzling array of products, all manner of people in the crowd…
The three little fellows’ eyes were bedazzled, and they looked just like country bumpkins!
“So this is the capital city? It’s so beautiful!”
Jonah’s eyes were bright and shiny as she looked to the left one moment and to the right the next. She was so excited that she looked just like a happy skylark. However, in contrast to her behavior, the two young boys, Joseph and Andrew, suddenly became awkward and constrained instead. They were clenching the corners of their gunny clothes the whole time.
“Country bumpkins!”
The noblewomen and young ladies going to and fro were dressed in trendy clothes, wore lavish jewelry, and also wore fragrant perfumes. None of them bothered giving Meng Lei and the others a proper glance at all!
Young noble ladies born in the capital city naturally had an innate sense of superiority. This caused Joseph and Andrew, who were entering the city for the first time, to develop a sense of shame and inferiority, and they didn’t dare to meet their eyes.
Upon seeing the two boys’ reactions, Captain Hudders shook his head and didn’t say much. This was always the case when people like them entered the city for the first time. His reaction had been even more unseemly than Joseph and Andrew’s back then!
He could only say this—it would be fine once they got used to it.
The precondition was that they had the chance to, though!
What surprised Hudders was Meng Lei, however. He sized up the crowd going to and fro, clicking his tongue in wonder and admiration as he looked at them curiously. There was no sense of awkwardness or inferiority coming from him at all!
As expected, this child has extraordinary character!
Hudders nodded secretly to himself. Then, he brought the four children with him and headed to West City.
That place was the gathering point of all the great academies. Assessments to evaluate one’s magic talent were specially set up over there, and it was also where the children’s destinies would be determined!
" }, { "id": 17, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-17", "title": "Chapter 17", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“There are a total of 70-odd academies in our Fire Dragon Capital City!”
As they walked down the gray crystals-paved Elysium Avenue, Captain Hudders spoke on and on without even a moment’s pause and gave them an introduction of the academies. He continued and said, “Out of which, only three are magic academies. They are respectively the Fire Dragon Magic Academy, Douglas Magic Academy, and Dragon People Magic Academy. All of the rest are warrior academies!”
“Only three magic academies? There are only so few?”
Jonah and the other two boys looked surprised.
“Talent is required to cultivate magic!”
A smiling Captain Hudders continued his explanation. “And only one in ten thousand possesses magic talent. This has led to the magic academies’ inability to increase in numbers!”
Jonah and the other two boys turned nervous and uneasy at once when they heard what he said.
One in ten thousand? Would they be the lucky ones among the ten thousand people?
“Captain Hudders, is there any difference among the three magic academies?” asked Meng Lei.
“There are always differences in everything, be it people’s statuses or even a tree’s circumference. Magic academies are naturally also divided into different classes. Take these three magic academies in our Fire Dragon Capital City, for example!”
Captain Hudders smiled and gave them an introduction of the academies. He believed that Meng Lei possessed magic talent and would definitely be able to enroll in and study in a magic academy. The key here was which magic academy he should choose!
Thus, there was a need to give him a thorough introduction!
“Fire Dragon Magic Academy is the best magic academy among the three. Set up in the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s name, it is the kingdom’s official magic academy. In other words, the national magic academy!
“Due to its background as an official academy, Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s teachers have very strong and solid qualifications. With a complete range of facilities and the best cultivation resources, the Magicians that they groom and nurture are the most outstanding!
“Thus, Fire Dragon Magic Academy fully deserves the title of the top magic academy in our Fire Dragon Kingdom!”
Captain Hudders gave Meng Lei a meaningful look at this point, and added, “Thus, Fire Dragon Magic Academy is naturally also the first choice for magic geniuses with exceptionally great talent!
“Be it Drakes or humans, as long as they have exceptionally good talent and can meet the requirements, everyone is qualified to enroll in Fire Dragon Magic Academy to study. In this aspect, we humans and the Dragon People are equal in status!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei nodded quietly, a brilliant glint at the bottom of his eyes!
“In comparison, the remaining two magic academies are slightly inferior!”
Captain Hudders went on and said, “Dragon People Magic Academy mainly caters to Dragon People with mediocre magic talent. Of course, there are also some human nobility descendants with mediocre magic talent there. As for Douglas Magic Academy, it mainly recruits human commoners with mediocre magic talent, and is considered a commoner academy.”
Fire Dragon Magic Academy!
Dragon People Magic Academy!
Douglas Magic Academy!
I didn’t think that schools would also be divided into the elite and the ordinary in this alternate world!
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and walked on ahead. And as he had put it, weren’t the three magic academies precisely an elite school and ordinary schools?!
Gradually, more and more pedestrians appeared along the path. Most of them were in combinations such as two adults and a child, or a family with a few members. Additionally, most of them were nervous and uneasy. Evidently, they were also people here to take part in the magic assessment!
Meng Lei’s group followed the crowd and quickly arrived at the place where the magic assessment was held—Fire Dragon Square!
Fire Dragon Square was a large public square occupying an area that could fit a few soccer fields. In the center of the square stood a 100-meters tall Golden Colossal Dragon statue!
Its golden dragon scales were vivid, as though they were alive!
Its dragon wings spread wide, covering and blocking the sky!
Its dragon mouth was wide open as it roared into the sky!
Its dragon horns were ferocious and savage, and pierced through the heavens!
A domineering and imposing aura assaulted their senses. They could feel it even from a great distance away. It induced a sense of submission in people, such that they couldn’t conceive any thoughts of resistance at all!
“Praise be to the Dragon God!”
Upon seeing the Golden Colossal Dragon statue, Captain Hudders pressed his hands against his chest, bent over into a bow, and said a pious prayer, which stunned Meng Lei and the other three children.
“Uncle Hudders, what are you doing?”
The bubbly Jonah gave voice to the puzzlement in her mind. Captain Hudders received a shock, and hastily covered her mouth as he looked left and right. When he saw that no one had noticed, he let out a breath of relief, lowered his voice, and said, “This is the great Dragon God statue. You must salute whenever you see it! The four of you, hurry and salute the Dragon God!”
The Dragon God statue?
One must salute when they see it?
It was only then that Meng Lei discovered that it wasn’t just Captain Hudders. Without any exception, all the other pedestrians around them had also saluted piously upon seeing the Dragon God statue!
“Dragon God?”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together.
“The Dragon God is the Dragon God Empire’s founding emperor, and is also the one and only religion!” Captain Hudders said in a hushed voice, “All of the empire’s citizens must believe in the great Dragon God. Those who do not believe in it are considered heathens. If you don’t wish to be burned at the stake, then hurry and salute!”
What the hell!
Meng Lei got a shock and hastily made a show of saluting. How could one not bow to their circumstances when they were under someone else’s roof? He was still very weak right now, so he’d better act according to the others’ rules instead!
“Praise be to the Dragon God!”
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew also saluted respectfully.
“Great!”
Captain Hudders breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he pointed to the front and said, “That’s where the magic assessment will be held. Let’s hurry over!”
“Alright!”
Fire Dragon Square was very crowded and packed with people. There were many nobles dressed fastidiously, as well as commoners dressed in coarse sackcloth. However, what attracted Meng Lei’s attention the most was still… the Drakes!
Drakes were categorized into Dragon People and Dragon Beasts.
Dragon Beasts were the descendants of Colossal Dragons and Magical Beasts and looked almost no different from wild Magical Beasts. There were Dragon-Wolves that looked like giant wolves, Dragon-Rhinos that looked like rhinoceroses, and earthworms that looked like crocodiles…
There was a rich variety of Dragon Beasts, and they had all manner of appearances!
If these strange beasts had been in the Magical Beast Forest, they would have been the targets of hunting for sure. But here, these Dragon Beasts wore gold and silver, dressed in magnificent clothing, and appeared openly in public!
Not only did nobody dare to hunt and kill them, but they even had to obediently make way for them in abject fear that they would enrage the other party!
This was because everyone knew that each of these ferocious-looking Dragon Beasts came from a notable background, whether it was a Marquis’ son, a Duke’s nephew, or even a member of nobility itself. Who would dare to mess with them?
Even humans are beneath beasts when they are but just monkeys wearing hats!
Meng Lei secretly sighed as he watched the tyrannical Dragon Beasts. In this vast and broad land called the Dragon God Empire, humans were just appendages and slaves, while the dragons… were the true masters!
As such, every Tom, Dick, and Harry animal related to the Colossal Dragons had become the masters. Not only was killing humans not illegal, but they even got to enjoy various special privileges. Should anyone offend them and be killed as a result, they would only die in vain!
Of course, although there were quite a few Dragon Beasts, there were even more Dragon People!
80% of Dragon God Empire’s nobility were Dragon People, and these aristocratic Dragon People’s descendants were also Dragon People. As a result, there was an extremely high number of Dragon People here taking part in the magic assessment!
Some had a pair of horns on their heads!
Some had wings on their backs!
Some had dragon tails at their bottoms!
Some had scales on their bodies!
All of them possessed obvious dragon characteristics!
“Meng Lei, don’t stare at the Dragon People like that. It’s very rude!” Captain Hudders patted Meng Lei on the shoulder and gave him a soft reminder, “If you enrage any with a bad temper and end up being smacked to death with one swipe of their claws, you won’t even be able to reason with them at all!”
“Uhh?! Okay, okay!”
Meng Lei nodded. Then, he suddenly pointed at some Dragon People who were wearing coarse sackcloth and asked, “Captain Hudders, aren’t Dragon People nobility? Why are those people wearing commoner clothes? Are they down and out nobility?”
Birds of a feather flocked together, and like-minded people gathered in groups!
There were a lot of people in the public square, and they gathered in groups of two to three and chatted with one another. However, they largely fell into four groups—magnificently-dressed human nobility, Dragon Beasts that looked like Magical Beasts, Dragon People nobility, and human commoners!
This was exceptionally obvious, and this could be seen based on their dressing and looks. However, what puzzled Meng Lei was that there was still another special group apart from these four groups!
They were all Dragon People, but they were dressed in coarse sackcloth and looked about the same as human commoners. Were they the commoners among Dragon People?
" }, { "id": 18, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-18", "title": "Chapter 18", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "They were clearly Dragon People, but they were dressed in civilian clothing, one had to feel confused!
“These Dragon People… Some of them are fallen nobles!”
Captain Hudders heard this, gave the group of Dragon People a look, and explained in a low voice, “Some of them belong to the civilian class just like us!”
Meng Lei was stunned. “Civilians? There are civilians among the Dragon People?”
“Of course! Dragons are wanton in nature, and many Dragon People also inherited this kind of trait. Some Dragon People of poor character refused to recognize what they did after committing bad deeds…”
Captain Hudders shook his head. “This caused the birth of a lot of Dragon People orphans and bastards. They grow up without any family to rely on, and without titles, so they naturally become civilians!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei suddenly understood. Even humans could act irresponsibly, such as abandoning their wives and children, not to mention Dragon People who were wanton in nature. From this aspect, the birth of Dragon People bastards and orphans was then inevitable!
“Even if we’re both civilians, their lives are not what we can be compared to!” Captain Hudders shook his head. “Even the weakest Dragon Person makes a pretty strong fighter and has plenty of opportunities to make a head start, which is something we humans can’t compare to!”
“That’s true!” Meng Lei nodded quietly.
“Come on, that is the place of the assessment, let’s go!” Hudders pointed in the direction with the largest number of people, and the group headed there. Soon, several armored knights stopped them!
“Accompanying people, please stop!”
“Magic test, 10 gold coins per person!”
“Meng Lei, you all can go in!”
Hudders took out 40 gold coins, which he had prepared beforehand, and handed them over to Meng Lei. His gaze swept across each of the four and encouraged them, “May the Dragon God bless you all. I believe you will surely fulfill your wishes!”
“Yes!”
The four nodded hard.
There were many people taking part in the magic test. People came and went, and they had lined up in 10 long lines. It was quite similar to the scene of people lining up for train tickets back home before the Chinese New Year!
“So many people, how long will we have to wait?”
Meng Lei sighed, before he found a relatively shorter queue and joined at its end. When looking at the long queue, he felt a slight headache.
“Brother Meng Lei, I’m… I’m nervous!”
Jonah pulled Meng Lei’s sleeves, her little face full of anxiety and nervousness. She was completely devoid of her former liveliness and mischief!
“Relax. Such things only depend on fate, so being nervous won’t help!”
Meng Lei, not knowing how to comfort her, could only say so!
The sun was hot, and the heat unbearable. The Fire Dragon Kingdom was near the Magical Beast Forest, with a climate similar to that of a tropical rainforest. Right now, waiting was simply a torment!
However, currently, most people were in no mood to pay attention to the hot weather, as their hearts were filled with tension and anxiety. This was the moment when their fate would be determined!
With talent, one could leap high beyond their current positions, into a bright future!
Without talent, one could only continue sticking around, being mediocre, and looking for an alternative path!
“This is much crueler than the College Entrance Examination!” Meng Lei sighed quietly. “It’s actually similar to ancient imperial examinations!”
While waiting anxiously, they witnessed all kinds of reactions from others!
Some cried out of joy and left rejoicing!
Some shook their heads and sighed, not satisfied with the test result!
Even more were in great agony, as they left sadly!
The cruelty of reality was shown here completely and vividly!
The rows moved forward slowly. After hours of waiting, Meng Lei and his three peers approached the testing table!
Three youths in black magic robes stood in front of the table, responsible for testing this row!
One was in charge of calling people!
One was in charge of testing!
One was in charge of recording!
They all performed their duties in an orderly manner!
A middle-aged man, who was dozing off, was seated behind them. He leaned back against the back of the chair, his head drooping, his eyes closed tight. He seemed to be fast asleep, as though he completely ignored his surrounding environment.
There were two testing instruments. The first one was a crystal ball the size of a basketball, with a transparent interior without a trace of noise, hanging in mid-air like a crystal-clear diamond.
The other was a gigantic “thermometer” several feet high and one foot wide, standing in front of the crystal ball, with a red line inside and numbers on both sides. It was a proper enlarged thermometer!
“Next!”
The youth in charge of calling people called out. A yellow-haired young man dressed in a civilian burlap robe hurriedly responded and walked up quickly!
Perhaps because he was too nervous, the yellow-haired young man staggered and suddenly fell on the ground, almost bumping onto the crystal ball!
Everyone laughed out loud. The yellow-haired young man got even more nervous and stood up in a flurry. He jabbered out, “I’m… I’m sorry, my name is Po… Porter…”
“No need to say your name, just put your hand on the crystal ball!”
The young man in charge of the assessment said indifferently, showing no intention to listen to the yellow-haired young man’s name. Indeed, the ones in charge of magic testing only registered those who had magical talent!
As to those without magical talent, there was no need to even register them— reality was that cruel!
“Yes… Yes!”
Porter nodded hurriedly, stretched out his trembling hand, and pressed it on the crystal ball. Then, he stared hard at the crystal ball, waiting for the trial of fate!
He was so nervous that he held his breath, for fear that a minute detail would lead to inaccurate test results and sentence him with the “death penalty”!
The young man in charge of the assessment had an indifferent look as his gaze fell on the crystal ball. The originally transparent crystal ball glowed with a faint, blurry light as if it was charged with electricity!
It was an earthly yellow color, mixed with a little bit of cyan, looking like faint-colored light reflected by lenses!
“Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element!”
The young man in charge of the assessment said lightly, “The next step is to test your spiritual power! See the red dot under the spiritual tester? Use your spiritual power to press it down as much as possible.”
Spiritual tester?
Meng Lei looked over, following his instructions, and indeed saw a red dot on the bottom of the gigantic “thermometer”. It was about the size of a coin and seemed like a button.
“S-Sir, how to use… spiritual power?”
Porter’s face flushed red as he asked with some difficulty.
“There’s a magical pattern engraved on the red dot. It will guide your spiritual power automatically, so you just need to stare at the red dot.” The young man in charge of the assessment said lightly, “The ones who are getting tested later should also listen. When you test your spiritual power…”
“Okay!”
Porter hurriedly nodded, and his eyes looked toward the red dot at the spiritual tester’s bottom!
Instantly, the red line inside the spiritual tester started to rise, passing by one numbered mark followed by another!
This is the instrument for testing spiritual power?
Meng Lei’s eyes gleamed, staring at the red line in the spirit tester.
This thing is somewhat similar to a thermometer. However, that one tests spiritual power and the other tests temperature!
After a moment, the red line stopped moving.
The young man in charge of the assessment gave the mark where the red line was a look, and his tone softened a little.
“Spiritual Power: 23
“4 times that of same-age peers!
“Barely meeting the standard!
“Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element!
“Overall evaluation: Has magical talent, qualified to become a Magician!”
" }, { "id": 19, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-19", "title": "Chapter 19", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Spiritual Power: 23!
4 times that of same-age peers!
Barely meeting the standard!
Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element
Overall evaluation: Has magic talent, qualified to become a Magician!
“YAY!”
The excited Porter started shouting as though he had heard the most beautiful language in the world. His tears of joy ran down his face like a fountain, wetting his clothes.
“Oh my dragon god!”
“A peasant can actually become a Magician? Are there heavenly principles left in this world?”
“Really…”
Everyone started discussing with great envy.
Meng Lei also looked at Porter and felt quite emotional. Although Porter was plainly dressed right now, he had the magical talent that countless people couldn’t even dream of!
Predictably, so long as he graduated from a magic academy, he would become a prestigious Magician. By then, he would be powerful and have a high position. Beautiful women, money, and so on, would come to his door!
As of that moment, his fate had completely changed!
“Next!”
Finally, my turn!
Meng Lei took a deep breath and walked up slowly!
“Another peasant!”
“What an offense to the eye!”
“This guy certainly doesn’t have magical talent!”
“The possibility of these peasants having magical talent is much lower than we nobles, with barely 1 in 100,000. The bumpkin just now already had dumb luck. It must be tricky for this guy now!
“I’ll bet a pack of sausages that he has no magical talent!”
“I’ll bet two…”
A group of nobility youths discussed in low voices, with much disdain in their tone. In the Dragon God Empire, the chasm of class division was too big!
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew looked at Meng Lei, their eyes full of hope, though they also didn’t have much hope in their hearts!
“Go for it, Brother Meng Lei!”
“It should be able to detect it, right?”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and pressed both his hands on the crystal ball!
At that moment, he actually got nervous. Although he had picked up the Saint Domain Magician’s Thunder-Element magic talent and had succeeded in meditation, Meng Lei still felt a bit uncertain!
After all, his magic talent was acquired after his birth. What if this thing couldn’t detect it?”
Buzz…
Meng Lei was overconcerned!
At the moment his hands came into contact with the crystal ball, dazzling silver light suddenly burst out of the crystal ball, rendering the crystal ball as bright as the sun!
Tiny and brilliant silver arcs coursed throughout the crystal ball, as though they were about to break the crystal ball and get out!
Whoosh!
Behind the three youths in charge of the assessment, the drowsy middle-aged man lying in a chair suddenly opened his eyes and stood up with a swoosh. He stared intently at the crystal ball, his face excited!
“Elemental Affinity: Thunder-Element… Superior-Grade!” The middle-aged man slowly uttered that sentence, his eyes shining!
After that statement, the surroundings burst into an uproar! The nobility youths that had been mocking Meng Lei with disdain previously were instantly rendered speechless!
“Super- Superior-Grade?”
“Oh my dragon god! Am I hearing this correctly?”
“How is this possible!? Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity, isn’t that too much?”
The three youths in charge of the assessment were also astonished. Generally, the vast majority of people with magic talent were of Low-Grade Elemental Affinity, which was the bottom line, and also the minimum standard to sense magic elements!
Above low-grade was medium-grade!
When people with Medium-Grade Elemental Affinity meditated, the magic elements they sensed were… 10 times clearer than that of a person with Low-Grade Elemental Affinity!
Above medium-grade was… upper grade, which is 100 times clearer!
This meant that while others required 100 hours to refine a certain amount of magic power, a person with Upper-Grade Elemental Affinity only needed 1 hour. It was a total of 100 times difference in efficiency!
Was there a big difference?
It was like the distance between two poles!
Therefore, under the premise of similar mental strength, however hard people with Low-Grade Elemental Affinity practiced, they could only become Low-Level Magicians!
What was considered low-level?
First, second, and third grade, that’s all!
In the meantime, people with High-Level Elemental Affinity could become Low-Level Magicians effortlessly. If they put in a bit more effort, they could become Medium-Level Magicians. If they worked a bit harder, it was not difficult for them to become High-Level Magicians!
This was the difference between low-grade and high-grade!
As for superior-grade, that was even more extraordinarily rare. Even among Dragon People who had inherited the dragons’ magic talent and had super-strong Elemental Affinity at birth, Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity was very rare!
After all, this was 1,000 times the sensing clarity!
The middle-aged man directly pushed aside the young man in charge of the assessment and personally took charge of the process. “Quickly! Quickly test his spiritual power!” His voice was trembling!
For people with this kind of talent, even if they didn’t meditate, magic elements would rush to squeeze into his body. They were almost like the bastard sons of the God of Magic!
Meng Lei walked to the spiritual tester with an unprecedentedly relaxed expression. His spiritual attribute was as high as 215, comparable to Second-Grade Magicians. What did he have to worry about?
“This guy simply has such dumb luck!”
The nobility youths looked at Meng Lei, feeling envious. “With such a strong magic talent, his spiritual power must be very poor. After all, it’s impossible for all the good things to happen to him!”
It was a pity that these people were destined to be disappointed!
Their eyes were fixed on Meng Lei and the red dot!
The spiritual tester’s red line rapidly rose like it was tied on a rocket. In the blink of an eye, it had climbed past half of the scale and continued rushing upward!
“What the hell!?”
“So fast?”
All who witnessed this scene were so surprised that their eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets!
When others tested their spiritual power, the red line would rise slowly, one line by one line. Yet for him…
“A… A genius! This is a real genius!”
The middle-aged man stuttered while his body started trembling due to excitement. His group had finally unearthed a genius!
Whoosh!
Soon, before everyone’s shocked eyes, the line reached the top of the spiritual tester and filled up the entire scale, before stopping!
However, everyone could see that the “full value” wasn’t the limit of Meng Lei’s spiritual power. If the spiritual tester scale was longer, the red line representing Meng Lei’s spiritual power would definitely… be even higher!
“Full… Full value! Spiritual power, 100 times that of same-age peers!”
The middle-aged man announced the results with a shaking voice.
“Elemental Affinity: Superior-Grade Thunder Element!
“Spiritual Power: 100 times that of same-age peers!
“Overall evaluation: magic talent… super-excellent!”
The entire venue burst into an uproar again!
“100… 100 times!?”
“Super-excellent?”
“Is this still human?”
“He’s just a monster!”
“Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity, and his spiritual power is actually also so wild? How is this reasonable?”
“A peasant who came out of nowhere actually has such mad talent? Has the God of Magic gotten blind?”
“This guy is not bad even compared to Ordos, right?”
“Almost!”
“Psst! Ordos is actually a second-generation Dragon Man with the blood of Golden Colossal Dragon…”
The looks everyone gave Meng Lei were full of envy and jealousy. Some nobles and Dragon People had especially shiny eyes, full of shock and awe!
“Sir, I am Fred from the Admissions Office of Douglas Magic Academy!”
At that moment, an old man in a magic robe squeezed through the crowd and walked over. “I sincerely invite you to join our Douglas Magic Academy. So long as you join…”
" }, { "id": 20, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-20", "title": "Chapter 20", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "During the start-of-school season every year, the major academies were extremely busy. The magic test before school started alone took an entire week, not to mention others!
Youths of nobles, civilians, Dragon People, Dragon Beasts, and other intelligent races gathered en masse in the capital city, participating in this great event that changed their own fate!
Nobody who had ambitions to practice magic wanted to miss it!
People came and went endlessly.
On the Dragon God Square, apart from the youths who took part in the test, their family members, and the testing staff, another special group was present—the teachers in charge of admissions in the various academies!
Not far from the magic testing point, several dozens “stalls” scattered around. Each stall had banners erected in front of them, indicating their identities. There were “Fire Dragon Magic Academy”, “Dragon God Paladin Academy”, “Kellner Great Axe Academy”, and so on!
These stalls were the admission points of the various academies!
Currently, at one corner of the admissions point, three old men in purple magic robes were lying on their chairs, chatting idly.
An old man with messy hair and rosacea on his nose released an alcoholic burp, saying weakly, “It’s the last day of the magic test, and there doesn’t seem to be any more geniuses! Alas, this old man has been handling admissions for so many years, yet this year is my biggest failure! ”
After that was said, an old man with a horn on top of his head and a black piece of scale between his brows was immediately dissatisfied. “Carls, you still have the face to complain? You got so many quality students again this year. If I were you, I’d wake up in my dream, laughing. This poor old man accompanies you both every year in vain…”
Upon hearing that, another bald old man snorted coldly. “Nonsense! Old thing, you’ve been accompanying us in vain? What do you say about Ordos then? Don’t you forget that the strongest genius this year was robbed away by your Dragon People Academy!”
Having said this, the bald old man sighed. “I’m the one who actually accompanies you both in vain every year. I watch one genius after another get taken away by you both, it’s really… heartbreaking!”
The one-horned old man glared at the bald old man and said lightly, “However good Ordos’s talent is, he’s just one person. How can he compare to all those geniuses taken away by Carls! Sigh…”
“Old thing, you’ve gotten the better deal, stop complaining!”
The old man with rosacea snorted. “You know better than anyone else that geniuses are prized for their quality, not numbers. One Ordos can match a few dozens of ordinary geniuses! Tsk, tsk, double superior-grade of Light-Element and Wind-Element, 88 times the spiritual power of same-age peers. It’s so crazy!”
“Exactly! If it’s possible, I would rather exchange all the students I got this year for Ordos!”
The bald man agreed deeply. “If a genius like Ordos is properly cultivated, it’s a sure thing for him to become a Ninth-Grade Magician Mentor, or even…”
He didn’t speak the rest of the sentence, but both the old man with rosacea and the one-horned old man understood his meaning. Talent such as Ordos’ had the prospect of reaching the Saint Domain!
The Saint Domain!
What kind of existence was that?
How many ordinary alumni were one Saint Domain alumni comparable to?
“It’s a pity that such a genius is pretty much wasted being put into your Dragon People Academy!” The old man with rosacea said angrily, “He should come to our Fire Dragon Academy. Only Fire Dragon Academy can give him the best educational environment!”
Upon hearing that, the one-horned old man immediately blew his beard and stared. “Old man, stop talking sh*t! Our Dragon People Academy isn’t much worse than your Fire Dragon Academy, if not for—”
“Teacher! Hurry! Another genius has appeared!”
While the three old men were arguing heatedly, a young man in a magic robe suddenly appeared and spoke, panting.
“What?”
“Another genius appeared?’
The three old men’s eyes stared at each other before they got up from the chairs in a swoosh and looked at the young man in a magic robe together. “What level of genius, how’s the talent?”
“Elemental Affinity: Superior-Grade Thunder-Element! Spiritual Power: 100 times that of same-age peers!” The young man in the magic robe continued. “Comprehensive evaluation—”
Before he finished his words, the three old men directly dashed past him, knocking the young man to the side, and he stumbled onto the ground!
“What is this, not even letting me finish speaking!”
The young man in the magic robe got up from the ground and complained, rubbing his buttocks. But he could completely understand the behavior of the three teachers. After all, this super-genius was… crazily amazing!
“Elemental Affinity: Thunder-Element… Superior-Grade!”
“Spiritual Power: 100 times that of same-age peers!”
“Oh my god!”
“Such talent is not bad even compared to Ordos!”
“Mine! He belongs to our Fire Dragon Magic Academy!”
“No! He belongs to our Douglas Magic Academy!”
“You’re daydreaming! To have such talent, it must be one of our Dragon People. He’ll surely join our Dragon People Magic Academy!”
“What about Dragon People? This old man is sure to succeed!”
“Move aside!”
“Move aside, all!”
“…”
Presently, Meng Lei was enjoying people’s envy and jealousy. He didn’t quite mind it. After all, this was what he expected!
“Brother Meng Lei, you’re amazing!”
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew also approached and looked at Meng Lei full of envy, their eyes shining like they were full of little stars. Although they did not quite understand the meaning of Meng Lei’s talent, the shock and amazement that everyone around them expressed could explain a lot!
Meng Lei was a genius that everyone envied!
“Move! Move off!”
“Where is the genius…”
Right then, the three hasty old men squeezed into the crowd and looked around with their faces full of anxiousness. In the end, all their gazes fell on a young Dragon Man beside the spiritual tester!
This Dragon Man youth was dressed in a splendid silk robe, had black wings behind his back, and looked handsome and mighty. The appearance alone was pretty good!
“You are the genius?”
The old man with rosacea grabbed the shoulder of the young Dragon Man and said extremely anxiously, “Hello, hello! I’m the teacher in charge of admissions at the Fire Dragon Magic Academy this year. I’m called Carls!
“I sincerely invite you to join our Fire Dragon Magic Academy!
“So long as you join, your tuition, living expenses, water, material fees, and all other costs would all be spared. At the same time, you will enjoy a scholarship of 1,000… No, 2,000 gold coins per year…”
The old man with rosacea talked non-stop about various benefits before he was interrupted by the bald old man. He pushed the old man with rosacea aside and said in one breath, “Hello, Genius. I’m the admissions teacher of Douglas Magic Academy! I sincerely invite you to join the Douglas Magic Academy. So long as you join, school fees and scholarships can all easily be discussed!”
“Stop bullshitt*ng here, you guys! He’s a Dragon Man, he by right belongs to our Dragon People Magic Academy!”
The one-horned old man forcefully squeezed the bald old man away, smiling as bright as a flower. “Hello, I’m from Dragon People Magic Academy…”
When looking at the three extremely passionate old men, everyone around looked at each other and didn’t know what to say any more.
Meng Lei is the genius. What are all of you doing, inviting the young Dragon Man?
What a blunder!
Meng Lei also felt quite bemused, but he… could understand!
Since ancient times, Dragon People who inherited the bloodline of Colossal Dragons indeed had better magic talent than the human race. Also, they had a much higher probability of producing geniuses, while the biggest reason the human race produced geniuses was still… its huge population base!
It was completely reasonable that the three admission officer teachers had gotten the wrong person!
" }, { "id": 21, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-21", "title": "Chapter 21", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "That young Dragon Man, who had been mistaken to be the genius, was originally behind Meng Lei and the rest. As he had been shocked by Meng Lei’s astonishing talents, he had been unable to resist moving forward to see this amazing genius up close. Surprisingly, he had ended up being surrounded by these three old men!
The young Dragon Man was stunned. “Teachers, you have made a mistake. I have not been assessed yet!”
“What?”
“You are not the super genius?”
The three old men looked stunned. “Where is he?”
The middle-aged man in charge of the assessment pointed at Meng Lei and said helplessly, “Teachers, this is the one!”
They must be drunk not to recognize him properly!
Swish—
Three pairs of eyes landed on Meng Lei at the same time!
“He’s actually a human?”
“You are the super genius?”
Although the three old men had different expressions, they all had looks of wonder on their faces.
“Unexpectedly, my human race has also produced a super genius! Very good!”
The old man with rosacea was overjoyed. He did not even blush over the blunder he had just made!
“Top quality! Human geniuses with extraordinary elemental affinity are rare, and those with spiritual power 100 times that of their peers are literally unheard of!
The bald old man was very excited. “Hello, young man. I am Augustus, the admissions teacher of Douglas Magic Academy! I sincerely invite you to join our Douglas Magic Academy. I stand by what I said earlier. As long as you are keen, we can discuss any conditions you want! What do you think? Join us?”
“For a genius like him, only the best teaching environment will do. Going to your Douglas Magic Academy is a waste, a huge waste!”
The old man with rosacea snorted coldly and sneered at the words of the bald old man. However, when he looked at Meng Lei, he showed an amiable and kind expression. “Young man, our Fire Dragon Magic Academy is the best magic academy in the Fire Dragon Kingdom, with top-notch teachers and resources. Join us…”
Upon seeing his two competitors’ endless solicitation, the one-horned old man did not want to be left behind. “This human genius, I’m the admissions teacher of the Dragon People Magic Academy—”
It was a pity that the other two competitors ruthlessly attacked him before he could finish speaking. “Old fogey, are you senile? He is a genius of my human race. Why would he go to your Dragon People Magic Academy? Quit wasting your breath!”
Seeing the three major magic academies’ admissions teachers arguing over Meng Lei, the other young people present felt envious, jealous, and hateful toward him. They badly wanted to replace Meng Lei and become the super genius!
It would be great if they were the ones getting fought over!
Unfortunately, there was no such possibility!
At this time, the middle-aged man in charge of the assessment coughed and said, “My three teachers, why don’t you discuss at the side? We need to continue with the assessment…”
“Hmph!”
The three old men were slightly unhappy after getting interrupted by the middle-aged man, but they didn’t say much. They pulled Meng Lei to the side and activated their eloquent tongues, trying to recruit him!
“My two teachers, your conditions are very attractive. However, are you able to share the specifics so that I can make a choice?”
Meng Lei scratched his head and looked at the old man with rosacea and the bald old man. He then said that he would not consider the Dragon People Magic Academy, which was represented by the one-horned old man. He was not interested in associating with Dragon People!
“Little brother, you are really straightforward!”
The bald old man quickly followed up. “I think you are of a commoner’s background. It happens that our Douglas Magic Academy recruits commoners. As long as you join us, tuition and fees are exempted, and you will receive a scholarship grant of 3,000 gold coins per year!”
“Our Fire Dragon Magic Academy also exempts all tuition and fees, and offers a scholarship grant of 3,000 gold coins per year!” The old man with rosacea counter-offered.
“Old fogey, didn’t you just say 2,000 gold coins?” The bald old man glared at the old man with rosacea and yelled, “Why did you increase it by another 1,000 gold coins in a blink of an eye? Are you shameless?”
“Hmph! How can a genius like him be measurable by money?” The old man with rosacea snorted coldly. “A scholarship grant of 3,000 gold coins per year, that’s quite appropriate!”
“Shameless old thief!”
The bald old man ground his teeth in anger. “4,000 gold coins! As long as you join our Douglas Magic Academy, we are willing to provide a scholarship grant of 4,000 gold coins per year!”
“Our Fire Dragon Magic Academy is also willing to provide a scholarship grant of 4,000 gold coins!”
The old man with rosacea chuckled. There was an expression of victory on his face. Fire Dragon Magic Academy had money and power. How could Douglas Magic Academy be compared to them?
“Old fogey, are you bent on opposing me today?”
The bald old man was furious. “5,000 gold coins! This is the maximum I can offer. Little brother, be direct. Do you want to join us?”
The old man with rosacea said casually, “Hehe, I also offer 5,000 gold coins!”
“You! How ruthless!”
The bald old man clenched his teeth but did not make any further offers. Although he wanted to recruit Meng Lei, he was only an admissions teacher and had limited authority. The scholarship grant of 5,000 gold coins per year was his limit!
“Hahaha! I suppose you are not increasing your offer?” The old man with rosacea sneered. “Little brother, which would you choose? I believe you have already made up your mind?”
Meng Lei glanced at the old bald man with a little regret before turning to the old man with rosacea. He bowed and politely said, “I am honored to be a member of the Fire Dragon Magic Academy!”
“Hahaha, smart choice, kid!” The old man with rosacea was very pleased with himself. “I’m glad you joined our Fire Dragon Magic Academy. This is the badge of the academy. You need to drop your blood to swear allegiance to it quickly!”
This was a small badge, similar to the school badge from Meng Lei’s previous life. However, it was a product of alchemy. There was an awe-inspiring ferocious fire dragon at the front, and a magic pattern at the back, containing some kind of strange magic energy!
Meng Lei took the badge and squeezed a drop of blood on it. Suddenly, he felt a mysterious connection with the badge!
“Oh, what a shame!”
The bald old man looked on and sighed helplessly. He knew this would happen. Geniuses like Meng Lei would choose the Fire Dragon Magic Academy even when offered the same conditions!
He could only watch as geniuses miss their Douglas Magic Academy again and again!
“The academy badge is not only a form of identification but also a certificate of admission. You can only pass through the academy and freely enter and exit the academy, only if you are wearing the badge!”
The old man with rosacea patiently introduced, “Of course, the academy badge is also engraved with a spirit-gathering magic pattern, which constantly absorbs magic elements, hence improving your meditation efficiency!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei acknowledged with a nod!
“Today is the last day of the magic assessment!”
The old man with rosacea exhorted. “Generally, there will be a two-day rest period after the magic assessment, and then the school starts! Hence, you should come to the academy for registration the day after tomorrow. There will be an internal test during the registration. After successfully passing the test, you will officially become a member of the academy!”
“Understood!”
Meng Lei nodded!
“Very good!”
The old man with rosacea nodded in satisfaction. “By the way, I still do not know what your name is?”
“Meng Lei!”
" }, { "id": 22, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-22", "title": "Chapter 22", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Elemental Affinity: Thunder-Element, Superior-Grade!
Spiritual Power: 100 times that of same-age peers!
Such talents are truly shocking, surpassing everybody else!
After successfully recruiting such a genius, the old man with rosacea left contentedly. The eyes of countless nobles, commoners, and Dragon People in the audience were fixed on Meng Lei, filled with envy!
“This country bumpkin… No, this fellow’s fate has completely changed. When he graduates from the academy, he will be at least a Sixth-Grade Magician!”
“So envious, jealous, and hateful towards him!”
The magic assessment had yet to end. After Meng Lei, Joseph and Andrew underwent the assessment with hope and anxiety!
They hoped that they could be like Meng Lei, shocking the audience with their astonishing magic talents.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel!
Joseph!
Elemental Affinity: Fire-Element, Low-Grade!
Spiritual Power: 1 time that of same-age peers!
Overall evaluation: Mediocre talent, no potential to become a Magician!
Andrew!
Elemental Affinity: Wind-Element, Low-Grade!
Spiritual Power: 1 time that of same-age peers!
Overall evaluation: Mediocre talent, no potential to become a Magician!
This outcome made Joseph and Andrew extremely dejected!
They couldn’t accept it. Why did Meng Lei, who had grown up with them, have such amazing talents, and they didn’t even have any!?
Why?
Why was that so?
When looking at his downcast, crying friends, Meng Lei didn’t know how to comfort them. He could only pat them on the shoulders and offer his condolences.
Although Meng Lei hoped that the three of them possessed magic talent, reality was often cruel. It would never change just because one wanted a certain outcome!
“Elemental Affinity: Wood-Elemental, Medium-Grade. Wind-Element, Low-Grade!”
At that moment, the young man in charge of the assessment announced Jonah’s results!
“Huh?”
Meng Lei turned his head and saw Jonah holding the crystal ball in both hands. The ball was filled with green light, like an emerald agate. Occasionally, streaks of gray would flash through it!
“Jonah… actually possesses magic talent as well?”
Meng Lei was a little surprised. Joseph and Andrew, who were downcast and weeping, also looked at Jonah, biting their lips tightly. Their mood instantly got better but was soon replaced by greater grief!
Jonah was also assessed with magic talent, but for them…
The young man in charge of the assessment said with a kind expression, “Next, assessing your spiritual power!”
Due to Jonah’s relationship with Meng Lei, his attitude toward Jonah was also very good. After all, Jonah and Meng Lei had arrived together!
Spiritual power: 8 times that of same-age peers!
“Overall evaluation Has the potential to become a Magician!”
The young man announced the last result with a smile and immediately beamed at Jonah. “Student, congratulations. You have the potential to become a Magician!”
“I also have magic talent?” Jonah murmured and suddenly cheered loud, “I can become a Magician? I can become a Magician…”
If someone else had shouted, the young man in charge of the assessment would have reprimanded them. But at this moment, instead of reprimanding, he had a smile on his face with a friendly attitude!
Not only that, the middle-aged man and the other two young people were also smiling. Their attitudes were abnormally good!
“Jonah, congratulations!”
Meng Lei went up to congratulate her with a smile.
“Jonah, congratulations!”
Joseph and Andrew forcefully managed a slight smile and congratulated her!
“Eh, thanks!”
Jonah burst into tears of excitement as she nodded her little head rapidly. Joseph and Andrew had failed, and she thought she had no magic talent. Little did she expect that her fate would turn around!
How could she not be happy and excited?
“Another lucky person!”
“So jealous!”
The bystanders were commenting nonstop. Among them, there was no one who was not envious. One’s life would be very different if they had magic talent!
Even if one possessed an ordinary level of talent, it was enough to cause envy!
“Let’s go and enroll Jonah in a magic academy!” said Meng Lei. “Then, we’ll head out to find Captain Hudders!”
“Alright!”
…
Jonah had average talent and was a commoner. She ended up joining Douglas Magic Academy, becoming the second child from Magical Beast Village to be admitted into a magic academy!
After receiving the news, Captain Hudders exclaimed in excitement. Two of the four children he had brought with him possessed magic talent. This was too lucky and exhilarating!
In particular, Meng Lei, the one that he favored, possessed extraordinary talents. How could he not be pleasantly surprised?
“Meng Lei, good job, you are the pride of the village!”
Hudders slapped Meng Lei on the shoulder, speaking incoherently with excitement. “Jonah, well done as well. I can’t wait to return to the village and inform the village chief and everyone else!”
Meng Lei shook his head helplessly and glanced at the increasingly frustrated Joseph and Andrew. He then asked, “Captain Hudders, what should Joseph and Andrew do? Have they made a wasted trip coming along with us?”
“There’s nothing I can do! If they don’t have talent for magic, they can only return to the village!”
Captain Hudders’ face dimmed as he sighed. He didn’t say much, but the outcome was fixed. They would return to the village to be commoners, spending the rest of their lives in a small mountain village!
This was fate. No one could go against it!
Joseph and Andrew were shocked, and tears unwillingly rolled down their cheeks!
“Even without magic talent, you can still cultivate your Battle Aura!” Meng Lei frowned as he spoke. “There are so many warrior academies in the capital city, and some of them do recruit human commoners. They can enter a warrior academy and become Warriors!”
Upon hearing this, Joseph and Andrew were stunned, and a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes!
“Yes, although you can’t enter a magic academy, entering a warrior academy is not a bad option!” Jonah added, “Since the four of us are staying in the capital city, we can take care of each other.”
“Talking is easy!” Captain Hades smiled bitterly. “Do you know how expensive the enrollment fee for a warrior academy is?”
“I have not considered this!”
“Even the worst third-rate academies have an annual enrollment fee of dozens of gold coins. Not to mention books, accommodation, food, clothing, expenses for materials, training fees…”
Captain Hudders shook his head. “Adding all these up, hundreds of gold coins are needed per year. How can the average family afford this?”
Upon hearing that, Joseph and Andrew’s expressions froze. It was difficult for their families to come up with 10 gold coins in a year, let alone hundreds of gold coins!
Their parents had gone through great difficulties in coming up with the 10 gold coins for this magic assessment. Where could they get hundreds of gold coins for them to enter a warrior academy for their training?
“Warrior training is only for the rich. This is not a joke!” Captain Hudders sighed. “The training of Magicians and Warriors is made possible with money, enough to suck dry a small bourgeoisie family. How can commoners like us afford it?”
After saying that, he glanced at Jonah as his eyes flashed with worry. It was a good thing to have magic talent, but entering the magic academy was the beginning of spending money!
Jonah was different from Meng Lei, who did not need to pay for any tuition or fees and had an attractive scholarship grant. Where would she find the money for the next few years of expenses?
Meng Lei was silent.
Jonah clenched her teeth and was pale with fright!
“Let’s go. You all must be tired after being in the line for the entire day. Let’s find a place to eat, and go back to the hotel to rest!”
Hudders waved his hand. “In two days’ time, after Meng Lei and Jonah enter the magic academy, I will take Joseph and Andrew back to the village. The expenses in the capital city are too high…”
“Return back to the village?”
Meng Lei fell into deep thought.
" }, { "id": 23, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-23", "title": "Chapter 23", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Was Meng Lei rich?
No, not really!
As of now, his total assets came up to only 2,306 gold coins, as well as the 5,000 gold coins per year scholarship grant that hadn’t entered his pocket yet!
Although this bit of assets naturally couldn’t compare to the nobility and the filthy rich merchants, it was still far better than the commoner class that struggled to feed themselves.
This wasn’t the point, however!
The point was that money came to him fairly easily because he could pick it up at any time, anywhere!
Meng Lei had been picking up dropped items the whole time ever since he had arrived in the capital city. Gold coins, stats light balls, spells… In fact, he had even picked up… A grand total of three battle skills!
Additionally, the more crowded a place was, the more dropped items there would be!
As the capital of Fire Dragon Kingdom, what the capital city lacked the least was people, especially when the term was beginning for each of the major academies during this recent period. As such, a large number of people had entered the capital city!
With people around, things would naturally drop!
Naturally, this went to Meng Lei’s benefit!
And wasn’t that so? Because it hadn’t even been a day since he had arrived in the capital city, yet his pockets were already overflowing from the number of items he had picked up, and all of his various stats had undergone a tremendous change!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 2,306 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Third-Grade Warrior (502/1,000)
Spirit: Second-Grade Magician (213/500)
Magic Power: First-Grade Magician (199/200)
Others: Some increase
The number of gold coins he possessed had doubled and a little more!
His body was comparable to a Third-Grade Warrior’s!
His spiritual power had entered the ranks of a Second-Grade Magician’s!
His magic power lacked only 1 point to become comparable to a Second-Grade Magician’s!
There were even quite a few more spells in his repertoire now, too!
As for battle skills… He had picked up three of them for some reason!
Tsk, tsk, the capital city certainly lives up to its name as the place where billionaires and experts congregate. It hasn’t even been a day, and I’ve already picked up this much. Can you imagine how it’ll be like in the future?
The capital city… I’ve certainly made the right choice in coming here!
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his rewards today, and he believed that there would only be more and more rewards in the future!
Therefore, could he use some of his gold coins to help two of his companions out financially, so that they could attend school here?
Meng Lei secretly mused over this. As long as Joseph and Andrew were a little more diligent and became Trainee Warriors within the first year, they would become able to easily earn money at that point.
After that, they would be able to support themselves and successfully finish their studies. By the time they successfully graduated, no matter how poorly they did, they would also have become Fourth-Grade Warriors.
How could the riches that Fourth-Grade Warriors could create possibly be just 200 gold coins? There was no need to worry that they couldn’t pay him back!
In other words, as long as I loan out 200 gold coins, I can change two of my companions’ lives. That’s a pretty good deal!
However, when they heard Meng Lei’s thoughts, a huge jolt went through Hudders, Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew. All of them thought that they had misheard!
“Meng Lei, you’re not joking with us, are you?”
Hudders looked closely at Meng Lei and said, “I know that you have a scholarship grant of 5,000 gold coins per year, but magic cultivation has much higher expenses than Warriors’. The 5,000 gold coins grant may not even be enough for you to buy magic potions and magic materials!”
“Captain Hudders, you don’t need to say any more. I know what I’m doing!”
Meng Lei waved and looked at Joseph and Andrew. He said, “I’m also very poor, so I can only help you out financially for a year. You’ll have to depend on yourselves after the first year!
“If the two of you can become Trainee Warriors within a year, everything is still open for discussion!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei…”
Terribly touched, Joseph and Andrew burst into loud sobs. They couldn’t take the roller-coaster of events anymore!
“What are you crying for? Keep Meng Lei’s words in mind well. After you enter the academy, cultivate properly and strive to become Trainee Warriors within a year…”
…
With Meng Lei’s help, Joseph and Andrew successfully enrolled in warrior academies.
Although it was just an ordinary mid-range warrior academy, it was still enough to make Joseph and Andrew beyond touched. They promised right there and then that they would study properly from now on, and repay Meng Lei properly in the future!
During the next two days, the group of five had fun in the capital city and went sight-seeing. At the same time that Meng Lei picked up a large number of dropped items, he was also bedazzled by the capital city’s prosperity and extravagance!
He had initially thought that this world was very behind times and primitive because technology hadn’t developed here, but he was wrong!
Dragon God Empire’s civilization had tens of thousands of years of history. Although the main trend was the passing down of one’s personal battle strength, as well as the development and innovation of Battle Aura and magic, as an endless amount of time passed, a lot of derivatives had also developed.
Out of which, the most common was… Magic devices!
Poor commoners at the bottommost tier of social hierarchy naturally wouldn’t be able to come into contact with magic devices. However, these products of magic civilization had reached deeply into many upper society families. For example:
Storage magic devices such as spatial rings, spatial bangles, spatial belts, and so on!
Offensive magic devices such as magic cannons, magic guns, magic puppets, and so on!
Lifestyle magic devices such as magic lamps, magic carriages, magic carpets, and so on!
There was a dazzling array of products!
An endless number of products!
This was totally different from the style of civilization on Earth. While being a huge eye-opener for Meng Lei, it also provided him with a clearer understanding of this world at the same time.
But of course, what he felt the deepest was still a saying from his past life. “Meat and wine go to waste in the portals of the rich, while the frozen bones of the dead lie out on the road!”
This world had extremely serious social stratifications. The small group of people standing at the top of society hoarded an overwhelming majority of society’s resources and reveled in indulgence while enjoying life without restraint!
Conversely, more than 90% of the poor masses could only struggle at the bottom tiers of society, suffering to the fullest extent the upper class’ exploitation and oppression, dragging out their sad existences, and drifting about homeless and miserable.
After he got an understanding of all of these, Meng Lei, however, didn’t develop the great ambition of destroying the ruling class and liberating the toiling masses. The only thing that came to his mind was to continue to cowardly mature so that he could escape the exploited tier of people in the end and live on in a better and more enjoyable manner!
Of course, should he really become so strong as to possess the power to overthrow this world in the future, Meng Lei didn’t mind changing the world and cleansing the times, and return a beautiful world to Heaven’s Vault Continent!
…
Two days of free time passed in the blink of an eye. The term finally began at Fire Dragon Magic Academy. Meng Lei bade farewell to Hudders and the others and arrived at the Fire Dragon Magic Academy.
As the best magic academy in Fire Dragon Kingdom, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had a founding history of over 20,000 years. While it was already impossible to determine when exactly the school was founded, there were files that explicitly recorded that the earliest classes had been held 20,000 years ago!
In the 20,000 years that came after, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had received tremendous support from Fire Dragon Kingdom and Dragon God Empire. It had developed rapidly and become one of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s oldest magic academies.
Over the course of these long 20,000 years, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had produced innumerable Master Magicians and expert magic craftsmen, and also groomed a large number of Saint Domain experts, royalty, and nobility.
Out of which, there were 37 Fire Dragon Kingdom kings and 1,169 Saint Domain experts!
Fire Dragon Magic Academy ranked third among more than 20 magic academies in Dragon God Empire and ranked ninth among more than 100 magic academies in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Yet it was exactly such a magic academy with a long history that, as of now, Year 44,781 of the Heaven’s Vault calendar, had only… 600 existing students!
With a total of six levels, there are less than 100 people in each level!
In other words, those that could enroll in Fire Dragon Magic Academy… Each and every one of them is a genius!
" }, { "id": 24, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-24", "title": "Chapter 24", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Meng Lei was filled with emotion as he stood before the academy’s doors, gazing at the highest grand hall of magic filled with ancient civilization and a long history.
From history’s perspective, there wasn’t a single school on Earth that could be regarded in the same light as the academy in front of him right now. After all, even the oldest academy’s history on Earth didn’t go beyond 1,000 years, whereas there were already more than 20,000 years of history to the academy in front of him!
The settling of time could be seen in every corner!
Every little thing fully exhibited the many vicissitudes of life!
What a wonderful magic academy!
There were guards on duty at the school’s entrance. Each of them wore a suit of Fire Dragon armor and held flaming spears in their hands. With faces full of cold sternness, their sharp eagle-like eyes swept over all the passers-by!
New students reported today, and old students came back to school one after another!
There were joyous students, as well as agitated, proud parents!
It was extraordinarily bustling with activity outside the academy’s doors. However, only students wearing the academy’s badge could enter, while accompanying parents and other unrelated people were denied entrance at the doors.
One could tell from this just how strict Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s administration was!
Meng Lei took out the academy badge and pinned it at his chest. Then, he followed the crowd and walked toward the academy entrance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The guards’ sharp eyes shot toward him!
Then, an emotionless voice rang out. “New students reporting this year, please head to Saint Dragon Square to take part in the assessment for new students! Turn right after you enter, then go straight, and you’ll reach Saint Dragon Square!”
“Thanks!”
Meng Lei said his thanks and walked through the academy doors. He followed the tree-lined avenue on the right and made his way to the “Saint Dragon Square” mentioned by the guards.
Big and tall sycamore trees lined the sides neatly and provided shade from the sun.
He reached the end of the avenue after a brief moment. Several expanses of gigantic statues entered his sight. These statues had varying appearances and sizes, and they numbered dozens. The big ones were as tall as 100 meters, while the small ones were only two meters tall. With both big and small sizes, there were a lot of statues!
The workmanship was detailed and elaborate, delicate, and exquisite. The folds of the dragon scales… looked vivid and true to life!
There were mighty and ferocious Flaming Colossal Dragons!
There were Thunderbolt Dragon People with wings on their backs!
There was also no lack of small and short human elites!
Stone tablets with inscriptions stood at the bottom of every statue. Dense and packed tiny texts were inscribed on them, recording the statue subjects’ deeds and achievements from their whole lives!
“Isaac Flit, the 16th king of Fire Dragon Kingdom, the first president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy, and a great fire-elemental Colossal Dragon King!
“In Year 24,762 of the Heaven’s Vault calendar, the Three-Headed Chimera, one of the legendary rulers of Magical Beast Forest, led a beast tide to invade Fire Dragon Kingdom. The great His Majesty Isaac led the troops to fight the beast tide and successfully killed the Three-Headed Chimera, thereby ending the beast tide!
“In Year 24,792, a great war broke out between Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire. His Majesty Isaac led the Fire Dragon Kingdom troops and traversed the Magical Beast Ridge to launch an ambush on the Titan Empire’s fortress in the north. They killed the East Tiger King, one of the twelve pillars of the Titan Empire, and made the first decisive strike for Dragon God Empire’s victory!
“In Year 24,850, the great His Majesty Isaac relegated the throne…
“Amos Kroc, the second president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy. A strong and powerful Saint Domain Dragon Person and a Saint Domain Magician skilled in both water-elemental and fire-elemental magic. He is the first Dragon Person to master Dragon-language Magic and is skilled in the research of magic. He invented a total of 189 water-elemental and fire-elemental magic spells and made an outstanding contribution to water-elemental and fire-elemental magic research!
“Adolf Holman…”
Meng Lei was rather astounded as he looked at each and every statue and browsed the statue owners’ life stories. Everyone that qualified to be erected there was actually Saint Domain experts, and they weren’t just any other Saint Domain, no less!
All of them were great and noble existences that had accomplished glorious achievements, or the older generation of teachers and seniors that had made outstanding contributions to the academy, or meritorious generals and officials that had accomplished illustrious military achievements in war!
Even if they were kings of Fire Dragon Kingdom, ordinary Saint Domains didn’t even need to harbor thoughts of having a place here!
“Every one of them is an outstanding existence among the Saint Domains!
“Saint Domain…
“Can I… reach such high heights?”
People moved about here and there in the public square. Most of them were like Meng Lei and were new students here to report to the academy. However, with no exception whatsoever, every one of them was awed by the statues and looked quietly with reverence at the Saint Domain experts’ glorious deeds!
After Meng Lei browsed through the statue owners’ life histories one by one, he arrived at the assessment site. As it just so happened, there weren’t that many people waiting to be assessed, either.
Thinking about it again, this was normal, too. After all, Fire Dragon Magic Academy only recruited a maximum of 100 people per year. It was naturally impossible that long queues like those during the magic assessment, as though it were the spring festival, would appear here!
“Old bro, are you one of the new students from this year, too?”
Meng Lei had only just stood still when someone patted him on the back. He turned to see a little fatty with a chubby face and dressed in brocade robes looking at him with a smile.
The little fatty was shorter than 1.6 meters, but his waist circumference was horrifyingly big. He looked charmingly naive when he smiled as if he were a Laughing Buddha. His eyes, which were small to begin with, were already close to becoming slits!
Duh, can’t you see that I’m queuing right now!
Meng Lei mentally criticized him but kept a smile on his face. Most of the people going to and fro here were Dragon People, including even the teachers in charge of the magic assessment. Seeing a fellow human did make Meng Lei feel rather amiable!
Yep, even though this fellow human’s a fatty!
“Wow! You’re a human?”
The little fatty looked at Meng Lei in great astonishment. His tiny eyes widened into mung beans at once, as though a tortoise’s eyes. He said, “All the humans that qualify to be admitted into the academy are geniuses among geniuses. Old bro, you’re no exception too, right?”
“I’m just average, I guess!”
Meng Lei scratched his head. He wasn’t very sure how his talent fared among the new students this year, either. But thinking about it, it shouldn’t be that bad?
“Average?”
The little fatty blinked.
“Fatty Hart, why are you here too?”
At this moment, a piercing and unpleasant voice rang out behind them. Meng Lei turned to see a Dragon Person that was green all over, had a horn on his head, and a long tail at his bottom, walking over. With a fake smile on his green face, he looked right at the little fatty.
The green-skinned Dragon Person stood tall and straight. His muscles bulged, and he gave off a strong and vigorous aura all over. He was much more handsome and imposing than the little fatty.
The chubby flesh on the little fatty’s face trembled, and he said with a snort, “How is it that I can hear that unpleasant chicken caw-like voice of yours everywhere I go? Are you annoying or what?”
“You scum of the Dragon Person community, are you looking for a beating?”
The green-skinned Dragon Person glared at him and balled his hand into a fist, ready to strike. The little fatty was so frightened that he cowered and hid behind Meng Lei. Then, he shouted, “Lance, shouldn’t you take a look at where you are? Are you really thinking of putting on such atrocious behavior here?”
Lance, the green-skinned Dragon Person, froze, and he turned and looked around. When he saw that no one had their attention on them, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately shouted, “You’d better watch out, Fatty Hart! The next time we go out of school, I’ll definitely beat you up so bad that you’ll be looking all over the floor for your teeth!”
“Hohoho! Beat me up now if you have the guts, you trash!”
Upon seeing that Lance didn’t dare to hit him, the little fatty became proud and arrogant at once.
“We’ll see!”
Rather outraged, Lance glared viciously at the little fatty. Then, his eyes fell onto Meng Lei, and a hint of mockery appeared at the corners of his lips. He said, “Fatty Hart, you’re truly a disgrace among us Dragon People. To think you’re actually hanging out with a cheap human! I really grieve for Duke James for having such a useless son like you!”
Upon hearing what he said, Meng Lei couldn’t help but frown. The little fatty snorted angrily and said, “Lance, he’s a human friend that I just made. You’re not allowed to insult him!”
Lance sneered and replied with great contempt, “Friend? Ha, only cheap trash with human slaves’ blood flowing through their veins like you would treat a cheap human as a friend. The noble and elegant Dragon People have always found it beneath them to befriend lowly humans!”
“You—”
The little fatty was so furious that all the flesh on him was trembling. He said, “Lance, I’ve warned you before not to humiliate my mother. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise, what?”
Lance’s expression was full of mockery.
“Otherwise, I’ll beat you to a pulp!”
A sharp shadow suddenly flashed past. Right away, Lance saw a fist appear right in front of him. It became bigger and bigger, and then it made intimate contact with his nose!
Snap!
Terrifying power erupted instantly. As a crisp snap rang out, Lance’s nose sunk in at once, and his entire self flew backward with a scream!
" }, { "id": 25, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-25", "title": "Chapter 25", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The square suddenly fell silent!
Hart, the little fatty, was in a daze as he watched Lance flying out backward. Then, he looked at Meng Lei, who was standing in front of him. His mung bean-like eyes were full of disbelief as he stammered, “H-how did that happen?”
Whoosh!
This attracted the attention of everyone else in the square, too. The few teachers in charge of the new students’ assessment frowned one after another, a look of displeasure coming over their faces.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Who’s so gutsy?”
“They actually dare to fight and brawl in Saint Dragon Square!”
“Do they want to be kicked out of school?”
“What’s going on? Who’s the one that struck just now?”
A middle-aged teacher wearing a magician robe walked over. His stern and severe eyes fell on Lance as he questioned him coldly and loudly!
Lance spat out the blood in his mouth. He glared furiously at Meng Lei, as though flames were bursting forth from his eyes. He shouted, “You lowly cheap trash! How dare you ambush me?! I’m going to kill you!”
All the green scales on his body stood on end. A terrifying, cold, and sinister aura suddenly erupted from him—he was about to go on a rampage!
“Oh no! That guy’s become serious!”
The little fatty’s expression changed, and he said, “Although that bastard isn’t of age yet, his body is already comparable to a Third-Grade Warrior’s. Old bro, discretion is the better part of valor. How about we retreat for now?!”
Third-Grade Warrior?
A hint of surprise flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes. This Dragon Person named Lance should be pretty young, and about the same age as an elementary school student on Earth!
He was just a mere elementary school student, yet his body was already comparable to a Third-Grade Warrior’s. A Dragon Person’s talent was truly impressive. Compared to him, humans like Captain Hudders that painstakingly cultivated for 20 to 30 years, yet was only a Second-Grade Warrior, should just go and bang their heads against the wall!
No wonder Captain Hudders said that no matter how down and out Dragon People were, they would still live a much better life than a human. After seeing this today, what he said is indeed true!
“Die, you cheap trash!”
Lance stomped on the ground, causing cracks to form at once. By borrowing the ground’s rebound force, he abruptly turned into a flash of shadow and dived right toward Meng Lei!
“How impudent!”
However, it was at this moment that a furious roar reached their ears. The middle-aged teacher wearing the magician robe looked livid as he glared at Lance!
“How bold of you to actually dare to behave so atrociously here!”
The middle-aged teacher made a casual grabbing motion, and wisps of green air appeared out of nowhere. They transformed into two big green snakes and wound around Lance’s legs. Hindered all of a sudden, Lance landed onto the floor with a crash and fell flat on his face!
Bam!
“Haha, to think that you’d end up like this today! I’m going to die of laughter!”
Upon seeing what had happened, the little fatty was bent over in stitches at once!
“You bastard!”
Lance had a sturdy physique, so this little collision hadn’t actually hurt him at all. He struggled to his feet and glared at the middle-aged teacher. He snapped, “Who are you? Why are you stopping me?!”
“Hmph! This is an important place in the school. How can you be allowed to behave so atrociously here?” The middle-aged teacher had a somber look on his face as he said, “Where’s the disciplinary team? Throw him out of the academy!”
Throw him out of the academy?
Oh no!
Lance had heard of how those who were thrown out of the academy had turned out in the end. Right away, his expression changed drastically, and he hastily said, “No! Don’t! I’m a new student that has only just arrived here to report. I have the academy badge! You can’t chase me away!”
“A new student? Hmph!”
The middle-aged teacher’s gaze swept across the academy badge at his chest, and his expression eased up slightly. He replied, “Fine, on account of you being a new student, I’ll spare you this once for the time being. If you dare to create any more trouble, whether you’re a prince or nobility, you’ll be expelled all the same!”
“Yes, yes!”
Perspiration broke out on Lance’s forehead, and he hastily nodded.
“And you!”
The middle-aged teacher turned and glared viciously at Meng Lei. He said, “Haven’t you heard of the academy’s rules? Students who get into a fight or brawl in private will be expelled immediately and thrown out of the academy once discovered! Getting into a fight with a classmate the moment you enter the school… Do you want to be expelled?!”
“Not at all, not at all!”
Meng Lei lowered his head and wussed out!
“Hmph! As long as that’s not the case! Remember, this will only happen just this once!”
The middle-aged teacher let out a loud snort, looking quite as if he were exasperated at the students’ failure to live up to expectations. He said, “Just how many people have made every effort to enter the academy, only to meet with failure? And yet you got into a fight the moment you entered?”
“Sir, I’ve erred!”
“Hmph!” The middle-aged teacher gave a cold snort and returned to the assessment site. Then, he shouted, “Next!”
Meng Lei turned, took a look around, and realized that there was no longer anyone in front of him—it was his turn to be assessed!
“Let him take the assessment!”
The middle-aged teacher glared at Meng Lei and then instructed the teacher in charge of the assessment beside him.
“Yes, Department Head!” replied the assessment teacher.
Then, he began Meng Lei’s assessment!
At this point, Hart, the little fatty, also walked over and started to observe enthusiastically. He was extremely curious about Meng Lei right now.
The fact that Meng Lei had been able to send Lance flying with a punch meant that his body was also rather strong, too!
However, it was very hard for ordinary humans to have a body like that. In that case, how did Meng Lei…
The little fatty’s guess was that Meng Lei had probably cultivated Battle Aura before and must be a Warrior.
Yet he had been recruited by Fire Dragon Magic Academy!
Now, that was pretty strange!
I bet that cheap trash’s magic talent must be very ordinary!
Lance thought indignantly to himself as he followed at the back.
However, he was destined to be disappointed!
“Superior-Grade!
“Elemental Affinity: Thunder-Element, Superior-Grade!” exclaimed the astounded teacher in charge of the assessment.
“Superior-Grade!”
“To think it’s actually Superior-Grade!”
The middle-aged teacher and the other teachers in charge of the assessment came over one after another. They stared at the dazzling crystal ball, all of them considerably astonished!
“What the hell! Superior-Grade?!”
The little fatty inhaled sharply. “He’s that big of a mutant?”
“Superior-Grade Thunder-Element? Could it be that you’re…”
Something seemed to occur to the middle-aged teacher. He grabbed the recruitment list on the table and began to scan through it. The first line written on the name list was:
‘Meng Lei, 15 years old. Superior-Grade Thunder-Element, 100 times that of his peers. Human.’
“You’re Meng Lei?”
The middle-aged teacher lifted his head and looked at Meng Lei in great astonishment.
“Yes, that’s me!”
Meng Lei nodded.
“Not bad, sonny! So you’re the one!”
The middle-aged teacher, who was in disbelief, urged, “Hurry! Have your spiritual power assessed, too!”
Meng Lei did as told and got his spiritual power assessed. Just like before, his spiritual power was 100 times that of his peers. Upon seeing the results, the middle-aged teacher exhaled a long breath of air and finally became certain of his identity. However, when he thought back to the events that had taken place just now, a bout of lingering fear came over him. If he had really thrown Meng Lei out of the academy, he would have been in deep trouble!
Meng Lei was the top genius that they had recruited this year, after all!
“Why did you get into a fight the moment you entered the academy when you have such great talent?” asked the middle-aged teacher testily.
“I…”
“What’s there to ‘I’ about? Aren’t you afraid of being thrown out of the academy?”
With his finger pointed right at Meng Lei’s nose, the middle-aged teacher started to berate him fiercely, “What were you going to do if you were really expelled? You’d have a lot to cry over if that really happened!”
“Cough, it won’t go to that extent. At the worst, I’ll just go to Douglas Magic Academy!” mumbled Meng Lei softly with a sneaky laugh.
“Uhh…”
The middle-aged teacher was actually rendered speechless. He didn’t quite know what he should say to that. Indeed, even if there was no place for him here, he would naturally be able to find a place for himself somewhere out there. For someone with such exceptional talent like Meng Lei, even if he should lose his place in Fire Dragon Magic Academy, he could totally still go to other magic academies. He needn’t worry at all that no one would accept him!
“That’s the reason for you getting into a fight?”
The middle-aged teacher choked rather badly at his response. He said testily, “You’d better be more well-behaved in the future. The academy isn’t a place where you can act willfully and make trouble. Understand?”
“Understood!”
" }, { "id": 26, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-26", "title": "Chapter 26", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The new student assessment!
Enrollment and registration!
Dormitory assignment!
It was already afternoon by the time all the procedures were completed. Meng Lei finally received his dormitory address and, under a volunteer senior’s guidance, made his way to the condominium for new students.
“Old bro, so you’re that famous human genius. Tsk, tsk, hearing about you truly can’t compare to meeting you in the flesh. You look bright and valiant, indeed!
“Hehe, little brother here didn’t think that I would be so lucky that the first person I approached right after entering the academy would be you, old bro. Tsk, tsk, fate, this is fate!
“Say, old bro, aren’t you a human? Why is your body also so strong? Could it be that you’re the same as me, and also possess Dragon People blood in you? But that doesn’t sound right. You don’t have any Dragon People characteristics at all!”
The little fatty’s mouth was like a breached dam. His saliva flew everywhere as he rambled on and on, and followed Meng Lei around!
“I’m human!”
Once in a while, Meng Lei would reply to him. Most of his attention was on the scenery in the academy and on picking up dropped items. This was an academy with over 10,000 years of history, after all. As expected, it was indeed extraordinary!
The architecture was simple and sophisticated, while the trees were aged and ancient!
Wall scrolls, statues, light decorations, students…
Everything was totally different from what it was like on Earth. The charm and appeal of a different culture showed in every corner, and every little thing exhibited the magic civilization’s deep foundation. There was a rather different and distinctive flavor to it!
Of course, as this was a magic academy, there were quite a lot of dropped items. Going down the avenue to the condominium, Meng Lei had already picked up seven to eight magic power light balls, and two to three spell light balls!
His harvest could be said to be rather impressive!
“Tsk, tsk, you’re human, yet you’re more like a Dragon Person than me, an actual Dragon Person!”
The little fatty grumbled, “I have pure Golden Colossal Dragon blood right in my body, yet it just had to be suppressed by my human bloodline. Not only does my Colossal Dragon blood not show at all, but my human blood even had to show through completely. Sigh, what a tragedy!”
“Pfft!”
The female volunteer senior burst into laughter as she looked at the fatty flesh hanging all over the little fatty. Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile, too. Most Dragon People had tall and slender physiques and were muscular. Fat pigs like the little fatty were indeed rather uncommon!
“To be honest, I’m actually very troubled myself, too!”
The little fatty said with a wry smile, “Do you think I wish to be this fat? And be mocked by that bastard Lance every day? But I can’t help it. My physical body constitution is such that I’ll fatten up even if I’m just drinking water!”
“You may be fat, but your magic talent is great!”
The pretty senior added mirthfully, “High-Grade Water-Element, Earth-Element, and Thunder-Element affinity, and spiritual power that’s 92 times that of your peers. Looking at the entire academy, there aren’t many that are stronger than you!”
“Indeed, your magic talent is certainly not bad!”
Meng Lei also agreed with great admiration. High-Grade Water-Element, Earth-Element, and Thunder-Element affinity aside, just his spiritual power, which was 92 times that of his peers, alone was already very rare!
To borrow the department head teacher’s words, among the 98 new students recruited this year, Meng Lei was the only one whose spiritual power was stronger than the little fatty’s. His talent was evident from this!
“Hehe, it’s a long way off compared to you, old bro!” The little fatty scratched his head and asked with a sneaky laugh, “Say, which dormitory are you staying at, old bro?”
“No. 430!” replied Meng Lei calmly.
“What the hell, you’re actually staying at No. 430!”
The little fatty’s chubby face turned troubled at once. He said, “I’m at No. 431. Why aren’t I staying at the same dormitory as you? No, that won’t do. I’m going to look for the school authorities and get them to change my dormitory block…”
“Dummy!”
…
“Junior, it’s not that I’m boasting, but!”
The pretty senior brought Meng Lei to a condominium complex. She pointed at the hundreds of two-story refined and exquisite condominiums of varying heights, and said proudly, “As Fire Dragon Kingdom’s best magic academy, our academy’s facilities are not to be doubted!
“Even if we put everything else aside, just the student dormitories alone are enough to rank among the top in the whole of Dragon God Empire! A condominium is shared between two people and has its own entrance and courtyard. The interior decoration is even better than a hotel’s!”
“It certainly looks pretty good just looking from the outside!” praised Meng Lei with a nod.
There were close to 300 two-story condominiums erected in front of him. Every condominium had its own entrance and courtyard, and blooming flowers and trees with green foliage providing shade filled the gardens. It didn’t lose out one bit even when compared to luxurious villas on Earth!
“This is nothing. What’s awesome is the interior!”
The pretty senior glanced at Meng Lei’s clothes and said with a mirthful smile, “Junior, you’d better not become so happy that you’d even forget about going home after you move in! Hehe…”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes and replied, “Would it go that far?”
“How can it not? A lot of people have excellent talent, yet quickly fell into depravity after they entered the academy and ended up unable to fulfill their talent. Examples of this exist everywhere…”
During the brief conversation, they had already arrived at Condominium No. 430.
“Junior, this is your condominium!”
“Thank you, senior!”
“Do you have any other questions?”
“Senior, where can I purchase daily necessities like toothbrushes, towels, and so on?”
“You don’t need to buy them. The academy has already prepared these things for all of you, so you can just use them as is. Of course, if there’s anything that you wish to buy, just turn left after you go out. There’s a small store there where you can buy everything you need, such as daily necessities and whatnot!”
After he sent the pretty senior off, Meng Lei stepped forward and walked into No. 430. Classical interior decoration in the loft, soft, and plush fur carpet, elegant chandeliers and wall scrolls, and shiny golden walls—all of these demonstrated the condominium’s extravagance and level of comfort!
“No wonder the pretty senior said that a lot of commoner geniuses quickly fell into depravity right after they entered the academy!” remarked Meng Lei as he clicked his tongue in wonder and admiration. He added, “With such a comfortable environment, anyone would wallow in luxury!”
Losing oneself to luxury and letting their talent go to waste as a result wasn’t anything unheard of. Weren’t a lot of college students in his past life exactly like that? There were practically too many stories of star students that studied diligently and painstakingly during high school, becoming bottom-feeders after they got into college!
This was the same everywhere, no matter which world it was!
Tap, tap, tap!
Right at this moment, a short—one could even call him petite—Dragon Person teenage boy walked down from the upper floor. Dressed in regular nobility wear, the boy had normal dragon horns and looks with no distinguishing feature whatsoever. He was exactly the kind of person that one would lose sight of the moment he was thrown into a crowd.
“You’re here.”
Upon seeing Meng Lei, the Dragon Person teenager greeted him indifferently. Then, he concerned himself only with tidying his things and didn’t pay Meng Lei any more attention.
“Yup!”
Upon noticing the other party’s lukewarm attitude, Meng Lei had no desire to show excessive friendliness to a clearly disinterested person, either. After giving him a casual response, he started to check out the living room. Just like what the pretty senior had said, the academy had already prepared all the daily necessities for them.
Toothbrushes, towels, soap, slippers…
There was just about everything he could possibly need!
The academy sure is considerate. Which floor should I stay on, though?
Meng Lei cast a glance at the upper floor before looking at his housemate. He asked detachedly, “Where are you staying at? Upstairs or downstairs?”
“Upstairs!”
“‘kay!”
What followed was a long period of silence. Both of them packed and tidied up their respective rooms, with neither of them saying anything more. Although this was different from what he had initially expected, Meng Lei was happy to have some peace and quiet, nonetheless.
He was busy all the way until the evening. When he was more or less done with packing his room, Meng Lei was about to head out to get something to eat when Hart, the little fatty, came over.
“Haha, old bro, I’ve come to visit your dormitory!”
The little fatty gave Meng Lei a big hug the moment he entered. Then, he pointed at a human teenager next to him and said, “Old bro, let me do the introductions. This is my housemate, Daniel Kegebo. He’s also a human genius!”
“Daniel, this is my old bro, Meng Lei. He’s the top genius of our academy this year!”
“Hello, Meng Lei. I’m Daniel. Nice to meet you!”
" }, { "id": 27, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-27", "title": "Chapter 27", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Hello, my name is Daniel Kegebo!”
Daniel was a well-mannered handsome youth with a delicate appearance and exquisite features, just like a pretty boy!
Upon seeing Meng Lei, Daniel took the initiative to greet him. He had a sincere and enthusiastic smile on his face, which gave people a warm and positive feeling!
“Hello, I am Meng Lei!”
Meng Lei also smiled and extended his hand.
“When I participated in the magic assessment that day, I heard that our human race had produced a magic genius with extraordinary talents, not inferior to this year’s top genius, Ordos of the Dragon People race!” Daniel said with a kind expression, “I wanted to get to know you immediately so that I could experience the grace of magic geniuses. I didn’t expect to meet you so soon!”
“Now that you have met me, are you disappointed? With a feeling that your blissful illusion had all but vanished?” Meng Lei blinked and laughed.
“No! Not disappointed at all. On the contrary, this is what I expected!” Daniel smiled and said, “Never judge a book by its cover. There are plenty of great people who also look ordinary at the start!”
“That’s right! The handsome ones are called pretty boys. They appear good-looking but are good-for-nothings. They are all kept-men!”
Little fatty echoed with a smile. After he finished speaking, he realized that something was wrong and waved his hand. “Daniel, I am not referring to you. You are different from the other pretty boys, hehe!”
Daniel rolled his eyes and said with a smile, “Today is the first time we met. Let’s have a meal together. My treat!”
“Hehe, how can I expect you to treat me when you are on my turf?”
The little fatty smiled triumphantly and patted his chest. “Let’s go. I’ll treat you! By the way, brother, where is your housemate? Ask him to come along!”
“He… could be…”
Meng Lei scratched his head and didn’t know what to say.
At that moment, his housemate came downstairs, and the little fatty greeted him warmly. “You are my brother’s housemate. Nice to meet you. My name is Hart. Let’s have a meal together!”
“Not going!”
…
Hart had been ruthlessly rejected, which made him very depressed. Fortunately, as the delicious food was put on the table, his mood instantly improved. He had a great feast with Meng Lei and Daniel.
The cuisine of Heaven’s Vault Continent was delicious, and Meng Lei enjoyed himself. These dishes were much tastier than the roasted meat and smoked meat jerky in Magical Beast Village. The food looked good and was succulent, making them salivate!
The three of them ate and chatted a lot, becoming more familiar with each other. Indeed, a big part of the friendship between men was forged during eating!
After the meal, the three returned to the dormitory. And after a simple shower, Meng Lei began his daily meditation as usual!
It had become a habit for him to meditate instead of sleeping!
It was another sleepless night…
The next day, Meng Lei left the condominium early.
Today may be the first day of school, but it was also a very busy day!
There was an opening ceremony in the morning and a freshman meeting in the afternoon!
It was a tightly packed schedule!
A total of 98 new students had joined this year and were divided into two classes—Class 1 and Class 2. They each had 49 students, with 1 head teacher, 1 class guide, and 10 class assistants!
The head teacher was a senior Magician assigned by the academy and was not responsible for the class’s daily affairs. The class guide handled all this!
The 10 class assistants were Magicians representing the 10 elements of magic. They were senior students and were responsible for answering questions and also helping out with problems outside of class!
The 10 elements of magic were 10 different types of magic, specifically:
Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Wood, Metal, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Ice!
The ten elements of magic included almost all the schools of magic in the Heaven’s Vault Continent, and they were also the schools of magic taught by major academies!
The boring opening ceremony was finally concluded in the morning!
After lunch, Meng Lei and others were called to a classroom by the class guide for the afternoon freshman meeting!
A beautiful blond, blue-eyed, slender senior came to the podium and introduced herself enthusiastically.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Jenny Lane, a sixth-year student. I’m also the class guide of Class 1’s first-years and a Sixth-Grade Wind Magician!
“Over the course of the year, I will be responsible for the daily affairs of this class…”
“Oh my dragon god!”
“Good stuff!”
“Our class guide actually turned out to be a beautiful senior sister from the human race!”
“Senior sister is amazing, a Sixth-Grade Wind Magician!”
“Tsk, tsk, she’s a pretty human girl. If I could take her back to warm my bed…”
When looking at the beautiful senior on the podium, the 49 freshmen all had different expressions—worship, excitement, enthusiasm, and of course… lust!
At least, Meng Lei heard Hart swallowing wildly beside him. The little fatty stared at the beautiful senior, seemingly in a daze. Even his ‘little brother’ stood up!
A bunch of promiscuous people!
Meng Lei had no strength to complain. There were 49 freshmen in the class, close to 30 were Dragon People, out of which half were male. It was unknown whether these men had the colossal dragons’ talents, but they seemed to have inherited the dragons’ lust for women!
Every one of them was drooling, and they looked at Senior Sister Jenny like lechers. Meng Lei was at a loss for words!
However, Senior Sister Jenny seemed to be accustomed to the reaction of the students of the Dragon People race. She didn’t care at all and continued to speak enthusiastically. “Next, everyone, introduce yourself and get to know each other. The first row of students shall start first!”
The dazed males recovered their senses one after another. They sat upright, straightened their chests, and introduced themselves!
“Hello, everyone. My name is Larry Billy, from Huo Lan Province!”
“Hi! Nice to meet everyone. My name is Monti Dunbar, and I am from Ode Province!”
“Everyone, my name is Tanna Airam, from the Frost Kingdom!”
“Eh? There is someone from the Frost Kingdom?”
There was a wave of exclamation in the classroom. The Frost Kingdom was located on the northern border of the empire. It was covered with snow throughout the year and was an icy kingdom!
The Fire Dragon Kingdom was located in the west of the empire, far away from the Frost Kingdom. Even flying beasts would have to fly up to half a year to reach the Frost Kingdom!
Someone from the Frost Kingdom was here to study?
Everyone’s eyes fell on the classmate who was introducing herself!
She wore a white dress and had tiny red horns on the top of her head. Her skin was fair, and her figure exquisite. She was indeed a beautiful youth of the Dragon People race!
She seemed to have noticed everyone’s gazes as she smiled sweetly and explained, “Our Frost Kingdom is located in the northern border and is rich in Ice Elements, but what I have is fire magic talent, so…”
This was the reason she was there!
Everyone suddenly realized that the requirements for a Magician’s cultivation environment were also quite demanding. A person with fire magic talent in a place rich in Ice Elements would need to put a lot of effort to achieve results during meditation!
Tanna’s choice to leave the Frost Kingdom was entirely reasonable!
“My name is Jimmy Hudgens. Glad to meet you all!”
“Hello, everybody. I am Meng Lei!”
“Who?”
“Meng Lei?”
“He is Meng Lei?”
“The top genius recruited by the academy this year?”
“The one with the best talent among all freshmen?”
Swish—
Everyone’s eyes fell on Meng Lei almost at the same time!
" }, { "id": 28, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-28", "title": "Chapter 28", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "One after another, pairs of surprised eyes fell on Meng Lei!
Curiosity, envy, jealousy…
The expressions were all different, but the most common expression was undoubtedly… unhappiness!
“A despicable human actually has such good magic talent. I really don’t know how he managed to get such luck.”
“Absolutely! We, the descendants of Dragon Gods, don’t even have such talents. How did he, such a lowly human, achieve that?”
“Hmph! So what if he has extraordinary talent? Magic cultivation is not only based on talent, hard work is more important…”
A sour smell filled the classroom; the pH of the air was almost close to 1!
“So, this fellow has extraordinary talent!”
An ordinary-looking Dragon Person’s gaze flickered. He was Meng Lei’s housemate, the distant and cold Dragon Person teenager!
“Classmate, it’s your turn!”
At that moment, Senior Sister Jenny’s voice rang beside his ears. He stood up and said indifferently, “Hello, everyone. My name is Abbe. I am from… Imperial City!”
“Imperial City?”
“That fellow is from the Imperial City?”
“What the hell!? He must be from a powerful background.”
Abbe’s words successfully attracted everyone’s attention from Meng Lei.
Meng Lei, who was shocked, also turned to look at his housemate.
Although Fire Dragon Magic Academy was ranked third in the Dragon God Empire, most of the students were from the Fire Dragon Kingdom. There were very few people from other kingdoms, especially from the Imperial City, where there was almost none!
“Student Abbe, why didn’t you go to the Imperial City Academy, and instead joined our Fire Dragon Magic Academy?”
Someone asked the question that was on everyone’s minds!
It was a pity that all he got was Abbe’s indifferent gaze!
This fellow… is really cold!
Meng Lei curled his lips and understood a little more about this housemate. He was not only cold to him but also cold to others. He was an icy lump that a stranger could not get close to!
“Tsk! What an arrogant fellow!”
…
After the self-introduction session, Senior Sister Jenny began to present the relevant information and matters to be noted.
Each class was equipped with 10 teachers, each teaching a school of magic, a class per day. The choice of classes depended on the student’s own magic talents. The rest of the time was free time, and they could do whatever they wanted!
“Brother, I envy you. You only have one class per day and can play for the rest of the time. Don’t get too carried away!” As soon as the session was over, the little fatty rushed over to Meng Lei and complained bitterly, “It’s not so good for me. I have three classes per day. I’m going crazy!”
“Hehe, that’s because you are so talented.” Meng Lei shrugged. “Earlier, didn’t the class guide suggest that you should major in one element and minor in the other two? You have a choice!”
Daniel nodded slightly and said in agreement, “Yes, studying three elements at the same time takes up too much of your energy. It’s good to focus!”
“I have thought about it. However, my old man said that if I dare to give up any of the elements, he will break my legs. This is an order. How can I defy it?”
Hart had a dejected expression, looking very helpless!
“Then, there is no other way!” Meng Lei smiled helplessly and asked, “What do you want to do next?”
Daniel looked at his pocket watch and smiled. “It’s still early, and the cafeteria is not open yet. Why don’t we just walk around the academy? You have just arrived. I believe you have not checked out the academy?”
“No!”
“Me neither!”
“Let’s go then!”
Naturally, Meng Lei would not miss this, because he already had the intention to check out the academy.
…
The three of them wandered around, enjoying the academy’s sights while chatting about the local customs and traditions. Meng Lei even secretly picked up attribute light balls to improve his abilities!
He had a fruitful harvest within the span of one afternoon. His spiritual power, magic power, and spells had greatly improved. The improvement was much more than his meditation during the night!
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his harvest. He also had a general plan for his upcoming student life:
Lessons in the morning, wander around in the afternoon, and meditate at night!
Meng Lei believed this three-pronged approach should produce the highest efficiency!
“Puff! Finally, back to the dormitory. I’m so tired!”
Back at Condominium no. 431 apartment, Hart slumped into his couch immediately and hummed comfortably!
“Can’t even endure such a short walk? Fatty, you should lose weight!”
Meng Lei smiled and joked. He then saw a blue light ball falling from Hart.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
Dropped from Hart!?
Meng Lei was a little surprised but picked it up nevertheless!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining Earth-Element magic talent!”
What?
Meng Lei was stunned!
Earth-Element magic talent?
I’ve picked up fatty’s Earth-Element magic talent?
What the hell!?
Meng Lei didn’t know what to say. Magic talent light balls were rarely seen. From the time he had acquired the system until now, he had only picked up one magic talent light ball!
This was the second one, meaning this type of item was very rare!
Picking that up was a good thing. Who would mind that they had too much talent?
Moreover, the little fatty’s Earth-Element affinity was high-grade, second only to superior-grade. This was top quality talent!
“Fatty, weren’t you complaining about how many classes you have? I will accompany you to the Earth-Element Class tomorrow!”
“Ah?”
…
Meng Lei arrived in the classroom early in the morning!
There were not many students in the class who had thunder magic talent. Including Meng Lei, there were only seven. The huge classroom looked empty and felt a little deserted!
Meng Lei took out his textbook and looked at it carefully. Not long after, the thunder magic teacher walked into the classroom. “Hello, everyone. I am your thunder magic teacher, Horatio. Over the course of the year, I will be teaching you the Thunder Magic Course!”
Mr. Horatio was straight to the point and talked endlessly. “Our thunder magic is the most powerful and domineering type of magic among the ten elements. There is no one…”
Meng Lei listened attentively!
Although he could perform spells with the system’s help, he did not know anything about spells!
In short, he could perform them, but he did not know the nature of magic. Therefore, the basics, underlying nature, principles, and laws of magic described by the teacher were exactly what Meng Lei urgently needed to know!
Meng Lei absorbed all of this eagerly, like a thirsty man!
During class, Meng Lei discovered the benefits of strong spiritual power. He learned things quickly and could remember the content after hearing it once from the teacher!
“Spells are like troop formations!
“The magic elements between heaven and earth are like scattered soldiers, and our spiritual power is the general. The process of unleashing spells is like ordering and arranging the soldiers into a formation…”
Time passed by quickly!
Busy days always passed quickly!
Unknowingly, it had been three months since Meng Lei had arrived at the magic academy!
“Brother, tomorrow is the mid-term examination, are you nervous?”
After class that day, during which the class guide had announced the upcoming mid-term examination, the little fatty came over to Meng Lei, looking very nervous!
“What is there to get nervous about?”
Meng Lei gave him a squint and continued to skim through an ancient spellbook. This book was called The Encyclopedia of Thunder Magic , which he had borrowed from the library three months ago. It recorded all the spells from the first to the ninth grade!
" }, { "id": 29, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-29", "title": "Chapter 29", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Though neither long nor short, three months was the longest time that Meng Lei had spent after arriving at Heaven’s Vault Continent!
Over the last three months, Meng Lei had familiarized himself with everything about the academy—his classmates, teachers, classrooms, and library. He had become extremely familiar with everything!
During these three months at the Fire Dragon Academy of Magic, he seemed to have returned to his university years, comfortable, peaceful, and carefree!
There’s no need to worry about making a living!
No need to endure the antics of his boss!
No need to work late into the night!
The only thing he had to do was to study, learn about spells, accumulate magic power, and raise his spiritual power!
Each day was busy but fulfilling!
Meng Lei cherished this kind of life and seized every possible opportunity to strengthen himself and his abilities!
Within these three months, his various attributes had undergone earth-shaking changes, and tomorrow was the time to assess these!
…
Meng Lei got up early and went to Training Ground No.11 with Hart and Daniel. When passing through other training grounds, they saw that they were already filled to the brim!
The mid-term examinations were also taking place for students of other grades!
The teachers’ rebukes, the students’ excuses, the explosions of magic… all kinds of sounds were mixed together, resonating around the training grounds and making people feel nervous!
Hart wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, shivering, “I heard that those who fail the mid-term examination would receive severe sanctions. I wonder how they will punish us!”
“You are still worried over that?” Daniel raised his eyebrows and teased laughingly. “Haven’t you been working hard over the last few months? Wouldn’t it be easy to pass this mid-term examination?”
“How can it be so simple? The academy seems to be lax on the outside but intense on the inside. On ordinary days, they don’t usually restrict us, letting us allocate our time freely and learn independently!”
Hart had a pained expression as he continued. “But when it comes to examinations, the standards are extremely strict and high. I heard from a second-year senior that only six people successfully met the standard for their class mid-term examination last year. The rest failed!”
“What the hell! So strict?” Daniel got a fright too!
“Six people made it?” Meng Lei was stunned. “In that case, more than 40 people failed?”
“That’s right, 44 people!” Hart nodded rapidly. “I heard from the senior that our academy attaches great importance to examinations and is very strict in this aspect. If the teacher dares to lower the difficulty, it is not as simple as deducting wages and bonuses. He or she could even get fired!”
“Oh my dragon god! This is too terrifying!”
Daniel also became nervous!
“So, don’t think that you can pass the examination easily even if you work hard!” Hart shook his head. “You should know what will happen if you fail the examination three times in a row!”
Daniel’s face turned pale. The academy rules stated that those who failed three consecutive examinations would be expelled immediately!
“Ugh, I hope I can pass!”
They nervously reached Training Ground No.11. Basically, all the first-year classmates were here. They arrived separately in their own groups, talking in a low voice!
After waiting for about ten minutes, the teachers arrived at Training Ground No.11!
“Mr. Horatio!”
“Mr. Wendy!”
“Mr. Nader!”
“…”
As soon as they saw the teachers, the students’ private discussions gradually stopped, leaving only nervous and awe-inspiring faces. Meng Lei stood in the corner and watched quietly!
The mid-term examination was conducted together for the entire first-year cohort, which meant apart from their class, Class 2 was there as well. No more, no less, just 98 freshmen!
As for the examiners, there were the teachers of the 10 elements of magic, with 10 in Class 1 and 10 in Class 2, totaling 20!
In addition, there were two head teachers!
The little fatty stood before Meng Lei and muttered in a low voice, “Oh my dragon god! Even our head teacher is here. What the hell? It has been three months since we enrolled in school. This is the first time I have seen the head teacher!”
Obviously, after seeing the head teacher, he became more nervous!
“I heard that our head teacher is the department head. I didn’t expect that he would show up for this mid-term examination. This is unexpected!” Daniel also stared at the head teacher!
“It seems that the academy really attaches great importance to the mid-term examination!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. During his university days in his previous life, whether it was a mid-term exam or a final exam, they were usually low-key and totally different from what they were currently experiencing.
“Is everyone here?”
One after another, the 22 teachers got ready. Class 2’s head teacher, Baldi Tylon, spoke first. He was a typical Dragon Man, with a single horn, wings on his back, burly, and unusually strong. The moment he sat down, he created a tremendous amount of invisible pressure on people!
In contrast, Class 1’s head teacher was much more ordinary. He was a human skinny old man with a haggard face and trembling body, looking like he could be blown away by a gust of wind!
The Class 2’s class guide said respectfully, “Mr. Baldi, everyone from Class 2 is here!”
“What about class 1?”
Class 1’s head teacher, Dirk Norway, looked at his class guide, Senior Sister Jenny.
Senior Sister Jenny replied respectfully, “All here, Mr. Dirk!”
“Since everyone is here, we shall begin. Class 1 shall start first!”
“Sure!”
Senior Sister Jenny responded and took out a list that was prepared beforehand. She then said loudly, “The first-year mid-term examination has officially started. The examination is divided into three parts!”
All students pricked their ears and listened attentively!
“Part One: Assessment of spiritual power!”
“Part Two: Assessment of magic power reserve!”
“Part Three: Release of magic!”
“Whoever’s name is called, shall go first!”
“First: Larry Billy!”
Upon hearing this name, the two head teachers and 20 teachers looked at the list in their hands at the same time. The first name was Larry Billy!
“Student Larry, let’s assess your spiritual power first. I don’t need to explain the method, right?”
“I know what to do, senior sister!”
Larry Billy was Dragon Person youth. Although he was only 14 years old, he was very burly. His height of 1.8 meters and the pair of red dragon horns on his forehead displayed his identity—he was a Dragon Man who possessed the bloodline of the Fire Colossal Dragon!
It was worth mentioning that the Fire Colossal Dragon was a royal of the Fire Dragon Kingdom!
Larry Billy walked to the gigantic spiritual tester, and his gaze fell on the red button.
Swish—
The red line inside the spiritual tester rose rapidly and finally stopped on at a particular level!
“Spiritual power: 50 times that of same-age peers! 50 points!”
Senior Sister Jenny looked at the spiritual tester and read out Larry Billy’s results!
Upon hearing this score, Class 1’s head teacher, Dirk Norway, frowned. His voice was slightly hoarse as he spoke. “When you first entered school, your spiritual power was 48 times that of your peers or 48 points. Why has it only improved by 2 points over the past three months?”
After saying this, his gaze fell on Larry Billy. He then said plainly, “Student Larry, can you explain what you have been doing for the past three months?”
“Teacher, I…”
Larry Billy flushed and kept quiet for a long time. What had he been doing? Of course, he had been focusing on other things. He had been playing a lot in the past few months after entering the academy!
“Spiritual power, even if you don’t practice, it will increase with time. Three months is enough to increase your spiritual power by more than 2 points!” Dirk Norway said coldly, “It means that you have basically not practiced in the past three months and have completely indulged yourself. Larry, this type of attitude is not good!”
“Teacher, I—”
“You don’t have to participate in the remaining two assessments. You have… failed. Go back and practice hard!”
“Next!”
" }, { "id": 30, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-30", "title": "Chapter 30", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Training Ground No.11 was dead silent!
After listening to the head teacher’s cold scolding and looking at the dejected Larry Billy, all the students felt a heaviness in their hearts, as though a big rock weighed down on them!
It seemed the mid-term exam did not only test the three attributes, but also the progress over the three months since admission!
This was tragic!
Even if one had foundations or good abilities since before admissions, so long as they had made no progress in the past three months, they would still be failed!
That’s really tough!
Meng Lei gasped internally!
“Next, Monti Dunbar!
“Spiritual Power: 67 times that of peers!
“During the admissions test, your spiritual power was 62, and now it’s 67. It only increased by 5 points. It shows that you were completely idle these three months. Fail!”
“Next: Albert Ackerwright!”
“Fail!”
“Gabriel Broad!”
“Fail!”
“Annellin Bauswell!”
“Fail!”
“…”
“My god, all of them actually failed!”
Fatty Hart was already pale from the shock. “All 17 people failed at the component of spiritual power! Gosh, what now?”
“It’s too strict! It’s really too strict!” Daniel’s face was also white. “Boris’ spiritual power increased by 12 points, and he actually still failed. How much improvement does it take to pass, after all?”
“No idea!” Meng Lei shook his head. This kind of exam mechanism was too painful!
“It’s so harsh. I’m afraid, not more than a few would pass!” The fatty’s face was white. “If I fail, my dad will kill me!”
The test continued!
But just as the fatty said, under such harsh exam mechanisms, there weren’t many who could pass. In the period of time that followed, 37 people were tested, and all of them… failed!
This result made the students of Class 1 completely quiet and also made Dirk Norway’s face uglier!
Finally, he burst out.
“What good are you all?” Dirk Norway jumped up in rage. “Three months! A full three months, what have you all been doing?
“Out of all these people, there actually isn’t a single one who passed. Tell me loudly, what have you all been doing since admissions?”
The training ground was scarily quiet. All the students of Class 1 lowered their heads, not daring to meet the eyes of the head teacher, letting him burst out in rage and reprimands!
The other teachers just looked quietly and seemed used to it!
After scolding for nearly ten minutes, perhaps he was tired from scolding, Dirk Norway breathed out a mouthful of foul air, pointed to the students, and growled, “I won’t say much more useless things, but only leave you a piece of advice!
“Magical cultivation, it all relies on discipline!
“With your attitude right now, even if you have superior natural talent, even if you have good learning resources, you can’t have big achievements!”
After finishing, he returned to his seat and said no more. For a time, the surroundings were completely silent!
Senior Jenny coughed dryly and asked softly, “Mr. Dirk, are we continuing the exam?”
“Continue!” Dirk Norway snorted. “I’d actually like to see how bad your class actually can be!”
“Yes!” Senior Jenny replied. “Next: Meng Lei!”
Meng Lei?
Why is this name a little familiar?
The teachers looked at the name lists in their hands and suddenly realized why. The head teacher of Class 2, Buddy Tyrone, smiled and teased, “Meng Lei has the best natural talent among this batch of freshmen. I wonder what his progress is like.”
Dirk Norway snorted. “Hmph! I hope he hasn’t slacked off!”
“I heard this child is very unique. He goes to classes in the morning and goes around walking in the afternoon, combining work and rest, very thoughtful!” Buddy Tyrone said with hidden meaning!
“Goes around walking in the afternoon?” Dirk Norway’s face darkened.
“I also heard about this!” A teacher of Class 2 smiled and said, “There’s a rumor on campus, saying that the chief genius this year is a freak. Every afternoon, he doesn’t go to classes, doesn’t meditate, doesn’t go to the library, but only likes to walk around the campus. He can be seen at the student apartment, the canteen, the training ground, everywhere, every day in the last three months without a stop!”
“Yeah, I also heard about it. He’s actually pretty attentive during classes, just that in the afternoon… Sigh, it’s such a pity for such good talent…”
The teachers opened their mouths, and all felt a bit of regret. For someone with such extraordinary talent like Meng Lei, his cultivation efficiency would be much higher than ordinary people. So long as he could calm down and cultivate hard, his future achievement would be beyond imagination!
But, with Meng Lei’s daily “combining of work and rest”, it was pretty much a waste of his talent. How could one not sigh for him?
“This bastard!” Dirk Norway’s face was so sulky. It was as if water could drip out of it!
The teachers’ voices weren’t too soft. The students heard it, and all thought differently.
Some kept sneering and waited to see Meng Lei’s embarrassment. Some were angry at his idleness, blaming Meng Lei for wasting his talent. Some indifferently looked on, waiting to see Meng Lei’s disgraceful performance.
Walking around everywhere? A waste of talent?
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth lifted slightly. He walked to the spiritual tester in strides, and then in front of all of them, released his spiritual power!
The spiritual tester’s red line rose madly, like it was connected to a rocket all the way to the top without stopping!
It rose!
It rose!
It rose!
“Damn! So fast!”
Everyone was taken back, shocked by such rising speed.
Finally, after rising to a certain height, the red line stopped!
Senior Jenny immediately approached the spiritual tester and read out the examination’s result, “Spiritual Power: 230 times that of peers!”
That statement left everyone shocked, and all kinds of discussions broke out!
“How… much!?”
“2… 230 times!”
“Oh my dragon god! Am I hearing this correctly?”
“Psst…”
Sounds of gasps filled the whole venue. Everyone couldn’t help but look toward Meng Lei with awe and disbelief in their eyes!
“230 times? How is this possible?”
“Can it be that the spiritual tester is faulty? How can his spiritual power be so high?”
“If I remember correctly, during the admissions exam, his spiritual power was only 100 times that of his peers, right? It’s only been three months, and it’s improved by so much?”
“Madness! Madness!”
“230 times spiritual power?”
The teachers by the examiners’ table all looked at each other with some confusion!
“In only three months, his spiritual power has improved this much?”
“Is this… possible?”
“It’s impossible for ordinary people, but ordinary standards cannot judge geniuses!”
Dirk Norway’s anger turned into joy. He said slowly, “In a mere three months, there’s so much improvement in spiritual power! It’s enough to show that Meng Lei has put in a lot of hard work! Mr. Buddy, it’s not right to set up a student!”
Upon hearing that, Class 2’s head teacher’s face darkened.
I set him up?
Unfortunately, facts spoke louder than words, and he couldn’t defend himself. Thus, he had to swallow his anger!
“Part Two: Assessment of Magic power reserve!”
" }, { "id": 31, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-31", "title": "Chapter 31", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The tool for testing magic power reserve was similar to a spiritual tester, but with not a red button but a magic power crystal ball at the bottom. When one placed both hands on the crystal ball, they could test their magic power reserve!
The results of Meng Lei’s tests soon created a new commotion!
“Magic Power Reserve: 35, comparable to a Third-Grade Magician!”
Everyone reacted very differently!
“Only 35? Ordinary, ordinary!”
Some young Dragon People were quite disdainful. Dragon People were born with strong magic power reserves, and even without much cultivation, they far surpassed humans of the same age. They had magic power reserves comparable to Second or Third-Grade Magicians even before admissions!
“That’s all there is to a so-called genius!”
“Exactly! Only his spiritual power is okay!”
“A bunch of ignorant fools, what the f*ck do you know!?”
Upon hearing the Dragon People’s comments, Dirk Norway was furious. “Meng Lei was born a civilian of the human race! He certainly had not come into contact with magic before admissions, which means that all his magic power was gained by meditation after entering the academy!”
Dirk Norway sneered. “In a short three months, his magic power reserve is already comparable to that of a Third-Grade Magician, what a wonder of a genius this is? How can you all compare to him!?
“Yeah, to have such achievement in only three months, he is indeed worthy of being the academy’s chief genius this year!
“So long as this child can hold on to his true conscience and keep working hard like this, his future achievements are unlimited. I have high hopes for him!”
“Me too!”
“This…”
The Dragon People were rendered speechless!
“Since all of you have the time to make irresponsible remarks here, you may as well get your asses back and cultivate hard so that you don’t stay here and be an embarrassment, a joke!” Dirk Norway snorted.
“You bastard!”
The Dragon People’s faces flushed red from the scolding. Their hearts were full of sadness and indignation. They were all nobles of high birth. When had they ever been humiliated in public like this?
Unfortunately for them, Dirk Norway was a teacher of the academy. However angry they were, they dared not say a word!
Thus, the Dragon People youths transferred their anger onto Meng Lei.
“It’s all because of this lowly being of the human race. if not for him…”
The anger of Dragon People aside, Meng Lei’s test, was still ongoing. The third section of the test was magic release!
“To a Magician, spiritual power and magic power are the basics of the basics. Both of them are preparations for magic!”
Dirk Norway came down to the field himself and looked at Meng Lei with a face full of kindness. “So, magic release is the real standard for testing a Magician’s ability!”
Having said that, Dirk Norway smiled as kindly as Santa Claus. “Meng Lei, please release any three magic spells at will!”
“Okay, teacher!”
Meng Lei nodded, walked to the middle of the training ground, and chanted a magic spell!
Crackle, crackle!
The Thunder Elements rapidly gathered, and amid crackling blasts, spherical lightning composed of countless tiny currents quietly formed. It suspended above Meng Lei’s palm and spun like a basketball, bright and dazzling!
“Thunder-Elemental Spell, Thunder Ball!”
Teacher Horatio’s eyes brightened, and he praised, “A great application of Thunder Ball. The whole application took less than 3 seconds, and the Thunder Elements are completely trapped inside the thunder balls, without any leakage at all, demonstrating superb control!
“I’ll give full marks to this Thunder Ball!”
The thunder-elemental magic teacher of Class 2 also touched his palm and praised, “What’s more, Meng Lei only consumed a minimal amount of magical power to guide the Thunder Elements to produce this Thunder Ball. His control of magic power is really powerful!”
When the other teachers heard that, they all nodded and praised. Although Thunder Ball was only a spell of the lowest level, it was often the simpler things that demonstrated a lot!
The speed of magic use!
The amount of magic power consumed!
The precise control of magic power!
All of these showcased the true standard of a Magician!
“Magic, it’s an art!” Dirk Norway smiled brightly. “A great Magician is like a master of art; only ingenious artistic techniques can show the charm of this art. Meng Lei’s spell casting process was smooth and natural. It had quite some sense of art!”
“Department Head Dirk speaks true!”
The teachers all nodded!
“Isn’t it just a first-grade spell? What’s so great? I could release first-grade spells at seven years old!” The Dragon People youths sneered, feeling very disdainful inside. The more the teachers praised Meng Lei, the more upset they were!
Meng Lei waved to discard his Thunder Balls and started chanting the second magic spell. After a few seconds, a spear shining with silvery light appeared in Meng Lei’s hands. The spear was made of thunder and lightning, releasing a domineering aura that seemed all-destructing!
“Thunder-Elemental Spell, Thunder Spear!”
“Good, good!”
“The speed of magic use is fast!”
“There’s no magic leakage!”
“The magic power consumed is extremely little!”
“This Thunder Spear is also pretty much perfect!”
“The release of this second-grade spell was also well-executed, full marks!”
Amidst all the praises, Meng Lei withdrew the Thunder Spear and started chanting his third spell. His spiritual power swept out like a tide. The Thunder Elements within a radius of ten meters were pulled and gathered toward Meng Lei!
“This scale…” Dirk Norway’s eyes brightened. “He’s going to release a third-grade spell?”
“This is the Third-Grade Spell, Thunder Barrier!” Teacher Horatio said slowly, with astonishment in his eyes. “This child showed no special talent during classes and remained so low-profile one couldn’t even sense his presence. I would never ever have expected that he has already mastered third-grade magic!”
“If he can release third-grade spells, he is pretty much a Third-Grade Magician!”
“To change from a complete novice to a Third-Grade Magician within three months of enrollment, such talent is simply unheard of!”
“Such a genius!!!”
The teachers were very emotional. The shock and amazement in their words were beyond concealing. What would qualify one as a Third-Grade Magician?
Third-grade spiritual power, third-grade magic reserve, and the ability to release third-grade magic spells—all three conditions must be fulfilled!
With sufficient spiritual power and magic power, but without being able to release third-grade spells, one would still not be a Third-Grade Magician. That’s just like how many Dragon People had strong magical reserves from birth, but they weren’t even Magicians!
Although a Third-Grade Magician was also in the category of Low-Level Magicians, to become a Third-Grade Magician within a mere three months was almost impossible!
One would have to improve their spiritual power and magic reserve while studying magic at the same time!
Which of those didn’t take a lot of time?
Three months?
What was that timeframe enough for!? Many people couldn’t reach this level in their entire lives!
“Tsk! What’s so awesome about that?”
Upon seeing the teachers praise Meng Lei like this, many Dragon People youths felt jealous, but this didn’t stop Meng Lei from continuing his magic release!
Under Meng Lei’s summoning, a large number of Thunder Elements joined together, gradually forming a silver shield that covered the radius of three meters around them!
The shield solidified from an illusory state and finally completely stabilized. The whole process was completely smooth and natural, as unimpeded as mercury dropping onto the ground!
“It took 19 seconds!”
“The spell casting time can be said to be very short!”
“No extra magic leakage!”
“The magic power consumed is extremely little!”
“The release of this Thunder Shield is very smooth and can be considered perfect!”
" }, { "id": 32, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-32", "title": "Chapter 32", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Three types of spells!
“First-Grade Spell, Thunder Ball!
“Second-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Spear!
“Third-Grade Spell, Thunder Barrier!”
Dirk Norway stood within Training Ground No. 11 and gazed at Meng Lei with an expression full of approval. He said, “Not only do these three spells show off your excellent spiritual power, but it also exhibits your precise manipulation of magic power, which was discharged in a considerably perfect manner. I give you full marks!”
“Thank you, sir!”
Meng Lei bowed slightly.
“Keep up the good work. I look forward very much to how you’ll mature in the future!”
After Dirk Norway patted Meng Lei on the shoulder and gave him a few words of encouragement, his gaze swept across all the Class 1 students. His expression became stern as he said, “All of you have also seen it for yourselves. Do you understand the gap between him and all of you now?”
Various different expressions adorned the Class 1 students’ faces!
The human teenagers hung their heads, looking ashamed of themselves!
Most of the Dragon People teenagers had their chins raised, very unwilling to admit defeat!
“Not willing to admit defeat?”
Dirk Norway gave them a cold smile and said, “Magic cultivation places a lot of emphasis on talent in the beginning, but how far you’ll go in the future is entirely decided by your subsequent diligence!
“Your classmate, Meng Lei!
“His talent is better than all of yours!
“And he’s also more diligent than all of you!
“In just a short three months, he has already had several breakthroughs and become a Third-Grade Magician. How do you even find the cheek to not admit defeat? It isn’t wrong to be proud and arrogant, but blind arrogance is no different from foolishness!”
“Sir, I don’t accept this!”
A Dragon Person teenager stepped forward, and he looked straight at Dirk Norway without any hint of fear in his eyes at all!
“What the hell!”
“He’s talking back to the teacher!”
“Is Aardman out of his mind?”
An uproar went through the crowd when they saw the Dragon Person teenager’s actions. The students were greatly astounded as they gazed at Aardman’s back. He was actually talking back to the teacher! Was this guy a fool?
All the teachers frowned one after another, and they looked at Aardman rather hostilely. Fire Dragon Magic Academy had a complex student body makeup, where most students came from very influential backgrounds.
Managing a group of students like that… wasn’t an easy task!
As such, the kingdom, and even the academy, gave teachers absolute authority. Be it any student, as long as they dared to affront the teachers, they would definitely have a terrible end!
Aardman’s act of talking back to the teacher on the spot could already potentially be considered offensive!
“What are you unable to accept?” asked Dirk Norway in a cold and loud voice.
“Mr. Dirk, I don’t have any intention of offending you!”
Aardman went on in a deep voice, and said, “I just feel that as a Magician, knowing how to perform spells doesn’t count as much. What’s important is… Practical combat! If it’s only good for show, but of no use at all, then it can only be considered fancy fighting techniques at best!”
After saying that, he glanced at Meng Lei and said with some disdain in his eyes, “Meng Lei’s spells certainly look good, but how his practical combat ability is is something we don’t know yet!”
“What do you want to do?” asked Dirk Norway with a cold snort.
“Battle with him!”
Aardman looked straight at Meng Lei and asked, “Meng Lei, do you dare to battle with me in front of all the teachers?!”
“Preposterous! Don’t you know that the academy prohibits fighting in private?!” berated Dirk Norway furiously as he slammed his palm against the table and got to his feet.
Aardman replied loudly, “The academy indeed prohibits fighting in private. However, public showdowns with a teacher acting as a witness are permitted. With so many teachers present today, this shouldn’t be considered a private fight, right?!”
“You—”
Dirk Norway was so furious that he was glaring at him. He was about to reprimand him again when Baldi Tylon, Class 2’s head teacher, spoke up. He said, “Department Head Dirk, although this student is rather impolite, he does make some sense. Practical combat ability is ultimately still what matters in the end for magicians!”
After he said that, he looked at Meng Lei and said cheerfully, “I believe that if Meng Lei doesn’t display his practical combat ability, even if he takes top place in the examination this time, the rest of the students won’t admit defeat wholeheartedly, either, right?”
“Yes!”
“We don’t accept this!”
“We’ll know if he’s the real deal after we take him out for a spin!”
“What’s the big deal about knowing how to perform spells? You’re only truly strong if your practical combat ability is strong!”
“Magic is used for battle, not to perform fancy tricks!”
All the Dragon People teenagers spoke one after another. Their eyes were full of provocation as they looked at Meng Lei. They had found Meng Lei an eyesore since a long time ago. All of them wanted to teach Meng Lei a good lesson right now, and show all the teachers one thing—”So what even if he has good talent? Isn’t he being pummeled to a pulp by us all the same now?!”
“Mr. Baldi, this isn’t part of the mid-term examination!” Dirk Norway’s expression darkened and turned rather awful-looking.
“Isn’t the purpose of the examination exactly to assess the students’ improvement and results of their studies during this period of time? As long as it achieves that purpose, the process isn’t that important!”
Baldi Tylon chuckled and looked at Meng Lei. He asked, “Meng Lei, are you willing to accept his challenge, and show all of us your practical combat ability?”
Whoosh!
For a moment, everyone’s eyes fell onto Meng Lei. Aardman even said provocatively, “You don’t need to worry at all. I’ll only use magic, and won’t make use of my physique, lest everyone says that I’m bullying you! You… Do you dare to?”
Meng Lei smiled lightly and replied, “What’s there to fear? However, since we’re going to battle, shouldn’t we have some prizes?”
“Hahaha! I just like how bold and forthright you are!”
Aardman was overjoyed upon hearing Meng Lei’s agreement to the battle. With a flick of his wrist, he took out a purple magic crystal card. Then, he grinned and said, “There are 10,000 gold coins in here. You can consider it the prize for this battle. What say you?”
“That’s too much! I don’t have that much money!” Meng Lei shook his head and added, “I only have the scholarship grant of 5,000 gold coins!”
“That’s more than enough!”
Aardman waved dismissively. He didn’t take Meng Lei’s 5,000 gold coins to heart at all. His objective wasn’t the money, but to teach Meng Lei a lesson and embarrass him!
“Since that’s the case, then let’s battle!” replied Meng Lei calmly.
“Alright!”
All the other students scattered and left the training ground to the two of them.
“Sigh! How muddleheaded of him!”
Dirk Norway sighed as he watched the two boys that were about to get into a battle. Although he had high hopes for Meng Lei, he didn’t think that the current Meng Lei could defeat Aardman.
Given his experience, he naturally had a good picture of the situation. Aardman’s body was comparable to a Fourth-Grade Warrior’s, and his magic power reserves were also incredibly abundant, making him a solid Third-Grade Magician!
Adding to this a Dragon Person’s naturally strong battle instincts, how could Meng Lei possibly win?
Nevermind, it’s good for him to experience the gap between humans and Dragon People! That way, he will definitely be even more hardworking in the future!
…
Aardman and Meng Lei stood in the center of the training ground.
One of them was 1.6 meters tall, thin, and frail!
The other was muscular, tall, and strong!
Just by looking at their body types alone, they were in two completely different leagues!
“Go for it, old bro!”
The fatty and Daniel were nervous and anxious. They secretly broke out in cold sweat over Meng Lei. To be honest, they didn’t think that Meng Lei could win, either. Aardman wasn’t just any ordinary person!
He had pure Black Dragon blood in him and was naturally gifted with a strong and mighty body. His magic talent was also very high. He was ranked in the top few even among the new students this year!
With him as an opponent, how could Meng Lei possibly win?
“Meng Lei, you’re a human, so I’ll let you have the first move!”
Aardman crossed his arms in front of his chest and was all smiles as he looked at Meng Lei with his chin raised. He had the expression of someone confident that he could handle everything with his wit and intelligence on his face. He didn’t think much of Meng Lei at all!
“Alright!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth quirked upward, and he snapped his fingers lightly.
Whoosh!
A thunder ball, the size of a basketball, suddenly appeared!
Then, he snapped his fingers again!
A second thunder ball also manifested!
Then, followed by the third, fourth, fifth…
In the blink of an eye, nine thunder balls had appeared in front of Meng Lei!
Electric currents surged and flowed, emitting loud crackling noises!
Brilliant silver light dazzled everyone’s eyes!
" }, { "id": 33, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-33", "title": "Chapter 33", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Nine basketball-sized thunder balls floated around Meng Lei and gave off dazzling and resplendent silver light, making Meng Lei look like a Thunder God from the heavens!
“Instant release!!”
The teachers jumped to their feet all at once as they looked at Meng Lei and the nine thunder balls floating around him in great astonishment!
“Instant release of a First-Grade Spell!”
“How did he manage to do that?”
“He’s just a Third-Grade Magician, isn’t he?!”
Disbelief filled all the teachers’ eyes!
A high-level Magician was able to instantly release low-grade spells because their powerful spiritual power could totally complete the setup and arrangement of magic elements in an instant, thereby completing the discharge of low-grade spells.
To put it simply, this was using a high level of skill to do low-level tasks, or the strong bullying the weak!
Just like first-grade math!
To a first-grader, addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers were very difficult, so it was necessary for them to take their time to calculate. However, to a student in a higher grade, this couldn’t get any easier!
Release of magic was naturally a lot tougher than addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. However, the logic was more or less the same. High-level Magicians could instantly release low-grade spells of a certain level. In fact, Saint Domain Magicians could instantly complete even high-grade spells!
However, Meng Lei was just a Third-Grade Magician!
Yet he could already instantly release First-Grade Spells?
“Normally, Magicians can instantly release four low-grade spells!”
There was a deep dark look in Dirk Norway’s eyes as he said, “One needs to be at least a Fifth-Grade Magician if they want to instantly release First-Grade Spells. Meng Lei has evidently already broken this established law!”
All the teachers nodded one after another.
At the other side…
“Go!”
Meng Lei let out a low shout and pointed in the distance!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Three thunder balls sliced through the air and instantly shot toward Aardman!
“Thinking of injuring me with just a mere First-Grade Spell?”
Aardman sneered and said, “I don’t even need to dodge them!”
Boom!
The three thunder balls collided against Aardman and exploded with a boom!
Crackle, crackle!
Countless electric currents ran helter-skelter and wreaked havoc on Aardman’s body. He let out a cold snort and said, “Oh great genius, is that all you’ve got?”
Meng Lei smiled in response. Then, his fingers tapped the air a few times in succession. Thunder balls crashed toward Aardman one after another and exploded like bombs, completely burying Aardman in them!
“I’ve told you, First-Grade Spells can’t deal me any damage!”
Aardman stood where he was and allowed the electric currents to wreak havoc on his body at will. With a mocking expression, he said, “You’d better use high-grade spells instead. Otherwise, you won’t have a chance at beating me at all!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh. An abnormal glint flashed across the bottom of his eyes, and he replied, “Since you’re looking forward to that so much, how can I disappoint you, right?”
He had only just spoken when he started to chant a spell incantation at high speed. Upon being summoned, the electric currents snaking all over Aardman swiftly converged and grouped together!
“That’s…”
Aardman’s expression changed upon sensing the abnormalities taking place on his body. The electric currents surging around him swiftly came together to form several chains. As though ropes, the chains bound and confined him completely!
“Unravel!” Aardman roared furiously and struggled fiercely.
However, little did he expect that not only was he unable to struggle free of the electric chains, but the shocks from the electric chains even numbed his limbs and made him weak and powerless!
“Third-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Chain!”
Horatio, the teacher in charge of the Thunder-Element Course, sprung to his feet. He said, “You can release Thunderbolt Chain like that, too? Genius! He’s truly a genius!”
“Using a bunch of thunder balls to bomb Aardman and numb his senses. Then, at the same time as he becomes numb and lets down his guard, making use of the Thunder Elements on his body to form a higher-grade Thunderbolt Chain to trap Aardman!”
Dirk Norway took a breath and said, “What a shrewd scheme! I’d thought that that child’s Thunder Balls were meaningless in the beginning. Little did I expect that there would be great use to them!
“They total exactly 18 thunder balls, which just so happens to be the amount of Thunder Elements that releasing a round of Thunderbolt Chain requires!”
Class 2’s Thunder-Element teacher was full of marvel as he said, “That little guy had already calculated all of this from the beginning. The whole battle is within his plans!”
“Does having great magic talent add to one’s intelligence, too?”
All the other teachers didn’t know what to say anymore. This was just a simple showdown, yet Meng Lei had shown them what an “overwhelming crush of other people’s IQ” was!
Now, that was infuriating!
Not only did he have great magic talent, but he was even so intelligent. How were other people supposed to live with themselves now?
“He has great talent, and he’s also very smart!”
“That child has a very promising future!”
“IQ… Sigh, in this aspect, Dragon People are certainly slightly inferior to humans!”
The battle had already ended by this point. After he was bound by the Thunderbolt Chain, Aardman couldn’t free himself for the time being at all!
Meng Lei took advantage of this period of time to quickly chant an incantation. The Thunder Elements in the surroundings, upon being beckoned, quickly formed a long spear—it was the Third-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Javelin!
“Bastard! C’mon, unravel!”
Aardman tried desperately to struggle free, but it was to no avail!
In the end, the Thunderbolt Javelin took form and pressed against his throat!
“You’ve lost!” said Meng Lei calmly.
“I…”
Aardman’s face flushed red, yet he couldn’t say a single word in response. He certainly did have a body that was comparable to a Fourth-Grade Warrior’s, but should he suffer a blow from the Thunderbolt Javelin, even if he didn’t die, he would no doubt still be maimed!
This battle… He had indeed lost!
With a wave, Meng Lei withdrew the Thunderbolt Javelin, and the Thunderbolt Chains shackled around Aardman. Then, he held out his right palm, the meaning behind his action self-evident!
“Since I had dared to make a bet, then I will concede defeat!”
Aardman looked livid as he chucked the magic crystal card at Meng Lei. He said, “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, though. My loss this time was because I had taken the enemy lightly and let down my guard. I’ll defeat you for sure the next time!”
“As long as you have the money, I’m willing to take you up on it anytime!”
Meng Lei smiled lightly and returned to the corner.
“What the! Old bro, you’re too amazing!”
The fatty and Daniel’s eyes were full of little stars, and the way they looked at Meng Lei was full of awe and idolization. Not only had he become a Third-Grade Magician, but he had even defeated Aardman!
There was only one word to describe this—impressive!!
“This is nothing,” replied Meng Lei with a smile.
He didn’t take all of this to heart at all. With both his lifetimes put together, he was already in his 30s. What was there to boast about defeating a 15 to 16-year-old junior high school student?!
“Old bro, aren’t you too calm about this?”
The fatty and Daniel were rather speechless. After successfully showing off such a great deal in front of so many people, anyone would be abnormally worked up. Yet Meng Lei was so absurdly calm!
“Am I?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
“Yes!”
The two of them nodded simultaneously.
“Fine! Actually, I’m not calm at all deep down. In fact, I even kind of want to laugh!” replied Meng Lei in resignation.
“Oh, so you’re pretending to be calm!”
“I knew it!”
Meng Lei indeed wanted to laugh, but it wasn’t because he had managed to show off a lot. Rather, it was because he had won 10,000 gold coins. If he were to use them to redeem Stat Attribute Points, it would be enough for him to do a significant upgrade!
One must know that after these three months of cowardly maturing, two of his attributes had already reached their breakthrough points. He only needed to make a small redemption, and they would be able to cross over into a new stage!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 25,187 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Third-Grade Warrior (619/1,000)
Spirit: Third-Grade Magician (966/1,000)
Magic Power: Third-Grade Magician (927/1,000)
Spell(s): Some increase
Battle Skills: Battle Peak Chant, Rock-Crushing Palm, Earth-Rending Cleave
His spirit was 966 points!
His magic power was 927 points!
He needed only 35+74=109 Attribute Points, and he would be able to cross over into the ranks of Fourth-Grade Magicians! And 109 Attribute Points needed only 1,090 gold coins!
“System, redeem 35 Spirit Points, and 74 Magic Power Points!”
" }, { "id": 34, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-34", "title": "Chapter 34", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Ding! Redemption successful. Congratulations to the host for becoming a Fourth-Grade Magician!”
Wisps of magic power formed out of thin air and flooded Meng Lei’s body, making him feel extremely relaxed and comfortable. His mind became unprecedentedly clear and bright, his state of mind was full of vigor, and he was full of spirit!
It felt fantastic!
“Old bro, why is your face suddenly so rosy?”
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s transformation, Hart couldn’t help but look bewildered.
“Hehe, I thought of something happy!”
Meng Lei chuckled and checked his personal stats!
Wealth: 24,097 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Third-Grade Warrior (619/1,000)
Spirit: Fourth-Grade Magician (1,001/2,000)
Magic Power: Fourth-Grade Magician (1,001/2,000)
Both my spiritual power and magic power reserves have reached the Fourth-Grade Magician level. I need only to master fourth-grade spells, and I’ll become a real Fourth-Grade Magician!
It hasn’t even been five months since I came to this world, and I’ve already broken through to the Fourth-Grade Magician level! A cultivation speed like mine can probably be considered unprecedented, right?
Rather pleased with himself, Meng Lei was full of anticipation for the future!
However! My physical body constitution is lagging behind somewhat!
Physical body constitution!
This had always been Meng Lei’s strong suit and was also the attribute that was the easiest to pick up. However, Meng Lei had been staying inside the academy the whole time during the last three months. Thus, he rarely got to pick up physical body constitution light balls.
His physical body constitution had fallen behind just like that!
Looks like I have to head to places like the warrior academies, beast colosseums, and battle arenas more often when I have the time so that I can improve my physical body constitution as quickly as possible!
In Meng Lei’s considerations, the body had always been a human Magician’s weakness and was something that opponents easily took advantage of. In comparison, Dragon People Magicians that inherited the dragon race’s bloodline were much stronger!
As such, Dragon People Magicians held an overwhelming advantage among Magicians of the same grade. Meng Lei didn’t want to lose to those Dragon People of the same grade as him!
Thus, he needed to improve his physical body constitution as soon as possible!
“Damn! It’s my turn!”
Just as Meng Lei was quietly making his own plans, the little fatty suddenly let out a low howl and interrupted Meng Lei’s contemplation. It was now Hart’s turn to be assessed!
“Go, Fatty, you can do it!”
Meng Lei patted him on the shoulder and added with a smile, “If both of you can successfully pass the exam, it’ll be my treat tonight! Let’s go out of the school to have a good meal!”
“Okay!”
Hart nodded heavily and strode toward the teachers.
“Fatty, go for it!”
Daniel held his fists up and cheered for the little fatty.
The results of Hart’s assessment came out in no time.
His spiritual power had increased by 28 points, and he successfully passed the test!
His magic power reserves were comparable to a Third-Grade Magician’s, and he successfully passed the test!
During the spell release segment, Hart used three types of spells—Water Mirror, a water-elemental spell, Wind Guardian, a wind-elemental spell, and Giant Rock, an earth-elemental spell. These also successfully passed the test!
“Haha, I passed!”
Hart scurried over to Meng Lei, so excited that he was almost jumping up and down. He was simply too overwhelmed! One must know that as of now, he and Meng Lei were the only ones that had made the mark! How could he not be worked up?
“Impressive, kid!” praised Meng Lei, who was also very astonished. Then, he said, “You’ve actually reached Third-Grade Magician level for all your elements when you’re cultivating three types of elements at the same time? Aren’t you too good at pretending?”
The look in Meng Lei’s eyes was rather hostile. He felt like the little fatty had duped him!
“Hehe, how can I compare to you?”
Hart scratched his head and said, “I was initiated into magic at the age of 5, and it has already been close to two years since I had started to officially learn and study magic. I can’t compare to you at all, old bro!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. As expected, with comparison came frustration. Children from Magical Beast Village had to spend all the savings their families had just to take part in the magic assessment, yet Hart had already been initiated into magic at the age of 5. This was truly…
The mid-term examination was still ongoing!
In the next hour and a little more, the remaining students completed their assessment one after the other. However, the results were unpromising—including Meng Lei and Hart, only a measly seven people met the mark!
These seven people included Meng Lei, Hart, Daniel, Meng Lei’s housemate Abbe, Tanna Airam from the Frost Kingdom, a human commoner, and a Dragon Person commoner!
All of the other 42 people… were completely wiped out!
This outcome infuriated their head teacher, Dirk Norway, and he gave the whole class a terrible scolding. Even their senior and class guide, Jenny, wasn’t spared!
After the examination was over, Meng Lei, Hart, and Daniel went out of school together. They headed to the best restaurant nearby, intending to have a good celebration!
After the three of them got a private dining room, Meng Lei tossed the menu over to Hart and Daniel, and said with a smile, “Feel free to order whatever you’d like to eat. It’s my treat today!”
“Hehe, I know you’ve earned a big sum of money today, old bro, so we won’t stand on ceremony with you!
“We’ll start with a serving of Stir-Fried Golden-Armored Lizard Meat!”
“And a Poached Blood Mantis next!”
“Magical Whale Liver With Preserved Vegetables sounds pretty good too!”
“And this! Stir-Fried Ice Toad!”
“Spicy Jade-Heart Bird is my favorite!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth spasmed non-stop upon hearing Hart’s and Daniel’s continuous food orders.
Damn you, a dish alone costs almost 100 gold coins. Are the two of you trying to bankrupt me?
However, what he had said, and the posturing that he had done, must be completed, even if he had to swallow his tears while doing it!
“Big Brother Colin, us brothers congratulate you for your 20 consecutive victories in the arena and successfully leveling up to a Silver-Medal Fighter!”
“Not at all, not at all. It’s all just luck! Luck, haha!”
“Say, Big Brother Colin, you’re already a Silver-Medal Fighter now, so your appearance fee must be very high, right?”
“It’s just ordinary! Just 10,000 gold coins per session!”
“10,000 gold coins per session?”
“Damn! Big Brother Colin, you’re seriously too impressive!”
“At this rate, with dozens of sessions more, the riches you accumulate will be enough for you to buy a plot of land and become an overlord yourself!”
“Hahaha, it’s all just luck…”
Sounds of conversation suddenly drifted over from the neighboring private room and attracted Meng Lei’s attention. He asked, “Silver-Medal Fighter?”
He had heard of the battle arena. Together with the beast colosseum, they were two of the capital city’s biggest entertainment spots. They were highly popular and received great support from the nobility and the wealthy. It was an activity similar to illegal underground fighting!
Fighters battled ferociously in the arena for customers’ viewing pleasure and betting. It was a kind of entertainment filled with blood and violence, and was passionate and feral!
Although the arena enjoyed extreme popularity in the Fire Dragon Kingdom and even the whole empire, as a decent and proper person, Meng Lei instinctively rejected something like that.
As such, he didn’t bother to understand how it worked.
However, what Meng Lei didn’t expect was that fighters could actually earn that much. A Silver-Medal Fighter’s appearance fee actually went as high as 10,000 gold coins!
10,000 gold coins!
If he were to use that to redeem Stat Attribute Points, he could get a whole 1,000 points!
That was 1,000 Attribute Points into his account with just one session!
It was tons faster than picking up light balls and meditation!
“Even the amount of 10,000 gold coins is considered low!”
After Hart was done ordering, he said cheerfully, “What’s high is the Gold-Medal Fighters’ appearance fee! Which one of their appearance fees doesn’t start from tens of thousands of gold coins?”
“Is it that exaggerated?!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were already widened big and round!
“Every Gold-Medal Fighter is the arena’s goose that lays golden eggs. Their appearance fee isn’t something that a Silver-Medal Fighter’s can compare with!”
Daniel also added with a smile, “Each and every one of those fellows enjoy considerably high popularity and have an enormous fan base. Earning money is just like committing robbery for them!”
“So, there are groupies here too!”
“Groupies?”
“Nah, it’s nothing! Since it’s so easy for fighters to earn money, how does one become one?”
" }, { "id": 35, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-35", "title": "Chapter 35", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Having lived two lifetimes, Meng Lei knew very well the importance of being diligent!
Meng Lei had indeed been very hardworking ever since he had come to Fire Dragon Magic Academy. He listened seriously in class, studied spells intensively after class, and meditated non-stop at night!
Of course, Meng Lei didn’t forget to use the system, either. Simply just picking up items… couldn’t satisfy him anymore. Meng Lei wanted the system to work at maximum efficiency!
Gold coins can be used to redeem Stat Attribute Points!
I can start from this aspect. It’s just that buying “credit”… requires gold coins after all!
And here came the problem—where was he going to get the gold coins from?
Now, this was where earning money came into play!
Meng Lei had also thought of earning money—loads and loads of them—in the past.
Be a plagiarist and publish entertainment works? Become a real estate developer? Set up the Internet? Sell weapon munitions?
Ha! Just take a bath and go to bed!
These highly lucrative professions on Earth didn’t work at all in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Over the long course of time, Heaven’s Vault Continent had already formed its own unique trade model. Earth’s ways didn’t work here!
In that case, what kind of professions were there in Heaven’s Vault Continent?
The steadiest, and most popular, was to buy plots of land to make it one’s territory!
As long as one had sufficient funds, anyone could buy a plot of unowned land and become an area’s overlord. The commoners, Magical Beasts, mines, forests, and rivers within the territory… All of these were the overlord’s property!
To sum it up into one sentence, the overlord was the local emperor of the territory!
Next were the magic device manufacturing industry, magic core industry, gold-mining industry, slave trading industry, battle arenas, beast colosseums, and so on!
These industries were extremely lucrative and had created a great number of giant chambers of commerce and tycoons. Take the magic device manufacturing industry, for example. Magic devices were just like Earth’s cell phones, computers, televisions, electrical lightings, cars… Their penetration rate reached deep into tens of thousands of households, and the industry could be said to produce extravagant profits!
The magic core industry was also very lucrative!
This was because an overwhelming majority of magic devices’ energy source was… exactly magic cores. Magic cores were like the fossil oils of Earth. Just think of those tycoons in Dubai, and one would know whether dealing in magic cores was lucrative or not!
The other professions didn’t need much elaboration. Each and every one of them was an industry that brought in huge profits. Meng Lei often daydreamed about how awesome it would be if he also had a chamber of commerce and could monopolize an industry.
It probably wouldn’t take even a few days for him to become a Saint Domain?
It was just a shame that his daydreams might be beautiful, but reality was just too brutal!
The current him was purely just a plebeian. He didn’t even have anything to his name, much less a chamber of commerce. Wishing of vast wealth and marrying a beautiful and rich woman? Dream on, stinky plebeian!
What was he to do?
Doing business and whatnot was too distant a concept for him. Choosing a proper job seemed more reliable. For example, becoming a fighter?
“Becoming a fighter isn’t hard. As long as you have the battle capabilities of a Fifth-Grade Warrior or a Fourth-Grade Magician, you’ll be able to join the arena and become a fighter!”
Hart chuckled and added, “However, it’s very dangerous to be a fighter. In order to ensure the realness and viewing quality of the battle, the battles between fighters are real, actual battles to the death. No one shows any mercy at all!”
“Indeed, although being a fighter can earn you a lot of money, it is a high-risk job!” Daniel shook his head and said, “Because they frequently hover over the boundary between life and death, the mortality rate of fighters is extremely high. It is very rare for anyone to survive till the end! Thus, it really isn’t easy to earn this money!”
“Old bro, it can’t be that you’re thinking of becoming a fighter, right?” asked the little fatty with a merry laugh, as he raised his eyebrows and looked at Meng Lei.
“It sounds very dangerous, but it really does earn you a lot!” replied Meng Lei ambiguously with a smile.
He neither admitted to it nor denied it. However, he was weighing the pros and cons inwardly.
“Old bro, you’re a noble Magician, you know. How can you lower your own status to become a fighter or whatever?”
Hart rolled his eyes and added, “Although one can qualify to be a fighter after they become a Fourth-Grade Magician, go and ask around—in the huge arena, how many magician fighters are there?”
“Aren’t there any?”
Meng Lei was stunned!
“Only very, very few!”
A smiling Daniel shook his head and said, “The Magician is a noble and honorable job class, and also one where money comes very quickly. I don’t know if you’ve heard this saying or not, but it goes like this, ‘The richest people in Heaven’s Vault Continent are not the kings, but the Magicians’!
“Although this is just said in jest, it also indirectly shows that it is indeed very easy for a Magician to earn money if they want to. At least, it is much easier for them than fighters of the same grade!”
“Money… comes to Magicians very quickly?”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened dramatically, his expression one of bewilderment!
“Of course!”
As though this was natural and right, Hart went on and said, “As Magicians are rare, they receive a lot of support from all parties. Manufacturing magic devices, drawing magic circles, mining magic cores, manufacturing magic scrolls—which of these doesn’t require Magicians? And which of these isn’t lucrative?
“Putting the others aside and just taking the mining of magic cores, for example, do you know how much the acquisition value of a single magic core is?”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“All the magic cores on the market now are sold at clearly marked prices!”
Hart continued the introduction of the magic cores and said, “Low-grade magic cores aren’t worth much, and range from dozens to a few hundred gold coins. Mid-grade magic cores go slightly higher and range from a few thousand to ten thousand gold coins!
“But the ones that are truly valuable are the high-grade magic cores!
“The price of a single seventh-grade magic core starts at 100,000 gold coins!
“The value of an eighth-grade magic core is ten times that of a seventh-grade one, and starts at 1,000,000 gold coins!
“As for ninth-grade magic cores?
“Hurhur, sorry, but they are priceless despite having a market for them!
“I remember that the Lawson Auction House auctioned off a ninth-grade magic core—a Great Earth Bear’s magic core—half a year ago. Do you know how much it ended at?”
“Ten million gold coins?” asked Meng Lei tentatively.
“Wrong! It ended at the whopping price of 37.8 million gold coins!”
A smiling Hart continued and said, “A great Ninth-Grade Earth Magician won this particular magic core in the end! Tsk, tsk, Ninth-Grade Magicians are truly wealthy. That’s nearly 40 million gold coins, and yet he doesn’t even bat a single eyelid!”
“Damn, he’s too rich!”
Meng Lei’s eyes practically bore right into Hart upon hearing what he had said, and his features became distorted from his envy. If only he was that rich!
“Hurhur, that’s nothing!”
With a shake of his head, Hart smiled and added, “During the annual magic conference, Magicians would buy and sell among themselves. Transactions easily go up to millions, even ten million, gold coins. Now, that’s what you call rich!”
“Rich! Really too rich!” Meng Lei licked his chapped lips and said, “What a pity that I’m just a pauper! I’m probably the poorest Magician in this world?”
“Hehe, don’t say that, old bro!”
Hart chuckled and said, “You may not have any money now, but you have great magic talent. When you become a high-level Magician, you can go to the Magical Beast Forest and casually hunt a Magical Beast or two. Isn’t that the same as picking up money?”
“High-level Magician?” Meng Lei sighed and added, “I’d need to become at least a Seventh-Grade Magician before that would work!”
“I believe that with your talent, it won’t take you more than a few years!”
“Yes, you’ve already become a Third-Grade Magician within a short three months. Is becoming a Seventh-Grade Magician that far off?”
“Good day, sirs. May I know if we can serve the food now?”
“Serve it, serve it! I’m already hungry!”
Delicious food was then laid out on the table. Meng Lei was chewing on his food, but his mind was on how he could earn money. Classes were still in progress now, so going to the Magical Beast Forest to hunt Magical Beasts was evidently not a practical option. He couldn’t possibly leave the academy to go to the Magical Beast Forest!
Since that was the case, then being a fighter seemed like a pretty good option!
Firstly, there were a lot of people in the arena, and battles also took place often. The chances of picking up dropped items would definitely be high, so Meng Lei could totally pick up dropped items to his heart’s content and upgrade himself!
Secondly, he could earn money!
Fighters’ appearance fees were seriously too high. Should he exchange all of the appearance fees into Attribute Points, it would speed up Meng Lei’s upgrade tremendously!
This could be said to be killing two birds with one stone!
It is certainly a bit riskier! But compared to the rewards received, this bit of risk is worth taking!
" }, { "id": 36, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-36", "title": "Chapter 36", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The mid-term examination brought about a huge influence!
Or at least, that was Meng Lei’s opinion.
This was because the atmosphere in the academy had completely changed!
The usually laughing and bantering Dragon People nobility had disappeared, the indolent and romantic young masters and playboys were gone, and the couples hiding in the corners were also missing in action.
The number of loafers in the school had decreased, the number of people listening in class had increased, and the training grounds were packed with people!
A mid-term examination had miraculously turned around the atmosphere in the academy. The first-year students’ transformation, in particular, was especially dramatic. It was a complete change from their previous indolence, as though they had suddenly woken up to reality!
After morning classes ended, Meng Lei left the academy and headed to the capital city’s biggest battle arena—Flame Arena.
Flame Arena was located in the east of the city and situated in a prosperous area where the rich and the noble congregated. It was a considerable distance from Fire Dragon Magic Academy. Meng Lei flagged down a magic cab and headed there in the carriage.
The magic cab driver observed Meng Lei’s countenance and asked carefully, “Lord Magician, are you heading to Flame Arena to watch tonight’s battle for the title of King of Fighters?”
Meng Lei was wearing a magician robe and was evidently a noble magician. He wasn’t someone whom a driver like him could casually strike up a conversation with, but if he could get acquainted with Meng Lei, it would definitely be a positive thing!
“Battle for the title of King of Fighters?”
Meng Lei was mildly stunned.
“You don’t know about it?”
The driver found this rather strange. He said, “The annual King of Fighters battle is a grand and spectacular competition famous throughout the capital city. Everyone, from peddlers and servants all the way to high-ranking officials and the nobility, knows about it!”
“I’ve been staying in the academy all this time, so I haven’t heard about it!” Meng Lei said with a smile, “Why don’t you tell me about the King of Fighters battle?”
“Alright!”
As the driver explained, Meng Lei finally understood what it was all about.
The King of Fighters!
That was the strongest Gold-Medal Fighter in the battle arena!
After an intense year-long tussle, a king among all the fighters would emerge from the Flame Arena, and he was known as… The King of Fighters!
In the King of Fighters battle, this year’s King of Fighters would challenge the King of Fighters that had won the previous year’s King of Fighters battle. This was a battle between kings and was also Flame Arena’s most exciting battle of the year. Somewhat similar to the NBA finals and the World Cup finals, its influence reached far and wide, and was highly popular and received great support from the nobles!
In the magic cab driver’s words, all the noblemen or tycoons that loved battle tournaments would watch the King of Fighters battle taking place tonight. Tickets had even gone as high as several tens of thousands of gold coins per ticket!
I didn’t think that I would actually run into a competition like this!
Meng Lei secretly shook his head.
It’s just that the tickets are too expensive. At tens of thousands of gold coins per ticket, I can’t afford that!
Meng Lei had initially wanted to join the fun, but all he could do now was only to think about it. He wasn’t that big of a millionaire yet!
He arrived at Flame Arena an hour later.
The massive Flame Arena was somewhat similar to the stadiums and theaters on Earth. It was a grand and magnificent building that occupied an extremely big plot of land and formed the shape of a lick of flame. It shone a dazzling fiery red everywhere and gave off a blood-boiling and fiery, passionate feeling!
At that moment, it was already packed with people outside Flame Arena. There were Dragon People nobility decked out in gold and jewels, big-bellied wealthy tycoons and overlords, fashionable and sexy noblewomen and ladies…
Human traffic flowed ceaselessly, and people moved constantly!
People’s voices were loud and went on without pause!
“How lively!”
Meng Lei had been just an ordinary employee in his past life. As he had needed to support his family, he had rarely taken part in large-scale activities. However, he did know what the train stations during the spring festival looked like!
The scenery outside the arena at this moment could totally give the spring festival a run for its money!
Meng Lei went along with the human traffic flow and reached the grand entrance, where the strict guards on duty stopped him. One of them said, “Lord Magician, please go to the ticket booth on the right to purchase a ticket first!”
Meng Lei shook his head and replied, “I’m not here to watch the King of Fighters battle. I’d like to join Flame Arena and become a fighter!”
“Huh?”
The guard looked Meng Lei up and down, mildly startled. Join the battle arena? Now, that was rare! Very few Magicians were willing to become fighters!
“Sir, you’re not joking?”
“No, I’m not!” replied Meng Lei with a shake of his head.
“Please wait for a moment, sir!”
The guard immediately gave a few instructions to his companion behind him, and then said to Meng Lei, “Lord Magician, please follow me!”
Meng Lei followed the guard into Flame Arena. They turned a few corners to the left and the right as they walked before they finally came to an office. The guard knocked on the door and entered. After a while, he came back out again.
“Lord Magician, Master Uno invites you in!”
“Alright!”
The moment Meng Lei entered the office, he saw a calm and collected elderly man dressed in rich brocades seated on the chair. The elderly man looked at Meng Lei with a scrutinizing gaze!
“Little fellow, so you’re the one that wants to become a fighter?”
Uno looked Meng Lei up and down, his brows slightly drawing together. Meng Lei was seriously too young. He was the very picture of a little brat that hadn’t grown up at all. He was already a Fourth-Grade Magician at such a young age?
He must be joking, right?
“Yes!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“Flame Arena welcomes any expert to join!” Uno’s voice was calm and detached as he said, “However, you should be aware of our rules. Only Fifth-Grade Warriors or Fourth-Grade Magicians and above are qualified to join. You’re so young, so you probably…”
He didn’t continue, but it was evident what he meant—he was clearly dubious about Meng Lei’s battle capabilities. In fact, Uno was even wondering if the little fellow in front of him had come up with this idea in a moment of folly because he didn’t have the money to watch tonight’s King of Fighters battle.
After all, the arena’s fighters could watch the King of Fighters battle from the inside!
Meng Lei let out a laugh. He didn’t bother saying any superfluous rubbish but began to lightly chant a magic incantation instead. The Thunder Elements in the surroundings began to swiftly gather, and then they formed two long spinning spears!
Each spear was three meters long and an inch thick. They spun at high speed, as though two high-speed electric drills with electric currents twining around them, and gave off a terrifying might that made one’s heart palpitate!
“Fourth-Grade Spell, Spinning Lightning Drill!”
Uno got up from the chair and stared at the two lightning drills in front of him. Astonishment filled his eyes, and he said, “You’re really a Fourth-Grade Magician? So it’s I whose eyes had failed him!”
He was someone who had seen a lot of the world. He calmed down very quickly, and with a joyous expression, said, “Since you can use Fourth-Grade Spells, then you’re undoubtedly a Fourth-Grade Magician. You are absolutely qualified to become one of our Flame Arena’s fighters!”
“It’s fine as long as I can!” Meng Lei breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “Do I need to go through any procedures?”
“Yes, there are necessary procedures, of course!” Uno added with a smile, “I’ll go through the procedures’ specific requirements with you first. You can consider and make your decision again thereafter. If there are no issues, then we can sign the contract after that!”
“Sure!”
Meng Lei nodded.
“How do I address you?”
“Meng Lei!”
“My young friend Meng Lei, as this is the first time you’re joining our Flame Arena, you can only start out from the lowest grade, a One-Star Bronze Fighter. This is a compulsory rule that nobody can change!”
“No problem!”
“A Bronze Fighter needs to fight at least 10 battles a month!
“And a One-Star Bronze Fighter’s appearance fee is 1,000 gold coins per session!
“If you win three battles in a row, you can level up to a Two-Star Bronze Fighter!
“A Two-Star Bronze Fighter’s appearance fee is 2,000 gold coins per session!
“If you win six battles in a row, you can level up to a Three-Star Bronze Fighter!
“A Three-Star Bronze Fighter’s appearance fee is 3,000 gold coins per session!”
“…”
“These are the requirements and appearance fees!
“There are also other benefits other than that!
“For example, after you become our Flame Arena’s fighter, you’ll be under the Flame Arena’s protection. Under circumstances where the empire’s constitution or the kingdom’s laws aren’t violated, the arena has the authority to ensure a fighter’s life and wealth security!
“Another example is, after you become a Four-Star Bronze Fighter…”
" }, { "id": 37, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-37", "title": "Chapter 37", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "After exchanging some words, Meng Lei felt that the Flame Arena’s benefits were really good. The appearance fee was relatively high, and the protection mechanism was very sound!
Its only weakness was that it was extremely dangerous!
Once he stepped into the ring, it would be a real battle of life and death!
Weapons hurt people easily in a battle, and nobody could guarantee that there would be no accidents. This had resulted in a very high mortality rate for fighters!
Hence, it was not easy earning money from this!
“Little friend Meng Lei, if you think these requirements are okay, sign this contract!”
Uno prepared a contract and handed it to Meng Lei. After Meng Lei had read it carefully and confirmed that there were no problems, he decisively put down his signature!
Since he had made his decision, he would not hesitate!
“The contract is in effect!”
After watching Meng Lei sign the contract, Uno stretched out his right hand and said, “Brother Meng Lei, welcome to Flame Arena. From now on, you will be a member of our arena!”
Uno was very happy. The Flame Arena had more than 10,000 fighters of various types, but the number of magician fighters did not exceed the fingers on his hands!
Magician fighters were too rare!
In order to recruit magician fighters, the Flame Arena not only lowered its standards but also promised huge profits. Unfortunately, the Magician profession was an honorable one and made money easily. Who would want to surrender their status to be a precarious fighter?
Magician fighters had always been a scarce resource!
Therefore, Uno was overjoyed after he recruited the Magician Meng Lei!
“Brother Meng Lei, this is your identity badge. With this badge, you can enter and exit Flame Arena freely. Also, you can watch any match in Flame Arena for free!
“Of course, including tonight’s King of Fighters battle!”
“This is a part of the benefits!?”
“Hehe, the fighters are part of the arena’s staff, so they have the right to watch the fights!”
“That’s great!” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “Master Uno, I wonder if I can familiarize myself with the arena?”
“Of course!”
Uno smiled slightly and called a service staff. He then said with a smile, “Brother Meng Lei, this is our arena service staff, Mary. Let her show you around!”
“Well then, thank you, Master Uno!”
Meng Lei smiled and thanked him before he left the office!
When the two walked away, Uno beckoned someone to his side!
“Investigate his background. I want to know everything about him!”
“Yes, sir!”
…
Mary had a pair of fluffy cat ears, which looked very cute as they moved around. She also had a beautiful fluffy tail, a unique symbol of cat people!
With her leading the way, Meng Lei wandered around Flame Arena. The huge fighting arena contained distinct levels. The largest and most luxurious facilities were the fighting arenas themselves!
“Flame Arena has 31 arenas of various types, including 20 bronze arenas, 10 silver arenas, and 1 golden arena!
“The area of each arena is amazing, and it can accommodate 100,000 spectators at any time. An arena is divided into the ring and the viewing platform!
“The viewing platform is divided into VIP boxes and the fighter viewing platform…”
Mary was very talkative, enthusiastic, and patient in her explanation. After walking and looking around, Meng Lei had a general understanding of Flame Arena!
Finally, Meng Lei came to the golden arena where the King of Fighters battle would be held tonight—the Flaming Ring of Life and Death!
As the only golden arena in Flame Arena, the Flaming Ring of Life and Death was much larger than any gymnasium on Earth. It was in the shape of a pillar, very much like Rome’s Colosseum on Earth!
The ring was at the bottom, surrounded by the spectator stands!
Presently, the spectator stands at the Flaming Ring of Life and Death were already filled with people. The nobles, wealthy merchants, and ladies from the capital city were talking enthusiastically about tonight’s King of Fighters battle!
The waiters in the arena walked through the stands, serving wine and water, and delivering desserts and dried fruits. The huge golden arena was full of voices and looked very lively!
Although the King of Fighters battle had not yet started, the atmosphere in the arena had already reached a frenzy!
Meng Lei appeared on the fighter viewing platform!
This was the area where fighters watched the battle. It was higher than the ordinary spectator stands but lower than the VIP boxes. It was located in the middle of the viewing platform and was meant for the arena’s staff to view the battles!
“Eh? There is someone new here?”
The fighter viewing area was already full of fighters. They were slightly surprised when they saw the unexpected arrival of Meng Lei. His young age made it even more surprising!
Meng Lei nodded casually and found a place to sit down. He did not know any of the fighters here, and there was no need to!
No one was certain who they would meet in the arena. By then, they would be fierce rivals!
It was completely unnecessary to befriend enemies. Their statuses meant that there could be no real friendship between fighters!
Meng Lei was right!
There was indeed no friendship between fighters!
Although the fighters were very familiar with each other and understood each other’s strength, level, tricks, fighting habits, etc., they were not friends with each other!
To understand each other was just to know your enemy better so that they can improve their chances of winning!
Some of the fighters’ gazes flickered as they stared at Meng Lei carefully, trying to see through all his secrets. Most of them were One-Star or Two-Star Bronze Fighters!
Meng Lei was a newcomer, and they were likely to meet him in future battles. Hence, they had to study him carefully!
Meng Lei didn’t know what these fighters were thinking. He looked into the distance as though he was paying attention to the ring. In fact, he was counting today’s gains!
Ever since he had left the academy until rushing to Flame Arena and sitting here to watch the battles, he had not had a moment of rest!
After leaving the academy, the system’s cue sound had not stopped ringing. This meant that Meng Lei had been picking non-stop, especially in Flame Arena, where the pick-up rate was higher!
Among the light balls he picked up, most of them were physical body constitution light balls, followed by gold coin light balls. Magical power light balls and spell light balls were relatively rare!
What surprised Meng Lei were the spirit light balls and the battle skill light balls. Perhaps because the King of Fighters battle was about to take place today, people were very excited, and hence these two types of light balls were surprisingly common!
In just one afternoon, Meng Lei’s spiritual power had increased by more than 100 points, and he had picked up six battle skills and a… Battle Aura Technique!
Battle Aura Technique, this is a rare item!
Meng Lei immediately went through the Battle Aura Technique named Fire Dragon Manual and was stunned!
What a stroke of luck!
After browsing the information in his mind, Meng Lei was left with a dumbfounded expression.
This item turns out to be a Battle Aura Technique of the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royal family. Only Dragon People with fire dragon bloodlines are qualified to practice!
The royal family—the race that controlled the Fire Dragon Kingdom!
After tens of thousands of years of reproduction, the royal family of Fire Dragon Kingdom had plenty and diverse members, including pureblood Fire Dragons, mixed-blood Dragon People, and mixed-blood Dragon Beasts!
There were only a few pureblood Fire Dragons, and the most numerous were the mixed-blood dragons. The Dragon People consisted nearly 99.99% of the royal family’s population!
Although most of them had diluted bloodlines and were the sort that lazed around, they were, after all, members of the royal family!
They were all qualified to cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual .
As for other people, no matter how high their status was, how much their wealth they had, and how noble their bloodlines were, they were not qualified to cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual !
Here’s the problem!
I am not of the Fire Dragon bloodline!
" }, { "id": 38, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-38", "title": "Chapter 38", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "As the cultivation technique used by Fire Dragon Kingdom royalty, the Fire Dragon Manual was no doubt a top-notch Battle Aura Technique. When cultivated to a level of great mastery, one could go straight up to the pinnacle of ninth-grade!
This was a priceless treasure that no amount of money could buy!
However, what frustrated Meng Lei was that he couldn’t cultivate this godly secret technique as he didn’t have any Fire Dragon blood in him!
Fire Dragon Manual can purify the Fire Dragon bloodline in the cultivator’s body, such that the dragon blood inside them becomes purer and more refined. When cultivated to a level of great mastery, they would be able to transform into a Fire Colossal Dragon!
As part of the Colossal Dragon race, not only did the Fire Colossal Dragons possess a strong and powerful body, but they were also born with the ability to manipulate flames and had extremely powerful combat abilities. They were an existence far above the rest of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s lifeforms and were a synonym for great power and fearsomeness!
If he could, of course Meng Lei would like to cultivate it, but…
Nevermind! I’ll think of something in the future!
If I really can’t come up with any solution, then I can only sell it. Turning it into gold coins is also a great option!
While he was certainly frustrated about it, he had to admit that his rewards from this afternoon were indeed impressive. His Physical Body Constitution had increased by more than 200 points, the number of gold coins he had had increased by more than 1,000, and his Spiritual Power had increased by more than 100 points!
He had even obtained six battle skills and the Fire Dragon Manual !
After adding everything up, the frustration in Meng Lei’s heart was swept clean. He secretly rejoiced that the decision he had made today was simply too wise! His battle capabilities had visibly improved, how awesome was that!
Bong, bong, bong!
At that moment, three loud and resonant gongs suddenly rang out. A few dazzling rays of light shone down from the ceiling and converged at the fighting ring underneath. The ring, which was made out of gold, reflected a brilliant golden light at once!
The light was glorious and resplendent, brilliant and dazzling!
“What the! A fighting ring made out of gold!”
Meng Lei’s eyes narrowed slightly as he received a huge shock. The ring was very big, easily more than 20 meters long and wide, and three to four meters high. Standing erect in the battleground, it was totally a block of gold!
If that were to be divided into gold coins, just how many would it amount to?
Meng Lei’s eyes practically bore right into it, wishing beyond belief that he could straight up take the entire fighting ring and keep it. Just how many Attribute Points would he be able to redeem with that?!
“Dear guests!
“Esteemed guests and friends!
“Good evening, everybody!
“I am Heidi Glenna, your host for tonight’s King of Fighters battle! On behalf of Flame Arena, let me welcome you!”
A clear and melodious voice rang out, and the beautiful form of a woman floated down from the ceiling. With a hot and sexy figure and snowy white wings, she was as though a holy and pure angel from the divine kingdom of light. She was the host for tonight!
A Swan-Woman?
Meng Lei’s eyes widened dramatically. A Swan-Person was just like a Cat-Person—both of them belonged to the Beast People race. This was the first time Meng Lei had ever seen a Swan-Person. He couldn’t help but be astounded by their beauty!
“She’s so beautiful. No wonder Swan-People are said to be one of the most beautiful races in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Those looks… They really make one’s blood boil with excitement!”
“The annual King of Fighters battle shall take place tonight. At this greatly anticipated moment, please allow me to formally introduce tonight’s battle contestants to everyone!
“They are, respectively, this year’s newly-promoted King of Fighters…
“…Oden Flit!”
Whoosh!
A ray of golden light cascaded from above and shone upon a corner of the ring. A small raised platform entered everyone’s sight, and on it stood a big and tall, strong, and muscular figure!
He was 2.4 meters tall and had bulging muscles!
He had a single fiery red horn on his head and a pair of fiery red wings on his back!
Fiery red scaly armor covered his body, and a long fiery red tail grew from his bottom!
His body was a brilliant fiery red all over, as though a flaming giant!
He was the newly-promoted King of Fighters—Oden Flit, a Fire Dragon Person with terrifying battle capabilities!
“Oden!!!”
“Oden!!!”
“Oden!!!”
“The King of Fighters!!!”
“The King of Fighters!!!”
“The King of Fighters!!!”
Upon seeing Oden Flit’s appearance, loud deafening cheers resounded in the entire arena at once. Several big-bellied noblemen waved their arms and shouted hysterically, while several sexy and beautiful young ladies blushed and became extremely excited!
Horrifying waves of cheers rang out louder than the previous, almost flipping off the ceiling. The on-site atmosphere was close to exploding!
That guy sure is popular!
Meng Lei rubbed his ears that had become numb from the reverberations, somewhat in disbelief. He didn’t expect that this Fire Dragon Person named Oden Flit would actually be so popular.
One must know that the people who were able to be present here today weren’t like those fervent fans on Earth that chased after young and fresh stars. Rather, they were officials that held authority and power, nobility with high social status, and extremely wealthy tycoons!
These people were akin to celebrities and people from high society on Earth, yet they were actually also groupies and were even so frenzied and unbridled in being one. This was something completely out of Meng Lei’s expectations!
No, wait, Oden Flit… Flit?
Isn’t that a royal surname?
Could that guy also be royalty?
A Fire Dragon Person! Flit! Could he really be royalty!?
Meng Lei was astonished!
Fighters!
They might look like they were living the life, but they were ultimately meant for people’s viewing pleasure!
In the eyes of the nobility, who had high status and social standing, fighters were ultimately a cheap and lowly occupation. None of the nobility would be willing to be a fighter and become a toy for people’s viewing pleasure!
Much less royalty?
As the royal race in control of Fire Dragon Kingdom, Fire Colossal Dragon blood flowed through the royalty’s veins. They thought of their bloodline as noble and refined, and their status as venerable. Who among them would be willing to become a fighter?
However, very evidently, that was what Oden Flit had done!
Now, that was pretty inconceivable!
What Meng Lei didn’t know was that Oden’s immense popularity was the result of the term “King of Fighters”. Before he had become a King of Fighters, what Oden had welcomed weren’t cheers and acclamations, but disdain and mockery.
Unlike regular fighters, the term “King of Fighters” represented the king among the fighters and symbolized great strength and power.
The nobility might be full of disdain toward fighters, but they idolized the Kings of Fighters!
Before Oden had become a King of Fighters, people mocked him, and the royalty despised him. However, after he became a King of Fighters, everything changed.
That was a King of Fighters’ charm!
It was also the most direct reflection of how the strong were the most revered in Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“As everyone knows, our newly-promoted King of Fighters has royal blood in him. The noble and refined Fire Dragon blood flows within him. This is also the reason why King of Fighters Oden possesses superbly strong battle capabilities!”
Heidi Glenna’s voice was loud and clear. She said, “These few years, ever since he joined Flame Arena, Oden has pressed on with a crushing force, won every single battle he was in, and successfully stood out from the rest to take the throne of the King of Fighters in the end!
“This is Oden’s victory!
“And also the royal bloodline’s victory!
“Let us wish for Oden’s happiness, and hope that he can continue his winning streak in the King of Fighters battle coming up! And hope that he can create another miracle and another legend!”
“Oden!”
“Oden!”
“Oden!”
…
“As for the other contestant tonight, I’m sure everyone is already very familiar with who he is. He once held the King of Fighters position for three successive terms, won the King of Fighters battles thrice in a row, and even achieved brilliant results in the King of Fighters battle organized by the empire this year!
“He is our Giant Spiritual God—Nicolas Austin!”
" }, { "id": 39, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-39", "title": "Chapter 39", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "He was more than four meters tall, and was a bronze color throughout!
The muscles all over his body intertwined and bulged like rocks!
His eyes were bright and piercing, and he held a mace in his hand!
He wore a suit of golden armor and had a horned Viking helmet on his head!
He was the King of Fighters that had held the title for three terms straight—Nicolas Austin, the Giant Spiritual God!
“All of our guests should be aware that our Giant Spiritual God has Ancient Giant blood in him. He has herculean strength and was once the winner of the King of Fighters title for three years straight. He even fought with all his might against powerful opponents in the Emperor of Fighters battle organized by the empire this year, and achieved an impressive third place!”
The host’s voice overflowed with passion and resounded throughout the sky above the ring. She said, “Today, we shall look forward to seeing whether Nicolas can overcome his opponent to achieve victory, and continue his King of Fighters legend!”
“Giant Spiritual God!!!”
“Giant Spiritual God!!!”
“Giant Spiritual God!!!”
As though deafening claps of thunder, even more fanatical cheers erupted with a boom and engulfed the Flaming Ring of Life And Death. The reverberations made the audience’s eardrums hurt, causing their ears to hum and making them dizzy!
As the winner of three King of Fighters terms, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God enjoyed immense popularity. It was something that the newly-promoted King of Fighters Oden couldn’t compare with, despite having royalty blood in him!
“And now, let us hand the ring over to the two Kings of Fighters!”
The host flapped her snowy white wings and slowly left the ring. Then, Oden and Nicolas, who were standing on the small raised platforms, moved simultaneously!
With a flap of his wings, Oden turned into a beam of fiery red light and arrived in the ring in an instant. He moved swiftly and as quick as lightning, arousing scream after scream from the audience!
Roar!!!
Nicolas let out a furious roar and stepped onto the platform with one foot. With a dull and thunderous boom, the platform cracked and fell apart. Nicolas’ big and tall form leaped high into the air and landed on the ring!
“Victory for Oden!!!”
“Victory for the Giant Spiritual God!!!”
In this instant, the cheers and screams in the arena reached their pinnacle. People screamed and shouted excitedly as though they had gone mad!
Madness! Truly madness! Looks like fervent fans exist in every world. Eh? That’s…
Meng Lei noticed light balls dropping one after another from the crazed, fervent fans. Judging from the color, these light balls were mostly spirit light balls.
Could it be that people easily drop spirit light balls when they are excited?
Meng Lei was secretly astonished. However, he didn’t stay idle. He turned and left the fighters’ viewing gallery, went down the safety passage, and quietly came to the stands.
Fighters were the arena’s internal staff. Hence, apart from being unable to enter the VIP rooms, they could freely enter any area in the arena.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +5!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +7!”
Meng Lei collected dropped light balls without a moment’s pause as he walked about the stands.
Hehe, how marvelous! I was really right to come to the arena!
Whoosh!
Just as Meng Lei collected his light balls, the cheers throughout the arena came to a sudden stop, as though someone had pressed the pause button. Meng Lei lifted his head and took a look. As it turned out, the battle between the Kings of Fighters had begun!
Magic shields rose into the air. The two Kings of Fighters gazed at each other from afar, sparks flying everywhere!
“Nicolas, I’m going to end your path of glory!”
Oden flapped his wings, his form suspended in mid-air. His voice was cold and emotionless like a blade, and there was an icy glint in his eyes.
“Shamelessly boastful little fellow, I hope your fists are half as tough as your mouth!” scoffed Nicolas as he sneered at him, his countenance full of disdain.
“Die!!!”
With a roar, Oden swooped down and struck out with his fist!
“Good job coming here!”
Boom!
As though meteors crashing into Earth, Oden and Nicolas clashed against each other forcefully. Within the booming thunderclap-like sounds of collision, the two of them went back and forth as they clashed intensely.
Every punch connected with flesh!
There was no holding back!
“Oden! Oden! Oden!”
“Giant Spiritual God! Giant Spiritual God! Giant Spiritual God!”
The audience in the arena were crazed as they shouted and cheered desperately!
One is a Dragon Person with Fire Dragon blood in him and part of royalty!
The other is a demi-giant with Ancient Giant blood in him!
This is truly like Mars ramming into Earth—a clash of the powerful!
Meng Lei stopped collecting light balls and watched the ring with bright and sparkling eyes, which were full of envy. As Kings of Fighters, Oden and Nicolas were definitely Ninth-Grade Warriors!
Ninth-grade!
That was a special domain!
This was because it was only one step away from reaching the Saint Domain!
The Saint Domain!
An existence far above!
An existence that transcended life and death!
An existence that controlled the heavens and earth!
It was a great and noble existence that truly stood at the pinnacle of all lifeforms!
Apart from this, ninth-grade also represented extremely strong and powerful battle capabilities!
Looking at the entire Fire Dragon Kingdom, Sixth-Grade and Seventh-Grade Warriors emerged in an endless stream. For Dragon People with even the least bit of purity in their bloodlines, even if they didn’t cultivate much, they would still become comparable to a Sixth-Grade or Seventh-Grade Warrior when they came of age!
In comparison, there were relatively fewer Eighth-Grade Warriors. It was impossible for one to reach a level like this just by relying on their bloodline. One could only reach this level by cultivating diligently.
As for Ninth-Grade Warriors, the numbers were even fewer!
There might not even be a single person that could attain ninth-grade among 10,000 Dragon People!
Thus, every Ninth-Grade Warrior enjoyed an illustrious social status. Those that were willing to become fighters for people’s viewing pleasure… There were even fewer of them!
This might also be another reason why Oden and Nicolas were so popular!
Boom, boom, boom!
The intense battle in the ring had already turned white-hot. Oden, the Fire Dragon Person, transformed into a fiery beam of light and raised his speed and physical strength to their maximum, leaving afterimages everywhere in the ring!
On the other hand, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God’s speed was evidently not on par with Oden’s. However, he was like a massive mountain. No matter how Oden blasted and bombarded him, he remained firm and unmoving!
Everyone could tell by this point of the battle.
Oden had high speed, and his attacks were swift and forceful!
Nicolas’ defense and physical strength were a notch higher!
One was fast, while the other was strong!
One could land strikes on his opponent, but couldn’t deal a fatal blow!
The other had stronger physical strength, but he was ultimately always slower by half a beat!
It can’t be that this stalemate is going to continue like this?
Meng Lei was secretly rendered speechless. The audience was also dissatisfied with the battle situation in the ring. They cheered and shouted even more desperately, hoping that the contestant they supported could defeat the other party and emerge victorious.
“Kid, do you only know how to scurry about madly like a mouse?”
Nicolas swung his mace, though it missed its target every time. He goaded, “Fight head-on with me if you have the capability to! You can’t defeat me just by fleeing about willfully!”
“Hmph!”
Oden was furious, yet there was nothing he could do. He was ultimately still too young and hadn’t been able to develop his body to perfection. In terms of physical strength, he lost to Nicolas!
If I can cultivate Fire Dragon Manual to a level of great mastery, I’d be able to smack him to death with just one hand. What a shame!
Oden was rather regretful and ended up spacing out slightly.
However, how could a battle between experts brook even a moment’s distraction?
Right in that split second, the experienced Nicolas seized the opportunity and swung his mace down. Oden barely managed to duck in a moment of desperation, but it was in this instant that Nicolas’ heavy fist came smashing down.
Oden wasn’t that lucky this time!
Boom!
The iron fist struck Oden heavily. With a terrible cry, Oden was thrown backward as blood spurted madly from his mouth!
“Lose!”
Nicolas was unforgiving upon gaining momentum. His attacks crashed down upon Oden like a hurricane. Within horrifying sounds of collision, Oden went smashing down and landed on the ground like a fallen leaf in the wind.
An uproar went through the crowd, and then the whole place instantly quietened!
The audience stared at the arena in a daze, all of them somewhat unable to recover from their astonishment.
The battle had still been equally matched in strength the previous moment!
Yet now a great change had suddenly taken place the next moment!
Oden… had lost?
Boom!
After a brief silence, Nicolas’ supporters erupted into tremendous cheers, while Oden’s supporters cursed and swore, unable to accept the outcome.
“The results are out. The Fire Dragon Person has lost!”
Meng Lei shook his head and sighed. Then, he got up and walked toward the ring. He remarked, “After suffering so many punches, probably even all the sh*t in Oden has probably been punched out of him?”
Meng Lei didn’t know whether or not Oden’s sh*t had been punched out of him, but what he did see was that in the instant when Nicolas’ punch threw out Oden, a shining blood-red light ball had dropped from him!
Oden was a Ninth-Grade Warrior. The light balls he dropped would probably be exceptional, right? Alright, he’d better hurry and pick it up!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Fire Dragon bloodline!”
(⊙_⊙)
“What!?”
" }, { "id": 40, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-40", "title": "Chapter 40", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 40: Modifying One’s Body, Transforming Into A Dragon For The First Time
I’ve οbtained the Fire Dragon bloodline?
Meng Lei looked absolutely bewildered. Previously, when he had picked up the Fire Dragon Manual , he had even found it a white elephant. After all, he couldn’t practice it, so what use was there to it, no matter how impressive it was?
Alright!
He had still been frustrated the last second, and then he immediately picked up the Fire Dragon bloodline the next second? Wasn’t this kinda ridiculous?
However! I may have picked it up, but it’s not like they can force me to assimilate it if I don’t want to, isn’t it?
With that in mind, Meng Lei was just about to communicate with the system when a bunch of crimson flames unexpectedly appeared in his body. Then, they separated into countless sections and turned into innumerable tiny fire dragons. These fire dragons instantly darted into all his limbs and bones, fusing with every single inch of his blood and flesh!
Boom!
As though a barrel of petroleum set on fire, Meng Lei felt a piercing and acute wave of pain coming from within his body and assaulting his senses madly. A muffled grunt escaped Meng Lei, and he almost let out a tragic cry.
W-what’s going on?!
Meng Lei was terribly shocked by this sudden turn of events. He forced himself to endure the severe pain in his body and ran to the nearest restroom.
A bout of crimson red flames emerged from within his body the instant he entered the restroom. It scorched his body and burned his clothes, turning him straight into a man on fire!
Under the blazing flames, his clothes didn’t even last a few seconds before they were reduced to ashes. Meng Lei’s whole body became exposed to the air at once!
Through the crimson flames, one could clearly see blue veins bulging against Meng Lei’s skin surface. His muscles were trembling, his bones were shaking, and wisps of black smoke were coming out of him!
“Ahhh!”
Meng Lei cried out in pain and agony. He felt like his whole body was about to be ripped apart. Violent spasms went through him. He had never once imagined that this was how extreme pain would feel like. It was truly utter misery, where one could neither live nor die!
While he was being assaulted by great pain, Meng Lei wasn’t aware that his body was currently undergoing a miraculous change. As the small and light flames burned his body, everything, be it his bones, meridians, skin, or blood, was going through changes that ordinary people would find hard to even imagine!
Every single cell!
Every inch of his blood and flesh!
Every single bone!
All of them were being reborn in the flames!
In his dazed state, an earth-shattering roar resounded. A hologram of a Fire Dragon covered from head to toe in fiery red scaly armor, and as though fully cast from solid metal, floated in the air behind Meng Lei. It roared into the heavens as it flapped its wings!
Splurt!
Splurt!
In the instant that the Fire Dragon hologram appeared, the sounds of blades piercing through flesh rang out, and fiery red bloodstained scales began to pop up one by one on the surface of Meng Lei’s body!
On both of his arms and both of his legs!
On his chest and his abdomen!
On his back and his buttocks!
In the blink of an eye, the fiery red scales had spread and covered every part of Meng Lei, making him look as though a monster covered in scales!
However, it wasn’t over yet!
Splurt!
Yet another soft pop rang out. Behind him, a long, thick, and muscular dragon tail grew from where his buttocks were. Fiery red scaly armor covered the tail, which was covered in blood. It looked evil and sinister and reeked of blood!
At the same time, two bamboo shoot-like objects also grew from his forehead. They were sharp-tipped and red, seeming as if they were going to pierce through the heavens!
These were a pair of dragon horns!
Fiery red dragon scales!
Fiery red dragon horns!
A fiery red dragon tail!
The changes finally came to a halt at this point. The flames enveloping Meng Lei all over slowly extinguished. The acute pain also ebbed away like the tide. Meng Lei collapsed into a heap on the ground, gasping for air and panting heavily!
Sweat and blood covered the ground. It was as though Meng Lei was lying in a pool of blood. At this moment, Meng Lei didn’t even feel like lifting a finger at all!
It hurt!
It hurt too much!
He felt as if he had gone to hell and back!
Even just thinking back to that feeling now gave him lingering fears. Meng Lei swore that he never wanted to experience it ever again!
Bam!
Someone pushed the restroom’s doors open right at this moment, and a thin and frail figure walked in. Right away, he was badly frightened by the scene in front of him and let out an ear-piercing scream!
“Ahhh!”
“Stop screaming!”
A severe jolt went through Meng Lei. His form turned into an afterimage and appeared right in front of the person that had just walked in. He clapped his hand over his mouth in one swift motion, his movements so quick that it was completely in a different class from what it was before!
“Listen! Stop screaming!”
Meng Lei didn’t want to be seen in such a pathetic state. He glared viciously at the person, signaling to him not to cause a commotion.
“L-let go of me! I won’t scream!”
The person nodded tactfully, and actually calmed down very quickly.
“You’d better behave!”
After threatening him again, Meng Lei carefully released his hold on him. True enough, the person didn’t scream anymore. Instead, he looked Meng Lei up and down before he asked in surprise, “You… Are you awakening your bloodline?”
“Awakening?”
Meng Lei was a little stunned. It was then that he realized that his body had undergone great changes. His arms, legs, abdomen… All of it was covered in a layer of fiery red scaly armor. A long dragon tail had even grown out of his buttocks behind him!
What the hell! Why have I turned into a Dragon Person!?
Meng Lei looked green around the gills. He had only just obtained the Fire Dragon bloodline the last moment, and now he had turned into a Dragon Person the next…
“B*stard system, who allowed you to assimilate it? Have you asked me for permission?!”
Meng Lei was so furious that he let loose a torrent of abuse!
However…
When he clenched his fists, explosive power filled his whole body from head to toe, as if he could destroy a mountain with just one punch!
When he jumped lightly, his body felt so light and buoyant, as if all of his weight was gone. It was as though most of gravity’s pull on him had been canceled out, as though a layer of shackles on him had been removed!
My body… It’s so strong!
Meng Lei couldn’t help himself from glancing at his personal stats interface. And then, what he saw astonished him!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline)
Wealth: 26,397 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Fifth-Grade Warrior (2,480/5,000)
Spirit: Fourth-Grade Magician (1,197/2,000)
Magic Power: Fifth-Grade Magician (2,023/5,000)
What the hell! That’s such a big change!
His Physical Body Constitution had been 800 points previously, but it was 2,400 points now, and had increased by threefold!
His Magic Power had been 1,000 points previously, but it was 2,000 points now, and had increased by twofold!
What an exaggeration! This is simply too big of an exaggeration!
Is the Fire Dragon bloodline really that much of a mutant?!
Meng Lei found himself in disbelief, and his feelings of frustration slightly lessened.
“The body will go through a qualitative change when one is awakening their Dragon bloodline!” The person gazed at Meng Lei and added calmly, “It’s absolutely normal for you to feel your power becoming stronger, and your body becoming lighter!”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded. After taking in the sensations in detail, he directed his gaze at the person. It was then that he realized he actually knew the fellow in front of him.
“Abbe, how come you’re here?”
The person that had entered the restroom was Abbe, Meng Lei’s cold and distant housemate. Meng Lei’s attention had been fully directed at the changes in his body just now, so he hadn’t recognized him for a moment there, but he finally belatedly realized his identity now!
“You know me?”
Abbe was startled.
Meng Lei chuckled and replied somewhat dryly, “Hee! We see each other every day, so would you say whether I know you or not?”
“See each other every d— You’re Meng Lei?”
Abbe’s eyes widened, and he stared at Meng Lei in disbelief. “Why are you here? No, how come you could awaken the Dragon race’s bloodline? Aren’t you a human!?”
" }, { "id": 41, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-41", "title": "Chapter 41", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 41: Fifth-Grade Warrior, New Plans
Abbe had had his attention on Meng Lei for a very long time now!
He had already heard of Meng Lei’s great reputation before he had enrolled in the academy and knew that Meng Lei was the most gifted talent among this year’s batch of new students.
When the two of them then became housemates, everything about Meng Lei couldn’t escape Abbe’s scrutiny all the more. After three months of observation, Abbe professed to be someone that knew Meng Lei very well. However, little did he expect that Meng Lei had actually still kept such a huge secret from him!
“Aren’t you a human? How come you could awaken the Dragon bloodline?” Abbe stared hard at Meng Lei, his eyes full of perplexity. “Or have you always been a Dragon Person all along?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
Meng Lei held out his hands and added, “I was watching the King of Fighters battle just now when this suddenly happened. To be honest, I’m still in utter confusion right now!”
Abbe didn’t doubt him. “Looks like you really have Dragon blood in you!”
Although a lot of Dragon People had awakened their Dragon bloodline at a young age, there was no lack of people like Meng Lei, who only awakened after maturing to a certain stage.
Meng Lei wasn’t a special case!
“Perhaps, I guess!”
Meng Lei had complicated feelings about this. He wasn’t going to tell Abbe the truth, of course. Even if he did, Abbe might not necessarily believe him, anyway. Assimilating the Dragon bloodline into his body?
Just the sound of it alone was ridiculous!
“Congrats!” said Abbe detachedly.
Then, he paid Meng Lei no further attention and went about his business in the restroom. Meng Lei walked over to the mirror and observed his current appearance.
He looked strange and was even covered from head to toe in blood. Meng Lei turned on the tap and started to clean himself.
That looks a lot more pleasant to the eye!
Except… Am I going to look like this from now on?
Meng Lei sighed. Even though the Fire Dragon bloodline brought him great power and strength, he simply couldn’t find himself in a good mood the moment he thought of how he had turned into a monster!
He preferred his previous human appearance!
Meng Lei asked, “Abbe, is it impossible for me to return to how I looked previously?”
“Why do you want to return to what you looked like previously?” Abbe’s puzzled voice drifted over from the cubicle. “In Fire Dragon Kingdom, everyone longs to have Dragon blood so that they can become an existence envied, respected, and feared by others! Additionally, what you’ve awakened is the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royal bloodline, which is even more extraordinary! Why would you want to return to what you looked like previously?”
“I look kinda strange now. I still prefer how I looked previously!” With a shake of his head, Meng Lei asked, “Tell me, is there any way to change it back?”
“I really don’t understand what you’re thinking!” replied Abbe with a shake of his head.
Nevertheless, he went on and said, “For Dragon People that awakened their bloodline at a later stage, their Dragon blood is ultimately comparatively less concentrated, so they aren’t able to maintain a Dragon form for long. You’ll return to your previous appearance when the energy in your body is fully expended!”
“Oh, I see!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.
And true enough!
After a mere five minutes, Meng Lei felt an empty and hollow feeling coming from his body. The dragon scales on his body faded away swiftly like the tide, and in the blink of an eye, they had already disappeared cleanly!
His dragon tail and dragon bones also vanished along with them!
Meng Lei became smooth and clean, with not a single thread of clothing on him!
“I’ve turned back!
“Haha, I’ve turned back!
“This current look is much more pleasing to the eye after all!”
Right at that moment, Abbe walked out of the cubicle to see Meng Lei fully naked, and his eyes widened big and round at once.
What the f*ck! He’s so big!
“Abbe, get me a set of clothes!”
…
Meng Lei returned to the Flaming Ring of Life And Death after getting dressed and exiting the restroom. The King of Fighters award ceremony was currently underway!
The King of Fighters battle had ended!
It concluded with the three-term King of Fighters, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God, successfully defending his title. As the victor, he received the people’s cheers and idolization, and his limelight was unparalleled for a while there!
On the other hand, as the loser, Odin Flit quietly left the Flaming Ring of Life And Death. In the upcoming period of at least a year, he would have to live with the loser’s title!
No matter which world it was, people only remembered the victors, while the losers were destined to be forgotten and despised. Reality… was simply always this brutal!
“The victor is king, while the loser is the knave!”
Meng Lei didn’t leave in a hurry. Instead, he continued to pick up attribute light balls that had dropped. After the Fire Dragon bloodline’s accidental assimilation, both his physical body constitution and magic power reserves had reached fifth-grade!
On the contrary, his spiritual power was now lagging behind in the last place and was still at the fourth-grade level.
It was just nice that the arena was crowded, and the people there were mostly in a state of stimulation. He could pick up a few more spirit light balls during this period to compensate for the difference in his spiritual power!
…
It was already midnight by the time he returned to the academy!
After he cleaned himself up, Meng Lei didn’t meditate like what he usually did but studied the Fire Dragon Manual instead. He intended to give the top-notch Battle Aura Technique a try.
What was that saying again? “If you can’t beat them, then join them” or something?
Since he already had Dragon blood in him, then it would be too wasteful if he didn’t cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual .
More than an hour later, when he felt that he was more or less done with studying it, Meng Lei attempted to practice the technique. Upon being guided, a mysterious energy current in him began to crawl slowly in his meridians, much like a snail!
It moved at a very slow speed!
However, Meng Lei was secretly rather excited!
According to the Fire Dragon Manual , that mysterious energy current was Fire Dragon Battle Aura. The fact that the Fire Dragon Battle Aura had begun to circulate in his body meant that he had already entered the Fire Dragon Manual ‘s rudimentary stage!
This was a fantastic turn of events!
As long as I can cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual, I am confident that I can cultivate this battle aura technique to a level of great mastery!
Alright, I’ll set a small goal first. For example, becoming a Ninth-Grade Warrior?
Meng Lei practiced the Fire Dragon Manual the whole night. After a night’s cultivation, his Fire Dragon Battle Aura circulation speed had become a lot faster. It was quite a few times faster than what it had been when he had first started!
Fire Dragon Manual also proved itself worthy of being a cultivation method for the Fire Dragon royal family’s use. After a night’s cultivation, Meng Lei’s Physical Body Constitution had actually increased by more than 40 points!
Now, that was pretty dramatic!
That was more than 40 points in a night!
In other words, it was indicative of more than 1,200 points in a month!
At this rate, he would need only two months to become a Sixth-Grade Warrior!
A Sixth-Grade Warrior!
That definitely wouldn’t be weak anymore!
However! I can’t possibly spend all my time cultivating the Fire Dragon Manual. I still have to meditate at night to increase my spiritual power and magic power reserves.
Should I do it in the afternoon instead?
No, that won’t do. The afternoon is meant for picking up light balls!
How about… In the morning?
Alright, the morning it is, then!
I’m already more or less done with learning the basics of using magic. I only need to improve my spiritual power and my magic power reserves, and study even higher-grade spells from now on!
Magic classes… It doesn’t matter whether I go for them or not!
Alright! I’ve happily made up my mind!
Cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual in the morning!
Pick up attributes in the afternoon!
Meditate at night!
His schedule for 24 hours a day had been adequately set!
He also needed to go to the Flame Arena, of course. The fact that Meng Lei had already become a fighter, and was required to fight at least 10 battles per month aside, just the huge number of attribute light balls available there alone already meant that he had to go there!
In the next three days, Meng Lei strictly implemented the plans he had previously set and carried out self-learning… No, it should be… self-refining instead!
Thus, he was absent for his magic classes in the morning. This greatly puzzled Mr. Horatio, the teacher in charge of teaching thunder-elemental magic. Meng Lei wasn’t one to skip classes usually, so why hadn’t he come for classes for three days in a row lately?
The students didn’t know anything either when Horatio asked them about it. In the end, left with no other choice, Horatio could only directly report this matter to Meng Lei’s head teacher!
Students were given a lot of freedom for classes in Fire Dragon Academy, so they could choose whether they wanted to attend them or not. Mr. Horatio definitely wouldn’t care that much if others didn’t attend classes, but Meng Lei was a different case!
He had very high hopes for Meng Lei and didn’t wish for him to be remiss in his studies because of this.
“What? That little fellow hasn’t come for classes for three days?”
" }, { "id": 42, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-42", "title": "Chapter 42", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 42: Arthur Galen Battling A Tauren
Meng Lei didn’t know that his head teacher had been informed about his absence from class. At this time, he had just finished his Fire Dragon Manual cultivation and was heading to Flame Arena alone!
Finally, he was going to have his first fight tonight!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +2!”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful…”
This time, Meng Lei did not take the magic cab but traveled on foot. He had the entire afternoon for his journey.
There was no need to hurry. Thus, he was able to take advantage of his spare time to stroll around the lively areas and pick up attribute light balls!
Magic device markets, slave markets, magic core trading markets, mercenary halls, warrior academies…
He had a fruitful harvest along the way, and his gains were much better than performing meditation at night. His physical and spiritual power improved by more than 100 points, while his magic reserve was only slightly worse off!
Walking within the academy compound can increase magic reserves!
If you want to increase your physical body constitution, you still have to go outside!
…
At night, Bronze Arena No. 20 was already crowded!
As the bronze arena with the lowest specifications, Arena No. 20, be it its scale or decoration, could not be compared to the Flaming Ring of Life And Death, even its tickets were much cheaper!
Therefore, most of the spectators who came to the bronze arena to watch the matches were petty bourgeoisie, such as low ranking nobles, small-time businessmen, wealthy peasants, and so on. It was precisely because of the low prices that the number of spectators was the largest!
The seats in the huge Arena No. 20 were all full. The spectators nibbled melon seeds, drank beer, and boasted and bragged. They looked very happy. After a hard day of work, this place provided the best relief for them!
Bong, bong, bong!
Three beats of drums suddenly sounded, and the audience went quiet!
A dozen lights suddenly shone down, illuminating the ring below. There was a host wearing a formal suit standing on the stage, shouting loudly!
“Dear spectators and friends, good evening. Welcome to the Flaming Ring of Life And Death. I am tonight’s host…
“I’ll skip the idle chat. Let us invite the two fighters, who will give you a spectacular battle tonight, with warm applause!
“They are both Two-Star Bronze Fighters. Harrell the Raging Bull!”
The host’s voice was loud and shrill. “As we all know, Harrell, the Raging Bull, was a newcomer who joined our Flame Arena last month. However, he already has a sterling record. He has battled 11 times and achieved an amazing result of 10 wins and 1 loss!
“Currently, Harrell has five consecutive victories. As long as he defeats his opponent tonight, he will achieve the great result of six consecutive victories and be promoted to become a Three-Star Fighter!
“Let us welcome him on stage with warm applause!”
“Moo—”
As soon as the host’s voice landed, a loud and sonorous moo suddenly traveled over. A burly man with the head of a bull leaped into the ring under the bright lights!
He was 2.5 meters tall, with bulging muscles. He had two dark curved horns on his head, exuding an eerie chill!
“Moo—”
Harrell bulged his chest muscles and bellowed at the sky!
“Raging Bull!”
“Raging Bull!”
“Raging Bull!”
The audience was roused. They waved their arms and gave off a deafening cheer that shook the earth. The atmosphere was extremely explosive!
The host was very satisfied with the atmosphere. He made a downward pressing motion with his hands, and the cheers suddenly stopped.
“Our other fighter is even more mysterious. He is also a newcomer, and only became an honorable fighter three days ago! In other words, tonight is his first battle, his debut! Are you disappointed? Just a rookie, how can he compare up to our Raging Bull Harrell?”
The audience nodded and booed disdainfully. Newcomers had no rights and were not popular here. They were not into newcomers!
“You are making a mistake if you think this way!” The host’s voice was loud and clear. “Although this fighter is a rookie, he is a special breed of fighter that is rarely seen in the Flame Arena, because…”
The host stretched his voice, and when the audience’s curiosity was piqued, he shouted, “He is a noble… Magician!”
What?
Magician?
The audience went silent before erupting into a roar!
Magician fighter?
This was a rare sight!
The audience was fired up. The disappointment in their eyes was replaced by curiosity and anticipation!
To those high ranking nobles and officials, ordinary Magicians were nothing, but to these petty bourgeoisie and wealthy peasants, Magicians still had their pulling power!
Especially when the Flame Arena rules only permitted Fourth-Grade Magicians to become fighters!
It was extremely rare to watch a Fourth-Grade Magician battle!
Besides, magician fighters were rare, and having the good fortune to watch a magician fighter battle made their tickets worthwhile!
“Next, let us invite the noble Lord Magician, Master Arthur Galen, with warm applause!”
Crackle, crackle!
In the dark corner, a dazzling lightning bolt suddenly exploded. Amidst the sound of the blast, a young man bathed in lightning strode into the ring!
He wore a golden mask that covered his entire face. The lightning that surrounded him made him extremely mysterious and majestic, which was completely in line with a Magician’s identity!
“Magician!”
“Magician!”
“Magician!”
Upon seeing Arthur Galen’s grand entrance, the audience suddenly went into a frenzy, cheering excitedly!
“First, let me announce the rules of the fight!
“Our fights are fierce battles. The fight is only over when one party surrenders, admits defeat, becomes unconscious or dies!
“Are both of you clear on this?”
“Understood!”
“Okay!”
“Very good! I now announce that the match has officially started!”
Whoosh!
The audience instantly became quiet!
Countless unblinking eyes stared at the ring, full of expectation!
At the same time, in a VIP box in arena No. 20, Uno, the person in charge of the arena, stood in front of the French-styled windows, looking at Arthur Galen below, with an inexplicable expression!
“The top freshman of the Fire Dragon Magic Academy came to Flame Arena to be a fighter. What is this little fellow thinking?”
Uno felt a little uneasy. A genius Magician was nothing to him. What mattered was the Fire Dragon Magic Academy, which he came from!
He would be in trouble if Meng Lei perished here!
“Let’s test his abilities first! If he can’t make it, I’ll have to find a way to drive him away!”
…
“Magician! Hmph, you should surrender!”
Two long white wisps of mist sprayed out of Harrell the Raging Bull’s nostrils, and a pair of eyes as big as copper bells stared at Meng Lei fiercely. “So that your tiny limbs won’t get smashed into pieces by me!”
“Hehe, you can try!”
Meng Lei laughed coldly, with a look of disdain.
“Hmph! Take this punch from me!” The Raging Bull roared as his feet trampled on the ring, making a dull noise. It felt like a heavy tank was rumbling over, as his heavy fist flew toward Meng Lei’s face!
" }, { "id": 43, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-43", "title": "Chapter 43", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 43: Violent Thunderstorm, Achieved First Victory
Raging Bull was like a heavy tank crushing over. His heavy fist was aimed directly at Meng Lei’s face, as it gave off a majestic and terrifying aura!
“Raging Bull!”
“Raging Bull!”
Upon seeing this scene, the spectators that supported Raging Bull shouted and cheered, “F*ck this Magician. Let him know how powerful Taurens are!”
It was clear that even though the spectators looked forward to seeing a Magician like Meng Lei, the majority still supported Raging Bull. This was the result of his 10 victories!
After all, some spectators had also bet on him. Naturally, they hoped that he would win!
As expected, the Taurens of the Beast People are indeed ferocious!
Meng Lei could feel Raging Bull’s terrifying power, so his face became solemn. The Tauren was a big tribe among the Beast People. They were half-human half-bull and were extremely strong and brave. They were natural battle machines. In terms of strength, they were even more brutal than the royal races of the Beast People, the Lion and Tiger People!
When a human faced off with a Tauren, the disparity in strength was just too obvious!
Pity that I won’t go head-to-head with you using strength!
Meng Lei stood his ground and had already started chanting a magic spell. He planned to hide the Fire Dragon bloodline and use it as a last resort!
“Thinking of using magic? Fat chance!”
Raging Bull was fast. Within a few big strides, he appeared in front of Meng Lei. His huge fist came collapsing down, delivering a fierce blow toward Meng Lei’s head!
Taurens were already extremely strong, and as a Fifth-Grade Warrior, Raging Bull was even more tyrannical. If this blow connected, Meng Lei would definitely perish!
“Hehe, die!”
Raging Bull grinned, as though he had seen the scene of Meng Lei staggering with blood splashing around before collapsing dead on the ground. This made him very excited. Ever since he had been captured by the Fire Dragon Kingdom and had become a slave, Raging Bull had suffered tremendous hardship. Hence, he was full of hatred!
He hated the Dragon People and humans!
He hated everyone in the Fire Dragon Kingdom!
Raging Bull wanted revenge!
After being sold to Flame Arena to become a fighter, Raging Bull had been fighting ferociously and ruthlessly. He had achieved 10 victories, and all his opponents had died tragically!
Therefore, Raging Bull was referred to as the Cold-Blooded Bull Demon, which demonstrated that he was as cold-blooded and ruthless as the devil. Raging Bull liked this title very much. He wanted revenge and killed everyone he could kill!
This human Magician in front of him was no exception!
Whoosh!
However, the moment Raging Bull’s fist landed, Meng Lei, who was standing there, suddenly disappeared. He was gone without a trace as if he never existed!
“What?”
Raging Bull was slightly stunned. He looked around but was unable to find Meng Lei. At that moment, he heard the audience. “On top of your head! He is above your head!”
“On top of my head?”
Raging Bull instantly turned his head and saw a dazzling light!
Snap!
Within the extremely dazzling brilliance, a thunder python descended from the sky with its mouth wide opened and swallowed Raging Bull!
Crackle, crackle!
Lightning and thunder raged, while electric currents flowed unrestrained!
Raging Bull was engulfed by electricity!
“Moo—”
Raging Bull was hardy. After being hit by the Third-Grade Spell, Thunder Python, he didn’t collapse. Instead, he roared angrily at the sky, summoning his strength to resist the currents that were eroding his body!
Clearly, his body was strong, and third-grade spells were unable to hurt him!
“I never thought that just a third-grade spell could finish you off. But this was enough to hold you back for a while!”
Meng Lei was surprisingly calm. Thunder Elements gathered in his palm, creating the terrifying fourth-grade thunder spell—Violent Thunderstorm!
“Human, this little spell is not even enough to tickle me!”
Raging Bull’s body was really terrifying. He only took four seconds to break free after being paralyzed by the Thunder Python. He repeatedly roared as he charged at Meng Lei, looking extremely savage and ferocious!
Meng Lei quietly stood his ground, allowing Raging Bull to charge over!
“Go to hell!”
Raging Bull raised his heavy fist and slammed it down!
When his iron fist was about to close in on Meng Lei, the latter suddenly opened his eyes and slowly chanted two words. “Violent Thunderstorm!”
Boom!
Blinding lightning suddenly came crashing down, instantly engulfing Raging Bull and illuminating the dim ring. The tall and strong body of Raging Bull was completely covered by lightning!
“Moo—”
A shrilling cry escaped from the lightning, but Meng Lei was unrelenting. He knew that the thunderstorm alone could not subdue Raging Bull. He had to be more ruthless!
“Descending Wild Thunder!”
Ten seconds later, another thunder spell slammed down, drowning the bull who was still trapped in the thunderstorm. After releasing this spell, Meng Lei finally heaved a sigh of relief!
“Descending Wild Thunder is known as the strongest fourth-grade single-target spell, which should be enough to knock him out!”
The audience went quiet!
Nearly 100,000 spectators stared at Raging Bull, who was wrapped in lightning, shocked and speechless. They had been spectating such battles for many years but had never witnessed such an awesome fight!
Thunder Python!
Violent Thunderstorm!
Descending Wild Thunder!
Magic attacks were indeed flashy. The thunder pythons, the thunderbolts, and the violent thunderstorm were simply too captivating to the eye!
Visually, a fight between Warriors was not as good as a display of magic… The audience enjoyed this amazing scene a lot!
“One word to describe it—satisfying!”
“I, a Baron, have been watching these fights for many years, and this is the first time I saw a Magician appear in the arena. This scene is… so cool!”
“Three consecutive magic spells to lock in the victory. It turns out that a Magician’s battle is so beautiful and picturesque!”
“Hahaha, this magician fighter named Arthur Galen is really extraordinary. Even the Cold-Blooded Bull Demon, who has recently risen to fame, was defeated by him!”
“He is too formidable. The gap between the two is simply too great!”
After a short silence, the audience broke out in cheers. The audience was wildly gesticulating as they engaged in their discussions, appearing exhilarated. Although Raging Bull, whom they supported, had lost, they had been able to witness such a wonderful display of magic. It was worth the price of the ticket!
“Strange! Isn’t this little fellow human? How is a human Magician able to dodge so quickly?”
Uno stared at Meng Lei from his VIP box, his eyes full of confusion. Although Raging Bull was savage and proficient at using violence to subdue his opponents, his speed was not slow. Otherwise, he would not have been able to win 10 fights in this ruthless arena!
The strange thing was that Meng Lei had actually evaded his attack!
This was astonishing!
He was just a Fourth-Grade Human Magician. How did he manage to develop such a fast speed?
“I don’t understand! This little fellow must be hiding some secrets!”
…
The lightning dispersed!
Raging Bull was still standing upright, with no signs of collapsing. This surprised Meng Lei. However, when he was about to continue his attack, Raging Bull suddenly collapsed on the ground with black smoke emitting from his mouth!
Raging Bull… was not able to fight anymore!
“I declare the winner of this match… Arthur Galen!”
The host appeared out of nowhere and announced the match’s outcome loudly. The audience cheered and shouted the name, Arthur Galen!
It was obvious that after this battle, Meng Lei had gained a lot of popularity. Many spectators now knew about him!
Meng Lei did not care much about this, and continued on with the important task of picking!
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Spirit +3!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +21!”
“Ding…”
" }, { "id": 44, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-44", "title": "Chapter 44", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 44: Fifth-Grade Magician, Strike a Deal With Lance
Meng Lei was elevated after achieving a big victory in his first fight and getting off to a good start. The appearance fee of 1,000 gold coins made him even happier too!
1,000 gold coins meant 100 Attribute Points!
He also had a fruitful harvest today, picking up various attributes. When he saw that the spiritual attribute was about to break through the 2,000-mark, Meng Lei simply spent some gold coins to raise himself to fifth-grade!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon Bloodline)
Wealth: 22,614 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Fifth-Grade Warrior (2,729/5,000)
Spirit: Fifth-Grade Magician (2,014/2,000)
Magic Power: Fifth-Grade Magician (2,316/5,000)
Magic Spells: Some increase
Battle Aura Technique: Fire Dragon Manual
Battle Skills: Some increase
I am both a Fifth-Grade Warrior and a Fifth-Grade Magician!
I can be considered as a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts!
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his progress. In Heaven’s Vault Continent, the dual cultivation of magic and martial arts was not taboo. There were many Dragon People who were like that, training their physical bodies and learning magic spells at the same time!
Meng Lei did not know whether they would stop doing that after cultivating to a high level. But for him, he did not want to give up training his physical body or magic for the time being!
The battle advantage of being proficient in both was simply too great!
…
It was already 1 a.m. by the time he returned to the academy!
Meng Lei cleaned up hastily and performed his night meditation as usual!
He was quiet the whole night!
Early in the next morning, Meng Lei ended his meditation. After eating breakfast to fill his stomach, he began his cultivation of Fire Dragon Manual as planned!
After the last three days of training, Meng Lei felt that the Fire Dragon Battle Aura in his body had become stronger, and its circulation speed was getting faster. Every time the Fire Dragon Battle Aura completed one circulation, the Fire Dragon bloodline would be purified further!
When the Fire Dragon bloodline in his body could not be purified by the Fire Dragon Battle Aura anymore, it meant that this battle aura technique had been complete, and he had stepped into the realm of pureness!
That day was the day he would be transformed into a Fire Dragon!
“Heard that you have not been going to class for three days!”
When Meng Lei sat cross-legged and prepared to practice the Fire Dragon Manual , his housemate, Abbe, walked down from the stairs and looked at Meng Lei coldly!
“Yeah!”
Meng Lei did not deny it!
“Seems like you won’t be going today as well?” asked Abbe.
“Yes, and I won’t be going in the future!” Meng Lei smiled and said, “Magic lessons are of no use to me. It’s a waste of time to attend classes. It’s better to practice by myself!”
Abbe frowned when he heard this. He felt that Meng Lei’s words were a bit arrogant. Fire Dragon Magic Academy was the third-ranked magic academy in the Dragon God Empire, and the teacher was an eighth-grade magic instructor!
You, a Third-Grade Magician, dare to say such things?
“Hmph!”
Truly arrogant!
Although he was unhappy, Abbe was indifferent by nature and didn’t wish to say anything more. After a quiet snort, he turned his head and left the apartment!
“This fellow… always feels weird!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Unexpectedly, at that moment, his magic communication device suddenly rang!
There were many magical devices in this world, and the magic communication device was one of them. Its function was similar to that of mobile phones on Earth, but looked completely different!
The magic communication device was not as feature-rich as a mobile phone. It was not as complicated, and it couldn’t install many ‘apps’. It had only one function—communication!
Meng Lei opened the magic communication device. Bright lights lit up before converging into a face. It was the class guide and their senior sister, Jenny Lane!
“Senior sister, what’s up?”
Meng Lei was a little puzzled. Senior Sister Jenny was about to graduate this year and was very busy. She generally would leave them alone if nothing cropped up.
“Junior Meng Lei, have you not attended class for three days?” Senior Sister Jenny asked frowningly with a serious expression!
“Yes, what’s the matter?”
Meng Lei was stunned for a moment. From Senior Sister Jenny’s tone, it seemed that something was wrong?
“You are skipping class, do you know?” Senior Sister Jenny scowled and scolded, “You have just started school for a few days, and have already begun to skip classes. I can’t imagine what you will do in the future!”
“Surely, it’s not that serious? I remember that the academy does not stipulate that I have to attend magic classes? All I needed to do is to pass the exam, right?!” Meng Lei was a little bewildered.
“You are right. The academy has no hard rule that magic classes must be attended, but this is meant for senior students. After all, senior students have already learned the theory and fundamentals of magic. It doesn’t make much sense for them to attend class!”
Senior Sister Jenny rebuked, “But you are only in first grade, the foundation stage. How can you deliberately skip class? Are you aware that Department Head Dirk already knows about this? He is very angry and wants to see you in his office!”
“I’ll go! But is this necessary?”
Meng Lei was in a fix. His attributes moved by several hundred points per day, so how would he be able to find time for the head teacher?
“I have already conveyed his message. It’s up to you whether you want to go or not!”
Senior Sister Jenny was very dissatisfied with Meng Lei’s attitude. “However, I want to remind you that Department Head Dirk is the first-years’ head teacher. You should be honored that he is making time to talk to you. You will go if you know what is good for you!”
Right after that, she hung up!
“I’m so screwed!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
Yes, he had to go!
Department Head Dirk did not have a good temper. If he did not show up, Meng Lei would definitely die a miserable death. There was no other way, especially when he was the head teacher!
After leaving the condominium, Meng Lei was about to head to the teaching faculty building when a tall, green-skinned Dragon Person stopped him. It was actually Lance, the person he had taught a lesson to on the entrance exam day!
“Yo! Isn’t this our genius freshman Meng Lei? What’s going on? Where are you going?” Lance was acting strangely as he peered at Meng Lei.
Meng Lei shot him a glance and said coldly, “Was the previous beating not enough?”
“Lowly race! What are you arrogant about? I was careless the previous time, and you took advantage of it. Do you think I am afraid of you?” Lance was furious. “Tell you what, I have already broken through two levels in a row and have advanced to become a Fifth-Grade Warrior. If you are capable, let’s battle in the ring. Care to see if I will give you a beating?”
“Fifth-Grade Warrior?”
Meng Lei raised his eyebrows, feeling very surprised. “If I remember correctly, three months ago, you were only a Third-Grade Warrior. How did you become a Fifth-Grade Warrior in just three months?”
“Hmph! I am a once-in-a-century genius. How can I compare to you, a lowly human!”
Lance folded his arms across his chest and said with a stern voice, “Enough with petty talk. Do you dare to step into the ring with me? If you don’t dare, you will make a detour when you see me in the future and stop acting arrogant!”
“Hehe, do you think I dare not?” Meng Lei smiled and said, “I am open to fighting you in the ring. But I don’t like to do things that don’t have any rewards. You should understand what I mean, right?”
“You want a battle reward? Okay, I am agreeable to that. My purpose is to expose you in public!” Lance sneered repeatedly. “I want everyone to know that this so-called human genius is nothing special, and cannot be compared to us, the noble Dragon People!”
“Great!” Meng Lei smiled. “How much do you plan to offer?”
“10,000!” Lance gave a thumbs up. “As long as you are able to defeat me, 10,000 gold coins will be yours! But if you lose… Hmph, I don’t want your money. I just want you to announce something in public, in front of everybody!”
“Eh?” Meng Lei frowned
“I’m a lowly good-for-nothing. I can never be compared to Lance!” Lance said triumphantly, “I just want everyone to know that no matter how talented you are in magic, you are just a lowly good-for-nothing!”
“I agree to your conditions! But 10,000 gold coins are just too little!” Meng Lei’s smile vanished. “100,000 gold coins! As long as you are willing to take out 100,000 gold coins, I will fight you!”
“100,000 gold coins? Why don’t you rob a bank?” Lance was furious. “50,000! The most I can offer is 50,000!”
“Hmph! You want to embarrass me, but are unwilling to pay the price. How can there be such a good deal?” Meng Lei laughed coldly. “However, 50,000 gold coins… is also fine!”
" }, { "id": 45, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-45", "title": "Chapter 45", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 45: Dragon Bone Herb, Instant Third-Grade Spell
Lance was incredibly excited after receiving Meng Lei’s affirmation. He took out his magic communication device right away and informed his scoundrel friends about it. He also got those friends to advertise it widely and spread the news!
The news spread like wildfire!
In no time, it had spread throughout Fire Dragon Academy!
Fatty Hart sat in class as per usual.
He had always attended earth-elemental magic classes with Meng Lei during the last three months. Although he didn’t understand why Meng Lei wanted to come along and attend earth-elemental classes, it didn’t matter, anyway. With Meng Lei for company, he wouldn’t be lonely anymore!
However, Meng Lei had stopped coming for classes ever since the mid-term examination. This bored Hart out of his mind, and he became very listless in class.
“Fatty, why are you still here?”
“What?”
Fatty Hart was stunned for a moment before he directed his gaze to the classmate speaking to him.
“Lance from Class 2 is going to have a showdown with Meng Lei from our class. They have probably already gone ahead to the battle platform to get permission for a showdown by now. Isn’t Meng Lei your buddy? Why aren’t you going over to take a look?”
“Lance and Meng Lei? Showdown?”
Fatty Hart was startled for a while. Then, he shook his head several times in a row and said, “That’s impossible! How can Lance, that piece of trash, be a match for my Big Brother Meng? Isn’t he just looking for torture?”
“Fatty, you’re too out of the loop!”
(⊙o⊙)
“Uhh?!” Fatty Hart was astonished!
“I heard that Lance consumed a stalk of Dragon Bone Herb recently, so his body has already broken through to fifth-grade. With his mighty Fifth-Grade Warrior battle capabilities, isn’t dealing with Meng Lei going to be a piece of cake for him?”
“Dragon Bone Herb? What the f*ck!”
Fatty Hart’s countenance changed dramatically. He didn’t bother with classes anymore and headed out at once!
“Dragon Bone Herb! Has that broken horn of a throat really consumed the Dragon Bone Herb? F*ck, that’s really some dumb luck he has!”
Others might not know about the Dragon Bone Herb, but Fatty Hart knew exactly what it was. That thing was an extremely rare plant, and the reason why it was rare was that it grew on Colossal Dragons carcasses and matured by absorbing the dead Colossal Dragons’ life essences!
As such, Dragon Bone Herbs had a special effect. It could refine the concentration of Dragon blood in Dragon People’s bodies and allow their bodies to undergo an explosive power-up for a short period of time. In addition, the effect… was the best when consumed by people below sixth-grade!
Therefore, to Dragon People on a lower social stratum, the Dragon Bone Herb was a miraculous elixir for refining one’s bloodline for sure. It was a treasure that all Dragon People dreamed of and longed for!
Fatty Hart didn’t expect Lance, that piece of trash, to have actually obtained something like that. That was truly some dumb luck he had! The heavens must be blind!
“I have to stop this battle! Meng Lei can’t possibly win!”
One could say that hurrying there at the fastest speed he could muster was truly a tough task for Fatty Hart. At a height of less than 1.6 meters tall, and with a weight of close to 100 kilograms, running was practically torture to him!
But what was he to do?
He could only grit his teeth and push on!
More than 10 minutes later, he finally reached the battle platform!
He arrived only to see Meng Lei and Lance standing on the battle platform. The magic shield had already risen into the air and enveloped the entire battle platform. The teacher in charge of guarding the battle platform stood in the corner and served as the judge!
Students that had hurried over upon hearing the news filled up the area outside the battle platform. There were splendidly-dressed Dragon People nobility, as well as simply-dressed human commoners; there were seniors in the higher grades, as well as first-year freshmen!
They pointed and gesticulated as they speculated wildly, making the place extremely lively!
“Excuse me, please let me through!”
“What are you squeezing in here for? Can’t you see that there are people here?”
After making a Herculean effort to squeeze through the crowd, and seeing the two people on the battle platform, Fatty Hart shouted, “Old bro! Don’t fight with him! You’re not his match!”
“Did you hear that? That useless loser is calling out to you!”
Lance had also heard what Fatty Hart said. The corners of his mouth quirked upward slightly, and a smug expression came over his face. “Hurry and admit defeat if you know what’s good for you, so as to avoid making a fool out of yourself later and embarrassing yourself!”
Meng Lei chuckled leisurely and made an ‘OK’ hand gesture at the little fatty, signaling to him to keep calm. Then, he said, “You can start now. I’m in a hurry and don’t have the time to waste going on and on about nothing with you here!”
“Hehe! I just hate that cool demeanor of yours so much. What are you being so arrogant for? You’re nothing but cheap human trash with a lowly bloodline. What’s there for you to be so arrogant about?!”
Lance looked savage as he said, “Today, I’m going to thoroughly embarrass you in front of so many people here. I want everyone to know that a cheap piece of trash will always be a cheap piece of trash, so don’t ever think of comparing yourself to Dragon People like us!”
“Exactly! Kill that lowly human!”
“Let him know how mighty we Dragon People are!”
“Lance! Teach him a good lesson, and show him the Dragon People’s strength!”
“We Dragon People are the strongest…”
All the Dragon People nobility watching the battle also echoed him. The teacher, who was acting as a judge and standing in the corner, frowned slightly but chose to remain silent.
He had long since gotten used to this!
In this kingdom presided over by Dragon People, the human race’s social standing was ultimately lower than the Dragon People’s. Dragon People looking down on humans was a kind of normalcy that nobody could change!
Even if a Magician enjoyed considerably high status, it ultimately still couldn’t compare with that of Dragon People of the same level. Take Ninth-Grade Magicians, for example. Dragon People could become generals at war or ministers in the cabinet, and could be conferred as Dukes or Marquises, whereas humans could only take up positions in magic academies at best, and be conferred as Earls!
This kingdom… It ultimately didn’t belong to the human race!
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei smiled, and very brightly at that. “Then why don’t you strike and let me, a piece of a cheap piece of trash, have a look at how impressive you are?”
“I’ll satisfy you!”
Lance let out a sinister laugh and stepped onto the platform with one foot. By borrowing the ground’s powerful rebound force, his entire self leaped high into the air. Then, he smashed his fist downward at Meng Lei!
“Get down on the floor, you cheap piece of trash!”
Suspended in mid-air and looking down at Meng Lei underneath him, Lance was so agitated that his blood was boiling. He had waited very long for this day!
Yes, very, very long!
Ever since Meng Lei had humiliated him on the day of the entrance assessment, he had sworn to take his revenge for sure. He wanted to sweep away all the humiliation he had suffered in the past and get back his prestige!
After a few months of waiting, he had finally found his chance!
The Dragon Bone Herb!
It was a treasure that Dragon People on a lower social stratum longed for the most!
And he had gotten his hands on it!
After that, he had broken through in a single night, and his battle capabilities had soared!
“Don’t worry! I won’t let you lose so easily! I will break your arms and crush your teeth so that you’ll know what the outcome of offending me, Lance, is! Hehehe…”
Lance couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud while he formed beautiful daydreams in his mind. Just as he was about to reach the climax, a dazzling bolt of lightning came down from the heavens and struck him right in the head!
Boom!
Lance was instantly enveloped in lightning. Every strand of his hair stood on end. Through the harsh electric currents, one could even see the ghastly white skeleton inside him!
“I couldn’t help striking when I saw how lewd your smile was. So sorry about that!”
As Meng Lei waved his hands, lightning snakes crashed down one after another, as though a machine gun spewing bullets!
This wasn’t a high-grade spell, but a second-grade one, Lightning Snake Flurry!
Meng Lei could already instantly release first-grade spells when he had been a Third-Grade Magician!
He was now a Fifth-Grade Magician, so instant release of second-grade spells was naturally a piece of cake for him!
“You bastard!”
Several lightning snakes wandered about inside his body. Although they couldn’t hurt Lance, it felt incredibly humiliating. This was totally different from the scene that he had imagined!
“You cheap piece of trash, I’m going to kill you!”
As Lance let out one after another furious roar, he charged toward Meng Lei with electric currents all around him. He had a very strong and tough body, so second-grade spells couldn’t hurt him at all. At best, they could only numb him!
“That would depend on whether you have the chance to or not!”
Meng Lei shook his head and laughed softly. Then, he slowly uttered two words, “Thunder Python!”
Crackle!
A five meters-long and incredibly thick and muscular lightning python descended from the heavens practically at the same time and swallowed Lance in one gulp!
“That’s…”
“Instant release of a third-grade spell!?”
" }, { "id": 46, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-46", "title": "Chapter 46", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 46: Humiliating Lance, Reprimanding A Senior
“That’s…”
“Instant release of a third-grade spell???”
The judging teacher sprung to his feet upon seeing the sudden appearance of the Thunder Python. “He released the Thunder Python practically in an instant! Instant release! That’s definitely instant release!
“He’s only a low-level Magician, yet he can already instantly release a third-grade spell?”
The judging teacher found this beyond his imagination. As the person in charge of presiding over the battle platform and acting as a judge for students’ public showdowns, he had witnessed innumerable magic showdowns. Out of which, there was no lack of incredibly wonderful and exciting ones!
However, this was his very first time seeing the instant release of a third-grade spell!
Why was that?
It was because one needed to be at least a great Seventh-Grade Magician before they could achieve instant release of third-grade spells!
Fifth-Grade Magicians couldn’t do it!
Neither could Sixth-Grade Magicians!
And great Seventh-Grade Magicians were a rare existence among students in the academy!
This meant that practically nobody among the students in the academy could instantly release third-grade spells, not even the sixth-year graduating students!
“I’ve heard that this student named Meng Lei could already instantly release first-grade spells during the mid-term examination when he was at Third-Grade Magician standard!”
This was inconceivable to the judging teacher.
“And he can actually instantly release third-grade spells now! Could he have… already reached the level of a great Seventh-Grade Magician?
“No! That’s impossible! How long has it only been since the mid-term examination?”
The judging teacher was astounded. Similarly, the students watching the battle were also rather shocked. Although their level of skill was low, they weren’t blind. In fact, there were a lot of seniors from higher grades there!
These seniors had exceptional judgment and could discern the inner workings of what was going on. However, it was precisely because of this that they were the most badly shocked!
“That Thunder Python’s might is so strong! It really makes one shudder with fear!”
“Yes! I feel the same way, too. What grade is that spell?”
“That’s a third-grade thunder spell… Thunder Python!”
“A third-grade spell? Surely not? I didn’t see him chanting a magic incantation. Could he have been chanting it silently?”
“What’s there to chant?! Didn’t you see that the Thunder Python was an instant release? That’s an instant release of spells!”
“F*ck! Instant release of a third-grade spell? How can that be?!”
“What kind of joke is that?! I’m already graduating next year, but even I can’t do that! A first-year brat like him…”
Shock!
Confusion!
Inconceivable!
Gasps filled the place. Lance, who had been swallowed by the Thunder Python, was destined for a tragedy, though. A third-grade spell was several times more destructive than a second-grade spell, even though it still couldn’t kill him!
However, the electric currents wreaking havoc constantly numbed his body and made him spasm all over. He lost control over his body and stood frozen on the spot, unable to even budge a little!
He couldn’t even open his mouth to shout!
As a fellow Fifth-Grade Warrior, you’re a far cry from Raging Bull!
Meng Lei’s countenance was carefree as he admired how agonized Lance was because he couldn’t move, despite being furious. He felt exhilarated. He wanted to teach Lance a lesson that he would never ever forget so that he would never dare to come and mess with him again!
“Old bro, you’re so awesome!”
Fatty Hart screamed and shouted excitedly, “Hurry! Continue to release magic, and deal him a lethal blow! Don’t give him the chance to retaliate!”
“There’s no hurry!”
Meng Lei waved him off and smiled as he watched Lance.
At that moment, the Thunder Python’s effect slowly faded, and Lance gradually regained his senses. With his fangs bared and his claws brandished, he pounced toward Meng Lei in great fury and exasperation!
However, what welcomed him was yet another Thunder Python!
Boom!
Lance was frozen to the spot again, his body constantly shaking all over!
“Old bro, what exactly do you want to do?”
Fatty Hart couldn’t quite understand Meng Lei’s intentions anymore.
“You’ll understand after you watch further!”
Meng Lei didn’t continue to attack, either. Instead, he simply watched quietly!
Lance struggled free again after a brief moment. However, before he could move, yet another Thunder Python dived toward him and trapped him where he was!
By this point, a lot of people had already understood.
“What exactly is that guy trying to do? Why does he keep attacking Lance with Thunder Python? Is that the only spell he knows? Or is Thunder Python the strongest offensive spell he knows?”
“Ha! Do you think this is the most powerful spell he knows when he can instantly release a third-grade spell?”
“Err… What is he trying to do, then?”
“Don’t you understand yet? That guy is evidently using low-grade spells to humiliate Lance. He’s attacking Lance’s self-confidence by humiliating him again and again, and playing Lance for a fool while having him under his complete control!”
“Damn! That’s so brutal!”
Meng Lei was indeed humiliating Lance. He wanted Lance to know that even if his body had broken through to fifth-grade, he could still use low-grade spells to defeat him, regardless!
So what even if his battle capabilities had greatly increased?
He was still a brainless and useless piece of trash!
Just like that, Lance struggled free time and again, only to be trapped by Thunder Pythons time and again. This humiliated Lance and filled him with extreme grief and resentment! Tears of humiliation streamed down his cheeks!
A Dragon Person senior couldn’t bear to watch any further. He shouted at Meng Lei, “What kind of ability does using low-grade spells to humiliate an opponent weaker than yourself count as? Hurry and let go of Lance!”
“So you want to stand up for him? Come on up, then!”
Meng Lei turned to look at the Dragon Person, the corners of his mouth seemingly turned up into a smile, yet not at the same time!
The Dragon Person senior’s words came to a stop, and his eyes turned shifty. Although he was a fifth-year senior and also had the battle capabilities of a Fifth-Grade Magician, he wasn’t confident that he could defeat Meng Lei!
Instantly releasing a third-grade spell?
F*ck!
That was practically the goddamn nemesis of a low-level Magician! Didn’t they see how Lance, someone with a Fifth-Grade Warrior’s body, had also been restrained and didn’t have any means of retaliation at all?
Asking him to go up there?
He would only be trapped even more completely and become an even bigger embarrassment!
“Shut up if you don’t dare to come up here. Don’t mouth off and embarrass yourself over there anymore!” said Meng Lei with a cold snort. Then, he didn’t spare the Dragon Person senior even a glance anymore!
“You bastard!”
Humiliated, the Dragon Person senior left with his tail between his legs. This would pass after a while if he just put up with it, but if he were to really go up the platform and end up being defeated, then he would really be thoroughly embarrassed!
How was he supposed to carry on in the academy in the future?
“That bastard! He’s too arrogant!”
“That’s going too far in his bullying!”
“Killing someone is no more than giving him a simple death! Humiliating us Dragon People like that is intolerable! Isn’t anyone going to step forward and teach that bastard a lesson?!”
Feelings ran high among the Dragon People nobility watching the battle. They were extremely frustrated, yet not a single one of them dared to step forward. Even the sixth-year Dragon People graduating seniors didn’t dare to!
So what even if they were sixth-year students?
Against Meng Lei, someone who could instantly release a third-grade spell, even they had to admit defeat!
“Impressive! That’s truly impressive!”
“That really brings us so much honor! It’s been more than two years since I’ve come to the academy, but I’ve never seen that bunch of arrogant Dragon People being such losers before!”
“Hehe! That really goddamn works off the anger!”
The Dragon People were frustrated, but all the human students present were secretly delighted. In the whole of Fire Dragon Kingdom, the humans were a class lower than the Dragon People right from the start. This situation remained the same, even after they had come to the academy!
A lot of human students, especially the commoners, were frequently bullied by their Dragon People classmates, but they didn’t dare to speak up despite their fury. This wasn’t the first or second day that their grudge against the Dragon People students had existed!
Now, upon seeing Meng Lei humiliating Lance like that, and berating a Dragon Person senior, they naturally found this incredibly gratifying. It was as if they had won a huge victory in war!
“Meng Lei, don’t overdo it!”
At that moment, the judging teacher spoke up.
“Fine!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he began to chant a magic incantation for the strongest fourth-grade thunder-elemental single-target offensive spell—Descending Wild Thunder. It formed swiftly, and then engulfed Lance!
" }, { "id": 47, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-47", "title": "Chapter 47", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 47: A Careless Slip, Breakthrough Again?
Lance was engulfed by electricity. He slumped to the ground and was unable to fight anymore. This brought an end to the fight, and unsurprisingly Meng Lei won!
He then swaggered off with 50,000 gold coins under the frustrated gazes of the Dragon People nobility!
“Brother, you are so amazing! Can you tell me how exactly did you manage to perform the instant release of a third-grade spell? Have you reached the level of the great Seventh-Grade Magician?”
“Would you believe me if I told you so?”
“Uh… it seems unlikely, right?”
“In that case, why did you ask?
“Fine! By the way, brother, you just won 50,000 gold coins. Shall we go out and have a good meal to celebrate?”
“I’m afraid not!”
“Why?”
“Because I am going to see Department Head Dirk now, do you want to go together?”
“Look for him? No, thanks!”
As soon as Meng Lei mentioned the head teacher, Fatty Hart’s face changed instantly. He shook his head vigorously and ran off as though he was fleeing from something!
“This fellow…”
Meng Lei smiled and shook his head. He then headed toward the teaching faculty building and soon arrived at Department Head Dirk’s office!
As the department head for the entire first grade, Department Head Dirk’s office was huge. However, its fittings were unremarkable and unpretentious. The most important thing was the bookshelves, which took up a lot of space!
When Meng Lei entered the office, Dirk Norway, the head teacher, was standing in front of a bookshelf, engrossed in a magic book!
Meng Lei executed a perfect magic salute and asked respectfully, “Department Head Dirk, are you looking for me?”
Department Head Dirk did not answer, but pointed to the rows of bookshelves and said with a smile, “Meng Lei, what do you think about my collection of books?”
“Department Head Dirk, you have a vast collection of books!”
Meng Lei glanced at the numerous magic books and praised them sincerely. The number of books here was comparable to a library!
“Hehe, naturally!”
Department Head Dirk said proudly, “I have accumulated all the magic books of the ten magic elements here, including the basics of magic, the theory of magic, as well as the scientific information on materials, alchemy, magic formations, astrology, and so on!
“Oh yes, there are also books on Dragon magic chants, Giant People’s magic, Elven magic, and Beast People totems. Haha, almost everything!”
“Looks like Department Head Dirk is into books!”
Meng Lei was stunned. He couldn’t help but expressed his admiration!
“Magic is a journey, profound and complex, as vast as the stars in the sky. Even if we exhaust all our lifespans, it is difficult to understand even a tiny portion of magic’s true essence!” Department Head Dirk had a pious expression. “There is nothing we can do except to research and study hard in order to understand a thing or two!”
“I agree. Thank you for your lesson, Department Head Dirk!”
Meng Lei was convinced. At the same time, he understood why Department Head Dirk was already a top-tier Ninth-Grade Magician mentor despite being in his 50s. He deserved this achievement with his eager-to-learn attitude!
He was a little over 50 years old, a top-tier Ninth-Grade Magician, and one step away from the Saint Domain!
This was already a rare achievement!
“You are very talented. This is something that countless people could only dream of. But you have to understand that talent is only the key to unlocking the treasure called magic. Whether you are able to get the treasure in the end and how much you receive depends on your hard work!” Department Head Dirk looked at Meng Lei and asked, “Do… you understand?”
“Understood!” Meng Lei nodded his head.
“Will you continue to skip class in the future?”
“Skip!” Meng Lei answered without any hesitation!
“…”
Department Head Dirk was taken aback for a moment and became furious. He had deliberately cultivated the atmosphere and spent the effort to teach using precepts and examples. All this for nothing!
Still skipping? What a straightforward answer!
He was furious!
Department Head Dirk pointed at Meng Lei and trembled in anger. Just as he was about to go wild, the office’s door opened, and the judging teacher in charge of the ring walked in happily!
“Department Head Dirk, congratulations!”
As soon as the judging teacher walked through the door, he congratulated Department Head Dirk loudly. As he came around the bookshelf and saw Meng Lei and Department Head Dirk, he couldn’t help being stunned. “Student Meng Lei is here too!”
Right after he finished his sentence, and without waiting for Meng Lei to answer, he smiled and said to the head teacher, “Department Head Dirk, you must be complimenting student Meng Lei? Oh yes, student Meng Lei is such an outstanding student. He deserves praise!”
Department Head Dirk was confused. He looked at Meng Lei, then at the teacher, and asked puzzledly, “Mr. Joe, what are you talking about?”
“Department Head Dirk, stop acting!”
The teacher, Joe Bolton, laughed and said. “Meng Lei fought in the ring and insta-released a third-grade spell to defeat Lance, a first-year student from Class 2, effortlessly…”
“Wait!” Department Head Dirk interrupted Mr. Joe, and asked with a look of confusion. “Meng Lei used instant release? A third-grade spell, you say!?”
“Department Head Dirk, have you not heard of this?”
Upon seeing Department Head Dirk’s expression, Mr. Joe realized what was going on and said with a smile, “This is what happened…”
After listening to Mr. Joe, Department Head Dirk was shocked. He stared at Meng Lei for a long time before saying, “Is what Mr. Joe said true? Can you cast third-grade spells instantly?”
“Yes!” Meng Lei nodded. He did not deny it, and there was no need to. He believed this had spread throughout the entire academy by now.
“Only a Seventh-Grade Magician can instantly cast third-grade spells!”
Department Head Dirk stared directly at Meng Lei with a flickering gaze, as if he was trying to see through Meng Lei. “You are only a Third-Grade Magician, how did you manage to do that?”
“Department Head Dirk, I accidentally had a breakthrough!” Meng Lei scratched his head. “Now, I am a Fourth-Grade Magician!”
Meng Lei tried to hide his awkwardness. He did not want people to know that he had become a Fifth-Grade Magician. His speed was too fast. He was worried it might bring him trouble!
“Accidentally?”
“Fourth-Grade Magician?”
Department Head Dirk and Mr. Joe looked at each other. They did not know what to say. After a while, Department Head Dirk frowned and said, “Even if you are a Fourth-Grade Magician, you should be unable to instantly release third-grade spells. This does not conform to logic!”
Meng Lei scratched his head and said something ambiguous, “Maybe my spiritual power is extraordinarily strong?”
“Spiritual power?” Mr. Joe asked puzzledly, “Meng Lei, your spiritual power should have been assessed before. How many levels has it managed to reach?”
“I did have it assessed during the mid-term examination. However, I deliberately hid my actual power at that time!” Meng Lei said with a smile, “Hence, I was assessed with the spiritual power of a Third-Grade Magician!”
“What about your actual spiritual power level?” asked Mr. Joe.
“Was not assessed before! It should be stronger than a Third-Grade Magician,” replied Meng Lei.
“Why don’t you have it assessed?”
Mr. Joe looked at the head teacher. “Department Head Dirk, do you have a Spiritual Tester here? Why not we let student Meng Lei have his spiritual power assessed?”
“There’s no need to!” Department Head Dirk waved his hand as his gaze flickered. “Only a great Seventh-Grade Magician can instantly release third-grade spells. Even if Meng Lei’s spiritual power has not reached seventh-grade, it shouldn’t be too far behind. There’s no need to assess it!”
“Quite true!” Mr. Joe agreed and turned towards Meng Lei. “Despite your young age, you already possess such potent spiritual power. Student Meng Lei, your future is limitless!”
“Thank you, Mr. Joe!”
Meng Lei smiled. He knew very well what was going on. The reason why he could achieve the instant release of third-grade spells was not because of his strong spiritual power, but rather… the system!
" }, { "id": 48, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-48", "title": "Chapter 48", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 48: Secret of Instant Release, Where Is My Home?
In theory, when Meng Lei had sufficient magic reserves, he could instantly release all the spells that the system had picked up and merged!
He could do it for third-grade spells, as well as fourth-grade ones! He could even release fifth-grade, sixth-grade, seventh-grade, eighth-grade, and ninth-grade ones if he wanted!
Unfortunately, his magic reserve was comparable to that of a Fifth-Grade Magician, so he could only perform a few fifth-grade spells before his reserve was emptied. As for the release of higher grade spells? Fat chance!
Even so, his big system-cheat allowed Meng Lei to have an advantage over Magicians of the same grade. Also, this advantage would be maintained forever, to the extent of becoming disgustingly unfair!
It was worth mentioning that Meng Lei chanted magic incantations before releasing the spells because he wanted to act like a normal Magician. Otherwise, god knew whether they would label him as a freak and dissect him.
Moreover, the system had not picked up some of the spells, as he had learned them by himself. Naturally, he could not instantly cast the spells he had learned on his own. He had to perform them step by step, releasing them through chanting incantations!
Of course, since he was a Fifth-Grade Magician, it was possible for him to instantly cast first-grade spells!
Department Head Dirk stared at Meng Lei and asked a strange question, “Meng Lei, I want you to be honest with me. Were you exposed to magic before entering our academy?”
“No!” Meng Lei shook his head!
“To think that at such a tender age, his spiritual power is already so strong… This is not something that cannot be cultivated within a short period of time!” exclaimed the head teacher. “It seems that you not only have superior elemental affinity, but your innate spiritual power is also very strong!”
“Yes, he is simply the God of Magic’s secret offspring!”
Mr. Joe firmly believed that mental power was different from other forms of energy. It was impossible to improve it within a short time, so Meng Lei’s potent spiritual power was likely the result of nature.
Meng Lei knew that he had succeeded in hoodwinking the two teachers, which was also the best outcome. He did not want to expose the system, so the best way was to attribute his potent spiritual power to ‘natural gifts’!
“Meng Lei, you have a talent that makes people envious. However, I still maintain my stance. There is no end to learning. Learning is the only way that will bring you forward. You can skip class, but you must never stop learning!”
Department Head Dirk said with a solemn expression, “I will monitor your progress strictly in the future. If I feel that your progress has slowed down, it will mean that you are slacking off. In that case, you’ll have to attend classes again!”
“Understood, teacher!”
…
After a successful discussion with Department Head Dirk, Meng Lei could now skip class with a peace of mind. He never attended any classes after that day. Instead, he strictly followed his own schedule:
Cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual in the morning!
Pick up attributes in the afternoon!
Meditate at night!
In between, find time to go to the Arena!
…
Life was fulfilling and comfortable, and time flew by quickly. Unknowingly, another three months had passed!
That night, Meng Lei did not meditate as usual. Instead, he took a bath and fell asleep!
Meng Lei slept particularly well. When he woke up the next day, the sun was already high up in the sky. It was almost noon!
“What a good rest!”
Meng Lei stretched himself lazily and felt refreshed. Although meditation could replace sleep, he had not slept for nearly half a year. Thus, this long-missing sleep felt exceptional!
Only one word could describe it—satisfying!
“Wake up!”
Bong, bong, bong!
Someone was knocking on his door. Meng Lei opened it and let Fatty Hart and Daniel in. Their faces were flushed with joy!
“Brother, why are you still in bed?”
The eyes on Fatty Hart’s fat face narrowed. “Did you not meditate last night, but rather slept and woke up naturally like us?”
“Our winter vacation is starting today, and I’m feeling relaxed. Thus, I had a rare good night’s sleep!”
Meng Lei motioned for his friends to make themselves at home while tidying his bed. “Speaking of winter vacation, you should be going home, right?”
“Yeap, going back!” Daniel nodded and smiled. “I have plenty of free time during winter vacation, and I haven’t been home for half a year. It’s time to go back and have a look!”
“Indeed, we should go back!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. As for Fatty Hart, there was no need to ask. His home was in the capital city, and he often made time to go home. Given his character, he should be home during their winter vacation!
“Brother, are you going home too?” asked Fatty Hart.
“Home?”
Meng Lei was startled and fell silent for a long while. Home was a warm word and a place of dreams, but… did he have a home?
Magical Beast Village?
Meng Lei had only been there for a little more than a month, not as long as his time in the academy. Could that be considered as his home?
Meng Lei had no idea. From the bottom of his heart, the Magical Beast Village was just a place that he had stayed in. He did not have much attachment or any sense of belonging to that place!
My real home… is Earth!
Meng Lei’s thoughts raced past as he returned to Earth of an unknown timeline, going back to that beautiful seaside town to his comfortable little abode!
He saw his nagging parents, naughty and cute children, his outwardly fierce but soft-hearted wife, hot and delicious food…
Meng Lei couldn’t help but fall into a daze!
After arriving in this world, he had evasively been suppressing these memories to the deepest depths of his heart, trying his best to accept everything here, enhancing his strength as much as possible, and surviving to the best of his abilities!
However, at this moment, when the gate of memories was opened, memories came flooding in. Meng Lei was swept into the torrent, unable to free himself!
Father!
Mother!
Cola!
My wife!
I… miss you all!
Meng Lei’s eyes faintly sparkled as they turned moist!
“Brother, are you okay?”
Fatty Hart and Daniel asked softly after noticing a change in Meng Lei’s mood. He had never been like this before!
“No-nothing! Just thinking of home!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and suppressed the disorderly memories back to the depths of his heart. He then said with a forced smile. “I am definitely going home during our winter vacation. There is no reason for me to stay here in the academy.”
“That’s right!”
Upon seeing that Meng Lei had recovered his composure, Fatty Hart and Daniel believed him.
Fatty Hart then laughed. “A semester passed in the blink of an eye, and I won’t be able to see you for more than a month! I feel melancholic and a little sad when I think about it!”
“That’s right!” Daniel nodded with a forlorn expression!
“The two of you… Is this necessary?” Meng Lei smiled and shook his head. “But you are right. We won’t be able to see each other during the holidays. I also feel the same in my heart. Why don’t we indulge ourselves today? How does that sound?”
“Good idea! My treat!” Fatty Hart’s eyes lit up instantly as he patted his chest. “Where do you want to go? Just name the place. I won’t reject it! Hehe, ‘that’ sort of place is fine too!”
After finishing speaking, he squinted his eyes, with an unnatural look on his face.
“Haha, look at you!” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “Could you not be so lecherous?”
“That’s right! I am still a kid!” Daniel also glared at Fatty Hart, with a look of condemnation!
Fatty Hart chuckled. “Hehe! I was just joking!”
“How about Juxian Restaurant?” Meng Lei suggested. “I heard that it offers high-end magical beast delicacies. The taste is unique, and it is famous throughout the city!”
“What the hell!? Brother, you actually knew about Juxian Restaurant? Looks like I have to spend a lot of money today!”
" }, { "id": 49, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-49", "title": "Chapter 49", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 49: Spatial Ring, Fled When Caught
Today, Meng Lei, Fatty Hart, and Daniel ate and drank at Juxian Restaurant, venting out the pain and hardships they had experienced over the last six months, as well as celebrating the upcoming winter vacation. They helped themselves to generous portions of meat and wine, experiencing a joy that they had not felt before!
However, when the three of them walked out of the restaurant, Fatty Hart had a tearful and painful expression on his face!
He had spent a lot on this meal. His savings were… completely gone!
“Fatty, don’t feel bad!”
Meng Lei patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, “Isn’t it just over 10,000 gold coins? I will treat you next semester!”
“Brother, don’t you know?” Fatty Hart shook his head and wailed. “My old man only gives me 20,000 gold coins per month for pocket money, and I have already spent more than half of it as soon as it arrived. How am I able to survive this winter vacation?”
20,000 gold coins?
Pocket money?
Meng Lei felt that deep malice people usually had toward nobility.
What the hell!
He had to run around all the time and risk his life at the arena every few days, just to earn slightly over 20,000 gold coins per month!
Fatty, you have a good life! You have so much pocket money every month!
Indeed, comparing yourself to others would only create unwanted frustrations!
“Although the bill was high, the food at Juxian Restaurant is really delicious, especially the garlic-flavored barbecued Sun Moon Divine Frog, which is really memorable. We enjoyed it so much that we didn’t want to leave!” Daniel licked his lips, revealing a satisfied look as he recalled the taste of the dish.
Fatty Hart gritted his teeth and said angrily, “That goes without saying! The Sun Moon Divine Frog is a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, and each one costs 30,000 gold coins. That barbecued Sun Moon Divine Frog earlier cost me more than 4,300 gold coins!”
“Hehe! The price is indeed outrageous!” Daniel chuckled.
He knew that Fatty Hart had just spent a lot of money and was depressed, so he did not say anything more. Although Fatty Hart was a noble, he was a student, after all. He had spent more than 20,000 gold coins for a meal, which was indeed outrageous!
“A Seventh-Grade Sun Moon Divine Frog is worth 30,000 gold coins!?”
Meng Lei’s heart trembled. This was not a small amount. According to his conversion, this was worth 3,000 Attribute Points!
3,000!
Meng Lei’s eyes widened!
“The Sun Moon Divine Frog was a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast. Generally, the price for Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts begins with 100,000 gold coins. However, prices could differ due to taste, size, and effects!”
Fatty Hart said in a bored tone, “The Sun Moon Divine Frog is delicious and a rare delicacy. However, due to its small size, the whole Sun Moon Divine Frog’s price is not high. It costs only about 30,000 gold coins. Other Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts could fetch more than this!”
“Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts begin with 100,000 gold coins?” Meng Lei’s eyes brightened. “If we can hunt down a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, wouldn’t we make a windfall?”
“Yes, you may make a windfall, but it’s too dangerous!” When Fatty Hart heard what Meng Lei said, he couldn’t help but shiver. “These Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts are terrifying. They are not something we can deal with. Brother, you should drop the idea!”
“Haha, I was just mentioning it casually. Please, don’t take me seriously!”
…
After leaving the restaurant, Fatty Hart and Daniel returned to the academy to pack their things, while Meng Lei went to the Magic Device Market. This time round, he was not here to pick up attributes, but to buy magic devices!
It was winter vacation, and he would return to Magical Beast Village. Of course, he would enter the Magical Beast Forest to train, hunt, and kill magical beasts, pick up attributes and magic cores, and earn gold coins!
Fatty Hart’s words had enlightened Meng Lei. Not only were the magic cores valuable, but the corpses of magical beasts were as well. Clearly, they shouldn’t be thrown away, or else it would be a huge waste!
Hence, Meng Lei needed a magic device to store the magical beasts’ corpses!
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +18!”
The Magic Device Market… was a very big place, like the electrical appliances markets back on Earth. It was divided into many areas. Meng Lei went straight to the area where spatial magic devices were sold and walked into a shop!
“Lord Magician, welcome to our shop!”
A hot and sexy fox girl, who was the shop assistant, bowed and greeted Meng Lei with a smile. Her breasts in front of her chest matched her fluffy red tail, looking very alluring!
“Fox girl?”
Meng Lei glanced at the fox girl assistant, resisting the urge to stare. He turned his gaze on the pieces of spatial magic devices displayed in the crystal cabinet and asked, “Assistant, what kind of spatial magic devices do you have?”
“Lord Magician, our spatial magic devices are mainly divided into three types—spatial bracelets, spatial rings, and spatial belts!”
The fox girl assistant smiled sweetly; her voice was clear and sweet. “I wonder which type are you looking for, Lord Magician?”
“The spatial ring!” Meng Lei said after giving it some thought.
“Our spatial rings are divided into three grades according to their storage size. We have 10 cubic meters, 50 cubic meters, and 100 cubic meters. How much space do you need?”
“100 cubic meters then!”
Meng Lei raised his eyebrows in response to her question. Of course, the larger the spatial ring, the better because more items could be stored inside. The truth couldn’t be simpler!
“Lord Magician, look at this ring!”
The fox girl assistant took out a transparent box with a black ring that was encrusted with a red diamond. “This is a spatial ring from the Devotion series. It comes with 119 cubic meters of storage space. Its details are exquisite, and its lines are sharp. Pure elegance, classic beauty, inlaid with the Hongling diamond…”
“Stop!” Meng Lei interrupted the fox girl who was talking non-stop. “How much does this cost?”
“Lord Magician, the original price of this spatial ring was 15,340,000 gold coins. But you are very lucky. Our store is currently having a sale. There is a 20% discount for this spatial ring of the Devotion series…”
15,340,000 gold coins…
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth twitched. “I think you better talk about the 50-cubic-meter spatial ring!”
Upon hearing this, disappointment flashed across the fox girl’s eyes. When she had seen Meng Lei, who was a handsome man with graceful mannerism and dressed in magic robes, she had thought he was some aristocratic Magician with generous spending power. Little did she expect he was a poor useless ghost!
Crap!
She was overjoyed for nothing!
Even so, the fox girl concealed her thoughts that arose from the bottom of her heart, and said with a sweet smile, “Lord Magician, 50 cubic meters of storage space is a moderate amount, hence the prices are relatively favorable as well. They start from around 1,500,000 to 5,800,000 gold coins and beyond…”
“…”
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth twitched as sweat appeared on his forehead. “How much is the cheapest spatial ring in your store?”
“…?”
The fox girl was stunned. She pointed at a spatial ring placed at the bottom of the crystal cabinet and said, “This is the cheapest spatial ring in this store. It has a 1-cubic-meter storage space, and the original price is 190,000 gold coins. If you want—”
“Forget it! I don’t want any of these!”
Meng Lei left the shop with cold sweat on his forehead as if he was fleeing from it!
Damm*t, even the cheapest spatial ring cost 190,000 gold coins. This is a robbery!
190,000 gold coins?
Even if I sell myself, I can’t even fetch so many gold coins!
“Poor ghost! You shouldn’t be shopping if you don’t have money!”
" }, { "id": 50, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-50", "title": "Chapter 50", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 50: Battle Of The Silver Fighters, Fire Demon Bloodline
Meng Lei was very frustrated!
He’d initially thought of himself as someone who owned a modest amount of assets after the last half a year of wealth accumulation. Even though it couldn’t compare to what the nobility had, he had excess money in his card and felt reassured!
That was why he had dared to enter the store to purchase the magic device that he’d had his eyes on for the longest time. Little did he expect that a spatial magic device would actually be that expensive! Even the cheapest spatial ring cost 190,000 gold coins!
Goddamnit!
I’m a pauper after all!
Forget it! I’ll go to the arena first!
…
On this night, all seats in Arena No. 7 were full!
As a Silver Arena, be it scale or decor, Arena No. 7 was a place far beyond what Bronze Arenas could compare with. Just the audience in the venue alone was enough to prove that!
Dragon People nobility decorated with gold and silver!
Big-bellied overlords!
Gorgeous and fashionable upper-class young ladies!
They were people that either enjoyed a high social status or had great riches!
They were either the wealthy or the noble!
This was what the Silver Arena was—the upper-class society’s entertainment venue. It wasn’t a place that the petty bourgeoisie could freely enter!
“Esteemed guests!
“Dear friends and audience!
“Good evening, everyone! Welcome to Flame Arena!
“I am Nilya Noel, your host for tonight!
“Tonight, I am honored to present everyone an exciting showdown between two fighters! The first is the Two-Star Silver Fighter, Aric Bene, the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!”
A flash of light suddenly shone, and the beautiful Swan-Woman host appeared on the stage. Her clear and melodious voice rang throughout Arena No. 7, and the noisy venue quietened at once.
“Dear guests, all of you should know that the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon is famous for being bathed in flames, and for his strong and ferocious, wild and violent fighting style. He is affectionately known as the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon by the audience…
“As of now, the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon has fought a total of 192 battles and achieved an excellent battle record of 98 victories, 32 draws, and 62 losses, of which, he has knocked out the opponent 19 times. He is one of the most experienced Silver Fighters in our Flame Arena!”
“Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!!!”
“Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!!!”
“Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!!!”
The host had only just said that when the stands erupted into huge cheers. As the most experienced veteran Silver Fighter of Flame Arena, the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon had gained and accumulated immense popularity. Having 1/3 of the audience in the venue cheering and rallying for him was the best proof of this!
However, when the beautiful swan-woman host revealed the other fighter’s identity, the cheers and rallying became even louder. Each wave of cheers overpowered the previous and almost flipped over the roof!
“Thunder God!!!”
“Thunder God!!!”
“Thunder God!!!”
“I love you, Thunder God!!!”
The host was greatly satisfied with the on-site atmosphere. After the waves of cheers died down slightly, she continued and said, “As everyone is aware, the Thunder God is a Magician fighter that’s rarely seen in the Flame Arena. Ever since his debut, he has been termed as the Thunder God by the audience due to his cool and swell battling style and his identity as a Thunder-Element Magician!
“At present, the Thunder God has fought 30 battles, and achieved a great record of 23 victories, 3 draws, and 4 losses! Out of which the 3 draws, and 4 losses had only occurred when he was leveling up to a Silver Fighter. Ever since he successfully leveled up to a Silver Fighter, the Thunder God has not lost a single match and has achieved a crazy battle record of 11 consecutive victories!
“Tonight, can the Thunder God continue his previous madness and overcome the opponent to achieve victory and increase his number of consecutive wins to 12 matches? We look very much forward to that!
“Now, let us welcome the two Silver Fighters on stage with warm applause!”
“Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!!!”
“Thunder God!!!”
Whoosh, whoosh!
Two beams of light shone downward. At once, two light streams—one red and one silver—shot out intensely from the entrances. Before anyone could register it, they had already landed in the ring at top speed!
The light streams settled to reveal two figures!
One of them had a strong and robust body and bulging muscles. He was a crimson red all over, and his gaze was sharp. In particular, his head of red locks, which flew in the breeze, was as though burning flames, giving off extremely high heat!
He was the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon—Aric Bene, a veteran Silver Fighter that had fought 192 matches, and whose victory rate was as high as 51%!
As for the other figure!
He had a golden mask on his face and donned a magician robe. He had an elegant bearing and cut a handsome figure. In terms of body shape and momentum alone, he couldn’t compare to the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon at all!
Yet more than half of the audience present screamed and shouted madly for him the moment he stood on-stage. The noble young ladies were even red in the faces and had become extremely crazed in their behavior, contrary to their previous ladylike elegance!
“I love you, Thunder God!!!”
“Thunder God, I want to have your babies!”
It was easy to see that the audience that had come for the Thunder God was evidently way crazier than the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon’s. As a veteran Silver Fighter, this put an awful look on the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon’s face, and he looked at the Thunder God in an extremely hostile manner!
“For what reason do you get to be more popular than me when you’re just a newbie and a junior?!”
The Flaming Tiger Fire Demon sounded wild and raging as he roared furiously, “Junior, I will finish you, and let the audience realize just how big of a mistake their choice is!”
“Hurhur, come at me, then!”
Meng Lei sounded calm and collected. Hidden under the mask, the corners of his mouth quirked upward slightly into a confident arch. The Flaming Tiger Fire Demon? He didn’t think much of him just yet!
“Kill!”
A bout of red flames suddenly burst forth from the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon and enveloped his whole body. As if he had become a flaming man, he gave off an alarmingly high heat!
The flaming man moved the next moment. He transformed into a burst of flames and shot toward Meng Lei. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed the distance of 20 meters and arrived in front of Meng Lei!
“Good job coming here!”
Meng Lei stared hard at him. With a point of his finger, an electric current shot out from his fingertip and instantly struck the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon. It easily pierced through the flames on the outside to come into contact with the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon’s skin surface, leaving behind an expanse of charred blackness!
“Hmph!”
The Flaming Tiger Fire Demon let out a muffled grunt and froze slightly!
However, it was precisely during this brief moment that Meng Lei launched a crazy bout of attacks. Several lightning bolts as thick as a human’s arm descended from the heavens and struck the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon heavily!
It was the Fourth-Grade Spell, Descending Wild Thunder!
However, it wasn’t over yet!
Muttering under his breath, Meng Lei quickly chanted a magic incantation and summoned all the thunder magic elements within a radius of 100 meters of where he was, which quickly converged toward him. As they fell into place, they actually formed 10 Thunder Pythons that were 30 meters long and as thick as water barrels!
The dazzling Thunder Pythons lit up the arena, and also lit up the eyes of everyone among the audience. This scene was practically too cool! The audience went completely mad and began to shout and roar hysterically! Each of their faces was flushed, as though they were climaxing!
“Sixth-Grade Spell, Lightning Snake Flurry!
“Land!”
Meng Lei struck his palms against the floor. Amidst loud and ear-piercing cries, the 10 Thunder Pythons swooped down one by one, flooding the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon and covering the ring!
“It’s over!”
Meng Lei turned around, no longer sparing the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon, who had been flooded by lightning and electric currents, another glance. Instead, he waved at the screaming audience, turning them even crazier!
“Thunder God!!!”
“I love you, Thunder God!!! Be my 18th pretty boy! I want to keep you in my backyard!”
Amid the crazy shouts, the rampaging electric currents gradually ebbed away, revealing the form of the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon, who had been struck by Lightning Snake Flurry. He could be said to be in an extremely pathetic state right now. The burning flames had already been extinguished a long time ago. Even his clothes had been burned to ashes, and his body was charred all over…
Yeap, the sight of him was a little too horrible for one to bear!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Fire Demon bloodline!”
“Huh!?”
The Fire Demon bloodline!?
" }, { "id": 51, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-51", "title": "Chapter 51", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 51: The Five Great Eras, Transforming Into A Fire Demon
The Fire Demon bloodline?
What the heck was that?
Meng Lei was rather bewildered!
During this half a year of studying in Fire Dragon Academy, he had spent almost all his time on improving his battle capabilities. He rarely read other types of books or studied other kinds of knowledge!
Take for example, The Great Magical Beasts Encyclopedia , The Classification of Intelligent Beings In The Continent , Human Geography of The Continent , and so on—he hadn’t read any of these at all! Meng Lei was a complete newbie in everything apart from thunder-elemental and earth-elemental magic!
Fire Demon?
Was that a kind of living thing in Heaven’s Vault Continent too?
In his confusion, Meng Lei immediately took out his magic communication device and dialed Fatty Hart’s magic code, intending to ask him about it. Since Fatty Hart had taken rudimentary lessons before, he had learned about a lot of things related to the past. There was definitely no going wrong in asking him about things like this!
“Old bro, what’s up?”
Fatty Hart’s round face appeared in the magic communication device.
“Fatty, do you know about the Fire Demons?”
“What?”
“The Fire Demons! The ‘fire’ of Fire Demons, and the ‘demon’ of Fire Demons! Fire Demons!”
“The Fire Demons?” Fatty was startled. “Old bro, why are you suddenly asking about that? What’s that noise over there? Why is it so noisy?”
Meng Lei replied crossly, “Cut the crap! Do you know about Fire Demons or not?”
Duh, I’m in the arena! Of course it’s noisy!
“I don’t like how that sounded, old bro. I, Fatty Hart, know everything from as high up in the heavens as astronomy and as far below in the ground as geography. I know everything that happened in the last 500 years and can predict everything that’ll happen in the coming 1,000 years. What’s there that I don’t know?”
Fatty Hart blew his own horn, his nose in the air as he said, “If you want to talk about the Fire Demons, then you’ll definitely have to bring up the faraway ancient times. Old bro, you should have heard about the few eras that Heaven’s Vault Continent has gone through before, right?”
“Yes, I have!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. Like Earth, Heaven’s Vault Continent had also gone through a few long eras in the remote past. They were respectively the Fairy era, Titan era, Beast People era, Colossal Dragon era, and the current era where the four races dominated the continent!
Every era had its own master. They dominated and ruled over the whole continent during their time, and fully deserved the title of ruler!
“In that case, do you know how the Fairy era ended?” asked Fatty Hart.
After a moment’s thought, Meng Lei replied, “It was probably the ancient Titans that ended them, right?”
The next era’s actuation was usually the cause of the end of an era. For example, the end of the Titan era was due to the emergence of the Beast People.
Through their terrifying numbers, the Beast People, who had an alarming reproduction rate, had overthrown the ancient Titans’ rule to eventually emerge and become the masters of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
For the same reason, the Beast People era was later also overthrown by the Colossal Dragons, who then became the masters of the continent and built a glorious era!
Times alternated, and things developed!
Lives went through the cycle of rebirth, and each dynasty replaced the previous!
Nothing was eternal. No empires would stay strong and prosperous forever, either. This was an unchanging natural law of order that nobody could change!
“No! You’re wrong!!” Fatty Hart shook his head. “The Fairy era didn’t end because of the Titans. Rather, it was because of… The Fire Demons!”
“The Fire Demons?”
Meng Lei was stunned for a moment there.
“Yes, the Fire Demons!”
Fatty Hart nodded lightly and said, “It’s said that during the Fairy era, forests were abundant and full of life, and vegetation grew vibrantly and exuberantly in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Rich and dense forests covered more than 90% of the whole continent!
“The Heaven’s Vault Continent of that time was very beautiful. Beautiful Fairies strolled in the woods, snowy white unicorns pranced along the lakes, enchanting tree spirits danced in the gardens…
“However, the Fire Demons descended upon the world one day!
“Nobody knew where they came from, whether they were Heaven’s Vault Continent’s native beings, or whether they had come from outer space, or other places. People only knew that they were bathed in fire, had burning eyes, and a mane of scorching flames…
“They were a terrifying group of flaming living beings!
“Wherever they passed through, forests were burned and destroyed, and vegetation and woods caught fire. Expanses of crimson land spread for miles. In less than 100 years, the homeland that the ancient Fairies had depended on for their survival had all burned away!
“After a long period of resistance, the ancient Fairies joined hands with the other races in the continent to put a stop to the crazy Fire Demons and completely annihilated them. However, while this was a move that brought great destruction to the enemy, it also brought severe damage to themselves! Following that, the ancient Fairies fell into decline, and the powerful Titans took the opportunity to emerge!”
“So, the end of the Fairy era was fully caused by the Fire Demons?”
Meng Lei looked absolutely stupefied. He asked, “Are the Fire Demons that fearsome? They had actually ended the ancient Fairies during a time when they were at their most prosperous?”
“Fearsome? Hurhur!”
With a laugh, Fatty Hart said, “The ancient Fairies were an existence that could suppress the ancient Titans so badly that they couldn’t even raise their heads! The Fire Demons had finished even an existence as strong and powerful as them. Do you think there’s any chance that they aren’t fearsome?”
“That’s true!” Meng Lei agreed wholeheartedly. Then, he asked, “Do Fire Demons still exist in Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
Fatty Hart thought for a moment before he replied, “True Fire Demons likely don’t exist anymore. In any case, I haven’t heard about any. However, descendants with Fire Demon bloodline in them likely exist. After all, the Fire Demons had wreaked havoc in Heaven’s Vault Continent for so many years back then. It’s impossible for them not to leave any trace of themselves behind at all!”
“Right!”
Meng Lei fell into deep thought after he hung up.
Fatty Hart had said something that made a lot of sense. After wreaking havoc in Heaven’s Vault Continent for so many years, the Fire Demons had indeed left behind blood descendants—the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon was precisely one of them!
Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly have dropped the Fire Demon bloodline!!!
Now, the question was—was there any use to the Fire Demon bloodline?
Just as Meng Lei was puzzling over this, an abnormal sensation suddenly came over his body. A warm current that had appeared out of nowhere flowed into his limbs and bones…
“Oh no!”
After his experience with assimilating the Fire Dragon bloodline the last time, Meng Lei knew what was about to happen, of course. Not daring to make any further delay, he ran straight to the restroom!
Splurt!
Splurt!
In the instant he closed the restroom’s door, a burst of bloody red flames rose from his body and fully enveloped Meng Lei. Wisps of black aura were mixed among the red flames, just like the flames on the Flaming Tiger Fire Demon!
At the same time, a wave of pain, almost as though it was ripping him apart, assaulted Meng Lei’s senses. A muffled cry escaped him, and he almost let out a tragic scream!
Fortunately, having had prior experience, and coupled with the fact that his spiritual power had become stronger, Meng Lei barely managed to keep himself from screaming. Even so, cold sweat constantly formed and trickled down his body, and his countenance contorted from the pain!
“This feeling is truly goddamn… indescribable!”
Meng Lei smiled dismally. Then, his skin blackened, and his arms began to elongate. His nails extended forward, and steel needle-like hair grew on his back. Something similar to an oxtail also grew behind him at his buttocks!
The most dramatic thing was that four sharp curved horns—two long and two short—grew out of his head. They looked like a ram’s, or a devil’s horns, and looked very savage!
I’m starting to transform again!
It was a Fire Dragon Person the last time. What will it be now?
A Fire Demon Person?
Although he didn’t have the mental strength to be sarcastic, Meng Lei could clearly feel that his body was strengthening at speed visible to the naked eye. It actually didn’t lose out to the last time when he was assimilating the Fire Dragon bloodline!
Go on and strengthen!
Do your best to strengthen!
…
The Fire Demon bloodline assimilation process didn’t last long. It ended after 15 minutes. Meng Lei went over to the mirror and stared at his appearance that had undergone a huge change… He was rendered completely speechless!
Blackish skin, yellow pupils, a steel needle-like mane of hair, long, slender, and powerful arms, an ox tail-like tail, and flames that enveloped him…
It certainly didn’t look very handsome—in fact, it was a little ugly!
However, it seemed like his power… had increased by leaps and bounds!
" }, { "id": 52, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-52", "title": "Chapter 52", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 52: Comparable To A Fire Dragon, Two Types of Bloodlines
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Wealth: 182,915 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Seventh-Grade Warrior (14,878/50,000)
Spirit: Sixth-Grade Magician (7,102/10,000)
Magic Power: Sixth-Grade Magician (6,919/10,000)
Spell(s): Some increase
Battle Aura Technique(s): Fire Dragon Manual
Battle Skills: Some increase
“My Physical Body Constitution was still 7,000-odd points previously, but it has reached as high as 14,878 points now! The increase is pretty dramatic!”
Meng Lei was greatly comforted as he stared at his personal stats. After the last three months of painstaking cultivation, all of his various attributes had increased by quite a few times!
Be it his physical body constitution, spiritual power, or his magic power reserves, all of them had reached Sixth-Grade Warrior or Magician level. His battle capabilities were steadily increasing and were far beyond what they had been three months ago!
In particular, thanks to his unexpected gain of the Fire Demon bloodline today, his physical body constitution had improved by leaps and bounds, and stepped into an all-new domain!
Seventh-Grade Warrior!
This was already part of a High-Level Warrior’s domain! He could be said to be a fairly strong expert, even in the capital city. Should he go to a remote region, he could even dominate an area!
“Following my physical body constitution’s enhancement, my magic power has started to lag behind a little! It’s alright, though. I can break through anytime I want, as long as I’m willing to!”
Meng Lei’s line of vision involuntarily landed on the wealth field. He had been saving his gold coins but hadn’t borne to use them all this time. That was how he had accumulated the vast total assets of 182,915 gold coins!
182,915 gold coins = 18,291 Attribute Points!
18,291 Attribute Points!
This was enough to propel Meng Lei into the level of a Seventh-Grade Magician if he used them now. With both his magic power and physical capabilities at seventh-grade, his battle capabilities would become terrifying for sure!
Meng Lei wasn’t in a hurry to redeem the points, however. Good resources should be employed where they were needed most. It wouldn’t be too late even if he redeemed the points during a critical moment instead. He should be thrifty wherever he could afford to!
A few minutes later, the energy within his body gradually depleted fully. A wave of feebleness came over Meng Lei, and he turned back into his human form.
“Judging from the transformation time, the Fire Demon bloodline is a strong and powerful one that doesn’t lose out to the Fire Dragon bloodline at all!”
Why was that?
It was because, at Meng Lei’s current level of body sturdiness, his dragon transformation could only last eight minutes. When he transformed into a Fire Demon, the transformation similarly lasted only eight minutes!
The same body!
The same amount of transformation time!
What did this show?
It showed that the Fire Demon bloodline was just as strong as the Fire Dragon bloodline!
“Two types of bloodlines!
“The Fire Dragon bloodline!
“The Fire Demon bloodline!
“Surely, I can also be considered as having the potential to become an expert now, right?”
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his unexpected gain tonight. However, the drafts at his crotch and his naked body made him exceptionally embarrassed. During his first transformation into a Fire Demon just now, the flames that he’d released had burned up all his clothes again…
“If only I had a spatial ring! If I could prepare a few sets of clothes and store them in the spatial ring, this awkward situation of having nothing to wear would never happen!”
Meng Lei’s desire for a spatial ring grew even stronger. That thing really brought a lot of convenience. It was just a pity that it was too expensive, so he couldn’t afford it!
Bang, bang, bang!
The sound of knocking rang out—someone was knocking on the restroom’s door!
“Huh?”
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled, and he walked behind the door and opened it. A big-bellied human nobleman then walked in and glared at Meng Lei hostilely!
The haughty human nobleman shouted furiously, “Kid, was it you that locked the restroom’s door from the inside? Do you have a death wish?!”
“Hehe, so sorry about that!”
Meng Lei smiled apologetically. Then, he smashed his fist right into him!
Pow!
…
“Damn! These clothes are too big!”
Meng Lei left the restroom cursing after he had changed. The clothes were too big, making him feel as if he was wearing a dress. It felt very uncomfortable!
But what was he to do?
Let’s just put up with it!
A few minutes later, Meng Lei, dressed in clothes too big for him, knocked on the door to Uno’s, the supervisor of the arena, office.
“Come in!”
“Good day, Supervisor Uno!”
“Oh, it’s Meng Lei!”
A smiling Uno looked up. However, when he noticed Meng Lei’s clothes, he couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment there. With an expression full of puzzlement, he pointed at Meng Lei and said, “Brother Meng Lei, you…”
“Cough! I accidentally dirtied my clothes just now, so…” replied Meng Lei with an embarrassed smile. He didn’t even bat an eyelid as he lied!
“Dirtied?”
His words made Uno think of other matters, and he gave Meng Lei a meaningful look. Then, he said with a smile, “Brother Meng Lei, your appearance fee of 10,000 gold coins for tonight has been paid to you. Do take note, and check whether you’ve received it!”
“No, it’s fine! With you in charge, I can rest reassured!” replied Meng Lei with a wave of his hand. Then, he said with a smile, “Other than collecting the appearance fee, there’s something else I’d like your help with!”
“What is it?”
Uno raised his eyebrows, secretly delighted. Ever since Meng Lei had joined Flame Arena, he had rarely troubled him. This made Uno feel rather helpless!
Why? Because he wanted to get into Meng Lei’s good books!
Yes, that’s right!
He wanted to get into his good books!
Others might not know Meng Lei’s background, but Uno was very clear on that—he was Fire Dragon Academy’s top freshman!
However, if that was all there was to him, then he wouldn’t be worth Uno getting acquainted with him, of course!
Uno’s real reason for befriending Meng Lei was his performance in the arena—in a total of 30 matches, he had achieved 24 victories, 3 draws, and 4 losses!
He had also become a Silver Fighter in one try and achieved the extraordinary accomplishment of 12 consecutive victories!
A Silver Fighter was a high-grade fighter that typical fighters couldn’t hope to even match up to. Without strong battle capabilities to back them up, it was useless no matter how experienced they were!
Silver Fighters typically possessed at least the battle capabilities of a Sixth-Grade Warrior at their pinnacle. An overwhelming majority of Silver Fighters were Seventh-Grade Warriors. Flaming Tiger Fire Demon, the Two-Star Silver Fighter whom Meng Lei had just defeated, was precisely a Seventh-Grade Warrior!
Had it been other Sixth-Grade Warriors at their pinnacle, or even a Seventh-Grade Warrior or Magician, Uno wouldn’t have taken a second look at them. As someone who had astounding forces behind him, why would he care about a Seventh-Grade Warrior or Magician?
But…
If the said Seventh-Grade Warrior or Magician were a 15-years-old young boy, then that would be unbelievable!
Moreover, Uno had even realized something critical!
Meng Lei wasn’t just a Magician—his body was also very strong. Although he had rarely made use of his physique in all 30 of his matches, it couldn’t escape Uno’s eyes!
15 years old!
At least sixth-grade pinnacle!
And a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts at that!
He had rarely even heard of someone like that, much less seen one. Uno had only one word of appraisal for him—a genius!
A real genius!
When associating with someone like that, he naturally needed to get in their good graces. Meng Lei might just become an astonishingly great figure in the future! When that happened, he would receive unimaginable rewards!
Thus, upon seeing that Meng Lei had something to request of him, Uno was naturally overjoyed.
“I’d like to take a month’s leave to return home!”
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Meng Lei went straight to the point and voiced his request. As a Silver Fighter, he needed to fight at least five matches per month. He couldn’t go home unless he took a leave of absence!
“Take leave?”
Uno nodded slightly. Fire Dragon Academy was on winter vacation now, so it was normal that Meng Lei would apply for leave to go home. He didn’t reject his request, but smiled and said, “That’s alright, of course! Is a month enough? How about two months instead?”
“A month is enough!”
…
It was already 10 p.m. by the time he left Flame Arena. Meng Lei didn’t return to the magic academy but headed toward Great Axe Academy instead. His two little buddies, Joseph and Andrew, were studying there.
Winter vacation had probably also started at Great Axe Academy. Meng Lei wanted to ask Joseph and Andrew whether they would like to go back to the village together. If possible, they would be able to keep each other company if they went back together!
“Looking at the date, it has been almost two months since I last saw them?
“And there’s that girl Jonah, too…”
" }, { "id": 53, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-53", "title": "Chapter 53", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 53: Bullying And Humiliation, Raging Fury
There were more than 70 warrior academies in Fire Dragon Capital City, and Great Axe Academy was one of them. This mid-range warrior academy had a history of more than 5,000 years and had groomed a large number of excellent Warriors and experts!
It had a long-standing history and was a producer of innumerable experts!
When Meng Lei stood at the Great Axe Academy entrance, he noticed two giant decorated axes over 20 meters long towering aloft above the school gates. The axe blades gleamed coldly in the light, the sharpness of the blades displayed to their fullest!
They were the symbols of Great Axe Academy, the Saenger war axes!
“Halt!”
The guards stopped Meng Lei in his way.
“I’m here to look for someone!”
“Please register here first!”
“Alright!”
The management in warrior academies wasn’t as strict as in magic academies. After a simple registration, Meng Lei successfully entered Great Axe Academy and headed toward the freshmen condominiums.
He had been here five months ago and knew where the freshmen condominiums were. Thus, he naturally knew his way around when he came here again this time. It didn’t take him long to reach the freshmen condominiums.
It wasn’t any less crowded than in the magic academies. Warrior academies recruited a lot of students every year. As long as they could fork out the expensive school fees and their ages met the requirements, the academies typically accepted everyone into the school.
Thus, this led to very mediocre living conditions in warrior academy dormitories. For example, Joseph and Andrew’s dormitories were just like the student dormitories on Earth. Six people occupied a single dormitory unit and slept on bunk beds. The living conditions couldn’t compare to the magic academies’ at all!
It was already 11 p.m. However, the student condominiums were brightly lit. Carefree laughter and sounds of conversation could be heard from every dormitory. There were people playing magical beast chess, people drinking and playing finger-guessing games, people singing and howling… It was a complete change from its usual iron-fisted solemness. The whole condominium building was extraordinarily lively and bustling!
Looks like winter vacation has also started in Great Axe Academy!
Meng Lei rode the magic ladder up to the 11th floor and arrived in front of Joseph’s dormitory. Unexpectedly, he’d only just reached the entrance when someone was thrown out of the dormitory!
This particular building was a single-sided condominium. Rooms were only built on one side of the building, so the other side was empty thin air. Should anyone come flying out and fall off from the 11th floor, they would definitely die very tragically!
“Look out!”
With his sharp eyes and quick reflexes, Meng Lei appeared behind the person in a flash. He caught him lightly with an arm and pulled him back easily.
“Ugh!”
The person threw up a mouthful of blood, within which were a few broken teeth. Half of his face was badly swollen, and his nose bridge was also sunken in. He honestly looked rather wretched and miserable!
“Joseph?”
Upon looking at the person in his hold, Meng Lei’s expression instantly darkened!
“Big Brother Meng Lei?” A jolt went through Joseph upon hearing his voice, and he hurriedly looked toward Meng Lei, his eyes full of joy and surprise. “Big Brother Meng Lei, why are you here?”
Right after he spoke, he grimaced and held one side of his face, in so much pain that he couldn’t stop gasping. From the look of it, he had really suffered a pretty bad beating just now!
“Joseph, what exactly is going on?” asked Meng Lei in a loud and low voice, his countenance somber.
“I-it’s nothing. I accidentally tripped and fell!”
Joseph’s eyes were rather evasive, and he deliberately changed the topic. “Big Brother Meng Lei, has your academy also entered the winter vacation period? Are you here to look for me to go home together?”
Joseph seemed very excited at the thought of going home. His tanned face was brimming with joy. After all, he was only 14 years old, and not only was this his first time away from home, but the duration had even reached as long as half a year. This was especially when he had even been bullied and humiliated by others during this half a year in the academy. He really wanted to return home at this point!
“Tell me, who was the one that hit you?”
Meng Lei’s voice was icy cold as he shouted the question again. If he hadn’t coincidentally arrived just now, Joseph might really have just fallen down from here. This was the 11th floor! With Joseph’s Trainee Warrior battle capabilities, wasn’t it a given that he would be smashed into bits and pieces?
When he thought of that, rage blazed within Meng Lei. He was the one that had sent Joseph and Andrew into the academies. How was he supposed to live with himself if anything were to happen to them?
“Where’s that cheap and lowly commoner? Get your ass back here and pour me some feet-washing water!”
At that moment, a piercing and arrogant voice drifted out from the dormitory. Joseph couldn’t help but tremble upon hearing it, his face full of fury and terror!
“Cheap and lowly commoner?”
Meng Lei’s eyes narrowed. He kicked open the half-closed door with one leg and walked in!
Bam!
The door slammed against the wall heavily and caused a deafening boom, giving the people inside the dormitory a huge shock. They looked over one by one, and their eyes fell on Meng Lei!
“Big Brother Meng Lei, I really tripped and fell out of my own carelessness just now. No one hit me!”
Joseph was badly frightened upon seeing Meng Lei kicking open the door with mighty momentum. He hurriedly caught hold of Meng Lei and said, “Let’s go and look for Andrew. He’ll definitely be overjoyed to see you…”
“There’s no hurry!”
Meng Lei waved him off. His sharp and piercing gaze swept across the five people in the dormitory. “Who was the one that hit Joseph? You’d better step forward!”
“Who are you?”
A muscular man, who was 2.2 meters tall, had sharp horns on his head, and had a physique as brawny as an ox, walked over to Meng Lei. His strong and well-built chest muscles were practically pressing against Meng Lei’s face as he looked down from above and replied, “I’m the one that hit him. What about it?”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, let’s go!”
Joseph held Meng Lei back and said softly, “That’s Larry. Not only is he ranked third in our level, but he’s also nobility. He isn’t someone whom we can afford to mess with. Let’s just go!”
Meng Lei didn’t budge. “Joseph, judging from the situation today, he must have frequently bullied you, right?”
“I…”
Joseph’s mouth opened and closed. He tried desperately to hide his misery and indignation, but the more he did, the more he couldn’t hold back his tears. As though a breached dam, tears streamed from his eyes!
Bully?
It was far more than that!
People that could enroll in warrior academies were either the wealthy or the noble. Even at the worst, they were still fairly well-off families that had excess money in their pockets. But what about him?
He was nothing more than a commoner and even came from a remote region. He didn’t fit in with the people in the dormitory at all. Putting the fact that he was excluded from everything aside, the key here was that he was frequently bullied!
Out of the five people in the dormitory, four of them bullied him. They constantly shouted at him and ordered him around arrogantly. They made him wash their clothes and socks, pour them feet-washing water, tidy their beds and tables, bring them food…
They ordered him around like a slave!
But that wasn’t all of it!
The key was that they had even beat him up!
Whenever someone upset them or something he did displeased them, they would beat him up. They would slap him across the cheek, hit his face, kick his head, make him kneel and apologize…
During the last half a year, he’d been subjected to all kinds of bullying and torture and suffered all sorts of hardships. How could all of that be so simply described with just the word ‘bully’?
“Looks like you have really been subjected to all kinds of bullying during the last half a year!”
Meng Lei clenched his fists, and then patted Joseph on the shoulder. He felt very guilty. During the last half a year, he had been busy upgrading his battle capabilities the whole time and had rarely paid any attention to Joseph and the other two.
In fact, he had even almost forgotten about the three of them. After all, they were the old Meng Lei’s companions, not his. His memories of the three of them were limited to just the period of slightly over a month’s time after he had transmigrated here!
It was really… very little!
However, Meng Lei felt very guilty during this moment, because to Joseph, he was his closest companion, and was a good buddy to whom he could vent his frustrations to!
“Hurhur, bully? I just like bullying him. What are you going to do about that?” The muscular man named Larry crossed his arms. “Not only did I make him wash my clothes and socks, and pour me feet-washing water, but I even made him kneel and apolog—”
“Hmph!”
Meng Lei flew into a rage, and his palm went flying across!
Smack!
The sharp wind impact from his palm grazed Larry’s cheek, and his palm landed solidly on his cheek, throwing Larry backward completely!
" }, { "id": 54, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-54", "title": "Chapter 54", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 54: Giving Larry A Savage Beating, Spending Money To Apologize
The crisp-sounding slap sent Larry flying, and he smashed headfirst into a bed that was made of black iron and wood. The impact broke the bed into tiny pieces!
The entire dormitory fell quiet instantly!
Everyone stared blankly at Larry, who was smashed into the bed and then at Meng Lei, who was quietly standing there. No one had any response. Larry… was knocked into the air like this?
He was a Fourth-Grade Warrior, after all!
Roar!
Just when everyone was bewildered, Larry slapped the ground with bloodshot eyes. “Damn you, cheap piece of trash! How dare you attack me? I am going to kill you!”
Larry instantly turned into a gust of wind and charged toward Meng Lei, with speed comparable to that of a Fourth-Grade Warrior. In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of Meng Lei!
“Die, you cheap piece of trash!”
Larry used up all his strength and smashed his fist downward—it was a ferocious move!
Joseph’s eyelids twitched when he saw this scene, and his heart almost jumped out of his mouth!
“Brother Meng Lei, be careful!”
“No need to worry!”
Meng Lei smiled at Joseph and casually stretched out his right hand. Then a thud resounded as he grabbed Larry’s fist in his palm!
The ferocious fist, terrifying power, and violent aura… All these vanished into thin air, like a clay ox entering the sea—never to be seen again!
“How… could this be possible?”
Larry’s angry eyes widened as he felt the terrifying power coursing through his fist. He was horrified. Unexpectedly, this seemingly thin and weak human piece of trash possessed terrifying power!
“Oh my dragon god!”
“Am I seeing things?”
“He… actually caught Larry’s attack?”
“Incredible!”
“Larry is a genuine Fourth-Grade Warrior. His attacks are terrifying. He actually ended up getting caught so easily?”
Everyone’s jaws almost dropped. They were aware of how strong Larry, who possessed the Black Dragon’s pure bloodline, was. Even before joining the academy, he had been a Third-Grade Warrior, and during the final exam, he had a successful breakthrough, becoming a Fourth-Grade Warrior!
Given his talents, the academy’s unbelievably powerful top two students were only slightly stronger than him. As for everyone else… They were no match for him!
However, now, a seemingly cheap piece of trash that had appeared out of nowhere had actually neutralized Larry’s attack so easily?
It was simply shocking, confusing, and unbelievable!
“You’re only making a fool out of yourself with your weak strength!” Meng Lei shook his head slightly and closed his palm. Then, a crisp “clack” echoed, and Larry’s fist broke in pieces. His face contorted in pain as he broke into a cold sweat!
“You think that you can bully people at will, just because you have some strength?”
Meng Lei stretched out his left fist and smashed it into Larry’s stomach. Larry spewed out blood. He was in such great pain that he curled up into the shape of a shrimp!
“He who insults others will always be humiliated! When you bully others, have you never thought that you will be bullied someday?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were emotionless. He raised his knee and shattered Larry’s chin. The poor fellow couldn’t even scream in pain!
“Kneel down!”
Meng Lei stretched out his right hand and pressed on Larry’s shoulder. Suddenly, an overbearing force surged forth, and Larry bent his knees, collapsing on the ground!
Whimper—
Larry seemed to have suffered great humiliation. Veins popped out on his forehead while both his eyes were bloodshot. He was crazily struggling to stand up, but Meng Lei’s right hand appeared to be an immovable force. No matter how much Larry struggled, he was unable to resist!
“Oh my dragon god!”
“Is this little fellow human?”
Joseph’s four roommates looked at the kneeling Larry, struggling on the ground. He was slightly trembling, and his eyes filled with horror. Larry… had no power to resist!
He was utterly defeated!
Isn’t Brother Meng Lei a Magician? Why is his physical body so strong?
Joseph was stunned and suspicious. The roommates didn’t know much about Meng Lei’s background, but he knew everything about him. It was precisely because of this that he was even more shocked and confused than the others!
It’s said that a Magician’s body is generally very weak, but Brother Meng Lei…
“We are doomed! He’s coming after us!”
Three of the four roommates, like Larry, often bullied Joseph. At this moment, having witnessed Larry’s horrible situation, their faces went pale with fright—they were terror-stricken!
Usually, what you feared most would come looking for you!
Meng Lei suddenly turned his head, and his emotionless eyes fell on them. “Who else has bullied Joseph before? Step forward!”
Boom!
As soon as this statement escaped his lips, the three roommates turned into jelly and almost collapsed on the ground in fright. They were doomed. Meng Lei was looking at them to enact revenge!
What should we do?
“So, you have the guts to do the deed, but not for admitting it?” Meng Lei’s voice became colder. “Joseph, who are the people that bullied you? Point them out to me!”
“Brother Meng Lei, just forget it!”
Joseph was a kind and honest teenage boy. Although he hated his roommates for bullying him, he had no intention of taking revenge!
“Joseph, this is not acceptable!” Meng Lei shook his head. “We abide by our duty and do not take the initiative to bully others. But… If anyone tries to bully us, we won’t let them!”
After speaking, Meng Lei looked at the four roommates again. “I will give you one last chance. If you have bullied Joseph before, step forward! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
“I… I…”
A handsome boy, whose face was pale, teeth were clattering, and legs were trembling, stuttered, “I… bullied… Joseph… before!”
“Great!” Meng Lei nodded slightly.
Thud!
The handsome boy knelt down with a thud and slapped himself in the face. “I deserve to die! I’m a jerk! I shouldn’t have bullied Joseph! I am willing to apologize! I am willing to compensate! Just let me go! I beg you!”
“Compensate?” Meng Lei’s heart trembled. “If you think that everything will be okay by handing out some compensation after bullying someone, then what are we training for!?”
“10,000 gold coins! No! 30,000 gold coins! I am willing to give 30,000 gold coins as compensation! I guarantee that I won’t bully Joseph ever again!” cried the handsome boy, tearfully. He was just a step away from wetting his pants!
“30,000 gold coins? Do you think you are chasing away a beggar?” Meng Lei gave a cold snort. “I will let you off for 50,000 gold coins. Otherwise…”
“50,000!” exclaimed the handsome boy, his eyes betraying his pain. However, when he met Meng Lei’s indifferent gaze, he couldn’t help but shiver. “Okay! I am willing to give 50,000 gold coins as compensation!”
“Right!” Meng Lei nodded slightly and turned toward the remaining three.
“I am also willing to give 50,000 gold coins as compensation!”
“Me too!”
Two of them hurriedly expressed their intentions. Although the loss of 50,000 gold coins pained them greatly, they didn’t want to end up like Larry, who was beaten to the point that even his own mother would be unable to recognize him!
This was simply too pitiful!
“Hand over the money now!” commanded Meng Lei and reached out his hand.
“Yes, yes!”
The trio did not dare to be tardy, and promptly took out their magic crystal cards!
“Who is fighting in the dormitory?”
At that moment, a cold and angry roar resounded!
" }, { "id": 55, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-55", "title": "Chapter 55", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 55: Disciplinary Team’s Arrival, The Strongest
“Who is fighting in the dormitory?”
A cold voice resounded as several big burly men with huge axes on their backs angrily charged into the dormitory!
They were all wearing standardized armor, carrying the same halberd, and they had the same cold, emotionless gaze!
As soon as these people appeared, they exuded a powerful aura, making it hard for everyone to breathe.
Suddenly, a burly man pointed at Larry, who was kneeling on the ground, and exclaimed, “Skyles, isn’t this your brother!? What the hell? Why was he beaten up so badly?”
The brawny man referred to as Skyles did not respond. Instead, he looked at Larry solemnly. “What is going on?” His voice was extremely cold, with some traces of anger!
Whimper—
Larry looked like an aggrieved little daughter-in-law as he pointed at Meng Lei and screamed, “Brother… he… attacked… me… kill… this… cheap piece of… trash, I… want… him dead…”
“How dare you beat up my brother!”
Skyles’ eyes were cold. He looked at Meng Lei with a razor-sharp stare, his icy voice suppressing the limitless anger that was boiling inside!
The other burly men also looked at Meng Lei, feeling astonished. Skyles was like a mad demon when it came to protecting his little brother. This was a fact everyone knew!
Because of this, few people in the academy dared to provoke Larry. However, someone had the courage to do so, and he was just a young kid!
This was unexpected!
“That’s wonderful!”
“It’s the disciplinary team!”
“And Senior Skyles!”
“We are saved! We don’t have to pay any money!”
On the other side, the handsome boy and the two bullies, who had already taken out their magic crystal cards for Meng Lei, were overjoyed. They swiftly pulled their cards back!
“Senior Skyles, you have to avenge us!” The handsome boy cried, “This guy charged into our dormitory out of the blue and started beating up Larry. We don’t know how Larry offended him!”
“He is too much. Not only did he beat up Larry, he even forced him to kneel and apologize. Look at what Larry has become!”
“That’s right, senior…”
The three roommates burst into tears. They described Meng Lei as the evil-committing tyrant that deserved to die, while they were the innocent victims, who had suffered all kinds of grievances and bullying!
In fact, there was no need for them to complain about. Skyles had already seen his brother’s pitiful condition. He felt so angry that his lungs were on the verge of exploding. “I don’t care who you are or what your status is. Since you dared touch my brother, I will make you regret what you have done today!”
Meng Lei couldn’t hide his smile. “Your brother said the same thing just now. Look what happened to him!”
“Bastard!” Skyles was furious. An aura, many times stronger than Larry’s, erupted from him. It blotted out the sky and covered the earth, as it charged toward Meng Lei!
His aura was too terrifying, and just the pressure from its leaking energy waves made it difficult to breathe for Joseph, the handsome boy, and the rest. They ended up gasping for air!
“Brother… Meng Lei! What shall we do now?”
Joseph’s face was horrified, and his eyes betrayed his despair. As a student of the academy, how could he not know who Skyles was?
Skyles—the sixth-years’ chief representative, captain of the academy’s disciplinary team, strongest in the Great Axe Academy, and a personal disciple of the vice-chancellor!
It was no exaggeration to say that Joseph had spent his first six months in the academy just listening to Skyles’ legends!
And now, he had actually ended up offending this legendary character. How could he possibly fix this?
Joseph was in an utter state of despair!
However, he didn’t expect Meng Lei to remain calm and collected when faced with the terrifying Skyles. It was as if he was enjoying the breeze on his face, treating Skyles lightly!
“Trying to suppress me with your aura?” Meng Lei laughed. “You are not much stronger than your useless little brother. Don’t make a fool out of yourself in front of me!”
“What the hell!? Such insolence!”
“Isn’t this fellow a freshman? This is just too crazy!”
“What an arrogant fellow. He actually dared to speak to Skyles like this. This is absolutely crazy!”
“Something bad is going to happen to this little fellow soon…”
“He is courting death!”
Skyles was indeed enraged. He raised his hand and swung a slap at Meng Lei. His speed was as fast as lightning. Even its shadow was unable to keep up with it, as his palm appeared in front of Meng Lei!
Meng Lei stood in place, as if he was unable to react in time or that he was rooted to the spot by fear. Just as Skyles’ palm was about to land on his face, Meng Lei unexpectedly vanished!
“Gone?”
Skyles was slightly astonished. Unexpectedly, at that moment, piercing pain suddenly traveled from his abdomen. It was so painful that Skyles almost vomited out his previous night’s dinner!
“You are like your little brother. A good for nothing!”
Meng Lei appeared quietly and gently stuck Skyles with his palm, sending him flying away, like a bullet that just left the barrel!
Everyone was rendered speechless!
The disciplinary team’s burly men, Joseph, his four roommates, and Larry, who was still kneeling on the ground, all watched this scene with terrified expressions, completely forgetting how to react!
It wasn’t until Skyles collapsed heavily on the ground and let out a low growl that everyone was jolted awake.
Larry shook his head as though he had gone mad. “Impossible! This is impossible! How could this cheap piece of trash defeat big brother…”
“F*ck!”
“This is too much!”
“Skyles was insta-defeated?”
“Where did this freak come from? Why haven’t I seen him before!?”
The burly men carrying the giant axes were so frightened that they broke into a cold sweat. Their eyes were full of awe and horror as they looked at Meng Lei.
Skyles was the strongest person in their Great Axe Academy, a genuine Sixth-Grade Warrior!
As for this Meng Lei? He looked like a first-year freshman!
Despite his tender age, he was able to defeat Skyles so effortlessly!?
“We’re finished!”
The burly men were astonished, while Joseph’s three roommates were in a state of panic. They felt so regretful that their intestines turned green. If time could be reversed, they swore that they would give their magic crystal cards to Meng Lei immediately and run away from here as far as they could, never to provoke Meng Lei again!
Unfortunately, time could not be reversed, and there was no medicine for regret in this world. They had offended Meng Lei just now and must bear the punishment they deserved!
When faced with everyone’s shocked and horrified gazes, Meng Lei was calm and collected, as if the feats he performed were trivial.
He turned his head and looked at the handsome boy and the rest. “Let’s resume what we were discussing earlier. What have you got to say now?”
“We… we…” Their expressions were pale, as they shivered in fear!
“Don’t be nervous! I’m a civilized person!” Meng Lei waved his hand and said plainly, “As long as you can give me a satisfactory explanation, I won’t take action against you!”
You are a civilized person!?
I must be a fool if I were to believe you. You are a rotten person!
Why didn’t you mention this when you were savagely beating up Brother Larry?
“I… I am willing to give 70,000 gold coins as compensation!”
" }, { "id": 56, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-56", "title": "Chapter 56", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 56: Magic Carpet, Ran Into Bandits Along The Way
“70,000 gold coins?”
Meng Lei gave a cold snort. “100,000 gold coins! Not a gold coin less!”
“10… 00,000?”
The handsome boy went limp and almost collapsed onto the ground. His lips trembled as his face turned green. “Big… Big brother, I really can’t cough up 100,000 gold coins!”
Bang!
Meng Lei’s leg flew out, instantly sending the handsome boy up in the air. He then reached out and grabbed him!
“Listen! You are in no position to bargain!” said Meng Lei with a cold expression. “You can either pay with gold coins… or your life!”
“Gold coins! I’ll pay!”
Upon sensing the killing intent in Meng Lei’s eyes, the handsome boy was so scared that he almost wet his pants. His thoughts spun quickly like a pellet drum. “Yes! I am willing to give 100,000 gold coins as compensation!”
“Very good!”
Meng Lei nodded as he turned toward the other two!
“We are also willing to give 100,000 gold coins as compensation!”
The two had long been frightened by Meng Lei. Their thoughts moved quickly, for fear that Meng Lei would savagely thrash them if they were slow in answering!
“Transfer now!”
Meng Lei threw over a magic crystal card!
The trembling trio had anguished expressions as they stuttered, “Big… Big brother, we are momentarily unable to come up with so many gold coins!”
Although they were the offspring of aristocrats, they were still teenage students. How could they come up with so many gold coins?
“This is your problem. None of my business!” Meng Lei waved his hand and said impatiently, “I will stay in your dormitory tonight. I want to see 300,000 gold coins tomorrow morning. Not a single coin less!”
“Yes… Yes!” They exclaimed in unison with pained expressions.
Cough!
“Brother!”
The members of the disciplinary team couldn’t stand it anymore. A burly man with a giant axe on his back whispered, “You shouldn’t be doing this. Extortion is prohibited in the academy…”
“Extortion?” Meng Lei laughed. Then, his eyes fell on the burly man like a sharp blade. “You can be careless with what you eat, but you have to be careful with what you say. When did you see me extorting money?”
“…”
The corners of the burly man’s mouth twitched. He was completely stunned, as though thousands of alpacas had galloped through his heart.
You just extorted money from the three of them! We were standing right before you the whole time! And now you deny it!?
“Listen! This is not extortion, but… co-mpe-nsa-tion!”
Meng Lei pointed at Joseph and said plainly, “For the past six months, they have been bullying my friend! They’ve been beating him, scolding him, and forcing him to kneel down, wash their clothes, and serve them water. Just like a servant!
“Their despicable actions have caused irreparable trauma to my friend. Is this little compensation too much to ask for!?”
“This…”
The burly man was rendered speechless. He was a sixth-year student and a commoner of the human race. How could he not know about the academy’s ugly side and internal strife?
Nobles bullying the commoners and Dragon People bullying the humans were very common happenstances!
Many commoners silently endured the mistreatment because of their weak abilities and poor background. Thus, such a ‘compensation’ had been unheard of in the academy so far!
Nevertheless, since now someone had demanded it, it made perfect sense!
The reasoning was simple: Since you bully me, I’ll ask for compensation! It all depends on whose fists are bigger! The academy? As long as no one dies, the academy will not care at all!
This had contributed to the aristocratic and powerful students’ arrogance. They bullied the weak without any hesitation and pulled no punches!
If one didn’t want to be bullied or would like to bully others, then they had to train hard and be stronger than the rest!
This… was the Great Axe Warrior Academy’s philosophy, which was somewhat similar to the practice of raising the most venomous insect[1] back on Earth. This was far more barbaric, reckless, and cruel than how Fire Dragon Magic Academy operated!
“If there is nothing else, you can leave!” Meng Lei waved his hand and issued an expulsion order!
The disciplinary team’s members looked at each other. Although they felt aggrieved, they were unable to do anything. Meng Lei was stronger than them, and remaining there would invite ridicule. Thus, it was better to leave!
The burly man of the human race took a long look at Meng Lei before whispering a warning, “Brother, take it easy! Don’t kill anyone!” He then turned and left with the disciplinary team, taking away the unconscious Skyles with them!
The dormitory was only left with Meng Lei and the rest within an instant.
“Joseph, close the door!”
“Ah… okay!”
After Joseph closed the door, Meng Lei pulled over a chair and sat on it. He then said plainly. “You only have one night. What you have to do… I believe I don’t have to repeat myself, right?”
“Understood!”
“We know what we have to do!”
The handsome boy and the other two nodded hurriedly and began to think of ways to raise money. 100,000 gold coins was not a small sum—it was enough to cause them a huge loss!
“Very good!”
…
A magic flying carpet crossed through the blue sky at high speed.
The scenery underneath—a green wheat field, a lush forest, and meandering rivers—passed swiftly, like a series of images, forming a beautiful animation!
The southern lands were covered with fertile and lush greenery for thousands of miles!
“You didn’t get to witness that particular scene. Brother Meng Lei incapacitated Larry swiftly with a grab, a punch, and a knee. It was so cool that I was stunned!”
“Wow!”
“And…”
Ear-pleasing cheers spilled across the sky, intertwining into a sweet-sounding melody!
This group of people had left the city and embarked on their journey back to the village. They were Meng Lei, Joseph, Andrew, and Jonah, who were all on winter vacation.
“Brother Meng Lei, you’re so awesome!”
“That’s right! Even Senior Skyles was not his match!”
“Brother Meng Lei, aren’t you a Magician? Why is your physical body so strong? Unless you are a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts?”
“Brother Meng Lei, did you buy this magic carpet?”
“Brother Meng Lei…”
The three little fellows were usually irritable during traveling. But today, they were extremely excited, talking about their six months’ worth of stories and experiences along the way. How could there be any opportunity to get irritated?
The magic carpet flew at breakneck speed, very different from a worn-out bullock cart. After half a day, the Magical Beast Ridge was already in sight!
“Look! That’s the Magical Beast Ridge!”
“Yeah! Almost there! We are reaching home soon!”
“Wow! This magic carpet is indeed fast!”
When looking at the lush greenery and the Magical Beast Ridge, which laid on the ground like a giant dragon, Jonah and the other two were excited. Their faces were flushed red as they sat on the magic carpet!
“Finally, we are reaching the Magical Beast Ridge!”
Meng Lei was also overjoyed. The Magical Beast Village was the first place he had come to know in this world. It had a special meaning for him. Thus, he felt at ease returning to this familiar place!
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a shrill air-piercing sound echoed. An arrow, which was more than three meters long and shrouded in lightning, pierced the sky, charging at lightning speed at the magic carpet!
“Look out!”
Meng Lei’s ears twitched before his spiritual power erupted and detected the arrow. He immediately forced the magic carpet to a stop as it hung in mid-air!
Splurt!
The lightning arrow went through the magic flying carpet’s front portion and grazed the back of Andrew, who was sitting in the front. It then shot itself high into the sky and exploded into a ball of fireworks!
“My god!”
Andrew instantly broke into a cold sweat. Fortunately, the carpet had stopped in time. Otherwise, the arrow would have pierced his entire body like mutton skewers!
“Sh*t!”
Meng Lei looked at the ground, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes!
[1] Legend has it that ancient Chinese would place all sorts of insects into a pot and allow them to kill each other. The one that is remaining would be the most venomous insect.
" }, { "id": 57, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-57", "title": "Chapter 57", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 57: Wiping Out The Bandits, A Spatial Ring
To both sides were towering mountains and precipitous ridges, while only a valley ran through the middle. A group of shabbily-dressed bandits was lined up in the valley’s center, blocking the wide pathway there!
Their clothes were torn and tattered, and they were the very picture of a ragtag crowd. Currently, they were all standing around a magic ballista, and they watched the magic carpet suspended in mid-air excitedly!
“Tsk, tsk, a magic carpet!”
“Our prey this time must be pretty rich. A magic carpet alone is already worth 30,000 gold coins, and comparable to a small trade caravan!”
“Hehe! There are so many big preys lately! What we earn in a day is comparable to what we usually earn in a month…”
“I am the one that planted this tree, and I am the one that paved this road. If you wish to pass, then leave your money behind! Boys, continue to launch the Violent Thunder Crossbow, and shoot that magic carpet down for me!”
A savage-looking one-eyed bandit riding on a Horned Cloud-Striding Horse shouted his orders loudly as he brandished an enormous sword and waved it about. He was the leader of the Lone Wolf Bandits, Lone Wolf!
“Yes, Boss!”
The bandits let out a loud cheer and launched the magic ballista. Accompanied by an intense and dazzling flash of lightning, another two to three meters-long lightning arrow hurtled outwards, going straight for the magic carpet!
“A magic carpet! Hehe!”
Lone Wolf, the leader, licked his lips with a hint of savagery in his lone eye. “Here’s hoping that the prey today doesn’t disappoint me!”
“It’s coming again!”
“What do we do, Big Brother Meng Lei?”
Blood drained from the extremely frightened trio’s faces as they fearfully watched the lightning arrow hurtling toward them at high speed. Should it strike them, even if they were lucky enough to avoid being stabbed to death, they would also be smashed into pieces after falling from so high up!
They would still die a terrible death, nonetheless!
“These are bandits!”
Meng Lei stood tall and proud on the magic carpet. With a casual wave of his arm, a lightning shield that shone bright and dazzling quietly appeared and wrapped around the magic carpet!
Boom!
The lightning arrow struck heavily against the lightning shield. A dull boom rang out, and the lightning shield began to shake violently, seemingly showing signs of shattering!
However, the strange thing was that it ultimately managed to stand strong. The lightning arrow gradually exhausted all of its energy and stopped moving in the end!
“What?
“They actually managed to block it?”
Lone Wolf was astounded. “The Violent Thunder Crossbow has astonishing might and can directly shoot a fifth-grade expert to death, yet it couldn’t penetrate that lightning shield. Could it be that… That protective shield is a magic shield that’s higher than fifth-grade?!
“Instant release of a fifth-grade spell?
“Sh*t!
“There’s a high chance that our prey is a great Ninth-Grade Magician!”
Lone Wolf’s countenance changed dramatically. He shouted, “Retreat! Hurry and retreat!”
Right after he spoke, he whipped the Horned Cloud-Striding Horse beneath him viciously. He dashed over to the Violent Thunder Crossbow and kept the mighty thunder crossbow. Then, he raced away on his horse, deathly afraid of being even a step too slow!
“Boss?”
“What’s wrong with Boss?”
Upon seeing their leader suddenly fleeing for his life, the whole group of bandits looked bewildered. Why was their leader retreating when everything was fine and dandy?
“A bunch of good-for-nothings! Retreat at once!” bellowed Lone Wolf furiously.
“Okay, okay…”
It was only then that the bandits began to retreat.
However, it was too late!
Buzz, buzz!
All the Thunder Elements within a radius of several hundred meters swiftly converged and instantly formed 10 Thunder Pythons that were over 30 meters long. Their lightning scales shone and dazzled, and their massive bodies looked vivid and true to life. They floated in the sky, giving off an aura that made people’s hearts pound wildly in fear!
“Sh*t!”
Lone Wolf’s eyelid twitched violently as he took in the mighty terrifying aura in the sky. Fear and hopelessness filled his heart.
“A sixth-grade spell! That’s definitely the might of a sixth-grade spell!
“Instant release of a sixth-grade spell!
“My god! Just who have I offended?”
“Lightning Snake Flurry… Land!”
10 Thunder Pythons howled and roared as they swooped down from the sky. They crashed head-first into the ground and exploded with a deafening boom. An overwhelming amount of Thunder Elements rampaged madly and enveloped the area within a radius of 100 meters!
“Ahhh!”
Amidst shrill and tragic screams, the bandits were burned into charcoal, reduced to ashes, or evaporated into vapors…
They died a tragic and miserable death!
It was hard to watch!
“Oh my god!”
When Lone Wolf looked back and saw what had happened, he became even more horrified. He brandished a dagger and viciously stabbed the Horned Cloud-Striding Horse in its rump. The horse let out a shrill whinny and broke into a desperate dash in a dramatic burst of speed!
“An expert of that level… is actually riding on a magic carpet!
“Isn’t he just out to bully others?!”
Lone Wolf was furious and filled with regrets. Magic carpets were low-grade flight tools that only Low-Level Magicians would use; High-Level Magicians completely turned their noses up at them. That was why he had dared to rob them of the magic carpet!
Never did he ever imagined that things would go completely out of his expectations!
“I’ve run into a wall this time!”
Lone Wolf was so full of regret that he was beating his chest, but all he could do was to flee desperately for his life!
“Flee? Do you think you can successfully flee?”
Meng Lei smiled calmly and snapped his fingers lightly. Thunder Elements converged and quietly formed a lightning lance!
“Go!”
With a soft command from Meng Lei, the three-meters-long lightning lance pierced through the air and shot lightning-quick toward Lone Wolf. It pierced right through Lone Wolf’s back and protruded from his chest!
“Ahhh!”
Lone Wolf let out a terrible scream as the momentum threw him out. He fell into the bushes by the road, with no one knowing whether he was alive or dead!
“Big Brother Meng Lei, you’re so awesome!”
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew were dumbfounded from astonishment. They stared at Meng Lei’s back, their eyes full of bright and twinkling little stars!
“You guys can do it too if you cultivate well!”
Meng Lei smiled at them. Then, he steered the magic carpet down.
By the time he reached right in front of Lone Wolf, the vice-ridden bandit leader was already on the brink of death and on his last breath. It was evident that he wasn’t going to make it!
However, when he saw Meng Lei’s group of four standing on the magic carpet, his eyes widened big and round furiously, and disbelief filled his eyes. “A-all of you a… aren’t…”
Before he’d even finished, Lone Wolf’s head fell to the side, and he stopped breathing altogether. However, his eyes were widened big and round, a clear indication that he hadn’t died in peace!
He’d thought that he had run into super experts, but never would he have expected that the ones that had wiped out his Lone Wolf Bandits and killed him would actually be… Four little brats!
He practically didn’t die in peace!
“Big Brother Meng Lei, is that guy d-dead?”
Hiding behind Meng Lei, Jonah and the other two stuck out their heads carefully, their little faces pale.
“Yes, he’s dead!”
Meng Lei nodded and hopped off the magic carpet. His eyes fell onto Lone Wolf’s left hand right away, and he noticed a bronze-colored ring on his left ring finger…
Meng Lei took the ring off the finger and imbued spiritual power into it. He burst into laughter at once.
Looks like I was right! It really is a spatial ring!
A spatial ring!
The treasure that Meng Lei had longed for!
It was just that it was too expensive, so all he could do was sigh and look longingly at it!
However, when Meng Lei had seen the Violent Thunder Crossbow vanishing right before his eyes just now, he’d guessed that this group of bandits probably owned spatial equipment. It looked like his guess had been on the mark!
I went through so much trouble to look for one to no avail, only to obtain it effortlessly in the end!
It’s a spatial ring with an area of over 50 cubic meters! I’ve struck it big this time!
Eh? There are actually so many things inside?
Several objects floated about in Meng Lei’s mental vision. There were heaps of gold coins, heaps of magic cores, heaps of jewels…
What a dazzling array of things!
What a wide variety of things!
They almost blinded Meng Lei!
I’ve really struck it big this time!
Meng Lei’s eyes shone brightly.
The gold coins alone probably amount quite a few hundred thousand? Not to mention the other things, such as magic cores, jewels, and weapons!
Our forefathers don’t lie, indeed. Horses really don’t bulk up without feeding at night, and people really don’t get rich without unexpected windfalls!
" }, { "id": 58, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-58", "title": "Chapter 58", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 58: A Wild Beast Tide, Producing Lightning With A Flip Of The Hand
After they exterminated the Lone Wolf Bandits, Meng Lei and the others resumed their journey back home. Jonah and the other two constantly chattered, their eyes brimming with worship and idolization when they looked at Meng Lei. Everything they said could be summed up into one sentence:
“Big Brother Meng Lei, you’re so awesome!”
Meng Lei replied with a smile, “You guys will also be just as powerful in the future if you cultivate well!”
Then, he secretly deposited all the gold coins in the spatial ring into the system, making his wealth surge by 300,000 gold coins!
Adding what he previously had to it, he now had a total of 480,000 gold coins!
This didn’t even include the magic cores, jewels, weapons, and other things inside the spatial ring! Should he sell those treasures, he would earn yet another hefty sum of money!
I’ve really struck it big this time!
Meng Lei fingered the spatial ring, reveling in the pleasant sensation of receiving a huge windfall. He was in such a fantastic mood that snot bubbles were practically forming at his nose!
Of course, the biggest gain is still this spatial ring that’s worth several million gold coins!
There was no doubt about the spatial ring’s functionality. With it, Meng Lei could now hunt magical beasts to his heart’s content without any reservations!
Although the 50 cubic meters space wasn’t particularly spacious, it was sufficient to store a lot of magic cores. Meng Lei’s mind had already drifted all the way to the Magical Beast Forest. He almost climaxed as he fantasized about hunting and killing magical beasts, gathering magic cores, and making a huge windfall!
The magic carpet was very fast. After two hours of flight, they finally returned to Magical Beast Village. However, the scene before their eyes gave the four of them a huge shock instead!
A beast tide!
A beast tide was happening again!
All over the mountains and the plains, wild beasts gathered into surging torrents and raced toward Magical Beast Village like a bunch of thunderclouds. It was as if they wanted to drown the tiny Magical Beast Village within the torrents of wild beasts!
…
Dozens of young adults stood atop the village walls, their eyes full of horror and hopelessness!
These young adults were the team of guards led by Captain Hudders. As Magical Beast Village members, they frequently fought against beast tides, so every one of them was a seasoned warrior. Typical beast tides didn’t faze them at all!
However, the beast tide this time made everyone incredibly hopeless!
“Why did this happen?”
Hudders stood on top of the walls, staring at the dozen or so magical beasts surrounded in the middle by the beast tide torrents. Apart from hopelessness, there was still only hopelessness on his face!
Fourth-Grade Magical Beast, Iron-Armored Rhinoceros!
Third-Grade Magical Beasts, Mountain-Rendering Pangolin, and Blood-Spotted Snake!
Second-Grade Magical Beasts, Azure Sky Snake, White Snapping Turtle, Golden-Armored Scorpion, Bramble Rat, Swamp Dragon Turtle, Blood-Toothed Boar, Titan Longhorn Beetle, and Wind Wolf King!
One Fourth-Grade Magical Beast!
Two Third-Grade Magical Beasts!
Eight Second-Grade Magical Beasts!
Countless First-Grade Magical Beasts!
Given their terrifying lineup, how were they supposed to fight against them?
They didn’t even have a sliver of hope at winning!
“Why?
“Why are there so many Magical Beasts in the beast tide this time?”
Hudders didn’t understand. Magical Beast Village was situated at the fringes of the Magical Beast Forest. Usually, one would already be considered especially down on their luck if they ran into a First-Grade Magical Beast. Why had even a high-grade magical beast like the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros shown up this time?
It didn’t make any sense!
However, no matter how absurd it was, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros had ultimately shown up and had even led a bunch of magical beast underlings to launch a never-before-seen beast tide. Magical Beast Village was currently facing an unprecedented disaster!
“Captain, what should we do?”
The guards trembled with fear. Even their voices were shaking somewhat. The scale of the beast tide had shocked and frightened all of them!
“We can only adopt whatever solution we can according to the situation!”
Captain Hudders slowly expended a breath of air. He said, “Behind us is our home and our family. We have no other choice other than to fight to the death!”
“Our home!”
“Our family!”
A severe jolt went through everyone. The fear in their eyes gradually faded, replaced by absolute resolution and frenzy.
“Captain is right! We have no other choice. The only thing we can do is to fight to the death!”
“If you want to hurt our families, then you’d have to do it over our dead bodies!”
“Fight to the death!”
“Fight to the death!”
Roar!
At this moment, an earth-shattering roar of fury reached them. The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros in the middle of the beast tide roared ferociously into the sky, launching the signal for the beast tide to attack!
Howl!
Hiss!
Woof!
Moo!
Meh!
All the wild beasts responded with their own ferocious cries. The torrential sound waves converged into one, as though an explosive peal of thunder booming throughout the sky!
Roar!
As another ferocious roar rang out, torrents of wild beasts covering every inch of land transformed into horrifying tidal waves and surged toward Magical Beast Village. Dozens of Magical Beasts took the lead and brazenly launched magic attacks!
Rock bullets, water arrows, wind blades, wood thorns, lightning flashes…
First-grade and second-grade magic attacks that covered every expanse of land formed a dense and packed rain of swords that swarmed over in a crushing momentum!
Everyone wore looks of hopelessness upon seeing this. The village walls were made of wood; how were they supposed to withstand magic attacks of this scale?
Moreover, most of them weren’t even Warriors. How were they supposed to withstand the attacks, too?
“T-this… How did it turn out like this?!”
“Captain! What should we do?!”
“Oh my dragon god…”
“We’re finished!!”
Hudders lost all hope in his heart. All he could do was watch helplessly as the magic attacks approached, ultimately fully occupying his range of vision!
He knew that everything was finished!
Up against such terrifying magic attacks, the village walls would be reduced to rubble, and everyone would be annihilated!
Buzz!
However, just as the rain of magic attacks was about to land, an unexpected turn of events occurred. A transparent silver glow quietly appeared and instantly spanned across the top of the village walls!
Boom, boom, boom!
The dense and packed rain of magic attacks crashed against the silver glow, causing an outburst of brilliant and dazzling fireworks!
“That’s…”
Everyone’s eyes widened!
“A… A magic shield?!” exclaimed Hudders in astonishment.
Hudders hadn’t been mistaken—it was indeed a magic shield. Amid booming explosions, the silver glow perfectly withstood all the attacks, undamaged in the least!
All of the magic elements dissipated!
The billowing waves of smoke faded away!
The village walls were undamaged and intact!
Everyone was safe and sound!
“It managed to block the attacks?”
The guards had a dazed look in their eyes.
“Who was it? Who had launched the magic shield?”
Hudders looked around him.
Then, he saw a blood-red magic carpet right above him. Someone stood proudly on the magic carpet. The figure looked familiar… Yet like a stranger at the same time!
“That’s…”
Hudders exclaimed in astonishment, “Meng Lei!”
“Long time no see, Captain Hudders!”
The person standing proudly on the magic carpet was exactly Meng Lei. Upon hearing Captain Hudders’ exclamation, Meng Lei turned and smiled at him.
“Captain Hudders, we’ll talk again after I’ve taken care of the beast tide!”
After he spoke, Meng Lei raised his hands. Lightning flashed at his fingertips. Thunder balls quietly formed one after another and shot toward the torrential flood of wild beasts like a machine gun’s bullets!
Boom, boom, boom!
Explosions that shook the heavens and earth rang out with a deafening boom. Smoke and dust instantly enveloped the flood of wild beasts in front of the village walls. Amid an endless stream of screams and cries, severed limbs were thrown out, and blood and flesh flew everywhere!
A large majority of the wild beasts in the beast tide were just normal animals. How could they possibly withstand magic attacks?
After a round of wild booms and violent explosions, the wails and cries of wild beasts filled the place. In just the short span of a few breaths, an immeasurable number of beasts had perished on the spot!
This horrifying scene terribly frightened the other wild beasts. Scared out of their wits, they fled desperately. How would they possibly still have the guts to attack Magical Beast Village?
Roar!
This greatly enraged the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros in the middle of the beast tide. It let out several roars to suppress the alarmed and panicked wild beasts. Then, with another few roars, the dozens of magical beasts surrounding it moved!
The Mountain-Rendering Pangolin, Blood-Spotted Snake, Azure Sky Snake, etc., roared furiously as they charged forward with ferocious momentum. Their eyes gleamed red, as though they wanted to rip Meng Lei, who was standing on the magic carpet, into pieces!
What a shame that what awaited them was a rain of lightning lances that covered every expanse of land instead!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amidst hair-raising sounds of flesh being stripped away from bone, the Mountain-Rendering Pangolin, Blood-Spotted Snake… All of them were impaled to death by the lightning lances. By the time they charged over to the bottom of the magic carpet, all of them were already dead!
“This…”
Hudders and the guards were totally astounded!
" }, { "id": 59, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-59", "title": "Chapter 59", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 59: Contractual Magic Circle, Subdued As A Mount
Electric currents rampaged, and flashes of lightning reached far and wide!
Broken limbs and severed appendages were everywhere, all bloodied and mangled!
Dozens of Magical Beasts were all skewered to the ground!
This horrifying scene completely stunned Hudders and the rest!
“Oh my dragon god!!!”
“This many Magical Beasts… All of them have died just like that?”
“There are Third-Grade Magical Beasts, the Mountain-Rendering Pangolin and Blood-Spotted Snake, among them, you know! And they’ve died just like that?!”
“A hallucination! This must be a hallucination…”
Everyone felt as if everything was a dream. They were ultimately just ordinary humans; hunting some ordinary wild beasts was as far as it went. When had they ever seen anything like this?
Roar!!
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros’ roaring pulled everyone back to reality at this point. The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, which was as big as a bus, was in a terrible rage. It stomped on the ground, exhaling heavily through its nostrils!
The ground trembled, and the mountains shook!
Trees quivered!
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros glared furiously at Meng Lei, killing intent raging within its eyes!
It launched a brazen attack the next moment!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
It took only an instant for dozens of rocks as big as an ox’s head to rise into the sky. As though cannonballs had been launched, they suddenly shot toward Meng Lei!
It was the Second-Grade Spell, Rock Meteor Rain!
“Insignificant tricks!”
With a wave of Meng Lei’s arm, lightning arrows appeared out of nowhere and met the large expanse of rain of rocks head-on!
It was the Second-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Arrow!
Boom, boom, boom!
Lightning arrows and rocks made contact, causing a deafening sound of explosion to erupt. The rocks were smashed into bits, turning into broken fragments that covered the whole sky as they landed like snowflakes!
Roar!
Upon seeing that its attack hadn’t been effective, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros roared again and again. The horn at its forehead flashed yellow, and all the earth elements within a radius of dozens of meters converged in its direction. It was gearing up for a big move!
“A big move? It’s time to end this!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and launched the Third-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Chains. Countless silver threads quietly appeared around the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros. Before it could react, they had already firmly surrounded it!
Crackle, crackle!
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was wrapped like a mummy. Electric currents thrashed about and flowed around it, numbing its body. The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros spasmed all over and shook in its boots, as though it was rave-dancing!
“It’s over!”
Meng Lei drew an arc across the air. A lightning spear appeared and pressed against the middle of the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros’ forehead, ready to pierce through its head and impale it to death on the spot anytime Meng Lei wished to!
However, Meng Lei hesitated at this point.
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros couldn’t be said to be strong, but neither could it be said to be weak!
It was a Fourth-Grade Magical Beast, after all. It didn’t count as much in the depths of the forest, but it was considered a fairly powerful Overlord-Level Magical Beast in the fringes and outer boundaries!
If used well, there was a high chance that it could solve the beast tide problem for good. The moment he thought of that, Meng Lei turned to Captain Hudders and said with a smile, “Captain Hudders, what do you think of this Iron-Armored Rhinoceros?”
“(⊙o⊙)”
Hudders was mildly startled but replied nonetheless, “The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros is a Fourth-Grade Magical Beast with top-notch defenses and is also skilled at earth-elemental magic. If placed in the battleground, its offensive abilities can be said to be terrifying!”
“Since that’s the case, how about getting it to become your mount?” asked Meng Lei.
“My mount?”
Hudders looked totally bewildered.
“Yes! Your mount!”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “If the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros becomes your mount, it should be able to solve the beast tide problem very well. The village won’t suffer from beast tide attacks in the future anymore!”
“I… This… Is this viable?”
Hudders became agitated at once. Even his voice was somewhat shaking. As a Warrior, he naturally longed to have a powerful mount!
It was just a pity that… It was too difficult!
With his Second-Grade Warrior capabilities, it wasn’t difficult for him to tame a lousy mount. However, such mounts were no different from white elephants. What use were they even if he tamed them?
What was tough was taming powerful mounts!
Take the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, for example!
If one wanted it to recognize them as its master…
The first way was to defeat it with absolute strength so that it would become most willing to recognize them as its master!
The second way was to use a contract scroll and forcibly compel the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros to recognize them as its master through the contract’s power!
The third way was to get a Magician to set up a Contractual Magic Circle…
It was just a shame that Hudders couldn’t achieve any of the methods, no matter which it was. If he had such abilities, he’d have made it big a long time ago. Why would he still be stuck in this tiny little Magical Beast Village?
Therefore, in the case of mounts like the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, the only thing he could do was just to daydream about it, and nothing more!
However, Meng Lei was telling him right now that he could make the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros recognize him as its master. How could Hudders not become agitated?
“Why not?”
Meng Lei smiled and began to quickly chant a magic incantation. Before long, a dazzling and colorful magic circle arose from underneath the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, giving off strange fluctuating waves!
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros became unsettled upon seeing the magic circle. It began to struggle fiercely, and the Thunderbolt Chains actually started to show signs of breaking! Upon seeing that, Meng Lei launched a few more Thunderbolt Chains in succession!
For a moment there, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was shackled and wrapped like a mummy, unable to budge at all!
Meng Lei landed on the ground and dragged his finger lightly across the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros. It easily cut through its tough skin, which was as solid and sturdy like iron, and formed a laceration!
Blood spurted from the wound and landed in the magic circle by itself!
“Captain Hudders, come over here and subdue this beast!”
“Sure, sure!”
Hudders hurriedly ran, so worked up that he could barely contain himself!
Meng Lei pointed at the magic circle and said with a smile, “Drip a few drops of blood into it!”
Hudders didn’t dare to be tardy. He took out his dagger, made a cut on his finger, and let a few drops of blood drip from the cut. At once, the magic circle emitted a bright light, which shrouded Hudders’ and the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros’ blood!
Both human and beast blood began to rapidly transform and formed a strange pocket-sized blood-colored magic circle. Then, it separated into two and shot swiftly toward the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros and Hudders, before entering their heads and vanishing without a trace!
Whoosh!
The magic circle on the ground also vanished along with it!
“How is it, Captain Hudders?”
Meng Lei looked at Hudders, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. He’d long wanted to subdue a Magical Beast as his mount, so he’d specially studied how to set up a Contractual Magic Circle before!
However, this was still Meng Lei’s first time setting up a Contractual Magic Circle and subduing a Magical Beast. Thus, he naturally found it very new and interesting!
“It… feels like… I now have a bit of a link with it?”
Hudders looked at the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, which also looked at him!
Two pairs of eyes gazed at each other!
The irascibility and savagery in the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros’ eyes disappeared, and reverence and allegiance took its place. The way it looked at Hudders was completely different from how it had looked at him previously!
Hudders called out, “Come here!”
The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros walked over obediently without even the least bit of resistance!
It didn’t resist even when Hudders reached out and touched its nose and was as docile as a kitten. There was no trace of its previous demeanor at all!
“So this is the might of a master-servant contract? It’s impressive, indeed!”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder and admiration as he watched. The contract’s successful formation had actually straight up changed the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros’ will and thoughts, causing it to recognize Hudders as its master from the bottom of its heart!
This was too scary!
“Haha! I have a mount now! I have a mount now!”
Hudders kept stroking the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, so excited that he was practically grinning from ear to ear. The other guards also approached them, both excited and envious!
“Captain, congrats!”
“Tsk, tsk, having the Fourth-Grade Magical Beast Iron-Armored Rhinoceros as a mount, I’m totally green with envy!”
“It’s so mighty and imposing! I’m dying of envy…”
" }, { "id": 60, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-60", "title": "Chapter 60", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 60: Superior-Grade Fire-Elemental Affinity, Bringing Fortune To The Village
Successfully subduing the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was just an interesting new experience to Meng Lei, but to Hudders and everyone else in the village, it was an event of epic proportions!
Captain Hudders was incredibly excited!
The team of guards was also filled with joy.
Everyone knew that with the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros keeping watch now, the beast tide problem that had brought the village great suffering would be completely solved. There wouldn’t be any more suffering due to beast tide attacks!
This was an epic event!
“Thank you, Meng Lei!”
Hudders held Meng Lei’s hands tightly, his feelings of gratitude showing in his actions. The other guards also looked at Meng Lei with awe and astonishment in their eyes.
They couldn’t get the scene from just now out of their minds!
Countless magic thunder balls!
Sharp lightning lances falling like a rain of swords!
Dozens of Magical Beasts impaled to the ground!
Thunderbolt Chains securely restraining the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros!
Meng Lei!
He was actually this powerful and formidable?
How long had it only been? Yet he had already undergone such an astonishing change?
“I’ll feel like you’re treating me like a stranger if you say such words of gratitude!”
Meng Lei waved and let Jonah and the other two down from the magic carpet. He said with a smile, “After being away from the village for more than half a year, I miss the village’s roasted meat and your malt wine very much, Captain. I wonder if there’s still any left?”
“I might not have anything else, but I definitely have enough roasted meat and malt wine!”
Hudders burst into laughter and said, “Hurry! Inform the village chief, and get the villagers to hurry and come out to welcome our hero! We’ll have a campfire banquet tonight to welcome Meng Lei and the rest home!”
“Alright!”
“Haha! Yes, we certainly should give them a proper welcome back!”
…
The crisis this time had been quietly resolved, they had gained a strong guard like the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, and there were even wild beast and magical beast carcasses strewn all about. One could say that this was killing several birds with one stone!
This delighted the villagers very much, and they happily cleaned up the carcasses. Everyone was happy and joyous as if it were the New Year celebrations!
The adults were extremely busy!
The kids went to Meng Lei and turned into curious little babies!
Meng Lei was a very patient person and was also very fond of children. He sat on a big rock in the middle of the village with a group of young children in tow and narrated what he had seen and done in the capital city.
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew supplemented with additional information at the sides…
They spoke vividly and lively, making the children constantly gasp in astonishment!
“Big Brother Meng Lei, can houses really fly in the sky?”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, have all of you ever seen Dragon People with dragon horns on their bodies?”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, I heard from the adults that you can launch lightning from your mouth and control lightning. Is it true?”
Children’s curiosity could never be satiated. The group of young children chittered and chattered as they asked him questions. Despite Meng Lei’s great patience, even he was a little bothered by all the questions!
Upon seeing this, Jonah helped Meng Lei out. She took out a magic crystal ball and said with a smile, “Look over here, everyone. Do you know what this is?”
“A glass ball?”
The children blinked at her.
“This isn’t a glass ball, but a magic crystal ball!” replied a smiling Jonah. She said, “With it, we’ll be able to evaluate our magic talent, just like this!”
She placed her hand on top of the crystal ball. At once, the originally transparent magic crystal ball emitted a pale green glow like vibrant green jade, brilliant and dazzling!
“Wow!”
“It’s green! It turned green!”
The children’s jaws dropped, wonder filling their eyes.
“Big Sister Jonah, the glass ball turned green. What kind of magic talent is that?”
“The magic crystal ball turning green means that I have Wood-Elemental magic talent!” Jonah smiled sweetly and explained patiently, “The green light isn’t very strong, which shows that I have average magic talent. If you look at Big Brother Meng Lei’s magic talent, you’ll see the difference!”
As she spoke, she passed the crystal ball over to him.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but chuckle. Then, he also placed his hand on top of the magic crystal ball.
Buzz!
For a moment there, the originally transparent magic crystal ball immediately emitted an incredibly piercing light, as though a 10,000-watt filament lamp. It was so bright that it made their eyes hurt!
There were three colors amid the dazzling light!
A silver that darted about everywhere like electric currents!
An ocher yellow that was rich and heavy, moving about slowly!
A fiery red that was boiling hot and burned intensely!
The three colors of light, two strong and one weak, intertwined, and coordinated with each other. They shone incredibly dazzling and beautifully, lighting up everyone’s eyes!
(⊙o⊙)
“Wow!” The children exclaimed in astonishment again.
“Huh?” Meng Lei’s eyes flicked over. “A fiery red color?”
Stunned by the lights, Jonah asked with a look full of puzzlement, “Big Brother Meng Lei, do you also have Earth-Elemental and Fire-Elemental magic talent?”
She remembered that Meng Lei only had Thunder-Elemental magic talent when they were going through the magic evaluation test half a year ago. Why had he gained Earth-Elemental and Fire-Elemental magic talent after a short span of half a year?
Moreover, judging from the current situation, his Fire-Elemental affinity actually didn’t lose out to his Thunder-Elemental affinity at all. Only his Earth-Elemental affinity was slightly weaker!
Even so, it was still much stronger than her Wood-Elemental affinity!
In other words, Big Brother Meng Lei had Superior-Grade Thunder-Elemental affinity, Superior-Grade Fire-Elemental affinity, as well as High-Grade Earth-Elemental affinity!
Two Superior-Grade elemental affinities!
One High-Grade elemental affinity!
Given his magic talent, he could truly be labeled as savage to the extreme!
“This… Maybe they had awakened recently?”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes a little, various thoughts running through his mind. The High-Grade Earth-Elemental affinity was something that he had picked up from Fatty Hart. What was the Superior-Grade Fire-Elemental affinity all about, then?
He had never picked that up before!
Wait!
Could it be the Fire Demon bloodline?
It was also possible that it was the Fire Dragon bloodline!
When he thought of that, Meng Lei couldn’t help but figure it out somewhat. Be it the Fire Dragon or the Fire Demon, both of them were strong and powerful Fire-Elemental Magical Beasts. Both could control fire and manipulate flames!
After assimilating the Fire Dragon and Fire Demon bloodlines, having superior elemental affinity with Fire Elements… was completely reasonable!
Meng Lei took a deep breath.
Looks like there’s a great need for me to study fire-elemental spells in the future. It’s a huge waste if I don’t make use of such strong elemental affinity!
“Awakened recently?”
Jonah was a little dazed.
“Is that even possible?”
“Haha, of course it is. Aren’t I a living example?”
Meng Lei laughed and changed the topic. He said, “Jonah, this magic crystal ball isn’t cheap, right? Surely you didn’t spend that much buying this just to come back to the village to show off?”
“Of course not!” Jonah rolled her eyes at Meng Lei. She explained, “I want to let the children check their magic talent and then teach them how to use magic. I don’t want them to stay in the village and accomplish nothing for all of their lives!”
“That’s a wonderful way of thinking. I raise both hands in agreement!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and said with a smile, “Hurry and do it, then. Who knows, there might really be people with magic talent here!”
“Okay!”
Jonah began to check the children’s magic talent right away.
As the saying went, “When a man achieves the Dao, even his poultry and dogs rise to Heaven!”
This was exactly it!
Although Jonah hadn’t achieved great accomplishments, as the first person in Magical Beast Village’s history to enter a magic academy to study, her existence had already begun to influence this tiny village!
All those above 10 years old and below 18 years old could get their elemental affinity tested.
Of course, all the children above 16 years old had already gone out of town to serve military service. Thus, only children below 16 years old were tested.
After a series of tests, they really did discover two lucky little fellows. Both were girls, and were even a pair of twins!
" }, { "id": 61, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-61", "title": "Chapter 61", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 61: Going Into The Mountains Again, Hunting Magical Beasts
They were dressed in long, coarse sackcloth dresses, barefooted, and covered in mud like clay monkey dolls, but both girls on the left and right looked exactly the same as if they were cast from the same mold.
They were that lucky pair of twin sisters!
Hester Draper, High-Grade Fire-Elemental affinity!
Monica Draper, High-Grade Water-Elemental affinity!
“High-grade elemental affinity! It’s actually better than mine!”
Jonah was astonished at the results of the test. High-grade elemental affinity was extremely rare. It was uncommon even among the nobility, not to mention the remote and secluded Magical Beast Village.
Yet it had appeared twice at once in this pair of sisters!
One could only say that different people really had different destinies!
“It would be too much of a waste not to study magic when they have such great magic talent!”
Meng Lei looked at the twin sisters with a big smile. “Hester, Monica, from now on, the two of you can learn how to meditate from Big Sister Jonah. Improve your spiritual power first, then enroll in a magic academy next year.”
“Okay!”
The two sisters nodded hard, as though they understood him but not quite, either. Two shallow dimples appeared on each of their muddy little faces, making them look extremely adorable.
Envy filled the other children’s eyes as they looked at the twin sisters. Despite their young age, they understood what having, or lacking, magic talent meant, too!
“Those without magic talent shouldn’t lose heart, either. You guys can learn Battle Aura from Joseph and Andrew. All of you will still have the chance to become someone strong in the future!”
“Okay!”
…
Night fell, and the roars of beasts rang out occasionally in the forest.
Numerous campfires blazed on the flat ground in the village center. Golden-yellow roast meats gave off a meaty aroma that enveloped the village while villagers sat on the ground as they cheered and laughed.
“Meng Lei, thank you for subduing the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros for me. Here’s a toast to you!”
“Meng Lei, thank you for forking out money to support Joseph’s studies!”
“Haha…”
Tonight was destined to be a lively and bustling night. The men played finger-guessing games and drank, the women danced and sang, and the children cheered and laughed. Everyone’s faces brimmed with joy and smiles of happiness.
The campfire banquet lasted all the way till late night before it ended. That night, Meng Lei skipped his daily meditation and had a good sleep instead.
Early in the next morning, he got his things ready and set off.
Morning fog shrouded the forest, and only the surroundings three to four meters around a person was visible. Not only was visibility very low, but the plants in the village had also grown all over the place.
Towering ancient trees and thorny undergrowth!
Draping vines and thick, verdant shrubs!
Speeding up one’s journey was a very difficult task in such a messy and unbearable environment. One could very easily come under attacks. A poisonous snake, a poisonous scorpion, a scourge of poisonous mosquitoes—any of these could take a person’s life!
“The higher a Magical Beast’s level is, the more valuable it is.
“I have to try my best to go as deep into the forest as I can.
“There’s no need to waste any time in the forest’s outer boundary!”
There were only ordinary wild beasts in the forest’s outer boundary. Meng Lei wasn’t the least bit interested in them, so he rode on the magic carpet and headed straight toward the depths of the forest.
Magical Beast Forest was enormous, so much so that it was practically boundless. After flying for a good half a day, Meng Lei finally landed in the forest, ready to hunt some Magical Beasts!
“Earthquake!”
With the spot beneath Meng Lei’s feet as the center, a series of rhythmic tremors quietly spread outward in every direction. It was the Earth-Elemental Spell, Earthquake!
Earthquake was a very simple spell that even First-Grade Magicians could cast. Capable of making the ground shake and sway, the tremors’ scale and frequency depended wholly on the spellcaster’s spiritual power and degree of control in magic power.
In the hands of a high-level Magician, Earthquake could shake the earth, trigger an avalanche, and cause massive destruction. At the same time, it could also produce vibrations in the ground so mild that they were barely discernible.
Meng Lei was currently using Earthquake to search for Magical Beasts in the surroundings. With his current spellcasting standard, he could cover a search range within a radius of over 200 meters with Earthquake!
“There’s a Magical Beast at two o’clock!”
Meng Lei carefully crept over and parted a bunch of bushes. A lizard that was dark green in color throughout, covered head to toe in spikes, and over five-meters-long entered his sight.
“It’s the Fourth-Grade Magical Beast, Ground-Spike Lizard!”
Meng Lei frowned lightly, his interest in it somewhat a little lackluster. The prices of Fourth-Grade Magical Beasts were so-so, and their magic cores only fetched 2,000 to 3,000 gold coins per core. It didn’t bring in much!
Even so, Meng Lei still cast the Earth-Elemental Spell, Ground-Piercing Lance, anyway, and stabbed the Ground-Spike Lizard dead before the poor lizard even realized what was happening.
“Ding! 1 Ground-Spike Lizard killed, 2,400 gold coins gained!”
“2,400 gold coins? Not bad!”
Meng Lei walked over, fished out a dagger, and gouged out the Ground-Spike Lizard’s magic core. He ignored the blood on it and tossed it straight into the spatial ring.
Another 2,000 gold coins into the bank account!
“That’s double the cash with a single Magical Beast! Marvelous!
“Earthquake!
“Another Magical Beast at 11 o’clock in front!
“A Fourth-Grade Magical Beast?
“Ground-Piercing Lance!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Rhinoceros Beetle killed, 2,200 gold coins gained!”
“Earthquake!
“A Fourth-Grade Magical Beast again? What the f*ck!”
“Ding! 1 Golden-Spotted Silver Ant killed, 2,400 gold coins gained!”
Just like that, Meng Lei hunted as he advanced. In this particular region of Magical Beast Forest, mid-grade Magical Beasts were very common. Just like normal wild beasts in the forest’s outer boundary, they fought and fed on each other and competed against each other for the sake of survival!
“I’ve already killed seven Magical Beasts and earned more than 20,000 gold coins in less than two hours!
“Yeap, not bad, I would say!”
Meng Lei walked up to a Six-Winged Iron Crocodile that had died with grievances. He gouged out its magic core, put it happily into his spatial ring, and then continued on his journey.
“What a shame that there isn’t any way I can carry these Magical Beast carcasses out. Otherwise, I’d be able to earn yet another sum of money!”
Splurt!
Splurt!
“Eh?”
Right at this point, a few peculiar sounds reached his ears. Meng Lei’s footsteps came to a stop. He cocked his ears and looked toward the three o’clock direction. A few more of the peculiar sounds reached his ears again, the sounds crisp, clear, and horrifying!
Meng Lei wasn’t a stranger to the sound—this was the sound of a sharp blade piercing through flesh.
“Is someone fighting over there?
“That doesn’t make sense, though! There aren’t any battling sounds!”
Puzzled, Meng Lei quietly crept over. Then, he was astounded by the scene in front of him!
In the fields in front was a blazing campfire, and propped on top of the fire was a rack of roasted meat. The roast was a golden-yellow color, and a meaty aroma assailed the nostrils, easily stimulating anyone’s appetite.
However, Meng Lei wasn’t in the mood to eat the roasted meat at all because strewn all over the ground around the campfire were five dead bodies!
There were both men and women, and both Warriors and Magicians!
Everyone’s eyes were widened, and all of them were unable to rest in peace after their deaths, however. Their throats had been slit, and blood was gurgling as it flowed out of their wounds. They had died in an extremely tragic manner!
“Who the hell did this? Isn’t this too brutal?” Meng Lei murmured softly, a chill coming over him.
It was evident from the pitiful, horrifying sight of the victims, as well as the signs in the murder scene that they hadn’t even been able to put up any resistance at all during their deaths.
They hadn’t been able to put up even an ounce of resistance, yet the killer had still slit their throats, nonetheless.
How tragic!
“Are you looking for me?”
Unexpectedly, a joking voice suddenly rang out in Meng Lei’s ears right at that moment. Alarm had only just welled up within Meng Lei when he felt a slight chill at his throat.
Danger!!!
That was Meng Lei’s immediate reaction.
His second reaction was to pull back.
Boom!
Meng Lei’s powerful physical body constitution, which was on par with a Seventh-Grade Warrior’s, produced an outburst of strength. The moment he sprung into the air, he went ten-meters-high and leaped forcefully backward. In just a split second, he had already shot over ten meters away!
(⊙o⊙)
The person that had ambushed Meng Lei was astonished!
" }, { "id": 62, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-62", "title": "Chapter 62", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 62: Killing The Assassin, Becoming A Seventh-Grade Magician
In the instant when Meng Lei jumped away, a small and skinny man with a large bamboo hat on his head and wrapped head to toe in black clothing showed up. He had a dazed and stupefied expression on his face as he stared at Meng Lei, who had jumped more than ten meters away.
(⊙o⊙)
“He’s that fast!?”
A moment ago, he had detected someone approaching, so he had concealed himself. Right after that, Meng Lei had appeared within his sight.
He was so young!
And he was a Magician, too!
So, how strong could he even be?
Thus, he had promptly launched an attack.
Little did he imagine that Meng Lei would actually move so quickly. His outburst of speed in that instant just now had definitely surpassed a Fifth-Grade Warrior’s. Was he really a goddamn Magician?
“I’ve actually made a mistake in my judgment!”
The small and skinny man licked his lips, a dark and deep look in his eyes.
That was so close!!!
Meng Lei landed on a tree, a layer of cold sweat forming on his back. It was fortunate that he had reacted in time just now. Otherwise, his throat would definitely have been slit!
That was really such a close shave!
He suddenly thought of a saying, “In Magical Beast Forest, what one needs to be on guard against the most aren’t Magical Beasts, but humans!”
Magical Beast Forest was independent of the four great empires. There were no laws, no rules and regulations, and no morals here. It was a wild, savage, and uncivilized territory. It was the Magical Beasts’ paradise and the adventurers’ heaven!
Most of the people that came here were here for magic cores. Some hunted Magical Beasts honestly and honorably to obtain magic cores, but some didn’t go about it in the same way. Instead, they pointed their blades at their own kind.
After all, it was obvious that one could obtain magic cores a lot faster by killing others.
This led to humans becoming a more dangerous presence in the Magical Beast Forest instead!
Very evidently, the small and skinny man in front of Meng Lei right now belonged to this group of people. The moment he thought of that, the look in Meng Lei’s eyes turned cold and frosty, and murderous intent arose in his eyes.
To actually dare to set his sights on me, he ought to die!
The small and skinny man glanced at Meng Lei. Then, he disappeared from the spot where he was. Meng Lei secretly became more cautious and vigilant—he didn’t think that the other party would leave just like that!. And true enough…
Whoosh!
An almost indiscernible sound of something slicing through the air quietly rang out. An icy glint suddenly flew out from the left and shot right toward Meng Lei’s temples.
A person’s temples were awfully fragile. Once struck, there was no doubt that the person would die!
Meng Lei pulled back and evaded the attack. Then, he heard a crash—the man had actually inexplicably emerged from underneath his feet and was plunging the dagger in his hand toward Meng Lei’s heart!
The dagger reflected a vibrant green glow in the sunlight. It was obvious that it was covered in poison. Should one be even the slightest bit struck by it, they would lose their life for sure!
A diversion tactic? How cunning!
Meng Lei didn’t panic at all. His right hand suddenly transformed into a dragon claw and, in one motion, grabbed hold of the dagger plunging toward his heart. Then, as the man watched him in stunned surprise, he rammed his knee upward brutally.
Splurt!
As though something had been forcibly burst, the man let out a shrill scream that sounded like the squeals of a pig being slaughtered, and his whole self launched right into the air!
“Die!”
Meng Lei let out a cold snort and casually flung out a lightning lance. It instantly pierced through the man’s heart and pinned him onto a large tree!
“Y… you’re… a… a… dragon…”
The man’s mouth opened and closed. He wanted to say something, but in the end, before he could utter anything, his head fell to the side… and he croaked!
“Phew!”
Meng Lei breathed a big sigh of relief, and his heart finally settled at ease. That guy was an assassin. He could appear and disappear like a ghost and was incredibly sly and cunning. Even a Sixth-Grade Warrior would perish in his hands if they were careless!
What a pity that he had bumped into Meng Lei instead!
“Murderers will also be killed by others someday!”
Meng Lei walked right up to the small and skinny man. There wasn’t even an ounce of sympathy in his eyes. Who knew just how many people had died in the hands of people like him that specially hid in the shadows to attack adventurers in Magical Beast Forest? He was definitely scum even among the dregs of society. There was nothing regrettable about his death at all.
However, one must admit that people like him were usually very wealthy.
Meng Lei’s eyes turned bright and shiny, and he began to rummage through the corpse’s clothes…
“Nothing in his hands! Nothing in his pockets, either!
“No spatial equipment! No magic crystal cards or gold coins, either!
“How strange! Why isn’t there anything on him? Could he actually be a pauper?
“That shouldn’t be the case, though…”
After searching the body for a good half a day, he simply didn’t find even half a bronze coin. This aggravated Meng Lei badly. His presumption was that wicked crooks like him that relied on attacking and killing adventurers should all be filthy rich, so how could he possibly be penniless?
“Something’s not right here!”
Meng Lei decided to start a fire in a fit of pique and began to burn the man’s dead body. “I don’t believe that you don’t even have half a gold coin on you…”
The fire burned and blazed!
Under the burning of fire-elemental spells, the man’s body didn’t even last that long before he was burned into ashes. His clothes, flesh and blood, and bones—all of them were reduced to ashes.
And with that, true enough, Meng Lei discovered something odd!
A belt made out of some kind of special magic material laid quietly among the ashes. In addition, there were four rings tied to the belt!
“Why didn’t I find this when I was searching his body just now?
“Could the belt have been sewn inside the clothes?
“Yeah, there’s a possibility of that!”
Meng Lei was secretly glad that he had gone a step further. Then, he picked up the belt and began to examine it.
The moment he did, Meng Lei became utterly excited.
“Haha! It’s actually a spatial belt!
“What a huge space!
“I’m rich! I’m gonna be rich now!
“Let’s take a look at the four rings now!
“What the hell?”
Meng Lei was absolutely delirious with joy!
The belt and the four rings were actually all spatial magic devices!
The space inside the belt was the largest and stretched as far as 150 cubic meters!
The four spatial rings were slightly inferior. They were respectively 100 cubic meters, 60 cubic meters, 50 cubic meters, and 10 cubic meters each.
Apart from that, there was a large quantity of highly valuable items, such as magic cores, gold coins, jewels, weapons, magic crystal cards, magic materials, magic devices, and more inside the five spatial magic devices!
Of course, there were also clothes, roast meat, condiments, tents, and some other day-to-day necessities that weren’t valuable but were still useful inside.
“Just the value of the five spatial magic devices alone has already exceeded 30,000,000 gold coins!
“Not to mention that there are so many gold coins, magic crystal cards, and jewels, too!
“I’ve really struck it big this time!
“Wahahaha, I’ve struck it big now!
“Calm down!
“Calm down!
“This is the Magical Beast Forest where it’s full of perils!.
“If I celebrate too soon and things start going wrong instead, it’ll become a tragedy.”
Meng Lei forced himself to calm down. He eagerly found somewhere relatively safe and began to make an inventory of his rewards this time.
“First things first—all the gold coins go into the system.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. Wealth +570,000 gold coins!”
“570,000 gold coins!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up, and he hastily looked at the personal stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Wealth: 1,067,835 gold coins
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand…
“One million and sixty thousand!
“One million and sixty thousand gold coins!”
Meng Lei broke into a grin so wide that it practically stretched from ear to ear. “I had worked so arduously in my past life and conscientiously did my best to earn an income, but even after toiling for four years, I’d only been able to make a down deposit for a house.
“Never would I have thought that I’d become a millionaire after coming to this alternate universe for just half a year! My life doesn’t lose out to the main characters in those novels, right?”
A millionaire!
For this, Meng Lei had struggled and strove for several years in his past life. Now that he’d finally realized this dream in this life, one of the biggest regrets in his heart had been resolved.
However…
Although money was wonderful, if it couldn’t be put to practical use, then it was nothing more than just a bunch of numbers.
“Come, come! I’ll redeem 60,000 gold coins’ worth of Stat Attribute Points first.
“Then, distribute them to my Spirit and Magic Power attributes.
“Haha, I can finally be willful for once!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host for becoming a Seventh-Grade Magician!”
" }, { "id": 63, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-63", "title": "Chapter 63", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 63: An Arduous Task And The Road Ahead Is Long, Meng Lei Was Swallowed
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Wealth: 1,007,835 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Seventh-Grade Warrior (15,123/50,000)
Spirit: Seventh-Grade Magician (10,128/50,000)
Magic Power: Seventh-Grade Magician (10,032/50,000)
Spell(s): Some increase
Battle Aura Technique(s): Fire Dragon Manual
Battle Skills: Some increase
“Magic power has been liquefied! Its quantity has decreased, but its destructive power has become more terrifying!
“Spiritual power has also greatly increased!
“Seventh-Grade Magician!
“I am now a high-grade Magician!
“A Great Magician!”
Meng Lei was extremely excited as he kept looking at his attributes.
Magic cultivation often required diligent meditation, slowly improving every day and night, and years of research. This was much more difficult compared to Battle Aura!
It was a process of accumulation and consolidation for Magicians before the seventh grade. The power they could unleash was limited, and they generally were no match for a Warrior.
But when they reached the realm of seventh-grade, the situation was completely different. At this stage, the Magician could instantly cast third-grade magic, releasing shockingly powerful advanced spells. Their damage output would be much more than Warriors of the same grade!
Because of this, a Seventh-Grade Magician was much more precious than a Seventh-Grade Warrior. Kingdoms would generally award titles to Seventh-Grade Magicians, making them noblemen and granting them territories!
There was no such treatment for Seventh-Grade Warriors.
One could see the vast difference in treatment!
“I’m going back to the capital city now. If I’m lucky, who knows, I might become a Baron, haha!”
Meng Lei was very satisfied with today’s harvest—570,000 gold coins, countless treasures, and a spatial magic device worth 30,000,000. It could be said that he had made a fortune.
This trip to the Magical Beast Forest was worth it!
“However, if I want to continue my progress, I will need even more gold coins.”
For Physical Body Constitution, 34,877 Attribute Points were required to advance from seventh-grade to eighth-grade, which translated to 340,000 gold coins!
Spiritual Power required 390,000 gold coins!
Magic Power also required 390,000 gold coins!
Adding the three together, he required a total of 1,120,000 gold coins.
1,120,000 gold coins!
Meng Lei currently only had 1,000,000 gold coins. This was not enough!
This was of secondary importance. Meng Lei could easily raise the difference by selling his magic cores, gems, magic devices, and other things in his possession.
The main concern was—what was he to do after that?
The advancement from seventh-grade to eighth-grade already required a lot of gold coins. What about eighth-grade to ninth? And from ninth to Saint Domain?
How many gold coins would these need?
10,000,000?
50,000,000?
Or… even more?
Meng Lei did not have the answer. But one thing was certain. The more one progressed, the more they needed. The amount may exceed his imagination.
“Not enough! Far from being enough!”
Meng Lei let out a suffocating breath. That wisp of joy in his heart also disappeared. He felt that he had an arduous task, and the road ahead was long.
“Make more money! I need more money!”
Meng Lei ventured deeper into the Magical Beast Forest without any hesitation.
“There’s a Magical Beast at one o’clock!”
“Ding! Ghostly Spirit Cat killed, 3,200 gold coins gained!”
“Another Magical Beast at four o’clock!
“Ding! Horned Rhinoceros killed, 8,300 gold coins gained!”
He continued to venture deeper. Although the Magical Beasts were getting scarce, they were stronger!
Fourth-Grade Magical Beast!
Fifth-Grade Magical Beast!
Sixth-Grade Magical Beast!
Meng Lei advanced deep into the forest and finally reached the area where the Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts were. By then, the night had quietly fallen, and the Magical Beast Forest was gradually shrouded in darkness!
“It’s getting dark. I have to find a safe place to spend the night.”
Most of the Magical Beasts hid in their nests during the day and hunted at night. Hence, the Magical Beast Forest was much more dangerous at night than during the day!
Because of this, the night was a great opportunity to hunt for Magical Beasts. However, Meng Lei was unable to continue. After a day of running around, he was already very tired and needed a rest to replenish his strength and energy.
Nevertheless, in the depths of the Magical Beast Forest, he could not let down his guard.
Now that it was night, where would be a suitable place to rest?
Meng Lei released the magic carpet and hovered over the forest, looking for a suitable place to camp. As he was high up in the air, he was able to see far and managed to find a spot.
“That canyon looks good!”
A long and narrow crack appeared in the sea of trees ahead as if someone had cut through it with a knife. It was a canyon sandwiched between two big mountains.
“Let’s head over there to take a look.”
Meng Lei activated the magic carpet and flew over quickly. Within a short while, he had reached the top of the canyon and saw a gurgling stream flowing from the canyon’s depths. The vegetation on both sides of the stream was extremely lush.
If one didn’t look carefully, they wouldn’t be able to find it.
Meng Lei followed the stream and flew all the way into the depths of the winding canyon. At times, it was narrow, but at times, it was spacious, extremely inconsistent. As he got deeper, his field of vision gradually widened.
At the deepest part of the canyon, a huge pool appeared in front of him. White mist drifted above the water surface, giving off the appearance of a fairy cave.
The mist looked like a scene from a dream.
“This is… a hot spring?”
While hovering in the air, Meng Lei could feel a sense of warmth on his face, which made him overjoyed. Clearly, there was a hot pool below.
“If it’s really a hot spring, that will be great!”
Meng Lei landed on the water and stretched out his hand. A warm current that was able to soothe his muscles and bones traveled from the water, permeating his skin. It was extremely comfortable!
“This hot spring… fits the bill!”
After a tiring day, it was a great blessing to be able to encounter such a hot spring. Afraid that even Hui Xialiu[1] could not resist it, Meng Lei gave off a cry, took off his magic robe, and plunged in without hesitation. He groaned in comfort as the hot spring water moistened his skin.
“What the heck! It’s too hot!
“However… not enough.”
Given the water temperature, an ordinary person would definitely be boiled and become a red-skin pig, but Meng Lei was different. His body was comparable to a Seventh-Grade Warrior, and he possessed the bloodlines of the Fire Dragon and Fire Demon. He was completely not afraid of heat.
Water at 70–80°C was no different from this hot spring!
“Haha, nice!”
Meng Lei opened up his arms and kicked his legs as he swam around the pool. The speed was enough to embarrass the fish and cause the toad to hang itself.
“Flip-flap, flip-flap” sounds echoed as the water splashed around in all directions!
Boom, boom, boom!
First was freestyle, which had the fastest speed.
Next was the energy-saving breaststroke.
Followed by the beautiful butterfly stroke… Forget it, he did not know how to perform it!
After a round of wild bombardment, Meng Lei lay on his back in the water and closed his eyes. He felt the wonderful feeling of the water gently touching his skin and the warmth sweeping across his whole body. Not to mention, all of this was simply amazing.
One way to describe it—very satisfying!
Crash!
At that moment, a sudden change occurred.
There was a deafening sound of water exploding, and a huge black figure suddenly jumped out of the water. It opened its big black mouth as it charged toward Meng Lei!
“What the hell?”
Meng Lei only felt a stench through his nose. Before he could react, he was swallowed by the black figure!
Gurgle~
Gurgle~
Burp~
The black figure burped contentedly and shook its head. It then dived back into the water, as if it had never appeared in the first place!
[1] A famous web novelist
" }, { "id": 64, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-64", "title": "Chapter 64", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 64: The World At The Bottom Of The Lake, Saint Domain Dragon Corpse
Meng Lei’s entire body was wrapped in greasy liquid. The terrifying pressure that engulfed him and the stench that assaulted his nose almost made him vomit out his overnight meal.
“I was actually swallowed!
“Goddamnit!
“I was cautious for most of my journey. Ultimately, I let my guard down!”
Meng Lei was a little ashamed. After he had come to the Magical Beast Forest, he had been extremely careful. Little did he expect that he would fall into a trap!
When one celebrated too soon, things would start going wrong.
“However, the most urgent thing is to get out of this wretched place. This stench is killing me!”
Just as he finished his thoughts, Meng Lei decisively decided to transform his body. A raging fire ignited across his whole body as his arms became longer and thicker, and his nails morphed into sharp claws. He was now in the state of Fire Demon!
“Burn!”
As Meng Lei transformed into a Fire Demon, raging flames began to burn. The black figure screamed in pain as it felt a bone-piercing pain. It began to twitch violently.
“Hey! This is what you get for swallowing me!”
Meng Lei could feel the black figure’s pain, and the anger in his heart was relieved. He had set off a huge fire in its stomach—it shouldn’t be a good feeling.
It was not over yet. Meng Lei used his claws to severely rip the black figure’s internal organs, similar to the scene where the Monkey King wreaked havoc in the Iron Fan Princess’ belly.
“Moo, moo—”
This hurt the black figure, and it cried like a cow. Its long tail slapped the water as it charged around madly in the pond. It was in extreme pain.
Water splashed everywhere as waves tumbled, white mist rose, and the rocks crumbled!
Through the white mist, one could see the body of the black figure that was being exposed from time to time. It appeared to be an emerald green python with a bull’s head and horns and crocodile claws.
It was the Seventh-Grade Magical Beast—Crocodile-Backed Ox Python!
As a powerful Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, the Crocodile-Backed Ox Python was the tyrant of this area for a hundred-mile radius. This canyon and water pond were one of its lairs. Usually, not many Magical Beasts dared to trespass!
The Crocodile-Backed Ox Python had been sleeping at the bottom of the lake for a few days. Just when it had been about to go out hunting, it had found Meng Lei. Hence, it had swallowed Meng Lei in one bite and saved the effort of going out.
Unexpectedly, this was the beginning of a nightmare…
Its stomach was ravaged by flames, while a sharp blade was cutting through its intestines!
The suffering that it was going through was comparable to the Ten Great Tortures of the Manchu and Qing Dynastie.! The Crocodile-Backed Ox Python was in despair!
Its screams lasted for a full quarter of an hour before it gradually stopped. Finally, it died after experiencing the ultimate torment.
“Ding! One Crocodile-Backed Ox Python killed. 220,000 gold coins gained!”
“220,000 gold coins? Is this a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast?”
Meng Lei slashed its back and crawled out of the body. He felt sticky and smelly, and he almost vomited in disgust.
“Bah, bah! It’s so stinky!”
Meng Lei took his soap and shower gel out of the spatial ring. After rubbing hard for half an hour, the stench was gone.
“What the heck is this?”
Meng Lei felt a little helpless before recalling the monster he killed. It was a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, and its magic core was very valuable. Well, it must be picked up.
Just as he thought of this, Meng Lei turned and looked around. He didn’t see any traces of the Crocodile-Backed Ox Python. He believed it must have sunk to the bottom of the pond.
“Let’s go take a look.”
It was pitch black at the bottom of the pond, and one couldn’t even see their fingers. However, this did not trouble Meng Lei. He dived to the bottom of the pond and executed the technique ‘Earthquake’!
A tremor gently rippled forth, and he received feedback on everything within a radius of 200 meters. Meng Lei easily found the corpse of the Crocodile-Backed Ox Python. However, he did not make a move.
He stared at the bottom of the lake as a strange expression flashed across his face.
“Below, the bottom of the lake is… empty?”
The magical thing about ‘Earthquake’ was that it could not only detect things on the ground, but it could also detect things one to two meters underground.
The tremors he felt were not from a piece of land.
Meng Lei made a miraculous discovery. The area one meter below the bottom of the pond was not earth or any geological formation. Rather, it appeared to be… an empty vacuum!
“Empty?”
“How could it be empty?”
“Weird!”
Meng Lei executed ‘Earthquake’ again. This time it was not to detect, but to… dig!
The mud deposit at the bottom of the pond slowly rippled outward. Within a short while, a hole with a two-meter diameter and a depth of one meter appeared.
According to Meng Lei’s conjecture, if the pond’s bottom was really empty, the water would pour into the ‘vacuum’ after he had dug the hole.
But he was wrong!
After the hole was created, the water did not gush into the hole. It was as if the hole did not exist at all. On the contrary, a dazzling red beam shot up out of the hole, blinding Meng Lei’s eyes!
After gradually adapting to the red light, Meng Lei couldn’t wait to look at the hole. He felt scorching heat on his face, making him feel as if he was in a volcano.
Right, this was the crater of a volcano!
He ended up discovering a red world below. There were red rock walls all round and red lava underneath.
Gurgle~
Gurgle~
The hot lava was like boiling water with bubbling black smoke, constantly releasing terrifying heatwaves and a pungent sulfuric smell.
“Underground… lava? Not possible!”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded. “This pond isn’t that deep. It can’t connect all the way underground. The only possibility… This is the crater of an active volcano! That’s why there is lava on such a shallow surface!”
Upon seeing the underground lava and experiencing the emitted heat, Meng Lei did not know why he was edgy with an itch in his heart…
He had an urge to jump into the hot lava and take a bath!
“Could this be due to the Fire Dragon bloodline in my body?”
Meng Lei quietly hypothesized as he popped his head into the hole to observe further. He felt that there was something strange about this crater as the water above it did not flow down. It was illogical!
“What is that?”
Meng Lei trembled violently as he stared in one particular direction. He was shocked and horrified as if he had seen a ghost.
“Dragon? Fire Dragon? That is a Fire Dragon?”
Meng Lei became a little incoherent. He saw an island sitting in the middle of the vast boiling lava lake. On it, there laid a giant beast of more than 50 meters long.
Its entire body was covered with fiery red impenetrable-looking scale armor.
Two dragon horns rose high up, as though they were trying to pierce the sky. Its bat-like wings were spread out, covering the entire island. Its stout tail was covered with barbs and was submerged in the lava. A ferocious and violent aura radiated from it. Even at a distance of tens of meters, Meng Lei could feel the pressurizing aura!
The ridiculous thing was that this behemoth was actually dead, a lifeless corpse. A black spear was stuck in its head, nailing it in place!
“This is a Fire Dragon!”
“Moreover, this is a Saint Domain Fire Dragon!”
“Why did it die here?”
Meng Lei found it hard to believe. Dragons were known as the sky’s overlords and belonged to the creatures at the top of the pyramid of lifeforms in the Heaven’s Vault Continent, not to mention Saint Domain Dragons!
In the first place, could such a powerful creature even be killed?
" }, { "id": 65, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-65", "title": "Chapter 65", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 65: Gouging Out Dragon Cores & Picking Up Dragon Sh*t
Shock!
Confusion!
Disbelief!
Meng Lei was feeling a complex mix of emotions!
A Saint Domain Fire Dragon was already a strong and powerful existence that stood far above all other lifeforms. Creatures that could match up to it… were far and few, yet even it had been killed!
What did this bit of strength he possessed even count as?
“There are too many big fishes in Heaven’s Vault Continent! Sigh, I’d better just cultivate properly instead!”
Meng Lei readjusted his frame of mind. Then, as he gazed at the Fire Dragon carcass on the little island, an indistinct look flashed across his eyes. The value that a Saint Domain Fire Dragon’s carcass held was hard to imagine.
It was no exaggeration to say that even a single dragon scale scraped off from its body or a pile of dragon sh*t could fetch an exorbitant sum of money. After all, they were a Saint Domain dragon scale and a pile of Saint Domain dragon sh*t!
Its dragon core, in particular, was absolutely priceless and a most valuable treasure. Even a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s magic core could go for up to 10,000,000 gold coins, much less a Saint Domain dragon core?
“Also, it’s said that the Dragon race adores shiny and glittering things very much and loves to sleep in dens built with gold coins and jewels. As such, every dragon is a moving treasure vault.”
The moment he thought of that, Meng Lei became worked up at once. A moving treasure vault! If that was really true, then he’d be rich for sure.
“I have to go down there! I absolutely have to!”
The more Meng Lei thought about it, the more agitated he became. How he wished he could jump into the pit, walk right up to the Saint Domain Fire Dragon carcass, pluck off its dragon scales, and pick up its dragon sh*t…
Now, here was the problem—how was he supposed to get down there?
Meng Lei tossed a rock into the pit. An invisible “wall” blocked the rock, and it couldn’t drop into the pit at all. Come to think of it, the same “wall” must have also blocked the water from the pool.
“A magic barrier?”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together at once. Magic barriers were a type of defensive magic spell. They basically worked on the same principle as magic shields and possessed defensive and isolation effects.
The difference laid only in the size of their effective range.
“With this magic barrier here, how am I supposed to get down there?”
Meng Lei was rather anxious. To pass through a magic barrier, one must either get the spellcaster’s permission or break it using sheer brute force!
Apart from that, there were no other solutions!
“It’s highly likely that the Saint Domain Fire Dragon put up the magic barrier. How can I possibly break it apart when I’m so weak?”
Despite thinking so, Meng Lei still attempted to launch an attack anyway.
What if… It broke, right?
The earth in the surroundings grouped together and swiftly transformed into a ten-meters-tall earth giant. This was the Sixth-Grade Earth Spell, Swamp Giant!
Boom!
The giant drew back its fist and smashed it hard against the magic barrier. Following a deafening explosion, the magic barrier remained as intact as ever, whereas the recoil’s impact shattered the earth giant.
“As expected, the magic barrier is rock-solid, indeed!”
Meng Lei’s heart sank. Then, he launched the strongest earth-elemental spell that he could cast as of now—Giant Boulder. Earth Elements started gathering in the sky and, under Meng Lei’s deliberate manipulation, condensed into an enormous rock shaped like an electric drill.
“Giant Boulder… Land!”
Meng Lei let out a low shout. The rock boulder plummeted from the sky and instantly got past the pool water before crashing violently against the magic barrier!
Boom!
Amid the shocking collision sounds, a fearsome rebounding force erupted and spread into the surroundings. The rock boulder was smashed directly into smithereens, and along with it, the mud at the bottom of the pool splashed everywhere from the impact.
Meng Lei was also thrown out, of course.
“Ugh!”
With a tuck and roll, Meng Lei landed in the distance. A sense of helplessness welled up in him as he gazed at the magic barrier that had now revealed a large part of itself. Even the Seventh-Grade Spell Giant Boulder hadn’t been able to leave even a scratch on the magic barrier. What must he do in order to break the magic barrier?
Thunder spells?
Fire spells?
Or brute force?
“There’s water here, so all spells’ effect, be it thunder-elemental or fire-elemental, will be drastically reduced. At this point, I can only give brute force a try!”
The moment he thought of that, Meng Lei promptly transformed into a Dragon Person. He built an earthen wall around himself to block out the pool water in the surroundings. Then, he leaped high into the air and smashed his fist down.
“C’mon, break apart!!!”
Meng Lei had a body that was comparable to a Seventh-Grade Warrior’s. After he transformed into a Dragon Person, his strength was also enhanced severalfold. By further borrowing the force from the downward momentum, this punch of his now contained an absolutely astounding amount of power.
Even an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast would find the punch hard to stomach if it took the hit. This was also the strongest attack that Meng Lei could currently deliver.
“If this fails too, then there’s totally nothing I can do about it anymore!”
Meng Lei had a look of determination in his eyes as he crashed heavily into the magic barrier. However, something completely out of his expectations happened. In the instant that his fist connected with the magic barrier, a slight tremor went through the magic barrier, as though hard, solid ice melting into tepid water or refined steel melting into molten metal…
Whoosh!
Meng Lei’s fist passed right through and went straight past the magic barrier!
Along with his fist, Meng Lei himself also passed through the magic barrier!
It was much like how a sharp arrow passed through a sheet of paper—no obstruction whatsoever!
“What the heck!?”
Meng Lei looked absolutely stupefied.
I’d come smashing down with such an aggressive momentum, yet in the end, I didn’t even touch anything at all and passed right through?
What the heck are they up to?!
As if a meteor, Meng Lei crashed toward the lava lake at extremely high speed. Scorching heatwaves rushed toward his face, and Meng Lei turned pale from fear at once. The lava’s temperature went as high as over 1,000°C. Should he fall into the lava lake, could his weak and tiny arms and legs even take it?
Even the Fire Dragon bloodline and the Fire Demon bloodline wouldn’t be able to take it. The temperature was too high!
“Earth Orbs!”
At the eleventh hour, Meng Lei cast Earth Orbs, one of the lowest-grade spells, in succession. Several basketball-sized earthen balls formed instantly and blocked him underneath his body to reduce his speed. Just as Meng Lei was about to fall into the lava lake, he finally came to a stop.
“Phew!”
When he sensed that his body was no longer falling anymore, at last, Meng Lei involuntarily let out a long breath of air. That was seriously too dangerous just now. Had he fallen into the lava lake, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
After that, Meng Lei manipulated the earthen balls to pull himself up to the little island in the lake center. The moment he got near the island, a terrifying wave of pressure rushed toward him, and Meng Lei was almost flattened to the ground. Even breathing had become difficult!
“How terrifying!
“How absolutely terrifying!
“Even a carcass can give off such terrifying pressure. Just how powerful must it have been when it was still alive?”
Meng Lei wiped the cold sweat off his brow and slowly straightened his back. He examined the behemoth lying prostrate in front of him, with an aghast look all over his face!
It was massive, and even a scale was as big as a bamboo dustpan!
When one stood underneath it, it was as if they were standing at the bottom of city walls!
Its crimson-red body was incomparably hard and tough. Filled with a metallic texture, it felt like one was touching steel when they touched the body surface. Light knocks against it produced dull thuds, and it didn’t seem like a body made out of flesh and blood at all.
“Tough, massive, and boiling hot! Is that what a Fire Dragon is?”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder and admiration as he circled around the Fire Dragon and examined it closely. In the past, he had only been able to see creatures like this as statues, on walls, and in magic-related books. He’d never had the opportunity to see it in the flesh like what he was doing now before.
After a round of observation, Meng Lei now had a deeper understanding of a Fire Dragon’s strength and power. He also somewhat understood why a creature like it was able to stand far above the other lifeforms now.
“With such a fearsome body, it’s hard to be weak even if it’d wanted to!
“But… With such a hard and tough body, what must I do in order to dig its dragon core out and pluck off its scales? Am I really going to have to pick up its… dragon sh*t?”
" }, { "id": 66, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-66", "title": "Chapter 66", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 66: Saint Domain Magician, This Is A Divine Weapon
In the boiling hot lava lake, smoke coiled and drifted around while the lake surface bubbled.
The air in the surroundings was hot and dry. Adding to this the low oxygen content, there was no way ordinary creatures could survive here at all. This was a forbidden area, a place of doom, and even more so a true hell on earth!
“What should I do?
“What exactly should I do?”
Meng Lei was in such a panic that he was going around in circles. The Fire Dragon carcass was too massive. The storage space in his spatial magic devices was nowhere even near enough, which meant that he didn’t have any means of bringing it away with him wholesale for now!
To avoid falling to the extent of leaving empty-handed, he had to think of a way to pluck at least a little something off its body. Dragon scales, dragon core, dragon horns… These were all wonderful things that could sell for good prices!
“The problem now is, how do I pluck them off?”
Meng Lei’s eyes landed on the black spear. The murder weapon had pierced all the way through the Saint Domain Fire Dragon’s head and protruded from its throat.
It… had impaled the Saint Domain Fire Dragon to death!
“The hardest and toughest part of a Fire Dragon’s body is its head, yet it could even pierce right through its head. This spear…”
An indistinct look flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes. He sprung off the ground and leaped onto the Fire Dragon’s head, and made close contact with the peerless murder weapon!
It was pitch-black like ink throughout, as thick as an adult’s forearm, covered in magic pattern markings all over, and forged from an unknown material.
“It looks simple and unadorned, while its might muted and subtle!
“But since it could pierce through the Fire Dragon’s head, then it must be very sharp, right? I should be able to gouge out some stuff with it?”
Meng Lei gripped the black spear in his hand and pulled forcefully.
(⊙o⊙)
“Uh…”
It didn’t budge at all!
He pulled forcefully again. However, it still didn’t budge. Even when he gritted his teeth and applied force again, it still didn’t even goddamn budge a little.
“I… F*ck!”
Meng Lei fell onto his bottom on top of the Fire Dragon’s head. He was close to cursing. “What kind of goddamn spear is that, exactly? It’s actually that heavy?
“But this shouldn’t be happening!
“With my Seventh-Grade Warrior strength, what kind of spear can’t I pull out? Or is it stuck in the Fire Dragon’s skull?
“No, I can’t give up!
“That’s my only hope in taking apart this dragon carcass!”
Meng Lei gritted his teeth and tried again.
Yet during the next few minutes, even after Meng Lei had put in every ounce of strength he had in him, it was as if the black spear had become part of the dragon carcass, and it didn’t even shift at all.
“I’m so tired!”
Meng Lei panted heavily. He had the impulse to pick up a hammer and smash everything to smithereens at the moment.
This is so goddamn infuriating! I’ve already wasted half a day doing this, so why don’t you just goddamn move a little?!
“You’re not going to be able to pull out the Gods-Slaying Spear like that!”
At this moment, an old, aged voice suddenly rang out by Meng Lei’s ear.
“Who’s there?!”
Meng Lei jerked violently. He sprung off the ground and took a huge, sudden stride forward. His eyes were full of shock and wariness as he looked around everywhere. Someone else was actually here in an obscure place like this, yet he hadn’t detected their presence at all.
He’d been too careless!!
If the other party had harbored ill intentions, he would’ve been…
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shiver.
“Relax, I don’t have any ill intentions.”
A wisp of green smoke emerged from the black spear and rose into the air before converging into the shape of a human… No, to be more accurate, it was… A Dragon Person!
Dressed in a long fiery-red robe, he had a head of long fiery-red hair and a long fiery-red beard. He looked kindly and amicable, and there were two fiery-red horns at the top of his head.
“W-who are you?” asked Meng Lei as he stuttered in a trembling voice.
Astounded and horrified, he stared hard at the red-haired elderly man floating above the Fire Dragon’s head.
“Who am I?”
The red-haired elderly man chuckled and stroked his beard. “I’m the Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s president, and the chief court Saint Domain Magician of Fire Dragon Kingdom. My name is Amos Kroc. Little fellow, you should’ve heard of this old man’s name before, right?”
“The president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy?”
Meng Lei was a little stunned. He murmured softly, “The president of our academy is Fred Flit. I’ve seen what he looks like before, but he doesn’t look like you… Wait!
“Amos Kroc!!!”
Meng Lei exclaimed in surprise, “Did you say you’re Amos Kroc?!”
“Haha, looks like you’ve heard of me!”
The red-haired elderly man smiled in gratification. “I’m very comforted to hear that!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were fixed on the old man, however. He said, “Amos Kroc is the second president of our Fire Dragon Magic Academy, but he has already been dead for more than 20,000 years. Yet you’re saying that you’re Amos Kroc. Are you just teasing me?”
Amos Kroc—the second president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy, a strong and powerful Saint Domain Dragon Person, and a Saint Domain Magician skilled in both water-elemental and fire-elemental magic.
He was the first Dragon Person to master Dragon-Language Magic and was skilled in the research of magic. He had invented a total of 189 water-elemental and fire-elemental magic spells and made an outstanding contribution to water-elemental and fire-elemental magic research!
Meng Lei had seen these achievements at the group of statues in Fire Dragon Square. All the glorious achievements of Amos Kroc, the second president, had been engraved on the statue. They were still fresh in Meng Lei’s memories even now, and he also looked up to him very much.
However, the problem was that President Amos Kroc had mysteriously disappeared after he had stepped down. There had been no news of him ever since, and everyone thought that he had already passed away.
As of now, more than 20,000 years had already passed!
“I’ve been dead for more than 20,000 years?”
The old man was mildly stunned for a moment. Then, he sighed and remarked, “I didn’t expect that more than 20,000 years have already gone by. How times have changed… Time passes by too easily!”
Meng Lei stared at the old man, not daring to relax even a little.
“Little fellow, relax. I am indeed Amos Kroc!”
Ol’ Amos chuckled and said, “Back then, I was stuck at the pinnacle of Saint Domain for many years without any improvement, so I resigned from my position as academy president to wander around the continent and travel to every corner of it.
“In the end, my efforts were rewarded, and I found an opportunity to break through. Thus, I found this volcanic crater in the Magical Beast Forest.
“Unexpectedly, at the final stages when I was about to break through, this black spear came flying here from some unknown place. It killed me on the spot, devoured my soul, and sealed me within it!”
There was neither hatred nor fury in the old man when he related all these. He spoke in a calm and tranquil voice, and his disposition was cheerful as if he was narrating something trivial and unimportant.
His state of mind moved Meng Lei emotionally.
Despite being killed by someone, he was still able to stay so calm and tranquil. What an unbeatable state of mind he possessed!
Of course, he didn’t eliminate the possibility that Ol’ Amos was lying and deceiving him, either.
With regard to that, Meng Lei had no way of telling. He could only go along with the old man and ask, “So, you don’t know who had killed you, either?”
“That’s right!”
Ol’ Amos nodded slightly, somewhat frustrated. “Being sealed in this black spear and unable to see the light of day, and becoming something neither human nor ghost, this old man has resented, hated, and had become aggrieved before…
“But after such a long time, everything has already been worn away. It’s just that I was killed so absurdly, yet I don’t even know who my foe was. This old man is certainly more or less rather frustrated!”
“Anyone would be frustrated.” Meng Lei shook his head and went on. “But the owner of this spear could kill even you, so their battle capabilities must have reached unfathomable depths. Perhaps not knowing who they are might be something positive instead!”
“I’ve also considered that.” Ol’ Amos smiled and said, “The material that this spear is made out of isn’t something that can be found in Heaven’s Vault Continent. The magic circle engraved on it also contains endless profoundness and has surpassed the Saint Domain stage.
“Thus, my bold conjecture is that this black spear’s owner must be a terrifying existence far above the Saint Domain level for sure. I can only count myself unlucky to be killed by him.”
“In that case… This spear is a treasure?”
“It’s far more than just a treasure. This is a divine weapon!”
" }, { "id": 67, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-67", "title": "Chapter 67", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 67: Dripping Blood To Claim Ownership, An Unfilial Descendant
“A divine weapon? Is it that impressive?” Meng Lei exclaimed.
“Impressive?” Ol’ Amos was a little taken aback. He said, “A divine weapon is a weapon that only the deities high up above can use. It has incomparable might and divine power that reaches all the way to the heavens and is capable of destroying heaven and earth!
“Back then, I’d already achieved great mastery for my Fire Dragon body, and my physical body didn’t lose out to a pure-blooded Fire Dragon King in the slightest. I was only a step short of breaking through to the Dragon King realm.
“Even so, I was still killed by this spear that had come flying out of nowhere anyway. You can imagine just how sharp this spear is!”
Ol’ Amos sighed softly. “To slay a Saint Domain at their pinnacle as if they’re just slaughtering livestock, even if we survey the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent, only divine weapons are capable of possessing such might. Therefore, I named it the Gods-Slaying Spear.”
“So, it really is a divine weapon!”
Meng Lei stroked the black spear, excitement flashing across his eyes. Right after that, however, he became frustrated again. “So what even if it’s a divine weapon? I can’t use it anyway!”
Ol’ Amos stroked his beard and smiled. “Divine weapons are sentient, so you can’t use it when it hasn’t acknowledged your capabilities, of course! Try dripping a drop of blood on it and see if you can subdue it.”
“Dripping blood to claim ownership?”
Meng Lei looked at the old man. “This thing shouldn’t already belong to someone, right? What if it already has a master? I don’t want to die in my prime!”
“No, it doesn’t!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head with a smile. “If it had a master, it wouldn’t have been abandoned here for over 20,000 years. My guess is that its master has either already died or abandoned it.
“No matter what it is, you can rest assured and give it a go. Even if you fail to claim it as yours, there won’t be any negative consequences!”
“Is that so?!”
Meng Lei was dubious. He didn’t really believe the old man’s words that much. However, the divine weapon was simply too tempting and irresistible!
“If I die, the worst that can happen is that I’ll just lose my life. But if I survive, I’ll gain eternal repute! Riches are gained from danger! Let’s go all out!”
Meng Lei gritted his teeth and squeezed out a drop of blood.
Bzzz!
The blood dripped onto the black spear’s surface and was absorbed into the spear-like water that had dripped onto a sponge. As that happened, the black spear also suddenly began to shake.
Crackle, crackle!
A dazzling purple electric current surged out of the spear and shot toward Meng Lei. Before he could duck, the purple electric current had already engulfed him!
Crackle, crackle!
As if he had been struck by lightning, Meng Lei’s hair instantly frizzed up, and violent spasms began to go through him as though he had consumed five kilograms of Ecstasy pills.
“This… Why is this happening?!”
The old man’s countenance changed drastically. “I’d clearly sensed that the spiritual mark that the Gods-Slaying Spear’s master had left inside the spear had already dissipated 14,000 years ago. This shows that the spear had already become a masterless artifact a long time ago, so why is this happening?”
A divine weapon’s master was definitely a deity for sure!
There was no doubt about that!
Something that belonged to a deity…
How would a mere mortal… even dare to covet it?
If he hadn’t sensed that the spiritual mark in the Gods-Slaying Spear had already dissipated a long time ago, Ol’ Amos wouldn’t have dared to allow Meng Lei to attempt subduing the divine weapon at all.
If its master found out by any chance, not only would Meng Lei be a goner, but even he would also suffer a calamity along with him. He’d already died once and didn’t want to die a second time.
Therefore, this situation was something that Ol’ Amos had never expected. He didn’t know whether this was something that one must go through during the Gods-Slaying Spear’s ownership claim process or if Meng Lei had triggered some kind of restriction in the Gods-Slaying Spear and was just being unlucky right now.
The old man didn’t know any of these, so the only thing he could do now was to pray!
“Oh Dragon God, please watch over him!”
Crackle, crackle!
The purple electric current was still lashing at Meng Lei, while he was spasming nonstop. The only thing that slightly reassured the old man was that Meng Lei’s life force was still very strong…
“Oh Dragon God, please watch over him!
“That kid is a descendant of mine, please don’t let him die…”
It seemed fated that the Dragon God would hear the old man’s prayers. As time slowly passed, the purple electric current surging out of the black spear finally weakened.
Gradually, like a swallow returning to its nest, the purple electric current enveloping Meng Lei shrank back into the black spear, and his spasms and convulsions also stopped.
Burp~
As Meng Lei gave a belch, a wisp of black smoke emerged from his mouth. He was honestly sporting a very pathetic appearance at the moment. Every strand of his hair stood vertically on end, and he was charred charcoal-black all over, just like a black version of Ne Zha, the demon child[1].
“Little fellow, how are you feeling?” asked Ol’ Amos anxiously, his countenance nervous.
Meng Lei turned to look at him. As his body was still numb, his movements appeared very mechanical. He grinned and revealed a mouthful of pearly-white teeth. “It seems like… I’ve succeeded!”
“Seems like? Succeeded?”
The old man was dumbfounded. “So did you succeed or not, exactly?”
Meng Lei didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at the black spear and hooked his finger slightly. Then, something strange happened…
The black spear that Meng Lei hadn’t been able to budge even a millimeter even after he exerted every ounce of strength he had… moved. It pulled itself out of the dragon carcass’ head, rose into the air, and flew right up to Meng Lei.
“Go!”
As Meng Lei took in the sensation of the mysterious connection between him and the black spear, he pointed in the air and gave an order.
Whoosh!
At once, the black spear turned into a purple lightning bolt and instantly shot toward the rock wall. With a crisp and clear crack, a hole formed immediately in the rock wall that even the boiling lava couldn’t melt, and the spear sank deep into it.
“Come!”
Meng Lei waved, and the black spear flew back again. It stayed quiet and still as it floated in front of Meng Lei, incredibly obedient.
“A divine weapon! That’s exactly what a divine weapon is!”
The old man’s eyes lit up brightly, and he burst into carefree laughter. “This old man has forged countless weapons and was once known as the empire’s greatest artifact-refining master. However, I’ve never forged a magic device that’s controllable by will and moves according to one’s will like that before!
“It certainly lives up to the two words ‘divine weapon’!”
“It’s a great treasure, indeed!” Meng Lei stroked the black shaft as if he was stroking the woman he loved. “And it’s even a thunder-elemental weapon, so it just so happens to match my elemental affinity. What a great treasure!”
Meng Lei was truly elated. Among all the thunder-elemental spells available, the one he loved using the most was Thunderbolt Spear. This particular spell was very domineering and was the most astounding in terms of single-target offensive power.
A strike from the spear could stab the enemy dead!
How domineering was that?
Thus, the Gods-Slaying Spear was very much to Meng Lei’s liking. It could be said to be perfect!
“There are so many great existences that couldn’t obtain even a single divine weapon after risking their lives and desperately fighting each other for their whole lives!”
With a chuckle, Ol’ Amos went on and said, “Whereas you’re only 20 years old, yet you’ve gotten one without even working for it. An opportunity like that is truly enviable! However, you must remember to use it appropriately and not show it to others easily.”
“The idea that one does not openly show their wealth… is something I understand!”
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly and continued to stroke his beloved spear.
“I’m glad you understand that.”
As Ol’ Amos stroked his beard, a look of gratification appeared on his face. However, what Meng Lei said next caused his expression to darken completely. Meng Lei wondered aloud, “I wonder if the Gods-Slaying Spear is capable of taking apart this dragon carcass?
“Tsk, tsk, this is a Saint Domain Colossal Dragon carcass, you know! If I can gouge out its dragon core, I can definitely sell that for a crazy sum of money!”
The veins at the old man’s forehead bulged from his skin, and his expression was as dark and sullen as the bottom of a charred pot. He glared viciously at Meng Lei and broke into a huge scolding. “You unfilial descendant!”
[1] Refers to the 2019 animation film Ne Zha
" }, { "id": 68, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-68", "title": "Chapter 68", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 68: Bloodline Barrier, Leaving The Underground
‘Unfilial descendant’?
(Sweat drop!)
It was only then that Meng Lei remembered that the Saint Domain Fire Dragon carcass here was the old man’s remains in front of him right now. Well, mumbling about taking apart his body and selling his dragon core in front of him was certainly going a little overboard!
“Hehe! I’m just saying it casually, so don’t take me seriously!” replied Meng Lei as he scratched his head and blushed in shame.
“Hmph! Don’t you dare think that I have no idea what you’re thinking!”
Ol’ Amos wasn’t that easy to fool. He glared at Meng Lei and said, “My blood flows through your veins, and you’re my, Amos Kroc’s, blood kin and descendant. Others can clamor about splitting up and claiming my body, but… You can’t!”
Meng Lei was stupefied upon hearing what he said. “O-ol’ President, what are you talking about? How come I don’t understand what you’re saying?”
Ol’ Amos pointed at the magic barrier above the lava lake and barked, “I’m the one that had set up that magic barrier. With the dragon core inside my body as the core and the surging fire-elemental magic power inside the lava lake as the power source, it can withstand and isolate even a Saint Domain expert’s attacks. How do you think a tiny little Seventh-Grade Warrior like you had managed to come in?”
“This…”
Meng Lei had nothing to say to that.
How had I come in?
How the heck would I know?!
Meng Lei was indeed very puzzled about that. He only remembered that he had somehow managed to pass through the magic barrier into this place after he had transformed into a Dragon Person. As for the actual reason why…
Your humble consort[1] has no idea, either!
“Hmph! Let me tell you the truth!” Ol’ Amos snorted and said, “Ever since this old man here perished in this place, I’ve taken this place as my final resting ground. I didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone, so I’d set up that magic barrier.”
“And then?”
Meng Lei blinked.
“Anyone would be tired of a place after staying there for a very long time. Although this old man’s frame of mind has already transcended the secular world, even I cannot be exempted from such conventions. After more than 20,000 years, even I’m tired of this place!”
Ol’ Amos let out a small sigh and went on. “I’d like to go out and take a look at the scenery outside. Unfortunately, the Gods-Slaying Spear had firmly bound me here such that I couldn’t go beyond 10 meters of it.
“Thus, I could only pin my hopes on outsiders and hope that someone could take the Gods-Slaying Spear away with them and bring me out of this place!
“But I know very well that a person’s inner thoughts are the hardest thing to predict.
“This place contains my remains, my entire life’s worth of wealth and assets, and even a peerless divine weapon like the Gods-Slaying Spear. Should I meet someone harboring ill intentions, I’d be in danger!
“Thus, I’d modified the magic barrier to allow only my blood kin and descendants—in addition, the battle capabilities of the ones from the younger generation mustn’t go beyond ninth-grade—to pass through the magic barrier and reach this place!”
Ol’ Amos let out a wry chuckle. “It’s just a shame that after such a long time, the ones that had managed to reach this place were mostly Magical Beasts. Even when the occasional human came, none of them had met the criterion. In these 20,000-odd years, you… are the first!”
Meng Lei didn’t quite know what to say anymore. This place was located in the depths of Magical Beast Forest and was extremely remote. Apart from Magical Beasts and a handful of adventurers that took their lives lightly, who would come here?
Besides, even if they did, not only did they need to be his descendants, but their battle capabilities also mustn’t surpass ninth-grade. These conditions were too demanding!
Only finding one after 20,000 years is something you deserve, old man! Come to think of it, though, when did I become that old geezer’s descendant?
That shouldn’t be!
Is it because of the Fire Dragon bloodline in my body?
Meng Lei’s mind ran lightning-quick.
The Fire Dragon bloodline that I’ve assimilated came from the newly-promoted King of Fighters this year, Oden Flit. Could he be the real descendant of that old man instead?
That’s highly likely the case.
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled left and right sneakily. He believed that his conjecture was close to the mark, but he wasn’t going to tell Ol’ Amos.
Didn’t you hear what the old man said? His entire lifetime’s worth of wealth and assets are here!
That’s a Saint Domain expert’s entire lifetime’s worth of wealth and assets, you know!
Tsk, tsk. If I can get my hands on them… Hehehe!
“Ol’ President, am I really your descendant?” Meng Lei blinked at him and asked with an expression full of “disbelief”.
He had to think of a way to get on better terms with the old man, and then… inherit his assets!
“The bloodline barrier will never make a mistake!”
Ol’ Amos glared at Meng Lei and said indignantly, “But you aren’t anyone honest, either, kid. To actually dare to set your sights on my remains and even harbor thoughts of selling my dragon core… Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning[2] and suffering retribution?”
“Cough, cough! You can’t blame me for that, Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei blushed and said, “Every part of a Dragon’s body is a piece of treasure, much less when we’re talking about a Saint Domain Colossal Dragon here. How can I possibly not be tempted?
“Besides, I didn’t know that you’re my ancestor. If I’d known, would I even dare to harbor such thoughts?”
Upon hearing what he said, Ol’ Amos’ expression mellowed slightly. “On account of the fact that you were unaware, I’ll let this pass! But if you ever dare covet my remains again, see if I don’t break your goddamn legs!”
“Not at all, not at all! How would I possibly have the guts to… Hehehe!” Meng Lei reassured him repeatedly like a huge wuss!
“Hmph! At least you know what’s good for you!”
Ol’ Amos snorted lightly and waved his arm. The enormous Fire Dragon carcass actually rose into the air, and then, it plunged right into the boiling hot lava lake. In the blink of an eye, it had vanished from sight.
Then, the ripples faded, and the lava lake returned to a state of tranquility, as though nothing had ever happened.
“Rest in peace, my remains!”
Ol’ Amos stared at the lake surface that was now tranquil again in a daze, his eyes rather forlorn. That body had accompanied him all the way till this moment; now that he was leaving, it was inevitable that he would have complex feelings about it.
It’s gone! My dragon core, dragon scales, and dragon sh*t are all gone!
Meng Lei’s heart was bleeding, but there was nothing he could do except to watch helplessly. He even had to console the old man at the same time. “Ol’ President, cheer up. You can still come back here and take a look in the future!”
“Yeah!”
Ol’ Amos gave a small sigh. His eyes swept across the surroundings as if he wanted to imprint everything here deeply in his heart. It was only after a brief moment that he adjusted his frame of mind and said, “Let’s go!”
“Alright!”
After Meng Lei responded, he looked at Ol’ Amos and began to speak but then hesitated.
“If there’s something you want to say, then just spit it out. There’s no need to hum and haw,” said Ol’ Amos dryly as he glared at Meng Lei.
“Cough, cough! Ol’ President, are you leaving just like that?” asked Meng Lei meaningfully as he glanced about.
Ol’ Amos had a ghost of a smile on his face. “How else am I supposed to leave if not like this? This old man here is all alone in the world. Apart from this remnant soul, I have nothing else. If you’re hoping to gain some kind of benefit from me, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you!”
Disappoint me?
Didn’t you say just now that your entire lifetime’s worth of wealth and assets are in this place? Yet you’re “all alone in the world” now?
Meng Lei almost wanted to flip a table, but he could only give up obediently when he considered the gap in their battle capabilities. “What are you saying, Ol’ President? I was just giving you a friendly reminder!”
After he spoke, Meng Lei picked up the Gods-Slaying Spear. A stone platform rose from underneath his feet, and he slowly flew toward the magic barrier.
After they left through the magic barrier, Ol’ Amos got Meng Lei to cast an earth-elemental spell and bury the exposed magic barrier in order to prevent anyone from discovering it.
“I’m finally out!”
Ol’ Amos floated above the water surface. As he gazed at the pitch-black canyon, a hint of agitation flashed across his eyes. After being trapped underground for over 20,000 years, he had finally broken the seal and emerged today.
One could easily imagine how agitated he was!
Meng Lei could understand how Ol’ Amos must feel, so he didn’t bother him. Instead, he dragged that Crocodile-Backed Ox Python’s carcass to the shore and took out his dagger, condiments, and roasting rack, intending to make something to eat.
After a day of rushing about in the forest and suffering for so long underground, his stomach was already growling by now. He was so hungry that his chest was practically connected to his back now, and he desperately needed to eat something.
Meat cut!
Meat cleaned!
Meat arranged!
And then, he cast Fireball Technique to roast the meat!
“Little fellow, you have both earth-elemental and fire-elemental magic talent?”
[1] The term jokingly used here is a third-person term of address that royal consorts use to refer to themselves when replying to the Emperor
[2] Refers to the common saying among the Chinese that people will be struck by lightning as a form of divine punishment if they are unfilial to their parents and elders in the family
" }, { "id": 69, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-69", "title": "Chapter 69", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 69: The Astonished Ol’ Amos, An Eliminated Clan
The luminous moon hung in the sky while the stars twinkled brightly.
The canyon bathed in moonlight in the night looked as if a black veil was draped over it. The cries of Magical Beasts occasionally rang out, making the canyon seem even quieter and tranquil.
Water vapor rose into the air, and campfires blazed!
Beside the pool, golden, glistening Magical Beast meat gave off an aroma that assailed the senses. Big, fat drops of grease dripped into the campfire and produced loud sizzling sounds, whetting Meng Lei’s appetite and making him swallow his saliva.
“Setting up a fire by the lake and eating in the wilderness!” Ol’ Amos floated in mid-air and gazed at the scene before him. He couldn’t help but sigh emotionally. “Campfire, roasted meat, and ale… Tsk, tsk. What a nostalgic scene!”
“Haha!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh. He could understand how Ol’ Amos felt. After being trapped in the same place for over 20,000 years, anyone would find every little thing in the outside world novel upon their release.
“Hehe, the meat’s done!” Meng Lei’s knife rose and fell. He cut off a piece of shank meat and passed it to Ol’ Amos before saying, “Ol’ President, you haven’t had meat for a very long time, right? Here, try my cooking!”
“Brat, are you out to aggravate me?” Ol’ Amos glared at him. “Can’t you see that this old man is in soul-state now?”
“Uh…”
A sweat droplet formed on Meng Lei’s forehead as he replied in embarrassment, “Sorry, I forgot about that! Hehe, I won’t hold back anymore, then!”
After he spoke, he picked up the fragrant roasted meat and tucked in happily. The saying that anything would taste wonderful when one was hungry made a lot of sense. At the very least, Meng Lei was certainly eating very happily!
In addition, the Seventh-Grade Crocodile-Backed Ox Python meat itself contained an abundant amount of magic elements. And since it lived in a hot spring like this, the meat texture naturally tasted even more delicious.
“This feels great! Absolutely great!”
Meng Lei gorged himself on the food, salivating as he did.
“Hmph!”
As Ol’ Amos stared at Meng Lei, whose mouth was covered in grease, he couldn’t help but lick his own lips. How he wished he could throw himself forward and take a few big bites himself!
Unfortunately, he was in soul-state, so there was no way he could keep the food in him at all.
Sob, what a hard life I lead…
Oh well, I can only distract myself now!
“Brat, you have both earth-elemental and fire-elemental magic talent?”
“Three elements!”
“Three elements?”
“Yes, I have magic talent for three elements—earth, fire, and thunder!”
“You also have thunder-elemental magic talent? Not bad! That’s pretty adequate!”
“Adequate? I guess so!”
“What about your elemental affinities? Any that are high-grade? A high-grade elemental affinity is the minimum requirement for breaking through to Saint Domain. If you don’t have even that, your future achievements will be limited.”
“It’s so-so! Only my thunder and fire elemental affinities are of superior-grade, while my earth-elemental affinity is only high-grade. I can’t compare to you at all, Ol’ President!”
(⊙_⊙) “What?” (⊙_⊙)
Ol’ Amos gasped in surprise. Although he suspected that Meng Lei was posturing, he was still astonished by his exaggerated posturing, nonetheless. “Superior-grade for both thunder and fire elemental affinities? High-grade earth-elemental affinity? Kid, are you pulling my ear?”
“Why would I pull your ear?”
Meng Lei’s mouth was covered in grease from eating. “I have the best magic talent among all the freshmen that enrolled in Fire Dragon Magic Academy this year, you know! And I even get a scholarship grant of 5,000 gold coins per year!”
“…”
Ol’ Amos didn’t know what he should say anymore. It was only after a long while that he said sulkily, “Superior-grade elemental affinity in itself is already extremely rare, not to mention having superior-grade elemental affinities for two elements. It’s practically sheer dumb luck that a kid like you can actually have magic talent like that!”
Sheer dumb luck?
What’s with that choice of words?
I’d picked those up with my own strength!
If you’re that capable, then go pick up one yourself and show me!
Meng Lei curled his lip indignantly. He didn’t want to pay any more attention to that old man who didn’t know how to properly choose his words.
“By the way, I’ve noticed that your spiritual power is pretty strong, kid. Your speed of cultivation must be very fast, right? Which stage of cultivation have you reached?” asked Ol’ Amos.
“It’s so-so, I guess. I’m only at the Seventh-Grade Great Magician realm.”
“You’re only at the Great Magician realm when you have such wonderful magic talent?” Ol’ Amos snorted and asked in dissatisfaction, “Brat, have you been slacking instead of properly cultivating?”
“O-only Seventh-Grade?”
Meng Lei became displeased at once. “Ol’ President, you’re right. I’m already 15 years old, after all, and it has already been more than half a year since I’ve been introduced to magic, yet I’m only a Seventh-Grade Magician. My progress is indeed too slow!”
“What? 15 years old? More than half a year since you’ve been introduced to magic!?”
Ol’ Amos was so shocked that his jaw nearly dropped onto the floor. He couldn’t help suspecting whether or not he’d misheard. “It’s only been half a year since you’ve been introduced to magic? Oh my Dragon God! How can that be? I had taken a whole four and a half years to reach the Seventh-Grade Magician stage back then!”
It’s impossible for others, but I’ve got a frickin’ cheating device, after all. Can others compare themselves with me?
Meng Lei kept quiet and ate instead. He continued digging into the delicious Crocodile-Backed Ox Python meat, the very picture of someone low-profile that kept his strength and achievements deeply hidden.
Ol’ Amos didn’t believe Meng Lei’s claims, however. He stared at Meng Lei and barked, “Brat, are you bluffing this old man here? If you’re 15 years old this year, how can you possibly have only been introduced to magic less than a year ago?”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
“As a member of the Kroc clan, one is initiated into magic at 5, officially studies magic at 10, enrolls in a magic academy at 14, and is required to graduate at 20!”
Ol’ Amos had a ferocious look in his eyes as he roared furiously, “Yet you’re telling me that you’ve only been introduced to magic less than a year ago?! What’s that, if not a bluff? You unfilial descendant, how dare you deceive me? How infuriating!”
“Wait, wait! The Kroc clan?” Meng Lei hastily interrupted Ol’ Amos’ shouts. “Ol’ President, you must be mistaken. I’m not a member of the Kroc clan! Which clan is that, by the way? It doesn’t seem like there’s a clan like that in Fire Dragon Kingdom?!”
Meng Lei wasn’t very sure because he wasn’t very familiar with the clans in Fire Dragon Kingdom.
“Still trying to bluff me?!” Ol’ Amos sneered. “The Krocs is a clan that I’ve single-handedly built. There are a great number of talents and countless geniuses in the clan, and it’s ranked top among the three great clans of Fire Dragon Kingdom… Yet you’re saying that this clan doesn’t exist? Are you asking for a beating?”
“Alright, I get it now!”
Meng Lei figured out what was going on now. He didn’t bother speaking anymore—instead, he took out his magic communication device and dialed Fatty Hart’s magic code.
“What are you doing?” asked Ol’ Amos with a glare.
“Keep calm and wait for a while, Ol’ President!”
After a short while, Fatty Hart’s round face appeared in the magic communication device. He was repeatedly yawning and looked sleepy-eyed and groggy. Evidently, he’d been woken up from his beauty sleep.
“Old bro, what’s the big idea at a late hour like this?” A yawning Fatty Hart grumbled. “Don’t you know that disturbing someone’s rest is very impolite?”
“Sorry about that! I’ll treat you to a good meal when we’re back in the academy!”
After Meng Lei apologized, he went straight to the point and asked, “Fatty, let me ask you something. Have you heard of a clan called Kroc?”
“The Kroc clan?” Fatty Hart shook his head. “Nope!”
Meng Lei glanced at Ol’ Amos and tried to jog Hart’s memory. He said, “Think about it carefully again. I heard that this clan is ranked top among Fire Dragon Kingdom’s three great clans and is founded by Amos Kroc, the second president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy…”
“The clan founded by the second academy president?” Fatty Hart rubbed his eyes and said dryly, “Old bro, are you joking with me? That’s old history from tens of thousands of years ago. How can it possibly exist all the way till now? It’s long been eliminated!”
“Eliminated?”
“Eliminated for sure. In any case, that clan doesn’t exist in the Fire Dragon Kingdom, much less ranked top among the three great clans!”
" }, { "id": 70, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-70", "title": "Chapter 70 - : Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Titanic Dragon-Ape", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "How times had changed, and the stars had shifted!
No matter in which world, nothing stayed eternally unchanging. This was a natural law of order that nobody could change.
Ol’ Amos naturally understood this, but when he heard that the clan he had single-handedly built had already disappeared over the long course of history, he couldn’t help but be overcome by grief, nevertheless.
“To be honest, I should’ve realized this a long time ago. When I was killed back then, the Krocs had lost their pillar. Being destroyed is something almost inevitable.”
Ol’ Amos sighed softly, his grief unconcealable.
Saint Domain experts were lofty and stood high above. They were capable of building and supporting a clan, but at the point of their deaths, in the situation that they hadn’t yet groomed a successor, any clan would die out, no matter how powerful they were.
Their success was dependent on the Saint Domain. But their destruction was also dependent on the Saint Domain!
The list of such cases was endless.
“Fortunately, an excellent descendant like you has emerged from the clan, so there’s still hope of making a comeback!
“Yes! A comeback!”
A jolt went through Ol’ Amos, and an intense gleam burst forth from his eyes. “Brat, from now on, you must shoulder the heavy responsibility of rebuilding the Kroc clan! You must cultivate diligently and refrain from slacking!
“This old man will put in everything he has to teach, supervise, and aid you. We’ll strive to rebuild the clan as soon as possible, and let the glory of the Kroc clan make a comeback in Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
Meng Lei was rather speechless.
Rebuild the Kroc clan? What’s that got anything to do with me?! I’m not a member of the Kroc clan!
However, these words weren’t to be uttered so carelessly. Meng Lei deliberated over his tone, and then he said seriously, “Ol’ President, regarding the heavy responsibility of rebuilding the Kroc clan, I must apologize, but I was born a commoner and have never had any concept of the Kroc clan.
“Even if I accomplish much in my cultivation in the future and have intentions of founding a clan, I’d only build a clan that belongs to me, such as a Meng clan or something, and not some Kroc clan. I hope you can understand that!”
“You—”
Ol’ Amos was so furious that he was fuming. He glared viciously at Meng Lei, but Meng Lei didn’t wuss out this time. Instead, he refused to back down and glared back at him!
Ol’ Amos could only reply resignedly, “Fine! We’ll do as you’ve said. In any case, you’re a descendant of my Kroc clan, and the blood of the Kroc clan flows within you—this is something that’ll never change. The clan that you build is also a continuation of the Kroc clan. We’re just putting old wine in new bottles!”
“Ol’ President is understanding indeed!”
Meng Lei burst into sneaky laughter.
“Brat, I’ll have you know that this old man is very strict. If you dare to slack even the slightest bit, see if I don’t skin you!”
The night passed peacefully.
The next morning, Meng Lei left the canyon after having breakfast and embarked on the conquest of continuing his Magical Beast hunt. He was currently in the Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts’ zone of activity, and all Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts had their own territories.
Thus, it was usually very difficult to encounter even a single Magical Beast even for a distance of several kilometers. There was nothing that Meng Lei could do about this. The only thing he could do was to continue to ride on the magic carpet and search for Magical Beasts. That was the fastest way to go about it!
Even so, he had killed only a couple of Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts in the whole morning. His efficiency in hunting had become much lower than when he was in the outer boundaries, and Meng Lei was very dissatisfied with this.
I earned only 310,000 gold coins after a whole morning. That’s too inefficient! I have to think of a way to speed up my money-making!
Meng Lei mused silently inwardly. At this moment, faint sounds of battle could be heard coming from in front. Ol’ Amos, who was seated on the magic carpet, also noticed the commotion. He said, “There’s something going on over there. Let’s go over and watch the show!”
“Yeah!”
Meng Lei didn’t have any objections. He controlled the magic carpet and flew in the direction of the sounds. Now that the old man had regained freedom after being trapped underground for over 20,000 years, he wished very much to see all the sights there were to see and watch all the shows there were to watch.
Thus, he had behaved like he was sightseeing the entire way. He looked at this and that, just like a country bumpkin who had entered the city!
Roar!
Howl!
“Team One, block it!
“Team Two, follow up with magic attacks!
“Team Three, launch an ambush!”
Before they had even gotten near, they could already hear intense sounds of battle from a far distance away. Trees were breaking, the ground was exploding, Magical Beasts were roaring, and people were constantly shouting. The battle was unusually intense!
“Hahaha, from the look of it, some people are besieging Magical Beasts!” Ol’ Amos stroked his beard and, with an enthusiastic expression on his face, asked, “Brat, based on the sound, can you tell what kind of Magical Beast the unlucky fellow currently under siege is?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “How am I supposed to tell from the sound?!”
“You actually have the cheek to call yourself a Magician when you can’t even tell something like that based on the sound?”
Ol’ Amos side-eyed Meng Lei. Then, as he twisted his beard, he said with a smile, “A qualified Magician needs to be knowledgeable and multi-talented. Not only must they master their spells, but they must also be versed in other kinds of knowledge!
“Listen closely to the sound—it resembles a dragon’s roar, yet it’s also like an ape’s cry. It sounds like a drumstick banging against a large drum, yet it also carries a rich and heavy whizzing of something hurtling through the air. Evidently, this is a Magical Beast from the Dragon-Ape family!
“Now, look at the scale of the tremors in the ground and how rich and loud the beast cries are. This should be one of the physically-largest species of Dragon-Ape Magical Beasts. If I’m not wrong, the unlucky fellow currently under siege is probably the strongest and most valiant Magical Beast from the ape family on the continent—the Titanic Dragon-Ape!”
“The Titanic Dragon-Ape?” Meng Lei frowned and asked, “What grade of Magical Beast is that?”
“What? You don’t even know about the Titanic Dragon-Ape?”
Ol’ Amos turned dissatisfied at once. He chastised him and said, “As a student of my Fire Dragon Magic Academy, foundational subjects like Comprehensive Continental History, Complete Collection of Magical Beasts, etc. are compulsory classes!
“You actually don’t even know about a high-grade Magical Beast as famous as the Titanic Dragon-Ape? How did you pass the Complete Collection of Magical Beasts class?”
Complete Collection of Magical Beasts? I’ve never taken that class before, alright?!
“Ol’ President, Complete Collection of Magical Beasts is an elective now. It’s a subject meant to give away credits to those poor-performing students that can’t accumulate enough credits. I’ve never taken that class before at all!”
Meng Lei shrugged as he replied with a helpless expression.
“An elective?”
Ol’ Amos was a little stunned. Then, he flew into a rage. “Preposterous! How preposterous! An important foundational subject like Complete Collection of Magical Beasts has actually become an elective now? Is there something wrong with the brain of the current leader of the academy?!”
Meng Lei shook his head inwardly. However, he lowered the altitude at which the magic carpet was flying at and entered the dense and dimly-lit forest. Then, he crept over carefully!
A cliff several hundred meters tall appeared in front of him. A white veil-like waterfall crashed down from the top of the cliff, producing a deafening boom. It seriously had the elegance and grace of the poem “Straight down three thousand feet the white torrents run; descending from the Nine Heavens like the Milky Way 1 “!
At the bottom of the waterfall was an enormous pool of water. The pool water flowed rapidly, and mists circled and drifted around it. Together with the verdant trees and shrubbery in the surroundings, the scenery was exceptionally alluring!
Yet Meng Lei didn’t have the luxury of admiring the scenery at the moment because a hair-raising scene was currently taking place on the sandy shore right before the pool—dozens of fully-armed adventurers were currently besieging a gigantic beast!
The behemoth had a King Kong-like body. Its muscles intertwined around each other and were incredibly strong and sturdy. Yet it had the head, sharp claws, as well as wings of a Colossal Dragon!
It was completely the fusion of a Colossal Dragon and King Kong!
“That’s the Titanic Dragon-Ape?”
Meng Lei gazed at the behemoth in front of him that was over ten-meters-tall and emanating a horrifying aura. Fear and trepidation welled up in him. The aura of the monster in front of him was simply too horrifying. It was in a completely different class from a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast!
“How strange! The Titanic Dragon-Ape is a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast. Why would it show up in a place like this? Oh, I get it now, so that’s the reason why. No wonder!”
" }, { "id": 71, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-71", "title": "Chapter 71 - : Rapport In Coordination, Dragon-Ape Infant", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Roar!
The four to five-stories-tall Titanic Dragon-Ape let out roar after roar. Its arms that contained Herculean strength delivered punch after punch as it launched frenzied attacks on the human adventurers.
Its razor-like claws were capable of cleaving mountains and severing rocks and were exceptionally sharp. Its roars produced roiling soundwaves as they shook the heavens and earth. It gave off an extremely horrifying and fearsome might throughout its being, as though a savage beast from primitive times.
Compared to it, ferocious tigers and lions were practically cute, little babies.
It was currently in an extremely perilous situation, however.
Dozens of adventurers had it surrounded on all sides. More than a dozen Warriors had formed a sturdy wall of defense and were holding off the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s attacks head-on. Each and every one of them was strong and valiant. They moved like lightning and leaped as high as birds in flight, jumping up and down and moving about incredibly swiftly.
Judging from their speed and intensity of attacks, they were at least Sixth-Grade or Seventh-Grade Warriors!
Behind these Warriors were five to six Magicians dressed in magician robes. With magic staffs in their hands, they chanted spell incantations and cast an unending stream of spells.
Swamp Rock Bullets, Meteor Rain of Fire, Vine Lances…
A barrage of spells bombarded the Titanic Dragon-Ape one after another as though they were free of charge to use. The attacks split its skin and flesh, drenching it in blood.
At the same time, a group of assassins fully wrapped in black robes weaved back and forth about the Titanic Dragon-Ape. They came and went like shadows, waiting for opportunities to launch ambushes to curb its movements from the sides.
Warriors!
Magicians!
Assassins!
As the three groups of people acted as one body and coordinated their movements with great rapport, they were actually overpowering the Titanic Dragon-Ape, despite the odds. As the Titanic Dragon-Ape faced attacks coming from all directions, despite being strong and powerful, the pitiful Ninth-Grade Magical Beast could only rely on its solid, robust body to passively endure the attacks, ending up completely at a disadvantage,
“That group of adventurers has such great rapport in their coordination!”
This was Meng Lei’s very first time witnessing a large-scale team battle like that, and his heart couldn’t help but be set afire with passion as he watched. A thrilling grand scene like this was much more exciting than any Hollywood visual effects blockbuster. It was simply so intense.
Warriors that met the enemy head-on!
Assassins that came and went like phantoms!
Magicians that fervently dealt damage!
Three parties as one body!
Total rapport in their coordination!
“A good man is hardly a match for multiple enemies, and a ferocious tiger fears the pack of wolves!”
Meng Lei let out an emotional sigh. “Even a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast has to yield when it’s up against a siege with so many people! As expected, there’s strength in numbers, and many hands make light work, indeed!”
“What nonsense!” Upon hearing Meng Lei’s comments, Ol’ Amos scoffed and said, “Brat, open your eyes wide and take a good look at what the true situation really is!”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei was taken aback. “Was I wrong to say that?”
“What you’ve noticed is just what’s on the surface!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and said in contempt, “Most of the people in that group of adventurers only have sixth-grade to seventh-grade battle capabilities, and even the strongest among them is no more powerful than eighth-grade. Even if they have high numbers, they can still forget about killing a Titanic Dragon-Ape!
“You must understand that contained within the Titanic Dragon-Ape is the blood of our Dragon race, and it’s an outstanding presence among the Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts. It has incredible physical strength, peerless defenses, and can even fly. How can adventurers with that extent of ability rival it?”
Meng Lei frowned and argued, “That’s true, but the adventurers are clearly overpowering the Titanic Dragon-Ape by a lot!”
“No, wait! Doesn’t the Titanic Dragon-Ape have wings? Why isn’t it flying?
“If it flies into the sky and gains an aerial advantage, not only can it avoid the assassins’ ambushes, but it can also avoid some of the magic attacks. The adventurers’ advantage in numbers will be greatly reduced.
“Dammit, it’s so stupid that I can’t even bring myself to watch anymore.
“Why don’t you just goddamn fly…”
“Have you gotten an inkling of what’s wrong now?”
After he side-eyed Meng Lei, Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and explained with a smile, “It’s not that the Titanic Dragon-Ape isn’t feeling it today or that it’s stupid. Rather, it’s because… It can’t retreat.”
“It can’t retreat?”
Meng Lei stared blankly at him. “Ol’ President, why’s that?”
“Look carefully at its crotch.”
Ol’ Amos pointed at the area in between the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s legs.
Its crotch?
Puzzlement appeared on Meng Lei’s face. When he looked at the Titanic Dragon-Ape, he saw that the area between its legs was stained full of blood. Blood dripped from between its legs and almost dyed the ground red!
“You see it now?” asked Ol’ Amos as he stroked his beard with a smile.
“Ol’ President, has the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s butthole been violated?” Meng Lei was bewildered.
“Your butthole’s the one that’s been violated!”
Black lines filled Ol’ Amos’ face as he berated him furiously, “What the heck are you thinking about? Can you be more serious here?!”
“Uhh? Or maybe its balls have been cut off?” Meng Lei made another guess.
“Goddammit, you retard! That’s a female Dragon-Ape! How would it have any balls?!”
Ol’ Amos was fuming mad. He glared viciously at Meng Lei and snapped. “Open your eyes and take a good look behind the Titanic Dragon-Ape!”
“Behind it? Isn’t that a cave behind it?”
Meng Lei scratched his head. “That’s probably the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s den, right? What’s the deal about the den? Isn’t this very normal?”
“Your IQ is too low. I can’t communicate with you!”
Ol’ Amos was pretty mad, and he couldn’t be bothered to keep Meng Lei in suspense anymore. “That Titanic Dragon-Ape’s combat power has obviously dropped by a lot, and it’s weaker than even an ordinary Eighth-Grade Magical Beast now. Moreover, there’s blood at its crotch, and it’s also desperately guarding its den. The truth is already very clear and obvious by now—it has just given birth to its offspring…”
“Given birth?”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded for a moment. Then, he exclaimed in a low voice, “Ol’ President, are you saying that the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s combat power has dropped only because it has just given birth to its infant? That’s why it’s desperately guarding its den and keeping the adventurers from entering?”
“Yes!”
The old academy president nodded lightly and sighed as he fingered his beard. “A Titanic Dragon-Ape that’s in its usual state is strong enough to fight on equal grounds with an adult Dragon. How would those adventurers dare to encroach upon it?
“It’s only when it has just given birth and is in a weakened state that it would attract covetous attention from these adventurers. After all, this is a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, as well as a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s infant. The temptation is too strong.”
“So that’s what it is.”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, and a look of realization flashed across his eyes. A Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s value didn’t need further explanation; just its magic core alone could already fetch a whopping dozen of millions of gold coins, not to mention a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s carcass.
In addition, it was highly probable that there was also a newborn infant here.
They could target both simultaneously because both held a fatal attraction toward adventurers!
Even Meng Lei’s heart was beating fast from temptation, much less the adventurers.
“A Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s carcass! And a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s infant!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up with a greenish glow, and his breathing gradually turned heavy. He muttered, “If I can wrest it from them and get my hands on it, I’ll definitely strike it rich…”
“What? Tempted?”
Ol’ Amos side-eyed Meng Lei and put a damper on his spirits. “Benefiting from a fight between two other parties is naturally a good idea, but you must be able to swallow the profits down first.”
Ol’ Amos pointed at a muscular man behind the adventurers and said with a smile, “That group of adventurers aside, just that guy alone is already someone whom you can’t compete with. He’s at least an Eighth-Grade Warrior.”
“Eighth-Grade…”
Meng Lei grimaced and looked at the man.
Behind all the adventurers stood a muscular man that wore silver armor and held a broadsword. He stood on the hillside and directed the adventurers from a high position, giving out commands.
It was evident that he was the leader of the group of adventurers.
“You see it now?” Ol’ Amos reminded him, “With that leader and that group of fairly strong high-grade adventurers, you won’t be able to swallow it.”
“I guess so.”
Meng Lei smiled and said no more. Then, he began to watch the battle seriously.
Just like what Ol’ Amos had said, the Titanic Dragon-Ape had indeed likely just given birth. Not only did it not have even 1/10 of its usual combat power, but it was also anxious about its infant in the cave behind it. As such, it could only take the attacks passively, totally at the mercy of the adventurers bombarding it with frenzied attacks.
In the beginning, it could still withstand the attacks by relying on its powerful defenses, but as time passed, the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s injuries became more and more serious, and it gradually exhausted its stamina…
The Titanic Dragon-Ape was rather close to falling now.
“Time for me to move!”
" }, { "id": 72, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-72", "title": "Chapter 72 - Dragon-Ape Dies, Extreme Stupidity", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Roar!
Its badly mangled body was drenched with dripping blood!
On the ground, blood converged into a stream!
The Titanic Dragon-Ape let out roar after roar, the aura around it as violent and ferocious as ever. However, its roars had already weakened to less than half of what they had initially been. Its arms swung about madly, but its movements had also slowed down by half a beat compared to before.
It was already riddled with injuries and utterly exhausted.
“Time for me to move!”
At this point, the adventurers’ calm and steady leader moved. As he raised his enormous sword, a dazzling red light rose around him and manifested into a suit of armor.
“Battle Aura Armor!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up. When Warriors cultivated Battle Aura, their Battle Aura could only circulate within their bodies in the beginning, and its might didn’t explicitly show. Only high-grade Warriors could bring out the true might of Battle Aura!
At seventh-grade, Battle Aura liquefied to bring enduring stamina.
At eighth-grade, Battle Aura manifested into armor to greatly improve one’s defenses.
At ninth-grade, Battle Aura manifested into wings to allow short periods of flight.
Different grades brought about different changes. The combat power levels were in completely different leagues!
The fact that the muscular man in front of them could exhibit Battle Aura Armor was enough to show his eighth-grade Warrior status. As for whether or not he was a Ninth-Grade Warrior, that was something that remained to be seen.
But no matter what, he was a strong enemy, regardless.
Battle Aura Armor… Now, that’s what a real Eighth-Grade Warrior is!
Meng Lei licked his lips, an unusual look flashing across his eyes. He could redeem Stat Attribute Points anytime to upgrade his body to the eighth-grade level so that it would become comparable to an Eighth-Grade Warrior’s.
However, he wasn’t a real Eighth-Grade Warrior!
This was because his Battle Aura cultivation was still too lacking, and his Fire Dragon Manual was still not up to standard yet. He could neither achieve Battle Aura liquefaction nor Battle Aura armor manifestation.
With just an eighth-grade body, he could only be considered a pseudo-Eighth-Grade Warrior at best.
But it’s alright! I’ll be able to do that one day, too!
Just as Meng Lei was lost in thought, Ol’ Amos beside him exclaimed softly, “Look! That guy’s about to make the kill!”
Meng Lei was quickly brought back to reality. He saw the adventurers’ leader transform into a red light streak that shot toward the Titanic Dragon-Ape. He moved lighting-quick and reached in a split second.
“Die, damned beast!”
As though a divine laser sword, dazzling red light suffused the huge sword in his hand. It slashed across the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s throat, and then, as a clear “splurt” rang out…
Warm blood sprayed everywhere, and the furious roars came to a stop!
The Titanic Dragon-Ape instantly froze where it stood!
After achieving his objective with one strike, the adventurers’ leader swiftly shot backward and retreated. In just an instant, he’d returned to where he’d been standing at earlier. He gazed at the Titanic Dragon-Ape from above, a hint of excitement flashing across his eyes.
“Stop attacking!”
Whoosh!
The adventurers on the battlefield simultaneously halted their movements. Each and every one of them stared excitedly at the Titanic Dragon-Ape, whose throat had been slit with one sword slash. They wore agitated expressions and were delirious with joy!
“Hahaha!”
“We’ve succeeded! We’ve succeeded!”
“After so much trouble, we’ve finally done it!”
“Tsk, tsk, a Titanic Dragon-Ape! That’s the Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Titanic Dragon-Ape, you know! We’re gonna be rich! Haha, we’re gonna be rich now!”
In contrast to the cheering adventurers, the Titanic Dragon-Ape had a look of grief on its face instead. It held its hand over its throat as best as it could, yet it simply couldn’t stop the blood gushing madly from its wound.
It turned to look at the den behind it, but it couldn’t utter even a mournful cry. All its cries turned into bloody bubbles mixed with blood that gushed out of its wound when they reached its throat.
“Ugh… ugh…”
The Titanic Dragon-Ape stretched its arms out and grabbed at its den from afar. Yet its arms, which had ripped apart tigers and leopards alive and cleaved mountains and severed rocks in the past, fell back down with a crash before it could even raise them.
Giving birth had exhausted too much of its strength, while the fierce battle had depleted all of its remaining energy. A single slash of the sword had also severed its very last bit of life force.
Drip, drip…
Tears filled the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s eyes, and it cried out mournfully a couple of times in the direction of its den. Then, it crashed onto the ground and lost all signs of life.
It had died and completely left this world! Even though it was clearly worried about its newborn child!
Now that it was dead, how was its child going to survive?
“The Titanic Dragon-Ape has died just like that?”
Upon seeing this, Meng Lei felt rather sad without any rhyme or reason. In the past, he’d felt absolutely nothing when he hunted Magical Beasts.
But at this moment, when he saw the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s various actions during its last moments, Meng Lei felt like something had moved his heart, and he felt rather sorrowful.
“When it comes to a parent’s deep love for their young, humans aren’t comparable to beasts.” Ol’ Amos sighed. “In this respect, all living things are equal.”
“That’s right.”
Meng Lei nodded silently.
At the other side…
When the adventurers saw the Titanic Dragon-Ape collapse and die, they cheered even harder and louder. With a big wave, the muscular leader declared, “My brothers, today, we have successfully killed the Titanic Dragon-Ape without suffering any casualties! This is a joyous occasion to be celebrated!
“However, we mustn’t forget that we’re in the depths of the Magical Beast Forest where high-grade Magical Beasts run amok, and other adventurers have their covetous eyes on us. This place can be said to be incredibly dangerous!
“This is especially true when we’d created a huge commotion with our battle just now and very likely attracted other adventurers here! Therefore, we must take absolute care to avoid being careless and indifferent to our surroundings!”
All the adventurers’ expressions sobered up, and they looked around warily. Just like what their captain had said, it wasn’t time to rejoice yet. Should they celebrate too soon and end up letting other adventurers reap the rewards of their efforts, that would be a tragedy.
“Heed my orders!” The muscular leader shouted, “The assassin team is in charge of keeping a lookout in the surroundings! Closely monitor every bit of activity in the surroundings within a radius of a few kilometers of where we are. Report to me at once if there’s any abnormal activity!”
“Understood!”
“The Warrior team is in charge of taking apart the Titanic Dragon-Ape! Ensure that you take it apart in the shortest amount of time while making sure that you do not damage any of the internal organs, especially its magic core! Ensure that you preserve it properly after digging it out!”
“Understood!”
“The few Magicians are to follow me. Everyone else, hurry and get to work!”
After the leader dismissed them with a wave, all the adventurers began to busy themselves with their respective tasks. Five to six Magicians walked up to the leader and followed him to the cave next to the waterfall.
“They’re going for the Titanic Dragon-Ape infant now.” Ol’ Amos looked at Meng Lei and asked mirthfully, “What are you going to do?
“A Ninth-Grade Magical Beast’s infant will grow up into a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, you know. In fact, there’s a certain chance that it’ll evolve into a Saint Domain Magical Beast.”
Meng Lei’s eyes twinkled as he replied, “On top of that, this is even the infant of a flying Magical Beast known for its defenses and physical strength. It’s practically the perfect mount for Magicians like us. How can I miss out on this?”
“Oh? You intend to make a move on it?” Ol’ Amos raised his eyebrows. “Brat, you’d better not become dizzy with temptation. Do only what’s within your means. If you ask me, you really won’t be able to take down those adventurers.”
“Ol’ President, then you’d better open your eyes wide and watch!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward slightly, and he controlled the magic carpet and flew straight out. Without any intention of ambushing them from the shadows or playing any schemes or tricks, he simply jumped out openly just like that.
“Dumbass, are you out of your mind?!” Ol’ Amos was shocked by Meng Lei’s rash actions. “What kind of person would do that? Can’t you secretly cast a few spells and launch a sneak attack or two first?”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei smacked the back of his head. Chagrined, he said, “I forgot all about sneak attacks!”
“Dumbass! Your stupidity is beyond hope!”
Ol’ Amos didn’t know what he should say anymore. With his finger pointed right at Meng Lei’s nose, he berated him furiously, “With that IQ of yours, where did you even find the guts to come and hang around Magical Beast Forest? It’s practically a miracle that you’re still alive!”
“Don’t get mad, Ol’ President! Anger is bad for your liver!” Meng Lei responded as he chuckled sneakily.
Then, he looked at the highly vigilant adventurers and shouted in a strong and loud voice, “That Magical Beast is mine! You’d better hurry and scram, or else… Die!”
“What a goddamn retard!”
" }, { "id": 73, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-73", "title": "Chapter 73 - The Ultimate Threat, A Fake Saint Domain", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Boom, boom, boom!
Deafening booms resounded from the waterfall, and water in the pool flowed rapidly.
The trees were dense and luxuriant, while the vegetation was thick and lush.
As the adventurers stared at Meng Lei, who had suddenly come charging out, every one of their countenances changed drastically, and their vigilance reached extreme heights.
“Damn! We’ve attracted other adventurers here after all!”
The muscular leader’s countenance, who had just walked over to the front of the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s den, also changed. He quickly dashed over and scowled furiously at Meng Lei, who was seated on the magic carpet.
Meng Lei was dressed in black magician robes and wore a golden mask on his face. Thus, they couldn’t see what he really looked like or get a clear idea of his background.
However, the fact that he could reach this part of the forest already signified fairly impressive battle capabilities in itself. On top of that, he even had the guts to wrest food from a tiger’s jaws—this showed that Meng Lei was very confident in his own abilities.
In a situation where they couldn’t get a clear idea of Meng Lei’s background, no one dared to take him lightly. However, there was absolutely no way that they’d surrender the Titanic Dragon-Ape.
Out of all those who had the guts to come to Magical Beast Forest to make a name for themselves, which one among them wasn’t putting their lives on the line when they did so? How would a mere few words possibly scare them off?
“Lord Magician, this Titanic Dragon-Ape is the prey that we, the Fire Cloud Mercenaries, only successfully slew after much painstaking trouble. We’ll never hand it over to anyone!” The leader stepped forward. “As long as you leave now, we can pretend that we didn’t hear what you said earlier.”
He was neither haughty nor obsequious. In fact, there was even a mild threat in his demeanor.
The Fire Cloud Mercenaries!
They were the biggest mercenary unit in the Fire Dragon Kingdom border provinces. They were strong and powerful. They enjoyed great fame in the mercenary circle and were a force that ordinary people didn’t dare to easily offend.
Once they identified themselves as the Fire Cloud Mercenaries, the leader believed that it would definitely frighten away most of the eyesore-like adventurers. The prey might be attractive, but one’s little life was more important, wasn’t it?
However, Meng Lei sneered instead. “My mind is set on the Titanic Dragon-Ape. If you know what’s good for you, scram at once!”
“You’re pushing it!”
The leader’s countenance changed mildly, and he shouted, “Be on your guard!”
Swoosh!
The Fire Cloud Mercenaries proved themselves to be a first-rate mercenary unit, indeed. All the members were well-trained, and at the leader’s command, all the assassins instantly vanished without a trace from where they were!
Over a dozen Warriors swiftly dashed to where the Magicians were. They surrounded the five to six Magicians and the leader on all sides to protect them, forming a firm and sturdy barrier around them.
At the same time as that, the Magicians quickly began to chant spell incantations!
“O’ Snow Goddess in the faraway lands of supreme ice and frost, please heed my call. With your pure and untainted hands… Snow Screen!”
“O’ crimson lotus flames buried deep in the dark shadows underground, I summon you in my name! Be my sword of magic and crush all that stands in my way… God of Fire’s Fire Blast!”
“Well-trained and highly coordinated movements! Pretty impressive!”
As Ol’ Amos watched the Fire Cloud Mercenaries’ members form into a battle formation in just a few short seconds, he couldn’t help but rub his palms in admiration, full of praises for them.
“These guys are only average in strength, but they’ve gone through bloody and fiery battles to temper themselves. They’re very experienced and have great coordination among themselves, so they produce a favorable chemical reaction when they come together.
“To put it simply, 1+1+1 equates to more than 3! This is something that genius students living in ivory towers like all of you cannot match up to!”
Ol’ Amos looked at Meng Lei and said with a laugh, “The academy can teach you magic knowledge and lead you through the grand doors of magic, but it cannot make you a real Magician. All of you still have a long way to go!”
“Ol’ President, I’ll admit that what you said makes a lot of sense.” Meng Lei didn’t rebut him. “But some people cannot be measured by conventional methods.”
“Oh?”
Ol’ Amos raised his eyebrows, remaining somewhat noncommittal. “This old man would like to see just what is so special about you.”
“You’ll see.”
Meng Lei gave him a small smile. Then, he slowly raised his right hand. As Thunder Elements gathered in his palm and the light of electricity flashed, a spear formed from surging Thunder Elements quietly took shape.
“Third-Grade Spell, Lightning Spear!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and smiled. “Any Seventh-Grade Magician can achieve instant release of third-grade spells. There’s nothing special about that.”
“What about this?”
Meng Lei smiled, and the lightning spear in his palm suddenly began to spin rapidly. Its tip became thin and narrow, while the rear end thickened. Hoops of lightning wound all around it, and it gave off a blinding arc of light!
“Fourth-Grade Spell, Spinning Lightning Drill!”
Ol’ Amos was rather astonished. “You can actually instantly release fourth-grade spells?”
“That’s the Fourth-Grade Thunder-Elemental Spell, Spinning Lightning Drill!”
A thunder-elemental Magician from the Fire Cloud Mercenaries also exclaimed loudly, “Instant release of fourth-grade spells! Captain, he’s an Eighth-Grade Magician!”
“What? An Eighth-Grade Magician?!”
The leader… No, the captain’s countenance changed slightly. “Are you sure?”
“No… Not very, but according to the laws of magic, only Magicians that are eighth-grade and above can achieve instant release of fourth-grade spells,” replied the thunder-elemental Magician solemnly.
The other few Magicians also nodded heavily. Magicians could only instantly release spells that were four grades lower than their own Magician grades.
To achieve instant release for fourth-grade spells, one needs to be at least an Eighth-Grade Magician!
“An Eighth-Grade Magician… Things have become rather troublesome.”
The captain’s expression turned rather awful-looking. “However, Eighth-Grade Magicians aren’t that difficult to deal with. That guy’s all alone, and he doesn’t have a magical pet mount to protect him. With the Fire Cloud Mercenaries’ strength, we can defeat him for sure. What’s troublesome are the forces backing him up…”
With sloppy execution came consequences!
An Eighth-Grade Magician was a noble and exalted existence, and they were usually involved with a whole lot of other people.
This was what the captain was the most troubled over!
However, just as the captain was secretly making plans, the Spinning Lightning Drill in Meng Lei’s hand transformed again. The spinning spear suddenly enlarged, and its diameter expanded to two meters wide in an instant.
Boom, boom, boom!
What would happen when a two-meter wide round pillar spun at high speed?
The answer was… A tornado!
Over here, it should be known as “Thun-nado”!
The Thun-nado spun at high speed, and everything that it went near to was crushed to bits. It was as if it possessed a mighty force that could devour everything and destroy anything. The sight of it made one’s heart palpitate in fear and turned their breathing quick and ragged.
“The Fifth-Grade Spell, Violent Thunderstorm!”
Ol’ Amos exclaimed in astonishment, “You actually took only a short second to cast Spinning Lightning Drill and Violent Thunderstorm in succession! That’s also considered instant release! Aren’t you a Seventh-Grade Magician? How come you’re able to achieve instant release for fifth-grade spells?”
“T-that’s the Fifth-Grade Spell, Violent Thunderstorm!”
“Instant release! He actually insta-cast Violent Thunderstorm!”
“Captain, he can do an instant release of fifth-grade spells!”
“H-he… He’s a great N-ninth-Grade Magician!”
“A great Ninth-Grade Magician?!”
The captain’s heart began to convulse intensely, and a hint of hopelessness welled up within him. He had the confidence to defeat an Eighth-Grade Magician, but if the one they’d run into was a great Ninth-Grade Magician…
How the heck were they supposed to fight him?
There was no way they could beat him!
Have they already wussed out with just these?
Meng Lei smiled and stayed quiet. With a casual wave, Violent Thunderstorm suddenly dispersed as if it had never been there before. Just as looks of puzzlement appeared on everyone’s faces…
Roar!
An earth-shattering roar abruptly reached them from above. A savage-looking dragon head suddenly emerged from the dark clouds, followed by its mighty and imposing body!
It was the Seventh-Grade Spell, Thunder Dragon Descends!
“I-instant release of a seventh-grade spell!”
“A S-saint Domain Magician! He’s a Saint Domain Magician!”
" }, { "id": 74, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-74", "title": "Chapter 74 - The Dragon-Ape Infant, An Equal Contract", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Dark clouds billowed, and the dragon’s armored scales gave off a savage feel!
The thunder dragon gave off a majestic aura as it soared into the sky!
A surging wave of pressure emanated from the thunder dragon, so oppressive that everyone’s scalps were tingling, and they couldn’t quite catch their breath.
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, seventh-grade spells were already considered high-grade spells capable of causing massive destruction and containing a fearsome level of destructiveness.
The moment a seventh-grade spell fully struck an Eighth-Grade Warrior, they would suffer serious injuries even if they survived. This was the reason why every single person present there was so fearful of the thunder dragon above.
However, the most fearsome thing here was that…
The casting of Thunder Dragon Descends had been completed in just two to three breaths. This meant that it was an instant release of… a seventh-grade spell!
“A Saint Domain Magician!”
“He’s a Saint Domain Magician!”
“C-captain, he’s a Saint Domain Magician! He’s… a Saint Domain!”
The Magicians’ legs trembled while their countenances filled with shock and fear. A Saint Domain, a lofty Saint Domain high up above… A Saint Domain was actually standing right in front of them!
“S-saint Domain!!”
Fear appeared on the faces of the captain and everyone else from the Fire Cloud Mercenaries. There was none of the self-confidence and courage from earlier anymore.
They could fight an Eighth-Grade Magician, but if the one they’d run into was a Ninth-Grade Magician, then they would have to flee, much less when it was a Saint Domain?!
“S-sir, we were too full of ourselves and ignorant and ended up affronting you. We’re willing to offer up this Titanic Dragon-Ape, so I hope you can forgive our sins, sir!”
The captain reacted very quickly. He dropped onto his knees with a loud thud, and hurriedly began to beg for mercy. One by one, the other members of Fire Cloud Mercenaries also knelt down and begged for mercy.
Even though they were extremely unwilling and reluctant to part with their kill, they didn’t possess even a shred of desire to fight back at all when facing a Saint Domain. What they had was just the desire to survive.
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, one could offend anybody, with the sole exception of Saint Domains. Otherwise, even their deaths would be in vain.
So what even if that was a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast? When placed in front of their lives, it could be discarded all the same.
“You may live, but dismember the Titanic Dragon-Ape first!”
Meng Lei’s voice was aloof and distant. He’d initially wanted to kill them, but the moment he saw the towering Titanic Dragon-Ape, he changed his mind at once.
That was such a massive lump of meat. How long would it take if he were to handle it all by himself? So, he’d better make them stay and help out instead,
“Yes, yes! Glad to offer my services!”
The captain didn’t dare to be remiss. He hastily ordered his subordinates to dismember the Titanic Dragon-Ape, lest Meng Lei found them too slow and changed his mind.
For a while there, the sound of flesh being cut and bones being cleaved rang out in the surroundings.
“Not bad.”
Meng Lei was very pleased with their performances. With their help, it’d be much faster than him doing it all by himself. If nothing went wrong, they should be able to finish dismembering the Titanic Dragon-Ape before night fell.
“How did you manage to instantly release a seventh-grade spell?” At that moment, Ol’ Amos’ voice, which was filled with puzzlement and astonishment, rang out. “Are you actually a Saint Domain? But that doesn’t make sense. Your spiritual power is clearly only seventh-grade!”
“It’s a secret.”
Meng Lei gave him a smug smile and didn’t pay any more attention to the furious old man. Instead, he turned and walked toward the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s den. He wasn’t afraid that the Fire Cloud Mercenaries would play any no-good tricks!
The cave was very big. It reached over a dozen meters high, but on top of the 100-meter high cliff, it was no more than a small scar at best.
The cave was very deep, and it twisted and turned such that one couldn’t see right to the end. Inside were jagged, strangely-shaped rocks and hanging stalactites, and it looked like a whole different world.
After walking for about 300 to 400 meters, the cave interior suddenly brightened—there were glittering jewels embedded on the walls.
There were pure, transparent diamonds, colorful, glittering jewels, warm and mild jade, agate the size of a dog’s head, as well as bright and colorful crystals…
“Damn! What a huge diamond! That’s as big as a pig’s head, isn’t it?
“The green of this jade is so rich! Like a green hat 1 !
“Is this agate…?”
There was a greenish glow in Meng Lei’s eyes. Looking at this place through the eyes of a human from Earth, every single jewel here was a piece of treasure worth millions and would definitely sell for exorbitant sums of money!
Everything else aside, the worth of just the diamonds alone was already immeasurable. Even the smallest was as big as an infant’s fist, while the biggest was no smaller than a pig’s head.
All of these highly valuable treasures had been embedded so casually in the moist and gloomy earthen walls? To act as illumination? How aggravating and frustrating!
“They’re actually using such treasures as illumination! That’s just treasures covered by dust and a waste of God’s gifts!”
Meng Lei shook his head and sighed. He’d already made up his mind—he was going to take all the jewels with him and leave not even a single one here when he left later. That bunch of fat, old geezers from the nobility loved glittery things like these the most. He’d definitely be able to sell them for a good price.
As he went all the way into the depths of the den, the light suddenly dimmed. However, Meng Lei’s eyes lit up instead. Compared to when he’d seen the jewels earlier, the light in his eyes was much brighter by severalfold!
He was looking at… a nest?
Meng Lei’s breathing turned quick and ragged as he crept over stealthily. A small nest piled full of weeds, tree branches, and beast furs appeared before his eyes—there was a young beast sleeping soundly inside.
Under a layer of wet, sticky fluid was soft, supple armor. A pair of bloodstained wings wrapped tightly around its body, while its nose and lips were soft and tender…
“Is this thing really the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s infant?”
After he got a good look at the little beast’s true appearance, Meng Lei now held a rather distrustful attitude toward life. Wet and wrinkly, this was clearly a soft and tender naked gorilla with wings!
The kind that had just been born, no less!
Which part of it had even a shadow of the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s mighty aura?
Weak, helpless, and pitiful!
Weren’t these just describing that thing over here?
“This is the Titanic Dragon-Ape’s infant, no doubt about that.” Ol’ Amos floated in mid-air, twisting his beard with a smile as he said, “Don’t look down on it. Once it gets past its weak stage that lasts two days, it’ll be on par with a Fifth-Grade Magical Beast. Ripping apart tigers and leopards with its bare hands and devouring jackals and wolves will be a cinch.”
“Is this thing really that powerful?”
Meng Lei curled his lip, a million doubts in his mind. He wasn’t judging a book by its cover. It was just that this miniature version of the Titanic Dragon-Ape in front of him now was honestly a little too big of a wuss. It looked just like a newborn kitten, the kind that even a chopstick could suppress.
“Stop being so goddamn pretentious and set up a contractual magic circle to contract it at once!” urged Ol’ Amos in dry amusement. “Remember, sign an equal contract, not a master-servant one!”
“Why should I sign an equal contract?”
Meng Lei frowned, somewhat reluctant. “Isn’t a master-servant contract better? Getting it to become my servant and bow to me completely, commanding it with ease so that it’ll do whatever I say, isn’t that a better idea?”
“Meng Lei, you must understand this.” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “A magical pet is the trusted right-hand man of us Magicians and is also the closest partner of us Magicians. It’s even more so a friend and support that’s worth our utmost trust!
“While getting it to become your servant can certainly give you great assistance when its master completely controls a Magical Beast’s mind and consciousness, it’s no different from a puppet during battle. The rapport between the two is too poor.
“The chemical reaction is terrible, and 1+1 equates to less than 2.
“But an equal contract is different.
“After you enter into an equal contract, the Magical Beast and its master are on equal terms. They rise to glory together and fall to disgrace together. When a Magical Beast has its own mind and consciousness, and its heart is closely linked to its master’s, they can coordinate with each other with great rapport and achieve an effect where 1+1 equates to more than 2!”
“Oh, I see!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly, as if deep in thought.
“There’s also something else that you must understand—when one enters into a master-servant contract, they are usually forcibly subduing a Magical Beast. This is a contract that the Magical Beast signs in a situation where it’s resentful and unreconciled to its fate. But now?”
Ol’ Amos sighed and said, “The Titanic Dragon-Ape infant is still young and is oblivious and ignorant of the outside world. If you raise it, it’ll see you as its one and only kin.
“In a situation like that, unless you’re suffering from brain damage, why would you enter into a master-servant contract that’ll turn it into a puppet?”
“Ol’ President, you’re right. That makes a lot of sense!” Meng Lei agreed wholeheartedly. Then, he scratched his head and said in embarrassment, “But I have a problem… I don’t know how to set up the contractual magic circle for an equal contract!”
“I’m gonna faint!”
" }, { "id": 75, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-75", "title": "Chapter 75 - Besieged By Magical Beasts, A Great Army Invades", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Chapter 75: Besieged By Magical Beasts, A Great Army Invades
“You don’t even know how to set up a contractual magic circle for an equal contract? Who taught you your magic basics? Even someone like you can become the top freshman?” Ol’ Amos was very dissatisfied with Meng Lei, and he criticized him sternly. “A qualified Magician… Not only must he… but he must also…”
“Ol’ President, can we leave all that for later and deal with this Titanic Dragon-Ape infant first?”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless. Was this old geezer once a Department Head of the Moral Education Department? Hence the terrible work habit of being fond of criticizing and lecturing others?
“Hmph!”
Ol’ Amos snorted, greatly dissatisfied with Meng Lei’s attitude. Regardless, he still taught him how to set up the contractual magic circle for an equal contract anyway. Meng Lei got the hang of it right away and mastered it after just one round of explanation from Ol’ Amos.
He successfully set up the contractual magic circle after that.
Bzzz!
A dreamy, colorful glow enveloped the Titanic Dragon-Ape infant in the little nest, and the little fellow, which was sound asleep, slowly opened its eyes. There was a confused, lost, naive, and adorably silly look within them!
Meng Lei squeezed out a drop of blood and successfully signed the contract. The way the little fellow looked at Meng Lei instantly became a lot more affectionate. It leaned over and rubbed its head against Meng Lei’s hand affectionately as it called out in a babyish voice.
“Wah~ Wah~”
“Haha, it already sees you as its closest companion!”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and broke into a smile, a hint of gratification coming over his face.
“Ol’ President, how do I take care of it when it’s so young?”
Meng Lei also broke into a smile, raising the question as he stroked the little Dragon-Ape’s head. The little fellow wasn’t actually that small. It was about the same size as an adult gorilla. It just seemed small and inconsequential relative to an adult Titanic Dragon-Ape, that was all.
“Magical Beasts are tough and ferocious by nature. They’ll grow to become strong and robust in an extremely short time after they’re born. In this respect, we humans have no hope of even competing with them.”
A smiling Ol’ Amos stroked his beard and explained, “You need only to wait for it to pull through its two-days-long weak stage. After that, it’ll become just like any other Magical Beast and feed on raw meat and mature on its own.”
“I see!” Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder. “To think that Magical Beast infants don’t actually feed on milk. This particular characteristic of theirs is very similar to non-mammalian animals. How amazing!”
“Non-mammalian animals?” The old academy president stared blankly at him for a moment.
At that moment, a series of chaotic footsteps suddenly rang out. Meng Lei looked over to see a Fire Cloud Mercenaries member running in. “S-sir! T-this is terrible, Magical Beasts have come attacking!”
“Magical Beasts?”
Meng Lei’s pupils contracted, and he ran out of the cave in a flash.
…
Hiss!
Rustle, rustle!
Thump, thump, thump!
Strange, peculiar sounds rang out in the thick, dense forest. Trees shook and weeds broke. The whole forest within five kilometers ahead of them was shaking!
This unusual activity added a hint of creepiness to the usually quiet and dead silent forest. The Fire Cloud Mercenaries members gripped their weapons tightly, their countenances were awfully somber.
The assassins standing guard on the periphery had reported an invading wave of Magical Beasts. Their numbers were unknown, and the targets were making a straight line for this area!
This situation was exceedingly abnormal and completely strayed from the usual workings, but this was what made it even more terrifying instead. One must know that they were currently in the far depths of Magical Beast Forest—even a random old Magical Beast around here was a high-grade one!
Besieged by high-grade Magical Beasts? Just the thought of it alone made one’s scalp tingle!
“Captain, what do we do?” a member asked nervously as he gripped his weapon.
Their leader was calm and rational and stayed composed even in the face of danger. He replied, “No need to fear! With Lord Saint Domain around, what can a mere few Magical Beasts amount to?”
“That’s true!”
The mercenaries nodded one by one, their fear lessening slightly. A Saint Domain expert could destroy the heavens and earth. How would typical Magical Beasts possibly be a match for them?
“Where are the Magical Beasts?”
Meng Lei walked out of the cave at this point.
The captain hastily answered respectfully, “Sir, they are currently closing in on us!”
He’d only just spoken when a Magical Beast dashed out of the forest.
It was a wolf species of Magical Beast. Its body was ten meters long and fully covered in steel needle-like fur. Its contours were well-proportioned, its muscles sharply defined, and it was full of a physical strength kind of aesthetic.
The strange thing was that this particular wolf-type Magical Beast had two heads—one white and one black—and this color division continued throughout its whole body, which was also half-white and half-black. The color division was clear and distinct, just like the national treasure[1]!
“That’s the Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Sun-Moon Double-Headed Wolf!” A mercenary called out its name.
“A Seventh-Grade Magical Beast has actually scared all of you this badly?”
Meng Lei stared at the Sun-Moon Double-Headed Wolf, rendered somewhat speechless.
“Sir, there are more!”
The captain let out a wry laugh.
At this point, a second Magical Beast dashed out of the forest. It was as large as a truck container and had eight legs. This was a spider species of Magical Beast that was fully blood red in color, but it had a human head and looked incredibly horrifying.
It was the Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Man-Visage Demon Spider!
Then, it was followed by the third, fourth, fifth…
As the trees shook, Magical Beasts dived out of the forest one after another like mushrooms sprouting after rain. They came in a variety of sizes and species, carrying with them an astounding might and cold and vicious looks in their eyes.
“Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Tri-Eyed Poisonous Toad!”
“Sixth-Grade Magical Beast, Iron-Armored Crocodile!”
“Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Raptor!”
“Seventh-Grade Magical Beast…”
“Oh my Dragon God!”
“Why are there so many high-grade Magical Beasts?!”
The sight of so many high-grade Magical Beasts caused every Fire Cloud Mercenaries member’s legs to shake, and fear and panic came over their countenances.
Too many!
Too many high-grade Magical Beasts were showing up!
Were there 50 of them? Or 100?
But what made them despair the most was that an endless stream of high-grade Magical Beasts was still arriving one by one. How were they supposed to fight them all?!
“S-sir, what should we do?”
Blood drained from the captain’s face. He gazed at Meng Lei, having already placed all his hopes on him. A ferocious tiger was hardly a match for a pack of wolves, much less a group of high-grade Magical Beasts?
Besieged by this many Magical Beasts, even if the Fire Cloud Mercenaries was strong and had wonderful coordination, they still didn’t have even a shred of hope!
They’d be ripped apart and become food in those Magical Beasts’ bellies!
Everyone else from the Fire Cloud Mercenaries also stared hard at Meng Lei, their despairing and fearful faces full of hope.
Now that things had come to this point, Meng Lei was the only one they could rely on!
“Ol’ President, why are there so many Sixth-Grade and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts congregating here when everything’s perfectly alright?”
Meng Lei didn’t pay any heed to the Fire Cloud Mercenaries members. Instead, he frowned and raised a question. Every high-grade Magical Beast had their own territory, and they usually fought and went at one another’s throats. Why would they show up here together?
“It’s probably because of the Titanic Dragon-Ape.”
A glint flashed across Ol’ Amos’ eyes as he pointed at the Titanic Dragon-Ape carcass. “A high-grade Magical Beast’s flesh and magic core hold lethal attraction to Magical Beasts of lower grades. If they can devour and feed on it, it’ll boost their strength and might even help them to level up.
“When they were battling and dismembering the Titanic Dragon-Ape earlier, its vital energy dissipated into the air and drifted out. This ended up attracting the Magical Beasts here.”
“So that’s what happened!”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. “Those guys’ noses sure are sharp! But this is just as well. Saves me the trouble of going around like a headless chicken to look for them.”
“What do you intend to do?” Ol’ Amos raised his eyebrows. “I have to remind you, dealing with this many Magical Beasts won’t be easy. If you really can’t handle it, then you’d better run. You aren’t their target anyway.”
“Run? That word doesn’t exist in my dictionary!”
[1] Refers to the panda, China’s national treasure
" }, { "id": 76, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-76", "title": "Chapter 76 - Flame Inferno, Annihilation", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "A Magical Beast could already be considered a high-grade one at seventh-grade.
Not only were they astonishingly intelligent, but they also possessed strong, domineering combat power.
It was very tough for a human to defeat a Magical Beast of the same grade, especially when their numbers increased to form a beast tide. Their level of destructiveness could be said to be terrifying at that point.
Everywhere they passed through, lands turned barren, and nothing would be left alive.
That was why the Fire Cloud Mercenaries were scared witless when facing a siege by so many Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts. If it weren’t for the fact a “Saint Domain” was standing right next to them, they’d have fled for their lives a long time ago.
Man-Visage Demon Spider, Golden Lightning Python, Iron-Armored Crocodile, Sun-Moon Double-Headed Wolf… The Magical Beasts were savage, bloodthirsty, and vicious. As they stared at the Titanic Dragon-Ape carcass lying on the ground, their snouts constantly twitched, and drool dripped from their jaws, their eyes brimming with greed.
Devour it!
Devour the Titanic Dragon-Ape!
Once they devoured the Titanic Dragon-Ape, they’d benefit tremendously! The day where they’d level up and break through… wasn’t far off anymore!
All the Magical Beasts became restless and agitated for a while there. They pounced toward the Titanic Dragon-Ape one after another, for fear that other Magical Beasts would get there earlier than them should they be a step too slow.
In this instant, all of them had gone berserk!
“S… Sir, w-what do we do?!”
The mercenaries screamed and shouted in fear as they trembled like leaves in the wind.
“What are you panicking for? Step back!” Meng Lei snorted, displeasure coming over his features.
“Yes, yes!”
The mercenaries hastily hid behind Meng Lei. To their backs were the cliff and precipitous rock walls, as well as the waterfall. The Magical Beasts couldn’t launch attacks from there. Thus, the area behind them was safe.
“You just had to seek your own ruin, didn’t you?” Meng Lei’s voice was loud and sonorous. “Just as well that I round up all of you in one go and turn you into money in my pocket, then!”
Meng Lei moved in the very next instant!
Boom!
The ground suddenly began to shake. It was as if a magnitude 9.0 earthquake had broken out. The ground shook, and the mountains trembled, while trees swayed from side to side. Fissures appeared out of nowhere in the ground, and earth spikes abruptly emerged!
Splurt!
Splurt!
The sudden attack caught the frenzied Magical Beasts off-guard. Some fell into the fissures, while the earth spikes impaled some. For a moment there, they looked somewhat in a pathetic state.
However, they were Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts, after all. A magic attack of this scale evidently couldn’t take their lives. After leaping out of the fissures and crushing the earth spikes, the Magical Beasts charged forward once more.
The nearer they got to the Titanic Dragon-Ape, the stronger the stench of blood became, and the Magical Beasts became increasingly restless, frenzied, and bloodthirsty!
Yet, just as they reached the point ten meters away from the Titanic Dragon-Ape, a mighty and imposing fire dragon suddenly descended from the sky and came crashing toward them. It exploded with a thunderous boom…
Roar!
Howl!
Sparks flew everywhere, and shrieks and cries rose and fell in succession.
“Great!”
“Fantastic!”
The mercenaries were overjoyed upon the sight of this, and they raised their arms in cheers.
“Sixth-Grade Spell, Fire Dragon Meteor!”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and broke into a smile. “Pretty impressive might it has! That attack can already cause some damage to Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts. A large-scale spell like this is exceptionally taxing on one’s magic power, though. You’d better take it easy!”
“I know that!”
Meng Lei didn’t say much about that. Instead, he drew out all the magic power inside him in a furor and gathered it above him. Upon being summoned, all the Fire Elements within a radius of 100 meters came converging toward him.
In a split second, a gigantic fireball of diameter over 60 meters soundlessly formed. Like the scorching sun, it gave off astonishingly high heat.
“That’s…”
When the mercenaries felt the scorching heat above them, they all raised their heads and looked up one by one. Astoundment surfaced in their eyes. The mighty aura of a fireball over 60 meters wide was simply too astounding. However, the even more fearsome thing was that an endless stream of Fire Elements was still converging toward it and strengthening it!
Expand, expand, and expand!
Like the hero of a certain anime rolling something into a ball 1 , the fireball expanded at an astonishing speed. In just a few short breaths, its diameter had already exceeded 100 meters!
“That’s…” Ol’ Amos’ lip corners were twitching. “Brat, aren’t you afraid of exhausting all your magic power if you cast large-scale spells one after the other?”
“Haha! We’ll think about it again when I’ve exhausted it!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. Then, he shouted, “Flame Inferno… Land!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Like a meteor plummeting from outer space, the gigantic fireball crashed forcefully into the horde of Magical Beasts. As a huge, earth-shattering explosion rang out, the area in front of everyone turned into a sea of fire.
Flames raged and blazed, setting everything on fire without any reservations.
Amid shrill and tragic cries, the Magical Beasts turned into fiery beasts. They ran and jumped about in a frenzy in the sea of fire, completely enveloped within the flames.
“Retreat! Hurry, retreat!”
The mercenaries, who also found the blazing heat unbearable, retreated one by one. They retreated all the way until they were right in front of the waterfall. Only then did they feel slightly better.
“I can make the kill now!”
Meng Lei’s eyes glinted sharply as he brought out the Gods-Slaying Spear. A seventh-grade spell was certainly astonishing in terms of might and could burn Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts to death, but time was necessary in order to achieve that.
Would the Magical Beasts stay obediently in the sea of fire and let the flames burn them to death?
Of course not!
They would flee! They would run! And they would move!
Some of the Magical Beasts would escape for sure.
Meng Lei knew this very well, so he wanted to deal an additional blow. Under these circumstances, the Gods-Slaying Spear was undoubtedly the best weapon for that.
As for whether or not he could use the Gods-Slaying Spear in front of others, Meng Lei had already consulted Ol’ Amos beforehand. The old man had a very simple answer to that, which was, “Rest assured and use it!”
The reason for that was even simpler—even an experienced and knowledgeable top-tier Saint Domain like him didn’t recognize that thing, so how would others possibly be able to? Much less recognize its status as a divine weapon?
Therefore, he could rest assured and use it openly as much as he wanted.
“Go!”
Meng Lei flung his arm out casually, and the Gods-Slaying Spear shot into the sea of fire. What followed closely was the sound of bone and flesh being pierced right through, as well as shrill cries.
It didn’t take long before the cries softened and then disappeared. All the Magical Beasts in the sea of fire had been slew by the Gods-Slaying Spear!
“What a great treasure!”
A satisfied Meng Lei nodded as the Gods-Slaying Spear returned to his hand. His eyes then landed outside the sea of fire on the Magical Beasts that had just emerged from the forest.
These Magical Beasts were a step too late, but on the contrary, they were fortunate enough to avoid being struck by Flame Inferno. Currently, their eyes were filled with fear and horror as they stood outside the sea of fire, hesitant to step forward.
The smell of blood from the Titanic Dragon-Ape made them restless, but the sea of fire before their eyes frightened them. What exactly should they do? Should they follow their instincts and continue to rampage, or leave with their tails in between their legs and safeguard their lives?
This was an important question!
The Magical Beasts sank into indecision.
“Not leaving yet? That’s great!”
Meng Lei licked his lips. He rode the magic carpet to the area above the Magical Beasts and cast another round of Flame Inferno.
Boom, boom, boom!
A fireball started floating in mid-air, and a sea of fire began to spread. Then, these Magical Beasts also met with tragedy!
The sea of fire engulfed them. As the great fire set them ablaze, their visibility range also became hindered, and they couldn’t escape for a while there. Then, one by one, the Gods-Slaying Spear impaled them to death, and their souls returned to hell.
With that, the Magical Beasts in the farther distance became badly frightened. Each and every one of them was terrified out of their wits, and they didn’t dare to hesitate or harbor any hope of lucking out anymore. Every single one of them fled with their tails in between their legs!
“They’re pretty quick at fleeing, huh?”
Meng Lei licked his lips, not quite having had his fill of fun yet.
Ol’ Amos reemerged, somewhat dissatisfied. “Don’t use the Gods-Slaying Spear so often in the future. Otherwise, there won’t be any more meaning to your training.”
“Understood!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly, the picture of someone that had learned his lesson. However, he secretly disagreed.
My purpose in coming to Magical Beast Forest isn’t just for training. Earning gold coins is my number one key task instead!
Of course I’ll have to hunt as many Magical Beasts as I can!
Although the sea of fire had engulfed the Magical Beasts just now, there was no way all of them would be annihilated. In a situation like that, was he supposed to just watch as they escaped?
" }, { "id": 77, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-77", "title": "Chapter 77 - Divine Beast Teddy, Half A Month Goes By Quietly", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Ahead was a blazing sea of fire!
To the back was a gushing waterfall!
A sight as unusual as that appearing in the same place was honestly a wondrous spectacle. However, the Fire Cloud Mercenaries were in no mood to admire the scenery because they were currently busy with dismembering the Titanic Dragon-Ape.
Every one of them worked conscientiously and diligently, lest they accidentally showed even the slightest bit of disrespect.
What? Resentment?
They didn’t dare to!
Just how terrifyingly powerful must one be in order to wipe out almost 100 high-grade Magical Beasts in under five minutes? Who’d dare to harbor any resentment?
They longed only to finish dismembering the Titanic Dragon-Ape as soon as possible and send Meng Lei away after that. They didn’t have the leisure to think about anything else.
In the cave elsewhere, Meng Lei was currently playing with the baby Titanic Dragon-Ape. After the contract was formed, a mysterious connection had appeared between Meng Lei and the little fellow. Just like that, it had taken Meng Lei as its closest companion.
Meng Lei rubbed the little fellow’s head and remarked with a laugh, “Seeing how you’re pitch-black all over, how about I name you Mastiff 1 ?”
The little fellow looked completely lost as it blinked in an adorably silly manner. Black lines filled Ol’ Amos’ forehead, however, and he remarked, “Mastiff? Can’t you give it a nicer-sounding name?”
“How about Husky 1 ?”
“What’s a Husky?”
“It’s also a type of dog!”
“…”
Ol’ Amos was rendered totally speechless. “What sort of names are those? Your taste in names is terrible. It’s always either a cat or a dog. Can’t you be a little less of a good-for-nothing?”
“Names are just a way of referring to things, isn’t it? Is there a need to be so serious about it?” Meng Lei was none too bothered. He tilted his head to the side and suggested, “How about Teddy 1 ? What do you think of that name?”
“Teddy? Teddy! Yeah, sounds pretty good!” Ol’ Amos thought for a moment and nodded. Then, he asked, “What’s the meaning behind the name?”
“Teddy is also a kind of… Cough, divine beast! The kind that can destroy the heavens and earth. Its destructiveness and all that are comparable to a Colossal Dragon!” replied Meng Lei as he held back his laughter.
“A divine beast? Is there a divine beast like that?”
Ol’ Amos was rather dubious. It just felt rather strange, somehow.
“Teddy is a kind of divine beast from my hometown. Not a lot of people know of it, so it’s normal for you to not have heard of it before!”
Meng Lei laughed and settled on the name. “Alright, let’s call it Teddy. It just so happens that the name of this little fellow’s species starts with ‘T’ too, so Teddy is a very appropriate choice of name.”
“Something feels rather off…”
At this point, the captain walked in and interrupted their idle chat. “Sir, the Titanic Dragon-Ape has been fully dismembered. May I know what we should do with it?”
“What to do with it? Bring it away, of course!”
Meng Lei left the cave and started to store the dismembered Titanic Dragon-Ape part by part into his spatial magic devices. However, they ran out of space as he was halfway through.
Meng Lei had six spatial magic devices of various sizes in total, and all of them were now stored full to the brim. Yet there was still half of the Titanic Dragon-Ape left!
“Ol’ President, my spatial magic devices can’t fit anything else inside them. What should I do?”
Meng Lei didn’t want to give up the Titanic Dragon-Ape. That was a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast; even a single strand of hair mustn’t be left behind! Every part of it was money itself!
“No problem!”
The old academy president smiled calmly. Then, with a wave, every bit of the remaining half of the Titanic Dragon-Ape vanished from where they were!
Upon the sight of this, Meng Lei exclaimed at once, “Ol’ President, do you also carry spatial magic devices everywhere with you?”
“Duh! This old man is a high and mighty Saint Domain, after all. If I don’t even have something like a spatial magic device, wouldn’t I be a laughingstock?” Ol’ Amos replied haughtily with a snort.
“That’s true!”
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled shiftily as sneaky little ideas occurred to him. That old geezer had previously said that he was all alone in the world and didn’t carry any worldly possessions on him. But from the look of it now, it seemed like that was a complete lie!
After all, he was already carrying spatial magic devices everywhere with him…
“Sir, how should we handle these Magical Beasts?”
The captain’s lip corners started twitching when he saw all the dismembered Titanic Dragon-Ape parts disappear. Although the loss pained him terribly, he didn’t dare to let it show. As such, he’d pointed at the charred Magical Beast carcasses and raised the question.
By now, the sea of fire had already extinguished, with only a few sparks still burning here and there, to reveal several “charcoal” mounds—in other words, the unlucky Sixth- and Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts!
“Gouge out their magic cores. You can discard the carcasses after that,” replied Meng Lei detachedly after casting a sweeping glance at the carcasses.
“Discard them? Sir, why are you discarding them?”
The captain was taken aback. He hastily tried to persuade him otherwise. “Even though these Magical Beast carcasses are burnt, their bodies haven’t suffered much damage on the inside, so you can still sell them for money!”
“You can have them if you want!” Meng Lei said as he shook his head lightly.
He had no intention of taking those Magical Beast carcasses with him. Disregarding the fact that his spatial magic devices were already full, even if they weren’t, he wouldn’t have taken them anyway. They wouldn’t bring much money, after all.
“Thank you for bestowing them to us, Sir!”
The captain was overjoyed, and he thanked him repeatedly. These were high-grade Magical Beast carcasses! Even though they were burnt, their internal organs were still fully intact and undamaged, so all of them could be sold for money.
The key here, though, was that there were so many of them! If they were to sell them all, they’d definitely earn a hefty sum!
“Go!” Meng Lei waved him off.
“Yes, Sir!”
The Fire Cloud Mercenaries were very quick in their actions. In just half an hour’s time, they’d already dug out all the magic cores. After Meng Lei took the magic cores, he left in satisfaction.
The mercenaries heaved a big sigh of relief as they gazed at Meng Lei from the back, and some even fell directly onto their bottoms!
“Phew! He’s finally gone!”
“There’s too much pressure being in the same place as him!”
“Hurry! Clean up these Magical Beast carcasses at once. We’re leaving once we’re done, too. It’s not safe here!”
“Yes, Captain!”
…
Ripples went through the lake surface, and the water sparkled under the sun.
As the saying went, “If the breeze doesn’t come, the water doesn’t ripple”.
The water in the large and vast lake was clean and clear, and the water weeds were fertile and healthy. As the breeze blew across the lake, a series of ripples went through the mirror-like lake surface.
Croak!
Croak!
A Green-Eyed Frog, the size of a millstone, floated on the water surface. Its lower jaw swelled and deflated as it croaked joyfully, singing the mating song unique to the Green-Eyed Frogs as it attempted to attract the attention of the opposite sex.
Splash!
The sound of something emerging from the water suddenly rang out. An enormous opened wide mouth sprung out from the bottom of the lake and swallowed the partner-seeking Green-Eyed Frog in one gulp. Then, it started to chew happily on it.
Bloody water churned as bones snapped and sinews were severed.
The poor Green-Eyed Frog! Not only did it fail to find a partner, but it even attracted a fatal disaster instead. How utterly miserable!
Bam!
A shadow descended from above at this exact moment. It grabbed the Magical Beast chewing on the Green-Eyed Frog in one swift motion and dragged it out of the water.
The Magical Beast that had been caught was the Fourth-Grade Golden-Light Fish. Its body was a glittering gold throughout, and it had an extremely exaggerated mouth. It was bathed in the sunlight and looked as if it was made out of gold!
With the Golden-Light Fish in its grip, the shadow flitted the whole way across the lake surface. Then, it entered the forest beside the lake and threw the fish onto the grass. The struggling Golden-Light Fish jumped up and down against the ground, which started to shake from the impact.
“You’re back, Teddy!”
Next to a campfire, a topless young man smiled and greeted the shadow as he fiddled with a few bottles and cans.
Three meters tall and shaped like an ape, the shadow had black dragon scales all over its body, a pair of black dragon wings on its back, and a strong, muscular body with bulging muscles. Yes, it was Meng Lei’s Magical Contract Pet, Teddy, the little Titanic Dragon-Ape!
“Grooo!”
Teddy poked its head over and rubbed against Meng Lei with a look of affection in its eyes, and he patted its head in response. Then, he walked over to the Golden-Light Fish and began to clean it.
That was their lunch for the day.
Half a month had gone by since the day he and Teddy had entered into a contract. The little fellow’s stage of frailty had already passed. It was now comparable to a Fifth-Grade Magical Beast, and even ripping apart ferocious beasts with its bare hands was nothing difficult for it.
Meng Lei was very satisfied with Teddy’s growth rate. Not only did the little fellow take only three days to get past its stage of frailty, but in the days that followed, it even improved by leaps and bounds daily and showed astounding improvements in its strength.
In Ol’ Amos’ words, Titanic Dragon-Ape infants that had Ninth-Grade Magical Beast blood in them like Teddy grew at exceedingly alarming rates. They were capable of reaching heights that other Magical Beasts could never achieve in their entire lives in just a dozen years or so and could be said to be kings among Magical Beasts!
" }, { "id": 78, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-78", "title": "Chapter 78 - Golden Colossal Dragons And Thunder Titans", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "After Meng Lei removed the scales and gutted the fish, he sliced the flesh into strips and cleaned them. Then he started to roast them.
It didn’t take long before an aroma began to pervade the air. As Teddy, the little Dragon-Ape, sniffed about hard, it became restless and fidgety, eagerness filling its eyes.
“Meat… Wanna eat meat!”
Thanks to the power of the contract, Meng Lei and Teddy were able to communicate with each other spiritually. Unfortunately, as Teddy was still an infant, its speech was very disjointed and choppy, so it could only express simple thoughts.
Even so, this was still something completely new to Meng Lei. Hearing animals speak and communicating with animals were things that he’d never experienced before in his past life. He found the experiences very novel.
“Be patient! It’s not cooked yet!”
Meng Lei gave Teddy a rub on the head. Then, he continued to slice the flesh into strips and roast them. Little Teddy had initially been eating raw meat, but after its first taste of roasted meat, it never went back to eating it raw anymore.
At mealtimes every day, it would personally catch a Magical Beast and get Meng Lei to roast it. A complete glutton through and through, it had clearly taken Meng Lei for a chef!
It didn’t take long for fish to cook. Before long, an aroma pervaded the air. Meng Lei scattered some condiments onto the fish and tossed Teddy a piece.
Nom!
The heat didn’t bother Teddy at all as it swallowed the meat whole in one gulp. Then, it blinked its big black eyes and stared expectantly at Meng Lei, saliva dripping from its mouth…
Is there even any difference between Teddy and the poodle back at home?
…Is this really a Titanic Dragon-Ape?
Can I return it to the store?
“Slow down, no one’s fighting with you over the food!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes at Teddy as he took a piece for himself. Then, he pointed at the rest of the roasted fish and said, “They are all yours. Go ahead and dig in!”
“Wau!” Teddy let out a cheer and dived forward.
Nom!
Nom!
After spending a while to gobble down the food, half the roast fish had disappeared.
“Did you die of starvation in your past life or what?!”
Meng Lei also picked up the roasted fish and dug in happily. Golden-Light Fishes were known as the most delicious Fifth-Grade Magical Beasts, and they certainly tasted pretty great, indeed. It could totally give the Garlic Roasted Sun-Moon Divine Frog a run for its money.
The woods were lush and luxuriant, and the lake clean and clear.
Birds sang amid the fragrant flowers as the campfire blazed.
The aromatic fragrance greeting the senses and the blazing campfire came together to form an unusual, though harmonious, picture in this forest full of life, yet also full of danger!
…
After lunch, Meng Lei continued on his journey.
It had been half a month since he had come to Magical Beast Forest. He’d traversed the mountain ridges, battled constantly, and left footprints in almost half of the Magical Beast Forest. Even he himself wasn’t sure how far he’d traveled, how many Magical Beasts he’d killed, or where he was.
In fact, due to the brambles all over the ground and countless thorny vines in the forest, Meng Lei had found his clothes rather in the way and taken off his top, choosing to walk about topless in the forest. Together with his long hair wrapped around on top of his head, he looked just like an uncivilized caveman!
“It’s been 16 days since I’ve come to Magical Beast Forest. I should leave after staying for another week!”
Boom!
At that moment, a series of barely audible explosions suddenly traveled over from the front. They sounded like things colliding against each other, and the explosions were constantly ringing out. A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face as he cocked his ears.
“There are dumbasses fighting again. Well, that certainly saves me a lot of trouble!”
Meng Lei had already heard similar commotions umpteen times, and he’d long since gotten used to it. He followed where the sounds were coming from and dashed over, his speed lightning-quick. Compared to half a month ago, he was moving at more than double his original speed.
Oh, the magic carpet?
This area was close to the Magical Beast Forest’s central region, and the magic carpet was very eye-catching, which made it very easy for them to be attacked by fearsome creatures. Meng Lei had no wish to be attacked by powerful Magical Beasts for no reason.
He was here to hunt Magical Beasts. He didn’t want to be killed by Magical Beasts instead!
As he got nearer and nearer, the commotion also became bigger and bigger.
At last…
Boom!
A towering tree broke into two, and the gigantic tree crown came smashing toward Meng Lei, who secretly bemoaned his bad luck. A fissure appeared beneath his feet, and he hastily jumped in!
The fissure quickly closed up, and the tree crown came crashing down right on the heels of it.
Boom!
Tree branches broke, and fallen leaves flew everywhere. Everything within a radius of several hundred meters became collateral damage, and the surroundings turned into a complete mess.
A hole appeared in the ground, and Meng Lei poked his head out of it. As he looked at the broken trees and messy branches all over the ground, he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to get out anymore. He cast Earth Split at once and started to dig his way out several hundred meters away.
At a magic cultivation level like his, casting low-level spells could be said to be something right at their fingertips. To them, digging a tunnel underground was no different from drinking a glass of water.
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei darted out from underground and continued to advance toward the battleground. However, what entered his sight surprised him. As it turned out, it wasn’t Magical Beasts that were fighting but humanoids!
In addition, both parties in the battle came from illustrious backgrounds!
One of them was covered throughout in a layer of thick, golden scales. Golden dragon horns protruded from his forehead, a pair of golden dragon wings extended from his back, and there was a golden dragon tail at his hip.
As though he was made out of gold, he shone a bright, resplendent gold that was dazzling and eye-catching.
He was a Dragon Person, and one with pure Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline, no less.
The Golden Colossal Dragons! They were kings among the Dragons!
On top of that, they were the royal family of the Dragon God Empire, too!
Not only were they terrifyingly strong, but they also enjoyed a venerable status!
This resulted in Drakes with Golden Colossal Dragon blood in them also enjoying a fairly lofty status in the whole of Dragon God Empire. Just take a look at Hart’s father.
Hart’s father had average battle capabilities and could barely match up to an Eighth-Grade Warrior. It didn’t count as much in the Fire Dragon Kingdom, yet because of his status as a Golden Colossal Dragon Person, the Fire Dragon Kingdom royalty had conferred upon him the title of a Duke anyway.
An Eighth-Grade Warrior as a Duke of the kingdom? Would anyone even believe that?
But that wasn’t even the worst yet, because even Fatty Hart, a Golden Colossal Dragon Person that was as good as “crippled” and whose bloodline awakening was in total shambles, had been conferred the title of a Viscount the moment he was born, and owned his own land!
Who were they supposed to go to and reason things out with?
No one!
One could only admit that he was blessed with a good life.
Of course, Golden Colossal Dragons with average battle capabilities like Fatty Hart’s father were ultimately a minority. Golden Colossal Dragons were terrifyingly powerful, and Dragon People that inherited the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline were also very strong.
As long as the bloodline in their bodies wasn’t so thin that it was impossible to awaken, their bodies would naturally become on par with at least a Seventh-Grade Warrior after they matured into adults. With a bit of effort, they would reach the Eighth-Grade Warrior level.
One could see from this just how powerful the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline was.
Of course, while it was certainly powerful, there weren’t many Dragon People that had the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline. In the entire Fire Dragon Kingdom, Fatty Hart and his father were the only ones that did.
That was the reason why Meng Lei was so surprised when he saw the Golden Colossal Dragon Person in front of him. Why was there a Golden Colossal Dragon Person here? And who was he?
The other party currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Golden Colossal Dragon Person similarly came from a notable background. There were a total of six people, and every single one of them was seven to eight meters tall. The muscles on their bodies intertwined like rocks piled on top of each other, and they were a burnished bronze color throughout as if they were made out of bronze.
They had humanoid characteristics, but they were seven to eight meters tall!
“Could they possibly be the famed Titans?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were filled with curious novelty and surprise as he watched the six giants that were as tall as two-story buildings. This was his first time seeing a giant, so it delivered quite the impact.
“No, they aren’t Titans, but Demigiants.”
Ol’ Amos flew out of the spatial ring at this point. As he also watched the six giants, he explained, “Demigiants have a mix of Titan and human blood in them. Those guys are bronze in color throughout, so they are evidently descendants of the Earth Titans.”
“The Earth Titans?” A light jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Surely you know of the Earth Titans, right?” Ol’ Amos frowned and added in a criticizing manner, “It’s about time you fill yourself in on the continent’s history!”
“Oh man, why are you bringing that up again?” Meng Lei was rather sheepish. Then, he asked, “Ol’ President, what are the Earth Titans?”
“Like us Dragons, the Titans are also categorized into quite a few types.” Ol’ Amos snorted but continued to explain, “For example, the Thunder Titans who are also the royal family of the Titan Empire, the Ocean Titans that control the oceans, the Storm Titans that dominate the typhoons, the Lava Titans that bathe in lava, and so on… The Earth Titans are also one of them!”
" }, { "id": 79, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-79", "title": "Chapter 79 - Absolute Overpowering, Meeting Abbe Again", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "These were five different types of Titans—Thunder Titans, Ocean Titans, Storm Titans, Lava Titans, Earth Titans!
“Pure-blooded Titans can grow as tall as over 20 meters after they mature into adults and are as strong as Ninth-Grade Warriors at their pinnacle. They can challenge some of the weaker Saint Domains and are by no means inferior to us pure-blooded Dragons.”
Ol’ Amos sighed emotionally and went on. “The Titans are a race with low numbers in Heaven’s Vault Continent and have many things in common with us Dragons. We are both powerful and come from a noble bloodline.
“Our reproductive rates are also just as low, of course. This has resulted in an extremely low number of pure-blooded Titans, while there are a large number of Demigiants that possess Titan bloodlines instead!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but remark, “In that aspect, they’re certainly very similar to the Dragon God Empire, where there are few Colossal Dragons but a great number of Drakes!”
“Yes, very similar, indeed!” Ol’ Amos nodded slightly.
Meng Lei didn’t ask any further. Instead, he placed his full attention on the battle taking place at the front. Not only was the Golden Colossal Dragon Person’s might beyond comparison and his battle capabilities fearsome, but he was also a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts!
Unfortunately, he was at a complete disadvantage against the six Demigiants. Not only did they possess domineering, great strength, but they could also control the earth.
With their feet planted on the ground, the Demigiants completely overpowered the Golden Colossal Dragon Person. To be more accurate, they were beating him into a pulp.
“The Golden Colossal Dragon Person is close to his limit!” Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “Brat, get ready to save him!”
“Save him? Why are we saving him?” Meng Lei was rather reluctant. “If I take out the Demigiants in the name of avenging him only after they kill him, not only will I be able to monopolize the six Demigiants’ assets, but I can also inherit his. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Ol’ Amos, who was rather appalled by his words, berated him furiously, “He’s one of us Dragon People after all. Can you bear to leave him in the lurch?!”
“Absolutely!” Meng Lei chuckled sneakily and added, “It’s not like we know each other anyway.”
“How can you do that?!” Ol’ Amos was fuming mad. “I know you’re a commoner by birth and don’t have any sense of belonging toward the empire and fellow Dragon People, but in your body ultimately flows the…”
“Alright, alright! Stop nagging, Ol’ President!” Meng Lei shrugged and said, “I just need to save him, right?”
However, despite saying that, Meng Lei remained where he was without any indication that he was going to do anything. This greatly displeased Ol’ Amos, and he snapped. “What are you waiting for? If you dawdle any longer, he’s going to croak!”
“You’re not getting it, Ol’ President.” A chuckling Meng Lei explained, “I’ll wait for the Demigiants to push him so far into a corner that he becomes utterly hopeless and knows that he’s doomed for sure before I make a move. That way, I can earn his utmost gratitude and maximize my profits!”
Just listen to what he’s saying!
Is that something a Dragon Person should be saying?!
Ol’ Amos’ eyelids uncontrollably twitched as he tried his darnedest to suppress his urge to beat him up. He chastised him furiously, “An immature little brat like you shouldn’t be having that many nonsensical thoughts in your head! Cut the crap and save him!”
“Ahhh!”
At that moment, one of the Demigiants struck the Golden Colossal Dragon Person, who didn’t manage to dodge in time, right in the chest, causing a great deal of blood to spurt from his mouth.
Upon seeing this, the six Demigiants’ fists, which were as large as brass hammers, smashed toward him like raindrops falling from the sky, their attacks especially violent and ferocious.
“It’s all over!!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person fell to the ground, hopelessness filling his eyes. His breastbone was crushed and broken, and he was utterly powerless to dodge the attack. Should the attacks land, he’d be smashed into a bloody pulp for sure.
At the sight of this, a furious Ol’ Amos urged Meng Lei, “What are you still waiting for, brat?! He’s going to die!”
“Haha, I was waiting for this exact moment!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. Then, he smacked his palms against the ground.
Boom!
The ground began to shake all of a sudden. Caught off-guard, the six Demigiants almost fell flat on their faces. Due to their massive sizes, it was very easy for them to lose their balance.
“What’s going on?”
As a jolt went through the Golden Colossal Dragon Person, he noticed someone descending from the sky and standing in front of him. His hair was unkempt and disheveled, and he had his back to him, which prevented him from getting a good look at his face.
“Who are you?”
The six Demigiants steadied themselves after stumbling. Raging fury and savagery brimmed in their huge, brass bell-like eyes as they glared furiously at Meng Lei, who had suddenly butted into their battle out of nowhere. They roared, “How dare a cheap, lowly human like you ruin our plans? Die!”
“A cheap, lowly human? Very well!”
An icy smile formed on Meng Lei’s face, and he instantly vanished from where he was. By the time he reappeared, he’d already charged all the way up to the Demigiant. As the Demigiant stared at him in stunned astonishment, Meng Lei’s fist rammed right into his abdomen.
Boom!
A tremendous power erupted with a thunderous boom. Amid the crisp and clear crack of bones snapping, the Demigiant was unsurprisingly thrown out. He flew through the air and broke a large, towering tree so thick that one could barely circle their arms around it right into two.
“Gisley!”
Greatly astonished, the other Demigiants stared at Meng Lei as though they couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. Never would they ever have thought that Meng Lei, who didn’t reach even their knees, would actually possess such terrifying strength!
He’d actually sent Gisley flying with a punch!
Just how powerful was that?!
“Five of them left.”
Meng Lei licked his lips and vanished from where he was again.
“Look out!”
Alarm bells went off in the Demigiants’ heads, and they became even more on guard, but it was to no avail.
Meng Lei abruptly appeared in front of another Demigiant. His right leg swung through the air and kicked a demi-giant right in his jaw. With a crisp snap, a cry escaped him, and he was flung out as well.
“Four left.”
He landed on the ground and vanished again.
Boom!
“Three left.”
“Just two now.”
“Last one.”
In the blink of an eye, all six Demigiants had been sent flying. Without waiting for them to get back up, six thunder spears shining with a blinding light descended from the heavens and pierced through their throats!
Splurt!
All six Demigiants’ outraged eyes were widened big and round, filled with resentment and chagrin, unable to rest in peace!
“Game over!”
Meng Lei showed himself and gazed at the six Demigiants. He wasn’t even out of breath, and he carried himself with a calm and cool composure as if he hadn’t lifted a finger at all.
“H-how strong!”
Totally astounded, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person stared at Meng Lei from the back. In his eyes, Meng Lei’s back view was so big and tall, stalwart, and beyond one’s reach…
“Are you alright?”
Meng Lei turned around and faced the Golden Colossal Dragon Person with a warm smile, just like a morally upright gentleman.
It was then that the Golden Colossal Dragon Person finally got a good look at Meng Lei. His eyes turned big and round at once, and he stammered, “How… How come it’s you?”
“Huh? Do we know each other?”
Meng Lei looked greatly taken aback. He looked the Golden Colossal Dragon Person up and down but found him a total stranger.
I’ve never seen him before! Why does he recognize me?
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person kept silent and gazed straight at Meng Lei for a brief moment. Then, his golden dragon scales slowly faded to reveal a familiar and ordinary-looking face.
Meng Lei jerked fiercely, and he exclaimed, “Abbe?!”
“Yes, it’s me!”
Abbe nodded slowly and got up from the ground with his hand held over his chest. Then, with a flip of his hand, he brought out a test tube filled with blue liquid, threw his head back, and downed it in a gulp.
Abbe’s complexion improved significantly after the liquid entered his system. He looked at Meng Lei, his eyes full of complex emotions, and remarked, “I’d never imagined that you’d become this strong after just a separation of half a month.”
“It really is you, Abbe!”
Meng Lei shook his head, not quite knowing what to say. How did he even bump into Abbe at a place like this? What a coincidence!
“Why are you here, though? Weren’t you supposed to return to the capital when the winter break started?”
Although they were housemates, because they’d rarely interacted, the only thing Meng Lei knew about Abbe was that he was from the capital and nothing else. He’d assumed that Abbe had returned to his hometown during the winter break. Little did he think that he’d actually come to Magical Beast Forest, too!
“I don’t want to go back!”
" }, { "id": 80, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-80", "title": "Chapter 80 - The Meteor Plains, The Ice Age", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The Demigiant corpses laid quietly on the grass. As their blood dried, it attracted countless flies and mosquitoes.
Meng Lei frowned and said, “You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to, but you shouldn’t have come to the Magical Beast Forest depths and loitered about here. It’s too dangerous!”
Abbe had nothing to say to that.
Meng Lei then asked, “What are your plans now? I’d suggest that you should either leave or go to the forest’s outer boundaries. That way, your life won’t be at risk!”
“I understand!”
Abbe nodded silently. Then, as he held his chest, he turned around and left. “Thank you for saving my life. I will repay the favor for sure!”
Meng Lei became somewhat worried instead when he saw how Abbe was behaving. He couldn’t help but ask, “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. Wherever my legs take me, I guess!” Abbe replied coolly.
Then, without even looking back, he left and, in no time, disappeared into the depths of the forest.
“That fellow…”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless.
“Forget it, just do whatever you want. Why should I bother that much about him if even he himself doesn’t cherish his own life?”
Meng Lei shook his head and began to examine the Demigiant corpses instead. These guys were pretty strong, and their bodies were on par with Sixth-Grade Warriors.
If the six of them joined hands with one another, together with their earth-controlling ability, they would have a fighting chance even if they encountered Seventh-Grade Warriors.
Surely there’ll be quite a lot of good stuff on them, right?
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +91!”
After some rummaging, Meng Lei indeed found a spatial magic device on them. It was a brass ring that looked simple, classy, and unadorned, yet bold and unconstrained, and was very characteristic of a giant’s style.
“Let’s see what’s inside of it…”
He released some spiritual power, which slowly spread into the spatial ring.
“That’s all there is inside?”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together at once. The space inside the ring wasn’t big, only about ten cubic meters at best. Apart from a small pile of magic cores, there were only a few pieces of clothing, armor, maces, roasted meat, and other things like that.
There was nothing else other than these!
“Can you even call yourselves Demigiants when you’re even poorer than me?!”
Meng Lei was sorely disappointed. He swore and grumbled incessantly as he flung all the clothes, armor, maces, and whatnot out of the ring. Only Demigiants could use those things; to him, they were nothing but rubbish. Naturally, rubbish should be discarded.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
At that moment, something resembling a parchment manuscript fell out of a piece of armor and caught Meng Lei’s attention.
Parchments were something considered very primitive. Apart from the poor that lived in far, remote mountainous regions, nobody would usually use something like it.
Those six Demigiants evidently weren’t poor, so why would they carry a parchment manuscript on them?
Puzzled, Meng Lei picked up the parchment manuscript and took a look at the contents. Crooked, twisted lines covered the manuscript, forming a simple map that looked somewhat similar to military tactical maps used in olden times.
Apart from that, there were no text, symbols, or references on it at all. Meng Lei couldn’t tell what kind of place the map was depicting, either.
“Who was the one that drew this map? I promise not to kill you if you come forward now!”
Meng Lei curled his lip in despise. Just as he was about to toss it aside without further thought, Ol’ Amos unexpectedly popped up and said, “Don’t discard it yet! Let me take a look at it first.”
“It’s just a useless picture. What’s so interesting about it?”
Meng Lei grumbled in response but passed him the map anyway. A frowning Ol’ Amos began to examine the map, and the more he did, the deeper he frowned. After a long while, he finally said, “This thing… It looks rather familiar!”
“Eh?”
Meng Lei raised his eyebrows and asked in puzzlement, “Ol’ President, isn’t this just an ordinary parchment map?”
“It is indeed an ordinary parchment map,” Ol’ Amos replied with a small nod. “But the terrain depicted on it—six mountains surrounding a lake—is no ordinary place. That’s the terrain unique to the Meteor Plains!”
“The Meteor Plains?” Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly.
“What? You’ve never heard of even the Meteor Plains?”
As Ol’ Amos’ expression turned sour as though he was about to launch into a reproachful lecture again, Meng Lei hurriedly replied, “I’ve heard of the Meteor Plains, of course. It’s located in the great wastelands in the far north and inside the Beast People Empire!
“It’s said that a long, long time ago, a star from beyond the horizon had fallen and landed in the far northern wastelands. Over the course of time, people started to refer to that area as the Meteor Plains, meaning ‘the land where the stars fell’!”
“That’s not a legend but something that had really happened.”
Ol’ Amos gave a slow nod. A hint of nostalgia came over his features, and he said, “It happened during my childhood. I can still remember it as clear as day. That night was just like any other night. My family and I had just had our dinner, and I was playing with my younger sister in the courtyard.
“All of a sudden, a shooting star came falling from beyond the heavens. With a long trail of fire dragging at its end, it streaked across the sky and lit up the entire night sky!
“That shooting star had first appeared in the skies above the Fairy Empire. As it traveled from the south to the north, it streaked all the way across the Fairy Empire and Magical Beast Ridge before it finally landed in the great far northern wastelands.
“In the instant it landed, even the Fire Dragon Kingdom countless kilometers away in the distance could feel the intense tremors caused by its landing. A gray, dusky mushroom cloud rose from the ground and rushed tens of thousands of kilometers up into the sky, so high that it was several times higher than even Mount Almighty Theodore’s Tomb, the tallest mountain in Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“The earth continued to shake, and a great number of buildings caved in. The night sky became as bright as day, and this brightness lasted as long as several minutes in the entire sky before it gradually dimmed!”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes glistened, a look of astoundment still contained within them. “It was a sleepless night that night, and we waited all the way until daybreak, only to find out that the sky had been completely blocked out by dust!
“As far as the eye could see, dust blocked out the sun and also obstructed our sight. Just like a great fog in winter, we could only see as far as five meters from where we stood. Beyond that, nothing was visible because the meteor’s fall had set off too much dust into the air.”
Meng Lei gave a slow nod and said, “I can see why it would blot out the sky and cover the sun, but the scale of the aftermath is a little too big.”
“I was still young at that time. In the beginning, I’d found it interesting, and I had a lot of fun playing hide-and-seek with my buddies, but it wasn’t long before disaster fell upon us!”
Ol’ Amos took a deep breath and went on. “The temperature began to drop sharply and rapidly, and a snowstorm actually broke out in the Fire Dragon Kingdom during June and July!”
“A snowstorm?!”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei. Fire Dragon Kingdom was right next to Magical Beast Forest and had a tropical rainforest climate. Temperatures were high all year round, and June and July were even the hottest periods of the year.
Snowing during a season like that? How inconceivable!
“This sudden abnormality didn’t garner much attention. Instead, everyone found it rather novel, except that the dust covering the sky didn’t show any signs of dispersing even as time passed, and the temperature continued to drop.
“Ever since then, the Fire Dragon Kingdom has turned into a nation of frost. Commoners freeze to death every day, and livestock and wild beasts die in even larger numbers.”
Ol’ Amos sighed and said, “You can imagine what it’s like in the other kingdoms when even Fire Dragon Kingdom has it this bad, not to mention the Beast People Empire far away in the great northern wastelands.”
The Ice Age!
These three words involuntarily surfaced in Meng Lei’s mind.
Temperature imbalance, layers of ice covering the land, extremely cold climates, a drop in sea levels, a great number of animals dying out… That was exactly what the Ice Age was!
Moreover, the Ice Age often signified the extinction of living things. What a striking similarity there was between the scene Ol’ Amos was describing and the Ice Age…
“What happened after that, Ol’ President?”
" }, { "id": 81, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-81", "title": "Chapter 81 - The Missing Meteor, The Golden Leaf", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“After that…”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes were deep and bottomless. As he sank into far, distant memories, his voice also turned aged like that of someone who’d lived through a great many changes.
“In the 10-odd years that followed, the whole continent turned into a nation of frost. Countless living things died, and all the major empires and every single race suffered heavy losses.
“Among which, the Beast People Empire had the highest death toll. According to the post-event statistics, 3/4 of Beast People Empire’s commoners had died, and 1/5 of their nobles were implicated.
“The Beast People Empire was awfully powerful back then. The power that their empire held firmly outstripped the Dragon God Empire’s and the Titan Empire’s. However, this event dealt the Beast People Empire a heavy blow that shook their very foundation, and they ended up becoming the weakest power among the four great empires.”
“3/4 of the commoners… How merciless!”
Meng Lei was incredibly blown away. No matter where commoners were always the social strata with the highest population count. According to statistics, there were currently more than 200 billion commoners in the Beast People Empire!
A death toll that reached 3/4 of the commoner population…
Hiss!
That was a whole 150 billion people!
If all the other commoners that’d died in the whole continent were to be included, this number would probably be multiplied several times. One could see from this just how merciless that disaster had been!
“It was very merciless, indeed. We Magicians study the intrinsic nature of the heavens and earth, hoping to get a glimpse of the true essence of nature. Yet in front of the universe, we are simply so insignificant…”
Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “Even a powerful Saint Domain wouldn’t count as much in the presence of the universe. They are nothing but a drop of water in the vast sea, a speck of dust in the universe.”
“And then? What happened after that, Ol’ President?” Meng Lei asked eagerly.
“After that, in order to improve the situation, the four great empires started to cooperate with one another. They assembled all the earth-elemental, water-elemental, and ice-elemental Magicians in the whole continent to lay down the dust and make it settle. The Magicians then gathered the moisture in the air and began a grand, spectacular dust-clearing operation.
“Something worth mentioning here is that our Fire Dragon Magic Academy, as well as many other magic academies, were precisely established during that period of time, with the objective of grooming Magicians, especially earth-elemental ones.”
Ol’ Amos continued to go down memory lane, and he said, “Thanks to generations of predecessors’ consistent and persistent efforts, sunlight began to shine upon the earth again. The sun rose in the east once again, the ice and snow melted, and the temperatures turned warm and mild.
“Everything finally returned to what it was like in the past.
“We had succeeded, succeeded in chasing away the ice and frost!
“It was just a pity that the lives that have already disappeared would stay forever buried in the ice and snow, never to return again.”
“How horrifying and heartrending!”
Meng Lei heaved a small sigh, his emotions rather complex.
“Ever since then, all the races in the continent busied themselves with licking their wounds and recovering their strength, and Heaven’s Vault Continent instead welcomed a rare era of peace. It was exactly during that period that I’d broken through to Saint Domain.”
Ol’ Amos said with a sigh, “After I achieved Saint Domain level, I headed to the Meteor Plains right away. I wanted to see for myself just what exactly the star from beyond the heavens that’d caused such a huge ruckus was.”
“The star from beyond the heavens?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Yet when I arrived at the Meteor Plains, the star from beyond the heavens had already long since vanished, leaving behind only a massive impact crater!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and said with a smile, “At that time, there were many other people with the same thoughts as me. In fact, a lot of people believed that the meteor capable of causing such a disaster must surely be some kind of impressive treasure.
“This resulted in experts from every nook and cranny of the continent constantly making their way to the Meteor Plains to survey the place and search for fallen treasures in the following several hundred years. However, despite searching everywhere, they returned empty-handed.”
“Why didn’t they find anything?” Puzzlement filled Meng Lei’s eyes. “A gigantic meteor like that couldn’t have possibly been fully destroyed upon landing, right? Who could’ve taken it?”
“That’s hard to say.” Ol’ Amos shook his head with a laugh. “There’ll always be someone stronger out there, and there is no limit to how high one can go. In the whole of Heaven’s Vault Continent, there are certainly people who were capable of taking the fallen meteor. At the very least, I was capable of taking the meteor during my pinnacle!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei curled his lip in response. It was only then that he remembered that he was currently in Heaven’s Vault Continent, a powerful advanced martial arts world where individuals’ offensive abilities could reach terrifying heights.
Meng Lei asked again, “What happened after that?”
“After that, over the course of time, the treasure-seeking trend gradually died down, and no one paid any more attention to the Meteor Plains,” answered Ol’ Amos.
“So, that’s the history of Meteor Plains,” muttered Meng Lei to himself.
Then, he looked at the parchment in his hand again. “So, this parchment manuscript is a map of Meteor Plains?”
“Yes! During my time, exploring Meteor Plains was something very trendy. How did that saying go again… ‘You can’t call yourself an expert if you’ve never been to the Meteor Plains’?”
Ol’ Amos nodded and said with a smile, “It was exactly because of that that maps of Meteor Plains were everywhere. Even a Meteor Plains map bought from a roadside peddler would be way more detailed than the one depicted on that parchment manuscript in front of you.”
“Sigh! So, after all has been said and done, this is just an ordinary map. And here I’d thought that I’d gotten some kind of impressive treasure!”
Meng Lei was greatly disappointed. A bout of flames burst forth from his palm, and he promptly burned the parchment. Ol’ Amos didn’t stop him, either. He’d explained so much only because he’d found the map familiar to the eye earlier, and not because there really was something unusual about the map.
Burned? So be it, then. No biggie!
As the parchment burned into ashes, a golden sheet of unknown substance dropped out of the parchment and fell onto the ground.
“What’s this?”
When Meng Lei picked it up, he discovered that it was actually a leaf about the size of an infant’s palm. It looked like an elm tree leaf, except golden-yellow throughout. It was full of dense, packed veined patterns and seemed as if it was forged from gold.
“Let me take a look at that!”
Ol’ Amos took the golden leaf from Meng Lei. He held it in his hand and began to inspect it closely, but the more he did, the more astonished he became. “How strange! This thing can actually shut out my spiritual power!?
“This is really weird. I still can’t get through it!
“But that shouldn’t be the case…”
For a brief moment, Ol’ Amos mumbled to himself, failing to make any discovery even after half a day. This greatly surprised him, and he remarked, “This golden leaf looks ordinary, but it’s a unified entity and can completely shut out my spiritual power. I can’t tell what it’s really made out of at all. Even this old man here has no idea what it is!”
“Even you can’t tell what it is, Ol’ President?”
Meng Lei examined the golden leaf closely, his eyes glittering brightly. “Might this be some kind of treasure? Hehe, let’s give it a go right away!”
Meng Lei bit on his finger and broke the skin surface. Then, he dripped a drop of blood onto it.
“What are you doing?” Ol’ Amos was bewildered by Meng Lei’s actions.
“Dripping blood to claim ownership, of course!” Meng Lei smilingly explained, “There is a group of well-read and knowledgeable amazing people in my hometown. After much painstaking efforts and observing innumerable predecessors and almighty masters, they’ve concluded this bit of wisdom—when one is dealing with things they are unfamiliar with or things that are difficult to make an accurate judgment of, dripping blood to claim ownership is the way to go. If you can really successfully claim ownership of it, you’ll strike it big. Even if you can’t, you don’t lose out at all!”
“…”
Ol’ Amos was rather dumbfounded. He criticized, “What kind of weird theory is that? Dripping blood to claim ownership? Do you think this is a divine weap—”
Yet before he could even finish, the blood that had dripped onto the golden leaf was actually absorbed into the leaf, and it vanished without a trace!
“Hahaha! Didn’t I tell you?” Meng Lei was overjoyed. “My hometown kids me not! Kids me not, I say!”
“I’ll be damned…”
Ol’ Amos was dumbstruck!
" }, { "id": 82, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-82", "title": "Chapter 82 - The Soul Realm, A White Elephant Divine Weapon", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Ol’ Amos’ eyes almost fell out of their sockets as he stared at the drop of blood seeping so strangely into the golden leaf. “I’ll be damned… It really worked?”
In that instant, Ol’ Amos felt as if his entire world had been upturned. Only divine weapons could go through the process of dripping blood to claim ownership, and those that could go through this same process were divine weapons for sure!
But were divine weapons something that easy to come by?
“To think that I, Amos Kroc, have traversed the world unhindered throughout my life. I’d started from humble beginnings, improved by leaps and bounds the whole way, and broke through the Saint Domain realm’s shackles at 58 years old to become the top expert of my time!”
Indignation filled Ol’ Amos’ eyes as he went on. “After that, I even used only a short 1,000 years to attain the Saint Domain realm’s pinnacle and enter the ranks of ultimate top experts in the continent!
“Yet I’ve only ever encountered a single divine weapon in my illustrious lifetime, and that is the Gods-Slaying Spear that killed me. Even so, I’m proud to share in its glory!
“How fortunate am I to be killed by a divine weapon?
“But what about you?”
Ol’ Amos glared at Meng Lei and shouted furiously, “An immature little brat like you has actually encountered divine weapons one after another! Are the gods up there blind?!”
“Admit it, Ol’ President, this is fate!”
Meng Lei snickered and tossed his soft and silky long hair back in a showy manner. “Some people simply aren’t even as blessed as a sheet of paper. Even if they are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they may still die a tragic death in the middle of the night without the luck to enjoy their good fortune. Whereas some people are just like cockroaches—even if they experience numerous difficulties and dangers, they have numerous chance encounters, and the longer they live, the more exciting their lives become.
“I’m clearly the latter!”
There was something else he didn’t mention—if Ol’ Amos knew that Meng Lei even had a software bug-like cheating device, wouldn’t he become so jealous that he’d kill himself by eating sh*t?
“To hell with your goddamn fate! I simply won’t accept it!”
Ol’ Amos was fuming mad. He grumbled indignantly, “Why do you get to have a divine weapon just by picking up any old parchment manuscript? Yet I’ve never even seen a hint of a divine weapon’s shadow after living for several thousand years?!”
“Look, look! Something’s happening to the leaf!”
At that moment, the golden leaf abruptly gave off an incredibly dazzling and brilliant golden light as if it was a miniature sun.
Right on the heels of it, an odd scene unfolded—everywhere the golden light reached, all the trees, grass, and vines started to grow at an alarming rate as if they’d been injected with highly concentrated growth hormones!
One meter, two meters, three meters, four meters, five meters…
In just a few short breaths, with the golden leaf as the center, all the plants within a radius of five meters had turned into “towering trees reaching the skies”!
Meng Lei was straight up… swallowed by the plants!
“What the heck? What exactly is going on?!”
Meng Lei stared at all this in stupefaction, totally dumbfounded, while Ol’ Amos looked absolutely flabbergasted as well.
At that moment, the cause of all these—in other words, the golden leaf—slowly flew into the air and spun a full round in mid-air before suddenly shooting right toward Meng Lei’s forehead.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Meng Lei received a huge shock. The forehead was a person’s vital weakness. Should the golden leaf impale him, wouldn’t he die?
As such, he instinctively blocked his forehead with his hand. However, in the instant that the golden leaf made contact with his hand, it passed right through bizarrely and continued shooting into Meng Lei’s forehead before vanishing without a trace.
“F*ck!”
Meng Lei hastily touched his forehead. When he realized that it wasn’t bleeding, nor was there any sign of injury, he couldn’t help but become a little relieved. However, the problem was that… The golden leaf had clearly wormed its way in!
There was no way he would be fine!
“Brat, are you alright?” Ol’ Amos asked anxiously.
“Seems like… I’m fine?”
As Meng Lei rubbed his forehead, he asked, “Ol’ President, the golden leaf has wormed its way into my head. Will I be alright?”
“Probably… yes?” Ol’ Amos wasn’t very sure, either. “My understanding of divine weapons is limited, so I can’t comment much. But since you’ve claimed ownership of it, I should think that it wouldn’t hurt you… probably?”
“Really?”
Meng Lei blinked in response.
“Pay close attention and try to sense where it has gone,” suggested Ol’ Amos.
“Okay!”
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly. Then, he shut his eyes and started to carefully sense its location. His spiritual power was very strong now, and he was entirely capable of scanning his own body and doing an inner view of his internal organs. There was no way any abnormality in the body could escape the eyes of a spiritual power scan.
“It has actually gone all the way into my sea of consciousness?!” Meng Lei exclaimed loudly.
A person’s sea of consciousness, also known as their spiritual realm or soul realm, was the place that harbored their spirit and contained their soul.
Every single person, or rather, every single living thing, had their own sea of consciousness. The difference laid in the fact that some could “see” their own sea of consciousness, while others were unable to detect the presence of their spiritual realm.
Typically, once one attained the Seventh-Grade Magician level, they would be able to achieve inner viewing of their own spirit and return to their spiritual realm.
Of course, as it was common for Warriors’ spiritual power to be a tad weaker than Magicians’, and they needed to attain Ninth-Grade level before they could achieve this.
The sea of consciousness was like the universe, vast and boundless, limitless and infinite, yet incredibly wide and spacious. Within the endless void floated a single, lone silvery-white flame.
Chilly, wild and arrogant, and solitary! It strengthened and weakened unsteadily, as though a candle flame hanging in the Moon Palace 1 .
That was exactly what the soul flame was—a person’s very core and essence!
No matter how beautiful one’s outer appearance was, it would never overcome the passage of time’s corrosion, and an exquisite body might not necessarily be capable of holding a soul.
The “soul” referred to here was precisely the soul flame.
The soul flame hung suspended in the void, surrounded by gray, dusky fog. Chilly, deep, and remote, it was the one and only source of light in one’s boundless realm of consciousness.
That was what it was like in everyone’s sea of consciousness.
Yet Meng Lei’s sea of consciousness wasn’t the same because there was actually something else above his soul flame—the golden leaf!
Yes, that golden leaf from just now!
It floated above the soul flame, swaying lightly like light decorations above candle flames. It followed the soul flame’s unsteady fluctuations and spun slowly in a very rhythmic manner, emanating a vast and mysterious aura as it did so.
“What exactly is that?”
Meng Lei was anxious and doubtful. He found this particular “divine weapon” simply too odd. When he had claimed ownership of the Gods-Slaying Spear previously, a strong connection had been established between the Gods-Slaying Spear and him. Through this connection, he was able to easily mobilize the Gods-Slaying Spear, but this wasn’t the case for the golden leaf.
After he had dripped his blood onto it and claimed ownership of it, no connection of any sort had been established between the golden leaf and him at all. Despite it entering his sea of consciousness, Meng Lei still couldn’t sense any connection with it.
The golden leaf… was just like an inanimate object. It was as if he’d never claimed ownership of it.
He could clearly see it idling there, yet he couldn’t sense it, much less direct or command it. It felt extremely frustrating!
“Who can tell me just what the heck that thing is?!”
Meng Lei attempted to touch the gold leaf with his spiritual power, but the golden leaf stayed still and motionless.
He applied a bit more force… But it still stayed motionless.
He then struck at it forcefully, but it simply didn’t budge.
Even when he smashed madly at it, it stood its ground steadfastly and remained unmoving.
“Are you a goddamn inanimate object?!”
Meng Lei was going crazy. He finally knew a tiger’s pain when eating a hedgehog—wanting to eat it yet unable to, and wanting to discard it yet couldn’t bear to part with it. He could only stare at it helplessly, unable to do anything about it!
“Get lost, get lost! What a weirdo! You sh*tty divine weapon!”
Meng Lei was fairly incensed, and he withdrew from his sea of consciousness indignantly.
Ol’ Amos gazed at Meng Lei anxiously and asked with a face full of concern, “How is it? Did you find it?”
“I did, but…”
Meng Lei told him what had taken place inside his sea of consciousness with a shake of his head.
“What?! Really?”
Ol’ Amos frowned deeply. After musing for a long while, he finally said, “This situation is honestly surprising, but it’s nothing more than two possibilities.”
“What does that mean?”
Meng Lei perked up.
“The first possibility is that this divine weapon is damaged, or maybe it’s defective from the get-go and is a spare part of another divine weapon.”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard as he mused with an intelligent gleam in his eyes. “Although a divine weapon’s ingenuity is indeterminable, in essence, it’s still a magic device. When a magic device cannot be used, there’s a high chance that it’s because it’s damaged.
“Reasons like damaged internal parts, depletion of energy inside its magic core, its magic circle breaking down, and so on. All these can cause a magic device to become unable to function properly.”
“What about the second possibility?”
“Now, the second possibility is a complicated one!” A sharp glint flashed across Ol’ Amos’ eyes. “The golden leaf itself is a divine weapon of extremely high quality, but you are too weak, so you’re not qualified to use it at all!”
" }, { "id": 83, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-83", "title": "Chapter 83 - Wood-Elemental Magic Talent, Pummeling A Gigantic Python", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The Milky Way dazzled as it hung suspended in the sky. Sparkling and brilliant, it was vast and boundless.
Meng Lei sat cross-legged on a large tree fork as he did his daily meditation. Cultivation was a process akin to rowing against the tide—one must constantly forge ahead, or else they would be driven back. One must be diligent and relentless with their cultivation.
The forest in the night wasn’t a quiet and peaceful place, and beast roars distracted one’s mind every once in a while. Meng Lei had already gotten used to it by now, though, and he concentrated on refining his magic power and improving his spiritual power.
Little Teddy lay sprawled on the tree branch beside him, deep asleep. Its snores thundered all the way up to the skies, but in spite of this, its sense of vigilance was exceedingly high. Not even the slightest bit of activity escaped its ears and nose, proving itself to be even more useful than an actual poodle. As a result, Meng Lei could meditate at ease.
“How strange!” Meng Lei suddenly opened his eyes. “Why am I able to sense Wood Elements all of a sudden? This shouldn’t be happening. Are the Wood Elements especially rich and abundant here?”
Countless magic elements floated in the air around him. Dense and packed as if stars in the night sky, they sparkled brilliantly and spread everywhere in a vast and boundless manner.
There were fiery red Fire Elements, silvery-white Thunder Elements, and ocher-yellow Earth Elements. The three different types of magic elements added radiance and beauty to each other, and they looked as if they were fairies.
Prior to this day, Meng Lei had only been able to detect these three types of magic elements, and he’d also been meditating and refining these same three types of magic elements. But now, it’d actually increased by another type!
Green magic elements!
They were obviously Wood Elements!
Now, mixed among the Fire, Thunder, and Earth Elements were countless Wood Elements. Much like a myriad of green fireflies, they circled around Meng Lei as they danced.
Even if Meng Lei didn’t actively try to absorb them, they made their way wave upon wave into his body anyway. He was just like a magnet or a whirlpool that was continuously attracting them.
This scene practically couldn’t get any weirder because Meng Lei didn’t have any wood-elemental magic talent at all!
Besides, he had never been able to attract Thunder Elements and Fire Elements in the same way as this, despite his superior-grade thunder-elemental affinity and fire-elemental affinity!
“When did I gain wood-elemental magic talent?” Meng Lei looked absolutely stupefied. “And the magic talent is so crazy, no less. It’s even more terrifying than my thunder-elemental and fire-elemental affinity?!
“But this shouldn’t be happening…
“This didn’t happen at all when I was meditating last night!
“Could it be because of that golden leaf?”
Meng Lei suddenly thought of the golden leaf that had forcibly taken up residence in his sea of consciousness. Thinking back to the events from the day before and today, the biggest change that had taken place was that there was now an additional golden leaf in his sea of consciousness.
“That golden leaf is the cause for me suddenly gaining wood-elemental magic talent? Isn’t that kinda ridiculous?”
A corner of Meng Lei’s mouth was spasming, his mood somewhat complicated. He had initially thought that the golden leaf was an inanimate object because the moment it had entered his sea of consciousness, it had behaved like a grand overlord, indifferent to everything and obeying nothing!
Little did he think that it would actually “bestow” upon him wood-elemental magic talent!
This was honestly too…
“Could it be that it really is like what Ol’ President mentioned? That the golden leaf is a divine weapon of exceptionally high quality, but I’m not qualified to use it yet?” Meng Lei’s eyes were gleaming awfully bright. “I’m gonna strike it rich so bad if that’s really the case!”
“Hehe! Never mind, I’ll just refine some wood-elemental magic power for now. Since I have wood-elemental magic talent now, how can I let it go to waste?”
The night passed peacefully as Meng Lei entered a cultivation frenzy.
Meng Lei was roused from his sleep the next morning.
Roar!
Teddy squatted on the tree as he glowered at a Magical Beast. It snarled at the Magical Beast as it pounded its chest and stamped its feet, its senses on high alert.
This was a huge red python over 30 meters long and as thick as a water barrel. A fiery red color throughout, it had a crimson chicken comb at its crown and a pair of black wings on its back and was as tall as a ten-story building.
“The Eighth-Grade Magical Beast, Black-Winged Comb Python!”
A hint of a smile appeared at Meng Lei’s lip corners when he recognized the Magical Beast. After the last half a month spent exploring the Magical Beast Forest, he loved seeing Magical Beasts sending themselves up to death’s door the most now.
All of these were money, after all.
“Hiss, hiss!”
The Black-Winged Comb Python hissed loudly as it flicked its tongue. A hint of greed flashed across its brown eyes as it watched Teddy and Meng Lei, who were perched on the tree.
“Is it treating us as its food?”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward, and he asked cheerfully, “How about having this Black-Winged Comb Python for breakfast today, Teddy?”
“Good… Good!”
Teddy bounced up and down a couple of times as he responded happily.
“Hiss!”
The Black-Winged Comb Python watched them for a brief moment before the wings at its back gave a powerful flap. Its body rose into the air along with the action, and its thick, muscular tail swept abruptly toward Meng Lei.
Its tail moved swiftly and forcefully, the friction from it whipping through the air producing a crisp and clear explosion. In just an instant, it had already reached right in front of Meng Lei. It could sense the threat that Meng Lei posed toward it, so it wanted to get rid of him first before taking care of Teddy.
“To capture the bandits, first seize the ringleader? You have it all planned out, don’t you?” Meng Lei shook his head with a laugh. “What a shame that you’ve picked the wrong target!”
Meng Lei raised his right arm in response to the gigantic tail sweeping toward him. He caught the huge tail that could easily cleave mountains, shatter rocks, and crush tall, towering trees in his hand, and just like that, the tail simply couldn’t cause much of an upheaval.
“Hiss?”
The Black-Winged Comb Python was alarmed and horrified upon feeling the surging great strength coming from its tail, and it realized that it’d run into a brick wall. However, before it could retract its tail, Meng Lei applied force in his hand, and all five of his fingers easily broke through the python’s scales to pierce deep into its flesh.
Blood seeped out of the wounds and splattered onto the ground.
The Black-Winged Comb Python let out a hissing cry and tried to forcefully retract its tail, but Meng Lei’s fingers were just like pliers firmly shackling it down, and it simply couldn’t move at all.
“Rise!”
Meng Lei’s arm muscles flexed with a light shout, and great, boundless power erupted with a boom. To the python’s horror, it realized that its body had uncontrollably flown into the air.
It crashed heavily against a huge, towering tree over 40 meters tall. With a crisp snap, the tree, together with its roots, broke at the base and its thick, solid trunk came crashing toward Meng Lei.
“Go!”
At the sight of this, Meng Lei waved his arm. The Black-Winged Comb Python immediately transformed into an iron chain that struck brutally against the tree trunk.
Crack!
The tree trunk broke into two in the middle!
“Again!”
Meng Lei waved about and began to slam the Black-Winged Comb Python against the tree trunk in a series of frenzied attacks. Amidst crisp cracking sounds, the tree trunk splintered into several pieces and turned into broken wood fragments in the end.
“Hahaha! Great!”
Meng Lei laughed loudly and chucked the Black-Winged Comb Python aside casually. It flew outward and crashed heavily onto the ground.
“Hiss!”
As an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast, the Black-Winged Comb Python evidently wasn’t going to fall to its death so easily. It shook its head forcefully to clear its mind. Then, it hastily tried to make a run for it, clearly intending to flee.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei snapped his fingers. A three-meter-long thunder spear shot down from the heavens and instantly pierced through the Black-Winged Comb Python’s head, pinning it to the ground.
“Hiss, hiss!”
The Black-Winged Comb Python had extremely strong vitality, and it managed to survive this time, too. Its body convulsed all over as it hissed, again and again, terrified and uneasy.
“I’ve already said that I’m going to eat you. Do you think I’ll let you go?” Meng Lei casually took out a dagger and instructed with a smile, “Teddy, gouge out its magic core!”
“Howl, howl!”
Teddy let out a few howls. With the dagger in its grip, it flew toward the Black-Winged Comb Python and happily went to gouge out its magic core.
Gouging magic cores was one of Teddy’s life pleasures!
Meng Lei had realized that whenever he killed a Magical Beast, Teddy loved to gouge out its magic core before he had a chance to do it. In the beginning, he’d thought that Teddy wanted to eat the magic core to increase its strength, only to find out in the end that Teddy simply just liked to… dig them out.
Eventually, Meng Lei entrusted this glorious but arduous task to Teddy. Since it liked to gouge them out that much, then it could feel free to go ahead. It was just as well that it could also allow Teddy to give play to its specialty and nurture its feral nature.
Killing two birds with one stone? Why not, right?
" }, { "id": 84, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-84", "title": "Chapter 84 - Terrifying Roars, A Magical Beast Riot", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Ding! 1 Black-Winged Comb Python killed. 1,190,000 million gold coins gained!”
Meng Lei was in a fantastic mood as he listened to the system notification in his mind. He had earned more than a million gold coins early in the morning the moment he woke up. It couldn’t get any better than this!
“What’s the use of this iron stick 1 …”
Meng Lei hummed a tune as he cleaned the Black-Winged Comb Python carcass. The morning sun weaved through the overlapping layers of tree branches to shine upon Meng Lei, outlining the contours of a beautiful scene.
Little Teddy squatted at the side as it watched Meng Lei eagerly. Saliva was already overflowing from its mouth, and it could barely wait any further. Roasted meat was its favorite food, especially high-grade Magical Beast roasted meat.
That taste…
Wauuu!
Just the thought of it alone was enough to make Teddy lose control of itself.
Roar!
However, an earth-shaking roar suddenly rang out in the depths of the forest at that moment. It exploded with a deafening boom, as though sudden claps of rolling thunder!
“What’s that sound?”
Meng Lei looked in the direction from which the sound had come from, anxious and doubtful. The sound had actually filled him with fear and trepidation?
Roar!
An even more violent and raging roar rang out. Meng Lei felt his scalp go numb, and his heart involuntarily began to pound faster. He took a look at Little Teddy to see that it’d actually huddled into a quivering ball and was using its wings to cover its head, its eyes full of alarm and fear!
“That sound had come from the Magical Beast Forest’s depths!
“Could it be a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast? Or even… a Saint Domain one?”
Meng Lei was bewildered and anxious.
Ol’ Amos emerged from the spatial ring at that moment, stretching and yawning as he did so. “Good morning, brat.”
Roar!
Little didn’t Ol’ Amos expect an explosive roar to go off in his ears, shocking him so much that he jumped in fright. His expression changed, and he asked, “Brat… What’s that sound?”
Meng Lei shook his head to express that he had no idea what was going on, either. Then, he pointed at Teddy that was all huddled up on the ground.
“Teddy may be an infant, but it has Ninth-Grade Magical Beast blood in it, nevertheless, and is fearless even in the face of an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast. Why is it so frightened?”
Ol’ Amos’ countenance was serious and solemn. He shouted in a low voice, “Get ready to run, brat! Things aren’t looking too good!”
A chill ran down Meng Lei’s spine.
Even Ol’ Amos is saying that things aren’t looking good?
Roar!
Yet another furious roar rang out at that moment.
Right on the heels of it, another roar after roar rang out in the depths of the forest. The roars rose and fell in succession continuously, interlacing with each other to form an enraged song of roars in the skies above the Magical Beast Forest.
Every single roar made Meng Lei’s scalp tingle. They sounded just like the ferocious roars of fierce, primitive beasts, causing chills to run down one’s spine as they shuddered in fear.
“That was the voice of a Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Six-Winged Heavens-Swallowing Beast, just now!” Ol’ Amos exclaimed in a low voice.
Howl!
“That’s the voice of the Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King!”
Moo!
“That’s the cry of the Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Golden-Backed Ox Scorpion!
“Damn! Why are there so many Saint Domain Magical Beasts?! What exactly has happened in Magical Beast Forest’s central region?!”
A horrified Ol’ Amos barked, “Something must have gone wrong there, Meng Lei. Hurry and get out of Magical Beast Forest!”
“What exactly has happened, Ol’ President?!”
Meng Lei followed with another question and asked, “Are there Saint Domain Magical Beasts fighting with each other? Are we able to sneak in there to take advantage of the crisis and reap some benefits as a bystander?”
“You fool! Are Saint Domain Magical Beasts that easy to take advantage of?! Even if they are, that chance isn’t going to go to you!” Ol’ Amos barked, “Cut the crap and get out of here!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei could only bring out the magic carpet as he curled his lip in response. Then, he grabbed the terribly wussy Teddy and rushed up into the sky.
The magic carpet flew at high speed above the forest, causing the wind to howl in their ears. Ol’ Amos suddenly shouted, “Look over there, brat!”
Meng Lei quickly turned to see the shaking and violently swaying forest a far distance away. A large expanse of trees collapsed, and countless bushes and shrubs broke to reveal a massive behemoth with two pairs of wings on its back. It was a dazzling silver color throughout as if it was forged from silver.
Despite being a great distance away from the behemoth, Meng Lei could still feel a terrifying aura of savagery coming from the monster. It overwhelmed him so badly that he couldn’t even catch his breath!
“Hiss!”
Meng Lei sucked in a breath of air. “What a huge Magical Beast! It must be at least 60 to 70 meters long?!”
“That’s the Saint Domain Magical Beast, Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King!”
Ol’ Amos said solemnly in a deep voice, “Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolves become Eighth-Grade Magical Beasts the moment they mature into adults. The outstanding ones can even grow to become Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, whereas all the rulers of this species are Saint Domains!”
“The Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King!” Meng Lei was astounded. “It’s so handsome and so domineering! Compared to it, my seniors’ mounts are practically defenseless babies!”
Many of the seniors in the magic academy had their own mounts. Mounts were a status symbol, as well as a symbol of one’s strength. However, there was ultimately a limit to students’ strength, so how strong could their mounts possibly go?
Most of them were Third- or Fourth-Grade Magical Beasts, with only a rare few Fifth-Grade Magical Beasts. For example, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, Gale Wolf, Flaming Lion… All of them were low-grade Magical Beasts that weren’t fit to be seen.
However, these were enough to fill the freshmen with envy. Meng Lei had exactly been one of those envious freshmen back then. At that time, he had already been fantasizing about how he’d also subdue a powerful Magical Beast as his mount one day, just like those seniors.
How awe-inspiring!
How impressive!
But now that he had become stronger, his expectations had also risen. Meng Lei was no longer satisfied with those mounts. In his opinion, only handsome Magical Beasts like the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King could match his status now.
“Are you really comparing those trashy Magical Beasts to the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King?” Ol’ Amos’ lip corners were twitching as he scoffed. “If the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King knew what you were thinking, it’d probably be so furious that it’d smack you to death with its paw!”
“Hahaha! It’s just a casual remark!” Meng Lei burst into laughter and said, “You never know, with my current strength, I might just be able to really subdue a Saint Domain Magical Beast as my mount someday!”
Although Ol’ Amos curled his lip upon his words, he didn’t rebut him. After all, he’d never seen magic talent as wonderful as Meng Lei’s nor a speed of improvement as fast as Meng Lei’s. The Saint Domain realm wasn’t just a dream for him.
At the other side, another Magical Beast emerged from the forest as it roared. It was a massive creature reddish-gold in color throughout and had an ox body and scorpion legs. It trampled on the forest as it advanced.
In front of it, tall, towering trees a few dozen meters tall were no different from green foxtail grasses. With just a light push from the creature, all of them broke at their bases, or broke in the middle, or were completely uprooted…
How ferocious!
How violent!
“That’s the Saint Domain Magical Beast, Golden-Backed Ox Scorpion!”
Ol’ Amos explained, “Extremely strong mutated Magical Beasts don’t live in packs. They are rare hermaphrodites and will only produce one offspring in their whole lives.”
“Hermaphroditic Magical Beasts…”
Meng Lei was a little dumbfounded. He didn’t quite know what to say anymore.
There are actually Magical Beasts that fornicate with themselves? Fact is really stranger than fiction in this boundless universe sometimes.
“That’s the Saint Domain Magical Beast, Titanic Long-Horned Beetle, an insect Magical Beast species. It possesses Herculean strength and has peerless defenses. In terms of physical strength, it doesn’t lose out to the Great Earth Bear in the least!”
“What about that one, Ol’ President?”
“That’s the Great King Kong Crocodile, a water-elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast. It’s the overlord in rivers and lakes. When it’s in the water, even a pinnacle-level Saint Domain would have great difficulties killing it!”
Fearsome Magical Beasts emerged one after another like mushrooms after rain. Everywhere they passed by, the earth shook, the mountains trembled, and trees broke in halves. There was no way of knowing just how many ancient, towering trees were out of luck.
This scene truly frightened all the adventurers in the forest. Innumerable adventurers fled in a panic and ran about in a frenzy, wishing they had been born with more than two legs. Among them, some unlucky fellows that were too close to the Saint Domain Magical Beasts ended up being smacked to death along the way.
In conclusion, the entire Magical Beast Forest was in a total mess.
“Six of them!
“There are as many as six Saint Domain Magical Beasts!
“What exactly happened to these guys?”
Worry filled Ol’ Amos’ eyes as he gazed at the restless and roaring Saint Domain Magical Beasts. “All of them are overlords occupying their own territories in Magical Beast Ridge’s southeast region. They usually stay at their dens sleeping all the time and rarely leave to move about. Why are all of them moving at the same time today?
“What exactly has provoked them?
“Please, don’t form a beast tide and attack the borders. Otherwise, who knows how many people are going to die…”
" }, { "id": 85, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-85", "title": "Chapter 85 - The King Of Magical Beasts, An Exceptionally Huge Ant Tide", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "In the forest where vines interwove, several hundred armored mercenaries with large swords on their backs cut through thistles and thorns as they ran madly for their lives.
Well-trained and armed with excellent equipment, their lineup was several times stronger than the Fire Cloud Mercenaries. They were the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s famed Lucivia Mercenaries.
The Lucivia Mercenaries!
They were a unit under the Lucivia Chamber of Commerce’s command in Fire Dragon Kingdom. Rich, powerful, and strong, they enjoyed a very high status in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s mercenary circle, and innumerable adventurers dreamed of becoming one of them.
However, every one of these enviable mercenaries was filled with terror and anxiety at the moment. Even Luxican, their Ninth-Grade Warrior captain, was no exception. All of his usual calmness and composure had left him, leaving him in total panic.
“Hurry! Hurry up, everyone!
“Those at the back, keep up with the ones in front and don’t fall behind!”
Bam!
A series of rustling sounds suddenly rang out from an area ahead of them at that moment. The mercenaries hastily stopped in their tracks and watched in worry and trepidation the area in front of them.
Captain Luxican shouted in a low voice, “Wesley, go and take a look at what has happened in front!”
“Yes… Captain!”
A small, skinny mercenary dressed in black robes responded especially unwillingly and went to investigate what had happened at the front. However, a brief moment later, they heard a shrill scream coming from the front.
“T-that’s Wesley’s voice!”
“What happened to Wesley? What has happened?”
“Is he…”
His scream sounded as if an owl’s cry. The mercenaries, who were already fearful and tense, to begin with, were scared even more out of their wits and incredibly frightened.
Captain Luxican hastily shouted, “There’s danger at the front! Hurry, switch to a different direction!”
After he spoke, he led the way and rushed toward another direction.
“Yes, Captain!”
The mercenaries followed after him one by one.
However, before they could go far, all of them doubled back to the same spot. They then switched to another direction and began to flee in that direction instead. It was just a shame that, just like before, they ended up returning to where they’d originally been again before they’d gone far.
Then, they switched directions once more, only to return again.
The rustling sounds coming from every direction were like terrifying, dreadful obstacles blocking the mercenaries’ way.
Rustle, rustle!
As trees swayed and shrubs shook, the culprits blocking their way started to emerge one after another. It was a group of Magical Beast ants that were as large as calves and blood-red in color throughout.
They had razor-sharp, sickle-shaped teeth and tough, solid hard exoskeletons.
Barbed thorns covered their legs and their heads were terrifying and savage-looking.
They were the Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!
“W-why are there so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants?!”
“We’re surrounded!”
“We’ve been surrounded by Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!”
“Captain! Hurry and think of something!”
The mercenaries’ faces were ghastly pale as they drew back fearfully.
“I… What can I do?!”
Captain Luxican was as pale as a sheet as he gazed at the endless stream of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants surging toward them like tidal waves. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of rosiness in his complexion!
Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were just Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts and weren’t much to be afraid of, however, what made them fearsome were their terrifying numbers!
10,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants could bulldoze through everything when they moved out together. Even a large majority of Magical Beasts would have to make a detour upon the sight of them.
Once their numbers went beyond 100,000, they were no different from a catastrophe. Everywhere they went through, lands turned barren, no lives were spared, and nothing was left behind!
How many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were there in front of them at this moment?
10,000? 100,000? Or… Even more than that?
Captain Luxican didn’t know. All he could see was a densely packed multitude of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that formed an infinite, boundless ant tide surrounding them on all sides.
“Aren’t Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants underground Magical Beasts? Why are there so many of them here?”
Luxican couldn’t understand why. However, whether or not he understood was already no longer something of importance because the densely packed ant tide was already surging toward them. They pounced onto them, brandishing their sharp teeth as they did so.
“Get lost!”
“Leave me alone, you ugly freaks!”
“Ahhh!”
Against the raging, torrential ant tide, the Lucivia Mercenaries were as if an isolated island in the vast ocean. They didn’t last long before all of them disappeared without a trace, drowned by the waves.
Rustle, rustle!
The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were expressionless, as though what they had done was merely something trivial and inconsequential. They continued to surge forward while waving their sharp teeth.
Not a single person knew that the famed Lucivia Mercenaries had been annihilated just like that. The incident didn’t create even a ripple in the sea.
…
Meng Lei didn’t know about the Lucivia Mercenaries’ tragic fate. He steered the magic carpet and continued flying toward the outside of the forest. Now that they’d gone a far ways off, the Saint Domain Magical Beasts’ roars were no longer audible. It was only then that his heart settled a little.
“Ol’ President, why exactly are those Saint Domain Magical Beasts rampaging?” Meng Lei couldn’t figure it out. “It’s impossible to even catch a glimpse of them usually, so why did all of them suddenly come to life today?”
Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “There’s no smoke without fire. I can’t be sure what exactly has happened in the forest’s central region, but it’s probably nothing good.
“Saint Domain Magical Beasts are existences that already stand at the pinnacle of Magical Beast Forest. What else is there that’s capable of mass-inciting them?”
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled as he asked, “Could some kind of treasure have emerged in the forest’s central region? Thereby causing all of them to make a move for it?”
“Not impossible, but it’s not very likely.” Ol’ Amos shook his head and said, “A king exists in Magical Beast Forest, and all the Saint Domain Magical Beasts are its subjects. Even if a treasure has really emerged, they don’t have a chance of getting it at all.”
“The king of Magical Beast Forest?” Meng Lei was taken aback. He hastily asked, “Ol’ President, Magical Beast Forest has a king?”
“Humans have kings, too. Why can’t Magical Beasts have one?” Ol’ Amos cast a glance at Meng Lei and said, “Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts possess intelligence comparable to humans, while Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts can even speak the human language. It wouldn’t be surprising even if Magical Beasts were to establish their own kingdom, much less just a king!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei nodded quietly. He then asked, “Ol’ President, what kind of Magical Beast is the king of Magical Beast Forest? How strong is it? Have you ever seen it?”
A complex look flashed across Ol’ Amos’ eyes upon Meng Lei’s questions. “I was fortunate enough to have seen it once. That was when I had just broken through to Ninth-Grade Magician and became Fire Dragon Kingdom’s court magician.”
“What does it look like? What kind of Magical Beast is it?” asked Meng Lei with a curious expression.
Buzz, buzz!
Meng Lei’s magic communication device suddenly rang at this point. Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly, and he looked at it with great dissatisfaction, only to see that it was actually Abbe that was calling.
Abbe?
Meng Lei was rather bewildered. Abbe had never called him before, so why was he calling him now?
A puzzled Meng Lei chose to pick up the call.
The fellow had a distant and aloof expression on his face, and he uttered only a line before he hung up—”Something has gone wrong in Magical Beast Forest. Leave at once, otherwise, your life will be in danger!”
“Uh…”
A mildly dumbstruck Meng Lei stared at the communication device that was now disconnected. “That cold, icy fellow is actually giving me words of caution? How unexpected!”
Ol’ Amos laughed and replied, “Golden Colossal Dragon People may be haughty by nature, but they also make a clear distinction between kindness and grudges. You saved his life once, so it’s understandable that he’d warn you.”
“I guess so.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Just as he was about to put away the magic communication device, it rang again unexpectedly. This time, the caller was Fatty Hart.
“Old bro, are you in Magical Beast Forest?”
The moment the call connected, Fatty Hart began to question him right away.
“Yes, what’s the matter?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
Fatty Hart replied anxiously, “Something has gone wrong in Magical Beast Forest. A large-scale ant tide has erupted! You’d better run! Any longer, and you’re gonna die!”
“An ant tide? How did you know that?”
Meng Lei looked stupefied.
I’m in Magical Beast Forest, and I don’t even know what has happened, yet a little fatty like you in the capital city miles away does?
Are you kidding me?
" }, { "id": 86, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-86", "title": "Chapter 86 - The Fearsome Ant Tide, Returning To The Village", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "It was hard to tell what Fatty Hart was currently doing. His arms were bare, and his chest was revealed. Two huge 36D-sized lumps of fat swayed left and right, almost blinding Meng Lei.
“The news has already spread throughout the capital!
“His Majesty has just convened all the royalty, nobles, and officials for an emergency meeting and has also issued a special-class beast tide warning!
“At the same time, His Majesty has deployed the kingdom’s top elite Flying Dragon Troops to the borders. They’re probably on the way there now!”
Something seemed to occur to Fatty Hart, and he added, “By the way, the academy is also gathering seniors fourth-year and above in preparation against the beast tide.
“The Mercenary Guild, Magician Guild, and the church have also begun to mobilize their manpower in preparation for the ant tide that’s very likely going to break out!”
“Is it that bad?”
Meng Lei looked astonished. It hasn’t even been that long since the commotion had broken out in the Magical Beast Forest, yet the kingdom already knew all about it?
A special-class beast tide warning—that was the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s highest-class beast tide warning!
One must understand that as a result of Fire Dragon Kingdom being situated close to the Magical Beast Forest, it suffered badly from beast tide attacks. In order to defend against beast tides more efficiently, the capital was set in a location nearby Magical Beast Ridge, and they didn’t think much of normal beast tides at all.
Yet they had actually issued a special-class beast tide warning now. It seemed like things were really serious this time!
“An ant tide?”
Ol’ Amos’ brows drew together slightly. “There aren’t many powerful Magical Beast ant species in the Magical Beast Forest, though. Why would it set off such a huge commotion?”
Then, something seemed to come to Ol’ Amos’ mind, and his expression changed. “Hurry, ask him which Magical Beast ant species is the main unit for the ant tide this time?”
Meng Lei didn’t dare to be tardy, and he quickly asked Hart.
“I heard that it’s the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!” Hart answered at once.
“In addition, it’s a very large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide. The eagle scouts have detected that extraordinarily large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant invasions have simultaneously appeared in several regions of the Magical Beast Forest.
“These savage Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts have formed overwhelmingly large tidal waves that swept through every part of Magical Beast Forest. All the Magical Beasts there are desperately fleeing, and I heard that even the Saint Domain Magical Beasts were alarmed by this, causing them to flee in a panic!”
“Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!!” Ol’ Amos’ expression changed drastically, and he sucked in a breath of air. “To think it’s actually the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants! This is terrible!”
Meng Lei’s heart gave an uneasy thump upon the sight of Ol’ Amos’ expression. “Ol’ President, is a Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide very scary?”
“How can the word ‘scary’ even cut it?”
Ol’ Amos heaved a sigh. “Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are a type of dark-elemental Magical Beast that live underground. They rarely leave their habitat to move about elsewhere.
“Even if they did occasionally emerge aboveground, they were but just individual Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had lost their way. They are just Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts and don’t pose any threat at all.
“But…”
Ol’ Amos’ words took a turn in another direction. “When Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants emerge from underground at the same time on a grand scale, they will come together to form an exceptionally fearsome catastrophe. You can never imagine the sight of several million red ants congregating into a red torrent.
“Not even skeletal remains are left behind, and nothing is left alive in the barren lands!
“Every single living thing gets wiped out!”
“Is it that scary?!” Meng Lei gasped.
“Scary?” Ol’ Amos chuckled and asked, “Do you know why the six Saint Domain Magical Beasts, like the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King, for example, suddenly ran out of their lairs roaring as they rushed toward the forest’s central region?”
“No, I don’t!” Meng Lei shook his head.
“It’s because they’ve gone to seek protection!”
Ol’ Amos gazed into the distance. “The king of the Magical Beast Forest lives in the forest’s central region. Only the king is capable of protecting those Saint Domain Magical Beasts. Otherwise, when the ant tide comes sweeping toward them, even Saint Domain Magical Beasts… would die a terrible death!”
“Even Saint Domain Magical Beasts would die?” Meng Lei gasped.
“Magical Beast insects such as ants and so on are different from other Magical Beasts. They don’t fear death, and they launch wave upon wave of attacks. Their numbers are inexhaustible, too. Even deities would find them a pain to deal with should they encounter them, much less Saint Domain Magical Beasts?”
Ol’ Amos shook his head.
“What should we do, then? If the ant tide attacks the kingdom’s borders, how are they going to fight them?” asked Meng Lei.
“It’ll have to depend on the situation!” With a shake of his head, Ol’ Amos went on. “The ant tide moves at a ferocious momentum with only one motive in mind—to seize food. All the Magical Beasts, trees, and weeds are their targets of plunder! Once they seize enough food in the Magical Beast Forest, they’ll automatically withdraw.”
“What if they can’t get enough food in the Magical Beast Forest?” Meng Lei balled his hands into fists. “Are they going to charge out of the forest and surge toward the borders?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Ol’ Amos nodded. “Similar incidents had taken place several times before, among which, quite a few of them were false alarms. The ant tide had stayed only in the Magical Beast Forest to seize food and hadn’t attacked the borders.
“However, there were also a few times where they had invaded and caused great disaster upon the kingdom. People’s lives were plunged into great misery and suffering, and countless lives were lost!”
“So, nobody can guarantee whether or not they’ll attack the borders, right?” Meng Lei asked with a grave expression on his face.
“That’s right!”
“I understand now!”
Meng Lei let out a breath. He sped up and flew toward Magical Beast Village right away. While it was true that he didn’t harbor many sentimental feelings toward the village, he couldn’t just watch as the villagers perished in the ant tide, either.
He wasn’t capable of something like that.
Thanks to the magic carpet flying full speed ahead, Meng Lei managed to return to the village by noon. The adults busied themselves with their chores while the children frolicked and played. Smoke from cooking rose into the air, and the aroma of meat assailed the senses.
Magical Beast Village was still immersed in peace and quiet. None of them knew that a disaster was imminent!
Bong!
Meng Lei landed on the village walls at the village entrance and rang the old brass bell there. The deep, dull bong of the bell resounded in the sky above the Magical Beast Village, startling all the villagers. The adults’ countenances froze, and the children stopped where they were, and all of them looked in the village entrance’s direction.
“The old brass bell is ringing!”
“The beast tide is here again?”
Captain Hudders was having his lunch in his wooden hut when the bell rang. His countenance changed, and he tossed aside the bone he was holding. Then, he picked up his huge sword and exited the hut in a flash. He was in such a hurry that he couldn’t even be bothered to clean off the grease on his hands.
Swoosh!
All the adult men stopped their chores and walked out of their homes. They picked up their shovels and hoes, swords and rakes, and various other weapons and ran straight to the village entrance.
The women called out loudly for their children as they got ready to enter the underground shelter any moment.
For a moment there, a disturbance went through close to a hundred villagers of the entire Magical Beast Village!
“Meng Lei!”
Hudders, who was the first to reach the village walls, was overjoyed to see Meng Lei upon arrival. He said, “Meng Lei, when did you come back? Haha, with you around, I can rest assured!”
Contrary to his expectations, however, Meng Lei shook his head and replied, “Captain Hudders, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. The scale of the beast tide this time is too big. I… can’t stop them!”
Hudders’ expression changed at once. “But you’re a Sixth-Grade Warrior and even a Fifth-Grade Magician, too. What kind of beast tide is it that even someone like you cannot fight against it?”
“We’ll talk when everyone’s here!”
Meng Lei waved him off.
“Meng Lei!”
“Captain!”
Before long, all the guards and adult men arrived one by one. Old Peter, the village chief, also hurried over to the village entrance while using his walking stick for support, stumbling as he did so.
When everyone had more or less arrived, Meng Lei recounted the details of the ant tide to them. Upon hearing his words, everyone was scared witless, and they felt chills coming all over them.
Blood drained from Captain Hudders’ face. He asked, “Meng Lei, is what you said really true? The ant tide is really coming?”
“It’s hard to say for sure whether or not they’ll come, but a large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide has indeed occurred in the Magical Beast Forest. My friend in the capital has also told me that the king has specially issued a special-class beast tide warning because of this.”
Meng Lei looked grave as he continued speaking in a deep and low voice. “I heard that even the Flying Dragon Troops have been mobilized. The reason for me hurrying back here is precisely to inform all of you to make preparations in advance.
“You can only be safe if you take precautions. If the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants really surge out of the Magical Beast Forest, it’ll be the end for villages like ours. The kingdom’s troops will never leave the frontier defense stronghold to save commoners like us!”
A special-class beast tide warning and mobilization of the Flying Dragon Troops!
Blood drained from everyone’s faces.
“Meng Lei is right! It’s better to be safe than sorry!”
Old Peter was the first to make a decision. He instructed, “Tell every household to prepare rations and drinking water at once. The moment we discover traces of the ant tide, everyone is to enter the underground shelter immediately!”
" }, { "id": 87, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-87", "title": "Chapter 87 - The Great Dragon Blood Wall, Making Arrangements For The Villagers", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Grandpa Village Chief, I’m afraid the underground shelter won’t do!” Meng Lei vetoed Old Peter’s suggestion at once. “The underground shelter can only defend against normal beast tides. It won’t be able to stop the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!”
“Why is that?
Old Peter’s brows drew together into a frown.
“Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are a type of dark-elemental Magical Beast that live underground. The moment they catch a whiff of their prey, they’ll start to dig tunnels!” Meng Lei explained solemnly, “You can try imagining how fast Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts are at digging tunnels. The shelter won’t be able to stop them at all.”
“What should we do, then?”
Old Peter’s countenance changed at once. The village sat at the Magical Beast Forest’s fringes—the shelter was their last hope. What were the villagers supposed to do when even the shelter couldn’t serve its purpose?
“Retreat into The Great Dragon Blood Wall!” Meng Lei said slowly, “It’s the safest in the Great Dragon Blood Wall. Our safety can only be guaranteed over there!”
“The Great Dragon Blood Wall?”
Everyone looked at one another.
“Yes, the Great Dragon Blood Wall!”
Meng Lei gave a heavy nod.
As a kingdom situated at the borders, the purpose of the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s existence was precisely to protect the empire and guard the borders. For generations, every single person in the Fire Dragon Kingdom had shouldered this responsibility.
To better accomplish this task, the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s first Fire Dragon King had especially established the capital at a place near the Magical Beast Ridge, such that it was but a day’s journey from the capital to the Magical Beast Forest.
A day!
This meant that once a beast tide broke out, under the circumstances where they weren’t hindered, the Magical Beast army would need only a day to reach the capital and threaten the safety of the whole kingdom.
How could one possibly allow others to intrude into their territories?
This short distance caused the whole of Fire Dragon Kingdom to feel as if they were sitting on pins and needles. As a result, not only did Fire Dragon Kingdom station eagle scouts in the Magical Beast Forest all year round to monitor all activities in Magical Beast Forest, but they had also built a defensive fortress stretching several thousand kilometers between the Magical Beast Forest and the kingdom.
This firm and sturdy, long wall that measured 50 meters tall and 20 meters thick on average was a big and tall, and tough and solid frontier stronghold that stretched on endlessly.
That was the Great Dragon Blood Wall famed throughout the entire empire!
For several tens of thousands of years, the Great Dragon Blood Wall had seen countless Magical Beasts buried at its feet, an indeterminable amount of Magical Beast blood splashed across its walls, and stood against innumerable beast tide attacks…
It stood firm and erect for an everlasting period of time!
It could be said that the Great Dragon Blood Wall was a protective amulet-like fortress. It was the most important, as well as the final wall of defense protecting the Fire Dragon Kingdom. In the whole of Fire Dragon Kingdom, not a single person would allow anything to happen to the Great Dragon Blood Wall!
Thus, not only were elite troops garrisoned at the Great Dragon Blood Wall all year round, but the moment war broke out, the kingdom would also deploy troops from other regions to head over as reinforcements. It was the safest over there!
“The Great Dragon Blood Wall may be safe, but it’s a great distance from the village. How are over a hundred villagers going to make their way there?”
Old Peter let out a troubled laugh. “Not to mention that there are also the old, infirm, women, and children. With their entire families in tow, many of them won’t be able to last till they reach the Great Dragon Blood Wall at all!”
Hudders and the others also nodded in silence. The Great Dragon Blood Wall was safe for sure, but it was too far from the village.
Otherwise, they’d have moved to the Great Dragon Blood Wall a long time ago when beast tides had broken out in the past. Why would they still stay here so miserably, letting their blood flow and sacrificing their own lives?
“That isn’t a problem!” Meng Lei smiled. “There are only 100 people in the village, so we just need to rent a few large magic cars. Magic cars are very fast. It won’t take them long to send people back and forth!”
“Rent magic cars?”
Everyone was taken aback.
“Yes, magic cars!” Meng Lei said with a smile, “Just leave the issue of renting the magic cars to me. All of you can go back home and pack your things. When I return with the cars, we’ll set off right away.”
After he spoke, Meng Lei jumped onto his magic carpet and disappeared straight into the horizon.
“But Meng Lei…”
Everyone looked at each other as they stared at his back view.
“Won’t it be very expensive to rent magic cars?”
“It’ll be a huge sum of money for sure!”
“How is the village going to be able to afford that?”
Everyone’s face took on a troubled expression.
“Let’s just act according to what he said and not concern yourselves with other problems!”
Hudders shook his head as he gave a wry smile. Some things weren’t too convenient for him to mention, so he hadn’t bothered bringing them up. He’d just keep Meng Lei’s kindness in mind and repay him when he had a chance to in the future.
…
“Brat, you’re pretty nice to those villagers, aren’t you?”
Ol’ Amos floated in mid-air. No matter how fast the magic carpet went, he simply continued to float closely above the carpet. It was awfully peculiar.
“Those are my fellow villagers. I can’t just watch them die like that,” replied Meng Lei calmly. “Besides, helping them is no different from just lifting a finger to me.”
“That’s true!”
Ol’ Amos smiled as he twisted his beard. “With your current capabilities…”
The young and the old chatted as the magic carpet flew at breakneck speed. Before long, they’d arrived at the city nearest to the Magical Beast Village—Magical Beast Town.
Situated near the Magical Beast Forest, Magical Beast Town was a place where innumerable adventurers stocked up on their supplies, sold their prey, and rested. It was also where merchants acquired magic cores and beast furs or hides. It was an exceptionally bustling and prosperous place where people constantly streamed about to and fro.
Meng Lei relaxed a little as he walked down the lively streets and listened to the shouts and calls around him. Then, he made a beeline for the magic car depot.
When he reached the magic car depot, an attendant came forward and asked, “Esteemed Lord Magician, how may I serve you?”
“I’d like to rent some cars.” Meng Lei asked calmly, “How many passengers can the biggest magic car you have seat?”
“50 people!” The attendant replied with a smile.
“50? Great, I’d like to rent two!” Meng Lei held up two fingers. Then, he asked, “How much would it cost to rent two magic cars that can seat 50 people?”
“Lord Magician, we charge by the hour. The rental fee for a large magic car is 88 gold coins per hour, so that’d be 176 gold coins for two cars.” The smiling attendant asked, “May I know how long you’ll be renting them for?”
“Around 15 hours, I guess,” replied Meng Lei as he did a silent calculation.
“The total cost for two large magic cars for a period of 15 hours would be 2,640 gold coins.” The attendant asked with a smile, “May I know whether you’ll be paying by cash or card?”
Meng Lei casually tossed out a pile of gold coins. After sorting and counting them, the attendant wrote him an invoice, and Meng Lei headed to the car park with the invoice in hand.
Before long, two large magic cars whistled as they drove out of Magical Beast Town, and they successfully arrived at Magical Beast Village seven hours later. The villagers, who were all set and ready to move, boarded the cars in an orderly manner.
For a great majority of the villagers, this was their very first time riding on a magic car, and they were terribly excited. A few children were even laughing and clowning around in the aisle, incredibly delighted.
Gratitude filled Hudders’ eyes as he watched the scene in front of him. “Meng Lei, I must really thank you this time. If not for you, who knows what would happen!”
“You’re standing too much on ceremony. I’m also a member of the village. This is something I should do.”
Meng Lei waved him off with a smile and added, “By the way, I found some things that aren’t of much use to me in Magical Beast Ridge. Why don’t you take a look and see if they are of any use to the villagers?”
Meng Lei took out a few scrolls as he spoke. A puzzled Hudders opened one of them, and his eyes widened big and round at once.
“Fire Smelting Art?!
“Meng Lei, t-this is a Battle Aura technique?
“This… This is too valuable! We can’t accept it!”
" }, { "id": 88, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-88", "title": "Chapter 88 - Closure Of City Gates, A Grand Path", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Meng Lei hadn’t just been hunting Magical Beasts during these few days spent exploring Magical Beast Forest. He had also encountered quite a few attacks from other humans. Despicable adventurers like them were often involved in contemptible dirty dealings like this, so apart from being fairly wealthy, they also carried other things on them.
Battle Aura technique manuals were one of such things.
After a few successful counterattacks where he had killed the attackers, Meng Lei had obtained quite a number of Battle Aura technique manuals. Among them were both ordinary run-of-the-mill manuals, as well as exceptionally rare and precious high-grade manuals. His rewards were pretty bountiful.
It was just a shame that these were useless to Meng Lei. The Fire Dragon Manual alone was already enough for him to cultivate. All the other manuals, no matter how many they were, were nothing but just white elephants.
Since they were white elephants, he might take a few out and let the villagers cultivate them instead. That way, not only would it raise the villagers’ combat strength, but the manuals could also be put to their fullest use.
However, Hudders declined his offer. “Meng Lei, these Battle Aura technique manuals are too valuable. We can’t take them! You’ve already done so much for the village…”
“Captain Hudders, these are just things that I found in Magical Beast Forest. They aren’t of much use to me, so just take them.” Meng Lei said with a smile, “You can impart these techniques to everyone, especially the children. When everyone’s combat strength is higher, I’ll also be able to go about outside without worrying about other things.”
“This…”
After hesitating for a moment, Hudders agreed to it in the end.
…
Seven hours later, Meng Lei and the others safely arrived at the Great Dragon Blood Wall. However, none of them had expected that all the city gates leading in and out of Great Dragon Blood Wall were actually closed, and entry and exit had been prohibited!
The people inside couldn’t come out, and the people outside couldn’t go in.
A soldier suited up in armor and holding a spear stood ramrod straight on top of the city walls, on standby and ready for battle.
At the bottom was an assembly of several adventurers, merchants, and commoners. All of them had been denied entry into the city and were now shouting angrily at the soldiers above the city walls.
“Open the gates!”
“Open the city gates!”
“The ant tide is coming! Let me in!”
“Goddamn it, you bastards! Open your damned eyes and take a good look! I’m Baron Skyles of the foothills! Hurry and open the gates for this Baron here!”
“O’ dragon god, have you abandoned your people…”
As though they were statues, the soldiers on top of the city walls were completely indifferent to the people cursing and swearing fiercely at them. They didn’t even pay them any attention, much less harbor any intention of opening the city gates!
This enraged the people even further, and all sorts of expletives and curses were thrown at them without even a moment’s pause, forming a scene that looked terribly out of place with the stern, imposing Great Dragon Blood Wall.
The magic cars came to a stop in front of the crowd. Meng Lei alighted and couldn’t help but frown as he watched the scene in front of him. Hudders followed behind Meng Lei and asked anxiously, “Meng Lei, the city gates have closed. What are we gonna do?”
“Don’t panic.”
Meng Lei waved him off and walked to the front of the crowd.
A chubby middle-aged man dressed in nobility fashion spat furiously, “You goddamn bastards! I’m a noble, you can’t keep me out here!”
“My lord, hurry and think of something!”
Beside him, a noblewoman with a baby in her arms wept as she said anxiously, “Our child is only one year old. I don’t want… Sob!”
The fat man took a look at the swaddled baby. The fats on his face quivered a little, and he began to curse even more furiously. “You bastards, open your goddamn eyes, and take a good look! I’m a Baron! A noble…”
In the midst of the fat man’s cursing and swearing, a shadow suddenly shot toward them from a distance away, and he arrived at the bottom of the city walls in an instant. Then, after he leaped high into the air, the tips of his feet tapped lightly in succession against the city walls, and he climbed up to the top like a spider.
Upon seeing this, the fat man hurriedly raised his voice and shouted, “Expert! Esteemed expert, I’m willing to offer you 10,000 gold coins. Please bring us up there!”
However, the expert vanished into the depths of the city walls without even looking back at him, as though he didn’t hear what he’d said at all.
“That bastard!”
Baron Skyles was so mad that he couldn’t stop stamping his foot.
“Mr. Baron here, do they allow people to jump up the city walls like that?” asked Meng Lei as he pointed at the soldiers stationed on top of the city walls.
Baron Skyles turned around and glared at Meng Lei in annoyance. “Why wouldn’t they? As long as you have the ability to jump up there, it’s not like they can chase you back down, right?”
“Exactly! The Great Dragon Blood Wall is a fortress meant to defend against beast tides, not to keep us out here. Those goddamn bastards shouldn’t be keeping us out here!”
“Those capable of jumping up there have already done so. Only weak, innocent commoners like us are left now. They clearly intend to let us die outside the city walls!”
“The city walls are over 50 meters tall, and only people that are Third-Grade Warriors and higher are able to jump up there. We…”
At the side, the enraged crowd rallied together, furious yet helpless. Hudders also said, “The moment beast tides come invading, the Great Dragon Blood Wall will close their gates in advance and will only open them again when the beast tide recedes. Those that can’t enter the city in time can only resign themselves to their fate. It’s something that cannot be helped.”
Ol’ Amos floated out at this point and said in a low voice, “The city gates are made out of obsidian rocks, the most solid, sturdiest, and heaviest rocks in Heaven’s Vault Continent, and they weigh as heavy as half a million kilograms the moment they are closed! An eighth-grade magic core is used up every time they open the gates, and you should know how valuable an eighth-grade magic core is!”
Ol’ Amos sighed and went on. “In the eyes of the soldiers in charge of guarding the Great Dragon Blood Wall, perhaps ordinary people that can’t even climb up the walls aren’t even worth as much as an eighth-grade magic core.”
Meng Lei was silent in response to that. When he’d first transmigrated to this world, perhaps he hadn’t been able to understand such actions that totally disregarded human lives. After all, no matter how important everything else might be, human lives were the most important.
However, as the amount of time he stayed in Heaven’s Vault Continent became longer, and he was exposed to more and more things, it was easy to see why that was the case now.
In Dragon God Empire, the Four-Classes Stratification System was very clear-cut. In the eyes of the nobility and people with power and status, ordinary humans were just cheap, lowly people.
Were the lives of cheap, lowly people valuable? Not at all!
If they die, then so be it.
How could they possibly compare to an eighth-grade magic core?
“What a frustrating world this is!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and suppressed the messy thoughts in his mind. He walked step by step to the bottom of the city walls and murmured, “Since they won’t open the gates, then I can only go up there myself!”
He’d only just spoken when the ground in the far distance suddenly began to shake. An earthen dragon suddenly broke out of the ground surface, bellowing and roaring furiously as it charged ferociously toward the bottom of the city walls with its fangs bared and claws brandishing.
Then, it crashed right into the bottom of the city walls.
Boom!
Dirt and earth flew everywhere as a booming explosion rang out from the ground.
A massive amount of dirt and earth piled up, and in less than the amount of time it took to take a few breaths, a grand path leading up to the top of the city walls had formed!
“Oh my dragon god!”
“This…”
Everyone at the bottom of the city walls was astounded by the sight of this. All of them forgot to even react as they gazed at the slope leading straight to the top of the city walls.
“A path!”
“It’s a path!”
Someone let out a shout. A great furor went through the crowd instantly, and tears of joy formed in everyone’s eyes as they began to cheer madly.
“A Magician!”
“It’s a Lord Magician!”
“He created that path!”
Everyone looked one by one at Meng Lei, who stood at the top of the slope, their feelings of gratitude obvious. Meng Lei gave them a slight smile and said, “Hurry and come up here, everyone! Time waits for no one!”
“Yes, yes!”
No one dared to be tardy. They hastily carried their things and climbed along the slope up the city walls. The fat Baron Skyles walked over to Meng Lei, embarrassed and grateful at the same time, yet not forgetting to give him a standard nobility salute.
“Esteemed Lord Magician, thank you very much. I, Skyles Borunga, am eternally grateful for your kindness in saving our lives!”
“You’re welcome!”
" }, { "id": 89, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-89", "title": "Chapter 89 - Forcibly Recruiting Meng Lei, \"I'M Only 15 Years Old.\"", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "In the grand city gate tower of Great Dragon Blood Wall…
A muscular Dragon Person with a pair of horns on his head and dressed in golden armor sat on a high chair. An intimidating aura emanated from him, his dignified and imposing self evident to all.
He was Marquis Gould, a powerful Ninth-Grade Warrior, and a pure-blooded Fire Dragon Person. A member of Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royalty and the highest commander of the troops garrisoned at Great Dragon Blood Wall.
As a Fire Dragon Person born into royalty and enjoying high status and authority, like the vast majority of Dragon People nobility, Marquis Gould despised human commoners from the core of his being.
As a result, when he had received news of the special-class beast tide warning issued by the kingdom, Marquis Gould had immediately ordered the closure of all the city gates serving as entry and exit points from Great Dragon Blood Wall.
1,314 city gates… All of them had closed!
Innumerable people were blocked outside the towering city walls!
Marquis Gould knew very well the consequences brought about by his order. He knew that countless lives would perish under the beast tide’s rampage, that people would be thrown into great suffering and misery, and that there would be a great many casualties, but he didn’t care.
Heaven’s Vault Continent was a place where the strong lived while the weak perished!
People incapable of even climbing up the city walls… Their deaths were of no consequence!
As for the people’s cursing and swearing, Gould could hardly be bothered. Those were just the mad barking of the weak. Would a Colossal Dragon concern itself with an ant’s pitiful cries?
Of course not!
However, all of a sudden…
The cursing and swearing came to a sudden stop. Right after, they turned into astonishingly loud cheers instead. Marquis Gould’s brows drew together slightly, a hint of puzzlement arising in him.
What’s going on outside? Why aren’t they swearing anymore?
“Is anyone there?” Gould shouted.
“My lord, what is the matter?”
An armored guard ran in.
“What’s going on outside?” asked Marquis Gould aloofly.
“My lord, this is what happened…”
The armored guard quickly recounted what had happened at the city walls. Marquis Gould raised his eyebrows and asked, “An earth-elemental Magician? Is he a human or a Dragon Person?”
“He’s a human!”
“Is he nobility?”
“Judging from his age and what he’s wearing, he doesn’t look like one.”
“Neither a Dragon Person nor a noble, yet he’s such a busybody and so ignorant.”
Marquis Gould said aloofly, “Just as well. Since he’s such a busybody, then we’ll fulfill his wishes. Tell him that he’s been recruited by the frontier troops, and get him to stay at the city walls obediently and wait for further orders.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The guard turned and left the city gate tower. Before long, he appeared in front of Meng Lei, who just so happened to have arrived at the top of the city gates after leading the villagers up the slope.
When looking out from such a high place, one’s field of vision stretched far and wide.
The Great Dragon Blood Wall was just like a grand, handsome long dragon. It crossed the mountains and went past precipices, cut through grass plains, and spanned across deserts, undulating at the top of towering mountains and precipitous ridges.
All sorts of marks and dried bloodstains were left behind on the firm, solid black walls. A sense of austerity and ancientness from having gone through many changes in life came rushing forward, involuntarily reminding people of the scenes that took place during beast tide attacks.
“The Great Dragon Blood Wall was built by 49 Earth Saint Domain Magicians using more than 100 years. It’s constructed using tough, solid black granite throughout the whole structure, with a large number of obsidians mixed inside.”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and let out a sigh. “Even the strongest and toughest Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, the Great Earth Bear, can give up on the thought of destroying even a bit of the wall. It can be said to be indestructible.”
Arrow turrets, crossbow turrets, and cannon turrets were set up every few steps at the top of the city walls. Archers, arbalists, and gunners were stationed at the respective turrets, ready to enter war anytime.
Apart from these, there were also mage towers.
“So, this is a mage tower?”
Meng Lei walked over to a tower a few dozen meters tall and touched the walls, which were engraved with magic circles, his eyes brimming with extraordinary splendor.
To Magicians, mage towers were of vital importance. Many Magicians longed for a mage tower of their own.
Through the use of a mage tower, not only could they greatly speed up their spellcasting, but the might of their spells would also increase dramatically. Some mage towers could even combine dozens of Magicians’ magic power to cast ultimate spells—their might was comparable to first-class spells!
“The mage towers are Great Dragon Blood Wall’s strongest and most powerful weapons of defense.”
Revisiting a once familiar place had put Ol’ Amos in a very good mood, and he had taken on the stance of someone talking about state affairs. He said, “It can reduce spellcasting time, increase a spell’s might, and also help to conserve magic power. It’s of vital importance to us Magicians.”
Meng Lei asked curiously, “I’ve heard that mage towers are built using gold coins?”
“You’re right!”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and said with a smile, “Back then, I pretty much invested a good half of my wealth and assets for the sake of building a mage tower. It isn’t something that typical Magicians can mess around with.”
“Forget it, forget it. It’s destined that I won’t be fated with the mage towers.”
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly, completely giving up on the idea of constructing a mage tower. If he had that kind of money, he might as well redeem Stat Attribute Points with them and improve his own actual combat strength instead.
“Look at how it has scared you off.” An amused Ol’ Amos ribbed him. “You’re simply too much of a money-grubber. What’s the point of earning that much money if you’re not going to use it to improve your skills? Decorative purposes?”
“Saving them and letting them accumulate zeros in the cards is also a fantastic idea,” Meng Lei replied with a laugh.
At that moment, a soldier walked over and said expressionlessly, “Mr. Magician, you’ve been recruited by our frontier troops. Please come with me!”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei was stupefied for a moment. He pointed at himself and asked, “Are you talking about me?”
“That’s right!” replied the soldier coldly.
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly. “Sorry, but I have other things to do, so I can’t go with you for now. Sorry about that!”
“How dare you defy the frontier troops’ recruitment orders?”
The soldier’s countenance turned icy cold at once. “With the invading beast tide, the frontier troops are authorized to recruit soldiers to help in the defense against the beast tide. This is a privilege that the kingdom’s law has given us!
“Now that an ant tide is imminent, everyone in the Fire Dragon Kingdom is on standby to defend against it. Do you mean to challenge the kingdom’s laws?”
“The kingdom’s laws? I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you.” Meng Lei chuckled and said, “I’m only 15 and a half years old this year and haven’t reached the age to enlist in the army, so I’m not part of the recruitment pool.”
“What did you say? You’re only 15 years old?”
The soldier looked startled. “You’d clearly cast the Fifth-Grade Spell, Earth Dragon, just now, yet you’re telling me you’re only 15 years old? Who are you trying to fool?!”
“Ha, I can even cast the Sixth-Grade Spell, Earth’s Wrath, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m only 15 years old!”
Meng Lei scoffed and brought out a magic badge with a flick of his wrist. “I’m also a first-year newbie of Fire Dragon Magic Academy and am under the protection of the kingdom’s laws. You have no right to forcibly recruit a weak, powerless student like me!”
A first-year newbie?
A weak, powerless student?
The soldier felt the urge to beat someone up.
You’re at least a goddamn Fourth-Grade Magician! Even compared to me, you’re not too far off! ‘Weak and powerless’? Goddamn it!
The soldier had an awful expression on his face. He examined the magic badge in Meng Lei’s hand closely and discovered, to his surprise, that it was indeed the symbol of Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s existing students. There was a Fire Dragon scale on it, indicating that Meng Lei was a first-year student.
Even third-year students were protected by the kingdom’s laws, much less first-year students. They really couldn’t frickin’ recruit Meng Lei.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll make a move first!”
Meng Lei waved him off and then swaggered off with the villagers!
“A Great Fifth-Grade Magician, yet he’s still a first-year student?” The soldier had an awful look on his face. “Are you kidding me?”
Elsewhere, after Meng Lei led the villagers down the city walls, he went straight to Magical Beast Town. However, when he arrived, he discovered that the town that had still been lively and bustling slightly over a dozen hours ago had actually become exceptionally quiet and deserted.
The adventurers lingering about in the town had vanished without a trace.
The merchants acquiring magic cores and beast furs had also left the town, and even the stores doing business had closed.
The enormous town had become a ghost town!
“Looks like news of the ant tide invasion has reached this place!” Hudders shook his head and sighed. “The ant tide has scared everyone off!”
“No, I think they’ve been scared off by the frontier troops instead.”
" }, { "id": 90, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-90", "title": "Chapter 90 - The World Changed, The Beast Tide Ended", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "The cruelty of the Kingdom’s laws toward ordinary civilians was most vividly reflected at the outbreak of wars or beast tides.
If the soldiers died out, the civilians would become reserve troops. If the situation was even graver, even experts without titles would be included in the conscription.
If the army ran out of food, they had the right to collect army rations from civilians.
This meant that once war broke out, civilians had to not only serve as reserve troops and prepare to go onto the battlefield any time, but they also had to provide food for the army!
In comparison, nobles, who were powerful and wealthier, were neither listed for troops nor required to provide army rations. Nevertheless, they were protected by the law and the army.
The inequality in the treatment of different social groups was cruel.
This was a mixed society with severely twisted social systems, formed by the coupling of feudalism and slavery. The working masses, who accounted for 99% of the population, enjoyed less than 1% of society’s resources yet had to bear 100% of the social responsibilities.
Twisted was too mild of a word to describe this society—brutal was its true description!
Meng Lei felt a fire burning in his chest. He didn’t think of himself as any kind of savior, much less the kind of benevolent, selfless person that worried for the whole world but took no part in its joys.
He only had one goal from the beginning: to live better, freely, splendidly, and liberally!
But now, Meng Lei felt very unhappy.
Why is this world ruled by a group of Colossal Dragons that enjoy vast amounts of resources yet do no work? Why can the human race only be appendages to be stepped upon!?
This f*cked-up world, wait for it! One day, I will turn this world upside down!
If not, then I will… Break this sky and smash this earth! Give this world back its cleanliness!
“Boy, what are you thinking?” Ol’ Amos’ voice suddenly sounded by his ears, waking Meng Lei from his contemplation.
Meng Lei looked at the deserted town and said quietly, “When all these prosper, the people suffer. When all these are in ruin, the people still suffer! I’ve finally understood this point!”
“When all these prosper, the people suffer. When all these are in ruin, the people still suffer!” the old man mumbled and then immediately fell silent, with shock and contemplation in his eyes.
After a long time, he finally sighed and said, “You can see this point? It’s rare!”
“Ol’ President, you can understand?” Meng Lei raised his eyebrows. “You are a Saint Domain of a noble background, you can relate to such like us…”
“Meng Lei, you are wrong!” The old man shook his head slightly. “It’s true that I came from nobility, but that doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the masses’ suffering. Did you know that my father was a human and a slave?”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stunned as he knew nothing about this.
“Back then, my father was allocated to my mother as a slave. But, my father was very lucky because he met my kind Mother.”
The old man’s eyes were gentle as he recalled distant memories. “Although Mother was a noble lady, she was very kind to Father. She not only treated him as family, but she also taught him to cultivate.”
“And then?” asked Meng Lei.
“Haha, my father was a natural talent!” Ol’ Amos said proudly, “In just a few years, he finished cultivating Battle Aura and became the kingdom’s youngest Ninth-Grade Warrior. He also successfully reached Saint Domain!”
“So talented?” Meng Lei blinked.
“Naturally! Father’s talent in cultivating Battle Aura was rare in the world. My younger sister inherited his talent in cultivating Battle Aura and broke into Saint Domain at the age of 70. Of course, I’m not bad, either!”
The old man snorted softly. “I’m telling you all these to let you know that the blood of humans, slaves, also runs through my body. I understand the underclass masses’ suffering better than you!”
“Ol’ President, it seems that I know too little about you.” Meng Lei shook his head and smiled bitterly. “In the future, maybe you can tell me more about your heroic past, haha. Three Saint Domains in one family… It’s amazing, Ol’ President!”
“Alright, enough! Stop flattering me here.” The old man shook his hand. “If you have so much free time, you may as well cultivate hard, achieve Saint Domain soon, and restore the glory of our Kroc clan!”
Kroc clan? I’m afraid you may never see that happen. In the future, there would only be Meng Clan, Meng Kingdom, Meng Empire… Haha!
Meng Lei laughed loudly and then led the villagers out of the town.
“Meng Lei, where are we going now?”
“Magical Beast Town isn’t safe. In case all the soldiers die fighting, the villagers can easily become conscription targets. We need to find a hiding place.”
Meng Lei controlled the magic flying carpet and soon found a remote canyon. It was inaccessible for people, and the water source was abundant. It was very suitable for resettling the villagers.
“Everyone, you may settle here for now.”
“Captain Hudders, Village Chief, here are the 50 tents I just bought, and staples and meat enough for everyone to eat for three days.”
“Everyone, you may rest here with peace of mind. With Teddy on guard, safety isn’t a problem. When the ant tide subsides, I will come back again to send you guys home.”
“Thank you, Meng Lei!”
…
After settling the villagers, Meng Lei left the canyon and flew toward the Great Dragon Blood Wall. He wasn’t there to contribute to the defense forces but to find the ant tide!
Others feared the ant tide, but Meng Lei didn’t. It may be an all-destructive ant in others’ eyes, but to Meng Lei, it was a good opportunity to make a fortune.
Just think about it—an ocean of Magical Beasts was no different than moving mountains of gold with an ocean of dropped items awaiting to be picked up!
Where else could he go to find such a golden opportunity to simultaneously get rich and strong?
“The ant tide is coming!”
“Hurry up and meet the enemy!”
“The ant tide is coming!”
At the moment Meng Lei ascended the watchtower, a piercing alarm and exclamations of panic reverberated throughout the Great Dragon Blood Wall.
The crowd moved hastily as groups of armored, well-equipped soldiers climbed up the city wall and flooded the wall.
Magicians, archers, arbalists, and cannon shooters rapidly got into position and waited intently. They were ready to attack at any time!
“The ant tide is here?”
Meng Lei came to the space above the city wall and looked far in the Magical Beast Forest’s direction. He saw that the distant horizon was already covered by lifted yellow dust.
He couldn’t see a single ant nor a single Magical Beast, only flying dust.
“An ant tide?” Meng Lei’s eyes widened.
“It’s an ant tide!” Ol’ Amos had a solemn expression. “They rushed out of the Magical Beast Forest in less than one day. The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants Tide this time is historically unprecedented!”
“That serious?” Meng Lei’s whole body shriveled.
“Uncommonly serious!” The old man said in a deep voice, “Among the few historical ant tides, they had spent at least three days to get out of the Magical Beast Forest. But this time, it took them less than one day. You can imagine it!”
“Which means the Magical Beasts in the Magical Beast Forest have pretty much been devoured already?” Meng Lei drew a cold breath. “Given this ant tide’s scale, can the Great Dragon Blood Wall hold?”
“It has to be held regardless.”
The old man said with a decisive voice, “The Great Dragon Blood Wall is the last line of defense. If the ant tide crosses the Great Dragon Blood Wall, the entire Fire Dragon Kingdom will suffer.
“Nobles with rich family backgrounds have the ability to escape, so only the civilians will suffer. They have no time to escape at all!”
“I understand now!” Meng Lei nodded silently.
The cloud of yellow sand is getting near. It is approaching at breakneck speed.
Gradually… the ground started shaking as though thousands of horses were galloping their way there.
Boom, boom, boom!
The ground shook faster and faster while the booming sounds filled the sky.
The ferocious red ants were finally visible through the cloud of yellow sand!
" }, { "id": 91, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-91", "title": "Chapter 91 - Dragon-Language Magic, A Sea Of Fire Burns The Sky", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "As thick waves of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants charged with great momentum, yellow sand filled the air, and dust and soil flew everywhere.
The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants had bodies the size of calves with blood-red armor, teeth sharp as sickles, and six terrible-looking legs.
These were terrible monsters that made people fearful upon hearing their names.
“It’s here!”
“The ant tide is coming!”
“Hurry up and meet the enemy!”
The horn resounded across the sky.
The soldiers clenched their giant swords, the Magicians clenched their magic wands, and archers clenched their magic bows, and they all shared solemn expressions.
Everyone was so nervous they were suffocating. This was their first time encountering an ant tide, could they resist it?
Marquis Gould looked at the approaching ant wave on a tower more than ten meters tall and its unstoppable momentum with a gloomy expression.
“How long before the Flying Dragon Troops arrive?”
“Three hours, Lord Marquis!”
“Three hours is enough!” Marquis Gould drew his sword. “Send my order. All weapons are to be readied, listen to my orders!”
“Yes, sir!”
At the other side…
Meng Lei was also waiting intently. He licked his lips, and a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes.
Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts. They are as hard as iron, so only seventh-grade magic can instakill them. However, seventh-grade magic greatly consumes magical power, so I’ll be unable to constantly cast seventh-grade spells. In which case, this is the only way!
With this thought, Meng Lei rode the magic carpet to a place several hundred meters before the Great Dragon Blood Wall and stopped.
“What’s up with that guy? Why did he run out?”
Meng Lei’s actions appeared very jarring in the neatly lined-up troops. Everyone was a little confounded.
“Who is that bastard? Why is he acting by himself without following orders?” Marquis Gould was infuriated and demanded to know that person’s identity.
“I… I don’t know him, Lord Marquis!” the soldier stuttered. “There’s no such person in the defense army at all. He’s likely a Magician who came to assist the battle out of his own free will!”
“Here to assist the battle out of his own free will?” Marquis Gould’s face was ugly. “Call him back. Without my orders, nobody acts on their own!”
“Yes, Lord Marquis!”
The soldiers replied, took the magical-transmitting horn, and prepared to call him when the ground in front of them suddenly started shaking.
The next moment…
A crack suddenly opened up on the earth, and then it started expanding rapidly. Amidst the rumbling and exploding sounds, a canyon hundreds of meters wide appeared in front of the Great Dragon Blood Wall!
“This… This is…”
“Eighth-Grade Spell, Earth Force!”
“Holy my, he’s an Eight-Grade Magician!”
All the Magicians in the tower started gasping in shock. Magicians were rare, to begin with, and eighth-grade ones even more so. There weren’t many in the entire defense army, but there’s one there?
“This guy is an Eighth-Grade Magician?”
Naturally, as a Ninth-Grade Warrior, Marquis Gould’s judgment was very good. He looked at the canyon Meng Lei had created, and surprise showed on his face before he felt confused. “What’s the point of making such a canyon? Does he think that a mere canyon can stop the ant tide? A fantasy!”
Whether it was a fantasy or not, Meng Lei still continued with his digging operation. He continued to chant the Eighth-Grade Spell, Earth Force to extend the canyon.
Soon, a canyon several kilometers long and hundreds of meters wide appeared. It was like a small snake lying at the foot of the Great Dragon Blood Wall, looking completely insignificant, yet fully demonstrating the might of an Eighth-Grade Magician.
“Pfft…” Meng Lei breathed out a mouthful of dusty air. “Eighth-grade spells really consume too much magic power, an entire 10,000 units of magic power. I’ve got to replenish them from the ant tide later.”
Boom, boom, boom!
At that moment, the ant tide’s vanguard finally arrived at the edge of the canyon. They jumped in without the least bit of hesitation!
Countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants let out strange cracking sounds and rushed into the canyon.
If it continued like this, the canyon that Meng Lei had worked hard to make would be filled in a matter of a few minutes. Thus, everything he had done would be in vain.
“Childish tricks, good for nothing!” Marquis Gould couldn’t help but snort upon seeing that. “Good strength, but stupid! This kind of canyon is nothing for a massive ant tide. They will pass through it effortlessly!”
The Magicians also shook their heads and sighed.
At this time, Meng Lei, who was hovering in the sky, moved again. His lips opened slightly, chanting in an ancient and difficult language.
His voice wasn’t loud, but like some kind of ancient Buddhist chant, it passed clearly and powerfully into everyone’s ears.
“That’s…”
Marquis Gould’s whole body suddenly shivered in shock.
Boom, boom, boom!
Fire Elements gathered wildly within several hundred square meters, and a big fireball shining with white light appeared in the sky.
As the immense amount of Fire Elements gathered rapidly, the big fireball expanded at a terrible speed. Within a few breaths, a “small sun” with a radius of dozens of meters appeared.
“That’s…”
Everyone’s eyes widened!
“Fire Inferno… Drop!” Meng Lei shouted ferociously.
Boom!
The huge sun suddenly dropped from the sky and right into the canyon. Following an earth-shaking explosion, bright tongues of fire suddenly splashed out of the several-kilometer-long canyon!
Boom!
A huge fire started burning everything in the canyon, and its intense flame rose up dozens of meters into the sky. Like beans being fried in a pan, cracking sounds echoed as the countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had jumped into the canyon died painfully. The white flames incinerated the ants!
In but a moment, the hundreds-of-meters-wide canyon turned into a sea of fire. The fire wall was several dozens of meters high, blocking out the ant tide like a line of blockade.
Any ant that approached… got blown up and turned into dust. The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were momentarily stopped right where they were, and some were hesitating to move forward!
“Is this the Seventh-Grade Spell, Fire Inferno?”
Inside the mage tower, all the fire-elemental Magicians somewhat doubted life. Judging from the huge fireball’s surface appearance, it was indeed the Seventh-Grade Spell, Fire Inferno. However, wasn’t it a bit… too powerful?
It had a diameter of a hundred meters and exuded white flames… Was this really Fire Inferno!?
“A Magician that’s versed in Earth and Fire magic!” Marquis Gould’s eyes narrowed. “Besides, if I didn’t hear wrongly, the magic spell just now… was chanted in Dragon Language. He actually knows Dragon-Language Magic! How can he possibly know Dragon-Language Magic?”
Meng Lei didn’t know how shocked the others were. He felt a bit annoyed right now because of the system’s non-stop notification sounds that kept ringing in his mind.
“Ding! 1 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant killed. 10,380 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant killed. 11,029 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant killed. 10,853 gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
“System, can I block the notification sounds?”
Meng Lei swung his head, feeling a bit exhausted.
“Okay, host!”
The notification sounds disappeared immediately.
“Finally, quiet!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief before his gaze fell on the Stats interface—his “Wealth” column was changing wildly!
" }, { "id": 92, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-92", "title": "Chapter 92 - A One-Man Suppression? How Can This Be", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Wealth: 16,729,428 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Eighth-Grade Warrior (361,456/1,000,000)
Spirit: Eighth-Grade Magician (249,518/100,0000)
Magic Power: Eighth-Grade Magician (20,648/100,0000)
“Sweet!”
When looking at his stats, especially the constantly changing Wealth value, Meng Lei felt agitated. A Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants was worth about 10,000 gold coins, and in just an instant, he had killed a couple hundred.
The way I obtained a few million gold coins feels almost like robbing.
Fortunately, the ant tide still keeps charging ahead, without the slightest sign of disappearing.
These are all moving mountains of gold. If I kill them all, how rich will I be?
Meng Lei’s eyes were so bright they felt heated.
Kill them! Kill all of them! They’re all money!
System, replenish Magic Power to full!
Meng Lei waved a hand triumphantly. He was indeed a bit stingy on a daily basis, and he used money carefully, but this wasn’t the time to be stingy. If he was still stingy, others might finish off the ant tide!
Why would he be stingy?
“Okay, host!”
Whoosh!
The Wealth value instantly reduced by almost 10,000,000, and the Magic Power value rose to 1,000,000, almost breaking the chart!
Meng Lei took a deep breath, sensing the endless magic power in his body, and felt like he was pumped up and full of energy.
“Gold mountains, I am coming, hahaha!”
Meng Lei looked up toward the running ant tide, only to find that these monsters actually turned direction and spread out to the two sides.
The Great Dragon Blood Wall was several thousands of kilometers long, but the canyon and the fire wall were only several kilometers long.
The ant tide didn’t move aimlessly but evaded to the two sides and moved in a zig-zag manner.
“You still know how to evade, not bad!”
Meng Lei steered the magic carpet to one side, and the Eighth-Grade Spell, Earth Force was activated. Another canyon stopped the ant tide’s march in its tracks.
Crack…
Upon realizing that there were no flames, the ant tide jumped into the canyon without hesitation. When Meng Lei saw that, he once again started chanting the ancient and mysterious magic spell.
The powerful Dragon-Language Magic filled up the space. Marquis Gould’s eyes narrowed as he muttered in a low voice, “It’s really Dragon-Language Magic! This guy really knows Dragon-Language Magic!”
“It’s coming again!”
“Another fireball this big!”
“Who can tell me if this is Seventh-Grade Spell, Fire Inferno?”
Boom!
The fireball, with a diameter of 100 meters and entirely milk-white, dropped from the sky again. Accompanied by an extremely loud rumbling, the flames sprayed into the horizon. Countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants died a violent death again.
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
His Wealth value started rising rapidly again!
Haha! This is the way! Rise! Rise as much as you like!
Meng Lei looked up at the sky and laughed, his mouth cracking like a chimpanzee.
The soldiers on the wall were looking at him, utterly stunned.
“What’s that guy laughing foolishly for? He looks like a gargoyle!”
“Maybe he’s secretly happy for killing so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants?”
“How secret…”
“He’s got pretty good strength, just his brain is a bit…”
“Go on!”
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The following period of time became Meng Lei’s showtime. He sent out many Earth Force and Fire Inferno spells like they didn’t cost affect his magic power to blast in wild explosions in front of the Great Dragon Blood Wall.
Whenever canyons appeared, fireballs would drop, and large parts of the ant tide would get bombarded and incinerated. As such, innumerable ants died violently right on scene!
What was disappearing in a split second? That was!
What was the art of explosion? That was!
Wherever the ant tide went, Meng Lei chased, and he really stopped the ant tide out of the Great Dragon Blood Wall on his own.
A 100-meter-wide sea of fire became a natural barrier between the Great Dragon Blood Wall and the ant tide. However wild the ant tide was, they couldn’t break through the sea of fire’s blockade.
Such a wild scene stunned everyone on top of the Great Dragon Blood Wall. Everyone watched Meng Lei, who was active on the battlefield, with only one thought left mind:
Is this guy still human? He actually stopped the ant tide army on his own!?
Honestly, Eighth-Grade Magicians were indeed powerful. They could split mountains and the earth with the wave of a hand or cut forests down within an instant. However, Eighth-Grade Magicians were still people. They would still get tired, would still exhaust their magic power, their spirits would still tire out, and their bodies would still reach their limits!
But Meng Lei?
How many times had he released Earth Force and Fire Inferno already?
Why didn’t his magic power get exhausted, but instead, he got more and more spirited as he fought and killed? The more he consumed, the more he had?
Did logic still exist?
“Although Dragon-Language Magic saves magic power and is more powerful, there isn’t a Dragon-Language Magician like him, right?”
Marquis Gould also doubted life a little. “Such rich magical power reserves, even a Colossal Dragon probably can’t match him…”
In fact, not only them, even Ol’ Amos, who knew Meng Lei the best, was stunned. He knew that Meng Lei’s magic power reserves were rich, as well as that Meng Lei liked to use big actions to overpower others, but his magic power reserve was abnormally rich!
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but tease him. “You’ve only gotten promoted to Eighth-Grade Magician for less than a week. Why can you release so many eighth-grade spells? How do you do it?”
Meng Lei was in a very good mood, so he said half-jokingly, “Ol’ President, I have a magical instrument specially for storing magic power. Do you believe me?”
“I do! Why not?” The old man’s mouth twitched. “You, boy, already have two divine items on your person. It’s not impossible even if you are to have a few more! Sigh, I’m really envious!
“If I still had a flesh body!
“If I could leave the Gods-Slaying Spear!
“Even if you are my descendant, I would kill you to rob you of your treasures without hesitation. I would open up your body to see what secrets you have!”
“Hahaha! A pity there’s no chance!” Meng Lei smiled proudly. “But, if it is possible in the future, I will definitely find a way to let you out and give you back a free and clean body.”
The old man rolled his eyes and said, displeased, “Pfft! Why does it sound so strange coming out of your mouth? When was I ever unclean?”
“Hahaha!”
Meng Lei laughed out loud and continued killing. Suddenly, he realized that the ant tide actually stopped moving to the two sides but stayed right where it was.
Then, they withdrew to the back like a tide, all moving orderly like one, without the slightest hesitation.
“What’s going on?” Meng Lei was stunned. “They want to retreat?”
“Undoubtedly! Your killing spree has scared them!” The old man laughed happily. “Or, your killing spree scared the ant monarch. Seeing that the deed cannot be done, it must have decided to retreat, recover, and come back again.”
“The ant monarch?” Meng Lei seemed contemplative.
“Magical Beasts of the ant kind are a very special type of gregarious Magical Beasts. They have clear hierarchies and job scopes, and maintain a very efficient situation amongst themselves.”
The old man explained, “And at the very top of the Ant Magical Beasts is the ant monarch. It is the monarch and also the order center, controlling the movement of the entire ant group.
“Given how many of its subordinates you slaughtered in such a short time, the ant monarch must have a pinch in its heart, right?”
“I see!” Meng Lei understood. “Will they come back, then?”
“That’s hard to say! Maybe they will, or maybe they won’t!”
“Hard to say? How can this be?”
Meng Lei was anxious.
System! Hurry! Hurry and exchange for me! 1,000,000 points for Magic Power and Spiritual Power, respectively!
Whoosh!
In but an instant, 20,000,000 gold coins disappeared into thin air!
" }, { "id": 93, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-93", "title": "Chapter 93 - Ninth-Grade Spell, Heavenly Fire Meteor", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "1 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant ≈ 10,000 gold coins!
10 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants ≈ 100,000 gold coins!
100 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants ≈ 1,000,000 gold coins!
1,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants ≈ 10,000,000 gold coins!
After setting them on fire just now, Meng Lei’s wealth had increased tremendously. After deducting the amount spent to replenish the magic power that he had expended, his wealth had already broken through the 40 million mark!
40,000,000 gold coins!
Even those wealthy overlords didn’t have assets as impressive as that. One could easily imagine just how rich Meng Lei was right now.
Yet in that split second just now, 20,000,000 gold coins… instantly poofed into thin air.
Boom!
At the same time as that, a wave of incomparably terrifying aura burst forth from Meng Lei and produced series after series of ferocious, surging waves of impact that swept away everything around him in an unbridled manner.
It was a majestic presence whose robes fluttered in the air!
Meng Lei stood proudly in the air, his eyes sparkling like the Milky Way and bottomless like a black hole. As if brimming with a light of boundless intelligence, his eyes dazzled and stunned others, causing them to involuntarily drown within.
“He… He has…”
At the sight of this, the soldiers on top of the city walls looked as if they had just seen a ghost. “Broken through? Has he broken through!?”
“A Great N-ninth-Grade Magician! Oh my dragon god, I’ve actually witnessed the birth of a Great Ninth-Grade Magician with my own eyes?”
“Brat, how come you’ve broken through again?” Ol’ Amos was astonished, too. “It hasn’t even been a week since you broke through to Eighth-Grade Magician, yet you’ve broken through again?”
“Yes! I’ve broken through again!” Meng Lei murmured to himself, the look in his eyes somewhat indistinct.
At that moment, he discovered that the world in front of him had completely changed. It wasn’t just a diverse and colorful world anymore. Rather… some additional blurry, indistinct things had now appeared—the drifting clouds, the caress of the breeze, the thick, heavy ground, and the swaying grass!
Everything was completely different from what he had seen in the past. Even the magic elements drifting about in the universe weren’t just drifting about haphazardly without a fixed orbit anymore, but moving rhythmically according to some kind of cadence.
“Is what you’re seeing now different from before?”
Ol’ Amos’ voice drifted over to him softly. Despite his astonishment at Meng Lei’s speed of breakthrough, he had already attained a transcendental frame of mind, so he had recovered his composure by now.
“Yes,” Meng Lei replied honestly.
“That’s correct, then!” Ol’ Amos’ emotions were rather complex. “When one’s spiritual power reaches the ninth-grade stage, they are able to see beyond the surface to look at the way how things run and operate. In other words, the universe’s momentum!”
“The universe’s momentum?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“In nature’s laws exists the rhythm that everything in the world follows. That is the universe’s momentum, nature’s momentum, and the power of the universe.”
Ol’ Amos sighed and went on. “Let’s put it this way. After one crosses over into this stage, they are no longer just rigidly chanting spell incantations and carrying out a simple manipulation of magic elements. Rather, one must understand the magic elements’ rhythm and act in tune with how they’re moving, and then guide and control them.
“How to control the most magic elements using the least amount of spiritual power;
“How to act in accordance with how the magic elements run and operate, and bring out their might to the largest extent;
“How to break away from the magic framework left behind by predecessors and create spells that belong only to you. These are what you need to do from now on.
“In other words, controlling the universe’s momentum!”
“Controlling the universe’s momentum?” asked Meng Lei pensively.
“When your understanding of the universe’s momentum reaches a certain level that you can feel the laws on a deeper level, the road to Saint Domain will naturally form.” Ol’ Amos sighed faintly and said, “Work hard brat. You’re even more outstanding than I’ve thought. Sigh, outstanding people always make me feel like I’ve spent my life in vain.”
Ol’ Amos was in a complex mood. He had initially thought that Meng Lei would need to train for a few years before he could attain Ninth-Grade Magician level. Little did he imagine that Meng Lei would actually achieve it so quickly.
Going from eighth-grade to ninth-grade in just a week… Was he really human?
No, he wasn’t… He was a mutant, a monster!
Becoming a great Ninth-Grade Magician before he’d even reached 16 years of age… What was that, if not a monster?
To be honest, Ol’ Amos had indeed taken a blow. He whined and grumbled, “Brat, give me a heads-up the next time you break through so that this old man can do some mental preparation. Otherwise, you’re going to give me a heart attack someday.”
“You’re in soul form now, Ol’ President. How would you even get a heart attack? Hehehe,” Meng Lei replied with a laugh.
His eyes couldn’t help but fall on the stats interface, and then, he was dumbstruck.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Physical Body Constitution: Eighth-Grade Warrior (361,456/1,000,000)
Spirit: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,250,162/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,031,539/1,000,000,000)
Spiritual Power: 250,000 + 1,000,000 = 1,250,000
Yes, no mistakes there!
Magic Power: 30,000 + 1,000,000 = 1,030,000!
No mistakes there, either!
But what was the deal with the ‘1,000,000,000’ at the back?
One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… Hundred million!
1 billion!
Meng Lei’s eyes widened big and round at once.
1 billion? A great Ninth-Grade Magician’s stats upper limit is 1 billion? Are you kidding me?!
Meng Lei held his chest, suddenly feeling great pain in his chest area. He had initially thought that by leveraging the advantages that the system brought and killing Magical Beasts without restraint, the day he would attain Saint Domain level was well within sight.
One to two months if the progress was fast, or half a year to a year if it was slow.
But in his instant, he suddenly found the Saint Domain realm so far away from him. It was far, far away, as far as a few galaxies away from him.
He couldn’t see any hope at all!
Having an upper limit of 1 billion for his stats meant that he needed to accumulate 10 billion gold coins before breaking through the limit and attaining Saint Domain level!
“That’s 10 billion! 10 billion, you know! I probably won’t be able to earn that much, even in my entire lifetime!” Meng Lei wanted to cry.
He had scarcely been able to earn a huge windfall through the ant tide this time and take advantage of the opportunity to break through to Great Ninth-Grade Magician. He hadn’t even rejoiced for that long before the harsh reality dealt him a head-on blow.
Why?
Why did I need only 10 million gold coins to break through to ninth-grade, but breaking through to Saint Domain has actually increased by a whole 1,000 times?!
Why the hell is that?!
“What’s the matter, brat? Why are you crying?” Ol’ Amos was rather perplexed when he noticed that Meng Lei’s expression didn’t look right. “Isn’t it just breaking through to Great Ninth-Grade Magician level? Do you need to be that worked up about it? Even this old man wasn’t as ridiculously agitated as you when I broke through to Saint Domain level back then!”
“Me? Agitated? Why the hell would I be agitated?!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but break into a rant. “Do you know how badly I’ve been freaking duped?! I’ve been fired from my job, and my wife has run away, too! Who the hell am I supposed to go to for justification?!”
“(⊙o⊙)”
Ol’ Amos was dumbfounded. “What kind of crazy talk are you saying, brat?”
“I’m not crazy! I’m just petrified by how poor I am!” Meng Lei was on the brink of tears. “I need money! I need a huge sum of money now!”
1 billion?
Where am I going to get that kind of money?
Meng Lei looked up and suddenly glanced at the currently receding ant tide. Without another word, he charged over like a lunatic and arrived right above the ant tide.
“My life is too difficult! Don’t hold it against me!”
Meng Lei raised his arms high. A terrifying might that went through the heavens and deep into the ground emanated from him, and the Fire Elements within a radius of a few kilometers of where he was converged madly toward him.
Boom, boom, boom!
One!
Two!
Three!
…
As innumerable soldiers watched on in astoundment, ten brilliant suns appeared in the sky out of the blue. They were incredibly huge, blinding, and scorching hot. They gave off astonishing heat, causing even the blazing sun hanging high above in the sky to pale in comparison.
“A n-ninth-grade spell!”
“That’s the Ninth-Grade Spell, Heavenly Fire Meteor!”
“Hiss!”
All the soldiers on top of the city walls sucked in a breath of air. Then, they watched powerlessly as the ten blazing suns plummeted from the skies, as though meteors blazing across the night sky, and crashed brutally onto the ground.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Amid the shocking explosions, ten mushroom clouds surged into the sky before converging to form an even bigger mushroom cloud.
Flames blazed furiously on the ground in front of the city, while the entire area within a radius of a few kilometers turned into a sea of fire.
Crackle, crackle!
All the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants in the area were burned straight into ashes, not leaving behind even a bit of themselves.
“Nobody can escape today! Eighth-Grade Spell, Toppling Mountains And Quaking Earth!”
" }, { "id": 94, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-94", "title": "Chapter 94 - Making An Escape, Double-Legged Flying Dragons", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "After a round of Heavenly Fire Meteor, the area within a radius of a few kilometers turned into a sea of fire, and all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants in the area were reduced to ashes.
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
Meng Lei’s wealth value jumped furiously. In a short instant, it had already increased dramatically by 10 million gold coins! However, Meng Lei wasn’t satisfied with this. His gaze swept across the ants outside the sea of fire as he continued to cast spells.
“Eighth-Grade Spell, Toppling Mountains And Quaking Earth!”
Boom!
To the east of the sea of fire, the ground suddenly rose into the air. One end of it rose higher while the other end dipped, forming a 90-degrees steep slope that sent all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants on it into the sea of fire, which burned them into ashes.
Meng Lei then appeared in the north. With another round of Toppling Mountains And Quaking Earth, countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were burned to death again.
After that, he went to the west, the south…
Meng Lei went a full circle around the sea of fire and sent all the ants in the surroundings into the sea of fire, causing the area within a radius of 10 kilometers to become a totally ant-free zone.
“Oh my dragon god!”
“T-that’s the power of a Great Ninth-Grade Magician?”
“How terrifying! How terrifying, indeed!”
All the soldiers on top of the city walls were so astounded that they could hardly speak. They watched in stupefaction the figure in the sky and the ants running about in disorder as they fled for their lives, unable to speak for a long period of time.
“Is a Great Ninth-Grade Magician supposed to be that terrifying?”
Marquis Gould’s grip on the large sword in his hand tightened, and the light in his eyes flashed a little. The look in his eyes was rather turbulent. As a powerful Ninth-Grade Warrior, he knew very well how fearsome a Great Ninth-Grade Magician was.
An erupting Great Ninth-Grade Magician’s might was something that Warriors of the same grade, like him, could never compare to. In particular, when Great Ninth-Grade Magicians cast first-class spells, it could be said to be capable of destroying the earth.
However… Was there any other Great Ninth-Grade Magician like Meng Lei?
Hw possessed unbelievably quick spellcasting, rich and abundant magic power reserves, and plentiful spiritual power. Even Great Magicians versed in Dragon-Language Magic shouldn’t be as much of a mutant as him!
“That’s straight up a goddamn freak!”
Marquis Gould couldn’t help but shake his head. However, what perplexed him the most was how Meng Lei didn’t stop even after he had driven back the ant tide. Instead, he followed after them relentlessly, the picture of someone ruthlessly pursuing those down on their luck, and even looked as though he was terribly afraid that the downtrodden ants would escape.
What was he trying to do? Annihilate the entire ant tide?
That was also something that the other soldiers didn’t understand. It was just a pity that they would never receive the answer to their questions.
“Fire Meteor Shower!”
“Exploding Fireball!”
“Flame Inferno!”
“Overturning Heaven And Earth!”
“…”
Meng Lei continued to blast spells wantonly and indiscriminately. Amidst the endless explosions, countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants died tragically.
Toward the end, even the ants were close to tears from his pursuit. They actually started to dig tunnels, intending to head underground and escape, which threw Meng Lei into a panic.
Are you fleeing? If I let you flee, where am I supposed to find 1 billion gold coins?!
“Earth’s Wra—”
“That’s enough, brat!” Ol’ Amos honestly couldn’t bring himself to watch any further. “The ant tide is already starting to recede. There’s no need to continue slaughtering them.”
“This isn’t enough yet! Far from it!”
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly and blasted another round of Earthquake down at them. The ground within a radius of a few kilometers was as though a pot of congee, squeezing together, colliding against each other, deforming, and compressing together…
Amid waves of tragic cries, another large number of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had just crawled underground died. Spurts of blood sprayed out from underground, forming an incredibly bloody scene.
“Even I’m somewhat sympathizing with those Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants now.” A corner of Ol’ Amos’ lips spasmed as he said, “They really can’t get any unluckier than this to have run into a freak like you. Look at how many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants you alone have killed.”
Meng Lei didn’t have the leisure to pay any attention to the old man. He continued to pursue the ants, but the area that the ant tide covered was simply too big, and they burrowed underground in large batches. How many could a lone person like him kill?
Even after hurrying the whole way, a large number of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants still managed to burrow underground, vanishing without leaving a trace of themselves behind. For a moment there, the ground was as bare as it could get, leaving behind only a place in total mess and disorder.
“They fled pretty quickly, huh?”
Meng Lei finally stopped. He fell onto his bottom on the magic carpet and panted heavily. The system could replenish his magic power and spiritual power, but it couldn’t replenish his expended energy.
He was terribly worn out!
“What a brutal fellow you are!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head, not quite knowing what to say anymore. The great ant tide army made up of countless ants had been defeated and routed by Meng Lei just like that. On top of suffering countless casualties, they hadn’t been able to even reach the Great Dragon Blood Wall’s edges. Just how freaking unlucky were they?
In the history of beast tides, when had they ever been in such a sorry state?
“Ol’ President,” said Meng Lei, who hadn’t had enough yet. He looked in the direction of Magical Beast Forest and asked, “Do you think the ant tide will return?”
“Yes, they will!”
Ol’ Amos nodded slowly. “The ant tide had taken only a day to surge out of Magical Beast Forest this time. They are moving on a grand, unprecedented scale.
“I believe they’ll make a comeback for sure.
“By that time, it won’t be as simple as these few Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants anymore. The scale will definitely become even bigger, and they’ll engulf an even wider area!”
“The scale will become even bigger?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Of course!” Ol’ Amos said solemnly, “The ant tide just now didn’t even cover 25 kilometers. It’s evidently just a small wave of stragglers and wandering soldiers that doesn’t even make up 1% of the total count in the ant tide.”
“These are just stragglers and wandering soldiers?”
Meng Lei’s eyes shone even brighter.
“Which of those large-scale ant tides in history didn’t overrun the heavens and earth and stretched for several thousand kilometers?” Ol’ Amos’ voice was deep and grave. “Endless and boundless, and engulfing the mountains and wilderness, just like the great ocean. Even the sight could throw one into absolute despair.”
“They’ll be even more of them on an even bigger scale that’s even more fearsome?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were burning hot.
“Yes!” Ol’ Amos nodded slightly. Then, he suddenly felt like something wasn’t quite right, and he yelled furiously, “You brat, do you wish for the ant tide to return that much?!”
“Yes, of course… Cough, no, of course!” Meng Lei shook his head incessantly and vigorously. “The ant tide is bloody and cruel. They take away countless lives and are the nightmare of all living things. Of course I don’t wish for them to return.”
Ol’ Amos snorted. “Hmph! At least you still have a bit of conscience in you.”
At that moment, a clear and loud cry suddenly traveled over from the far distance. It sounded like a dragon roar or a lion’s roar, yet also like an eagle’s cry…
It was crystal clear, loud, and sonorous, and traveled right into one’s spirit!
“Huh?”
Meng Lei turned and looked over to see a large, dark mass of clouds that shrouded an area of several hundred kilometers coming toward them in the sky a far distance away.
However, just how sharp was Meng Lei’s sight? That was no dark cloud—they were clearly numerous… big birds!
Well, they could tentatively be called big birds for now because they had Colossal Dragon wings, a vulture’s body, and a lion’s head. They had razor-sharp claws and teeth and looked like a combination of a Colossal Dragon, a vulture, and a lion.
Each of them was more than 10 meters tall, their wings spanned over 20 meters, and there were more than 100,000 of them.
Their momentum was even more fearsome than the ant tide just now!
“That’s…”
Meng Lei was stunned.
“That’s the Flying Dragon Troops!” Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and said with a smile, “The Flying Dragon Troops are Fire Dragon Kingdom’s top elite troops. They have 100,000 Double-Legged Flying Dragons and are usually garrisoned at Flying Dragon Valley. They are only mobilized during wartimes.”
“100,000… Double-Legged Flying Dragons?”
" }, { "id": 95, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-95", "title": "Chapter 95 - The Flying Dragon Troops, Fighting For Magic Cores", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "“Double-Legged Flying Dragons possess two types of bloodlines, the Colossal Dragon’s and a griffin’s. When they mature into adults, they are comparable to Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts.
“As they are smaller and more compact than Colossal Dragons, their speed is lightning-quick. Adding to these claws and teeth as sharp as razors, they are an outstanding existence even among Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts.
“However, these aren’t the only reasons why Double-Legged Flying Dragons can firmly suppress other Drakes to become Fire Dragon Kingdom’s top elite troops. They have three more advantages over the others—high reproductive rate, short growth cycles, and high intelligence!”
Ol’ Amos explained with a smile, “A female Double-Legged Flying Dragon can produce 10 infants, and an infant needs only 30 years to mature into an adult. An adult Double-Legged Flying Dragon’s level of intelligence is comparable to a human’s!”
“No wonder.”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.
There were many types of Drakes—Raptors, Ground Dragons, Dragon-Hawks, Triceratops, Dragon-Rhinos, Dragon-Wolves, Dragon-Turtles, Wind Flying Dragons, Crimson-Armored Earthworms 1 , and so on… All of them were Drakes, but only the Double-Legged Flying Dragons possessed all three of those characteristics.
Some Drakes were strong and powerful but awfully stupid, while some Drakes were highly intelligent but grew too slowly. A few Drakes had both characteristics but didn’t reproduce.
Therefore, even if these Drakes had dragon blood in them, they’d hardly be placed in important positions by the Dragon race. In fact, the Dragon race saw some Drakes as a disgrace and drove them out of the kingdom, e.g., the Sillies.
Sillies were a very kooky species of Drakes. They clearly had Golden Colossal Dragon blood in them, yet they were astonishingly weak and weren’t even a match for ordinary wild beasts in battle. Additionally, they looked very adorable and were mischievous and silly in nature. They were totally people’s number one choice when choosing pets.
However, the Dragon race saw these fellows as a disgrace and had tried many times to exterminate them. It was just a shame for them that the Sillies reproduced at a rate faster than even pigs, and they couldn’t wipe them out completely. In the end, they could only banish them. One could pretty much consider them weirdos among Drakes.
As he gazed at the Flying Dragon Troops on the horizon, Meng Lei sighed emotionally. “Double-Legged Flying Dragons are the most successful Drakes for sure!”
“You’re wrong in saying that!” Ol’ Amos shook his head and said with a smile, “The most successful Drakes are us Dragon People instead!”
“Uh… That’s true!” Meng Lei burst into laughter. “Would you believe that? How could I have forgotten about the Dragon People?”
“That’s normal.”
Roar!
Roar!
Roar!
As the Flying Dragon Troops got nearer and nearer, waves of dragon might converged to form a single majestic wave that spread throughout the sky and earth as it came crushing toward them.
“The Flying Dragon Troops!”
“It’s the Flying Dragon Troops!”
“They’re finally here!”
“But the problem is…”
Had it been any other time, the sight of the Flying Dragon Troops’ arrival would definitely have sent all the soldiers into loud, deafening cheers and the whole place into a furor. However, everyone’s countenances looked somewhat… strange today.
“The ant tide has already receded by now, though.”
“Shows how much they really care…”
In spite of that, no one dared to really comment much. The Flying Dragon Troops were elites; be it their overall strength or their status, they were much more powerful than frontier troops.
Who would dare to criticize them?
With a wave of his arm, Marquis Gould gave an order. “Sound the drums and blow the horns to welcome the Flying Dragon Troops!”
Bong, bong, bong!
Hoooonk!
At once, drumbeats that sounded like dull thunderclaps and the long, loud, and clear blasts from the bugle-horn rang out from the top of the Great Dragon Blood Wall. The sounds reverberated throughout the sky and continued endlessly.
Roar!!
Upon hearing the bugle-horn blasts, 100,000 Double-Legged Flying Dragon let out roars and howls one after another. The sounds merged into roiling thunderclaps that bore down heavily on the Great Dragon Blood Wall.
They were putting them in their place!
This was something that the Flying Dragon Troops often did, not only to display their might but also to upstage the host.
And true enough, when the regular soldiers heard the fearsome roars, their hearing failed, stars appeared in their vision, their faces turned ghastly pale, and looks of fear surfaced in their eyes.
“Those bastards!”
Marquis Gould was infuriated. Yet he could do nothing to stop them and could only watch helplessly as his soldiers dropped their weapons and clapped their hands over their ears as they let out agonized moans.
“That’s enough!”
An awe-inspiring voice rang out. The Flying Dragon Troops stopped their roars and stepped aside to open up a path. A Super-Double-Legged Flying Dragon, whose wings spanned over 50 meters and was twice the size of an ordinary Double-Legged Flying Dragon, flew out!
It had a fully ink-black body, plumes as sharp as steel needles, and a neck that looked much like a snake’s. It exuded vast, surging dragon might!
It was the highest commander of the Flying Dragon Troops and the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King… Duke Nicolas Granger!
“Duke Nicolas!”
Marquis Gould stepped forward and bowed, giving him an ancient and standard nobility salute.
“Marquis Gould.”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King transformed into a fierce and sinister-looking skinny, bony elderly man dressed in splendid long robes with a flap of its wings. He waved casually in a sort-of response.
Then, his eyes flitted across the Great Dragon Blood Wall and looked at the chaotic mess outside the city, awfully surprised. “Marquis Gould, your men have driven back the ant tide?”
Marquis Gould was dumbfounded for a moment there, not quite knowing how he should respond.
Had the ant tide receded?
Yes, it had!
But it had absolutely nothing to do with them, the frontier troops!
“Marquis Gould, were there unmentionable troubles?”
At the sight of how Marquis Gould seemed to find it hard to answer him, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King frowned lightly, and a look of perplexity appeared on his countenance.
“The ant tide has indeed receded, but we—”
Marquis Gould was just about to explain when a Double-Legged Flying Dragon suddenly landed on the ground, picked up a fist-sized ball, and started to eat it…
“A magic core! It’s a sixth-grade magic core! What delicious food!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon exclaimed as its eyes lit up brightly. Upon the sight of this, the other Double-Legged Flying Dragons also flew toward the ground.
The great fire outside the city had already been extinguished. Even the wall of fire in the canyon had also burned out due to exhaustion of fire elements.
With that, all the red crystals—the magic cores left behind by the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants—strewn throughout the place had been revealed. As the essence of a Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant’s magic power, it was very hard for magic cores to be burned into ashes, and they were also the only things that the ants could leave behind.
“Magic cores!”
“So many magic cores!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragons were overjoyed. Like old hens that’d just discovered rice grains, they made a mad scramble for them and started to peck at them!
They were usually garrisoned at the Double-Legged Flying Dragon Valley and could only eat bloody rams and dogs. How would they possibly have this many Sixth-Grade magic cores to eat?
Not only were they supreme delicacies, but they were also great sources of nourishment that could improve their strength. Thus, every one of them had gone into a frenzy.
“What a lot of magic cores!”
Upon the sight of this, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s eyes brightened. “My children are starving after hurrying all the way here. Marquis Gould, surely you don’t mind letting them have a good meal first?”
“Of course not!”
Marquis Gould shook his head lightly. However, he was dissing them inwardly.
In the entirety of Fire Dragon Kingdom, is there even anyone that’s greedier than you Double-Legged Flying Dragons?
Out of all the beast tides, when have you people not slaughtered, robbed, and eaten everything like aggrieved souls that had died of hunger in their past lives, leaving not even a single strand of hair for others? So why even bother asking such a redundant question at this point?
“I just knew that Marquis Gould wouldn’t say no!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King burst into laughter as he stroked his beard. Then, he announced loudly, “My children, these are Marquis Gould’s welcoming gifts for you. Enjoy them to your hearts’ content!”
Roar!
All the Double-Legged Flying Dragons roared as one!
“You damned dogs, how dare you steal my things!?”
" }, { "id": 96, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-96", "title": "Chapter 96 - The Triple-Everything Troops, Beating Up The Dragon King", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "During Meng Lei’s mad bombardment of spells just now, the number of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had perished in his hands had exceeded several tens of thousands, leaving behind approximately the same number of magic cores, too.
A single sixth-grade magic core was worth up to 10,000 gold coins. He could definitely sell them for tens of millions of gold coins with all of them put together!
Tens of millions of gold coins!
How could he let them off?
Meng Lei had just so been thinking about how he should collect those magic cores when he saw what had just happened—100,000 Double-Legged Flying Dragons scrambling for the magic cores on the ground like hungry ghosts, clearly treating them as theirs.
“You damned dogs, how dare you steal my magic cores!?”
Meng Lei flew into a rage, his eyes turning savage.
“Don’t be reckless, brat!” Ol’ Amos hastily stopped him. “Don’t be fooled by how ugly these guys are; all of them are nobles. Killing them will bring you a lot of trouble!”
“Nobles?” Meng Lei was stupefied. “Those idiots?”
“Yes! Nobles!” Ol’ Amos nodded heavily. “Not only are they nobles, but they also hold titles. They even have their own private territories.”
“What the hell? Are the heavens blind?!” A corner of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed as he let out an exclamation. He’d honestly been rendered somewhat speechless.
However, that was indeed the truth. Every single member of the Flying Dragon Troops was nobility. And because all of them were nobles, the Flying Dragon Troops were a special military unit, as well as the one and only unit completely made up of nobles in Fire Dragon Kingdom. They were a presence far beyond what other military units could compare with.
This led directly to the Flying Dragon Troops always behaving in a haughty and overbearing manner when making contact with other military units, and they always hogged all the war spoils as if it were right and justified.
They slaughtered everything, ate everything, and snatched everything!
The greediness of their nature, the awfulness of their table manners, the ugliness of their attitudes—they could be said to be notorious for all of these!
Yet, on the contrary, the Flying Dragon Troops weren’t ashamed but proud of it instead. They promoted this tradition, developing the “slaughter everything, eat everything, snatch everything” into the “seize everything, eat everything, take everything” tradition!
Their behavior infuriated the other military units, and they hated them with a vengeance, yet they couldn’t do anything about it.
It was the same this time, too.
After seeing the magic cores strewn all over the wide expanse of land, the Flying Dragon Troops had rushed straight toward them. Which part of them had stood on ceremony even the slightest?
They flew into the air and landed back down and then flew into the air again and landed back down again. They did this continuously, greedily snatching all the magic cores on the ground.
In this aspect, they had perfectly inherited the Colossal Dragons’ avarice and the vultures’ gluttony and even went far beyond.
“You damned dogs! You have a death wish, don’t you!?”
Meng Lei was infuriated. He bellowed furiously, his roars exploding in the sky like roiling thunderclaps and reverberating throughout.
In the next instant, a dazzling thunder ball descended from above and crashed brutally onto the ground. As a deafening boom rang out, the thunder ball suddenly exploded and enveloped the area within a radius of several kilometers.
Crackle, crackle!
The raging electric currents flowed about freely as they pleased. Innumerable Double-Legged Flying Dragons fell victim to the electric currents and began to convulse violently as if they’d taken drugs, and their plumes also stood on end. Then, they collapsed onto the ground in large batches.
“What?!”
Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events. Disbelief filled everyone as they watched the Double-Legged Flying Dragons wrapped in electric currents mass-convulsing and mass-flailing.
“Who? Who did this?!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King flew into a rage. His hawk-like eyes swept about everywhere, a chilly light flashing intensely in his eyes as he searched for the culprit that had attacked his subordinates.
Then, he noticed a magic carpet flying over, as well as someone standing proudly on it.
“How dare you actually attack my sons!? Die!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King bristled with anger and rushed into the air with a loud boom. He transformed into a flying dragon and charged toward Meng Lei. He wanted to torture Meng Lei to death with cruel and heartless means so that everyone would know how people that had the audacity to attack the Flying Dragon Troops would end up.
“Duke Nicolas—”
Marquis Gould wanted to call out to him and stop him, but it was too late. By the time a shadow flashed past, leaving behind afterimages, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King had already appeared in front of Meng Lei.
“Die, you lowly piece of trash!” The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King roared furiously.
His razor-sharp claws that flashed with a chilly glint swiped fiercely toward Meng Lei. His actions were quick, vicious, and accurate, and went straight for Meng Lei’s head.
“Damn!”
Marquis Gould was terribly panicking. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was comparable to a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast. He moved lightning-quick, and his claws were incredibly sharp. Could Meng Lei hold himself against his sudden attack?
Yes, it was true that Meng Lei was a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, but everyone knew how fragile and frail a Magician’s physical body was. Should he suffer a full swipe of the claws, wouldn’t he be ripped straight into shreds?
If he dies here…
Marquis Gould shivered all over, not quite daring to continue that train of thought. Only people with Colossal Dragon blood in them could use Dragon-Language Magic. In other words, Meng Lei was a Great Ninth-Grade Dragon-Language Magician.
The significance behind this identity of his was too strong. Should Meng Lei perish here, who could bear the responsibility?
Boom!
Just as Marquis Gould was in an utter panic, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s sharp claws had already struck against Meng Lei’s head. However, the scene he’d imagined didn’t happen.
Meng Lei’s head hadn’t exploded from the blow. On the contrary, a layer of dazzling diamond-like crystalline substance materialized on the surface of his body and formed a protective shield around him, protecting him from external harm.
That was the Ninth-Grade Spell, Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor.
Bam!
The claws scraped across Meng Lei’s forehead. That familiar sensation that he would get from ripping his prey alive in the past didn’t appear. Instead, it felt as if he had just clawed against an obsidian rock, the resulting impact causing his paw to hurt.
“How can that be?!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King retreated, his eyes full of shock. His ambush just now had reached in just a split second; where had that fellow found the time to cast a protective spell?
Was it an instant release?
“Well done! Well done, indeed!”
With a wave, Meng Lei withdrew the Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor. He glared furiously at the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, his wrath almost driving him mad. When the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King had ambushed him just now, he had firmly and resolutely cast Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor.
This spell’s defense power was astonishingly high, but it’d cost him a whole 800,000 Magic Power Points!
800,000!
A whole 800,000!
That was a freaking 8,000,000 gold coins!
8,000,000 gold coins… All gone, just like that!
Meng Lei’s heart ached so badly from the loss that his expression had pretty much become altered beyond recognition. “I’m going to use your inconsequential life to make up for this empty space freed up after you made me suffer a loss of 8,000,000 gold coins for nothing!”
Boom!
He had only just spoken when a crackling sound rang out. A lightning bolt as thick as a water barrel hurtled down from the heavens and viciously struck the Double-Legged Flying Dragon. His plumes frizzed up explosively at once, turning him into a “Double-Legged Hedgehog”!
Violent electric currents flowed about him freely and produced crackling sounds of explosions. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was also pretty tough and hardy. Not only did he not suffer any injuries, but he also became even angrier.
“Die!”
He flapped his wings, which produced a tornado that reached into the skies, and charged toward Meng Lei again. However, yet another lightning bolt struck him right in the head.
Crackle!
“Damn!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s eyes were blood red. He let out roar after roar, but the only thing that responded to him was still a lightning bolt as thick as a water barrel.
Crackle!
“That bastard!”
Crackle!
“You’re driving me up the wall…!”
Crackle!
Like the rivers that flowed endlessly, yet also like the Yellow River beyond one’s control in a flood, lightning bolts as thick as water barrels came one after the other. They came crashing down madly and endlessly.
No matter how strong the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s body was, he wasn’t going to be able to withstand these many hits. Gradually, his flesh began to split into bloody wounds from the lightning bolts, and he became charred black all over. Which part of him still retained even a little of his mighty momentum from just now?
“This…”
The mouths of all the soldiers on top of the city walls fell agape, and all of them turned into stone. Never would anyone have expected something like that to happen.
They had initially thought that even if Meng Lei survived the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s attack, he would also suffer grave injuries.
They had also thought that the odds were definitely not in his favor, but it was the complete opposite now instead.
Not only was Meng Lei completely alright, but he was instead beating the Flying Dragon King into a pulp!
Had he really only broken through to the Great Ninth-Grade Magician level just a while ago?
He was already that ferocious when he had just broken through?
“Thunder-elemental! He’s actually even a thunder-elemental Great Magician!”
Marquis Gould held a completely distrustful attitude toward his life now. It was already flabbergasting enough when Meng Lei had exhibited his double earth-elemental and fire-elemental magic talent just now.
Who would have thought that he actually had thunder-elemental magic talent, too?!
Earth, fire, and thunder! Three types of elements!
A triple-elemental Great Ninth-Grade Magician!
“Surely even the Dragon God’s illegitimate child wouldn’t be as much of a mutant as him, right?”
" }, { "id": 97, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-97", "title": "Chapter 97 - Severing A Wing, Earning Another 30 Million Gold Coins", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Pin-drop silence reigned atop the city walls.
The Flying Dragon Troops were as quiet as mice.
Everyone watched helplessly as Meng Lei beat the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, finding the fact impossible to accept.
That was the great, mighty Flying Dragon King, a noble Duke of the kingdom, and a strong, powerful ninth-grade expert… When had he ever had the living daylights beaten out of him like that?
Shock!
Confusion!
Disbelief!
Yet, no matter what, it couldn’t change the fact that the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was being beaten into a pulp. Lightning bolts as thick as water barrels continued to crash down upon him, the interval between each lightning bolt never going past a second. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King didn’t even have time to catch his breath. Who was going to be beaten into a pulp, if not him?
“That guy sure is unlucky!”
Ol’ Amos felt rather sympathetic toward the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King now. If he’d been facing a typical Great Ninth-Grade Magician, he definitely wouldn’t have been in such a sorry state.
Unfortunately, the one he’d run into was Meng Lei—a monster that could do insta-release ninth-grade spells.
How was he going to win?
Even if Meng Lei didn’t instantly release eighth-grade or ninth-grade spells, just that Seventh-Grade Spell, Thunder Light alone was already enough to beat him up to the point where he had no means of retaliation.
Win?
The concept didn’t even exist!
“Meng Lei!” Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “Killing him brings you no boons. Instead, it’ll even cause you a whole lot of unnecessary trouble. Just let him off.”
Meng Lei considered for a brief moment and then nodded slowly.
Indeed, that was true. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was one of Fire Dragon Kingdom’s Dukes, after all. It wasn’t difficult to kill him, but the series of consequences that would bring was something that the current him couldn’t bear.
It went back to the same old thing—before one possessed enough strength, if they must hide and lay low, then they must hide and lay low. If they must mature like a coward, then they still have to mature like a coward.
“Fine! I’ll spare that old dog’s life!”
Meng Lei took up Ol’ Amos’ suggestion. He stopped casting Thunder Light and released the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King.
“You lowly piece of trash! Die!”
After he was freed, not only was the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King not grateful, but he even returned kindness with animosity instead. He charged toward Meng Lei at lightning-quick speed.
However, he had only just flown right up to Meng Lei when a lightning blade shot down from the heavens and slashed across his left wing in a split second, severing it at the base!
Splurt!
The wing left his body, and dragon blood spurted about. Intense, unbearable pain assaulted the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s senses, and he let out a shrill, tragic cry before plummeting straight toward the ground.
“You may live on, but not without punishment. This spatial ring of yours is now mine. I’ll take it as compensation for all of you affronting me!”
Meng Lei’s voice was aloof and distant. He grabbed the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s severed wing and removed the spatial ring on it. Then, he tossed the wing aside casually, as though he was discarding rubbish.
The whole place fell into dead silence.
This sight filled everyone with fear and trepidation. Severing the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s wing with a casual wave? Wasn’t he a little too savage? That was the great Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, after all!
“That fellow…”
Marquis Gould narrowed his eyes, a hint of graveness flashing across the bottom of his eyes. Since Meng Lei could beat the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, then didn’t that mean that he could also do the same to him?
He was already that powerful when he had only just broken through?
“From this point onward, yet another person stronger than me has come into being… Sigh!”
Marquis Gould’s emotions were rather complex. With a wave, he ordered, “Bring a few light-elemental Magicians over here to follow me and check on Duke Nicolas’ injuries.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Elsewhere, Meng Lei had already kept the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s spatial ring. He then landed on the ground and began to collect the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ magic cores as though he was the only person present.
When one’s cultivation reached a realm like his, their spiritual power could physically manifest and perfectly interfere with reality. Thus, retrieving items via telekinesis was no problem for them.
As he passed through the area, all the magic cores within several hundred meters of him disappeared, leaving behind not even a single one…
“T-the devil has come?”
“Run…!”
Upon the sight of Meng Lei coming over, all the Double-Legged Flying Dragons looked as though they had just seen a ghost. They flew away in a panic, terribly afraid that Meng Lei would strike them to death with a lightning bolt should they be even a step too slow.
The sight of Meng Lei beating the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King just now had left an exceptionally deep impression on them and terribly frightened them. For a very long time to come, they probably wouldn’t be able to rid themselves of that fear.
“Duke Nicolas, are you alright?”
“Hurry! Treat Duke Nicolas’ injuries!”
Thanks to the few light-elemental Magicians’ efforts, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s severed wing was successfully reattached, and his other wounds also fully healed. However, this time round, he didn’t charge toward Meng Lei anymore.
He had been badly frightened.
Since that lightning blade could sever his left wing so easily, then it definitely could sever his head just as easily. If he charged forward again, who was to say that the lightning blade wouldn’t land on his head this time?
If he didn’t want to die, then he had no choice but to wuss out.
“Marquis Gould, who’s that guy?”
“I don’t know, either!”
“You don’t know? Isn’t he someone from your frontier troops?”
“No, he isn’t.”
Marquis Gould shook his head lightly. Then, he recounted what he knew of Meng Lei, which made the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King break into a huge frown.
Identity unknown?
Just broken through to ninth-grade?
And even knows Dragon-Language Magic?
“I don’t care who you are, but I will have my revenge for sure!”
…
Meng Lei was highly efficient. He had already collected all the magic cores in the area within a dozen kilometers in under ten minutes. What disappointed him, however, was that he had only collected a total of 28,743 magic cores.
It doesn’t even come up to 30,000,000 gold coins?
Meng Lei’s brows furrowed tightly, and he looked at the Flying Dragon Troops extremely hostilely.
If that bunch of idiots hadn’t eaten some of them, it would’ve passed the 30,000,000-mark for sure!
That’s 30,000,000 gold coins, you know! 30,000,000!
You bastards, since you’ve eaten a few million of my gold coins, you can say that there’s a feud between us now. If I get a chance to in the future, I’ll definitely take all of you out in one go and then gouge out all of your magic cores as compensation!
After glowering at the Flying Dragon Troops, Meng Lei decided to leave. At that point, Marquis Gould strode forward and called out, “Lord Magician, please wait a moment!”
Meng Lei wasn’t very fond of the frontier troops, so he couldn’t be bothered to even pay him any heed. He steered the magic carpet and rushed up into the sky.
“My lord, that fellow is simply too full of himself!” barked an indignant attendant.
“Hmph!”
Marquis Gould snorted, his countenance displeased and sinister.
…
After leaving the Great Dragon Blood Wall, Meng Lei didn’t return to the valley where the villagers were temporarily staying at. Instead, he was rather troubled over another issue—why must he wait for the ant tide to charge out of the Magical Beast Forest and then passively defend against them? Why not take the initiative to launch an attack and invade them instead?
As the saying went, “Nothing good comes without risk”.
Besides, he had the magic carpet, so what could the ant tide do to him?
The moment he thought of that, Meng Lei felt like everything had become clear at once, and he promptly charged into the Magical Beast Forest.
“Ol’ President, the ant tide has devoured all the Magical Beasts in the forest. Doesn’t that mean that there won’t be any more Magical Beasts in the forest for a very long time to come?”
Meng Lei chatted idly with Ol’ Amos while flying on the magic carpet. The old man had seen a lot of the world and was very knowledgeable, so he had learned a lot through his chats with him.
“That’s not the case!” Ol’ Amos gave him an odd smile and said, “In truth, after every ant tide, not only would the Magical Beasts in the forest not disappear, but they would even increase in numbers. They would reoccupy every corner of the Magical Beast Forest and turn the forest back into their paradise.”
“Uh…” Meng Lei looked dumbfounded. “Increase in numbers? How can that be? Didn’t you say that the ant tide would eat all the Magical Beasts? Why would their numbers increase? Did they all go into hiding? But that shouldn’t be! The ant tide is everywhere, so where can they even hide?”
“They didn’t go into hiding and have certainly been devoured by the ant tide. However, after the ant tide, more Magical Beasts will indeed appear in the forest.
“As for the reason, that’s a secret. A secret that belongs to the Magical Beasts!” A smiling Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and decided to keep Meng Lei in suspense.
“A secret?”
Meng Lei was taken aback.
“Yes, a secret! One that you’ll only be qualified to know when you’ve broken through to Saint Domain. When the time comes, you’ll realize that this world is very big and that what you know… is only very little!”
" }, { "id": 98, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-98", "title": "Chapter 98 - Dragon-Language Magic, An Abnormal Ant Tide", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "A secret that he’d only be qualified to know when he broke through to Saint Domain?
Meng Lei rolled his eyes, dissatisfied with Ol’ Amos’ explanation. However, he didn’t press on. Although 1 billion gold coins was an astronomical sum of money, it wasn’t entirely out of reach.
Meng Lei believed that he’d definitely be able to save up 1 billion gold coins, break through the ninth-grade boundary, and become an existence that stood far above all others.
The Saint Domain realm was just a matter of time.
Meng Lei sped the whole way and returned to the Magical Beast Forest again. He didn’t see any traces of the ant tide in the outer boundaries, but as he went deeper into the forest, the ant tide gradually began to show up.
The scale became larger and larger, and their numbers became bigger and bigger.
In the beginning, it was just a small group of stragglers and wandering soldiers, but in the end, they had turned into a large spread of red torrents.
Like a breached dam, the ant tide barged about everywhere in the Magical Beast Forest. They spread to every nook and cranny of the forest. Everywhere they passed by, they left behind only ghastly white bones and a floor full of blood.
“Hiss, hiss!”
A huge python over 30 meters long and as thick as a water barrel curled into an S-shape and fled at high speed in the woods. Behind it was a deluge of red torrents surging toward it.
Meng Lei found the python—a Thorn Python—very familiar to the eye. The first Magical Beast that he had encountered back when he had first entered the Magical Beast Forest was exactly a Thorn Python, a snake-species Second-Grade Magical Beast.
He could clearly remember that the Thorn Python had attacked him back then. If he hadn’t run fast enough, he would have long since been killed by it.
Only half a year had passed since then, but Meng Lei no longer thought much of the little Thorn Python anymore. He could kill it even with just a light breath of his.
How things had changed with time, and how people had changed, despite the environment remaining the same…
“Hiss, hiss!”
The Thorn Python fled desperately, but it was ultimately still just a Second-Grade Magical Beast. The ant tide caught up to it in no time. A shrill, tragic cry rang out and then faded away very quickly.
The ant tide continued to advance, but the Thorn Python was gone forever. The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants had split it among themselves, leaving behind not even a bit of the python.
“That’s really crazy!” After witnessing this scene, Meng Lei’s hair couldn’t help but stand on end. “Scenes like this are probably taking place everywhere in the entire Magical Beast Forest.”
“That’s what it’s like when an ant tide erupts.”
Ol’ Amos nodded with a sigh. “And this is just within the Magical Beast Forest where the ones being devoured are only Magical Beasts, too. If the ant tide invades the human kingdoms… Now, that’s what you’d call tragic!
“I had once witnessed with my own eyes the ant tide cleanly devouring more than a billion people. Overnight, more than a billion people went missing, and the whole place within a radius of 5,000 kilometers turned straight into a ghost town. It was practically unbearable to look at.
“That is what a true catastrophe in the human world is. Despite how so many years have already passed, whenever I think back to it, it still makes my hair stand on end, and I still remember it as though it had only happened yesterday.”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp chills running down his spine.
More than a billion people gone in just a night?
“There’s nothing more terrifying about the ant tide than that!”
Ol’ Amos said gravely, “They’ll eat everything that can be eaten, be it Magical Beasts or humans. As long as it can be eaten, they won’t let anything off!
“An ant tide is a disaster itself! A natural disaster that nobody can stop!”
Meng Lei agreed wholeheartedly with Ol’ Amos’ words. “Since it’s a disaster, then let us stop this disaster. I don’t believe that there’s really no end to the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!”
If there’s really no end to them, then that’s just as well, too. Won’t my 1 billion gold coins be settled, then?
“Seventh-Grade Spell, Flame Inferno!”
Boom!
A white fireball 100 meters wide plummeted from the sky and exploded right in the center of the ant tide wave. Amid the earth-shattering explosions, flames surged into the sky, and the whole area within several kilometers turned into a sea of fire.
Crackle!
A wide expanse of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants was burned into ashes while the red ant tide’s center turned into a void!
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
Meng Lei’s Wealth increased frantically!
“Wonderful!”
Meng Lei felt marvelous. Then, he went to the front of the ant tide and threw down another white 100-meter-wide fireball.
Boom, boom, boom!
Fire blazed brightly, flames rushed into the sky, and a sea of fire flooded the ant tide!
Meng Lei then went to the ant tide’s rear.
Boom, boom, boom!
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Dragon-Language Magic sure is handy!”
Meng Lei was very pleased with the Seventh-Grade Dragon-Language Magic spell’s might as he watched the white flames blazing on the ground. Not only was the spellcasting time shorter, but it was even double to triple an ordinary spell’s might, despite only consuming 60% of the magic power. The advantage it held was simply too big!
Using less than 60% of the required magic power to bring out double to triple the spell’s might—this was the difference between Dragon-Language Magic and ordinary magic.
“The Dragon race is favored by the magic elements from the beginning, so of course Dragon-Language Magic would be more powerful. Back then, in order to study and research on Dragon-Language Magic, you can say that I had spent my entire life’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears on it!”
At the mention of Dragon-Language Magic, a smug look couldn’t help but come over Ol’ Amos’ features. Dragon-Language Magic was the Colossal Dragons’ exclusive privilege before him, and only Colossal Dragons could cast those spells. Not even Dragon People could do it.
It was exactly because of his, Amos Kroc’s, diligent and relentless research that the veil shrouding water-elemental and fire-elemental Dragon-Language Magic spells had been removed, such that Dragon-Language Magic was no longer exclusive to the Colossal Dragons.
It was no exaggeration to say that he had made an enormous contribution to the study of Dragon-Language Magic. He could be said to be the forefather of Dragon People using Dragon-Language Magic.
“What a shame that you only know water-elemental and fire-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, Ol’ President.” Meng Lei’s greed was rather insatiable. “If only you knew thunder-elemental, earth-elemental, and wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic spells, too!”
“That’s only because you’re such a mutant to possess four types of magic talent!” Ol’ Amos said dryly, “I only have water-elemental and fire-elemental magic talent, so I could only conduct research on these two types of Dragon-Language Magic. I couldn’t conduct research on the other elements even if I’d wanted to! But…”
“But what?” A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
“More than 20,000 years have already passed since my time. Development in Dragon-Language Magic should have already made significant progress. When you return to the academy, you should be able to learn thunder-elemental, earth-elemental, and wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic,” suggested Ol’ Amos.
“That makes sense!”
Meng Lei’s eyes brightened. “It’ll more or less be the beginning of a new term after this ant tide. I’ll think of something when I get back to the academy. I should be able to find a chance to learn it!”
“Okay!”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and gave a nod. He was very approving of Meng Lei learning the other three elements’ Dragon-Language Magic. Given his wonderful magic talent, not learning it would be a waste!
Thunder, fire, earth, and wood!
Tsk, tsk. Magic talent of four elements!
What enviable talent!
“Let’s go! We’ll head to our next destination.”
Meng Lei cast a glance at his Wealth. Then, he steered the magic carpet toward the next area. The surging ant tide filled every part of the Magical Beast Forest. In less than half an hour, Meng Lei had already found several groups of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants.
With regard to that, Meng Lei had only one course of action—burn them!
Burn them till the skies and the lands turned black!
Burn them till there weren’t any more light left during both day and night!
Burn them till not a single one of them was left!
Burn, burn, burn!
He’d burn, burn, and burn!
He set them all ablaze the whole way as he searched for more of them.
Meng Lei then discovered another wave of the ant tide. The scale wasn’t very big, but they stretched all the way for three to four kilometers, their numbers fairly big, too.
Another windfall!
Meng Lei was in a wonderful mood. However, when he got ready to cast his spells to burn the ant tide to a crisp, he discovered to his surprise that this particular group of ants didn’t seem to be pursuing any prey. Instead, they were… fleeing?
“What’s the matter with these ants? There’s clearly a group of Iron-Backed Lizards not too far to their left, but why aren’t they going after them? Can’t they see them?”
“Yes, how strange, indeed!” Ol’ Amos also looked puzzled. “All the ant tides that we’ve encountered along the way were madly pursuing their prey, but this wave of ants is fully ignoring their prey instead… Hmm?”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes suddenly widened. He pointed at the ants and shouted in a low voice, “Look over there, brat! Is there something in the middle of the ants?”
" }, { "id": 99, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-99", "title": "Chapter 99 - Mad Luck, A Juvenile Ant Monarch", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "This ant tide wave wasn’t big in scale, with around one to two thousand Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants. It was a relatively small number.
Unexpectedly, this ant tide wave didn’t actually rob for food like other ant tides. Instead, it fled in a great rush along one direction.
Naturally, such strange actions made one suspicious.
“Meng Lei, hurry. Look at the center of the ant tide.”
“Center of the ant tide?” Meng Lei was a bit confused. “There’s nothing but Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants… Wait! What is that?”
“It’s a bit too far, it’s hard to see clearly!”
Meng Lei steered the magic carpet and approached. Then, in the ant tide’s center, he saw a strange Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant.
It was strange because it was only 1/10 the size of an ordinary Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant, not much bigger than an ordinary puppet.
Besides, it emanated golden light, and there were golden butterfly-like wings on its back. They looked as though they were made from gold.
The little thing blended in the big ant tide army and followed its march. The other Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants simply ran without thinking, paying no heed to Meng Lei at all, as though they couldn’t see him.
Nonetheless, this tiny member of the group was different. It discovered Meng Lei hovering in the sky, and its two ruby-like eyes betrayed fear and anxiety. It acted in a human-like manner!
This little golden ant had its own independent consciousness…
This was Meng Lei’s first thought.
“Ol’ President, is it also a Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant?”
This was Meng Lei’s second thought.
The old man did not reply to Meng Lei, but instead, stared at the little golden ant hard, like he had seen some rare treasure. His eyes betrayed a mixture of emotions, such as amazement, excitement, and disbelief.
“Ol’ President?” Meng Lei called, somewhat displeased.
“Pfft…”
The old man looked like he had just woken up from a dream. He first let out a long breath before turning to Meng Lei. Suddenly, the look in his eyes became conflicted. It contained envy, jealousy, and relief…
“Ol’ President, why are you looking at me like this?
Meng Lei felt a bit nervous from the old man’s look.
“Brat, I’m seriously suspecting whether you are the Dragon God’s bastard now. Your mad luck is unprecedented!” The old man was a bit indignant. “First, the Gods-Slaying Spear. Then, the Golden Leaf. And now this! I just don’t understand, why do all good things come your way!?”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was astounded. “Ol’ President, you mean, this little fella is also a divine weapon?”
“It’s a living thing, how can it be a divine weapon?” The old man shook his head slightly, but his tone changed. “But it’s better than a divine weapon!”
“Not a divine weapon, but better than a divine weapon?”
Meng Lei was perplexed. “Ol’ President, can you tell me more clearly? Why am I more and more confused?”
The old man pointed at the little golden ant and said, “Do you know what this little fella is?”
“No idea.” Meng Lei shook his head.
“I told you before that ant-species Magical Beasts are an extraordinary group of Magical Beasts. Their self-consciousness is very weak, and all instructions come from their ant monarch.” The old man pointed at the little golden ant. “If my estimation is correct, it should be the ant monarch of this group of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!”
“It’s the ant monarch?” Meng Lei’s eyes widened, and then he immediately shook his head. “This little fella is no match for even a Fifth-Grade Magical Beast, how can it possibly be the ant monarch? Ol’ President, are you sure your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you?”
Any random Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant was easily at sixth-grade, so how would they listen to a little golden ant weaker than a Fifth-Grade Magical Beast?
He must be joking!
Ol’ Amos touched his beard and smiled. “Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are the strongest, fiercest, highest battle-efficient Magical Beasts. Their monarchs are at least Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts.”
“Is this little fella a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast?” Meng Lei laughed internally. The little golden ant’s aura was very weak, no match even for the big ant soldier beside it.
A Ninth-Grade Magical Beast? I must be a fool if I were to believe you. You are an evil old man.
“True, it may not be a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast now, but it doesn’t mean it won’t grow into a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast.” The old man touched his mustache and smiled. “In this world, there are no creatures that live forever, and no creatures that are born strong. The proper way is for bloodlines to carry on, and for the new to replace the old.”
Meng Lei frowned. “Ol’ President, you mean…”
“It’s very simple, actually. Although this little fella is weak, it is a newborn ant monarch.” The old man’s eyes lit up. “Boy, do you know what this means?”
Meng Lei showed a contemplative look. “Ol’ President, you want me to subdue it, don’t you?”
“You are not too stupid, huh!” The old man looked very excited. “Do you know how many people want to subdue the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants ant monarch? Once the ant monarch is subdued, it means you have an entire ant tide army.”
The old man looked at Meng Lei. “You’ve already witnessed the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ terror. Imagine, if a person could control this ant tide army, what a spectacle would that be?”
Meng Lei fell silent, and after a long while, he finally let out a breath. “I’m afraid that would be a disaster beyond imagination.”
“Yes! Disaster!” The old man said quietly, “If it falls into the hands of good people, maybe it will be relatively better. However, once it falls into the clutches of evil people, it will definitely cause worldwide massacres with corpses lying across fields everywhere.”
Meng Lei nodded quietly, agreeing to that statement.
“What a pity. Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are underground creatures, so they rarely appear aboveground. In addition, ant monarchs hide in the underground perpetually, so it’s almost impossible to subdue them.”
The old man shook his head and sighed. “In the entire history of Heaven’s Vault Continent, people have subdued all kinds of magical pets, Even Saint Domain Magical Pets have not escaped the fate of becoming mounts, yet nobody has ever succeeded in subduing a Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch!”
“Never ever?” Meng Lei was stunned.
“Never!” replied Ol’ Amos.
“That’s really hard then.” Meng Lei shook his head.
“So, you’ve really got mad luck!” A conflicted look appeared on the old man’s face again. “You have a juvenile ant monarch in front of you! As long as you successfully subdue it, you will break all records and become the first in history to do so!”
“Subdue it?”
Meng Lei swallowed, feeling his throat was dry, while his heart started pumping drastically beyond his control. Suppose he subdued the little golden ant, he would acquire a big army of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, wouldn’t he?
An ant tide army that’s endless and enough to ravage everything…
Meng Lei swallowed his saliva.
“Let’s get it!” Meng Lei roared in a deep voice and then moved decisively.
Thunderballs shot out of his fingertips one after another, and in the blink of an eye, they covered all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants. Cracking sounds echoed as the entire ant tide army was enshrouded by electric waves that wreaked havoc.
The ant tide army flinched and twitched before collapsing to the ground. The little golden ant was hiding in the shivering ant tide’s center and looking at Meng Lei in horror. Evidently, it was terrified.
“Haha! You are mine!” Meng Lei laughed, jumped down from the magic carpet, appeared in front of the little golden ant, and commented, “It’s hard to imagine that this little fella is controlling the entire ant tide army.”
“Stop talking nonsense. Hurry and arrange the contract magic array!” Ol’ Amos scolded. “Remember, lay the master-servant contract magic array.”
“Master-servant contract? Why?”
Meng Lei felt confused. Before subduing little Teddy, Ol’ Amos had repeatedly been emphasizing that he had to set an equal contract magic array. Why was it different now?
“It’s very simple. It doesn’t have to cooperate with you in battle, much less have a tacit understanding with you. What it has to do is to obey and be loyal to you.”
“I see…”
" }, { "id": 100, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-100", "title": "Chapter 100 - Soul Magic, Your Name Shall Be Little Gold!", "volume": 1, "volume_title": "Volume 1", "text": "Meng Lei had to admit that the old man’s advice made a lot of sense. Since it would be his army, of course, it had to obey his orders unconditionally and hit wherever he pointed without hesitation.
From this point, signing a master-servant contract with the little golden ant was undoubtedly the best choice. After giving it some consideration, Meng Lei decided.
Buzz!
A magical array shining with colorful lights rose up, and a great invisible force arrived, covering the little golden ant.
Squelch!
The little golden ant seemed to know what it was about to experience, and its eyes betrayed how terrified it was.
Suddenly, two golden light rays shot out of its eyes and fell on Meng Lei’s head.
Boom!
In the next instant, Meng Lei felt a buzzing rumble in his mind, and the environment around him changed. The tall, ancient trees and the lush bushes disappeared, and tall buildings, beautiful little gardens, and green meadows replaced them. It was the place of his dreams!
“This…”
A huge jolt coursed through Meng Lei’s body.
“Cola! Slow down! Slow down!”
A familiar voice sounded beside his ears. Meng Lei turned to look and saw that his wife was walking around the neighborhood with his 2-year-old son. The son was running, stumbling along, while his wife was chasing behind him.
“Cola!”
“Wife!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were filled with tears.
Suddenly, a dog ran right toward them. The son got very scared and kept moving into his mother’s arms, crying badly…
“Cola, don’t be afraid, Mom is here.”
His wife hurried to hold his son in her arms and comforted him with a gentle voice.
Meng Lei couldn’t suppress the emotions in his heart anymore. He hurriedly walked over, the longing in his heart flowing like a flood that overcame a dam.
But from the old man’s perspective, Meng Lei stood still in place, like he had gotten incapacitated. The look in his eyes was dull and blank.
Then, he suddenly waved a hand to remove the master-servant contract magic array and changed it to the magic array for an equal contract!
“Brat, what are you doing?” The old man was shocked. “Why are you changing the array at the last minute…”
But it was already too late. Two drops of blood rapidly appeared in the middle of the magic array, and then the two drops combined into one and separated into two again, entering the foreheads of Meng Lei and the little golden ant, respectively.
Buzz!
The contract was completed, and the magic array dissipated.
The scene around Meng Lei also changed drastically. The tall building disappeared, his wife and son disappeared, and he was back in the Magical Beast Forest.
“Cola? Wife? Where are you?”
Meng Lei leaped hard onto nothing.
“Brat, what the hell are you doing?” The old man’s voice sounded. “It was all good, so why did you change it to a magic array for an equal contract?”
Meng Lei’s whole body trembled. He looked around and then at the old man. He mumbled, “What was happening to me? What happened just now?”
“I understand now!” Ol’ Amos frowned deeply, and a look of regret appeared on his aged face. “It’s all my fault. Actually, I should have thought of it early on!”
“Ol’ President, what happened?” Meng Lei swung his head hard, feeling a bit of a headache.
“All this is its fault!” The old man pointed at the little golden ant on the floor.
“It?”
Meng Lei looked at the little golden ant but found that it was very weak, like a leaking balloon. Its head dwindled, and its eyes were dull. It seemed like its body was emptied.
Emptied? How did it get emptied out of nowhere?
Meng Lei frowned in great confusion.
“Brat, you were attacked by it!” The old man sighed. “Just now, you suddenly changed the contract array. I thought you decided to do it on a whim. Now it seems that this little fella used a spiritual attack and controlled you.”
“It controlled me?”
Meng Lei’s whole body shivered. He couldn’t help but recall the scene just now. That scene was too realistic and didn’t feel like an illusion at all.
“I really suffered its spiritual attack?”
“The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch is a non-elemental Magical Beast. If it has to be judged by elements, it is probably a strength- and spirit-elemental Magical Beast.”
The old man’s eyes had a complicated look. “It has amazingly potent strength, and when it reaches adulthood, it will be no weaker than Saint Domain Magical Beasts! But its most terrifying means of attack is still its spiritual attack, or… spiritual magic!”
“Spiritual magic?”
Meng Lei frowned slightly.
“Spiritual magic is very rare, so it’s not in the list of ten elements of magic. Nonetheless, spiritual magic does exist.” The old man explained, “Spiritual magic is a frightening type of magic because its attack target is the soul. Ordinary defense tactics are completely useless, and one can hardly guard against it.”
The old man looked at Meng Lei. “Such as just now, in the blink of an eye, you’ve suffered its spiritual attack, but you yourself were completely unaware!”
“Is it this terrible?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but look toward the little golden ant on the ground.
“It’s beyond terrible!” Ol’ Amos sighed. “This little guy was just born, so its spiritual attack is still very immature. If it were an adult ant monarch standing before you, the split second just now would have been enough to shatter your soul from the shock and kill you right on the spot!”
“Sss…”
Meng Lei felt a chill coursing through his spine.
“The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch, as a Magical Beast of the spiritual element, is the most skilled at spiritual attacks. Even if this little guy was just born, it still affected you, a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, without you knowing. You can imagine how terrifying it will become after it reaches adulthood.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head slightly. “It was precisely based on such consideration that I made you sign a strict master-servant contract with it. It would be easier for you to control it in the future! I didn’t expect…
“But it’s alright! After singing an equal contract, it will be your equal partner in life and death. It can also bring you great advantages.”
“This little fella is actually so scary?”
Meng Lei didn’t know what to say.
Squeak~
The little golden ant recovered a little now, it lifted its head and looked at Meng Lei, with a complex look in its two big ruby-like eyes.
There was helplessness, unwillingness, relaxation, relief, and a slight trace of… intimacy?
It seemed to know very clearly that after signing an equal contract, it would become the closest companion of this entirely strange and unfamiliar human being in front of it.
It was beyond race boundaries!
Beyond blood relations!
Beyond the barrier of hatred!
From then on, they would seek mutual benefits and stay together in life and death.
“Little fella, you actually dared to use a spiritual attack on me!”
Meng Lei squatted down, looking at the innocent-looking little golden ant, his facial expression was also a bit conflicted. Because of what happened just now, he didn’t like this somewhat thorny little fellow much.
Squeak~
The little golden ant squealed again and stretched its head to rub against Meng Lei’s hand. Its big eyes showed affection, and affectionate emotions also showed in the depth of its soul.
“Sigh!”
After observing the obedient-looking little fellow, Meng Lei gradually got over it. Anyone, faced with the fate of being enslaved, would fight back with all their might. The little fellow using a spiritual attack on him was completely logical.
“Actually, this is good as well!”
Meng Lei touched the little golden ant’s head and suddenly smiled.
It is pretty good to have a completely obedient and loyal servant for sure. But isn’t it better to have a companion who shares all my successes and failures and has a great rapport with me?
Does this world lack zombie-like slaves?
No! Never! It can be done by one master-servant contract!
But what is the point of spending time with such a slave every day?
“I see that you are shiny with golden light like you’re covered with golden armor… Shall I call you Little Gold in the future?”
“Okay! Okay!”
" }, { "id": 101, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-101", "title": "Chapter 101 - A Tragic Ant Monarch, The Reason For The Ant Tide", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Little Gold’s IQ was clearly higher than Teddy’s as right after the contract was signed, it could communicate spiritually with Meng Lei. It was far beyond Teddy!
“Little Gold, why are you here?” Meng Lei asked his first question, a question that he and Ol’ Amos were both concerned about.
By right, the ant monarch should stay underground. A new and young ant monarch like Little Gold should stay in its home even more.
Coming out to run around? What if it got caught by bad guys?
You see, you see, didn’t I catch it now?
Sob, sob~
Little Gold started sobbing. Its tears dropped continuously, and it looked like a young wife who had suffered great grievances.
It really was the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch. But, tragically, less than one month after it had inherited the ant monarch’s position, it had suffered an attack from another race of the underground world—Underground Cave Magical Spiders!
They were Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts that lived underground. Their individual strength was much stronger than the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’, but their numbers were relatively smaller.
Therefore, the overall strength of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants race and the Underground Cave Magical Spiders race was comparable, and both were powerful races that dominated the underground world.
However, the two races couldn’t get along since the beginning of time.
Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were large in numbers and occupied large swaths of land. Underground Cave Magical Spiders were smaller in numbers, yet they hunted Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants for food.
Over hundreds and thousands of years, the two races kept clashing, with countless wars happening, and they both wanted to eliminate the other.
Unfortunately, the two races were similar in strength, and neither could overcome the other.
This status quo remained as such until one month ago.
The old ant monarch passed away from old age one month ago, and Little Gold had to be crowned as monarch at its infant age.
However, the Underground Cave Magical Spiders, which had gotten the message, did not pass on this extremely rare opportunity. A great war that determined the fate of the two races had broken out like this.
The results were predictable. The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were badly defeated. Not only did the Underground Cave Magical Spiders broke through their home base, but also Little Gold, the new ant monarch, was chased out of the “royal halls” before it could stabilize its rule. Under the protection of a group of followers, it had escaped the underground world in fear.
Eventually, it met Meng Lei.
“…”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos looked at each other and didn’t know what to say. Little Gold’s fate was really too bad. It had suffered such a great tragedy right after becoming the ant monarch and finally broken out of the siege, only to almost become Meng Lei’s slave…
For a proper ant monarch to come to such a sad situation, it was really… sad!
Sigh, poor child.
“Little Gold, don’t cry!” Meng Lei stroked its head and comforted it. “When we have more strength next time, we’ll go back to the underground world and kill the Underground Cave Magical Spiders for revenge!”
“Okay!”
Little Gold nodded its golden head hard, and a firm look filled its eyes. It was an ant monarch, so it had to slaughter its way back to the underground world and take back everything that belonged to it. This was its mission!
“So, what you have to do now is to work hard to improve your strength. Become strong as soon as possible to seek revenge!” Meng Lei encouraged it.
“Got it!”
“That’s right!”
Seeing that Little Gold’s mood improved, Meng Lei felt relieved. After taking care of Little Gold, it was time to continue killing the ant tide to earn gold coins.
“Wait!”
Meng Lei froze, suddenly realizing that the matter was a bit embarrassing. Since Little Gold was the ant monarch, was it really good for him to slaughter so many of its kind?
“It’s not right! Since Little Gold is the ant monarch, why do I still have to kill the ant tide? They are my army now!”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened!
Kill?
To hell with killing!
After killing them, how else could he find such a mighty ant tide army? Wasn’t it better to keep them? They could do many things!
Meng Lei immediately became excited at that thought. “Little Gold, you should be able to control the ant tide army, right?”
Upon hearing that, Ol’ Amos’s eyes shone. If Little Gold really could control the ant tide army, this disaster would be resolved right away.
Unfortunately, the two were meant to be disappointed.
Little Gold shook its head. “I only just recently became the ant monarch. My spiritual power is still very weak. Without using the race-ruling divine weapon, I can control at most 2,000 subjects!”
(⊙_⊙)
“Huh? What!?”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos were stunned.
Without using the race-ruling divine weapon, it could only control 2,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants? For real?
“Juvenile ant monarchs are generally weak in spiritual power, and they are totally unable to control their massive subjects. To resolve this problem, the greatest ant monarch of our kind specially made a race-ruling divine weapon—the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest!”
Little Gold explained, “Making use of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, the juvenile ant monarch can indirectly control all the subjects. Unfortunately, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest is connected to the ant nest, and there was no way for me to take it away.”
“So, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest is left in the underground world?”
Meng Lei slapped his forehead and felt completely speechless.
Little Gold, Little Gold, you are such a failure of an ant monarch. You not only got chased out of your home, you even lost your race-ruling divine weapon!
This is honestly too…
Ol’ Amos thought of another matter. “In this case, the ant tide in the Magical Beast Forest has completely lost control?”
“Yes! I can’t control them, and they can’t go back underground. Thus, they can only travel aboveground! They are done for, they will be killed sooner or later!”
Little Gold shook its head and sighed.
“They are done for?”
The corner of the old man’s mouth twitched. He was afraid it wasn’t them, but others, who were done for. An ant tide beyond control was completely unimaginable.
“Ol’ President, what to do now?” Meng Lei also realized the seriousness of the problem. “The ant tide has lost control, and it can’t go back underground.”
The old man’s facial expression looked heavier than ever. “They will go around aimlessly like flies, eating away anything edible! After they finish with the Magical Beast Forest, they will rush out of the forest and go to other places!”
“An ant tide outbreak… is already inevitable!” The old man took a deep breath. “Meng Lei, the ant tide this time is fundamentally different from the historical ones. It will be fiercer and more terrible than any of the past ones. You have to be mentally prepared!”
“Understood!”
Meng Lei’s heart chilled. Then, he looked at Little Gold apologetically. “Little Gold, to protect my fellow humans from being eliminated by the ant tide, I have to be unfair to you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Little Gold shook its head. “Ordinary subjects’ lives are short. Even if they aren’t killed, they will die naturally very soon. They won’t live to see me reach adulthood!”
“I’m assured then.”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief. So long as Little Gold didn’t hate him because of this, the matters were much easier. “Let’s go, Little Gold. We’ll go to… Well, the next place.”
“Wait for me first.”
Little Gold rapidly crawled to the side of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ carcasses and did something that shocked Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos greatly.
A golden ray of light suddenly shone from its two golden antennae, and circles of golden light spread out to cover a radius of a hundred meters.
In the next moment, an inexplicable scene happened.
The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that were illuminated by the golden light actually quietly melted up like ice that met strong sunlight and turned into splashes of red liquid.
Buzz!
Little Gold opened its mouth to suck, and these red liquids strangely floated up. They then flew into Little Gold’s mouth like birds returning to their nests.
Burp~
Little Gold burped, and its aura actually… grew a little?
“This…”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos looked at each other, both stunned!
" }, { "id": 102, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-102", "title": "Chapter 102 - Billionaire, Ninth-Grade Warrior", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Little Gold has such an ability?
Meng Lei found this incredible.
Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, and their entire bodies are as hard as steel. Even magical weapons enhanced with Battle Aura can hardly break their carcasses…
But Little Gold… It melted them by releasing one ray of golden light? This is totally far more terrible even than the most concentrated sulfuric acid!
“Ol’ President, what ability is this?”
Meng Lei swallowed his saliva.
“No idea!” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “Since ancient times, humans have known very little about Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarchs. Except that they are double-elemental Magical Beasts of strength and spirit, nothing else is known.”
“Alright!”
Within mere minutes, all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants carcasses had all turned into red liquid and got swallowed into Little Gold’s belly.
Amazing…
After eating thousands of kilos of carcasses, with the exception of Little Gold’s aura, which improved significantly, there was actually no change in any other aspect. Its body didn’t change at all!
“Where did it put all those ant carcasses?”
Meng Lei took a breath as it deeply shocked him once again.
Ol’ Amos sighed slowly and said emotionally, “We still know too little about Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarchs.”
“That’s right!”
After swallowing all the ant carcasses, Little Gold burped in satisfaction, and then returned to Meng Lei’s side. Its shiny golden head rubbed against Meng Lei, looking very affectionate.
Meng Lei’s look was complicated. “Little Gold, you ate all those Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants… Where are they stored?”
“In my belly!” Little Gold blinked its big eyes. ‘We Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants all have very big stomachs. Ordinary subjects can hold food up to 100 times their own weight. I’m the ant monarch, so I can hold 10,000 times my own weight of food.”
“10,000… times?”
Meng Lei’s whole body shivered, and he almost peed from the shock. Ol’ Amos also shivered from the shock, and his face turned white.
They were both astonished!
Yet this wasn’t all, as Little Gold added, “I’m still in the juvenile stage. I can only hold so much food! The former ant monarch was really great, as he could swallow a big mountain in one go!”
When mentioning the former ant monarch, Little Gold’s eyes were full of reverence. Predictably, the former ant monarch had left an unerasable impression in its young mind.
“A big mountain…”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos fell silent instantly.
They were silent for a long while before Meng Lei finally sighed and said, “I finally understand why an ant tide army is so horrible. Every Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant is a moving extra-large spatial magical device. How can it not be horrible?”
Ol’ Amos had more experiences, and his understanding was deeper. His eyes shone with bright light. “Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ stomachs should form a space of their own. The stomach space of the ant monarch is especially extraordinary. It seems that they are not just double-elemental Magical Beasts of strength and spirit!”
“There’s still a space element!?” exclaimed Meng Lei said.
“That’s right! There’s still a space element!” The old man nodded slowly. “In this world that we live in, apart from the most common and basic ten magical elements, there are some very rare magic attributes that are nonetheless real, or used to be real but have already gotten lost over time, such as Soul magic, Space magic, Dead Spirit magic, Time magic, and so on!”
“Space, Dead Spirit, Time magic?” Meng Lei muttered in a low voice.
“Heaven’s Vault Continent has existed for too long a history. In different periods, the living beings were different, and the main magic cultivated was quite different as well.”
The old man sighed. “With the passing of time, many rare yet very strong types of magic have disappeared in history, but there are always some little bits of records that remain.
“Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are a typical example. Though this race’s strength isn’t exceptional, they have a rare triple element of strength, spirit, and space, especially with the space element ingrained in the depth of their bloodline, it is such a wonder!”
Meng Lei let out a breath and also felt great amazement.
“Let’s go! Off to other places!” The old man waved his hand. “Since the little fellow is so good at eating, we’ll let it eat to its satisfaction.”
“Alright!”
The magic carpet went up into the sky and disappeared from this area of the forest in the blink of an eye. When it reappeared, it had already arrived above the next swathe of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants army.
With a few thunder balls dropped down, this big army of around 3,000 all died out and became Little Gold’s food.
Seeing Little Gold swallow 3,000 ant carcasses again, Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos still felt awed. 3,000 ant corpses, covering such a big area, it ate them all!?
A foodie?
This was a f*cking real foodie!
As compared to it, even the dragon race had to come second!
The only thing that pained Meng Lei a little was that when Little Gold swallowed the ant carcasses, it would also swallow the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ magical cores together with them.
Such a waste. 3,000 magic cores are 30,000,000 gold coins! Gone?
Little Gold, you are the obstacle to my entrance into Saint Domain! But, I’ll bear with it!
Meng Lei ground his teeth.
Little Gold’s strength can only grow faster by devouring so many magic cores. For its benefit, I’ll bear with it!
Everything is for Little Gold!
For everything of Little Gold!
However, when Little Gold devoured an ant tide of more than 30,000 ants again, Meng Lei couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Little Gold, when you eat ant carcasses next time, can you leave the magic cores for me? It’s too difficult for me!”
Meng Lei thought that Little Gold would be very hesitant, but what he didn’t expect was that Little Gold actually agreed very readily. Then it opened its mouth and spat, instantly producing a rain of magic cores.
In a short while, the space in front of him piled up with fist-sized red magic cores. There were so many that Meng Lei felt he would almost get blinded by the light.
“Magic cores are of no use to me, and they take up space. I only ate them together because I couldn’t bear to throw them away. If you need them, I can take them out at any time.”
Little Gold’s innocent big eyes blinked as it said a series of words that made Meng Lei almost lose his composure.
Of no use to you? And take up space? You just can’t bear to throw away?
It was like three violent hits had landed on him, and Meng Lei almost spat out blood.
If I had known, what the hell was I holding myself back for!?
But! Well done with the violent hits!
So many magic cores! If I turn around and sell them, it will be another fortune!
Meng Lei was instantly filled with drive, so he moved around different places and killed madly!
One pile, two piles, three piles…
10,000, 20,000, 30,000…
Within one afternoon, Meng Lei had slaughtered 60,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants and earned a net worth of 600,000,000 gold coins and 60,000 magic cores. His Wealth value soared to a shocking 1,087,622,034
1 billion! An entire 1 billion!
If he added all the magic cores, gems, the Titanic Dragon-Ape carcass… and other treasures that had to be sold to be turned into cash, his wealth right now was already more than… 2 billion!
2 billion!
This was an astounding number!
It meant that Meng Lei was already 1/5 into the way toward Saint Domain!
“Money, money, I have money!”
“What can you do! What can you do!”
“…”
“System! Redeem 6,000,000 gold coins for me and add the Attribute Points to Physical Body Constitution. I want to break into ninth-grade!”
6,000,000 gold coins disappeared instantly, and the system cue tone promptly sounded.
“Ding! Congratulations, host. You have successfully broken through to become a Ninth-Grade Warrior. Please continue to work hard for another breakthrough!”
" }, { "id": 103, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-103", "title": "Chapter 103 - Tanna The Class Belle, We'Re Done For", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline and Fire Demon bloodline)
Wealth: 1,081,622,034 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Ninth-Grade Warrior (1,003,872/1,000,000,000)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,342,073/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,122,640/1,000,000,000)
Ninth-Grade Warrior!
Ninth-Grade Magician!
A Great Magician of four elements—thunder, fire, earth, and wood!
As Meng Lei skimmed over his stats interface and felt the surging power that was close to overflowing and gushing out of his body, he felt unprecedentedly strong and his condition wonderful like never before.
I feel like I can smash an entire mountain into smithereens with my bare fist!
This sensation of power flowing through my whole body… It’s awesome!
“What are you spacing out for, brat?!”
A shout suddenly blasted his ears, shocking Meng Lei straight out of his revelry. He grumbled, “What’s the matter, Ol’ President?”
“What are you daydreaming about all day long? We’re in the Magical Beast Forest, you know! Are you tired of living?” Ol’ Amos was rather displeased. Then, he said, “Your magic communication device is ringing!”
“Oh!”
Meng Lei took out his magic communication device and a chubby, round face popped up at once. “Hey! Old bro, how are ya?”
“I’m good!”
Meng Lei had initially wanted to reply that he couldn’t be any better, but he didn’t want to invite criticism from Ol’ Amos, so he could only answer like what he had said. Then, he asked, “What made you suddenly think of me?”
“Hehe!”
Fatty Hart chuckled. Then, he took a golden helmet from somewhere and plopped it on top of his head. He looked just like GG Bond 1 with a golden helmet on his head and looked exceptionally comical!
“Old bro, don’t I look like a hunk right now?” asked Fatty Hart as he wriggled his eyebrows and winked at him in a terribly flirtatious manner.
“Pfft! Hahahaha!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. He almost couldn’t catch his breath as he chortled!
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you laughing at, old bro?”
Fatty Hart was rather displeased!
“Cough, cough! No… I’m not laughing!” Meng Lei coughed a couple of times. He held back his laughter and asked, “Fatty, what are you up to? What are you messing about with?”
Fatty Hart’s face immediately fell upon hearing his question. He replied, “Messing about? That’s what I’d like to do if I could! Old bro, do you know where I currently am?”
“Where are you?”
“The North River Pass of the Great Dragon Blood Wall!”
“What the! Why have you gone there? Are you tired of living?!” Meng Lei was rather shocked. “Don’t you know that an ant tide has broken out at the Great Dragon Blood Wall?!”
“Do you think I came here willingly?” Fatty Hart laughed ruefully. “I was happily staying at home and enjoying a comfortable, pleasant, and free life. If I hadn’t been forced to, who would want to come all the way to the Great Dragon Blood Wall to send themselves to death’s door?”
“Forced to?” Meng Lei was taken aback for a moment.
“Didn’t I just break through to Fourth-Grade Magician a couple of days ago? My old man said that I only have a sham of a cultivation realm, but no actual corresponding strength, so I need to go for some proper training.” Fatty Hart gave him a wry smile and went on. “He then sent me to the academy to join the team of seniors being sent to help out in the defense against the ant tide. I was sent here after that!”
“…”
Meng Lei didn’t know what to say anymore. Fatty Hart’s magic talent was certainly not bad, but sending him to defend against the ant tide? What was his old man thinking?
“After I arrived at Great Dragon Blood Wall, a group of seniors and I were dispatched to the North River Pass, and I became a guarding Magician there.
“The silver lining in this tragedy is that the teacher in charge of my group is that old fellow Dirk!”
Fatty Hart lowered his voice and said, “Old Dirk may be strict and inflexible, but he’s very strong and powerful. With a Great Ninth-Grade Magician like him leading the team, at least our safety is guaranteed!”
“Mr. Dirk is also at the North River Pass?”
“Yes, Abbe and Tanna are also here!”
“Tanna?”
“You can’t possibly not remember even Tanna, right? Tanna Airam, our class belle. You know, the beautiful, fair-skinned Dragon Person babe from the Frost Kingdom!”
At the mention of Tanna, Fatty Hart perked up at once. His eyes were gleaming bright, as though a couple of 100-Watt light bulbs.
“Oh, her? Since when did she become the class belle?”
“Hehe! I decided that she is!”
“Pooh!”
Fatty Hart snickered and then wriggled his eyebrows as he said, “That girl even mentioned your name just now and asked why you weren’t here. I told her that you’d gone to the Magical Beast Forest for training!”
“Uh…”
“Guess what that girl replied? She said that as expected of our class’ top student, not only do you have outstanding magic talent, but you’re even diligent and hardworking. She also said that you’re her idol and that she idolizes you very much.”
Fatty Hart laughed vulgarly. “Old bro, you should thank me, you know. Your buddy here has done you such a huge favor!”
“I should thank you?”
Meng Lei was a little stunned.
“That I didn’t expose you, of course!” Fatty Hart chuckled sneakily and said, “I’m the only one that knows that your home is actually at the Magical Beast Forest. Actually, the reason why you went to the Magical Beast Forest for training is just to return home, right?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes, too lazy to even provide the fellow with an actual explanation.
“So, tell me, old bro, shouldn’t you thank me?”
Fatty Hart gave him another vulgar smile and said, “Hehe! I, Fatty, am someone that’s loyal to his friends. For the sake of comradeship, I’d even go to hell and back, much less something as trivial as this.
“But since I’ve done you such a huge favor, I’m sure you’ll feel apologetic if you don’t show some appreciation. So, how about this, shall we make a trip to Juxian Restaurant when the term starts?”
A corner of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed in response.
“Since you’re not objecting, I’ll take your silence as a yes! Wahahaha, Juxian Restaurant! Tsk, tsk, I must fleece a good and proper meal out of you!”
Fatty Hart began to cheer loudly. Right at that point, a clear and melodious voice rang out. “Hart, who are you talking to? You’re laughing so happily!”
“Hehe! Oh, it’s Tanna!” Fatty Hart turned and looked over. “I’m talking to your idol! Speaking of which, your idol is really tough. He’s actually still strolling about in the Magical Beast Forest. Isn’t he afraid that the ant tide would gobble him up?”
“What? Meng Lei is still in the Magical Beast Forest?”
The clear and melodious female voice rang out again. Then, a fair, gorgeous face with fiery red little horns appeared in the magic communication device.
It was Tanna Airam!
“…”
“Meng Lei, you’re still in the Magical Beast Forest?” Tanna looked astonished. “I heard that Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are going about everywhere in the Magical Beast Forest now. Isn’t it very dangerous to continue staying there?”
That damned fatty! Shooting his mouth off like that!
With some effort, Meng Lei squeezed out a hint of a smile and replied, “I’m in the Magical Beast Forest’s outer boundaries, so there aren’t a lot of ants here. It’s not dangerous!”
“That’s great!” Tanna said, “Do stay safe, Meng Lei. If you meet with danger, remember to take care of yourself!”
“I will, thanks!”
Meng Lei nodded.
Hoooonk!
Hoooonk!
Hoooonk!
As though dull thunderclaps coming out of nowhere, several loud and clear air horn blasts came from the magic communication device at this moment, followed by several panicked shouts.
“The ant tide is here!”
“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”
“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”
“The ant tide is here?”
Tanna and Hart’s countenances changed at once. Hart said anxiously, “Old bro, the ant tide is here. I have to go and face the enemies now, so I won’t talk to you anymore! I’m hanging up!”
And then, he hung up.
Meng Lei stared at the magic communication device that had turned quiet again and murmured softly, “An ant tide has actually appeared at the North River Pass? I hope the numbers aren’t too great.”
The Great Dragon Blood Wall stretched for several thousand kilometers, so its defense line was very long. The ant tide could appear at any part of it.
Therefore, every pass needed armed forces to guard it. However, this also meant that the number of soldiers guarding each pass wouldn’t be very high, and the number of Magicians allocated to each pass even fewer.
It was precisely because of this that the magic academies had assembled students to come forward to render their assistance. What were they to do? There was a shortage of Magicians!
Thus, in the face of danger, they could only send students into battle.
However, students were ultimately just students, and there was a limit to their abilities. Defending against typical ant tides was no issue for them, but it would be terrible should they run into large waves of ants.
Although an ant tide had shown up at the North River Pass, as long as there weren’t a lot of them, there wouldn’t be much of an issue.
Buzz!
The magic communication device rang again at that moment.
“Old bro! We’re done for…”
" }, { "id": 104, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-104", "title": "Chapter 104 - Resisting The Enemies At North River, Unprecedented Events", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The Great Dragon Blood Wall stretched on for several thousand kilometers.
A pass was set up every 50 kilometers. Just the number of passes in the whole of the Great Dragon Blood Wall alone totaled up to almost 100, and the North River Pass was one of them.
The North River Pass was named as such due to its proximity to the North River.
The North River flowed from the west to the east. Starting from the Titan Plateau where the Titan Empire was, it cut all the way through the Magical Beast Forest and Dragon God Empire before finally flowing into the deep, boundless East Oceans. It was one of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s biggest rivers and nurtured countless lives.
The whole North River was currently surging turbulently with churning waves, however. Crimson-red Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants marched across the river toward the pass, advancing upon North River Pass as though a great army.
“The ant tide… It’s here!”
Hoooonk!
Hoooonk!
Hoooonk!
“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”
“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”
The loud and clear air horn blasts cut through the sky, startling all the military personnel in North River Pass. Soldiers, archers, arbalists, and guarding Magicians all got into their positions one by one.
A black-robed elderly man, Dirk Norway, also led dozens of magic academy students and raced up to the top of the city walls. Then, he went up to Cesia Dodgson, the general in charge of guarding the pass.
“Marchioness Cesia, all the Magicians from Fire Dragon Magic Academy have assembled and are awaiting your orders!”
Dirk Norway looked at the female general in front of him with a vague hint of respect in his eyes. Many of the students also looked at her with idolizing expressions.
Cesia Dodgson, a Dragon Person Warrior with Green Dragon blood, the general in charge of guarding North River Pass, and the only female general among more than 100 frontier generals!
Not only was she strong, but she also protected the kingdom and guarded the borders. Even as a woman, she didn’t lose out to a man in terms of her abilities and bravery. She could be said to be the role model for all women and was also an idol that innumerable teenage girls pursued and idolized.
“Mr. Dirk, we’re in a critical situation now, so I won’t stand on ceremony with you anymore!”
Marchioness Cesia had green wings on her back and green curved horns on her forehead. She wore a suit of green armor that brought out her tall, slender figure and made her look valiant, brave, and very heroic.
Her eyes were cold and chilly as she looked straight at the dozens of student Magicians from Fire Dragon Magic Academy. “Sixth-Grade Magicians, step forward!”
Whoosh!
Seven to eight sixth-grade seniors stepped forward in response to her command. They were all Sixth-Grade Magicians that would be graduating this year.
“Soldier, bring them to the mid-grade mage towers!”
“Yes, my lady!”
“Fifth-Grade Magicians, step forward!”
“Soldier, bring them to the low-grade mage towers!”
“Yes, my lady!”
In the blink of an eye, a good half of the students Dirk Norway had brought here were led away, leaving behind only about a dozen Fourth-Grade Magicians who hadn’t received any instructions yet.
Amongst them were the fully-armed Hart dressed in a suit of golden armor—he was fully and completely wrapped—and carrying a golden magic staff, the expressionless Abbe, as well as the porcelain-skinned Dragon Person teenage girl, Tanna.
Fatty Hart and the others looked at Marchioness Cesia in anticipation, hoping that she’d arrange for them to enter the mage towers too. However, they were sorely disappointed.
Marchioness Cesia said, “One must be a Fifth-Grade Magician at the minimum in order to control the mage towers. All of you are too weak, so you can only fight against the enemies at the top of the city walls.”
“…”
Fatty Hart and the others exchanged looks in silence.
As Magicians, they naturally knew of amazing tools like the mage towers. They had just been thinking of going in to take a look and broaden their horizons, but little did they expect that things would turn out like this…
However, Marchioness Cesia didn’t have the leisure to be sensitive to their feelings because the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants covering every inch of the wilderness had already come engulfing toward them like a red deluge.
One couldn’t see to the end of the flood of ants, nor could they see the edges. They stretched on for several hundred kilometers!
There was no end to them, whether from the left and right or from the front and back.
At the sight of the ant tide’s terrifying scale, Dirk Norway’s countenance was extremely grave. “Marchioness Cesia, the ant tide is actually invading with such a fearsome momentum? It’s more terrifying than any of the past beast tides!”
Marchioness Cesia’s pretty face was dark and somber as she replied, “The area that the ant tide covers has probably already exceeded 300 miles. In addition, there is still an endless stream of ants on their way here. I’m afraid…”
She didn’t voice the rest of her thoughts, but anyone could tell what she meant—”I’m afraid it bodes more ill than fortune. It’s going to be hard to defend the pass!”
“We won’t be able to defend the pass?”
Fatty Hart and the others tensed up at once. The ant tide army surged toward them like seawater, emanating a baleful aura that rocketed to the skies. The sight of them made chills run down their spines. How would they still have the courage to fight against them?
“Can we really fight against that many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants?” Blood drained from a few of the students’ faces, and they turned as pale as sheets.
“What nonsense!”
Dirk Norway barked coldly, “As Magicians guarding the pass, how can you let fear consume you before you’ve even begun to fight? Listen well, all of you are Magicians that my Fire Dragon Magic Academy has groomed!
“No matter where and no matter when, you mustn’t forget your identities as Magicians! Nor can you bring disgrace to the academy!
“So what even if you’re weak? You can still enter the battlefield and take out the enemies! Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, so as long as you can kill even just one, you’d have performed beyond expectations! Do you understand me?”
“Understood!”
A severe jolt went through Fatty Hart and the others, and the fear in their eyes faded slightly.
Dirk Norway nodded lightly. Then, he instructed, “However, killing the enemy aside, all of you must take utmost care to protect yourselves. I don’t wish to bring any of your corpses back! Do you hear me?”
“Yes!”
“Good!”
Dirk Norway let out a breath of air. All strong experts started out weak and feeble. Who hadn’t been nervous, scared, and fearful before?
The key was in adjusting one’s frame of mind and overcoming their fear, as well as to muster one’s courage after having a sense of shame and then strive to be better.
That way, they would definitely become powerful experts.
However, if experiencing just a bit of setback could frighten them so badly that they lost all of their courage and ended up becoming overly cautious, then no matter how wonderful their talent was, they would never amount to anything.
“Hear my orders! Arbalists… Fire!”
Upon seeing that the ant tide army’s vanguards had already charged right up to them, Marchioness Cesia waved the huge sword in her hand and gave the order to attack.
Boom, boom, boom!
Various ballista bolts with lightning, flames, storms, and ice frost circling around them shot out viciously and exploded with deafening booms among the ant tide. At once, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants suffered a great number of casualties, and quite a few voids appeared in the boundless ant tide.
“Alright!”
“Nice!”
Upon the sight of this, Fatty Hart and the others couldn’t help but become greatly enthused. Did they even need to worry about being unable to exterminate the ant tide with efficient weapons like these?
Unfortunately, the ants weren’t affected in the least. They stepped over their comrades’ carcasses and continued to surge toward them. The voids created by the explosions were filled in no time, and the situation returned to what it was like before.
“This…”
Fatty Hart and the others were stupefied. The deaths of so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants hadn’t actually had any impact on the ant tide at all? Weren’t they afraid to die?
“That is what makes ant tides more terrifying than ordinary beast tides.” Dirk Norway explained in a deep voice, “The beasts in beast tides are afraid to die, so it’s hard for them to become united. However, the ant tide is fearless and marches on courageously unless you exterminate all of them. Otherwise, they’ll never retreat!”
“Why is this happening?”
The group of newbies was frightened by the scene before them. However, what happened next told them that this was only the beginning.
“Fire!”
Boom, boom, boom!
The ballistae launched attacks in a frenzy. Dozens of bolts exploded in the center of the ant tide, yet there wasn’t even a bit of effect at all.
Wave upon wave, the ants continued to advance endlessly.
Even after killing the ones at the front, there were still those behind them.
There was no end to them at all, and it practically filled one with hopelessness.
“So this is what an ant tide is?”
Fatty Hart and the others sucked in a breath of chilly air.
In this instant, they finally understood a few things. For example, why the kingdom had issued a special-class beast tide warning, why the academy had assembled the seniors on a large scale to resist the ant tide, and why the kingdom was in an uproar as if doomsday had come.
With an ant tide as terrifying as this, what difference was there between this and doomsday?
" }, { "id": 105, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-105", "title": "Chapter 105 - Death Tempest, Give The Order To Withdraw", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "As though churning waves, the red ant tide stretching on for several hundreds of kilometers attacked the Great Dragon Blood Wall in a frenzy.
Ballista bolts hurtled through the air, arrows shot and flew through the air, and spells bombarded the ant tide.
The guarding militants fought on desperately in the bloody battle.
Countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were sealed in ice, burned into ashes, electrocuted into charcoal, impaled like hedgehogs, slashed into ribbons…
However, it still couldn’t stop the crazy ant tide. They advanced wave upon wave, endlessly, fearlessly, and with no end to them.
The attacks didn’t have any effect on them!
They were getting near now!
The ant tide got nearer and nearer, about to flood the North River Pass any moment!
“We can’t stop them!”
“We can’t stop them at all!”
“We’ll be ripped into shreds!”
A few students broke down at the sight of this and began to scream and shout like lunatics. They were hysterical and had lost their marbles.
“Shut up! Don’t affect the soldiers’ morale!”
Upon seeing this, Dirk Norway glared at them viciously.
Boom!
As though a heavy hammer had struck them, a spiritual attack that had physically manifested knocked out those few students, and they collapsed limply on the ground.
With a wave, Dirk Norway barked in a low voice, “Bring them down!”
“Yes, sir!”
A few soldiers hurriedly carried the students away. Dirk Norway let out a faint sigh as he gazed at them from the back.
He knew that those few students were now useless for good. Even if they woke up, it would leave behind serious psychological trauma in their hearts. It’d be very tough for them to amount to much in the future.
However, Dirk didn’t find this a pity.
Students like them were psychologically fragile by nature. No matter how good their magic talent was, there would surely be a limit to their future achievements, so they wouldn’t have amounted to much anyway.
“Remember this!”
Dirk Norway’s gaze swept across Hart and the others. “Do you think you can become strong just by relying on your talent? That’s nothing but just a daydream! Talent is just a prerequisite! Hardships and setbacks are an expert’s real trials and tribulations!
“True experts must undergo trials of blood and fire. They must undergo innumerable battles and setbacks, and they must endure hardships and pain that ordinary people find hard to even imagine!”
Dirk Norway’s gaze was cold and frosty. “Excellent talent doesn’t count for much. Neither does having a sham of a cultivation realm. Breaking down the moment you enter the battlefield? You’re still a good-for-nothing all the same and will bring harm to others and yourself!”
Awe and reverence filled Hart and the others. They couldn’t help but lower their heads, not daring to meet Mr. Dirk’s eyes.
Dirk Norway’s gaze swept across every one of their faces one last time. Then, he turned and got on top of the parapet and began to launch attacks.
“O’ the omnipotent wind fairies, with air as your bow and light as your arrows, please accept the power of my will and cut across the skies in the far distance… Death Tempest!”
Buzz, buzz!
The Wind Elements in the universe began to converge in a frenzy, and a black tornado completely made up of wind blades and measuring several hundred meters wide, and thousands of feet tall quietly took shape.
Ninth-Grade Spell… Death Tempest!
Boom!
With a devouring power that could destroy the heavens and earth, Death Tempest landed in the center of the ant tide in an instant. Amid earth-shaking explosions, countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were devoured by the tempest and wrung into dust.
“Spin!”
With a wave of Dirk Norway’s magic staff, Death Tempest began to spin around in the battlefield, appearing in one spot one moment and another spot the next.
Everywhere it passed by, the ants were reduced to nothingness.
“That’s so awesome!”
“The mighty Mr. Dirk!”
“That’s so impressive!”
“As expected of Mr. Dirk!”
Hart and the others’ spirits were greatly roused. The shadows looming over all the soldiers were swept away at once, and they began to see the hope of victory.
Death Tempest’s destructiveness was too fearsome.
In just a short breath, it’d already killed almost 10,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants. If he could unleash a few more Death Tempests, wouldn’t the ant tide be reduced to dust?!
“Everyone! Let’s charge, too!”
“Mr. Dirk is right! Even if I must bite them…”
“Kill!”
The students were greatly encouraged, and all of them stepped onto the parapet. They imitated Mr. Dirk and also began to chant magic incantations.
For a moment there, all kinds of magic elements converged around them.
The horrifying scene continued on…
A thick, dense bloody aura shrouded the battlefield!
Time slipped by bit by bit!
Unknowingly, an hour had gone by!
Despite every single soldier fighting desperately, the ant tide showed no signs of decreasing at all, and their momentum didn’t weaken in the least. On the contrary, more and more of them showed up, and their momentum also became stronger and stronger.
This was even under the circumstances where Dirk Norway, a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, was fighting desperately against them. If he hadn’t been here, the North River Pass would have fallen a long time ago.
“We can’t hold them back! The ant tide’s momentum is too strong! If this goes on, we won’t be able to defend the pass at all!”
Marchioness Cesia had an awful look on her face. “Where are the reinforcements? How long more before the fastest reinforcements reach us?”
A soldier quickly replied, “My lady, an hour!”
“An hour? If this goes on, we won’t even be able to last half an hour, much less an hour?” Marchioness Cesia gritted her teeth. “Urge them to hurry! Tell the reinforcements to hurry here with everything they’ve got! Get them to speed up!”
After she spoke, she strode up to Dirk Norway and asked somberly, “Mr. Dirk, even at the earliest, the reinforcements still need at least an hour before they can arrive. How long more can you hold out?”
His countenance solemn, Dirk Norway replied, “Ninth-grade spells are too taxing on my magic power, so I can’t hold out for an hour. It’s possible if I cast sixth- or seventh-grade spells the whole time instead, though!”
“There’s a limit to sixth- and seventh-grade spells’ destructiveness. North River Pass will fall in less than an hour!” Cesia shook her head repeatedly. “Mr. Dirk, how long can you hold out for if you keep casting ninth-grade spells with a scale like Death Tempest’s?”
“Half an hour at the most.” Dirk Norway gave her a resigned smile. “The amount of magic power large-scale ninth-grade spells like Death Tempest consume is terrifying. If I continue this for another half an hour, all the magic power that I’ve accumulated over my entire lifetime will be exhausted for sure, and I’ll need a very long time before I can recover.”
“Half an hour…”
Cesia fell silent.
At that moment, a soldier approached while panting heavily. “My lady, this is terrible! The ant tide 30 miles away is attacking the city walls!”
“My lady, the city gate tower 100 miles away has been occupied by the ant tide!”
“My lady…”
More than 10 soldiers hurried over in succession, yet the news that they brought rammed heavily against everyone’s hearts like a hammer. Everyone’s faces were deathly pale, and hopelessness arose within them.
19 areas of the city walls had fallen to the ant tide—that was a whole 19 areas!
Would more and more fall after this?
“Are we ultimately unable to defend the pass after all?” A dazed Marchioness Cesia murmured, “To be honest, in the instant that I saw the ant tide’s scale, I knew that it was impossible to defend the pass. I’ve ultimately still underestimated the ant tide’s might… Sigh!”
Dirk Norway also let out a sigh and stayed quiet.
The ant tide stretched on for 300 miles, which meant that more than 300 miles of defense line were simultaneously under their attack.
How much military manpower did the North River Pass only have? And how many Magicians?
Without any reinforcements, breaking past the pass was inevitable.
Cesia said solemnly with a sigh, “Mr. Dirk, while the ant tide hasn’t reached this area yet, hurry and leave with your students. They are the kingdom’s future. Nothing must happen to them!”
Dirk Norway closed his eyes, a look of affliction and struggle surfacing on his face. He knew what withdrawing signified and also knew what the falling of the pass meant.
Lives would be plunged into great misery and suffering.
Countless lives would be lost.
But there was nothing he could do.
There was nothing he could do about it.
He was ultimately just a single, lone person.
He couldn’t stem the raging tides and save the world from a crisis.
In the end, after a long internal struggle, Dirk Norway waved his arm and brought out a magic airship anyway. He ordered, “All students, board the airship and withdraw at once!”
“Mr. Dirk, are we going to give up just like that?” Hart couldn’t accept such a conclusion. “If we leave and the ant tide breaks past the pass and surges in, what are the people in the city going to do? They’ll be exposed to those sharp teeth of the ants.”
“There’s no other way. There’s nothing I can do!” There were tears in Dirk Norway’s eyes as he said, “The ant tide is invading with a vengeance, yet our line of defense is heavily damaged. It’s like an old ship in the great ocean that’s leaking in every corner. There isn’t even any way to block the holes. There’s really nothing I can do about this!”
Hart fell silent at once upon his response.
“There’s ultimately a limit to a person’s strength. How can anyone possibly oppose a natural disaster?” Dirk Norway wiped the tears from his eyes and instructed, “Let’s go. There’s nothing we can do to help even if we stay here. Let’s leave as soon as possible!”
“I understand, sir!”
Hart and the others hung their heads and boarded the airship one by one.
Dirk Norway looked at Marchioness Cesia and asked softly, “Marchioness Cesia, what are your plans now?”
“We can only withdraw!” Marchioness Cesia had a complicated look on her face. “It’s just that I’ve guarded the North River Pass for over 10 years. Today is the first time that I have to abandon the city. I can’t accept this!”
Dirk Norway was silent in response.
At that moment, someone suddenly pointed at the far distance and exclaimed, “Look! What’s that?”
“Huh?”
“Could it be the reinforcements?”
Everyone perked up greatly upon their words. Then, they noticed a black dot speeding rapidly toward them—it was a magic carpet! And someone was standing on top of it!
“Who is he?”
“Is he here to help us fight against the ant tide?”
“He doesn’t seem like much of an expert if he’s riding a magic carpet…”
Very soon, everyone became sorely disappointed. With the ant tide threatening to break past the city’s defenses any moment, even the troops were getting ready to withdraw. Sending even another 100,000 people wouldn’t be of any use. Not to mention just a lone person?
Besides, he was even riding a magic carpet. Just a look at him, and one would know that he wasn’t anyone strong.
Fatty Hart was the only one that picked up a pair of binoculars and watched the figure in alarm and uncertainty. Then, he suddenly exclaimed, “What the heck! Isn’t that old bro?!”
“Old bro?”
Abbe and Tanna were startled at the same time. “Are you saying that’s Meng Lei?”
“Yes, it’s him! I asked him to come and help previously. Little did I expect that he’d really come. As expected of my buddy. How loyal!”
Fatty Hart’s face was full of agitation.
“Who’s Meng Lei?”
Upon hearing the trio’s exchange, Marchioness Cesia immediately perked up. She asked, “How strong is he? Is he a Great Ninth-Grade Magician? Can he help us to fight the ant tide?”
“He’s my student!” Dirk Norway replied with a wry smile, “He’s probably a Fifth-Grade Magician.”
“…”
Cesia’s facial expression froze.
“Let’s just give the order to withdraw!”
" }, { "id": 106, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-106", "title": "Chapter 106 - : Arrogant And Conceited? Falling Meteors", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The magic carpet flew at high speed. In the twinkling of an eye, it had already reached the North River Pass’ city walls. Everyone looked at the handsome teenage boy on the magic carpet at the same time.
His skin had turned darker, and he had lost some weight. But he had also become stronger and more muscular.
His eyes, in particular, actually shone like the Milky Way and were exceptionally bright. They shone with a dazzling vigor and a breathtaking glow.
“Mr. Dirk, it’s been a while!”
Meng Lei jumped off the magic carpet and gave Dirk Norway a Magician’s salute. He respected the strict and stern head teacher very much.
“Attaboy! Actually running into the Magical Beast Forest without saying even a word, that’s pretty gutsy of you. Aren’t you afraid you’ll be devoured by the ant tide?!”
Dirk Norway looked Meng Lei up and down, a look of gratification coming over his features. Meng Lei fulfilled all the requirements he had of a genius Magician—excellent talent, diligent, strove to do better, a firm and steadfast will, and polite and well-mannered.
He was practically perfect.
“I’ve made you worry.”
Meng Lei gave him a smile. Then, he looked at Fatty Hart and the other two. Without waiting for him to greet them, Fatty Hart had already pounced toward him, his suit of shiny golden armor almost blinding Meng Lei. His clumsy and heavy body pressed right on top of Meng Lei.
Good thing that was Meng Lei. If it had been someone else, wouldn’t they have been crushed to death by Fatty Hart?
“Old bro! I’m so happy to see you!” Fatty Hart looked agitated as he said, “I didn’t expect you to really come when I’d only mentioned it casually. I’m so touched, old bro! You’re such a loyal friend!”
Loyal? Can I say that my purpose in coming here is the ant tide?
Meng Lei rolled his eyes and pushed Fatty Hart aside disdainfully. “Aren’t you supposed to be fighting the ant tide? Why are you dressed like such an eyesore? Showing off?”
“Hehe, you’re not getting it!” Fatty Hart patted the golden scales at his chest and said smugly, “This is top-rate magic armor engraved with 48 magic circles. Not only can it protect the wearer, but it can also automatically gather magic elements and reduce spellcasting time!”
“Alright, what can I say? The rich can do whatever they want!”
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to pay any more attention to the fellow. Then, he nodded at Abbe and Tanna in greeting. Abbe was expressionless and only nodded back slightly, still the same poker face as before.
Tanna, on the other hand, was very friendly. A sweet smile blossomed on her face as she said, “Meng Lei, it seems like you’ve become even stronger after not seeing you for over a month.”
“Not too bad, I guess.”
Meng Lei gave her a smile. Then, he couldn’t help but look at the ant tide covering every expanse of the wilderness. He licked his lips, revealing a hint of avarice.
There were so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants! If he could kill them all, how big of a spike in his Wealth would there be?
Even at the minimum, it would have to increase by a few billion, right?
“Meng Lei, let’s withdraw together.”
Upon noticing the look in Meng Lei’s eyes, Dirk Norway sighed and said, “It’s just as well that term is about to start in the academy, too. It’s also safer if you return to the academy with us.”
“Withdraw? Why are we withdrawing?” Meng Lei was mildly taken aback. He asked in puzzlement, “The ant tide is invading with a vengeance. If we withdraw, won’t disaster befall the people in the city?”
Dirk Norway’s mouth opened and closed, not quite actually knowing how he should reply for a moment there. For some reason, when facing a student as outstanding as Meng Lei, he actually found it rather hard to tell him the reason why.
Was he supposed to tell Meng Lei that they couldn’t defend the city anymore, so they could only abandon the people in the city and let the ant tide devour them?
“What can we do except to withdraw?”
At that moment, Marchioness Cesia, who had kept quiet the whole time, spoke up. She said coldly, “The ant tide stretches on for 300 miles, causing the line of defense to stretch on too far. Yet reinforcements can’t get here in time. If we don’t withdraw, are we supposed to wait for death here?”
“I get it now.”
Meng Lei nodded slowly to indicate that he’d understood. Then, he said to Dirk Norway, “Mr. Dirk, please forgive me. I can’t return with all of you.”
“You’re not coming back with us?” Dirk Norway was stunned for a moment. “Then what do you intend to do?”
“Exterminate the ant tide!”
Meng Lei jumped up onto the magic carpet and charged toward the ant tide army like a moth darting into the fire after uttering these four words.
“What are you doing?! Come back! Hurry and come back!”
Dirk Norway’s countenance changed dramatically at the sight of this, and he shouted anxiously at him to stop him. However, it was too late. Meng Lei had already gone charging out.
“Hmph! Pretty brave, but he’s too foolish!” Marchioness Cesia snorted and said, “Having delusions of exterminating the ant tide army when he’s just a mere Fifth-Grade Magician? How arrogant, conceited, and ignorant!”
“Old bro!”
“That fellow!”
“Meng Lei!”
Hart, Abbe, and Tanna looked at Meng Lei from the back, all three of them rather anxious and worried. Abbe even abandoned his usual cool and aloof expression and berated him anxiously, “That idiot! Who do you think you are?! Even if you have a death wish, that isn’t what you should be doing!”
“Hart, that’s the genius from your class?”
A puzzled fourth-year senior asked, “Isn’t that too rash of him? What’s the difference between charging so recklessly into the ant tide army and having a death wish?”
“That’s just an ant trying to topple a giant tree, how ludicrously overconfident. No matter how his magic talent is, his IQ is really rather moving.”
“That’s the top student of the first-years? He’s nothing impressive…”
“Shut the hell up!”
Hart’s expression darkened, and he erupted completely. “A bunch of fools! All of you only became Fourth-Grade Magicians after so many difficulties, yet you still have the cheek to mock others?!”
“Ha! Our magic talent certainly isn’t as good as his!”
A senior fired straight back at Hart. “But at least we’re not like him. Charging right in there and throwing his life away despite knowing full well that he’s not their match. Do you know what that is? Foolish! An idiot!”
“Exactly! Do you know how hard it is for the academy to groom a Magician?”
Another senior also spoke with an air full of justice and righteousness. “The best environment, the best facilities, the best educators… They’ve spent a vast amount of resources and paid a huge price to groom a Magician only after so much trouble. Is he supposed to trample on all that like that?”
“Let me tell you! Your lives don’t just belong to yourselves! They belong to the academy, the kingdom, and even more so the Great Dragon Blood W—”
“Shut up!”
“Be quiet!”
At that moment, a couple of bellows suddenly rang out and interrupted the seniors rambling on and on. The few of them looked over in stunned surprise, only to see Mr. Dirk and Marchioness Cesia watching Meng Lei with horror all over their faces.
Horror?
What was there to be horrified about?
The seniors, Hart, Abbe, and others, also looked toward where they were looking. Then, they saw something incredible.
Meng Lei stood proudly on the magic carpet, his long hair fluttering and his magic robes flapping. There was a strong heroic air around him, and he showed the beginnings of a handsome, dashing young man, clearly already possessing the potential to attract girls now.
This wasn’t the point, however!
The point was that there were 10 several hundred meters wide gigantic fireballs floating above his head! Incredibly huge, scorching hot, and blinding, they gave off astonishing heat, causing even the sun hanging high above in the sky to look dim and dull in comparison!
“This, this…”
Fatty Hart and the others’ jaws dropped. All of them were stunned.
Dirk Norway and Marchioness Cesia were even more horrified and astounded than the others.
This was because… They had recognized the spell he was using.
Ninth-Grade Spell, Heavenly Fire Meteor!
“Mr. Dirk, isn’t he a Fifth-Grade Magician?” Marchioness Cesia’s eyes were glassy and glazed over. “But this…”
“I… I don’t know, either!”
Dirk Norway pinched himself hard, wondering if he was hallucinating.
Meng Lei, a teenage boy under 16 years old!
Someone who was still a Fifth-Grade Magician a month ago!
He was actually casting a Ninth-Grade spell now!?
Oh my dragon god, are you kidding me?
“O… Old bro… He… He…”
Fatty Hart’s mouth was gaping so big that one could stuff a duck egg inside. Abbe and Tanna weren’t faring any better than him, either. Both of them were flabbergasted and dumbfounded.
As for the other few seniors, all of them looked even more as if they had just seen a ghost, and they couldn’t take their eyes off the sight. They had never seen such a huge fireball in their entire lives!
“Heavenly Fire Meteor… Fall!”
As everyone watched, Meng Lei let out a loud shout. Ten blazing suns plummeted as though meteors and crashed viciously onto the ground.
Boom!
Amid a vast, apocalyptic explosion, the bright sky suddenly dimmed. Ten mushroom clouds as huge as mountains soared into the sky and blocked out the sunlight, tainting the sky!
" }, { "id": 107, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-107", "title": "Chapter 107 - Fire God Descends, An Original Spell", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The sea of fire blazed furiously, roasting the ant tide, charring the lands, and also astounding everyone’s hearts!
Light from the fire danced on their faces, lighting up the horror in everyone’s eyes clearly.
From ninth-grade experts, like Dirk Norway and Marchioness Cesia, all the way to every ordinary soldier, everyone was astounded beyond belief.
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Heavenly Fire Meteor?”
A fourth-year senior suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, “That’s the fire-elemental Ninth-Grade Spell, Heavenly Fire Meteor! Oh my dragon god! That’s a ninth-grade spell!”
“N-ninth-grade spell? Are you sure?”
Another senior gasped, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“Ten suns in the sky, brilliant as shooting stars! A diameter of 100 meters, its flames blazing and burning the sky!” That senior gulped madly. “This spell in front of us is practically identical to the written description of Heavenly Fire Meteor. Aside from that, what else can it be?”
“B-but he’s just a first-year freshman! How can he possibly cast ninth-grade spells? Even the teachers in the academy can’t do that!”
“That… I wouldn’t know!”
Hart, Abbe, and Tanna’s hearts spasmed madly when they heard the seniors’ discussion.
Ninth-Grade Spell, Heavenly Fire Meteor?
Oh my dragon god!
That’s actually a ninth-grade spell?!
“Since when did old bro become so strong?” The fat on Hart’s face quivered as he said, “Also, doesn’t he only have thunder-elemental and earth-elemental magic talent? Where did he get that fire-elemental magic talent from?”
“He also has earth-elemental magic talent?” asked Dirk Norway as he spun around in astonishment.
Abbe and Tanna also looked at Hart.
“Yes, he does.” Fatty Hart nodded incessantly. “When term had just begun, he had attended earth-elemental magic classes with me. It was only after that that I found out he also has earth-elemental magic talent.”
“Thunder-elemental, earth-elemental, and fire-elemental!” Dirk Norway’s lip corner was spasming. “That kid is actually a triple-elemental Magician! What a joke that I, his teacher, actually didn’t know. This is simply too…”
“Earth-elemental and fire-elemental magic talent unbeknownst to anyone, and a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, too!” Abbe murmured to himself, “Just how many secrets is that guy hiding?”
“In any case, he’s pretty mysterious.” Fatty Hart shook his head and sighed emotionally. “I really don’t know how he got past the magic assessment back then. I clearly saw that they had only detected thunder-elemental affinity for him that day.”
“That’s true…”
A huge jolt went through everyone.
At that moment, Meng Lei, who was in the sky, moved again. He went over to another area above the ant tide, raised his arms high, and slowly began to chant an ancient, unfathomable, and mysterious incantation!
“&*&%¥##@%&*…”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly. All five—Dirk Norway, Marchioness Cesia, Abbe, Hart, and Tanna—of their faces changed at once.
Buzz, buzz!
A surge of fire-elemental magic power gushed out of Meng Lei. Under his vast spiritual power’s control, it drew all the Fire Elements within 1,000 meters of where he was in a frenzy.
Boom!
An infinite amount of Fire Elements converged and formed a 1,000-meters-tall gigantic bout of flames. It floated in the sky, sometimes converging, sometimes dispersing, sometimes lengthening, and sometimes flattening…
It was like there was an unknown wave of great strength currently kneading the gigantic bout of flames as if wanting to construct a form and create a body for it.
Boom!
True enough, following a great explosion, a thick, muscular white arm completely made out of condensed flames suddenly reached out of the gigantic bout of flames.
Muscles intertwined on the arm, and veins bulged on the surface, every tiny little detail clear to the eye.
It was then followed by the second arm, legs, head…
Before long, a fire giant entirely made up of flames and more than triple the height of the towers in the empire appeared in the sky. It was big, tall, and muscular. He stood tall and proud as if a fire deity traversing the world.
“Oh my dragon god!”
“This…”
Gasps filled the place above the city walls. Everyone felt their scalps go numb and chills running down their spines as they watched the fire giant suspended in the sky.
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Fire God Descends!”
“That’s the Ninth-Grade Spell, Fire God Descends!”
“Aren’t Fire God Descends’ flames supposed to be red? Why are its flames white? Also, isn’t its size too big? The scale is pretty much comparable to first-class spells…”
“This…”
Dirk Norway, Marchioness Cesia, and the others were unperturbed even as they listened to the seniors’ exclamations and bewildered comments—because they knew that this was Dragon-Language Magic!
The Ninth-Grade Dragon-Language Spell… Fire God Descends!
That was why it possessed such terrifying might!
“Meng Lei… He’s also a Dragon Person?”
Dirk Norway felt rather disappointed. He had initially thought that Meng Lei was an actual, proper human genius, but little did he expect that he was a Dragon Person, too.
“I guess that’s true, too! How can the human race possibly produce a crazy genius like him that easily?” Dirk Norway gave a self-mocking smile.
“I didn’t think that old bro would actually be a Dragon Person, too!” Fatty Hart’s jaw dropped with a look of realization plastered on his face. “I knew it! His body is so crazy strong, and he was able to beat the living daylights out of Lance when he had only just enrolled in the school back then. No matter how you look at it, he just doesn’t seem like a human…”
Elsewhere, the 1,000-meters-tall fire giant descended from the sky and landed heavily on the ground, smashing countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants dead. While hiding between the fire giant’s brows, Meng Lei controlled the massive creature and began to launch attacks.
Boom!
The fire giant opened its mouth wide. Like mortar bombs, dozens of huge fireballs shot out of its mouth in succession and raked the area in a frenzy.
Countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants perished amid several deafening explosions.
Then, the fire giant raised its football field-sized palm and smacked downward viciously.
Boom!
A large expanse of ants died under its palm, and the bottom of the pit was charred black and full of carcasses.
Boom!
The giant opened its mouth again. A 100-meters-long fire dragon charged into the ant tide army, blasting and bombarding the area with explosions. With that, another large expanse of ants died.
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
“Ding!”
And just like that, the fire giant began a frenzied massacre, be it Buddha’s Palm 1 , releasing fire dragons from its mouth, trampling on them with its enormous feet, or shooting bursts of fireballs like cannonballs…
After a consecutive series of attacks, innumerable ravines, voids, seas of fire, and craters appeared among the ocean of ants…
The ant tide was practically riddled with holes, the sight too horrific to behold.
“How savage!”
“That’s so goddamn savage!”
Everyone’s hearts pounded intensely, finding the sight alarming to lay eyes upon. As the fire giant rampaged its way through, the number of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that perished on the spot was immeasurable.
A massacre… This was completely a goddamn massacre!
This massacre lasted continuously for a few minutes before the fire giant finally gradually dissipated.
“Phew! It’s finally over!”
“I totally broke out in cold sweat because of that!”
Just as everyone heaved a small sigh of relief, white flower petals suddenly began to rain from the sky. An infinite number of petals filled the sky, enveloping the whole place in white.
Was this the beautiful landscape of the northern lands where everything was frozen in ice for a thousand miles, and snow fell everywhere that the eye could see?
Yet…
When these white petals landed on the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, it was as if sparks of fire had landed on petrol. With a deafening boom, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants began to burn as though they’d been set ablaze.
One, two, three…
Wherever the petals landed, everything began to burn. The entire area within several kilometers turned into a sea of fire.
All the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants within the area began to burn by themselves. The sight was much quieter than when the fire giant was massacring them, but it was also much more peculiar and made the onlookers’ scalps go numb.
At the sight of such a terrifying scene, everyone felt their hair stand on end, and all of them involuntarily looked at the tops of their heads. It was only after they were sure that none of the petals had landed on them that they finally heaved a small sigh of relief.
Phew, good thing there aren’t any petals there!
“What spell is that?” asked someone in a low voice.
“I don’t recognize it! It doesn’t seem like there’s a spell like that in all the written records of ninth-grade spells?”
“There isn’t? Try and recall properly…”
Marchioness Cesia turned to Dirk Norway and asked, “Mr. Dirk, do you know of that spell?”
“No, I don’t!”
Dirk Norway gave her a resigned smile and replied, “If my guess is correct, that is probably an original ninth-grade spell. I never thought that this child, Meng Lei, can even create original ninth-grade spells now! I… can’t compare to him!”
“An original ninth-grade spell?”
A huge jolt went through Cesia’s form, and a hint of horror surfaced in her eyes.
" }, { "id": 108, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-108", "title": "Chapter 108 - 100 Types Of First-Class Spells, The Nine Spells", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The rain of fire petals pitter-pattered as they fell, tranquil and quiet.
However, the spectators’ hearts were not peaceful. In particular, the hearts of Dirk Norway and Marchioness Cesia, the two ninth-grade experts, were even like stormy seas.
Casting ninth-grade spells and creating original ninth-grade spells were two entirely different concepts.
The former was simple. As long as one could become a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, they’d be able to achieve this. In fact, if they were willing to pay a huge price, they could even cast first-class spells.
However, creating original ninth-grade spells was something completely different.
Ninth-grade spells were the highest grade of normal spells. Even typical Great Ninth-Grade Magicians would find it very difficult to create original ninth-grade spells.
How many magic elements must they gather?
How should the magic elements be arranged?
How to use spiritual power to manipulate them?
…
All of these put a Great Magician’s understanding of magic elements and the universe’s momentum to an extremely great test. Without a certain level of expertise, if one wanted to create original ninth-grade spells… That was nothing more than just daydreaming!
At the very least, Dirk Norway considered that something that he himself was unable to achieve.
“Mr. Dirk, that student of yours is too out of this world!”
Marchioness Cesia took a deep breath and then asked, “From how the other students sounded, that student of yours is still a first-year newbie?”
“Yes!”
“How old is he this year?”
“Not yet 16!”
“N-not yet 16?”
A shiver coursed through Cesia, and she almost wet herself.
A Great Ninth-Grade Magician that wasn’t even 16 years of age?
Was he really human?
Elsewhere, the rain of fire petals continued to fall quietly, burning large patches of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants dead. It was hard for anyone to tell for sure just how many had died.
Even Meng Lei could only see his Wealth value increasing furiously, too. Since his arrival at North River Pass till now, his Wealth value had already doubled and successfully broken past the… two billion mark!
“This feels awesome! This feeling is simply too awesome!”
Meng Lei had a look of revelry on his face as he stood proudly in the sky, taking in the caress of the breeze and admiring the beautiful scene of a blazing sea of fire burning the ants.
Controlling great power simply felt wonderful!
Reducing everything into dust in just a split second!
Turning the whole place into a sea of fire with a wave of his arm!
Burning everything with a flick of his wrist!
This feeling was simply too marvelous!
“Brat, my Doomsday Rain of Fire is pretty awesome, right?”
Ol’ Amos floated beside Meng Lei, stroking his beard as he watched the swirling white petals in the air. His face was filled with gratification and delight.
There was nothing that could make one happier than seeing the spell that they had created shine with dazzling brilliance.
“Hehe, it can’t get any more impressive than that!” Meng Lei nodded incessantly as he lavished generous praise and admiration on the spell. “It looks tranquil and quiet, yet it burns everything away soundlessly. It combines both beauty and violence and is also full of poetic beauty. It can be said to be a masterpiece of fire.”
“Of course! Don’t you know who the one that created it is?”
Ol’ Amos was in such a fantastic mood that snot bubbles were almost forming at his nostrils. He said smugly, “At least you have a bit of an eye for things and are discerning enough. However, Doomsday Rain of Fire is just a typical spell and can’t be considered a masterpiece yet!”
“Even this isn’t considered a masterpiece yet?”
Meng Lei was shocked.
“What’s the big deal about it?” Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and smiled as he said, “When I was trapped underground all those years, I liked to brainstorm and conceptualize whenever I was bored. I’ve created so many water-elemental and fire-elemental spells that just first-class spells alone already come up to 100 different types. What does Doomsday Rain of Fire even count as?”
“100 different types of first-class spells?”
Meng Lei swallowed hard, a hint of greed flashing across his eyes. “Ol’ President, you’re simply so impressive. My feelings of admiration toward you are like the gushing rivers, endless and eternal. They are like the overflowing North River, beyond control once the floodgates open—”
“Stop!” Ol’ Amos glared at him. “Don’t you dare think that I don’t know what you’re up to. I’ll have you know that those original spells are my precious babies, so don’t you dare covet them.”
“Is that what you think of me, Ol’ President?”
Meng Lei was rather indignant. He said, “I’ll admit that I certainly do want to learn those spells, but it’s all for your sake, isn’t it?”
“For my sake?” Ol’ Amos scoffed.
“Think about it. Even though you’ve created so many great and amazing spells, no one knows about them. Don’t you find that a pity?
“And that’s not all!”
With a regretful look, Meng Lei went on. “If! If you die someday, won’t all these spells that you’ve created completely die out? What a huge shame that would be!”
(⊙o⊙)
Ol’ Amos was taken aback.
“Sigh! Those are the fruits of your intellectual labor that you’ve made painstaking efforts on, spent an infinite amount of sweat, blood, and tears on, and worn out a countless amount of brain cells in order to create so laboriously, you know!”
Meng Lei thumped his chest and stamped his feet in regret, and said plaintively, “Should they disappear along with you, it’ll practically be the most serious and the most tragic loss to the whole Heaven’s Vault Continent’s history of magic!”
“This…”
Ol’ Amos’ countenance also changed as he tugged on his beard.
What this boy is saying… does make some sense. If I die, won’t these spells that I’ve created be lost to the world? How can that do?
Ol’ Amos glared at Meng Lei and asked, “What do you think I should do, then?”
“You can impart them to me!” Meng Lei gave him a sincere look. “I will build upon them and let them flourish. Let their great name be known throughout Heaven’s Vault Continent! And let your fruits of intellectual labor forever shine in the history of magic and be passed on for all generations to come!”
“You’re right. They should be passed on.” Ol’ Amos repeatedly nodded, agreeing with him wholeheartedly. “They can’t die out just like that!”
“Yes, yes!”
Joy surfaced on Meng Lei’s face.
Hehe, I’ve succeeded!
Innumerable spells and up to 100 first-class spells… Those are priceless treasures! You can’t buy them even if you have the money!
“But why must I impart them to you?” Ol’ Amos looked at Meng Lei and said, “I can totally make them into magic scrolls and gift them to the academy so that more people can learn them. Wouldn’t that let them flourish even better? And let me shine in the history of magic even more?”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei’s expression froze.
“Hehe! Thinking of tricking this old man? You’re still too young!”
Upon seeing Meng Lei’s constipated expression, Ol’ Amos burst into laughter. He had finally vented some of his frustration. After being astounded by Meng Lei so many times for so long, his heart had finally received some consolation.
Now, that wasn’t easy.
“Ol’ President, you’re really so…”
Black lines filled Meng Lei’s face.
This old geezer is actually playing dumb! How goddamn infuriating!
“Alright, stop looking at me like that.” An amused Ol’ Amos mock-chided him, “You’re the only descendant I have. Who am I going to impart them to, if not you? Am I supposed to impart them to other people?”
“Hehe, I knew it!”
Meng Lei rejoiced again.
“Cut the crap! Hurry and clean up the ant tide.” Ol’ Amos waved him off, somewhat impatient. “Wipe them out as soon as possible and look for the little golden ant after that. No matter what, I’m still somewhat worried leaving it all alone in the Magical Beast Forest.”
“Got it.”
Meng Lei toned down his smile. Light from the fire flickered in his eyes as he said, “Since we want to be quick about this, then let’s intensify the flames some more.”
At that point, everyone saw a scene that they’d never forget for their whole lives.
Meng Lei stood proudly in the sky. As though a God of Fire, his voice was loud and sonorous as he pronounced a mighty, imposing judgment on the ant tide.
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Heavenly Fire Meteor!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Fire God Descends!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Doomsday Rain of Fire!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Sun Tempest!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Fire God Judgment!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Rupturing Fire Dragon!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Blazing Inferno Flames!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Fire Lotus Judgment!
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Fire God’s Fury!”
The nine ninth-grade spells cast in succession were like savage fire beasts that had broken free of hell’s gates and suddenly invaded the world. The moment they appeared, they dazzled the heavens.
Heavenly Fire Meteors plummeted from the sky!
A fire giant bellowed furiously!
A rain of fire petals scattered throughout the sky!
A tornado of flames spun and whirled!
Fire blades with light streaming all over them cleaved downward mightily!
A savage fire dragon roared furiously like a clap of thunder!
Black flames corroded and destroyed!
A dazzling fire lotus blossomed in the sky!
The Fire God roared furiously, causing the heavens and earth to pale!
In that instant, everything in the world disappeared, leaving behind only a blazing sea of fire that seemed as if it wanted to burn away this filthy world!
" }, { "id": 109, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-109", "title": "Chapter 109 - Ant Tide Defeated, Flying Dragons Retreated Out Of Fear", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Presently, there were no other colors in the world, and only burning fires leaped in the people’s eyes.
An ocean of fire spread across hundreds of miles!
It covered mountains, rivers, and the vast earth!
Large swarms of ant tide turned to ashes!
Countless ants burned to death!
Attack?
There was no chance for such a thing anymore!
Madness!
No such thing anymore either!
Under the frantic blow of the ninth-grade spells, the ant tide army suffered unprecedented damage. Although there were still numerous ants, the army appeared unable to sustain itself.
A few more rounds were needed before the ant tide was wiped out and disappeared completely!
This was what everyone thought, and Meng Lei seemed to hear their thoughts. He started a new round of frantic bombardment and smashed down all kinds of ninth-grade spells like they didn’t affect his magic power.
Boom!
One hour later…
The flames on the ground gradually dissipated, only leaving billowing smoke behind. All the mountains and fields were scorched black, and strange smoke filled all directions.
An ant tide that spread more than 300 miles? No such thing anymore! They had disappeared!
A minority had escaped, but the vast majority had lost their lives in the sea of fire, only leaving burnt carcasses strewn across the ground and ashes piled up like piles of soil above unmarked graves.
“The ant tide… is gone just like this?”
Everyone looked at the wasteland-like charred black ground and felt like they were dreaming. It was a surreal sensation.
One hour ago, the fierce ant tide army had come with great momentum, making everyone feel fearful, hopeless, weak, and unable to breathe from the pressure. They had even been forced to retreat!
Yet, one hour later, the ant tide… was gone? If this wasn’t dreaming, what was dreaming? Even dreaming couldn’t possibly bring about such a rapid turn of events!
“Monster! A total monster!” Marchioness Cesia’s mouth twitched. “Continuously releasing ninth-grade spells for up to more than one hour and burning the entire ant tide. Such a terrible Great Ninth-Grade Magician is unheard of!”
“In terms of speed of magic application, magic power reserves, or the usage of spiritual power, all of those reached an insurmountable level. I’m far below him!” Dirk Norway took a breath. “I really don’t know what this boy experienced in a mere month to have undergone such a huge change.”
Fatty Hart, Abbe, and Tanna looked at one another with complex expressions. Their insides felt like huge raging ocean waves.
Fatty Hart smiled bitterly and said, “Though I’ve known for a long time that there’s a big gap between us, I would never have imagined, not even in my dreams, that the gap would actually be this big.”
Abbe and Tanna’s bodies shook.
Yes, Meng Lei’s natural talent is good. His cultivation is fast. Of course there would be a gap! But why would it be this big?
I can’t understand!
Fatty Hart and the other two were quite bewildered and started questioning life.
“Meng Lei from your class is a monster!” The senior student’s face was full of shock. “A Great Ninth-Grade Magician, less than 16 years old… Have you seen anyone like him?”
“Never seen, never heard of!”
Another senior student kept shaking his head. “Even if we search through the entire Fire Dragon Kingdom history, no such monster has appeared! I’m afraid only in the Dragon God Empire can such amazing talent possibly appear!”
“Such a monster can’t be measured by common standards at all. If one tries to compare with him… they are simply looking for suffering…”
“Monster?”
When the three classmates heard that, their hearts lightened.
Yes, he’s a monster! Why am I trying to compare with him?
Upon thinking that, the trio felt much more comfortable inside.
Roar!
At this moment, loud roars suddenly came from the distant horizon, and the figures of big birds appeared in the distance. They formed a dark, black mass, covering the sun and the sky!
“The Flying Dragon Troops!”
“It’s the Flying Dragon Troops!”
“My lady, the Flying Dragon Troops are here!”
“Only arriving now… Hmph!”
Marchioness Cesia snorted coldly as a hint of displeasure flashed across her eyes. Had they arrived one hour earlier, she would have been more than happy to welcome them.
But now… the ant tide is already gone. Were they here to eat the ashes?
Roar!
The Flying Dragon Troops were unaware of what had transpired there. They arrived at the space above North River Pass in no time and then collectively started roaring.
An overwhelming dragon might poured down like ocean waves as the Flying Dragon Troops… showcased their intimidation skills.
One had to say that the Flying Dragon Troops’ trick was still very effective against ordinary soldiers. Numerous soldiers felt suppressed and had a hard time breathing, so they swayed weakly and couldn’t even hold their weapons.
“Those bastards!”
Although Marchioness Cesia had witnessed the Flying Dragon Troops’ ways long ago, she was still furious upon seeing this scene. Every time, she would be so angry till her teeth itched, but she could only watch them.
Dirk Norway frowned, very displeased with the Flying Dragon Troops’ ways.
Fatty Hart even started cursing, “This bunch of trash! Nowhere to be seen during the resistance against the ant tide, but after the ant tide is wiped out, they are here to mark their presence. What a bunch of bastards.”
“This is the famous Flying Dragon Troops?”
Tanna actually looked at the flying dragons all around the sky, and a hint of approval showed in her beautiful eyes. “Their might matches their fame, indeed. Not the least bit inferior even to the Frost Dragon Wolves Troops of our Frost Kingdom.”
Roar!
The Double-Legged Flying Dragons had very good eyesight and could see everything on top of the North River Pass’ city walls. They looked at the trembling ordinary soldiers and felt very satisfied with their intimidation technique.
Soon, they would descend to showcase their battlefield-cleaning technique, the “most tiring” job.
“Hmph!”
Unexpectedly, at that moment, a cold snort sounded like a muffled thunder in their ears. Most importantly, the sound was so familiar in a way that sent a chill down their spines.
“Gah…”
The 100,000 flying dragons’ bodies stiffened, and their roars immediately stopped. The flying dragons looked at the source of the sound, and immediately, they were so scared that their bodies trembled, and cold sweat oozed out.
“Dragon God above! Why is this devil here?”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragons trembled violently, and even their wings became stiff as if they didn’t know how to fly anymore.
“Him again!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s mouth twitched, and he felt extremely upset inside.
This fella appears everywhere… Why am I meeting him again?
“A bunch of trash! Why do I see you all everywhere?”
It was naturally Meng Lei that made the Flying Dragon Troops act like they had seen a ghost. He didn’t like this group of greedy and ugly creatures at all. “What? You want to rob me of my magic cores again?
“I will give you all a chance! Disappear from my sight immediately. Otherwise, I don’t mind breaking your skulls and digging out your magic cores!”
“What?!”
The Double-Legged Flying Dragons were so terrified that their internal organs felt like they were bursting. The nightmarish scenes from days ago replayed instantly in their minds.
Suddenly, the 100,000 Double-Legged Flying Dragons did something that left everyone dumbstruck.
They flapped their wings and flew away like they were running for their lives. They dashed like they wished they had more than two wings!
In the blink of an eye, the original intimidating, mighty, sky-covering Flying Dragon Troops disappeared without a trace, leaving only the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King alone in his original position, floating in the sky alone.
All the other Flying Dragons… fled without a trace.
“This…”
The people on the city wall were shocked.
“This is… the Flying Dragon Troops?”
Tanna’s little mouth opened in shock. Why was it completely different from the Flying Dragon Troops she imagined?
Fatty Hart blinked. “Old bro seems to have scared them to the point they ran away!?”
“What on earth did this boy do to the Flying Dragon Troops?” Dirk Norway’s mouth twitched. “The Flying Dragon Troops ran away once they saw him!”
“It seems the Flying Dragon Troops must have offended him. As such, he pummeled them so badly that they were traumatized!” Marchioness Cesia appeared pretty excited. “Haha! This boy did what I wanted to do but cannot do. Well done! It’s so well done! Haha, I just wonder what Nicholas will do next.”
“Hmm!”
Dirk Norway couldn’t help but look toward the lonely Double-Legged Flying Dragon King. This was an existence comparable to Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, so how could he give up easily?
The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King stared at Meng Lei fiercely. From his expression, it seemed like he would very much like to skin Meng Lei alive and devour him.
However, Meng Lei only spoke one sentence before he scared Double-Legged Flying Dragon into fleeing, covering his face and ignoring even his pride.
“What? You don’t want your other wing anymore!?”
" }, { "id": 110, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-110", "title": "Chapter 110 - The 10 Billion Milestone, Gaining Another Bloodline", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "As they watched the Flying Dragon Troops flee for their lives, aside from stupefaction, everyone also felt like all their anger had been worked off.
Those fellows carrying the “elite troops” title were a bunch of bandits from head to toe—greedy and ugly.
This wasn’t the first or second time that everyone had wanted to teach them a lesson. Unfortunately, they simply weren’t powerful enough, so they could only watch helplessly as they acted all bossy and arrogant.
However, their wish had finally come true today.
Meng Lei had frightened the Flying Dragon Troops so badly that they fled for their lives and thoroughly disgraced themselves with just a few words. How satisfying!
“The ant tide has finally been exterminated!”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard as he looked down upon the charred lands. He heaved a long sigh of relief and said, “You’ve made a huge contribution in this matter, boy. Who knows, you might just earn yourself the title of an Earl!”
However, he didn’t receive any response—the place around him was all quiet.
Ol’ Amos’ brows furrowed slightly, and he couldn’t resist looking at Meng Lei—only to discover that the boy was currently grinning like a fool. His grin stretched pretty much all the way past his ears, making him look like an old 38-year-old widow who had just had a night rendezvous—simply overjoyed!
At once, Ol’ Amos became displeased, and he chastised him loudly, “What are you acting all crazy for again, brat?!”
Meng Lei jumped in shock, and he couldn’t help but grumble, “What are you being so loud for, Ol’ President? You gave me a shock!”
“What’s that silly grin for? Look at how thrilled you are!”
Ol’ Amos glared at Meng Lei.
“Hehe, it’s a secret!”
Meng Lei grinned at him in response, and then, his gaze returned to his Wealth again. As he looked at those bright, dazzling numbers and the bunch of zeros at the back, Meng Lei felt as if he had just eaten honey…
Sweet!
Wealth: 7,539,721,863 gold coins
7.5 billion!
A whole 7.5 billion!
What kind of astronomical figure was that?
However, the most important thing here was… He was only 2.5 billion away from the 10 billion milestone!
This meant that Meng Lei only needed to earn another 2.5 billion gold coins, and he would be able to break through the ninth-grade limits to step into another realm… The Saint Domain!
2.5 billion? Was it very difficult to achieve? No, no, not at all!
It was very simple because… 6.5 billion gold coins were resting on the charred expanse of land right beneath his feet. To be more accurate, 650,000 magic cores!
“Collect them all! And sell them all!
“And I’ll be able to summon the divine dragon 1 !
“Wahahaha…”
Meng Lei burst into loud Ren Woxing 1 -style laughter and nosedived toward the ground. His spiritual power spread outward like tidal waves and enveloped the whole area within 1,000 meters of where he was.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
All the magic cores moved by themselves and broke through the surface of the ground like potatoes. Then, they vanished after being sent into his spatial rings.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everywhere he flew by, he collected all the magic cores.
Meng Lei was just like a hardworking little bee diligently collecting magic cores. The sight made Fatty Hart and the others standing on top of the city walls salivate.
“A single magic core is worth up to 10,000 gold coins!” Fatty Hart’s eyes had even turned red. “Old bro must have killed at least… 100,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants just now, right? Hiss! That’s 1 billion gold coins!”
“1 billion?”
A shiver went through everyone, and they almost wet themselves.
That was 1 billion gold coins! 1 billion!
No one could spend all of that, even in their entire lifetime!
…
Meng Lei’s speed was very fast, but even so, he still spent more than three hours before he finally managed to collect all the magic cores.
As for the concrete number of magic cores there were, he didn’t bother counting. In any case, there were a lot of them, so many that he was close to running out of space. Even Ol’ Amos’ spatial magic device was almost full.
“Horses don’t bulk up without feeding at night, and people don’t get rich without unexpected windfalls. Our forefathers really don’t lie.”
It was only then that a satisfied Meng Lei returned to the city, where his eyes met Fatty Hart’s, whose eyes were filled with so much jealousy that he was practically mad. “Huhu! 1 billion gold coins! This fatty here is so jealous that I’m becoming distorted from envy!”
“Fatty, have you gone mad?”
Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart’s chubby face, which felt fleshy to the touch. The texture felt pretty good!
“Juxian Restaurant! We must go to Juxian Restaurant when the new term starts!” Fatty Hart clutched Meng Lei’s collar and shouted hysterically, “Once isn’t enough! You must treat me a few more times… No! Every day! You can only offer a wee bit of comfort to my wounded soul by treating me to meals at Juxian Restaurant every day!
“Huhuhu, 1 billion gold coins! If I had that much money, I would sleep on a mountain of gold every day and stuff myself silly every day…”
“…”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. He finally understood now—that guy was actually jealous of him!
If you knew that I actually have 10 billion gold coins now, would you become so jealous that you’d immediately kill yourself by eating sh*t?
Probably… Yes?
“That boy…”
Dirk Norway, Abbe, and Tanna were also looking at Meng Lei with extremely complex emotions. The penniless boy from the mountains that had reported at the academy half a year ago wearing coarse sackcloth had already become this strong?
“Meng Lei, you deserve the biggest credit in the defense against the ant tide this time!” Marchioness Cesia had a look of approval all over her face as she said, “I will definitely report this truthfully to the king and request that he rewards you handsomely!”
“You’re…”
A bewildered Meng Lei looked at the female Green Dragon Person in front of him.
“Meng Lei, this is Marchioness Cesia, the guarding general of North River Pass,” said Dirk Norway hastily as he introduced Marchioness Cesia. “She’s also the number one female general of Fire Dragon Kingdom!”
“So it’s Marchioness Cesia! I’ve heard so much about you!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.
“It’s just a bit of insignificant acclaim that’s not worth mentioning!” Marchioness Cesia waved and said, “On the contrary, it’s you, Meng Lei, that has exterminated the ant tide with just a flick of your wrist. After this battle, your name will definitely awe and stun the kingdom. You’ll become a hero known in every household throughout the kingdom!”
“Marchioness Cesia, you’re too kind!”
Meng Lei smiled at her but didn’t take her words seriously. Things like fame and all that weren’t important; they weren’t even as practical as a few gold coins or a few magic cores.
At the sight of this, astonishment and uncertainty couldn’t help but secretly come over Marchioness Cesia. After making such a huge contribution, the kingdom would definitely bestow upon him handsome rewards. Yet he was actually so calm, placid, and composed about it—his disposition wasn’t like a 15-year-old teenage boy’s at all!
After that, Meng Lei chatted a while more with the others before he got ready to bid farewell and leave. Little Gold was still in the Magical Beast Forest, so he had to hurry and bring it back with him.
“What a shame!” Marchioness Cesia lamented with a sigh, “And here I was, thinking of holding a celebratory banquet to express my gratitude to the hero credited with guarding the city. I didn’t think that you’d have other matters at hand.”
“Defending against the ant tide is something within my duty and obligation. How can I claim credit for it?” replied Meng Lei with a smile.
Then, he bade farewell to Dirk Norway and the others before finally saying to Hart, “Fatty, I’m counting on you to sell the magic cores!”
“Leave it to me!” Fatty Hart patted his chest and promised, “I’ll definitely get it done perfectly!”
“Thanks!”
Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart on the shoulder. Then, he hopped onto the magic carpet, left the North River Pass city gate tower, and flew toward the Magical Beast Forest.
An hour later, he finally found Little Gold’s hiding place. However, the little fellow wasn’t in a good spot at the moment because… It had run into trouble!
Over a dozen grayish-white spiders surrounded it on all sides. Woven all around it was even a black spider web that had completely sealed off all of its escape routes.
There was nowhere in and nowhere out.
Little Gold was like a tiny little kitten surrounded by a herd of elephants. It trembled and shook like a leaf—weak, helpless, and pitiful…
Krak, krak, krak…
The gigantic spiders were over 10-meters-long and had eight spear-like silver legs covered in steel needle-like fine hairs. They gave off a terrible stink, filling people with fear and causing their scalps to go numb.
“Underground Cave Magical Spiders! These are Underground Cave Magical Spiders!” Meng Lei’s eyes flickered with a chilly glint. “They’ve actually pursued all the way here. These guys are seriously persistent!”
“Little Gold is the ant monarch. How would the Underground Cave Magical Spiders possibly let it off that easily?” Ol’ Amos shook his head and sighed. “Had it been anyone else, they would also want to completely eradicate the enemy for peace of mind. What a pitiful child!”
Meng Lei bent his fingers and flicked them multiple times in succession. Over a dozen fire spears shot outward from thin air and pierced through the Underground Cave Magical Spiders’ heads in an instant, impaling them to death on the spot.
At the sight of this, Little Gold couldn’t help but shake all over. It was only then that it finally noticed Meng Lei. It was overcome by surprise and joy at once.
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline!”
" }, { "id": 111, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-111", "title": "Chapter 111 - Golden Bloodline, An Explosive Increase In Physical Strength", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline?
A bloodline?
Meng Lei was a little taken aback. He had picked up a bloodline again? But what was this Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline?
Buzz!
During Meng Lei’s moment of distraction, innumerable dazzling golden light rays suddenly pierced through his skin and shot out of his body, lighting up the whole place in an instant.
Right on the heels of it, the golden light rays turned into sticky, viscous glue-like golden flames. They shrouded Meng Lei entirely, and then, they began to blaze.
Boom!
A wave of severe pain, as if capable of ripping Meng Lei’s insides apart, erupted from within his body and assaulted his nerves like a fierce, surging tidal wave.
Pain!
Pain!
Pain!
“Ahhh!”
Meng Lei let out a loud cry, feeling as if his entire self was about to be ripped apart. He doubled over and pounded the ground with his fists, his countenance savage.
“Meng Lei, what’s wrong?”
The sudden turn of events gave Ol’ Amos a huge fright. “What’s the matter, brat? You’re scaring me…”
“I… I’m fine!”
Meng Lei tried to put up with the agony that felt even more painful than being tortured to death. He gave him an awful smile and said, “I… I’m… fine… It’ll be okay in a while.”
“What do you mean you’re fine when you’re behaving like this?” Ol’ Amos was terribly anxious. “Tell me, what exactly is going on?”
“Ha… Haha!”
Meng Lei gave him a dreadful smile, unable to even utter a proper sentence anymore. The sticky, viscous golden flames seeped out of his body like blood before returning into his body again.
They burned the surface of his body and burned the inside of his body. The cycle repeated again and again as it burned his whole body, running amok and weaving about unbridled.
Everywhere the golden flames passed by underwent modifications!
His bones, meridians, skin… His blood, internal organs, heart, and lungs… Every single inch of his blood and flesh… every little nook and cranny… All of them were modified by the golden flames!
The immense pain was like the gushing rivers, endless and eternal.
They assailed his senses madly, like the Yellow River beyond one’s control in a flood.
“Why is this happening? What exactly is going on?”
Ol’ Amos was in such a panic that he was going round and round in circles.
Roar!
In their daze, as though made out of gold, a strange ant hologram covered in golden armor and with 16 pairs of golden butterfly wings on its back suddenly appeared behind Meng Lei.
It bared its fangs and brandished its claws, its teeth waving about!
It threw its head back and roared into the sky, its voice resounding throughout the heavens!
“That… That’s…”
Ol’ Amos stared at the magnificent golden ant that had appeared out of the blue and exclaimed, “G-golden… Golden…
“No! That’s impossible! Absolutely impossible! Creatures like that have already gone extinct since a long time ago! It’s impossible that they still exist!”
Ol’ Amos rejected the notion vehemently. However, he suddenly discovered that Little Gold was actually prostrating and watching the golden hologram behind Meng Lei fearfully, quivering and shaking in its boots as it did so.
That expression on its face looked way too familiar to Ol’ Amos.
It was exactly how a Drake looked like when its bloodline got naturally suppressed upon encountering a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon.
“Could it be that…”
Ol’ Amos looked at Little Gold and then at the golden ant hologram behind Meng Lei, his heart gradually sinking.
Crackle, crackle!
At this point, a sudden change occurred again.
Amid spine-chilling cracking sounds, the surface of Meng Lei’s skin began to wriggle about violently, as though worms were crawling about underneath.
In the next instant, bloodstained golden scales began to emerge on Meng Lei’s skin like mushrooms sprouting after rain.
One scale, two scales, three scales…
It went out of control right after it started. A few breaths later, shiny, golden, strange-looking scales had covered Meng Lei’s entire body.
At the same time, bloodstained golden barbed spikes began to poke through his flesh and bones. Gleaming with a chilly glint, they grew out of his forearms, calves, knees, elbows, and other parts of his body.
Finally, two feelers that looked like triangular spike bayonets and covered in golden scales gradually grew out of Meng Lei’s forehead.
Everything finally came to a stop after that.
Just like that, with golden scales all over his body, golden feelers growing from his head, and barbed spikes all over him, the current Meng Lei had turned into a half-human, half-ant… monster!
Whoosh!
The pain faded rapidly like the receding tide, and Meng Lei’s consciousness gradually returned. He took huge gulps of air and panted heavily, feeling as though he had just gone to hell and back.
That sensation of living hell just now had simply left too deep of an impression on him. Compared to when he was assimilating the Fire Dragon bloodline and the Fire Demon bloodline previously, the pain he had felt just now was more than tenfold of those times.
Meng Lei swore that he never wanted to experience such pain that was worse than death itself ever again.
“Meng Lei…”
Ol’ Amos opened his mouth and called out Meng Lei’s name, only to find that the current Meng Lei looked so foreign to him, so much so that he didn’t really dare to acknowledge him.
“Ol’ President!”
After some effort, Meng Lei barely managed a smile at Ol’ Amos. However, in Ol’ Amos’ eyes, his smile simply looked so evil and strangely demonic.
Meng Lei’s pupils were actually red in color! Just like Little Gold’s eyes!
Ol’ Amos was ultimately not just any old, average person after all. He quickly suppressed his shock and asked anxiously, “M-Meng Lei, what exactly is this all about?”
“I don’t know how I should explain this, either!”
Meng Lei balled his fists slightly, taking in the surging, torrential tsunami-like power inside him. This power was infinitely stronger than when he had broken through to Ninth-Grade Warrior!
Every muscle fiber, every single bone, every single inch of his blood and flesh—all of them contained incredibly fearsome power!
It was as though… he had been reborn!
“Ol’ President, you can just treat this as an alternative kind of… bloodline awakening,” whispered Meng Lei softly.
“Bloodline awakening?”
A look of horror appeared on Ol’ Amos’ face. “Are you saying that there… There’s really Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline hidden in your body?”
Meng Lei didn’t answer. Instead, he took in the sensation of the surging, turbulent, and fearsome power inside his body in detail.
The next moment, he bent his legs slightly and leaped into the air.
Boom!
His legs were just like two ultra-powerful springs. Tremendous power instantly erupted, and Meng Lei’s body rebounded into the air violently.
Whoosh!
Like a cannonball, Meng Lei instantly hurtled into the sky. In the twinkling of an eye, he had actually shot several hundred meters up into the sky.
“Oh my dragon god!”
Ol’ Amos raised his head and stared at Meng Lei, who had already turned into a little black dot. His mouth formed an ‘O’ so big that one could stuff an egg in!
Isn’t that a little too goddamn high?!
It wasn’t over yet, however!
The next instant, Meng Lei plummeted back down from high up in the sky. He smashed his fist into the ground, and with a loud boom, a violent, raging energy wave erupted into the surroundings.
Gales wreaked havoc, causing dirt and earth to fly everywhere!
The lands shook, and the mountains broke apart!
A huge, 100-meters-wide pit was imprinted in the ground, and Meng Lei stood in the center of the pit like a meteor that had crashed into the earth.
“This, this…” Ol’ Amos was flabbergasted. “That strength… He can probably match up to a pinnacle-level Ninth-Grade Magical Beast whose specialty is physical strength!”
A Magical Beast’s strength was its own body, and one whose specialty was physical strength was even the Hercules among Magical Beasts.
Let alone pinnacle-level Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts whose specialty was physical strength? With their physical strength alone, they could already compete with humans that had just stepped into the Saint Domain realm!
It was practically inconceivable for a human’s physical strength to be this potent.
“Although I don’t know what a Golden Gods-Slaying Ant is,” Meng Lei said as he stared at his own fists, terribly excited, “Its physical strength must be extremely domineering! After all, I’ve only just assimilated its bloodline, yet my physical strength is already this strong!
“In terms of pure physical strength, it has definitely surpassed a pure-blooded Fire Dragon!”
" }, { "id": 112, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-112", "title": "Chapter 112 - The Continent Sinks, The Deities Descend", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The night was quiet and soundless. There wasn’t even the slightest sound of crickets chirping.
A campfire blazed quietly in the quiet bushes.
A pig trotter marinated with spices was suspended at the top of the campfire. Golden-yellow grease dripped into the fire, producing sizzles and giving off an alluring fragrance.
Meng Lei’s eyes bore into the golden-yellow pig trotter, wishing he could scarf it down in one gulp. He was starving right now and had never been hungrier than this moment.
Meng Lei knew that this was an aftereffect of his transformation into an ant. Although the transformation had only lasted for a short few minutes, it had certainly exhausted all his strength.
“The ant transformation is truly too taxing on my stamina. Even with my Ninth-Grade Warrior-esque body, I actually only lasted five minutes!”
Meng Lei found this inconceivable.
A formidable Ninth-Grade Warrior! Yet it had only lasted five minutes!
Would anyone believe that?
“Also! Every time I assimilate a bloodline, my body will be strengthened. After I assimilated the first two bloodlines, my body improved by double to triple of what it originally was.
“And now, after assimilating the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline, my body has actually improved by a whole tenfold. That’s a whole tenfold!”
Meng Lei looked at his stats interface, still immersed in deep astoundment.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline, Fire Demon bloodline, and Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline)
Wealth: 7,541,721,863 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Ninth-Grade Warrior (10,158,587/1,000,000,000)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,345,142/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,129,328/1,000,000,000)
“Before assimilation, my Physical Body Constitution was 1 million points!
“After assimilation, it became 10 million points!
“That’s a whole tenfold difference!”
Meng Lei was in disbelief, but he couldn’t help but think of what his physical body constitution was like before and after he had assimilated the first two types of bloodlines.
Before he had assimilated the Fire Dragon bloodline, it was 800 points. After assimilation, it became 2,400 points—a threefold increase.
Before he had assimilated the Fire Demon bloodline, it was 7,000 points. After assimilation, it became 14,878 points—a twofold increase.
“The results are easy to see!
“If we don’t compare the other aspects but look purely at just my body’s strengthening and increments, the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline far surpasses the Fire Dragon and Fire Demon bloodlines.
“Now, here’s the problem—what kind of living thing is the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant, exactly? Why is it such a mutant?”
Meng Lei’s gaze involuntarily landed on Little Gold. This bloodline must have dropped from Little Gold for sure.
Was Little Gold a Golden Gods-Slaying Ant? Or did it have Golden Gods-Slaying Ant blood in its body?
If that was really the case, then Little Gold’s background would truly be fearsome. It definitely wouldn’t be as simple as just the ant monarch of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants.
Upon detecting Meng Lei’s gaze, Little Gold was instinctively rather fearful. Meng Lei gave off an aura that made it restless and antsy.
“Don’t be scared, Little Gold.”
Meng Lei stroked Little Gold’s head lightly and comforted it softly. Little Gold relaxed slightly and enjoyed his caresses docilely.
When Little Gold had more or less relaxed, Meng Lei voiced the question in his mind, “Little Gold, do you know of the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants?”
“The Golden Gods-Slaying Ants?”
Little Gold raised its head and looked at Meng Lei. Puzzlement flashed across its eyes, and it shook its little head. “I don’t know of it!”
“You don’t?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
“I don’t!”
Little Gold was very sure.
“Why doesn’t it know?”
Meng Lei’s brows knitted together slightly.
“It’s very normal for it not to know.” Ol’ Amos popped out with a decidedly complex look in his eyes. “The Golden Gods-Slaying Ants are creatures that are stuff of legends. They’ve long since become extinct, and there are very few people that know of them.”
“Stuff of legends?” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Yes, stuff of legends. It’s said that the whole world was still under the rule of the ancient Titans during those times. The Titans ruled over the skies and also controlled the lands.
“The ancient Titans! They were the one and only ruler of the Heaven’s Vault Continent… Until a certain day!”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes flickered as he said, “Golden rain fell from the skies, and an ant disaster broke out. It was only then that the ancient Titans’ rule finally came to an end!
“Later on, people realized that the golden rain that had fallen from the skies was, in fact, the eggs of a type of creature known as the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants.
“As the ant eggs hatched, baby ants were born, and a catastrophe broke out.
“Innumerable frenzied Golden Gods-Slaying Ant devoured everything that could be devoured—animals, humans, Magical Beasts, Fairies, Beast People… Including the ancient Titans, of course!
“The ancient Titans rose up in a counterattack. Unfortunately, the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants were simply too strong; not only were they indestructible, but they also possessed incredible physical strength.
“This directly led to innumerable Titans falling in battle. The ancient Titans also suffered devastating losses as a result, which ended their reign.”
“What happened after that?” Meng Lei asked incessantly, “Since the golden ants were so terrifying, who were the ones that stopped them? And who was able to stop them?”
Ol’ Amos gazed at the starry nightscape and uttered two words—”The deities!”
“The deities?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
“Yes, the deities!”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes flickered as he said, “The deities exist above the starry skies and overlook the whole world. They heard the ancient Titans’ prayers and also saw the catastrophe taking place in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
“And so, they descended upon the world!
“In the faraway ancient records, on the day that the deities descended, innumerable divine light beams cascaded from the sky. As though pillars of light that reached into the heavens and went deep into the ground, they lit up the entire sky. Even the sun hanging high up in the sky was dim and dull under the divine light’s shine.
“After that, an earth-shaking holy war broke out.
“The heavens split, and the earth cracked, and hurricanes swept across the lands!
“The floods broke loose, and earthquakes erupted!
“Dead bodies were strewn all over the wilderness as the earth and mountains shook and swayed!
“Toward the end of the war, even Heaven’s Vault Continent itself broke into pieces!”
Meng Lei sucked in a breath of chilly air.
“It’s said that a very long time ago, Heaven’s Vault Continent used to be much bigger than what it currently is. It was a whole five to six times the size of what it is now.”
Ol’ Amos went on with a sigh. “However, after that war, the continent broke and separated into many fragments. The current Heaven’s Vault Continent is one of the bigger pieces of those fragments.
“The other fragments either wandered about in the endless ocean and turned into solitary, lost continents, or they were submerged by the ocean and forever buried at the bottom of the deep ocean.”
“That great war was actually that terrifying?!”
Meng Lei was deeply astounded.
“The ones that partook in it were ultimately deities, after all.” Ol’ Amos shook his head repeatedly. “The deities’ strength is something you can never ever imagine. In front of the deities, Saint Domains are like ants in comparison to Colossal Dragons, and candlelight in comparison to the sun. It’s not something that can be clearly measured in numbers at all.”
“Are there really deities in this world?”
Meng Lei raised his head to the sky and gazed into the distance at the dazzling, brilliant stars in the night sky. A deep sense of puzzlement welled up within him.
Do deities really exist?
“Of course they do!” Ol’ Amos had no doubt about that. “Deities are higher beings that stand far above mere mortals. They are omniscient, omnipotent, immortal, and eternal. They possess a completely different lifestyle from mortals, and they truly exist at the other end of the starry sky!”
Taken aback, Meng Lei asked suspiciously, “Ol’ President, have you seen one before?”
“Of course!” A look of reverence appeared in Ol’ Amos’ eyes that were brimming with extraordinary splendor. “Our Lord, the Dragon God, that we, the Dragon God Empire, worship and believe in is a true deity. I once had the fortune to see his true form.”
“The Dragon God is actually real?”
Meng Lei was terribly shocked.
Calluses had already formed on his ears after hearing everyone going, “Oh my dragon god!” every day. He had initially thought that the so-called Dragon God was the same as the Venerable Master 1 , Buddha, and God on Earth, and was just an abstract, intangible religion.
Little did he expect that the Dragon God… truly existed!
That’s true!
This is Heaven’s Vault Continent where even stuff of legends like Colossal Dragons and Titans exist. Why can’t the Dragon God be real, too?
" }, { "id": 113, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-113", "title": "Chapter 113 - Strengths And Weaknesses, The Ruler Descends", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Even stuff of legends like Colossal Dragons and Titans existed, so… Why couldn’t deities exist, too?
When he thought of it that way, Meng Lei was able to reconcile himself with the idea. However, after that, another doubt surfaced in his mind—since deities existed, could humans become deities?
If they can, then am I able to become a deity?
“Humans can become deities, of course!” Ol’ Amos gave Meng Lei a definite answer to his query. “Or rather, every lifeform in Heaven’s Vault Continent has the chance to become a deity.”
Ol’ Amos looked up at the starry sky. As he gazed at the dazzling Milky Way shining so brilliantly, he gave a carefree sigh and said, “It’s said that many of the high and mighty deities were once lower lifeforms that became deities through cultivation.”
So, it’s possible!
Meng Lei became excited at once. “How do I become one?”
Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and replied with a smile, “According to old ancient records, there are many ways one can become a deity, but for the vast majority of lifeforms, there’s only one route to becoming a deity, and that is—the laws of nature.
“Deities are also known as the controllers of the laws of nature. In other words, as long as you can control the laws of nature, you are a deity.”
“Control the laws of nature?” Meng Lei murmured softly.
“The laws of nature are the truth and essence of everything in the universe and are also the rules and laws that everything in the world must follow. Nothing can break away from the laws of nature during their operation. The laws are supreme and contain inconceivable might!”
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but let out a laugh. He said, “It’s exactly because the deities can control the laws of nature that they are omnipotent and eternal.”
Meng Lei asked, “In that case, how does one control the laws of nature, Ol’ President?”
“You’re already thinking about controlling the laws of nature when you haven’t even figured out the universe’s momentum? You’re biting off more than you can chew.” Ol’ Amos chided him in amusement.
His response dumbfounded Meng Lei.
“The universe’s momentum is the outward appearance of the laws of nature. If you want to comprehend the laws of nature, then you must be able to control the universe’s momentum first.” Ol’ Amos’ smile disappeared as he said, “It’s only when you can part the fog surrounding the universe’s momentum that you can access laws on a deeper level.”
Meng Lei looked thoughtful at his words.
“To put it simply, one controls the universe’s momentum at ninth-grade,” said Ol’ Amos in conclusion. “While they can only begin to study the laws of nature after they reach Saint Domain level. No matter what, grasping the universe’s momentum will always be a prerequisite.”
“I understand now.” Meng Lei nodded slowly, already starting to come up with plans in his mind.
By spending gold coins in the system, he could also break through the ninth-grade limits to become a Saint Domain.
In other words, it was possible for him to attain Saint Domain level without needing to control the universe’s momentum.
By right, this should have been something positive. However, Meng Lei suddenly realized that even if he did become a Saint Domain, it was very likely that he’d just end up becoming a pseudo-Saint Domain that had the corresponding body sturdiness, spiritual power, and magic power reserves, but not the actual spiritual realm.
It was just like when he had clearly possessed a body comparable to a Ninth-Grade Warrior previously but didn’t have the corresponding Battle Aura cultivation level.
He could only be considered… A pseudo-Ninth-Grade Warrior.
Going by the same vein, it was highly likely that he would really turn into a pseudo-Saint Domain.
In that case, won’t I have the living daylights beaten out of me if I were to run into a real Saint Domain? After all that’s said and done, I still have to comprehend the universe’s momentum, isn’t it? Damn, that’s annoying.
Meng Lei was rather troubled over this. Although spending gold coins in the system could improve his body, spiritual power, and magic power reserves, it couldn’t boost his comprehension of the universe’s momentum and laws of nature.
This means that I’ll have to comprehend the universe’s momentum and nature’s laws step by step properly like other people in the future? How miserable… What’s the use of this lousy system, then?!
Meng Lei cursed silently. Then, he asked, “Ol’ President, what must I do in order to control the universe’s momentum?”
“You’ll have to slowly figure that out on your own.” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “The universe’s momentum is invisible and non-tactile. If you comprehend it, you comprehend it. If you can’t, then there’s no other way. Nobody can help you with that!”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together tightly.
Is it that deep and profound?
“However…” Ol’ Amos twisted his beard with a smile. “You’ve become a Great Ninth-Grade Magician at such a young age—this is your biggest strength.”
“Uh… Is that even considered a strength?” Meng Lei frowned slightly.
“Duh, of course!”
Ol’ Amos snorted and explained, “Life is short, and one’s lifespan is limited. Even a Great Ninth-Grade Magician only has a short lifespan of 100 years or so. It’s so fleeting that it’s practically ridiculous.
“For a lot of people, by the time they’ve cultivated till the ninth-grade realm, their hair has already turned white from old age. How much time do they have left to comprehend the universe’s momentum?”
Meng Lei nodded. He made a lot of sense there.
“Because you don’t need to worry about dying from old age so soon, you have ample time to comprehend the universe’s momentum. You’re not just a mere step ahead of others.” Ol’ Amos stroked his beard as he gazed at Meng Lei. “However, your biggest weakness is that your magic talent is too good, and you actually have four types of elemental affinities—thunder, fire, earth, and wood—at the same time.”
“Is that a weakness?” Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“Of course!” Ol’ Amos’ countenance was stern as he explained, “Having four types of magic talent means that you’ll need to spend four times, perhaps even longer, the amount of time others need in order to comprehend the universe’s momentum. That’s a huge rise in the difficulty level.”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together.
“Therefore, I’d suggest that you give up three of them and choose only one type to comprehend.” Ol’ Amos said with a smile, “You have excellent talent. If you cultivate only one element, I have confidence that you can start to see the laws of nature’s vague outlines and successfully break through to Saint Domain.”
Choosing only one element from among thunder, fire, earth, and wood?
Meng Lei fell silent.
Frankly speaking, he didn’t want to give up any of them. These were elemental affinities that he had only picked up after so much trouble. What a waste it would be to discard them…
“Let me think about this,” Meng Lei replied with a shake of his head.
“Think about it properly, brat.”
Ol’ Amos didn’t press him further but smiled and twisted his beard instead.
He understood very well how Meng Lei felt. Nobody that had four types of elemental affinities at the same time like him would want to give up any of them.
However, at times like this, one must learn how to make a choice.
Otherwise, there was a high chance that they would end up inhibiting both sides and end up wasting a great amount of time. To Great Ninth-Grade Magicians with such short lifespans, this was unacceptable.
“Alright, I understand.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly and changed the depressing subject. He asked, “Ol’ President, what happened after the deities descended? Did they kill off all the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants?”
“Yes!”
Ol’ Amos nodded lightly. “The Golden Gods-Slaying Ants may be strong—among which, some of them could even contend with the deities—but they ultimately weren’t a match for the deities’ joint siege on them.
“In the end, the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants were completely annihilated by the deities. In fact, to prevent the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants from making a comeback, the deities even wiped out every single offspring that had inherited the Golden Gods-Slaying Ants’ bloodline.”
At this point, the way Ol’ Amos looked at Meng Lei turned complex at once. “Unfortunately, there were still some that had slipped through the cracks, and you… are evidently one of them.”
“There must be a lot of them that got away. Who knows just how many there are concretely?”
Meng Lei touched his nose, wishing he could say that the one that had truly slipped through the cracks was actually Little Gold and not him.
I’m just an idle onlooker that accidentally picked up the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline.
“Brat, you must keep this in mind.” Ol’ Amos suddenly became very stern, unprecedentedly so. “No matter when, you must never let anyone know that you have the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline in you. Otherwise, a great disaster will befall upon you.”
“I understand, Ol’ President.”
Mildly alarmed, Meng Lei nodded to indicate that he’d understood. His life was at stake here; he had to be cautious about it.
Ol’ Amos nodded lightly. “I’m glad you understand.”
At that moment, the ground suddenly began to shake. As if thousands upon thousands of horses were running across the ground, it emitted deep, dull, and varied explosions.
“Has the ant tide come?”
Meng Lei raised his head and looked around him.
“No, it’s not the ant tide!” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “The commotion is too great; it must be some kind of creature that’s even bigger. You must be careful and stay vigilant.”
True enough, Ol’ Amos was right.
The shaking in the ground intensified further and further. As trees broke and splintered, repulsive, savage-looking Underground Cave Magical Spiders with eight legs each and over a dozen meters long showed up one by one.
Their numbers were astonishing, and one couldn’t see till the end of them. They surrounded Meng Lei on all sides and thoroughly sealed off all his escape routes.
“Underground Cave Magical Spiders!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward. “Are they here to send themselves to death’s door?”
Screech!
A sharp, ear-piercing cry suddenly rang out, and the Underground Cave Magical Spiders parted to make way.
Thud, thud, thud!
Amid deep, dull, and inseparably close thuds, a blood-red monster and taller than a 20-story building slowly walked in.
“Pinnacle-level Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor!”
" }, { "id": 114, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-114", "title": "Chapter 114 - Wealth Reset, Killing A Saint Domain Magical Beast", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The massive, fully blood-red creature stood erect on the ground like a peerless ferocious beast from the depths of hell. It gave off a violent, malevolent aura that could make one’s hair stand on end and shiver in fear.
“The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor!”
Ol’ Amos’ pupils contracted in shock, and he shouted, “Brat, that’s the pinnacle-level Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor! It’s very hard to deal with, you must take absolute care.”
“Understood!”
Even without Ol’ Amos’ reminder, Meng Lei could already feel the fiendish, savage aura emanating from the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor.
Judging from its aura alone, it was even more fearsome than the Titanic Dragon-Ape he had encountered in the past. How would Meng Lei possibly dare to be negligent and careless?
Thud, thud, thud!
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s legs were like eight tall, towering trees covered in scarlet red steel needle-like spikes several meters long. Under the light from the campfire, they gleamed with a chilly, blood-red glint.
Its eight eyes glanced coldly at Little Gold before shifting toward Meng Lei. Its eyes gave off an icy glint, and then, it actually spoke.
“Human! Get lost! Otherwise! Die!”
“What the heck? It can actually speak?”
Meng Lei was astonished. Didn’t they say that only Saint Domain Magical Beasts could speak the human language? How come that Ninth-Grade Magical Beast in front of him could also speak?
“Evidently, that Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor has already broken through! It’s no Ninth-Grade Magical Beast anymore but a Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
Ol’ Amos sounded terribly anxious. “Although it has only just broken through, so its aura isn’t that steady, a Saint Domain is ultimately still a Saint Domain. Given your current abilities, it’s very difficult for you to beat it in a battle. You’d better get ready to run. It’s just that it’s a shame about the little ant monarch. You’ll probably have to abandon it…”
“Broken through?”
Alarm welled up in Meng Lei’s heart, and the muscles all over his body tensed up. He was fearless against a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, but it wasn’t the same in the case of a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
Saint Domain and ninth-grade were as different as day and night. There was no comparison between the two at all.
“But… It seems like a Saint Domain Magical Beast is worth a lot of money?”
Meng Lei’s eyes flickered as a crazy idea suddenly formed in his mind. If he killed the Saint Domain Magical Beast in front of him now…
As for Little Gold, in the instant the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor had appeared, it became so frightened that it quivered and shook like a leaf. It hid behind Meng Lei with everything it got, extremely terrified.
“Human, get lost!”
Upon Meng Lei’s silence, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor lost its patience. It roared into the sky, the roiling soundwaves erupting in Meng Lei’s ears and almost rupturing his eardrums.
“Get lost? Hehe, what if I refuse?”
Meng Lei slowly got up. He grabbed the roasted pig trotter on top of the campfire and viciously tore off a piece of meat with a bite. A hint of insanity flashed across his eyes as they bore into the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor.
It has just broken through?
Unsteady aura?
Then… Why not slay it?
“Kid, what do you intend to do?” An alarmed Ol’ Amos hastily shouted, “Don’t do anything stupid! You’re not the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s match. You’ll throw your life away if you stubbornly fight it!”
“We’ll only know if I can match up to it after a fight!”
As Meng Lei took big bites out of the roasted pig trotter, he asked, “Ol’ President, how much do you think that Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor can sell for?”
“What do you intend to do? You’re out of your mind!” Ol’ Amos was infuriated. “A Saint Domain Magical Beast’s strength is not something you can even begin to imagine. Listen to me, hurry, and run. With your abilities, you’re totally capable of escaping.”
However, Meng Lei shook his head and replied, “Ol’ President, you just need to tell me how much that Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor is worth.”
“You… You stubborn mule!”
A fuming mad Ol’ Amos said, “A Saint Domain Magical Beast is a priceless treasure. You can’t buy one even if you have the money. Even if it does turn up once in a blue moon, it’s also worth an astronomical sum of several billion gold coins.
“Although that Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor has only just broken through, a Saint Domain Magical Beast is ultimately still a Saint Domain Magical Beast, so it can sell for a hefty 5 billion gold coins at the very least.”
5 billion? That means I can still earn at least a difference of 2.5 billion?
Meng Lei licked his lips, the look of insanity in his eyes intensifying. He burst into laughter and said, “You evil creature, your insignificant little life is mine!”
“System! Redeem all my Wealth and add them all to my Physical Body Constitution!”
“Ding!”
Meng Lei’s Wealth value was instantly reset to zero. All 7,541,721,863 gold coins evaporated into thin air!
At the same time, as many as 754,172,186 Attribute Points were abruptly added to Meng Lei’s Physical Body Constitution, and a surging and warm turbulent current began to strengthen his body like a tidal wave.
Boom!
A terrifying aura reaching into the heavens and deep into the ground surged out of Meng Lei. Strong tremors went through everything in the surroundings wherever the hurricane passed through!
Trees broke into pieces, and dirt flew everywhere!
The campfire was blown away, and the whole place was in a total mess!
“What?!”
Upon sensing the terrifying aura that suddenly erupted from Meng Lei, Ol’ Amos’ eyes were widened so big and round that they almost fell out of their sockets!
“H-how can that be?!”
Ol’ Amos practically couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Huh?”
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor was mildly surprised, too. However, it was also limited to just a bit of surprise. Although Meng Lei’s aura had strengthened tremendously, it was still within the Ninth-Grade tier.
A tiny little Ninth-Grade was but just a lowly ant. The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor didn’t take Meng Lei seriously at all. It had absolute confidence in its own abilities.
“Ol’ President, I won’t abandon Little Gold, nor will I run away!”
Meng Lei licked his lips, a look of bloodthirstiness and insanity bursting forth from his eyes. “Open your eyes wide and watch well as I slaughter that beast!”
Meng Lei had only just spoken when he shot out in a split second.
In this instant, his speed spiked to its limit. His Physical Body Constitution, which reached as high as 764,330,773 points, made him feel as though his body was brimming with explosive energy, from head to toe.
His speed, strength, and agility—all of them had undergone a tremendous change.
“Die, damned beast!”
In a split second, Meng Lei’s fist, which carried a fearsome power capable of destroying the heavens and earth, had already gone smashing toward the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s abdomen.
“A tiny little ant that thinks too highly of himself!”
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor let out a snort. The blood-red spikes on its eight legs left the legs and shot abruptly toward Meng Lei like a dense, concentrated rain of swords.
They moved lightning-quick!
There were so many that they were densely packed like rain and sealed off the whole place.
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor wanted to stab so many holes into Meng Lei that he’d turn into a sieve.
“Good job coming here!”
Meng Lei let out a loud laugh. Dazzling golden light shot out of him, turning him instantly into a golden sun, and he went through a transformation again.
Dazzling golden armor, savage golden barbed spikes, and a brilliant golden body appeared as he transformed into a Golden Gods-Slaying Ant.
Boom!
In that instant, Meng Lei’s aura erupted once more, and his speed spiked dramatically again. Then, he strangely vanished into thin air.
Stab, stab, stab!
The dense rain of steel needles missed their target and stabbed into the ground, whereas Meng Lei suddenly appeared underneath the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s abdomen instead. Then, he smashed his fist ruthlessly into its abdomen.
Boom!
Incredibly wild and violent energy erupted with a deafening boom. Like a drum, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s belly actually let out a huge brass bell-like boom and produced wave after wave of ripples.
However, the unfortunate thing was that Meng Lei’s fist didn’t actually manage to punch through it.
“What?!”
Meng Lei’s expression changed at once.
After he had spent the gold coins in the system, his Physical Body Constitution points had gone as high as 7.6 hundred million.
In addition, after his ant transformation, his Physical Body Constitution had multiplied by several times again. He had long since broken through the 1 billion mark to reach another level altogether.
This meant that his body was comparable to a Saint Domain’s after his ant transformation. Since that was so, why wasn’t he able to punch through the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s abdomen?
“Kid, you’re oversimplifying things!” Ol’ Amos shook his head with a sigh. “The moment a Magical Beast steps into the Saint Domain, they become as strong as a mid-level human Saint Domain, perhaps even a high-level one. How is it something that you can kill?”
Splurt!
However, he had only just spoken when he heard a crisp pop. Ol’ Amos looked over in surprise, only to see a black spear piercing through the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s head.
“Hehe! It’s a good thing that I took precautions, then!”
" }, { "id": 115, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-115", "title": "Chapter 115 - I'Ve Grown Too Full Of Myself, But I Didn'T Slip Up That Badly", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "To be very, very honest, Meng Lei felt that he’d grown a bit too full of himself recently—and the kind of growing into a huge balloon, no less.
His training in the Magical Beast Forest, the sudden eruption of the ant tide, the series of gold coin expenditure in the system, and his chance encounters had allowed his battle capabilities to skyrocket madly, which had, in turn, allowed him to advance quite a few grades in succession.
To recap, before he had come to the Magical Beast Forest, he had only been a Seventh-Grade Warrior and a Sixth-Grade Magician. Yet, in just a short month or so, he had already become a Ninth-Grade Warrior and a Ninth-Grade Magician!
If he were to use his trump cards, he could narrowly compare to a Saint Domain.
The speed of improvements in his battle capabilities was astounding.
However, this also made Meng Lei’s ego go through unprecedented inflation. As a result, when facing the Saint Domain Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, what had occurred to Meng Lei first and foremost hadn’t been to escape but to kill the other party instead.
A Saint Domain Magical Beast! That was a Saint Domain Magical Beast!
If he could kill it, just how much would he earn?
And so, Meng Lei had staked all his assets on the gamble and made a frenzied attack. However, what he didn’t expect was that his best shot at full power hadn’t dealt even the slightest bit of damage to the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor at all.
How infuriating was that?
He had put in so much effort, yet it was still completely fine and dandy?
“It’s a good thing that I’d used the Gods-Slaying Spear when I attacked earlier. Otherwise, I would have been in grave danger.”
Meng Lei dodged a few times consecutively and put a safe distance between himself and the Magical Beasts. He couldn’t help but be relieved at his decision earlier.
As the saying went, “Always have a backup plan”!
No matter when, one must always leave a way out for themselves. Their forefathers didn’t lie, indeed.
“That kid is actually so devious?”
Ol’ Amos was dumbfounded. He had thought that Meng Lei was doomed for sure; after all, what he was up against was a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
How was charging forward like that so recklessly any different from seeking death on his own?
Little did he expect that Meng Lei would actually be that sly. At the same time as he had attacked, he hadn’t forgotten to use the Gods-Slaying Spear to ambush the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor from the back.
An attack from the open and another attack from the shadows.
The double whammy had successfully scammed a good one out of the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor. That was simply too insidious.
Screeeeechhh!
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor actually didn’t die even after its head was pierced by the Gods-Slaying Spear. Tremendous pain assailed its senses, and it roared again and again, its eyes full of violent brutality and bloodthirstiness.
Boom!
Its blade-like foreleg lifted into the air and cleaved ruthlessly toward Meng Lei, moving fast and viciously. Should the hit land, even a Colossal Dragon would be cleaved into two.
“Hehe, you can’t hit me!”
Meng Lei zoomed backward and retreated. Then, with a snap of his fingers, a 100-meters-wide fireball suddenly appeared above the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor.
“Flame Inferno… Drop!”
Boom!
Flame Inferno fell from the sky and crashed against the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s head with pinpoint accuracy, covering its eyes.
“Here’s my chance!”
Meng Lei wielded the Gods-Slaying Spear and stabbed it straight into the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s eyes. With a spurt, the Gods-Slaying Spear went all the way in.
Screech!
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor let out a shrill cry. It looked as if the intense pain would cause it to go berserk any moment.
Meng Lei was unaffected, however. He appeared at its abdomen again and shouted, “Where are you, Gods-Slaying Spear?!”
Whoosh!
The Gods-Slaying Spear transformed into a stream of light and returned to Meng Lei’s hand. With the spear in his grip, Meng Lei stabbed it forcefully into the Magical Beast, and then, he dragged it across with great force.
Rip!
Amid spine-chilling sounds of something being ripped, a deep fissure was slashed through the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s abdomen.
Splurt!
Foul-smelling scarlet-red blood sprayed about like a waterfall. Meng Lei sneered, and a ten-meter-long thunder arrow instantly appeared.
It was the Eighth-Grade Spell, Thunderbolt Light Arrow!
“Go!”
Meng Lei casually hurled it forward. The Thunderbolt Light Arrow cut through the air and stabbed accurately into the fissure.
“Your skin may be incredibly tough, but I don’t believe that your guts are just as tough!”
Meng Lei’s form retreated in an explosive burst of speed. Just as he dodged, the Thunderbolt Light Arrow that had shot into the fissure exploded with a loud boom. As the deafening explosion rang out, the light from lightning spilled everywhere freely, and blood sprayed about. A huge pit was blasted out of the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s abdomen.
Splash!
Together with blood and bits of flesh, brightly-colored innards and internal organs came smashing down onto the ground, emitting dull bams as they did so. A shocking stench rushed toward Meng Lei, and he almost threw up his meal from the night before.
“What the heck?” Meng Lei quickly held his hand over his nose and mouth and retreated swiftly. “Has that thing been eating sh*t or what? It stinks!”
The consecutive attacks had obviously heavily injured the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor. Its eight legs scrabbled at its internal organs, trying to stuff the foul-smelling organs back into its abdomen.
However, with such a huge hole there, how was it supposed to stuff them back?
Even after half a day of efforts spent in vain, it didn’t manage to stuff the internal organs back inside. On the contrary, its stamina even depleted at a faster rate. Its body became weaker and weaker, while its roars turned softer and softer.
At last, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air intermittently. Its eyes also began to dull and glaze over, looking as though it was on the brink of death.
“Haha, I’ve succeeded!”
Meng Lei appeared on top of a large tree and watched the dozens of meters tall massive creature that was slumped on the ground, his blood boiling in excitement and agitation.
He had actually killed the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, a Saint Domain Magical Beast!
“I… can kill even a Saint Domain now?” Meng Lei murmured to himself, feeling as though he was in a dream.
“Brat, you’ve actually managed to kill the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor!” Ol’ Amos exclaimed as he emerged.
He examined the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor that was barely breathing anymore as he twisted his beard, also finding himself in disbelief. He remarked, “Even though you did use a divine weapon like the Gods-Slaying Spear, I am still truly impressed that you managed to kill it.”
“Haha, it was just luck. Luck!”
Meng Lei let out a couple of loud laughs. Then, the Gods-Slaying Spear flew out of nowhere and stabbed wildly at the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s head. Although that thing was already at death’s door, who knew how long it would take before it would really breathe its last?
Meng Lei felt awfully insecure looking at his starkly empty Wealth, so he desperately needed gold coins. Many, many gold coins!
Stab, stab, stab!
A series of mad stabbings later, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s head turned into a sieve, riddled with innumerable holes. It was only then that the powerful Saint Domain Magical Beast died with great grievance amid feelings of indignation and humiliation.
It really was filled with great indignation.
It, a high and mighty Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, had immediately annihilated its eternal foe, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants when it had only just broken through to the Saint Domain realm. It had been in high and vigorous spirits, ready to achieve great things!
Who would have expected that things would go downhill at its peak?
It had only just ascended to the peak of its spider life and hadn’t even begun to enjoy its life, yet this had to happen. Not only did it not manage to wipe out the remnants of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, but it had even lost its life.
It really fulfilled the meaning behind the saying, “Life is unpredictable; who knows which would come first—tomorrow, or an accident?”
“Ding! 1 Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor killed. 5.2 billion gold coins gained!”
A system notification appropriately rang out at this point. The cold, emotionless voice sounded just like music to Meng Lei’s ears, making him feel as if he was intoxicated.
Hehe! Although it was dangerous, my gamble paid off! Adding the extra 5 billion from the magic core to these 5.2 billion gold coins, that makes it 10 billion gold coins!
And that stinky carcass! I’ve struck it big, struck it big…
" }, { "id": 116, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-116", "title": "Chapter 116 - Taking Inventory Of His Rewards, The Underground World", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "With the end of the battle, peace and quiet were restored in the forest.
A campfire continued to blaze. On the ground, a short distance away quietly laid a massive object as tall as a building more than a dozen floors tall—the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s carcass.
Meng Lei admired its carcass as he munched away on a fragrant pig trotter, carefree and happy.
Although he had taken a risk in killing the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, it had brought him handsome rewards and benefits.
The first was the 10 billion gold coins (inclusive of the magic core). Not only had he gotten back his 7.5 billion gold coins, but he had even earned an additional 2.5 billion.
This transaction… was totally worth it.
Next was the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s carcass.
Every part of a Saint Domain Magical Beast was a piece of invaluable treasure. The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor could probably fetch a few billion gold coins at the very least.
That was another sum of profits.
The last was his Physical Body Constitution points that reached as high as 7.6 hundred million. This implied that as long as Meng Lei was willing to, he could spend 2.4 billion gold coins to break through the 1 billion points limit and step into the Saint Domain realm anytime.
A Saint Domain-level body at 16 years old—that was something rarely seen even in the long course of history!
“Hahaha!”
Immersed in his thoughts, Meng Lei couldn’t help bursting into loud laughter as he ate and drank. His free and unrestrained laughter echoed in the quiet forest like an owl’s cries, making one awfully creeped out.
“Hmph! What are you acting so triumphant for?”
Ol’ Amos sat cross-legged on top of a large tree. Terribly cross, he couldn’t resist letting out a snort secretly upon hearing Meng Lei’s laughter.
A while ago, he had asked Meng Lei how he had suddenly become so strong for no apparent reason. However, the response he had gotten was the three words, “It’s a secret!”, which terribly vexed the old man.
He had held nothing back and was very serious in teaching Meng Lei, but look at how the little bastard was keeping so many secrets from him in the end.
Thus, Ol’ Amos was very displeased.
“Since you’re keeping me in suspense, then fine.” Ol’ Amos gnashed his teeth secretly, “If I answer any of your questions again in the future, I’ll acknowledge you as my ancestor!”
Meng Lei didn’t know what Ol’ Amos was thinking, and he continued to eat, drink, and laugh. Upon sensing Ol’ Amos’ unusual expression, he couldn’t help but ask with a grin, “Ol’ President, can this Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor still fit in your spatial magic device?”
“Hmph!” Ol’ Amos snorted. “My spatial magic device has long since been full. Don’t you have any idea whether or not there’s any space left?”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei frowned slightly. He was in a pickle now—that was a carcass worth a few billion gold coins. There was no way he could possibly discard it, of course.
But where could he store it? Maybe he should get a few more spatial rings?
But that was an Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor that was as tall as a building over a dozen floors high. How many spatial rings would he need in order to fully store all of it?
“Hmm?”
Meng Lei’s gaze unwittingly landed on Little Gold. Wasn’t Little Gold’s stomach very big? Could it be used as a spatial ring?
Meng Lei popped the question the moment the thought occurred to him.
“Yes, it can. My stomach is very big.”
Little Gold nodded its little head to express that it was possible. After the events just now, it had become on even closer terms with Meng Lei now.
“That’s wonderful! Haha, Little Gold, you’re so awesome!”
Meng Lei was thrilled. “Little Gold, hurry and keep the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s carcass. Let’s go and do something big, hehe. Something big that’ll definitely make you very happy!”
“Yes, yes!”
Little Gold had no objections, of course. It climbed over to the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, opened its mouth, and sucked in a deep breath. For a while there, something that left Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos dumbstruck took place:
The space around the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass actually began to warp and distort. As if ripples spreading out on the water surface of a lake, ripples started to wrap around the carcass one by one!
The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass flew swiftly toward Little Gold, its size shrinking as it did. By the time it reached Little Gold, it had turned as tiny as a rice grain.
Then, Little Gold swallowed it into its belly in one gulp.
“This…” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, and he asked in disbelief, “Ol’ President, is that space magic?”
“No! Space magic has long since been lost to the world!” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “That is just a simple space skill. Even so, it’s already very astonishing. The Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline is very extraordinary, indeed!”
The Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline?
A thought occurred to Meng Lei.
Didn’t I just assimilate the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline? Do I have a spatial ability like that?
Meng Lei hastily checked his own body the moment the notion occurred to him.
He directed spiritual power rapidly to his stomach. However, even after staring at it for half a day, there wasn’t even a speck of dust there.
His stomach was still the same size as ever. It was close to becoming unable to fit even the roasted pig trotter he had just eaten, much less the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s carcass.
Meng Lei’s lip corner spasmed for a moment there. All that joy had been for nothing.
“I’ve stored all of it!”
Little Gold let out a burp and crawled over joyfully.
“You’re so awesome, Little Gold!”
Meng Lei readjusted his frame of mind. Then, he fondled Little Gold’s head and asked smilingly, “Do you want to go home Little Gold?”
“Go home?”
Little Gold was taken aback by his question. Then, a look of dejection came over its face, and it replied, “Of course I want to, but I can’t. The Underground Cave Magical Spiders have taken over the ant nest, and even the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest has…”
“It’s fine as long as you wish to go back.” Meng Lei reached out and carried it in his arms. “You should know the way back home, right? How about we go to your home now?”
Little Gold’s eyes lit up at once, hope and anticipation filling them. “Really?”
“Of course!” A smiling Meng Lei replied, “The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor is already dead. Its remaining henchmen are just useless nobodies. They can’t stop us.”
“Yes, yes!” Little Gold was terribly worked up. Tears of joy trickled from its eyes.
“Haha, let’s go,” Meng Lei replied with a laugh.
Then, with Little Gold in his arms, he charged into the dense and dark forest.
…
Be it to humans or to Magical Beasts, the current Magical Beast Forest was an absolute forbidden zone. The ant tide wandering about everywhere ripped every lifeform it encountered into shreds.
Meng Lei, however, advanced unopposed and moved about unrestrained. Under Little Gold’s guidance, he found an entrance in no time and entered the underground world.
The so-called entrance was actually a cavern leading to the underground. Deep, quiet, and dark, it was as tall as a few people and dead silent.
Meng Lei found it especially novel. He looked around everywhere while Little Gold introduced the underground world to him.
“The underground world is shrouded in mystery and is even more complex than the world aboveground. There are numerous layers of space sandwiched in between one another, and many underground lifeforms live in these spatial layers.
“These spatial layers pass through innumerable caverns and are linked to countless tunnels. It is just like an underground maze. It’s very easy for one to lose their way if they don’t have any underground lifeform leading them.
“Once they are lost, they’ll be trapped underground. When that happens, they’ll be doomed for sure.”
“Lost?” Meng Lei was startled.
“Yes, lost!”
Little Gold nodded. “Take us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, for example. With our headquarters, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, as the center, the whole area within a radius of several dozen million square kilometers, belongs to us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!
“And distributed within this area are a total of several billion underground caves, burrows, passages, and tunnels of various sizes. Just like tree branches, they are scattered about in every corner of our turf.
“Dense, packed, and countless.
“The entire ant nest can be said to be a gigantic maze. Without any guidance, outsiders can forget about finding the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest. It is also the home that we, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, depend on for survival and our habitat that we rely on for self-protection.”
Little Gold’s head was raised, its eyes brimming with pride. However, it hung its head again very soon. “It’s just a shame that the Underground Cave Magical Spiders are an exception. They have been enemies with us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, for generations and have a very thorough understanding of the ant nest’s distribution. That was why…”
" }, { "id": 117, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-117", "title": "Chapter 117 - Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, The Ant Tide Concludes", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The Underground Cave Magical Spiders and the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants had been at war for tens of thousands of years. Ultimately, it was the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had lost in the end, and it had been a terrible defeat at that.
If not for Meng Lei, even Little Gold, the current ant monarch, would have been wiped out by the Underground Cave Magical Spiders. This could be said to be an utter defeat for them.
With regard to this, Little Gold was filled with dejection.
“Little Gold, you’re still young. This isn’t your fault.” Meng Lei patted Little Gold on the head. “Besides, the final outcome is that you’re still alive, while the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor is dead. That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes!” Little Gold repeatedly nodded, its grief turning into joy.
Yes, I’m still alive! It’s only when I’m alive that there’ll still be hope.
They went down the meandering path.
Sometimes it was spacious, and sometimes it was narrow.
Sometimes it was filled with jagged, strangely-shaped rocks, and sometimes it was surrounded by cliff and precipitous rock walls.
Sometimes there were undercurrents and corridors, and sometimes there were bottomless pits that stretched all the way down.
The terrain was very irregular, and it was dark and lightless. If not for Little Gold guiding him, Meng Lei really wouldn’t have the guts to continue forward.
One would lose their way going about in a place like this the moment they got a little careless, and once they lost their way, only death awaited them. There was no way they would survive at all.
“Ol’ President, have you ever been to the underground?”
“No…”
They chatted idly as they walked.
At last, an especially spacious underground cavern finally appeared ahead of them. Little Gold introduced the place and said, “This is one of the spatial layers.”
“One of the spatial layers?” Meng Lei turned to look.
The spatial layer was very big, and one couldn’t see to the end of it at one glance. It was also 1,000 feet tall and appeared exceedingly wide and spacious.
The amazing thing was that there were patches of glowing plants growing on the ground, walls, and ceilings, making it look as if it was a forest, and they lit up the spatial layer very brightly.
“It’s gorgeous!”
Meng Lei was astounded by the sight. The glowing forest in front of him was as if twinkling, brilliant jewels. They gave off a dreamy glow and looked splendid and magnificent.
“Even the scenery in Pandora’s night forest in the movie Avatar is nothing more than this,” Meng Lei murmured to himself.
“Who would have thought that a beautiful place like this would actually exist in such a dark and quiet underground? The Creator is amazing, indeed!”
Ol’ Amos was also pretty astounded. He stroked his beard as he gazed at the glowing forest, his speech full of admiration.
Rustle, rustle!
Just as the two of them were immersed in their feelings of astoundment at the beautiful scenery in front of them, dozens of grayish-white Underground Cave Magical Spiders suddenly emerged. They trampled freely on the glowing forest, plowing several deep ditches in the forest.
What a blot on the landscape!
“Underground Cave Magical Spiders,” shouted Little Gold, its eyes full of hatred and fury.
This particular spatial layer had originally belonged to them, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants and Underground Cave Magical Spiders were forbidden from entry. Yet these vile invaders were actually walking about in here unbridled now. It was simply too infuriating!
“Underground Cave Magical Spiders?”
Meng Lei’s objective in coming underground was exactly to annihilate the Underground Cave Magical Spiders. Upon the sight of them now, how would he possibly stand on ceremony?
“Go!”
The Gods-Slaying Spear hurtled out at once.
Stab, stab, stab!
The Gods-Slaying Spear formed an illusory arc in the air. Amid crisp, melodious sounds, before the dozens of Underground Cave Magical Spiders could even react, the Gods-Slaying Spear had already pierced through their heads. All of them fell to the ground, dead.
“A bunch of detestable killjoys.”
Meng Lei kept the Gods-Slaying Spear away. His gaze swept across the Underground Cave Magical Spiders carcasses, too lazy to even bother with their magic cores. The hundred thousand or so gold coins were simply too beneath his taste.
“Let’s continue forward.”
After cutting through the spatial layer, they entered another dark, quiet tunnel and continued advancing. The beauty and wonder of the underground world revealed themselves bit by bit to Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos’ eyes.
All the spatial layers! All the expanses of glowing forests! They were gorgeous, magnificent, and glowed brilliantly!
As Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos enjoyed the visual feast, they also finally arrived at an entirely different spatial layer—it was gold in color.
This was a golden dimension.
Golden lands!
Golden skies!
Golden walls!
Golden plants!
Everything was gold in color!
Dazzling golden light lit up the entire world, and scattered all over the wide and flat golden lands were several holes.
There were up to a million of these well-sized holes. They were distributed evenly on the ground in a dense, packed, and tidy manner. All the holes were identical in size and the spaces between each hole less than 10 meters wide each.
It looked like a hornet nest, yet also like a beehive.
Honey-like golden liquid filled the holes, and there were even white, round ant eggs soaking in some of them.
“That’s…”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos’ eyes widened big and round.
“That’s my clan’s divine weapon—the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest!”
Little Gold was awfully excited. “All my subjects are born here, so they have a mysterious connection with the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest. A young ant monarch can command all its subjects through the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest.”
“I see.”
“That’s so amazing!”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos were greatly astounded. However, a look of grief surfaced in Little Gold’s eyes as it gazed at the quiet Bloodthirsty Golden Nest.
“Before the Underground Cave Magical Spiders’ invasion, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was very lively and bustling. The queen produced eggs every day, and the worker ants went in and out of the nest. But now…”
There was only dead silence.
There was no ant queen here, and the worker ants were nowhere in sight.
The Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was frighteningly quiet. Even the ant eggs soaking in the holes were still and motionless—clearly, they had already been dead for a long time.
The Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was in a bleak and desolate state.
“Cheer up, Little Gold. As long as you, the ant monarch, are still alive, reviving your past glory won’t be a problem.” Meng Lei said with a smile, “The most pressing issue now is to take control of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest and summon back all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants wandering outside now so that they won’t continue to wreak havoc outside.”
“Yes, yes! I understand!” Little Gold nodded.
Then, it flapped its little wings and dived into the center of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, a hole about two-meters-wide.
Before long, a mystical, desolate horn blast traveled out of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, sending out some kind of mysterious and unknown message.
“Ol’ President, do you understand what the horn blast is saying?” asked Meng Lei as he looked at Ol’ Amos.
Ol’ Amos shook his head, indicating that he didn’t, and replied, “It’s probably the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ unique way of communication.”
What the two of them didn’t know was that the bleak and desolate horn blast passed through the golden world and the thick rock layers to finally reach the Magical Beast Forest’s surface.
Then, an amazing sight happened:
All the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, no matter which part of Magical Beast Forest they were in, no matter where they were, and no matter what they were doing—without any exceptions, all of them came to a stop!
They miraculously froze on the spot, as if all of them had their movements sealed. All of them turned still and motionless, their actions neat and uniform.
The ones pursuing Magical Beasts… came to a stop.
The ones attacking cities… came to a stop.
The ones wandering about… came to a stop.
“What’s going?”
“Why has the ant tide stopped moving?”
Countless people and beasts under the ant tide’s threat were utterly baffled. Then, under their even more bewildered gazes, the ant tide withdrew like the receding tide.
In the blink of an eye, all of them had cleanly withdrawn.
If anyone were to be looking down from the sky at this moment, they would see an unbelievable sight—countless ants surging from all directions and converging at the same place, the entrance to the underground world!
At last, all of them dived right into the entrance and returned to their world!
" }, { "id": 118, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-118", "title": "Chapter 118 - Returning To The Academy, Ten Superior-Grade Elemental Affinities", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "With the rise of the morning sun, the rays of dawn shone upon the land.
In front of the solemn and stately academy gates, an endless stream of horses, carriages, and people flowed to and fro. Guards in golden armor swept their eyes over the students going in and out of the academy, their eyes cold and sharp as though hawks.
“Tell me honestly, Alex. How many cute, gentle, little maidservants did you defile this winter break again?”
“Get lost, get lost! Don’t spoil my reputation!”
“Pooh! Who doesn’t know that you, Alex, are a famous lustful fiend? After holding it back for half a year in the academy, wouldn’t you let loose after you go home?”
“Bastard! Would it kill you to stop talking that much…”
As Meng Lei stood in front of the majestic and awe-inspiring gates and listened to the laughter and bantering around him, a brand-new sense of vigor and spirit shone in Meng Lei’s eyes.
The Underground Cave Magical Spiders had been annihilated, and Little Gold had stayed behind in the underground world.
After spending a day settling the arrangements for the Magical Beast Village villagers, Meng Lei also left. A night’s journey later, he was finally back at the academy.
He had undergone astonishing changes during this month or so away from the academy. It felt rather as though things had changed, but it was also a brand-new beginning.
Meng Lei had a lot of plans in mind, so he was looking very much forward to the future.
In comparison, the old geezer next to him was in a completely different mood—his body trembled, his eyes were red, and he was beside himself with agitation.
This was something understandable, though.
Ol’ Amos had still been this academy’s president and a high and mighty Saint Domain Great Magician when he had left back then. Yet upon his return 20,000 years later, he had become a wandering ghost instead.
How times had changed and how things had changed!
“Never would I have thought that I’d be back.” After gazing at the academy for a long while, Ol’ Amos sighed softly and said, “During those 20,000 years when I was trapped underground, I had wanted to come back and take a look even in my dreams. My wish has finally come true today.”
“There’s nothing much to see outside the gates, Ol’ President. Let’s go, I’ll bring you around inside.”
Meng Lei smilingly took his magic badge out of his spatial ring and pinned it on his chest. Then, he walked toward the academy gates.
The golden-armored guards’ line of vision landed on Meng Lei. When they saw the magic badge on his chest, they provided no obstruction and allowed Meng Lei in.
“Ol’ President, let’s go and take a look at the Saint Dragon Square first.”
“The Saint Dragon Square? What’s that?”
“You’ll see when you get there.”
They passed through the cooling, quiet sycamore tree-lined little path. Then, dozens of different statues entered their sight.
Meng Lei pointed at the Saint Domain statues and said cheerfully, “This is the Saint Dragon Square, Ol’ President.”
“Why did they put so many statues in such a big area here? What a waste of space!”
Ol’ Amos frowned lightly, a look of displeasure surfacing in his eyes. Nevertheless, he still walked over to the statue nearest to him and began to inspect it closely.
“Fred Flit, the 348th, and current academy president. A noble and powerful thunder-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician, his forte is thunder-elemental magic and thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic. He is the first person to successfully unravel the secret of the Titan Holy Thunder…
“…created a total of 1,058 thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic spells and normal spells, and made the most outstanding contribution to the research and development of thunder-elemental magic…
“Eh?”
Ol’ Amos was mildly taken aback when he read the history of this Saint Domain statue. “The current academy president is pretty impressive. He has actually managed to unravel the secret behind the Titan Holy Thunder. Impressive, impressive!”
“The Titan Holy Thunder?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“The Titan Holy Thunder is the Titan Empire royal family’, the Thunder Titans’ exclusive thunder-elemental spell. Its might is several times, even up to dozens of times, that of ordinary thunder-elemental spells. Even thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic pales in comparison to it.”
Ol’ Amos explained, “I had participated in the empire’s war with the Titan Empire back then, and had a taste of the Titan Holy Thunder’s might. The memory is still fresh in my mind even now.”
“Several times, even up to dozens of times…”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
Ol’ Amos said with a smile, “Brat, you have thunder-elemental magic talent. If you wish to learn thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic and Titan Holy Thunder, the current academy president is probably someone pretty good to learn from.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Despite looking thoughtful, Meng Lei wasn’t very confident about it.
The academy president had always been someone elusive and hard to track down. He was rarely in the academy; Meng Lei had only seen him once during the opening ceremony, and never again ever since.
Learn from him? Where was he supposed to even find him?
“Don’t worry, there’s Fire Dragon blood in you, so you can also be considered part of royalty. This little fellow named Fred Flit is evidently also a member of the royal family. I should think that he wouldn’t reject your request to learn from him,” Ol’ Amos said with a smile as he twisted his beard.
“A member of the royal family?” An unusual gleam flashed across the depth of Meng Lei’s eyes.
“Let’s go and look at the other statues.”
A look of curiosity appeared in Ol’ Amos’ eyes. “I’m very curious to know what kind of fine juniors the academy has produced during the last 20,000 years…
“Dexter Drinkwater, the 319th academy president. A noble earth-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician. He created a total of 82 types of first-class spells…
“Augustus Flit…”
Ol’ Amos looked at the statues leisurely, nodding and giving praise sometimes, reserving his comments sometimes, shaking his head and sighing sometimes, not leaving out any of them. Just like that, an hour went by.
At last, Ol’ Amos finally came to the third last statue. His expression changed at once, becoming one that was extremely complex, furious, indignant, regretful, disappointed…
This was the first time Ol’ Amos had ever shown an expression like that. Meng Lei couldn’t help but become rather puzzled. Did he know the owner of that statue?
“Adolf Holman, the student with the strongest magic talent, shortest duration of study, and the youngest to graduate from the academy in all of Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s history. He is also the youngest Eighth-Grade Great Magician, Ninth-Grade Great Magician, and Saint Domain Great Magician in all of Dragon God Empire’s history. He was only 38 years old when he broke through to Saint Domain…”
Meng Lei had read Adolf Holman’s deeds and achievements before. However, at that time, he’d only taken them as a forefather’s glorious achievements. Apart from astonishment and admiration, he didn’t have any other thoughts about it.
However, he found them rather unfathomable now.
Not only did he create three records in the academy, but he also created another three records in the empire!
Not only did he create three records in the academy, but he also created another three records in the empire.
Now, that was impressive.
He’d actually created so many records!
Moreover, judging from the statue’s location, Adolf Holman was probably someone from 20,000 years ago and belonged to the same era as Ol’ Amos. This meant that those records he’d created had been maintained all this time over the last 20,000 years with no one breaking them.
What was the meaning of ‘unprecedented’? This was it!
Meng Lei developed a strong interest in such an amazing figure at once. He asked, “Ol’ President, do you know this person named Adolf Holman?”
“He’s my disciple!” Ol’ Amos replied, “My only disciple!”
“So, he’s your disciple!”
Ol’ Amos had been the academy president back then. Since Adolf had such wonderful talent, it was very normal that Ol’ Amos would take him in as his disciple.
Ol’ Amos sighed as he said, “Adolf was only 9 years old when he enrolled in the academy, but he possessed all-elemental superior-grade affinities, which was the first of its kind in history. This could be said to be a record never before seen in history and never to appear again!”
“All-elemental superior-grade affinities?”
Meng Lei was taken aback. “What kind of body constitution is that?”
“You know the ten elements of magic, right? All-elemental means that he possesses elemental affinity for all ten magic elements. In addition, all ten of his elemental affinities were… superior-grade!” replied Ol’ Amos slowly in a deep, low voice.
“S-superior-grade for… T-ten elements?”
Meng Lei jerked fiercely, almost wetting himself in trepidation.
Oh my goodness!
Earth, water, wind, fire, wood, metal, thunder, light, dark, and ice!
Superior-grade for all of them!?
Hiss!
He was actually that scary!?
" }, { "id": 119, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-119", "title": "Chapter 119 - Abyss Demons, Private Territory", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Meng Lei considered his own magic talent excellent. With three superior-grade elemental affinities—thunder, fire, and wood—and a high-grade earth-elemental affinity, while it might not be the best in the world, few could compare.
Yet someone even more outstanding than him had emerged before him.
Superior-grade for all ten elemental affinities.
“How can anyone possibly have such crazy magic talent?” asked Meng Lei, who found it absolutely unbelievable.
“That’s why Adolf is hailed as the most talented person in the academy’s history. Even as of now, there’s no one that can surpass him.”
With a soft sigh, Ol’ Amos said, “It’s exactly because he had an incomparable magic talent that Adolf’s speed of cultivation was extremely fast.
“He broke through to Sixth-Grade Magician and applied for graduation in just a year after he enrolled in the academy. Then, he wandered about the continent by himself and embarked on an even more glorious and stunning life.
“He became an Eighth-Grade Great Magician at 17 years old, a Ninth-Grade Great Magician at 25, and successfully broke through to Saint Domain at 38!”
Ol’ Amos said softly, “During those times, Adolf was like the blazing sun high up in the sky that lit up the entire era. It’s no exaggeration to say that it was the misery of all geniuses and monsters to be born in the same era as Adolf. He crushed everyone so badly that none of them could even raise their heads.”
“That’s so impressive!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but be astounded, too. However, what was more puzzling to him was that Ol’ Amos’ tone didn’t sound quite right. Was that self-mockery? And a bitter smile?
He voiced the question in his mind. “Shouldn’t you be very proud to have such a disciple, Ol’ President?”
“If what came after hadn’t happened, I would indeed have been very proud. And in truth, before that incident, Adolf had always been my pride and joy, and I was very proud of him.”
Ol’ Amos let out a sigh, a wry smile all over his face.
A bewildered Meng Lei asked, “That incident?”
“In the 148th year after Adolf attained the Saint Domain realm, tens of thousands of Abyss Demons suddenly appeared in Heaven’s Vault Continent.” Ol’ Amos’ voice was full of grief as he went on. “Bloodthirsty and savage, Abyss Demons are innately cruel and brutal and live by slaughtering and massacring others. They are the very embodiment of death and evil themselves.”
“Abyss Demons?” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei!
“Nobody knows where the Abyss Demons came from, but they started a huge massacre after they showed up.
“Countless lives died in misery! Innumerable races were wiped out! And even the four great empires were under threat! Thus, a war that engulfed the whole continent and all the races on it broke out.
“After a long period of strife, we finally came close to achieving victory in the war. However, just as it reached the most critical final showdown in the war, Adolf… He betrayed us!”
A look of affliction surfaced on Ol’ Amos’ face as he said, “He ignited and blew up 1,358 mage towers, killing close to 1,000 Saint Domain Magicians and destroying the joint army’s line of defense. This caused the final showdown to ultimately end as a failure.”
“Why did that happen?” Meng Lei was in disbelief. “Why did Adolf betray you? What good did it do him to do that?”
“I couldn’t understand why in the beginning, either.” Ol’ Amos shook his head, “It was only after we defeated the Abyss Demons later on and captured Adolf that we learned the reason for his actions.”
“Why did he do that?” asked Meng Lei.
“Because Adolf himself was a devil!” Ol’ Amos shut his eyes and explained, “As it turned out, he was a spy that the Abyss had sent to Heaven’s Vault Continent. He had lurked for a long time in Heaven’s Vault Continent in order to make preparations for invading our world.”
“A devil…”
Meng Lei was stunned. His eyes involuntarily fell onto the statue of Adolf, which looked dignified and solemn, awe-inspiring and holy.
A person like that was actually a devil? How unbelievable!
“Although we triumphed over the Abyss Demons and drove them out of Heaven’s Vault Continent forever in the end, we also paid a heavy price in return. I blamed myself heavily for this.”
Ol’ Amos let out a sigh and said, “After that incident, I resigned from my position as academy president and left the academy. I began to wander about the continent, never concerning myself with the world’s affairs ever since. I didn’t return to the academy even until I was trapped in the underground.”
“It has nothing to do with you, Ol’ President.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “One can only blame Adolf for hiding his intentions too well.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head. “You needn’t console me. It has already been so many years since the incident, and I had already gotten over it a long time ago. I was just suddenly overcome with emotion when I saw Adolf’s statue out of the blue, that’s all.”
As he spoke, he left Adolf’s statue and walked over to the second last statue. Then, he began to inspect it.
“Amos Kroc, the second president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy…” Ol’ Amos had a strange look on his face. “It feels rather odd, staring at a statue of myself.”
“Haha! Look at how you’re reacting looking at yourself…”
The two of them continued to stroll about in the academy after they left the Saint Dragon Square.
Ol’ Amos gesticulated and pointed here and there as he reminisced about the past, while Meng Lei listened as he picked up various stat attributes that had dropped.
They strolled about leisurely, free and unfettered.
“Hey, isn’t that Meng Lei?”
“What the heck? It really is that mutant! He’s probably back here to apply for graduation?
“That’s very likely. He’s already so strong, so there’s no point in him staying in the academy anymore anyway. If I were him, I would apply for graduation, too.”
“Apply for graduation? Isn’t Meng Lei a first-year freshman? What’s there for him to graduate from?!”
“Don’t you know?”
“Know what?”
“You actually don’t know when the news is already all over the academy? You’re really so ill-informed and out of the loop. I look down on you!”
“So what exactly has happened?”
“Meng Lei is already a Ninth-Grade Great Magician now. I’m guessing that he’s likely going to apply for graduation after coming back this time.”
“A Ninth-Grade Great Magician? Him? Are you kidding me?”
“Would I lie to you? I heard that when the ant tide broke out a while ago, Meng Lei showed up at the North River Pass and repelled the ant tide all by himself, and exhibited incomparably terrifying might…”
“Really? That’s just hearsay, isn’t it?”
“What hearsay? It has spread throughout the whole academy. Ask around if you don’t believe me…”
Just how sharp were Meng Lei’s ears? The other students’ comments naturally couldn’t escape his ears.
Apply for graduation?
Meng Lei wanted to laugh. He was certainly a Ninth-Grade Great Magician now, but he didn’t have any intentions of applying for graduation just yet.
How was he supposed to graduate when he hadn’t learned his thunder-elemental, earth-elemental, and wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic spells yet, not to mention the Titan Holy Thunder?
Meng Lei’s magic communication device suddenly rang at this point. He picked up the call and a big, chubby face popped up—it was Fatty Hart.
“Old bro, you’re back?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and replied, “You’re pretty up to date with the news. I’ve only just returned, yet you’re already aware.”
“Haha! I’ve set up a lot of spies in the academy, so I’ll know right away the moment you return.” Fatty Hart let out a laugh and said, “You’ve only just returned to the academy, so I’ll make this short. There are two things in total!”
“Okay!” Meng Lei nodded.
“The first is that news of your performance when you were fighting against the ant tide has already reached the royal palace. I heard from my old man that the king intends to host a celebratory banquet to reward you.” Hart laughed and said, “Tsk, tsk. Given your speed of cultivation and your performance at North River Pass, you’ll at least be conferred the life peerage title of an Earl! A life peerage Earl, you know! I’m still just a Viscount even now!”
“A life peerage Earl?”
Meng Lei quirked an eyebrow. He didn’t care about an empty title like an Earl and whatnot; so what even if they bestowed upon him the title of a Marquis or a Duke?
However, the title of nobility wasn’t just an empty one. It brought a lot of practical benefits, such as special privileges and… territory!
What Meng Lei valued, however, was the territory.
In this world completely controlled by the nobility, there were a lot of benefits to owning a plot of land that solely belonged to oneself and was one’s private property.
In that territory, the owner was the local emperor there. They could do whatever they wanted!
“What about the second issue?” asked Meng Lei.
“I’ve already contacted the three largest trade associations in the capital and 13 magic core acquisition companies. You can meet with them anytime when you’re back!”
" }, { "id": 120, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-120", "title": "Chapter 120 - Meeting The Academy President, I Have An Ancestor", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Meng Lei hung up, secretly thrilled.
During this period of time in the Magical Beast Forest, he had accumulated quite a good number of magic cores. They would definitely sell for a hefty sum of money.
Cashing out the magic cores! An explosive increase in his wealth!
Tonight was the night! Meng Lei couldn’t wait!
Beep, beep, beep!
The magic communication device rang again at this point. Meng Lei took a look at it—it was his head teacher, Dirk Norway.
“Meng Lei, you’re back?”
“Yes, I am, Mr. Dirk.”
“Good to know that you’re back.” Dirk Norway heaved a sigh of relief. “Where are you at the moment? Come to my office if you’re free. Someone wants to meet you.”
“Coming right over.”
After Meng Lei hung up, he said apologetically, “I’m really sorry, Ol’ President. I can’t continue the stroll with you anymore.”
“Go ahead.” Ol’ Amos waved him off. “You can also ask about the Dragon-Language Magic along the way.”
“Got it.” Meng Lei nodded.
Then, he walked toward the faculty building. Half an hour later, he reached the front of the building.
“Eh?”
At this point, the countenance of Ol’ Amos, who had been floating about beside him the whole time, suddenly changed a little, and he returned to the spatial ring right away.
“What’s the matter, Ol’ President?” asked Meng Lei, who looked startled.
“There’s the presence of Saint Domains in there.” Ol’ Amos replied via spiritual telepathy.
“Saint Domains!”
Mildly alarmed, Meng Lei didn’t ask any further. Ol’ Amos was in spiritual form, so most people couldn’t see him. However, a Saint Domain expert could.
Should a Saint Domain expert discover him, things would become very troublesome. If mishandled, his life might even come under threat!
I didn’t expect there to be Saint Domains in the faculty building.
Meng Lei looked at the building in front of him.
I wonder who it is? The academy president? Or the few vice-presidents?
Mr. Dirk’s office came into view while he was immersed in his thoughts. Meng Lei knocked on the door.
The door opened, and Mr. Dirk came out to receive him. He looked Meng Lei up and down with joy in his eyes and said cheerfully, “You’re finally back, boy. Here, c’mon in!”
The office was as quiet as usual. Bookshelves and magic-related books occupied a large half of the space, making the place rather cramped and messy. Meng Lei’s eyes swept across the bookshelves, his thoughts flashing across his mind at high speed.
Mr. Dirk has such a vast collection of books. I wonder if there are any books on Dragon-Language Magic among them?
Just as he was thinking about that, Mr. Dirk’s voice rang out. “Meng Lei, let me introduce someone to you.”
“Eh?”
Meng Lei was taken aback for a moment there.
There’s someone else in here?
Meng Lei followed Mr. Dirk’s line of sight and noticed an ordinary-looking red-haired elderly man with a short and round stature. His dressing was very ordinary, and so were his looks. He didn’t exhibit any sort of aura and seemed down-to-earth and unadorned. Plain and unremarkable, he was the kind of person that one would lose sight of the moment he was thrown into the crowd.
However, Meng Lei felt rather unsettled. With his keen Ninth-Grade Great Magician senses, he could clearly detect other presences in the room, even if it were just a cat.
Yet, he hadn’t detected the elderly man’s presence at all even after he’d entered the room for such a long time. Was he really just an ordinary old man?
With a hint of respect, Dirk Norway introduced the man to Meng Lei. He said, “Meng Lei, this is President Fred!”
“President Fred?” Meng Lei looked dumbfounded. “He’s President Fred? Surely not?”
“Hahaha! Do you feel that I don’t look like him?” asked the elderly man with a laugh.
Then, his face began to undergo a swift transformation. It didn’t take long before he turned into a completely different appearance. A pair of horns grew from his head, and his eyes were dignified and awe-inspiring—it was exactly what Meng Lei remembered of the academy president.
“So it really is the academy president!” exclaimed Meng Lei. He hastily greeted him. “Greetings, President!”
“Come here, come here. Let me take a good look at you.”
A smiling President Fred looked at Meng Lei and remarked, “As expected of the most excellent genius our academy has recruited this year. You’re a handsome young man, indeed.”
“You’re too kind, President.”
Meng Lei took on a very humble attitude. The man in front of him was a Saint Domain, after all. A high and mighty Saint Domain!
President Fred asked with a smile, “Meng Lei, I heard that you’re already a Ninth-Grade Great Magician?”
“Yes, I am!”
Meng Lei didn’t deny it. He couldn’t deny it, either; a lot of people had already witnessed it. Besides, Meng Lei didn’t intend to, either.
“I heard from Mr. Dirk that you were only a Fifth-Grade Magician when you left the academy. After that, in just a short month or so, you broke through to become a Ninth-Grade Great Magician!”
There was a sharp glint in President Fred’s eyes. “A breakthrough speed like that is truly shocking. Even the cultivation speed of Adolf, that Abyss Demon genius whose achievements are peerless in history, wasn’t that fast. I’m very curious, Meng Lei, how did you manage to achieve this?”
Dirk Norway was also looking at Meng Lei, his eyes filled with puzzlement. Meng Lei’s cultivation speed wasn’t something that could merely be described as “fast” anymore; it was totally illogical.
President Fred added, “Of course, this is just pure curiosity on my part. I don’t have any intentions of interrogating you. You can choose not to answer if you don’t wish to.”
I can choose not to answer? Yeah, right!
If I don’t give you a proper explanation today, you’ll probably think I’m a devil spy, like Adolf!
Besides, I still want to learn how to use the Titan Holy Thunder from you. If I don’t convince you today, how am I supposed to learn it?
“This is actually my biggest secret. I didn’t intend to tell anyone initially…” Meng Lei looked awfully troubled as he said, “But since you’ve asked President, then I can only be truthful about it. I hope the President and Mr. Dirk can keep it a secret for me.”
“Of course!” The two of them nodded repeatedly.
“Actually, I had an amazing encounter.”
“An amazing encounter?” President Fred and Mr. Dirk exchanged a look.
In a deep and low voice, Meng Lei slowly said, “During the recent winter break, when I was training in the Magical Beast Forest, I met one of my ancestors by chance, and received pointers from him…”
“Brat, what are you trying to do?” Ol’ Amos’ panicked, and his accusatory voice rang out in Meng Lei’s mind. “Why are you ratting this old man out?”
“This is an emergency, Ol’ President. I can only let you down now!” Meng Lei hastily apologized and said, “But don’t worry, I’m just using you as a scapegoat. It won’t do you any harm!”
“A scapegoat? You unfilial descendant…” Ol’ Amos was practically boiling mad.
“Your ancestor?”
“Pointers from him?”
President Fred and Mr. Dirk looked at each other. Meng Lei had an ancestor?
What kind of ancestor could help Meng Lei, a Fifth-Grade Magician, to break through and become a Ninth-Grade Great Magician with just a few pointers?
“My ancestor’s name is Amos Kroc!”
Meng Lei sold Ol’ Amos out thoroughly!
“Amos Kroc?”
A frowning President Fred sank into contemplation for a brief moment. Then, his countenance suddenly changed. “Are you talking about the academy’s second president from 20,000 years ago, President Amos?”
“Yes, that’s him.” Meng Lei gave a heavy nod.
“To think it’s actually him!”
Mr. Dirk’s eyes widened dramatically, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Meng Lei, are you saying that President Amos is actually still alive? Hasn’t he gone missing?”
“According to what I know, President Amos had resigned from his position as academy president in the past because of what his disciple, Adolf, did. There was no news of him, and no traces of him at all ever since then.”
President Fred’s eyes bore into Meng Lei. “Yet you’re saying that he’s been living in seclusion in Magical Beast Forest all this time… Meng Lei, I’m finding your words truly hard to believe!”
“I know this sounds inconceivable, but it’s the truth.” Meng Lei brought out a red scale. “This is something that my ancestor gave me. He appointed me as the current clan leader of the Krocs and ordered me to restore the Krocs to their former glory.”
“That’s…”
President Fred stared hard at the red dragon scale in Meng Lei’s hand. At the sight of this, Meng Lei passed him the scale.
“A pure-blooded Saint Domain Fire Dragon’s scale! This is a pure-blooded Saint Domain Fire Dragon’s scale!”
President Fred examined the red dragon scale with a look of shock and astonishment. He said, “Isn’t President Amos a Dragon Person? Could it be that… He has already cultivated till the pinnacle of Saint Domain and has thoroughly been reborn into a pure-blooded Fire Dragon?”
“No, he probably isn’t just at the pinnacle of Saint Domain!” With a shake of his head, Meng Lei said, “I estimate that my ancestor has already stepped into another realm a long time ago. I once had the fortune to see his true Fire Dragon body. It was as long as 10,000 feet!”
“10,000 feet? Isn’t that…”
President Fred took a gasp of chilly air!
" }, { "id": 121, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-121", "title": "Chapter 121 - A Deity Ancestor, A Successful Bluff", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Colossal Dragons were one of the strongest races in Heaven’s Vault Continent, and their strength was completely and directly proportional to their body size.
The stronger they were, the bigger they were. And the bigger they were, the stronger they were.
When an ordinary Colossal Dragon came of age, they were comparable to a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, and their size reached up to over 20 meters. Should they break through to Saint Domain, they could go up to over 50 meters.
Following that, as they became stronger, their size would also grow and expand accordingly. However, even the size of a Saint Domain Colossal Dragon at its pinnacle didn’t go beyond 100 meters or so.
A dragon body that measured up to 10,000 feet—that was no longer the kind of size that a Saint Domain Colossal Dragon at its pinnacle would have. Even a Dragon King that stood above the Saint Domain wasn’t that big.
“Could President Amos have already surpassed a Dragon King?” President Fred wondered to himself as his eyes flickered in shock and uncertainty.
A Dragon King!
To borrow a term of address from other races, they were also known as… Half-deities!
What was a half-deity?
Someone that was half-mortal and half-deity!
Those that possessed a deity’s certain abilities but hadn’t yet shed their mortal bodies to truly metamorphose into a true deity—they were known as half-deities.
“An existence that surpasses a half-deity? Isn’t that…”
President Fred couldn’t help gasping in astoundment. “No, that’s impossible! It’s been close to 10,000 years since a deity has been born in Heaven’s Vault Continent. How could President Amos have possibly attained the state of a deity?
“Could it be that 10,000 years ago, he had already…”
President Fred’s eyes flickered as countless thoughts flashed past his mind. For a while there, he was rather uncertain about Meng Lei’s claims.
However, there was one thing that he did believe—Meng Lei likely had really encountered President Amos.
Firstly, after a period of over 20,000 years, the Krocs had long since been buried in the long course of history. There were very, very few people that knew of a clan like them, let alone a 16-year-old teenager like Meng Lei. Where was he supposed to learn about the Krocs from?
Secondly, that pure-blooded Fire Dragon scale didn’t lie—most people couldn’t come up with something like that at all.
Stealing it from a Colossal Dragon’s body? Pulling it off one? Snatching it from one?
Ha, was that even possible?
Lastly, Meng Lei was capable of casting Dragon-Language Magic. In particular, the Dragon-Language Magic spells he had cast at North River Pass could explain the issue itself very well—because some of the fire-elemental spells were exactly President Amos’ signature spells from 20,000 years ago, while some of the others were fire-elemental spells that had never before been seen or appeared in the continent.
Meng Lei’s original spells?
No, that was impossible! The only likelihood was that they were another person’s original spells.
In summary of the various points mentioned above, the likelihood of Meng Lei having encountered President Amos was very high. With that, his breakthrough to Ninth-Grade Great Magician in just a mere month’s time now had an adequate explanation.
As for whether or not President Amos had really become a deity, President Fred was skeptical for the time being—because this matter was simply too outrageous. Before they could find clear evidence on that, he found it very hard to be convinced.
“Meng Lei, I never thought that you would have such an amazing encounter like that!” President Fred was filled with marvel as he said, “Let alone the fact that you’re actually President Amos’ descendant. This is truly a blessing for the academy and the kingdom.”
“It’s all thanks to my ancestor’s kind mercy upon me,” replied a humble Meng Lei, who was totally in Best Actor mode.
“Meng Lei, since you’re a member of our Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royalty, can you let me see what you look like after you transform into a dragon?” President Fred requested.
No matter how fancy a story Meng Lei could come up with, it would never be as convincing as one’s bloodline. If he possessed a Fire Dragon bloodline, then all doubts would be dispelled.
“No problem,” Meng Lei replied with a nod. Then, he roused the Fire Dragon bloodline in his body, activated the dragon transformation, and entered a Dragon Person form.
“Not bad! Not bad, indeed! It’s a pure Fire Dragon bloodline!”
President Fred repeatedly nodded after witnessing Meng Lei’s dragon transformation. His heart was now completely at ease. He asked, “Meng Lei, President Amos had made a huge contribution to the academy in the past. Since you’re his descendant, is there anything you need help with?”
After making up and fabricating all sorts of stories for a good half a day, that line of his was exactly what Meng Lei had been waiting for, so how would he possibly stand on ceremony with him? Thus, he made his request right away.
“High-grade Dragon-Language Magic, as well as the secrets related to the Titan Holy Thunder, are all stored on the top floor of the library.” President Fred, who was all smiles, went on and said, “Initially, only talents that fit certain special requirements are eligible to enter, but since your situation is rather extraordinary, I’ll give you special permission to enter and study there, Meng Lei.”
“Thank you, President!”
…
“That was such a close shave, Ol’ President.” A relieved Meng Lei remarked as he wiped the cold sweat off his brow after leaving the faculty building.
After giving half-truths and making up all sorts of fabrications, he had finally managed to bluff his way past President Fred.
A fuming mad Ol’ Amos berated him fiercely, “You little bastard, how dare you make me your scapegoat? I have no such unfilial descendants like you!”
“Hehe, I really didn’t have no other way out just now, had I?” Meng Lei chuckled sheepishly and said, “If I couldn’t convince President Fred, not only would the Dragon-Language Magic and Titan Holy Thunder go up in smoke, but I might even be charged with the crime of being an Abyss Demon. I’d be dead meat for sure if that happened.”
Although President Fred was modest and unostentatious, Meng Lei could clearly sense his review and examination of him. If he couldn’t provide him with a satisfactory explanation, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
“When all’s been said and done, these are the repercussions brought about by my overly-quick cultivation speed. Sigh, looks like I’ll have to keep more of a low profile in the future.”
“Hmph! Your cultivation is so fast that it’s even crazier than Adolf’s. Who knows, you might really just be an Abyss Demon. This won’t do, I’ll have to investigate this properly, lest you fool me.” Ol’ Amos snorted furiously. “I’ve already been deceived once. I won’t be deceived another time!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “Ol’ President, it’s not as if you can’t tell whether or not I’m an Abyss Demon? What’s there to deceive you about?”
Ol’ Amos snorted lightly and replied, “You’re so secretive that it’s hard to say. No, this won’t do! I must investigate this properly, after all.”
“In that case, you can just do a proper, thorough investigation, then. You’d better not get it wrong.”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully in response. Then, he changed the subject and said, “President Fred said that the Dragon-Language Magic spells and Titan Holy Thunder studies are placed on the library’s top floor. I’ll go over and take a look right away.”
“Go, go! Run and advance!”
…
The library occupied a very large space and was the grandest and most imposing building in the academy. Even in the whole kingdom, it was considered an impressive building.
A pair of statues stood tall in front of the library. They were respectively a book on magic and a magic staff.
The book represented knowledge, while the staff represented magic power. Additionally, one mustn’t overlook the spiritual power holding them suspended in mid-air, too.
They symbolized the three great power sources of a Magician.
“How imposing! How magnificent!”
Meng Lei stopped in his tracks and stood in front of the library. As he lifted his head and gazed at the grand and magnificent white building, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. “As expected of the largest library in the Fire Dragon Kingdom.”
“Stop marveling. Hurry, go in and take a look,” Ol’ Amos urged him impatiently.
“Okay.”
Meng Lei stepped onto the stairs. By virtue of the magic badge pinned on his chest, he successfully entered the library. A magic screen towered in the wide, spacious hall, displaying the entire library collection’s layout.
There were a total of six floors in the library.
The first floor contained books on general knowledge, such as The Continent Annals, The History of Dragon God Empire’s Development, An Encyclopedia of Magic Materials, 100,000 Magical Beast Species, and so on.
The second, third, fourth, and fifth floors all contained books related to magic, ranging from low-grade to high-grade spells, all of them were stored on these four floors.
Every floor had a total of ten storerooms, each containing books on a specific magic element.
As for the sixth floor—in other words, the library’s top floor—it wasn’t displayed on the magic screen at all, meaning that access to the floor had been limited.
“The sixth floor… What I want is on the sixth floor.”
Unable to suppress the excitement at the bottom of his heart, Meng Lei rode the magic hanging ladder leading up to the sixth floor.
Beep!
He had arrived on the sixth floor.
After exiting the magic hanging ladder, Meng Lei walked toward the corridor leading to the inside. The whole floor was empty, and all the book repositories were also tightly shut.
The sixth floor was devoid of any human presence, as well as of any object.
He didn’t see anyone or any open book repositories even after he had walked all the way to the end of the corridor. Meng Lei’s brows involuntarily furrowed into a deep frown. What was he supposed to look at when there was absolutely nothing here?
Buzz!
In the midst of Meng Lei’s bewilderment, a colorful light beam suddenly shone down from above him and enveloped him right into it. The next moment, Meng Lei abruptly vanished from where he was.
The world began to spin, and the environment around him underwent a huge, radical change. It was no longer an empty corridor but a book repository full of bookshelves.
“It may seem empty and devoid of anything to the eye, but in truth, it’s full of profoundness within. This is what the true top floor of the library really is. Hurry and take a look! What kind of Dragon-Language Magic spells are there!?”
" }, { "id": 122, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-122", "title": "Chapter 122 - Titan Bloodline, Meeting The Gods Of Fortune", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "A Detailed Explanation of Seventh-Grade Thunder-Elemental Dragon-Language Magic…
A Must-Read On Eighth-Grade Earth-Elemental Dragon-Language Magic…
A Premium Selection of Ninth-Grade Wood-Elemental Dragon-Language Magic…
An Encyclopedia of First-Class Water-Elemental Ultimate Spells…
Not only did the tiny, little book repository contain high-grade Dragon-Language Magic of all elements, but it even housed ultimate-grade spells. There were even thousands upon thousands of first-class spells.
It was no exaggeration to say that all the powerful spells that had ever appeared in history could all be found here. The fruits of intellectual labor of innumerable predecessors and experts from the Fire Dragon Kingdom over more than 20,000 years were all here.
“No wonder they kept the place hidden in such a secretive place.” This was a huge eye-opener for Meng Lei. He remarked, “Every spell here is worth a fortune. Even losing just one would be a terribly great loss.”
“Talents emerge from every generation in this world, and each of them excels in their own domain for years to come, indeed.”
Ol’ Amos was filled with emotion as he marveled. “Just the number of water-elemental and fire-elemental first-class spells that I’ve never seen before already come up to as many as 1,907 types and 2,348 types, respectively. Looks like the development of magic has never once stopped during the last 20,000 years.”
“As long as magic continues to be passed down, improvements in magic will never cease.” A smiling Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Every generation has its own geniuses. This is inevitable.”
“You’re right.” Ol’ Amos nodded lightly. Then, he said, “Hurry and look for the Titan Holy Thunder. I’m very curious as to what kind of secrets there are in it.”
“Alright, Ol’ President.”
Meng Lei quickly began his search. After a while, he found a book titled The Secrets of The Thunder Titans: A True Breakdown of The Titan Holy Thunder in a corner—the author’s name was exactly President Fred!
“Found it!”
Full of anticipation, Meng Lei began to flip through the book. Ol’ Amos also leaned over. However, they had only read the foreword when both of them broke into frowns.
“The Titan Holy Thunder is a thunder technique exclusive to the Thunder Titans. Its might is several dozen times, even hundreds of times, that of ordinary thunder techniques. It could be said to be the strongest thunder technique, the king of all types of thunder, and the most supreme of the thunder element.
“…However, there are very stringent requirements to casting Titan Holy Thunder. The spellcaster needs to possess the Thunder Titan bloodline and use their bloodline as a foundation before they can invoke the powerful Titan Holy Thunder.”
“Needs to possess the Thunder Titan bloodline?”
Meng Lei was instantly rendered speechless. “In that case, doesn’t that mean that without the Thunder Titan bloodline, it’s impossible for one to master the Titan Holy Thunder?”
“Isn’t the current academy president a member of the royalty? Why is he able to master the Titan Holy Thunder?” Ol’ Amos’ brows drew together, “Could it be that he has Thunder Titan blood in him?”
A jolt went through Meng Lei, and his eyes hurriedly skimmed further down the page. As expected, the related description entered his vision.
As it turned out, President Fred was actually a rare double bloodline-holder. Not only did he have Fire Dragon blood in him, but he also had Thunder Titan blood in him at the same time.
“Double bloodline?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but frown. “Since he has both Fire Dragon bloodline and Thunder Titan bloodline, is President Fred a Dragon Person or a Demigiant? He can actually become the academy president despite such conditions?”
“There’s no harm about that, though. Just because someone possesses other races’ bloodlines doesn’t mean that they are outsiders. They cannot be generalized like that.”
Ol’ Amos went on. “After all, Heaven’s Vault Continent has existed for many years. It has experienced multiple eras, and racial mergers have taken place several times. In fact, invasions from foreign parties have even broken out before. After assimilation over the long course of history, how can races that are truly pure-blooded still exist?”
Meng Lei was stunned by his words.
“Even pure-blood Colossal Dragons, pure-blood Titans, and the Fairy royalty cannot guarantee that their bodies do not contain even a hint of blood from other races, let alone humans.
“The humans are the weakest race, and over thousands upon thousands of years, they’ve always been appendages to various stronger races. Therefore, their blood is the most heterogeneous bloodline among all the races.
“It can be said that the depths of every human’s blood contains many different hidden bloodlines, such as the Dragons’, the Titans’, the Beast People’s… It’s just that they are too diluted and cannot be awakened, that’s all.”
Ol’ Amos sighed and said, “The current president is a Dragon Person, so it’s not that hard to understand why he has Titan blood in him.”
Meng Lei was silent in response, but following that, he began to nod slowly.
The line of reasoning was actually very easy to understand.
Pure-blood races? How could they possibly exist? As long as one existed in this world, they wouldn’t be able to guarantee that their bloodline was absolutely pure.
Just like how a basin of pure, clean water would eventually be polluted by all sorts of impurities when placed under the sky—there was no way of avoiding this at all.
This was what assimilation was, the assimilation of races!
“It’s just like how there’s Golden Gods-Slaying Ant blood in your body. It’s very likely that there are also other bloodlines in your body. I won’t be surprised in the least even if you awaken the Titan bloodline someday.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly and continued. “That’s why you cannot treat the current academy president—who has Thunder Titan blood in him—like an outsider or an enemy just because he has awakened the Titan bloodline.
“In truth, in the Fire Dragon Kingdom and even the whole of the Dragon God Empire, there exist a fair number of people that own special bloodlines in them, among which, there is no shortage of Demigiants, Demi-Beast People, and Demi-Fairies.
“Although people like them hold bloodlines of other races, they possess great strength and are able to become part of the nobility and hold high-ranking positions all the same.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. Then, he sighed emotionally and said, “Since he has Fire Dragon blood in him and has even awakened his Titan bloodline, President Fred likely has terrifying strength.”
Ol’ Amos replied with a light nod, “There’s no doubt about that. Otherwise, do you think that the title of number one in thunder techniques in the Fire Dragon Kingdom is a joke?”
Then, he casually closed the A True Breakdown of The Titan Holy Thunder book and said, “There’s no need for you to continue reading this anymore. You’re not fated with the Titan Holy Thunder, so you’d better just properly study Dragon-Language Magic instead.”
“Am I not fated with it…”
An unusual look flashed across the depths of Meng Lei’s eyes. Then, he placed the book back where he had found it.
For the rest of the time, Meng Lei stayed on the library’s top floor and seriously studied Dragon-Language Magic spells of three elements. His spiritual power had become very strong by now, so he had encyclopedic knowledge and a retentive memory, enabling him to remember everything he saw.
He needed to read a ninth-grade Dragon-Language Magic spell only a few times to be able to copy it slavishly and cast it successfully.
Difficulty level?
The concept didn’t even exist!
Time always passed awfully quickly when one got busy. Before he knew it, a day had gone by just like that. Close to dinnertime, Meng Lei received a round of urging from Fatty Hart.
“Old bro, we’re already at Juxian Restaurant. You’re the only one left now. When will you be reaching?”
“You’re already there? It’s still so early in the day!”
It was then that Meng Lei suddenly realized to his astonishment that it was already dinnertime.
“Damn! I was too engrossed in reading!” Meng Lei smacked his forehead and hurriedly said, “Fatty, entertain the guests for me first. I’m coming right over!”
“Don’t worry, leave it to me.” Then, Fatty Hart added with a laugh, “You’d better hurry, though. The ones that have come are very busy people, so time is of the essence for them!”
“Alright!”
…
By the time Meng Lei hurried over to Juxian Restaurant, half an hour had already passed. Fatty Hart was in the midst of entertaining the guests when he reached the private dining room.
“Old bro! You’re finally here!”
Fatty Hart quickly greeted Meng Lei and led him inside. Then, with a smile, he made the introductions. “Everyone, let me do the introductions. This is Meng Lei, the strongest genius in all of our Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s history, as well as the seller today.”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everyone’s gazes fell on Meng Lei at the same time with looks of curiosity, blazing passion, and anticipation in their eyes.
They had heard of Meng Lei’s great repute, of course. The North River Pass battle, in particular, had even allowed his name to resound among the kingdom’s upper-class.
Who didn’t know that Meng Lei had driven back the ant tide all by himself?
Who didn’t know that Meng Lei had hundreds of thousands of magic cores in his possession?
As businessmen, what they cared about the most was still those hundreds of thousands of magic cores, of course. This was a huge transaction amounting to hundreds of millions, or even billions of gold coins, after all. Who wouldn’t be filled with fervency toward it?
“Old bro, the ones seated here are the representatives and people in charge of business dealings in the capital from the three largest trade associations in the kingdom and 13 other magic core acquisition companies.”
“Sorry to keep everyone waiting!”
" }, { "id": 123, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-123", "title": "Chapter 123 - Sell, Sell, Sell! Entering Saint Domain", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "After exchanging polite greetings with each other, both parties went straight to the main subject.
The representative from Lucivia Trade Association, one of the three large trade associations, stood and asked, “Lord Meng Lei, I heard that you had obtained a batch of Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant magic cores at North River Pass. How many are there specifically?”
Upon hearing the question, everyone else also nodded repeatedly.
They were here specially for that batch of magic cores today. That was a big business transaction, after all. If they could get a bigger share of it, they would definitely earn a hefty sum from it.
Fatty Hart couldn’t help but look at Meng Lei, too.
Meng Lei thought for a moment before he replied, “Including those that I obtained in Magical Beast Forest and those from the two times I fought the ant tide at the Great Dragon Blood Wall, there’s probably a total of 750,000 of them?”
He had never done a detailed count before. However, basing it off his Wealth, the numbers were more or less about there.
Of course, this wasn’t necessarily accurate, either, because, at the same time as his Wealth was continuously increasing, it was also constantly depleting to replenish his stamina, his consumed magic power, and his consumed spiritual power. All of these required spending his Wealth points.
Therefore, one couldn’t calculate the number of magic cores solely based on the amount of riches he had gained. This wasn’t an accurate way of quantification.
The actual quantity definitely exceeded 750,000.
“What? 750,000?”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
Thinking that they found the quantity too low, Meng Lei frowned and said, “I haven’t counted how many there are specifically, either, but there are probably more than 750,000. It’s possible that there are 800,000.”
Hiss…
All 16 commercial representatives sucked in a breath of chilly air. Their eyes subsequently lit up, and they looked at Meng Lei with blazing passion brimming in their eyes. Even if they earned only an additional 100 gold coins from each sixth-grade magic core, 800,000 magic cores would still equate to 80 million gold coins.
That was a profit of 80 million gold coins!
This was definitely a big business transaction for sure!
Besides, a single magic core brought much more profit than just 100 gold coins. If they sold them for a good price, it was possible that they could earn hundreds or even a thousand gold coins from one.
“Lord Meng Lei, the Middles Trade Association is willing to acquire 400,000 magic cores. You can state your price. As long as the price is agreeable, we can transact immediately.”
“400,000? That’s a bold claim! There are only 800,000 magic cores in total. If the Middles Trade Association takes half of it in one go, are the rest of us supposed to go hungry, then?”
“Exactly! I’m not asking for much, just 100,000 magic cores would do. I can offer a price of 11,000 gold coins per magic core. What do you think, Lord Meng Lei?”
“Lord Meng Lei possesses great talent despite his young age and has provided illustrious service by defending the kingdom against the ant tide’s invasion. The Lucivia Trade Association doesn’t wish to take advantage of you, so we offer to purchase each magic core at 13,000 gold coins each…”
The quiet private room immediately turned terribly boisterous. Meng Lei’s one-liner had led all 16 company representatives to enter a purchasing rush.
At the sight of this, Meng Lei instantly realized that he had grossly underestimated these magic cores’ value. 10,000 gold coins per magic core?
That was too cheap!
I’m glad I entrusted this matter to Fatty. If I had done this myself, I would definitely have sold them for cheap for the sake of convenience. Just how much would I have lost if I had done that?
Meng Lei cast an approving glance at Fatty Hart before raising his hand to signal to everyone to calm down. Then, he said with a smile, “Everyone, do listen to what I have to say first. Aside from these 800,000 sixth-grade magic cores, I also have another 40,000 to 50,000 seventh-grade magic cores that I can sell to all of you, too.”
40,000 to 50,000 Seventh-Grade magic cores?
None of them could take their eyes off him upon hearing his words.
…
By the time they left Juxian Restaurant, Fatty Hart’s eyes were all red as he looked at Meng Lei. If not for the fact that he didn’t have that kind of power, he would definitely have robbed Meng Lei.
“Old bro, you’ve struck gold! You’ve really struck gold!
“14.7 billion gold coins! That’s a whole 14.7 billion gold coins!
“How is anyone supposed to spend that much money…”
“How to spend it? Just like that, I guess!”
Although Meng Lei looked calm on the outside, he was actually beyond thrilled inwardly. The sale of all the magic cores and carcasses had earned him 14.7 billion gold coins. Adding this to the 5 billion gold coins he already had, his Wealth had gone through an explosive increase to 19.7 billion gold coins.
Let’s take a look at the stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline, Fire Demon bloodline, and Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline)
Wealth: 19,728,925,768 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Ninth-Grade Warrior (764,331,943/1,000,000,000)
Spirit: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,356,253/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,132,358/1,000,000,000)
19.7 billion gold coins!
Adding to this the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass, which I can sell for at least 5 billion gold coins, that’s 24.7 billion gold coins.
24.7 billion gold coins, you know! It’s enough to push me into the Saint Domain realm!
“Hahaha!”
Immersed in his thoughts, Meng Lei couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter. His uproarious laughter echoed beside Fatty Hart’s ear, making him gnash his teeth. Even his eyes had become red.
“Comparing myself to others only creates unwanted frustrations, indeed!”
Fatty Hart beat his chest and stamped his feet indignantly. “To think that I, Fatty Hart, who possess the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline, am born into an aristocratic Duke family, and have undertaken the best education since I was young! Yet up to this day, I am still penniless and dejected, spending my days waiting for death to befall upon me while depending on my parents for financial support as the days go by!
“But what about you?
“You’ve become a wealthy billionaire for some strange reason! The heavens are so unfair!”
Meng Lei burst into a fit of sneaky laughter. “Fatty! There’s something else that I haven’t told you yet. If you knew about it, you might just beat me up.”
“What is it?” asked a surprised Fatty Hart.
“When I was training in Magical Beast Forest, I accidentally found a Saint Domain Magical Beast carcass. According to initial estimates, it can probably sell for a few billion gold coins?”
Meng Lei didn’t forget to rub salt into Fatty Hart’s wounds.
“A S-saint Domain Magical Beast carcass? Accidentally… found?” Fatty Hart’s eyes widened big and round as he exclaimed, “Are you serious!?”
“Yes, I am!” Meng Lei had never discovered in the past that Fatty Hart’s eyes could actually widen that big.
“What the f*ck?” Fatty Hart jumped into the air at once.
“Wahahaha…”
…
The night passed peacefully.
Early the next morning, Meng Lei headed to the library as usual and continued to study thunder-elemental, earth-elemental, and wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic. As for the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass’ sale, he entrusted it to Fatty Hart as usual.
Although that guy was close to being burned into ashes by the blazing fires of jealousy when Meng Lei took out a supreme, luxurious reward of a one million gold coins red packet 1 , Fatty Hart’s fires of jealousy were extinguished right away.
Fatty Hart suggested that a priceless treasure like a Saint Domain Magical Beast carcass absolutely mustn’t be handled so casually like the sale of magic cores. They should contact even more and even richer buyers.
Therefore, the best way to go about it was… an auction.
Meng Lei agreed readily to the suggestion. He entrusted the task of contacting the auction house to Fatty Hart while he continued over to the library.
In the evening, Fatty Hart contacted him again and informed him that he was done contacting the auction house. Meng Lei hurried over to the auction house at once and took out the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass.
Dozens of meters tall!
Blood-red in color all over!
Savage aura spilling forth!
The moment the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass made its appearance, everyone was astounded. Its bloodthirsty, savage outward appearance and heinous, fearsome visage caused chills to run down everyone’s spines.
“An imposing aura and a body size like that!
“There’s no mistake about it. It’s definitely a Saint Domain Magical Beast!
“Oh my goodness. It really is a Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
The auction house’s relevant person-in-charge immediately made the judgment that it was indeed a Saint Domain Magical Beast. Upon which, he informed Meng Lei that they required a few days’ time to carry out some advertising, so as to encourage a higher winning price.
Toward this, Meng Lei had no objections.
After the initial advertising period of ten days, the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor carcass’ auction successfully commenced. Then, with many experts, nobles, high-ranking officials, and wealthy tycoons as witnesses, the auction ended at an astronomical price of 6.8 billion gold coins.
After deducting the 10% auction fee and processing fee, Meng Lei earned a hefty net profit of 6.1 billion gold coins.
19.7 billion + 6.1 billion = 25.8 billion!
Meng Lei’s Wealth had reached an astounding 25.8 billion gold coins and achieved unprecedented heights.
2.58 billion Stat Attribute Points!
That’s enough for me to step into the Saint Domain realm now. Although I’ll only be a pseudo-Saint Domain, it’s still Saint Domain, nevertheless, right? Wahahaha!
O(∩_∩)O
" }, { "id": 124, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-124", "title": "Chapter 124 - Abbe'S Disappearance, An Inter-Academy Competition", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "That night, Meng Lei didn’t spend the money to enter the Saint Domain realm in a hurry. Instead, he withdrew innumerable gold coins and piled them on the bed and the floor, filling them up and lying on top of them.
“I wanted to roll about in money so much in my past life that I was even dreaming about it!
“And today… It has finally come true!”
Although the coins pressed somewhat painfully against him, extreme satisfaction filled Meng Lei as he took in the smell of the gold, an unprecedented sense of peace and tranquility within him.
“Happiness can be so simple sometimes,” Meng Lei murmured to himself as drowsiness slowly came over him.
Bam!
All of a sudden, someone pushed open the door to his room, and the magic lights switched on. Meng Lei turned over to see Abbe opening the door and walking in.
“Abbe?”
Meng Lei was rather confused.
Although the two of them were housemates, one lived upstairs while the other lived downstairs. They had never spoken to each other, let alone visit each other.
Why was Abbe there out of the blue?
Abbe stared at the gold coins that filled up the room with a stunned expression. Even with his usual cold, aloof poker face, he was almost blinded by the golden light in the entire room.
Meng Lei has a special hobby like this? It’s hard for one to know another’s true nature even after knowing them for a long time, indeed!
“Haha, I earned a small sum of money recently.” Meng Lei scratched the back of his head and explained with an embarrassed smile, “I wanted to try how it feels to sleep in a pile of gold… Haha, I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“You’re more like a Colossal Dragon than a Colossal Dragon itself!”
Abbe’s lip corner spasmed a couple of times in response before he resumed his usual cold and aloof poker face. His eyes bore into Meng Lei with a complex look within them,
“What’s the matter, Abbe?” Meng Lei was utterly bewildered by how Abbe was staring at him, and he remarked, “You’re behaving rather weirdly today.”
Abbe didn’t reply but merely gazed at Meng Lei quietly. A long while later, he abruptly turned around and walked toward the door. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped again.
“I’m leaving, Meng Lei. If I can… If there’s a chance to in the future, we’ll meet again in the empire’s capital.”
Then, he left without even looking back.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei was unable to make head or tail of his words. By the time he came to his senses, Abbe had already left.
“Abbe! Where are you going?”
Meng Lei hurriedly chased after him, only to realize that Abbe had long since disappeared. His spiritual power spread upstairs, but there was no one there.
He dialed Abbe’s code on the magic communication device, but to no avail.
Abbe had vanished into thin air!
“What the heck is he doing?”
As he stood in the empty living room, Meng Lei became more and more bewildered. They didn’t even exchange a word usually, yet Abbe had suddenly uttered such confusing words that didn’t make any sense today. What was that supposed to mean?
…
Meng Lei couldn’t sleep that night.
Ever since he had mastered meditation, he barely slept anymore. However, whenever he did sleep once in a while, he always slept especially soundly.
However, tonight was a rare occasion where he couldn’t get to sleep.
The moment he closed his eyes, his mind would be totally taken over by Abbe. In particular, those eyes of his that shone with an unusual glow kept coming back and surfacing in his mind, causing Meng Lei to toss about in annoyance and restlessness.
Early in the morning the next day, Meng Lei went to the library as per usual. On the way there, to his surprise, he noticed several unfamiliar-looking figures. They were big and burly, wore suits of armor, and held all sorts of weapons…
Warriors… Warriors had shown up in the academy. And not in small numbers, either.
This caused the students to speculate wildly as they gesticulated at them. They spoke about things like a big competition among the empire’s elites and so on, which greatly puzzled Meng Lei, though he didn’t take their words seriously.
Be it Warriors or a competition among the elites, none of these had anything to do with him.
His top priority at the moment was to study Dragon-Language Magic. Thereafter, he would leave the academy to embark on an adventure to comprehend the universe’s momentum while hunting high-grade Magical Beasts to earn more money at the same time.
The matters in the academy could no longer pique his interest.
“The Green Dragon is a Wood-Elemental Colossal Dragon. Although its body is weaker than Colossal Dragons of other elements, the Wood-Elemental Dragon is a master of two types of magic—wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic and poison magic.
“Wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic is capable of commanding all plants in the world and controlling plant growth. This has led to the Green Dragon also becoming known as the Plant Manipulator, and it is a notch stronger than even the Fairies’ flower spirits.
“Poison magic…”
He had taken five days to study thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic and another five days for earth-elemental Dragon-Language Magic.
This was his eleventh day at the library, and Meng Lei began to study wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic. Despite the fact that he had gained wood-elemental magic talent the latest, his cultivation speed for it was exceptionally quick.
One reason for this was his powerful spiritual power. Since he was building on top of an advantage, be it his accumulation of wood-elemental magic power or his study of wood-elemental spells, his speed was astonishingly fast for both.
The other reason was the Golden Leaf.
The Golden Leaf had occupied a spot in his sea of consciousness and was constantly absorbing Wood Elements in the universe every moment. As a result, Meng Lei was just like a magnet, accumulating wood-elemental magic power at a shocking speed.
Due to these reasons, it was hard for him to cultivate wood-elemental magic at a slow speed even if he wanted to!
Just as Meng Lei was immersed in the profound wonder of wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, his magic communication device suddenly rang.
Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly. He took out the communication device to see that it was actually Mr. Dirk that was calling. He muttered, “How strange. Why is Mr. Dirk looking for me?”
Puzzled, Meng Lei picked up the call.
“Meng Lei, I heard that you’ve been cooping yourself up in the library every day recently. How’s your mastery of Dragon-Language Magic?” Mr. Dirk asked merrily.
“Not bad. My rewards are great,” Meng Lei replied honestly.
“Your talent is practically insane!” Mr. Dirk couldn’t help but sigh in approval. Then, he went on to business and said, “Meng Lei, there’s something I need to inform you on in advance. You must be mentally prepared for it.”
“Huh?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
“The inter-academy competition to strengthen friendly ties among the academies is starting soon. President Fred has personally selected you as the captain to represent us, the Fire Dragon Magic Academy, in the competition this year.”
“Inter-academy competition?”
Meng Lei blanked out for a moment, and then, he recalled the Warriors on the school campus.
Mr. Dirk explained, “The inter-academy competition’s full name is known as the ‘Empire-wide Inter-Academy Exchange Competition of The Elites’, and it’s held once every four years.
“All participating contestants are chosen from the Dragon God Empire academies’ current student body. They must be 30 years old or below, and both Warriors and Magicians are eligible to enter.
“Apart from attractive prizes, all students that show excellent performance will also win great honor and glory for their academies.
“There’s even word on the street that the prizes this year include a slot to enter the empire’s sanctum of blessings!
“Therefore, the president and other academy leaders have placed great importance on this year’s inter-academy competition. The president has even specified during the meeting this morning that you are to participate.”
At this point, Mr. Dirk asked, “Meng Lei, do you have any other questions?”
“The Empire-wide Inter-Academy Exchange Competition of The Elites…”
Meng Lei was rather troubled. He said, “Mr. Dirk, as a member of the academy, I am obliged to represent the academy to participate in the inter-academy exchange competition… But aren’t we kinda bullying others if I join?”
“Uh…”
Mr. Dirk was taken aback for a moment before he subsequently burst into silent laughter. “Are you concerned that there’s… Cough, no real challenge in the competition, Meng Lei?”
“Yeah, that’s more or less what I mean.”
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly. He didn’t dislike competitions like these since he could take the opportunity to broaden his horizons and pick up a few attributes, spells, bloodlines, and whatnot to enrich his arsenal of weapons.
However, if they were asking him to fight with a bunch of kids, then that would be rather meaningless. Besides, it would feel somewhat like he was bullying young children.
“If it’s about that, then there’s no need for you to worry at all!”
" }, { "id": 125, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-125", "title": "Chapter 125 - Intense Competition, Posturing Fatty", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“If it’s about that, then there’s no need for you to worry at all.”
Mr. Dirk shook his head with a laugh and went on. “The exchange competition’s prizes are much more attractive than what you can imagine, and they will attract hordes of experts.
“Because of this, apart from current students, there are actually a larger number of contestants that aren’t from the academies. They join the academies in name just to obtain competition eligibility.
“Additionally, there are many seniors that should have graduated simply refuse to do so, and they stay in the academy to pursue their studies for several years, all for the sake of obtaining competition eligibility, too.”
“You can actually do that?” Meng Lei was a little startled at what he heard. “In that case, aren’t current students like us at a huge disadvantage?”
“Yes, but there’s nothing to be done about that. The prizes are simply too attractive.” Mr. Dirk shook his head and added, “Frankly speaking, if it wasn’t because my age doesn’t fulfill the requirements, even I would want to register for and join the exchange competition. How unfair. This is simply too unfair!”
Meng Lei was rendered completely speechless. Was this really an inter-academy exchange competition? Even the experts in the community were rushing all the way here to join the competition.
“It can’t be helped. The current students tend to be very young, and it is common for most of them to be comparatively weaker. This leads to a severe lack in showmanship quality to the exchange competition, and the level of competitiveness in the competition also becomes very low as a result.”
Mr. Dirk explained with a smile, “Therefore, they can only relax the competition requirements and allow more experts to participate.
“However, there’s ultimately still a 30-year-old age limit. Otherwise, it’s possible that even some of the shameless old antiques would show up. The competition won’t be able to go on anymore that way.”
“Alright, I see.”
Meng Lei shook his head and then asked, “When does the exchange competition start, Mr. Dirk? Where is it held, and what do I need to do?”
“The competition officially starts half a month later, and it’s held at the Imperial City. However, before you go to the Imperial City, we, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, will first conduct a preliminary round of filtering—in other words, the qualifying round.”
Mr. Dirk explained, “The exchange competition stipulates that each kingdom holds only 50 competition spots, and the contestants for these 50 spots will be selected via the qualifying round.”
“Only 50 spots per kingdom?”
This dumbfounded Meng Lei.
There were over 70 academies in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s capital city alone. After adding up all the academies in the whole kingdom, the number of current students far exceeded 100,000, not to mention that there would even be experts from the community.
Yet there were only a total of 50 spots despite there being so many contestants?
The competition sure was tough.
“In that case, I’ll have to join the qualifying round first?” asked Meng Lei as he raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Mr. Dirk replied with a light nod, “The one-week qualifying round will start in two days. After that, the selected winners will head to the Imperial Capital on the tenth day to represent the Fire Dragon Kingdom in the exchange competition.”
“Alright, I got it!” Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“Meng Lei, Douglas Magic Academy is in charge of hosting the qualifying round this year. Don’t forget to attend it two days later.”
“Got it, Mr. Dirk.”
After hanging up, Meng Lei continued his study of wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, striving to master it and get it down within two days.
…
Early in the morning, two days later, Meng Lei woke up and left his condominium after he was done packing his things.
He had only just walked out of the condominium when he bumped into Fatty Hart and Daniel right away. The two of them were in high spirits and all pumped up.
Fatty Hart chuckled and said, “Old bro, you’ll be the champion of the qualifying round for sure. We offer you our congratulations in advance!”
“Here’s hoping things will go like what you’ve said,” Meng Lei replied with a smile.
Then, with a wave of his arm, he let out the magic carpet and said with a smile, “Let’s head there together.”
“Seriously, old bro, riding an old and tattered flying carpet when you’re already a billionaire? Aren’t you concerned that it’ll cramp your style?” Fatty Hart remarked as he looked at the magic carpet in disdain.
Then, with a grand wave of his arm, he let out a shiny golden magic flying carriage. It bore a striking resemblance to a magnificent falcon, except with a dragon head and was covered all over in golden dragon scales.
There were only four words to describe it—crazy cool, mighty, and domineering!
Fatty Hart tossed his long hair and said awfully coyly, “Let’s go. We can take my vehicle instead!”
“What the heck? Isn’t this the latest version of the collector’s edition of Dragon-Falcon magic carriages? One costs over five million gold coins, you know! Where did you get that from, Fatty?”
Stunned by the golden vehicle’s sudden appearance, Daniel couldn’t stop gasping in shock.
“Haha! I had a small windfall recently thanks to old bro!” Fatty Hart looked awfully smug. “Hehe, you know what I mean.”
“You’ve used up all of the red packets I gave you to buy the carriage,” Meng Lei exclaimed as he looked at Fatty Hart.
He had given Fatty Hart a few red packets, and they had added up to two to three million gold coins.
He had already spent them all!?
“Haha, I, Fatty, have no worries about food or clothing, but what I do lack is a high-end vehicle that matches my status. Frankly speaking, I’ve been eying my old man’s carriage for a very long time now.”
A snickering Fatty Hart went on. “I’ve wanted to steal it and bring it out all this time. Alas, my old man keeps too tight of a watch over it, so I didn’t have a chance at all. Therefore, I secretly swore to myself that I must buy a vehicle that’s even cooler than his for sure someday. And now, my wish has finally come true. I’m so happy!”
“You wastrel!”
A corner of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed in response.
“Haha, let’s go!”
Fatty Hart pulled open the carriage door and said, “Today is the day that old bro’s gonna go on a rampage. You have to ride a presentable vehicle for sure! Only then will it match up to old bro’s status!
“Hop on, old bro!”
“…”
The five-million-gold-coin magic carriage was naturally incredibly flashy. They had only just risen into the air when it attracted several astonished, envious gazes.
Yet Fatty Hart the dummy, still chose to show off on purpose, insisting on circling leisurely around the campus. He even moved at an awfully slow pace, attracting countless envious and jealous exclamations.
Fatty Hart’s vanity was greatly satisfied upon hearing all the screams and exclamations. Only then did he leave the academy, fully content with his achievements.
And then… He started to show off again.
He drove slowly in crowded places and moved quickly in sparsely-populated areas.
That smug look of his gave Meng Lei a serious itch to beat someone up. “Fatty, at the speed you’re driving at, we won’t be able to reach Douglas Magic Academy even by next year!”
“Hehe!” Fatty Hart gave him an embarrassed smile and immediately pulled the control lever. The magic carriage instantly sped up, turning into a stream of light that flew outward. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at Douglas Magic Academy.
“You’ve actually somehow dragged on a few minutes’ journey into an hour…” Meng Lei griped after casting a glance at his pocket watch. “Seriously, Fatty!”
Douglas Magic Academy was already packed with a sea of people by now. Several long queues snaked in front of the academy entrance, causing Meng Lei to be rather troubled. “With that many people here, when are we going to have to queue till?”
However, Fatty Hart replied, “Old bro, look at the banner above. There’s an exclusive passageway for contestants like you guys.”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. True enough, he noticed a few banners hanging at the academy entrance, among which, one featured a few large, gold-gilded words—”Contestants, please enter via the exclusive passageway at the side door!”
The rest of the banner displayed other information, such as the number of gold coins external parties needed to pay in order to enter the academy to watch the battles, directions after entering the academy, the seating layout, and so on.
“What the heck? The fee to watch the matches actually goes as high as 2,000 gold coins!?”
" }, { "id": 126, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-126", "title": "Chapter 126 - Gravitational Space, Free-For-All Arena Battle", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The quadrennial inter-academy exchange competition was a large event that shook the entire Dragon God Empire. Innumerable academies, geniuses, and experts took part in it, while innumerable nobles, vendors, and commoners were attracted to it.
The amount of attention it received far exceeded that of the World Cup on Earth. One could tell a thing or two about this from just the qualifying round today.
The place was swamped with a sea of people, the spectacle magnificent and unprecedented. Even a spectator fee as high as 2,000 gold coins couldn’t stop the passionate crowd.
“2,000 gold coins per person! Aren’t they going to earn quite a few hundred million after a day’s work?”
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly. He had only managed to earn a few billion gold coins after fighting so desperately, yet Douglas Magic Academy had it so easy, earning a few hundred million gold coins just by doing nothing?
“Comparing myself to others only creates unwanted frustrations, indeed.”
Then, after bidding farewell to Fatty Hart and Daniel, Meng Lei headed toward the passageway exclusive to the contestants’ use.
Compared to the massive horde of spectators, there were a much smaller number of contestants. Meng Lei entered the Douglas Magic Academy and arrived at the registration area.
There were a fair number of contestants waiting in line to register for the competition, but a large majority of them were big, burly, and muscular Warriors.
In comparison, there were much fewer Magicians. They didn’t make up even 10% of the Warriors’ numbers—no, not even 5%.
“Hello. Please present your magic badge.”
“Here you go.” Meng Lei passed his magic badge to them.
The student in charge of registration received the badge from him, placed it on a magic device similar to a ”card reader”, and swiped the badge lightly on it. A couple of beeps later, Meng Lei’s identity data was displayed.
A magic badge was similar to the student ID and citizen ID on Earth, and contained within was all of the badge owner’s identity data, such as their name, age, academy…
“Meng Lei, 16 years old, Fire… Eh? You’re Meng Lei!?”
The student in charge of registration let out an exclamation and stared at Meng Lei in pleasant surprise. Those white-hot, blazing eyes of his were as though he had just seen his idol, and his excitement and fervency were visibly obvious.
His exclamation was rather loud, causing all the contestants waiting in line for registration to look over, and their eyes fell on Meng Lei as one.
“Do you know me?” Meng Lei was a little taken aback.
“I do, I do!” The student nodded incessantly; his speech already somewhat incoherent. “Who doesn’t know of Meng Lei in this whole capital city? You’re the youngest Ninth-Grade Great Magician ever in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s history, and you’re also the hero that drove back the ant tide! How can I possibly not know of you?”
“Alright, the news does spread pretty fast,” Meng Lei replied with a smile.
“So that’s Meng Lei? He’s so young!”
“I didn’t expect even Meng Lei to be here. I hope I don’t run into him during the qualifying round. Otherwise, I’ll be out of luck!”
“Who’s Meng Lei? Is he very impressive?”
“What the heck! You don’t even know who Meng Lei is…”
The contestants waiting for registration started to whisper among themselves as they gesticulated at him.
Meng Lei was undoubtedly the person basking in the biggest limelight in the capital city during this recent time. He had become a Ninth-Grade Great Magician before 16 years of age and had even driven back the ant tide all by himself. Just how astonishingly talented was he?
Because of this, he had also become known as the youngest Ninth-Grade Great Magician with the fastest cultivation speed and shortest cultivation period ever in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s history.
How high of a glory was it to own three different records?
For a moment there, all the contestants looked at Meng Lei with very complex emotions in their eyes. Some had grave expressions on their faces, some scoffed contemptuously, some were filled with envy, and some brimmed with the will to fight…
Meng Lei! He would be a tough enemy for sure!
Meng Lei was surprisingly calm and collected despite being stared at by so many people, however. Had it been back when he had first arrived in Heaven’s Vault Continent, he might have felt uncomfortable, perhaps even restless and uneasy, but now… It was no different from a breeze caressing his face, and he was unfazed!
“The registration is complete, Meng Lei!”
“Thanks!”
Meng Lei then left the registration area. He followed the signs and landmarks the whole way and came to the front of a tall, straight, and grand palace.
The palace had two entrances, one on the left and one on the right.
In the middle stood a signboard that read, “Warriors are to enter by the left entrance while Magicians are to enter by the right entrance. Herein lies the first round of elimination where basic battle capabilities will be evaluated.
“Only experts that are Seventh-Grade and above are allowed to pass. Those below Seventh-Grade… Proceed with caution! Otherwise, your lives may be in jeopardy!”
“Seventh-Grade? Your lives may be in jeopardy?”
Meng Lei raised his eyebrow, a little surprised.
Although the Seventh-Grade level didn’t seem that powerful, it was already no longer a level that current students could attain. Just this round alone would eliminate almost all of the current students… With the exception of geniuses like him, of course.
“Seventh-Grade at the minimum!”
Several contestants had rather awkward looks on their faces. Right at that moment, someone suddenly charged out of the left entrance.
It was as though the person had been thrown out. He fell onto his bottom on the floor, his chest heaving up and down intensely as he panted heavily and gulped for air.
Perspiration drenched his whole body, and he couldn’t look any more pathetic.
“What’s going on?”
“He couldn’t pass?”
The contestants speculated as they stared at him. A muscular man holding a giant axe even stepped forward and asked in concern, “Old bro, what happened to you? Why are you in such a state?”
The man let out a wry laugh, and then he said with lingering fear, “A gravitational space! It’s a gravitational space inside! Those that aren’t strong enough do proceed with caution!”
“A gravitational space?”
Everyone’s countenances changed a little.
“After I entered, the deeper I went, the stronger the gravitational pull became. By the time I was halfway through, my whole body felt oddly and incredibly heavy. Even my bones were close to breaking from the force. Left with no other choice, I could only retreat back out here!”
“Is it that scary?!”
The muscular man with the giant axe asked, “Old bro, how strong are you?”
“High-level Sixth-Grade!”
“A high-level Sixth-Grader could only reach the halfway mark?”
Upon hearing what he said, the contestants started to get cold feet. The man had only managed to reach the halfway mark, and many of them weren’t that much stronger than him…
“A gravitational space…”
Meng Lei suddenly realized something, and he remarked, “So this round really is evaluating one’s basic battle capabilities.”
What was a Warrior’s basic foundation? Their physical body constitution, of course!
By using gravitational pull as a means of evaluation, the ones with a strong body would pass while the ones with a weak body would be eliminated.
This was an evaluation that tested one’s absolute strength. There was no way to muddle through it at all.
I’ve never experienced a gravitational space before, though!
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled around, and he entered the entrance on the left.
“Uh…”
“Isn’t he a Magician? Why did he go through the Warriors’ entrance?”
Meng Lei’s choice filled the contestants, who constantly had their eyes on him, with utter confusion. Why was a Magician like him going through the Warriors’ entrance instead of the Magicians’? What the heck was he trying to do?!
The so-called gravitational space looked like an enclosed corridor, yet also like a tunnel. Gravitational magic circles were engraved on the floor, walls, and ceiling, and they constantly exerted a gravitational pull.
Meng Lei sensed his body becoming heavy and weighted down after he entered the place, as if invisible shackles had been placed on him—it was the gravitational pull!
A gravitational pull that reached every nook and cranny!
However, this bit of gravitational pull was nothing to Meng Lei, of course. He sauntered about leisurely as if he was taking a stroll and advanced forward.
Then, completely unaffected, he walked out of the gravitational space in one go and passed the so-called elimination round.
Right after that, he arrived at an arena-like area. In front of him was a fighting ring several meters above the ground, and around it were rows and rows of spectators.
This scene looked awfully familiar to the eye—this was exactly what it looked like back when he had been participating in the Flame Arena battles!
“Why am I all the way here at an arena?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
The audience in the benches weren’t, however. They looked at Meng Lei at once, their eyes twinkling with excitement and anticipation.
“The 100th one is here!”
“Haha! The 100th one is here!”
“We’ve finally reached 100 people now. Hurry and start the competition!”
“What’s going on?” Meng Lei found himself rather baffled. “What do they mean by the 100th one?”
“That contestant over there!”
Just as Meng Lei was in total confusion, a staff member ran over quickly and said, “Sir, you’re the 100th contestant to pass the elimination round. Please, go up the fighting ring immediately and get ready for the arena battle that’ll be starting right away…”
It was only when he heard the staff member’s explanation that Meng Lei finally understood what was going on.
What came after the elimination round was the arena battle. However, the arena battle wasn’t a one-on-one showdown but a 100-man free-for-all arena battle!
It was an intense free-for-all close-quarters battle with 100 contestants in a group and would go on until only ten people remained in the arena.
These ten people would then enter the next round.
Meng Lei was unfortunately the 100th person to pass the elimination round. Therefore, he needed to take part in the free-for-all battle right away without being given even a bit of time to rest.
“A free-for-all arena battle? Who came up with the goddamn idea?”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless, though he went up the battle arena nonetheless. Meng Lei sensed the other 99 contestants’ hostile gazes in an instant.
A 100-man free-for-all that would leave behind only ten people in the end. Everyone was an enemy!
“Dear guests and audience! Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the qualifying round of this year’s inter-academy exchange competition! I am your host for today, Jim!”
A middle-aged Dragon Person dressed in a magic robe went up the arena and began a short and concise but passionate and fervent pre-competition speech.
He then went on to explain the free-for-all’s rules—though there weren’t actually any, despite calling it so. There was only one key point—”Do everything you can to stay in the arena!”
Be it being a coward and staying low-profile or crushing others in a dominating show of power, as long as they could stay in the arena, then victory would be theirs!
A competition mechanism like this was evidently unfair, especially toward contestants that were the last to pass the basic evaluation like Meng Lei.
Additionally, it was full of loopholes. Things like acquaintances grouping together, weaker contestants teaming up, experts being ganged up upon, and so on… Various situations like these could happen, and it highly likely would lead to a situation where the ones remaining on the arena in the end wouldn’t necessarily be the strongest.
There was nothing to be done about this, however—these were the rules.
In this clearly-hierarchic society that revered the strong, the concept of fairness had never once existed.
“I hereby declare that the first arena battle of the qualifying round officially starts now!”
Boom!
The moment the host finished speaking, the entire venue instantly quietened, and innumerable pairs of eyes flicked toward the arena.
The arena that had originally been quiet… erupted into a mad frenzy!
" }, { "id": 127, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-127", "title": "Chapter 127 - Brilliant Dragon Might, Bombing The Arena Again", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "99 contestants simultaneously started to move!
Some charged brazenly toward the contestants nearest to them, some retreated out of the battle zone immediately, some formed directly into small groups…
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The area outside the fighting ring also turned incredibly chaotic in no time. As the ferocious battle broke out and demons and monsters entered a dance of madness, the passion that the audience had accumulated over the last four years also fully erupted in this instant, and they started to scream and howl fervently.
“Come on, Allen! Kill those bastards!”
“Victory is yours, Jarvis!”
“Look out to your left! The left, you idiot…”
“Brat, this place isn’t somewhere that you should be!” A big, burly, and muscular man pounced toward Meng Lei with a ferocious look in his eyes and a savage look on his face. “Daddy will send you home now!”
One must always pick those weaker than themselves when bullying others. This was a logic that everyone understood.
Meng Lei looked young and immature, so he must be a weakling for sure. The muscular man had set his sights on him a long time ago. As such, the moment the battle started, he had charged over the first moment he got.
Meng Lei stood still and motionless, allowing the muscular man to charge toward him all he wanted. In the instant right before the muscular man reached him, he turned slightly to the side and easily evaded his attack. Then, his left hand went smacking outward with the momentum.
Boom!
As if a speeding train had crashed into him, the muscular man was thrown out in an instant, and he flew right out of the ring.
“What’s going on?”
The muscular man got off the floor and climbed onto his feet. He stared at the big, tall ring in a daze, and then at the spot where he was standing, a look of stupefaction all over his visage.
“How did I freaking land down here?”
“Amos, you idiot!”
A furious roar reached his ears from the back. The muscular man turned around to see a fat woman with a plump, stout figure and a face full of flesh glaring viciously at him with great difficulty. Her countenance was savage.
“H-honey!” A shiver went through the muscular man.
“Amos! You useless imbecile, idiot, good-for-nothing, piece of trash… I only got you a spot after spending 1,000,000 gold coins, yet you’ve wasted it just like that?”
The fatty flesh on the obese woman quivered as she said, “I’m going to skin you after we get home today and give you a taste of the 18 torture methods 1 …”
“Honey, I—”
The muscular man was as pale as a sheet, and he shook like a leaf.
“That guy…”
Meng Lei had overheard the fat woman and the muscular man’s entire conversation. Aside from finding it funny, he didn’t feel an ounce of compassion for him at all.
Of all people, why must he target him?
He could only blame himself for being unlucky.
Whoosh!
At this point, the sharp sound of something slicing through the air suddenly rang out beside his ear. Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and turned his head to the side slightly. A flying dagger gleaming with a chilly glint flew right by his ear.
“A sneak attack?”
Meng Lei turned around leisurely to see a small, skinny figure wrapped in black clothes about three meters behind him.
Both his head and neck were solidly wrapped, and only a pair of cold, emotionless eyes was left exposed.
“How can this be?”
However, there was a hint of shock in that pair of eyes at that moment. “You’ve actually dodged my flying dagger despite there being only such a short distance between the two of us? And when you even had your back to me?”
Meng Lei abruptly showed up right in front of the small, skinny figure. As their eyes met, he whispered in a low voice, “The entire ring is shrouded in my spiritual power. Ambushing me? What a joke!”
“What?!”
The small, skinny figure was greatly astounded. Then, he felt an intense, severe pain coming from his abdomen. He lowered his head to see that Meng Lei’s fist had landed squarely against his abdomen.
Boom!
A surging, great force assailed him, and the small, skinny figure turned directly into a launched cannonball and flew right out of the ring.
“That’s a mid-level eighth-grade assassin.” Meng Lei secretly sighed inwardly. “He’s no weakling. It’s just a shame that he ran into me.”
Meng Lei looked toward the others—the free-for-all was still ongoing.
Aside from the two that he had blasted off the ring, the other contestants had also reaped their own respective rewards. A contestant was eliminated every two seconds, and the number of contestants in the ring decreased at a rapid rate.
90, 80, 70, 60…
Five minutes later, only over 20 people remained in the ring. The situation gradually became clear—aside from Meng Lei and a few other experts, everyone else was in small teams.
As the saying went, “A fence needs the support of three stakes, and an able fellow needs the help of three other people.”
In a free-for-all arena battle like this, even a small team comprising only three people would hold an extremely big advantage over others and benefit greatly, let alone when many of the small teams seemed to have come prepared.
There were as many as five to six people in the teams, and one of them even went up to as many as ten members.
A ten-man team! There was no need for a further explanation behind the meaning of the team!
“Victory will be ours, Team Fighting Dragon’s!”
That’s right, Team Fighting Dragon was the ten-man team. Not only did they coordinate well with each other, but they were adept at both offense and defense, swiftly cutting down the rest of the contestants like a ferocious tiger that had emerged from the mountains.
Boom!
Team Fighting Dragon eliminated a five-man team.
Boom!
Another solo expert was blasted off the ring by Team Fighting Dragon.
Boom!
In the twinkling of an eye, aside from Team Fighting Dragon, only Meng Lei, another Magician, and a six-man team remained in the ring.
“Wipe them out!”
Team Fighting Dragon turned around and charged toward the six-man team. Under the current circumstances, the six-man team posed the biggest threat. As long as they could wipe out the six-man team, Meng Lei and the other Magician didn’t pose a threat to them at all.
“The two sirs there. Let’s join hands and wipe out Team Fighting Dragon!”
Upon sensing the great threat, the six-man team hastily tried to recruit Meng Lei and the other Magician. “As long as we join hands and finish off Team Fighting Dragon, we’ll win!”
“That’s right! There’s only eight of us in total…”
A glint flashed across the Magician’s eyes, and he instantly agreed to the six-man team’s suggestion and formed an alliance with them.
Meng Lei, on the other hand, was taken aback for a moment there. “Form an alliance?”
“Let’s finish off that fellow first. I’ve taken notice of him for a very long while now.”
“He’s very strong. We mustn’t allow them to form an alliance. Otherwise, things will become very troublesome.”
At the sight of this, Team Fighting Dragon temporarily looked away from the six-man team and targeted Meng Lei instead. Then, they charged directly toward him.
Team Fighting Dragon was made up of ten Dragon People. They had either a pair of horns on their heads, Dragon scales on their faces, or a Dragon tail at their bottoms…
The ten Dragon People were strong and powerful, and their performance in the ring just now had directly conquered countless spectators’ hearts. At the sight of them charging toward Meng Lei, the audience broke into screams and cheers, shouting and rooting for them.
“Go for it! Go for it, Team Fighting Dragon!”
“Finish him off! Victory is yours!”
“I love you, Team Fighting Dragon…”
Boom!
As though ten T-rexes, Team Fighting Dragon came crushing toward Meng Lei with an aura capable of ripping everything into shreds. “Kid, if you know what’s good for you, then get the hell off the ring yourself, lest we end up having to dirty our hands!”
“Bastard! Serves you right!”
The muscular man, the small, skinny figure, and others that Meng Lei had thrown out of the ring just now were overjoyed at the sight of this. Delight flashed across their eyes, seemingly already witnessing the scene of Meng Lei being beaten into a pulp and thrown off the ring.
“To think there are actually people looking down on me!”
Meng Lei was as calm and collected as always. As he gazed at Team Fighting Dragon coming toward him with a crushing momentum, his right hand grabbed upward toward the sky, and all the Thunder Elements within 1,000 meters converged madly.
In a mere instant, a silver, savage-looking monster revealed itself and floated above the fighting ring.
“A t-thunder dragon?”
All the spectators gasped, their cheers abruptly dying down.
Team Fighting Dragon also raised their heads, only to see a Colossal Dragon with a wingspan of over 1,000 meters and wholly formed by lightning manifesting above their heads.
Its empty, vacant eyes bore coldly into them, and its brutal, raging might engulfed the entire venue. Despite standing a great distance away, Team Fighting Dragon could still feel the thunder dragon’s fearsomeness, nevertheless.
In a split second, everyone in Team Fighting Dragon swallowed hard, cold sweat trickling down their backs as a thought welled up within them, “Should it strike me, wouldn’t I be a total goner?”
Howl!
The thought had only just occurred to them when the thunder dragon suspended above them suddenly let out a loud, sonorous dragon roar. Then, it flapped its wings and swooped down headfirst.
Boom!
The arena exploded in an instant!
" }, { "id": 128, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-128", "title": "Chapter 128 - The Last Day, The King Watches The Battle", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 128: The Last Day, The King Watches The Battle
The 1,000-feet-long thunder dragon crashed downward with a great boom. Amid earth-shattering sounds of explosion, raging lightning instantly covered the whole fighting ring.
Electric currents wreaked havoc as smoke billowed and rose.
All the spectators in the venue felt a violent tremor go through the entire arena. There was ringing in their ears, and they experienced temporary deafness.
Crackle, crackle!
The electric currents running rampant gradually dispersed and revealed the covered fighting ring, rendering everyone flabbergasted at once.
The fighting ring that reached several meters tall had disappeared. What replaced it was a black, charred chasm, and Meng Lei was standing right at the edge.
Team Fighting Dragon and everyone else in the fighting ring had disappeared, whereas over ten black, charred “wooden blocks” laid quietly at the bottom of the chasm.
Well, they could just be called wooden blocks for now—because they were pitch-black all over and bore a striking resemblance to charred wooden blocks.
“H-how did this happen?”
“Where did the ring go?”
“Where’s Team Fighting Dragon?”
“What grade of magic was that thunder dragon just now? Why is it so terrifying that even the fighting ring has been blasted into oblivion?”
“That’s the Ninth-Grade Spell… Raging Thunder Dragon!”
“What!?”
“A ninth-grade spell!?”
“Hiss!”
The spectators involuntarily sucked in breaths of chilly air. “No wonder it was so terrifying… To think it’s actually a ninth-grade spell!”
“That teenager is a Ninth-Grade Great Magician?”
“A great Ninth-Grade Magician? How can that be?”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The audience’s eyes landed on Meng Lei in tandem, astoundment, incredulity, and disbelief within them.
There were quite a fair number of Ninth-Grade Great Magicians in the kingdom, but most of the ninth-grade experts were already very advanced in age.
A Ninth-Grade Great Magician as young as Meng Lei was practically unheard of… No, it wasn’t unheard of! In fact, they had heard of one recently!
“Meng Lei?”
“Could he be Meng Lei?”
Someone among the audience let out a shout. The whole place went into a great furor in an instant, and everyone’s eyes widened and bore into the teenager standing at the edge of the chasm, their eyes full of fervent passion and astoundment.
“16 years old!”
“A Ninth-Grade Great Magician!”
“The number one genius in all of Fire Dragon Kingdom’s history!”
“Meng Lei!”
“That’s Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
The whole venue broke into massive cheers, and innumerable people shouted Meng Lei’s name loudly.
Fervency!
Idolization!
Excitement!
In particular, the look in some noblewomen, debutantes, and wealthy young ladies’ eyes were overt and openly ravenous, as if wishing that they could devour Meng Lei.
As for the ten-odd wooden blocks lying at the bottom of the chasm, no one cared about them at all.
“Am I that famous now?” Meng Lei wondered as he took a look at the fervent audience.
Then, inspiration suddenly struck him. “Those celebrities in my past life earned money like they were just picking cash off the ground. I wonder if I can emulate them?”
No matter how famous he was or how many worshippers he had, if they couldn’t be turned into actual, practical gold coins, then all of it was nothing but empty titles.
“This is a pretty good money-making idea. I can discuss this a little with Fatty and see whether or not I can earn some endorsement fees or something…”
Just as Meng Lei was silently making plans mentally, Jim, the host, hurried over and looked at him with a complex look on his face.
“Mr. Host, have I passed the test?” asked Meng Lei passively.
“Of course! It’s just that…”
Jim pointed at the ten-odd wooden blocks at the bottom of the chasm with a wry smile. Ten people were supposed to remain in the 100-man free-for-all, but Meng Lei was the only one standing now.
Well, alright, it wasn’t as if a situation like this hadn’t occurred in the past, right? But the problem now was that there were ten Dragon People among the ten-odd people that Meng Lei had finished off.
One must understand that these ten Dragon People came from eminent backgrounds. Although there was a liability waiver on fatalities in the qualifying round, now that they had died here today, the people backing them up would never let the matter rest.
“Don’t worry, they are still alive.”
However, what the host didn’t expect was Meng Lei shaking his head and saying with a smile, “They’ve just passed out, that’s all. You can wake them up just by pissing on them.”
“Really?”
“Of course!”
…
After the battle ended, Meng Lei left the arena directly. Only arena free-for-alls were scheduled for the next two days.
One could only advance to the next round after the arena free-for-alls.
In other words, Meng Lei had the following two days to rest. He was thinking of using these couple of days to get his hands on some endorsement fees and whatnot.
Thus, Meng Lei contacted Fatty Hart and told him about his idea of making money through endorsements. Fatty Hart was utterly stupefied by what he said.
“Endorsements? What are endorsements? Food?”
Meng Lei hung up on him right away. Then, he returned to the library like the good boy he was and buried himself in his study of wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic again, never to mention the matter of making money through endorsements ever again.
F*ck!
To think there actually isn’t the idea of celebrity endorsements in Heaven’s Vault Continent! Well, that’s so goddamn awkward!
…
Meng Lei stayed in the library, closing himself off to everything happening in the outside world, but the qualifying round blazed on, nonetheless.
After two days of intense competition, the first elimination round and arena free-for-all had finally ended. A total of 412 people had successfully advanced to the next round.
As such, the second selection round began.
Compared to the deeply flawed arena free-for-all, the second round was much fairer because this particular round featured showdowns between random pairs of opponents—two-man showdowns among 412 contestants where the victor would advance to the next round while the loser would be eliminated.
Two days later, 206 contestants were left.
Another day later, 103 remained.
They had finally reached the last day of the qualifying round.
On this day, Meng Lei woke up early in the morning and rode Fatty Hart’s luxurious vehicle to Douglas Magic Academy.
Fatty Hart was very excited today, and he chattered non-stop.
“Old bro, let me tell you a piece of good news. His Majesty, the king, and Her Majesty, the queen, as well as all the adult princes and princesses, will be here to watch the battle today.
“Apart from that, innumerable royalty, nobles, officials, and the wealthy, as well as the presidents of all the major academies, will also be there.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that today is definitely the most ceremonious day ever since the start of the qualifying round. You’d better perform well. If any of the princesses fancies you, you’ll be able to kick back and relax for the rest of your life.
“Hehe! Never mind about the other princesses, but if you can gain the fancy of the Ninth Princess, you’ll strike gold…”
“Are you in heat right now?” Meng Lei rolled his eyes and asked dryly, “Do you think there’s a need for me to be a social climber and attain the peak of my life by conquering a princess?”
“Uh…”
Fatty Hart was stupefied for a moment before he replied sheepishly, “That’s true! Old bro has already become a Ninth-Grade Great Magician before he’s even 16 years old. You’ll definitely attain Saint Domain realm in the future, and your future is limitless…”
As they engaged in idle and nonsensical chat the whole way, they finally reached Douglas Magic Academy. The academy today was completely different from what it was like in the past.
Security within 1,000 meters of the academy was tight and brisk.
Teams of palace guards wearing golden armor were stationed every three to five steps, sealing off all the routes leading in and out of Douglas Magic Academy.
In the sky were even several handsome, magnificent-looking Dragon-Falcon Knights suspended in the air and circling around as they sealed off the air space above Douglas Magic Academy.
Douglas Magic Academy could be said to be completely surrounded on all sides at the moment—not even a fly could get past the guards!
Fatty Hart landed one kilometer away from the academy. Then, he pointed at the palace guards in front and said, “Douglas Magic Academy has been cordoned off, so I can only send you this far, old bro.”
“Thanks!”
After expressing his thanks, Meng Lei asked, “Are you going to watch the battle in the academy today, Fatty?”
At his question, Fatty Hart’s face fell at once, and he replied, “I would like to, but the spectator fee goes as high as 100,000 gold coins. I can’t fork out that much money!”
It was already the seventh day of the qualifying round today. Even though the number of contestants was falling day by day, not only did the people’s enthusiasm not wane but on the contrary, it was even rising further and further.
As a result, the spectator fee also rose higher and higher day by day.
2,000 gold coins, 8,000 gold coins, 16,000 gold coins…
By today, it had finally broken the 100,000 gold coins mark!
To be honest, 100,000 gold coins weren’t actually a lot. However, Fatty Hart had already spent all his savings on the luxurious vehicle, so how could he possibly still be able to fork out the huge sum of 100,000 gold coins?
“Let’s go. On account of you sending me back and forth to the academy every day, I’ll cover the 100,000 gold coins spectator fee.”
“Really!?”
“If you’re not going, then forget it!”
“I’ll go! Of course I’ll go! I love you, old bro!”
" }, { "id": 129, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-129", "title": "Chapter 129 - Saint Domains, Laws Of Nature Fragments", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The arena was teeming with people moving to and fro. Strangely enough, in spite of that, it seemed very quiet inside the arena.
There was no hubbub, no noise, no cheering or screaming, or anyone shouting themselves hoarse…
In a move uncharacteristic of their usual behavior, the spectators sat upright and still. Even when they exchanged an occasional word with one another, they whispered among themselves and kept their discussions down.
The 100,000 spectator fee had kept a large number of lesser nobles and petit-bourgeois from entering the arena. Thus, the ones that could enter and watch the matches were basically all well-educated middle- to higher-class nobles.
Of course, what really made all the spectators in the arena that quiet was ultimately still the Fire Dragon King’s presence gracing the venue, as well as the royalty and officials’ arrivals.
Not only had the Fire Dragon King—King Flit the 66th—arrived together with Queen Diana in person, but all the princes and princesses had also come to the arena.
Aside from them, some of the senates from the senior statesmen’s assembly, other royalty members, chancellors, and other civil and military influential officials had also personally come to watch the matches.
It was no exaggeration to say that even any random person among the VIPs here to watch the matches today held an impressive identity and was someone that played a critical role in the kingdom.
With them around, who would dare to cause a commotion?
As a result, the usually lively and boisterous arena seemed rather stifling. Once in a while, the spectators would glance at the VIP private rooms with fear, awe, and reverence in their eyes.
In particular, the 103 contestants in the contestant seats wore even more excited expressions on their faces and had looks of anticipation and pumped-up spirits in their eyes.
After spending so many years painstakingly cultivating in silence, they were finally going to show their strength in front of the king and all the court officials today.
Who wouldn’t be worked up over it?
And who wouldn’t be all pumped up over it?
Even Meng Lei couldn’t help but direct his gaze at the private rooms above him, hints of unusual emotion flashing across the depths of his eyes.
Of course, what he was really astonished by weren’t just their statuses, but also their strength.
According to Ol’ Amos, there were actually almost 100 Saint Domains in the entire arena. Meng Lei almost wet himself in shock.
That was 100 Saint Domains, after all!
Who wouldn’t be astounded by the presence of that many Saint Domains?
“In just a short 20,000 years, Fire Dragon Kingdom has already come this far. As expected, time is indeed the most powerful cheating device!”
Ol’ Amos’ somewhat surprised sigh of emotion and admiration rang out in Meng Lei’s mind, to which Meng Lei also nodded quietly in agreement. Saint Domain experts enjoyed a long, endless lifespan, and on top of that, they were also very hardy.
As long as there were no massive upheavals like the Abyss Demons’ invasion, more and more Saint Domain experts were bound to appear.
Therefore, the current Fire Dragon Kingdom was even more powerful than what it was 20,000 years ago—there was no doubt about that.
But of course, what Meng Lei was astounded by the most wasn’t the arrival of the 100 Saint Domains, but the gifts they had given him!
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3,576!”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +2,918!”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the First-Class Spell, Prairie-Blazing Heavenly Fire!”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +129,632!”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Ninth-Grade Spell, Multi-Layer Tempest!”
“Ding…”
Cold, emotionless system notifications constantly rang out in Meng Lei’s head, utterly delighting him.
In less than ten minutes, he had already picked up 39 eighth-grade spells, 9 ninth-grade spells, and 5 first-class spells!
As for light balls of other low-grade and mid-grade spells, Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, Wealth, and other attributes, they numbered so many that he couldn’t even keep count anymore.
In just a short while, Meng Lei had earned an overflowing amount of rewards—one could totally say that a windfall and a pleasant surprise had befallen him!
As a result, Meng Lei was in a wonderful mood, and he looked pleased as a punch. His expression ended up appearing completely out of place next to the other, pumped up, and nervous contestants.
“Dear all!”
At that moment, an elderly man dressed in a black magic robe went up the fighting ring. In a clear, bright voice, he announced cheerfully, “Welcome to the last day of the qualifying round, everyone! I am your host for today, Norman Obote!”
The host’s voice was clear and resonant as he went on. “First of all, let us welcome His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen with a passionate round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap!
Thunderous applause rang throughout the arena.
“Next, the King will grace us with a few words!”
Clap, clap, clap!
The centermost private room’s door slowly opened, and a middle-aged man dressed in a fiery-red dragon robe walked out. He stepped on thin air and walked in the sky, taking step by step toward the area above the arena.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everyone’s gazes in the arena fell simultaneously onto the man, their eyes carrying looks of reverence, respect, and worship.
His physique was full of power and grandeur and was lofty and majestic!
His eyes were sharp, awe-inspiring, and imposing!
His head of long, fiery-red hair flowed freely and uncontrolled, and he gave off an aura so powerful that it made one’s heart tremble. He was as though the blazing sun in the sky, so blinding that it made one’s eyes hurt, afraid to raise their heads to look at him.
The number one expert in the kingdom—Flit the 66th!
A powerful, pure-blooded Saint Domain Fire Dragon and the current Fire Dragon King with a reign of 637 years and counting!
“So that’s the Fire Dragon King!”
Meng Lei’s eyes focused on him, an impossibly huge sense of pressure coming over him. He had a certain feeling—if the Fire Dragon King wished to, he could definitely kill him with just a smack of his palm. The gap between the two of them was akin to the gulf between heaven and earth!
“I’m still too weak!” Meng Lei sighed inwardly. “The most I can do is just bully the experts below the Saint Domain realm. When up against a Saint Domain, I have no chances of victory at all.”
At this exact moment, a light ball that shone with a fiery-red glow dropped from the Fire Dragon King. Then, the system’s voice notification aptly rang out.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fire-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
Wait a minute! A fire-elemental Laws of Nature fragment?
Meng Lei’s eyes widened dramatically, and he almost jumped off his seat.
A fire-elemental Laws of Nature fragment?
Oh my god!
I’ve actually picked up something like that? Hurry! Assimilate it!
Meng Lei let out a shout in his mind.
Boom!
An incomparably vast and boundless wave of information suddenly gushed into his mind. Just like a breached dam, they ran amok in the depths of his mind.
An endless amount of comprehension of the Fire Element surged into his mind like a tidal wave. Meng Lei felt as though the only thing that remained in front of him at the moment was a sea of fire.
Other than fire, there was still only fire!
The amazing thing was that these flames completely formed from Fire Elements were no longer just shaped purely with Fire Elements. Rather, all of them were connected to one another via innumerable red threads.
Dense, concentrated red threads covered every inch of the flames, shrouding the entire sea of fire in them and connecting every granule of Fire Elements.
The red threads were in complete control of the Fire Elements’ dancing and burning. If the dancing Fire Elements were puppets, then these threads would be the strings controlling the puppets.
Meng Lei had a feeling that with just a light tug on any of the threads from him, he would be able to induce a dramatic spike in the flames’ might.
Of course, he could also extinguish the flames anytime he wanted.
“Fire-elemental… Laws of nature?” Meng Lei murmured to himself as he instinctively reached out and plucked out one of the threads.
Whoosh!
The flames instantly went out, and the sea of fire vanished.
Meng Lei shook his head a couple of times, his senses abruptly coming back to him. It was only then that he discovered that the Fire Dragon King—Flit the 66th—had long since ended his speech and returned to the private room.
Instead, there were currently two contestants fighting it out in the fighting ring.
“I wonder how much time had gone by just now?” Meng Lei murmured under his breath.
He clearly remembered that the events just now had spanned only a split second, yet it seemed like a long while had actually gone by…
“Huh? Why is there a change in the stats interface?”
" }, { "id": 130, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-130", "title": "Chapter 130 - Ice Momentum, Turning Into A Fire Lotus In A Second", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Fire Dragon bloodline, Fire Demon bloodline, and Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline)
Wealth: 25,976,435,428 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Ninth-Grade Warrior (769,877,006/1,000,000,000)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,388,760/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,145,467/1,000,000,000)
Laws of Nature: Fire-Elemental (0.1%)
Spells: Some increase
Battle Skills: Some increase
Battle Aura Techniques: Some increase
There’s an additional Laws of Nature comprehension field now?
What does the 0.1% at the back mean? Is it a comprehension meter?
A shrewd glint flashed across the depths of Meng Lei’s eyes as he gazed at the additional field in the stats interface.
It’s probably related to the Laws of Nature fragment that I picked up just now. I wonder if I can use my Wealth to redeem points for it?
It would be awesome if I can!
Alright, I’ll give it a go?
Meng Lei silently ordered, “System! Redeem one billion gold coins and add them to my Laws of Nature attribute!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth value instantly decreased by one billion gold coins. True enough, the Laws of Nature field also underwent a change, going from 0.1% to 0.2%!
It went up by only 0.1% with one billion gold coins!?
Meng Lei couldn’t help but suck in a breath of chilly air. One must know that that was one billion gold coins! Yet it had only raised his comprehension of Laws of Nature by 0.1%?
This redemption rate was simply too low. At this rate, wouldn’t he need one trillion gold coins to reach a 100% comprehension rate for the fire-elemental Laws of Nature, then?
One trillion…
Meng Lei fell silent. By right, the ability to buy credits for his comprehension of the laws of nature was something positive. However, the price was simply too great!
Raising it by 1% required 10 billion gold coins. In other words, raising it to 100% would require one trillion gold coins!
I have such a hard life!
Where am I going to get that kind of money?
Immersed in his thoughts, Meng Lei secretly gave himself a wry smile of resignation. However, he didn’t notice that there was a group of people in the private room where the King was currently looking at him.
The red-haired Flit the 66th asked with a smile, “So that’s the little fellow named Meng Lei, Fred?”
President Fred nodded lightly and replied with a smile, “Yes, Your Majesty. That’s indeed Meng Lei.”
“He’s so young!”
As Flit the 66th gazed upon Meng Lei, he remarked, “Who would have thought that a young boy like him would actually be a Ninth-Grade Great Magician?”
“Indeed! A 16-year-old Ninth-Grade Great Magician is certainly an unprecedented occurrence in the history of our Fire Dragon Kingdom!”
The graceful and regal Queen Diana, who was also sizing up Meng Lei, remarked, “President Fred, the academy has certainly produced an impressive genius!”
“Thank you for the compliments, Your Majesties. The only reason why Meng Lei possesses such a level of cultivation now is that he had incidentally come across a few chance encounters. It’s all just luck! Luck!”
Even though President Fred felt triumphant inwardly, he kept his words very humble. At the same time, however, he didn’t forget to glance at the other old men in the private room, smugness showing obviously in his eyes.
“He’s certainly quite talented, but he’s ultimately still too young.”
A big, muscular black-haired elderly man said sourly, “Whether or not he can achieve great things in the future will still depend on his future diligence and development. His performance at this current point in time cannot determine his future.”
“Exactly! There is no shortage of geniuses that make a showy display of their abilities the moment they debut. People like that emerge in great numbers. However, ultimately, only a handful of them can attain the Saint Domain realm. That little fellow is still too young. You can’t tell much about him just yet.”
“He’s certainly rather talented, but if he’s hoping to achieve great things in the exchange competition, then his current level of strength ultimately still falls a little short…”
All the other old men in the private room spoke up one after another, trivializing the subject and showing disdain on their countenances. In spite of that, they couldn’t hide the sour grapes in their speech, nevertheless.
As a Ninth-Grade Great Magician at 16 years of age, Meng Lei well-deserved the title of being the first in history!
This was something that no one could deny. Thus, the only thing they could slam was Meng Lei’s age.
At such a young age, the future was full of countless uncertainties. Who could really predict that accurately just how far he could go?
“Sour grapes much?”
President Fred shook his head and laughed lightly. Then, he replied, “No matter what, the current Meng Lei has undeniably reached a point ahead of others. He has abundant time to break through to Saint Domain!”
All the other academy presidents snorted in response, though they didn’t rebut him anymore.
“I heard that Fighting Dragon Academy has also produced an impressive genius. I wonder who it is?”
Flit the 66th knew full well about the ongoings among the academy presidents. However, he didn’t lay them bare. Instead, with a smile on his visage, his gaze flicked over to the big, muscular black-haired elderly man, and he chose to change the subject.
At once, a smile appeared on the muscular elderly man’s countenance, and he replied, “Your Majesty, that young fellow’s name is Francis Matthew, and he’s a sixth-year student in my academy. He’s 28 years old this year and possesses ninth-grade pinnacle-level combat strength!”
Upon saying that, the muscular elderly man then looked at the contestants’ seating area. The smile on his face widened, and he said, “Your Majesty, do take a look. It just so happens to be Francis’ turn to go into the ring now. He’s that silver-haired young man over there.”
Flit the 66th raised an eyebrow. Then, he looked through the transparent glass in the private room at the fighting ring below to see a silver-haired young man wearing a suit of silver armor and holding a huge sword going up into the ring.
The young man’s eyes were sharp, and his expression cold and distant. As though he was an ice sculpture, he gave off an unapproachable feeling that rejected others from coming close to him.
“He has fairly rich Frost Colossal Dragon blood in him, yet he doesn’t possess even a hint of the Dragon race’s characteristics!”
Queen Diana’s rosy lips parted, and she asked, “That little fellow named Francis must have awakened his Frost Colossal Dragon bloodline at a later stage?”
“How astute of Her Majesty!”
The muscular elderly man nodded lightly and replied, “Francis awakened his Frost Colossal Dragon bloodline when he was 18 years old. He typically keeps his human appearance and only transforms into his Dragon Person form upon encountering a strong enemy.”
“Just as I’ve expected!”
Queen Diana said with a light laugh, “To possess such strength at such a young age, he has already surpassed many pure-blooded Colossal Dragons!”
“Indeed!” All the academy presidents and senates nodded in agreement.
Pure-blooded Colossal Dragons were certainly very powerful. They were comparable to Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts the moment they came of age, so they were much stronger than typical mixed-blood Dragon People.
However, this wasn’t absolute.
Some highly talented mixed-blood Dragon People boasted a cultivation speed that was faster than pure-blooded Colossal Dragons’, and this was something many pure-blooded Colossal Dragons couldn’t compare to—Francis was evidently one of those Dragon People.
“The battle has started!”
Francis’ opponent was a bald, uni-horned, muscular man holding a giant axe. His body was as strongly-built as an ox, and it brimmed with explosive strength.
Then, with just a single move of his sword, Francis slashed open the man’s throat and ended the battle.
“That ended so quickly!”
“How impressive!”
“What great icy and sharp momentum!”
“There’s hardly anyone that can match him among the ninth-grade experts!”
“The Saint Domain is within sight for him!”
Everyone in the private room couldn’t help but rub their palms and sigh in admiration.
The laymen watched the show, but what specialists focused on was the skill.
With their experience, they were naturally able to tell that Francis’ move hadn’t just been an overlay of his physique, physical strength, and Battle Aura. It had also… carried momentum!
Momentum—moving along with the flow, as well as the accumulation of momentum!
The momentum here referred to the universe’s momentum!
When one carried the universe’s momentum and released it along with the flow, their combat power would go through an explosive increase.
The bald, uni-horned, muscular man was also a ninth-grade expert. In terms of pure physical strength and agility, he wasn’t that far off from Francis in his human form, yet his throat had been slashed by Francis, nevertheless.
The difference laid exactly in their comprehension of the universe’s momentum. Francis’ comprehension of the Ice momentum had already reached a fairly astounding degree. By carrying the universe’s momentum and releasing it along with the flow, he had slain the bald, uni-horned man with just a slash of his sword.
“The young fellows nowadays are truly becoming more and more impressive!” One of the academy presidents sighed emotionally.
“Indeed!” Everyone else nodded in agreement.
“Eh? Isn’t that the little fellow named Meng Lei? Why has he gone into the ring, too?”
The muscular elderly man suddenly let out a soft exclamation and remarked in a slightly surprised tone of voice. Everyone looked over one by one—true enough, they noticed Meng Lei going up into the fighting ring.
“Is it already that little fellow’s turn?”
Flit the 66th remarked with great interest, “Everyone has been singing high praises of that little fellow during this recent period of time. I sure would like to take a good look at what he has to offer today.”
“His talent might take the top spot in history, but it’s a shame that he’s still too young.” The muscular elderly man shook his head and went on. “He’s stunning enough when compared to peers of his age, but it’s going to be really tough if he wants to achieve much in the exchange competition.”
“That makes sense. That little fellow’s biggest flaw is that he’s too young and too inexperienced. The amount of time he has spent on cultivation is too short!”
“Fred, if I were you, I’d have let him participate in the next exchange competition instead of putting him out there this year…”
All the other academy presidents spoke up one by one, their words causing President Fred’s expression to turn rather awful—yet he couldn’t rebut them at all.
Meng Lei was certainly very stunning, while his cultivation speed took the top spot in history. However, he was ultimately too young, the amount of time he had spent in cultivation was too short, and his experience when confronting enemies too little.
Disregarding the exchange competition where experts were abound and solely focusing on the contestants today, even the weakest one was someone at eighth-grade pinnacle-level. Could the young Meng Lei really stand on the same stage as them and compete with them?
“He’s rather good-looking, though, and he’s about the same age as our Little Ninth!” remarked Queen Diana as she watched Meng Lei with her beautiful eyes, before subsequently looking at a delicate young teenage girl behind her with allusion in her actions.
Flit the 66th burst into laughter. He couldn’t resist glancing at the delicate teenage girl, and he said teasingly, “Little Ninth has to inherit the throne in the future. If she really does take a fancy to that little fellow, there’s no harm in marrying him and taking him as a royal consort.”
“Father!”
The delicate teenage girl blushed furiously at once. A crimson hue also came over her pair of delicate, exquisite dragon horns as her cheeks turned rosy red.
“Hahaha!” Everyone burst into uproarious laughter.
Meng Lei’s opponent had also shown up in the ring. He had green dragon scales all over his body, a pair of green horns at the top of his head, a pair of green wings on his back, and a long, green tail at his bottom…
“Haha! To think it’s actually Chester!”
At the sight of the green Dragon Person in the ring, a blond elderly man wearing a magic robe rubbed his palms in glee right away. “Fred, the top genius of your Fire Dragon Magic Academy is going to embarrass himself soon!”
“Oh?”
Everyone looked at the blond elderly man, puzzlement in their eyes.
“Chester was the top genius of our Dragon People Magic Academy in the past. 29 years old this year and a dual cultivator of both magic and martial arts, his Warrior combat abilities are at ninth-grade elementary-level while his magic abilities are at eighth-grade mid-level!”
The blond elderly man side-eyed President Fred and went on smugly. “Because he has Green Dragon blood in him, not only is Chester familiar with wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, but he also knows poison magic.
“That’s poison magic, you know! Something that specializes in restraining Magicians that have weak, frail bodies! Now that he has encountered him, that little fellow named Meng Lei is going to be out of luck!”
Everyone nodded in agreement as poison magic was terrifying.
This type of rare, special magic that only Green Dragons could master was totally different from ordinary magic and could kill without warning.
One would easily fall victim to it the moment they were careless, and once they did, they would be down with highly toxic poison. In lesser cases, they would suffer a great loss in combat strength, while in serious cases, they would lose their lives.
Perhaps Warriors could resist it slightly, but Magicians, whose bodies were weak and frail, wouldn’t be able to withstand it for long at all. Out of everyone, poison magic restrained Magicians the most.
“That little fellow named Meng Lei is so young. He probably doesn’t have any experience dealing with poison magic. He’s in for it this time!”
One of the academy presidents sighed softly with a shake of his head.
President Fred had an awful look on his face, and he began to grow uneasy and nervous.
In the ring, the battle started!
In a bid to forestall his opponent, Chester put on a show of strength right away and began to loudly chant profound and hard-to-understand Dragon-Language Magic spells. Several thorny vines appeared out of nowhere and transformed into dozens of poisonous snakes that rushed toward Meng Lei.
At the same time, numerous pink flowers started to grow around the ring, giving off a toxic pink mist that shrouded the entire ring.
“Eighth-Grade Wood-Elemental Dragon-Language Magic, Toxic Magic Vines!
“Eighth-Grade Poison Spell, Bone-Softening Toxic Mist!
“The outcome is clear!”
The blond old man chortled and said, “Fred, you’d better hurry and stop the two of them. Otherwise, your top genius in history is gonna croak!”
“Hmph!” Fred let out a cold snort in response. However, his heart had already gone all the way into his mouth, and he got ready to step in and stop the battle at any moment and save Meng Lei.
At that moment, up against the thorny vines shooting toward him and the pervasive toxic mist, Meng Lei instead flicked his fingers and launched a basketball-sized fireball that shot slowly and leisurely toward Chester.
“The First-Grade Fireball Technique isn’t even enough to tickle me!” sneered Chester, who couldn’t even be bothered to dodge the fireball.
However, in the instant it came within range of him, the human head-sized fireball expanded wildly without warning, swelling into a fire lotus, whose diameter reached as wide as 1,000 feet!
Boom!
The 1,000-feet-wide fire lotus engulfed Chester in a split second. It engulfed all the vines, as well as a large half of the fighting ring!
“What!?”
“Fireball Technique morphing into Fire Lotus Judgment in a second?”
“A first-grade spell turning into a ninth-grade spell?”
“How can this be?”
All the academy presidents in the private room got to their feet all of a sudden, astonishment written all over their faces!
" }, { "id": 131, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-131", "title": "Chapter 131 - Choosing A Queen, Abandoning One'S Merits And Making Much Of Their Shortcomings", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "To ordinary people, magic was just like tricks, yet also different from them. At the same time, while they were cool and dazzling, they also carried fearsome destructiveness.
However, all Magicians were well aware that magic actually wasn’t that amazing—there was a specific and particular way to cast every spell.
How to chant the spell incantation;
How much magic elements they must gather;
How the magic elements should be arranged;
All these aspects had their own specific patterns and rules. Making a mistake in any of them would cause the spellcasting to fail.
What this meant was that Fireball Technique had its own way of arranging magic elements while the Fire Lotus Judgment also had its own set of spellcasting steps. Once they had been cast, the spells would be set in stone, and there wouldn’t be any way to alter them anymore.
There was no way it could be Fireball Technique one moment, yet morph into Fire Lotus Judgment the next. If anyone could achieve something like that, then sorry, but that would definitely be tricks meant to deceive one and not strict, rigorous magic!
This was the most basic piece of general knowledge in magic and was also something acknowledged among all Magicians.
Yet under the watchful eyes of the public, Meng Lei had broken this very same piece of general knowledge in magic.
“Fireball Technique has turned into Fire Lotus Judgment?”
“A first-grade spell has turned into a ninth-grade spell?”
“Oh my dragon god! Am I seeing things?”
A huge uproar went through the whole arena. Some people’s mouths were wide agape, some were rubbing their eyes hard, and some had almost jumped out of their seats…
Everyone in the venue was astounded by what they had seen!
In the private room, King Flit the 66th, Queen Diana, President Fred, the blond elderly man, as well as the other academy presidents’ jaws had also dropped.
For others, their astoundment arose from the fact that they didn’t understand what had happened. In their case, however, it was because they understood the inner workings that they found it inconceivable.
Just like how there was no way a rock could turn into gold for no reason, it was impossible for the Fireball Technique that had already been cast to morph into Fire Lotus Judgment for no reason!.
However, this didn’t mean that it was unachievable.
It was actually possible for rocks to turn into gold.
Similarly, the Fireball Technique could also morph into Fire Lotus Judgment!.
By using the laws of nature, one could achieve this!
And it was precisely because they knew that this was achievable through the laws of nature that they found it so shocking and horrifying.
“President Fred, when did that little fellow comprehend the laws of nature?”
Flit the 66th looked at President Fred with astonishment in his eyes. He was a Fire Colossal Dragon, and his main field of cultivation was fire-elemental laws of nature. Thus, he had the strongest right to speak among everyone present.
For Fireball Technique to morph into Fire Lotus Judgment, there were definitely fire-elemental laws of nature involved here. Although the depth of his technique was very shallow and had touched only the tip of the iceberg that was fire-elemental laws of nature, there was no denying that it was indeed the laws of nature. Once laws of nature came into play, the result was a difference between heaven and earth!
“Your Majesty, to be honest, I don’t know, either!”
With a shake of his head, President Fred gave him a wry smile and replied, “I’ve always thought that he was just a Ninth-Grade Great Magician. I’ve never once imagined that he could comprehend laws of nature. He’s so young, after all!”
Flit the 66th nodded slowly and said, “Indeed. He’s certainly too young. Attaining the realm of a Ninth-Grade Great Magician at 16 years of age is already astounding enough, let alone comprehend the laws of nature?”
All the academy presidents nodded one after another with complex looks on their faces.
16 years old!
What a young and tender age!
At 16 years old, most people had only just enrolled in school and were in the midst of learning their magic basics. As for comprehending laws of nature… That was a notion too far away from them.
“He has already comprehended the laws of nature!”
A flash went past Flit the 66th’s eyes, and he said, “It’s only a matter of time until that little fellow advances to Saint Domain!”
“Your Majesty is right!”
Everyone agreed wholeheartedly with him. For a Ninth-Grade Great Magician to promote to Saint Domain, they mustn’t lack any of the three aspects of spiritual power, magic power reserves, and comprehension of the laws of nature.
Among the three, comprehending the laws of nature was the hardest to achieve. A vast majority of ninth-grade experts spent their whole lives comprehending the universe’s momentum, yet up till the point of their deaths, they couldn’t even see the laws of nature’s vague outlines.
This wasn’t the case for Meng Lei, however. He had already begun to comprehend fire-elemental laws of nature, so he only needed to improve his spiritual power and magic power reserves, and the road to promoting to Saint Domain… would naturally form for him.
In other words, Meng Lei was already a shoo-in for the Saint Domain realm. On top of that, it wasn’t that far off anymore.
“Someone as highly talented as that is certainly a worthy match for Little Ninth!”
Flit the 66th suddenly turned to the delicate teenage girl behind him. Then, he asked in a mild, gentle voice, “Little Ninth, how do you find Meng Lei?”
“Father…”
The teenage girl’s face turned red from embarrassment at once.
…
Boom!
As a great fire blazed away, as far as the fire lotus reached, the dozens of thorny vines were all reduced to ashes. All the pink flowers scattered in various corners around the ring were also turned into ashes!
Chester, the Green Dragon Person, surprisingly reacted pretty quickly. He jumped out of the sea of fire the instant Fire Lotus Judgment crashed into him. Aside from singeing a bit of his hair, he didn’t take much damage.
His powerful physical body constitution shone through without a doubt in this instant.
However, Chester was staring at Meng Lei with a horrified expression at the moment. “Your Fireball Technique has actually morphed into the Ninth-Grade Spell, Fire Lotus Judgment? How did you do that?”
Meng Lei let out a small laugh in response, even though he was actually secretly astounded inwardly. He had only randomly tugged at a few red threads in an attempt to boost the Fireball Technique’s might just now, and then the subsequent events had happened.
As expected of the laws of nature!
Its might… is practically terrifying!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but hold a deeper level of comprehension toward the three words “laws of nature” now. No wonder everyone had to comprehend the laws of nature at the end of it all.
Everything that had happened just now was the best proof of that.
“Brat, when did you comprehend fire-elemental laws of nature?” Ol’ Amos’ voice surfaced in his mind, his voice filled with astonishment.
“We’ll talk about that later. I have to win this match first.”
Meng Lei looked at Chester. Several fire pythons appeared out of thin air and charged over from a few different directions with a wave of his arm.
Due to the lesson earlier, Chester didn’t dare to underestimate the fire pythons anymore. His form flashed as he moved about at high speed. At the same time as he dodged the fire pythons’ attacks, he also charged brazenly toward Meng Lei.
“You’re a Ninth-Grade Great Magician, so your body must be weak and frail for sure! Once I get near you, you’ll be dead meat!”
There was a chilly look in Chester’s eyes as he boosted his speed to the maximum it could go. In a split second, he had already arrived right in front of Meng Lei. In this instant, he exhibited the abilities of his powerful body to the fullest once more.
“Trying to engage in close-quarters combat with me?”
Meng Lei let out a chuckle in response. Then, he stopped casting magic and stood where he was quietly, allowing Chester to charge toward him at will.
“Huh?”
At the sight of this, Chester’s pupils constricted at once, and a foreboding feeling suddenly welled up within him. “What’s that guy doing, standing still over there?”
However, the arrow had already been notched, and there was no point of return anymore. With a furious roar, Chester leaped high into the air. Throughout his body, the muscles quivered as he poured all the strength in his body into his right fist.
As though cleaving Mount Hua 1 apart, his fist slammed downward.
“Eat my fist, kid!”
His raging fist reached in a split second, carrying a momentum capable of blasting everything into smithereens as it smashed toward Meng Lei.
Just how fearsome was a ninth-grade expert’s physical strength? Should his punch land squarely on its target, any Great Magician would be smashed to death.
“Good job making it here!”
Meng Lei did something that no one would ever expect at the critical moment—he reached out his left leg and took a step back with his right, lowering his hip and getting into a horse stance 1 . Then, he met the attack with a punch of his own!
“What?!”
“Is he out of his mind?!”
At the sight of this, the spectators almost jumped out of their seats. Innumerable wealthy young ladies, noblewomen, and debutantes that idolized Meng Lei clenched their hands tightly into fists and held them over their chests. The timid ones even squeezed their eyes shut.
At the same time, Flit the 66th and the others in the private room also frowned one by one, finding it extremely hard to understand Meng Lei’s actions.
Meng Lei’s merit was his magic, while Chester’s was his body.
By using his shortcoming to attack an enemy’s merit, wasn’t he just seeking death?
“Fred, what’s the little fellow doing?” The muscular old man broke into a frown and asked, “Is he tired of living?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
President Fred’s features were contorted into a savage expression, and he was close to being sent over the edge!
" }, { "id": 132, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-132", "title": "Chapter 132 - Meng Lei The Monster, Violently Smashing A Hammer", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Crash!
As though a meteor crashing into Earth, their fists clashed against each other. Together with a thunderous boom, with the two of them as the center, raging winds from the resulting shockwaves swept outward to every corner of the ring.
The next moment, something that no one ever imagined even in their dreams happened—Chester, who was in the air, suddenly cried out, and his form flew backward like a cannonball!
He then fell onto the ring, stumbling all the way almost to the edge of the ring before barely managing to steady himself and come to a stop.
His right arm was a bit twisted, and the entire arm—together with his body—was trembling slightly, and he even had a look of agony on his face!
On the other hand, Meng Lei stood where he was, completely fine. There was neither redness in his face, nor was he out of breath. He even blew at his fist coyly with a calm and easy expression, forming a stark contrast with Chester.
“…”
The whole venue was filled with silence.
No one made a sound at all.
Everyone was flabbergasted.
In the private room, the blond elderly man found himself somewhat tongue-tied. “Isn’t Chester a Ninth-Grade Warrior? Why has he been thrown out with a punch?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
The muscular elderly man laughed wryly and replied, “That little fellow named Meng Lei has an even stronger body than Chester! At preliminary estimates, he has already attained at least ninth-grade mid-level status, perhaps even high-level!”
“This…” All the academy presidents looked at one another in silence.
“A 16-year-old Ninth-Grade Great Magician and Ninth-Grade Warrior! Is he a monster?!”
“Fred, just how exactly does that little fellow cultivate? Why is he such a mutant when he’s only 16 years old?”
Even Flit the 66th, who had been calm and collected the whole time, found it incredible by now. He shifted his gaze to President Fred, eager to know the key to all of this.
Fred gave a wry laugh and replied, “I don’t know the concrete details, either, but my guess is that there’s highly likely a Dragon King-class expert backing that little fellow!”
“What?!”
Flit the 66th was terribly shocked. His razor-sharp eyes instantly landed on Fred, and he asked, “Fred, are you serious?”
All the other academy presidents also looked at President Fred with horrified and incredulous expressions. The Dragon King-class was no trivial matter; one mustn’t joke around like that!
Fred gave another wry chuckle as he replied, “Your Majesty, I can’t be sure whether or not it’s true because I’ve never personally met that expert, but there’s likely no mistake about that!”
No mistake about that?
Then, wouldn’t that mean that there really was a half-deity backing Meng Lei?
Flit the 66th fell silent at his words. His fingers drummed lightly against the chair’s armrest, no one knowing what exactly he was thinking.
The other academy presidents also sank into contemplation. The enormous private room fell into pin-drop silence at once, leaving only the teenage girl and the rest of the princes and princesses looking at one another in confusion.
At that moment in the fighting ring, as a piercing pain came from his right arm, alarm, horror, and incredulity filled Chester. As the top genius of Dragon People Magic Academy in the past, he had refused to graduate all this time for the sole purpose of amazing the world with a single feat and to shine brilliantly.
Yet he had been defeated by a 16-year-old grunt when this was just the qualifying round!
Chester had received a huge blow from this, and he couldn’t help but question his life now.
Meng Lei’s voice rang out at this point. “Are we continuing this?”
“I’ve lost!”
After staring long and hard at Meng Lei, a dejected Chester went down the ring. He knew that he would only end up humiliating himself if he continued the fight—admitting defeat was his only option now.
“Meng Lei is the victor for this match!”
The host’s voice resounded throughout the arena.
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
All the spectators in the whole venue broke into deafening, resounding cheers at once. They shouted Meng Lei’s name hysterically as if they had gone mad.
In response, Meng Lei gave them a smile, and then, he turned and went down the ring.
The matches were still ongoing.
The victors advanced while the losers were eliminated.
Each match lasted an average of five minutes, and approximately ten matches took place every hour.
The matches carried on all the way from the morning into the afternoon. At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, all 51 matches finally concluded with 52 victors emerging in the end (one contestant drew a bye 1 )!
“I officially announce the end of the two-man matches! Now, let us begin the most exciting challenge matches!”
As the host returned to the ring, he said in a resounding, passionate voice, “All losing or eliminated parties may challenge any of the 52 victors. If the challenger can defeat them, they shall take their place and join the ranks of the victors!
“However, each person only has a single chance to issue a challenge…”
“There’s even a segment like this at the end?”
Meng Lei was rather surprised when he heard the host. However, when he thought about it, he found it rather understandable.
The current group of 52 emerging victors wasn’t the strongest of the lot for sure. There was no lack of people stronger than them among the eliminated parties.
After all, the free-for-all was riddled with loopholes, while the two-man matches were too imbalanced and absolute. All of these could lead to people with strong abilities being… brutally eliminated!
The challenge matches identified gaps and made up for what was lacking in order to give these people a chance. As long as they could seize the opportunity, they would be able to obtain a spot.
“I hereby announce the official start of the challenge matches!”
Whoosh!
Right after the host’s announcement, a stream of light suddenly shot toward the ring and landed within.
It was a muscular man. Roughly 2.5 meters tall with intertwining muscles all over him, his whole body was filled with explosive energy.
“My name is Mondan, and I wish to challenge him!”
With two heavy hammers in his hands, the muscular man pointed at the contestant benches with the hammer in his right hand and declared in a low, muffled voice.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
All the spectators in the house looked toward where he was pointing, and then, they saw the person being challenged seated on the bench.
For a moment there, all the spectators became awfully excited.
“Meng Lei!”
“Someone is actually challenging Meng Lei!”
“Teach him a lesson, Meng Lei! Show him what you’re capable of…”
“Someone is challenging me?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
The challenge matches were the eliminated contestants’ last chance. On top of that, they only had one chance to issue a challenge. As long as there was nothing wrong in their heads, everyone would know that they should be challenging the weakest there.
Or alternatively, the guys that didn’t look very strong.
Yet someone was actually challenging Meng Lei now. In addition, the very first challenger in the ring had specifically pointed him out to challenge him…
“Do I look that weak?”
Somewhat displeased, Meng Lei got up and walked toward the fighting ring.
I drove back the ant tide at North River Pass, blasted the fighting ring in the free-for-all, and defeated Chester in the two-man match…
I’ve made a great name for myself and crushed all my opponents in every match!
Yet I’ve actually given you the impression that I’m very weak!
Good! Very good!
…
“Haha! Someone has challenged that little fellow right away!”
Flit the 66th couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Everyone, why do you think that big guy is challenging that little fellow? Does he look that weak?”
“Your Majesty! In my opinion, there are two reasons for this.”
The smiling muscular elderly man replied, “Firstly, that little fellow Meng Lei is simply too young. Even if he has made a great name for himself, hearsay means nothing while seeing is believing. Therefore, others are still unwilling to concede defeat at this point.”
“That makes sense!” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Secondly, it’s because he’s too famous.”
The muscular elderly man chuckled and went on. “Among the 52 victors, that little fellow is definitely the most famous of them all. A 16-year-old Ninth-Grade Great Magician, the top genius in history, the hero that drove back the ant tide at North River Pass… and so on.
“He’s much more famous than all the other contestants. Due to his fame, as long as one can defeat that little fellow in a match, they’ll be able to take his place and become famous with a single match.
“Gaining fame with a single match, you know! Cultivators like us pursue nothing but fame and fortune, after all. Who would be able to resist the allure of fame and fortune?”
“That makes sense!” Everyone nodded once more.
The muscular elderly man added, “Of course, there’s no lack of those that are reluctant to concede defeat, too. They are indignant at being defeated by a 16-year-old boy, so it’s also likely that they would challenge him.”
“Yes!”
At this point, the match had already started.
Mondan, the bronze-hammer-wielding muscular man, was incredibly mighty and powerful. He charged toward Meng Lei like a raging bull. Judging solely from his might, he had an extremely strong and powerful body, and he didn’t lose out in the least, even when compared to Chester the Green Dragon Person.
“Die, kid!”
The muscular man let out a furious bellow. He raised his hammer high into the air and swung it viciously toward Meng Lei. This strike of his contained a might so incomparably fearsome that it was enough to smash any Eighth-Grade Magical Beast dead.
“You actually dare to challenge me when you only have this bit of strength?” Meng Lei snorted.
A fiery-red glow suddenly blossomed around his right fist, and it went smashing toward the heavy hammer crashing down on him.
Crash!
The hammer and Meng Lei’s iron fist clashed against each other, and the muscular man felt a great, unparalleled force coming from his hammer. The web between his thumb and forefinger was directly crushed by the impact with a snap, and he felt intense, piercing pain.
“Ahhh!”
Right away, the hammer fell out of his hand, and the muscular man retreated backward as he cried out.
“You overestimate yourself!”
Meng Lei then kicked the hammer, instantly sending it flying out like a launched cannonball. It crashed into the muscular man’s abdomen with pinpoint accuracy and blasted him right out of the fighting ring!
“Fire Dragon Battle Aura!?”
" }, { "id": 133, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-133", "title": "Chapter 133 - Elizabeth, Striking The Princess With Lightning", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Fire Dragon Battle Aura!?”
Flit the 66th was a little stunned as he stared at Meng Lei’s fist. “He’s also cultivating the Fire Dragon Manual?”
Everyone exchanged looks in silence before they looked at President Fred with looks of puzzlement in their eyes.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know, either!”
President Fred could only let out wry laugh after wry laugh.
“Only members of our kingdom’s royalty can cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual. Those who aren’t royalty are prohibited from cultivating it.”
Flit the 66th drummed his fingers lightly against the table as he went on. “According to what I know, that little fellow is born a commoner. He probably hasn’t gone to the Royal Clan Ministry to get a test done on his bloodline, right?”
The royalty… What was royalty defined as?
The Fire Dragon Kingdom had a very broad and simple definition of royalty—all who possessed pure-blooded Fire Dragon bloodlines were royalty.
It didn’t matter whether they were born into the royal family or if they were born in the countryside. As long as they had the Fire Dragon bloodline, all of them were royalty.
However, there was a prerequisite to this—they must head to the Royal Clan Ministry to carry out a bloodline test. They could only officially become part of royalty upon confirmation.
One would only gain the right to cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual after they become royalty.
But what about Meng Lei?
For starters, he wasn’t born into the royal family.
Next, he hadn’t had his bloodline tested yet.
So, where did he obtain the Fire Dragon Manual from?
“This…”
President Fred hesitated for a moment before he replied, “Your Majesty, that Dragon King expert backing him is likely also a member of our kingdom’s royalty.”
“What!?”
Flit the 66th was awfully shocked. “Is there such an expert in the Fire Dragon Kingdom royal family? How come I’ve never heard about that?”
“Your Majesty…”
President Fred was just about to answer when a young princess suddenly clapped and shouted excitedly, “Father, look! Someone’s challenging that guy again!”
“Huh?”
Flit the 66th’s brows furrowed slightly, and he involuntarily shifted his gaze to the fighting ring. President Fred and the others also looked over.
And the moment they did, they received a shock right away.
Someone stood proudly in the ring. She had a head of long, fiery-red hair that cascaded like a waterfall, a pair of fiery-red spiral horns at the top of her head, and was covered in ferocious and mighty fiery-red dragon scales.
Curvaceous and voluptuous with a gorgeous face, she gave off an imposing, heroic spirit and was valiant and formidable-looking with a domineering aura.
“How come it’s her?”
Everyone exchanged a look, and then, they looked toward Flit the 66th with rather strange looks on their faces. Queen Diana even let out a light snort and gave the king a vicious glare.
“That girl…”
Flit the 66th coughed lightly a couple of times, awfully emotionally. “That girl is actually all grown up now after I haven’t seen her in a few years…”
Girl?
Yes, that’s right!
The valiant and heroic woman currently standing proudly in the fighting ring was Fire Dragon King Flit the 66th’s eighth child—Elizabeth Flit!
People might not know much about other princesses since they lived in the depths of the palace, making it very tough for ordinary people to come into contact with them.
However, this wasn’t the case for the Eighth Princess.
The Eighth Princess was well-known to everyone, and her deeds had even been adapted into stories that circulated in the streets and neighborhoods, enthusiastically discussed by wandering minstrels and bards.
The Eighth Princess differed from the other princes and princesses because she wasn’t born to the Queen or the other royal consorts. Instead, she was the accidental product from the time when Flit the 66th had been out on an occasional fling.
Dragons were wanton by nature, and they had affairs everywhere—this was the nature of the Dragon race. By right, the Fire Dragon King having affairs outside shouldn’t have been much of a deal.
However, what brought humiliation to the royal family was that the great King, who had a harem of consorts, had actually been hungry and desperate enough to grace a… Hen-Woman!
In the Fire Dragon Kingdom and even as far as the entire Dragon God Empire, Hen-Women were an existence of the absolute lowest-class. They couldn’t even compare to fourth-class human commoners.
It was exactly because she had a Hen-Woman mother that the Eighth Princess suffered her fill of great contempt from others after she was born. In particular, the verbal attacks from the royal family had been exceptionally fierce.
However, what no one had expected was that the Eighth Princess, who was born to a Hen-Woman, wouldn’t abandon herself and wallow in degeneration. Instead, she had exhibited astonishing magic talent and cultivation aptitude.
She had graduated from a magic academy in three years and graduated from a Battle Aura academy in two years.
Her talent made many members of the royal family blush with shame and feel ashamed of themselves, and Fire Dragon King Flit the 66th had also found it surprising. Never would he have thought that the seed that he had accidentally planted would actually bear such an outstanding fruit.
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, the strong were revered. Everyone held the strong in esteem and respected them. Naturally, Flit the 66th would also favor outstanding children even more.
It was just a pity that the Eighth Princess, who had suffered all kinds of scorn and contempt since she had been young, held extremely great animosity toward the royal family. In fact, she hated her irresponsible father, Flit the 66th, even more.
There was nothing Flit the 66th could do about that except to allow her to continue as she was. In the few years that followed, the Eighth Princess had left on a journey to train and cultivate and rarely appeared within the people’s sight anymore.
Time could wear everything away; after a few years of absence, people had gradually forgotten about the astonishingly talented princess.
However, little did they expect that she would actually show up in the qualifying round and in the final challenge match, no less.
“Time sure passes really fast.” The muscular elderly man stroked his long beard as he remarked, “I remember when the Eighth Princess was still just a young girl back then. In the blink of an eye, she has already become a big girl.”
“Indeed!” The blond elderly man nodded slightly. “Back then, the Eighth Princess had studied magic in our Douglas Magic Academy. She was so young back then.”
All the academy presidents were rather emotional. To Saint Domains like them, their lifespans were very long, so they could hardly feel the passage of time.
However, to an ordinary person, the traces that time left on one were extremely obvious. Every few years brought a difference to their appearance, and they changed every few years.
Time was like a knife that urged one to mature with every cut and age with every cut.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve seen her. I wonder how strong that girl is now?”
Flit the 66th gazed at the most outstanding princess with a complex look in his eyes. Upon his remark, everyone else also became awfully curious.
Considering the astonishing talent that the Eighth Princess had exhibited, just how far had she progressed after an absence of a few years?
In this instant, in the fighting ring…
Meng Lei, who had only just walked back to the contestant benches and hadn’t even warmed the benches yet, returned to the fighting ring again. As he gazed at the heroic, valiant Dragon Person beauty in front of him, he only had curses and swearing in his mind.
Damn it!
Someone’s challenging me again!
Do I look that easy to bully? Why are you all specially picking me to bully!?
Meng Lei was terribly displeased. He decided to give them a tough time this time and show all those blind bastards what he was capable of so that they would stop bothering him.
“Start!” The host announced loudly. Then, he scurried off the fighting ring with a whoosh. Hosting matches of a class like this was a demanding job; they would become collateral damage the moment they got careless.
Reality also proved just how right of a decision the host’s cowardice was—in the instant he scurried off the fighting ring, Meng Lei erupted.
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Raging Thunder Dragon!”
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Thunder Tribulation Domain!”
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Thunderblast Meteor!”
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Thunder God Descends!”
“Ninth-Grade Spell… Soul-Controlling Thunderblast!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei flung out five different ninth-grade spells in succession with an interval of less than two seconds in between each and directly covered the entire fighting ring that wasn’t big to begin with.
Amid the booming thunderous explosions, lightning flashed, and electric currents ran amok. At once, the tiny fighting ring turned into a sea of lightning. Before the unfortunate Eighth Princess could even make a move, she had been engulfed by the lightning.
“This…”
All the spectators in the house were dumbstruck.
And in the private room, all the bigwigs’ lip corners spasmed, all of them dazed and flabbergasted by what had happened.
" }, { "id": 134, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-134", "title": "Chapter 134 - A Berserk Meng Lei, The Infuriated King", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Is that kid out of his mind!?” Flit the 66th exploded. “How dare he attack Little Eighth like that? Is he tired of living?”
“This…”
The academy presidents looked at one another, none of them knowing how they should respond to him.
In the fighting ring, everyone fought with their own abilities, and their life and death were not open for dispute thereafter. Nothing would be considered as going too far, no matter what kind of attacks the other party launched.
Besides, how would Meng Lei know that she was a princess?
“That bastard! If anything happens to Little Eighth, I won’t let him off!”
…
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
Compared to the furious King, at the sight of Meng Lei’s insane moves, all the spectators in the house went totally crazy. Each and every one of them shouted and cheered hysterically, all pumped up!
The more berserk Meng Lei was, the more excited they became. The five spells just now were simply too cool and crazy.
With this, there shouldn’t be anyone challenging me anymore, right?
Meng Lei stood at the edge of the ring and cast a glance at the contestant benches with a hint of warning in his eyes. It was so bothersome being challenged again and again.
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s gaze, a vast majority of the contestants involuntarily lowered their heads—they had been frightened by Meng Lei’s harsh actions!
Enveloping the whole fighting ring with five ninth-grade spells… Was that guy even human?
Wasn’t that a little too savage?
A layer of cold sweat formed on some of the contestants’ backs, secretly relieved.
That guy has gone berserk. Fortunately, that woman had been a step faster! Otherwise, I’d be dead now!
Crackle, crackle!
The lightning gradually dissipated. As the covered fighting ring was revealed, everyone’s eyes gradually widened, and astonished cries escaped them.
The fighting ring… had disappeared again. What had replaced it was yet another charred, black chasm.
And at the bottom of the chasm was someone in a half-kneel. Her beautiful long, red locks were burned, and her fair, tender, and crystal-clear face was also somewhat charred. She looked as if she had just escaped from a fire.
In any case, only one word could describe the princess’ terrible state—pathetic!
Yes, that’s right!
Extremely pathetic!
And a sight terrible to behold!
Aside from that, the princess didn’t seem to have sustained serious injuries. She glared at Meng Lei, who was standing at the edge of the chasm, her feminine body trembling slightly and her eyes red.
“Damned bastard! I’m going to kill you!”
Whoosh!
Elizabeth drew the sword at her waist. Then, she suddenly turned into a stream of light that shot toward Meng Lei. That ferocious expression and blood-red eyes of hers were as though she wished she could cleave Meng Lei into eight pieces.
“What the heck? She’s actually alright despite all that?”
Meng Lei let out a strange cry and shot backward.
“You bastard! I’m going to chop you dead!”
Elizabeth wielded her sword and slashed madly at him as if she had gone insane. The sharp blade edge swooped past Meng Lei’s scalp a few times, only a hair’s breadth away from him. If not for his ultra-quick reflexes, he’d have long since been chopped into pieces.
“Damn it! Is there any end to this?!”
Meng Lei grew infuriated. A layer of gold scales suddenly surfaced atop his fists, and they instantly turned golden. Then, he hurled a punch out and met the sword cleaving down upon him head-on,
Snap!
The sword landed on the surface of his fist. As a crisp clang rang out, it actually broke into two in the middle.
“What?!”
Elizabeth was stunned.
“Hmph!”
Meng Lei snorted, and his leg went flying out, landing squarely on Elizabeth’s lower abdomen. As a tragic cry rang out, Elizabeth also flew out like a fallen leaf floating in the air.
Then, she crashed onto the floor and threw up a mouthful of blood, her countenance instantly becoming dispirited and listless.
“There are so many people here, yet you just had to challenge me instead. Have you had enough yet?” Meng Lei let out a snort, and then he returned straight to the contestant benches.
“Victory! Meng Lei is the victor!”
The host ran over and loudly declared the outcome of the match. Then, he asked in concern, “Miss, are you alright?”
Elizabeth didn’t pay the host any heed and climbed onto her feet as she clutched her abdomen. Then, under the eyes of everyone in the arena, she left in silence, leaving behind only a solitary, stubborn back view.
…
“That bastard!”
Flit the 66th was fuming mad. He broke the chair armrest into pieces with a smack of his palm, his eyes as if a ferocious man-eating tiger’s.
“How dare he treat Little Eighth like that! How can I condone him?!”
“Calm down!”
“Your Majesty, calm down!”
At the sight of this, everyone hastily tried to dissuade him. “Your Majesty, from the start, the moment one goes up the ring, life and death are not open for dispute.”
“Even if Meng Lei really kills Her Highness the Eighth Princess, he won’t be considered in the wrong. Besides, he has already shown her mercy!”
“Shown her mercy?”
Flit the 66th was so incensed that he was laughing instead. “Starting out with five ninth-grade spells and then launching such a heavy-handed punch after that—you call that showing her mercy?”
“Your Majesty! With Meng Lei’s capabilities, if he hadn’t shown any mercy, the Eighth Princess would have died a long time ago!”
“Your Majesty, please reconsider!”
“Yes, Your Majesty! That kid had broken the Eighth Princess’ sword with one punch just now. His body’s sturdiness is beyond our imagination. If he had really intended to harm Her Highness…”
All the academy presidents spoke up.
Only then did Flit the 66th’s fury ease a little. However, he was still gnashing his teeth. “That little bastard, he’s too brutal! Doesn’t he even have the slightest bit of tender, protective feelings for a woman?”
“This…”
Everyone exchanged a look, peculiar looks coming over their faces.
Tender, protective feelings for a woman?
What was there to feel tenderness toward?!
In the fighting ring, who would dare to show tender, protective feelings for a woman? Are they tired of living? Do you think everyone’s like you, refusing to let off even a Hen-Woman?
“But… Meng Lei is still young. Maybe he hasn’t awakened to amorous desires yet?” said Fred in response.
“Pffft!”
…
“Peace and quiet at last!”
Meng Lei returned to the contestant benches. As he watched the fighting ring rapidly take form under the staff members’ reconstruction efforts, he let out a long, pent-up breath. Then, he got into a Ge You slouch 1 and lay down comfortably.
However, he had only just laid down when Ol’ Amos’ infuriated chastising rang out in his ear. “Brat, how many times have I told you not to expose your Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline in front of outsiders? Are you taking my words like water off a duck’s back?”
“It’s not that serious.” Meng Lei looked up and said leisurely, “Only my hands had transformed into ant-form just now. How would outsiders be able to tell that it’s the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline? Ol’ President, don’t make a fuss over nothing.”
“Making a fuss over nothing? Hmph! The ignorant are fearless, indeed!” Ol’ Amos snorted and said, “The moment it’s exposed, you’ll be dead meat… Forget it, I can’t be bothered to nag at you. Just remember not to use it easily in front of others in the future!”
“Alright, alright.”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
“Hmph! How dare you get impatient with me?”
Ol’ Amos was rather displeased. “By the way, you still haven’t told me when you comprehended the fire-elemental laws of nature,
“If memory serves me right, you haven’t even comprehended the universe’s momentum, so why have you gone straight to comprehending the laws of nature?”
Elsewhere, under a few staff members’ efforts, the fighting ring was restored to its original condition in no time. The host had only just announced the resumption of the challenge match when a silver figure lunged up into the ring.
This person wasn’t an unfamiliar figure. He was the other genius that Flit the 66th and the others had been discussing earlier—the 28-year-old sixth-year student from Fighting Dragon Academy, Francis Matthew.
“It’s him!”
“Why has he gone up the ring?”
“Isn’t he a victor? Who is he challenging?”
At the sight of Francis, Flit the 66th and the others looked at one another in confusion. Then, they looked at the muscular elderly man, their countenances puzzled. “President of Fighting Dragon, what’s Francis trying to do?”
The muscular elderly man shook his head with a wry smile. “I don’t know, either!”
“Meng Lei, I challenge you!”
“What the hell!?”
Meng Lei almost went berserk!
" }, { "id": 135, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-135", "title": "Chapter 135 - Equally-Matched Opponents, A First-Class Spell Falls", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Francis stood tall and proud in the fighting ring, dressed in silver chainmail and holding a silver sword. With his long, slender figure and handsome features, even the reincarnations of Pan An 1 and Song Yu 2 couldn’t get any better than this.
The moment he went up into the ring, innumerable wealthy young ladies became starry-eyed with infatuation and almost started drooling.
“Wow! He’s so handsome…”
“He’s so good-looking!”
“That guy has really been blessed with a great face!”
Even Flit the 66th and the others in the private room couldn’t help marveling at how dashing Francis was.
Power was certainly revered in Heaven’s Vault Continent, but vanity was human nature. No matter where one went, good-looking people would always be at an advantage.
“What I find strange is that he’s actually challenging that little bastard. How interesting. Things are going to be interesting now!”
Flit the 66th drummed his fingers against the table lightly as a remarkably amused smile graced his lips.
“Indeed, Your Majesty. Between those two, one has a very deep comprehension of Ice momentum and hardly has a match among those below the Saint Domain realm.
“Whereas the other is even more of a mutant by straight-up comprehending the laws of nature, having the ability to do instant release of ninth-grade spells, and even has an impressive body. For them to go up against each other, this is certainly a match of equally formidable opponents and a clash of the titans.
“That little fellow Meng Lei has already comprehended fire-elemental laws of nature. In terms of pure talent alone, he edges out Francis by too much.
“His only disadvantages are a cultivation duration that’s too short and his status as a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts that has caused his cultivation specialization to become too broad.”
As the muscular elderly man stroked his beard, he said, “Because of this, he’s unable to raise his body, spiritual power, and magic power reserves to their peak. That’s how he has given Francis an opportunity to win.”
“Indeed! If Francis wants to defeat Meng Lei, now is indeed the best time for him to do so. Otherwise, once that little fellow cultivates his various attributes to their peak, he’ll go straight into the Saint Domain realm. By that time, Francis won’t hold any chances of victory anymore.”
As the academy presidents gave their evaluations of the situation one by one, looks of interest also showed in their eyes. In terms of one’s comprehension of the laws of nature, Meng Lei had evidently surpassed Francis—this was his merit.
On the other hand, his demerits were still the same—too young, a cultivation duration that was too short, and various attributes that hadn’t peaked yet. In these aspects, he was inferior to Francis.
If Francis wished to defeat Meng Lei, this was the best, as well as the last, opportunity for him to do so.
…
Meng Lei wasn’t aware of the discussion taking place in the private room. He was currently raging mad and had the urge to go berserk, as well as the urge to beat someone up.
As he walked step by step up into the ring, Meng Lei cast a glance at Francis, and then he turned to look at the contestant benches before saying, “If there’s anyone else that also wants to challenge me, all of you can come at me together!”
(⊙o⊙)
Despite the fact that Meng Lei wasn’t very loud, his voice still traveled throughout the whole arena and reached everyone’s ears clearly.
Everyone was stunned.
“What did that little fellow say?”
Thinking that he had misheard, Flit the 66th dug his ears a couple of times. The academy presidents also looked at one another in silence.
“If there’s anyone else that also wants to challenge me, all of you can come at me together!”?
What the heck?
Was that something a person should be saying?
“That kid is a little too arrogant.” The muscular elderly man had an awful look on his face. “How dare he humiliate Francis like that? He’s too much!”
“To think he’s actually so full of himself when he’s so young. Are all geniuses’ personalities that warped and weird…”
This time, even President Fred didn’t know what he should say anymore. Frankly speaking, even he himself felt that Meng Lei was full of himself.
This was clear, blatant humiliation of Francis.
And true enough, Francis had indeed gone berserk. His eyes were freezing cold, and a biting chill that reached all the way to one’s bones burst forth from his eyes. “You have a death wish, don’t you?”
His cold, distant voice was still echoing in the arena when Francis vanished from where he was.
Clang!
The sound of a sword being drawn had only just rung out when a blade gleaming with a chilly glint appeared a few centimeters away from Meng Lei’s throat.
“How quick!”
Upon sensing the icy-cold blade at his throat, Meng Lei retreated with a burst of speed. The next instant, he was already ten meters away.
“Thinking of killing me? Very well!” A cold gleam appeared in Meng Lei’s eyes as he slowly uttered two words, “Meteor Fall!”
He had only just spoken when a fissure abruptly appeared above the arena. Pitch-black and bottomless, it was as though someone had forcefully ripped open a hole.
“That’s…”
All the spectators in the house cried out as one.
Several Saint Domain experts’ countenances also changed dramatically.
The next moment, a gigantic 100-meters-wide meteor with black flames circling around it suddenly wove through the fissure and crashed toward the ring at a lightning-quick speed.
It produced deafening booms as it traveled through the air, causing all the spectators to lose their sense of hearing. Loud explosions went off in their heads, leaving behind only booming noises.
“Damn!”
“That’s the fire-elemental single-target first-class spell, Meteor Fall!”
“A lunatic! He’s a total lunatic!”
The muscular elderly man let out a furious curse and instantly vanished from the private room.
“A f-first-class spell!”
Francis stared at the black meteor crashing toward him in a daze. As he sensed the terrifying destructiveness coming from the meteor, his visage suddenly became deathly pale.
“Am I going to die?”
That was the only notion remaining in Francis’ mind at the moment. He could only watch helplessly as the black meteor came nearer and nearer to him.
He knew he couldn’t get away!
That was such a massive meteor, and it was so close to him!
There was no way he could get away at all!
In the twinkling of an eye, it had already closed the distance of several dozen meters between them and reached right above him in a split second. In the instant where Francis thought he was going to be blasted to death, a burly figure abruptly showed up.
“Destroy!”
A fierce shout rang out, and a fist went flying out.
Buzz!
The black meteor instantly broke and splintered into countless black granules that fell continuously in large amounts with a buzz.
The muscular elderly man stood tall and proud in the ring, his long robe flapping in the wind.
“P-President!”
A dazed Francis stared at the elderly man, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down slightly.
“Hmph!”
The elderly man glared at Francis, and then he looked at Meng Lei with an awful expression. “Little child, how dare you cast a first-class spell here? Aren’t you a little too bold?”
Meng Lei was noncommittal. He replied with a smile, “Didn’t everything turn out alright in the end, anyway?”
Despite his reaction, Meng Lei was actually secretly astounded. As a fire-elemental single-target offensive first-class spell, Meteor Fall contained incredible might.
Even ordinary Saint Domains wouldn’t dare to take it on head-on, yet that elderly man had shattered it with just a punch. His strength was truly unimaginable.
“Hmph!”
The muscular elderly man snorted. Then, he vanished right away.
“Are we still continuing the battle?” asked Meng Lei as he shifted his gaze to Francis.
“We don’t need to anymore! I concede defeat.”
Francis stared long and hard at Meng Lei. Then, he jumped off the ring without even looking behind him. His voice, however, floated back to Meng Lei. “Just you wait, though. I’ll defeat you someday!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully. This time, he didn’t leave the ring in a hurry. Instead, he looked at the contestant benches and said, “Anyone else? If there is, then you can come at me together. I don’t have the time to fight all of you one by one!”
“…”
Silence pervaded the contestant benches. The contestants practically lowered their heads all at the same time, none of them daring to face Meng Lei’s genius directly or challenge him.
Challenge him?
Oh my goodness!
Were they tired of living?
As if they would challenge him anymore!
The Meteor Fall from just now had given all the contestants the shock of their lives. While some of them had recognized the first-class spell and some hadn’t, this didn’t stop Meteor Fall from bringing them a terrifying sense of intimidation all the same.
Everyone had the same feeling—should the meteor hit them, they would be doomed for sure. They wouldn’t have any chance of survival at all!!
With all of them scared out of their wits, would they even still issue a challenge anymore?
“No one?”
Meng Lei made the offer another couple of times. After confirming that no one was challenging him, he finally left the ring, returned to the contestant benches, and took a seat.
" }, { "id": 136, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-136", "title": "Chapter 136 - Attaining Saint Domain, System Upgrade", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“That little fellow…”
Flit the 66th was frowning badly. “He’s too unbridled in his behavior. There are tens of thousands of spectators watching the competition here, yet he dares to cast a fire-elemental first-class spell? He’s got a lot of nerve!”
“If not for the Fighting Dragon President acting in time, who knows just how many casualties it would have caused? He must be severely punished!”
“What’s he going to be like in the future when he’s already so ruthless at such a young age? President Fred, this is your negligence in duty!”
“How dare he cast an ultimate first-class spell like Meteor Fall in a place where there are so many people around? I really can’t tell whether it’s because he’s out of his mind or if he just doesn’t give two hoots about the spectators’ lives!”
“Severe punishment! He must be given severe punishment!”
All the academy presidents spoke up one after another, severely criticizing and condemning Meng Lei’s actions. Evidently, they were extremely displeased with his actions just now.
Flit the 66th nodded lightly. “Initially, because he had made a meritorious contribution by fighting the ant tide and because he’s also of royal blood, he should have been conferred the title of an Earl. I had intended to confer the title upon him at the end of the exchange competition, but we’ll just forget about it now.”
…
The challenge matches continued all the way till 8 p.m. at night before it concluded. 52 victors were successfully selected from the matches.
It was then followed by the King’s speech.
Then, the qualifying round was officially declared over.
Meng Lei and Fatty Hart left the arena together and headed to Juxian Restaurant for a meal. They gobbled down meat and gulped down wine, stuffing their faces silly. It was almost midnight by the time they finally returned to the academy to rest.
“Previously, I had always thought that by a stretch, my battle capabilities were enough, and should have been more than enough to handle the exchange competition, but now…”
As he laid on the sofa, Meng Lei thought back to the battle that afternoon. First, it had been Elizabeth and then followed by Francis. Although he had defeated the both of them in the end, it hadn’t been an easy feat.
In order to defeat Elizabeth, his hands had transformed into the ant-form—one could consider this a partial exposure of his trump card.
Then, in order to defeat Francis, he had cast a first-class spell. Casting a round of Meteor Fall had cost him over 100,000,000 gold coins!
While it had seemed like a cinch for him, to be honest, it hadn’t actually been.
“The situation is already this bad in the qualifying round. What more when it’s the official exchange competition? My opponents will definitely be even stronger.
“When it comes to strengthening battle capabilities, time is of the essence!”
With that, Meng Lei opened up the stats interface right away.
Wealth: 25,876,546,539 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Ninth-Grade Warrior (769,879,108/1,000,000,000)
Spirit: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (1,388,760/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Great Ninth-Grade Magician (968,678/1,000,000,000)
“System, redeem 2.4 billion gold coins and add them to my Physical Body Constitution!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 2.4 billion gold coins in an instant.
At the same time, a warm, surging current started to barge about in his body, spreading to every part of his body and strengthening them fervently.
Meng Lei felt his body visibly being strengthened at a rate so fast as if he had launched off in a rocket.
0.8 billion, 0.88 billion, 0.9 billion, 0.99 billion…
Boom!
His body finally broke through the one billion milestone and entered an all-new domain! A terrifying aura emanated from Meng Lei and swept through the entire room in an instant.
However, Meng Lei instead felt like his whole body had become as light as a feather at this moment. It was as though he had blended with the universe; if he so wished, it seemed like he could fly up high into the sky anytime he wanted and ride on the wind for a thousand miles.
“This feeling…”
Meng Lei didn’t resist it. He started to float into the air slowly like a balloon before becoming suspended in mid-air quietly in the end, still and motionless.
Standing suspended in the air and riding on the wind!
“Brat, you’ve actually broken through to Saint Domain!?”
Ol’ Amos flew out of the spatial ring. He was staring so hard that his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets as he gazed at Meng Lei, who was suspended in mid-air.
Previously, when Meng Lei kept mysteriously enhancing his abilities, even though he had been astonished, he could still somewhat accept it—but that wasn’t the case this time.
Saint Domain!
Meng Lei had actually become a Saint Domain!
The Saint Domain that countless people dreamed of, yet was beyond their reach!
There was no way Ol’ Amos wouldn’t be astounded.
Ninth-Grade!
Saint Domain!
Seemingly only a step away, yet akin to an insurmountable gap. So many people were stuck at the pinnacle of ninth-grade, unable to take another inch forward for the rest of their lives. Yet Meng Lei had stepped into the Saint Domain without any warning whatsoever.
This made no sense at all.
“Yes! I’ve broken through to Saint Domain!”
As Meng Lei took in the sensation of the surging flood of energy in his body, he felt exceptionally strong and powerful. It was an unprecedented sensation of strength and power where he could smash an enormous mountain into smithereens with his fist.
“The most critical thing is that I can fly now.
“I don’t need to borrow any other source of power or any other tools, and I can already fly. It’s as though it’s part of my instincts.
“Is this what the Saint Domain is?”
“Mutant! You’re a mutant!” Ol’ Amos was going crazy. “First, you’ve comprehended fire-elemental laws of nature for some strange reason, and now, you’ve become a Saint Domain for some strange reason! Why? Why exactly is that? Just how did you manage to do that?!”
Ol’ Amos had indeed gone mad. If it were possible, he really wished he could open up Meng Lei’s head and take a good look at what exactly his secret was.
“Calm down, Ol’ President.” Meng Lei chuckled and replied, “There’ll be even more ridiculous things happening in the future. After being astonished, again and again, you’ll get used to it over time.”
“Hmph!”
Ol’ Amos snorted, exceptionally dissatisfied.
The moment it concerned critical matters, that damn brat always clammed up, avoided the topic, or changed the topic. He was too much!
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve leveled up to a Saint Domain Warrior. Please continue to work hard and strive to break through again!”
“Ding! It has been detected that the host has attained the Saint Domain realm, thereby fulfilling the system upgrade condition. Dear host, will you upgrade the system immediately?”
“Upgrade? You’re upgrading?” Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“Yes, host!” the system replied.
“Alright, go ahead and upgrade!” Meng Lei was full of anticipation.
“Ding! The system upgrade will consume 10 billion gold coins…”
“Wait a minute! 10 billion gold coins?” Meng Lei was stupefied. “Why do you need to consume 10 billion gold coins in order to upgrade?”
Meng Lei glanced at his Wealth—he was only left with 23.4 billion gold coins now. Should he upgrade the system, wouldn’t he only be left with 13.4 billion?
What a huge loss!
“Ding! Dear host, after the system upgrade, the system will become even more powerful and the functions even more well-rounded, and it will provide even better service to the host!”
“Dear host, will you upgrade the system immediately?”
“The functions will become even more powerful? Even more well-rounded? Meng Lei gritted his teeth and then said, “Yes, proceed with the upgrade!”
“Ding! System upgrade commencing!”
“Upgrade Duration: Half an hour!”
“During the upgrading process, all functions of the system will be shut down. Dear host, please wait patiently!”
Then, the system’s voice died down in an instant, and even the stats interface disappeared. Meng Lei returned to his bed with his eyes full of anticipation.
“I wonder what kind of additional functions the system will gain after the upgrade?”
Waiting always felt too long—a short half an hour seemed as long as a century.
At last, the familiar cold, icy voice sounded in his mind.
“Ding! System upgrade of The Most Powerful Pickup System is complete!”
“Ding! The Most Powerful Pickup System at your service!”
“It’s finally done upgrading!” Meng Lei was overjoyed. “Hurry, tell me. System, what functions have you gained after the upgrade?”
“Dear host, after the system upgrade, I have now gained two major functions pertaining to the Pickup function!”
“They are respectively Limitless Pickup and Brutal Plunder!” the system replied coldly.
“Limitless Pickup? Brutal Plunder?” Meng Lei blinked and remarked, “It certainly sounds very dramatic. Except I don’t know what exactly they are. Hurry and explain it in detail, System!”
“Limitless Pickup: One can pick up dropped items from other existential planes at random. It includes, but is not limited to Wealth, Bloodlines, Laws of Nature Fragments, Divinity, Divine Weapons…”
“It costs 10 billion gold coins per pickup!”
" }, { "id": 137, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-137", "title": "Chapter 137 - Laws Of Nature Origin Crystals, Gods-Slaying Bloodline", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Pick up dropped items from other existential planes at random?
“System, what does ‘other existential planes’ mean?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
The system explained, “To answer the host, there are countless dimensional planes of existence in the vast and boundless universe. They are like quicksand and stars, scattered in all corners of the universe. Heaven’s Vault Continent is only a very ordinary material plane among them!”
“Countless dimensional planes of existence? I see, that’s understandable.” Meng Lei nodded quietly. “In other words, the Limitless Pickup function can pick up objects from other planes and dimensions?”
“Yes, host!” replied the system definitively.
Meng Lei’s spirits were all roused up now. “It can actually also pick up things from other planes… What a crazy function! What does the 10 billion gold coins at the end mean, though? You’re charging for it?”
“Dear host, Limitless Pickup is a chargeable function. The price for using it is 10 billion gold coins each time!”
“10 billion gold coins per usage! That’s daylight robbery!”
Meng Lei almost jumped off his seat.
10 billion gold coins were no small amount. It meant that he had to kill a Saint Domain Magical Beast, such as the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor, so that he would have enough to use it even once.
What kind of sh*tty function was that? Wasn’t that a little too expensive!?
“I only have 13.4 billion gold coins left at the moment. I need only to use it once, and I’ll return to being a pauper?”
F*ck! What a scam!
A corner of Meng Lei’s lips was spasming as he barked furiously, “You sh*tty system, that’s so corrupt of you! Even if I starve to death or die out there, I’ll never use this function! 10 billion per use? You’re not getting even a single cent from me!”
“Ding! A friendly reminder: Among the countless dimensional planes exist innumerable planes and worlds of a higher level than Heaven’s Vault Continent! Inside these higher-level planes and worlds are innumerable advanced lifeforms that far surpass the Saint Domain. By using said function, the host has a certain probability of picking up dropped items from these advanced lifeforms!”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stunned.
Higher-level planes and worlds? Advanced lifeforms that far surpass the Saint Domain?
“Higher-level… Far surpass…”
Meng Lei licked his lips. Even though he was very reluctant to admit it, he had to say it—he was indeed tempted.
Based on the trend in the past, the stronger the lifeform, the more precious and valuable the items they dropped were.
Didn’t everyone see? Even a strand of leg hair that a Saint Domain dropped could contain Laws of Nature fragment within.
In that case, what kind of things would powerful lifeforms that far surpassed the Saint Domain drop?
Just the thought of it alone was terribly tempting.
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled a little, and then he gave a couple of dry coughs and asked, “System, what about Brutal Plunder? What can this function do?”
“Brutal Plunder: An unconventional pickup function! It can forcibly pick up any object on the target lifeform, including but not limited to Wealth, Bloodlines, Vitality, Spiritual Power, Laws of Nature Comprehension, Divine Weapons…”
“What the heck? This is such a crazy function, too!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and remarked, “Picking up by force? Isn’t that just plundering? But hehe, I like it.
“System, is this function chargeable?”
The system replied coldly, “Brutal Plunder is also a chargeable function. The usage fee for this function is determined according to how strong the target of plunder is, as well as the value of the object to be plundered!”
“So, it depends on how strong the target of plunder is and how valuable the object to be plundered is…”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. “It does sound relatively more reasonable. But going by this sh*tty system’s unscrupulous and ruthless nature, if I do encounter something that I really want to plunder, it probably wouldn’t be cheap, either.
“Forget it. We’ll leave this for now.” Meng Lei shook his head. “System, call up the stats interface for me to take a look.”
Whoosh!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <50%>, Fire Demon bloodline <45%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>)
Wealth: 1.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (1,069,879,108/100 billion)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,388,760/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Ninth-Grade Magician (968,678/1,000,000,000)
Laws of Nature: Fire-elemental (0.2%)
“The interface has undergone a pretty big change, hasn’t it?”
Meng Lei checked out the stats interface, finding it very new and novel. At the same time, several questions also popped up in his mind.
“System, what do the percentage counts after each of the three bloodlines mean?”
“They represent the degree of assimilation in the host’s body!”
“Degree of assimilation? I see. Does the appearance of these numbers mean that I can also raise the degree of assimilation by redeeming credit in the future?”
“Yes, host!”
“I see, so that’s how it is.
“Tsk, tsk. 50%, 45%, 10%… Eh? Is the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline’s degree of assimilation that low? It’s only 10%. Looks like there’s still a lot of room for further development for this bloodline.”
Meng Lei continued browsing down the interface.
Wealth: 1.35… Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
“System, wasn’t the measurement unit for Wealth gold coins? Why has it changed to Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?”
“Laws of Nature Origin Crystals—a type of rare crystal that contains laws of nature within, and also the currency in circulation among Saint Domains!
“Exchange ratio: 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal = 10 billion gold coins!”
“Oh, I see. It’s similar to the ratio used when elevating my laws of nature comprehension via credit redemption. It also requires 10 billion gold coins to elevate it by 1%.”
He continued reading downward…
Physical Body Constitution…
“What the hell! 100 billion? The Saint Domain upper limit is actually 100 billion points!
“What a scam! Doesn’t that mean that if I rely solely on credit redemption to break through to the cultivation realms above Saint Domain, I would need to save up… 1 trillion gold coins?
“One trillion gold coins… I’m gonna faint! Where am I going to get that kind of money?!”
Meng Lei felt a pressing urge to curse and swear.
A few dozen billion gold coins weren’t that out of reach; by killing a few Saint Domain Magical Beasts, he would be able to more or less put together that amount of money. But one trillion gold coins… That equated to 100 Saint Domain Magical Beasts!
Where was he supposed to find that many Saint Domain Magical Beasts to hunt and kill?
“A long road ahead… There’s a long road ahead!”
Meng Lei felt immense pressure at once.
“Improving the degree of assimilation for bloodlines requires money.
“Enhancing my Physical Body Constitution, Spiritual Power, and Magic Power also requires money.
“Improving the degree of comprehension for laws of nature requires money, too.
“Money, money, money! How much do I only have, currently?”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the Wealth attribute—he only had 1.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals now. In other words, 13.5 billion gold coins. What could this bit of money achieve?
It wasn’t enough!
It was far, far from being enough!
It wasn’t enough to do anything at all!
“This is the first time I’ve realized that I’m actually that poor. But…”
Meng Lei flipped himself off the bed. A shrewd glint flickered in his eyes. “10 billion gold coins is enough for me to use Limitless Pickup once, though.”
As the saying went, “Curiosity killed the cat.”
That was exactly Meng Lei’s current situation.
Even though he knew that Limitless Pickup only picked up things at random and that with so many planes and worlds out there, whether or not it could pick up anything good or useful was hard to say, he really wanted to give it a go.
Higher-level planes and worlds!
Lifeforms that far surpassed the Saint Domains!
What if… What if he picked up a treasure?
“How about… I give it a go?”
Meng Lei’s breathing was rather quick. Then, he suddenly gnashed his teeth and barked, “System, I want to use the Limitless Pickup function!”
The system asked coldly, “1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal will be charged for the usage of this function. May I know if you’d like to use it?”
“Yes!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly decreased by 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, leaving him only 0.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal now.
“I’ve totally become a pauper now.”
Meng Lei clenched his fists as he stared at his Wealth attribute that had only a fraction remaining now. Then, nervous anticipation began to fill him.
“Good stuff! You must pick up something good! If you pick up a piece of trash, I’ll suffer a huge loss!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
(⊙_⊙)
“The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline!?”
" }, { "id": 138, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-138", "title": "Chapter 138 - Lucky Breakthrough, Handsome Rewards", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The moment the sun rose the next morning, Fatty Hart arrived outside Meng Lei’s condominium and shouted loudly, “Are you up yet, old bro?”
A short while later, Meng Lei walked out of the condominium wearing a brand-new magic robe.
“What are you shouting so loudly for early in the morning?” Meng Lei asked dryly.
“Hehe! Aren’t you setting off for the Imperial City today? I’m here to see you off!”
Fatty Hart let out a chuckle. Then, all of a sudden, he stared at Meng Lei with puzzlement in his eyes.
“What are you looking at?” Meng Lei glared at the fat fellow.
“Old bro, why do you feel kinda different?”
Fatty Hart circled around Meng Lei and commented in puzzlement, “It’s just different somehow. As for what exactly has changed, I can’t really pinpoint it for now. It just feels kinda strange.”
“You must have drunk too much last night!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh, and then he changed the topic. “Let’s go. We’ll go to the president’s office and meet up with the president and the others first.”
“Alright!”
When they arrived at the president’s office, President Fred, the few other vice-presidents, and other academy leaders were already waiting there. Mr. Dirk was also present among the ranks.
“Good morning, President.”
“Good morning, Academy Leaders.
“Good morning, Mr. Dirk.”
The academy leaders nodded at him with smiles on their faces and looks of approval in their eyes. However, President Fred’s eyes suddenly bore into Meng Lei, and he asked in shock, “Meng Lei, you’ve broken through to Saint Domain?”
“What!?”
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. All of them turned to Meng Lei, their eyes full of astonishment, incredulity, disbelief, and so on.
In particular, Mr. Dirk and Fatty Hart looked as though they had seen a ghost as they stared at Meng Lei.
Meng Lei… He has broken through to Saint Domain?
“I received some unexpected gains after the battles yesterday and had the good fortune of breaking through,” replied Meng Lei. He didn’t deny it. Besides, there was no way he could hide something like this anyway.
Perhaps he might be able to conceal breakthroughs in spiritual power and magic power, but he couldn’t hide his body’s breakthrough to the Saint Domain realm at all. Veteran Saint Domains like President Fred could see the signs with just a glance from them.
“Unexpected gains? Good fortune of breaking through?
An astonished President Fred’s mouth fell agape. Despite knowing that Meng Lei had already begun to grasp the laws of nature and that he was a shoo-in for the Saint Domain realm, who would have expected that he would break through so soon?
Didn’t they say that his various attributes hadn’t been cultivated to their peak yet?
Didn’t they say that he would need another period of time before he could break through to Saint Domain?
Why? Why was it that he had already broken through over the passage of just a night?
“You’ve really become a Saint Domain?”
When they heard Meng Lei personally admitting to it, everyone—the academy leaders, Mr. Dirk, and Fatty Hart—was greatly shocked and beyond horrified.
In particular, Mr. Dirk’s expression was exceptionally exciting—while there were astonishment and disbelief on his face, he also couldn’t help himself from giving a wry smile.
How long had it been? Just how long had it only been?
That little Third-Grade Magician back then had already become a Saint Domain while he, his Ninth-Grade Great Magician teacher, was still standing where he was.
Was there really such a huge gap between one and another?
“Although I’m finding myself somewhat in disbelief, this is great!” After President Fred calmed down, he couldn’t stop marveling. “With Meng Lei around, the Fire Dragon Magic Academy will definitely shine brilliantly in the exchange competition and avenge ourselves this time! Hahaha!”
“The president is right! In the past few exchange competitions, all the contestants that the Fire Dragon Kingdom had sent had all suffered a crushing defeat, and the competitions had ended so badly for us! This time…”
All the academy leaders were in great spirits, each and every one of them heartened and full of vigor. Their eyes were full of admiration and great expectations as they gazed at Meng Lei.
Of course, there was no lack of reverence and ingratiation, too.
Only a small handful of the academy leaders were Saint Domains, and the vast majority of them were ninth-grade experts.
The Saint Domains admired Meng Lei, but the ninth-grade experts would need to look up to him now.
Ninth-Grade!
Saint Domain!
It was just the difference of a single grade, but it made the distinction between heaven and earth.
…
All the contestants made their way over one after another.
This time, among the qualifying contestants from Fire Dragon Magic Academy, were two seniors that had deferred their graduation, four community experts that had joined the academy at the last moment, and Meng Lei himself.
There were a total of seven of them.
“Everyone’s here now. Follow me to the royal palace for the assembly!”
With a wave from President Fred, the academy carriage rose into the air and flew in the direction of the palace with Meng Lei and the others on board.
As the most luxurious and extravagant building complex with the largest scale and occupying the biggest amount of land in Fire Dragon capital city, the royal palace comprised almost 100 palaces of different sizes that came together to form an enormous palace community!.
“Lord Fred, please come with me.”
The academy carriage landed at the royal palace’s entrance. Then, under the lead of a palace guard, they arrived at a plaza where an enormous Dragon God statue stood tall and proud, mighty and extraordinary.
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
With President Fred in the lead, everyone prayed and bowed to the Dragon God statue before they headed toward a corner of the plaza, where King Flit the 66th and Queen Diana were already awaiting.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
“Greetings, Your Majesty 1 !”
Everyone bowed in greeting.
“You may rise!”
Everyone else from the other academies also arrived at about the same time.
“Everyone, the exchange competition is about to begin. All of you will represent your respective academies and us, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, to participate in the empire-wide exchange competition. I hope you can shine brightly in the competition and bring honor and glory to your academies and the kingdom!”
Flit the 66th said encouragingly, “I hereby promise that those that show exceptional performance and achieve excellent results in the exchange competition shall be bestowed handsome rewards!
“Someone, read the royal decree!”
A senator stepped forward upon the summons. While holding a golden scroll in his hands, he began to read, “By royal decree, His Majesty the King has ordered that those who rank in the top three positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Marquis, bestowed a plot of land measuring five hectares, and permission to enter the kingdom’s treasury to select three artifacts for themselves at will.
“Those who rank in the top ten positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of an Earl, bestowed a plot of land measuring 2.5 hectares, and permission to enter the kingdom’s treasury to select one artifact for themselves at will.
“Those who rank in the top twenty positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Viscount and bestowed a plot of land measuring 0.5 hectares.
“Those who rank in the top fifty positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Baron and bestowed a plot of land measuring 0.05 hectares.”
Upon the end of the royal decree, the senator stepped back in line.
A smiling Flit the 66th said, “Everyone, all of you are the outstanding young talents of my Fire Dragon Kingdom. I have high hopes for all of you. Do not let me down!”
“Long live the King!”
“May glory ever be with us!”
“Long live the King!”
“May glory ever be with us!”
All the contestants vowed aloud.
“Wonderful!” Flit the 66th nodded in satisfaction. “Since that’s the case, I shall leave the rest of the matter in everyone’s hands. I await good news in the capital city from all of you!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
…
There were a total of six teachers leading the teams for the exchange competition. All six of them were academy presidents, and President Fred was one of them.
“The journey to the Imperial City is a long one this time. We’ll need to spend five days on the road. We can either take the magic ferry or the empire special express, but after the six of us old fellows’ discussion, we’ve decided to take the Floating Beast.”
“The Floating Beast?”
Meng Lei perked up.
The Floating Beast was a Seventh-Grade Wind-Elemental Magical Beast. Although it boasted a huge size, it had a mild temperament and was very easy to tame.
Added to this the Floating Beast’s extreme patience, as long as it was fed, it would be able to sustain long hours of flight while ferrying a heavy load. Therefore, it was known as the best aerial Magical Beast when it came to long-distance travel.
“The magic ferry and the empire special express is undoubtedly more comfortable, but we cultivators wander the universe and spend the nights in the open. Comfort… is not to be coveted. The journey itself is a form of cultivation!”
Under the six academy presidents’ lead, everyone arrived at the Floating Beast Plaza, where several enormous behemoths stood tall and straight.
With a height of 30 meters, a body length that reached an astonishing 70 meters, and an extremely flat, wide, and spacious back, they were the Floating Beasts!
" }, { "id": 139, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-139", "title": "Chapter 139 - A Great Bird Riding The Wind, Soaring Freely In The Sky", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "In Meng Lei’s eyes, the Floating Beast bore a striking resemblance to the whales on Earth. With their flat and level, smooth and round pillar-shaped body; a flat, fleshy, wide, and spacious back; and a whale-like tail…
There were only two words to describe it—how alike!
The difference between the two laid in the fact that a whale’s abdomen had a leaf-shaped fin, whereas the Floating Beast’s abdomen had a pair of sky-spanning wings covered in scales and six pillar-like elephant-ish legs.
Enormous!
Strong and burly!
Lofty and majestic!
It was hard to imagine that an enormous creature like that would actually have such a mild and gentle temperament that even ordinary people could rear them.
Of course, riding a colossal creature like that wasn’t going to be as comfortable as riding a magic ferry or the empire special express for sure, but it suited the contestants just fine.
They were all ninth-grade experts. Who wouldn’t want to control a Magical Beast and ride on the wind? Where was the fun in riding a magic ferry or the special express?
The group arrived at the rental company and rented a Floating Beast in no time. Upon which, the related staff members got to work at once.
An hour and a little more later, a huge house had been fixed onto one of the Floating Beasts’ back—it looked just like a bulging turtle shell.
“This Floating Beast is now our mode of transportation. There are 60 rooms, and you may choose one as you please.”
“Thank you, President!”
A rope ladder cascaded all the way from the Floating Beast’s back down to the ground, allowing customers to climb up its back with it. However, none of the contestants used the rope ladder.
All of them transformed into numerous streams of light and went up the Floating Beast’s back in a jiffy with a light tap of their toes. Every one of them looked confident and moved about free and unhindered as though they were just taking a leisurely stroll, attracting much attention from others.
Indeed!
No matter where they went, a group of more than 50 ninth-grade experts would always be enough to cause a huge commotion. When it was Meng Lei’s turn, the commotion became even bigger, however.
As his feet left the ground, he began to slowly rise into the sky—it was as if there was an invisible flight of stairs beneath his feet, allowing him to take step after step into the sky.
This sight astounded everyone.
“President Fred, that little fellow has broken through?”
“Yes, he has!” President Fred nodded proudly.
“Hiss!”
The academy presidents stared at Meng Lei from the back, so astonished that they couldn’t even utter a single word. It had only been a night, yet Meng Lei had already broken through?
The other contestants were even more flabbergasted than them and held complex feelings about this.
…
After they got onto the Floating Beast’s back, Meng Lei casually chose a room from the many available. The room was smaller than what he had imagined and looked only to be about four to five square meters.
Within it was a slat bed and a desk, so apart from sleeping and eating, there was nothing he could do there. An environment such as this was totally shabby, but it couldn’t be helped.
Due to the Floating Beasts’ inexpensive rental costs, they were highly favored by small trader groups, adventurer teams, and mercenaries. Compared to other modes of transport, they were considered relatively low-cost long-distance tools of transportation.
Would anyone truly wealthy want to ride on them? Of course not. All of them had already gone to the magic ferry and the empire special express.
“It can’t get any shabbier than this.”
Meng Lei shook his head at the sight of the room, disinclined to stay any longer. He went to the Floating Beast’s head instead, intending to admire the scenery before he decided what to do later.
There was no lack of contestants with the same thoughts as him. A fair number of them stood outside the house as they waited for the Floating Beast to take off.
“Dear passengers, please go to your rooms and buckle up. We’re taking off soon!”
The beast tamer controlling the Floating Beast gave them a kind reminder. Beast tamers like him had entered into master-servant contracts with the Floating Beasts, so they were able to control the Magical Beasts.
He was also their chauffeur for the journey this time.
“It’s fine!”
“Go ahead and drive!”
“Alright!”
The beast tamer didn’t press any further. He had already witnessed these passengers’ capabilities just now, so he knew that all of them were experts and probably wouldn’t fall off the Floating Beast.
Whistle!
The beast tamer took out a whistle and blew it forcefully.
Howl!
The Floating Beast slowly began to move with a long howl. Its six elephant-like legs took step after step on the ground, producing loud, dull, and muffled booms as they did so.
Meng Lei and the others standing on its back could feel violent jolts and bumps from the movements. As the Floating Beast ran faster and faster, the bumping and tossing about also became more and more intense.
It went from a slow walk to a brisk one, and then it began to dash forward.
At last, when its speed finally reached a certain point, the Floating Beast suddenly spread its gigantic wings capable of blotting out the sun and covering the earth and soared into the sky.
Violent winds howled with the flapping of its wings.
The Floating Beast soared higher and higher, going further and further away from the plaza.
A few minutes later, the Floating Beast’s wing-flapping rate began to slow down when it reached a certain altitude. They flapped once only almost every half a minute, and then it went into the most energy-saving gliding mode.
As Meng Lei took in the sensation of the strong winds blowing at him and looked down upon the land constantly becoming smaller and smaller, a sense of heroism arose within him. Then, with a leap, he jumped off the Floating Beast’s back.
“Hahaha!”
A bout of mad, unrestrained laughter rang out as Meng Lei spread his arms, and he started to soar about freely in the sky like a bird.
Dashing forward occasionally, swooping downward occasionally, and circling about in the sky occasionally—he was as happy as a lark and as free and unfettered as a magnificent eagle!
“That boy…”
The six academy presidents shook their heads and chuckled as they watched the soaring Meng Lei. They couldn’t help but think back to the times when they had just broken through to Saint Domain. They had practically behaved the same way as Meng Lei, too…
Soar! Soar as much as you want!
However, they didn’t know that Meng Lei was in even higher spirits than what they had imagined. As someone born and raised on Earth, Meng Lei knew very well that humans couldn’t fly on their own.
This was an iron-clad rule and also an established law.
They could only gaze into the sky time and again, full of envy toward the flying birds as they sighed. “If only I had wings!”
However, Meng Lei could fly on his own now. This was a feeling that no words could describe.
Carefree, excited, agitated…
“The roc rises with the wind someday, soaring 90,000 miles yonder with the wind 1 !
“Sipping dew at sunrise and resting under the red clouds at sunset! This is exactly what a man should be like!
“Hahaha! This feels wonderful! So goddamn wonderful!”
The other contestants were green with envy as they watched Meng Lei soaring about unrestrained in the sky. How they wished they could also soar freely like him!
It was just a shame that they could only glare at him in vain.
Meng Lei flew to his heart’s content for almost half an hour before he finally returned to the Floating Beast’s back, far from sated.
“Meng Lei, come over here.” President Fred summoned Meng Lei over. “Here, let me introduce these people to you. This is the Fighting Dragon Academy’s president. And this is…”
Meng Lei greeted them one by one, while the five of them also responded with smiles.
Before he had broken through, Meng Lei was but just a junior and student with excellent talent. Therefore, it was alright for them not to take him seriously.
However, now that he had become a Saint Domain and was standing on the same level as them, they had to treat him as an equal—age was irrelevant!
“Valor is better demonstrated by the young, indeed!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy’s president sighed approvingly and remarked, “At the qualifying round yesterday, we had thought that you’d need some time before you could break through. Never would I have thought that you’d break through right away last night. This is truly…”
“Indeed!”
“I really have no idea how you managed to do that!”
The other academy presidents also marveled at him, awfully perplexed.
“You flatter me, Presidents!” Meng Lei spoke very humbly.
…
The Floating Beast flew fairly steadily.
Meng Lei and the six academy presidents sat on its back. They chatted freely about various interesting news and everything under the sun while they admired the mountains and the streams, the rivers, and the lakes.
Meng Lei listened to them quietly. One could say that he had gained much from this.
Even the youngest of the six academy presidents was already past 100 years old. All of them had seen a lot and were very knowledgeable—the opportunity to listen to them chat about life was a precious treasure that no amount of money could buy.
Suddenly, a smiling President Fred said, “Meng Lei, you can try challenging the Dragon God Tower when you’re at the Imperial City. If you’re in luck, who knows, you might just be able to get some good stuff!”
“The Dragon God Tower?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
" }, { "id": 140, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-140", "title": "Chapter 140 - The Secret Of Deification, The Saint Domain'S Limits", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“The Dragon God Tower is the divine weapon protecting our Dragon God Empire. Legend goes that it’s the supreme divine weapon that His Holiness, the great Dragon God, forged for the Dragon God Empire after he had deified.”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president explained smilingly, “The Dragon God Tower is sited inside Dragon God Academy. It has a total of 100 levels, and each level is an independent half-plane of existence.”
“A half-plane?”
“Yes, a half-plane!
“The magic elements in these half-planes are extremely rich and dense, and even the laws of nature inside are much clearer than the outside world. You can achieve more with less by cultivating inside these half-planes. They are excellent cultivation spots.
“This has led to hordes of people desiring to enter the Dragon God Tower to cultivate. Unfortunately, only those below 30 years of age and stronger than eighth-grade are qualified to enter.”
President Fred continued the topic and said, “Therefore, there aren’t actually many that are truly qualified to enter. There’s also something else. The higher you go in the Dragon God Tower, the richer the magic elements and the clearer the laws of nature become!”
A look of longing appeared in President Fred’s eyes as he added, “It’s said that the Dragon God Tower’s 100th level even contains the secret to deification!”
“The secret to deification?” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“It’s just a legend. No one knows for sure.”
President Fred nodded affirmatively. “After all, ever since the Dragon God Tower’s appearance over 40,000 years ago, there has never been anyone that has successfully ascended to the 100th level yet.
“Therefore, the legend’s credibility is still unverified as of today. However, the occasional oracles that His Holiness the Dragon God had imparted have hinted at it before!”
At the mention of the Dragon God Tower’s 100th level, longing and regret surfaced in all six academy presidents’ eyes. They were beings that had already reached the ranks of Saint Domains, and there were very few things in this world that could still pose an allure to them.
Deification was the only thing that they dreamed of, as well as what they were currently painstakingly pursuing.
Alas, they didn’t meet the requirements, so they couldn’t enter the Dragon God Tower. With that, they naturally wouldn’t be able to know the secrets of the 100th level, either.
“Many geniuses emerge in the empire every generation, and there are many great talents out there. Has no one ever successfully ascended to the Dragon God Tower’s 100th level all these years?” a frowning Meng Lei asked, puzzlement in his eyes.
“You’ve never been to the Dragon God Tower, so you’re naturally unaware of its fearsomeness.”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president went on with a wry smile. “I’ve mentioned it previously, but every level of Dragon God Tower is a half-plane where magic elements are rich, and the laws of nature are clear. While it’s certainly an excellent cultivation sanctum, it’s even more beneficial to the native beings inside them.
“These native beings live inside the half-planes all year round. After being nourished by the magic elements and laws of nature, they have become terrifyingly strong. The rate at which they produce strong experts is much higher than what it’s like in Heaven’s Vault Continent, where we are.
“Moreover, the half-planes’ natives are extremely xenophobic. Outlanders are easily attacked inside.
“Should they enter recklessly despite lacking sufficient strength, even surviving would become a problem, let alone cultivation.
“For innumerable years, just how many geniuses have perished inside the Dragon God Tower? How many great talents and mutants have been buried within? The memories are as fresh and vivid as if it had only happened yesterday!”
One of the academy presidents sighed emotionally. “When I had entered the Dragon God Tower back then, if it hadn’t been for my good fortune, I would have died inside, too. The under-30 requirement is too demanding!”
Another academy president sighed and said, “Geniuses and talents of this age are only elementary-level Saint Domains at best. With that level of strength, they can only persevere as far as the 50th level at the most.”
“Elementary-level Saint Domains can only persevere as far as the 50th level?” Meng Lei was astounded. “How strong must one be to reach the 100th level, then?”
President Fred replied, “The limits of Saint Domain!”
“The limits of Saint Domain?”
Meng Lei was stunned by his answer.
“Yes, the limits of Saint Domain.” President Fred explained, “The reason why the half-planes are only half-planes is that they weren’t fully nurtured, leading to the laws of nature becoming flawed and incomplete. In other words, complete laws of nature do not exist in the half-planes! Do you know what this means?”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“This means that the strongest that the native beings can go is the limits of Saint Domain. It’s impossible for them to surpass this range!”
President Fred smiled and added, “You should be aware that upon stepping into the Saint Domain realm, one’s strength correlates fully with their comprehension of the laws of nature.
“The deeper their comprehension of the laws of nature, the stronger they will be. When a Saint Domain fully comprehends a type of laws of nature, they’ll naturally step into the half-deity level.
“However, because complete laws of nature do not exist in half-planes, the native beings will never be able to produce half-deities. Saint Domain limits-level is the highest they can achieve!”
“I see, so that’s how it is.”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. After reflecting on it for a long while, he asked, “In that case, as long as one can attain Saint Domain limits-level before they turn 30 years old, there’ll be hope for them to enter the Dragon God Tower’s 100th level?”
“Yes, that’s right?”
All six academy presidents nodded in response. Then, all of them shook their heads and added, “But it’s too difficult. There’s no way anyone can achieve that at all!”
Saint Domain limits-level!
What was Saint Domain limits-level?
If achieving full comprehension of a type of laws of nature made one a half-deity, then the Saint Domain limits-level was an existence that possessed almost limitless comprehension of a type of laws of nature. They were truly only a step short of fully comprehending a type of laws of nature.
Thinking of achieving Saint Domain limits-level before 30 years old?
Dream on!
“Comprehending the laws of nature is a process that requires an accumulation of effort over a long passage of time. One may not improve in the slightest, even over a period of several hundred or a thousand years.
“30 years is but just the amount of time for one to take a nap. Yet they still dream of fully comprehending a type of laws of nature? No way!”
“Alright. I was too ignorant.” Meng Lei nodded slowly.
“You’ve only just stepped into the Saint Domain realm, and you’re even a genius, too. Understandably, you wouldn’t know the difficulties involved in comprehending laws of nature.”
The six academy presidents laughed and added, “When you’ve fully immersed yourself in the ocean that is the laws of nature, you’ll come to understand the difficulties involved!”
Meng Lei nodded slowly in response. Then, he asked curiously, “Presidents, all of you must have entered the Dragon God Tower before, right? What’s the highest level that you’ve reached?”
Upon his question, all six academy presidents exchanged looks. They had differing expressions on their faces—some were smug, some were embarrassed, and some were awkward.
What’s going on?
At the sight of this, Meng Lei’s curiosity grew even stronger. However, the Floating Beast they were on suddenly jerked unexpectedly at this moment. It stared right at the space in front and emitted several low roars, its countenance extremely on guard.
“Huh?”
Just as bewilderment filled everyone, they heard the beast tamer. “Oh no! Man-Vulture bandits have appeared ahead! All passengers, please take precautions!”
“Man-Vulture bandits?”
Everyone looked over. True enough, a dark expanse of clouds sweeping toward them entered their sights. The black masses blotted out the sun and covered the sky with their sheer numbers.
“It really is Man-Vulture bandits!”
President Fred’s brows drew into a frown. “Those dirty, greedy fellows! They’re just like rats in the sewers—they’re everywhere!”
“Man-Vulture bandits?”
Meng Lei looked over as well—the so-called “dark clouds” turned out to be a group of half-human, half-bird creatures!
They had heads of vultures and bodies of humans, as well as the vultures’ wings and sharp talons.
They looked absolutely like a motley crew with their shiny, bald heads, filthy bodies, and tattered, shabby clothes.
“Man-Vultures? Why aren’t they Vulture-Men?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
President Fred explained, “Typical half-human, half-beast creatures can be considered human because they possess a very high level of intelligence, so they are no different from humans. For example, Taurens, Tiger-headed People, and Dragon People like us.
“However, this isn’t the case for Man-Vultures. Although those guys have humans’ bodies, their innate character makes them no different from a pack of Magical Beasts dressed in human guises.
“They’re barbaric, uncouth, greedy, brutal, and foolish. In addition, they are fond of attacking humans. They commit all imaginable misdeeds, like arson, assault, robbery, and plunder!
“Thus, they are known as Man-Vultures and not Vulture-Men—because one cannot consider them humans at all. Instead, they are a bunch of beasts and bandits!”
" }, { "id": 141, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-141", "title": "Chapter 141 - Extermination At A Finger Snap, Arrival At The Imperial City", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "There was a great number of Man-Vultures, and they formed a dark mass as though they were roiling, dark clouds crushing toward them. Their momentum alone was certainly enough to frighten one.
In truth, Man-Vultures didn’t suppress others with just their aura—most of them were around sixth-grade, with a fair number of them at seventh-grade. In fact, the ruler of the Man-Vultures could even match up to a ninth-grade expert.
Added to this their terrifying numbers, Man-Vulture packs were practically the nightmare of every passing trade caravan and ordinary villagers. Once they set their sights on them, the consequences would undoubtedly be very tragic.
Yet the Man-Vultures simply had to be nomadic by nature. They roamed about like homeless, wandering spirits and messed with whoever they came across. Those that they came across could only lament their misfortune.
“Sirs, please return to your rooms and take a firm seat. We must hurry and circle around them. Otherwise, once they come on to us, we’ll be dead meat!”
The beast tamer’s voice was somewhat trembling. As for the Floating Beast they were riding, it was even shaking like a leaf, fearful and uneasy.
The Man-Vultures had frightened them badly.
“It’s just Man-Vultures. What’s there to be scared of?” Meng Lei chuckled and said, “Please wait a moment for me, presidents. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“Meng Lei, it’s just a bunch of good-for-nothings. Why would a Saint Domain like you need to take any action? Let them do it instead,” the six academy presidents replied with a laugh as they gestured at the contestants.
“It’s fine. They can’t fly, so it’ll be pretty troublesome for them.”
Meng Lei gave them a smile. Then, he soared into the sky in an instant and transformed into a stream of light shooting toward the flock of Man-Vultures.
All of these were money, after all. How could he allow others to do it for him?
Squawk!
Squawk!
Squawk!
The Man-Vultures flew at high speed. They let out strange-sounding squawks, their cries sharp and shrill, messy and chaotic as though they were a murder of crows cawing carelessly at random.
Together with their sheer numbers, ordinary people would definitely be scared witless. However, they were the ones in for a tragedy today.
“Die!”
As Meng Lei pointed at the sky, an orange-sized fireball drew a fiery arc across the sky and shot abruptly into the flock of Man-Vultures.
It looked absolutely unassuming, and neither did it cause any commotion. However, the moment the fireball shot into the center of the flock of Man-Vultures, it went off with a blast.
Boom!
Violent shock waves swept through several kilometers of where they were in an instant. All the Man-Vultures within the range didn’t even have the time to scream before they were blown into smithereens and burned to ashes.
“Ding! 1 Man-Vulture killed, 310,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Man-Vulture killed, 80,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Man-Vulture killed, 170,000 gold coins gained!”
As system notifications rang out following his actions, his Wealth also began to increase. Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile at that. “As expected. Sounds like these are the most pleasant-sounding, after all!”
“Squawk!”
The sudden explosion had shocked the remaining Man-Vultures into a daze. They flapped their wings frantically and fled far away from the sea of fire with shock and horror in their eyes.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What have I done?
It was just a shame that no matter how fast they fled, they just couldn’t go any faster than Meng Lei’s speed of shooting fireballs.
Several orange-sized fireballs shot fiercely toward them like a machine gun. Then, they exploded one after another.
Boom!
Amid earth-shattering booming explosions, the entire sky was enveloped in a fearsome sea of fire. The vast ocean of fire also swallowed up the masses of Man-Vulture bandits.
A few minutes later, all the smoke and dust dispersed.
The black masses of Man-Vultures had disappeared—totally disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving behind not even a single feather.
“Alright!”
“Huh? No magic cores?”
Meng Lei was a little taken aback as he stared at the empty sky. The sea of fire just now had only been an ordinary eighth-grade to ninth-grade spell, meaning it shouldn’t have been enough to burn away the magic cores.
“In other words, those Man-Vultures don’t have magic cores at all? F*ck! I was all worked up over nothing!”
Meng Lei was sorely disappointed.
…
The vast and boundless Dragon God Empire was situated in the east of Heaven’s Vault Continent, overlooking the endless oceans in the east and facing the Magical Beast Ridge in the west. 15 Kingdoms and 48 Dukedoms were under its rule.
These 15 Kingdoms and 48 Dukedoms were sited at the Dragon God Empire’s periphery and were subsidiary nations surrounding and protecting the Dragon God Empire. The widest and most spacious, and the wealthiest and most fertile lands were still under the Dragon God Empire’s jurisdiction.
Due to its exceedingly vast territory, flying from Fire Dragon Kingdom to the Dragon God Empire was an extremely long and slow journey. It took a minimum of five days to reach there by flight.
If one took the ground route, they would need an even longer time.
Fortunately, five days’ time didn’t count as much to cultivators like Meng Lei. It was no more than a meditation session, a nap, or a round of seclusion.
Meng Lei didn’t stay idle during this period of time, either. He picked up dropped light balls casually, killed bandits and Magical Beasts they encountered along the way…
After five days, he had gained a handsome amount of rewards.
“We’re finally here at the Imperial City!”
On the fifth evening, the Imperial City finally came within sight. As the six academy presidents gazed at the grand and magnificent huge city sprawling across the land in the distance, emotional looks appeared on their countenances.
“So many years later, I’m finally here at the Imperial City again!”
“The last time I was in the Imperial City had been 18 years ago. Who’d have thought that in the twinkling of an eye, 18 years had already gone by.”
“Haha, your Ink Splendor Academy has produced exceptionally poor results these recent years. As its academy president, there’s naturally no need for you to come to the Imperial City…”
Meng Lei and the other contestants also stood atop the Floating Beast as they gazed at the Imperial City from afar. There was still a great distance between their location and the Imperial City, but they could still see the Imperial City’s silhouette, nevertheless.
The Imperial City was just like a primeval behemoth prostrating on the great lands. Several routes accessible from all sides extended from the Imperial City like blood vessels, leading to every corner of the empire.
At the Imperial City’s outermost perimeter were lofty and towering city walls that stood tall and straight. The golden city walls that towered as high as 1,000 feet were mightier, more awe-inspiring, and more extravagant than any city walls that Meng Lei had ever seen. The rays at sunset shone upon the city walls and reflected an eye-catching radiance and dazzling brilliance.
“So, that’s the Imperial City?” all the contestants murmured to themselves, astounded by the sight.
Meng Lei’s gaze, however, had been captured by a gigantic tower that rose all the way into the clouds. That gigantic tower stood erect in the very center of the Imperial City like a holy tree that led into the heavens and connected the heavens and earth.
Big and tall!
Lofty and majestic!
One couldn’t see to the top of it!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but think of the Korin Tower in Dragon Ball 1 —that gigantic towering tower certainly bore a light resemblance to Korin Tower!
“That’s the Dragon God Tower!”
Upon noticing Meng Lei’s line of sight, President Fred twisted his beard and smiled as he said, “It’s the divine weapon protecting the Dragon God Empire. You can try challenging it during the exchange competition.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei gave a heavy nod in response. He held great interest in the tower—he wanted very much to know how many levels he could reach.
The sky above the Imperial City was a no-fly zone. Apart from Saint Domains, all flying magic devices and flying mounts were prohibited from flight.
Left with no other choice, the Floating Beast could only land at a harbor outside the Imperial City. Then, Meng Lei and the rest rented a magic carriage and sped off toward the Imperial City.
The city gates were bigger and taller than any Meng Lei had ever seen in the past. Teams of golden-armored sentries guarded the gates and scanned every merchant and vehicle entering the city.
“The Imperial City was built 40,000 years ago.
“At that time, the Beast People Empire’s rule was starting to break down. As Heaven’s Vault Continent sank into unprecedented turmoil, all the various races that had laid low and silent emerged one after another.
“Unwilling to fall behind others, our Colossal Dragon forefathers also led 3,000 Colossal Dragons and flew out of the Dragon Island, beginning their noble conquest of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“In the end, under the leadership of the founding Dragon Emperor, our Colossal Dragon forefathers forged through various troubles. It was only after several thousand years of efforts and battles that the current Dragon God Empire exists!”
" }, { "id": 142, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-142", "title": "Chapter 142 - No. 1 In History, Timon Barton", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Whilst riding the lavishly decorated magic carriage, everyone looked around curiously at their surroundings.
The streets were wider, smoother, and more level than the kingdom’s.
The shops were more prosperous, and there were more of them than in the kingdom.
The buildings were taller and grander than the kingdom’s.
The population was denser and more complex than the kingdom’s.
Among the passersby going to and fro were Taurens with ox heads, Demi-Fairies with pointy ears, as well as Demigiants that towered at several meters tall…
But of course, what there was in abundance were still humans and Dragon People.
“The Imperial City’s degree of prosperity is something far beyond the capital city’s.
“The population is denser here, so there is naturally a higher concentration of experts here. And there is an astonishingly high number of influential officials and nobles.
“Even with just a casual turn of the head, you may just bump into an Earl. Therefore, during this period where the exchange competition is ongoing, all of you’d better behave and refrain from making any trouble, lest you rile anyone that you shouldn’t be messing with and embarrass the six of us old fellows…”
“Yes, President!”
With regard to the academy presidents’ repeated advice, Meng Lei felt it even more keenly because ever since he had stepped into the Imperial City… the system’s voice notifications had never once stopped!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +116!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +1,290!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Third-Grade Spell…”
Meng Lei had already fallen in love with the system’s voice at some unknown point in time. Although it sounded icy cold, and emotionless, the moment an extended period of absence came about, he would end up anxious and restless as if something was lacking in his life.
Upon hearing the system’s constant voice notifications at this moment, Meng Lei felt greatly soothed, especially when he saw how his various attributes were continuously being refreshed. One could just imagine how pleased he was.
As expected, one certainly ought to come to big places like this more often. The attributes here were the plumpest and most fertile, as well as the highest in volume. His gains from being just a short while here could already match up to what he got in an entire day elsewhere.
Sweet!
By the time their group reached the inn, three hours had already gone by. They entered the inn and went through the check-in procedures.
And then, the academy presidents began their lectures.
“We have to assemble at the Dragon God Academy tomorrow morning, so have an early night. We’ll assemble in the hall tomorrow at 7 in the morning.”
“Yes, President!”
After the academy presidents left their instructions, all the contestants returned to their rooms to rest, including Meng Lei.
As he rested on the cottony-soft down silk comforter and took in the wonderful scent of the sheets, Meng Lei did something he rarely did—he didn’t go into meditation. Instead, he fell asleep in a good mood.
When he woke up the next day, he felt refreshed and invigorated.
By the time he went down the stairs and arrived at the hall, all the other contestants had already assembled. Then, Meng Lei found himself a seat somewhere.
At this moment, a Dragon Person contestant with a pair of horns on his head leaned over and asked carefully, “Lord Meng Lei, when are you going to challenge the Dragon God Tower?”
His name was Joel Elton. He was from the Fighting Dragon Academy and was born into nobility. As he had intentions of building good relations with Meng Lei, he had constantly tried to cozy up to Meng Lei during their whole journey to the Imperial City.
Meng Lei was well aware of his intentions. He cast a glance at him and replied calmly, “Aren’t we assembling at the Dragon God Academy today? If there’s time, perhaps I can go and take a look at it.”
Joel paid Meng Lei a whole lot of flattery with an obsequious expression on his face, and said, “With Lord Meng Lei’s abilities, I’m sure you can rank in the Dragon God Genius Ranking and awe the Imperial City to become the kingdom’s pride!”
“The Dragon God Genius Ranking?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow, a look of puzzlement coming over his features.
“Don’t you know about the Dragon God Genius Ranking, Lord Meng Lei?”
Joel was taken aback for a moment there. Then, he hurriedly explained, “There’s a magic light screen on the Dragon God Tower where the names of the top 1,000 people with the most outstanding results among those that entered will be listed.
“That’s the Dragon God Genius Ranking.
“After one enters the Dragon God Tower, the higher the level they go, and the longer they stay inside, the higher they’ll rank in the ranking.
“It can be said that the Dragon God Genius Ranking is a record of the 1,000 most astoundingly talented people in the empire’s 40,000-odd years of history!”
“A record of only 1,000 people over a period of more than 40,000 years?” Meng Lei was startled. “In that case, it’s going to be very difficult if one wishes to put their name on the list.”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Another contestant also came over and added, “This is because not only does the Dragon God Genius Ranking record the geniuses of our generation, but it also records the geniuses in history!
“It’s akin to having all the geniuses in history compete on the same platform. Therefore, there’s indeed an extremely high level of difficulty if one wants to enter the ranking.
“Because of this, every single one of those that could make their way into the ranking is a true genius that had gone down in history. Not only are they the kingdoms’ pride, but they are also the academies’!”
“I see…”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he asked curiously, “Do you know who the one that places top is?”
“It’s Timon Barton, the one known as the Child of The Dragon God, of course. There’s no doubt about that!” a contestant replied without any slightest bit of hesitation whatsoever.
“The Child of The Dragon God? Timon Barton?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“Timon Barton is someone from 13,000 years ago and is also the highest-ranked person ever in history among those that have entered the Dragon God Tower.
“He first entered the Dragon God Tower at 11 years old. In the short span of 14 years, until he turned 25, he had gone into the tower a total of 42 times. The highest he’s ever gone was the 78th level, while the longest he’s ever stayed for was a duration of 8 months.
“It’s said that Timon Barton started cultivating at the age of 9, became an eighth-grade expert at 11, and broke through to Saint Domain at 14. Because he’s so amazingly talented and peerless in history, he is known as the Child of The Dragon God. He’s also the one with the highest hopes of ascending to the 100th level of the Dragon God Tower!”
“Saint Domain at 14 years old?”
All the contestants couldn’t help but gasp. Then, they looked at Meng Lei and remarked, “Isn’t he even more of a mutant than Lord Meng Lei, then?”
They were already very astounded by how Meng Lei had become a Saint Domain at 16 years old. Little did they know that there was a ferocious guy out there that was even crazier than him. Indeed, however strong one was, there would always be someone stronger still.
“Since Timon Barton has already gone up to the 78th level when he was 25 years old, then why didn’t he continue going further up?” Meng Lei asked.
“Because he has fallen!”
Joel explained with a wry smile, “The reason for his death is unknown, but the official statement from the empire authorities is that he has indeed already fallen. As for the truth of the matter, it’s something we won’t know.”
“He has fallen?” Meng Lei was startled by the answer. At once, he felt immense regret about it. “To think a genius like that has actually fallen!”
“Yes, what a shame, indeed.”
Joel said regretfully, “Starting his cultivation at 9 years old, entering the Saint Domain realm at 14, and passing at 25—even though Timon Barton only had a short cultivation career of 16 years, the record he has created is unprecedented in history and never again seen after, shining brightly upon history and being passed down even today.
“As such, Timon Barton is also known as the number one genius in all of Dragon God Empire’s history!”
“He well deserves the title of the number one genius in the Dragon God Empire!” Meng Lei nodded slowly.
Ol’ Amos sighed and also remarked, “How unexpected that such an amazing talent had actually emerged from the Dragon God Empire after my passing! What a shame… Sigh!”
“It’s certainly a huge shame…”
“Is everyone here?”
At this point, the six academy presidents came down from the upper floors. The contestants nodded and replied, “Yes, everyone’s here! Not a single person missing!”
“Great. Since everyone has arrived, then let’s set off.”
Then, all of them boarded the magic carriage and made their way to the Dragon God Academy.
On the way there, President Fred suddenly asked Meng Lei, “I heard the lot of you talking about Timon Barton just now?”
“Yes.”
“Timon Barton is indeed the most astounding genius in the Dragon God Empire’s history. In addition, he’s also from the Fire Dragon Kingdom. It’s just a shame that… The heavens are jealous of great talent!”
President Fred was terribly emotional as he remarked, “If he were still alive, he’d probably have already surpassed Saint Domain, or even the half-deity realm, to break through and become a deity a long time ago!”
“He was from the Fire Dragon Kingdom?”
" }, { "id": 143, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-143", "title": "Chapter 143 - Assembly Of The Strongest, Hailing From The Countryside", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The fact that Dragon God Academy was named after the Dragon God was enough to show its lofty position in the Dragon God Empire.
And in truth, not only was Dragon God Academy the top Warrior academy in the Dragon God Empire, but it was also the best magic academy in the empire—and the title well-deserved, too.
Even in the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent, Dragon God Academy was the highest learning institution that ranked among the best. Its rich heritage and strength weren’t something that Fire Dragon Magic Academy or other academies could compare to.
“So, this is Dragon God Academy?”
A magic carriage came to a stop outside the Dragon God Academy gates, and then Meng Lei and the rest alighted from it. Looks of astoundment couldn’t help but surface in their eyes as they gazed at the grand and majestic gates in front of them.
The so-called “school gates” were actually formed by a pair of 1,000-feet-tall Golden Colossal Dragon statues that surrounded and protected the area. The two statues faced each other with their claws clasped around each other’s, and their wings spread in mid-flight.
Their dragon scales appeared vivid and true to life, and their claws ferocious and mighty-looking. Their heads were raised with their horns pointed toward the sky and their fierce-looking jaws open in mid-roar.
Savage!
Awe-inspiring!
Domineering!
Powerful!
“President Fred, all of you are finally here.”
Sporting an enthusiastic and cheerful smile, a middle-aged lady dressed in a violet magic robe walked briskly toward them in welcome.
“Dorothy, it’s been a while.”
President Fred broke into a smile at once and went toward her cheerfully at the sight of her.
It was only after they had exchanged their greetings with each other that President Fred finally gestured at the middle-aged lady and made the introductions. “Allow me to introduce you to each other—this is Dorothy Caesar, a fire-elemental and wind-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician and the vice-president of Dragon God Academy.
“She is also my disciple, as well as an outstanding alumnus of Fire Dragon Magic Academy. Among the Fire Dragon Magic Academy graduates, she’s one of the few with the best career progression!”
“Greetings, Lady Dorothy!”
Awed, the contestants hurriedly paid their respects.
“Hehe! Hello, everyone!”
A smiling Dorothy returned the greeting. As her gaze flicked past the contestants one by one, a gratified smile appeared on her visage. “President Fred, it looks like the contestants are pretty great this time. There are quite a few good saplings among them!”
“Hahaha, of course!”
Fred burst into hearty laughter as he stroked his beard. “We’re out for revenge this time, after all. We’ll have to consider ourselves as having failed in our mission if we don’t rank within the top three this time!”
“Haha! To think you actually have the guts to boast so shamelessly here!”
As a thundering laugh reached them, a burly, muscular elderly man with black horns on his head and leading a group of people strode over with his head held high.
He had a hawkish visage and a sinister expression all over his features.
“I was wondering who it could be. So it’s you, Fred!”
The burly elderly man walked over to President Fred. Then, a contemptuous look came over his visage at once. “Is there even anyone that doesn’t know how the Fire Dragon Kingdom always comes in last place every year? Out for revenge? Are you kidding me?”
President Fred’s countenance darkened at once. “Angus, don’t be a pot calling the kettle black. Your Black Dragon Academy isn’t any stronger!”
“At least it’s a little stronger than the Fire Dragon Magic Academy.” The burly elderly man gave him a smug smile as he went on. “Fred, I’m not afraid to tell you that a genius has emerged from the Black Dragon Academy this year. Hopefully, your men won’t run into him during the exchange competition. Otherwise, they’ll be crushed so badly that they’ll end up in tears!”
“Hmph! We’ll see about that!”
President Fred snorted in response. A confident smile appeared at the corners of his lips as he scoffed inwardly. “Do you think you’re the only academy that has produced a genius?”
In his opinion, no matter how impressive the Black Dragon Academy’s genius was, there was no way they could possibly compare to Meng Lei. After all, Meng Lei was already a Saint Domain. This was enough grounds for him to perform brilliantly in the exchange competition. There were far and few that were stronger than him.
“Be stubborn all you want, Fred!”
Angus—the burly elderly man—shook his head with a light laugh. Then, with a group of people in tow, he entered the Dragon God Academy. President Fred gazed at him from the back and retorted inwardly, “Wait and see!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president also spat furiously. “That old black dragon is still so loathsome!”
“Everyone in the Black Dragon Kingdom is a lunatic with a dark, sinister personality.” President Fred shook his head. “Let’s go. We should head in, too.”
“People from the Black Dragon Kingdom…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +139!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power +872!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the spell…”
Meng Lei walked about in the ancient, time-worn forested island, listening to the system notifications constantly sounding in his ears and admiring the scenery in Dragon God Academy leisurely.
Unlike their big, tall, and majestic school gates, the Dragon God Academy interior seemed exceptionally quiet, with marks and vicissitudes of life left behind in every corner of the place.
Sycamore trees thick enough for a person’s arms to circle around each were lined up neatly!
Moss covered the old, aged flagstones!
Students in the midst of meditation could be seen everywhere in the forest!
Rich, heavy, and ancient—the place fully exhibited a historical vibe!
“As expected of a 40,000-year-old institution,” marveled Meng Lei.
He followed the academy presidents and the others to a big and tall teaching faculty building. Upon their arrival, he discovered that several other kingdoms’ contestants were already gathered there.
These contestants from various kingdoms were divided into quite a few camps. All of them secretly sized up one another, yet also minded their own business at the same time, maintaining a sufficient sense of distance from one another.
“The contestants from the Tempest Kingdom, Thunder Dragon Kingdom, Black Dragon Kingdom, and Earth Dragon Kingdom have already arrived. Including us, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, that makes five kingdoms from the empire.
“We’re supposed to assemble and report today while the competition officially starts tomorrow. Therefore, all contestants have to be present. I’m sure the contestants from the other ten kingdoms will be arriving soon, too.
“Stay here and wait for further instructions, everyone. We’ll be back in a moment.”
After the six academy presidents left them instructions, they entered the teaching faculty building together with Vice-President Dorothy, leaving Meng Lei and the other 51 contestants to wait there quietly.
During the next hour and a little more, the contestants and teachers-in-charge from the other ten kingdoms and dukedoms arrived one after another.
For a while, the area in front of the teaching faculty building was full of people.
15 kingdoms!
48 dukedoms!
Close to 2,000 contestants—and all of them ninth-grade experts!!
Just a line-up like this was enough to apply great pressure on many contestants. Meng Lei couldn’t be sure about those from other kingdoms, but what he did know was that quite a fair number of Fire Dragon Kingdom contestants were beginning to turn nervous.
It wasn’t over yet, though.
Another ten minutes or so later, an almost 3,000-strong team came approaching. They formed a large, black mass, as though a group of Triad members had been mobilized and caused a huge buzz to go through the crowd.
“They are…”
Everyone raised their heads and looked over.
At the sight of them, several people’s countenances changed.
“They are Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants!”
“What? Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants?”
“T-they’re so strong!”
Meng Lei also raised his head and looked over.
A small portion of the exchange competition contestants came from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms, while a large majority of them were from the Dragon God Imperial City itself.
This group of contestants was also known as Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants—in other words, contestants from academies directly affiliated to the Dragon God Empire.
Evidently, those 3,000 people in front of them… were exactly those very contestants.
Dressed in uniforms of varying styles, those 3,000 contestants obviously hailed from different academies. However, the way they looked at Meng Lei and the other contestants from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms was the same—full of contempt and disdain!
As Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants, they held an extreme sense of superiority toward others and totally looked down on contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms.
In their opinions, contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms were no different from people from the countryside. How could they possibly be qualified enough to compete with them on the same platform?
“So, they are the contestants from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms? They don’t look like much!”
“As expected of people from the countryside. They are but just a motley crew!”
“When have they ever taken the exchange competition seriously instead of just going through the motions…”
" }, { "id": 144, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-144", "title": "Chapter 144 - Second In History, Augustine", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Among those that could advance in their respective kingdom and dukedom’s qualifying rounds to make their way here, which one of them wasn’t proud and lofty?
How would they possibly be able to tolerate such provocation that was almost no different from humiliation?
“Aren’t they just Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants? What’s the big deal about them? Come forward and fight one-on-one with me if you’re that strong!”
Unable to stop himself, a contestant from the Black Dragon Kingdom stepped forward and glared furiously at the Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants.
“Exactly! A barking dog never bites. If you’re that capable, then let us take a gander at your skills! What does shooting your mouth off even count as?”
“Have the great Empire-Affiliated Academies groomed only a bunch of braggarts that only know how to talk big?”
The contestants from the other kingdoms and dukedoms also spoke up one after another—the Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants had completely riled up all of them.
“Oho!”
The Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants were greatly amused by the sight of the mounting public indignation among the contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms. As if they’d just witnessed a bunch of infuriated country bumpkin dogs barking madly, they burst into uproarious laughter.
One of them snorted in derision and sneered. “Country bumpkins, I wish I could rip your foul mouths apart and show you what we city-dwellers are capable of, but unfortunately…”
He pointed at the ground right underneath his feet and continued. “Do you have any idea where you currently are? This is Dragon God Academy, the most sublime, most excellent, and noblest education institution in the empire! It’s not a place that your little colleges in the countryside can compare to, much less somewhere that you can act atrociously at will.
“Dragon God Academy prohibits private fights.
“Country bumpkins, you don’t need to be in such a hurry even if you’re looking for a thrashing. You’ll be so sorry when the exchange competition comes around tomorrow!”
“Hmph! Why bother waiting till tomorrow? I’ll show you a thing or two right away today. Which one of you wants to fight one-on-one with me?!”
The Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants’ cockiness and contempt had thoroughly infuriated the contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms. All of them stepped forward one by one, the aura around them fired up and the fight in them rushing straight to the skies.
“Do you think we’re scared of you, country bumpkins?”
Not intimidated in the least, the Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants released their auras as well. At once, the atmosphere turned into one where they were ready to jump at each other’s throats.
“What are you doing? What are all of you doing?”
It was at this moment when a group of teachers-in-charge walked out of the teaching faculty building. As they did, a terrifying wave of vast, widespread aura also went crushing toward the contestants.
Boom!
All the contestants felt as though someone had just delivered them a crushing blow. Everyone turned as pale as a sheet, and alarm and fear surfaced in their eyes.
Even Meng Lei was filled with fearful apprehension, despite being a Saint Domain—because all the teachers-in-charge that had just arrived were Saint Domains.
All of them, Saint Domains!
There were as many as several hundred Saint Domains!
Just how fearsome of a force was that?
“What are all of you trying to do, being so presumptuous here?”
One of Dragon God Academy’s vice-presidents rebuked them coldly, “Do you know what this place is? What a bunch of scoundrels!
“The exchange competition only commences tomorrow. No matter how great your fury is, all of you’d better suck it up until tomorrow comes!”
All the contestants hung their heads at once, none of them daring to meet his eyes.
“Hmph! It’s the same kind of behavior from them every year. In the end, more than half of them croak even before the end of the exchange competition.”
The same vice-president snorted coldly. It was only then that his countenance mellowed a little, and he announced, “After much discussion among various parties, the exchange competition’s schedule has been finalized. We’ve decided to adopt the same round-by-round elimination system like what we’ve done in the past.
“Everyone is to assemble at the Dragon God Cathedral at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. All those that do not arrive by 8 a.m. will be regarded as having voluntarily forfeited the competition! Is this understood?”
“Understood!”
“Great!”
The vice-president nodded lightly. Then, he said, “All of you may move about freely now. You can take a look around the campus as you wish, or you can also head out of the academy to have a taste of the delicacies here. You just need to assemble at the cathedral by 8 a.m. tomorrow!”
At his words, all the contestants’ eyes from the kingdoms and dukedoms immediately lit up, and their gazes shifted to their respective teachers-in-charge. Meng Lei and the rest also looked at President Fred’s group of six.
“All of you may move about freely today. Just remember to return to the inn by 9 p.m. tonight. Remember, do not make any trouble, and do not do anything that violates the law and discipline.”
“Yes, President!”
All the contestants looked as though they had been granted amnesty, and the group dispersed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Almost all the contestants from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms were asking around about the Dragon God Tower’s location, all of them wishing to head over and challenge it. Meng Lei was naturally no exception.
At this point, with friendly and enthusiastic smiles, Joel Elton and a few other contestants came over and asked, “Lord Meng Lei, we’re free to do anything we want today. Do you want to head over to the Dragon God Tower for a look?”
“Sure!” Meng Lei nodded lightly and asked, “Do you know how to get to the Dragon God Tower?”
Joel nodded incessantly and replied, “Yes, I do. I’ve been to Dragon God Academy and visited the Dragon God Tower once in the past.”
“Lead the way.”
“Alright!”
The group of them charged toward Dragon God Tower enthusiastically. Before long, a tall, lofty, and majestic gigantic tower that stretched all the way into the sky entered their sights.
Contrary to what Meng Lei had imagined, Dragon God Tower didn’t possess any characteristics related to the Dragon God or the Dragon race at all, and it sported a very odd and peculiar appearance.
On the pitch-black tower exterior were engravings of the sun, stars, and the moon; mountains, rivers, the forests, and the woods; birds, animals, insects, and fishes; thousands upon thousands of different races…
It emanated an aged and boundless, mysterious and lofty vibe that involuntarily arose a feeling of insignificance and astoundment within one.
As he gazed at the gigantic tower that reached all the way into the sky with its peak out of visibility’s range, a hint of puzzlement couldn’t help but well up within Meng Lei—was this gigantic tower really forged by the Dragon God?
Meng Lei knew from great experience just what kind of sense of beauty the Dragons had.
And the gigantic skyscraping tower in front of him at the moment was anything but reminiscent of the Dragons. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of the Dragon race’s distinct characteristics.
It wasn’t the golden color that the Dragons loved!
There were no Dragon scales or claws, let alone their horns and head!
Was this really the Dragon God Tower?
“As expected of the Dragon God Tower. It’s majestic and domineering indeed!”
“Tsk, tsk! To think we can’t see to the top of it even with our eyesight. Just how tall must it be?”
“Probably at least 100 kilometers…”
All the contestants seeing the Dragon God Tower for the first time were astounded by it, and they let out exclamation after exclamation of astonishment and marvel!
Then, Joel pointed at a magic screen at the base of the tower and said, “Lord Meng Lei, look. That’s the Dragon God Genius Ranking.”
“Hmm?”
Meng Lei looked over—true enough, he noticed a huge magic screen that reached as high as 1,000-feet-tall. On it was a densely-packed record of numerous names.
And at the very top was an exceptionally eye-catching name:
“No. 1: Timon Barton, Human, 25 years old, Level 78”
“To think he’s actually a human!”
Meng Lei was amazed by the fact. Then, his gaze continued downward.
“No. 2: Augustine Kroc, Human, 30 years old, Level 76”
“Augustine Kroc…” Meng Lei was startled. “Kroc? This last name looks so familiar to the eye…”
“That’s the last name of us, Krocs!”
Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out in his ear. Meng Lei turned to see that the old man had suddenly emerged and spoken.
“In other words, this ferocious guy ranked second is actually from the Kroc clan?” Meng Lei was astonished.
Ol’ Amos replied softly, “Augustine is my father!”
“Y-your father?”
Meng Lei’s mouth fell open as he asked, “Ol’ President, the Augustine that’s ranked second is your father?”
“Yes! That’s my father, indeed!”
Ol’ Amos’ countenance was filled with pride as he said, “I told you, my father was a cultivation genius!
“He started his cultivation journey at 10 years old, became a Ninth-Grade Warrior at 16, and even successfully promoted to a Saint Domain when he was 26!
“Before this little fellow named Timon Barton had appeared, Father was Dragon God Empire’s number one genius in history!”
“Wow, my Ol’ President’s dad is way impressive!”
" }, { "id": 145, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-145", "title": "Chapter 145 - Entering Dragon God Tower, A World Of Sand", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“No. 3: Goblen Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 29 years old, Level 75”
“No. 4: Horace Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 30 years old, Level 75”
“No. 5: Alex Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 30 years old, Level 75”
“No. 6…”
As Meng Lei skimmed through the ranking, apart from the first and second places, everyone in the top ten places bore the last name of Frederick, and all of them were Golden Colossal Dragons!
It was only at 11th place that a Black Dragon finally appeared. After that, the Golden Colossal Dragons with the Frederick last name started to hog the ranking again.
“Frederick is the last name of the Dragon God Empire’s royalty.” Ol’ Amos explained, “All the Golden Colossal Dragons on the ranking are from the royal family. More than half of the top 100 places, no, the first few hundred places are actually all Golden Colossal Dragons. How incredible!”
Meng Lei stared at the ranking, finding it rather mind-boggling. There were countless geniuses in the massive Dragon God Empire; even with that many people around, were they still unable to match up to a few Golden Colossal Dragons?
“This is a very normal sign.” A smiling Ol’ Amos replied, “As royalty among the Dragons, the talent that the Golden Colossal Dragons possess isn’t something that other races can compare to.
“In the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent, only a few races—such as the Thunder Titans of the Titan Empire, the Golden Behemoths of the Beast People Empire, and the royal Fairies of the Fairy Empire—can compare to them.
“Although there are only very few Golden Colossal Dragons in each generation, every single one of them is amazingly talented. After all, Golden Colossal Dragons are one of the only few races that become Saint Domains the moment they turn of age.”
“They are Saint Domains the moment they turn of age?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly in disbelief before he continued to browse the ranking.
“Ol’ President, you’re actually ranked 689th place?”
“My talent is only average.”
After going through the ranking, Meng Lei now had a rough understanding of the whole ranking—60% of them were Colossal Dragons, 30% of them were Drakes, 9% of them comprised other races, and only 1% of them were humans.
Judging from the ranking alone, the Colossal Dragons had a much stronger gift and talent than humans and the other races. With 60% of the ranking made up of Colossal Dragons and 30% made up of Drakes, it came up to a total of 90%—this wasn’t just any ordinary gap!
“The humans are so tragic. They don’t even make up 1%!”
“That’s for sure! From the start, humans already have the poorest talent. Despite them having the largest population, there is only a scarce number of true geniuses!”
A human contestant sighed emotionally with a shake of his head.
Are humans’ talents really that poor?
Meng Lei had nothing to say to their comments. However, he held a different view inwardly. In terms of talent, while there was admittedly a gap between humans and Colossal Dragons, the root of the issue causing a gap like that wasn’t their talent. Rather, It was their… social statuses!
In the Dragon God Empire, humans were in the bottommost tier of the social hierarchy, leading to a situation where 99% of humans had no chances of cultivating at all. Even if people with amazing talent had emerged, who would have known?
In comparison, despite there being only a scarce number of Colossal Dragons, they still hogged 99% of the cultivation resources available nevertheless. Wasn’t it a matter of course for them to place in the ranking?
If humans were allowed the opportunity to cultivate someday, that so-called Dragon God Genius Ranking would definitely undergo a dramatic change!
Meng Lei held rather complex feelings toward the issue.
Then, he looked at the Dragon God Tower entrance and saw a team of golden-armored sentries guarding the entrance.
Many contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms were currently gathered at the entrance, each and every one of them all geared up and eager to give the tower a shot.
A golden-armored sentry asked, “Is this the first time all of you are going into the Dragon God Tower?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Since this is your first time going in, I am obligated to inform you of a few things.
“Firstly, it is very dangerous in the Dragon God Tower. A moment of carelessness could lead to death. You must be fully prepared before you go in.
“Secondly, all the magic circles leading to the next levels are located at the areas where magic elements are the richest and densest, and the most powerful native beings usually occupy these places. Therefore, it’s also the most dangerous there. Be sure to act carefully.
“Thirdly, try your best not to move about together—because the bigger the target is, the easier it’ll be to come under the native beings’ siege. Once you’re besieged, it’ll become even more dangerous.”
This was a series of three reminders, yet every one of them was related to the dangers involved. From this, one could see just how treacherous the place was.
However, all the contestants had allowed their enthusiasm to go to their heads at the moment and only wished to enter the Dragon God Tower right away. Who would take the golden-armored sentry’s warnings to heart?
At the sight of this, the golden-armored sentry shook his head lightly and said, “Challenging the Dragon God Tower isn’t child’s play. A moment of carelessness will lead to death. I’ve already said what I should. Whether or not you heed them is none of my business.”
After he spoke, with a wave of his arm, he commanded, “Let them in!”
Whoosh!
Following the entrance’s opening, the contestants swarmed into the tower, unable to wait any further.
“That bunch of crazy, ignorant fools! Are they really going in so rashly? Aren’t they going to prepare at all?”
“Just you watch! They’re going to have a lot to cry about later!”
“Cry? You’ll need to have the opportunity to do even that. They might just stay in there forever without the chance to come out alive for eternity!”
“Exactly! They’ll pay a heavy price for their foolishness and insane arrogance. Is there anyone who doesn’t know that the death toll is the highest during the exchange competitions every time?”
“I wonder how many are gonna croak this time…”
Several Dragon God Academy students watching the show gesticulated at them, their attitudes totally gloating over their misfortune and watching a show.
“Joel, is the Dragon God Tower really that dangerous?” asked a contestant nervously.
“Isn’t that obvious? There is no shortage of geniuses that perish in the Dragon God Tower every year. This is no empty talk!”
Joel went on with a grave look on his face. “All of you’d better be careful when you go in later. Should you sense any danger, retreat at once. No matter what, safety always comes first!”
“I don’t really dare to go in anymore when you put it that way.”
“Exactly. That’s too scary.”
“Actually, there’s no need to be overly afraid, either. With our strength, the first ten levels are still relatively safe.” Joel said with a smile, “Besides, we still have to take part in the exchange competition tomorrow. We’ll just go in and have a casual look around today.”
‘You’re right!”
“We’re just here to broaden our horizons today…”
The few contestants nodded one after another in agreement.
“Lord Meng Lei, let’s go in together.”
“Let’s go!”
Then, they passed through the whirlpool-like magic screen. After the world spun for a while, the environment underwent a radical change at once.
Sand! Sand filled the sky everywhere!
As far as the eye could see, that was all there was—sand!
The sun blazed fiercely in the sky, steam was rising around them everywhere, and the ground was littered with ghastly white skeletons. The place was dry and intensely hot.
Barren and desolate, there was only dead silence everywhere. This was a world flooded by sand!
“So, this is Dragon God Tower’s first level?” Meng Lei commented as he looked around him.
It was as though he was in a vast and boundless desert with no end in sight.
Meng Lei was puzzled—this was a half-plane?
Was there any difference between this and a whole material plane?
“Where are Joel and the others?”
However, what amazed Meng Lei the most was that Joel and the others who had come in together with him were all missing. He was the only one standing here in the boundless sea of sand.
A vortex-like teleportation doorway was behind him. He needed only to pass through the teleportation doorway to leave the Dragon God Tower.
“Could the teleportation be random? Never mind, who cares? Let’s head to the second level and take a look.”
Meng Lei flew into the sky and took in the changes in the magic elements in great detail. Then, he turned into a stream of light flying out.
The earth-elemental magic elements in this half-plane were much richer and denser than the world outside. In addition, they were also constantly changing as his location shifted.
According to the golden-armored sentry, the entrance to the second level was located in the area where the magic elements were the most concentrated.
Therefore, he needed only to head toward the area where the magic elements were the most concentrated, and that would do. Meng Lei didn’t hold much interest in the first few levels as what he wanted was to take a look at the higher levels. Hence, he couldn’t be bothered to waste any time here.
As he sped about at high speed, his movements could only be described with one phrase—as swift as lightning!
Boom, boom, boom!
All of a sudden, the intense sounds of battle rang out ahead of him. Meng Lei lowered his head to take a look, only to see a muscular man with silver horns on his head currently being besieged by a nest of African elephant-sized scorpions.
These scorpions had tough armor on their bodies and were a sandy-yellow throughout. Only their tails standing high and vertically upright presented a bewitching blood-red color. There were about 20 of them.
“The Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions?”
A wind blade shot out with a casual flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, and then it separated into 20 wind blades that sunk accurately into the Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions.
“Ding! 1 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpion killed. 130,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpion killed. 120,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
In just a mere instant, all 20 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions had been beheaded. They crashed onto the ground one after another, becoming still and motionless.
(⊙o⊙)
“What’s going on?”
The silver-horned muscular man under siege had an utterly confused look on his face.
" }, { "id": 146, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-146", "title": "Chapter 146 - Killing Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts Like Slaughtering Livestock", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Ding! 1 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpion killed. 150,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Giant Swamp Crocodile killed. 190,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Fiery Storm Eagle killed. 170,000 gold coins gained!”
The first level—a world of flowing sand!
The second level—a world of torrential floods!
The third level—a world of raging storms!
The fourth level—a world of blazing flames!
The fifth level…
Meng Lei went up the whole way, not pausing for even a moment in between. In less than three hours, he had already charged all the way to the 11th level of Dragon God Tower. At once, Meng Lei felt a difference.
Only one type of element existed in rich abundance in the first ten levels, whereas he found that there were two types of magic elements that were exceptionally rich on the 11th level. They were respectively the earth-elemental and water-elemental magic elements.
This was a half-plane filled with silt and swamps. It stunk to the high heavens, and miasma wafted about—it was as though he had come to a dumping ground.
Given Meng Lei’s keen senses, he could detect several powerful auras lying dormant in the silt and swamps, ready to launch ambushes any moment.
“Most of the Magical Beasts in the first ten levels were seventh-grade ones or eighth-grade at best. However, ninth-grade ones have started to appear on this level. Would Saint Domain Magical Beasts start appearing in the higher levels?”
Meng Lei licked his lips as a hint of greed appeared on his features. “As expected! Dragon God Tower is the most suitable place for me to cultivate!”
Previously, he had earned a hefty sum of money when he had fought back the ant tide at the Magical Beast Ridge. Thanks to that, he had redeemed credit via the system and managed to tremendously improve his strength.
However, ever since then, he hadn’t had many gold coins coming into his pockets. As a result, his strength had also reached a standstill. This greatly distressed Meng Lei—if it weren’t for the fact that he had to participate in the exchange competition, he would have graduated and gone off to hunt Magical Beasts a long time ago.
But it was all good now. Meng Lei had discovered a place that was even more suitable for money-making—and that was the Dragon God Tower!
The Dragon God Tower had a total of 100 half-planes, within which lived countless Magical Beasts and native beings. To others, they were stumbling blocks obstructing them from passing through to higher ground, but in Meng Lei’s eyes, they were glittering mountains of gold.
The value of Eighth-Grade Magical Beasts started from a million gold coins, while Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts could sell for ten million, let alone the Saint Domain ones.
Just a single Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor that had just broken through alone had already created 5.2 billion + 6.1 billion = 11.3 billion gold coins in total for him.
One could simply imagine what the Dragon God Tower meant to Meng Lei.
“The system + Dragon God Tower = The most awesome cheating device!
“Haha! My path to money-making is all-clear and free of obstructions from now on!”
“Gurgle~”
“Gurgle~”
Just as Meng Lei burst into loud, smug laughter, a few bubbles surfaced in the foul-smelling swamps a short distance away.
In the next moment, a fishy, pungent odor rushed toward him.
Meng Lei turned to see a shadow swooping toward him. It moved at an extremely high speed and took only a mere instant to reach him.
Splurt!
A lightning lance flashing with silver electric currents quietly appeared with a casual point of Meng Lei’s finger and impaled the shadow’s gaping mouth in an instant.
The shadow instantly froze in mid-air, its eyes filled with disbelief. The one that had launched an ambush had clearly been it, so why was it that the human’s attack that had been launched later had instead reached it earlier?
It was just a shame that it no longer had any way of knowing the answer to its question anymore because the raging thunder lance had exploded and blown its head into smithereens.
“Ding! 1 Blackwater Leech killed. 1,390,000 gold coins gained!”
“1,390,000 gold coins? Not bad!”
With a wave of his arm, Meng Lei kept the Blackwater Leech’s magic core. Then, he let out the magic carpet and continued forward.
Although he could already fly, Meng Lei felt that it was more prudent that he matured cowardly in a place like this instead. This way, he would be able to bait the Magical Beasts hiding in the shadows into attacking him.
This was the only way he could make money, right?
And in truth, that was exactly how it was. The sight of him steering the magic carpet about was as though a piece of plump, fleshy meat swaggering through the streets, and it attracted the covetous eyes of innumerable Magical Beasts.
“Ding! 1 Blackwater Leech killed. 1,360,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Six-Tailed Poisonous Centipede killed. 1,480,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Blue-Eyed Golden Toad killed. 2,710,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
Meng Lei slaughtered all the Magical Beasts he encountered the whole way. Eighth-Grade Magical Beasts perished in his hands one after another. When he was about to reach the magic circle leading to the 12th level, he finally encountered a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast.
It was snowy-white, 50 meters tall, and steel needle-like fur covered its body, its hair pointing upside down. Its muscles were bulging and brimming with explosive energy.
Its form resembled a giant ape, yet it had four bewitching blood-red eyes. Even though it had arms and legs, it also had an additional two pairs of fins.
“The Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape!”
Meng Lei was all smiles at once. The worth of a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast started at ten million gold coins, after all. He could finally earn some money now!
Roar!
The Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape thumped its chest loudly, producing low, thunderous war drum-like thumps. Its large, savage mouth opened wide as it roared furiously.
The next moment, it raised its gigantic palm and grabbed at Meng Lei.
“Usually, I’d have been able to play with you a little, but I have limited time today. Sorry about that!”
With a flash, Meng Lei vanished from where he was. By the time he reappeared, he was already behind the Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape. Then, a heavy fist went flying out.
Snap!
The back of the Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape’s head was broken and crushed by the wild, violent blast. The rushing wave of energy entered its body and instantly ground its brains into bits and pieces, killing it on the spot.
“Ding! 1 Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape killed. 12,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Tsk, tsk! Killing Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts brings in money faster indeed!”
Meng Lei gouged out the Blood-Eyed Hydro-Ape’s magic core with a casual grabbing motion, and then he left in a fantastic mood.
As for the carcass of that Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, he would just leave it for the native Magical Beasts of that plane to enjoy. He found it somewhat beneath him now.
Buzz!
The magic circle lit up, and Meng Lei disappeared from where he was. By the time he reappeared, he had already arrived at the 12th level of the Dragon God Tower.
Dense, lush primeval forests were surrounding him now. Towering trees that reached as high as 1,000 feet were everywhere. As far as the eye could see, it was a sea of forests!
Yet, in the center of the forests stood an enormous, lofty, and majestic mountain peak. Wisps of thick smoke billowed from the summit, rushing toward the sky like smoke signals in war.
Additionally, all around the mountain was black lava that had just hardened, as well as dust, limestone, broken rocks, and so on that covered the whole place…
That was an active volcano that could erupt any time!
“Forests and a volcano… The wood-elemental and fire-elemental magic elements in this world are exceptionally active. Looks like it’s a half-plane with mainly wood-elemental and fire-elemental laws of nature.”
At once, Meng Lei let out his magic carpet and flew slowly and leisurely toward the area where the wood-elemental and fire-elemental magic elements were the richest.
Whoosh!
The swift and sharp sound of something slicing through the air rang out. As though a poisonous python, a vine suddenly shot out of the forest and shot toward Meng Lei at a lightning-quick speed.
“Ambushing me?”
Meng Lei chuckled. He neither ducked nor attacked, allowing the vine to wrap around him as it wished. Then, it dragged him down to the surface.
A brief moment later, Meng Lei was dragged right over to a strange tree with a trunk so thick that it would require ten people to circle around it. The strange tree wasn’t very tall; however, innumerable vines draped from its crown-like hair and in a mess.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several vines covered in sharp thorns extended toward Meng Lei and went stabbing toward him viciously, as though they wanted to pierce into his body and suck him dry.
Clink, clink, clink!
However, the strange tree had made the wrong decision. Its thorns stabbed against Meng Lei as though they were stabbing against steel and iron, causing a series of sparks to fly about.
Apart from that, they didn’t manage to pierce into Meng Lei at all.
“Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Man-Eating Tree Ghoul, eh? Even if I allow you to pierce me all you want, you wouldn’t be able to hurt me at all!”
" }, { "id": 147, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-147", "title": "Chapter 147 - Level 21, Red Rock Fire Demon", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Even if I stand here and let you stab me, you can’t hurt me!”
Meng Lei sneered, and green vines also appeared on his body. They turned into green pythons and wrapped back toward the strange tree. Then they stabbed into the bark of the strange tree and started absorbing madly.
This was the Wood-Elemental Spell, Life Drawing!
Meng Lei retaliated against it with its own medicine.
“Weren’t you going to suck me dry? I’ll suck you dry first!”
“Gurgle~”
“Gurgle~”
Upon feeling its vitality being drained continuously, the strange tree started struggling. Its trunk shook, and its vines lashed out, attacking the green pythons madly to peel them off its tree body.
Unfortunately, the green pythons that rooted on it were like maggots deep in its bones. However hard it struggled, it simply couldn’t move them in the least. It could only watch them devour its vitality.
Whimper—
Eventually, amid the strange tree’s shrill screams, its vitality was entirely devoured, and it died with indignation and regret.
“Ding! 1 Man-Eating Tree Ghoul killed. 17,300,000 gold coins gained!”
“Pfft! Gotten 17 million gold coins!”
Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction, then dug out a durian-sized, translucent green crystal that glowed with a green luster like a green jade.
“This is the Man-Eating Tree Ghoul’s magic core? Such rich vitality…”
“This is a treasure!” Ol’ Amos’ voice sounded in his head. “The magic cores of Wood-Elemental Magical Beasts are also called vitality cores. They contain a vast amount of vitality and can bring even people who are severely injured and on the verge of death back to life. It is called a divine healing medicine. Thus, the value of one vitality core is several times, even tens of times, that of similar-grade magic cores!
“The Man-Eating Tree Ghoul is a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, so its vitality core is even rarer. If one brings its vitality core to an auction, it can sell for at least 100 million.”
“100 million? That’s very good then!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up. He casually put away the vitality core and continued to fly forward.
Not long after he left, the completely still trees in the surrounding area all reached out with their vines to stab at Man-Eating Tree Ghoul’s body and started to absorb the remaining vitality in its body!
…
“Ding! 1 Jade Wood Butterfly killed. 12,900,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Witherbark Cicada killed. 1,460,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3870!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power +2659!”
He went all the way up without any resistance.
By the time Meng Lei reached the magic circle that led to the 13th level, he had casually killed a total of 48 Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts.
48 Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts!
What kind of efficiency was this? One had to know that only a mere half an hour had passed since he had entered the 12th floor!
Such efficiency, such speed!
Whoosh!
He stepped into the magic circle. After a whirl of dizziness, the surrounding environment changed again.
Meng Lei arrived at a vast, endless grassland. Grass, the height of his knees, was very lush. A strong gust of wind blew, and the grass bowed down.
Swoosh…
On the patch of earth not far away, a tornado the height of dozens of meters was raging, bursting into a crazy roar.
The sound traveled more than 100 miles. The whole world was dark!
“Wood and Wind Elements, both are very rich.
“This is the Dragon God Tower’s 13th level? It’s actually very suitable for cultivating wind-elemental magic!”
Meng Lei did some sensing as usual and then continued to push forward.
“Ding! 1 Stormy Flying Elephant killed. 17,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Stormy Flying Elephant killed. 18,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Cloud Stooping Black Ox killed. 16,000,000 gold coins gained!”
…
Half an hour later, Meng Lei arrived at the 14th level.
“Ding! 1 Gold Backed Mantis killed. 19,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Three-Winged Heavenly Thunder Ant killed. 18,600,000 gold coins gained!”
…
The 15th floor!
…
The 16th floor!
…
The 17th floor!
…
The 18th floor!
…
The 19th floor!
…
The 20th floor!
He pushed through all the way!
Whoosh!
Half an hour later, Meng Lei arrived at the 21st level smoothly.
The environment changed drastically again. The world of ice, which was covered with the moment before, became a world filled with volcanoes and lavas in the next moment.
The sky was filled with thick layers of red clouds, and many purple lightning bolts moved rapidly between the cloud layers.
The sound of thunder had an intimidating impetus.
A boiling hot lava river was running non-stop on top of the earth. If ordinary living things arrived here, they would definitely be baked till their skins were dried.
“The Fire, Thunder, and Darkness Elements are particularly rich. From this layer onward, there should be Saint Domain Magical Beast already, right?”
There was a faint look of anticipation in Meng Lei’s eyes. The easy kills along his whole way before this were only small appetizers, after all.
The Saint Domain Magical Beasts in the higher levels were the feast he was really looking forward to. Therefore, he arrived here in one go non-stop.
“The magic elements over there are the richest!”
Meng Lei found out the direction and then flew over, riding his magic carpet. Half an hour later, the magic circle toward the 22nd level was already in view.
But strangely, he actually didn’t see a single Magical Beast, Not to mention Magical Beasts, not even a hair of a Magical Beast.
“How strange… Can there be no Magical Beasts on this level? But this shouldn’t be happening.”
Meng Lei stopped in mid-air, and looks of confusion filled his eyes as he observed the vast and empty world of lava.
Whoosh!
At that moment, a burning wave of air suddenly came from behind him. Then, he saw a viper completely made of boiling hot lava shooting right at him, as though it wanted to swallow Meng Lei whole.
“Hmm?”
Meng Lei’s ears moved slightly, and he suddenly disappeared from the spot where he was.
Boom!
The lava viper’s failed attack suddenly burst and turned into countless droplets of lava, splashing all around.
Meng Lei eerily appeared at another spot, his eyes locked on a lava lake near him. The corners of his mouth curved upwards slightly. It was from that lava lake that the lava viper had shot out of just now.
Gurgle~
Gurgle~
The lava lake boiled with bubbles. A stone-like head slowly emerged, and on this stone head were actually a horn, a single eye, and a nose!
Splash!
The lava boiled, before a three-meter-tall humanoid creature, with a body made entirely of red rocks and burning flames surrounding it, came out.
“Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Red Rock Fire Demon…”
Although Meng Lei was stunned, he immediately felt very disappointed. “Why is it still a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast? Where are the Saint Domain Magical Beasts? Where are they hiding?”
Right when Meng Lei was confused, one red head followed by another emerged from the lava lake. All of them had entirely flame-covered red bodies covered. They were all Red Rock Fire Demons, at least 100, and they instantly surrounded Meng Lei.
Roar!
All the Red Rock Fire Demons roared angrily, opened their bloody red mouths, and spewed out many waves of boiling hot red lava.
The boiling hot lava shot over from all directions and directly blocked Meng Lei’s way, leaving him no space to escape. He could only forcefully take on them.
“128 Red Rock Fire Demons, eh? Still quite a fortune. I will take you all reluctantly, shall I?”
Faced with the lava attacks, Meng Lei was calm and composed. At the moment right before the boiling hot lava reached him, a layer of diamond-like shining crystals suddenly emerged from all surfaces of his body. He turned into a diamond-like man instantly!
That was the Ninth-Grade Spell, Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor!
" }, { "id": 148, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-148", "title": "Chapter 148 - Undying Mud Leeches And Successfully Getting On Ranking", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Boom!
The boiling lava drowned Meng Lei instantly like roaring ocean waves. A terribly high temperature burnt Meng Lei and melted the Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor, and it seemed like it was going to burn Meng Lei to ashes.
Roar!
The Red Rock Fire Demon saw this and let out triumphant roars, then got ready to retreat into the lava lake to continue sleeping.
Meng Lei’s death was certain in their views, as there was no way he could survive their lava attack. No human could. There were at least hundreds and millions of outsiders who died in their hands.
Yet, in the next moment, the Red Rock Fire Demons were shocked.
Meng Lei actually stood right where he was, completely unharmed. Even the magic robe on him was just as new as before, without suffering the least bit of damage.
“What?!”
The Red Rock Fire Demons were shocked.
At that moment, Meng Lei had already turned into a stream of light and shot right toward the Red Rock Fire Demons.
Bang, bang, bang!
Amid successive collisions, the Red Rock Fire Demons’ heads burst open like watermelons.
Crushed rocks shot and lava splashed!
“Ding! 1 Red Rock Fire Demon killed. 6,400,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Red Rock Fire Demon killed. 6,370,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Red Rock Fire Demon killed. 6,290,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
Roar!
The remaining Red Rock Fire Demons were terrified, and they all squinted into the lava lake in an attempt to dodge Meng Lei’s attack. Unfortunately, it was of no use.
With a soft snap of fingers… A gigantic rock with a diameter of hundreds of meters appeared in the sky and then smashed down right at this lava lake.
Boom!
With an earth-shaking loud bang, the gigantic rock hit very hard right at the lava lake center. Huge waves of lava were splashed, revealing the Red Rock Fire Demons hidden inside the lava lake.
The unlucky ones were smashed into a flesh pie, and the more fortunate ones were sent into mid-air by the huge force and then killed by Meng Lei.
Though he didn’t meet any Saint Domain Magical Beast, Meng Lei had to admit that these Red Rock Fire Demons that inhabited the 21st level were indeed very strong, and they had a geographical advantage on top of that.
Even peak ninth-grade experts like Francis would definitely be in grave danger when facing them.
One small mishap and they may die on this level. But it was different for Meng Lei.
Even though the Red Rock Fire Demons had a geographical and numerical advantage, they were still a bunch of fragile weaklings waiting for him to kill them.
Ninth-Grade!
Saint Domain!
It was just the difference of a single grade, but it made the distinction between heaven and earth.
Whoosh!
The lava lake gradually returned to peace, but the Red Rock Fire Demons, who were ravaging and roaring just now, had fallen asleep forever.
All of them were killed, and not even a survivor remained.
“7.8 billion gold coins into the pocket!”
Meng Lei revealed a smile, and a fist-sized fiery red crystal appeared in his palm. “With the addition of 128 Red Rock Fire Demons’ magic cores, the 21st level has given me the richest rewards after I entered the Dragon God Tower.
“Pfft, it’s still faster to earn money by hunting Magical Beasts.
“Yeap, off to the next level.
“Hope I can encounter Saint Domain Magical Beasts!”
Whoosh!
The 22nd floor!
…
The 23rd floor!
…
The 24th floor!
…
Meng Lei advanced all the way very smoothly, passing through every level with an average of half an hour. His speed was so fast that it was unbelievable. Five hours later, he had already arrived at the 30th level.
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei turned into a flash of lightning and kept moving and attacking. Strange Magical Beasts constituted entirely of mud, and muddy water were around him. They looked very similar to earthworms and leeches.
After observing them closely, they were like a thick, entangled mass!
They were the peak Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, Undying Mud Leeches!
There was nothing extraordinary about Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, but what drove Meng Lei mad was that Undying Mud Leeches were practically impossible to kill.
Be it hitting them with his fists or bombarding them with magic, nothing worked at all!
“It’s impossible to kill them!”
“Boy, you must find the Undying Mud Leeches’ weakness before you can kill them. Otherwise, they will slowly exhaust your physical strength and magic power and kill you eventually.” Ol’ Amos reminded him promptly.
“I know about finding the weakness, but does such a thing really have a weakness?” Meng Lei was also thinking about this question.
From the 21st level onwards, he hadn’t met any Saint Domain Magical Beasts, yet he kept meeting a bunch of extremely strange Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts. They were not only shocking in their numbers, but they were also extremely hard to deal with.
They either had extraordinary defense systems and were very hard to kill, had amazing vitality and couldn’t be killed, or there were so many of them that they couldn’t all be killed!
These were still not that bad. Meng Lei had forced himself to be patient and deal with all of them, but on the 30th level, this bunch of Undying Mud Leeches he encountered made him feel particularly stuck.
After he broke them into pieces, they would return to their original forms…
One spell was enough to burn, dry, chop them up… Yet, within a few breaths, they were okay again.
Physical attacks were useless, and they were immune to magical attacks!
What else could he do?
“If physical and magic attacks don’t work, then try spiritual attacks!” Ol’ Amos reminded him. “Any living thing has a weakness, and Undying Mud Leeches can’t be the exception.”
“I was just thinking about this.”
Meng Lei nodded hard. His spiritual power unleashed like a tide and surged toward the nearest Undying Mud Leech.
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei’s spiritual power was rich to the extreme, and it madly attacked the Undying Mud Leech’s sea of consciousness. To Meng Lei’s surprise, the Undying Mud Leech’s spirit was actually much weaker than he imagined.
One small spiritual attack easily dismantled the seas of consciousness of several Undying Mud Leeches—they rolled their eyes and instantly dropped weakly to the ground!
“Ding! 1 Undying Mud Leech killed. 9,400,000 gold coins gained!”
“It died?”
Meng Lei’s spirit was greatly revived, and he continued attacking.
Bump, bump, bump…
Undying Mud Leeches fell in waves like harvested crops. In a short while, all the Undying Mud Leeches died.
“Ding! 1 Undying Mud Leech killed, 9,490,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Undying Mud Leech killed, 9,620,000 gold coins gained!”
The system’s cue tones kept sounding. Meng Lei looked at the Undying Mud Leeches’ corpses that crashed into the mud pond and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Ol’ President, now I finally understand why everyone said the Dragon God Tower is difficult to venture through.
“The first 10 levels are easy.
“At the 11th level, Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts start to appear, and the difficulty level slowly starts to increase.
“At the 21st level, there are more and more Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, and they are harder and harder to deal with. The difficulty level increases exponentially.
“Below the Saint Domain level, it is hard for someone to even go past 25 levels!”
“You’ve finally realized it!” Ol’ Amos chuckled and said, “The first 10 levels are easy, so ordinary geniuses can get past them with a bit more effort.
“From the 11th level onward, it gets a bit hard. 90% of exchange competition participants would be stuck in these 10 levels and find it hard to make the slightest progress.
“As for the 21st to the 30th level, especially the higher 5 levels, they are almost impossible for Ninth-Grade experts to pass through.
“Faced with Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts that are astounding in numbers and are super hard to deal with, even pureblood Colossal Dragons have to fail!”
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“So, usually people who can pass through the first 30 levels mostly are in Saint Domain, or have the battle power of Saint Domain.” Ol’ Amos smiled and said, “To be able to reach here, one would be good enough to be listed on the Dragon God Genius Ranking!”
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stunned. He said with surprise, “Which means my name has already appeared on the Dragon God Genius Ranking?”
“Yes!”
" }, { "id": 149, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-149", "title": "Chapter 149 - Ranked 469Th, Second In History", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "It was currently 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon and seven to eight hours since Meng Lei and the others had entered the Dragon God Tower.
After Dragon God Academy played host to the teachers-in-charge and held a welcoming banquet in their name, the teachers also began their own leisure time.
Some of the teachers went directly to the Dragon God Tower. Among them were President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president.
Had it been during the past years, there wouldn’t have been anything much to watch. After all, it wasn’t like there were any decent geniuses around. What was the point of watching others’ performances?
However, that wasn’t the case this year. There was much to look forward to!
“Given Meng Lei’s strength, if he stays somewhat careful and cautious, there won’t be much of a problem for him to pass through the first 30 levels. It’s enough for him to place in the ranking.”
“Instead of 30 levels, he just needs to pass through 22 levels, and he’ll have a chance of placing in the ranking. There’s also much hope for that Francis kid…”
President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president idly chatted the whole way idly as they headed over. Soon, they reached the Dragon God Tower.
At that moment, the area in front of the Dragon God Tower was already packed with people. They gesticulated and speculated among themselves, creating quite the lively atmosphere.
“What the heck? The contestants from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms are really impressive this time! Quite a few have actually made it into the ranking!”
“Isn’t that so? The most impressive one is already ranked 487th. That’s 487th in history! How awesome!”
“Tsk, tsk. They passed through the 30th level so easily. Impressive!”
“If I recall correctly, it hasn’t even been eight hours since they entered the Dragon God Tower, right?”
“Seems like it…”
Upon hearing their speculations, President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president both looked at the huge magic screen, and then their gaze slowly went all the way up.
“No. 972: Francis Matthew, Frost Dragon Person, 28 years old, Level 23”
“Did you see that? As expected, Francis has made it into the ranking!” President Fred remarked cheerfully, “That little fellow is certainly not bad. He didn’t disgrace you!”
“He’s alright, I guess. He can’t compare to Meng Lei!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president adopted an awfully humble attitude. However, he couldn’t hide the smile on his lips, no matter what he did. One mustn’t be fooled by how the 972nd placement seemed rather low—it was more than enough to prove Francis’ shocking talent!
One must know that the Dragon God Genius Ranking was a ranking in which all geniuses competed against one another on the same platform in the recent 40,000-odd years.
Choosing 1,000 people over the course of 40,000 years—just how fierce was the competition? Just how many people desired to place in the ranking, yet failed?
Being able to make it into the ranking was the symbol of one’s strength itself.
Being able to make it into the ranking was the symbol of one’s talent itself.
It was no exaggeration to say that every one of those that could place in the ranking was a genius whose name would remain forever in history.
They had enormous potential, and the Saint Domain realm was within sight for them.
President Fred gave him a smile in response, and then his gaze continued to go up the ranking.
“Oh hey! Isn’t that Fred and Fighting Dragon?”
A sinister voice suddenly rang out from behind them.
“Why is it that old fogey again!”
The two of them broke into frowns at the same time. The voice was all they needed to know who had just arrived. Aside from that loathsome old Black Dragon, who else could it be?
“Why are the two of you interested in the Dragon God Genius Ranking, too?”
Indeed, the person who had just arrived was Angus, the academy president of Black Dragon Academy. His gaze flickered over to the Dragon God Genius Ranking, and then he broke into a smile so wide that his countenance became all wrinkled. “That Isaiah kid hasn’t disappointed me! He has ranked 692nd and reached Level 28. He didn’t let all my grooming of him go to waste!”
Upon hearing his words, President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president couldn’t help but look at the person in 692nd place.
“No. 692: Isaiah Thomas, Black Dragon Person, 26 years old, Level 28”
“26 years old!”
“Level 28!”
“That fellow has pretty good talent!”
President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president exchanged a look, both seeing the astonishment in each other’s eyes.
To pass through the 28th level, one must be at least a ninth-grade pinnacle-level expert and possess great mastery of the universe’s momentum.
For him to possess this level of strength at the age of 26, he was astonishingly talented for sure.
“I’ve heard that a few geniuses have also emerged from your academies. I wonder if they’ve placed in the ranking yet? Which positions are they in? How are they doing in comparison to our academy’s Isaiah?”
Angus asked cheerfully, “Since time immemorial, the Fire Dragon Academy and the Fighting Dragon Academy have always been elite academies where geniuses emerge in every generation. I’m sure there must be extraordinary geniuses in this batch of students, too?”
“Stop acting so smug, Angus!”
President Fred was someone with a blunt and straightforward temperament. He couldn’t help but snort and say, “Isn’t it just the 692nd position? What’s so great about that!”
“Yes! It certainly isn’t anything great!”
Angus didn’t flare up. Instead, he was all smiles as he replied, “Since that’s what you’re saying, Fred, then I’m sure the Fire Dragon Magic Academy must have an even more outstanding genius?”
“Hurhur! Of course!”
President Fred snorted, and then he quickly looked at where the 487th place was in the ranking. He believed that that must be where Meng Lei ranked.
However, he was disappointed.
“No. 487: Derrick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 30 years old, Level 31”
“It’s not Meng Lei?”
Fred looked absolutely stupefied. He had thought that the genius in 487th place must be Meng Lei for sure. After all, among the geniuses of the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms, Meng Lei was the most outstanding one for sure.
Therefore, Meng Lei’s position must be the highest. Who else could it other than Meng Lei that had come in 487th place?
However, the truth was that… it wasn’t Meng Lei.
“What exactly is that fellow doing?”
President Fred was rather anxious. However, it was at this moment that bursts of exclamations reached his ears.
“What the heck? That guy from just now has sped all the way to 469th place!”
“469th? He’s sped all the way there so quickly?”
“Did that guy take a Rage potion or what?”
“469th?”
Upon hearing what they said, President Fred, the Fighting Dragon Academy president, and Angus, the muscular old man, looked at the 469th position almost all at the same time.
The moment they did, all three of them had different reactions.
President Fred heaved a long breath of relief while the Fighting Dragon Academy president’s countenance was full of marvel, the words “I knew it!” all over his face.
Angus, however, gasped and reacted as if he had just seen a ghost. “He’s reached Level 32 when he’s only 16 years old? Wait a minute! 16 years old!? How can that be!?”
The gasps of astonishment around them weren’t any less intense than his. All those who had noticed the person in 469th place were astounded by what they had just seen.
“No. 469: Meng Lei, Human, 16 years old, Level 32”
“For one to pass through Dragon God Tower’s 32nd level, they must at least possess the strength of a Saint Domain. In other words, that 16-year-old little fellow already possesses the strength of a Saint Domain?”
“16 years old?”
“Saint Domain?”
“Is he even human?”
“He must be a freak?”
“I really wonder where that mutant came from! For him to become a Saint Domain at 16 years old, he’s totally a monster on a level among the top ten—no, the top three of history!”
“He must be from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms! Otherwise, a genius on a level among the top few of history like that would have made it into the ranking a long time ago! He wouldn’t have waited until today to challenge the Dragon God Tower!”
“That makes sense! I wonder which kingdom he’s from…”
Upon hearing the crowd’s gasps of astonishment, a complex look came over Angus’ countenance. “I didn’t expect that a monster like that has actually emerged from us 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms! This is truly unbelievable!”
A 16-year-old Saint Domain!
He was only a notch inferior to Timon Barton, the number one in history.
That firmly made him the number two in history.
The number two person over the course of 40,000 years! How amazing was that?
At Angus’ exclamation of admiration, President Fred smiled so widely that his visage was all wrinkled. He said, “That Meng Lei kid hasn’t disappointed me, after all! Coming in at 469th place and going up to Level 32, he didn’t let all my grooming of him go to waste!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president cast a glance at Angus and also remarked sarcastically, “Although he can’t compare with someone else’s genius from the Black Dragon Academy, he still did pretty well!”
(⊙o⊙)
At his words, Angus’ countenance immediately froze. “Fred, that mutant at 469th place is from the Fire Dragon Magic Academy?”
“Yes! Is something wrong?”
“…”
" }, { "id": 150, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-150", "title": "Chapter 150 - Golden Steel Wind-Ape, Wind-Elemental Fragment", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The 32nd level of Dragon God Tower was a large, vast, and boundless silver-colored plains.
As far as the eye could see, there were no weeds, no trees, no mountains, and no signs of life.
The whole place seemed like the forbidden zone of life. On the silver-colored ground were violent gusts of wind wreaking havoc while letting out wild shrieks and howls.
And in the sky were roaring streaks of lightning running through the clouds. They thundered deafeningly, their momentum horrifying.
“The ground… It’s made of metal!”
Meng Lei stood proudly between heaven and earth, gazing into the distance at the solitary world where violent gusts of wind wreaked havoc and thunder crackled and boomed loudly, a look of anticipation vaguely in his eyes.
At the 31st level, his wish had come true, and he had encountered a Saint Domain Magical Beast. Although it was just a Golden-Backed Ox Scorpion, he had still earned 9.8 billion gold coins from it.
Coupled with its magic core, that was double the rewards for him.
Sweet!
“Here’s hoping that this level doesn’t disappoint me too!”
Meng Lei licked his lips. Then, his form flitted toward the area with the richest magic elements. From the 31st level onward, there was no longer any need for him to use the magic carpet anymore.
He moved at a speed neither too fast nor too slow. Before he knew it, he had already crossed the long distance and arrived at the area where the magic elements were the richest.
A great silver-colored mountain entered his sight. Like the ground surrounding it, the fairly majestic-looking silver-colored mountain was also made out of silver-colored metal. A silvery-white color throughout, the mountain reached as high as several hundred meters tall.
Puff!
Puff!
Halfway up the mountain were two caves. Two thick and solid tornadoes shot out of the caves and blew toward the ground in the distance, howling as they did so.
“A Saint Domain Magical Beast is hiding in the cave?”
Meng Lei landed in front of the cave. As he stared at the two almost identical-looking caves, he made an antagonistic move.
He threw a fireball into the cave with a casual toss of his hand—he wanted to bombard the cave and drive the Saint Domain Magical Beast out of it!
Boom!
The fireball exploded, causing even the entire mountain to shake. Thick smoke billowed out of the cave, and then something that astonished Meng Lei happened the very next moment.
Boom!
Amid dull thunderous booms, the mountain suddenly began to shake and sway, and the ground started to tremble and shake. At the same time, a series of roars also reached his ears.
“What the heck?”
Meng Lei realized something right away, and he retreated with a sudden burst of speed. At the same time, he also gazed at the mountain that was in the midst of standing up, a look of astonishment surfacing in his eyes.
A head!
Arms!
Legs!
That was no goddamn mountain—it was clearly a metallic giant!
It was just that… Wasn’t that giant a little too tall?
Was it 1,500 meters tall? Or 2,000 meters?
Meng Lei was dumbstruck by the sight. “What kind of Magical Beast is that?”
Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out as he replied, “That’s the Golden Steel Wind-Ape, a rare species among ape-type Magical Beasts. A Metal-Elemental and Wind-Elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast. It possesses Herculean strength and is fairly difficult to deal with.
“Be careful. If you can’t beat it, run immediately. Don’t let the Golden Steel Wind Ape smack you to death with its palm!”
“The Golden Steel Wind Ape?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
The Golden Steel Wind Ape glared furiously at Meng Lei, raging flames of fury bursting forth from its huge eyes that were as big as elephants.
“Damned human! How dare you disturb Bradley’s beautiful dreams! You’re courting death!”
It had only just spoken when it immediately opened its bus-sized mouth and spat out a tornado measuring a dozen or so meters wide.
Whoosh!
As he faced the tornado sweeping toward him, Meng Lei stood still and motionless. In fact, he was even somewhat in a trance.
Because in the instant that the Golden Steel Wind-Ape had launched its attack, a few dazzling light balls had dropped from it.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Pick it up”
“Ding! Pickup successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +3,038!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the first-class spell, Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the first-class spell, Dimensional Blade!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Wind-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“What the heck!?”
At the sound of the system notifications constantly ringing out in his mind, Meng Lei became excited at once.
First-class spells and a wind-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!
He had really struck gold this time! When he had battled Saint Domain Magical Beasts in the past, they had never once dropped this much good stuff before.
Boom!
However, during this exact instant, the fearsome tornado straight up engulfed Meng Lei, and countless razor-sharp wind blades sliced at his body. The magic robe he was wearing didn’t last long before it was ripped into shreds by the innumerable wind blades.
And then, it was his underwear’s turn…
Similarly, they weren’t spared, either…
However, the amazing thing was that when the razor-sharp wind blades cleaved onto Meng Lei’s body, it was as though they were cleaving onto steel plates—aside from causing bursts of sparks to fly about, they weren’t able to cut even a bit of his skin.
Additionally, it was as though Meng Lei didn’t feel any pain or agony, either. No matter how the wind blades cleaved at him or attacked him, he stayed still and motionless.
“The wind’s lithe gracefulness, nimbleness, raging violence…
“It could be as gentle as a soft breeze caressing one’s face while it could also be as turbulent as to destroy the heavens and earth…
“The wind…”
Waves of comprehension and information regarding the wind-elemental laws of nature appeared within Meng Lei’s mind. He browsed through them quickly as though he was watching a movie. In no time, he had opened the door to the wind-elemental laws of nature!
“So, this is… What wind is!”
After a long while, Meng Lei slowly opened his eyes. A shrewd gleam flashed across his eyes, and then his entire self disappeared inside the tornado. By the time he reappeared, he was already behind the Golden Steel Wind-Ape!
“As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive. You can have a taste of my wind, too!”
Meng Lei opened his mouth. A lithe, transparent air current suddenly shot out of his mouth and shot toward the back of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s head at lightning-quick speed!
Whoosh!
Upon coming into contact with air, the light and lithe air current had a sudden, dramatic burst of speed. In an instant, it morphed into an incomparably sharp wind blade that cleaved viciously against the back of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s head.
Crack!
Amid the sounds of metals colliding against each other, a small crack was cleaved out of the back of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s head, and peculiar black blood squirted out of it.
Roar!
Although the tiny crack didn’t count as much at all when compared to the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s enormous body, it still pained the Magical Beast, nevertheless. It let out furious roars after roars. Then, it turned around, and its palm smacked viciously toward Meng Lei as though it wanted to crush him into smithereens.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei vanished in an instant. By the time he reappeared, he was already on the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s shoulder. He said, “Your defenses are pretty good, big guy, but you’re too slow!”
Roar!
The Golden Steel Wind-Ape quickly turned its head and delivered another smack with its palm. Although its speed was fast enough, it was still as slow as an 80-year-old granny in Meng Lei’s eyes.
“Too slow!”
Meng Lei ducked slightly, and then he arrived at the top of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s head. It was only at this point that its gigantic palm finally landed against its shoulder. With a thunderous boom, the Golden Steel Wind-Ape knocked itself unsteady, causing itself to stumble.
“Hahaha! How stupid!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but break into a grin. “Have all of its Stat Attribute Points gone to its size and defenses? There’s pretty much no one else with a speed like the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s!”
“Duh! If the Golden Steel Wind-Ape was fast enough, would it appear here?”
Ol’ Amos snorted and said, “But come to think of it, isn’t your speed a little too fast? Even Saint Domain Magical Beasts with agility as their forte aren’t as quick-footed as you. It would be stranger if the Golden Steel Wind-Ape could catch up to you!”
“Haha! Of course!”
Meng Lei smiled smugly in response, thinking to himself, My defenses are also super awesome, let alone my speed! Do you think the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline is unworthy of its reputation?
" }, { "id": 151, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-151", "title": "Chapter 151 - This Is Just Basic Operations, So Don'T Be That Amazed, Dimensional Blade", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <50%>, Fire Demon bloodline <45%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>, Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <1%>)
Wealth: 2.88 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (11,072,554,516/100 billion)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Great Magician (1,789,871/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Ninth-Grade Great Magician (1,457,391/1,000,000,000)
Laws of Nature: Fire-Elemental (0.2%), Wind-Elemental (0.1%)
Others: Some increase
These were Meng Lei’s current personal stats.
His bloodlines, Wealth, Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, Magic Power, and Laws of Nature comprehension had all undergone a dramatic change.
Within which, there was only one factor contributing to his spike in Physical Body Constitution—the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline.
After this particular fearsome bloodline—that he had picked up via the chargeable function Limitless Pickup—had been assimilated into his body, Meng Lei’s Physical Body Constitution had gone from 1 billion to 11 billion.
It had risen by a whole 10 times and more!
Apart from that, it had also given Meng Lei extraordinarily quick speed and extraordinarily strong defenses, as well as two different types of magic talent—wind-elemental and dark-elemental magic talent.
It could be said that the assimilation of the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline had given Meng Lei great benefits. And yet, its bloodline assimilation rate was only… 1%!
Now, that was crazy.
Just how fearsome was that bloodline!?
Meng Lei found this normal, though.
According to the system, the Gods-Slaying Rat was a Deity-level Magical Beast whose strength was absurdly powerful. Even in the vast and boundless universe, the creature was rarely ever seen.
In fact, because it was too much of a mutant, it attracted the heavens’ jealousy. As a result, the Gods-Slaying Rats were unable to form packs and could only live in solitude by themselves in the world.
One could imagine just how big of a mutant that creature was.
Therefore, what did the tenfold improvement of his body post-assimilation even count as?
What did obtaining extraordinarily strong defenses and speed even count as?
What did the 1% bloodline assimilation rate even count as?
This was basic operations, and one mustn’t be that impressed!
Keep calm, everyone!
Because of this, Meng Lei was very calm and composed when facing Ol’ Amos’ astonishment.
You’re already that astonished? This doesn’t even count as much yet…
When I’ve earned enough, I’ll boost the 1% bloodline assimilation rate. You can be astonished again when that happens.
“Stop being so smug. Hurry and take care of that Golden Steel Wind-Ape first!” Ol’ Amos sighed and said, “You don’t have much time left. You still have to take part in the exchange competition tomorrow.”
“Alright,” said Meng Lei in response, and then he promptly activated a first-class spell.
Rasp!
A green translucent wind blade several hundred meters long abruptly appeared and hurtled toward the Golden Steel Wind-Ape at lightning-quick speed.
Its speed was incomparably fast. The astonishing thing was that everywhere that the wind blade passed by, a gash was ripped directly into the air as if it were a piece of cloth.
It was the wind-elemental single-target first-class spell—Dimensional Blade.
Roar!
Upon sensing the life-threatening danger, the Golden Steel Wind-Ape hastily ran into the distance in an attempt to avoid the Dimensional Blade’s attack.
“Do you really think you can get away?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
Rasp!
In just the twinkling of an eye, the Dimensional Blade crossed the 100-meters distance and arrived at the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s neck.
Roar!!
During the moment of crisis, the Golden Steel Wind-Ape hastily raised its arm and protected its neck. As a crisp rip rang out, the Dimensional Blade easily cut through its arm to slice into its neck. It was only after it sank a dozen meters or so deep into its neck that it dissipated completely from the depletion of force.
Boom!
A segment of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s arm landed onto the ground. It was as though a towering tree dozens of meters thick had fallen, and the impact from the crash caused the ground to shake violently.
Splurt!
Black blood spurted everywhere, dyeing the silver-colored ground black. Severe pain assaulted the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s nerves, causing it to let out sad and shrill cries.
“Goodbye, big guy!”
Before anyone even realized, Meng Lei had circled to the back of the Golden Steel Wind-Ape. Then, he tossed yet another Dimensional Blade out.
Splurt!
This time, the Golden Steel Wind-Ape was no longer able to block the attack, and the Dimensional Blade sliced cleanly across its neck.
Boom!
At once, the Golden Steel Wind-Ape froze on the spot, becoming still and motionless while a thin, narrow line of blood appeared at its neck.
The very next second, its head slid off and fell onto the ground with a great crash.
The system notification rang out in a timely fashion at this point.
“Ding! 1 Golden Steel Wind-Ape killed. 10.3 billion gold coins gained!”
“10.3 billion gold coins into the pocket!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s visage, and he glanced habitually at his Wealth value—3.91 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, which when converted into gold coins, equated to 39.1 billion gold coins.
“39.1 billion gold coins! This isn’t enough yet! Far from it!”
Meng Lei didn’t indulge in self-satisfaction. There were simply too many things that he needed money for. Disregarding how his magic power and spiritual power desperately needed to be boosted, he needed money for just his Laws of Nature degree of comprehension, his bloodline assimilation rate, and the Limitless Pickup function alone.
39.1 billion gold coins—that was nothing but just a drop in the ocean!
“Continue!”
Meng Lei gouged out the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s magic core. Then, his gaze lingered on its carcass, reluctant to part with it. He really wished he could take it with him, but unfortunately, his spatial magic devices didn’t have the space to store it. Thus, he could only abandon it.
“However… This guy is a Wind-Elemental and Metal-Elemental Magical Beast. Even though I can’t take its carcass with me, can I take its metal-elemental magic talent?”
Meng Lei got into contact with the system right away. “System, if I use Brutal Plunder, will I be able to take the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s metal-elemental magic talent? If it’s possible, how many gold coins will it cost?”
“To answer the host, it’ll cost 2 billion gold coins!”
“2 billion? What the hell? That’s so goddamn expensive! Never mind, just take it anyway!”
The next moment, his Wealth decreased by 2 billion gold coins in an instant.
“Ding! Plunder successful. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!”
“Great! Time to go!”
Whoosh!
His environment changed right away.
Meng Lei had already reached the 33rd level.
At the same time, in the outside world…
“Level 33! That monster named Meng Lei has gone up to Dragon God Tower’s 33rd level!”
“What a mutant! All the levels from the 31st one onward are overseen by Saint Domain Magical Beasts, yet he can actually still pass through them! Just how big of a mutant must he be to achieve that?”
“O’ Dragon God above! It’s hard to imagine that a monster like that is really from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms! How inconceivable!”
“The hardest thing to understand is that he’s actually human! Since when have the humans ever produced a monster like that?”
Everyone let out gasp after gasp of astonishment as they gazed at Meng Lei’s name—all of them had been astounded by him.
16 years old!
Level 33!
Just what kind of god-like achievement was that?
“Angus, our Meng Lei is pretty passable, right?” President Fred, who was all smiles, asked as he gazed at Angus, the muscular old man.
“Stop acting so smug, Fred!”
Angus snorted, his complexion becoming a dull purplish-red from anger. “A monster that can rank in the top few positions of history such as Meng Lei comes only once in 10,000 years. Your Fire Dragon Magic Academy was just lucky, that’s all!”
“You’re absolutely right! Our academy certainly has tremendous luck. However, Meng Lei ultimately still comes from our Fire Dragon Magic Academy and not your Black Dragon Academy,” replied a chuckling President Fred in retaliation.
The Fighting Dragon Academy president also followed up with an attack and added, “An old Black Dragon like you has already gotten on so much in years. Don’t you even know the simple principle that luck is also part of one’s skill?”
Angus had an awful look on his countenance, unable to rebut their statements.
“He’s gone to Level 34!”
“What the heck? He’s advanced again?”
“Why has he become even faster now, as compared to when he was in the first few levels?”
Just as the three of them were conversing with each other, gasps of astonishment rang out next to them again—Meng Lei’s ranking had risen again.
“No. 438: Meng Lei, Human, 16 years old, Level 34”
“That kid Meng Lei is even stronger than what we had imagined!”
Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president exchanged a look with each other, unable to stop an odd look from appearing in their eyes.
They were aware that Meng Lei had advanced to Saint Domain, but the strength that he was currently exhibiting was clearly stronger than typical Saint Domains that had just broken through. After all, his speed at making it through the rounds was simply too fast.
Level 31 → Level 32 → Level 33 → Level 34!
He was passing through each level at a faster speed than the previous.
Just what kind of speed was that?
“Fred, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet.” The Fighting Dragon Academy president suddenly said, “Isn’t that kid Meng Lei a Fire Dragon Person? Why is the ranking displaying his race as Human?”
Fred replied slowly, “Meng Lei undoubtedly possesses the Fire Dragon bloodline. I’ve seen his Dragon transformation with my own eyes!”
“Since that’s the case, then there’s only one possibility left—that kid is just like you. He’s also a possessor of double bloodlines!”
“That’s the only possibility left now!”
" }, { "id": 152, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-152", "title": "Chapter 152 - Diamond Mammoth, Becoming A Saint Domain Great Magician", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "At the 34th level of Dragon God Tower, chilly winds howled in the brilliant white snow.
This was a world completely covered in snow and ice. As far as the eye could see, it was a total expanse of white.
Underneath the feet was a thick layer of snow while tall, lofty ice mountains were in the distance. Crystal-clear snowflakes floated and scattered about with the wind, dancing as they did so.
“A single pear blossom puts down the begonia, and thousands upon thousands of pear blossoms bloom. There’s only one word to describe this—beautiful!”
Meng Lei stepped on the waist-deep snow, producing crisp crunching sounds as he did so. With light taps of his feet against the ground, he started to hop about on the surface of the snow.
As a southerner that lived near the sea, he had only seen snow a few times since he was young. Upon seeing such a beautiful snowscape, he found it especially novel and interesting.
Ol’ Amos’ voice, which carried a teasing note to it, rang out. “Kid, you’ve never seen snow before, have you?”
“Yeah, I haven’t,” Meng Lei replied as he admired the snow leisurely.
“The Fire Dragon Kingdom has a warm climate all year round, so it has rarely snowed in the last thousands of years. It’s very normal that you haven’t seen snow before.”
Ol’ Amos flew out of the spatial ring. As he gazed into the boundless snowfields in the distance, he was filled with emotion and sighed. “Speaking of which, I’ve not seen snow for over 20,000 years now.”
“Watching the swirling snow covering the sky as you think about the past?” A mirthful Meng Lei said, “Ol’ President, you must be feeling especially emotional at the sight of the snow now after experiencing that Ice Age catastrophe at the Meteor Plains back then.”
“Yes, you’re right. Back then…”
It was a rare occasion whenever Ol’ Amos was actually overflowing with enthusiasm, and he launched into an unceasing torrent of words as he recounted the past. It was just a shame that he hadn’t gotten far before he was rudely interrupted.
Boom!
The ground suddenly began to shake. Then, an enormous object that was snowy-white throughout came crushing toward them.
It was a snowy-white color throughout, and its body was covered in thick, needle-like fur. It looked like a gigantic elephant, except it had a single horn on its forehead. It stood at 100-meters-tall and had two long, transparent crystal-clear tusks that looked as though they were diamonds.
“That’s the Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Diamond Mammoth!”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes widened at the sight of it, and he shouted, “The Diamond Mammoth is an Ice-Elemental and Wind-Elemental Magical Beast! Not only is it skilled at both ice-elemental and wind-elemental magic, but it also possesses Herculean strength and has peerless defenses.
“It’s much harder to deal with than the Golden Steel Wind-Ape that you encountered earlier. Be careful. Don’t let it send you crashing to death!”
“An Ice-Elemental Magical Beast? Tsk, tsk. I’ve finally run into an Ice-Elemental Magical Beast!” Meng Lei licked his lips as he said in his mind, “Before we talk about anything else, system! Steal the Diamond Mammoth’s ice-elemental magic talent!”
Isn’t it just 2 billion gold coins?
I’m overflowing with cash right now!
2 billion? Easy-peasy!
The system stated coldly, “Ding! Stealing the Diamond Mammoth’s ice-elemental magic talent requires 23 billion gold coins. Will you steal it?”
“Of cour— Wait! 23 billion gold coins?!”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened in shock. “Am I hearing things, system? 23 billion gold coins? Are you kidding me?”
Stealing the Golden Steel Wind-Ape’s metal-elemental magic talent had only required 2 billion gold coins earlier, yet 23 billion gold coins are required now? You must be joking!
Both the Golden Steel Wind-Ape and the Diamond Mammoth were Saint Domain Magical Beasts. Although there was a difference in their combat strength, was there supposed to be such a huge difference in the costs?
“Dear host, the usage fee for Brutal Plunder is determined according to the target of plunder and the object of plunder!”
The system explained, “The Golden Steel Wind-Ape was already dead, so the difficulty level in plundering was lower. However, the Diamond Mammoth is still very much alive and kicking. Hence, the difficulty level in plundering is relatively higher!”
“Different levels of difficulty result in different usage fees!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. That sort of logic actually existed?
“Alright, alright. In that case, steal it after I’ve killed it!”
Then, Meng Lei charged toward the Diamond Mammoth.
Whoosh!
Just how fast was Meng Lei’s speed? In a split second, he had already charged right up under the Diamond Mammoth’s nose. With a mere thought, a green wind blade several hundred meters-long swept toward the Diamond Mammoth.
It was the wind-elemental single-target first-class spell—Dimensional Blade!
Crack!
The Dimensional Blade’s cutting force wasn’t to be doubted. In a mere instant, it had already cut through the long hair on the surface of the Diamond Mammoth’s body to cleave against its skin.
However, what surprised Meng Lei was that after cutting several centimeters deep into the Diamond Mammoth’s skin, the Dimensional Blade actually couldn’t advance any further. It slowly dissipated before it disappeared into nothingness in the end.
“It has actually managed to block the attack!” Meng Lei sucked in a breath of air. “Isn’t the Dimensional Blade hailed as the strongest offensive single-target first-class spell? It can’t even kill a Diamond Mammoth?”
“Kid, you’re underestimating the Diamond Mammoth’s defenses too much. Do you know why the Diamond Mammoth is known as such?
“It’s exactly because their physical defense is akin to diamonds’. Do you think the word ‘diamond’ is said in jest?”
Ol’ Amos went on dryly. “Of course, it also has to do with your strength. You’re only a Ninth-Grade Great Magician. Even though you can cast first-class spells, you’re far from being able to bring out their strongest might.
“In your hands, not even 10% of the Dimensional Blade’s original might remains. It would be stranger if you could actually use it to slice the Diamond Mammoth renowned for its high defenses dead!”
“I see. Well, that makes things a lot easier!”
Meng Lei’s frown eased as he instructed, “System, redeem 20 billion gold coins and distribute them evenly to my Magic Power and Spiritual Power!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 20 billion gold coins in an instant.
At the same time it did, Meng Lei’s spiritual power and magic power reserves spiked crazily as though they were riding a launched rocket.
5 million, 10 million, 50 million…
100 million, 500 million, 900 million…
Boom!
It broke through the 1 billion milestone in an instant, and both attributes at that!
A surging, torrential aura erupted from Meng Lei and swept toward all directions like a nuclear bomb explosion.
“What?!”
At the sight of this, Ol’ Amos was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped. “S-Saint Domain Great Magician? You’ve actually broken through?”
Meng Lei didn’t respond to Ol’ Amos. Instead, he looked habitually at his stats interface and admired his stats.
Wealth: 3.03 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (11,072,558,583/100 billion)
Spirit: Saint Domain (1,017,181,553/100 billion)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,014,655,561/100 billion)
“Three attributes at Saint Domain level! That’s a lot more harmonious-looking!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips at the sight. He hadn’t borne to promote himself to the level of Saint Domain Great Magician the whole time these few days. However, his wish had finally been realized today.
Dragon God Tower was still the best, after all.
It really was a fantastic place for money-making.
At this moment, the Diamond Mammoth charged right toward Meng Lei. Its eyes were blood-red as it had gone totally berserk!
Even though the strike from the Dimensional Blade earlier hadn’t been able to kill it, it had sliced open its skin and caused it great pain. The severe pain had triggered the Diamond Mammoth’s savagery. It wanted to kill Meng Lei to vent its fury.
Boom!
Meng Lei was currently suspended in mid-air and in the midst of checking out his stats interface. This gave the Diamond Mammoth an opening, and then he was in for a tragedy.
Two sharp, pointed diamond tusks carrying an overwhelming force just so happened to crash into Meng Lei’s butt!
“Ow!”
Meng Lei felt a searing, piercing pain, and he jumped a whole meter high into the air. He was in so much pain that he was yelping loudly.
“What the hell!?”
Meng Lei instantly vanished from where he was. Then, he rubbed his buttocks—fortunately, there was no bleeding, and neither had his anus been violated.
Only two dimples had been pressed into his buttocks. With a gentle rub, they went back to their original smoothness, tenderness, translucence, and softness…
“Damned beast, you should die for that!”
Meng Lei was furious. With a wave of his arm, a green wind blade flashing with green light formed in an instant before it quickly shrank in size.
Within an instant, the green wind blade had already shrunk to almost 1/10 of its original size and also become even more transparent, lighter, and more agile. However, the piercing quality that it vaguely gave off wasn’t just a mere ten times stronger.
“Die!!”
Meng Lei let out a ferocious roar, and the green wind blade vanished right away.
Roar!
Upon sensing a lethal threat to its life, the Diamond Mammoth converged ice and snow underneath its feet, manifesting them into a sturdy suit of ice armor that firmly protected it within.
Whoosh!
The green wind blade cleaved onto the ice armor on the surface of the Diamond Mammoth’s body. With a soft crack, the ice armor was sundered into two halves…
" }, { "id": 153, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-153", "title": "Chapter 153 - Magic Talent For Eight Elements, Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Crack!
The green wind blade easily broke the ice armor on the Diamond Mammoth and buried itself into its body.
0.01 second later, it flew out of the Diamond Mammoth’s body. Then, it cleaved all the way into the thick layer of snow on the ground, cutting a deep fissure in it.
Roar!
The Diamond Mammoth froze on the spot as a thin line of blood formed on its neck. Scarlet blood spurted everywhere and gushed like a fountain, leaving scattered spots of crimson on the silvery-white snow!
“Ding! 1 Diamond Mammoth killed. 12.3 billion gold coins gained!”
The system’s voice notification sounded at that moment. It was only at this point that the Diamond Mammoth’s head finally separated from its body. It crashed onto the ground with a loud boom, and then it stopped moving.
“Done!”
Meng Lei descended from the sky and landed next to the Diamond Mammoth’s carcass. Then, he gave the order. “System, use Brutal Plunder, and steal the Diamond Mammoth’s ice-elemental magic talent!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly decreased by 2,3 billion gold coins. At the same time, Meng Lei also successfully obtained ice-elemental magic talent.
“As of now, I already own a total of eight types of magic talent—thunder, earth, fire, wood, wind, dark, metal, and ice. I’m just missing water-elemental and light-elemental magic talent now.
“Not bad! I must continue to work hard!”
After gouging out the Diamond Mammoth’s magic core, Meng Lei stepped into the magic circle leading to the 35th level without so much as even a look behind him.
Whoosh!
The world spun, and the environment changed once more.
This time, he had actually arrived at an ocean.
As far as the eye could see, the surroundings were a boundless, endless ocean. The salty, fishy ocean breeze blew and set off wave after wave in the waters. Seabirds soared atop the vast water surface that stretched as far as the eye could see, shrouded in a smoke-like mist.
“Fahai 1 ?”
As he gazed at the vast and boundless great ocean, a smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance at once. His hometown had been right by the seaside; one could say that he had grown up stepping on the beaches’ sand, playing with shells, and eating seafood.
Despite entering the working society later on, he would also bring his wife and child to the seaside for playtime every weekend. His emotions easily became peaceful and tranquil just by gazing into the vast ocean.
The ocean was his home!
“Hahaha! I’m home!”
Meng Lei let out a cheer as he tugged the magic robe on him right off. With a leap, he dived right into the ocean, his form staying out of sight for the longest time.
After a long while, Meng Lei finally emerged from the water. His arms reached forward while his legs kicked furiously, his body hitting against the water rhythmically. He was just like a fish darting about at high speed in the water.
First, it was a violent freestyle!
Then, it was a comfortable breaststroke!
Finally, it became an energy-saving backstroke!
After a round of swimming, he felt relaxed and comfortable all over. How awesome!
As he laid on his back on the ocean surface and took in the waters’ gentle caress, Meng Lei felt unprecedentedly relaxed and steady.
The ocean is still the best. If I have the chance in the future, I can consider settling down by the seaside… Meng Lei thought leisurely to himself.
It was at that moment that he suddenly felt a great force in the water. A shadow dived out of the water and came biting toward him with its mouth open.
“How dare a tiny little fish disturb me?”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he suddenly rose in an upright position, leaving the ocean and flying into the sky.
Splash!
The shadow missed its target. However, due to inertial force, its massive body also ended up flying out of the ocean—it was actually a strange-looking fish with the body of a snake but the head of a shark.
Its huge mouth was wide open, and the inside was filled with ghastly fangs. Tough, hard scales covered its body, which reached as long as an astonishing 20 meters. Every scale was as big as a watermelon.
“Eighth-Grade Magical Beast, Snake-Shark…”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the strange-looking fish. Then, a white gust of cold air shot out of his fingertip and instantly enveloped and wrapped around the Snake-Shark.
Krak, krak, krak…
The Snake-Shark was encased in ice in no time. A few breaths later, the savage and mighty-looking creature had turned into a gigantic ice sculpture.
Its scales were arranged row upon row, looking vivid and true to life.
“Break!”
Meng Lei knocked lightly against the ice sculpture.
Crack!
The gigantic ice sculpture broke into bits and pieces right away.
“What bad luck!”
As he gazed at the ocean surface that had been polluted by bits of flesh and blood, Meng Lei lost the mood to continue swimming at once. He put his magic robe back on, and then he began to fly toward the area where the magic elements were the richest.
More than ten minutes later, a small island floating on the great ocean came within view in the far distance. The island was neither too big nor too small; it was only about a dozen kilometers in breadth and length.
Tropical plants grew in sparse amounts here and there on the island. The magic circle leading to the next level was located right in the center of the island, And sprawled on the sandy shore next to it was a gigantic turtle with its eyes closed in repose. It was a golden-yellow color throughout and as enormous as a mountain ridge.
The gigantic turtle laid there quietly, still and motionless. One couldn’t sense much of a powerful aura from it. However, that enormous size did give off a strong sense of pressure.
Despite being sprawled on the shore, it was still 100-meters-tall. A size like that could only belong to a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
“What kind of Magical Beast is that gigantic turtle, Ol’ President?”
“It’s a Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle, a Water-Elemental and Metal-Elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast. It has great strength, and its forte is its defense. In terms of just defenses alone, it’s even stronger than the Diamond Mammoth you encountered earlier.” Ol’ Amos explained, “Therefore, it’s very hard to kill the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle. Don’t just meet it head-on blindly. You must look for its weakness and kill it in one strike!”
“Alright, I will!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. Then, he flew toward the little island.
Seemingly sensing that there were intruders, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle in repose on the shore slowly lifted its head, and its golden eyes flicked toward Meng Lei.
Whoosh!
Without any warning whatsoever, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle attacked right away. The ocean next to it began to surge and churn violently, and a few hydras dozens of meters long soared into the sky and crashed toward Meng Lei viciously.
“Ninth-Grade Spell, Hydra Blast!”
Meng Lei marveled, “As expected of a Saint Domain Magical Beast. Having ninth-grade spells at its fingertips and almost instantly releasing it. However…”
Meng Lei abruptly vanished from where he was. With a few flashing turns and shifts, he crossed the distance of several hundred meters to appear right in front of the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle. He made a grabbing motion with his right hand, and a golden light ball formed in his palm.
Meng Lei looked at the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle and said slowly, “First-class spell, Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast!”
Boom!
A dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth from the golden light ball before it turned into a piercing golden light that shone high into the heavens and deep into the ground. Then, it cleaved furiously toward the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s head.
Whoosh!
The Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast’s speed was incomparable. However, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle was even faster. Its head suddenly retracted, and in an instant, it had hidden inside its tough golden turtle shell.
The incomparably sharp Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast cleaved against the sandy shore. It rendered the shore into two with a boom, forming a fissure that measured one to two kilometers long.
As a metal-elemental first-class spell, Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast’s might was not to be doubted. Even if the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle had peerless defenses, as long as the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast struck it, only death awaited it… With the exception of the turtle shell, of course!
However, that old turtle was extremely sly. In the instant that the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Blast landed, it had retracted its head into the shell, causing the attack to miss.
“What a coward 1 , indeed! It actually ducked!”
Meng Lei was amazed.
At that moment, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s head reemerged. As it let out a low roar, countless metal spikes glittering coldly in the light suddenly appeared. As though a dense and packed rain of swords, they shot toward Meng Lei from all directions.
It was the Ninth-Grade Spell, Arrow Storm!
" }, { "id": 154, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-154", "title": "Chapter 154 - Magic Talent For Ten Elements, Coming Back To Life", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Many metal spikes that could cover the whole place pierced through the air and shot toward Meng Lei at lightning-quick speed. They reached right in front of Meng Lei in an instant, seemingly wanting to stab so many holes into him that he’d turn into a sieve.
There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to dodge, so he could only take them on head-on.
“Piece of cake!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. With a mere thought, Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor quietly manifested.
Then, while facing the whole sky of spikes, Meng Lei charged brazenly toward the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle, all the while actually ignoring Arrow Storm, the ninth-grade spell.
Whoosh!
At the sight of this, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s head retracted into its shell again, leaving Meng Lei only an enormous turtle shell.
“This again? Can’t you just fight me head-on?”
Meng Lei was rendered somewhat speechless. “Looks like a turtle will always be a turtle. Even if it has put on golden armor and given itself an impressive name, it can’t change its scaredy-cat nature.
“Never mind. You like being a coward, don’t you? In that case, then don’t ever come back out.
“Fire-elemental single-target first-class spell, Meteor Fall!”
Rip!
A rip suddenly appeared in the sky. Then, a gigantic meteor more than 1,000-meters-wide in diameter with black flames circling around it descended from the sky. It came crashing down, carrying with it an aura capable of destroying everything in the world.
Roar!
Even though the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s head had already retracted into its shell, it could still sense the life-threatening danger coming from the sky, nonetheless.
It knew very well that once it was struck by a fearsome first-class spell like Meteor Fall, it would suffer grave injuries even if it survived.
The Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle went into a huge panic. A dazzling golden shield manifested around it, firmly protecting it from incoming danger.
It was the Ninth-Grade Spell, Golden Guardian!
It wasn’t over yet, though.
A few hydras then rose from the ocean and circled around the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle, forming a thick shield of Water Elements around it.
It was the Ninth-Grade Spell, Poseidon Barrier!
“What the hell?”
At the sight of this, the corners of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed a couple of times. As expected of a scaredy-cat. First the Golden Guardian, and then Poseidon Barrier… Was it planning to die defending itself?
Boom!
At that moment, the black meteor carrying a terrifying strength crashed heavily onto the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle. Then…
Boom!
It easily ripped the Poseidon Barrier apart.
Then, it went on to break the Golden Guardian before finally crashing onto the turtle shell.
At last, it stopped moving! Meteor Fall had come to a stop!
At the very last moment, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle had used its sturdy and indestructible turtle shell to fend off Meteor Fall’s violent attack.
Roar!
With a roar, the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s head poked out of the shell as a smug look flashed across its eyes. It said in an aged voice, “Trying to kill me, human? You’re still too soft!”
“Is that so?!”
Meng Lei only gave it a smile, refraining from saying anything further.
As his hand pressed downward lightly, another black meteor popped out of the fissure and came crashing down.
“Instant release of a first-class spell? Who exactly are you?!”
The Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets as it stared at the other Meteor Fall that had abruptly appeared, its heart filled to the brim with fear and horror.
It tried desperately to cast a defensive spell to protect itself so that it could avoid the fate of being crushed to death.
However, it turned out to be a major miscalculation this time—after the second meteor came the third, the fourth, and the fifth!
As though shooting stars chasing after the moon, a succession of four black meteors came crashing down one after another. They carried an overwhelming and terrifying destructiveness as they crashed onto the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle successively!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Amid violent, intense crashes that rang out one after another, the entire island was shaken down to its core. Smoke and dust billowed and roiled about with only the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s pitiful cries echoing for a long time…
The system notification rang out in a timely fashion at this point.
“Ding! 1 Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle killed. 13 billion gold coins gained!”
“Piece of cake! Did you really think that there was nothing I could do about you? No matter how tough your turtle shell may be, there’s no way you can block my first-class spell!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he gave the order resolutely. “System, steal the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s water-elemental magic talent!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 3 billion gold coins in an instant.
“Water-elemental magic talent in the bag now… I have a total of nine elements now! I’m just missing light-elemental magic talent!”
Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction. After gouging out the Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle’s magic core, he then stepped into the magic circle leading to the 36th level without even looking back.
At Level 36—”Ding! 1 Double-Heart Rainbow Scorpion killed. 14.6 billion gold coins gained!”
At Level 37—”Ding! 1 Six-Winged Extraterrestrial Demon Bug killed. 16.1 billion gold coins gained!”
At Level 38—”Ding! 1 Evil-Eye Overlord killed. 17.3 billion gold coins gained!”
At Level 39—”Ding! 1 Two-Headed Great Earth Lion killed. 18.1 billion gold coins gained!”
At Level 40—”Ding! 1 Golden-Winged Holy Light Tiger killed. 19.6 billion gold coins gained!”
“The Golden-Winged Holy Light Tiger, a Metal-Elemental, Thunder-Elemental, and Light-Elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast! Thank heavens, I’ve finally encountered a Light-Elemental Magical Beast!
“System, steal the Golden-Winged Holy Light Tiger’s light-elemental magic talent!
“It’s done! I now have magic talent for all ten elements!
“Surely my current self can match up to that Adolf guy in terms of magic talent now, right?!
“This feeling sure is great!”
Meng Lei could clearly sense all ten types of magic elements in the universe. The golden Metal Elements, cyan Wind Elements, yellow Earth Elements, green Wood Elements, blue Water Elements, red Fire Elements, silver Thunder Elements, black Dark Elements…
Every one of the magic elements was like dancing fairies—they were either nimble and agile, or light and gentle, or dense and heavy, or violent and raging, or cold and aloof, or lively and bubbly…
Ten types of elements!
Every one of them was different from the other!
“The world of magic elements is truly fascinating. What would it be like if I could comprehend all ten elements’ laws of nature someday?”
Meng Lei shook his head to clear his thoughts. Then, just as he was about to head toward the magic circle leading to the 41st level, Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out. “Let’s stop here for now. You’ve already stayed in the Dragon God Tower for more than 20 hours. Are you still intending to take part in the exchange competition or not?”
“More than 20 hours?”
Meng Lei was startled by his words. He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it—it was currently 6:45. He couldn’t help but comment in puzzlement, “Is it the evening or morning the next day now?”
“Duh! It’s morning the next day, of course!” Ol’ Amos rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to assemble at the Dragon God Cathedral at 8 a.m.? If you continue to challenge the tower, you’re going to miss the exchange competition.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei shook his head, not quite having had his fill of fun yet. “So much time passed before I even realized it. Time sure passes really fast.”
However, as he gazed at his assets that had spiked dramatically in value, Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile. After conversion, 13.5 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals equated to 135,068,947,455 gold coins!
“135 billion gold coins! In less than a day, I’ve already earned so much!
“If I were to stay for another period of time, how much more would I earn?
“The Dragon God Tower is my land of blessings, indeed. How awesome!”
Meng Lei suppressed the urge to guffaw into the sky. Then, he started to double back.
Going back was a lot simpler. He flew at his fastest speed, and in just a few minutes, he was already back at the magic circle.
Whoosh!
The environment changed, and he returned to the 39th level.
Roar!
A low roar reached his ears at this moment. Meng Lei turned to see a lion-type Magical Beast that was as big as a mountain ridge glaring viciously at him. Its fangs were bared, and it had a savage look in its eyes.
“A Two-Headed Great Earth Lion?” Meng Lei looked absolutely stupefied. “What the heck? Didn’t I already kill it? Why is it still alive?”
Meng Lei remembered very clearly that he had definitely killed the Saint Domain Magical Beast guarding the magic circle—the Two-Headed Great Earth Lion—when he’d passed through the 39th level. He had even gouged out its magic core.
It should’ve been deader than dead, so why had it come back to life?
“This is just the way it should be. Don’t be so surprised!”
" }, { "id": 155, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-155", "title": "Chapter 155 - Turning Back Time, Coming Back To Life", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“The way it should be?” Meng Lei looked stupefied. “The Two-Headed Great Earth Lion that I’ve killed has come back to life, and you’re telling me this is just the way it should be?”
“How ignorant of you!” Ol’ Amos shook his head, laughing as he did so. “Let me ask you something. If the Magical Beasts that you’ve killed were really dead, wouldn’t all the Magical Beasts in the Dragon God Tower have been massacred after the last 40,000 years?”
The question dumbfounded Meng Lei.
“If all the Magical Beasts inside the Dragon God Tower were dead, then will there still be any need for future generations to challenge the tower? That way, is there still any meaning to the Dragon God Genius Ranking?”
Meng Lei found himself dumbfounded once more.
“The last question—if everyone behaves like you and slaughters the Magical Beasts level by level, won’t the challengers following after you be able to go up to the same level as you effortlessly?”
The three questions thrown at him one after another completely stupefied Meng Lei, and he asked, “Ol’ President, what exactly is going on?”
“I’ll just tell you the truth. All the native beings and Magical Beasts inside the Dragon God Tower are immortal. Or rather, they certainly can be killed. However, they’ll come back to life again in the blink of an eye, and then, they’ll continue to guard the half-planes!” Ol’ Amos sighed and explained, “This is a cycle that keeps repeating over and over. They guard the half-planes for all their lifetimes to come, and exist to be hunted by people.”
“How did that happen?”
Meng Lei was astounded!
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then? All I know is that the creatures in Dragon God Tower are immortal. As for how they are being revived, that isn’t something I’m privy to.” Ol’ Amos shook his head and went on. “However, rumor goes that Dragon God Tower has the ability to turn back time and revive all the Magical Beasts that have been killed.”
Turn back time?
Meng Lei was stunned by his answer.
“Time is a taboo that even deities cannot touch. Nobody knows for sure whether or not the Dragon God Tower can really turn back time.” Ol’ Amos shook his head and remarked, “Perhaps only the Dragon God Tower’s creator—His Holiness the Dragon God—would know the answer to that.”
Meng Lei had only silence as a response to that. He couldn’t help but shift his gaze to the Two-Headed Great Earth Lion currently baring its fangs at him.
Contrary to expectations, that Saint Domain Magical Beast, which he had just cleaved into two with the Dimensional Blade a while ago, was actually standing there well and intact in this instant. Even the blood that had spurted onto the ground during their battle earlier had vanished from sight.
On top of that, there was no fear or reservations in the way how the Two-Headed Great Earth Lion was looking at him. What was present in its eyes were still a look of hostility and savagery!
That look in its eyes was exactly the same as when he had first encountered it back when he had just ascended to the 39th level!
Turn back time?
Meng Lei suddenly found himself somewhat convinced that the Two-Headed Great Earth Lion had indeed been revived by turning back time—after all, that fellow was behaving as though it was seeing him for the very first time. Those eyes… There was no mistake about it!
The next few Saint Domain Magical Beasts he subsequently encountered only served to prove the theory truer and truer.
The Evil-Eye Overlord on the 38th level…
The Six-Winged Extraterrestrial Demon Bug on the 37th level…
The Double-Heart Rainbow Scorpion on the 36th level…
The Titanic Golden-Shell Turtle on the 35th level…
All of them had come back to life!
Each and every one of them stood there well and intact. On top of that, all of them behaved as if they had never seen Meng Lei before!
The look in their eyes… There was no way they could fake it!
Can the Dragon God Tower really turn back time?
The question lingered persistently in Meng Lei’s mind all the way till he reached the first level.
All the Magical Beasts he had previously killed had all come back to life.
The scenery in all the half-planes was also exactly the same as when he had first gone in. It was as if he had never even been there in the first place!
What an incredible divine weapon! Did the Dragon God really craft this thing?
Never mind! Who cares? This is a piece of good news for me anyway, isn’t it?
Meng Lei pushed his doubts to the back of his mind and exited the Dragon God Tower. Right after he did, he was immediately met with several pairs of astonished, astounded, idolizing, jealous… eyes!
It was only then that Meng Lei realized that the area outside the Dragon God Tower was packed with people, and everyone was staring at him with all sorts of complex looks in their eyes as if they were staring at an alien.
“So, that’s Meng Lei? He looks so young!”
“I didn’t think that he would really be a human!”
“It’s hard to imagine that he’s actually a human!”
“In terms of talent alone, that guy is probably more of a mutant than even Prince Barbarossa, Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion, Adil the Thunder Giant, and so on!”
“He certainly has greater talent than Prince Barbarossa and the others, but that may not necessarily be the case when it comes to their strength. He’s too young…”
Wasn’t it daybreak just a moment ago? Where did all these people come from?
Meng Lei wondered to himself as he glanced at his pocket watch—it was currently only 7:25 a.m. and still early in the morning.
“Meng Lei!”
A familiar voice reached his ears at that moment. Meng Lei turned to see President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president gazing at him with much approval and marvel on their countenances and their eyes brimming with gratification.
Behind them were the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s contestants. Joel and the others that had entered the Dragon God Tower together with him were also there.
“President Fred! Fighting Dragon Academy president!”
Meng Lei walked over and greeted them.
“Atta boy! You’re finally out! I was so worried that you had lost track of time and would end up missing the exchange competition.”
President Fred patted Meng Lei on the shoulder hard, the very picture of a greatly comforted and gratified old man. “Haha! You’ve really brought great honor to the academy and Fire Dragon Kingdom this time.”
“Coming in at 227th place and reaching Level 40 at 16 years old!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president remarked in astonishment, “It’s truly a marvel that you can accomplish results like that during the very first time you enter the Dragon God Tower!”
“227th place?”
Meng Lei turned to look at the huge magic screen—true enough, he saw his name occupying the 227th position!
“No. 227: Meng Lei, Human, 16 years old, Level 40”
“I’m already at 227th place?” Meng Lei was rather surprised. “That’s really quick!”
“How do you feel? Have you been astonished by your own results? Hahaha!” President Fred burst into laughter and said, “Frankly speaking, you’ve astounded all of us. So much so that none of us even slept a wink the whole night. Instead, we just stayed here the whole time and watched your god-like achievements from challenging the tower!”
“All of you were waiting here the whole night?” Meng Lei was a little stunned. “Do you really need to be that crazy?”
“Of course! How can we not be?” The Fighting Dragon Academy president, who was all smiles, said, “You’re now hailed as the number two person in the empire’s history of 40,000 years! It’s just a notch inferior to Timon Barton, who’s ranked number one!”
“Number two in history?” Meng Lei shook his head. He didn’t give two hoots about all these empty titles—they weren’t even as valuable as a few hundred gold coins.
At this point, a smiling President Fred said, “It’s about time. We should head to the Dragon God Cathedral now.”
“Alright!”
Then, everyone began to make their way to the Dragon God Cathedral.
During the whole journey there, everyone asked Meng Lei about his experiences during the process of him challenging the tower, to which he answered all their questions one by one, causing them to constantly gasp in astonishment.
In particular, a small group of them that had also entered the Dragon God Tower—such as Francis and the others—found it even more unbelievable.
The Dragon God Tower really wasn’t an easy place to challenge.
This was especially true from the 21st level onward—each of the Ninth-Grade Magical Beast packs was crazier than the last and harder to deal with than the last. A moment of carelessness, and one would die a tragic death.
Francis knew this only too well.
On the other hand, Meng Lei had bulldozed his way through and climbed all the way to the 40th level just like that. Moreover, judging from how he sounded, if it weren’t for the fact that he needed to participate in the exchange competition, he would have no problems going even further up.
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
As they chatted idly with one another, they finally arrived at the Dragon God Cathedral half an hour later.
The Dragon God was the one and only god that the Dragon God Empire’s billions of citizens believed in. The Dragon God Vatican was a church that worshipped the great Dragon God, and the Dragon God Cathedral was their headquarters.
" }, { "id": 156, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-156", "title": "Chapter 156 - Picking Up Items Until Even His Hand Had Gone Limp, Generous Rewards", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The Dragon God Cathedral was a snowy-white color throughout.
Lofty and majestic, grand and magnificent!
Squarish in structure and solemn in bearing!
And last but not least, dignified and holy!
In front of the Dragon God Cathedral stood an altar approximately 1,000-feet-tall. As enormous as a mountain ridge, the whole structure was crafted from gold and looked like a pyramid with its tip shaved off.
A 1,000-feet-tall Golden Colossal Dragon statue stood at the apex of the altar. It had rows and rows of golden dragon scales, fierce and sharp claws, solemn and imposing eyes…
It dazzled with a golden brilliance, its divine might vast and majestic, and gave off a holy and untouchable domineering aura that reached high into the heavens and deep into the ground.
…It was a statue of the Dragon God!
At the moment, the area in front of the Dragon God statue was packed with people, ranging from the Dragon God Empire’s emperor all the way to the contestants in the competition…
All of them stood in front of the Dragon God statue, their demeanors solemn and dignified as they prayed piously. Even Meng Lei the husky 1 among the wolves had no choice but to put on a pretense and mumble to himself.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +10,086!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power 2,345!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +6,666!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Water-Elemental First-Class Spell, Disastrous Tsunami!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Ice-Elemental First-Class Spell, Absolute Zero!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Thunder-Elemental First-Class Spell, Three Thousand Strikes of Lightning!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Metal—Elemental First-Class Spell, Ten Thousand Swords Return Home!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Wood—Elemental First-Class Spell, Myriad of Nature!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Thunder-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“Ding…”
As he listened to the system notifications constantly ringing out in his mind, Meng Lei was utterly delighted.
I was right in coming! I was right in coming here, indeed!
Ever since he had arrived at the Dragon God Cathedral, the system notifications hadn’t paused for even a moment. Multi-colored light balls filled the place like soap bubbles, dense and packed. There was no way of counting their numbers at all.
They were either Physical Body Constitution, Magic Power, spell, or gold coin light balls!
He had even picked up quite a few bloodline light balls and Laws of Nature fragment light balls! If not for the fact that Meng Lei had already upgraded the system, hence he could now choose whether or not he wanted to assimilate the bloodlines, they would probably have already been assimilated into him and turned him into Ultraman!
“There are too many Saint Domains here today… There are probably at least 800 of them, if not 1,000! A force like that can practically destroy the world! The Dragon God Empire’s heritage is too fearsome…”
There was indeed an extraordinary number of bigwigs present on this day. Including the Empire’s emperor, princes, princesses, members of the royalty, nobles, high-ranking officials, academy leaders, and teachers-in-charge of the contestant teams…
There were no fewer than 100,000 people there!
Among the many present were also innumerable Saint Domain-level experts. Although they hadn’t deliberately given off an intimidating aura, nevertheless, with so many of them standing together, the energy fluctuations they vaguely gave off were still enough to silence the proud and defiant contestants.
Ten minutes later, the prayers ended.
The emperor, Frederick the 32nd, straightened his back and got up. A palace attendant brought forth a chair at once, and Frederick the 32nd settled into the seat.
Then, the palace attendant announced in a loud voice, “Bow to the Emperor!”
“Greetings, Your Majesty!” Everyone bowed in deference one by one.
The Saint Domains bent over at the waist and bowed down before the emperor, while all those below them got down on one knee.
“You may rise!” Frederick the 32nd declared with a light wave.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Then, everyone got back up.
“Today is the day that the quadrennial Empire-wide Inter-Academy Exchange Competition of The Elites officially begins. I’m looking forward to all the geniuses from the various major academies showing us their best in the exchange competition!”
Frederick the 32nd was a chubby middle-aged man. With a mild and gentle voice and a kind and amiable disposition, he looked just like a good-tempered uncle next door.
However, if one really thought so, then they would be dead wrong.
Frederick the 32nd—whose full name was Howard Frederick—was a history-making monster who was ranked 9th in the Dragon God Genius Ranking. He was also a pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon and currently a Saint Domain expert.
It was no exaggeration to say that underneath Frederick the 32nd’s mild and gentle exterior laid unfathomable depths of strength.
The reason why he currently seemed like an ordinary person was because the ruler of the empire had already reached a state so high that he’d returned to his true self. His fearsomeness was something that only people from the same era as him understood.
“A total of 7,848 contestants have joined the exchange competition this year, making the number higher than all the previous years. This shows that our empire has an abundance of talents, and the power it holds is prospering with each passing day. I am greatly comforted to know that!”
Frederick the 32nd’s gaze landed on the 7,000-odd contestants, and he said, “I hope that all of you can achieve excellent results in the upcoming competition and bring glory to yourself, your academy, your family, and your respective kingdoms!
“Someone, read my royal decree!”
Upon his command, a palace attendant took out a scroll and began to read it aloud, “By His Majesty’s royal decree! All those who rank in the top 50 positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred the title of a Viscount and bestowed a plot of land measuring 25 square kilometers, 50 servants, and a Saint Domain-level magic device!
“Those who rank in the top 20 positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred the title of an Earl and bestowed a plot of land measuring 50 square kilometers, 100 servants, a Saint Domain-level magic device, and five kilograms of elemental crystals!
“Those who rank in the top ten positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred the title of a Marquis and bestowed a plot of land measuring 250 square kilometers, 500 servants, a Saint Domain-level magic device, a Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, and 50 kilograms of elemental crystals!
“Those who rank in the top three positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred the title of a Duke and bestowed a plot of land measuring 500 square kilometers, 1,000 servants, ten Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 500 kilograms of elemental crystals, and the right to a one-year residence in the Dragon Island!”
Whoaaa!
The attendant’s voice spread clearly throughout the whole place, despite not being very loud. Upon the announcement, an uproar went through the crowd. Everyone’s gazes shifted to the contestants, their eyes full of envy and jealousy.
The rewards this year were simply too much more generous than the previous years’.
The title of a Duke!
In the past, only the champions were conferred as Dukes, yet one needed only to enter the top three, and they would receive the title this year.
Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
In the past, only the top three contestants would receive Origin Crystals, yet one could get them just by making it into the top ten this year. On top of that, they would even receive as many as ten of them.
Ten Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Just how generous were the rewards?
After all, what were Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
They were the key to the Saint Domain realm!
Just a tiny one alone would already be enough to help a ninth-grade expert open the doors to the Saint Domain realm. How many years of painstaking cultivation would that save a Ninth-Grade expert?
It could be said that Laws of Nature Origin Crystals held a lethal attraction to any ninth-grade expert. Any expert stuck at the pinnacle of ninth-grade and unable to advance any further would love to have one to help them to break through.
Unfortunately, how would something like that possibly be that easy to obtain?
As for the right to residence in Dragon Island, this was something that one daren’t even think about!
As the Holy Land of the Colossal Dragons and even the Dragon God Empire, traditionally, only pure-blooded Colossal Dragons and Saint Domain Dragon People were allowed to enter Dragon Island. How would ordinary people possibly be qualified to enter the island?
Even the champions didn’t receive a privilege like that during the past years of the competition!
Yet one needed only to make it into the top three positions, and they would receive the right to a one-year residence on the Dragon Island this year? This was practically… insane!
Your Majesty, are you out of your mind? Why are the rewards so generous this year?
“Those little fellows are simply too lucky this year!”
Some people were so jealous that their countenances were pretty much close to becoming altered beyond recognition. “Why weren’t the rewards this generous the last time?”
“What a loss! What a huge loss! If I’d known, I’d have joined the exchange competition this year no matter what…”
However, before all of this was even over, the attendant went on. “The champion shall be conferred a King and bestowed a plot of land measuring 5,000 square kilometers, 10,000 servants, 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 5,000 kilograms of elemental crystals, and permanent residence in Dragon Island!”
“What?!”
“Conferred a King?”
The entire venue was thrown into a huge furor at once!
Even the princes and princesses, as well as old-time Saint Domain experts, like President Fred and the others, were astounded by this particular reward! Each and every one of them stared at the emperor in disbelief!
Conferred a King?
How many years had it been since the empire had last conferred someone a King?
" }, { "id": 157, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-157", "title": "Chapter 157 - Establishing A Kingdom And Conferring A King, A Lost Continent", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "How many years had it been since the empire last conferred someone a King?
2,000 years? Or 3,000?
Many of them couldn’t help but try to recall… It seemed like the last time someone was conferred a King had been more than 2,000 years ago?
During that time, another dukedom was added to the Dragon God Empire, thereby increasing the number of affiliated dukedoms from a total of 47 to 48.
Even so, there were currently only 63 Kings in the empire, and they were respectively the rulers of the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms.
Apart from them, there were no other rulers.
What? Couldn’t the emperor’s sons be conferred as Kings?
One would be dead wrong if that’s what they thought!
In the Dragon God Empire, the emperor’s sons were but just princes. No matter how outstanding they were, how strong they were, or how favored they were by the emperor, they were still just princes and had nothing whatsoever to do with being a King.
In the Dragon God Empire, the conferment of a King held special meaning—not only did the conferment mean that a new ruler was going to emerge in the empire, but it also meant that a new dukedom—or even a kingdom—would be added to the empire!
The territories occupied by dukedoms and kingdoms were far beyond the other nobles’ territories. Even if the emperor wished to confer someone as a King, he’d need to be able to provide the corresponding amount of land first.
Otherwise, the conferment would exist only in name.
Why is His Majesty suddenly conferring someone as a King?
Many of the high-ranking officials’ minds ran at lightning-quick speed as they mused over the emperor’s intentions. A lot of them were utterly confused, but a small group of officials who were on closer terms with the emperor did manage to guess his intentions.
The reason for His Majesty’s sudden conferment of a King is likely related to the 13th Princess!
Not only is the 13th Princess highly favored by His Majesty, but she’s also amazingly talented and edges out even the most talented Prince Barbarossa. She’s indisputably the strongest among the empire’s youths!
It’s just a shame that she’s half-human, so it’s destined that she’ll never be able to inherit the throne. Therefore, His Majesty intends to settle for the second-best option and confer the 13th Princess as a King?
But the problem is that in order to confer someone as a King, they’d also need to be given their own territory. Although the empire occupies a vast amount of land, all of it is currently presided by their own overlords, so where’s the territory going to come from…
Just as the people let their imaginations run wild, Frederick the 32nd stood, and with a smile, he announced, “Let me tell everyone a piece of good news! Three months ago, a team of adventurers discovered a lost continent in the southeastern waters of the Endless Oceans!”
“A lost continent?” Everyone was greatly shocked by the news.
“The continent hangs isolated above the Endless Oceans to the east of the Dragon God Empire and is obstructed from view by the clouds surrounding it. Thus, prior to this, no one has ever discovered its existence until that team of adventurers entered it by accident.”
Frederick the 32nd went on mirthfully and said, “After the empire’s investigation team’s appraisal, it has been found that the continent occupies a vast territory and has abundant resources.
“The distance from the east to the west spans more than 5,000 kilometers while the distance from the north to the south reaches over 6,000 kilometers. The surface area covers as much as ten million square kilometers. In terms of just territory alone, it’s enough to match up to a dukedom.
“It can be said that this is yet another plot of land and territory that the great Dragon God has bestowed upon our Dragon God Empire! We thank the Dragon God for his benevolence!”
At this point, Frederick the 32nd looked in the direction of the contestants. There was an almost indiscernible hint of mirth in his eyes as he said, “I hereby promise to confer the person that wins the exchange competition and emerges as the champion as the first ruler of this lost continent!”
The moment he said that all the contestants’ breathing turned heavy and ragged. Every one of their hearts was pounding madly—the emperor had instantly incited their wild ambitions!
Ten million square kilometers! Just how wide and vast of a territory was that?!
As long as one could win the title of the champion, they’d become the ruler of that continent! From then on, they would preside over the region, watch over the area that stretched on for thousands upon thousands of miles, and become an existence on the same level as the Fire Dragon King, the Frost Colossal Dragon King, the Black Dragon King, and so on!
Just how great of an allure did that notion hold?
Who would be able to resist it?
Even a “city boy” like Meng Lei had become tempted by a thought like that, let alone people of this world who possessed even stronger concepts of territory?
“The champion title!”
“The champion title is mine!”
“Don’t anyone dare fight with me for it!”
A good number of the contestants’ eyes had become all red—all of them had decided to make a determined effort to strive for the title.
“Alright! I shall hand the upcoming matters over to Duke Eustace now!”
Frederick the 32nd looked at a skinny middle-aged man standing to his left. With a warm and mild smile, he said, “My brother, I’ll leave the matters of the exchange competition to you now.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Duke Eustace bowed in response. Then, he turned to the 7,000-odd contestants, and in a loud voice, he announced, “By His Majesty’s order, I am in charge of hosting the exchange competition this year. I hope that every academy president, teacher-in-charge, related crew member, and every contestant…
“…Lastly, this year’s exchange competition is separated into a total of three segments. They are respectively the Lost Continent Elimination Round, the Half-Plane Matches, and the Mount Dragon God Challenge!
“The first segment is the Lost Continent Elimination Round.” Duke Eustace explained, “Here, the ‘Lost Continent’ refers to the place that His Majesty has just introduced to all of you.
“After some investigation, it has been found that Magical Beasts currently occupy the Lost Continent. There is a great variety of them, and they range all the way from as powerful as Saint Domain Magical Beasts to those as weak as first-grade!
“Your mission is to head to the Lost Continent and hunt the Magical Beasts there. Collect their magic cores and use them to redeem corresponding point rewards.
“The time limit is set at one month! The concrete magic core-to-points redemption rate is as follows:
“1 point per first-grade magic cores.
“5 points per second-grade magic cores.
“10 points per third-grade magic cores.
…
“1,000 points per ninth-grade magic core.
“10,000 points per Saint Domain elementary-level magic core.
“20,000 points per Saint Domain mid-level magic core.
“50,000 points per Saint Domain high-level magic core.
“And 100,000 points per Saint Domain limits-level magic core!
“The top 100 contestants with the most points will advance to the next stage. Those that perish or give up mid-way, those that do not have sufficient points, and those that do not stay for the full month will all be eliminated!”
All the contestants held their breath in concentration and listened quietly to the instructions.
“Later on, we’ll distribute to everyone a specially-made magic communication device each. Should you meet with life-threatening danger, you may dial the magic device to request for help. However… In doing so, you shall be seen as having given up mid-way.”
At this point, Duke Eustace looked at the emperor and asked, “Your Majesty, I’ve finished explaining the competition rules. Is there anything you’d like to supplement?”
“I won’t add that much.” Frederick the 32nd stood and said, “All of you are the empire’s geniuses and talents. Every death among you is a loss to the empire!
“Therefore, let’s make a small change to the Elimination Round’s rules. During the Elimination Round, you may snatch magic cores from others, but taking another person’s life is prohibited!
“Remember, every move you make will be under our supervision. Should anyone violate the rules and harm or kill others without authorization, they’ll be eliminated from the competition!”
At this point, Frederick the 32nd heaved a sigh and explained, “The reason why I’m changing the rules at the last moment is only because I hope that all of you won’t end up like the previous years’ contestants, where not even 1/10 of them were left after the competition, causing the empire to suffer the loss of countless elites for nothing!”
Not even 1/10 of them were left?
The contestants’ hearts trembled at the thought.
What a low survival rate that was!
There were a total of 7,848 contestants this year. If not even 1/10 of them were left, then didn’t that mean that there weren’t even 1,000 survivors?
What the hell?
From this, all the contestants could tell just how brutal the past competitions had been.
“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty!” All the contestants were overflowing with gratitude at once.
“Alright!” Frederick the 32nd nodded lightly.
“His Majesty is kind and benevolent. On account of how cultivation hasn’t been easy for all of you, he has specially altered the competition rules. Nevertheless, all of you mustn’t be careless!”
Duke Eustace reminded them. “There are countless Magical Beasts in the Lost Continent; just the Saint Domain ones alone already number several hundred. The place is fraught with dangers, and a moment of carelessness would lead to one perishing in the jaws of a Magical Beast and dying a terrible death. Do take care!”
“Yes!” All the contestants responded loudly.
“We shall activate the magic circle one hour later and send all of you to the Lost Continent. If there’s anything any of you still needs to say, instruct, or prepare, then have it done immediately!”
Whoaaa!!
The contestants went into a furor at once, and all of them approached their own respective teachers-in-charge.
“Contestants from the Black Dragon Kingdom, come this way!”
“Those from the Frost Kingdom…”
Meng Lei, Joel, Francis, and the rest of the 52 Fire Dragon Kingdom contestants were also summoned by President Fred and the other five academy presidents.
“The sudden change in the competition rules this time is something that we didn’t expect.”
The six academy presidents looked stern as they said, “With regard to the Lost Continent, we also hadn’t heard even a peep about it prior to this. However, since His Majesty has set that place as the competition ground…”
After a slew of instructions and reminders, the six academy presidents finally asked, “Is there anything else that any of you needs to hand over or prepare? If so, hurry and tell us now so that we can get someone to get it done.”
“No, we’re all prepared!”
“Presidents, do any of you have spare spatial magic devices lying around? Can I borrow them for the time being? The more, the better, and the bigger, the better. I want to use them to store Magical Beast carcasses!”
" }, { "id": 158, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-158", "title": "Chapter 158 - Spirit Dragon Ring, King Kroc", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Naturally, Meng Lei was the one who had raised that request. After all, he was the only one among the 52 Fire Dragon Kingdom contestants that would dare make such a request.
Borrowing spatial magic devices?
To store Magical Beast carcasses?
All the contestants’ gazes fell onto Meng Lei as one, the corners of their lips spasming. They felt a pressing urge to punch that braggart dead.
What the heck!?
All of us have our hearts in our mouths at the thought of heading to the Lost Continent, lest Magical Beasts kill us with just one smack in a moment of carelessness!
On the other hand, you are already thinking about borrowing spatial magic devices to store Magical Beast carcasses? Are you a devil?
“Meng Lei, Magical Beast carcasses won’t get you points.” President Fred shook his head and said with a wry smile, “It’s no use no matter how many you collect.”
“I know I can’t redeem points with Magical Beast carcasses, but I can sell them for money. Think about it.” A smiling Meng Lei said, “One Saint Domain Magical Beast carcass can sell for ten billion gold coins, so ten of them means 100 billion gold coins, and 100 of them means one trillion gold coins! If I throw them away, I’ll be struck by lightning!”
“100 of them…”
“One trillion gold coins…”
The six academy presidents’ lip corners spasmed in response to his words.
You sure are daring in your imagination! 100 Saint Domain Magical Beast carcasses? Why don’t you just ascend straight to heaven?
Despite thinking so, President Fred still brought out a spatial ring after a moment’s hesitation and handed it to Meng Lei.
“Thank you, President!” Meng Lei nodded incessantly and said his thanks. “Don’t worry, President Fred. As long as I’m still breathing, I won’t lose your spatial ring for sure!”
“Good to hear that!”
“Here’s my spatial ring. Take it and use it!”
“Here’s mine, too!”
…
An hour went by very quickly. All the contestants reassembled once more, and then, with the spatial rings and magic communication devices distributed to them in their possession, they entered the teleportation magic circle.
Buzz!
With a flash from the teleportation magic circle, a group of people vanished without a trace.
Then, with another flash, the second group of people also vanished.
Ten minutes later, all the contestants were gone.
As they watched the backs of the contestants disappearing into the magic circle, the teachers-in-charge sighed one after another. “Here’s hoping that more of them can make it back. May the Dragon God watch over you!”
“May the Dragon God watch over you!”
When everyone was gone, and the magic circle returned to total peace and quiet, the Fighting Dragon Academy president finally turned to President Fred. He lowered his voice and asked, “Fred, if I wasn’t mistaken, the spatial ring that you lent Meng Lei just now is probably the Spirit Dragon Ring, right?”
President Fred glanced at him and replied, “What, can’t I do that?”
“Fred, the Spirit Dragon Ring is a half-divine weapon that you obtained in the Ancient Crown Mage Tower. With an existential plane fragment sealed within it, the space inside the ring is astonishingly big. It’s your baby, isn’t it?”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president exclaimed in a low voice, “You can’t even bear to allow others to touch it usually, yet you’ve actually lent it to him. You sure are composed about it! Aren’t you afraid that that kid will lose it?”
“I trust Meng Lei!”
…
The world spun after the contestants entered the teleportation magic circle. By the time they saw light again, Meng Lei and the others were already on a tiny island.
The island was truly very tiny. Measuring less than one kilometer in breadth and length, it was just like a reef and floated all by itself above the boundless ocean!
Howling gusts of wind blew across the ocean, making churning, surging great waves. It was as if they wanted to blow the people away together with the island itself.
The sky was overcast, and their surroundings were also covered in gray, gloomy fog. Visibility was very low—the furthest they could see was only about 100 meters away.
“Where’s the Lost Continent?”
The contestants turned and looked about.
“Look over there!” someone shouted.
The contestants looked over one after another upon the shout, only to see a barely-visible big and tall shadow in the depths of the thick fog. Waves splashed loudly as they crashed against the shadow.
A Blue Dragon Kingdom contestant exclaimed, “There’s land over there!”
Then, he flitted toward the shadow. His toes tapped lightly against the ocean surface as he stepped across the waters. With a few leaps, he’d disappeared into the depths of the fog.
“Let’s go over, too!”
At the sight of that, the remaining contestants also demonstrated their own abilities. They either rode on the wind, stepped across the waters, or rode on magic carpets… All of them flitted toward the shadow one by one.
“Lord Meng Lei, let’s head over, too!” A few Fire Dragon Kingdom contestants suggested.
Meng Lei replied with a slight nod, “Let’s go!”
In the twinkling of an eye, they had covered the several hundred-meters-long distance. The shadow in the depths of the fog was actually a black cliff that reached as tall as 1,000 feet.
Churning waves crashed against the cliff, breaking down into tiny droplets and turning into innumerable silver pearls that dissipated with the wind.
The black cliff was incredibly steep. Surrounding it were jagged reefs and messy, chaotic rocks—it was obvious that no one had ever stepped into the place before.
“An island?”
“No! It’s likely the continent!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s features, and he flew across the 1,000-feet-tall cliff. Then, an entirely different world appeared before his eyes.
Endless forests where birds soared!
Mountains that stretched on and on as the howls of beasts rang out!
Primeval and ancient, yet brimming with life and vitality!
“So, this is the Lost Continent?”
Ol’ Amos popped out and gazed into the far distance at the vast and boundless forests. He remarked, “Never would I have thought that such a continent would actually be hidden in the Endless Oceans. The Creator’s wonders are indeed beyond one’s imagination!”
“Didn’t you mention in the past that the deities broke Heaven’s Vault Continent and that many of the broken fragments drifted above the Endless Oceans?” Meng Lei pointed at the Lost Continent and said, “Perhaps the Lost Continent had evolved from exactly one of those broken fragments!”
Heaven’s Vault Continent was surrounded by an endless and boundless ocean—in other words, the Endless Oceans.
Within the Endless Oceans lived countless terrifying marine Magical Beasts. It was extremely tough for terrestrial creatures to get a foothold in the ocean with the place fraught with dangers.
Thus, nobody knew whether or not other continents existed in the Endless Oceans—after all, no one had ever explored it.
“A legend is ultimately still just a legend. Who can say for sure what exactly the truth is?”
Ol’ Amos sighed and added, “However, since the Lost Continent has been discovered, then its ownership will definitely go to the Dragon God Empire.
“Kid, step on it and strive for the champion title. Become a King and establish a kingdom, and become the master of this continent and bring back the Krocs’ glory and magnificence!”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, “Do you really think that highly of me, Ol’ President?”
“Duh, of course!” Ol’ Amos rolled his eyes and said, “Your battle capabilities are always being boosted in such an inexplicable manner. It’s to the extent that you can even easily kill the Saint Domain-level Golden-Winged Holy Light Tiger now. In terms of craziness, is there anyone who can beat you?”
“I’ll get embarrassed if you praise me so much!”
Meng Lei laughed sordidly and added, “You can’t really say that, though. I heard that there are quite a fair number of geniuses in this year’s competition. None of them are people who are easy to get along with.
“In fact, quite a few of them are ranked higher than me in the Dragon God Genius Ranking. Up against that many monstrous opponents, I’m feeling intense pressure!”
“Intense pressure? What nonsense! No matter how big of a mutant they are, can they be more of one than you? Stop showing off in front of me!”
Ol’ Amos broke into a rant. “Inexplicably comprehending laws of nature, inexplicably becoming a Saint Domain Great Magician, inexplicably awakening powerful bloodlines, inexplicably doing instant release of first-class spells…
“No matter how other people break through and advance, and no matter how much precious herbs and medicines they consume, they won’t be able to match up to how terrifying your inexplicable power boosts are!
“You bastard, being so smug and showing off in front of me! Alright, that’s enough! Stop being cheeky with me and get down to hunting the Magical Beasts! The Krocs are taking the title of the champion this year! Don’t anyone dare fight with me for it!
“I’ve even thought of the dukedom’s name for you. We can call it the Kroc Dukedom! This Lost Continent shall be known as the Kroc Continent in the future! As for your title, you can be known as King Kroc!
“Oh, right! And you! You have to reinstate your last name to Kroc, too. From today onward, you must change your name to Kroc Lei. I’ll also appoint you as the current clan leader of the Krocs…”
“Are you dreaming, Ol’ President?”
“Dreaming?”
" }, { "id": 159, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-159", "title": "Chapter 159 - All-Round Surveillance, Seeded Monsters", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "At the Dragon God Cathedral…
Emperor Frederick the 32nd asked softly, “My brother, have all the contestants entered the Lost Continent?”
“Yes, they have, Your Majesty!” Duke Eustace replied respectfully, “With no exceptions, all 7,848 contestants have arrived at the Lost Continent. The first batch of contestants that arrived has already gone dozens of kilometers deep into the continent.”
“Great!” A satisfied Frederick the 32nd nodded and said, “Let us take a look at the empire’s young talents, then!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several dazzling beams of light suddenly rose from all directions, converging in the sky simultaneously to form a magic screen so enormous that it could easily blot out the sun.
The magic screen was simply too big. It hung suspended in the sky, blocking out everything, including even sunlight.
“That’s…”
As a crisp and clear image of a world was displayed on the magic screen, everyone’s eyes widened at once.
There were mountains and hills, and flat plains and raised plateaus…
There were lakes and rivers and forests and basins…
There were deserts and arid lands, and fields and wastelands…
It featured a complex and great variety of terrains, and there was just about everything that one could imagine.
“Your Majesty, is that the Lost Continent?” asked an agitated official.
“That’s right! That’s the newly-discovered Lost Continent, indeed!”
Frederick the 32nd smiled and went on. “During the last three months, I’ve sent men to scout and survey the Lost Continent, as well as installed a magic crystal device there beforehand. Thus, everything happening on the Lost Continent is within my supervision.
“Not only am I able to have a bird’s eye view and overlook the entire continent from high up in the sky, but I can also zoom in on certain areas to monitor specific regions!
“I can check out any corner of the continent, as well as observe any of the contestants!”
“I see!”
“How brilliant, Your Majesty!”
Everyone was full of praises.
The empire had long since possessed the magic techniques and related equipment for live broadcasts, but to install magic crystal balls to monitor the entire Lost Continent… This was truly a huge deal for sure.
Just how many magic crystal balls would he have to install?
Moreover, the task even had to be completed within a short three months.
How much manpower, money, and resources would that have taken?
Emperor Frederick the 32nd continued and said, “When the champion is born at the end of the exchange competition, I shall gift the full set of equipment to the champion so that it’ll be more convenient for them to supervise and manage the Lost Continent!”
“Gift?”
Everyone found themselves a little dumbstruck and rendered speechless by the comment. After going through so much to set up that surveillance equipment capable of monitoring the entire continent, he was going to just gift it to the champion free-of-charge?
His Majesty sure was generous!
The small group of officials in the emperor’s inner ministerial circle that had managed to guess his intentions didn’t find the gesture out of the norm, though. If all went well, the exchange competition champion this year would undoubtedly be the 13th Princess. His Majesty was just giving the set of equipment to his favorite daughter; what’s there to be reluctant to part with?
Then, Frederick the 32nd said, “My dear subjects, who are the seeded candidates in the exchange competition this year? Feel free to tell us so that we may have a look at them together!”
Someone took the initiative to reply. He said, “Your Majesty, a total of 389 people from Dragon God Academy are taking part in the exchange competition this year, of which 71 are ranked in the Dragon God Genius Ranking.
“And among them, the most outstanding one is none other than Prince Barbarossa, who is ranked 148th in the Genius Ranking. Everyone would love to catch a glimpse of his stunning abilities!”
“Indeed, Marquis Horace!”
“As one of the best among the youths, Prince Barbarossa is amazingly talented and exceptionally strong. At just 26 years old, he’s already ranked 148th in the Dragon God Genius Ranking. I’m sure he’ll definitely display his awe-inspiring abilities and impress all of us in the exchange competition this year. We’d love to witness his magnificence!”
“…”
“Alright! Since everyone wants to take a look at Barbarossa, then let’s do that!”
With a chuckle, Frederick the 32nd nodded lightly at the palace attendant.
Whoosh!
The scene pictured on the gigantic magic screen abruptly changed. A split second later, a dense and lush forest appeared.
A handsome young man with a pair of golden horns and wearing golden armor appeared in the field of view—it was Barbarossa Frederick, the 888th Prince. He was Emperor Frederick the 32nd’s 888th child, as well as the one and only pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon among the many princes.
Dragon God Empire was a country exceptionally particular about bloodlines—only Golden Colossal Dragons with the purest bloodline were eligible to inherit the throne.
Be it princes or princesses, as long as they were Golden Colossal Dragons of pure bloodline, they would be eligible to become an heir to the throne.
Apart from that, no matter how excellent one’s talent was, how strong they were, or how amazing they performed, if they weren’t pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragons, then it was impossible for them to inherit the throne.
Among more than 1,000 of Frederick the 32nd’s children, Barbarossa the 888th Prince was the only pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon. Therefore, his future had already been set in stone.
And that was—to ascend the throne and become the empire’s ruler!
Therefore, toward Barbarossa the 888th Prince, many of the civil and martial officials naturally tried to be on his good side. After all, nobody wanted to offend the future emperor.
“It’s Barbarossa!”
“Look! It’s Brother…”
At the sight of Barbarossa, the many princes and princesses there let out exclamations one after another. The influential nobles and officials also looked at Barbarossa on the magic screen with looks of marvel in their eyes.
On the screen, Barbarossa gave off a peerless and domineering aura. With his feet braced against a huge golden sword, he rode on the sword and traveled about in the air, much like the gleaming edge of a blade.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everywhere he passed by, he shot out several golden rays of light, which pierced through all the Magical Beasts that he encountered along the way.
Their magic cores subsequently left their bodies and automatically converged toward him. Then, all of them entered Barbarossa’s arm and disappeared from sight.
Roar!
A Ninth-Grade Magical Beast suddenly charged out from somewhere—it was a 50-meters-tall Diamond Giant-Backed Lizard. The giant lizard let out a furious roar, producing roiling sound waves that caused the trees and surrounding vegetation to fly everywhere.
Barbarossa, however, merely cast a glance at it. Then, a ray of golden light shot out of him and impaled the Diamond Giant-Backed Lizard’s head, killing it immediately.
Every move and action of his was like a leisurely walk in the park.
All his gestures and mannerisms were calm and carried absolute ease.
Killing Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts was no different from slaughtering livestock for him.
That was exactly what Prince Barbarossa’s elegant and graceful bearing was like!
“Bravo, Prince Barbarossa!”
“As expected of Prince Barbarossa! How impressive! Even a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast is no match for the prince!”
Everyone was full of wonder, and praises for Barbarossa filled the place.
With a smile, the marveling Dragon God Academy president remarked, “Your Majesty, seeing how Prince Barbarossa is decimating Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts like slaughtering livestock, he must be nearing mid-level Saint Domain!”
“Thereabouts, I guess!”
Frederick the 32nd smiled lightly and said, “President Luke, I’ve heard that there are a great many talents from Dragon God Academy this year. Several geniuses and heroes have emerged, among which quite a few are even more impressive than Barbarossa. I wonder who they are?”
“Your Majesty, I must say that there really isn’t anyone among Prince Barbarossa’s peers who’s more impressive than him. However, there are indeed a few who are slightly older that are a bit stronger than him,” replied a smiling President Luke.
Frederick the 32nd raised an eyebrow and asked, “Oh? Who might they be? I’d like to take a look at them!”
“They are Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion, Adil the Thunder Giant, Miriam the Immortal Fairy, Meredith the Empire’s Dawn, and Mond Aston the White Tiger Knight!”
" }, { "id": 160, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-160", "title": "Chapter 160 - : The Golden Dragon-Lion, The Raging Giant", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "This was an emerald-green lake that looked just like a bright pearl embedded in the sea of forests that extended forever into the horizon.
The waters were clean and clear, with ripples going through the surface.
A light breeze caressed one’s face as waters rippled.
All around it were dense, lush reeds. They grew in bunches that circled around and blocked the lake from view.
Moo!
Moo!
All of a sudden, the howls of beasts traveled over.
A 20-meters-long ox-type Magical Beast covered head to toe in black bristles and with six hooves, a python-like tail, and a single horn on its head laid prostrate in the reeds as it produced sad and shrill cries—it was the Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, the Black-Eyed Ox-Python!
At the moment, it was in a rather bad spot. A Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile had actually clamped its jaws onto the Black-Eyed Ox-Python’s tail and was holding it in a death grip in an attempt to drag it into the lake.
The Black-Eyed Ox-Python struggled desperately. Despite its tail becoming drenched in blood from the bite and severe pain assailing its senses, it didn’t give up.
Moo!
One dragged while the other pulled away!
One wanted to live while the other wanted food!
Neither was willing to let go!
Just like that, both parties entered a tussle and started to pit their patience against the other’s. Whoever was able to persevere till the end would be able to live on.
Whoosh!
Unexpectedly, there was a sudden turn of events. A green leaf suddenly sliced through the air toward them, sinking accurately into the Black-Eyed Ox-Python’s temple and then bursting out from the other side.
Roar!
The Black-Eyed Ox-Python’s cries came to a sudden stop. Its eyes widened dramatically, and it instantly stopped struggling. The Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile was overjoyed. It started to haul the Black-Eyed Ox-Python into the water right away.
Whoosh!
At this point, another leaf came attacking and stabbed right into the Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile’s left eye. At once, it froze on the spot, and then it stopped breathing.
“Collect!”
As an aloof voice rang out, both the Black-Eyed Ox-Python and Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile’s magic cores burst out of their bodies and flew toward a large tree at the side.
On the tree stood a tall, sturdy, and strongly-built young man. He had a head of blond hair and was as strong and muscular as a lion. The young man made a casual grabbing motion, and then he caught the two ninth-grade magic cores in his hand easily,
Slurp~
The muscular young man licked off the freshly-spilled blood on the magic cores. Then, with a flash, he vanished without a trace from the tree fork.
Only the two Ninth-Grade Magical Beast carcasses laid quietly by the lake, silently recounting the desperate and bitter scene from earlier.
“As expected of Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion! To kill the Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts—the Black-Eyed Ox-Python and Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile—with just two leaves, he’s indeed extraordinary!”
At the Dragon God Cathedral, everyone watched clearly the scene of the muscular young man attacking and killing the Black-Eyed Ox-Python and Sky-Ripping Giant Armored Crocodile. Full of marvel and wonder, they couldn’t help but enter a great furor.
“Killing Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts with just flowers and leaves!”
Emperor Frederick the 32nd nodded slightly as he remarked, “That little fellow named Sachhen is certainly pretty impressive! His comprehension of laws of nature is several notches higher than Barbarossa’s!”
“Your Majesty is too kind!” The Dragon God Academy president replied humbly, “When Prince Barbarossa reaches his age, he’ll definitely be stronger than Sachhen!”
“Perhaps!” Frederick the 32nd was noncommittal with regard to that. Then, he asked, “President Luke, Sachhen isn’t purely a human, right?”
“How insightful of Your Majesty!”
President Luke nodded. He explained with a smile, “Sachhen possesses Golden Dragon-Lion blood and is a descendant of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan!”
“The Golden Dragon-Lion clan?”
A huge jolt went through Frederick the 32nd as he exclaimed, “To think he’s actually a descendant of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan! No wonder he’s so outstanding!”
At the sight of the emperor’s expression, some of the officials were rather bemused.
What kind of clan is the Golden Dragon-Lion clan? To think that it can cause such a big reaction in His Majesty?
Most of the Saint Domain experts’ countenances also changed slightly as looks of astonishment, caution, and other complex emotions appeared in their eyes.
Those who were unaware wouldn’t know what the Dragon-Lion clan was, but those who did knew very well that it was a colossus among all clans.
The Golden Dragon-Lions! They were a clan from which great existences had emerged before! In terms of heritage, they were second only to the four great ancient empires!
“Let’s take a look at the others!” suggested Frederick the 32nd as he looked at the magic screen.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The scene on the gigantic magic screen then changed to a lofty, towering mountain. A 1,000-feet-tall waterfall flowed from the mountain and crashed down along the cliff.
At the bottom of the waterfall was a pool, and currently, a fierce battle was taking place beside it.
An enormous snake with six heads was roaring incessantly. Its six heads were either spraying ice blades, water arrows, huge rocks, or toxic matter…
It charged madly toward the human opposite it!
The human was no ordinary human, either. Standing at 15 to 16 meters tall, his upper body was unclothed, exposing his incredibly muscular, well-built muscles. He gave off explosive power!
Up against the gigantic six-headed snake’s consecutive attacks, the giant let out a long howl. Then, instead of retreating, he pressed forward and actually ignored all the magic attacks as he charged toward the snake in an overbearing manner.
Boom!
The wide spread of magic attacks submerged the giant. However, great flashes of lightning burst forth from around the giant the next second, reducing all the magic attacks to dust.
“Die!”
The giant charged at the six-headed snake. Its watermelon-sized fists, which were imbued with incredibly wild and violent strength, smashed heavily into the six-headed snake’s middlemost head.
Boom!
Violent, raging power erupted, and the middlemost head was smashed right into a pulp of flesh. As great pain came over the six-headed snake, its remaining five heads bit at the giant as though they had gone mad.
“Hahaha!”
The giant burst into laughter. He allowed four of the snakeheads to bite him while he grabbed hold of the last head and stuffed it directly into his mouth. Then, he crunched on the head loudly and began to chew! That sight of him was practically fierce and brutal to the extreme!
“Hiss, hiss!”
The gigantic six-headed snake let out sad and shrill cries. Its remaining four heads bit madly and desperately at the giant. Alas, he was simply built so thick and sturdy that their teeth couldn’t even pierce his skin!
“Hiss, hiss!”
Knowing that it was no match for the giant, the six-headed snake gave up on biting him. Its tail whipped about as it retreated, intending to flee into the pool.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
The giant snorted, and then, a mad flurry of fists bombarded the snake.
“Hiss, hiss!”
This was evidently not an equally-matched battle. It went without saying how the final outcome turned out—one by one, the six-headed snake’s remaining four heads were swallowed into the giant’s stomach!
And then, it died!
“This…”
At the sight, everyone at the Dragon God Cathedral felt chills running down their spines, and their necks felt cold and breezy.
“So, that’s the little fellow named Adil?”
Dumbfounded, Frederick the 32nd couldn’t help but laugh. “What a fierce and brutal little fellow he is! His battle style is surprisingly very similar to that bunch of boorish, unreasonable Titans, though!”
“How brilliant, Your Majesty!”
A smiling President Luke said, “Not only has Adil awakened his Thunder Titan bloodline, but the awakening is even an in-depth one. In terms of bloodline purity, he can already match up to a demi-Titan!”
“An in-depth awakening? Not bad!”
Frederick the 32nd repeatedly nodded as he said, “Thunder Titans are a high-end race that’s in no way inferior to us Golden Colossal Dragons. If Adil can achieve ultimate awakening, he’ll be able to match up to a pure-blooded Thunder Titan!”
“Indeed, Your Majesty!” replied a smiling President Luke.
“That kid has great potential. Emphasis must be placed on him in terms of grooming! With due time, perhaps a Thunder Titan clan can also emerge in the Dragon God Empire!”
Frederick the 32nd went on. “When that happens, that barbaric Titan in the western continent will definitely be so infuriated that he’d die! Hahaha!”
“Your Majesty indeed has a heart as big as the Endless Oceans and as broad as the vast starry skies! I’m full of admiration!” President Luke lauded sincere praise from the bottom of his heart!
" }, { "id": 161, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-161", "title": "Chapter 161 - A Proliferation Of Geniuses, A Deep Sinkhole", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The scene displayed on the magic screen changed constantly. Following Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion and Adil the Thunder Giant, the other geniuses also made their debut one by one.
“Your Majesty, that’s Miriam the Immortal Fairy. Miriam has successfully awakened her Wood Fairy bloodline and has nearly perfectly inherited all of the Wood Fairy’s abilities.
“Not only does she have superbly high wood-elemental magic talent, but she also possesses a superbly wide field of vision, making her both a wood-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician as well as a Saint Domain archer!
“That’s Meredith the Empire’s Dawn. Meredith possesses the powerful Angel bloodline and has incredible and exceptional talent when it comes to light-elemental laws of nature.
“At the young age of 29 years old, Meredith already possesses the strength of a mid-level Saint Domain. Even many old-timer Saint Domains wouldn’t dare say for sure that they can beat her in a battle!
“That white-haired fellow wearing beast hide is Mond Aston, the White Tiger Knight. Mond Aston is a rare double bloodline-holder. Additionally, both bloodlines he holds are extremely powerful.
“One of them is the Beast People’s royal bloodline, the White Tiger bloodline, while the other is the Netherworld White Tiger bloodline.
“White Tigers are legendary warlord divine beasts. They are resolute and decisive in battle, and their ferocious might reaches all the way to the heavens, while Netherworld White Tigers are rare light-elemental and dark-elemental Saint Domain Magical Beasts, which makes them strange and unpredictable.
“For Mond Aston, who has successfully awakened his double Tiger bloodlines, not only does he possess the rarely-seen combination of light-elemental, dark-elemental, and metal-elemental magic talents, but he also has a strong and powerful body, as well as incredible speed. Mond Aston’s strength is not to be doubted!”
“Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion, Adil the Thunder Giant, Miriam the Immortal Fairy, Meredith the Empire’s Dawn, and Mond Aston the White Tiger Knight!”
Upon hearing President Luke’s introduction, Frederick the 32nd was terribly emotional. “The geniuses this year are undoubtedly the most impressive in the last 100 years!
“Any of them would’ve been a well-deserved candidate for the title of champion in the past years, yet there are so many of them this year! I am greatly comforted to see that!”
“These are all thanks to Your Majesty’s great leadership!”
“The proliferation of geniuses and the empire’s prosperity are all thanks to Your Majesty!”
“Ever since Your Majesty has ascended the throne, all have surrendered, and every race has realigned their allegiance to the empire. The Lost Continent was then discovered, and now, there are geniuses…”
At the sight of the emperor’s reaction, the officials began to sing unending praises, which flowed like the gushing, flooding rivers beyond one’s control.
Frederick the 32nd waved lightly and said, “The proliferation of geniuses is certainly the empire’s fortune, but I’ve heard that those aren’t the only talents this year!”
At this point, Frederick the 32nd’s gaze landed on the other academy presidents, his inquiry evident.
“Your Majesty, several geniuses have also emerged from the Royal Knights Academy. The most outstanding one is no doubt Her Highness, Annabella the 13th Princess!
“Her Highness has excellent talent. At 28 years old, she’s ranked 17th in the Dragon God Genius Ranking and firmly overpowers everyone in the younger generation. She has even made great contributions during the dozens of marine beast attacks. Her strength makes even old antiques like us ashamed of ourselves.”
“Little Thirteen is indeed not bad!”
Upon hearing praises of the 13th Princess, a smile appeared on Frederick the 32nd’s countenance at once. Among all his children that numbered more than 1,000, the one he doted on the most was Little Thirteen.
All the officials and numerous Saint Domains also nodded repeatedly. As the one hailed as the strongest among the younger generation, there was no doubt about the 13th Princess’ strength. Thus, she was highly favored by His Majesty.
If it weren’t because her bloodline wasn’t pure, she’d have been the next emperor for sure. Prince Barbarossa wouldn’t even have been part of the discussion at all.
In a certain area of a forest in the Lost Continent…
“The Saint Domain Magical Beast aura is emanating from this pit!”
A young man wearing a black magic robe approached a sinkhole in the depths of the forest. The sinkhole, measuring 100-meters-wide and unfathomably deep, looked just like a monster’s enormous mouth that was about to devour someone.
The sinkhole’s walls on the inside were full of fine grasses, lichen, and fungi that blocked the sinkhole firmly and entirely from view. If he hadn’t found his way here by following the Saint Domain Magical Beast’s aura, he wouldn’t have discovered its existence at all.
“Yet another Saint Domain Magical Beast is going to croak. Sigh, they must be really down on their luck to have run into you! How pitiful~”
“Ol’ President, must you really say it like that?”
“Am I wrong in saying that?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Are you intending to kill it?”
“Of course!”
“It’s staying in its den all fine and dandy, yet calamity’s going to fall out of nowhere from the sky. Since it’s going to be killed by you for no good reason, then doesn’t that make it really down on its luck?”
“Well, I guess so.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what I said, then!”
“I can’t win in an argument with you…”
The young man was naturally Meng Lei. He went right into the sinkhole with a leap. A chilly, humid dampness in the air coupled with the stink of decay rushed toward him.
As he went deeper and deeper into the sinkhole, the temperatures began to drop, and the light became dimmer and dimmer. However, the aura of the Saint Domain Magical Beast lurking within also became increasingly stronger.
Meng Lei, who was bold and fearless thanks to his skills, descended swiftly into the sinkhole. Approximately five minutes later, he finally reached the bottom of the sinkhole. A gigantic underground cave entered his sight.
“Wow, there’s a whole different world at the bottom of the sinkhole!”
Despite how dimly lit the bottom of the sinkhole was, as Meng Lei had astonishingly good eyesight, nothing in the surroundings could escape his vision. The area at the bottom of the sinkhole was incredibly wide and spacious, and one actually couldn’t even see to the end of it.
It was truly a whole new world full of profoundness within.
The ground was strewn with various skeletons and remains. The largest skeleton was as tall as 100 meters, and just a single rib bone alone was already as tall as a 10-story building.
As for other skeletal remains, there were so many around that one couldn’t keep count at all.
“The concentration of methane here is astonishingly high. Just a tiny spark would be enough to ignite an earth-shattering explosion. But where’s the Saint Domain Magical Beast, though?”
Buzz, buzz!
All of a sudden…
A peculiar buzzing reached his ears, and then several pairs of blood-red eyes suddenly appeared in his vision.
Innumerable pairs of eyes the color of blood appeared in the dark. As though the eyes of fiends from hell, they gave off an incredibly sinister and chilly glint that would badly frighten anyone.
At the same time, the sounds of something licking its lips and swallowing its saliva also reached him. One could easily imagine that the masters of these blood-red eyes were currently watching Meng Lei intently and licking their lips greedily.
And the truth was indeed so.
In the pitch-black cave opposite him, Meng Lei could clearly see bat-like creatures hanging upside-down. As large as a yak, each of them had a pair of wings on their back, the head of a black wolf, blood-red eyes, and a mouth full of fangs.
Those were the Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, Shadowwolf Bats!
“I’m being seen as food by a bunch of Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts…”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward in a contemptuous smile. He tossed an orange-sized fireball toward them with a flick of his fingers.
Boom!
The fireball successfully ignited the methane permeating the air at the bottom of the sinkhole. Amid deafening explosions, a series of successive explosions erupted, and shocking waves of fire began to roast everything at the bottom of the sinkhole.
Hooowl!
At once, shrill cries rang out everywhere. All the Shadowwolf Bats flapped their wings and flew about frantically as they tried to flee. They looked as though they had all gone mad. How they wished they had been born with another pair of wings!
“That’s for not knowing what’s good for you.”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he dived straight into the flames rushing into the heavens and went toward where the Saint Domain Magical Beast’s aura was coming from.
As for the tens of thousands of Shadowwolf Bats trapped inside the sea of fire, he could hardly be bothered with them. If they were going to be burned to death, then be his guest.
As for those that the fire couldn’t burn to death, they would only be in even more pain and agony as they suffered from a living hell.
" }, { "id": 162, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-162", "title": "Chapter 162 - Hermaphrodite, This Is My Mount", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The underground cave was deep and bottomless.
After Meng Lei walked for 15 minutes or so, an enormous underground pool finally appeared. Mist drifted about above the pool, such that one couldn’t see how deep it was or how wide it spanned. It looked just like a celestial pool.
In the center of the pool laid an exotic-looking Magical Beast that bore a striking resemblance to a Chinese giant salamander. A milky-white color throughout its body, it looked as if it was made out of fine white tallow jade. It looked incredibly soft, smooth, white and tender, sparkling and translucent, bright and clear, and as tender as though water was going to ooze out of it…
Its skin could make countless noblewomen and young debutantes ashamed of their own unseemliness, as well as countless beauties and young ladies insanely jealous.
“What the heck? That’s such a huge giant salamander!” Meng Lei exclaimed in a low voice, “It’s probably at least 70 to 80 meters long, isn’t it? How impressive!”
“Waaa~”
His voice greatly alarmed the gigantic salamander-like creature, and it turned to look over.
Perhaps it wasn’t quite apt to say that it had “looked over”—because its eyes were actually tightly shut. Evidently, its body had regressed in order to adapt to the dim underground environment.
Nevertheless, it had still discovered Meng Lei’s presence.
“Waaa~”
“Waaa~”
The giant salamander’s mouth opened, and it emitted sharp, ear-piercing cries, which sounded just like the crying and wailing of a child. It sounded awfully terrifying.
“Ol’ President, what kind of Magical Beast is that?”
Its cries were making Meng Lei rather creeped out.
“If I’m not wrong, that’s likely a Saint Domain Magical Beast that has long since gone extinct in Heaven’s Vault Continent—the Split-Body Devil Salamander!” Ol’ Amos commented with slight astonishment in his voice, “The Lost Continent is truly an amazing place! There are a lot of creatures here that have already gone extinct in Heaven’s Vault Continent a long time ago!”
“The Split-Body Devil Salamander? Why does it have such a strange name?” Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“That’s because that Magical Beast has the ability to split apart its body.”
Ol’ Amos explained, “When it encounters lethal attacks, the Split-Body Devil Salamander will split into several individual parts to mitigate the damage from the attack. In other words, the Split-Body Devil Salamander is immune to physical attacks.”
“It can split its body into different parts?” Ol’ Amos’ explanation stupefied Meng Lei. “As expected, fact is really stranger than fiction in this boundless universe. To think there are actually such amazing Magical Beasts in this world!”
Splitting its body?
Wouldn’t that make it very similar to the slugs in Naruto ?
“There are a lot of creatures beyond your imagination out there. What’s the big deal about this?” Ol’ Amos smiled noncommittally. Then he said, “You’ll have to be careful later on. The Split-Body Devil Salamander may look cute and silly, but it’s undoubtedly highly irritable and extremely hostile. That’s where the ‘devil’ in its name comes from, after all.”
“Understood!”
Meng Lei turned around. True enough, the Split-Body Devil Salamander, which was snarling and had its fangs bared, entered his sight. It growled deeply and entered an offensive stance.
“Waaa!”
The next moment, innumerable silver water spears glittering coldly in the light abruptly appeared around it. Then, it brazenly launched its attack.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As though they wanted to jab countless holes into Meng Lei, the silver water spears pierced through the air toward him, emitting shrill whizzes as they did.
“Eighth-Grade Spell, Water Judgment? Am I being underestimated?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he slowly uttered two words, “Absolute Zero!”
Buzz!
The Ice Elements in all directions suddenly converged, and then they turned into a surging white air current that rushed toward the Split-Body Devil Salamander.
“Waaa!”
The Split-Body Devil Salamander let out a strange cry. Before it could even react, the white air current had already thoroughly engulfed it.
Crack!
Crack!
In a split second, the innumerable water spears shooting toward Meng Lei were frozen.
The Split-Body Devil Salamander, as well as the pool underneath it, was also frozen.
Everything in the cave was frozen!
For a moment there, the dim, humid cave turned into a crystal palace that emitted an astonishing chill. It was so cold that even one’s breath would turn into mist.
A whitish mist permeated the air!
The solid ice was bright and clear!
The Split-Body Devil Salamander had turned into a sculpture. It was still maintaining its previous pose and seemed like a freshly sculpted ice sculpture—vivid and true to life, animated and lively.
“Ding! 1 Split-Body Devil Salamander killed. 10.4 billion gold coins gained!”
“Absolute Zero sure is fearsome. But there’s nothing more suitable than that when it comes to dealing with the Split-Body Devil Salamander!”
Ol’ Amos took a deep breath and sighed from the bottom of his heart. As for why Meng Lei could cast an ice-elemental first-class spell, he had already reached a stage where he was nonplussed about it. There was no lack of inexplicable events when it came to Meng Lei, after all.
“Splitting? Something like that doesn’t even exist when Absolute Zero is around!”
Meng Lei laughed lightly. Then, he tapped lightly on the ice sculpture. With a crack, the enormous Split-Body Devil Salamander broke apart and turned into ice shavings at once.
“Collect!”
A watermelon-sized magic core flew out at once. Meng Lei stored it in his ring, and then he returned to the forest to continue his hunt.
At a level like Meng Lei’s, he was no longer satisfied with just ordinary Magical Beasts. His minimal target was Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts, while his priority was Saint Domain Magical Beasts.
As for low-end stuff like Seventh-Grade and Eighth-Grade Magical Beasts, he’d just wipe them out along the way should he encounter them. As for making the special effort to go after them, that was just a waste of time.
“Ol’ President, can you sense any Saint Domain Magical Beasts?”
“Not yet. But there’s a pretty good Ninth-Grade Magical Beast toward the southeast.”
“How far is it?”
“About 50 to 60 kilometers, I’d say.”
“Since there isn’t any Saint Domain Magical Beast around, then let’s go over and take a look!”
Meng Lei looked a little disappointed at that. Then, he flitted toward where the Ninth-Grade Magical Beast was. Unexpectedly, he’d barely taken off when Ol’ Amos stopped him.
“Wait a moment, brat!”
“Hmm?”
“I sense a Saint Domain Magical Beast aura in that direction!”
“In the northeast?”
“Yes!”
“Alright!”
Without any hesitation, Meng Lei flitted toward the northeast at the fastest speed he could muster. After he had assimilated the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, his speed had been boosted by multiple times, including his flying speed.
His current flying speed was even faster than a vast majority of flying mid-level Saint Domain Magical Beasts. It could be said to be as swift as the wind.
Whoosh!
A stream of light drew across the sky and crossed 100 meters in an instant.
A few minutes later, Meng Lei arrived at the Saint Domain Magical Beast’s location. What surprised him, however, was that it was currently in an extremely bad spot.
It… was actually being besieged! A team of six contestants had surrounded it and was currently pummeling it into the ground.
Those six people were evidently no kind souls. Their blades were sharp and keen, their strength fierce and brutal, their spells accurate and precise—every move of theirs was a lethal one. No matter how thick and sturdy that Magical Beast was, it wasn’t going to be able to withstand the six-man team’s joint attack.
Under their siege, that unlucky Saint Domain Magical Beast was struggling to cope. It was already injured and could die at any moment.
“A beautiful crimson red all over with rose petal-shaped scales and a single horn on its head—that’s the wood-elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast, the Uni-Horned Rose Python!”
A smiling Ol’ Amos said, “The Uni-Horned Rose Python is in charge of the beauty aspect among snake-type Magical Beasts. It’s very rare in Heaven’s Vault Continent.”
“In charge of the beauty aspect? When it looks as sad as that?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. As he looked at the six-man team besieging the Uni-Horned Rose Python, he remarked, “That’s the Dragon God Academy uniform. Are they from Dragon God Academy?”
“Judging from their academy uniforms, they probably are.”
Ol’ Amos concurred with Meng Lei’s evaluation.
“What a shame about the Saint Domain Magical Beast. They’re gonna kill it!” Meng Lei sighed as he shook his head.
“What’s all that pretense for? Don’t you know just what kind of person you are?” scoffed Ol’ Amos, his countenance full of contempt.
“Ol’ President, you’re not gonna have any friends if you’re that frank!”
Meng Lei curled his lip in response. Then, he descended from the sky and jumped right into the fray.
“What are all of you doing? Why are you attacking my mount?”
" }, { "id": 163, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-163", "title": "Chapter 163 - Crushing A Hammer, Taking In A Spy", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 163: Crushing A Hammer, Taking In A Spy
Much like a monkey riding a colorful cloud that had appeared out of nowhere, Meng Lei descended from above and frightened everyone.
“Be on guard, everyone! Someone’s trying to seize our prey from the jaws of death!”
Following the shout from a girl with blond wavy locks and wearing a golden magic robe with a golden spell in her hand, all six of them instantly stopped their attacks and directed their gazes at Meng Lei with extreme caution.
“I was wondering who it could be. So it’s just a little brat who hasn’t even grown up!”
The blond girl quietly heaved a sigh of relief. Then, she said, “Leave at once, and we can put this behind us, brat. Otherwise, don’t blame us if we go hard on you!”
“Where did that kid come from? Get lost!”
“How dare you snatch our prey? Do you have a death wish?”
The other five people also straightened their backs as they relaxed their guard. They stared coldly at Meng Lei with contempt in their eyes.
“Your prey?”
Meng Lei’s countenance changed to one of displeasure at once. He pointed at the Uni-Horned Rose Python behind him and said in a deep, low voice, “That’s obviously my mount, yet all of you are actually taking it as your prey?!”
“Your mount?”
The group of six was rather taken aback. They couldn’t help but look at the Uni-Horned Rose Python, only to discover that it was also staring at Meng Lei with abject stupefaction.
I’m his mount?
Why aren’t I aware of that?
Evidently, it didn’t know Meng Lei at all.
The group of six flew into a rage at once.
A muscular man among them shouted, “You little brat, how dare you play us for fools?”
Over two-meter-tall, the man had a horn on his head and a pair of wings on his back. As though a raging bull, he charged right toward Meng Lei.
“Don’t be too heavy-handed and end up killing him, Marcus! Otherwise, you’ll be eliminated!” One of his teammates kindly reminded him. “You can just leave him half-dead instead.”
“Don’t worry. I know what I should do.”
Marcus, the man with the single horn, gave a sinister laugh. Then, he raised the hammer in his right hand high into the air and smashed it down at Meng Lei.
“This place is not for you, kid. Go back to drinking your milk instead!”
One must admit that this strike of Marcus’ contained great might. Even a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast would be smashed into a pulp by it, let alone the skinny Meng Lei who didn’t even reach 1.7-meters-tall.
Judging from their outer appearances alone, there was more than just the average gap in strength between the two of them.
In spite of that, Meng Lei merely grabbed casually at the heavy hammer strike smashing down like a mountain pressing down on him and managed to catch it in his hand.
By applying just a bit of force, he easily punched holes into the hammer with his fingers, and crumbling powder scattered with the wind as they slipped through his fingers.
“What!?”
At the sight of that, Marcus’ eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. One must know that the hammer was crafted from an Ocean Whale’s bones, a Saint Domain Magical Beast. It was incredibly heavy and tough!
Yet he had actually caught it with his hand so casually? And he had even crushed it so casually!
Was he really a goddamn human?
However, before he had the time to be astounded, a severe, heartrending pain suddenly came over his abdomen. Marcus lowered his head—at some point, Meng Lei had already appeared right before him and punched him squarely in the gut.
“You—”
Marcus’ mouth had only just opened when he felt an incoming great force. Then, as though he had been hit by a high-speed rail racing toward him, his entire self was thrown backward.
(⊙o⊙)
The blond girl and the other four were all stunned by the sight. In a daze, they stared blankly at Meng Lei as though they had just seen a ghost.
Marcus wasn’t the strongest among them, but as a Black Dragon Person, his physical strength was the strongest for sure.
Yet someone as strong as Marcus had actually been knocked out instantly. Even the Ocean Whale hammer that he was so proud of had been crushed into pieces.
What kind of physical strength was that? And what kind of combat strength was that?
Saint Domain! The unassuming little brat currently standing in front of them was a Saint Domain for sure. On top of that, he was even an extremely strong one. Otherwise, there was no way he could’ve instantly knocked out Marcus!
The moment they realized that, the five of them were horrified at once.
Meng Lei looked at the blond girl and the others and said, “This is my mount. Do you have any issues with that?”
“…”
A shiver went through the five of them at once.
All of them were half a step away from the Saint Domain realm. Together with the Saint Domain magic devices in their possession, the six of them could kill elementary-level Saint Domain Magical Beasts by working together with some difficulty.
However, when the one they were facing was a fearsome Saint Domain that could instantly knock out Marcus, how could they possibly be a match for him?
“Staying quiet? I’ll ask again.” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and repeated, “This Uni-Horned Rose Python is my mount. Do you have any issues with that?”
“Sir, it’s all yours!”
The corner of the blond girl’s lips spasmed a couple of times as she spoke. Despite being absolutely reluctant to, she still very wisely gave up on the Uni-Horned Rose Python.
When one was facing an unfathomably strong Saint Domain, being stubborn, having backbone, and fighting head-on to the very end was definitely the stupidest thing one could do.
“Get lost!” Meng Lei waved them off.
“Yes!”
The five of them carried Marcus and left so quickly that it was as though they were fleeing—they were afraid that they might incur Meng Lei’s displeasure if they were too slow.
“It’s just you and me now,” Meng Lei said as he turned around.
As his gaze fell onto the bruised and battered Uni-Horned Rose Python, the corners of his lips couldn’t help but quirk upward.
One must say that the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s outer appearance was indeed rather exquisite. It looked as though it were made out of rose petals. As expected of the creature in charge of the beauty aspect among the snake-type Magical Beasts.
“Hiss, hiss!”
With a look of terror in its eyes, the Uni-Horned Rose Python growled in a low voice, “W-what do you want?”
Upon seeing that the Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t immediately attack him, Meng Lei couldn’t help but give an approving nod. Even though it hadn’t been that long since he had come to the Lost Continent, he had discovered that all the Magical Beasts there possessed a certain characteristic—they weren’t particularly hostile toward humans.
Perhaps because they had never seen humans before, they ended up also seeing them as fellow Magical Beasts. Therefore, when facing humans stronger than themselves, they behaved just as they would when they faced other strong and powerful Magical Beasts and experienced feelings of fear, reverence, and submission.
Unlike the Magical Beasts on Heaven’s Vault Continent, which would instead view humans with animosity, hold feelings of fury, indignation, and would rather die than submit.
“I’m thinking whether I should braise you, roast you, or freeze you into a popsicle? Or perhaps I should turn you into a snake kebab?”
Meng Lei rubbed his chin as he pondered aloud. “But that’s a little too bloody. How about I try cutting you into snake meat slices instead? That’s right, snake meat slices! I’ve never seen snake meat slices before, after all.
“And those rose scales all over you, too. If I pluck them off and arrange them into a rose, I’m sure it’ll be highly effective in wooing girls, right?”
“Hiss, hiss!”
His words made the Uni-Horned Rose Python shake like a leaf, and fear filled its eyes. It said, “S-sir, p-please don’t kill me! I’m just an inexperienced, naive little python that’s innocent and ignorant. I taste awful, really!”
“Eh? You even know how to beg for mercy?” Meng Lei was greatly surprised. “It makes things easier if you know how to beg for mercy. Let me ask you something. If your answer satisfies me, I’ll consider letting you off.”
“Ask away, sir! I’ll definitely tell you everything I know!” The Uni-Horned Rose Python nodded incessantly as it trembled in its boots.
Meng Lei tossed out the first question. He asked, “Are you familiar with this continent?”
“Yes! Of course I am!” The Uni-Horned Rose Python nodded hastily as it replied, “I’ve lived on this continent since I was young, so I know every nook and cranny of it!”
Meng Lei’s eyes brightened. Delighted, he asked, “In that case, you know where all the Saint Domain Magical Beasts on this continent are?”
“Yes, sir!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t quite understand why he was asking that, but it still replied respectfully, “All the Saint Domain Magical Beasts on this continent are my friends. I know all of their dens.”
“Great! Fantastic!” A gratified Meng Lei nodded. Then, he asked, “One last question—do you want to live or die?”
“Live! I’d like to live, sir!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python was so scared that it was close to tears.
“Since you want to live, then follow me!” Meng Lei broke into a grin as he said, “Bring me to your Saint Domain Magical Beast friends. Remember, every single one of them!”
“What are you looking for them for, sir?” asked the Uni-Horned Rose Python as it blinked.
“Is that something you should be asking?” Meng Lei glared at it. “Can’t I look for them to talk about life?”
“Yes, yes!”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Then, with a flash, Meng Lei landed on top of the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s head.
“Yes, sir!”
" }, { "id": 164, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-164", "title": "Chapter 164 - Getting Others To Do The Dirty Work, I'M About To Get Mad", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 164: Getting Others To Do The Dirty Work, I’m About To Get Mad
In a pile of well-hidden bushes somewhere, a few heads slowly popped out. As they watched the skinny teenager leaving with the huge snake underneath his feet, they heaved a long sigh of relief.
He’s gone! That frightening fellow was finally gone! In no time, however, the relief in their eyes was replaced by hatred and fury.
“That damned brat! How dare he steal our prey? When have we ever been taken advantage of this badly during our days of rampaging in the Imperial City? Damn it!”
“I swear in the Dragon God’s name that I won’t be known as Carcasnordslavkimablo anymore if I don’t get my revenge for this!”
Upon hearing her companions’ indignant curses, the blond girl let out a cold snort and said, “Revenge? That guy is unfathomably strong. Even if the six of us lay in ambush and launch a sneak attack, we won’t be a match for him for sure. Yet you’re thinking of seeking revenge?”
“This…”
“Are we supposed to let it go just like that, then?”
“There’s nothing I can say if I had been robbed by Sachhen, Adil, Mond Aston, or the others, but what does that little brat even count as?”
“Exactly! Who does he think he is? How dare he rob us? I simply can’t take this lying down!”
“A disgrace! This is a terrible disgrace!”
The blond girl shook her head lightly as she said, “He’s unfathomably strong. It’s too hard for us to get revenge.”
“What should we do, then?”
“Do we let it go just like that?”
“Let it go? How can I let it go just like that after he robbed the prey of I, Alice?” The blond girl sneered. “There are many different ways of taking revenge. Risking your life is but the most foolish one of them all.”
“Have you thought of something, Alice?”
The others’ eyes lit up. “I knew you’re the smartest!”
“We aren’t the only ones here at the Lost Continent. Many others can kill him.”
“You mean…”
“…We’ll get someone else to do the dirty work for us!”
…
With Meng Lei on its back, the Uni-Horned Rose Python traveled across mountains and hills all the way until they reached their first stop—a large mountain.
“Sir, my first friend Jimmy Frost lives right on that volcano.”
“A volcano?”
Meng Lei turned and looked over. The lower half of the mountain was filled with lush vegetation and looked no different from other mountains, while the upper half was bare and pitch-black without even a single blade of grass—it was a volcano, alright.
“Let’s go! We’ll head up!”
Meng Lei could already sense the aura of a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
“Yes, sir!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t dare to be remiss. It soared into the sky and flew toward the mountain summit. As an elementary-level Saint Domain Magical Beast, it had already become capable of flight, though not at a very fast speed.
In no time, it had flown all the way to the summit. The strong smell of sulfur rushed toward them at once. Smoke billowed at the mouth of the volcano, which spanned about six square kilometers, and lava bubbled as it gave off astonishingly high heat.
“Go. Get it out here,” Meng Lei ordered as he patted the python underneath his feet.
“Sir, this…”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python hesitated as a hint of fear and alarm flashed across its eyes.
“Isn’t it your friend?” Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, “What’s there to fear when visiting an old friend?”
“But sir…”
“Do you believe me when I say that I’ll throw you into the lava lake for a hot bath if you spew any more superfluous rubbish?”
Meng Lei glared at it, somewhat impatient.
“Yes, sir!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python trembled, and then it quickly went over obediently. It was a wood-elemental Magical Beast, so it feared fire the most. If Meng Lei threw it into the bubbling lava lake for a bath, what would be cleaned off definitely wouldn’t be dirt, but its skin instead…
“Hiss, hiss!”
“Jimmy Frost, your old friend is here to visit you!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python let out a loud shout. A vigorous wave of energy burst forth from it and pressed down into the bubbling lava lake.
“Hmm?”
A low roar rang out.
The very next second, lava churned, and waves surged as a large head emerged from the lava lake.
The head was ferocious and terrifying to behold. It was covered in fiery red scales, had a sharp, spiral horn on it, while its eyes were bigger than even watermelons.
“A Fire Dragon?”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened!
That head that had popped out of the lake bore a great resemblance to a Fire Dragon. Was that fellow a pure-blooded Fire Dragon?
However, as the behemoth emerged further and further from the lava lake, its massive body was also slowly revealed.
A long, muscular body, fiery red tough scales, a body like a giant crocodile’s, and… Four tiny little legs!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. So it wasn’t a Fire Dragon! If it had really been a Fire Dragon, then it wouldn’t be wise for him to hunt it down anymore.
One could do anything they wanted in the Dragon God Empire except for one thing—slaughtering dragons was the only thing absolutely forbidden!
One must pay a price if they wanted to be a brave dragon slayer!
“Is that a Drake, Ol’ President?”
“It’s just a Lava Dragondile.” Ol’ Amos scoffed. “It surprisingly has a bit of Fire Dragon blood in it, though. It’s just a shame that it’s too diluted, so it doesn’t count as a Drake.”
“Good to hear that.”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips right away.
Colossal Dragons were highly protective of their own and brooked no bullying or humiliation of their offspring from others. They were also very prideful and rejected creatures whose bloodlines were thin and diluted.
Evidently, Ol’ Amos rejected that Lava Dragondile very much. Of all things, it simply had to resemble a Fire Dragon. Who else was he going to reject, if not it?
“Clara, you piece of trash! How dare you intrude on my territory!”
Jimmy Frost’s—the Lava Dragondile’s—gaze swept coldly toward the Uni-Horned Rose Python, its eyes full of disdain and dissatisfaction.
“Jimmy Frost, my old friend!”
Although the Uni-Horned Rose Python was inwardly on tenterhooks, it managed to sound awfully friendly as it said, “I had some free time today, so I came over to visit you along the way.”
“Friend? When you’re such a good-for-nothing?”
The Lava Dragondile burst into raucous laughter as if it had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Its voice was like rolling thunder, the reverberations from it causing rocks to fall and roll off the mountain and lava to churn.
When it was more or less done laughing, the smile finally disappeared from the Lava Dragondile’s visage, and it bared its fangs as it scoffed. “But if you offer up that life force-filled vitality core of yours, I can consider acknowledging you as a friend.”
“Jimmy Frost!”
After being repeatedly humiliated by the Lava Dragondile, the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s embarrassment couldn’t help but turn into anger. “Our territories are linked to each other’s, and we’re considered neighbors. Are you really going to be that unceremonious with me?”
“Hahaha! Who do you think you are?” The Lava Dragondile sneered. “If it weren’t because you lucked out and was fortunate enough to be favored by the Tree of Life, do you think you could become a Saint Domain? In my eyes, you’ll always be nothing more than just a tiny little sixth-grade python!”
“Jimmy Frost!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python was hopping mad, yet there was nothing it could do about the Lava Dragondile. What it had said was the truth for starters, and secondly, it wasn’t as if it could beat it in a fight.
It couldn’t beat the Lava Dragondile at all!
“How arrogant of you, my friend.”
Meng Lei stepped forward at this point and gazed coldly at the Lava Dragondile.
“Who are you?” asked the Lava Dragondile as it looked down on Meng Lei.
“I’m the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s friend!” Meng Lei said dispassionately, “When you look down on my friend like that, you’re also looking down on me at the same time. If you don’t give me a satisfactory explanation today, I’m going to get mad!”
“Get mad? Feh!” The Lava Dragondile burst into uproarious laughter as it scoffed. “Who do you think you are? How dare you hoot that much in front of me? Believe it or not, I can swallow you in one gulp!”
“My friend, I treated you with only kind words and blindly gave way to you the whole time, yet you’re being so overbearing and acting in such a villainous manner. Left with no other alternative, I can only get mad now!”
Meng Lei snorted coldly and shouted, “Ten Thousand Swords Return Home!”
Buzz, buzz!
Dazzling golden light abruptly burst forth from all around Meng Lei. At his call, all the Metal Elements within a few kilometers converged to form swords that circled around him.
“That’s…”
The Lava Dragondile was straight up blinded by the golden light all around it and ended up reacting half a beat too slow.
“Ha!”
Meng Lei’s voice was cold and aloof as he declared, “You damned villain! Today, I shall play the part of the main character in a novel and take out a demon like you! And get rid of evil for the people!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Densely packed golden swords turned to point toward the Lava Dragondile. Then, all of them pierced through the air and shot toward it.
Their sheer numbers practically covered the sky and the earth. Their momentum was so strong that even great heroes wouldn’t be any match for them.
“Aaahhhh!”
Amid peculiar-sounding splurts, shrill cries rose and fell in succession.
Whoosh!
The glint of the swords faded, and the golden light vanished.
The Uni-Horned Rose Python hurriedly looked over, upon which a shiver then went through its whole body, and a bone-chilling iciness welled up in its heart. Was that really the Lava Dragondile?
That was clearly just a goddamn pile of minced meat! Even if it had been kicked into an unrecognizable state, surely it wouldn’t have ended up in this sorry state?
“Ding! 1 Lava Dragondile killed. 11.5 billion gold coins gained!”
" }, { "id": 165, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-165", "title": "Chapter 165 - Fruit Of The Divine Tree, Deification By Religious Faith", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Sir, you’re simply too impressive! My feelings of admiration toward you are endless and eternal, like the gushing rivers. They are like the overflowing Yellow River, beyond control once the floodgates open—”
“Cut the crap. Just drive properly.”
“Drive?”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. Then, he asked, “Judging from what that old crocodile said just now, prior to becoming a Saint Domain, you were just a Sixth-Grade Magical Beast?”
“Yes, sir!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t dare to keep any secrets from him. It explained, “Ten years ago, I was indeed a Sixth-Grade Rose Python. But because I was lucky enough to get a Tree of Life fruit, I was able to become a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
“I had initially thought that after I became a Saint Domain Magical Beast, I’d be able to become buddies with those old-timer Saint Domain Magical Beasts high up above. Who’d have thought that those guys would still look down on me—”
Meng Lei interrupted Clara’s unceasing torrent of words and asked, “Are you saying that you used only a short ten years to advance from a tiny little Sixth-Grade Magical Beast into a Saint Domain?”
“Yes, sir!” The Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t quite understand. It asked, “Is there an issue with that?”
Ten years!
It had taken only ten years for a Sixth-Grade Magical Beast to become a Saint Domain!
Wasn’t that totally an issue?
It wasn’t just Meng Lei who was shocked; even Ol’ Amos was astonished by its words. At once, he emerged from the spatial ring and urged him. “Hurry! Meng Lei, ask the python what the Tree of Life is!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath, and then he posed the question to the Uni-Horned Rose Python.
A look of idolization surfaced in Clara’s eyes at once. An expression akin to those of fanatics in relation to the deity they worshiped and believed in also came over its countenance.
“The Tree of Life is the divine tree on this continent. It’s also the spiritual belief of all living things on this continent. Be it plants or animals, everyone and everything worships and believes deeply in the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life protects us eternally!”
“Is the Tree of Life that great?” Meng Lei’s eyes flashed as he asked, “What’s the Tree of Life fruit?”
“The Tree of Life bears fruits once every hundred years. Each time it does, it only bears a total of nine fruits. When the fruits ripen, the Tree of Life will send these nine fruits to various corners of the continent for the living things here to consume.”
With much gratitude, the Uni-Horned Rose Python said, “If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be able to get one. After consuming the fruit, one will gain great power within an extremely short amount of time—just like me.”
“A single fruit has allowed you to take only ten years to become a Saint Domain Magical Beast. That fruit’s effect…”
Meng Lei found this incredible. He asked, “Ol’ President, have you heard of a fruit like that before?”
“Not at all!”
Ol’ Amos took a breath and said, “In Heaven’s Vault Continent, there are also many treasures that can help people to break through their limits and boost their strength, but none of them can compare to an amazing fruit like that.
“That thing is practically even crazier than a Laws of Nature Origin Crystal!”
“Indeed it is!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily. Laws of Nature Origin Crystals contained nature laws within them and could aid a ninth-grade expert in opening the door to laws of nature and helping them attain the Saint Domain realm. However, this was limited to only ninth-grade experts and was ineffective for those below.
However, this was evidently not the case for the fruit.
A Sixth-Grade Magical Beast had become a Saint Domain in ten years.
What was that?
A huge tonic supplement for mass-manufacturing Saint Domains, that’s what it was!
How could Laws of Nature Origin Crystal match up to it?
“I must find it! I must find that divine tree!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were blazing bright with a spectacular outburst of light. “If we can take it for ourselves and sit and wait for the divine tree fruits to come rolling in, we’ll strike gold!”
One divine tree fruit = One Saint Domain!
Just how much was the divine tree worth?
What was the big deal about having a mine?
What was the big deal about having one’s house demolished and relocated 1 ?
What was the big deal about having a villa in 2nd Ring Road 1 ?
Compared to the divine tree, they didn’t amount to anything at all!
However, Ol’ Amos’ countenance was grave, and there was a complex look in his eyes as he said, ‘We’ll have to look for it for sure, but I’m afraid we can’t hold ourselves against it.”
“Can’t hold ourselves against it?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
Ol’ Amos asked slowly, “Do you remember a certain sentence that the Uni-Horned Rose Python said just now?”
“Which?”
Ol’ Amos replied slowly, “That all living things on this continent, whether plants or animals, worship and believe deeply in the Tree of Life.”
“Yes, I know that. What about it?”
Meng Lei was even more puzzled now.
“You once asked me in the past how one can become a deity, right?” Ol’ Amos didn’t answer his question. Instead, he asked, “My answer was that laws of nature maketh the deity, right?”
“Yes!” Meng Lei nodded. “You once said that deities were also known as the controllers of the laws of nature. If one can fully comprehend a type of laws of nature, they’ll be able to become a deity.”
“Deification by comprehending the laws of nature is only one of the methods available.” Ol’ Amos said slowly, “In truth, that’s not the only route to deification. There’s also another very common method that’s the easiest to achieve, yet also the hardest.”
Meng Lei was taken aback. A very common method that was the easiest to achieve, yet also the hardest? What kind of method was that? Why was it so self-contradictory?
“Ol’ President, the method you speak of is?” Meng Lei was terribly curious.
“Deification by religious faith,” Ol’ Amos answered.
“Deification by religious faith?” Meng Lei perked up.
“As long as you have enough believers worshipping and devoutly believing in you, you don’t even need to do anything, and you can become a deity. Even if you’re just lazing about and doing nothing every day, you can still become one nonetheless!”
A smiling Ol’ Amos explained, “That’s what deification by religious faith is! What do you think? Isn’t it simple?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “One can become a deity without even doing anything? Isn’t that taking the matter a little too lightly?”
“Thus, deification by religious faith is very simple to achieve. Compared to comprehending the laws of nature, it’s practically cheating.”
Then, Ol’ Amos changed the course of the conversation and lamented, “It’s just a pity that it’s not easy to gain enough believers. In fact… It’s extremely difficult!
“Take Heaven’s Vault Continent, for example.
“There’s the Beast People Empire in the north, the Dragon God Empire in the east, the Fairy Empire in the south, and the Titan Empire in the west.
“Yet all four great empires have their own gods that they believe in. Even though there are trillions of living things in Heaven’s Vault Continent, do you think it’s possible to snatch believers from the four great empires?”
Meng Lei gave a wry smile in response—that was something totally impossible, alright? Or at least, that was currently the case.
“Therefore, deification by religious faith is also a method as difficult as nailing jelly to the wall—because it’s totally impossible for you to find a sufficient number of believers to provide enough religious faith for you to become a deity.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly and went on. “As a result, the only thing all living things in Heaven’s Vault Continent can do is to properly comprehend the laws of nature and go down the route of deification by comprehending laws of nature.”
Meng Lei asked, “Ol’ President, you’ve mentioned just now that deification by religious faith is also a very common method. What do you mean by that?”
“In Heaven’s Vault Continent, deification by religious faith is indeed very tough, but this may not be the case for other existential planes.” Ol’ Amos explained with a smile, “You probably don’t know this yet, but in the vast and boundless universe exist countless planes of existence. The Heaven’s Vault Continent is only a very ordinary material plane among them all!”
“Huh?” Meng Lei pretended to be astonished.
“…”
Ol’ Amos explained at great length before he finally said, “Existential planes are much like bubbles. New planes are constantly being born, and old planes are constantly dying out every moment.
“In those newly-born planes, neither deities nor experts exist. The living things there live the life of savages and are primitive and backward.
“The living things that those planes birth are innocent and ignorant. They harbor great respect for the heavens and are fearful of nature. Therefore, they easily hold religious faith toward certain supernatural phenomena or inexplicable things and incidents.
“For example, they may worship a powerful person, a snake, a ball of fire, a rock, and so on.
“That’s the earliest form of religious faith—primitive worship!”
Meng Lei murmured to himself, “Primitive worship?”
“To primeval lifeforms, the act of primitive worship doesn’t mean much. It’s nothing more than just pure faith. However, to the subjects of worship, it’s something incredibly extraordinary!
“Because… Primitive worship can allow them to… Become deities!”
" }, { "id": 166, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-166", "title": "Chapter 166 - The Threat Of A Half-Deity, The Multi-Armed Behemoth", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Primitive worship produces religious faith, while faith itself creates a god. That’s exactly what deification by religious faith is.”
With a sigh, Ol’ Amos went on. “In the vast and boundless universe, new planes are constantly being born, and old planes are dying out every moment.
“As a result, primitive worship is taking place every moment. In fact, Heaven’s Vault Continent has also experienced something similar during its early stages. It has also created a fair number of deities because of that.
“It’s just a shame that as civilization prospered, the religious faith resources in Heaven’s Vault Continent were subsequently split among several parties right down to the very last bit. Thus, it’s no longer a fertile land with regard to deification by religious faith now.”
“I see!” Meng Lei nodded. “So, what you’re worried about is that the Tree of Life has also deified because of the religious faith that the living things on this continent holds in it, Ol’ President?”
“It likely hasn’t reached the point of deification yet.” Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “It has been more than 10,000 years since deities were last born in Heaven’s Vault Continent. The Tree of Life likely hasn’t deified yet!”
“Then what are you so worried about?” Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly in confusion.
“It may not have deified yet, but a half-deity status is not out of the question.” Ol’ Amos’ countenance turned grave as he said, “Although a half-deity isn’t an actual deity, they are still very powerful all the same.
“In the event that the Tree of Life has attained half-deification thanks to its endless source of faith, will you be able to fight against it?”
“That’s…”
Meng Lei was at a loss for words. A half-deity was an existence that was infinitely more powerful than even a limits-level Saint Domain. How would he possibly be a match for it?
“What should we do then, Ol’ President?” Meng Lei hastily asked.
“Don’t panic, and don’t fear!” Ol’ Amos mused aloud. “Whether the Tree of Life really is a half-deity or not is merely our conjecture. What you need to do now is to do your best to collect as much information as possible about the Tree of Life so that you can make a more accurate judgment. It’s only when you know your enemy and yourself inside out that you can survive all your battles.”
“I understand now!” Meng Lei nodded.
Then, he patted the Uni-Horned Rose Python under him and asked, “Clara, what do you know about the Tree of Life?”
“Sir…”
As Clara went into an endless narration. Meng Lei also gained a better understanding of the Tree of Life.
According to the Uni-Horned Rose Python, even though the Tree of Life was a tree, it was also unlike one at the same time. It had no fixed form or a fixed location.
It could appear at any corner of the continent and could also show up in any form. It was a tree, yet also not one at the same time.
As for what it specifically looked like, no one had ever seen it before.
The only thing one could be sure of was that every 100 years, the Tree of Life’s voice would sound in the minds of every living thing on the continent to inform them that the fruits were ripe. Apart from that, none of the living things knew anything else about the Tree of Life.
After hearing all that, Ol’ Amos immediately concluded, “The Tree of Life is definitely collecting the power of religious faith. The so-called fruits are merely its method of spreading faith.
“Most typical living things aren’t capable of collecting religious faith by their own initiative. Brat, you must take absolute care in everything you do from now on. If you discover anything amiss, run immediately!”
“Understood, Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily. A hint of gloom couldn’t help but form in his heart.
A divine tree whose strength was unfathomably deep was lurking in the Lost Continent, and all the living things on the continent were its worshippers.
But what was he currently doing?
He was hunting the divine tree’s worshippers!
Moreover, he wasn’t the only one doing so—the other 7,847 contestants were also hunting its worshippers.
Would the divine tree be agreeable to that?
It seemed like the answer was a negative one!
“Sending us here to hunt Magical Beasts when he hasn’t even gotten a handle on things on the continent—has His Majesty become a senile old dotard?”
In the following period of time, there was always a certain tension in Meng Lei’s mind. He didn’t dare to relax even the slightest, lest he came under the divine tree’s attack.
And yet!
As time went by, under Uni-Horned Rose Python’s guidance, four Saint Domain Magical Beasts perished in Meng Lei’s hands one after another.
In spite of that, the divine tree… didn’t make any move!
It was as if it had decided to just leave things unchecked.
Gradually, Meng Lei also relaxed. Since it didn’t intend to do anything about it, then he wasn’t going to stand on ceremony anymore.
At this point, Clara flew over to a basin and said, “Sir, that basin in front is Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth’s territory!”
“The Multi-Armed Behemoth?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
He knew about the Behemoths—the Beast People Empire’s royal family was exactly the Behemoth race. Among the Behemoths, the Golden Behemoths were even existences comparable to Golden Colossal Dragons and Thunder Titans.
Apart from that, there were also two lower-end Behemoth species—the Silver Behemoths and the Bronze Behemoths.
…But what the heck was a Multi-Armed Behemoth?
“Little boy, you should read more when you have the time!”
Ol’ Amos snorted lightly and explained, “The Multi-Armed Behemoth is a mutated species among the Behemoths. Compared to regular Behemoths, they have four additional arms. Thus, they are also known as Six-Armed Behemoths.
“Behemoths are hailed as the kings of terrestrial battles. In terms of pure physical strength, even Dragons are no match for Behemoths.
“In addition, Behemoths have astonishingly high defense. Apart from first-class spells, they are immune to every other spell. In a wrestling match, Colossal Dragons are no match for Behemoths of the same grade.”
“Tsk, tsk! Impressive!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but marvel. Ol’ Amos was a Fire Dragon Person, and on top of that, he was even one that possessed terrifying strength. Yet even someone like him admitted that Behemoths overpowered Colossal Dragons of the same grade!
From this, one could tell just how strong the Behemoths were.
Ol’ Amos warned, “As the Multi-Armed Behemoth has four more arms than regular Behemoths, they are even more skilled at grappling and, in turn, even harder to deal with than usual. You’d best take it easy later!”
“Got it!”
It didn’t take long before Meng Lei arrived at the basin. The basin resembled a sunken-in bowl and was lower than sea level by almost a thousand kilometers.
Within the basin was a stone forest of erect rock pillars. As far as the eye could see, the place was actually a densely packed stone forest. They looked just like bamboo shoots in the mountains!
Whew!
Whew!
It wasn’t long after they entered the stone forest when thundering snores reached their ears. At the same time, a terrifying, mighty pressure also spread toward them and pressed down on their nerves.
“Sir, that’s the Multi-Armed Behemoth!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python’s voice trembled as it pointed at a massive grayish creature lying in the stone forest. It could hardly conceal the fear in its eyes.
Being a snake-type Magical Beast, it feared Magical Beasts whose forte was physical strength the most, let alone physical strength freaks like the Multi-Armed Behemoth that had even grown itself a few more arms. It was practically the bane of its existence.
“Wake it up,” Meng Lei ordered as he watched the massive creature in deep slumber intently.
“Y-yes, sir!”
With a woebegone expression, the Uni-Horned Rose Python flew over immediately. It had already been some time since it had started to follow Meng Lei around, so it understood his personality very well—should it dare refuse to go over, it would definitely end up with a tragic fate.
“Sacas, my old friend!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python didn’t dare to go too near. It hollered at the top of its voice before it was even anywhere near it.
Roar!
Rudely awakened from its slumber, the Behemoth flew into a rage. “Who is it?! Who dares disturb Sacas’ beauty sleep? Are you tired of living?!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth was simply too loud. Its voice was as though the booming thunder. The resulting reverberations caused the surrounding stone forest to shake and sway as giant rocks fell and rolled off.
Even Meng Lei felt his ears, which were ringing from its voice, go numb. He couldn’t help but be astounded. “What the heck? It’s so loud!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth—which had gotten onto its feet from rage—was 50-meters-tall. A thick layer of gray fur covered its body from head to toe. The muscles hidden by its fur could only be described with one word—exaggerated!
It had the mouth of a hippopotamus and the legs of a lion; the back of a crocodile and the body of a gigantic ape; as well as… The claws of a sloth!
Hanging next to its knees were its six incredibly thick and muscular arms—there was no question as to how terrifyingly strong they were!
Added to this its razor-sharp, barb-like claws that extended as far as two-meters-long, the Multi-Armed Behemoth gave off a spine-chilling aura.
So, that’s the Multi-Armed Behemoth?
" }, { "id": 167, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-167", "title": "Chapter 167 - Golden Giant, The Behemoth Submits", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 167: Golden Giant, The Behemoth Submits
“Who is it? Who dares disturb Sacas’ beauty sleep?!” The Multi-Armed Behemoth roared furiously.
Its voice was as though the dull booming of roiling thunder, its reverberations erupting in the sky and blasting people’s ears.
“S-Sacas, my… My old friend!”
In a terrible panic, the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s voice trembled as it stammered, “I… I’m here to visit you. H-how are you?”
“Die, you lowly worm!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth let out a ferocious roar. Then, without another word, it grabbed a gigantic ten-meters-long stalagmite and hurled it at the Uni-Horned Rose Python. It didn’t take Clara as a friend at all.
Whoosh!
The stalagmite produced whizzing sounds as it hurtled through the air. It blasted straight toward Clara like an intercontinental missile, and the might it contained enough to blast an E-100[1] apart.
“Hiss, hiss!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python received a huge shock. It fled hastily to the side, its long tail swishing about as it did so. The gigantic stalagmite whizzed past it by a hair’s breadth, and then it just so coincidentally had to crash toward Meng Lei.
Crack!
Meng Lei formed a sword with his fingers. With a light slash, a golden ray of sword glint flashed across the air and instantly sliced the gigantic stalagmite into two.
Roar!!
The rudely awakened Multi-Armed Behemoth was currently running berserk and in a terrible rage. It strode forward with its thick, muscular thighs and charged over barbarically.
“You lowly worm! I’m going to tear you into pieces!”
The ground shook and trembled as the stone forest swayed about, while huge rocks rolled and fell off as smoke and dust billowed.
The Multi-Armed Behemoth, which was over 50-meters-tall, moved at breakneck speed. With just a few large steps, it had already crossed the several hundred-meter-long distance and charged right up to the Uni-Horned Rose Python. Then, its two-meters-long barbed claws grabbed forcefully at it.
“Hiss, hiss!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python was scared witless.
“Clara, step back!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang out at this point.
“Yes, sir!”
His voice was no different from celestial music in the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s ears. As though it had been granted amnesty, the Uni-Horned Rose Python hastily dived behind Meng Lei, its tail swishing about in the air.
“The king of terrestrial battles? I’d like to have a taste or two of that!”
Meng Lei licked his lips. Rays of dazzling golden light shot out of him and instantly shrouded him within.
Roar!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth’s razor-sharp claws slashed down at him. With a golden flash of light, he quietly appeared at a spot 100 meters away. At the same time, the Metal Elements within a few kilometers started to converge madly toward him.
As the golden light turned brighter and brighter, the ball of light also became bigger and bigger.
10 meters, 50 meters, 100 meters…
The golden ball of light emitted an infinite light. It was as though the sun hanging in the sky, brilliant as it shone upon the land.
Boom!
An arm radiating a dazzling golden shine reached out from the golden light. It was golden-yellow in color throughout and looked just as though it were crafted from gold. The golden veins on the arm bulged fiercely on the surface, and the muscles on it were solidly intertwined. It brimmed with explosive strength.
Then, it was followed by the second arm… The third… The fourth…
In the short span of a breath, the form of a 50-meters-tall golden giant with three heads and six arms and radiating a dazzling golden shine all over was revealed in the golden ball of light. Then, it landed on the ground with a loud crash.
Boom!
An incredibly sharp and raging aura erupted from the golden giant and spread outward, sweeping toward every direction. Several rays of golden light burst forth from it, instantly jabbing so many holes into the surrounding stalagmites and turning them into swiss cheese.
Roar!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth let out an earth-shattering roar as it sprinted madly toward the golden giant. It was evident from those ferocious blood-red eyes that it intended to rip the golden giant into shreds.
“Good job making it here!” Meng Lei said as he laughed into the heavens. Then, he controlled the golden giant and dashed over, too.
Boom, boom, boom!
When two enormous creatures as tall as buildings more than a dozen floors high ran at high speed, just how huge and earthshaking of a commotion would it cause?
The ground shook and trembled violently as if an earthquake had broken out. Large expanses of stalagmites fell off as the earth shook and mountains swayed.
Boom!
In the next moment, the Multi-Armed Behemoth and the golden giant collided hard with each other, producing a shockingly loud metallic clash.
Crack!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth’s claws slashed a few deep fissures into the golden giant while the golden giant’s six fists landed on the Multi-Armed Behemoth at the same time.
Thud, thud, thud!
The two massive creatures retreated at the same time, pressing a few wide and deep enormous footprints into the ground as they did so. They even broke a few stalagmites along the way.
Their very first clash had concluded with a draw.
Roar!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth, whose savagery had been triggered, charged over once more.
Boom, boom, boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
The basin was completely destroyed. Everywhere that the two giants passed by, all the solid stalagmites around them were as if they were made out of tofu, breaking with just a touch and being crushed with just a brush.
A good half of the stalagmites in the basin were already broken and in disorder in less than five minutes. The place looked as if a Category 12 typhoon had swept through it.
“Is he even human?”
As the one and only witness to the grappling match, the Uni-Horned Rose Python had long since been left flabbergasted and dumbstruck. It was astounded by the ferocity of the battle and even more so by Meng Lei’s choice of action.
It knew very well just how strong the Multi-Armed Behemoth was. On this continent lived hundreds, almost up to 1,000, of Saint Domain Magical Beasts, but those that really dared to get into a wrestling match with the Multi-Armed Behemoth didn’t even make up a handful.
That guy was the king of terrestrial battles and possessed Herculean strength. Wasn’t getting into a wrestling match with it tantamount to committing suicide? Were they tired of living?
Yet that was exactly what Meng Lei had done. To transform into a golden giant and fight the Multi-Armed Behemoth head-on, just how stubborn must he be?
However, the final outcome of the wrestling match was something completely outside of the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s expectations—Meng Lei had won!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth… had collapsed!
Its body, which sported multiple wounds, was trembling lightly. It panted heavily and took large gulps of air, actually unable to even lift a finger.
On the other hand, the golden giant stood steadily where it was, the many cuts on its body healing rapidly. A few breaths later, it was restored to its original condition and looked as brand new as ever.
After a comparison of the two, the outcome was clear.
Whoosh!
A sharp sword appeared in the golden giant’s hand. As it held the sword against the Multi-Armed Behemoth’s throat, it said in a deep, rumbling voice, “Sacas, I’ve taken an interest in you! You have two choices now!
“The first is to have your head cut off by me and die by my sword! The second is to become my dog and pledge allegiance to me!”
The one currently speaking was naturally Meng Lei. He had initially planned to kill the Multi-Armed Behemoth, but after the fierce battle, Meng Lei now had a deep understanding of just how powerful and fearsome the Multi-Armed Behemoth was.
Ferocious and raging!
Immensely strong!
Massive combat strength!
To sum it up—violence! Incredible violence!
If he hadn’t been the one it was fighting, there was no way it would have lost. After all, the real reason for its collapse was exhaustion.
That’s right, utter exhaustion! If it weren’t because it had reached a point of utter exhaustion, in the end, it could definitely continue to fight on!
What? Its injuries?
They were just superficial wounds that didn’t get in the way at all!
It was a pity to kill a savage beast like that. Since that was the case, why not take it in instead and turn it into his second fighter?
“I’ll give you ten seconds to consider the offer!” Meng Lei’s voice was loud and sonorous as he said, “I want an answer in ten seconds!”
Roar!
The Multi-Armed Behemoth sank into a painful struggle. Its pride didn’t allow it to submit to others—it was a proud and arrogant Behemoth! A powerful Multi-Armed Behemoth!
How could it submit to others?
Yet, it was being presented with harsh reality.
If it didn’t submit… Then it would die!
“Submit?”
“Don’t submit?”
“Submit?”
“Don’t submit?”
“…”
“Time’s up!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang out once again. He asked, “So? What’s your decision?”
“I… I’ll submit!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth ultimately lowered its noble and elegant head.
“That’s a wise decision you’ve made!”
[1] Refers to the Panzerkampfwagen E-100, a German super-heavy tank design developed toward the end of World War II
" }, { "id": 168, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-168", "title": "Chapter 168 - Blazing Jealousy, As Vicious As A Viper", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 168: Blazing Jealousy, As Vicious As A Viper
“Hurry up!”
“There’s a huge commotion over there!”
“A fierce battle must be taking place!”
“It’s a great chance to cash in on others!”
“All of you, hurry up! Don’t let other bastards get there before we do…”
A few streams of light whizzed swiftly through the mountainous forest outside the basin. A few breaths later, they reached the basin’s periphery.
Gasp!
“The whole stone forest has actually turned into such a terrible state?”
“Just how fierce must the battle just now have been?”
The few of them exchanged a look. All of them could see the astonishment in one another’s eyes. Then, they looked at a blond young man among them.
“Carlos, what should we do now?”
“Are you sure you want to cash in on this?”
Carlos, the blond young man, was obviously the leader of the team. He didn’t answer his companions; instead, he looked toward the depths of the basin.
A brief moment later, his eyes widened, and he burst into laughter. “Yes! Why shouldn’t we? Fellows, we’ve struck gold this time!”
“Huh?”
His companions exchanged looks of confusion with one another.
“Don’t ask. We’ll talk again after we head over!”
An earth dragon automatically rose from underneath his feet and raced toward the depths of the basin with Carlos on its back. At the sight of this, all his companions also followed after him.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The group moved at high speed. Soon, they arrived at the basin center, and then they saw something that terribly astounded them.
A 50-meters-tall enormous creature laid on its back in the stone forest. Riddled with wounds and covered in blood, it was barely breathing anymore. From the looks of it, it was on the brink of death.
“A B-Behemoth! That’s a Behemoth!”
“Oh my dragon god! It’s actually a Behemoth!”
Astounded, the few of them let out a series of exclamations.
“No! It’s not just any ordinary Behemoth!” Carlos swallowed hard as he said, “That’s a Saint Domain Multi-Armed Behemoth! Who was it that managed to pummel a Saint Domain Multi-Armed Behemoth into a pathetic state like that?”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
For a moment there, everyone’s gazes practically landed at the same time on Meng Lei, who was opposite the Multi-Armed Behemoth.
Meng Lei laid on a huge rock; his complexion was as pale as a sheet. With blood at the corners of his lips, he was the very picture of someone heavily injured and on his deathbed after a fierce battle.
Evidently, his battle with the Multi-Armed Behemoth had worn both parties out.
“He’s the one that wounded the Multi-Armed Behemoth?”
“What kind of joke is that? It’s actually a little brat?”
“It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone else here, aside from the Multi-Armed Behemoth and him. Who else can it be, other than him?”
“Oh my dragon god, is he really the one?”
“Not only is a Saint Domain Multi-Armed Behemoth comparable to a Golden Colossal Dragon, but their terrestrial combat strength and wrestling abilities are even stronger than a Golden Colossal Dragon’s. Yet he can actually beat up the Multi-Armed Behemoth into that state?”
“Who’s that little brat? Do any of you know him?”
“No, I don’t!”
“Never seen him!”
“I know all the Empire-Affiliated Academy Contestants, but I’ve never seen that little brat! He’s obviously from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms!”
“There’s someone that strong from the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms?”
Carlos, the blond young man, stared hard at Meng Lei as flames of jealousy blazed within him.
That little brat looked so young, yet he was strong enough to contend against the Multi-Armed Behemoth. Just how amazingly talented must he be!?
But what about him?
Born with a silver spoon, he had gone through the strictest education since he was young and enjoyed the highest grade cultivation resources. He was already past 29 years old, yet his cultivation hadn’t gone past pinnacle-level ninth-grade yet. He was only barely bordering on Saint Domain.
If he had to fight the Multi-Armed Behemoth head-on, it would practically be no different from sending him straight to his death.
Jealousy burned within Carlos. With a deep, dark look in his eyes, he ordered, “The few of you, kill that Behemoth. Leave that little brat to me!”
“No problem!”
“How exciting! This is my first time seeing a Multi-Armed Behemoth, not to mention killing one!”
“Oh my dragon god! To think I actually get to kill a Multi-Armed Behemoth that’s hailed as the king of terrestrial battles in my life! The blood in me is boiling uncontrollably!”
Unable to wait any further, the others rushed toward the Multi-Armed Behemoth while Carlos walked up to Meng Lei with a complex look in his eyes.
“Little brat! Although I don’t know who you are, I can imagine that in the kingdom or dukedom where you come from, you must be a genius basking in the limelight, idolized and embraced by countless people, right?”
“What are you trying to do?”
Meng Lei’s complexion was ghastly pale.
“Frankly speaking, I’m very envious of people with excellent talent like you. You can disregard background, resources, age, and without putting in any hard work, still possess strength far beyond others’ to bask in the limelight and be embraced by many.
“It’s just a shame that there are many things that one can’t get despite their envy!”
The corners of Carlos’ lips curled upward as he said, “I have a lot of strengths, but having the tolerance for people more outstanding than me isn’t one of them. In particular, amazingly talented monsters like you make me even crazier with jealousy!”
“Y-you… Don’t you dare!”
Meng Lei warned with a horrified and fearful expression, “The emperor has prohibited us from hunting and killing fellow contestants. Otherwise, they’ll be eliminated. You can’t kill me!”
“Kill you? Of course, I won’t do that!” Carlos gave him a chilly smile. “But I can destroy you! So that you’ll no longer have amazing talent and turn into a total cripple!”
As he spoke, he took out a test tube filled with red liquid from his spatial ring. The content looked like blood! Scarlet, demoniac blood!
“This tube of blood is filled with Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches. Do you know what Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches are?”
Carlos gave the test tube in his hand a couple of shakes as he went on. “They are a type of exotic parasitic poisonous worm that lives in humans or Magical Beasts’ blood. They specialize in devouring Battle Aura, magic power, and spiritual power!
“Once Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches make their way into someone’s body, even Saint Domain experts can forget about ever getting rid of them!
“The only thing they can do is to watch helplessly as the Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches devour their spiritual power, magic power, and Battle Aura bit by bit until everything’s gone! And perish in the end!”
A smiling Carlos added, “Before the competition started, I had specially gotten the Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches ready for the sole purpose of dealing with strong and talented monsters like you. If I could, I would like to kill all of you! And you… You’re just the first one I’m starting with!”
After he spoke, Carlos popped off the cork and prepared to pour the blood infused with Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches onto Meng Lei.
Meng Lei couldn’t keep his act at this point. With a flip, he got up and caught Carlos’ arm with his own. Then, he snatched the test tube from him.
(⊙o⊙)
Carlos was stunned.
“You’re too goddamn disgusting!” Meng Lei had a dark look on his countenance as he said, “Not only are you robbing me of my battle spoils, but you’re even intending to destroy me with something so malicious! What a goddamn pervert!”
Then, Meng Lei slammed his fist into Carlos’ abdomen, almost beating his dinner from the previous night out of him.
“You loser, I’ll leave you to have a taste of this thing here yourself!”
With a casual grab, pour, and close, Meng Lei poured all the blood in the test tube into Carlos’ mouth.
Then, he broke Carlos’ jaw into pieces with a flying kick so that he wouldn’t even have the chance to throw up the Soul-Devouring Hell Leeches!
“Ughh~”
Carlos fell onto the ground and began to whimper and scream as he held his stomach. Anxious, in pain, and terrified, he had totally broken down.
Elsewhere, the few preparing to kill the Multi-Armed Behemoth turned around upon hearing the commotion, their countenances full of horror.
“Carlos!”
“What’s going on?”
“Birds of a feather flock together! None of you is anyone decent!”
Meng Lei snorted coldly. Then, with a flick of his fingers, several golden rays shot out and instantly slashed across their knees.
With a neat and organized soft thud, the few of them fell onto the ground—their upper bodies, that was. From the knee down, they were still standing…
" }, { "id": 169, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-169", "title": "Chapter 169 - Harsh Competition, I Don'T Hit Women", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 169: Harsh Competition, I Don’t Hit Women
Seated atop the Multi-Armed Behemoth’s shoulder, Meng Lei headed to the next Saint Domain Magical Beast’s territory while taking an inventory of his rewards from earlier.
“Three Saint Domain magic cores, 76 ninth-grade magic cores, and innumerable magic cores of other grades… They already have these many magic cores when it hasn’t even been half a day?”
Meng Lei didn’t think that Carlos and the others had gotten these through hunting. The only possibility was that they had also robbed other contestants, just like how they had intended to rob him. That was the only way they could collect that many magic cores in half a day’s time.
Meng Lei remarked with a sigh, “Robbing others, fighting, maiming, and injuring others at the drop of a hat—this exchange competition sure is rather brutal.”
“The exchange competition is a very brutal one from the start.”
Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out as he said, “The strong are vicious and heartless while the weak group together for solidarity.
“For victory, contestants resort to unscrupulous means like ambushing others from the back, making use of others, and other schemes and conspiracies… It’s impossible to guard against them all.
“Rather than an exchange competition, one might as well just call it a slaughterfest. Numerous contestants die in the competition every time it’s held. If not for the fact that you’re strong enough, you’d have died from others’ schemes a long time ago!”
“Perhaps, I guess.” Meng Lei chuckled in response to his words.
“This is especially true when you’re traveling around with two Saint Domain Magical Beasts now. It’s too eye-catching,” Ol’ Amos kindly warned him, “Take it easy. Be careful you don’t slip up in unexpected places.”
He had only just spoken when Ol’ Amos suddenly laughed. “See? What did I just tell you? Let’s see how you’re gonna deal with it this time!”
“Hmm?”
With an eyebrow raised, Meng Lei’s spiritual power swept across the area—in the bushes a few kilometers away, a teenage girl laid in a pool of blood…
“What’s that supposed to be? A honey trap?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he instructed, “Stay here and wait for me, Sacas and Clara!”
“Yes, Boss!”
Meng Lei soared into the air. Soon, he arrived right in front of the girl.
“H-help…”
Upon discovering Meng Lei’s presence, the weak and delicate girl acted as though she had just seen her savior, calling out as loud as she could in a hoarse voice.
The magic robe on the girl—probably a Magician—was torn and tattered, exposing large patches of snowy-white skin.
There was blood on the corners of her lips, as well as on her body… Or rather, all over her body, especially because a spear had pierced through her thigh, pinning her to the ground such that she could barely move.
“I… I’ve been attacked!”
The girl’s pretty face was pale as she said, “They robbed me of all my magic cores and even injured me. I can’t move anymore, can you help me?”
“Of course!”
Meng Lei repeatedly nodded upon hearing the girl’s explanation, the total picture of a loser begging to please.
“Can you extricate the spear on my thigh for me?”
She looked charmingly pitiful with a pleading look all over her face.
“No problem!”
Meng Lei walked forward and grabbed hold of the spear. Unexpectedly, the spear in his hand abruptly morphed into a small blood-red snake at this point. It opened its mouth and bit down directly on Meng Lei’s hand at once.
“Ahhh!”
Meng Lei let out a cry and shook the small blood-red snake off forcefully. Then, he staggered backward while he held his bitten right hand.
“Hehe!”
At the sight of this, the frail and delicate teenage girl immediately broke into giggles. Her crisp and melodious giggles were exceptionally clear in the quiet and tranquil forest, and she looked like a completely different person compared to her previous pitiful state.
“Y-you… tricked me?”
His complexion deathly pale, Meng Lei’s eyes bore furiously into the girl!
There was no hint of her previous wretched appearance to the girl anymore at this point. The blood on her had mysteriously disappeared, and even her torn and tattered magic robe had been restored to a spanking new condition. The blood-red little snake had slithered onto her arm as well.
“Tricked you? You can only blame your own stupidity!” The girl stroked the blood-red little snake as she giggled. “Everyone employs their own means in the exchange competition and will stop at nothing to get what they want. Fools like you can’t even get past the first day at all!”
As she spoke, her gaze also fell on Meng Lei’s spatial ring. A smile appeared on her countenance at once, and she said in a girlish voice, “Give that to me!”
“I got these magic cores through my own painstaking hunting efforts! How can I give them to you?” said Meng Lei, who had an indignant and grieving look on his face and looked as if he’d rather die than give in.
“You won’t give them to me? You can just die, then!”
At once, the girl’s expression changed and turned into one of cruel tyranny. She said, “Do you know what kind of snake this is? It’s a Bloodscale Blazing-Sun Snake! It’s incredibly poisonous, and once it bites you, even a Saint Domain will be left paralyzed for half a day, let alone someone like you.”
“You… How can you be so vicious?”
Terribly shocked and fearful, blood drained from Meng Lei’s face at once.
“Cut the crap! If you don’t wish to die, hand over your spatial ring immediately, and I’ll give you the antidote. Otherwise, you can just wait to turn into a puddle of pus and die!”
The girl spoke fiercely and viciously.
“You—”
After a brief moment of hesitation, a deathly pale Meng Lei ultimately still chose to remove his spatial ring. He threw it over to the girl, who received it in satisfaction and upon which, began to check the contents.
The moment she did, she turned livid. “Five first-grade magic cores? These are the magic cores that you ‘got through your painstaking hunting efforts’? Are you f*cking kidding me?”
Meng Lei said with an awful look on his face, “What? You don’t believe me?”
“So you’re just a bloody pauper! What a waste of my time!”
The girl glared viciously at Meng Lei. That look in her eyes was as if she wished she could eat him alive. Then, she turned and left.
Meng Lei hastily shouted, “Hey! Where’s the antidote?”
“You can just die, you goddamn pauper!” spat the girl coldly. Then, she left without even so much as a look behind her.
Whoosh!
A light breeze blew past, and then Meng Lei floated over to her.
“You—”
Terribly shocked, the girl stared at Meng Lei, who had suddenly shown up in front of her, in disbelief.
“Little miss, you robbed me earlier. It’s my turn to rob you now!”
A total change from his pathetic state just a moment ago, Meng Lei currently had a cheeky smile all over his face.
“You’re not poisoned!”
The girl reacted very quickly, retreating with a burst of speed. When she had retreated to a safe distance away, she glared furiously at Meng Lei as she said, “How dare you trick me? Are you tir—”
Bam!
Before she could even finish, Meng Lei’s foot had already appeared. His foot hit the girl on her face squarely, sending her flying.
“Don’t you know how to choose your words properly? Did I trick you?” Meng Lei snorted and replied, “What I did is something known as beating you at your own game, get it?”
“You bastard! I’m gonna kill you!”
Thoroughly embarrassed and furious, the girl leaped forcefully off the ground and began to launch a series of attacks as if she had gone mad. Amidst wheezing attacks, the woods and trees around them seemed to come to life.
Numerous vines morphed into poisonous snakes and pythons that surrounded Meng Lei from all directions. Then, they shot toward him altogether.
“Playing with wood-elemental magic in front of me? You think too highly of yourself!”
Meng Lei let out a contemptuous scoff of laughter, and then with a point of his finger… Several whitish air currents burst forth and shot toward the large numbers of poisonous snakes and pythons hurtling toward him.
Crack!
Crack!
Upon coming into contact with the whitish air currents, a layer of white ice crystals wrapped around all the poisonous snakes and pythons, freezing them on the spot.
A few moments later, all the snakes and pythons turned into vivid, life-like ice sculptures, still and motionless.
“Break!” Meng Lei commanded.
Crack!
Instantly, all the ice sculptures broke into pieces and turned into ice chips that rained down onto the ground, producing crisp and clear clatters as they did so.
“This…”
Alarm interspersed with horror took over the girl. She hastily began to chant a magic incantation, intending to cast an even more powerful spell.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei appeared quietly in front of her.
“I’m a kind, thoughtful, and gentle man. I’ve never been one to hit women, so you don’t need to worry about that.” Meng Lei gave her a warm and mild smile as he went on. “But I’d like very much to have a taste of what it feels like to hit one now. Are you ready?”
And then…
Smack, smack, smack!
Bam, bam, bam!
" }, { "id": 170, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-170", "title": "Chapter 170 - Betraying Boss? A Chaotic Battle At The Cliff", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 170: Betraying Boss? A Chaotic Battle At The Cliff
“One Saint Domain magic core, 38 ninth-grade magic cores, and innumerable magic cores of other grades. For a woman that’s even operating solo to collect these many magic cores in just a short half a day, just how many unlucky bastards has she tricked?”
Meng Lei was infinitely filled with emotion as he sighed. “What a moral-less world we live in now. People are no longer what they used to be. There aren’t many kind and upright contestants like me anymore!”
“Yeah, right!”
The corners of Ol’ Amos’ lips were spasming as he scoffed. “If you’re that kind and upright, then why were you playing possum to rob Carlos and gang? If you’re that kind and upright, then why did you treat a young lady that way?
“No offense, but you’re simply too heartless and have absolutely no idea how to treat a woman. You actually beat up a proper young lady like that to the point that she was unrecognizable. How is she supposed to face others in the future?”
“Hahaha! I did it for her own good!” Meng Lei burst into laughter. “Given her current level of strength, she’s not going to be able to go far. Rather than becoming destroyed by perverts like Carlos, she might as well just withdraw from the competition while it’s still early.”
“Then why did you rob her of her spatial rings? And all three at that?” Ol’ Amos side-eyed him.
Meng Lei was full of righteousness and justice as he replied, “It’s also for her own good! Lest she becomes the target of someone else’s greed!”
“As if I’m gonna believe you! I know you’re a terribly sly one!” Ol’ Amos snorted lightly as he went on. “But on the contrary, I’m relieved now. Seeing as to how you’re so sly and cunning, other contestants can only lament their misfortune if they run into you!”
The two of them chatted idly on and off. As the warm, comfortable sunlight shone onto him, Meng Lei suddenly felt rather drowsy, and he said to the Multi-Armed Behemoth and Uni-Horned Rose Python, “The two of you, continue moving forward while I nap a little.”
“Yes, Boss!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth’s shoulder was very broad and full of densely-packed long fur. Meng Lei made a nest for himself, and then, he fell asleep comfortably.
Before long, the sound of snoring rang out.
At the sight of Meng Lei entering deep sleep, the Uni-Horned Rose Python went up to the Multi-Armed Behemoth. Then, it lowered its voice and called out, “Sacas!”
“What is it?”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth cast a glance at the Uni-Horned Rose Python.
“He’s fallen asleep. Should we…”
Then, the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s lips formed the words “slip away”!
“You’re thinking of betraying Boss?”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth’s voice suddenly raised in volume as flames of fury surged in his eyes. “Clara, snakes like you have no honor to speak of at all indeed!”
His volume almost frightened the Uni-Horned Rose Python into a heart attack. “Lower your volume! Lower your volume, big bro! I’m begging you…”
“Hmph!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth let out a muffled snort.
“I was forced to come along with him against my will. I have neither pledged allegiance to him nor entered a contract with him; from whence does the talk of betrayal come?”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python lowered its voice and went on. “We’re Saint Domain Magical Beasts. We’re creatures that stand at the apex of the continent’s pyramid of lifeforms, the rulers among Magical Beasts! We should be living freely and unfettered without anything holding us back, rather than being his slaves and mounts like what we’re doing now!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth sank into silence at Clara’s words.
Thinking that it had convinced the Multi-Armed Behemoth, the Uni-Horned Rose Python began to speak with even more enthusiasm. “You should know that once Saint Domain Magical Beasts like us fall asleep, we’ll need a very long time before we can wake up. He’s already fallen asleep. Now’s our best chance to escape!
“Let’s escape together. And soar as freely as the birds do in the sky and swim as freely as the fishes do in the ocean. Why should we follow him and let him boss us around?”
“You can leave if you want to. I’m not leaving!” The Multi-Armed Behemoth resolutely turned down the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s bewitchment. “Since I’ve been defeated by him and already pledged to submit, then I will never go against my words. The proud and lofty Behemoths always honor their promises!”
“Sacas, you…” The Uni-Horned Rose Python was infuriated. “You’re a Multi-Armed Behemoth, you know! The king of terrestrial battles on par with a Golden Behemoth! Are you really willing to be bossed around by—”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python was in the midst of speaking when it suddenly froze. Then, with much difficulty, it slowly turned around, only to be greeted by the sight of Meng Lei, who was currently watching it with a broad smile on his face.
“S-sir… I… I…”
At once, a huge jolt went through the Uni-Horned Rose Python, and a smile that looked even more awful than a crying face appeared on its countenance.
“Thinking of leaving?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“No, no, no! I’m not!”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python shook its head incessantly. “I’m willing to be Sir’s follower forever until the oceans are barren and the forests wilt—”
“You can leave if you want to.” Meng Lei said calmly, “Now that I have Sacas to bring me around, you’re just an extra around here. If you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
The Uni-Horned Rose Python was rather stunned. “S-sir, are you being serious? You’re really willing to let me go?”
“Hurry up and get lost if you want to.” Meng Lei waved it away impatiently. “Sacas, speed up!”
“Yes, Boss!”
With a sound of acknowledgment, the Multi-Armed Behemoth put in a burst of speed, and then it flew a few hundred meters away instantly, leaving behind the dazed Uni-Horned Rose Python.
“I… I’m free? I’m free! I’m finally free! Haha, I’m f— Ugh!”
A golden ray suddenly appeared and instantly sliced the Uni-Horned Rose Python’s throat. A bloody line quietly appeared, and then its head gradually left its body.
…
“You didn’t let it off, after all.” Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “I knew it! How could you possibly be that kind-hearted?”
“Even if I didn’t kill it, someone else would.” Meng Lei smiled lightly as he said, “With its strength, it’s not going to survive for long. If that’s the case, then I might as well kill it.”
“What a fool!” Ol’ Amos sighed. “The continent is a perilous place right now. Contestants are hunting Magical Beasts everywhere.
“Saint Domain Magical Beasts, in particular, are even luscious pieces of meat that all the contestants are fighting for. It’s still somewhat safe if it follows you around, but leaving? Only death awaits it, then!”
“Who can stop it from seeking death if that’s what it wants?”
Then, Meng Lei shut his eyes and continued to sleep.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the front of a cliff. The cliff rose a thousand feet sheer and stood tall and straight—it looked extremely dangerous.
The top of the cliff was riddled with densely-packed, beehive-like holes. They came in a variety of sizes—big, small, wide, narrow…
It was just that the place was currently extremely lively.
50 to 60 contestants had actually been drawn to the area, and they were currently fervently attacking a bird-type Magical Beast that was a snowy-white color throughout.
With the body of an albatross, the mouth of a crocodile, and the claws of a hawk, its wingspan was over 20 to 30 meters wide and covered in white feathers.
It was the social Magical Beast, the Crocohawk Albatross!
As a Wind-Elemental Magical Beast, the Crocohawk Albatross was relatively strong. Most of them were Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts, with a handful being eighth-grade. The outstanding ones reached ninth-grade while their king was a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
Given such strength and terrifying numbers, no wonder those social Magical Beasts could attract that many contestants.
“Kill!”
“Kill them all!”
“Protect the Magicians!”
“Hurry! Don’t let them take everything!”
All the contestants saw red from bloodthirstiness as they hunted the Crocohawk Albatrosses in an almost insane manner. Despite their sheer numbers, the Crocohawk Albatrosses couldn’t do anything about them at all.
Not only did every contestant possess the strength of a ninth-grade expert, but the vast majority of them were even Dragon People. They could be said to be double cultivators of magic and martial arts; how could the Crocohawk Albatrosses possibly be their match?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Bam, bam, bam!
Boom!
Boom!
Densely packed wind blades!
Blazing fire dragons!
Thunderstorms of astonishing might!
Tornadoes that engulfed all!
Churning and surging ocean waves!
Vines covering every expanse of land!
Booming explosions and animal cries!
Sounds of collisions and furious shouts!
“The battle sure is fierce. This is much more exciting than even Hollywood visual effect blockbusters!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but sigh emotionally. “But I can’t just watch from a safe distance and cash in on the situation. I have to act, too!”
" }, { "id": 171, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-171", "title": "Chapter 171 - Barbarossa Says, \"These Magic Cores Are Mine\"", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 171: Barbarossa Says, “These Magic Cores Are Mine”
“Sacas, hide here while I go over.”
Then, Meng Lei turned into a stream of light and flew into the battleground.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several ice blades launched forcefully toward the Crocohawk Albatrosses in the sky. Ice blades were just low-grade spells, but in Meng Lei’s hands, they held astonishing might.
Splurt! Splurt!
Amid soft, continual sounds, the ice blades impaled the Crocohawk Albatrosses’ heads one by one with utmost accuracy, reaping their lives.
On top of that, Meng Lei was also rather sly and crafty—he went exclusively for the stronger Crocohawk Albatrosses like the eighth-grade and ninth-grade ones; he was above hunting the weaker ones.
“Ding! 1 Crocohawk Albatross killed. 9,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +1,987!”
“Ding! 1 Crocohawk Albatross killed. 6,790,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Magic Power +498!”
“Ding…”
As Meng Lei listened to the system’s cold and emotionless voice notifications, he felt as if he was listening to celestial music. While humming The Most Dazzling Folk Style[1], he also released ice blades to the beat.
“The boundless horizon is my love!
“At the foot of the stretching mountains the flowers bloom!
“What kind of rhythm is the most…”
His movements were leisurely and carefree as if taking a stroll in the park.
It was just a shame that the battle was simply too chaotic, so even a ferocious tiger like Meng Lei had become completely inconspicuous among the dogs. He didn’t catch anyone’s attention at all.
Boom, boom, boom!
The massacre continued without even a moment’s pause, and large numbers of Crocohawk Albatrosses perished at their hands. At last, their actions finally enraged the Crocohawk Albatross King.
Screeeech!
A sharp and crisp, loud and resounding cry that could almost shatter someone’s eardrums suddenly rang out. Then, a massive Crocohawk Albatross with a golden crown on its head and a wingspan of over 100-meters-wide shot out of a cave.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless wind blades shot down everywhere!
“The Crocohawk Albatross King!”
“It’s the Crocohawk Albatross King! Be careful, everyone!”
“The Crocohawk Albatross is a Saint Domain Magical Beast! Let’s work together to slay that beast! We can discuss how to split the spoils thereafter! What say everyone to that?”
“Alright!”
“That’s the only choice we have! We mustn’t be negligent and careless when up against a Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
“Attack!”
Apart from a minority of lone rangers like Meng Lei, all the other 50 to 60 contestants were obviously split into quite a few teams. After a bit of discussion, all of them made their decisions.
Then, they charged toward the Crocohawk Albatross King together.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Dragon People Warriors flapped their wings and soared into the sky, while the Magicians chanted magic incantations and cast high-grade spells.
Boom, boom, boom!
Overwhelming attacks engulfed the Crocohawk Albatross King!
At the same time, a dazzling golden light also flew toward it with the other attacks. Hidden among the rest of the attacks, it cut across the Crocohawk Albatross King’s head!
“Ding! 1 Crocohawk Albatross King killed. 11,000,000 gold coins gained!”
Squawk!
The Crocohawk Albatross King froze in mid-air. Its wings that were capable of blotting out the whole sky also became weak and powerless at this moment. Then, its head went limp, and it crashed toward the ground with a deafening boom before its movements ceased completely in the end.
(⊙o⊙)
“What’s going on?”
“It died just like that?”
“Were our attacks so sharp and powerful that we could even straight up kill a Saint Domain Magical Beast?”
The contestants looked absolutely stupefied. However, their reactions were in no way slow—all of them flew toward the Crocohawk Albatross King at lightning-fast speed!
“The magic core is mine! Don’t any of you dare fight me for it!”
“No, it’s mine!”
All the contestants’ eyes had turned red from agitation.
However, a sudden turn of events occurred at this point.
Whoosh!
The sharp whiz of something shooting through the air rang out. By the time a golden ray of light flashed past the contestants, someone had already appeared in front of the Crocohawk Albatross King.
A head of dazzling golden-blond hair!
A suit of golden armor!
A pair of golden horns on the forehead!
A huge golden sword underneath his feet!
He was suave and handsome, domineering, and outstanding!
He gave off an incredibly noble and elegant air, every action of his exhibiting a gentleman’s grace!
A coexistence of dominance and elegance, he was someone who had both looks and power!
“Barbarossa!”
“It’s Prince Barbarossa!”
All the contestants froze on the spot, none of them daring to take another step forward.
Without any hint of emotion on his countenance, Barbarossa’s golden eyes swept across the place as he uttered lightly, “This Saint Domain magic core is mine!”
Then, without paying any heed to the others anymore, he turned and flew toward the Crocohawk Albatross King.
“This…”
All the contestants looked at one another. Despite being incredibly frustrated, none of them dared to step forward to stop Barbarossa.
Prince Barbarossa’s terrifying strength aside, his identity alone was already enough to stop them from acting rashly.
Not only did he possess terrifying strength that placed him at 148th place in the Genius Ranking, but he also had a powerful identity—someone destined for the throne!
Who would go against him just for a mere Saint Domain magic core?
Forget it, forget it!
I can’t afford to offend him! Nope, not at all!
Countless miles away, while all of this was happening, everything that had taken place had also coincidentally entered the sight of the emperor and the others.
It actually wasn’t quite appropriate to say that it was “coincidental”, though.
The chaotic battle at the cliff had simply been too intense. It had attracted Frederick the 32nd’s attention a long time ago, so he had specially gotten someone to switch the display to the area.
Barbarossa showing up was purely coincidental and not some kind of special attention on him.
However, at the sight of Prince Barbarossa’s actions, ingratiating compliments rang out one after another, and there was no pause to the praises lauding his actions.
“He killed the Saint Domain Crocohawk Albatross King with just a swing of his sword!”
“He easily scared off 50 to 60 contestants with just a simple word or two!”
“Is that the might of Prince Barbarossa?”
“As expected of Prince Barbarossa!”
“The empire is so blessed to have him…”
Upon his subjects’ praises and compliments, Frederick the 32nd only gave a noncommittal smile. Then, he got ready to get someone to switch the display to other contestants.
However, something unexpected occurred at that point.
“Where did you come from? How dare you steal my magic core?”
A bright and placid voice suddenly rang out. At the silent cliff, it sounded especially crisp and clear.
(⊙o⊙)
All the contestants froze at once and looked at the owner of the voice in disbelief.
Prince Barbarossa, who had just flown over to the Crocohawk Albatross King and was about to gouge out its magic core, also paused slightly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
50 to 60 pairs of eyes simultaneously landed on Meng Lei. The gazes of tens of thousands of people at the Dragon God Cathedral also fell onto him.
“Who’s that?”
“Who’s he?”
“Where did that little brat come from?”
“Is he out of his mind?”
“Even someone the likes of him dares to stand in Prince Barbarossa’s way?”
“What a fool…”
As the contestants stared at Meng Lei, all of them were rendered speechless. They had been wondering what kind of hotshot it could be, but little did they expect that it was just an egotistical, ignorant little brat.
At the same time, silence also reigned in the Dragon God Cathedral.
With surprise written all over their faces, the emperor, princes, princesses, Saint Domain experts, and high-ranking officials and nobles—all of them were watching the young teenager on the magic screen.
“That boy…”
President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president could only chuckle wryly. “I just knew that this would happen, except I didn’t expect it to be so soon…”
“That kid is too hot-headed. Doesn’t he know that he’s up against Prince Barbarossa this time?! Even if we disregard his status, just his strength alone is already…”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president shook his head lightly, his countenance grave.
President Fred nodded silently in response, feeling somewhat nervous.
“This magic core is mine. Do you have a problem with that?”
An aloof Barbarossa cast a glance at Meng Lei.
“Is it yours just because you say so? Who do you think you are?”
Meng Lei burst into laughter at once. “If I say that the spatial ring you’re wearing and that golden sword underneath your feet are mine, would you give them to me?”
“Die!!”
Barbarossa’s eyes narrowed slightly…
[1] A popular Chinese square dance song by folk song duo Phoenix Legend
" }, { "id": 172, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-172", "title": "Chapter 172 - Beating Up A Prince, A Colossal Dragon'S True Form", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 172: Beating Up A Prince, A Colossal Dragon’s True Form
“Die!”
Barbarossa’s eyes narrowed slightly. His eyes flashed gold, and then a golden sword beam burst forth from his eyes and cleaved toward Meng Lei at lightning-quick speed. In a mere instant, it had already reached him.
“Insignificant tricks.”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled lightly. He easily evaded the golden sword beam with a slight dodge. After that, he turned up bizarrely right in front of Barbarossa with a flash of his feet, and then he rammed his knee upward forcefully.
Bam!
Meng Lei’s knee landed squarely against Barbarossa’s abdomen with a dull bam. A great force broke out upon impact, and Barbarossa was sent flying right out.
Thud!
Meng Lei went on his toes and easily caught Barbarossa’s golden sword. “Yeap, this has a good weight to it. It seems like it’s crafted from pure gold, so I can probably sell it for quite a pretty sum?”
The lip corners of all the contestants present and the Dragon God Cathedral spectators spasmed when they heard what he said, and expletives filled their minds!
That was Prince Barbarossa’s weapon! Not only was the sword meant for the royalty’s exclusive use, but it was also an invaluable Saint Domain-level magic weapon. How others wished they could snatch it for their private collection! Yet he was actually thinking of selling it?
What a heartless and insensitive fellow he was!
“That little rascal!”
President Fred’s countenance darkened, and he glanced carefully at Frederick the 32nd. Contrary to his expectations, however, not only was His Majesty the Emperor not angry, but he was even watching Meng Lei with great interest as if he had just discovered a whole new world!
At the sight of that, Fred secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
Boom!
Prince Barbarossa had erupted. Like blazing golden flames, a dazzling golden light burst forth from all around him.
“Eh? Has he transformed into a Super Saiyan?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei as he wondered to himself, “Is it the first or second form of Super Saiyan mode? Surely it can’t be the third form? His hair isn’t that long…”
At the same time, a horrifying wave of surging, torrential aura also erupted from Barbarossa.
“You cheap piece of trash, you deserve death for that!”
Barbarossa’s icy-cold eyes brimmed with overflowing murderous intent. The Metal Elements within a few kilometers of where they were converged madly toward him, and in a mere instant, they had already formed into innumerable golden spears!
“Die!”
With a low roar from Barbarossa, thousands upon thousands of golden spears instantly shot toward Meng Lei upon command. Amid sharp, shrill whizzes, it was as if even the sky had been slashed open. The swords’ might was incredibly horrifying!
“Retreat!”
“Hurry and retreat!”
At the sight of this, the contestants’ countenances changed dramatically, and they hastily fled into the distance. The mid-level Saint Domain Prince Barbarossa’s raging attacks weren’t something that they could bear at close range.
Should something go wrong and they end up as collateral damage, their deaths would only be for naught!.
“He’s enraged Prince Barbarossa!”
“That bastard! He’ll know very soon just how foolish his actions were!”
“Prince Barbarossa’s fury isn’t something he can bear…”
At the Dragon God Cathedral, many officials and nobles’ blood was boiling with passion, their eyes brimming with excitement. President Fred and the others were the only ones whose hearts were practically in their mouths, nervous and uneasy.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Amidst sharp, shrill whizzes, it took only 1/10th of a second for the thousands upon thousands of golden spears to reach Meng Lei.
That terrifying momentum and sharp, piercing golden light of theirs were as though they wanted to jab Meng Lei into swiss cheese and nail him down onto the ground. Only then would Barbarossa’s fury be fully vented.
“Ninth-Grade Metal-Elemental Dragon-Language Magic, Heavens-Locking Golden Spears?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “While it certainly possesses terrifying might, and he’s also fast enough in his spellcasting, it’s just a shame that it won’t work on me.”
Meng Lei’s calm and passive voice was still echoing in the surroundings when he instantly transformed into several golden rays of light and disappeared from where he was.
All the Heavens-Locking Golden Spears whizzed through the air, piercing through him before becoming embedded into the ground.
“Is he dead?”
“Has he been pierced to death?”
Everyone’s eyes widened as they watched.
The smoke and dust gradually dispersed to reveal the hole-riddled, beehive-like ground. However, Meng Lei had already disappeared from sight. He didn’t leave behind even a trace of his existence.
Taken aback, someone asked, “Is he dead?”
“No, he isn’t! He’s right there!”
Everyone raised their heads at the person’s response and looked up to see a massive fire shield that spanned as wide as 100 meters in the sky. White-hot flames blazed as nine fire dragons circled around it.
Their gigantic wings blotted out the sky as they roared furiously into the sky.
The next moment, while carrying a terrifying heat capable of burning everything to the ground, the gigantic fire shield plummeted from the sky. Barbarossa was only in time to dash a few steps out when it enveloped him.
“Contract!” Meng Lei commanded.
Buzz!
Upon command, the gigantic fire shield began to shrink and contract, turning from a huge 100-meters-wide fire shield into a small fire bell that didn’t even reach 10-meters-wide.
“Explode!” Meng Lei commanded again.
Boom!
The spell followed his commands, and the small fire bell exploded with a great boom. Amid earth-shattering explosions, a mushroom cloud rose into the air. At the same time, raging energy waves also exploded and instantly swept several miles outward.
Smoke and dust roiled and billowed as the ground shook and quivered.
The cliff broke, and rocks rolled and fell off.
“…”
Dead silence filled the Dragon God Cathedral—or rather, it was frighteningly quiet!
The dazed princes, princesses, officials, and nobles stared at the magic screen that had been entirely covered by the mushroom cloud. They felt their throats go dry and their brains short-circuit!
Only the Saint Domain experts were able to maintain clarity of mind, but even so, they couldn’t get any more astounded all the same.
“Does anyone recognize that fire-elemental spell?”
“No, I don’t!”
“Never seen it before!”
“Not at all!”
“But its might is definitely one of the first-class spells!”
“If no-one knows of it, then could it be an original first-class spell?”
“An… original first-class spell?”
Gasp!
Gasps filled the venue!
“Where’s Prince Barbarossa? How is he?”
As the others regained their senses one by one, their eyes also bore into the magic screen, wishing desperately to know Prince Barbarossa’s current condition.
At the same time, the contestants that had retreated a great distance away were also staring at the center of the battleground. Their necks were craned awfully long, and they didn’t blink even once.
Puff~
As the ocean breeze blew, the surrounding smoke and dust completely dispersed to reveal the bombarded battleground.
Gasp!
Everyone gasped once more.
What a massive pit!
Where the ground had been, a massive pit over 1,000-meters-wide was now in its place. The walls of the pit shone and gave off a multi-colored light—it was obviously the result of sand and rocks being burned into glass upon the explosion.
The glass reflected a dazzling array of colors under the sunlight.
“Just… How high must the heat have been just now?”
Everyone swallowed hard as their gazes fell hurriedly onto the bottom of the pit.
At the bottom of the pit was the form of someone in a half-kneel. A large half of his brilliant golden-yellow hair had been burned away, and his dazzling, eye-catching golden-yellow armor was also scorched pitch-black.
The key here, however, was that his handsome and suave, domineering and elegant face had also turned charcoal-black. His previous noble grandeur was no longer, and his elegance and dominance also nowhere in sight…
If one must describe him with a word, then it would be—pathetic!
Indeed, the current Prince Barbarossa was certainly in an extremely pathetic state. Not only was his hair burned, but even his eyebrows, handsome face, and armor… Every inch of him was burned!
Slathered all over in ash, he was the very picture of… An extra filming a war film!
“That’s Prince Barbarossa?”
Everyone clapped their hands over their mouths, somewhat unable to accept the sight.
Roar!
Even the audience was unable to tolerate it, let alone the person involved himself?
A loud, sonorous, and furious dragon roar rang out like an explosion. Then, a terrifying wave of dragon might suddenly erupted from the bottom of the pit.
In that instant, breathing difficulties came over all the contestants present, and they felt an intense, dull ache in their chests as if their hearts were clenched tightly in someone else’s hand.
Boom!
Boom!
Raging winds blew sand and earth everywhere!
Then, a gigantic golden shadow charged out of the pit and soared into the sky…
Roar!
" }, { "id": 173, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-173", "title": "Chapter 173 - I'Ve Beaten Up The Crown Prince? The Overlord Of The Skies", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Sharp, savage-looking dragon horns!
Dragon scales that dazzled gold!
Imposing, razor-sharp dragon claws!
Surging, churning dragon might!
Loud, clear, and sonorous dragon roars!
Every one of them was indicative of that enormous creature’s true identity!
Yes, that’s right!
The terrifying creature currently suspended high up in the sky and releasing dragon might at will was none other than the existence standing at the apex of the continent’s pyramid of lifeforms and the one known as the Overlord of The Skies—the king of all dragons, the Golden Colossal Dragon!
Roar!
The Golden Colossal Dragon roared into the sky. Its 100-meters-long body was incredibly massive. Its muscles were powerful and brimmed with great strength, while its claws were incomparably sharp…
It was powerful, handsome, a combination of dominance and beauty, and a coexistence of power and aesthetics!
“So, that’s the Golden Colossal Dragon?” Meng Lei muttered to himself, “It really looks very handsome. If I had a mount like that, I’d definitely look very cool riding it…”
“A mount?” Ol’ Amos snorted. “You sure dream big! If someone else had overheard you, you’d be a goner for sure!”
“That’s true. This is the Dragon God Empire, after all.” Meng Lei gave a patronizing response, and then he asked, “Ol’ President, that guy shouldn’t be as strong as you, right? Why is his dragon form so much bigger than yours?”
“What’s so astonishing about that? When an ordinary Colossal Dragon comes of age, their bodies can reach as long as 20 to 30 meters. And when one crosses over into Saint Domain, their size also doubles to 50 to 60 meters.” Ol’ Amos explained, “As the king of all dragons, the Golden Colossal Dragon is twice the size of ordinary Colossal Dragons. That guy is also a Saint Domain, so isn’t it very normal for him to be bigger in size than me?”
“No wonder.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he licked his lips and added, “But for its size, it sure has pretty average abilities. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m in the Dragon God Empire now, I would have slain it!”
“Slain it?” Ol’ Amos, who got a huge fright, barked fiercely, “You treasonous little rascal! Even if you have a death wish, don’t you dare implicate me! What kind of brave dragon slayer nonsense are you saying? Do you have a death wish!?”
“Hehe, well, that was just a casual mention, wasn’t it?”
Meng Lei gave a sheepish laugh.
“Kid, that’s too dangerous a thought to have.” Ol’ Amos took a deep breath and said, “Listen up, you’d best not harbor thoughts like that ever again in the future. Otherwise, there’ll be no place for you in the Dragon God Empire.”
“Alright.” Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully as he said, “It’s just a casual remark. Must you be that worked up? I’m not that foolish.”
“Hmph! Even a casual remark is forbidden,” Ol’ Amos replied with a snort.
A chuckling Meng Lei replied, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Then, he looked at the massive figure in the sky and asked, “Speaking of which, aren’t Golden Colossal Dragons royalty of the empire? That guy must have a really extraordinary identity, right?”
“Does ‘extraordinary’ even cut it? When it comes to the passing down of bloodlines, pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragons have always only produced one offspring in every generation.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head as he went on. “Every emperor only produces one pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon offspring at the maximum. Considering how young that fellow is, if I’m not wrong, he’s likely the current emperor’s one and only pure-blooded son.”
“The emperor’s son? That guy is a prince of the empire?”
Meng Lei was shocked. Then, realization dawned upon him, and he remarked, “No wonder those contestants chose to swallow the insult and suffer in silence despite having their magic core stolen. So he’s a prince.”
“What, are you scared?” asked a mirthful Ol’ Amos.
“Scared?” Meng Lei licked his lips as he said, “Hehe, I’m so excited that I’m almost climaxing. I can barely stop myself from going forward and beating him up again!”
“The ignorant are the bravest, indeed.” A snorting Ol’ Amos said, “In the Dragon God Empire, only pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragons can inherit the throne. Do you know what that means?”
“…”
The answer had already occurred to Meng Lei.
“It means that that fellow in front of you right now is going to ascend the throne and become the emperor in the future. In other words, he’s the future master of this empire!” Ol’ Amos had a gloating look all over his face as he said, “But what about you? To think you actually dare to beat up the future emperor! Hehehe…”
“The future emperor? Doesn’t that make him the crown prince, then?” Meng Lei was rendered completely speechless. “The very first Golden Colossal Dragon I encountered in my entire life, and it actually had to be the empire’s crown prince? My luck is seriously like no other…”
“Are you scared yet?”
Ol’ Amos said with a laugh, “I’d advise you to admit defeat like a good sonny and offer up your ass for His Royal Highness to whoop and vent his anger. Perhaps you’ll have a shot at survival if you do that.”
Meng Lei snorted and replied, “Admit defeat? You’re thinking too much.”
Ol’ Amos raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you intending to do?”
“Since it’s destined that he’s going to have a grudge against me, then I might as well go all the way. That way, I won’t lose out too much.” Meng Lei licked his lips and sneered. “I actually held back just now, you know!”
“Tsk, tsk! You sure are impressive!”
Ol’ Amos burst into laughter.
Roar!
At that point, Barbarossa had finally charged up his attack. He turned into a bolt of golden lightning with a flap of his wings and shot toward Meng Lei!
Winds howled and swirled sand and dust everywhere, while a vast, incredible dragon might pervaded the area!
“Since my debut, I’ve battled all sorts of Magical Beasts, among which there was no lack of Saint Domain Magical Beasts like the Golden-Winged Holy Light Tiger and so on. Even the king of terrestrial battles like the Behemoth has submitted to me. But Colossal Dragons are the only ones that I’ve never fought before.”
Meng Lei slowly rose into the air, his long hair fluttering and his magic robe flapping in the wind. His eyes gleamed brightly as his blood boiled.
“Today, I shall have a taste of the so-called Overlord of The Skies and see if it really deserves its title!”
Whoosh!
Meng Lei also turned into a stream of light that went straight toward Barbarossa.
(⊙o⊙)
“W-what’s he doing?”
“Is he fighting head-on with Prince Barbarossa?”
Everyone was stupefied at the sight of Meng Lei’s actions!
At 100-meters-long and incredibly massive and handsome, the current Barbarossa fully deserved the title of Overlord of The Skies.
But what about Meng Lei?
Standing at barely 1.7-meters-tall, although he had pleasant and attractive features that wealthy older ladies favored, compared to Prince Barbarossa, the difference between the two of them was practically like heaven and earth.
Was he actually intending to fight Barbarossa head-on with that sad-looking body of his?
The Fighting Dragon Academy president’s eyes widened, and he exclaimed, “What’s he doing, Fred?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
President Fred was on the edge of breaking down. He really didn’t know what Meng Lei was trying to do.
In his opinion, Meng Lei’s advantages were his magic and his comprehension of the laws of nature. Instead of what he was currently doing, he should have been putting more distance between the two of them and making use of magic to launch long-range attacks on Prince Barbarossa.
What was the difference between him charging forward like a moth flying into the fire and seeking death?
“What exactly is that kid doing?”
To Meng Lei and Prince Barbarossa, the distance of several hundred meters was nothing but a matter of a mere instant. As a thunderous, earth-shattering boom erupted, the human and dragon clashed brazenly against each other.
Boom!
An explosive boom erupted in the heavens and earth, sending soundwaves reverberating everywhere.
Gales wreaked havoc as smoke and dust roiled and billowed!
However, something that left everyone flabbergasted took place the next moment—the two parties involved in the barbaric clash, respectively, retreated at the same time!
Meng Lei retreated 20 to 30 meters to the back while Barbarossa retreated five to six meters away.
At first glance, it seemed like Meng Lei was the one that had lost.
However, on further inspection, one would realize that Meng Lei was completely unscathed. His face was neither red, nor was he out of breath. On the other hand, golden dragon blood was dripping from Barbarossa’s claws, and he had a look of affliction on his face.
“Prince Barbarossa is wounded?”
A furor went through the crowd. Even Frederick the 32nd was taken aback by the turn of events, and a look of surprise surfaced on his visage.
“My beloved subjects, do any of you know that teenager? Which academy is he from?”
" }, { "id": 174, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-174", "title": "Chapter 174 - His Name Is Meng Lei, Deceiving The Emperor", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The princes, princesses, officials, and nobles looked at the academy presidents and teachers-in-charge all at once. They were also extremely curious as to who exactly that genius who could fight Prince Barbarossa head-on was?
“I don’t know who he is!”
“He’s not from our academy!”
“Does anyone among all of you know who he is?”
All the academy presidents and teachers-in-charge shook their heads. Only Angus, the president of Black Dragon Academy, couldn’t help but look at Fred, a hint of strong jealousy flashing across his eyes.
Fred stepped forward and replied with a wry laugh, “Your Majesty, he’s Meng Lei from our Fire Dragon Magic Academy!”
“The Fire Dragon Magic Academy?”
“That boy is from the Fire Dragon Kingdom?”
“There’s a genius like that in the Fire Dragon Kingdom?”
“Meng Lei?”
Frederick the 32nd laughed and asked, “President Fred, tell me, how old is Meng Lei this year? Has he challenged the Dragon God Tower yet? What’s impressive about him?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
President Fred cleared his throat. Then, his gaze swept across the whole venue, and he replied, “Your Majesty, Meng Lei has just reached 16 years of age this year. He’s a first-year student of the Fire Dragon Magic Academy. With his outstanding magic talent, he can be said to be the number one genius of the Fire Dragon Magic Academy within the last 10,000 years!
“Before the exchange competition, Meng Lei had never been to the Imperial City, so he hadn’t challenged the Dragon God Tower before. He did, however, visit the tower yesterday. His ranking as of this morning was 227th place at Level 40!”
Whoaaa!
A furor went through the crowd!
Everyone was astounded by Meng Lei’s achievements.
16 years old!
227th place!
Level 40!
On top of it all, he’d taken just a day to do all that.
Just how amazingly talented must he be?
Just how terrifyingly strong must he be?
“For one to pass through the Dragon God Tower’s 30th level, they must at least possess the strength of a Saint Domain. To pass through the 40th level, one must be at least mid-level Saint Domain!”
Frederick the 32nd found this rather unbelievable. “For a teenager that has just turned 16 years old to possess such strength, he is truly astonishingly talented and possesses an amazing gift!”
Everyone nodded quietly in response. Even though there were those who were indignant among them, they couldn’t rebut the statement. For a 16-year-old to be a mid-level Saint Domain, it was truly hard to imagine just how he had cultivated to such an extent.
“President Luke, in your opinion, how does Meng Lei compare to Sachhen, Adil, Mond Aston, and the others from the Dragon God Academy?”
“This…”
President Luke glanced at President Fred, his brows drawing together into a slight frown. Then, he replied, “In terms of talent alone, Sachhen, Adil, and the others certainly cannot compare to Meng Lei! But…”
President Luke changed the course of the conversation at this point and said resolutely and decisively, “When it comes to their strength, Sachhen, Adil, and the others are definitely stronger than him. 16 years of age is ultimately still too young!”
Frederick the 32nd gave a small smile at his words, refraining from making any judgment. Instead, he looked at President Fred and asked, “President Fred, what do you think?”
“This… It’s hard to say when they haven’t competed against one another.” President Fred shook his head slightly, and then he added, “However, Meng Lei’s talent in magic talent is one-in-a-million. He also has a fairly deep comprehension of laws of nature, so he is likely able to put up a fight against them.”
“For him to possess such strength at 16 years old, that child’s talent is truly hard to come by even in 10,000 years! As expected of the Fire Dragon Kingdom! Rich lands indeed foster many outstanding talents!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
President Fred was rather proud of that!
“However…”
As Frederick the 32nd watched the magic screen intently, the course of the conversation took a sudden turn, and he asked, “Since Meng Lei has such outstanding magic talent, why is his body also so strong? Isn’t he a pure-blooded human?”
Everyone nodded at his words.
Humans were frail and weak, and so were human Magicians’ bodies.
Even an Eighth-Grade Warrior’s body was stronger than a human Saint Domain Great Magician’s, let alone a Golden Colossal Dragon like Barbarossa! And fighting him head-on at that!
Yet Meng Lei had the guts to fight Prince Barbarossa head-on. Why was his body so strong and sturdy?
“Your Majesty, there’s more to it than meets the eye!”
President Fred had seen this coming, so he explained with a smile, “Meng Lei isn’t purely human. Rather, he’s a Fire Dragon Person!”
“A Fire Dragon Person?”
Upon hearing his response, realization dawned upon everyone.
“No wonder his body is so strong! So he’s a Fire Dragon Person!”
“A Golden Colossal Dragon’s body is definitely stronger than a Fire Dragon’s”;
“A pure-blooded Colossal Dragon’s body is definitely stronger than a Dragon Person’s”;
These propositions were wrong, of course.
However, there was a condition to that—they must be of the same grade.
At the same grade, a Golden Colossal Dragon’s body was stronger than a Fire Dragon’s for sure, and a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon’s body was also definitely stronger than a Dragon Person’s. There was no doubt about these two points!
However, if the Fire Dragons’ or Dragon People’s bloodline developments were deeper, then there was a chance that their bodies might be stronger than the Golden Colossal Dragons’ and pure-blooded Colossal Dragons’.
Frederick the 32nd understood this line of reasoning, of course. Nevertheless, it still puzzled him. “Meng Lei is only 16 years old. The amount of time he has spent on cultivation is extremely limited. Apart from having to cultivate magic, does he really have the time to develop his Fire Dragon bloodline and build his body to such an extent?”
“What His Majesty says makes sense. At the young age of 16, not only does he have to cultivate magic, but he also has to comprehend laws of nature and, on top of that, develop his bloodline to train his body. Where does he find the time for all that?”
“An extremely deep level of comprehension of laws of nature, as well as body durability that matches up to Prince Barbarossa’s… If he were a slightly older pure-blooded Fire Dragon, perhaps that might be possible, but at 16 years old…”
Terribly perplexed, everyone began to whisper among themselves.
Meng Lei’s talent was no longer something that could be merely described as “monstrous”. It was so crazy that people couldn’t accept it at all.
It was as if a 10-year-old had received the Nobel Prize in Physics as well as the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Was that even possible?
“This…”
At once, President Fred started to hem and haw.
“Might you be hiding something, President Fred?” A look of puzzlement came over Frederick the 32nd’s countenance.
“I have something to say, Your Majesty!”
Angus, the Black Dragon Academy president, stepped forward at this point.
Frederick the 32nd said with a look of puzzlement, “Feel free to speak your mind, President Angus!”
Angus declared loudly, “Your Majesty, when Meng Lei was challenging the Dragon God Tower yesterday, I saw with my own two eyes that the Dragon God Genius Ranking had clearly indicated that Meng Lei was human and not a Fire Dragon Person!”
“A human?”
“Isn’t Meng Lei a Fire Dragon Person?”
“Can a pure-blooded human actually have such a strong body?”
“Humans are born with frail and weak bodies; how can his body possibly be that strong…”
Everyone began to speculate at once!
Frederick the 32nd looked at President Fred and asked, “What are your views with regard to President Angus’ words, President Fred?”
“Your Majesty, while I dare not have any views about that, I do have a question that I’d like to ask President Angus!”
President Fred looked at Angus with a slight smile and asked, “Must the challenger definitely be human just because the Dragon God Genius Ranking indicates him as such?”
“Of course not! A double bloodline-holder is also indicated as human!”
Angus snorted lightly and said mockingly, “President Fred, surely you can’t be saying that Meng Lei also carries two types of bloodlines like you, the Fire Dragon Titan famous throughout the whole continent?”
“Why not?” President Fred countered.
“Haha! President Fred sure knows how to crack a joke!”
Angus burst into uproarious laughter and scoffed. “Just how rare are double bloodline-holders? Otherwise, how would President Fred’s name resound throughout the whole continent?”
“Just because it’s rare doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist!”
" }, { "id": 175, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-175", "title": "Chapter 175 - Assimilating Another Bloodline, A Member Of Royalty", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Just because it’s rare doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist!”
With a calm smile, Fred asked, “Isn’t Mond Aston the White Tiger Knight from the Dragon God Academy also a double bloodline-holder?”
“President Fred, since Meng Lei holds two types of bloodlines, I’d like to know what his other bloodline is?”
Angus, who continued to pursue the matter, asked, “Just what kind of bloodline can actually allow him—at the age of 16—to have a powerful body that’s comparable to Prince Barbarossa’s?”
With curiosity in their eyes, everyone else’s gazes also landed on President Fred. Even Frederick the 32nd was no exception!
At that, President Fred could only give a wry smile as he replied, “I don’t know what Meng Lei’s other bloodline is, either. I’ve only determined that he must be a holder of two types of bloodlines when I saw the Dragon God Genius Ranking’s indication yesterday.”
“Meng Lei is a Fire Dragon Magic Academy student, Fred. Don’t you even know what bloodlines he holds?”
Angus went on and said sarcastically, “Surely that genius student of yours isn’t really a pure-blooded human, is he? Because if that’s true, then that’ll really make him too great of a monster!”
At his comments, a slight frown appeared on Frederick the 32nd’s countenance, and he said, “Meng Lei is a Fire Dragon Magic Academy student. As the academy president, don’t you even know what the other half of his bloodline is? That’s rather inexcusable!”
“Your Majesty, I’m indeed not sure!” President Fred then hastily continued, “But Meng Lei certainly holds the Fire Dragon bloodline in him. I can swear to the Dragon God with regard to that. May Your Majesty look into the matter!”
“A 16-year-old Saint Domain Great Magician and the owner of a Saint Domain body at the same time… Not even a Fire Dragon Person can achieve that, no matter how great of a genius they are!”
Frederick the 32nd drummed his fingers against the throne lightly as he said, “When the exchange competition is over, I’ll have to ask that little fellow what his other bloodline is!”
At which, Fred repeated respectfully, “May Your Majesty look into the matter!”
‘Ask’? Bluntly put, it was an investigation. Fred knew that His Majesty had ultimately still become somewhat suspicious of Meng Lei.
His reaction was understandable, though!
After all, Meng Lei’s achievements were simply too outrageous, so much so that people could hardly accept it. Should they not conduct a thorough investigation at this point, who could be sure just what kind of creature Meng Lei might actually be?
A devil genius like Adolf?
A spy sent by other existential planes?
Or the reincarnation of some evil god?
All the possibilities were extremely disadvantageous to Meng Lei, no matter which it was. In Dragon God Empire, there was no place for even a pure human genius like Timon Barton, let alone other creatures?
Boom!
Just as Fred’s thoughts were running at full speed, Meng Lei and Prince Barbarossa’s battle also reached the climax!
Meng Lei hadn’t used any magic in the showdown; instead, he’d chosen to purely butt heads with the other party. In this instant, his body’s great strength was exhibited to its fullest!
His senses were sharper than Barbarossa’s!
He had more endurance than Barbarossa!
Even his weakest aspect—physical strength—was almost equally matched with Barbarossa!
After a few clashes, Meng Lei was currently at a complete advantage. Neither red-faced nor out of breath, he looked as if nothing had even happened. On the other hand, Prince Barbarossa, who had transformed into his true form, was actually panting heavily and wounded in several places!
It was obvious at a glance who the stronger one was!
“Brat, don’t go too far. He’s a prince, after all. Don’t embarrass him too much!”
Ol’ Amos reminded him and said, “You’ve already shown yourself to be enough of a monster. If you display your monstrous abilities any further, aren’t you afraid that you’ll be captured and sliced into pieces for research purposes?”
“Sliced into pieces for research purposes? I’d like to see if anyone has the guts to do that!” Meng Lei sneered, “I’m a member of the empire’s royalty, you know. Who would have the guts to do something like that?”
“A member of the empire’s royalty? Don’t you have any idea what kind of bloodline you’ve awakened?”
Ol’ Amos rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll tell you, kid, once your Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline is exposed, it’s all over. You definitely won’t end up any better than Adolf!”
“Don’t worry, Ol’ President, I’m not Adolf. It’s also impossible for me to ever be!”
A calm and composed Meng Lei smiled and said, “I’d initially planned on associating with you as an ordinary person, but all that got me was instead just suspicion and jealousy. Forget it. I’m quitting the show and laying my cards on the table now!”
“…”
Ol’ Amos looked absolutely stupefied at his words.
Then, Meng Lei said no more. Initially, he hadn’t planned on assimilating that particular bloodline, but Ol’ Amos’ warning had changed his mind.
If one was ten times more outstanding than others, people would envy them!
If one was 100 times more outstanding than others, people would look up to them!
But when one was so outstanding that it surpassed the range of what people could comprehend, then what it attracted would no longer just be envy and idolization but very likely also… Endless suspicion and trouble!
Meng Lei more or less, understood that somewhat!
Therefore…
“System! Assimilate the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline!”
“Yes, host!”
Boom!
An incredibly sharp and incomparably domineering aura abruptly burst forth from his body before breaking out into dazzling golden light!
For a moment there, golden light much like blazing golden flames circled around Meng Lei, transforming him into the brilliant sun!
As if a breached dam, a fairly violent wave of pain rushed madly into his limbs, body, and his central nervous system, reaching every nook and cranny of his body and every inch of his skin!
Had this been in the past, Meng Lei would no doubt have been in great pain and agony. However, at his current cultivation level, this pain was nothing more than just a drizzle. Compared to what it had been like in the past, it was just child’s play!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid horrifying sounds of bones piercing through flesh, several golden scales coated in blood gradually emerged from within his body like mushrooms sprouting after rain.
One scale, two scales, three scales…
It was followed closely by two dragon horns and a dragon tail before it ended with a pair of golden bat-like wings that shone with dazzling golden light!
Boom!
The dazzling golden flames blazed on, instantly evaporating all the bloodstains on Meng Lei. He also turned straight into a Golden Colossal Dragon Person covered from head to toe in golden-yellow dragon scales! Standing at two-meters-tall, he had a pair of golden horns on his head, golden wings on his back, and a golden dragon tail on his bottom!
Boom!
A wave of pure dragon might erupted from Meng Lei and swept toward every direction, causing the countenances of everyone within several kilometers of where he was to change dramatically upon sensing the pure dragon might!
A severe jolt went through all the contestants present!
Everyone at the cathedral was also totally dumbfounded!
“G… Golden C-Colossal Dragon Person?”
“He’s a Golden Colossal Dragon Person?”
Angus’ facial expression was incredibly exciting as it went through a myriad of different emotions—astoundment, disappointment, indignation, disbelief…
“Meng Lei’s other bloodline is actually the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline? O Dragon God above, this is simply too astonishing!”
President Fred and the Fighting Dragon Academy president exchanged a look, both seeing the astonishment in each other’s eyes. When they had been watching Meng Lei’s Dragon God Tower challenge the day before, they’d already determined that Meng Lei must be a double bloodline-holder.
However, never would they have ever expected his other bloodline to actually be the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline! This was simply too unbelievable!
“But! This is great! Exceedingly great!”
After the momentary surprise, President Fred was overjoyed. “Since Meng Lei possesses the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline, then that makes him a member of the Dragon God Empire’s royalty. Who would dare cast doubt upon him now?”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Fred hurriedly turned to Emperor Frederick the 32nd, who was obviously also astounded.
“No wonder that little fellow’s body is so strong and tough! So he’s a member of the royal family! I am extremely glad to know that!”
" }, { "id": 176, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-176", "title": "Chapter 176", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 176: Two First-Class Spells, Myriad of Nature
“Congratulations, Your Majesty!”
“That child has great aptitude and is amazingly talented! As expected of the empire’s royalty!”
“Didn’t I say so? How can such an amazingly talented person be a human…”
The people’s opinions did a dramatic 180-degree turn and changed instantly. While there were only suspicions and perplexity earlier, they had all turned into praises and compliments now!
This was inevitable, after all!
While they could cast doubt upon Meng Lei and make things up about him previously, they couldn’t do so anymore. Meng Lei was a Golden Colossal Dragon Person and a legitimate member of the royalty. Thus, he wasn’t someone whom they could speculate about!
“President Angus, what do you have to say now?”
President Fred looked at Angus and said, “You had claimed that I was deceiving His Majesty just now, but I’d like to ask who’s the one deceiving the emperor and fooling the people now?
At his words, Angus’ countenance turned extremely awful and constipated, yet he couldn’t rebut him at all!
Rebut?
There was nothing he could rebut him with!
The moment Meng Lei had displayed his Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline, there was no longer any point in saying any more!
16 years old!
A Saint Domain Great Magician!
A Saint Domain-level body!
A double bloodline-holder!
Even if a person like that hadn’t been a member of the royalty, the emperor would still have wished to make a connection or two with them, much less when Meng Lei possessed the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline and was legitimate royalty!
“President Angus, your doubt is not without cause.”
Frederick the 32nd spoke up at this point. Then, he went on and said, “However, before you raise your doubts, you should have thoroughly investigated the situation prior to bringing it up to me. Otherwise, it would seem as though you’re sowing discord and slandering a fellow official!”
“I will keep Your Majesty’s admonishments in mind!”
Angus responded respectfully, and then, he slunk back to his seat gloomily.
At the same time, in the Lost Continent…
“My body has improved quite a fair bit! That’s a surprise!”
Meng Lei felt rather comforted as he viewed his stats interface. He’d initially thought that at his body’s current level, it’d be tough for normal bloodlines like the Golden Colossal Dragon’s to strengthen his body by much.
After all, the Golden Colossal Dragon was just a Saint Domain Magical Beast while he himself already possessed a Saint Domain-level body. How much could the Golden Colossal Dragon possibly strengthen his body?
To his surprise, however, it had actually strengthened his body by quite a fair bit!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <52%>, Fire Demon bloodline <47%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>, Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <1%>, Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline <50%>)
Wealth: 22.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (12,063,858,705/100 billion)
Spirit: Saint Domain (1,028,303,785/100 billion)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,025,877,840/100 billion)
Laws of Nature: Fire-Elemental (0.2%), Wind-Elemental (0.1%), Thunder-Elemental (0.1%), Metal-Elemental (0.1%), Light-Elemental (0.1%)
From the stats interface, one could see that the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline assimilation had raised his Physical Body Constitution attribute from the previous 11 billion to 12 billion points. It had increased by a whole 900 million points!
That was in no way a small increment!
If he’d used his Wealth for point redemption instead, he’d have needed a whole 9 billion gold coins. That would have been a pretty hefty sum of money!
Roar!
Elsewhere, Barbarossa was also shocked by Meng Lei’s appearance. He didn’t expect Meng Lei to actually be a Golden Colossal Dragon Person!
And this… infuriated him even further!
“We’re both members of the royalty, but I’m a Golden Colossal Dragon with the purest bloodline, whereas he’s just a bastard with an impure bloodline! So why should he be stronger than me?!”
It was the same logic as to how ordinary humans wouldn’t be jealous of how rich Jack Ma[1] was, but they would be jealous of friends and relatives by their side who were richer than them!
That was exactly Barbarossa’s current frame of mind. He was the one and only pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon in Dragon God Empire’s younger generation, thereby destining him as the one to ascend the throne and become the ruler of the empire!
There was already nothing he could do about the 13th Princess being firmly a notch above him, but that guy who had popped up out of nowhere was actually stronger than him, too! How could that possibly do?
Roar!
With a ferocious roar, Barbarossa crushed the pure gold pendant hanging around his neck. Right away, dazzling golden light spilled forth and instantly enveloped Barbarossa within!
Boom!
As if a brilliant golden sun, light shone from Barbarossa! Dazzling and golden, it shrouded the whole area around him!
Roar!
At the same time, Barbarossa’s aura also skyrocketed! In a mere instant, it had strengthened by several times!
As the golden light gradually died down, Barbarossa’s body also expanded by quite a few rounds. His muscles became even stronger and filled with power, his horns and claws became even sharper, and his 100-meters-long body expanded to 300 to 400 meters!
The most fascinating thing was that a thin layer of golden glow was rippling around him. The mist rose and fell as it flowed around him constantly!
“What’s going on, Ol’ President?” Meng Lei was stupefied. “Why has that guy powered up again?”
“Obviously, two first-class spells were sealed in the pendant that that guy crushed just now,” Ol’ Amos explained, “If my eyes didn’t deceive me, the two spells are likely Metal Guardian and Metal God’s Blessings!
“Metal Guardian is a defensive single-target first-class spell while Metal God’s Blessings is an offensive single-target first-class spell.
“Judging from their might, those two etal-elemental first-class spells are the handiwork of a Metal-Elemental Saint Domain Great Magician who’s at least in the high-level or limits-level stage. They’re several times mightier than most typical first-class spells, so you’d best be careful!”
“Metal Guardian? Metal God’s Blessings? The handiwork of a metal-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician who’s at least in the high-level or limits-level stage?”
Meng Lei licked his lips as he remarked, “That guy sure is rich! To think he even has something like that!”
At the same time at the Dragon God Cathedral…
Everyone stared in stupefaction at the magic screen as the place fell strangely silent.
Sharp-eyed spectators could all tell that Prince Barbarossa had used a special magic device to enhance his abilities!
Although the usage of magic devices wasn’t prohibited in the exchange competition, openly using one to enhance one’s abilities in a fair one-on-one showdown was honestly a move beneath one’s dignity!
Moreover, his opponent was also a member of the royalty like him. To use a magic device on a fellow member of the royalty, his breadth of mind was honestly…
“What an embarrassment! He has thoroughly embarrassed the royal family!”
Frederick the 32nd narrowed his eyes as he said, “Throw him into the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest when the exchange competition ends, so that he can reflect upon himself!”
No-one dared to make any response. While His Majesty could admonish Prince Barbarossa at will, they, on the other hand, couldn’t comment carelessly!
“I’ll never lose to a bastard like you!”
Barbarossa roared furiously in the sky. Then, he transformed into a stream of golden light that rushed straight toward Meng Lei. The current Barbarossa was just like a wild horse geared in heavy armor—indestructible yet capable of destroying everything!
“Do you think there’s nothing I can do about you just because you’ve decked yourself in two layers of metal? Fine, I’ll give you a taste of what a real first-class spell is!”
Meng Lei let out a cold laugh. Then, he slowly uttered six words, “Wood-elemental first-class spell, Myriad of Nature!”
Buzz, buzz!
Meng Lei had only just spoken when pure, unadulterated wood-elemental magic power abruptly burst forth from all around him, dyeing his entire self into a green-colored sun!
Simultaneously, Wood Elements several kilometers from where he was also started to converge madly toward him upon being summoned!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid soft, strange sounds, the plants on the ground started to grow at an insane rate as if they’d been injected with growth hormones!
10 meters, 100 meters, 1,000 meters…
Earth and rocks rolled about as gigantic trees sprung into the air!
In just a short few breaths, the battleground in front of the cliff had transformed into a forest. Several towering trees morphed into wooden dragons with high fighting spirit and shot toward Barbarossa in the air!
Roar!
Barbarossa let out several furious roars as he easily broke wooden dragon after wooden dragon. Then, with an overwhelming force, he charged toward Meng Lei!
“Hurhur, you’re pretty good!” Meng Lei sneered.
Then, he commanded, “Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
“Myriad of Nature!”
One must admit that Barbarossa, who had two first-class spells cast on himself, had indeed gone through a dramatic spike in combat power. Be it his speed or the force of his attacks, both had been enhanced by quite a few times!
It was just a shame that the one he’d run into was Meng Lei, a mutant who could cast instant release of first-class spells and had no fear of magic power depletion!
As he bombarded Barbarossa with ten successive Myriad of Natures, thousands upon thousands of wooden dragons wound around Barbarossa and submerged him entirely!
Were there 500 of them? 1,000? Or tens of thousands of them?
There was no end to their numbers!
Therefore, Barbarossa’s outcome was destined!
As thousands upon thousands of wooden dragons wound around him one after another, Barbarossa’s speed started to fall further and further…
By the time he’d charged right up to Meng Lei, the infinite number of wooden dragons had already firmly bound him. All he could do was glare at Meng Lei and nothing more!
“Do you know why Madara[2] can’t defeat Hashirama[3]?
“This is the reason why!”
[1] A Chinese business magnate and co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group
[2] Antagonist and a very powerful character from Japanese comic and anime series, Naruto
[3] Character from Naruto. Hailed as the God of Shinobi for his unmatched ninja prowess
" }, { "id": 177, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-177", "title": "Chapter 177", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 177: Golden Corpse Canyon, The Golden Corpse Bug Emperor
It was frighteningly quiet at the Dragon God Cathedral.
From the royalty and nobles all the way to the civil and martial officials, every single person was immensely astounded. None of them would have ever imagined that the battle’s outcome would turn out like that in the end.
Prince Barbarossa, who had crushed his gold pendant and strengthened his abilities by quite a few times, was actually still no match for Meng Lei!
Was the gap between the two of them that massive?
“The interval between each Myriad of Nature is no more than three seconds!”
Emperor Frederick the 32nd marveled, “With an interval of just three seconds, it’s practically an instant release of first-class spells. Is that little fellow’s prowess in wood-elemental laws of nature that deep?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Since one could do instant release for normal spells, they could also do the same for first-class spells, of course.
However, to achieve instant release for first-class spells, the caster needed an extremely high degree of comprehension of the laws of nature. Only then could they operate from a strategically advantageous position and see everything at one glance.
There was no way an average Saint Domain Great Magician could achieve something like that!
Yet, in spite of that, Meng Lei was able to do so. This showed that his degree of comprehension of wood-elemental laws of nature had already reached a terrifying stage!
“This…” President Fred could only laugh wryly at that.
“Am I wrong in saying that, President Fred?” A look of puzzlement came over Frederick the 32nd’s countenance.
“Your Majesty, to tell the truth…” President Fred had no choice but to explain, “Right before just now, I didn’t even know that Meng Lei had wood-elemental magic talent.”
Frederick the 32nd frowned slightly and asked, “You don’t even know that?”
President Fred answered honestly, “Your Majesty, all I know is that Meng Lei has thunder-elemental, fire-elemental, and earth-elemental magic talent. I indeed am not aware that he has wood-elemental magic talent.”
“Thunder, fire, earth, and… wood?”
“Four elements?”
“Meng Lei actually has four types of magic talent?”
“Gasp! How terrifying! How terrifying, indeed!”
“On top of possessing both Golden Colossal Dragon and Fire Dragon bloodlines, he also has four different types of magic talents! O great Dragon God above, aren’t you favoring that guy too much?!”
The people couldn’t help but gasp, every one of them astounded by Meng Lei’s terrifying talent.
Double bloodlines! Four different types of magic talents!
Either aspect was enough to drive one crazy with jealousy, let alone both. Even the Dragon God’s illegitimate son wouldn’t have been that much of a mutant!
Frederick the 32nd praised from the bottom of his heart, “With such talent, he’s surely the most talented member of the royalty in the last 10,000 years. This greatly comforts me!”
At the same time, in the Lost Continent…
The battle had already come to an end at this point. No matter how unwilling Barbarossa was to admit it, it had indeed already ended!
“You’ve lost, Your Highness!” Meng Lei said meaningfully.
Then, he paid no more heed to Barbarossa, who was so infuriated that he was close to killing someone. He picked up the Crocohawk Albatross King’s carcass, and then, he left the area.
“He’s gone!”
“That guy has finally left!”
“He’s too powerful! And too frightening!”
“Is there anyone among you that knows who that guy is? Just where did he pop out from? Why is he so strong?”
“With such strength, he can probably fight on par with those four mutants from the academy…”
…
“You’re totally famous now, kid!
“Tsk, tsk! Beating up a prince! That’s something I’d wanted to do back then but hadn’t managed to, y’know!
“Speaking of which, though, when did you awaken the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline? How is it that I never knew? Just how much are you keeping from me, kid?”
Meng Lei laid back down on the Multi-Armed Behemoth, which resumed its journey. Then, he started to chat idly with Ol’ Amos.
Roughly half an hour later, a huge canyon entered their sight, and Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth stopped in its tracks.
“Boss, that’s the Golden Corpse Canyon—the Golden Corpse Bugs’ territory—ahead!”
“The Golden Corpse Canyon?”
The canyon was wide and deep, and the path through it rough and rugged, long and winding. One couldn’t see to the end of it at one glance. Filled with drifting smoke, it also gave off a shocking stench.
Strewn all over the bottom of the canyon were innumerable carcasses and remains. Some were already starting to rot, and flies, mosquitoes, and maggots were crawling all over them, while some were old, aged carcasses where ghastly white skeletons were the only things remaining…
Meng Lei stared from afar at the carcasses and skeletal remains littered all about. Coupled with the overwhelming stench, he hadn’t even gotten anywhere near the area when he felt his stomach churn, and he almost threw up the contents in his gut.
“Sacas, why did you bring me to a place like this?”
Meng Lei clapped his hand over his nose, somewhat displeased.
“Aren’t you looking for Saint Domain Magical Beasts, Boss?” Sacas explained, “The emperor of the Golden Corpse Bugs is the Saint Domain Magical Beast that was the nearest to us. It dwells right in this Golden Corpse Canyon!”
“Fine!” While pinching his nose, Meng Lei asked, “Is there any way to get the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor out? I have no interest in going into the canyon and dying from the stench!”
“Easy-peasy!”
Sacas grabbed a huge rock and then, he hurled it forcefully into the canyon. The impact caused the canyon walls to shake and tremble and rocks and stones to roll and fall off.
“Boris, you motherf*cker! Get the hell out here! I’m going to beat you up so bad that even your mother wouldn’t recognize you!”
Sacas let out a thunderous roar as he thumped his chest, his voice resounding in the canyon like roiling thunder.
“Compared to Clara, Sacas’ way of doing things is so simple and crude!”
At the sight, Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. When he’d sent the Uni-Horned Rose Python to call on others in the past, that fellow was always cowering in fear, afraid of every single thing. Even the sight of it was an embarrassment!
In comparison, Sacas was much wilder!
Buzz, buzz!
A brief moment later, a buzzing sound cut through the air and rushed toward them. Then, they saw a golden cloud floating out of the canyon.
With Meng Lei’s eyesight, he could naturally see that that was no golden cloud at all—it was obviously innumerable golden insects that had clustered into something like a locust swarm!
Dense and packed, they were a large golden mass!
“Boss, those are the Golden Corpse Bugs!” Sacas shrank back a little as it said, “They are a type of repulsive insects with tiny little bodies but an extremely shocking level of destructiveness!”
“Which grade of Magical Beasts are the Golden Corpse Bugs?” Meng Lei asked as he watched the glittering golden cloud intently.
“Boss, a Golden Corpse Bug barely makes the cut as a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, but their mouthparts can easily pierce through a vast majority of Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts’—and even Saint Domain Magical Beasts’—armor and skin!”
In a low voice, Sacas explained, “A large swarm of Golden Corpse Bugs can polish off a Saint Domain Magical Beast in a matter of minutes. Therefore, they are highly dangerous entities!
“Unless I absolutely have to, I’d never come to this damned canyon to provoke those damned stinky bugs. They are simply too fearsome. The moment I imagine them crawling all over me and worming into my fur, I can’t help but shudder all over!”
“Haha! Look at how scared you are!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh, though he also wondered, “Since every Golden Corpse Bug is a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, with so many around, imagine the amount of money I can earn!”
Buzz, buzz!
Just as Meng Lei’s imagination was running wild, the golden cloud of Golden Corpse Bugs also finally flew over to them. Then, they came together to form a huge insect.
Standing at 100-meters-tall and with a greenish face and ferocious fangs, the huge insect looked as though it was a gigantic louse, except golden-yellow in color throughout and with a pair of wings on its back. Armor-plated all over, it was incredibly savage-looking!
“To think you actually dare to come to my Golden Corpse Canyon, Sacas! Bold of you to do so!”
In a thunderous voice, the huge insect spoke the human tongue and said, “Since you are so bold as to come here, then I shall eat you today so that you’ll know that the Golden Corpse Canyon isn’t a place where a big guy like you can enter! My little ones, gobble it up!”
Buzz, buzz!
The huge insect instantly dispersed and turned into a golden cloud that covered the entire sky and rushed toward Sacas!
Roar!
Sacas roared furiously into the sky, fully displaying its tyrannic stance. Yet it had no effect whatsoever on the Golden Corpse Bug cluster blotting out the sky. The insects dispersed at times, converged at times, morphed into a humanoid form at times…
In a mere instant, it’d already charged all the way to Sacas!
Roar!!
Sacas roared furiously and incessantly as its sharp claws swiped about here and there, smashing huge rocks around it in a haphazard manner. Yet despite its violent, raging power, it gave off a rather helpless feeling, as though a tiger that didn’t know how it should be eating a porcupine.
Indeed!
Against a cluster of tiny insects like that, what use was its wild and extreme physical strength?
Sacas was on the verge of being surrounded by the overwhelming masses of Golden Corpse Bugs. When that happened, it would end up like the rest of the broken carcasses lying forgotten at the bottom of the Golden Corpse Canyon—devoured by the Golden Corpse Bugs and then, rotting, decaying, and becoming the food of maggots and flies!
Just as that was about to happen…
“Absolute Zero!”
Meng Lei attacked at this point!
Crack!
A white, chilly air current burst forth and engulfed the large golden cloud, sealing it in ice amidst crisp-sounding cracks!
At the same time, the white, chilly air current also continued to spread toward the Golden Corpse Canyon. It sealed everything in its path in ice, including even the all-pervasive stench and carcasses.
A brief moment later, the Golden Corpse Canyon from earlier was no longer anywhere in sight. In its place was instead a vast white glacier.
… And of course, an infinite number of motionless Golden Corpse Bugs frozen in mid-air!
“They aren’t dead yet?”
Meng Lei was rather startled. There hadn’t been any notifications from the system—this showed that the ice-sealed Golden Corpse Bugs hadn’t died yet. The spell hadn’t frozen them to death—not a single one!
“Well, that’s amazing!” Meng Lei was filled with marvel at once.
“Golden Corpse Bugs are metal-elemental and ice-elemental Magical Beasts. They’re practically immune to spells of these two elements,” Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out at this point, “Absolute Zero can’t kill them!”
“No wonder!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “They might not be afraid of Absolute Zero, but what about Prairie-Blazing Heavenly Fire?”
Boom, boom, boom!
With a mere thought from him, large expanses of black flames immediately descended from the sky and engulfed the whole area within 1,000 meters of where they were, including the Golden Corpse Canyon behind him!
Everything in the black flames’ path was set ablaze—even the solid ice giving off an astonishing chill was no exception!
Crackle, crackle!
Upon being scorched, the solid ice surprisingly didn’t melt. Instead, they became the black flames’ fuel, making them burn even more violently.
Boom, boom, boom!
The flames blazed furiously.
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug killed, 10 million gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug killed, 10.01 million gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
At once, system notifications began to ring out. On top of that, they rang out without any pause!
“That’s more like it!”
Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction.
“Damn! You bastard! How dare you slaughter my children! You should die for that!”
A voice that sounded like an owl’s hoot rang out. Then, a Golden Corpse Bug the size of a baby’s fist abruptly flew out of the cluster. It glared furiously at Meng Lei, its teeth gnashing as it did so.
“Boss, that’s Boris, the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth supplemented in a timely fashion at this point.
“The Golden Corpse Bug Emperor?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but look over.
A normal Golden Corpse Bug was pitifully tiny and only about the size of a date seed. However, that particular Golden Corpse Bug was dozens of times—even up to 100 times—the size of other Golden Corpse Bugs! It was as big as a human’s fist!
“That’s a Saint Domain Magical Beast?”
Meng Lei was astonished. “A fist-sized Saint Domain Magical Beast… That’s probably the smallest Saint Domain Magical Beast I’ve ever seen…”
Right at this point, two golden light balls dropped from the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“Assimilate the metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment! But I’ll skip the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline!”
" }, { "id": 178, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-178", "title": "Chapter 178", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 178: The Tree of Vitality, The Hammer of Destruction
Ever since he’d assimilated the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, Meng Lei had become awfully picky about his bloodlines. He honestly turned his nose up at most typical bloodlines now!
Be it the Fire Dragon bloodline, the Fire Demon bloodline, or the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline that he’d just assimilated, they were but just white elephants.
If it were possible, he didn’t even want them!
Therefore, Meng Lei held even less interest in the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline that he’d just picked up.
“Assimilate the metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
After a split second, a wave of information about metal-elemental magic elements and metal-elemental laws of nature surged into his mind, rapidly boosting Meng Lei’s comprehension of “metal”.
“Metal—sharp and solid, it specializes in slaughter…
“Metal—reserved and austere, it specializes in revolution…”
After a long while, Meng Lei finally exhaled a long breath of pent-up air. His comprehension of metal-elemental laws of nature had obviously moved a whole step up!
“Thank you for your metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
Meng Lei’s gaze fell onto the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor, and he said, “To thank you, I’ll leave your body in one piece!
“Ice-elemental first-class spell—Absolute Zero!
“Wood-elemental first-class spell—Judgment of Life!”
With two first-class spells tossed out successively, the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor didn’t have the chance to flee at all before it lost its life.
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug Emperor killed, 11.8 billion gold coins gained!”
When the carcass came falling down, Meng Lei caught it in his hand casually. He couldn’t help but sigh. “If only all Saint Domain Magical Beasts’ carcasses were this small. I wouldn’t need to be troubled over storing it anymore…”
Then, he ordered, “Sacas, look for the next Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
“Yes, Boss!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth resumed its journey once more. As per usual, Meng Lei also started to take stock of his rewards. He wouldn’t have known just how scary his rewards were had he not done so, but the moment he did, he received a huge shock!
“My Wealth points have increased by so much?”
Meng Lei was rather astonished.
58.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
When converted to gold coins, that would amount to 586 billion gold coins!
“How much did I have before this again?
“22.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, so that makes it 223 billion gold coins…
“And now… It has become 58.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“It has increased by a whole 36.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
“Oh my goodness! Why did it suddenly spike that much?
“Wait a minute! Let me calculate this…
“One Golden Corpse Bug is worth ten million gold coins, so ten of them makes it 100 million gold coins.
“36.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals is equivalent to 363 billion gold coins. In other words, that’s 36,300 Golden Corpse Bugs?
“36,000 Golden Corpse Bugs? They’re worth that many gold coins?
“Oh my goodness! Hunting Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts is more lucrative than hunting Saint Domain Magical Beasts?”
“…”
It was only after a long time that Meng Lei finally regained his composure.
He understood that it wasn’t so much as Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts were more valuable than Saint Domain Magical Beasts; rather, it was because the number of Golden Corpse Bugs he’d just killed was simply too high!
Every little bit counted when winning through sheer numbers!
That was how he’d gotten the windfall of 363 billion gold coins!
“Little did I imagine that casually killing those Golden Corpse Bugs would actually bring me this much benefits! Looks like hunting pack Magical Beasts is still the most cost-effective when it comes to money-making!”
Meng Lei ordered resolutely, “Sacas, prioritize going to Saint Domain Magical Beasts with a clan! The bigger the clan, the better! And the stronger, the better! Understand?”
“Yes, Boss!”
“Great!”
A satisfied Meng Lei nodded. Then, he looked at his massive Wealth again. 58.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals was a huge sum of money. How should he spend them?
His gaze swept across his stats interface. At once, Meng Lei had an idea. He instructed, “System, raise my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate!”
The system’s icy-cold voice rang out. “Ding! Raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline by 1% requires 10 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. May I know whether you’d like to raise it?”
“Yes!”
Meng Lei looked absolutely unwilling to part with the money, but he still gave the order to do so anyway. He was already aware of the cost beforehand, so it didn’t surprise him.
Raising his bloodline assimilation rate by 1% required 100 billion gold coins, while raising his comprehension of laws of nature by 1% only required 10 billion gold coins.
In other words, if he’d used the 100 billion gold coins to raise his comprehension of the laws of nature instead, he’d have been able to raise his comprehension of a certain type of laws of nature by 10%!
10%!
That was already 1/10 of the total!
From that, one could tell just how expensive raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate was!
Meng Lei found it worthwhile, however.
The reason for that was because raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate gave an all-rounded boost to his combat abilities. In particular, the boost it brought to his speed and defenses were even more fearsome.
There was an absolute need for him to boost his speed and defenses in the perilous Lost Continent, especially when there was also a mysterious divine tree eying them in the shadows. Speed and high defenses couldn’t get any more essential!
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrunk by 10 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
At the same time, a blackish-green air current also abruptly emerged from the depths of his blood vessels and flowed rapidly into his limbs, body, veins, bones, and skin. It flowed into every inch of Meng Lei’s body, rapidly modifying and strengthening it.
“Here it comes again…”
The intense agony and sharp pain that accompanied the strengthening process assailed Meng Lei’s pain receptors, reaching straight into the bones and burning his insides. It was much, much more intense than when he’d assimilated the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline previously!
Pain!
Pain!
Pain!
Meng Lei let out a muffled grunt and clutched Sacas’ fur. If he could, he really wished he could blackout and get it over and done with.
Unfortunately, when one’s spiritual power was as powerful as his, how would they possibly pass out that easily?
He couldn’t! Therefore, the only thing he could do was to endure it!
In that case, then that was what he would do!
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s abnormality, Sacas couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong, Boss?”
Meng Lei growled in a low voice, “Don’t bother with me. Just focus on moving!”
“Understood!”
For some reason, Meng Lei’s low growl seemed to contain a boundless sense of majesty that gave Sacas shivers from the depths of its soul. It hurriedly buried its head into traveling and asked no more.
The whole modification process lasted roughly half an hour before it ended. Although it was a painful process, the results were encouraging!
The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate had successfully risen to 2%!
Apart from that, the biggest change was in his Physical Body Constitution—it had doubled and reached an astonishing 24.1 billion points!
Prior to this, it had been 12 billion points, but it had now reached 24.1 billion points. It had totally doubled!
In other words, at the same time, his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate was being raised by 1%, his Physical Body Constitution had also increased by 12 billion points along the way!
Had he redeemed the 12 billion Physical Body Constitution points via credit, he’d have needed 120 billion gold coins to do that.
What a worthwhile transaction! It couldn’t get any more worthwhile!
Not to mention that his speed and defenses had definitely received a great boost, too!
It was absolutely no exaggeration to say that the practical benefits that Meng Lei’d received had far surpassed the value of 100 billion gold coins.
To sum it up in one sentence, these 100 billion gold coins were simply too well-spent!
“I’ve earned big! This is way more efficient than pure credit redemption.
“I don’t need to spend on Physical Body Constitution anymore in the future. If I want to spend on credit redemption, I can just put it all into the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate. It’s obviously way more cost-effective! It’s just that the process is a little more painful…”
Meng Lei took a breath and steamed off the perspiration and bloodstains on himself. Then, he continued to browse his personal stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <52%>, Fire Demon bloodline <47%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>, Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <2%>, Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline <50%>)
Wealth: 48.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (24,124,607,410/100 billion)
Spirit: Saint Domain (1,028,314,896/100 billion)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,025,888,951/100 billion)
Laws of Nature: Fire-elemental (0.2%), Wind-elemental (0.1%), Thunder-elemental (0.1%), Metal-elemental (0.2%), Light-elemental (0.1%)
Others: Some increase
“Now that I’ve boosted my absolute combat strength, it’s time for the game!”
Meng Lei switched into a comfortable position and laid down. Then, he took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
“System, I want to use the Limitless Pickup function!”
The system’s icy-cold voice rang out. “Ding! 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal is required for the usage of this function. May I know if you’d like to use it?”
“Yes! I’m loaded with cash!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrunk by 1 Law of Nature Origin Crystal.
Following that, a system notification also rang out a few seconds later. “Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s wealth +1 million gold coins!”
(⊙_⊙)?
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“Host’s Wealth +1 million gold coins? What does that mean? I spent 10 billion gold coins just to pick up 1 million gold coins?
“What the actual f*ck!!! What a huge loss! This is a terrible loss! 10 billion gold coins just to pick up something like this?!
“I won’t take this lying down! Again!”
“Ding! 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal is required for the usage of this function. May I know if you’d like to use it?”
“Yes!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrunk by 1 Law of Nature Origin Crystal again.
The system’s icy-cold voice rang out. “Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained a branch from the Tree of Vitality!”
“A… Branch from the Tree of Vitality?”
Rather flabbergasted, Meng Lei hastily took it out for inspection. An emerald green tree branch approximately one-meter-long appeared in his hand.
A split second later, a surge of vitality emanated from it, revitalizing and refreshing Meng Lei and sweeping away his fatigue.
“Boss!”
Upon sensing the vitality surge, Sacas turned his head at once.
“Where did you get something like that, brat?”
It had caught Ol’ Amos’ attention, too. He emerged from the spatial ring and gazed in astonishment at the green tree branch in Meng Lei’s hand.
“Do you recognize this thing, Ol’ President?” asked Meng Lei.
“Duh! If I can’t even recognize something like that, wouldn’t I have lived these tens of thousands of years in vain?”
Ol’ Amos rolled his eyes. Then, he picked up the tree branch and took a light sniff. As if an opium addict that had caught a whiff of opium, a look of revelry and infatuation appeared on his face at once!
“A branch from the Tree of Vitality! This is definitely a branch from the Tree of Vitality!
“This is good stuff! It contains an astonishing amount of vitality. Not only can it revive and heal, but it’s also a treasure that can restore one’s magic power!
“With this branch in hand, not only will meditation be several times—even dozens of times—more effective, but the restoration rate of the magic power in your body will also increase by a few times!
“This is good stuff! Definitely good stuff!”
Meng Lei asked eagerly, “If I auction this off, how much can it sell for?”
This thing was completely a white elephant to him. If he could turn it into gold coins instead, then the 10 billion gold coins to pick it up wouldn’t be spent in vain!
“What? You want to sell it? You wastrel!”
Ol’ Amos broke into a rant at once. “The Tree of Vitality is the Fairy Empire’s holy tree! Outsiders can’t even catch a glimpse of it, let alone obtain a branch from it!
“But if you were to auction this small little branch off, it’ll fetch at least dozens of billions of gold coins, I guess? Perhaps even 100 billion?”
“Up to 100 billion? Phew, that’s not a loss, then!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief and quickly kept the Tree of Vitality branch before contacting the system.
“You lousy system, look at what you’ve picked up for me? You rascal, aren’t you scamming me too much?”
“Dear host, the Limitless Pickup system is a random pickup function. The quality of the item picked up is completely random.”
“Damn your randomness!” Meng Lei said huffily, “Can’t you pick up something better for me? Even at the worst, you shouldn’t make it too great of a loss. 10 billion gold coins per try is too hefty a price!
“Forget it. I won’t do it anymore. It’s too big a scam!
“But… I really can’t reconcile myself with this. I didn’t get anything good twice in a row. I really can’t reconcile myself with this!
“How about… I give it another go? Yeah! I’ll do it one last time! System, one more time!”
“Ding! 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal is required for the usage of this function. May I know if you’d like to use it?”
“Cut the crap, I’ll use it one last time!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrunk by 1 Law of Nature Origin Crystal once again.
“Please stop scamming me! If I get another piece of trash, I’m gonna go berserk!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Hammer of Destruction!”
" }, { "id": 179, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-179", "title": "Chapter 179", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 179: The Behemoth On The Brink of Death, The Immortal Fairy
This was a polluted swamp!
Large patches of withered trees and vegetation laid in the muddy shallow waters. The bark had already fallen off the trees, causing the surfaces to be bald and smooth, and the polluted, yellowish lake waters gave off a terrible stench.
The whole swamp was barren, desolate, and quiet. There were no traces of life, and the whole place was silent.
Then, all of a sudden…
A huge shadow rushed from afar before ultimately coming to a stop in mid-air above the swamp. Thick, dense fur and powerful intertwining muscles covered its body—it was Sacas the Behemoth!
“Boss, this is the Scarlet Swamp Snakes’ territory,” Sacas said as it turned to Meng Lei. “The Scarlet Swamp Snake is an extremely powerful snake species that lives in a pack in the Lost Continent. Their numbers are fairly big.”
“How strong are they?”
“They vary in strength. Some are sixth-grade to seventh-grade, and some are eighth-grade to ninth-grade, while the Scarlet Swamp Snake Emperor itself is a Saint Domain Magical Beast.
“Generally speaking, the Scarlet Swamp Snakes are not any weaker than the Golden Corpse Bugs. Both are Magical Beast species that live in large packs.”
“Not bad.”
A satisfied Meng Lei waved him away. Then, he ordered, “Go on and get the Scarlet Swamp Snake Emperor out here.”
“Yes, Boss!”
Sacas casually picked up a withered branch and threw it into the swamp, causing the waters to splash about everywhere and the mud to spatter.
“…”
Two minutes later, a 20-meters-long water snake covered in reddish-brown spots weaved out of the swamp and slithered over to them in a crooked line.
“That’s the Scarlet Swamp Snake, Boss.”
As it watched the Scarlet Swamp Snake intently, Sacas explained, “This particular group of snakes is too greedy and has eaten all the living things inside the swamp.
“Therefore, Scarlet Swamp Snakes are constantly hungry. The moment there’s even the slightest bit of motion, they’ll be lured out of their den.
“Take a look over there!”
Meng Lei looked over on his cue to see Scarlet Swamp Snakes of varying sizes also popping out from other areas of the swamp. Additionally, their numbers were getting bigger and bigger. It was as though thousands upon thousands of snakes were spilling forth from their den.
“They’re a bunch of starving snakes, indeed.”
Meng Lei bent his fingers and made a stroking motion as if he were strumming a guitar. As he did so, wind blades also shot out one after another toward the Scarlet Swamp Snakes.
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid constant jarring noises, the wind blades severed the Scarlet Swamp Snakes’ heads one by one, and they died one after another.
Blood spurted everywhere, and decapitated snakeheads were thrown out in all directions.
In a mere instant, the Scarlet Swamp Snakes that had crawled out of their den had all been killed. Freshly-spilled blood dyed the swamp red in dozens of spots, and the faint smell of blood slowly began to pervade the air.
Was everything over?
Of course not!
As though they’d caught the smell of blood, more and more Scarlet Swamp Snakes emerged from the swamp, like mushrooms sprouting after rain.
10, 50, 100…
In less than the amount of time it took to take a few breaths, the initially-quiet swamp had become incredibly lively. Scarlet Swamp Snakes that had been hiding in unknown places made their grand appearances and filled up every corner of the swamp.
At one glance, the whole place was a scarlet red.
As far as the eye could see, big snakes were everywhere.
“Tsk, tsk! There must be at least 8,000 of them, if not 10,000!” Meng Lei marveled at the sight. “Just as well! I can just take them all out, then!”
“Absolute Zero!”
Boom!
A white, chilly air current burst forth and shrouded the whole area within 10,000 meters. Amid crisp snaps and cracks, everything in the surroundings was fixed in place during this instant.
The scarlet swamp became a nation of frost, and all the Scarlet Swamp Snakes within 10,000 meters turned into vivid-looking ice sculptures.
“Ding! 1 Scarlet Swamp Snake killed. 13 million gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Scarlet Swamp Snake killed. 3.97 million gold coins gained!”
Meng Lei rose into the air and flew further into the swamp’s depths while Sacas followed closely after him.
Just like that, the pair slew everything in their path as they advanced. Snake carcasses were littered all about, and innumerable ice sculptures were created everywhere they passed through.
When the pair reached the very center of the swamp, a deep pool appeared in front of them. As though an old well, the pool waters were a clean and clear dark green. Deep and bottomless, it was completely different from the unbearably polluted swampy waters around it.
A powerful Saint Domain Magical Beast aura emanated from the pool, leaving no doubt to the fact that an enormous, savage beast was lurking within.
“Sacas, get him out here!”
“Yes, sir!”
Sacas grabbed a huge piece of wood and threw it right into the pool. At the same time, he also started to hurl abuse loudly. “Albin, here’s a f*cking coffin for your ancestors! Hurry and get the hell out here…”
Splash!
There was no way of telling whether it was the huge piece of wood that’d alarmed the savage beast in the pool or Sacas’ verbal abuse that’d taken effect!
Splash!
Amid great splashes, an enormous snakehead jumped out of the pool and bit at Sacas—who was in mid-air—at lightning-quick speed! Its huge mouth opened wide, and a fishy, pungent stink rushed toward their faces.
“Hmph!”
Sacas was already prepared for this a long time ago. In the instant the snake dived toward it, its sharp claws closed together, and it grabbed viciously at it!
Unexpectedly, in the instant that it was about to make contact with the snake, its head whipped to the side in an S-shape and bypassed Sacas’ sharp claws to clamp its jaws down at its waist!
Splash!
The next moment, the snake’s massive body followed closely and wound around Sacas at high speed. It went one round, two, two and a half…
Roar!
As a raging Behemoth, how would Sacas possibly allow the huge snake to get its way? With a roar into the sky, six two-meters-long barbed claws grabbed viciously at the snake’s body!
Slash!
Slash!
The claws created deep fissures in the snake’s body with every grab Sacas made as though metal hooks. Blood sprayed everywhere and dyed the snake—as well as the pool waters underneath them—red.
Hiss!
Pain came over the huge snake. It opened its cavernous jaws and bit at Sacas’ neck. Two sharp venomous fangs gleamed with a cold, greenish glow under the sunlight as they bit viciously at Sacas.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shake his head with a light laugh at the sight of that. Just how tough and solid was Sacas’ body? First-class spells might not even be able to break its defenses, so how would two venomous fangs possibly be able to wound it?
Splurt!
However, something unbelievable happened the next moment. The two venomous fangs actually managed to pierce through Sacas’ skin and sink viciously into its body with a splurt.
Large amounts of venom were injected into its body and began to spread rapidly. Sacas stiffened up, and the movements of its sharp, barbed claws that were brandishing about fervently also gradually began to slow down—evidently, it had been poisoned!
“What the f*ck!!!”
Meng Lei, who was awfully shocked, hastily got ready to go forward to render aid. Not only was Sacas his trusted subordinate and favored aide, but he was also loyal and devoted. He couldn’t just watch it die from the snake’s venom.
Whoosh!
Unexpectedly, a sudden turn of events occurred at this point.
A shrill whiz abruptly rang out, and a green arrow shot toward them at an unbelievable speed. In an instant, it’d pierced through the snake’s point of weakness!
At once, the snake’s eyes rolled up, and its massive body immediately froze up. From the look of it, it wasn’t going to survive.
At the same time, the green arrow continued its momentum and pierced through the snake’s head to shoot toward Sacas’ throat!
The green arrow’s might hadn’t diminished by much. Even Meng Lei couldn’t be sure whether or not it would pierce through Sacas’ throat.
He couldn’t take chances with it!
“Damn!”
Meng Lei hastily grabbed at the arrow. After he had raised the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate to 2%, his speed had improved even further. In an instant, he had come right up to Sacas.
Unfortunately…
It was ultimately still a step too late.
Splurt!
The green arrow’s ability to penetrate had reached terrifying levels. It easily broke through Sacas’ superbly strong defenses and shot right into its throat.
“Ugh!”
Blood sprayed into the air. Sacas let out a mournful cry as blood began to spurt madly from its throat, instantly dyeing the thick fur at its chest red.
“Bastard!”
Meng Lei almost went berserk. However, he managed to barely hang on to his last vestige of rationality and stop himself from killing the person that had launched the sneak attack. Instead, he cast a wood-elemental first-class spell—Blessings of Life!
Buzz!
The Wood Elements within 10,000 meters of where he was converged fervently to form a 100-meters-wide funnel that covered Sacas within. Wood Elements containing abundant vitality began to rapidly heal the wound at Sacas’ throat.
Under Blessings of Life’s healing powers, the wound at Sacas’ throat began to visibly heal. The bleeding gradually stopped in just a few moments, and the wound had become close to closing.
“Eat this.”
Meng Lei also brought out a wood-elemental Saint Domain Magical Beast’s vitality core and stuffed it into Sacas’ mouth to continue healing its wound.
“Thank you… Boss!”
The successive blows had made Sacas, a strong and muscular Behemoth, rather weak, and its voice was no longer as fierce and ferocious as it had previously been.
“All I can do is heal your physical wound. I can’t remove the snake venom in you.” Meng Lei had a grave look on his face as he asked, “Are you able to tough it out?”
“Don’t worry, Boss!”
Sacas grinned a little and replied weakly, “It’s nothing but just the Scarlet Swamp Snake Emperor’s venom. It can’t kill me. We Behemoths are immune to most snakes’ venom. If you let me take a short break, I’ll be alive and kicking in a while!”
“Good to hear that.”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief. His tightly-knitted brows also smoothened out. As he patted Sacas’ shoulder, he said comfortingly, “Have a good rest. Leave the rest to me!”
“Yes, Boss!”
Meng Lei turned round, the look in his eyes already replaced by a chilling harshness. As he gazed at the direction from which the green arrow had shot out 0f, murderous intent suffused his eyes as he said, “You sneaky bastard, get the hell out here!”
Boom!
The order, once given, was strictly enforced. As a furious roar rang out, endless black flames suddenly rained down from the sky and shrouded the forest in the other direction.
Boom, boom, boom!
As though the flames of Amaterasu[1], the black flames set everything in their path on fire and turned them into blazing flames that sprayed everywhere. In the twinkling of an eye, the forest had turned into a sea of black fire.
Whoosh!
A green feminine figure flew out of the sea of fire. The tips of her toes tapped lightly in the air, and she landed gracefully on the ground like a green butterfly. Her movements were light and nimble like an otherworldly celestial maiden’s.
Pointed ears, a tall, slender figure, a beautiful, exquisite face, soft, tender skin, and a pair of gentle, attractive, jet-black eyes that looked as though they could speak…
Added to those her emerald-green armor that covered only the essentials and left everything else exposed, she was innocent-looking yet sensual at the same time and brimmed with endless allure.
When faced with such an enchanting woman, any man would be moved. Meng Lei was also a little stunned by her beauty, but what he felt, even more, was fury—fierce, blazing fury!
“Were you the one that ambushed my prey and attacked my mount? How bold of you!”
“All the Magical Beasts on this continent are my prey. Those two Saint Domain Magical Beasts are naturally no exception.”
The beautiful woman’s lips moved as she replied. Her voice was clear and melodious as if a trickling stream that moistened the bottom of one’s heart. She said, “You can leave now. They are mine.”
Meng Lei broke into laughter at her words. His sinister laughter resounded in the air above the swamp.
“And if I don’t?”
[1] The sun goddess in Japanese myths
" }, { "id": 180, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-180", "title": "Chapter 180", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 180: Undeveloped Carnal Desires, Magical Beasts Wiped Out
The breeze blew lightly, rippling the waters.
Above the deep pool, two figures stood facing each other from afar.
One had cold eyes and emanated murderous intent while the other sported an aloof expression and a haughty demeanor.
“Leave? What if I don’t?”
Meng Lei licked his lips, the corners of his lips curling upward.
“I don’t have time to waste on you. If you’re not too foolish, you should know what you should be doing,” Miriam, the Immortal Fairy, replied in a clear and melodious voice. “Otherwise, I can only use the arrow in my hand to give you a hand.”
“Yet another braggart that thinks too highly of themselves.” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “I’ve seen too many people like you, and there’s usually only one outcome for all of you.”
Whoosh!
With a soft whiz, Meng Lei quietly vanished from where he was. His movements were so fast that he left behind a series of afterimages!
Everywhere he passed by, he left behind a trail of afterimages.
In an instant, Meng Lei was already right in front of Miriam. Then, his foot went flying out!
His kick was honestly one that was as immovable as a mountain when still and like a clap of shocking thunder when in action. Most people couldn’t react in time at all, and this category of people naturally included the powerful Prince Barbarossa as well.
However, what surprised Meng Lei was that Miriam the Immortal Fairy had actually reacted in time. A hint of anger appeared on her exquisite features—she was thoroughly enraged.
“How dare you kick me, you bastard!”
Without a second word, she raised her arm and fired an arrow.
Her actions as she held her bow up and notched an arrow were as smooth as flowing water, and she was actually slightly faster than even the current Meng Lei.
Whoosh!
A green arrow instantly shot toward Meng Lei. As they were too near each other, Meng Lei couldn’t even duck in time, and the green arrow shot straight toward his heart.
Thud!
This time, something that shocked Miriam happened—the green arrow collided against Meng Lei’s chest, only to let out a dull thud before turning into a bunch of green dots and dissipating into the air.
Other than that, it actually didn’t hurt Meng Lei at all. It didn’t even pierce through his skin.
“Oh my dragon god!!!”
Miriam was terribly stunned; she was thoroughly astounded by what had just happened. One must know that she was a Saint Domain archer. The power in her arrows could pierce through the vast majority of Magical Beasts, yet it hadn’t made a scratch on him!
Just how powerful were Meng Lei’s defenses?
Practically a nightmare!
Was he really human?
Boom!
A moment or two was enough to determine the outcome of a battle between experts. In the split second where Miriam was distracted, Meng Lei’s foot had already reached!
His foot struck her exquisite face viciously. Miriam let out a shrill cry and flew outward with a scream.
“Do you think it’s over? You’re dead wrong!”
Meng Lei had no intentions to stop. He used both his fists and his legs, launching a series of frenzied attacks and raining blows upon her in succession.
It was kick after kick and punch after punch!
Bam, bam, bam!
Smack, smack, smack!
Boom, boom, boom!
As she had already lost the initiative, and coupled with Meng Lei’s incredibly berserk attacks, Miriam wasn’t able to launch any decent attacks anymore. Instead, she turned into a punching bag that could only passively take attacks.
The fury in Meng Lei caused him to attack without holding back at all, much less hold any tender feelings toward the fairer sex. She wasn’t his wife anyway, so why should he feel any sort of tenderness toward her?
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
After a few minutes of pummeling, the fury in Meng Lei was finally appeased. Miriam looked as if she had been struck by the legendary Beyond Recognition Kick, and her face was totally swollen. Even the sight of her alone was already nauseating enough to most people, let alone feel the urge to kiss her.
“Has my Beyond Recognition Kick reached a great mastery level?”
At the sight of Miriam’s terrible state, Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction. The fury in him had finally been vented. “This… is the outcome of launching sneak attacks from the shadows!”
“Y-you… You…”
Miriam was both alarmed and furious. How she wished she could eat Meng Lei’s flesh, drink his blood, slash him a thousand times, and dismember him into a million pieces!
She, the great Immortal Fairy! One of Dragon God Academy’s four great monsters! The ice goddess that countless people idolized!
Since when had she ever taken such a vicious beating?
This was practically a great insult to her!
And yet…
“What’s there to ‘you’ about? Cut the crap! If you don’t hand over your spatial ring, I’ll beat you up again!”
Meng Lei snorted and went on. “A glance at how little you’re wearing is enough for me to know that you’re no decent person. Someone like you should just hurry up and go to Yihong Brothel[1]. This isn’t a place where you should be.”
“Ugh!”
Miriam was so furious that she threw up blood. Then, she fell right onto the ground.
“Playing dead?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. With a casual point of his finger, the deep pool below them instantly froze, and Miriam landed on the ice.
Afraid that she was playing tricks, Meng Lei froze her arms and her legs before he approached her with peace of mind. Then, he took off all her…
Spatial rings!
And then, he escaped at once!
“Be thankful that I showed mercy, b*tch! If the exchange competition hadn’t prohibited contestants from taking another contestant’s life, your head wouldn’t be on your neck right now!”
…
“I seriously doubt whether or not you’re really a man. Such a beautiful woman, and such an exquisite-looking face…
“Pure and innocent, yet sensual! A beauty so gorgeous that she can fall kingdoms and cities and captivate even the birds and the beasts, and yet you…
“Not only are you unmoved, but you even beat her up into such a horrible state!
“Is it because you didn’t develop properly and haven’t developed your carnal desires, or are you just not a man at all?”
After leaving the Scarlet Swamp Snake swamp, Meng Lei resumed his Saint Domain Magical Beast-searching journey. Along the way, Ol’ Amos grumbled and nagged, constantly criticizing Meng Lei’s terrible conduct.
Terrible conduct?
Yes, terrible conduct, indeed!
What Meng Lei had done to Miriam were wicked deeds that enraged both gods and mortals alike. How could he beat a beauty into that awful state? Was it something that a human should do?
Meng Lei didn’t feel like entertaining that amorous old man, so he changed the topic and asked, “Sacas, how’s the snake venom in your body?”
“I’ve already more or less recovered, Boss!”
“Alright, that’s great. Something is puzzling me, though. Why were the Scarlet Swamp Snake Emperor’s venomous fangs able to pierce through your skin so easily when your defenses are so high?”
“You don’t understand, Boss. The Scarlet Swamp Snake Emperor’s venomous fangs are comparable to a half-divine weapon. Incredibly sharp and virtually indestructible. They can pierce through almost all Saint Domain Magical Beasts’ armor and defenses.”
In the period of time that followed, Meng Lei continued to hunt Magical Beasts.
As time moved forward day by day, his Wealth also increased rapidly.
Apart from resting, eating, and occasionally redeeming credit, all Meng Lei did the rest of the time was hunting.
Before he knew it, half a month had gone by.
On this day, Meng Lei arrived at the seaside.
The Endless Oceans were shrouded in boundless fog as usual. Apart from the sound of surging torrential waves, one couldn’t see any further.
Meng Lei went over to an ocean bay. The waters at the crescent-shaped bay were calm and peaceful and a clear azure blue, much like a sapphire.
A short distance from the bay was an expanse of forests. Sandwiched between the dense forests and the bay was a soft sandy shore with fine sand and warm, mild sunlight.
Large crabs occupied the shore, bubbling at their mouths as they sunbathed. Relaxed and comfortable, they were as carefree as can be.
“Boss, this is the Golden Ocean Bay, the Golden Brown Crabs’ territory!”
Sacas pointed at the calm and peaceful shore and said, “Domineering and savage by nature, most of the Golden Brown Crabs are very strong. They are basically all Eighth- and Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts.”
“At last, a group of Magical Beasts that haven’t been slaughtered yet. What a hard life I lead!” Meng Lei heaved a small sigh. “In just a short half a month, almost all the Magical Beasts on the Lost Continent have been wiped out!”
The Lost Continent occupied a vast territory, and its surface area reached as big as over 10 million square kilometers, and in it lived innumerable Magical Beasts.
During the first few days of reaching the Lost Continent, Meng Lei had a lot of fun. His average daily profits had exceeded 100 billion gold coins.
However, as time passed, there were fewer and fewer Magical Beasts. The target Magical Beasts had either all been slaughtered by others or were currently in the midst of being hunted. Hence his profits had started to plummet.
As a result, they’d only found this undiscovered “paradise” and a group of yet-to-be-slaughtered Magical Beasts after traveling about for an entire day.
Not only did his daily profits not reach even 10 billion gold coins, but he was spending the vast majority of time moving about…
To sum it up—the number of Magical Beasts had really decreased!
To be honest, the calculations made sense, too.
With an area of 10 million square kilometers and 7,000 to 8,000 contestants, each contestant didn’t even have an area of 1,500 square kilometers to themselves on average. How could the place possibly be able to endure a two-week-long hunt?
One must understand that hardly even a single Magical Beast could be found within several hundred kilometers of the Saint Domain Magical Beasts’ territories. These large regions were practically empty!
Those that weren’t Saint Domain Magical Beasts couldn’t withstand the contestants’ massacres, either. After the passage of half a month, it was entirely understandable how almost all the Magical Beasts had been cleanly slaughtered.
“Without Magical Beasts to hunt, a large-scale massacre among the contestants is going to take place in the upcoming half a month’s time!”
Meng Lei knew that very well.
In the Lost Continent elimination round, only the top 100 contestants with the most number of points would be selected, while all the other 7,748 contestants would be eliminated.
With only one in 78 advancing to the next round, the ratio was simply too low. One could totally imagine just what was going to happen in the upcoming half a month’s time!
“What does that have to do with me, though?”
Without Magical Beasts to hunt, Meng Lei’s enthusiasm in moving about had dropped significantly. Rather than pursuing the other contestants all about the continent, he might as well wait for them to come to him instead!
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei’s gaze couldn’t help but land on the Golden Ocean Bay. With clean and clear waters, beautiful scenery, white and clean sand, and gentle and mild sun, it was both suitable for swimming, as well as for sunbathing. It was totally a sanctuary for a beach vacation!
“Looks like even the heavens want me to wait idly for opportunities. Alright, I’ll rest here for a few days.”
Meng Lei smacked his lips. Then, as several wind blades shot out, the hundreds of Golden Brown Crabs on the shore were wiped out at once—including even the Golden Brown Crab Emperor.
“Let’s modify things a little!”
The seawater churned and splashed against the shore, washing away the blood on it.
Then, vines extended and weaved into a beach chair and a beach umbrella!
“Haha! Here I come!”
With a leap, Meng Lei jumped into the clean and clear waters and began to swim leisurely.
During the last half a month, he had either been hunting Magical Beasts or busy traveling about. Going about and camping outdoors had worn him out.
Therefore, he would relax properly this time.
After a round of swimming, Meng Lei returned to the shore in satisfaction. He laid down on the lush, green beach chair and brought out wine and fruits. Then, he began to eat them in delight!
“Sacas, it’s time for fishing. Whether or not we can bait the fishes will depend on you.”
“What do you mean by that, Boss?”
Sacas, who was soaking in the sea and swimming about, looked stupefied.
I’m bathing, y’know. Can it wait?
“…”
“In other words, you’re supposed to act as the bait. Never mind, just let out your aura!”
Poooot~
“I’m telling you to let out your aura, not your gas!”
[1] A common name for brothels in Chinese stories
" }, { "id": 181, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-181", "title": "Chapter 181", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 181: The White Tiger Knight, Hotpot Feast
“Kill them! This King Kong Bull is ours!”
“How dare you snatch our Magical Beasts? We should kill you for that!”
“Kill!”
Then, a chaotic fight broke out in the wide and spacious field.
Two groups of contestants totaling more than a dozen people clashed fiercely. Swords waved about and reflected light off them while magic spells filled the place. The ground shook, and the mountains swayed as the place turned gloomy and overcast.
There was only one cause for them getting into such a huge fight, and that was the 50-meters-long pitch-black gigantic bull next to them—the Saint Domain Magical Beast, the King Kong Bull!
Moo!
The King Kong Bull watched as the group of more than a dozen contestants fought it out with each other—while ignoring its Saint Domain Magical Beast presence the whole time—and then its bullheaded temper erupted.
All of you have got guts to clamor about hunting this old bull here. I’ve already primed myself for a hard battle ahead, but in the end, I’m left on the sideline while all of you fight it out. This is pure, total disregard for this bull here… A cow may be able to tolerate this, but not this old bull here!
Moo!
The King Kong Bull let out a furious roar. Then, it unleashed its full power straight away.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless leaves and plants rose into the sky amid several sharp whizzes. Then, they turned into an overwhelming expanse of grass arrows and instantly shot outward.
It was the wood-elemental first-class spell, A Soldier In Every Plant!
A first-class spell’s might was no trifling matter. By the time the contestants realized what was going on, the endlessly-wide net of grass arrows had already engulfed them.
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid shrill screams, the contestants were thrown back one after another. They were either straight up killed by grass arrows piercing through their foreheads or turned into swiss cheese by grass arrows and suffered a tragic death…
Thousands upon thousands of arrows later, not even a single one of them was left standing. The fortunate ones had died on the spot while the unfortunate ones were on their last breath.
“A bunch of trash…”
The King Kong Bull viciously dealt the finishing blows, and then, it left triumphantly. During the last couple of days, people constantly tried to take its life and inherit its magic core.
A significant number of contestants had died in the King Kong Bull’s hands in the last few days. Close to 100 corpses laid in the fields, which were stained with blood. Even the King Kong Bull had grown somewhat tired of such meaningless battles. It wanted to leave the place in search of a safe haven.
Puff!
It was at this moment that a howling black wind blew over. Then, a tall, strong, and muscular man nearly three-meter-tall drifted over. The man had strong, intertwining muscles and wore striped tiger hide. His eyes were bright and sharp, much like a hawk’s.
“Here comes another one…”
The King Kong Bull wasn’t even the least bit surprised when he caught sight of the man. Instead, it looked around habitually to see if anyone else had also arrived—it was already used to situations like this.
“It’s been a long while since I last ate beef. You’ll satisfy my craving today!”
The muscular, tiger hide-clad man licked his lips. With just a shift of his feet, he appeared right in front of the King Kong Bull. Then, his ceramic pot-sized fist went flying out forcefully.
Crack!
With a crisp crack, the King Kong Bull couldn’t even cry out before the fist smashed right through its head, and it died on the spot.
The muscular man withdrew his fist. A look of revelry appeared in his eyes as he licked the whitish brains on the surface of his fist. “Beef brains taste the most addictive, indeed!”
As he spoke, the muscular man pried open the bull’s head with brute force while he was at it and started to take bite after bite of it. In under half an hour, he had finished almost half of the bull’s head.
“Perfect!”
After he was done, the tiger hide-clad muscular man rubbed his full belly. Then, he gouged out its magic core and left satisfied.
As a Saint Domain expert, his traveling speed was not to be doubted. Before long, he had already flown a distance of almost 100 kilometers to arrive in front of a great mountain.
The man remarked with a slight frown, “There are fewer and fewer Magical Beasts now. It’s been such a long time, yet I actually haven’t encountered even a single one…”
At that moment, a barely discernible aura drifted over from afar.
“That’s a Saint Domain Magical Beast’s aura. It’s coming from that direction!”
Whoosh!
He followed the Saint Domain Magical Beast aura the whole way. It didn’t take long before the man arrived at a beautiful ocean bay and spotted a Behemoth over 50-meters-tall.
At the same time at the Dragon God Cathedral…
Everyone watching the magic screen became worked up at once. Their blood boiled as they cheered loudly, so agitated that their faces were all red.
“They’ve run into each other!”
“Those two mutants have finally run into each other!”
“Oh my dragon god! I’m so excited!”
“One is a double bloodline-holder and a Saint Domain expert in two areas of expertise, while the same also goes for the other!”
“They’ve finally run into each other!”
“We’re gonna have a good show now!”
Everyone, ranging from the princes and princesses to the nobles and officials, stared hard at the magic screen, looking forward eagerly to the upcoming battle.
Even Emperor Frederick the 32nd was no exception. He gave a light laugh and asked, “President Luke, President Fred. Between the two of them, who do you think edges out the other?”
President Luke glanced at President Fred before he replied confidently, “I’ll admit that Meng Lei is certainly greatly talented and is a talent that comes only once in 10,000 years, but he’s ultimately still too young.”
“Is President Luke saying that Meng Lei is no match for Mond Aston, the White Tiger Knight?”
President Fred said with a calm smile, “Both you and I are well aware that when it comes to geniuses of their level, age isn’t everything sometimes. Talent can bypass everything.”
“President Fred, you haven’t interacted with Mond Aston before, so you don’t understand just how frightening he is. He’s no ordinary genius.” President Luke said meaningfully, “Just watch on. He’ll show us with his might that even the strongest genius needs time to mature, including Meng Lei.”
“We’ll let the truth speak for itself, then!”
President Fred didn’t wish to say any more.
“The truth will prove everything!”
Neither was President Luke interested in saying any further.
“One is a Saint Domain Great Magician who, at only 16-years-old, not only possesses both the Fire Dragon bloodline and Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline, but also has four types of magic talent—thunder, earth, fire, and wood;
“The other is ranked 38th place in the Dragon God Genius Ranking. Not only does he possess both the White Tiger and the Netherworld White Tiger bloodlines, but he’s also a Saint Domain Great Magician of three different elements—light, dark, and metal.
“One is amazingly talented while the other is astoundingly gifted!.
“For these two people to go up against each other, this is certainly a match of equally formidable opponents and a clash of the titans!”
Frederick the 32nd marveled sincerely, “This is one of the showdowns I am looking forward to the most since the start of the exchange competition this year.”
“Indeed, Your Majesty! Both 16-year-old Meng Lei and Mond Aston, who’s ranked 38th place in the Dragon God Genius Ranking, are seeded contestants in this year’s exchange competition. We are also looking incredibly forward to the battle between the two of them!”
“I had initially thought that they’d only run into each other in the latter half of the competition, but little did I expect them to meet so quickly. This is truly and terribly exciting…”
Everyone was staring at the magic screen.
Ever since Meng Lei had made his debut, everyone was astounded by his abilities and even more so his talent for magic. They craved for the sight of him—including even the Emperor.
Thus, Meng Lei had received a lot of screen time on the magic screen. It was almost as much as the screen time that the 13th Princess, the Golden Dragon-Lion, and the Thunder Giant had received.
It was only after Meng Lei had arrived at the Golden Ocean Bay and turned on his slacker mode to wait idly for opportunities to come knocking that the camera moved away from him.
Nevertheless, even so, they’d still return for a look now and then.
Thus, at the sight of the scenic ocean bay, everyone had recognized it as the very same Golden Ocean Bay where Meng Lei was waiting.
This implied that Mond Aston was going to face Meng Lei very soon.
“Such anticipation! Such excitement!”
“Meng Lei and Mond Aston! The two monsters whose names start with ‘M’ are finally facing each other!”
“I wonder who’ll win?”
“It’s going to be a fierce fight…”
A campfire blazed on the clean, white sandy shore.
Hanging above the campfire was a rather dramatically large pot. Inside the ten-meter-wide pot, soup bubbled and boiled as an aroma rushed toward one’s senses—the pot was filled with various seafood.
Fresh, tender fish, dustpan-sized crabs, black boar-sized lobsters, full, plump abalones, long, thick geoducks…
An aroma wafted about from the dish that boasted both looks and fragrance.
Meng Lei sat cross-legged as he floated in mid-air next to the pot. He held two long chopsticks and ate as he drank. One needn’t even mention just how enthusiastic he currently was.
“Gurgle~”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth, currently “letting out its aura” a short distance away, could only stare in his direction as it swallowed its saliva loudly. Oh, how enviable!
“You’re craving for the food again?”
While holding a boar-sized lobster and munching on its white, tender flesh, Meng Lei cast a glance at the Multi-Armed Behemoth.
“Yes, yes!”
Sacas nodded incessantly, drooling at the mouth.
“Take it!”
Meng Lei casually grabbed an ox-sized crab and tossed it over to Sacas.
Sacas caught hold of it smoothly. Then, without even caring that it was burning-hot, it bit the bright red crab pincer and stuffed it in its mouth.
Amid the crisp sounds of crunching, the huge ox-sized crab didn’t last long before it entered Sacas’ stomach, not even leaving behind its shell. Then, Sacas stared at Meng Lei longingly again as it swallowed its saliva, its stomach letting out thunderous growls again.
“Can you eat a little slower? You’ve already eaten 19 crabs, 38 lobsters, 76 abalones, and 152 geoducks.” Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “At this rate, it’s not gonna be enough no matter how much there is! Not to be judgmental, but when it comes to seafood, you have to chew slowly so that you can taste the freshness. Swallowing it whole like what you’re doing is practically a waste!”
“I get it, Boss!”
Sacas said with a pitiful look on its face, “But the hotpot is simply too delicious. The spice really packs a punch. I… I can’t stop myself!”
“Of course, I’ve always liked how this tastes since I was young.” Meng Lei was rather smug about it. Then, he tossed a millstone-sized abalone over and said, “Abalones must be eaten and savored slowly. Get it?”
“Got it, Boss!”
Sacas hurriedly responded, and then it grabbed the abalone and stuffed it into its mouth, shell and all, and began to crunch on it… In the blink of an eye, it had finished it all up again.
And then, it continued to stare at Meng Lei hopefully.
“…”
Meng Lei gave up completely. He pointed at the boundless ocean and chastised him. “We’re out of ingredients. If you want to eat, then go and catch them yourself.”
“Will you cook them for me if I catch them, Boss?”
“Of course not! Do it yourself!”
“Okay!”
After responding, Sacas started to strode toward the waters. The Golden Ocean Bay boasted a rich abundance of resources and a great variety of ingredients, and they became even more abundant, especially after the Golden Brown Crabs were wiped out.
Sourcing for a bit of seafood was really not a problem at all.
“La la la~”
Sacas quickly searched for ingredients as it daydreamed about the gourmand experience. It was at this moment that a shrill whiz rang out, followed by Mond Aston’s appearance.
“To think it’s actually a Multi-Armed Behemoth!”
" }, { "id": 182, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-182", "title": "Chapter 182", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 182: Who’s Beating Up Who? A Fierce Battle
“To think it’s actually a Multi-Armed Behemoth!”
Mond Aston’s eyes shone as he gazed at Sacas, which was standing in the waters, and stared at its thick coat of fur and strong, muscular body.
“A Multi-Armed Behemoth is a Behemoth that can rival a Golden Behemoth. If I can subdue it as my mount, how impressive would that be?”
Who wouldn’t want a mighty, imposing, and terrifyingly strong mount for themselves? Mond Aston was no exception, of course.
It was just a shame that he turned his nose up at most Magical Beasts, but the Multi-Armed Behemoth in front of him right now just so happened to not be one of them.
“Little cutie, Big Brother is here!”
“Hmm?”
Sacas sensed something, and it turned around to see a muscular man wrapped in tiger hide gazing at him with a wide smile.
“Another fish that I’d baited?” Sacas broke into a grin and thumped its chest hard. “Boss, hurry, and come over! Another idiot has bitten the hook!”
(⊙o⊙)
Mond Aston was dumbstruck at once. Why was the situation not quite what he had imagined? But it was alright—no matter what, it wasn’t as if the Multi-Armed Behemoth in front of him was fake, right?
“Multi-Armed Behemoth, I’ve taken an interest in you!” Mond Aston raised his chin slightly at once and proposed calmly, “What say you to follow me and become my mount?”
“What?”
Upon hearing the word “mount”, a hostile look appeared in Sacas’ eyes at once, and it raised its arms, ready to bash in the head of the damned human standing in front of it.
It was at this point that Meng Lei appeared.
Without even a word, he launched Absolute Zero.
A white, chilly air current burst forth and sealed Mond Aston in ice amid crisp-sounding cracks.
“What an idiot. Thinking of making me your mount? Dream on! I’ll always be Boss’ most loyal underling!”
Sacas spat disdainfully, and then it turned around and looked at Meng Lei with an ingratiating expression, like a husky, “Boss, look how I’ve lured another fish here. Shouldn’t you…”
It cast a glance in the direction of the hotpot, the meaning of its action self-evident.
“Go ahead. The rest of the seafood is all yours.”
Meng Lei cleaned his teeth with a toothpick and declared very generously. There wasn’t much meat left in the pot anyway, and they were even leftovers. What was the loss in giving them to Sacas?
“Wahaha! Thank you, Boss!”
Sacas was overjoyed. It ran quickly to the pot, its thick, muscular legs splashing the seawater about and causing great waves in the water.
“That guy…”
Meng Lei broke into a smile. Then, he turned and looked at Mond Aston, who had been sealed in ice, and said calmly, “C’mon out. Absolute Zero of this level shouldn’t be capable of sealing you.”
Crack!
Crack!
Cracks appeared in the hard, solid ice lump. As more and more appeared, the ice finally broke into an infinite amount of ice crystals.
“Here I was, wondering who had ambushed me. Little did I think that it’d be a little brat who hasn’t even grown up.” Mond Aston raised his chin at once, his eyes full of arrogance as he said, “Little brat, break your contract with that Multi-Armed Behemoth at once, and I won’t hold your sin of ambushing me against you. I can even let you off the hook. How does that sound?”
“Friend, do your parents know that you’re such a showoff outside of home?” Meng Lei scoffed and said calmly, “Hand over all the spatial rings on you, and I won’t pursue the matter of you posturing in front of me. I can even spare your life. What say you?”
“Hahaha…”
Upon hearing Meng Lei’s words, Mond Aston immediately burst into loud laughter as if he had just heard the funniest joke. His laughter was like the roiling thunder, ringing out with a deafening boom.
Then, all of a sudden…
His laughter came to an abrupt stop, and a harsh, murderous expression came over his features. “In all my years of moving unhindered through the world, no-one has ever dared to speak to me, Mond Aston, like that!”
Whoosh!
The next moment, he abruptly appeared in front of Meng Lei. He stared straight into his eyes and said, “All those that had dared to speak to me like that have all gone to hell and into the Grim Reaper’s embrace. Do you know that?”
“Is that so? I’m very honored to be the only survivor, then.”
The two men’s eyes bore into each other’s. There were only a few centimeters between the two of them; despite how Meng Lei could clearly sense the terrifyingly dangerous aura coming from Mond Aston, he didn’t fear him in the least.
“Survivor? Not necessarily so.” Mond Aston scoffed and said, “On account of how you’re just a little brat, I’ll allow you to make the first move, lest others accuse me of bullying someone younger.”
“Since that’s the case, then I won’t stand on ceremony!”
Meng Lei’s voice was still echoing in the surroundings, but his form had already quietly vanished from where he had initially been. A series of afterimages flitted by, and he abruptly rushed right up to Mond Aston.
Then, his fist went flying out.
Boom!
His punch was extremely fast, so much so that Mond Aston couldn’t quite react in time, and the punch shocked him in the gut. As a dull bam rang out, Mond Aston’s expression changed instantly.
“How’s that? Was that punch alright for you?”
Meng Lei smiled lightly at him. Then, he bizarrely appeared behind Mond Aston like a ghost. He kicked Mond Aston squarely in the jaw with a mighty and forceful roundhouse kick.
Crack!
Mond Aston was thrown outward at once.
“You bastard!”
As he felt the intense pain in his gut and his jaw in mid-air, Mond Aston was shocked and furious.
He had realized his lapse in judgment. That seemingly harmless little brat was definitely an unfathomably strong expert. Be it his speed or his physical strength. Both were far beyond an ordinary Saint Domain expert’s.
“Where’s that little brat from? To think he’s actually such a monster…”
Boom!
Meng Lei didn’t stop at that. He continued to attack, launching punch after punch and kick after kick…
Using both his arms and his legs, he launched a surging, endless wave of attacks.
Boom, boom, boom!
Bam, bam, bam!
The combination of punches and kicks was such that Mond Aston simply didn’t have any chance of retaliation. It was just like a one-sided fight.
“(⊙o⊙)”
“How did that happen?”
Everyone in the Dragon God Cathedral looked at one another, absolutely flabbergasted. Where was the planned fierce battle?
Where was the planned exciting clash?
Where was the planned showdown between equally matched opponents?
What nonsense!
All of that was absolute nonsense!
Was that a goddamn fierce battle?
It was obviously a one-sided bashing and crushing!
“What do you think of that now, President Luke?”
Fred looked at the Dragon God Academy president, smugly.
“Mond Aston was careless and underestimated his opponent, resulting in him losing the initiative. That’s the only reason that led to the current situation.” President Luke had a surly look on his face as he said, “As long as he can regain his footing in time, the outcome of this battle still remains to be seen!”
“I’m just afraid that he won’t have that chance anymore.”
Fred shook his head and gave a soft laugh. Then, he continued to watch the magic screen. To be honest, he actually knew that President Luke was indeed right; as long as Mond Aston could regain his footing in time, the outcome remained to be seen.
Mond Aston was indeed a very extraordinary man.
“You bastard!”
“Damn!”
After taking a whole series of beatings, Mond Aston finally erupted. His body suddenly underwent a great change—his speed suddenly spiked, and he extricated himself from Meng Lei’s attack range in an instant.
“You bastard!”
Mond Aston stood proudly in mid-air, his eyes bearing into Meng Lei’s. The look in his eyes was as if he wanted to swallow Meng Lei alive.
“Eh?”
Meng Lei let out a soft sound of surprise. The change in Mond Aston was too great; he was completely a different person from before.
A pair of wings extended from his back, black on the left and white on the right. There was a pair of tiger ears at the top of his head and a few tiger whiskers on his cheeks. Black and white fur covered his body while a tiger tail hung at his bottom…
His height reached five meters tall. Every one of his rock-like muscles was bulging, and his body was filled with an explosive strength from head to toe.
“He’s transformed!”
“Mond Aston has transformed!”
“We’re gonna have a good show now!”
At the sight of Mond Aston’s change, all the Dragon God Cathedral spectators began to cheer. They were exceptionally excited.
They didn’t like to watch one-sided fights, much less when the one being pummeled was a genius from their own academy. They loved to watch fierce battles, equally matched battles, comebacks from desperate situations, and even more so their geniuses crushing other people.
“C’mon! Mond Aston!”
“Bring your strength to the table and show that country bumpkin your might!”
“Mond Aston!”
“Mond Aston!”
Several princes and princesses, nobles and officials began to shout and cheer for Mond Aston to encourage him.
“That was just a warm-up exercise just now, President Fred. The real battle only starts now,” President Luke said meaningfully.
“Or maybe it’s the end? It’s hard to say,” President Fred replied with a calm smile.
“What bloodline is that?”
A slightly astonished Meng Lei stared at Mond Aston, who had grown a pair of wings on his back and was standing afloat proudly in mid-air.
“It looks like the Netherworld White Tiger bloodline.” Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out as he said, “But it holds even more terrifying might than a pure-blooded Netherworld White Tiger. It’s a little strange.”
“The Netherworld White Tiger bloodline…” Meng Lei murmured softly to himself, “That black and white mix and spots and circles… Why does it look somewhat like a panda?”
“I’ll admit that I’ve underestimated you somewhat, kid!” Mond Aston’s tiger-like eyes were cold and harsh, giving off a sharp murderous intent. “But it ends here now. I will return—multiple times over—the humiliation you’ve given me just now to you!”
Whoosh!
The wings on his back flapped lightly, and then a series of afterimages flitted by.
“Die!”
As a tiger roar rang out, a fist also came flying toward Meng Lei.
He’s so fast! His speed has actually risen significantly!
An alarmed Meng Lei retreated with a burst of speed.
“Thinking of fleeing? Can you even?”
Mond Aston let out a sinister laugh. His speed spiked again to several times that of the speed of sound, and then a punch went smashing toward Meng Lei’s face.
Bam!
This time, Meng Lei didn’t manage to duck, and he took the punch squarely. Intense pain assaulted his senses as Meng Lei was instantly thrown backward.
“Take my punishment, kid!”
Mond Aston roared furiously as he rained attacks down on Meng Lei like a storm. This time, it was Meng Lei’s turn to be a punching bag.
Bam, bam, bam!
Boom, boom, boom!
That guy is so fast! Am I actually slower than him while I’m in human form? Inconceivable!
Meng Lei was greatly astonished.
After he had raised the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate to 2%, be it his speed or his defenses, both had reached an astonishingly high level. Even Saint Domain Magical Beasts whose forte was speed couldn’t rival him.
Never would he have expected that that guy who had come out of nowhere would actually be faster than even him. There was no way he wouldn’t be astounded by that.
It’s a shame that I can’t transform into a Gods-Slaying Rat. Otherwise, I’ll definitely be faster than him!
Since that’s the case, then let’s raise it some more!
“System, raise my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate by 1%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100 billion gold coins in an instant.
" }, { "id": 183, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-183", "title": "Chapter 183", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 183: The Divine Tree Reappears, Five Fruits
The changes brought about by the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate’s rise to 3% were all-rounded as usual.
His Physical Body Constitution received a spike of 10 billion points to reach a shocking 34 billion points, while his speed and defenses also underwent a dramatic change.
A spike in physical strength!
A spike in speed!
A spike in defenses!
The change between one moment and the next was the most clearly felt by Meng Lei, the one currently being beaten up.
What Meng Lei felt just a moment ago when he was facing Mond Aston’s beating had been severe, intense pain. His whole body had been close to breaking apart. But now, the pain had reduced significantly to become a normal level of pain that was completely within an acceptable range.
What did that imply?
It implied that despite how Mond Aston’s attacks hadn’t eased up, his pain had instead been reduced. This could only mean that… Meng Lei’s endurance had increased.
His defenses had been greatly enhanced!
“To what extent has my speed reached?”
Meng Lei’s eyelid twitched. He ducked the instant Mond Aston’s fist came smashing toward him. With a flash, he was already 100 meters away.
Mond Aston’s punch landed on thin air, and he stumbled forward, almost falling onto the ground. His expression changed as he looked at Meng Lei, who was standing 100 meters away.
He’s… actually managed to duck!
He clearly couldn’t just now, yet he has managed to now!
“Your attacks are extremely sharp. In particular, your speed is the fastest among all the opponents I’ve faced.”
As Meng Lei floated in mid-air and took in the endless strength pumping through his body, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
“It’s just a pity that I’m even faster!”
Whoosh!
His voice was still reverberating in the air when a series of afterimages flitted by. By then, Meng Lei was already behind Mond Aston.
With a bend of his elbow, his hand balled into a fist and went flying out.
His series of actions reached the absolute pinnacle of speed. It was so fast that his fist struck Mond Aston before he could even react.
Boom!
It held great impact and a heavy force that broke through everything.
“Ugh!”
Blood sprayed from Mond Aston, and he doubled over at once, the impact almost causing him to throw up the beef brains that he had eaten earlier.
A single punch alone had heavily injured him!
“Why has your strength suddenly spiked so much?”
Stunned by the change, Mond Aston was shocked and horrified.
“This…”
“How did that happen?”
The audience at the Dragon God Cathedral was close to breaking down. Was that a battle or a goddamn roller coaster ride? Could they finish it in one go instead of having so many twists and turns?
Their hearts couldn’t take it!
…
Up against Meng Lei, whose physical strength and speed had undergone a dramatic spike, Mond Aston’s outcome had long since been destined—in other words, to be beaten up!
Whoosh!
As though a ghost, Meng Lei appeared at one place one moment and another place the next. He was like an afterimage constantly striking at Mond Aston.
A punch, two kicks, three elbow jabs…
A series of attack combinations later, Mond Aston was reduced to a punching bag and pummeled by Meng Lei once more.
And this time round, it was different from the previous time. Not only was he unable to make a comeback, but he instead started to suffer injuries—and serious ones—the kind getting more and more serious, too—at that!
As they watched Mond Aston, who was heavily injured and throwing up blood, the audience’s wishes at the cathedral finally came true.
The battle didn’t undergo any more twists and turns.
But… They simply couldn’t rejoice at all.
“He’s lost!”
“Mond Aston has actually lost!”
“Oh my dragon god! Is that guy the devil? He’s only 16 years old, yet even Mond Aston is no match for him?”
“Isn’t Mond Aston a double bloodline-holder? His transformation just now was only for one of his bloodlines, right? He still has another bloodline that he hasn’t used. Why isn’t he using it?”
At the spectators’ words, President Luke instead gave a wry chuckle. Mond Aston indeed held two different bloodlines, and the other one—the White Tiger bloodline—was, in fact, even stronger than the Netherworld White Tiger bloodline.
However, how would the heavily injured Mond Aston possibly be Meng Lei’s match, even if he activated his White Tiger bloodline?
“The outcome is clear!”
Frederick the 32nd sighed a little emotionally and said, “Mond Aston has lost the battle!”
“How brilliant, Your Majesty!”
President Fred bowed slightly.
“President Fred, your academy’s Meng Lei is indeed extremely outstanding!” Frederick the 32nd marveled, and then, he asked in puzzlement, “But there’s something I find rather odd—why did his speed suddenly spike just now?”
“That… I wouldn’t know!” Fred shook his head lightly. “Perhaps he was hiding his strength. There’s also a chance that he had derived a greater degree of comprehension of some kind of laws of nature at the critical moment.”
“Is that so?”
Frederick the 32nd’s brows drew together lightly, clearly not quite satisfied with such an explanation. Regardless, he didn’t press any further but continued to watch the magic screen instead.
And like what he had said, the outcome was clear.
A few rounds later, the heavily injured Mond Aston wasn’t able to make any sort of effective attack at all, and at last, he collapsed from his wounds.
“I’ve finally settled the case.” Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief.
That fellow was indeed a difficult one to deal with. If he hadn’t spent 10 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals to raise his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate, he might just really have flopped unexpectedly and gotten pummeled by him.
“The Dragon God Empire has many talents in hiding, indeed.” Meng Lei was rather emotional as he muttered to himself, “I’m already cheating so much, yet there are still people who could beat me into the ground. Just how rich is the Dragon God Empire’s heritage?”
The exchange competition’s contestants were no older than 30 years old.
To Saint Domain experts with long lifespans, 30 years old was no more than just a fraction of their lifespans.
Just how strong would those old freaks more than 30 years old be when Mond Aston was already that monstrous before he had even reached 30 years of age?
I’m still too weak. I have to redeem more credit and work even harder.
Meng Lei swiped all the spatial rings on Mond Aston, and then he handed them to his loyal subordinate.
“Sacas, throw him away!”
“Yes, Boss!”
…
Meng Lei switched on his slacker mode again.
Swimming, fishing, sunbathing, eating seafood, occasionally robbing unlucky souls that he had baited… His days were carefree and leisurely.
His only regret was that aside from the magic cores that were slowly increasing in number day by day, there was pretty much no change in his Wealth. Meng Lei couldn’t help but reminisce about the days he had spent hunting Magical Beasts in the Dragon God Tower.
“Compared to the Lost Continent, the Dragon God Tower is more suited to me. This goddamn exchange competition should just hurry up and end!”
Day after day went by. The number of fish biting the hook also became fewer and fewer. By this day, despite Sacas giving off his aura all the way from the morning to the evening, it didn’t lure even a single person over.
“Three days. It’ll be a month in another three days. I’ll be able to leave this place at that time!”
Meng Lei thought idly to himself as he laid on the rocking chair and bathed in the gentle sunlight while gazing at the rolling waves rising and falling.
Suddenly, an aged voice rang out by his ear. Like a trickling stream, it flowed straight into the depths of his soul.
In that instant, Meng Lei felt his mind suddenly calming down and becoming tranquil.
“My children that believe in me devoutly, I am the spirit of the divine tree, the creator and guardian of this continent…
“This year’s ripened fruits have already been sent to various corners of the continent. I hope the lucky children can find them!
“Godspeed!”
“What?!”
Meng Lei jumped to his feet!
“Did you hear that, Sacas?”
To his surprise, he didn’t get any response.
Meng Lei turned to see Sacas kneeling on the ground and staring into the distance with an excited look on his face and fervent worship in his eyes.
“The divine tree! It’s the divine tree’s voice! O great divine tree, I am your child, Sacas! I sincerely offer up my faith and pray for you from the bottom of my heart…”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless and completely silent. Nevertheless, he contacted Ol’ President at once. “Ol’ President, did you hear that voice just now? The divine tree! It’s that divine tree’s voice!”
“I heard it.” Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out as he replied, “Not only did I hear it, but I’ve almost locked on to its location, too.”
“What? You’ve locked on to the divine tree’s location?” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei as he asked, “Where is it, Ol’ President?”
Ol’ Amos was silent for a brief moment before he replied in a low voice, “It’s not too far from us, 100 kilometers away at the furthest.”
“We’re so near to it?”
Meng Lei shuddered and hastily glanced about.
“Don’t bother. You won’t be able to find it.” Ol’ Amos lowered his voice and said, “Meng Lei, I have a very uneasy feeling about this.”
“Uneasy feeling?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
“Do you remember what the Uni-Horned Rose Python said?” Ol’ Amos asked in a grave tone of voice, “About the divine tree fruits.”
“Yes. The Uni-Horned Rose Python once said that the divine tree bears fruits once every 100 years and that there are nine fruits each round. When the fruits ripen, the divine tree will send the nine fruits to random locations in the continent for the lucky ones to consume.”
With a nod, Meng Lei went on and said, “I also remember that the last time the fruits had ripened was 25 years ago. There’s a whole 75-years-long difference from the 100-year ripening period that the Uni-Horned Rose Python mentioned. Ol’ President, why has the divine tree fruits suddenly ripened 75 years in advance? That doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s exactly what’s making me uneasy.” Ol’ Amos’ voice was grave as he said, “Before we came to the Lost Continent, the fruits have always taken 100 years to ripen. Yet the moment we came, the duration was suddenly brought forward. I suspect that the divine tree is doing this deliberately. It may be scheming something. In any case, this whole thing smells fishy!”
“What might it be scheming?” Meng Lei was greatly puzzled. “According to what you’ve said, the divine tree is highly likely a half-deity. Considering its venerable half-deity status, it could very well just kill us all. Is there the need to play schemes and games with us?”
“That’s exactly what puzzles me.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly as he said, “Also, all of you have been wantonly hunting and killing Magical Beasts in the Lost Continent. It has almost reached the point of full annihilation, yet the divine tree has actually been indifferent to it.
“It’s only when they’ve been annihilated that it finally made a move.
“This is strange! Too strange!”
Meng Lei asked, “What do you think we should do, Ol’ President?”
“I’d suggest that we make a retreat.” Ol’ Amos said in a low voice, “Didn’t you frequently say that a gentleman doesn’t put himself in harm’s way? Considering how the divine tree is acting so abnormally, leaving now is the smartest choice of action!”
“Leaving?” Meng Lei hesitated. “The exchange competition hasn’t ended yet. If I leave now, won’t I be eliminated in advance?”
“You’re being muddleheaded!”
Ol’ Amos berated him, “What’s the big deal about the exchange competition? Staying alive should be your number one priority instead! I believe that with your talent, you’ll eventually surpass me one day to reach unimaginable heights.
“By then, what is there that you wouldn’t be able to get?
“Territory, money, power, status, women… You can have as much as you want. Is there a need to be hung up over a championship title?
“Listen to me, retreat first!
“No matter what, you must retreat to where the teleportation magic circle is first so that you can retreat safely immediately if an accident happens.”
“I’ll do that, Ol’ President.”
Convinced, Meng Lei sent a flying kick to Sacas’ butt and said, “Get up, we’re leaving!”
Whoosh!
At that moment, a few golden streams of light suddenly shot toward them and reached right in front of Meng Lei in just a few breaths.
One, two, three…
They were actually five golden fruits!
" }, { "id": 184, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-184", "title": "Chapter 184", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 184: Hand Over The Fruits, It’s Her!
Boom!
A 100-feet-wide waterfall cascaded forcefully from the 1,000-feet-tall cliff, smashing out a gigantic pool at the bottom. The waters in the pool churned as thunderous booms rang out.
Beside the pool was a small unit currently roasting Magical Beast meat at a campfire. The golden-yellow roast was showing signs of charring, yet it was as if the few people in the unit hadn’t realized at all.
Their eyes were fixed on a golden fruit a short distance away from them. There was surprise, agitation, curiosity, perplexity, wariness… and greed in them!
“Did you guys hear that?”
“Yeah!”
“I heard it!”
“Is the master of that voice just now the Tree of Life that the Giant Crocodile mentioned?”
“There shouldn’t be any mistake about it. Didn’t it mention that the tree is the creator and guardian of this continent? So it’s likely no doubt the Tree of Life!”
“In other words, that golden fruit in front of us now is the Tree of Life fruit that the Giant Crocodile mentioned?”
“A miraculous fruit that can let low-grade Magical Beasts become a Saint Domain Magical Beast in a short amount of time?”
“Most likely!”
“Probably!”
“I think there’s no mistake about that!”
“Magical Beasts may be able to eat it, but can we eat them, too?”
The members of the unit sank into silence at once. All of their eyes were flashing, their thoughts unknown.
“My brothers, that fruit is of unknown origins. We mustn’t allow it to bewitch and deceive us. In the event that it’s poison itself or some kind of highly poisonous items, wouldn’t we be in for it?”
A short and shrewd-looking man said gravely, “Before we ascertain the authenticity of that fruit, we should distance ourselves from it as much as possible, lest we invite great calamity.”
“That makes sense.”
“I don’t dare to eat something of unknown origins like that.”
“Everything on this continent feels strange, and that fruit’s sudden appearance is even more so. We’d better not touch it.”
“Let’s just keep it for now.”
“We’ll talk about it again when we’re sure of its origins.”
The members quickly reached an agreement. Then, all of them turned around and walked over to the campfire, paying no heed to the golden fruit anymore.
Whoosh!
Just as the few of them reached the campfire and sat down, ready to eat, the form of the short man who had spoken earlier suddenly flashed and darted swiftly over to the golden fruit.
“My brothers, this fruit is of unknown origins, and we don’t know whether it’s poison or a fruit. I’ll sacrifice myself and try it out!”
As the short man spoke, he also grabbed the golden fruit and stuffed it into his mouth. At that moment, a large hand appeared out of nowhere and closed around his throat, pulling him up from the ground.
The short man snapped furiously. “What are you doing, Ned?”
“Myers, are you thinking of monopolizing the fruit?”
The muscular man named Ned snorted and gouged the fruit out of the short man’s mouth. Then, he wiped it casually on his clothes and said, “Even if we must test it, I should be the one to do it. You’re no way even near in line for it.”
Then, he also raised the fruit and sent it toward his mouth.
Whiz, whiz!
Several swords flashed as they cleaved toward Ned, almost all at the same time.
“Damn!”
Having seen it coming, Ned hastily dodged the swords cleaving toward him and snapped furiously. “What are all of you doing, Frank?!”
“Put down the fruit, Ned!”
The other members said with cold looks on their faces, “All of us discovered that fruit. How it should be handled should be discussed and decided by all of us. No-one is allowed to monopolize it!”
“Put down the fruit, Ned. Don’t let it affect our relationship!”
“We’ve known each other for so many years, Ned. Is such a fruit of unknown origins worth breaking our friendship over?”
“Exactly…”
“You’re right. I was wrong!”
Ned, who seemed convinced, said, “I’m sorry, my brothers. My anger at Myers just now has made me muddleheaded, so I acted rather rash. I hope you won’t hold it against me.”
As he spoke, he bent over to place the fruit on the ground. However, in the instant he made contact with the ground, he grabbed a handful of sand and tossed it toward his companions.
Then, with a leap, he dived into the bushes at the side and disappeared from sight. “Making me hand over the fruit? Dream on! My hope for stepping into Saint Domain territory lies in this!”
“You bastard!”
“Ned, you bastard!”
“Go after him! Hurry!”
…
Similar situations constantly played out in various corners of the continent. In fact, there was no lack of situations even more bitter and desperate than that.
The target that the contestants were vying for had changed. It was no longer limited to just spatial rings and magic cores; what was more important were the golden fruits.
The golden fruits were as though Tripitaka’s[1] flesh. They held an endless allure that drove all the contestants crazy.
Brothers killed each other, friends fell out, and lovers went at each other’s throats.
All of these were directly displayed on the magic screen, causing all the spectators who saw what was happening to be dumbfounded.
“What exactly is going on?”
“Have all of them gone mad?”
“Why are they backstabbing their own companions?”
“Just what exactly are those golden fruits?”
The audience speculated wildly among themselves.
The teachers-in-charge and Saint Domain experts all looked toward the emperor. He was the one that understood the Lost Continent the best. Hence, he should also understand the golden fruits the best!
Little did they expect that Frederick the 32nd was actually also frowning and sporting a perplexed look on his countenance.
“I’ve sent men to investigate the Lost Continent before, but I’ve never expected it to have something like those golden fruits.” Frederick the 32nd sighed and said, “Thus, I was also completely unaware of those golden fruits’ existence.”
“This…”
“Even His Majesty is unaware of it?”
The teachers-in-charge looked at one another.
“Your Majesty, the contestants have gone rather out of control. They aren’t just vying for magic cores now, but more so the golden fruits. I fear we can’t let this go on!”
President Luke said, “Even though it’s unclear what those golden fruits are, the lethal attraction they pose to the contestants is enough to show that they are no ordinary objects. Allowing the contestants to vie for them at will will likely lead to trouble!”
“President Luke is right!”
The Royal Knights Academy president also spoke up. “Moreover, the fruits’ appearance was too out of the blue. Instead of showing up earlier or later, they had to pick this exact moment to show up instead. It’s too fishy!”
“What exactly those fruits are, where they came from, what they’re used for, why they’ve appeared, and the purpose for their appearance… We don’t know any of these.”
Another academy president chimed in and said, “This matter is too fishy. We must treat this with the utmost care, lest it leads to unnecessary trouble and a great disaster.”
“My beloved subjects, all of you are right.” Frederick the 32nd nodded slightly and ordered, “Inform the Royal Knight Order to keep a close watch on everything happening in the Lost Continent. Once any abnormalities are discovered, be sure to guarantee the contestants’ safety!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Just what are those golden fruits?”
There was a deep, dark look in Frederick the 32nd’s eyes. “To think they’ve actually caused a group of young fellows as strong as ninth-grade pinnacle-level and bordering on Saint Domain realm to have no hesitation in tearing at one another’s throats and family to harm one another?”
…
“Madness! They’ve all gone mad!”
Perched on Sacas’ shoulder, Meng Lei felt a rather big headache coming on as he overlooked everything happening on the continent.
The entire continent had totally gone off the rails.
No!
To be more accurate, the contestants had totally gone off the rails. The golden fruits were just like Tripitaka flesh that was causing them to see red as they vied for them.
The key was that Meng Lei had even discovered an astonishing matter—there were far more than just nine golden fruits!
There were already five in his possession ,and the number of fruits that the other contestants were fighting one another for was far more than just four. How could there possibly be just nine of them in total?
“This is feeling more and more like a scheme!” Ol’ Amos said gravely, “Tossing out so many fruits all of a sudden and causing all the contestants to go off the rails… This is obviously something planned in advance.”
“Who cares? I’m leaving soon anyway.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “When I get back to the teleportation magic circle, I’ll watch what happens. If there’s any danger, I’ll escape immediately.”
“A gentleman doesn’t put himself in harm’s way.” Ol’ Amos chuckled as he said, “A future exists only for those who are alive. You’re right to do that.”
Boom, boom, boom!
At that moment, booming sounds of intense battle suddenly came from the forest below them. The grounds shook, and the mountains swayed as trees were broken in halves.
Meng Lei looked over to see two groups of people fighting it out again. One side had seven to eight people, while there was only one person on the other side. The fight was so intense that the two parties were nigh inseparable.
“They’ve all gone mad!!”
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered with them. He had seen too many of such situations along the way and gotten used to it by now. The sight was no longer surprising to him anymore.
Roar!
A loud, clear, and sonorous dragon roar suddenly traveled over to them. Then, a dazzling, eye-catching golden light burst forth from within the forest as dragon might surged!
“A Golden Colossal Dragon!”
“Damn! That fellow’s a Golden Colossal Dragon! Could she be Prince Barbarossa!?”
“No! She isn’t! She’s clearly a woman! Prince Barbarossa is a man, and I’ve seen him before. He doesn’t look like that!”
“Then, who is she? Does His Majesty have other pure-blooded children?”
“Who she is isn’t important. What’s important is that she has a golden fruit on her, and we must snatch it from her! That’s our guarantee for promoting to Saint Domain!”
“But she’s royalty…”
“So what if she’s royalty? Everyone competes on equal grounds during the exchange competition. As long as we don’t threaten her life, His Majesty, the Emperor won’t say anything!”
‘You’re right!”
“That makes sense!”
“We must get the golden fruit! I saw with my own eyes that Saquila broke through to Saint Domain after she ate one!”
“Mine! The golden fruit is mine!”
“Attack, everyone!”
“Kill!”
Roar!
“Another Golden Colossal Dragon?”
Meng Lei stopped Sacas and remarked, “Did you see that, Ol’ President? It’s another pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon.”
“Every emperor typically only has one pure-blooded Colossal Dragon offspring. It’s exceedingly rare for them to have two. Why is there another one here?”
Ol’ Amos, who was looking at the Golden Colossal Dragon in the bushes, suddenly chuckled and replied, “Evidently, it’s not pure-blooded.”
“It’s not?” Taken aback, Meng Lei said, “Apart from being a little smaller, everything else about it is exactly the same as that Prince Barbarossa whom I beat into a bruised and battered state.”
“Its size is the best form of evidence. A Saint Domain Golden Colossal Dragon reaches 100 meters long, but that Golden Colossal Dragon isn’t even 50 meters long. Yet its aura rivals that of a Saint Domain Magical Beast.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and said with a laugh, “That’s enough to show that it isn’t a pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon. Rather, it’s the dragon transformation of a Saint Domain Golden Colossal Dragon Person that has refined and increased the purity of its bloodline.”
“I see.” Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.
“But for it to develop its Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline to such a degree before it’s 30 years old, that little fellow is certainly very impressive,” Ol’ Amos marveled.
“Yeah!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he remarked in puzzlement again, “But for some reason, I can’t help but feel that that Golden Colossal Dragon’s aura feels rather familiar.”
“Familiar?”
Taken aback, Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but take a close look at the Golden Colossal Dragon. Then, his eyes suddenly widened as he exclaimed, “What the heck! It’s her!”
[1] A monk from one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, Journey to The West. His flesh is said to bestow immortality to those that eat it
" }, { "id": 185, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-185", "title": "Chapter 185", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 185: Asabelle, Colossal Dragon Transformation
Roar!
Besieged by the six people, the 50-meters-long Golden Colossal Dragon roared furiously again and again. It either bit with its razor-sharp teeth, sprayed dragon breath or smacked with its claws. Its dragon might was vast, majestic, and extremely domineering.
It was just a shame that the six assailants were similarly no simpletons. Not only were they terrifyingly strong, but they also moved with great rapport and coordination and were simply suppressing the Golden Colossal Dragon.
“Your Highness, hand over the golden fruit.”
“As long as you hand over the fruit, we won’t make things difficult for you.”
“Your Highness, you’re already a Saint Domain expert. The fruit is useless to you. As long as you hand over the golden fruit, we’ll immediately…”
The six people’s minds were moving as they besieged the Golden Colossal Dragon. To be honest, they were under great pressure—after all, the Golden Colossal Dragon in front of them was a princess of the empire.
Had this not been the exchange competition, and had the golden fruits not been that important, they would never have dared to besiege a princess of the empire, no matter how bold they were.
Roar!
The Golden Colossal Dragon roared furiously into the sky, not giving any sort of response at all. It sprayed golden dragon breath from its mouth and attacked the six assailants madly.
At the sight of that, the six assailants’ countenances gradually turned cold.
“Your Highness, since you refuse to cooperate with us, then don’t blame us for not being civil with you!”
“Attack!”
“Bring her under control first!”
“The fruit is ours!”
“Kill!”
The six assailants didn’t hold back anymore. They unleashed their strongest attacks one by one, their offensive power reaching several times of what it had previously been.
With that, the Golden Colossal Dragon finally couldn’t quite parry their moves anymore, sinking into straitened circumstances and perilous ground…
At last, it was firmly shackled on the spot by countless green vines and rendered immobile.
“Your Highness, sorry about this.”
“Molly, take her spatial ring.”
“Okay!”
A female assailant quickly bent over and began to search the Golden Colossal Dragon. In no time, she found two spatial rings.
“Retreat!”
Their countenances overjoyed, they got ready to withdraw.
“Leaving right after beating someone up? Is there anything that value-for-money in this world?”
At this point, an aloof voice rang out. The six assailants’ countenances changed, and they got into a defensive stance at once.
A big, muscular Black Dragon Person holding a broadsword among them barked fiercely, “What’s so impressive about playing hide and seek? Get the hell out here if you have the guts!”
“You sure are boastful despite not being very strong.”
A teenager descended from the sky and landed lightly on his feet like a falling leaf as he watched the six of them with a calm and peaceful expression on his face.
“Who are you?”
The six assailants were a little stunned, seemingly not having expected the intruder to actually be that young. Nevertheless, they didn’t carelessly let down their guard.
After so many days of the exchange competition, how could those that had managed to survive to this day possibly be people easy to get along with? The weak ones had long since been eliminated.
It’s him!
At the same time, a huge jolt went through the Golden Colossal Dragon trapped on the ground by vines as it watched the teenager with a look of disbelief on its face.
“Who I am isn’t important.”
The teenager was indeed Meng Lei. He said calmly, “What’s important is that all of you should know what I’m about to do. So, you don’t need me to explain what you should do now, right?”
“Thinking of snatching our magic cores?”
“That’ll depend on whether or not you have the ability to do so!”
The six of them sneered, and then their auras burst forth from them as they got ready to attack. They had as many as six people in their team; they didn’t fear Meng Lei at all.
“You overestimate yourselves.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he grabbed the air lightly, upon which six leaves appeared in his palm. With the leaves in his grasp, he flicked his wrist lightly and ordered, “Go!”
The feather-light leaves became incredibly sharp and sliced through the air, emitting shrill whizzes and shooting straight toward the six assailants.
“Trying to defeat us with just a few leaves?”
“You’re going too far!”
The six assailants, who felt humiliated by Meng Lei, flew into a rage. Considering their strength, did he actually think that he could defeat them with just a few flying flowers and leaves?
He was totally insulting them!
However, the leaves’ speed surpassed their imagination. Before they could even respond, they had already slashed across their throats.
Waves of pain came over them.
The six assailants reached out and touched their necks, upon which blood stained their hands.
“This…”
Horrified and alarmed, the six of them stared at Meng Lei in shock and horror, only to realize that he had already vanished, his whereabouts unknown.
Right on the heels of it, a dull thud rang out.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei floated back to where he was. By then, all six assailants had already collapsed onto the ground, either clutching their abdomens, arms, or heads…
They moaned in pain and groaned in agony, their previous momentum nowhere in sight anymore.
“A bunch of trash…”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he paid no more attention to the six pathetic fellows, turned to the Golden Colossal Dragon, and walked over.
Although the Golden Colossal Dragon was a size smaller than Prince Barbarossa, it was still enormous, nevertheless. Standing in front of it, Meng Lei was no different from a dwarf!
“This aura… There’s no mistaking it!”
Meng Lei gazed at the Golden Colossal Dragon, and then a smile formed on his countenance. “I don’t know what you’ve been through that suddenly made you a Saint Domain expert, but my instincts shouldn’t be wrong. It’s been a while, Abbe!”
As he spoke, several wind blades shot out of him and severed the infinite number of green vines trapping the Golden Colossal Dragon.
A huge jolt went through the Golden Colossal Dragon, and a complex look flashed across its eyes. Then, its body shrank rapidly, and in no time, it resumed its human form.
Meng Lei was stunned at once.
A tall, slender figure and crystal-clear skin!
Beautiful, exquisite features and eyes that were bright like the stars!
Splendid, elegant dragon horns and a refreshing body fragrance!
A face so beautiful that it could take one’s breath away!
She was a beauty that could make one lose control!
Despite having seen an infinite number of natural beauties, Photoshopped beauties, as well as beauties shaped by cosmetic surgery in his past life, he daresay that not a single one could rival the woman currently standing in front of him.
She was just like a noble fairy that had walked straight out of a fairytale—pure, flawless, elegant, and… beautiful.
There was only one word to describe her—gorgeous!
“You… You’re not Abbe?”
Meng Lei swallowed hard. Abbe was a man, y’know!
“My name is Asabelle.”
The beauty’s lips moved as she replied, her voice holding a slight chill to it.
“Isn’t that Abbe’s voice?” Meng Lei was stupefied. “Who exactly are you?”
“I’m Abbe!”
Abbe sighed and said, “It’s been a while, Meng Lei.”
“Are you really Abbe? But isn’t Abbe male?” Meng Lei was even more dumbfounded. “Also, your looks aren’t right, either!”
“You’re really…”
Abbe was rendered speechless. Then, she took out a necklace embedded with an emerald, and a miraculous scene happened the next moment—a thin layer of mist appeared on the surface of her skin, and her originally beautiful face turned into an ordinary-looking one.
It was a face that Meng Lei couldn’t be any more familiar with—it was Abbe’s face!
“You really are Abbe…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “Weren’t you a guy previously? Why have you suddenly turned into a woman? Which exactly is the real you?”
“I’m female!” Abbe explained softly, “Previously when I was studying in Fire Dragon Magic Academy, I had disguised myself as a man in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.”
“Alright! No wonder you were so cold to me. So you’re a girl!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he asked, “Since you’re a Golden Colossal Dragon Person and on top of that, your Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline development has even reached such a stage, you must be a princess of the empire?”
Abbe stayed quiet for a brief moment before she nodded and replied, “I’m 1,001st in the family and am Father’s 1,001st child.”
“T-the 1,001st… 1,001st Princess?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “His Majesty sure is fertile! To think he has actually given you so many brothers and sisters!”
“Brothers and sisters?”
Abbe gave a self-mocking smile and said no more.
“But you sure know how to act! We’ve been housemates—with one living upstairs and one downstairs—for half a year. Even though we didn’t speak to each other much, I really couldn’t tell that you’re a girl, let alone a princess.”
Meng Lei remarked wistfully, “If I’d known you’re a princess, maybe I’d have curried favor with you properly? Who knows?”
“Curry favor with me? Do you think I’d have believed you?” Abbe rolled her eyes. “All you care about is your cultivation. Even if you had known that I was a princess, you probably wouldn’t have given me the time of day anyway…”
“Hahaha, look at what you’re saying…”
Meng Lei gave a patronizing laugh and changed the subject. “By the way, if memory serves me right, you were just a Seventh-Grade Warrior a few months ago, weren’t you? Why are you…”
About two to three months ago, Abbe had barely been a Seventh-Grade Warrior after she had transformed into a Golden Colossal Dragon Person. She had even been beaten up badly by a few Demigiants. If it hadn’t been for him, she would have croaked a long time ago!
And yet, she was currently emanating a Saint Domain aura after transforming into a Golden Colossal Dragon.
Seventh-Grade!
Saint Domain!
The change between then and now was simply too great. It was practically even more monstrous than Meng Lei’s cheating.
“I went to the Dragon Transformation Pool.”
Abbe only touched briefly on the subject. After saying the three words “Dragon Transformation Pool”, she didn’t say any more, clearly not intending to offer any further explanation.
Meng Lei could only ask Ol’ Amos, “What’s the Dragon Transformation Pool, Ol’ President?”
“The Dragon Transformation Pool is one of the Dragons’ important places.” Ol’ Amos explained, “Contained within it is the pure blood essence of ancient Dragons. If Drakes could go inside and cultivate there, they’d be able to greatly refine the Dragon bloodline in their bodies and transform into Dragons. It’s just that…”
“What is it?” Meng Lei hurriedly asked.
“In typical situations, only Drakes that have reached Saint Domain level are qualified to enter the Dragon Transformation Pool. It’s very hard for those beneath Saint Domain level to enter, even if they’re the emperor’s sons or daughters.”
Ol’ Amos was rather puzzled. “This isn’t because the Dragons are misers. Rather, it’s because it’s extremely dangerous inside the Dragon Transformation Pool, so Drakes weaker than Saint Domain level aren’t able to handle the ancient Dragons’ blood essence’s forcefulness at all. I really wonder how that little girl managed to endure it.”
Stunned, Meng Lei couldn’t help but give Abbe a deep, profound look.
“What’s wrong?”
Abbe was confused.
“Looks like you’ve gone through a lot during these two months. But it’s alright. You’ve come through in the end.” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “Never mind, let’s not talk about that anymore. Where are you intending to go after this? Why don’t you retreat together with me?”
“No! I want to continue looking for and collecting the divine tree’s fruits. If it’s possible, I even want to look for that Tree of Life and kill it so that I can take all the fruits it has!”
A glint shone in Abbe’s eyes as she spoke.
“You’re already a Saint Domain. Why are you so hung up over collecting the divine tree’s fruits?” asked Meng Lei, who had gotten a shock from her words.
“Because the golden fruits hold great use to me!”
Abbe said in a low voice, “Prior to coming to this continent, I was only at the pinnacle of ninth-grade, much less able to transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon.
“But after I accidentally ate a divine tree fruit, not only did I successfully break through to Saint Domain level, but the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline inside me was also greatly refined.
“I realized that the golden fruits held great use for me right away. As long as I can consume more of them, I might just be able to become a real pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon!”
“The golden fruits can do that, too?” Greatly astounded, Meng Lei asked, “You’re clearly already able to transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon, though. Why do you still want to refine your bloodline?”
“I’m still a far way off from becoming a real Golden Colossal Dragon!” Abbe shook her head as she said, “I need even more golden fruits. I want to do everything I can to refine the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline in me.”
“The transformation into a Colossal Dragon and being a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon are two different concepts.” Ol’ Amos explained, “Under typical circumstances, as long as a Dragon Person’s Colossal Dragon bloodline assimilation rate reaches 70%, they’ll be able to transform into a Colossal Dragon. However, they’re evidently still not 100% pure-blooded Colossal Dragons.”
" }, { "id": 186, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-186", "title": "Chapter 186", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 186: The Divine Tree Makes An Appearance, Sealing A Half-Deity
Transforming into a Colossal Dragon and being a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon—these were two entirely different concepts.
“In other words, as long as you consume more divine tree fruits, you can constantly refine the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline in your body and allow you to get nearer and nearer to becoming a pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon?”
“That’s right!”
“This thing can even refine one’s bloodline?”
With a flip of his hand, a brilliant golden divine tree fruit appeared in Meng Lei’s palm. As though a golden apple made out of pure gold, the apple-sized golden fruit dazzled with golden light in the sunlight.
I wonder if this thing can refine the Gods-Slaying Rat and Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodlines in my body?
Meng Lei held doubts about that. Just because the divine tree could refine the Colossal Dragon bloodline didn’t mean that it could also refine other types of bloodlines.
After all, he had as many as five different bloodlines in him.
Meng Lei sought Ol’ Amos’ opinion and asked, “Ol’ President, what will happen if I eat the divine tree fruit?”
“Don’t eat it yet.” Ol’ Amos shook his head as he said, “Although the divine tree fruit seems very miraculous before we figure things out, I wouldn’t suggest that you eat it. Keep them with you for now. We can talk about it again when we’ve figured everything out. What’s the difference between eating them now and later, anyway? There’s no hurry.”
“That makes sense.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Compared to risky things like that, he much preferred using the system’s credit redemption to boost his strength.
“The divine tree fruit!” Abbe stared hard at the fruit, a look of longing flashing in her eyes. “You managed to get them, too.”
“Yeah, I lucked out.”
Meng Lei smiled at her. It was at this moment that the sound of something whizzing through the air abruptly rang out. Then, dozens of wind blades shot toward them.
At the same time, other attacks also blasted toward them from all directions.
A 100-meters-long gigantic dragon of flames on the left!
Up to 100 basketball-sized rock bullets on the right!
Dozens of ten-foot-long water spears to their front!
And a muscular man with a huge axe in his hand behind them!
“Oh no! Someone’s ambushing us!”
The expression on Abbe’s pretty face changed a little. She wanted to transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon to engage in battle right away, but Meng Lei only waved her off as he said, “Relax, it’s just a bunch of ragtags. They pose no threat.”
Then, he tossed out a first-class spell—Absolute Zero!
Buzz!
A white icy air current manifested and, with Meng Lei and Abbe in the center, spread outward in all directions.
In a mere instant, it had enveloped the whole area within 10,000 meters of where they were.
The gigantic dragon of flames froze.
The hundred rock bullets froze.
The dozens of water spears froze.
And the ax-wielding muscular man also froze.
The trees and weeds around them were also frozen. The six fellows that had besieged Abbe earlier were no exception, either—they had also been frozen into popsicles.
As far as the eye could see, everything was covered in white.
The whole area around them had turned into a world of ice.
“Absolute Zero! And instant release at that!” Abbe took a breath and lamented, “Not only has the gap between the two of us not shrunk, but it’s instead becoming bigger and bigger.”
“It’s not that huge. Haven’t you been promoted to Saint Domain level, too?”
With a light snap of Meng Lei’s fingers, all the ice sculptures within 10,000 meters of where they were broke into pieces, turning into ice chips that scattered all over the ground.
Only the six assailants and the few people that had launched the sneak attack just now remained where they were. It was obvious at one glance that a total of five people—including the ax-wielding muscular man—had attacked them.
It was just that the five of them were currently ice sculptures, with every one of them frozen in a peculiar pose.
They either had a shocked look on their faces, were in the midst of chanting a spell incantation, or sported looks of excitement in their eyes… All of their facial expressions varied, and their manners of bearing also different from one another’s.
“You can only count yourselves unlucky for choosing to ambush me.”
What happened next was evident—body searching, looking for spatial rings, and taking them for himself.
“Tsk, these five must be pretty strong. They’ve actually gotten so many magic cores. Not bad, they even have a golden fruit, too.”
Meng Lei was grinning so widely that his face was all wrinkled. Disregarding the golden fruit, for now, just the magic cores in their spatial rings alone already made up an astonishingly high number. All of these were money to him.
“I really don’t know how you managed to cultivate to such a level!” Abbe’s eyes were filled with envy. “We haven’t seen each other for only two months, yet you’re already so strong. The next time we meet, would you have already broken through to become a half-deity?”
“A half-deity? That’s too far a notion.” As Meng Lei kept the fruit and the spatial rings, he said, “I’m about to leave this place. Why don’t you leave with me, too? This continent is currently fraught with great danger. It’s not safe here.”
“No, I want to continue looking for the divine tree fruits and the Tree of Life,” Abbe rejected his offer and said, “The fruits can refine my bloodline. I will never give up, no matter what!”
“That mentality of yours is too dangerous.” Meng Lei frowned as he said, “I suspect that the Tree of Life is a half-deity that’s currently plotting some kind of conspiracy. If you go looking for it, how is that any different from sending yourself straight to death’s door? Let’s just leave!”
“A half-deity?”
A huge jolt went through Abbe.
“All the living things on the entire Lost Continent worship the Tree of Life. It’s highly likely that it’s a half-deity!” Meng Lei shook his head lightly as he said, “Staying in a half-deity’s territory is simply too dangerous. Also, even if you do get more of the divine tree fruits, don’t eat them anymore. Those things aren’t safe.”
A look of indignant reluctance came over Abbe’s features at once. A brief moment later, she surprisingly shook her head and said, “Thank you, Meng Lei, but I’m not leaving!”
Then, she rose into the sky and flew away.
“…”
Meng Lei opened his mouth but ultimately chose not to call out to her. Abbe was a stubborn one; Meng Lei had already had a taste of that a long time ago.
“Never mind, do what you want, then.” Meng Lei shook his head as he remarked, “I’ve already said what I should. It’s up to her whether or not she wants to heed the warning.”
Then, he also left the area.
“Why aren’t you going after her, kid?
“Not only is she gorgeous, but she’s even a princess of the empire. There are so many out there who wish to be her knight in shining armor yet couldn’t. To think you’ve actually given up such a prime opportunity!
“I’m really suspecting more and more that your carnal desires are undeveloped…”
“No-one’s going to mistake you for a mute if you speak a little less, Ol’ President.”
“Let’s go, Sacas!”
After Meng Lei left, Abbe walked out from behind a tree. As she stared at the departing Meng Lei, she murmured softly, “I wish I could leave with you, Meng Lei, but I can’t…”
A day later, Meng Lei finally returned to the seashore where they had been when they had first arrived on the continent.
“Let’s wait here! I’ll be able to leave in another couple of days.”
After finding himself a remote beach, he then took out a large ten-meters-wide golden pot, ready for another hotpot feast.
“Are we having seafood hotpot again, Boss?”
At the sight of that, Sacas obediently went to catch seafood again.
An hour later…
A bonfire blazed into the sky as soup bubbled and boiled in the pot. An aroma rushed toward them as a human, and a beast sat around the hotpot and feasted.
“I want abalone, Boss!
“Give me that geoduck, Boss!
“I want more, Boss! I want some more…”
Time went by very quickly, and a day passed. There was currently only a day left to the end of the exchange competition’s month-long duration.
Meng Lei laid on the soft beach and bathed in the warm, mild sun as he waited for the exchange competition to end.
Boom!
A tremor suddenly went through the ground!
Boom!
Another tremor!
Boom!
Right on the heels of it, the ground began to shake and tremble rhythmically. It felt like 10,000 horses galloping across the fields, yet also like tanks crushing the ground. The entire continent was booming and shaking.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei quickly soared into the sky and looked around, upon which he was immediately stunned into a daze.
In the continent’s center, a far distance off, stood a massive tree so tall that there was no telling its height and so wide that one couldn’t tell its trunk circumference.
It seemed like the Jianmu Tree[1] that connected the heavens and earth, yet also like the Yggdrasil[2] whose roots were entrenched into the earth. Standing erect between heaven and earth, the towering tree branches were as though passageways to heaven while the lofty tree crown shrouded the area 10,000 miles from where it was.
When looking from afar, clouds could be seen circling around it.
The sun’s multicolored radiance reflected upon it as the phenomenal scene went through a million grand changes.
The most inconceivable thing was that the massive tree was covered in several gold chains that wrapped around it like a net.
A majestic and holy might emanated from the massive tree reaching straight into the heavens and wantonly oppressed Meng Lei’s spirit, giving him the urge to submit to it, convert his faith to it, and prostrate before it.
“T-the Tree of Life!” Meng Lei exclaimed softly, “Ol’ President, is that the Tree of Life?!”
“Yes, it’s the Tree of Life!” Ol’ Amos emerged and said, “This aura is divine power! Though faint, it’s nevertheless no doubt divine power! There’s no mistaking it! I was right. It really is a half-deity!”
“So it really is a half-deity!”
Meng Lei’s heart quivered. He felt an urge to immediately return to the teleportation magic circle and make an escape. Against a massive tree of half-deity status, he really didn’t possess even a shred of confidence.
As for Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth, in the instant it saw the Tree of Life, it was already prostrating on the ground, so agitated that tears filled its eyes as it loudly prayed to and extolled the greatness of the tree.
“Something isn’t right! That half-deity’s aura is so weak! It can’t even compare to a Saint Domain limits-level expert’s! What’s going on? Are we too far away from it?”
Ol’ Amos, whose brows were tightly drawn together into a huge frown, stared hard at the massive tree for a moment. Then, he suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, “The gold chains… I get it now! That Tree of Life has been sealed! It has been sealed!”
“Sealed?”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“Do you see those gold chains around the Tree of Life? That’s the seal! The Tree of Life has been sealed. That’s why it’s giving off such weak divine power!”
Ol’ Amos smacked his forehead as he said, “I knew it. Even though it was indifferent the whole time while all of you were wantonly killing its worshipers in its territory, it wasn’t done out of choice. Rather, it’s because it has been sealed and is totally immobile. That’s the actual reason why!”
Meng Lei asked with a dazed look in his eyes, “Just what kind of existence can seal a half-deity like the Tree of Life?”
“There’ll always be someone stronger out there, and there’s no limit to how high one can go; there is no lack of existences stronger than a half-deity. Heaven’s Vault Continent is ultimately just a small pond.” Ol’ Amos shook his head slightly. Then, he suddenly frowned and asked, “Meng Lei, are a lot of black dots floating around the Tree of Life?”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. Although they were a great distance away from the Tree of Life, he saw many tiny little black dots.
Those little black dots were suspended around the Tree of Life like insects around a willow in summer.
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “What are those little black dots?”
“We’re too far away, so it’s hard to tell. Go a little nearer!” Ol’ Amos said gravely, “Don’t worry, it’s been sealed, so as long as we’re not too near, it can’t do anything to you.”
“Okay!”
After a moment’s hesitation, Meng Lei flew toward it.
As he approached, the black dots also became bigger and bigger. He could now see them clearly after he reached a certain distance—those dense and packed black dots were actually the exchange competition’s contestants. And apart from them, there were also many other unfamiliar-looking figures!
Those figures wore golden armor, held broadswords, and rode golden beasts—they were clearly all golden-armored knights!
As he continued to approach, he could vaguely see a thin golden shield around the Tree of Life.
Some of the contestants were enveloped within the golden shield, while all the golden-armored knights were fervently attacking the golden shield, seemingly trying to rescue them.
“What are they doing?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
“Damn! They’ve been tricked! They’re attacking the seal! Once the seal is destroyed, the Tree of Life would be released!”
[1] Literally ‘building wood’. A holy tree worshiped in ancient times and said to bridge the celestial and mortal realms in Chinese mythology
[2] An immense and central sacred tree in Norse mythology
" }, { "id": 187, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-187", "title": "Chapter 187", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 187: Holy Knight Order, The Empire’s Half-Deity
“Attacking the seal?”
Meng Lei was bewildered.
“Can’t you tell?”
With a severe look on his face, Ol’ Amos explained gravely, “The divine tree fruits are just bait—bait that it tossed out in order to lure contestants like you. What’s tragic is that many of the contestants had actually fallen for it! Thus, they are now trapped within the seal, unable to escape!”
“And then?”
“In order to rescue them, the empire will definitely send experts to attack the seal, ultimately rescuing the Tree of Life and releasing it, too.
“A conspiracy! This is a total conspiracy from the start to the very end!”
Meng Lei hurriedly asked, “What will happen if the Tree of Life breaks the seal, Ol’ President?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Ol’ Amos barked, “What do you think will happen when a sealed half-deity is freed?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shiver at the thought.
“Meng Lei, you must stop them from attacking the seal at once. Otherwise, it’ll lead to a great disaster!”
“Stop them?”
Meng Lei was hesitant. He couldn’t wait to escape and go far, far away from the Tree of Life at the moment. Yet he was telling him to stop those guys?
“The Tree of Life is currently sealed, so the degree of risk has been greatly reduced.” Ol’ Amos said gravely, “What you need to do is just to stop them. If nothing goes wrong, it won’t be dangerous.”
“Alright!”
As he went nearer and nearer, the view also became clearer and clearer.
The Tree of Life’s branches were too thick, too tall—taller and thicker than any great mountains that Meng Lei had ever seen.
Its crown was too large, too lush—just like a gigantic halo, it enveloped the sky within 10,000 miles of where it was.
Big, tall, lofty, and majestic! Vast and extensive!
“Who’d have thought that a massive life form like that actually exists in the world? Nature is indeed miraculous!” Meng Lei was thoroughly astounded. “And what’s even more inconceivable is that someone has actually sealed a fearsome life form like that!”
As he got nearer and nearer, the view also became clearer and clearer.
Branches flourished from the Tree of Life, leafy and lush. And amid the luxuriant leaves bore an abundance of golden fruits.
A quick glance revealed that the tree was filled with them.
“Just how many divine tree fruits are there? And just how much will I earn if I sell them all?”
Meng Lei swallowed hard, suddenly understanding why so many contestants had been lured there.
Given the numerous divine tree fruits on it, just how great of an allure did it pose?
Who would be able to resist it?
Nobody at all!
At last, he came close to it.
A mountainous ridge when viewed horizontally and a high peak when viewed from the side; far, near, high, and low, different from every angle.
Why couldn’t one tell the true form of Mount Lu?
For they stand within, part of the mountain they have become[1].
At this point, it was no longer possible for him to get a full view of the Tree of Life. All that entered one’s sight was just a big, tall, and rough wall—the Tree of Life’s trunk!
Wrapped all around the surface of the trunk was an infinite number of chains formed from golden magic sigils. Like a fishing net, they wrapped all around the tree.
The chains spread out, ultimately forming another golden shield around the Tree of Life and sealing it within.
At the same time, the golden shield also trapped almost a hundred unfortunate souls within—in other words, the hundred-odd contestants that had also been sealed inside.
Floating outside the golden shield were thousands of people. Aside from a few dozen contestants, the rest were all broadsword-wielding, beast-riding golden-armored knights!
“Where did these guys come from?”
Meng Lei stared at the golden-armored knights, somewhat puzzled.
“Judging from their gear, they are likely the Royal Holy Knight Order.” Ol’ Amos replied, “The Royal Holy Knight Order is the empire’s most elite troops. Even the weakest among them possesses ninth-grade pinnacle-level strength.”
“Why are they here?”
Meng Lei was puzzled. Weren’t the contestants supposed to be the only ones on the Lost Continent?
“If I’m not wrong, the Royal Holy Knight Order is in charge of protecting the contestants’ safety during the exchange competition.” Ol’ Amos instructed, “Get them to stop, Meng Lei. If they continue to attack, they’ll break the seal sooner or later!”
At the moment, be it the Holy Knight Order or the 100-odd contestants inside the shield, all of them were fervently attacking the golden shield.
Every attack from them caused the golden shield to reverberate intensely, which in turn caused the entire continent to shake along with it—it seemed like the seal was connected to the whole continent itself.
“Alright, I know what to do now.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he took a deep breath and shouted, “Stop attacking, everyone! Listen to what I have to say!”
His voice wasn’t very loud, but it reached everyone clearly. Everyone stopped attacking one by one and turned to him.
“Meng Lei!”
Someone who recognized him called out his name.
“Who’s he?”
However, there were more of them that didn’t know who he was, and all of them broke into frowns.
“Stop attacking, everyone. Listen to me first!”
As the puzzled crowd gazed at him, Meng Lei said, “All of you can sense the divine power that this huge tree here is giving off, right? That’s right. This tree is a half-deity!”
“A half-deity?”
A jolt went through some of them as their countenances changed dramatically. All of them were just weak contestants that didn’t have any idea of the Tree of Life’s background.
However, the rest of them—in particular, the Royal Holy Knight Order—showed practically no response to his words. Evidently, they were already aware of the Tree of Life’s background since a long time ago.
Or perhaps they’d determined its identity based on the divine power that the Tree of Life emanated.
After all, its mighty divine power was right there for all to see. It wasn’t hard for them to make the judgment.
Meng Lei continued and said, “But this half-deity has evidently been sealed. That’s why we can stand here safely right now!”
Then, he changed the course of the conversation and said, “But what are all of you doing? You’re attacking the seal! And helping it to break out of its seal! Aren’t you afraid that by destroying the seal, you’ll really set the Tree of Life free?”
Nobody had anything to say to that.
In particular, all the knights of the Royal Holy Knight Order sank into total silence. Evidently, they were aware of what they were doing and also knew the consequences of their actions.
“Therefore, I hope that everyone can cease their attacks at once.”
Meng Lei’s voice was low and grave as he said, “Once the Tree of Life breaks the seal, all of us will die! Nobody will be able to escape! That’s all I have to say! Think about it yourselves!”
Then, Meng Lei turned, ready to leave. He didn’t know what they would do after hearing what he had to say, but that was all he could do.
Now that he’d fulfilled his objective, it was time to leave.
“Sir, we fully understand what you’re saying.”
A Golden Colossal Dragon Person dressed in royal armor stepped forward at this point. He had a pair of golden horns on his head and a pair of golden wings on his back.
As he pointed at the Tree of Life trapped within the golden shield, he said slowly, “We know that it’s a half-deity life form, and we also know that we’re currently attacking the seal, but we have no other choice.
“Our mission is to ensure the safety of every contestant and eradicate all external forces that interfere with the exchange competition. Therefore, it is our duty to protect every contestant.
“However, more than 100 contestants are currently trapped. In fact, they are sharing the same space with the half-deity Tree of Life. Their safety has come under serious threat.
“We must rescue them and ensure their safety while also ensuring that the exchange competition is running smoothly. This is our mission as well as our duty!”
“But by doing so, you’ll bring harm to everyone!”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback. Just as he was about to persuade him further, Ol’ Amos’ voice suddenly rang out. “Look, Meng Lei! Your little princess housemate seems to be in there, too!”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. True enough, he spotted Abbe among those 100-odd contestants!
She stood behind the contestants, quietly watching him. Upon noticing his line of sight, she lowered her head at once.
“Abbe…”
Meng Lei was dismayed.
“There are also quite a few other familiar faces in there aside from her.”
Ol’ Amos went on. “That Netherworld White Tiger Person, Francis from the Fire Dragon Kingdom, and even that pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon prince…
“No wonder the Royal Holy Knight Order is attacking the seal so desperately. To think the future emperor is also trapped inside!”
“So many of them…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp.
“Actually, you don’t need to worry, sir.” The Golden Colossal Dragon Person spoke up again. He said, “We’ve already reported the situation to His Majesty. I believe that in no time, His Majesty will dispatch experts here to destroy that evil half-deity treant!”
“The empire’s experts?” Meng Lei was startled. “Can the empire’s experts stand against a half-deity?”
“Typical experts definitely can’t, unless it’s a half-deity.” Ol’ Amos nodded and said, “If a half-deity really comes forward, then dealing with that Tree of Life won’t be a problem. I’m just afraid that the Emperor can’t get them to do it.”
“Is there also a half-deity in the Dragon God Empire?” Meng Lei was a little startled. “Why haven’t I heard anyone mentioning it before?”
“Duh! If the great Dragon God Empire didn’t have a half-deity presence, it’d have been destroyed by other empires a long time ago!”
Ol’ Amos scoffed derisively and said, “And it’s not just the Dragon God Empire. The Titan Empire, the Beast People Empire, the Fairy Empire, and even some ancient clans living in seclusion—all of them have half-deity presences among them.
“It’s just that half-deities, as existences that stand above Saint Domains and below deities, represent the strongest form of combat power in Heaven’s Vault Continent. They usually only exist as strategic deterrents.
“In most typical situations, half-deities tend to stay behind the scenes. Unless situations such as the empire facing the threat of subjugation arise, they almost never make an appearance.”
“I see!” Realization dawned upon Meng Lei, who then asked, “Ol’ President, what did you mean when you said that His Majesty might not be able to get the half-deity to come forward?”
“The emperor can command ordinary Saint Domains, but if he wants to request something of a half-deity… It’s a hard task to achieve!” Ol’ Amos said dispassionately, “In truth, even a Saint Domain limits-level expert can ignore the emperor if they want to.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly as he remarked, “Looks like not even the emperor is almighty.”
“Almighty? You’re thinking too much.”
Ol’ Amos was rather disdainful as he said, “Heaven’s Vault Continent is ultimately a world where the strong rule. Power will always come first and foremost.
“Status is but just something that comes with power.
“There are many experts in the Dragon God Empire who don’t fear the emperor at all. In fact, even the emperor has to bow respectfully in greeting when he meets the Dragon Kings who stand above the Saint Domain realm and the half-deities.
“Remember this—in the Dragon God Empire, there is no lack of people who can be the emperor, but there are only so many Dragon Kings and half-deities. You can do without an emperor, but you can’t do without a Dragon King or a half-deity!”
“In other words, whether the empire’s half-deity will make an appearance or not depends on whether they’ll act on account of the emperor?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless.
“Exactly! After all, most half-deities are striving hard for the goal of deification. To them, time is even more valuable than Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. Where are they going to find the time to bother with trifling matters like this?”
Ol’ Amos shook his head.
“What should we do, then?”
“What should we do? Leave, of course!”
Ol’ Amos snorted and said, “It goes back to the same thing—a gentleman does not put himself in harm’s way. Whether or not the empire’s half-deity comes, you have to ensure your safety first and foremost!
“I’m reminding you—your little princess housemate may be beautiful and gorgeous, but she’s not worth you putting yourself in danger yet!”
“Ol’ President, you must’ve been a cold and heartless scumbag when you were young, right?”
Meng Lei couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.
“A scumbag? Please, I’m a lifelong bachelor!”
[1] Written on the Wall At West Forest Temple, a poem by Su Shi
" }, { "id": 188, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-188", "title": "Chapter 188", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 188: God’s Domain, The Hammer of Destruction
“W-what’s that?”
“It’s… It’s so huge!”
“To think there’s such a lofty and majestic tree in this world… How inconceivable!”
“That tree is so massive! It’s probably no ordinary tree?”
A gigantic tree towering straight into the sky appeared on the Dragon God Cathedral’s huge magic screen.
It stood erect in the continent’s center, towering tall and straight into the sky above the sea of forests. The mountains were reduced to mere props while the ancient trees became its background.
It was simply too huge and too majestic—one could neither see to the top nor the ends of it.
The moment it entered their sights, it astounded everyone, ranging all the way from Emperor Frederick the 32nd to every single civil and martial official. All of them were dumbstruck and flabbergasted.
Frederick the 32nd was terribly alarmed. “Why didn’t the surveillance team discover a lifeform like that in the Lost Continent?”
Nobody knew whether or not they had discovered it, but Frederick the 32nd had already realized that the Lost Continent was far more unsafe than what he’d thought. The contestants… They were in danger!
“Reporting!”
It was at this moment that a golden-armored knight walked out of the teleportation magic circle. “Your Majesty, a half-deity lifeform has appeared in the Lost Continent. 100 contestants, including Prince Barbarossa and the others, have been captured, and their lives are in peril!”
“What?”
Everyone got up at once, an indescribable astoundment brimming in their eyes. All of them were shocked.
The emperor barked fiercely, “Are you sure?”
The golden-armored knight replied loudly, “Your Majesty, it is the absolute truth!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty!”
All the Saint Domain experts turned to the emperor at once. The princes, princesses, nobles, and officials also turned to him.
Everyone knew that things had gotten serious.
A half-deity lifeform had appeared in the Lost Continent, and it had captured 100 contestants, including Prince Barbarossa.
This was no longer an accident on a small scale but a serious matter that threatened to undermine the empire’s core.
Once mishandled, not only would the empire make an enemy out of a half-deity, but it would also cause irreversible losses for the empire.
This was an extremely serious matter.
Frederick the 32nd, who was facing everyone’s anxious, anticipative eyes, slowly closed his eyes. He said, “By sending all the contestants to the Lost Continent without careful consideration when we aren’t yet clear on the situation in the Lost Continent, I have sinned!”
“Your Majesty!”
Everyone exclaimed in low voices.
“However, it is nigh the time to pursue the matter of accountability now. What’s most imperative right now is to dispatch men to the Lost Continent and rescue the contestants!” Frederick the 32nd stepped forward. “Summon the senior statesmen’s assembly at once and order the Grand Elder, Second Elder, and Third Elder to follow me to Dragon Island to request aid from the grandmasters!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
An official bowed in acknowledgment and hastily went to deliver the imperial order.
“My beloved subjects, you’re dismissed!” said Frederick the 32nd as he looked at everyone.
President Luke hurriedly stepped forward and requested, “Your Majesty, the contestants are in critical peril. I am willing to head to the Lost Continent in advance to investigate the situation. If it is permissible, perhaps that may help a little with the situation!”
“Me too, Your Majesty!”
“We cannot stand by and wait idly while our students are trapped. I request to head to the Lost Continent in advance to investigate the situation!”
“Your Majesty…”
For a moment there, all the academy presidents and teachers-in-charge requested to be deployed to the Lost Continent to rescue their students.
“I am greatly moved by your sincerity, my beloved subjects. Unfortunately, a half-deity occupies the Lost Continent. All of you heading there is no different from moths flying into the fire—seeking death!” Frederick the 32nd shook his head lightly. “Everyone had better just wait for my good news. As long as the grandmasters are willing to help, a mere native half-deity can be wiped out with just a flick of the fingers.”
“Your Majesty!”
“My mind is set. Say no more!”
Frederick the 32nd threw back his long sleeves, and then, he rose into the air and flitted toward the palace. A group of palace attendants, princes, and princesses hastily followed after him.
“This…”
All the Saint Domains looked at one another, sighing one by one.
In the Lost Continent…
“Protecting the safety of all the contestants and ensuring that the exchange competition doesn’t suffer interference from external forces—these are missions, as well as our duty, that His Majesty the Emperor has given us, the Holy Knight Order!”
With a brandish of the broadsword in his hand, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person shouted, “Where doth our duty lie?”
“With glory it lies!”
“With glory it lies!”
“With glory it lies!”
The knights of the Holy Knight Order roared.
“For the Holy Knight Order’s duty and for the Holy Knight Order’s glory, I order all of you to continue to attack!”
“With glory it lies!”
“With glory it lies!”
Boom, boom, boom!
The Royal Holy Knight Order resumed their attacks on the golden shield. With their great strength and sheer numbers, thousands upon thousands of attacks struck the golden shield, causing the thin golden shield to shake violently as if it’d shatter any moment!
“Evil deity, release the contestants at once!” The Golden Colossal Dragon Person shouted as he attacked, “The half-deity expert from the Dragon God Empire is descending any moment now…”
This was originally just an insignificant threat, but unexpectedly, the Tree of Life, upon hearing the threat, seemed to have been triggered.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Up to 100 vines suddenly flew into the air and morphed into innumerable pythons that assailed the 100-odd contestants. The vines weren’t particularly fast. They moved at snail-like speeds; hence the contestants easily evaded their attacks.
However, an aged voice suddenly rang out the next moment.
“God’s Domain!”
Buzz!
A strange energy wave descended.
Instantly, the 100-odd contestants were frozen to the spot as if their acupoints had been sealed. They stood there just like that, still and motionless.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The vines crept over slowly and wound around the contestants again and again. In no time, they had wrapped around them and turned them into dumplings.
“What’s going on?”
Everyone was rather dumbstruck.
“God’s Domain! That’s God’s Domain!” Ol’ Amos exclaimed, “It’s an ability that only half-deities can use. Not only can it freeze space-time, but it can also imprison everything in the world. As expected, the Tree of Life really is a half-deity. We can be completely sure of that now!”
“God’s Domain?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei!
“Go, Meng Lei! Hurry and leave!” Ol’ Amos urged him, “It was triggered by that fool just now. On the off-chance that the Tree of Life goes berserk and tries to break the seal at all cost, all of you will die!”
“Leave?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but look at Abbe, and the moment he did, an intense shiver went through him.
The vines winding around the contestants had actually stabbed into them and were madly absorbing their lifeforce.
“Help!”
“Help me!”
“I don’t want to die!”
All the contestants whom the vines had wound around were actually visibly shriveling up.
Abbe was no exception to that, either. Little by little, her jade-like, crystal-clear skin started to lose its luster, shriveling and drying up bit by bit…
“Abbe!”
Meng Lei was terribly shocked.
“Go! You little bastard, go!” Ol’ Amos urged him loudly. “You won’t be able to save her! You won’t! Leave this place immediately! Out of sight, out of mind…”
“But Ol’ President…”
Meng Lei was in a struggle.
“There are no but’s to be had! The two of you are just mere acquaintances. That bit of friendship is not worth risking your life for!”
Ol’ Amos berated him loudly, “Besides, what can you do even if you rush in there? Can you save her? You can’t!
“Not only will you not be able to save her, but you’ll even throw your own life away instead! It’s… not worth it!
“Meng Lei, you’re a Saint Domain. Be more rational!”
Meng Lei fell silent. He was indeed rather weak at the moment.
“Don’t bother with me, Meng Lei!” Abbe shook her head hard. “This is what I’ve chosen. I have no regrets. There’s no need for you to throw your own life away!”
Then, she suddenly smiled. Next to her gradually-shriveling skin, her smile seemed as though a flower that was gradually withering and looked extraordinarily tragic.
“I was born into the royal family and was all by myself since I was young with no-one loving or doting on me. I had no family, no friends… Until I met you.
“You saved me twice. To me, you’re my only friend. If anything untoward happens to you because of me, I will live in guilt, regret, distress, and pain for the rest of my life!
“Go, Meng Lei! Live on! Live on properly!”
Abbe’s eyes gradually dimmed and dulled. A single teardrop rolled off the corner of her eye on her dried-up face.
“Your only friend?” Meng Lei took a deep breath. “Maybe I can’t stay so miserly anymore!”
Then, he licked his lips and ordered, “System, be on standby at all times. Let’s go crazy together later!”
Then…
“Shatter!”
With a shout, Meng Lei smashed his fist against the golden shield!
“What are you doing, brat!?” Ol’ Amos was aghast. “Are you crazy?!”
“Don’t worry, Ol’ President! I know what I’m doing!”
Meng Lei continued to launch a series of frenzied attacks on the golden shield, much like a raging bull.
Bam, bam, bam!
It was just a pity that despite the golden shield shaking violently as if it would shatter any moment, it ultimately didn’t. With a silent curse, a dark golden hammer appeared in Meng Lei’s hand.
“C’mon, break!!”
Meng Lei leaped high into the air and smashed the hammer down madly.
Boom!
A shocking, thunderous boom erupted. Amid crisp-sounding cracks, a few cracks appeared on the surface of the golden shield. Then, more and more of them appeared, instantly spreading throughout the golden shield like a spider web!
Crash!
The golden shield broke apart in an instant the next moment, turning into countless glowing particles that dissipated into the universe.
“Abbe!”
“Break!”
As Meng Lei smashed the dark gold hammer about in a frenzy, the vines that had wound around Abbe broke at the roots. Then, Meng Lei reached out and caught hold of her.
“How are you feeling, Abbe?”
Abbe’s peerless beauty from before was nowhere in sight anymore. What was left was just a dry, shriveled-up face covered in wrinkles.
“M-Meng Lei!” As though she had heard him, Abbe slowly opened her eyes and said weakly, “Meng… Meng Lei, don’t… Don’t b-bother… wi… with me… Go… H-hurry… And go!”
“Ol’ President, what do I do now?” Meng Lei hurriedly looked at Ol’ Amos and asked, “Can she still be saved?”
“Sigh, what a sin!” Ol’ Amos let out a faint sigh and said, “The Tree of Vitality’s branch can save her.”
“The Tree of Vitality’s branch? Right, right! The Tree of Vitality’s branch! Why did I throw that out of my mind?”
Meng Lei hastily brought out the Tree of Vitality’s branch. Then, he asked, “How do I use this thing, Ol’ President?”
Ol’ Amos sighed again and again as he replied, “Squeeze out the lifeforce essence in it and feed it to her.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded, and then, he squeezed the branch forcefully.
“Abbe! Open your mouth!”
One drop, two, three…
Then, something amazing happened!
As if rain descending upon dry riverbeds!
As if the spring breeze blowing across a frozen creek!
As if the blazing sun shining upon the moistened ground!
" }, { "id": 189, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-189", "title": "Chapter 189", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 189: Facing The Evil Deity, Extreme Credit Redemption
Something amazing happened.
Bit by bit, Abbe’s face started to plump up and turn rosy. Her weak aura also began to strengthen again…
“It works! The Tree of Vitality’s branch is working!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. “How are you feeling, Abbe?”
“You shouldn’t have saved me, Meng Lei.”
Abbe, who had recovered a bit of spirit, stared at Meng Lei in a daze as a layer of mist formed in her beautiful eyes. “You shouldn’t have!”
“No matter what, we’re housemates and classmates. It’s inexcusable behavior if I leave you to die when saving you is within my means.”
With a laugh, Meng Lei helped Abbe up and said, “Let’s go. We’ll leave this place and talk again when we reach somewhere safe.”
“Okay!”
Abbe didn’t speak any further. She rested her head against Meng Lei’s chest, listening to his strong heartbeat…
Meng Lei’s embrace suddenly felt so safe, so firm, and so warm to her…
At the same time, the Royal Holy Knight Order also rushed over to rescue the other 100-odd contestants, who didn’t receive the same treatment as Abbe, of course. Whether or not they would survive would depend on fate itself.
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person urged them loudly, “Hurry! Evacuate the contestants!”
“Since you’re here, then don’t bother leaving!”
The aged voice rang out again at this point, upon which a shocking scene then played out—countless golden rays of light appeared out of nowhere, and then they converged into yet another golden shield which trapped everyone within.
Bam!
Meng Lei was thrown right out upon crashing against the golden shield. The others were no better—every single one of them was also flung back to where they’d originally been. Everyone’s expressions took on a dramatic change.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei, who was flustered and panicked, asked, “Didn’t I already break the seal, Ol’ President? Why has it appeared again?”
“I don’t know, either!”
The situation was driving Ol’ Amos rather mad, too.
“Damn! The barrier has appeared again!”
“Attack!”
“Attack the barrier at once, everyone!”
Boom, boom, boom!
The Royal Holy Knight Order launched into yet another series of frenzied attacks.
“Wait a moment here, Abbe!”
The dark gold hammer appeared in Meng Lei’s hand again. With flames of fury burning in his eyes, he imbued all of his strength into the hammer and smashed it heavily against the shield.
Boom!
As the dark gold hammer smashed against the golden shield, the terrifying recoil of the impact threw Meng Lei out.
Yet the golden shield didn’t shake even a little, let alone become destroyed.
“No way!”
Meng Lei roared furiously, “One more time!”
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
One hit! Two! Three!
In spite of that, the golden shield stood as enduring as rock, not wavering in the least.
“Why is this happening?” Meng Lei’s eyes were bloodshot. “Why has the golden shield become so much sturdier?”
Ol’ Amos’ voice was deep, low, and trembling a little as he replied, “Meng Lei, we might have been tricked!”
“Tricked?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Don’t bother trying anymore, little fellow.”
The aged voice rang out once more. Then, a gigantic human visage appeared on the Tree of Life’s trunk.
The human visage’s mouth opened and closed as it scoffed. “This is my territorial barrier. How can a Saint Domain like you possibly break it?”
“The Tree of Life!” Meng Lei exclaimed as he swung around.
The others also looked toward the huge human visage on the tree trunk. Under everyone’s gazes, the golden chains all around the Tree of Life disappeared little by little until they were all gone.
The seal… was gone?
At the same time, a vast, mighty divine power emanated from the Tree of Life, crashing down on everyone’s hearts.
Boom!
One after another, everyone plummeted onto the ground. They felt as if a mountain was crushing down upon their shoulders, as if great boulders were weighing down on their chests, and as if something was clenched tight around their hearts. Hardly able to breathe, it felt exceptionally horrible.
“We’ve been tricked! We’ve indeed been tricked!” Ol’ Amos bellowed madly, “It wasn’t sealed! Brat, the so-called seal doesn’t exist at all! It tricked us! It tricked us all!”
“Why would it do something like that?” Meng Lei couldn’t understand its motives. “Just how strong is a great half-deity? If it wishes to take our lives, all it needs is just a mere thought. So why would it go to so much trouble to scheme something like this?”
Ol’ Amos shook his head—he really had no idea why.
“Why?” Meng Lei’s eyes bore into the Tree of Life as he asked, “Why are you doing this? You’re a great half-deity, y’know!”
“A half-deity? But that’s ultimately still not a true deity.” The Tree of Life gave him a noncommittal smile as it said, “You must be very puzzled as to why I did all these, right?”
“Yes, why?!” shouted Meng Lei.
“Because of you,” answered the Tree of Life with a slight smile.
“Me?” Meng Lei was momentarily stunned. Then, he sneered, “I am but just a Saint Domain. Am I worth going to such lengths for?”
“Of course you aren’t, but there’s something on you that is!” The Tree of Life said aloofly, “For the sake of obtaining it, no matter how much I have to do, it’s all worth it. And now, it should return to its original owner.”
“Something on me?”
Stupefied, Meng Lei pointed at himself.
Ol’ Amos was just as stupefied as him while the others also looked at one another in confusion.
“What exactly are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re saying,” A frowning Meng Lei shouted, “Are you talking about your fruits?”
“You cunning human, stop playing dumb!”
The Tree of Life snorted icily and said, “I’ve sensed that thing’s presence ever since you arrived at the Lost Continent. From that moment onward, I knew at once that that’s the object that I lost a long time ago.
“It has finally returned! It pleases me greatly to know that!
“But I’m also furious because you’re simply too sly. Not only did you not return it to me, but you even went into hiding and constantly avoided me!
“I was terribly enraged, so I could only resort to such painstaking measures. Fortunately, the outcome is still somewhat satisfactory.”
The Tree of Life’s voice grew louder and more sonorous as it commanded, “You cunning human, hand over that thing in your sea of consciousness. It belongs to me!
“Or else, you’d better not blame me if I come personally to take it from you! By then, you won’t be the only one dead—all of them will be, too!”
“That thing in my sea of consciousness? You’re referring to—”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, who had immediately thought of something. Aside from the soul flame, there was only one other object in his sea of consciousness—that golden leaf!
That golden leaf which he had obtained from the parchment manuscript had been occupying a spot in his sea of consciousness all this time. Apart from giving him the superbly strong wood-elemental magic talent, Meng Lei knew absolutely next to nothing about it.
What exactly was it?
Even now, Meng Lei still hadn’t figured it out yet.
But one could imagine that it must be no ordinary artifact.
It… belonged to the Tree of Life?
Ol’ Amos hurriedly asked, “Meng Lei, what is it talking about?”
“It’s talking about the golden leaf!”
Meng Lei didn’t keep it a secret from Ol’ Amos.
“The golden leaf?” A startled Ol’ Amos said, “But that’s a divine weapon. How can it be the Tree of Life’s? It shouldn’t be! Its aura differs completely from the Tree of Life’s. What the hell? It can’t be that that thing has taken an interest in the golden leaf, so it’s thinking of snatching it from you?”
“You don’t say, that might really just be the case!”
Meng Lei flew into a rage at once.
You keep going on and on about how it belongs to you, but in truth, it’s because you’ve discovered my divine weapon and are plotting murder for gain!
Disregarding the fact that it’s a divine weapon, so I can’t bear to give it to you at all; even if I do have the intentions to, I can’t get it to move, either!
Occupying a spot in Meng Lei’s mind, the golden leaf—apart from absorbing the Wood Elements in the universe every moment of the day—paid no heed to Meng Lei at all!
Hand it over?
Yeah, right! Am I supposed to burrow into my own sea of consciousness and gouge it out for you?
What a dumbass!
“Meng Lei, did you really take something that belongs to the Tree of Life?”
Everyone had been watching Meng Lei closely the whole time, so they had fully witnessed the changes in his facial expressions. Many of them became furious at once.
“What exactly did you take from the Tree of Life?! Hurry and hand it over!”
“That’s right! Bold of you to actually steal something from a half-deity!”
“Take it if you must, but you shouldn’t have implicated us! Take a look at Prince Barbarossa and the others; they are close to dying because of you…”
All the contestants trapped within the golden shield denounced Meng Lei, venting their anger and frustrations on him.
The Royal Holy Knights’ expressions weren’t very pleasant, either. The Golden Colossal Dragon Person leading them said in a low, deep voice, “Sir, for the sake of everyone’s safety, you’d better hand it over!”
“Hahaha!”
Furious to the extreme, Meng Lei burst into laughter instead. “Was it me that had embroiled all of you in this? If all of you hadn’t fought over the divine tree’s fruits, would you have landed yourselves in such a predicament?
“You can only blame your own greed for this, as well as yourselves for reaping what you’ve sown. What has it got to do with me?”
Meng Lei then looked at the Tree of Life and sneered coldly, “Not only have I not taken anything of yours but even if I have, do you think I’ll return it to you when it’s already in my hands?”
“Human, you’re challenging a deity’s authority!”
A vast, majestic wave of divine power weighed down on Meng Lei as the Tree of Life spoke in a low and deep voice, “I’ll give you one last chance! Hand over that thing, and I’ll spare your lives! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being heartless and ruthless!”
“Hurry and return that thing to the Tree of Life, Meng Lei! You’re holding everyone’s lives in your hands!”
“C’mon, return it to the Tree, Meng Lei!”
“Take it as I’m begging you. For the last 18 generations, my family has only had one son in every generation, so I can’t die here. Otherwise, it’ll be the end of my family lineage!”
“Meng Lei, I have a 200-years-old mother to support and a three-year-old toddler to feed…”
Upon hearing the Tree of Life’s threat, many of the contestants were badly frightened. They either cursed at him, threatened him, or pleaded with him…
But one thing stayed the same—all of them wanted Meng Lei to hand over the golden leaf.
“A bunch of fools!”
Ol’ Amos swore quietly. Then, he said, “Don’t listen to them, Meng Lei. Even if you hand over the golden leaf, the Tree of Life won’t let you off. You must understand that the leaf is a divine weapon. Once it gets its hands on it, the Tree of Life will definitely silence everyone and kill all of you.
“Why would that evil deity care about your lives when it doesn’t even care about the deaths of its countless Magical Beast worshipers? Begging for mercy?
“That’s just that bunch of fools’ wishful thinking!”
“Tree of Life!”
A hint of insanity flashed past the depths of Meng Lei’s eyes as he shouted hysterically, “Stop goddamn daydreaming! Even if we must fight it out, you can forget about taking even a strand of hair from me!”
Meng Lei had only just spoken when all the power in him erupted. Then, he smashed the Hammer of Destruction in his hand madly toward the Tree of Life.
“You foolish and ignorant human!”
The Tree of Life was enraged. “Now that you’ve rejected the final bit of a deity’s goodwill be prepared to suffer a deity’s fury!
“God’s Domain!”
A terrifying energy wave instantly came crushing down on Meng Lei. As if his acupoints had been sealed, he instantly froze on the spot, unable to move even a fingertip.
“It’s over! All over!”
Ol’ Amos heaved a sigh.
“It isn’t! It’s not over yet!”
Meng Lei, whose eyes were bloodshot and looked as if a crazed man, ordered, “System, raise the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate!
“Don’t stop! Raise it as much as possible! Until all my Wealth has been redeemed for credit!”
“Ding! Dear host, your Wealth amounts to a total of 73.2 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. It is possible to raise the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate by 7%. May I know whether you’d like to raise it?”
“Yes!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 70 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
Boom!
" }, { "id": 190, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-190", "title": "Chapter 190", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 190: This Is A Divine Technique, Gods-Slaying Rat Transformation
Underneath the Tree of Life and inside the golden shield, everyone had lost all hope. Many of them vented their hatred on Meng Lei.
“You bastard!”
“It’s all his fault! If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t have landed ourselves in such a predicament!”
“That fool screwed us over so bad!”
“It’s over! All over!”
“What a pitiful and foolish idiot. Is he actually having delusions of resistance? What a joke! How laughable! Tragic…”
Boom!
However, it was at this moment that innumerable greenish-black air currents suddenly burst forth from Meng Lei, who had been imprisoned on the spot by the Tree of Life’s God’s Domain and unable to move even a finger.
As though blazing cyan flames yet also like thick, roiling smoke signals of war rising high into the sky, they wrapped all around Meng Lei in an instant.
Boom!
As if skyrocketing, Meng Lei’s aura spiked and expanded insanely.
10, 50, 98, 99…
Boom!
It instantly went off the charts.
In the time for one to take just a few short breaths, Meng Lei’s aura had been boosted by not just a hundred or a thousand times—a terrifying pressure spread and swept outward in every direction, crashing down on everyone’s spirits.
Boom!
Hardly able to breathe, everyone felt as though a great mountain that weighed a billion tons was weighing down on them. Shock and horror filled their eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“What has happened to that idiot?”
“Meng Lei has broken through again?”
Abbe’s beautiful eyes twinkled with extraordinary splendor.
“Eh?”
The Tree of Life let out a soft sound of surprise and commented, “That cunning human has actually broken through in the face of danger? Interesting!”
Screech!
A sharp, ear-piercing howl that almost pierced right through everyone’s souls suddenly rang out.
As everyone’s ears rang, to their horror, they saw the hologram of a furry creature manifest above Meng Lei.
Sleek, shiny fur!
Greenish-black, ink-like skin!
Sharp, savage-looking fangs!
And icy-cold eyes!
The Tree of Life exclaimed softly, “What’s that?”
For some reason, the hologram was actually causing a sense of fear that reached right into one’s bones and a sense of dread that could intimidate one’s soul in it.
It felt just like…
When it had faced a powerful Saint Domain Magical Beast when it was still small and weak—vulnerable, helpless, and pitiful…
“No! I’m a great half-deity! There’s nothing I fear!
“That’s right! There isn’t a single lifeform that I fear!”
Murderous intent overflowed from the Tree of Life’s speech as it dispelled its feelings of fear and dread.
“No matter who you are and no matter what kind of bloodline you carry, go to hell!”
Overwhelming divine power came fully crashing down on Meng Lei. Then, a golden branch shot toward him.
Whoosh!
In most people’s memories, tree branches were typically very light, nimble, and tender objects, but this particular golden branch from the Tree of Life was instead incredibly heavy and unbelievably quick.
A fearsome build coupled with a fearsome speed—one can easily imagine just how great the driving force contained in the branch must be.
Should one be struck by it, those weaker than half-deities would surely die on impact. As for how a half-deity would fare… No-one knew!
Slash!
The golden branch ripped through the air and reached Meng Lei in an instant. Just as it was about to lash against him…
Whoosh!
At the very last moment, Meng Lei—who had been trapped—vanished, leaving behind not even a trace of himself.
“What?!” The Tree of Life couldn’t help but exclaim, “He’s actually vanished while he’s still inside my God’s Domain! This… This is impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible, you old tree demon!”
A cold, imposing voice rang out as Meng Lei abruptly showed up in front of the Tree of Life.
He raised the Hammer of Destruction high up into the air. A storm raged and howled furiously around the hammer. Then, it went smashing down.
Boom!
The Hammer of Destruction, which had been imbued with incredible destructiveness, smashed heavily against the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life shook violently with a deafening explosion as the hammer smashed a huge pit into its trunk.
Of course, relative to the Tree of Life’s immeasurably tall and thick trunk, the so-called “huge pit” was actually no different from a tiny pore on a human’s skin—indiscernible!
“No! Impossible!”
Nevertheless, the Tree of Life was terribly aghast.
One must know that it was a half-deity. On top of that, it was even a botanical half-deity lifeform. Its trunk was solid and indestructible; not even a fellow half-deity could wound it, let alone a mere Saint Domain.
And yet… Meng Lei had managed to!
A Saint Domain had actually wounded it!
The Tree of Life couldn’t help being alarmed, enraged, and horrified.
“Damned human! You’ve thoroughly enraged me!”
The Tree of Life flew into a terrible fit of anger. An infinite number of golden vines lashed about in the sky and turned into innumerable golden whips that blotted out the sun as they lashed toward Meng Lei in a swarm, as though intending to shatter him into bits and pieces.
“Kill!”
Meng Lei moved at lightning-fast speed, weaving to and fro and crisscrossing left and right at will amid the all-encompassing net of whips. No matter how the golden vines slapped and lashed at him, they simply didn’t manage to hit even the corners of his clothes.
He literally passed through a thicket of ten thousand whips and emerged without a single one touching him.
“Die, old tree demon!”
After weaving through the overlapping layers of whips, Meng Lei charged right up to the Tree of Life again and gave it another furious, earth-shattering hammer blast.
Howl!
Gales howled furiously as tornadoes went through the clouds!
Boom!
Another huge pit appeared in the trunk!
“You bastard! Damn it! I’m so mad! I’m so mad!”
Rage drove the Tree of Life to the brink of insanity.
It was a great half-deity that stood at the apex of the pyramid of lifeforms on Heaven’s Vault Continent. Yet it was actually powerless against a Saint Domain? How was it supposed to uphold its half-deity reputation like that?
“God’s Domain!”
The Tree of Life let out a furious roar and tried madly to suppress Meng Lei.
Buzz!
A momentary pause came over Meng Lei’s form, and he froze.
“Die!!”
Thousands upon thousands of golden whips took the opportunity to lash toward him.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei regained his mobility and vanished from the spot again.
And then…
Boom!
A third pit was formed!
(⊙o⊙)
“That brat is actually… actually…”
“Oh my dragon god! Am I dreaming?!”
“A hallucination! This must be a hallucination!”
“It’s fake! It must be fake! How can Meng Lei possibly be a match for a half-deity? He’s just a Saint Domain!”
Ol’ Amos, Abbe, the other contestants, the thousands of Holy Knights—everyone was astounded!
Who would have ever imagined the scene currently playing out in front of them?
Who would have ever imagined that the Tree of Life, a great half-deity, would actually be unable to do anything about Meng Lei, a mere Saint Domain?
On top of that, Meng Lei, the Saint Domain in question, was… even just 16 years old!
“Why exactly has it turned out like that?”
No-one could understand why, save for Ol’ Amos, whose lip corners were spasming as waves churned fiercely in his heart.
That little bastard has inexplicably gotten stronger again! It’s just that, isn’t the scale kinda too exaggerated this time?
“You goddamn little thief! I want you dead!”
The Tree of Life was so infuriated that it was close to bursting from rage.
“God’s Domain!”
Meng Lei’s form froze slightly, imprisoned once more.
“Divine Technique: Deprivation of Life!”
With a deep roar, thousands upon thousands of golden light rays burst forth from the Tree of Life. They morphed into a thick, sturdy golden light beam that instantly shrouded Meng Lei within.
Right on the heels of it, a mysterious wave of energy invaded Meng Lei’s body, taking instant effect and fervently stripping him of his lifeforce!
“A divine technique! This is a divine technique!”
Ol’ Amos shouted in warning, “Kid, a divine technique uses one’s power of divinity as a driving force. It holds absolute effect over lifeforms without any power of divinity!
“Quickly! Think of something!
“No matter what, you must break free of God’s Domain’s shackles! Otherwise, when the divine technique’s might unfolds, you’ll be doomed!”
“Move! C’mon, move!”
Meng Lei bellowed deeply, furiously trying to move his body, only to tragically find out that the God’s Domain was exceptionally powerful this time—his body didn’t listen to his command at all!
“Since that’s the case, then this is my only option now!”
Veins bulged on Meng Lei’s forehead as he let out a low roar. “Gods-Slaying Rat… Transformation!”
Pooof!
Right after he spoke, Meng Lei’s body began to furiously shrink and shrivel like a deflating inflatable doll. In the span of a few short breaths, he had become only 0.5-meters-tall.
At the same time, innumerable strands of greenish-black fur emerged on the surface of his body. Three black whiskers extended from each side of his cheeks while a long, slender, and exquisite tail grew from his bottom.
Boom!
Several greenish-black air currents circled around him as a surging, torrential blast of vast, majestic savage aura erupted from him.
All ten fingers of his turned into razor-sharp claws. His eyes were a shiny jet-black while his two front teeth turned long, slender, and sharp—he had actually transformed into a Gods-Slaying Rat Person!
Screech!
Meng Lei broke free of God’s Domain’s shackles with a light shake and immediately vanished within the golden light beam.
What nimble agility!
What terrifying defenses!
His body had become immeasurably lighter and more nimble, while his defenses had also been enhanced by several times. Meng Lei took in the new sensations, overwhelmed by his emotions. His self-confidence rose like never before.
In that instant, he actually feared the Tree of Life no more. All there was left in him was just surging fighting spirit and overflowing murderous intent.
“Disappear!”
Upon command, the Hammer of Destruction vanished.
Meng Lei swayed slightly, and then, as if he had teleported, he appeared bizarrely on the Tree of Life’s trunk.
With a light swipe of his sharp claws, a crisp scratching sound rang out, and he clawed out a deep fissure on the Tree of Life!
“What sharp claws!”
Even Meng Lei himself was astounded. His eyes shone brightly, and he began to brandish his claws again and again. Then, amidst crisp scratching sounds, a deep hole was created.
Drip…
Drip…
Droplets of golden sap seeped out of the deep hole. They emanated a light and refreshing fragrance that invigorated and revitalized all that caught a whiff of it.
“Ahhh!”
On the other hand, the Tree of Life cried out in pain instead, as thousands upon thousands of golden vines whipped toward Meng Lei in a frenzy.
As Meng Lei eyed the innumerable vines lashing through the air toward him, his eyes swiveled sneakily, and he thought to himself, Since my claws are so sharp, why don’t I…
Meng Lei promptly dived into the deep hole that he had just dug with that thought in mind!
Slash!
Slash!
As his claws repeatedly dug into the Tree of Life, the hole also became deeper and deeper.
Then, he dived right into it!
“You bastard! What are you doing? Ahhh!”
The Tree of Life was terribly aghast. Then, it let out a shrill scream, and its enormous body began to shake violently. As if it had taken Ecstasy pills, its trunk swayed while its leaves trembled.
“I dig! I dig! I dig, dig, dig!
“Compared to its astonishingly sturdy bark, its insides are surprisingly and relatively much softer! What fragrant sap! I wonder if it’s potable?”
“You little bastard, I’ve gotta hand it to you!”
Ol’ Amos’ voice, which contained boundless excitement, rang out at this point. “Hurry! Find its vitality core!
“The Tree of Life is also a botanical lifeform, so as long as you can find its vitality core, you’ll be able to kill it!
“Although there’s only a sliver of a chance, now that things have reached this point, it’s completely worth risking it and giving it a try. If you can kill it, you’ll strike gold!”
" }, { "id": 191, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-191", "title": "Chapter 191", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 191: Divine Might Personification, A Deity-Slaying Feat
“The vitality core! Yes, I must find its vitality core! Only then will I be able to kill it!”
With that, Meng Lei began to dig swiftly.
Compared to the tree bark’s tough, solid defenses, the Tree of Life’s insides were relatively much weaker. In fact, there were even a great number of sap-filled vessels.
Meng Lei had no way of knowing whether the vessels were used for transporting moisture and nutrients or not, but these spacious and convenient vessels that led everywhere certainly provided him great convenience—weaving through them was extremely convenient.
“What fragrant sap! I wonder if it’s potable?”
Meng Lei communicated with Ol’ Amos while he weaved through the vessels.
“This sap is the Tree of Life’s life essence. It contains a rich, surging lifeforce and is an invaluable treasure.” Ol’ Amos said, “But before you kill the Tree of Life, I’d suggest that you not drink it. On the off-chance that it contains the Tree of Life’s divinity, then it would be poison itself!”
I can’t drink it? But I can at least take it away with me, right? I’m a penniless pauper that urgently needs to replenish his wealth now!
Gurgle~
Meng Lei brought out a spatial ring and turned into a hardworking little bee as he furiously stored the sap into the ring.
Gurgle~
He filled a spatial ring to the brim!
Gurgle~
The second spatial ring was filled to the brim!
Gurgle~
And then, the third, the fourth, and the fifth!
When he reached the sixth spatial ring, Meng Lei was somewhat astonished. “This spatial ring can store so much! It actually isn’t full yet when I’ve been filling it with the sap for so long? Just how big is the space inside…”
Meng Lei quickly released some spiritual power to check the capacity, upon which he couldn’t help but gasp.
“It’s… It’s so huge! It’s pretty much a freaking continent! Ol’ President, have you ever seen a spatial ring that spans dozens of kilometers wide?”
“Is it that big?” Ol’ Amos was rather astonished. “That’s no longer a spatial ring, but a spatial magic device of half-divine weapon level. I daresay that an existential plane fragment is sealed within that spatial ring for sure. Otherwise, it couldn’t possibly hold such a huge space.”
“This is President Fred’s ring!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help being moved when he took a close look at the spatial ring’s design.
President Fred was actually willing to lend him even a spatial ring of half-divine weapon level!
What kind of level of trust was that?
“Looks like your academy president trusts you very much!”
Ol’ Amos was full of praises. “An existential plane fragment is an extremely precious treasure because it’ll only form when a material plane is destroyed. It’s very hard for a Saint Domain to get their hands on it in most typical situations.
“An existential plane fragment measuring two to three kilometers-wide is worth hundreds—even up to a thousand—Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
“You can do the math yourself on how precious that spatial ring of President Fred’s is.”
“I understand now.”
Meng Lei nodded silently.
“Let’s go. We must hurry and continue on our journey. Follow the life essence. The vitality core is the origin of a botanical lifeform’s life essence. The nearer you are to the vitality core, the life essence usually also becomes richer.”
“Alright!”
…
“That goddamn human!”
The Tree of Life was boiling mad. Never did it expect things to develop to such a point.
It was a great half-deity, yet not only did it fail to kill a Saint Domain, but it had even allowed him to enter its body.
A disgrace! This was an extraordinary disgrace!
What infuriated the Tree of Life even further was that it could clearly sense that Meng Lei was currently furiously plundering its life essence.
That was its life essence! How dare Meng Lei?!
“I must kill him! I must kill that bastard! Only with his blood can my fury be vented!”
Boom!
A divinity personification formed in an instant and descended out of nowhere before Meng Lei.
It was actually a miniature version of the Tree of Life, except with legs, arms, a mouth, a nose, and eyes.
“Damn you, human!”
The divinity personification’s glowering eyes glared furiously at Meng Lei. How it wished it could dismember him into a million pieces!
“What the hell!”
Meng Lei did an emergency brake at once.
“That’s the personification of the Tree of Life’s divinity. There’s no need to fear it.” Ol’ Amos said as a reminder, “A divinity personification holds less than even 0.0001% of the original form’s power. Release the Gods-Slaying Spear and kill it!”
“Alright!”
The Gods-Slaying Spear appeared out of thin air. Meng Lei hurled it forward forcefully, upon which the divinity personification snorted icily and easily evaded the attack with a flash.
“Turn around!”
With a mental command from Meng Lei, the Gods-Slaying Spear reversed its course at once. The divinity personification was unable to react in time, resulting in the Gods-Slaying Spear piercing right through its head.
Then, something shocking happened:
Buzz!
Dazzling violet lightning erupted from the Gods-Slaying Spear. Then, a terrifying suction force emerged from it and started to absorb the divinity personification with a vengeance.
Gurgle~
The divinity personification began to shrivel up visibly. In the span of a few breaths, it was completely absorbed by the spear, turning into a bunch of green light participles and dissipating.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei looked stupefied.
“I-it’s absorbing the power of divinity!” Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but gasp. “To think the Gods-Slaying Spear can actually absorb the power of divinity!”
“Absorbing the power of divinity?”
Meng Lei stared at the spot where the divinity personification had dissipated. A huge jolt couldn’t help but go through him.
“No, this is no longer just plain absorption, but plundering!” Ol’ Amos murmured absentmindedly, “To be able to fully absorb the Tree of Life’s divinity personification in just the span of a short two to three breaths, of what level is that divine weapon?”
Of what level?
No-one knew!
After absorbing the divinity personification into itself, the Gods-Slaying Spear circled about as though it hadn’t had enough yet. Only then did it return to Meng Lei with utmost reluctance.
“What a great treasure! To think it can even do something like that!”
Meng Lei stroked the spear’s icy-cold shaft as he marveled. He didn’t get overly hung up on the Gods-Slaying Spear’s abilities. As the saying went, “Whether it is a black cat or a white cat doesn’t matter; all cats that can catch mice are good cats!”
Meng Lei didn’t give two hoots about the reason why the Gods-Slaying Spear was able to absorb the power of divinity. All he knew was that this additional ability of the Gods-Slaying Spear was definitely something positive.
Or at least, it came right into play at the moment.
“Let’s see how you’re gonna fight me, Tree of Life!”
Meng Lei let out an icy laugh, and then he continued on his way.
…
“W-what exactly was that just now? My divinity personification has actually been absorbed?”
The Tree of Life was dumbfounded.
As a powerful botanical lifeform, it had always been the one plundering, absorbing, exploiting others, and using other lifeforms as food and nutrients all this time.
As the saying went, “What goes around, comes around.”
It was now its turn to be absorbed by others. It certainly didn’t feel good. In fact, the feeling could even be said to be frustrating!
On top of that, the frustration wasn’t even the most important thing here. The key was that the Tree of Life had been presented with information that made it shiver in fear.
This was because…
What the Gods-Slaying Spear had absorbed wasn’t blood, tissue fluid, lifeforce, or magic power. Rather, it was… The power of divinity!
It fed on the power of divinity!
That was simply too frightening!
As a half-deity that had only just achieved half-deification through faith, the Tree of Life had only taken a tiny little step forward on the road to deification. It had neither kindled the divine fire nor had it formed a state of divinity yet, much less establish a divine nation.
To put it nicely, the Tree of Life was no different from a little newbie that had only just embarked on the road to deification.
To put it bluntly, it was the weakest and wussiest half-deity! How weak was it?
Without kindling the divine flame, one wouldn’t be able to convert the endless, infinite power of faith into the power of divinity.
This was too fatal of a flaw!
What was the power of divinity?
Power of divinity was electricity, fuel, an energy source, a driving force. It was the rice and pork that one ate every day.
If a human were iron, then rice would be steel.
If one skipped a meal, they would be drained of energy.
This was the case for humans, as well as deities.
Wouldn’t a half-deity without the power of divinity be the weakest god, then?
In the songs and tales frequently sung by bards where humans managed to slay gods, the ones that were slew were usually gods like that!
Of course, as a half-deity, the Tree of Life was nevertheless still able to create the power of divinity. However, without the divine fire as a tool, the creation process’s efficiency was appallingly low. Every drop of power of divinity required an extremely long amount of time.
Thus, one shouldn’t be fooled by the Tree of Life’s thick and sturdy trunk and incredible height and size. It really didn’t possess that many drops of power of divinity.
To put it bluntly, not only was it the weakest half-deity, but it was also the poorest half-deity.
Precisely because it was poor, how the Tree of Life wished it could use every drop of power of divinity as if it had the capacity of three. How would it possibly have extra power of divinity lying around to squander and waste?
After all, its father was no Li Gang[1] or Little Big Brother Ma[2], much less the Heavenly Emperor or the Creator.
Therefore, how could the Tree of Life possibly not be filled with fear when faced with a weapon that could consume one’s power of divinity?
“What kind of weapon is it, exactly? To think it can actually consume the power of divinity? Could it be a divine weapon?
“And that hammer, too. It’s even sturdier than my body! It has to be at least a half-divine weapon!
“That bastard! Why does a Saint Domain like him have that many divine weapons? Is there even any justice in this world?!”
The Tree of Life felt terribly frustrated. How venerable and how powerful was a great half-deity like it?
Yet, it was still an impoverished pauper even to this day. On the other hand, Meng Lei instead had divine weapon after divine weapon. How infuriating!
“What is he trying to do? That location…! Could he be…”
The Tree of Life’s countenance changed greatly. It had suddenly realized what Meng Lei wanted to do.
“Damn! His goal isn’t the life essence but my vitality core! I have to stop him! I have to!
“Not only does he hold two divine weapons in his possession, but he’s even ridiculously strong. Once I allow him to go near my vitality core, I’ll be in great danger!
“Divinity Personification!”
Upon realizing the severity of the situation, the Tree of Life was no longer miserly with its power of divinity. It created an even stronger divinity personification and charged toward Meng Lei at all costs!
“Here to deliver food again?”
At the sight of the divinity personification that’d appeared once more, Meng Lei threw the Gods-Slaying Spear over again without any hesitation.
The divinity personification had come prepared this time. It easily dodged the Gods-Slaying Spear, and then it unleashed its skill.
“God’s Domain!”
A terrifying energy wave descended and froze Meng Lei to the ground.
“Divine Technique: Deprivation of Life!”
Meng Lei gave an icy chuckle. Then, a great force erupted from all over him, and he knocked away the shackles of God’s Domain. The Hammer of Destruction appeared in his hand, and he smashed it ruthlessly at the divinity personification!
“Hmph! This is home ground for me here. How can I possibly let you attack me?”
The divinity personification snorted and evaded the Hammer of Destruction’s attacks. To its surprise, however, the Gods-Slaying Spear actually ambushed it from the back and, with a splurt, pierced through its head.
“So what even if it’s your home ground?” Meng Lei sneered, “I can kill you insidiously with a pincer attack all the same!”
Buzz!
Lightning dazzled brightly on the Gods-Slaying Spear’s surface. Then, as though drinking sweet dew, it began to absorb the divinity personification once more.
“You bastard!”
The divinity personification roared furiously. Nevertheless, amid utmost indignation, it was ultimately still cleanly and totally absorbed by the Gods-Slaying Spear, leaving behind not even a trace of itself.
“Let’s continue forward!”
Meng Lei pushed on continuously.
Boom!
The third divinity personification descended. It was obviously an even more solid manifestation than the previous two. Its aura was also more ferocious, and its divine power even more fearsome. The Tree of Life had clearly invested heavily in it.
However, this time round, without even needing Meng Lei’s command, the Gods-Slaying Spear that had gotten addicted to the taste shot forward by itself, chasing after the divinity personification and chomping down on it.
“What the hell!”
The Tree of Life was so frightened that it darted about everywhere. It didn’t have the leisure to attack Meng Lei anymore.
“Here’s my chance!”
It wasn’t attacking Meng Lei, but that didn’t mean that he was going to let it off. Upon finding an opportune moment, Meng Lei smashed the hammer over.
Bam!
The divinity personification was utterly stunned by the blow.
“Ahhh!”
The Gods-Slaying Spear took advantage of the opportunity and impaled the divinity personification’s buttocks in one strike.
“Third divinity personification down!”
Meng Lei chuckled, and then he darted swiftly toward the vitality core.
“Almost there! The life essence is becoming richer and richer! The vitality core must be nearby! Hurry! C’mon! Find it!”
Ol’ Amos was incredibly agitated, so much so that even his voice was somewhat shaking.
Meng Lei broke into another mad dash.
Boom!
Dazzling light suddenly erupted ahead. The light was so piercing that Meng Lei couldn’t even really open his eyes. He had actually arrived at a massive hollow zone.
It was hollowed out.
The area ahead was straight up hollowed out.
And in the center of the hollowed-out zone, a golden sun-like bead hung suspended.
Spanning 100-meters-wide, the surface was covered in mysterious magic runes. It gave off a surging, gushing sense of vigor as if one would extend their lifespan by a thousand years just by taking a breath of it.
Root-like strands extended from the golden bead, connecting to every area of the Tree of Life.
They led everywhere, crisscrossing and intertwining as though one’s neural networks, yet also like a sheep’s intestinal tracts.
Dense and packed, innumerable, and infinite!
“The vitality core! That’s the Tree of Life’s vitality core!
“The most dangerous and most critical moment has come, Meng Lei. You must be careful of its counterattacks. A moment of carelessness will doom you to hell!
“Of course, should you succeed, then congratulations, you shall achieve the great feat of slaying a deity—though just a half-deity!”
[1] Referring to the Li Gang incident. The father of an unapologetic driver in a hit-and-run accident in China in 2010 and the deputy director of the local public security bureau
[2] Referring to Ma Huateng, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Tencent, Asia’s most valuable company and one of the largest Internet and technology companies
" }, { "id": 192, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-192", "title": "Chapter 192", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 192: Perishing Together, Goodbye Meng Lei
“The golden barrier is gone!”
“Here’s my chance!”
“Quickly!”
“Hurry and leave this place!”
At the moment that Meng Lei found the vitality core, the golden shield enveloping the outside disappeared with a boom.
Everyone who was trapped within was overjoyed, and they seized the opportunity to flee.
The Tree of Life didn’t stop them. They fled a long way out in one go before they finally came to a stop.
“That was close! We’re finally out!”
“That was really too close!”
“A moment of carelessness, and we’d all have been finished!”
“We’re still in a passable condition. It’s Prince Barbarossa and the others who are in for it…”
Prince Barbarossa and the other 100-odd contestants’ appearances were all shriveled up, and their faces filled with wrinkles, making them look even older than an 800-years-old elderly man!
The strong ones were still breathing faintly, barely hanging on—all of them were Saint Domains.
On the other hand, the weaker ones—all ninth-grade—were deader than dead.
“How are they?”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person barked the question with a grave look on his countenance.
“Captain, out of 108 contestants, only 36 of them are barely managing to hang in there. The rest are all dead!”
“Bastard!”
With an awful look on his face, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person swore. “That goddamn evil deity! To think it’s killed so many of the empire’s elites. How utterly hateful!”
“Hmph! Isn’t all of this Meng Lei’s fault?!”
One of the contestants snorted icily and said, “If it weren’t for him, why would we be in such a predicament?”
“Exactly! It’s all Meng Lei’s fault! He has to take responsibility for the 72 contestants’ deaths!”
“So many contestants have indirectly died by his hand. It’s no different from him killing them himself. He’s no longer qualified to participate in the competition. He should be disqualified!”
“That’s right! He should be disqualified…”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person gave the contestants a long, deep look before he said, “At this point of the competition, all of you are the only ones left now. Whether or not the competition goes on is dependent on His Majesty’s decision.”
Upon hearing that, the contestants’ countenances changed slightly, becoming dismayed at once.
…
“I understand, Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and primed his body to its best condition. The Gods-Slaying Spear quietly appeared in his hand. Then, he leaped into the air and hurled it forward forcefully.
“Go, Gods-Slaying Spear!”
Whoosh!
Lightning weaved around the spear, and the Gods-Slaying Spear turned into a stream of light that shot toward the 100-meters-wide golden bead.
“God’s Domain!”
A roar that contained endless fury rang out. The space was locked down in an instant. The Gods-Slaying Spear’s speed reduced dramatically until it ultimately became imprisoned and stopped where it was.
“You lowly and cunning human!”
A gigantic human visage appeared in the sky. Its mouth opened and closed as it emanated endless murderous intent and immense wrath.
“How dare you seek to slay a great deity! How utterly audacious of you! I’m going to rip you into a million pieces!”
“Divine Technique: Imprisonment!”
Buzz!
Power of divinity even more fearsome than God’s Domain swept toward Meng Lei. Since he had been prepared for it, Meng Lei’s form flashed about again and again, and then, he vanished altogether!
“Old tree demon, your divine techniques are certainly fearsome. Once it hits me, I’m finished!” Meng Lei’s voice resounded in the surroundings as he went on. “But casting these techniques requires time, and so does hitting me with them. As long as I’m on guard against it, what can you do to me?”
His voice echoed in the void, but his form was nowhere in sight at all; hence the divine technique naturally also missed its target. The Tree of Life was so furious that it was screaming.
“You goddamn little thief! Get out here! Get out here!”
“Get out there? As you wish!”
Meng Lei abruptly appeared in front of the Gods-Slaying Spear, grabbed it in one smooth motion, and then, he vanished right away. By the time he reappeared, he was already on the other side of the golden bead.
“Break!”
With the Gods-Slaying Spear in hand, Meng Lei pumped all the strength in him into it and jabbed it forward ruthlessly.
Slash!
The Gods-Slaying Spear ripped through the air, emitting a sharp and shrill screech as it did so, and stabbed the golden bead.
Clang!
It was as though the Gods-Slaying Spear were stabbing against a firm, solid metal board, spraying sparks everywhere.
Apart from that, it actually hadn’t managed to impale the golden bead.
“What the! It’s that solid?” Meng Lei was shocked.
“This is normal. Magic cores are where all of a Magical Beast’s essence is stored,” Ol’ Amos explained, “Even low-grade Magical Beasts’ magic cores are incredibly hard, let alone an old half-deity demonic tree like the Tree of Life that has lived for an immeasurably long time.”
“That’s true!”
Realization dawned on Meng Lei.
“Bastard!” The Tree of Life roared, “Divine Technique: Elemental Storm!”
Boom!
An endless amount of wood elements sprayed forth and turned into innumerable formidable tornadoes.
Each tornado’s size might not be that big, but all of them were imbued with the power of divinity. The might they carried was countless times stronger than typical tornadoes’!
Should any hit him, while Meng Lei had no idea whether or not they could penetrate his defenses, what he did know was that with his current short and small body, he’d definitely be sucked into them.
When that happened, wouldn’t he become a trapped mouse?
“How can I let things go according to your plan?”
Meng Lei began to weave through the innumerable tornadoes. No matter how the storms howled, slashed, or cut, they actually couldn’t even… touch Meng Lei at all.
The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline’s powerful superiority in speed was fully displayed at this moment.
Running around isn’t going to kill the old tree demon. I have to think of something! A way that I can kill it!
Eh? That’s it! There’s the Hammer of Destruction!
Meng Lei appeared at the golden bead again with the spear in his left hand and the hammer in his right. He pressed the tip of the spear against the golden bead and swung the hammer down on it!
Boom!
Carrying with it a great, vast force, the Hammer of Destruction struck the Gods-Slaying Spear’s end heavily, causing a great force to course through the spear.
Crack!
With a crisp, melodious crack, the Gods-Slaying Spear’s tip actually pierced through the solid and sturdy golden bead’s defenses to make a small opening.
“Hahaha! It works!”
Meng Lei was immensely excited. He didn’t hold back at all with the Qilin Arm[1], that he had painstakingly trained for so many years.
Amid loud collisions, the Gods-Slaying Spear was embedded bit by bit into the golden bead. In the blink of an eye, almost half of the tip had gone in.
“Ahhh!”
The Tree of Life let out a shrill cry that sounded just like the wailing of vengeful spirits from hell, making one’s scalp tingle and shivers to go through them.
“Hurry! Step on it! Kill that bastard!”
An incredibly stimulated Ol’ Amos cheered Meng Lei on.
“Break! Break! Break!”
Meng Lei let out a long howl, displaying even the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique[2] that he’d painstakingly practiced for many years. Right away, deafening clings and clangs rang out, and sparks flew everywhere.
“C’mon, break!!”
“Aaahhhh!”
Each of the Tree of Life’s screams was louder than the previous, endless and eternal like the gushing rivers, yet also like the overflowing Yellow River, beyond control once the floodgates open.
Crack!
At last, amid crisp cracks that sounded incomparably wonderful, a thin crack appeared in the blazing sun-like golden bead’s surface.
The crack became wider and wider, longer and longer. Like a spider web, the cracks spread outward in every direction. In the blink of an eye, they had spread throughout the whole golden bead!
“Here’s my chance!”
Meng Lei’s blood boiled with passion as he leaped high into the air and swung the Hammer of Destruction down.
“I shall decide the universe’s fate with one strike of the hammer!
“Break!!”
Boom!
The incomparably heavy Hammer of Destruction contained a fearsome might. Added to this Meng Lei’s incredible strength, everything erupted the instant it came into contact with the golden bead.
Crack!
At last! It broke!
The enormous golden bead broke into half from the middle!
“Ahhh!”
A scream that sounded like the wailing and crying of thousands of vengeful spirits rang out, hysterical and insane… It was the Tree of Life!
“I did it! Ol’ President, I did it!”
Meng Lei panted heavily with a look of excitement and stimulation on his face.
“Go! Hurry and go! Leave this place immediately!” Ol’ Amos shouted, “The Tree of Life is doomed! But you have to be careful of its final blow before it dies!”
“Don’t worry, I know!”
Meng Lei didn’t dare dally. He took off at once.
“Leave? Do you really think you can go after you’ve injured me to this extent?”
A cold, imposing voice that contained great murderous intent and endless hatred rang out. Then, a small golden tree that dazzled a radiant gold abruptly appeared in the empty zone.
It was a tree but looked more like a human—more so than even its divinity personification.
“That’s…”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“That’s the Tree of Life’s soul. Or rather… Its divine spirit.” Ol’ Amos’ voice shook as he said, “It has already attained half-deification, so its soul has metamorphosed into a soul of higher class that’s nearly immortal—the divine spirit.”
“Immortal?” Meng Lei shook violently. “Doesn’t that mean that it can’t die?”
“Theoretically, yes!” Ol’ Amos nodded.
“Who cares? Let’s just go!”
With even a moment’s pause, Meng Lei continued his mad dash.
“You’ve broken my vitality core and destroyed my divine body, thoroughly cutting off my path to divinity. I’ll fight to the death with you!”
The crazed golden little tree charged right up to Meng Lei in an instant and blocked his path.
“What the hell! It’s so quick!”
A shocked Meng Lei immediately changed his course and ran off again.
“Die! Die! Die! Die!”
As the little golden tree screamed, its divine spirit’s surging power morphed into a hammer that swung ruthlessly toward Meng Lei.
“Look out! That’s an attack on one’s divine spirit!”
Ol’ Amos hastily shouted a warning.
But just how fast was a divine spirit attack?
He’d only just shouted the warning when the divine spirit attack reached Meng Lei, disregarding his body to smash forcefully onto his soul!
“Ugh!”
As though he’d been struck by lightning, Meng Lei threw up a mouthful of blood. His mind buzzed as he blanked out completely…
A single strike alone had gravely wounded him!
“To think your soul is actually this weak and fragile!” At the sight of that, the Tree of Life became rather hysterical as it wailed, “Oh, the resentment in me! If I had realized this sooner, how would I have landed myself in this state!?
“Bastard! Die!”
The Tree of Life went even more berserk and launched an even more raging divine spirit attack.
“It’s all over!”
A tragic smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips. His spiritual power had only just broken through the 1 billion point mark—in other words, it’d barely reached Saint Domain.
Even if he used all his remaining Wealth to enhance his soul, it was far from enough.
The Tree of Life’s spirit was a half-deity’s soul. Its very first attack had already wounded him gravely. How was he supposed to withstand the second blow?
“Am I actually going to die here?”
Meng Lei was unwilling to accept the fact.
Boom!
At this critical moment, a dazzling red light suddenly erupted. Meng Lei looked up in astonishment to see a big, tall, and majestic figure standing in front of him.
Fiery red scales and fiery red wings!
Fiery red horns and a fiery red body!
It was a pure-blooded Fire Dragon!
“O-Ol’ President?”
Meng Lei exclaimed in a low voice. He was too familiar with Ol’ Amos’ aura. It was Ol’ Amos’ aura!
“After being with you for such a long time, it’s time I should leave.”
The pure-blooded Fire Dragon turned to him and gave him a kindly smile. “You should know that I had remained single for my entire life. In your words, I’m a lifelong bachelor.
“My biggest regret is that I hadn’t left behind any descendants. Fortunately, I met you. Watching you grow, watching you breakthrough, watching you come all this way…
“It has let me experience what it’s like to enjoy a life of leisure in old age as one plays with their grandchildren, as well as the joy of guiding the younger generation. This is something that I’ve never experienced before, and also the happiest moments of my life in the last 20,000 years.
“Alas, all good things must come to an end. The fate between us has reached the end, and this day has finally come!”
With a hint of gratification and comfort at the corners of his eyes, Ol’ Amos said, “To be honest, brat, I’ve known from the very beginning that you’re not a descendant of the Krocs, so there’s no need for you to be sad after my death. Nor do you need to restore the Krocs’ glory and magnificence. From the start to the end, this clan had never been glorious before!
“So, go on your journey happily and create your own glory! I will watch over you quietly in the otherworld.
“Next is the thing that you care about the most—my inheritance. All of my inheritance is in my dragon remains in the Magical Beast Forest. You can look for it after you leave this place. Although it isn’t much, they should still be of some help to you.
“Lastly, haven’t you been curious all this time about how strong I was during my peak? Here’s a piece of good news—your wish has come true! You shall be the first, as well as the last, to see my strongest power!”
With a bright smile, the flames around Ol’ Amos suddenly turned into a dazzling golden-yellow!
A Fire Dragon had turned into a Golden Dragon!
Boom!
Majestic divine power emanated from him and enveloped the whole place in it, sweeping through the heavens and earth.
“Divine spirit, ignite!”
Blazing flames suddenly burst forth from the Golden Dragon. As though flames that had been doused with petrol, his divine power instantly surged!
“What’s going on?”
The Tree of Life’s countenance changed dramatically.
“To be able to kill a half-deity before I die… I have no more regrets!
“This is farewell, brat! Live on well!”
With a kindly and benevolent expression on his face, Ol’ Amos took one last look at Meng Lei. Then, he turned into a golden stream of light that shot toward the Tree of Life’s divine spirit, breaking into the most radiant, most dazzling brilliance at the very last moment, much like a comet shooting across the sky.
“NOOOOO!”
[1] Refers to Bu Jingyun’s powerful arm in Hong Kong martial arts story, Wind and Cloud
[2] The Clear Sky Clan’s martial technique in Soul Land, a popular Chinese web novel
" }, { "id": 193, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-193", "title": "Chapter 193", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 193: Two Half-Deities, Little Sister Has Come
Boom!
Accompanied by a dazzling golden light, a violent shockwave swept in all directions and exploded!
Meng Lei took the brunt of the impact. He was sent flying; his eyes rolled, and he fell unconscious!
When Meng Lei woke up again, he didn’t know how long it had been. It was all empty and silent around him—even a needle drop would be heard.
The small golden tree had disappeared!
Ol’ Amos had disappeared!
Everything had disappeared!
Only the vitality core, broken into two pieces, and countless vessels in disarray were left.
Meng Lei got up quickly, ignoring his dizziness, and yelled frantically.
“Ol’ President?
“Ol’ President!
“Ol’ President, come out!”
There was no response at all.
“Ol’ President, come out!
“Ol’ Amos, get out here quickly!”
Meng Lei shook the Gods-Slaying Spear hard, wanting to shake the old man out of it. It was from this spear that Ol’ Amos had emerged before.
Unfortunately, this time, Ol’ Amos didn’t come out anymore.
He extended his spiritual power inside but could detect nothing. Ol’ Amos had disappeared forever.
“No! No! No!”
Meng Lei shook his head, unable to accept this reality. In the past, Meng Lei would always feel irritated at the old man’s non-stop chattering in his ears.
But now that Ol’ Amos had disappeared, and he couldn’t hear his nagging voice anymore, Meng Lei’s heart felt a piercing pain.
“I’m the President of Fire Dragon Magic Academy.
“My name is Amos Kroc.
“You unfilial descendant! Why would I get such an unfilial youngster like you…
“Brat, how come you’ve broken through again?
“Meng Lei, live well!”
Scenes of their past interactions kept replaying—Ol’ Amos’s voice, tone, smile, and appearance filled Meng Lei’s mind. Only now did Meng Lei realize that the elder who often scolded, criticized, and advised him, had long become a person who he couldn’t part with.
But now, the person Meng Lei was closest to in this world… had left forever!
“Why? Why did this happen?”
Meng Lei collapsed onto the ground, his tears gushing out uncontrollably.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Meng Lei’s mood recovered just slightly. He looked at the empty area and stood up.
Time to leave this sorrowful place…
He put away the Hammer of Destruction and grabbed his Gods-Slaying Spear. Meng Lei felt extremely sad; how he wished for Ol’ Amos to fly out of the Gods-Slaying Spear once again.
It was a pity that what would happen every single day before was an impossible dream now.
“Ol’ President, I’m sorry!”
Meng Lei decisively put away the Gods-Slaying Spear, not wanting to give it a single more look. Looking at it would only make him sadder due to the memories.
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
…
More than two hours had passed when Meng Lei exited the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life still stood high, majestic, green and lush, no different from before. The only difference was that the countless golden fruits in between the leaves had disappeared. Only a handful remained scattered in between, vastly different from the numbers before.
“Where are the fruits? Never mind! If they are gone, let them be gone!
If it were before, maybe he would be extremely angry, but now, he had no mood to even be angry.
“Collect!”
He collected all of the leftover fruits before looking at the tall and majestic Tree of Life once again.
Although the Tree of Life’s spirit had already died, Meng Lei was still raging with unappeased hatred at its empty shell.
“It was you who killed Ol’ Amos!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei ruthlessly bombarded the tree. The huge tree trunk was still standing tall and straight, without the slightest sign of breaking.
“You bastard!”
Meng Lei punched his fist onto the trunk. He felt extremely undignified and really wanted to pull it right out of the earth!
“Meng Lei!”
A surprised call came from behind. He saw Abbe standing not far away, her face red, breathing heavily.
“Abbe!”
Meng Lei struggled to make a slight smile.
“It’s so good that you are okay. I thought you…”
Abbe flew over. Although tears were shining in her eyes, her face was full of excitement.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Meng Lei smiled sorrowfully, shook his head, and diverted the conversation. “You didn’t leave with them?”
“I was waiting for you to come out!”
Abbe stared at Meng Lei. She could sense Meng Lei’s fatigue and sadness. In addition, Meng Lei’s eyes were red.
“Meng Lei, what’s… wrong?”
“I just… lost someone close to me.” Meng Lei was in a lot of pain. “Abbe, I want some quietness, some quietness alone.”
Upon saying that, Meng Lei turned to leave.
However, at that moment, a wave of terrible pressure appeared.
Divine power swept in all directions, and the void seemed to solidify!
“This is…”
Two streams of light rapidly shot toward their location, and instantly, they got closer. It was actually a man and a woman.
An old man with black hair and black horns, and a young woman with red dragon horns. These were two half-deities of the Dragon race!
Meng Lei glanced at the duo and couldn’t be bothered with them. He needed a good rest.
The black-horned old man suddenly spoke. “You both are also the empire’s contestants?”
“Yes, elder!”
Abbe didn’t dare to neglect him and hurried to bow and answer in the affirmative. Meng Lei ignored him and directly flew toward Sacas.
This action somewhat angered the black-horned old man, and his facial expression suddenly turned dark. “Boy, stop. I’m talking to you!”
Meng Lei ignored him.
“Elder, he’s also a contestant. He is in too much grief because of the loss of a family member. Please, forgive him!”
Abbe hurried to speak to explain for Meng Lei.
“Hmph!”
The black-horned old man snorted coldly. Though he was a bit dissatisfied, he didn’t continue questioning. Instead, he looked at the tall and majestic Tree of Life.
“This is the native half-deity?”
The black-horned old man and the red-horned young woman’s eyes flickered, and amazement showed in their eyes. Soon, the two frowned, however.
“The divine spirit is no longer there!”
“No more power of divinity!”
“This native half-deity… is dead?”
The black-horned old man looked at Abbe again. “Little girl, who killed this native half-deity?”
“It… It died?”
Abbe was confused.
“Of course! This native half-deity before us is only an empty shell. Its spirit has long died. Naturally, it’s dead!”
The black-horned old man said calmly, “Judging from the mess around here, there should have just been a battle here just now. Tell me, who killed it?”
“It’s… really dead?”
Abbe’s whole body shook violently. She was at a loss for words. She had been here the whole time, so if someone had killed the Tree of Life, it would most possibly be Meng Lei!
But how could Meng Lei possibly have killed a half-deity? Meng Lei was just a Saint Domain expert!
At that thought, Abbe couldn’t help but look toward Meng Lei’s back profile, with shock and disbelief filling her eyes.
Is Meng Lei already so strong to the degree of being able to kill a half-deity?
“Little girl, you can’t possibly insinuate that this boy killed this native half-deity? Nonsense!” The black-horned old man snorted. “How weak is a mere Saint Domain Warrior? How can he be compared to this native half-deity?”
“Maybe I guessed wrongly,” Abbe muttered to herself.
The red-horned young woman spoke. “Elder Thaniel, we should investigate first. Maybe we could find some clues!”
“Alright!”
The two approached the Tree of Life and started scrutinizing it. The Tree of Life was so tall, yet it only took the two half-deities one moment to complete the examination.
The duo was shocked at once. The red-horned young woman even disappeared right where she was.
“Not only the divine spirit disappeared, but the vitality core is also gone!” The black-horned old man was a bit angry. “The most precious part of a plant half-deity is its vitality core. My goal was exactly the vitality core!
“But now, the vitality core of the native half-deity actually disappeared! Isn’t our trip wasted then?”
Whoosh!
The black-horned old man suddenly turned back and fixed his gaze on Abbe. His eyes were as sharp as blades as he said in a chilling voice, “Little girl, exactly who killed this native half-deity? If you lie, I will definitely not let you go easily!”
“Little kid, who killed it?” the red-horned young woman suddenly asked as well. She grabbed Abbe’s shoulder, unable to contain her emotions. “Tell me, who killed this tree?”
Being stared at like this by two half-deities, especially faced with the red-horned young woman’s emotional and intense gaze, Abbe felt immense pressure.
“I don’t know!”
“Hmph!”
The black-horned old man snorted and immediately turned to look at Meng Lei. He grabbed at the air and pulled Meng Lei, who had already flown off quite a distance, right back.
“Boy, who killed it?”
The black-horned old man yelled the question.
“I killed it. You have a question?”
Meng Lei looked up, his tone stiff.
“You killed it? You really do dare to make yourself look good, stop joking!” The black-horned old man snorted coldly. “You are just a weak Saint Domain! Who are you compared to it?”
“Believe it or don’t!”
Meng Lei’s tone was aloof.
“You—”
The black-horned old man was enraged.
Then, the red-horned young woman spoke. Her voice was very soft and gentle, with a slight quiver. “Little guy, I checked just now. Two remaining divine spirits were moving in the tree body!
“It shows that it was another half-deity who killed this tree! Tell me, have you seen that half-deity? Where did he go?”
The young woman’s eyes shone full of sincerity and attentiveness.
Meng Lei’s throat moved slightly, and a look of pain showed on his face. “He died!”
“Died? No! It’s impossible! How could he possibly die? You lied! You lied! How dare you lie to me!”
The red-horned young woman’s breathing stopped for a moment, and instantly, she turned hysterical. A terrible surge of divine power spread from her body, pressing on Meng Lei so badly that he felt unable to breathe.
“Tell me, where on earth is he?”
“He’s dead! He’s dead!”
Meng Lei’s eyes reddened, and his voice was hoarse. “He sacrificed his own life to kill the Tree of Life in order to save me! He will never appear again…”
Boom!
The red-horned young woman looked like she was struck by lightning—her figure stumbled, and her face paled suddenly!
“Amolin, what’s up with you?”
The red-horned young woman’s abnormal behavior puzzled the black-horned old man. In his impression, Amolin had always been a person who kept all her emotions and feelings inside. She had never been like this before.
“I’m fine!”
The red-horned young woman waved her hand slightly, took a deep breath, stared deadly hard at Meng Lei, and said slowly and emphatically, “Tell me, what was his name?”
“You are called Amolin?” Meng Lei asked in a low voice, “May I know your family name?”
“Kroc!” The red-horned young woman said with a quivering voice, “I’m called Amolin Kroc!”
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei made out a dry laugh. “He was called Amos Kroc!”
Boom!
The red-horned young woman’s vision blackened, and she almost collapsed on the ground. Her fragile body trembled slightly, and her shoulders quivered as she actually started crying intensely!
“Big brother!”
" }, { "id": 194, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-194", "title": "Chapter 194", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 194: Return to Magical Beast Forest, Farewell to Teddy
“I clearly remember that it was an ordinary night. My family had just finished dinner, and my sister and I were playing in the yard…”
“Suddenly, a comet fell from the distant sky, dragging a long, fiery tail, and piercing right across the night sky…”
“That was only expected. Father’s talent in cultivating Battle Aura was rare in the world. My younger sister inherited his talent in cultivating Battle Aura and also broke into Saint Domain at the age of 70…”
Younger sister!
After being around Ol’ Amos for so long, Meng Lei knew that he had a younger sister, but Ol’ Amos had been under the impression that his younger sister and family were long gone from this world.
After all…
Although the life expectancy of Saint Domain experts was prolonged, it didn’t mean immortality. 20,000 years was far too long of a time frame.
If one didn’t become a half-deity, they would eventually die!
But clearly, Ol’ Amos had guessed wrongly: his younger sister was not only still alive, but also a half-deity!
“Ol’ President, how good it would be if you were still alive…” Meng Lei closed his eyes. “You must have been really happy to reunite with your younger sister…”
“Big brother!
“I’ve been looking for you for the last 24,986 years!
“An entire 24,986 years!
“I thought you had died!
“I had finally let it go!”
“But you suddenly appeared again!
“But why did it end like this?
“Just why did it end like this?”
Amolin, the red-horned young woman, grieved even more than Meng Lei. Her hands covered her face as she wailed and cried.
“Amolin, the dead can’t be revived. Don’t take it too hard.”
Thaniel, the black-horned old man, sighed. As someone from a different time period, he didn’t know much about Amolin’s life before she had become a half-deity. He didn’t expect that Amolin actually had an older brother, and this older brother was also a half-deity.
It was intriguing that both siblings were half-deities!
After a really long time, Amolin finally calmed down. She said with reddened eyes, “Just now, you said my big brother died to save you. I want to know everything about him!”
“Sure!”
Meng Lei gave the black-horned old man and Abbe a look, and a look of hesitation showed on his face.
“Follow me!”
Amolin waved a hand and actually brought Meng Lei to the void, where they fought the Tree of Life earlier.
Ol’ Amos’ divine spirit waves were still lingering there.
“Now, you may speak!”
“I first met Ol’ President at the Magical Beast Ridge. At that time, he was sealed…”
Despite Amolin’s rich knowledge and life experiences, her brother’s experiences still astonished her.
Of course, these experiences pained her even more.
Getting accidentally killed 20,000 years ago!
Getting sealed for as long as 20,000 years!
Neither human nor ghost!
How much torture and suffering would that be?
“You had better talent and more power than me. You were also infatuated with cultivation, so I believed you could surely achieve the level of half-deity before me!” Amolin’s heart broke. “But never in my wildest imagination would I have expected that you would experience such a thing. Who on earth killed you? Who killed you, big brother…”
“Sigh…”
Meng Lei took out the Gods-Slaying Spear. “This is the divine weapon that sealed up Ol’ President. I am passing it to you now.”
“The weapon that killed my big brother?”
Amolin grabbed the Gods-Slaying Spear, and hatred showed in her eyes. Her divine spirit swept across the Gods-Slaying Spear, as though looking for information about the Gods-Slaying Spear’s owner.
Unfortunately, she was disappointed!
The Gods-Slaying Spear’s former owner had long died, and the information left inside had also disappeared, with only Meng Lei’s spiritual mark left inside.
Find?
Who could she possibly find?
“Never mind, never mind! Keep it properly!”
Amolin threw the Gods-Slaying Spear back to Meng Lei. “Any more last words from my big brother?”
Meng Lei shook his head.
Amolin took a breath. “Take me to this Magical Beast Forest. I’ll retrieve my big brother’s dead body to bury him in the dragon graves and allow him to accompany our father and mother!”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei didn’t reject her.
Back outside, Amolin turned around to the tall and straight Tree of Life, and the hatred in her eyes was replaced by killing intent. Her red lips parted slightly, and one word came out—”Break!”
Buzz…
A terrible wave descended, and the Tree of Life, which Meng Lei couldn’t bring down with all his efforts earlier, actually turned into fine dust at this moment, dissipating into the air.
Splash…
The dust particles suddenly became erratic, and like a tall building that had suddenly fallen, dust flew all around, and a mushroom-shaped cloud rose into the air.
“Elder Thaniel, we’ll leave first!”
Amolin grabbed Meng Lei. Her figure flashed, and they disappeared right where they were.
Two hours later, the two were already at the Magical Beast Forest.
“So fast!”
Meng Lei was a bit astounded. From the Lost Continent to the Magical Beast Forest, it had actually taken them only two hours. What kind of speed was this?
One had to know that flying from the Fire Dragon Kingdom to Imperial City had taken them five days back then, but a half-deity needed less than two hours. The difference was evident.
Roar!
One beast’s roar followed by another resounded, and they saw many Magical Beasts filling the forest, killing, wandering, hunting, resting.
They were lively and prosperous.
“Magical Beasts really reappeared??”
Meng Lei couldn’t believe in his eyes. Back then, when the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ tide was beyond control, almost all Magical Beasts, except Saint Domain ones, had been completely devoured by the ant tide.
However, not much time had passed, yet Magical Beasts were actually… in abundance again? Where did they come from?
“Just this valley!”
Under Meng Lei’s guidance, they reached the valley, passed through the hot spring, and reached the lava lake buried underneath the hot spring. The lava boiled with bubbles all over the surface.
Amolin casually waved and grabbed Ol’ Amos’ dragon carcass out of the lava lake. Upon feeling the familiar aura, Amolin couldn’t contain her emotions and burst out crying again!
For a half-deity to cry several times in a day, one could only imagine how deep her love for Ol’ Amos was…
“I’m bringing my big brother’s body back. As for this spatial ring, I will leave it to you.”
“Since my big brother was willing to die for you, his inheritance should rightly be yours!”
“If you encounter any trouble, you can come to find me on Dragon Island with this piece of dragon scale!
“Live properly. Don’t let my big brother’s death be in vain!”
Amolin then left.
Meng Lei was left standing, stunned, on the water’s surface, holding a spatial ring in his hand!
Meng Lei had no mood to check inside the ring. Instead, he took out a jug of wine and started drinking.
“Drawing a knife to break water, the water flows more;
Raising a glass to drink to eliminate worries, you worry more[1].”
But undeniably, when one is sad and sorrowful, alcohol was the best relief…
After an unknown period of time of continuous drinking, Meng Lei fell asleep. But when he woke up again, he woke from the sensation of being licked!
Something soft was licking his cheek. Meng Lei opened his eyes and saw a tall Magical Beast looking at him with joy!
It was seven meters tall and fully covered with black dragon scales!
It had two wings on its back, and its body was fully muscular!
“Teddy!”
Meng Lei rubbed his eyes.
“Master!”
Teddy flapped its wings and sent out spirit waves of surprise and joy. Meng Lei sensed that its aura was comparable to a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast. Spirit communication was not a problem for it, though it couldn’t speak in human language!
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Call me Boss!”
“Okay, Boss!”
“Boss, how come you are back?
“Boss, when did you get back?
“Boss, how come you returned just now?
“Boss, you won’t be leaving again, right?
“Boss, Teddy missed you…”
Teddy was so overjoyed that it kept asking questions like a non-stopping cannon, stunning Meng Lei.
He looked into Teddy’s eyes, stunned, and noticed shining tears on the rims. Those eyes were full of emotions.
Meng Lei felt a needle stabbing through his heart. In his own eyes, Teddy was a mere magical pet with low power. However, in Teddy’s eyes, he was its only family.
Family…
A thick sense of guilt rose in Meng Lei’s heart. He couldn’t help but touch Teddy’s nose. “Sorry, Teddy!”
“Boss, what’s wrong?”
Teddy blinked, a bit confused.
“It’s nothing, sand in my eyes!” Meng Lei breathed out and sat up straight. “Teddy, why are you here?”
“I sensed your aura, so I flew over to take a look!” Teddy answered happily. “I thought my senses were playing tricks. I didn’t expect it would actually be you, Boss.”
“I see!”
Meng Lei understood. Teddy had signed an equal contract with him, and they could sense each other’s souls. The closest the distance, the clearer the sensing.
They weren’t far from Magical Beast Village, so Teddy could naturally sense him.
“Boss, how come you are back?”
“I’m back to settle some affairs.”
“Now that you are back, are you leaving again?”
“Maybe!”
“Hum!”
“You are pretty much a Seventh-Grade Magical Beast. It seems that Captain Hudders and the others have raised you pretty well!”
“…”
Meng Lei’s mood improved a lot now that he had a companion to talk to, and the sadness in his heart dissipated quite a lot. “Teddy, go hunt some beasts. I’ll roast meat for you!”
“Got it!” Teddy replied joyfully and flew away happily. Not long after, it flew back with a five-meter long Mountain Porcupine.
“Boss, I want to eat roasted meat!”
“Okay!”
Waves of wind blades appeared, and they soon cut the Mountain Porcupine into many pieces.
A flame appeared in thin air, and after a quarter of an hour, an enticing smell attacked their nostrils!
“Let’s eat!”
Meng Lei took a roasted porcupine leg and threw all of the remaining roasted meat to Teddy.
“Boss, I’ll start eating!”
Teddy cheered joyfully.
Roar!
Then, all of a sudden…
A beast roar resounded. Teddy shriveled, and the dragon scales all over its body immediately stood up—it was on full guard!
“Don’t stress, it’s just a small beast.”
Meng Lei gestured for Teddy to calm down and then continued to nibble at the delicious roasted porcupine leg, totally disregarding the intruding Magical Beast.
“Boss, judging from its aura, it’s at least an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast!” Teddy didn’t lower its guard. “It can’t be treated lightly!”
“Is that so?” Meng Lei chuckled.
Roar!
Foul air pervaded the area before a 30-meter-long alligator-like lizard, with fiery red scales all over its body and a mouth full of canine teeth crawled in.
“It’s the Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, Groundfire Iguana!” Teddy called in a low voice, “Boss, this guy is too powerful. I can’t deal with it. Hurry and hop on my back. Let’s retreat first!”
“Retreat? Why are we retreating?”
Meng Lei mentally shook his head many times. As long as Teddy, a Titanic Dragon-Ape with the purest bloodline reached adulthood naturally, it would become a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast. It would definitely not be weak!
Unfortunately, a ninth-grade magical pet was still too weak to follow Meng Lei.
Teddy can probably consume the Divine Tree’s fruit, right?
[1] Chinese classical poem quote
" }, { "id": 195, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-195", "title": "Chapter 195", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 195: A Half-Deity’s Body, Vast Wealth
As of now, Meng Lei had discovered two effects that the divine tree’s fruits held.
The first—enhancing one’s power.
Upon consuming the fruits, Magical Beasts could become Saint Domain Magical Beasts within a short few years. The Uni-Horned Rose Python was an example of this.
Humans could also consume them, of course.
Meng Lei had personally witnessed many contestants, who were stuck at the ninth-grade pinnacle-level, break through the gates of Saint Domain to successfully promote to Saint Domain level after they had consumed the divine tree’s fruits.
Next, the second effect—refining one’s bloodline.
Abbe was an example of this.
According to Abbe, she had only been a Golden Colossal Dragon Person prior to eating the fruits and couldn’t transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon at all.
However, she had managed to do it after consumption because her body’s Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline assimilation rate had gone past 70%.
It was evident from this that the divine tree’s fruits were indeed capable of refining one’s bloodlines. As for other effects it might hold, he hadn’t discovered any for the time being. However, just these two effects alone were already enough to make the divine tree’s fruits an invaluable treasure.
But… Meng Lei still didn’t dare to consume them.
Why?
“According to Ol’ President, the divine tree’s fruits are the same as one’s life essence, so they may contain the Tree of Life’s divinity.” Meng Lei took a breath as he muttered, “If they really contain its divinity, then they would be highly poisonous!”
What was divinity?
It was a kind of mysterious energy that within which laid a deity’s will, personality, beliefs, memories, laws of nature comprehension, principles of conduct, favored factions, and so on.
Plainly put, divinity was akin to a deity’s soul fragments. A great amount of information was contained within them.
By absorbing divinity, mortals could raise their abilities, extend their lifespans, and increase their laws of nature comprehension, thereby greatly reducing the amount of time required for them to achieve deification.
However, there was one deadly risk to absorbing divinity—there was a high chance of the fallen deity coming back to life through the divinity absorbed by mortals and taking over their bodies. After all, a deity’s divine spirit was near-immortal. Just a tiny little divine spirit fragment was enough to give them a chance of revival.
This was absolutely no joke!
Pray tell, should the divine tree’s fruits and its life essence really contain the Tree of Life’s divinity, if even something like that wasn’t considered a poison, then what would be?
Or at least, before he was absolutely sure, Meng Lei dared not eat them at all. Neither did he dare to let his friends or Magical Beast pets eat them. He’d rather they be a little weaker than run a risk like that.
“Divinity… How do I examine it? I should look that up. I have so many divine tree fruits and life essence with me. I can’t just let them go to waste!”
Boom!
The Groundfire Iguana strode over at this point. Its enormous form gave off a fearsome aura, causing Teddy to tense up all over as if it were facing a great enemy.
An anxious Teddy urged Meng Lei, “Hurry and get onto my back, Boss! Let’s retreat!”
“Withdraw? Why are we withdrawing?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “That luscious piece of meat has delivered itself to our doorstep. How can we let down its good intentions?”
(⊙o⊙)
Teddy was rather stupefied. Then, it turned flabbergasted.
The weeds around them began to grow excessively before turning into several strong yet pliable grass whips that shot toward the mighty-looking Groundfire Iguana.
Roar!
The Groundfire Iguana let out a furious roar. It opened its mouth, and then several bouts of flames sprayed forth from within as it tried to burn the innumerable grass whips.
Alas, it was to no avail. The grass whips penetrated the flames’ blockade to wind around the Groundfire Iguana, binding it into a dumpling.
Roar!
The infuriated Groundfire Iguana roared into the sky and struggled fiercely, but the more it did, the tighter the grass whips contracted around it. The final outcome was evident.
Bound by the grass whips, the Groundfire Iguana died of asphyxiation.
“I-it’s dead?”
Teddy was rather flabbergasted. “Boss, it’s dead?”
“Of course it’s dead!”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers several times in succession, turning grass blades and leaves into razor-sharp blades. In just a few minutes, the Groundfire Iguana had been cut into several pieces and placed on the roasting rack.
“Boss, that’s a Ninth-Grade Groundfire Iguana. Just like that, it has died by your hand?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you already that impressive now, Boss?”
“…”
One must admit that Meng Lei’s casual act of slaying the Groundfire Iguana had thoroughly astounded Teddy.
Like a curious little baby, the little fellow pestered Meng Lei with questions. Even the roast wasn’t that attractive anymore.
By the time they were done with the Groundfire Iguana, three hours had already gone by. Seated on Teddy’s back, Meng Lei flew toward the Magical Beast Village.
He didn’t plan on returning to the Imperial City for the time being. Instead, he intended to stay a couple of days in the village to readjust his frame of mind. As for the suspended exchange competition… He would think about it again in the future.
…
“All of you’d better put in some strength! Stop being so limp and floppy like a pansy!
“Remember this! The chance to cultivate doesn’t come by easily. If you want to get ahead and become someone strong like Meng Lei, then you must train hard! Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
“Great!”
“One, two! One, two!”
A loud, clear whistle rang out at the square in front of the village entrance. Even from afar, one could see a group of adults and children standing in the square, moving according to Captain Hudders’ commands and training.
They waved their swords and swung them, again and again!
“Not bad, even the children are cultivating!”
A comforting smile couldn’t help but appear on Meng Lei’s countenance. Staying in the mountains would never lead anywhere; only by cultivating could one hope to see the vast skies.
The villagers were doing pretty good.
Whoosh!
Teddy’s descent from the sky attracted the villagers’ attention, and they turned to look. At once, they were delighted, and looks of joy came over their countenances.
“Meng Lei!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei is back!”
They swarmed toward him at once.
“I thought that Teddy had gone Magical Beast-hunting when I saw it flying out in a rush. Little did I expect that it was going to you instead!”
Captain Hudders was elated. He said, “By the way, I heard from Jonah and the others. Weren’t you heading to the Imperial City to take part in the exchange competition? Why—”
“There was a small accident during the competition. I went to the Magical Beast Forest to see to something, so I decided that I might as well come back to check on the village.” Meng Lei eyed Hudders up and down. Then, he asked with a smile, “Captain, you’ve become a Fourth-Grade Warrior?”
“Hahaha! All thanks to those high-grade Battle Aura manuals of yours!”
A rosy Captain Hudders said, “Of course, it’s also to do with the fact that the meals have been great recently. Teddy has been going to the forest every day, and every time he does, he returns with a Magical Beast.
“Eating mid-grade to high-grade Magical Beast meat every day halves the effort yet doubles the efficiency of cultivation. That’s how I’d managed to advance by two grades in such a short amount of time!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
Meng Lei turned to the villagers to see that all of them had improved by varying degrees. Almost all the Trainee Warriors of the past had improved a lot and become Second- or Third-Grade Warriors.
As for the ordinary villagers, they had also become much stronger and sturdier than before. They were no longer skinny and sallow with haggard faces; instead, their skin had become supple, and their bodies strong and energetic.
“That’s great!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face.
“It wasn’t easy for you to come back, Meng Lei. We must show you hearty hospitality today!”
Hudders instructed the villagers loudly, “Training for today ends here! Inform everyone—we’ll hold a bonfire feast to give Meng Lei a warm welcome home tonight!”
“Yay! Captain Hudders’ the best!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei’s the best!”
The village held a grand bonfire feast that night. The aromatic fragrance of meat permeated the village as the villagers sang and danced and ate and drank happily.
As he ate the delicious roast and listened to the villagers’ cheerful voices and laughter, Meng Lei’s mood gradually improved, and he enjoyed a rare moment of happiness with the villagers.
Late at night…
Despite resting in his run-down house, Meng Lei wasn’t sleepy at all. Even though Ol’ President was no longer around, life still went on. It was time for him to come up with a clear plan for the future.
“I’m still too weak. If I’d been stronger, Ol’ President wouldn’t have died. At the bottom of it all, it’s still a matter of strength.
“System, bring up the stats interface!”
Whoosh!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <53%>, Fire Demon bloodline <48%>, Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline <51%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>, Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <10%>)
Wealth: 3.2 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Saint Domain (1,039,876,198/100 billion)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,037,108,765/100 billion)
Laws of Nature: Fire-Elemental (0.2%), Wind-Elemental (0.1%), Thunder-Elemental (0.1%), Metal-Elemental (0.2%), Light-Elemental (0.1%)
Others: Some increase
“‘Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity’? ‘Elementary-level’? Where are the numerical values? They’re gone?
“Since the numerical values are gone, does that mean that I can’t directly improve my Physical Body Constitution through credit redemption anymore?
“Is that so, System?”
The system gave him a definite answer. It replied, “Without concrete numerical values, the host naturally cannot redeem any credit.”
“Alright! So be it, then!”
Meng Lei curled his lip in disdain. “Well, as long as I can still redeem credit for bloodline assimilation rate. That way, I can enhance my body all the same.
“But as someone that also has the body of a half-deity, why was I unable to kill the Tree of Life?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were cold and dark.
What he didn’t know was that even though the Tree of Life was one of the weakest half-deities out there, it had a fairly fearsome half-deity build. Botanical lifeforms had always been known for their tough and durable bodies, as well as their astonishingly high defenses.
A half-deity of a similar level would usually find it challenging to break through a botanical half-deity’s defenses. In Meng Lei’s case, his body had only just broken through to become a half-deity, so how could he possibly kill the Tree of Life?
“Never mind, I won’t think about this anymore.”
Meng Lei’s gaze then landed on the Spirit attribute after it with a shake of his head.
From a Saint Domain with a Physical Body Constitution value of 34 billion points, he had broken through the 100-billion-point upper limit to become a newbie half-deity with a half-deity build. His improvement was undeniably fast, and the distance he had crossed undeniably great.
But… The disadvantages were too obvious, and that was… His soul!
Or rather, his spiritual power.
It was precisely because his soul was too weak that it had ended up giving the Tree of Life the chance to counterattack and give him one final blow, thereby indirectly causing Ol’ Amos’ death.
“I have to improve my soul’s durability. I mustn’t have such an obvious weakness. Unfortunately… I don’t have enough money…”
After a moment’s hesitation, Meng Lei ultimately still brought out the spatial ring that Ol’ Amos had left him. Stored within the ring was Ol’ Amos’ lifetime’s worth of assets.
“Ol’ President…”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh. His spiritual power entered the ring, and then, he was stunned at once.
“I-it’s so huge!!”
“Huge”? How could the word “huge” even cut it?
One practically couldn’t see to the end!
Inside the spatial ring was actually a continent that stretched on for hundreds of kilometers!
Standing tall and proud in the continent were mountains of gold, heaps of magic cores, Magical Beast carcasses, hills of elemental crystals…
The mountains of gold were big and lofty, tall and towering!
The innumerable magic cores came by the billions and more!
All the carcasses were of Ninth-Grade and Saint Domain Magical Beasts. There wasn’t any weaker than that!
Multi-colored magic crystals and glittering elemental crystals almost blinded Meng Lei!
“These are Ol’ President’s lifetime worth of assets? Isn’t this a little too much… and a little too incredible?!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp, intense feelings of gratitude welling up within him.
“Thank you, Ol’ President. I will put these things to good use!”
“System, collect all the gold coins!”
Whoosh!
As the mountains of gold vanished one by one, his Wealth value on his stats interface also began to spike.
4 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 5 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals…
20, 30, 40…
In the span of a few breaths, his Wealth had surpassed his previous 73 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal milestone and was continuing to rise at a terrifying speed!
At last, when the number reached 238 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, it finally came to a stop.
“It has increased by a whole 235 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! That’s 2,350 billion gold coins! Just the gold coins alone have amounted to so much, not to mention that there are still so many Magical Beast carcasses, magic cores, magic crystals, and elemental crystals…”
" }, { "id": 196, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-196", "title": "Chapter 196", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 196: Divine Spirit Flame, The Power of Faith
“238 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! What vast assets! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Spirit points!”
100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal = 1,000 billion gold coins = 1,000 billion Attribute Points!
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank. He was credited with 1,000 billion attribute points, which he added to his Spirit attribute.
Boom!
An icy, surging aura gushed into Meng Lei’s mind and began to furiously enhance his soul.
For a while, Meng Lei could feel his soul’s durability rising exceptionally quickly!
At the same time, in Meng Lei’s vast, boundless sea of consciousness, a silver flame burned quietly, chilly and aloof—it was Meng Lei’s soul flame.
Suddenly, endless golden rays appeared out of nowhere, gushing in from all around and straight toward the silver flame suspended in the air.
The golden rays of light were just like petrol, like firewood, and also like natural gas!
Boom!
The moment they came into contact with the silver flame, the silver flame’s intensity surged dramatically and began to visibly expand.
Expand, expand, and expand!
Doubling, tripling, quadrupling!
Tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold!
Boom!
The silver flame expanded to a hundredfold of its original size and turned into an even brighter and even more radiant flame.
Additionally, it had also… changed in color!
It was no longer silver but gold in color now! Yes, gold!
The chilly, aloof silver soul flame had turned into a brilliant, dazzling golden one.
Just like the blazing sun spanning across the heavens, the golden soul flame gave off a million golden rays that shone upon the land and ruled the sky.
His soul was no longer a soul now; instead, it had metamorphosed into… A divine spirit!
“This feeling… It’s simply too fascinating!”
Meng Lei laid quietly with his eyes closed as he took in the changes brought about by his soul’s transformation.
Everything felt so natural and simple, yet also so complex at the same time.
The wind was no longer wind—yet still wind!
Trees were no longer trees—yet still trees!
Even the flowing air was no longer air but still air, too!
“Is this what the half-deity realm is like? It’s so fascinating!
“Are these golden chains covering the skies and the lands and forming all that exists in this world the laws of nature?
“Well, comprehending laws of nature isn’t that hard, is it? It feels as if layers of fog have been lifted, and I can now see clearer and have a more thorough view. Hmm, laws of nature…”
A mumbling Meng Lei withdrew his spiritual power, and then, he entered his sea of consciousness.
According to Ol’ Amos, once one attained half-deification, their soul would metamorphose into a divine spirit.
Divine spirits were near-immortal and near-inextinguishable. Even if a deity’s divine spirit were crushed into bits and pieces, they could still use their divine spirit fragments to come back to life.
Thus, Meng Lei wanted very much to take a look and see whether his own soul had metamorphosed or not…
“…My soul flame has actually turned golden! And it’s much stronger than what it was in the past! Is this what a divine spirit is? As expected, it’s something beyond one’s imagination!”
Meng Lei was awfully excited, but right after, he became terribly dejected.
“If I had owned a divine spirit earlier, Ol’ President wouldn’t have… Sigh, never mind! I wonder what these white threads are?”
Dozens, perhaps up to a hundred, milky-white threads had appeared within Meng Lei’s view.
It was not known where they had come from, yet they were attached to his golden divine spirit like innumerable antennas.
Rather curious, Meng Lei controlled his divine spiritual power to touch one of the white threads.
Right away, a voice brimming with gratitude played in his mind.
“Big Brother Meng Lei, you’re my idol! I want to be someone like you in the future!”
“Uh… Isn’t that Monica’s voice?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
Monica, whose full name was Monica Draper, was a little girl in the village with a twin elder sister named Hester Draper.
Apart from Jonah and himself, the two of them were the only ones in the village who were endowed with magic talent. On top of that, their magic talent was even better than Jonah’s, with both of them having high-grade elemental affinities.
“Why is Monica’s voice suddenly playing in my sea of consciousness?”
Meng Lei found this rather strange. His gaze continued down the white thread, and the sight of Monica currently lying in bed and looking as if she was in deep slumber entered his sight. However, she was also mumbling softly to herself as if she was dreaming…
“This is strange! Too strange!”
Then, Meng Lei picked another white thread.
“Thank you, Meng Lei! Thank you for everything that you’ve given us!”
…It was Captain Hudders’ voice!
“Big Brother Meng Lei…”
And now, it was Jonah’s!
“Why am I hearing everyone’s voices? Never mind about Captain Hudders and Monica, but Jonah’s a long distance away in the capital city right now… Could it be…” Meng Lei’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “…That this is the power of faith?”
Faith was a very miraculous thing. It could make one strong-willed, as well as make one pure…
But in Heaven’s Vault Continent, it also had another natural order-defying effect—the investiture of gods!
As long as one had sufficient believers and the believers’ faith was pious enough, the one they worshiped could soar right into the heavens with the help of the copious amounts of power of faith, thereby becoming a god and attaining immortality.
“Monica, Captain Hudders, and the others… They believe in me and idolize me?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. He hadn’t done much for the village; all he had done was nothing more than just small favors that didn’t even require him to lift a finger. Never would he have ever imagined that the villagers would actually worship him. He honestly didn’t!
“Never mind, there’s no harm in it anyway!”
Meng Lei wasn’t too hung up over it. He continued to check the other white threads—true to his expectations, almost all of them led to the Magical Beast Village villagers.
“Are there so many people who believe in me? I’ve heard that there are many benefits to having the power of faith.
“Not only can it strengthen one’s divine spirit and allow one to comprehend laws of nature more easily, but it can also be converted into the power of divinity used to enhance one’s strength. It’s practically like Tiger Balm[1]!
“But why is it that I don’t feel these effects that the power of faith is supposed to bring about at all? Is it because I have too few worshipers?
“Forget it. I don’t have the time and leisure to spread my faith around to collect the power of faith. Being able to redeem credit is more than enough!”
Meng Lei exited his sea of consciousness. Then, his gaze landed on his stats interface again.
Wealth: 138 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,037,108,765/100 billion)
“Both my Physical Body Constitution and my Spirit have gone through a qualitative change, so I’m just left with the Magic Power attribute now. Should I redeem some credit and complete the set…?”
Meng Lei rubbed his chin, unable to quite make up his mind. What would magic power metamorphose into? The power of divinity?
If it really turned out to be the power of divinity, then he would thoroughly become a real half-deity!
He would possess a half-deity’s body, a half-deity’s soul, as well as the power of divinity, instead of what he currently was—a half-baked half-deity with a half-deity’s body and soul but not the corresponding power of divinity.
But the problem was… Redeeming credit to boost his Magic Power attribute required a whole 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Once he spent that money, he’d become a pauper on paper again!
To redeem? Or not to redeem?
“Never mind, I’ll just do it! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Magic Power points!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrank again!
Then, Meng Lei felt as if the magic power in his body was bubbling and boiling. They surged neatly and altogether toward his brain, taking only an instant to gush into it.
For a moment there, Meng Lei felt as though he had been drained, and he felt a great deal frailer.
However, the feeling of feebleness didn’t last long. Soon, another fiercer and more torrential rush of energy swept into his brain, instantly filling his limbs and every corner of his body!
The wave of energy was simply too fearsome. Meng Lei could feel endless strength gushing forth from within his body, and he felt as if he could crush a continent with his fist!
He hurriedly did an internal scan of his body—his magic power had disappeared; instead, what had replaced it was an all-new type of power!
It flooded through every fiber of his body, glowing a faint gold and emanating a terrifying might.
Meng Lei couldn’t be any more familiar with that mighty aura.
“The power of divinity! It really is the power of divinity!”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked at the stats interface:
Wealth: 38 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
“True enough, Magic Power has metamorphosed into the Power of Divinity!
“‘0.1 Divinity Crystal’? System, what’s a Divinity Crystal?”
The system replied coldly, “A friendly reminder: A Divinity Crystal is the crystallized form of power of divinity. It’s the unit of measurement for the power of divinity and is also the currency in circulation among deities. 100 Power of Divinity droplets usually equates to 1 Divinity Crystal.”
“In other words, I currently only have 10 Power of Divinity droplets?”
Meng Lei blinked and commented, “Isn’t that too little? How can this bit of power of divinity possibly suffice? It makes me feel so insecure! I have to redeem credit! Alright, let’s get to 10 Divinity Crystals before we talk!”
“A friendly reminder: 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals are required per Divinity Crystal.”
(⊙_⊙)?
“10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? I’m gonna faint! Aren’t you being too much of a crook?”
Meng Lei was almost jumping up and down in a fury!
“1 Divinity Crystal = 100 Power of Divinity points; and 1 Divinity Crystal = 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“In other words, 1 Power of Divinity point = 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals = 1 Power of Divinity droplet?
“Oh my goodness! One Power of Divinity droplet alone requires 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! You f*cking system, aren’t you being too unscrupulous!?”
Meng Lei had almost wet himself!
With 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, he could use Limitless Pickup 100 times!
With 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, he could raise his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate by 10%!
Yet the same amount was only enough for him to redeem one Power of Divinity droplet? Were they serious?
The system didn’t respond, leaving behind only a quiet space for Meng Lei.
“What the heck! It’s too unscrupulous!”
Meng Lei was fuming mad, yet there was nothing he could do about it. To think he had even been a little gleeful just now.
After all, he couldn’t directly redeem credit for his Spirit attribute or his Physical Body Constitution attribute anymore, so all that was left was just his Power of Divinity attribute (0.1 Divinity Crystal).
Despite his Power of Divinity attribute being the only thing left that he could still redeem credit for, this had to happen. He could only redeem 1 Power of Divinity point with 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Was this daylight robbery or daylight robbery?!
Did justice still exist? Was there still any law and order?
“I thought that I had gotten rich overnight and was on my way to my life’s pinnacle, but now… I’m back to being penniless!
“Boosting the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate requires money, as does boosting the Power of Divinity attribute and my comprehension of laws of nature.
“Every single thing requires money—and not just a small sum at that. They’re all large amounts of money!”
All that aside, though, at least he could still redeem credit for those. Meng Lei believed that with his current level of strength if he worked a little harder, he would surely be able to earn enough over time.
The troublesome part was his divine spirit! He couldn’t redeem any credit for that! How was he supposed to enhance it, then?
Meng Lei sank into contemplation. Since meditation could raise one’s spiritual power, it could also do the same for the divine spirit. The level of efficiency, though… That probably didn’t need to be expounded upon.
“There’s one more way I can enhance my divine spirit, and that is—to collect the power of faith!
“The power of faith is an all-nourishing elixir when it comes to enhancing one’s divine spirit. As long as I can get enough power of faith…
“But all the faith resources on Heaven’s Vault Continent have been fully split among other parties. Where am I supposed to spread my faith to? What a headache!”
Just as Meng Lei was lost in his troubled thoughts, his magic communication device suddenly rang. He took it out to see that it was actually President Fred who was calling.
“Where are you now, Meng Lei?”
President Fred had an awful look on his face.
“I’m in the Magical Beast Village.”
“The Magical Beast Village?”
President Fred was a little taken aback by his answer, but he regained his senses right away. “Why are you at the Magical Beast Village? Weren’t you in the Lost Continent?”
“It’s a long story, President.” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he asked in puzzlement, “Is something up?”
“Something terrible has happened! Prince Barbarossa is dead! And so is the 13th Princess whom His Majesty loves and dotes on the most!”
[1] A medicinal balm used to relieve itch and pain from insect bites and mild burns. Said to also help with rheumatism, headaches, blood circulation, etc., it’s commonly used as a metaphor for things or people with multiple uses
" }, { "id": 197, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-197", "title": "Chapter 197", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "Chapter 197: Going Onto The Dragon Flesh-Scraping Platform, Falling Out Completely
“Among the 108 contestants who were captured, 72 died on the spot while the remaining 36 also passed away one by one while on the way back.” In a low, grave tone, President Fred said, “They’re dead! All dead! All 108 contestants are dead! Among which include Prince Barbarossa and the 13th Princess whom His Majesty dotes on the most! They’re actually all dead!”
Meng Lei fell silent.
“Meng Lei, answer me honestly.” President Fred asked gravely, “Do their deaths have anything to do with you? Is it really like what the surviving contestants claimed? That you’re the one that caused their deaths?”
“I caused their deaths?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. “If I tell you that this matter has nothing to do with me, would you believe me?”
President Fred stayed quiet for a moment before he replied, “If you dare give me your word, then I’ll believe you.”
“Alright! Since President trusts me that much, then I’ll tell you.”
Meng Lei let out a laugh and replied, “The 108 deaths indeed have a little to do with me, but the main cause of their deaths is still their greed!”
“Their greed?”
President Fred frowned slightly.
“This is what happened…”
Meng Lei hid nothing from him and truthfully recounted everything that had happened.
President Fred fell into silence at the end of the recount.
After a long while, he finally said, “Based on what you’ve said, you are indeed not to be blamed for this matter. Had they not coveted the divine tree’s fruits, they wouldn’t have brought down such calamity on themselves… But!”
President Fred changed the course of the conversation and said, “That’s not what His Majesty and all the officials think. All of them have pushed the blame onto you. They believe that this wouldn’t have happened had you not stolen that native half-deity’s possessions. Thus, all blame lies on you!”
“So, they intend to make me the scapegoat no matter what I say?” Meng Lei chuckled contemptuously and scoffed. “What a joke, this tragedy was obviously brought about by the emperor’s lapse in judgment and the contestants’ greed, yet they want to make me the scapegoat?”
“Meng Lei, His Majesty is the emperor. We can make mistakes, but His Majesty must never make any!”
President Fred chastised him furiously, “Moreover, not only are Sachhen the Golden Dragon-Lion, Miriam the Immortal Fairy, and so on, part of the fatalities, but it includes even Prince Barbarossa and the 13th Princess!
“One’s the empire’s future emperor, while the other’s the most favored princess—His Majesty cannot afford to make such a mistake! Therefore, the only thing that all the officials and nobles can do is to vent their anger on you!”
“So, what do they intend to do?” asked Meng Lei with a scornful laugh.
“His Majesty has already deployed the Royal Holy Knight Order to the Lost Continent to capture you.” President Fred shook his head and added, “If nothing goes wrong, you’ll be held responsible for the whole matter.”
“I’m to be held responsible for it?”
A sharp glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he said, “Just as well! I’ve been in a terrible mood recently and sorely missing a venting outlet!”
“What do you intend to do, Meng Lei?”
“Return to the Imperial City!”
At Dragon God Empire, conference hall…
Emperor Frederick the 32nd sat high above the others on the throne, his countenance frighteningly dark and sinister.
Academy presidents and teachers-in-charge from the various major academies, a great number of Saint Domains, and all the court officials stood at both sides of the grand hall.
In the center of the grand hall quietly laid more than a hundred corpses. All of them had been wrapped in yellow fabric, their faces hidden from view. However, the occasional glimpse of skin exposed outside the fabric showed signs of extreme dryness and shrinkage.
Evidently, those 100-odd corpses belonged to the 108 contestants who had just lost their lives.
Not a sound could be heard in the grand hall at the moment. Filled with dead silence, the atmosphere in there was frighteningly repressive.
Everyone stayed still and silent, none of them daring to open their mouths.
As time passed, at last, Emperor Frederick the 32nd couldn’t stand it anymore. He asked, “Is there still no news from the Royal Holy Knight Order?”
“No, there isn’t, Your Majesty.”
“It’s already been a day and a night since they’ve set off for the Lost Continent, yet there’s still no news from them. Has Meng Lei soared into the heavens or burrowed into the ground or what?”
Frederick the 32nd was enraged. “Send men there! Dispatch more hands at once! Meng Lei must be brought back! I have to get the truth from him face-to-face!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” At once, an official left upon the order.
“Reporting!”
A golden-armored guard ran briskly into the hall all of a sudden. He knelt down and said, “Y-Your Majesty!”
“Are there news from the Holy Knight Order?”
Frederick the 32nd was elated.
“No, that’s not it! Meng Lei has come!”
“What?”
“Meng Lei has come?!”
The hall was in an uproar at once.
President Fred, who was among the crowd, was even more astonished. “Isn’t Meng Lei at the Magical Beast Village? Why is he here so quickly?”
“Let him in!” ordered Frederick the 32nd hastily.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Before long, led by the golden-armored guard, Meng Lei stepped into the grand hall.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everyone’s gazes simultaneously landed on him. Within their eyes was fury, murderous intent, hatred, confusion…
Frederick the 32nd eyed Meng Lei up and down, an unusual glint flashing across his eyes. Then, he shouted fiercely, “Meng Lei, do you own up to your sins?!”
“Own up to my sins? How have I sinned?” Meng Lei feigned astonishment. “Why the question, Your Majesty?”
“How dare you make fallacious arguments even at death’s door!”
Frederick the 32nd was furious. He pointed at the 108 corpses on the floor as he shouted, “Do you know who they are?! Do you know how they died?!”
“These people…”
Meng Lei squatted down, casually flipped over a piece of yellow fabric, and took a look. Then, with a shake of his head, he remarked, “So it’s them!”
“You recognize them now, don’t you? Since you have, then tell me!”
Frederick the 32nd roared furiously, his voice like dull, rolling thunder, “Why did you kill them? 108 people! That’s a whole 108 people!
“Every one of them was an elite of the empire, the painstaking effort of every major academy for the last dozens of years, and even more so the future pillars and Saint Domains of the empire!
“Tell me! Why did you kill them?!”
“I caused their deaths? Aren’t you shouting for others to catch the thief when you’re the thief yourself and deliberately framing me, Your Majesty?”
Meng Lei burst into loud laughter as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. His raucous laughter resounded brazenly in the hall, echoing continuously for a long time!
“How impudent!”
“How dare you!”
“How brazen!”
Everyone glared furiously at him right away. The way they were glowering at him was as if they wanted to eat him up.
“This is the empire’s grand conference hall, Meng Lei. With the emperor in front of you, a great many Saint Domains beside you, and all the court officials here, your impudence and arrogance will not be tolerated!”
Duke Eustace stepped forward and ordered, “You need only to answer His Majesty’s questions honestly. Do not be unruly and ignorant, or act in a bold and presumptuous manner!”
“Be civil, Meng Lei!”
President Fred, who was so shocked that his heart was pounding, hastily stepped forward and chastised him softly as well.
“Fine!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. He couldn’t just disregard President Fred, after all.
He said dispassionately, “I sympathize with how the 108 contestants have died from unnatural causes, but there are only two real culprits behind their deaths. The first one—themselves!”
“They caused their own deaths? Ridiculous!”
Everyone couldn’t help but sneer at his words.
“Had they not coveted the divine tree’s fruits, would they have landed themselves in such a state? Therefore, it’s their greed that led to the current situation!”
Meng Lei’s voice was calm and aloof. He looked straight at Frederick the 32nd and went on. “The second reason is you yourself, Your Majesty!”
“Don’t be impudent, Meng Lei!”
President Fred was so shocked that he couldn’t help but shudder. He hastily lowered his voice and chided him, “Are you out of your mind? How dare you speak to His Majesty like that!”
“Hear me out, President!”
Meng Lei gazed at Frederick the 32nd, who was seated high above on the throne and said, “It’s because you sent us there for the competition when you haven’t even gotten a clear idea of the Lost Continent’s background and situation. That’s what ultimately led to this tragedy!
“Therefore, it’s you that caused their deaths, Your Majesty! It’s your lack of thorough investigation that caused their deaths! It’s your carelessness and lack of vigilance that caused their deaths! What… has it got to do with me?”
“Y-you… You…”
Frederick the 32nd’s face had turned a dull purple from his words. He glowered at Meng Lei, his visage pale one moment and green another, his eyes looking as if he wanted to eat Meng Lei up!
“Meng Lei!”
Duke Eustace shouted fiercely, “It’s clearly you that had stolen the native half-deity’s belongings and ultimately caused the deaths of 108 contestants. How dare you be so bold and audacious as to push the blame onto His Majesty! This is truly perverse behavior and an attempt to confuse the public!
“Your Majesty!”
Eustace looked at Frederick the 32nd and said, “I request that the survivors be summoned into the hall so that they can confront Meng Lei face-to-face!”
“Summon them!”
Soon, a group of surviving contestants walked into the hall. The moment they saw Meng Lei, they acted as if they’d just seen the murderer who killed their fathers and collectively lashed out at him.
“Meng Lei! You bastard! It’s you! It’s you that killed those 108 contestants!”
“If you hadn’t stolen the Tree of Life’s belongings, would it have killed them so mercilessly? You have to take full responsibility for the deaths of those 108 contestants!”
“Meng Lei…”
Frederick the 32nd took a deep breath and asked, “What do you have to say now, Meng Lei?”
“What do I have to say? There’s nothing much I have to say!”
Meng Lei shook his head and went on. “I’ve already clearly stated whatever that should be said. Whether all of you are willing to listen or not has nothing to do with me.”
“How impudent! Meng Lei, you have caused the deaths of 108 contestants and caused the exchange competition to be halted midway. On top of that, you even raised your voice in the grand hall and acted brazenly without restraint, disrespecting me and taking the court lightly!”
Frederick the 32nd pointed at Meng Lei and declared, “There is no limit to your perverseness! Your intentions are punishable by death!
“Men, capture him! He is to be sent to the Dragon Flesh-Scraping Platform three days later and publicly beheaded as a warning to descendants of the royalty!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
A group of golden-armored guards charged into the hall.
“Please be lenient, Your Majesty!”
At the sight of this, President Fred immediately wanted to beg for mercy but was stopped by Frederick the 32nd.
“Even if he’s royalty, a rebel like Meng Lei is, in truth, no different from devil spies like Adolf! Whoever begs for mercy on his behalf shall be seen as having committed the same crime as him!”
“Your Majesty…”
“This is the ring you lent me, President,” said Meng Lei as he stopped President Fred, who was intending to continue begging for mercy.
After he returned the ring, Meng Lei said with a laugh, “In Heaven’s Vault Continent, it’s the strong that are the most revered. If you aren’t strong enough, no matter how much you say, it is nothing more than just the tragic lamenting of the weak.”
He turned to Frederick the 32nd and, with a smile, said, “The Dragon Flesh-Scraping Platform is probably somewhere meant exclusively for killing members of the royalty, right? So sorry, but I’m not royalty, so you can come at me right away.
“If all of you are that capable, I’m very happy to become Timon Barton the 2nd and perish ‘unexpectedly’! If not, and if you can’t kill me, then don’t hold it against me if I annihilate all of you!
“To sum it up—either you kill me, or I’ll kill you!”
" }, { "id": 198, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-198", "title": "Chapter 198 - Stepping On A Black Dragon, A Tempest Colossal Dragon", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“Either you kill me, or I’ll kill you!”
Boom!
His words were virtually a Magnitude 10.0 earthquake that shocked and enraged all the high-ranking officials, nobles, and more than 1,000 Saint Domains present.
Madness! He’s gone mad!
Everyone gasped in unison as they stared at Meng Lei as though they were looking at a lunatic.
He was but a puny little 16-year-old Saint Domain and a child that hadn’t even fully matured!
And yet he dared to utter such things in front of so many Saint Domains in the most dignified place in the empire!?
Just how outrageous was he? Just how arrogant was he? And just how foolish was he?
“How dare a child like you behave so outrageously!”
Frederick the 32nd crushed the throne with a strike of his palm as he roared furiously, “Where are the golden-armored guards?! Why haven’t you arrested him? What are you waiting for?!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The dozen or so golden-armored guards responded loudly, and then, they swarmed toward Meng Lei.
“You’d better behave!”
“Get on your knees!”
“Don’t put up a fight!”
As sentries guarding the conference hall, every one of them was only a step away from becoming a Saint Domain. With so many of them joining hands, even a Saint Domain would have to bow down to them.
Unfortunately, they were destined for tragedy this time.
Just as the golden-armored guards charged over fiercely, a strong, surging recoil force suddenly burst forth from Meng Lei.
Boom!
The wild, violent force erupted all of a sudden, instantly sending all the golden-armored guards flying backward. Blood sprayed from their mouths as they became still and motionless—all of them had actually died from the impact.
“What?”
“They’re dead?”
A huge jolt went through everyone in the hall.
“You… How dare… How dare you?!”
Frederick the 32nd looked infuriated, his visage savage-looking as he roared hysterically, “Take him down! Take him down!!”
“President Fred, so this is the great student that the Fire Dragon Magic Academy has produced!”
Someone rushed forward out of nowhere, giving President Fred a cold, icy look before glaring furiously at Meng Lei.
“You crazy fool who has lost all reason, you’ve got a lot of nerve! Give yourself up at once!”
“Who are you?” asked Meng Lei as he gazed at the black-haired elderly man with a pair of black horns in front of him.
“The academy president of Black Dragon Academy of the Black Dragon Kingdom… Angus!”
Angus ordered calmly, “You audacious and impudent maniac, get on your knees and kowtow to His Majesty and beg for forgiveness at once. Otherwise, don’t hold it against me if I show you no civility!”
“Show me no civility? How are you planning to do that?” Meng Lei flicked his fingers and stated calmly, “I’d like to have a taste of that very much!”
“How audacious!!”
Angus’ eyes widened. Rather than anger, he was pleased instead. He declared, “Since you have a death wish, kid, no-one will say anything even if I slaughter you right here and now!”
Whoosh!
Before he’d even finished speaking, Angus had already abruptly charged out, coming right up to Meng Lei in an instant.
There were no extra flourishes to his actions but just a simple and violent punch.
This single punch was more than enough.
“That guy has actually gotten ahead of me!”
The other Saint Domains who were intending to attack stopped in their tracks one by one, secretly more or less a little displeased.
Although they were dissatisfied with how Angus had acted one step faster than them, they nevertheless had to acknowledge his strength. As an old-timer Saint Domain, Angus had already made a name for himself since several hundred years ago. He possessed unfathomably great power.
In particular, he was even a pure-blooded Black Dragon and owned an incredibly strong and sturdy body. There weren’t many present who would dare claim certain victory over him. With him attacking, there wasn’t much left for the others to do anymore.
The next moment, however, everyone’s eyes widened dramatically as if they had just seen a ghost.
Meng Lei neither dodged nor evaded Angus’ attack. Instead, he casually stretched his right arm out, and then, with a light grab as though he was just catching a ping pong ball, he caught hold of President Angus’ fist.
Roar!
All the momentum, all the power, and all the raging violence—all of it dissipated into the air at this moment as if they had never once existed.
“H-how can that be?!”
Angus was shocked and horrified to the extreme.
“The Black Dragon Academy president is nothing more than just this.”
Meng Lei shook his head, and then, his right leg casually kicked forward. With a dull thud, Angus flew backward with a tragic cry like a launched cannon.
He crashed headfirst into the dragon wall 1 above the emperor, blasting a hole in the savage-looking Colossal Dragon wall mural made out of gold and embedding his entire self into it.
Silence!
The whole place was filled with dead silence!
Everyone stared at Angus—who was embedded in the dragon wall—in a daze, the look in their eyes blank, vacant, and stunned.
A single strike…
He had sent President Angus flying with just a single strike…?
Among the crowd, President Fred, the Fighting Dragon Academy president, and the others exchanged looks, every one of them seeing the shock, horror, and disbelief in one another’s eyes.
“F-Fred!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy president swallowed hard as he asked, “Since when has Meng Lei possessed such strength?”
“I… I don’t know, either!”
Fred murmured to himself, an exciting range of expressions on his visage.
Roar!
With a furious roar, Angus extricated himself out of the dragon wall. With blood at the corners of his lips, he glared furiously at Meng Lei as the flames of fury burned in his eyes.
“I’ve surprisingly underestimated you just now!” Angus wiped the blood off the corners of his lips as he sneered, “But you’ve successfully angered me now, brat! Dare you go outside the hall with me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Meng Lei replied as he cocked his eyebrow. Then, he shot out of the grand hall first.
With a cold snort, Angus also followed after him and flew out of the hall.
“Quickly!”
“Follow after them!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
At the sight of this, everyone in the hall quickly followed them out. The moment they exited the hall, they spotted Meng Lei and Angus, who both stood proudly in mid-air and staring at each other from afar.
“Brat, I’ll admit that you possess strength far beyond the average Saint Domain’s. I’ll also admit that you’re even more of a monster than Timon Barton, who’s ranked top in history.
“But… You still have to die anyway!”
Angus let out a furious roar, his voice erupting with a loud boom like rolling thunder—he had transformed.
Roar!
An enormous Black Dragon standing at over 60-meters-tall and covered in pitch-black scales all over abruptly appeared! Its sharp claws glittered with an icy-cold gleam, and sharp teeth lined its jaws.
Pure dragon might erupted and spread to the surroundings like smoke signals of war rushing into the sky. It swept through the entire palace in an instant and spread toward all directions.
“A Black Dragon!”
“That’s a pure-blooded Black Dragon!”
“What has happened over there?”
Alarmed, all the other people in the palace looked at Angus in the sky.
“Die!”
Angus opened his mouth, and an inky, pitch-black dragon breath sprayed forth from within, instantly sweeping toward Meng Lei.
A Black Dragon’s dragon breath was a very fearsome type of acid that contained astonishing corrosion abilities. It held shocking might, and even a Saint Domain expert would be corroded into mere bones if it got onto them!
“That’s all you got?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. With a slight dodge, he easily evaded the Black Dragon Breath shooting toward him.
Then, he took step after step toward Angus. His movements appeared slow, but in truth, they were extremely quick. In a split second, he had reached right above Angus!
“Goodbye, President Angus!”
Meng Lei stamped his foot down lightly.
“Oh no!”
Greatly alarmed, Angus immediately wanted to flap his wings and duck. However, the thought had only just arisen in his mind when Meng Lei’s foot came lightly from afar and stepped on his head.
Boom!
A great, vast force erupted. Angus didn’t even have the time to cry out before his dragon head was blasted apart by the kick, much like a great hammer smashing into a watermelon.
Brain fluid spurted everywhere as blood sprayed all about!
Boom!
Angus’ enormous body fell through the sky and landed on the even level square, smashing a huge pit into the square.
The body was still and motionless, evidently thoroughly dead. The head, which had been blasted apart, was an exceptionally painful sight.
(ΩДΩ)!!!
(⊙o⊙)…
o((⊙_⊙))o!
Everyone was stunned and dazed!
“Angus has actually been instantly taken out by a single kick?”
“Just what kind of combat strength is that?”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
A brief moment of surprise and stunned stupefaction later, a furor went through the entire square.
As every single person stared at the ruptured dragon head and at President Angus, who had been taken out in an instant, they couldn’t help but gasp.
That was President Angus! One must know that he was an old-timer Saint Domain that had already made a name for himself several hundred years ago. Moreover, he was even a pure-blooded Black Dragon of the purest bloodline! He was pretty much already a high-level Saint Domain!
And yet… His head had been blasted apart with just a kick, and he had been killed in a second!
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
Had it been others who had killed him, it wouldn’t have been that surprising, but the key here was that the one that had taken his life was just a 16-year-old little brat!
A 16-year-old brat!
Who would believe something like that?
Who would dare to believe something like that?
And how were they supposed to believe something like that?
For a moment there, the emperor, the whole court of officials, nobles, and up to a thousand Saint Domains all stared at that figure standing calmly and quietly in the sky, their eyes filled with disbelief.
“I’ve heard something before.”
Meng Lei, who was facing everyone’s gazes that looked as if they were looking at a monster, spoke at this point.
His voice was calm and even, yet it echoed in the sky above the palace and clearly reached every corner of the palace.
“I’ve heard that brave dragon slayers don’t exist in the Dragon God Empire because all those that dared harbor designs on pure-blooded Colossal Dragons have all died.
“Since I’ve killed a Black Dragon today, does that mean that I’ve become the one and only brave dragon slayer in the Dragon God Empire?”
“A brave dragon slayer?”
The corners of everyone’s lips spasmed at his words. They were fuming mad. He was simply too arrogant and conceited.
“That evil creature! That damned evil creature!”
Frederick the 32nd was so infuriated that he was shaking with rage. Even his countenance was all contorted as he commanded, “Kill him! Kill him! I want him dead! I’m going to cut him into a million pieces and torture him to death! I want him to die a terrible death!”
“This…”
The many Saint Domains present hesitated. Meng Lei had taken only an instant to kill Angus, thereby exhibiting fearsome strength capable of instantly killing a high-level Saint Domain. Were they to attack, wouldn’t they just be sending themselves to death’s door in vain?
“President Luke, are you going to just watch as that evil creature behaves so presumptuously?!”
Frederick the 32nd bellowed furiously as he turned to President Luke and the others.
Among everyone present, President Luke was definitely the strongest of them all. Who was supposed to attack, if not him?
“I understand, Your Majesty!”
President Luke nodded slightly. With a flash of his form and an aloof look on his countenance, he came right up to Meng Lei.
“Meng Lei, not only do you possess the Fire Dragon bloodline, but you’re even a member of royalty. Yet you behave in such a perverse and insane manner, wantonly slaying a pure-blooded Dragon…”
“Alright, alright. You can skip the unnecessary crap. Even my ears are becoming callused from all superfluous rubbish.”
Meng Lei waved dismissively and interrupted President Luke, who was filled with righteous indignation. “We’ll let our skills speak for themselves.”
“How presumptuous!”
President Luke looked livid. Then, a magic staff abruptly manifested in his hand.
Buzz!
Right away, Wind Elements within a few kilometers of where they were swiftly gathered and formed a 10-meters-long cyan wind blade.
“Go, Dimensional Blade!”
With an icy snort from President Luke, the cyan wind blade sliced through the air and shot toward Meng Lei at a lightning-quick speed. It moved incredibly swiftly and was hardly visible to the naked eye!
“As expected of a Saint Domain Great Magician at their pinnacle!”
At the sight of the Dimensional Blade shooting rapidly toward him, a look of approval appeared on Meng Lei’s face. Then, he stretched out his right arm and grabbed at it in the most casual of motions.
“What’s he doing???”
“Is he taking the Dimensional Blade head-on?!”
“What a lunatic!”
“He’s a total lunatic!”
" }, { "id": 199, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-199", "title": "Chapter 199 - A Brave Dragon Slayer, One Hammer Strike Each", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "“What a lunatic!”
“He’s a total lunatic!”
“Who would dare do that unless they’re a lunatic?”
Everyone in the square was shocked by Meng Lei’s crazy action.
Dimensional Blade was hailed as the strongest wind-elemental single-target offensive first-class spell. It was also considered one of the best among the many single-target offensive first-class spells out there in terms of offensive power.
This was especially true when it was President Luke, a Saint Domain at pinnacle-level, casting it—its might was absolutely incredible!
Yet Meng Lei actually intended to take it head-on with bare hands!
What was he, if not a lunatic?
“You’re going too far!”
President Luke let out an icy snort, a hint of great displeasure flashing across his features.
He was the Dragon God Academy president and a pinnacle-level Wind-Elemental Saint Domain Great Magician, yet Meng Lei was looking down on him so much!
What a great insult to him this was!
What happened next, however, completely overturned everything that President Luke knew.
Meng Lei easily caught the highly compressed and incomparably sharp Dimensional Blade capable of cutting apart everything in the world when it reached right in front of him with a casual grabbing motion.
The Dimensional Blade, which was hailed as the strongest wind-elemental single-target offensive first-class spell, simply couldn’t make even a nick on Meng Lei’s fair, tender, smooth, exquisite, slender, and delicate hand.
“Break!”
Meng Lei’s hand closed around it forcefully with a soft shout.
Crack!
The incomparably compressed Dimensional Blade instantly broke into pieces and turned into innumerable cyan wind elements, upon which they returned to the universe as if they’d never once appeared.
“Noooo!”
“That’s impossible!!”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
How can this possibly be true?!
“Catching and breaking the Dimensional Blade with his bare hand… Is he even human?!”
President Luke was dumbfounded, and so were the other 1,000-odd Saint Domains and Frederick the 32nd.
Astounded to the extreme, no-one could believe their eyes!
“As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive! Have a taste of my Dimensional Blade, too!”
Meng Lei formed a sword with his fingers and lightly drew a line across the air.
Slash!
The air instantly ripped apart. A black fissure slightly over one-meter-long quietly appeared, and then, as light as a feather, it started to extend toward President Luke!
“R-ripping apart the air…”
President Luke looked as though he’d just seen a ghost. He shuddered all over, and even his voice was trembling a little.
Then, his voice was abruptly cut off—the black fissure had quietly appeared and lightly slashed across his neck. A bloody line formed, and then, his head left his body.
Boom!
President Luke’s corpse plummeted onto the square with a crash before turning into its true form—it was actually a Tempest Colossal Dragon with cyan scales all over it and over 70-meters-long!
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was a wind-elemental Colossal Dragon and one of the ten major Dragon breeds. Their forte was wind-elemental Dragon-Language Magic.
Meng Lei descended from the sky and landed on top of the Tempest Colossal Dragon carcass. As he gazed at all the Saint Domains that numbered up to a thousand present, he couldn’t help but lick his lips.
Since hunting Magical Beasts could earn him gold coins… Would killing people also bring him gold coins?
The answer was… A definite yes!
To be honest, Meng Lei had actually known from the very beginning that he could also earn gold coins by killing people, but he had refrained from doing so.
After all, since he could earn gold coins just by hunting Magical Beasts, why should he kill people? He didn’t want to become a cold, ruthless devil that didn’t even so much as bat an eyelid when killing someone, just for the sake of money.
But today, Meng Lei had decided to go on a killing spree!
Killing Angus had earned him 7.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, while killing President Luke had earned 9.2 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
With so many Saint Domains present, how many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals would that amount up to?
Besides, a vast majority of them weren’t even human, but… Magical Beasts!
Were Dragons human? Of course not!
“Your Majesty, didn’t you want me to die a terrible death? Why aren’t you attacking yet?”
Meng Lei held his hands behind him, and leisurely took step after step toward the emperor as though he was taking a stroll in the park.
“Guards! Guards!”
Frederick the 32nd was so frightened that he shuddered all over and began to shout at the top of his lungs.
“Protect the emperor!”
“Protect His Majesty!”
Everyone quickly stood in front of the emperor, assuming a fighting stance as if they were protecting the emperor. However, their faces were pale, their legs were shaking, and their eyes were brimming with fear.
Meng Lei had badly frightened all of them.
“Meng Lei, stop that!” President Fred stepped forward at this point. “It’s not too late yet if you turn back now. If you continue to err so stubbornly, the Dragon God Empire will no longer have a place for you!”
“Turn back? Can I still turn back?”
As he looked into Fred’s eyes, which were filled with sadness and heartache, Meng Lei looked up and sighed to the heavens. “President, do you know something? I just lost someone who was dearest to me!”
President Fred was startled.
“To save me, he perished together with the Tree of Life. That’s the only reason why these pieces of garbage could leave the Lost Continent alive!”
Meng Lei cast a glance at the dozens of surviving contestants, frightening them so badly that their insides nearly ruptured from fear.
“But look at what happened in the end? Not only are these heartless and cold-blooded ingrates not even the least bit thankful, but they even want me to take the blame! Don’t you think they deserve to die?”
“Perished together with the Tree of Life?”
At once, something seemed to occur to President Fred, and he exclaimed, “Could it be that the Dragon King supporting you… has died?!”
“That’s right!
Meng Lei nodded heavily as harsh, killing intent filled his eyes. “So, don’t stop me! You can’t stop me, anyway! I’m going to kill all these ingrates today and let them follow Ol’ President to the otherworld!”
“Meng Lei…”
Fred wanted to persuade him further, but Meng Lei had already vanished from where he was. By the time he reappeared, he was already right in front of the emperor and the many other Saint Domains.
“Bunch of ingrates, how do you still have the cheek to live with yourselves in this world? Go to hell, all of you!”
With a flick of his fingers, several ice blades shot forward and instantly engulfed the surviving contestants!
Splurt!
Splurt!
A round of ice blades later, all the surviving contestants had lost their lives. They didn’t even have the time to beg for mercy!
After that, Meng Lei turned to Frederick the 32nd as if he’d only done something so trivial that it wasn’t even worth mentioning.
“Your Majesty, I feel pretty wronged that you should claim that I’ve caused the deaths of 108 contestants,” Meng Lei said with a slight smile, “So that you do not wrong me, I shall do a little something!”
“W-what are you planning to do?”
Frederick the 32nd roared furiously, “I’m the emperor of the empire! The noble and distinguished Dragon Emperor! If you dare attack me, all the old grandmasters on the Dragon Island will never let you off! There will no longer be a place for you in this whole world!”
“Is that so? I’d like very much to try that, then!”
Meng Lei made a grabbing motion in the air, and then, an ice sword glittering with a cold, icy glint appeared in his hand.
“Guards! Guards!”
Frederick the 32nd retreated several steps, filled with alarm and fear. The group of Saint Domain experts standing in front of him and blocking him from Meng Lei also retreated along with him.
With every step Meng Lei advanced, they took a step back. With another step forward, they took yet another step back!
A single person was actually pressuring a thousand Saint Domains into pathetic retreat! It was practically the most comical sight ever!
“You bold, audacious outlaw! Don’t you hurt His Majesty!”
At that moment, a few loud and sonorous dragon roars suddenly traveled over from the sky a great distance away. Everyone raised their heads and looked over to see several Colossal Dragons flapping their wings and flying toward them.
Golden scales, golden claws, golden wings, and golden horns… There were a few Golden Colossal Dragons!
In terms of body size alone, those few Golden Colossal Dragons were a tad inferior to Barbarossa’s 100-meters-long dragon form, but the surging, torrential dragon might around them was immeasurably stronger than Barbarossa’s!
Evidently, all of them were Golden Colossal Dragon People with extremely pure bloodlines. Although still not as pure as Barbarossa’s, their actual strength far surpassed his.
“The elders!”
“It’s the ten elders!”
“Your Majesty, the ten elders have come!”
The many Saint Domains were overjoyed.
“That’s great! With the ten elders here, I have no need to worry anymore!”
Frederick the 32nd was delighted. Then, a savage look gleamed in his eyes, and he declared, “You evil creature, I want you to die a terrible death today!”
“Those are the ten elders of the senior statesmen’s assembly!”
Fred heaved a sigh and tried to kindly persuade Meng Lei again.
“Meng Lei, don’t make any more mistakes. The ten elders of the senior statesmen’s assembly are all pinnacle-level Saint Domain great experts, among whom the Grand Elder is even a limits-level Saint Domain and an existence that’s a step away from becoming a half-deity. You won’t be their match at all! Listen to me, and stop while it’s still not too late!”
“A limits-level Saint Domain?” Meng Lei licked his lips and asked, “The kind of limits-level expert that has reached 99.999% comprehension of a type of laws of nature and is just a final step away from attaining 100% comprehension?”
“Yes!” Fred said in a low voice, “Every limits-level Saint Domain is incomparably exalted. Even the half-deity grandmasters have to show them some courtesy! You—”
“Awesome! The stronger, the better!”
Meng Lei licked his lips. The stronger they were, the more valuable they would be. Only then would there be a kick in killing them!
Crash!
Crash!
In the twinkling of an eye, the ten Golden Colossal Dragons had reached right above him. The largest was nearing 100-meters-long, and even the smallest was as long as 90 meters.
Each of them gave off vast, mighty dragon might that made everyone present feel immense pressure.
“Where’s the knave, Your Majesty?”
The longest Golden Colossal Dragon shouted the question furiously, his voice as though a thunderclap.
“What good timing, elders!” Frederick the 32nd pointed at Meng Lei and shouted furiously, “Kill that wicked fiend at once!”
“Calm down, Your Majesty. When we capture that wicked fiend, we’ll hand him over to Your Majesty to deal with!”
The longest Golden Colossal Dragon roared, “Bold and impudent knave, how dare you come and act so wildly in the empire’s palaces! You deserve to die a thousand times for your act of treason!”
“Haha, I deserve to die a thousand times for my act of treason?”
Meng Lei laughed into the sky as the Hammer of Destruction appeared in his hand. Then, he appeared out of the blue right in front of one of the Golden Colossal Dragons, raised the hammer, and swung it toward the Golden Colossal Dragon!
“How audacious!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon glowered at him and raised its sharp, savage-looking claws and swiped at him.
Boom!
The Hammer of Destruction collided with the Golden Colossal Dragon’s claws. The claws straight-up broke and became all mashed up with a hole smashed right into it!
“Ahhh!”
Following a shrill scream, large droplets of dragon blood splattered through the air and dyed the ground red.
“Take another strike of my hammer!”
Meng Lei quietly appeared above the Golden Colossal Dragon’s head with a slight sway of his body and gave it another heavy hammer strike.
Crack!
It was as though a great hammer had smashed into a watermelon! Or a sledgehammer knocking an egg!
With a crisp crash, the Golden Colossal Dragon’s head unsurprisingly broke apart!
Howl!
Amid a shrill and miserable dragon roar, the dragon’s nearly 100-meters-long body plummeted through the sky and smashed a huge dragon-shaped hole into the square. Just like that, a pinnacle-level Saint Domain had perished!
“Old Ninth!”
“Ninth Elder!”
At the sight of that, the nine remaining Golden Colossal Dragons roared furiously. Their voices were like rolling thunder, their wrath like violent winds and torrential waves, and their killing intent like the howls of the mountains and the roars of the seas!
“You bastard!”
“You evil creature!”
“You knave!”
“Return the Ninth Elder’s life!”
“Don’t be anxious. Everyone gets their own share!”
With a laugh, Meng Lei appeared right in front of the second Golden Colossal Dragon like a specter and smashed his hammer down again.
Howl!
Then, it was the third Golden Colossal Dragon, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth…
All of them received one strike each, fair and square!
Everyone got a share each, not a single one receiving more or less than that!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
For a moment there, it began to rain pork dumplings, no, dragon dumplings!
Nine out of the ten mighty, awe-inspiring Golden Colossal Dragons roaring furiously into the sky just now had fallen onto the ground.
Then, they became still and motionless and turned into dead dragons.
“How did that happen!?”
Frederick the 32nd had totally broken down.
" }, { "id": 200, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-200", "title": "Chapter 200 - Slaughtering Them All, Top In History", "volume": 2, "volume_title": "Volume 2", "text": "The pinnacle of Saint Domain realm represented the apex. It was easy to advance to the Saint Domain realm, but to attain the Saint Domain realm’s pinnacle was an impossibly difficult task.
There were thousands of ordinary Saint Domains in the whole of the Dragon God Empire, so many that one could barely keep count, but there were only a handful of pinnacle-level ones. On top of that, that number was an accumulated result of many years.
Yet now, nine of them had died in such a short time!
Who would be able to accept that?
Nobody at all!
“How did that happen?”
Emperor Frederick the 32nd had broken down completely. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why Meng Lei, who was just 16 years old, was that strong.
He killed pinnacle-level Saint Domains as if he were just slaughtering livestock.
Just how did he manage to do that?
“You’re the only one left now!”
With the Hammer of Destruction hoisted over his shoulder, Meng Lei looked at the longest Golden Colossal Dragon and asked, “What’s your preferred manner of death?”
“You… You’ve actually killed nine of the elders!”
The Grand Elder was shaking as flames of wrath and hatred burst forth from his eyes. Amid his fury was, however, a hint of alarm and fear.
Although the other nine elders weren’t as strong as him, they were nevertheless still pinnacle-level Saint Domains.
Instantly killing pinnacle-level Saint Domains? He absolutely wouldn’t be able to do that at all!
And yet… Meng Lei had managed to!
What did this show?
It showed that Meng Lei was even more powerful than him and even stronger than a limits-level Saint Domain—a half-deity!
Only a half-deity would be stronger than a limits-level Saint Domain.
The moment that occurred to him, the Grand Elder couldn’t help but bellow in a deep voice, “Sir, by acting in such a way that shows no regard for authority, don’t you fear the Dragon Island’s half-deity’s punishment!?”
“That’s my business. I don’t need your unnecessary concern about that.” Then, Meng Lei suddenly laughed and added, “But if you want to worry about something like that, I can give you the opportunity.”
“What are you intending to do?” the Grand Elder bellowed in a deep voice.
“I’ve always had a dream, and that is to roam the heavens while riding a Colossal Dragon. In the past, I was too weak and could only dream about it, but that’s no longer the case now.”
Meng Lei gave him a leisurely smile and said, “Although you aren’t a pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon, you’re not that far off, either. As long as you form a master-servant contract with me and become my mount, I can spare your life!”
“Form a master-servant contract with you? And become your mount?”
The Grand Elder was so furious that he was shaking all over. “Sir, what you’re doing is trampling on a Colossal Dragon’s pride! The prideful Dragons will never let you off!”
“So, you’re not agreeable to it? Die, then!”
With an icy snort, Meng Lei came right up to the Grand Elder with just a step and swung the Hammer of Destruction down!
“No!”
The Grand Elder’s eyes were widened to the point of splitting, yet he nevertheless couldn’t dodge the Hammer of Destruction smashing down heavily toward him.
Crack!
Under the hammer, the limits-level Saint Domain great expert was no different from the previous nine pinnacle-level Golden Colossal Dragons—with just a strike, the hammer blasted his head apart, too!
Boom!
The enormous Dragon carcass plummeted onto the ground, causing an intense tremor to go through the ground before everything returned to peace and quiet.
In spite of that, no-one was feeling any peace and quiet in their hearts. In fact… All of them had already lost it!
“Dead? He’s died just like that?”
“Even the limits-level Saint Domain Grand Elder is dead?”
“Nine pinnacle-level Saint Domains and one limits-level Saint Domain have died just like that?”
“A devil! He’s the devil himself!”
“O great Dragon God, hurry and save your pious descendants…”
“And now, it’s all of your turns!”
With the Hammer of Destruction hoisted over his shoulder, Meng Lei gazed at Frederick the 32nd and the many other Saint Domains, nobles, and officials.
“Guards! Guards!”
Frederick the 32nd was as pale as a sheet, so frightened that he was shivering all over. Which part of him even looked like a sovereign now?
“Now… No-one can save all of you anymore!”
Meng Lei had a calm and tranquil look on his visage as he asked, “The higher management officials of Dragon God Empire are all here now, right?”
Frederick the 32nd’s voice trembled as he asked, “M-Meng Lei, what exactly are you planning? Be clear about it!”
Meng Lei gave him a calm smile as he replied, “Wiping all of you out at once!”
“Wiping all of us out at once?”
Everyone’s countenances changed greatly!
“Divine Technique: Absolute Zero!”
With a flick of his fingers, a golden, chilly air current burst forth and spread forward.
“Run!”
Everyone’s insides were close to rupturing from fear as they fled madly. However, the golden, chilly air current was even quicker—in the blink of an eye, it had spread outward and enveloped the entire square!
Creeeak!
Creeeak!
Creeeak!
All that it stood in the chilly air current’s path became sealed in ice.
From Frederick the 32nd to every high-ranking official, all of them were frozen to the spot. Then, they turned into golden ice sculptures.
Everyone maintained a pose in the midst of escape while looks of alarm and fear also remained on their faces.
In this instant, everything had become frozen in time!
“Flee? How laughable!”
Meng Lei walked into the crowd of ice sculptures. A sculpture fell onto the ground with a light tap, and then, with a loud crack, it shattered into ice chips!
“Meng Lei! Stop that! Hurry and stop that! They are all higher management officials of the empire! You can’t kill them all!”
President Fred, the Fighting Dragon Academy president, and the other four who hadn’t been sealed in ice, stared hard at Meng Lei.
“I know what I’m doing, Presidents.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and pushed the second ice sculpture down. Then, he went on to the third, fourth, fifth, sixth…
By the time Meng Lei had walked from one end of the square to the other end, 99% of the ice sculptures had broken into bits and pieces. Only about a dozen vivid-looking ice sculptures were left standing—and all of them were pure-blooded humans!
Meng Lei released them from Absolute Zero’s hold. The dozen or so humans that had been unfrozen watched Meng Lei with fear and trepidation on their countenances. In particular, upon noticing the broken fragments littered all over the ground, they became even more frightened, so much so that their insides were close to rupturing from fear, and they were scared witless!
Dead?
They’re all dead?
Oh my god!!!
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across them. Then, he turned and walked toward President Fred and the other five academy presidents.
“Look at what you’ve done, Meng Lei! You’re in deep trouble! You’ve totally stirred up a hornet’s nest! The empire will never let you off, and neither will the Dragon Island, not to mention the Dragon God!”
Fred and the others were terribly distressed.
“Then let them come!”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers as he said, “I’ll kill one if one comes, and if ten come, I’ll kill a dozen! If all of them come, then I’ll just kill them all!”
“Meng Lei!!!”
Fred bellowed deeply, “Why have you become like this? How can you let down the spirit of the deceased President Amos?”
“No, you’re wrong!”
Meng Lei gazed at President Fred as he replied, “If Ol’ President knew about everything I’ve done, he’d only be happy for me! I know him better than you do!
“He doesn’t belong to the Dragons! Much less sworn allegiance to that bunch of rotten, depraved nobles and that so-called Golden Colossal Dragon emperor!
“Therefore, Ol’ President wouldn’t be angry over those guys’ deaths at all! On the contrary, he’d support me instead!”
At this point, Meng Lei sighed and added, “He knows what I want, and he knows the reason why I’ve done all that. He knows why I have to do so!”
“What are you planning on doing, Meng Lei?”
Fred shouted hoarsely, “You’ve killed His Majesty, you’ve killed all the high-ranking court officials, you’ve killed all the officials and nobles, and you’ve killed a good half of the Saint Domains in the empire! Tell me, what exactly are you planning to do?!”
Meng Lei gazed into the distance, and then, he slowly replied, “President, I’ve become a half-deity!”
Then, he left without a second word.
“A half-deity?!”
Fred and the others were astounded!
Despite having witnessed Meng Lei go on a killing spree and instantly kill a limits-level Saint Domain, thereby realizing that he might already have entered that unfathomable realm, having Meng Lei personally admit to it to them nonetheless still astounded Fred and the others to the extreme.
“A half-deity!”
“Meng Lei has attained half-deification?”
“Oh my goodness! He has actually attained half-deification!”
“This…”
It was only after a substantially long while that the six of them finally got over their astoundment and regained their senses.
In a low voice, one of the academy presidents said, “While attaining half-deification is certainly astounding, can he act so recklessly and brazenly just because he has attained half-deification? What kind of position would he be putting the Dragon Island’s grandmasters in?”
“Exactly! Does Meng Lei think that he doesn’t need to fear the few grandmasters just because he has become a half-deity?”
“That’s too egotistical of him!”
“I don’t know whether he’s being egotistical or full of himself or not, but Meng Lei definitely isn’t just purely killing people for the sake of it!”
Fred’s voice trembled as he said, “This is him fighting for power of faith! He intends to fight for the power of faith!”
“Fight for the power of faith?!”
A huge jolt went through everyone!
…
Killing the emperor! Slaughtering the empire’s higher management!
With that, one could say that he had thoroughly offended the Dragons, the Dragon Island’s half-deities, and in fact, even the Dragon God!
This appeared to be an extremely rash, foolish, and irrational act, but in truth? Of course it wasn’t!
Because in just that brief amount of time, Meng Lei had already received rich, handsome rewards!
Wealth: 2,583 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
After killing over a thousand Saint Domains, he had earned a net profit of 2,583 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
Was this transaction worth it?
There was no doubt about the answer—because this many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals was enough for him to do a lot of things.
Such as raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate to 100%;
Such as raising the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline assimilation rate to 100%;
Such as redeeming 25 Power of Divinity droplets;
And such as using the Limitless Pickup function 2,583 times!
Pray tell, compared to such rich, handsome profits, what did offending the Dragons even count as? What did offending the Dragon Island’s half-deities even count as?
Should they dare to attack him, he’d kill them all and turn them all into Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
As for offending the Dragon God?
Meng Lei remembered that Ol’ President had once said this—deities that had already left Heaven’s Vault Continent couldn’t descend upon the continent in their true form.
At best, they could only send a divinity projection—and divinity projections could only utilize a half-deity’s level of strength.
Meng Lei had no fear of half-deities; after all, an adult Gods-Slaying Rat at 100% bloodline assimilation rate… could eat a deity!
Therefore, while it might appear rash, foolish, and irrational, it actually wasn’t at all!
With this many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, nothing in the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent fazed or frightened Meng Lei anymore!
Since that was so, then why not fight for the power of faith?
It was exactly like what Meng Lei had told President Fred—”I’ve become a half-deity!”
The underlying meaning behind those words was… “I’ve become a half-deity, so I need worshipers!”
And where were his worshipers going to come from?
The Dragon God Empire, of course!
For the sake of obtaining the huge piece of the power of faith “cake” known as the Dragon God Empire, he needed to get rid of the old religion.
Was there a need to leave the emperor and the empire’s higher management alive?
The answer was clear and definite—of course not!
“Now that even the emperor is dead, surely the Dragon Island’s half-deities will be infuriated? It’s best if all of them come over! If I can kill them all, I’ll be able to bring the empire under control with peace of mind.”
Meng Lei made his way over to the Dragon God Tower while he thought about all that. He wanted to continue earning money in the Dragon God Tower.
The Dragon God Academy was as quiet, peaceful, and harmonious as always. Students were doing whatever they should be doing, completely unaware that the empire’s higher management had all been slaughtered. Neither did they know that an unprecedented storm was about to sweep through the entire empire!
“Enjoy the last moments of peace quietly, children!”
Upon reaching the Dragon God Tower, Meng Lei strode forward and entered. In no time, he arrived at the 41st level.
The Saint Domain Magical Beast on the 41st level was the Heavenly Blade Bug and was roughly a mid-level Saint Domain. Meng Lei casually killed it, and then, he continued to head up.
The 42nd level, 43rd level, 44th level…
The 52nd level, 53rd level, 54th level…
The 62nd level, 63rd level, 64th level…
A half-deity’s strength was not to be resisted. Meng Lei advanced with a crushing force. It didn’t take long before he surpassed the top-ranking Timon Barton and arrived at the 79th floor.
At the same time, his ranking on the Dragon God Genius Ranking also rose to first place, triggering a huge commotion!
" }, { "id": 201, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-201", "title": "Chapter 201 - Smashing The Dragon God Dead, The Tower Of Time", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Top in history!”
“Meng Lei has actually become number one in history!”
“He’s too impressive!”
“He’s actually successfully surpassed Timon Barton from 10,000 years ago to become the number one in history!”
“To think there’s actually a genius like that among the humans!”
“Incredible!”
In front of the Dragon God Tower, looks of astoundment appeared in students’ eyes as they gazed upon the name that had successfully reached the summit.
“No. 1: Meng Lei, Human, 16 years old, Level 79”
“Level 79 at 16-years-old! I really don’t know how he managed to do that!?”
“Yeah! How did he do that?”
“From Dragon God Tower’s 30th level onward, one has to be at least a Saint Domain if they wish to ascend further; from the 60th level onward, it’s almost impossible to proceed if they don’t have at least the strength of a high-level Saint Domain. At the 70th level, they have to be at least a pinnacle-level Saint Domain!”
“A 16-year-old pinnacle-level Saint Domain?”
“Is he a monster…”
They were astounded and perplexed. They couldn’t imagine how it had happened at all.
However, what happened next let them know that… This was just an appetizer!
Five minutes later, he reached the 80th level;
Ten minutes later, he reached the 81st level;
Fifteen minutes later, he reached the 82nd level;
And then, the 83rd level, 84th level…
Meng Lei advanced the whole way with a crushing force without even a moment’s rest until he successfully arrived at the 91st level.
By this point, the students in front of the Dragon God Tower had already become totally numb to his exploits. Only one thought remained in their minds—could he pass the trial?
…
Dragon God Tower, 91st level—this was a scorching hot world.
Ten suns hung suspended in the sky, willfully giving off light and heat. The lands were desolate and barren. There was no grass, no trees, no rivers; the only things there were boiling hot rocks and the crimson red ground.
Meng Lei stepped onto it, only to hear sizzling sounds coming from his feet—his shoes’ soles had been melted. The ground’s surface temperature was astonishingly high.
“Are there only Fire Elements here? Only fire-elemental laws of nature exist here?”
Meng Lei searched for the magic circle leading to the next level as he walked on the wide, scorching-hot land.
Screeech!
Suddenly, a crisp and clear cry traveled over from the sky. Then, innumerable fireballs descended from above.
Meng Lei looked up to see one of the suns spitting fireballs like a machine gun.
Fireballs came from above and crashed into the ground, causing booming explosions as they did.
At the sight of this, a smile immediately appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance, and he flew toward the sun hanging in the sky.
As for the huge fireballs constantly shooting down, he was able to easily evade them. They couldn’t get him at all.
Before long, Meng Lei arrived in front of the sun. The so-called “sun” wasn’t actually a real sun, but a gigantic bird whose body blazed throughout with flames and whose wingspan was more than 100-meters-wide.
“A Sunbird!”
Meng Lei was filled with marvel at once.
Sunbirds were fire-elemental Saint Domain Magical Beasts. Their prowess in the way of flames far exceeded that of ordinary fire-elemental Magical Beasts; hence they were known as the Holy Beasts of Flames.
Each of these ten Sunbirds in front of him was like pinnacle-level Saint Domain Magical Beasts, perhaps even limits-level ones.
In particular, the combat power they could exhibit in an environment like the 91st level’s firmly surpassed that of the ten Golden Colossal Dragons that Meng Lei had killed.
It was just a shame that it was still useless against him.
“Go!”
The Gods-Slaying Spear shot out.
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid shrill cries, all ten Sunbirds unsurprisingly perished. Before a half-deity like Meng Lei, they didn’t even have the chance to put up any resistance!
As the ten Sunbirds plummeted onto the ground, a magic circle also appeared in the middle of the sky.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick them up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fire-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +4,869!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the fire-elemental first-class spell, Great Sun In The Sky!”
Meng Lei stepped into the magic circle and arrived at the 92nd level.
Ten minutes later, he reached the 93rd level;
Twenty minutes later, he reached the 94th level;
Thirty minutes later, he reached the 95th level;
And an hour later, Meng Lei arrived at the 99th level!
Innumerable students had assembled in front of the Dragon God Tower, and even a large number of teachers had hurried over upon hearing the news.
The 99th level!
Someone had actually gone up to the Dragon God Tower’s 99th level! Was he about to reach the summit, too?
If someone were to reach the summit…
This would no doubt be a monumental event never-before-seen in history. Everyone wanted to witness the great history-making moment with their own eyes.
“The 99th level! He’s really too impressive!”
“He’s about to ascend to the 100th level!”
“With Meng Lei’s trial-passing speed, reaching the summit won’t be a problem for him!”
“That’s true. On average, he needed only ten minutes per level. He’s pretty much the only one who could reach a speed like that…”
The people couldn’t help but sigh abjectly. Even the 20th to 30th levels were full of stumbling blocks for the average person, but look at Meng Lei—he had gone all the way to the 99th level!
Was there really such a huge gap between one and another?
Dragon God Tower, 99th level…
The Saint Domain Magical Beasts occupying the 99th level were ten limits-level Saint Domain… Golden-Eyed Guardian Lions!
Golden-Eyed Guardian Lions were the offspring of lions and the divine beast Suan Ni 1 . It bore a lion’s outward appearance, its whole body blazed with fireworks-like flames, and it had golden eyes.
While ten limits-level Saint Domain Golden-Eyed Guardian Lions were undoubtedly strong and mighty, they nevertheless posed no threat to Meng Lei. With just ten hammer strikes, he crushed them all.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Metal-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the metal-elemental first-class spell, Ultimate Alchemy!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Metal-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“These are some pretty great rewards.” Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction.
Then, just as he was about to step into the Dragon God Tower’s 100th level, something unexpected happened.
A majestic-looking man abruptly appeared in the magic circle and blocked Meng Lei’s way.
Apart from having a strong, muscular physique, there was nothing remarkable about the man’s appearance at all. He was the kind of person that one would lose sight of the moment he was thrown into a crowd.
In spite of that, Meng Lei felt a great sense of pressure at the sight of him, much like what he had felt when he had first seen a Saint Domain Magical Beast—powerless and full of trepidation and fear.
“Who are you?” Meng Lei narrowed his eyes slightly.
“The Dragon God!”
The majestic-looking man gave a shocking answer to his question.
“You’re the Dragon God?”
Meng Lei’s pupils contracted, and he tensed up severely at once as torrential waves surged and churned in his heart.
Why has the Dragon God appeared here?
“Descendant of mine, why do you not kneel upon the sight of this god?”
The majestic-looking man’s voice thundered with every word he uttered. Each word that left his mouth felt like dull, rumbling thunder in a drought—deafening and like a booming explosion.
At the same time, an overwhelming, terrifying divine power also came crashing down on Meng Lei like a great mountain as it tried to force him onto his knees.
“Your Holiness the Dragon God, you’re mistaken. I’m not your offspring.” With a slight smile, Meng Lei’s gaze swept up and down the Dragon God as he said, “If there’s nothing else, please step aside. I still need to go up the tower.”
“How dare you!” The Dragon God glowered at him. “How dare a mere half-deity disrespect this god?”
“‘This god’? You’re just a divinity projection. Don’t think too highly of yourself.”
Meng Lei gave a contemptuous laugh. Then, the Hammer of Destruction appeared in his hand, and he swung it toward him.
“How impudent!”
Enraged, the Dragon God raised his right palm and smacked it down at Meng Lei.
The power of divinity surged in his palm as laws of nature gathered—it was actually a laws of nature attack imbued with the power of divinity.
“Break!”
Meng Lei, however, didn’t fear him at all. His Hammer of Destruction met him head-on.
Boom!
As hammer and palm collided, an earth-shattering explosion broke out, and Meng Lei was sent flying.
On the other hand, the Dragon God actually remained as immovable as a mountain and was still standing firmly where he was!
“To think even a divinity projection is also that powerful… As expected of an existence that has attained true godhood.”
Meng Lei licked off the blood at his lip corners as an intimidating glint burst forth from his eyes.
“How dare a lowly ant to challenge the great Dragon God! Prepare to accept my judgment!”
The Dragon God slowly rose into the air, surging power of divinity waves emanating from all around him.
Right after that, he raised a finger slightly and pressed down lightly on Meng Lei.
Boom!
The tiny little index finger instantly became a massive pillar connecting heaven and earth. The power of divinity surged from it while laws of nature flowed around it. The terrifying might it held was as if it could pierce through the heavens with just one finger.
“I can’t take that head-on!”
Meng Lei could sense the aura of death as he watched the gigantic finger crushing toward him. At once, he contacted the system.
“System, redeem credit immediately! Raise my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate by 50%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrunk by 500 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
Practically at the same time, his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate also started to skyrocket quickly!
11%, 12%, 13%…
21%, 22%, 23%…
In an instant, his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate soared to 60%!
At the same time, sticky, viscous greenish-black flames also surged out of Meng Lei’s body and started to fervently modify and enhance his body.
Boom, boom, boom!
“What fearsome power!”
His Physical Body Constitution spiked at a never-before-experienced speed as if he was riding a rocket.
As he took in the endless source of energy in his body, Meng Lei suddenly charged toward the gigantic finger.
“Break!”
The Hammer of Destruction clashed with the gigantic finger, like Mars crashing into Earth. Amid a great, deafening explosion, the gigantic finger exploded with a boom while Meng Lei was also thrown back.
“He’s actually parried the blow?”
The Dragon God stumbled slightly and looked at Meng Lei, somewhat astonished.
That blow just now was the strongest attack that he could currently launch, but Meng Lei had actually parried it.
“Hehe! I managed to parry your attack!”
Meng Lei’s eyes glittered as a hint of madness flashed across its depths.
“Since I’m going to redeem credits, then I might as well just do it all the way! System, raise my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate to 100%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrunk again, this time by 400 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
Screech!
Meng Lei roared furiously into the sky as the greenish-black flames winding around him manifested into a solid state.
Boom!
Then, the aura around him began to spike dramatically again.
“He’s become stronger again?”
The Dragon God sensed a hint of danger.
“Die, great Dragon God!”
Meng Lei gave him a cruel smile before vanishing on the spot.
“Take a strike of my hammer!”
Boom!
The hammer came at him so quickly that the Dragon God couldn’t even react in time and was struck in the head by the hammer.
As the idiom went, “Kick a man while he’s down!”
Meng Lei didn’t hold back at all. He launched into a frenzy of wild strikes and crazed bombardment, hammer strike after hammer strike, and hit after hit.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!”
The Dragon God was so mad that he roared again and again, yet there was nothing he could do about it. Meng Lei simply moved too quickly and was completely suppressing him. He couldn’t find an opportunity to counterattack at all!
Under such frenzied attacks, the Dragon God’s divinity projection became more and more transparent until it was ultimately crushed into bits and pieces and turned into glowing divine particles that disappeared into the universe.
“Foolish mortal, you will regret this!”
The Dragon God’s indignant roar reverberated in the surroundings, echoing long and hard.
“Regret? You’re thinking too much.” Meng Lei scoffed with an icy smile on his face.
No matter how powerful you may be, what can you do if you can’t come to Heaven’s Vault Continent?
Then, Meng Lei stepped into the magic circle and reached the 100th level.
“Eh?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
The 100th level was vastly different from the 99 levels before it.
There was no land, no oceans! No ice and snow, no bubbling lava! One could neither see the sky on top nor touch the ground below!
Only endless, boundless misty clouds filled the entire void, and within the void floated a tiny little island.
Meng Lei stepped forward and arrived at the little floating island right away. Underneath his feet was soft grass fields while the fragrance of flowers suffused the air all around him…
“Welcome, new master of the Tower of Time!”
" }, { "id": 202, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-202", "title": "Chapter 202 - Rivaling A Chief God, The New Master", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Dragon Island was a mysterious place.
The magic elements here were ten times richer than anywhere else in Heaven’s Vault Continent, and the laws of nature here were several times clearer than anywhere else in Heaven’s Vault Continent, hence making it a superb sanctum for cultivation.
Surrounding the Dragon Island was the azure-blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. Innumerable islands decorated the great ocean like stars in the sky.
There were big ones as well as small ones, but with no exception whatsoever, on all these islands lived countless Magical Beasts while in the ocean also lived various marine Magical Beasts.
The tragic thing was that all the Magical Beasts here were the Dragons’ food source. They were unable to control their own life and death, let alone their destiny.
They ultimately only had one fate, and that was to be eaten by the Colossal Dragons.
Occupying every island was a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon or a Saint Domain-level Drake. They ruled over the island, as well as the life and death of every living creature on the island.
The size of these islands was a direct reflection of the Colossal Dragon occupants’ strength, as well as their statuses in the clan.
The higher their statuses and the mightier their power, the bigger the island they occupied and the richer in variety their food was, and vice versa.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a stream of light shot across the ocean and came to the area above a large island.
A tall mountain stood erect on the island, and at the mountain’s midpoint was a cave. Thunderous snoring could be heard coming from the cave, and it traveled far and wide…
“Grandmaster!”
The golden stream of light arrived in front of the cave, and then, the person dropped to his knees—it was actually a strong and muscular Golden Colossal Dragon Person with a pair of golden horns on his head.
“Something terrible has happened, Grandmaster!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person sounded sad and sorrowful.
“Eh?”
There was a sudden momentary pause in the snoring in the cave. Then, right after that, a roar containing endless fury rang out.
“How dare you disturb my beauty sleep! If you don’t give me a satisfactory reason for your action today… Hmph!”
“Grandmaster, a knave has murdered the emperor and slain all the Dragon God Empire’s higher management officials!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person was terribly sorrowful and grieving as he went on. “All the court officials, more than 1,000 Saint Domains, innumerable officials and nobles… All of them have been wiped out…”
“What did you say?!”
A massive dragon head emerged from within the cave, endless killing intent within its eyes as it ordered, “Repeat what you just said!”
“Grandmaster, a knave has attacked the palace…”
“How audacious! How dare you deceive me!” The gigantic dragon head bellowed furiously, “The awe-inspiring name of the Dragon God Empire resounds throughout the whole of Heaven’s Vault Continent. Which knave would be so bold as to commit such a treasonous and heretic act?!”
“It’s true, Grandmaster! It really is!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person hastily explained. Then, he even brought out a magic crystal ball.
Displayed on the surface was a horrific scene of ten Colossal Dragon carcasses lying dead on the ground, an infinite number of ice chips and fragments littered all over the floor, and princes and princesses kneeling on the ground and sobbing bitterly.
“Who was it?! Who exactly was it that dared to kill people of the Dragon race and challenge the Dragon God Empire’s authority?!”
The gigantic dragon head roared furiously. Its roar was as though rolling thunder, frightening the Magical Beasts on the island so badly that they could only prostrate on the ground and shiver like a leaf.
“Grandmaster, that knave’s name is Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei?”
In the Dragon God Empire palace…
“Father, you died such a terrible death!”
“Father…”
The square outside the conference hall had turned into a large-scale funeral. More than a thousand princes and princesses, tens of thousands of royal consorts, and hundreds of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids all burst into loud sobbing.
Their weeping was terribly mournful and extremely sorrowful, making anyone that heard them weep and filling anyone that saw them with sorrow. Those that didn’t know would have thought that the emperor had met his demise!
At a corner of the square, the Royal Holy Knight Order stared at the whole scene in a daze, their countenances filled with disbelief.
“How did this happen? We were only gone for two days, yet a tragedy like that has taken place in the empire?”
Abbe was also among them. She had been brought back from the Lost Continent by the Royal Holy Knight Order.
She stared quietly at the 12 dragon carcasses and all the ice chips all over the ground, her expression calm and peaceful and without any trace of joy or sorrow.
“I heard that the culprit is Meng Lei?”
The Holy Knight Order’s captain, Bruno, asked, “Your Highness, is this Meng Lei the same person that saved you in the Lost Continent?”
“I don’t know, either!”
Abbe shook her head lightly. One could barely see any traces of sorrow on her countenance.
…
“Welcome, new master of the Tower of Time!”
An aged voice rang out, upon which the misty clouds in the surroundings converged to form an easily 1,000-meters-wide gigantic human visage that stood tall and towered in the air.
“The Tower of Time? New master?”
Meng Lei stared at the gigantic human visage as a puzzled look appeared on his countenance. He asked, “Isn’t this the Dragon God Tower? Since when has it become the Tower of Time?”
“Dragon God Tower? What nonsense, this tower’s name is the Tower of Time!”
The gigantic face’s mouth opened and closed as it went on. “It was forged by the great God of Time after exhausting an infinite amount of exotic treasures, the universe’s spiritual essence, Divinity Crystals, and Divinity Stones. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Dragon God!”
“The God of Time?” A great jolt went through Meng Lei. He asked, “Who’s the God of Time?”
“The God of Time is no human; he’s one of the greatest gods in the vast universe!”
The gigantic human visage’s voice boomed as it went on. “His greatness is as though the blazing sun in the sky that shines upon the lands; like a lighthouse in the bottomless abyss that guides the path of countless deities; and also like the tall and insurmountable holy mountains that live on for all time…”
“…”
Black lines filled Meng Lei’s forehead as he asked, “So, can you tell me just how great and noble is this great and noble God of Time? In what way is he great and noble? How does he compare to the Dragon God?”
“The Dragon God? The Dragon God is nothing but sh*t!”
The gigantic human visage was awfully dissatisfied with Meng Lei’s question. “The God of Time is the one and only deity in this vast universe and infinite number of existential planes that has mastered time-based laws of nature! His Divine Status is that of a higher deity with Great Perfection-level strength. His combat power doesn’t lose out in any way to a Chief God!”
“A higher deity at Great Perfection level? One that doesn’t lose out to a Chief God?”
Meng Lei was rather confused. “A Great Perfection-level higher deity is a god, right? Then what’s a Chief God?”
“Don’t you even know something as simple as that?”
A disdainful look appeared in the gigantic human visage’s eyes as it explained, “Like how mountains vary in height and trees vary in length, as higher lifeforms, deities are also classified into different levels and differentiated by their level of strength.
“Based on their level of strength and their divinity class, they are, in ascending order, classified as lesser deities, intermediate deities, higher deities, and the ones most supreme of all and who stand above all the other deities… The Chief Gods!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei understood better now. Then, he asked, “Which class of deities does the Dragon God belong to?”
“The Dragon God? He’s just an ordinary intermediate deity. There are billions of them in the Void!”
The gigantic human visage was full of disdain as it scoffed. “He’s only impressive in an ordinary material plane. In the Void, he’s no different from a pile of sh*t!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. If the Dragon God was a pile of sh*t, then what was he?
“Although the God of Time is a higher deity of Great Perfection level because he has comprehended one of the supreme forms of laws of nature—time-based laws of nature—his combat power is on par with a Chief God’s.”
A look of idolization brimmed on the gigantic human visage as it said, “Thus, he is also known as the God of Time. In some places, they even address him as the Chief God of Time and place him among the ranks of the Chief Gods!”
“Is the God of Time that awesome?” gasped Meng Lei.
Then, he asked, “Just now, you said that the Dragon God Tower is something that the God of Time had exhausted an infinite amount of time and effort to forge, right? Why is it in a place like this, then? And has even become the Dragon God Tower?”
“I’ll correct you once more—this is the Tower of Time, not some sh*tty, nonsensical Dragon God Tower!”
The gigantic human visage glared at Meng Lei before it answered, “The reason why the Tower of Time is here is that it ended up crossing turbulent time-space currents after the God of Time’s demise and ultimately became lost in this plane until the Dragon God subsequently obtained it!”
“Demise? The God of Time is dead?” Meng Lei was astonished. “Didn’t you claim that the God of Time’s combat power rivals that of a Chief God? Why did he meet his demise? Who was capable enough to kill him?”
“Mortal, you ask too many questions!” The gigantic human visage’s expression suddenly turned icy-cold. “Snooping into a deity’s secrets isn’t a good habit!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully, secretly thinking to himself, “This fellow sure has a pretty bad temper!”
“Just now, you said that I’ve become the Dragon God T— Cough, the Tower of Time’s new master. What do you mean by that?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled. “Where’s the Dragon God? Isn’t he the Tower of Time’s master?”
“No, no, no! The Dragon God has never once been the Tower of Time’s master—although he wishes even in his dreams that he could be.”
The gigantic human visage gave a resolute negative answer to that.
“The Dragon God has merely temporarily borrowed the Tower of Time due to his advantage in proximity to it when it was lost in this plane.
“During this long passage of time, it wasn’t just once that the Dragon God—that weak, little intermediate deity—had attempted to refine the Tower of Time in order to claim ownership over it and become its new master.
“But evidently, he has never once succeeded, and neither will he ever. All these are just his wishful thinking!”
“But the Dragon God is an intermediate deity, right? Even someone like him couldn’t refine the Tower of Time?”
Meng Lei was astounded. “By what virtue was I able to become the Tower of Time’s new master?”
“The great God of Time had left a holy decree before his fall—only those who possess magic talent for the five elements—Thunder, Fire, Wind, Light, and Dark—and successfully reach the highest level before they turn 30 years old can become the Tower of Time’s new master.”
The gigantic human visage’s mouth opened and closed as it explained, “You’re 16 years old this year. You’ve successfully reached this place. And you’ve exhibited magic talent for said five elements during your tower-climbing process. Therefore, you completely fulfill the conditions of inheritance.”
“Aren’t those conditions a little too demanding?”
Meng Lei was completely dumbfounded.
Reaching the top level before one turned 30-years-old was, by itself, already something that wasn’t quite possible, let alone be someone that possessed magic talent for those five elements.
Stacking these two conditions together practically made this a hell-mode challenge. Who would be able to meet such standards?
“It’s precisely because it’s demanding that you’re the only one who managed to achieve it during the last 40,000-odd years!”
Then, the gigantic human visage shook its head and commented, “In truth, that little fellow from 10,000 years ago would have also succeeded, but that dog—the Dragon God—had ordered him killed!”
“10,000 years ago? Could it be Timon Barton?”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes slightly as he remarked, “So he has indeed been disposed of by the Dragons! What a bunch of shameless people!”
“That’s very normal. The Dragon God has been racking his brains to usurp the Tower of Time, so how would he possibly allow others to lay claim to it?”
The gigantic human visage sneered and said, “Didn’t you run into him just now, too? If you hadn’t been strong enough, you would also have been killed by him and perished mid-way.”
“The Dragon God! I’ll remember him!”
Meng Lei clenched his fists as a hint of murderous intent flashed across his eyes. “Just you wait…”
“Alright! We can talk about the matter of revenge in the future!”
Then, the gigantic human visage said calmly, “Let me ask you this—are you willing to inherit the Tower of Time and become its new master?”
Meng Lei was silent for a moment before he said, “Before that, you must first answer a question of mine!”
“Say it!”
“What are the advantages and disadvantages of inheriting the Tower of Time?”
A shrewd glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he said, “Be clear about the pros and cons first, and then I’ll consider whether or not I want to inherit the Tower of Time.”
“The Tower of Time is a high-tier divine weapon that stores all the God of Time’s wealth and assets. At the same time, it also contains the God of Time’s legacy.
“The most important thing is that the Tower of Time possesses the cultivation method for time-based laws of nature.
“These are the benefits!
“The downside is that you’ll offend a bigwig after you inherit the Tower of Time!”
“Great! There are totally no issues since you made things clear. I’m willing to become the Tower of Time’s new master!”
“Congratulations, mortal!”
" }, { "id": 203, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-203", "title": "Chapter 203 - Existential Plane Seeds, The Ten Major Divine Realms", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Congratulations, mortal! You’re now the Tower of Time’s new master!”
The gigantic human visage in the sky dissipated with a loud boom, and a round, golden, ball-like creature took its place.
It had a nose, eyes, ears, and a mouth, as well as a pair of miniature devil wings and a long devil tail. The only thing missing was arms and legs.
…A little devil?
“You’re…”
Stupefied, Meng Lei stared at the peculiar round lifeform that had suddenly appeared, a puzzled look coming over his features.
“I’m Dodola, the Tower of Time’s guardian spirit!” The round lifeform introduced itself with a smile. “You can call me Lord Dodola!”
“…Lord Dodola?”
Meng Lei was rendered somewhat speechless. “You may be the tower’s guardian spirit, but I’m its new master. By right, shouldn’t you be calling me Master instead?”
“Uh…”
Dodola was momentarily taken aback before it scoffed indignantly. “I will never acknowledge you until you become a higher deity! Master? We’ll talk about it when you’ve become a higher deity!”
“What a proud little fellow…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. Rather than obsessing over a matter as senseless as that, he instead asked, “How can I refine the Tower of Time, Dodola?”
“It’s very simple. You just need to enter a contract with me!”
Dodola flapped its miniature devil wings and explained, “Since I’m the Tower of Time’s guardian spirit, you need only to enter a contract with me, and the act will be tantamount to having refined the Tower of Time.”
“Let’s do it!”
“Alright!”
Dodola turned around. Dazzling golden light rose from its back, the light beams converging to form a complex, profound-looking magic circle.
Then, it instructed, “Drip a drop of your blood into it!”
“Okay!”
A drop of blood fell into the magic circle with a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers before being absorbed.
Buzz…
Upon absorbing the blood, the magic circle behind Dodola went from a golden color into a blood-red color.
Then, the blood-red magic circle rose into the air before shrinking and ultimately disappearing between Meng Lei’s brows.
A split second later, an enormous wave of information flowed into his mind. At once, Meng Lei sensed a strange and fascinating connection forming between himself and the Tower of Time.
He could now visit any of the Tower of Time’s levels anytime he wanted to!
He could now check on any of the Tower of Time’s levels anytime he wanted to!
He could now kill any of the Magical Beasts in the Tower of Time anytime he wanted to!
He could even change the environment in any of the levels if he wanted to. Moving mountains and filling in seas, sinking continents and creating forests, overturning the skies and flipping the earth…
All it required was a mere thought.
From this moment on, the Tower of Time… had completely become a possession for his exclusive use.
“A 100-levels-high Tower of Time where the first 99 levels are all half-planes…”
As Meng Lei took in the Tower of Time in detail, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Every single half-plane spans an extremely wide area and is actually equivalent to quite a few Lost Continents!”
“What’s the big deal about that? Sealing a half-plane is something that ordinary deities can already achieve. In fact, even half-deities can do it. The truly impressive part about the Tower of Time lies in the time-based laws of nature that fill up all 99 half-planes!”
Dodola explained with a light smile, “You must understand that once a half-plane is sealed into a vessel, it becomes isolated from the rest of the world, and time immediately stops in that world. Therefore, it can only be used to store lifeless objects. It’s impossible to store living things in there.
“However, this is not the case for the Tower of Time. Living things can be stored in every half-plane here, and they’re no different from other normal material planes. This is all thanks to time-based laws of nature. And these time-based laws of nature in the Tower of Time were left behind by the great and noble God of Time!”
“I can even manipulate the time-based laws of nature in the Tower of Time to revive Magical Beasts that were killed. This is too amazing!”
Meng Lei was filled with marvel.
In the past, legend went that the Tower of Time was capable of turning back time and reviving the dead Magical Beasts. From the look of things now, the legends were indeed real.
“The ability to manipulate time is exactly what makes this time-based divine weapon—the Tower of Time—so strong and powerful.” Dodola gave him a proud smile and added, “And that’s not even the most precious and valuable part about the Tower of Time!”
“Not even that? Then what is?” Meng Lei was surprised. “Could it be the legacy left behind by the God of Time? His wealth and assets? Or perhaps the cultivation method for time-based laws of nature?”
“What we’re talking about is the Tower of Time itself, not the objects that exist outside of it!”
Dodola was rendered speechless. Then, it said, “The most precious and valuable part about the Tower of Time lies in the 100th level.”
“The 100th level?”
Meng Lei looked around him—aside from the floating island beneath his feet, all there was around him was just an endless expanse of fog. There was nothing else apart from that.
Laws of nature? Practically none!
Magic elements? They were incredibly sparse!
Was this level the most precious and valuable one? He really couldn’t tell!
“You can’t tell, can you?”
A smug smile appeared on Dodola’s lips.
“Not at all!” Meng Lei replied with a shake of his head.
“That’s correct, then!” With a sigh, Dodola said, “This level is the exact reason why the God of Time had met his demise back then.”
“Just what kind of secrets does this level contain?” Meng Lei was rather confused. “That even an existence as powerful as the God of Time would meet his demise because of it?”
“The reason why this level is totally different from the first 99 levels is that it’s just a seed. The nurturing process hasn’t started yet.” Dodola added, “Once it’s successfully nurtured, it shall surpass all the levels before it. In fact, it will surpass every other ordinary existential plane!”
“Is it really that dramatic?!” Meng Lei was rather skeptical. “So, what kind of secrets does this level exactly contain?”
“This level is an existential plane seed!”
As it enunciated every word carefully, Dodola slowly added, “And on top of that, it’s a high-end existential plane seed!”
“A high-end existential plane seed?”
Meng Lei was rather lost. What was that?
“In the vast universe and the endless void, new planes are constantly being born, and old planes are dying out every moment. The new replaces the old and lives wither while new ones are born. Destruction and birth, dying out and being born—these are supreme laws of the universe!”
With a sigh, Dodola explained, “Just like how it is for everything else in this world, there is also a limit to existential planes’ lifespans. Once they reach the end of their lifespans, existential planes will also die out and become destroyed.
“However, high-end existential planes are an exception to that rule!”
Dodola looked at Meng Lei and said, “High-end existential planes are eternal and immortal. They do not have lifespan restrictions and will never ever die out, much less be destroyed.
“They exist for eternity and are forever immortal! They’re totally different from other normal existential planes and are also known as Eternal Planes.”
“High-end existential planes… don’t die out?”
Meng Lei blinked.
“Yes, they don’t!” Dodola nodded heavily. “Because as of now, none of the high-end existential planes have ever died out!”
“Alright!” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “In other words, the 100th level will eventually evolve into a high-end existential plane?”
“Yes!” Dodola nodded.
“Compared to an ordinary existential plane like Heaven’s Vault Continent, what makes a high-end existential plane different?” A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “The God of Time actually died because of a high-end existential plane seed?”
Dodola replied dispassionately, “There are too many differences between the two. For example, laws of nature in high-end existential planes are clearer and more distinct, they contain more abundant energy, they span a wider territory, and the lives they birth and nurture are of a higher class.
“Have you heard of the ten major Divine Realms? They are the ten most famous high-end existential planes!”
“The ten major Divine Realms?”
Meng Lei found himself dumbfounded once more.
“You don’t even know that?”
Dodola was rendered speechless. “You must be the most ignorant half-deity I’ve ever met. But on account of your age, I’ll forgive you.
“The ten major Divine Realms are the Earth Divine Realm, the Oceanic Divine Realm, the Tempest Divine Realm, the Flaming Divine Realm, the Forest Divine Realm, the Metal Divine Realm, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, the Light Divine Realm, the Dark Divine Realm, and the Frost Divine Realm.
“These ten high-end existential planes occupy an incredibly wide area that’s practically endless and boundless. Every single one of them is bigger than Heaven’s Vault Continent by more than a billion times.
“In addition, laws of nature in those ten Divine Realms are incomparably distinct, and the rich power of divinity fills the whole plane.
“Saint Domains are everywhere, and half-deities are lesser beings than even dogs. Every living thing from the Divine Realms is an existence that can dominate and rule over Heaven’s Vault Continent if they come here!”
“Is it really that dramatic?!”
Meng Lei swallowed hard.
“Dramatic? Not at all.”
Dodola shook its head. “It’s exactly because of these conditions that many deities who come from ordinary existential planes are all willing to head to the ten major Divine Realms to cultivate because they can cultivate at a faster speed there.
“If you become a deity in the future, you can also consider heading to the ten major Divine Realms. I don’t recommend it, though, because it’s extremely dangerous there.”
“Head to the Divine Realms…”
Meng Lei licked his lips.
“Legend goes that high-end existential planes also hold another benefit, though no-one can verify its authenticity even as of now.” Dodola sighed and said, “My master, the God of Time, lost his life exactly because of this particular legend and ultimately met his demise.”
Meng Lei asked, “What legend is it?”
“It’s said that high-end existential planes can nurture Chief God divine cores 1 . Do you know what a Chief God divine core is?”
Dodola’s voice was trembling as it said, “It’s a divine core that can allow one to go all the way up to become a supreme Chief God!”
“A Chief God divine core?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“My old master once said that becoming a Great Perfection-level higher deity is where the journey ends for a deity. When one reaches that stage, they can no longer advance any further, let alone attain Chief Godhood.”
With a sigh, Dodola said, “It’s only when one assimilates a Chief God divine core that they can become a Chief God. There is no other way.
“And it’s precisely because my old master had heard the legend and believed it that he stole a bigwig’s high-end existential plane seed and unfortunately perished in the end…”
“Deities cannot attain Chief Godhood through cultivation?” Meng Lei murmured to himself, “They can only attain Chief Godhood by assimilating a Chief God divine core? That’s too unfair!”
“It is indeed unfair, but there’s no way around it.” Dodola shook its head and said, “This is the supreme law!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh and asked, “In other words, as long as I can successfully nurture this high-end existential plane seed until it matures, I’ll have a chance at breeding a Chief God divine core?”
Dodola shook its head and replied, “That’s how the legend goes, but whether it’s true or not is something I don’t know. The Chief Gods high up above are probably the only ones who know.”
“How is this thing supposed to be nurtured?”
Meng Lei turned and looked at his surroundings.
“Are you thinking of nurturing the high-end existential plane seed? You might as well just take a bath and go to sleep!” Dodola cast a glance at Meng Lei. Then, it added, “Even if you can make it sprout, you won’t be able to guard it anyway. You’re too weak!”
“…”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes at Dodola. When he thought about it again, though, what it said was true. He might be pretty strong at the moment, but when placed in the vast, boundless universe, he was probably just a weakling.
Disregarding everything else, just the Dragon God alone was already a presence whom he couldn’t stand against, let alone other powerful existences.
Thus, he’d better just think of ways to boost his combat abilities instead.
At the thought of that, Meng Lei asked, “Dodola, since I’ve become the Tower of Time’s new master, does that mean that I can get the God of Time’s wealth, legacy, and the cultivation method for time-based laws of nature?”
Meng Lei’s eyes sparkled as he watched Dodola with a slightly agitated demeanor.
A higher deity’s assets! Just how many Divinity Crystals would there be? How much power of divinity? How many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? How many gold coins?
It felt like he was gonna earn big this time.
“Theoretically, yes,” replied Dodola. Then, it changed the course of the conversation and continued. “But my old master has left a holy decree that only those that pass the trial may receive the corresponding rewards.
“Otherwise… Don’t even think about it!”
“A trial? There’s a trial?!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. Then, he asked, “Alright, tell me, what kind of trials has the God of Time left behind?”
“Before we go to the trial, let me first get an understanding of your cultivation situation.”
Dodola looked at Meng Lei and asked, “Since your divine body is fairly strong, that means your body must contain some kind of divine beast’s bloodline, right? Manifest it, and let me take a look. Which divine beast’s descendant are you, exactly?”
Meng Lei nodded and transformed into a Gods-Slaying Rat right away.
“A Black Bear Hamster? No, the aura isn’t right…
“A Black Rock Rodent? No, the tail doesn’t look like it…
“A Stone-Devouring Rat? No, a Stone-Devouring Rat is gray in color…”
Dodola mumbled to itself for a good half a day as it circled around Meng Lei. Then, it suddenly let out a strangled cry as it exclaimed, “I know! It’s the Gods-Slaying Rat! This is the Gods-Slaying Rat’s aura! Oh my goodness! To think it’s actually the Gods-Slaying Rat! How come you’re the Gods-Slaying Rats’ descendant!?”
" }, { "id": 204, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-204", "title": "Chapter 204 - Comprehending All Ten Types Of Laws Of Nature", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Damn!”
“Damn!”
“Damn!”
Furious roars resounded throughout the sky as surging divine power swept through the entire Imperial City.
Everyone in the Imperial City was flattened onto the ground, shaking like a leaf and overcome with fear and alarm.
“O’ Dragon God above! What’s going on?”
“Is it the end of the world?”
“O’ great and noble Dragon God, please save your lowly children…”
Two figures were currently floating above the Dragon God Empire palace. One of them was an elderly man dressed in brilliant golden dragon robes 1 with a purple-tinged golden crown sitting on his head. He gave off a dignified and imposing aura, as well as vast, majestic divine power.
He stared at the twelve dragon carcasses laying on the palace’s imperial square, and the ice chips littered all over, his countenance livid and wrathful flames in his eyes.
“How dare they challenge the Dragon God Empire’s authority so! Totally treasonous and heinous! They should be ripped into a million pieces, slashed a thousand times, and sentenced to extreme torture!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person next to him prostrated on the ground, his heart on tenterhooks and extremely fearful and horrified.
Nevertheless, he was still obliged to speak up because he was the very last elder of the senior statesmen’s assembly, as well as currently the strongest Saint Domain with the highest status in the empire.
“Grandmaster, His Majesty has returned to the heavens, and all the court officials have also been decimated. Our highest priority right now is to appoint a new emperor and rejuvenate the court so that we may take control of the situation!”
“Appoint a new emperor?”
The golden-robed elderly man’s wrath ebbed a little, and he asked, “Has this generation’s emperor left behind any pure-blooded offspring? If he did, then we can appoint him as the new monarch and have him serve as the new emperor!”
“Grandmaster, Prince Barbarossa is also dead,” replied the Golden Colossal Dragon Person with wry laughter.
“How hateful!”
The dragon-robed elderly man gnashed his teeth as he ordered, “Head to Dragon Island at once and summon Briggs. Have him hurry to the empire and ascend the throne to take control of the situation!”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
Not daring to dally, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person hurriedly flew toward the Dragon Island. He knew very well that the Grandmaster, as one of the past Dragon Emperors as well as the one and only half-deity of the Golden Colossal Dragons, his words were the law itself. A single word from him could depose the emperor from his throne, as well as also appoint a new monarch. Whoever he appointed as emperor would be emperor—nobody dared to go against his word at all.
“Tell me, where is Meng Lei?”
The golden-robed elderly man’s voice was like rolling thunder as he spoke in a cold voice and questioned those who were kneeling on the ground.
Someone answered in a trembling voice, “G-Grandmaster, I heard that Meng Lei is currently challenging the Dragon God Tower!”
“He’s actually in the mood to challenge the Dragon God Empire after slaying the Dragon God Empire’s emperor and all its court officials? That knave is too much! Does he think that there’s no longer anyone among the Dragons who can fight?!”
The golden-robed elderly man’s fury blazed even stronger, and then he headed straight toward the Dragon God Academy!
“Is he gone?”
“He’s gone!”
“The Grandmaster has finally left!”
“Phew~ I was scared to death just now!”
At the sight of the golden-robed elderly man’s departure, everyone kneeling in the palace felt as if they had just been granted amnesty.
“Oh no, the Grandmaster has gone to look for Meng Lei!”
The expression on Abbe’s beautiful face changed slightly, and she quietly left the palace.
…
“How can you be a descendant of the Gods-Slaying Rats? The Gods-Slaying Rats are mutated divine beasts, so it’s very hard for them to form colonies. On top of that, their numbers are pitifully low!”
Dodola was awfully astonished. “Moreover, you’re just a normal human from Heaven’s Vault Continent and have nothing whatsoever to do with the Gods-Slaying Rats of the Void. So why would you possess the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline?”
“That… I wouldn’t know.” Meng Lei half-jokingly said, “Who knows, maybe my ancestors are descendants of the Gods-Slaying Rats.”
“Never mind, there’s no point pursuing the matter. Your Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline is what’s most important.” Dodola was terribly excited. “Never would I have thought that the heir to the Tower of Time would actually have the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline. The God of Time must be watching over us!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes at Dodola.
Yeah, right, as if the God of Time could watch over you! It’s I that sent himself to your doorstep, alright?
“Since you can do a complete transformation into a Gods-Slaying Rat, then that means your bloodline must have already completely awakened, right?”
Dodola circled around Meng Lei, marveling at him as it did so. “You currently have a high-grade half-deity’s body, which is about the same as a teenage Gods-Slaying Rat!”
“A teenage one?” Meng Lei was taken aback. “What do you mean ‘teenage’? I’m almost an adult!”
“You are certainly almost an adult, but relative to a Gods-Slaying Rat, you’re just a teenager.”
Dodola laughed and explained, “The Gods-Slaying Rats are an extremely powerful type of mutated rodent divine beast. They can rival a Saint Domain Magical Beast the moment they’re born, while a juvenile one can rival a half-deity.
“Teenage Gods-Slaying Rats can contend against a true god, while those in the young adult stage can fight on par with an intermediate deity.
“When they reach maturity, now that’s what you call monstrous. Even devouring a higher deity wouldn’t be a problem for them!”
“In other words, I don’t need to do anything other than eating, sleeping, and then eating again, and just wait till I naturally mature and I’ll be able to contend against a higher deity? Isn’t that a little too crazy!?”
Meng Lei was rather aghast. Even though he had already heard from the system that the Gods-Slaying Rat was monstrously strong, never would he have ever expected it to actually reach such an extent.
An adult Gods-Slaying Rat… could actually devour a higher deity?
That was practically crazy cool and mighty impressive, alright?
Compared to the Gods-Slaying Rat, the Golden Colossal Dragon, which turned into a Saint Domain Magical Beast upon maturity, was practically trash.
“Yes, totally crazy! That’s why it attracted the heavens’ jealousy and ended up becoming unable to form colonies and can only form through the low chances of bloodline mutation. Otherwise, how are other lifeforms supposed to survive?”
Dodola shook its head and said with a laugh, “However, the Gods-Slaying Rats’ growth cycle is fairly slow. By the time you naturally mature into an adult, probably a few hundred thousand years would have passed.”
“A few hundred thousand years? That’s too slow. Is there any way to speed up the growth process?”
Meng Lei quickly asked for advice.
His Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate had already reached 100%—this meant that he couldn’t buy credit for it anymore. Therefore, the process to enhance his divine body would definitely be extremely slow from now on.
A few hundred thousand years?
Meng Lei couldn’t wait that long!
“The Gods-Slaying Rat is a type of rodent divine beast. There’s only one way to shorten the growth cycle—by eating!”
A smiling Dodola said, “You can eat precious herbs and medicines, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, elemental crystals, a true god’s divine body, and even divine cores. You just need to eat continuously without stopping, and that’ll do. Simple, right?”
“Eating?”
Meng Lei broke into a wry smile right away. Rearing the system already cost him a lot. Now that he had to rear a Gods-Slaying Rat too, wouldn’t he die of exhaustion?
“Don’t worry, kid. The assets that the God of Time left for you is enough for you to use until you mature into an adult. The precondition is that you can get them, though.” Dodola raised an eyebrow and said, “Just having a divine body is far from enough if you wish to inherit the God of Time’s assets. It mainly depends on your laws of nature comprehension.”
“Laws of nature comprehension?”
A shrewd glint flashed in Meng Lei’s eyes.
“What the God of Time relies on the most is his time-based laws of nature. It’s also the most valuable asset that he has left you. You have to inherit it no matter what.” Dodola said earnestly, “To inherit time-based laws of nature, you must fully comprehend the following five elements’ laws of nature—thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark. This is a prerequisite!”
A grinning Dodola gazed at Meng Lei and said, “Tell me about your degree of comprehension for these five elements’ laws of nature.”
“My degree of comprehension for these five elements’ laws of nature?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but look at his personal stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <100%>)
Wealth: 16,688 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Spirit: Divine Spirit (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Earth (0.1%), Water (0.1%), Wind (0.2%), Fire (0.5%), Wood (0.1%), Metal (0.2%), Thunder (0.2%), Light (0.2%), Dark (0.1%), Ice (0.1%)
His stats interface had undergone an overwhelming change, and all of it was brought upon by his Dragon God Tower challenge.
An astonishing number of Saint Domain Magical Beasts occupied the Dragon God Tower’s 30th level to the 99th level!
They ranged from elementary-level Saint Domain to limits-level Saint Domain and included those that flew in the sky and those that swam in the water. There was just about every type that could possibly exist, and they came in great numbers.
After passing through all the trials, not only had his Wealth gone through a dramatic spike to reach 16,688 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, but his ten elements’ laws of nature comprehension rate had also undergone varying degrees of improvement.
The most important thing was that the four other bloodlines, aside from his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline… were gone!
Meng Lei had found this awfully perplexing. The explanation provided by the system was that upon reaching 100% bloodline assimilation rate for the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, all the other bloodlines in his body had been automatically removed. Otherwise, its assimilation rate wouldn’t be able to reach 100%.
Meng Lei wasn’t too hung up over this. Removed? So be it, then. There was nothing to find a pity about it, anyway. If any, the only one that was a bit of a shame would be the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline.
The Golden Gods-Slaying Ant was a spatial and spiritual type of Magical Beast. Meng Lei had been looking forward to the day where he could boost the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline assimilation rate to 100% so that he could also obtain a gut—and the extra-large space within—like Little Gold’s, but all he could do was just dream about it now.
“What’s wrong? Is your comprehension of these five elements’ laws of nature very poor?”
Upon noticing Meng Lei’s silence, Dodola broke into a slight frown. “Nothing to do about it if it’s poor anyway. You’re only 16-years-old, and on top of that, your cultivation specialization is your divine body. It’s normal for your laws of nature comprehension to be a bit poorer.”
“My cultivation specialization is my divine body?” Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “Who told you that? I’m a dual cultivator of magic and martial arts. Neither my divine body nor my laws of nature cultivation has lagged behind, alright!?”
“Eh?”
Dodola was mildly surprised. “Tell me about your current comprehension rate for those five elements, then!”
“I’ve already comprehended all five elements’ laws of nature.”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a proud smile. Was something that could be solved with a few hundred Laws of Nature Origin Crystals even anything worth troubling over?
o((⊙_⊙))o?
Dodola received a huge shock. Then, it sneered coldly. “You’ve comprehended all five? Kid, do I look mentally challenged to you?”
“Nope!”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“How dare you talk big in front of me, then?”
Dodola was furious. “At your age, being able to fully comprehend one type of laws of nature is already considered extremely monstrous.
“Comprehend all five types of laws of nature? Shouldn’t you think a little before you talk so big?”
“No, you’ve misheard me.”
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly.
“See, I’ve seen through you, haven’t I? Don’t talk that big in front of me anymore!” Dodola snorted and said, “I’ve experienced way more than you have. You can just wait to eat your own words if you talk big in front of me.”
“What I mean is, it’s not five types but ten!” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “I’ve comprehended ten types of laws of nature!”
“How dare you talk big again! Is there any end to it?!”
Meng Lei had really angered Dodola this time. “Kid, you’d better be more serious! I’m trying to understand where you stand in your cultivation right now so that I can come up with the best cultivation plan for you. I don’t have the time to joke around with you!”
“Lord Dodola, I’m also telling you this very seriously!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh. Then, he said seriously, “I’ve really comprehended all ten types of laws of nature. Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Wood, Metal, Thunder, Light, Dark, and Ice—I’ve comprehended them all without a single one lacking!”
“Are you serious, kid?”
Dodola’s eyes bore into Meng Lei.
“Very much so! I’m not joking!”
Meng Lei was also very serious.
“This… How can this be? That’s impossible! You’re only 16-years-old. How can you possibly have comprehended all ten basic types of laws of nature? Even in the whole wide universe, no-one has been able to do it!”
“There’s nothing impossible for someone with a cheating device!” Meng Lei quietly said to himself, inwardly.
" }, { "id": 205, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-205", "title": "Chapter 205 - A Deity'S Path Of Advancement, Splitting One'S Divine Spirit", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Dodola had begun to somewhat question its own life.
The ten magic elements represented ten types of basic laws of nature. Despite being just basic laws of nature, each type was nevertheless still incomparably complex and profound. Comprehending them was an extremely difficult task that required a lot of time, effort, and energy.
Think about it—during the last 40,000-odd years since the Dragon God Empire’s founding, legions of typical Saint Domains had come into existence, but only a handful of pinnacle-level ones existed. The number of limits-level Saint Domains were even more pitifully low.
As for existences that had fully comprehended a type of laws of nature and attained half-deification over the last 40,000-odd years… One could count their numbers on their fingers!
From this, one could tell just how difficult comprehending laws of nature was. Yet Meng Lei had fully comprehended all ten types of basic laws of nature at just the age of 16?
Who would believe that?
Who would dare to believe that?
How were they supposed to?
“Kid, are you sure you’re not lying to me?”
Dodola’s eyes bore into Meng Lei.
“What do I get out of lying to you?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he contacted the system and instructed, “System, boost my laws of nature comprehension for all ten elements to 100%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 1,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
Boom!
A split second later, an endless wave of information instantly gushed into Meng Lei’s divine spirit like waters from a breached dam, furiously raising his comprehension of the ten elements’ laws of nature.
An infinite amount of information flowed through his mind, and Meng Lei closed his eyes and took in each type of laws of nature in detail, taking in the content in every piece of information.
At that moment, the fog shrouding his mind gradually dissipated, and information about laws of nature that was once hidden in the laws of nature ocean became clearly displayed to him.
The heavens and earth were as though a cage, and laws of nature the extensive net.
Different types of laws of nature were like chains that differed from one another—fiery-red fire, cyan wind, thick and heavy earth…
Each type of law of nature was independent of one another, yet also inseparably and closely linked. They supported the cage as one, much like a cage’s pillars, ceiling beams, steel bars, concrete…
Pillars were pillars, ceiling beams were ceiling beams, and steel bars were steel bars. They were made of different materials, yet they formed a perfect combination.
After some time, Meng Lei slowly opened his eyes. The look in his eyes had become incredibly deep and profound, and it seemed as if at the bottom of his eyes were flames rising, vegetation growing, oceans surging, and lightning flashing…
“So, this is what the half-deity realm is like!”
Dodola could clearly sense a change in Meng Lei’s disposition in this instant. His brilliance and edge had been hidden away, and his entire bearing had become simple and unadorned as if he had returned to his origins…
“Have you really fully comprehended them?”
Dodola’s voice was shaking somewhat.
“Yes. I’ve fully comprehended them.”
Meng Lei let out a sigh, as though an aged monk that had been in meditation for 100 years and had seen through all lies and fabrications to attain a state where he was one with the universe.
His aura had become self-contained, taciturn, and reserved.
“Why does someone like you exist in this world?” Dodola let out a strange squawk and exclaimed, “Let’s not even talk about how you have a magic talent for all ten elements’ laws of nature! To think you can actually comprehend all ten types of laws of nature at 16 years old! This is unheard of! Practically unheard of!”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei was awfully cheerful.
“You haven’t lit up the divine fire yet, right?” As though something had just occurred to it, Dodola’s eyes suddenly bore into Meng Lei as it asked, “Tell me, have you lit up the divine fire?”
“Nope!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
“That’s great!”
Fervent delight filled Dodola at once. It couldn’t be any more thrilled, and it jumped up and down as it flapped its miniature devil wings.
“Do you need to be that happy just because I haven’t lit up the divine fire yet?” Meng Lei was terribly bewildered.
“I don’t know why you haven’t kindled your divine fire yet, but this is a piece of fantastic news! A piece of fantastic news, y’know!? It’s inconceivable why a monster like you actually exists in this vast universe, and on top of that, I’ve even run into you!”
Dodola was in incredibly high spirits. “O’ great and noble God of Time, thank you! It’s your blessings that have allowed me to encounter a piece of uncut jade like him!”
“Don’t be in such a hurry to thank the God of Time yet,” said Meng Lei as he rolled his eyes. “Tell me, why are you so excited?”
“Alright! I’ll tell you about the profoundness within now, lest you end up destroying yourself!”
The next moment, Dodola’s countenance turned unprecedentedly stern and serious. It asked, “Meng Lei, do you know how you should cultivate after you’ve become a half-deity?”
“Seems like I should first light up my divine fire, then manifest a divine core, and lastly, establish a divine nation.” Meng Lei answered, “It’s only when a half-deity has divine fire, a divine core, and a divine nation that they are considered a real deity. Otherwise, a half-deity will always stay a half-deity, and never a real deity.”
“That’s right. That’s indeed what it’s like for a half-deity.” Dodola nodded slightly. Then, it asked, “Then, do you know how you should be cultivating after you become a true god?”
“That… I wouldn’t know.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
“Listen well now. In this world, deities are divided into two different types—Laws of Nature Deities and Religious Faith Deities!” A smiling Dodola said, “You should know that you belong to the former even if I don’t touch on that, right?”
“Yeap!”
Meng Lei nodded.
“Unlike Religious Faith Deities, if Laws of Nature Deities wish to continue enhancing their abilities to become a lesser deity, an intermediate deity, or even a higher deity after they become true gods, their only option is to continue to comprehend laws of nature.”
The course of the conversation changed at this point as Dodola went on. “But the miserable thing is that once a deity has kindled their divine fire and manifested a divine core to become a true god, their divine core itself would gain an element, thereby making it very difficult for them to ever comprehend other types of laws of nature.”
Dodola explained, “For example, if you become a true god through cultivating fire-elemental laws of nature, then your divine core would be a fire-elemental one. Would it then still be possible for you to comprehend another type of laws of nature after that?”
Meng Lei thought for a moment before he answered, “…Seems like it would be very difficult!”
“It won’t just be ‘very difficult’ but ‘extremely difficult’!”
Dodola shook its head as it said, “A fire-elemental divine core can only store fire-elemental power of divinity. Even the divine spirit within the divine core will also be completely linked to fire-elemental laws of nature. Comprehending other types of laws of nature? Dream on!
“This is akin to a piece of good jade. Once it has been carved into an article, it’ll no longer be possible to carve it into something else.”
“Going by that, how are deities supposed to advance in their cultivation, then?” Meng Lei’s brows drew together as he asked, “If one is unable to comprehend new laws of nature after they become a true god, wouldn’t that mean that they cannot advance any further?”
“That is why they have to make their choice even before they light up the divine fire!”
“What choice?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
“The choice to split their divine spirit or not.” Dodola explained, “Most typical half-deities with even a bit of ambition would choose to split their divine spirit into two before they light up their divine fire. After that, they’ll choose one of the two and light it up while the other stays as a divine spirit so that it can continue to comprehend new laws of nature.”
“Split their divine spirit?”
Meng Lei was shocked.
“That’s right! Split their divine spirit!” Dodola nodded affirmatively. “Splitting the divine spirit is a Laws of Nature Deity’s one and only way out. Otherwise, their future paths would be completely sealed off!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei nodded silently.
“The divine spirit half that is lit up will ultimately become a divine incarnation of themselves, while the other half continues to comprehend new laws of nature.”
Dodola went on. “Upon fully comprehending the second type of laws of nature, they’ll then have to make another choice—will they light up the divine fire right away, or split their divine spirit once more?
“Typically, fairly ambitious deities will choose to split their divine spirit again, lighting up half and keeping the other half to comprehend new laws of nature. This way—by splitting their divine spirit every time they comprehend a new type of laws of nature—true gods typically will only need to split their divine spirit four times before it’s sufficient.”
“It’s enough to just split it four times? Why?”
Meng Lei was awfully puzzled.
“It works like this—those that have comprehended two types of laws of nature and own two divine incarnations are categorized as lesser deities; while those that have comprehended five types and own five divine incarnations are categorized as intermediate deities,” Dodola explained, “And once they become intermediate deities, they won’t need to comprehend laws of nature anymore. Therefore, you’ll only need to split the divine spirit four times and comprehend five types of laws of nature!”
“It’s enough to comprehend just five types? Then how do intermediate deities become higher deities?”
Meng Lei was awfully puzzled.
“Intermediate deities need to assimilate laws of nature in order to advance to become higher deities.”
Dodola explained, “This assimilation process isn’t purely just the assimilation of laws of nature, but also includes the integration of their divine core, divine incarnations, divine spirit, and power of divinity. You can try imagining for yourself the difficulties involved in assimilating divine incarnations of different elements!”
“First you have to split them, and then now you have to assimilate them?” Meng Lei’s eyelid was twitching. “That’s really very…”
“…Very frustrating, right?”
Dodola shook its head and laughed. “It can’t be helped. That’s what the road to deification is like. Not only do you need talent, but you also need to make choices and undergo immense pain and agony.
“Without sufficient ambition, determination, and an indomitable will, it’s tough for one to achieve greatness.
“To become an intermediate deity, you must face a choice and split your divine spirit once. To become a higher deity, you must face four choices and split your divine spirit four times.”
Dodola said with a sigh, “The pain, agony, and hardships involved are not something that most typical people can imagine!”
“Since I’ve comprehended ten types of laws of nature, doesn’t that mean that I have to split my divine spirit nine times?” asked Meng Lei with a wry laugh.
“Yes, of course!”
Dodola nodded slightly. “Intermediate deities have to assimilate at least two types of laws of nature to ascend and become higher deities. The more laws of nature they assimilate, the stronger they’ll become.
“Once you assimilate and combine five types of laws of nature, five divine incarnations, five divine cores, five divine spirits, and five types of power of divinity into one, you shall become a higher deity of Great Perfection level!”
“That sounds like so much trouble!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp.
“Of course it is!” Dodola scoffed, “Had it been that easy, everyone would’ve become higher deities and attained Great Perfection!”
“That’s true.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he asked, “Since I’ve comprehended ten types of laws of nature, it must be even harder for me to assimilate them, right?”
“It’s no ordinary level of difficulty!” Dodola said slowly, “Assimilating two different divine incarnations is already a very difficult task, let alone ten.”
“What a long and endless deification journey…” sighed Meng Lei.
“Stop sighing!” Dodola snorted and scoffed. “What are you being so contrary for when others are dying to have potential like yours?”
Meng Lei looked at Dodola and asked, “Is there a possibility that… Instead of being in such a hurry to light up the divine fire, I can think of a way to try and assimilate all ten types of laws of nature first before I light up the divine fire—”
“Don’t even bother! It’s absolutely impossible!”
Dodola interrupted Meng Lei and said, “If that were viable, the billions of deities in the vast universe would’ve already done so a long time ago. Why would they still undergo the pain of splitting their divine spirit?”
“Why isn’t it viable?”
Meng Lei frowned slightly, perplexed.
“Because assimilating laws of nature is an extremely difficult task.”
Dodola said gravely, “It’s not as simple as just pouring two baskets of potatoes into one. Instead, you have to integrate and merge two different, complex, and profound laws of nature bit by bit into one. This process is highly demanding on one’s divine spirit.
“The only way to do it is to first light up the divine fire and manifest a divine core so that the divine spirit will be strong enough. Only then can you simulate, deduce, and attempt to assimilate them.”
“At the bottom of it all, the issue is still about the divine spirit?”
Meng Lei asked softly, “In other words, as long as my divine spirit is strong enough, there’s a chance that I can integrate and assimilate all ten types of laws of nature before I light up the divine fire?”
“Kid, you’re oversimplifying things!”
Dodola shook its head and explained, “Once a half-deity’s divine spirit is enhanced to a half-deity’s limit, it’ll come to a standstill. No matter how many precious herbs and treasures you consume, and no matter how much power of faith you gain, it won’t be of any use.
“Therefore, the concept whereby one assimilates the laws of nature in advance by enhancing their divine spirit doesn’t work at all!”
Dodola chastised, “I’ve seen too many oddball geniuses, monsters, and deities suggest a great deal of strange, peculiar theories, but all of them ultimately still obediently split their divine spirits in the end.”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully. Then, he asked, “So, what I need to do now is to split my divine spirit into ten parts, and then, light up their respective divine fires, manifest their divine cores and produce ten great divine incarnations?”
“Yes, but you need to be aware of this,” Dodola said dispassionately, “Your half-deity divine spirit is not very strong. In fact, it’s of very average quality. Splitting them into two will already weaken you a great deal, let alone splitting them into ten. Thus, you must think of a way to strengthen your divine spirit. It’s best if you can strengthen it to a half-deity’s limit before you carry out the splitting process!”
Strengthen my divine spirit? I can’t buy credit for that. Does that mean that I can only achieve it by spreading religious faith and collecting the power of faith?
" }, { "id": 206, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-206", "title": "Chapter 206 - Fighting For Power Of Faith, A Legendary Emperor", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 206: Fighting For Power of Faith, A Legendary Emperor
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <100%>)
Wealth: 15,688 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Basic (100%)
Judging from his current personal stats interface, he could no longer buy credit for his Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, and Laws of Nature attributes anymore.
The Power of Divinity attribute was the only one barely hanging on and still maintaining the system’s last vestiges of credit-buying glory.
Yet Power of Divinity was simply too expensive. 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals were only able to redeem 1 Divinity Crystal. He couldn’t afford it!
Therefore, how he was going to enhance his strength in the future had become an extremely serious issue.
“In other words, my highest priority now is to spread faith and enhance my divine spirit through the power of faith?”
“The divine spirit is a deity’s fundamental roots. Therefore, splitting it causes a great deal of damage to the divine spirit.”
Dodola shook its head and said, “At times like this, you’ll need treasures to help you repair the divine spirit. Unfortunately, treasures that can repair the divine spirit are simply too rare, so the power of faith has ended up becoming the one and only path. This is also an important reason why so many deities are so passionate about spreading their faith!”
At this point, Dodola said with a smile, “The power of faith is good stuff, y’know. Not only can it strengthen your divine spirit, but it can also convert power of divinity. It’s simply too important to a deity!”
“Power of faith…”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. A shrewd glint flashed across his eyes as he said, “Dragon God Empire’s power of faith will be mine. Those that stand in my way will be shown no mercy!”
“Wonderful! As a deity, what’s the difference between you and a slacker if you do not fight for the power of faith?”
As though someone craving chaos, Dodola said, “Therefore, the first trial that the great God of Time has left for you is—fight for Dragon God Empire’s power of faith!
“Trial duration: Three years!
“Trial rewards: Secret!”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “Are you sure this is a trial that the God of Time has left for me and not something that you came up with in a spur of the moment and fabricated?”
“What do you mean by ‘fabricate’!? I don’t like the sound of that!”
Dodola snickered and said, “I’m the Tower of Time’s guardian spirit, and I am in charge of safeguarding the God of Time’s assets. Of course, I have the authority to set trials. This is also a mission that the God of Time has given me!”
“I can’t beat you in an argument!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he said, “If there’s nothing else, then I’m going out for now.”
“By the way, try your best not to kill the Tower of Time’s Magical Beasts anymore,” said Dodola suddenly.
“Why?”
Meng Lei frowned at once. Where would he get money from if he didn’t hunt the Magical Beasts in the Tower of Time?
Wasn’t Dodola freaking cutting off his source of income?
“Maintaining the Tower of Time’s time-based laws of nature requires Time Divinity Crystals,” Dodola explained, “Ever since the God of Time’s demise, the Time Divinity Crystals have been depleting from continuous use. After such a long passage of time, there aren’t many left anymore. We have to be thrifty with them!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered completely speechless. “Then what’s the goddamn point in me inheriting the Tower of Time!?”
“…”
…
Meng Lei currently wasn’t in a very good mood—he had initially planned on killing some Magical Beasts in the tower whenever he had some spare time so that he could earn some allowance.
Yet now he couldn’t kill them anymore!
Just how freaking big of a scam was that?
“I’m too unlucky!” Meng Lei cursed inwardly as he exited the Tower of Time.
“Prepare to die, knave!”
At that moment, a furious roar rang out. The golden light that covered the whole sky shot toward him, instantly engulfing Meng Lei—who had just exited the tower—as well as the golden-armored guards standing duty outside the Tower of Time.
“Ahhh!”
Shrill screams rang out before they quickly faded into silence. By the time the golden light had faded, only a dozen or so corpses that had been turned into swiss cheese remained.
Blood flowed out of their wounds as the odor of blood rushed toward everyone’s senses.
“Murder!”
At once, the students and teachers crowding around the Tower of Time received a terrible shock, and they took a few steps back in unison.
“Who is it?”
“Isn’t the murderer a little too bold?!”
“How dare he commit murder here!”
Whoosh!
A golden-robed elderly man abruptly appeared. His icy-cold gaze fell onto the mangled corpses in front of the Tower of Time.
“Who’s that?”
Everyone stared at the golden-robed elderly man in stunned astonishment.
“He’s not there?”
The golden-robed elderly man looked around as murderous intent roiled within his eyes. “Get out here, knave!”
“Who are you?”
Meng Lei quietly appeared, his gaze on the golden-robed elderly man as a hint of killing intent flitted across his eyes.
“I’m Goblen Frederick!” answered the golden-robed elderly man coldly as his eyes bore into Meng Lei.
“Goblen Frederick?”
“That name sounds so familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before?”
“Goblen? I remember now! Isn’t that the genius who’s ranked third on the Dragon God Genius Ranking!?”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Everyone’s gazes shot over to the ranking in unison!
“No. 3: Augustine Kroc, Human, 30 years old, Level 76”
“No, he should be in 4th place now!”
Speechless, everyone hurriedly looked at the fourth place in the ranking.
“No. 4: Goblen Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 29 years old, Level 75”
“So that’s Goblen, the one ranked fourth? That’s so impressive!”
“Isn’t Goblen a historical figure from 30,000 years ago? He’s actually still alive?”
“He’s lived for more than 30,000 years? Oh my dragon god, doesn’t that make him an old bastard[1]…”
The people whispered among themselves as they engaged in wild speculation.
Suddenly, a Golden Colossal Dragon Person with a pair of horns on his head squeezed into the crowd and dropped onto his knees. “Grandmaster! Your unfilial descendant greets the Grandmaster!”
“Grandmaster?”
Everyone was astonished.
“How audacious! Hurry and get on your knees!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person shouted furiously and sternly, “The Grandmaster is the Dragon God Empire’s tenth emperor and is even one of the five great legendary emperors of the Dragon God Empire…
“The Grandmaster has already become a venerable half-deity and is even the strongest and oldest half-deity with the most highly esteemed status among the Golden Colossal Dragons! Why haven’t all of you gotten onto your knees upon seeing the Grandmaster?!”
“The tenth emperor?”
“A half-deity?”
“Greetings, Grandmaster!”
“Greetings, Grandmaster!”
“Greetings, Grandmaster!”
Upon hearing his words, a huge jolt went through everyone, and they hastily prostrated on the ground, bowing and saying their greetings loudly.
Most of them were Dragon God Academy students and teachers, though there were also sightseeing tourists among them.
To them, one must bow and kowtow upon seeing the emperor, let alone when the emperor in question was a legendary one who was also a venerable half-deity! All the more, they had to kowtow!
“I didn’t expect anyone to still remember me when such a long time has gone by!”
The golden-robed elderly man nodded slightly, the wrath on his features mellowing slightly. “You may rise!”
“Thank you, Grandmaster!”
Everyone got up one after another, looks of excitement and worship in their eyes. As students and teachers of Dragon God Academy, they didn’t lack contact with Saint Domains.
However, half-deities were the only ones that still existed only in legends, biographies, and songs to them. They had never laid eyes on one before. But now, they had finally seen one.
They had seen with their own eyes a living deity, an existence with the strongest combat power in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Who wouldn’t be worked up?
Who wouldn’t worship him?
Who wouldn’t be excited?
“Goblen Frederick, 4th in the Dragon God Genius Ranking?”
Meng Lei was the only one that didn’t kneel or kowtow. He gazed at the Dragon God Genius Ranking, a hint of amusement showing at the corners of his lips.
“If memory serves me right, you were ranked third in the past, right? Why have you dropped to fourth place?
“Alright, so it’s because I’ve gone all the way up to first place!” Meng Lei shook his head.
“How dare you!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person from before glowered at Meng Lei as he shouted furiously, “There is no place for you to speak in front of the Grandmaster! Get down on your knees!”
“Get on my knees?”
Meng Lei cast a glance at him. Then, a golden beam shot out, and the Golden Colossal Dragon Person’s head shot into the air and left his body right away.
“There is no place for you to speak here!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully before he then turned his gaze to the golden-robed elderly man suspended in mid-air. “You’d better give me a satisfactory explanation for your ambush on me just now!”
“You brazen, audacious renegade!”
Flames of fury rose in Goblen Frederick as murderous intent roiled in his eyes. “You’ve killed the empire’s emperor, slaughtered all the court officials, and killed more than 1,000 Saint Domains! Your sins are grievous, heinous, and unforgivable!
“Today, I shall rip you into a million pieces and cut you with a thousand knives so as to serve a warning to the people!”
“What?”
“What is Grandmaster saying?!”
Goblen Frederick’s words could be said to have caused a great commotion.
All the students were stunned!
All the teachers were horrified!
All the tourists were terrified!
Killed the emperor? Slaughtered all the court officials? Killed more than 1,000 Saint Domains?
How could that be? How could Meng Lei possibly be that strong?
Fake! It must be fake! The Grandmaster must have made a mistake!
Everyone shook their heads hard. They didn’t dare to believe such a thing at all; it was simply too sensational!
However, Meng Lei’s following response mercilessly shattered their fantasies.
“They’re just a bunch of rotten, depraved Magical Beasts. So I’ve killed them. So? What are you going to do about it?”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully, his demeanor calm and unaffected.
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“This, this…”
“It’s actually… actually true?”
“How dare he? How dare he?!”
A severe jolt went through everyone, who was shocked and horrified to the extreme.
“Die!!”
Goblen let out a low roar, upon which golden light that covered the whole sky burst forth from him and shot toward Meng Lei.
“The same move again? How boring!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly. With just a step, he had already reached right behind Goblen, and he took the opportunity to swing the Hammer of Destruction toward his lower back.
“See if I don’t crush your ancient waist!”
Bam!
His hammer swing was simply too swift, so much so that Goblen couldn’t react in time. He took the blow squarely at his ancient lower back and was thrown right out.
Bam!
Goblen crashed hard against the Tower of Time, causing the tower to sway about thrice.
“What the heck!? You’d better not damage it!”
Meng Lei got a huge fright at the sight, and he hastily controlled the Tower of Time with his will.
Then, something shocking happened—the Dragon God Tower, which had stood erect at Dragon God Academy and never moved an inch in 40,000 years, actually rose into the sky!
Then, it rapidly shrank, ultimately reducing in size until it became a little miniature tower that landed in Meng Lei’s palm!
(⊙o⊙)!!!
o((⊙_⊙))o!
┗(@ロ@;)┛!!!
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“This, this…”
“W-why did the Dragon God Tower…”
Everyone was horrified and aghast.
The Dragon God Tower was the divine weapon that protected the empire! For the last 40,000 years, it had stood erect and immovable like a rock!
So why… was it moving now?
On top of that, it had even flown onto Meng Lei’s palm?
Were they serious about this?
“You audacious knave put down the Dragon God Tower!”
Goblen Frederick got up from the ground. A bit of blood hung at a corner of his lip, but his aura was full and brimming, and his divine power vast and majestic—evidently, he hadn’t suffered much of an injury.
He stared at the miniature Tower of Time sitting in Meng Lei’s palm, somewhat hysterical. “Put down the Dragon God Tower at once! Otherwise, I’ll fight you to the death…”
“Put down? Why should I put it down?”
Meng Lei waved the Tower of Time left and right in his palm and said lightly, “The Dragon God Tower belongs to me from the start. I had only deposited it here temporarily. Is there a problem with me collecting it now?”
“You renegade! Knave! Treacherous bandit!”
[1] The derogatory term used here also colloquially refers to turtles, which are known for their long lifespans
" }, { "id": 207, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-207", "title": "Chapter 207 - Leave The Princesses Here, Throw The Princes Out", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 207: Leave The Princesses Here, Throw The Princes Out
“You renegade! Knave! Treacherous bandit!”
Goblen Frederick was boiling mad.
Meng Lei had killed the emperor, slaughtered all the court officials, and killed more than 1,000 Saint Domains. His actions were atrocious to the point that people would be speechless with abhorrence.
And now, he had even taken the divine weapon protecting the kingdom. Even if he were a bully, he shouldn’t be going that far!
“Die, die, die!”
Goblen roared incessantly. His vast, majestic divine power spread into the surroundings, crushing everyone who was watching the battle straight onto the ground and rendering them unable to even raise their heads.
Roar!
Innumerable golden threads suddenly shot out of Goblen to form a huge golden cage, which covered the area around Meng Lei.
“Close!”
The golden cage rapidly closed and imprisoned Meng Lei in an instant.
“You knave! Traitor! And renegade! I’m going to rip you into a million pieces and cut you with 1,000 knives!”
The golden cage started to contract as Goblen roared furiously, its sharp, indestructible golden threads tightening around Meng Lei forcefully.
Had it been anyone else—even a limits-level Saint Domain—they would surely have been turned into minced meat by the golden threads, yet Meng Lei remained well and intact.
“These are fully formed by metal-elemental power of divinity!”
Meng Lei marveled, “They are incredibly sharp and indestructible, but what a pity that they are just going to… Break!”
Boom!
Meng Lei suddenly began to expand with great force. Amid crisp crunching sounds, the golden threads wound around the surface of his body began to snap one by one… until all of them had broken.
A look at Meng Lei revealed that they hadn’t left even a single bloody scar on him.
“How can this be!?” Goblen was horrified and aghast. “Is your divine body actually that strong and tough?!”
“If I didn’t know a thing or two, how would I have dared to risk challenging you?” Meng Lei waved the Tower of Time in his hand and said, “Didn’t you want the Dragon God Tower? I’ll return it to you now!”
Then, as his fingers closed around the Tower of Time, he swung his arm back and hurled it over.
“The Dragon God Tower!”
Overjoyed, Goblen quickly reached out to catch it, but just as he was about to catch hold of it…
The Tower of Time instantly enlarged and turned from a 20-centimeters-tall miniature little tower into a huge, sky-scraping tower!
“Oh no!”
Goblen’s countenance changed drastically at the sight.
It was just a shame that it was ultimately still too late. The Tower of Time crashed into him just like how a bus would crash into an old man.
Crack!
Amid crisp cracks of bones snapping, blood spurted from Goblen’s mouth as he was thrown back. He crashed onto the ground, causing a deep fissure to form in the ground before he finally came to a stop.
“Seeing how you couldn’t catch it even when I’ve given it to you, it looks like you’re ultimately not fated to own the Dragon Tower. It can’t be helped, then!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. With a casual movement from him, the Tower of Time shrank in size again and flew back into his palm.
“You evil creature!”
Goblen soared into the sky and, without a second word, transformed into a huge Golden Colossal Dragon. Golden-yellow in color throughout, it was 1,000-meters-long and had a wingspan of more than 3,000 meters.
Boom!
Fierce, surging dragon might spread out, suppressing all the spectators so much that blood spurted from their mouths as if they had been struck by lightning. The weaker ones even passed out right away.
“You lowly worm! You’ve enraged me! You’ve completely enraged me!”
Goblen roared furiously, “I’m going to rip you into 1,000,000 pieces! And cut you with 1,000 knives!”
Roar!
The Colossal Dragon opened its mouth, from which a wave of golden dragon breath spurted—the dragon breath was actually golden, boiling-hot liquid!
Whoosh!
Meng Lei easily dodged the attack. However, the students behind him weren’t that lucky. Before they could even scream, they had become a pool of golden fluid.
“R-run!”
“Run!”
The students and teachers at the sides almost died from fright, yet they had been forced onto the ground and couldn’t move at all. All they could do was to pray amid their fear and trepidation that they wouldn’t become collateral damage.
“What powerful dragon breath!”
Meng Lei’s eyes flashed as he kept the Tower of Time and took out the Hammer of Destruction.
“As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive. Take a swing from my hammer!”
He appeared behind Goblen with a flash, raised the hammer, and smashed it down ruthlessly.
Meng Lei had put 50% of his power into the blow this time!
Crack!
With a crisp crack, a bloody hole formed, and dragon blood spilled everywhere. Goblen let out a piercing roar and swiped about with his claws as he tried to smack Meng Lei dead, yet he simply couldn’t catch him.
“Everyone says that a Golden Colossal Dragon’s scales have peerless defenses, but it looks like they’re nothing more than just this. This battle has lost all meaning. Let’s end this!”
Meng Lei was like a phantom, yet also like a mirage. He appeared here one moment and there the next, his movements as swift as the wind and as quick as lightning.
Crack!
Crack!
He completely suppressed Goblen. Huge hole after hole was left behind everywhere that the Hammer of Destruction passed by.
Large droplets of golden dragon blood sprayed about and dyed the ground—as well as every single spectator’s mind—in their color. The sight was shockingly ghastly and incredibly horrifying.
Roar!
“Divine Technique: Protective Golden Body[1]!
“Divine Technique: Imprisonment!
“God’s Domain!
“Divine Technique: Golden Flames of Destruction!
“Divine Technique: Indestructible Metal God!”
Goblen roared incessantly and unleashed various trump cards. He didn’t even hesitate to use his power of divinity! Nevertheless, these were still powerless to alter the outcome of the battle.
Meng Lei, together with his hammer, came and went like a ghost.
When God’s Domain came toward him, he dodged and smashed his hammer about furiously.
When the Golden Flames of Destruction came toward him, he also dodged and smashed his hammer about furiously.
When the destructive dragon breath came toward him, he still dodged and smashed his hammer about furiously.
After the series of attacks, Meng Lei was still completely well and intact, but Goblen was already riddled with holes and his dragon scales broken and cracked. He was a terribly wretched sight to behold.
“It’s over!”
Meng Lei liked to fight, but he didn’t have a penchant for abusing the weak. Thus, he resolutely launched his final attack.
“Divine Technique: Ultimate Alchemy!”
Buzz…
A dazzling golden light beam descended from above and instantly smashed onto Goblen.
All the areas that the golden light beam struck stiffened right away and turned a golden-yellow color before ultimately actually becoming a dazzling gold.
“This is…”
Upon sensing the changes in his body, Goblen’s expression changed drastically. He flapped his wings desperately in an attempt to avoid the golden light beam, only for Meng Lei to smash his hammer onto his head.
The blow dizzied Goblen, making him see stars while his mind blanked out.
Buzz…
The golden light beam swiftly spread out. In a few short breaths, it had fully enveloped Goblen’s 1,000-meters-long body, wings, tail, and claws…
Whoosh!
In this instant, Goblen’s body was completely frozen, and he could no longer budge even an inch. Then, he crashed straight onto the ground and became still and motionless!
Meng Lei landed in front of Goblen and knocked against his body, producing dull, muffled thuds as he did so. He was awfully pleased with his handiwork.
“This place is pretty cold and cheerless after I took the Dragon God Tower. We’ll have you stand in its place, then!”
And then, Meng Lei vanished with a flash.
“I-it’s ended?”
The spectators who had been forced onto the ground climbed to their feet, panting heavily as they did so. They felt as if they’d just had a near-death experience and been given a new lease of life.
It had really been too frightening just now.
“This is wonderful! I’m still alive!”
“Sob, I’m still alive! I’m still alive!”
“Mama…”
Badly frightened, most of the onlookers were currently weeping in joy and relief. The bolder ones among them carefully walked over to Goblen.
One of them trembled as he asked, “G-Grandmaster, a-are you alright?”
However, there was no response.
Utterly confused, the person reached out and touched Goblen lightly. His body was cold to the touch and felt fully metallic. How was this a dragon anymore? It was clearly a Colossal Dragon statue!
“O… O’ Dragon God above! T-the Grandmaster has turned into a statue?!”
…
“That old bastard actually doesn’t even have a single bronze coin on him!”
Meng Lei sat among the clouds with a spatial ring in his hand—the one that he’d just filched from Goblen.
He had initially thought that killing a half-deity would earn him a handsome sum of money, but little did he expect that not only did the system not sound any notifications, but even the spatial ring was also empty.
“All that work had been for nothing?”
Meng Lei was so furious that he was close to swearing. Even killing a Saint Domain Magical Beast could earn him quite a few Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, yet he hadn’t gotten even a single cent from killing a half-deity now.
How infuriating!
“He’s still alive even though he took my Ultimate Alchemy attack. That old fogey definitely still has another incarnation of himself.
“Colossal Dragons are avaricious, yet that old fogey doesn’t even have a single bronze coin on himself. It’s probably because he didn’t bring his assets out with him!”
A shrewd glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes. “No, I must find that old fogey’s den! Just how vast would a half-deity’s wealth and assets be? I must get my hands on it! As for that old fogey’s den…”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes slightly. “I’ve heard from Ol’ President that Dragon Island is the Dragons’ base. The vast majority of pure-blooded Colossal Dragons and Saint Domain Dragon People cultivate in seclusion there. That old fogey’s other incarnation and his den are probably on Dragon Island. The problem is… Where’s Dragon Island?”
“Meng Lei!”
A cool, aloof voice rang out beside him at this moment.
“Who is it?”
Meng Lei looked up abruptly to see that a pretty figure had shown up in front of him at some point. With jade-like skin and gorgeous looks, who could it be other than Abbe?
“Abbe!”
Meng Lei greeted her with a smile. However, he suddenly realized that something didn’t feel quite right—it seemed like he had just slain Frederick the 32nd! W-well, this was awkward!
“Meng Lei, you killed my father!”
Abbe gazed at Meng Lei with a complex look in her eyes. There was pain, agony, and fury in there, but what was present even more so was an internal struggle…
“Do you want to avenge him?” Meng Lei asked with a wry laugh.
“Yes, but I know I’m no match for you. Neither can I make myself do it!”
Abbe slowly closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Meng Lei heaved a sigh while Abbe also fell silent. At once, the atmosphere turned rather heavy.
After quite a while, it was Abbe that broke the silence first.
“I’m leaving, Meng Lei.”
“Leaving? Where are you going?”
Meng Lei was taken aback.
“Somewhere far, far away!”
Abbe sighed softly and said, “Perhaps we’ll never see each other again after today. Take care!”
Then, she turned and left, a crystal-clear teardrop dissipating along with the wind…
“You—”
Meng Lei wanted to call out to her, but he ultimately sighed and murmured, “Abbe, do take care, too.”
…
Abbe left, leaving behind only a heavy, gloomy view of her back and a sense of guilt that wouldn’t disappear.
“I’m sorry, Abbe, but I don’t regret what I did. If I could do it all over again, I would still do what I did. Dragon God Empire is mine!”
Then, Meng Lei got up, turned, and flew toward the Dragon God Empire palace.
He had left in a hurry previously and forgotten to do something important, so he wanted to return and get it done.
Meng Lei traveled very quickly. A few minutes later, he had returned to the area above the palace.
However, the scene currently taking place in the palace somewhat caught him by surprise.
“Throw all these goddamn eunuchs out and change them all to palace maidservants!
“Leave the Empress and all the Royal Consorts. Not a single one is to leave! Yes, they’re mine, all mine!
“Leave the princesses and throw the princes out!”
[1] The term refers to golden Buddha statues
" }, { "id": 208, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-208", "title": "Chapter 208 - Slaying Another Half-Deity, Slaughtering Another 100 Saint Domains", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "A group of strangers had arrived at the Dragon God Empire palace. With dragon horns on their heads, dragon tails on their bottoms, and dragon wings on their backs, every one of them was a Dragon Person.
They numbered roughly 500 and were all Saint Domains. There was no lack of pinnacle-level Saint Domains among them.
There were so many Saint Domains there, yet all of them were revolving around a single person and blindly following his commands—this man was Briggs!
“Listen up now!”
Briggs was dressed in dragon robes and had a crown on his head. He gave off a powerful, majestic aura as he stood proudly in the sky above the palace and overlooked the hundred thousands of people prostrating on the ground.
Among these hundred thousands of people were princes and princesses, the empress and royal consorts, palace maidservants and eunuchs, as well as the Royal Holy Knight Order and the palace guards.
“From today onward, I am Dragon God Empire’s newly-appointed Dragon Emperor! My words are the royal decree! Those who dare defy orders will be slain at once and shown no mercy!”
His mighty and imposing speech resounded throughout the palace and outside it. Everyone was filled with trepidation, their hearts nervous and fearful, yet no one dared to question him.
“Now, I will issue my first decree!”
Briggs was awfully smug. He was the son of a great half-deity, and hence he had been born with a half-deity’s body.
Just how noble was that?
Just how venerable was that?
Yet he simply had no chance at the throne at all!
Just how miserable was that?
Just how sad was that?
However, his wish had finally come true on this day!
“Throw all these goddamn eunuchs out and change them all to palace maidservants!
“Leave the empress and the Royal Consorts!
“The princes and princesses, too! Throw the princes out and leave the princesses!”
With that, Briggs issued his very first royal decree.
Upon hearing such a near-ridiculous decree, everyone was filled with grief, fury, and indignation, yet there was simply nothing they could do. Not only was the new emperor from Dragon Island a half-deity, but he had even brought 500 Saint Domain experts with him.
With such terrifying power and overpowering might, who would dare defy him? Who would dare challenge his authority?
“Have all of you heard my decree loud and clear?”
Briggs shouted coldly, his voice like the rolling thunder.
“Yes, we heard you loud and clear, Your Majesty!”
Everyone hastily replied aloud.
“Great! Get down to it, then!”
With a big wave, Briggs ordered, “Everyone may disperse, but the empress is to stay. By the way, order the imperial kitchen to make me a few light dishes. I’m hungry!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
As though they had just been granted amnesty, everyone dispersed and left, leaving behind only a gorgeous, dignified, and graceful young lady still on her knees—it was the empire’s empress and the palace’s previous female master.
Briggs’ gaze swept across the empress, and he licked his lips. Then, to the 500 Saint Domains behind him, he ordered, “You’re dismissed!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
…
“Who’s that guy?”
Meng Lei stood among the clouds, currently extremely displeased.
He had fought so hard and so desperately, only to receive not even a single cent. And now, someone had snatched his throne, too.
“Does justice still exist? Is there still any law and order?!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but break into a loud rant.
“Who is it?”
A cold shout rang out. Several figures instantly arrived at where he was and surrounded him.
“They’ve discovered me?”
Meng Lei was a little startled.
“Who are you? Why are you hiding here and sneaking around here?”
A muscular, two-meters-tall Golden Colossal Dragon Person with firm muscles all over his body barked fiercely at him.
“Sneaking around? Are you blind? Am I sneaking around?” Meng Lei was displeased. “I’m openly standing here, alright?!”
“How audacious!!”
With a snort of displeasure, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person ordered, “Arrest him! And hand him over to His Majesty for further instructions!”
“Yes, Lord Clement!”
Then, a few Dragon People charged toward Meng Lei, who didn’t resist and instead allowed them to arrest him and bring him over to Briggs.
“Who’s that?” asked Briggs casually after he cast a glance at Meng Lei. Then, he continued to ogle at the beautiful empress, the look in his eyes openly lustful. He was just a step short of salivating.
“He’s probably a random Saint Domain passing by,” replied Clement, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person, respectfully.
“Just kill him then!”
Briggs waved dismissively, completely disinterested in Meng Lei.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” replied Clement. Then, with a wave, he ordered, “Bring him a little further away and kill him!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let me go! Let me go! Your Majesty, you can’t kill me! You can’t kill me!”
Extremely horrified and fearful, Meng Lei began to wail at the top of his lungs like a big fat pig whose arms and legs had been caught, its tail grasped, and its mouth gagged.
His screams and shouts were hoarse and heart-wrenching.
“I’m your great benefactor! If not for me, would you have the chance to become the emperor? If not for me, you’d still be a Magical Beast on Dragon Island! You can’t repay my kindness with enmity and kill your great benefactor…”
“Eh?”
With a slight frown, Briggs’ sharp, blade-like gaze fell on Meng Lei, and he asked, “What are you talking about? How does me becoming the emperor have anything to do with you?”
“Of course it has something to do with me!”
Meng Lei hastily explained, “If I hadn’t killed the old emperor, would you have the chance to become the new emperor? Your Majesty, you must give credit where it’s due and not repay kindness with enmity. You’ll suffer retribution if you do that, and neither will that bullshit Dragon God let you off…”
“You killed the old emperor?”
A mild jolt went through Briggs while the beautiful empress shuddered hard. The 500 Saint Domains’ countenances also changed dramatically.
“Who exactly are you?”
Briggs’ eyes bore into Meng Lei, hints of murderous intent coming over his eyes.
“Who am I? You don’t even know who I am? As expected, the Dragons are indeed a bunch of ingrates!”
A complete change from his previous lowly demeanor, Meng Lei broke into a rant and jabbed his finger right at Briggs’ nose.
“I’ve helped you kill the emperor and given you the opportunity to become emperor, thereby giving you another chance at life! But look at you! Never mind the fact that you didn’t even thank me, your great benefactor, but you actually even want to kill me.
“You can’t get any crueler and more unscrupulous than that. You can be said to be the most ungrateful person… No, the most ungrateful dragon in the world!”
Meng Lei was completely lashing out now. “Since you’re so heartless and ungrateful, then don’t blame me for lashing out at you!”
“You’re Meng Lei!”
The beautiful empress kneeling on the ground suddenly glared at Meng Lei furiously, alarm and anger coming over her at the same time.
“Meng Lei! You’re Meng Lei?!”
Briggs’ countenance changed at once. “You’re that Meng Lei who murdered the empire’s emperor, slaughtered all the court officials, and killed more than 1,000 Saint Domains?”
“You damned beast, how dare you utter your great benefactor’s name directly!? You’re a perverse one, indeed!”
Meng Lei held his hands behind his back as he declared, “Today, I shall rid the world of an evil and slay a wicked dragon like you!”
“Haven’t you been killed by Father? Why are you here?!” Briggs had a horrified look in his eyes.
“Father? Surely you can’t be talking about that old bastard Goblen?” Meng Lei said dispassionately, “If it’s him that you’re talking about, then sorry, but I’ve already killed him.”
“What?”
Briggs’ countenance changed drastically at once. The 500 Saint Domains also looked at Meng Lei with looks of alarm and horror on their faces.
One must know that Grandmaster Goblen was a half-deity! On top of that, he was even an old-time half-deity with the mightiest power and most venerated status among the Golden Colossal Dragons. Just how strong and powerful was he?
Yet… He had been killed?
Everyone felt a chill that reached deep into their bones!
“You ungrateful damned beast that repays kindness with enmity, you’d better go to hell and keep your father company!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort. Then, his palm smacked toward Briggs.
Howl!
With a flash, Briggs instantly dodged Meng Lei’s attack. Then, he transformed into a 3,000-feet-long Golden Colossal Dragon.
“Run! I must escape from here immediately!”
Briggs flapped his wings and immediately made a run for it. He didn’t harbor any thoughts of avenging his father at all, merely wishing that he’d been born with another two legs.
Revenge?
Oh my goodness!
Meng Lei had killed even his half-deity father, Goblen. How was a second-generation half-deity like him going to be his match?
He’d better just hurry and flee!
“Run?”
Meng Lei laughed and took a step forward.
The next second, he appeared bizarrely above Briggs and stepped onto his head.
“Damned beast, where do you think you’re going instead of obediently waiting to be slain by me?”
Roar!
Briggs came to a sudden stop and pleaded in a quivering voice, “S-sir, please spare my life! The one that wants to kill you is Goblen! It has nothing to do with me!”
“Goblen? Is it really alright for you to address your father directly by his name like that?”
Meng Lei’s brows knitted together slightly.
“For daring to assassinate you, that knave Goblen is too bold and impudent, perverse, unforgivable, heinous to the extreme, and deserves to die for his crimes!”
A trembling Briggs went on. “It’s a disgrace to have a father like him. I’ve long wanted to sever ties with him and draw a clear line between the two of us. You can verify the authenticity of my claims!”
o((⊙_⊙))o?
Meng Lei was flabbergasted. “Why does someone as shameless and thick-skinned as you even exist in this world? I’m embarrassed to associate with you. You’d better just die!”
Then, the Gods-Slaying Spear shot out of nowhere and instantly pierced through Briggs’ head.
“Ding! 1 Golden Colossal Dragon killed, 891 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
A system notification sounded in a timely manner.
“That guy doesn’t have a divine incarnation?”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback and somewhat surprised.
Judging from Briggs’ size and aura, he was indeed a half-deity. Meng Lei had initially thought that he wouldn’t be able to completely kill him with just one strike.
Little did he expect… that he would.
What a surprise!
What he didn’t know was that Briggs had been born after Goblen had broken through to half-deity status. Though born with a half-deity’s body, his comprehension of laws of nature was actually incredibly poor.
Over the last 20,000-odd years, all Briggs had comprehended was just the Golden Colossal Dragons’ inborn laws of nature, metal-elemental laws of nature.
As he held no aptitude for comprehending laws of nature, he had no need to split his divine spirit. As a result, he didn’t own any incarnations at all.
Without an alternate incarnation, he naturally died with one hit.
“What a pleasant surprise!”
With a wave of his arm, Meng Lei stored Briggs’ carcass into the Tower of Time.
He was currently just a teenage God-Slaying Rat and needed to nourish himself well. Half-deity Golden Colossal Dragon meat would make a pretty good snack.
“H-he’s come over!”
“Quick!”
“Run!”
“Split up and run!”
The 500 Saint Domains had witnessed in entirety Meng Lei killing Briggs. They had long since been frightened out of their wits, so they tried to run at once,
“Divine Technique: Ultimate Alchemy!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
500 golden light beams, not one more and not one less, descended from above and landed on them with pinpoint accuracy.
Buzz…
Power of divinity erupted and instantly turned 500 fully alive Saint Domains into 500 statues, and they became completely still.
“Another 2,800 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained! Not bad, not bad!”
Highly satisfied with his gains, Meng Lei then came up to the empress with a flash.
“W-what do you want?”
Fear had caused blood to drain from the empress’ face and her legs to shake uncontrollably a long time ago. At the sight of Meng Lei, she almost wet herself in fear!
“Answer two questions for me.”
Meng Lei held up two fingers.
“The first: Where’s the imperial treasury?
“And the second: Where’s Dragon Island?”
“N-no, I can’t!”
Her pride as the empress of an empire barely managed to sustain the empress and prevent her from wetting herself in fear. She said, “The imperial treasury is an important place…”
Whoosh!
A golden light beam shot forth and instantly sliced apart the phoenix crown on the empress’ head, frightening her so badly that she collapsed onto the ground.
Sloosh…
A murky yellow liquid began to flow…
" }, { "id": 209, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-209", "title": "Chapter 209 - : Assimilating Laws Of Nature, A Fallen Angel", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "A half-plane, as its name indicated, was an incomplete existential plane.
Half-planes could be either existential planes that had yet to mature, fragments of a complete existential plane that had broken or become destroyed, or existential planes whose nurturing process had failed and ended up deformed.
In general, no matter what kind of plane it was, as long as it was incomplete, then one could call them half-planes.
Dragon God Empire’s imperial treasury and the Dragons’ base, Dragon Island, were located in two half-planes. Their locations were extremely obscure, and only the empire’s high-ranking officials knew about them.
“I’ll go to the imperial treasury first!”
Meng Lei didn’t dally. He followed the empress’s directions, who had wet herself, arrived at an obscure underground palace, and found the magic circle that led to the treasury half-plane.
Buzz…
Upon activating the magic circle, the world spun, and then Meng Lei arrived at another world.
Gray, overcast skies and gray, overcast lands!
No magic elements present, incomplete laws of nature, and barely any air!
A half-plane like this evidently wasn’t suitable for any life form to live in. As a place for treasure storage, however, it was undoubtedly extremely suitable.
Firstly, there was no fear of moldiness. Secondly, there was no fear of deterioration. Thirdly, there was no fear of bugs or pests. Therefore, it was truly the best choice of location.
“That’s…”
Meng Lei immediately noticed several palaces standing tall and straight on the flat grounds with just a glance.
Big, tall, and lofty, they glittered gold like several mountains of gold and gave off a dazzling brilliance.
Meng Lei quickly flew over to the first palace. The gates were tightly shut, and two big words, “Weapon Hall” gilt in gold, were written in calligraphy on the 100-feet-tall gates that were constructed from pure gold. Magic power swirled around the gates—evidently, they had been engraved with a magic circle.
“Weapon Hall?”
Meng Lei made a grabbing motion in the air. At once, the 100-feet-tall gates made out of pure gold broke and dissipated with a boom, turning into gold powder residue that floated in the air and filled up the sky—before being collected by the system.
“Oh my goodness! Two gates alone are already worth 3 billion gold coins! This is incredible! Incredible!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp after taking a glance at the stats interface. Just the gates alone were already this extravagant, let alone the contents within?
He quickly walked into the Weapon Hall, which was separated into two sub-halls, the Saint Domain-Level Magic Devices Hall and the Half-Divine Weapon Hall.
Upon entering the Saint Domain-Level Magic Devices Hall, what filled his sight were sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, rods, and staffs… There was a dazzling array of weapons and contained everything one could possibly think of.
Filled with magic power and the fluctuations of elements, every one of them was a Saint Domain-level magic device!
Apart from these were dozens of spatial rings. He picked up a random one to discover that it was actually a spatial ring with an extra-large space inside that spanned as wide as over 1,000 cubic meters.
“If I were to auction this off, surely it can fetch at least a few dozen billions?”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder as he remarked, “What a shame that it was actually kept in here as part of a collection.”
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
There was no reason why he should let any of them off with so much good stuff here, of course. By the time Meng Lei walked out of the Saint Domain-Level Magic Devices Hall, it was already all empty inside.
He didn’t leave behind even the feather duster meant for cleaning off dust, let alone a magic device.
Duh, even the feather duster’s handle was forged from pure gold and was very much precious and valuable. Who would bear to discard it?
“The Half-Divine Weapon Hall!”
Compared to the dazzling array of Saint Domain-level magic devices, there were much fewer half-divine weapons there. They numbered only about ten, and most of them were even magic staffs.
“The Sky Staff!”
Meng Lei picked up one of the magic staffs. Wind-elemental power of divinity ebbed and flowed on the cyan-colored staff’s surface…
“This is probably forged using a wind-elemental half-deity Magical Beast’s rib bones and magic core. Just the material alone is already something extremely rare! It’s a pretty good half-divine weapon. Alright, I’ll take it.”
Almost all the other half-divine weapons were also forged from half-deity materials. Were they to be auctioned off, they would definitely fetch a frighteningly high astronomical price.
“Collect!”
After exiting the Weapon Hall, Meng Lei didn’t spare even the palace itself that was made out of pure gold.
The palace fell apart with a snap of his fingers and turned into golden sand that filled up the sky before being collected by the system.
“Just the palace alone is worth one trillion gold coins! The Dragons… are really too goddamn extravagant!”
Then, he came to the second palace.
“Laws of Nature Origin Crystal Hall!”
Meng Lei’s breathing turned heavy and ragged at once. Unlike the Saint Domain-level magic devices and half-divine weapons, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals were just like gold coins and could be directly collected by the system.
How could Meng Lei possibly not become worked up?
Whoosh!
The gates dissipated, and a dazzling, multi-colored light shone through the door frame like a brilliant, eye-catching rainbow.
“What rich laws of nature power!”
Then, Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp—with just a glance, he had caught sight of the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals that rested in full, towering heaps and glittered like colorful jewels.
“So many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!” exclaimed Meng Lei, whose eyes had lit up at the sight.
“System, collect them all!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
By the time all the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals in the hall were gone, his Wealth had gone through the roof…
786,934 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
“I’ve struck gold! I’ve struck gold this time!”
Meng Lei raised his head and burst into loud laughter. “Haha! It feels like I’m gonna earn big this time! It’s just a shame that there are so many riches here, yet I can’t use them to buy credit!”
Operating by the principle that every little bit counted, Meng Lei similarly didn’t spare the hall made out of pure gold, either, and earned a pretty little sum out of it.
The third hall was the Elemental Crystals Hall.
Elemental crystals were the product of crystallized magic elements. They weren’t as rare as Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, but they were treasures that could quickly boost a Magician’s magic power, hence making them highly valuable and fairly precious.
The key here was that the sheer number of elemental crystals in the hall was exaggeratedly huge. Piled together in the palace just like mounds of sand, they amounted to more than just 10,000 tons.
The only thing considered a shame was that the system didn’t recognize elemental crystals; hence they couldn’t be directly collected by it. What a pain!
After he collected all the elemental crystals, Meng Lei headed to the fourth palace—the Rare Magic Materials Hall.
Although Meng Lei hadn’t come into much contact with magic materials before, there were nonetheless simply too many areas where they were needed, such as crafting magic staffs, making magic potions, inscribing magic circles, doing magic experiments…
As a result, the magic materials industry had become one of Dragon God Empire’s pillar industries. The tax revenue they brought to Dragon God Empire was far more than just one trillion gold coins.
And now, inside the palace in front of Meng Lei was packed to the brim with various rare and valuable materials. Every one of them could fetch an astronomical price in an auction.
“These also can’t be converted into cash, but I can eat some as snacks…”
And then, he packed them all up and took them with him.
The last palace was a storage area for special artifacts. The first thing Meng Lei spied upon entering was a small, golden-yellow calf section of a leg.
The calf looked like, yet wasn’t gold. Divine energy waves circled around it as it gave off a fearsome and imposing might, causing Meng Lei to feel as if he were facing a primordial beast.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! 1 Fused Laws of Nature Fragment discovered. Will you assimilate it?”
“A fused laws of nature fragment?”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback. Could it be a laws of nature fragment that had formed after a few types of laws of nature had fused together with one another?
“Yes, assimilate it!”
Boom!
At once, an enormous wave of information flooded his mind—it was actually information about a “new” type of laws of nature that had formed after two entirely different types of laws of nature had perfectly fused with each other.
The first type represented vitality and thriving growth—this was wood-elemental laws of nature. The other type represented steadfast reliability where those of great virtue could undertake major, significant tasks—this was earth-elemental laws of nature!
“A newly-born Laws of Nature fragment that formed after wood-elemental and earth-elemental laws of nature had… fused together?”
Meng Lei let out a soft exclamation and quickly looked at his stats interface. At once, his eyes widened dramatically, and he almost screamed.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <100%>)
Wealth: 787,869 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Spirit: Divine Spirit (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Wood-Earth Fusion (0.1%)
“0.1%! I… can buy credit for my laws of nature comprehension again now!
“And it’s even a wood-earth fusion law of nature, too! Oh my god, is this even possible?!”
Meng Lei’s heart pounded hard as a bold idea suddenly popped up in his mind.
Was there really no other way to assimilate laws of nature other than to split the divine spirit, light up the divine fire, manifest the divine core, and become an intermediate deity first?
Perhaps it was possible that he could fuse all ten types of laws of nature into one before he lit up the divine fire?
“It’s possible! The likelihood definitely exists! But only on the condition that… I can get my hands on more fusion laws of nature fragments first. This way, I’ll be able to buy credit for other types of fusion Laws of Nature fragments too!”
Meng Lei exhaled a long breath of air. His gaze involuntarily fell onto the calf.
“For it to drop a fusion laws of nature fragment, the owner must have been at least an intermediate deity.
“An intermediate deity’s calf… No wonder it gives off such powerful might!”
The second item was a golden skull. Like the calf, divine energy waves also circled around it while power of divinity fluctuated around it—it was probably also a true god’s skull.
Unfortunately, nothing dropped from it this time.
The third item was a pair of wings that strongly resembled a butterfly’s. They were paper-thin and crystal-clear, yet incredibly soft and pliable. Meng Lei actually couldn’t rip them apart, thereby proving that they had totally come from a true god.
The fourth item was a basketball-sized stone. It had neither power of divinity traces nor laws of nature traces around it. When basing off its outward appearance alone, it looked completely identical to an ordinary stone and was totally lacking any kind of unusual characteristic.
Would an ordinary stone be placed here?
Perplexed, Meng Lei couldn’t help but pick up the stone, intending to do a close inspection.
Unexpectedly, the system’s icy-cold voice rang out at this point out of the blue.
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! You’ve obtained the Fallen Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“What? The Fallen Angel bloodline?”
Meng Lei was flabbergasted. “Where did that come from? Could it be…”
Meng Lei’s gaze couldn’t help but fall onto the unremarkable stone. There was no way the system would pick up the Fallen Angel bloodline for no reason!
The only possibility was…
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei quickly released his divine will and shrouded the stone in it in an attempt to get to the bottom of things.
The strange thing was that the moment his divine will came into contact with the stone, it was immediately deflected by a peculiar energy and couldn’t go into it at all.
“As expected, there’s something strange about this!”
Meng Lei promptly returned to the Tower of Time.
“Wake up, Dodola!”
Snore…
Dodola was currently fast asleep on the soft fields. A crystal-clear drop of liquid was even hanging at the corner of its mouth. Upon being awakened by Meng Lei, it opened its sleepy eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Do you recognize this?”
Meng Lei tossed the pebble over, which instantly hooked Dodola’s attention.
“That’s a Devil’s aura! And a higher Devil’s, no less!”
Dodola’s eyes bore into the pebble as it sniffed hard at it like a dog. “Where did you get this?”
“Can you first tell me what this thing is?” asked Meng Lei instead.
Dodola replied affirmatively, “A Devil’s egg! This is a Devil’s egg!”
“A Devil’s egg? Are you sure?” Meng Lei quickly asked.
“Of course! The number of Devils I’ve killed together with the great God of Time easily totals 100,000, if not 1,000,000. How would I possibly make a mistake about that?”
Dodola bragged haughtily. “This is definitely a Devil’s egg. On top of that, it’s undoubtedly a higher Devil’s, too. There’s no way I’ll make a mistake!”
“A Devil’s egg? No wonder!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. “Since you’re so impressive, then why don’t you tell me what type of Devil this egg comes from?”
“This… Let me take a look!”
Dodola peered at it. “It’s probably been sealed, so I can’t tell.”
“Hehe! You’re lost, aren’t you?”
Meng Lei chuckled smugly.
“Look at you acting as if you know!” Dodola rolled its eyes.
“If I’m not wrong, this is probably a Fallen Angel’s egg.”
“What? A Fallen Angel!?”
" }, { "id": 210, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-210", "title": "Chapter 210 - Entering A Blood Pact, Spatial Laws Of Nature", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Fallen Angel? Are you sure?”
Dodola’s eyes bore into Meng Lei.
“Yes, of course!”
Meng Lei was very certain of it.
“If it really is a Fallen Angel, then you’d better hurry and kill it!” Dodola’s eyes narrowed as it said, “That thing will only bring endless calamity if you keep it.”
“Is it that bad?” asked Meng Lei, who was slightly taken aback by Dodola’s statement.
“You don’t understand the Fallen Angels!”
Dodola rolled its eyes at Meng Lei as it said, “The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline in you is a monstrous one, right? The Fallen Angel doesn’t lose out to it in any way!
“A two-winged Fallen Angel rivals a half-deity; a four-winged Fallen Angel rivals a lesser deity; a six-winged Fallen Angel rivals an intermediate deity; an eight-winged Fallen Angel rivals a higher deity; and a sixteen-winged Fallen Angel rivals a deity of Great Perfection!
“The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline may be strong and powerful, but it has neither ever achieved Great Perfection nor dominated the Void, much less own its own private territory. However, the Fallen Angels possess all of that.
“The Fallen Angels dominate the Demon Realm, which is one of the three great devil high-end existential planes. They rule over and own innumerable material planes and elemental planes. The Void is full of traces of them!
“There are a great number of Great Perfection-level experts among the Fallen Angels. In fact, they’ve even produced Chief Gods before!”
Dodola looked at Meng Lei as it asked, “Do you still find the Fallen Angels average and mediocre now?”
“Are the Fallen Angels actually that powerful?!”
Meng Lei was rather dumbstruck.
“Duh, of course!”
Dodola said dryly, “The Deity Alliance has been fighting the Devils over the last millions of years. Fallen Angels, as one of the Devils’ main fighting forces, have killed innumerable deities. How would they possibly be weaklings?”
“I see!”
Meng Lei’s eyes gleamed shrewdly as he gazed at the unremarkable pebble. “So, that means that there’s a big, fearsome demon developing inside this?”
Dodola nodded slightly and replied, “You’d best think of a way to kill it. Leaving it around is ultimately still a risk. It doesn’t benefit you in any way!”
“No, that’s not what I think!”
A shrewd glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he said, “Since it possesses such fearsome potential, why not hatch it and groom it into a superbly strong fighter?”
“Groom a Fallen Angel?”
Dodola received a huge fright. “What the heck! You sure dream big! Do you know what you’re in for once someone discovers that?
“All the deities in the Void will isolate you! Millions of Devils will regard you with animosity! There’ll be no place for you in both good and evil! How are you going to fit in in the future?”
“Who can be that bothered with what happens in the future?” Meng Lei, who didn’t agree with Dodola’s views, waved it off and said, “Tell me how I should hatch it, Dodola!”
“You’re simply too impressive. I hope you won’t regret this!” Dodola then said with a light snort, “If you want to hatch it, you’ll have to remove its seal first. That seal is unbearably crude, so it’s likely a half-deity’s handiwork. Undoing it shouldn’t be difficult. Don’t dirty my bed. Let’s go to the 96th level instead.”
…
The 96th level was a dim and dark blood-red world with blood-red ground, blood-red plants, and a blood-red full moon in the blood-red skies.
The place was bloody and sinister, dead silent and terrifying.
“The Dark Elements on this level are extremely rich and suit the Fallen Angel. You can place it here.”
“Alright!”
As the seal was a half-deity’s handiwork, undoing it didn’t pose much of a difficulty to Dodola.
Crack!
Crack!
Several thin cracks appeared on the pebble’s surface as the seal broke before they swiftly spread all over the pebble.
Whoosh!
Numerous blood-red rays of light shone through the cracks, and then it exploded with a loud boom.
Voila!
A large egg with a blood-red pattern and shining with a blood-red glow appeared before Meng Lei’s eyes.
An evil, demonic aura full of decay and depravity emanated into the surroundings, giving Meng Lei an extreme sense of discomfort.
Buzz…
At the same time, the lifeform inside the egg also seemed to sense the presence of Dark Elements in the surroundings and began to absorb them.
“To think it’s actually still alive despite being sealed for so many years. Its vitality sure is strong. Only a scant few higher Devils like the Fallen Angels and so on can possess such strong vitality!”
Dodola took in the feeling closely, and then it suddenly asked, “By the way, how did you know that it’s a Fallen Angel?”
“It was a random guess!” Meng Lei gave a patronizing response to shut Dodola up, and then he asked, “How do I hatch it?”
Although Dodola was rather dissatisfied with his answer, it nevertheless still replied, “The seal had shut out the circulation of magic elements. Now that it’s been removed, it’ll continue to mature on its own. You just need to wait patiently! However…”
“However what?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
“I’d suggest that you immediately form a blood pact with it and turn it into your slave.”
Dodola explained, “By the time it hatches, whether or not you can even defeat it would become a problem itself!”
“That makes sense!”
Meng Lei agreed wholeheartedly with Dodola. The reason why he’d dared to enter an equal contract with Little Gold and Teddy was that he had the confidence to subdue them if necessary, but this wasn’t the case for the Fallen Angel.
Not only was it born a half-deity, but it was even an evil Devil. Turning it into his slave was the most suitable course of action.
“By the way, what’s a blood pact?” Meng Lei asked as he scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed.
“I’m gonna faint!”
Dodola was rendered speechless. “Seeing how you were so agreeable to the suggestion and how you’d agreed wholeheartedly with it, I thought that you knew about the blood pact. So you were just putting on a show?!”
“…”
Blood pacts weren’t difficult to learn. Meng Lei mastered it immediately after Dodola went through it with him once.
Meng Lei bit his finger and made a cut before squeezing out a few drops of blood. Then, using his finger as a pen, his blood as ink, and the laws of nature as a catalyst, he inscribed a magic circle.
Buzz…
A blood pact magic circle, which looked like messy, illegible drawings, covered the surface of the egg. Following the magic circle’s activation, the messy drawings turned into a blood-red glow that seeped into the egg.
The next moment, Meng Lei immediately felt a hint of an intimate connection with the tiny lifeform in the egg.
He could completely feel that tiny lifeform’s pulse, heartbeat, its desire for Dark Elements, as well as its instinctive desire to hatch and break out of the egg.
“This is so amazing!”
With a wave, Meng Lei brought out the elemental crystals that he’d just collected. Then, he picked out the dark-elemental ones and piled them around the Fallen Angel egg.
“So many elemental crystals!”
Dodola was rather impressed. “Not bad, you’re much richer than most typical native half-deities!”
“I just ransacked the Dragon God Empire’s treasury.” Meng Lei burst into laughter. “You know what I mean…”
“No wonder!”
A laughing Dodola said, “Since you have so many dark-elemental elemental crystals, you can set up a magical energy-gathering magic circle and accelerate the incubation process.”
“A magical energy-gathering magic circle?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
“You don’t know this, either?”
A magical energy-gathering magic circle was set up in no time.
Upon activating the magic circle, the Dark Elements within several hundred kilometers of where they were swiftly converged in their direction and surged toward the Fallen Angel egg in the center of the magic circle.
The blood-red patterns on the surface of the egg became even brighter and more bewitching. As though crimson-red blood vessels, they started to absorb the Dark Elements in the surroundings even more fervently.
“That’s good enough!”
Dodola flapped its tiny little wings and said, “With the nourishment of such rich Dark Elements, it should be able to hatch very soon!”
“Hopefully!”
Meng Lei was looking forward very much to it, too.
“But you must take note of something.” Dodola suddenly warned, “It’ll need to feed once it hatches. Although Dark-Elemental Magical Beasts can barely suffice too, the best choice of food for it is still Devils.”
“It’ll need to feed on Devils?”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
Dodola explained, “Devils are different from deities. The fastest way for them to boost their combat power is to devour other Devils. High-grade Devils are the best options!”
“Where am I supposed to find Devils for it to feed on?”
Meng Lei was lost for words at once. He didn’t even have more than a few Dark-Elemental Magical Beasts at hand, let alone Devils?
What kind of joke was this?
“You can do some research on Dead Souls Magic or Devil Magic when you’re free. It should be of some use,” suggested Dodola before it vanished into thin air.
“Dead Souls Magic? Devil Magic? Aren’t those already lost arts?” mumbled Meng Lei to himself.
“Never mind. I’ll think about it again when I’m out.”
Then, Meng Lei returned to the outside world and continued to look through the items.
The fifth item was an amber-like sapphire with a blue-haired, fairy-like little human figure inside.
As though a work of art, the human figure looked vivid and real. Upon picking it up, Meng Lei sensed rich water-elemental power of divinity energy fluctuations.
“What’s that tiny little human inside? Surely it isn’t someone who’s still alive and sealed inside again?
“Never mind, I’ll just take it with me first.”
Just like that, Meng Lei looked through the items one by one. A vast majority of the items were related to true gods and contained rich power of divinity energy fluctuations, making them invaluable treasures.
“What a waste of all these treasures. I can’t turn them into cash.”
Meng Lei felt terribly helpless. These things were undoubtedly precious and valuable, but the problem was—would mortals spend big money to purchase them?
Even if they wanted to, they might not even be able to afford them.
“Forget it. I’ll just take them with me for now.”
…
“The rewards are indeed handsome!”
After leaving the treasury existential plane, Meng Lei headed toward Dragon Island while taking inventory of his newest gains along the way.
Aside from the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and gold that had been converted into cash, what he had gained the most were various treasures—a great number of Saint Domain magic devices and half-divine weapons, a vast amount of elemental crystals and rare materials, as well as dozens of true god artifacts.
What huge earnings!
However, to Meng Lei, the most precious item he’d gotten was none other than the fusion laws of nature fragment.
Meng Lei was in incredibly high spirits the moment he looked at the “0.1%” behind the wood-earth fusion laws of nature on his stats interface.
Now that he had reopened the credit-buying doors to comprehending laws of nature, how could he possibly not be overjoyed?
Meng Lei asked, “System, how much does it cost to boost my wood-earth laws of nature assimilation rate?
“Ding! Raising Wood-Earth Laws of Nature assimilation rate by 1% costs 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.”
“1… 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp, almost wetting himself in shock.
How much were 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
That was 1,000 Power of Divinity droplets! Or 10 Divinity Crystals!
Raising it by 1% required 10 Divinity Crystals? Who could afford that?
Meng Lei cast a glance at his Wealth—787,869 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“I’d thought myself rich just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye…” Meng Lei let out a wry laugh.
Raising it by just 1% already required 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. Wouldn’t that mean that 100% would require 10,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
What about assimilating ten types of laws of nature, then? How much would that cost?
“Assimilation? To hell with assimilation!”
Meng Lei cursed inwardly, “Even if I use all my Wealth for Limitless Pickups, I’ll never use it to buy credit for laws of nature assimilation!
“Never mind, system! Do 100 Limitless Pickups for me first!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Anna the barmaid’s underwear!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +100 gold coins!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a broadsword!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a pair of leather boots from Baturu the Dwarf!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fire-Elemental Laws of Nature Fragment! Will you assimilate it?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Blue Heart Herb!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Spirit +666!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Great Earth Bear’s paw!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Old Jack’s walking stick!”
(⊙o⊙)
“What the f*ck! What are all these!?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a pair of Unicorn wings!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Fallen Titan bloodline! Will you assimilate it?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Ferrotungsten Ironwood Staff!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Innate Special Ability ‘Teleport’. Will you assimilate it?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful…”
“Wait a moment!!!”
" }, { "id": 211, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-211", "title": "Chapter 211 - Picking Up A Divine Core, Stepping Into Dragon Island", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“What the heck are all these!?”
Meng Lei was so frustrated that he was close to vomiting blood.
One must know that Limitless Pickup was a chargeable function that even cost 10 billion gold coins per attempt. But look at what the system did? What did it pick up for him?
Underwear? A broadsword? A Dwarf’s leather boots? An old man’s walking stick?
Wasn’t the trash system being a little too much of a scammer?
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Fallen Titan bloodline! Will you assimilate it?”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Ferrotungsten Ironwood Staff!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Innate Special Ability ‘Teleport’. Will you assimilate it?”
“Wait a moment!”
“Innate Special Ability?”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened at once, and he almost jumped into the air. “I’ve picked up an Innate Special Ability? And Teleport, no less? Oh, mother of mine! Is this even possible?”
What was an Innate Special Ability?
Meng Lei was all too clear on that—it was special abilities that certain powerful lifeforms possessed. For example, the Dragon’s dragon breath, the Behemoths’ magic immunity, the elemental Fairies’ elemental transformations, or Little Gold’s extra-large gut space.
All of these were Innate Special Abilities!
Although they varied in power, every type of Innate Special Ability had its own extremely powerful characteristics.
Teleport?
In other words, teleporting from one place to another? Just the sound of it alone was already crazy enough.
“Assimilate it! Assimilate it at once!”
Boom!
Upon the command, peculiar silver energy suddenly surged into Meng Lei’s mind, instantly spreading to every corner of his body—into his limbs, into every cell in his body…
A moment later, Meng Lei oddly vanished. By the time he reappeared, he was already 1,000 meters away from where he originally was!
He neither caused any airflow currents nor did he make any whizzing sounds as he moved—he had directly jumped from where he had originally been to a spot 1,000 meters away!
“This is crazy! In just the blink of an eye, I’m already 1,000 meters away? I clearly didn’t feel myself moving and had only thought of coming to this spot. And then, I did? So, is this what teleportation is like?”
Meng Lei was thrilled beyond comparison.
He hadn’t the slightest idea of how teleportation worked, and neither did he know how to activate it. He’d merely thought of going 1,000 meters away just now, and then… He had!
How strange! Yet miraculous!
It was just like instinct!
“So, this is what an Innate Special Ability is? Where you don’t need to even know the theory behind it, yet you simply can achieve it? It’s too miraculous! I’ll try it again!”
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
He disappeared at times and appeared at times.
Meng Lei didn’t get tired of it at all, continuously teleporting here and there.
After a period of experiments, Meng Lei discovered that the furthest he could teleport to was related to the range that his divine cognition could cover.
He could teleport to wherever his divine cognition could reach. It neither depleted his power of divinity nor his stamina. All it depleted was the power of his divine spirit.
“With this teleportation ability, who would be able to catch me?”
Meng Lei was in such a fantastic mood that snot bubbles were forming at his nose. “If I have the spare time, I can head to the three great empires’ treasuries and take a walk there, hehe…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Wealth +34 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a piece of superior-quality fur clothing!”
The system notifications finally came to a stop.
Meng Lei swept his gaze across the items—they were all useless pieces of trash. They were either someone’s underwear, someone’s boots, or someone’s walking stick… Totally trash!
“But with this teleportation Innate Special Ability, those 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals were simply too well-spent.”
Highly satisfied with his gains from the 100 Limitless Pickup attempts this time, Meng Lei felt like he wanted a little more.
“System, another 100 times!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Grandpa Kells’ robe!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful…”
Another 100 Limitless Pickups!
However, he didn’t pick up anything good this time. All 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals had gone to waste.
“Another 100 times!”
Meng Lei’s mule-like stubbornness had emerged.
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment! Will you assimilate it?”
“Another fused laws of nature fragment?”
Meng Lei promptly gave the order for assimilation. A moment later, he had mastered all the information contained in the fusion laws of nature fragment.
“Metal-dark fusion laws of nature?”
Meng Lei cast a glance at his stats interface—true enough, metal-dark laws of nature assimilation rate had also been activated. Like his wood-earth laws of nature assimilation rate, it was also at 0.1%.
“Wood-earth! And metal-dark! That’s four types of laws of nature!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. Host’s Physical Body Constitution +2,876!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Dark Knight’s greatsword!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
(⊙_⊙)?
“A divine core?” exclaimed Meng Lei as he did an emergency brake. Then, with a flick of his right wrist, he brought out a fascinating crystal that gave off a blue glow. It emanated such an intimidating aura that Meng Lei even felt the urge to prostrate on the ground.
“A divine core! I’ve actually picked up a divine core! Oh mother of God, this luck of mine…”
Meng Lei examined the divine core sitting in his palm as his heart pounded wildly. A divine core! This was a divine core! A priceless treasure that innumerable lifeforms, innumerable Saint Domains, and innumerable half-deities dreamed of!
And he had actually picked one up?
Wasn’t that simply infuriating?
“Judging from the power of divinity energy fluctuations, it’s probably a water-elemental divine core. I can totally assimilate this divine core!”
Meng Lei couldn’t resist licking his lips. “Once I assimilate it, I’ll become a real deity right away. How amazing! The temptation is simply too great! It’s just that I wonder what grade this divine core is? Alright, let’s ask Dodola!”
“What the heck!? Where did you get that?”
At the sight of the water-elemental divine core sitting in Meng Lei’s palm, Dodola got a huge shock. “That’s a lesser deity’s divine core. Where did you steal that from?”
“I picked it up,” answered Meng Lei honestly.
“Picked it up? Do I look mentally challenged to you?”
Dodola had a “Yeah right, as if I’ll believe you! You rotten old man!” look on its face.
“Never mind. I don’t care where you’d gotten this thing from, but no matter what, you mustn’t assimilate it. Remember, you absolutely mustn’t. It’ll destroy you if you do. Understand?”
“Don’t worry. I know what to do.”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the urge to assimilate the divine core before storing it in a spatial ring. As the saying went, “Out of sight, out of mind”—it’d be fine once it was out of his sight.
“By the way, don’t let your friends assimilate that divine core, either,” Dodola warned, “Assimilating an unprocessed divine core is no different from seeking death on one’s own. They need only to show a moment of carelessness, and the divine core’s master will steal and occupy their body right away!”
“Don’t worry, I know.”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Natalie the Devil’s horn!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained an Abyss Osteodragon’s scale!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained…”
“Trash! All trash! Apart from the divine core, not a single item is any good. I’ve made a huge loss this time!”
At this point, a great, lofty mountain appeared before him. Mountain ranges rose and fell, overlapping with one another as they stretched on continuously without end. Ancient forests, lush and dense, filled the mountain.
“I’ve arrived here so quickly.”
Meng Lei gazed at the lofty mountain, the corners of his lips lifting. His divine cognition spread out and shrouded the great mountain within.
A fair number of Saint Domains were hidden in the mountain. In fact, there was even a great army of Dragon People standing guard.
“The teleportation magic circle that leads to Dragon Island is right in this mountain. Let me see, where is it?
“…Found it!”
The next moment, Meng Lei arrived at a wide, dark, and deep cave—the teleportation magic circle was right inside.
“That’s the teleportation magic circle!”
Meng Lei stepped right into it. A moment later, he arrived at a beautiful, scenic little island.
The island wasn’t big. All around it was the azure blue, endless ocean where ripples undulated on the surface. The sky and the ocean shared the same color, and great, crashing waves went through the ocean.
“What rich magic elements! What clear laws of nature! Those Dragons sure know how to pick a good place!”
As he took in the rich magic elements on the island, Meng Lei’s divine cognition began to spread outward like a tidal wave.
“How audacious!”
A furious roar rang out, and a pitch-black Black Dragon charged into the sky from an island. It glared furiously at Meng Lei as it roared, “How dare you probe around Dragon Island so brazenly! Do you have a death wish?!”
“Alright, I’ve decided that it shall be you.” Meng Lei took a step forward and came right up to the Black Dragon. He said with a smile, “Hey, big guy, let me ask for some directions!”
“Y-you… How did you appear here?”
Blood drained from the alarmed and doubtful Black Dragon’s countenance.
“You don’t need to care about that.” Meng Lei shook his head and asked, “Tell me, where’s Goblen Frederick?”
“How impudent! Is the Grandmaster’s name something you can say?”
The Black Dragon was furious. “Damned human, I don’t sense any Dragon aura on you. Who exactly are you? How dare you trespass on Dragon Island!”
“How disobedient!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he teleported to a spot right above the Black Dragon’s head and stamped his foot down.
Boom!
The Black Dragon let out a sad, shrill roar and crashed mercilessly down onto the island below.
Bam!
The island shook a few times intensely as a huge pit formed from the crash. The Black Dragon was embedded right into it.
“Get out here!”
With a grabbing motion through the air, Meng Lei easily caught the Black Dragon and pulled it out.
The Black Dragon was currently in an extremely pathetic state. Blood was spurting from its mouth, and it had broken a few bones. Its left wing was almost severed at the base, with only a bit of skin and flesh still connecting it to its body.
“S-sir… S-spare me!”
The Black Dragon groaned in pain and agony and pleaded for mercy repeatedly. It knew that it had run into a wall this time and was close to tears.
“You just don’t give up until reality has to hit you in the face. Now you’re behaving, aren’t you? All you Dragons are the same!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he ordered, “Answer my question. Otherwise, this island will be your burial ground.”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
The Black Dragon quickly replied, “Sir, continue forward in this direction, and you’ll see a gigantic island about 3,000 miles away. That’s Grandmaster Goblen’s island.”
“3,000 miles? Very well!”
With a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, a wind blade shot out and pierced through the Black Dragon’s head.
Even till its final moments, the unfortunate Black Dragon couldn’t understand why Meng Lei had still killed it even though it had clearly already answered him.
It simply couldn’t rest in peace.
3,000 miles was no issue to Meng Lei. After consecutively teleporting a dozen times or so, he easily found the gigantic island that the Black Dragon had spoken of. Meng Lei immediately knew… that he had made the correct decision in coming here with a glance.
“1, 2, 3… 8, 9! There are actually a total of 9 half-deities! As expected, the Dragons’ heritage is indeed rich!”
Meng Lei was incredibly wistful about this. As the highest form of combat power on Heaven’s Vault Continent, as well as deities that walked the earth, just how rare were half-deities?
Yet the Dragons actually had a total of nine half-deities. Their heritage was simply too rich!
“To be able to dominate Heaven’s Vault Continent for 40,000 years without any sign of toppling, they indeed hold their weight.”
Meng Lei took a deep breath. Then, he let out a long howl. “Goblen Frederick, did you think that I wouldn’t be able to find you just because you’re hiding on Dragon Island? Hurry up and get out here to face your death!”
His voice was like rolling thunder that instantly exploded with a boom in the sky above the gigantic island, shocking the birds and beasts and filling the marine beasts with fear and trepidation.
“Meng Lei!!!”
" }, { "id": 212, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-212", "title": "Chapter 212 - : Eight Half-Deities, Killing A Dragon King In An Instant", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The tall, lofty mountain towered proudly above the ocean. At the mountain’s mid-point was a cave that looked as if a monster’s enormous mouth, which was about to devour everything in the world.
That cave was Goblen’s den. A thick layer of golden bricks paved the way and covered the walls, which were embedded with all sorts of glittering jewels. They lit up the entire cave and made it glitter with gold, forming a beautiful and spectacular sight.
As one went deeper into the cave, what entered their sight were gold coins piled like mountains, gold nuggets, and gold horse hooves 1 . All these stacked together into a gigantic dragon’s nest—it was Goblen’s den.
Surrounding the den was also piles and piles of jewels, elemental crystals, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals…
Every single item was a rare and precious treasure. Any random piece was enough to turn a beggar into a tycoon.
At the moment, aside from Goblen himself, a few other figures were also at the empty space in front of the den.
Comprising both men and women, old and young, every one of them had a strong, surging aura and vast, majestic divine power—they were half-deities!
Not one more and not one fewer, they made up exactly eight people—they were the Dragons’ eight other half-deities.
“That knave has killed my metal-elemental divine incarnation and cut off my path to deification!”
Goblen’s visage was contorted with rage, and deep hatred shot from within his eyes. “I, Goblen, swear that I will never become a god if I don’t cut him into a million pieces!”
“How dare a human be this traitorous and perverse! He should be killed!”
“Since the empire’s founding to this date, such horrifying events have never once happened during the last 40,000-odd years. His behavior is heinous to the extreme and unforgivable!”
“What else is there to say? These traitorous renegades should be slashed with a thousand swords and sentenced to capital punishment!”
“Looks like we’ve still treated the humans too well all these years. How dare those lowly monkeys show such insubordination and disrespect to those above them just because they think they have a bit of power? It’s time that we rectify things properly!”
“Kill him! Make his head roll! Make his blood flow unceasingly! Let those cheap, lowly worms know that they, humans, will only be befitting of being slaves for eternity…”
The other half-deities spoke up one after another, sentencing Meng Lei to death with just a few simple words and even decided the attitude that Dragon God Empire would take toward humans.
Goblen was greatly satisfied with the half-deities’ stances. He wasn’t a match for Meng Lei, so he needed everyone to attack together if he wanted to take revenge.
“Amolin, what do you have to say?”
Upon noticing one of the half-deities’ silence, Goblen couldn’t help but frown slightly, somewhat displeased.
An alarmed and doubtful Amolin asked, “Grandmaster, are you sure that the culprit is named Meng Lei?”
“That knave killed my metal-elemental divine incarnation. I’d recognize him even if he had been turned into ashes. How would I possibly mistake someone else for him?”
Goblen let out an icy snort and asked, “What, do you have some sort of history with that knave? Do you know him?”
“I indeed know a young fellow named Meng Lei, but he is only a Saint Domain. He shouldn’t be the same person as the knave that killed the Grandmaster’s divine incarnation.”
Amolin shook her head. For some reason, she had a rather foreboding feeling in her.
“No matter who he is and whether or not you know him, for daring to kill my divine incarnation, he has to die,” replied Goblen coldly.
“Grandmaster is right!”
The other half-deities indicated their stance one after another.
“Wonderful!” Goblen stood and said, “Since that’s the case, then let’s head to Heaven’s Vault Continent now and slay that knave.”
“We’ll follow what Grandmaster says!”
“As Grandmaster wishes!”
The other half-deities got up one after another.
“Goblen Frederick, did you think that I wouldn’t be able to find you just because you’re hiding on Dragon Island? Hurry up and get out here to face your death!”
At that moment, a long thunderous howl suddenly reverberated in the skies and boomed in everyone’s ears. The howl was as though rolling thunder, so loud that it almost deafened them all!
“Who is it?” exclaimed all the startled half-deities.
“It’s that knave!”
Goblen’s wrinkled old face was rather contorted as he spat, “To think he has actually charged all the way to Dragon Island. He’s too much!”
All the other half-deities were astonished. “Grandmaster, is the one shouting and ranting outside right now that knave named Meng Lei?”
“There’s no mistaking that voice! It’s that wicked knave!” replied a teeth-gnashing Goblen as a chilly gleam appeared in his eyes.
“How audacious!”
“How impudent!”
“How presumptuous!”
“How brazen!”
“To think he actually dares to storm Dragon Island. He’s utterly belittling us, Dragons!”
“To think he has actually come here before we’ve even gone looking for him…”
All the half-deities flew into a rage.
During the long passage of time that they, the Dragons, had stood tall and strong in Heaven’s Vault Continent, when had anyone ever pursued them all the way to Dragon Island?
Never! Not even once!
Yet someone was actually bold and brazen enough to carry out such a treasonous act.
“This is an insult to us! An impossibly great insult!”
One of the half-deities declared coldly, “This insult can only be erased by that knave’s blood!”
“Kill! Kill him! Show him the consequences of challenging the Dragons’ authority!”
“Follow me!”
Goblen let out a cold snort, and then he led the rest of the half-deities out of the cave.
“It really is you!”
Amolin was the first to leave the cave. She had spied Meng Lei, who was standing proudly in the sky, with just a glance. A huge shudder couldn’t help but come over her as disbelief flashed across her eyes.
“It’s been a while, Elder Amolin!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance as he greeted Amolin. He held somewhat complex feelings toward Ol’ Amos’ younger sister.
“Meng Lei, why is it you?”
Amolin didn’t understand how Meng Lei had suddenly become a half-deity, but that was no longer of any importance.
The important question was—why was Meng Lei challenging Dragon God Empire’s authority? To the extent that he had even charged all the way here to Dragon Island?
Meng Lei replied slowly, “For the power of faith!”
“Power of faith?” A huge jolt went through Amolin as she exclaimed, “Are you intending to fight for Dragon God Empire’s power of faith resources? You’re out of your mind! Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I know very well what I’m doing.” Meng Lei shook his head slowly. “You’re also a half-deity; you should know how important the power of faith is to us.”
“You’re out of your mind! The Dragons will never let you off for challenging their authority like this! Neither will the Dragon God!”
Amolin shook her head. She didn’t refute Meng Lei’s statement, because he was right—to half-deities like them, the power of faith was indeed too important!
It could strengthen their divine spirit, convert power of divinity, help them to comprehend laws of nature, as well as shorten the time they needed to achieve deification.
If it were possible, any half-deity out there would wish to have their own power of faith resources and their own power of faith territory, so that they could collect a vast amount of power of faith every day.
Unfortunately, this was but just an extravagant wish.
Heaven’s Vault Continent’s power of faith resources had long since been split up among various parties down to the very last bit. The Dragon God, the Titan Spiritual God, the Beast God, and the Fairy Goddess had seized all the power of faith for themselves. There was nothing left for half-deities like them at all.
Therefore, no matter how much they longed for it, they could only suppress the desire. They didn’t have the guts to fight the four true gods for power of faith.
Yet that was exactly what Meng Lei was doing. This was an act of great taboo in this world, and a challenge of a true god’s authority.
He was purely just having a death wish.
“What’s there to fear on the road to deification?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “Elder Amolin, you’re Ol’ President’s younger sister, so I won’t fight with you. I hope you can stay out of this.”
“Even if I were to stay out of this, you won’t be a match for them, either.” Amolin sighed and said, “Meng Lei, give up. The Dragons’ blood flows through your veins, too. As long as you stop now, I can plead for leniency on your behalf—”
“It’s useless even if you plead for leniency!”
Goblen led the other seven half-deities and charged toward them. “Amolin, have you become muddleheaded? That knave’s sins are so unforgivable, yet you still want to plead for leniency on his behalf?”
“Grandmaster, he’s just a child!” Amolin quickly said, “Everyone has moments of folly during their yout—”
“Say no more!” Goblen said coldly, “He killed my metal-elemental divine incarnation and thoroughly cut off my road to deification. We are mortal enemies, and it will never rest until one of us is dead.”
“To think it’s actually you, little brat!”
One of the seven half-deities, a Black Dragon half-deity, was someone familiar—Elder Thaniel. His eyes, filled with disbelief, bore into Meng Lei as he exclaimed, “It’s only been a few days, yet you’ve broken through to the half-deity stage and even killed the Grandmaster’s metal-elemental divine incarnation?”
“A separation of three days makes one a changed man!”
Meng Lei said with a slight smile, “Elder Thaniel, on account of how we’re acquainted with each other, I can refrain from fighting you, too.
“The same goes for the other half-deities, too. My target is Goblen alone, and has nothing to do with all of you…”
“You little knave, who do you think you are?!”
A Green Dragon half-deity with a head of green hair and holding a snake staff spoke in a cold and imposing voice. He said, “Nothing to do with us? Did you think you can leave Dragon Island alive today?”
“To have the audacity to charge all the way here, you’re really foolish to the extreme and full of yourself!”
“Kid, since you’re here, then don’t think of ever leaving. Dragon Island will be your final resting place!”
“After I kill you, I’ll grind your corpse into fish bait and scatter them into the ocean!”
“To dare charge all the way to Dragon Island, you clearly show no respect for us Dragon Island half-deities. How can we possibly condone you?!”
The Dragon half-deities spoke up one by one, full of murderous intent. At the sight, Amolin couldn’t help but sigh again and again. She knew that there was no going back anymore.
“Since all of you have a death wish, then don’t hold this against me.” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “Just as well! Dragon Island is a beautiful and scenic place with clear and distinct laws of nature, making it a place that’s very suitable as a burial ground for all of you.”
“How impudent!”
“How presumptuous!”
“How condescending!”
“Offer up your life, you little knave!”
The Green Dragon half-deity let out an icy snort as he wielded his snake staff.
“Divine Technique: Shadow Snakes!”
He had only just spoken when his head of green hair shot into the sky and turned into an infinite number of green poisonous snakes that went biting toward Meng Lei.
Every snake was highly toxic. Even normal half-deities would be reduced into a puddle of pus and die from the poison upon being bitten even just once. They were incredibly vicious and poisonous.
“That’s all you got?”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled. Then, he quietly vanished from where he was, causing the poisonous green snakes to miss their target.
“He’s dodged it?”
The Green Dragon half-deity’s countenance changed slightly.
“Elder Horace, be careful. That renegade’s agility is very—”
Goblen hastily shouted a warning, but what a shame that he was ultimately still a step too late.
A cry rang out and then, the Green Dragon half-deity plummeted toward the ocean like a launched cannon.
On the other hand, Meng Lei had actually soundlessly appeared at the spot where the Green Dragon half-deity was originally standing.
“Why do you even bother, everyone?”
Meng Lei gazed at the Dragon half-deities standing near him and said, “Why do you insist on becoming dead Dragons when you can be living Dragons? Are your brains filled with sh*t?”
Then, he vanished again.
By the time he reappeared, he had already arrived at the ocean surface. The Green Dragon half-deity happened to be crashing straight down at this point. Meng Lei brought out the Gods-Slaying Spear and with a casual flip…
Splurt!
Amid shrill Dragon cries, the Gods-Slaying Spear instantly pierced through the Green Dragon half-deity’s throat. A spout of blood sprayed from the wound and dyed the ocean beneath them red.
Splash!
The Green Dragon half-deity died on the spot and turned into its true form—it was actually a 5,000-feet-long Dragon King-level Green Dragon with green scales all over it.
“Elder Horace!”
“Noooo!”
" }, { "id": 213, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-213", "title": "Chapter 213 - One Spear Jab Each, A Half-Deity Mount", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The salty sea breeze blew lightly, dispersing the odor of blood lingering in the air. Yet it couldn’t disperse the astoundment, shock, and horror in the eight half-deities.
One strike of the spear—that was all it took to instantly kill Horace!
“Just what kind of combat strength is that?”
A Dragon half-deity exclaimed, “Elder Horace had already lit up the divine fire, yet he couldn’t even parry a single move from his spear. In that case, we… we…”
He didn’t finish the rest of his sentence, but all the other half-deities understood, regardless, and a chill that ran bone-deep ran down their spines.
There were typically three ways of evaluating a half-deity’s strength—cultivation level, power of divinity, and their divine body.
The higher their cultivation level, the stronger and more solid their power of divinity, and the stronger and sturdier their divine body, the more powerful they naturally were.
Elder Horace had already successfully lit up the divine fire, thereby placing him at the mid-level half-deity stage. Moreover, he was even a pure-blooded Green Dragon and had even comprehended wood-elemental laws of nature. Therefore, his divine body was undoubtedly strong.
His only disadvantage was his power of divinity.
Like all the other half-deities, because he didn’t have enough worshipers to provide him with the power of faith, Elder Horace was definitely deficient in power of divinity. There was no doubt about that.
But even so, as a great mid-level half-deity expert, he had actually been instantly killed with a single spear jab. Was the gap between the two of them really that big?
A half-deity asked gravely, “Did any of you catch a clear view of his actions?”
“No, I didn’t!”
“Neither did I!”
“I couldn’t sense any power of divinity fluctuations!”
“There weren’t any airflow fluctuations, either!”
“How did he manage to get there?”
“Could it be… Teleportation?”
The half-deities’ countenances changed at once. Then, they shook their heads. “That’s impossible! Teleportation is a spatial Innate Special Ability. It has never appeared in Heaven’s Vault Continent before!”
“Then how did he get there?”
“No matter what it may be, let’s be prepared to fight with all we’ve got. Otherwise, we may lose our lives!”
The half-deities nodded, their countenances turning grim and grave. As half-deities of the Dragons, they were prideful beings—but not conceited.
When facing a fearsome existence that could instantly kill Horace, they must give it all they’ve got.
“He’s dead. Now it’s your turns!”
Meng Lei licked off the Dragon blood on the tip of the spear as his gaze swept across the remaining seven half-deities. “How do you wish to die? Who’s next?”
“Let’s go at him together and subdue that knave!”
Then, all seven half-deities attacked simultaneously.
“God’s Domain!
Buzz…
Seven terrifying energy waves descended upon Meng Lei, instantly caging the area in the sky where he was and also imprisoning him to the spot.
“Divine Technique: Absolute Zero!”
With a furious roar, a Frost Colossal Dragon half-deity opened his mouth, and a chilly golden current sprayed forth from within, sealing the area where Meng Lei was in ice.
Under the catalyst of power of divinity, not only could Absolute Zero seal everything in ice, but it could also freeze the air.
“With God’s Domain and Elder Jacques’ Absolute Zero, we’ll definitely be able to subdue that knave!”
“We must unleash our strongest attacks next so that we don’t give him any chance to even catch his breath!”
“Divine Technique: Tempest of Annihilation!”
Divine Technique: Three Thousand Lightning Strikes!”
“Divine Technique: Ten Thousand Swords Return Home!”
“Divine Technique: Dark Withering Bones!”
“Divine Technique: Withering Snowflakes!”
“Divine Technique: Meteor Drop!”
“Divine Technique: Water God Descends!”
Boom!
Various Divine Techniques were dumped onto Meng Lei as though they came free of charge. The area in the sky where Meng Lei was instantly broke and turned into a black hole.
Gales wreaked havoc, ice chips sprayed about, golden swords flew and shot everywhere, waves churned and rolled, dust and earth flew about…
Power of divinity of various elements clashed and collided madly in the black hole, bombarding the area and turning it extremely chaotic!
It was no exaggeration to say that this was definitely the most dangerous place in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Even a half-deity that had already manifested a divine core would also meet their demise should they be trapped within.
“Sigh, why did he have to do that?”
A hint of lament and pity flashed across Amolin’s eyes. Meng Lei was ultimately someone whom her elder brother had wanted to protect, even if it had meant death. As the proverb went, “Love me, love my dog”. Because of her elder brother, she didn’t wish to see Meng Lei die.
Alas, there was nothing she could do. The severity of the troubles that Meng Lei had caused was simply too great, The seven elders’ intentions to kill him were unprecedentedly strong. All she could do was to choose to remain neutral and help neither party.
“What terrifying power of divinity fluctuations!”
“Seems like it’s coming from Grandmaster Goblen’s island?”
“What exactly has happened over there?”
“Let’s head over and take a look!”
Dragon Island appeared to stretch on boundlessly, but there ultimately was still a limit to it. The torrential power of divinity waves had instantly spread throughout the whole of Dragon Island and alarmed everyone there.
…
“Surely that knave is dead by now?”
After furiously and indiscriminately bombarding the spot for quite a while, the seven heavily panting half-deities finally ceased their attacks.
Then, they tried their best to see if they could detect Meng Lei’s presence in the sky that had already been turned upside down from the chaos. Upon discovering that his presence was no longer there, they heaved a sigh of relief at once.
Well, no one could’ve survived their—seven half-deities’—joint attacks, after all. No one!
“That knave is finally dead. I had certainly broken into a cold sweat from fear just now!”
One of the half-deities, who was still experiencing lingering fears, said, “I was really worried that he would suddenly come charging out and also deal me a jab with his spear just now!”
“You don’t say!”
Another half-deity sighed and remarked, “What a pity about Elder Horace. He died too tragically.”
“Elder Horace died a worthy death!”
Goblen spoke up at this point and said, “That knave is dead. The empire’s crisis has been resolved, and the Dragons’ might and authority have been protected. Elder Horace deserves great credit for that!”
“Grandmaster is right!”
The other half-deities very much approved of his statement.
“Dead? Who says I’m dead?”
A mocking voice rang out at this point.
The half-deities’ countenances changed drastically, and then they saw Meng Lei standing behind them with one hand in his pocket and the other carrying the Gods-Slaying Spear, watching them cheerfully.
“You… You’re not dead!!”
The half-deities felt as if their minds had exploded. They instantly retreated with a burst of speed, fear, anger, and horror in their hearts.
Under the bombardment of such raging power of divinity attacks, he was actually still alive? Was he really human?
“He’s actually still alive!”
Amolin, who was just as shocked, stared at Meng Lei with disbelief.
“Do all of you really wish that much for my death?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “Your attacks were certainly fearsome. Even a half-deity that had already manifested a divine core might have perished under your siege. Unfortunately, I’m the one whom you’ve encountered, so you’re destined only for tragedy. Dear all, let’s fight with all you’ve got!”
Roar!
Howl!
The half-deities promptly transformed into their true forms—they were actually seven several thousand feet-long Colossal Dragons in varying forms.
Their wings flapped as the force of their Dragon might fluctuated. Their claws were razor-sharp and murderous hostility gleamed in their eyes.
A 4,000-feet-long Frost Colossal Dragon!
A 5,000-feet-long Earth Dragon, Blue Dragon, and Tempest Colossal Dragon each!
And a 6,000-feet-long Thunder Dragon, Black Dragon, and Golden Colossal Dragon each!
“Kill!!”
With a roar, seven Dragon King-level Colossal Dragons charged furiously toward Meng Lei, just like seven lions pursuing a honey badger in the plains.
Razor-sharp claws, cold, gleaming fangs, strong, powerful tails, and dragon breath capable of destroying everything… Every attack contained a fearsome level of destructiveness.
“Switching over to physical attacks? What a bunch of fools!”
Meng Lei almost burst into laughter. “The combination of God’s Domain and Divine Technique attacks could more or less still give me a bit of a hard time, but transforming into your true forms… That’s practically sending yourselves to death’s door.
“Dear all, since all of you are so sincerely giving away your lives, then I shall receive them without standing on any ceremony.
“The first one!”
Meng Lei took a stride forward and quietly appeared above Goblen the Golden Colossal Dragon’s head.
Without any hesitation, he raised the Gods-Slaying Spear and stabbed downward. With a splurt, it pierced right through Goblen’s head.
Howl!
Goblen let out a shrill roar, his blood spraying everywhere like a waterfall.
“The second one!”
Meng Lei chose the Earth Dragon.
As an earth-elemental Colossal Dragon, the Earth Dragon’s defenses were definitely one of the top few among the seven Colossal Dragons.
With a body full of indestructible ocher-yellow scales, and especially when it cast its Divine Technique-level Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor, one could call it… Absolute defenses!
True enough, the Earth Dragon had put on the Earth Guardian’s Saintly Armor a long time ago and was protecting itself, lest it ended up like Horace.
“What a shame that it won’t be of any use!”
Given Meng Lei’s strength and coupled with the Gods-Slaying Spear’s sharpness, the spear pierced through the Earth Dragon’s head without any surprises, and it died on the spot.
“Elder Carol!”
At the sight of the two who were killed by Meng Lei in the blink of an eye, the remaining five Colossal Dragons were extremely horrified and frightened, causing their swift and forceful attacks to slow down.
They might have slowed down, but Meng Lei didn’t show any mercy.
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Meng Lei came and went like a ghost, delivering four jabs in succession. The Blue Dragon, Thunder Dragon, Frost Colossal Dragon, and the Tempest Colossal Dragon were successively stabbed dead.
“Collect!”
All of these were superior-grade Dragon flesh, so Meng Lei would never discard them, of course. He stored them in the Tower of Time for preservation so that he could eat them as snacks in the future.
In just a moment, Thaniel the Black Dragon was the only one left in the sky. He stared at the empty sky and then at Meng Lei, who was looking at him. Then, he made a run for it!
Meng Lei went on top of Thaniel’s back and asked, “Elder Thaniel, where are you going?”
“I… I…”
Thaniel was so terrified that his insides were close to rupturing. He shook like a leaf in his Dragon form, unable to utter even a word.
“Not in the mood to answer?!”
Meng Lei pressed the Gods-Slaying Spear against the back of Thaniel’s head. “You don’t need to bother answering anymore, then. Make full use of the time you have and get on your way. You’re just in time to group up with your little companions and report to the netherworld together.”
“S-spare me!”
Terrified out of his wits, golden-yellow “rain” began to fall and trickle from Thaniel’s bottom.
“S-sir, spare… spare me. Give me a way out…”
“Can you have a bit of shame?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless as he watched Elder Thaniel, who was so frightened that he was “raining”. He said, “You don’t want me to kill you? Give me a reason why I shouldn’t!”
“We… we…”
Thaniel had initially wanted to say that they were acquainted with each other, after all. But at the thought of how arrogant and bossy he had behaved at their first meeting, he couldn’t bring himself to say it anymore.
Were he to mention it, what if Meng Lei ended up giving him a jab instead?
“What is it about us?” Meng Lei prompted with a slight smile.
“Amolin?”
Thaniel caught sight of Amolin, who was standing at the side. As though grasping at straws, he said, “Beg for mercy on my behalf, Amolin. I don’t want to die…”
Upon hearing what Thaniel had said, Amolin suddenly snapped back to reality and gazed at Meng Lei with a complex look in her eyes.
One jab each!
With just six jabs of his spear, Meng Lei had killed six half-deity elders. This fact had thoroughly astounded her.
She simply couldn’t imagine how Meng Lei, who had still been just a Saint Domain a few days ago, had gotten such fearsome power.
Amolin said with a wry smile, “Meng Lei, all the Dragon Island half-deities have been wiped out by you. If it’s possible, do spare Elder Thaniel’s life.”
“Since Elder Amolin has said so, I’ll spare your life.”
Mount looked at Thaniel and said, “But while you may escape death, you cannot avoid punishment. I’ll give you a chance—if you become my mount, I’ll spare your life.”
“Y-your mount?”
Thaniel’s countenance changed dramatically.
“What? Are you unwilling?”
Meng Lei’s expression darkened slightly.
“I… I’m willing to submit!”
" }, { "id": 214, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-214", "title": "Chapter 214 - The Allure Of The Divine Core, Traitor Of The Dragons", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Ding! 1 Green Dragon killed, 3,829 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Frost Colossal Dragon killed, 2,573 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Thunder Dragon killed, 6,426 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Colossal Dragon killed, 7,218 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
…
As a half-deity and a Dragon, Thaniel took great pride in himself. Thus, making him a human’s mount was worse than killing him.
But when faced with the cold Meng Lei and looking at the Gods-Slaying Spear—from which Dragon blood was dripping—in his hand, Thaniel was taken over by fear.
As a half-deity, he had a near-eternal lifespan. How could he bear to die?
Once he was dead, everything would go up in smoke. There would no longer be any meaning to anything.
“I… I’m willing to submit!”
At last, Thaniel made his choice.
Freedom? Dignity? All of that can go to hell! I want to live!
“You don’t need to tell you what you should be doing, right?” said an aloof Meng Lei meaningfully.
“Yes, sir!”
With a wry laugh, a wisp of divine spirit origin energy flew out of the area between Thaniel’s brows.
Once Meng Lei refined the wisp of divine spirit origin energy, he would completely control Thaniel’s life and death.
He could destroy the wisp of divine spirit origin energy anytime he wanted and take Thaniel’s life.
Subduing a deity was simply this easy. It needed neither a contract nor a blood pact.
One needed only to refine the other party’s divine spirit origin energy, and they would be able to completely control their life and death.
“Elder Thaniel…”
A wave of grief and sorrow came over Amolin. Just how prideful and arrogant had Elder Thaniel once been?
Yet in order to live, he had actually abandoned his dignity as a Dragon and a half-deity to become a human’s mount. This was simply too ironic!
“Amolin…”
Upon sensing Amolin’s gaze, Thaniel felt incredibly ashamed and wished he could bury his head in the sand. However, he had no regrets. Compared to his life, what were freedom and dignity?
Meng Lei hopped onto Thaniel’s wide, fleshy back and ordered, “Let’s go. Bring me to the other remaining half-deities.”
“M-master, what do you mean?”
Thaniel was slightly taken aback. “Haven’t all the elders been killed by you?”
“Are you trying to take advantage of how unlearned I am?” Meng Lei sneered. “I have indeed killed seven half-deities just now, but three of them haven’t died. They have other divine incarnations existing, don’t they?”
Thaniel’s countenance changed slightly at his words.
“Remember your position, Thaniel. You’re no longer a half-deity of the Dragons!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Rather, you’re now my mount. Do you need me to explain what a mount means?”
“N-no!”
Thaniel lowered his head fearfully.
“Since it isn’t necessary, then let’s go and find those three that got away. If they manage to get away, I’ll skin you,” Meng Lei barked coldly.
“Yes, Master!”
Thaniel didn’t dare to dally, and he flapped his wings as he flew toward those three half-deities’ islands.
“Must you really kill them all, Meng Lei?” shouted Amolin.
“Elder Amolin, had I not been strong enough, would the Dragon Island half-deities have spared my life today?”
Upon hearing his reply, Amolin froze at once.
“You’re too slow, Thaniel. Speed up! Go forth!”
…
Had there not been any system notifications, Meng Lei would highly likely have been duped.
Unfortunately, he had the system. Therefore, he had noticed that he had only received four notifications despite having killed seven half-deities.
It was easy to tell from this that three of the half-deities among the seven had other divine incarnations existing. Thus, they hadn’t completely died yet.
On top of that, Meng Lei also knew who they were—the Earth, Blue, and Tempest Colossal Dragons, respectively. Meng Lei didn’t intend on sparing any of these fellows.
As they say, “If one doesn’t eradicate the source of the problem, they will resurge”. To minimize possible problems in the future, it was best that he wiped them all out.
However, the unfortunate thing was that no matter how fast Meng Lei tried to move, he nonetheless only managed to slay the Blue Dragon and the Earth Dragon. The Tempest Colossal Dragon had long since fled into the distance and vanished without a trace.
In fact, it had even taken away all of its treasures in its den, leaving not even a strand of hair for Meng Lei…
“It fled pretty quickly, huh?” Meng Lei gazed at the empty cave and said, “You’d better hope you don’t run into me in the future!”
“Where do we go next, Master?” asked Thaniel carefully, lest Meng Lei vent his fury on him.
“To the half-deities’ dens!”
A gleam flashed past Meng Lei’s eyes.
The Dragons loved glittering objects. Therefore, every Colossal Dragon was a tycoon, and every Colossal Dragon’s den was a great collection of treasures.
And the truth was indeed so!
Goblen, the Golden Colossal Dragon’s den, provided Meng Lei with a total of 360,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
The Green, Earth, Thunder, Blue, and Frost Colossal Dragons brought Meng Lei a hefty total amount of 1.17 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
Meng Lei’s Wealth had reached an astonishing 2,317,572 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
2.31 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! When converted into gold coins, that would make it 23 trillion gold coins!
23 trillion! Now, that was pretty dramatic!
However, Meng Lei wasn’t really that happy. What could this bit of wealth achieve?
Redeem 231 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity? Or raise his wood-earth laws of nature assimilation rate by 23%?
It was just a drop in the ocean!
“I’m still very poor…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but lament wistfully.
The corners of Thaniel’s lips spasmed upon hearing his proclamation, and he felt the urge to jump up and give Meng Lei a couple of hammer smashes.
You’ve just cleaned out six half-deities’ dens and robbed them of their lifetime’s worth of assets… Yet you still complain about being poor? And moan and groan so incessantly?
Damn you and your poverty! Goddamn it, do you know I’m so jealous that I’m close to becoming beyond recognition?!
“Oh, right! Aren’t there supposed to be nine half-deities on Dragon Island?”
Meng Lei seemed to recall something. “Other than Elder Amolin and the Tempest Colossal Dragon that got away, there should be seven other half-deities, right?
“Seven half-deities should correspond to seven dens, but I’ve only cleaned out six!”
Thaniel felt his anus squeezing tight at once.
Meng Lei turned his gaze to Thaniel underneath him and asked, “So, where did the last den go?”
“M-master…!”
Thaniel gave him a smile that looked worse than a crying face and replied, “The last den belongs to me!”
“So it’s yours. Didn’t I say? There are clearly seven half-deities, so why would there only be six dens?”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei, and a look of “So that’s it! No wonder!” appeared on his face.
“Yes, Master!” replied Thaniel carefully.
Meng Lei was very considerate. He said, “Since that den is yours, then I won’t clean it out anymore. But what makes me curious is… Comparing yours to Goblen’s, whose den has more treasures?”
“As someone who had already achieved half-deification 30,000 years ago, Grandmaster Goblen’s savings naturally aren’t something that mine can compare with,” replied Thaniel truthfully.
“What about in comparison to the other half-deities?” asked Meng Lei.
“I have a bit more than them,” replied Thaniel honestly.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a tycoon. I really couldn’t tell. Speaking of which, though, what do you want that many treasures for?”
Meng Lei was awfully puzzled. “You don’t bring them with you when you come to this world, and neither can you bring them with you when you leave this world. Should someone accidentally jab you to death one day with a spear, wouldn’t it be a shame for all that treasure?”
Having lived so long, Thaniel had already become an incredibly shrewd one. How could he possibly not detect the thinly-veiled threat in Meng Lei’s words? He said with a crestfallen expression, “Say no more, Master. I’m willing to offer up my den!”
“What did you say? Offer up your den?”
Meng Lei waved him off incessantly. “How would that do? Those are assets that you’ve accumulated for a lifetime. How can I bring myself to take it? We mustn’t do that! No, we mustn’t!”
Thaniel was close to tears. “Just take it, Master. Considering my current position, I won’t be able to use all those assets anymore in the future anyway!”
A reluctant Meng Lei replied, “Oh, you shouldn’t have. But what you’ve said makes sense, too. Since you’ve become my mount, you’ll have to roam the world with me from now on. It certainly isn’t very safe to leave those treasures on Dragon Island!”
Damn you and your lack of safety!
Thaniel might be verbally respectful, but his heart was bleeding. Those were his life savings, yet they were all gone just like that?
…
Although Thaniel’s den couldn’t match up to Goblen’s, it was nonetheless still a place filled with magnificence and grandeur and was incredibly extravagant.
After taking inventory of the assets, they brought Meng Lei a large sum of 280,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
It was only after he had fully cleaned the den out that Meng Lei finally swaggered out of the den. Thaniel hurriedly came forward and asked, “Master, you’ve rob— Cough, taken them all?”
“Yes.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “We’re leaving, Thaniel. Go in and take one last look at your den.”
“I’ll pass. I have a weak heart,” replied Thaniel with a wry smile.
“Look at that good-for-nothing demeanor of yours.” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it just a few treasures? Do you need to be that petty!?”
Then, he took out a divine core and asked dispassionately, “Do you know what this is?”
“A divine core!”
A huge jolt went through Thaniel’s Dragon body.
“Good that you recognize it.” Meng Lei bragged. “I have an abundance of these things. I pop them like candy every day!”
“Master, that’s a divine core!”
Thaniel trembled all over as his eyes bore into the divine core in Meng Lei’s hand. His eyes were filled with desire, greed, envy…
“It’s just a lesser deity’s divine core.” Meng Lei patted Thaniel on the head and said, “Do your best in the future, and you can take your pick from among intermediate deities’ and higher deities’ divine cores.”
“Are you serious, Master?”
Thaniel’s voice was trembling. His rationality told him that Meng Lei was just bluffing, but a hint of longing in his heart and the beautiful imagery that Meng Lei had conjured couldn’t help but bewitch him.
Intermediate deities!
Higher deities!
He was just a half-deity that had just manifested his divine core. Even a lesser deity’s position was currently a far way off from him, let alone becoming an intermediate deity or a higher deity. Or rather, it was basically impossible!
To become a lesser deity, one must first become a true god.
To become a true god, one must first establish a divine nation.
And to establish a divine nation, one needed vast amounts of power of divinity.
Where did power of divinity come from?
It was a matter of detailed, intricate work where one accumulated it bit by bit.
Thaniel himself didn’t have any confidence as to whether he could save up enough power of divinity to establish a divine nation while he was still alive.
Therefore, to Thaniel, even a lesser deity’s position was one that was extremely distant and an extravagant wish.
But things were different with a ready-made divine core. Once he assimilated it, he would become a lesser deity right away. It was faster by not just a hundred times or ten thousand times!
“Yes, of course,” Meng Lei promised confidently.
“With this promise of yours, I, Thaniel, will die without regrets even if I have to work myself to the bones for you, Master!”
As an infatuated Thaniel gazed at the divine core, he said, “You may not know this, but actually by the time one reaches a half-deity’s level like ours, there’s no longer much longing for wealth anymore.
“But ordinary Colossal Dragons are different—they are the most passionate about collecting treasures and accumulating their wealth. Therefore, Dragon Island’s richest ones aren’t the half-deities like the few of us, but those ordinary Colossal Dragons. They are the true hidden tycoons.
“Ten ordinary Colossal Dragons’ assets, when put together, could rival a half-deity’s! How many ordinary Colossal Dragons are there on Dragon Island? Hundreds, even up to 1,000!”
" }, { "id": 215, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-215", "title": "Chapter 215 - Ol' Amos’ Not Dead? Dead Souls Half-Deity", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Leaving wealth with the people.” This idiom would fit perfectly into Dragon Island’s description.
The wealth of an ordinary Colossal Dragon would definitely be less than that of a half-deity, but what about 100 of them? 10,000 of them? 10,000 of them?
The answer was clear!
With Thaniel, the traitor of Dragons, leading the way, Meng Lei became a devil for once—loot them all, grab them all, take them all!
Loot the Dragon Nest!
Grab all their wealth!
Take all their treasures!
After quite a while of looting, Meng Lei’s Wealth had surged to 13.57 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
That was an astonishing figure, while there were also countless treasures from the loot.
It would be no exaggeration to say that this trip to Dragon Island made Meng Lei rich suddenly, making him feel very pleased.
With a good mood, he would naturally be easier to talk to.
Surely enough, Meng Lei accepted Thaniel’s proposal without any hesitation to spare the Colossal Dragons’ lives.
Meng Lei left some space in the Tower of Time specifically for these Colossal Dragons to live in.
Yeap, I’ll just breed them like pigs!
Meng Lei even thought of placing the Tower of Time at the capital after building his own empire.
After which talents could be allowed to enter and practice, letting these arrogant Dragons have a taste of being at the mercy of others and become the hunted ones.
“Where do we go next, Master?”
Thaniel gazed at the now empty Dragon Island, not knowing whether he should cry or laugh at the circumstances.
He did not want his species to be exterminated, not to mention being bred like pigs!
“Do you know where the Dragon graves are?” Meng Lei asked all of a sudden.
“The Dragon graves?” Thaniel’s expression changed. “Master, you’re not going to leave the Dragon graves alone? The Dragon cemetery is a forbidden place of the Dragons where we bury the dead—”
“What were you thinking?” Meng Lei snorted slightly and carried on. “I’m only going there to worship an elder.”
“That’s fine! That’s fine!” Thaniel was relieved, and he flapped his wings to bring Meng Lei towards the Dragon graves.
The Dragon graves were also situated on an island.
On the island, stone mountains towered above with bizarre rock formations below. Among the stone forest, stood gravestones with Colossal Dragons buried beneath one after the other.
With his divine cognition covering across the entire island, Meng Lei began his search.
After quite a while, Ol’ President’s tombstone could still not be found.
Meng Lei frowned.
Elder Amolin had said that she would bury Ol’ President in the Dragon graves, but why were there no signs of his tomb?
I need an explanation!
Meng Lei found Amolin, though the answer he got left him in shock.
“You’re saying, Ol’ President isn’t dead?”
“Big Brother’s Soul Jade is still intact, so he should still be alive.”
Amolin took out a blood-colored jade and continued with a dash of sorrow in her eyes. “When Dragons are born, a Soul Jade will be made.
“When the jade is fine, the Dragon is alive.
“When the jade breaks, the Dragon is dead.
“All this time, I have held onto Big Brother’s Soul Jade, never broken for these 20,000 years. So I have always believed that Big Brother isn’t dead yet!”
Amolin’s tears welled up. “Even though he perished together with the Tree of Life last time out in the Lost Continent, his Soul Jade never broke. So I’m certain Big Brother isn’t dead!”
“Not dead! Ol’ President is not dead! That is great, that is so great!” Meng Lei became incoherent with excitement. “Since he isn’t dead, then where is he? Didn’t he perish together with the Tree of Life?”
“In my opinion, there should be two possibilities.” Amolin said quietly, “Big Brother either had other incarnations, or he’s still sealed in your divine weapon.”
“Gods-Slaying Spear?”
Meng Lei took out his Gods-Slaying Spear and checked with his divine cognition. However, after a round of inspection, nothing could be found.
“Ol’ President isn’t inside the Gods-Slaying Spear…”
Meng Lei was utterly disappointed.
“Then there is only one possibility,” Amolin said. “Big Brother had other incarnations.”
“Other incarnations?”
Meng Lei frowned. “Since there are other incarnations, why didn’t he come back and look for you? It doesn’t make any sense!”
“I don’t know…” Amolin said with a bitter smile.
“Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei clenched his fists, “No matter where he is, I will find him!”
“If you can find him, please tell him that I’m waiting for him, please!”
Amolin wiped her tears.
“Definitely!”
Meng Lei nodded when a night owl-like voice echoed.
“You ugly lizards! Wait till I come out and turn all of you into the Undead, and I’ll burn your souls with divine fire!
“Hoo… hoo… hoo! Burn in eternal flames, and you’ll neither live nor die…”
“What was that sound?”
Meng Lei’s brows knitted together slightly.
The sound came from underwater below the island. To be exact, it was not a sound, it was actually an aura from divine cognition.
“Master, this was the sound of an ancient evil fiend, Puhaman,” Thaniel replied with respect.
“Evil ancient fiend Puhaman?”
A shrewd glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he asked with great interest, “Tell me more.”
“Speaking of Puhaman, it all started 50,000 years ago.”
Thaniel spoke faintly. “50,000 years ago, we Dragons ruled the Heaven’s Vault Continent. We are the only masters of this world. Even the Beast People, Fairies, Titans of the current age could only be holed up in their homelands and live off the breath of us. Moreover, the far northern wastelands, Fairy woods, and Titan highlands of the three empires were our backyard!”
Thaniel’s eyes were brimming with pride. “The Heaven’s Vault Continent was truly the Colossal Dragon’s continent! Unfortunately…”
Thaniel let out a wry laugh. “As the Dragon God left the Heaven’s Vault Continent along with his high-end combat power, our Dragon God Empire was in jeopardy. The Beast People holed up in the Beast People imperial courts, the Fairies concealed in the Goddess Lakeside, the Titans hidden in the Sierra Mountains, and other intelligent species like Goblins, Dwarfs, Trolls all appeared. Even all sorts of fiends and devils burst into the scene!
“Virtually overnight, our Dragon God Empire disintegrated. Not only did we lose a large tract of territories, but our elites suffered heavy casualties too. This was when the ancient evil fiend, Puhaman, appeared. As a Dead Souls half-deity, Puhaman’s destructive powers were no less than of the three empires!”
“Dead Souls half-deity?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! Dead Souls half-deity!” Thaniel nodded slightly. “The evil Puhaman, though he only had a staff, and he could cast dead souls magic to summon countless evil Undead from the Underworld. The Undead army was formidable and dreadful. Any living things would be slaughtered wherever they went and turned into dead souls by Puhaman. In short, Puhaman made us suffer heavy losses. The empire had to send out several half-deities to suppress and seal him away.”
“So the Dead Souls half-deity is sealed here?” Meng Lei was very interested.
“Yes, Master,” replied Thaniel.
“Let’s go down and take a look.”
“Master, isn’t that a bad idea?” Thaniel objected hurriedly, “Puhaman is very evil—”
Meng Lei glanced at him as he asked in reply, “Evil? Is he as evil as me?” M
Thaniel shut up instantly.
Evil? Puhaman would be as innocent as a newborn baby compared to you!
“Get down then.”
Meng Lei flew down below the Dragon graves. Thaniel had no choice but to lead the way in front.
In a short while, both of them went into the sea and saw a brightly lit cave.
The cave reflected a soft milky halo, emitting fluttering light movements.
“Let’s head over and take a look.”
Meng Lei teleported before the entrance and saw a cave that was bright as day. Its walls were embedded with milk-white light elemental crystals.
There was an altar in the middle of the cave.
On the altar stood ten pillars, and each of them was crafted using light elemental crystals. They were connected to ten metal chains, which were all linked to a person in the middle.
He was thin as sticks, with hair disheveled. Other than a layer of dry, wrinkled skin, there was no excess flesh, just like a mere bag of bones.
The ten chains went through his arms, ribs, belly, legs, shoulder blades, pinning him into the middle of the altar alive. He could neither sit nor lay on the floor. He could only stand there—that was worse than being dead.
However, these were nothing compared to the critical chain right between his eyes.
This chain locked his divine spirit, which prevented him from using his power of divinity, incapacitating him completely disabled.
“Hoot, hoot, hoot. Someone actually came here! How rare, very rare!”
As if sensing Meng Lei’s arrival, the skeleton raised his head slowly. Through the messy hair extending all the way to the floor, a pair of green eyes could be seen—they were like the frightening eyes of a wolf.
“Dead Souls half-deity, Puhaman?” Meng Lei sized up the skeleton on the altar.
“You have no scent of those nasty lizards on you. Who are you? How did you appear here?”
The skeleton glared with those green eyes and spoke in a raucous voice like an owl.
“If you’re willing, I can be your savior,” Meng Lei said leisurely.
“Save me? Who do you think you are?”
Puhaman paused before he laughed out loud. “If that smelly lizard behind you had said that, I would have believed it. As for you—”
“Puhaman, you evil Dead Souls half-deity, you better watch your tone!” Thaniel responded angrily. “Standing before you is my great Master—His Highness Meng Lei! If you offend him again, I won’t show any mercy!”
“Master?”
Puhaman was stunned and glanced at Thaniel before turning his green eyes toward Meng Lei, re-examining him.
“This fetid lizard is one of the few half-deities of Dragon Island. How did you subdue him?”
“Took out other half-deities, so he naturally submitted to me.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “Now answer me, do you want to get out?”
“You killed the rest of the half-deity Dragons?” Puhaman was taken aback, shaking his head repeatedly. “No… This can’t be possible! These damned stinking lizards might be despicable and on the decline, but to kill them? Absolutely no way!”
“Tell him the truth.”
Meng Lei looked at Thaniel.
Thaniel gave a wry smile and told him of Meng Lei’s incredible dragon-slaying feat, honestly.
“…”
Puhaman was dumbfounded.
“Let me ask you one last time, do you want to get out?” Meng Lei was getting impatient.
“You’re really willing to let me go?”
Puhaman stared at Meng Lei.
“Of course!”
“And what do I have to offer?”
“Your loyalty!”
" }, { "id": 216, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-216", "title": "Chapter 216 - Taking Control Of The Empire, The New Dragon Island", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Puhaman had submitted!
In fact, he had offered up his divine spirit origin energy with nary any hesitation, making the process unexpectedly quick.
Meng Lei had initially thought that he’d have to go through a lengthy coercion-cum-wheedling process before he could subdue the Dead Souls half-deity—after all, he was an evil ancient fiend and a Dead Souls half-deity, so how would he possibly submit to him that easily?
Snap!
Snap!
The Gods-Slaying Spear jabbed forward repeatedly, easily breaking the ten chains shackling Puhaman.
Having regained his freedom, Puhaman burst into loud, excited laughter as he exclaimed, “Kekeke! I’m finally out!”
It was just a shame that his laughter didn’t hold even a tinge of might. Instead, it sounded incredibly eerie, as if it were the wailing of vengeful spirits from hell!
Eerie, sinister, and terrifying, it sounded awfully creepy!
“Let’s go,” said Meng Lei dispassionately. Then, he turned and started to walk toward the exit. Thaniel hastily followed after him as he maintained a certain distance from Puhaman—he simply couldn’t help but feel unsafe being in the same space as that evil ancient fiend.
“Yes, my honorable Master, keke!”
Puhaman cackled strangely and followed Meng Lei and Thaniel out of the cave.
At this moment, an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast, the Bloodthirsty Violent Shark, happened to swim over.
At the sight of it, Puhaman made a grabbing motion.
Bam!
A huge verdant green withered claw appeared out of thin air and grabbed the Bloodthirsty Violent Shark toward him, upon which Puhaman immediately opened his mouth and sucked forcefully.
Lush green life essence drifted out of the Bloodthirsty Violent Shark and was absorbed into Puhaman’s mouth.
The Bloodthirsty Violent Shark started to visibly dry and shrivel up. A few moments later, it had turned into a piece of dehydrated skin.
Turning one’s gaze back to Puhaman, they would see that his dry, withered skin had plumped up a fair bit and gained a hint of rosiness.
“Kekeke~ The taste of blood truly makes one nostalgic!”
Puhaman licked his lips in such high spirits that he raised his head and burst into loud, raucous laughter.
“Master, that fiend is too evil!”
Thaniel’s voice shook as he shivered and shuddered, totally creeped out.
“Is that Dead Souls Magic?”
Meng Lei was unaffected. Instead, he even developed a keen interest in Dead Souls Magic.
Puhaman replied with a strange laugh, “Keke! Master, I can teach you Dead Souls Magic if you wish to learn it!”
“We can look into it a little when we have some spare time,” said Meng Lei with a slight smile.
“It’s rare to see someone interested in Dead Souls Magic. On top of that, he’s even my Master!”
Puhaman remarked as he cackled. Then, he started on his frenzied “devouring” feast.
None of the marine Magical Beasts they encountered along the way were spared.
He himself also began to plump up rapidly. By the time they were out of the bottom of the ocean, he looked like a completely different person.
A strong, ample, well-built body, crystal-clear skin, glossy jet-black hair…
Which part of that was a skeleton from the bottom of the ocean? It was clearly a graceful and gentlemanly middle-aged noble!
If it hadn’t been for the fact that they had exited the bottom of the ocean together, even Meng Lei and Thaniel wouldn’t have quite dared to believe their eyes.
Was that guy really Puhaman?
A smiling Meng Lei complimented, “That looks a lot more pleasant to the eye now!”
Puhaman was the picture of a mild-mannered and refined gentleman as he did a graceful nobles’ bow in response. “You may not know this, Master, but before I’d begun to cultivate Dead Souls Magic, I was a human king.
“Unfortunately, my country was destroyed later on. For the sake of seeking revenge on the Dragons, I had no choice but to switch to cultivating Dead Souls Magic and ended up a monster that was neither human nor ghost.”
At this point, Puhaman cast a glance at Thaniel. His eyes carried a look of malice, causing Thaniel to tense up all the way to his anus and become all creeped out.
“Little did I think that you’d have gone through something like that. That’s surprising!”
Meng Lei said with a laugh, “I happened to have just destroyed the Dragons and am intending to take over Dragon God Empire. Since you’re experienced in this aspect, you should be able to be of assistance to me, right?”
“Keke, I’m glad to offer my services to you, Master!”
Puhaman was awfully excited. “Don’t worry, Master. I had reigned for over 40 years back then, so I have great experience in governance. I should be able to provide you with some suggestions!”
“I hope so!”
A gratified Meng Lei nodded. He had previously been troubled over Dragon God Empire’s matter—after all, the Dragons were gone, and he had slaughtered all the court officials.
A moment of carelessness and the juggernaut that was Dragon God Empire might just collapse anytime.
When that happened, chaos ensuing would be nigh impossible to avoid.
The ones to suffer would still end up being the common people—this was something that Meng Lei didn’t wish to see.
As such, how he should go about taking over Dragon God Empire peacefully while avoiding strife was something that Meng Lei needed to think about.
If possible, he would also like to spread his faith along the way and get the empire’s citizens to believe in him. That would be even more ideal.
However, Meng Lei knew that this would be an extremely difficult task.
Taking control of the empire wasn’t that bad; the level of difficulty wasn’t very high.
What was difficult was to spread faith!
Having been established for over 40,000 years, Dragon God Empire’s faith in the Dragon God had long since become ingrained and deep-rooted.
Getting the citizens to abandon their faith in the Dragon God and switch over to worshiping him was definitely no easy task!
Meng Lei had also considered this problem previously. He had thought of a few ideas, but he ultimately still found them too unreliable.
Now that he had taken Puhaman in, he could, however, discuss this with him. That old fiend had once been a king, as well as even an evil god; surely he could provide some assistance in that respect?
“Where do we go next, Master?”
At the sight of Puhaman gaining Meng Lei’s trust so quickly and even vaguely seemed as if he’d be given great responsibilities, Thaniel panicked somewhat.
He’d clearly been the one that had submitted to their master first, so why was that fiend edging him out now?
After a moment of consideration, Meng Lei replied, “Let’s go to the Imperial City!”
“Alright, Master!”
After responding, Thaniel flapped his wings and flew toward Dragon Island’s exit.
Upon departing Dragon Island, as Puhaman overlooked all the sights outside, he became so worked up that scalding tears filled his eyes, and he fell to his knees before Meng Lei.
“I’ve finally seen the light of day again after being sealed for 50,000 years! I am grateful to my great, noble master! Thank you for saving my life!”
Isn’t that reflex arc of yours a little too slow? Why didn’t I see you thanking me when I saved you from that cave just now?
Meng Lei grumbled inwardly, though outwardly, he said, “Congratulations on regaining your freedom, Puhaman!”
“Thank you! Thank you, Master!”
Puhaman cried tears of joy as he sniffed the air intensely, an expression of intoxication all over his face.
“This is the smell of Heaven’s Vault Continent! It’s truly too wonderful and too nostalgic…”
“Let’s go!”
Meng Lei patted Thaniel on the back.
“Yes, Master!”
Then, Thaniel flew toward the Imperial City.
“Puhaman, I’d like to take control of Dragon God Empire. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I’ve been sealed for too long, Master. Therefore, I’m not very clear on Dragon God Empire’s current situation. May I trouble Master to give me a simple explanation first?”
“Alright!”
“…”
“Little did I think that Dragon God Empire would still be this much of a loser even after 50,000 years have gone by.”
Then, an emotional Puhaman said, “Master, if you wish to take control of Dragon God Empire, you can do it in four steps.”
“Four steps? Tell me about it,” replied Meng Lei with great interest.
“The first step is to take control of the empire’s court administration.
“Now that the Dragons’ high-end combat power have all been wiped out by Master, the remaining Dragons are not much of a threat anymore.
“The matter of highest priority now is to take control of court administration and control the steering rights of the giant ship that is Dragon God Empire, so as to stabilize the overall situation and prevent chaos from ensuing.”
“That makes sense. Go on,” Meng Lei commented with a nod.
“You can’t take control of court administration if no one’s there.”
Puhaman asked with a sinister smile, “Master, you previously mentioned that you’ve slaughtered all the court officials, both civil and martial, but I don’t believe that. If my guess is right, you’ve actually only killed the high-ranking or important officials, right?”
“I think so.”
Meng Lei’s brows furrowed slightly.
“That has to be it!”
Puhaman snickered and said, “Officials qualified to enter the conference hall to discuss state affairs are typically either the chief executives or their deputies from each department.
“Officials whose positions are too low aren’t qualified to step into the conference hall. Therefore, I dare make a bold guess that all you’ve killed are just the high-ranking officials and those in important positions.
“As for the lower-level officials and civil servants in minor positions, they should all be well and alive. These people are the key to us taking control of Dragon God Empire!”
“Go on.”
“As long as you can take control of them, it would be tantamount to you taking control of Dragon God Empire’s court. And there’s nothing more suitable to control them than my Dead Souls Magic!”
Puhaman gave him a sinister smile as a bloodthirsty look came over his countenance.
At the sight of his visage, Meng Lei knew his intentions at once. “It’s better to take a gentler approach to humans who are willing to submit. As for the stubborn ones and the Dragon People nobles, you can do as you see fit.”
“Don’t worry, Master. I know what I should do.”
Puhaman patted his chest as he reassured him again.
“Tell me about the second and third steps.”
“The second step is to promote and elevate the human elites into higher positions and wipe out the Colossal Dragon nobles.”
Puhaman went on. “Once you’ve taken control of the court, it’ll be tantamount to you having taken control of the wagging tongues in the empire.
“At this point, Master can alter the country’s laws and regulations and dismiss the Colossal Dragon nobles from position.
“Those that refuse to accept the changes are all to be killed!
“Whoever dares to revolt are also to be killed!
“Kill them all! And let the blood flow! When that happens, we’ll see who still dares go against Master!
“Now that the Dragons have lost their half-deities, I believe that a group of ordinary Colossal Dragons can’t amount to much at all.”
“…”
“The third step is to deal with the affiliated kingdoms at the borders.”
“…”
As Thaniel listened to Meng Lei and Puhaman’s conversation as they made plans to take over Dragon God Empire, he felt an infinite amount of grief and sorrow.
Should they really carry out whatever Puhaman had said, the entire Dragon God Empire would completely change hands.
There would no longer be any place in Dragon God Empire for the Colossal Dragons!
Dragon God Empire would completely become dominated by humans!
With the humans’ reproduction rate, who would still remember the Dragons after dozens or a hundred years?
An alarmed and fearful Thaniel wondered, “Will the Dragons die out…?”
Meng Lei’s magic communication device suddenly rang at this point.
It’s President Fred?
After a moment of hesitation, Meng Lei chose to pick up the call.
“Meng Lei!”
President Fred had a complex look on his face.
“President,” Meng Lei responded with a smile, just like always.
“Where are you now, Meng Lei?” asked President Fred in a low voice.
“I’ve just left Dragon Island and am about to return to the Imperial City,” replied Meng Lei truthfully.
“In that case, you’ve already…”
At once, the look on President Fred’s countenance changed, and his voice shook somewhat.
“Out of the nine Dragon half-deities, aside from Elder Amolin and the Tempest Colossal Dragon that got away, the other seven half-deities have all died. The ordinary Dragons have also been wiped out.”
Meng Lei respected President Fred, so he didn’t wish to deceive him in matters like this. Neither was there any need for him to—he believed that the news would spread in no time.
“It’s over! It’s all over for the Dragons!”
President Fred staggered as if his soul had left him. He said, “I’ve imagined various outcomes, but never did I ever think that the outcome would be one like this!
“Out of the nine Dragon half-deities, you’ve actually slain seven. Without the half-deities’ protection, the Dragons’ destruction has already become destined. In fact, the Dragons no longer have the power to control the entire empire anymore!”
Fred let out wry laugh after wry laughs. “Forget it! Forget it! Now that it has come to this, what more can I say?
“Meng Lei, what do you intend to do next? What are you going to do about each kingdom’s royalty?”
That’s probably what the Fire Dragon King, Flit the 66th, got you to ask, right?
After a long silence, Meng Lei finally slowly answered, “President, on your account, I can look the other way and allow each kingdom’s royalty to take up permanent residency on the Lost Continent.
“If they are willing, the Lost Continent can become their abode. We’ll call it New Dragon Island!”
" }, { "id": 217, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-217", "title": "Chapter 217 - 1,000 Pickup Attempts, A Divine Beast Carcass", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Look the other way? Head to the Lost Continent and take up permanent residency there?”
Smack!
Flit the 66th broke the imperial desk in front of him with a smack. His eyes were close to spitting fire. “Meng Lei is going too far!”
Fred could only give a wry smile, as did the Fighting Dragon Academy president and the others.
Going too far?
Indeed, Meng Lei certainly was, but what could he do about him?
He had killed even the seven half-deity grandmasters on Dragon Island, as well as the empire’s emperor! Let alone him, Flit the 66th?
Heaven’s Vault Continent was ultimately a place where the strong was revered. Whoever was stronger would hold more influence.
This was the eternally unchanging truth!
Didn’t the Dragons bully and humiliate the humans all these years simply because they were stronger than them?
“Is there no chance of things turning for the better at all?”
After his fit of fury, Flit the 66th gradually regained his composure. He was filled with indignation as he gazed at all the court officials and Saint Domains in the hall.
All the court officials in the hall were silent, as were the Saint Domains.
“Everyone, do think of something!”
Flit the 66th started to bellow furiously. “Am I really supposed to abdicate the throne and move to that godforsaken Lost Continent?!”
All the officials were as quiet as a mouse.
At last, President Fred stepped forward and said with a wry smile, “Your Majesty, we cannot overcome this situation at the moment. A head-on collision definitely won’t work.
“However, Meng Lei is someone that bears old friendships in mind and cherishes relationships. You can tackle it from this angle instead.”
“Bears old friendships in mind? Cherishes relationships?”
…
As a half-deity, Thaniel’s speed was no joke. In just a short half an hour, he’d flown back to the Dragon God Empire Imperial City.
The current Imperial City was already showing initial signs of impending chaos. Large numbers of eunuchs and palace maidservants fled from the palace while the members of royalty, the nobles, and the officials behaved as if a great enemy was looming over them. This caused fear and unease among the general public that didn’t know what was going on…
Meng Lei and the other two stood above the Imperial City and personally witnessed everything.
A frowning Meng Lei asked, “What do you make of this, Puhaman?”
“It’s better that it’s a little chaotic. Otherwise, how would a new administration come about? If chaos doesn’t break out, it’ll be hard to change their faith.”
Puhaman gave him a sinister smile and said, “If Master trusts me, why don’t you leave this matter to me? A month later, I’ll hand a stable Imperial City back to Master!”
“Alright, I’ll leave this to you.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly as he then said, “Thaniel can act as your deputy. The two of you can handle this together.”
“Master, I’d better just follow you instead!”
At the sound of that, Thaniel immediately shook his head vehemently. He didn’t want to go too near to that evil ancient fiend. It was too dangerous.
“You’re a half-deity of the Dragons. You’re the most suited to taking charge of handling these trivial matters.”
Meng Lei brooked no dispute and waved him off.
“Yes, Master,” replied Thaniel with a woebegone expression.
“Elder Thaniel, I believe that we’ll be able to form a very pleasant working relationship!”
Puhaman gave him a sinister smile, causing goosebumps to rise all over Thaniel. How he wished he could flee right away.
“The two of you may go.”
After dismissing the pair, Meng Lei found a hall in the imperial palace grounds and went into seclusion with peace of mind.
Things like taking control of the court were beyond him. Neither could he be bothered to waste any energy on it. Thus, he decided to might as well just leave it to the professionals.
Being an absentee manager was pretty good, too!
After all… Everything was within his control!
…
“Now that the Dragon half-deities are dead, the native Dragons on Heaven’s Vault Continent won’t really be able to cause much trouble. The upcoming threats will highly likely come from two areas—the Dragon God and the other three major empires.”
Meng Lei rested on his side on the imperial couch meant for the emperor’s use and mused over the current situation.
“The importance of the power of faith to deities is obvious on its own. The Dragon God will never give up the Dragon God Empire, his power of faith domain, that easily. It boils down to how he intends to move.
“The three major empires, too! They likely won’t pass up such a good opportunity and watch as I gain complete control over Dragon God Empire.
“Therefore, the enemies I’ll have to face next will be even stronger, and the situation even graver.
“Power! I still need to boost my power further. Only with power will I not need to fear anything!”
Meng Lei looked at his stats interface—his Wealth, which amounted to as much as 13.57 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, was the biggest reward he had reaped from his trip to Dragon Island this time.
“I can’t buy credit for my divine body and my divine spirit anymore, whereas the power of divinity and comprehension of fusion laws of nature are too expensive.
“Let’s just continue with the Limitless Pickups, then! If 100 times doesn’t work, then I’ll do it 1,000 times. I simply don’t believe that I can’t get anything good!”
Meng Lei ordered, “System, 100 Limitless Pickups!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained 10 Dragon Blood Potions!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained an earth-elemental magic scroll!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful…”
The 100 Limitless Pickup attempts ended in the blink of an eye, yet it didn’t manage to pick up anything satisfactory.
“System, another 100 times!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful…”
“I don’t believe this! Again!”
“…”
“Trash! They are all trash! You lousy system, can you be any more of a scam than this? Damn it, another 1,000 times!”
This time, Meng Lei went all out. 1,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? Piece of cake!
At once, system notifications started to ring out constantly!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the flat sculpting-style stone statue, ‘Waking Up’!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Babe the Gods-Slaying Rat’s straw hat!”
“What the f*ck! I was all worked up for nothing! It’s just a lousy straw hat!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Tree of Vitality sapling!”
“A Tree of Vitality sapling?”
With a thought, a small one-meter-tall tree sapling immediately appeared on his palm.
Crystal clear and lush, it gave off a rich sense of life and vitality all over.
“Not bad!”
Then, Meng Lei planted the Tree of Vitality sapling on the Tower of Time’s 95th level.
At the same time, he also set up a magical energy-gathering magic circle to collect the Wood Elements in the surroundings before he left.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained 3 Dragon Bone Herbs!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment! Will you assimilate it?”
“Another fusion laws of nature fragment? Never mind, let’s just assimilate it… It’s thunder-ice fusion laws of nature this time.”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“Another divine core?”
Meng Lei perked up again, and with a flip of his right hand, a divine core appeared on his palm. It was a dark-elemental divine core that was pitch-black in color all over and emanated strong, surging dark-elemental power of divinity.
“The power of divinity energy fluctuations on this are about the same as those on the water-elemental one. It’s likely also a lesser deity’s divine core. What a shame that I can’t assimilate it. It’s so tempting!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment! Will you assimilate it?”
“Assimilate it! …This time, it’s light-water fusion laws of nature.”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
“A Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract? What’s that?”
A golden rhombus-shaped crystal roughly the size of an infant’s fist appeared on Meng Lei’s palm.
Just a glance at it was enough to turn Meng Lei dizzy. It was as if his entire spirit had been lured into the crystal!
“Dodola, what’s a Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract?”
Meng Lei had no choice but to rouse the fast-asleep Dodola from its slumber.
“Don’t you know that disturbing someone’s sleep is very rude and immoral behavior?”
Despite being extremely displeased with Meng Lei’s actions, Dodola nevertheless still provided him with an answer.
“A Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract is the crystallized form of a divine spirit that has been extracted from a divine core and processed.”
Meng Lei asked, “Extracted from a divine core? What can this thing do?”
“Because it has gone through special processing, Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts no longer contain the dead deity’s will, memories, divinity, laws of nature comprehension, and other information related to its original owner,” Dodola said, “Therefore, Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts are the purest and cleanest material form of a divine spirit, and is a treasure that can enhance one’s divine spirit.”
“Enhance one’s divine spirit?” Meng Lei’s eyes lit up as he asked, “Are there any side effects?”
“No, there aren’t!”
“Got it. You can go back to sleep now.”
“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
“Nothing much. It’s just a casual question.”
“There’s no use asking about that because it’s impossible for you to get any Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts anyway. That thing is ridiculously expensive. Even one that’s processed from a lesser deity’s divine core is worth tens of thousands of Divinity Crystals!”
A mumbling Dodola then went back to sleep.
“Impossible to get?”
Meng Lei was beside himself with joy as he gazed at the golden rhombus-shaped crystal sitting on his palm.
“Not only can it enhance my divine spirit, but it doesn’t carry any side effects, either!”
What was he waiting for, then?
“Assimilate!”
Buzz…
At once, the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract disappeared!
At the same time, Meng Lei felt a strong, torrential, and icy aura gushing into his sea of consciousness and furiously strengthening his divine spirit.
Boom!
In the span of a few short breaths, his divine spirit had been enhanced by quite a few times.
His mind became even more agile, and his consciousness even more alert right away. The range of his divine cognition became even wider, and the laws of nature became even clearer and more distinct.
“It feels so strong!”
The feeling of his divine spirit continuously strengthening was simply too wonderful. If it were possible, Meng Lei really wished that it could continue strengthening.
Alas, there was a start and an end to everything.
A brief moment later, everything came to an end and vanished.
When Meng Lei opened his eyes and glanced at his stats interface, he couldn’t help but be awfully comforted.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Contains Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <100%>)
Wealth: 13.57 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Spirit: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Wood-Earth Fusion (0.1%), Metal-Dark Fusion (0.1%), Thunder-Ice Fusion (0.1%), Water-Light Fusion (0.1%)
“Enhancing my divine spirit from elementary-grade to high-grade had required only a tiny, little Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but marvel, “This thing sure is good stuff! Here’s hoping I can pick more up in the future!
“Oh, right! Dodola once said that the level of difficulty in laws of nature assimilation is related to how strong one’s divine spirit is.
“Now that my divine spirit has strengthened by so much, surely it has become much cheaper to buy credit for laws of nature assimilation now?”
Meng Lei promptly contacted the system. “System, how much does it cost to raise my wood-earth fusion laws of nature assimilation rate by 1%?”
“10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
“10,000? Haha!” Meng Lei was overjoyed. “I was right! The cost has indeed lowered significantly!”
Previously, it had cost 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals to raise his wood-earth fusion laws of nature assimilation rate by 1%!
But now, it required only 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, making it only 10% of what it had previously cost. It had become so much cheaper!
“Little did I think that enhancing the divine spirit would actually bring such benefits. Say no more, we’ll talk again after I’ve raised all eight fusion laws of nature—wood-earth, metal-dark, thunder-ice, and light-water—to 100%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by four million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. The stats interface also underwent a change.
Wealth: 9.57 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Laws of Nature: Wood-Earth Fusion (100%), Metal-Dark Fusion (100%), Thunder-Ice Fusion (100%), Water-Light Fusion (100%)
“Someday, I’ll definitely be able to fuse all ten types of laws of nature into one!”
Meng Lei was filled with confidence for the future!
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Succubus’ lace organza skirt!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Skeleton Soldiers’ will-o’-the-wisp!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the divine beast Tricannon Pig’s carcass!”
“A divine beast carcass?”
Rather taken aback, Meng Lei quickly brought out the divine beast carcass.
Boom!
It instantly blasted the hall apart…
" }, { "id": 218, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-218", "title": "Chapter 218 - Eating Divine Pork, Meeting The Behemoth Again", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Boom!
The grand, extravagant hall was instantly filled beyond its bursting point and blasted apart, implicating the other surrounding halls in the imperial palace, too.
Dust and earth flew about as great explosions rang out.
An enormous pig with a golden-yellow mane appeared out of thin air amongst the halls in the imperial palace.
Standing at 10,000-meters-tall and measuring 100,000-feet-long, its huge ears were like great tents that blotted out the sky and its savage fangs like iron spikes.
The most amazing thing was that a terrifying wave of divine power was emanating from the enormous pig and pounding against the hearts of the Imperial City’s residents.
Boom!
Everyone felt incredibly unwell. It was as if their hearts were clenched tightly in someone else’s hand.
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“What exactly is happening?”
Fear and trepidation filled their hearts, making them alarmed and uneasy.
“Divine power!”
“This is divine power!”
“It’s coming from the imperial palace!”
Puhaman and Thaniel’s countenances, who were in the midst of their tasks, changed drastically, and they quickly flew toward the imperial palace.
“That… That’s…”
The two of them gasped.
What fearsome divine power!
What an enormous body!
That was definitely a deity-class Magical Beast!
“O’ dragon god above! That’s a divine beast!”
“O’ lord of Hades! What have I just seen?”
The two half-deities were utterly stunned.
“Feh! Feh!”
The sound of someone spitting rang out, causing the two of them to look over in surprise. Then, they saw Meng Lei climbing out of the ruins. He was covered in dust and dirt, so his appearance was in somewhat of a pathetic state.
“M-master?”
Puhaman and Thaniel were dumbfounded.
“What the hell? To think the carcass of this Tricannon Pig or whatever you call it is so huge! What an error in judgment I’ve made!”
Meng Lei rose into the air and sized up the 10,000-feet-long divine beast carcass. Rather lost for words, he exclaimed, “What a huge pig. How long is that going to last me?”
“My esteemed Master, is this divine beast carcass yours?” asked an astonished Puhaman and Thaniel, who had flown over to Meng Lei.
“That’s right. Didn’t the price of pork go up recently? So I bought one to try the taste.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he asked, “Do you want to bring some back and make some sausages or something?”
“We mustn’t, we mustn’t! This is a divine beast carcass. How would we possibly dare to eye it?”
The pair hastily waved in response. However, they could barely hide the longing and greed in their eyes.
Divine beast meat—it was totally a great source of nourishment. Disregarding the taste, just the price alone was already beyond measure.
If they could have even a piece of it, their strength would totally undergo rapid growth.
“I can’t finish it by myself, so you guys can have some too.”
A Dimensional Blade abruptly manifested and instantly cleaved down on the Tricannon Pig’s tail with a wave.
Clink!
Sparks flew amidst sounds of metal colliding against each other, yet the divine pig’s tail actually stayed well and intact.
“What the! It’s that tough?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. Then, the Gods-Slaying Spear appeared in his hand, and he jabbed it at the pig.
It was only then that the several hundred meters-long pigtail suddenly broke at the base with a splurt.
“Done!”
Meng Lei retracted the Gods-Slaying Spear and said, “You can take the tail and use it for sausages.”
“Master, is that… really alright?”
The pair swallowed repeatedly.
“Take it!”
Meng Lei tossed the pigtail over. Then, he flew on top of the Tricannon Pig and began to ponder over where he should start eating it from. Owing to how hard and tough the pig’s divine body was, it was hard for him to even start tackling it.
“Thank you, my noble Master!”
The pair gave up the pretentious act at the sight, and then with one person on each side, they picked up the pigtail and immediately ran off, lest Meng Lei went back on his word if they lagged behind for even a moment.
As they ran, Meng Lei’s voice also traveled over from afar. “Don’t just focus on eating the pork. Get the job done well, too.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Seriously, those buffoons…”
The divine pork was indeed hard to tackle. The meat was extremely tender and pliable, making it extremely difficult to even slice it. The Gods-Slaying Spear was more suited to piercing, so it showed rather poor results at slicing the meat.
Meng Lei tried various tools on it, but he couldn’t even slice through the divine pig’s skin.
In the end, he picked up a random blood-colored machete, and then he actually sliced apart the tender pork with a single slash.
“Is this knife that sharp?”
Meng Lei was astonished. “If memory serves me right, this knife is something that I’ve only just picked up recently?”
“System, what’s the name of this knife?”
“Dear host, this is the Abyss Blade Demon’s companion machete,” replied the system coldly.
“The Abyss Blade Demon’s companion machete!”
Meng Lei was thrilled. He hadn’t thought much of it when he had first picked it up and had thought it to be some kind of trash. Little did he know that it would turn out to be that sharp. He was the one that hadn’t recognized it for what it was worth instead.
“What a good machete!”
Meng Lei was in a fantastic mood. With one, two, three cuts, he easily disemboweled the divine pig…
Then, he built a roasting rack, brought out condiments, and used a divine fire to cook and roast it.
Even so, it still took him a long while before he finally managed to cook the divine pork thoroughly.
“It smells great!”
Then, Meng Lei grabbed a slice of roast and stuffed it into his mouth, causing his saliva glands to go into overdrive because of the extraordinarily fresh and delectable meat…
“Delicious! It’s too delicious! To think it tastes this great! The texture of the divine pork in my mouth is so springy that every time I chew, it’s as if the meat is bouncing in my mouth. It’s simply too chewy!
“No, it’s not just chewy! There’s also rich life essence in the meat! Overflowing life force energy is spreading into every part of my body. My whole body feels so warm and comfortable…
“There’s only one word to describe this—beautiful!”
This was Meng Lei’s first time eating such delicious roast, and he couldn’t stop at all.
The Gods-Slaying Rat’s powerful digestion ability was perfectly exhibited at this moment. Meng Lei gobbled and chowed down on the food fervently, yet he simply didn’t feel like he was full.
Even after he had eaten so much pork that they amounted to quite a few times of his body weight, his six-pack abs still remained as is and didn’t turn into one…
It was only after he ate all the way from the morning till the night that Meng Lei finally stopped. “Phew! That felt great!”
He burped and laid down on the imperial palace square. As he rubbed his stomach, Meng Lei couldn’t help but think of his food buddy—Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth.
“It’s been quite a few days since I last saw that fellow. I wonder how it is and whether it’s still alive? Should I head to the Lost Continent and pay it a visit? There isn’t anything that I need to do at the moment anyway…”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei kept the rest of the meat with a wave and teleported away. By the time he’d reappeared, he was already at the Dragon God Cathedral.
“O’ great and noble Dragon God, please save your lowly children…”
The area in front of the Dragon God Cathedral was filled with worshipers that had come forth to pray. There were high-ranking officials and Dragon People nobles, but what filled the place, even more, were ordinary humans.
They knelt before the Dragon God statue, either kowtowing without restraint or praying piously. Every one of them was fearful and uneasy, as though doomsday had come.
Meng Lei frowned slightly, though he didn’t really find it that unusual. Turmoil inevitably led to fear and panic, which would then spread. The current Imperial City was indeed currently shrouded in an uneasy and fearful atmosphere.
In times of fear, worshipers naturally ran to the church. Such a reaction couldn’t get any more normal, but what had displeased Meng Lei was the Dragon God Cathedral’s Pope.
That old fogey was actually spreading talk of the devil’s descent into the world and had painted him as a wicked devil hailing from the deep abyss of hell and was bringing disaster to the world.
“The cruel devil has descended! A terrifying demonic disaster shall sweep through the continent soon! I have seen the future that will soon arrive!
“Lives are plunged into great misery and suffering while the devil wreaks havoc! The Colossal Dragons fall, the nation is defeated, and our homes are lost! Corpses line the wilderness, and the lands are dyed in red for miles!
“Just as the devil wreaks havoc in the lands and the demonic disaster is about to destroy the continent, the great, noble Dragon God descends!
“Bathed in a divine glow and holding a scepter, he rides a multi-colored Colossal Dragon and supports the collapsing skyscraper that is Dragon God Empire. He fights back the impending desperate crisis and saves the living from great calamity—”
“Enough with the bluffing!”
Meng Lei suddenly appeared and stared hostilely at the pope, who was speaking with remarkable animation and expression.
“Uh!”
The pope came to an abrupt stop as he stared at Meng Lei blankly. “You… you’re…”
“I’m your father!”
With an icy snort, Meng Lei directly formed a blood pact with the old bluffer and swindler.
“From today onward, you’re the first pope of the Meng Lei Church! Remember this, the Dragon God is the true devil that’s bringing disaster to the world while I… am the messiah!”
“Yes, my noble Master!”
The pope prostrated deeply at Meng Lei’s feet, licking his stinky shoes as if he were licking honey.
“Do your job well!”
Then, Meng Lei vanished after leaving behind a one-liner.
The pope got up, raised his arms, and declared aloud, “I made a mistake just now. The one that has descended is the great deity, Meng Lei…”
(⊙o⊙)
…
Meng Lei arrived at the Lost Continent once more.
Compared to what it was like in the past, where a thousand beasts roared, and signs of life flourished, the current Lost Continent was completely desolate and almost frighteningly quiet.
“Where’s Sacas?”
Meng Lei’s divine cognition spread into the surroundings. There was nowhere for anything within a hundred miles of where he was to hide, and every detail reflected clearly within his mind.
“He’s not here.”
He immediately teleported to a spot 100 miles away.
“Not here either.”
He teleported about another ten times in succession.
At last, Meng Lei found Sacas at the Golden Ocean Bay. That fellow was currently lying on the shore fast asleep. An astonishing number of skeletal remains were piled up beside it, evidently leftovers from that fellow’s meals.
“Master, where are you? Sacas misses you…”
Sacas smacked his lips as it mumbled in its sleep every once in a while like a fool.
“That guy…”
Amused, Meng Lei quietly flew over to Sacas and went right up to its ear. Then, he bellowed, “Time to wake up, Sacas!”
Roar!
At once, Sacas shuddered, all the fur on its body standing on end and its muscles tightly tensed. Evidently, it had received quite the shock.
“Hahaha!”
At the sight, Meng Lei doubled over and burst into boisterous laughter, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt.
“Boss!!”
At the sound of his laughter, Sacas turned and looked over, scalding tears filling its eyes at once.
It pounced toward Meng Lei’s feet and burst into loud sobs, crying like a giant baby.
“…”
“Where did you go, Boss?”
“I made a trip back home.”
“Will you leave again?”
“If you wish to leave, you can come along with me.”
“I’ll go wherever Boss goes!”
Growl~
“Sacas, your stomach is growling.”
“Hehe, I’m hungry.”
“Let’s eat a little something before we set off, then.”
“Wait here, Boss. I’ll go and catch us some seafood.”
“It’s alright. I have some good stuff here.”
A divine beast’s flesh was naturally no joke. When the aroma started to waft, Sacas’ drool almost drowned the Endless Oceans next to it.
However, when the pork was cooked, something tragic happened—Sacas actually couldn’t bite into it.
It, a great, violent Saint Domain-level Multi-Armed Behemoth, actually couldn’t bite or chew the pork!
Sacas was so anxious that it was close to tears. It couldn’t get a taste despite the delicacy sitting right in front of it. How infuriating!
“Looks like you’re not fortunate enough to enjoy the food, Sacas.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Never mind, have some Dragon meat instead!”
With a grand wave, Meng Lei brought out a 100-meters-long Golden Colossal Dragon carcass.
“A Golden Colossal Dragon!”
Sacas’ eyes almost fell out of their sockets. A Golden Colossal Dragon was an existence that could rival a Golden Behemoth, yet his Boss actually intended to roast and eat it?
Wasn’t that a little too extravagant?
In spite of that, Sacas didn’t hold back at all. A round of furious gobbling and chowing later, it actually finished a good half of the Golden Colossal Dragon. A glutton had totally taken over it.
“Alright, now that we’re full, it’s time to return.”
Upon returning to the imperial palace, Meng Lei discovered the arrival of some familiar faces.
" }, { "id": 219, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-219", "title": "Chapter 219 - The Arrival Of Multiple Guests, A Half-Deity Attacks", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "They were all familiar faces—President Fred, Dirk Norway, Fatty Hart, and Daniel.
Apart from that, another dozen or so villagers like Captain Hudders, Jonah, Joseph, Andrew, and Uncle Leo were also present.
Classmates, teachers, friends, fellow villagers—not one more and not one fewer, all of them had come.
“Meng Lei!”
Everyone quickly went forward.
“You’re all here!”
Meng Lei greeted them one by one. Then, to Puhaman, he instructed, “Puhaman, get someone to prepare some wine and food. I’m going to show everyone a good time.”
“I’ve already gotten someone to prepare the wine and food, Master. You can start the banquet anytime,” replied Puhaman respectfully.
“Have them served,” Meng Lei instructed with a wave.
“Yes, Master!”
With a clap from Puhaman, a group of graceful palace maidservants carrying exquisite food and drinks stepped into the palace and placed them on the table.
“Have a seat, everyone. Let’s eat as we speak!”
After dismissing the palace maidservants, a smiling Meng Lei said, “All of you must be hungry after such an arduous journey from the Fire Dragon Kingdom to the Imperial City. Let’s eat!”
Then, they began to dig in.
A round of food and drinks later, Meng Lei went straight to the point. “President, what is the Fire Dragon King trying to do by getting everyone here?”
“As expected, I can’t hide anything from you.”
Fred said with a wry chuckle, “Meng Lei, His Majesty would like to request that you give him a way out…”
“Give him a way out?”
Meng Lei swayed the wine cup in his hand lightly as he said, “I’d originally thought of Flit the 66th as a wise man, but little did I know that he’s actually this ridiculously foolish.
“Does he think that I’ll give him a way out just because he asks my friends, teachers, and fellow villagers to plead for mercy on his behalf? Little does he know that such actions would only backfire and disgust me even more.
“Thaniel!”
“Yes, Master!”
Thaniel quickly jogged into the room.
At the sight of Thaniel, President Fred’s countenance changed drastically, and he quickly got up to bow in greeting.
However, Thaniel lowered and hung his head instead, not even casting a glance at him. It was as if he hadn’t even seen him.
“Make a trip to Fire Dragon Kingdom and bring the Fire Dragon King, Flit the 66th, here!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “I’d like to ask him if his head is harder 1 than the seven Dragon half-deities or if he thinks he deserves to be shown more consideration than Frederick the 32nd.”
“Yes, Master!”
Thaniel bowed in acknowledgment before retreating from the room.
“Grandmaster…”
Fred stared at Thaniel from the back, great tidal waves churning in his heart.
The grandmaster has actually…
“Please don’t blame me for being heartless, President. What goes around comes around. This is just karma.”
Meng Lei sighed softly and said, “For 40,000 years, the humans have been exploited and abused by the Dragons. Billions of humans were capitalized on by the Dragons.
“Suppressed, exploited, and discriminated against, they have no status, no freedom, no chances of cultivating. In the Four-Classes Stratification System, humans are the lowliest of all. How ridiculous is that? And how cruel is that?”
Meng Lei said with a shake of his head, “A very long time ago, I made a serious vow to myself. Should there come a day! A day where I possessed enough power! I’ll definitely overthrow the Colossal Dragons’ reign and destroy this disgusting, warped reign and return a beautiful world to the humans!”
Fred could only chuckle wryly again and again while Hudders, Dirk Norway, Fatty Hart, and the others’ blood boiled with passion, their emotions surging from his words. There were only looks of worship left in their eyes.
“Now that I have the power and ability to do so, I naturally have to fulfill my promise!”
As he gazed at Fred, Meng Lei said, “Therefore, please don’t stop me, President. Please don’t beg for mercy on behalf of those Colossal Dragon nobles who only occupy high positions but do nothing for the people. This will only sour our relationship.”
“I understand now.” With another wry laugh, Fred sighed and said, “I get it now. You don’t need to say any further.”
“Thank you for being understanding, President.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he turned to Dirk Norway and the others and asked, “Mr. Dirk, can you tell me what kind of benefits Flit the 66th had offered all of you?”
“Benefits? Loads of them!”
Dirk Norway said with a laugh, “He promised that upon succeeding, not only would he bestow upon me ten Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and aid me in ascending to Saint Domain-level, but he’d even confer me as a Duke of the kingdom and bestow a territory of 250 square kilometers upon me. I’m not going to beg for mercy on his behalf, though!”
Dirk Norway smiled smugly as he said, “I knew right away what you wanted to do after hearing that you’ve killed the emperor and all the court officials!”
At this point, fanaticism and agitation filled Dirk Norway’s eyes as he said, “This is our—the humans’—best opportunity in the last 40,000 years to stand up and become the master. If I beg for mercy on his behalf, I’ll become a sinner of the human race. How can I possibly still bring myself to stand with my back straight in this world if I do that?”
“Well said, Mr. Dirk!”
Daniel praised aloud. Captain Hudders and the others also nodded incessantly.
“As expected of the Mr. Dirk I know!”
Meng Lei also broke into a smile. “I knew right away that you’re a pure human when I first met you. Therefore, you must have been very disappointed when you learned that I also possessed the Dragon bloodline, right?”
“Of course I was!”
Dirk Norway didn’t shy away from the topic because of President Fred’s presence. He shook his head and said with a laugh, “I had always thought that you were a pure-blooded human genius. Little did I know that you were also a Dragon Person. I was indeed disappointed for quite a while back then.
“Speaking of which, though, don’t you also possess the Dragon bloodline? Why are you so ruthless toward the Dragons and granted them no mercy whatsoever?”
This was also something that had troubled President Fred all this while, and he looked at Meng Lei with perplexity in his eyes.
Meng Lei didn’t keep it a secret. “I have a special ability that allows me to assimilate other bloodlines into my body.”
“I see!”
“I understand now!”
Realization dawned upon both Dirk Norway and President Fred. No wonder Meng Lei had suddenly awakened the Fire Dragon bloodline and subsequently even the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline. So it was because he had a fascinating ability like that!
With a casual flip of his wrist, Meng Lei took out 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and passed them to Dirk Norway.
“Mr. Dirk, you’ve been stuck at the pinnacle of ninth-grade for a very long time now. These Laws of Nature Origin Crystals should be of help to you!”
“Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
A huge shudder went through Dirk Norway as he exclaimed, “How can this do? These are too precious. I can’t take them!”
“I made a small windfall during my trip to Dragon Island recently, so I have tons of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals,” explained Meng Lei. “You can just take them without any worries.”
“In that case, it’ll be disrespectful of me to decline any further.” Dirk Norway was awfully excited. “Thank you, Meng Lei! If there’s anything you need in the future, feel free to let me know. Be it the most dangerous of places or the most severe of trials, I’ll do it all!”
“What a coincidence, I really do have something that I need your help with.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “Sir, you should also be aware that there are many things that need to be rebuilt from scratch at the moment. I urgently need talents. If you have friends who can be of help in this aspect, please introduce them to me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get into contact with them immediately when I get back!”
Dirk Norway nodded heavily. He could roughly guess just what kind of situation Meng Lei was currently facing and knew what he needed.
“I’ll have to trouble you, then.”
Meng Lei gave him a small smile. Then, he turned to Fatty Hart, to whom he couldn’t help but chastise mockingly, “Fatty, aren’t you usually very perky and chatty? Why are you as timid as a mouse today?”
Fatty Hart’s flesh quivered as he gave a wry laugh and replied, “Old bro, Golden Colossal Dragon blood also runs in my veins. I’m afraid that you’ll kill me!”
“Is that even considered Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline?”
Meng Lei said dryly, “The Golden Colossal Dragons have never once acknowledged you as a fellow clansman, y’know!”
Upon hearing that, Fatty Hart broke into a bright, beaming smile. “I knew you wouldn’t kill me, old bro! Hehehe, when I left the house, my old man kept reminding me over and over to be more respectful toward you.
“He even said something about how it’s not the same anymore, and that you’re a ruthless Dragon murderer that rejects the Dragons’ existence…
“I knew that my old man was ridiculously wrong. No matter how estranged we become, old bro, you’ll never kill me, a brother whom you studied with!”
“Brother? Dare you proclaim to be brothers with me when you’re that weak? Don’t you elevate your standing,” replied Meng Lei jokingly.
Then, he took out a divine tree fruit and tossed it over to him. “Eat this and ascend to Saint Domain-level soon. Otherwise, I have no friends like you!”
“What’s this?”
A look of puzzlement came over Fatty Hart’s countenance.
Meng Lei casually explained, “The divine tree’s fruit. It’s something that can allow humans and Magical Beasts to break through to Saint Domain!”
Then, he took out another dozen or so fruits and gave them to Daniel, Captain Hudders, Joseph, Jonah, and the others.
He had already checked these fruits. They didn’t contain the Tree of Life’s divinity, so the others could consume them with peace of mind.
“Break through to Saint Domain?”
“Does a treasure like that really exist?”
“This is too precious! We can’t accept them!”
Everyone received a huge shock and declined the fruits repeatedly.
“I have no use for the divine tree fruits, so just take them with peace of mind.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “Besides, all of you are people whom I’m close with. Who am I supposed to give them to, if not you?”
“This… Alright!”
Only then did they accept the divine tree fruits from him.
Fatty Hart held the fruit in his hands, so agitated that he was close to tears. “I, Fatty Hart, have suffered humiliation ever since I was born. They said that I’ve tarnished the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline and that I’m a disgrace to the Dragons!
“They even said that I’m just like my old man; that I can only use the name of the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline to get by for my entire life!
“Who would have thought that this day would come where I, Fatty Hart, could also attain the Saint Domain level! Sob, thank you, old bro! Getting to know you is the most fortunate thing that has ever happened to me in my life…”
“Can’t you be a little less of a good-for-nothing?” Meng Lei rolled his eyes at him. “Cultivate well and attain Saint Domain level soon. If you can refine your bloodline and transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon, I’ll appoint you as the new Dragon Emperor and put you in charge of managing New Dragon Island!”
“Really!?” A jolt went through Fatty Hart.
Meng Lei snorted lightly and said, “Have I ever lied to you?”
“Hehe! Old bro naturally keeps his word! I’m absolutely certain about that!”
Fatty Hart snickered sneakily.
“Captain Hudders!”
Meng Lei turned to Hudders and the dozen or so villagers. He said, “Why don’t all of you stay since you’re already here? How about this? Let’s bring all the villagers here and let them stay in this imperial palace.”
“Absolutely not! Absolutely not!”
Hudders received a huge fright. “All of us are just simple men from the countryside. We’re used to living in the mountains. How would we be qualified to live in these imperial palace courtyards?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. If the Colossal Dragons can live here, why can’t you?”
Meng Lei waved him off and said, “Everyone can move here and cultivate here in the imperial palace.
“Those who should be training their body would train their bodies; those who should be cultivating Battle Aura would cultivate Battle Auras; those who should be practicing magic would practice magic. With specialized staff in charge of meal preparations, wouldn’t it be better?”
Hudders could only laugh wryly, actually rendered somewhat speechless for a moment there while the others were secretly lost for words.
How willful!
That was too goddamn willful!
Giving away divine tree fruits without a second thought, allowing people from the countryside to move to the imperial palace… Just how egotistical must he be in order to do something like that?
“Where is Meng Lei?”
At that moment, a cold, aloof voice suddenly traveled over from the skies and exploded like a thunderclap…
" }, { "id": 220, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-220", "title": "Chapter 220 - The Fallen Titan And The Dark Fairy", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "A strong, burly, and muscular middle-aged man stood proudly in the sky. His head of blond hair was messy and unruly and reached all the way to his waist, making him look like a Super Saiyan 3 1 .
He gave off a domineering and intimidating aura, which made one tremble with fear and alarm.
“Where is Meng Lei?”
The blond, middle-aged man looked aloof and distant as he haughtily overlooked everyone in the imperial palace, his voice booming like thunder.
“Are you looking for me?”
Meng Lei rose into the air.
“So, you’re Meng Lei?”
The blond, middle-aged man eyed Meng Lei up and down before commenting, “Valor is better demonstrated by the young, indeed!
“I’ve heard that a monster has emerged in Dragon God Empire recently. Not only did he kill the empire’s emperor, but he even wiped out the half-deities on Dragon Island.”
A dispassionate Meng Lei asked, “Who are you?”
The muscular middle-aged man replied with a smile, “I am Thackeray of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan!”
“The Golden Dragon-Lion clan?”
President Fred’s countenance changed at once.
Dirk Norway hastily asked, “Do you know of them, President?”
“The Golden-Lion clan is an extremely ancient, long-standing clan. In terms of heritage, they are second only to the four great empires.”
Fred explained, “It’s said that the clan’s Golden Dragon-Lion bloodline passed down from generation to generation is a divine beast bloodline. Therefore, members of the clan need only to awaken their Golden Dragon-Lion bloodline, and they’ll be able to step into the Saint Domain level for sure.”
“Divine beast bloodline? Able to step into the Saint Domain level for sure?”
Dirk Norway couldn’t help but gasp.
“No one knows where the Golden Dragon-Lion clan is located. Neither does anyone how many powerhouses the clan boasts. All we know is that descendants of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan will travel to the continent for training every once in a while. Apart from that, we know nothing about them,” Fred explained with a sigh.
“The Golden Dragon-Lion clan? I don’t know of them!” Meng Lei shook his head. “Neither have I heard of them!”
“…”
Thackeray’s eyes narrowed slightly, a fierce glint flashing across the depths. Then, with a smile, he said, “It’s fine even if you don’t know us. You’ll get to know us today.
“One of the reasons for my arrival today is to congratulate you.
“First of all, congratulations on capturing Dragon God Empire, my young friend Meng Lei. From now on, you will be the master of a country and own billions of believers. Gathering power of faith, establishing a divine nation, and attaining true godhood is within sight.”
“To congratulate me?” Meng Lei’s lip corners quirked upward. “I’m afraid that isn’t your sole purpose in coming here, is it?”
“How astute of you, my young friend!”
Thackeray gave him a leisurely smile and replied, “You should know that Dragon God Empire occupies vast territory and boasts a great number of citizens. However, you’re young and lack sufficient forces backing you up, so I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for you to handle everything.
“Therefore, my purpose in coming here today is to lend you, my young friend, a helping hand and assist you by jointly managing Dragon God Empire, thereby relieving you of your worries and concerns and rendering aid to you.”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. Then, he looked around him and asked, “Are the few of you also thinking the same thing?”
There was only silence in the surroundings. No one answered him.
“Since you’re here, then just show yourselves,” Meng Lei said calmly. “To act so sneakily and secretively despite being a great half-deity, aren’t you behaving a little too pettily?”
“You’ve discovered them, Meng Lei!”
Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lion, burst into loud laughter, and then he said, “Dear all, since he has already discovered your presences, then you can just show yourselves!”
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
A few shadows flashed by and showed up beside Thackeray. Each of their presences gave off a powerful aura that easily intimidated one.
“Meng Lei, my young friend, let me make the introductions.”
Thackeray pointed at a 1,000-feet-tall giant that had firm, intertwining muscles all over him and said, “This is Bubbles the Fallen Titan!
“Bubbles was once the Dark Titan King of the Titan Empire’s Twelve Pillar Kings, and pure Dark Titan royal blood flows through his veins.”
“Bubbles the Fallen Titan!” Fred’s countenance changed drastically, and he exclaimed in a low voice, “Oh my god, to think it’s actually him! Not only is he actually still alive, but he has even become a half-deity?!”
Dirk Norway quickly asked, “President, do you know of Bubbles?”
“Thackeray is right. Bubbles was indeed once one of the Titan Empire’s Twelve Pillar Kings, the Dark Titan King. His title was the Black Bear King!”
Fred lowered his voice and explained, “However, Bubbles was rumored to be extremely lecherous. It’s said that he snuck into the Titan imperial palace and raped the beautiful empress of the Titan Empire, cuckolding the Titan Emperor of that time. An armed rebellion had broken out after the incident. The outcome after that is self-evident.
“Bubbles failed in his rebellion and was suppressed by the emperor. Not only was he stripped of his Dark Titan King title, but he was also sentenced to capital punishment where he had bled to death while still alive!”
Astoundment filled Fred’s countenance at this point. “Never would I have thought that he’d actually still be alive! On top of that, he’s even become a Fallen Titan! This is practically inconceivable!”
“He cuckolded the Titan emperor…”
Everyone was rendered speechless by Fred’s explanation.
“A tiny little human bean like you has actually wiped out the Dragon half-deities? Unbelievable!”
The Fallen Titan widened his millstone-sized eyes, which were filled with curiosity.
“You’re the first Titan I’ve ever seen!”
Meng Lei was also sizing up Bubbles. A look of great interest flashed across his eyes.
“What a great honor!”
The Fallen Titan burst into loud laughter. His laughter was as though the rolling thunder that reverberated throughout the surroundings.
“This is the ruler of Sunset Ranges, Ambrose the Chimera Queen!”
Thackeray gestured to a graceful and sexy beauty with heavy, glamorous make-up.
“Hehe, my young friend Meng Lei has taken revenge on my behalf by slaughtering the Dragons. I have no way of repaying your great kindness, so how about I betroth myself to you?”
The Chimera Queen giggled softly with her hand over her mouth, her charming eyes sending him an electrifying and bewitching gaze.
In spite of Meng Lei’s tough nature, an electrifying sensation couldn’t help but come over his whole body.
“Do you have a feud with the Dragons?”
Meng Lei was rather surprised.
“You have no idea at all, Meng Lei, my young friend!”
The Chimera Queen pursed her lips and explained, “We Chimeras were originally also part of the Dragons. However, due to our appearance, we were ultimately expelled by the Dragons and forced to move to Sunset Ranges, thereby forming a feud between the two of us.”
“I see!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei, who then couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s Sunset Ranges?”
His question startled Ambrose a little. Then, she giggled femininely and replied, “Sunset Ranges is located at the Titan plateau. It’s at the borders between the Titan Empire and the Beast People Empire.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he turned to the fourth half-deity and asked, “And who are you?”
“I am Nagaros, the Empress of the Dark Fairies!”
Without waiting for Thackeray, the fourth half-deity introduced herself.
She had long silver hair that cascaded like a waterfall. A blood-red crown adorned her head, and she wore a long robe the color of blackish blood and a blood-red dagger at her waist.
Her ears were sharp and pointed, and her facial features exquisite. Dressed in a black translucent organza dress, her voluptuous and graceful feminine body brimmed with an alternative seductiveness and teased the eye.
“The Empress of the Dark Fairies?”
Meng Lei was mildly astonished. He couldn’t help but take a few more looks at her. “So it’s the Empress of the Dark Fairies. I’ve heard a lot about you!”
“We Dark Fairies have lived underground for all the previous generations. Aside from those hypocritical Fairies of Nature, very few have ever heard of us.”
The Dark Fairy Empress sounded cold and aloof—evidently, she didn’t quite believe Meng Lei.
“I’ve heard about the Dark Fairies only because I’ve read about them in an ancient textbook!”
Meng Lei gave her a small smile, and then his gaze swept across the four half-deities one by one.
A Golden Dragon-Lion!
A Fallen Titan!
The Chimera Queen!
The Dark Fairy Empress!
“So, the reason for your sudden visits today is because all four of you wish to relieve me of my worries and troubles?” asked Meng Lei with a smile.
“We’ll speak openly!”
The Fallen Titan said, “At our cultivation level, deification is a far and distant journey with no end in sight if we depend solely on ourselves for cultivation. In fact, you can even call it wishful thinking.
“Therefore, we need worshipers, we need to spread our faith, and we need to collect the power of faith. That way, perhaps we might have a chance at deification and become a supreme existence like that!”
Then, the Fallen Titan glared at Meng Lei and said, “Since you’ve taken down and occupied the vast Dragon God Empire, I hope you can set aside 1/5 of the territory for me to spread my faith.”
“What about you?”
Meng Lei turned to the Chimera Queen.
“Sunset Ranges is barren and bitterly cold. Not only are we severely lacking in resources, but we are also located at the borders between the Titan Empire and the Beast People Empire, which has thrown us into great suffering because of the two empires’ warring.”
The Chimera Queen said softly, “Besides, we Chimeras were originally part of the Dragons. Returning to Dragon God Empire and taking back everything that belongs to us is the long-cherished wish of us, the Chimera clan!”
“So?”
Meng Lei chuckled.
“I hope that you can take pity on the Chimeras and hand over the Wood Dragon Kingdom, as well as the forests in the vicinity of the kingdom, to us, the Chimeras, so that we may use it as our new habitat.”
The Chimera Queen gazed at Meng Lei hopefully with her sensual eyes.
“The Wood Dragon Kingdom and the forests surrounding it roughly make up about 1/5 of Dragon God Empire’s territory, doesn’t it? Nice plan!”
With a soft laugh, Meng Lei then turned to the Dark Fairy Empress next. “I’m sure the great Empress likely is thinking the same thing, too?”
“A man’s wealth is his own ruin!”
The Dark Fairy Empress said in a cold and aloof voice, “Dragon God Empire is a piece of juicy meat. By right, everyone who catches sight of it should be entitled to a share of it!”
“All that catches sight of it should be entitled to a share?”
Meng Lei let out a soft chuckle.
“Leaving the underground world and establishing a Dark Fairy Empire has always been Nagaros’ long-cherished wish. To see the wish fulfilled, the Empress fears nothing!”
Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lion, was full of praises for her. Then, he said, “Meng Lei, my young friend, Dragon God Empire is a piece of juicy meat that all the half-deities in the continent are eying covetously. For the sake of the power of faith, they will resort to anything.
“Wolves in the shadows surround you while hungry tigers also linger at your door.
“Your current situation is extremely dire. A moment of carelessness would see you cleanly devoured by these starving half-deities!”
“So, all of you are here to help me out?”
Meng Lei’s lips corners quirked upward, seemingly amused.
“That’s right! We’re here to help you, of course. In fact, we’re willing to form an alliance with you!”
Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lion, said, “As long as the five of us form an alliance, we’ll be able to look out for one another and stand against those who invade us, thereby helping to safeguard Dragon God Empire!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. “Such highfalutin talk. At the bottom of it all, aren’t you just trying to snatch a slice of the pie from me?”
Meng Lei turned to the other three and said, “If I do as you wish and give away 1/5 of Dragon God Empire’s territory to every half-deity who comes here to ask for it, even the enormous Dragon God Empire probably won’t be enough for all of you to split among yourselves, isn’t it?”
“Meng Lei, my young friend, in that case, you aren’t agreeable to it?” Thackeray’s brows drew together slightly.
“Of course, I’m not going to goddamn agree, you huge fool!”
Meng Lei suddenly broke into expletives. “I’ll tell you this—Dragon God Empire is mine! Don’t anyone dare think of taking away even an inch of the territory! Not even the heavenly gods!
“Whoever dares to reach out for it will have their hand chopped off by me!
“Whoever dares to eye and covet it will be freaking cleaved apart by me!
“If you want to steal my cake, then it’ll depend on whether your head is hard enough and whether your neck is tough enough!”
“How audacious!!”
“How impudent!”
“How presumptuous!”
" }, { "id": 221, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-221", "title": "Chapter 221 - Stealing Innate Special Abilities, Slaying The Titan", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“T-that’s…”
In the sky a short distance away, Thaniel suddenly stopped in his tracks and gazed at the five figures standing in the sky above the imperial palace, a look of shock coming over his features.
“What’s wrong, Grandmaster?”
Thaniel currently had someone in his grasp. Dressed in golden robes with a crown on his head, it was the Fire Dragon King—Flit the 66th!
“Four half-deities!”
Thaniel’s countenance was grave as he exclaimed, “Four half-deities have appeared above the imperial palace and are currently besieging Meng Lei!”
“Four half-deities? Besieging Meng Lei?”
Flit the 66th was overjoyed. “In that case, that renegade Meng Lei must be doomed? Haha, the Dragon God must be watching over us! He must be!”
“Are you that happy at the thought of his death?”
Thaniel let out an icy laugh.
“Of course!”
A look of hatred came over Flit the 66th’s face as he spat, “That renegade shows no respect for those above him and has risen in revolt. Killing the emperor of us Dragons, slaughtering the Dragon half-deities, and bringing chaos to the Dragon society… His sins are deep and great, and his wicked deeds unforgivable!
“How I wish I could drink his blood, eat his flesh, sleep on his hide, slash him a million times, and sentence him to death through extreme torture to vent my anger! If he dies, I will surely drink for three days and three nights straight and hold national celebrations for half a year!”
“Drink for three days and three nights straight and hold national celebrations for half a year?”
Thaniel was livid. “If he dies, you’re the first one I’m going to kill!”
“Grandmaster, w-what do you mean by that?”
…
The four half-deities were furious. Roiling divine power emanated from them and rushed toward Meng Lei from all directions, attempting to suppress him.
Boom!
The residual impact battered heavily against everyone’s chests like a heavy hammer.
It wasn’t that bad for Fred, but Hudders and the others were out of luck. They were flattened onto the ground right away!
At the sight, Puhaman quickly cast God’s Domain and shrouded everyone in it. Only then did Hudders and the others manage to struggle onto their feet.
“How terrifying! How absolutely terrifying! Is that what a deity is?”
Hudders and the others panted heavily as though they had just been to hell and back.
“Kid, since it seems like you want to do this the hard way. Don’t blame me for being ruthless and heartless!”
Thackeray snorted and said, “Once we kill you, we’ll monopolize your Dragon God Empire!”
“Human kid, you’re too full of yourself!”
The Fallen Titan’s voice boomed as he glared viciously at Meng Lei, black mist billowing and roiling around him.
“Since my young friend, Meng Lei, is so heartless, then don’t blame me if I don’t show you any consideration!”
The Chimera Queen spoke in a charming voice as a hologram of a gigantic monster hovered above her.
“No one can stop the Dark Fairies’ emergence!”
The Dark Fairy Empress’ countenance was fierce and cold as she gripped her dagger.
“These people that lead the life of a whore yet expect a monument to their chastity!”
Meng Lei scoffed, “So, you want to relieve me of my worries and troubles? Sure! Offer up your divine spirit origin energy and become my slaves. I’ll reluctantly accept it!”
“You’re courting death!”
“Cut the crap! Kill!”
The Dark Fairy Empress transformed into a cloud of black mist and instantly vanished from where she was. In less than 1/10,000th of a second, she had already charged all the way up to Meng Lei.
“Die!!”
The blood-red dagger gleamed coldly as it slashed across Meng Lei’s throat at lightning-quick speed.
“You’re too slow, O great Empress!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang out from behind her. The Dark Fairy Empress looked over in horror, but all she could see was just an afterimage.
“He’s so fast!”
Astounded, the Dark Fairy Empress quickly transformed into a cloud of black mist again, went along with the momentum, and flew out 100 meters to evade Meng Lei’s attack.
“A transformation into dark elements?”
Meng Lei was rather astonished.
“You don’t know about that, right?”
The giggling Chimera Queen said, “Little Sister Nagaros is a Dark-Elemental Fairy, which is one of the ten major Elemental Fairies. Elemental transformation is her Innate Special Ability!”
“A Dark-Elemental Fairy? Her Innate Special Ability?”
Meng Lei licked his lips as he commented, “That’s an outstanding ability. What a shame that it’ll be mine in a second!”
“System, how much does it cost to steal the Dark Fairy Empress’ Innate Special Ability with Brutal Plunder?”
“Ding! Dark-elemental transformation is an Innate Special Ability unique to the Dark-Elemental Fairies and belongs to the class of high-grade Innate Special Abilities. As the Dark Fairy Empress is a mid-level half-deity,” The system replied coldly, “The cost of stealing the Innate Special Ability Dark-Elemental Transformation is estimated at 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.”
“100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? That’s really not cheap!” Meng Lei was secretly dumbfounded. However, he still instructed, “Steal it!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
At the same time, the Dark Fairy Empress 100 meters away felt an inexplicable power coming over her.
She blanked out for a moment as if she had just lost something, yet she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly she had lost!
Boom!
At practically the same time, Meng Lei saw an infinite amount of dark elements surging out of her and flowing into every part of his body like a tidal wave. They blended into his nerves, his bones, his skin, and every single cell in his body…
Meng Lei felt as if every cell, every inch of skin, and every single internal organ of his had soundlessly undergone some kind of change.
As if Lady Luck had smiled upon him and given him a Eureka moment, Meng Lei raised his right arm, which then transformed into a cloud of black mist—or to be more accurate, it had transformed into a cloud of pitch-black dark elements!
“Dark-elemental transformation?!”
As a Dark-Elemental Fairy, the Dark Fairy Empress was naturally incredibly familiar with the Innate Special Ability. A look of abject shock came over her visage as she stared at Meng Lei’s right arm that had transformed into dark elements.
“Are you also a Dark-Elemental Fairy? No, that’s not right! You aren’t one! I don’t sense any aura that comes from a common origin from you!”
The Dark Fairy Empress shook her head hard. “How exactly did you manage to do that?”
“How did I manage to do it?”
Meng Lei examined his right arm. Then, he replied, “I guess I picked it up just by watching you!”
Picked it up just by watching me?
“…”
The Dark Fairy Empress was close to breaking down while Thackeray and the other two half-deities’ countenances turned grave.
Disregarding how Meng Lei had actually mastered the Dark-Elemental Transformation, just the ability alone was already extremely monstrous!
The difficulty of killing Meng Lei hadn’t increased by just a simple notch or two!
“To think Meng Lei really does have an ability like that!”
Fred and Dirk Norway exchanged a look, both seeing the astoundment in each other’s eyes.
Previously, they hadn’t quite believed Meng Lei when he had told them that he had the ability to assimilate other bloodlines into himself. However, at this moment, they were convinced!
What was so unusual about assimilating bloodlines when he could even assimilate Innate Special Abilities such as elemental transformations?
“O great Empress, to thank you for your Innate Special Ability,” Meng Lei flicked his fingers and said, “I’ll leave your body in one piece!”
“It’s still unclear just who’s going to kill who!”
The Dark Fairy Empress said with a cold snort, “‘He’s faster than even me. Be careful, you guys!”
“I hate those quick-footed fellows the most. Jumping up and down like monkeys, they are just so irritating!”
The Fallen Titan broke into a slight frown.
“Speed?”
Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lion, sneered contemptuously. “How dare he claim to be quick-footed in front of those from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan? He’s just making himself a laughingstock!
“Alright, I’ll show you what real speed is today!”
Whoosh!
His contemptuous words were still echoing in the air when Thackeray vanished from where he was. By the time he reappeared, he was actually already strangely behind Meng Lei.
“It’s not a bad thing for youngsters to show off their abilities, but those who overdo it easily offend others, and showing off too much easily makes one fall!”
“Easily makes one fall?” Meng Lei let out a scornful laugh. “I’ll make you fall flat on your face right away!”
“How presumptuous!”
With a cold snort, Thackeray’s right arm went smacking out forcefully. However, Meng Lei teleported and disappeared from sight right away!
“He’s gone?”
Disbelief filled Thackeray.
“Hey, old fogey!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang out behind him. Then, his foot went flying out ruthlessly toward him!
Bam!
Thackeray was thrown out!
“Didn’t you want to show me a thing or two about real speed, old fogey?”
Meng Lei followed him around like his shadow. He appeared behind Thackeray again and kicked him on the butt again before vanishing again. When he reappeared, he was in front of Thackeray again!
“So, is this what your speed is like?”
Meng Lei let out a contemptuous laugh. Then, his fist went flying out and landed squarely on Thackeray’s abdomen!
“Ugh!”
Thackeray let out a cry of pain, the blow almost causing him to throw up his dinner from the night before. He doubled over like a shrimp as the veins on his forehead bulged against the surface of his skin in extreme pain!
“Eat sh*t, you old fogey!”
Meng Lei teleported behind Thackeray and sent a ruthless flying kick onto his butt.
By this point, they were already very close to the ground, and so, Thackeray was in for a tragedy!
His face was the first to land. It made intimate contact with the ground, smashing a humanoid-shaped hole into it and doing a true blue “falling flat on one’s face”!
“That speed’s all you got? You’re nothing more than that!”
Meng Lei shook his head, and then, he turned to the Fallen Titan, the Chimera Queen, and the Dark Fairy Empress.
“I’ll give the three of you a chance. Hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me, and I won’t hold your sin of disrespect against you. Otherwise, I won’t show you any mercy!”
“Kid, your speed is certainly fast enough, but killing me? Dream on!”
The Fallen Titan let out a derisive snort. He had absolute confidence in his strength. As a Titan, he was born with Herculean strength and peerless defenses!
Moreover, he was even a Fallen Titan that could connect to the faraway Demon Realm. With the ability to absorb the dark energy there for his own use, he could repair his body and revive continuously.
Killing him?
Dream on!
If he really wanted to leave, no-one could stop him!
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei’s lip corners quirked upward as a blood-red machete appeared in his grip. The next moment, he appeared bizarrely beside the Fallen Titan and cleaved the machete at him!
Splurt!
The machete’s swift and forceful blood-red glint underwent a dramatic change in size and transformed into a huge 400-meters-long machete. It instantly slashed across the Fallen Titan’s shoulder. With a splurt, the Fallen Titan’s left arm was severed!
Meng Lei teleported back to where he had been. “Immortal? Why don’t you get a better understanding of my 400-meters-long machete?”
“Ugh!”
Golden-black blood sprayed about as a muffled grunt of pain escaped the Fallen Titan. However, his eyes were fixed on the blood-red machete in Meng Lei’s hand.
“That’s the Abyss Blade Demon’s companion machete! Who exactly are you?!”
“Who I am isn’t important. What’s important is that I can take your worthless life anytime I want!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “It’s back to the same thing—hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me! Otherwise, I don’t mind giving your head a taste of this 400-meters-long machete!”
“There are only Titans that die in battle. Titans who surrender do not exist!”
The Fallen Titan let out a low roar. “Surrender? Over my dead body!”
“What a real shame that is, then!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly and raised the blood-red machete, ready to end the Fallen Titan’s life.
It was at this point that Puhaman suddenly spoke up. “Can you give me his dead body after you kill him, Master?”
“What do you want his dead body for?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“Fallen Titans are dark creatures, which makes them absolutely wonderful materials for making Undead Knights.”
Puhaman licked his lips as he said, “If Master can give me his dead body, I’ll give you an Undead Titan with amazing prowess in combat in return!”
“Eh? That sounds great!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Are you the evil Dead Souls half-deity?”
The Fallen Titan’s eyes bore into Puhaman. His eyes were brimming with fury, as well as a hint of fear.
If he died, then so be it!
However, if he were to be placed on the experiment table by the wicked Dead Souls half-deity after his death, he wouldn’t be able to stand it!
" }, { "id": 222, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-222", "title": "Chapter 222 - Two Deaths And One Escapee, The Dark Mother Tree", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "As someone that had already died once, Bubbles didn’t fear death. However, being made into an undead puppet after his death would be even worse than death!
“Keke, it’s been a very long time since I’ve crafted an Undead Knight. I wonder if I’ve become rusty in my skill?”
Puhaman licked his lips as he eyed the Fallen Titan up and down, his eyes filled with white-hot fervency.
“Is it a little too extravagant of me to use a Fallen Titan of the half-deity level right on the first time I try to re-familiarize myself with the art? Should I summon a few skeletons for a little practice first?”
The Fallen Titan was creeped out by how Puhaman was eying him like a toy. He roared, “Evil Dead Souls half-deity, I’ll never let you off if you dare toy with my body!”
“Keke! When you’re dead, aren’t you still going to be placed on the experiment table by me and be subjected to my creation process?”
The eager Puhaman couldn’t wait. “Hurry up and kill him, Master. I can’t quite wait anymore!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “As you wish!”
“Thank you, my noble Master!”
Puhaman licked his lips.
“Attack!”
The Dark Fairy Empress and the Chimera Queen exchanged a look. They knew that the Fallen Titan would meet with demise should they tarry any further. As such, they resolutely launched their attacks!
Roar!
With a roar from the Chimera Queen, the three-headed monster hologram above her opened its jaws wide and also let out an earth-shattering roar!
Boom!
Strong sound waves erupted into the surroundings, causing the space around them to crack and break into pieces and turn into a pitch-black hole!
“Sound wave attacks? What a shame!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. With just a stride forward, he was right behind the Chimera Queen, and he quietly pressed the blood-red machete against her neck.
“Your Majesty, why do you tempt fate so?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were full of pity.
The Chimera Queen trembled lightly as a hint of horror flashed past her face. However, it quickly passed, and she giggled coquettishly as she replied, “My sound waves travel at a speed a hundred times faster than regular sound waves, yet you were still able to dodge them. My young friend Meng Lei’s speed is truly one that’s rarely seen and unprecedented!”
“This isn’t speed, but teleportation.”
With an aloof smile, Meng Lei said, “Teleportation, when matched with this machete, is enough to take all of your lives! Therefore, just submit to me. None of you have even a sliver of a chance to make a comeback!”
“Teleportation?”
A huge jolt went through the Chimera Queen while looks of astonishment also surfaced on the Fallen Titan and Dark Fairy Empress’ faces.
Although they had never once come into contact with a special ability like teleportation before, just the sound of the name alone was enough to let them know that it was an extremely fearsome spatial special ability.
Movement in a split second!
Who would be able to defend themselves against it?
“God’s Domain!”
At this point, a furious bellow rang out—Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lion, had appeared before Meng Lei at some point. His countenance was savage and ferocious as if he was going to gobble him up!
“How dare you humiliate me like that, kid! I’m going to rip you into a million pieces!
“Divine Technique: Dimensional Blade!”
Several pitch-black Dimensional Blades suddenly appeared and cleaved toward Meng Lei, who was being trapped by God’s Domain, at lightning-quick speed.
“I told you, it’s useless!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and vanished from where he was without any regard for Thackeray’s God’s Domain, easily evading the Dimensional Blades’ attacks.
While he had certainly evaded the attacks, the Chimera Queen was in for a tragedy, however. The incomparably sharp Dimensional Blades landed on her and instantly sundered her defenses, carving a few deep gashes into her!
Had her divine body not been sufficiently hardy, the Chimera Queen would definitely have been chopped into a few pieces. Even so, blood was still spurting furiously everywhere like a cascading waterfall!
“Thackeray!!”
The Chimera Queen glared furiously at Thackeray, her countenance savage and her eyes almost spitting flames.
Thackeray felt his breathing stop slightly for a moment before he hastily said, “That was an accident, Chimera Queen! An accident!”
“An accident? I’ll get even with you later!”
The Chimera Queen was livid. However, she knew that it wasn’t the time to fuss over such matters at the moment. She quickly brought out a crystal core that emanated and gave off a rich aura of vitality, swallowed it, and began to heal the wounds on herself.
“As expected of the Chimera Queen!”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder as he remarked, “Had it been an ordinary Dragon half-deity, they would’ve been chopped into a few pieces!”
“We Chimeras may not possess magic talent as great as the other Dragon breeds, but when it comes to physical defense, even the Golden Colossal Dragons and Earth Dragons cannot hope to compare to us!”
A hint of triumph surfaced on the Chimera Queen’s visage. However, she immediately froze the very next second because Meng Lei’s machete had pressed itself against her neck again at some point.
“The Dimensional Blades couldn’t cut you apart, but I wonder if this knife of mine can?”
Meng Lei chuckled softly. “Would you like to give it a try, Chimera Queen?”
“You… What do you want?”
The Chimera Queen barked a question at Meng Lei as a bead of cold sweat formed on her forehead—she could feel the aura of death looming about her.
“I’ll ask one last time—will you submit?”
“How can I submit to you, a human, when I’m the Chimera Queen?”
“I’ve given you a chance. It’s a shame that you didn’t cherish it. In that case, you can’t hold it against me anymore!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. With a flick of his wrist, the blood-red machete drew across the Chimera Queen’s snowy-white neck, forming a line of blood.
The Chimera Queen stared at Meng Lei in disbelief, and then, she plummeted straight onto the ground!
Then, she turned into an enormous creature that looked Dragon-like yet wasn’t one, goat-like yet wasn’t one, snake-like yet wasn’t one, and lion-like yet wasn’t one. She smashed a gigantic pit into the plaza as her head rolled off to the side, unable to rest in peace.
It was the Chimera Queen’s true form!
“You’re the only three remaining now!”
Meng Lei turned to the remaining three half-deities, his demeanor as if his act of taking the Chimera Queen’s life was something so trivial that it wasn’t even worth mentioning.
“Y-you’ve actually killed Ambrose?!”
A hint of terror flashed across the three half-deities’ eyes as they stared at the Chimera Queen’s carcass.
Meng Lei’s gaze flickered back and forth among the three before it finally settled on Thackeray. “You’re the most hypocritical, as well as the most detestable, among the three. I’ll pick you, then!”
The sound of that made Thackeray’s hair stand on end, and he instantly retreated 1,000 meters to the back with a burst of speed.
However, before he could even stop, Meng Lei followed him like a shadow and quietly appeared behind him.
“Flee? Do you think you can successfully flee?”
A calm Meng Lei said, “From the moment you stepped into the imperial palace, your fate has been destined!”
Splurt!
Blood spurted like a towering pillar, and another great head shot into the sky as a headless dead body crashed onto the ground, turning into a gigantic lion with golden dragon scales all over its body, dragon wings on its back, and dragon horns on its head—except it was now a headless lion.
Silence!
The whole place was filled with dead silence!
Everyone watched them in a daze, unable to stop themselves from gasping. They were too stunned for words!
“Two half-deities… have died just like that?” Fred murmured to himself, completely astounded.
While he had certainly been astounded by how Meng Lei had wiped out the Dragon half-deities, ultimately, no-one had seen it happening.
However, having personally witnessed Meng Lei slaughtering two half-deities this time, that feeling of astoundment had become even stronger!
“Kekeke, as expected, Master is truly terrifyingly strong!”
Puhaman licked his lips. A smile adorned his visage, but inwardly, his feelings of astoundment were no less than anyone else.
This was also his first time seeing Meng Lei fight, not to mention the first time seeing him kill a half-deity, too!
His clean and efficient moves were killing a half-deity was no different from slaughtering livestock… He was insanely strong!
“G-Grandmaster, have two half-deities d… died just like that?”
A short distance away from the imperial palace was Flit the 66th, who had been scared witless. He had been clamoring for Meng Lei’s death previously, but only endless fear remained in him now.
“He’s become even more fearsome than before!”
Thaniel had a complex look on his face as he remarked, “And that machete, too. It must be a real divine weapon!”
The hammer! The spear! The divine core! The divine pig’s carcass! And now, the machete!
One after another, not a single one of those items was something that a half-deity could possibly get their hands on. Thaniel simply couldn’t understand—just where had Meng Lei gotten that many true gods’ artifacts from?
“These two dead bodies are yours now, Puhaman!”
Meng Lei turned to Puhaman and said, “I hope to be able to witness an Undead Chimera and an Undead Golden Dragon-Lion’s power soon!”
“I won’t let Master down!”
With a wave, the cackling Puhaman stored the Chimera and Golden Dragon-Lion carcasses away. Then, he turned to the remaining Fallen Titan and Dark Fairy Empress, the meaning behind his actions self-evident.
“We can’t do this! Let’s retreat!”
With a low shout, the Dark Fairy Empress shot into the distance with a flash.
When was she supposed to flee, if not now?
“O great Empress, where do you think you’re going?”
Meng Lei stepped forward and obstructed her way.
“You can’t stop me!”
With a cold snort, the Dark Fairy Empress decided to cast her Innate Special Ability, Dark-elemental Transformation.
However, something that left her in disbelief happened—she actually couldn’t cast her Innate Special Ability, which she had usually been able to easily cast!
It was just like…
…She had suddenly lost the ability!
“How is it? You can’t use it, can you?”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. “Unable to transform into the elements, you won’t be able to escape from me. You’d better just obediently surrender and offer up your neck!”
“What exactly have you done to me?”
The Dark Fairy Empress glared furiously at Meng Lei, going somewhat crazy and even more hysterical!
“Can’t you tell?”
Meng Lei’s laughter stopped as he replied, “I’ve stolen your ability, of course!”
“Stolen my ability?” The Dark Fairy Empress’ countenance changed drastically as she said, “Could it be that just now…”
“Bingo! Unfortunately, you don’t get any prizes!”
Then, Meng Lei quietly transformed into a cloud of dark elements and circled around the Dark Fairy Empress.
“Angry? Going crazy? Breaking down? If so, then that’s right! C’mon, c’mon! Bite me if you can! Hahaha, you can’t, can you? Nanny nanny boo boo, see if I don’t drive you up the wall! Hurhur!”
The Dark Fairy Empress was gnashing her teeth so hard that one could hear grinding sounds. Her full and well-endowed chest rose and fell dramatically, the look in her eyes as if she wanted to eat someone!
Yet… There was simply nothing she could do!
There was nothing she could do about Meng Lei at all!
One must admit that elemental transformation was really quite a crazy skill. It allowed one to become immune to both physical attacks and magic attacks, thereby becoming almost immortal. It was ridiculously crazy!
“Just you wait, human!”
The Dark Fairy Empress took a deep breath. “Someday, I will pay back everything that happened today in full and interest!”
Then, a dark magic circle appeared under the Dark Fairy Empress’ feet, and the next moment, she vanished into thin air!
“She’s vanished?”
Meng Lei was greatly astonished.
“Master, that’s a teleportation magic circle.”
Puhaman reminded him. “If I’m not wrong, it’s probably the Dark Mother Tree that saved her.”
“The Dark Mother Tree?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
“The Dark Mother Tree is the Dark Fairies’ divine tree, as well as their mother tree. Legend goes that not only can the Dark Mother Tree give birth to Dark Fairies, but they also possess the ability to teleport.”
Puhaman explained, “The Dark Fairy Empress has likely been teleported away by the Dark Mother Tree.”
“I see!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. Then, he scoffed, “She may have run, but her base still remains, so where can she run to?”
“How wise, Master!”
" }, { "id": 223, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-223", "title": "Chapter 223 - Titan Surrenders. The Spider Goddess.", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The breeze blew gently, caressing people’s cheeks, like the sender hands of a beautiful woman.
It was gentle, light, and comfortable.
Yet Bubbles the Fallen Titan couldn’t feel comfortable. He looked at the two headless bodies, and only fear was left in his heart.
The Chimera Queen and the Golden Dragon-Lion—they died just like this!
The Empress of the Dark Fairies also fled!
Two deaths and one escape!
At present, only he was left.
What should he do?
Run?
He couldn’t possibly escape.
Fight?
He couldn’t win the fight.
Die?
He didn’t want to die.
Was he to surrender?
No!
I’m the noble Fallen Titan!
Even if I were to die, were to be slashed into a thousand pieces, or were to jump down from here, I would never surrender!
“Bubbles!”
Meng Lei looked over.
“I surrender!”
The Fallen Titan hurriedly knelt on one knee, lowered his noble head, and then took the initiative to release his divine spirit origin energy, without the least bit of hesitation.
Meng Lei froze for a moment. “Bubbles, you made a wise decision.”
“Thank you, my noble Master!”
The Fallen Titan stood up and looked at Meng Lei with a complicated look in his eyes. He knew that from then onward, his life and death were in Meng Lei’s hands.
If Meng Lei wanted him to live, he would live.
If Meng Lei wanted him to die, he would die.
He would have no other chance to regain his freedom!
“Big guy, you disappoint me too much.” Puhaman was displeased. “As a noble Fallen Titan, how can you surrender? Shouldn’t you fight to your death and never surrender?”
“Evil Dead Souls half-deity, stay away from Bubbles!” The Fallen Titan stared at Puhaman with disdain. “Otherwise, I will break your head with one hit!”
“Pfft! I was joking.”
Puhaman gave the Fallen Titan’s huge fist a look and let an ugly peal of laughter. “Since you surrendered, we are allies. Bubbles, welcome.”
“Hmph! Now you’re talking!”
The Fallen Titan snorted softly, and the look on his face softened.
Meng Lei smiled slightly. “Bubbles, do you know where the Golden Dragon-Lion clan is?”
“Master, the Golden Dragon-Lion clan is situated at the Golden Archipelago, with more than 5,000 islands big and small, all territories of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan,” Bubbles replied in a respectful voice.
‘Golden Archipelago?” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “You know the way, right?”
“The Golden Archipelago is situated in the east of Endless Oceans. One can reach the Golden Archipelago by flying almost 30,000 kilometers east from the Blue Dragon Kingdom.”
Bubbles said very respectfully, “I used to travel across the Golden Archipelago 300 years ago. That was also when I got to know Thackeray.”
“It’s easy since you know the way.” Meng Lei nodded his head satisfactorily. “Later, you may accompany me to the underground world, and then to the Sunset Ranges, and finally to the Golden Archipelago.”
“Master, this… might not work.”
Bubbles was a bit hesitant.
“What’s wrong?”
Meng Lei’s frowned slightly.
“The underground world is extremely complex, with all kinds of evil deities. These evil deities are vicious, evil, and extremely xenophobic. If we were to get into the underground, we would very likely get attacked by them.”
Bubbles explained, “For example, the Spider Goddess worshiped by the Dark Fairy race is a very evil and vicious evil deity.
“If you went to give Nagaros trouble, the Spider Goddess wouldn’t sit and watch.”
“The Spider Goddess?” Meng Lei raised his eyebrows. “Is she a true god or a half-deity?”
“The Spider Goddess has yet to become a true god, but she is a very ancient half-deity, almost as ancient as the Four Great True Gods.”
Bubbles explained, “I heard that if not for the four true gods, The Dragon God, the Titan Spiritual God, the Beast God, and the Fairy Goddess joining forces to expel her to the underground world, the Spider Goddess would have become a true god long ago.
“Despite this, the Spider Goddess is still the most mysterious and unpredictable half-deity. It is better if you don’t offend her, Master!”
“The Spider Goddess…”
Meng Lei’s eyes squinted. “Now that you mentioned this, I am suddenly wondering whether the Empress of the Dark Fairies’ appearance this time was instructed by the Spider Goddess.”
“This is very possible.”
Bubbles nodded slightly. “As the most ancient half-deity, the Spider Goddess is only the slightest bit from the position of a true god. One may say that it needs the power of faith more than any other half-deity!
“All the half-deities of the Dragon race have been massacred, and this territory so rich with the power of faith is vacated. How can the Spider Goddess leave it alone?”
“That means, even if I don’t go and give the Spider Goddess trouble, it will come to me!”
Meng Lei smiled. “If this is the case, I may as well go right to its door and kill it in case it comes to give me trouble in the future.”
“But…”
Bubbles was a bit hesitant.
“There’s no ‘but’! The Dragon God Empire is mine. No one else should covet it.”
Meng Lei waved a hand. “Not to mention an out-of-style old piece of trash like the Spider Goddess. It should prolong its pitiful life staying in the underground world, instead of coming to provoke me!”
Upon hearing this, Bubbles smiled bitterly, not even knowing what to say.
Master even looks down upon the Spider Goddess.
“Master, when are you intending to leave?” Puhaman asked respectfully.
“Today will do,” Meng Lei said after giving it some thought.
“In that case, I will wish Master great success!” Puhaman smiled and said, “May everything go as you wish!”
“Master!”
At that moment, Thaniel came flying with Flit the 66th!
“M-m-master Meng Lei!”
Flit the 66th looked at Meng Lei and tried hard to force out a smile.
“Your Majesty!”
“This is His Majesty!”
Fred, Dirk Norway, Hudders, and others all looked over with anxiety and confusion on their faces.
“Your Majesty, we meet again.”
Meng Lei looked at the Fire Dragon King, his heart filled with complex feelings. The first time he had met the Fire Dragon King, he had been high up there, accompanied by more than 100 Saint Domain warriors, all-domineering, and he himself a mere Ninth-Grade Saint Domain Magician!
Not long had passed, and Flit the 66th had already become a small and insignificant person.
The changes in the world’s fortunes were indeed unpredictable.
“It’s my honor to see Master Meng Lei!” Flit the 66th was a bit fearful.
“Your Majesty, I told you to go to the new Dragon Island. Why didn’t you go?”
Meng Lei frowned. “Not only did you not go, but you also gathered my family and friends. What are your intentions? To beg for mercy? Or to threaten me?”
“No, no! That’s not the case!”
Cold sweat emerged on the forehead of Flit the 66th. “Master Meng Lei, I’ll head to the new Dragon Island right away, I’ll go to the new Dragon Island right now!”
“What a pity. I’ve already given you a chance, but you didn’t seize it!”
Meng Lei waved his hand and said coldly, “Bubbles, you haven’t had breakfast yet, right? He’s yours!”
“Thanks, Master!”
Bubbles was overjoyed and couldn’t help but lick his tongue, as a hint of cruelty showed on his face.
As a Titan, it had a diverse diet, but Colossal Dragons were definitely the most delicious dish. Nonetheless, even though he was a half-deity, he hadn’t dared to eat a Colossal Dragon and risk offending the Dragon race.
Thus, he had not eaten dragon meat for a long time. Now that he could improve his diet once, how could Bubbles not feel joyful?
“Master Meng Lei, you can’t do this!”
Flit the 66th was terrified, but Meng Lei didn’t even look at him, so he had to beg Thaniel. “Grandmaster, save me, you are a half-deity, so long as you ask for a favor on my behalf, it is sure to save me…”
Ask for a favor?
Thaniel smiled bitterly.
I am just a ride. What the hell of an influence do I have!? Asking me to ask a favor for you? You should just go and die!
“I don’t want to see him!”
Meng Lei waved a hand.
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles laughed viciously, and with a casual grab, he burst Flit the 66th’s head and stored his corpse into the spatial ring.
He would keep it first so that he could eat it slowly later.
“Sigh…”
Fred closed his eyes slowly and didn’t dare to look anymore. From the beginning till the end, he hadn’t begged for mercy.
Fred was certain that Meng Lei’s intention to kill the Colossal Dragons was never firmer, and begging for mercy would be completely useless.
“His Majesty died just like this?”
Dirk Norway, Fatty Hart, Hudders, and others drew a cold breath, and a chill coursed through their spines.
All along, the Fire Dragon King was at a high-up, unreachable position in their minds.
Yet just a moment ago, and right in front of them… The high-up, unreachable king’s head directly burst. This was something they wouldn’t dare picturing even in their dreams in the past.
Yet it just so happened!
“This is who Meng Lei is right now!”
“This is who Old Bro is right now!”
For the first time, Fatty Hart, Hudders, Jonah, and others truly witnessed Meng Lei’s splendor.
The so-called king, so-called sovereign of a country, was nothing at all in Meng Lei’s eyes and could be destroyed with the slightest effort.
“Puhaman, Thaniel!”
Right when the crowd was wildly imagining, Meng Lei spoke. “After I leave, the two of you should manage the empire’s affairs properly. I hope to hear good news from you after I return.”
“We’ll definitely live up to your expectations, Master!” Puhaman and Thaniel replied respectfully.
“And my friends, do also look after them properly, don’t neglect them!”
Meng Lei pointed at Fred, Hudders, and the others and gave special instructions.
“Yes, Master!”
…
“Master, the underground world is intricate and complex, pretty much like a maze. Without anyone to guide your way, you can easily get lost. It’s very troublesome even for us, half-deities.”
“Guiding the way? This is easy.”
The duo took only two hours to travel across the Dragon God Empire at breakneck speed and arrived at the Magical Beast Forest!
“Little Gold, can you hear me?”
Meng Lei contacted Little Gold through the spiritual contract.
“Boss!”
Little Gold was joyful and happy.
“It’s me! I’m here in the underground world!”
“Really? Awesome!” Little Gold was very happy. “Boss, where are you? I’ll go and find you right away.”
“Magical Beast Forest!”
“Wait for me. I’ll be there right away.”
After cutting off the connection, Meng Lei smiled and said, “My friend will be here very soon. With it guiding the way, we won’t worry about getting lost.”
“Friend?”
Bubbles was puzzled.
“Come, eat something first.”
Meng Lei took out the corpse of the Tricannon Pig and started barbecuing. He had nothing to do anyway. Eating more divine pig’s meat could supplement him with extra nourishment.
This was also the first time Bubbles saw the corpse of a divine beast, so he was utterly shocked.
But when the roasted pork released a tempting aroma, all the shock turned into desire and anticipation.
“Let’s eat.”
“Master, I can eat it?”
“Why not?”
“Thanks, Master!”
Bubbles devoured like a wolf, almost eating his own tongue.
Meng Lei also ate. “Bubbles, I heard you once raped the former Titan Queen?”
“Master, this is slandering!”
Bubbles rebutted. “Asley was my first love. It’s Hazeus who was the third wheel!”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei froze for a moment. “Say more!”
“The despicable Hazeus desired Asley’s beauty and forced Asley to marry him, making us break up forcefully!
“Out of desperation, I had to secretly meet Asley. Hazeus eventually found out about us, so he ordered to have Asley executed!
“Out of rage, I chose rebellion!
“Unfortunately, I was alone with weak forces, and the rebellion was suppressed. I was dismembered, with my limbs and head thrown out into the wild…
“Back then, I was in very deep despair, but the fire of revenge made me fall at the final moment.
“Subconsciously, I sensed the Fallen plane—the Demon Realm—far away. By absorbing the Demon Realm’s dark energy, I was revived and became a Fallen Titan!”
“You must love Asley very much?”
“Of course! She was the love of my life! The moment that she was executed, my heart died with her. Avenging her became the driving force for me to live on. I swore that I had to behead Hazeus with my own hands to avenge her!”
“Is Hazeus still alive?”
“He is! He also became a half-deity!”
“I see…”
" }, { "id": 224, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-224", "title": "Chapter 224 - The Divine Netherworld Phoenix, The Primordial Humans", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Despite a few months of absence, there was practically no change in Little Gold. It was still the same size, though its aura had vaguely become that of an Eighth-Grade Magical Beast now, having undergone astonishing improvement.
“Boss!”
At the sight of Meng Lei, Little Gold pounced forward in surprise and joy, rubbing its head against Meng Lei intimately.
“It’s been a while, Little Gold!”
Meng Lei stroked Little Gold on the head, a joyful smile coming over his face too.
“Bubbles, let me introduce my friend to you. This is Little Gold!
“Little Gold, this is Bubbles!”
“Hello!”
“Hello!”
The Titan and the ant greeted each other, both somewhat astonished at the other’s identity.
A Golden Gods-Slaying Ant?
A Fallen Titan?
Why would Master/Boss have a friend like that?
A smiling Meng Lei asked, “Little Gold, you should know where the Dark Fairies are, right?”
“The Dark Fairies?”
Little Gold nodded and replied, “Of course I do. They’re a juggernaut of the underground world. They reign over the underground world’s most fertile and vastest region and are the overlord of the underground world!”
“It’s great that you know of them. Bring me to the Dark Fairies!” replied a cheerful Meng Lei.
“What are you going to the Dark Fairies for, Boss? If it’s possible, it’s better that you don’t!”
Little Gold hastily said, “The Dark Fairies are exceptionally wicked and are extremely hostile to outsiders. Any creature that dares approach them will be killed, so you’d better…”
“Don’t worry, Little Gold. I, your Boss, am very strong now, y’know!”
A smiling Meng Lei comforted Little Gold and said, “The Dark Fairies are nothing to me. Don’t worry, and just bring me there!”
“This… Alright, but do be careful, Boss!”
With Little Gold leading the way, Meng Lei and Bubbles made their way there extraordinarily quick.
An hour later, they had successfully left the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ territory and come to the Doghead Kobolds’ territory.
“Boss, up ahead is a Doghead Kobold tribe’s territory. Let’s move with care!”
“Aren’t the Doghead Kobolds Beast People? Why are they here in the underground world?”
“Master, Doghead Kobolds have a frighteningly high reproduction rate. Not only do they usually give birth to quite a few pups in a single litter, but they can even produce a few litters a year. This has caused overwhelming numbers among the Doghead Kobolds.
“In truth, this situation isn’t limited to just the Doghead Kobolds. Many clans in the Beast People Empire face the same situation. For example, the Pighead Kobolds, the Rabbithead Kobolds, the Cat People, and the Goat People—all of them are races with astonishingly high reproduction rates.
“Yet the Beast People Empire just had to be located at the far northern wastelands where resources are scarce, and there’s a shortage of food. For the sake of survival, many of the Beast People clans would seek a way out.
“Some head to the northernmost ice fields, some choose to venture into the ocean, some enter the deep mountains and old forests, and some burrow right into the underground world.
“After so many years, there are now tracks of Beast People all over Heaven’s Vault Continent. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that they’d appear underground!”
“I see, so that’s how it is…”
They engaged in idle chat along the way, following which Meng Lei subsequently saw the legendary Doghead Kobolds. Indeed, they were just like what their name implied—they had a dog head but a human’s body, which was covered in thick fur.
On top of that, they didn’t live in houses but caves instead!
“What an amazing race!”
Meng Lei released his divine cognition into the surroundings and enveloped the Doghead Kobolds within.
Since he was here, he couldn’t possibly return empty-handed. He had to bring a little something back with him after all!
However, what gave Meng Lei a mental breakdown was that this particular Doghead Kobold tribe was actually stone broke. They didn’t even have a decent treasury!
After much difficulty, he finally found a cave that was used to store treasures—only to discover that the inside was actually filled with all sorts of animal bones, jerky, and magic cores…
…There were no gold coins or Laws of Nature Origin Crystals at all!
“These Doghead Kobolds are poorer than even me!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Upon hearing what he’d said, Bubbles remarked with a laugh, “There’s more to it than meets the eye, Master. This particular Doghead Kobold tribe, as well as several other races in the vicinity, are worshipers of a Black Dragon.
“Dragons are avaricious in nature, and that Black Dragon is no exception. In fact, it goes a step even further—it has plundered most of its worshipers’ clans’ treasures!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up at the sound of that. “In other words, that Black Dragon must be extremely wealthy?”
“Is there anyone among the Dragons that’s poor?”
Bubbles replied affirmatively, “I’ve interacted with that Black Dragon before. That fellow’s the most avaricious Colossal Dragon that I’ve ever met. It solicits toll fees even for mere passage through its territory. It practically can’t get any greedier!”
“Avarice is great, avarice is fantastic! It’s only when one is avaricious that they would gain ample assets!” Meng Lei licked his lips as he said, “Let’s go! We’ll look for that greedy Black Dragon now!”
Under Bubbles’ lead, they arrived at the Black Dragon’s den in no time. Even from a great distance off, they could already hear a series of thunderous snores.
“Go get him, Bubbles!”
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles nodded lightly and released a bit of his aura.
The snoring in the den came to a sudden stop, and then, a lazy voice rang out. “Passage through here will cost you 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
“100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? That’s really greedy!” Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
Bubbles replied with a smile, “It wouldn’t have become known as the most avaricious half-deity of the underground world otherwise!”
Then, he said, “Is that how you should be treating an old friend, Baxter?”
“Eh?”
A soft sound of surprise later, a huge Dragon head poked out of the den. “So it’s you, the rapist. You’ll have to leave behind 1,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals as a toll before you can pass!”
Black lines filled Bubbles’ forehead as he retorted, “Do you believe me when I say that I’ll beat you up again if you malign me any further, Baxter?”
“Have you forgotten where you are again, Bubbles?”
Baxter, the Black Dragon, let out a dull, heavy snort as he scoffed, “This is the underground world, not your Fallen Sea. It’s no place for you to act so impudently!”
“Oh, he’s pretty arrogant!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“It can’t be helped! Although these wicked underground deities are all fierce and perverse in nature, they form an extremely united front when facing outsiders.”
A resigned Bubbles said, “I’ve fought that Black Dragon a few times before. Although it’s no match for me, that guy would always summon his friends as helping hands, so…”
“So, you’ve suffered at his hands a few times before? That’s great, then. We can avenge both new and old grudges at the same time!”
Meng Lei snickered as he rubbed his fists against each other in anticipation. “I don’t believe we can’t take down those despicable underground half-deities if we join hands! If we can subdue them and empty out their dens at the same time, then that would be even better!”
“Isn’t that a little too risky, Master?”
Bubbles was somewhat weak-kneed at the sound of that. “The vastness of the underground world is something that’s beyond your imagination. There are so many evil deities here that you can’t even count them on both hands!”
“The more, the better! Only then would things be interesting!”
Meng Lei licked his lips and flew straight out. “This is a robbery! This is a robbery! Gold coins, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, divine cores, and treasures—hand them all over!”
“Roar! Where did that little bug come from!”
The Black Dragon opened its jaws and sprayed out a wave of dragon breath to melt and corrode Meng Lei, but with a flash, Meng Lei had arrived right in front of it!
“Baxter, right?”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile and said, “I’ve taken a fancy to your den. Please scram immediately, and I’ll spare your little life, albeit reluctantly!”
“I’m going to eat you, you worm!”
Utterly enraged, the Black Dragon opened its cavernous jaws and bit right at him!
“Behave!”
Meng Lei gave a light snort as the Hammer of Destruction appeared in his grip. Aiming it right at the Black Dragon’s nose bridge, he swung it down forcefully!
With the power of a half-deity’s high-grade divine body, and coupled with the Hammer of Destruction’s fearsome destructiveness, a hole was smashed right into the Black Dragon’s nose bridge with a snap! Intense, severe pain assaulted his nerves, and the Black Dragon cried out in pain.
“C’mon out!”
Meng Lei grabbed the Black Dragon by the horns. Violent, raging power erupted, and he dragged the Black Dragon right out of its den before hurling it into the far distance!
“Is Master’s physical strength that terrifying?”
Bubbles was dumbfounded.
The Black Dragon, Baxter, was 6,000-feet-long and astonishingly heavy, yet Meng Lei could pick it up in one go. Just how physically strong must he be in order to do that?
As for Little Gold, it had long since been scared witless. In the instant it saw the Black Dragon, it was so frightened that it was shaking like a leaf and could barely suppress its fear.
After all, that was a half-deity!
However, what it found even more shocking and horrifying was that its Boss had actually thrown the Black Dragon out! How could that be?
“Kakaka, the den is mine now!”
Meng Lei let out a few strange cackles before diving into the den like a gust of wind.
“What the f*ck! So many gold coins! So many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! I’ve struck gold! I’ve struck gold this time!
“Collect! Collect! Collect…”
After a period of frenzied collection, his Wealth spiked to 1.74 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. It had gone through a big round of fattening again!
“That Black Dragon’s assets are indeed ample!”
Only then did Meng Lei, who was in a fantastic mood, begin to collect the other treasures there leisurely.
The remaining treasures were mostly magic cores, magic crystals, and glittering jewels. If not, then they were various grand, lavish ornaments and art pieces from the human world. It was evident that this was one Black Dragon that knew how to enjoy life.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
Meng Lei spied a stone the color of blackish blood lying in an inconspicuous corner of the den. It was pitch-black in color, yet it shone with a blood-red glow.
The system’s icy voice suddenly rang out at this point.
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“The… Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline?”
Meng Lei immediately contacted Dodola and asked, “Dodola, do you know of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix?”
“It’s a dark-elemental divine beast which hails from Hell. It possesses the Innate Special Ability ‘Rise From The Ashes’ and can be said to be immortal. The Netherworld Divine Fire unique to it is fairly terrifying and can even burn a higher deity dead!
“The Divine Netherworld Phoenix is also an extremely fearsome race in Hell, and the status they hold there is similar to that of the Fallen Angels of the Demon Realm.
“It’s just that it’s extremely difficult for a Divine Netherworld Phoenix to ascend, so it needs to rise from the ashes nine times in its lifetime before it can mature into the adult stage.”
“I see! Take a look at this!” said Meng Lei as he brought out the black stone.
“Eh?”
Dodola inspected the blackish-red stone closely. After a long while, it finally said, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be a Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s phoenix marrow.”
“A phoenix marrow?”
Startled, Meng Lei asked, “What the heck is that?”
“When a Divine Netherworld Phoenix fails in its rebirth, it leaves behind something known as a phoenix marrow, within which contains its blood essence and leftover life essence post-burning.”
Dodola explained, “This thing is a great source of nourishment for the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes, but it’s absolutely useless to you. You can just toss it!”
“Got it!”
After exiting the Tower of Time, Meng Lei promptly instructed, “System, assimilate the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline!”
“Ding! Assimilating the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline now!”
“Ding! Assimilation unsuccessful.”
“Ding! Primeval Bloodline activation condition has been triggered. Will you activate your Primeval Bloodline?”
“Primeval Bloodline? What’s that?
“Never mind, I’ll just activate it first!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“Ding! Primeval Bloodline activation successful.”
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <10%>, Assimilated Bloodline: Gods-Slaying Rat <100%>)
Others: Some increase
" }, { "id": 225, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-225", "title": "Chapter 225 - The World Genesis Plane, Netherworld Divine Fire", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 225: The World Genesis Plane, Netherworld Divine Fire
“The Primordial Human bloodline?”
A puzzled Meng Lei stared at the stats interface. He was a human, so it was easily understandable why he would possess the human bloodline.
But what was a Primordial Human?
Were they this body’s ancestors?
“Aren’t you going to explain, system?”
There was no response from the system. Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only approach Dodola.
“The Primordial Humans? Where did you hear of them from?” Dodola was greatly surprised.
“From some random place!”
Meng Lei made up some ridiculous answer on the spot.
“The Primordial Humans are a legendary race that has died out over the long course of time. Most typical people wouldn’t know of them!”
Dodola side-eyed Meng Lei with an expression that said, “Go on with your stories, I’m watching”.
“So, you know of the Primordial Humans?”
Meng Lei quickly asked, “Since you do, then hurry up and tell me about them. Stop jabbering so much!”
“There’s not a single truth out of your mouth all the time!”
Dodola grumbled before it explained, “Speaking of Primordial Humans, we have to go way back into the past. It’s said that during the very beginning of the vast universe, only a single existential plane had been born.”
“A single existential plane?”
Meng Lei was startled to hear that.
“Yes, just a single existential plane!”
Dodola said, “That existential plane is the legendary World Genesis Plane!
“It’s said that the first living beings came into existence after a long period of time and evolution after the birth of the World Genesis Plane. They are also the very first batch of living beings in the vast universe.
“These beings were incomparably powerful. They either had fearsome divine bodies, or controlled powerful special abilities, or were born with the innate ability to control supreme laws of nature.
“Strong! Fearsome! Supreme! Every adjective that can be used to describe greatness and nobleness can be used on them!”
Dodola turned to Meng Lei. It said, “It’s said that this batch of beings are the ancestors of all living beings that came after, and the Primordial Humans are exactly one of them.”
Meng Lei asked, “What happened after that?”
“Later on, this group of beings reproduced, strengthened, and developed to the pinnacle of their existence before a great war broke out in the end. The war lasted until it broke the World Genesis Plane,” replied Dodola leisurely.
“They broke the World Genesis Plane?”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded. The eruption of the great war didn’t come as a surprise to him. Conflicts went wherever people were; this was unavoidable anywhere in the world.
What did surprise him was that they had actually broken even the World Genesis Plane! Just how intense must that war have been?
“Yes, that’s right! The World Genesis Plane was broken, and it splintered into countless fragments.”
Dodola nodded lightly as it went on. “The two largest fragments evolved and developed into the two most supreme existential planes of now—the Netherworld and the Celestial Realm—while the other fragments respectively evolved into the other high-end existential planes and innumerable ordinary existential planes!”
“What happened to those beings?” asked Meng Lei curiously.
“The ones that died, died; the ones that were wiped out, were wiped out; and the ones that managed to flee, fled. The lucky ones who managed to survive relocated to the Netherworld, the Celestial Realm, and other existential planes before ultimately gradually increasing in numbers to become the living beings of now.
“Among which, the human race is the descendants of the Primordial Humans. It’s just that as time went by, the humans’ bloodline also became thinner and thinner, just like other races. Thus, they are no longer as powerful as the Primordial Humans.”
“So the Primordial Humans really are the humans’ ancestors!” murmured Meng Lei to himself.
His current body was a human and contained the human ancestors’ bloodline—this was undoubtedly true.
However, what Meng Lei hadn’t expected was that the humans’ ancestors actually had such an influential background!
That was rather surprising!
“Legends are ultimately just legends, so just take it as a story. Don’t you take it as the truth!”
A smiling Dodola said, “Pure Primordial Humans have ceased to exist since a long time ago. In fact, the World Genesis Plane itself is a legend, not to mention the living beings that it had birthed!”
“Just a legend, huh…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but look at his stats interface.
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodline: Gods-Slaying Rat <100%>)
Evidently, the Primordial Human bloodline truly existed, thereby proving that the Primordial Humans had definitely once existed!
Or rather, they had once appeared before.
This was enough to serve as an explanation for some questions!
“‘Primordial Human bloodline <16%>’! In other words, I can buy credit for it?”
A contemplative Meng Lei asked in a low voice, “How much does it cost to buy credit for the Primordial Human bloodline, system?”
“Ding! Raising the Primordial Human bloodline by 1% requires 100 million Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“100 million… Divinity Crystals?!”
It instantly left Meng Lei flabbergasted. He’d guessed that it would be very expensive, but he hadn’t expected the price to be that ridiculous. “Expensive” could no longer cut it; it was totally an astronomical sum!
1 Divinity Crystal = 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
In that case, how many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals would 100 million Divinity Crystals be?
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to do the calculations anymore. In any case, he couldn’t afford it!
“This indirectly reflects how insane the Primordial Human bloodline is, however! If I can buy enough credit to boost it to 100%, I can probably walk the world unhindered?”
With a shake of his head, Meng Lei exited the Tower of Time. His gaze fell onto the blood-black stone.
“My assimilation of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline had failed just now, but it should be able to succeed now, right?”
“System, assimilate the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline!”
“Ding! Assimilating the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline now!”
Boom!
Inky, pitch-black flames suddenly arose and instantly engulfed Meng Lei, burning his clothes into ashes everywhere they went.
Boom!
Severe pain assaulted his nerves like tidal waves that could topple the mountains and overturn the seas. Meng Lei felt as if the flesh and blood all over him were on fire!
Blazing every inch of him!
Roasting every piece of him!
Boiling every part of him!
Wisps of black smoke arose from the top of Meng Lei’s head. Thousands upon thousands of black flames cruised through his limbs and body like innumerable nimble and agile dragons, modifying every cell, every inch of flesh and blood, every organ…
Screeeech!
All of a sudden…!
A crisp, loud, and sonorous cry abruptly rang out, and the hologram of a gigantic bird appeared above Meng Lei. An inky black all over and covered in black plumes, it had a cockatoo-like head and a snake-like neck, as well as a strong jaw and a raised back…
It craned its neck and let out a sonorous cry into the sky!
Sound waves rolled as vast, mighty divine power spread into the surroundings!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Amid bone-chilling splurts, black plumes began to sprout from Meng Lei. In just a split second, he was already covered from head to toe in black feathers!
Right on the heels of it, a pair of wings sprouted from Meng Lei’s back. Then, as if a balloon being inflated, it began to grow in size. In just a short two to three breaths, they had become three to four meters long!
The black flames gradually subsided back into his body at this point, while the pain and agony also slowly ebbed away like the receding tide. Meng Lei clenched his fist—his strength had increased again!
Meng Lei murmured to himself, “So, this is the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline?”
With just a mere thought, a dancing flame—pitch-black like ink, bewitching, proud, and aloof—immediately appeared on his fingertip.
“The Netherworld Divine Fire!”
With a flick of his fingers, the flame shot out and landed on a large rock.
The large rock reacted like dry firewood to the blazing fire and began to burn right away.
“As expected of the Netherworld Divine Fire that can burn even a higher deity to death! It’s indeed terrifying!”
Meng Lei let out a sigh of marvel before he then looked at his stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat <100%>, Divine Netherworld Phoenix <20%>)
Wealth: 11.31 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Spirit: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: …
Innate Special Abilities: Teleportation, Dark-Elemental Transformation, Rise From The Ashes
“Why is my divine body still remaining at high-grade? How strange, I clearly felt an enhancement in my body!”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“Am I still falling a little short of a pinnacle-level divine body? If it’s just a little…
“System, how much does it cost to raise my Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline assimilation rate?”
“Ding! Raising the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline by 1% requires 10 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“As I’ve expected, the pricing is identical to that of the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly and instructed, “System, raise my Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline assimilation rate to 100%!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 800 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. At the same time, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline assimilation rate also successfully reached 100%!
Meng Lei looked at the stats interface again. This time, it didn’t disappoint—his divine body had reached pinnacle-level like what he’d hoped for. He had taken another big step toward a true god-level body!
“Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <100%>!
“Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline <100%>!
“Like the Gods-Slaying Rat, I’m probably only considered a juvenile Divine Netherworld Phoenix at best now, I guess?
“And this Innate Special Ability called Rise From The Ashes, too. How am I supposed to use it?
“Am I supposed to self-immolate…?”
“Roar! Despicable Bubbles, you’ve enraged the great Baxter!”
A furious dragon roar rang out. “I’m going to corrode you to death with my dragon breath!”
“You cowardly little Black Dragon that only knows to run for your life! Fight me if you dare!”
Bubbles’ voice rang out as well.
“Are those two fellows duking it out?”
Meng Lei exited his state of phoenix transformation, put on a new robe, and left Baxter’s den to see a fierce battle taking place outside.
Boom!
Baxter, the Black Dragon, flapped its wings as it sprayed dragon breath from its jaws, attacking while fleeing about at the same time.
As for Bubbles, he dodged the dragon breath while he chased after Baxter. Although he was taking the great initiative to attack, he was ultimately still a tad too slow.
Forced to chase after Baxter and dodge the dragon breath at the same time, he was so infuriated that he couldn’t help but roar furiously, yet there was nothing he could do about it.
“Bubbles is too slow!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he shouted, “Stop, Bubbles!”
“Master!”
At the sound of his voice, Bubbles stopped in his tracks. He said, “Wait a moment, I must catch that damned Black Dragon and give it a good beating!”
“The day will be over by the time you catch up to it!” Meng Lei said calmly, “Let me do it instead. I can also try out my new ability along the way!”
“Alright!”
Bubbles gave Baxter a livid glare before he indignantly retreated to where Meng Lei was.
“Lowly worm, who are you?”
Baxter, the Black Dragon, didn’t attack recklessly anymore. Instead, its eyes were fixed on Meng Lei.
The brief exchange of blows just now had shown Baxter just how powerful Meng Lei was. Thus, it was currently very wary of him.
“Who I am isn’t important!”
Meng Lei shrugged as he said, “What’s important is that I’ve just ransacked your den and robbed you of all your riches. Aren’t you going in to take a look?”
“What did you say?!”
Baxter was greatly alarmed at his words. It hurriedly flapped its wings and swooped toward the den, roaring furiously as it did.
“Damned human, I’ll never let you off if you dare ransack my den!”
“Never let me off? I’m afraid you won’t have the chance to!”
Meng Lei chuckled. He took the opportunity to instantly flick his fingers while Baxter was swooping toward him, and a lick of pitch-black flames instantly landed on Baxter.
The flames spread rapidly. In just the span of a few breaths, they had spread to cover a large expanse!
“Ahhh!”
Baxter swatted its wings frantically as it cried out, trying to put out the Netherworld Divine Fire. Yet the more it did, the bigger the fire became and the fiercer they blazed!
A few moments later, the Netherworld Divine Fire had spread all over Baxter and was completely enveloping it within!
“Divine Technique: Separate!”
Baxter cast a Divine Technique without any hesitation.
However, the tragic thing was that the moment the Divine Technique landed on itself, it was as though it had doused itself in petrol instead. Not only did it not strip the Netherworld Divine Fire from itself, but it instead blazed even more fiercely!
“Actually using a Divine Technique to expel the Netherworld Divine Fire? The ignorant are fearless, indeed! The Netherworld Divine Fire is an everlasting flame that could burn even the power of divinity!”
" }, { "id": 226, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-226", "title": "Chapter 226 - The Swirling Snow Sword Saint, A Human Half-Deity", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Ahhh!”
A shrill cry resounded throughout the underground as Baxter the Black Dragon struggled madly.
Everywhere its cry passed through, the earth shook, and the mountains swayed. Large rocks rolled off and fell as dust and earth flew about!
“W-what kind of fire is that?”
Bubbles shuddered, somewhat frightened, as he watched Baxter, who was struggling in pain and agony amidst the black flames.
No matter how wretched Baxter might be, it was still a Black Dragon that had already manifested a divine core and whose strength reached the heights of a mid-level half-deity. Yet it was actually powerless against the black flames!
This was practically inconceivable!
“S-spare… Spare my life!”
At last, Baxter could no longer stand against it, and it began to beg for mercy loudly.
“Offer your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me!” Meng Lei said aloofly, “Only through submission will you be able to live!”
“I…”
Baxter hesitated at once. Handing over its divine spirit origin energy implied that Meng Lei would end up taking full control of its life. How would that do?
“Unwilling to submit? Die, then!”
Meng Lei shrugged, his expression one of indifference. Then he ordered, “Let’s go, Bubbles and Little Gold!”
Little Gold nodded hurriedly. Somewhat in a state of shock, it wished only to leave the area at the moment.
With a complex look on his visage, Bubbles asked, “Master, what will happen to Baxter?”
“The Netherworld Divine Fire is an everlasting flame. It’ll never extinguish before it burns everything away.”
Meng Lei said aloofly, “Baxter is destined for only one outcome, and that is—to be burned alive into ashes by the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
“Burned into ashes?!!”
Bubbles swallowed hard, a hint of abject fear flashing across his eyes.
“Let’s go!”
Meng Lei waved dismissively. Then, he wrapped Little Gold in God’s Domain and flew into the distance while Bubbles hastily followed after him.
At the sight of them leaving for real, Baxter panicked at once.
What am I gonna do if you leave?
“S-submit… I’ll submit!” Baxter bellowed.
“It ultimately didn’t manage to restrain itself after all!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and teleported over to where Baxter was. He asked, “Do you need me to repeat what you should be doing?”
“Well-played, human!”
Indignation filled Baxter’s eyes, but it still released its divine spirit origin energy in the end.
Unexpectedly, a few terrifying auras suddenly descended at this point and swept through the entire underground space!
Upon sensing the auras, Baxter instantly retracted its divine spirit origin energy and glowered furiously at Meng Lei instead.
“My friends are here, you lowly human! Extinguish the flames on me at once! Otherwise, I’ll definitely give you a tragic death!”
“You’re hopeless, Baxter!”
With a slight frown, Meng Lei turned to the few that had just descended upon the area. There were four new arrivals, and every one of them gave off vast, mighty divine power and were all half-deities!
The first half-deity had a head of red hair and gave off a vast, ancient Dragon might—it was a Fire Dragon.
The second had a peculiar appearance. Instead of a human, he looked more like a robot constructed from metal.
The third was a human. Dressed in a knight’s armor and holding a knight’s broadsword, he had mighty, imposing, and squarish facial features and emanated a righteous aura around him.
The last half-deity was an octopus. With more than a dozen tentacles, it gave off a bloodthirsty and brutal aura!
“Baxter, my friend, what happened to you?”
The Fire Dragon half-deity’s countenance turned grim right away as it gazed at Baxter, who was shrouded in black flames and struggling fiercely.
“Kill him, Klaus! No, don’t! Capture him instead!”
A somewhat hysterical Baxter pointed at Meng Lei and said, “Yes! Capture him and make him remove these goddamn flames first! I’m close to being burned to death!”
“Black flames!”
The octopus half-deity stared at the Netherworld Divine Fire around Baxter. Then, it suddenly exclaimed, “That’s the Netherworld Divine Fire! Oh my god, that’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The Fire Dragon half-deity, robot half-deity, and human half-deity quickly asked, “Mervyn, what’s the Netherworld Divine Fire?”
In a low, deep voice, the octopus half-deity explained, “The Netherworld Divine Fire is an everlasting flame from Hell. Capable of burning everything, it’s said to be able to burn even a true god to death!”
“An everlasting flame from Hell?”
“Capable of burning everything?”
“Able to burn even a true god to death?”
The three half-deities’ countenances changed drastically, deep restraining fear forming in their eyes as they watched the black flames. Those flames could burn even a true god to death, but they were only half-deities…
“Damn! To think it’s actually the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
Baxter’s face had completely darkened. It roared hysterically, “Quick! Take him down! Make him extinguish these goddamn flames! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be burned to death!”
Knowing that they mustn’t delay this any further, the four half-deities’ gazes fell onto Meng Lei. In icy-cold voices, they ordered, “Put out the Netherworld Divine Fire at once, human!”
Meng Lei gave them a leisurely smile. He didn’t take their threats seriously. Instead, he looked at the human half-deity among the four and asked in puzzlement, “I didn’t sense any other auras from you. Are you human?”
“My name is Galen Bonaparte!”
The human knight’s eyes bore into Meng Lei as he gave his name.
“Galen Bonaparte? You’re the Swirling Snow Sword Saint?”
A jolt went through Meng Lei as he asked, “Aren’t you the sword saint of humans? Why are you here?”
Galen Bonaparte, the Swirling Snow Sword Saint!
To every human, that was a figure of grand reputation. One of exceptional aptitude, he made a name for himself at a young age and, as a human, crushed innumerable Dragon geniuses. His name was known throughout the Dragon God Empire and was an extremely rare genius and powerhouse among the humans. He was also the idol and pride of innumerable human boys and men alike.
Yet to think that a figure like that was actually lurking in the underground world and associating with evil deities of the underground!
This was practically inconceivable!
“The Swirling Snow Sword Saint has ceased to exist a long time ago!”
Galen Bonaparte shook his head slowly. “The one standing before you now is but just an ordinary half-deity.”
“Even human Saint Domains are extremely rare, let alone half-deities? Stand aside. I won’t kill you!” said Meng Lei with a shake of his head.
“How presumptuous!”
Galen Bonaparte gave an icy snort as he formed a sword with his fingers and let out a furious shout. “Divine Technique: Judgment!”
Clank!
A dazzling, gigantic golden sword of light descended from the sky and cleaved toward Meng Lei lightning-quick, its speed reaching the extremes!
“Such agility! What a shame!”
Meng Lei quietly appeared three meters away and said, “You’re no match for me. Don’t bother wasting any more effort!”
“He’s actually dodged it?”
Astonishment came over Galen Bonaparte’s features. The speed of his Divine Technique, Judgment, was close to teleportation. Ordinary half-deities couldn’t dodge it in time at all, yet Meng Lei had actually managed to do so!
“Take him down! Quick, take him down!”
Baxter, the Black Dragon, began to urge them again. “Stop freaking dilly-dallying! If you tarry any further, I’m going to burn to death!”
“Attack!”
Upon hearing his words, the four half-deities promptly launched their attacks!
“God’s Domain!
The four of them cast God’s Domain simultaneously in an attempt to suppress Meng Lei. However, what disappointed them was that Meng Lei had vanished into thin air!
“He’s gone?”
“Where’s he?”
The four of them widened their eyes in astonishment.
“You’re too slow!”
Behind them, a mocking voice rang out, and the four of them looked behind them in horror. Meng Lei had appeared behind them at some point, and four black spears were floating above his palm.
“Go!”
With a flick of his fingers, the four black spears shot out at once!
Splurt!
Splurt!
The distance between the spears and the four half-deities was simply too close. Unable to dodge in time at all, all four were unsurprisingly hit by the spears. The black spears struck them in the chests before bursting into flames—they were actually spears of flames manifested from Netherworld Divine Fire!
“Damn! It’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The octopus half-deity’s countenance changed dramatically, and it actually attempted to valiantly cut its losses by using a dagger to shave off the flesh at its chest and, in turn, remove the Netherworld Divine Fire on its chest.
However, the miserable thing was that its divine body was fairly tough and durable, so the broken dagger simply couldn’t pierce through its skin! When it finally did, after much difficulty, it actually couldn’t shave off even a piece of its flesh after half a day of going at it.
With one thing leading to another, not only was the Netherworld Divine Fire not removed, but it even spread swiftly throughout its body!
The other three were pretty much in the same situation. They either cast Divine Techniques or swatted at themselves, but the final outcomes were all the same—the more they swatted, the bigger the flames became and the fiercer they blazed.
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Why do you even put yourselves in such a situation?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he retracted the Netherworld Divine Fire on Galen Bonaparte with a casual move and said aloofly, “Leave!”
“You’re not going to kill me?”
Disbelief was written all over Galen Bonaparte’s countenance.
“On account of how you’re a human, I’ll let you off, but I’ll only do it just this once,” replied Meng Lei dispassionately.
“Who exactly are you?”
Galen Bonaparte watched Meng Lei closely.
“Human! The one standing before you right now is my great and noble Master, Meng Lei!”
Bubbles said, “The new emperor of Dragon God Empire and the strongest half-deity of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“The emperor of Dragon God Empire? You’re a Dragon?”
Fury appeared on Galen Bonaparte’s face as he spat, “I am mortal enemies with Dragon God Empire. Even if I were to die, I’d never accept the Dragons’ kindness! You’d better just kill me instead!”
“Are you misunderstanding something, human?”
Displeased, Bubbles said, “Master Meng Lei is pure human. He has overthrown the Dragons’ reign and slain the Dragon Island half-deities. He has no connection whatsoever to the Dragons!”
“What did you say?!”
An astounded Galen Bonaparte exclaimed, “Overthrown the Dragons’ reign? Slain the Dragon Island half-deities? How can that be?”
“The great Bubbles never lies. Would I deceive you?”
Bubbles was rather dissatisfied. “Ask around if you don’t believe me!”
Galen Bonaparte’s mouth opened and closed. After a long while, he finally said, “If you’ve really overthrown the Dragons’ reign and taken revenge for me, I am willing to become your follower! I swear on my honor as a knight!”
“You can go and verify this for yourself!”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile.
“Goodbye!”
Galen Bonaparte gave Meng Lei a long, deep look. Then, he glanced at the four other half-deities struggling in the black flames before turning and leaving.
Although they, the underground half-deities, were extremely united against outsiders, the friendships among them didn’t go that deep. In fact, there was dissension and brutal competition among them!
And now, since he was heading to the surface, his worshipers in the underground were already no longer of any importance!
“Master, are you allowing him to leave just like that?” Puzzlement came over Bubbles’ features as he said, “He’s probably not going to come back after he leaves!”
“It doesn’t matter even if he doesn’t return. There aren’t many human half-deities. It’s a shame to kill him!”
The four half-deities were initially able to persevere through the burning of the Netherworld Divine Fire, but toward the end… None of them could persevere any longer!
“You may live on if you submit to me!”
This was still the only choice that Meng Lei gave them.
Without any surprise, the Fire Dragon half-deity, the octopus half-deity, and the robot half-deity hesitated. In contrast, Baxter, the Black Dragon, didn’t hesitate any further this time and promptly begged for mercy.
It was just a shame that Meng Lei rejected it this time. “I gave you a chance, but you didn’t cherish it. Yet you’re begging for mercy again now? It’s too late!”
“Noooo!”
In the end, Baxter the Black Dragon was burned into ashes amid several screams of pain and regret and paid a heavy price for going back on his word.
“Submit! We’re willing to submit!”
" }, { "id": 227, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-227", "title": "Chapter 227 - Sexy Goddess, Transfer Ability", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Baxter’s death wasn’t one without meaning. At the very least, it had fulfilled its role as an example of the punished—to serve as a warning to others—very well!
“Master, my name is Mervyn Babol. My true form is a giant squid!”
“Master, my name is Klaus Troff. My true form is a mutated Fire Dragon!”
“Master, my name is the Pursuer. My true form is a being created via alchemy!”
Meng Lei gave the three half-deities a hearty welcome before setting off with them in tow.
Under the three underground half-deities’ lead, the subsequent journey became even easier. Meng Lei weaved smoothly through the evil deities’ territories, one after another like a fish in the water.
In just a short half a day’s time, he had ransacked six half-deities’ dens and gained innumerable treasures, resulting in his Wealth spiking dramatically!
Of course, he also subdued another two half-deities along the way—the Black Panther Goddess Nadja Wakanda, whose true form was a Netherworld Spiritual Panther, and the Thunderbolt Queen Seisia Marie, whose true form was a Thunderbolt Naga.
For a while there, the number of half-deities under Meng Lei’s command actually reached as many as six. Together with Puhaman and Thaniel, who were a great distance away in the Imperial City, that made eight of them. With such fearsome strength, Meng Lei could practically move about with nothing to fear!
“Master, up ahead is the Dark Fairies’ capital city, the Dark Forest,” said Seisia, the Thunderbolt Goddess, as she pointed at a vast, black forest in front of them.
Various black woods and vegetation filled the pitch-black forest as though someone had painted it black.
Bugs resembling fireflies crawled all over the trees, giving off a dim, faint light, which brought a bit of illumination to the forest.
Meng Lei, who was observing the black forest, remarked in wonder, “This has to be the vastest underground space that I’ve seen ever since I arrived at the underground world!”
“It’s also the most fertile region of the underground world. The Spider Goddess’ den is right here!”
Seisia warned, “Master, you must take absolute care. The Spider Goddess isn’t easy to deal with. She’s the most ancient and most cunning half-deity of the underground world.”
“Don’t worry. I know what to do!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then he said, “Let’s look for the Dark Mother Tree first. What I’m interested in the most right now isn’t the Spider Goddess or the Dark Fairy Empress, but the Dark Mother Tree instead.”
“Yes, Master!”
Fifteen minutes later, Meng Lei and the others arrived at a gigantic tree.
Pitch-black in color all over, the tree wasn’t very tall. The trunk was short, thick, and crooked, and it looked a little like the trees with crooked necks typically found at village entrances!
However, its crown was huge and easily covered as far as 100 kilometers in radius. Sprinkled among the luxuriant leaves were also several black vacuoles.
Each vacuole contained a little figure that was fast asleep. They looked just like miniature humans sealed in amber—these were Dark Fairies in mid-gestation.
“What an impressive Dark Mother Tree!”
Meng Lei sized up the huge, pitch-black tree, a look of delight coming over his features.
He had come to the Dark Fairies’ territory this time for two purposes—the first being the Dark Fairies’ wealth and assets, and the second being the Dark Mother Tree currently in front of him.
The Dark Fairy Empress and the Spider Goddess were secondary and weren’t that important.
A figure stood underneath the Dark Mother Tree at the moment. A blood-red crown sat atop her head, and she wore a blood-black robe. Sensual, alluring, elegant, and graceful, it was the Dark Fairy Empress herself!
Apart from her, no-one else—not even a single normal Dark Fairy—was present. They had likely heard the news and already retreated to safety in advance.
With the other half-deities in tow, Meng Lei came right up to her. With a slight smile on his face, he said, “Your Majesty, we’ve met again!”
“To think you actually dare to come all the way here!”
The Dark Fairy Empress had a frosty look on her beautiful countenance, her expression one of extreme sinisterness.
One must know that this was the Dark Fairies’ capital city, yet Meng Lei had dared to come all the way here. He showed practically no respect for the Dark Fairies!
“It’s all for your sake, Your Majesty!”
With his hands behind his back, Meng Lei said, “Your Majesty, you came all the way to my imperial palace and made so much trouble there, only to leave in such a hurry. Don’t you owe me an explanation for that?”
The Dark Fairy Empress sneered, “I’d advise you to leave at once, human. Otherwise, you won’t be able to bear the consequences!”
“Consequences? What kind of consequences can there be?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve slain even the Dragon Island half-deities, let alone you, the Dark Fairies? Do you really think that b*tch, the Spider Goddess, can do anything about me?”
“Watch your mouth, human!”
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, the Dark Fairy Empress’ beautiful countenance changed at once, and she berated him furiously.
“Never mind! I can’t be bothered to say anything more!”
Meng Lei waved dismissively. “You’ve displeased me, so you must give me a satisfactory explanation! Otherwise, I don’t mind letting the Dark Fairies follow in the Dragons’ footsteps!”
“How arrogant!”
As a cold, sinister voice rang out, a beautiful lady with a blood-red spider mark on her forehead and dressed in thin, black organza walked toward them.
Sensual and alluring, her gait was as though she was on the catwalk. Her long, slender, and attractive thighs revealed astonishing elasticity, and every little action of hers oozed with enticing charm.
“It’s the Spider Goddess!!”
The six half-deity subordinates’ countenances changed slightly as deep restraining fear came over their expressions.
One’s reputation didn’t come with no reason, after all!
One mustn’t be misled by how the Spider Goddess and the rest of them were all underground half-deities. Be it their status, identity, combat strength, or experience, none of them was on the same level as the Spider Goddess.
Up against an ancient and savage evil deity like the Spider Goddess, they were incomparably apprehensive!
Meng Lei’s eyes were also on the Spider Goddess. The smile on his face gradually toned down. The Spider Goddess was unlike any other half-deity he’d met in the past!
She gave off neither power of divinity energy fluctuations, nor aura. She was just like an ordinary human being—harmless and mediocre.
But the more that was so, the more cautious Meng Lei became. As the saying went, the dog that bites doesn’t bark. The more one couldn’t read another, the more dangerous they usually were—and in this case, the Spider Goddess presented an extremely great threat to Meng Lei!
“Young man, do you find yourself very impressive just because you’ve killed the Dragon Island half-deities? How foolish!”
The Spider Goddess walked up to Meng Lei and said, “All you’ve done is kill a few pieces of trash at best!”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“They’ve never been the ones whom Dragon God Empire relied on to stand strong in Heaven’s Vault Continent over the last 40,000 years!”
A look of contempt adorned the Spider Goddess’ visage as she said, “You’ll experience that very soon!”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown.
“I’ll give you a reminder, young man,” The Spider Goddess gazed at Meng Lei as she said, “That stinky lizard’s revenge will descend upon you very soon. When the time comes, you’ll realize just how foolish your ways were!”
“I’m looking forward to that very much, though!”
Meng Lei shrugged. “I’ve killed many Colossal Dragons, as well as many half-deities, but I’ve never slain a true god before. I can’t wait to have a taste of it!”
“Hehehe…”
Upon hearing what he’d said, the Spider Goddess burst into loud guffawing as if she’d just heard the funniest thing in the world. Her chest heaved up and down as she laughed.
“Young man, you’re too childish. You don’t understand the gap between a half-deity and a true god at all!”
The Spider Goddess had a look of compassion on her face.
“Perhaps, I guess!”
Meng Lei said aloofly, “Placing the Dragon God’s matters aside for the time being, let’s talk about you and me instead. The Dark Fairy Empress has angered me. How are you going to resolve this matter?”
“Can this even be considered an issue?”
The Spider Goddess was indifferent. “Young man, if there’s nothing else, you can take your leave now. I have other matters to busy myself with, so pardon me if I don’t see you off!
“By the way, here’s a word of advice for you. If you have the leisure to be fooling around here, why don’t you think about how you should be dealing with that stinky lizard’s revenge instead?”
“Fooling around?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. Then, with a flash of his machete, he broke the hair stick adorning the top of the Spider Goddess’ hair!
“I’m speaking with you very seriously right now, Spider Goddess. I hope you can also treat this with equal seriousness. Otherwise, what the machete will be slicing next wouldn’t be a hair stick but your neck instead!”
“You’re too impudent, young man!”
At once, the Spider Goddess’ countenance changed. “This is my turf. There’s no place for you to behave so atrociously here!”
“Is that so? I’d like very much to try that, then!”
Meng Lei’s lips corners quirked upward.
“Scram!”
The Spider Goddess let out a furious roar, causing violent, raging sound waves to explode into the surroundings instantly. Like a broken mirror, the dimension splintered and broke into pieces, forming a black, bottomless hole!
As Meng Lei was too close in proximity, the black hole instantly pulled him in, and he disappeared from sight.
At the sight, the six half-deities’ countenances immediately changed. All of them retreated to the back, lest the black hole sucked them in as well.
A brief moment later, the sound waves dispersed, and the black hole also vanished along with it. Everything returned to normal!
“Where’s Master? Where did he go?”
However, the six half-deities were staring at the spot where Meng Lei had been, somewhat alarmed and uneasy.
Mervyn the squid half-deity lowered its voice and asked, “The space-time rift has swept him away. I’m afraid he’s…”
“This…”
At the sound of his reply, the remaining five half-deities’ countenances changed. Swept into the time-space rift? How was he supposed to survive that?
“Your Holiness, where’s that human?” asked the Dark Fairy Empress respectfully.
“He’s been exiled into the space-time rift by me!”
The Spider Goddess said aloofly, “I’d wondered just how impressive he was since you’ve hyped him up so much. Little did I think that he’d just be a foolish, ignorant dimwit!”
“I was wrong!”
The Dark Fairy Empress hastily dropped onto her knees and admitted her mistake.
“Go, let your clansmen return!”
The Spider Goddess waved her off.
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
The Dark Fairy Empress walked over to the Dark Mother Tree and said, “Mother Tree, teleport our clansmen back!”
“Understood!”
As an aged voice rang out, a gigantic dark magic circle also appeared and lit up on the ground. Then, a series of space-time fluctuations traveled toward them.
Buzz…
Almost 10,000 Dark Fairies wearing tree bark armor with bows and arrows slung over their backs appeared within the magic circle.
“Your Holiness!”
The Dark Fairies bowed to the Spider Goddess in greeting, their countenances respectful.
The Spider Goddess nodded lightly and got ready to leave. Unexpectedly, it was at this moment that a slightly astonished voice abruptly rang out.
“So that’s the Dark Mother Tree’s Transfer ability? To think it can actually transfer 10,000 people at one go! It’s amazing, indeed!”
“Eh?”
A huge jolt went through the Spider Goddess!
The Dark Fairy Empress, as well as Bubbles and the other five half-deities, were also awfully astonished!
Everyone looked over to the source of the voice, only to see a figure appearing in the air.
Dressed in a robe and holding a machete—who else could it be, other than Meng Lei himself?
“You’re actually… actually…”
The Spider Goddess was flabbergasted!
“Your Holiness the Goddess, do wait for a moment!”
Meng Lei turned to the Spider Goddess and cast a glance at her before he immediately contacted the system.
“System, how much does it cost to plunder the Dark Mother Tree’s Transfer ability?”
“Ding! The Dark Mother Tree’s Transfer ability is a high-grade Innate Special Ability and can power up along with one’s combat power. Thus, it is considered an evolutionary Innate Special Ability.”
The system continued coldly and said, “The Dark Mother Tree possesses the strength of an elementary-level half-deity. As such, the cost of plundering said Innate Special Ability is estimated at 120 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.”
“120 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? That’s absolutely fine. Do it!”
" }, { "id": 228, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-228", "title": "Chapter 228 - Intense Clash, Goddess Says Really Flagrant", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Meng Lei’s divine cognition spread out as he could see every nook and cranny within the area of 50 kilometers, revealing anything from hills and rivers to mosquitoes and bugs.
If it were before, he would only be able to see.
However, as long as Meng Lei was willing, he could just ‘take’ these things out of thin air, to be more exact, teleport over.
“Such an amazing ability. Let me test it out!”
Meng Lei found something in the sedimentary rocks underground as he teleported it over with just a thought. It was a rusty chest.
Meng Lei was overjoyed—this ability was really useful, especially for digging treasures, stealing, or looting treasuries.
“Master, what’s this?” Bubbles asked curiously as he saw Meng Lei standing for a while, and a chest appeared out of nowhere.
“Nothing, just testing out new abilities.”
Meng Lei kept the chest and looked at the Dark Mother Tree. “Mother Tree, thank you for your generosity. This ability was very useful, and I liked it!”
o((⊙_⊙))o?
Dark Mother Tree did not understand. However, the Dark Fairy Empress’ expression changed drastically. “You don’t mean—”
“Haha! It’s exactly what you think it is!” Meng Lei smiled. He was in a good mood. “Her Holiness, now that I’ve settled my stuff, let us carry on.”
“Human, get lost now before I am enraged!” The Spider Goddess’s delicate face was stone cold. “Otherwise, Your Holiness would not mind keeping you here.”
“How imposing, Her Holiness!” Meng Lei laughed coldly, “Then I would like to see how you’re going to make me stay.”
“You’re courting death!” The Spider Goddess was furious as she extended her fingers toward Meng Lei at lightning speed.
Meng Lei vanished instantly and appeared suddenly behind the Spider Goddess, slashing down his machete.
Clink!
The blood-red machete hit the Spider Goddess’ back solidly with flashing sparks. Other than that, she did not take any damage.
“So tough?”
Meng Lei backed off in shock—this Abyss Blade Demon’s companion machete could slice open a divine beast like the Tricannon Pig with ease, but it couldn’t even scratch the Spider Goddess.
Did she add silicone rubber to her back that it became so tough?
“You damned monkey, you have enraged me!”
The Spider Goddess’ face was livid, emitting a chilling murderous intent.
“Die!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Dozens of blood-colored steel needles appeared abruptly and shot toward Meng Lei at lightning speed.
Every single needle had a lurid glow of green—obviously tainted with poison.
“Her Holiness, this human can teleport!” The Dark Fairy Empress reminded loudly, “This level of attack won’t be effective against him!”
“Teleport?!”
The Spider Goddess snorted coldly, thousands of white spider silk gushed out, forming an enormous funnel covering over 1,000 meters of the area around.
“Well then, little rat, let me see how you can teleport in my divine territory!”
The Spider Goddess laughed coldly as she carried on shooting those needles toward Meng Lei.
Meng Lei seemed that he was unable to teleport as the blood-red steel needles flooded him.
“Damned monkey, you’re dead meat!” The Spider Goddess licked her delicious red lips with a smug smile.
These needles were made with her scopulae, which were indestructible.
Plus, they were poisoned, and any half-deity that touched them would die inevitably.
Clink, clink, clink!
Yet, to the Spider Goddess’ surprise, the blood-colored needles came off Meng Lei’s body as if nails were being beaten onto a steel plate, making the sound of clashing metals.
Then they all dropped on the floor.
“What? It didn’t penetrate?”
The Spider Goddess was in disbelief.
“Hey, Spider Goddess, your attack was ineffective against me too. Are you disappointed?”
Meng Lei pulled off his tattered robes and showed off his naked skin—soft, tender, unblemished skin, and a toned muscular body—there were just no wounds!
“Didn’t expect your divine body to be so tough!”
The Spider Goddess was truly shaken up.
“Same for you.” Meng Lei loosened up and made crackling sounds. “Been using weapons for a while now, haven’t gotten loose for a long time now. Come on, let’s battle for three hundred rounds!”
Whoosh!
His voice was still echoing around as Meng Lei had disappeared, appearing abruptly before the Spider Goddess and throwing a punch.
Boom!
Berserking power exploded onto the Spider Goddess as she flew off, followed tightly by Meng Lei.
Boom, boom, boom!
The punches were like dense raindrops falling one after the other onto the Spider Goddess’ body.
The Spider Goddess was like a baseball being thrown around without any way to counter.
“This…”
“The Spider Goddess is actually getting dominated. Am I seeing things wrong?”
The six half-deities were dazed!
The Dark Fairy Empress was dazed!
The 10,000 Dark Fairies were dazed!
They could not believe what they were witnessing!
Who was the Spider Goddess? The most ancient and terrifying half-deity of the underground world, the being in the same era as the four true gods, the established strongest half-deity of the underground world!
It was absolutely unbelievable that a mighty being like her was dominated in this manner!
“Is this all you got?
“I didn’t use any of my divine weapons, not even my divine fire, yet you are still no match against me. How disappointing.”
Meng Lei punched at random as he taunted, infuriating the Spider Goddess even more.
“Scum, you better die!
“Innate Special Ability: Enchant!”
A pink-colored power of divinity gushed out of the Spider Goddess and flooded Meng Lei instantly.
In an instant, a fascinating scene appeared in Meng Lei’s mind—peaches were blossoming, petals were falling, an undisguised Spider Goddess was flaunting flirtatiously…
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up, and he drooled all over.
“Here’s my chance!”
The Spider Goddess seized upon the opportunity and stuck out eight blood-red spider spears from her back, which were rather similar to Tang San’s Eight Spider Lances, and struck toward Meng Lei at lightning speed.
Whoosh!
Just as the blood spider spears were about to pierce Meng Lei, he vanished!.
“…”
The Spider Goddess was dumbfounded yet again.
“Her Holiness!” Meng Lei appeared over a hundred meters away with an admiring smile. “Wow, that scene just now was really exciting, and I liked it. If you’re willing, we can interact in private. Not now though, there are too many people.”
“You’ve managed to break free of my enchantment!” The Spider Goddess grimaced.
“That counts as enchantment?”
Meng Lei sneered. “Your father has experienced 17,450 tribulations and been through 1,800 setbacks, so I’ve already become indestructible, immune to all poisons, and all evils avoid me. Yours mean nothing.”
“You bastard!” The Spider Goddess gnashed her teeth in rage and scorned, “I’ll kill you!”
“Divine Technique: Imprisonment!”
Dazzling golden power of divinity poured out and shrouded the area within 1,000 meters.
Meng Lei could only feel a dreadful power of imprisonment imposed on his body as he could not move.
“Divine territory plus an Imprisonment Divine Technique managed to limit my movements!” Meng Lei was rather surprised.
“Die!”
The Spider Goddess approached within a breath and flushed out those eight spider spears.
“Okay then, let me finish this off.”
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth curled up. Right at the moment when the spears were about to hit, black flames spewed out like thick smoke and burned back.
Boom!
The eight spider spears stung on Meng Lei, though they still could not penetrate Meng Lei’s skin, while the black flames stuck onto the Spider Goddess’ body.
“It’s over! The Spider Goddess will be dead for sure!”
The six half-deity watching the battle had the same thought—once caught in the flames of the Netherworld Divine Fire, the fate of this battle was sealed.
Unfortunately, the Spider Goddess did not realize the impending doom as she struck twice again in defiance, seeing that her eight spider spears could not pierce through Meng Lei.
As for the black flames on her body, she was not concerned—with her divine body’s toughness, how could mere mortal flames do any harm to her?
“Damn it! How could it be so tough?”
The Spider Goddess was reluctant to accept defeat. Countless spider webs came out of thin air, which spun around Meng Lei into a cocoon.
“Human, just because your divine body is tough doesn’t mean I can’t kill you.” The Spider Goddess said coldly, “I have many ways to kill you!”
“Kill me? I guess you’ll never see that.” Meng Lei shook his head and smiled. “Her Holiness, I guarantee that you will die before me.”
“You’re almost dead and still so stubborn!”
When the Spider Goddess sneered, she felt a throbbing pain in her chest—the black flames had reached the chest area and were burning relentlessly.
“Damn! How is this possible?!”
The Spider Goddess let off a scream as she tried to beat the flames away to no avail. The Netherworld Divine Fire could burn anything; once caught in it, there was no way to extinguish it.
The more she tried to put out the flames, the more they burned. Soon, she was completely engulfed in black flames.
“Accept your fate, Her Holiness.” Meng Lei lit up the webs on him and stood up. “This is the Netherworld Divine Fire. You’d never withstand it even if your divine body was ten times tougher!”
“Netherworld Divine Fire? This is the Netherworld Divine Fire!?”
The Spider Goddess’s face was ridden with shock. “How could a human like you be able to use the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s Netherworld Divine Fire? It’s not possible!”
“That isn’t important.”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“Damn it!”
The Spider Goddess was in a state of rage and shock, though any resistance was futile.
In the end, she burnt into a giant 10,000 feet tall black widow with a body full of urticating hair. It danced around in black flames, letting off shrills of screams that would chill anyone to the bones.
“Spider Goddess, tell me if you want to stay alive. I do have tender, protective feelings for the fairer sex.”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly and looked at his half-deity subordinates. “Find the treasury of the Dark Fairies and inform me when you’ve located it.”
“Yes, Master!”
The six half-deities were on their toes as they carried out Meng Lei’s order without delay. After witnessing that battle, Meng Lei’s formidable, almighty image was deeply engraved into their hearts. They were now completely submitted to his command and dared not to spring up any thoughts of rebellion.
An indestructible divine body!
A ghostly incomparable speed!
Black flames that could burn virtually anything!
How could a human half-deity be this powerful?
“Human… what do you want?”
The Spider Goddess bellowed deeply as she could not hold on any longer.
“Simple, submit under my command.” Meng Lei crossed his arms and smiled lightly. “Only by submitting can you survive.”
“In your dreams!”
The Spider Goddess bellowed hysterically, “I’ll rather be burned alive, burned into ashes, burned into a malicious spirit than to ever submit myself to you!”
“Okay, then you can die now, off you go.”
“Come back… I’ll submit!”
[0] An Internet slang used to describe someone doing something that he or she had previously sworn never to do.
" }, { "id": 229, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-229", "title": "Chapter 229 - Rich Rewards, The Angel Is Born", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "As the facts had demonstrated, there was no-one who could face death calmly—not ordinary humans and much less near-immortal half-deities with eternal lifespans.
In fact, half-deities feared death even more so than ordinary humans!
And wasn’t that so? Because the Spider Goddess, the most ancient and most savage half-deity in the underground world, had also submitted to him!
“Knowing that it would’ve turned out this way, why bother doing all that earlier?”
After refining the Spider Goddess’ divine spirit origin energy, Meng Lei retracted the Netherworld Divine Fire on the Spider Goddess and officially took her in under his wing.
“How despicable of you!”
The Spider Goddess, who had transformed into her true form, glowered furiously at Meng Lei, her eyes brimming with indignation.
“Do you not admit defeat?”
A sneering Meng Lei scoffed, “Not only were you unable to beat me, but you were even the one who had submitted on your own accord. I didn’t force you into it, so why should you be so indignant?”
“You—”
The Spider Goddess was livid.
Sure, you certainly didn’t force me into submitting, but you were goddamn burning me with fire! Is that not forcing me into it?!
“Speechless, aren’t you? In that case, then shut up! Otherwise, I don’t mind turning you into a dead spider!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort and said, “Listen up now, hand over all your wealth and assets. I don’t care if it’s gold coins or treasures. Hand them all over to me! If you dare to keep any for yourself, I’ll destroy you right away!”
“You—”
The Spider Goddess was infuriated, but she nevertheless gave in and obediently offered up all of her savings for the sake of her life.
Only then was Meng Lei satisfied, and he began to look through the Spider Goddess’ assets.
However, what surprised him was that aside from Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, they were all rather strange and peculiar objects!
“What’s this?”
“An Abyss Demon’s heart!”
“What about this?”
“A Cerberus’ skull!”
“What about that pitch-black thing there?”
“A Deep Ocean Magical Whale King’s eyeball!”
“…”
“You sure have some unusual interests!”
After taking all the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Meng Lei returned the rest of the items to the Spider Goddess. That mess of items was of no use to him. The only ones who would be interested in them were probably weirdos like the Spider Goddess!
“Master, we’ve found the Dark Fairies’ treasury!”
His six half-deity subordinates also brought him some good news at this point.
“Wonderful!”
Fifteen minutes later, the Dark Fairies’ treasury also suffered Meng Lei’s ransacking!
Meng Lei had very high expectations these days. Aside from gold coins and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, he couldn’t be bothered to take run-of-the-mill treasures.
Even so, he still made a fortune!
“I was right in coming to the underground world indeed!”
As he gazed at his stats interface, Meng Lei was in such a fantastic mood that he was even making snot bubbles.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix)
Wealth: 23.51 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Pinnacle-Grade)
Spirit: Half-Deity (High-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Some increase
Innate Special Abilities: Teleportation, Dark-Elemental Transformation, Rise From The Ashes, Transfer
“Not only have I gained the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline and the Transfer ability, but my Wealth has also doubled! On top of that, I’ve also subdued so many half-deity subordinates. This trip was totally worth every penny and more!”
Meng Lei was in a fantastic mood.
His Wealth had previously been 11.31 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, but now it had more than doubled to 23.51 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
The underground world was worth the trip!
“There’s also the Sunset Ranges and the Golden Archipelago next. I wonder how much profits they’ll bring me? Here’s hoping that they don’t disappoint!”
Meng Lei was in the midst of his thoughts when Dodola’s voice suddenly rang out in his mind. It said, “Meng Lei! Hurry and come in! The Fallen Angel egg is about to hatch!”
“Eh?”
At once, Meng Lei vanished on the spot.
Tower of Time, 96th level.
The 96th level was currently raging like a storm. It was filled with turbulence and unrest, while dark clouds rolled and billowed as lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
A gigantic funnel appeared in the sky and furiously absorbed all the dark elements within 1,000 miles. Then, it surged toward the Fallen Angel egg below!
The blood-red patterns on the egg surface were as though vessels engorged with blood. They gave off a dazzling blood-red brilliance that lit up the area within several miles of where the egg was.
Puff~
Puff~
The eggshell quivered rhythmically as though it was breathing. Every time it quivered, it absorbed vast quantities of dark elements, while the blood-red patterns on the surface of the egg also became even brighter and even more brilliant!
“Is it really about to hatch?”
Meng Lei was rather excited.
That was a Fallen Angel egg! A legendary being that could rival a half-deity the moment it was born! And now, it was about to come into the world right before his eyes!
“It’s about to hatch!”
Dodola was also watching the blood-red egg intently.
True enough, it’d only just spoken when the blood-red patterns on the eggshell suddenly split and formed several cracks on the surface!
Crack!
Crack!
More and more cracks formed, spreading swiftly throughout the egg.
Crack!
At last, the egg broke with a loud explosion, and a dazzling blood-red beam of light shot into the sky!
At the same time, a surging, torrential wave of blood-red aura also began to spread and sweep through the surroundings.
Upon sensing the aura, every living being on the half-plane prostrated on the ground in fear and trepidation!
A fully naked infant with a pair of black wings on her back appeared in mid-air. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her arms were folded over her chest as if she was fast asleep!
Then, she slowly opened her eyes. In the center of her jet-black eyes were blood-red pupils, which bore a striking resemblance to the legendary Sharingan 1 !
“That aura… There’s no mistaking it!” Dodola said slowly, “It’s the Fallen Angel!”
“So, that’s the Fallen Angel?”
Meng Lei was also somewhat astonished. The little fellow that had just come into the world looked naive and adorable, like a porcelain doll that had walked out of a fairytale. Yet the aura she emanated could actually rival a half-deity’s!
Would anyone believe that?
The little Fallen Angel directed her gaze to Meng Lei at this point, upon which a pure and innocent smile immediately surfaced on her visage.
Then, she flapped her wings and flew toward Meng Lei. Perhaps because she had only just been born, her wings were somewhat stiff, causing her to fly askew…
But no matter what, she managed to ultimately fly over!
“Hug… Hug…”
The little Fallen Angel stretched out her soft, tender arms and requested for a hug in a young, child-like voice.
Pure and innocent eyes!
Eyes filled with hope!
Just how similar was she to a human baby?
Meng Lei fell in love with the little fellow at first sight. He reached out and carried her in his arms before giving her a big kiss.
“Hehe!”
The little Fallen Angel burst into delighted giggles and giggled like a one-year-old child.
“The power of the blood pact is impressive, indeed. From now on, the only person she’ll acknowledge is Meng Lei!” marveled Dodola inwardly.
Then, it said, “Why don’t you give her a name, Meng Lei?”
“Let’s name her Cola!” replied Meng Lei immediately without a second thought.
“Cola?”
Dodola was dumbfounded. “What kind of weird name is that? It sounds awful! Change it!”
“We’ll just name her Cola. I think it’s pretty nice!”
With a kind and fatherly smile, Meng Lei teased the little fellow.
“Alright! As long as you like it!”
Dodola curled its lip in disdain, too lazy to rebut him.
“Hungry… Hungry…”
The little Fallen Angel, no, Little Cola sucked on her fingers and gazed at Meng Lei helplessly as if she was saying, “I’m hungry! I wanna eat!”
Meng Lei quickly asked, “Dodola, what do I feed a newly-born Fallen Angel?”
“Fallen Angels typically kill one another and feed on other little Devils or fellow Fallen Angels when they are born,” Dodola replied, “So, her dietary needs are very simple—other little Devils or fellow Fallen Angels!”
“Where am I supposed to find other little Devils?”
Meng Lei was rather lost for words. “Shouldn’t a young child like this be drinking milk instead?”
“Milk?”
Dodola rolled its eyes. “Take a good look—that’s no human child but a Fallen Angel instead. Milk? To think you can come up with something like that!”
As it spoke, Dodola made a casual grabbing motion and caught a pitch-black Blood Wolf from the forest a far distance away before decapitating it.
At the sight, Little Cola flew right out of Meng Lei’s arms and pounced toward the Blood Wolf’s neck. Then, she began to gulp down its blood!
“This…”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“Don’t make a fuss over nothing!”
Dodola snorted and said, “If you have the opportunity, you can go to the Devil Island in the Demon Realm and take a look. Now, that’s what you really call brutal!
“A billion Devils breaking out of their shells at the same time, killing, devouring, and feeding on one another!
“The strong live on while the weak die!
“An elimination of the weak and the survival of the fittest!
“In just a short half a month’s time, 90% of the little Devils would perish in the hands of their own kind!
“Only an extremely small handful are truly able to survive and leave the Devil Island.
“Now, that’s what you really call brutal! So, don’t you underestimate that little fellow. The habits and nature of a Devil lurk deep in her!”
“Fallen Angels are indeed unlike humans!” Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
Little Cola might look like a tiny little bean, but she possessed an astonishingly large appetite. After drinking the Blood Wolf dry, she began to rip its carcass apart with her teeth!
In under fifteen minutes, she had thoroughly devoured the Blood Wolf, leaving behind only a floor of bones.
Yet, she still wasn’t full. She circled around Meng Lei persistently and demanded for food. Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only catch another Blood Wolf for her, upon which she then started to feed on it happily again.
“Meng Lei, she can’t go on like this!”
With a shake of its head, Dodola said, “Fallen Angels need nutrition the most when they are born. She can’t just eat dark-elemental Magical Beasts all the time. It’s detrimental to her growth. She has to eat Devils! Devils are her true source of food!”
“The thing is, where am I supposed to find Devils for her?”
Meng Lei held his hands out helplessly as he chuckled wryly.
“Didn’t I ask you to study Dead Souls Magic and Devil Magic?”
Dodola reminded him, “You can summon some Devils for her to feed on. With your capabilities, isn’t summoning a bunch of Devils a piece of cake for you?”
“I do know some Dead Souls Magic, but all I managed to summon were some skulls and Skeleton Soldiers!”
Meng Lei was lost for words. “Are you sure she’ll eat those skeletons that only have their bones remaining?
“As for Devil Magic, I’ve never even heard of that. It’s become a lost art since a long time ago!”
“You moron! Devil Magic is just like Dead Souls Magic. They’re both magic that summons beings!”
Dodola was rendered somewhat speechless. “Dead Souls Magic summons dead spirits and the Undead, whereas Devil Magic summons Abyss Demons and the Fallen Demons.
“Aside from summoning different targets, the rest are all the same. You’ll be able to find the similarities between the two with just a bit of casual research!”
“Is it that easy? I’ll give it a go!”
Meng Lei left the Tower of Time, and then he activated his Transfer ability and teleported Puhaman, who was a far distance off in Dragon God Empire, over.
“Are you looking for me, Master?”
Puhaman was rather confused.
Wasn’t I in Dragon God Empire? Why am I here?
“Teach me the ways of Dead Souls Magic!”
Meng Lei requested.
“Are you really picking up Dead Souls Magic, Master?”
Puhaman was overjoyed. At last, he had met someone of his own kind! That really wasn’t easy! He launched into an unceasing torrent of words right away!
" }, { "id": 230, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-230", "title": "Chapter 230 - Summoning Dead Souls, A Devil Contract", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "At a cultivation level like Meng Lei’s, one could already pick up and master things at an extremely fast rate. Puhaman needed only to provide a simple explanation of Dead Souls Magic’s foundational principles, and Meng Lei got it right away.
Dead Souls Magic principles were actually very simple:
Through the use of their spiritual power, Dead Souls Magicians would connect to the Dead Souls Plane and build a Dead Souls channel, through which they would then summon spirits of the dead and undead beings to battle.
There were three main points:
– Connecting to the Dead Souls Plane
– Building the Dead Souls channel
– Summoning the spirits of the dead and undead beings
“The first point is the most important one. It is representative of whether a beginner possesses a magic talent for Dead Souls Magic or not.”
A smiling Puhaman said, “Not even one in 10,000 can connect to the Dead Souls Plane. They’re even rarer than geniuses who have magic talent for the ten different elements. This is also the reason why Dead Souls Magic is gradually becoming a lost art.
“But don’t you worry, Master. Even if you don’t have magic talent for Dead Souls Magic, I can let you connect to the Dead Souls Plane all the same!”
Puhaman connected to the Dead Souls Plane in the unseen world, as he explained.
A short while later, a pitch-black dimensional vortex appeared out of nowhere. It gave off a strong aura of death, as well as that of spirits of the dead.
“Master, the Dead Souls Plane that I’ve connected to is Hell, which is one of the three major high-end Devil planes. You can mark the place with your divine spirit. This way, you can connect directly to Hell by following the divine spirit mark in the future,” said Puhaman with his finger pointed at the Dead Souls channel.
“I’ll give it a go.”
Meng Lei directed the power of his divine spirit through the Dead Souls channel, and then, he sent a divine spirit mark into Hell and concealed it.
With his half-deity divine spirit, the divine spirit marks he made were nearly eternal and indestructible. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it could stay in Hell for eternity.
This meant that he could use the divine spirit mark to connect to Hell any time he wanted to.
“Try it again, Master!” Puhaman said after he closed the Dead Souls channel.
Meng Lei closed his eyes. Then, with the divine spirit mark as a bridge, he indeed managed to easily sense the presence of Hell.
“The first step is complete.
“Next, we’ll build the Dead Souls channel. This is no problem for Master at all because it’s a test of the Dead Souls Magician’s spiritual power.”
Puhaman then gave Meng Lei a brief explanation about the main points of building a Dead Souls channel. Meng Lei had a strong and powerful divine spirit, so he successfully built a Dead Souls channel right on the first try.
“The third step is to summon the undead.
“Summoning is typically separated into two types—compelled summoning and contractual summoning.”
Puhaman explained, “As long as your spiritual power is powerful enough, you’ll be able to forcibly summon undead beings who are weaker than yourself and make them battle for you.
“The legions of undead that were summoned during the large-scale war had exactly been summoned through compelled summoning.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly to that.
“The second type is contractual summoning.
“If your spiritual power is too weak, or if you wish to summon powerful undead beings yet are unable to forcibly do so, you’ll need to send your subconsciousness to the Dead Souls Plane and enter a contract with those powerful undead beings.
“I once had an Undead Skeletal Dragon that was a half-deity. It was exactly through a contract that I had managed to summon it over here to help in the battle!”
Puhaman looked at Meng Lei and said, “Master, you have a powerful divine spirit, so summoning undead beings weaker than a half-deity shouldn’t be a problem for you at all. As for the half-deities, you’ll probably need to make a contract with them for it to work.”
“I’ll try the compelled summoning first.”
Meng Lei didn’t go right into summoning powerful undead beings. After all, the reason why he was learning Dead Souls Magic was only that he wanted to use it as a stepping stone to study Devil Magic, so what was he supposed to summon such strong undead beings for?
Then, he built the Dead Souls channel and forcibly summoned the undead.
Thud!
A two-meter-tall skeleton with a bone saber in its hand walked out of the Dead Souls channel. It gave off a strong aura of death, and a ball of will-o’-the-wisp blazed quietly in its skull.
“You’re really too impressive, Master! This is merely your first time summoning, yet you’ve managed to summon a Fifth-Grade Skeleton General! This is practically unprecedented in history and will never be again seen in the future.
“My feelings of admiration toward Master are endless and eternal like the gushing rivers. They are like the overflowing Yellow River, beyond control once the floodgates open!”
Astonishment and wonder filled Puhaman’s eyes as he sucked up to Meng Lei fervently.
“Fifth-Grade…”
Meng Lei was rather embarrassed. He couldn’t resist glancing at his half-deity subordinates, upon which he discovered that all of them had rather strange looks on their faces and were trying to hold back their laughter…
“Cough, cough!”
Meng Lei let out a few coughs of embarrassment. Then, he paid those guys no further heed and continued to summon the undead.
A Sixth-Grade Hell Mirage Fox, an Eighth-Grade Demonic Ram General, a Saint Domain-level Hellhound…
Meng Lei’s comprehension of Dead Souls Magic deepened further and further. After summoning a limits-level Saint Domain Undead Skeletal Dragon, he finally stopped his Dead Souls Magic experiments.
It was sufficient by this point.
Then, Meng Lei moved ahead and delved into the main topic. He asked, “Puhaman, are you familiar with Devil Magic?”
“Devil Magic?”
Puhaman was slightly taken aback. He replied, “Although Devil Magic is identical to Dead Souls Magic and are both classified as summoning magic, I really am not familiar with it.”
“I’d like to summon a Devil.”
Meng Lei said aloofly, “The existential planes that Devils live in are probably the Demon Realm and the Abyss, right? Do you have any means of connecting me to the Demon Realm or the Abyss?”
Puhaman replied with a troubled smile, “Master, I’ve also studied Devil Magic in the past before, but unfortunately, I don’t have the talent for it.”
Meng Lei was rather disappointed to hear that. He asked, “In that case, I can only slowly open up my senses and see if I have any talent for cultivating Devil Magic?”
“That seems like the only way,” replied Puhaman with a wry smile.
“Alright! I’ll give it a go, then!”
Meng Lei had only just gotten ready to open up his senses when the Spider Goddess, who had been watching detachedly from the sidelines, suddenly spoke up. She asked, “Are you that interested in Devil Magic?”
“Somewhat, I guess.”
Meng Lei cast a glance at her.
The Spider Goddess was somewhat disappointed. Nevertheless, she said, “If you can set me free, I have the means to let you connect to the Demon Realm and leave a divine spirit mark there.”
“Really?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!”
The Spider Goddess gave him a confident smile.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but chuckle. As expected of an ancient spirit that had lived for 50,000 years. Although her combat prowess was merely mediocre, she was well-read, experienced, and knowledgeable. She wasn’t just a good-for-nothing.
“Alright, say it. If you tell me the solution, I can overlook your sin of bargaining just now,” said Meng Lei dispassionately.
“You—”
The Spider Goddess was livid. “Can you be any more shameless?”
“Mind your status, Rose!”
Meng Lei gave an icy snort before he said, “You’re my servant now. Everything you own—including your experience, knowledge, and so on—belongs to me! And this includes your loyalty as well! To think a servant like you actually dares to bargain with me, your Master! You’re pretty full of yourself!”
“Argghhhh!”
The Spider Goddess was close to going crazy. If it were possible, she really wished she could smash Meng Lei’s head into smithereens with a hammer. He was simply too wicked, too hateful, and too goddamn infuriating!
“I, Rose, must have been blind! Why did I submit to someone like you?”
The Spider Goddess flung a sheepskin parchment before turning her back to him. She didn’t want to see that face of Meng Lei’s at all right now!
Meng Lei caught the parchment and asked curiously, “What’s this?”
“A Devil contract!”
With a muffled grunt, the Spider Goddess said, “As long as you sign that Devil contract, you’ll be able to summon Devils all the way from the Demon Realm. You can then take the opportunity to leave your divine spirit mark in the Demon Realm, and that would do.”
“A Devil contract…”
Meng Lei stared at the parchment manuscript. Strange-looking text, as though messy, illegible drawings, were written on it. He couldn’t read them at all. He asked, “Can you read this, Puhaman?”
Puhaman shook his head and replied, “Master, these words are written in the Devil language. I can’t read them, either.”
“What about the rest of you?”
Meng Lei then turned to the others.
The rest of the half-deities also shook their heads.
“Take a look at this for me, Dodola!”
Meng Lei went into the Tower of Time.
“What’s this?”
Dodola reached out and took the parchment manuscript from him. “This is a Devil contract! And not just that, it’s even a master-servant Devil contract. Where did you get this?”
“A master-servant Devil contract?”
A jolt went through Meng Lei as he asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“Y’know, a master-servant contract’s a master-contract servant. Once you sign this contract, you’ll become the Devil’s servant, upon which you’ll then gain part of its power. It’s tantamount to selling your soul to the Devil in exchange for power.”
With a shake of its head, a laughing Dodola scoffed. “I didn’t think that those Devils’ ways were still this inferior and immature. Can’t they come up with something new instead?”
“Selling your soul?!”
A cold glint flashed past Meng Lei’s eyes, and he disappeared from the Tower of Time. “Rose, do you know the content of this Devil contract?”
The Spider Goddess shuddered fiercely as she stammered, “N-no, I don’t! All I know is that this is a Devil contract. I don’t know the content at all!”
“How dare you lie again!”
Meng Lei abruptly flung out the Gods-Slaying Spear with a cold snort, which instantly pierced through the Spider Goddess’ chest and nailed her down onto the ground.
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone. In a daze, all the half-deity subordinates stared at Meng Lei, whose visage was cold and frosty, before subsequently turning to the Spider Goddess who had been nailed to the ground. Their brains had short-circuited somewhat.
What kind of situation was this? Why had they suddenly come to blows for no reason?
“W-what are you doing?”
Blood spurted out of the Spider Goddess’ mouth as she glared at Meng Lei furiously.
“If you dare to do this again, the Gods-Slaying Spear won’t be piercing through your chest anymore, but your head!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort. Then, to Puhaman, he ordered, “Get me a Dark Fairy!”
“Yes, Master!”
Despite his puzzlement, Puhaman didn’t dare to probe. Soon, he brought him a Dark Fairy.
Meng Lei released the power of his divine spirit, took control of the Dark Fairy, and then made him sign the Devil contract.
The moment the contract took effect, the parchment manuscript carrying the Devil contract self-immolated and turned into a Devil mark, which landed in between the Dark Fairy’s brows.
Practically at the same time, a cloud of incredibly thick and dense blood-red mist descended from the skies and converged to form the hologram of a Devil with spikes on its back and whose body was a blood-red color throughout.
An evil, bloodthirsty, and savage aura emanated from the Devil hologram. Though not very strong, it nevertheless still greatly discomforted all the half-deities present.
Devils!
Deities!
They were natural enemies!
“Who was it that summoned the great Bloodseeker, Lord Barry Adrian Edmund Ives Harlow Disreali Esmond Collins?”
The Devil hologram spoke in a low, deep, and drawn-out voice. Then, its gaze fell onto the Dark Fairy kneeling on the ground, and it yawned.
“My lowly servant, was it you that summoned the great Bloodseeker, Lord Barry?”
The Dark Fairy had long since wet himself from fear. Where was he supposed to find the courage to answer the Devil’s inquiry?
However, not only was the Devil hologram not displeased, but it was even highly satisfied with the Dark Fairy’s reaction.
“My lowly servant, as long as you listen to Lord Barry obediently, Lord Barry will bestow upon you great power and eternal life—”
“Hmph!”
A cold snort reached the Devil at this point.
Slightly taken aback, the Devil hologram turned around, rather displeased. Upon which, it was then scared witless. Even its voice was trembling somewhat as it exclaimed, “H-half-deities!”
“How dare a puny little Saint Domain Devil make up such hocus-pocus here?” Meng Lei snorted and said, “Get lost!”
“Yes, yes!”
The Devil hologram vanished without a trace right away, lest it was a step too slow and ended up being killed by Meng Lei.
Puhaman came right up to them. As he stared at the Devil mark in between the Dark Fairy’s brows, a somewhat skeptical Puhaman asked, “Was that a master-servant contract just now, Master?”
“Yeap!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“That goddamn wh*re! How dare she harbor thoughts of harming Master!? This is unforgivable!”
Puhaman flew into a rage. “Master, what’s the point of leaving a bane like her alive? Why don’t you bestow her upon me and let me turn her into an Undead Knight?”
“You can deal with her any way you want if you can kill her,” replied Meng Lei aloofly.
“Ha… Haha!”
Puhaman cast a glance at the Spider Goddess before he gave an embarrassed smile. “I was just joking! Just joking!”
“Wussy!”
" }, { "id": 231, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-231", "title": "Chapter 231 - Sunset Ranges, The Titan Empire", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Barry the Bloodseeker had run off in fear!
What returned to the Demon Realm together with it was also the divine spirit mark that Meng Lei had left on it.
“I did it!”
Meng Lei could now easily sense the Demon Realm’s presence through the divine spirit mark.
After that, he built a Devil channel and summoned Devils from the Demon Realm based on Dead Souls Magic’s principles.
A Fifth-Grade Imp…
A Seventh-Grade Underworld Ghost…
A Saint Domain-level Great Devil…
He summoned one Devil after another.
Imps, Underworld Ghosts, Little Devils, Great Devils, Ice Devils, Horned Devils, Fire Devils…
Only one outcome awaited these Devils, and that was—to be sent into the Tower of Time.
Like what Dodola had said, Devils were the best source of food for Fallen Angels.
When Little Cola saw the Devils, she reacted like a cat that had just seen a mouse and began to devour them fervently.
All the Little Devils!
All the Underworld Ghosts!
In under a day’s time, Little Cola had devoured almost 100 Devils and Imps. The aura around her was constantly swelling.
“She has such a big appetite!”
As Meng Lei watched Little Cola feed, all that was left in him was deep astoundment. A Devil was a Devil after all—how could normal human children compare to her?
Even so, Meng Lei didn’t wish to starve Little Cola. His divine spirit continued to circle above Hell, catching every Devil that he could catch.
After half a day, the number of Devils that Meng Lei had forcibly summoned had reached as many as 100,000.
It was only at this point that Meng Lei stopped his summoning.
“Master, can you let me study Devil Magic a little, too?” asked Puhaman as he rubbed his hands and gazed at Meng Lei with an expression full of hope, the meaning behind his request self-evident.
Meng Lei agreed to it right away. He built a Devil channel, upon which Puhaman quickly made a mark in the Demon Realm with his divine spirit. Then, he expressed his sincerest gratitude to Meng Lei for his generosity.
A smiling Meng Lei said, “Summon a few more Devils for fun when you’re free. I have use for them.”
“Understood, Master,” Puhaman quickly replied.
“Alright, you may return now.”
“Yes, Master!”
After sending Puhaman back to the Imperial City, Meng Lei gathered the few half-deities.
“Bubbles, Klaus, Seisia, and Nadja are to leave with me.” Meng Lei instructed, “Mervyn, Pursuer, and the Spider Goddess are to remain underground and spread my faith.”
“Yes, Master!”
The six half-deities bowed in acknowledgment.
Although the Spider Goddess was displeased with Meng Lei’s orders, the Gods-Slaying Spear jab earlier had given her a true understanding of just how strong Meng Lei was. Not daring to challenge his authority anymore, she neither spoke up nor rejected the order, indirectly and silently accepting the order.
“I hope my faith can spread throughout the entire underground world in a year’s time.”
Meng Lei cast a glance at Mervyn, Pursuer, and the Spider Goddess and said, “Don’t let me down!”
“We’ll definitely live up to your expectations, Master!”
Mervyn and the Pursuer hastily promised.
“Great!”
Then, Meng Lei brought the other four half-deity subordinates with him and left the underground world.
Before he left, Meng Lei also left behind five divine tree fruits for Little Gold. With these fruits, Little Gold would be able to step into the Saint Domain realm within a short period.
“Master, are we going to the Sunset Ranges next?” asked Bubbles.
Meng Lei nodded slightly and replied, “Klaus, your speed is the fastest among everyone. Bring us there.”
“Yes, Master!”
Klaus transformed into his true form—a mutated Fire Dragon—and then, he flew toward the Sunset Ranges with the others on his back.
As Meng Lei rested on Klaus’ back, boredom came over him, and he decided to contact the system.
“System, carry out 1,000 Limitless Pickups!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a pair of Lucy the Fairy’s crystal shoes!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“Eh?”
With a casual flip of his wrist, a silver divine core appeared on Meng Lei’s palm. Lightning flashed brilliantly and streaked furiously within the divine core—it was actually a thunder-elemental divine core.
“That’s…?”
Upon sensing the divine core’s aura, Bubbles, Nadja, Seisia, and even Klaus underneath them looked over one by one, looks of disbelief coming over their faces.
“A d-divine core!”
“It’s actually a divine core!”
The four half-deities’ breathing turned quick and ragged, the desire in their eyes openly shown. In particular, Seisia the Thunderbolt Queen’s eyes brimmed with greed and longing.
She was a Thunderbolt Naga whose main field of cultivation was thunder-elemental laws of nature, so thunder-elemental divine cores suited her element the best. Were she to assimilate it, she would definitely be able to become a true god!
“Stop staring at it. I can’t give it to you guys for the time being.”
Meng Lei glanced at them, and then, he said, “Don’t bother thinking about these divine cores while I’m still not yet a true god. Even if you do, I’m not going to give them to you!”
“Master, you mean…”
A great shudder went through the four of them!
“Perform well, and you’ll get what you deserve, but don’t hanker after what you don’t!”
Meng Lei took out the other two divine cores and very casually showed them off with a slight smile.
“Divine cores!”
“That’s three divine cores!”
The four half-deities were green with envy. To think there were actually three divine cores on their Master! On top of that, by the sound of what he had said…
“Don’t worry, Master! We swear allegiance and devotion to you unto our dying day. We’ll strive to the utmost with our lives and spare no effort!” The four half-deities hastily made their stances clear.
“I hope so!”
Then, Meng Lei’s attention returned to the system notifications.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Viscount Io’s ring!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
“A Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
Meng Lei was overjoyed. “Haha! I’ve actually obtained another Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract! I’m so lucky! With this Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract, these 1,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals are simply too well-spent!
“Without any further ado, I’ll just assimilate it first!”
Boom!
A moment later, Meng Lei’s gaze swept over the stats interface, and he couldn’t help but beam.
Just as he had hoped for, his divine spirit had reached pinnacle-grade after he assimilated the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract.
“With this, together with my pinnacle-grade half-deity body, I’ve finally stepped into the pinnacle-level half-deity realm!”
Highly satisfied with the rewards he’d gotten from the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Meng Lei promptly ordered another 1,000 times of Limitless Pickups. However, it seemed like he had expended all his luck this time.
He actually didn’t pick up even a single decent item during the 1,000 attempts.
Meng Lei wasn’t that furious about the outcome, however. This was gambling, after all—only with losses and gains would things be interesting. Where would the fun be if he were to win all the time?
“Another 1,000 times!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained an Ice Field Alligator!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!”
“Eh? It’s actually a metal-dark-fire fusion laws of nature fragment this time. Not bad, not bad. This round wasn’t a loss!”
Meng Lei quickly looked at his stats interface. True enough, his laws of nature comprehension attribute had indeed changed.
Laws of Nature: Wood-Earth Fusion (100%), Metal-Dark Fusion (100%), Thunder-Ice Fusion (100%), Water-Light Fusion (100%), Metal-Dark-Fire Fusion (0.1%)
“System, how much does it cost to raise my metal-dark-fire laws of nature assimilation rate?”
“Ding! Raising metal-dark-fire laws of nature assimilation rate by 1% costs 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“If 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals is required for every 1% raised, then raising it to 100% would mean 10 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
Meng Lei did a silent calculation. Then, he said, “I guess I’ll just leave it be for now. It’s not too late to boost it after I ransack the Sunset Ranges and Golden Archipelago.”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Innate Special Ability ‘Absolute Zero’. Will you assimilate it?”
“Eh? The Innate Special Ability Absolute Zero?”
Meng Lei instructed, “Assimilate it!”
After completing the assimilation process, Meng Lei couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. Though the Innate Special Ability Absolute Zero was similar to the Divine Technique Absolute Zero, they weren’t completely the same.
First of all, it didn’t expend any power of divinity.
As an Innate Special Ability, usage of the Absolute Zero ability was instinctive to the user, so it didn’t require any expenditure of power of divinity.
It was simpler, more convenient, and quicker!
Next, it was also mightier.
Not only could the Innate Special Ability version of Absolute Zero freeze everything in the world, but it could freeze and even shatter spatial dimensions.
Simply put, the Innate Special Ability version of Absolute Zero was an enhanced and ‘plus’ version of the Divine Technique Absolute Zero.
“This ability is pretty good!”
Meng Lei took to the ability very much. In the past, he’d also frequently used the first-class spell Absolute Zero, but evidently, as he—as well as his opponents—became stronger, the first-class spell version of Absolute Zero could no longer meet his needs.
Additionally, the Divine Technique Absolute Zero also required expenditure of power of divinity and wasn’t worth the loss. As a result, Meng Lei rarely used Absolute Zero now.
But now that he had the Innate Special Ability version of Absolute Zero, he could use it again.
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Unicorn bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Demi-Giant’s mace.”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“Another divine core? It’s a wind-elemental one this time! Not bad, not bad! I’m keeping it!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline! Will you assimilate it?”
“The Hundred-Armed Giant?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback. “Is the Hundred-Armed Giant also a Titan? Wait a moment. I’ll have to ask Dodola about it later before I decide whether or not I’d want to assimilate it.”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!
“It’s an earth-wood-thunder one this time, not bad!”
Just like that, Meng Lei did item pickups while he traveled leisurely.
Klaus traveled at a very high speed. In just two hours, they had already arrived at the Sunset Ranges.
Heaven’s Vault Continent’s terrain was high in the west and low in the east. The terrain in the central region’s Magical Beast Ridge and the eastern region’s Dragon God Empire was relatively flat and level. However, by the time they arrived at the Titan Empire in the western region, all that filled the area were plateaus—and these plateaus were the Titan Plateaus.
The Titan Plateaus’ height above sea level was relatively high, and the vegetation simple. As a result, their resources were also comparatively scarcer. This was the first impression Meng Lei received upon entering the Titan Plateaus.
The entire Sunset Ranges was just like a wall that stood in between the Titan Plateaus and the Far Northern Wastelands. Each side presented a different landform.
“Master, we’ve reached Sunset Ranges!”
“We’ve arrived? Let’s head to where the Chimeras are.”
“Yes, Master!”
Half an hour later, the group arrived at the Chimeras’ turf. What they hadn’t expected, however, was that the entire Chimera clan had already been ransacked and emptied.
Every single person in the clan had disappeared. Only the blood all over the ground and signs of fierce battle silently recounted the Chimeras’ encounter.
As for the Chimera Queen and the clan’s financial assets, they were also gone.
“Has someone beat me to it?”
Meng Lei had a rather unpleasant look on his face. He had come all the way here just for the Chimera Queen’s assets.
As a half-deity, the Chimera Queen’s savings must have been pretty substantial. Meng Lei had been waiting for a windfall to befall him, yet it was all gone now?
“Search!”
Meng Lei barked, “I’d like to know who’s so bold as to take my money for themselves!”
“Yes, Master!”
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s rage, the four half-deity subordinates hastily began to search about.
Four half-deities launching a full-on search was naturally no joke. A few minutes later, they’d already come up with something.
“Master, based on the footprints, it’s likely people from the Titan Empire that did it. On top of that, their numbers are pretty big!”
“The Titan Empire? How gutsy of them!”
" }, { "id": 232, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-232", "title": "Chapter 232 - The Hundred-Armed Giant, Showdown Before The Gods", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“The Hundred-Armed Giant is an ancient, mutated being. They originate from the Titan Gods, yet have no place in the clan and are viewed by the Titan Gods as variants, heretics, and mutants.”
Dodola explained, “But undeniably, the Hundred-Armed Giants possess way more fearsome strength, even more, powerful defenses, and wilder and more berserk combat power than regular Titan Gods.
“Because the Titan Gods have abandoned them, the Hundred-Armed Giants regard the Titan Gods with extreme hostility and extend the same sentiments to all the gods in the Void. Hence, they have aligned themselves with the Devils to become the Supreme God of The Underworld’s guards.”
“The Supreme God of The Underworld?”
Meng Lei was awfully puzzled.
“The Supreme God of The Underworld is one of the greatest existences in the vast universe. He’s also one of the rulers of the Netherworld, which is one of the two major supreme existential planes,” answered Dodola.
“One of the rulers of the Netherworld?!”
Meng Lei’s breathing stopped for a moment there. He exclaimed, “The Hundred-Armed Giants have actually become his guards? They come from a pretty impressive background, then!”
“Of course!”
Dodola nodded lightly.
Meng Lei asked, “What’s up with the Titan Gods, though? Are there also Titans outside of Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
“That’s not the right way to put it because the Titans in Heaven’s Vault Continent are just the Titan Gods’ descendants. They aren’t pure Titan Gods.”
Dodola said dispassionately, “Pure-blooded Titan Gods are one million-feet-tall and are capable of ripping true gods apart. In no way are they inferior to the Fallen Angels of the Demon Realm.”
“Are the Titan Gods actually that savage?”
Meng Lei swallowed as he remarked, “Going by what you’ve said, the Titans on Heaven’s Vault Continent are no different from babies that haven’t grown up—ah, no, they can’t even be considered babies.”
“That goes without saying. The Titan Gods’ descendants are scattered all over the vast universe. Can the Titans on Heaven’s Vault Continent even be considered Titans?”
Dodola scoffed. “In truth, the best habitats for higher races like the Titan Gods and the Fallen Angels are actually high-end existential planes because they’ll only regress if they stay on material planes.”
“I understand now.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. After chatting with Dodola for a while more, he exited the Tower of Time.
“Where are we now?”
At his question, Bubbles bowed and replied, “Master, we’ve just passed through one of the Titan Empire’s Twelve Pillar Nations, the Great Earth Pillar Nation. We’re about to enter the territory directly under the Titan Empire’s jurisdiction.”
His voice was shaking somewhat. The Titan Empire had once been a country that he’d loved with all his heart, yet he’d been labeled a traitor and a renegade.
Since then, his homeland had become a forbidden zone to him, and he’d never ever returned. Besides… He couldn’t!
In the twinkling of an eye, almost 10,000 years had passed.
But today, he was finally going to be back. Bubbles held extremely complex feelings toward this.
Agitated? Apprehensive? Furious? It seemed like they were all present, yet not entirely so, either. In any case, it was a very complicated feeling.
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he said, “Continue to search for the Chimeras’ tracks and check who among the Titan Empire the culprits are.”
“Yes, Master!”
Although the Titan Empire was made up of high-rise plateaus, the terrain was fairly level. It was almost all endless plains and fields, with people mainly doing animal husbandry.
Packs of Iron-Horned Oxes… Horned Horse-Elephants that could be seen everywhere… Spotted Iron-Hoofed Goats all over the fields and mountains…
The ones in charge of shepherding them were all humans and Beast People. They lived in tents and shepherded the livestock, laboring away painstakingly.
On the contrary, many big and tall demi-giant nobles rode on large, hulking beasts and raced about in the fields, having the time of their lives.
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and commented, “The humans in the Titan Empire don’t have it that great, either.”
“Master, you may not know this, but humans are also classified as fourth-class beings in the Titan Empire.”
Bubbles explained, “In first-class are the pure-blooded Titans while the Demi-Titans are second-class and other nobles third-class. Normal humans and Beast People are fourth-class, so they are no different from their counterparts in the Dragon God Empire.”
“Fourth-class…”
Then, Meng Lei asked, “How’s the search going? Where have the Chimeras been captured and brought to?”
“Based on the tracks, Master, the Chimeras have likely been brought to the Titan Colossal City.”
“The Titan Colossal City? Let’s go there, then,” replied Meng Lei.
“Yes, Master!”
An hour later, they arrived at the Titan Empire’s capital, the Titan Colossal City.
Shrouded in clouds and mists all year round, the city, which sat atop the Divine Titan Mountain, was situated the highest above sea level among all the cities in Heaven’s Vault Continent. On average, it was over 10,000 meters above sea level!
By right, considering how high they were above sea level, the air there must be very thin, hence making it very difficult for normal people to survive there. Yet the truth was that the weather in the city was nice and pleasant and the environment beautiful, with extremely rich magic elements in the surroundings.
Why was that?
As it turned out, it was because the Titan Colossal City was enveloped in a gigantic magic barrier. The magic barrier absorbed an unending stream of magic elements in the surroundings and supplemented the city with them.
“Master, that’s the Titan Colossal City beneath us!”
Bubbles was rather worked up. “Do we fight our way right in or…”
“No! This is my first time coming to this city. How can I not take a good look around?”
Meng Lei shook his head and said, “After all, this is the city that’s hailed as Heaven’s Vault Continent’s most majestic, most magnificent, and grandest city!”
“As Master commands!”
Bubbles was rather disappointed.
“Let’s go down!”
Perched high on the summit, the Titan Colossal City was as if an ancient fort. The city walls were thick, heavy, and aged, with too many traces left behind by time on them.
A team of 10-meters-tall, silver armor-clad demi-giant guards with iron spears in their hands surveyed the passing crowds with sharp, keen eyes.
When Meng Lei and the others came over, they allowed them all to pass, as though they hadn’t noticed them at all.
Upon entering the city, what greeted them was architecture that was all made out of stone. Towers built out of layered stones, bridges constructed from boulders, taverns, shops…
The place was bold and imposing, rough and magnificent.
It was unlike the Dragon God Empire’s architectural style, yet there was a different kind of bold and rough beauty to it.
People went to and fro in the wide, spacious streets. 50% of them were humans and 40% of them Beast People, with demi-giants making up less than 10%. As for the Titans, there wasn’t even a single one.
This was the most direct reflection of their reproduction rates. Since the Titans’ were the weakest, their numbers were naturally the smallest as well.
“Why do these Beast People look like they’re leading very comfortable lives when the Titan Empire and the Beast People Empire are constantly warring?”
The Beast People going to and fro in the streets looked happy and cheerful, unlike the tragic state that Meng Lei had imagined them to be in. Weren’t they captives and slaves?
“There’s more to it than meets the eye, Master.”
Bubbles explained, “The Beast People who live here are basically all refugees who couldn’t live on in the Beast People Empire.
“Beast People are diligent, honest, and hardworking. They can do many things that Titans cannot. As a result, they are fairly welcomed in the Titan Empire and lead much better lives than what they do in the Beast People Empire.”
Bubbles explained, “Their peaceful, comfortable lives have allowed these Beast People to cultivate a sense of belonging to the Titan Empire that’s much stronger than what they have for the Beast People Empire.”
“I see!”
Meng Lei was enlightened.
“Sir, our store has brought in a new batch of Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs. They are fresh and tasty with a smooth and tender texture! Come on in and have a bite! First come, first served, you snooze, you lose!”
In front of a restaurant, a sexily-dressed Fox-Woman waitress called out to passersby as she solicited customers. Her voice was sweet, pleasant, and intoxicating.
“Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs?” Something occurred to Meng Lei, and he said, “Let’s go! I’ll treat you guys to a meal!”
“A meal?”
The four half-deities were taken aback. Nevertheless, they still followed Meng Lei and entered the restaurant.
With a menu in her hands, an adorable and charming Cat-Woman waitress with a sweet smile asked, “Esteemed guests, what would you like to eat?”
“Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs!”
Meng Lei said, “I’d like 100 roasted pigs!”
“1-100 pigs?”
Startled, the Cat-Woman waitress thought she had misheard, and she asked, “Esteemed guests, are you sure you want 100 roasted Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs?”
“You didn’t mishear me. 100 pigs it is!”
Meng Lei chuckled and said, “Go ahead and prepare them. We can finish them!”
“A-alright!”
It was only after the astounded Cat-Woman waitress left that a smiling Meng Lei said, “Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs are good stuff. One is worth quite a few gold coins! Have more later, don’t stand on ceremony with me!”
“Yes, Master!”
The four subordinates’ lip corners spasmed as they responded.
Treating us to Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs, which cost only a few gold coins?
“In your opinions, who do you think will win in the Showdown Before The Gods this time?”
“I think the Blue Frost King has a chance of winning. As of now, he has already won 19 successive matches without a single loss. He’s definitely the number one candidate for the Child of God!”
“The Blue Frost King? No offense, but had his previous opponents not been that lousy, would he be able to maintain his current battle records?”
“Hurhur, so you don’t think he’s up to it? Why don’t you do it if you think you can, then!”
“Hey, let’s keep it to simple chatting! Don’t you start a fight!”
“I won’t! In that case, why don’t you tell me who you think can claim the final victory?”
“In my opinion, I think Prince Poserei’s chances of victory are the highest. Think about it, eight out of ten Child of God candidates during the last ten years were from the imperial royal family, while the kingdoms only took two places. It’ll definitely be no exception this year, either!”
“The Child of God selection looks only at one’s combat prowess, not their backgrounds!”
“So, you don’t believe me? Wait and see, then!”
“What are they talking about?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei as he gestured at the two people seated at another table a short distance away.
“Probably the Showdown Before The Gods!”
A smiling Bubbles explained, “The Showdown Before The Gods is a grand affair held once every ten years in the Titan Empire. All young talents and heroes under the age of 35 are eligible to take part in it.
“The victor may then enter the holy temple and receive the Titan Spiritual God’s blessings to become the new Child of God, thereby leaping high beyond their current positions into a bright future!”
“I see!”
Enlightened, Meng Lei remarked, “That’s somewhat similar to the Dragon God Empire’s exchange competition.”
“The Titan Empire’s Showdown Before The Gods is much grander than the Dragon God Empire’s exchange competition!”
A smiling Bubbles said, “It’s said that it has already started 50,000 years ago after the Titan Spiritual God achieved godhood. On top of that, the Titan Spiritual God would also personally give his blessings. All those that receive his blessings will be able to step into the half-deity stage within 100 years!”
“100 years? Become a half-deity?”
Astonished, Meng Lei asked, “That’s not quite possible, is it? If that’s really the case, the Titan Empire would have been overflowing with half-deities a long time ago. What’s left for the other three empires, then?”
“There’s more to it than meets the eye, Master!”
Bubbles said with a wry smile, “All the Children of God who received the Titan Spiritual God’s blessings would be led away by him after they achieve half-deification.”
“Led away by him?”
Meng Lei was even more puzzled now.
“Yes, they would leave!”
Bubbles said leisurely, “No one knows why they are led away, but all the Children of God who were blessed indeed were able to become half-deities within 100 years.”
“Half-deification within 100 years!”
Meng Lei was astounded. “That’s mass-manufacturing of half-deities! The Titan Spiritual God certainly comes up with much greater means than the Dragon God!”
“There’s no comparison between the two at all, alright?”
Dodola’s voice suddenly rang out in Meng Lei’s mind. “The Titan Spiritual God controls the power of faith domains in almost 100 material planes around us. Heaven’s Vault Continent is just one among many! How can the Dragon God compare to him?”
" }, { "id": 233, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-233", "title": "Chapter 233 - The Four Great True Gods And The Five Great Supremes", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "There were four great true gods in Heaven’s Vault Continent. They were also the four deities whom the four major empires worshiped—the Dragon God, the Titan Spiritual God, the Beast God, and the Fairy Goddess.
Among the four, Meng Lei had a better understanding of the Dragon God and knew that he was an intermediate deity. However, he knew nothing about the other three at all.
Thus, Meng Lei decided to consult Dodola. He said, “Tell me about the four great true gods, Dodola, especially the Titan Spiritual God, the Beast God, and the Fairy Goddess.”
Highly satisfied with Meng Lei’s attitude, Dodola immediately broke into a smile and said, “Among the four true gods of Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Dragon God is the most unbearable to behold.
“He owns only two divine incarnations and has barely reached the level of an intermediate deity. On top of that, he only has Heaven’s Vault Continent as a power of faith domain, let alone anyone to back him up.”
Dodola was full of contempt for him. It said, “Among the four great true gods, he’s the weakest in terms of combat prowess, owns the least territories, and is also the least influential. He’s a total piece of trash!”
“Is the Dragon God that unbearable to behold?”
Meng Lei was somewhat lost for words. The Spider Goddess had made the Dragon God out to be an extremely fearsome character, yet in Dodola’s eyes, he was practically worse than a piece of trash.
Oh, why was there such a huge gap between one and another?
“Duh!”
Dodola side-eyed Meng Lei.
Meng Lei then asked, “What about the Titan Spiritual God?”
“Let’s talk about the Beast God first. The second weakest among the four great true gods, he’s also an intermediate deity.”
With a shake of its head, Dodola said, “However, the Beast God has been a true god for a much longer time than the Dragon God. Additionally, he also rules over the power of faith domains in seven to eight existential planes.
“After such a long passage of time and under the nourishment of an endless stream of power of faith, the Beast God has come to own five divine incarnations and is considered the most top-notch intermediate deity.”
Somewhat dumbstruck, Meng Lei asked, “In other words, the Beast God needs only to progress another step further and assimilate two more types of laws of nature, and he’ll be able to ascend to a higher deity?”
“That’s right!”
With a nod, Dodola added, “Although this one last step is extremely difficult to achieve and may daunt the Beast God for a billion years, he is indeed only a step away from becoming a higher deity! Moreover…”
Dodola said, “The Beast God has joined the All-Beast True God Alliance. Even though the true gods in the alliance are all unsavory characters, they nonetheless still count as a force.
“With the All-Beast True God Alliance backing him up, the Beast God is much bigger of a force to reckon with than the Dragon God. You’d best think twice before you mess with him.”
“The All-Beast True God Alliance…” Meng Lei mumbled, “Do true gods also need to find strength in numbers?”
“Of course! Absolutely! It’s a must!”
Dodola said affirmatively, “The Void is far more dangerous than what you can imagine. Having connections to back you up is something that’s absolutely essential. You’ll understand once you leave Heaven’s Vault Continent and enter the Void!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully before he urged, “Go on!”
“As for the third true god—the Titan Spiritual God—even though he only owns one divine incarnation, he has awakened the Titan God bloodline. This is enough for him to rival pinnacle-level intermediate deities!”
Dodola went on. “Actually, this is also the case for the vast majority of Titan Gods. They do not cultivate laws of nature but only cultivate their divine bodies. However, their combat strength is incomparably and domineeringly powerful.”
Meng Lei, who had now gotten a better understanding, then asked in puzzlement, “What did you mean just now when you mentioned that the Titan Spiritual God owns power of faith domains in almost 100 material planes?”
“20,000 years ago, the Titan Spiritual God gained acknowledgment from the Theodore Titan Gods of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, and was classified as a priority target of grooming.”
Dodola explained, “The power of faith domains in those 100 material planes are grooming resources that the Theodore Titan Gods had bestowed upon him.
“For the sake of controlling those material planes, the Titan Spiritual God spared no costs and went as far as to bestow substantial rewards, select Children of God, and bring them over to those planes.”
“The Theodore Titan Gods?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“The Titan Gods are a strong and powerful race whose traces can be found all over the vast universe. They have offshoots and blood descendants in many existential planes.”
Dodola said, “Among which, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s Theodore Titan Gods are an extremely powerful Titan God clan. They are one of the top major clans of Thunderbolt Divine Realm and control innumerable normal existential planes.”
“To bestow the Titan Spiritual God with 100 material planes in one go, the Theodore Titan Gods sure are generous!”
Meng Lei, who was having a case of sour grapes, said, “In comparison, the Dragon God is much more pitiful.”
Dodola shook its head and chuckled. “As they say, big trees provide great shade 1 . No matter where you go, this is a truth that will never change.”
“That’s true. No matter where you go, you’ll always need to pit your background against another’s!” Meng Lei shook his head. Then he asked, “What about the Fairy Goddess?”
“The Fairy Goddess achieved true godhood the earliest among the four. She’s also the most ancient, the strongest, and the one with the most formidable background!”
At the mention of the Fairy Goddess, Dodola became much more serious. It said, “The era during which she became a true god can be traced back to 500,000 years ago. On top of that, she also has a vast number of worshipers. She generally has worshipers in every existential plane that contains the Fairies’ presence.”
Meng Lei asked, “What about her combat prowess?”
“The Fairy goddess was already a higher deity 200,000 years ago. After such a long passage of time, no matter how bad it gets, she’d also have assimilated two to three types of laws of nature by now.”
Dodola sighed. “After all, she has a wood-origin divine body, so her cultivation speed is astonishingly fast from the start. Not to mention that she also has the support of the Natural Goddesses System behind her!”
“Wood-origin divine body? The Natural Goddesses System?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“A wood-origin divine body is a type of origin divine body!”
Dodola explained, “Origin divine bodies are one of the most powerful types of divine bodies. As they are compatible with laws of nature origins, not only do the owners of such bodies have an astonishingly fast cultivation speed, but they are also incomparably strong. On top of that, they also come with all kinds of incredible Innate Special Abilities.”
“Origin divine bodies,” Meng Lei murmured.
“There are many types of origin divine bodies. The ten basic laws of nature correspond with ten different types of origin divine bodies. The Fairy Goddess’ divine body is exactly a wood-origin one.”
Dodola said, “As for the Natural Goddesses System, they are one of the most influential forces of the Void, and are made up of multiple Chief Gods, tens of thousands of higher deities, and innumerable intermediate deities.
“The Fairy Goddess has a wood-origin divine body and is one of the Natural Goddesses System’s priority targets of grooming. Thus, there is hope for her to attain Great Perfection.”
Meng Lei was rather astounded. “The Fairy Goddess actually comes from an even more impressive background than the Titan Spiritual God!”
“Of course!”
Dodola nodded lightly. “Disregarding the Natural Goddesses System behind the Fairy Goddess, just her own combat prowess alone is already absolutely fearsome. To her, squashing you dead is no different from squashing an ant dead!”
“That is certainly so!”
Meng Lei did not deny that.
“Of course, you’re not that bad, either!”
Thinking that Meng Lei had suffered a blow because of what it had said, a smiling Dodola comforted him. It said, “Not only do you have the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, but you’ve also comprehended ten types of laws of nature. As long as you cultivate according to my plan, your future achievements will definitely be above the Fairy Goddess’!”
“Your plan?”
Startled, Meng Lei asked, “What plan?”
“The plan to obtain the Dragon God Empire’s faith and cultivate your divine spirit to half-deity pinnacle-level, and then split your divine spirit and light up your divine fire to become a true god, of course!”
Dodola side-eyed Meng Lei and said, “Obtaining the Dragon God Empire’s faith is the first trial that I… Cough, that the great God of Time has given you. Surely you haven’t forgotten about that, kid?”
Rather dissatisfied, Dodola said, “You absolutely mustn’t be careless when it comes to matters about faith. You have to obtain the Dragon God Empire’s faith. Three years shouldn’t be too short a period, right?”
“I haven’t forgotten. It’s just that…”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he asked, “Dodola, do I absolutely have to split my divine spirit? Can’t I just assimilate the laws of nature first and then light up the divine fire to achieve deification later?”
“Don’t even think about it! That’s impossible!”
Dodola chastised him. “What do you see laws of nature assimilation as? Playing house?
“If it were that easy, then why didn’t the Dragon God assimilate them? Why didn’t the Beast God assimilate them? Why didn’t the many true gods in the vast universe assimilate them?”
That’s because they don’t have the system!
Meng Lei dissed Dodola inwardly. Then, he shrugged and said, “Would you believe me if I tell you that I’ve already assimilated the laws of nature—and on top of that, it isn’t just one type?”
“Yeah, right, as if I will!!”
Dodola shook its head resolutely. “I’d have a screw loose in my head if I were to believe you! And more than one type at that—are you trying to kid a three-year-old here?”
“Why won’t you believe me?”
Meng Lei raised his arm slightly. A bright blue thread shot out of his fingertip and weaved together to form a bright blue cage that gave off torrential power of laws of nature.
“What’s that?”
Dodola was slightly taken aback. Then, a look of disbelief came over its countenance. “That’s… That’s f-fusion laws of nature! W-water and light fusion laws of nature!”
“That’s right! It’s water-light fusion laws of nature!”
Meng Lei withdrew the bright blue cage and created a pink one. Once again, Dodola was astounded. “That’s… Thunder-ice fusion laws of nature!”
“That’s right!”
Meng Lei nodded again. Next up was a bright brown thread.
“Metal-dark-fire fusion laws of nature!!”
Dodola was completely dumbfounded. “A fusion of three types of laws of nature!”
Then, Meng Lei did another change.
“Earth-wood-thunder!!”
Dodola was on the brink of insanity. “Oh my god! This, this… What exactly is going on? Why is this happening? How exactly did you manage to do that?”
From the string of three questions in a row, one could see the extent of Dodola’s astoundment at the moment.
“Nothing is impossible in this world!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. He said, “As of now, I’ve completely assimilated wood-earth, metal-dark, water-light, and thunder-ice laws of nature, while I’ve also started to assimilate earth-wood-thunder and metal-dark-fire laws of nature.”
It’s just a shame that I can’t bear to part with the money. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have any problem completely assimilating earth-wood-thunder and metal-dark-fire laws of nature, too.
“Earth-wood-thunder, metal-dark-fire…”
Dodola stared at Meng Lei as though it was staring at a freak. Only after a substantially long while did it finally regain its senses, and it couldn’t help but exclaim, “This isn’t right! Why have you begun to develop in the direction of life laws of nature and destruction laws of nature? That won’t do! Absolutely not!”
“Life laws of nature? Destruction laws of nature?”
Meng Lei looked stupefied.
“At this point, I won’t leave you hanging anymore. You’re simply too worrisome. If you end up being led astray someday, I won’t even be in time to cry!”
Dodola took a deep breath and said, “Listen up now. What I’m about to say is very important to you. You must keep it firmly in mind!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily.
“You should know that there are a total of ten basic laws of nature in the universe and that on top of them are also many other supreme forms of laws of nature.”
Meng Lei made a sound of acknowledgment.
“Don’t ask me for a concrete number of how many types of supreme laws of nature there are, because I don’t know, either. The requirements for cultivating supreme laws of nature are very demanding, and on top of that, they are also extremely hard to comprehend.”
Dodola explained, “As of now, no one has ever comprehended all of the supreme laws of nature. As a result, no one knows just how many types of supreme laws of nature there are in total in the universe, even till today.”
Meng Lei’s brows drew together slightly before he then understood why. This was actually very understandable.
Just like how everyone knew that there were a total of seven continents on Earth. But before the Americas, Australia, and Antarctica were discovered, who would have been able to know beforehand that there were a total of seven continents on Earth?
Evidently, the same logic applied to the supreme laws of nature, too.
A type would be discovered when one was comprehended, and two would be discovered when two were comprehended.
Before someone comprehended them, who would know of their existence?
“As of now, there are a total of five supreme laws of nature that have been discovered—destruction, life, spatial, death, and time laws of nature.”
With great pride, Dodola said, “Among which, the great God of Time was the first to discover time laws of nature, albeit just the tip of the iceberg, even for someone like him!”
“Destruction laws of nature!
“Life laws of nature!
“Death laws of nature!
“Spatial laws of nature!
“Time laws of nature!
“So, these are five great supreme laws of nature that have been discovered?” Meng Lei murmured to himself, “How does one comprehend the supreme laws of nature?”
“Very simple—you just need to assimilate five types of laws of nature.”
Dodola said very affirmatively, “When five types of laws of nature are integrated and fused into one, there’ll be a chance that an all-new supreme law of nature will be created. Of course, this is just a possibility because, with ten basic types of laws of nature around, a fusion of any five random types would mean a total of 252 different combinations. However, there are currently only five combinations that can truly create supreme laws of nature.”
Dodola explained, “And these five fusion combinations are also the cultivation methods for the five supreme laws of nature that have been discovered.
“As for the other 247 combinations, they have either not yet been attempted or were unable to create supreme laws of nature.
“Among which, cultivation methods for destruction, life, death, and spatial laws of nature are widely known. There is no lack of Great Perfection true gods who have mastered these four types of laws of nature in the vast universe.
“However, no one has been able to master time laws of nature even as of now, because I’m the only one who knows the fusion combination for time laws of nature ever since the God of Time’s death!”
" }, { "id": 234, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-234", "title": "Chapter 234 - Five Great Divine Incarnations, The Reincarnation Of An Evil Deity", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Hurry, tell me the fusion combinations for the five supreme laws of nature, Dodola!”
Meng Lei gazed at Dodola with an earnest and fervent look in his eyes. A crazy idea had suddenly come to him—would it be possible for him to master all five supreme laws of nature?
Theoretically, this was fairly possible. After all, he had a cheating device.
“What are you thinking of doing?”
A frightened Dodola asked, “Surely you aren’t thinking of comprehending all five supreme laws of nature?”
“Why not?”
Meng Lei licked his lips. “After all, it’s just a matter of assimilating five types of fused laws of nature, that’s all. It’s not something very difficult for me!”
“Not very difficult?”
Dodola felt as if it had just heard the most arrogant and egotistical declaration in the vast universe, and it couldn’t help but become furious. “Meng Lei, you’re too egotistical! You have no idea what assimilating five types of laws of nature means at all!
“Great Perfection!
“Do you know how few Great Perfection true gods there are in the vast universe? I’ll tell you—they’re rarer than even the Chief Gods who are hailed as the gods above the gods!
“In the vast universe, even after a long passage of billions of years, there are only pitifully few Great Perfection true gods even till today. Just how rare are they?!”
“Fewer than even Chief Gods? That’s certainly extremely rare!” Meng Lei didn’t refute Dodola.
“Do you know how difficult it is to assimilate five types of laws of nature? We’ll disregard everyone else and just focus on one of the four great true gods of Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Fairy Goddess!”
Dodola barked, “Not only does she have a wood-origin divine body and vast numbers of worshipers, but she also has the Natural Goddesses System’s support backing her up.
“Yet even after 200,000 years, she has only assimilated three types of basic laws of nature at best. Imagine for yourself just how difficult and arduous it is to assimilate five types!”
“It’s certainly very difficult!”
Meng Lei did not deny that, either.
“Meng Lei, I know you’re very monstrous of a cultivator, and also know that you have great confidence in yourself.”
Dodola gazed at Meng Lei sternly as it said, “But I must tell you that it is really too difficult for one to attain Great Perfection. It’s a billion times more difficult than even mortals ascending to heaven!.
“So, you’d best just give up on unrealistic thoughts like that while it’s still early. It’s impossible.
“What you need to do now is to assimilate five types of laws of nature—thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark—and then master time laws of nature after that. Okay?”
This time, Meng Lei shook his head.
“Dodola, I completely understand what you’re saying. I’ll definitely master time laws of nature and inherit the God of Time’s legacy!”
Then, he changed the course of the conversation and said, “But I won’t give up on the other four—destruction, life, spatial, and death—types of supreme laws of nature, either! In fact…
“I’m even thinking of fusing all ten types of laws of nature into one. I’d like to see just what exactly would happen when all ten basic laws of nature are fused into one!”
“You’re out of your mind! You’re completely out of your mind!”
Dodola was rather hysterical. “Meng Lei, you’ll destroy yourself if you do that!”
“Alright, that’s enough! I know what I should do. Don’t try to persuade me otherwise anymore.”
Meng Lei waved Dodola off and said, “Hurry and tell me the fusion combinations for the other four types of supreme laws of nature so that I have something to go by, lest I waste my money for nothing.”
“Are you really going to do that?”
Dodola’s eyes bore into Meng Lei.
“That’s right!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily, brooking no refusal.
“I can tell you the fusion combinations for the other four types of supreme laws of nature, but you have to promise me that you’ll definitely comprehend time laws of nature and inherit the God of Time’s legacy—this is the limit of my threshold!”
Dodola’s countenance was stern and serious as it spoke.
“Would I pass time laws of nature up when they’re so powerful?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile, and he added, “My ambition is way greater than what you can imagine!”
Dodola didn’t take his words seriously. What was the use of having great ambitions? Nevertheless, it still imparted the other four supreme laws of nature’s fusion combinations to Meng Lei in the end.
“Earth-wood-thunder, metal-dark-fire…”
Meng Lei was stunned. “Now that you put it that way, it does really seem like I’m moving in the direction of destruction laws of nature and life laws of nature?”
“Duh, of course!”
Dodola was terribly displeased. “Based on where your assimilation progress is heading, it’s very likely that you’ll comprehend destruction laws of nature and life laws of nature first. What are you going to do about time laws of nature, then?”
“Don’t worry! I won’t leave out any of them!”
Meng Lei licked his lips as he said, “I’ll split my divine spirit when I’ve comprehended a type of supreme laws of nature. I’ll just get myself a Great Perfection divine incarnation first!”
“A… Great Perfection… divine incarnation?”
Dodola was mildly dumbfounded.
By first comprehending a type of supreme laws of nature and then using it as a foundation to light up one’s divine fire and manifest one’s divine core—theoretically, this indeed could allow one to attain Great Perfection.
After all, wasn’t a Great Perfection true god exactly one that had fused five types of laws of nature into one?
Going directly from a half-deity to a Great Perfection true god?
Could one really attain Great Perfection like that?
Dodola had begun to somewhat question its own life!
“When I’ve comprehended all five types of supreme laws of nature, I shall own five Great Perfection divine incarnations. I’ll probably frighten everyone to death if I release them all during battle!”
Meng Lei was beside himself at the thought, to the extent that he was even drooling. “Wahaha, just the thought alone is enough to motivate me!”
“Five Great Perfection divine incarnations…”
Dodola swallowed hard.
“Forget it. It’s ultimately still too early to think about all these now. I’d better just focus on money-making instead.”
Then, Meng Lei left the Tower of Time.
“Money-making?”
Dodola was utterly confused. “What does assimilating laws of nature have anything to do with money-making?”
…
Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs were just First-Grade Magical Beasts, so they naturally didn’t taste that spectacular. In spite of that, Meng Lei’s four half-deity subordinates nevertheless still enjoyed them a great deal. It was as if they were eating celestial birds.
Meng Lei also ate leisurely. However, he also spread his divine cognition into the city and enveloped the whole Titan Colossal City within as he searched for the Titan Empire’s treasury.
“It’s not here?
“Looks like the Titan Empire has also stored their treasures in a half-plane, just like the Dragon God Empire. Should I capture the Titan Emperor and ask him about it? …Alright, I must!”
Meng Lei secretly made up his mind. Then, he said, “Have more of the food. We’re gonna do something big later, so all of you had better eat up and drink up to recharge your energy!”
Do something big?
Bubbles’ eyes lit up. “Master, are you thinking of…”
“Cut the crap! Eat first!” Meng Lei glared at him. “You’ll find out when the time comes.”
“Master, actually it’s… alright even if we don’t eat!”
Bubbles said carefully, “We’re half-deities, so this stuff doesn’t really fill our stomachs that much. That Tricannon Pig of yours, on the other hand…”
Meng Lei side-eyed Bubbles. “What? Are you being picky?”
“No, no, no…”
After finishing all 100 Chrysanthemum Sky Pigs, Meng Lei and the others left the restaurant and headed straight for the Divine Titan Temple.
According to the news they’d gotten, the Titan Emperor, members of royalty, nobles, and many Saint Domain experts had all gathered at the Divine Titan Temple to watch the Showdown Before The Gods. If Meng Lei wanted to look for the Titan Emperor, then he’d have to head to the temple.
“The Divine Titan Temple is located on the Titan Spiritual Peak, the highest summit of the Divine Titan Mountain. At a height of 18,888 meters above sea level, it’s the tallest summit in all of Heaven’s Vault Continent.
“The Divine Titan Temple worships the Titan Spiritual God. Thus, the decennial Showdown Before The Gods is held right in front of the Titan Spiritual God’s divine statue!”
They moved extremely quickly. Before long, they arrived at the Titan Spiritual Peak. Hailed as the tallest peak in Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Titan Spiritual Peak was shrouded in clouds.
It rose thousands of feet sheer, tall, straight, and precipitous!
Only a single three-meter-wide staircase path stretched all the way from the foot of the mountain and disappeared into the boundless clouds—this was the one and only path leading to the summit.
“Let’s go up!”
Meng Lei rose into the air and took the lead, flying headfirst toward the summit. The four half-deities didn’t dare to tarry and followed closely behind him.
Passing through layers of clouds, they could hear intense clashes even from a great distance away. When they reached the summit, a gigantic square entered their sights!
Extremely flat and level, the square spanned several miles in breadth and length and looked as if it had been forcibly carved out. In the center stood a 10,000-feet-tall statue.
He held a hammer in his hand and stood atop a thunderbolt.
His muscles intertwined, and his eyes were bright and sharp.
He glowered fiercely, his countenance full of imposing sternness.
It was exactly a statue of the Titan Spiritual God!
At a level like Meng Lei’s, one could clearly “see” that the 10,000-feet-tall statue was completely enveloped by milky-white power of faith.
The light of faith given off by the power of faith fully isolated and shut out the summit’s chilliness, giving people a peaceful and tranquil feeling as if they were basking in the spring breeze.
“What rich laws of nature power!”
Bubbles and the other three half-deities couldn’t help but exclaim softly, their eyes brimming with white-hot longing.
They also had a fair number of worshipers in the underground world, but once compared to the Titan Spiritual God, they were no different from country bumpkins with a bit of money to their name.
When one’s worshipers were low in numbers and weak in strength, the amount of power of faith they could provide would naturally be pitifully little, too. Moreover, they had refined every little bit that they had received. When had they ever seen such rich and abundant power of faith?
“Just how many Power of Divinity droplets would he have to refine in order to achieve something like that?”
The four half-deities swallowed hard, wishing they could rush forward and take apart the statue and split the power of faith among themselves.
“Let’s go over and take a look.”
Meng Lei took the lead and walked over to the statue to see a gigantic arena erected in front of it. Two enormous figures were currently clashing against each other in the arena.
Spectators filled the area around the arena. There were demi-giants more than a dozen meters tall, Beast People Saint Domains with animal heads and human bodies, as well as human experts.
At that moment, everyone was cheering as they watched the match in the arena.
The two people currently engaged in the fierce battle were both 50-meters-tall both were pure-blooded Titans.
One had a head of silver hair, frost-like skin, and iceberg-like muscles—he was one of the twelve Titans, the Frost Titan.
The other was pitch-black throughout with bulging muscles and looked just like jet-black charcoal—he was also one of the twelve Titans, the Dark Titan.
Both Titans were Saint Domains, and they were respectively skilled at ice-elemental magic and dark-elemental magic. Yet they were both fighting head-on and landing solid punches on each other.
Klaus asked softly, “Bubbles, is that Dark Titan your descendant?”
“No, he isn’t.”
Bubbles shook his head. “Pure-blooded Dark Titans have long since become extinct after I came into the world. That guy is likely a Demi-Dark Titan descendant whose bloodline has fully awakened.”
“I see.” Klaus nodded lightly. Then, he asked, “Do you think he can win?”
“He’ll lose for sure.”
Bubbles shook his head. “That Frost Titan is more skilled than him. He’s just playing around with him.”
The truth was just like what Bubbles had said. After making fun of him for a while, the Frost Titan finally unleashed his ultimate attack and defeated the Dark Titan with just a single move.
“The winner is… Barham the Blue Frost King!”
The host announced the battle outcome loudly.
Thunderous applause filled the venue as cheers rumbled like thunder.
“As expected of Barham the Blue Frost King! That’s 27 consecutive victories now! Becoming the Child of God is looking promising for him!”
“For him to possess such strength at just the age of 21, Barham’s talent truly tops the world!”
“Tops the world? Have you forgotten that guy in the Dragon God Empire? That’s the top cultivator in Heaven’s Vault Continent history! Compared to him, Barham is far too inferior!”
“That guy isn’t human. He’s the reincarnation of an evil deity…”
" }, { "id": 235, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-235", "title": "Chapter 235 - The Battle Between The Titans, The Fallen Frost Titan", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Dozens of pillars towered around the arena with people seated on top of them.
On one of the pillars sat a middle-aged Titan with a stern and imposing countenance, clad in golden armor and holding a golden scepter.
In his eyes were vague signs of thunderbolts flashing brightly. Muscles bulged all over his body like rocks, and every blood vessel of his was as thick as a rope.
Powerful!
Awe-inspiring!
Domineering!
He was the master of the Titan Empire himself, the Titan Plateaus ruler, and one of the four great emperors of Heaven’s Vault Continent—the Thunder Titan Emperor.
Seated to the left of the Thunder Titan Emperor was a beautiful and sensual female Thunder Titan. Her chest muscles were bigger than even taxis, and her long legs even longer than poplar trees—she was the Titan Empress herself.
To the Thunder Titan Emperor’s right was a skinny, craggy elderly Titan with a head full of white hair. He supported himself with a walking stick, shaking and trembling as he did so. Added to this how his teeth were all gone, he was the picture of someone who already had one foot in the grave.
“High Priest, how do you find that young man?” The smiling Thunder Titan Emperor asked as he gestured to Barham the Blue Frost King in the arena.
“That little fellow’s pretty good!”
A look of approval appeared on the countenance of the divine temple’s high priest. With a somewhat hoarse voice, he said, “To reach the pinnacle of Saint Domain at the age of 21, he’s more outstanding than all the previous Children of God. He definitely takes the top spot in the history of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“Top spot in history…”
The Thunder Titan Emperor’s countenance became rather awkward. Then, he said, “Had that guy not existed, Barham would certainly have been able to live up to the title of the top in the continent’s history.”
“That guy?”
The divine temple’s high priest was rather puzzled. He asked, “Your Majesty, are there little fellows who are even more outstanding than Barham in the other three empires?”
“High Priest, you’re in the divine temple all year round and rarely pay much attention to matters of the secular world, so you’re not aware that a monster has recently emerged from the Dragon God Empire in the east.”
In a faraway tone, the Thunder Titan Emperor said, “At the age of 16, he has stepped into the half-deity stage, killed the Dragon God Empire’s emperor, wiped out the half-deities on Dragon Island, and seized Dragon God Empire for himself. He can be said to be a peerless monster!”
“To think such a person exists!”
A look of astonishment came over the greatly shocked high priest’s countenance. “How can typical geniuses be that big of a monster? Might a freak like that be the reincarnation of an evil deity?”
“This person’s actions are cruel and ruthless. He shows no respect for the law, and his perverse ways are ten thousand times more wicked and evil than the Devils and Demons in the abyss of Hell!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor snorted furiously. “Apart from being an evil deity reincarnate, there are no other possibilities!”
“An evil deity reincarnate…”
The old high priest’s brows drew together tightly. “Should that really be the case, then the continent will probably fall into discord again soon!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor quickly asked, “Hence, I’d like to consult the high priest on something. Has the great Titan Spiritual God issued any holy decree to provide us with a directive?”
To be honest, Meng Lei’s deeds in the Dragon God Empire had indeed frightened the Thunder Titan Emperor.
What else was beyond Meng Lei when he could kill even the Dragon Emperor and slaughter even the Dragon Island half-deities?
Should he make his way into the Titan Empire, who would be able to stop him?
As the ruler of the Titan Empire, the Thunder Titan Emperor had to consider the possibility.
“The Titan Spiritual God hasn’t issued any holy decrees recently. Your Majesty needn’t worry excessively, however. The Dragon God Empire is the Dragon God Empire,” A shrewd glint flashed in the old high priest’s eyes as he said, “While the Titan Empire is the Titan Empire. If that monster dares to step into the Titan Empire, I’ll definitely deal him such a crushing defeat that he won’t even be going back!”
“With the high priest’s promise, I can rest assured!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor breathed a small sigh of relief. Like the Dragon God Empire, the Titan Empire’s half-deity powerhouses were all living in seclusion within the Divine Titan Temple.
Frankly speaking, however, even the Thunder Titan Emperor wasn’t very certain just how many half-deities there were in concrete or how strong they were.
During the last 20,000 years, the great Titan Spiritual God had led away Children of God and geniuses so wantonly that it had reached an insane level. In fact, he didn’t even spare half-deities.
Therefore, even the Thunder Titan Emperor had no real idea just how many half-deities there were exactly left protecting the empire in the Divine Titan Temple. Thus, he really was afraid that Meng Lei would invade the empire.
But now that he had the high priest’s promise, the Thunder Titan Emperor’s worries were significantly assuaged.
The host’s voice rang out at this point. “Next, we’ll invite the very last challenger up onto the arena!”
Whoosh!
A bolt of lightning landed on the arena, revealing a figure—it was actually a strong and muscular, 300-feet-tall Titan with electric currents circling around him.
“Prince Poserei!”
“Prince Poserei!”
“Prince Poserei!”
The audience erupted into thunderous cheers as they shouted the new arrival’s name—all of them were Prince Poserei’s supporters.
“Barham!”
Poserei gazed at the Frost Titan coldly. “I’ll give you half an hour’s time to rest. We’ll battle when you’ve regained your stamina and returned to your best condition!”
“It’s not necessary!”
Barham gave him a slight smile and said, “Go ahead, Prince Poserei!”
“You asked for it!”
Poserei brazenly launched into the offensive.
Boom!
Two enormous beings instantly clashed against each other.
There were no fancy moves, no splendor-filled magic. All there was was just a simple and direct clash of physical strength!
Wild and raging!
Tough and unyielding!
Crude and violent!
Every punch connected with flesh!
They fought in a simple and rough manner!
A smiling Meng Lei asked, “Which between the two do you think will win, Bubbles?”
“Based on the hardiness of their bodies, the little guy from the Thunder Titans is significantly stronger. If all goes well, he’ll win!”
Bubbles gave his evaluation of the situation.
“What do the rest of you think?”
Meng Lei then turned to Klaus and the other two.
“My thoughts are more or less the same as Bubbles’.”
“The Thunder Titan slightly edges out his opponent.”
Both Klaus and Nadja agreed with Bubbles’ views.
“What do you think, Seisia?”
Meng Lei then turned to Seisia.
“I won’t refute Bubbles’ evaluation, Master, but I can’t help but feel like something’s not quite right with that Frost Titan.”
The Thunderbolt Queen’s brows drew together slightly. “He’s clearly a pure-blooded Frost Thunder Titan, but I can’t help but feel like… I can’t put my finger on it. In any case, it feels rather odd!”
“Have you sensed it too?”
Meng Lei asked with slight approval.
“Something feels rather odd?”
Somewhat astonished, Bubbles then stared straight at the Frost Titan. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed in a low voice, “That’s the Demon Realm’s aura! That little fellow is actually also giving off the Demon Realm’s aura?”
“The Demon Realm’s aura?”
Klaus and Nadja were greatly astonished!
“To put it more accurately, it’s the aura of the Fallen Demons, though extremely weak.”
An amused Meng Lei turned to Bubbles. “If I’m not wrong, that guy is probably just like you… And has also fallen from grace.”
“Hehe! Little did I think that there’d be another pure-blooded Titan falling from grace after I did. This truly pleases me!” A gloating Bubbles said, “It’ll be quite the show if that kid is selected as the Child of God!”
“Not necessarily.”
Meng Lei gave him a calm smile.
“Not necessarily?”
The fierce battle in the arena was still ongoing. As time went by, Poserei, who had a stronger body, gradually took the upper hand and began to suppress Barham.
On top of that, as the battle went on, his dominance over his opponent became more and more obvious. At the rate it was going, victory would definitely go to the Titan Prince, Poserei.
“Your Majesty, our son is about to win!”
A smile came over the Titan Queen’s visage.
“That fellow hasn’t brought embarrassment to the imperial family after all!”
A look of gratification also adorned the Thunder Titan Emperor’s visage. As long as he won the battle, his son Poserei would become the new Child of God.
Not only would it bring honor to him as a father, but his son would also receive the Titan Spiritual God’s blessings and attain half-deification within 100 years.
What a great honor that would be!
And even more so, what a symbol of power that would be!
“As expected, His Royal Highness is no ordinary person!”
Just as everyone was sure that Prince Poserei was about to win, Barham, who was initially being suppressed by Poserei, suddenly erupted.
A complete change from his previous disadvantageous position, he exhibited incredibly wild and raging strength, instantly seriously wounding Poserei and reversing the flow of the battle.
“What?”
“How can this be?!”
“What exactly is going on?”
The spectators were all rather stunned!
“Your Majesty, this…”
The Titan Queen and the Thunder Titan Emperor looked at each other, both somewhat incredulous.
Only the aged, old high priest’s pupils suddenly contracted, a sharp glint flashing across the depths of his eyes.
Boom!
Barham took on an incredibly dominant stance, dishing out a few consecutive hard punches that directly blasted the stunned Poserei out of the arena to achieve victory.
“This…”
The host was caught rather off guard. It was only when Barham came over that he finally regained his senses. “B-Barham wins!”
“You… have lost!”
Barham cast a glance at Poserei. Then, he walked right up to the pillar, bowed, and said, “Greetings, Your Majesty, the Queen, and the High Priest!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor managed to barely form a hint of a smile as he said, “Barham, who hails from the Frost Kingdom, congratulations on winning the champion title in this round of the Showdown Before The Gods!”
“You flatter me, Your Majesty!”
Barham bowed slightly.
The Thunder Titan Emperor turned to the divine temple’s high priest and said with a sigh, “High Priest, you may now announce the results of the Child of God selection.”
“Hold your horses, Your Majesty!”
The high priest got onto his feet, quivering as he did so. Then, he overlooked Barham, who was in the arena, from the top, and an incredibly sharp and keen look suddenly erupted in his aged, murky eyes.
“Barham!”
“High Priest!”
Barham hurriedly bowed.
With a sharp look in his eyes, the old high priest asked sternly, “Answer me, as a Frost Titan, why is there the aura of the Devils on you?”
Whoaaa!
The moment the words left his mouth, a furor went through the entire venue.
The Thunder Titan Emperor was so shocked that he rose to his feet at once. He took a look at the high priest before turning back to Barham, wondering if he had misheard.
“H-High Priest, what do you mean by that? I don’t understand what you’re saying!”
A huge shudder went through Barham, though he remained expressionless, presenting a front free of any turmoil.
“This old man’s eyes may have deteriorated from old age, but they haven’t gone so blind that they can no longer see!”
The old high priest’s words were like booming thunderclaps as he asked, “Have you turned to the Devils and become completely fallen?”
“Turned to the Devils?”
Having understood what he meant now, everyone turned to Barham.
“Has Barham actually fallen? How can that be? Is this a mistake?”
“I’m innocent, High Priest!” Barham quickly said, “May the High Priest look into the matter!”
“Hmph! How dare you resort to fallacious arguments!”
The old high priest snorted coldly. Then, he suddenly raised his aged palm and smacked it down.
The palm strike contained incredible might that was as strong as a half-deity’s strength. Should it strike him, wouldn’t the pinnacle-level Saint Domain Barham be smashed into smithereens?
“Damn it!”
Suddenly, an incredibly rich and dense black aura erupted from Barham, whose eyes were widened to the point of splitting. The aura around him actually spiked all the way to a limits-level Saint Domain, and he met the strike with a punch of his own.
Snap!
As palm and punch connected, causing a thunderous explosion to erupt. Barham was thrown out with a loud cry while the huge downward palm strike in the air was also instantly reduced to dust!
“W-what an evil aura!”
Blood stained the corners of Barham’s lips, and his breathing was weak and listless. Although the current Barham was in a tragic state, an unholy black aura, much like billowing black smoke, was all around him.
“He’s fallen!”
“Barham has actually really fallen!”
Everyone’s countenances changed drastically, and they quickly retreated backward!
“What else do you have to say, Barham?”
The old high priest slammed his walking stick against the pillar and berated him furiously, “As a descendant of the Titan Gods, how can you stoop so low as to tarnish the Titans’ bloodline and turn to the Devils? You deserve death for that!”
“Since you’ve discovered it, then what else can I say?” Barham snorted coldly and said, “Kill me if you want. What’s the point of saying so much crap?”
“Fine! I’ll send you to your death, then!”
With another cold snort, the old high priest’s palm went smacking down through the air again. The might of the strike this time wasn’t just ten times or a hundred times more fearsome than the previous.
“It’s all over!”
Barham closed his eyes in despair.
“Hahaha, Old High Priest Hyman, to think you’re still so hot-tempered even after a separation of 10,000 years!”
" }, { "id": 236, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-236", "title": "Chapter 236 - The Domineering Old Man, Get Out Of Here", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "A burly figure suddenly charged out of nowhere, and with a fist raised, he smashed the devastating palm strike into smithereens.
“What’s going on?”
The crowd let out exclamations of surprise. Then, a burly figure stood in front of Barham and blocked him from further attacks while gazing cheerfully at the old high priest on top of the pillar.
“Who’s he?”
“Is that Barham’s friend?”
“He actually dares to save him from the old high priest?”
“Isn’t he a little too bold…”
Alarm and doubts filled everyone. Barham, who had originally lost all hope, also stared at the burly man in astonishment. He swore to God that he definitely didn’t know that man.
“You’re… Bubbles the Black Bear King!”
The old high priest stared at the newcomer for a while before he suddenly exclaimed, “Never would I have thought that you’d actually still be alive! How fortunate and lucky you are to have survived!”
“Bubbles?”
“Who’s Bubbles?”
“Could it be that man?”
“Do you know of him?”
“It’s that audacious rapist! Who doesn’t know of his name?”
“What the heck! To think it’s actually him!”
“Isn’t he dead?”
“Who knows…”
“To think it’s actually Bubbles!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor’s eyes bore into Bubbles, his countenance awful-looking.
He might not know who they were, had it been someone else, but how could he possibly not know who Bubbles the Black Bear King was?
Because the Titan Emperor who had been cuckolded was exactly himself!
“Damn it! To think that knave is actually still alive!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor gnashed his teeth in a fury, wishing he could rip into Bubbles. He couldn’t understand why Bubbles, who had been sentenced to death, was actually still alive?
Moreover, judging from his mighty demeanor, he had actually become a half-deity, too. Was the Titan Spiritual God blind?
“Hahaha!” Bubbles burst into loud laughter as he said, “How rare of the old high priest to actually still remember who I am!”
“Bubbles, you renegade!”
The old high priest’s eyes were sharp and fierce. “Instead of holing up in a dim ditch somewhere and dragging out your existence, what have you come all the way here for? Surely you can’t possibly be thinking of taking revenge?”
“You’re mistaken, old high priest. I haven’t returned to the Divine Titan Temple today for the sake of those old grudges that took place back then.”
Bubbles gestured to Barham with a slight smile and said, “It’s a rare occasion for me to take a fancy to a junior who pleases my eyes. I hope the old high priest can spare his life on my account.”
“On your account? Who do you think you are?”
The old high priest snorted. “Abandoning oneself to wallow in degeneration and tarnishing the Titan bloodline—this is a disgrace to the Titans that can only be cleansed with his blood!”
“In that case, that means that the negotiation has broken down?” Bubbles’ smile vanished. Then, he said, “Let’s fight, then. It’s just as well that I take this opportunity to take a gander at your skills!”
“Hmph!”
The old high priest snorted. Then, as if an inflating balloon, he began to expand swiftly.
His dry, shriveled up skin became plump and supple, his skinny and withered body turned strong and muscular, and his head of white hair turned black.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed from an old and weak invalid, whose teeth had all dropped off and with one foot in the grave, into a strong and muscular Titan who was very much alive and kicking.
Right on the heels of it, an incredibly wild, violent, and domineering aura erupted from the old high priest and swept in all directions. The spectators felt as if they had suffered a crushing blow and were almost flattened to the ground.
“Die!”
With a furious roar, the old high priest’s fist went smashing out.
Snap!
An enormous fist plummeted from the sky like a meteor and crashed toward Bubbles with a terrifying might capable of destroying everything.
Under such fearsome might, all the spectators felt as if their insides were close to rupturing, and they almost died from fright.
Should it crash into them, wouldn’t it totally smash them into a bloody pulp?
“Nice one!”
With a serious look on his face, demonic aura surged around Bubbles, and he hurled his fist forward, meeting the attack head-on.
Snap!
Fist and fist collided, much like meteors crashing into each other. Terrifying energy waves instantly erupted and spread into the surroundings amid thunderous explosions. As though they were floating in the sky, the spectators were immediately thrown right out.
Thud, thud, thud!
The impact also knocked Bubbles back, and he took a few steps back on the arena, crushing the incredibly tough and solid arena into bits.
“You’ve actually fallen, Bubbles!”
An incredibly furious roar rang out. The old high priest, who had risen into the air, glowered at Bubbles furiously, his eyes close to spitting flames.
“Have you only just realized, old high priest?” replied a grinning Bubbles as he forcibly suppressed his churning blood and energy flow.
“Bastard! This is unforgivable!”
The old high priest was livid. “You were a Child of God back then, yet you’ve actually shut your eyes to the Titan Spiritual God’s might and dignity to willingly wallow in degeneration! Damn it, you deserve to die for that!”
“H-he’s… fallen?”
“Bubbles has also fallen? But he’s the very last pure-blooded Dark Titan!”
“What exactly has happened to him?”
The spectators couldn’t quite accept the fact. They could accept Bubbles’ rebellion and the coup d’etat he had staged—after all, the Titans revered strength and power—but they couldn’t accept the falling of Titans! Titans were supposed to be noble, so how could they turn to the Devils?
“Die!”
The old high priest roared furiously into the sky. Then, he descended from above, his gigantic foot brazenly stomping down toward Bubbles.
“Good job coming here!”
With a low roar, the demonic aura emanating from Bubbles instantly withdrew back into his body, and his muscles bulged forcefully and significantly. Then, he threw out a punch and met the attack head-on.
Boom!
But this time, the old high priest’s stomp wasn’t just ten times wilder and more violent than before.
Bubbles’ fist was kicked aside, upon which the huge foot then went along the impetus and stomped down forcefully on his chest. With a crisp snap, Bubbles was sent flying.
Boom!
He crashed onto the floor as blood spurted furiously from his mouth. With a tragic smile, he remarked, “I didn’t expect that old fogey to be that strong. I’ve underestimated him!”
Just how strong was the old high priest, exactly?
That was something Bubbles didn’t know.
All he knew was that the old high priest was already the high priest in charge of managing the Divine Titan Temple even when he was little. Despite many years having gone by, the old high priest was still like what he had remembered him to be.
Bubbles had initially thought that with his current prowess, he’d at least be able to somewhat rival the old high priest. Little did he expect that he’d be defeated with just a single move. This was truly…
Those above him were still above him, after all!
“Degenerates like you that tarnish the Titan bloodline should all go straight to hell!”
The old high priest descended from above and stomped on Bubbles with one foot and Barham with the other. That terrifying might of his was like an elementary school student trying to kill a couple of toads by stomping on them.
“He’s doomed!”
“Nobody can save him anymore!”
“That renegade who has willingly given in to degeneration deserves to be killed!”
“Good job! People like that should be cut into a million pieces and subjected to extreme punishment!”
The spectators were incredibly pumped up at the sight. In particular, the Thunder Titan Emperor was so worked up that he even almost jumped off his seat. If one must pick someone among everyone present here that hoped to see Bubbles dead the most…
The honor would no doubt go to him!
Only with Bubbles’ death would the great disgrace to his father’s name end completely!
“Save me, Master!”
Bubbles let out a shrill cry as he watched the gigantic foot stomp down toward him like a mountain crashing down—he didn’t want to die here.
Whoosh!
A breeze blew across, and then someone appeared in front of Bubbles!
“Yet another person has popped up?”
“Who’s he?”
“Does he have a death wish?!”
“Does Bubbles have other accomplices?”
The spectators were rather astounded at the sight of the newcomer who had suddenly come charging out. Then, they began to sneer!
“They are just sending themselves to death’s door, no matter who the one that comes is. Is the old high priest’s strength something that they could even begin to fathom?”
Just as they thought that the newcomer was about to be stomped into a bloody pulp, he threw a punch and blasted the old high priest’s gigantic foot.
Thud, thud, thud!
The old high priest stared at the newcomer with astonishment as he stumbled backward. “What terrifying strength! To think he’s actually on par with me!”
“This, this…”
“He’s… He’s actually parried the blow?”
“How can that be?!”
The spectators were astonished. The Thunder Titan Emperor’s eyes also bore into the newcomer.
“Who are you?” asked the alarmed old high priest.
“Weren’t you just complimenting my good looks just now? Yet you don’t recognize me anymore now? I’m that evil deity reincarnate whom you guys were discussing!”
The newcomer was Meng Lei.
“Meng Lei!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor shuddered all over and almost went limp onto the floor. “The devil! It’s that devil! He’s actually come to the Titan Empire! Oh my god!”
“You’re that monster from the Dragon God Empire?”
The old high priest was rather astonished.
“Bingo!”
With his hands placed behind his back, a calm smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance.
The old high priest narrowed his eyes and barked fiercely, “To think it’s actually you! Instead of staying in the Dragon God Empire, what have you come to the Titan Empire for?”
“Since I’m here, then that naturally means that I have things to attend to here.”
Meng Lei rose into the air, his gaze sweeping across the Thunder Titan Emperor. He asked, “Titan Emperor, I heard that someone had offered a batch of Chimeras to you as a tribute recently. Is this true?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was alarmed and fearful at Meng Lei’s question. Although he desperately wanted to maintain his dignity and stateliness as an emperor, one’s reputation didn’t come with no reason, after all.
He couldn’t maintain it at all when facing a devil, and evil deity reincarnate like Meng Lei, who had slain the Dragon Emperor and slaughtered the Dragon Island half-deities.
“I-indeed it is!” The Thunder Titan Emperor didn’t dare to keep things a secret from him. “Why are you asking about that?”
Meng Lei asked, “Who’s the one that offered the Chimeras as a tribute?”
“This…”
Hesitation appeared on the Thunder Titan Emperor’s countenance.
Meng Lei repeated, “Who was it?”
“It was I!”
A 300-feet-tall Earth Titan with bronze-colored skin stepped forward at this point. With a demeanor that was neither lowly nor haughty, he said, “It was I who offered a batch of Chimeras to His Majesty as a tribute yesterday. Why are you asking about that?”
“Since you’re the one, then that makes things a lot easier.” Meng Lei revealed a smile as he said, “Hand over the riches you looted from the Chimeras. That isn’t something you should have!”
“What do you mean by that, sir?” The Earth Titan’s countenance changed slightly as he asked, “What do you mean by the Chimeras’ riches? I don’t know anything about it!”
“You don’t? In that case, you don’t need to anymore.”
Meng Lei made a casual grabbing motion with a slight smile and easily caught the Earth Titan out of nowhere.
“Let go! Let go of me!”
The Earth Titan struggled fiercely as he shouted, “Save me, Your Majesty! Save me, high priest!”
“How impudent!”
The old high priest flew into a rage and threw a punch. “You audacious demon! This is the Titan Empire! It’s not a place where you can horse around!”
Meng Lei dodged the punch with a flash. He side-eyed the old high priest and asked calmly, “Old man, these are private matters between the two of us. Do you intend to interfere with this, too?”
“Hmph! Disregarding for now whether he’s really taken the Chimeras’ riches, so what even if he has? Do you think something that has already entered the Titan Empire’s pockets can be given away for free like that?”
The old high priest snorted. “Youngster, this is the Titan Empire, not the Dragon God Empire. It’s too early for you to be horsing around here!”
“Great! Awesome!”
Meng Lei clapped his hands and smiled. “This is the first time someone has acted so righteously despite having taken what belongs to me. I’m so gratified! Very much so!”
“Get out of the Titan Empire at once, youngster!”
The old high priest barked, “Otherwise, this is where your final resting place will be!”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile. He was just feeling troubled over being unable to find an excuse to let loose a moment ago. Since they were so cooperative, wouldn’t he be letting them down if he didn’t?
" }, { "id": 237, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-237", "title": "Chapter 237 - Fall Of The Titan, Seventeen Half-Deities", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Meng Lei rose into the air until he reached the same height as the old high priest, looking at the priest calmly.
The old high priest looked at him too, setting off sparks as they stared at each other in the eye.
The spectators held their breaths in concentration. At this juncture, someone had guessed Meng Lei’s identity correctly.
From the Dragon God Empire… Being referred to as a monster… Other than the one from the rumors, who else?
“Oh, my great Titan Spiritual God! He is that monster from the Dragon God Empire?”
“Well, looking very young there!”
“A 16-year-old wielding such power already! Wonder how he has cultivated!”
The spectators were buzzing.
One’s reputation didn’t come with no reason, after all.
Meng Lei’s name was definitely the most sensational one in recent times.
Slaying the Dragon God Empire’s emperor.
Massacring all court officials.
Killing more than 1,000 Saint Domains.
Wiping out half-deities of the Dragon Island.
Any of these were horrifying on their own, and Meng Lei… had done all of those!
The fact that he had annihilated the entire elite class of the Dragon God Empire was unimaginable.
Currently, this beast of a human was standing before them. Who would make light of it?
“What is he doing here in our Titan Empire? Here to destroy our empire? That would be too mad, isn’t it?”
“Didn’t you hear that he’s here to demand the Chimeras…”
The spectators whispered among themselves as they engaged in wild speculation.
Meng Lei spoke. “Old fella, when I first stepped foot onto Dragon Island, those half-deities were as domineering as you are here, but they ended up in the depths of the island forever!”
The old high priest’s voice boomed like thunder. “Young one, this is the Titan Empire, not Dragon God Empire, and this old guy isn’t any Dragon Island half-deity!”
“The outcome will all be the same.” Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “Old high priest, since you’re the elder, I’ll let you strike first in case anyone says that I’m bullying the elderly.”
“How audacious!!”
The old high priest glared on as he blasted out a punch, while Meng Lei responded with a punch too.
Snap!
Both fists met like a thunderstruck!
The violent blast waves swept across the vicinity, causing the Thunder Titan Emperor and the beautiful Titan Empress to fly off the pillars.
“Hurry!”
“Hurry and leave this place!”
“We can’t stay here!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was panicking as he pulled the Titan Empress heading afar, fearing their lives if they escaped too slowly.
Most spectators escaped far away. They could watch a half-deity battle, but not that close. Otherwise, dying would be in vain.
“Hey kid, what are you doing?” Bubbles kicked Barham and shouted, “Do you have a death wish? Let’s go then!”
“Yes, sir!”
Barhem reacted fast and left quickly after mumbling a ‘thanks’.
“The young nowadays…”
Bubbles shook his head and looked at the two figures in the sky with a heavy gaze.
Can Master defeat the old high priest?
Frankly speaking, he was not sure at all.
“Come again!”
After a punch, Meng Lei’s blood started to boil as he initiated another attack.
No Gods-Slaying Spear.
No Hammer of Destruction.
No blood-colored machete.
No Innate Special Ability.
Just the simple and crude fists!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The two figures kept on clashing and splitting. Even the sky was broken up for a short while, creating space-time rifts one after the other.
While the two of them moved in between the riffs, the space-time rifts mercilessly sliced onto their bodies, giving the spectators goosebumps.
If it were them, they would have been sliced into pieces by the space-time rifts, yet Meng Lei and the old high priest completely ignored the ravaging rifts’ effects.
“So this is the power of a half-deity?” The spectators were amazed.
Boom, boom, boom!
After some fierce rounds of fighting, both of them were tied without anyone having a clear advantage over the other.
“This old high priest is that strong?”
“I knew the old high priest was very powerful, didn’t expect him to be this powerful!”
“Rightly so! When my grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather was in his infancy, the old high priest was already the holy temple’s high priest. How is he not extraordinary?”
The power that the old high priest had displayed was unthinkable to the spectators. They had only known that the priest had become the holy temple’s high priest from a really long time ago.
Now that they had seen how mighty the old high priest was, they felt that they were seeing the Sweeper Monk who could step over Qiao Feng of the North and beat up Murong of the South 1 !
Boom!
After another series of clashes, they stopped suddenly and looked at each other from a distance.
Meng Lei seemed carefree in his robes, while the old high priest was calm and expressionless.
“You’re pretty powerful, old man.” Meng Lei praised, “Indeed stronger than those half-deities of Dragon Island. They couldn’t even last one round against me.”
“It’s rare and valuable for such a young man to have such power.” The old high priest said coldly, “Let me advise you one last time, the Titan Empire isn’t the place for you to barge in and horse around. Leave immediately before you regret!”
“Leave? Your Titan Empire hijacked my stuff, and you’re still so stubborn. If I leave just like that, where do I hide my face?” Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “Old high priest, let me also advise you, hand over the riches of the Chimeras, and I’ll treat it like nothing has happened. Or else, I won’t stop till you’re dead.”
“You’re too presumptuous young one!” The old high priest roared, “I had been merciful just now since you failed to appreciate such kindness, don’t blame me for being cruel!”
“Wow, is this a coincidence? I held back too!” Meng Lei smiled slightly.
“Then we’ll see our true power!” The old priest snorted coldly. Golden lightning bolts burst out around his body, and his black hair exploded outward while his aura skyrocketed.
“Die!”
The old priest turned into a bolt of golden lightning and flashed before Meng Lei, as a fist shrouded in golden thunderbolt came crashing toward him.
This punch was quick to the extreme, way faster than before.
Yet, strangely it missed the target as Meng Lei vanished right before the old priest’s eyes!
“Eh?” The old priest exclaimed as he heard Meng Lei’s voice from behind. “Old fella, forgot to tell you, my greatest strength was never my physique.”
The old high priest snorted and turned around to strike another punch, missing completely again.
“Too slow old fella!” Meng Lei appeared on the right mysteriously while holding a black war hammer, the divine weapon—Hammer of Destruction!
Crack!
Meng Lei swung the Hammer of Destruction at the old high priest’s chin. With the crisp cracking sound, the old priest flew off instantly.
Meng Lei followed like a shadow and appeared silently behind the old high priest for a second blow to the back of his head.
Crack!
The old high priest’s skull cracked open instantly, and blood spurted out like a fountain. The poor old man could not even make a noise as he died instantly.
“Down you go, old fella!” Meng Lei appeared above and stomped.
Boom!
The old high priest became a meteorite crashing deeply into the square, creating a huge hole, as he stopped moving.
“H-how is the old high priest?”
“Lost? Or de-dead?”
The spectators from afar sensed a chill down their spines, as they could not accept the result.
The Thunder Titan Emperor, especially, who placed high hopes on the old high priest, almost broke down.
Wasn’t it evenly matched?
How did he get killed in a blink of an eye?
Seriously?
The Titan Emperor started to panic, with Meng Lei’s history in Dragon God Empire still vivid in one’s mind, even the scent of blood never left Meng Lei!
Who knew whether he would become senseless and sadistic and do the same to the Titan Empire?
“What to do? What should I do now?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked at the Earth Titan suddenly and felt like strangling him to death. “This despicable Johannes, I will die because of you!”
Just then, Meng Lei looked over his side with a solid gaze.
The Thunder Titan Emperor became stiff immediately and gave a smile that was worse than a crying face.
To his surprise, Meng Lei did not even look at him. He was staring at the Earth Titan not too far from him.
The Thunder Titan Emperor heaved a sigh of relief as Meng Lei grabbed the Earth Titan over from a distance.
“What do you want? Let go of me! Let me off now!” The Earth Titan struggled desperately.
“What do I want? Don’t you have any idea?” Meng Lei’s face was emotionless. “Hand over the riches of the Chimeras, and I can spare your dog life, or else, you can look at what happened to that old fella.!”
The Earth Titan could not resist glancing at the old high priest and was overwhelmed by terror—if the old high priest could be finished off with one hammer, then himself…
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” The Earth Titan trembled. “The wealth of the Chimeras were hidden by me in the treasury of the Great Earth Pillar Nation. If sir wants, I can take them out for you now!”
“No need! I’ll get it myself!”
Meng Lei threw the Hammer of Destruction casually and blasted the Earth Titan’s brains off instantly.
The glaring eyes on the remaining face of the Earth Titan meant he could not die peacefully—he had already given the wealth of the Chimeras, so why did Meng Lei still kill him?
“You’re not a dog, so where’s the dog life?”
Meng Lei looked at Klaus the Fire Dragon and said, “Klaus, go to the Great Earth Pillar Nation and bring all of the Chimeras’ riches over, and of course patronize the treasury too!”
“Yes, Master!”
Klaus bowed to the orders and disappeared into the clouds.
“May everything go well.”
Meng Lei muttered as he grabbed the Thunder Titan Emperor over, which frightened the emperor to death. He almost peed himself.
“Titan Emperor, tell me, how do we settle today’s matters?” Meng Lei said lightly.
“An-anything you wished, sir!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was trembling all over.
“Now that’s the right attitude to settle anything, much more understanding than that old goat!”
Meng Lei was pleased with the Titan Emperor’s attitude.
I’m understanding?
I’m just afraid that you’ll kill me with one swing of that hammer!
The Thunder Titan Emperor was cursing in his mind while putting up a grinning face. “Whatever request that you have, sir, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to satisfy them!”
“My request is very simple…”
At that very moment, a wave of terrifying divine power blasted off from the Divine Titan Temple, sweeping all around the temple.
Then a second wave, a third wave, a fourth one, a fifth, a six…
No more or less, a total of 17 waves!
“God damn you, scoundrel!”
" }, { "id": 238, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-238", "title": "Chapter 238 - : Ganging Up On Me? The Hundred-Armed Giant", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "A formidable array of terrifying divine power swept across from the Divine Titan Temple and shook the land in all directions.
“This is…”
The spectators cast their gaze toward the Divine Titan Temple in disbelief.
The Thunder Titan Emperor, Bubbles, Nadja, and Seisia looked over as well and saw 17 towering figures standing above all. They were either showered in golden thunderbolts, stepping on blue hydras, or shrouded in black mist, donning on golden armor. They were like a glorious sun hung unyieldingly in the sky, emitting a mighty aura of the heavens.
“O’ Titan Spiritual God!”
“Se-seventeen half-deities!”
“Our empire has this many half-deities? Am I dreaming?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was so excited that he almost jumped up, as he could not control his nerves.
He was nearly frightened to death just now, but to his surprise, the half-deities of the Titan Empire came—17 in one shot, how terrifying would their combined power be?
Even if those Dragon Island half-deities were here, I guess they would’ve been shredded into pieces by our forefathers!
The Thunder Titan Emperor thought with enthusiasm as he cast a glance at Meng Lei carefully and thought, Scoundrel, I’ll see how you die!
“Knave! You deserve to die!”
A half-deity Titan who wore golden armor and looked exactly like the old high priest glared at Meng Lei; his eyes were breathing fire.
He was the other divine incarnation of the old high priest.
“Oh? So you still have your divine incarnation.”
Meng Lei seemed surprised, though he had expected it since he had not received any system notifications after killing the old high priest.
Meng Lei knew that this old guy definitely had other divine incarnations and survived.
“Such insolence to come to Titan Empire and run riot here, you’re really too full of yourself!”
A Thunder Titan showered in thunderbolts roared with his thunderous voice.
“Hazeus!!”
Upon the sight of this Thunder Titan, Bubbles’ eyes became red as if he saw the murderer of his father and charged straight at him.
“Oh, you’re not dead, Bubbles!”
Thunder Titan Hazeus shot a piercing look with eyes filled with rage. “That’s fine since I’ll just kill you one more time today! I’ll chop off your limbs, dig out your eyes and tongue, make you into a human swine, and throw you into the nastiest, dirtiest latrines in the world 1 . I’ll make sure you regret leaving that dim ditch, regret coming before me, regret not dying previously!”
“Kill me? With just you?” Bubbles laughed coldly. “If it weren’t for you being in the position of power back then, how could you have been my match? Today, I shall avenge Asley!”
“Shut up! You traitor!”
Hazeus bellowed and charged at Bubbles rampantly. Bubbles did not back down and charged as well fearlessly.
Boom!
They clashed in an instant!
“Let’s strike!”
The remaining 16 half-deities dashed at Meng Lei and surrounded him.
“Master!”
Nadja and Seisia were about to help in that situation when Meng Lei waved them off. “I don’t need your help dealing with them.”
“But Master…”
Both of them were quite worried.
These are 16 Titan half-deities, not 16 Saint Domains! No matter how powerful you are, how can you fight them alone?
“They’re just 16 old clowns.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “You guys stay still and watch my performance.”
“How presumptuous!”
“How ignorant!”
“How arrogant!”
Upon hearing Meng Lei’s words, the 16 Titans were enraged. They were the half-deities of the Titan Empire, when were they ever looked down on?
That was going too far!
“Stop blabbering! Let’s attack!”
The old high priest bellowed deeply, “This scoundrel is very fast. We must be careful and cast our God’s Domain to take him down once and for all!”
“You’re over-worrying, Priest Hyman!”
An Earth Titan said lightly, “With the 16 of us combining our powers, even a true god could not escape from our control, not to mention just one man here.”
“That’s right!”
The other Titan half-deities agreed.
“Never underestimate him!” The old high priest snapped. “He killed my Thunder-Elemental divine incarnation with two hammerings. If you all drop your guard, you’ll surely suffer greatly!”
Upon hearing this, the 15 half-deities became apprehensive. Although Priest Hyman’s Thunder-Elemental divine incarnation was not the strongest of the Divine Temple, he could still easily be ranked in the top five.
Since two hammer swings had killed him, this knave’s power could not be taken lightly.
“Attack together!” The old high priest bellowed.
“God’s Domain!”
Buzz…
16 God’s Domains were cast, directly imprisoning the space around, and suppressed Meng Lei in great force together.
“Stacking up your domains? That’s quite extraordinary.”
Meng Lei licked his lips, “Well but, don’t you think that so many of you ganging up on me is considered abuse?”
“You scoundrel, how dare you mess around in our empire. You will not be missed when you die!” The old high priest’s murderous intent was clear. “Today, you must die! No one can save you!”
“Alright then. In that case, I have no reasons to hide.”
At the next moment, his heart started thumping violently, as if large bells and drums were ringing.
Immediately right after, Meng Lei’s blood vessels started to thicken, his blue veins popped out, and his muscles swelled. He was like an inflated balloon growing when the wind blew.
2 meters, 3 meters, 4 meters…
10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters…
100 meters, 500 meters, 1,000 meters…
Within a few breaths, Meng Lei had expanded to a height of 5,000 meters!
At the same time, with both his arms as the center, huge lumps of flesh bulged out one after the other.
Just as everyone was stunned by Meng Lei’s transformation, those lumps were like seeds sprouting, as they grew rapidly into strong arms with intertwining muscles.
For a while, Meng Lei’s upper body was like a hedgehog, densely packed with countless burly arms!
“O’ Titan Spiritual God!”
“What kind of monster is this?”
The 16 half-deities were dumbstruck!
The spectators were dumbstruck!
Even Bubbles and Hazeus, who were fighting ferociously, stopped dead in their tracks and looked at Meng Lei with dazed expressions.
“How did Master be-become…”
Nadja and Seisia covered their mouths and were at a loss for words.
“Could this knave be a Titan as well?” A half-deity Titan’s mouth opened wide in surprise. “But what the hell is this with so many arms?”
“I don’t know!”
“Me neither!”
The half-deities shook their heads.
Only the old high priest stared at Meng Lei as he spoke slowly. “I’m afraid this is one of the Forbidden Titan Bloodlines—a Hundred-Armed Giant!”
“A Hundred-Armed Giant?”
The various half-deities were shaken up.
What? Although I don’t quite get it, it sounds very powerful?
“It feels so powerful!”
Meng Lei stepped on thin air and sensed the fearsome power surging steadily through him. He could not help but let off a long moan.
Currently, he was over 5,000 meters tall, no less inferior than the 16 Titan half-deities. The thing was that he had 100 more arms, which seemed so much more violent, overbearing, and terrifying!
“Everyone, sorry for keeping you all waiting.” Meng Lei swept a glance across those half-deities and continued. “Now, we can start the true battle!”
He held up a hundred fists as he spoke and fired them with force. Amidst the loud collisions, the imprisoned space was smashed into pieces instantly.
Meng Lei took a step and pulled away by over a thousand meters and glanced over the 16 Titan half-deities. “Now, everyone, I’m going to attack!”
Before he finished his sentence, he appeared in front of the old high priest and showered him with a series of punches!
What does it mean when an inexperienced person defeats a master by throwing random punches(throwing out the rules of traditions)?
This is!
100 fists were like 100 cannonballs, all landing on the old high priest. The only sound that everyone could hear was the cracking sounds of broken bones as they watched the old high priest’s body flying off with blood splattering all over the place.
The body crashed into the square and stayed motionless. Everyone focused their attention there and could only see a bloody mess. He was smashed into a piece of meat mud, and his bones, internal organs, limbs were all crushed into unrecognizable flesh.
Gasp!
Everyone could not help but gasp, and a chill was sent up their spines.
The formidable old high priest, an unfathomable stronghold as a Titan half-deity, could be beaten up into this state?
That was way too insane!
For a while, everyone’s eyes were filled with terror at the sight of Meng Lei’s towering figure.
Master… is actually that terrifying!! Bubbles swallowed his saliva as he thought, If he used that against me previously, I would’ve been…
Bubbles shuddered, and fear thrilled through his veins.
“This feeling… isn’t too bad!”
Meng Lei gave the minced meat on the floor a glance and then looked at the rest of the 15 half-deities in excitement. “Come on, everyone, didn’t you all want to gang up on me?”
Gang up…
Now, who the f*ck is ganging up on who?
Does he have any shame?
Even though they almost vomited blood in their minds, at that moment, the Titan half-deities knew that they were at the point of no return. They could only fight till the bitter end!
“Die!!”
“Kill!”
15 Titan half-deities, 15,000-meter-tall giants all smashed toward Meng Lei almost at the same time.
“Good job coming here!” Meng Lei laughed out loud as he did 15 things at once, controlling six separate fists to greet the Titans. For some time, 15 Titans clashed head to head!
Boom, boom, boom!
Bam, bam, bam!
Crack, crack, crack!
What was complete darkness?
This was it!
What was the sun and moon without light?
This was it!
Every single clash burst out frightening shockwaves!
Every single sparring was the simple clash of raw strength!
The sky was like a mirror broken into many pieces. The sky within the thousand-meter radius became a tattered paste of black holes.
“Hahaha, that was thrilling! Come on! Hit harder! Aren’t you all the so-called mighty Titans with boundless strength? What was this meager power?”
Although he was being attacked from all sides by 15 Titan half-deities, Meng Lei’s morale skyrocketed with superb momentum. He was dominating the Titan half-deities!
Both sides had clashed for innumerable times, but Meng Lei’s face was neither red nor panting, not even a scratch.
On the other side, though, the 15 Titan half-deities were sweating profusely and wheezing like bulls. Especially their faces and arms were full of bloodstains making their wounds apparent.
Also, as the battle dragged on, the Titan half-deities’ strength weakened rapidly along with their waning momentum.
They were almost out of gas!
“Is that really a goddamn human?”
“Monster! He’s a total monster!”
" }, { "id": 239, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-239", "title": "Chapter 239 - Who'S Beating Up Who? The Titan Self-Destructs", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Gales wreaked havoc above the clouds as fissures formed in rapid succession, forming a hellish sight of great dishevelment that sent torrential tidal waves churning in the spectators’ hearts.
Fifteen against one!
They were obviously ganging up on the other party by outnumbering him!
It was obviously very unfair to Meng Lei!
It was also obviously a sure-win match!
Yet the outcome caught one off-guard. Meng Lei fought singlehandedly against great numbers, yet he simply overpowered the Titan half-deities. On top of that, the more he fought, the more valiant and wilder he became!
“Is that really a goddamn human?”
“How can a human be that strong?”
“A monster! He’s a monster!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor felt chills all over him. He’d initially thought Meng Lei doomed for sure once the grandmasters showed up, but who’d have thought that things would actually develop into a state such as this!
“Old dogs, is that all you’ve got?” Meng Lei raised his head and guffawed into the sky. “If that’s all you’ve got, then all of you are destined to meet your ends today!”
“Kill!”
“Kill him!”
“Use your Divine Techniques!”
After a series of clashes, the Titan half-deities could clearly feel the difference between Meng Lei’s and their divine bodies. At once, they hurriedly retreated from the battle range and cast their Divine Techniques!
“Divine Technique: Divine Wind of Annihilation!”
“Divine Technique: Judgment of Life!”
“Divine Technique: Meteor Drop!”
“Divine Technique: Absolute Zero!”
“Divine Technique: Ultimate Alchemy!”
“…”
In an instant, more than ten Divine Techniques rushed toward Meng Lei—divine winds that could crush everything, wooden vines that could devour one’s life force, meteors that could destroy the world…
They bombarded Meng Lei as if wanting to rip him into shreds, smash him into a bloody pulp, freeze him into an ice sculpture, or transmute him into gold…
Boom!
At the same time, a destructive wave of power of divinity also reverberated through the surroundings, instantly sweeping through the entire mountain peak and throwing out the spectators once again!
When the lingering waves finally dispersed, the Titan half-deities and spectators hastily looked over. However, Meng Lei was nowhere in sight—he had vanished into thin air as though he had never been there in the first place!
“I-is he dead?”
One of the spectators’ eyes widened.
Someone replied uncertainly, “He’s… probably dead? Who would be able to survive those Divine Technique attacks capable of destroying everything?”
The Titan half-deities didn’t let down their guard in the least—because they knew very well that Meng Lei hadn’t died. In fact, their attacks just now hadn’t struck him at all!
Additionally, even if the attacks really had struck him, considering the degree of durability that Meng Lei had exhibited with his divine body, it was impossible for him to have been blasted into smithereens and not even a single broken piece of himself left behind anyway.
Suddenly, an elderly Titan half-deity shouted, “Look out, everyone!!”
“Look out? Would there even be any use to doing that?”
Meng Lei appeared right in front of the elderly Titan half-deity out of the blue and dished out a series of 100 machine gun-like punches, his little fists bombarding the half-deity wildly!
“Aaahhhh!”
For a while there, sad, shrill cries that sounded like the wailing of vengeful spirits from hell rang out all the way up into the clouds, causing everyone’s scalps to go numb and chills to run down their spines!
What would it feel like to be bombarded by that many punches? Would it hurt very badly?
Hurt?
The elderly Titan, currently being subjected to the little fists’ pounding, was the clearest on how it felt. Every punch of Meng Lei’s carried vast, enormous force capable of devastating everything, and every single punch rendered him dizzy and woozy!
As 100 little punches came smashing toward him like a raging storm, the elderly Titan half-deity felt as if every single part of his body was hurting—his face, neck, arms, chest, bones…
Pain!
Pain!
Pain!
It was even more painful than going into labor!
At last, when all the pain and agony finally ceased, the elderly Titan also went flying out. All everyone could see was just a pile of minced meat…
The elderly Titan had also ended up the same way as Hyman, the old high priest—smashed into bits!
“I-is he dead?”
“Yet another grandmaster has died?”
Fear and trepidation filled the spectators. Was there even anything that could possibly be more astounding than personally witnessing a half-deity being pounded into minced meat?
Not at all!
Nothing could be even more astounding than that!
“Why? Why is he so strong?” The Thunder Titan Emperor murmured to himself.
By this point, he could already tell that Meng Lei wasn’t battling at all. Rather, he was… fooling around!
That’s right! He was fooling around!
If he wanted to, Meng Lei could kill any of the grandmasters anytime, anywhere.
Yet he had refrained from doing so, choosing instead to play a game of cat-and-mouse—he was toying with the grandmasters!
The Titan half-deities could also sense it. As fury welled up within them, they also felt a deep sense of helplessness at the same time!
How were they supposed to fight when that knave was so strong?
“He’s actually still alive!”
The moment Meng Lei noticed that no system notifications had come in despite him killing the elderly Titan, he knew right away that the old coot also had another divine incarnation.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but turn toward the remaining 14 half-deities. True enough, he discovered a half-deity that looked identical to the elderly Titan from before among them!
“You… You’ve actually killed my wind-elemental divine incarnation!”
The elderly Titan half-deity was so furious that even his eyes had turned red.
“Do you know how much effort and energy I exhausted and how much hard work I had put in before I had successfully forged that divine incarnation? And now it’s gone! All gone!”
The elderly Titan half-deity had gone totally berserk. “Knave, you’ve completely cut off my path to deification and caused my tens of thousands of years of cultivation to go up in smoke! I want you dead! Dead!!”
The Titan half-deity charged right up to Meng Lei. His blood and energy flow surged and churned around him, and then he suddenly exploded!
Boom!
As though a 1,000-megaton hydrogen bomb going off, the elderly Titan half-deity instantly blew up into a cloud of bloody mist. Waves of incredibly destructive power spread into the surroundings, instantly engulfing Meng Lei before continuing to engulf the rest of the place!
“Elder Frank!!”
Aghast, the remaining 13 half-deities hastily darted into the distance.
A half-deity’s self-destruction carried a terrifying level of destructiveness. Even they would perish for sure if they were to be caught up in it!
The wild, violent energy waves engulfed the summit, the Divine Titan Temple, as well as the 10,000-feet-tall Titan Spiritual God statue!
As for the spectators that had fled into the distance, none of them were spared, either! All of them were also engulfed!
…
A light breeze blew, gradually dispersing the smoke and dust pervading the air and once again revealing the square. The Divine Titan Temple was gone while the place had been reduced to rubble!
The 10,000-feet-tall Titan Spiritual God had also collapsed and was lying on its side on the ground.
“Why did you have to go so far, Elder Frank?”
The 13 Titan half-deities floated in mid-air in the distance, all of them rather filled with grief and lament.
At the same time, the spectators who were fortunate enough to survive also looked toward the area with expressions of fear and horror.
They had clearly already been a great distance away, yet the greater half of them had still died from the explosion!
They practically couldn’t get any unluckier than that!
“Cough, cough! Is that knave dead?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was also one of the lucky survivors. The current him looked extremely worse for the wear. His clothes were torn and tattered, and he was covered in blood after suffering grievous injuries.
He didn’t have the leisure to pay much attention to that, however. His eyes were fixed on the other side, urgently wanting to know whether or not Meng Lei was dead—that was what he was the most concerned about at the moment!
“Where’s that knave?”
“I don’t know!”
“Just how fearsome is the destructiveness resulting from Elder Frank’s self-destruction? That knave was even right in the epicenter of the explosion, too. There would practically be no justice in this world if he could survive even that!”
“That makes sense!”
“What a shame about Elder Frank, though…”
The Titan half-deities were terribly mournful.
Elder Frank was the oldest and most senior half-deity among them. Many of them had received his guidance in the past. Upon seeing Elder Frank end up like that, how could they not be heartbroken?
“Bubbles, your partner-in-crime is dead!”
Hazeus’ eyes bore coldly into Bubbles, a hint of brutality coming over them. He said, “And now, it’s your turn! Don’t worry. I won’t kill you so easily!”
“Dead?” As if he were staring at a fool, Bubbles broke into a grin and said, “You’re overthinking things, Hazeus!”
“What do you mean?” Hazeus’ countenance darkened.
“Master’s strength is something far beyond your imagination!” Bubbles smiled proudly and said, “Attacks of that scale earlier can’t hurt Master!”
“Bubbles, you overestimate his abilities!”
Hazeus let out an icy snort and said, “Elder Frank is a pinnacle-level half-deity. How powerful do you think his divine body was? No-one in Heaven’s Vault Continent can be spared from his self-sacrificing move of self-destruction!”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
Bubbles let out a scornful and derisive laugh. Just as he was about to mock him mercilessly, he suddenly spied someone coming toward him in the distance. Right away, he broke into a grin and said, “Open your goddamn eyes wide and take a good look, Hazeus. Who do you think that is?”
A puzzled Hazeus turned around, only to become thunderstruck right away. He froze up and stammered, “H-he… isn’t dead!”
“As if he would be!”
Bubbles seized the opportunity to throw a punch at Hazeus. Unable to duck in time, Hazeus was hit on the chin. Dizziness came over him at once as the blood and energy flow in his body churned.
“Die!”
Upon successfully striking him, Bubbles’ attacks became even more fervent. They engulfed Hazeus like a raging storm as every attack landed on him!
“You bastard!”
Hazeus was shocked and furious, but what frightened him even more was Meng Lei himself. Meng Lei was actually still alive! In fact, he was completely unscathed! Even his clothes and hair were still neat and tidy!
“How can this be? Wasn’t he in the center of the explosion?” Hazeus couldn’t understand how that had happened at all!
The Titan half-deities were just as confused as him. They stared at Meng Lei, who had reappeared before their eyes, as though they were staring at a ghost. Never mind the fact that he was still alive, but what was up with him being completely unscathed?
“Sorry to disappoint all of you!”
Meng Lei had a mocking expression on his visage. He had already resumed his human form by this point and was even currently holding a fried meatball skewer in his hand.
“You… How exactly did you manage to do that?”
A Titan half-deity clenched his fists, his countenance full of indignation and disbelief.
“Because I can teleport!”
With a slight smile, Meng Lei said, “I took that little pocket of time just now to go to a restaurant in the city and even bought a meatball skewer. It actually tastes pretty good!”
Meng Lei waved the meatball skewer in his hand lightly as he spoke. Then, he began to eat it with relish!
“Teleport?”
The Titan half-deities fell silent at once. At the same time, while hopelessness filled them, a thought also arose in their minds: What a freak!
Meng Lei was no different from a freak in their eyes. Not only did he possess such a monstrous divine body, but he could even teleport! How were they supposed to goddamn fight someone like that?
It shouldn’t go that far even if he were cheating!
“Alright! Now that the meatballs are gone, it’s about time this battle should end, too!”
Meng Lei polished off the last meatball and casually tossed the bamboo skewer aside. Then, he brought out a handkerchief and wiped his hands before he asked, “I’ll ask you guys something now—do you wish to live or do you wish to die?”
The 13 Titan half-deities shouted in a low voice, “What exactly do you want?”
“It’s very simple!”
In a calm and peaceful tone of voice, Meng Lei replied, “If you wish to live, then hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me. If you wish to die, then… go to hell like those two old fogeys just now!”
“How dare you humiliate us, you knave!”
A Storm Titan half-deity flew into a rage. “The noble Titans never submit to anyone. Neither will we become anyone’s slaves, even if we should die in battle!”
“Go to hell, then!”
The Gods-Slaying Spear abruptly appeared and instantly pierced through the Storm Titan half-deity’s forehead before shooting out from the other side and killing him!
" }, { "id": 240, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-240", "title": "Chapter 240 - Slaughtering Them All, The Titan True God", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The attack simply came too abruptly, so much so that no-one could react in time!
By the time they regained their senses, the Storm Titan was already dead and crashing onto the ground.
“Elder Enoch!”
The other Titan half-deities cried out in shock and grief. Their eyes widened so largely that the edges were close to splitting. Elder Enoch, who had been well and alive just a moment ago, had died just like that?
“Noble? How laughable! In the face of death, nobody is any nobler than anyone else!”
Meng Lei held the Gods-Slaying Spear, which blood dripped off the tip of, and said, “It’s impossible for anyone to avoid death or die in a unique manner just because they’re nobler than others!”
“You’re the Devil himself!!”
The Titan half-deities glared furiously at Meng Lei, their hatred shooting through the roof. If eyes could kill, Meng Lei would have been ripped into a million pieces a long time ago!
“It’s your turns now!”
Meng Lei flung away the blood on the Gods-Slaying Spear and said calmly, “This is your last chance. Once you miss it, it’ll be gone for life!”
This time, all the remaining Titan half-deities fell silent. All of their previous toughness and hard, unyielding stances were gone. What remained was just endless fury, humiliation, and indignation.
“What? Have all of you become mute?”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across all of them, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
A Thunder Titan glared at him and asked, “Aren’t you afraid that the Titan Spiritual God would mete out divine punishment for brutally killing the Titan half-deities like that?”
The other Titan half-deities’ eyes lit up upon hearing what he’d said. As though they’d just managed to clutch their lifeline, all of them began to roar.
Against someone like Meng Lei, who was even more ruthless and merciless than a devil, they were completely powerless to fight back. The only thing they had left to rely on now was the Titan Spiritual God!
Hopefully, the Titan Spiritual God’s name could daunt Meng Lei and deter him from any further killing!
“The Titan Spiritual God? Sorry, but I know more about him than all of you!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. “Indeed, he’s certainly incredibly strong and powerful and could rival an intermediate deity at their pinnacle, but unfortunately, he poses no threat to me in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Do you know why?”
The Titan half-deities had only silence in response to that.
“It’s because the Titan Spiritual God doesn’t cultivate laws of nature. Instead, he only cultivates his divine body. Even if he were to send a divinity projection here, it wouldn’t possess much combat power at all!”
Meng Lei chuckled softly as he shook his head.
True gods were unable to personally descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent with their actual bodies. All they could do was to send a divinity projection, yet divinity projections could only utilize a half-deity’s level of strength!
As for a concrete idea of how well they could utilize it, this would depend on the true god’s comprehension of laws of nature!
The stronger their comprehension of laws of nature, the more fearsome the divinity projection’s combat power would be!
Conversely, the weaker their comprehension of laws of nature, the weaker the divinity projection’s combat power would be.
Theoretically, only a Great Perfection true god’s divinity projection would be able to unleash a limits-level half-deity’s level of combat power.
Normal higher deities and intermediate deities’ divinity projections would be even weaker. This was also the reason why Heaven’s Vault Continent had gone through five different eras.
Whenever social unrest broke out, various half-deities would seize the opportunity to emerge and fight for power of faith—because they knew that there was nothing the true gods could do about them, as long as they continued to hide within Heaven’s Vault Continent!
That was how the Beast God and the Dragon God had emerged as forces!
Upon hearing Meng Lei’s response, the Titan half-deities were both alarmed and panicked. What alarmed them was how Meng Lei actually knew the Titan Spiritual God like the back of his hand, while what sent them into a panic was the fact that the Titan Spiritual God’s name hadn’t daunted Meng Lei at all. What were they to do now?
“Don’t place hope in the Titan Spiritual God coming to save you! You’re bound to be disappointed!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “He might even be watching this right now!”
…
Meng Lei’s guess was on the mark!
Concealed in a hidden dimension beyond Heaven’s Vault Continent was a wide and spacious divine nation.
Vast, majestic divine might rippled as power of divinity surged in the divine nation. Songs and prayers rang out constantly as though Buddhist chants in Sanskrit.
Seated inside a big, tall, and extravagant temple was a burly figure who was as tall as 100,000 meters.
His muscles were harder and firmer than even rocks!
His head was bigger than even a mountain peak!
His hair was as though gigantic towering trees!
The air that he exhaled was as swift as lightning!
He was the deity whom billions of Titan Empire citizens worshiped—the Titan Spiritual God!
“That lowly mortal!!”
The Titan Spiritual God was terribly infuriated at the moment. In fact, he was livid. Never would he have thought that a lowly and cheap mortal would actually dare to challenge his reign!
The furious Titan Spiritual God bellowed, “Is anyone there?!”
“My respects to the great Titan Spiritual God!”
Two burly, golden-armored figures holding golden spears came into the hall.
The Titan Spiritual God barked, “Summon Horace!”
“Yes, great Spiritual God!”
Before long, a small and skinny figure shrouded in a black robe arrived at the temple. Upon getting onto his knees, he said, “My respects to the great Spiritual God!”
“Horace, I command you to descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent and erase a lowly mortal!”
The Titan Spiritual God said coldly, “You’re a Heaven’s Vault Continent native. Moreover, it hasn’t been 10,000 years since your deification. Thus, the will of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s existential plane will not resist your presence, thereby allowing you to descend upon the continent with your real body!”
“Your wish is my command!”
The small, skinny figure bowed in the undertaking.
The Titan Spiritual God watched as Horace departed from the hall. His voice was icy-cold as he said, “Lowly mortal, you shall pay a heavy price for your foolishness and ignorance!”
…
“Now, tell me your choices!”
Meng Lei was getting rather impatient.
The Ocean Titan half-deity bellowed indignantly, “Sir, do you really intend to kill every last one of us?”
Meng Lei’s eyes gradually turned icy as he asked coldly, “I’ll ask this one last time—death, or submission?”
The Titan half-deities fell into silence once again.
“You simply refuse to be convinced until reality hits you in the face, don’t you?”
At the sight, Meng Lei let out a cold snort. He couldn’t be bothered to say any more, deciding instead to kill!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
He activated his teleportation ability, coming and going like a ghost!
The divine spear was sharp and keen, capable of destroying everything in the world!
As though falling stars, the Titan half-deities began to crash onto the ground one by one a moment later.
“Spare me! I’m willing to submit now!”
“I’ll submit! I’ll submit!”
“It’s too late!”
The remaining Titan half-deities turned pale with fear and started to plead for mercy, but Meng Lei didn’t give them a second chance. The Gods-Slaying Spear launched a series of successive jabs and ended their lives!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Over ten dead bodies fell from the sky and crashed onto the summit, causing great explosions.
For a moment there, Meng Lei was the only one standing proudly in the sky, the divine spear in his hand and as though a god!
“Dead? Are they all dead?”
“Are all the grandmasters dead?”
The dazed survivors stared at Meng Lei, their bodies turning cold and chills coming over them.
A single human and a single spear had decimated 16 half-deities!
Was he really human?
The Devil!! He was the Devil himself!
“It’s over! All over!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was dazed and dejected as if he had lost all strength. He knew, the Titan Empire had become a goner. With all the half-deity grandmasters wiped out, the Titan Empire would never be able to make a comeback!
“Master… is really too powerful!”
Nadja and Seisia gazed at the figure in the sky, their beautiful eyes brimming with feelings of astoundment and worship.
In this instant, they suddenly felt like submitting to Meng Lei wasn’t that bad of a decision, after all!
How could hiding in the underground world even compare to being a follower of such a powerhouse?
“Did you see that, Hazeus? Those old coots are all dead! Who will be able to save you today?”
Bubbles burst into loud laughter. Then, he pressed Hazeus down and started to pummel him madly!
He had already had the upper hand in the first place and added to this how Hazeus had personally witnessed the tragic annihilation of the Titan half-deities, resulting in him becoming utterly stunned and dazed. How could Hazeus possibly be Bubbles’ match?
A series of clashes later, the more Bubbles fought, the more raging he became. On the other hand, the heavily wounded Hazeus was completely held down to the ground as Bubbles gave him a good thrashing!
“Die, Hazeus!”
As though a crazed demon, Bubbles smashed his fists into Hazeus fervently and haphazardly. Hazeus’ wounds became more serious until he finally collapsed onto the ground, unable to get up anymore. Yet Bubbles didn’t let him off…
The ultimate outcome was that—there was now another pile of bloody pulp on the ground!
“Wheeze~”
“Wheeze~”
Bubbles sat on Hazeus—who was now a mess of bloody pulp— in a straddle, panting heavily. The humiliation and hatred that he’d harbored for years finally found their release at this moment, and the 5,000-meter-tall big guy actually burst into loud, wracking sobs like a child!
“Asley, my beloved! It’s been 18,459 years! I’ve finally avenged you today! Sob…”
The howling chilly wind blew across the hills, producing a series of low, deep howls. Titan Spiritual Peak’s summit was frighteningly quiet. Only Bubbles’ sobbing resounded throughout the summit.
Meng Lei didn’t interrupt Bubbles, allowing him to vent all the fury and pain in him. Instead, he turned and flew toward the Titan Spiritual God statue.
“What rich power of faith! If I can absorb all of it…”
Meng Lei licked his lips, a hint of white-hot fervency flashing across his eyes.
Power of faith was good stuff. It could strengthen one’s divine spirit and refine one’s power of faith. One could call it an all-nourishing elixir!
The only troublesome part was that Meng Lei still hadn’t lit up his divine fire yet. Thus, he lacked the tool to convert power of faith into power of divinity. As a result, his efficiency in refining power of divinity would definitely be very low!
“Without a divine fire, I can only use this power of faith to strengthen my divine spirit.”
Meng Lei released his divine cognition and wrapped the statue in it. Then, he began to absorb the power of faith.
For a while, Meng Lei could feel an extremely pleasant feeling coming from the depths of his divine spirit. His entire self also, in turn, felt exceptionally comfortable, as if he was soaking in a hot spring!
“Kid, it feels great, right?”
Dodola’s voice rang out in his mind.
“Yeah, it feels awesome!”
“Awesome is right! This is exactly what makes the power of faith so amazing!”
A chuckling Dodola said, “So, work hard and fight for those power of faith! The more worshipers you gain, the deeper you’ll be able to experience the power of faith’s benefits!”
“Got it!”
Meng Lei replied calmly.
Then, Dodola said, “By the way! Come to the Tower of Time when you’re done with absorbing the power of faith. That precious daughter of yours has run out of food supplies again. Come in and get her some food!”
“She’s eaten all of them? Even though there were so many of them?”
Meng Lei was rather stunned. One must know that he had summoned tens of thousands of Devils and stored them all on the 96th level! Tens of thousands of them! This was by no means a small number, yet she had finished them all?
“Duh, of course!”
Dodola rolled its eyes. “She’s a half-deity-level Fallen Angel. Her appetite is voracious. Those Devils that you summoned are all low-level goods. They won’t fill her up at all!”
“Won’t fill her up…”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless.
Dodola urged, “Hurry up! Don’t keep her waiting for too long!”
“Understood!”
After responding to Dodola, Meng Lei then continued to absorb the power of faith. Envy filled Nadja and Seisia’s eyes, though no-one dared to interrupt him.
Power of faith might be great, but they didn’t have the guts to fight for food with their Master!
Half an hour later, Meng Lei finally absorbed all the power of faith in the statue into his sea of consciousness so that it could slowly nourish his divine spirit, thereby strengthening it.
“It feels really good having my divine spirit wrapped in power of faith!”
Meng Lei was somewhat in a state of revelry. “No wonder it’s said that power of faith is just like drugs—once you have a taste of it, you can’t get away from it anymore. Our forebears kid me not!”
Meng Lei shook his head with a smile. Then, he casually grabbed the Thunder Titan Emperor. “Thunder Titan Emperor, let’s continue our previous conversation!”
“F-feel free to state your demands, sir. I… I’ll definitely try my best to satisfy them!”
Scared witless, the Thunder Titan Emperor’s dignity and stateliness as a sovereign was completely gone.
“I heard that the Titan Empire’s treasury has a collection of numerous rare and unique treasures in the world. I’d like very much to go in and have a look. I wonder if Your Majesty can satisfy my request?” asked Meng Lei.
“Of course! I’ll satisfy your request for sure!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor hastily nodded, lest Meng Lei smack him dead if he responded even a moment too slow. He said, “You can go in for a look anytime you want!”
“Great!”
" }, { "id": 241, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-241", "title": "Chapter 241 - Steel-Winged Angel, Metal-Origin Divine Body", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Just like what Meng Lei had imagined, the Titan Empire’s treasury was also located on a half-plane.
Moreover, it was even on an airless half-plane that was devoid of any magic elements and filled with dead silence.
However, the difference between the Dragons and the Titan Empire was that they had richer and more treasures, and the varieties also differed.
Unlike the Dragons, the Titans weren’t that passionate about glittery, shiny objects. Hence, there were practically no treasures along the lines of gold coins, jewels, and magic crystals.
Treasures like elemental crystals and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, on the other hand, were a lot more abundant. After a bout of feverish collection, Meng Lei’s Wealth had spiked by 25.9 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
“There are so many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals here? There are much more here than what the Dragon God Empire had!”
Meng Lei didn’t find this out of the norm after a moment’s thought, however.
Heaven’s Vault Continent had experienced a total of five eras—the Fairy era, the Titan era, the Beast People era, the Colossal Dragon era, and the current era where all four races co-existed.
The Titans had ruled during the second era. Hence they had been around for much longer than the Dragon God Empire. Naturally, their heritage would also be a lot deeper and richer!
“Adding this to the previous 23.51 million, my Wealth has reached 49.41 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! This is a pretty big windfall!”
Meng Lei was in a fantastic mood!
I’ll collect some more!
The useful ones, the useless ones… I’ll collect them all!
Lastly, Meng Lei came to the area where special items were kept. There was an astonishing number of special items there, and they mostly consisted of animal bones, remains, animal teeth…
The Titans revered violence and loved collecting their prey’s teeth and skulls as mementos after their conquests. It was more than normal for there to be so many animal bones here.
“What rich wind-elemental power of divinity energy fluctuations! It’s another item from a true god!
“This tooth is so sharp! Alright, I’m taking it!
“What a huge skull! It’s probably 10,000-feet-tall? How big must its original form have been?
“Eh? This is…”
A three to four-meter-long golden ant sat in front of him. It gave off rich metal-elemental power of divinity energy fluctuations. If not for the fact that it had lost all signs of life, it could almost pass off for a living creature!
“It’s a Golden Gods-Slaying Ant!”
Meng Lei recognized the golden ant at first glance because it simply looked too alike to Little Gold. It was practically an enlarged version of Little Gold!
Although it was dead, the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant still gave off extremely strong power of divinity energy fluctuations—it was definitely a Golden Gods-Slaying Ant of the half-deity level.
“It’s probably the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant that met its demise during the catastrophe that time!”
Meng Lei stored the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant carcass away and continued his observation of the items there, upon which he then noticed quite a few other handicapped Golden Gods-Slaying Ants.
They were either missing an arm, a leg, tentacles, or a head. Evidently, they had all experienced a fierce battle when they were still alive!
“What’s this?”
Meng Lei came up to a pair of wings.
The wings appeared to be forged from silver-colored metal alloys. White streams of light shone on the surface, and it gave off a sharp and holy aura.
Meng Lei casually touched them. A buzz rang out, and then, he felt a mild pain coming from his finger—he had actually gotten a cut!
“What the heck! It’s so sharp!”
Disbelief filled Meng Lei. Not only was his divine body that of a pinnacle-level half-deity’s, but he had even assimilated the Gods-Slaying Rat and Hundred-Armed Giant bloodlines and enhanced his divine body’s defenses to an astonishing level!
Simply put, his divine body was currently extremely tough and durable!
Despite the 15 Titan half-deities bombarding him with attacks previously, they simply couldn’t leave even a scratch on him. From this, one could tell just how durable his body was!
Yet a light press against one of the wings’ feathers had cut him. Just how sharp were these wings?
Right at this point, a system notification abruptly rang out.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“A dropped item?”
Meng Lei was a little taken aback.
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Metal-Origin Divine Body. Will you assimilate it?”
“(⊙_⊙)?”
Astonished, Meng Lei exclaimed, “What the heck! A metal-origin divine body? Are you serious?”
Had it been a few days ago when Meng Lei didn’t yet know what a metal-origin divine body was, he might not have been that astonished, but now that he did, all the more astonished he was!
According to Dodola, origin divine bodies were one of the most powerful types of divine bodies in the vast universe. As they were compatible with laws of nature origins, not only did the owners of such bodies possess an astonishingly fast cultivation speed, but they were also incomparably strong. On top of that, they even came with all kinds of incredible Innate Special Abilities and other abilities!
“And now! I’ve actually picked up a metal-origin divine body? What the heck! Just what kind of background does this pair of wings have?”
Meng Lei promptly consulted Dodola.
“Eh?”
Dodola’s eyes lit up the moment it saw the metal alloy wings. It said, “Kid, your luck is pretty good! You’ve actually gotten your hands on a treasure like this? Have you ransacked the Titan Empire’s treasury?”
“As expected, I can’t hide anything from you!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter.
Dodola looked at Meng Lei mockingly and remarked, “You’re too bold. To think you dare to even challenge the Titan Spiritual God! Aren’t you afraid that he’ll take revenge on you?”
“If he dares to come, I’ll hammer him to death!”
Meng Lei wasn’t too bothered about the Titan Spiritual God. In any case, he’d already made up his mind—before he became a true god, he would never take a step out of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
When he became a true god, he’d definitely be a Great Perfection-level one. By then, why would he still need to fear the Titan Spiritual God?
“The Titan Spiritual God indeed can’t do anything about you!”
Dodola couldn’t help but laugh. Then, it said, “But don’t you forget that he’s still a pinnacle-level intermediate deity, after all. There are many ways he can deal with you. You’d better take it easy!”
“Don’t worry. I know what to do!”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a smile. Then, he asked, “What exactly is this, though?”
“It’s good stuff! Rare good stuff!” A smiling Dodola said, “Have you heard of the Steel-Winged Angels?”
“The Steel-Winged Angels? Not at all!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “I’ve only heard of Angels and Fallen Angels!”
“Like the Fallen Angels, Steel-Winged Angels are also angels. The difference between the two is that the former is a clan of angels that formed after the members had fallen from grace,” A smiling Dodola said, “While the Steel-Winged Angels are a kind of completely new life form that comes into being when an angel’s bloodline mutates!”
“When their bloodline mutates?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
“That’s right! When their bloodline mutates!”
“Just like the Hundred-Armed Giants come into being when Titan Gods undergo a bloodline mutation, Steel-Winged Angels are a new lifeform that comes into being when Angels undergo a bloodline mutation!”
Dodola explained, “There are both advantages and disadvantages to bloodline mutations. Some mutations allow one’s lifespan and power to increase sharply while some cause them to fall drastically!”
A curious Meng Lei asked, “And in the case of the Steel-Winged Angels?”
“Like the Hundred-Armed Giants, their mutation is also for the better!”
Dodola glanced at the metal alloy wings. Then, it said, “Apart from their original light-elemental foundation, post-mutation Steel-Winged Angels also gain an additional metal-elemental attribute. Thus, on top of having the Angels’ every talent, ability, and special ability, Steel-Winged Angels also possess an additional metal-elemental talent, ability, and special ability!
“In terms of battle power, Steel-Winged Angels are much more powerful than normal Angels! But unlike the Hundred-Armed Giants, Steel-Winged Angels weren’t expelled by the Angel Gods. Instead, they even became priority targets of grooming!”
Dodola said wistfully, “The Steel-Winged Angels also worked hard to live up to expectations. Although there aren’t many of them, almost every one of them was able to become a higher deity. Additionally, a Great Perfection true god even emerged from among them, greatly boosting the Angel Gods’ combat strength and heritage. Their name resounds greatly in the vast universe!”
“Are the Steel-Winged Angels that monstrous?”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder. Then, he asked, “Do all Steel-Winged Angels have metal-origin divine bodies?”
“How can that be?”
Dodola promptly shook its head. “Just how rare are origin divine bodies? How can there possibly be clans of them?”
“Is it impossible?”
“Of course! Take the Fairy Goddess, for example. Even though she has a wood-origin divine body, it doesn’t mean that other Fairies would also possess wood-origin divine bodies. As a matter of fact, out of innumerable Fairies in the world, only the Fairy Goddess owns a wood-origin divine body!
“The same goes for the Steel-Winged Angels. A random Steel-Winged Angel may have a metal-origin divine body, but it’s impossible for all of them to have one each!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile. “In that case, my luck has shot through the roof! I picked up a random pair of Steel-Winged Angel wings and immediately bumped into the metal-origin divine body!”
“Metal-origin divine body?”
Dodola looked puzzled. “You can’t be saying that the owner of these wings has a metal-origin divine body, right? What kind of joke is that? How can that be?”
“It’s true, Dodola!”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “The owner of this pair of wings does indeed have a metal-origin divine body!”
“Really?” A doubtful Dodola asked, “How did you know that?”
“I just do!”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a smile. Then, without waiting for Dodola to pursue the matter, he contacted the system at once. “Say no more, system! Assimilate the metal-origin divine body!”
“Ding! Assimilating the metal-origin divine body now!”
Clank!
A golden deluge suddenly surged out of Meng Lei’s mind, instantly spreading throughout his body. It flowed through his limbs and integrated itself into every nook and cranny of his body!
His cells gradually turned a golden color, in turn causing his flesh, blood, bones, organs, and skin to also turn gold. As though someone had cast the metal-elemental first-class spell Ultimate Alchemy on him, Meng Lei gradually turned a golden color!
“What’s going on?”
Dodola was shocked by Meng Lei’s sudden change. It panicked and hastily shouted, “Meng Lei, what’s happening to you?”
Meng Lei paid Dodola no heed. Instead, he shut his eyes and took in the changes happening in his body in detail.
He could feel it—a fierce, torrential wave of metal-elemental energy was currently modifying his body!
It wasn’t metal-elemental laws of nature!
It wasn’t metal-elemental power of divinity!
It wasn’t metal-elemental magic power!
It wasn’t metal-elemental Battle Aura!
So, just what exactly was it?
Meng Lei couldn’t put his finger on it, either!
All he could tell was that it was a very peculiar kind of metal-elemental energy!
There was no pain during the entire process. Additionally, the assimilation process was very quick. It didn’t last even a minute before it ended.
Yet it was exactly this short one minute’s time that made Meng Lei feel like his body had undergone an extreme change.
“What a peculiar sensation!”
Meng Lei felt as if the metal laws of nature in the universe had become his friends and his servants, allowing him to manipulate, direct, and control them!
This was a sensation that felt like he’d completely mastered metal laws of nature. It was entirely different from how his prior comprehension of the laws of nature had felt!
He’d previously already comprehended metal-elemental laws of nature, but just like how one mastered a discipline of learning, all he had achieved was merely mastering all the knowledge related to the subject of study.
He could make use of that knowledge to do certain things, such as casting spells, casting first-class spells, and casting Divine Techniques—by doing this, he was reproducing the way the spells were to be cast and applying what he had learned.
But now, he could directly command that knowledge to carry out tasks for him, such as “Cast a spell!”, “Cast a first-class spell!”, or “Cast a Divine Technique!”—he was completely commanding and controlling them!
There was a world of difference between the two!
To put it in more concrete terms, the former depleted one’s spiritual power, magic power, and power of divinity, whereas the latter depleted only a small amount of spiritual power and no magic power or power of divinity at all!
Evidently, there was a difference in intrinsic quality between the two!
" }, { "id": 242, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-242", "title": "Chapter 242 - A Sea Of Dead Bodies, The Grim Reaper'S Scythe", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“A metal-origin divine body! That’s the aura of a metal-origin divine body!”
Dodola was stunned. “O’ great God of Time! What exactly has Meng Lei done? Why has he suddenly obtained a metal-origin divine body for no reason whatsoever?”
Even if Dodola hadn’t recognized the metal-origin divine body at the start of Meng Lei’s assimilation process, it would have lived all these years in vain if it still couldn’t recognize it as the process went on.
A metal-origin divine body!
That was definitely a metal-origin divine body!
Meng Lei had actually inexplicably obtained a metal-origin divine body right under its nose! Dodola felt as if everything it knew had been overturned!
Origin divine bodies were an inborn characteristic!
What was the meaning of “inborn”?
It meant that the characteristic existed in one from birth! If it wasn’t there at the point of birth, then they would never have it, no matter how much they tried!
Dodola had never heard of anyone successfully modifying their body into an origin divine body after they were born!
Dodola circled Meng Lei vigorously, its eyes boring into him as if wanting to see through all of his secrets and see through him.
Meng Lei also just so happened to open his eyes at this point. A couple of sharp glints flashed across his eyes, and then, two cracks formed in the air with a rip.
Dodola promptly asked, “Be honest with me, Meng Lei. What exactly is up with the metal-origin divine body?”
“I just gained it for some inexplicable reason!”
Meng Lei blinked at Dodola.
“Some inexplicable reason…”
Dodola gnashed its teeth in frustration, feeling the urge to beat someone up. “You’re always spinning some kind of story whenever I ask you something crucial! Do you know that you’ll end up friendless if you do that?
“No, this won’t do! You must give me an honest explanation today! Otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep!”
What does whether you’re able to get to sleep or not have anything to do with me?
Meng Lei secretly dissed Dodola, but nevertheless, he still answered, “I have a miraculous ability that allows me to plunder bloodlines, divine bodies, special abilities… and so on, and assimilate them into my own body so that I can become stronger!”
“What did you say?”
A huge shudder went through the utterly astounded Dodola. “Does an ability like that even exist?”
“Of course!”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a smug smile. “That’s how the Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix, and Hundred-Armed Giant bloodlines, as well as my Teleportation, Transfer, and other special abilities came about!
“Of course, I’ll continue to plunder even more bloodlines, divine bodies, and special abilities in the future, too!”
“…”
Dodola was stunned. Only after a long while did two words come out of its mouth—”You monster!”
“Thanks for the compliment!”
A smiling Meng Lei then asked, “Do you think there’s a need for me to assimilate the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline?”
“The Steel-Winged Angel bloodline?” Dodola was slightly taken aback before it realized what Meng Lei meant. It asked, “Are you thinking of assimilating the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline?”
“I’ll assimilate it if it’s useful, but if it isn’t, then I’ll leave it.”
With a shake of his head, Meng Lei said, “I’m a very practical person. Everything I do is for the sake of power!”
“Of course it’s useful!”
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Dodola said, “The Steel-Winged Angel bloodline is in no way inferior to the Fallen Angel, Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix, and Hundred-Armed Giant bloodlines. Assimilating it will give you lots of benefits!”
“Tell me about it in detail!”
Meng Lei perked up!
“Firstly, after you assimilate the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline, you’ll gain speed that’s as fast as the speed of light. The Angel Gods are well-known for their speed. It’s no joke!
“Secondly, you’ll also come to possess superbly strong defenses! Although your defenses are already very strong, the addition of the Steel-Winged Angel’s defenses will definitely be an extra powerful boost, allowing your defenses to reach fearsome levels!”
Dodola went on unceasingly. “Next, every part of the Steel-Winged Angel’s body is a weapon. If you assimilate the bloodline, your offensive power will also greatly increase!
“You’ve never seen how the Steel-Winged Angels wove to and fro and crisscrossed left and right at will as they slaughtered the Devils during the war between the Gods and the Devils. The sight is simply too terrifying!
“Lastly, as well as most importantly,” Dodola’s eyes shone keenly and brightly as it said, “The Angel Gods are an extremely powerful clan of gods. This is especially true in the Celestial Realm, where they hold fearsome power and authority!
“If you own the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline, you’ll have a chance of receiving the Angel Gods’ priority grooming and receive a great deal of benefits for free like the Titan Spiritual God!”
“The Angel Gods’ grooming…”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up. The allure was rather great. Would the Angel Gods be like the Theodore clan and bestow upon him a few hundred existential planes as his territory, too?
“As they say, big trees provide great shade. If you can join a powerful force, it’ll be greatly advantageous toward your future development and growth!”
Dodola snickered and asked, “Why do you think native true gods like the Dragon God and the Beast God desire so much to join a powerful force yet are unable to?
“It’s because they aren’t qualified enough! Now that you have such a fantastic opportunity, you mustn’t let it pass you by! Otherwise, you’ll receive divine punishment!”
“That makes sense!”
Meng Lei nodded incessantly. A shrewd glint flashed in his eyes as he said, “Even if we take a step back and assume that I don’t wish to join the Angel Gods, the assimilation of the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline itself is tantamount to having an additional choice!”
“Yes, that’s exactly it!”
“Alright, I know what to do now!”
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly. Then, he resolutely gave the command. “System, plunder the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline!”
“Ding! The Steel-Winged Angel bloodline is classified as a higher life form’s bloodline. This pair of Steel-Winged Angel wings belongs to an Eight-Winged Steel Angel,” The system stated coldly, “Price Estimation: Plundering said bloodline requires 19.6 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
“(⊙_⊙)? 19.6 million?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “That’s too freaking expensive! I won’t plunder it anymore! I won’t plunder it anymore! I can’t afford to!”
At once, the system’s presence vanished.
“Have you succeeded?” asked an excited Dodola.
“It failed!”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a wry smile. “This pair of wings belongs to an Eight-Winged Steel Angel. I can’t afford the cost of plundering it!”
“An Eight-Winged Steel Angel?”
Dodola was greatly disappointed. “Eight-Winged Steel Angels are comparable to higher deities. It has indeed exceeded the range of what you can plunder. It’s understandable why you wouldn’t be able to do it!”
“Yeah! I can’t plunder it mainly because it’s too expensive!”
“Expensive?”
“My bad, what I mean is that it’s too high a grade! When I become stronger, perhaps I’ll be able to plunder it in the future!”
“Alright! Speaking of which, this is rather strange, though. Why would an Eight-Winged Steel Angel’s—and on top of that, one who even has a metal-origin divine body—wings show up in a place like this?”
…
Meng Lei cast a habitual glance at his stats interface upon exiting the Tower of Time and started to take inventory of his new gains.
True enough, the interface had changed again!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix, Hundred-Armed Giant)
Wealth: 49.41 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Pinnacle-Grade)
Others: Some increase
“My Physical Body Constitution has become a metal-origin divine body!
“1%?”
“‘1%’? What does the ‘1%’ at the back mean?”
“Ding! A friendly tip: The metal-origin divine body is formed using metal-elemental laws of nature as a source. The host’s body is flesh and blood. Hence it hasn’t perfectly integrated with the host.”
“It hasn’t perfectly integrated with my body? In other words, the ‘1%’ represents my metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate? It’s surprisingly rather similar to bloodline assimilation rates!”
Meng Lei understood now. He asked, “System, how much does it cost to buy credit for the metal-origin divine body assimilation rate?”
“Ding! Raising the metal-origin divine body assimilation rate by 1% requires 1 million Divinity Crystals!”
“1 million… Divinity Crystals? Forget it, forget it!”
Meng Lei broke into a resigned smile at once. “That’s too expensive. I won’t fetch that high a price even if you sell me off!”
After adjusting his frame of mind, Meng Lei then continued to look through the treasures. There was a very ample amount of treasures in the Titan Empire’s treasury. Hence he looked forward very much to what he would see next.
He collected the items as he looked through them.
At last, he came to a box. The box measured four by two meters in length and breadth and was one-meter-tall. Densely packed laws of nature runes were inscribed all over it.
With Meng Lei’s prowess in his comprehension of laws of nature, he could tell at once that these runes formed a sealing magic circle.
“I wonder what’s inside the box for it to actually be sealed?”
Puzzled, Meng Lei began to break the seal. This didn’t pose any problem to him at all.
The seal was broken a brief moment later. Right away, a dense, rich aura of blood and death emanated from within, and the temperature around them fell by a few degrees out of the blue.
“For it to actually give off such a strong aura of blood and death, what can this possibly be?”
Meng Lei opened the box. A blood-red beam of light shot out from within, the resulting wind causing his cheeks to hurt. Meng Lei couldn’t help but step back.
A huge scythe that was fully blood-red in color as though doused in and forged from blood laid within the box.
The handle measured three-meters-long while the blade measured almost two-meters-wide. A blood-red chain was attached to the bottom end.
The incomparably sharp blade glinted coldly in the light, bewitching and evil, bloodthirsty and emanating a dead stillness!
As Meng Lei gazed upon the blood-red scythe, he felt as if he were staring at an incredibly evil demon, and chills ran down his spine.
“What an unholy scythe!”
Meng Lei was astounded. Nevertheless, he still grabbed hold of the blood-red scythe.
Buzz…
The scythe trembled lightly as a few icy glints of light flashed across the buzzing wide and broad blade!
Slash!
Meng Lei brandished the scythe. With a slash, the box, which was forged from an unknown kind of metal, was instantly sundered into two!
The scythe continued to slice through the air, actually slashing a tiny, barely-discernible space-time rift in the air!
“What a sharp scythe this is! It’s even sharper than the blood-red machete! What level of divine weapon is this?”
Meng Lei could hardly believe it. Nevertheless, he still dripped a drop of blood onto the scythe. As though a drop into the ocean, the blood seeped right into the scythe.
“Haha! This divine weapon doesn’t belong to anyone!”
Meng Lei was thrilled!
Buzz…
The scythe began to tremble vigorously.
The next moment, a dense beam of blood-red light shot into the sky. Meng Lei felt the world spinning around him, and then, he actually bizarrely went into a blood-red world!
Blood-red skies, blood-red lands!
Blood-red mountains, blood-red rocks!
An infinite number of dead bodies were strewn all over the blood-red lands!
There were Titan deities that reached as tall as one million feet!
There were Eight-Winged Angels with eight wings on their backs!
There were primordial Colossal Dragons that spanned as long as one million feet!
There were also dead bodies of various other lifeforms, which gave off vast, majestic divine power that Meng Lei didn’t recognize…
But all the dead bodies had a common trait—they were headless!
Yes, that’s right!
Headless!
They were all headless bodies!
“Where have their heads gone?”
Puzzlement filled Meng Lei. Then, he saw a mud monument made out of stacked heads in the middle of the wide, spacious mountain of dead bodies!
There were Titan heads, Dragon heads, Angel heads, as well as the heads of other deities…
An infinite number of heads piled together to form a 100,000-feet-tall mountain of heads, and at the peak of the mountain stood a black figure dressed in a black hood and holding a blood-red scythe!
The howling blood winds blew across the black robe, causing it to flap loudly in the wind. Blood dripped from the blood-red scythe, forming a bewitching and unholy sight.
“Just what kind of unholy weapon is this?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but swallow hard.
“Meng Lei!”
“Meng Lei!”
Dodola’s voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.
Whoosh!
The blood-red world instantly broke into blood-red fragments. Meng Lei then found himself back on the half-plane again, with Dodola currently calling out to him.
“This scythe…”
Meng Lei gazed at the blood-red scythe in his hand, a few beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
“Why aren’t you replying, Meng Lei?”
Dodola started to shout again.
“I’m here, Dodola!”
Meng Lei asked, “Is something up?”
A rather incensed Dodola asked, “What’s wrong with you, kid? Why did you take so long to respond?”
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I discovered something incredible when I was looking up something just now, Meng Lei!”
Dodola said excitedly, “Among all the Steel-Winged Angels of the Angel Gods, there’s only one person that owns a metal-origin divine body!”
Meng Lei quickly asked, “Who is it?”
“It’s that Great Perfection true god!” Dodola snickered as it asked, “Do you know what this means?
“It means that this pair of wings comes from that Great Perfection Steel-Winged Angel! If you can assimilate his bloodline and form a connection with him, you’ll become an impressive figure!”
“Let’s leave the matter of assimilating the Steel-Winged Angel bloodline to another time!” Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he said, “I have a weapon here that I’d like you to take a look at!”
" }, { "id": 243, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-243", "title": "Chapter 243 - The Death Gods, The Fire Demon Overlord", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“What the heck! Where did you get this from?”
Astonished by the sight of the blood-red scythe in Meng Lei’s hand, Dodola looked as if it had just seen a ghost.
“I took it from the Titan Empire’s treasury!”
Meng Lei said honestly, “I’ve tested it. This scythe is extremely sharp and has astonishing might. It’s probably a very powerful divine weapon!”
“How does ‘powerful’ even cut it?!”
With a shake of its head, Dodola said, “This is the Grim Reaper Scythe. It’s the companion weapon to the Netherworld’s Grim Reapers and has beheaded so many deities that one can’t even keep count anymore!”
“The Grim Reaper Scythe?” Meng Lei gasped. “What’s a Grim Reaper?”
“The Grim Reaper is also known as the God of Death and refers to the deity that rules over death. Of course, the Grim Reaper doesn’t just represent one person. Rather, the name refers to a whole clan instead—the Death Gods!”
Dodola explained, “Although there are only very few Death Gods in comparison to clans with great numbers like the Titan Gods and the Angel Gods, every single Grim Reaper is an extremely fearsome existence—because all the Grim Reapers are higher deities!”
“They are all higher deities? My goodness, had there been more of them, would other races even have a shot at survival?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. A clan where every single person was a higher deity—just what kind of concept was that?
“Thus, the Death Gods are one of the most powerful forces in the Netherworld. Although there are only very few of them, no-one dares to look down on them!”
Dodola added, “In particular, the Death Gods’ ruler—the Grim Reaper King—is even one of the greatest and most noble existences in the vast universe!”
Meng Lei could hardly contain his excitement. He asked, “So, this means that this scythe is a higher deity’s weapon?”
Dodola nodded slowly. Then, it said, “But I wouldn’t recommend that you use it because the Grim Reaper Scythe is extremely bloodstained and unholy. It’ll affect your state of mind!”
“Weapons are inanimate, whereas humans are alive,” Meng Lei remained noncommittal to Dodola’s suggestion. He said, “As if inanimate objects can take control of a live human! Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing!”
Dodola chastised him. “You mustn’t be negligent!”
“Alright, alright!”
Then, Meng Lei left the Tower of Time.
One must admit that the Grim Reaper Scythe indeed looked very impressive and domineering. When Meng Lei hoisted it over his shoulder, even he felt that he looked rather cool!
“I must try this treasure out when I get the chance to!”
Meng Lei had taken a huge fancy to the Grim Reaper Scythe. Only after fiddling with it properly for quite a while did he leave the half-plane and return to the Titan Spiritual Peak summit.
“Master!”
Nadja, Seisia, and Bubbles hurriedly came forward to receive him. Klaus, who had previously headed to the Great Earth Pillar Nation, was also back.
Klaus handed a spatial ring over and said, “Master, these are the Chimeras’ assets!”
“Thanks for your hard work!” said Meng Lei received the spatial ring from him. The Chimeras’ assets certainly in no way matched up to the Titan Empire’s, but one shouldn’t underestimate them, either.
An inventory of the assets showed that they had brought Meng Lei another two million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, as well as innumerable other rare and precious treasures!
“Our trip is complete. We can leave now!”
After collecting the rest of the treasures, Meng Lei summoned the Thunder Titan Emperor over again. He said, “Thunder Titan Emperor, you’re a pretty nice guy, so I won’t take your life!”
“Thank you for sparing my life!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor was so grateful that he was close to tears.
“I’m about to leave. I’d like to ask you for one last favor!” Meng Lei asked, “I wonder if that’s okay?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor quickly replied, “Your wish is my command, sir! I will definitely do my best to fulfill it!”
Right now, all he wanted was to see Meng Lei off—never to return again, preferably!
“Spread the news of everything that has happened here everywhere. Let the Titan Empire’s people know what exactly has taken place here!”
Meng Lei smiled calmly and asked, “Can you do that?”
“Yes! Absolutely!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor hurriedly gave his word.
“Great!”
Meng Lei gave him a slight nod. Then, he said, “Let’s go!”
“Yes, Master!”
Klaus transformed into his true form and left with Meng Lei and the others on his back.
The Thunder Titan Emperor watched as they went far away into the distance until all he could see was a tiny black dot. Only then did he finally heave a long sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground weakly.
“He’s gone! That devil is finally gone! I’ve managed to stay alive somehow, thank goodness!”
“Your Majesty!”
The Titan Empress and other survivors walked over, their expressions one of relief from surviving the ordeal.
The Thunder Titan Emperor felt like crying as he looked at them, however. The half-deity grandmasters were all dead while only a handful of court officials, nobles, and Saint Domains were left.
How were they supposed to survive?
“That renegade! Knave! Treacherous bandit!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor gnashed his teeth, wishing he could rip Meng Lei into shreds. “I’m so mad!”
“It’s over! All over!”
“Oh, my empire…”
…
As though a red bolt of lightning, Klaus soared swiftly in the sky while Meng Lei, Bubbles, and the others sat on his back and chatted idly.
“Are you also a Titan, Master?”
Bubbles asked as he watched Meng Lei, his eyes full of excitement and curiosity.
“Not really, I guess! I’m a Hundred-Armed Giant!”
Meng Lei shook his head with a laugh.
“A Hundred-Armed Giant?”
Bubbles broke into a slight frown—he’d never heard of the Hundred-Armed Giants.
“Hundred-Armed Giants refer to the legendary Titan mutants. However, they were expelled by the Titans and became the Supreme God of The Underworld’s guards in the end,” explained Seisia, the Thunderbolt Queen.
At the same time, an even stronger sense of curiosity also filled her eyes as she gazed at Meng Lei.
First, it was the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline, and now, it’s the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline. Master has simply too many secrets. He’s just like a ball of mystery!
“A Titan mutant? That’s also a Titan!”
Bubbles’ eyes lit up as he burst into loud laughter. “Master, the same blood flows through our veins! Hahaha!”
“Well, I guess so!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he brought out about 100 half-divine weapons that were giving off power of divinity energy fluctuations.
“I took these half-divine weapons from the Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire’s treasuries. Each of you can pick a few for yourselves as weapons!”
“So many half-divine weapons!”
Bubbles and the other three half-deities were so astonished that their eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets. They were half-deities, hence in terms of weapons, half-divine weapons suited them best.
Yet as underground half-deities…
All of them were as poor as a church mouse!
When had they ever seen this many half-divine weapons?
“Can we really take our pick, Master?” A rather agitated Bubbles asked in a loud outburst as he looked at Meng Lei hopefully.
“Of course! Take whatever you want!”
Meng Lei gave them a slight smile. Then, he closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered the Tower of Time.
The 96th level was still the same dim and dull blood-red world with blood-red skies and blood-red lands.
Unlike in the past, however, the entire half-plane was dead silent and completely soundless now.
The dark-elemental Magical Beasts were nowhere in sight, and neither were the tens of thousands of Devils he’d stocked up here!
They’d all vanished!
As for Little Cola…
Meng Lei found her in a pile of bushes. The little fellow had wrapped her wings snugly around herself and was exceptionally blissfully fast asleep.
“She’s really eaten them all? Isn’t that too great an appetite?”
Meng Lei was rendered somewhat speechless. In spite of that, what must be summoned still had to be summoned. Otherwise, the little fellow would have to starve.
At once, Meng Lei tried to detect the faraway Demon Realm’s location and began to summon the Devils.
As a high-end existential plane, the Demon Realm and Heaven’s Vault Continent difference was apparent to Meng Lei.
The laws of nature were more obvious there, and magic elements were also richer in concentration there. Dark magic elements, in particular, were extremely abundant. It was practically the dark-elemental beings’ sanctum!
Apart from that, the Demon Realm’s dimensional structure was also stabler. Half-deity-level attacks were completely incapable of shaking the space-time dimension there!
Ripping a fissure into the void?
Don’t even think about it!
Of course, the Demon Realm was also wider and vaster than Heaven’s Vault Continent and was nearly boundless.
For the same reason, many regions in the Demon Realm were void of any presence.
And wasn’t that so? Meng Lei had been wandering about in the sky in the Demon Realm for half a day, yet he’d only managed to catch a paltry hundred or so Devils. It wasn’t even enough as a snack for Little Cola!
“This won’t work. I have to find a Devil who’s about as strong as myself and ask them for directions…
“Eh? The demonic aura there is so strong!”
Meng Lei had spied a large, bald mountain devoid of any vegetation. Smoke rose from the mountain.
Evidently, that was a volcano, and the demonic aura was coming from the volcano’s mouth!
He came to the volcano’s mouth. The boiling-hot lava inside constantly bubbled as it gave off shockingly high heat. A torrential wave of demonic aura was also coming from the lava.
Meng Lei mumbled, “It’s probably a half-deity-level Devil!”
Then, he manifested his divine cognition into a humanoid form and began to provoke it!
Roar!
A low, deep roar traveled over to him, and then, a gigantic ram-horned head emerged from within the lava. Its eyes were blood-red like rubies and looked incredibly unholy.
“Lowly, cheap human Magician, how dare you disturb the great Lord Gabriel’s slumber! I’m going to eat you!”
“This aura… It’s… A Fire Demon?”
Surprise appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance. He’d found the demonic aura from the volcano very familiar when he was on the way over just now. As it turned out, a Fire Demon had been in deep slumber in the volcano!
The Fire Demon!
There was no way Meng Lei could forget about it, of course. He had assimilated the Fire Demon bloodline back then, after all!
Roar!
The Fire Demon in the lava launched its attack. A couple of fire dragons formed from lava soared out of the volcano and rushed toward Meng Lei!
However, with a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, the two fire dragons immediately turned around and flew toward the Fire Demon instead.
“Damn it!”
At the sight, the Fire Demon smacked the lava lake, causing a waterfall of lava to rise from the lake and using it to block the fire dragons.
“Surprisingly, you do have a bit of skill to you. This is my turf, however, so how can I allow you to horse around here?”
The Fire Demon let out an icy snort. Then, it slowly rose from the lava—it was actually a 100-feet-tall adult Fire Demon bathed in flames!
“Die!!”
The Fire Demon roared, instantly turning into a flash of lightning that shot toward Meng Lei.
Meng Lei uttered two words, “Ultimate Alchemy!”
He was currently here in the Demon Realm in his divine spirit form, so he couldn’t use his divine body, his power of divinity, his special abilities, or his divine weapons. Thus, his combat power had taken a huge dip!
There were simply too few options available to him while he was in his divine spirit form. Apart from spiritual attacks, laws of nature were the only option he had!
If he wanted to subdue the half-deity-level Fire Demon within the shortest amount of time possible, then the only choice he had was to use his most powerful skill—his control of metal laws of nature!
Whoosh!
A dazzling golden light beam descended from above, instantly crashing down onto the Fire Demon and completely transmuting it into gold in a split second.
Meng Lei opened up the Devil channel and brought the Fire Demon out with him before dispelling Ultimate Alchemy’s effects on it.
Roar!
The Fire Demon was right about to attack the moment it was freed, but upon sensing the aura in the surroundings, it became thunderstruck at once, and a look of fear and shock appeared on its face.
One, two, three, four, five!
There were a good five half-deities around him, and every single one emanated an aura that was much more powerful than his!
“S-sir…!”
The fearful Fire Demon bowed down to Meng Lei at once.
“Raise your head!”
Meng Lei replied calmly.
“Yes, sir!”
The Fire Demon trembled as it raised its head, looking at Meng Lei with an expression of fear. By now, it could already tell that Meng Lei was the one who had brought him here.
“Tell me about the Demon Realm!”
" }, { "id": 244, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-244", "title": "Chapter 244 - A Million Sacrificial Offerings, Lord Ram-Lion", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "With regard to Meng Lei’s inquiry, Gabriel the Fire Demon Overlord told him everything he knew and withheld nothing.
The Demon Realm was very big! Unimaginably so!
Even the Fire Demon Overlord couldn’t come up with a concrete answer as to just how big it was exactly. All it knew was that its place of residence was called the Campas Wastelands and that it spanned 10 million miles from the north to the south and 30 million miles from the east to the west.
The nearest city was the Magic Wings City. The lord of the city was a true god-level Demon Lord, and he ruled over all the districts 100,000 miles of the city. He was the most influential Devil in the vicinity!
At this point, one must make a mention of Hell’s combat prowess classification.
The Demon Realm was a high-end existential plane that was unlike Heaven’s Vault Continent. Saint Domains lived a life worse than dogs, and deities could be found everywhere. All those weaker than Saint Domain were cannon fodder that the Demon Realm termed as Demon Soldiers.
Above the Demon Soldiers, in ascending order, were the Demon Generals, Overlords, Demon Lords, Great Demon Lords, Demon Gods, Great Demon Gods, and… The Demon Grandmaster!
Demon Generals were the equivalent of Saint Domains;
Overlords were the equivalent of half-deities;
Demon Lords were the equivalent of true gods;
Great Demon Lords were the equivalent of lesser deities;
Demon Gods were the equivalent of intermediate deities;
Great Demon Lords were the equivalent of higher deities;
And the Demon Grandmaster… was the equivalent of a Chief God!
“How many Devils are there in total in Magic Wings City?”
Meng Lei popped the most crucial question.
The Demon Realm’s vastness was beyond what he’d imagined. How big must the Demon Realm be when the Campas Wastelands alone were already this big?
Based on the Fire Demon Overlord’s description, the Campas Wastelands was just a corner of the Purple Cloud Island, while Purple Cloud Island itself was no more than just an island in the Demon Realm!
So, how big exactly was the Demon Realm?
Meng Lei couldn’t even begin to fathom its size!
Considering the Demon Realm’s vast size where large expanses of area were desolate with not even a single Devil in sight, Meng Lei could only try and come up with a solution that centered around Magic Wings City.
The Fire Demon Overlord answered truthfully, “No fewer than one trillion!”
“One trillion?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “In other words, a weak true god is actually ruling over one trillion Devils?”
“Yes, sir!”
Deep down in the Fire Demon Overlord’s heart, though, he was secretly dissing Meng Lei.
A weak true god? The lord of Magic Wings City is a true god! He’s no doubt the strongest and most powerful in his personal fiefdom known as the Magic Wings City!
Meng Lei barked, “Tell me the way to Magic Wings City, as well as the lowdown on the Devils occupying the area around it!”
He couldn’t wait to rob Magic Wings City now!
“Yes, sir!”
Not daring to show any disrespect, the Fire Demon Overlord quickly went into detail about everything he remembered about the situation around Magic Wings City and its vicinity. He was so forthright that it was almost ridiculous!
“And now, the last question—do you wish to live or die?”
The Fire Demon Overlord shuddered in fear and hastily pleaded for mercy. “Spare me, sir!”
Meng Lei replied aloofly, “If you don’t wish to die, then hand over your divine spirit origin energy and become my servant!”
Although the Fire Demon Overlord didn’t amount to much in the Demon Realm, it was still a native half-deity of the Demon Realm, after all. With it leading the way for him, at least he wouldn’t need to go about blindly.
“Yes, sir!”
A pained look appeared on the Fire Demon Overlord’s countenance. Nevertheless, it still released its divine spirit origin energy right away.
The Demon Realm was a place where it was the survival of the fittest. Weaklings submitting to the strong was something that happened all the time and wasn’t something to be ashamed of.
After refining the Fire Demon Overlord’s divine spirit origin energy, Meng Lei returned to the Demon Realm with it and got it to lead the way toward Magic Wings City for him.
Things would be a lot easier, now that he had someone who knew their way around!
This was a truth that would never change!
Under the Fire Demon Overlord’s lead, Meng Lei no longer went about aimlessly. Instead, he found a Devil tribe with pinpoint accuracy!
Catch everything!
Plunder everything!
Take everything!
He caught all the Devils and Devil tribes he encountered along the way, whether they were strong or weak!
Meng Lei managed to catch a million Devils after patronizing just three to four Devil tribes. The Tower of Time’s 96th level was already close to filling up!
Yet they were still a great distance away from their destination, the Magic Wings City. Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only hastily end his hunt.
After that, Meng Lei tasked the Fire Demon Overlord with a mission—it was to do its best to summon and gather all the Devils nearby.
Even though the Fire Demon Overlord wanted very much to reject him, owing to Meng Lei’s tyrannical bearing, it had no choice but to obey.
“Do your best! And I’ll bestow upon you a divine core someday and let you become a Demon Lord, too!”
After giving the Fire Demon Overlord a boost of encouragement, Meng Lei’s consciousness left the Demon Realm.
“I didn’t think that patronizing the Devil tribes would reap me such benefits! What a pleasant surprise!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but grin as he gazed at the additional assets. He’d ransacked a total of more than three million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals during the trip earlier!
This transaction was much simpler than ransacking the Dragon Island, Sunset Ranges, and the Titan Empire!
“The Demon Realm is a gigantic gold mine. The number of riches there is beyond one’s imagination. I can focus my money-making efforts on the Demon Realm in the future!”
Meng Lei quietly made up his mind.
“Where are we now?”
Meng Lei opened his eyes to discover that they were above an endless ocean.
“Master, we’ve just left Dragon God Empire and arrived at the Endless Oceans’ eastern waters!”
Klaus said respectfully, “We’re two hours away from the Golden Archipelago!”
“Two hours? That’s pretty fast!”
Meng Lei stretched, and then, he asked, “Have all of you picked your weapons?”
“Yes, we have, Master!”
Meng Lei then kept the rest of the half-divine weapons away.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the group finally arrived at the Golden Archipelago.
When one overlooked the area from high up in the sky, they would see innumerable islands dotting the vast, boundless ocean.
Spread all over the place, they looked just like green turtles floating on the surface of the ocean. They formed a massive chain of islands, providing a unique seascape scenery and a rather magnificent sight!
“This is the Golden Archipelago, Master!”
Bubbles pointed at the chain of islands and said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions have lived here for generations. They are the local tyrant of the waters here and control the life and death of billions of living beings here!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and instructed, “Let’s go down and take a look!”
“Yes, Master!”
The islands were home to many people, including humans, as well as Beast People. However, they seemed to be completely out of touch from the rest of Heaven’s Vault Continent and appeared to be extremely primitive!
They lived in simple and crude straw huts and wore torn and tattered grass skirts and straw hats. They appeared to be living fairly hard lives!
On the other hand, the most magnificent and lavish building on the island was actually a grand, lofty, and towering divine temple!
There was a divine temple on almost every island. Many joss sticks burned within the temples and formed a flourishing sight while worshipers constantly went to and fro.
“The number of cultivators don’t even come up to 10% of the people here!”
Meng Lei shook his head. “The Golden Dragon-Lions’ reign is really a dark one!”
“How does ‘dark’ even cut it?”
With a sigh, Bubbles said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions are the most supreme local tyrants in the Golden Dragon-Lions. These islanders are just their slaves, servants, and tools that provide them with power of faith. They don’t see them as humans at all!”
“So, what’s the point of leaving a clan like that in the world?” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll head straight to the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base!”
“Yes, Master!”
…
The Golden Dragon-Lion Continent was the biggest, flashiest, and grandest island in the Golden Archipelago!
Rather than an island, it was actually more like a continent. It measured 7,000 kilometers from the north to the south and stretched on for 9,000 kilometers from the east to the west. The surface area spanned a size as big as over 50 million square kilometers. One could call it a continent on the ocean!
An incredibly huge palace complex stood in the very center of the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent.
The buildings were well-spaced, splendid, and majestic.
In the center of the palaces stood a Golden Dragon-Lion statue that was as tall as 100,000 feet. Fully forged from gold, it gave off an imposing and endless might.
At the moment, an infinite number of people were kneeling in the square in front of the statue. There were humans dressed in torn and tattered clothes, Beast People with animal heads and human bodies…
There were as many as a million people there!
With no exception whatsoever, every single one of them was bound and immobilized, making them look just like criminals who had been sentenced to be beheaded and were awaiting the executioner’s arrival!
In reality, however, they were no criminals but sacrificial offerings that the Golden Dragon-Lions had captured!
A million sacrificial offerings!
This was something terrifying!
Standing in front of the sacrificial offerings were almost 10,000 people from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan. With weapons in their grip and a stern look on their countenances, they were crowded around a single person.
Closer inspection would reveal that the man looked identical to someone whom Meng Lei had previously killed—yes, he was the Golden Dragon-Lions’ grandmaster, Thackeray!
“Reporting!”
A handsome and mighty-looking Sea Eagle suddenly flew toward him in the sky, and a brawny figure leaped off its back and quickly ran over to Thackeray.
“Grandmaster, we’ve discovered traces of strangers. We were unable to discern how strong they are, but they travel at a speed that’s as swift as lightning and far beyond what a Saint Domain is capable of. We suspect that they’re half-deities!”
The man reported aloud, “At the speed they’re moving, we predict that they’ll arrive at the clan’s ancestral home in an hour’s time!”
“Half-deities? That knave has indeed come!”
A cold glint shot forth from Thackeray’s eyes. He commanded, “Everyone, the clan’s moment of life and death has come. Hear my command—everyone is to return to their respective positions and activate the summoning rite!”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
All the members of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan sprung into action at his command.
Among which, up to 1,000 Saint Domain experts darted to various corners of the square and arrived at their designated locations.
If one were to overlook the area from the top, they would see that their locations just so came together to form a gigantic magic circle.
Thackeray didn’t idle, either. He came to the very center of the magic circle and stood at the eye of the magic circle.
“Hear my command! Begin!”
With a roar and a swoosh of his sleeve, several golden threads shot out of Thackeray’s sleeve and slashed across the sacrificial offerings’ necks!
In a split second, the carotid arteries of all the sacrificial offerings within a few hundred meters were severed, causing blood to flow incessantly!
More than a thousand Saint Domains also replicated the action and slashed across the sacrificial offerings’ throats. For a moment, screams rang out one after another, and cries pleading for mercy went on incessantly.
“Begin the summoning!”
With a loud shout from Thackeray, power of divinity began to surge around him and spread into the surroundings.
The Saint Domain experts also released their own Battle Aura and magic power, which spread toward the people in the surroundings.
Buzz…
Everyone’s Battle Aura and magic power linked together to form a gigantic magic circle, which was shining brilliantly.
In the instant the magic circle took shape, a terrifying devouring force emanated from within and began to furiously devour the sacrificial offerings’ blood.
The blood of nearly a million people flowed rapidly in this instant, the momentum unstoppable no matter what one did!
Gradually, some of the offerings lost all the blood in them and began to collapse to the ground. One, two, three…
In under half a minute, all of the one million sacrificial offerings died. Their faces were deathly pale, having died from blood loss while they were still alive. Their deaths looked extremely tragic!
Upon devouring the blood of a million people, the magic circle immediately turned blood-red and bewitching, its bloodiness reaching extreme heights while it gave off terrifying energy waves!
At this point, Thackeray suddenly got down on his knees and began to pray piously. “Hear your descendants’ call and appear before us, oh great Ram-Lion Grandmaster!”
The 1,000 Saint Domains also knelt on the ground and prayed aloud. As for the million people that had died, no-one took them to heart at all!
Buzz…
A massive dimensional gate appeared above the magic circle, and a low, deep roar rang out!
The next moment, a gigantic head emerged from the dimensional gate, followed by an enormous body!
It was simply too big. It seemed like the dimensional gate couldn’t contain it at all. It pressed against the dimensional gate furiously, desperately trying to squeeze out of it—it was actually a 10,000-meters-long gigantic lion that was blood-red in color throughout and had ram horns on its head and a pair of bat wings on its back!
Roar!
" }, { "id": 245, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-245", "title": "Chapter 245 - A Million Sacrificial Offerings, Descendant Of The Devil", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“My respects to the Ram-Lion Grandmaster!”
At the sight of the gigantic Ram-Lion in the center of the magic circle and upon sensing the terrifying force of its presence that it was giving off, Thackeray lowered his head and bowed at once.
“My respects to the Ram-Lion Grandmaster!”
The 1,000 Saint Domains, as well as the other members of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan, also bowed in greeting, their voices loud and sonorous. They were inexplicably excited as if they’d just seen their own fathers.
“Who has summoned me?”
The gigantic Ram-Lion shouted in a low, deep voice as its blood-red eyes swept across Thackeray and the many Saint Domains. It sniffed hard at the air, and then, it asked, “Are you my descendants?”
“Grandmaster,” Thackeray raised his head and replied excitedly, “This is Heaven’s Vault Continent. We are your blood descendants that you left behind 80,000 years ago when you were traveling here!”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent? 80,000 years ago?”
The gigantic Ram-Lion couldn’t quite recall the memory for a moment there, and it walked down memory lane from eons ago.
After a long while, it finally said, “I remember now. I had indeed graced a Golden Colossal Dragon’s bedchamber 80,000 years ago. All of you must be that Golden Colossal Dragon’s descendants?”
“Yes, exactly! Exactly!”
Overjoyed, Thackeray nodded repeatedly.
“I see! No wonder you know the Devil contractual magic circle that summons me!”
At once, the gigantic Ram-Lion’s eyes became significantly less hostile. It said with a voice like a great bell, “Descendants of mine, for what purpose do you summon me?”
“Please let me report the matter to you, Grandmaster!”
With a face full of tears and snot, Thackeray said, “A half-deity has newly emerged as a force on the material plane here. He is wicked, perverse, and behaves atrociously. Not only has he slaughtered all of Dragon God Empire’s half-deities, but he even wiped out the Titan Empire’s half-deities a moment ago, and now, he’s making his way over to us!
“If nothing goes wrong, he’ll arrive at the Golden Archipelago very soon. When that happens, all one million of my Golden Dragon-Lion clansmen shall all die an untimely death!
“The clan is facing imminent danger where the calamity of complete annihilation may befall us anytime. Left with no other choice, we could only disturb the Grandmaster’s rest. Please forgive us, Grandmaster!”
“All of you are my descendants. My blood flows through all of you. How can others slaughter all of you as they please?”
The gigantic Ram-Lion flew into a thundering rage. He roared furiously, “I’d like to take a look for myself just why a native half-deity dares to behave so audaciously!”
“How virtuous of the Grandmaster!”
Thackeray hurriedly prostrated and kowtowed.
“Rise, everyone!”
The gigantic Ram-Lion nodded slightly. His gaze swept past the million corpses in the square. Then, he licked his lips and roared deeply, “I’m hungry!”
“Hungry?”
Thackeray was taken by surprise for a moment before he quickly regained his senses. He ordered, “Hurry! Bring forth the offerings that we’ve prepared, and let the Grandmaster sample them!”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
Before long, the Golden Dragon-Lion clansmen brought forth the so-called offerings—they were actually some fair and fleshy human toddlers!
Aged about two to three-years-old, these toddlers had been thoroughly cleaned up beforehand, and they wore not even a single thread of clothing. Fair and tender, they were then placed on trays and presented.
A simple gaze revealed that there were easily tens of thousands of them!
Thackeray received one of the trays and offered it up respectfully. “Please enjoy your meal, Grandmaster!”
As descendants of the gigantic Ram-Lion, not only did they, the Golden Dragon-Lions, have the means of summoning the Grandmaster, but they also knew what it liked to eat—because they’ve had similar experiences before.
In the past, whenever they faced imminent annihilation of the clan, this was exactly what they would do—making sacrificial offerings of a million people and then preparing another 100,000 male toddlers as sacrificial offerings.
This was how they’d always been doing it for the last tens of thousands of years!
Thackeray took no pity on all these lives. To the Golden Dragon-Lions, all the people in the Golden Dragon-Lions were their livestock and slaves!
Who would care about the deaths of livestock?
“Yes, this offering is pretty good!”
The gigantic Ram-Lion shrank its size. Then, it opened its mouth and easily sucked a toddler into its mouth. Blood flowed incessantly amid loud crunching.
“As long as it’s to Grandmaster’s taste!”
Thackeray was delighted. He instructed, “What are all of you spacing out for? Since it’s to the Grandmaster’s taste, then hurry and prepare some more for the Grandmaster! 100,000… No, 200,000! Prepare 200,000 offerings at once!”
“Understood!”
The Golden Dragon-Lion clansmen got down to it right away.
The gigantic Ram-Lion enjoyed the meal of toddlers with a look of intoxication on its face as if it were eating a feast of delicacies.
No one knew just how the Golden Dragon-Lions had managed it, but the toddlers neither cried nor fussed. They were entirely unaware that they were about to become someone else’s meal.
“There’s more if these aren’t enough, Grandmaster!”
“Grandmaster, these are all our ways of showing filial respect to you!”
“Grandmaster…”
An hour passed very quickly. All 100,000 toddlers ended up in the gigantic Ram-Lion’s belly. The Ram-Lion burped and picked its teeth with a look of contentment on its visage.
With an ingratiating look on his face, a beaming Thackeray asked, “How do these offerings taste, Grandmaster?”
“Pretty good! I’m very satisfied.”
The gigantic Ram-Lion then cast a glance at him and asked, “By the way, what is your name again?”
Thackeray hurriedly answered, “My name is Thackeray, Grandmaster!”
“I’ll keep you in mind, Thackeray.”
The gigantic Ram-Lion nodded slightly before he said, “Tell me about the situation in Heaven’s Vault Continent.”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
Not daring to be remiss in any way, Thackeray began to talk about Heaven’s Vault Continent’s circumstances in detail. At the end of it, the Ram-Lion sank into contemplative silence.
“The Titans were the ones ruling this existential plane back when I first came. Little did I think that 80,000 years later, Beast People and Colossal Dragons would also emerge.
“These are the vicissitudes of life, indeed. How time has passed! Nevertheless, this is a fantastic opportunity right now!”
The gigantic Ram-Lion turned to Thackeray. “The Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire’s half-deities have all perished. It is now a time where the higher management of the empires is vacant. Your time has come!”
“Grandmaster, you mean…”
Thackeray perked up.
The Ram-Lion said, “Lead the Golden Dragon-Lions and conquer the Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire. Fight for power of faith and seize the opportunity to become a god.”
“But Grandmaster, the Titan Spiritual God, and the Dragon God probably wouldn’t agree to that, would they?”
Despite being sorely tempted by the notion, Thackeray was still somewhat hesitant. He was just a normal half-deity and had even just lost a divine incarnation. He didn’t have the guts to challenge the Titan Spiritual God and the Dragon God just yet.
“Don’t worry. I’ll block them off for you.”
The gigantic Ram-Lion said dispassionately, “Deities can no longer approach a material plane with their real body once 10,000 years have passed since their deification, whereas we, the Devils, can descend upon the material plane via a Devil contract.
“With me around, what is there to fear about mere divinity projections of the Titan Spiritual God and the Dragon God?”
“I thank the Grandmaster for his advice! How virtuous of the Grandmaster!”
Thrilled, Thackeray kowtowed on his knees incessantly.
The Ram-Lion said aloofly, “When you’ve become a true god, I shall have another true god descendant, and my Ram-Lion clan shall also become even more powerful.”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
Thackeray’s spirits were awfully uplifted. Nevertheless, he said, “But the most pressing matter now is still to get rid of Meng Lei, the renegade. He’s the one that poses the biggest threat to us at the moment!”
“A mere native half-deity is not worthy of mention. I can annihilate him with a simple flip of my hand.”
The gigantic Ram-Lion glanced at him. He didn’t take Meng Lei seriously at all.
It was an old-timer Demon Lord that ruled over billions of lives, after all. What did a mere half-deity even count as?
An ingratiating Thackeray quickly said, “The Grandmaster’s powers reach all the way to the heavens! If that knave Meng Lei dares to come, we’ll definitely turn him into ashes and give him a terrible death!”
Boom!
At that moment, a shrill scream suddenly rang out ahead of them. A jolt went through Thackeray, and he shouted, “What has happened?”
“Grandmaster, I’ll go and take a look!”
A Saint Domain darted out. However, he was thrown back where he was again in no time, falling onto the ground and becoming motionless.
Thackeray hastily looked over to see that all the Saint Domain clansman’s bones had been broken—evidently, someone had violently broken him.
“Meng Lei! He’s here!!”
A huge shudder went through Thackeray. He spied a lofty figure weaving through the palace complex as he walked toward them right away. The figure was 1,000-feet-tall, a jet-black color throughout, and had intertwining muscles all over him—it was a Titan!
“Bubbles! Why is he here?”
At the sight of the Titan, Thackeray couldn’t help but let out an exclamation. Upon taking a closer look, he then realized that three people were standing atop Bubbles’ shoulder—and one of them was exactly the person he’d been thinking of day and night.
“Meng Lei!”
Thackeray clenched his fists, his eyes spitting flames of wrath. He roared furiously, “Meng Lei, you knave! To think you really dare to make your way here!”
“Eh?”
At the sound of his voice, Meng Lei glanced over and immediately noticed Thackeray. An icy glint flashed in his eyes, and a hint of murderous intent flitted across.
“Thackeray, you should be cut into a thousand pieces!”
“Die? I’ll see who the one dying today is!”
Thackeray gave him a savage smile. “You’ve killed my divine incarnation, causing my years of hard work to go up in smoke. On top of that, you’ve even come all the way to my doorstep to humiliate us! I’m going to cut you into a million pieces so that my anger may be vented!”
Meng Lei rose into the air and shot toward him. Klaus, Nadja, Seisia, and Bubbles followed closely behind him.
“Bubbles, you traitor! To think you’ve willingly become his servant!”
Thackeray glowered at Bubbles, his eyes spitting flames of fury.
“Thackeray, I am a willing servant to my great Master!”
Bubbles said, “You, on the other hand, didn’t seize the opportunity that Master had given you, so I’m afraid you’re probably going to be wiped out together with the rest of your Golden Dragon-Lion clansmen today!”
“Wiped out? Hahaha!”
Thackeray sneered, “With Grandmaster here, I will never die. The Golden Dragon-Lions won’t be wiped out, either. You’re the ones who are going to die!”
“Grandmaster?”
Meng Lei, Bubbles, and the others couldn’t help but turn to the gigantic Ram-Lion. In truth, they’d already sensed an extremely fearsome aura the moment they had stepped onto the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent.
It was evil, vicious, and bloodthirsty!
At that point, they’d already realized that a terrifying existence had surfaced among the Golden Dragon-Lions.
However, because they had to exterminate the Golden Dragon-Lions’ underlings, they had arrived a little late.
“What a terrifying aura!”
“Is it even a half-deity?”
“Judging from this… It’s probably the Ram-Lions from the Demon Realm!”
“The Ram-Lions?”
“They are a kind of intermediate Devil in the Demon Realm. They have extremely terrifying numbers and are also a main battle force of the Demon Realm’s Devil troops. Even the weakest among them is a Saint Domain!”
“I see!”
Everyone nodded in understanding. Their eyes, as they gazed at the gigantic Ram-Lion, were filled with graveness.
Someone from a race where even the weakest possessed Saint Domain-level strength would definitely possess a fearsome level of strength. They had to take utmost care when facing it.
Thackeray said respectfully, “Grandmaster, those are the knaves that intend to annihilate the Golden Dragon-Lions! I hope the Grandmaster can take pity on us and save the clan from imminent calamity!”
“Don’t worry! All of you are my descendants. I will protect all of you!”
The gigantic Ram-Lion nodded slightly. Then, its blood-red eyes fell on Meng Lei and company. “All of you deserve a thousand deaths for actually vainly attempting to hurt my descendants!”
“Your descendants?” Meng Lei broke into a slight frown. “How have the Golden Dragon-Lions become your descendants when you’re a Ram-Lion from the Demon Realm?”
“Meng Lei, you knave, now that things have come to this point, I don’t fear telling you this!”
Thackeray said icily, “We, the Golden Dragon-Lions, are descendants that the Grandmaster left behind when he was traveling in Heaven’s Vault Continent 80,000 years ago! Within our veins flow the pure and noble blood of the Grandmaster!”
“I see…”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. “No wonder the Golden Dragon-Lions are so cruel. So you’re a Devil’s offspring. Since that’s the case, then it’s just as well that I stamp all of you out at the same time!”
" }, { "id": 246, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-246", "title": "Chapter 246 - The Ram-Lion Devil, Bitten By Ten Thousand Devils", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 246: The Ram-Lion Devil, Bitten By Ten Thousand Devils
“Stamp them out at the same time? When you’re just a tiny little native half-deity? This practically makes me laugh my head off!”
Upon hearing what Meng Lei had said, the gigantic Ram-Lion burst into loud, raucous laughter as though it’d just heard the funniest joke in the world, doubling over as it guffawed.
“Lowly worm, I walk unobstructed in the Demon Realm and rule over the lives and deaths of a trillion people. Don’t you know that worms like you are only worthy of becoming my snack?”
“Is that so?”
In an aloof and dispassionate voice, Meng Lei said, “Show me your fangs and let me see whether they’re really that sharp, then.”
“Having a death wish? I’ll satisfy you, then!”
The Ram-Lion let out a low roar. Demonic aura churned around it and morphed into huge and sharp blood-red claws that swiped toward Meng Lei at extremely high speed, reaching him in an instant.
“Insignificant tricks.”
Meng Lei vanished from where he was right away. By the time he reappeared, he had already bizarrely shown up in front of Thackeray.
“Making sacrificial offerings out of a million lives and cruelly killing 10,000 young children, the sins of the Golden Dragon-Lions are unforgivable!”
Devoid of any expression, Meng Lei’s voice was cold and imposing as he said, “Today, I shall erase this sinful clan from the face of the earth, so as to appease the souls of those innocents! We’ll start with you!”
Whoosh!
A golden light flashed past. Thackeray’s right arm flew into the sky right away. Scarlet-red blood spurted like a fountain, dyeing the skies, as well as the ground, red!
Whoosh!
Yet another golden light flashed past, and Thackeray’s left arm also flew into the sky. Severe pain assaulted him, and Thackeray let out a shrill, miserable scream.
“How dare you!”
The Ram-Lion felt insulted by the sight of Meng Lei abusing and killing Thackeray right in front of it. It couldn’t help but fly into a terrible rage, letting out a roar into the sky.
Roar!
Roiling sound waves spread outward. As if it was merely made out of paper, the void in the surroundings splintered and broke inch by inch, turning into black holes.
Meng Lei, who received the brunt of it, was blasted away by the violent sound waves while Bubbles, Klaus, and the others also threw up blood as they were sent flying.
The Golden Dragon-Lions in the vicinity fared even worse. Those who were nearby exploded into mists of blood while those who were faraway suffered heavy injuries, blood spurting violently from their mouths.
“To think a single roar’s might is actually this powerful!”
Meng Lei suppressed his churning blood and energy flow as he remarked, “As expected of a Demon Realm’s Demon Lord that can rival a true god!”
Despite this, Meng Lei was exceptionally excited. This was his first time facing off with a true god, so how could he possibly not be?
“Low-end existential planes’ space-time dimensions sure are fragile. Just a soft roar is enough to break the void.”
The gigantic Ram-Lion twisted its neck side to side, producing crisp-sounding cracks as it did so. “And the gravity, too. It’s much lower than the Demon Realm’s. I wonder how fast a speed I can reach here?”
“Kill him, Grandmaster! Hurry and kill him!”
Now that both of Thackeray’s arms had been severed, he practically hated Meng Lei with a burning passion, and he began to bellow furiously.
“Don’t worry. He won’t live past another few seconds.”
A slight smile appeared on the Ram-Lion’s visage, and it instantly vanished from where it was. It moved about like a ghost, its speed lightning-quick. By the time it reappeared, it was already right in front of Meng Lei.
“I’m going to swallow you up, little worm!”
The Ram-Lion opened its cavernous jaws, and a pungent odor rushed toward Meng Lei as it tried to gobble him up.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei’s form flickered, and he teleported behind the Ram-Lion. A blood-red scythe abruptly appeared in his hand—it was the Grim Reaper Scythe!
“Eat me? That’ll depend on whether your teeth are sharp enough or not!”
Meng Lei brandished the Grim Reaper Scythe. With a rip, the scythe sliced across the Ram-Lion’s back and made a deep cut.
“Ahhh!”
The Ram-Lion let out a cry, becoming both alarmed and furious at the same time. However, when it saw the Grim Reaper Scythe in Meng Lei’s hands, a look of shock and fear appeared in its eyes, and it stammered, “The G-Grim Reaper Scythe?”
“Bingo! I’ll reward you with another slash!”
Meng Lei broke into a grin. Then, he teleported to the Ram-Lion’s abdomen and swung the scythe down again.
Splurt!
This move of his practically couldn’t get any dirtier—because he didn’t aim it at anywhere else but the gigantic Ram-Lion’s enormous shaft.
A flash of blood later, the incredibly huge treasure was cut off right at the base!
“Ahhh!”
Intense pain assaulted the Ram-Lion’s nerves, and it let out a heart-wrenching cry. It jumped up and down in pain while pungent and foul-smelling black blood sprayed everywhere…
Bam!
At this point, the precious treasure that had been cut off crashed onto the ground, emitting a dull bam as it landed. Everyone’s eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets at the sight of this!
“This, this…”
“That’s… that… thing?”
“You worm! Goddamn worm! You—”
The gigantic Ram-Lion had also realized that its precious treasure used to continue the ancestral line was gone. It was so furious that it almost passed out!
Hate filled its heart, so much so that even all the water in the rivers and lakes couldn’t wash it away!
“I want you dead! I want you dead!”
Demonic aura that surged the high heavens burst forth from the Ram-Lion. As though an erupting volcano, vast, majestic demonic might instantly swept outward in every direction, capable of dealing a devastating blow any moment.
“Die!”
However, Meng Lei didn’t give it any chances at all. He teleported right in front of the Ram-Lion. Then, with the Grim Reaper Scythe in hand, he aimed it right at its neck and swung it down mercilessly.
Splurt!
The Grim Reaper Scythe was simply too sharp. Without a single obstruction standing in its way, it sliced right across the gigantic Ram-Lion’s throat!
A two-meter-deep line of blood appeared at its throat right away. As though a breached dam, blood spurted and cascaded from the wound, dyeing the square black.
Roar!
The Ram-Lion let out another tragic cry, the demonic might that it’d only just charged up instantly doused. However, its neck was simply too thick, so the blow didn’t manage to sever its head from its body.
“This scythe… It’s so sharp!”
Bubbles, Klaus, and the other two half-deities were incredibly astounded by the sight. The gigantic Ram-Lion had clearly already advanced beyond the level of a half-deity to reach the level of a true god!
One must know that that was a true god!
Just how strong and powerful an existence was that?
Moreover, it was common for demonic races to possess strong and mighty physiques. The Ram-Lion was even a true god, so its demonic body must have been even stronger and mightier. Yet the blood-red scythe had easily cut through it!
So, just how sharp must the blood-red scythe have been?
“Master simply has too many divine weapons!”
Klaus couldn’t resist sighing wistfully. Bubbles and the other two also nodded, agreeing with his statement wholeheartedly.
The Gods-Slaying Spear, the Hammer of Destruction, the blood-red machete, and now, the blood-red scythe—that made a grand total of four divine weapons. How thoroughly enviable!
“The Grandmaster is… a-actually not his match!”
A dazed Thackeray stood where he was, his limbs icy and cold. He’d initially thought that by summoning the true god-level grandmaster, dealing with Meng Lei would be a piece of cake.
Yet the outcome had actually turned out like this. Not only was it unable to kill Meng Lei, but he even totally thrashed it!
“Why is this happening?”
Thackeray felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. “He’s just a newly-ascended 16-years-old half-deity! Why is he this strong? Why exactly is that?”
“Devil from the Demon Realm, Heaven’s Vault Continent isn’t a place where you should be!”
As though a Grim Reaper that had descended upon the mortal world, Meng Lei stepped through the air with the blood-red scythe in his hand.
“Today, I shall send you back to the Demon Realm!”
At the sound of what he said, the Ram-Lion was frightened out of its wits at once. It wanted to build a dimensional channel and return to the Demon Realm right away. However, Meng Lei’s movements were faster, and the blood-red scythe instantly slashed across its throat.
Splurt!
Its carotid artery severed, blood spurted everywhere. At once, the Ram-Lion’s eyes widened dramatically, and indignation, hatred, disbelief, and various other complex emotions flashed across its eyes.
“I, a great Demon Lord, have actually died in the hands of a low-end existential plane’s native half-deity?”
Boom!
The light in the Ram-Lion’s eyes gradually dimmed, and its massive carcass crashed onto the ground with a deafening boom.
A divine core glittering with a black divine shine flew out of the Ram-Lion’s head at this point and shot toward the far distance.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei let out an icy laugh and instantly vanished from where he was. The next second, he caught the black divine core in his hand!
“Let go of me, human!”
The Ram-Lion’s mad, furious roars rang out from within the divine core—these were energy fluctuations produced by its divine spirit.
“Since you’re here, then don’t bother leaving!”
Meng Lei smiled calmly and sent the divine core into the Tower of Time along the way. Then, he said, “Dodola, process this divine core for me.”
“Where did you get this divine core?”
Dodola was rather puzzled.
“I’ve just killed a Devil,” Meng Lei answered truthfully.
“This is a true god-level Demon Lord divine core. You’ve actually managed to kill it?”
Dodola was filled with disbelief.
“I used the Grim Reaper Scythe.”
“…”
Dodola fell silent at once. Only after a brief moment did it say, “You’d best not use the Grim Reaper Scythe so frequently. That thing is too unholy!”
“Unholy? I find it very easy to use!”
Meng Lei gave a patronizing reply before landing on the ground outside. He shouted, “Thackeray!”
“Meng… S-sir!”
Fear and horror filled Thackeray, and his legs began to shake. His eyes were filled with terror as he looked at Meng Lei.
“I knew you had another divine incarnation the moment I killed your other divine incarnation the last time. That’s why I’m here, but never would I have thought that you’d be this cruel!”
Meng Lei’s voice was calm and tranquil as he said, “Using a million people as sacrificial offerings just to summon that Devil… And gathering another 100,000 toddlers as food just to please it!
“Your actions are perverse to the extreme and practically worse than a beast’s. The heavens cannot condone such heinous actions and your existence!”
“Spare me, sir!”
Thackeray dropped onto his knees with a thud and began to loudly beg for mercy. He said, “I’m willing to submit!”
“Submit? If I spare your life, who’s going to spare the lives of those one million people and those 100,000 toddlers?”
With a cold and aloof expression on his face, Meng Lei said, “Bubbles, Klaus, Nadja, and Seisia!”
“Master!”
The four of them hurriedly bowed.
“Go! Make this wicked clan disappear from Heaven’s Vault Continent!” Meng Lei ordered, “Whether male or female, young or old, spare not a single one of them!”
“Yes, Master!”
The four of them left to carry out their orders. For a while, screams rose and fell as they rang out, and the odor of blood filled the place…
“As for you…” Meng Lei gazed at Thackeray and said, “You like to associate with Devils, don’t you? I’ll satisfy you!”
Then, Meng Lei connected to the Demon Realm and summoned tens of thousands of Devils, including Gabriel the Fire Demon Overlord, whom he had just subdued.
As the strongest Devil among them, the Fire Demon Overlord bowed and asked, “My noble Master, what is your command?”
“Eat him!”
Meng Lei pointed at Thackeray and said calmly, “Remember, don’t give him such an easy death!”
“Don’t worry, Master. I know what I should do!”
The Fire Demon Overlord licked its lips, bloodthirstiness flashing across its eyes as it gazed at Thackeray, who had already started to shake like a leaf a long while ago.
As a Devil, it loved delicious human flesh the most. Moreover, this was even a half-deity’s flesh.
“I won’t disturb you guys, then!”
Meng Lei turned, left the square, and headed toward the Golden Dragon-Lions’ treasury.
“Little ones, you’re in for a treat!
“Don’t fight! Don’t be so anxious! Come one by one, everyone gets a bite each! Don’t any of you take any more than that!”
The Fire Demon Overlord shouted, “If anyone dares to take any extra bites, see if I don’t rip you apart!”
“Yes, Fire Demon Overlord!”
“No, don’t come over! Don’t com— Aaahhhhh!”
" }, { "id": 247, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-247", "title": "Chapter 247 - Elemental Heart, Meng Lei Is Dead", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to pay any attention to Thackeray’s final outcome. He was a doomed man whom nobody could save.
Instead, he found the Golden Dragon-Lions’ treasury and began a new round of ransacking.
As the Golden Archipelago’s local tyrant, even though the Golden Dragon-Lions’ treasury wasn’t as amply-stocked as the Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire’s treasuries, it wasn’t that bad, either.
The gold coins and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals alone brought Meng Lei earnings of almost 10 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. There were also innumerable other treasures.
Meng Lei didn’t stand on ceremony at all. He packed them all up and made a killing.
By the time he exited the treasury, more than an hour had already passed.
At this point, all that was left of Thackeray was just a pile of ghastly bones. His death was a very sad and tragic one.
“All of you did great!”
Meng Lei praised the Devils. Then, he sent all the Devils—apart from the Fire Demon Overlord—into the Tower of Time and kept them there as a show of his gratitude.
As for the Fire Demon Overlord, he was sent back to the Demon Realm.
For a moment, Meng Lei was the only one left in the enormous square, which now seemed empty and deserted. Intending to have a little something to eat, Meng Lei casually went into one of the palaces.
Flames were ignited, and the aroma of soup wafted about.
A short while later, a rich aroma rushed toward Meng Lei, and he picked up a piece of divine pork with his chopsticks and sent it into his mouth…
Mmm!
How fragrant!
How spicy!
It practically couldn’t feel any better.
“System, carry out 1,000 Limitless Pickups!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrank by 1,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained Shaq Bryant’s ring!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“It’s a dark-elemental one again!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!”
“An earth-wind fusion laws of nature fragment this time? Not bad, not bad. I’ll boost it to 100%!”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained an Elemental Heart!”
“An Elemental Heart? What the heck is that?”
Meng Lei was surprised. A fiery-red, goose egg-shaped crystal then appeared on his palm.
The crystal gave off rich fire-elemental energy fluctuations and was astonishingly hot. Meng Lei could feel a scorching, boiling heat coming from it as he held it in his hand.
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “What’s an Elemental Heart, Dodola?”
“It’s an elemental being’s egg! Of course, you can also call it an elemental being’s fetus. As long as the environmental conditions are suitable, it’ll be able to nurture and birth an elemental being,” answered Dodola.
“An elemental being’s egg?”
Meng Lei understood now.
Elemental beings were unusual lifeforms that differed from flesh-and-blood beings. They were born in unique environments, such as elemental existential planes.
Because they had no physical forms—or rather, their bodies were purely formed from the elements—elemental beings usually possessed incredible abilities.
“A fire-elemental being…”
After a moment’s consideration, Meng Lei tossed the Elemental Heart into a volcano on the Tower of Time’s 91st level. Then, he brought out a pile of fire elemental crystals and made a magical energy-gathering magic circle.
“I’ve done everything that I should. Whether or not you’re born into the world will depend on what fate has in store for you!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Hmm, it’s a water-fire fusion laws of nature fragment this time. I’ll boost it to 100%, too!”
“…”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Thunder-Elemental Fairy’s corpse!”
“A thunder-elemental Fairy?”
With a thought from Meng Lei, a gorgeous and peerlessly beautiful Fairy with violet skin and pointy ears appeared before him.
“So, this is a thunder-elemental Fairy’s corpse?”
Without any hesitation, Meng Lei instructed, “System, plunder her Innate Special Ability, Thunder-Elemental Transformation!”
“Ding! Thunder-Elemental Transformation is an Innate Special Ability unique to the Thunder-Elemental Fairies and belongs to the class of high-grade Innate Special Abilities,” The system stated coldly, “The cost of plundering the Innate Special Ability Thunder-Elemental Transformation is estimated at 5 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.”
Five Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
Big deal!
“Plunder it!”
A brief moment later, Meng Lei successfully obtained the Thunder-Elemental Transformation ability. Several silver-colored electric currents darted out around him. As more and more electric currents appeared…
His entire self turned into an electric current that darted about everywhere in the spacious palace at extremely high speed, making him no different from normal lightning.
Meng Lei resumed his human form a moment later, highly satisfied with the ability. He had yet another means of protecting his life and defending against the enemies now. What a cause for celebration!
“Continue with the pickups, system!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Wood-earth? Boost it to 100%!”
“…”
“System, another 1,000 times!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“This is a metal-elemental lesser deity’s divine core!”
“…”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Eh? It’s a metal-dark-ice one this time. Metal-dark-ice… Tsk, tsk. Are we heading in the direction of death laws of nature now?”
“Another 1,000 times!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Soul Ice Marrow droplet. Will you assimilate it?”
“Soul Ice Marrow? What’s this?”
Where did you hear about the Soul Ice Marrow from?”
Dodola was greatly astonished. “Soul Ice Marrows are treasures of the highest grade that can enhance one’s divine spirit. It’s extremely rare, so much so that you can only hope to come by it with luck, rather than actively searching for it!”
“A treasure of the highest grade that can enhance one’s divine spirit?”
Meng Lei perked up.
“A single droplet of the Soul Ice Marrow allows a half-deity’s divine spirit to cross over to the lesser deity stage. With enough of them, they can be of great use even to higher deities!”
A sighing Dodola then said, “It’s just a shame that Soul Ice Marrows are non-renewable resources. Every bit used is every bit less. It’s even scarcer than Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts!
“This thing has a flaw, though. After one consumes the Soul Ice Marrow, their divine spirit will freeze and go into hibernation. It’ll only thaw a year later. That’s how it got its name, Soul Ice Marrow!”
“The divine spirit can cross over from a half-deity stage to the lesser deity stage? This effect practically defies all natural laws!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up, and he promptly consumed the Soul Ice Marrow droplet. He didn’t pay any attention to the latter half of what Dodola said at all.
Buzz…
The Soul Ice Marrow was a transparent liquid that looked similar to an ice crystal. It gave off a faint, icy cold glow, and Meng Lei felt chilly just by looking at it alone.
As the Soul Ice Marrow entered his stomach, a bone-chilling iciness rushed straight to his head. Meng Lei felt his mind go blank, and then he lost all consciousness.
At the same time, an endless, chilly, white current also surged into Meng Lei’s sea of consciousness. Within a mere few moments, his sea of consciousness turned into a world of whiteness—it had actually been completely sealed in ice.
Similarly, the golden divine spirit flame in the center of his sea of consciousness wasn’t spared, either. It was also sealed in ice in mid-air, becoming still and motionless.
“Meng Lei! Why have you gone silent again? Aren’t you being a little too disrespectful?”
Rather displeased at Meng Lei’s lack of response even after half a day, Dodola extended its consciousness out of the Tower of Time—only to see Meng Lei sitting cross-legged on the ground, his eyes widened big and round, yet there weren’t any spiritual movements from him at all.
“Is he dead? What the heck!”
Dodola almost wet itself in fear, and it quickly darted out of the Tower of Time to check on him. Only after a moment later did it breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh my goodness! That almost scared me to death! As it turned out, your divine spirit was just frozen. I almost thought you had croaked!
“From the look of things, he’s probably consumed the Soul Ice Marrow. Strange, where did he get that from? Did he steal it from the Tower of Time? That shouldn’t be the case, though. I’ve hidden the treasures in a very secretive and inconspicuous place. Most people can’t get in there at all…
“Never mind, never mind. This guy has always been acting all mysterious. Who knows where he got the Soul Ice Marrow from…”
Dodola then returned to the Tower of Time, though it also set aside a sliver of its divine spirit to watch over Meng Lei.
Given Meng Lei’s divine body’s degree of sturdiness, few within Heaven’s Vault Continent could harm him, but one could never be too careful.
Dodola didn’t want a great heir like Meng Lei to die. The resulting loss would be too great to bear if that were to happen.
…
Bubbles, Klaus, and the other two half-deities returned two days after Meng Lei went into hibernation. They then found Meng Lei, who was in one of the palaces.
Without Meng Lei to look after it, the boiling hotpot had already totally gone cold. Meng Lei himself was seated right next to it.
The four of them bowed and said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions have been completely wiped out, Master. We’ve especially come to report the completion of the mission!”
However, there was no response!
Puzzled, they repeated what they said, but there was still no response from Meng Lei.
This greatly confused them. They then raised their heads—only to see Meng Lei looking at them with his eyes open, yet there was no light within them. He looked just like a puppet!
“Master?”
The four of them carefully called out, “Master?”
Still no response whatsoever.
“What’s going on?”
The four of them were rather confused.
“Could Master be asleep?”
“That’s impossible, right? Sleeping with his eyes open?”
“He’s in the midst of cultivation now. Don’t disturb him!”
Right at this point, a fearsome aura suddenly descended, and a wave of divine spirit energy fluctuations rang out after that, frightening the four of them so badly that they shuddered.
The force of the aura was simply too frightful. In front of it, the four half-deities felt just like ants at the feet of a Colossal Dragon—extremely insignificant.
The same divine spirit energy fluctuation rang out again.
“Your Master is currently cultivating. Before he comes out of seclusion, everyone is forbidden from disturbing him!”
“Yes, yes!”
Not daring to dawdle and show any disrespect, the four of them hastily left the palace. The fearsome aura also disappeared at this point, and they couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief—only to discover that their backs were already drenched in perspiration.
“Who was that just now? That was too scary!”
“Don’t ask! Don’t speculate! A presence like that isn’t something that we can be privy to!”
“Yes, yes! You’re right!”
“What should we do now?”
“Stand guard obediently. Didn’t you hear that Master is currently in seclusion?”
“Alright!”
Just like that, the four half-deities obediently stood guard outside the palace, not daring to take even a step away.
However, as days passed one by one, Meng Lei didn’t come out of the palace. Instead, it was the Golden Archipelago that began to sink into chaos.
Without the Golden Dragon-Lions suppressing them, all the ambitious players emerged one after another. The Golden Archipelago gradually became chaotic and unbearable to behold, entering a state of turmoil.
At the sight of the chaos, the four half-deities knew that this mustn’t continue. If Meng Lei were to come out of seclusion to see the Golden Archipelago in such a chaotic state, wouldn’t he fly into a thundering rage?
“Now that the Golden Dragon-Lions have been wiped out, the Golden Archipelago has become leaderless. The people’s faith has been lost, and the place is currently in social unrest. It is exactly the time to build a new order and new faith.”
Klaus suggested, “Therefore, we must do something now. Otherwise, we won’t be able to answer to Master when he comes out of seclusion!”
Bubbles, Nadja, and Seisia, nodded repeatedly. “We can make use of this time while Master’s in seclusion to spread his faith!”
“That’s right! We’ll strive to convert the 10 billion citizens of the Golden Archipelago into Master’s most loyal worshipers before he comes out of seclusion!”
“Since that’s the case, then let’s split up and get to it!”
“Alright!”
" }, { "id": 248, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-248", "title": "Chapter 248 - The Great God Meng Lei, Spreading Faith", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "For tens of thousands of years, the Golden Archipelago had been subjected to the Golden Dragon-Lions’ ironfist dictatorship. Without the local tyrant suppressing them now, the outcome was easy to imagine.
Innumerable strong and wealthy ambitious players with substantial backgrounds rose one after another.
Saint Domains that had holed up in the past emerged!
Powerful clans bared their fangs!
Wealthy merchants and tycoons also began to run rampant and wreak havoc!
For a while, all sorts of rogues and monsters ran wild in the Golden Archipelago, and the lives of the people living on the islands became even harder than during the Golden Dragon-Lions’ reign itself.
There were endless grievances as people fell into the abyss of suffering. Chaos ran amok as disasters and calamities broke out one after another. How could the word “suffering” even begin to describe it all?
On the Blazing Sun Island…
The Blazing Sun Island was famous for producing in abundance a type of mineral called the Blazing Sun Ore, which was used as core materials in the forging of weapons.
In order to extract the Blazing Sun Ores on the island, the Golden Dragon-Lions had divided and conferred the Blazing Sun Island upon an affiliated family—the Blazing Sun Clan—to guard them.
With the Blazing Sun Island located to their backs and put in charge of mining ores for weapon forgery, the Blazing Sun Clan had accumulated vast strength over the years and was a big, top-notch clan in the whole of the Golden Archipelago.
In the Blazing Sun Clan’s conference hall…
The conference hall was packed with people on this day. The Blazing Sun Clan’s directors, elites, and executive officers of various islands had all gathered in the hall and were currently plotting something big.
“Grandmaster, over the days, we’ve conquered a total of 23 islands, such as the Singoff Island, Elephant Island, Garment Island, and various other islands. We’ve also recruited 79,237 experts who are four-grade and above and a total of 348 Magicians.
“The Blazing Sun Clan’s turf and strength have become a notch even stronger. The only problem we’re facing now is food supplies. It’s enough to last only ten days.”
“Ten days!”
Lieyang 1 Zhan, the Blazing Sun Clan’s grandmaster, sat at the top, his brows drawn together into a big frown. He said, “Food supplies are essential to our development and strengthening process. We absolutely mustn’t be short on them.”
“Grandmaster is right! The current situation is looking highly favorable for us. We’ve been conquering five islands, hundreds of thousands of people, and hundreds—almost a thousand—of experts every day. We absolutely mustn’t be halted!”
“That’s right! Once we’re halted, these islands will fall into the hands of other forces. It’ll be hard for us to take them back in the future!”
“The Blazing Sun Clan has everything we can possibly need—manpower, weapons, and experts. This is an extremely rare opportunity for us. How can we let it slip past us just because of food supplies?”
The Blazing Sun Clan’s directors spoke up one after another. Lieyang Zhan also nodded lightly. He said, “Now that the Golden Archipelago is leaderless, it is an opportunity for the Blazing Sun Clan to rise. We mustn’t let such a good opportunity slip by us!”
“Grandmaster is right!”
Everyone nodded. They, the Blazing Sun Clan, boasted top-notch power. They were qualified to sit in the most supreme position and become the second Golden Dragon-Lion clan!
“Since that’s the case, then let’s resolve the problem of the food supplies. No matter what, our expansion efforts mustn’t halt.”
Lieyang Zhan’s eyes gleamed brightly. “The Food-Prep Clan in the southeast owns an abundance of food supplies, despite their low population. It’s exactly where we should obtain our food supplies from.”
At this point, Lieyang Zhan barked fiercely, “Hear my command! Gather all the elites in the clan and seize ships. Three days later, we shall attack and conquer the Food-Prep Island in one go, and take the Food-Prep Clan’s properties!”
“Brilliant plan, Grandmaster!”
“We’ll carry out the Grandmaster’s orders!”
“As per the Grandmaster’s decision!”
The Blazing Sun Clan’s directors echoed him in high spirits. Unexpectedly, a fearsome and mighty aura suddenly descended from above at this point and bore down on their hearts like a great mountain.
Boom!
It came as no surprise that everyone, including Lieyang Zhan, the Saint Domain grandmaster, was flattened to the ground, their legs shaking violently as shock and fear filled them.
“D-Divine power!”
“This is divine power!”
Lieyang Zhan had met Thackeray, the Golden Dragon-Lions’ grandmaster, more than once before and had naturally experienced what divine power felt like before. The divine power he was currently feeling was even more terrifying and mightier than Thackeray’s.
“Could Thackeray still be alive?!”
Shocked and horrified, Lieyang Zhan almost died from fright. Should Thackeray really still be alive, their actions would be no different from staging a rebellion or a coup. Given the Golden Dragon-Lions’ way of doing things, they would definitely torture them to death and annihilate the entire clan.
“Why is this happening? Isn’t Thackeray dead?”
Lieyang Zhan was filled with shock and horror.
“Listen up, all those at the bottom!”
Just as Lieyang Zhan was so terrified that both his legs had given out on him, a voice filled with endless dignified might rang out.
“I order the strongest expert in your clan to head to the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent within three days to discuss important matters. If you do not show up, all of you will die, and your clan will be wiped out with not a single creature left alive!”
The voice disappeared right after the owner of the voice spoke. What disappeared along with it was also the terrifying divine power. Only then did Lieyang Zhan and the Blazing Sun Clan’s directors get back onto their feet, trembling as they did so, their faces full of fear and alarm.
“G-Grandmaster, was that a half-deity just now?”
A Blazing Sun Clan director quivered as he asked, “Could Thackeray still be alive?”
“No, that divine power was several times more fearsome than Thackeray’s. It’s not very likely to be him.”
“If it’s not Thackeray, then could it be the half-deity that had killed Thackeray and wiped out the Golden Dragon-Lions?”
“Highly likely! Of course, we can’t strike out the likelihood that it’s a half-deity that’s passing by the Golden Archipelago, either.”
“Oh my god! Why has another half-deity popped up out of nowhere? What are we going to do about the Blazing Sun Clan’s emergence plan?”
Everyone was passing remarks on the situation, yet Grandmaster Lieyang Zhan had stayed silent. They couldn’t help but look over in puzzlement—only to see his countenance looking terribly awful.
“What’s the matter, Grandmaster?”
“What’s the matter?”
Lieyang Zhan had a grim look on his face. “Didn’t you hear what that half-deity said just now? The strongest expert in the clan is to head to the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent within three days to discuss important matters! Who does the ‘strongest expert’ in the Blazing Sun Clan refer to?”
“Isn’t that obvious? It’s you, the Grandmaster, of course! W-what are we supposed to do now?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
Lieyang Zhan gave them a resigned smile and said, “Unless the Blazing Sun Clan wishes to be annihilated, I’ll have to go. But the problem is, what will I have to face once I’m there?”
All the directors fell silent at once.
“The most optimal scenario is that that half-deity has nothing to do with the Golden Dragon-Lions, but has instead taken an interest in the Golden Archipelago’s faith and is intending to fight for it.”
With a wry laugh, Lieyang Zhan went on. “If that’s the case, then another Golden Dragon-Lion clan would surface in the Golden Archipelago. All of the Blazing Sun Clan’s previous efforts will all be for naught!”
A couple of Saint Domains quickly asked, “What about the worst possible scenario?”
“The worst scenario is that Thackeray’s the half-deity. How that would turn out requires no further explanation from me!”
…
The same scene unfolding in the Blazing Sun Clan was also taking place on the other Golden Archipelago islands.
All the ambitious players who had originally been intent on greatness practically laid down their flags and fell silent overnight.
Conquest?
Not anymore!
Expansion?
Not anymore!
Social unrest?
Not anymore!
All the experts, forces, and clans were as obedient as a puppet as they holed up in their bases.
Right on the heels of it, the strongest experts and the people holding the highest power in these forces began to head toward the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent without even a moment’s rest.
In under three days’ time, all of them had assembled at the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent and gathered at the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base with not a single one fewer or a single clan missing.
No one dared to defy or challenge a half-deity’s order!
But what shocked and horrified them even more was that upon arrival at the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base, they didn’t see just one half-deity but… Four!
Four half-deities stood proudly in the sky above the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base. They gave off as much vast, majestic divine power as they wanted and wantonly abused their souls, almost scaring them half-dead.
Ambition?
Great aspirations?
Replacement?
Gone?
Gone! All gone!
The only thing they had left was just endless fear and unease!
“We have three reasons for summoning all of them here today!”
Bubbles’ gaze swept across everyone present as his voice boomed in their ears like the rolling thunder.
“Firstly, it’s to inform all of you who the one that killed Thackeray, annihilated the Golden Dragon-Lions, and saved all of you from the sea of suffering is! He’s our great, noble Master and the most supreme… Great God Meng Lei!”
Boom!
With a wave from Bubbles, a 100,000-feet-tall statue of Meng Lei appeared out of nowhere. It instantly stood towering in the square, producing a grand boom.
Everyone was stunned for a moment as they stared at the divine statue that had abruptly appeared. Then, they bowed down to it at once, all sorts of words of immense gratitude flowing endlessly and eternally like the gushing, flooding rivers beyond one’s control.
“Thank you for saving our lives, Great God Meng Lei!”
“I thank the noble Great God Meng Lei for saving us from the sea of suffering and allowing us to be human again, such that the evil Golden Dragon-Lions’ servants no longer oppress us!”
“I thank the supreme Great God Meng Lei. You’re the light that chases away loneliness and lights up my hopes. You’re the tea that filters out my impetuousness and helps me to retain my calm. You’re the water that hydrates and nourishes me for a moment so as to preserve my freshness for a lifetime. You’re the sugar that waters down the bitterness and fills me with sweetness…”
“Secondly, all of your recent actions have greatly angered the Great God Meng Lei. He’s terribly furious!”
Bubbles could hardly contain his fury. “The noble Great God Meng Lei is a benevolent and humble existence that holds universal love for all of mankind has compassion for the weak and abhors evilness!
“He had exterminated Thackeray and annihilated the Golden Dragon-Lions in order to save all of you from the sea of suffering. What a merciful and benevolent god he is! But what about all of you?
“Showing blatant disregard for the toiling masses’ lives, wantonly engaging in slaughter, and creating chaos—you’ve thrown the Golden Archipelago into a state of turmoil where calamities wreak havoc everywhere!”
Bubbles glared at them, his vast divine power overflowing. “Do you own up to your sins?”
“Yes! Yes, we do!”
“Forgive us for our sins, Great God! We have seen the error of our ways and will definitely correct them!”
The group of people was so frightened that they shook like leaves. They kowtowed incessantly as they begged for mercy, fearful to the extreme.
“A fault confessed is half redressed. On account of how this is a first offense for all of you, he can let bygones be bygones. What’s important is what you do next!”
Bubbles shouted, “Do you need the Great God Meng Lei to specially instruct you on what you should be doing from now on?”
“No, no!”
“We know what we should do!”
“Good to hear that!”
Bubbles nodded in satisfaction. Then, he said, “Thirdly, this isn’t the Great God Meng Lei’s decision, but the four of ours! You can just use it as a casual reference!”
“Your orders, please, sir!”
Bubbles said dispassionately, “The Great God Meng Lei has done so much for the Golden Archipelago. Shouldn’t all of you show some gratitude in order to repay his great kindness?”
“Show some gratitude?”
“Yes, yes, yes! We get it! We get everything!”
“Since you do, then get lost! The four of us will inspect the Golden Archipelago again a month from now. If your actions do not satisfy us, your life will be taken as punishment in less severe cases, while the whole clan will be wiped out for more serious cases. All of you had best keep that in mind!”
“Yes, yes!”
Everyone then left in a hasty panic.
Bubbles snorted lightly as he watched them from the back. “These guys will never behave if you don’t scare them a little.”
“What happens next will now depend on what they choose to do.”
“Of course!”
“We can’t stay idle, either. We’ll have to create a few disasters and then make a few displays of divine intervention in Master’s name. Only when we attack the problem from two angles at the same time can we successfully establish and build power of faith!”
“Yes, that’s what we should do!”
" }, { "id": 249, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-249", "title": "Chapter 249 - Lesser Deities, Distributing Divine Cores", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Lieyang Zhan hastily returned. The moment he got back on the Blazing Sun Island, all the Blazing Sun Clan directors came out to receive him. Their eyes were filled with both hope and apprehension.
Lieyang Zhan heaved a long sigh. He said with a shake of his head, “The Blazing Sun Clan won’t be annihilated, but our emergence plan can now be considered a complete failure!”
Lieyang Zhan recounted everything that had taken place on the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent right away, upon which everyone broke out in cold sweat, lingering fear filling their hearts.
Half-deities! And four of them at that!
The mysterious Great God Meng Lei, too!
They were the ones that had killed Thackeray and annihilated the Golden Dragon-Lions!
“Four half-deities! How laughable of us to even think of taking the opportunity to emerge as a power, replace the Golden Dragon-Lions, and become the new masters of the Golden Archipelago. What a gross overestimation of our own capabilities!”
“Totally! The Blazing Sun Clan would probably have followed in the Golden Dragon-Lions’ footsteps and been wiped out by them before we can even emerge…”
“That’s enough! Say no more!”
Lieyang Zhan said with an awful look on his face, “What’s most pressing is to tide over the crisis right before us now. Otherwise, the clan will still face the threat of annihilation!”
“Yes, yes! Grandmaster is right!”
Everyone nodded hurriedly. After all, according to the grandmaster, the four half-deities were going to do an inspection in a month’s time. Should they be dissatisfied, they would still have to die, regardless.
A worried director asked, “What should the clan do now, Grandmaster?”
“I’ve discussed this with the other clans’ grandmasters while on the way back.”
Lieyang Zhan said in a low, deep voice, “Half-deities are totally above run-of-the-mill treasures. What they really place importance in… is power of faith!”
“Power of faith?”
“That’s right, power of faith!”
Lieyang Zhan nodded heavily. “Isn’t power of faith the exact reason why the Golden Dragon-Lions had occupied the Golden Archipelago? Therefore, we can start with power of faith!”
“Just tell us what we should do, Grandmaster! We’ll do exactly what you say!”
“Yes! For the sake of the clan’s survival, we’ll listen to everything the Grandmaster says!”
“Since the Great God Meng Lei places great importance on power of faith, then we’ll help to spread his faith. In summary—construct temples and statues!”
Lieyang Zhan instructed gravely, “Pass down the order! Everyone is to collect timber, stone, gold, and other materials and construct temples and statues on every island.
“Get all the Magicians in the clan to help out. We’ll strive to build a temple and construct a statue on every island within ten days.
“On the day that the temples are completed, we, the Blazing Sun Clan, shall take the lead to pray to the Great God Meng Lei. We’ll be a good role model and do everything we can to spread his faith!”
“Yes, sir!”
…
Just like that, a large-scale temple construction project was launched. This wasn’t just limited to the Blazing Sun Clan’s turf; other islands were also building temples.
The rich and powerful clans were no longer warring, no longer seizing food supplies and weaponry, and no longer recruiting warships and soldiers, to the common people’s astonishment. Instead, they were building temples.
“What kind of situation is this?”
“I have no idea…”
Under the common people’s puzzled eyes and in fewer than ten days, temples worshiping the Great God Meng Lei started to sprout like mushrooms after rain.
Large temples were constructed on large islands, while small temples were constructed on small islands. Every temple housed a statue each.
One must admit that the Magicians of this world could really be said to be the world’s best architectural construction experts. In under ten days, the Golden Archipelago was filled with temples.
Their efficiency was truly flabbergasting!
After the temples were built, large forces like the Blazing Sun Clan took the lead to pray to Meng Lei. Some families went even further, conducting small prayer ceremonies every three days and big ones every seven days. They were more passionate in praying to Meng Lei than to their own fathers and ancestors!
Although their passion was somewhat too over-the-top, they nevertheless achieved excellent results as role models.
Several dubious islanders also attempted worshiping the new god, and then, incredible things happened!
Those with disabilities… were cured!
Those with illnesses… recovered!
Those facing fertility issues… became pregnant!
The marine beasts that frequently attacked the islands and gave the people a huge headache… also disappeared!
The islanders were incredibly poverty-stricken from the start. Thus, these efficacious incidents brought about astounding effects.
More and more residents entered the temples and started to pray to the Great God Meng Lei for various things.
For a while, Meng Lei’s faith took root and sprouted in every island, gradually beginning to develop and strengthen.
A month later, 20% of the islanders had become Meng Lei’s worshipers. Two months later, the number increased to 40%.
A year later, the number reached a frightening 70%. How much was 70%?
Out of 10 billion islanders, 7 billion of them worshiped Meng Lei. This number was even bigger than the total population on Earth!
The four half-deities were highly satisfied with the results. After laboring for a good half a year, they were finally seeing results. Their efforts hadn’t gone to waste.
The only problem was that Meng Lei still hadn’t awakened. This sorely disappointed the four half-deities.
They were just like children who had done well—eager for Meng Lei’s acknowledgment!
Of course, if it pleased him, it would be even better if Meng Lei could bestow a little something or two upon them.
In the Golden Dragon-Lions’ palace…
A year had passed. The ice that had frozen Meng Lei’s whole sea of consciousness gradually melted. At last, only a lump of ice surrounding the divine spirit flame remained.
Crack!
Crack!
All of a sudden…
A crisp sound rang out. Tiny, densely-packed cracks formed on the surface of the large ice lump freezing the divine spirit flame. As more and more cracks started to form…
Boom!
The ice lump exploded violently! The divine spirit flame started to blaze once more, and the Soul Ice Marrow that had melted integrated itself into the golden divine spirit flame all at once.
Boom!
As though it had been doused with a few buckets of petrol, the divine spirit flame instantly erupted and started to surge and blaze even more exuberantly, fiercely, and fervently!
Boom!
At the same time, a terrifying spiritual might also spread outward from Meng Lei, instantly sweeping through the entire Golden Dragon-Lions’ base.
“Master!!”
The four half-deities standing guard outside jumped in shock, almost flattened to the ground.
The force of the aura was simply too fearsome. It felt rather unbearable, as though a great, lofty mountain was weighing down on them.
“Master has become even stronger!”
The four half-deities exchanged a look, a sense of mortification coming over them. Previously, Meng Lei could already slay even a true god-level Demon Lord with his blood-red scythe.
Yet now, he had gotten stronger again. His speed of improvement was practically horrifying!
Improve? He had indeed improved!
As the person involved himself, Meng Lei could sense this the clearest. He could clearly feel the change in his divine spirit—it wasn’t just a hundred times more powerful than before!
When he spread his divine spirit outward, it could easily cover several thousand miles of where he was. Nothing within the range could escape his divine spirit’s inspection. There was practically nowhere to hide.
“My divine spirit has actually gone from the pinnacle-grade half-deity stage to the mid-grade lesser deity stage. This level of improvement is truly rather dramatic!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s visage as he gazed at his stats interface. He was very satisfied with his upgrade this time.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix, Hundred-Armed Giant)
Wealth: 64.41 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Lesser Deity (Mid-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
Laws of Nature: Metal-Dark Fusion (100%), Water-Fire Fusion (100%), Earth-Wind Fusion (100%), Wood-Earth Fusion (100%), Fire-Thunder-Ice Fusion (0.1%), Earth-Wood-Thunder Fusion (0.1%), Metal-Dark-Ice Fusion (0.1%)
“Now that my divine spirit has strengthened so much, the cost of buying credit to assimilate laws of nature should be lower now, right?”
With that in mind, Meng Lei promptly contacted the system. As expected…
“Ding! Raising Triple-Elemental Laws of Nature assimilation rate by 1% costs 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.”
“It has gone down by so much? Not bad, not bad!”
Meng Lei rejoiced at the news. Previously, it had cost 1,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals to raise the assimilation rate of triple-elemental laws of nature, yet it cost only 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals now.
Such a price was completely within an acceptable range. If raising it by 1% required 100,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, then 100% would require 1,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
1,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals weren’t a lot!
Meng Lei thought to himself, I’ll wait before I raise it, though. When my divine spirit becomes even stronger, the price will definitely fall even further! It’s not too late to buy credit again at that time!
His gaze then shifted away from the stats interface and toward his sea of consciousness.
As the blazing sun, his divine spirit flame was burning even more exuberantly and fiercely than before. A million golden rays lit up his boundless sea of consciousness, and attached all around his divine spirit were innumerable milky-white threads!
They were connected to his divine spirit flame like antennas. Dense and packed, their numbers were endless.
“So many threads of faith?”
Meng Lei was rather taken aback.
Even a modest estimate of the number of threads would put it at at least a few billion. This would represent a few billion worshipers, but—he didn’t have a few billion worshipers?
Bewildered, Meng Lei connected to one of the threads of faith, and then he heard an aged and hoarse, but exceptionally pious voice.
“Oh the supreme Great God Meng Lei, I am Constantine Macaric. I’m going out to sea tomorrow. Please watch over me and let me return safely!”
“He’s a Golden Archipelago resident!”
Meng Lei deduced the worshiper’s background in an instant. Then, he picked another thread of faith and began to listen.
“Oh noble and great Lord, I am a worker at Zebra Island’s pig farm. I am sick and tired of my current life. Please bless me and let me find a Battle Aura manual…”
“Zebra Island? It’s someone from the Golden Archipelago again!”
Meng Lei checked the threads one by one and realized that all the worshipers were from the Golden Archipelago.
He spread his divine cognition into the surroundings and saw several statues, as well as groups of worshipers on their way to pray to him.
Meng Lei found this very incredible. All he had done was obviously just having a night’s sleep.
That’s right!
A night’s sleep, that was all! After consuming the Soul Ice Marrow, he had gotten a good, comfortable night’s sleep!
“The Golden Archipelago residents have become worshipers of me after a night’s sleep? Isn’t this a little too weird?
“No, power of faith can’t possibly come about for no reason. Something must have happened!”
Knowing that his four half-deities subordinates were outside, Meng Lei promptly summoned them for clarification.
“Congratulations on completing your seclusion, Master!”
The four of them bowed respectfully.
Meng Lei looked at the four of them and asked, “What’s up with the Golden Archipelago’s power of faith?”
“Master!”
A respectful Bubbles answered, “During this one year when you were in seclusion, we were very bored, so we decided to spread your faith a little. The effects are somewhat satisfactory!”
“A year? A year has passed?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei. He had only taken a rest, yet a year had passed. It wasn’t like he was a pig! When did he become capable of sleeping such long hours?
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles nodded. Then, he said with a smile, “Master, you needn’t be puzzled. At a cultivation level like ours, even just a nap would see long periods of time passing, not to mention when you’re cultivation in seclusion.”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. Then, with a wave, four divine powers appeared in his palm. They twinkled with black, silver, cyan, and gold divine glows, respectively, and gave off fearsome divine power energy fluctuations.
“Divine cores!”
" }, { "id": 250, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-250", "title": "Chapter 250 - Cola Left, Tsunami Came", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Divine cores!”
The four half-deities were trembling with their eyes full of passion and desire upon the sight of the divine cores—like hungry wolves eying big delicious sheep.
“I’ve always rewarded merit and punished any wrongdoings. For the past year, you all have done an excellent job, and I’m very pleased. Thus, I must reward all of you!”
Meng Lei waved casually, and the four divine cores flew toward the half-deities—the dark-elemental divine core went to Bubbles, the thunder-elemental divine core went to Seisia, the wind-elemental divine core went to Nadja, and the metal-elemental divine core went to Klaus.
“Now, they’re all yours.” Meng Lei smiled. “I’ve processed these four divine cores so you all can assimilate with peace of mind that their original owners will not steal and occupy your bodies.”
“Thank you, Master!”
The four knelt down immediately with strong emotions. Those were divine cores that their Master actually bestowed to the four of them. This was simply an enormous favor!
“Just divine cores of lesser deities, nothing significant.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “As long as you all carry on your good service to me, intermediate deities’ divine cores will be yours, higher deities’ divine cores will be yours too!”
“We will work our fingers to the bones and do our very best!” The four of them swore hurriedly.
At that very moment, they felt that submitting to Meng Lei was the wisest decision they had ever made.
Once they assimilated each lesser deity’s divine core, they would be able to make that leap to become lesser deities. If it was in the past, they would never have imagined it happening to them.
And now, it was really about to happen. It was simply unbelievable.
“Now go. Assimilate your divine cores!” Meng Lei waved his hands to kick them out of the palace.
Right after that, Meng Lei went directly into the 96th level of the Tower of Time. After not seeing Little Cola for more than a year, Meng Lei was a little worried.
Meng Lei’s divine cognition shrouded the entire 96th level, but he could not find Little Cola. Meng Lei was dumbfounded and went straight to the 100th level.
“Dodola, where’s Cola?”
Dodola was sleeping soundly when it was woken up abruptly. It was pissed off. “Are you nuts? How am I supposed to sleep like this?”
“Where is Cola?” Meng Lei could not care less.
“Her? She’s back in the Demon Realm ages ago!” Dodola rubbed its sleepy eyes as it grunted, “You have slept for more than a year. It would be weird if she did not leave!”
“Back in the Demon Realm?”
A jolt went through Meng Lei’s body. “Why did she return to the Demon Realm? What happened?”
“Obviously, she left on her own!” Dodola rolled its eyes. “It’s been over one year. If she did not leave, then wouldn’t she starve to death? Well, you don’t have to worry too much. She’s better off staying in the Demon Realm since she’s a Fallen Angel.”
“When did she leave? Why didn’t you stop her?” Meng Lei wasn’t very pleased.
“Stop her? You want her to starve to death? Did I not tell you?”
Dodola carried on, his mouth twitching. “Shortly after you slept, Cola had already finished consuming all the devils. Then she returned to the Demon Realm when I was unaware.”
Meng Lei went silent. The Fallen Angel was a Demon herself who could naturally sense the Demon Realm.
Since Cola really wanted to leave, she could not be stopped unless Dodola was on her tail.
Not to mention with the food finished, she would’ve starved every day over here, so how could Dodola stop her?
“This won’t do. I have to find her!”
Meng Lei closed his eyes and relocated his divine spirit to the Demon Realm, hoping to find her through their blood pact.
A minute passed…
Two minutes passed…
Half an hour passed…
Meng Lei could not sense any trace of Cola at all, as though she had disappeared in thin air.
“Can’t sense anything?” Dodola asked.
Meng Lei shook his head. “No.”
“Now that’s normal.” Dodola said lightly, “The blood pact is the most primitive bloodline contract, not a spiritual contract, so once you’re slightly further away, you can’t sense anything. As for the Demon Realm—it’s almost boundless. Little Cola could appear in any corner, so it would be stranger if you could actually sense her.”
Upon hearing this, Meng Lei was slightly relieved and sighed. “Hope she’s safe and sound!”
“Rest assured! She’ll be fine!” Dodola shook its head. “The Fallen Angel is a higher devil with astonishingly high cultivation speed. Plus, there’s food and nourishment everywhere in the Demon Realm, Little Cola will surely venture into her own world.”
“I hope so.”
Meng Lei sighed and left the Tower of Time. He started to stroll around on foot.
Lousy mood, I’ll just enjoy some sea breeze then.
Firstly the Golden Dragon-Lion Island, then the Dragon Spring Island… Then Meng Lei lost his way…
The Blue Afterglow Island—known for having plenty of water sources where the sun glows could form beautiful sceneries, thus the name.
The island was not massive, only a few kilometers. Due to its size, there were no permanent residents on the island, just the occasional fishing boats stopping by for freshwater supplies.
On this day, a fishing boat full of patches on its sails stopped by the coastline as three fishermen got off the boat carrying buckets to refill fresh water on the island.
“Oh Old Jack, you’re here!”
The fishermen already on the island greeted the three newcomers. Everyone was a fisherman from the islands nearby, knowing each other for several decades.
“Yep! I’m here!”
Old Jack was an old man in his 60s, and time had left marks on his dark mottled face. Behind him was his son Little Jack and daughter-in-law, Claire.
“Hey Old Jack, just let your son and daughter-in-law get the water. While we old dudes chat sh*t and get some puffs!”
An old fisherman wearing a straw hat sitting on a rock nearby smiled with his prominent yellow teeth, holding a pipe.
“Sure, mate!”
Old Jack passed his bucket to his son and sat before the rock. “What’s up, Old Buzz? How’s your catch recently?”
“Aye, don’t talk about it! I’m raking in less and less every day. That’s really strange!” The old man shook his head continuously. “Well, what about you?”
“Mine is okay…”
The two old fellas talked. On Old Jack’s battered fishing boat sat a barefooted teenager who was diligently wiping a very ordinary harpoon.
“Big Brother Galen!”
A pretty teenage girl with a short burlap skirt walked over, holding onto a kettle. She smiled sweetly. “Big Brother Galen, drink some water!”
“Thanks, Helen!”
The teen known as Galen said his thanks and took a mouthful of water from the kettle. The sweet spring water entered his guts and moisturized his throat.
“Sister, you’re too biased. How could you only bring water to Big Brother Galen? Where’s mine?”
Out came a sturdy boy behind Galen grunting in dissatisfaction. He was Farren, Helen’s brother.
Helen glared with her charming eyes and scoffed. “Big Brother Galen has been working hard all this while. What’s wrong with me getting him water? Look at you, all you know is to play!”
“I’m working too, alright?” Farren puffed out his cheeks and huffed. “You’re just forgetting loyalty when in love! Ever since Big Brother Galen came, all there is in your eyes is him…”
“You’re looking to die!” Helen was flustered as her face turned red. She grabbed a salted fish that was hanging under the sun and posed like she was about to beat him. Farren screamed and ran to the other side of the boat.
“Little brat, you’re getting too bold!”
Helen glared at her little brother and carefully looked toward Galen. “Big Brother Galen, Farren was just speaking gibberish, don’t mind him.”
“I won’t.”
Galen smiled as he shook his head slightly. His handsome face was brimming with a warm smile.
Helen’s face went slightly red again as her heart pounded rapidly. “Bi-Big Brother Galen, carry on with your work. I’m going to prepare today’s meals!”
She escaped into the cabin right afterward.
“This girl…”
Galen smiled, shaking his head as he carried on wiping the harpoon. Farren popped out again and leaned toward Galen. “Big Brother Galen, let me tell you a secret, don’t tell my sister!”
“What thing could be so secretive?”
Farren stole a glance at the cabin and lowered his volume. “Big Brother Galen, let me tell you that my sister likes you, you know? She likes you!”
Galen paused a little and smiled. “You mischievous little brat, you dare to make a fool of your sister? How about I tell her now?”
“No! Please don’t!” Farren pleaded. “If you tell her, she will skin me alive! But I’m serious. She really does like you! She would often peep at you while you’re working and giggle around like she’s lost her soul! Oh, and she even sleep-talked about you…”
“You’re not going to stop talking, kid?” Galen glared and said with a stern face, “If you carry on talking, then guess whether I would whip you?”
“Okay, okay, okay, take it I never said that!”
Farren was quick to change the subject. “Anyway, Big Brother Galen, how do you fish with that? How did you pierce so accurately? Can you teach me?”
“Now that’s what a kid should be pondering about!”
Galen smiled again as he explained, “Harpooning has two keys: First, your power control. Second, having certain skills. So for your power…”
“Big Brother Galen…”
An alluring aroma hung around in the air as the girl walked out with a delicious fish soup.
Boom!
Just then, a muffled yet vast dull noise came from afar as if millions of tanks were rumbling over in gigantic fashion.
“What’s that sound?”
Galen, Farren, and Helen were alarmed as they stood up and looked over. All they could see on the sea was a mountainous wave thousand feet high.
The enormous wave was like a wall shifting over. It was slow to the eye, yet so fast it could cover kilometers within a few breaths.
“Tsunami!”
“Tsunami is coming!”
Helen’s pretty face turned white quickly as she dropped the bowl of fish soup on the floor, while Farren was trembling in horror.
“Tsunami!”
“It’s a tsunami!”
“Run!”
The people on the boats and ashore discovered the gigantic wave, and they hit the panic button like frightened deers.
The fishermen abandoned their boats and ran straight to the island, hoping to survive by hiding there.
“We’re so dead! It’s no use running to the island! Blue Afterglow Island is too small to hide from such a huge tsunami!” Old Jack mumbled to himself.
“Bi-big brother Galen, ts-tsunami is coming!” Helen’s little body shivered with a horrified face.
“Indeed, a tsunami!” Galen frowned slightly.
“We’re dead! We’re dead meat!”
“Such a humongous tsunami would crush us into meat sauce!”
“Noooo! I don’t want to die yet! I haven’t gotten married. I haven’t even touched a girl’s hand, how can I die now!”
“Oh noble Great God Meng Lei! I heard you’re very efficacious. Please bless me…”
At the sight of the gigantic wave towering over the island, some quivered, some burst in tears, some limped to the ground…
Terror gripped, desperation inevitable. In front of the tsunami, humans were just too little.
“Big Brother Galen!”
At this moment, Helen grabbed Galen’s hand suddenly. “Big Brother Galen, There is something I wanted to say for a really long time. I know if I don’t say it, I will never have the chance to anymore—”
“Foolish girl, what death are you talking about? You’re just talking about meaningless things. We are all not going to die!”
Galen gave a warm smile as he rose into the air and flew straight at the tsunami!
“Ga-Galen!”
" }, { "id": 251, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-251", "title": "Chapter 251 - Freezing A Tsunami, Suppressing A Volcano", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“B-Big Brother Galen!”
Helen was so astonished that her pretty eyes widened, and her little mouth formed an ‘O’ so big that one could stuff a cucumber into it.
Farren, Old Jack, as well as Old Jack’s son and daughter-in-law, stared at the soaring Galen with disbelief.
“Old Jack, isn’t he the new deckhand that you’ve just recruited? W-why is he able to fly?”
Old Bath was staring so hard at Galen—who was flying further and further—that his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets.
“I… I don’t know, either!”
Great waves of shock and astonishment churned in Old Jack’s heart. Old Bath was right—Galen was indeed a new deckhand whom he had recruited. During this recent period of time together, he had merely thought Galen a little more accurate at spearing fish than others. Apart from that, he was no different from other ordinary folks.
Yet Galen had taken off into the sky.
Taking flight was something beyond even powerful ninth-grade experts’ capabilities.
“A Saint Domain! Big Brother Galen is a Saint Domain!”
Farren was so excited that his little face was all flushed. As residents of the Golden Archipelago, Saint Domains didn’t just exist within legends to them because they had frequently seen Saint Domain experts from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan conducting inspections on various islands in the past.
Those moments were also when Farren was the most envious. How he wished he could also walk among the clouds and soar in the sky like those Saint Domain experts someday.
“Big Brother Galen’s a Saint Domain expert!”
Helen’s mind was a total blank.
“A Saint Domain! Galen, whom we’ve been spending our days with for so long, is a S-Saint Domain!”
Old Jack, his son, and his daughter-in-law were also dumbstruck by the revelation.
At this point, Galen had already arrived right in front of the tsunami. The tsunami, which towered at a height of several thousand feet, was as though a huge mountain crashing down on him. In front of it, Galen was no different from an ant. It seemed as if he would be smashed into a bloody pulp or reduced to dust by the tsunami any moment.
“Can Big Brother Galen stave off the tsunami?”
Helen’s little hands were held in a tight grip and completely locked together.
Farren, Old Jack, his son and daughter-in-law, Old Bath, as well as all the fisher-folk on the boat and the island felt as if their hearts were in their mouths as they watched him.
Galen… Would he be able to block the tsunami?
With all eyes on him, Galen merely uttered two words, “Absolute Zero!”
In an instant, a golden, chilly air current sprayed forth and shot toward the several-thousand-feet-tall water wall.
The next moment, the tsunami surging toward them with great momentum froze in place right away and turned into a mountain of ice.
The ice mountain gave off an astonishing chill. Despite being several hundred meters away from it, everyone could nevertheless still feel the bone-chilling iciness from the ice mountain as chills came all over them.
“Break!”
Galen pushed his palm forward lightly.
Crack!
The several-thousand-feet-tall ice mountain shattered and fell apart right away, turning into countless ice shards that fell with a deafening boom. As though a collapsing skyscraper, the shattered tsunami crashed into the ocean below.
A brief moment later, the ice mountain was gone, along with the tsunami. The ice shards covering the water surface were the only things silently narrating the incredibly precarious situation they were in just now.
“T-the tsunami is gone?”
Dazed and disoriented, the people were totally stunned. Farren was the only one whooping in joy. “Yay! Big Brother Galen has succeeded!”
“He’s succeeded! Big Brother Galen has succeeded!” Helen, whose pretty face was all red, was breathing heavily. She couldn’t be any more excited, as if she had been the one who had averted the tsunami disaster.
“T-that was too impressive!”
“Galen’s so impressive!”
“Is that what a Saint Domain is like?”
It was only then that the people finally regained their senses. They were so excited that they couldn’t help but cheer loudly. However, Galen, who was standing proudly above the ocean, didn’t turn around—because that low, deep booming wasn’t totally gone yet.
“What’s that sound?”
“Everyone, quieten down! Quieten down!”
“Listen, what’s that sound?”
The cheering masses quietened down one after another. A deep, low, and resounding rumbling traveled over from somewhere. Right on the heels of it, the Blue Afterglow Island started to shake lightly underneath their feet.
“Why are you shaking, Old Jack?”
“I… I’m not! Why say that about me when you yourself are also shaking?!”
“An earthquake! It’s an earthquake!”
The two old men exchanged a look. At once, they cried out in shock and horror, their countenances filled with extreme fear and panic!
“An earthquake?”
Everyone else’s countenances also changed upon hearing their outcry. True enough, they indeed discovered that the entire Blue Afterglow Island was shaking lightly. In fact, even the surface of the ocean nearby was also shaking vigorously.
Boom!!
Blue Afterglow Island began to shake more and more intensely. Rocks rolled off mountains as trees and vegetation started to sway forcefully. People on the island stumbled back and forth, almost unable to stand stably on their feet anymore.
Boom!
Suddenly, as though a nuclear warhead had gone off, a great, deafening explosion rang out. At the same time, the mountain in the center of Blue Afterglow Island was instantly blasted right up into the sky.
The next moment, incredibly thick smoke burst into the sky, reaching all the way into the clouds in an instant with large amounts of dust and falling rocks meshed in between.
“This, this…”
A shocked Old Jack exclaimed, “It’s a volcanic eruption!”
Then, he hastily shouted at the top of his lungs, “Hurry! Get onto the boat! The volcano is about to erupt! It’ll be too late if we stay any longer!”
It was as if his words had snapped everyone out of their daze, and they dashed toward their own respective boats. Old Jack, his son, and his daughter-in-law also followed behind the crowd and rushed toward their boat.
Boom!
Another thunderous explosion rang out right at this point. The lava flow that looked as if it were formed from boiling soup rushed into the sky and shot right into the clouds high up above.
Upon reaching the highest point, the lava flow instantly burst and spread into the surroundings as though celestial maidens scattering flowers from the sky!
Splatter, splatter, splatter!
Large amounts of boiling lava, together with scorching-hot rocks, splattered down onto every corner of the little island. Some crashed into the trees, causing them to instantly burst into flames, while some crashed onto the ground, smashing large pits into it.
At the same time, an overwhelming amount of volcanic ash also spewed forth from the volcano, spreading into the surroundings at speed as high as 400 kilometers per hour. Everywhere that the volcanic ash enveloped turned deep and dark, with the sun nowhere in sight as if the very depths of hell itself.
“Run!”
“Hurry and run!”
“We can’t! We can’t get away at all!”
How could mere humans contend against the wrath of nature?
Everyone lost all hope as they watched the boiling lava wantonly splattering everywhere and the volcanic ash surging toward them. Even if they had boarded their boats, how far could they flee?
They couldn’t escape! Not at all!
There was no way he could get away at all!
“Big Brother Galen! S-save me!”
Farren suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs at this point. Although drowned out by the rumbling, booming explosions, his sharp, shrill voice was nevertheless still a reminder to everyone else.
Oh yes, there’s still Galen!
“Galen!”
“Help!”
“Big Brother Galen!”
Helen also looked toward Galen.
Whoosh!
A light breeze blew past them, and someone was already right above them—it was Galen.
“Don’t worry, no one’s going to die!”
Galen smiled at everyone. A chilly current shot forth from his fingertip with a casual point of his finger, freezing all the volcanic ash as it spread into the surroundings.
A brief moment later, a gigantic “ice flower” appeared in the sky. Whatever color the volcanic ash was, was exactly the color of the ice flower. The sight was exceptionally elegant and beautiful.
As Galen blew at it casually, the gigantic ice flower then shattered into expansive ice shards that descended from above as though endless amounts of floating snowflakes, forming a breathtakingly beautiful sight.
“It’s gorgeous!”
Helen couldn’t help but gasp in admiration. The beautiful sight also captured everyone else, and they couldn’t help but let out several exclamations of astonishment.
With a smile, Galen then shot toward the erupting volcano with a flash!
It was as if the boiling lava and lethal volcanic ash were non-existent to Galen.
With a leap, he jumped right into the erupting volcano opening and disappeared from sight.
“Big Brother Galen!”
Helen was so frightened that she almost jumped right up, her heart leaping into her mouth right away.
The others were also awfully nervous. Jumping straight into the mouth of a volcano? That was practically a moth flying straight into the fire!
What none of them expected was that in just the span of a few breaths, the ground was no longer shaking, the lava was no longer flowing, and the volcanic ash was no longer spewing. The low, deep rumbling was also gone!
Instead, an astonishing chill was emanating from the volcanic opening and spreading into the surroundings.
“He’s… succeeded?”
“Galen has succeeded?”
The people wept tears of joy.
“Where’s Big Brother Galen?”
Helen’s gaze was fixed on the volcanic opening, her eyes filled with worry.
“Don’t worry, Big Sis! Big Brother Galen’s so strong. How could anything possibly go wrong?”
A giggling Farren then asked, “By the way, Big Sis, what exactly did you want to say to Big Brother Galen just now?”
At once, Helen’s pretty face became as red as a tomato, and she glared at her younger brother before she retorted, “Young brats like you shouldn’t meddle in an adult’s matters!”
“Hehe, I know what it is even if you don’t say it, Big Sis!”
Farren waggled his eyebrows and winked at her, only to receive a twisting on the ear from Helen in exchange, causing him to cry out loudly in pain and constantly plead for mercy.
A figure flew out of the volcano at this point—it was Galen, who had gone in just now.
“Big Brother Galen!”
At the sight of him, Helen quickly went forward. She asked nervously, “Are you alright?”
“How can I possibly not be?”
Galen chuckled softly as he shook his head. “You guys, on the other hand, didn’t get hurt just now, right?”
“N-no!”
“Big Brother Galen, you’re simply too amazing!”
Farren rushed toward him, stars of adoration sparkling in his little eyes. “Big Brother Galen, please teach me a thing or two! I’d like to be as strong as you, too!”
“Farren!”
At the sight, Old Jack hurriedly chastised Farren. Then, to Galen, he said respectfully, “Esteemed Lord Saint Domain, if Farren has offended you, please forgive him…”
“Grandpa Jack, you’re treating me too much like an outsider if you say that.” Galen waved and said, “Don’t forget that I’m a deckhand that you hired.”
“That won’t do! That won’t do, Lord Saint Domain!” Old Jack waved repeatedly.
Deckhand?
You, a great Saint Domain, as my deckhand?
Never mind when I hadn’t known your identity previously. Now that I do, I wouldn’t dare to treat you as my deckhand even if you give me a whole lot of guts!
“Never mind! Never mind!”
Galen couldn’t help but sigh. He knew that his wandering journey was about to end now.
Now that everyone knew his identity, it would only cause discomfort in them if he were to stay any longer.
Suddenly, Galen turned to Farren and asked, “Didn’t you want to become strong, Farren?”
“Yes, yes!”
Farren nodded lightning-quick.
“Do you want to learn Battle Aura or magic?” A smiling Galen asked, “The former makes you a Warrior while the latter makes you Magician. Which do you want to be?”
“This…”
Farren became troubled at once. After hemming and hawing for a while, he finally said, “I’d like to become a powerful expert who can freeze the tsunami with a wave and suppress the volcano with a flick of his fingers just like you, Big Brother Galen!”
“A Magician? That’s a great choice!”
Galen chuckled and said, “Look for me at my place after you get home. I’ll wait for you!”
Then, Galen rose into the air and vanished into the distance like a comet.
“Galen’s left!”
Waves churned in everyone’s hearts as they stared in the direction he disappeared in. They were exceptionally excited.
“A Saint Domain!”
“We’ve actually been saved by a Saint Domain!”
“Old Jack, you and your family are probably gonna strike gold this time!”
“I’m so green with envy, Old Jack!”
“Big Brother Galen!”
Helen’s pretty eyes twinkled as she suddenly made up her mind about something.
" }, { "id": 252, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-252", "title": "Chapter 252 - Abolishing The Stratification System, Dismissing The Nobles", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 252: Abolishing The Stratification System, Dismissing The Nobles
Causeway Bay was a beautiful little ocean bay embedded in the ocean like a crescent moon.
The waters were azure blue and the sands white and clean. Lush emerald green plants grew lushly and densely, forming a picturesque view.
Not far from the shore was a hill, and at the foot of it was a fishing village named Causeway Village.
Helen and her family were villagers from Causeway Village. Meng Lei flew over to the foot of the hill and went straight to his place of residence—a cave.
The cave wasn’t very big, but it nevertheless still consisted of three rooms—the bedroom, kitchen, and storeroom—and a living room. During the last half a year, this was where Meng Lei had been living.
A nest of gold or silver will never be as comfortable as one’s own dingy old nest!
Meng Lei entered the cave, grabbed a ladle full of water, and poured it straight into his mouth. Then, with a leap, he flew right onto the hammock.
After spending a good half a year outside, it’s time to go back, thought Meng Lei to himself.
While traveling around the Golden Archipelago during this half a year and slightly over, he had visited several places and also increased his span of experience and knowledge before finally coming to Causeway Bay.
Meng Lei had lived in a small seaside city in his past life and frequently went out to sea to fish with his parents when he was young. His youth was spent by the seaside.
Half a year ago, he had coincidentally seen Old Jack’s deckhand hiring notice and subsequently became his deckhand. He spent everyday fishing, enjoying the sea breeze, eating fish…
Meng Lei felt as if he had returned to his childhood years back when the days were simple, free, and worry-free…
“What a shame that days like these will come to an end soon.” Meng Lei sighed and cast a glance at his stats interface.
It had been slightly over half a year, yet there had surprisingly been no changes in the stats interface. This was also the first time that his stats interface had remained the same for such a long time since Meng Lei had first gotten it.
It wasn’t so much as he couldn’t change anything, but because Meng Lei had deliberately been self-indulgent and had ignored the system all this while.
Meng Lei thought to himself, It’s about time to go back.
Then, he left behind a divinity projection of himself and left.
“Big Brother Galen, we’re back!”
…
“Master, you’re back!”
Bubbles, Klaus, Nadja, and Seisia bowed in greeting to Meng Lei.
The aura around them was majestic, and their divine power strong and vast—this was because they had assimilated the divine cores.
“All of you are more or less done with the assimilation?”
Meng Lei remarked with a calm smile, “So, that means all of you have become lesser deities. Not bad!”
“Thank you for kindly bestowing the divine cores upon us, Master!”
The four of them hastily bowed and expressed their gratitude.
Their strength had gone through a tremendous change after they had assimilated the divine cores.
Even though they could be said to be among the weakest lesser deities out there because they had only just assimilated the divine cores, a lesser deity was ultimately still a lesser deity and an actual true god. This was far beyond what a half-deity could compare to.
Therefore, the gratitude that the four held toward Meng Lei was sincere and true.
“We’ve lingered long enough in the Golden Archipelago. It’s about time we return.”
Meng Lei sighed as he said, “But someone has to be stationed here in the Golden Archipelago. Who among you is willing to stay behind?”
“This…”
The four of them looked at one another, all somewhat troubled. To be honest, all of them wished to follow Meng Lei.
Meng Lei was a generous person, bestowing upon them both divine weapons and divine cores. Where were they supposed to find a Master like that?
But staying behind had its own benefits, too. One would oversee an entire region from then on and would become a true-blue local emperor of a region.
“You wily old foxes!”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. Without a second thought, he whipped out the Abyss Blade Demon’s companion machete and said, “Whoever is willing to stay behind and be stationed at the Golden Archipelago shall receive this blood-red machete!”
The four of them perked up, their gazes all falling onto the blood-red machete as looks of desire flashed across their eyes.
However, Bubbles, Nadja, and Seisia’s gazes shifted away after only a quick glance. Compared to the machete, they were still more willing to be by Meng Lei’s side.
“In that case, this machete will be Klaus’ now.”
Meng Lei handed the blood-red machete over to Klaus and said, “Remember to guard the Golden Archipelago property well. Don’t mess it up, get it?”
“Don’t worry, Master! I will definitely do my best!” replied Klaus as he gave his promise.
“One more thing, by the way!”
Something occurred to Meng Lei, and he said, “Not only are you to watch after the Golden Archipelago, but you are also to put in great effort to improve the islanders’ standards of living and their own combat abilities.
“If the conditions allow for it, try your best to build Battle Aura and magic academies and let those children attend school.”
“As Master commands!”
Klaus nodded heavily.
“Do your best!”
Meng Lei gave Klaus a meaningful look. Then, he left with the other three.
“Take care, Master!”
…
“Are you returning to the Dragon God Empire, Master?”
“Yeap!”
“It’s been more than a year since we’ve left. I wonder how the Dragon God Empire is and whether that fellow Puhaman has been slacking off? See if I don’t give him a good beating if he has!”
Meng Lei wasn’t too sure about the Dragon God Empire’s development progress, either. However, from the changes in worshiper numbers during the past year or so, he could nonetheless still sense a thing or two.
During the last two years or so, his worshiper numbers had increased exponentially and reached a terrifying total that numbered dozens of billions!
He gained close to ten million worshipers practically every day. Some came from the Dragon God Empire, some from the Titan Empire, and some from the underground world.
Out of all the worshipers, 70% of them were from the Dragon God Empire!
That equated to a few dozen billions of worshipers!
This showed that Puhaman hadn’t been slacking off. Rather, he was doing a pretty good job at taking care of the Dragon God Empire. Or at least, he was doing great when it came to spreading faith.
The four of them passed through the eastern Endless Oceans waters and arrived at the Dragon God Empire. Then, they saw the changes in the Dragon God Empire.
“Master, from what we’ve seen so far, it seems like all the Dragon God statues in the Dragon God Empire are gone?”
“Take a closer look. They aren’t gone; rather, they’ve been changed to statues of Master!”
“That is certainly so!”
Meng Lei felt very gratified.
Originally, apart from small, remote mountainous regions like the Magical Beast Village, every city and town that was on a slightly larger scale would contain a Dragon God Cathedral and Dragon God statues for people to pray to the Dragon God and to collect power of faith.
However, both the Dragon God Cathedrals and the Dragon God statues were gone during his return this time. In their place were instead his temples and statues.
There was an endless stream of worshipers, and various praying activities were constantly taking place. Many joss sticks burned within the temples and formed a flourishing sight. As they traveled on, they realized that this was the case in almost the whole of the Dragon God Empire.
“Puhaman did great.”
A look of approval came over Meng Lei’s features. As the saying went, “There is sequence in the mastery of fields, and different people specialize in different fields”. As expected, specialized tasks should be left to the specialists.
“I’ll have to reward Puhaman properly when I get back.”
Meng Lei and the other three arrived at the Dragon God Empire’s Imperial City more than two hours later. Compared to before they had departed, the current Imperial City was obviously a lot more peaceful and harmonious.
Shoppers walked about leisurely.
Laborers worked hard and honestly.
Diners were full of smiles as they ate.
The fear and panic from a year ago as if doomsday was impending was gone, and things had been restored to what it was like prior to the Dragon Emperor’s death. In fact, it was even better than before.
Bubbles marveled and commented, “Master, there’s been a great change in the imperial city!”
“Let’s go to the imperial palace.”
Law and order had also been restored in the imperial palace. The palace maidservants and the eunuchs busied themselves with their respective tasks while the guards and sentries’ gazes stayed focused in front of them…
Everyone carried out their respective duties, forming an orderly and well-guarded sight.
Meng Lei found Puhaman in one of the side palaces of the imperial palace. Rather than handling official business matters, the fellow was hiding in an underground basement and carrying out human experiments instead. It seemed like he was trying to craft Undead Knights.
“Puhaman!” Meng Lei called out.
“Master!”
Puhaman jumped in shock and hastily left the underground basement. He came up to Meng Lei, bowed in greeting, and said, “Greetings, my noble Master!”
“Rise!”
Meng Lei landed on the ground. He said, “You’ve done a pretty good job at putting the Dragon God Empire into order. Tell me, what have you done?”
“Everything is thanks to Master’s great blessings!”
At once, Puhaman launched into an unceasing report. “Master, I’ve made quite a few reformations in the Dragon God Empire during the past year or so. They are mainly the following four aspects…”
Meng Lei perked up a little and listened up closely. Bubbles and the other two cocked their ears.
“Firstly, I’ve abolished the Four-Classes Stratification System and dismissed the nobles from their positions. I confiscated the Dragon People nobles’ financial assets and land and distributed all the land to the slaves and humans that don’t own any.”
A smug smile appeared on Puhaman’s countenance, and he went on. “There isn’t a single Dragon Person noble left in the current Dragon God Empire. In fact, there are also only a few pitiful human nobles. Almost everyone’s a freed slave or a commoner now.
“Of course, if Master is willing, you can also appoint a new batch of human nobles anytime you wish.”
“It’s not necessary.”
Meng Lei waved off the suggestion. “Nobles are parasites that leech off the blood of the commoners at the bottommost tier of the hierarchy. Whether or not nobles will be appointed can be discussed later, but even if they are, they won’t be given any territory.”
“I understand Master’s intentions now!”
Puhaman nodded lightly.
Meng Lei praised, “You did great by distributing the land. The people at the bottommost tier of the hierarchy are the true foundation of the empire. Only by distributing the land to them and giving the farmers their own fields will the foundation of the empire be firm and secure!”
Then, he said, “But there’s one thing which you didn’t enforce sufficiently!”
“Master, you mean…”
A look of puzzlement came over Puhaman’s countenance.
“You have to pass a law that forbids people from buying and selling land, and also forbids forced acquisition and seizing of land, as well as any other form of land mergers!”
As a tip, Meng Lei reminded him, “Don’t forget, the Dragon People nobles might have certainly fallen from power, but what about the human nobles? What about the wealthy merchants? Would they also covet the plots of land that the people have just gotten?”
“How wise, Master! I have indeed overlooked that!”
Enlightened, an ashamed look appeared on Puhaman’s visage. He understood what Meng Lei meant, of course.
In Heaven’s Vault Continent, land was a symbol of one’s status and identity. Whoever owned larger territories or more land would also enjoy a higher status.
Therefore, everyone would do their best to acquire more land, such that they would own more.
Yet a huge bunch of powerless slaves and weaklings without any background or people backing them up had received large amounts of land at this point?
Who wouldn’t hunger for it? Who wouldn’t be envious?
One could easily see just what would happen next—like what his Master had said, various forms of land mergers would definitely take place.
When that happened, many slaves and commoners who had only just received their plots of land would lose them once more.
Everything that he had done would only act to the human nobles’ and wealthy merchants’ benefit.
“Master’s wisdom is just like the boundless starry skies that take my breath away! I am humbled!”
A look of shame came over Puhaman’s countenance. At the same time, a strong sense of respect for Meng Lei also welled up in him. The issue about land mergers indeed hadn’t occurred to him previously, yet Meng Lei had pointed it out straight away.
From this, one could see a thing or two about the difference between the two of them. He couldn’t not take his hat off him.
“You’ve already done great.”
A smiling Meng Lei patted Puhaman on the shoulder. Then, he changed the subject and said, “With that many Dragon People nobles in the Dragon God Empire, you must have met with great resistance when you stripped them of their titles and confiscated their properties, right?”
“Yes! It’s no ordinary level of difficulty!”
Puhaman licked his lips, a bloodthirsty smile coming over his features. He said, “But with Master backing me up and my own prowess as a half-deity, I’ve destroyed all forms of resistance!”
“Revolutions are usually accompanied by bloodbaths. Tell me, how many people have you killed this time?”
" }, { "id": 253, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-253", "title": "Chapter 253 - Slaughtering 30,000,000 People, A Great Windfall", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 253: Slaughtering 30,000,000 People, A Great Windfall
How many Dragon People nobles were they in the Dragon God Empire?
Meng Lei didn’t know the answer to this question, either.
According to Dragon God Empire laws, however, all the offspring that Dragon People nobles produced were also nobles. As a result, in spite of the Dragon People’s low reproduction rates, the number of Dragon People nobles nevertheless still reached frighteningly high numbers after 40,000 years.
How would so many Dragon People nobles possibly agree to having their titles stripped and financial assets confiscated?
“This policy was implemented four months after you left, Master. It was in progress for a total of ten months before it was officially completed.”
Puhaman gave him a bashful smile before he added, “In total, I’ve only killed fewer than 30-odd million people, I’d say.”
“Only”?
Fewer than… 30-odd million people?
Meng Lei almost wet himself in shock. A hint of shock and horror surfaced in his eyes as he looked at Puhaman.
What an impressive guy!
He didn’t actually bat an eyelid at having to kill so many Dragon People. He was practically a goddamn butcher!
“What a ruthless, bloodthirsty devil!”
Bubbles almost wet himself in shock, too. As he looked at Puhaman, his eyes took on a hint of fear and horror while Nadja and Seisia also put some distance between themselves and Puhaman.
They might be underground evil deities, but when had they ever killed that many? They didn’t even dare to think about it.
“It couldn’t be helped!”
Puhaman held his hands out. “Thinking that they had strength in numbers, not only did the Dragon People refuse to hand over their financial assets and land, but they even incited the common masses at the bottommost tier of the hierarchy, who didn’t know better, to stage rebellions and riots. Left with no other choice, I could only pick up my sword and go on a killing spree!
“With them alive, the empire couldn’t stabilize itself, and they may bring trouble to Master’s lands. In order to solve the problem once and for all, I could only cut the Gordian knot…”
“Isn’t that cut of yours a little too harsh?”
Meng Lei didn’t know what to say.
According to his ideals, once he had taken control of the momentum, once he gave the billions of humans in the Dragon God Empire an equal chance at education and cultivation, in fewer than a hundred years, large numbers of experts would definitely surface from among the humans. By then, why would they still need to fear the Dragon People?
Meng Lei had absolute confidence that under equal conditions, the Dragon People definitely wouldn’t be able to beat humans.
Hundreds and thousands of years later, the Dragon People would eventually disappear over the long course of history. Killing them? Was there a need to?
A sad Puhaman asked, “Have I erred, Master?”
“I can’t say that you’ve erred, either. Perhaps it’s I who is being too merciful.” Meng Lei waved the question off and said, “Go on.”
“Secondly, I’ve promoted human elites and allowed them to take control of imperial court affairs, as well as political control of various areas.”
Puhaman went on. “As of now, every crucial organization—such as the imperial court, regional executive governmental branches, and military troops—are all under the humans’ control. I have kicked out all the Dragon People.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that after two years of efforts, the humans have already thoroughly taken over the Dragon God Empire and are the one and only masters of the empire.”
“Not bad!”
Meng Lei nodded in approval.
“Thirdly, in order to crack down on religious faith in the Dragon God, I’ve also abolished the Dragon God Vatican and destroyed the Dragon God statues.”
Puhaman snickered and said, “This was extremely easy to accomplish. I left it to the Counter-Dragon Squad, and they completed the mission very effectively.”
“The Counter-Dragon Squad?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“The Counter-Dragon Squad is a Dragon People military troop that I built. They consist of Dragon People experts whose level of strength ranges from ninth-grade to Saint Domain!”
A resigned Puhaman said, “There are simply too many Dragon People in the Dragon God Empire. It’s a shame to kill so many Dragon People who are already at ninth-grade or Saint Domain level. It couldn’t be helped, so I assembled all of them in one place and founded the Counter-Dragon Squad. They specialize in doing things that’ll offend people.”
“Are those Dragon People experts actually willing to follow your command when you’re treating the Dragon People like that?” Bubbles asked, “Do you think they are fools?”
“Fools? Of course not! Those Dragon People hate me with every fiber of their being and wish for nothing more than to rip me into pieces. How would they possibly work for me?”
A laughing Puhaman said, “With no other choice, I could only use my Dead Souls Magic to turn them into puppets. That’s the only way they’d listen to me!”
“You devil!”
Meng Lei and the others couldn’t help but shiver. They didn’t know how they should be describing that fellow anymore.
Puhaman rebutted, “Don’t look at me like that, Master. Even if I didn’t do that, they would also be killed anyway. What I’m doing is saving their lives instead!”
Just listen to what he’s saying!
Was that something a human should be saying?
You’ve already turned them into puppets that are neither really dead nor alive, yet you claim you’re saving their lives? Can you get any more shameless than that?
“And then?” Meng Lei asked.
“Thirdly, I’ve built temples that worship Master and fashioned statues of Master to spread Master’s faith.”
Puhaman snickered and said, “Temples and statues are easy to build, but it’s not an easy task to re-build faith in people. For this, I’ve racked my brains, killed an endless number of brain cells, and exhausted a full year’s worth of time before I finally saw some results!”
“What did you do?”
Meng Lei wanted very much to know what exactly that unethical and underhanded fellow had done to cause the people of the Dragon God Empire to give up their faith in the Dragon God in such a short amount of time and believe in him instead.
“It’s pretty simple, come to think of it!”
A laughing Puhaman said, “It’s usually the easiest to build faith in people during their most hopeless, most fearful, and most helpless moments.
“Therefore, I created some man-made disasters such as an invasion of the Undead and even instructed the Counter-Dragon Squad to create some chaos. Not only can this damage the Dragon God’s reputation, but it can also trigger panic and chaos, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
“What I did was to let the people of the Dragon God Empire know that the Dragon God whom they worshiped has already abandoned them, and only by worshiping Master can they attain eternal life.
“Of course, the spread of faith requires an approach from two different angles. I also created a few miracles in Master’s name so that the people can witness Master’s strength.
“So far, the effects have been pretty good!”
“It has indeed been pretty good!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. Excluding Puhaman’s cruelty to the Dragon People nobles, all the other empiric matters had indeed been handled in a clear and orderly manner. This greatly pleased Meng Lei.
“Anything else?” Meng Lei asked.
“Lastly, their riches and assets!”
Puhaman brought out a spatial ring and said, “Master, this ring contains all the riches that I’ve seized and levied from the Dragon People nobles during this past year and more.”
“That’s surprisingly thoughtful of you!”
Meng Lei was very gratified at his words. Then, he was stunned by what he saw.
“There’s so much?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp.
“Master, the Dragon God Empire’s true riches weren’t actually hidden in the imperial treasury. Rather, they were with those nobles.”
Puhaman smiling and said, “Every single noble is a huge, dirty rat. They hoarded vast amounts of wealth, and every one of them could rival a country in terms of wealth. Of course, the key here is that there were simply too many of them!”
“Is this what the proverb ‘Hiding wealth among the people[1]’ means?”
Meng Lei could see why. Even if each noble had only one gold coin, multiplying that by 100,000,000 would make that 100,000,000 gold coins!
Was it possible for the Dragon People nobles’ wealth to only come up to one gold coin each? Obviously not!
That was how the vast riches in this spatial ring had come to be!
Without a second word, Meng Lei transferred all the gold, gold coins, and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals inside into the system. His Wealth value began to spike sharply right away.
The whole process lasted a minute before it ended. The current Wealth value flabbergasted and deeply astounded Meng Lei.
Wealth: 688.82 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
“Riches of 688.82 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! That’s actually ten times the amount from before! Incredible! Unbelievable! I made a pretty fierce killing this time!”
Meng Lei suppressed the excitement in him and looked at Puhaman. He asked, “You’ve made a great contribution this time, Puhaman. What kind of reward would you like?”
Puhaman waved repeatedly and said, “Reward? How dare I ask for rewards for doing my best for Master?”
Even though he had been very indignant about submitting to Meng Lei in the beginning, Meng Lei had ultimately rescued him, after all.
Rather than hiding in that prison at the bottom of the ocean, unable to see the light of day, he’d rather submit to Meng Lei.
Therefore, he didn’t think that Meng Lei owed him anything.
Subsequently, Meng Lei had even tasked him with heavy responsibilities and allowed him to govern the entire Dragon God Empire. Moreover, he had given him absolute trust and had never once dictated his actions. This made Puhaman feel as if Meng Lei had recognized his talent and capabilities, so he only had gratitude for Meng Lei now.
Thus, he did his best in everything and indeed had never once thought about wanting any rewards for it.
“Merit must be rewarded and wrongdoings punished. How can I not reward you after you’ve made such a huge contribution?”
Meng Lei brought out a divine core with a wave, a heap of half-divine weapons, and some true god remains. He said, “Take your pick from these things here. You can take everything you take an interest in.”
“So many treasures?”
Puhaman was dumbstruck. Every one of these treasures gave off strong, surging power of divinity energy fluctuations, and every single piece of the true god remains held terrifying might.
The divine core, in particular, gave off fearsome divine power energy fluctuations and made him incredibly fearful.
Puhaman knew that it was definitely a true god’s divine core right away. On top of that, it was no ordinary true god divine core, either.
He asked carefully, “Is this divine core also within the selection range, Master?”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Of course!”
“I’d like this divine core!”
With a white-hot burning look in his eyes, Puhaman said, “I’ve been stuck at the half-deity stage for as long as over 50,000 years. It’s impossible for me to become a true god within this lifetime. So—”
“Take it if you like it!”
With a smile, Meng Lei then pointed at the half-deity, and true god remains—which numbered up to 100 of them—and said with a smile, “Didn’t you like to craft Undead Knights? These things should be very useful to you, right? I’ll give them all to you.”
“This… Is it alright?”
Puhaman was greatly tempted.
“Of course!”
Meng Lei waved in response.
“Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!”
Puhaman expressed his gratitude repeatedly. He was pretty much only a step short of prostrating and licking Meng Lei’s shoes.
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Go on. Hurry and assimilate the divine core. The empire’s matters still require your attention.”
“There’s no hurry, Master!”
Although Puhaman wanted very much to assimilate the divine core right away, he suppressed the urge to. Instead, he led Meng Lei to a grand and magnificent-looking palace.
Then, he summoned all the court officials and formally introduced Meng Lei to them.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
Without any hesitation whatsoever, everyone hurriedly bowed in greeting. They might be dubious of anyone, but they definitely didn’t dare to be dubious of Puhaman—that guy was the Devil himself!
“Listen up, everyone. Master is the highest authority and ruler of this imperial palace and the entire empire. His word is the royal decree and the oracle itself!”
In a cold and distant tone, Puhaman said, “Everyone, including myself, must unconditionally follow his orders. Those that dare defy his orders will be… Mercilessly killed!”
“Yes, sir!”
Everyone quickly responded.
Only then did Puhaman turn to Meng Lei. He asked, “Master, is there anything else you’d like to supplement?”
“No.”
Meng Lei waved. After looking at everyone and remembering their faces, he said, “You may leave, everyone. Bubbles, Puhaman, the two of you may also leave.”
“Yes, Your Majesty (Master)!”
After dismissing everyone, Meng Lei walked over to the lavish golden throne and plopped his butt down on it. Then, he eagerly glanced at his stats interface.
600 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! How should he spend them? Now, that was the question!
“There are four things that I can buy credit for at the moment.
“Primordial Human bloodline (16%)!
“Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)!
“Power of Divinity (0.1 Divinity Crystal)!
“And laws of nature comprehension!”
[1] A Chinese proverb referring to the ideal of reducing taxes so that the common people can have enough money to develop and produce, thereby, in turn, stabilizing the economy and bringing in higher revenue for the country
" }, { "id": 254, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-254", "title": "Chapter 254 - Rain Of Light, The Meng Lei Empire", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 254: Rain of Light, The Meng Lei Empire
“Awakening the Primordial Human bloodline by 1% requires as much as one 100,000,000 Divinity Crystals. This bit of Wealth I have is just a drop in the ocean. Rejected!
“Enhancing the metal-origin divine body by 1% requires 1,000,000 Divinity Crystals. The price is just as ridiculously high. Rejected!
“I can, however, buy some credit for my Power of Divinity. System, get me Power of Divinity equivalent to 10,000 Divinity Crystals!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 100,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. At the same time, his Power of Divinity reserves also went up to 10,000 Divinity Crystals.
“As for laws of nature comprehension, I shouldn’t be in such a hurry to buy credit for it. I can do it after I’ve enhanced my divine spirit instead. The price will definitely be even lower at that point.”
Meng Lei hastily ended the credit-buying session. Then, he ordered, “System, give me 10,000 Limitless Pickups!”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“…”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“…”
Meng Lei didn’t go anywhere at all during the next two days but stayed in the palace and did Limitless Pickups instead. In total, he did more than 200,000 Limitless Pickups.
It was hard to tell whether it was because he did too many Limitless Pickups, but Meng Lei’s luck wasn’t too good. Everything he picked up was very mediocre.
Nevertheless, because of the sheer number of pickups he did, he still managed to pick up quite a few good things.
Firstly, he had picked up 26 divine cores.
Although they were all lesser deities’ divine cores, there were thankfully quite a few of them, so he could use them to reward his subordinates.
Next was laws of nature fragments.
A large majority of them were naturally single-elemental ones, with only a handful being fusion laws of nature fragments.
There were 19 double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments and four triple-elemental ones.
These were considered commonplace. What was astonishing, however, was that he had actually picked up a quadruple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragment—ice, metal, dark, and fire!
Even though the assimilation rate was only 0.1%, it had nevertheless successfully opened the gates to quadruple-elemental laws of nature assimilation for Meng Lei.
This meant that once Meng Lei enhanced the assimilation rate to 100%, he would—in terms of cultivation stage—rival a higher deity who had already assimilated four types of laws of nature. He would then only be… One type away from becoming a Great Perfection higher deity that had assimilated five types of laws of nature.
This meant that once he enhanced it to 100%, Meng Lei would be able to manifest a divine core and become a deity. On top of that, he would go straight to becoming a higher deity that had already assimilated four types of laws of nature!
The tragic thing, however, was that it was simply too expensive to buy credit for quadruple-elemental laws of nature assimilation. He couldn’t afford it at all!
Thirdly, he also got 11 true god dead bodies. Out of which, six were divine beast carcasses, and five were true gods’ divine bodies.
The divine bodies were of mediocre strength, so they weren’t of much use to Meng Lei. However, one did bring him an amazing special ability—Transformation!
Yes, Transformation! The kind that was similar to Mystique’s in the X-men series and allowed people to transform into all kinds of forms.
Although it didn’t provide any combat boost, it was nevertheless still a very useful ability. Meng Lei liked it very much.
Lastly, he also picked up some random knick-knacks. They weren’t of any use at all, and Meng Lei couldn’t even be bothered to look at them.
After he was more or less done with the pickups, Meng Lei finally walked out of the palace. Bubbles and the other two, who were waiting outside the palace, bowed in greeting respectfully.
“Let’s go. Accompany me for a walk outside.”
Meng Lei then brought the three half-deities with him and started to wander about the city.
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty!”
Everywhere they passed through, all the palace maidservants, eunuchs, and guards that they encountered bowed respectfully to them. Their expressions couldn’t get any more reverent.
“Is Puhaman still not out yet?” Meng Lei asked as they walked about.
“Not yet, Master!”
Bubbles answered, “Assimilating divine cores requires time. It’s not that fast.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly in response. Assimilating divine cores wasn’t as simple as claiming ownership of divine weapons where one needed only to drip their blood, and they would be done. Not only did one need to comprehend the laws of nature involved, but they also needed to refine their power of divinity. It was fairly a troublesome process.
“Please, we’d like to meet with Chief Director Puhaman. Something terrible has happened!”
Suddenly, some noise was heard coming from ahead of them—the palace guards had actually stopped a few officials.
“Let’s go over and take a look.” Meng Lei led the rest over. He asked, “What’s going on here?”
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
The palace guards hastily got down on one knee. At the sight, the few officials also hurriedly got down on their knees and bowed.
“You may rise!” Meng Lei waved. Then, he asked, “What are all of you making such a fuss over here for?”
“Your Majesty!”
An official hastily brought out a piece of joss paper[1]. Slightly panicked and fearful, he said, “Your Majesty, a rain of light suddenly fell from the sky in the Imperial City during the wee hours this morning!
“The rain of light splattered onto the ground and actually turned into pieces of joss paper. On top of that, someone even wrote that… that…”
At this point, the official started stammering, actually somewhat unable to bring himself to continue speaking.
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s written on it?”
“I… I dare not say it, Your Majesty!”
The official had a fearful look on his countenance.
“Dare not say it?”
Meng Lei became even more puzzled. He casually took the joss paper from the official and took a look at it. An article, written in a common language in Heaven’s Vault Continent, was written on it. The main gist of it was:
Meng Lei!
The great deity whom the Dragon God Empire worshiped was actually the reincarnation of a wicked devil from the Demon Realm. In order to rule over Heaven’s Vault Continent, he had scourged the lives of many and gone as far as to slaughter the Dragon God Empire emperor, wipe out the Dragon People nobles, forbid prayers to the Dragon God…
The long and verbose article painted Meng Lei as a perverse and heinous wicked devil that ate children’s brains raw and fed on human flesh every day.
“How dare they!”
Bubbles flew into a thundering rage. “Who is so audacious as to actually slander Master? If I find them, I’ll definitely rip them into shreds!”
“He’s already come all the way here even without you going after him.”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled. “The last part of the text on this piece of joss paper is essentially him throwing down the gauntlet. He’ll be coming to the Dragon God Empire’s Imperial City a month later to slay me, the wicked devil, and rid the world of an evil!”
“Who’s so bold to do something like that, Master?” Bubbles’ eyes widened in astonishment. He asked, “Did he sign off?”
“He did!”
Meng Lei passed the piece of paper to Bubbles with a slight smile.
Bubbles quickly took the paper from him and glanced at it. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Horace Theodore! To think it’s him! How can that be?”
“Bubbles, do you know that guy?”
Meng Lei was rather astonished.
“Yes, of course! I grew up listening to legends about him. How can I possibly not know about him?”
Bubbles nodded slowly, though his countenance was extremely grave. He said, “Master, Horace is the most monstrous genius ever in the Titan Empire’s history.
“He started cultivating at the age of six, broke through to the Saint Domain stage at 15, and broke through to the half-deity stage at 57 to become the youngest half-deity ever in Heaven’s Vault Continent’s history!”
“A 57-years-old half-deity!!”
“What a freak!”
“How terrifying!”
A huge jolt went through both Nadja and Seisia, who were both rather astounded. 57 years old might sound very old, but to half-deities like them, it was really too tender an age!
It was already considered very rare for ordinary people to break through to the Saint Domain stage at that age, let alone completely comprehending a type of laws of nature and becoming a half-deity. This was totally impossible for ordinary people.
A curious Meng Lei asked, “Nadja, when did you guys break through to the half-deity stage?”
“Master, my aptitude is mediocre, so I only barely managed to break through and become a half-deity at 12,958-years-old,” A somewhat embarrassed Nadja replied, her pretty face slightly red.
“I broke through 4,000 years earlier than Nadja and became a half-deity at 8,976-years-old!”
Seisia looked a little proud of herself.
“What about you, Bubbles?” Meng Lei asked.
Bubbles gave Nadja and Seisia a smug look and replied, “I became a half-deity earlier than both of them. I broke through when I was 3,238-years-old!”
“That’s not counted!”
Both Nadja and Seisia turned to Bubbles with expressions of scorn. They said, “You only became a half-deity because you comprehended the Demon Realm’s laws of nature. That’s purely just opportunistic trickery!”
“What’s wrong with comprehending the Demon Realm’s laws of nature? I was still physically in Heaven’s Vault Continent!” Bubbles glared at them. “Am I not a Heaven’s Vault Continent half-deity?”
“What kind of Heaven’s Vault Continent half-deity are you? I told you, what you’ve comprehended is the Demon Realm’s laws of nature!”
The two female half-deities didn’t back down at all. They said, “Laws of nature are much clearer in the Demon Realm than in Heaven’s Vault Continent, so it’s also way easier to become a half-deity. You can’t be considered a true Heaven’s Vault Continent half-deity at all!”
“Why don’t the two of you try to sense the Demon Realm if you’re that capable, then?” Bubbles sneered, “I’m able to sense the Demon Realm because I’m capable—”
“Alright, alright! Cut it out, all of you!”
At the sight of the trio arguing, Meng Lei spoke up and broke up the fight. He said, “Bubbles, what’s a big man like you arguing so much with the ladies for? Continue with what you were saying.”
“Hmph!”
Bubbles glared viciously at the two women before he went on. “After he became a half-deity, Horace also met with the same problem as us—he didn’t have any worshipers.
“Master, you should also know that when one becomes a half-deity, things are no longer about talent, diligence, and opportunities anymore. One needs worshipers!”
Bubbles shook his head and said, “Without any worshipers, there won’t be any power of faith. Without any power of faith, there won’t be any power of divinity. Neither will one’s divine spirit become stronger!”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. “That’s right. No matter how great one’s talent may be, it’ll only be for naught.”
“Thus, Horace broke through the void and left Heaven’s Vault Continent. As for where he went, no one knows. All we know is that he has left for good.”
Bubbles said with a frown, “Nothing was heard of him in the following 30,000-odd years ever since. Never would I have ever thought that he would show up again!”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes and asked cheerfully, “Someone who’s disappeared for 30,000 years is putting on such a flashy display after suddenly showing up again—is Horace trying to announce his return to everyone?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple!”
Nadja, whose eyes were fixed on the joss paper, said, “These tricks that Horace is using are customary tactics that we underground half-deities use when fighting for power of faith.
“Slandering the other party, and then defeating and killing them in front of their worshipers is the fastest way to dissolve their worshipers’ faith!”
“You mean…”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Horace is likely doing this because he wants to spread his faith, too!”
Seisia nodded and said, “Slandering Master and painting you as a wicked devil, killing you in front of everyone in order to dissolve the people’s faith in you, and then ultimately replacing you!”
“That guy is pretty scheming.” Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled softly. Then, he said, “Even if he wants to kill me, it’ll first depend on whether or not he has the skill to. Otherwise, it’ll only backfire.”
“Master is right!”
A smiling Nadja said, “As long as Master can kill him, all the rumors that he has spread shall naturally collapse in the light of facts. Instead, it’ll even leave behind the impression that Master is unbeatable, thereby deepening the worshipers’ faith in Master!”
“Exactly!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. “Since that’s the case, then let’s make proper preparations for him. How can we not cooperate with him when he’s coming all the way from afar?”
“Master, you mean…”
The trio quickly turned to Meng Lei.
“Send the order—one month later, I shall ascend the throne at the summit of Mount Dragon God and become the new master of this empire!
“The official name of the dynasty shall be—the Meng Lei Empire!”
“Yes, Master!”
[1] Also known as ghost or spirit money, they are sheets of paper made into burnt offerings common in Chinese ancestral worship
" }, { "id": 255, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-255", "title": "Chapter 255 - The Beast People Royal Court, Great Skill And Strategy", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 255: The Beast People Royal Court, Great Skill And Strategy
The rain of light filled the world over the night.
That’s right—it didn’t just rain light in the Dragon God Empire Imperial City. Rather, it covered the whole area within the Dragon God Empire’s borders. Every city and town on a slightly larger scale saw the skies raining light upon them.
For a while, the Dragon God Empire, which had only just gone through a few serious upheavals and hadn’t yet completely recovered, was swept into even fiercer and more surging waves.
“The Great God Meng Lei is a Devil from the Demon Realm?”
“Perverse? Heinous?”
“The rain of light from above is a warning from the deities! This is a sign from the gods. We have to believe in it!”
“Rumors! These are purely just rumors! The Great God Meng Lei took down the nobles, distributed the lands, and allowed us, slaves, to see better days. How can he possibly be a Devil?”
Toward the news brought by the rain of light, some scoffed at it, but more thought of it as a sign from the gods and started to waver.
For a while, everyone in the whole of the Dragon God Empire was in a state of alarm and anxiety, and the vast Dragon God Empire was shrouded in a fearful atmosphere once more.
Yet another heavyweight piece of news also began to make the rounds at this point—a month later, Meng Lei would ascend the throne on Mount Dragon God’s summit and become the empire’s new emperor. Additionally, he was also sincerely inviting the other three empires to come and watch the ceremony.
The moment the news was out, the people’s hearts entered even bigger turmoil!
…
Since time immemorial, the Far Northern Wastelands had always been the Beast People’s territory. For millions of years, the Beast People Empire had been thriving and proliferating on the wastelands across generations.
Beast People tribes of varying sizes were littered all about every corner of the Far Northern Wastelands. They did their best to make use of everything that the wastelands gave them, pursuing survival with dogged resilience.
The Beast People royal court was located in the Far Northern Wastelands’ central region. There, the lands weren’t endless wilderness, but a continuous stretch of mountain ranges and primeval forests instead.
Verdant, thick ancient trees and rich, lush vegetation adorned the area.
Beast roars could be heard while unusual-looking birds soared.
The whole mountain range was linked together into an encirclement that surrounded the Beast People royal court, forming a natural defensive barrier and protecting it.
Therefore, the Beast People also called the mountain range the Beast God Mountain Range, likening it to the great Beast God protecting the Beast People Empire from the flames of war.
At the imperial palace in the Beast People royal court…
Compared to the Dragon God Empire’s lavishness and grandeur and the Titan Empire’s heroic spirit and gallantry, the Beast People Empire’s imperial palace came across as one that was extremely simple and unadorned.
The imperial palace was simple and plain as it was formed from stacking rocks on top of one another and using round wooden rods as ceiling beams. Even the chairs that the Beast Emperor and his officials were seated on were sculpted from rocks. None of the Dragon God Empire’s extravagance and grandeur could be seen here at all.
It wasn’t so much that the Beast People Empire was as poor as a church mouse and couldn’t even afford to smith a few decent chairs. Rather, this was a deliberate move by the current Beast Emperor.
The current Beast Emperor was named Grom Lexar. An emperor with great skill and strategy, his roots were in the mountains and wilderness. Thus, he knew very well the people’s suffering and hardships.
Therefore, since the day he ascended the throne, the Beast Emperor had sworn to lead the Beast People Empire out of the resources-scarce and supplies-barren Far Northern Wastelands and into more fertile lands.
That was also what Grom Lexar had done. In the 100-odd years since he had taken over the throne, the Beast People Empire had annihilated dozens of big and small kingdoms around it, such as the Earth Fairy Kingdom, the Man-Eating Demon Kingdom, the Halfling Kingdom, the Far Northern Icelands Kingdom, the Dwarf Kingdom, and so on.
As a result, the Beast People Empire’s territory had doubled. They overlooked the Endless Oceans in the east, faced the Sunset Ranges in the west and the Magical Beast Ridge in the south, and entered the north’s Far Northern Icelands.
Because of this, the Beast People Empire had also become the empire with the vastest amount of territory in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Aside from expanding national territories, Grom Lexar was also very accomplished in managing the empire’s internal affairs.
He knocked back the nobles, encouraged production, limited reproduction, rewarded meritorious military exploits, and opposed extravagance…
After a series of reforms, the Beast People Empire never saw any more tragic incidents like the one during the snow disaster in winter where starving people were everywhere, and dead bodies littered the wilderness.
One had to admit that this was no different from a miracle.
After all, the Beast People Empire had an extremely high population but a shortage of food supplies. Winter was the hardest season for the Beast People Empire to tide over!
Every snow disaster usually starved or froze large numbers of people to death, yet Grom Lexar, the Beast Emperor, had managed to successfully prevent it from happening.
Based on this alone, his merits and achievements had already surpassed all the previous Beast Emperors’. Calling him the Beast People Empire’s greatest Beast Emperor of all time was no exaggeration.
However, Beast Emperor Grom Lexar wasn’t satisfied with just these. His goal was to restore the Beast People Empire’s former glory and reinstate the empire to what it was like during its peak 50,000 years ago.
“Everyone, this is a secret letter from the Dragon God Empire. Take a look at it.”
The Beast Emperor Grom Lexar, who was seated on a stone chair, casually tossed out a secret letter.
A Lion-Man received the letter and started to read it. A look of astonishment appeared on his features as he asked, “Is this true, Your Majesty?”
“Yes!”
The Beast Emperor nodded slightly.
“Little did I think that something as serious as this would have happened!”
The Lion-Man’s countenance was grave as he passed the secret letter to the other officials beside him to read. Their expressions all differed upon reading the news written on it!
“Who’s Horace Theodore?”
“I don’t know who he is!”
“Never heard of him!”
At the sight of the officials’ countenances, the Beast Emperor turned to an elderly Fox-Man at the first seat to his right. He asked with a slight look of respect on his face, “High priest, have you heard of this man?”
The elderly Fox-Man looked extremely aged. He held a walking stick while two long white eyebrows dangled at the sides of his cheeks, reaching almost all the way to his chin.
At his words, the Fox-Man got up shakily and replied, “Your Majesty, Horace is a reclusive genius from the Titan Empire 30,000 years ago. Said to be the strongest Titan in history, he even broke through to the half-deity stage at the age of 57 by his own efforts before subsequently breaking through the void and leaving Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“57 years old?”
“Broke through to the half-deity stage by his own efforts?”
Gasp!
Shocked by the horrifying record, all the officials couldn’t help but gasp!
It was common knowledge that every Child of God in the Titan Empire would break through to become a half-deity within 100 years.
But…
None among the Children of God had been able to become a half-deity at 57-years-old, let alone by their own efforts.
Horace was practically a monster!
The Beast Emperor sighed wistfully and remarked, “How amazingly talented! If not for that monster’s sudden appearance out of nowhere, Horace would definitely be the youngest half-deity ever in Heaven’s Vault Continent’s history!”
The officials also nodded.
A Lion-Man on the left asked curiously, “High priest, where did Horace go after he broke through the void?”
The other officials also looked at the old Fox-Man.
“Initially, I didn’t know what had happened after that.” The old Fox-Man shook his head slowly. “But the Beast God appeared in my dreams recently and told me about Horace!”
A dream from the Beast God!!
Shocked, the officials jumped to their feet. Even Grom Lexar stood and listened closely.
“After Horace broke through the void, he wandered the Void during the last 30,000 years before finally finding a remote existential plane somewhere and settling down there to spread his faith.”
The old Fox-Man was simply too advanced in age. Even speaking a couple of lines took a huge toll on him, and he couldn’t stop coughing.
“Under the nourishment of power of faith, Horace successfully broke through to become a true god 8,000 years ago, becoming the next true god from Heaven’s Vault Continent following the Dragon God.”
“A true god!”
“That guy’s actually succeeded!”
Looks of astonishment came over everyone’s faces!
The progression from a half-deity to a true god might seem only as far as a single step, but it was no different from an insurmountable obstacle in reality.
In the whole of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s long history, half-deities were a dime a dozen, yet only four had truly been able to become true gods—the Fairy Goddess, the Titan Spiritual God, the great Beast God, and the Dragon God.
And now, Horace would be joining their ranks!
He had succeeded!
He was Heaven’s Vault Continent’s fifth true god!
“Following that, Horace pledged allegiance to the Titan Spiritual God, became one of the true gods under his command, and was bestowed upon with six material planes!”
The old Fox-Man sighed. “With billions of lives on six material planes producing power of faith to nourish him, even His Holiness, the Beast God, has no idea just how strong Horace has become after 8,000 years!”
“Bestowed with six material planes!”
Everyone looked astounded at his words. To bestow six material planes upon him at one go, the Titan Spiritual God was honestly too generous.
A shrewd gleam flashed in Grom Lexar’s eyes as he asked, “In other words, Horace is extremely strong?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The elderly Fox-Man panted as he said, “Per the Beast God’s instructions, the Titan Spiritual God’s purpose in deploying Horace to Heaven’s Vault Continent is to punish Meng Lei and maintain the Titan Empire’s rule while seizing the opportunity to fight for the Dragon God Empire at the same time. Your Majesty may act at your own discretion!”
The Beast Emperor was sorely tempted. Located in the east, the Dragon God Empire had mild temperatures and rich, abundant resources. It was ten times, no, a hundred times more fertile than the barren Far Northern Wastelands. He wanted to take over the Dragon God Empire’s territory even in his dreams!
But…
“Is Your Majesty having reservations regarding Horace?”
The old Fox-Man was old but intelligent.
The Beast Emperor nodded lightly and replied, “Since Horace has already become a true god, Meng Lei undoubtedly wouldn’t be his match, but neither does the Beast People Empire have any powerhouses that can contend against Horace.”
“Don’t worry, Your Majesty!”
The old Fox-Man let out a hoarse-sounding chuckle. “Your Majesty, you can do whatever you want without any worries. The great His Holiness, the Beast God, naturally has ways to deal with Horace.”
A huge jolt went through the Beast Emperor, and bright, shrewd glints flashed in his eyes. “With the old high priest’s promise, there’s no longer anything to fear. The Dragon God Empire will be mine! Send my orders!”
Whoosh!
All the court officials bowed and listened respectfully.
“Assemble the ten major military units and head south at once! Deploy the troops to the Dragon God Empire borders, get ready to invade and conquer the Dragon God Empire, and await my orders!”
The Beast Emperor gave a battle order of the highest level.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
All the officials chorused aloud.
“Everyone, 60,000 years ago, our Beast People Empire forebears’ horses drank the waters of the eastern oceans, hunted in the Fairies’ forests, competed for the Titan Plateaus, and stood at the top of all the races. How mighty were they?”
The Beast Emperor said with a passionate expression, “Ever since I have ascended the throne, I have exhausted and taxed my ingenuity, and acted with utmost care as though I’m walking on thin ice. Never for a moment did I dare to forget my forebears’ ambition!
“Yet time will not wait for me, and fate does not favor me, and I haven’t been able to bring back the Beast People Empire’s previous glory. I frequently awake in a panic at night and sink into self-blame!
“But now, the grand opportunity that the Beast People Empire has waited 60,000 years for has finally come! We absolutely mustn’t let it slip by us!
“How brilliant, Your Majesty!”
All the officials were boiling with passion.
“Everyone, whether or not we can bring back the Beast People Empire’s former magnificence and restore our forebears’ glory hinges on the moment now!”
With a grand wave, the Beast Emperor ordered, “Make your preparations now!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
In the twinkling of an eye, all the officials had left the hall to busy themselves with their respective tasks, leaving behind only the Beast Emperor and the old Fox-Man.
“Do you still have any other instructions, high priest?” asked the Beast Emperor respectfully.
“Your Majesty, even though Horace has thrown down the gauntlet, not only has Meng Lei not run away from the challenge, but he has even risen up to the challenge and is ascending the throne in a month’s time. I’m afraid he has a trump card up his sleeve!”
The old Fox-Man’s brows were tightly drawn together.
“You worry too much, high priest. Not only is Horace a true god, but he has even cultivated for 8,000 years while being nourished by an endless supply of power of faith. How can Meng Lei possibly be his match?”
A confident smile graced the Beast Emperor’s lips.
" }, { "id": 256, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-256", "title": "Chapter 256 - The Goddess Issues A Holy Decree, The Elemental Being Is Born", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 256: The Goddess Issues A Holy Decree, The Elemental Being Is Born
The Fairy Empire was located in the southern borders of Heaven’s Vault Continent. Overlooking the Magical Beast Ridge in the north and facing the Endless Oceans to the south, it was the one and only country completely covered in forests among the four major empires.
These expansive forests that weren’t inferior to the Magical Beast Ridge in the least were the famous Fairy Forests. As they were connected to the Magical Beast Ridge, Magical Beasts also roamed the Fairy Forests.
Innumerable Fairy tribes dwelt in the forest, sharing the space with the woods and the Magical Beasts. It should have been a very dangerous place by right, but the reality was that the Magical Beasts didn’t attack the Fairy tribes at all. Instead, they formed a protective barrier that prevented outsiders from invading and harassing the Fairy tribes.
In the very center of the Fairy Forests stood a gigantic tree that towered at several hundred thousand feet tall. It stood straight and tall in between heaven and earth like the Jianmu Tree[1] that connected the two.
Lofty, towering, tall, and majestic!
Tranquil, lush, and luxuriant!
This gigantic tree was the Fairy Empire’s holy tree and mother tree itself—the Tree of Vitality.
Erected at the foot of the Tree of Vitality was a beautiful palace formed from intertwining vines and full of beautiful flowers all over. Exquisite and refined, it was the Fairy imperial palace!
Currently, the conference hall in the imperial palace was filled with the Fairy Empire’s high-ranking officials.
An extremely beautiful Fairy with a crown on her head sat at the top. Beautiful, pure, and breathtaking, she looked as if she had stepped right out of a fairytale.
She was the number one beauty of Heaven’s Vault Continent and the Fairy Empire’s ruler—the Fairy Empress!
“Elders, this is an invitation that a special envoy from the Dragon God Empire has just delivered.”
The Fairy Empress parted her ruby red lips. She said, “They are inviting me to the Dragon God Empire to take part in the new emperor, Meng Lei’s, ascension ceremony one month later.”
“Your Majesty, the Dragon God Empire is just being unreasonable and making trouble. You need not pay them any heed!”
A female Fairy with a sword fastened at her waist said coldly, “Considering that it’s just a new emperor ascending the throne, dispatching an official to express your congratulations is more than enough. Your Majesty need not personally make the trip there!”
“Regimental Commander Azshara is right. Your Majesty is the Empress of the Fairy Empire. Wouldn’t the order of seniority be jumbled up if Your Majesty were to congratulate a young human like him?”
A female Fairy with a bow on her back also spoke up. “Besides, whether he’ll even still be alive in a month’s time or not is a question itself. To think he’s still dreaming of ascending the throne!”
“Exactly! Horace Theodore was already a half-deity more than 30,000 years ago. Now that he’s returned with such a fierce momentum, how strong must he be now?”
“As the saying goes, ‘Those who come bear ill intentions, while those that don’t are nowhere near’.”
“With Horace’s talent, he’s probably already become a true god during these last 30,000 years!”
“That makes sense! To think he’s still in the mood to ascend the throne when a true god is coming right at him. He’s ultimately still too young. Little does he know that those who overdo it easily offend others…”
“There’s also something else that I’m worried about. Now that Meng Lei has seized the Dragon God Empire and destroyed the Dragon God’s one and only power of faith domain, how could the Dragon God possibly let him off?”
“That makes sense! The Dragon God would never overlook this!”
Upon hearing the officials’ opinions, the Fairy Empress nodded slightly and said, “I’ve heard your voices, everyone. In that case, we’ll dispatch an envoy to the—”
Buzz…
At that moment, a terrifying wave of divine power suddenly descended upon the Fairy Empress from above. At once, the aura around the Fairy Empress changed, becoming austere, holy, and solemn…
“The Goddess has descended!”
At the sight, all the officials in the hall hastily got up from their seats and bowed at the Fairy Empress, their countenances much more respectful than before.
The Fairy Empress made no response.
A brief moment later, the terrifying divine power disappeared, and the Fairy Empress resumed her previous demeanor.
“Has she left?”
“Her Holiness the Goddess has left!”
The Fairies breathed sighs of relief. Then, they quickly turned to the Fairy Empress and asked, “Your Majesty, has her Holiness the Goddess issued any holy decrees?”
“Yes, she has!
The Fairy Empress said with a wry smile, “Her Holiness has instructed us to take utmost care to protect Meng Lei. We mustn’t allow Horace to kill him!”
“This…”
The Fairies looked at one another, looks of puzzlement surfacing on their faces. Protect Meng Lei? What kind of situation was this?
“Who exactly is Meng Lei? Her Holiness has actually specially issued a holy decree to order us to protect him? Isn’t this a little too unfathomable?”
“Aren’t there rumors that Meng Lei is an evil deity reincarnate? Might he actually be a deity reincarnate? And on top of that, even Her Holiness’ friend?”
“You don’t say, that might really just be the case…”
Women would always be the most gossipy creatures in the world—even if they were a bunch of Fairies.
“Since Her Holiness has issued a holy decree, then we must obey it!” The Fairy Empress said, “I’m thinking of sending an official to the Dragon God Empire to observe the ceremony while I also secretly head there myself. Any objections?”
“As per Your Majesty’s command!”
The Fairies bowed in agreement.
“Since that’s the case, then make the preparations!”
The Fairy Empress said softly, “This won’t be just any ordinary ceremony observance. I should think that everyone knows what needs to be prepared, so I won’t elaborate any further!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
In the Titan Empire’s imperial palace in the Titan Colossal City…
“Inviting me to observe the ceremony? Hurhur, it’s probably more like he’s ordering me to go!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor gnashed his teeth as he sat on his throne. He sneered. “Don’t worry. I’ll definitely be there! Not only will I be there, but I’ll even watch you die with my own two eyes!”
Looks of excitement also adorned the faces of the officials in the hall. The Titan Empire had been thoroughly embarrassed after the whole debacle previously caused by Meng Lei, which had resulted in the loss of all their half-deity grandmasters.
Everyone had been terribly enraged since then. And now, the time for them, the Titan Empire, to avenge themselves was finally here!
The Thunder Titan Emperor ordered, “Send my orders—the twelve military units are to assemble at the borders between the Great Earth Pillar Nation and the Dragon God Empire! Once that renegade is dead, the troops are to crush the Dragon God Empire with their supreme might!”
“As per Your Majesty’s command!”
…
Following their respective emperors’ commands, the two massive behemoths—the Beast People Empire and the Titan Empire—transformed into war machines. Troops assembled and raced toward the borders.
The Dragon God Empire’s informers naturally also noticed the changes taking place in the two empires.
For a while, letters were sent to Meng Lei’s desk from the two empires like falling snowflakes.
However, Emperor Meng Lei paid them no heed at all. Instead, they sent all the court officials into a terrible panic.
“By assembling their troops, the two empires are obviously intending to create trouble on the day that His Majesty ascends the throne. What are we to do?”
“The Beast People Empire has ten major military units while the Titan Empire has twelve. Their military power total up to as many as a few hundred million people. How are we to withstand such a terrifying force?”
“The end of the empire is right before us…”
The court was in utter chaos, and all the officials were terribly anxious. Yet Meng Lei wouldn’t even spare them the time of the day. This threw them into a terrible panic.
To be honest, all the officials knew this very well—the Beast People Empire and the Titan Empire’s troops were of no threat. The real threat was the man who had challenged Meng Lei—Horace Theodore!
Should Meng Lei lose the battle or even die in battle, the Beast People Empire and the Titan Empire would rip the Dragon God Empire into shreds like starving, ravenous wolves.
But should Meng Lei win, it would then be a completely different scenario. Under Meng Lei’s lead, perhaps the Dragon God Empire would embark on an all-new journey.
Therefore, the most crucial question was—could Meng Lei win?
What the officials were so anxious over was exactly this issue. They wanted to meet with Meng Lei and probe him for an answer so that they could take a guess as to whether he was confident of winning or not.
Yet Meng Lei refused to meet with any of them. They couldn’t even enter the imperial palace. All they could do was to panic futilely here.
So, where was Meng Lei?
He was currently on the 91st level of the Tower of Time, where he was quietly awaiting the birth of a tiny little life. After almost two years of nurturing, the Elemental Heart had finally hatched!
At the mouth of the volcano on the 91st level…
The magical energy-gathering magic circle enveloping the smaller half of the half-plane gathered a vast amount of fire elements, pumping them all into the mouth of the volcano before a fire cocoon subsequently absorbed them.
Buzz, buzz!
The fire cocoon, which was red with a bit of white, gave off fearsome energy fluctuations. The force of its aura had actually far surpassed that of a Saint Domain expert to reach that of a half-deity.
An alarmed Dodola came to the 91st floor, only for its jaw to drop at the sight of the Elemental Heart. It asked, “Meng Lei, where did you get the fire-elemental being egg from?”
“I picked it up,” Meng Lei answered with a slight smile.
Dodola rolled its eyes, though it didn’t persist with its questions. Dumbstruck, it asked, “For it to already be a half-deity at birth, it looks like that fire-elemental being must come from an extraordinary background!”
“Are you also unable to tell what kind of elemental being it is, Dodola?”
Meng Lei was rather surprised. After all, Dodola was very knowledgeable.
“I can’t!”
Dodola shook its head. “There are so many types of elemental beings out there. How can I possibly know every single one of them? Besides, even the same type of elemental being can undergo great changes from living in different environmental conditions after birth. It’s very difficult to identify them!”
“I see, so that’s how it is.”
Meng Lei understood now.
“However, for it to be a half-deity at birth, that little fellow definitely comes from an extraordinary background.” An envious Dodola said, “That’s some sheer dumb luck you have!”
Meng Lei burst into loud laughter and replied, “Haha! My luck has always been good!”
Boom!
The fire cocoon at the mouth of the volcano suddenly exploded. An aura ten times more forceful than it was before erupted and spread into the surroundings, pounding and sweeping into every direction.
The next moment, a burst of white flames abruptly appeared. It jumped up and down in mid-air, frolicking happily like a Fairy wrapped in flames.
“It’s born!”
A smiling Dodola said, “It looks like that little fellow is a real piece of work, though. You’ll probably have to put in quite some effort if you want to subdue it!”
As though a matter of course, Meng Lei asked, “Shouldn’t it already submit to me since I was the one that had nurtured it to life?”
“Haha! Its subconsciousness was in hibernation before it was born, so how would it possibly know that you were the one that had brought it to life?”
Dodola rolled its eyes at him. “Look! It’s coming over!”
Whoosh!
The white flame had indeed come over. It constantly danced and flickered about as it circled Meng Lei and Dodola, as though curiously checking out the two of them.
“Who are you?”
A child-like divine spirit energy fluctuation suddenly came from the white flame. Young and babyish, it sounded just like a child.
“I’m Meng Lei, and that’s Dodola!”
Meng Lei gave it a friendly smile. He said, “I’m the one that nurtured you to life. Don’t be nervous. We won’t hurt you.”
“You were the one that nurtured me?”
The white flame flew into a rage. Like a hissing little kitten brandishing its claws, it roared furiously, “You’re lying! We fire-elemental beings are born from the flames. Would I even need you to nurture me? How dare you lie to me! You’re a baddie! I’m going to burn you to death!”
Boom, boom, boom!
As it spoke, the white flame suddenly expanded dramatically and turned into an enormous fireball spanning 100-meters-wide. Then, it went crashing madly toward Meng Lei!
[1] Literally ‘building wood’. A holy tree worshiped in ancient times and said to bridge the celestial and mortal realms in Chinese mythology
" }, { "id": 257, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-257", "title": "Chapter 257 - Salamander, Colossal Dragons Pulling Carriage", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 257: Salamander, Colossal Dragons Pulling Carriage
The white flame released an astonishing heat, with a temperature far higher than lava. The scorching heat could be felt from a great distance.
“Though this little fellow was just born, its combat strength is comparable to a mid-level half-deity. If it was allowed to spread its faith and collect the power of faith…” Dodola praised, “It can become a deity within 100 years! Though it’s a pity that there are no more excess sources of faith in the Heaven’s Vault Continent for it!”
“A monster indeed.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly, looking at the huge fireball crashing towards him, and uttered, “Absolute Zero!”
Whoosh!
A chilly golden current shot out to meet the hundred-meter huge fireball in an instant.
An amazing scene occurred—once the fireball touched the golden chilly air, it instantly sealed in ice.
Krak, krak, krak…
Shortly within a few breaths, the fireball was frozen into a huge ice ball, releasing chilly air into its surroundings. The large fireball rapidly shrunk into its original white flame.
The white flame darted all over the place as it crashed onto the ice ball madly, trying to break free.
How could Meng Lei allow that to happen?
The ice ball shrunk swiftly as well to just ten meters in size in an instant, forming a frozen prison trapping the white flame inside.
Bam, bam, bam!
“You baddie! Let me out!
“Baddie! You’re a villain!”
The white flame kept scolding furiously as it rammed the interior of the ice ball, but it was just helpless against the ice ball.
“A youth who knows no fear.” Meng Lei laughed softly and shook his head, tightening the shrunk ice ball even more. “I’ll only let you out whenever you give in.”
“Let’s go, Dodola!”
Meng Lei waved for Dodola and prepared to leave.
“Hey, baddie! Where are you going?”
The white flame was becoming anxious.
“I’m leaving here.”
Meng Lei did not look back.
“Don’t… Don’t go! It’s too cold down here!” The white flame panicked. “Let me out, and I’ll not attack you, at most, okay?”
“You sure you won’t attack again?” Meng Lei turned his head and smiled.
Now little thing, that’ll teach you a lesson!
“No… No, I won’t!”
“What if you attack again?”
“Baddie! I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll definitely not, I always keep my word!” the white flame replied angrily.
“Alright, that’s what you said!”
Meng Lei withdrew the icy prison with a wave of hands, but once the white flame was freed, it was poised to initiate another attack—it hated Meng Lei to the core!
“Hmm? Attacking me again? How did you manage to forget what you’ve said just now?” Meng Lei raised his eyebrows, and chilling currents flowed out of his fingertips.
The white flame stopped still in mid-air and hesitated for a moment before it snorted. “You baddie! I’ll keep my word, I said I wouldn’t attack you, and I mean it!”
“Now that’s more like it. I like kids who keep their words.” Meng Lei chuckled. “Oh right! What’s your name?”
“Name?” The white flame was stupefied. “What’s a name?”
“Name is a designation, or what we call you. Everyone has a name, I’m Meng Lei, and that’s Dodola.” Meng Lei smiled. “Don’t tell me you don’t have a name? How about I name you?”
“Sure! Okay!”
The white flame was excited.
“Since your entire body is milky-white like milk…” Meng Lei said in a proper tone, “How about Wahaha[1]?”
“Wahaha? That sounds quite nice!” The white flame was quite excited.
“Of course! Wahaha AD calcium milk is a treasure that can strengthen divine bodies!”
Meng Lei praised, “Back in my hometown, everyone loves to drink Wahaha because it represents power, the symbol of strength…”
“Wow! Wahaha is so awesome! Okay, I’m called Wahaha!”
The white flame was full of enthusiasm. “Hahaha, I have a name now! Wahaha… Tsk, tsk, such a mighty name!”
Meng Lei almost burst into laughter as he maintained a calm expression. “Wahaha, let’s reintroduce ourselves. I’m Meng Lei, nice to meet you.”
“Er… er…”
Wahaha paused before it turned into a little snake with a fiery red body. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Wahaha!”
“What the heck? It’s a Salamander!”
Upon the sight of Wahaha’s true form, Dodola was shocked. “No wonder it possessed the power of a half-deity. It’s a Salamander, after all!”
“Dodola, what’s a Salamander?” Meng Lei asked quickly.
“Salamander is a kind of extremely powerful fire elemental lifeform, and fire is their nutrient!” Dodola explained, “The higher the level of the fire, the mightier it becomes and the faster the Salamander’s combat strength increases. There are very few fire elemental lifeforms that are stronger than Salamanders!”
“Salamanders are actually that impressive?” Meng Lei was amazed as he could not help lighting up some Netherworld Divine Fire on his hand.
The Netherworld Divine Fire was the exclusive indestructible flame to the Divine Netherworld Phoenix, which could burn anything in everlasting flames. Any normal beings would stay away at the sight of it.
However, once Wahaha saw the Netherworld Divine Fire, its eyes lit up and stared as if it was a hungry wolf that saw a fat, delicious sheep.
“Wahaha, we’re friends now.” Meng Lei smiled slightly. “This is my first gift to you, my friend!”
As he spoke, Meng Lei snapped his fingers and flicked the Netherworld Divine Fire over.
“Wah!”
Wahaha opened its mouth fully and directly swallowed this bit of fire. After which, it burped out black smoke, its eyes filled with friendliness toward Meng Lei.
“Meng Lei, you’re such a nice guy. I was wrong about you just now, so I’m sorry!” Wahaha was a little embarrassed. “And well, I don’t have any welcome gift for you…”
“Haha, you’re just born into the world. It’s normal to have no gifts for me.” Meng Lei laughed and waved. “I’m leaving, talk to you later.”
“Where are you going?” Wahaha gave a puzzled look.
“Home!”
After leaving the Tower of Time, Meng Lei reappeared in the imperial palace and felt a terrifying divine power spreading around and enshrouding the entire Imperial City.
“Puhaman has succeeded?”
Meng Lei’s eyebrow was raised when he heard Puhaman’s laughter from the side palace.
“50,000 years! Hahaha, didn’t expect that I Puhaman could have such a day! You have my gratitude, Master!”
Whoosh!
Puhaman left the side palace with a flash and went straight in front of Meng Lei to pay his respect ceremoniously. He was just short of kissing Meng Lei’s smelly shoes.
“That’ll do already! What gives?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “Since you’re out, quickly get going with handling governing affairs!”
“Yes, Master!”
Puhaman did not question, as he went on with his business in the administration hall, while Meng Lei returned to his palace.
“Master!”
Upon seeing Meng Lei, Bubbles, Nadja, and Seisia bowed and greeted respectfully.
“Come! Eat with me!”
Meng Lei called the trio into the palace and chose a divine beast carcass to taste. Having eaten too much pork, it was time for a change in flavor.
In a while, the boiling soup in a pot gave off a tantalizing fragrance.
“That smells great!”
“Master, what meat is this?”
“The divine beast Tai RiTian[2]! This is a superior-grade dog meat hotpot. You’re welcome to eat more!”
“It’s our pleasure then!”
Time flew by as one month passed…
After a month of busy construction works, Mount Dragon God underwent earthshaking changes—the lush trees were gone, the flourishing weeds were gone, and the rugged mountain passes were gone.
What remained was a white jade mountain paved entirely with white jade crystals.
Indeed, the entire Mount Dragon God had been transformed into a jade mountain.
The surface was entirely paved with white jade crystals, forming every step on the stairs from the foot of the mountain to the top. On the mountain top stood a statue 100,000 feet tall. It was made of gold, making the appearance seem incredibly magnificent, holy, mighty—it was Meng Lei’s statue!
While in the five kilometers radius of Mount Dragon God, it was transformed into a large square.
At this very moment, the square was packed. Some were powerful figures from the Dragon God Empire, others were experts coming from the other three empires, and the rest of the continent.
This day was not just Meng Lei’s day of enthronement, but it was also the day of the great battle well known all over the continent. How could they miss it?
Other than those were nobles, followers, civilians nearby, and diplomats from each nation.
These numbers were far more than millions!
Everyone, each with different thoughts, eagerly awaited the opening ceremony.
…
Roar!
The sun rose gradually into the sky, and just as the crowd was starting to get impatient, an earth-shattering roar came from afar.
“Look over there!” someone shouted.
Everyone livened up as they shot their eyes over. They saw a huge black figure, like a battleship or an aircraft carrier, coming toward their side in roars of thunder.
It was getting closer!
Eventually, everyone could look at the black figure clearly, and they were shocked with their mouths wide open!
The so-called black figure was actually 10 prodigious Colossal Dragons. That’s right, 10 Colossal Dragons!
The Golden Colossal Dragon upfront was 20,000-feet-long with gold skin throughout its body, looking absolutely magnificent.
On the other hand, the Earth Dragon, Blue Dragon, Thunder Dragon, Black Dragon, Fire Dragon, Green Dragon, Tempest Colossal Dragon, Light Colossal Dragon, and Frost Colossal Dragon were 10,000-feet-long and extraordinary as well!
10,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon!
Actual half-deities Colossal Dragons!
The appearance of so many half-deities was absolutely sensational, but what was even more shocking was…
The ten half-deity Colossal Dragons’ necks were each tied up in huge chains connected to a large floating dragon carriage!
Judging from the scene, it was clear to the crowd that these half-deity Colossal Dragons were pulling the floating dragon carriage!
“Where did all these half-deity Colossal Dragons come from? Weren’t the half-deities of Dragon Island wiped out by His Majesty Meng Lei?” A Saint Domain expert felt uneasy.
“This… Who knows?” Others at the side shook their heads.
“How dare he use half-deity Colossal Dragons to pull a carriage? That is too much!”
Among the crowd, an elderly man in a black cape ground his teeth.
He was the only surviving half-deity dragon that had escaped from Meng Lei’s destruction of the Dragon Island—the Tempest Colossal Dragon.
The reason he had shown up here was that he wanted to witness how Meng Lei would meet his demise in front of him!
The tragic thing was he had not yet seen Meng Lei’s death, yet he saw this disgraceful scene.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s hatred was like an endless gushing river, like an overflowing river beyond control!
“And these bastards, they would really rather bring humiliation to the Dragons and commit such disgraceful acts! Our prestige was thrown away by these rascals!”
Others might not recognize these dragons, but the Tempest Colossal Dragon did—these were those Saint Domain Colossal Dragons from the Dragon Island!
The only question the Tempest Colossal Dragon had was how had these sinful creatures managed to break through to become half-deities!?
[1] Refers to the name of the Chinese firm Hangzhou Wahaha Group known for its milk products
[2] Means ‘teddy f*cks the sky’ in Chinese literally, referring to teddy bear dogs(poodles) reputation to hump everything including air
" }, { "id": 258, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-258", "title": "Chapter 258 - Awakening Zeal, Solemn Oath", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 258: Awakening Zeal, Solemn Oath
“Colossal Dragons!”
“Those are Colossal Dragons!”
“Such gigantic Colossal Dragons!”
“Oh Great God Meng Lei above! Where did all these Colossal Dragons come from? Didn’t the evil Dragons get decimated by the Great God Meng Lei?”
“Perhaps the Dragons rose from the ashes and came here to stir trouble?”
The sight of the ten Colossal Dragons in the sky caused a great stir among commoners and followers—they would never forget the sufferings they had under the Dragons’ reign.
“All half-deity Colossal Dragons!”
“Where did they come from?”
The Fairy Empire envoy, the Beast People Empire envoy, and the Titan Empire envoy were all puzzled. “Were the rumors false? Meng Lei did not annihilate the half-deities of Dragon Island?”
Just as the people were wondering, the ten Colossal Dragons halted and hovered over Mount Dragon God. Only then the crowd discovered—there weren’t just ten Colossal Dragons pulling the carriage; ten other figures were surrounding the carriage like guards.
It might not seem important to ordinary folks, but all Saint Domains, half-deities, and envoys immediately changed their expressions with thunderstorms rumbling in their hearts.
“Half-deities!”
“These were all half-deities!”
“Gosh! How can there be so many half-deities here? Just how?”
“1, 2, 3… 11 of them! 11 half-deities! Including those 10 half-deities Colossal Dragons, it would be 21 half-deities!”
“21!!”
“Unbelievable!”
The Fairy Empire envoy…
“Your Majesty, isn’t that Dark Fairy Empress Nagaros? Why would such evil heretic submit under Meng Lei?”
“I don’t know.”
The Fairy Empress raised her eyebrow slightly. The Dark Fairies were originally part of the Fairies, but they had lost their way in search of power. They had eventually degenerated into an evil race, breaking off completely from the Fairies, and they even became archnemesis.
The Fairy Empress was there to assist Meng Lei, yet she did not expect Meng Lei to collaborate with the Dark Fairies, which made her displeased.
“The Dark Fairies had always been lurking underground and lingered around. It will get trickier to deal with them now that they are under Meng Lei’s command!”
The Beast People Empire envoy…
“21 half-deities…”
A Beast Person among the envoy watched the 21 figures in the sky, squinting with a flickering gaze.
“How powerful is this guy that could subdue so many half-deities?”
“This is too scary. I just hope Horace would kill him. Or else there will be trouble!”
The Titan Empire envoy…
“Hmph! So what if there were 21 half-deities?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked coldly with his eyes full of jealousy. “To Lord Horace, they’re just a bunch of useless good-for-nothings that he could destroy with ease! Knave, you’ll only feel this triumphant now, you’ll know pain later!”
…
“Welcome, Master!”
Just as everyone was buzzing, the 11 escorts bowed respectfully to the dragon carriage, with their mighty voices in unison.
“Mmm.”
Bubbles hurriedly swiped open the curtain, and Meng Lei, in golden dragon robes and wearing a crown, walked out.
“It’s Great God Meng Lei!”
“It’s our Great God Meng Lei!”
“Great God Meng Lei!”
“Great God Meng Lei!”
“Great God Meng Lei!”
Upon Meng Lei’s sight, cheers erupted among the crowd as commoners and followers were in an uproar.
“That’s Meng Lei!”
The Saint Domains, half-deities, and each nations’ envoys shot their eyes on Meng Lei inexplicably.
For these past few years, Meng Lei had been the most infamous being in the Heaven’s Vault Continent.
16 years old!
Broke through to a half-deity!
Slain the Dragon God Empire’s Emperor, annihilated all half-deities of Dragon Island, eventually annexing the Dragon God Empire!
Single-handedly fought with 16 half-deities of the Titan Empire and left behind 16 corpses!
Mightily savage!
Surpassed every great from past and present!
Splendid battle record!
Unprecedented!
Who would relax at the sight of such a person?
Especially the Beast Emperor and the Fairy Emperor, who stared down Meng Lei with penetrating looks.
“Get down!”
Meng Lei swept a look across everyone and flew toward the peak of Mount Dragon God, Bubbles, and the 10 half-deities quickly followed.
These half-deities were: Puhaman, Thaniel, Bubbles, Nadja, Seisia, the Spider Goddess Rose, Dark Fairy Empress Nagaros, Giant Squid Mervyn, Alchemy Creature Pursuer, Swirling Snow Sword Saint Galen Bonaparte.
Other than Klaus, who was overseeing the Golden Archipelago, every half-deity Meng Lei had subdued was here; even the proud and defiant Spider Goddess was there without exception.
There was an altar built in front of Meng Lei’s 100,000-feet statue, and a golden throne was placed on top—that was Meng Lei’s exclusive throne.
Meng Lei sat on his throne and set his gaze upon the audience.
At the same time, everyone was looking at Meng Lei. Everyone would like to know what Meng Lei had to say at this holy moment.
With all eyes on him, Meng Lei spoke.
“A million years ago, an ordinary race was born. They were as weak as ants, living the life of savages… yet, they were ever unyielding and enterprising! Fending off beasts, overcoming extreme weathers, contesting with the sky, battling on the earth, procreating, and rising step by step to become the only master of Heaven’s Vault Continent eventually!
“This ordinary race was the humans!
“A million years ago, the Heaven’s Vault Continent was the homeland of the humans, the habitat where humans lived independently. Humans were the true masters of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“However, fortunes are as unpredictable as the weather!
“Extraterrestrial evil deities came!
“They brought along Fairies, Titans, Beast People, Dragons. These evil deities brought their minions to the Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“They took away our lands, enslaved our ancestors, used shackles and discrimination to chain us, used a class system to reduce us to slaves… We were heavily oppressed, exploited, abused!
“They were like bloodsucking leeches, sucking away like no tomorrow. They enslaved our souls and exploited our bodies for generations!
“Until a million years later today, we were still stuck on a poor lonely island in an ocean abundant with resources!
“Until a million years later today, we were still barely surviving in the corners of this vast Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“Until a million years later today, we were still being enslaved and exploited by Fairies, Beast People, Dragons!
“Without equal treatment by the law!
“Without equal treatment on cultivation!
“Without equal treatment with resources!
“We made up 70% of the entire population of the continent, yet we had less than 1% of resources available!
“We worked our socks off, created riches with our hard labor, yet we could never get the wealth we deserved!
“Those lofty Fairies, Dragons, Beast People, and Titans didn’t need to do anything, yet they could take everything from us naturally!
“Why?
“Why should we humans be enslaved forever?
“Why should we humans stay at the bottom of the continent forever?
“Why should Titans, Dragons, Beast People, and Fairies be allowed to trample all over us humans?”
Meng Lei’s voice thundered across the sky as it resounded on the horizon and resounded deep in the hearts of everyone at the scene. The eyes of humans were red, while the envoys of each empire were dumbfounded.
“What is the exact reason for all these unequal treatments?”
Meng Lei seemed to be talking to himself and answering his own questions. He continued. “I think all of you have the answer in your minds!
“You all must be thinking about weakness! Since we humans are weak!
“We don’t have the powerful strength of the Titans!
“We don’t have the terrifying dragon breath of the Colossal Dragons!
“We don’t have the supreme magic talent of the Fairies!
“We also don’t have the superior combat abilities of the Beast People!
“Therefore, we were enslaved!
“Therefore, we were oppressed!
“Therefore, we were exploited!
“But was that the whole truth? No! Definitely not!”
Meng Lei’s voice became high-pitched suddenly as if a mighty eagle opened up its wings. “Us humans were never any worse than those four races, even stronger than them!
“We have delicate minds that are far superior to the Titans!
“We have reproductivity that is far superior to Dragons!
“We have the grit that is far superior to Fairies!
“We also have our intelligence far superior to the Beast People!
“In my opinion, the reason we were enslaved was that we did not realize the power we possess, the fact that we have never actually stood up for ourselves!
“Humans are never weak!
“We have never lacked stunning geniuses!
“We have never lacked heroes who could battle heaven and earth!
“We have never lacked enterprising pioneers!
“Hence, as long as we can recognize the power we possess, we will surely rise!
“We will surely straighten up our spines!
“We will surely overthrow any mountains that try to enslave us!
“I believe that once we humans truly stand up, Dragons and Titans are nothing to worry about, Beast People and Fairies will become our slaves!
“I believe that once we can straighten our spines, we will become masters of the Heaven’s Vault Continent once more, reclaiming the homeland that rightfully belonged to us!
“I believe that once we humans get the same amount of education, the emergence of countless Saint Domains, half-deities, and experts will be inevitable!
“I believe…”
“Stand up!!”
“Stand up!!”
“Stand up!!”
Every human in the audience had bloodshot eyes as they swung their arms and roared with all their might in unison.
The thundering noises combined for a huge uproar that went straight to the horizon. Each envoy felt chills coursing down their spines, their expressions horrified.
They knew what Meng Lei wanted to do. It was not just a simple enthronement. He wanted to awaken the zeal within humans and ignite their fighting spirit!
The human race!
If humans were allowed to rise, what kind of future beheld? No one dared to imagine!
Meng Lei raised and pressed down his hand, and the uproar stopped as if it was practiced beforehand.
“Therefore, how we stand up is the question we humans need to address urgently. What I believe is that we should first set the right mindset!
“We, humans, were never slaves of any other race!
“We, humans, were never inferior to any other race!
“We, humans, were never servants for any other races!”
“He’s right!”
“We humans were never slaves!”
“We humans were never inferior to anyone!”
“What gives them the right to enslave us?”
“We will advance dauntlessly and battle the mountains that oppressed us till the very end!”
“We will take back control of our lives and take back our wealth!”
“We will return to the Titan Plateau, to the Fairies’ Forest, to the Far Northern Wastelands, back to where our ancestors used to live!”
“We will return to the top of Heaven’s Vault Continent. We will reclaim our dominance over the continent, we will take back everything that belonged to us!”
“Return to the top of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“Reclaim dominance over the continent!!”
“Take back whatever was ours!!”
The people were in a frenzy as they cheered wildly with all their might, sending thundering noises across the mountain.
" }, { "id": 259, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-259", "title": "Chapter 259 - The Empire Is Established, The Dragon God Descends", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 259: The Empire Is Established, The Dragon God Descends
“My dearest clansmen! From the moment I came to this world, I have had a dream. This dream has been motivating me all this time, making me fearless as I press forward!
“I dream of the day that we humans can stand with our backs straight, where we can break free of the other races’ oppression and be able to truly rule over this continent!
“I dream of the day that we humans can trample on the Colossal Dragons, rip the Titans into pieces with our hands, keep out the Beast People in the deserts, and confine the Fairies to the Goddess Lakeside!
“I dream of the day that the Titan Plateaus become our grazing pastures, the Dragon God Empire becomes our fertile fields, the Far Northern Wastelands become our mines, and the Fairy Forests become our hunting grounds!
“I dream of the day that human children can also have a chance to cultivate and openly step into the halls of Battle Aura and magic to become strong experts!
“I dream of the day where Beast People and Titans become our slaves, Colossal Dragons are served to us on the dining table, and Fairies dance for us!
“I dream of the day…”
Trample on the Colossal Dragons!
Rip the Titans into pieces!
Turn the Far Northern Wastelands into grazing pastures and the Fairy Forests into hunting grounds!
Serve Colossal Dragons on the dining table!
Have the Fairies dance for the humans!
His astounding speech resounded in the depths of every human’s heart. As they pictured what he had described in their minds, the blood in them began to boil passionately.
“There are rumors in the continent that claim that I’m the reincarnation of an evil deity. That’s how I managed to possess such terrifying strength at my age. But the truth?” Meng Lei scoffed. “I have only one word in response—ridiculous!
“I am pure human and am neither a deity that has descended upon the world nor the reincarnation of a Devil. The strength I possess today is purely the efforts of my cultivation!
“Now, some are definitely going to wonder—can weak humans possess such terrifying talent? The answer is—yes, of course! I’ve mentioned this before, but there has never been any lack of people with amazing talent among the humans!
“Timon Barton, the number one genius in Dragon God Empire history, started his cultivation journey at the age of 9, became an eighth-grade expert at 11, and broke through to Saint Domain at 14! His amazing talent is top-notch in the continent!
“Is Timon Barton a Dragon? No, he isn’t! He’s pure human!
“Augustine Kroc, the number two genius in Dragon God Empire history, began to cultivate at the age of 10, became a Ninth-Grade Warrior at 16, and broke through to Saint Domain at 26! He surpassed the ancients and dazzled contemporaries to become second in history!
“Is Augustine a Dragon? No, he isn’t! He’s also human!
“Do you see that, my fellow countrymen? Even in a horrendous environment like the Dragon God Empire, human geniuses can still firmly suppress the Dragons. Are the humans really that weak, then?
“No, no, not at all! We are strong! Very much so! We are far more excellent than what we imagine of ourselves. We have unimaginable potential and talent!
“Therefore, I promise you this—in regions under human rule, all humans under the age of 20 can undergo magic aptitude evaluation tests and receive Battle Aura manuals at no cost!
“I promise—in regions under human rule, I will build Battle Aura academies and magic academies and allow all children under the age of 16 to enroll into the academies at no cost. They shall have the chance to undergo compulsory education for a duration of six years!
“I promise—in regions under human rule, I will not levy taxes of any form, collect any agricultural tax to be paid in grain or other forms, or recruit soldiers in any way for the next ten years!
“I promise—in regions under human rule, every decent human in the registry will receive a plot of land measuring at least two square kilometers, such that everyone can have their own fields!
“I promise—in regions under human rule, humans will never be slaves. Everyone will be equal, and there will be no slaves and no nobles!
“I promise…”
“…”
His impassioned speech lashed forcefully against everyone’s hearts like a wakeup call, thoroughly igniting the humans’ blood and passion.
Blood instantly drained from the other races’ faces. In particular, the Fairy Empress and the other two monarchs’ countenances had changed drastically.
Those under 20-years-old would undergo magic aptitude evaluation tests and receive Battle Aura manuals at no cost.
Those under 16-years-old would have the chance to undergo compulsory education at no cost.
No taxes would be levied, no grain would be collected, and no soldiers would be recruited in human territory.
Everyone would receive plots of land measuring two square kilometers each! Everyone would be equal! And humans would never be slaves.
No one understood the meaning behind these governance measures better than the three monarchs.
Once Meng Lei put that into action, innumerable experts, innumerable geniuses, and innumerable military resources would emerge from among the humans.
In fact, every person in the country would be able to fight.
What was even more frightening was that once Meng Lei put that into action, would this sit well with the human slaves currently being enslaved and oppressed in the other three great empires?
No, they would rebel! They would run!
They would yearn for the Dragon God Empire and compete with one another to head to the Dragon God Empire.
When that happened, the three great empires would definitely be thrown into great upheavals.
“That guy… He’s practically a madman!”
The three monarchs’ eyes bore into Meng Lei as crashing waves churned in their hearts.
They had initially thought that Meng Lei was merely just ascending the throne. Even if he became emperor, all he would do was just continue the same Dragon God Empire traditions. At best… He might abolish the Four-Classes Stratification System! But never would they have ever imagined that…
Meng Lei’s ambition would be far beyond that. Not only was he going to be emperor, but he was also going to lead the humans in an emergence and even destroy the other three great empires’ foundations.
“Kill him! I have to kill that guy! If he lives, the Beast People Empire might even have to face the threat of destruction, let alone invade the south!”
Murderous intent filled the livid Beast Emperor’s eyes.
“Lord Horace, you must kill that renegade no matter what! If he is not vanquished, the Titan Empire will never see days of peace again! In fact, we might even end up like the Dragon God Empire!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor, who could sense a huge crisis impending, gnashed his teeth.
“What exactly is Her Holiness thinking? She actually wants us to protect someone like him?”
The Fairy Empress was rather unhappy with the Fairy Goddess’ holy decree. Even though the Fairies were peace-loving and close to nature, there was actually no lack of human slaves within their borders.
After a long passage of time, the Fairy Empire had actually also become just like the Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire and had formed an enormous and complex racial system in the empire.
Fairies, half-Fairies…
Dozens, even up to a hundred, human slaves could be found in the territory of even a half-Fairy noble of the lowest class. The human slaves tended their fields, planted crops, picked fruits, mined, and constructed bows and arrows for them…
One could say that the Fairies’ refined demeanor, elegance, tranquility, and beauty were all built on top of the human slaves’ hard labor. Without their laboring, how could the Fairies possibly afford their elegance?
It wasn’t as if Fairies were machines that neither ate nor drank—they also ate grains just like everyone else.
In any case, to sum it up, the Fairy Empire had just as many human slaves as the other empires.
Should things really go according to what Meng Lei had said,, the Fairy Empire would end up facing an unprecedented trial.
“Should I save him or not?”
The Fairy Empress was troubled. For the first time, she had developed doubts about the Fairy Goddess’ holy decree.
Meng Lei gazed at the sky. As he overlooked the mountains, the rivers, and the lands, he made an awe-inspiring and grand declaration.
“I declare… the official establishment of the very first empire in human history!”
“The empire is established! The humans shall rise!”
“The empire is established! The humans shall rise!”
“The empire is established! The humans shall rise!”
All the humans present broke into thunderous cheers and shouts, every one of their expressions stimulated and every one of their voices hoarse from shouting. Their eyes were red as their blood boiled with passion…
“The empire is established! The humans shall rise!”
Galen Bonaparte, the Swirling Snow Sword Saint, blinked his tears away as he waved his right arm and shouted along at the top of his lungs with the rest of the humans. The human sword saint, who had only just submitted to Meng Lei half a month ago, had been thoroughly won over by Meng Lei’s personal charm.
“The humans have finally risen up!”
An elegant and gentlemanly smile was still on Puhaman the Dead Souls half-deity’s lips, but the tears in his eyes had failed him and were rolling down his cheeks as he smiled.
He might be a Dead Souls half-deity, but he was nonetheless still a human. In this instant, he felt exceptionally proud!
“The humans’ emergence has been set, and their momentum is unstoppable. Any empire or race that dares stand in the way of the humans’ emergence shall all be thoroughly submerged by the waves of humans!”
Some of the half-deities sighed softly. They could totally imagine how news of everything that had taken place here would sweep through the Dragon God Empire, sweep through Heaven’s Vault Continent, and sweep through every nook and cranny of the existential plane like a tornado once the next day dawned.
When that happened, the humans’ zeal would awaken, and the enormous race that had been in hibernation for the last million years would erupt with an unprecedented force to sweep through the continent and subdue all other races.
“Of course! This is on the condition that Meng Lei must live! If he dies, all will be for naught! Thus, here comes the problem—can he successfully overcome his crisis today?”
Just as the people’s thoughts were in disarray and each harbored their own thoughts, a golden light pillar that pierced through the heavens and earth suddenly descended from high up in the sky.
It was as long as the sky and as high as the galaxy.
About 10,000-meters-thick, it was just like a pillar that connected the earth to the sky!
“This is…”
The sudden phenomenon caught everyone’s attention, and they raised their heads and looked over.
They saw a hole that had suddenly appeared in the sky right away. Then, a savage-looking head emerged from within, followed by a long body…
It was a 100,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon with golden scales all over and looked as if it were forged from gold.
Awe-inspiring and holy, powerful and fearsome, it overlooked the world!
Howl!
The 100,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon roared into the sky. Rolling sound waves exploded into the surroundings like a nuclear bomb, causing the void to splinter and break everywhere they went.
“Ahhh!”
Despite being a great distance away, everyone in the square nevertheless felt as if their heads were going to break apart from pain. Their minds were a total blank, and their ears rang from its roar.
“That… That’s…”
A half-deity exclaimed, “T-the Dragon God? Could it be the Dragon God that’s descended?”
“A body length of 100,000 feet! That’s no longer a body length that a half-deity Colossal Dragon can achieve! It’s definitely a true god-level Colossal Dragon!”
“The Dragon God! It must be the Dragon God!”
“The Dragon God is meting out divine punishment! The Dragon God is meting out divine punishment! We’re doomed! We’re doomed for sure!”
The human experts were filled with fear and horror. Even if they didn’t recognize the 100,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon, a mere glance was more than enough to let them know that the newcomer didn’t come bearing gifts.
“Hahaha! His Holiness the Dragon God! That’s the aura of His Holiness the Dragon God!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon among the crowd was delighted. He was so worked up that he couldn’t help but shake lightly all over.
“I knew it! His Holiness has never once abandoned us! I knew he would descend upon us sooner or later! Haha, he’s finally come today! I shall watch how you’re going to die today, you renegade!”
“Little did I think that I would see the Dragon God first instead of Horace! We’re gonna have a good show now!”
The three monarchs were astonished. They’d initially thought that the focus today would be Horace killing Meng Lei, but little did they think that the Dragon God would show up first.
“But this makes sense, too. The Dragon God Empire is the Dragon God’s one and only power of faith domain. Now that it’s lost its source of power of faith, its Dragon God name would be in vain if it didn’t seek revenge!”
" }, { "id": 260, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-260", "title": "Chapter 260 - Ripping The Dragon God Apart Alive, Freeing The Humans", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 260: Ripping The Dragon God Apart Alive, Freeing The Humans
“Isn’t the Dragon God unable to descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent, though? Why is its divinity projection that strong?”
“That’s no divinity projection, but the Dragon God descending in its true body instead. Can’t you feel the terrifying dragon might? That’s definitely its true Colossal Dragon body!”
“Descending in its true body? How did the Dragon God manage that?”
“Who knows?”
“In any case, Meng Lei’s in for it…”
Although the experts were puzzled over the Dragon God descending in its true body, they were gloating more over Meng Lei’s predicament. They were looking forward very much to the exciting show about to be put on.
“Foolish and lowly mortal!”
The Golden Colossal Dragon slowly descended, the divine power emanating from it becoming increasingly vaster and mightier. Its voice thundered and spread into the surroundings as it asked, “Do you own up to your sins?”
“My sins?”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled softly at the Dragon God’s question. “Your Holiness, I’ve done many things. Which are you referring to? Are you talking about me killing the Dragon God Empire emperor, slaughtering your Dragon descendants, or smashing your divinity projection into pieces with my hammer?”
“How dare you!”
The Dragon God roared, “You were originally a citizen of the Dragon God Empire and have received the Dragon God Empire’s kindness, yet you’ve killed the monarch, rebelled and showed disrespect for those above you, repaid kindness with enmity, and challenged this god’s authority. Weighed down with sins and perverse in behavior, you’re a heinous Devil that’s wicked beyond redemption!
“Today, I am going to subject you to a slow, torturous death where I’ll extract your tendons and break your bones, and let all the foolish mortals know just how terrifying a god’s wrath is!”
“How dare a mere big lizard with wings call itself a god?” Meng Lei sneered. “Where is Bubbles?”
“Here, Master!”
Bubbles stepped forward upon summon.
“The emergence of the humans is bound to be accompanied by endless bloodshed. Today just so happens to be the start of the humans’ emergence, so how can we avoid a bloodbath?”
A dispassionate Meng Lei ordered, “Go! Take down that big lizard, extract its Dragon tendons, break its wings, and gouge out its heart and organs.
“I shall eat its liver as my meal, drink its blood in place of wine, fashion its Dragon horn into a cup, and use its scales in a banquet to host my people and guests!”
“Master’s will… is my command!”
With a roar, Bubbles morphed into a stream of light that shot toward the Dragon God!
⊙0⊙
A dumbfounded look came over the people at the sight.
What? What was he doing?
Sending a subordinate to battle the Dragon God? Had Meng Lei’s brain been caught in between Sister Feng’s[1] a*s?
“To think you’ve actually sent your own subordinate to his death! Have you chickened out, you renegade? No matter, once that foolish Titan is dead, it’ll be your turn next!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s eyes were filled with murderous intent.
The Fairy Empress, the Beast Emperor, and the Thunder Titan Emperor’s brows were also tightly locked. What kind of existence was the Dragon God? What did Meng Lei mean by sending a subordinate to deal with it?
Did he think that by sending a subordinate, he would be able to suss out the Dragon God’s skills and thereby raise his chances of winning?
What immature behavior!
“Big lizard, you just had to choose this moment to show up, didn’t you? You’re just offering yourself up to be hammered by me! Since that’s the case, I won’t hold back!”
Bubbles’ finger joints popped loudly as he clenched his fists, appearing to be extremely excited. He hadn’t even had the chance to test his skills after assimilating a divine core recently, yet now the Dragon God had delivered himself right to his doorstep!
Wouldn’t he be a fool if he didn’t take up the offer?
“Die, you damned worm!”
The Dragon God was furious.
It was the great Dragon God! This particular body that it’d taken over might only be as strong as a true god, but how could Meng Lei send a subordinate to battle it?
This was practically an inconceivably huge insult to it!
“Get lost!”
The Dragon God let out a furious roar and reached out with its massive claw, which was bigger than even a mountain. It swiped right at Bubbles, intending to smash him into smithereens with one hit.
“Haha, nice one!”
Instead of retreating, Bubbles went forward and actually charged straight toward the Dragon claw smacking down at him, shocking all the spectators.
“You’re courting death!”
“Is that guy a fool?”
“Doesn’t he know that that’s the Dragon God…?”
However, what happened next flabbergasted everyone—not only did the enormous claw not smash Bubbles into bits, but Bubbles even punched a hole through it with his fist, causing it to bleed furiously.
Howl!
The Dragon God let out a cry of pain and instantly retracted its claw. It glowered at Bubbles with its huge eyes as it exclaimed, “You… can actually wound me?”
“Wound you? I’m even going to kill you!”
With a loud laugh, Bubbles then started to expand dramatically like an inflating balloon. In an instant, he had expanded into a 100,000-feet-tall giant. His enormous size wasn’t the least bit inferior to the Dragon God’s 100,000-feet-long Golden Colossal Dragon form.
The might of his divine power didn’t lose out to that of the Dragon God’s, which was also mixed with its own dragon might!
“…”
Everyone was stunned by the sight.
Be it a half-deity expert like the Tempest Colossal Dragon, the three monarchs—the Beast Emperor, the Thunder Titan Emperor, the Fairy Empress—or the other commoners, worshipers, or Saint Domain experts, everyone couldn’t be any more astounded.
“A Titan!”
“What a tall Titan!”
“Is he also a half-deity?”
“Oh my god! He’s a Titan of true god-level!”
“How did he become a true god?”
“Come over here, big worm! Daddy will show you a good time!”
Bubbles stretched out his larger-than-a-mountain hand with a sinister laugh and grabbed at the Dragon God.
The Dragon God roared furiously, raised its sharp and sinister-looking claw, and met Bubbles’ attack head-on.
Snap!
As though a meteor crashing into the moon, palm and claw clashed against each other. Amid earthshaking explosions, the void broke inch by inch and turned into a gigantic black hole.
Howl!
As a cry rang out, everyone watched to their horror as the mighty, awe-inspiring Dragon God was actually pushed back, stumbling as it did so. Blood gushed out of its claw and splattered into the sky!
“How can that be?”
Everyone was shocked and horrified. That was merely their first clash, yet the Dragon God had already suffered injuries. Was Bubbles, a half-deity, actually that strong?
“Again, again!”
Bubbles guffawed and pounced right at the Dragon God. His fists, which were larger than even mountains, rained down upon the Dragon God.
The Dragon God was continuously pushed back amid dull, muffled thuds. A few punches later, the Dragon God could actually no longer form any sort of effective counter.
It was being badly suppressed.
That’s right—Bubbles was completely suppressing it!
“Oh my god!”
“This, this…”
Everyone was so astonished that their eyeballs were nearly falling out of their sockets. The sight currently taking place in front of them was totally different from what they had imagined. The Dragon God was actually being suppressed?
How had things turned out like that?
The Thunder Titan Emperor was shocked and horrified. “Since when has that traitor Bubbles become so strong?”
He didn’t know whether or not the Dragon God had displayed its full strength at this point yet, but he was very clear on one thing—Bubbles had become even stronger than how he was two years ago.
Two years ago, Bubbles had only been slightly stronger than his father!
Yet two years later, he was actually 100,000-feet-tall and rivaled a true god on this day!
Two years! What exactly had he gone through during this period of time?
“Hahaha! Is that all you’ve got, big lizard?”
Bubbles became more and more valiant as the fight went on. Every punch he threw contained terrifying force. Every punch that landed on the Dragon God dizzied it and caused its blood and energy flow to churn.
The Dragon God was practically losing its mind. In order to seek revenge on Meng Lei, it had specially picked from its divine nation a true god-level Colossal Dragon that hadn’t yet passed 10,000 years from its point of deification.
Then, it had destroyed its divine spirit, seized its divine body, and taken it over in order to descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent.
To the Dragon God, its current prowess was enough to sweep across Heaven’s Vault Continent without obstacles. Be it Meng Lei or any other half-deities, no one should have been a match for it.
In fact, killing every one of these renegades and even driving the Fairies, Titans, and Beast People back to their dens and unifying Heaven’s Vault Continent like what he had done 50,000 years ago should have been no difficult task.
Yet cruel reality had given the Dragon God a loud, resounding slap across the cheek. Meng Lei hadn’t even lifted a finger but only casually deployed a subordinate, yet it was already being badly beaten up…
This was too goddamn unbearable!!
“How dare you challenge Master when this is all you’ve got? You overestimate yourself!”
After a series of explosive attacks, the Dragon God was unsurprisingly knocked out. Bubbles then brought the Dragon God, which was covered in wounds and barely alive, over to Meng Lei.
He said, “Master, I’ve brought this guy here!”
“Your Holiness!”
Meng Lei looked at the Dragon God and said, “Your time is already over. Wouldn’t it have been great had you just obediently stayed in your divine nation? Why must you intentionally get involved in a messy situation like this?”
“Why?”
Indignation filled the Dragon God’s eyes as it said, “How did your subordinate become a true god? He clearly doesn’t have any worshipers! Without power of faith nourishing him—”
“Do you want to know why? But why should I tell you?” Meng Lei waved dismissively. Then, he said, “Slay him, Bubbles!”
“Yes, Master!”
Thus, Bubbles took on the role of a butcher.
With a stroke from his stretched out hand, Dragon scales fell.
With a casual snap, Dragon horns were broken.
With a forceful pull, Dragon tendons were extracted.
“Aaahhhh!!”
At once, the Dragon God let out a heartrending scream, yet it couldn’t budge even an inch.
Bubbles’ physical strength was simply too fearsome. It was far, far beyond what he had imagined.
Just like that, as everyone present watched in dumbfounded silence, Bubbles killed the Dragon God as if he were killing a pig for Lunar New Year celebrations.
He stripped the Dragon God of its scales and ripped off its skin.
Then, he collected its blood and extracted its internal organs.
Lastly, he washed its liver and cleaned its entrails.
The poor Dragon God was a great true god, yet it had been slaughtered amid its own indignant, baleful, and furious screams. It could be said to be the deity that had suffered the most tragic death in Heaven’s Vault Continent’s history.
“The task has been successfully completed, Master!”
“Great!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. He split the Dragon God’s blood into a million portions with a big wave and sent them right up to everyone present.
“My thanks to everyone for joining us in today’s ceremony. I am immensely grateful. I can only offer you Dragon blood in place of wine to thank everyone for gracing me with your presence!
“Don’t worry, the divinity in the Dragon blood has been fully cleansed. You may drink it with no worries!”
Then, Meng Lei picked up a bowl of Dragon blood, threw back his head, and downed it all. Bubbles and the other ten half-deities also did the same.
Everyone gazed at the Dragon blood in front of them, all somewhat hesitant. However, immune delight surfaced in the half-deities and Saint Domain experts’ eyes, and they raised their heads and drank all the blood.
The Dragon God’s blood!
Just what kind of supreme treasure was that?
They couldn’t have a sip of it even in their dreams usually! Now that it was sitting right before them, they would be fools if they didn’t drink it!
After a few moments of hesitation, the commoners and worshipers also raised their heads and drank it all down.
Meng Lei wasn’t the least bit worried that their bodies would explode and lead to their deaths. Although the Dragon God’s blood contained a vast amount of energy, there was too little in each portion after splitting it into a million portions. Therefore, it was within an ordinary person’s capacity.
“Damn! He’s killed even the Dragon God!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon hidden in the crowd gazed at the Dragon blood in front of him, his heart quivering.
He had initially thought that with the Dragon God’s descent, the Dragon God would definitely be able to unleash its power and kill Meng Lei. Yet the reality of the matter was…
“I hereby declare—from today onward, the Dragon God Empire shall officially change its name to the Meng Lei Empire, and I shall officially become the Meng Lei Empire’s founding emperor!”
Meng Lei’s voice thundered as he declared, “My first order as the emperor is as follows—free every human who’s still being exploited, enslaved, and abused! The range—all the humans on the continent!”
“How presumptuous!”
[1] Refers to Luo Yufeng, a Chinese Internet celebrity ridiculed for her unappealing looks and strange antics
" }, { "id": 261, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-261", "title": "Chapter 261 - Unifying The Continent, The Legendary Titan", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 261: Unifying The Continent, The Legendary Titan
The moment the order left his mouth, everyone’s expressions changed.
Freeing all the humans on the continent… This was tantamount to declaring war on the other three great empires in a roundabout way.
It was common knowledge that the four major empires were where human populations were the biggest. Meng Lei’s desire to free the human slaves was no different from interfering with the three major empires’ internal affairs.
How would the three empires possibly agree to that?
It went without saying what their responses were.
The Thunder Titan Emperor, the Beast Emperor, and the Fairy Empress’ countenances turned incredibly awful-looking. While they had been furious at Meng Lei’s impassioned speech earlier, they couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it and had adopted a disinterested attitude at things that didn’t concern them.
It was none of their business, no matter what kind of trouble Meng Lei wanted to make in the Dragon God Empire.
Yet he was actually clamoring about freeing the human slaves in their borders now. This move would completely uproot and destroy their empires!
“Envoys of the three major empires, please communicate my decision to your respective monarchs upon return!”
Meng Lei turned to the envoys and added, “I want results within a month!”
“Your Majesty!”
A valiant, heroic, and beautiful Fairy with a sword fastened at her waist spoke up at this point—it was Regimental Commander Azshara from the Fairy Empire. She gazed straight at Meng Lei and said, “The decision as to whether human slavery would be abolished or not is part of the Fairy Empire’s internal affairs. Your Majesty has no right to interfere!”
“I have no interest in the Fairy Empire’s internal affairs. The only thing I’m concerned about is the human race!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “The Meng Lei Empire is founded on the basis of the people, and our foundation is the humans themselves. Any matter that concerns the humans, concerns the Meng Lei Empire!”
“Your Majesty, forgive my impudence,” Azshara said coldly, “But the human population in Heaven’s Vault Continent is far vaster than just mere billions. You can only speak on behalf of the humans of the Meng Lei Empire, but you cannot represent the voices of all the humans on Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback. Seemingly rendered speechless by Azshara, he nodded slowly only after a brief moment. Then, he said, “Your words make sense. Indeed, I am only able to speak on behalf of the Meng Lei Empire’s humans and cannot represent the humans living in other places.”
At his words, the envoys from the three empires breathed a small sigh of relief. However, what Meng Lei said after that instead unexpectedly made them jump from their seats.
“If I integrate the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent into the Meng Lei Empire’s territory, would I then be able to represent the entire human race?”
“How brilliant, Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty is right!”
Bubbles, Puhaman, and the others immediately sang his praises—after all, they couldn’t wait to unify the continent.
“Be careful what you say, Your Majesty! Calamity comes through the mouth!”
His words caused Regimental Commander Azshara’s countenance to change drastically. She said icily, “Your Majesty, you’re currently representing the Meng Lei Empire as you speak. Every word you utter represents the whole empire’s will rather than your own. I hope Your Majesty can refrain from babbling nonsense. Otherwise, I will interpret what you’ve just said as a declaration of war on the whole continent—including on the other three major empires!”
“A declaration of war on the whole continent?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. He said, “Your words have reminded me that the humans were the masters of the continent right from the start, though. If humans are to take back everything that once belonged to us, so what even if we must declare war on the whole continent?”
“Your Majesty…”
Azshara’s expression turned icy-cold.
“This is my second order—the Fairy Empire, the Titan Empire, and the Beast People Empire are to submit to the Meng Lei Empire at once!”
Meng Lei’s voice was cold and aloof as he declared, “Otherwise, everywhere the Meng Lei Empire’s troops go, the country shall fall and the people perish!”
“You’re going too far!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor, the Fairy Empress, and the Beast Emperor flew into a thundering rage upon hearing his order. They hadn’t expected Meng Lei to actually be this arrogant and presumptuous.
By immediately ordering them to submit after the empire’s founding, he clearly didn’t think much of the three major empires. This was simply too much of him!
“Your Majesty!”
Azshara said coldly, “You’re too arrogan—”
“Hmph!”
Meng Lei let out a cold snort, following which a fearsome force then pressed down upon Azshara. She was flattened to the ground at once, as though thunderstruck.
“If you weren’t the Fairy Empire envoy, you’d be a dead woman by now.”
A dispassionate Meng Lei said, “Return and tell the Fairy Empress this—withdraw from the Fairy Forest with the Fairies and get the hell back to the Goddess Lakeside. Otherwise, I don’t mind having the Fairies follow in the footsteps of the Dragons and become a thing of the past.”
“You bastard!”
Azshara was both furious and embarrassed. Yet, no matter how hard she struggled, she simply couldn’t resist the force. She could only lay flat on the ground helplessly, tormented by shame and humiliation.
“The same goes for the Titan Empire and the Beast People Empire.”
Meng Lei turned to the Titan Empire and Beast People Empire envoys. “I’ve already said what I should have. It’s your call whether or not you want to obey it. The war starts a month later!”
With Azshara serving as a lesson to them, even though the two empires’ envoys were infuriated and extremely spiteful, they could only grin and bear with it.
“That damned Horace! Why isn’t he here yet?” The Thunder Titan Emperor was gnashing his teeth in a fury. “What exactly is that bastard doing?”
As though the heavens had heard the Thunder Titan Emperor’s curses, a shrill whiz suddenly traveled over from the sky a great distance away.
“What’s going on?”
Everyone turned and looked over to see a black dot shooting toward them at lightning-quick speed.
“That’s…”
A huge shudder went through the Thunder Titan Emperor.
The Beast Emperor, the Fairy Empress, as well as all the Saint Domain experts and half-deities also shuddered all over.
He’s here! He’s finally here! He’s made us wait for too long!
“Master, it’s probably Horace!”
Bubbles, Puhaman, Nadja, and the others all came forward and formed a protective barrier around Meng Lei. All of them wore grave looks on their faces.
“No need to be nervous!”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the three empires’ envoys with a slight smile on his face as he scoffed. “Those guys—especially the Titan Empire—are all treating Horace as a straw to clutch at, hoping that he can kill me and save them from their crises.
“Little do they know that the more they get their hopes up, the further they’ll fall. With Horace cooperating with me as a supporting role in this show, the resistance I’ll face in my quest to conquer the three great empires and unify Heaven’s Vault Continent shall be greatly reduced!”
“How wise, Master!”
He’s near!
He’s near!
As the black dot approached, the booming whizzing sounds also became shriller, louder, and increasingly sonorous!
Gradually, the people could see clearer and clearer that a small and skinny figure riding on a greatsword was racing toward them.
He wore a black cloak and had a small, short, and skinny physique, which was completely unlike the usual tall, burly physique of most Titans. Neither was his body strongly-built.
In spite of that, no one dared to underestimate him. It wasn’t just because he was Horace, but because his high speed alone could already leave innumerable people in the dust.
Whoosh!
Horace came to an abrupt stop upon reaching the summit of Mount Dragon God.
“So, that’s Horace?”
“The one hailed as the most outstanding Titan after breaking through to Saint Domain at 57-years-old and breaking through the void and leaving Heaven’s Vault Continent 30,000 years ago?”
“That’s a historical figure!”
“That’s an old antique from 30,000 years ago…”
Everyone whispered among themselves as they watched Horace standing proudly in the sky. In their eyes were curiosity, anticipation, excitement, as well as unease…
Everyone was feeling a complex mix of emotions.
At this point, Horace opened his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping across everyone present. For a moment there, the people felt a wave of pain that felt like jabbing needles coming from their eyes, and they couldn’t help but shut their eyes in pain.
“Such weak and frail mortals!” Horace scoffed before he asked calmly, “Where’s Meng Lei, the young one?”
“Be careful, Master!” Bubbles hastily warned. “I can’t tell how strong that guy is at all. You have to take absolute care!”
Puhaman also had a grave look on his face as he said, “That’s right, Master. That guy is completely on a different level from the Dragon God just now. You have to take absolute caution!”
“Don’t worry! I know what I’m doing.”
Meng Lei waved them off. Then, he rose slowly into the air and went up to Horace.
“So, you’re Meng Lei?”
Horace looked over, his sharp, knife-like eyes gazing upon Meng Lei.
“The man himself,” replied Meng Lei calmly.
“Little did I think that Heaven’s Vault Continent would birth someone like you 30,000 years later. Truly impressive!”
There was a hint of approving admiration on Horace’s countenance. Then, he said, “But you shouldn’t have challenged the great Titan Spiritual God’s authority. His wrath is not something you can withstand!”
“Talents emerge from every generation in this world, and each of them excels in their own domain for years to come!”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers as he remarked, “Didn’t the Titan Spiritual God also challenge the Fairy Goddess’ authority back when she was ruling Heaven’s Vault Continent?
“Don’t forget that the Fairy Goddess was already a higher deity back then, yet the Titan Spiritual God had dared to challenge even her. On the other hand, I’m just challenging an intermediate deity’s authority. Compared to him, it seems like I’m far more inferior.”
“You sure know quite a lot. But it isn’t necessarily a positive thing to be so knowledgeable. Sometimes, it easily misleads one into making an incorrect judgment, causing one to throw away their lives for nothing.”
Horace said dispassionately, “Go on and attack. On account of your junior status, I’ll allow you to make the first move, lest people accuse me of bullying someone younger.”
“How presumptuous!”
“That guy’s too arrogant!”
“I’ll see whether he still dares to behave so arrogantly when Master beats him up so badly that he’s all but begging for mercy later. Goddamnit, he’s as haughty as a pea-brain. The sight of him pisses me off!”
Bubbles, Puhaman, and the others secretly broke into angry rants. They were extremely displeased with Horace’s tone and choice of words that seemingly placed Meng Lei at a lower position than him for nothing.
The others didn’t find anything wrong with that, though.
Horace was a legendary Titan from 30,000 years ago, as well as a peerless monster that had become a half-deity at 57-years-old. Now that he had returned 30,000 years later, just how strong must he have become?
So what even if he were a little wild and arrogant?
Compared to him, Meng Lei indeed was just a junior.
“What is Horace spouting so much superfluous crap for? Hurry and just cleave him apart with a knife!” The Thunder Titan Emperor was rather impatient by now.
“Allowing me to make the first move?”
Meng Lei’s lip corners quirked upward slightly as he remarked, “During the first time I stepped onto Dragon Island, that’s exactly what those arrogant and conceited Colossal Dragon half-deities had said. In the end, only one of them managed to get away.”
“Is that so?”
Horace raised an eyebrow.
“During the second time I went up the Titan Spiritual Peak and battled the Titan Empire’s temple half-deities, that’s also what those burly Titans had said.”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled, somewhat noncommittal to the statement. He said, “Among them were even existences older than you, but their outcomes were instead exceptionally tragic.”
“Are you comparing them to me?”
Horace shook his head and laughed. “Be it the Dragon half-deities or the temple half-deities, they are actually all the same as you—all of you are just frogs living in the tiny little well known as Heaven’s Vault Continent.
“Trapped in Heaven’s Vault Continent, all of you see the sky only from the bottom of the well and foolishly think highly of yourselves. How would you know just how big the world outside is when all you can do is only run about in this existential plane?”
“Oh?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Little fellow, the world outside is a vast one. Don’t be mistaken that you can do whatever you want just because you’ve made a small achievement or two in this existential plane.”
Horace said dispassionately, “I’ll give you one last chance and allow you to make the first move. Otherwise, I’m afraid you won’t even have the chance to attack.”
“Just as well, then. Since that’s the case, then it would only be rude of me to decline any further!”
Whoosh!
" }, { "id": 262, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-262", "title": "Chapter 262 - Breaking The Hammer, Sending Meng Lei Flying", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 262: Breaking The Hammer, Sending Meng Lei Flying
In a faraway divine nation, the Titan Spiritual God sat on his throne with a crystal ball floating before him. Displayed within was the event currently taking place at Mount Dragon God’s summit.
“Lowly mortal, you shall pay a heavy price for your foolishness and ignorance!”
Murderous intent filled the Titan Spiritual God’s eyes. It had been eons since he had last been this furious. The last time he was angry had been 50,000 years ago when the Dragon God emerged.
During that time, the Dragon God had led the Colossal Dragons to rise up and drove the Titans to the Titan Ranges, causing him to lose great numbers of worshipers.
The Titan Spiritual God had been incredibly furious over this, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was to watch helplessly as the Dragon God unified the continent, gathered vast amounts of power of faith, and deified.
But the Titan Spiritual God would not be staying silent this time—because he had become a wealthy tycoon after receiving priority grooming from the Theodore clan of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm 20,000 years ago.
He had 108 material planes under his control and had innumerable worshipers and an abundance of resources now. He had even groomed quite a few true gods.
So, why should he take it lying down?
“After Horace kills that mortal, he can then also destroy the Beast People and the Fairies along the way and unify Heaven’s Vault Continent. That continent shall once again become my power of faith domain!”
…
Elsewhere, in another remote and hidden divine nation, a muscular man with horns on his head and a stern, dignified countenance was also watching the happenings in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
His countenance was sinister, and his eyes were spitting fire as though someone had owed him a few million dollars.
He was the deity whom the Dragon God Empire had worshiped—the Dragon God!
“That damned knave! And how lucky of Horace!”
The Dragon God was in an awful mood. He watched the two figures standing proudly at the Mount Dragon God summit with not even a trace of positive feelings on his face at all.
Meng Lei versus Horace!
No matter who the final victory went to, it was of no relevance to the Dragon God at all. Regardless, he would still end up losing his power of faith domain known as the Dragon God Empire.
That was his one and only power of faith domain!
“That damned mortal! I have to kill him! I have to!”
The Dragon God was livid.
If he could, he would rip Meng Lei into a million pieces. Wiping out the Dragon Island half-deities and overthrowing the Dragon People nobles had thoroughly ruined him at the roots.
It had caused his hopes of recapturing the Dragon God Empire to become incredibly distant and remote. It was no longer possible for him to take back the Dragon God Empire as a power of faith domain.
This was especially true when he had been slaughtered alive by Meng Lei in front of so many people just now. It was practically the greatest humiliation ever. He had been thoroughly embarrassed and more!
“I have to kill him! No matter what, I have to kill him!” The Dragon God gnashed his teeth in a fury. “Better yet if neither side wins and all of them die!”
The Dragon God’s current frame of mind had even become rather warped. He hated Meng Lei because Meng Lei had seized his power of faith domain and caused him to thoroughly embarrass himself.
He was also jealous of the Titan Spiritual God. By what virtue did that all brawn and no brains fool deserve to receive a Divine Realm force’s grooming for no reason whatsoever?
He hated them!
He was jealous of them!
Yet all he could do was just watch on helplessly!
…
On Mount Dragon God…
Be it the people of the Meng Lei Empire, Meng Lei’s worshipers, the three major empires’ envoys, or the experts from each clan, everyone was watching the two figures in the sky with rapt attention.
Such nervousness!
Such anticipation!
Everyone knew this very well—this battle would determine the newly-founded empire’s future, decide the humans’ fate, and even the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent’s fate!
Should Meng Lei win, the humans would fully rise up and sweep through the entire continent with unstoppable momentum. It was highly likely that Heaven’s Vault Continent would be unified once more.
Should Meng Lei lose, the newly-founded Meng Lei Empire would be split up, taken over, and ripped into pieces by other parties. The humans would also be thrown back into their original plight and forced back into slavery.
Therefore, this battle was of critical importance.
“Go for it, Your Majesty!”
“Great God Meng Lei, you are unbeatable! You’ll definitely beat the demons!”
“Die! Meng Lei must die! Only when he’s dead…”
Some prayed silently, some cursed him viciously, and some gloated over the situation.
During this moment, where everyone’s thoughts differed from one another, Meng Lei made the first move.
“Since that’s the case, then it would only be rude of me to decline any further!”
Whoosh!
At once, Meng Lei vanished on the spot.
He bizarrely appeared right behind Horace the next instant. At the same time, the Hammer of Destruction also appeared in his hand, and he swung it ruthlessly toward Horace’s head.
“Little fellow, teleportation might be a good skill, but it’s useless against me!”
Horace reached out. He easily caught the Hammer of Destruction in his hand with a light grab. Then, with a forceful grip, a crack rang out, and the Hammer of Destruction was actually crushed into smithereens!
Boom!
Then, Horace’s other hand clenched tightly into a fist and soundlessly appeared at Meng Lei’s abdomen. Like a launched cannon, Meng Lei was instantly sent flying.
“Master!”
Bubbles and the others’ countenances changed drastically at the sight of that.
“Hahaha! Great! As expected of Horace, the legendary Titan! Well done! Well done!”
The Thunder Titan Emperor couldn’t help but be thrilled at the sight. In this instant, all his previous worry and nervousness had turned into excitement.
Crushing the Hammer of Destruction with just a grab!
Sending Meng Lei flying with just a punch!
He had made two moves in a single instant and was fully suppressing Meng Lei in every aspect, exhibiting overwhelming power. The two weren’t on the same level at all.
Doomed! Meng Lei was doomed for sure!
“Your Majesty, that arrogant fellow isn’t Horace’s match. It’s highly likely that he’ll die at Horace’s hands. What should we do?”
Azshara, the valiant Fairy regimental commander, leaned over to the Fairy Empress and asked softly, “Do we save him?”
The Fairy Empress didn’t respond because she was currently very troubled, too.
Save him?
Based on what Meng Lei had said just now, saving him would be akin to saving a powerful enemy of the Fairy Empire. It was highly likely that he would declare a war potentially capable of wiping out the Fairy Empire on the Fairy Empire someday.
But if they didn’t save him, how were they supposed to answer to Her Holiness the Fairy Goddess, then?
“Let’s watch for a little longer!”
The Fairy Empress sighed. She didn’t have any better options at the moment, either.
“How are you, Master?” asked Bubbles and the others worriedly as they surrounded Meng Lei.
“I’m fine!”
Meng Lei waved slightly. Then, he turned to Horace and said, “Looks like I’ve underestimated you. You’re stronger than what I had imagined.”
“And you’re weaker than what I had imagined. I’m rather disappointed. Looks like the so-called number one of Heaven’s Vault Continent is nothing more than this!”
Horace shook his head lightly as he remarked, “I guess that’s true. You’re ultimately a hothouse flower, after all. How can you possibly match up to the geniuses and monsters of the outside world?”
“I’m actually being looked down upon…”
Meng Lei tossed away the hammer in his hand and said, “If I still don’t show some prowess after this, I’m probably going to be mocked by you, a senior who’s seen the world, again!”
Meng Lei twisted his neck from side to side as he spoke. The aura around him also changed in this instant and became cold, distant, bloodthirsty, and razor-sharp.
“Eh?”
Horace’s sharp senses captured the change in Meng Lei’s demeanor, and it mildly surprised him.
Whoosh!
An afterimage flashed by, and Meng Lei appeared in front of Horace once more. His fists shot toward him like lightning, instantly smashing toward Horace’s face.
“It’s useless!”
Horace shook his head slightly, casually reaching out a finger to meet Meng Lei’s attack.
“Your reaction is too slow this time, Horace!”
Meng Lei abruptly appeared behind Horace, his fist going along with the momentum and striking the back of Horace’s head.
Horace stumbled forward and almost fell flat on his face.
“How’s that fist of mine feeling, Elder Horace, who’s seen the vast world out there?” asked Meng Lei as the corners of his lips quirked upward into a hint of a smile.
“Two-step teleportation? Certainly a clever little move there!”
Horace stabilized himself, and his eyes narrowed as he swept his gaze toward Meng Lei. “But you’re still too weak. You can’t hurt me at all!”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei let out a soft chuckle as eight arms suddenly extended from his body. Added to this the two arms he already had, which made a total of ten arms on him.
“If I can’t hurt you with one punch, then how about ten?”
One-step teleportation!
Two-step teleportation!
Three-step teleportation!
Horace’s reaction time was undoubtedly incredible, but it was ultimately still half a beat too slow when faced with three-step teleportation—and this was Meng Lei’s opportunity.
He threw a punch out!
Bam, bam, bam!
At that instant, Meng Lei brought out to the fullest the Wing Chun[1] Chain Thrusting Fist that he had been practicing for many years.
Amid a series of continuous audible clashes, all ten of Meng Lei’s fists turned into mirage-like images that rained down upon Horace in one go.
o((⊙_⊙))o
Everyone was completely stunned by the sight. Was that even viable?
“Damn it!”
Only after suffering 100,000 punches did Horace finally regain his senses, and he hastily retreated with a burst of speed.
At this point, he was already sporting bruises on the face and bleeding from the nose. Evidently, he had been beaten up pretty badly.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp at the sight.
“What high endurance and toughness! To think he’s actually alright even after taking so many punches from me!”
He had already unleashed his humanoid form’s full strength just now and threw 100,000 punches in one go, yet Horace had only suffered a few superficial wounds.
Just how tough and durable was he?
“You cunning little fellow! You’ve enraged me!”
Horace wiped the blood off his nose, fire spitting from his eyes. He was a senior who had adventured in the outside world for many years and weathered through many great storms, yet he had been beaten up to such a state by a junior. How was he supposed to face the world?
“I’m going to rip you into a million pieces!”
Horace roared furiously as his body expanded with a big and sudden force.
Boom, boom, boom!
For a moment there, his body rapidly expanded as though he were an inflating balloon. In an instant, he had become a giant as tall as 1,000 feet.
Boom!
Vast, majestic, and fearsome divine power overflowed from him and spread into the surroundings.
“Ahhh!”
His 1,000-feet-tall divine body couldn’t compare to the 100,000-feet-long Dragon God and the 100,000-feet-tall Bubbles from earlier at all, yet the surging divine power emanating from him was able to flatten all the commoners and worshipers at the foot of the mountain onto the ground, rendering them completely immobile.
Beads of perspiration formed on the Saint Domain experts’ and half-deities’ foreheads. Even breathing had become a difficult task for them now.
An incredibly shocked and horrified half-deity said, “What terrifying divine power! This has completely surpassed a half-deity’s level. It’s much stronger than the Dragon God’s just now!”
“Die, kid!”
Horace raised his huge foot and stomped down mercilessly on Meng Lei. By right, now that his body had expanded, his speed should also have been greatly reduced.
However, the strange thing was that Horace’s speed had instead become even faster. His foot completely stomped onto Meng Lei before also ruthlessly stomping down onto Mount Dragon God’s summit.
“How dare you step on me! In that case, I won’t show you any civility anymore!”
Meng Lei let out an icy laugh and brought out the Gods-Slaying Spear with a flip of his wrist. He thrust it up forcefully as he barked, “Block!”
As of this moment, Meng Lei still didn’t know what grade of divine weapon the Gods-Slaying Spear was, but its sharpness continued to blow his mind.
Splurt!
The Gods-Slaying Spear easily pierced Horace’s sole, jabbing a bloody hole into his foot. Horace cried out and hurriedly retracted his foot.
“What a great treasure!”
Meng Lei rose into the sky. He gazed at Horace and commented, “You don’t seem like much, either, Horace.”
“What kind of divine weapon is that, kid?”
Horace’s eyes bore into the Gods-Slaying Spear.
“Aren’t you very knowledgeable? Why don’t you try identifying it, then?” Meng Lei flung off the golden divine blood on the Gods-Slaying Spear’s tip and gave him a leisurely smile.
“Ridiculous! Just how many divine weapons are out there in the world? How can I possibly know every single one?” Horace retorted with a cold snort.
Graveness and reservations filled his eyes as he gazed at the Gods-Slaying Spear.
Although he was only a true god of Perfection-level, he’d already awakened his Titan God bloodline, so his divine body was on par with a lesser deity’s.
Even so, the Gods-Slaying Spear had nevertheless still instantly pierced through his flesh.
This sufficiently proved that the divine spear was at least a mid-tier divine weapon, perhaps even higher.
“It’s alright if you don’t recognize the Gods-Slaying Spear, but there’s one divine weapon that you’ll definitely recognize!”
A strange and peculiar smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face. Then, a blood-red scythe appeared in his hand.
“T-the Grim Reaper Scythe!!”
[1] A traditional Southern Chinese Kung fu style and a form of self-defense
" }, { "id": 263, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-263", "title": "Chapter 263 - Took Turns Beating Up, Life'S Too Difficult For Him", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 263: Took Turns Beating Up, Life’s Too Difficult For Him
“T-the Grim Reaper Scythe!”
“This is… the Grim Reaper Scythe!!”
In its divine kingdom, the Titan Spiritual God gazed as the scythe appeared abruptly. His countenance changed instantly. “How did this knave get the Grim Reaper Scythe!?”
The Grim Reaper Scythe was no ordinary divine weapon. It was what the Grim Reaper used to reap and sacrifice souls. It was evil, terrifying, bloodthirsty, powerful…
Every scythe was at least a higher-tier divine weapon. A higher-tier divine weapon, the kind that even a wealthy intermediate deity like Titan Spiritual God was envious of!
The key point was that the Grim Reaper Scythe was the Grim Reaper’s companion divine weapon. Where did that Grim Reaper Scythe come from? Perhaps he was part of the Death Gods?
…
“The Grim Reaper Scythe! Why do you have this evil weapon?”
Horace’s countenance changed as his eyes fixated on the scythe were filled with dread.
That was a higher-tier divine weapon that could kill him by slicing him up like cutting cabbages, his divine body could not take it.
“The Grim Reaper Scythe is the companion divine weapon of the Grim Reaper.” Meng Lei licked his lips and lied casually, “So where do you think I got it from?”
“This means you’re…”
Horace’s expression changed greatly.
“You’ve guessed right! Now let me reward you with a slice!” Meng Lei said as he teleported in front of him.
Splurt!
The Grim Reaper Scythe chopped down and sliced Horace’s body like a kitchen knife on bean curd, easily slicing open a two-meter wound.
A sharp pain coursed through his body as Horace looked at his bleeding abdomen and gasped. “I’d expect no less from the Grim Reaper Scythe, so sharp!”
“Of course it’s sharp! I killed a true god-level Ram-Lion Demon Lord forcibly two years ago with this!” Meng Lei laughed faintly. “And you’ll be the first God I chop dead!”
“Chop me dead?” Horace’s eyelid twitched a few times. He said with a cold voice, “Then we’ll see whether you are capable of it, Divine Kingdom Suppression!”
Buzz…
A huge hologram of a golden divine kingdom appeared above Meng Lei’s head, and massive amounts of divine kingdom power shrouded Meng Lei within.
Buzz…
At this moment, Meng Lei felt like he was stuck in a mud pit—pressure came from everywhere as it squeezed against his body, as if hundreds of millions of tons of weight were on him, while he could barely move.
“Oh little kid, why are true gods different from half-deities? It’s because of our divine kingdoms!”
Horace sneered. “The divine kingdom is the most powerful trump card of true gods. True gods are the most powerful in their divine kingdoms. Even if they are away from it, they could use the power of divine kingdoms to suppress their enemies!”
“The power of divine kingdom…”
Meng Lei looked at the golden power of the divine kingdom above him inexplicably.
“Little kid, you’re indeed really incredible, with unbelievable luck. Still, if you did not become a true god, how would you know our true terrifying power?”
Horace snapped. “Let me tell you something, do not underestimate any true god!”
With that said, Horace threw a punch toward Meng Lei—this time with full force!
Meng Lei was a threat to his life, and he did not dare to relax anymore!
Horace believed that with his lesser deity level of the divine body, his punch with full power would definitely break Meng Lei apart, killing him on the scene.
However, just as it was about to hit Meng Lei, Meng Lei exploded into countless micro-electrical currents that flew around in the air.
Horace’s body stumbled a little as he hit nothing, while the micro-electrical currents combined instantly and transformed back into Meng Lei.
Meng Lei wielded his Grim Reaper Scythe. Horace’s right arm shot into the sky with a splurt as it split from the body.
“What?”
Upon seeing this sudden change, the spectators were shocked!
At the moment before, Meng Lei was suppressed by the divine kingdom and could not move at all. Horace had that much advantage just now!
Yet, at the very next moment, how did this happen?
He did not just miss Meng Lei, but he actually got his right arm cut off by Meng Lei? That was way too fast!
“That was… Thunder-Elemental Transformation?”
Horace held his bloodied shoulder as he grimaced in pain with a look of disbelief toward Meng Lei.
“Bingo! Sadly no prizes for you!”
Meng Lei swung the Grim Reaper Scythe as blood drops streamed down the ground.
“I did not expect you to have such ability!” Horace had an awful look on his face. “But, if you think you can defeat me like that, then you’re wrong big time!”
“No! I had never thought of defeating you!”
Meng Lei took a step forward and flashed before Horace. “Since the beginning, I had only one objective… to kill you!”
Whoosh!
Meng Lei exploded without warning and turned into a menacing black smoke that went through Horace’s body. Meng Lei reformed his body and swung his scythe.
Splurt!
This time, the left arm was sliced off.
For a while, with both arms chopped off, Horace became a stick. Golden divine blood gushed out of his severed shoulders.
“Dark-Elemental Transformation!?”
Blood drained from Horace’s face as he was finally frightened. “You could actually master two elemental abilities! What kind of monster are you?”
“Hmm, where was I?” Meng Lei smiled leisurely. “It’s rare to meet such a strong opponent, so next, I’ll use every trick I have on you!”
With that said, a 100,000-feet-tall mountain appeared above Horace abruptly and crashed down toward him.
It was Teleportation this time!
Snap!
The mountain crashed onto Horace’s body, and it shattered instantly. As the mountain drowned Horace, Meng Lei pointed his finger.
A golden air current flew out and flooded Horace and the shattered mountain in a flash.
It was Absolute Zero this time!
Snap!
Snap!
In a blink of an eye, Horace and the mountain debris became a huge golden ice lump. An astonishing cold air spread around, though the crowd was quite far from the battleground, they could feel the chill down their whole bodies.
Until now, Meng Lei had no plans to let Horace off. The Netherworld Divine Fire formed in his palm and turned into a black spear.
It was the Netherworld Divine Fire this time!
“One, two, three…” Meng Lei counted slowly.
Boom!
A thunderous roar was heard as the huge ice lump exploded off. Horace reappeared!
Just then, the loaded black spear shot out!
Thud!
The black spear was made up of Netherworld Divine Fire after all, so its sharpness was unlike Gods-Slaying Spear and Grim Reaper Scythe and did not penetrate Horace’s divine body.
Still, it exploded on Horace’s body and started burning!
Horace’s entire body was burning in the flames of the Netherworld Divine Fire in just a split second.
“Damn it! It’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
Horace was shocked and outraged as he almost broke down.
Everyone who was watching the battle gave their pitiful gazes—sliced by the scythe, frozen by ice, and now getting burned by fire…
Too difficult!
That was too difficult for him!
…
“You bastard!”
In his divine kingdom, the Titan Spiritual God’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably—he was starting to regret sending Horace to Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Being beaten up was one thing, being tortured like that was the key thing—that was simply bullying!
Teleportation!
Thunder-Elemental Transformation!
Dark-Elemental Transformation!
Grim Reaper Scythe!
That spear!
And now Netherworld Divine Fire!?
What kind of mortal is this man? Why did he possess so many unbelievable Innate Special Abilities and high tier divine weapons?
The Titan Spiritual God simply could not understand why.
Ignoring the divine weapons since they could be obtained through having connections and background, Innate Special Abilities could not be obtained so simply like that.
Elemental Transformation—the exclusive Innate Special Ability of elemental beings, how did a mere human like Meng Lei have it?
Teleportation—the extremely rare Innate Special Ability that the Titan Spiritual God had only heard of but never seen with his own eyes!
Netherworld Divine Fire—the exclusive special ability of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix. Meng Lei was just a human. How could he be able to use the Netherworld Divine Fire?
Just how?!
Just why?!
Just…
“This human is a mystery himself, I just couldn’t see through his background!”
The Titan Spiritual God did not like things to get out of control under his nose because it made him feel that he was not powerful enough.
…
“The Netherworld Divine Fire! Could he be a part of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix race?”
The Dragon God’s countenance was rather contorted. Although he did not want to admit it, he was jealous. What kind of presence was the Divine Netherworld Phoenix race?
It was an incredibly powerful race that would not pale in comparison with the Titan Gods. Plus, they had a diluted bloodline, which made them so rare.
The Dragon God could imagine that once the Divine Netherworld Phoenix discovered Meng Lei, they would surely bring Meng Lei back to be groomed with priority.
Till then, the number of resources that Meng Lei could enjoy would surely be no less than that of the Titan Spiritual God!
Till then, with the vast amount of power of faith and resources, Meng Lei’s combat power would surely improve very quickly and overtake the Dragon God in no time.
“You bastard!”
At the thought of these, the Dragon God’s jealousy was off the charts. The Dragon Gods were not weak. In fact, they were very powerful in the Void.
The thing was that the Dragon Gods race was so selfish and strict that they only groomed offspring with the pure bloodline. Those with a mixed bloodline and born as lowly wild dragons in the material plane like him would never get the chance to be groomed by the elders.
“I’m so damn jealous!”
The Dragon God’s eyes were red.
…
Once he met the everlasting flames of the Netherworld Divine Fire, even Horace could do nothing about it and could only suffer in pain.
“As I’ve said before, the ending will always be the same.” Meng Lei walked step by step toward Horace. “The Dragon Island half-deities, the Titan half-deities, or you, you are all the same in my eyes!”
“Human, I have underestimated you!”
Horace was a warrior as he did not make any noises with flames burning all over him. “I might die without regrets, but Master Spiritual God will avenge me!”
“Avenge? Then let him come.” Meng Lei puffed. “Since we have beef already, I don’t care at all!”
Horace did not say anything as he closed his eyes slowly and allowed the Netherworld Divine Fire to ravage his body, poised like he was about to sacrifice himself.
“Not bad! You’re hardy!” Meng Lei could not help but praise. “How about this, I’ll give you a chance. As long as you submit to me, I can spare your life. How about that?”
“I’m the great Horace, how could I submit to a junior?”
“Oh well… Whatever suits you!”
" }, { "id": 264, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-264", "title": "Chapter 264 - Abandoned By The Deities, Submitting By One'S Own Initiative", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 264: Abandoned By The Deities, Submitting By One’s Own Initiative
Horace was dead!
After being burned by the Netherworld Divine Fire, he was unsurprisingly reduced to ashes.
He had come in a hurry and was also gone in a hurry.
His death caused a large number of people to feel as if they had plummeted into an ice cave. Their hands and feet were cold and clammy as endless fear and hopelessness came over them. It felt no different from the entire sky collapsing unto them.
Among them, the Thunder Titan Emperor was one who felt it the strongest.
No hint of blood could be seen in the Titan Empire’s ruler’s countenance at the moment. As if he had been drained of strength, he fell limp onto the ground.
“It’s over! The Titan Empire is totally over!”
…
The Beast Emperor felt just as hopeless.
Even an unfathomably powerful true god like Horace had been so badly beaten up by Meng Lei in a one-sided fight. How were they, the Beast People Empire, supposed to contend with Meng Lei?
By relying on the Beast God?
Was he dependable enough?
The Beast Emperor didn’t hold any bit of confidence in that. His thoughts were currently a mess, and he was in a state of utter stupefaction.
Great skill and strategy?
Unifying the continent?
Emergence of the empire?
Everything had been tossed to the back of the mind!
At the moment, the Beast Emperor wanted only to leave this place and have a quiet moment to himself so that he could properly think about how he was to resist Meng Lei’s attacks.
…
“He’s actually killed Horace!”
The Fairy Empress was just as filled with disbelief as the others. She knew that Meng Lei was very strong. After all, he had annihilated the Dragon Island half-deities and battled the Titan half-deities by himself. His cultivation prowess was unfathomably powerful.
Even so, never would the Fairy Empress have ever imagined Meng Lei to actually be ‘this’ strong. He could kill even a true god-level powerhouse like Horace!
Just how strong is Meng Lei, exactly?
The question couldn’t help but arise in the Fairy Empress’ mind.
In truth, a lot of people were also wondering about this. However, there was no one who could answer their question—not even Meng Lei’s closest subordinates like Bubbles, Puhaman, and the others.
“Horace is dead!”
As he faced the shocked and horrified, idolizing, or hopeless eyes of everyone present, Meng Lei spoke. He said, “I believe the so-called Titan Spiritual God, Dragon God, and even the Beast God will not be easily sending anyone else here now! So…”
Meng Lei turned to the three empires’ envoys and said, “All of you should have lost all hope by now, right? Thus, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you what you should be doing anymore?
“Within a month, I want the three empires to submit to me. If I don’t see that happening, my apologies, but the Colossal Dragons of yesterday shall be your fates tomorrow!”
After leaving behind those words, Meng Lei returned to the dragon carriage and left together with Bubbles and the others. Everyone looked at one another wordlessly as they watched the departing dragon carriage.
“What do we do now, Your Majesty?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
…
Meng Lei’s throne ascension ceremony had concluded, but the impact it’d brought had only just begun.
A declaration of the humans’ emergence!
Ordering the three empires to submit!
Killing the Dragon God and exterminating Horace!
Every single incident, every single deed…
Like a tornado, they spread throughout the Meng Lei Empire and even the entire continent. In particular, under the Meng Lei Empire imperial court’s deliberate promotion efforts, the news had spread even faster.
“His Majesty has said that in the Meng Lei Empire, all humans below the age of 20 can undergo magic aptitude evaluation tests and receive Battle Aura manuals at no cost!”
“His Majesty has also said that he’ll build Battle Aura and Magic Academies in the Meng Lei Empire! All children under the age of 16 can enroll at no cost and receive six-year-long compulsory education!”
“His Majesty has also said he will not levy any taxes, collect agricultural tax, or recruit any soldiers in the Meng Lei Empire for ten years!”
“His Majesty has also said that every human in the Meng Lei Empire will receive a plot of land measuring at least two square kilometers!”
“His Majesty has also said that everyone is equal in the Meng Lei Empire. There are no slaves, no nobles!”
“Sob! Praise be to the great His Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, praise be to you!”
“Your Majesty…”
Meng Lei’s vows were printed into booklets. They spread throughout streets and alleys, villages, and every corner of the empire.
The effects brought about by the vows were beyond comparison. Scorching tears welled up in everyone’s eyes as they wept tears of joy, edified by his vows.
For a while, those that already worshiped Meng Lei became even pious, while those that didn’t also started to worship him. Meng Lei’s worshipers began to increase at a terrifying rate.
When all these pieces of information made their way into the three major empires, the influence they caused on the humans there was also beyond comparison.
As the saying went, “With comparison come frustrations.”
For a while, everyone longed for the Meng Lei Empire. Everyone wanted to become part of the Meng Lei Empire. Among them, those with initiative then started to flee…
To sum it up, the whole continent had become chaotic because of Meng Lei’s actions.
An invisible storm engulfed the continent as the three major empires started to be shaken at the core.
Of course, none of this was very important.
The three empires didn’t fear rioting slaves. The only thing that worried them was still just Meng Lei himself. The slaves didn’t possess any combat power. No matter how fiercely they struggled, it was no more than the mad barking of the weak.
On the other hand, Meng Lei was different—he loomed over them like a sharp blade that might cleave down upon them any moment!
In the Beast People Empire…
“Please, I’m leaving it to you, high priest!”
The Beast Emperor, as well as all the Beast People Empire officials, were all watching the old Fox-Man with hope and anticipation in their eyes. Now that things had come to this, they could only place hope in… the Beast God.
“Your Majesty, this old man will try his best!”
The aging old high priest let out a couple of coughs. Then, he slowly closed his eyes and began to build a communication link with the Beast God hidden in some obscure place.
As the Beast God’s most devout worshiper in Heaven’s Vault Continent, it wasn’t hard for the old Fox-Man to build a link to the Beast God. The Beast God would also usually respond to him, but this time…
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Half an hour passed.
“Your Majesty, I’ve disappointed you.”
The old Fox-Man opened his eyes, a look of shame and guilt on his face.
“Old high priest, has the Beast God really abandoned his pious believers?”
The Beast Emperor’s eyes were filled with hopelessness. Dejected and lost, all the officials looked like lifeless grieving widows.
“Your Majesty, let me try again!”
The old Fox-Man let out a resigned laugh. He quietly set ablaze the power of his divine spirit and strengthened his senses.
Yet, no matter how hard or how many times he tried, the great Beast God simply didn’t respond. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
In the end, the old Fox-Man could no longer persevere any further. He coughed up blood, collapsed to the ground, and breathed his last.
“Old high priest!!”
“Old high priest!!”
“Sob…”
A sad and sorrowful atmosphere filled the hall as the officials fell onto their knees. The Beast Emperor was filled with self-blame. “Old high priest, it’s my fault! It’s all my fault…”
Disregarding the sorrowful and despairing Beast People Empire monarch and officials for now and focusing on the old Fox-Man instead, a mysterious and mighty force descended upon him and brought his divine spirit away after he died.
When he opened his eyes, he was already in a beautiful, scenic, and picturesque golden divine nation. Power of divinity descended from above and re-manifested a physical body for him.
A brief moment later, a strong and muscular Fox-Man with a head full of black hair appeared—it was the Fox-Man himself!
As the Fox-Man looked at his hands and took in his young and strong body’s sensation, he became so agitated that tears filled his eyes, and he dropped onto his knees right away and kowtowed.
“O great Beast God! Thank you for your generosity and kindness! Praise be to you!”
“Those who believe in me shall gain eternal life!”
An awe-inspiring, majestic, and thunderous voice rang out in his ear. The old Fox-Man knew that it was the Beast God’s voice. At once, he lamented tearfully, “O great Beast God, please save your lowly people. They are currently in an abyss of suffering…”
The Beast God’s voice, however, completely died down and didn’t sound again.
“Beast God…”
The old Fox-Man fell limp onto the ground as a look of despair came over his features. He knew—the Beast God had completely abandoned the Beast People in Heaven’s Vault Continent!
In the Titan Empire…
“What do we do now, Your Majesty?”
“Think of something, Your Majesty!”
The Titan Empire officials were currently in a state of utter panic. In spite of that, the Thunder Titan Emperor was instead drowning his sorrows in alcohol, paying no attention whatsoever to the anxious officials.
“Your Majesty!”
Helpless, the officials could only request the Titan Empress to make an appearance in hopes that she could persuade the emperor.
“Oh, it’s the Empress? Come on, have a few drinks with me!”
“Your Majesty, how can I possibly still be in the mood to drink when a national crisis looms over us?” The Titan Empress said, “The officials are all in a panic and awaiting your directions!”
“Directions? What kind of directions can I possibly give?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked completely drunk as he said, “The temple grandmasters are all dead, and even Horace, whom the Titan Spiritual God had dispatched, is also dead.
“The enormous Titan Empire doesn’t even have a single half-deity anymore. We are, but just meat on the chopping block now. What kind of directions is there to give at this point? We can just await death to befall us!”
“Even so, are you just going to do nothing and wait for the Meng Lei Empire to invade us, Your Majesty?”
The Titan Empress said in persuasion, “If that happens, we won’t have any way out at all!”
“What do you mean by that, Empress?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked at the empress out of the corner of his eyes.
“Since we cannot resist them, then why don’t we take the initiative to submit to them?”
The Titan Empress said gravely, “If we take the initiative to submit, we’ll at least be able to welcome a decent outcome, rather than ending up like the Dragons whose country has been ruined and the whole race annihilated. But if we do nothing and wait for the Meng Lei Empire to invade us instead, I’m afraid we’ll only see our people dead and our country ruined, while we ourselves suffer wretched deaths!”
“Wretched deaths?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor shuddered and instantly snapped out of his drunken stupor. He said, “Yes, yes, that’s right! We mustn’t wait for them to invade us! We mustn’t!
“Someone! Hurry! Assemble the officials! I’m going to submit to the Meng Lei Empire! I don’t want to die!”
In the Fairy Empire…
The Fairy Empress opened her beautiful eyes. She gazed at the many pairs of eyes filled with hope and anticipation, let out a wry laugh, and said, “Everyone, I have disappointed you!”
“Your Majesty!”
The officials’ countenances changed drastically, their hearts sinking to the very bottom in an instant.
Azshara’s voice trembled as she asked, “Your Majesty, what did Her Holiness say?”
The Fairy Empress’ expression was pained as she replied, “She wants us to take the initiative to submit. I am to lead the Fairies to take shelter in the Forest of Life, and from then on, we are never to take another step out of the Forest of Life ever again!”
“Take shelter in the Forest of Life? How would that do?”
Azshara couldn’t accept the outcome at all.
The Fairy Empire’s territory included the entire Fairy Forests. Its vastness in territory was in no way inferior to the Dragon God Empire’s, while it was only a tad smaller than the Beast People Empire’s. But what about the Forest of Life?
The Tree of Vitality gave off a vitality barrier and the range that the barrier covered formed the Forest of Life. It was the heart of the Fairy Forests and measured only about 1,000 miles in radius.
That bit of territory wasn’t even as big as a corner of the Fairy Forests. Yet they, the Fairies, had to give up the vast and spacious Fairy Forests to take shelter in the Forest of Life that only measured 1,000 miles in radius? Who would be able to accept something like that?
“This is Her Holiness’ orders. There’s nothing I can do about it, either.”
The Fairy Empress let out a soft sigh, and then she ordered, “Dispatch envoys to the Meng Lei Empire at once and take the initiative to submit. On account of Her Holiness, I should think that His Majesty Meng Lei wouldn’t go as far as to take all our lives!”
“We mustn’t, Your Majesty!”
Azshara cried out, “The Fairy Forests are the Fairies’ home. If we give up the Fairy Forests, just how many of our clansmen would we have to abandon?”
“Regimental Commander Azshara, I know this is a painful decision to make, but have you thought about this? Should we not give up the Fairy Forests, the entire Fairy race shall completely vanish from the face of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
A look of pain came over the Fairy Empress’ countenance as she asked, “Between the two, which do you think is worse?”
" }, { "id": 265, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-265", "title": "Chapter 265 - The New Dragon Emperor, Filling Up The Imperial Harem", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 265: The New Dragon Emperor, Filling Up The Imperial Harem
Compared to the other three major empires’ dismal states, the Meng Lei Empire imperial palace formed a completely different sight.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Fatty Hart, Hudders, and the others gazed at Meng Lei with expressions of reverence, their countenances somewhat reserved and uncomfortable.
“What’s with the ‘Your Majesty’ this and ‘Your Majesty’ that? There isn’t any ‘Your Majesty’ here but just your friend and the person Meng Lei!”
Meng Lei had already discovered Fatty Hart, Hudders, Joseph, Jonah, Andrew, and the others hidden among the crowd during the ascension ceremony earlier.
He then summoned them into the imperial palace after the ceremony had ended. It had been more than two years since he’d last met them. To be honest, he really missed them somewhat.
“Your Majesty, you’re the monarch while we’re commoners. We mustn’t neglect proper propriety!”
They felt rather overwhelmed by the honor and spoke rather reservedly.
Meng Lei was still the Meng Lei they knew, but his status had undergone a tremendous change by now.
This was especially true after they personally witnessed him slaying a true god. It had given them a clear understanding of Meng Lei’s great strength and power. Who, then, could still bring themselves to behave like how they had in the past in front of him?
They couldn’t! And neither could they return to those days!
“Oh, you guys!”
Meng Lei felt rather resigned. He had finally experienced what solitude felt like.
When the disparity in strength or status between two parties reached a point so vast in size, even friends and family would drift apart.
Even if one had treated them as friends all along, that might not necessarily also be the case for the other party.
Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only invite them to take a seat and try his best to bring up topics that would help to relieve the tension in the atmosphere. He asked, “Is everything alright in the village, Captain Hudders?”
“Yes, everything is fine!”
At Meng Lei’s question, Hudders jumped onto his feet at once. He said, “During the last couple of years, because the villagers have consumed the divine tree fruits that you bestowed upon them and coupled with the special care given to us by Lord Puhaman, the villagers’ lives have been improving more and more, and their combat power becoming stronger and stronger by the day.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Meng Lei let him take a seat. Then, he said, “I see that you’ve also become a Ninth-Grade Warrior now. The energy flow around you is strong and solid. I believe you can break through to become a Saint Domain very soon!”
Hudders hastily said in gratitude, “This is all thanks to Your Majesty’s great blessings!”
In truth, he wasn’t the only one—Joseph, Jonah, Andrew, and the others had also improved tremendously.
Joseph and Andrew had become Eighth-Grade Warriors while Jonah had become an Eighth-Grade Great Magician. Compared to two years ago, they had become much, much stronger!
This didn’t count as much, though. The one with the truly dramatic improvement was Fatty Hart—during the short two years of separation, that fellow had actually already broken through to the Saint Domain stage!
The dragon might around him was pure and vast. Evidently, he had already awakened his Golden Colossal Dragon, and it was a high level of awakening at that—the kind where he could transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon!
“Looks like you haven’t been slacking off during the last two years!” A laughing Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart.
Fatty Hart hastily got up and said, “This is all thanks to Your Majesty—”
Dissatisfied, Meng Lei said fiercely, “Do you believe me when I say that I’ll smack you on the face if you call me Your Majesty again? Have you forgotten what you used to call me?”
“Your… O-old bro!”
Fatty Hart had a troubled look on his face.
“That’s more like it!”
Meng Lei felt much more comfortable now. He said cheerfully, “I’ve said that I would gift you New Dragon Island and make you the new Dragon Emperor of the Colossal Dragons if you could break through to the Saint Domain stage. I’m a man of my word, so New Dragon Island is yours now!”
“O… Old bro, that won’t do. That won’t do!” Fatty Hart shook his hands hastily. He said, “How can you take something said in jest back then so seriously…”
“Jest? I meant what I said!”
Meng Lei glared at him and said, “You’re unhappy because there aren’t any Dragons on New Dragon Island, right? Don’t worry, I have tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons at hand. I’ll send them to New Dragon Island for you later!”
“This… Is that alright?”
Fatty Hart blinked, a hint of excitement surfacing in his small, narrow eyes. Those were tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons!
“It would be a waste to just leave the Lost Continent as it is anyway, so I might as well make use of it. Besides, the tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons are living off me at the moment. They’re close to bankrupting me!”
Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart on the shoulder and said, “Just take it as you’re doing me a favor and properly manage them in my stead. How does that sound?”
“Since you’ve put it that way, it would be rude of me to decline any further, old bro!” Fatty Hart snickered, a wretched expression surfacing on his face once more.
“That’s more like it! Given your current strength, I’m afraid you won’t be able to suppress those Colossal Dragons, though. Every single one of those guys is awfully arrogant and rebellious!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile, and then he brought out a metal-elemental divine core. He said, “Take this and refine it. Once you’ve assimilated it, you likely won’t have any more problems suppressing them.”
“What’s this, old bro?”
Fatty Hart stared at the divine core. He could feel the terrifying divine power energy fluctuations coming from the divine core, and they made him incredibly fearful.
“This is a divine core.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “One that has already been processed, of course. The original owner’s thoughts, will, memories, divinity, and so on have all been fully cleansed and removed. Only pure power of divinity and laws of nature comprehension have been left behind in it, so you can assimilate it with peace of mind.”
“A d-divine core!”
Fatty Hart shuddered all over, so astonished that he almost jumped. He would have at least heard of it even if he hadn’t actually seen one before! What was a divine core?
It was the sign of a deity!
Once he assimilated the divine core, he would make the leap to becoming a deity in one bound! A lofty deity high up above!
Just what kind of supreme treasure was this?
“O-old bro, this thing is too precious. I can’t accept it! I really can’t!”
Fatty Hart shook his head vehemently. He said, “You’re already treating me with enough kindness, old bro. I’d be too greedy if I take anything else from you!”
“You sure say a lot of crap!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he snapped his fingers lightly. A drop of blood shot out of Fatty Hart and landed on the divine core, upon which the divine core instantly embedded itself in between Fatty Hart’s brows and vanished from sight.
“Old bro, w-where’s the divine core?”
Fatty Hart was greatly alarmed.
“It has already integrated itself with you!”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “At your newly-promoted Saint Domain prowess, even though you’ll need a much longer time than a half-deity to completely assimilate the divine core, at least it’s still possible to achieve.
“Don’t run about carelessly from now on. Stay in the imperial palace and fully assimilate it for now, lest someone finds out and attacks you for the divine core.”
“Thank you, old bro!”
Fatty Hart’s eyes reddened as he said, “Old bro, my life is yours now! Be it the most dangerous of places or the most severe of trials, I, Fatty Hart, will not hesitate!”
“Relax, it’s not that serious.”
Meng Lei sighed. “To be honest, I also have my own selfish reasons for doing so. I’ll eventually have to leave Heaven’s Vault Continent and head into the vast Void someday. How lonely would it be to be all by myself? So, I’ll have to bring a few friends together with me, right? That way, I won’t be all alone!”
At this point, Meng Lei then turned to Hudders and the others. “All of you must work hard in your cultivation, too. When you’ve broken through to the Saint Domain stage, we’ll become deities and break through the void together!”
Joseph pointed at himself with a look of disbelief and asked, “Big Brother Meng Lei, am I also capable of becoming a deity?”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Of course! Thus, all of you must work hard and strive to achieve the Saint Domain stage as soon as possible!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, we’ll definitely work hard!”
As they ate, drank, and chatted about the past and embarrassing childhood incidents, everyone slowly relaxed and was no longer that reserved. Laughter and chatter went on without pause at the table…
Meng Lei didn’t cultivate during the next few days. Instead, he accompanied the others and had fun in the Imperial City. Only when they were more or less done did he see them off.
The moment he returned to the imperial palace, Puhaman led a group of people and requested an audience with him.
“Didn’t I tell you, Puhaman? You have full authority to handle state affairs on my behalf. You can take care of everything, so there’s no need to ask me for anything!”
“Thank you for your trust in me, Master,” Puhaman said with a wry chuckle before continuing, “But this matter today really requires you to make the decision!”
“What is it?”
Meng Lei was rather surprised.
“The Fairy Empire and the Titan Empire’s envoys are here. They’ve taken the initiative to submit to us.”
An excited Puhaman said, “The Titan Empire is willing to offer up all of their national territory, and only requests that Your Majesty can bestow upon them a plot of land for the Titans to live and proliferate.”
“The Thunder Titan Emperor is surprisingly wise.” Meng Lei smiled and said, “Alright, since he’s so amenable to reason, then I shall fulfill his wishes. Puhaman, draft my decree.”
“Awaiting your instructions, Master!”
“I hereby appoint the Thunder Titan Emperor as the life peer Titan Duke and bestow upon him the Titan Ranges as a fief for the Titans to inhabit,” said an aloof Meng Lei.
“How brilliant of Your Majesty!”
Puhaman bowed slightly.
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!”
The Titan Empire envoy bowed and gave his thanks. He had lived up to his mission and achieved his diplomatic mission’s objective.
“You may rise!”
Meng Lei waved lightly.
“Master, the Fairy Empire is also willing to offer up the entire Fairy Forests and submit to us. They only request that Your Majesty bestow the Forest of Life upon them as the Fairies’ habitat,” said Puhaman.
“The Fairies have actually also submitted?”
Meng Lei was awfully surprised. He couldn’t help but turn to the Fairy Empire envoy.
The Fairies weren’t weak. On top of that, they were the Fairy Goddess’ worshipers, while the Fairy Goddess herself was a great higher deity. Was she really willing to part with a territory as vast and spacious as the Fairy Forests?
That didn’t make sense!
“Your Majesty, this is Her Holiness’ holy decree,” said the Fairy Empire envoy with a bow.
“The Fairy Goddess’ instructions…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but become even more curious. However, this wasn’t the time to be puzzled over something like that. He gazed at the Fairy Empire envoy and said, “Since the Fairy Empire has taken the initiative to express goodwill, neither am I an unkind person. We’ll go with the Fairy Empire’s wishes!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
The Fairy Empire envoy also bowed and expressed their gratitude.
“You can deal with the rest of the matters as you deem appropriate, Puhaman,” said Meng Lei with a wave as he started to chase them away.
“There’s one more thing, Master,” said a rather hesitant Puhaman.
“What is it?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“It’s about the imperial harem!”
Puhaman reminded him, “Now that Master has ascended the throne and become the ruler of the empire, leaving the harem empty would be disadvantageous to the empire’s stability and development. It’s time to fill up the imperial harem, Master!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rather lost for words. “What does an empty harem have anything to do with the empire’s stability? I’m a great true god who’s immortal and indestructible. Is there a need to pass down the throne and legacy?”
A wry smile appeared on Puhaman’s lips at once. He said, “You are indeed immortal, Master, but you’ll eventually leave Heaven’s Vault Continent someday. When that day comes, who are you going to pass down the throne to?”
“We’ll talk about that when the time comes.” Meng Lei waved and said, “Leave if there’s nothing else. I’m tired.”
“This… Yes, Master.”
A resigned Puhaman could only leave with the others.
“Royal consort selection…”
Meng Lei shook his head resolutely. “I’m a man with a wife and a child. How can I do something as immoral as this behind my wife’s back? No! Absolutely not!
“But… Three palaces, six courtyards, and 72 royal consorts! The sound of it alone already excites me…”
" }, { "id": 266, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-266", "title": "Chapter 266 - Reaching An Agreement, A Demon God Contract", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 266: Reaching An Agreement, A Demon God Contract
The vast universe had birthed countless existential planes.
As though bubbles, the planes floated in the Void, either linked together in a row, or independent of one another, or moved about at high speed…
Their sheer numbers were as though sand in the desert.
There were no magic elements, air, or water outside the planes, but just turbulent, havoc-wreaking time-space fluxes.
These time-space fluxes were the Void itself.
The word “void” meant nothingness, while the world of the Void meant a world of nothingness.
Heaven’s Vault Continent was one of the innumerable bubble-like existential planes. Piled up around it was an infinite amount of dust particles that circled and spun around Heaven’s Vault Continent like meteors.
From afar, the dust particles looked very small. It was only when one went nearer that they would realize that these dust particles were, in fact, incredibly huge like humongous floating blocks of land.
Among them was a certain dust particle that wasn’t very big and looked completely inconspicuous. It floated quietly in the air.
However, unbeknown to anyone was that there was actually more to the dust particle’s interior than meets the eye—hidden inside of it was actually a divine nation.
The divine nation was a world full of life and vitality. Endless, expansive fields, meandering and undulating seas of forests, the magnificent, azure-blue oceans…
Everything that a material plane should carry, as well as things that a material plane shouldn’t carry, could all be found there!
Full of vitality, grand and magnificent!
Lush and luxuriant, as though a celestial realm!
Floating within the divine nation was a lofty and magnificent-looking shrine made out of gold. Engraved on its surface were densely-packed laws of nature runes that looked just like tadpoles.
A middle-aged man sat in the grand hall’s center with a transparent floating crystal ball before him. Various scenes were reflected in the crystal ball:
Innumerable Lion-Men wailing and crying as they kowtowed and prayed to a Beast God statue; innumerable Tiger-Men on their knees as they wept tears of blood while piously praying and begging for salvation;
Innumerable Hippo-Men, Pig-Men, Fox-Men, Centaurs, Taurens, Elephant-Men…
“Sigh…”
The middle-aged man let out a faint sigh as he watched the scenes depicted in the crystal ball, a sense of helplessness welling up within him.
“It’s not that I’m unwilling to save all of you, but there’s nothing I can do about the ongoings in Heaven’s Vault Continent…”
The middle-aged man was the deity whom the Beast People Empire in Heaven’s Vault Continent worshiped—the Beast God.
In the very instant that Meng Lei killed Horace, the Beast God knew—the Beast People Empire was finished!
Even if he was absolutely unwilling for it to happen;
Even if he was absolutely discontent with the result;
Even if he absolutely couldn’t bear to part with it;
There was nothing the Beast God could do!
Meng Lei was unbeatable in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Any measures taken against him were all in vain.
Rather than doing something like that, he might as well give it up cleanly and consider his options again after Meng Lei left.
In any case, this wasn’t the first time that the Beast God had experienced something like this. He knew what the correct course of action to take was. Nevertheless, he still felt displeased upon witnessing his worshipers weeping tears of blood as they prayed to him.
There were a great number of devout believers—and even fanatics—among them. Their faith in him was pious and fervent and provided an extremely impressive amount of power of faith.
Even after their deaths, he could bring them into the divine nation and grant them eternal life, in turn letting them provide him with an endless supply of power of faith.
Yet he had to give all of them up now. The loss could be said to be a significant one!
“It’s all Meng Lei’s fault!”
Flames of fury flickered in the Beast God’s eyes—only to turn into resignation thereafter. Meng Lei was very weak and was someone whom he could easily smack dead with just his palm. But when he was far away in Heaven’s Vault Continent…
“I don’t believe that you can hide in Heaven’s Vault Continent forever! The day you leave will be the day you die!”
Fury boiled in the Beast God’s heart as intense murderous intent toward Meng Lei welled up within him.
“Lord Beast God, what is troubling you?”
A laugh traveled over from outside the hall at this point. Slightly surprised, the Beast God then noticed a burly middle-aged man with horns on his head walking in.
“Helibos, how dare you come here?”
A hint of murderous intent flitted across the Beast God’s eyes as he gazed at the newcomer. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll extract your divine spirit from your body, find your divine nation, and thoroughly kill you?”
Helibos Haber was the Dragon God’s real name. In other words, the newcomer was one of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s four great true gods—the Dragon God himself!
Of course, he had only sent a divinity projection there and hadn’t arrived in the flesh. The Dragon God would never dare to step into the Beast God’s divine nation for sure—that was no different from having a death wish!
“Lord Beast God, it has already been 60,000 years since then. Must you still hold a grudge even now?”
The Dragon God gave him a leisurely smile and said, “Besides, I’m here to strike a deal with you today. I believe you won’t kill me!”
“60,000 years is but just a nap to us,” The Beast God was noncommittal as he said, “But I’ve never forgotten how you had stolen my power of faith back then!”
“Lord Beast God, I didn’t have any choice back then, either. In order to deify, I could only resort to that. I hope Lord Beast God can understand,” said the Dragon God as he adopted a very humble stance.
“Hmph!”
The Beast God snorted lightly before he said, “Now, tell me, what are you here for? What has actually made come all the way here, despite having to run the risk of being killed by me?”
“Lord Beast God, you should also know that all deities like us care about is nothing more than just three words—power of faith.”
The Dragon God said softly, “You’ve also seen it for yourself. A monster has emerged in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Not only has he seized my Dragon God Empire, but he even intends to unify the continent! I believe that he’ll also destroy your Beast People Empire shortly after, Lord Beast God, and your billions of worshipers shall also be gone with the wind. The loss is simply too great to bear. Meng Lei’s behavior is too perverse!”
“Decline will eventually come after the zenith has passed. This is just nature running its course.”
The Beast God remained noncommittal. He said, “Besides, he’ll eventually leave Heaven’s Vault Continent. When that happens, the Meng Lei Empire he has established will also dissolve accordingly like the Fairy Empire, the Titan Empire, and the Beast People Empire of olden times, and your Dragon God Empire.”
“That may be the case, but who knows when that knave is going to leave? During this period of time, how much power of faith will you lose?”
The Dragon God said anxiously, “Lord Beast God, the knave is behaving so wildly and arrogantly. Are you just going to watch him run rampantly like that?”
“Helibos, what exactly are you trying to say?” The Beast God let out an icy snort of laughter and said, “Get straight to the point. I don’t have the time to beat about the bush with you!”
“Lord Beast God, the Dragon God Empire is my one and only power of faith domain. I cannot lose it just like that!”
The Dragon God’s countenance then changed slightly as he said gravely, “Moreover, the Colossal Dragons have also been wiped out by that knave. How can I possibly accept an outcome like this if I don’t seek revenge?”
“Calm down. You’ll get used to it after experiencing it a few more times.” The Beast God waved him off and said, “If there’s nothing else, you may leave!”
“Lord Beast God!” The Dragon God gritted his teeth and said, “If you aid me in my revenge and help me to take back the Dragon God Empire, I will offer up a big gift!”
“A big gift?”
The Beast God scoffed, “Who doesn’t know that you’re the weakest and poorest among Heaven’s Vault Continent’s four great true gods? What kind of big gift can you come up with?”
The Dragon God didn’t rebut him. Instead, he asked, “If memory serves me right, the laws of nature that Lord Beast God is in the midst of comprehending are thunder, fire, wind, light, and ice, right?”
“That’s some thorough investigation you’ve done. So what even if it is?” The Beast God’s countenance turned icy.
“I’ll speak candidly with you, Lord Beast God. I’ve once stumbled upon a hidden realm and obtained a fair number of treasures from within in the past, among which happens to be a fusion laws of nature fragment,” said the smiling Dragon God as a shrewd glint flashed across his eyes.
“A fusion laws of nature fragment?”
A huge jolt went through the Beast God. His eyes bore straight into the Dragon God as they glinted fiercely in the light.
“You mean…”
" }, { "id": 267, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-267", "title": "Chapter 267 - Struggling At Death'S Door, The Far Northern Icelands", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 267: Struggling At Death’s Door, The Far Northern Icelands
“To be honest with you, Lord Beast God, that fusion laws of nature fragment is exactly a thunder-elemental and ice-elemental fusion fragment,” said the smiling Dragon God.
“A thunder-ice fusion laws of nature fragment!”
The Beast God jumped off his seat. Fearsome divine power weighed down on the Dragon God, almost blasting apart his divinity projection.
“Helibos, you should know the outcome of deceiving me!” The Beast God’s eyes bore into the Dragon God.
“I daren’t deceive you, Beast God!”
The smile vanished from the Dragon God’s face, and he said, “I swear upon my divine spirit—should there be any untruths in my words, then let me plummet into the depths of hell for eternity and die from a thousand ghosts devouring my heart!”
“Give it to me!”
The excited Beast God’s eyes shone brightly.
He had already completely comprehended five types of laws of nature—thunder, fire, wind, light, and ice—and manifested five divine incarnations. Thus, he was currently a pinnacle-level intermediate deity.
He was only a single step away from becoming a higher deity!
But to cross that step, he had to at least completely assimilate two types of laws of nature first.
The Beast God dreamed of achieving that and becoming a higher deity, but it was not to be.
It was exactly this tiny little step that firmly caged the Beast God. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t assimilate any two of those laws of nature!
To him, the tiny little step was as though an insurmountable obstacle.
After all these years, even the Beast God himself had become rather filled with despair. In fact, he was already beginning to wonder whether it was impossible for him to ever break through to become a higher deity in this lifetime of his?
But the Beast God saw hope again in this instant!
A fusion laws of nature fragment!
As long as he could obtain that fusion laws of nature fragment and comprehend the thunder-ice fusion laws of nature within, he would be able to use that window of opportunity to follow the trail. He might then have a chance at fusing the two types of laws of nature—thunder and ice—into one!
Yes, a chance!
At least he would have a chance, rather than not having even the slightest inkling as to how to go about it like now!
Therefore, the Beast God’s mind had become set on obtaining the fragment mentioned by the Dragon God—provided that it really did exist.
At the sight of the Beast God’s reaction, the Dragon God immediately knew that he had bitten the hook. He said with a slight smile, “By risking my life to approach the Beast God today, I’ve already long since thrown away everything, including my own divine nation!”
“What do you mean?”
The Beast God watched him closely.
“Lord Beast God, I know that the fusion laws of nature fragment holds great significance to you. In order to obtain it, you will even go as far as to kill this divinity projection of mine in order to locate my divine nation and find my actual body.”
The Dragon God looked absolutely confident as he asked, “Am I right, Lord Beast God?”
“Since you already know that, then cut the crap and hand over the fragment at once!” The Beast God replied coldly.
“Calm down, Lord Beast God. I told you, in order to seek revenge, I’ve long since abandoned everything I have, including my divine nation.”
The smiling Dragon God said, “To be honest with you, my actual body has already left the divine nation and entered the vast Void together with all my treasures, including that fusion laws of nature fragment. You won’t be able to find me even if you kill this divinity projection of mine.”
The Beast God was startled for a moment before he gazed coldly at the Dragon God and remarked, “Helibos, you sure are a cautious one. I’ve underestimated you!”
“Thank you for the compliment, Lord Beast God. You’re a Nine-Eyed Wolf, after all. How would I possibly dare to be careless when associating with you? Thus, I could only employ a clumsy method like this,” replied the smiling Dragon God.
The Beast God narrowed his eyes and watched the Dragon God closely for quite a while before he slowly asked, “Tell me, what conditions do you have?”
“I hope the Beast God can kill that renegade Meng Lei for me and avenge me, and help me to take back the Dragon God Empire that used to belong to me!”
The Dragon God quickly added, “As long as the Beast God helps me, I’ll be more than happy to offer up that fusion laws of nature fragment to repay the Beast God’s kindness!”
“Change your condition!”
The Beast God shook his head lightly. “Meng Lei is close to unbeatable when he’s in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Nobody can kill him there, including myself!”
“Lord Beast God…”
The Dragon God was panicking.
The Beast God waved and said dispassionately, “As long as you hand over that fusion laws of nature fragment, I’ll permit you to pick a good continent from among the seven material planes I rule over to spread your faith. That’s much better than the Dragon God Empire!”
“Lord Beast God, with my prowess, I can easily find a random remote material plane to spread my faith if I really wanted to,” said the Dragon God as he shook his head. “But I simply cannot take this lying down. Not only has that kid Meng Lei stolen my Dragon God Empire, but he’s even slaughtered one of my incarnations alive in front of so many mortals! Only his blood may cleanse this hatred and grudge of mine. I hope the Beast God can help me!”
“Helibos, you’re too obsessed with that. This isn’t the way of the gods!”
The Beast God shook his head slightly. Then, he said, “It’s not impossible to kill Meng Lei, though.”
“May the Beast God point me in the right direction!”
The Dragon God was overjoyed.
“I have a Devil contract here. The master of the contract is a Demon God.”
The Beast God said dispassionately, “You should also know that we true gods cannot descend upon material planes with our true bodies. However, the Demon Gods can!”
The Dragon God was overjoyed. He said, “Lord Beast God, I’m willing to exchange the fragment for that Devil contract!”
“Give me the laws of nature fragment, and this Devil contract is yours!”
…
Like a frightened deer, a black figure flitted swiftly across the sky. He crossed the mountains and the hills, weaving through the Dragon God Empire and the Far Northern Wastelands to finally arrive at the Far Northern Icelands.
As the northernmost area of Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Far Northern Icelands were perpetually covered in ice and snow. A white world of ice and snow, it was icy-cold and filled with dead silence…
The place was simply too cold. Aside from ice-elemental Magical Beasts, there were almost no other traces of life.
“The Dragon God has suffered a crushing defeat! The Dragons will never rise again! From now on, Heaven’s Vault Continent shall completely become Meng Lei’s!”
The black figure slowed down—it was actually the Tempest Colossal Dragon half-deity that had just partaken in the throne ascension ceremony at the summit of Mount Dragon God and was subsequently frightened out of his wits.
He had fled the Dragon God Empire and come all the way to the Far Northern Icelands in hopes of avoiding Meng Lei.
“I, a great Dragon half-deity, have actually fallen into this state. How unjust of the heavens! Never mind, I shall live out the rest of my life in these Far Northern Icelands from now on. I’ll leave when Meng Lei departs Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon then found an ice mountain and got ready to excavate and build a den as living quarters.
Buzz…
At that moment, a golden light pillar descended from above and coalesced into a divinity projection.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon spun around to see a golden, middle-aged man standing behind him.
At once, a shudder went through the Tempest Colossal Dragon, and he lowered his head and kowtowed. “G-greetings, Your Holiness!”
“Arlo, to think you’ve actually fled all the way to these Far Northern Icelands?” The Dragon God frowned and asked, “Is it because you fear Meng Lei that you’ve decided to hide here like a rat and live out your ignoble existence?”
“Your Holiness, I—”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon wished he could bury himself in a hole. That was indeed what he had thought.
“As a descendant of the Dragons, to think you’re actually so cowardly! Arlo, you’ve tainted the noble Dragon race. I’m very disappointed in you!”
“Your Holiness, I… I was forced into this. I have no other choice, either!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon hastily explained, “That knave Meng Lei is simply too powerful. Even if I wish to fight him to the death, I’m not his match at all!”
“What if there is a way to kill him?”
" }, { "id": 268, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-268", "title": "Chapter 268 - Dark Demonic Dragon, Creating Magic Circle", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 268: Dark Demonic Dragon, Creating Magic Circle
“What if there is a way to kill him?” the Dragon God asked suddenly.
“If there is a way to kill that knave, even if there’s only the slightest hope, I will tear him into a million pieces!”
Tempest’s eyes were filled with pure hatred!
“Very well then!”
The Dragon God was quite pleased as he took out a parchment manuscript. “Sign this, and you’ll have the way to kill Meng Lei and take vengeance for us Dragons!”
“May I ask what is this, Your Holiness?”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon looked at the Devil contract. It was filled with unrecognizable words, giving off an evil vibe.
“The way to kill Meng Lei!” The Dragon God’s voice was deep with emphasis. “The only way!”
“Your Holiness, could you inform me what this is?” the Tempest Colossal Dragon asked softly.
“This is a Devil contract, the owner of the contract is a Demon God. Once you sign this contract, you can borrow that Demon God’s powers!” The Dragon God said coldly, “Even if you borrowed a tenth, no, even a hundredth of that power, it’ll be enough to kill that knave!”
“A Devil contract?”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon trembled all over while his head was shaking like a rattling drum. “Your Holiness, I heard that signing the Devil contract means selling your soul to the devil! From then on, my life, freedom, and dignity would be controlled by the devil! Becoming a slave and puppet of the devil where death is easier than living!”
“You can say that,” the Dragon God replied indifferently.
“No! I can’t!” The Tempest Colossal Dragon shook his head repeatedly. “I can’t sign such an evil contract. I can’t completely give up my life and freedom just for revenge!”
“Selfish coward!” The Dragon God’s eyes were fuming. “As a half-deity of our race, you shoulder our hatred and the heavy responsibility to restore our honor! How can you neglect these and for your self-interest?”
“Your Holiness, once I sign this contract, I’ll degenerate into a puppet!” The Tempest Colossal Dragon shook his head repeatedly again. “I can’t agree to this! You should find someone else!”
The Dragons’ vengeance was important, but it would be worth nothing compared to his life. The Tempest Colossal Dragon was not going to sell his soul away just for revenge, no way.
Absolutely no way!
Even if it was an order from the Dragon God!
“Arlo, so you are going against my will?” The Dragon God’s face turned cold.
“Your Holiness, I wouldn’t dare go against your will, but as a half-deity, I have my dignity, and you cannot force me!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon switched from his obedient self of before to a tough attitude. Even though the difference between a half-deity and a true god was worlds apart, a half-deity was still a deity.
Of those that could become half-deities, who was not prideful and hardy?
How could Arlo give up his life and sell his soul to the devil just because of a few words of the Dragon God?
That was nothing more than wishful thinking!
“You dare defy me!”
The Dragon God was enraged as terrifying divine power soared up the sky and pressed toward the Tempest Colossal Dragon.
“My great lord Dragon God, I just want to survive. Please do not make it difficult for me. Let us part our ways!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon bowed slightly, turned into a stream of light, and escaped outside.
Though the Dragon God was just a divinity projection, it could still utilize a half-deity’s strength. The Tempest Colossal Dragon did not dare to challenge him and decided to escape.
“Selfish fool, you think you can run away?”
The Dragon God gave a cold snort and flew over.
“W-what’s going on?!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon spasmed all over as he felt a sharp pain across his body as if he was bitten by thousands of ants and suffered greatly.
“What’s going on? What is happening to me?” The Tempest Colossal Dragon was petrified.
“Selfish coward, you are a disgrace to the Dragons!” The Dragon God watched the suffering Tempest Colossal Dragon. “You deserve to die!”
“What exactly have you done to me?”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was alarmed and furious.
“Still remember how you broke through to become a half-deity?” the Dragon God asked detachedly.
“Assimilating the Primordial Colossal Dragon’s blood, breaking the bloodline deadlock…” The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s eyes widened suddenly. “You tampered with the Primordial Colossal Dragon’s blood?”
“You’re not too foolish after all.” The Dragon God said coldly, “The so-called Primordial Colossal Dragon’s blood was my divine blood. And of course, I’ve added something inside!”
“Why did you do that?” The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s face contorted in pain. “We are all Dragons. We are even your followers. Why would you harm us?”
“Why? Of course, it’s a precaution. The Dragons only need one Dragon God!” The Dragon God shook his head slightly. “No one else shall contest for the power of faith with me!”
“Despicable! Selfish! Shameless!” The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s countenance was grim. “Helibos, what kind of Dragon God are you? You don’t deserve to be a Dragon God!”
“Cut the crap!” The Dragon God snorted coldly and threw out the Devil contract. “Sign this, and you’ll stay alive! Or else, I will make you explode instantly!”
“You… bast*rd!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was full of hatred. If it was possible, he really wanted to give everything he had and perish together with the Dragon God. Yet, in reality, he would not dare or want to do so—he had not lived enough and did not want to die!
Plus, so what if he fought till the end?
What was in front of him was just a divinity projection and not Dragon God himself, so what was the point perishing with that?
“Your Holiness, you’ve won!”
In the end, the Tempest Colossal Dragon was wise enough and yielded as he signed the Devil contract.
Buzz…
At the moment when the contract came into effect, a huge dimensional vortex appeared in the sky, emitting an evil aura that would make people’s heart pound wildly.
Gulp~
The Tempest Colossal Dragon swallowed his saliva as his eyes were filled with terror. If he could, he would have run away at the first sight of it.
Two blood-red light beams shot out of the vortex, and a head that was darker than the night poked out slowly.
Boom!
A vast and vile aura spread across instantly, even the air started to solidify due to the immense pressure. The Tempest Colossal Dragon was trembling as he was extremely terrified.
“This is…”
The Dragon God fixed his eyes and recognized this Demon God, who was comparable to an intermediate deity.
Thick ram horns, blood-red eyes, unbreakable scale armor, fangs that exuded an eerie chill, and a petrifying and depressing evil aura…
“Dark Demonic Dragon!” the Dragon God murmured as there was a flash of wariness in his eyes—this Demon God’s power was on par with his actual body!
Indeed, the gigantic head that came out of the dimensional vortex was a dragon head.
But this dragon head was way too big!
The dragon horns were already 100,000 feet long, the pair of eyes were larger than a bus, while every scale was the size of a basketball court gleaming with a black shine.
You can conjure up the whole body just by seeing a part of it.
“Lowly servant from far away, it is you who awakened me?”
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s lips moved, letting out a deep and intimidating voice.
“Yes… Yes! My great Master!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was shivering in fear. As a half-deity, his size was rather huge at 10,000 feet.
However, that was not even a tenth of the size of the Dark Demonic Dragon’s head, not to mention the entire body.
Both were from way different leagues!
“Such a disgusting smell!” The Dark Demonic Dragon raised its eyebrows and looked at the Dragon God. “Lowly and foul-smelling stink bug, stay away from me!”
Roar!
With a terrifying roar, the Dragon God’s divinity projection exploded in a flash, and even the Void around it was blasted into a mixture of black holes.
Upon seeing this, the Tempest Colossal Dragon felt jovial for a while but lowered his head even more.
One must know that the Dark Demonic Dragon had the same roots as the Dragons before it turned into a Devil, becoming the Colossal Dragon race’s arch-nemesis.
They were simply incompatible together!
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was afraid that this Dark Demonic Dragon did not like the sight of him, and it might swallow him alive. His death would be too tragic!
Having dealt with the Dragon God’s divinity projection, the Dark Demonic Dragon’s eyes fell upon the Tempest Colossal Dragon. “Lowly bug, it was you who signed my contract?”
“Yes… My great Master!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s voice was trembling.
“Your smell is very disgusting!” The Dark Demonic Dragon growled in a deep voice. “But since you signed the Devil contract, giving me a low-end existential plane, I shall not kill you!”
“Thank you for your kindness, Master!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon repeatedly kowtowed as he broke out in cold sweat. He was really worried that he would be swallowed by the Dark Demonic Dragon and die in vain.
“However, since you have signed the contract to become my servant, you must obey me. Or else, I can kill you anytime,” the Dark Demonic Dragon said indifferently.
“I shall perform the duties you lay upon me faithfully!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon quickly declared his allegiance.
“Great! Very Good!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was pleased. “First order—build the magic circle immediately, summoning our servants to conquer this existential plane!”
“Conquering this existential plane?” A jolt went through the Tempest Colossal Dragon’s body. “My great Master, you want to—”
“Any place I visit shall become my territory!” The Dark Demonic Dragon’s voice was cold. “I will spread my influence around the entire Void, and everyone shall bow down before me!”
“Master, I shall follow your will!” The Tempest Colossal Dragon kowtowed quickly. “But if Master wants to conquer this existential plane, you must eradicate the one person who can stop Master’s plans!”
“Once my army descends, every being on this existential plane shall be the army’s food!” The Dark Demonic Dragon took out a black scale. “Construct the magic circle following this. I hope to see its completion half a month later.”
“My great Master, but that person—”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon wanted to carry on speaking, but the Dark Demonic Dragon did not give him any chances as its head retreated into the dimensional vortex and disappeared.
For the time being, that ferocious evil aura was gone. In the vast Far Northern Iceland’s sky, the Tempest Colossal Dragon hovered alone over there.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
“Damn you, Helibos! Damn you, Dark Demonic Dragon! You’re all damned! All damned!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s face was contorted as he clenched his jaws, the amount of hatred he had…
" }, { "id": 269, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-269", "title": "Chapter 269 - An Unknown Army, Attack Of The Demons", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 269: An Unknown Army, Attack of the Demons
As the Fairy Empire and the Titan Empire consecutively declared their submission, the two races also took action accordingly.
The Titans retreated to the Titan Mountains, while the Fairies returned to the Forest of Life.
In the meantime, the armies of the two empires disbanded and returned home. Meng Lei’s troops moved in.
Within a mere period of two months, the Meng Lei Empire took over two empires without bloodshed.
At once, various policies were launched one after another, taking down nobles, dividing up the land, promoting faith…
As the human race was huge in numbers, these policies quickly received enthusiastic responses from the two countries’ people.
With their support, the demi-Titan and demi-Fairy nobles in the two empires couldn’t make many waves before they were drowned out in the waves of liberation.
The Meng Lei Empire’s territory reached an astonishing size at once, threatening the Beast People Empire and making it feel a huge pressure.
“Everyone, the Fairy Empire and Titan Empire successively surrendered, and only we, the Beast People Empire, are left. What should we do?”
The Beast Emperor sat on the stone chair, looking much more aged than before.
“It’s all up to you to decide, Your Majesty!”
The officials of the empire sobbed with a low voice.
There were only two choices when looking at the current situation—either surrender and prolong their pitiful life, like the Fairy Empire and Titan Empire or fight to their death against the Meng Lei Empire.
They didn’t want to accept either case nor could they!
Surrender?
Meng Lei’s empire took down nobles and divided up all the land, but it was just so that all these officials were nobles of the Beast People Empire and very prominent nobles.
Once they surrendered, they would completely become the Meng Lei Empire’s civilians, with no more chance to return to their noble statuses.
Fight?
They couldn’t beat him!
Meng Lei had even killed the legendary Titan Horace, with even 11 half-deities, as well as 10 half-deities Colossal Dragons, under his leadership, so how could they possibly fight against him?
Wouldn’t that be like hitting an egg against a rock?
“Up to me to decide? How do I decide?”
The Beast Emperor was depressed. “Either choice will push our Beast People Empire to a place of no return, and I will become the Beast People Empire’s criminal!”
“Your Majesty may as well surrender!”
A Pig Person official said with a crying voice, “Surrender, and we can still live. If we don’t, the Meng Lei Empire will completely erase our Beast People Empire from this earth!
“Then, with our people dead and our country destroyed, we, Beast People, will completely become history, just like the Dragons!”
“Wuneng Pig, how dare you incite Your Majesty to surrender! What is your intention!?”
A Wolf Person with a wolf head condemned the Pig Person angrily, his eyes flashing with coldness.
“Sanwa Wolf, against absolute power, roaring is useless!” Wuneng Pig said coldly, “Roaring will only cause an absolute disaster!”
“Hmph!”
“Report!”
At this time, a Lion Man guard rushed into the great hall, terrified, and knelt down in front of the Beast Emperor. “Your… Your Majesty, it’s no good!”
Upon hearing that, the Beast Emperor stood up at once, and his facial expression changed. “Why are you so terrified? Has that Meng Lei already come to our gates?”
“No, not that, Your Majesty! There was just news from the Far Northern Icelands! A huge demon army suddenly appeared in the Far Northern Icelands!”
The Lion Person guard panicked. “Their numbers are astonishing, and they came rushing to the Far Northern Icelands like a tide!”
“What?”
“A demon army?”
The Beast Emperor looked at the officials, and all of them looked confused. Everyone knew that the Far Northern Icelands had no living thing other than a small handful of Ice-Elemental Magical Beasts.
A demon army?
Wasn’t that nonsense?
Right when everyone was confused and stunned, another Lion Person guard rushed in.
“Your… Your Majesty, news came from the Far Northern Icelands! The demon army is huge, and their capability is scary! The Far Northern Icelands can’t hold for much longer, and they hope Your Majesty will send reinforcements soon!”
“Your Majesty, it’s no good…”
In the hours to come, one piece of bad news followed by another hit the hearts of the Beast Emperor and all the members of his court!
The demon army broke through the Far Northern Icelands, and then, like a flood that overcame a dam…
It went rushing all the way toward the Beast People Empire. Everywhere it passed, everything was destroyed!
What made the Beast Emperor and the top echelon of the empire despair the most was that the angry demon army went all the way without leaving a single living being alive!
All living things they encountered were killed!
Every strong fort was turned into dust!
Every Beast Person clan was burnt to the ground!
“Where on earth did this demon army come from? Why would they appear in my Beast People Empire?”
The Beast Emperor was on the verge of collapse. “Who can tell me, where did they come from, who do they listen to, how to resist them?”
The officials looked at one another and said nothing.
You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?
I am also f*cking in despair!
“Your Majesty, it has come to this, so we should gather our army, choose our generals, and hit the demon army head-on! They are really too fast!”
A Fox Person official said hurriedly, “If we allow things to continue, it will spread to our entire realm in no time, our millions of people will all die, and our Beast People Empire will come to its end!”
Upon hearing this, the Beast Emperor, Grom Lexar, shivered and nodded continuously.
“This is very true, Ados, I neglected it!
“Pass my order! Dispatch 6 big regiments, including the Behemoth, Oxen, and Elephant-Men regiments, to stop the invading enemy. Be sure to stop their army, pause their movement, and eventually destroy them completely!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
…
Meng Lei had no idea about what was happening at the Beast People Empire. A few months later, Fatty Hart finally completed the initial-stage integration of that piece of divine core.
Thus, he brought Fatty Hart and Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth to the Lost Continent.
At present, the duo’s aura had undergone an overwhelming change. Their facial expressions carried divine power in every turn of their eyes!
Deities!
Both had actually already surpassed the level of half-deity to become true gods!
Although they were the weakest true gods with the least fighting power, they were indeed real true gods!
They couldn’t beat other true gods of the same level, but they were more than good enough to deal with Saint Domain experts and half-deities.
“Big Brother, so this is the Lost Continent?”
Fatty Hart’s feet stepped out into empty air. Looking at the green and lush Lost Continent, their eyes contained a bit of curiosity, a bit of excitement, a bit of anticipation…
Without any accidents, from now on, this would become the new Dragon Island, and he would become the new master and Dragon Emperor of this new continent!
“Yes, this is the Lost Continent.” Meng Lei smiled and nodded. “From now on, you are in charge of this place. I hope you will manage the Colossal Dragon clan properly, don’t let me down!”
“Rest assured, old bro. I will be sure to keep the Colossal Dragon clan obedient and well-behaved, make them all become your believers, and follow your orders!”
Fatty Hart patted his chest and promised proudly. He had enough confidence in his own power, so what was dealing with the Colossal Dragon clan to him?
“Good to hear that!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and waved his hand.
Splash…
Countless Colossal Dragons appeared out of thin air. There were Dark Colossal Dragons with completely black bodies, Light Colossal Dragons shining with bright divine light, Frost Colossal Dragons emanating with a cold shine, and Storm Colossal Dragons with green scales all over their bodies…
They came in all kinds and variations, and they numbered more than 10,000!
“Roar!”
When so many Colossal Dragons just appeared, a huge wave of dragon might was immediately released.
All of them stretched their necks and roared angrily, expressing the confusion and surprise in their hearts.
“Roar!”
“Where?”
“Where is this?”
“Did we escape that goddamn place?”
“Fatty Hart, I will leave the rest to you!”
Meng Lei looked at Fatty Hart smiling.
“Old bro, just watch!”
Fatty Hart smiled, took one step out, arrived at the space above the dragons, and decisively changed his form.
Boom!
A golden Colossal Dragon, tens of thousands of feet long and shining with golden light all over its body, appeared suddenly. An overwhelming wave of divine power spread and pressed across thousands of miles.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Colossal Dragons hit the ground like dumplings being dropped into the pot. Then, they were pressed down on the ground hard, shivering, not able to even start to think about resistance.
“Listen, Colossal Dragons below, this is the new Dragon Island. You will be the first batch of residents of the new Dragon Island, and I am the new Dragon Emperor! Do you have any objections to this?”
“The new Dragon Island?”
“The new Dragon Emperor?”
…
Master left the Lost Continent with Sacas, and right after he returned to the palace, Puhaman approached him. “Master, something big happened in the Beast People Empire!”
“Beast People Empire?” Meng Lei’s eyebrows lifted. “These guys made trouble again?”
In the past few months, the Titan Empire and Fairy Empire had both surrendered, and only the Beast People Empire had not sent any news yet—clearly not willing to surrender!
Of course, Meng Lei was displeased, and just as he was about to order the army to attack, something happened in the Beast People Empire?
What do these Beast People want to do after all?
Fight with him till death, or what?
“Master, our spy dragon guard in the Beast People Empire reported back that a demon army of astonishing numbers was found within the realm of the empire. They came in great force and momentum and seized almost 1/10 of the empire’s territories near the Far Northern Icelands within a short period!”
Puhaman’s face was solemn. “Now, they are spreading to the entire realm of the Beast People Empire with a shocking speed. Given the demon army’s marching speed, they will completely raze the Beast People Empire to the ground within less than half a month!”
“A demon army?”
Meng Lei looked completely astonished. “Where did a demon army come from in the realm of the Beast People Empire? Did some Demon Magician make trouble, or did someone accidentally sign a demon contract?”
“Both are possible!”
Puhaman said in a low voice, “When I got the news in the morning, I sent Thaniel off to the Beast People Empire already. I believe he will be back soon!”
“Mmm!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Thaniel had similarly integrated his lesser deity divine core, and his ability reached the level of true gods, especially his speed was faster than before. It was the most appropriate for him to collect intelligence.
Meng Lei didn’t have to wait for long. After just over 2 hours, Thaniel came back with shocking news.
“Master, the size of the demon army attacking the Beast People Empire is estimated at around 100,000,000!
“There is a shocking amount of Devil Overlords among them, and a decent number of even Demon Lords!
“Several Great Demon Lords as well!
“The demon army is extremely fast, and they will completely seize the Beast People Empire!”
Devil Overlords were comparable to half-deities!
Demon Lords were comparable to true gods!
Great Demon Lords were the equivalent of lesser deities!
“Master, this is not an ordinary demon invasion. It is more terrifying than any other time in history. We have to be careful!”
" }, { "id": 270, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-270", "title": "Chapter 270 - Armies At The Borders, An Unstoppable Force", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 270: Armies At The Borders, An Unstoppable Force
Taurens were one of the most powerful races in the Beast People Empire due to their strong physique and a decent reproduction rate.
Taurens were similar to other Beast People races, where they were made up of over a thousand clans of different sizes.
The Iron Heel Clan was one of them, occupying several dozen million square kilometers of land in the Iron Heel Plains. The clan had a huge population where experts were plenty, so it had a huge influence over the Taurens and the Beast People Empire.
However, the Iron Heel Clan was faced with their worst ever crisis on this day, as waves and waves of demons swept toward them like a tsunami.
Hooowl!
Croooak!
Quaaack!
From the weak juvenile Taurens, and the strong Tauren warriors, to the Saint Domain experts hovering in the sky, they were all overwhelmed. They were getting torn into pieces and split among the devils as food, getting swallowed as a whole, or getting stomped into a meat sauce by the Demon Overlords.
Everything in the devil’s path turned into ruins.
“We… We are finished!”
“O’ great and noble Beast God, please save your lowly people!”
“These damn demons, I’m going all out!”
“Save me! Somebody, please save me…”
Screams, shrills, cries for help rung across the sky above the Iron Heel Plains. They died down quickly as the relentless waves of demons drowned them out.
Three hours later, the tide went away. The Iron Heel Clan was completely gone, and what remained was a hellish scene.
The Taurens were gone.
Buildings had all collapsed.
The clan was reduced to ruins.
The Iron Heel Clan had disappeared forever in the Beast People Empire and Heaven’s Vault Continent as if they vanished in thin air!
…
“Master below is the most important passage of the Beast People Empire, the Beast God Pass. It is the only way through to the Beast People Empire’s heart and the last line of defense of the empire. If the pass falls, the demon army will be able to enter straight toward the Beast People royal court, and the empire will fall to the enemies!”
“The Beast God Pass is indeed majestic!”
Meng Lei hovered in the air and looked at the grand pass as he remarked.
The Beast God Pass looked mighty as it sat on the Far Northern Wastelands—surrounded by huge mountains and precipitous ridges and spanned over hundreds and thousands of miles.
“Due to its importance, the Beast People Empire has gathered 10 regiments here to defend the pass at all cost against the demon army.”
“That is certainly so!”
The Beast People Empire army that amassed at the pass was well over a billion in strength, it was simply vast!
The hundred-meter-high Behemoth regiment, the blond-haired Lion People regiment, and the formidable-looking Tiger People regiment.
Of course, there was also the Bull, Komodo, Elephant-Men, Hippo-Men, Centaur, Rhino-Men, and Leopard-Men regiments!
Each regiment’s average size was over 100,000,000, so the 10 regiments had a combined force of more than 1,000,000,000 strength, on par with India’s population!
Other than that, many Saint Domain experts gathered at the pass, reaching over 10,000 in size!
Over 10,000 Saint Domains was an absolute force to be reckoned with that could destroy a country easily!
Despite this, no one favored the Beast People Empire to win!
“It will be in vain! Everything will be in vain!”
Gazing at the huge Beast People Empire army, Puhaman shook his head. “This demon army is very different from any other demonic disaster in the past. This one is an unprecedented one which this bit of resistance will surely fail!”
Bubbles, Thaniel, Nadja, and the rest nodded in agreement—the Beast People Empire’s military strength was indeed formidable, but that was only the case for ordinary beings as it was nothing compared to this demonic disaster.
“If this carries on, the Beast People Empire will be finished and destroyed by the demon army!” Puhaman shook his head and sighed. “Master, do we watch them get wiped out and cash in on the situation, or help them out?”
Bubbles, Thaniel, and the others looked at Meng Lei and awaited his orders.
“The Beast People Empire nobles deserved to die, but the commoners have done no wrong to deserve death.” Meng Lei did not hesitate at all. “Plus, Beast People live in our Heaven’s Vault Continent, how can we watch them get destroyed by the demons?”
“Yes, Master!”
Hooowl!
Just then, a deep roar came from afar, as a black line was spotted on the ground level.
As time passed by, the black line became thicker and thicker, turning into a black wave, then into a sea…
That was the mighty demon army!
“Master, the demon army is here!”
Puhaman, Bubbles, and the rest perked up with no fear in their eyes. They were actually excited and getting ready for a battle.
It was the demon army, after all!
There were a lot of demon lords that were the same level as them, so they were eager to have the chance to battle them.
“Indeed! They’re here!”
Meng Lei raised his head slightly as he remained calm.
“The demons are here!!”
“The demon army is coming!”
The Beast People Empire army saw the demon army’s arrival and shouted at the top of their lungs.
With every order passed down, the entire Beast People Empire army went to stand by for battle.
Arrows on the bowstring!
Blades were drawn!
Mages chanted lightly!
Cannons ready to fire!
Roar!!
Croooak!!
“Master, the demon army is here!”
The Beast Emperor and his officials watched the swarm of the demon army, with hatred, fear, and anxiety in their eyes.
“Send my orders! From myself down to every soldier, we must give it our all and fight till the very end! We shall defend the Beast God Pass to our death!” The Beast Emperor said coldly.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The orders were sent down. Still, the Beast Emperor was worried as he flew above his army and said with a thunderous voice, “Fellow comrades, the time to defend our homeland has come. Let us destroy these damn demons and protect our home and our loved ones!”
“We shall defend the Beast God Pass to our death!”
“We shall defend the Beast God Pass to our death!”
“We shall defend the Beast God Pass to our death!”
Every beast people roared at the sky, sending thundering sound waves across the plains, beating the massive demon wave in terms of their aura.
“Send my order: Attack!”
At his command, countless magic cannons spewed fire and blasted toward the swarm of the demon army.
Boom!
Innumerable demon soldiers were blasted into pieces while flesh exploded all over the place, creating pockets of empty spaces. However, the rest of the demons were unfazed as they carried on charging at the Beast God Pass.
There were Fire demons bathed in flames, the Ice demons snow-white throughout, the Wind demons shrouded in black winds, and Bloodseekers made of blood. There were countless little devils, great devils, long-horned devils, and howling devils, all continuing their advancement ceaselessly!
“Kill!”
After the cannons were fired, a dense rain of arrows and spells killed innumerable demons, but it still could not stop the demon wave in their tracks. In fact, they did not even slow down at all.
In a matter of minutes, the blood-red wave had arrived before the pass. Demon Generals of Saint Domain level led the line as they jumped toward the Beast People Empire army at the gateway to start the siege.
“Attack!”
The Beast Emperor swung his longsword!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Their attacks were like a massive thunderstorm that turned the demon generals into sieves. Before the defending Beast People Empire could catch their breath, countless demon soldiers carried on with their charge toward the gates…
Just like that, a charge led to a counter-attack!
Under the Beast People Empire army’s strong-willed resistance, the demons could not break through for quite a while.
In this situation, a half-deity level Demon Overlord soared into the sky and let out a deafening roar.
“Roar!”
A mighty demonic aura erupted and pressed toward the Beast People Empire army. Upon sensing this threatening might, the Beast People Empire army panicked.
“Half-deities!!”
“This is a half-deity demon!”
“Damn it! How are we going to stop that?”
The empire officials were close to breaking down—they could stop ordinary demon soldiers and demon generals with their advantage in Beast God Pass even if there were more of them. However, how were they supposed to stop half-deities?
What distressed them the most was that after the first Demon Overlord came out, the second one, the third one, the fourth one, the fifth one…
In an instant, hundreds of Demon Overlords were up in the sky as they charged toward the Beast God Pass.
Demonic might that covered every expanse of land pressed upon the Beast God Pass like a mountain.
“O my Beast God!”
“So many half-deities?”
“It’s all over!”
“We’re dead meat!”
“We can’t compete with them at all!”
The Beast People Empire army, with over a billion in numbers, lost all of their morale. They could not fight one half-deity already, not to mention so many half-deities here!
How were they supposed to survive?
“Gone! Beast People Empire is finished!”
The Beast Emperor’s face turned pale as he limped onto the ground, his words of courage just had collapsed.
He knew deep inside that there was no hope of winning against hundreds of half-deities, not to mention the endless demon army.
One sentence—The Beast People Empire was finished!
“Kill!”
Hundreds of Demon Overlords charged at the gates of the Beast God Pass. Some spat red hot lava, some spat white chilly currents, and some spat gleaming wind blades.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
After a round of offense, the ten regiments of the empire were either burnt into ashes or frozen into ice sculptures…
In an instant, there was already a large number of casualties.
“Too powerful!”
“They’re way too powerful!”
“We are just no match against them!”
At the sight of this scene, the remaining empire army was shrouded in an endless feeling of despair, losing all hope and their willingness to fight.
When facing such terrifying Demon Overlords, how could they have won? Even if the Beast God descended now, the chances of defeating these Demon Overlords were close to none.
“It’s my fault! It’s all my fault!” The iron entered the Beast Emperor’s soul. “If I had submitted to the Meng Lei Empire earlier, then it might not have turned out like this!
“I have failed the Beast People Empire! I have failed to protect all of my citizens!”
" }, { "id": 271, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-271", "title": "Chapter 271 - A Spike In Wealth, A True God Melee", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 271: A Spike In Wealth, A True God Melee
A dozen or so figures floated in the sky a short distance away from the Beast God Pass. Among them were Behemoths, Fox-Men, Tiger-Men, Lion-Men, Taurens…
There was a strong, forceful aura around every one of them, and they gave off vast, majestic divine power—evidently, they were all half-deities.
That’s right, they were half-deities of the Beast People Empire. They were currently here at the Beast God Pass in hopes that they could aid the empire’s army in eliminating the threat of the demon invasion.
However, all of them had become rather hesitant as they watched the hundreds of Demon Overlords that had suddenly come charging out.
With that many half-deity-level Demon Overlords there, wouldn’t they just be throwing their lives away in vain if they also charged toward them?
A Tiger-Man half-deity asked hoarsely, “What should we do?”
The others had only silence as a response. None of them knew how they should answer him.
The Tiger-Man half-deity couldn’t help but turn to a Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman. He said, “Fawkes, you’re the wisest and cleverest among us. Hurry and think of something!”
The other half-deities also turned to the Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman, their eyes filled with hope and anticipation.
“The demon army is attacking with a vengeance, and on top of that, there are even several hundred half-deities among them. Even if we were to fight them, it would be no different from us fighting a hopeless battle.”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman let out a faint sigh and said, “Besides, I can also sense an intimidating aura coming from the demon army—in other words, there are true god-level presences among them!”
The others couldn’t help but let out an exclamation of shock at her words.
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman was a pinnacle-level half-deity that was only a step—establishing a divine nation—short of becoming a true god. The only thing that could possibly intimidate her was a true god!
“Yes, true gods!”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman looked in the direction of the demon army and said, “The demon invasion this time is definitely much more fearsome than what we had initially thought. We are powerless against it.”
Awful looks came over the other half-deities’ countenances. They asked, “What should we do, then? Surely we can’t just watch helplessly as the empire falls?”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman closed her eyes painfully and replied, “Now that things have come to this, we only have one solution left.”
The half-deities hastily asked, “What is it?”
“Submit to the Meng Lei Empire!”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman slowly said, “There are currently two true god-level existences in the Meng Lei Empire—Bubbles and Meng Lei himself. If we submit, they will take the Beast People under their wing and offer us protection, such that we won’t die out completely.
“Conversely, should we not submit to the Meng Lei Empire and allow the demon army to ravage the empire instead, we Beast People will end up disappearing from Heaven’s Vault Continent for eternity.
“To sum it up, we either submit or be destroyed! What do all of you think?”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman gazed at the other half-deities.
“Fawkes is right. The Beast People Empire may cease to exist after we submit to the Meng Lei Empire, but we Beast People can still live on. If we don’t, death will be our only way out!”
“I agree. We’ll pick the lesser of two evils. Submission is better than complete destruction.”
After hearing the Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman’s analysis, all the half-deities practically agreed to Fawkes’ suggestion without any hesitation.
Then, they went in the other direction, intending to fly toward the Meng Lei Empire to seek aid from Meng Lei.
However, it was right at this moment that a dozen or so figures suddenly shot toward them and arrived right above the Beast God Pass. Every one of them gave off vast, majestic divine power and a terrifying aura.
“That’s…”
The Beast People Empire half-deities turned toward them.
The Beast Emperor and the court officials also raised their heads in puzzlement.
At once, looks of astonishment and puzzlement came over everyone’s faces.
One of the officials exclaimed in a low voice, “Your Majesty, it’s Meng Lei and his subordinates!”
The Beast Emperor’s brows drew together into a huge frown as he said, “What have they come here for? Are they here to watch from a safe distance as the Beast People Empire falls? Or are they here to help us?”
The Beast Emperor and the officials were filled with unease at the moment. As adversaries, they really couldn’t quite guess what Meng Lei and the others were here for.
To watch the show? Or to help?
Or could it be that they were the ones behind the demon army themselves?
The ones approaching them were indeed Meng Lei and the others!
Meng Lei knew it was time for him to make his appearance the instant that the hundreds of Demon Overlords showed up at the Beast God Pass. He couldn’t just allow them to wreak havoc at will.
Otherwise, the one billion-strong army currently occupying the Beast God Pass would definitely be completely wiped out!
“Greetings, Your Holiness Meng Lei.”
The Beast People Empire’s dozen or so half-deities flew over and bowed to Meng Lei in greeting. They knew that Meng Lei and the others had already discovered their presence a long time ago.
“Are all of you the Beast People Empire’s half-deities?” asked Meng Lei as he cast a glance at them.
He had indeed discovered their presence a long time ago.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman bowed and said, “We are willing to lead the Beast People Empire’s people and submit to Your Holiness. I hope Your Holiness can show us compassion and take us in.”
“Submitting only now? What have you been doing all this time instead?”
Bubbles snorted. “Master’s holy decree has long since spread like wildfire in the entire continent. The Fairy Empire and the Titan Empire have already submitted to us one by one, while the Beast People Empire is the only one that has stayed silent all this time during the last few months. I had thought that all of you were intending to resist to the very end and would rather choose death over submission!”
“Forgive us, Your Holiness.”
The half-deities pleaded for mercy. “Everything is the result of our muddleheadedness and has nothing to do with the billions of people in the Beast People Empire. If Your Holiness must punish someone, then we’re willing to shoulder it all. We beg only for Your Holiness to save the billions of people in the Beast People Empire. They are innocent!”
“If I didn’t intend to save them, I wouldn’t be showing up here today.”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “The Beast People Empire is already as good as secured, regardless of whether all of you submit to me or not. This is a fact that nobody can change!”
“As per Your Holiness’ holy decree!”
All the half-deities bowed one by one.
Meng Lei said dispassionately with a wave, “Go! Kill those demons!”
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles and the others were already raring to go a long time ago. The moment Meng Lei gave the order, all 11 true gods charged right out brazenly as though ferocious beasts that had been freed from cages!
“Hahaha! Die!”
Bubbles threw a punch out. Vast, enormous power surged out of him and instantly caused the air to explode!
Crack!
About ten or so Demon Overlords were blasted into a mist of blood before they could even react. Bits of flesh flew about as blood spurted everywhere, triggering a huge uproar.
“How can that be?”
The remaining Demon Overlords’ countenances changed greatly. Their eyes were filled with shock, horror, and fear as they watched Bubbles. Killing more than ten Demon Overlords with a single punch—that was definitely a level of strength that only a true god could possess!
That wasn’t the end of it, however. While the Demon Overlords were still stunned, Puhaman, Thaniel, Nadja, and the others also attacked one by one.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several blood-red steel needles shot toward the enemy, piercing through another ten or so Demon Overlords and killing them—the Spider Goddess had been the first to attack!
Howl!
A true god-level Undead Skeletal Dragon appeared in the sky. Its gigantic claw went smacking down, killing a dozen or so Demon Overlords right away.
Puhaman had summoned the Undead Skeletal Dragon!
Howl!
Thaniel sprayed a wave of black dragon breath from his mouth, instantly engulfing a dozen or so Demon Overlords in it.
For a while, each of the 11 true god subordinates displayed their own skills, swallowing up several hundred Demon Overlords in various different attacks.
A few moments later, the several hundred Demon Overlords who had been invading with a fierce momentum just a while ago were all dead!
“This, this…”
The Beast People Empire half-deities, the Beast Emperor and officials, as well as the billion-strong army, were all thoroughly stunned at the sight. Every one of them was flabbergasted and dumbstruck.
“Several hundred half-deities… have… all died… just like that?”
“O my Beast God! Since when have half-deities become that weak?”
“How terrifying! They are truly too terrifying!”
Putting the Beast People Empire’s people’s astoundment aside for now, Meng Lei had also attacked at this point.
His target wasn’t the Demon Overlords, the Demon Lords, or the Great Demon Lords. Rather, it was the endless and infinite demon army and the overwhelming, relentless waves of demons!
“Absolute Zero!”
Meng Lei pointed with his finger. A golden chilly air current quietly formed and spread into the surroundings with an explosive boom.
They spread 10,000 miles into the surroundings in an instant and enveloped the whole area.
Crack!
All the demons within the area were instantly frozen, every one of them turning into golden ice statues frozen to the spot, still and motionless.
“Ding! 1 Longhorned Demon killed, 12 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Fire Demon killed, 23 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Little Demon killed, 1,000,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding…”
System notifications sounded one after another without pause.
Most of the demons in the army weren’t very strong. Their advantage laid in their sheer, endless numbers instead.
That moment just now had actually brought Meng Lei 13,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
13,000,000!
Now, that was an extremely large amount of riches!
Going by the rate of 0.1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal per demon, Meng Lei had actually killed 130,000,000 demons just now!
A whole 130,000,000!
Just how excessive were those numbers?
Yet relative to the entire demon army, these 130,000,000 demons were just the tip of the iceberg and not even worth mentioning at all.
“Absolute Zero!”
“Absolute Zero!”
“Absolute Zero!”
Meng Lei would never let the demon army off even if he couldn’t profit off them, let alone when they could bring him handsome riches and rewards!
All the more he would never let them off!
Clink, clink, clink!
Large expanses of demons were frozen into ice statues one by one. His Wealth values on his stats interface started to climb at an insanely fast speed, increasing by millions.
“Damn it!”
Enraged by Meng Lei and his subordinates’ actions, all the Demon Lords in the demon army started to fly toward them with fierce momentum.
Among them were Fire Demon Lords bathed in flames, Wind Demon Lords with cyan winds around them, and Ice Demon Lords formed from ice.
At one glance, there were actually as many as 17 of them!
“Lowly, stinky worms, how dare you attack the demon army! You should die for that! All of you!”
The 17 Demon Lords roared furiously in the sky. Their bloodlust-filled eyes bore into Meng Lei and his 11 subordinates as murderous intent welled up in them, and demonic aura surged around them.
“They’re finally attacking!”
Bubbles licked his lips. A hint of bloodthirstiness flashed across his eyes as he roared, “Kill them, my brothers!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
Puhaman, Thaniel, and the other true gods charged straight toward the Demon Lords.
Boom, boom, boom!
Without a second word, all 28 true gods instantly clashed against one another.
Bubbles clashed with two 100,000-feet-tall Black Flame Fox true gods;
Puhaman, who was riding an Undead Skeletal Dragon, became entangled in a fight with a 100,000-feet-long Hell Demon Dragon;
Thaniel transformed into his 100,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon form and battled fiercely with a Cerberus;
Nadja, Seisia…
They either fought one-on-one or one-on-two!
What was “heavens-destroying and earth-rending”?
This was it!
The clash between 28 true gods was one that was truly “heavens-destroying and earth-rending”. A casual blow could break the void, while a casual punch could break the heavens and split the earth. The aftershocks spreading into the surroundings could kill even Saint Domains, while the ravaging space-time rifts could rip even half-deities apart!
It was a true doomsday sight!
“Retreat!”
“Hurry and retreat!”
“A battle of this class…”
The Nine-Tailed Fox-Woman and the other Beast People Empire half-deities, the Beast Emperor and court officials, as well as the one billion-strong army, retreated in a panic, lest they become collateral damage if they were even a moment too slow.
Meng Lei naturally didn’t retreat—he was still in the midst of slaughtering the demon army and making money!
“Absolute Zero!”
“Absolute Zero!”
“Absolute Zero!”
Large expanses of ice statues appeared!
Large groups of demons died!
His Wealth increased at a crazy speed!
" }, { "id": 272, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-272", "title": "Chapter 272 - Killing The Demon Lords, The Demonic Dragon Continent", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 272: Killing The Demon Lords, The Demonic Dragon Continent
Wealth: 888.88 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
“888 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! That’s an extra 300 million! So, roughly three billion demons have died in my hands? Not bad! Let’s keep up the good work!”
As Meng Lei continued to slaughter the demons, large expanses of empty space began to appear in the sea of demons. Every moment saw large numbers of demons dying.
Yet relative to the sea of demons’ endless and infinite numbers, it nevertheless didn’t amount to much.
“I’m too slow!”
Dissatisfied with his hunting speed, Meng Lei split himself into ten clones with a flash. The ten clones then each split into ten again to form 100 clones. Then, the 100 clones split once more into another ten clones each to form a total of 10,000 clones!
In just an instant, 10,000 Meng Leis had appeared in the sky. All of them were personifications of his power of divinity.
One droplet of Power of Divinity was spent per divinity personification formed. This meant that forming 10,000 divinity personifications required 10,000 Power of Divinity droplets—this was no small sum!
But to the rich Meng Lei, the amount was negligible and completely within an acceptable range.
“Netherworld Divine Fire!”
10,000 licks of Netherworld Divine Fire flames burst forth from 10,000 Meng Leis’ fingertips, leaped toward the demon army, and landed on 10,000 demons.
Boom!
The Netherworld Divine Fire burned stronger and bigger upon contact with wind and began to spread like wildfire in the sea of demons.
For a while, screams rang out one after another, causing people’s scalps to go numb and their hair to stand on end.
“What kind of fire is that? It’s too terrifying!”
“I don’t know!”
“It’s practically unheard of!”
The people of the Beast People Empire felt chills coming all over them as they watched innumerable demons scream as they tried to struggle free of the Netherworld Divine Fire, only to be reduced to ashes thereafter.
The Netherworld Divine Fire was simply too terrifying!
Be it low-level demons like the Little Demons or high-level ones like the Fire Demons and so on, with no exception whatsoever, all the demons that it came into contact with were burned to death.
The sight was undoubtedly a much more chilling one than when they were frozen into ice statues by Absolute Zero.
Ding, ding, ding!
At the same time, system notifications also rang out non-stop while his Wealth increased at an insanely fast speed, sending Meng Lei over the moon.
“That’s the way to go! Burn into ashes!”
“Damn it! It’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
“Isn’t the Netherworld Divine Fire the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ inextinguishable flames? Where did a mortal from a material plane like him get that from?”
Two lesser deity-level Great Demon Lords were hidden at the very back of the demon army.
One of them was a fully pitch-black demon with warts all over it and looked like a tyrannosaurus, while the other was a snapping turtle-like demon with spikes all over its body and a turtle shell on its back.
The former was a Dark T-Rex King, while the latter was a Dark Snapping Turtle King.
As Great Demon Lords, the Dark T-Rex King and the Dark Snapping Turtle King were the Dark Demonic Dragon’s most competent underlings. Thus, they had been sent here to invade and conquer Heaven’s Vault Continent.
They had initially thought that conquering a material plane would be a piece of cake. All living beings standing in the way of the demon army would no doubt be annihilated everywhere that they passed through.
Yet Heaven’s Vault Continent’s strength had exceeded their initial expectations. Firstly, more than ten true gods had shown up, and then, a terrifying existence that could release Netherworld Divine Fire flames had also emerged. How inconceivable!
As Great Demon Lords of lesser deity-level, it went without saying that they recognized the Netherworld Divine Fire, of course. That was divine fire exclusive to the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and was also an inextinguishable flame that could burn even higher deities to death!
It was exactly because they knew of these facts that they couldn’t help but become wary!
“How is it that that human deity can use the Netherworld Divine Fire? Could he be part of the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ bloodline?”
“That’s the only possibility left now!”
“What should we do now?”
“Our mission from His Holiness the Demonic Dragon is to invade and conquer this existential plane. Unless we intend to go against His Holiness’ orders, we must kill him!”
“The aura around that human deity isn’t very strong. His combat strength is also at a lesser deity’s level. If the two of us join hands, killing him should be no issue for us. What worries me is the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes instead!”
“There’s no need to worry! The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes are faraway in Hell and too far to be able to help!”
“That makes sense!”
“Kill!”
After a simple discussion, the Dark T-Rex King and the Dark Snapping Turtle King promptly charged toward Meng Lei. They moved extraordinarily quickly and reached Meng Lei in an instant.
“Die!!”
The Dark T-Rex King roared furiously. Its thick, muscular tail whipped down through the air toward Meng Lei with an earth-shattering momentum as if intending to smash him into a bloody pulp.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei teleported away and vanished from the spot before showing up bizarrely right above the Dark T-Rex King.
The Dark Snapping Turtle King let out a low roar at the sight and shot out dozens of steel spikes from its back.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The dozens of steel spikes shot toward Meng Lei in a swarm amid shrill whizzing noises as they cut through the air. However, just as they were about to hit their target, Meng Lei disappeared again.
“Such agility!”
A huge jolt went through the Dark Snapping Turtle King, and then it heard a soft whiz coming from above it right away. Without a second thought, it instinctively withdrew into its turtle shell.
Meng Lei’s attack missed, upon which he couldn’t help but laugh and comment, “As expected of a turtle-type demon; that withdrawal speed is pretty much unbeatable. Do you think there’s nothing I can do about you just because of that, though?”
As he spoke, Meng Lei teleported on top of the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s shell. The Grim Reaper Scythe quietly appeared in his hand, and then, he swung it down forcefully!
Slash!
The incredibly sharp Grim Reaper Scythe instantly sundered the shell that the Dark Snapping Turtle King relied on for protection and made a two-meter-deep fissure in it.
“Damn it!”
Demonic aura churned around the pained Dark Snapping Turtle King and morphed into a hammer that smashed mercilessly toward Meng Lei.
The Dark T-Rex King didn’t stay idle, either. His voice exploded like a low, dull thunderclap as he launched sound wave attacks.
Sound wave attacks were omnidirectional, so Meng Lei wasn’t able to dodge them. Struck by the waves, Meng Lei suffered a mild concussion, and his mind blanked out for a moment.
“What terrifying sound waves!”
A hint of murderous intent flitted across Meng Lei’s eyes as he watched the Dark T-Rex King. Then, he teleported behind it and swung the Grim Reaper Scythe down.
“Die!!”
Slash!
The Dark T-Rex King’s scaly armor might be extremely tough, but it was ultimately still no match for the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s shell. The Grim Reaper Scythe could sunder even the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s shell, let alone its neck!
Splurt!
Black blood spurted everywhere, and the Dark T-Rex King’s head shot up into the sky before falling and landing on the ground.
The Dark T-Rex King’s eyes widened dramatically, completely unable to believe what was happening.
“I… I’m actually dying? D-dying in the hands of a deity on a low-end existential plane?”
The Dark T-Rex King couldn’t quite die in peace. The divine power that Meng Lei gave off was in no way strong and barely reached a lesser deity’s, yet he had actually managed to kill the Dark T-Rex King. It couldn’t accept such a harsh reality at all!
“Baker!”
The Dark Snapping Turtle King’s gaze fell on the decapitated Dark T-Rex King and then on the Grim Reaper Scythe in Meng Lei’s hand. It couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice, “The Grim Reaper Scythe! That’s the Grim Reaper Scythe! O His Holiness the Demonic Dragon, where did that guy get the Grim Reaper Scythe from?”
Meng Lei flung off the black blood on the Grim Reaper Scythe. Then, he said, “I shall use the Grim Reaper Scythe to harvest your head next and send you on your way to the Grim Reaper!”
“You have too active an imagination, human deity!”
The Dark Snapping Turtle let out a cold snort, and then it actually took off and started to flee in the direction from which it had come from. It didn’t press on with the battle at all!
“Fleeing already?”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback. Then, he teleported behind the Dark Snapping Turtle King. A black spear shot forward with a flick of his fingers.
Boom!
As he was simply too close, the Dark Snapping Turtle King couldn’t dodge the attack at all and was stabbed squarely by the black spear. Due to its turtle shell’s astonishingly powerful defenses, the black spear couldn’t do anything to it at all.
However, the black spear exploded upon contact and turned into a big burst of Netherworld Divine Fire flames that started to burn the Dark Snapping Turtle King!
“Damn it!”
Demonic aura rose from the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s back and formed a shield, isolating the Netherworld Divine Fire from its body and then separating it from its body.
“What an impressive turtle!”
This was Meng Lei’s first time ever seeing someone that could separate the Netherworld Divine Fire from themselves, and he found it very astonishing.
Of course, astonishment aside, Meng Lei’s actions didn’t slow down in the least. With a grand wave, ten black spears shot toward the Dark Snapping Turtle King.
“Damn it!”
The Dark Snapping Turtle King’s expression changed greatly, and it instantly sped up and darted into the distance. But no matter how fast it fled, how could it ever compare to the speed of teleportation?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Meng Lei blocked its path and tossed out another ten black spears formed from Netherworld Divine Fire.
In that instant, there were spears in front of it, as well as behind it. The Dark Snapping Turtle King ultimately couldn’t dodge them, and all 20 black spears bombarded it in quick succession and exploded with a grand boom!
Boom!
The Dark Snapping Turtle King was instantly engulfed in Netherworld Divine Fire. No matter how desperately it tried to control its demonic aura, it couldn’t separate the flames from itself again, causing it to scream loudly as the flames blazed away.
Meng Lei watched on mirthfully, allowing the flames to burn the Dark Snapping Turtle King. Only when it was close to its limit did he finally say, “If you wish to live, then pipe up!”
The Dark Snapping Turtle King immediately begged for mercy the moment it heard him. “S-spare me! Sir, spare me!”
“There’s a very simple way to live on—offer up your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me!” Meng Lei said, “As long as you submit to me, I’ll spare your life.”
“I… I submit! I’m willing to submit!”
The Dark Snapping Turtle King handed over its divine spirit origin energy with nary any hesitation and submitted under Meng Lei’s tyrannical bearing!
“Great!”
Meng Lei refined the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s divine spirit origin energy and successfully subdued the Great Demon Lord-level demon servant.
“What’s your name?”
“My noble Master, my name is Anton,” replied the Dark Snapping Turtle King respectfully.
“Give me the details about the current situation!”
“Yes, my noble Master!”
Following the Dark Snapping Turtle King’s recount of events, Meng Lei gradually understood the reason for the demon army’s appearance, where they had come from, and who they had been sent by.
As it turned out, the demon army had come from a demonic existential plane known as the Demonic Dragon Continent.
Of course, the Demonic Dragon Continent was neither under Hell’s nor the Demon Realm’s jurisdiction, much less the Netherworld’s.
Like Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Demonic Dragon Continent was just a relatively low-end material plane.
The difference laid in the fact that the living beings on the Demonic Dragon Continent weren’t kind-hearted races like humans or Fairies, but… Demons!
That’s right, the entire continent was occupied by demons. They were the only living beings on the continent.
The greatest existence that the Demonic Dragon Continent worshiped wasn’t a deity, either, but a Dark Demonic Dragon!
The Dark Demonic Dragon was named Cyrus Frost. A powerful intermediate deity-level Demon God, it ruled over a lot of territories.
The number of low-end existential planes under its rule alone numbered as many as dozens, and its territories far exceeded those of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Dragon God and Beast God.
The Demonic Dragon Continent was one of them.
This time, the demon invasion was precisely Cyrus Frost’s handiwork because it had taken an interest in Heaven’s Vault Continent and wanted to take it for itself, thereby resulting in the invasion.
" }, { "id": 273, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-273", "title": "Chapter 273 - Complete Annihilation, Take Your Own Life", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Elsewhere, Bubbles, Puhaman, and the others’ battles were nearing their end.
Although they were fighting at 11 versus 17 and weren’t at an advantage in numbers, Bubbles and the others were ultimately still lesser deities. A lesser deity, even the weakest one, wasn’t an existence that true god-level Demon Lords could contend against!
“The task has been successfully completed, Master!”
The 17 Demon Lords were forcefully escorted over to Meng Lei. Bubbles and the others looked greatly satisfied—they had fought to their hearts’ content during the battle just now.
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the Demon Lords one by one. They were wound-riddled and appeared to be in an exceptionally pathetic state at the moment. Evidently, they had suffered a terrible beating just now.
“Anton, what do you think we should do with them?” Meng Lei asked leisurely as he turned to Anton, the Dark Snapping Turtle King he had just subdued.
“My noble Master, like me, they were also forcefully dispatched here by Cyrus. They didn’t invade Heaven’s Vault Continent on their own accord.”
A prostrating Anton said, “I hope Master can show them mercy and let them live.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “Since you’re pleading for mercy on their behalf, then I’ll give them a way out.”
“Thank you, o great Your Holiness!”
“Thank you for showing us kindness and sparing our lives!”
The 17 Demon Lords repeatedly kowtowed and gave their thanks.
“You may live on, but not without punishment!”
Meng Lei changed the course of the conversation and said, “Had it been my old temperament, my anger at all of you leading the masses to invade Heaven’s Vault Continent would only have been abated with your deaths.”
“Please mete out our punishment, Your Holiness!”
“Your Holiness, please punish us!”
The 17 Demon Lords were so frightened that they were shaking in their boots.
“How about this,” Meng Lei turned to Bubbles and the others and suggested, “I’ll make them submit to all of you and let them become your servants.”
“Master, is this… really okay?”
Bubbles and the other ten people’s eyes lit up at his suggestion. However, they were rather hesitant. Those were all true god-level Demon Lords that were only a tad weaker than them. Would they be going too far if they made them their servants?
“It’s okay because I say so!”
Meng Lei said leisurely, “According to Anton, the Dark Demonic Dragon still has dozens of other Demon Lords under his command, so I can bestow these ones upon all of you.”
“Thank you, my noble Master!”
“Your greatness is endless and eternal like the gushing rivers, yet also like the overflowing Yellow River, beyond control once the floodgates open! Praise be to you, my noble Master!”
Overjoyed, Bubbles and the others quickly bowed and gave their thanks, immensely grateful.
“Go!”
Meng Lei waved.
“Yes, Master!”
“That Fire Demon is mine. Don’t any of you fight with me over it! I’ll fight whoever fights me for it!”
“I’ve taken an interest in that Wind Demon…”
Anton, the Dark Snapping Turtle King, was somewhat on the brink of tears as he watched Bubbles and the others taking their pick of the 17 Demon Lords as if they were picking out goods.
Once upon a time, those Demon Lords had all been absolute devils known for their ferocity. They had dominated dozens of existential planes like the Demonic Dragon Continent and ruled over vast regions.
When had they ever landed themselves in such a state? When had they ever been subjected to others picking them out like goods?
Indeed, even heroes would be subjected to bullying when they were down and out!
Now that things had come to this, however, there was nothing that Anton could do, either. It could only watch on helplessly.
The splitting of goods didn’t last long before it concluded. All 17 Demon Lords went to new homes and became Bubbles and the others’ servants.
“Thank you for your generosity, Master!”
The 11 subordinates expressed their sincerest gratitude to Meng Lei.
“No problem!”
Then, Meng Lei turned to the demon army.
The longer the Netherworld Divine Fire blazed, the stronger it became. It had already spread throughout half of the sea of demons by this point. Innumerable demons struggled in pain and agony in the fire, shrieking and wailing shrilly.
This badly frightened the rest of the demons, who then fled toward the Far Northern Icelands.
They moved very quickly. Large groups of demons had even gotten out of the Netherworld Divine Fire’s range.
“Do they really think they can escape?”
Had Meng Lei been any other ordinary deity, part of the endless and infinite demon army certainly would have successfully escaped.
After all, their numbers were simply too great. By dispersing and fleeing, some would definitely be able to get away.
But who did they think Meng Lei was?
He was a cheat that could teleport and didn’t fear power of divinity depletion, so how could the demon army possibly escape?
The final outcome was obvious—the billions of demons perished in the sea of fire, burned to death, and reduced to ashes by the Netherworld Divine Fire.
Anton and the 17 Demon Lords bore witness to the whole process and almost wet themselves in fear. They had initially been rather displeased at having to submit to Bubbles and the others, but now?
Displeasure? Not anymore!
Indignation? Not anymore!
All they had were just lingering fears after a calamity and joy at having narrowly escaped death!
Had they not submitted just now, they would definitely also have been reduced to ashes like the demon army!
The thought of it alone sent chills down their spines!
“Master is simply too impressive!”
Bubbles and the others were also fairly frightened. The sight of billions of demons struggling and shrieking as they perished in the sea of fire was simply too brutal, too tragic, and too astounding. It made their blood run cold.
Then, Bubbles asked, “What do we do next, Master?”
“Let’s take care of the Beast People Empire’s matters. We’ll head to the Demonic Dragon Continent and pay that Demonic Dragon a visit when we’re done.”
Meng Lei cast a glance at the Beast People Empire people and quickly made a decision.
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles and the others naturally didn’t have any objections to that.
They went over to the Beast God Pass’ city gates. The Beast People Empire half-deities, the Beast Emperor, and all the court officials quickly hurried over to greet them, lest they infuriate Meng Lei with their slow speed.
Bubbles barked fiercely, “Where’s the Beast Emperor?”
“Here! I’m here!”
Grom, the Beast Emperor, hastily bowed.
“If memory serves me right,” Meng Lei gazed at Grom and said, “The decree that I issued should already have reached the Beast People Empire three months ago. Why hasn’t the Beast People Empire taken any action even now?”
The Beast Emperor naturally knew what the decree that Meng Lei was referring to was. At once, he became incredibly fearful.
He knew what Meng Lei was doing—after all, revenge was a dish best served cold. What was he to do now? How should he explain this?
The Beast Emperor stammered, “Your Holiness, I—”
“Forget it. There’s no need to explain anymore.”
Meng Lei waved and said, “Since you’ve decided to stand against me, then you’ll have to suffer due consequences. On account of your status as the Beast Emperor, I’ll grant you a respectable death. Take your own life!”
Boom!
Thunderstruck, the Beast Emperor fell limp onto the ground. He knew that everything was over for him! All over!
He no longer had any way out!
All the officials were on tenterhooks and shaking like leaves. If the Beast Emperor had been ordered to take his own life, then what about them? How would Meng Lei punish them?
“As for all of you,” Meng Lei turned to the officials and said, “Your titles shall be stripped from you, and you’ll be demoted to commoners. Your clans are to be dissolved, and you are to hand over all your land and riches. Be honest and proper commoners from now on!”
“Thank you for showing us mercy, Your Holiness!”
At once, the officials were overjoyed, and they repeatedly bowed in gratitude. They had thought that they were doomed just now, but little did they think that they wouldn’t need to die. They had managed to keep their lives!
Meng Lei turned to Puhaman and said, “I’ll entrust the Beast People Empire matters to you, Puhaman. Do as you deem fit!”
Puhaman promised, “I thank Master for his trust in me. I definitely won’t let you down!”
Then, Meng Lei’s gaze turned to the direction of the Far Northern Icelands. He said, “Now that all the Beast People Empire matters have been taken care of, it’s time to head to the Demonic Dragon Continent!”
“Yes, Master!”
…
Vast and wide, the Far Northern Icelands were covered in ice and snow all year round. With pure white snowfields and lofty snow mountains, it was a world fully filled with ice and snow. Rarely did outsiders ever step into the area.
However, a group of unique beings had occupied a certain corner of the Far Northern Icelands. Demonic aura roiled around them—they were actually all Demon Overlords, and they numbered up to 100 of them!
These Demon Overlords formed an encirclement that protected a gigantic teleportation magic circle.
The teleportation magic circle was very big and spanned 10 miles in diameter. An infinite number of elemental crystals were embedded in it.
From this, one could easily imagine that the magic circle’s teleportation ability must no doubt be extremely powerful. It could definitely teleport more than a million demons each time.
Indeed, the demon army currently wreaking havoc in the Beast People Empire had come to Heaven’s Vault Continent using this exact teleportation magic circle. Therefore, it was evident just how crucial the teleportation magic circle was.
“I’m so bored!”
“I’m dying of boredom!”
“Why do Klas and the others get to lead the army and invade Heaven’s Vault Continent while we can only stay here obediently and guard the teleportation magic circle?”
“Exactly! The thought of it alone pisses me off. Why do they get to go while I don’t?”
“Those are living beings on mortals’ existential planes, y’know! They must taste very fresh and delicious. The thought of Klas and the others currently enjoying delicious blood and flesh makes me drool!”
“This goddamn mission!”
“No, this won’t do! I must talk to Lord Anton and Lord Baker next time and get them to put us in charge of invading mortals’ existential planes instead!”
“Next time? Who knows when that’ll be?”
“Exactly! I’m already 39,872-years-old, yet I’ve only experienced something like this twice. Who knows when the next time will be?”
“The thought of it pisses me off. Speaking of which, though, how long do you think our demon army will take to occupy Heaven’s Vault Continent this time?”
“No more than seven days! In no more than seven days, our demon army will definitely be able to flatten Heaven’s Vault Continent, wipe out all the living beings on this existential plane, and turn this place into the demons’ paradise!”
“Indeed! With the demon army’s incredible prowess, we’ll need only seven days to completely take over…”
The 100 Demon Overlords chatted and exchanged comments with one another to pass the time.
They were bored to tears from being sent to guard the teleportation magic circle, so they were naturally greatly displeased.
They wanted to lead the demon army, too!
They wanted to invade Heaven’s Vault Continent, too!
They wanted to feed on the mortals’ flesh and blood, too!
But what were they to do?
The teleportation magic circle was the gateway to their invasion of Heaven’s Vault Continent. It absolutely mustn’t be destroyed, so dispatching Demon Overlords like them to guard it was the only way to ensure its safety.
Therefore, no matter how reluctant they were, they could only carry out their duty faithfully.
“Eh?”
A light breeze blew past them at this point, and a group of people appeared above them. The Demon Overlords looked over in puzzlement, and then, their countenances changed greatly right away!
“Human… deities?”
“They are human deities!”
“Why are there human deities here?”
Swept clean of their previous boredom and complaints, the Demon Overlords’ eyes bore into the newcomers that had suddenly shown up. Their eyes were filled with wariness and caution.
The newcomers were none other than Meng Lei and the others. As they hadn’t deliberately toned down the aura around them, the Demon Overlords had naturally sensed the divine power that they gave off.
One of the Demon Overlords barked, “Who are you?”
“You’ve already guessed it, haven’t you?”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers and ordered aloofly, “Kill them! Leave not a single one alive!”
“Yes, Master!”
“God’s Domain!”
“Aaahhhh!!”
“Aaahhhh!!”
“Aaahhhh!!”
In just a short while, all 100 Demon Overlords guarding the teleportation magic circle were wiped out. Not even a single one managed to escape. When faced with powerful combat power, even escaping was nothing but just a fantasy!
“Manifest a divinity personification each and let them guard the teleportation magic circle, lest someone destroys it.
“The others are to follow me to the Demonic Dragon Continent and pay that powerful Dark Demonic Dragon a visit!”
“Yes, Master!”
" }, { "id": 274, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-274", "title": "Chapter 274 - The War Between Gods And Demons, The Secret Of The Existential", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 274: The War Between Gods And Demons, The Secret of The Existential Planes
Demons and deities belonged to two different camps, and they were two completely different types of higher beings.
For a deity to gain strength, apart from having to comprehend laws of nature themselves, they also had to spread their faith. The more abundant their supply of power of faith was, the faster they would gain strength.
Therefore, the number of power of faith domains one had was an important indicator of a deity’s strength and status.
It was a different case for demons in comparison.
Firstly, demons didn’t need power of faith. They needed only to cannibalize one another or devour demons or deities of a higher level than them, and they would be able to strengthen themselves.
This was the simplest and most straightforward way—as well as what most demons did—for a demon to strengthen itself.
Apart from that, demons also had another way to strengthen themselves, and that was—to occupy existential planes.
The more existential planes a demon occupied and the bigger their territory was, the more rewards they would receive from the Void. As a result, they would also naturally gain strength even faster.
This was also the main reason why many Demon Gods were passionate about expanding their territory and occupying more existential planes despite clearly not needing power of faith.
This was the exact reason why Cyrus, the Dark Demonic Dragon, had invaded Heaven’s Vault Continent.
As a Demon God, Cyrus had taken only a short period of time to mature to what it currently was. To outsiders, it would definitely appear to be amazingly talented!
After all, Cyrus had come from a low-end demon existential plane. Moreover, it wasn’t even more than 30,000-years-old yet.
How talented must it be, then?
But the truth was?
The existential plane in the Void that Cyrus’ hometown was in was relatively unique. Surrounding it were dozens of existential planes that were entangled together to form a densely-packed existential plane cluster.
Yes, an existential plane cluster!
An even more crucial factor was that no Demon God or true god had ever graced the existential plane cluster prior to Cyrus’ emergence. It was an untouched area that no one had ever stepped into.
Cyrus effortlessly occupied the dozens of existential planes after its emergence. That was how it had managed to enhance its strength and become a Demon God in such a short amount of time.
Its great fortune made innumerable living beings green with envy, while the speed at which it gained strength made it seem like a cheat that was armed with a cheating device.
Currently, at Mount Demonic Dragon on the Demonic Dragon Continent…
As the loftiest and tallest mountain ranges on Demonic Dragon Continent, Mount Demonic Dragon was shrouded in blood-red clouds and black fog all year round.
No birds flew there, while beasts and insects also stayed clear.
There were barely any traces of human presence and no signs of life at all.
Mount Demonic Dragon was a holy and untouchable place in the whole Demonic Dragon Continent. Any living being that dared so much as to come near would be executed.
Thunderous snoring could be heard coming from a cave at Mount Demonic Dragon’s summit at the moment. Air currents from exhalation surged out of the cave like windstorms—the Dark Demonic Dragon was currently fast asleep in the cave.
Indeed, the Dark Demonic Dragon spent its day in slumber all year round. It handed even tasks like invading existential planes and occupying territories to its subordinates.
The only thing it needed to do was to wait for its subordinates to conquer an existential plane, return to the Demonic Dragon Continent, and then refine the Heart of the Existential Plane, and… that would do.
Every other moment of the day was spent in comfortable slumber.
“Grandmaster!”
Just as the Dark Demonic Dragon was still in sweet slumber, a panicked voice traveled over from afar. Then, another Dark Demonic Dragon passed through the thick blood-red clouds and black fog and quickly arrived at the cave.
The Dark Demonic Dragon prostrated on the ground, weeping as it cried out, “Something terrible has happened, Grandmaster!”
“Eh?”
The thunderous snoring died down at once. Then, a furious roar thundered. “Damn you, Baker! How dare you disturb my beauty sleep! If you don’t give me a satisfactory explanation today, I’m going to skin you!”
“Something terrible has happened, Grandmaster!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was actually Baker, whom Meng Lei had previously killed. It sobbed loudly as it said, “The demon army in charge of invading Heaven’s Vault Continent has been annihilated. Even my demonic incarnation has died! Dead! They’re all dead, Grandmaster!”
“What?”
A pitch-black Dragon head emerged from the cave. Its blood-red eyes bore into the prostrating Baker as it barked fiercely, “What exactly has happened? Speak clearly!”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
Not daring to dally and show any disrespect, Baker hastily recounted everything that had happened on Heaven’s Vault Continent. In the end, it even added, “That human deity is extremely powerful. Not only can he release Netherworld Divine Fire, but he even has the Grim Reaper Scythe that only the Grim Reapers possess. Both Anton and I were not his match even when we joined hands!”
Cyrus, the Dark Demonic Dragon, narrowed its eyes, hints of murderous intent flashing across them. It said, “No matter who you are, be it a Divine Netherworld Phoenix or a Grim Reaper, you deserve death for having the audacity to challenge my authority!”
As a Demon God that’s on the same level as an intermediate deity, the Dark Demonic Dragon wasn’t one to be intimidated that easily. It was well aware just how powerful the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and the Grim Reapers were, but it was even more aware of the fact that beings from those two races couldn’t show up in a remote existential plane like Heaven’s Vault Continent.
But since they had indeed shown up, then there was only one explanation behind this—Meng Lei was very likely a descendant of the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and the Grim Reapers.
The Dark Demonic Dragon didn’t fear that. More importantly, it had even thought of some other things by association.
“Heaven’s Vault Continent must be no ordinary continent if the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ and the Grim Reapers’ bloodlines have been passed down over there. A war between gods and demons might have broken out there in the past.”
“A war between gods and demons?!”
An unusual look flashed across the Dark Demonic Dragon’s eyes.
A war between gods and demons wasn’t something uncommon.
As adversaries, fights would break out between gods and demons whenever they encountered each other.
In fact, god-demon wars involving all the deities and all the demons in the Void and swept through the entire Void would break out every once in a while.
Thus, there was nothing that strange about god-demon wars. What the Dark Demonic Dragon was concerned about was what these god-demon wars left behind, such as their dead bodies, their weapons, their divine cores, their riches…
All of these were things to be coveted!
“Looks like there’s a need for me to make a trip to Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
An unusual glint flashed in the Dark Demonic Dragon’s eyes. It was no big deal, even if it ended up making a wasted trip anyway. It was nothing more than just wasting some time that it could’ve spent sleeping instead.
On the other hand, it would strike gold if it really did discover anything exceptional in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
The moment the thought occurred to it, the Dark Demonic Dragon transformed into its human form and exited the cave.
“Baker, assemble the remaining Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords. They are to follow me to Heaven’s Vault Continent. We shall exterminate those goddamn human deities and flatten that low-end material plane!”
“As per the Grandmaster’s orders!”
Overjoyed, Baker quickly went to assemble the demons.
Before long, all the other Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords under the Dark Demonic Dragon’s command assembled and, under the Dark Demonic Dragon’s lead, headed toward the Camor Plateaus where the teleportation magic circle leading to Heaven’s Vault Continent was.
The demons moved very quickly. Before long, they had arrived at the Camor Plateaus. Unexpectedly, just as they arrived at the teleportation magic circle, the magic circle showed signs of fluctuations, and then Meng Lei and the others appeared within.
“Eh?”
Both parties were slightly taken aback as their eyes met. Evidently, neither had expected to run into each other.
Baker, who was among the demon masses, was the first to regain his senses. It glared at Meng Lei and shouted, “Damned human demon, to think you actually dare to make your way here!”
“Who are you?”
Meng Lei stared at Baker, somewhat weirded out. He could swear that he had never seen that guy before.
“Damned human deity, have you already forgotten that you killed one of my demonic incarnations?”
Baker gnashed its teeth in a fury, hatred filling its eyes.
“I don’t remember.”
Meng Lei waved lightly, his gaze sweeping across the demons one by one before finally stopping at Cyrus, the Dark Demonic Dragon.
Among the dozens of demons present, Cyrus gave off the strongest demonic might. Much like the blazing sun in the sky, it couldn’t get any more obvious.
In comparison, while the Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords boasted large numbers, they were just like stars in the sky. How could they possibly outshine the blazing sun?
Cyrus also stared at Meng Lei and the others, a look of disbelief flitting across his eyes.
“No wonder Baker and Anton weren’t a match for all of you. You’re certainly not that inferior!”
“So, you’re Cyrus the Demon God?” asked a leisurely and smiling Meng Lei.
“How dare a tiny little lesser deity utter Lord Demon God’s name!”
A Great Demon Lord covered in blood-red armor and with ram horns on its head glared at Meng Lei. The aura around it churned and surged as it barked, “Get on your knees!”
As it spoke, the energy flow around it also manifested into a solid form and crushed down on Meng Lei like a mountain, as though trying to flatten him to the ground.
“How dare you affront Master! Die!”
Bubbles let out a furious roar and smashed his fist mercilessly toward the Great Demon Lord.
Both parties weren’t very far from each other. Moreover, Bubbles had attacked out of the blue. Thus, the Great Demon Lord couldn’t react in time and took the punch in the head.
Crack!
As a crisp crack rang out, the Great Demon Lord’s head was instantly blasted apart into a mist of blood.
Weirdly enough, the Great Demon Lord’s head was bizarrely restored to its original state after being blasted into a bloody mist.
“It’s actually alright despite that punch?”
Bubbles looked dumbfounded.
Meng Lei and his true god subordinates also looked at the Great Demon Lord with astonishment.
To think it was actually fine and dandy after taking an all-out punch from Bubbles! How tough and durable!
“You damned deity!”
The Great Demon Lord was glaring furiously at Bubbles, however. Flames of fury blazed fiercely in its eyes as it roared, “How dare you wound me! Die! Die!”
Roar!
The Great Demon Lord instantly expanded into a 1,000-feet-tall Bloodseeker and charged madly toward Bubbles.
“It’s a Bloodseeker! No wonder it didn’t die!”
Bubbles brazenly met the Great Demon Lord head-on.
Boom!
Both parties clashed in an instant.
Bloodseekers were demons whose demonic body was formed from blood. They didn’t have any specific kind of physical body and were a fluid lifeform. Thus, they were immune to most physical attacks.
That characteristic alone greatly restricted Bubbles. Bubbles couldn’t do anything about the Bloodseeker at all despite his terrifying physical strength.
Moreover, Bubbles had ultimately only just assimilated his divine core and was a lesser deity of the weakest class. How could he possibly be a match for the enraged Bloodseeker?
After a series of entanglements, Bubbles was gradually outmatched. Surrounded by perils, he was completely in a disadvantageous position.
“Master, I’ll go and help Bubbles out!”
At the sight, Sacas hastily requested.
“Go!”
Meng Lei waved lightly. Sacas charged toward them right away. At the sight, another demon also flew out from the demon party. It was a winged demon with a pair of black wings on its back and ram horns on its head.
“Thinking of fighting two against one? Human deities are indeed despicable!” Ludwig, the winged demon, stood in Sacas’ way and sneered.
“Get lost!”
Sacas let out a low roar and began to battle Ludwig.
“Go, all of you can attack, too!”
Meng Lei gave an order with a wave.
“Yes, Master!”
Nadja, the Spider Goddess, the Swirling Snow Sword Saint, and the others also charged out fearlessly.
Cyrus said dispassionately, “Go. Give them a good time.”
“Yes, Lord Demon God!”
Boom!
" }, { "id": 275, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-275", "title": "Chapter 275 - Dark Demonic Dragon, Divine Netherworld Phoenix", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 275: Dark Demonic Dragon, Divine Netherworld Phoenix
Boom, boom, boom!
An unprecedented tangled war between gods and demons had broken out above the Camor Plateaus!
10 deities—Puhaman wasn’t present—and 45 demons instantly clashed against one another.
The 10 deities were all lesser deities that had just assimilated their divine cores, while the 45 demons consisted of nine Great Demon Lords and 36 Demon Lords.
On paper, the deities appeared to be at a complete and absolute disadvantage, and chances of victory were worryingly low—and the truth was indeed so.
On average, each deity was being besieged by one Great Demon Lord and three Demon Lords. Moreover, the deities had only just assimilated their divine cores, so all 11 of them were completely being suppressed by the Demon Lords.
Surrounded by perils and stuck in a precarious situation, they seemed like they might perish any moment.
Yet Meng Lei wasn’t worried about that at all. His gaze stayed on Cyrus, and he said, “Mr. Cyrus, it’s just you and me now.”
“The audacity of you, human deity!”
Sharp, forceful murderous intent emanated from Cyrus. It said, “Even if we put the matter of annihilating my army aside for now, to think you actually dare to pursue us all the way here to seek your own death!”
“We’ll talk about whether or not I’m seeking my own death later on.” Meng Lei gave him a leisurely smile and said, “But for deploying a demon army to invade my territory without any reason, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”
“You’ll naturally get one if you beat me in a fight!”
Cyrus bared its fangs and said, “Otherwise, both you and those deities of yours will all perish by my fangs and end up in my belly!”
“Let’s fight, then!”
Meng Lei stretched and loosened his neck muscles, producing crisp cracks as he did so. Then, he said, “On account of your senior status, I’ll allow you to make the first move.”
“You cocky deity, die!”
Enraged, Cyrus threw a punch out.
Although it was currently in human form, its punch nevertheless still held incredibly fearsome power. The fragile, brittle dimension instantly broke, and its fist appeared right in front of Meng Lei as if it had teleported.
It was fast! Incredibly so!
It was wild and raging! Exceptionally so!
Wild, violent power erupted with a great blast. Anyone, even a pinnacle-level lesser deity, would no doubt be reduced to a bloody pulp should they receive the full brunt of the punch.
Meng Lei could totally sense the terrifying power the punch contained. In the instant it came at him, he used Dark-Elemental Transformation right away and transformed into a cloud of drifting dark elements.
“Dark-Elemental Transformation!”
Cyrus immediately recognized Meng Lei’s move. It couldn’t help but let out an icy snort. Then, it said, “Demon’s Domain!”
Buzz…
A great force abruptly manifested and froze the dimension around Meng Lei. Meng Lei was rendered immobile—in fact, he couldn’t even resume human form!
“You arrogant human deity!”
Cyrus said coldly, “Your cultivation level is too low. I don’t even need to use other means because my Demon’s Domain alone is enough to completely subdue you.”
“Demon’s Domain?”
Meng Lei perked up.
Since deities had God’s Domain, Demon Gods naturally also had their own Domain of the Demons, which was also shortened to Demon’s Domain by the Demon Gods. It was merely a difference in names.
As expected, Demon’s Domain cast by a Demon God that rivals an intermediate deity is exceptionally powerful!
Meng Lei sighed inwardly. Then, he promptly teleported and quietly disappeared from the Demon’s Domain range.
“He vanished?”
Cyrus was a little startled at the sight, and it stared somewhat disbelievingly at Meng Lei, who was a short distance away.
“There weren’t any power of divinity or air-current fluctuations. If my guess is right, what you’ve just used must be a special spatial ability?”
“Bingo!” Meng Lei smiled and replied, “To be more accurate, it’s teleportation.”
“Teleportation!”
Cyrus narrowed its eyes slightly, great waves churning in its heart. Not only did the other party possess the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline and the Grim Reaper Scythe, but he could even use powerful special abilities like Dark-Elemental Transformation and Teleportation!
Just what kind of existence was Meng Lei? Why did he own such powerful and fearsome abilities, and so many at that?
“Cyrus, you’re very strong,” Meng Lei gazed at Cyrus and said, “What a shame that you’re not a match for me. I’ll give you a chance at survival. I hope you can seize the opportunity. Submit to me!”
“How presumptuous!” Cyrus snorted. “You’re a deity with secrets that I’m very interested in. As long as you hand over all your secrets, I’m willing to give you a way out.”
“Since that’s the case, then let’s fight!” Meng Lei smiled calmly and said, “I’m going to show you my greatest trump card now!”
Thick, viscous black flames suddenly burst forth from Meng Lei as he spoke. It was as though his entire body had burst into flames. The more the black flames blazed, the stronger they became…
Toward the end, Meng Lei had completely turned into a fiercely-blazing large black fireball.
Floating in the center of the black fireball was a handsome and powerful-looking beast with a wingspan that exceeded 100 meters!
Ink-black in color all over and covered in rising black flames, it had a cockatoo-like head, a snake-like neck, a strong jaw, a raised back, and a fishtail…
Boom!
A fearsome and intimidating aura emanated from the handsome and powerful-looking beast and swept toward all directions, wantonly weighing down on everyone.
The 50 gods and demons that were originally entangled in chaotic battles halted their movements, turning to the floating beast covered in black flames and staring at it in disbelief.
“W-what a terrifying aura!”
“The Divine Netherworld Phoenix! That’s the divine beast from Hell, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix!”
“No wonder Master can manipulate the Netherworld Divine Fire. So he’s really a Divine Netherworld Phoenix!”
Be it Bubbles and the other true gods or the Demon Lord masses, everyone was filled with trepidation.
Even if they temporarily disregarded the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s intimidating status, just the aura that Meng Lei was currently giving off was already enough to prevent them from even forming the desire to battle him.
It was too scary!
“How long has it only been? Yet he has already become that strong? Just how exactly does that guy cultivate?”
Rose, the Spider Goddess, had a complex look in her eyes. She couldn’t help but think back to the time when she had first met Meng Lei.
Meng Lei had only been a tiny little half-deity back then. Had it not been for his strange special abilities and the Netherworld Divine Fire, he wouldn’t have been her match at all.
How long had it only been since then? Yet Meng Lei’s aura had far surpassed that of a lesser deity by now and reached a level that even the Spider Goddess couldn’t identify anymore. She couldn’t help but feel as if she had lived her entire life in vain.
“The Divine Netherworld Phoenix!”
Cyrus was also watching Meng Lei. A barely discernible hint of wariness flashed across its eyes as it said, “As expected, you really are a Divine Netherworld Phoenix! I’ve underestimated you!
“Mr. Cyrus, come at me at full power!” Meng Lei flapped his wings and said, “Otherwise, you won’t even have a chance at beating me!”
“Having a death wish? I’ll fulfill your wish!”
Cyrus moved carefully.
Meng Lei’s current aura had completely reached a Demon God’s level and wasn’t weaker than his by much. Moreover, Meng Lei was even a Divine Netherworld Phoenix. How would it dare to underestimate him?
Howl!
A loud, sonorous roar later, the Dark Demonic Dragon promptly transformed into its true form, and a pitch-black, 100,000-feet-long Demonic Dragon appeared.
It wasn’t very big in size and was about the same size as a true god-level Colossal Dragon. However, the aura it gave off was ridiculously strong and infinitely more powerful than a true god-level Colossal Dragon’s!
“Great!”
Meng Lei raised his head and laughed into the heavens. Then, with a light flap of his wings, he turned into a black thunderbolt that lunged toward the Dark Demonic Dragon, coming right up to it in the blink of an eye.
“Are you actually intending to wrestle with me?”
The Dark Demonic Dragon released a couple of tornadoes from its nostrils at the sight, while its thick, muscular tail morphed into an iron whip that lashed mercilessly at Meng Lei.
Whoosh!
" }, { "id": 276, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-276", "title": "Chapter 276 - Power Of Existential Plane, Rebirth", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The thick, muscular dragon tail turned into an iron whip, slashing toward Meng Lei, who had transformed into a Divine Netherworld Phoenix.
It came as fast as lightning with great force and momentum. It was mighty and forceful that could destroy heaven and earth!
If it hits its target, Meng Lei would surely be squashed into meat sauce. However, just as the tail was about to hit Meng Lei, he vanished. When he reappeared, Meng Lei was already at the back of the Dark Demonic Dragon.
Meng Lei swiped his gleaming phoenix claws viciously. A ripping sound echoed as the Dark Demonic Dragon’s back was scratched, leaving deep fissures.
Howl!
The Dark Demonic Dragon let out a cry of pain as it turned its head to spit out black dragon breath. However, in front of the powerful teleportation, how could it even touch Meng Lei?
Slash!
Meng Lei teleported away and swiped his claws down as black blood and flesh flew everywhere.
“Damn it!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon roared in rage and released its Demon’s Domain, attempting to trap Meng Lei in his position. Though the Demon’s Domain could seal the air around, Meng Lei could not be suppressed.
Another teleportation!
Slash!
The following rounds of battles were almost the same, where Meng Lei constantly teleported around and attacked any openings he saw. The Dark Demonic Dragon simply had no answer to that.
Every single furious roar only exchanged for its battered body!
On the other hand, Meng Lei was neither out of breath nor red-faced, becoming more valiant the more he fought as he dominated over the Dark Demonic Dragon. To be honest, teleportation was such a huge BUG!
Dark Demonic Dragon used Demon’s Domain, Meng Lei used Teleport!
Dark Demonic Dragon used physical attack, Meng Lei used Teleport!
Dark Demonic Dragon used magic attacks, Meng Lei used Teleport!
No matter what the Dark Demonic Dragon threw at Meng Lei, he only needed to teleport to evade any attacks.
Of course, other than teleportation, Meng Lei possessed incredible speed and a pair of phoenix claws that could slice through the Dark Demonic Dragon’s demonic body.
What did the Dark Demonic Dragon have?
Its powerful and strong demonic body, its terrifying power, its destructive dragon breath.
Upon comparing both sides, Meng Lei naturally restricted the Dark Demonic Dragon.
No matter how tough your demonic body is, or how powerful you are, or how terrifying your dragon breath is, they are all useless if you can’t hit me!
“Mr. Cyrus, is that all you got?” Meng Lei said with a thundering voice, “If that’s it, then today will be the day you fall!”
“Human deity!” The Dark Demonic Dragon let out a deep growl. “You have well and truly enraged me! I’m going to tear you into a million pieces! Power of existential plane, Suppression!”
Buzz…
A massive amount of force came rushing from all around and pressed onto Meng Lei’s body.
This force was incredibly pervasive and terrifying. It was much heavier than Mount Tai and Mount Everest putting on millions of G forces on Meng Lei’s body!
Meng Lei froze at his spot as his bones made cracking sounds as if he could be crushed into dust anytime.
“What powerful suppression!” Meng Lei’s expression changed a little. “It’s not Demon’s Domain. It’s also not one of those special suppression abilities, while it seems very similar to Horace’s divine kingdom’s power. What exactly is that then?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“Human deity, you’ll pay the price for your foolishness and ignorance!” The Dark Demonic Dragon let out a roar before sweeping its claw down.
This time, under the restraint of the existential plane’s power, Meng Lei could neither use Teleport or Elemental Transformation as he got hit cleanly.
Boom!
A great, vast force erupted. An unmatchable force hit Meng Lei’s body as if he was thunderstruck, almost breaking his bones apart.
“F*ck! This power is really… strong!”
Meng Lei licked the blood on the corner of his lips and gasped.
“Die! Ignorant fool!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon let out a sinister laugh, and rounds of frenzied attacks like a thunderstorm ensued—using either its sharp claws, or its heavy tail, or its destructive dragon breath…
At this juncture, the situation had turned around completely, opposite of what happened just now.
“Master!”
Bubbles and the rest shouted angrily and tried to rescue Meng Lei, but 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords were in their way.
“Kekeke! Your opponents are us!”
“Lowly human deity, I can’t wait to taste your flesh!”
“Kill these damn deities…”
Boom, boom, boom!
Under the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords attacks, Bubbles and the rest were in a precarious circumstance, which might be worse than Meng Lei’s situation.
“Human deity, the only thing you can blame is your arrogance to trespass into my territory! If not, I would not have been able to deal with you!” The Dark Demonic Dragon attacked while it laughed sinisterly. “Here in the Demonic Dragon Continent, you are just meat on the chopping block waiting for me to kill anytime!”
“What exactly is this ability?” Meng Lei barked a question.
“Since you’re about to die, there’s no harm telling you. This is the power of the existential plane.” The Dark Demonic Dragon gave a smug smile. “I have refined the Heart of the Existential Plane, and I am able to use the power of the existential plane of the Demonic Dragon Continent! Human deity, you might be powerful, but you are no match against the power of an existential plane on the material level.”
“Power of an existential plane?” Meng Lei came to a sudden realization as he asked further, “Then how did you refine a Heart of the Existential Plane of a material plane?”
“To refine a Heart of Existential Plane, you need to find one before you can refine it!” The Dark Demonic Dragon sneered. “But you’ll never get the chance since you’ll die in my hands without any chance to rise again!”
“Die? I’m not certain about that!” Meng Lei took a breath and said, “You are indeed rather powerful to be able to push me this far, Mr. Cyrus. But it would be a pity since you can’t kill me!”
He had only just spoken when thick black flames lit up around Meng Lei and completely engulfed him from inside out.
His head was burning;
His limbs were burning;
His intestines were burning;
Every part of his body was in flames.
Gradually, the viscous Netherworld Divine Fire formed a huge solid-like black cocoon, wrapping up Meng Lei within!
The cocoon was inscribed with strange fire runes. They were like tadpoles full of life squirming around in a special rhythm.
“That’s…”
The Dark Demonic Dragon watched the fire cocoon forming abruptly before its pupils contracted suddenly, and it exclaimed, “Rise From The Ashes! Damn it! This rascal dares to use Rise From The Ashes at this timing!”
The Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s race was well known across the Void, dominating in the Netherworld. Hence, it would be difficult for Cyrus not to have heard about them.
Of course, Cyrus knew the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s exclusive Innate Special Ability—Rise From The Ashes!
In the lifetime of a Divine Netherworld Phoenix, it must complete nine rebirths before it became a true adult and reached its peak, but it was incredibly difficult.
This was due to every rebirth came with an immense amount of risk—any carelessness would burn itself to death till it turned into ashes and the divine spirit was destroyed. That was why it was so dangerous!
For that reason, every time before it went through Rise From The Ashes, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix would normally do a full preparation and find a safe hidden spot to perform this Innate Special Ability.
Who else would be like Meng Lei who—midway through the battle—decided to perform Rise From The Ashes after seeing that he was losing?
This isn’t a goddamn Rise From The Ashes, it’s just the same as a moth flying into the fire—seeking death!
“Foolish human deity, since you’re seeking death, then don’t blame me for granting your wish!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon gave a deep roar as demonic aura gathered in its mouth and shot the demonic aura ball toward Meng Lei like a cannon.
“Die! Human deity!”
The demonic aura ball was formed with an extremely compressed demonic aura containing huge destructive powers. If it hit, the black fire cocoon would surely be blasted into pieces.
“Master!”
Bubbles and the rest shouted anxiously, though they could not help Meng Lei with all the Demon Lords surrounding them. They could only watch a ball of demonic aura shot toward Meng Lei!
“Human deity, you’re finished!” The Dark Demonic Dragon sneered. However, right before the ball hit the fire cocoon, a space vortex appeared out of nowhere and devoured the black aura ball.
“What?”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was stunned as it could not believe its eyes.
Where did that space vortex come from?
“It vanished?”
Bubbles and the other nine deities, plus the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords were all in shock. How did such a ferocious attack vanish just like that?
What kind of situation was this?
The Dark Demonic Dragon growled and sprayed out another dragon breath of destruction, the result remained the same as the dragon breath was devoured by the space vortex too!
“Goddamn it! What’s happening?”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was going crazy. Just then, a little demon flapping its wings appeared in front of the fire cocoon.
“Little rascal, taking advantage of others’ perilous state isn’t a good habit!” The little demon looked at the Dark Demonic Dragon angrily and shouted, “Wait till Meng Lei finishes his rebirth process before you fight him, understand?”
Compared to the Dark Demonic Dragon’s humongous body, the little demon was too small to command any authority, especially when it called the Dark Demonic Dragon ‘little rascal’. The scene was as comical as anyone would expect!
Yet, the Dark Demonic Dragon did not object. Instead, it looked at this little demon with a face in horror, as if it saw a primeval behemoth!
“You better follow as I say! Wait for him to complete his rebirth process before resuming your battle! Or else I’ll skin you alive!”
The little demon threatened one last time before it disappeared. The Dark Demonic Dragon was panting hard while it broke out in cold sweat.
It did not attack the fire cocoon anymore and stayed at the same place obediently!
This scene left the demon subordinates clueless about what was happening as they looked at each other in the eyes.
“What happened to our great master?
“Afraid of a little demon?”
“What exactly is going on then?”
They could not understand what was in the mind of the Dark Demonic Dragon. If they did, they would be scared to death!
“Higher deity! That’s definitely the aura of a higher deity! This damned human deity, he has a higher deity supporting him!”
Terror gripped the Dark Demonic Dragon.
It neither knew the little demon nor its background, but the aura it emitted was definitely over the level of an intermediate deity!
That little demon was a higher deity!
A higher deity!
Even though it seemed mighty now, it could get smashed into pieces with one slap if it faced a higher deity!
That was the terrifying part of it. It would never have thought that there was a higher deity on Meng Lei’s side!
What could it even do now?
" }, { "id": 277, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-277", "title": "Chapter 277 - Bankrupt Overnight, Reconstructing The Divine Body", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 277: Bankrupt Overnight, Reconstructing The Divine Body
“You little scoundrel, how dare you act so recklessly!”
In the Tower of Time, Dodola cursed as it watched Meng Lei, who was currently wrapped in a fire cocoon. Evidently, it was greatly displeased with what he had done.
“Rise From The Ashes is a highly risky move. A moment of carelessness and one will vanish in a puff of smoke, their divine spirit fully destroyed.
“Other Divine Netherworld Phoenixes only wish they could make even safer and even more perfect preparations, yet he actually went ahead and cast Rise From The Ashes under such circumstances. He shouldn’t have done that even if he has a death wish!”
Despite how fiercely Dodola was ranting, it couldn’t hide the look of worry in its eyes. The Dark Demonic Dragon was nothing to Dodola; it could smack the Dark Demonic Dragon dead with just one hit.
What it was worried about was Meng Lei!
“Can such a sudden casting of Rise From The Ashes really succeed?
“Never mind, the chances of success are simply too low, considering how he had cast it so recklessly. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll just lend him a hand. He mustn’t die… If he dies, I’ll suffer a huge loss…”
Could he succeed?
Meng Lei himself didn’t know, either.
All he knew was that the power of divinity inside him was currently being depleted at an alarming rate. Every second passing saw 100 Power of Divinity droplets being depleted!
100 droplets per second!
How ridiculous was a rate like that?
For many half-deities, that was all the power of divinity they had even after saving and accumulating them for tens of thousands of years. One could easily imagine just how frightening Meng Lei’s current power of divinity consumption rate was.
However, that was how Rise From The Ashes was. It had to fully burn every cell, every bone, every muscle, every organ…
…Until Meng Lei’s entire self was burned into ashes, leaving behind only his divine spirit and the purest, most refined blood essence!
His divine body will then be reconstructed using that as a foundation. To sum it up, the act of destruction was all for the sake of creation.
Naturally, the whole process required vast amounts of power of divinity. After all, divine bodies were incredibly difficult to destroy and even harder to construct.
Of course, because their divine body would be burned and destroyed—in fact, even burned to ashes—the process was also accompanied by immense pain and agony. One could easily imagine the amount of affliction involved in the process.
Meng Lei didn’t fear pain. He had already gone through innumerable hardships and painful experiences by now, so pain didn’t frighten him anymore.
Neither was he afraid of power of divinity depletion. Given the 888.88 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals in his possession, was there any need for him to fear the mere power of divinity depletion?
However, the events that followed next showed Meng Lei that he had grossly underestimated the amount of power of divinity he needed—it took only two hours for the 10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity to be completely depleted!
Left with no other choice, he could only buy and redeem more.
“System, redeem 10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity for me!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank by 100,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. At the same time, he also received 10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity.
The burning continued!
The depletion continued!
Another two hours later, the 10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity that he had only just redeemed were fully depleted again.
Left with no other choice again, Meng Lei could only spend another 100,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and replenish his reserves with another 10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity.
After four hours of burning, Meng Lei could feel that his physical body had already been completely burned away. His bones, his muscles… Everything had been reduced to ashes, leaving behind only his divine spirit flame and a ball of blood essence floating in the air.
The divine spirit flame was a bunch of flames fully golden in color, and it gave off rich divine spiritual power.
The blood essence gave off a pale golden glow and was also filled with a strong aura of vitality—it was the essence that had formed using all of Meng Lei’s blood and life force.
“Now that my physical body has been burned away, it’s time to reconstruct my divine body.”
He let out a long sigh and infused power of divinity into his blood essence. As though injected with hormones, the blood essence began to replicate and proliferate furiously…
For a while, the blood essence expanded swiftly like an inflating balloon. In the short span of a few breaths, it had already expanded by quite a few times of its original size and become as big as a basketball!
The blood essence’s rapid expansion was accompanied by a frighteningly high power of divinity depletion rate. The depletion rate was a whole multiple times that of what it had previously been. Up to 1,000 Power of Divinity droplets were depleted every second.
10,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity had originally been able to sustain him for two hours, yet it couldn’t last even half an hour now. The depletion rate was simply too scary, and it filled Meng Lei with alarm and trepidation.
“I still have 680 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals left. Can it guarantee me a successful divine body reconstruction?”
Meng Lei was rather nervous. Like what people usually said, “Destruction is easy, but creation is hard.”
If it had taken 20,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity to burn his divine body away, then how much would he need to reconstruct it?
Meng Lei had no idea at all, but now that things had reached this point, it was impossible for him to stop halfway. He had to successfully reconstruct his divine body in one go.
Ten minutes passed…
Twenty minutes passed…
Half an hour passed…
“System, redeem 30,000 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity for me!”
His blood essence was still expanding and had already become taller than an average human’s height by now. Then, it began to form and grow meridians and blood veins, internal organs and bones, muscles, tendons, marrow, and so on.
The meridians and blood veins came first, followed by internal organs and bones, while the muscles, tendons, marrow, hair, and skin came last.
Only when everything had fully formed did the power of divinity depletion gradually stop.
It was then that Meng Lei discovered to his horror that he was only left with 880,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and 200 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity!
This meant that his rebirth had, in total, consumed 888 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, leaving him with only a fraction of the original amount now!
This also meant that he had gone right back to square one—Meng Lei had become a pauper again!
“At least it’s succeeded, though.”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. Had his wealth been any less, his rebirth would really have sent everything he had previously achieved down the drain and destroyed everything he had in one day.
He would have been doomed if that had happened.
Meng Lei balled his hands into fists. He could feel that his physique had changed completely and could sense great power constantly gushing out from the depths of his blood.
“What a powerful sensation! It’s much, much more powerful than what it had previously been! Surely I can be considered a young adult Divine Netherworld Phoenix now?
“Since my divine body has been successfully reconstructed, it’s time to go out.”
A boom rang out with a thought from Meng Lei, and the black fire cocoon enveloping him instantly exploded. Meng Lei showed himself in front of everyone once more.
“He’s out!”
Dodola, Cyrus the Dark Demonic Dragon, the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords, as well as Bubbles and the others who had been subdued, all looked over.
“That guy’s actually succeeded!”
Dodola was so astonished that it widened its eyes so large that its eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets. It had already gotten all ready to lend him a hand, yet Meng Lei had actually succeeded in the end!
“Just how did he manage to do that?”
Dodola couldn’t help but somewhat question its own life.
The Dark Demonic Dragon was also questioning its own life. It simply couldn’t understand—despite casting Rise From The Ashes so recklessly, Meng Lei had actually succeeded?
Was there even any justice in this world?
Who the hell was it supposed to reason with?
Nevertheless, now that things had come to this, it was meaningless no matter how indignant he was. The Dark Demonic Dragon knew very well that with Meng Lei’s successful rebirth, it would have to face an even stronger Meng Lei now.
Meng Lei’s physical body was already comparable to an average intermediate deity’s previously, but it must be even stronger now. Was it a match for him?
What’s more was that higher deity behind him, too.
The thought of Dodola drove the Dark Demonic Dragon rather mad. With a higher deity like that hidden behind Meng Lei’s back, how was it supposed to fight him?
Kill Meng Lei, and then be killed by Dodola? Take the initiative to concede defeat and allow Meng Lei to humiliate it?
It was a goddamn miserable outcome no matter which it chose!
“Mr. Cyrus, I’ve kept you waiting,” said Meng Lei as he rose into the air.
His pupils were pitch-black and as pure and flawless as an infant’s, while two tiny licks of flames flickered in their depths.
“Human deity!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s eyes bore into Meng Lei.
Even though Meng Lei didn’t physically look like he had changed much, the Dark Demonic Dragon could nonetheless still sense an invisible pressure coming from him.
The pressure alarmed and suffocated it. It was as if it wasn’t facing a human deity but a ferocious primeval beast!
Although he hasn’t reached the Great Demon God stage yet, he has already far surpassed an ordinary Demon God!
The Dark Demonic Dragon was alarmed.
That damned human deity! To think the rebirth has actually strengthened him so much. How inconceivable!
“Mr. Cyrus, let us continue our battle!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were clear. Battle spirit surged in his eyes. He was rather eager to test his newfound strength.
“Human deity, leave Demonic Dragon Continent with your servants at once, and I’ll take it that nothing has ever happened.”
The Dark Demonic Dragon growled, “From then on, we’ll stay in our own lanes and mind our own business. How does that sound?”
“That’s a nice plan you have for yourself.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and said, “Do you think you can make me leave so easily after you’ve deployed troops to invade my territory? Aren’t you indulging in fantasy a little too much?”
“What do you want, human deity?”
The Dark Demonic Dragon roared deeply.
“One must shoulder the consequences of their own mistakes.”
Meng Lei’s voice gradually turned icy as he said, “I’m open to the idea if you wish to bury the hatchet and turn hostility into friendship. Everything is open for discussion if you hand over your divine spirit origin energy to me.”
The Dark Demonic Dragon flew into a thundering rage and roared, “That’s going too far human deity!”
" }, { "id": 278, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-278", "title": "Chapter 278 - Netherworld Divine Fire Upgrades, The End Of The Demonic Dragon", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 278: Netherworld Divine Fire Upgrades, The End of The Demonic Dragon
Chilly winds blew fiercely above the Camor Plateaus.
Bubbles and the nine other deities were covered in wounds and appeared extremely worse for the wear. They had even been firmly subdued by the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords.
Had the Dark Demonic Dragon not been afraid of Dodola backing Meng Lei up and thus acted with caution, Bubbles and the others would have been executed a long time ago.
Dodola had not only protected Meng Lei but also indirectly saved Bubbles and the others. From this, one could tell just how fearsome a higher deity’s influence was.
“That’s going too far, human deity!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon glared at Meng Lei, its eyes spitting flames of fury as it gnashed its teeth hatefully.
“Let’s fight, then!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward as he said, “I believe you’ll make a wise decision when the battle ends.”
The Dark Demonic Dragon hadn’t completely lost all reason yet. It roared, “Human deity, leave before you enrage me!”
“Cut the crap!”
Meng Lei snorted, and then he promptly launched an attack. This time, he didn’t transform into the Divine Netherworld Phoenix but attacked in human form instead.
He wasn’t being arrogant and presumptuous. Rather, it was because he had confidence in himself. After his rebirth, Meng Lei’s strength had undergone an overwhelming change.
Meng Lei believed that he could defeat the Dark Demonic Dragon while still in human form and that there was no need for him to shapeshift.
Boom!
As he took a step forward, his fist also instantly reached its target. A thunderous boom rang out, and the Dark Demonic Dragon was sent flying.
Its nose bridge had sunken inward, and blood spurted high into the air from its nose—Meng Lei’s punch had actually broken its nose bridge and caused him to bleed from the nose.
“You bastard!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was alarmed and incensed. It roared furiously, “Suppress him, Power of Existential Plane!”
The existential plane’s omnipresent power weighed down on Meng Lei, but this time, he teleported above the Dark Demonic Dragon instead.
Then, he stomped down with his foot!
Boom!
Vast, mighty force erupted as Meng Lei made a deep pit right in the Dark Demonic Dragon’s head. Then, its enormous body plummeted straight down onto the ground.
“Power of Existential Plane is certainly very fearsome,” Meng Lei stood proudly in the sky, light flickering in his eyes as he said, “But it takes time for it to take effect on me after you’ve cast it. This interval is enough for me to escape!”
Once was more than enough when it came to suffering disadvantages.
Meng Lei was confident that he could evade Power of Existential Plane even if he hadn’t been reborn, let alone when he had become much stronger after his rebirth.
“Damn it!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was exceptionally enraged.
Meng Lei had broken its nose bridge and even trampled upon its head!
That was an incredibly huge insult to it. How could the great Dark Demonic Dragon possibly take it lying down?
“Die! Go to hell!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon took on a terrifying 500,000-feet-long size, opened its mouth, and sprayed a beam of dragon breath that crushed down on Meng Lei from every direction.
Spanning several hundred meters long in diameter, the beam of dragon breath was simply too wide and thick. Most people had no way of resisting it at all, but to Meng Lei, it was futile.
He teleported and vanished from the spot. By the time he reappeared, he had already shown up behind the Dark Demonic Dragon out of the blue.
“It looks like you don’t have any methods that are superior to physical attacks, Demon’s Domain, and Power of Existential Plane. In that case, it’s time for this battle to end!”
Having seen through the Dark Demonic Dragon’s moves, Meng Lei lost interest in battling any further. Netherworld Divine Fire flames started to blaze in Meng Lei’s eyes as he glared at the Dark Demonic Dragon. They began to burn fervently and ultimately turned into two black pillars of fire so tall that they connected the heavens and earth before shooting onto the Dark Demonic Dragon’s back.
From appearances alone, it didn’t look like the Netherworld Divine Fire flames had changed much. They were still as black as ink and as though Itachi[1]’s Amaterasu[2] flames.
However, it had undergone a qualitative change at its core.
Its temperature had become even more insanely high!
Its ability to burn had also become even more fearsome!
The flames had also become more high-quality!
In other words, the Netherworld Divine Fire had also upgraded itself after Meng Lei’s rebirth.
To be honest, this was a very normal occurrence.
The Netherworld Divine Fire heralded as an inextinguishable fire that could burn even higher deities to death was actually referring to the one that had gone through several rebirths and upgrades, not a juvenile Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s Netherworld Divine Fire.
After all, no matter how powerful a juvenile Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s Netherworld Divine Fire was, how could it possibly burn a higher deity to death?
“Ahhh!”
After the Netherworld Divine Fire landed onto the Dark Demonic Dragon’s back, it began to blaze away furiously and spread throughout its back at a ridiculously high speed.
The astonishing thing was that every area that the Netherworld Divine Fire burned was actually reduced to ashes that scattered into the surroundings when the chilly winds blew.
After that, pitch-black holes that looked as if they were caused by sulphuric acid corrosion would appear in each area!
It formed an extremely frightening sight!
However, this was nothing because, more importantly, the Divine Fire had brought it unbearable pain.
The Dark Demonic Dragon let out shrill cries as it tried desperately to manifest its demonic aura and isolate the Netherworld Divine Fire. However, the flames were simply spreading too quickly.
The moment the chilly winds blew, the fire would spread like embers in a dry, withered field—the rate at which it spread was simply flabbergasting. The Dark Demonic Dragon’s isolation speed was far slower than the speed at which the fire spread.
In just a mere dozen seconds or so, the Netherworld Divine Fire had spread to every part of the Dark Demonic Dragon and totally enveloped its enormous, 500,000-feet-long body.
Hooowl!
The Dark Demonic Dragon cried out in pain and agony as it struggled mournfully. Its tough dragon scales turned into bits of drifting ashes while its robust and well-developed body swiftly shrank.
This badly frightened its subordinates. Overcome by shock and horror, the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords began to shake like a leaf.
“L-Lord Demon God!”
“What do we do now?”
What should they do?
Meng Lei didn’t know the answer to that, either—the Netherworld Divine Fire’s fearsome might had shocked him, too.
“Little did I think that the upgraded Netherworld Divine Fire would be that fearsome! It’s actually burned a great Demon God’s body into ashes, how frightful!”
However, the more terrifying and the more powerful the Netherworld Divine Fire was, the more advantageous it was for Meng Lei. This was good news!
“This is your last chance, Mr. Cyrus.” Meng Lei flew right up to the Dark Demonic Dragon and ordered, “Hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me!”
“You despicable human deity!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s eyes were bloodshot. It said, “Even if I die; even if I’m destroyed; even if I’m burned into ashes, I’ll never submit to you!”
“In that case, you leave me with no choice.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and said, “Go in peace. I’ll look after your subordinates and those dozens of existential planes of yours well.”
“You bastard!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon gnashed its teeth loudly and glared hard at Meng Lei, the corners of its eyes nearly splitting from the intensity of its glare. If looks could kill, it wished for nothing more than to rip Meng Lei into shreds!
What a shame… that it couldn’t!
“Rest in peace, Mr. Cyrus!”
Meng Lei gave it a dispassionate smile before turning and walking toward the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords. He said, “The heavens are virtuous and cherish all life. Likewise, I’ll also give all of you a chance.”
“We’ll submit! We’ll submit!”
With barely any hesitation, the Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords dropped onto their knees and expressed their willingness to hand over their divine spirit origin energies and submit to Meng Lei.
“Submit to me? No, I’m afraid you’re mistaken.” Unexpectedly, Meng Lei shook his head instead and said, “They are the ones whom all of you should submit to, not me.”
“Them?”
The Demon Lords’ and Great Demon Lords’ expressions became fairly interesting to watch as they turned to Bubbles and the others.
There was grief, indignation, humiliation, disbelief, as well as the inability to accept such an outcome.
They had nothing more to say if Meng Lei had been the one whom they had to submit to. After all, he was stronger than them. To demons like them, submission to the strong was the norm.
However, Bubbles and the others had suffered defeat at their hands. Yet he was ordering them to submit to them?
This was practically worse than taking their lives!
“They are all my most loyal subordinates. Only by submitting to them will you have a chance to live. Otherwise, Cyrus will become a fitting example of your eventual outcome!” said Meng Lei simply.
The Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords were greatly frustrated, though none of them rebutted him. After all, Lord Demon God’s tragic outcome was still fresh in their minds.
Refusal to submit? Were they intending to have themselves burned into ashes by Netherworld Divine Fire, then?
Under the threat of death, the clever Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords made the wisest decision they could make—they lowered their noble heads!
“You can split them among yourselves,” said Meng Lei dispassionately.
“Yes, Master!”
Bubbles and the others answered resoundingly. Then, their gazes swept back and forth across the demons as they sought their ideal candidates. Even though the 45 Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords were filled with grief and indignation, all they could do was grin and bear with it.
Just like that, a grand loot-dividing session commenced, and various squabbles rang out continuously without pause.
A smiling Meng Lei asked leisurely, “Mr. Cyrus, does the sight of them taking their pick of your subordinates like livestock enrage you? Does it fill you with indignation?”
The Netherworld Divine Fire had already burned away and destroyed the Dark Demonic Dragon’s scales and hypodermis layer and was currently burning its flesh. It was an unbearable sight to behold.
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s hatred soared right into the heavens, and it roared hysterically and hoarsely, “I’ll never let you off even after I become a ghost, human!”
“Become a ghost? That can only happen if you even get the chance to!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and said, “I’m going to read your memory and then burn and destroy your divine spirit fragments so that even your soul will become fully destroyed. You’ll never be able to reincarnate for eternity!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon shivered non-stop upon hearing what he had said. It roared, “How ruthless of you, human deity!”
“Ruthless? I’m nowhere near when compared to you!”
Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Your life is the only one I’m taking, while you had wanted to kill all the living beings in Heaven’s Vault Continent. In comparison, you’re still the more ruthless one.”
The Dark Demonic Dragon stared straight at Meng Lei and said, “Human deity, I may admit defeat, but I will also curse you and pester you for all lifetimes to come so that you’ll never die in peace!”
“Alright, alright! Are you done?”
Meng Lei waved him off and shot out another few Netherworld Divine Fire flames at it. The fire blazed fiercely, swiftly turning the Dark Demonic Dragon into ashes.
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s 500,000-feet-long body was fully reduced to ashes in a few minutes, leaving behind only a crystallized demonic core that glowed a blood-red color.
Similar to a deity’s divine core, a demonic core was the core of a Demon God’s power and stored their soul and magic power within it. Simply put, it was actually also a divine core.
The demons just called them demonic cores to differentiate them from the deities’ divine cores.
The Netherworld Divine Fire continued to blaze even after the demonic core appeared. If nothing went wrong, the demonic core would also be burned into ashes like the Dark Demonic Dragon.
However, would Meng Lei burn it away?
Of course not!
Meng Lei was still intending to read the Dark Demonic Dragon’s memories, so he naturally wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. At once, he grabbed hold of the demonic core.
Then, he removed the Netherworld Divine Fire on it and started to read the Dark Demonic Dragon’s memories.
“48 material planes! Oh my goodness, I’ve struck gold! Mine! Those 48 material planes are all mine, don’t anyone dare fight me for them!
“A windfall! This is a total windfall!”
Meng Lei had been upset over the loss of his 888 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals—after all, those were savings that he’d accumulated over many years—but now, all his unhappiness had been swept clean!
48 material planes!
Just how massive a windfall was that?
[1] Referring to Uchiha Itachi, a character from Japanese anime and comic Naruto
[2] One of Uchiha Itachi’s skills
" }, { "id": 279, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-279", "title": "Chapter 279 - Dividing And Enfeoffing Existential Planes, Creating A God System", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "48 material planes!
This was such a huge fortune!
Take the four great true gods, for example, with the most ancient Fairy Goddess left out.
The Beast God had only seven or eight power of faith domains as a peak intermediate deity.
The Titan Spiritual God also had only five or six power of faith domains before being granted more by the Theodore Titan Gods of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.
On the other hand, the Dragon God was the weakest intermediate deity of the four, and he had only the Dragon God Empire as his power of faith domain.
How poor was that?
From this, one could easily imagine that the 48 material planes were such a massive windfall!
If all these material planes were converted into Meng Lei’s power of faith domain, how massive would the power of faith be?
“Cyrus really got some dumb luck!”
Meng Lei wondered, Cyrus only emerged recently and met an unclaimed existential plane, if that wasn’t dumb luck, what was it?
Compared to Cyrus, the Dragon God should be crying. Why was there such a huge difference between dragons?
Meng Lei carried on reading Cyrus’ memory. He expected to see massive memories from Cyrus, a powerful Demon God that had been around for tens of thousands of years.
However, it was the complete opposite!
Cyrus’ actual memories were few since it was sleeping most of the time.
In other words, Cyrus spent most of its time in slumber and rarely woke up.
“Such a lazy dragon!”
Still, Meng Lei managed to find some useful information from the limited memories.
For example, the details of the 48 material planes, the exact location of the 48 Heart of the Existential Plane…
“After refining the Heart of the Existential Plane, I’ll be able to exert total control over the entire existential plane. Every tree, every river, every brick will all be under my control!”
Meng Lei could not wait any longer to try it out as he followed Cyrus’ memory and found the Heart of the Existential Plane of the Demonic Dragon Continent.
After that, he went into a vibrant, colorful world where laws of nature in the shape of chains covered the entire continent.
The silver Thunder-elemental laws of nature!
The red Fire-elemental laws of nature!
The blue Water-elemental laws of nature!
The golden Metal-elemental laws of nature!
…
Ten types of basic laws of nature formed a densely packed web, filling the colorful world. In the center of this colorful web floated a multicolored rhombus-shaped crystal.
It was iridescent and dazzling.
The ten laws of nature seemed to extend out from this colorful crystal. At the same time, the crystal seemed to be the heart of this colorful world.
“This is the Heart of the Existential Plane!”
Meng Lei sized up the crystal from top to bottom. He was rather curious since it was his first time seeing a Heart of the Existential Plane.
Having examined enough, Meng Lei released his divine cognition, which shrouded the Heart of the Existential Plane.
At that instant, Meng Lei could feel that his divine cognition permeated through the entire Demonic Dragon Continent.
Every single thing in the Demonic Dragon Continent appeared in Meng Lei’s mind.
Every speck of grass growing, every cry of a bird, every sleeping little demon… They were all reflected in his mind!
It was a fascinating experience for Meng Lei, similar to when he had refined and obtained the Tower of Time!
After some examination, Meng Lei discovered something surprising as the Demonic Dragon Continent’s existential plane was quite different from Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Heaven’s Vault Continent was surrounded by vast, endless oceans which occupied more than half of the existential plane. The continent itself was just a small portion.
As for the Demonic Dragon Continent’s existential plane, it had no oceans as it was covered with land. The center of the existential plane had countless rivers and lakes, so water sources were still abundant.
If Heaven’s Vault Continent was like Earth, then the Demonic Dragon Continent was like Mars. One was mainly made up of oceans, while the other was mainly made up of land.
Both were completely different!
“Since the entire existential plane was made up of land, the soil is much more extensive, thus giving birth to more intelligent species.
“It’s just a pity that they were all killed by Cyrus, and Cyrus’ demon army occupied the vast land. The continent then became a paradise for demons!”
Meng Lei learned from Cyrus’ memory that the Demonic Dragon Continent and the other 47 material planes gave birth to many unique species.
The tragic thing was that ever since Cyrus’ rise, every living thing in these material planes was completely erased by the demons. Demons then occupied these 48 material planes, becoming the only creatures to roam the lands.
“That’s ruthless!”
Meng Lei was appalled as he started to refine the Heart of the Existential Plane of the Demonic Dragon Continent. It was quite easy to refine since it had no consciousness.
Meng Lei left his divine spirit mark in it within a few minutes and completed the refinement process.
In an instant, Meng Lei felt that he was the Demonic Dragon Continent existential plane, and the existential plane was him.
If he had the will, he could change anything in this existential plane. He could make mountains float, reverse the river flows, make a forest wither, and could also kill every demon within the material plane!
Everything… with just a thought!
Of course, there was also the Power of Existential Plane.
“So that’s how this power works! The Power of Existential Plane is… just ridiculous!”
Meng Lei sensed everything in the Demonic Dragon Continent. If he battled Cyrus now, Meng Lei was confident that he could suppress it with just a flip of his hands.
The Power of Existential Plane in the material level was too fearsome; suppressing an intermediate deity was just a small matter!
At the same time, Meng Lei was glad that he could teleport. Once the Power of Existential Plane controlled him, then he would have no chance to make a comeback.
“It’s just tragic for Cyrus to meet me. If it was someone else, who could rival it?”
Meng Lei smiled and shook his head as he teleported out of the space that held the Heart of the Existential Plane.
At this timing, Bubbles and the rest had finished dividing the loot as everyone was satisfied with what they got.
“Greetings Master!”
The subordinates greeted excitedly.
Meng Lei smiled and asked, “All done?”
“Thank you for your generosity, Master. We have finished dividing the loot!” Bubbles and the rest bowed, their eyes filled with gratitude.
As lesser deities, it was already difficult to subdue Demon Lords, not to mention Great Demon Lords!
Don’t even think about it!
Yet now, they did it. How could they not feel grateful from the bottom of their heart?
“Now, let’s talk about some proper matters. Cyrus had a total of 48 material planes.” Meng Lei said, “I won’t be able to manage all of them, so I have decided to divide and enfeoff these existential planes to you and help me manage!”
“Enfeoff them to us?”
Everyone was stunned.
“Indeed, I’m planning to divide these existential planes among all of you to manage and spread your faith. Yes, spread your faith!”
Meng Lei smiled again. “I’ve calculated, everyone can get around three to four existential planes on average. You all should be able to accumulate massive power of divinity with them.”
Since they had assimilated divine cores to become deities, it would be difficult for Bubbles and the rest to advance further in their cultivations. Their only route to advance was to assimilate divine cores of higher levels.
Meng Lei did not have any of those divine cores for the time being. Thus, they were not going to think about advancing for some time.
Would spreading faith be useless to them? The answer was negative!
The power of faith would always be useful to every deity, even if they became deities through the assimilation of divine cores.
Suppose there were three to four existential planes as the deity’s power of faith domains. The deity would be able to gather massive amounts of power of faith that could be converted into the power of divinity or strengthen the divine spirit! Hence there were many benefits!
After all, for any deities, the amount of power of divinity and the strength of divine spirit would always determine the combat power of deities! Hence, the power of faith was very important!
The question was, was Meng Lei really willing to enfeoff all 48 existential planes to them? That was 48 existential planes, after all!
It just sounded unbelievable to them.
“There’s no need to doubt.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “I’m planning to create a god system. After that, all of you will become true gods under my command!”
“Creating a god system?!”
A huge jolt went through everyone.
A god system was a closely linked combination of deities. It was similar to a nation or family where they were closely connected.
A god system would consist of a Lord of Gods and a bunch of true gods under it. The Lord of Gods not only ruled the god system, but it would also be prioritized to enjoy the power of faith—the power of faith collected by each true god would be shared equally between the Lord of Gods and the true god.
Thus, it was evident that the god system was a strict hierarchy, which differed greatly from alliances like the deity alliance.
“We stand by your decision, Master!”
Bubbles and the others naturally didn’t have any objections to that.
They were already Meng Lei’s servants. Even if Meng Lei decided to seize all the power of faith of the 48 existential planes for himself, they would not dare to say anything.
All the more, Meng Lei was going to split these existential planes among them, make them gods under him, and enjoy half of the power of faith!
That was simply an enormous act of kindness bestowed upon them!
“Let’s go then! Accompany me to explore other existential planes,” Meng Lei said faintly.
“Yes, Master!”
" }, { "id": 280, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-280", "title": "Chapter 280 - System Upgrade, New Functions", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 280: System Upgrade, New Functions
Meng Lei hadn’t planned on establishing a god system initially. He had only come up with the idea after he obtained the 48 existential planes.
To him, his main means of gaining strength was still the system. Power of faith was ultimately just supplementary.
After all, the worst thing here was that Meng Lei still hadn’t lit up his divine fire even as of now. Well, that was awkward!
What was divine fire?
Divine fire was a tool that turned power of faith into power of divinity—in other words, it was a power of divinity converter. If power of divinity were electricity, then divine fire would be the power plant!
Even if Meng Lei had vast amounts of power of faith, he wouldn’t be able to convert them into power of divinity anyway without a divine fire.
In other words, even if Meng Lei had 1,000 existential planes acting as his power of faith domains, the vast amounts of power of faith they produced would only pile up and accumulate.
This was a complete waste.
Rather than having that happen, he might as well enfeoff those existential planes to Bubbles and the others and allow them to spread their own faith, earn and accumulate power of divinity, and strengthen themselves.
Once they became stronger, Meng Lei would no longer need to personally attend to a lot of things. There were a lot of benefits to be had.
Besides!
How would Meng Lei possibly have that much time to manage that many existential planes? He couldn’t even be bothered to deal with the Dragon God Empire, much less 48 existential planes!
Therefore, the ideal solution was to enfeoff them to others. Meng Lei believed that Bubbles and the others would definitely manage the existential planes with great diligence for the sake of power of faith.
“You’ve finally smartened up for once, kid!”
Dodola was full of praise for Meng Lei’s idea. It said, “Not only is establishing a god system beneficial to spreading one’s faith, but it can also encourage the subsidiary gods to open up new grounds and forge ahead, such that they would develop the ambition to expand their territory. It’s a move that kills two birds with one stone!”
“With that coming from even you, then there shouldn’t be anything to worry over anymore!”
Dodola’s response further strengthened Meng Lei’s thoughts of establishing a god system.
After that, the group began to take a leisurely stroll around the 48 existential planes. The existential planes were connected via teleportation magic circles, so they were easily accessible.
Of course, Meng Lei didn’t forget to refine their Hearts of The Existential Planes and take full control of them, either.
The 48 existential planes were rich and diverse in variety and differed from one another. Some were marine worlds, some were dry lands, some were fully covered in forests…
With incredibly vast and wide lands and containing abundant resources, all the existential planes were highly suitable to be used as living beings’ habitats and were exceptionally good power of faith domains. The only thing that displeased them was that… All of them were currently being occupied by demons.
Innumerable demons occupied the existential planes, filling the pleasant environments with foul atmospheres as they ran rampant. It was truly irksome!
“What a waste for demons to be occupying them!”
None of them looked favorably upon demons. Apart from the fact that deities and demons were natural adversaries and thus adopted hostile attitudes toward each other, there was also one other reason for this—it was in the demons’ nature to be cunning, cruel, and bloodthirsty. They didn’t easily worship others, so it was far harder to grow demon worshiper numbers than to grow normal worshiper numbers.
Thus, everyone wanted to kill the demons and migrate other living beings there instead.
To be honest, Meng Lei also wanted to kill the demons. However, it wasn’t because he disliked them, but rather… It was because he was poor!
The rebirth had depleted him of 888 million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and left him with only 880,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. One could say that he had gone right back to square one overnight and become a penniless pauper again!
Thus, Meng Lei was in a panic. It didn’t feel good to be penniless.
The only thing currently on his mind was to replenish his Wealth. He didn’t feel very confident with an empty purse!
“I should be, no, I definitely will be able to replenish everything that I’ve spent if I kill all the demons!”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei said, “Everyone, I’ve decided to establish a god system and enfeoff these existential planes to all of you. Do you have any suggestions?”
Everyone exchanged looks with one another. Then, Bubbles scratched his head and asked, “Are you serious, Master?”
“Duh, of course!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
“Since Master has already made up his mind, then I hope Master can forgive for taking the liberty of raising a suggestion.”
Bubbles lowered his voice and said, “Can we kill those demons? They are simply too detestable. I have no desire to have a bunch of demon worshipers.”
“My thoughts exactly, Master!”
Seisia spoke up and said, “These are good material planes, yet those demons have polluted them. What a huge waste that is!”
“That’s right, Master. Let’s hurry up and kill those demons. Leaving them alive is just a waste of resources!”
“Master, I suggest exterminating all the demons and migrating some humans, Colossal Dragons, or Beast People from Heaven’s Vault Continent over…”
Everyone else also spoke up one after another, with all of them essentially saying the same thing in different forms. They indeed didn’t have any other ideas, either. The fact that their Master was willing to divide and confer the existential planes to them was already a pleasant surprise to them.
What more was there for them to be discontent about?
“Since everyone has the same opinions, then we’ll do just that.” Meng Lei mused for a long while before he said, “We’ll exterminate the demons and migrate other races over!”
“How wise, Master!”
“O my noble Master, your wisdom is like the dazzling and eye-catching stars in the sky, yet also like a lighthouse at sea that lights up our paths…”
Overjoyed, everyone launched into wild bursts of flattery. For a while, all sorts of praises gushed from them like an endless, overflowing river that was out of control.
The next problem was—how should they exterminate the demons?
There were billions of demons in the 48 existential planes. Killing them was no easy task. To quote Zhang Fei[1], “One would have to spend a total of three days and three nights even if they were just killing 700,000 pigs”, let alone that many demons!
However, to Meng Lei, who had already refined all the Hearts of The Existential Planes, this really wasn’t that difficult a task at all. He needed only to think about it, and he would be able to easily wipe out all the demons.
That was what made an existential plane’s master so fearsome. By using Power of Existential Plane, they could easily kill all the low-end living beings in their existential planes.
“Ding! 1 Longhorned Demon killed, 12 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals gained!”
“Ding…”
As Meng Lei commenced his operation, his Wealth value also began to spike insanely. He gained one billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals after wiping out the demons on one existential plane.
Going by the rate of 0.1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal per demon, that meant that he had killed as many as 10 billion demons!
Of course, the actual numbers were undoubtedly even bigger.
If 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal equated to 10 billion gold coins, then that meant that 0.1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal equated to 1 billion gold coins.
That was the amount he earned when he killed a Saint Domain Magical Beast, which was the equivalent of a Demon General among the demons.
Was it possible for every demon on an existential plane to be a Demon General? Obviously not. Worlds would always be populated by low-end beings the most, no matter which it was.
Therefore, more than 10 billion demons had definitely died on that existential plane alone.
Fortunately, Meng Lei had employed a humanitarian way of annihilating them. The demons died instantly without any pain or fear and left the world very peacefully.
“Let’s head to the next one!”
Just like that, Meng Lei traveled around all 48 existential planes and began an all-new way of withdrawing funds from ATMs.
About ten existential planes later, the depleted funds were not only replenished, but he had also broken through the 10 billion milestone.
The system’s icy voice abruptly rang out at this point.
“Ding! It has been detected that the host’s Wealth value has broken through the 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals mark and now fulfills the system upgrade condition. Dear host, will you upgrade the system?”
Meng Lei was stunned. The system was upgrading again?
The last time it had upgraded was when he had broken through to Saint Domain, thereby fulfilling the system upgrade condition. However, this time, the upgrade was actually because his Wealth had broken through the 10 billion mark!
Wasn’t the trash system being a little too willful here?
Dissing aside, Meng Lei promptly gave the order to upgrade the system without any hesitation whatsoever.
“Upgrade!”
“Ding! Upgrading the system requires 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. Dear host, will you upgrade the system?”
“10… billion… Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp and remark, “What the hell! Must you use that many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals just to upgrade yourself? Isn’t this daylight robbery?!”
As though it hadn’t heard Meng Lei’s dissing at all, the system repeated coldly, “Ding! Upgrading the system requires 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. Dear host, will you upgrade the system?”
Meng Lei suppressed the heartache from having to part with the money, and then he gave the order to upgrade—albeit in an extremely disgruntled manner.
Whoosh!
The 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals that he had only just earned were instantly reset to zero, and Meng Lei turned into a pauper once more.
“Ding! System upgrade commencing!
“Upgrade Duration: Three hours.
“A friendly reminder: During the upgrading process, all functions of the system will be shut down. Dear host, please wait patiently.”
“Go ahead and upgrade all you want! All the better if you’re broken in the process! Upgrade all the way into the sky, and don’t come back if you so dare! Goddamn it!”
Meng Lei felt like crying as he stared at his empty Wealth attribute. He had only just earned 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals through his own abilities and hadn’t even spent that much time with it, yet they were all gone now?
Wasn’t this frustrating?
Wasn’t this infuriating?
Despite his displeasure, however, Meng Lei was still very much looking forward to the results. The system had gained two new functions—Limitless Pickup and Brutal Plunder—after its previous upgrade.
Even though he rarely used Brutal Plunder, the function’s powerful capabilities were an undeniable fact.
Limitless Pickup didn’t even require any further explanation. Just how many benefits had the function brought to Meng Lei?
The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline, various fusion laws of nature fragments, as well as the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts and Soul Ice Marrow droplet used to enhance his divine spirit…
All of these had been thanks to Limitless Pickup.
It was no exaggeration to say that Meng Lei wouldn’t be where he was today had it not been for Limitless Pickup.
It was apparent how great the benefits that the system had brought Meng Lei after its upgrade were.
This was also the reason why Meng Lei hadn’t hesitated to upgrade the system at all, despite the astrological cost. The rewards that he had received post-upgrade were far more than what he had spent.
“I wonder what kind of new functions there’ll be after the upgrade?”
Meng Lei was full of anticipation.
“Master, you…”
Bubbles and the others were utterly confused at the sight of Meng Lei, who had suddenly stopped in his tracks and adopted a look of anticipation.
What is Master secretly so thrilled about? C’mon, tell us and let us share in the joy, too!
After all, happiness is better off shared with others!
“It’s nothing.”
Meng Lei waved them off and said, “You can return to Heaven’s Vault Continent and discuss the migration issue with Puhaman first. A sudden wave of inspiration has struck me, so I’m going to go into seclusion here instead.”
A sudden wave of inspiration?
His subordinates didn’t quite know what to say anymore. How long had it only been since his breakthrough? Yet he had been struck by inspiration again?
Compared to Master, we’ve practically lived our lives in vain!
Incredibly ashamed of themselves, Bubbles and the others quickly returned to Heaven’s Vault Continent via the teleportation magic circle.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the system’s cold, emotionless voice rang out once more.
“Ding! The Most Powerful Pickup System upgrade complete!
“Ding! The Most Powerful Pickup System at your service!”
Although its voice was cold and emotionless, it nevertheless sounded like music to Meng Lei’s ears. He exclaimed, “The upgrade is complete at last! Hurry, tell me, system, what new functions have you gained?”
“Dear host, the basic pickup function has undergone a few changes after the system upgrade,” The system stated emotionlessly, “The chargeable functions Limitless Pickup and Brutal Plunder have been removed, while the following new chargeable functions have been added—Super Pickup, Super Plunder, and Super Enhancement.”
“Super Pickup, Super Plunder, and Super Enhancement?”
[1] A major character in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. A military general that served under warlord Liu Bei
" }, { "id": 281, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-281", "title": "Chapter 281 - Monstrous New Functions, Ancient God Bloodline", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 281: Monstrous New Functions, Ancient God Bloodline
An excited Meng Lei urged, “System, hurry and tell me more about these three functions!”
“Super Pickup: Picks up dropped items from designated existential planes, including but not limited to Divinity Crystals, Bloodlines, Laws of Nature Fragments, Divine Cores…” The system stated coldly, “This is a chargeable function and costs 100 Divinity Crystals per attempt.”
“Pick up dropped items from designated existential planes?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up a little as he asked, “Is this an improved version of Limitless Pickup? What does ‘designated existential planes’ mean? Do I get to specify the existential plane?”
“That’s right, host,” replied the system. Then it added, “By using this function, the host may pick up dropped items from any existential plane designated by the host.”
“I get to designate the existential plane? That’s just insane!”
Meng Lei’s spirits were rather roused up.
Limitless Pickup was a random pickup function. Just how many existential planes were there in the vast universe?
Billions! The rate of picking up something good was too low when one could only do random pickups from so many existential planes out there.
However, he could designate a specific existential plane as the pickup location instead with the new function. Now, that made the function way more monstrous!
If he designated the location as the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, then he would be able to pick up dropped items from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm;
If he designated the location as the Earth Divine Realm, then he would be able to pick up dropped items from the Earth Divine Realm!
If he designated the location as the Celestial Realm, then he would be able to pick up dropped items from the Celestial Realm!
Even if he were to temporarily put aside the issue of whether or not he could pick up decent dropped items, at least he definitely wouldn’t be seeing things like Anna the barmaid’s panties, a Fairy’s bra, and other kinds of eyesores anymore.
“This function is certainly powerful, but the price…” Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. The price was certainly very ridiculous, too.
100 Divinity Crystals was the equivalent of 1,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. This meant that using Super Pickup once would cost him 1,000,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals—this was as many as one million times the cost of using Limitless Pickup!
How could the word “expensive” even cut it?
Meng Lei asked, “What about Super Plunder?”
“Super Plunder: Plunders anything from designated existential planes, including but not limited to Divinity Crystals, Bloodlines, Laws of Nature Fragments, Divine Cores…” The system stated coldly, “The cost of using the function depends on how powerful and how rare the target of plunder and object of plunder are.”
“As expected, it’s also an improved function, this time of Brutal Plunder.”
An excited Meng Lei exclaimed, “To think it can actually plunder anything from designated existential planes! It’s pretty terrifying once you think carefully about it—this means that I can even plunder a Chief God’s divine core if I so wish?”
“Yes, it’s possible, host,” replied the system emotionlessly.
True enough!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. This particular function was simply too monstrous—it could even plunder a Chief God’s divine core! This was practically… too frightening!
However, Meng Lei knew without even asking that the cost of plundering a Chief God divine core from a chief god must undoubtedly be an astronomical sum, way beyond what he could even imagine. It wasn’t something that he could plunder so easily.
“System, tell me about Super Enhancement.”
Meng Lei was full of anticipation. Since the previous two functions hadn’t disappointed, then the last one couldn’t possibly be a bad one, either.
“Super Enhancement: Enhances any object in the host’s possession, including but not limited to Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, Bloodlines, Divine Cores, Divine Weapons…” The system stated coldly, “The cost of using this function depends on the object of enhancement’s grade.”
“This function sounds pretty good, too!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were sparkling. He asked, “Can the function enhance even bloodlines, system?”
“Yes, it can.”
“If I want to enhance my bloodline, what would happen after the bloodline has been enhanced?”
The system replied, “The bloodline will upgrade by one grade each time the function is used to enhance it.”
“Upgrade by one grade?” Meng Lei was rather confused. “What does that mean?”
“Dear host, bloodlines are classified into different grades,” The system explained, “They are respectively the Mundane Bloodlines, Saint Domain Bloodlines, Half-Deity Bloodlines, True God Bloodlines, Ancient God Bloodlines, Supreme Bloodlines, and the Genesis Bloodlines.
“It is possible for the host to improve a bloodline’s grade through the use of Super Enhancement. For example, the host may enhance a Mundane Bloodline into a Saint Domain Bloodline, or a Saint Domain Bloodline into a Half-Deity Bloodline.”
The system’s explanation was an eye-opener for Meng Lei.
He wasn’t surprised at the fact that bloodlines had a difference in grades. After all, this was simply too common an occurrence.
Some races—such as humans—were born mundane and would remain mundane if they didn’t cultivate.
Some races were born Saint Domains and would naturally become Saint Domain existences once they become of age, such as the Golden Behemoths, the Golden Colossal Dragons, and the Golden Dragon-Lions.
And some races were born half-deities the moment they came into the world, such as the Gods-Slaying Rats.
Therefore, it was very normal for there to be grade classifications in bloodlines. Instead, what had astonished Meng Lei was the latter three types of bloodlines—the Ancient God Bloodlines, the Supreme Bloodlines, and the Genesis Bloodlines.
A frowning and puzzled Meng Lei asked, “System, what does ‘Ancient God’ mean?”
“Ancient Gods are known as Pseudo-Chief Gods. The term refers to Great Perfection higher deities that have comprehended supreme Laws of Nature.”
The system explained, “Although Ancient Gods do not have Chief God Divine Cores, because they have comprehended supreme laws of nature, they nevertheless still possess extremely powerful combat power and are able to contend against Chief Gods.
“Additionally, the deeper an Ancient God’s comprehension of the supreme Laws of Nature was, the stronger their combat power would be. When an Ancient God perfectly comprehends a form of supreme Laws of Nature, they’ll be able to contend against the strongest Chief God.”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. As it turned out, the term “Ancient God” referred to Great Perfection higher deities that had comprehended supreme laws of nature.
Going by that definition, the God of Time that had comprehended time-based laws of nature could also be referred to as an Ancient God. Despite not possessing a Chief God divine core, he nevertheless could still contend against a Chief God.
How impressive!
What was the Supreme Bloodline that came next in line, though?
And the Genesis Bloodline, too—what the heck was that?
“Dear host, above the Chief Gods stand the Supreme Gods of The Universe, and above the Supreme Gods stand the Primordial World Genesis Gods. These terms are commonly abbreviated to Supreme Gods and Genesis Gods,” explained the system.
Supreme Gods of The Universe!
Primordial World Genesis Gods!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. The Chief Gods were already the most supreme and the highest form of godhood among the deities. They were the universally-acknowledged king of all gods, yet the Supreme Gods and Genesis Gods were actually even more powerful than the Chief Gods?
In that case, how powerful must they be?
Meng Lei was astounded by the new knowledge. He felt even more keenly just how tiny and insignificant an existence he was. The current Meng Lei was just a tiny little intermediate deity, let alone a Supreme God or a Genesis God.
He was ridiculously weak!
“I’m still young, though. I have loads of time to improve myself. Besides, I also have the system. I believe that I’ll definitely achieve considerable heights in the future!”
Then, Meng Lei asked, “System, what grades do the bloodlines currently in my body belong to?”
“Dear host, you currently have a total of four bloodlines in your body. Among them, the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline, and the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline are classified as True God Bloodlines,” replied the system, “Whereas the Primordial Human bloodline is one grade higher and classified as an Ancient God Bloodline.”
“I expected that of the first three types.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. After all, as long as the Gods-Slaying Rats, the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes, and the Hundred-Armed Giants could survive and become of age, they would be able to contend against higher deities. That firmly made them True God Bloodlines. On top of that, they were even extremely powerful presences among the True God Bloodlines.
What had surprised Meng Lei was instead the Primordial Human bloodline. It was actually an Ancient God Bloodline!
“Wouldn’t that mean that as long as I can awaken the Primordial Human bloodline to 100%, I’ll become an Ancient God capable of contending against a Chief God once I naturally come of age?
“Oh my goodness! How terrifying!”
Meng Lei was fairly shocked. However, he also knew that the more powerful a bloodline was, the harder it would be for him to buy credit for it.
At the moment, he had only awakened 16% of his Primordial Human bloodline. Should he intend to buy credit and boost it to 100%, he would need a total of 8.4 billion Divinity Crystals!
8.4 billion!
He wouldn’t even be worth that much money even if he sold himself off!
Meng Lei inquired, “System, how much would it cost to enhance my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline?”
“Ding! The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline and will become an Ancient God Bloodline after enhancement. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals.”
“Take it that I didn’t ask!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. Then, he asked, “System, how much would it cost to enhance my divine spirit?”
“Dear host, your divine spirit is currently at pinnacle-grade lesser deity level and will reach an intermediate deity’s level after enhancement. The enhancement cost is estimated at 100,000 Divinity Crystals.”
“100,000 Divinity Crystals? That’s still pretty expensive, but at least it’s somewhat within an acceptable range. What about Physical Body Constitution enhancement?”
“…”
“Can divine weapons also be enhanced?”
“…”
“How much would it cost to enhance the Gods-Slaying Spear?”
“Dear host, the Gods-Slaying Spear is a mid-tier divine weapon and will become a high-tier divine weapon after enhancement…”
" }, { "id": 282, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-282", "title": "Chapter 282 - Intermediate Deity, The Looted Dragon'S Den", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 282: Intermediate Deity, The Looted Dragon’s Den
Super Pickup—picking up from high-end existential planes!
Super Plunder—even Chief God’s divine cores could be plundered!
Super Enhancement—bloodlines, Physical Body Constitution, Spirit, divine cores, divine weapons… could all be enhanced!
Upon looking at the three functions, Meng Lei was excited.
Even though the system upgrade cost him a painstaking 10 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, the new functions after the upgrade lifted his spirits.
They deserved the word ‘Super’ in their names!
Meng Lei could imagine that his powers would undergo a tremendous change with the help of these three new functions.
The prerequisite was… money! Enough money!
I need money! A lot of money!
Meng Lei exclaimed in his mind. The new functions were so powerful, yet he was still a poor fellow! That was tragic!
And so, Meng Lei started his killing spree!
In the 16th existential plane, he earned around 1.1 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
In the 17th existential plane, he earned around 1.3 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
In the 18th existential plane, he earned around 0.9 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
…
After some hard work of plundering the remaining 33 existential planes, wiping out the demons in the process, Meng Lei earned a total of 34.2 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“Now that’s 3,420,000 Divinity Crystals!”
Meng Lei licked his lips and asked, “System, without further ado, enhance my divine spirit, I want to break through to become an intermediate deity!”
“Host, your Spirit is at the pinnacle-level lesser deity, it will reach intermediate deity after enhancement. Enhancement price: 100,000 Divinity Crystals!”
The system asked coldly, “Will you undergo enhancement?”
“Enhance it, I’m rich!”
Meng Lei did not hesitate as he felt generous.
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100,000 Divinity Crystals in an instant.
Boom!
At the same time, a golden energy current rushed into his sea of consciousness and toward the divine spirit flame. The divine spirit flame flared up instantly as if oil was added to it.
Boom, boom, boom!
2 times, 3 times, 4 times…
When the injection of golden energy was complete, the divine spirit flame’s intensity was 10 times higher than before.
If the divine spirit flame before was a little ball of fire, it was now an inferno. It was completely different than before.
“So this is the level of intermediate deity?”
Meng Lei enjoyed the wonderful feeling after his divine spirit was strengthened. He even almost moaned in satisfaction—it was simply too comfortable!
He checked his stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix<Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant)
Wealth: 3.32 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Intermediate-Deity (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
“The physique of an intermediate deity! The divine spirit of an intermediate deity! Wahaha, I’m an intermediate deity too!”
Meng Lei was excited as he could not help laughing to vent his excitement.
Of course, other than being excited, Meng Lei did not forget an important matter—Cyrus’ wealth.
Indeed, the Dark Demonic Dragon’s wealth!
Although it was a Dark Demonic Dragon, Cyrus was a dragon after all. It was passionate about collecting treasures, and it had 48 existential planes under its control!
Hence, it was much wealthier than other intermediate deities, like a huge dirty rat hoarding vast amounts of health.
How could Meng Lei miss out on this opportunity?
After returning to the Demonic Dragon Continent, Meng Lei rushed to Cyrus’ den straight away. However, Meng Lei was left furious by the results.
The den… it was empty!
The treasure… all gone!!
“F*ck! Damn it!”
Meng Lei was enraged. “Who dares to steal my treasure?”
Meng Lei was extremely angry. He had already wiped out all the demons in the Demonic Dragon Continent, so the treasures couldn’t have disappeared in thin air.
Someone must have stolen it!
“Someone actually dares to steal my treasure!”
Meng Lei extended his divine cognition throughout the Demonic Dragon Continent through the Heart of the Existential Plane and started searching.
Nothing in the east… Nothing in the north… Nothing in the west… the south…
“Eh?”
At once, Meng Lei vanished on the spot.
…
The north of the Heaven’s Vault Continent was the Far Northern Icelands. The south, on the other hand, was the lush Fairy Forests. The north was frozen and silent, while the south was full of life.
The Demonic Dragon Continent was the complete opposite.
The Demonic Dragon Continent’s north’s weather was spring all year round, while the south was covered in ice and snow. Other than ice demons, other demons could hardly survive here.
However, after Meng Lei’s massacre, the south’s ice demons were dead as the rest of the demons in the Demonic Dragon Continent. There should not be any signs of life here, but his search just now picked up something.
The thief isn’t far!
…
“Cyrus, you idiot! How did you get killed so easily! How terrifying! This is too terrifying!
“I have to leave the Demonic Dragon Continent immediately, away from Meng Lei’s territory, and get to a safe place…”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon with green dragon scales flapped his wings as he sped higher into the sky. He was about to leave the Demonic Dragon Continent for good!
“Once I get out of here, I’ll be safe. Maybe I can be like Horace, finding a hidden and remote existential plane. Then I’ll spread faith, collect the power of faith, and one day I shall become a true god!
“Yes! Leave! Leave, and there’s hope!”
After leaving the Demonic Dragon Continent, the thought of the promising future gave the Tempest Colossal Dragon motivation, as his wings swung with more force and flew even faster.
As the altitude increased, he pulled ever closer to the dimensional wall of the Demonic Dragon Continent.
Once he passed through the dimensional wall, he would be able to leave the Demonic Dragon Continent and head into the Void.
By then, the sky is high and broad for birds to fly; the sea is wide and deep for fishes to swim. Meng Lei could not kill him anymore!
He was getting nearer and nearer!
He was getting nearer and nearer!
As the Tempest Colossal Dragon rose, the dimensional wall of the existential plane was within reach. He mustered up some of his last bit of power of divinity and charged toward the dimensional wall.
Rip!
An opening was ripped open on the dimensional wall, the pitch-black Void could be seen through it.
“Just you wait, Meng Lei, I’ll be b… Never mind, I better not come back!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon flapped his wings and was about to leave the existential plane.
However, just as he was about to reach, the opening abruptly closed up.
Thud!
The Tempest Colossal Dragon crashed onto the dimensional wall, becoming a little dizzy and seeing stars in his vision.
“Damn it!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was exasperated. He only had a little bit of power of divinity left after he used some to cut an opening.
One chance!
One last chance!
I must seize it!
The Tempest Colossal Dragon mustered his final bit of power of divinity and attacked the dimensional wall again. With another ripping sound, an opening appeared.
“Here’s my chance!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon turned into a flash of lightning as it shot toward the opening.
This time, he went as fast as he could as the front half of the body went through smoothly…
“I did it!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was relieved that he managed to leave the Demonic Dragon Continent; he was going to be safe.
Just then, a strong pulling force was felt on his tail. The Tempest Colossal Dragon turned his head around to find out that someone had caught his tail.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon saw a face through the rapidly closing opening of the dimensional wall—one that he could not be more familiar with!
“Meng Lei!!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was frightened out of his wits as he frantically flapped his huge wings, trying to escape. However, with his tail firmly grabbed by Meng Lei, he just could not struggle free.
I can only go all out now!
At this crucial moment, the Tempest Colossal Dragon cut his tail off and freed himself!
Whoosh!
The Tempest Colossal Dragon looked at its severed tail as cold sweat broke out.
“Meng Lei, I did not expect you to come for me so soon. But too bad, you’ll never catch me! Plus, I’ll be back here someday!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon sneered and entered the dark endless Void.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon did not fly too far away when a human figure flashed in front of him.
“M-Meng Lei!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon trembled and felt weak. He asked with a trembling voice, “How… How did you come out!”
“You tell me how I came out.” Meng Lei looked at the Tempest Colossal Dragon like a retarded dragon.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon came to a realization.
Oh indeed, if a lowly half-deity like me could break off the dimensional wall, how could an intermediate deity like Meng Lei not do the same?
“I’m finished! I’m completely done for!” The Tempest Colossal Dragon’s body shivered uncontrollably. “M-Meng Lei, w-what will you do?”
“No worries, I won’t kill you.” Meng Lei said faintly. “Didn’t you hope to enter the Void? I’ll fulfill your wishes. But, you have to hand over whatever you have stolen!”
As he spoke, Meng Lei pointed his sword and swung it around mid-air.
The Tempest Colossal Dragon was baffled. “What… What are you doing?”
“Oh, you’ll know soon.”
Meng Lei smiled faintly as he spread his five fingers out.
Splash!
Instantly, the Tempest Colossal Dragon’s body broke apart, like an exploding firework turning into pieces of meat floating in the Void.
Even his brain was split into 81 pieces evenly.
“Ahhh!”
The sharp, piercing pain attacked his senses as the barely alive Tempest Colossal Dragon let out a heart-wrenching scream.
“Relax! There’s plenty of time!”
Meng Lei glared as a pinch of Netherworld Divine Fire fell upon the pieces of split fleshes and started to burn. It spread rapidly from the first piece to the second piece, then the third…
After a short while, in the shrilling screams of the Tempest Colossal Dragon, every bit of flesh was in flames as the Netherworld Divine Fire burned intensely.
“Meng Lei, what do you want exactly?” the Tempest Colossal Dragon asked hoarsely.
“When a mistake is made, punishment follows, am I right? Even kids understand this principle.”
Meng Lei took out a spatial ring from the Tempest Colossal Dragon with a casual grabbing motion and used his divine cognition. A big smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face quickly.
Countless gold coins!
Countless Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
Countless Divinity Crystals
Countless magic crystals!
There were so many of them that they were almost impossible to count. The variety of the riches could also make one dizzy.
“System, take whatever that can be taken!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth started to surge again, and it rose quite a while before the system stopped counting. Meng Lei’s Wealth had reached 4.5 million Divinity Crystals, including the newly added 1.2 million!
1.2 million Divinity Crystals, which was equal to 12 billion Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
That was an astronomical number!
It was unimaginable for an intermediate deity-level Demon God to possess so much wealth. Even the normal intermediate deities like the Dragon God did not even have 10,000 Divinity Crystals!
1.2 million!
Cyrus was simply not normal!
" }, { "id": 283, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-283", "title": "Chapter 283 - The Fairy Goddess, Ol' President Returns 1", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Meng Lei’s Wealth reached an astonishing 4.5 million Divinity Crystals after he pocketed the Dark Demonic Dragon’s riches.
However, he wasn’t satisfied.
4.5 million Divinity Crystals?
Was that bit of riches enough for him to do anything?
Awaken the Primordial Human bloodline further?
No, it wasn’t enough!
Enhance the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline, and the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline?
No, it wasn’t enough!
Raise his metal-origin divine body assimilation rate?
No, it wasn’t enough!
Continue to enhance his divine spirit?
It still wasn’t enough!
The only things he could buy credit for at the moment were his triple-elemental and quadruple-elemental fusion laws of nature assimilation rates, yet those were attributes that he was in no hurry to boost at the moment.
“So, I’m still as poor as ever, I’m still a penniless pauper, and I still have to continue to work hard and strive hard.”
Meng Lei’s gaze landed on the Tempest Colossal Dragon once more. He said, “Tell me, who gave you the Devil contract? I can let you go free if you tell me what I want to know.”
“It’s the Dragon God! The Demon God was the one that gave me the Devil contract with the Dark Demonic Dragon. He’s also the one that forced me to enter into the contract!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon shouted hoarsely, “He wanted me to kill you through the Dark Demonic Dragon’s power. All of this is his doing and has nothing to do with me!”
“Him? That doesn’t make sense, though.”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes and asked, “It doesn’t seem to benefit the Dragon God even if you sign the Devil contract, attract the demon army here, and allow Cyrus to occupy Heaven’s Vault Continent.”
“That… I wouldn’t know, but it is indeed the Dragon God that forced me to sign the Devil contract!
“No grudges or enmity exists between us. How would I possibly sell my soul to a demon just to avenge the Dragons? I’m not that selfless!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon shouted hoarsely, “Lord Meng Lei, you must believe me. I’m innocent!”
“What you say makes sense.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and said, “In that case, I’ll personally ask the Dragon God about it another time. I believe he’ll be able to give me a satisfactory answer. As for you…”
Meng Lei made a grabbing motion in mid-air and dragged the Tempest Colossal Dragon’s divine spirit out of his sea of consciousness.
Then, he said, “Since I’ve said that I wouldn’t kill you, then I’ll keep my word. You may leave!”
“Leave?”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon, who was currently in his divine spirit form, stared blankly at Meng Lei and then at his body that the Netherworld Divine Fire was burning.
“You… You’re really letting me go?”
To which, Meng Lei replied aloofly, “Do you not want to leave? If so, then you may stay.”
“I’m going! I’m going!”
The Tempest Colossal Dragon hastily shot into the vast sky. Due to its current divine spirit form, it moved even faster than before and vanished into the dark in the blink of an eye.
“Are you letting that guy off so easily, Meng Lei? I don’t mean to nag, but you should eradicate the source of the problem so that they do not resurge.”
Dodola’s voice rang out beside Meng Lei’s ear—it was also watching the ongoings outside.
“Eradicate the source of the problem? Easy-peasy!”
A leisurely smile appeared on Meng Lei’s features, and he snapped his fingers.
“Ahhh!”
A miserable and shrill divine spirit energy fluctuation traveled over from the endless darkness. A bunch of Netherworld Divine Fire flames ignited within the Tempest Colossal Dragon’s divine spirit and burned wantonly.
The Netherworld Divine Fire was capable of setting anything and everything on fire.
“I knew you weren’t that kind!”
Dodola had a contemptuous look on its countenance.
“Hehe!”
Meng Lei chuckled, and then, he turned and flew toward Demonic Dragon Continent. When he was near the dimensional wall, it took the initiative to rip a gate open and allow Meng Lei through.
That was what made an existential plane’s master so powerful. Meng Lei would still be able to return to Heaven’s Vault Continent without being repelled even after 10,000 years from his point of deification.
Meng Lei didn’t linger after stepping into the Demonic Dragon Continent. He returned to Heaven’s Vault Continent, and then, he released and spread his divine cognition into the surroundings to locate the continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane.
He wasn’t determined to take Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane just for the sake of taking control of the continent. More importantly… He wanted to find someone!
Heaven’s Vault Continent was very big. On top of that, the Heart of The Existential Plane was hidden in a very secluded place. This made searching for it a very difficult task.
Meng Lei was very patient, however. He had gained some insight toward locating an existential plane’s Heart after reading Cyrus’ memories, so he knew that there was no meaning to being impatient about it.
He continuously teleported and searched unceasingly.
As the saying went, “The diligent and faithful are rewarded.”
Three days later, Meng Lei finally found the Heart of The Existential Plane. However, when he reached the area where the Heart was, he saw something that was within his expectations yet also surprised him at the same time—the Heart of The Existential Plane… had already been taken!
Someone had already left their divine spirit mark on the Heart of The Existential Plane ahead of him!
Meng Lei’s brows drew together slightly. By right, it wasn’t that strange that someone had gotten ahead of him and already refined the Heart of The Existential Plane.
After all, Heaven’s Vault Continent had seen the birth of four true gods. Any of them might have already refined the Heart of The Existential Plane. There was nothing to be astonished about.
But what Meng Lei couldn’t understand was that since Heaven’s Vault Continent already had a master, then why didn’t its master obstruct his emergence? Or even erase him?
One must know that he had driven out the four major races, dissolved the four major empires, and unified Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Had the existential plane’s master intended to erase him, it would have been too easy a task for them to accomplish. Yet they hadn’t!
This was incomprehensible!
But…
“So what even if someone has gotten a step ahead of me? I can destroy the divine spirit mark and take back the Heart of The Existential Plane all the same!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort. Then, his divine cognition took on the shape of a sharp knife and cleaved mercilessly onto the divine spirit mark left on the Heart of The Existential Plane. Once he destroyed the divine spirit mark, the Heart would become his all the same!
Yet, no matter how Meng Lei attacked it, his attacks simply didn’t damage the divine spirit mark in the least.
“What a tough and durable divine spirit mark! Could a higher deity have been the one that had marked it?”
Meng Lei was rather shocked and apprehensive. At this moment, a green hue blossomed from the divine spirit mark and coalesced into a beautiful figure.
She had pointed ears, long blond hair that cascaded like a waterfall, peerless beauty, and a graceful figure. Her eyes were expressive, and she had a holy, pure aura around her.
“That’s…”
Meng Lei’s eyes bore into the newcomer as a guess formed in his mind. Among Heaven’s Vault Continent’s four great true gods, the Dragon God, the Beast God, and the Titan Spiritual God, were all males.
The Fairy Goddess was the only female deity among them!
“Little fellow, I’m very happy to see you.”
Her ruby-red lips parted as she spoke. Her voice was like the murmur of spring water, melodious and pleasant to the ears. She said, “I’m sure you must have guessed my identity by now. I am the Fairy Goddess.”
“Greetings, Your Holiness.”
Meng Lei bowed slightly in greeting. The other party was an ancient higher deity, whereas he was just a newly-ascended intermediate deity. Thus, he ought to show the Fairy Goddess due respect.
“I’ve taken notice of you a very long time ago,” the Fairy Goddess said as a smile appeared on her visage. “By achieving intermediate deity status before you’re even 20 years old, you can be said to be the number one person in Heaven’s Vault Continent’s history.”
“You flatter me, Your Holiness.”
Meng Lei bowed slightly.
“No, you’re indeed very excellent.”
The Fairy Goddess gave a small emotional sigh and said, “Even in the many high-end existential planes in the vast universe, you’d still be considered a one-in-100,000-years genius.”
“You give me too much credit, Your Holiness.”
Meng Lei blushed slightly.
“Little fellow, I’d like to ask you something. I hope you can answer me honestly,” said the Fairy Goddess.
“Feel free to ask away, Your Holiness.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“When do you intend to leave Heaven’s Vault Continent?” The Fairy Goddess gazed seriously at Meng Lei. “And which faction do you intend to join?”
“I’ve not thought about that.”
Meng Lei shook his head and said, “As for which faction… I know nothing about the Void, much less where to even start with when it comes to joining factions.”
The Fairy Goddess nodded lightly to indicate that she understood. Then, she said, “With your talent and aptitude, lingering for a long time in a low-end existential plane like Heaven’s Vault Continent is honestly a waste of time. I’d suggest that you leave as soon as possible. High-end existential planes are where you should be shining instead.”
“Perhaps!”
Meng Lei was noncommittal. Before the system had upgraded, staying in Heaven’s Vault Continent was indeed of no help to him. However, now that the system had gained three new functions after its upgrade, everything had become completely different!
He could pick up things from high-end existential planes!
He could plunder the living beings on high-end existential planes!
There really wasn’t much meaning as to whether or not he went to high-end existential planes.
At the sight of Meng Lei’s noncommittal expression, the Fairy Goddess couldn’t help but become somewhat puzzled.
She wasn’t deceiving Meng Lei. To intermediate deities, there really wasn’t much point in lingering in low-end existential planes, so why was Meng Lei thinking otherwise?
Though puzzled, the Fairy Goddess didn’t press the issue. Instead, she said, “Little fellow, if there comes a day where you’d like to leave Heaven’s Vault Continent, you can go to the Fairies to look for me. I can lend you a hand.”
“Thank you for your guidance, Your Holiness.”
Meng Lei bowed slightly.
The Fairy Goddess gave him a smile that looked as if a blooming lily. She said, “Work hard, little fellow. I believe you’ll definitely achieve even greater glory in the future!”
Then, the Fairy Goddess’ form gradually dissipated, vanishing together with the divine spirit mark she had left on the Heart of The Existential Plane.
Meng Lei gazed at the Heart of The Existential Plane, and then, he bowed and said, “Thank you for fulfilling my wishes, Your Holiness!”
These words of gratitude came from his heart. Meng Lei knew very well that had the Fairy Goddess been unwilling to give up the Heart of The Existential Plane, there was no way he could have destroyed the divine spirit mark on the Heart with his current abilities.
Yet the Fairy Goddess had dispersed the divine spirit mark on her own accord. This was no different from gifting Meng Lei the Heart of The Existential Plane. How could he not be grateful to her?
Meng Lei refined the Heart of The Existential Plane and took complete control over Heaven’s Vault Continent. Then, he began to search the continent eagerly.
The Dragon God Empire…
The Titan Empire…
The Beast People Empire…
The Far Northern Icelands…
The Fairy Empire…
The Endless Oceans…
The Lost Continent…
Familiar-looking scenery flashed past one by one at high speed in Meng Lei’s mind. Compared to Demonic Dragon Continent, Heaven’s Vault Continent was no different from a tiny little island.
His line of vision left Heaven’s Vault Continent and came to the Endless Oceans. Several islands, big and small, came into view. The large ones were about the same size as the Lost Continent, while the small ones were no bigger than a few square kilometers.
Traces of humans and Beast People could be found on many of the islands. They lived far away from turmoil and disturbances and far away from civilization and made a living by fishing.
“I can’t find him! I still can’t find him!
“Eh? What’s that?”
Suddenly, a huge continent came into Meng Lei’s view. The continent was extremely far away from Heaven’s Vault Continent, easily millions of miles away from it.
It occupied an area above the Endless Oceans and was actually multiple times the size of Heaven’s Vault Continent in surface area. Additionally, it was densely populated and boasted an astonishingly high population that far exceeded that of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“I knew the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane wasn’t that simple! With such a vast ocean on the existential plane, how can Heaven’s Vault Continent be the only continent on it?”
Astounded, Meng Lei swiftly began to check out information about the continent. After a series of checks, Meng Lei discovered to his astonishment that there were actually humans, Fairies, Dragons, Titans, Beast People, and even races such as Dwarves and Demi-Beast People on the continent! Every race that should be there was there!
However, there was something completely out of his expectations—the ones ruling over the continent weren’t Dragons or Titans. Neither was it the Fairies or the Beast People.
Rather, it was the humans!
Humans occupied the vastest and most fertile territories on the continent, whereas the Beast People, Dragons, Fairies, Titans, and other races were scattered in the continent’s peripheral regions.
“The humans on this continent certainly live up to expectations!”
Meng Lei marveled inwardly and continued to scan the continent.
Suddenly, a familiar aura appeared in his line of sight.
“That’s… Ol’ President!!”
" }, { "id": 284, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-284", "title": "Chapter 284 - Angel'S Blade, The Light Church", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 284: Angel’s Blade, The Light Church
“Ol’ President, I’ve finally found you!”
Meng Lei was incredibly agitated. Shrouded by Power of Existential Plane, he instantly vanished from where he was.
By the time he next appeared, he was already in the sky above a huge, lofty mountain on the new continent.
The mountain was tall, lofty, and magnificent. Various exotic buildings stood on the mountain, and almost a thousand of them linked together to form a dignified and stately building complex.
People filled up a square in the building complex. They wore unusual clothes and were incredibly nervous as they watched a figure suspended in the sky.
“I’m cheering for you, President Amos!”
“Mr. President, show those quacks from the Light Church the power of the Kroc Academy!”
Five figures were suspended in the air at the moment. Every one of them gave off an incredibly powerful aura—evidently, all of them had reached Heaven’s Vault Continent’s definition of the half-deity realm.
There were four people on one side. All of them were dressed in red bishop’s cloaks and wore specially-made miters on their heads. They wore golden gloves and held pastoral staffs in their hands. Pinned on their chests were metal badges printed with an angel’s image.
They were the Light Church’s Red-Cloaked Archbishops!
On the other hand, only a single person stood on the other side. He had a head of red hair, wore white robes, and looked kindly and amicable.
Had Meng Lei been here, he’d definitely be able to recognize him. That man was exactly the Ol’ President whom he had been painstakingly looking for—Amos Kroc!
“Archbishop Chicas,” Ol’ Amos glared furiously at the four men standing opposite him and said, “The Kroc Academy has always minded their own business and has never interfered with the Light Church’s matters. Why are you attacking us?”
“Not quite, President Kroc.”
Archbishop Chicas adopted an attitude that displayed great compassion and sadness for mankind as he said, “The gods have mercy on the people! Our Lord has taken pity on the hardships and suffering of the Kroc Kingdom’s people. We are following our Lord’s decree and wish to bathe the Kroc Kingdom’s people in the light of our Lord. Why do you stand in our way, President Amos?”
“Don’t give me that crap!”
Ol’ Amos said coldly, “You just want to spread the Goddess of Light’s faith in the Kroc Kingdom, don’t you? Don’t even think about it! The Kroc Kingdom has unremitting self-reliance. We don’t need any deity to worship!”
“President Kroc, you cannot speak on the Kroc Kingdom’s billions of citizens’ behalf. They have the freedom and right to choose their own faith. You have no right to decide on their behalves,” Archbishop Chicas sported a merciful expression on his face as he said, “Much less obstruct them from joining the Light Church.”
“Such hypocrisy and pretentiousness!” Ol’ Amos snorted. “Let’s battle if that’s what you want! I’m ready anytime!”
“Since President Kroc insists on being unrepentant, then don’t hold it against us if we don’t show you any civility!”
Archbishop Chicas sighed and said, “O supreme Lord, your children are going to sin again. I beg for your forgiveness and clemency!”
After saying a prayer, all of Archbishop Chicas’ previous compassionate and sorrowful demeanor vanished, and he became incredibly cold and detached. He said, “Get into the Angel Battle Formation and take him out quickly!”
“Kill!”
The other three Red-Cloaked Archbishops let out a fierce shout. Then, holy light-elemental power of divinity formed around them and rose into the air, taking the shape of three holy angel holograms.
For a moment, four terrifying auras swept outward and went crashing down onto Ol’ Amos from all around.
Boom!
The dimension around Ol’ Amos was instantly locked down. Ol’ Amos felt an overwhelming pressure weighing down on him, rendering him almost immobile.
“Thinking of suppressing me with a mere Angel Battle Formation? Open up!”
A divine nation hologram suddenly manifested above Ol’ Amos as he roared. Strong, torrential Power of Divine Nation surged forth from the hologram and resisted the Angel Battle Formation.
“A divine nation! You’ve actually already established a divine nation! The pope was right—you are indeed the most secretive and low-profile half-deity on the whole continent!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were filled with shock and fury as they gazed at the divine nation hologram in the sky.
The three steps to deification for a half-deity were as follows: Light up the divine fire, manifest a divine core, establish a divine nation.
Each completed step brought tremendous changes to a half-deity’s strength.
Upon the complete establishment of a divine nation, a half-deity would officially step into the true god stage and become a true god.
A true god!
How few true gods were there on the Light Continent?
Which one among them wasn’t a powerful existence that had already deified since tens of thousands of years ago? Who the hell did Amos Kroc think he was? What had he done to deserve becoming a true god?
“It is heresy for one to deify without approval!” Archbishop Chicas bellowed furiously, “Go all out and suppress him, even if you have to kill him! No one is allowed to deify without explicit approval on the Light Continent!
“Angel’s Blade!”
Following Archbishop Chicas’ shout, a holy sword glittering with endless holy light suddenly appeared in the hands of the angel hologram above him.
The blade was incredibly keen and gave off a sharp aura that even slashed several pitch-black rifts into the dimension.
It was none other than Angel’s Blade, the Light Church’s trump card that was capable of slaughtering even true gods.
“Cleave, Angel’s Blade!”
Angel’s Blade instantly cleaved downward, sundering the dimension and creating a rift. Then, it passed through the rift and appeared above Ol’ Amos as though it had teleported.
“That bastard, he’s brought even the hallowed gods-slaying weapon Angel’s Blade here!”
Ol’ Amos’ countenance changed drastically, and he hastily used his Power of Divine Nation to break free of Angel Battle Formation’s suppression. Then, he darted to the side in a flash.
Angel’s Blade was a legendary true god-level divine weapon that made slaying gods and vanquishing demons a cinch. It was said that only the most pious worshipers could receive them.
The four archbishops weren’t weaker than him by much. Moreover, they even had Angel’s Blade with them and could slay a true god by joining hands. Ol’ Amos didn’t dare to meet their attacks head-on so stubbornly.
Ol’ Amos moved very quickly, successfully dodging the Angel’s Blade attack. However, the dodge caused the divine nation hologram above him to instantly dissipate.
“Suppress him, Angel’s Battle Formation!”
The four archbishops would never let such a great opportunity pass them by. Pure, holy light blossomed from the angel holograms and crushed down on Ol’ Amos, suppressing him and holding him down to the spot.
“Cleave, Angel’s Blade!”
Angel’s Blade cleaved downward at Ol’ Amos again!
“I’m finished!”
Immobilized, Ol’ Amos could only watch helplessly as Angel’s Blade cleaved down upon him. A look of despair surfaced in his eyes—he knew that it was all over for him!
He was just a half-deity and ultimately hadn’t attained true godhood yet. Should Angel’s Blade, the hallowed gods-slaying weapon, strike him, his divine body would definitely be severed into two.
“Am I going to perish here on Light Continent when I haven’t even returned to Heaven’s Vault Continent yet?”
Despair filled Ol’ Amos’ eyes. “My younger sister! And Meng Lei! I’m going to die when I haven’t even said my final goodbye to the two of you… I can’t accept this…”
“Look out, Mr. President!”
The students and teachers in the square cried out in shock and horror as they tried to call out a warning to him. However, their voices were completely drowned out by the howling cold winds.
“Go in peace, Amos!”
A smug look appeared on Archbishop Chicas’ face as he said, “After your death, the Kroc Kingdom shall become a part of the Light Church, and its billions of people shall bathe in our Lord’s holy light!”
“Chicas! And the Light Church! I’ll never let all of you off even after my death!”
Fury welled up in Ol’ Amos’ eyes as he bellowed into the sky, “I can’t accept this…!”
Whoosh!
Angel’s Blade cleaved down at him, instantly engulfing Ol’ Amos. Following its momentum, it then struck a mountain peak and cleaved it right into two!
The blow’s terrifying force badly frightened the students and teachers in the square, and they hastily turned their gazes to the sky—only to find that there was no one there.
Only the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops remained standing in mid-air, whereas their academy president was nowhere in sight. It was as if he had vanished into thin air!
“Ol’ President?”
“Where’s Ol’ President?”
“Where is he?”
The dazed and despondent students and teachers couldn’t accept what had happened. After all, the academy president was God and the heavens himself in the entire Kroc Academy, yet the heavens had crashed down unto them at this moment.
…
“He’s gone?”
In contrast to the dazed and despondent students and teachers, all four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were frowning instead.
While Angel’s Blade was indeed incomparably sharp, there was no way a cleave from it could turn someone into dust.
Amos was gone, and there was only one possible reason why—he had managed to evade the attack just now!
“He’s actually evaded it!”
The four archbishops had an awful look on their faces as they looked around for Ol’ Amos’ traces. Then, they spotted him in the air a short distance away… Wait a second, who was that beside him?
The four archbishops could see that there was actually someone else next to Ol’ Amos. It was a young man under 20 years old and dressed in black robes.
“Do any of you know who he is?”
Archbishop Chicas turned to the other three beside him.
“No, I don’t know who he is.”
“Never seen him before.”
“I’ve never seen him before, either.”
All three Red-Cloaked Archbishops shook their heads.
“How strange. I actually can’t detect any aura coming from him at all. Who exactly is that guy?”
Archbishop Chicas’ eyes bore deeply into Meng Lei as his brows locked into a deep frown. He was definitely no ordinary person for him to fly through the air yet not give off any detectable aura.
Might he be a powerful expert?
“You… You’re Meng Lei?”
Others might not recognize Meng Lei, but Ol’ Amos definitely did. He stared at Meng Lei in disbelief, his eyes filled with amazement and wonder.
He and the Ol’ Amos of Heaven’s Vault Continent were one and the same and shared a common memory, so he naturally recognized Meng Lei. However, it was exactly because of this same reason that he couldn’t help but be astounded.
Heaven’s Vault Continent was millions of kilometers far away from the Light Continent. On top of that, the boundless Endless Oceans even separated the two. Even true gods could forget about crossing it!
Meng Lei, who was supposed to be in Heaven’s Vault Continent, had actually shown up here. How did he manage to make his way here?
“It’s been a while, Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei’s eyes reddened slightly as he said, “I had thought that I would never get to see you ever again after our farewell the other time. Never would I have thought that you’re actually still alive. Thank the heavens! Thank the heavens!”
“Why are you here, Meng Lei?”
Ol’ Amos was also very agitated.
“It’s a long story!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath. Then, an icy glint flashed across his eyes as he said, “Give me a moment, Ol’ President. We’ll talk in detail after I drive those four stinky worms away!”
“What are you planning on doing, Meng Lei?”
Shocked, Ol’ Amos said, “They are the Light Church’s Red-Cloaked Archbishops. Every one of them is a pinnacle-level half-deity. Moreover, they have Angel’s Blade, the gods-slaying sword, with them. You aren’t their match…”
“Pinnacle-level half-deities?”
Meng Lei came right up to the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops with a flash. His voice was icy-cold like never-melting ice as he said, “The audacity of you to besiege Ol’ President! All of you should die for that!”
As he couldn’t judge how strong Meng Lei was, Archbishop Chicas didn’t recklessly attack. Instead, he warned gravely, “Sir, I don’t know who you are, but these are the Light Church’s matters. I hope you can refrain from interfering. Otherwise…”
“The Light Church? Hmph!”
Meng Lei sneered, “Who does the Light Church think they are? That woman, the Goddess of Light, won’t be able to alter your fates even if she personally shows up today!”
“How dare you blaspheme our noble Lord!”
Archbishop Chicas’ expression changed, and he barked sternly, “You heretic! No matter who you may be, you should die for being so audacious as to blaspheme our Lord!
“Cleave, Angel’s Blade!”
“Look out, Meng Lei!”
" }, { "id": 285, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-285", "title": "Chapter 285 - With A Snap Of Fingers, I'M Not Really A Deity", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 285: With A Snap Of Fingers, I’m Not Really A Deity
The pure, holy Angel’s Blade sliced through the air and appeared above Meng Lei’s head as if it had teleported there. It went straight down for Meng Lei’s head.
“Die, heretic!”
Archbishop Chicas sneered as if he had already seen the scene where Meng Lei was chopped into halves and blood splattered everywhere. He was confident with his Angel’s Blade.
“Look out, Meng Lei!”
Ol’ Amos shouted his reminder, but Meng Lei did not seem concerned. He even turned his head and smiled at Ol’ Amos. “No worries, Ol’ Amos.”
“Meng Lei!”
Looking at the situation, Ol’ Amos was scared out of his wits.
No worries? How can I not worry at all?
A moment later, he witnessed an unforgettable scene. Meng Lei extended two fingers, and Angel’s Blade became stuck in between as it stopped dead.
On the other hand, Meng Lei’s fingers were perfectly fine—it was neither severed nor bleeding, as if it was clipping chopsticks instead of Angel’s Blade.
“This, this…”
Ol’ Amos gasped; his eyes almost popped out in disbelief. Others may not know Meng Lei well, but how could he not know him well enough?
He had been with Meng Lei all along until his divine incarnation died and lost contact.
At the very most, they had not met for less than three years. What could be done in three years?
Only enough to take a nap!
How much could Meng Lei progress in such a short time? Breaking through half-deity would already be an unprecedented feat.
But the truth was?
Catching Angel’s Blade barehanded was completely beyond his imagination. Just what kind of combat strength was that?
“Im-Impossible! It’s impossible!”
Archbishop Chicas and the rest were equally shocked. Angel’s Blade was a divine weapon that could kill true gods. How could it be caught just like that?
“An illusion! This must be an illusion!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops could not accept this!
“Angel’s Blade? It’s nothing more!”
Meng Lei applied a little more force, and a snap was heard. Angel’s Blade glowing in pure, holy light, snapped and broke into two pieces!
“The Angel’s Blade… broke?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were dazed as their minds went blank.
Ol’ Amos came back to his senses earlier than the rest. “It’s frightening! What happened to this kid in these three years that made him progress to such a level?”
“I don’t care whether you’re the Light Church or the God of Light, anyone that dares to harm Ol’ President deserves to die!”
Meng Lei shook his wrist, and half of the Angel’s Blade transformed into a stream of light as it shot toward one of the Red-Cloaked Archbishops.
Splurt!
Without any surprise, the half blade pierced through this Archbishop’s head, shot out of the head’s back, and carried on flying forward under inertia.
This Archbishop stiffened, and his eyes were widened, indicating that he hadn’t died in peace.
How could he have imagined that a great Red-Cloaked Archbishop of the Light Church, a person with millions under him, could die in such circumstances?
He could not accept dying like this!
“Kurt!”
Archbishop Chicas and the other two widened their eyes to the point of splitting as they glared at Meng Lei furiously. “You damned heretic! How dare you to murder our Light Church’s Red-Cloaked Archbishop!”
“You’re dead meat! No matter who you are and what your background is, even if we have to soar into the heavens or burrow into the ground, the Light Church will end you for sure!”
“Is that so?” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “I look forward to that day, but I’m afraid the three of you won’t see to that day.”
“Oh no!”
How could the Red-Cloaked Archbishops not feel the murderous intent in Meng Lei’s words? They ran immediately!
They were facing someone who could catch Angel’s Blade barehanded and kill Kurt in an instant. They could not even muster up the courage to resist Meng Lei.
Ran!
They ran at once!
They ran as far as they could, the further, the better!
“Flee? Do you think you can really flee?”
“Immobilize!” Meng Lei commanded.
Buzz…
A huge force came down in an instant. Archbishop Chicas and the rest were frozen on the spot as if their acupoints had been sealed.
“Death!” Meng Lei shot another word.
Crack!
Archbishop Chicas and two others exploded into a bloody mist, which dissipated along with the wind—they were smashed into tiny pieces, not even a single bone was left.
“Dead? Four Red-Cloaked Archbishops… dead just like that? Gosh, how was that possible?”
Great waves of shock and astonishment churned in Ol’ Amos’s heart. Ηe had never imagined that Meng Lei would surprise him in such a manner.
Killing four pinnacle-level half-deities, what level of terrifying strength was this?
If Ol’ Amos was shocked, then the innumerable students and teachers were petrified.
Those were the Red-Cloaked Archbishops of the Light Church who were second only to the Pope and the Holy Maiden!
Did they die just like that?
The teachers and students were terrified!
The Light Church was the Light Goddess’ messenger on the Light Continent, the entire continent’s highest authority. The Red-Cloaked Archbishops were some of the most influential beings.
Yet just now, they witnessed them being killed by an unknown young man.
Shock!
Horrified!
Disbelief!
Unbelievable!
“Just who is that young man!”
“How does he possess such power?”
“Mr. President seemed to know him? Perhaps he’s a friend of Mr. President…”
Meng Lei went back before Ol’ Amos as if he was finished with trivial matters. “Ol’ Amos, it’s been a few years since we’ve met. How have you been?”
“Well, I’m… I’m doing fine!”
Ol’ Amos spoke as if it was his first time knowing Meng Lei. “Possessing such formidable power, it seems you’ve been through a lot in these three years!”
“Not too bad, I guess.” Meng Lei smiled. “Ol’ Amos, I’m eager to find out how you came to this continent and what you have experienced over here.”
“Well, it’s a long story.” Ol’ Amos sighed. “Let’s move to my office.”
“Alright!”
Ol’ Amos’s office was in a garret of antique flavors, and the surroundings were elegant, with rockeries and waterfalls, water flowing under a little bridge—life was pleasant over here.
“Come, have some tea.”
Ol’ Amos poured two cups of tea and lay on the beach chair. He sighed. “Well, speaking about coming to the Light Continent, it’s a long story.”
“You can take your time Ol’ Amos.”
Meng Lei smiled. He was jovial to be able to meet Ol’ Amos again, and he wanted to know anything about Ol’ Amos.
“In the year when I became a half-deity, like many other half-deities, I chose to split my divine spirit. But I did not split evenly, as it was a ratio of 3:7. Hence one was at a half-deity’s level while the other was at Saint Domain’s level.”
Ol’ Amos sighed again. “You should know that Heaven’s Vault Continent was split amongst the four true gods right down to the very last bit. Thus, half-deities like me had no place in it.”
Meng Lei nodded in agreement. Many half-deities on Heaven’s Vault Continent had faced the same awkward situation before him—they had no source of faith!
“And so, my Saint Domain divine incarnation stayed at Heaven’s Vault Continent, while the half-deity divine incarnation left Heaven’s Vault Continent and entered the Endless Oceans.”
Ol’ Amos laughed. “I hoped to find a decent island on the Endless Oceans to spread faith and gather power of faith.”
“What happened after that?” Meng Lei asked.
“The Endless Oceans was massive with countless islands, but there were only a few proper ones. Those that were decent were already owned.” Ol’ Amos shook his head as he said, “I had no choice but to carry on traveling around, which became 5,000 years. At last, I somehow arrived here.”
At this point, Ol’ Amos could not help but give a wry smile. “At first, I was excited as I thought that heaven rewards the faithful, and I’ve struck the jackpot here.
“But the truth was not how I expected it to be.
“This continent was numerous times the size of Heaven’s Vault Continent. Plus, be it the population, amount of experts, or level of civilization, they were all far superior to our Heaven’s Vault Continent.
“These were still secondary. The key was that this continent belonged to masters with powerful backgrounds!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head again and sighed. “This continent is being ruled by two religious organizations known as the Light Church and the Dark Church.
“Upon learning these, I was very disappointed. I had come so far out here, yet the results were the same. I wasn’t ready to accept this!
“But I was tired, tired of traveling again. Hence, I decided to live in seclusion in the Light Continent.
“And as the Light Church was busy defeating the Dark Church, I founded the Kroc Kingdom!
“A few years ago, the Light Church finally destroyed the Dark Church completely and united the continent. As such, they finally had time to deal with my Kroc Kingdom!”
Ol’ Amos ground his teeth as he continued. “The Light Church is very powerful, far stronger than any empires or races on Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“Plus, they have the backing of the Angel Gods from the Celestial Realm. How could my Kroc Kingdom possibly be of their match?
“If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead for sure! So I must thank you!”
“Ol’ Amos, don’t mention it.” Meng Lei was rather speechless. “Given our relationship, why is there a need to be so polite here?”
“Hehe! I’m only being polite for a while, and you thought that was real? I wouldn’t stand on ceremony with you!”
Ol’ Amos chuckled, then he stared at Meng Lei suddenly. “Oh yeah, how powerful are you exactly? Have you become a deity? You should be a deity now, right?”
Meng Lei shook his head and replied honestly, “No, I’m not a deity yet.”
Had he become a deity?
Not really!
He had neither ignited the divine fire nor had he formed divinity yet, much less establishing a divine nation.
Thus, he really wasn’t a deity.
He only had the divine spirit and physique of an intermediate deity.
“Not a deity yet?” Ol’ Amos stopped for a moment. “You could kill pinnacle-level half-deities like Chicas instantly. How are you not a deity yet? This can’t be!”
“Ol’ Amos, why would I lie to you?” Meng Lei said helplessly, “I’m indeed not a deity, just that my physique is slightly stronger.”
“You’re really not a deity?”
Ol’ Amos frowned and stared at Meng Lei.
“I’m really not!” Meng Lei answered seriously.
“Freak! You’re such a freak possessing such strength without being a deity yet!” Ol’ Amos’ brows drew together tightly. “But, since you’re not a deity yet, that spells trouble!”
“Trouble?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve killed four Red-Cloaked Archbishops. Given the Light Church’s style of avenging the dead, they will not let you off easily! We can only await the Light Church’s savage retaliation!”
Meng Lei smiled faintly. “They’re just the Light Church. You don’t have to be worried, Ol’ Amos. If they dare to come, I’ll just destroy them with a snap of fingers.”
“Destroy them with a snap of a finger?” Ol’ Amos let out a wry laugh and continued. “You must be ignorant to be fearless. The Light Church is far more powerful than what you could imagine. They’re not something we can compete with!”
“…”
" }, { "id": 286, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-286", "title": "Chapter 286 - The God Of Magical Beasts, The Graveyard Of Gods And Demons", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 286: The God of Magical Beasts, The Graveyard of Gods And Demons
The Light Church’s headquarters was located on the Holy Mountain of Light. The whole mountain was made of light-elemental elemental crystals and gave off a pure and tranquil sacred glow.
The Shrine of Light stood towering atop the sacred mountain.
Currently at the Shrine of Light…
Dressed in a pope’s cassock, Pope Hayes stood in front of an enormous Goddess of Light statue as he prayed piously.
“Your Holiness!”
Four Red-Cloaked Archbishops wearing looks of immense fury on their faces suddenly entered the hall.
The pope paid them no attention and continued to pray piously instead. At the sight, the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops refrained from interrupting him any further and waited quietly.
It was only when the pope finished his prayers a moment later that he finally spoke. He asked, “Didn’t you go to the Kroc Kingdom? Why are you back so quickly?”
As it turned out, the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were actually Archbishop Chicas and the other three that Meng Lei had just killed. However, the ones currently in the shrine were their alternate divine incarnations instead.
“Something terrible has happened, Your Holiness!”
Archbishop Chicas gnashed his teeth, trying to suppress his fury as he recounted what had happened.
In the end, he even added, “Not only has that wicked heretic dishonored our great Lord, but he has also shown no respect for the Light Church. We must punish him severely for that, Your Holiness!”
“That’s right, Your Holiness! That heretic is deeply mired in sin and wicked beyond redemption. We must burn him alive at the stake so as to serve a warning to the world!”
“There’s that bastard Amos, too. He’s hidden his cultivation prowess too deeply. To think he’s already actually secretly established a divine nation and stepped into the realm of a true god. His intentions should be punishable by death!”
The other three Red-Cloaked Archbishops also spoke up one after another, their speech filled with fury and hate. They practically hated Meng Lei with every fiber of their being for destroying their half-deity divine incarnations, causing their many years of painstaking cultivation to go up in smoke.
Pope Hayes listened to them quietly. Only when the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were done did he slowly ask, “Do any of you know that young man?”
“No, we’ve never seen him before.”
Chicas and the others shook their heads repeatedly. “We’re well aware of all the experts on the whole continent who are half-deities or stronger. However, that young man is the only one whom we’ve never heard of or seen before. Had he not been acquainted with Amos, I’d even have thought that he had popped out of thin air!”
“Not only have you not seen him before, but he’s also acquainted with Amos…”
Pope Hayes said leisurely, “If my guess is right, that expert that appeared out of the blue likely also comes from Heaven’s Vault Continent like Amos himself.”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were taken aback for a moment.
“You may not know this, but there are a total of three continents in the material plane that we’re on. They are the Light Continent that we’re in, Heaven’s Vault Continent in the east, and the Gods-Demons Continent in the southeast.”
Pope Hayes said softly, “The three continents form a triangle in the Endless Oceans. Dozens of millions of kilometers separate one continent from another, and they rarely interact with one another.”
His words stunned the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops, and they stared at Pope Hayes in disbelief.
“There are actually three continents on this existential plane? That’s simply too shocking a piece of news!”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent! Gods-Demons Continent!”
“How unbelievable!”
“How incredible!”
“This information is top secret in the Light Church. Only the Popes, the Holy Sons, and the Holy Maidens of each generation qualify to be privy to it.”
“In that case, isn’t it quite inappropriate for you to also let us know of it, Your Holiness?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ expressions changed slightly.
“No, there’s no longer a need to hide it.”
A shrewd glint flashed across Pope Hayes’ eyes as he said, “It is the duty and mission of the Light Church to let our Lord’s glory shine upon the whole existential plane. Now that we have unified the Light Continent, it’s time for us to expand our reach further and let the other two continents bask in our Lord’s glory, too!”
“How our Lord shows compassion to the people!”
“How merciful of our Lord!”
“How brilliant, Your Holiness!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ eyes shone brightly as they requested, “Your Holiness, do tell us a little about those two continents. After all, it’s only when one knows their enemy and themselves inside out that they may emerge victorious in all their battles!”
Pope Hayes nodded lightly and said, “Heaven’s Vault Continent is located to the east of Light Continent and is ruled over by the Dragons, the Fairies, the Beast People, and the Titans. These four races have each founded an enormous empire, and they respectively worship four different true gods—the Dragon God, the Fairy Goddess, the Beast God, and the Titan Spiritual God.
“Among them, the Dragon God, the Beast God, and the Titan Spiritual God are intermediate deities, while the Fairy Goddess whom the Fairies worship is a higher deity.”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ expressions changed greatly upon hearing what he said. They hastily asked, “Your Holiness, surely the four true gods have departed this existential plane by now?”
“Yes, they have,” replied Pope Hayes with a small nod.
“Phew! Good to hear that they’ve departed!”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops heaved sighs of relief. The four great true gods simply gave them too much pressure. Should any of them still be around, sh*t would no doubt hit the fan!
“Heaven’s Vault Continent is the weakest among the three continents, so conquering it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. We should be able to conquer it just by deploying a troop of angels there.”
Then, Pope Hayes sighed and said, “The one that’s difficult to conquer is the Gods-Demons Continent in the southeast.”
Alarmed, the Red-Cloaked Archbishops asked gravely, “Your Holiness, could it be that there are also intermediate deities in Gods-Demons Continent?”
The Light Church wielded extremely fearsome power and could slay even regular true gods. Thus, the Pope would only find intermediate deities and existences beyond that level troublesome to deal with.
“There are indeed intermediate deities in Gods-Demons Continent.”
Pope Hayes nodded slowly. Then, he went on and said, “Gods-Demons Continent is completely unlike Light Continent and Heaven’s Vault Continent. There are no humans, Dragons, Titans, and so on there. Rather, it’s completely occupied by Magical Beasts!”
“Magical Beasts?”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops were a little dumbfounded.
“Yes, Magical Beasts. They are the only creatures on Gods-Demons Continent. That place is entirely the Magical Beasts’ paradise.”
A sighing Pope Hayes said, “All the Magical Beasts there worship only one true god—the Magical Beast God. On top of that, not only is the Magical Beast God an intermediate deity, but it’s currently present in Gods-Demons Continent itself!”
“That doesn’t make sense, Your Holiness. Since the Magical Beast God hasn’t departed the existential plane yet, then that means it hasn’t been 10,000 years since its deification.”
A puzzled Archbishop Chicas went on. “As everyone knows, one’s cultivation speed would become extremely slow after becoming a half-deity, and a true god’s cultivation speed is even more shockingly slow.”
“How can the Magical Beast God possibly be an intermediate deity when it hasn’t been 10,000 years since its deification?”
“That makes sense. A true god that hasn’t yet passed the 10,000th-year mark since its deification can’t possibly be an intermediate deity, and as long as it’s not an intermediate deity, we have no need to fear it!”
“Once we slay the Magical Beast God, won’t Gods-Demons Continent be as good as secured?”
The other three Red-Cloaked Archbishops also voiced their thoughts one after another. Their countenances were filled with puzzlement.
“No, you’re mistaken.”
Pope Hayes shook his head lightly as he said, “Although it hasn’t been 10,000 years since the Magical Beast God’s deification, it is indeed a powerful intermediate deity. It’s undoubtedly an invincible presence on this material plane!”
“So it really is an intermediate deity!”
“How can this be!?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops couldn’t help but gasp in complete astoundment.
Intermediate deities might be nothing in the vast Void, but they were absolutely invincible existences in low-end material planes.
Why?
Because low-end existential planes were off-limits to higher deities, Great Perfection-level deities, as well as Chief Gods. Even if they were to cast their divinity projections into the planes, the divinity projections would only be able to display a pinnacle-level half-deity’s combat prowess at best.
Pinnacle-level half-deities?
An intermediate deity could blow them into smithereens with just a puff of air.
“Is that really true, Your Holiness?”
Archbishop Chicas was filled with disbelief.
“Of course!”
Pope Hayes nodded lightly. Then, he added, “The Magical Beast God was already a lesser deity 4,300 years ago, while it broke through to the intermediate deity stage 1,200 years ago.”
“It used only 3,000 years to go from a lesser deity to an intermediate deity? How exactly did it achieve that?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were shocked.
3,000 years?
What could one even achieve in that amount of time? Nothing but just a nap!
Yet the Magical Beast God had gone from a lesser deity to become an intermediate deity within a short span of 3,000 years. Its cultivation speed had practically put everyone to shame!
“Things would indeed become very tricky if the Magical Beast God really turns out to be an intermediate deity.”
“An intermediate deity… How are we supposed to contend against something like that?”
“There’s no way we can contend against an intermediate deity even if we assemble all of the Light Church’s forces! How are we supposed to fight back if the other party counterattacks us instead?”
Pope Hayes explained, “The Graveyard of Gods And Demons is in Gods-Demons Continent itself. The Magical Beast God’s astonishingly fast cultivation speed is likely because it had gotten hold of something from the graveyard—for example, a divine core!”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons?”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops were taken aback. They asked, “Your Holiness, what’s the Graveyard of Gods And Demons?”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons is the final resting place of many gods and demons. It’s said that a meteor had crashed into Gods-Demons Continent over 30,000 years ago, and gods and demons of the Void descended upon the world shortly after the meteor crash.”
Pope Hayes said softly, “A war between the gods and demons then broke out after that. The war was extremely fierce and bitter, and innumerable gods and demons perished in that shocking battle.
“After the war ended, the surviving gods and demons left Gods-Demons Continent while the fallen ones remained in eternal rest in Gods-Demons Continent. Thus, Gods-Demons Continent is also referred to as the Graveyard of Gods And Demons, meaning the place where gods and demons are laid to rest.”
“A war between gods and demons?!”
“Fallen gods and demons!”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ eyes shone brightly as they listened to Pope Hayes’ explanation. That was a place where gods and demons were buried! Wouldn’t there be treasures in every corner of the place? As well as divine cores?
If they could find a divine core and assimilate it, they might be able to become true gods, too!
“Every generation of the Light Church’s Holy Sons and Holy Maidens is required to head to Gods-Demons Continent for training. Only those that return alive can qualify to inherit the position of Pope,” said Pope Hayes leisurely.
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops looked at Pope Hayes and asked, “In that case, does that mean that you’ve also been to Gods-Demons Continent, Your Holiness?”
“That’s right.”
Pope Hayes nodded slightly and said, “I have indeed been to Gods-Demons Continent in my youth. Additionally, I even stayed there for over 30 years.”
“Really!?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were greatly astonished. The Holy Sons and Holy Maidens’ cultivation process had always been the church’s biggest secret. Even Red-Cloaked Archbishops like them whose positions were second only to the Pope weren’t privy to it.
Never would they have ever thought that the Pope had actually stayed in Gods-Demons Continent for over 30 years.
A whole 30 years!
Did the Pope ever find a divine core there?
Archbishop Chicas asked carefully, “Your Holiness, it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen the Holy Maiden. Might she have gone to Gods-Demons Continent?”
“Yes, that’s right. She has indeed headed to Gods-Demons Continent.” Pope Hayes didn’t deny it.
Suddenly, an aloof voice rang out.
“Sir, I’m back!”
" }, { "id": 287, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-287", "title": "Chapter 287 - The Church Attacks, Her Eminence The Holy Maiden", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Meng Lei wasn’t aware of the ongoings in the Light Church at all. He was chatting happily with Ol’ Amos. They were currently immersed in a joyous reunion after a long separation.
“Ol’ President, I noticed that you had used Power of Divine Nation when you were battling the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops earlier. Have you become a true god?” asked a curious Meng Lei.
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but laugh wryly upon hearing his question. He replied, “No, I haven’t become a true god yet. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been in such a pathetic predicament.”
His reply puzzled Meng Lei even further. He asked, “How did you manage to use Power of Divine Nation if you haven’t established a divine nation yet?”
“It’s a long story!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and said, “I strayed into a strange and fascinating place by chance when I was traveling around a month ago. Only one type of laws of nature existed there, and it was fairly small in surface area, yet it was also unlike a half-plane. Later on, I realized that it was actually a divine nation’s ruins!”
“A divine nation’s ruins?”
Meng Lei was taken aback.
“That’s right, a divine nation’s ruins!”
Ol’ Amos nodded slightly and said, “As the divine nation’s master has already met their demise, it has been crumbling and falling apart since a long time ago. If nothing beyond my expectations happens, it’ll dissolve and disappear completely in 100 years.
“I lucked out and found a masterless true god-level divine core in the divine nation. You must have already guessed what happened after that.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head and said, “I’ve assimilated the divine core, but unfortunately, it’s not fully assimilated yet because of time constraints. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been outclassed by those four Red-Cloaked Archbishops from the church.”
“Ol’ President, that luck of yours is really…”
Meng Lei didn’t know how he should describe it anymore.
“I was just too short on time!” A grumpy Ol’ Amos said, “Had I fully assimilated the divine core and completely become a true god, things would have turned out differently today.”
“You’re mistaken, Ol’ President. Even if you had fully assimilated the divine core, you still wouldn’t have been the Light Church’s archbishops’ match.”
An amused Meng Lei said, “I can detect the presence of nine true gods, as well as a lesser deity, in the Light Church, not to mention innumerable half-deities.”
“Really?”
“Of course!”
Gasp!
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but gasp. “I knew the Light Church was very powerful, but I didn’t think that they would actually be that powerful. Their strength is practically beyond one’s imagination! How did you know that, by the way?”
“Amos, you wicked heretic! Get out here and meet your end!”
Suddenly, a cold and emotionless voice rang out like an explosion in the sky, resounding in the entire Kroc Academy like a deep thunderclap and causing great commotion.
Ol’ Amos’ expression changed, and he said, “The inevitable has ultimately still come. Meng Lei, you’d better go. There’s no need for you to involve yourself in this mess.”
“Don’t worry. The Light Church hasn’t become so powerful that they can send me running for my life yet.” A smiling Meng Lei said, “Let’s go and pay them a visit!”
“Sigh! I really don’t know what to do with you!”
Ol’ Amos sighed and left the office with Meng Lei. He was then stunned by the Light Church’s luxurious line-up right away—innumerable knights clad in light-elemental armor stood afloat in the sky. They wore light-elemental metal helmets, grasped light-elemental sacred swords, and were as holy and pure as angels.
A student exclaimed, “It’s the Knights of Light!”
“No, they aren’t the Knights of Light but the Light Church’s most elite Holy Maiden Knights!”
A teacher corrected them and said, “Take a good look—the badges pinned on the knights’ chests are in the shape of angels. That’s the symbol unique to the Holy Maiden Knights.”
“The Holy Maiden Knights? That’s the elite order of knights dedicated to protecting the Holy Maiden of Light, aren’t they? Even the weakest among them is at least a Saint Domain. Could the Holy Maiden of Light have actually come in person?”
“Oh my god! Even the Holy Maiden of Light herself has come…”
“Meng Lei, things have become rather troublesome!”
Ol’ Amos’ gaze was fixed on the Holy Maiden Knights. He had a grave look on his face, and even his voice had become rather deep and low.
“Perhaps, I guess.”
Meng Lei gave him a noncommittal smile and said, “The other party’s line-up is certainly impressive—there are 24 half-deities and even a true god among them. On top of that, it’s even a pinnacle-level true god.”
Ol’ Amos gasped. “A p-pinnacle-level true god? How are we supposed to even fight them?”
“Amos, you’ve colluded with a demon from another continent to bring calamity to the Light Continent and are deeply mired in sin!”
Archbishop Chicas stepped forward from among the crowd and said, “Get on your knees and repent! What are you waiting for?”
“What’s he talking about?”
“What does he mean by a demon from another continent?”
“Could he be talking about that expert standing beside Mr. President? Is that expert from another continent?”
All the students and teachers of Kroc Academy shifted their curious and puzzled gazes to Meng Lei.
“Stop spouting such nonsense to fool the world, Chicas! The Light Church is always playing the same old tricks. Can’t you think of something new?”
Ol’ Amos said coldly, “Let’s battle if that’s what you want! I’m ready for you anytime, so cut the crap!”
“To think you’re actually that insistent on being unrepentant!” Archbishop Chicas ordered coldly, “Men, capture him and bring him back to the Holy Mountain so that he can be put on trial!”
“Yes, sir!”
Ten half-deities immediately shot forth at his command and lunged toward Ol’ Amos.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Chicas’ eyes, which were filled with fearful reservations and a look of warning, bore deeply into Meng Lei.
“Good job on making it here!”
Ol’ Amos let out a deep war cry. He was just about to go forward and meet their attacks when Meng Lei stopped him. He said, “Let me do it instead, Ol’ President. I can also take this opportunity to show you the results of my cultivation during the last three years.”
“This… Alright!”
Ol’ Amos sighed, choosing not to reject his offer. Indeed, he certainly didn’t have even a shred of confidence when up against such terrifying power from the Light Church.
Now that things had come to this, he could only pin his hopes on Meng Lei.
Meng Lei took a step forward. His gaze swept slowly and leisurely across the Light Church men as he said calmly, “I’m in a good mood today and don’t wish to go on a killing spree. I’ll give you a chance—vanish from my sight at once!”
“How dare you!”
“How presumptuous!”
“How impudent!”
The Light Church men flew into a rage at his words. The ten half-deities that had lunged at Ol’ Amos previously immediately changed their course of motion and charged brazenly toward Meng Lei instead.
They transformed into ten white lightning bolts, the friction of their movement against the air producing crackling whizzing sounds like the whistling of trains.
“Die, you devil!”
“Those that challenge the Light Church’s authority shall… Die!”
“You think too highly of yourselves!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly. Then, he reached out a finger, tapped lightly in the air, and commanded, “Freeze!”
Buzz…
The dimension instantly solidified, and the ten half-deities that had initially been charging toward Meng Lei with great momentum froze where they were, completely immobilized.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Disperse!”
With a wave from Meng Lei, the ten half-deities instantly exploded into ten veils of bloody mist.
Their heads exploded into a bloody mist.
Their bones exploded into a bloody mist.
Their limbs exploded into a bloody mist.
Their entrails exploded into a bloody mist.
All their internal organs exploded into bloody mists.
The mists of blood scattered with the wind and floated toward the Light Church men, drowning them out in the blink of an eye.
Archbishop Chicas included, everyone from the church couldn’t help but gasp.
Ten half-deities… had died just like that?
They hadn’t made any waves… They hadn’t flown up to the other party… In fact, they hadn’t even caused much of a commotion, if at all…
Yet they had already been blasted into mists of blood?
Gulp!
Archbishop Chicas swallowed hard as a hint of indescribable fear surfaced in his eyes.
The ten ascetic cultivators had all been pinnacle-level half-deities and had been pillars of support in the church. Yet they had been instantly taken out?
Just how frighteningly strong was the other party?
And how terrifying was his power?
“Initially, I couldn’t be bothered about the Light Church because I’ve only just come to this continent. After all, no matter how hard you try to make trouble, you would only be nothing but a bunch of insignificant ants.”
As though he was talking about something insignificant and trivial, he said, “But since you’re seeking death, I don’t mind squashing you along the way!”
“On guard!”
Archbishop Chicas’ eyelid twitched continuously, and he let out a great shout—he knew that Meng Lei was about to launch an attack!
Clank, clank, clank!
The Holy Maiden Knights quickly released their Battle Aura and gathered it above them to form a tough, solid light shield that shrouded all of them within.
“You perverse demon! How dare you so cruelly and wantonly kill the Light Church’s half-deities!”
It was only within the light shield that Archbishop Chicas finally gained a sense of security. He glared at Meng Lei and shouted, “Surrender at once and follow me back to the Holy Mountain to repent for your sins if you know what’s good for you! Otherwise, you’ll regret ever coming to the Light Continent when our Lord metes out punishment!”
“You’re too noisy!”
Meng Lei cast a glance at Archbishop Chicas. Then, he raised his glistening jade-like palm and lightly smacked downward in the direction of the Holy Maiden Knights.
Boom!
Power of Existential Plane formed a huge palm capable of blotting out the sky and crashed down on the Holy Maiden Knights like a great mountain.
Archbishop Chicas’ heart, as well as all the Holy Maiden Knights’ hearts, almost jumped out of their mouths as they watched the gigantic palm crashing down on them.
“Please watch over us, Goddess of Light!”
“We have to block that attack!”
“O supreme Lord, praise be to you! Please let us block that damned attack…”
Everyone shouted and cheered themselves on inwardly. However, their prayers went unanswered by the Goddess of Light because cracks formed all over the light shield the moment the gigantic palm made contact with the light shield.
Then, it broke with a crack and dissipated with white glowing particles that dissipated into the air.
“It’s all over!”
“We’re doomed now!”
Looks of despair came over everyone’s faces at once. How strong must that palm strike have been if even the light shield that tens of thousands of people had simultaneously formed couldn’t withstand it?
Just as everyone thought that they were about to be smashed into a bloody pulp, a sword’s golden glint burst forth from the Knights and shot toward the gigantic palm!
Slash!
The sword glint was incredibly sharp, and it cleaved the gigantic palm right into two. Then, a graceful golden figure appeared in a flash and gazed coldly at Meng Lei.
She was tall and slender and had a shapely, curvaceous figure.
She possessed unparalleled beauty that outshone even that of Lady Zhen’s 1 .
Her eyes were stern and grave, while her attractive face was as icy as snow.
She had a head of long blond hair and a pair of long and slender legs. Clad in golden armor and wearing a red cape on her shoulders, she carried herself tall and looked heroic and valiant.
“Your Eminence!” exclaimed Archbishop Chicas, whose spirits had become fired up again right away. The Holy Maiden was a pinnacle-level true god. With her around, there was nothing to fear!
The Holy Maiden glowered at Meng Lei and stated icily, “I am Altacia, the Holy Maiden of Light.”
“You’ve made your appearance at last!”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers as he said, “Here I was, thinking that you were going to hide at the back and refuse to come out.”
Altacia said coldly, “Deity from Heaven’s Vault Continent, this is the Light Church’s territory. We will not allow you to behave so atrociously here! Follow me back to the Holy Mountain to be punished!”
“The Light Church’s territory?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh.
I’m the master of this existential plane, y’know. The whole existential plane is my territory!
Yet you won’t allow me to behave so atrociously?
“Your Eminence, are you trying to make me die of laughter so that you can inherit my Ant Check Later 1 ?”
" }, { "id": 288, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-288", "title": "Chapter 288 - Holy Maiden Killed Instantly, Fleeing Away", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 288: Holy Maiden Killed Instantly, Fleeing Away
“Your Eminence, are you trying to make me die of laughter so that you can inherit my Ant Check Later?”
Ant Check Later?
Altacia found that strange. However, from Meng Lei’s tone, she knew that he was not saying nice things. He was probably even mocking her!
“Foreign deity, you’re too arrogant!”
Altacia had a frosty look on her delicate face. “Surrender at once and follow me back to the Holy Mountain to stand trial! Or else, don’t hold it against me if I show you no civility!”
“Your Eminence, many had said similar things to me, but they never ended up well. I think… you’ll be the same.”
As he spoke, Meng Lei struck down a palm.
Boom!
It was another gigantic palm.
“Unrepentant!”
Altacia grunted softly as she swung down her sword and sliced the gigantic palm into halves.
“It’s Your Eminence, after all!”
“All hail our mighty Holy Maiden!”
“Your Eminence, let this damned heretic know the consequence of setting himself against the Light Church!”
“Die! Demon!”
The Light Church men cheered as it looked to them that the Holy Maiden had negated Meng Lei’s attack with only a swing of her sword. Naturally, she had the upper hand!
However, the Holy Maiden of Light did not think so—the gigantic palm was neither a physical attack nor a divinity attack, yet its power was of a true god’s level.
Plus, Meng Lei attacked casually just now—that was too scary!
In the eyes of the Holy Maiden of Light, Meng Lei was like a black hole that she could not see through at all. From this, she did not dare to underestimate Meng Lei.
Since when did such an expert pop out in Heaven’s Vault Continent? the Holy Maiden of Light thought as she tried to guess Meng Lei’s identity.
“Your Eminence, your combat prowess is still acceptable. So as long as you can take my next attack, I’ll let you off,” Meng Lei said leisurely.
He slowly extended his glistening jade-like palm. Black condensed flames appeared on his palm as it transformed into a black spear.
“Go!” Meng Lei shouted with a swoosh of his sleeve. The black spear then turned into a bolt of black lightning and shot toward the Holy Maiden.
“Black flames? It’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The Holy Maiden’s expression changed drastically.
She would never have expected that Meng Lei could actually use the Netherworld Divine Fire. Those were flames exclusive to the Divine Netherworld Phoenix!
Facing the Netherworld Divine Fire, the Holy Maiden of Light did not dare let her guard down. She quickly activated her power of divinity, injected it into her sword, and swung it in the air.
“Holy Light Judgment!”
The dazzling aura formed a 40-meter long blade, like a rainbow across the sky, slicing open a pitch-black crevice in the air in an instant.
“Such a scary Holy Light Judgment!”
At the sight of this sword, Archbishop Chicas and the Knights exclaimed.
As people from the Church, almost all of them had learned this ability, but they could never use it to such a terrifying level as Her Eminence.
Clang!
The black spear clashed with the golden blade as if two hammers rammed onto each other, setting off bright sparks. Then a shocking scene occurred—the sharp golden blade blasted into pieces, turning into countless golden glow shooting outward in all directions!
The Holy Maiden Knights were implicated as golden beams of light went through their brains and shot through their chests overwhelmingly, turning them into swiss cheese.
A golden beam shot even Archbishop Chicas’s head. He became the largest fish of the lot to be implicated.
“How?”
Archbishop Chicas’ expression was full of disbelief. He was the Red-Cloaked Archbishop of the Light Church, and his status was only below the Pope and the Holy Maiden of Light—one of the highest standing in the Light Continent.
Yet, he was about to die. With both divine incarnations dead, he was thoroughly dead!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Archbishop Chicas fell facing the ground. The unlucky ones among the Holy Maiden Knights also dropped on the ground motionless.
For a while, the initially intimidating and mighty men of the Light Church suffered heavy casualties, as over a third of the troops were lost.
The Holy Maiden of Light could not spare any concern for these people because that black spear was undamaged and shot toward her nevertheless!
By now, it was too late to dodge it. In this situation, the Holy Maiden of Light rushed to use her power of divinity to cast a divine power shield.
Whoosh!
Just at the moment when the shield was up, the black spear struck the shield. A crisp snap rang out, and the divine power shield was penetrated as if it was made of paper.
Splurt!
The black spear pierced right through the Holy Maiden’s neck and continued its trajectory.
“Wah!!”
The Holy Maiden’s face turned pale instantly as blood shot out of her throat like a fountain uncontrollably.
“You… are not a true god. You’re a less… lesser de… deity!” the Holy Maiden of Light stared at Meng Lei and uttered slowly before her head drooped and her body fell straight backward.
“Your Eminence!!”
The remaining knights were terribly aghast. Some threw themselves toward the Holy Maiden of Light, while the others went for Meng Lei, their eyes bloodshot.
“You damned heretic! How dare you to hurt Her Eminence!”
“Death upon anyone who harms Her Eminence!”
“Kill!”
These knights lost no time to initiate their attacks.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Torrents of attacks fell upon.
“Annoying!”
Meng Lei frowned slightly and waved his arms. Then, densely packed golden wind blades swept toward the Holy Maiden Knights.
“Ahhh!”
Screams rang out everywhere.
As the wind blades swept by, almost all these knights were killed, with only a few lucky survivors barely standing.
Although they were alive, each of them was extremely petrified, as if they were looking at an extremely vicious demon.
“Devil! You’re a devil!”
The knights screamed in horror.
“Go back and tell your Pope, I’m giving him three days to prepare for our meeting, be it recruiting experts or calling in reinforcements! Three days later, I’ll arrive at the Holy Mountain of Light. I hope he doesn’t disappoint me! Now scram!” Meng Lei waved them off.
Although the remaining half-deities and knights could not bear to accept this result, they could only stay away from the dominant Meng Lei.
“Let’s go.”
Everyone from the Light Church fled within ten seconds, bringing every dead body with them, including the Holy Maiden of Light.
Suddenly, only Ol’ Amos and Meng Lei were left hovering in the sky.
Ol’ Amos had a complicated look on his face. “The Holy Maiden of Light was a pinnacle-level true god! You can even kill a pinnacle true god instantly! Meng Lei, how powerful are you exactly?”
Meng Lei laughed and said, “Ol’ Amos, to be honest with you, in this existential plane, no one can defeat me.”
“So this means that… you’re a lesser deity!?” Ol’ Amos asked in disbelief.
" }, { "id": 289, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-289", "title": "Chapter 289 - The Astounded Ol' Amos, Five Divine Cores", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "In front of the Goddess of Light statue at the Shrine of Light…
“I’ve disappointed you, sir.”
The Holy Maiden of Light hung her head with a look of shame on her face. Behind her also stood four half-deities and three Red-Cloaked Archbishops, who all also looked worse for the wear.
A slightly frowning Pope Hayes gazed at them and said, “Has that Heaven’s Vault Continent deity killed your divine incarnation, too?”
“Yes, he has, sir.”
Altacia felt unbearably ashamed of herself. She had made confident promises to the pope at the point of deployment, yet she had returned after a crushing defeat. She had practically embarrassed herself thoroughly.
“Tell me about the battles,” said Pope Hayes slowly.
“This is what happened, sir.”
The Holy Maiden of Light didn’t dare to keep any secrets from him. She truthfully recounted the battle events—though rather than calling it “events”, one might as well just call it “a recount of how they had been crushed and taken out instantly”.
Meng Lei had only used three moves from start to finish—the gigantic palm strike formed by Power of Existential Plane, the spear formed by Netherworld Divine Fire, and the wind blades that he had used to kill the Holy Maiden Knights.
Was that a battle? Obviously not!
Pope Hayes sank into silence after hearing Altacia’s recount of the incident. Only after a long moment did he finally say, “Never would I have thought that the weak Heaven’s Vault Continent would actually birth such a monster. If my guess is right, Heaven’s Vault Continent must have undergone great changes.”
The Holy Maiden of Light nodded slowly. How could Heaven’s Vault Continent possibly not have undergone great changes when an existence like Meng Lei had emerged? Would he sit by and just allow the four great true gods to occupy Heaven’s Vault Continent?
Of course not!
“He’s a Divine Netherworld Phoenix descendant of lesser deity-level. The other party’s combat strength has surpassed our expectations. The church faces a great crisis.”
Pope Hayes sighed and said, “Everyone, let us prepare ourselves for the imminent crisis that might wipe out the church!”
“Yes, sir!”
…
“You’re really a monster indeed, kid!”
Ol’ Amos had a complex look on his face. “You frequently astounded me when I was traveling around with you back then. That’s when I knew that you’d definitely be going places in the future, but never would I have ever thought that you would reach such astonishing heights in just the short span of three years! A lesser deity, y’know! It’s practically inconceivable!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter and replied, “Don’t praise me anymore, Ol’ President. If you do, I’m gonna float onto cloud nine!”
He was indifferent to other people’s praise. Only praise from Ol’ Amos made him feel good about himself.
“I really don’t know how you managed to cultivate to such a level!”
Ol’ Amos shook his head. Then, he asked, “By the way, how is Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
Meng Lei’s smile gradually toned down at his question. He sighed and replied, “Don’t get mad at me if I tell you, Ol’ President. Otherwise, I won’t say it anymore.”
Ol’ Amos raised an eyebrow. He said, “Get mad? From the sound of it, I can roughly imagine what you must have done—nothing good for sure!”
“Your guess is more or less right.”
Meng Lei didn’t keep it a secret from him. He said, “I killed the Dragon God Empire’s emperor, exterminated the court officials, and also slain the Dragon Island half-deities—excluding your younger sister, of course.
“As for the Dragon People nobles, they’ve either died or been stripped of their titles. There aren’t many of them left anymore. The enormous Dragon God Empire has become my Meng Lei Empire instead.”
Despite having expected it, Ol’ Amos was still incredibly astounded. Killing the emperor, exterminating the court officials, slaying half-deities, stripping the nobles’ titles… Every case and every deed was horrifying and appalling!
Meng Lei had actually done everything that he hadn’t even dared so much as to even think about in the past. It was practically unbelievable!
“Ol’ President, you must be furious, right?”
Meng Lei looked at Ol’ Amos.
“Furious? You’re thinking too deeply into it.”
Ol’ Amos waved his comment off and said, “I’m just astounded by the incidents, that’s all. I’m not mad at all. I’d also have done the same thing had I been in your shoes.”
A smiling Ol’ Amos shook his head and added, “After all, for people like us, deification takes higher priority over everything else. Is there anything that we won’t do for the sake of deification? I’d only have been even more merciless than you had I been in your shoes!”
“Is that really what you think?”
“Duh, of course!”
Ol’ Amos glared at Meng Lei and said, “What about the other three empires, aside from Dragon God Empire? Given your temperament, there’s no way you’d let the other three empires off, right?”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “I’ve annexed the other three empires and fully unified Heaven’s Vault Continent.”
“You’ve unified Heaven’s Vault Continent? That’s impressive!”
Ol’ Amos gasped and remarked, “Only the Fairy Goddess, the Titan Spiritual God, the Beast God, and the Dragon God have ever accomplished a feat like that, while you’re the fifth groundbreaking person to do so. Who would have ever imagined that the little fellow from years ago would reach such heights today?
“Speaking of which, though, have you come to Light Continent this time to take it over?”
“No,” Meng Lei shook his head, “My purpose in coming to Light Continent was to search for you. Taking over it is secondary. Light Continent hasn’t yet reached a point where I would think much of it.”
Ol’ Amos said dryly, “You’ve become arrogant, haven’t you, brat? How many power of faith domains can you possibly have? To think you don’t even think much of Light Continent! I’ll tell you. Light Continent is much bigger than Heaven’s Vault Continent…”
Meng Lei scratched his head and gave Ol’ Amos a simple and honest smile before he said, “Not a lot, not a lot. Excluding Heaven’s Vault Continent, I only have 48 existential planes as my power of faith domains.”
“How can you become that arrogant when you only have 48 existential pl… Wait a second, how many did you say you have?” Ol’ Amos’ eyes widened and became as big as discs as he stared at Meng Lei. “48 existential planes?”
“Yes, I accidentally killed a Demon God a few days ago and took over its territories. There are exactly 48 existential planes, not one more and not one fewer,” replied Meng Lei with an innocent smile.
“What the hell!”
Ol’ Amos was astonished. “48 power of faith domains? Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily.
“To think it’s actually true!”
Ol’ Amos gasped. “You’re so blessed, kid. I really wish I could strangle you dead and take those 48 existential planes for myself!”
“Must you? It’s just 48 existential planes, Ol’ President.”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll give you a few power of faith domains if you want, Ol’ President.”
“Really?”
A huge shudder went through Ol’ Amos as his eyes bore into Meng Lei. Then, he said viciously, “If you dare to lie to me… See if I don’t skin you!”
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless. He said, “It’s just a few existential planes. Must you be that worked up? I’ll give you a few right away after we get back. Here’s a disclaimer in advance, though—there isn’t anyone on those existential planes, so you’ll have to manage it yourself.”
“There’s no one there? Why?”
Ol’ Amos was slightly taken aback.
Meng Lei then recounted the cause and effect of what had happened to him, upon which an unaffected Ol’ Amos then waved him off. He said, “As long as the territory’s there, what’s the big deal about it being empty? I’ll just bring a group of humans and Beast People over when I get back. With the humans’ and Beast People’s reproductive abilities, it won’t take even 100 years before they spread throughout the whole existential plane!
“Wahaha! A few existential planes’ worth of power of faith domains! How much power of faith would they produce? The thought of it alone is enough to make my blood boil with excitement and send me out of control!”
“…”
Meng Lei didn’t feel like paying any more attention to the crazed little old man. He brought out a few objects and said, “Ol’ President, there are five lesser deity divine cores here. Take them for now.”
“What did you say? L-lesser deity divine cores? A-and… Five at that?”
Stunned, Ol’ Amos could only stare at the five divine cores sitting in Meng Lei’s palm in disbelief.
Judging from the auras they gave off, they were indeed and undoubtedly lesser deity divine cores, but Ol’ Amos was still filled with disbelief.
Lesser deity divine cores!
And a whole five of them at that!
Oh my goodness!
Were they really lesser deity divine cores?
How did Meng Lei get his hands on so many lesser deity divine cores?
Ol’ Amos was astounded, perplexed, and filled with disbelief. However, he didn’t hesitate at all!
" }, { "id": 290, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-290", "title": "Chapter 290 - Going Up The Holy Mountain, It'S Useless Against Me", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this morning, Meng Lei woke up bright and early and had a hearty breakfast with Ol’ Amos. Only then did he slowly and leisurely start to fly toward the Holy Mountain of Light.
“The Holy Mountain of Light is situated at the center of the continent. It’s the Light Church’s headquarters, as well as this continent’s core of religious faith. Countless worshipers make pilgrimages to the Holy Mountain of Light every year…”
Ol’ Amos flew in the sky with his hands held behind his back while telling Meng Lei about the continent.
Despite not having assimilated the five lesser deity divine cores yet, the air around him had become totally different from what it had been three days ago.
He was filled with confidence toward their journey to the Light Church. Were they kidding? How strong must Meng Lei be when he could bring out even lesser deity divine cores? What was there to fear about a mere Light Church?
Although the duo took their time to fly there, they nevertheless crossed a greater half of Light Continent and reached the Holy Mountain of Light in less than half an hour.
The whole Holy Mountain of Light was made of light-elemental elemental crystals, and it gave off a pure and sacred glow.
The Shrine of Light stood at the Holy Mountain peak, looking as if a celestial palace in the sunlight.
Even though an endless stream of pilgrims went to and fro in the past, the whole Holy Mountain of Light had been completely cordoned off on this day. Not a single worshiper was within sight. The only ones there were knights instead!
Knights clad in armor of light were stationed every three to five steps. They guarded the Holy Mountain of Light strictly, surrounding the mountain so securely that it was impenetrable.
“They are all prepared for battle!”
Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos, who were floating in the air, marveled as they gazed upon the Holy Mountain of Light.
“I didn’t feel anything in particular while on the way here, but I’m becoming rather nervous now,” Ol’ Amos took a deep breath, “Here’s hoping that nothing goes wrong and everything goes smoothly today.”
“Don’t worry, Ol’ President!”
A smiling Meng Lei gave him a few words of comfort. Then, he turned to the majestic Holy Mountain of Light and said, “Meng Lei of Heaven’s Vault Continent has come to call on His Holiness, the Light Church’s pope!”
Meng Lei wasn’t particularly loud. He spoke just like how he usually did when chatting with another person. However, as though ten thousand thunderclaps were booming at the same time, his voice caused earth-rending results upon spreading into the surroundings.
Boom, boom, boom!
As though thunderstruck, all the battle-ready Knights of Light on guard clapped their hands over their ears and cried out in pain and agony. Blood gushed from their noses and trickled from their lip corners…
They were actually bleeding from all seven facial orifices!
“My apologies for not receiving you earlier, despite coming from afar, Your Holiness.”
A group of people walked out of the Shrine of Light. The one in the lead was Pope Hayes himself.
Aside from him, Altacia the Holy Maiden, eight Red-Cloaked Archbishops, the General Inquisitor of the Holy Inquisition, a large group of ascetic cultivators, and Light Church fanatics that made up about 100 half-deities were also there.
“108 half-deities, nine true gods, and the Pope of Light whose cultivation level we cannot tell!”
Ol’ Amos had a grave look on his face as he commented, “As expected, the church’s strength is unfathomably deep. No wonder they could defeat the Dark Church and unify Light Continent.”
Meng Lei also marveled, “Their overall strength is indeed impressive. They are much stronger than Heaven’s Vault Continent.”
“Your Esteemed Holiness, I am the Pope of the Light Church. On behalf of the Light Church and Light Continent, I welcome you.”
Pope Hayes was extremely respectful, as though the person he was facing wasn’t an enemy whom the Light Church bore grudges against but an esteemed guest.
“Your Holiness, let me first introduce to you this man next to me.”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile and said, “This is my teacher. Of course, he’s also the founding emperor of Kroc Kingdom and the academy president of Kroc Academy.”
“I see,” replied the pope with a slight nod.
“Unfortunately, I had seen something that displeased me the moment I descended upon Light Continent. Four Red-Cloaked Archbishops from the Light Church were actually besieging my teacher and had even wanted to seize Kroc Academy—and even the Kroc Kingdom—for themselves.”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Do you think you should give me an explanation for that, Your Holiness?”
“Your Esteemed Holiness,” The pope bowed slightly, “Firstly, we weren’t aware that Academy President Kroc was your teacher. That was why we had unintentionally affronted him. I hope Your Holiness can pardon us for that.
“Secondly, it is the Light Church’s duty and obligation to spread our Lord’s faith and let our Lord’s light shine upon the whole continent. We had only wanted to let the people of Kroc Kingdom bask in our Lord’s glory as soon as possible. We had no intentions to offend at all.”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh and ask, “In that case, the unknowing Light Church isn’t to blame and had been acting in accordance with their duty. Thus, they weren’t in the wrong at all?”
“Your Holiness, the Light Church has always been advocating our Lord’s teachings of showing love and care for the world and guiding people to do good. Perhaps there are flaws in our deeds, but we’ve never made any huge mistakes,” replied Pope Hayes, who had adopted an attitude that displayed great compassion and sadness for mankind.
“Such hypocrisy and pretentiousness!”
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but snort. The Light Church might look pure and beautiful, but hadn’t they also reached where they were today by trampling upon piles of dead bodies?
Showing love and care for the world and guiding people to do good? What b*llshit!
“Going by what Your Holiness has said, I feel that I am certainly making a mountain out of a molehill.”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “After all, even if those four Red-Cloaked Archbishops from the Light Church had killed Ol’ President, it’s because he had stood in the Light Church’s way of fulfilling their duty to spread the Lord’s teachings and faith. Thus, he would have had only himself to blame, right?”
Pope Hayes’ expression changed a little upon hearing Meng Lei’s response.
“I understand now. So, that’s the kind of logic that the Light Church believes in.”
Then, Meng Lei flicked his fingers and said, “In that case, I would also like to spread my faith in Light Continent. What do you think, Your Holiness?”
“Your Holiness—”
“The Pope would definitely stop me, right? In that case, none of you would say much even if I wipe all of you out, right?”
A smiling Meng Lei added, “After all, this is the logic that the Light Church believes in!”
“Your Holiness—”
“Let’s cut to the chase.”
Meng Lei waved him off and said, “Your Holiness, don’t hesitate to employ every means at your disposal, lest you argue that I didn’t give you any chances at all.”
“Your Holiness, must we really go to the extent of such an acrimonious falling-out?”
Pope Hayes’ expression had also darkened. The Light Continent had stood unwaveringly in Light Continent for tens of thousands of years. Was there any turmoil that it hadn’t yet experienced?
A lesser deity-level Divine Netherworld Phoenix? The Light Church didn’t fear it in the least!
“An acrimonious falling-out? No, no. I’m just practicing what you preach, that’s all,” replied Meng Lei.
“Since Your Holiness insists on pushing us into a corner, then don’t hold it against us if we don’t show you any civility!” Pope Hayes commanded in a deep shout, “Get into the Angel Battle Formation!”
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
At once, the nine true gods rushed into the sky. They turned into nine streaks of light and appeared all around Meng Lei, instantly surrounding him.
The next moment, a pure and holy milky-white glow arose from around them and converged above them to form the hologram of a sacred and stately-looking angel.
The angel hologram gradually solidified as they continuously infused light-elemental power of divinity into it. Toward the end, the angel hologram had completely solidified and taken on a physical form!
Boom!
Terrifying pressure from the angel swept outward, spreading into the surroundings. The force of its aura had already surpassed the level of a true god and reached that of a lesser deity.
“Suppress him, Angel’s Battle Formation!”
All nine true gods let out a furious shout at the same time. As though wanting to caress Meng Lei on the head, the angel above them reached out its arms and pressed down lightly on Meng Lei.
Boom!
A vast, majestic, and huge force instantly weighed down on Meng Lei as well as the dimension around him, producing soft screeches.
“That’s not a bad move. What a shame…”
" }, { "id": 291, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-291", "title": "Chapter 291 - Making A Getaway, The Pope Of Light", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "The lofty, majestic Holy Mountain of Light was as pure and sacred as ever as it gave off a gentle, holy glow.
However, the whole mountain was on red alert on this day. From every Knight of Light to Pope Hayes himself, everyone was watching the scene unfolding in the sky.
Everyone on the mountain knew—the battle on this day would determine the Light Church’s continuity.
Should they win, they would continue to reign over Light Continent.
But should they lose, they would be completely wiped out.
Everything hinged on the outcome.
“Suppress him, Angel’s Battle Formation!”
A great force crushed down toward Meng Lei, sweeping toward him like torrential waves. The void was instantly locked down with Meng Lei in the very center.
“That’s a pretty good containment tactic. It’s likely that you’ll be able to suppress most lesser deities out there. What a shame… That it’s useless against me!”
Meng Lei formed a sword with his fingers and lightly drew a line across the air that had been locked down. A formless sword glint shot forth and instantly cleaved against the air that had solidified.
Slash!
The void was instantly cleaved into two. The suppression force triggered by Angel Battle Formation also dissolved in this instant, causing the nine true gods’ expressions to change dramatically.
He has destroyed Angel Battle Formation just like that?
“Do you think you can trap me when I’m the master of this existential plane? How childish!”
An invisible spear manifested from Power of Existential Plane shot out forcefully with a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers and pierced right through one of the true gods’ head.
“Ugh!”
Thunderstruck, the true god froze up at once. A bloody hole formed in between his brows, and then golden divine blood began to trickle from the wound.
“I… I’ve died just like that?”
Disbelief was written all over the true god’s countenance. He was one of the church’s ascetic cultivators. During the last 50,000 years, he had painstakingly and diligently cultivated. At last, he broke free of the shackles and stepped into the realm of true gods 28,760 years ago and became one of the few true gods that had broken through by their own efforts in the church.
Yet, he was actually going to die. His years of painstaking cultivation would go up in smoke. He couldn’t accept it! He couldn’t!
“Lord Conant!”
The Light Church masses’ expressions couldn’t help but change greatly as shock and disbelief filled them.
That was Lord Conant, one of the church’s strongest ascetic cultivators! Yet he had died just like that?
“Why is this happening?”
“How did Lord Conant die?”
None of them could accept such an outcome.
“Sir, that’s exactly the kind of attack he had used!”
The Holy Maiden of Light had an awful look on her face. She said, “It’s neither a physical nor a power of divinity attack. Nor is it a divine spirit attack, yet its power is on the level of a true god. It’s extremely bizarre!”
Pope Hayes nodded slightly, his brows drawing together into a frown. Meng Lei was stronger than he had expected. Things would be tough for them today.
“Has Conant died just like that?”
The remaining eight true gods looked fearful. As they gazed at Meng Lei, their eyes were full of shock, horror, and wariness.
The Angel Battle Formation jointly formed by the nine of them was capable of trapping the vast majority of lesser deities.
But Meng Lei?
He had actually destroyed their Angel Battle Formation and killed Conant so casually. How strong must he be?
“A pinnacle-level lesser deity!”
“He’s definitely a pinnacle-level lesser deity!”
The eight true gods exchanged looks with one another, communicating swiftly with one another via their divine cognition.
“Everyone, the other party is too powerful. His strength far surpasses what we had expected. What should we do?”
“There’s only that one move left if we hope to defeat him. Otherwise, we won’t be his match at all!”
“That move? Is there no other way?”
“Yes, do we absolutely have to use that move?”
“Unless we flee, that move is the only one we can use. Otherwise, we won’t be a match for him at all!”
“Flee?”
One must admit that thoughts of fleeing had indeed occurred to the few true gods. They were true gods; as long as they focused solely on fleeing, they would definitely be able to get away.
But the problem was—if they fled, then what about the church?
The Light Church had groomed them ever since they were young. The church was their origin. Even if they must die or be killed, they couldn’t just abandon the church and make a getaway on their own!
“One down, eight to go.”
Meng Lei gazed at the remaining eight true gods and said, “I will kill all of you, flatten the Holy Mountain of Light, and completely erase the Light Church now. All of you… Are you ready?”
The eight true gods shuddered the moment the words left his mouth. Looks of hesitation and internal struggle flashed across their eyes. Unless they absolutely had to, they really didn’t want to resort to that move!
“The first one!”
Meng Lei locked on to one of the true gods and slowly reached out his right index finger. He said, “I pick you!”
“Damn!”
The true god’s expression changed drastically, and he instinctively wanted to dodge. To his horror, however, he discovered in this instant that he actually couldn’t move!
“Damn! Move! Hurry, mov—”
He bellowed madly inwardly. However, he felt an intense, piercing pain in the middle of his brows at this moment. It instantly swept through his nerves and his brain…
Then, he stiffened and crashed straight onto the ground. His eyes were widened big and round—evidently, he hadn’t died in peace.
“The second one!”
Meng Lei turned to the remaining seven true gods. His gaze swept to and fro among them, frightening the seven true gods out of their wits.
Six of them were still caught in their internal struggles and hesitating, but one of them actually began to flee into the distance without even so much as a look behind him. He moved extremely swiftly, crossing ten miles in a breath. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished into the horizon…
The six remaining true gods’ eyes widened big and round as they stared in stunned silence at the other true god’s back. Torrential waves churned in their hearts—they really felt like breaking into expletives at this moment!
“Jarpet!”
“That bastard!”
“He’s actually fled!”
“He’s actually abandoned his faith and deserted the Light Church and chickened out!”
“A disgrace! He’s a disgrace to the church!”
Pope Hayes had an extremely dark and sinister look on his face. Jarpet had always claimed that he wouldn’t hesitate to do anything and would go through the hardest of trials for the church, yet now, in the face of danger, he had actually fled so resolutely. This was an utter embarrassment to the church!
“Someone has actually fled?”
Ol’ Amos also looked taken aback. He said, “Every one of those quacks from the Light Church has always adopted an attitude as if they were full of compassion and pity for mankind, and acted as if they would sacrifice themselves for their faith anytime. I’d never have thought that they would actually make a run for it the moment trouble actually knocks on their door. What a jaw-dropping surprise!”
A smiling Meng Lei shook his head at Ol Amos’ comment. Then, he said, “It’s already remarkable that only one of them has fled. After all, which among those that could cultivate all the way to become a true god isn’t a person of determination and strong will? How would they possibly truly worship someone else?”
“That’s true.”
Ol’ Amos agreed with his statement. He said, “Be it half-deities or true gods, they are usually all selfish people that can bring themselves to abandon anything during moments of life and death.”
“The six of you are the only ones left now,” said Meng Lei as he turned to the six remaining true gods.
The six true gods shuddered all over upon noticing Meng Lei’s gaze. Then, they did something shocking—they took off at once without even so much as a look behind them and disappeared into the far horizon in the blink of an eye…
Meng Lei, “…”
Ol’ Amos, “…”
The Light Church masses, “…”
“All of them ran away, Ol’ President!” Meng Lei found this hilarious. “We were wrong—their faith in the Goddess of Light isn’t that pious after all!”
“Yeah, we were wrong!”
Ol’ Amos didn’t know what to say anymore. “As expected, humans are selfish. And the more powerful and the higher of a status a deity is, the more selfish they usually are, too.”
“Exactly!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he turned to Pope Hayes and said, “Your Holiness, the talents that the Light Church has groomed sure are astonishing.”
“Bastards! Those seven selfish and mercenary bastards! They are all sinners! Sinners!”
Pope Hayes could no longer maintain his compassionate and merciful attitude. His whole face had become incredibly distorted, and even his eyes were red.
“They’ve abandoned their faith and betrayed our Lord, as well the church. They are even more abominable and deserve death even more than those wicked heretics!”
“What do we do now, sir?”
The Holy Maiden of Light also had an icy look on her face. She had never thought that things would reach such a point.
Two true gods had fallen in battle while the remaining seven had fled from battle and abandoned them!
The Light Church had landed itself into an incredibly embarrassing and perilous situation.
“We can only risk our lives and fight!”
Pope Hayes instructed, “Activate the light shield. Nothing must happen to the Shrine of Light!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Holy Maiden of Light nodded slightly and relayed his order.
Buzz…
A gentle milky-white glow formed around the Shrine of Light before swiftly spreading and turning into a milky-white shield that isolated the whole Shrine of Light from the outside world.
“The light shield is formed from power of faith that the Shrine of Light has accumulated over the years. It can endure several attacks from an intermediate deity.”
Pope Hayes let out a sigh of relief as he gazed at the light shield enveloping the Shrine of Light. He said, “With the light shield, the Shrine of Light should be safe and secure. Now, I can battle with peace of mind.”
“Sir, you—”
A huge jolt went through the Holy Maiden of Light.
“Altacia, blasphemy toward our Lord’s faith cannot be condoned. The Light Church will not stand for anyone challenging its authority. Keep this firmly in mind, and you’ll become a qualified pope.”
Pope Hayes gave Altacia a deep and meaningful look. Then, he took off the pope’s hat he was wearing and personally placed it atop the Holy Maiden of Light’s head.
“Sir, no! Don’t!”
The Holy Maiden of Light shook her head vehemently, choking up as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Altacia, do not grieve for me. It is my utmost honor to be able to sacrifice myself for our Lord.”
Then, Pope Hayes gave her a kind and benevolent smile and said, “Besides, your teacher won’t die so easily.”
Then, Pope Hayes slowly rose into the air. Without the pope’s hat restraining his hair, his head of white hair now fluttered in the breeze. His snowy-white robes were clean and spotless. Flames of fury burned within his small and skinny frame like a volcano that might erupt any moment.
“Your Holiness, you’re finally out.”
Meng Lei looked at the Pope of Light with a smile. He said, “You’re very brave. I’m even somewhat admiring you now!”
“For our Lord’s glory, what is there to fear about death?”
Pope Hayes’ voice turned cold and emotionless as he said, “Your Holiness, leave at once, and I’ll take it that nothing had ever happened. Otherwise—”
“Your Holiness, from start to finish, there’s something you actually still haven’t understood.”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers and said with a shake of his head, “This existential plane belongs to me. I will not permit other types of religious faith to exist here. Do you understand?”
“Let’s fight!”
Torrential power of divinity gushed into Pope Hayes’ pastoral staff as he brandished it. His voice thundered in the sky, “By Our Lord’s Decree—Let There Be Light!”
Buzz…
Dazzling golden divine light spilled from the sky, melting the void inch by inch and creating pitch-black fissures everywhere it passed through. The terrifying divine light had actually obliterated even the dimension itself!
Boom!
Divine light instantly enveloped Meng Lei.
" }, { "id": 292, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-292", "title": "Chapter 292 - Crushing The Pope, Immolation", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 292: Crushing The Pope, Immolation
“Your Holiness!”
“His Holiness has finally made his move!”
“His Holiness is a lesser deity and the top expert in Light Continent. With him around, that evil deity is doomed!”
“Your Holiness, you must kill that evil deity…”
Everyone in the Light Church went into a frenzy the moment Pope Hayes launched his attack.
Their eyes, full of anticipation, shone brightly and keenly as they watched the pope in the sky.
“Sir, you’ll definitely beat him! Definitely!”
The Holy Maiden of Light’s expression was filled with hope, too.
Now that things had come to such a pass, the Light Church could be said to have revealed all of its trump cards. If even the pope couldn’t defeat Meng Lei, then only one outcome awaited the Light Church—annihilation.
Therefore, everyone had pinned all their hopes on Pope Hayes.
At the same time, while all these happened, the seven true gods that had previously fled actually hadn’t completely left yet. After fleeing for a distance that they felt was safe enough, they stopped to observe the battleground from a far distance.
All of them wanted to know how the battle today would conclude and who the victor would be.
Boom!
Golden divine light shone down from above, instantly shrouding Meng Lei within. Fearsome power capable of melting things assaulted him and began to furiously dissolve his body.
Meng Lei’s clothes had been fully dissolved in the blink of an eye, revealing his long, slender, and well-built physique—including his shaft.
“As long as you’re a lesser deity, you’ll definitely perish under my attacks!”
Pope Hayes watched Meng Lei closely. He was fairly confident in his abilities.
After all, he was a pinnacle-level lesser deity. On top of that, his By Our Lord’s Decree secret arts even had its origins from the Celestial Realm. It was ten times more powerful than pure light-elemental divine techniques.
How could lesser deities possibly withstand attacks like that?
However, one second passed… Three seconds passed… Ten seconds passed… Half a minute passed…
Yet Meng Lei remained well and intact. Aside from his clothes that had dissolved, his divine body showed no signs of dissolving at all. In fact, every strand of body hair was standing tall and proud.
“So, that’s what your attack is like, Your Holiness?”
Netherworld Divine Fire rose around him and covered his “vital parts”. Meng Lei looked at Pope Hayes and said dispassionately, “Isn’t it a little too weak? It can’t even count as a tickle.”
“Why is this happening?”
Pope Hayes was filled with disbelief. He exclaimed, “My divine technique attacks are capable of inflicting grievous wounds on lesser deities. You can’t possibly be unaffected at all! Absolutely not!”
“Your Holiness, you might be mistaken about something,” Meng Lei shook his head, “I’ve never said that I’m a lesser deity.”
“Not a lesser deity? Could you be—”
Pope Hayes’ expression changed drastically. Meng Lei teleported right in front of him at this moment and dealt a light palm strike against his chest.
“Ugh!”
Pope Hayes coughed up blood and fell backward, crashing violently against the milky-white light shield.
“Sir!!”
“Your Holiness!”
The expressions of everyone from the Light Church changed greatly as they stared at the sight in disbelief.
A single move!
He had defeated the pope with just a single move!
Just how frighteningly strong was he?
“An intermediate deity! He must be an intermediate deity!”
Fear and horror surfaced in the Holy Maiden of Light’s eyes as she murmured, “O noble Lord, he’s actually an intermediate deity! How can he be an intermediate deity?”
Intermediate deities were absolute invincible existences on the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane. There was no way they could defeat an intermediate deity even if they were to amass all of the Light Church’s power. The gap in strength was too great!
“A miscalculation! I’ve made a miscalculation!”
An unsteady Pope Hayes flew back into the air. There was blood at the corners of his lips. He said, “I didn’t expect Your Holiness to be an intermediate deity. I was blind!”
“It’s not too late to become aware of it now.”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers and said dispassionately, “Your Holiness, I admire your strength and courage very much. I’ll give you a chance to live—submit to me and become the Meng Lei Holy Cult’s pope!”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to let you down, Your Holiness.”
Pope Hayes coughed up a mouthful of blood and said, “As our Lord’s servant, I will only worship our noble Lord for all of my life. It’s impossible for me to change my faith to worship someone else.”
“What a real shame!” Meng Lei was rather regretful. “In that case, sorry about this!”
Meng Lei slowly raised a finger. Netherworld Divine Fire burst forth from his fingertip, and a black spear aimed from a distance at Pope Hayes quietly formed.
“Netherworld Divine Fire!”
Pope Hayes’ pupils constricted. He could sense great danger approaching. He hastily wielded the pastoral staff in his hand and commanded, “By Our Lord’s Decree—Let There Be Light!”
Whoosh!
Surging golden divine light gushed from the pastoral staff, forming a golden wall in front of him as he prepared to block Meng Lei’s attack.
“This move again? Looks like you’ve exhausted all your abilities, Your Holiness.”
The black spear formed from Netherworld Divine Fire shot out like a piercing arrow with a casual wave from Meng Lei and instantly appeared right in front of the golden wall.
Splurt!
It pierced through the golden wall with barely any obstruction before, subsequently piercing through Pope Hayes’ chest and coming out from the other side.
“Ugh!”
Blood spurted from Pope Hayes’ mouth. He stared at the black hole in his chest in stunned silence, all his fighting spirit and determination turning into despair and a sense of powerlessness at this moment.
“It’s too great! The gap between the two of us is simply too great!”
Pope Hayes let out a resigned laugh and said, “Now that things have reached such a pass, I can only resort to that!”
Then, he looked at Meng Lei and then at the Shrine of Light and the Light Church masses shrouded by the light shield. He let out a hoarse shout, “The Light Church lives on! Our Lord’s brilliance will shine upon the world for all of eternity!
“Immolate!”
Dazzling flames of light suddenly burst forth from all over him. Then, the originally holy and sacred flames of light began to burn Pope Hayes furiously.
His life force began to wane at a terrifying speed, like water rapidly flowing out of a bottomless bucket.
“This is… An immolation spell?”
Ol’ Amos’ expression changed drastically at the sight. He shouted, “Meng Lei, stop him! He’s immolating! He’s summoning the Angels! Things would become troublesome once the Angels descend!”
“Immolating? Summoning the Angels?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t that surprised, though.
Ol’ Amos had already told him that the Light Church was capable of summoning Angels from the Celestial Realm. However, the move was highly reminiscent of the Seven Injuries Fist[1].
If one wished to summon beings, then they must first offer sacrifices.
Immolation would burn away almost all of the sacrifice’s life essence and the greater half of their divine spirit. In less severe cases, they would suffer a great loss of combat prowess, while in serious cases, they might lose their lives!
Immolation could be said to be an act that was close to going down together with the enemy. It was precisely because the price they had to pay for immolation was too great that the seven true gods from earlier would rather flee.
“The stronger the sacrifice is, the more powerful the summoned Angel would be!”
Ol’ Amos shouted in a deep voice, “Pope Hayes is a lesser deity, so the Angel that he’ll summon in return for burning his divine body and divine spirit would definitely be incredibly fearsome!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and said with a smile, “I’ve not seen a real Angel yet, Ol’ President. Just as well that I take this opportunity to take a good look!”
“Take a good look?”
Ol’ Amos was rather incensed. He said, “This is a matter of grave importance that concerns your life, yet you’re saying that you want to ‘take a good look’? What if the Angel that he summons is stronger than you?”
“It’ll be fine! Don’t worry. No one can be stronger than me in this existential plane!”
Buzz…
The pope’s divine body began to visibly wane and shrivel up as the immolation continued. His originally strong and powerful divine spirit also weakened further and further…
At last, by the final stages of the immolation process, Pope Hayes had completely become an old man that was all skin and bone and with one foot in the grave. A golden dimensional gate had also appeared above him.
“Who has summoned me?”
[1] The Kongtong Sect’s signature move in Louis Cha’s martial novels. It allows the user to inflict severe internal injuries on an opponent at the cost of long-term damage to the user’s internal organs as the user progresses from one stage to the next
" }, { "id": 293, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-293", "title": "Chapter 293 - Six-Winged Angel, Submitting Was Really Flagrant", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "“Who has summoned me?”
A voice full of dignified might rang, and a dazzling golden beam of light fell from the dimensional gate above the pope’s head.
Boom!
An extremely tyrannical aura spread out from the golden light beam, like fierce golden tidal waves sweeping in all directions.
Thud!
Thud!
The Knights of Light on the Holy Mountain of Light were pressed uncontrollably on the ground. They could not raise their heads at all as they trembled in extreme horror.
Even the Holy Maiden of Light and other high figureheads, half-deities who were shrouded in a light shield, felt suffocated and alarmed.
“Such… Such a terrifying aura! It’s definitely over the level of lesser deity!”
“It was certain that our pope could summon such a powerful Celestial Angel!”
The Light Church’s half-deities were agitated as if they had already witnessed the scene of Meng Lei being defeated in a dominating fashion, even him getting killed.
The entire place went into an uproar as a lofty and majestic figure appeared out of the fading golden beams.
The head was adorned with a golden halo, its hands held onto a golden spear, both feet were naked, and three pairs of golden feathered wings grew on the back.
“Six-Winged Angel!”
“It’s comparable to an intermediate deity, a Six-Winged Angel!”
“We are saved! The Light Church is saved! Look, we are saved!”
Everyone was thrown in a frenzied joy. The Holy Maiden of Light was equally agitated—as a part of the church, how could she not know the various levels and combat prowess of angels?
Angels were classified into three tiers:
Four-Winged Low Order Angels—equivalent to a lesser deity.
Six-Winged Middle Order Angels—equivalent to an intermediate deity.
Eight-Winged High Order Angels—equivalent to a higher deity.
Every tier was split into three classes.
Among them, the three classes of the Middle Order Angels were: Powers, Virtues, Dominions. Each class was stronger than the class before, one mightier than the other.
The angel that descended upon this time had six wings, a proper intermediate deity.
How powerful was an intermediate deity like that?
Wonder which class among the Middle Order Angels this angel is. If it is Dominions, we’ll surely win today’s battle!
The Holy Maiden of Light thought with an agitated gaze, her eyes full of hope and expectations.
“Who has summoned me?”
The six-winged angel lowered his head and looked at the skeletal Pope Hayes. His voice was extremely majestic.
“Your Grace, it was I who summoned you!”
Pope Hayes was on his dying breath, but his eyes were sparkling as he pointed at Meng Lei and said, “Your Grace, I’m the Light Church’s Pope in this existential plane, and an evil blasphemer has emerged here!
“He’s aiming to destroy our Light Church and cut off our Lord’s faith. I hope that Your Grace will mete out divine punishment and eliminate such a heretic to protect our Church!”
Having said these words, Pope Hayes dropped to the floor as if he had consumed every bit of strength left in him.
If not for his chest movements, people would have thought that he died already.
“Blasphemer?”
The six-winged angel looked at Meng Lei with a sharp glint bursting forth from his eyes.
“Anyone who dares to blaspheme my Lord deserves death! I… Lorenzo Philmore the Virtue Angel, hereby sentence you to death!”
The mighty voice was still reverberating in the air as the spear in the six-winged angel’s hands had already reached Meng Lei’s forehead.
Whoosh!
The spear hit an afterimage. Meng Lei appeared strangely a few meters away and looked at the six-winged angel with great interest.
He could sense that this Virtue Angel was not a divinity projection but a true body that had descended.
It was unexpected!
“Dodola, isn’t it that deities could not descend upon low-end existential planes? Why could this six-winged angel do so in Light Continent?”
“Nothing is absolute. There are loopholes within the rules of heaven and earth!”
Dodola explained simply. “Indeed, under normal circumstances, deities could not descend upon low-end existential planes. However, arcane immolation spells, like the one that the Light Church used here, can temporarily create a dimensional gate and summon deities from the Void.
“Of course, this kind of immolation spell comes under race secret arts, so most deities would not know of it. There are only a few deities who could use it across the entire Void.”
“I see…”
Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“Such agility!”
After missing his strike, the six-winged angel was slightly surprised. “You can actually dodge my attack, so it seems you’re not an ordinary true god. Still, facing me, any kind of speed will be futile!”
“Angel’s Domain!”
Buzz…
A golden ripple spread around and shrouded Meng Lei’s area, imprisoning the space along with Meng Lei in his spot.
“Dealing with such a lowly deity, a God’s Domain will be enough!”
The six-winged angel took a step forward, and his spear was already pointed at Meng Lei’s forehead.
“Blasphemer, the moment when you desecrated my Lord, your fate was sealed! Go to hell!”
The spearhead only needed to be thrust forward, and it would pierce right through Meng Lei’s forehead. However, Lorenzo came to realize that he couldn’t move as simple movements that could be done easily previously were now heavier than ever to the point of immobilization.
“What happened?”
Lorenzo could not believe it—he was an intermediate deity. It might not mean a lot among the rest of the angels, but descending in a low-end existential plane should make him unstoppable, right?
How could he be immobilized?
“Is your divine body immobilized?”
Meng Lei smiled and gazed upon the six-winged angel.
“This is… the Power of Existential Plane?”
Lorenzo sensed the power that imprisoned him, and then his expression changed drastically.
“You’ve refined the Heart of The Existential Planes and become this existential plane’s master?”
“You’ve guessed it right!”
Meng Lei smiled as he nodded. “Oh, let me add that I’m an intermediate deity, which is the same level as you. So, even without the Power of Existential Plane, you God’s Domain can’t do anything against me.”
As he spoke, Meng Lei stepped forward and appeared mysteriously in front of the six-winged angel and blasted a punch.
“Ugh!”
It was as if the six-winged angel’s body was thunderstruck. His intestines were dislocated while blood shot out like an arrow from his abdomen.
“This power… Indeed, an intermediate deity!”
Lorenzo’s holy face turned pale, and he suddenly looked at Pope Hayes, his eyes filled with immense rage and hate.
“You damned idiotic fool! Are you blind? How could you summon me into an existential plane that has a master? Are you trying to get me killed, you foolish turd!?”
Lorenzo was infuriated—Meng Lei was an intermediate deity that matched their levels already, now he was also this existential plane’s master—how was he possibly going to match Meng Lei?
He was only an ordinary Virtues Angel, letting him face-off against the existential plane’s master, who was also an intermediate deity. Was this not an attempt to get him killed?
The infuriating thing was that the foolish pope had not even figured out Meng Lei’s background properly and summoned him here rashly—this was pushing him into a pit of hell!
Although his breath was faint, Pope Hayes was still barely alive. He wanted to stay alive until the battle was over and Meng Lei was defeated, which meant the continuation of the Light Church’s rule.
Hence, he was not dead as he paid close attention to Meng Lei’s battle with the six-winged angel.
When Meng Lei seemed trapped, he cheered internally as he thought, That was the power of the six-winged angel, stopping Meng Lei with just his God’s Domain.
Yet, right now, in this very moment where he was being shouted at by Lorenzo, he was dumbfounded. “Your Grace, I… I…”
“You damned fool!’
The six-winged angel glared at the Pope furiously. “Did you not know that he had already refined the Heart of The Existential Planes and became the master of the existential plane?”
“Master of the existential plane?”
Pope Hayes’ expression changed immensely. The Light Church had been around for hundreds of thousands of years, and as the pope, how would he not understand the meaning of the master of an existential plane?
The master of an existential plane could utilize the entire power of the existential plane. It was no exaggeration that the master would be invincible in his own existential plane.
Meng Lei was the master of this existential plane?
“You didn’t even know if he was the master of the existential plane and summoned me carelessly? What a fool!”
The six-winged angel was incredibly furious, but now that it had come to this point, any scoldings would be pointless. Thus, he turned his head to look at Meng Lei.
“Sir, I might have unknowingly offended you previously, and I beg for your forgiveness. I’ll leave immediately!”
With that said, he rose into the air and was about to return into the dimensional gate and leave the Light Continent.
“Hold it!”
Meng Lei opened his mouth. “Who says that you can come and go at will? What do you treat this place as?”
“What do you want?”
Lorenzo’s pupils contracted as he stared at Meng Lei coldly, his eyes flickering with rage.
“I heard that you angels are natural slaves and lackeys of the Goddess of Light. You are also extremely skilled in the art of servicing, right?”
Meng Lei snapped his fingers.
“How dare you!”
Lorenzo’s expression turned grim. “Sir, do you know what you’re saying?
“Oh?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“You’re desecrating our great Goddess of Light!”
Lorenzo barked fiercely. “A lowly low-end existential plane master who dares to desecrate my Lord, you’ve sinned!
“Sinned?”
Meng Lei sneered. “If provoking the Goddess of Light means that I’m sinful, then I have cursed Hades, slept with the Grim Reaper, and even screwed around with the Goddess of Life, does that mean that I’ve committed the most sinful crimes where I should be cut with a thousand knives?”
“You goddamned blasphemer!”
Lorenzo was shaking furiously. “You’re deeply mired in sin! Your crimes are mounting into the sky! You’ve committed heinous sins, and a thousand deaths will not atone for your sins—”
“Are you done yet?”
Meng Lei waved his hands impatiently. “If you’re done talking, I’ll give you a chance to live if you hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me.”
“Submit? You’re asking me to submit to you?”
The six-winged angel flew into a rage. “I’m a part of the Angel Gods, a great servant of the Goddess of Light. I would rather die, fall upon hell eternally, become the devil that I hated the most than to submit to you!”
“Not submitting? Then prepare to die.”
Meng Lei sneered coldly as black flames lit up in his hands. “I guess I’ll use the Netherworld Divine Fire to burn your divine body and divine spirit so that your soul will be gone forever.”
Upon looking at the Netherworld Divine Fire in Meng Lei’s hands, Lorenzo even thought about dying for the first time in his entire life.
He’s the master of this existential plane and an intermediate deity. Now, he’s also a Divine Netherworld Phoenix? Just how did a monster like that emerge from a low-end existential plane!?
“It’s time, Your Grace. You should get going and report to hell early!”
Meng Lei teleported before Lorenzo instantly. However, he had not initiated his attack, and the previously passionate fervent angel was already kneeling before Meng Lei’s feet.
“D-don’t burn me! I… I submit!”
Meng Lei, “…”
Ol’ Amos, “…”
Holy Maiden of Light, “…”
Pope Hayes, “…” *passed away*
" }, { "id": 294, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-294", "title": "Chapter 294 - The Church Is Annihilated, The Great God Kroc", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 294: The Church Is Annihilated, The Great God Kroc
Never in his wildest dreams would the pope have ever expected that the angel that he had sacrificed himself to summon would actually conduct himself thus. He had chosen to submit when they had barely fought!
Was he really an angel from the upper realm?
Was he really that lacking of a backbone?
The pope was almost driven mad with fury. Unable to catch his breath, he breathed his last. He could be said to be the pope that had died in the weirdest way in the Light Church’s tens of thousands of years of history!
Just as stunned were the seven true gods that had fled. Although they were very far away from the battleground, this bit of distance was nothing to them.
The angel from the upper realm had surrendered!
On top of that, he had surrendered without even putting up a fight!
He’s a great six-winged Virtue Angel, yet he actually has no backbone at all? He’s practically an embarrassment!
The seven true gods really wished they could give voice to their contempt toward him, but when they thought about themselves by association, they couldn’t muster up any feelings of contempt at all.
The angel from the upper realm had surrendered, but they had also fled.
This was nothing more than just the pot calling the kettle black. They were no different from each other, so what right did they have to look down on him?
However, they couldn’t help but feel extremely thankful.
That’s right, thankful!
The seven true gods were thankful that they had chickened out and ran in the face of danger instead of stubbornly opposing Meng Lei like the Holy Maiden and the pope, yet only to end up in such a state.
“The Light Church is finished!”
“There’s no longer any place for us in the Light Continent. Where should we go from now on?”
…
“Release your divine spirit origin energy.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lorenzo, the six-winged angel, didn’t dare to dally. He hurriedly handed over his divine spirit origin energy and allowed Meng Lei to refine it and take control of his life and death.
Meng Lei asked dispassionately, “Your name is Lorenzo?”
“Yes, sir. My name is Lorenzo Philmore,” replied the six-winged angel respectfully.
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, “Do the other Angels also lack a backbone like you?”
“Sir, this…”
At once, Lorenzo flushed a crimson red as he stammered—he didn’t know how he should respond to Meng Lei.
“Never mind. Since you’ve submitted to me, then fulfill your duty to me properly. Should you dare so much as to harbor thoughts of betrayal, I’ll destroy your divine spirit and let you die a terrible death!”
“Yes, yes!”
Satisfied with Lorenzo’s response, Meng Lei then turned to the Holy Maiden of Light and the Light Church’s higher management officers, who were still in the light shield.
His gaze caused blood to drain from the Holy Maiden of Light and the others’ faces right away. Every one of them lowered their heads in fear, too scared to meet Meng Lei’s gaze.
To them, Meng Lei was even scarier than a demon from hell and even more terrifying than a Demon God.
“How did this happen?”
The Holy Maiden of Light was filled with grief and sorrow. Never would she have ever imagined that the great six-winged angel that was mighty-looking and awe-inspiring one moment would immediately submit to Meng Lei the next.
He completely didn’t meet their expectations at all!
What were they to do now?
What should the Light Church do?
Where should they go from now on?
Meng Lei asked dispassionately, “Are you going to come out here on your own, or do you want me to drag all of you out?”
They didn’t respond, however.
The higher management officers were filled with fear and horror, yet not a single one of them answered Meng Lei. It was hard to tell whether it was because they were too frightened to answer or they were pinning their hopes on the light shield. In any case, no one responded.
“You just don’t give up, do you?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he formed a sword with his fingers and drew a slash across the air.
Slash!
An invisible sword glint appeared out of thin air and shot out, instantly cleaving against the light shield. A slashing sound rang out, and then the light shield that was capable of withstanding multiple attacks from an intermediate deity broke into two without warning. Then, it shattered with a boom and vanished without a trace.
“The light shield… has been broken so easily?”
The Holy Maiden of Light gasped. She knew that Meng Lei was very strong, but she hadn’t expected him to actually be that strong. How terrifying!
In this instant, she suddenly somewhat understood why the angel had chosen submission. When faced against such a powerful entity like Meng Lei, was he supposed to choose death over submission?
“It’s your turn now.”
Meng Lei gazed at the Light Church’s higher management officers and asked, “Which would you like—to live or to die?”
Thud!
Someone dropped onto their knees right away.
“S-sir, I’m willing to submit! I beg only for you to give me a way out!”
“Good!” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “What about the rest of you?”
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
With someone taking the initiative to submit first, the second one naturally also came…
In a short few seconds, all 108 half-deities had gotten onto their knees. Only one person still remained standing—Altacia, the Holy Maiden of Light.
Meng Lei looked at her and said, “They’ve all submitted. Why haven’t you?”
Altacia replied coldly, “I am the Light Church’s Holy Maiden of Light. You may take my life, but don’t even dream of forcing me to submit to you. I will never abandon my faith even if I die!”
“Go to hell, then!”
Meng Lei pointed at her casually. A bloody hole formed in between her brows right away, and she collapsed onto the ground—she had actually died on the spot.
The sight badly frightened the 108 half-deities. They were filled with lingering fears at once—if they hadn’t submitted, they would probably have ended up like the Holy Maiden.
“Aren’t you a little too heartless, kid? You actually killed her?”
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but diss him. He said, “Why do you not possess any protective feelings for the fairer sex at all? Have you not awakened to your carnal desires yet? But that shouldn’t be!”
“To hell with your ‘carnal desires’!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. Then, he said, “I’ll give these Light Church half-deities and the Light Continent all to you, Ol’ President!”
“Really?”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes sparkled.
“Really!”
Meng Lei nodded. He said, “My business here is more or less finished, so it’s about time I leave. Will you leave with me? Or are you going to continue staying here for the time being?”
Ol’ Amos found himself in a struggle at once. After being away from Heaven’s Vault Continent for over 2 years, he wanted to go back and take a look around, of course. He especially wanted to go back and visit his younger sister.
But the problem was that the Light Church had only just been dissolved, and the Light Continent had only just come into his possession. There were so many half-deities that he needed to subdue. On top of that, there was the Light Continent itself, too…
It was exactly the time for him to show his skill and shine. How would he possibly bear to leave? What a struggle!
Meng Lei knew what Ol’ Amos was thinking the moment he saw the troubled look on his face. Rendered somewhat speechless, he said, “Ol’ President, your mindset has become somewhat inflexible.”
“What’s wrong?”
Ol’ Amos was puzzled.
Meng Lei said, “Wouldn’t everything be solved if you just build teleportation magic circles on the two continents? Wouldn’t traveling between the continents become just a matter of seconds after that?”
“Teleportation magic circles? Darn, why did that slip my mind?” Ol’ Amos smacked his forehead with a look of annoyance on his face. “By the way, you’re the master of this existential plane?”
“The man himself!”
“That’s great!”
Ol’ Amos was awfully excited. He said, “I’ll leave the matter of building the teleportation magic circles to you! This shouldn’t be a problem for you since you’re the master of the existential plane, right?”
Had anyone else dared to order him about like that, Meng Lei would have given them a tight slap across the cheek a long time ago. With Ol’ Amos, though, Meng Lei instead obediently did what he was told.
Of course, building teleportation magic circles was indeed a very simple task for him. He took only five minutes to build the teleportation magic circles connecting the two continents. An excited Ol’ Amos then gave it a test run and went back and forth between the two continents. True enough, it was indeed very convenient.
Ol’ Amos couldn’t help but marvel, “You built them so quickly! As expected, the master of the existential plane is indeed very powerful!”
“Of course!”
Meng Lei was terribly smug.
At that moment, Lorenzo, the six-winged angel, suddenly spoke up. He said, “The summoning duration is up, Master. I have to leave soon. Do you have any orders for me?”
Meng Lei replied, “Just one—do your best to collect things like Divinity Crystals, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and gold coins. The more, the merrier, get it?”
“Yes, Master!”
Lorenzo answered respectfully as he undertook the task.
“Go!”
Meng Lei waved.
“Take care, Master!”
Lorenzo bowed slightly. Then, he transformed into a golden ray of light and shot into the dimensional gate.
Meng Lei closed his eyes and began to carefully trace the divine spirit mark that he’d left on Lorenzo. Then, he detected the presence of an enormous existential plane—the Light Divine Realm.
That’s right, the Light Divine Realm!
As a powerful godly clan that was in no way inferior to the Titan Gods, traces of the Angel Gods could be found all over the vast universe. Be it the Celestial Realm—which was one of the two most supreme existential planes—the ten major Divine Realms, or other low-end existential planes, traces of the Angel Gods could be found in all of them.
And evidently, Lorenzo, the Six-Winged Virtue Angel, was an angel from the Light Divine Realm.
“It’s time I leave, but before I do…” Meng Lei turned to Ol’ Amos, “Do you want to take a tour around the Light Church’s treasury, Ol’ President?”
“A tour around the Light Church’s treasury?”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes lit up, but he shook his head shortly after. He said, “Never mind, this old man is already content with what he has now. I don’t really care that much about mere worldly possessions anymore.”
“Don’t you regret it.”
A smiling Meng Lei teased jokingly before vanishing.
“You’ve already given me a lot, brat. It’d be too greedy of me if I hanker after the Light Church’s treasury, too.”
Ol’ Amos shook his head. Then, he turned to the Light Church’s higher management officers and said, “The Light Church has been annihilated. From today onward, all of you will become the Kroc Holy Sect’s higher management officers instead. Any objections?”
“As you wish, sir!”
“Great!”
Ol’ Amos was highly satisfied with their attitudes. After all, these were 108 half-deities! Just how terrifying a force were they?
They would become his best tools for unifying the Light Continent and spreading his faith!
“Listen up! This is my first order—destroy all the Goddess of Light statues in the Light Continent and replace them with my, the Great God Kroc’s, statues…”
" }, { "id": 295, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-295", "title": "Chapter 295 - The Ancient Tree Of Life, The Ancient God Bloodline", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "As an existence that had stood tall and proud for tens of thousands of years, the Light Church had a much longer history than Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Dragon God Empire, Beast People Empire, and Titan Empire.
One could easily imagine just how wealthy the Light Church must be and how spectacular a sight their treasury must be.
Hills of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, heaps and heaps of elemental crystals and laws of nature fragments, as well as innumerable magic materials and magic devices…
The Laws of Nature Origin Crystals went straight into the system while he collected the elemental crystals and magic crystals, as well as the Saint Domain magic devices and half-divine weapons, and stored them away.
An awfully jubilant Meng Lei collected them all before coming to the area where special items were stored at last.
Largely similar to the Dragon God Empire’s special items and the Titan Empire’s treasuries, the ones here were also a trove of weird and wonderful things.
True god remains, Demon God hearts, fascinating ores, true god-level divine weapons…
There was a dazzling array of items that came in all kinds and variations.
The system’s voice rang out at this point.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Four-Winged Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it.”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline? What kind of bloodline is that?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shift his gaze to the item currently in front of him—it was an ordinary-looking piece of wood that was over a meter long and about the thickness of an adult’s arm.
“This is a branch of the Ancient Tree of Life? The Ancient Tree of Life? What kind of tree is that?”
Meng Lei reached out to pick up the piece of wood to take a closer look, but he discovered that it was incredibly heavy to his astonishment. Even holding it was rather strenuous for him.
“It’s so heavy!”
Meng Lei was astonished. Just how terrifyingly strong must he be when his body was comparable to an intermediate deity’s?
Even grabbing a large mountain was a cinch for him, let alone a piece of wood shorter than two meters!
“What kind of botanical lifeform’s remains is this, exactly? To think a single branch is this heavy!”
Meng Lei promptly consulted Dodola.
Dodola took a casual glance at the branch, and then it said dryly, “Do you have to ask me about something like that, too? Isn’t that just a freaking normal piece of wood?”
“Take a close look at it, Dodola,” Meng Lei said, “This piece of wood is shockingly heavy. Even I find it somewhat strenuous to hold it at my current level of strength. It’s definitely no ordinary dried branch!”
“Eh?”
Dodola was slightly taken aback. It couldn’t help but look at the piece of wood again. As it did, its eyes gradually widened until, at last, it gasped. “Oh my goodness, this… This is a branch from the Ancient Tree of Life. Where did you get this from?”
“From the Light Church’s treasury!” Meng Lei quickly asked, “What kind of plant is the Ancient Tree of Life? Does it have anything to do with the Tree of Vitality?”
“Of course it does!”
Dodola nodded lightly. “The vast universe has birthed many interesting and fascinating lifeforms. With animals around, plants would also exist.
“Among them, the most well-known botanical lifeforms have to be the five Primeval Divine Trees. It’s said that they were born in the Genesis Continent and are very, very old and ancient.”
“The five Primeval Divine Trees!” Meng Lei gasped. “Which five trees are they?”
“The Mother Tree of Earth, the Deep Sea Coral Willow, the Fusang 1 Divine Tree, the Ancient Tree of Life, and the Golden Apple Tree.”
Dodola explained, “Among them, the Ancient Tree of Life lives in the Forest Divine Realm and is the oldest, tallest and biggest, and most majestic lifeform there. The Fairy Goddess had propagated the famous Tree of Vitality using a branch from the Ancient Tree of Life itself.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei took a breath. Then, he remarked incredulously, “What must the actual Ancient Tree of Life look like when just its branch alone is already this heavy?”
“It’s huge! Unimaginably huge!”
A smiling Dodola said, “When you leave Heaven’s Vault Continent someday, you can head to the Forest Divine Realm and take a look. It’ll definitely astound you!”
“That day will come for sure!”
Then, Meng Lei left the Tower of Time.
“System, assimilate the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline!”
Whoosh!
A green deluge containing surging life force suddenly gushed out of Meng Lei’s brain and instantly spread throughout his body. It flowed through his limbs and integrated itself into his organs.
All the cells in Meng Lei’s body gradually turned green, which in turn also caused his flesh, blood, bones, internal organs, and skin to turn green. It looked as if Meng Lei was going to turn into a Namek 1 !
“How amazing! I actually don’t feel any pain at all while assimilating the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline! This is a groundbreaking first!”
Indeed, he had assimilated many different bloodlines ever since the very first time he tried assimilating one—the Fire Dragon bloodline—and every single time, intense pain had accompanied the process, causing him to suffer tremendous pain and agony.
This was the one and only time that he hadn’t experienced any pain. Even Meng Lei himself was rather unused to it!
The assimilation process lasted about ten minutes. At the end of the assimilation process, Meng Lei had completely turned into a tree.
His hair had turned into dense and lush leaves, his body into a thick and sturdy tree trunk, his arms into tree branches, his legs into tree roots…
He was 100-meters-tall and boasted lush, luxuriant leaves.
He brimmed with vitality and stood tall and straight.
The most amazing thing was that Meng Lei was giving off a torrential and surging sense of vitality. All the shelves around them displayed botanical magic materials that had long since withered and dried up were “given a new lease of life”. New shoots sprouted from them and began to grow madly as though they had been injected with steroids.
One meter, two meters, three meters…
Within the short span of a few breaths, a forest had formed around Meng Lei. All sorts of plants grew lushly around him, engulfing Meng Lei, the cause of it all.
“S-such strong life force!”
Meng Lei could sense the change in his divine body. Not only had his divine body greatly strengthened, but the life force within him had also become more than 100 times stronger.
A life force that had become 100 times stronger!
Now, this was something extremely astonishing. It meant that Meng Lei’s cell viability had become even stronger, so his rate of recovery from injuries had become faster, and he could last even longer in battles now…
“System, bring up the stats interface!”
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix<Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant, Ancient Tree of Life<13%>)
Wealth: 6.5 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Intermediate-Deity (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Laws of Nature:
Double-Elemental Fusion: Some increase
Triple-Elemental Fusion: Wind-Light-Dark (0.1%), Metal-Wood-Earth (0.1%), Earth-Wood-Thunder (0.1%), Metal-Dark-Ice (0.1%)
Quadruple-Elemental Fusion: Ice-Metal-Dark-Fire (0.1%)
Meng Lei marveled, “The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline’s assimilation rate is actually only at 13%?”
“System, how much does it cost to raise the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate?”
“Dear host, raising the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline by 1% requires 100 million Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“100 million Divinity Crystals? That’s so expensive!”
Meng Lei’s jaw dropped. “Is the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline also an Ancient God bloodline?”
“Yes, it is, host.”
Meng Lei was rather excited. “To think it’s actually another Ancient God bloodline! I’ve struck gold this time!”
Both the Primordial Human bloodline and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodlines were Ancient God bloodlines. He had two Ancient God bloodlines now!
This meant that he now had an additional form of assurance on his road to becoming an Ancient God. This was simply wonderful!
When Meng Lei got out of his tree form and resumed human form, he noticed at once that thick and lush vegetation had surrounded him. He couldn’t help but frown. Then, he sent the plants that had sprouted from the magic materials into the Tower of Time and planted them into the ground with a grand wave.
Magic materials that could qualify to be displayed here were all highly valuable and rare materials. Rather than letting them wither, he might as well plant them in the Tower of Time.
Meng Lei then continued to check out the other treasures.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Six-Winged Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
" }, { "id": 296, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-296", "title": "Chapter 296 - By Our Lord'S Decree, The Secret Of Heaven'S Vault", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 296: By Our Lord’s Decree, The Secret Of Heaven’s Vault
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Six-Winged Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Light Divine Technique Secret Art ‘By Our Lord’s Decree’. Will you assimilate it?”
“By Our Lord’s Decree?”
Meng Lei paused for a while. Although Pope Hayes had been beaten to the ground easily, his divine technique had left a deep impression.
A pinnacle-level lesser deity that could cast an intermediate deity-level Divine Technique, the boost in power was that great!
“I must check it out!”
In a split second, a barrage of information surged into his mind. After quite a while, Meng Lei finally finished absorbing the knowledge, and a hint of amazement flashed across his eyes.
By Our Lord’s Decree—a light-elemental divine technique of the Angel Gods which was several times, even up to dozens of times powerful, that of ordinary light-elemental spells!
If the ordinary light-elemental divine technique was like normal light-elemental magic, then the ‘By Our Lord’s Decree’ was like the light-elemental Dragon-Language Magic—their power was on a different level!
“It’s good!” Meng Lei nodded. “With this secret art, my divine techniques will be more dynamic!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Divine Light Eagle bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“The Divine Light Eagle bloodline? Now, what bloodline is it this time?”
The system did not respond, so Meng Lei could only ask Dodola.
Dodola was indeed an all-knowing encyclopedia.
“The Divine Light Eagle is a light/wind double elemental divine beast, which can become comparable to a lesser deity when it becomes an adult.”
“Only lesser deity level at the adult stage? That divine beast is trash, don’t assimilate.” Meng Lei shook his head promptly.
…
After a round of browsing, Meng Lei could not pick up any more decent stuff, and he left the half-plane where the Light Church treasury was.
“Ol’ Amos, shall we return?”
“Yes, sure!”
Ol’ Amos nodded. “I have laid out tasks which I believe they will finish successfully. So I’m basically an absentee manager.”
“Nice to hear that.”
Meng Lei concurred with Ol’ Amos’s course of actions—subordinates should settle matters like spreading faith. There was no need to personally attend to them.
After this, Meng Lei brought Ol’ Amos back to Heaven’s Vault Continent and returned to the old Dragon God Empire palace, which was now the Meng Lei Empire palace.
The palace was almost the same as before. It was just that the current master was Meng Lei instead of the Dragons. How people had changed, despite the environment remaining the same.
“I was here for quite a lot back then, where I had seen the Dragon Emperor and brought the kids of the Fire Dragon Magic Academy here for the empire-wide exchange competition.”
Ol’ Amos sighed emotionally and went on. “I would never have imagined that the Dragons would be chased out of the palace, and humans would take over as master of this empire. You never know what will happen next!
“Change is the only constant, the wheel of fortune turns!”
Meng Lei smiled. “Things are constantly evolving. How can there be empires that last forever?”
“That’s true.” Ol’ Amos nodded.
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Let’s go, Ol’ Amos. Let’s hang around in the palace before going back to Dragon Island.”
“Alright.”
Puhaman brought a bunch of people to see Meng Lei as soon as he entered the palace. “Greetings Master!”
It was nothing to Meng Lei, but Ol’ Amos was frightened as he stared at Puhaman and the rest.
“Such… Such terrifying divine power. Each of them was stronger than me, similar to the Light Church’s pope… They’re all lesser deities?
“Meng Lei, they’re all lesser deities?”
Ol’ Amos could not help but ask.
“Yeap, all lesser deities!” Meng Lei replied with a smile.
“Gosh! so many of them!” Ol’ Amos gasped, “One, two, three… Twelve! Twelve lesser deities! This… It’s unbelievable!”
As Ol’ Amos was sizing them up, they did the same. They were wondering, Who is this old fellow beside Master?
“Let me introduce you. This is my teacher, Amos Kroc,” Meng Lei said calmly.
“Amos Kroc?”
Everyone else was puzzled except for Thaniel, whose body was shaking. “You’re Amolin’s elder brother?”
“You’re…” Ol’ Amos looked at Thaniel.
“I’m Thaniel the Black Dragon half-deity!”
Thaniel had a perplexed face. “Amos, weren’t you dead? Why…”
“Haha, I have two lives!” Ol’ Amos laughed and said.
“I see…” Thaniel nodded his head slightly and understood immediately.
“Ol’ Amos is the person that I respect the most. I want all of you to treat him like me, understand?” Meng Lei said as he swept a glance across everybody.
“Yes, Master!”
“There’s no need for such formalities, Meng Lei.” Ol’ Amos was frightened.
“They’re all lesser deities, while I’m not even a true god. How could I possibly ask them to treat me like you!?”
“There’s nothing improper here.”
Meng Lei waved his hands with a smile and asked, “How was the matter with the migration? There should be a rough plan, right?”
“Master!”
Puhaman stepped forward. “We have discussed, and we agreed to develop the 48 existential planes in the shortest time possible. The best solution is still migrating Beast People races that have decent reproduction rates, like Pig Men, Rabbit Men, Doghead Kobolds, and others, before we migrate the rest.
“Plus, the Beast People Empire had suffered heavily. And as fear and uncertainty gripped the empire, now is the best opportunity to establish our faith among them!”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
“That’s a good plan. I’ll leave it for you all to settle, don’t disappoint me.”
Meng Lei raised his head slightly and continued. “Once this is settled, it’ll be the time to divide and confer existential planes and create a god system.”
“Yes, Master!”
Everyone was excited at the thought of such a historical moment—they would obtain existential planes and construct a god system!
By then, they would all become gods under Meng Lei’s system, and they would enjoy an endless amount of faith. How great would that be?
“Did anything happen these few days while I was away?” Meng Lei asked.
“Master, everything is fine in Heaven’s Vault Continent,” Puhaman said while he bowed.
The rest nodded slightly too—with so many lesser deities here, it would be difficult for anything troublesome to occur.
However, Thaniel hesitated a while before he said suddenly, “Master, the Dragon God had looked for me!”
“Dragon God?” Meng Lei raised his eyebrows.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted me to destroy the teleportation magic circle in the Far Northern Icelands so he could take over the 48 existential planes that the Dark Demonic Dragon left behind. Still, this isn’t the point!”
Thaniel did not dare to hide anything as he continued.
“The point is, the Dragon God told me that he had already reported Heaven’s Vault Continent’s secret to the Dragon God race!
“He said that it was a secret so lucrative to countless higher deities that the Dragon Gods will definitely send their army down to Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“By then, the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent will be plunged into great misery and suffering. While Master…”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent’s secret?”
“What secret could this continent possibly have?”
“That’s right, Heaven’s Vault Continent is just a low-end material plane. Why would it have any secrets? This bastard Dragon God must be sprouting ridiculous, shocking nonsense!”
“One that interests countless higher deities…”
Everyone shook their head as they scoffed at the idea, but Meng Lei started to frown and slipped into deep thoughts.
Heaven’s Vault Continent’s secret? A secret that interests countless higher deities?”
What secret would that be?
“Dodola, is the secret that the Dragon God spoke of the Tower of Time?” Meng Lei was baffled.
“Other than the Tower of Time, I can’t think of any other possibilities. And of course, we can’t strike out that Gods-Demons Continent, but that secret can never be greater than the Tower of Time!”
" }, { "id": 297, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-297", "title": "Chapter 297 - Grooming And Demon Metamorphosis, The Gods-Demons Continent", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "It was very hard for low-end existential planes like Heaven’s Vault Continent, where resources were sparse, and laws of nature were indistinct, to possess any kind of astounding secrets most of the time. At best, one might find things like half-deity ruins and so on, but that was about it.
However, even these were of absolutely no value to the high and mighty deities, let alone having a secret that could astound a higher deity. The only thing that Meng Lei could think of was the Tower of Time.
Not only was the God of Time a Great Perfection deity that had comprehended and perfectly assimilated five types of basic laws, but he was even an Ancient God that had comprehended time-based laws of nature.
Despite not in possession of Chief God divine cores, Ancient Gods could nevertheless contend against Chief Gods. What kind of powerful existence must they be, then? And how great and noble must they be?
As for the Tower of Time, as a place that stored the God of Time’s legacy and treasures, its allure to the deities in the Void was self-evident.
By obtaining the Tower of Time, they would obtain the Ancient God, the God of Time’s legacy, his treasures, and even the cultivation method for time-based laws of nature.
How alluring was that?
It was no exaggeration to say that even Chief Gods might be tempted, let alone higher deities!
Meng Lei said, “If that’s really the case, then it’s indeed rather troublesome. Never mind, I’m the master of the existential plane. Any deity can forget about behaving so presumptuously here!”
As the master of the existential plane, he was an absolute and invincible existence while in the existential plane. What was there for him to fear?
“You’re oversimplifying things, Meng Lei.”
Dodola slowly shook its head and said, “I’ve certainly mentioned in the past that deities of the Void are unable to descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent in most typical cases, but nothing is absolute in this world.”
“Could it be that there are other methods aside from secret arts such as the Angel Gods’ immolation and summoning spell?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown. He wasn’t concerned about the angels’ immolation spell. Aside from the fact that the immolation spell required extremely demanding conditions in order to be cast, there was also one other most important factor—how powerful the angel summoned through immolation was strongly linked to how powerful the sacrifice themselves were.
The more powerful the sacrifice was, the more powerful the summoned angel would be.
Even someone as powerful as Pope Hayes, who was a pinnacle-level lesser deity, had only managed to summon Lorenzo, a six-winged angel on par with an intermediate deity, whereas those weaker than the pope would only summon angels even weaker than that.
Yet, it was impossible to find anyone stronger than the pope in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Besides, considering how demanding the conditions for immolation were, whether or not anyone was willing to do it was a problem in itself. Therefore, Meng Lei wasn’t worried about secret arts like immolation at all.
“You’re oversimplifying things, Meng Lei.”
Dodola shook its head and said, “The deities in the Void have a multitude of ways at their fingertips if they wish to descend upon a low-end existential plane. Most commonly, they use two particular methods.”
“What methods are they?” asked Meng Lei gravely.
“The first is to select, provide guidance, and groom someone.”
Dodola explained, “The deities in the Void would select and provide guidance to a native being from Heaven’s Vault Continent. Within 10,000 years, they’ll groom them into a true god, a lesser deity, an intermediate deity, or even a higher deity.
“You should know that it isn’t hard to groom someone into a higher deity. It’s nothing more than just a few divine cores and a fusion laws of nature fragment.”
Meng Lei’s expression changed at once. Was grooming someone into a higher deity difficult? Theoretically, it really wasn’t.
A Saint Domain could already assimilate divine cores.
It required only one lesser deity divine core to groom a Saint Domain into a lesser deity, five to groom them into an intermediate deity, and five lesser deity divine cores and one fusion laws of nature fragment to groom them into a higher deity.
Of course, the person would also need to split their divine spirit during this process. Thus, they would need treasures that could enhance their divine spirit. Things like Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts, Soul Ice Marrow, and so on would suffice.
Generally speaking, it was indeed very costly to groom someone into a higher deity, but there was definitely no lack of wealthy tycoons among the deities in the Void. As long as they were willing to do it, they certainly could groom someone into a higher deity within a short period of time.
“Is that really possible?!”
Meng Lei gasped. For the first time, the deities’ wisdom had astonished him.
“I told you, as long as the deities in the Void are willing to, they have a plethora of ways that they can descend upon a low-end existential plane.”
Dodola sighed. “The second commonly-used method is demon metamorphosis.”
“Demon metamorphosis?”
Meng Lei was taken aback.
“You should also know that deities in the Void cannot descend upon low-end existential planes while demons can.”
Dodola said gravely, “This is a loophole that they can exploit. The deities in the Void would split their divine spirit and take over a low-grade or same-grade demon’s body, thereby grooming a demonic incarnation of themselves so that they can descend upon low-end existential planes anytime they want.”
“They can do that?”
Meng Lei gasped. “Aren’t deities and demons sworn enemies? Are there deities that are willing to take over a demon’s body and own a demonic incarnation?”
“What’s the big deal about that?”
Dodola scoffed, “I’ll be honest with you. Most typical deities with even a bit of background will groom one—several, even—demonic incarnation of themselves. There are even those who take it a step further and rear numerous demon servants so that they can use them during times of need.”
A mocking Dodola said, “Deities? Demons? How can there be absolute justice in this world? Or absolute evilness? As long as it profits oneself, those sanctimonious deities can bring themselves to do anything!”
“I understand now.” Meng Lei nodded slowly. “I’ve underestimated the deities in the Void.”
“If the Dragon God has really reported the Tower of Time’s existence to the Colossal Dragon Gods, we will face extreme peril.”
Dodola said gravely, “The Colossal Dragon Gods are a powerful godly clan that is in no way inferior to the Titan Gods and the Angel Gods.”
“I get it now.”
Meng Lei nodded slowly.
“What are your plans?” asked Dodola in a low voice.
“Become stronger, I suppose. Only when I’ve become stronger will I be able to handle all the difficulties thrown at me.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “If all else fails, then I can only bring forward my deification. Nothing can go wrong once I have a higher deity divine incarnation.”
“I can rest assured now that you’ve said that.”
Dodola heaved a sigh of relief at Meng Lei’s response. Meng Lei had already assimilated quite a few types of laws of nature by now. As long as he wanted to, he could ascend and become a higher deity anytime he wanted.
As both a higher deity as well as the master of the existential plane—as long as he didn’t run into a Great Perfection deity—Meng Lei would be an absolute and invincible presence in Heaven’s Vault Continent!
“So, there’s nothing to really be afraid of!”
A relaxed Meng Lei said, “By the way, didn’t you mention the Gods-Demons Continent just now? Is there a Gods-Demons Continent on the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane?”
“As the master of the existential plane, you’re really so…” An exasperated Dodola rolled its eyes.
“What’s the big deal about me being the master of the existential plane? How long has it only been since I became one? How am I supposed to know that there’s also a Gods-Demons Continent on this existential plane when the Endless Oceans are so vast?”
Meng Lei snorted and said, “You’re right, though. I indeed haven’t done a proper inspection of Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane ever since I became its master. I’ll take a look right away.”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei released his divine cognition at once. Through the Heart of The Existential Planes, he began to inspect the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane.
An intermediate deity’s divine cognition could only reach a maximum range of 1,000,000 miles in radius, but with the help of the Heart of The Existential Planes, Meng Lei was able to inspect the whole existential plane.
Of course, this also required a certain amount of time.
A few minutes later, Meng Lei finally located the third continent—the Gods-Demons Continent—after going one round around the Endless Oceans.
“What the heck! That continent’s huge! It’s actually even bigger than the Light Continent!
“How strange! Why are Magical Beasts the only creatures there? Where are the humans? The Beast People? The Titans?
“Since it’s covered in forests, surely there must be at least Fairies there?”
A round of inspection later, Meng Lei found himself disappointed.
" }, { "id": 298, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-298", "title": "Chapter 298 - Four Divine Beasts, Putting A Leash On Them", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "There were no humans, no Beast People, no Titans, and no Fairies!
Instead, Magical Beasts were the only creatures there! And there was an infinite number of them!
The astonishing thing was that these Magical Beasts were much stronger than those in Heaven’s Vault Continent and Light Continent. Even Saint Domain and half-deity Magical Beasts lived lives worse than even a dog’s there.
On top of that, there were almost 100 divine beasts!
One must admit that the Magical Beasts on Gods-Demons Continent had astounded Meng Lei. There was an astonishing number of Saint Domain Magical Beasts, innumerable half-deity Magical Beasts, and even almost 100 divine beasts there.
Furthermore—and most importantly—there was even a divine beast that rivaled an intermediate deity there. Now, that was astonishing!
Why would an intermediate deity-level divine beast continue to stay on this existential plane? Could it be that it hadn’t yet been 10,000 years since it became an intermediate deity? What kind of joke was that!?
“Do you see the Gods-Demons Continent’s fearsomeness for yourself now?”
Dodola said with a slight smile, “Aside from the Tower of Time, the Gods-Demons Continent is definitely this existential plane’s biggest secret.”
Meng Lei asked in disbelief, “Dodola, what kind of secret does the Gods-Demons Continent exactly hold? Why are the Magical Beasts there so strong? Their strength is practically beyond any reason or logic!
“Why? Because of the two words ‘gods’ and ‘demons’!”
Dodola explained, “More than 20,000 years ago, innumerable gods and demons suddenly descended upon this existential plane and started a war that swept through the whole continent.”
“Gods and demons descended upon the existential plane? Why?”
Meng Lei looked stupefied.
“I don’t know.”
Dodola shook its head. “There were originally also humans and other races on Gods-Demons Continent, but they all perished in that war between the gods and demons. In the end, only a handful of lucky Magical Beasts managed to survive.
“After the war, Magical Beasts became the biggest beneficiaries of the war. They devoured the gods and demons’ remains and seized their assets and divine cores, resulting in their power receiving a terrifying boost within a short period of time.”
“I see.”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. Living conditions didn’t differ much from continent to continent when everyone was all on the same existential plane. Therefore, it was impossible that such a great difference in strength would happen. As it turned out, it was actually all because of the war between the gods and demons.
“More than 20,000 years have gone by, but there should still be a great number of gods and demons remains on Gods-Demons Continent. You can go over and take a look if you’re interested.”
Dodola smiled and said, “Who knows, maybe you’ll find some good stuff.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “I’d still have headed over and taken a tour around the Gods-Demons Continent even if there weren’t any gods and demons remains there. This existential plane is my turf, after all.”
“Yeah!”
Dodola didn’t offer any further response after that, and its voice faded away very quickly.
Meng Lei then turned to his subordinates and said, “All of you are to speed up the migration process. At the same time, you must also protect the teleportation magic circle in the Far Northern Icelands. Nothing must go wrong!”
“Yes, Master!”
His subordinates bowed affirmatively.
“Alright, get down to work!”
Meng Lei dismissed them with a wave. Then, he began to take a tour around the imperial palace with Ol’ Amos in tow. Ol’ Amos had stayed in the imperial palace during the last two days. It was only on the third day that he finally left and departed for Dragon Island.
Apart from Ol’ Amos’ younger sister Amolin, everyone else on Dragon Island was a human genius.
By the Meng Lei Empire’s stipulations, Saint Domain experts were allowed to enter Dragon Island, the Divine Titan Temple, and other half-planes where laws of nature were distinct and magic elements were rich to cultivate.
Amolin was currently the only Dragon on Dragon Island. Thus, the so-called Dragon Island actually only existed in name now.
After Ol’ Amos’ departure, Meng Lei went to Gods-Demons Continent by himself, intending to take a good look around.
Located to Heaven’s Vault Continent’s southeast, Gods-Demons Continent was much vaster in territory than Heaven’s Vault Continent. On top of that, the whole continent was fully covered in forests and undoubtedly boasted the three continents’ best living environment on the existential plane.
Meng Lei floated in the air above Gods-Demons Continent. His divine cognition spread into the surroundings like tidal waves, shrouding the whole continent within as he began to inspect it properly.
Meng Lei made a discovery after a mere minute of inspection.
“There’s something out of the norm over there!”
Meng Lei came to the area above a basin. The basin was as though a gigantic bowl embedded in an endless sea of forests.
Lush and luxuriant vegetation filled the basin, the woods inside even denser and lusher than those outside. Additionally, several lesser deity-level divine beasts had also occupied the basin’s central region.
“The magic elements in the basin are far richer than those in the outside world. In particular, the magic elements in the central region are even as dense as solids. It must be because of that thing in the underground!”
Meng Lei’s eyes gleamed as he made a grabbing motion in the air. A huge intangible claw flew out of nowhere and grabbed at the basin’s central region, passing right through the ground upon contact.
It went 60,000 meters underground before finally coming to a stop. Then, it grabbed forcefully at it!
Boom!
Amid a great explosion, the ground within five kilometers of the area began to shake violently as though an earthquake had broken out. Then, it started to rise into the air slowly.
One meter, two meters, three meters…
Earth and soil were tossed everywhere as trees and branches snapped and broke.
“What’s going on?”
The huge commotion alarmed the Magical Beasts in the basin. The four lesser deity-level divine beasts, in particular, even took to the sky and began to inspect the area, upon which they noticed the basin’s central region that had risen into the air, as well as the culprit of all these—Meng Lei.
The four divine beasts flew into a thundering fury at once.
The basin was their den, but Meng Lei was actually making trouble there! Wasn’t this tantamount to bearding the lion in its den?
He was going too far!
There were some things that one could tolerate and some things that one couldn’t!
“You lowly worm, how dare you act so presumptuously here! Die!”
The four divine beasts were respectively the Five-Colored Sacred Bull, the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf, the Rainbow Wood Toad, and the Great Earth Bear.
Despite not having transformed into their true forms, they stood at 1,000-feet-tall. Terrifying divine power spread into the surroundings, crushing down on all areas around them and sweeping through heaven and earth.
All the Magical Beasts in the basin prostrated on the ground in fear, frightened to the extreme as they shook like leaves.
They simply couldn’t understand—why had the four great kings suddenly gone into a rage for no reason?
“Die!”
Four attacks—a five-colored deluge, countless wind blades, wooden vines that looked like poisonous snakes, and thundering sound waves—imbued with surging power of divinity swept brazenly toward Meng Lei.
They moved with fierce momentum and blotted out the sky.
As though great mountains crushing down on someone, they were capable of destroying everything.
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips curled upward in response. He reached out a finger, tapped the air, and commanded, “Freeze!”
Buzz…
A mysterious wave of energy spread outward, instantly locking down the air within 100 miles of where they were. The fearsome attacks also froze in mid-air and became still and motionless.
“Disperse!”
The four attacks dispersed with a loud boom upon command, turning into countless glowing particles that dissipated in the air.
“What?”
“How can this be?!”
“Damn it!”
“He’s neutralized our attacks so easily?”
The four divine beasts were flabbergasted. One must know that they were lesser deity-level divine beasts. Although those attacks had been launched casually and without much thought, they weren’t attacks that one could easily just neutralize.
“Who exactly is he?”
“I don’t know who he is!”
“Never seen him before!”
“Not sure!”
Just as alarm and doubt filled the four divine beasts, four green vines grew rapidly from Meng Lei and turned into poisonous snakes that shot toward the divine beasts.
“It’s coming!”
Not daring to be careless, the four divine beasts were about to counterattack right away when something that shocked and horrified them happened. Their bodies… They couldn’t move!
“Damn it!”
“What exactly is going on?”
“Damn! Move! Hurry, mov—”
Blood drained from the four divine beasts’ faces. They struggled fiercely and tried to move, but it was all in vain. They simply couldn’t move no matter what they did.
“Misbehaving? I’ll put a leash on you, then!”
Four vines shot toward them at lightning-quick speed, winding around the divine beasts’ necks along with the momentum and restricting them.
" }, { "id": 299, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-299", "title": "Chapter 299 - Life Drawing, Higher-Tier Divine Weapon", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 299: Life Drawing, Higher-Tier Divine Weapon
The four divine beasts were exasperated.
You destroyed our home, and you’re chaining us now. You have gone too far!
However, Meng Lei did not pay any more attention to them. He treated them like air and focused on capturing the monster beneath the earth.
The earth rumbled as mountain rocks rolled down.
The earth shook vigorously as a humongous being was dragged out of the ground. It was completely soaked in mud, making it difficult to decipher its appearance.
A forceful divine power spread into the surroundings the moment it appeared. The four restless divine beasts looked toward the gigantic creature.
“What’s that?”
“What fearsome divine power!”
“Out from the underground?”
Meng Lei swung his arm casually, and the mud on the gigantic creature flew off. Moments later, a majestic creature was revealed.
It had a body of a gigantic ape, hippopotamus-like mouth, steel needle-like golden fur all over, and thick muscles bulging like boulders—every part of its body was filled with explosive power!
“Golden Behemoth!”
It only took a glance for the four divine beasts to recognize this massive creature. What they were more surprised about was that there was a Golden Behemoth underground which they were completely unaware of!
“An intermediate-deity Golden Behemoth!”
Meng Lei nodded secretly. Even after 20,000 years, this Golden Behemoth’s corpse was still vivid without any signs of decomposition.
Such was a body of an intermediate deity, almost incorruptible. However, a black spear was stuck at the forehead of this Golden Behemoth. This must have killed it.
“This spear is very familiar…”
Meng Lei took out his Gods-Slaying Spear and compared them. He realized that they looked exactly the same—both were surrounded by lightning and nothing different.
“Another Gods-Slaying Spear!”
Meng Lei’s expression became awful. “The one that killed this Golden Behemoth was the same as the one that killed Ol’ Amos previously!”
“Damn it! Just who was it?”
Meng Lei immediately tried dripping his blood to claim ownership and did not face any obstruction. It was clear that the owner of this spear was already dead.
“My dear Ol’ Amos, you can’t even find this guy to take your revenge on anymore. That is simply tragic!”
Meng Lei kept both Gods-Slaying Spears and brought the corpse into the Tower of Time. This corpse was an invaluable treasure.
“As for the four of you…”
Meng Lei looked at the four divine beasts and could not help but think that they seemed pretty magnificent.
The Five-Colored Sacred Bull, Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf, Rainbow Wood Toad, Great Earth Bear looked majestic and extraordinary.
“The heavens are virtuous and cherish all life, so I shall not kill you all,” Meng Lei said casually. “But, your punishment is to hand over your divine spirit origin energy to avoid death!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You want us to submit to you?”
“Forget about it!”
“Dream on!”
“You’re bullying too much!”
The four divine beasts were enraged upon hearing Meng Lei’s words as they glared at Meng Lei with their eyes spewing with fury. They felt violated!
“Unwilling? Then I guess there’s no other way!” Meng Lei shook his head. “I have given all of you a chance. Since you’re not willing to take it, then don’t blame me for anything!”
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Countless tiny needles sticking out of the vines penetrated the four divine beasts, poking through their necks and absorbing their life essence violently.
Life Drawing!
The ability to absorb other’s vitality for his own use and enrich his life essence. This was not an Innate Special Ability but an ability of the Ancient Tree of Life!
Gurgle!
“Damn it!”
“Get off me!”
“Let go!”
As they felt their life being drained away endlessly, the four divine beasts started to struggle madly. However, under the might of the Power of Existential Plane, any struggles would be futile.
They could only watch their bodies shrink like a burst balloon. Their energy was drained quickly, and there was nothing they could do about it.
“At this rate, we’ll be sucked into dry corpses and die in his hands!”
“Quickly! Summon our great God. Only he can save us!”
“Yes, yes, yes! Summon our great god…”
The four divine beasts wanted to let out roars, but they could not even open their mouths, let alone calling for their great god.
“It’s all over!”
“We’re dead meat!”
“No! I don’t want to die! I have just become a divine beast. I don’t want to die yet!
As death loomed, the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf was the first to yield as it repeatedly begged, “S-spare me! I submit! I submit!”
Meng Lei snorted. He stopped draining the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf’s life essence reluctantly, and he calmly said, “Yielding just like that? What a wussy!”
Hooowl!
The Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf cried out and released its divine spirit origin energy obediently, letting Meng Lei refine it and control its life and death.
“Good that you know your place!”
Meng Lei let the wolf off.
“Thank… Thank you!”
The Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf looked at Meng Lei with a complicated gaze. It would never have thought that it was a mighty king of the Heavenly Wolves moments ago! At the very next moment, he actually submitted to some random fellow it did not know at all!
It was unimaginable!
“What about the three of you?”
Meng Lei glanced at the Five-Colored Sacred Bull, Rainbow Wood Toad, and Great Earth Bear.
“We submit too!”
As much as they were unwilling to submit to Meng Lei, their lives were in jeopardy. Thus, the three divine beasts finally yielded and gave up their divine spirit origin energy.
“Let’s go then!”
Meng Lei turned around and flew away. The four divine beasts did not dare to delay and followed docilely.
Half an hour later, Meng Lei came to the sky above a lake. The waters were clear and sparkling with ripples along the surface, like a beautiful emerald embedded among the sea of the lush forest. The surroundings were filled with thick bushes and verdant trees; it was picturesque.
“This is a nice place!”
Meng Lei was a little unwilling to destroy such a scenic place, but there’s something in the lake that he must obtain. A few moments later, a trident emerged from the waters.
This trident was a hundred meters long. It was made entirely out of an unknown material, and it emitted surging water-elemental energy waves with incredible divine power.
Meng Lei flicked his fingers for a drop of blood. Surprisingly, he could not refine this trident. Meng Lei was stunned. Did someone own the trident?
His divine cognition entered the trident promptly and shattered the previous owner’s divine spirit mark, and he engraved his own.
“Impressive! It is a high-tier divine weapon. I’ve reeled in the big one this time!” After refining the trident and knowing the level of this divine weapon, Meng Lei was truly surprised.
High-tier divine weapons were extremely rare!
Meng Lei was lucky enough to possess divine weapons like the Grim Reaper Scythe and the Gods-Slaying Spear, but his Grim Reaper Scythe was the only high-tier divine weapon he had. It proved the rarity of such weapons!
Now that he obtained this trident, it was an absolute windfall!
Roar!
At that moment, the lake surged and churned violently as a gigantic jade green winged-hydra emerged from the water. It opened its huge mouth and went straight at Meng Lei! An atrocious stench invaded his nostrils, and Meng Lei almost threw up his dinner from last night!
“What the hell!?”
" }, { "id": 300, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-300", "title": "Chapter 300 - Rich Rewards, The Magical Beast God", "volume": 3, "volume_title": "Volume 3", "text": "Chapter 300: Rich Rewards, The Magical Beast God
The lake they were at was known as Lake Skyblue. Occupying an area of several million square kilometers, it was the largest lake in the vicinity and was occupied by the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake.
As a lesser deity-level divine beast, the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake was the reigning overlord of the lake. None of the Magical Beasts there could contend against it.
The lake was the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake’s private paradise where it could do whatever it wanted.
It looked for food whenever it was hungry, intertwined itself around the trident at the bottom of the lake, and slept when it was full. It lived a leisurely and contented, comfortable, and carefree life.
Yet on this day, just as the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake was sleeping lazily as per usual, the trident underneath it had suddenly vanished into thin air!
The Skyblue Black-Winged Snake woke up with a start. Then, it spotted Meng Lei, who was suspended above the lake, and flew into a rage.
How dare he! Not only had he trespassed its den, but he had even stolen its divine weapon!
That was too much of him!
The Skyblue Black-Winged Snake promptly charged out of Lake Skyblue, its cavernous jaws snapping at Meng Lei and the pungent stench coming from it, almost killing him.
“Get lost!”
Meng Lei dealt a palm strike from mid-air.
Boom!
The Skyblue Black-Winged Snake was thrown back. With a flap of its wings, it then lunged at Meng Lei again. It opened its mouth and sprayed a blast of highly toxic green breath at him.
“Absolute Zero!”
Meng Lei pointed at it, instantly freezing the blast of green breath, which subsequently broke into ice chips.
A vine appeared in Meng Lei’s hand and turned into a steel whip that Meng Lei used to lash mercilessly at the snake.
Smack!
Unable to dodge in time, the steel whip struck squarely against the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake. At once, its skin and flesh split open, and a deep, bloody wound formed.
Smack, smack, smack!
Whip afterimages filled the sky and engulfed the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake like a violent storm. It was completely rendered a punching bag. The lashings from the whip echoed loudly whenever it landed and covered it in bloody wounds.
“Damn it!”
Intense pain caused the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake to wake up fully. Fear and alarm filled it at once. Aware that it was no match for its opponent, it hastily flapped its wings and flew toward Lake Skyblue. Should the whip flog it any further, it would surely be turned into minced meat.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei snorted. “Absolute Zero!”
Crack!
A thick, solid layer of ice instantly formed on Lake Skyblue’s surface. As if it had crashed against a bronze or iron wall, the crash against the ice made the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake dazed and dizzy and caused it to see stars.
“Die, damned beast!”
Meng Lei tossed the trident out casually. The trident turned into a stream of light that instantly pierced through the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake’s head, pinning it securely onto the lake’s frozen surface.
“I-is it dead?”
“Black Wing died… just like that?”
Gasp!
The four divine beasts that had come along had witnessed the whole process of Meng Lei slaying the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake. They couldn’t help but gasp at the sight.
The Skyblue Black-Winged Snake was also a lesser deity like them and was in no way any weaker than them!
Yet, how had the battle turned out?
Meng Lei had killed it in no time at all!
Had they not submitted to him just now, would they have also ended up like that?
An icy chill couldn’t help but well up in their hearts the moment they thought of that.
“It’s not your fault for having bad breath, but it’s not right if you come here and disgust others!”
Meng Lei casually retracted the trident and flung away the blood on it. Then, after gouging out the Skyblue Black-Winged Snake’s divine core, he tossed its carcass to the four divine beasts.
“This carcass is yours!”
“T-thank you, Master!”
Meng Lei continued to tour around leisurely after that. As the master of the existential plane, nothing about the Gods-Demons Continent could escape him once he made up his mind to search through it.
Ranging from as tiny as a worm to as large as a mountain, everything in the sky, on the ground, and in the water was revealed to him with nowhere to hide.
Every god or demon remains, every broken fragment from divine weapons, every god or demon’s dead body…
Meng Lei dug them out one after another and accumulated an extremely astonishing amount of rewards.
After touring half the Gods-Demons Continent, Meng Lei had harvested a total of 38 lesser deity divine cores, 17 whole and intact divine weapons, and 24 whole and intact god or demon’s dead bodies. As for broken or damaged ones, there were even more of them.
Of course, all the places where god or demon remains and divine weapons could be found were typically also occupied by divine beasts. Meng Lei killed or subdued them as he deemed necessary. By the time he went full circle, he had gained another 24 subordinates.
Including the four divine beasts from earlier, he now had a very strong and powerful line-up of 28 divine beast subordinates in total.
At last, Meng Lei came up to a steep cliff that rose as high as hundreds of thousands of feet into the sky.
A 10,000-meters-wide waterfall cascaded from the top of the cliff like the Milky Way and formed a gigantic pool at the bottom. in
Mist rose from the pool as water splashed about.
The cliff, the precipice, the waterfall, the pool—they came together to form a grand and spectacular sight.
While the sight was indeed grand and spectacular, it nevertheless didn’t count as much in Gods-Demons Continent. There were tons of other grander and more magnificent-looking places there.
Yet…
All 28 of his divine beast subordinates started to shake in their boots upon reaching the place. They looked awfully fearful and horror-stricken as though there was a ferocious primeval beast in the pool.
Meng Lei knew what they were afraid of—the one and only intermediate deity-level divine beast in Gods-Demons Continent that had occupied the bottom of the pool.
This place was its den.
From his subordinates, Meng Lei had learned that the intermediate deity-level divine beast was referred to as the Magical Beast God and that all the Magical Beasts on the continent worshiped it.
“Don’t worry, the Magical Beast God whom you worship will become just like you in no time,” Meng Lei gave them a slight smile, “Who’s going to summon it?”
“This…”
All 28 divine beasts shuddered and lowered their heads in tandem. Summon the great Magical Beast God? What kind of joke was that? They would prefer not to die so soon!
“A bunch of cowards!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he turned to the deep pool and said, “Your Holiness, since you’ve already discovered us, why don’t you show yourself?”
Splash!
The surface of the deep pool began to bubble, and then a huge head emerged from within.
It was an enormous snakehead covered in golden dragon scales as though made out of gold. Its violet snake eyes emanated a boundless sense of dignity and stateliness.
Boom!
In the instant that the golden snakehead appeared, a fearsome pressure that could pierce through the heavens and earth spread outward, instantly weighing down upon everyone present.
Meng Lei was naturally unaffected, but his 28 divine beast subordinates were unable to bear it, however. Fear and horror filled their countenances, and they almost instinctively prostrated on the ground in submission.
“I see that you’re a human. Which continent, Heaven’s Vault Continent or Light Continent, have you come from?”
The Magical Beast God watched Meng Lei with its snake eyes and inquired dispassionately of him. As for the 28 prostrating divine beasts, it didn’t spare them even a glance.
“You actually know of those two continents?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. “Since you know of them, why haven’t you occupied them? Surely it’s not difficult for you, considering your strength?”
“Occupying other continents holds no meaning to me.”
The Magical Beast God shook its head slightly. “It’s sufficient as long as I have enough power of faith.”
“Enough power of faith? Is the power of faith generated by Gods-Demons Continent alone really enough?” Meng Lei scanned Gods-Demons Continent and added, “You’re an intermediate deity, after all.”
The Magical Beast God didn’t answer him. Instead, it gave him an eviction order. It said, “Human deity, you may leave now.”
“Leave? Why should I leave?”
Meng Lei’s lips corners quirked upward.
“Human, I’ve already shown you great civility by not attacking right away despite your trespass on my territory.”
The Magical Beast God glowered at him, an icy glint flashing across its snake eyes as it ordered, “Leave at once!”
“Hah, and if I don’t?”
" }, { "id": 301, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-301", "title": "Chapter 301 - Wind Blade Grand Burial, Life Guardian", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 301: Wind Blade Grand Burial, Life Guardian
A waterfall measuring tens of thousands of meters wide cascaded from the sky like the Milky Way gushing down from the heavens. Mist wafted about the surroundings, forming a spectacular sight that looked as though it came straight out of a celestial realm.
However, no one was admiring the spectacular-looking waterfall at the moment because of the highly tense situation in front of them.
“Human, Gods-Demons Continent isn’t a place where you can act so presumptuously! I’m warning you—leave at once!”
An icy glint gleamed in the Magical Beast God’s eyes. It gave off a forceful and intense aura as though a ferocious primeval beast that might go berserk and kill Meng Lei anytime.
This guy is much more powerful than Lorenzo, the six-winged Virtue Angel. Be it its divine body or its power of divinity, both are top-notch even among intermediate deities!
Meng Lei could totally sense how strong the Magical Beast God was. Its divine body was terrifyingly mighty, and its life force was strong and vigorous. Power of divinity surged intensely with great force while its divine spirit was as enduring as a rock.
It was hard to imagine that a low-end material plane could birth an existence like that. What was even more unbelievable was that it hadn’t even been 10,000 years since its deification. Who would believe something like that?
Meng Lei wondered, “How many divine incarnations does that guy have? And how strong are they?”
Intermediate deities were defined as those that had fully comprehended at least two types of basic laws of nature and owned two divine incarnations, though they were considered the weakest among intermediate deities. The Dragon God was a fine example of this.
Whereas those that had fully comprehended five types of basic laws of nature, owned five divine incarnations and were only a step away from becoming a higher deity—such as the Beast God—were the strongest among intermediate deities.
The Magical Beast God’s divine body, life force, power of divinity, and divine spirit had all reached their pinnacle. Meng Lei’s bold conjecture was that it most likely owned four divine incarnations.
Four divine incarnations! Yet it hadn’t yet been 10,000 years since an existence like that had deified? Would anyone believe that?
“What a shame that no matter how strong you are, you’re ultimately still just an intermediate deity.”
Meng Lei looked at the Magical Beast God and said, “It’s impossible that I’ll leave, Magical Beast God! I don’t mind telling you this—this existential plane is only allowed to worship one person, and that’s me!
“But if you’re willing to become a subsidiary to me, I don’t mind allowing you to continue ruling over this continent.”
“You’re courting death, human!”
The Magical Beast God’s vertical snake pupils narrowed as murderous looks surfaced in them as though it wanted to devour someone.
“You’ll only know whether or not I’m courting death after we battle!” Meng Lei shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. “Go on and attack. Show me your—the Magical Beast God’s—strength!”
“Divine Technique: Wind Blade Grave!”
The Magical Beast God didn’t hold back at all. Innumerable violet wind blades shot out of its mouth and reached right in front of Meng Lei in an instant.
These violet wind blades were unlike ordinary wind blades. Not only were they as quick as lightning, but they were also extremely compact and condensed, making them shockingly sharp.
Had it been any other ordinary intermediate deity, they would undoubtedly become riddled with wounds and heavily injured even if they survived. Even the act of fleeing would be tough for them!
“Not bad, but what a shame!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and slowly uttered four words, “Life Guardian!”
Splash!
Countless green leaves appeared in front of Meng Lei and formed a thin wall of leaves that blocked him.
An icy smile surfaced in the Magical Beast God’s eyes at the sight. “Do you think that you can use mere leaves to withstand my Wind Blade Grave? What a futile attempt!”
Yet the violet wind blades collided against the wall of leaves as though sharp arrows embedding themselves onto high tenacity fibers. The wall of leaves merely quivered a little and easily blocked all the wind blades. No matter how furiously the violet wind blades slashed at it, it simply couldn’t make even a hint of a gash on it.
“How can that be?”
The Magical Beast God’s expression changed drastically. Disbelief filled its eyes.
“Nothing is impossible!”
Meng Lei shook his head.
The Ancient Tree of Life is a great Ancient God! It’s impossible for you to hurt me even if my Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate is only 13%!
“Divine Technique: Wind Blade Grand Burial!”
The Magical Beast God howled and opened its mouth again to blast another violet wind blade from within. Unlike the previous one, however, the new wind blade spanned about 500-feet-wide and looked like a rainbow that could blot out the sun itself.
The wind blade reached the wall of leaves in under 1/10th of a second.
It made a hole in the wall of leaves with a loud rip and passed through it, reaching right in front of Meng Lei in an instant.
“The quantity has decreased, but its might has increased!”
Meng Lei neither dodged nor ducked the attack. Instead, he reached out his right arm. Innumerable vines extended from his right arm’s surface to form a thick and solid shield.
Bam!
The wind blade collided against the shield, producing intense sparks and a deep and dull metal collision sound as though two pieces of metal had knocked into each other.
However, the same scene unfolded once more:
No matter how the wind blades slashed at the shield, it still couldn’t cut it apart. The shield formed from innumerable vines was incredibly tough and sturdy. The wind blades simply couldn’t do anything about it!
“Why is it so sturdy?”
The Magical Beast God couldn’t believe its eyes. It could totally sense Meng Lei’s divine body’s level of sturdiness. He was also an intermediate deity like it. In fact, he was even a notch inferior!
So, why was his divine body so sturdy?
Wind Blade Grave hadn’t worked, and neither was Wind Blade Grand Burial working now, too?
What kind of living being species was Meng Lei, exactly?
“The great Magical Beast God actually can’t even break past Master’s defenses?”
“Just what kind of background exactly does Master come from?”
The 28 divine beasts watching the battle were incredibly astounded. They simply couldn’t imagine why a powerful existence like the Magical Beast God couldn’t even break past Meng Lei’s defenses.
Meng Lei!
Why was their new Master this physically sturdy?
“I don’t believe this!”
The Magical Beast God roared incessantly. Suddenly, it opened its mouth and sprayed out a blast of violet flames. They burned furiously at Meng Lei—it was the divine technique, Violet Flames Scorch The Sky!
Boom!
The violet flames expanded sharply the moment they appeared and came into contact with the wind. In an instant, they had become as tall as 1,000 feet, completely engulfing Meng Lei in no time.
Boom, boom, boom!
The violet flames blazed away furiously. They emitted a terrifyingly high heat, causing even the water in the waterfall and pool to simmer and boil. Large amounts of steam formed and shrouded the surroundings.
The 28 divine beasts withdrew a great distance away. They had no choice but to retreat when facing terrifyingly mighty fire-elemental divine techniques even if they didn’t fear high heat or low temperatures.
“Fire naturally restrains wood. I simply don’t believe that you’re not scared of fire-elemental divine techniques!” The Magical Beast God’s vertical snake pupils bore coldly into Meng Lei, who was currently being engulfed by the flames.
However, the violet flames gradually extinguished as they blazed away, revealing Meng Lei’s form, who had been in the fire for a few dozen seconds. Everyone was stunned the moment they spotted Meng Lei—he was currently wrapped inside a “shell” formed from green vines just like the shield from earlier!
By right, wood feared fire the most. Once burned, they would definitely be reduced to ashes. Even in the best possible scenario, they would still be turned into charcoal.
Yet this wasn’t the case for Meng Lei’s shell at all. Even after burning away at it for half a day, the violet flames actually couldn’t leave even a scorch mark on its surface. They didn’t leave even a hint of charred blackness!
“How did this happen?”
The Magical Beast God was close to breaking down. How sturdy must the other party be if he feared neither wind blades nor fire?
“I don’t believe this!”
The Magical Beast God’s eyes were bloodshot as it roared, “Divine Technique: Rolling Heavenly Thunder!”
Crack!
A moment later, the thunder-elemental divine technique also left the field in dejection while Meng Lei remained well and intact. It was subsequently also followed by metal-elemental divine techniques, yet they were all in vain.
In the end, Meng Lei was still fine and dandy, but the Magical Beast God had already completely broken down mentally!
" }, { "id": 302, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-302", "title": "Chapter 302 - Golden Vines, Meng Lei Pierced", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 302: Golden Vines, Meng Lei Pierced
After a round of bombardment, Meng Lei was completely unscathed, and the Magical Beast God nearly broke down first. “What… What kind of monster are you?”
Meng Lei did not answer. He looked at the Magical Beast God and said. “Wind, Fire, Thunder, Metal. It seems I was right, you do have four divine incarnations!”
The Magical Beast God replied coldly, “So?”
“Ordinary cultivation will never be able to get you to such levels. If I’m not wrong, you must’ve obtained four lesser deity divine cores and a treasure that can strengthen your divine spirit. Am I right?” Meng Lei said casually.
Assimilating divine cores to become a deity was easy, but to split one’s divine spirit and cultivate it was difficult.
To split a divine spirit, it must be powerful enough. The prerequisite to split a divine spirit was to have a strong divine spirit.
Hence, it was easy to become a lesser deity. However, to become an intermediate deity was much harder, and to have four or even five divine incarnations as an intermediate deity was even harder.
Splitting a divine spirit was too damaging for it!
Therefore, it was evident that the Magical Beast God must have obtained a treasure that could strengthen divine spirits so that it could be able to split out four divine incarnations as an intermediate deity within 10,000 years.
The Magical Beast God stared coldly at Meng Lei. It neither admitted nor denied the fact, indirectly admitting it.
“Your luck defied natural order. Even I’m jealous!” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “I’m giving you one last chance. Submit to me or die!”
“I’m the Magical Beast God, how can I submit to a mere human!?” The Magical Beast God’s voice was deep. “So what if you’re powerful? Don’t even think about making me submit!”
“Why is it always like this?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly again as dozens of vines shot toward the Magical Beast God.
“Hmph! I won’t play with you anymore!”
The Magical Beast God sneered at Meng Lei with contempt as its head sunk into the pool and left immediately.
Meng Lei smiled lightly. “Running away already? That’s too naive!
“Power of Existential Plane… suppression!”
Buzz…
A surging flood of Power of Existential Plane burst out and pressed upon the Magical Beast God instantly, forcing it out of the water.
Splash!
The true features of the Magical Beast God were revealed immediately. It had a head of a snake with the body of a dragon.
Whoosh!
The vines followed closely and wrapped up the Magical Beast God like a mummy. It roared angrily and struggled madly, but it could not move an inch even with the strength of an intermediate deity under the suppression of both the Power of Existential Plane and the vines.
“It’s useless.” Meng Lei shook his head. “Even without the Power of Existential Plane, the vines alone are enough to impede you.”
“Human… What do you want exactly?”
The Magical Beast God glared at Meng Lei.
“Do you know who I am?” Meng Lei asked instead of replying.
“Who are you?” the Magical Beast God asked in a low voice.
“I’m the master of this existential plane,” Meng Lei said casually. “Doesn’t matter if it’s Heaven’s Vault Continent, Light Continent, or your Gods-Demons Continent, and the Endless Oceans—they’re all my territory! Do you think you can build an independent kingdom in my place?”
“Master of the existential plane!?”
The Magical Beast God sneered. “You’re lying! The master of this existential plane is the Fairy Goddess. She refined the Heart of The Existential Plane and became the master 20,000 years ago!”
“Believe it or not, you’re dying anyway!’
Meng Lei did not bother explaining as he activated Life Drawing to absorb the Magical Beast God’s life essence.
“You have a really strong divine body. After I absorb all of your life essences, my divine body will definitely break through to pinnacle-level intermediate deity!”
Gurgle!
Under Meng Lei’s intense absorption, the Magical Beast God’s life essence was like a breached dam as it flooded toward Meng Lei. A warm sensation enveloped Meng Lei, which was more pleasant than soaking in a hot spring.
At the same time, every single cell of his body was like a hungry wolf as they devoured the life essence that surged into his body.
It was the purest form of life essence, greatly beneficial to the growth of the body. A normal body would have a limited appetite, which would stop absorbing to a certain extent.
Meng Lei was different.
He had awakened the Primordial Human bloodline, assimilated the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline, the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline, and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline.
These bloodlines were not good-for-nothings—they needed to grow with precious herbs and medicines, as well as massive amounts of life essence.
Thus, Meng Lei’s appetite was terrifying. And as he absorbed crazily, these bloodlines started to grow at an insane speed.
Their growth brought about the upgrade of Meng Lei’s divine body.
Upgrade!
Upgrade!
Insane upgrading!
The feeling of upgrading was wonderful, and Meng Lei almost moaned, immersed in this superb feeling.
The opposite of how Meng Lei felt was the Magical Beast God. It felt that its vitality was sucked away rapidly, and its strength was weakening quickly.
This feeling terrified it and made it alarmed. It knew that at this rate, it would die… it would surely die!
“Magical Beast God, don’t you have three other divine incarnations? Why don’t you summon them?” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “If they came to your aid, they might save your life.”
Three divine incarnations?
I do have them, but how do I summon them when they’re not on this existential plane!?
Until this moment, the Magical Beast God knew deep inside that it was the critical moment of life and death—if it did not risk its life and fight, it would most definitely die!
The Magical Beast God cried, “Golden vines!”
Boom!
A golden vine shot out of the restless pool suddenly, like a golden cobra bursting out of the water straight toward Meng Lei.
Whoosh!
The speed was lightning-quick!
No! Speed could not be used to describe it!
Meng Lei did not even manage to use his vine shield, as he was penetrated in the belly by the golden vine.
“Wah!”
Meng Lei spat out a mouthful of blood as he looked at the golden vine in disbelief.
What is this divine weapon? How sharp is this thing?
“Meng Lei!” Dodola’s voice rang in his ears. “Are you alright?”
“Won’t die from this!”
Meng Lei then asked, “Dodola, you know anything about this golden vine?”
“Nope! But it looked like the tree branches of the Golden Apple Tree, yet the aura isn’t right?”
Dodola shook its head. “You need to be careful. There’s an evil aura throughout this ancient snake, unlike ordinary intermediate deities!”
“Got it!”
Meng Lei nodded as his body went through Dark-Elemental Transformation. He then re-manifested his body not far away. “I didn’t think you would have such a divine weapon.”
“Human! You’re not dead!”
Upon seeing Meng Lei reappear lively there, the Magical Beast God almost coughed up blood in anger.
That strike was already its trump card; still, it could not kill Meng Lei!
Now that survivability was too much!
“You’re still far from killing me!”
Meng Lei waved his arm as a trident appeared. “But, to prevent any accident, I have decided to execute you with immediate effect!”
“Don’t you dare, human!”
The Magical Beast God panicked.
“Hmph!”
Meng Lei teleported and appeared right in front of the Magical Beast God. The sharp trident jabbed in an instant and shot a hole through its head.
“Human… I won’t let you off!”
" }, { "id": 303, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-303", "title": "Chapter 303 - Sucked Dry, Golden Little Tree", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 303: Sucked Dry, Golden Little Tree
The Magical Beast God died eventually, or rather, this divine incarnation died.
At the moment Meng Lei decided to kill, there was no more chance that it could survive.
The snakehead was penetrated and died on the spot.
“I gotta strike while it’s hot!”
Meng Lei did not let the Magical Beast God off as he continued to absorb its life essence madly. He finally stopped delightfully when it was sucked till it became a mummy.
“My divine body is getting stronger again. There should be little match for it among intermediate deities!”
Meng Lei clenched his fist slightly, and endless strength surged from his body. Meng Lei had a feeling that he could punch a hole through the Gods-Demons Continent!
“To be able to absorb others’ life essence for my own, the Ancient Tree of Life was the right bloodline to assimilate!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and kept the Magical Beast God’s mummified body with a wave of a hand. Then he looked at the golden vine that dropped on the ground.
Without sustained power of divinity, the golden vine became a 20 centimeter-long twig with the thickness of a thumb. It had a unique striation, which made Meng Lei feel familiar at first sight.
“This texture… Why does this look so similar to the golden leaf in my sea of consciousness?” Meng Lei mumbled. “Perhaps they came from the same plant?”
Meng Lei wanted to summon that golden leaf and compare with it properly, yet tragically, the golden leaf just would not answer his calls.
But what could he do?
Meng Lei could only refine the golden twig and compare it within his sea of consciousness.
A drop of blood fell, but it could not seep into the golden twig, meaning it failed to recognize the owner.
That also meant that the golden twig was owned previously.
Meng Lei released his divine cognition, and indeed there was a divine spirit mark left by the Magical Beast God.
Without a word, the divine spirit mark was destroyed immediately.
Meng Lei successfully claimed ownership of the golden twig and let it enter his sea of consciousness.
Then, an amazing sight happened!
The stationary golden leaf that was hovering in the sea of consciousness started to move over when the golden twig arrived.
The golden twig flew over too, and the two just combined strangely together!
To be exact, the golden leaf grew onto the golden twig. From afar, it looked like a tree branch with a leaf growing on it.
“What the… They grew into each other!”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
What kind of situation was this?
He could tell that the two were very much alike, and they were likely from the same source. Yet, he could never have thought that they would actually combine. It was beyond his expectations.
Meng Lei immediately tried to activate them… and the combined leaf and twig started to move!
“I can activate them!”
Meng Lei was overjoyed and summoned the golden branch at once. He started to check it out in his hands.
The golden twig and the golden leaf had the same striation, so it could be seen that they originated from the same tree.
Now the question was, what was that tree?
“Dodola, you said it was the tree branch of the Golden Apple Tree, right?” Meng Lei asked.
“It looked like that, but the aura was entirely different!” Dodola was puzzled too as it continued. “To be honest, I am quite baffled by this! But it is definitely some good stuff that you should keep!”
Meng Lei nodded. This piece of golden tree branch could penetrate his divine body with such ease. Just how sharp and powerful was it?
It was a so-called high-tier divine weapon! Of course, he should keep it safe!
After keeping the golden branch, Meng Lei looked at the Magical Beast God’s carcass and dug out a divine core from it—the Magical Beast God’s divine core.
“Human, I’ll never let you off! I’ll never let you off!”
Furious screams came from the divine core—it hated Meng Lei to the core!
If hate could kill, it would have cut Meng Lei up into a million pieces and tortured him to death.
“I’ll welcome your arrival anytime.”
Meng Lei scoffed, and his divine cognition ravaged the divine core.
He wanted to read the memory of the Magical Beast God and find out what secrets it had.
“Don’t even think about it, human!”
The Magical Beast God clearly understood Meng Lei’s intentions, and its divine spirit started to resist madly.
“You’re not even my match when you’re alive, and you still have the cheek to resist?”
Meng Lei sneered and increased the intensity of his divine spirit offense.
“Arghhhh…”
After some intense ravaging, the Magical Beast God’s divine spirit was smashed into bits all around, and Meng Lei could finally read its memory.
After approximately half an hour…
Meng Lei let out a long breath, and a hint of a slight smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
“This… I really deserved to earn another windfall! How could the Magical Beast God have such a lucky encounter!”
Who was the Magical Beast God?
The Magical Beast God was only a normal Saint Domain python divine beast.
However, it had been extremely lucky to pick up a spatial ring from an underground cave that it had stumbled upon by accident.
The spatial ring had been an ordinary one, but the things stored inside were not ordinary at all. Other than tons of treasure, there were also two lesser deity divine cores.
The Magical Beast God had refined both divine cores and used the treasure that could strengthen the divine spirit to become an intermediate deity!
In the Gods-Demons Continent, an intermediate deity was an invincible presence. The Magical Beast God had relied on its incredible power to subdue all the Magical Beasts of the continent and become the Magical Beast God while looting around without restraint.
Thanks to these treasures and divine cores, the Magical Beast God had split its divine spirit two times in a row while cultivating another two divine incarnations!
From then on, it had four divine incarnations to become an outstanding existence among intermediate deities.
Plus, if not because of the limited treasures to strengthen the divine spirit, the Magical Beast God could have had a fifth divine incarnation and become a pinnacle-level intermediate deity.
“How impressive! Most of the treasures were looted by this fellow!”
Having read the Magical Beast God’s memory, Meng Lei knew how rich it was:
There were more than 100 lesser deity divine cores alone and countless other treasures that could at least strengthen the divine spirit!
However, Meng Lei mostly overlooked these many treasures as only one thing caught his serious attention—a golden little tree!
Where had the golden branch that attacked Meng Lei at the final moment come from?
It came from this golden little tree!
What was the golden little tree?
The Magical Beast God did not know.
It only knew that the golden little tree grew on a half-plane and was discovered by chance!
“Half-plane!”
Meng Lei hurriedly followed the Magical Beast God’s memory to teleport to that half-plane’s entrance and went straight into it.
The half-plane was not particularly huge, with just a few kilometers big. It was bare without any plants, just a little tree that stood strong alone over there.
The little tree was not tall as it was only a meter tall, with around four branches growing a few leaves. One of the branches was broken with the leaves gone too.
How should this tree be described?
It was as if it had been through the cold autumn where most leaves had fallen.
“The golden tree branch was cut down by the Magical Beast God who had done everything it could!”
Meng Lei stared at the little tree with apprehension and anticipation in his eyes. “All these years, the Magical Beast God had been trying to refine this little tree, but it failed!”
“I wonder if I can do it?”
Meng Lei dropped a drip of blood onto the golden little tree, and something exciting occurred—the blood managed to seep through the little tree!
In an instant, Meng Lei had the slightest of connections with this golden little tree.
“I’ve refined the golden little tree!?”
Meng Lei was stupefied.
" }, { "id": 304, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-304", "title": "Chapter 304 - Fearsome Devouring Ability, An Extraordinary Background", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Meng Lei couldn’t understand why he was able to successfully refine the golden little tree right away at first try when the Magical Beast God had done everything it could and tried for thousands of years, yet it simply couldn’t.
Why?
Meng Lei couldn’t put his finger on it, either!
But was this important?
Of course it wasn’t!
What was important was that he had successfully refined it. Thus, Meng Lei formed a connection with the golden little tree.
In the instant he successfully refined it, both the golden branch and the golden leaf that had taken up a spot each in Meng Lei’s sea of consciousness flew out of his sea of consciousness in tandem and merged with the golden little tree.
A misty golden glow rippled outward from the golden little tree as it merged perfectly with the golden branch and the golden leaf. They became one whole entity and made no distinction between one another.
“What kind of background did this little tree exactly come from?”
Meng Lei suppressed the excitement in him and suffused the golden little tree’s internal structure with his divine cognition. Then, he began to inspect it.
Since the golden little tree had already recognized it as its master, perhaps he would be able to find a clue or two. However, he didn’t discover anything miraculous about it despite inspecting for quite a while.
The golden little tree was an ordinary golden little tree through and through. Apart from its fully-golden exterior that appeared as if it were made out of gold, nothing else about it differed from any other ordinary tree.
It had an average internal composition, an average level of pliability, and average sharpness.
Everything about it was average with nothing out of the ordinary.
Even its life force was also average. Its life force was really very so-so—it couldn’t even compare to that of a vine on Meng Lei.
“Is this little tree really that ordinary?”
Meng Lei sank into deep thought.
The Magical Beast God had easily pierced through my divine body just by moving one of its branches. How sharp must it have been? Is it really that ordinary?
It was just a shame that no matter how he inspected it, he simply couldn’t discern any of its secrets even after observing it for a good half a day!
“Never mind, I won’t bother myself with it anymore. It’s a treasure in any case, so I can’t go wrong keeping it.”
Through his connection with the little tree, Meng Lei then tried to move the little tree. The little tree slowly plucked itself out of the ground and flew into the air.
The golden little tree’s roots were also golden. As though a work of art forged from gold, the golden little tree was golden in color from head to toe and full of charm.
“Collect!”
Meng Lei collected the little tree and sent it into the Tower of Time with a thought.
“Where should I plant this, Dodola?”
“You can just plant it anywhere you want!”
“Okay!”
Meng Lei went to the Tower of Time’s 95th level. The wood magic elements on this level were very rich and concentrated, so it was the most beneficial to plant growth. He had also planted a Tree of Vitality sapling here in the past.
It had been a very long while since he’d last seen it. The Tree of Vitality sapling had already grown a lot since then. The little sapling that had only been about one-meter-tall previously had grown into a large tree over 20-meters-tall. Its fluffy crown spread into the surroundings and shrouded the area 100 meters from where they were as it gave off an astonishing aura of vitality.
Meng Lei was very satisfied with the Tree of Vitality’s growth. Given its current growth rate, the Tree of Vitality would be able to birth and nurture little Fairies in another few dozen years.
“I think you’ll like it here!”
Meng Lei went to a field a few hundred kilometers away from the Tree of Vitality and planted the golden little tree there.
Then, he brought out large quantities of wood-elemental elemental crystals and set up a magical energy-gathering magic circle around it to collect the wood magic elements in the surroundings.
However, just as Meng Lei finished setting up the magic circle, something that he would never have ever expected happened—all the plants around the golden little tree started to wilt and wither…
One meter, 10 meters, 100 meters…
1,000 meters, 10,000 meters, 100,000 meters…
In the span of just a few short breaths, all the grass 100 kilometers of where the golden little tree was had withered. The whole field turned yellow and withered and became a dead zone. The grass was as though dry grass during winter…
They became withered, yellow, dry, dead, and highly flammable.
What left Meng Lei even more flabbergasted was that more and more plants were withering, and the yellow, withered field was continuing to spread.
100 kilometers, 200 kilometers…
At last, when the entire field became dry and withered, the forests around the field began to suffer.
All the vegetation there, all the huge, towering trees, and all the ancient trees that had stood for 1,000 years—all of them began to wither!
Just like that, the whole forest started to wilt and wither at a dramatic rate…
Even the Tree of Vitality that Meng Lei had planted wasn’t spared, either, and became a dead tree!
“Just what kind of monster is the golden little tree, exactly? It can actually devour the life force of all the plants around it?”
Dodola appeared beside Meng Lei, its mouth wide as it stared at the rapidly-withering 95th level. It was so astonished that it couldn’t even speak.
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
Meng Lei could only give Dodola a wry smile in response.
“At this rate, all the plants and vegetation on the 95th level are going to wither while the half-plane will also be reduced to a dead zone!”
Dodola took a deep breath and muttered to itself, “How domineering! It’s really too domineering! It has to be one of the most domineering plants I’ve ever seen!”
The final outcome was true to Dodola’s expectations. Ten minutes later, all the plants in the whole half-plane had wilted and withered.
Be it fields, forests, undergrowth…
Be it ordinary plants, the Tree of Vitality, or botanical Magical Beasts…
The golden little tree had absorbed all of their life force!
The lush and luxuriant half-plane on the 95th level that had been full of life and vitality had completely turned into a dead zone. Only one lone plant was still alive, and that was the golden little tree.
Yet despite having devoured so many plants’ life force, it actually didn’t change in any way.
It didn’t grow any taller, it didn’t sprout any new buds, and neither did its life force become any richer.
Nothing about it was different from before!
“What kind of monster is this?”
As they say, “What goes in must come out”. Even a random blade of grass would release oxygen after absorbing carbon dioxide!
Yet the golden little tree didn’t show any activity at all. Who would dare to believe something like that?
“Could it be that it has too voracious an appetite so that bit of life force couldn’t fill its stomach at all?”
Struck by a brainwave, Meng Lei brought out a deity’s dead body and threw it in front of the golden little tree.
The life force that the deity’s dead body contained was undoubtedly strong. Even the combined life force of all the plants on the whole half-plane might not necessarily be as rich and strong as the dead body’s!
The golden little tree didn’t let Meng Lei down. It was hard to tell how exactly it did it, but the life force within the deity’s dead body began to disappear at an alarming rate.
The originally plump and full dead body began to visibly dry up. Two minutes later, the dead body had turned into a dried corpse.
The golden little tree finally showed a hint of a change after absorbing the deity’s dead body’s life force. A tiny little bud slowly sprouted on one of its branches. Sparkling and translucent, it looked extremely tender.
At the sight of the bud, Meng Lei and Dodola exchanged a look with each other. Neither of them knew what to say anymore.
After absorbing the life force of all the plants in the half-plane, as well as a deity’s dead body’s, it had actually only sprouted a single bud!
Was there any plant out there whose growth rate was slower than the golden little tree’s?
“Although I don’t still know its origins, I daresay that its origins must be an extremely astonishing one. In fact, it might be even more amazing than the five Primeval Divine Trees!”
Dodola’s eyes sparkled as it said, “Its terrifying appetite alone has already greatly surpassed the Ancient Tree of Life’s!”
“Yeah!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. The stronger a being was, the bigger its appetite usually was. Just like mortals and deities—mortals would be stuffed to death after eating a whole cow, but the same amount of food was nothing to a deity.
A deity’s digestive ability was simply too horrifying. They could digest while they eat, so once they finished eating a whole cow, they would also have finished digesting it at the same time. As long as the deity was willing to, they could eat even 10,000 cows.
“Cultivate it well. That golden little tree will definitely bring you a surprise!”
" }, { "id": 305, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-305", "title": "Chapter 305 - Angel'S Heart, A Titan King", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Meng Lei couldn’t figure out the golden little tree’s origins, but his opinion was highly similar to Dodola’s—the ordinary-looking little tree definitely had a terrifying identity and a background beyond one’s imagination!
He had to take care of it properly. If done well, he might just gain a supreme treasure in the future!
At once, Meng Lei tossed all the gods and demons’ dead bodies that he had previously taken to the little golden tree. The little fellow took them all and cleanly devoured all of them.
It was just a shame that the little golden tree’s newly-sprouted bud merely grew a little and didn’t change much.
“This is really tough!”
Meng Lei sighed emotionally. Then, he left the Tower of Time. Given the golden little tree’s voracious appetite, he would need to look for even more gods and demons’ dead bodies to feed it with.
Meng Lei felt a pressing need to know what kind of powerful life form the little golden tree would grow into after it really began to mature!
Boom!!
The 10,000-meters-wide waterfall continued to crash into the pool. The scenery in the surroundings hadn’t changed much, but the pool’s master had already left the world forever.
Meng Lei reached the area above the pool, spread his divine cognition into the surroundings, and scanned through all the treasures at the bottom of the pool that the Magical Beast God had accumulated over the years.
There were 126 lesser deity-level gods and demons’ dead bodies; 154 mid-tier and low-tier divine weapons; 138 lesser deity divine cores; and innumerable other treasures like Divinity Crystals and so on.
“As expected of the Magical Beast God, the biggest beneficiary of the war between the gods and demons back then! It’s so rich!”
Meng Lei was incredibly emotional as he gazed at all the treasures. Innumerable gods and demons had fallen during the war. Their dead bodies, divine cores, riches… The greater half of it had all gone to the Magical Beast God. Who was the biggest beneficiary, if not it?
It was just that all the treasures were going to Meng Lei now instead!
“System, collect all the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and Divinity Crystals!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly spiked by 2,000,000 Divinity Crystals and reached an astonishing total of 8,500,000 Divinity Crystals, giving Meng Lei a huge windfall.
Then, Meng Lei also threw the 126 gods and demons’ dead bodies to the little golden tree for it to devour.
Next up were the divine cores and the divine weapons.
“As of now, I have a total of 171 divine weapons and 176 divine cores. It’s just a shame that they are all low-tier and mid-tier divine weapons and lesser deity divine cores, so they are of no use to me.”
After taking inventory of his earnings, Meng Lei continued to ransack Gods-Demons Continent for treasures. Although the Magical Beast God had already ransacked it before, it wasn’t the master of the existential plane, so there were a lot of things that it wouldn’t have noticed at all. Thus, there were still a lot of things for Meng Lei to go through.
And the truth was indeed so!
After a few days of ransacking, Meng Lei found another few dozens of gods and demons dead bodies, a few dozen divine weapons, a few dozen divine cores, and other incomplete gods and demons remains.
As usual, he gave the gods and demons dead bodies to the little golden tree.
After doing all these, Meng Lei’s itinerary in Gods-Demons Continent had also basically come to an end. However, he didn’t leave in a hurry—there was still one last thing he needed to do.
“According to the Magical Beast God’s memories, its three other divine incarnations aren’t on this existential plane. Rather, they’ve already left for other existential planes.”
That’s right, other existential planes!
Gods-Demons Continent wasn’t the Magical Beast God’s only power of faith domain. Not only did it have other power of faith domains, but it even had a few—as many as three, in fact!
Using its memories as a guide, Meng Lei came to the teleportation magic circle leading to the first existential plane. However, Meng Lei was disappointed to find that the magic circle had failed to activate.
He knew that the Magical Beast God must have already destroyed the other end of the teleportation magic circle, causing it to become unable to function.
“That guy sure acts fast!”
Meng Lei subsequently also tested the other teleportation magic circles, but they had all been sabotaged. A resigned Meng Lei could only give up on searching for the Magical Beast God.
“It’s time to leave!”
Meng Lei summoned the 28 divine beast subordinates and said, “Listen up, the Magical Beast God is already dead. Its faith in Gods-Demons Continent should also have dissolved.”
The 28 divine beasts listened with bated breath.
“I have a mission for all of you—spread my faith and let the whole Gods-Demons Continent bask in the light of my faith. Understand?”
“Yes, Master!”
“We’ll definitely do our best to spread Master’s faith and let Master become Gods-Demons Continent’s…”
The 28 divine beast subordinates gave him their promises one after another.
Meng Lei gave them a slight nod, and then, he left.
“The matters in Gods-Demons Continent have been settled. It’s time to deal with the Demon God now! Dodola, do you know where the Dragon God’s divine nation is?”
“No, I don’t,” Dodola shook its head, “Divine nations are a deity’s den, so they are extremely hidden and obscure, and those belonging to weak intermediate deities like the Dragon God are especially so. How am I supposed to know where it is?”
“Fine,” Meng Lei was rather disappointed, “What a shame. If I could find the Dragon God’s divine nation, I’ll definitely make him pay for his foolishness!”
“Don’t bother with the pointless talk anymore. If you’re that free, you might as well think of how you can make yourself stronger instead,” Dodola rolled its eyes and said, “The Colossal Dragon Gods’ descension is near. Your current level of strength is far from being sufficient to handle them!”
“Don’t worry. I’m aware of that.”
Meng Lei then returned to the empire’s imperial palace and started a new round of seclusion.
“System, bring up the stats interface!”
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix<Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant, Ancient Tree of Life<13%>)
Wealth: 8.5 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Intermediate-Deity (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Laws of Nature: Some increase
“I have 8,500,000 Divinity Crystals now. It’s too expensive to buy credit for anything. I can’t afford it at all, so there are only three functions that I can use now—Super Pickup, Super Enhancement, and Super Plunder. I’ll go one by one!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and commanded, “System, use Super Pickup!”
The system’s icy voice rang out right away.
“Ding! Super Pickup is a chargeable function that costs 100 Divinity Crystals per use. Will you use it?”
“Yes!”
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
“The Celestial Realm!”
Meng Lei uttered two words, “The Celestial Realm!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100 Divinity Crystals right away. Ten seconds later, the system’s icy voice rang out again.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Sky Silver Herb.”
“A Sky Silver Herb?”
Meng Lei was taken aback. He asked, “What the heck is that?”
The system did not respond, so Meng Lei could only ask Dodola.
“The Sky Silver Herb is a common botanical life form in the Celestial Realm. Not only is it incredibly pliable, but it’s also incomparably sharp. An adult Sky Silver Herb is comparable to a half-deity.”
“Comparable to a half-deity?”
Meng Lei was sorely disappointed. He tossed it into the Tower of Time’s 95th level without much thought and continued to do pickups.
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
“The Celestial Realm!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained an Angel’s Heart. Will you assimilate it?”
“Given its weak aura, it’s evidently a four-winged angel’s Angel’s Heart. Why would I assimilate something like that?!” Meng Lei was rather displeased. He ordered, “Continue with the pickups!”
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
“The Celestial Realm!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Light Titan blood essence droplet. Will you assimilate it?”
“A Light Titan blood essence droplet?”
Meng Lei was rather disappointed. Nevertheless, he habitually took out the Light Titan blood essence droplet and began to inspect it.
Boom!
An incredibly fearsome pressure emanated from the Light Titan blood essence droplet right away. Caught off-guard, Meng Lei was almost flattened to the ground.
Even so, Meng Lei still felt a sense of tightness in his chest, and he found it incredibly difficult to breathe. His heart couldn’t help but pound, and he felt a strong sense of suffocation.
“W-what fearsome pressure and might!
“A Titan King!
“This is definitely a Titan King’s blood essence!”
" }, { "id": 306, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-306", "title": "Chapter 306 - A Spike In Divine Body Sturdiness, 4,000,000 Feet", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "In a secluded divine nation faraway from Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Dragon God prostrated respectfully on the ground.
A middle-aged man dressed in black robes sat on the throne in front of him.
“My lowly clansman that wanders the lower realms,” the black-robed middle-aged man’s voice boomed loudly with boundless dignity and might as he said, “Let me ask you something—is the information that you previously reported true?”
“My lord, should there be even a bit of untruth in what I’ve said, then let me fall into the depths of hell, never to be reincarnated!”
The Dragon God quickly swore an oath. “That huge tower has a total of 100 floors and is able to turn back time. It’s exactly the same as the rumored Tower of Time!”
“Wonderful!”
The black-robed middle-aged man nodded slightly and added, “If what you said is true, I am willing to take you as my disciple and bestow upon you 20 material planes as a reward.”
“Thank you, my lord… No, thank you, sir 1 ! Thank you, sir!”
Overjoyed, the Dragon God kowtowed incessantly.
“This is the construction method for building a Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle.”
The black-robed middle-aged man tapped his finger in mid-air, and then, a golden light beam shot into the area in between the Dragon God’s brows. He said, “Build a Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle with this method within the shortest amount of time and behold my descension!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Dragon God responded affirmatively repeatedly.
“Alright!”
Then, the black-robed middle-aged man’s form dissipated in an instant. The Dragon God slowly got to his feet. As he gazed at the throne that had once again become empty, he couldn’t help but guffaw into the sky.
“Lowly cheap trash, let me see how you’re going to die this time!”
Elation filled the Dragon God’s eyes as he said, “If I can’t get the Tower of Time, then you can forget about having it, too! I’ll watch with my eyes as you die in front of me…”
…
Meng Lei was completely unaware of the ongoings in the Dragon God’s divine nation. At the moment, all his attention was on the Titan blood essence droplet in front of him.
He murmured to himself, “This is just a drop of blood essence, yet it’s already emanating such fearsome might. This is undoubtedly a Titan King’s blood essence! In fact, it… might be from an existence that’s even stronger!”
What was a Titan King?
As a powerful godly clan that dominated the vast Void, the Titan Gods boasted innumerable powerhouses within the clan. They were specifically split into three different grades—Earth Titans, Sky Titans, and Titan Kings.
Earth Titans were comparable to lesser deities;
Sky Titans were comparable to intermediate deities;
And Titan Kings were comparable to higher deities.
As for Titans weaker than lesser deity-level, since they hadn’t even awakened their Titan God bloodline, they naturally didn’t count as members of the Titan Gods.
A Titan King’s blood essence was, in other words, the blood essence of a Titan whose strength was comparable to a higher deity’s.
While it might seem like higher deities were only a grade higher than intermediate deities, in truth, the difference in strength between the two could be said to be like night and day.
Needless to say, a higher deity’s blood essence was naturally incredibly precious. However, most typical higher deities’ blood essence definitely didn’t contain such a terrifying aura.
Meng Lei’s bold conjecture was that the person whom the blood essence droplet had come from was definitely no ordinary Titan King!
Meng Lei couldn’t help but lick his lips as he remarked, “This might even be an Invincible Titan King’s blood essence!”
An Invincible Titan King was an unbeatable existence among the Titan Kings and was comparable to a Great Perfection-level higher deity.
There were millions of Titan Kings among the Titan Gods, but there were undoubtedly only a few Invincible Titan Kings.
“Since I have the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline, my divine body will definitely be greatly enhanced if I assimilate this drop of Titan blood essence!”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei promptly ordered, “System, assimilate the Titan blood essence!”
Buzz…
The Titan blood essence spread apart right away and turned into a thin veil of blood that enveloped Meng Lei’s entire self. Then, it seeped into Meng Lei.
Boom!
At once, the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline in Meng Lei started to furiously and restlessly stir. Every single cell clamored for and fought to devour the Titan blood essence…
The triggering of the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline caused Meng Lei to transform into a Hundred-Armed Giant. As though earthworms on his skin, the blood vessels, and veins throughout his body suddenly bulged against his skin.
Meng Lei could sense an endless wave of pure, unadulterated energy gushing into the depths of his cells. It enhanced every single cell, as well as his Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline.
Every cell swiftly split and proliferated!
Every bit of Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline in him rapidly strengthened!
At the same time, Meng Lei’s divine body also began to expand further and further like an inflating balloon.
5,000 feet, 10,000 feet, 50,000 feet…
100,000 feet, 500,000 feet, 1,000,000 feet…
Boom!
An incomparably vast and violent might spread out from the palace that Meng Lei was in and into the surroundings, forming a super-tornado in the imperial palace…
The palace was wrecked, and the palace maidservants and eunuchs inside were sent flying like leaves in the wind!
Even Puhaman and the others, who were currently carrying out their administrative duties, were also flattened to the ground. They watched the giant in the center of the imperial palace with fear and horror on their faces.
“W-what fearsome pressure and might!”
“Has Master broken through again?”
“M-most likely!”
“Oh my god! Master is already an intermediate deity. Is he already breaking through to higher deity-level?”
Puhaman and the others were all filled with shock and horror.
Meng Lei had exhibited a fearsome level of strength that was comparable to an intermediate deity’s when he previously slew the Dark Demonic Dragon. And now… He was about to break through again?
Just how fast was his rate of improvement?
2,000,000 feet, 3,000,000 feet, 4,000,000 feet…
When Meng Lei’s size reached a colossal 4,000,000-feet-tall, his rate of growth finally began to slow down. The current Meng Lei was as if an indomitable giant that towered between the heavens and earth. The sight astounded innumerable people.
How tall were 4,000,000 feet?
Ten feet was equivalent to three meters, so 4,000,000 feet would be 1,200,000 meters, which was equivalent to 1,200 kilometers!
How tall was Mount Everest?
Only 8.8-kilometers-tall!
Even the length of Meng Lei’s sole was taller than Mount Everest!
One could imagine exactly just how tall Meng Lei currently was!
Thus, not only could the people of Dragon God Empire see Meng Lei towering between heaven and earth, but even the people of Titan Empire, Beast People Empire, and Fairy Empire could see him.
“Great God Meng Lei!”
“It’s our Great God Meng Lei!”
“Praise be to you, Great God Meng Lei!”
Everyone bowed and prayed to Meng Lei. Their demeanors couldn’t get any more pious than that.
“What fearsome power!”
Meng Lei didn’t notice how great of a commotion he had caused at all. He exhaled a long pent-up breath as he took in the sensation of the almost-overflowing power in him.
Boom!
The pent-up breath he exhaled turned into a howling storm that happened to crash into a lofty mountain, causing the mountain to be crushed downward from the mid-point right away.
“So, is this what power on the level of a higher deity is like?” A shocked Meng Lei murmured to himself.
“No, it’s not enough yet. It still lacks a bit of power!”
Dodola’s voice rang out. “I don’t know where you got the Titan blood essence from, but your body has only reached the level of an intermediate deity’s limits after assimilation. It still falls a bit short of a higher deity’s level.”
“It hasn’t reached a higher deity’s level yet?”
Meng Lei was slightly startled. He said, “But I feel very powerful right now. It’s as if I can crush the Dark Demonic Dragon, the Magical Beast God, and other fellows like them with just a punch!”
“If I said that it hasn’t reached that level yet, then that means it hasn’t reached that level yet. How dare you question my judgment?”
Dodola suddenly appeared in front of Meng Lei, its quaint little wings flapping slightly.
Boom!
A violent gust of wind swept toward Meng Lei, instantly slamming into his chest. Meng Lei felt a fearsome wave of power striking his chest right away. He couldn’t help but let out a muffled grunt as he stumbled backward, barely managing to come to a stop after more than ten steps.
“What are you doing, Dodola?”
Meng Lei flew into a rage.
Dodola replied dispassionately, “I’ve only used an ordinary higher deity’s level of strength just now, yet I had easily blasted you backward. Do you understand the difference between a higher deity and yourself now?”
“I really haven’t stepped into the realm of a higher deity yet?”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
But I’m already so strong!
“Duh! A Titan King’s height typically starts at 5,000,000 feet, but take a look at your height now! You’re still falling a bit short of that. That’s what I mean when I say you still lack a bit of power. Do you understand now?”
" }, { "id": 307, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-307", "title": "Chapter 307 - Primordial Green Dragon, Cerberus", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 307: Primordial Green Dragon, Cerberus
Fall a bit short of a higher deity’s level?
That’s fine, though. I still have Super Enhancement.
Meng Lei remained relaxed and asked the system immediately.
“Ding! Host’s Physical Body Constitution is infinitely close to a higher deity and will become a higher deity after Super Enhancement. Super Enhancement price: 3,000,000 Divinity Crystals!”
“3,000,000 Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei was agitated instantly. “Wasn’t my infinitely close to a higher deity? Why do I still need so many Divinity Crystals? Is this a robbery?”
The system went silent and simply did not reply, as if saying, “If you’re not going to enhance, then forget it.”
“Enhance for what? All these Divinity Crystals are enough for me to use Super Pickup 30,000 times. I just don’t believe that there will be nothing good from so many chances!”
Meng Lei began to use a second Super Pickup.
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
I’ve already picked up twice in the Celestial Realm, time to go somewhere else.
“Forest Divine Realm!”
Whoosh!
100 Divinity Crystals were gone.
After a dozen seconds, the cold voice of the system rang again.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Primordial Green Dragon’s Egg!”
“Primordial Green Dragon’s egg?
Meng Lei was stunned. After becoming true gods, the Colossal Dragon Gods would become the Colossal Ancient Dragon, higher up would be the Colossal Ancient Dragon King that leveled lesser deities, up another level at intermediate deity would be the Colossal Primordial Dragon.
The Primordial Green Dragon here meant that it was an intermediate deity with fearsome capabilities.
However, the egg was not very useful for Meng Lei currently, so he sent it to the Tower of Time to hatch without a second thought.
“Let’s continue with the pickups, system!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained Natural Goddess’ underwear! Will you wear it?”
“Why would I f*cking wear that, you disgusting b*stard of a system! Can you be more serious here? My Divinity Crystals aren’t here to be wasted like this!”
Meng Lei yelled.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a drop of Wood Bat’s blood essence. Will you assimilate it?”
“A Wood Bat? No way I’ll assimilate that!”
A shiver went through Meng Lei as his face turned pale.
Who knows if this thing harbors viruses?
Assimilate?
Do you want to die?
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a spatial ring!”
“Spatial ring?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up as he quickly checked the spatial ring. It was a pity that the owner was clearly not a tycoon. The ring was likely from an ordinary deity from the Forest Divine Realm.
Still, even the most ordinary of deities were deities of the Forest Divine Realm with decent riches.
A pair of Divinity Crystals, loads of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, a few low-tier divine weapons, some divine cores, and other miscellaneous items…
“Collect the Divinity Crystals!”
“Collect the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!”
Whoosh!
His wealth grew by 20,000 Divinity Crystals.
Even though it was not a lot, whatever was spent just now had been earned back.
It felt fantastic!
“Let’s continue with the pickups, system!”
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
“Still the Forest Divine Realm!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract! Will you assimilate it?”
“Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract? Not bad, assimilate!”
After assimilating this Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract, Meng Lei’s divine spirit was strengthened further from an elementary-level to an intermediate-level intermediate deity.
“Carry on!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained an Omega Divine Ape’s carcass!”
“Dodola, what kind of divine beast is the Omega Divine Ape?”
“Omega Divine Ape? That’s a rather impressive divine beast. An adult could tear apart intermediate deities alive, belonging to a pinnacle-level intermediate divine beast!”
“Pinnacle-level intermediate divine beast?”
Meng Lei was a little disappointed, but it was better than nothing. He promptly released the Omega Divine Ape’s carcass and started to absorb its life essence.
Gurgle~
Huge amounts of life essence surged into the body as warm currents filled his body as if he was soaked in 70°C hot spring water.
“Come on! Hope this can help me breakthrough to a higher deity level in one go!” Meng Lei encouraged himself.
The Omega Divine Ape’s carcass dried up at a speed visible to the naked eye as Meng Lei’s divine body was somewhat strengthened.
Yet… he still could not break through to become a higher deity. Meng Lei was a little disappointed, and he could only carry on with the pickups.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Soul Ice Marrow droplet. Will you assimilate it?”
“Soul Ice Marrow droplet? Keep it first!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a higher deity’s Divine Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“Higher deity’s divine core? Nope!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Ninth Heaven Elderwood Beast’s cub!”
“Dodola, what kind of beast god is the Ninth Heaven Elderwood Beast?”
“The Ninth Heaven Elderwood Beast is an extremely rare thunder-elemental and wood-elemental divine beast. It’s born as a half-deity and becomes a higher deity when they’re adults.”
“Nice stuff, I’ll raise it first!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Mystic Ginseng!”
“Mystic Ginseng is an extremely valuable divine medicine that could revive the dead and grow flesh on bones[1], whereby even if a higher deity was heavily injured, one Mystic Ginseng would be enough to heal it!”
“Nice! Keep that!”
“Ding! Pickup successful…”
For the next twenty pickups in the Forest Divine Realm, there were plenty of treasures. However, there was nothing that could help Meng Lei break through to become a higher deity.
He had no choice but to change the target existential plane.
Meng Lei locked in the Netherworld.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Fallen Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Necromancer’s Spiritual Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“Necromancer? Spiritual core? What are those?”
“Necromancers are higher netherworld beings that level half-deities at birth, and they will become higher deity level as adults!”
Dodola continued explaining. “The spirit core is the core of the Necromancers, similar to divine cores of the various deities and demonic cores of demons, basically divine cores.”
“I see.”
The pressure generated from this spirit core was terrifying, similar to the higher deity’s divine core, meaning it should be a higher spirit core.
A higher spirit core’s value must be shockingly high. As long as it was assimilated, Meng Lei could leap toward becoming a higher deity, but he did not want to risk his future.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Cerberus cub!”
“Cerberus… cub?”
With a thought, a cute little puppy appeared in front of Meng Lei. It looked like a month-old husky, cute and chubby.
It was a pity that it was shrouded in black-red flames with incredibly high temperatures. Any normal person who got close would be burnt into ashes!
“What a nice little dog!”
Meng Lei liked this little guy at first sight as he could not resist patting its furry head.
However, in the next moment…
Woof!
The puppy bit Meng Lei’s hand and growled at Meng Lei, obviously showing its unwillingness to let Meng Lei pet its head.
“That’s pretty fierce!”
Meng Lei smiled and lifted the puppy by its neck. “Isn’t this a Cerberus? Why is there only one head?”
Woof! Woof! Woof!
The little dog bared its teeth and barked at Meng Lei as it would not listen to Meng Lei at all. Meng Lei did not mind as he brought out a bone.
Woof?
The puppy’s attention was caught immediately. It stared at the bone and drooled all over the ground. What was the difference between this and the normal dogs in Meng Lei’s house in his previous life?
“I guess no matter what kind of dog they are, they all love bones. Now I know how to deal with you!”
[1] An idiom that lauds the supreme medicinal properties of the medicine
" }, { "id": 308, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-308", "title": "Chapter 308 - Limits-Level Divine Body, Pinnacle-Grade Divine Spirit", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 308: Limits-Level Divine Body, Pinnacle-Grade Divine Spirit
Cerberus was an extremely fearsome divine beast. An adult Cerberus could even swallow a higher deity alive. They could be said to have an exceptionally wild and violent nature.
Additionally, they also inherited a characteristic typical of canines—their reproduction rate was especially high. Cerberuses had a wide distribution in high-end demonic existential planes like the Netherworld, the Demon Realm, and Hell.
As a result, Cerberuses were even more fearsome and more powerful than the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes!
Therefore, one mustn’t underestimate the little dog that looked remarkably similar to a husky. It would grow into an extremely fearsome existence in the future!
However, it was ultimately still just an adorable little puppy at the moment. A few bones were enough to trick it into running around in circles, and it showed great affection for Meng Lei.
“Good doggy!”
Meng Lei stroked its furry head, which felt especially nice to the touch. He said, “Since you’re so adorable and look so much like a husky, I’ll just name you Husky!”
“Woof!”
Husky didn’t put up any resistance, allowing Meng Lei to stroke it. Its jet-black little eyes were fixed on Meng Lei and filled with desire as though it was saying, “Bones! I wanna eat bones!”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get what you want!”
Meng Lei brought out another divine beast thighbone and fed it to Husky while he continued to carry out pickups.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a spatial ring!”
“Another spatial ring?”
Meng Lei perked up slightly. His divine cognition swiftly entered the spatial ring, and then he began to look through the contents.
Meng Lei was all smiles the moment he did—there were much richer rewards in this spatial ring than the previous one. One could tell at first glance that it had belonged to a wealthy tycoon.
Meng Lei promptly ordered, “Collect the Divinity Crystals and the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, system!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly spiked by 3.6 million Divinity Crystals!
“3.6 million Divinity Crystals? What a windfall!”
With the newly-gained 3.6 million Divinity Crystals, Meng Lei’s Wealth successfully broke through the 10 million milestone and reached an amount as high as 12.1 million Divinity Crystals, making him a rich man overnight!
“28 mid-tier demonic weapons and innumerable low-tier demonic weapons!
“And most importantly, there are actually so many Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts in here! I’ve struck gold! I’ve struck gold big-time! Say no more, I’ll just assimilate these Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts first!”
Boom!
Following vast amounts of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts entering his body, Meng Lei’s divine spirit flame began to visibly expand as though it had been doused with buckets of petroleum.
It doubled, tripled, quadrupled…
At last, after an unknown amount of time, the divine spirit flame’s expansion rate finally began to slow down. His divine spirit flame was currently as many as ten times bigger than what it had previously been.
Another look at the stats interface revealed that his divine spirit had also gone from mid-grade intermediate deity-level to pinnacle-grade intermediate deity-level. His divine spirit was only a step away from becoming a higher deity-level now!
“A limits-grade intermediate deity-level divine body and a pinnacle-grade intermediate deity-level divine spirit!”
Meng Lei slowly let out a pent-up breath and remarked, “Apart from lacking a divine core and divine incarnations, I’m already totally a pinnacle-level intermediate deity now! It’s just a shame that I still haven’t found anything that can enhance my divine body yet.”
There were also a lot of Demon God, Specter God, and Undead God dead bodies in the spatial ring. In fact, the divine power that some of them gave off could rival an intermediate deity’s.
Meng Lei devoured and absorbed them all, causing his life force to grow without end.
Yet, no matter how it grew, it simply couldn’t cross the hurdle. His divine body remained stuck at limits-grade intermediate deity-level the whole time, unable to progress any further.
Meng Lei rubbed his temples. He was rather frustrated. He muttered, “Why can’t my divine body evolve, even though I’ve already devoured this much life force?”
“This is a very normal occurrence.”
Dodola’s voice rang out. “The progression from an intermediate deity to a higher deity might seem like only a single step, but it’s no different from an insurmountable obstacle in reality. One can’t just break through it so easily.
“Otherwise, people like the Titan Spiritual God won’t be stuck as a pinnacle-level intermediate deity for so long and unable to take that critical step forward.”
“What should I do, Dodola?”
Meng Lei frowned slightly. Must he really spend 3 million Divinity Crystals on Super Enhancement?
“You can consider two ways,” Dodola said dispassionately, “Firstly, if you have enough power of divinity in your reserves, I’d suggest that you try the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s Rise From The Ashes.”
“Rise From The Ashes?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up slightly.
That’s true. Why didn’t I think of using that Innate Special Ability?
“The second way is to look for treasures that can enhance your divine body, such as a Titan King’s blood essence and so on.”
Dodola cast a meaningful glance at Meng Lei and said, “I believe this shouldn’t be much of a problem for you?”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a wry smile and replied, “Ordinary treasures aren’t hard to find, but that’s not necessarily also the case when it comes to treasures of that grade.”
After carrying out so many Super Pickups, the Titan King’s blood essence droplet could be said to be the most valuable treasure that he had obtained. As for the others… They were really very mediocre.
“That’s out of my hands!”
Dodola looked relaxed as it said, “If all else fails, then just split your divine spirit and deify in advance. Your divine spirit is very strong, so splitting it should be a cinch for you.”
“Easy for you to say!”
Meng Lei shook his head. It hadn’t been easy enhancing his divine spirit to its current state. He’d rather use Super Enhancement than split his divine spirit and weaken his divine spirit.
“Just do as you deem fit, then!”
Dodola’s voice subsequently faded away.
A resigned Meng Lei could only continue to carry out pickups.
“Ding…”
“Ding…”
“Ding…”
In the time that followed, Meng Lei continuously carried out pickups. However, things didn’t go his way. The Netherworld, the Demon Realm, the Abyss, Hell, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, the Light Divine Realm… He carried out pickups in all of them!
He gained a lot of average treasures, but he didn’t pick up anything else that could aid him in breaking through.
For a few consecutive days, Meng Lei only picked up a large amount of random, messy trash.
Of course, in the eyes of true gods, lesser deities, and even intermediate deities, what he viewed as trash were undoubtedly treasures that could enhance one’s strength instead!
“Forget it! Since I can’t pick up any, then I’d better just stop for now. It’s pointless to continue any further.”
Meng Lei finally walked out of the wrecked palace. Then, he summoned Puhaman over.
“Greetings, Master!”
Puhaman bowed respectfully.
Meng Lei asked casually, “How’s the migration progress?”
“After our hard work the last few days, we’ve already sent the first batch of Beast People into all 48 existential planes,” Puhaman replied respectfully.
Then, he added, “There are a total of 48 million Beast People with one million on each existential plane.”
“An acceptable progression rate.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. The Beast People Empire was teeming with Beast People, after all. 48 million? That was nothing but just a drop in the ocean. However, to the 48 existential planes, those 48 million Beast People… were instead the best seeds!
Given the Beast People’s terrifying reproduction rate, those one million people on each existential plane would multiply by tenfold, maybe by even a few dozen times, in just a year!
Of course, if they were to relax the timeline even further or migrate more seeds over, the population growth would undoubtedly also become even faster.
“All of you have done well. Keep up the good work!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he brought out a huge pile of treasures with a wave. They were treasures that he had picked up but were of no use to him and brought over in the past.
They included Saint Domain magic devices, half-divine weapons, true god-level divine weapons, magic materials, magic crystals, etc.
“Master, these…?”
Puhaman looked puzzled.
“These things were brought over from the Dragon God Empire, the Beast People Empire, the Titan Empire, and other forces’ treasuries, but they are no longer of any use to me.”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “I’ve taken them out now to fill up the empire’s treasury so that they may be used wherever is appropriate. As for how they should be used, you can do as you deem fit.”
Treasures would definitely always be useful. It merely depended on who the one using it was. They might be useless to Meng Lei, but it didn’t mean that they would also be useless to others!
Given the Meng Lei Empire’s vastness and how generations of geniuses were currently emerging, a new batch of pillars supporting the empire would definitely come to pass in the future. It wouldn’t do at all if the empire didn’t have anything to bestow upon them!
Puhaman launched into a mad deluge of flattery at once. “Master, your wisdom and generosity are as if the blazing sun in the sky…”
" }, { "id": 309, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-309", "title": "Chapter 309 - New Home, The Demon God Descends", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Howl!
Howling chilly winds wreaked havoc in the ice fields.
A world of ice completely covered in frost and snow, these were the Far Northern Icelands of Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Whoosh!
A huge shadowy mass suddenly traveled swiftly across the ice fields—it was actually an astonishingly large group of humans that numbered tens of thousands flying in the sky.
Upon closer look, they turned out to be tens of thousands of shabbily-dressed Beast People. At the moment, however, they all sported fearful and horror-stricken looks on their faces and looked as if they were full of despair.
Above them was a Multi-Armed Behemoth—it was Meng Lei’s Magical Beast pet, Sacas.
“Listen up now!”
Sacas tried to comfort the Beast People as they flew. It said, “The new home that I’m bringing all of you to is an all-new continent. There, the lands are vast, and the resources rich and abundant. It’s a perfect habitat to live in!
“There, no one will compete with you for resources or fight with you for food. Neither are there savage Magical Beasts that will attack you! You can reproduce freely and make the place your home.”
The Beast People were dubious about his claims. Vast lands? Rich and abundant resources? No natural enemies?
Did a place as wonderful as that really exist?
Amid their doubts, everyone arrived at the teleportation magic circle in the Far Northern Icelands in no time. Sacas led the Beast People through the teleportation magic circle and arrived at Demonic Dragon Continent.
“Look, this is your new home!”
Sacas pointed at the vast and boundless Demonic Dragon Continent and said passionately, “Here, there are lush grasslands, dense and luxuriant forests, clear rivers, and fertile soil!”
The Beast People’s eyes widened big and round as they gazed at the all-new world. True enough, what entered their sights was green grasslands that stretched as far as the eye could see, a sea of lush forests, and great rivers that meandered through the lands like silver snakes…
And yet…
They didn’t spot even a single Magical Beast!
They didn’t spot even a single human!
They didn’t spot even a single Colossal Dragon!
“Here, you can freely till the fields, herd or let the livestock graze as much as you want, and fish as you wish. You can also pick fruits and enjoy life as much as you want!”
Sacas said loudly, “Now, I’ll bring you to your new home!”
Shortly after, they arrived at the intersection of an expanse of grasslands and a forest. Sacas let the Beast People down. At the same time, he also brought out a huge pile of food, seeds, etc.
“Welcome to your new home, my people!”
…
Similar incidents were also taking place in all the other existential planes.
Thaniel the Black Dragon, Bubbles the Fallen Titan, Mervyn the squid Magician, Pursuer the alchemy creature, Nadja the Black Panther Goddess, Seisia the Thunderbolt Queen, Galen the Swirling Snow Sword Saint, Rose the Spider Goddess, Nagaros the Dark Fairy Empress, Anton the Dark Snapping Turtle King, etc.—all of them were also busy migrating people over.
Every one of them took the trouble to personally migrate them over.
All of them were full of smiles and brimming with anticipation.
In the past, many of them could only hide underground and painstakingly build up what they could because they didn’t have fiefs of their own.
But now that they had such wonderful resources sitting in front of them, how would they possibly let it pass them by?
They couldn’t wait to see the day where their worshipers filled the 48 existential planes and provided vast amounts of power of faith for them!
With power of faith, they would be able to convert it into power of divinity!
With power of faith, they would be able to enhance their divine spirit!
Even the mere thought of it seemed wonderful!
They had only one word for it—beautiful!
After settling the group of Beast People, Sacas went through the teleportation magic circle and returned to the Far Northern Icelands. However, something shocking entered its sight at this moment:
A massive black pit suddenly appeared in the sky, spanning across it like a black hole. It was hard to say just how big it was, but it measured at least 100-meters-wide even when looking at it from the faraway Far Northern Icelands.
Given that it measured 100-meters-wide even when looking at it from such a great distance away, one could easily imagine just how massive the black hole must be!
Boom!
A black-light beam suddenly shot out of the black hole and shone vertically downward on the ground, forming a black pillar of light that connected the heavens and earth.
Vast, majestic might spread everywhere into the surroundings from the black pillar of light, spreading throughout Heaven’s Vault Continent like a tsunami.
Thud!
Everywhere the mighty aura passed through, be it normal humans or Saint Domain experts, everyone fell onto their knees uncontrollably. They felt as if a huge rock was weighing down on their hearts, making it difficult for them to breathe.
“O Great God Meng Lei! W-what exactly is going on?”
“Have extraterrestrial demons descended upon us?”
“Please watch over us, Great God Meng Lei! Please watch over us…”
The people were terrified out of their wits. Filled with fear and unease, they hastily started to pray piously.
“Something terrible has happened!”
Sacas’ expression changed drastically. It transformed into a beam of light that shot toward the Meng Lei Empire. Thaniel, Nadja, and the others also did the same.
Roar!
A loud and sonorous dragon roar rang out. The people looked up and turned their gazes to the direction from which the roar came. At once, they saw a terrifying, savage-looking dragon head emerge from within the black hole.
It was then followed by its body, wings, tail…
It was a Dark Demonic Dragon that measured more than 1,000,000-feet-long. Pitch-black all over and incredibly savage-looking, it gave off a demonic aura that reached all the way into the heavens.
“A Colossal Dragon! It’s a Colossal Dragon!”
“Oh my god! The Colossal Dragons are back!”
“The Colossal Dragons have made a comeback…”
The Dragon God Empire had only just been overthrown not too long ago, so the people’s faith in the Dragon God hadn’t yet completely dispersed. How could they possibly have forgotten about the nefarious Colossal Dragons?
For a moment, hate, fury, fear, and various other negative emotions swept through Heaven’s Vault Continent, and the people sank into great fear and panic.
Roar!
“What fearsome demonic might! That’s a Dark Demonic Dragon! Boss was right on the mark after all!”
Sacas moved at high speed while keeping his gaze fixed on the Dark Demonic Dragon that had emerged from the black hole. It scoffed, “Do they think they can make trouble here with just one intermediate deity-level Dark Demonic Dragon, though? They are practically just courting deat—”
Roar!
Just as Sacas was sneering, another huge and savage-looking head that also gave off great demonic might popped out of the black hole.
Its body… measured 1,000,000-feet-long, too!
“Another Dark Demonic Dragon?!” Sacas’ heart sank a little. “It’s alright. Boss is the master of the existential plane. So what even if there are two intermediate deities?”
Roar!
It was just a shame that following the second Dark Demonic Dragon, more of them also started to emerge one after another. As though they had opened Pandora’s box, there was no end to them at all.
In under a minute, 50 Dark Demonic Dragons had emerged from the black hole. Every one of them was 1,000,000-feet-long and emanated overwhelming demonic might.
Sacas was completely unnerved this time. A hint of shock and horror surfaced in its eyes as it exclaimed, “Damn it! Why are there so many Dark Demonic Dragons? Where did they come from?”
No one answered Sacas, however.
No one answered Thaniel and the others, too.
No one answered the masses, either!
Roar!
Roar!
Roar!
50 Dark Demonic Dragons circled about high up in the sky as they roared furiously into the sky. Their earth-shattering roars were as though thousands upon thousands of horses neighing simultaneously or thousands upon thousands of cannons exploding.
Boom!!
Roiling sound waves haphazardly mixed together and formed an earth-shattering energy wave that exploded with a deafening boom. The dimension broke and splintered into numerous viscous masses.
In a split second, the azure-blue skies turned into pitch-black hell as several horrifying space-time rifts flickered and appeared. It was as though doomsday had come.
" }, { "id": 310, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-310", "title": "Chapter 310 - A Must-Have, Daydream", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“So many Demon Gods!”
In a hidden dimension within Heaven’s Vault Continent, an enormous figure gazed upon the black hole and the 50 Dark Demonic Dragons with an ugly look.
“Where did they come from?”
This figure was the previous religion of the Beast People Empire—the Beast God. At this moment, however, a deeply confused look took over his gloomy face.
50 Demon Gods!
That was a force that could wreak havoc across countless existential planes, disintegrate any deity alliances, and conquer massive territories!
The question was—why would this force descend upon Heaven’s Vault Continent? What were they plotting?
“Heaven’s Vault Continent is just a normal low-end existential plane. How is it possible that it could attract so many Demon Gods here?”
The Beast God did not understand. “A secret! There must be some secret in Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
Whoosh!
A figure appeared quietly. It wore golden armor and was incredibly muscular—it was one of the four great true gods of Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Titan Spiritual God!
“Kronos, you couldn’t sit still either?”
The Beast God took a glance at the Titan Spiritual God.
“Haylen, do you know why these Demon Gods have descended here?” asked the Titan Spiritual God.
The Beast God shook his head. “I can’t tell yet!”
“50 Demon Gods, such an enormous scale!”
The Titan Spiritual God frowned deeply. “What purpose could they possibly have?”
Just as both deities were puzzled, two skinnier figures came out of the black hole and descended upon Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Upon seeing these two, both deities’ expressions changed.
“Helibos!”
“Why him?”
They did not know the other figure, but they would definitely recognize another one of the four great true gods of Heaven’s Vault Continent, the Dragon God, Helibos Haber!
“These Demon Gods are brought here by the Dragon God?”
“It seems so!”
“I don’t understand. Where did the Dragon God find so many experts? Wasn’t he the weakest and had the least influence among the four of us?”
“I’m not sure! I guess we’ll see!”
…
“Master!”
50 Dark Demonic Dragons lowered their heads and bowed respectfully.
“Rise, everyone!” A middle-aged man in black robes said lightly and looked toward the Dragon God. “Helibos, I hope you did not deceive me!”
“You need not worry, teacher!” The Dragon God promised. “That rascal who snatched the Tower of Time away is right here in this existential plane. Let me call him out, and the rest will be decided by you, my teacher!”
“Very well, go then!”
The middle-aged man in black robes nodded slightly.
“Uno, Dos, both of you shall follow Helibos.”
“Yes, Master!”
The two Dark Demonic Dragons nodded their heads.
“Please wait for a moment, my teacher!”
The Dragon God bowed slightly before bringing Uno and Dos toward the Meng Lei Empire.
The middle-aged man in black robes watched the three dragons’ back as a hint of greed flashed across his eyes. No one knew the true value of the Tower of Time better than him, and no-one desired to obtain it more than him!
The Tower of Time—the rumored time divine weapon!
It was created by the great God of Time, the only one that had comprehended the laws of time in the vast and boundless universe. It was said that there were not just his lifelong riches in the tower, but there were also his cultivation methods for the laws of time and even a high-end existential plane seed!
Any of the three would make countless deities envious, not to mention all three together!
Hence, the moment there was news of the Tower of Time, the middle-aged man in black robes came here. He would rather believe it to be true than not since if the Tower of Time was indeed here, he would strike the jackpot!
“The Tower of Time, I must have it!”
…
“You lowly cheap piece of trash, I’ll see how you die this time!”
The Dragon God was excited as he was eager to see Meng Lei. “I won’t let you get something that I could not get myself!”
The three of them flew at high speed and reached the sky above the Meng Lei Empire Palace.
The landing of the three dragons, especially the two Dark Demonic Dragons, created a huge ruckus that terrified Imperial City’s citizens.
They wanted to run, but under the suppression of the demonic might, it was difficult to stand, not to mention running away. All they could do was pray.
“Please watch over us, our Great God Meng Lei!”
“Oh Great God Meng Lei, I pray for my safety, I pray for my family’s safety, I pray for my wife’s family’s safety. As long as you bless me, I’m willing to do anything…”
“Come out and face your death at once, knave!” The Dragon God roared, and like deafening claps of thunder, it blasted into the people’s ears. Their minds buzzed, and they were petrified once more.
“You audacious heretic, how dare you to act so atrociously here!”
A figure soared up into the sky with an angry roar and glared at the Dragon God and the two Dark Demonic Dragons as he emitted divine might.
It was Puhaman!
As the Meng Lei Empire Army’s absolute authority, Puhaman’s prestige in the empire was the highest, excluding Meng Lei. His appearance had an immediate effect as the people were relieved to see him.
“Yes! It’s Lord Puhaman!”
The people looked on with their hopeful eyes at Puhaman.
It was a pity, though…
“Who is this lowly worm that dares to bark in front of me?”
Uno bellowed as it slapped its enormous dragon claws at such a high speed that Puhaman could not evade at all, striking him hard.
“Ugh!”
Puhaman was like a meteorite plummeting faster than when he arrived as he crashed into a palace that was reduced to rubble.
“Argh!!”
Puhaman spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt that his bones were shattered, and his organs were badly injured.
“Little worm, you think too highly of yourself!”
The Dragon God could not help but sneer. “Meng Lei, you knave, don’t think that you can escape death by hiding in your palace. I’ll tell you that’s daydreaming!
“If you know what’s good for you, follow me to meet my teacher at once. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you die a terrible death!”
“Why so troublesome?” Uno bellowed as he spat a black dragon’s breath toward the imperial palace. The breath was filled with endless destructive power that could ravage anything in the world.
If there were no miracles, the entire imperial palace would be reduced to rubbles. Everyone inside and even the city would be turned into ashes.
“It’s all over!”
Watching the terrifying dragon’s breath descending from the sky, the people were in utter despair. At that moment, a cold voice rang abruptly, as if it rang in everyone’s heart. “Absolute Zero!”
Buzz…
A golden cold fog met the black dragon’s breath. Once they met, the black dragon’s breath started to freeze into a thick icicle.
The icicle then broke into ice chips.
“We’re saved!”
The people were immensely relieved, as though they had just been to hell and back. Right then, a figure rose into the sky slowly and appeared above the imperial palace.
“Great God Meng Lei!”
“It’s Great God Meng Lei!”
“He saved us!”
The people wept tears of joy.
“Well, well, well, Dragon God. You’re not hiding in your divine nation to live the rest of your miserable life, and you dare come out with a death wish?” Meng Lei surveyed the Dragon God and the two Dark Demonic Dragons.
“You cheap piece of trash! still so stubborn even when death is knocking on your door!” The Dragon God grinned. “Today, I won’t just kill you. I’ll take everything that you took from me back!”
“That will depend on whether you’re capable!”
Meng Lei scoffed.
“Dodola, lock onto this divinity projection of the Dragon God and find his divine nation. I’ll finish this stinky bug off completely!”
“As long as there’s a divinity projection, everything’s a-okay!”
" }, { "id": 311, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-311", "title": "Chapter 311 - Thundering Fury, Headshot With One Punch", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 311: Thundering Fury, Headshot With One Punch
“That cheap, lowly human is doomed! With that many Demon Gods there, they’ll definitely rip him into shreds!
“In comparison, I’m more concerned about those people. Where exactly are they from? And why are they willing to work for Helibos?”
The Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God stood proudly in the sky as they kept a close watch on the Dragon God and the others’ movements. The more attention they paid to them, the more questions arose in their minds.
Where did that many Dark Demonic Dragons come from?
Why were they willing to help the Dragon God?
What was their purpose in coming to Heaven’s Vault Continent?
“Both you and I know that Helibos has always been alone. Although he’s technically a member of the Colossal Dragon Gods, he’s not valued at all.”
The Titan Spiritual God mused aloud in a low voice, “But he’s suddenly recruited so many powerhouses this time. This doesn’t make sense at all! Could it be that Helibos has also had a similar encounter like mine whereby the Colossal Dragon Gods suddenly attached importance to him and bestowed upon him a group of subordinates?”
The Beast God let out a derisive laugh and replied, “Look at how Helibos is bending all over for them. Does he even look like their master?”
The Titan Spiritual God shook his head slightly. Given Helibos’ exceptionally respectful attitude toward that black-robed middle-aged man, the duo’s statuses were self-evident—Helibos looked more like the other man’s subordinate instead.
“Since they aren’t his subordinates, why have they descended upon Heaven’s Vault Continent? Are they just here to seek revenge on Helibos’ behalf?” asked the Titan Spiritual God.
“No way!”
The Beast God’s eyes flickered with a shrewd gleam. He said, “There’s no point in doing things that don’t benefit you. This is especially true for deities like us. Who would do things that don’t benefit them? Something fishy must be going on!”
“You mean…”
The Titan Spiritual God’s brows drew together slightly.
“I have a bold conjecture. Meng Lei must be hiding some kind of astounding secret on him, and those people are here for that secret!”
The Beast God spoke in a low and deep voice, the fury in his voice barely concealable. He had suddenly realized that he might have been duped. The Dragon God had claimed that he wanted to seek revenge on Meng Lei during the last time the Dragon God had come to him to exchange for the devil contract.
However, it was only now that the Beast God realized that it was clearly because Helibos had been coveting the huge secret on Meng Lei that he had risked his life to approach him.
Revenge?
It was nothing more than just an excuse!
“An astounding secret?”
The Titan Spiritual God’s pupils contracted sharply. He exclaimed, “Now that you mention it, I think that’s highly likely the case. Otherwise, how can a human like him possibly cultivate so quickly?”
“I get it now! I finally get it now!” The Titan Spiritual God gnashed his teeth in fury as he said, “That damned Helibos! He clearly knew that secret, yet he kept it from both of us and told those people instead!”
“It’s too late to say anything now.”
The Beast God said with a sigh, “Judging from how big a fuss those people are making, they are clearly hell-bent on getting it. What can we do even if we know that Meng Lei’s hiding a secret?”
“Damn it!”
…
100,000 feet was roughly equivalent to 300 kilometers.
A 300-kilometer-long body! One could imagine just how enormous the two Dark Demonic Dragons were.
They spanned across the sky above the imperial palace like two undulating mountain ranges suspended above the people, forming a dark mass that practically blotted out the sun.
Dark Demonic Dragon Uno asked in a deep roar, “Helibos, is he that person that Master is looking for?”
“Yes, he’s my teacher’s target!”
The Dragon God nodded slightly. Then, he gave them a kind warning and said, “But you mustn’t let down your guard. Although that renegade is certainly hateful, his strength is not to be underestimated.”
“How strong can a native deity of a low-end existential plane be? I can swallow him whole in one gulp!”
Dragon Uno let out a derisive laugh and roared, “Human deity if you know what’s good for you, come with me obediently to meet my master. Otherwise, I don’t mind ripping you into shreds!”
“You sure talk big.” Meng Lei held his hands behind his back as he said, “The grass growing at the grave of the last Dark Demonic Dragon that had dared to act so arrogantly in front of me has already grown dozens of meters tall.”
“How presumptuous!”
Dragon Uno raised its claw that measured dozens of kilometers wide and smacked it down forcefully. The claw gleamed coldly in the light as it smashed down at Meng Lei.
Compared to the mountain-sized claw, Meng Lei was as though an insignificant little ant.
“Long live the Great God Meng Lei!”
“The Great God Meng Lei is unbeatable!”
“The Great God Meng Lei is the strongest!”
“Great God Meng Lei, I’m cheering for you!”
The Imperial City’s citizens’ hearts leaped into their mouths. All of them prayed for Meng Lei amid their own unease.
“You think too highly of yourself.”
Meng Lei gave a shake of his head as he watched the gigantic claw crashing down upon him. As though an inflating balloon, his divine body started to expand, instantly reaching a height of 100,000 feet.
Then, he clenched his right hand into a fist and met the gigantic claw smacking him with it.
Crack!
As though Mars were crashing into Earth, violent shockwaves exploded into the surroundings together with a terrifying, earth-shattering boom. The dimension broke instantly.
To the Imperial City citizens’ horror, they saw a humongous black hole form above them. As though a ferocious primeval beast’s gigantic mouth, it looked like it was going to devour everything in the world.
Roar!
Dragon Uno retracted its claw right away with a muffled grunt. Its massive claw was trembling slightly—evidently, the clash just now had not felt good.
“I’ve surprisingly underestimated you!” A look of cautious reservation flashed across Dragon Uno’s eyes as they bore into Meng Lei. “Do you think you can contend against me with just that, though? Demon’s Domain!”
Buzz…
An imprisoning force suddenly spread into the surroundings, locking down the dimension around them right away. Meng Lei, who was in the center of Demon’s Domain, bore the brunt of the attack and was locked down where he was.
“Die, you worm!”
Dragon Uno let out a furious roar. It opened its cavernous, ghastly fang-filled jaws and bit at Meng Lei. Each of its fangs measured several kilometers long and was even harder and sharper than a lesser deity-level divine weapon.
Should the bite land, even a lofty mountain would undoubtedly be crushed into smithereens.
“Don’t you brush your teeth before you head outside?”
Meng Lei wrinkled his nose in distaste as he tried to wave the stench away. He said, “It’s not your fault for having bad breath, but it’s not right if you come here and disgust others with it!”
The moment he spoke, Meng Lei teleported above Dragon Uno and stomped down heavily with his foot.
Boom!
His enormous sole landed squarely on Dragon Uno’s head. Following the crisp sounds of bones breaking and tendons snapping, Dragon Uno’s head plummeted straight toward the ground like a falling meteor.
Should it really crash onto the ground, the greater half of the Imperial City would undoubtedly be implicated, and the millions of people living in the Imperial City would definitely be crushed dead.
Meng Lei evidently would never allow such a thing to happen. He teleported underneath Dragon Uno and socked it forcefully on the chin with his fist like a cannon.
Crack!
Meng Lei had used his full force. Raging great force exploded with a boom, instantly breaking Dragon Uno’s lower jaw into pieces and subsequently blasting its head apart.
Bits of flesh flew everywhere as blood spilled.
The pitiful intermediate deity-level Dragon Uno didn’t even have the time to scream before its head was blasted apart. It died on the spot and became deader than dead.
Meng Lei stored Dragon Uno’s enormous carcass into the Tower of Time with a casual beckoning wave, lest it plummeted onto the ground and caused a great disaster.
“Dragon Uno!”
Dragon Dos’ eyes widened greatly. Flames of hate burst forth from its eyes as it spat, “Damned native, how dare you kill Dragon Uno! I’m going to eat you up!”
“You’re too noisy!”
" }, { "id": 312, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-312", "title": "Chapter 312 - Instantly Killing The Demonic Dragon, Besieging Meng Lei", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 312: Instantly Killing The Demonic Dragon, Besieging Meng Lei
Nobody expected Meng Lei and Dark Demonic Dragon Uno’s battle to end so quickly.
After all, that was a 1,000,000-feet-long Dark Demonic Dragon whose strength rivaled an intermediate deity. Yet Meng Lei had actually blasted its head apart with a stomp of his foot. Just how vast was the gap in strength between the two?
“He’s taken out an intermediate deity-level Dark Demonic Dragon in an instant! That human has become stronger again!”
“As expected, he’s hiding a huge secret on himself!”
The Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God exchanged a look in the faraway distance, both seeing hints of graveness, alarm, and horror in each other’s eyes.
Meng Lei’s emergence was simply too quick. It definitely didn’t exceed ten years, even at the longest estimation.
Ten years!
He had grown from a weak and lowly human brat into an existence that could instantly kill a Demon God. Just how terrifying was his cultivation speed?
It would undoubtedly be very hard for one to find another monstrous genius like Meng Lei even in the vast Void!
Too fast!
It was really too fast!
“A huge secret! That human must be hiding some kind of huge, astounding secret on himself!”
The Titan Spiritual God clenched his fists. “That damned Helibos! How dare he keep something like that from us!”
“He indeed deserves death!”
The Beast God’s countenance was even more awful-looking. He said, “Had I known, I would have captured him at all costs when he came to me back then. It’s just a shame that it’s too late no matter what I say now.”
“Too late? Not necessarily!”
The Titan Spiritual God’s eyes flickered as he said, “That group of Demon Gods will have to leave Heaven’s Vault Continent at some point after they accomplish what they’re here for. Perhaps our chance will come at that point.”
A slight shudder went through the Beast God. He looked at the Titan Spiritual God and said, “Kronos, you mean…”
“You and I can join hands to intercept and kill those Demon Gods. Given our strength, nothing will go wrong!” replied the Titan Spiritual God.
Sorely tempted by the idea, the Beast God agreed right away. He said, “Alright! You and I shall share that secret after we succeed. If it’s a treasure, we’ll split it equally between us!”
“Deal!”
…
“You lowly worm, how dare you kill Dragon Uno!” Dragon Dos roared furiously as it tried to repress the endless fury and immense hate in its eyes.
Their master had reared Dark Demonic Dragons like them since they were young. Their lives laid not in their own hands but in others’, and they could only obey their master’s orders and cultivate night and day.
They had already formed deep and close friendships with one another after such a long time together. Now that it had witnessed Meng Lei slaying Dragon Uno, how could Dragon Dos possibly not hate him?
“Die! Die!”
Dragon Dos roared incessantly, its claws smashing downward to smack Meng Lei into a bloody pulp.
“Good job on making it here!”
Meng Lei neither ducked nor dodged. Instead, he reached out both arms and caught the claws smacking toward him in his hands.
Roar!
At the sight, Dragon Dos opened its mouth to spray a wave of immensely destructive dragon breath. Should it succeed in doing so, it would definitely hit Meng Lei right in the face.
“Hmph!”
How could Meng Lei possibly let things go its way? An additional arm grew out of his back and hurled a punch in mid-air, hitting Dragon Dos on its chin. The impact caused its head to lean backward, and the dragon breath ended up spraying out only a hair’s breadth away from Meng Lei.
“Die, you worm!”
Meng Lei’s third arm gripped Dragon Dos by its throat and tightened around it forcefully. Following a loud snap, Dragon Dos’ throat was crushed into bits right away.
Dragon Dos’s eyes rolled back into its head, unable to breathe with its throat crushed.
“Die!”
100 vines extended from Meng Lei. They turned into several poisonous snakes that wound around Dragon Dos’s enormous body and began to devour it furiously.
Gurgle~
Gurgle~
Pure life force gushed into Meng Lei through the vines and surged into his limbs, his organs, and every nook and cranny of his body…
How could the word “awesome” even cut it?
“This is exactly the feeling I like!”
It was so comfortable that Meng Lei couldn’t help but close his eyes as he enjoyed to the fullest the fantastic feeling brought about by the warm current enveloping him.
“I don’t believe my divine body can’t break through even after I’ve devoured this much life force! If one isn’t enough, then I’ll devour two! If two isn’t enough, then I’ll devour three! I’ll devour as many as it takes until my divine body fully metamorphoses!”
Gurgle~
Dragon Dos began to visibly shrivel and dry up from Meng Lei’s furious devouring of its life force and turned into a dry carcass in under a minute.
All skin and bones now, it had totally become a skeleton wrapped in dragon skin.
Meng Lei stored away Dragon Dos’s carcass with a wave. Then, he turned to the Dragon God. He knew that the Dragon God standing before him at the moment was just a divinity projection and that he hadn’t descended in his true body.
“You’ve actually killed Dragon Uno and Dragon Dos?”
Shock, horror, and disbelief brimmed in the Dragon God’s eyes. Both Dragon Uno and Dragon Dos were stronger than his true form!
Yet Meng Lei had actually taken them out in an instant. Had Meng Lei already grown and strengthened to such an extent?
“Don’t worry. You’ll also die!”
Meng Lei said calmly, “I’ll go to you when I’ve gotten rid of these Dark Demonic Dragons that you brought. After all, even though you’re as weak as an ant, you’re more irritating than a fly or a mosquito!”
“How arrogant!”
A cold and aloof voice rang out beside his ear at this point—it turned out that the black-robed middle-aged man and the 48 Dark Demonic Dragons had reached him at some point in time.
“Welcome to Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
Meng Lei held his hands behind his back as he said, “Not only have you come, but you’ve even brought so many delectable desserts with you. For showing me such profound friendship, I am much obliged!”
The black-robed middle-aged man had an aloof and emotionless expression on his face as he said, “Be smug all you want, native. You won’t be able to cry even if you want to in a while! Men, take him out!”
“Yes, Master!”
The 48 Dark Demonic Dragons chorused affirmatively and turned into multiple black streaks of light that rushed toward Meng Lei.
Although their bodies were huge, Meng Lei was also 1,000,000-feet-tall at the moment, so he, as a target, was more than large enough for them.
“Since all of you are so passionate, then I won’t stand on ceremony with you anymore!” Meng Lei laughed into the heavens, and then his fists went flying out like cannons.
Crack!
The Dark Demonic Dragon leading the charge had its head blasted apart right away and immediately perished!
The first one had died!
Meng Lei reached out right on the heels of it, grabbed another Dark Demonic Dragon, and tore at it forcefully. Right away, it was torn apart into two with a loud rip. Large droplets of blood splashed into the surroundings, and then the screaming Dark Demonic Dragon was sent into the Tower of Time.
The second one had also died!
Meng Lei leaped into the air, his right leg turning into a steel whip that struck the third Dark Demonic Dragon squarely in its abdomen. As a dull bam rang out, the Dark Demonic Dragon’s abdomen was instantly blasted apart, and all its guts exploded into the surroundings.
“Ugh!”
Blood spurted from the Dark Demonic Dragon’s mouth, and it instantly turned listless and dispirited. Meng Lei also sent it into the Tower of Time along the way and stored it there.
The third one had also died!
“Damn it!”
“Bastard!”
“How hateful!”
At the sight of Meng Lei killing three of their companions in the blink of an eye, the remaining Dark Demonic Dragons were alarmed, furious, yet also fearful!
“Attack!”
“Attack, everyone!”
“Don’t give him the chance to take us out one by one!”
“Kill!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The remaining 45 Dark Demonic Dragons instantly spread apart and formed a circle that surrounded Meng Lei on all sides. Then, they launched attacks from all 45 directions.
“Ganging up on me? What I fear the least is people ganging up on me!”
Meng Lei laughed loudly into the sky. The muscles under his skin wriggled and moved for a while, and then several python-like arms grew from his body.
Not one more and not one fewer, they made up exactly 100 arms!
" }, { "id": 313, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-313", "title": "Chapter 313 - Rampage, Forming An Alliance", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 313: Rampage, Forming An Alliance
“Hundred-Armed Giant!”
“He’s a Hundred-Armed Giant!”
At the sight of Meng Lei’s appearance, everyone was shocked, be it the 45 Dark Demonic Dragons or the black-robed middle-aged man.
As a mutated species of the Titans, its colossal strength and incredible combat power were not to be taken lightly!
“Come here one by one. No one’s leaving!”
Meng Lei’s Hundred-Armed Giant form affected his mind with the bloodline’s influence, as his bloodthirsty eyes meant that he had become extremely violent.
“Charge together! So what if he’s a Hundred-Armed Giant? He’s still just a Sky Titan!”
After a brief shock, the 45 Dark Demonic Dragons swarmed toward Meng Lei once again.
As killing machines nurtured by their master, there was no fear or retreat in their beliefs.
As long as their master did not call for a stop, they would never cease till they had shredded their enemy into pieces.
“Kill!”
Meng Lei did not dodge and avoid them as a hundred arms struck at the same time to meet the 45 Dark Demonic Dragons.
Boom!
Both sides collided fiercely.
Judging by their vigor, the 45 Dark Demonic Dragons were obviously superior. They were all Demon Gods that were 100,000-feet-long, and they had the numerical advantage.
They surrounded Meng Lei, and it seemed as if a bunch of adults was ganging up on a little student—they seemed to be on a completely different level.
Unfortunately, after they collided, the battle turned out to be very different.
Meng Lei fought 45 dragons alone and completely dominated them, either smashing or grabbing…
Blasting a dragon’s head with a punch!
Snapped another’s neck!
Ripped one into halves!
What was a beating? This was!
What was a massacre? This was!
What was a gang-up? This was!
Meng Lei was beating up, massacring, and ganging up on 45 Dark Demonic Dragons!
Roar!
Roar!
Roar!
For a while, the Dark Demonic Dragons were crashing down from the sky like dumplings dropping into the pot.
The unlucky ones shattered their skulls and died instantly, while the lucky ones had their wings pulled apart and heavily injured.
Dragon blood sprayed across the place and bloodied the air. Only Meng Lei was left in mid-air, with blood all over his body as if he was a Devil of Death that crawled out of hell.
“Collect!”
Whoosh!
Meng Lei waved his arms, and every dead Dark Demonic Dragon disappeared from the skies, returning rays of sunshine to the once covered sky.
After Meng Lei kept the carcasses, there were only ten injured Dark Demonic Dragons that remained in the sky, and they started to fly away in fear.
“Devil!”
“He’s a devil!”
These ten Dark Demonic Dragons were frightened so badly that their insides nearly ruptured from fear, losing any fighting spirit that was left.
“Flee? Do you really think you can flee from me?”
Meng Lei licked the fresh blood at the corner of his lips and teleported before a Dark Demonic Dragon. Dozens of vines crept out and devoured this dragon’s body completely.
“Noooo!”
This Dark Demonic Dragon was scared out of its wits and struggled madly, but it could not flee from these vines at all.
The dragon’s body dried up quickly as it could not escape the fate of being consumed into a bag of bones.
Puff!
Having felt his surging vitality, Meng Lei let out a long breath and looked at the next Dark Demonic Dragon. “Not enough! Again!”
“Don’t… Don’t come here!”
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s gaze, this Dark Demonic Dragon backed away in immense fear. However, in this existential plane, how could it ever escape?
Meng Lei teleported again to feast once more. After half a minute, there was another dried corpse!
Whoosh!
Meng Lei began madly absorbing, and the Dark Demonic Dragons turned into dried corpses one by one, all reduced into bags of bones.
“That was nice!”
Meng Lei let out a long breath of relief as his entire body was filled with warm currents of endless, surging power. It was an incredible feeling.
It was just a shame that his divine body still showed no sign of evolving, even after absorbing from so many Dark Demonic Dragons. He still could not break through the final shackles of becoming a higher deity.
Meng Lei was in no rush. Since there were still over 30 Dark Demonic Dragon carcasses, he believed that quantitative change might cause a qualitative change once he devoured all of them.
At that moment, the dark skies returned and became bright again. The people fixed their eyes on the proud figure hovering in the sky.
“Victory!”
“Meng Lei was victorious!”
“O supreme Great God Meng Lei, praise be to you. You’ve defeated those evil Colossal Dragons…”
Imperial City’s citizens were jubilant and excited as they chanted Meng Lei’s name. Their loyalty was as solid as ever.
Even those that did not espouse his religion started to worship him at this instance.
On another side, Thaniel, Sacas, the Spider Goddess, and the rest breathed a long sigh of relief and smiled. “Master is indeed the strongest one!”
“In this existential plane, Master is just invincible, and no one can match him at all!”
“Too powerful! That’s really too powerful! Battling 48 Dark Demonic Dragons alone and killing all of them? The word powerful just wasn’t enough to describe this!”
“To be able to follow such a great Master is the greatest honor of our lives!”
“Yes! A great honor…”
Even the once defiant Spider Goddess submitted to Meng Lei wholeheartedly at this moment. She had no other ideas or dissatisfaction under Meng Lei anymore, even starting to be in awe and appreciation.
In the sky far away, both the Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God were speechless and could not recover from their shock.
After a long pause, the Beast God broke the silence. “Kronos, if it were you, would you be able to kill these Demon Gods in such a short time?”
The Titan Spiritual God opened his mouth but only spoke after a while. “Though I don’t want to admit it, I have to say that I can’t do so in such a manner!”
The Beast God nodded slightly. Although the Titan Spiritual God was indeed a pinnacle-level intermediate deity with colossal strength and supreme combat power, it was difficult for two fists to beat four hands.
“When facing the besiegement of 50 Dark Demonic Dragons, I could defeat them, but not in such a short time! I really don’t know how he managed to cultivate to such a level!”
The Titan Spiritual God clenched his fists tightly. To witness an ant in his eyes surpass him was the worst possible feeling.
The Beast God sighed and mentioned suddenly, “Kronos, since it’s come to this, we’ll need to form an alliance!”
“Form an alliance?” The Titan Spiritual God was a little startled. “Haylem, what do you mean?”
“Kronos, have you forgotten? Our domains are not too far from Heaven’s Vault Continent. Do you think that given this little fellow’s character, he’ll let us off?”
“He dares?”
The Titan Spiritual God scoffed coldly. “If he dares to think about it, I won’t let him off!”
“Look, Kronos now is not the time to be influenced by sentiments!”
The Beast God shook his head. “Although I don’t want to boost others’ morale, I have a feeling that he will step into a higher deity level before us. By then, we’ll be in trouble!”
The Titan Spiritual God’s countenance changed drastically.
Meng Lei, becoming a higher deity!?
" }, { "id": 314, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-314", "title": "Chapter 314 - Higher Deity, Unbeatable", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 314: Higher Deity, Unbeatable
Deities were all greedy, especially when it came to matters concerning power of faith.
It was no exaggeration to say that as long as they were capable of doing so, any deity would do their utmost best to seize all the power of faith they could seize.
Nobody would dislike having more power of faith!
Take the Titan Spiritual God, for example.
Back then, after he had left Heaven’s Vault Continent, he had done all he could to expand his territory and occupy more material planes.
Even after he had received over 100 existential planes as power of faith domains later on, he had still continued to expand his territory. He hadn’t become content with the amount of power of faith he already had.
In fact, the Titan Spiritual God would even kill the Beast God and seize his power of faith domains without any hesitation if he was strong enough to.
Thus, the Titan Spiritual God had instantly felt a sense of crisis when the Beast God told him that it was extremely likely that Meng Lei would become a higher deity before he did.
If he were Meng Lei…
He would definitely attack the Beast God and himself without any hesitation, take over their power of faith domains, and occupy all the existential planes that he could occupy.
“Damn it!”
After he understood all these, the Titan Spiritual God couldn’t help but curse under his breath. He felt utterly frustrated.
“Kronos, you should face reality.”
The Beast God sighed and said, “We have to form an alliance so that we can respond to the crisis that will highly likely happen in the future. Of course, you’re the Theodore clan’s target of priority grooming, so you can also request for aid from them during moments of danger.”
“Request for aid?”
The Titan Spiritual God gnashed his teeth as he said, “If mere human trash can push me into a corner so badly that I have to request for aid from the clan, then I’d rather die!”
“Kronos, you’re too prideful!”
At the other side…
Meng Lei turned to the black-robed middle-aged man after he defeated the Dark Demonic Dragons. He said, “Actually, you could’ve launched a sneak attack on me when I was fighting them just now.”
“A sneak attack?”
The black-robed middle-aged man dusted off the imaginary dust on his robe and said, “Do you think I need to resort to sneak attacks when it’s you that I’m up against? You think too highly of yourself.”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei narrowed his eyes slightly.
“You should know why I’m here.”
The black-robed middle-aged man said aloofly, “Hand over that thing and offer up your divine spirit origin energy, and I’ll show you some mercy and spare your life.”
“I’ve always been the one saying that in the past. Little did I expect there would come a day when someone else says it to me instead. It’s really like what they say, ‘What goes around comes around’.”
Meng Lei shook his head and chuckled lightly. Then, he said, “I’m returning those very same lines to you instead, though. Get onto your knees, beg for mercy, and offer up your divine spirit origin energy, and I’ll spare your life!”
“You worm, you’re courting death!”
The black-robed middle-aged man’s eyes turned cold. Then he raised his right arm and flicked his fingers. A strong gust of wind shot from his fingers with a whoosh and instantly struck Meng Lei on the chest.
“Ugh!”
As though it were piercing through weak, fragile tofu, it actually pierced through Meng Lei’s terrifyingly and incredibly tough and sturdy divine body that could withstand the Dark Demonic Dragons’ chaotic bombardment of attacks. It made a pitch-dark and bloody hole in him in a split second.
Divine blood flowed out of the wound as severe pain assaulted his nerves. Immense shock came over Meng Lei as he gazed at the bloody hole in his chest.
What a fast and sharp attack! I actually couldn’t react at all!
“Meng Lei, he’s a higher deity!”
Dodola gave him a timely warning.
“A higher deity!”
“He’s actually a higher deity!”
In the sky, a great distance away, a huge jolt went through the Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God at the same time. Looks of incredulity also surfaced in their eyes almost simultaneously.
“That guy is actually a higher deity!”
The Beast God murmured to himself, “I should have thought of that a long time ago. How can an intermediate deity possibly subdue that many Demon God-level subordinates?”
“Just what kind of huge secret is that kid carrying on him? He’s alarmed even a higher deity?”
The Titan Spiritual God found this inconceivable.
“Who knows? In any case, that secret has nothing to do with us anymore.”
The Beast God let out a faint sigh and added, “That kid’s doomed for sure, and the secret on him will also be taken from him.
“Here’s hoping that that higher deity will leave after he’s gotten his hands on the secret. Otherwise, we’ll be in danger.”
The Titan Spiritual God nodded slightly.
…
“Master!”
“Master has been wounded!”
“To think the opponent is actually so strong!”
At the sight of the other party inflicting an injury on Meng Lei with just a single move, blood drained from Sacas, Puhaman, and the others’ faces. Worry and concern filled their eyes.
“I had guessed that you’re a higher deity, but it didn’t occur to me that a higher deity would actually possess such fearsome abilities. This is truly hard to imagine!”
Despite suffering an injury on the chest, Meng Lei didn’t show any fear. Instead, there was even a hint of marvel on his countenance as he remarked, “You surprisingly didn’t disappoint!”
“Worm, I’ll give you a chance.”
The black-robed middle-aged man ordered with an aloof expression on his countenance, “Hand over that thing, and I’ll spare your life!”
“You can say that later instead!”
Meng Lei resumed his human form and said, “The only thing on my mind is having a proper battle with you right now. Come on, show me what a higher deity is capable of!”
“You’re courting death!”
The black-robed middle-aged man’s countenance turned cold, and another strong gust of wind shot toward Meng Lei. However, Meng Lei vanished from where he was without waiting for the gust of wind to hit him this time.
By the time he reappeared, he had already shown up bizarrely behind the black-robed middle-aged man. The Grim Reaper Scythe appeared out of nowhere and swung right at his head.
“It’s useless!”
The black-robed middle-aged man shook his head lightly. As though he had eyes at the back of his head, his head tilted slightly to the side and easily dodged the incredibly sharp Grim Reaper Scythe. Then, he raised his right fist and smashed it behind him, striking Meng Lei right on his chest.
“Ugh!”
A wave of great force assaulted Meng Lei. He felt as if a heavy hammer had hit him on the chest. Intense, severe pain came over him, and he coughed up blood right away.
“Nice one!”
Meng Lei teleported and appeared some distance away. There was blood at the corners of his lips. He said, “Higher deities are indeed powerful and mighty. Looks like normal physical attacks really can’t do anything to you at all.”
“Stop your futile and useless struggling.” The black-robed middle-aged man said aloofly, “The more you struggle, the more despair you’ll only feel.”
“Is that so?”
Meng Lei teleported behind him again. Two bursts of black flames suddenly shot out of his eyes and struck the black-robed middle-aged man.
Boom!
The black flames immediately started to blaze away upon landing and appeared to be spreading.
The black-robed middle-aged man’s expression changed slightly. Black fog rose from his hand. Then, he actually flung away the black flames on him with a casual swipe.
“Netherworld Divine Fire!” The black-robed middle-aged man’s eyes bore into Meng Lei. “You’re a descendant of the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes?”
Meng Lei didn’t answer him. Instead, he was looking at the Netherworld Divine Fire that had been flung aside. He said, “Even the Netherworld Divine Fire is ineffective on you. Looks like I’m really out of options.”
“Stop the meaningless struggles.”
The black-robed middle-aged man said coldly, “I don’t care whether you’re part of the Grim Reapers or a Divine Netherworld Phoenix descendant. Hand over that thing. Otherwise—”
“I had originally intended to kill you and devour your life force so that I can break through to the higher deity stage, but it evidently looks like I can’t do that anymore.”
Meng Lei sighed. “Now that things have come to such a pass, I’ve been forced to use my ultimate skill. System, how much does it cost to plunder his life force?”
“Ding! The target is a higher deity and possesses extremely strong combat power. Plundering his life force requires 6,000,000 Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“What about plundering his divine core?”
“8,000,000 Divinity Crystals.”
“Fine, I won’t plunder. Use Super Enhancement to enhance my divine body instead!”
Whoosh!
" }, { "id": 315, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-315", "title": "Chapter 315 - Endless Regret, Breakthrough To Higher Deity", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“He’s too powerful!”
“Where exactly did that guy come from? Why is he so strong?”
“What should we do now?”
Puhaman, Thaniel, Galen, and the others’ hearts were heavy as they watched the battle taking place in the sky. In fact, despair was even starting to come over them.
Not only did the other party move at lightning-quick speed, but he even had incredible reflexes. Even their master’s specialty move, the Netherworld Divine Fire, had no effect on him. How was Meng Lei supposed to fight him?
“A higher deity! He must be a higher deity! Only higher deities can play Master like a fool!”
“A higher deity?!”
A huge jolt went through all of them.
Higher deities were existences that stood at the pinnacle of the deities. They were undoubtedly extremely powerful even in the vast Void, let alone in a low-end existential plane like Heaven’s Vault Continent.
A higher deity descending upon Heaven’s Vault Continent was just like special forces soldiers descending upon a nursery school. It was no different from a tiger going into a herd of sheep—practically a disaster!
“Everyone, we cannot just sit around and wait for death to befall us!”
Puhaman sounded grave as he said, “Once something untoward happens to Master, none of us will survive, either!”
His words instilled a sense of fearful anxiety in everyone. They rose into the air, intending to attack and assist Meng Lei, but a sudden turn of events unexpectedly took place at this point.
Boom!
As though a hydrogen bomb was going off, an incredibly violent and raging aura suddenly erupted from Meng Lei. It instantly engulfed the area and swept through the surroundings.
“That’s…”
Everyone turned to Meng Lei with expressions of shock and astonishment.
Boom, boom, boom!
As though he had been injected with steroids, the aura around Meng Lei rose and intensified sharply and furiously. Within the span of a few breaths, it had reached an incredibly fearsome state.
Vast, majestic divine power spread from Meng Lei into the surroundings, forming all-reaching energy waves that brazenly swept across all directions with a crushing momentum.
“M-Master has… has broken through again?”
“L-looks like it!”
“How long has it only been since the last time Master had broken through?”
There was a very exciting range of expressions on Puhaman and the others’ faces. Shock, horror, elation, astoundment, agitation, disbelief… Various complex emotions welled up within them.
“He’s actually made a breakthrough in the midst of battle?”
The Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God exchanged a look, both seeing the alarm and horror in each other’s eyes.
Despite having guessed that Meng Lei might break through to become a higher deity before they would, never would they have ever expected him to break through right away!
Just how goddamn *beep* was that?
“A monster! That guy is a total monster!”
The Titan Spiritual God exclaimed, “How long has it only been since he had deified? Yet he’s already breaking through into a higher deity?”
“He’s no monster! The huge secret on him is the true monster instead!”
The Beast God was terribly filled with regret. He said, “Had we known of the secret on him earlier, we would be the ones becoming higher deities now and not him!”
A look of frustration and indignation also surfaced on the Titan Spiritual God’s countenance. Indeed, if they had known about the secret on Meng Lei just a bit earlier and killed him when he was still weak and powerless, how would things have come to such a pass?
“O great Titan Chief God, what exactly have I missed out on?”
…
“A h-higher deity! He’s actually broken through to become a higher deity!”
The Dragon God also looked shocked and horrified. Before he had descended upon Heaven’s Vault Continent, he had fantasized and dreamed about various ways to kill Meng Lei, avenge himself, and erase all the humiliation he had suffered in the past.
But no matter how he fantasized, he had never once imagined the scenario currently taking place in front of him—Meng Lei had actually broken through in the midst of battle!
Oh my goodness!
A higher deity! That was a supreme stage that he didn’t even dare to dream of!
Yet a human whom he saw as weak, powerless, lowly, and cheap had actually broken through to become a higher deity right before his eyes!
How ironic was that?
And how infuriating was that?
“The Tower of Time! He must have used the treasures in the Tower of Time! That’s the only way he could’ve broken through to become a higher deity in such a short time!”
The Dragon God was completely consumed by regret and jealousy. Unlike the Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God, he had once occupied the Tower of Time for a period of time that lasted as long as tens of thousands of years.
Tens of thousands of years!
What a long period of time!
He’d totally had the chance to gain the Tower of Time’s acknowledgment and inherit everything that the God of Time had owned!
That way, the one standing here and showing off today would have been him and not Meng Lei!
And yet…
He hadn’t gained the Tower of Time’s acknowledgment. Instead, he could only watch helplessly as the supreme treasure fell into Meng Lei’s hands and watch helplessly again as Meng Lei became a higher deity ahead of him.
Such regret!
Such indignation!
Such fury!
His emotions were far beyond what the Beast God’s and the Titan Spiritual God’s could compare to.
It was just a shame that there was no cure for regrets in this world and no ‘if’s to speak of. It was too late to say anything anymore.
…
“He’s actually made a breakthrough in the midst of battle!”
The black-robed middle-aged man was just as startled as the others.
The deification journey was filled with obstacles at every step. From a true god to a lesser deity; from a lesser deity to an intermediate deity; from an intermediate deity to a higher deity—every step required a long amount of time, and every step required vast amounts of accumulation.
It wasn’t something that one could break through anytime they wanted.
Breaking through in the midst of battle?
That was something that existed only in fairytales and legends!
Yet a lowly native born in a low-end existential plane had actually broken through to become a higher deity in the midst of battle right under his nose!
This was practically a fantasy story!
The black-robed middle-aged man’s eyes flickered as he thought to himself, “The Tower of Time! It must be the Tower of Time!”
The system’s Super Enhancement didn’t last very long before it ended. A sense of realization welled up in Meng Lei as he took in the changes in his now-entirely different divine body.
“No wonder my divine body simply couldn’t break through even though I had devoured so much life essence!
“No wonder I still needed to spend a whole 3 million Divinity Crystals to use Super Enhancement even though my divine body was already infinitely close to becoming a higher deity’s!
“No wonder the Netherworld Divine Fire that had never once failed me in the past was useless on him!
“All of this is because the gap between an intermediate deity and a higher deity… is simply too great!”
Meng Lei let out a long sigh. An intermediate deity was ultimately still just an intermediate deity. Even if they were at the limits of intermediate deity-level, they were still no higher deity.
“Be it power, speed, endurance, agility, or defense, they are really as different as night and day. There’s no way of comparing them in the same vein at all!”
To sum it up—the difference was really too vast!
Meng Lei looked at the black-robed middle-aged man and said leisurely, “You’ve just caused me to suffer a loss of 3 million Divinity Crystals. I’ll have to make you fork out that sum of money now!”
“You’ve actually broken through!”
The black-robed middle-aged man’s countenance gradually turned icy. He said, “But do you think you can contend against me just because of that? Let me show you that class stratifications exist even among higher deities!”
Whoosh!
His cold and aloof voice was still echoing in the air, but the black-robed middle-aged man had already disappeared from the sky. An instant later, he had already charged right up to Meng Lei.
His palm struck Meng Lei squarely on the chest with just a casual smack. As though a launched cannon, Meng Lei was sent flying right away.
Whoosh!
The black-robed middle-aged man didn’t let Meng Lei off even after successfully landing his attack. He showed up bizarrely behind Meng Lei and punched him right on his back.
Bam!
Meng Lei was sent flying again.
Whoosh!
In the short while that followed, the black-robed middle-aged man attacked continuously. Like a phantom, he appeared and disappeared suddenly, showing up here one moment and there the next.
Meng Lei was completely rendered a punching bag. Fully suppressed by the other party, it seemed like he still had no means of retaliation at all?
" }, { "id": 316, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-316", "title": "Chapter 316 - Clash Of The Greats, Abyss Skeletal Dragon", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 316: Clash Of The Greats, Abyss Skeletal Dragon
“The higher deity is a whole different realm. Assimilating two types of laws of nature is a higher deity. Assimilating five types of laws of nature is also a higher deity. The gap in between is huge!”
The black-robed middle-aged man attacked while he said coldly. “You’ve only just broken through and dare to oppose me already? You have no idea of death!”
After another series of attacks, the black-robed middle-aged man finally stopped. “Little fellow, I’m giving you one last chance. Hand over the Tower of Time and submit to me, and I’ll let you live!”
Meng Lei retreated to afar and let out a long breath suddenly as he looked at the man.
“Although what I’m about to say is a little hurtful, I got to say that your massage was very relaxing and comfortable. I’m very satisfied!”
The black-robed middle-aged man’s face darkened, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes. “Kid, you’re seeking death!”
“Seeking death?”
Meng Lei smiled as he took a step forward and appeared behind the man, pulling out a hard punch.
Boom!
A berserk power exploded, and the black-robed middle-aged man spat out a mouthful of blood. The impact sent him flying forward, and he almost fell flat on his face.
“Cough, cough!”
The black-robed man steadied himself after stumbling. He wiped the blood on his lips and looked at Meng Lei in disbelief. “You… You…”
“Sir, now that’s a true attack!” Meng Lei blew a breath on his fist and continued. “Your attacks… were at most ticklish!”
“Argh!”
The black-robed middle-aged man’s face contorted, and his eyes flamed up. “Lowly worm, you have enraged me. I’ll tear you into pieces!”
Whoosh!
The cold, imposing voice was still reverberating in the air as the man shot a punch toward Meng Lei.
The punch was so immense and swift that it was clear that it was aiming to smash Meng Lei.
“Finally!”
This time, Meng Lei did not play a sandbag anymore and went to meet him with his fists.
Crackle!
Both fists collided like a thunderstruck along with a clear-sounding crackle. Shockwaves ravaged the area, and the air around them turned into a black hole instantly.
Additionally, as the shockwaves traveled further, the black hole expanded at terrifying speed. In a matter of a few breaths, it had already expanded thousands of miles.
Howl!
Time-space fluxes ravaged inside the black hole. Even lesser deities that got sucked in would be mixed into meat sauce.
Hell befell upon the skies of Heaven’s Vault Continent!
However, no one paid attention to the black hole in the sky as everyone fixed their eyes on Meng Lei and the black-robed man as they waited for the result of this clash.
Both of them blasted backward together—Meng Lei only backed off ten meters while the middle-aged man backed off close to a hundred meters.
Ten meters…
A hundred meters…
It was clear who was superior!
“This is impossible!!”
The black-robed middle-aged man was rather hysterical. “You’ve clearly just broken through. How could your divine body be this strong? That’s absolutely illogical!”
He could not believe it—this incarnation was a Demon God.
Demon Gods did not cultivate laws of nature as they only cultivated their demonic bodies, which were much tougher than ordinary higher deities!
Meng Lei was obviously a deity who had just broken through, and yet, Meng Lei’s divine body was stronger than his?
What kind of joke was this?
“You’ve been feeling too good about yourself. Little did you know that you’re the most foolish and ignorant one!”
Meng Lei loosened his neck by twisting it, making crackling sounds. “Today, I’ll let you witness how terrifying my higher deity divine body is!”
Did Super Enhancement enhance Meng Lei’s divine body only?
No!
Of course not!
Look at Meng Lei’s stats!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <26%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat<Youth>, Divine Netherworld Phoenix<Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant<Youth>, Ancient Tree of Life<23%>)
Wealth: 9.1 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Looking at the stats interface, three of Meng Lei’s bloodlines improved to different extents.
The Primordial Human Bloodline was awakened from 16% to 26%, up by 10%.
The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline grew from the Juvenile stage to the Youth stage.
The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline’s assimilation was increased from 13% to 23%, up by 10%.
It was no exaggeration to say that this Super Enhancement did not just enhance Meng Lei’s divine body but also improved these three bloodlines.
The meaning behind this was massive.
One must know that the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline might not be much, but the Primordial Human bloodline and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline were an Ancient God Bloodline!
A solid 10% increase!
“You bastard!”
Having witnessed Meng Lei go from a good-for-nothing to an existence who was more powerful than himself, how could the black-robed man accept it?
“Just die!”
The middle-aged man went insane as he transformed into a 6,000,000-feet-long Colossal Dragon made up of golden skeletons.
Its huge skull, massive wings, humongous body—they were all made up of bones!
Plus, every single bone was golden and inscribed with laws of nature runes. Instead of a creepy vibe, it was filled with a holy and untouchable aura.
On its head, a golden divine fire burned ferociously and gave off a surging divine aura. Including its huge figure, it looked unbeatable.
“Skeletal Dragon!” Meng Lei uttered these two words.
“No! This isn’t any ordinary Skeletal Dragon. It’s the Abyss Skeletal Dragon!”
Dodola’s voice rang. “Meng Lei, the Abyss Skeletal Dragon is pretty powerful. Its bones were incredibly tough and sharp, comparable to high-tier divine weapons! You have to be careful!”
“The Abyss Skeletal Dragon?” Meng Lei nodded. “I understand!”
“Die, you worm!”
As the Abyss Skeletal Dragon roared, its tail made of over a thousand joints of bones whip across the sky, which broke up in the process, reaching Meng Lei instantly.
Smack!
Meng Lei vanished as the skeletal whip only hit his afterimage. Meng Lei teleported above the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s head and stomped his foot on the skull with great force.
Bam!
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon stumbled.
Meng Lei was unforgiving upon gaining momentum. He teleported to the back, grabbing its tail, and tossed the Abyss Skeletal Dragon out with a swing.
“Again!”
Meng Lei garnered power into his right wrist and punched the skull. A cracking sound echoed, and cracks appeared on the Skeletal Dragon’s skull.
“It’s not that tough after all!”
Meng Lei sneered and disappeared again.
Bam, bam, bam!
A similar scene occurred but with a different main character:
Meng Lei appeared here and there from time to time and dominated the Abyss Skeletal Dragon, turning it into his sandbag.
Roar!
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon repeatedly roared in frustration as he panicked. Meng Lei’s fists were much heavier than his own just now, and almost every of Meng Lei’s punches could crack his bones which made the Abyss Skeletal Dragon feel that it was on the verge of breaking apart.
Meng Lei ceased his attacks and said calmly. “It seems that this is all there is for a so-called Abyss Skeletal Dragon!”
“Die!”
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon roared angrily as two rows of rib bones left its body. They turned into a torrent of piercing arrows and shot toward Meng Lei.
“Freeze,” Meng Lei said calmly.
Whoosh!
The ribs stopped dead in mid-air.
“This is… God’s Domain? No, it’s the Power of Existential Plane!” The Abyss Skeletal Dragon exclaimed. “You’re the master of this existential plane!”
“Bingo!”
" }, { "id": 317, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-317", "title": "Chapter 317 - The Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, Making A Killing", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 317: The Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, Making A Killing
“You’re actually the master of the existential plane!”
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon had an awful look on his face. He had a rather strong feeling that things seemed to bode ill now. He was also a master of another existential plane himself and thus knew very well just how powerful a master of an existential plane was.
It was no exaggeration to say that “higher deity status” + “master of existential plane status” + “currently in their own existential plane” = “strong and invincible”!
The words “strong and invincible” were no joke. As long as a pinnacle-level higher deity or a Great Perfection-level deity didn’t show up, the master of the existential plane would undoubtedly be an invincible existence.
“Therefore, your fate has been destined from the very moment you stepped into Heaven’s Vault Continent.” Meng Lei held his hands behind his back and said, “And that is… To offer up your life!”
“So, you want to kill me? Not so easy!” the Abyss Skeletal Dragon roared. It easily shook off the Power of Existential Plane’s hold on it with a strong jerk from its body.
As a Great Demon God on par with a higher deity, it was very hard for Power of Existential Plane to imprison him for long. The skill could only trap him for two to three seconds before he would succeed in shaking it off.
“Human deity, I’ll remember you!”
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon gave Meng Lei a long, deep gaze. Then, he broke the dimension, created a black hole in the air with a light smack from its claws, and dived into it.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shake his head. He said, “Coming and going as and when you please… What do you take this place for? Your mistress’ residence?”
Meng Lei had only just spoken when he teleported right in front of the black hole. He grabbed the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s tail in one motion and dragged it out of the black hole.
“You bastard!”
The golden divine fire inside the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s skull shook fiercely for a while and gave off furious divine spirit energy fluctuations.
“Human deity, you’re going too far!”
“Let’s cut the crap!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort and waved dismissively. He said, “I’ll give you a chance. If you hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me, you live. If not… You die!”
Roar!
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon roared, “I’m part of the noble Colossal Dragon Gods. How can I possibly submit to a cheap and lowly inferior native life form like you? Dream on!”
“Go to hell, then!”
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to say any more. He teleported right in front of the Abyss Skeletal Dragon, concentrated raging power into his right fist, and threw it out.
Crack!
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon wanted to duck, but Power of Existential Plane descended upon him at a timely moment and imprisoned him where he was.
During this momentary freeze in motion, Meng Lei’s fist successfully connected with his skull.
Crack!
The golden skull cracked at once. Densely-packed cracks formed, and then it broke apart with a boom—the punch had actually directly blasted it apart.
Without the skull, the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s divine fire lost its vessel and was separated from the gigantic dragon body right away, resulting in the body plummeting straight toward the ground.
Given his 6,000,000-feet-long body, should he crash onto the ground, the destruction the crash would cause would definitely in no way be any less serious than the moon plummeting onto Earth.
“Collect!”
Meng Lei naturally would never allow something like that to happen. He collected and stored the enormous skeletal dragon body into the Tower of Time with a grand wave, thereby preventing a catastrophic disaster from happening.
For a moment, a bunch of golden-color divine fire flames was the only thing left floating in mid-air. It let out a hysterical roar of hatred and fury, “You cheap, lowly native! How dare you destroy my divine incarnation! I’ll fight to the death with you!”
“Hah, I welcome you to offer up your head anytime!” Meng Lei scoffed. Then, he tapped the air lightly with his index finger and commanded, “Freeze!”
Power of Existential Plane descended again, and the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s golden divine fire was trapped to the spot at once. Meng Lei easily pulled the golden divine fire over to himself with a casual wave of his arm.
It was evident what happened next.
Meng Lei released his divine spirit’s power and turned and twisted the golden divine fire into a jumbled mess amid the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s sad and shrill screams. Then, he started to read its memories.
“Ambrose Haber? An elder from the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods clan in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm?”
As he read his memories, Meng Lei gradually also received information about the black-robed middle-aged man.
As it turned out, the black-robed middle-aged man was an elder from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s Haber Colossal Dragon Gods clan.
As one of the most powerful godly clans, traces of the Colossal Dragon Gods could be found in billions of existential planes. They had offshoots and descendants in both the supreme Celestial Realm as well as billions of other existential planes.
The Haber Colossal Dragon Gods were the Colossal Dragon Gods’ offshoot in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm. In terms of strength, they were no weaker than the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s Theodore clan.
Not only did the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods have a Great Perfection-level deity protecting them, but they even boasted the lofty presence of a Chief God, thereby making them one of the most powerful forces in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.
As for the black-robed middle-aged man, he was an elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, and his true body had already assimilated four types of basic laws of nature.
This particular Abyss Skeletal Dragon was just a spare demonic incarnation that he had created so that he could descend upon low-end existential planes with ease and convenience when he needed to handle emergencies.
“To think the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods are actually so strong!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath. He didn’t fear the black-robed middle-aged man—in other words, Ambrose—at all. He was just a higher deity that had assimilated four types of basic laws of nature, that was all.
What Meng Lei held reservations about was instead the huge monstrosity that was the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods!
They had a Chief God protecting them!
The two words, “Chief God,” were more than enough to instill restraining fear in Meng Lei.
“Looks like I’d better not step into the Thunderbolt Divine Realm before I can contend with a Chief God,” murmured Meng Lei softly.
He had offended Ambrose through and through this time, after all.
Of course, what was the most important here was still the Tower of Time. That thing was a treasure that even Chief Gods would covet. It was hard to guarantee that others wouldn’t try to seize it from him.
Meng Lei took Ambrose’s spatial ring after he was done with reading his memories. Although the skeletal dragon was just his demonic incarnation, he had nevertheless carried quite a fair amount of treasures on him.
The spatial ring had an astonishingly huge capacity, and one couldn’t even see to the end with one glance. It was evident that an existential plane fragment had been sealed within it, which was why there was such a huge space inside.
Piled up inside the vast and boundless dimension were innumerable densely-packed treasures.
There were mountains of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, mountains of elemental crystals, and mountains of god and demon dead bodies.
There were also various highly valuable herbs, magic materials, divine weapons, magic crystals, and so on.
All the treasures gave off strong, surging power of divinity energy waves, and every one of them was a priceless treasure. Meng Lei couldn’t stop staring at them right at first glance…
“I’ve struck gold! I’ve struck gold this time!” Meng Lei was practically drooling as he said, “System, collect the Divinity Crystals and the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. Take everything that can be taken!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
His Wealth began to spike madly!
9.2 million Divinity Crystals… 9.3 million Divinity Crystals…
10 million Divinity Crystals… 11 million Divinity Crystals…
In under ten seconds, his Wealth had increased by a whole 14.2 million Divinity Crystals and spiked dramatically to a total of 23.3 million Divinity Crystals. Not only had it made up for the previous 3 million Divinity Crystals spent, but he had even gained an additional 9 million Divinity Crystals and more!
He had undoubtedly made a profit!
“Robbery is the best way to gain riches indeed!” Meng Lei was filled with great emotion. Then, he continued to check out the treasures inside the spatial ring.
The space inside the spatial ring had been considerably freed up after he collected the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and Divinity Crystals.
Meng Lei then transferred and stored the elemental crystals in the spatial ring into the Tower of Time. With that, the spatial ring became even more spacious.
“Next up are the god and demon dead bodies.”
Meng Lei picked out dead bodies of intermediate deity-level and above for his own use and gave the true god-level and lesser deity-level ones to the little golden tree.
Yep, I’ll take the good ones while you take the dregs. Good for me, good for you, and good for everybody!
What came after were the vast amounts of herbs and magic materials. These things were of no use to Meng Lei, so he naturally gave them all to the little golden tree for its enjoyment instead.
Without the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Divinity Crystals, god and demon dead bodies and remains, herbs, and magic materials inside, the space inside the spatial ring became even wider and more spacious.
Meng Lei could also see the contents more clearly now—among the few treasures left, the most dazzling one was undoubtedly a pile of colorful divine cores. There weren’t a lot of them, but they nevertheless added up to a considerable quantity of a few tens of thousands.
" }, { "id": 318, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-318", "title": "Chapter 318 - Dealing With The Dragon God, Mid-End Existential Planes", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 318: Dealing With The Dragon God, Mid-End Existential Planes
“Who would have thought that things would turn out like that!”
The Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God floated in the air a great distance away. Both were sporting exceptionally awful looks on their faces. The scene unfolding before their eyes had completely exceeded their expectations.
Not only had Meng Lei broken through in the midst of battle, but he had even slain the Great Demon God-level Abyss Skeletal Dragon.
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
After a long period of dead silence, the Titan Spiritual God was still the one that chose to break the silence first. He asked, “What should we do now, Haylem?”
Meng Lei’s breakthrough had given him a huge sense of crisis. Not only had he offended Meng Lei before, but he even owned territories that amounted to over 100 existential planes!
Would Meng Lei even let him off?
“Now that things have come to such a pass, we have no other choice now.” The Beast God sighed and said, “We can only offer him our sincerity and maintain friendly relations with him.”
“Maintain friendly relations with him?”
The Titan Spiritual God’s facial features twitched, wishing that he could throw a punch at the Beast God and kill him.
Not only have you never freaking offended Meng Lei before, but you also own only a few territories! If you curry a little favor with him, maybe he’ll let you off.
But what about me?
Would he let me off?
…
“Lord Ambrose has actually died!”
The Dragon God was also filled with immense shock and horror. He had fantasized about the operation’s various possible outcomes but never had he ever thought that the final outcome would turn out like this.
All 50 Dark Demonic Dragons had died, and even Ambrose, who was a higher deity, had also died!
They had been annihilated!
Just how fierce and desperate had the battle been?
Meng Lei gazed at the Dragon God, who was floating in the sky all alone. He said leisurely with a smile, “O Your Holiness the great Dragon God, you probably never imagined that things would turn out like this before you had descended upon Heaven’s Vault Continent with Ambrose and the others, right?”
“L-lord Meng Lei!”
The Dragon God gave him a smile that looked worse than a grimace. He trembled like a leaf and shook in his boots.
“Don’t worry. You won’t be able to escape even when they’re already dead.” Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Let’s go and have a little tour around your divine nation. I’ll send you on your way, too!”
“My d-divine nation?”
The Dragon God shuddered all over. At once, he dispelled his divinity projection and vanished into the air. He had to make his escape and leave as soon as possible!
In the event that Meng Lei successfully locked on to his divine nation’s location via his divinity projection, he would be totally finished and would never have the chance to ever make a comeback again.
“Dodola, you should have locked on to the Dragon God’s divine nation by now, right?” Meng Lei asked calmly.
“Don’t worry!”
Dodola smiled and replied, “The Dragon God’s divine nation is in the cluster of floating continents right outside Heaven’s Vault Continent. It’s very near Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“Wonderful!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “Bring me there!”
“Alright!”
…
Outside Heaven’s Vault Continent was the boundless Void. It was a place like outer space. There were no magic elements and no air there. The only things there were turbulent, havoc-wreaking space-time fluxes and meteors with only dead silence around them.
Some of these meteors were bigger than even continents. Hence they were also known as floating continents. There was a densely-packed cluster of them right outside the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane.
Much like asteroid belts that orbited around the sun, these floating continents also orbited around the Heaven’s Vault Continent existential plane. They orbited in a messy and disorderly manner yet did not interfere with one another.
“Most deities would usually choose floating continents like these to build their divine nations on.”
Dodola explained, “Not only are these floating continents exceedingly tough and sturdy, but they are also extremely huge, hence making them exceptionally wonderful places to build divine nations on.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. When looking at them from afar, the floating continents looked just like meteors. However, when one went nearer, they would realize that some of them were astonishingly huge and were therefore indeed very suitable to build divine nations on.
“The best place to build divine nations on aren’t floating continents, though.” A smiling Dodola said, “Make a guess—where’s the best place to build a divine nation?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow at the question. After a moment of musing, he answered, “Although a divine nation is a deity’s base, they are still a world in essence. Rather than paying a huge price to modify a lifeless floating continent, one might as well just directly occupy a material plane instead.”
At this point, Meng Lei frowned and added, “The only inadequacy is that material planes are too small. They don’t seem to be able to house that many worshipers.”
The main purpose of a deity’s divine nation was ultimately to house their pious worshipers’ souls after their deaths and reconstruct bodies for them so that they could continue to provide power of faith for them. At the end of the day, it ultimately still couldn’t get away from the three words “power of faith”.
By developing a material plane into a divine nation, one would be able to dispense with an infinite amount of modification work, of course. However, material planes were only that big. They might be sufficient for true gods and lesser deities, but for intermediate deities and especially for higher deities, they were indeed too small. There wasn’t enough space.
One must know that higher deities usually owned almost 100 existential planes’ worth of power of faith domains. How many worshipers died each day? Over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, how many worshipers would die?
How could a material plane possibly house all of them?
Therefore, material planes were certainly suitable to be used as divine nations, but they were too small!
“Bingo, material planes are indeed ready-made divine nations. You need only to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane, and you’ll be in absolute control in your existential plane.”
A smiling Dodola said, “There are certainly issues about insufficient space in the case of material planes. Therefore, that makes mid-end existential planes the most perfect places to build divine nations on!”
“Mid-end existential planes?”
Meng Lei was a little taken aback.
“Yes, mid-end existential planes!”
Dodola smiled and explained, “All things are classified into various grades and ranks, and the same goes for existential planes. There are half-planes where laws of nature are flawed and incomplete, low-end material planes where laws of nature are whole, as well as vast, boundless high-end existential planes.
“However, in between low-end material planes and high-end existential planes exist also the mid-end existential planes.
“Mid-end existential planes are inferior to high-end existential planes in terms of the vastness of size, richness of magic elements, and laws of nature’ degree of clarity, but are far superior to low-end existential planes.
“And the most important factor,” Dodola turned to Meng Lei with a shrewd glint in its eyes, “There are far more mid-end existential planes than high-end ones. In fact, as long as you can afford it, you can even buy mid-end existential planes, as well as their seeds!”
“Y-you can buy them?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Of course! However, they are very hard to find.”
Dodola let out a sneaky laugh and said, “My master, the God of Time, managed to buy a mid-end existential plane seed back then and subsequently nurtured it into his divine nation. Its size is easily a million times that of a low-end material plane’s!”
“A million times?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “How big must that be?”
“Very big! Extremely big!”
A smiling Dodola said, “Thus, the value of a mid-end existential plane is priceless. Most typical higher deities can’t afford them, even if they were to spend their whole fortune. Mid-end existential plane seeds come slightly cheaper, though, but they still aren’t something that the average higher deity can afford, either.”
“What a shame! I can’t afford one.”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but sigh. He was just a higher deity born in a native existential plane. In terms of family fortune, he was definitely the poorest among the higher deities!
Buy a mid-end existential plane?
He wouldn’t be able to afford it even if they chopped him up and sold him in bits and pieces!
“You don’t need to buy one,” Dodola gave him a mysterious smile, “Have you forgotten that I have a high-end existential plane seed in my hands?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes and replied, “Of course I remember that. Didn’t you say that I was too weak and not qualified enough to nurture that high-end existential plane?”
“That was then, but this is now.”
Dodola smiled at him and said, “Back then, you were just a tiny little Saint Domain. Naturally, you wouldn’t qualify. But you’re already a higher deity, so the time has come!”
“Do you mean to say that I can nurture that high-end existential plane seed now?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up like light bulbs. After all, it was said that high-end existential planes could nurture Chief God divine cores!
" }, { "id": 319, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-319", "title": "Chapter 319 - World-Breaching Transfer, Spatial Laws Of Nature", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 319: World-Breaching Transfer, Spatial Laws of Nature
As the name indicated, high-end existential plane seeds were things that could grow and mature into high-end existential planes.
Once fully nurtured, Meng Lei would gain a high-end existential plane and world similar to high-end existential planes like the ten major Divine Realms, the Demon Realm, the Abyss, and Hell.
Additionally, high-end existential planes were also rumored to produce Chief God divine cores!
A Chief God divine core!
How precious a supreme treasure was that?
It was the only proof that could show that one had become a Chief God!
Without a Chief God divine core, one could forget about becoming a Chief God, no matter how astonishing and talented they were.
Thus, Meng Lei naturally had his heart extremely set on nurturing a high-end existential plane seed.
Meng Lei asked rather eagerly, “Where’s the high-end existential plane seed, Dodola?”
Dodola gave him a mysterious smile and flapped its wings at the grasslands beneath its feet. Then, a peach-like object broke through the ground and flew right up to the duo.
The “peach” wasn’t very big, and fascinating patterns covered its surface. Just like a normal peach, it was simple and unadorned, with absolutely nothing extraordinary about it.
Meng Lei took it from Dodola and asked excitedly, “So, this is a high-end existential plane seed?”
“Yes, that’s right. This is the high-end existential plane seed that the God of Time had obtained using his life in exchange,” replied Dodola with a slight nod as a hint of grief and sorrow flashed across its eyes.
“I offer my thanks to the noble God of Time.”
Meng Lei sighed. Then, he asked, “Dodola, how do I nurture this thing?”
“All the current existing high-end existential planes had formed naturally. Therefore, no one knows exactly how to go about nurturing this existential plane seed.”
Then, Dodola added with a frown, “However, I know the way to nurture a mid-end existential plane seed. You can reference it a little.”
Meng Lei hurriedly asked, “How do I nurture it?”
“By using your power of divinity!”
Dodola explained, “Existential plane seeds are in hibernation mode in the beginning. However, they are capable of absorbing power of divinity. Thus, you can use your power of divinity to nurture the seed.”
“My power of divinity?”
Meng Lei did as Dodola instructed. He held the existential plane seed in his hands, summoned a power of divinity droplet, and sent it toward the seed.
The existential plane seed was initially like an inanimate object and didn’t look much different from an ordinary peach. However, as Meng Lei activated his power of divinity, the seed seemingly also sensed it. A devouring force emanated from its surface and absorbed the power of divinity droplet in Meng Lei’s hands.
As though a stone was sinking into the ocean, the absorption of the divinity droplet’s power elicited no response from the existential plane seed. In spite of that, Meng Lei was overjoyed. The fact that it had absorbed the power of divinity indicated that the method was indeed effective.
“Again!”
Meng Lei released quite a few power of divinity droplets in succession, which the existential plane seed devoured without fail. However, it still elicited no other response from the seed, and the seed didn’t show any changes.
“Again!”
“Again!”
Soon, the 200 Divinity Crystals’ worth of power of divinity that Meng Lei usually had stored up were fully depleted. Yet, there were still no changes in the existential plane seed.
“As expected of a high-end existential plane seed. It has an astonishingly huge appetite indeed! This is great!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath. He wasn’t that concerned about it. Were it that easy to nurture it, it wouldn’t have been a high-end existential plane seed anymore.
“You saw that, right? It’s absorbed so much of your power of divinity, yet there’s no reaction whatsoever.”
Dodola joked, “Now you know how difficult it is to nurture that thing, don’t you?”
Meng Lei nodded and replied, “It’s certainly very difficult. Looks like I’ll have to do my best to earn more money now.”
“Earn more money?”
Dodola was confused by his words.
“Because only by earning more money will I gain more power of divinity!”
The duo chatted idly as they traveled. At last, they arrived in front of a floating continent.
Dodola pointed at it and said, “The Dragon God’s divine nation is in the internal structure of this continent.”
Meng Lei released his divine cognition and let it permeate into the floating continent’s internal structure. True enough, he found a divine nation there. At once, Meng Lei brought Dodola with him and teleported inside it.
It was a golden world. Golden skies, golden lands, golden mountain peaks… Even the plants were golden.
“This is the Dragon God’s divine nation.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips as he said, “I’ll see where you can escape this time, Dragon God!”
His divine cognition spread into the surroundings and instantly enveloped the whole area, almost ten million miles of where they were. Everything within the range was reflected clearly in Meng Lei’s mind.
Innumerable worshipers lived within the divine nation. There were Colossal Dragons, humans, Beast People, as well as a small number of Titans and Fairies.
All of them were people whose souls the Dragon God had led and guided to the divine nation after their deaths. Their bodies were subsequently also reconstructed. They had near-eternal lifespans and could endlessly provide power of faith.
“Eh? The Dragon God is actually not here!”
Meng Lei teleported to somewhere ten million miles away and continued to check the area.
Approximately half an hour later, Meng Lei had looked through the whole divine nation, yet he still didn’t find traces of the Dragon God.
“He’s escaped!”
Meng Lei had a rather awful look on his face. The Dragon God was weak, so he didn’t think much of him. However, the Dragon God had tried to scheme and plot against him by every possible means. This greatly displeased Meng Lei, so he absolutely had to kill the Dragon God, yet he had actually escaped.
“Don’t panic. He’s likely only just escaped, so he couldn’t have gone far.” Dodola gave him a confident smile and said, “Let me look for him!”
Then, Dodola closed its eyes and began to try to sense the Dragon God’s presence. A brief moment later, it opened its eyes. A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Dodola’s lips, and it said, “Fortunately, he hasn’t gone far yet.”
Meng Lei quickly asked, “Where is he?”
“I’ll bring you over, so don’t resist!”
Dodola gave him a smile, and then it released its divine cognition and enveloped Meng Lei within. By the time the duo reappeared, they were already within the vast and boundless Void.
Another floating continent appeared before their eyes.
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “Where are we?”
“Somewhere a few hundred million miles from the Dragon God’s divine nation, I guess.” Dodola smiled and said, “The Dragon God whom you’re looking for is hiding right within that floating continent.”
“A few hundred million miles away?” Meng Lei gasped. “You’ve actually teleported such a great distance away during the one moment just now?”
“No, this isn’t teleportation.” Dodola shook its head. “Rather, it’s the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique.”
“The Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique?”
Meng Lei was taken aback.
“It’s a kind of spatial secret art.” Dodola explained, “Only those that have comprehended some spatial laws of nature can practice it. Once it reaches Great Mastery-level, one will become able to go anywhere they want in the whole wide universe.”
“Anywhere they want in the whole wide universe? What a fearsome secret art!” Meng Lei was astounded. He urged, “Dodola, you’ve gotta teach me that!”
“You’re interested in learning it? We’ll talk about this again when you’ve comprehended spatial laws of nature instead.” Dodola rolled its eyes and said dryly, “Do you think the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique is something that just anyone can pick up?”
“In that case, that means you’ve managed to comprehend spatial laws of nature?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei. His eyes bore into Dodola as he said, “Spatial laws of nature are one of the five currently known supreme laws of nature.
“I remember you mentioning that one can only comprehend spatial laws of nature if they’ve fully comprehended the five basic laws of nature—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—and integrated them into one.
“Could it be that you’re a Great Perfection expert? And on top of that, you’re one that has comprehended spatial laws of nature?”
“I’m not a Great Perfection expert,” replied Dodola with a shake of its head.
Meng Lei frowned and said, “The fact that you can cast the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique shows that you’ve already comprehended spatial laws of nature. Since that is so, then why aren’t you a Great Perfection expert?”
“Meng Lei, you’re mistaken.”
A smiling Dodola shook its head and replied, “Normally, it is indeed true that only those that have fully comprehended the five basic laws of nature that are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and integrated them into one would be able to comprehend spatial laws of nature. However, apart from that, there are actually also other methods of achieving it.”
“What methods are they?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“Comprehending a spatial laws of nature fragment!”
" }, { "id": 320, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-320", "title": "Chapter 320 - 500 Existential Planes, The Down And Out Dragon God", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 320: 500 Existential Planes, The Down And Out Dragon God
“A spatial laws of nature fragment?”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback. Did spatial laws of nature fragments exist in this world?
He frequently picked up the ten basic elements’ laws of nature fragments and had even picked up quite a few fusion laws of nature fragments before. However, he had never picked up supreme laws of nature fragments—such as spatial laws of nature fragments—before!
So, did supreme laws of nature fragments exist?
“Compared to basic elements’ laws of nature fragments, supreme laws of nature fragments are extremely rare. They are rarer than even Chief Gods and Great Perfection-level experts. However, every one of them is a priceless treasure. They are usually in the possession of Great Perfection-level experts and Chief Gods. How can ordinary deities possibly come into contact with them?”
Dodola explained, “In truth, even fusion laws of nature fragments are extremely rare and valuable, let alone supreme laws of nature fragments. Moreover, the more types of laws of nature the fragment has infused, the rarer and more valuable they are.”
Dodola turned to Meng Lei and said, “Take the Beast God, for example. If he had a double-elemental laws of nature fragment, wouldn’t he have been able to break through to become a higher deity?
“But the reality is that he doesn’t.
“Even a great pinnacle-level intermediate deity can’t get his hands on a double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragment. From this, you can easily imagine just how rare fusion laws of nature fragments are.”
“That is certainly so.”
Meng Lei expressed agreement with Dodola’s views. This was something that he could sort of tell from the laws of nature fragments that he had picked up in the past.
He frequently picked up basic laws of nature fragments, but double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments were a lot more uncommon.
There were even fewer triple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments than that.
At the moment, he had only picked up one quadruple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragment, which was an ice-metal-dark-fire fusion.
As for quintuple-elemental ones, he didn’t even have a single one!
The more elements there were infused in the fragment, the rarer they were, indeed.
“Dodola, since your spatial laws of nature comprehension was gained through comprehending a spatial laws of nature fragment, then what happened to that spatial laws of nature fragment after that? Where is it?”
Meng Lei’s eyes shone brightly. Laws of nature fragments were just like textbooks of knowledge, and comprehending the laws of nature within them was comparable to learning the knowledge recorded in the textbooks. Laws of nature fragments would continue to exist even after one had comprehended them.
“What are you asking that for?”
Dodola raised an eyebrow.
“Give it to me!” Meng Lei said excitedly, “As long as I can get that spatial laws of nature fragment, I’ll have a way to comprehend spatial laws of nature!”
“You’re imagining things.”
A slight jolt went through Dodola, and it said, “That spatial laws of nature fragment is indeed with me, but as a form of supreme laws of nature, spatial laws of nature are billions and trillions of times more complex and profound than basic laws of nature. It’s not something that you can comprehend.”
“Say no more and just give it to me.” Meng Lei snickered and said, “Of course, if you also have other laws of nature fragments on you—such as quadruple-elemental or quintuple-elemental ones, or even supreme laws of nature fragments—you can also give them all to me!”
“Dream on!”
Dodola had a wary look all over its face as it said, “I don’t mind telling you this—there are indeed quite a few laws of nature fragments of various types among the assets that the great God of Time left behind.
“But all of them belong to the God of Time. Before you pass the God of Time’s trial, I can’t give them to you!”
“Dodola, you’re too inflexible.”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless. He said, “The God of Time has already fallen a long time ago. The so-called trial is also something that you’ve randomly set up. What sort of meaning does it even hold for me? Don’t you try bluffing me!”
Dodola sneered. “By the great God of Time’s order, one must pass the relevant trial before they can inherit all his assets. Otherwise, they can forget about even entertaining the thought!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes and said, “Dodola, why are you so inflexible?”
“My life was bestowed upon me by the great God of Time. I will never defy his orders.” Dodola snorted and said, “It still goes back to the same old thing. If you wish to obtain the spatial laws of nature fragment and everything that belonged to the great God of Time, then you must pass the trial first!”
“You’re really so…” Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to argue any further. He said, “So, tell me, what other trials are there?”
The first trial was to gain the Dragon God Empire’s people’s faith within 10,000 years. He had undoubtedly aced that with flying colors.
Dodola’s eyes swiveled about round and round. After a moment of contemplation, it said, “You’re already a higher deity now. As a powerful higher deity, how can you not own power of faith domains that complement your status?”
“So?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and prompted Dodola further.
“Your second trial is—expand your territory, occupy at least 100 material planes, and make them your, a higher deity’s, power of faith domains!” answered a smiling Dodola.
“100 power of faith domains?” Meng Lei frowned slightly. “Where am I supposed to find and occupy that many existential planes?”
“It’s very simple!”
Dodola snickered and said, “Within an approximate range of 100 lightyears around Heaven’s Vault Continent exists many material planes that numbers definitely no fewer than 500. Among them are also the Beast God’s and the Titan Spiritual God’s power of faith domains.”
“Lightyears?”
Meng Lei was surprised. Did the concept of lightyears also exist in this world?
“Lightyears are a unit of distance. It refers to the distance that light travels in a straight line in one year in the Void and measures about one trillion kilometers.”
Dodola explained, “The Void is endless and boundless, so the units of measurement for length in Heaven’s Vault Continent evidently won’t be suitable for use when it comes to the Void.”
“Fair enough!”
Meng Lei nodded. Then, he asked, “Do you mean to say that there are another 500-odd material planes within 100 lightyears of Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
“Yes, that’s right. 100 lightyears covers an extremely vast area and is enough to contain too many material planes. 500 existential planes are already considered very few and sparsely distributed.”
Dodola nodded slightly and added, “Additionally, almost all of those material planes are controlled by true gods, with the Beast God and the Titan Spiritual God being two among them.
“As the saying goes, ‘If one doesn’t take what the heavens bestow upon them, misfortune brought about by it would instead befall them’!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward and formed a smile. He said, “Since I’ve already become a higher deity, then it naturally follows that those material planes should also become my power of faith domains.”
“Work hard, then!” A smiling Dodola said, “As a higher deity, it doesn’t make sense if you don’t have enough power of faith domains to match your status.
“We’ll talk about this again later. For now, let’s deal with the stinky bug that is the Dragon God!”
Meng Lei turned to the floating continent in front of him.
…
“Ambrose is really a piece of trash!
“He’s a great higher deity, yet a cheap b*stard that’s only just broken through killed him!
“Trash! They are all trash!”
Someone had excavated a fairly wide and spacious cave in the deepest depths of the floating continent.
Embedded in the walls all around were all sorts of gleaming and glittering jewels and crystals. They decorated the whole cave and made it a fine and glorious sight. It looked beautiful and dazzling.
A shiny gold rug was laid out on the ground. A muscular middle-aged man sat limply on it and drowned his sorrows in alcohol while grumbling aloud.
That man was exactly the Dragon God himself.
“It’s finished! All finished! My divine nation and all my years of savings. They are all gone!”
The Dragon God downed a jar of wine, his eyes brimming with grief, sorrow, and indignation.
After Meng Lei had killed Ambrose, upon seeing that things had soured, he had immediately taken all the savings that he could hold on himself and fled from his divine nation. He had abandoned even his divine nation and the innumerable worshipers inside.
A divine nation and worshipers were undoubtedly extremely crucial to a deity. Without them, not only were all his years of work in managing them gone with the wind but he, as a deity, had also lost his roots.
If not driven to the most desperate of circumstances, who would resort to something like that?
“That cheap b*stard, it’s all his fault!”
The hysterical Dragon God’s eyes were bloodshot. “When I’ve tided over this crisis, I’ll definitely make you pay a heavy and painful price for that! I must throw you into a situation that’s one hundred… No, ten thousand times worse than mine…”
“What a shame. I’m afraid you won’t have the opportunity to do that anymore.”
" }, { "id": 321, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-321", "title": "Chapter 321 - The Fall Of The Dragon God, The Frost Gods", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 321: The Fall Of the Dragon God, The Frost Gods
“It’s just a pity that you won’t get this chance anymore!”
A cold voice rang, and the Dragon God bounced up immediately. His face turned pale and colorless. “Meng… Meng Lei!”
He might not be that familiar with other’s voices, but Meng Lei’s voice was so distinct that he would never forget it—that was a nightmarish existence!
Meng Lei appeared in the cave and looked at the ghastly pale Dragon God. “Dragon God, so we meet again, or I should say, we’ve finally met.”
He had only seen the divinity projection previously, so this was the first time Meng Lei saw the Dragon God’s true self. Hence, it was indeed their first actual meeting.
“What… What do you want?” The Dragon God quivered as his voice trembled.
“What do I want?” Meng Lei replied indifferently. “You have consistently opposed me and even wanted me dead. How about you tell me what I want?”
“S-spare me!”
The Dragon God dropped onto his knees with a thud as he kowtowed again and again. “Lord Meng Lei, I was wrong. I beg for your mercy and let me live…”
Meng Lei looked down at the Dragon God, kneeling and begging with many emotions running through his mind. A few years ago, the Dragon God had been a deity far above anyone in the Dragon God Empire—he was worshiped by many, and its prestige was unrivaled in the empire.
While Meng Lei was just a nobody who had just left the novice village and had to bow in respect to the statue of the Dragon God, otherwise, it would have been a grave offense.
Yet, the great figure that he once looked up to was now a miserable fellow on his knees begging for mercy.
How ironic was that?
“A King from the past has fallen into Bronze, and the Bronze in the past has risen to become a King[1].”
The speed of how things could change in life was a blur!
“It’s too late to ask for forgiveness now!”
Meng Lei pointed his finger, and a hole appeared on the Dragon God’s head. The body went stiff and fell straight down. He was truly dead.
Meng Lei waved his hands and kept the Dragon God’s carcass. He took off his spatial ring and started checking. The Dragon God was indeed a pauper with little Divinity Crystals and other treasures. Meng Lei lost interest after only a glance.
“Time to go back.”
Meng Lei and Dodola returned to the Dragon God’s divine nation. With the Dragon God’s death, this vast divine nation had begun to show signs of collapse.
“Dodola, how long does it take for the Dragon God’s divine nation to collapse?” Meng Lei asked casually.
“It can be as short as 1,000 years or as long as 10,000 years,” Dodola replied as it looked around and seemed to be searching for something.
After a while, Dodola smiled. “It is really there. It seems I’ve guessed it right!”
“What?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“The Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle.” Dodola laughed. “Come on. I’ll show you!”
Whoosh!
In the next second, they arrived at a majestic mountain top. It was extremely flat, and a magic circle of an incredible size was drawn here, while the center of the magic circle was constructed with Divinity Crystals.
“This is the Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle, Ambrose and those 50 Dark Demonic Dragons descended through this thing.” Dodola smiled as it explained, “The Thunderbolt Divine Realm was too far away from Heaven’s Vault Continent, which could not be reached through ordinary teleportation magic circles. Only the Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle can do so.”
“So for existential planes that are too far away from each other, they use this to link up. That’s something new!” Meng Lei realized.
“Duh!”
Dodola laughed. “Wait till you conquer more territories, and you’ll need to use this Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle for every existential plane.”
“You’re right, so I must learn this!”
Meng Lei sat above the teleportation magic circle at once to study it.
“Meng Lei, how are you going to deal with this teleportation magic circle?” Dodola reminded him.
Meng Lei understood what it meant. “You’re worried that Ambrose will bring in reinforcements for revenge?”
“One can never be too careful. Ambrose has just taken a hard fall. How can he take it? We should just destroy it.”
Dodola reminded again, “Plus, the Tower of Time. It’s something that even Chief Gods might be vying for, so keeping this teleportation magic circle will ultimately be problematic!”
“The Tower of Time…”
Meng Lei went silent. If it was just between him and Ambrose, Meng Lei was not too worried about that.
Ambrose could come all he wanted. Why would Meng Lei be afraid?
It was exactly what he would have hoped for, as he could earn a fortune from it.
However, when it concerned the Tower of Time, things would be complicated. Its attraction was too great, so what if a Chief God was attracted here?
“Destroy it then!”
Meng Lei ultimately destroyed the Great Void Shift teleportation magic circle and cut off the connection to the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, blocking the pathway there.
After that, Meng Lei and Dodola returned to Heaven’s Vault Continent.
“We welcome your return, Master!”
Puhaman, Thaniel, Galen, and the rest were excited as their eyes were only left with great admiration and awe toward Meng Lei.
“Rise, everyone!”
Meng Lei waved his hand slightly and gazed upon Puhaman. “How’s your injury?”
“I’m grateful for Master’s concern. I’m fine!”
Puhaman slightly panicked as he hurriedly replied.
“Good to hear that.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and looked at everyone. “All of you can carry on with your work and finish the migration plan as soon as possible. Then start cultivating as your powers are still rather weak.”
“Yes, Master!”
They lowered their heads in shame.
Weak?
My goodness! We aren’t weak at all. It’s just that you have improved too fast!
Having sent everyone away, Meng Lei returned to the palace and took out the Dark Demonic Dragons and the dead bodies of intermediate deity-level for absorption.
The dead bodies he kept were all intermediate deity-level that were filled with massive amounts of life essence.
Gurgle!
Every carcass was soon turned into dried corpses.
Life essence surged into his body as Meng Lei’s divine body strengthened. Each bloodline was improved under the nourishment of the immense life essence.
After devouring all the bodies, Meng Lei felt that his divine body’s strength was at least doubled. It might be enough to even smash Ambrose if he was standing in front of him.
“This isn’t enough! It’s far from it!”
Meng Lei’s eyes flashed as he read Ambrose’s memories. He knew deep inside that even with the power he possessed already, it was far from satisfactory.
The higher deity was a vast realm, excluding Gods like the Titan Gods who specialized in cultivating their divine body, higher deities specialized in comprehending laws of nature.
Assimilation of two types of laws of nature equated to Elementary-level higher deity.
Assimilation of three types of laws of nature equated to Middle-level higher deity.
Assimilation of four types of laws of nature equated to High-level higher deity.
Assimilation of five types of laws of nature equated to Great Perfection-level higher deity!
The difference between each realm was massive, comparable to the difference between a mortal and a true god!
As for Ambrose’s divine incarnation, it was only an Elementary-level higher deity.
It meant that Meng Lei had only killed the weakest higher deity with the Power of Existential Plane’s help, which was not anything to be proud about.
“I’m still too weak. I need to keep on grinding!”
Meng Lei checked his personal stats interface.
Wealth: 23.3 million Divinity Crystals
“How can I not spend this much money?”
“System, continue the Super Pickup!”
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
Meng Lei paused for a moment and said. “The Frost Divine Realm.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Frost Gods’ bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
[1] The term ‘King’ and ‘Bronze’ refers to the ranks in the multiplayer online battle arena game ‘Honor Of Kings’ where King was the second-highest rank while Bronze was the lowest
" }, { "id": 322, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-322", "title": "Chapter 322 - Mysterious Ice Of The Depths, Breaking The Seal", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 322: Mysterious Ice of The Depths, Breaking The Seal
Had Meng Lei heard the term “Frost Gods” in the past instead, he would definitely have been utterly confused and would even have had to ask Dodola about it. However, Meng Lei knew what they were now.
The vast Void and boundless universe had birthed many, many extremely strong and powerful clans.
Among which, the clans standing at the pinnacle of the deities were the ten great godly clans.
Traces of the ten great godly clans could be found all over the vast universe. Ranging from as high as the supreme Celestial Realm and the ten major Divine Realms to as low as every low-end existential plane, traces of the clans could be found on all of them.
The Frost Gods were one of the ten great godly clans. They were born with the ability to command ice-elemental laws of nature and the origin of ice. In fact, a significant portion of the Frost Gods could awaken their ice-origin divine bodies. They were an extremely fearsome clan.
The most unbelievable thing was that the Frost Gods even had an extremely fearsome special ability known as the Mysterious Ice of The Depths. This was an Innate Special Ability whose temperatures were lower than even Absolute Zero’s and had even greater destructive power than Absolute Zero’s.
Once cast, the Mysterious Ice of The Depths was near invincible among all same-grade skills. It was an incredibly powerful spell!
“Yes, assimilate it!”
Meng Lei considered for a brief moment and made his decision.
Boom!
A chilly milky-white current gushed out of his brain and instantly surged into every part and every corner of Meng Lei.
Crack!
Meng Lei turned into a big ice sculpture in an instant. He gave off an astonishing chill that spread into the surroundings. Everything in the path of the chill was sealed in ice.
In an instant, the palace that Meng Lei was in became fully sealed in ice. The astonishing phenomenon badly frightened the palace maidservants, eunuchs, and guards in the imperial palace, and all of them distanced themselves from the palace. None of them dared to go near.
Waves of great pain accompanied the whole assimilation process. However, this bit of pain was nothing to Meng Lei by now and would pass with just a bit of endurance.
The assimilation process ended quickly. Meng Lei’s clothes had long since been frozen into ice chips, causing him to become naked. His whole body had become a snowy-white color, while his pupils had become red. He had round, bronze coin-like ears, his muscles intertwined with one another, and he had a long tail behind him.
His current appearance looked surprisingly similar to Lord Frieza[1]—petite and charming, but emanating a terrifying chill and a savage aura.
“So, this is the Frost God bloodline?”
Meng Lei balled up his fists as he took in the sensation of the changes in his divine body. There hadn’t been any improvement in his body’s physical toughness, yet something about his divine body seemed to have somewhat changed.
He checked his stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <26%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat <Youth>, Divine Netherworld Phoenix <Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant <Youth>, Ancient Tree of Life <23%>, Frost God <39%>)
“A 39% assimilation rate? System, raise my Frost God bloodline assimilation rate!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 61 Divinity Crystals, and his Frost God bloodline assimilation rate was successfully raised to 100%.
One could tell from the cost that the Frost God bloodline belonged to the same grade as the Gods-Slaying Rat, the Hundred-Armed Giant, and the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodlines and was a True God Bloodline.
Meng Lei asked, “System, how many Divinity Crystals would it cost to enhance my Frost God bloodline?”
“Ding! The Frost God bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline and will become an Ancient God Bloodline after enhancement. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals.”
“My guess was right after all.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, a rhombus-shaped ice crystal that glowed a pale violet color appeared on his palm with a thought. As though a dazzling and eye-catching crystal or diamond, it was the Mysterious Ice of The Depths.
“As expected, the Mysterious Ice of The Depths’ temperature is indeed lower than even Absolute Zero’s and is also tougher. Not only can it be used to attack, but it can also be used for defense. It’s a pretty good special ability.”
“System, continue to do pickups!”
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
“The Frost Divine Realm!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained an Ocean Ice Beast’s carcass.”
“Such trash! Continue with the pickups!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Frost Colossal Dragon egg.”
“Send it into the Tower of Time!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“It’s a quadruple-elemental one with earth, water, fire, and light elements. What a shame. The five currently known supreme laws of nature’s fusion combinations don’t include these four elements.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained an Ice Flame Spear.”
“Ding! Pickup successful…”
Time passed bit by bit. Meng Lei carried out pickups continuously. Unfortunately, despite designating a high-end existential plane as a target, his rate of picking up good finds was still as low as ever.
After a series of pickups, most of his gains turned out to be true god-level and lesser deity-level items, and he didn’t gain even a single useful item. Meng Lei was filled with a sense of helpless resignation.
This was probably a downside of improving one’s capabilities. The treasures that used to be useful in the past had all become useless.
Meng Lei stayed in the imperial palace and carried out pickups for three consecutive days. It was only when Ol’ Amos came over that he finally wrapped up his pickup session.
“Meng Lei, I’m going to return to the Light Continent.”
Ol’ Amos stated the reason for his visit right away. Amolin, his younger sister, was also with him.
“Ol’ President, you can just leave the matter of spreading faith to your subordinates. Why do you have to personally see to everything yourself?”
Meng Lei didn’t quite agree with his way of handling things. He said, “I’ve just killed the Dragon God and was even intending to let you take over his divine nation.”
“You’ve killed the Dragon God?”
Ol’ Amos was greatly astonished, and so was Amolin.
“A few things took place during the last few days when you were at Dragon Island.”
Then, Meng Lei did a rough recount of what had happened the last few days.
“Little did I think that something so serious would happen when all I did was make a trip to Dragon Island!”
Ol’ Amos was astounded. He asked, “In that case, this means that you’ve already become a higher deity?”
Amolin was also looking at Meng Lei with a face full of shock and horror. The first time she had met Meng Lei, he had only been a tiny little Saint Domain, and yet now…
People commonly said that the wheel of fortune turned and that one should never bully the young who were down and out. Even so, how many years had it only been since then?
“Yeah.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “That’s why, Ol’ President, stop running about here and there. Hurry up and become stronger. Otherwise, the gap between us is going to become bigger and bigger!”
“What the f*ck! I’ve been looked down upon by the little kid again!”
Ol’ Amos rolled his eyes and said, “But I have to go this time. A space-time rift has appeared in Light Continent, and demons have frequently been gushing out of it. I have to go and deal with it.”
“A space-time rift?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. “Something like that has been going on?”
“Yeah.”
Ol’ Amos nodded lightly and replied, “According to my subordinates’ reports, the other end of the space-time rift is likely a demon existential plane, and it’s definitely not a weak one. I have to seal the space-time rift as soon as possible. I can’t sit by and let it expand bigger and bigger.”
“A demon existential plane?”
A shrewd glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes. “Just as well that I happen to be free lately, too. I’ll go over and take a look at it with you!”
“That’s great! With you, the master of this existential plane, around, things will become a lot simpler.”
A hint of craftiness flashed across Ol’ Amos’ eyes as he let out a sneaky chuckle. Him coming over to bid farewell to Meng Lei this time was just a pretense. Rather, his true purpose in coming over was to get Meng Lei to help.
“Let’s go then!”
The trio arrived at Light Continent in no time and found the group of Light Church higher management officers that Ol’ Amos had subdued.
Of course, calling them the Light Church officers was no longer appropriate now. Rather, it should be the Kroc Holy Sect instead.
“Greetings, Great God Kroc!”
The Kroc Holy Sect higher management officers, who were led by the 108 half-deities, bowed respectfully in greeting.
“You may rise!”
Ol’ Amos waved dismissively. A look of satisfaction couldn’t help but come over his features as he gazed at a 100-feet-tall statue in the shrine. Stern and imposing-looking, it was exactly a statue of him.
Ol’ Amos went straight to the point. He asked, “Tell me, what’s going on with the space-time rift that suddenly appeared?”
“O noble Great God Kroc,” a Red-Cloaked Archbishop half-deity replied respectfully, “That space-time rift has already existed before this. It has been around for at least 50,000-odd years, but because it has been sealed by the Light Church all this time, nothing has ever happened until a few days ago.”
“What happened after that?”
Ol’ Amos frowned lightly.
“Someone broke the seal!”
[1] A Dragon Ball character
" }, { "id": 323, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-323", "title": "Chapter 323 - The Demon Ravine, Tigers Among The Sheep", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 323: The Demon Ravine, Tigers Among The Sheep
“Someone broke the seal?”
Ol’ Amos broke into a slight frown.
“Yes, noble Great God Kroc. The sealing magic circle showed clear signs of tampering, so someone must have broken the seal on their own,” answered the Red-Cloaked Archbishop respectfully.
Ol’ Amos barked coldly, “Have you found the culprit yet?”
Light Continent was his turf. Anyone that dared to create trouble in Light Continent would be going against him.
“At the moment, we haven’t found out who the culprit that broke the seal is yet, noble Great God Kroc.”
Then, the Red-Cloaked Archbishop added fearfully, “But we’re guessing that it’s likely the seven true gods that had previously fled. They are the most suspicious candidates.”
“Those seven fellows?”
Ol’ Amos’ eyes narrowed slightly. He turned to Meng Lei and asked, “Meng Lei, are you able to locate them?”
“Let me try!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. His divine cognition spread into the surroundings and enveloped the whole Light Continent in no time. The forms of various people flitted by in his mind…
A brief moment later, Meng Lei said, “There are only three true gods in Light Continent at the moment. The other four’s whereabouts are unknown. I can’t find traces of them even in the whole existential plane. They must have already left.”
“Could it really be the four of them?”
Ol’ Amos had an awful look on his countenance.
“It’s actually not important whether or not they are really the culprits.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “The most pressing issue now is to seal the space-time rift, or alternatively, you might as well eradicate the demons on the other end of the space-time rift. Everything else isn’t that important.”
Eradicate the demons on the other end of the space-time rift?
All the Kroc Holy Sect higher management officers shuddered all over upon hearing his suggestion. After all, no one knew exactly what the demon existential plane was like on the other end of the space-time rift.
However, one could already catch a glimpse or two about the big picture from the demons that had come out of the rift. Judging from those demons, the demon existential plane on the other end must be an extremely fearsome demonic world—because even the weakest of the demons that had emerged from the rift was a Demon Overlord!
Demon Overlords were comparable to Heaven’s Vault Continent’s half-deities. How strong and powerful must a world whose basic lifeforms were Demon Overlords be?
It was unimaginable!
In short, the world on the other end of the space-time rift must be an extremely strong and fearsome one. Eradicating all the demons on the existential plane there?
They dared not even entertain the thought!
Ol’ Amos, however, was extremely in favor of the suggestion. He said, “You’re right. The most pressing issue now is indeed to reseal that space-time rift.”
“Let’s go, then!”
Meng Lei brought along with him everyone present and vanished from where he was. By the time they’d reappeared, they had already arrived in front of a bottomless ravine.
“This is… The Demon Ravine?”
At the sight of the pitch-dark ravine that one couldn’t even see to the bottom of in front of them, blood drained from all the Kroc Holy Sect higher management officers’ faces. Deep reverence filled their eyes as they gazed at Meng Lei.
They had been on the Holy Kroc Mountain just a moment ago, yet they were actually at the Demon Ravine now!
One was right in the center of Light Continent while the other was in the west of Light Continent. A distance of more than a million kilometers laid between the two.
Yet he had crossed a million kilometers with them in tow with just a single teleport? How impressive were his means?
“So, is this where that space-time rift is?”
Ol’ Amos overlooked the pitch-dark Demon Ravine and asked gravely. To be honest, he didn’t actually need to ask because he could also sense a strong demonic aura coming from the ravine’s depths.
“This is the Demon Ravine, Great God Kroc. That space-time rift is located in the depths of the ravine. This is exactly where the demons came out of.”
The same Red-Cloaked Archbishop said respectfully, “To prevent a large-scale surge of demons from the rift, we’ve deployed a great amount of manpower within the Demon Ravine’s vicinity. There they are!”
Ol’ Amos looked over upon hearing his words. True enough, he spotted large numbers of Knights of Light in the ravine’s vicinity. Among them were even a fair number of half-deities and Saint Domain experts. All of them were stationed within the vicinity of Demon Ravine.
“Greetings, noble Great God Kroc!”
A Red-Cloaked Archbishop stationed here flew over and bowed in greeting.
“How’s the state of the space-time rift, Esmond? How many demons have come out of it in total?” asked Ol’ Amos.
“As of last evening, a total of three Demon Overlords have come out of it. They’ve all been slain by us,” answered Esmond, the Red-Cloaked Archbishop hastily.
“Three Demon Overlords!”
Ol’ Amos had a grave look on his countenance. “Looks like the demon existential plane on the other en—”
Whoosh!
A series of shrill whizzes rang out from the deep Demon Ravine at this point.
At the same time, a surging, torrential wave of demonic aura also erupted at the bottom of the ravine.
To deities, demonic aura was just like the stench of cesspits. They instinctively disliked and rejected it. In this instant, upon sensing the demonic aura that had suddenly erupted, everyone broke into frowns in tandem.
“Demons are coming out of the rift!”
Esmond let out a low exclamation. Upon his exclamation, everyone immediately saw several hundred black streaks of light shooting out of the ravine and into the sky above the Demon Ravine!
Boom!
A vast, mighty demonic aura instantly weighed down on everyone’s hearts. Unable to put up any resistance, the Knights of Lights stationed at the Demon Ravine fell onto their knees.
Even the expressions of half-deity experts like Esmond and Amolin also changed greatly, and they watched the sight above them with looks of fear and alarm.
“Great Demon Lords!”
“There are definitely Great Demon Lords among them!”
“Great Demon Lords?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. It didn’t stop at just Great Demon Lords; there were even Demon Gods among them. On top of that, one of them had even reached the pinnacle of Demon God-level!
Demon Gods were the equivalent of intermediate deities!
Several hundred demons floated in the sky, overlooking everyone from a high and lofty position.
There were Fire Demons bathed in flames, Ice Demons that emanated bitter and chilly air, Trolls that stood 1,000-feet-tall, as well as a chaotic mix of Bloodseekers, Wind Demons, Sloth Demons, Longhorned Demons…
The demon species mix was very messy and random, but they all had one thing in common—the aura around every single one of them was extremely powerful. Even the weakest among them was a Demon Overlord. However, the vast majority of them were Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords instead, and they boasted fairly fearsome strength!
“So, is this the world on the other end of the space-time rift?”
A big and fat youth dressed in black armor swept his gaze across the surroundings. A hint of disappointment flashed across his eyes as he remarked, “So, it’s just a low-end mortal existential plane. All that joy had been for nothing.”
A Fire Demon beside him licked its lips, bowed, and said, “Lord Demon God, your lowly subordinate would like to request to flatten this low-end mortal existential plane!”
“How can such a heavy responsibility be left to you alone? Lord Demon God, your lowly subordinate here would like to request for that, too!”
“Lord Demon God…”
The other demons clambered to be the first and fought against one another, lest all the good things went to someone else if they were even a step too slow.
“What are all of you clamoring about? You good-for-nothings!”
The fat youth snorted and said, “The same old rules apply. Leave all the creatures that are Demon Lord-level and above for me. Don’t any of you dare think of taking them! As for the others, all of you can do whatever you want with them!”
“Yes, Lord Demon God!”
“We’ll kill those guys first!”
“Kakaka! Delicious blood and souls sure make one salivate! Here I come!”
The bunch of demons let out a cheer, and then they lunged toward Meng Lei and the rest straight away.
Drool dripped from every one of their mouths, and all their eyes were gleaming, making them look just like hungry wolves that had been starving for a few years.
“T-they’re here!!”
“Fight them! Hurry and fight them!”
Everyone was so frightened by the sight of the several hundred demons lunging toward them that they became panic-stricken. They could only fight back in a flustered manner, but the demons simply moved too fast.
Without waiting for the Knights of Light and the half-deity experts to get into formation, they had already flown into the masses of humans like tigers rushing into a herd of sheep. They were all prepared to launch a large-scale massacre.
“Hmph!”
" }, { "id": 324, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-324", "title": "Chapter 324 - Ancient Demon Pigs, The Dark Hell Continent", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 324: Ancient Demon Pigs, The Dark Hell Continent
Even the weakest among those several hundred demons were Demon Overlords. There were also a considerable number of Demon Lords and Great Demon Lords.
In comparison, the Kroc Holy Sect’s combat power was rather inadequate!
To sum it up, their combat power wasn’t on the same level at all. There was no comparability between the two at all!
If both parties were allowed to fight it out, the Kroc Holy Sect men would undoubtedly be slaughtered and end up as the demons’ delicious meals.
“Hmph!”
Meng Lei would never allow that to happen, of course. He locked down the dimension around them at once.
Be it the hundreds of demons lunging over or the Kroc Holy Sect men, everyone was frozen where they were as if their acupoints had been sealed and became motionless.
“Destroy!”
Meng Lei uttered.
Splash!
With a loud explosion, the hundreds of demons exploded and burst into mists of blood. The dimension that had been locked down was subsequently freed. Air began to flow again, and chilly winds blew past.
Suddenly, the fat, black armor-wearing youth became the only person left in the sky and was floating all by himself.
As for the several hundred demons?
They had all turned into mists of blood!
“They’re dead?”
The dazed fat youth stared at his subordinates, who had exploded into mists of blood. His narrow, slit-like eyes were widened big and round and filled with disbelief and incredulity.
There were quite a fair number of Great Demon Lords and Demon Gods among his subordinates, which made their overall strength highly powerful. Yet they had been so inexplicably killed in the end!
Just how frighteningly strong was the person who had killed them?
What frightened him even more was—he actually didn’t even know who the one that had killed them was?
“Who was it? Who exactly was the one that killed them?”
The fat youth was filled with alarm and horror, trembling all over. At this point, he saw another youth rising into the air and coming right up to him.
Right on the heels of it, an incredibly fearsome aura began to spread from the youth and instantly weighed down upon him. The fat youth was scared witless at once, and his insides almost ruptured from his fear.
A… A Great Demon God! He’s a Great Demon God!
The fat youth’s eyes were filled with fear and trepidation as he stared at Meng Lei.
“Are you trying to invade my territory?”
Meng Lei spoke unhurriedly, his expression one of aloofness.
“N-no!”
The fat youth mustered a smile that looked more awful than a grimace and said, “S-sir, this is a misunderstanding. This is completely a misunderstanding. I’m just here as… A tourist! Yes, a tourist! Please look into this properly, sir!”
“A tourist?”
Meng Lei picked his ears and said, “Are you insulting my intelligence, or do you think your acting is Oscars-worthy? Get on your knees!”
Thud!
The fat youth knelt down right away. “Spare my life, sir! I have realized the error of my ways. Please be magnanimous and let me off!”
Meng Lei was very satisfied with the other party’s attitude. He said, “By the way, I’d say that I have a pretty good understanding of demons, yet I can’t tell what your true form is. What kind of demon are you?”
“Sir, I’m an Ancient Demon Pig!”
At once, the fat youth transformed into a huge, pitch-dark demon pig that stood 1,000-feet-tall and had two sharp fangs.
“An Ancient Demon Pig?” Meng Lei was startled. “A demon species like that actually exists?”
“Meng Lei, you’d better not underestimate the Ancient Demon Pigs. They are extremely fearsome demons.”
Dodola’s voice rang out as it said, “Ancient Demon Pigs are greedy and gluttony by nature. Not only can their Innate Special Ability, Devour, devour an enemy’s life essence, but it also has a certain chance of plundering the other party’s Innate Special Ability.
“Additionally, Ancient Demon Pigs have an extremely high reproduction rate, which makes their clans’ numbers exceedingly great. There are more Ancient Demon Pigs than even the total number of Colossal Dragon Gods and Titan Gods combined!
“Therefore, the clan holds status and power of extreme importance in the demon faction.”
“Are the Ancient Demon Pigs that powerful?”
Meng Lei was flabbergasted.
His impression was that creatures belonging to the pig species were always at the lowest tier of the food chain and were always food for other species, no matter which world they were in.
Little did he think that the Ancient Demon Pigs would actually be an exception!
“Meng Lei, you must remember this—a clan’s foundation is what determines the number of experts they have. Clans like the humans, Beast People, and Ancient Demon Pigs may generally seem very weak, but because of the clans’ vast foundations, they are usually able to produce a lot of great existences,” said Dodola profoundly.
“Fine!” Meng Lei curled his lip.
Then, he turned back to the Ancient Demon Pig and said, “On account of how your attitude was pretty good, I’ll let you off for now. But while you may escape death, you cannot avoid punishment—hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me!”
“Yes, sir!”
Even though the Ancient Demon Pig was extremely reluctant to do so, he didn’t show it at all. Instead, he very promptly handed over his divine spirit origin energy and allowed Meng Lei to refine it.
“Tell me a bit about yourself!”
“Yes, Master!”
The Ancient Demon Pig said respectfully, “My name is Bailey Yale. In the Pighead Ridge of the Dark Hell Continen—”
“Dark Hell Continent? What kind of place is that?” asked Meng Lei as a shrewd glint flashed across his eyes.
“Master, the Dark Hell Continent is a mid-end demon existential plane—”
“What? A mid-end demon existential plane?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei. Even Dodola couldn’t keep its calm anymore, and it exclaimed, “What the heck! Heaven’s Vault Continent is actually linked to a mid-end existential plane! Your luck is off the charts, kid!”
Meng Lei was also very excited. He urged, “Hurry, tell me in detail about the Dark Hell Continent! With the main focus on introducing the powerhouses there, of course.”
“Yes, Master!”
The Ancient Demon Pig didn’t dare to keep secrets from Meng Lei, and it started to speak unceasingly.
Dark Hell Continent was a very vast place. Its territory was a whole million times that of normal low-end existential planes. Given its vast space, it naturally birthed an infinite number of living creatures and innumerable experts.
Great Demon Gods were the strongest beings in Dark Hell Continent. Every Great Demon God ruled over incredibly vast territories and had more than billions of demons under their rule.
As pinnacle-level Demon Gods, the Pighead Ridge that the Ancient Demon Pigs ruled over was also incredibly huge. Its size was equivalent to that of 30 low-end existential planes put together!
The only unfortunate thing was that pinnacle-level Demon Gods were ultimately still just Demon Gods. In a world where Great Demon Gods ruled, even Demon Gods would have to behave themselves and tuck their tails between their legs…
“There are a total of three most powerful forces in the Dark Hell Continent. They are the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom, the Fallen Empire, and the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom.”
Bailey Yale said respectfully, “These three demonic countries have split up and taken almost the vast majority of Dark Hell Continent’s land. They also have many Great Demon Gods protecting them.”
“How many Great Demon Gods are there in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom?”
Meng Lei popped the most crucial question.
“This… I’m not sure, either.”
Bailey Yale hurriedly said, “Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom is a country established by the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes. Although there are few members among the Divine Netherworld Phoenix royal family, they likely have also amassed a group of Great Demon Gods over the long passage of time. As for how many there are in concrete detail, I can’t be sure.”
“The Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom is an empire established by the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes?” Meng Lei’s pupils contracted slightly.
“Yes, Master!”
Bailey Yale replied respectfully, “As for the Fallen Empire and the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom, they are great countries that were established respectively by the Fallen Angels and the Cerberuses.”
Divine Netherworld Phoenixes!
Fallen Angels!
Cerberuses!
Meng Lei licked his lips and remarked, “To think that the three largest forces of Dark Hell Continent are actually built by those three races. Now, this is interesting!”
“You mustn’t be careless!”
Dodola’s voice rang out. “Those three races are no ordinary demon clans. You have to take it easy a little. It would be awful if you end up failing where you shouldn’t.
“Also, there’s something else that I worry the most over.”
“What is it?”
“Dark Hell Continent’s master of the existential plane!”
" }, { "id": 325, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-325", "title": "Chapter 325 - The Skeletal Dragon'S Incarnation, This Is A Pigsty", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 325: The Skeletal Dragon’s Incarnation, This Is A Pigsty
The scale of mid-end existential planes was a million times that of low-end material planes. Not only did they have more vast territories and a higher number of living beings there, but it went without saying that the Power of Existential Plane that they boasted was also more fearsome.
“The master of mid-end existential planes does not need to fear any existence while they are in their own existential planes. Even a Chief God wouldn’t be able to do anything about the master of the existential plane even if they were to descend!”
Dodola said with an emotional sigh, “Therefore, the masters of mid-end existential planes are also known as the Chief Gods of Existential Planes—meaning that among mid-end existential planes, the masters of the existential planes are Chief God-like presences.”
“Chief Gods of Existential Planes!”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei. He exclaimed, “For people to confer the title of ‘Chief God’ upon them, I can already imagine just how revered and powerful the masters of mid-end existential planes are!”
“Exactly. Although Chief Gods are hailed as the gods among gods and seen as supreme beings, there are also existences that do not fear Chief Gods, and they are—the masters of mid-end existential planes!”
Dodola sighed and said, “By occupying mid-end existential planes, those guys are absolute overlords among the gods. Nobody can do anything about them.”
Meng Lei licked his lips and commented, “After hearing what you’ve said, even I would like to occupy a mid-end existential plane and become a master of a mid-end existential plane myself.”
“It’s normal to become tempted by the idea. Becoming the master of a mid-end existential plane is the dream of all deities. This is also another reason why mid-end existential planes and their seeds are so expensive,” replied Dodola with a sigh.
“Dodola, I’ve become somewhat hesitant now.”
Meng Lei gazed at the bottomless Demon Ravine and said, “In the event that Dark Hell Continent already has a master, wouldn’t I be putting myself in peril?”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.” Dodola warned, “So, you’d better not take risks so easily. Investigate thoroughly before you make your next move.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “In that case, I’ll use a divinity projection to do some scouting first. What a shame that I don’t even have a single divine incarnation!”
“Didn’t you just obtain an Abyss Skeletal Dragon carcass? You can turn that into your demonic incarnation!” suggested Dodola.
“Why did I let that slip my mind!”
Meng Lei smacked his forehead as he let out an exclamation. The Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s body was extremely tough. Aside from its skull that Meng Lei had smashed into bits, every other part of it was still well and intact. He could totally turn it into a demonic incarnation without any problem.
Without further ado, Meng Lei brought out the Abyss Skeletal Dragon carcass and began to work on it.
Creating an alternate incarnation was actually not much different from refining divine weapons. He needed to imprint his divine spirit mark on the target object in both cases and turn it into something that he could control at will and command like a third arm.
Therefore, it wasn’t a difficult task.
The only frustrating thing was that the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s skull had been broken, so there was no longer a place to hold one’s divine spirit flame. This created quite a fair bit of trouble for Meng Lei.
Fortunately, he had an abundance of dried-up dead bodies, remains, and bones in storage. After a series of selecting, mending, and fixing, he finally managed to replace it with an imitation skull.
One could barely discern any flaws from just its outer appearance. However, in truth, the actual Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s skull was far beyond what the skull he’d constructed could compare with.
It was also the one and only opening that enemies could take advantage of in the Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation.
“It’s finally done!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he gritted his teeth and bore with the severe pain, split part of his divine spirit flame, and placed it inside the Abyss Skeletal Dragon’s skull.
After that, he tried to control the Abyss Skeletal Dragon.
Krak, krak, krak…
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon slowly began to move.
It shook its head, swung its tail, raised its claw, took a step…
After testing it out for a while, Meng Lei gradually familiarized himself with the Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation and became smoother and smoother at controlling it. Toward the end, he finally managed to control it perfectly.
“All done! I can set out now!”
Under Meng Lei’s control, the Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation turned into human form. Dodola and Ol’ Amos also each created a divinity projection. Then, under Bailey Yale’s lead, they entered the space-time rift.
Howl!
The moment they entered, they immediately encountered violent, raging space-time fluxes. Ol’ Amos’ divinity projection lasted only a few seconds before the havoc-wreaking space-time fluxes smashed it into smithereens.
“Ol’ President!” Meng Lei shouted.
“The space-time fluxes here are too strong. He can’t endure them at all!” Dodola shouted, “Let’s go! Speed up and charge all the way out!”
“Okay!”
A few seconds later, the trio finally passed through the space-time rift and arrived at a whole new world.
It wasn’t dim and dark like what they had imagined. Nor was there the bloody scene that they had imagined. Dark Hell Continent, an existential plane that demons had completely occupied, was actually a world brimming with life and vitality that didn’t differ much from Heaven’s Vault Continent!
Or at least, that was what it seemed like from the surface.
“The magic elements here are almost 100 times richer than that of Heaven’s Vault Continent. The laws of nature here can also be detected much more clearly!
“And the gravity, and the dimension’s stability level, too. There’s no comparison between the two at all!”
Meng Lei threw a punch, causing a small hole to be smashed into the dimension. Had he done this in Heaven’s Vault Continent instead, the same amount of force would have smashed a large part of the dimension into bits and pieces instead.
“That’s what a mid-end existential plane is like. Low-end existential planes can’t compare to them at all.”
Dodola had a look of nostalgia on its face as it said, “It’s just a shame that a bunch of demons has actually occupied a mid-end existential plane like this. What a waste of heaven’s gifts!”
“You don’t say!”
Meng Lei agreed wholeheartedly. Then, he turned to Bailey, the Ancient Demon Pig, and asked, “Where are we?”
“This is the Forest of Darkness, Master. It’s within my territory, the Pighead Ridge,” replied Bailey respectfully.
“Let’s go! We’ll take a look around your den first,” said Meng Lei after some thought.
“Yes, Master!”
The trio rose into the air and flew toward Bailey’s den under his lead.
Meng Lei observed the fascinating new world as he flew. As the magic elements there were extremely rich, the forest’s vegetation grew exceptionally lushly and luxuriantly.
Apart from that, an astonishing number of Magical Beasts also lived there. If not for the occasional demon tribes here and there, one could practically see no difference between the Forest of Darkness and Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Magical Beast Forest.
Meng Lei’s divine cognition had already spread into the surroundings a long time ago and was ransacking the demon tribes’ gold coins, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Divinity Crystals, treasures, divine weapons…
Meng Lei pilfered from the demon tribes the whole way and made a huge killing. The tribes were poor in general, but as the idiom went, “Many little drops make an ocean”. They added up to an extremely astonishing amount.
As for how much they concretely added up to, Meng Lei had no idea, either. This was just his alternate incarnation, so the system hadn’t followed him over.
He collected riches the whole way as they flew.
Two days later, Meng Lei finally arrived at Bailey’s den.
“So, this is your den?”
The trio arrived in front of a gigantic sinkhole. The sinkhole was astonishingly wide in diameter and measured as wide as 10,000 kilometers. At the bottom of the sinkhole was a vast primeval forest, and living within it was an astonishing number of… Pigs!
A 100,000-feet-deep sinkhole!
With pigs within the sinkhole!
Wasn’t this a freaking naturally-formed pigsty?
“Yes, Master, this is my den, the Demon Pig Sinkhole!”
Bailey said respectfully, “The Yale family has lived here for generations. All these piglets are my children.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded and instructed, “Let’s go down and take a look!”
“Father is back!”
“Wah! Father!”
Bailey’s return caused a rather significant furor. Innumerable little piglets converged from all directions and passionately welcomed him home.
Bailey then casually brought out piles and piles of good stuff and distributed them to the piglets in the sinkhole.
" }, { "id": 326, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-326", "title": "Chapter 326 - Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, Death In A Strike", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 326: Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, Death In A Strike
“Master, these piglets are my children. They will be able to start families once they become adults,” Bailey Yale explained.
“They’re all your children?”
Meng Lei’s expression became very interesting.
How many piglets were in the sinkhole? It should be no less than a million, right? And they’re all the Ancient Demon Pig’s children?
Well, that is a lot of reproduction here!
“Yes, Master!”
Bailey seemed proud of himself. “In our race, whoever reproduces more will have more prestige, and it means that they are more capable!”
“Some unique standards!”
As he continued forward, Meng Lei saw a bunch of seductively dressed ladies. They were either fat ladies with huge waists or bigger and taller than Zhang Fei…
Each of them looked fierce-looking, but they all looked at Bailey Yale. This made Meng Lei so uncomfortable that he broke out in cold sweat.
Bailey seemed used to it though, and he introduced them to Meng Lei. “Master, they’re all my wives!”
“Can… Can tell!”
Meng Lei wiped his forehead and said untruthfully, “You have so much luck with women!”
“Of course! At our Pighead Ridge, who isn’t envious of me? Envious of my 129,600 beautiful wives?” Bailey said proudly.
“You’re really blessed then!”
Just then, a cold, eerie voice rang.
“Where’s the Demon God Bailey of the Pighead Ridge?”
Upon hearing it, Bailey’s face became awful. “Damn these bastards!”
“Who’s looking for you?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Other than the Ice Demon Guards, who else?” Bailey gritted his teeth. “We Pighead Ridge belonged to the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s Ice Demon Prefecture. We have to pay tributes to them every year, and the Ice Demon Guards are the ones collecting them.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded slowly.
“These bastards are bloodsuckers. Half of the tribute I pay enters their pockets. They are so avaricious, but we can only suffer in silence since they represent the prefecture!” Bailey loathed them.
“Let’s go out and check it out!”
They came to the sky above the sinkhole and saw a squad of demons made of ice. They had horns and wore silver armor—the Ice Demons!
There were not many, only 20 demons, and almost all of them were lesser deity-level Great Demon Lords. The one in the front was the strongest, an intermediate deity-level Demon God!
“Demon God Bailey, how are the preparations for today’s tribute?”
The Ice Demon God cast a glance at Meng Lei before ignoring him and continued looking at Bailey Yale as it spoke in a lofty tone.
“All here!”
Bailey took a breath and threw a spatial ring containing the tributes casually.
The Ice Demon God caught the ring and began checking. After a while, it frowned slightly. “Bailey Demon God, the tributes you prepared aren’t enough!”
“Not enough?” Bailey’s expression changed. “Demon God Isiah, the tributes were prepared according to past years’ standards. Why is this not enough now suddenly?”
“Oh my useless brains, how could I forget. Really shouldn’t!” Demon God Isiah smacked its forehead. “You might not know this Demon God Bailey. My Master had ordered to double this year’s tributes!”
“Double?”
Bailey Yale could no longer hold in his anger. “Demon God Isiah, there was no change in the number of tributes for over 10,000 years, so why was it increased all of a sudden? Plus, if the Prefecture Master did increase the number of tributes, please show your official papers!”
Isiah’s expression turned cold, and it bellowed, “Demon God Bailey, are you questioning Master’s orders? You better not make me complain to Master and sentence you for blasphemy!”
“Hmph! Without seeing the official papers, I won’t increase the tributes!” Bailey said coldly. “Please leave Demon God Isiah!”
“How impudent!”
Isiah bellowed, “Demon God Bailey, how dare you question Master’s orders! Come, take him down and bring him back to the prefecture for Master to decide his fate!”
He glared at Bailey coldly. “If he resists, execute him at once!”
“Yes, sir!”
The squadron of Ice Demon Guards responded affirmatively and swarmed toward Bailey. Their eyes were ferocious, provocative, and fearless.
Even though they were lesser deities who were much weaker than Demon God Bailey, they were not afraid whether Bailey would resist them!
They were the Ice Demon Guards who represented the Ice Demon Prefecture, after all. If Bailey dared to resist them, it would be no different than provoking the prefecture and becoming an enemy.
Opposing the Ice Demon Prefecture… meant a death sentence!
“Bastard!”
Bailey clenched his fists tightly, enraged. Flames of rage were suppressed inside as he had the urge to kill all of them.
However, once the Ice Demon Guards charged toward him, he was like a leaking balloon and gave up resistance completely.
“We are sorry, Demon God Bailey.”
The squad swarmed and took down Bailey immediately and seized him.
“No matter how powerful you are, you will still bow down before us, the Ice Demon Guards!”
“I’m really sorry, Master!” Bailey laughed bitterly. “I can’t oppose the prefecture, or else not just myself, my entire family will be wiped out!”
“Bailey, I understand your feelings. But sometimes, too much giving in will only make the situation worse as they will only exploit you even more!”
Meng Lei shook his head and cautioned, “Appropriate resistance is very necessary!”
Upon hearing Meng Lei’s words, Bailey let out a wry laugh.
Isiah’s expression turned icy once again, and his eyes turned savage. “Who are you?”
“The one that will kill you,” Meng Lei said calmly as a terrifying aura swept across like an imposing tsunami wave crashing toward Isiah.
“Great… Great Demon God!”
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s aura, Demon God Isiah’s teeth chattered with horror in its eyes. “You’re a G-Great Demon God!”
“Just die!”
Meng Lei was in no mood to speak with such pawns any longer and sent a slap. Isiah was frightened badly, yelling hoarsely, “No! You can’t kill me! I’m an Ice Demon Prefecture Guard, so if you dare to kill me, the Prefecture Master will not let—”
Crackle!
It did not manage to finish the sentence as Meng Lei’s palm arrived. Demon God Isiah was squashed into bits with a crackle.
“M-murder!”
“Captain was murdered!”
The Ice Demon Guards’ squad was aghast as they shivered in fear. They would never have imagined that someone would actually oppose them and kill their captain. It was absolutely audacious and perverse!
“Hand over all the tributes you have collected, and I won’t kill you.” Meng Lei looked at the guards.
“The tributes are all in the captain’s hands!” said an Ice Demon with a trembling voice.
Meng Lei grabbed casually and pulled out a few dozen spatial rings. As his divine cognition scanned, it sensed huge amounts of tributes.
“Get lost,” Meng Lei said lightly.
“Yes, yes!”
" }, { "id": 327, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-327", "title": "Chapter 327 - The Whole Clan Moves Away, Clash Of The Powerful", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 327: The Whole Clan Moves Away, Clash of The Powerful
The squadron of Ice Demon Guards left quickly as though they were running for their lives. Bailey panicked at the sight and said, “Master, we mustn’t let them leave! If we do, they’ll bring more Ice Demon Guards!”
Bailey prepared to attack after he spoke so that the squadron of Ice Demon Guards would remain here forever and they could eradicate the source of the problem once and for all.
“It’s fine.”
Meng Lei stopped Bailey with a wave and said, “That’s exactly what I want—them to attract the Ice Demon Guards here. Otherwise, how would I be able to know how strong the Ice Demon Prefecture is?”
“But, Master…”
“There are no buts!”
Meng Lei brought out the dozens of spatial rings that he’d just collected and instructed, “Bring these tributes, as well as your wives and children, with you and leave Dark Hell Continent. Go to Light Continent instead!”
“Leave?”
A jolt went through Bailey, and a lost look surfaced in his eyes. He was born in Dark Hell Continent and had grown up in Pighead Ridge, yet he had to leave the continent now?
At the sight, Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and said, “What? Can’t bear to leave? In that case, why don’t you stay and suffer the Ice Demon Prefecture’s wrath together with me, then? Can you afford to do that?”
Upon hearing his words, Bailey shuddered all over and gave him a wry smile. He said, “Master, I’d better just leave, I guess. The Ice Demon Prefecture’s wrath isn’t something that I can withstand.”
“There you have it!”
Meng Lei waved dismissively and said, “Pass these spatial rings to my true body, and get him to set aside a piece of land in Light Continent for you and your family to temporarily live in.”
“Yes, Master!”
Bailey received the spatial rings from Meng Lei. Then, he said, “Take care, Master!”
“Don’t worry. This is just a demonic incarnation of mine. I can afford to lose it! Besides, it remains to be seen whether or not they can beat this demonic incarnation of mine!”
Meng Lei then waved and urged, “You’d better hurry and withdraw. You won’t be able to leave if it’s too late!”
“Yes, Master!”
Aware of how serious the situation was, Bailey hastily gathered his wives and children and fled. Even the weakest ones among his children were as strong as half-deities, so fleeing wasn’t a problem for them.
A short while later, the originally lively and bustling Demon Pig Sinkhole became incredibly deserted. Meng Lei and Dodola were the only two left.
“Let’s go outside the sinkhole.”
Meng Lei continued to wander about Pighead Ridge. He looted the demon tribes in the forest while he waited for the Ice Demon Prefecture troops’ arrival.
Meng Lei didn’t know how powerful the Dark Hell Continent was, either. Therefore, he was dead set on using his alternate incarnation to measure the extent of Dark Hell Continent’s strength.
An alternate incarnation was a price that he could afford to pay!
“This is really a beautiful existential plane!”
The more Meng Lei strolled about leisurely, the more he liked Dark Hell Continent. Rich magic elements, clear and distinct laws of nature, and wide and vast lands…
Meng Lei must admit that he had become tempted. He really wished he could seize Dark Hell Continent and make it his. It was just a shame that… All he could do at the moment was just think about it.
Ice Demon Prefecture moved at a slower speed than what Meng Lei had expected. Meng Lei waited for them for three consecutive days, but the Ice Demon Prefecture troops simply didn’t show up from start to finish. Instead, he surprisingly ended up looting quite a fair bit of riches.
It was only on the fourth day that people finally started to make their way to Pighead Ridge. There were a lot of them, and they numbered approximately over 100,000 people. They formed a big, dark mass that moved with fierce momentum, causing a great commotion.
“The Ice Demon Prefecture Guards!”
“It’s that bunch of detestable bloodsuckers!”
“The Ice Demon Prefecture Guards are here again!”
“That’s a lot of Ice Demon Prefecture Guards. What are they intending to do? Are there Demon Gods rebelling again?”
“Who knows?”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Guards charged over to the sky above Demon Pig Sinkhole in no time. A demonic aura that shot up to the skies spread into the surroundings and swept across all directions. Had those piglets from the Yale clan still been here, they would undoubtedly have mass-peed their pants in fear!
However, they had already left in advance, so all they left for the Ice Demon Prefecture Guards was just an empty den and sinkhole.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Guards also realized what had happened. Their leader was so furious that it couldn’t help but break into an angry rant. “Those damned Demon Pigs! They’ve actually fled! Damn it! Damn it all!”
“Relay my orders—report the situation here to the Prefecture Master at once, and request for permission for a prefecture-wide search! We must find the Demon Pigs!”
“Yes, Lord Great Demon God Grover!”
“I don’t believe that the Demon Pigs are so capable that they can just disappear into thin air, despite their numbers!”
“Lord Great Demon God Grover, what should we do now?”
“Capture them! Capture all the demons in Pighead Ridge. Make sure you interrogate and get the Demon Pigs’ exact whereabouts from them! If anyone dares to hide any information, you’re authorized to kill them!”
“Yes, Lord Great Demon God Grover!”
The 100,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards quickly spread into the surroundings and began to investigate the Demon Pigs’ whereabouts. Great Demon God Grover, the one leading the troops, became the only one left in the sky above the sinkhole.
“Bailey Yale! And that bastard that killed Isiah! You’d better not fall into my hands!”
Great Demon God Grover’s eyes gleamed coldly in the light as a sharp chill emanated from all over it.
Isiah, the Demon God that had been killed, was its child. On top of that, Isiah had even been its most outstanding child!
Yet someone had actually killed Isiah, its most outstanding child, seven days ago!
Great Demon God Grover swore to the heavens that it would be no demon if it didn’t take revenge!
“Are you here to look for me?”
A clear and pleasant-sounding voice suddenly rang out next to his ear at this point. A jolt went through Great Demon God Grover, and it hastily looked toward the source of the voice—a black-haired youth floating a short distance away.
“Who are you?” Great Demon God Grover asked coldly.
Meng Lei held his hands behind his back and replied, “Seven days ago, I wiped out a squadron of Ice Demon Prefecture Guards here.”
“You were the one that killed Isiah!”
Great Demon God Grover’s gleaming, furious eyes bore into Meng Lei. A surge of fierce killing intent spread from it and instantly crushed down upon Meng Lei.
“Well done! Well done, indeed!”
Great Demon God Grover gnashed its teeth in a fury, all the hatred in it erupting in this instant.
“Rest assured that I won’t kill you right away. I will erode away your demonic body bit by bit and roast your divine spirit in demonic fire for billions of years. I want you to repent for your sins in endless pain and torment!”
“Is that so? Come get me, then!” Meng Lei shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. “Show me what you’ve got!”
“Die!”
Great Demon God Grover instantly vanished from where it was. As a sharp and short whiz rang out, it charged right up to Meng Lei and raised its arm, instantly throwing out a punch that carried earth-shattering momentum.
“Nice one!”
Meng Lei licked his lips, raised his fist, and met Grover’s fist head-on without any hesitation.
Boom!
As though Mars crashing into Earth, their fists collided with each other. As an explosive crack erupted, the dimension around the duo broke inch by inch like broken glass. A gigantic black hole appeared around them in an instant.
They had broken a mid-end existential plane’s dimension!
Boom!
Meng Lei and Great Demon God Grover flew backward at the same time after the collision. Meng Lei took ten steps back while Great Demon God Grover retreated 100 meters.
The stronger between the two was determined with just one move—Meng Lei’s Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation edged out the other party by a notch!
“It seems like you aren’t strong enough to kill me.”
Meng Lei smiled calmly and antagonized his opponent.
“Bastard!”
Grover clenched its fists, flames of fury bursting from its eyes. It swiftly calmed down, however. Meng Lei was stronger than it had expected.
“Since you can’t kill me, then I’ll kill you instead!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter and took the initiative to attack. He was stronger than the other party. Hence he had a very high chance of killing his opponent.
A Great Demon God should know a lot of information about Dark Hell Continent, right?
This information was exactly what Meng Lei eagerly wanted to know at the moment!
Boom, boom, boom!
A shocking clash took place. By virtue of his slightly higher strength, Meng Lei managed to suppress the other party. After all, Grover was indeed much more inferior to him.
“Die!”
Upon seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly perilous, Great Demon God Grover let out a roar and transformed into a gigantic, 5,000,000-feet-tall Ice Demon that looked as if its whole body was made out of ice.
“Again!”
Meng Lei also transformed into his true form.
" }, { "id": 328, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-328", "title": "Chapter 328 - The Three Most Powerful Existences, A Master-Less Existential Plane", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 328: The Three Most Powerful Existences, A Master-less Existential Plane
Roar!
Roar!
One was a gigantic, 5,000,000-feet-tall Ice Demon formed fully from ice.
The other was a 6,000,000-feet-long Abyss Skeletal Dragon formed purely with bones.
The two massive monstrosities gave off an immense demonic aura. Two waves of demonic might shot high into the heavens and clashed violently against each other. As though a nuclear bomb had exploded, great impact waves erupted with a boom, implicating the whole area within 1,000,000 kilometers of where they were.
Dust swirled everywhere as trees and branches were broken.
Grass flew about as mountains and rocks shattered and broke.
“T-that’s…”
“It’s Great Demon God Grover!”
“Who’s that Abyss Skeletal Dragon?”
“That Abyss Skeletal Dragon is also a Great Demon God!”
“O Ice Demon Grandmaster…”
The demon tribes in Pighead Ridge, as well as the 100,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards that had just spread into the surroundings, all watched the two figures in the sky in fear and shock.
Fearsome demonic might weighed down upon their souls wantonly, filling them with fear and trepidation and making them shake like leaves. They couldn’t muster any battle spirit within them at all.
Roar!
As a couple of fearsome, earth-shattering roars rang out, the two massive monsters clashed against each other with a thunderous boom. The dimension around them instantly splintered and broke upon the explosion, forming a terrifying black hole straight away.
The gigantic Ice Demon and the Abyss Skeletal Dragon stayed within the black hole. The fearsome space-time fluxes and dimensional gales blew wantonly at them, yet they were indifferent to it and continued to clash against each other instead.
Boom, boom, boom!
Crack, crack, crack!
Their clashes went from the south to the north, and they battled fiercely with each other from the east to the west.
The dimension around them turned into black holes everywhere they passed through. Impact waves and rushing waves of energy ran rampant, causing a great many unlucky demons to become collateral damage.
They were either smashed into minced meat by the impact waves, jabbed into swiss cheese by the rushing energy waves, or smashed dead by huge rocks thrown into the air by the wind.
Unlucky to the extreme, they died in all sorts of different ways.
“Run! Hurry and run!”
The creatures on the continent scurried about in fear as they fled, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs. Little did they know that the seemingly intense battle was already nearing a conclusion.
Boom!
The gigantic Ice Demon was already riddled with wounds all over, and there were innumerable ice holes on its body. Its aura had also become several times weaker than what it had initially been.
The Abyss Skeletal Dragon, on the other hand, was as unscathed as ever. It had a strong momentum going on and was actually becoming more and more valiant as the battle progressed. Its battle spirit had become several times stronger than what it had been in the beginning.
“Die!”
Meng Lei roared, smashing his huge claw down and going straight for the Ice Demon’s head.
“Damn!”
The Ice Demon’s expression changed dramatically, and it hastily raised its right arm in defense.
Crack!
The skeletal claw and ice arm collided against each other. Amidst a great collision so loud that it could deafen spectators, the Ice Demon’s ice arm broke apart with a boom, causing ice chips to spray about.
“Again!”
Meng Lei was unforgiving upon gaining momentum, and he started a new round of bombardment on the Ice Demon. He had higher speed and more violent strength than the Ice Demon, and his attacks rained down endlessly like a fierce, turbulent storm.
Boom, boom, boom!
At last, the huge Ice Demon couldn’t withstand the consecutive series of blows anymore, and it broke apart into pieces with a blast.
The Ice Demon had lost!
Whoosh!
A white crystal shot out of the broken ice chips, instantly hurtling into the distance—it was Great Demon God Grover’s demonic core!
“Fleeing? I was already on guard against that a long time ago!”
Meng Lei let out a derisive scoff and smacked his skeletal claw downward in mid-air. As though he were swatting a mosquito dead, his claw completely covered the white demonic core…
Smack!
The blow dazed and dizzied Great Demon God Grover and Meng Lei easily caught the demonic core with a casual grab. The sound of Grover’s mad and furious bellows could be heard coming from it.
“You damned bastard! How dare you destroy my demonic body! I’ll fight you to the death! The enmity between us knows no bounds! I, Grover, swear I’ll be no demon if I don’t kill you—”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. He couldn’t be bothered to pay any more heed to the fellow. Instead, he turned to Dodola and asked, “Dodola, do you have any way of reading this guy’s memories?”
Dodola shook its head and answered, “I’m just a divinity projection right now, so my divine spirit is extremely weak at the moment and unable to read its memories. Your alternate incarnation can’t do it either, right?”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. Then, he said, “In that case, we can only return to Light Continent for the time being.”
“Let’s go then!”
Meng Lei and Dodola returned to Light Continent, upon which he then passed the demonic core to his true body. What happened next was obvious—breaking through the divine spirit’s defenses and reading its memories.
A long while later, he was finally done with reading its memories.
“How is it?” asked a concerned Dodola.
Ol’ Amos and Amolin also turned to Meng Lei. As for the rest of the Kroc Holy Sect’s higher management officers, Ol’ Amos had already sent them all away to continue spreading his faith.
As for Bailey Yale, the Ancient Demon Pig, he was already on his way to Gods-Demons Continent with his wives and children.
Although the place was a great distance away, there was no other place more suitable for them as a habitat besides Gods-Demons Continent.
In other words, Meng Lei, Dodola, Ol’ Amos, and Amolin were the only ones left in the sky above the Demon Ravine at the moment.
“Dark Hell Continent is far stronger and far more dangerous than what we had imagined, Dodola.”
Meng Lei said with a sigh, “According to Grover’s memories, the Ice Demon Prefecture alone already houses more than ten Great Demon Gods, among which the strongest—the Ice Demon Prefecture Master—is even a mid-level Great Demon God.”
“A mid-level Great Demon God!”
Dodola gasped. It knew the significance behind a mid-level Great Demon God. Great Demon Gods were also grouped into four classes in accordance to how strong they were—ordinary Great Demon Gods, mid-level Great Demon Gods, high-level Great Demon Gods, and Great Perfection-level Great Demon Gods.
They corresponded respectively to elementary-level, mid-level, high-level, and Great Perfection-level higher deities.
A mid-level Great Demon God = A mid-level higher deity!
Ordinary Great Demon Gods and mid-level Great Demon Gods might seem as though they were only a grade apart, but in truth, one was as lofty as the heavens while the other was as lowly as the earth. There was no comparability between the two at all.
One mustn’t be fooled by how Meng Lei’s Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation had killed Grover, an ordinary Great Demon God. Had he been up against a mid-level Great Demon God instead, he… would undoubtedly have suffered complete defeat!
Dodola was aware that Meng Lei’s Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation’s standard was, at best, only in between an ordinary Great Demon God and a mid-level Great Demon God and was neither higher nor lower than that.
“How many prefectures are there in total in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom?”
Dodola popped the most crucial question.
“108,” replied Meng Lei.
Dodola gasped. “In other words, there are at least another 107 mid-level Great Demon Gods like the Ice Demon Prefecture Master in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. He said, “There’s a certain tradition in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom—the strongest person usually undertakes the position of Prefecture Master in the prefecture. Additionally, they must also be prepared for challengers for the position at all times. If a challenger succeeds in beating them, they’ll be able to replace them and become the new Prefecture Master.”
This information didn’t come as a surprise to Dodola at all. It said, “Competition among demons is usually as simple and direct as that. The weak are eliminated, and the strong are revered.”
Meng Lei nodded and added, “Because of the stiff competition, those who are capable of becoming the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s 108 prefectures’ masters are all extremely powerful people.”
Dodola asked, “Any news about the master of the existential plane?”
“Probably not.”
Meng Lei shook his head and said, “According to Grover’s memories, there are three most powerful Great Demon Gods in Dark Hell Continent. They are the kings of the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom, the Fallen Kingdom, and the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom. All three of them are high-level Great Demon Gods, and none of them can do anything about the other two.”
Dodola’s eyes lit up slightly, and it asked, “In that case, there isn’t any especially strong and peerless Great Demon God that’s powerful enough to overwhelm the whole existential plane?”
Meng Lei shook his head again and replied, “There’s no one like that in Grover’s memories.”
“That’s wonderful news!”
Dodola snickered and added, “Or at least, it shows that there’s a certain chance that Dark Hell Continent doesn’t have a master!”
“Really?” Meng Lei frowned and asked, “What if Dark Hell Continent actually has a master, but they are just indifferent to fame and fortune, and thus, their name and existence are unknown to the public?”
“The possibility exists, but it’s not very likely.”
A smiling Dodola explained, “You must understand that mid-end existential planes’ masters, regardless of which, are all peerless overlord-like existences. It’s typically impossible for any of them to be nameless existences. They don’t call them ‘Chief Gods of Existential Planes’ for nothing! Besides, it isn’t that easy to become a master of mid-end existential planes.”
Dodola went on. “Mid-end existential planes are more vast in territory, and their Power of Existential Plane contains even stronger force than that of low-end ones. It’s also harder for one to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane, and the process typically requires a long time to complete.
“However, we have three peerless powerhouses that each impose a restraining effect on and interfere with one another on Dark Hell Continent. Therefore, the likelihood of them refining the Heart of The Existential Plane is really not high.”
Meng Lei nodded incessantly in response. He said, “According to Grover’s memories, the relationships among the three most powerful Great Demon Gods in Dark Hell Continent are indeed like oil and water. Each of them wishes to kill the other two and dominate Dark Hell Continent by themselves. However, all three have been in a tripartite confrontation all the way even till today.”
“No doubt about it, then!”
An excited Dodola said, “My bold guess is that there’s a high likelihood that no one has yet refined Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane! In other words, there’s a very high chance that… Dark Hell Continent is masterless!”
“Masterless!”
Meng Lei’s breathing turned quick and ragged. One must know that Dark Hell Continent was a mid-end existential plane! Should he be able to refine its Heart of The Existential Plane and take the existential plane for himself, just how spectacular a sight would that be?
A Chief God of Existential Planes!
He would become a Chief God of Existential Planes!
How grand and spectacular an event would that be?
“Of course, whether or not it really is master-less still requires verification.”
Dodola looked at Meng Lei and said, “Verifying this is a very simple matter. You just need to find the Heart of The Existential Plane and investigate, that’s all. It all depends on whether you have the guts to do it or not.”
“We must verify it! Of course, we must verify it!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily. A shrewd gleam twinkled in his eyes as he said seriously, “The bold die fat, while the cowardly die hungry. I’ll do it!”
“Don’t you brag,” Dodola snickered and said, “It isn’t that easy to find a mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane. Given your divine spirit, it’ll take eons before you find it!”
“What should I do, then?”
Meng Lei broke into a frown at once. His divine body was comparable to a higher deity’s, but his divine spirit was still at pinnacle-grade intermediate deity-level. Even if he were to use Super Enhancement to enhance it, the highest it could go was just elementary-grade higher deity-level.
It certainly wasn’t very powerful.
“I’ll go!”
Dodola flapped its tiny little wings and said, “I’ve made contact with a mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane before, so I know how to find it in the shortest amount of time possible.”
Meng Lei asked seriously, “Will you need to head there in your real body?”
“Yes, I must head there in my real body.”
Dodola nodded and said, “It’s only when I head there in my real body that my divine spirit will be at its strongest. It’s also only then that I can search for the Heart of The Existential Plane at the best of my ability.”
Meng Lei couldn’t stop himself from reminding Dodola, “Have you thought about this, Dodola? In the event that Dark Hell Continent does have a master, you’ll be in danger!”
He was a master of an existential plane himself. Therefore, he knew very well that the master of the existential plane would be able to immediately sense it the moment the Heart of The Existential Plane experienced any sign of trouble.
Should Dark Hell Continent already have a master, Dodola would be very easily discovered and put in danger while investigating the Heart of The Existential Plane!
“I’ll bet you that Dark Hell Continent definitely doesn’t have a master yet!” Dodola gave him a confident smile and said, “My intuition has always been very accurate!”
“Are you really gonna go?”
Meng Lei said seriously, “We can take our time to investigate this. There’s no hurry.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t fulfilled the God of Time’s instructions yet, so I will never put myself in danger!”
A laughing Dodola then leaped forward and flew into the space-time rift.
Meng Lei hastily took control of the Abyss Skeletal Dragon and went after Dodola. Should Dodola meet with danger, at least he’d still be able to help out a little here and there.
Upon reaching Dark Hell Continent, Dodola immediately released its divine cognition and began its search without any hesitation.
This was Meng Lei’s first time sensing Dodola’s divine cognition. He couldn’t help but be astounded.
Dodola’s divine cognition was extremely vast. As though the boundless starry skies, there was no end to it…
" }, { "id": 329, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-329", "title": "Chapter 329 - Defeating The Prefecture Master, Replacement", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 329: Defeating The Prefecture Master, Replacement
“Dodola’s divine spirit is too strong, far superior to any Great Demon Gods or higher deities!” Meng Lei had great emotions.
Speaking of which, Meng Lei was most familiar with Dodola. Υet, Meng Lei’s knowledge of Dodola was limited as he only knew that it was powerful. As for how powerful it was, it was still a mystery.
For now, however, Meng Lei could sense that Dodola should be at least a mid-level higher deity, possibly even a high-level higher deity!
How powerful!
Time flew by quickly as a day went by. Dodola showed no signs of waking up, and Meng Lei had no choice but to continue waiting.
One day, two days, three days…
On the other hand, Meng Lei’s true body did not idle after he received the tributes from the spatial rings and treasures plundered from the demon tribes. His assets had burgeoned once again.
Wealth: 49.57 million Divinity Crystals
An increase in wealth meant another round of spending as Meng Lei chose to strengthen his divine spirit. His divine spirit was only at pinnacle intermediate deity-level with obvious weaknesses.
Enhancement cost: 4 million Divinity Crystals
Meng Lei did not hesitate and chose to enhance.
Whoosh!
As the order was relayed, Meng Lei’s divine spirit flame burned madly as if gasoline was poured into it, and its intensity soared by multiple times…
The divine spirit started to enhance insanely!
After it was over, Meng Lei felt that the world before him had changed.
The laws of nature that traversed the entire world and the laws of nature’s origins hidden deep within the existential plane had undergone a tremendous change.
Even without the help of Power of Existential Plane, his divine cognition could now spread out hundreds of thousands of miles to envelop the entire Light Continent.
The divine spirit was so much more powerful than before!
“A higher deity-level divine body plus a higher deity-level divine spirit, now I’m finally an actual higher deity!” Meng Lei sighed.
“One word—satisfying!”
“System, continue the Super Pickup!”
Meng Lei was now eyeing covetously on the Dark Hell Continent and hoped to pick up some treasure he could use now through Super Pickup.
“Ding! Dear host, please designate your target existential plane.”
After a moment of contemplation, Meng Lei answered, “The Netherworld!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
“Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract? There isn’t much use for me right now, though I can give it to Ol’ Amos or grant it to Puhaman and the rest!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a higher deity’s Demonic Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Fallen Angel’s carcass.”
“A Fallen Angel’s carcass?”
A 1,000-feet-tall Fallen Angel’s carcass shrouded in billowing black mist and emitting dark aura appeared with a mere thought.
These were not that significant as what made Meng Lei astounded was that this Fallen Angel had one, two, three, four…
Four pairs of wings!
“Eight-Winged Fallen Angel! An Eight-Winged Fallen Angel of a higher deity level!
“I’ve struck it big! I’ve landed a huge one this time!”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up brightly. With this Fallen Angel carcass, he could create another Great Demon God-level alternate incarnation.
“Meng Lei, this is a Fallen Angel?”
Ol’ Amos and Amolin were stunned as they looked at the carcass in disbelief.
“Yep! A Fallen Angel!”
Meng Lei smiled and nodded as he started to refine this carcass. Compared to the Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation that had a damaged skull, this Fallen Angel carcass was more complete—except for a bloody hole at the forehead, which showed how it had died.
Two days later, Meng Lei successfully created the Fallen Angel alternate incarnation. He flapped the four pairs of wings and soared up in the sky. Dark elements from within thousands of miles gathered and combined into a huge black longsword with a thought.
“Slash!”
Meng Lei yelled as he swung the sword in the air, and it slashed open a pitch-black bottomless canyon that spanned into the horizon.
“Hahaha! That’s great!”
Meng Lei laughed and controlled the Fallen Angel alternate incarnation to enter the space-time rift so it could assist the matters in Dark Hell Continent.
“System, continue with the pickups!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Spirit Core. Will you assimilate it?”
“…”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“Yes, assimilate it!”
“Earth, Water, Metal… Triple-elemental Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Dead Soul Moss.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Hell Mirage Fox carcass.”
“Ding…”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained an Underworld Bone Spear.”
“Underworld Bone Spear?”
Meng Lei had a thought, and a bone spear gleaming with a chilly glint appeared, while its surface gave off a baleful and dead aura.
“This bone spear should be harder than my Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation. It must be a high-tier demonic weapon. That’s some good stuff. Keep it first!”
“…”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Grim Reaper’s cloak.”
“…”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Specter Orb. Will you assimilate it?”
“Specter Orb?”
Meng Lei let out a soft sound of surprise as a grayish orb appeared in his palm. It emitted an aura of death and divine spirit waves. An indistinct look flashed across his eyes.
The vast and boundless universe had nurtured countless lifeforms.
Different lifeforms required different lifestyles. Some were flesh-and-blood beings, others were energy beings, and then there were the shadow beings.
The Specter was a form of shadow beings. They had no physical form while they came and went without a trace, much similar to ghosts.
Although Specters had no physical form, they had the Specter Orb, which was their core of life and their divine spirit core at the same time. In other words, the source of their powers.
Hence, the Specter Orb equated to a Specter’s body.
“This might… must be a Great Demon God-level Specter’s orb!”
Meng Lei’s eyes flashed brightly. “If I refine this Specter Orb, does that mean that I can get a Specter alternate incarnation?
“Let me test it out!”
After three days, it was a success as Meng Lei obtained a Specter alternate incarnation.
When he was controlling the alternate incarnation, it moved like the shadows in the dark. Ol’ Amos and Amolin were entirely unaware of his presence.
“It’s great stuff!”
Meng Lei was in a superb mood as he sent the Specter alternate incarnation to Dark Hell Continent.
At this point, Ol’ Amos became rather impatient. “Meng Lei, you all have been in Dark Hell Continent for almost half the month. There’s still no news?”
“Not yet.” Meng Lei shook his head. “Dodola is still searching for the Heart of The Existential Plane there. Since I haven’t heard from Dodola till now, I think they have not found it yet.”
“A mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane could be that hard to find?” Ol’ Amos found it hard to understand.
“It’s not any ordinary difficulty…”
Meng Lei was about to say something before he paused, and expressions of joy appeared.
“Found it! Hahaha, Dodola has found Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane!”
“Found it?”
A jolt went through Ol’ Amos’ body.
…
“I’ve found it! I’ve found it!” Dodola shouted excitedly. “Meng Lei, if I’m not wrong, no one has refined the Heart of The Existential Plane here yet!”
“So it’s really unowned!” Meng Lei was delirious with joy. “That’s awesome! There’s hope! There’s hope now! Hahaha, it’s the Chief God of Existential Planes. I’m about to become one!”
“Meng Lei, here’s your chance!”
Dodola looked at Meng Lei and said earnestly, “I can only help you so much. Whether you can refine this Heart of The Existential Plane to become the Chief God of Existential Planes is all up to you now!”
“Relax! As long as there is no master of this existential plane, I have no fear.” Meng Lei nodded his head heavily. “Dark Hell Continent’s master of the existential plane will be me!”
“Then I’ll wish you success!”
Dodola was rather pleased and asked, “What’s your next step?”
Meng Lei took a deep breath as a glint flashed across his eyes. “Plunder more wealth and enhance myself as much as possible. The day that I can suppress Dark Hell Continent will be the day I refine the Heart of The Existential Plane!”
Dodola frowned as it was puzzled. “I still don’t understand this. What’s the link between you strengthening yourself and looting for more wealth?”
“Haha, that’s a secret!”
In the Demon Ravine…
“Meng Lei, so Dark Hell Continent is currently unowned?”
“Dodola has confirmed that Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane has not been refined by anyone yet. So yes, it is unowned.”
“Such a huge mid-level existential plane with no master? How unbelievable!” Ol’ Amos was astonished. “Then once you refine this Heart of The Existential Plane, how strong will you become with that Power of Existential Plane?”
“Powerful enough to fight against a Chief God!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and continued. “Ol’ Amos, I’m going to Dark Hell Continent to seize the Heart of The Existential Plane with all my might. I’m entrusting Heaven’s Vault Continent with you!”
“You need not worry and leave it to me.”
…
Meng Lei went through the space-time rift at once and arrived in Dark Hell Continent. He kept the three alternate incarnations and embarked on a journey of plunder.
“The Ice Demon Prefecture is the closest, so that shall be my first stop!
“I’ll defeat Ice Demon Prefecture’s master and become their new master. Of course, the treasury there will be empty soon!”
“Take it easy, Meng Lei. The master of the Ice Demon Prefecture is a mid-level Great Demon God. It’ll be really tough to defeat it!”
“Only then it’ll be challenging, am I right?”
Both Meng Lei and Dodola teased each other as they traveled.
Of course, Meng Lei did not forget to pilfer the demon tribes for looting on the way.
For some time, his wealth kept increasing. Meng Lei was all smiles—at this growth rate, he would be able to save up enough money to enhance his divine body.
After three days, an enormous towering city appeared before their eyes. The majestic city walls were so high as a cliff that they would make one stay away with one look of it.
There were plenty of city gates. They had the appearance of a devil’s huge wide-opened mouth, devouring the demons going in and out of the city.
“Dodola, this is the Ice Demon City.” Meng Lei took a deep breath and continued. “This city has a rigid class system while the Prefecture Master is the highest status of the entire city.
“Below him are the loyal Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, all of whom are the minions of the master. Even the various Great Demon Gods living in the city won’t dare to mess with them.
“But today… Hehe! I’m going to defeat the Prefecture Master and destroy his guards, looting everything there is in the treasury!”
Things were as usual at Ice Demon City, but no one knew that two devils had arrived—an incoming turmoil that would soon consume the city was about to erupt!
" }, { "id": 330, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-330", "title": "Chapter 330 - Smacking It Dead With One Palm Strike, The Behemoth Corpse Emperor", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 330: Smacking It Dead With One Palm Strike, The Behemoth Corpse Emperor
The boundless Ice Demon City rested upon the land like a quiet and dormant great beast. An infinite number of demons lived within the huge city.
The demon world abided absolutely by the Dark Forest Theory[1] where the strong preyed upon the weak, and the weak were eliminated. This rule was especially obvious in the wilderness, and it was only when one reached the city that they would finally see some semblance of order.
It was precisely this tiny semblance of order that attracted innumerable demons to head there and take up residence there. It was only after a long passage of time that the grandly-proportioned Ice Demon City of current times came to be.
While walking within the walls of Ice Demon City, one would see shops, restaurants, teahouses, demonic weapon stores… In this aspect, it was unexpectedly more or less similar to the human world.
“Kylegas’ Miscellaneous Goods?”
Meng Lei sensed a fairly fearsome demonic might when he walked by a shop. Curiosity couldn’t help but come over him, and he walked into the shop with Dodola.
“Esteemed, sir, may I know what you’re looking for?”
A Succubus dressed in a sexy, revealing outfit sashayed over to them cheerfully. Her ample bottom moved from side to side as she moved, giving off great allure all over. How would ordinary men possibly be able to take the sight? They would probably have already wet themselves a long time ago.
“Just looking around.”
Fortunately, Meng Lei had a strong will, so he was unaffected. His gaze swept across the display shelves before finally stopping at an arm with bulging veins.
“What’s that?”
Meng Lei pointed at the arm and asked.
“What a sharp eye you have, sir!” The Succubus said cheerfully, “That arm originated from a high-level Great Demon God-level Hundred-Armed Giant. It’s one of our shop’s best products!”
“Is that so?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, “How much is it?”
The Succubus gave him a sweet and beautiful smile and replied, “Sir, this is a high-level Great Demon God’s arm, so it naturally has extraordinary value to it. But seeing as to how you’re really taken with it, I’ll give you a discount at 3,000,000 Demonic Crystals!”
“3,000,000 Demonic Crystals? That’s daylight robbery!”
Meng Lei scoffed. The Demonic Crystals in question here weren’t the magic crystals[2] formed from magic power that people extracted from magic crystal mines in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Rather, they were crystals formed from demonic aura and were worth roughly the same as Divinity Crystals.
3,000,000 Demonic Crystals were approximately equivalent to 3,000,000 Divinity Crystals. The price could be said to be ridiculously high. Disregarding how he didn’t have many Demonic Crystals, to begin with, he wouldn’t have born to buy the arm either—and this was in spite of the fact that he had great use for it.
Meng Lei turned and looked at the other products, among which the ones that came in abundance the most were demonic cores. Demons frequently fought and killed one another in the demon world, so what they lacked the least were demonic cores.
“Sir, if you find it too expensive, we can discuss the price further?”
The Succubus persisted, almost pressing her full, ample chest right against Meng Lei. She even constantly gave him amorous looks, the coquettish air around her off the charts.
Meng Lei snorted and said, “10,000 Demonic Crystals! That’s all I can afford. I don’t have even more than that!”
“10,000!?”
The Succubus froze for a moment, and then she promptly distanced herself from Meng Lei. Loathing and dislike filled her eyes as she looked at Meng Lei, and her expression became one of someone looking at a pauper.
Meng Lei was unaffected. After taking a casual look around, he got ready to leave. However, it was at this point that a cold and aloof low roar suddenly rang out outside.
“Where is the Ice Demon Prefecture Master? Get the hell out here and meet your end!”
The voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it was extremely penetrative. It pierced through the air and passed through all obstacles to reach Meng Lei’s ears, as well as everyone in the city. It was as though the voice had arisen in their hearts.
“A challenge to the Prefecture Master? O Demon Grandmaster above, a demon is actually challenging the Prefecture Master?”
The pretty Succubus’ expression changed drastically in the store, and she ran out of the store like the wind.
Meng Lei and Dodola exchanged a look, both seeing the surprise on each other’s faces. Boy, someone had actually beaten them to it.
“Let’s go out and take a look!”
The duo went out of the store to find that the entire Ice Demon City had gone into a furor. Demons were walking out of stores, walking out of their homes, walking out of the colosseums…
Demon traffic surged and flowed as thousands upon thousands of demons filled the place.
The streets and alleys were chock full of demons.
The weak ones—like the Demon Overlords and the Demon Lords—stood docilely on the ground while the strong ones—like the Great Demon Lords and the Demon Gods—floated in mid-air.
The demon world’s strict class stratifications were displayed to their fullest in this instant. The strong could stand in the sky while the weak could only stay on the ground docilely.
Every demon had its own position. No one dared to easily go against it.
“Who’s so bold as to actually challenge our Prefecture Master?”
“Probably someone that doesn’t cherish their life again?”
“How long has it been since our Prefecture Master was last challenged? 18,000 or 19,000 years?”
“In any case, it’s nearing 20,000 years!”
“There’s gonna be a good show now!”
The demons speculated wildly among themselves.
At this point, the demons suddenly noticed Meng Lei rising into the air and floating above them. For a moment there, all the demons became enraged.
“Who’s that unfamiliar-looking fellow? How dare he fly above us? The audacity of him!”
“To think it’s actually him!”
The Succubus among the demon masses had also spotted Meng Lei, who had flown above them. A hint of surprise flashed across her countenance. She couldn’t tell how strong Meng Lei was, but she had assumed that he couldn’t be particularly strong anyway.
Being a Great Demon Lord herself, she was well aware of all the demons that were stronger than her in Ice Demon City. Meng Lei? Who? Sorry, but she had never seen him before!
“Trash, get the hell down here!”
“Where did that bastard come from? How dare you climb above me?!”
“You’re courting death!”
Meng Lei was taken aback upon hearing the demons’ cusses at him. Why didn’t any of the demons grumble or whine about the other Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods floating in the air? Yet he couldn’t for some reason?
“Where did that worm come from? Get the hell down there!”
Not only were the demons on the ground dissatisfied, but the Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods in the air also showed their displeasure. A Fire Demon God even straight-up attacked him.
Boom!
A huge palm of flames manifested out of nowhere and smacked brazenly at Meng Lei. The palm strike contained might so fearsome that even a Great Demon Lord would undoubtedly be smacked dead by it.
“That presumptuous piece of trash. Good call!”
All the demons gloated at the sight. They feared and revered powerful demons and would never ever allow a nameless weakling to lord over them!
This was exactly what the demons were like—they feared the mighty and discriminated against the weak.
However, just as the huge palm of flames was about to strike Meng Lei, he gave a light wave, and the palm of flames that carried an astonishing momentum instantly dissipated and vanished without a trace.
“What?”
The Fire Demon God received a huge shock.
The demons around them were also filled with disbelief. He had actually so easily and so casually dispelled such a fearsome palm of flames? Just how strong was he?
“Die!”
Meng Lei looked at the Fire Demon God and flicked his fingers. A strong gust of wind shot out and instantly pierced through the Fire Demon God’s forehead.
The Fire Demon God froze as a bloody hole formed in between its brows, and a look of surprise, indignation, and regret appeared on its face.
Never in its wildest dreams would it ever have thought that the attack that it had casually launched simply because of its displeasure would actually rile up such a powerful enemy, causing it to pay for its mistake with its life.
Boom!
The Fire Demon God’s carcass plummeted and crashed onto the ground with a dull bam, causing dust and earth to swirl about.
The impact caused the demons to snap back to reality, and they broke out in cold sweat. Shock and horror filled their eyes as they looked at Meng Lei. In particular, those that had insulted and hurled verbal abuse at Meng Lei just now were all the more shaking in their boots and close to wetting themselves in fear.
“He… He’s a-actually…”
The Succubus’ jaw dropped. A look of incredulity flickered in her beautiful eyes. Never would she have ever thought that Meng Lei would actually be so powerful! He had jabbed a powerful Fire Demon God dead with just a finger!
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to pay any more attention to the demons after casting one last glance at them. Instead, he turned, flew even higher, and only stopped upon reaching the altitude that the Great Demon Gods were.
Puzzlement and curiosity flashed across the few Great Demon Gods’ eyes as their gazes swept across Meng Lei. However, no one said anything else—the strength that Meng Lei displayed just now had already gained their acknowledgment.
A burly figure was floating in the sky a fairly great distance away at the moment.
It stood 10,000-feet-tall and looked like a Behemoth, except for its incredibly ghastly white skin tone. There was no hint of vitality in it at all. All it had was just an endless aura of death and corpse aura[3] around it.
“It’s a Purgatory Corpse Emperor,” Meng Lei uttered.
“That’s no ordinary Purgatory Corpse Emperor but a Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor,” said Dodola as it corrected Meng Lei.
It said, “A demon like that is born when a dead Behemoth stays in unique environments, such as places where the stench of dead bodies pervades the atmosphere. It feeds on an endless supply of baleful aura, corpse aura, and the aura of death, and is immortal and indestructible.”
“A Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor…” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “That Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor is fairly powerful. Despite the great distance between us, I can nonetheless sense an intense threat coming from it.”
“It’s undoubtedly a mid-level Great Demon God.” A smiling Dodola added, “There’ll definitely be a fierce battle between giants coming up later. Pay close attention when you watch the battle later.”
“Okay!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
“Ice Demon Prefecture Master, hurry and get out here and meet your end!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor let out another deep roar. Rolling sound waves reverberated through the surroundings, instantly spreading throughout the skies above the boundless Ice Demon City.
Whoosh!
Numerous figures rapidly shot out of the Prefecture Master’s residence and into the sky above Ice Demon City. With numbers as many as 10,000,000, they were none other than the Ice Demon Prefecture Guards.
A Great Demon God-level Ice Demon Prefecture Guard let out a cold snort and barked, “State your name, challenger!”
“I am Cornelius Lattimore!” The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor replied coldly, “Hurry and summon your Prefecture Master out here. I’m here to challenge him!”
“Give me a moment!”
The Great Demon God took a good, close look at the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor before it returned to the Prefecture Master residence.
A brief moment later, a skinny and frail-looking Ice Demon that looked about the same size as a normal human appeared in mid-air.
At the sight of the Ice Demon, the 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards all got down on one knee and bowed formally.
“Greetings, Lord Prefecture Master!”
“Greetings, Lord Prefecture Master!”
All the demons in every corner of Ice Demon Prefecture also got down on their knees. The Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods watching the battle were the only ones that bowed slightly instead as a sign of respect.
“So, it’s you that wishes to challenge me.”
The frail and skinny Ice Demon Prefecture Master yawned as it peered sleepily at the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor.
“That’s right!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor stated coldly, “Ice Demon Prefecture Master, you’ve taken steady possession of the Prefecture Master position for over 40,000 years. It’s time that you abdicate your position and hand over the Prefecture Master throne!”
“Since you’re aware that I’ve been Prefecture Master for over 40,000 years, then you should have also realized how strong I am. After all, there aren’t many that can sit so firmly on the Prefecture Master throne for over 40,000 years,” replied the Ice Demon Prefecture Master leisurely.
“Cut the crap! Let’s get down to it instead!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor declared coldly, “Not only am I going to take your position as Prefecture Master today, but I’m also going to drive that bunch of damned Ice Demons out of the Ice Demon Prefecture!”
“How presumptuous!”
“How impudent!”
“It should be killed!”
Upon hearing the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor’s words, the 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards and all the Ice Demons in the city broke into curses. Fury and displeasure welled up within their eyes.
During the last 40,000 years when the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had been Prefecture Master, they, the Ice Demons, had indeed enjoyed a higher status than other demons. On top of that, they had also enjoyed the benefits and graces of several policies advantageous to themselves. Thus, they naturally didn’t show the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor any courtesy and hoped that its challenge would end in failure.
“Young Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor, you should be aware of how you’ll end up when your challenge ends in failure.”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master said dispassionately, “I’ll give you one last chance to change your mind. Call off the challenge at once and return to wherever you came from.”
“Are you scared, Ice Demon Prefecture Master?”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor was full of mockery.
“Scared? What an arrogant and ignorant fellow.”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master shook its head lightly. Then, it said, “Go ahead and attack. I need to return to sleep after the challenge, so I don’t have time to waste here.”
“Die!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
[2] [Annotation text missing]
[3] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 331, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-331", "title": "Chapter 331 - : Intense Clash, Fishing In Troubled Waters", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 331: Intense Clash, Fishing In Troubled Waters
“Die!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor let out a furious roar. Endless streams of ghastly white corpse aura burst forth from its body and converged into a huge palm capable of blotting out the sun. Then, it smacked downward brazenly.
Boom!
The dimension instantly splintered and broke. The huge palm of corpse aura passed through the air and appeared above the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Then, it crashed downward like a great mountain crushing down on someone.
“How dare you antagonize me just because you have gained some corpse aura?”
A white, chilly air current shot forth with a flick of the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s fingers. It gave off an alarming chill in the instant it collided with the huge palm of corpse aura.
Crack!
The huge palm of corpse aura was instantly frozen, and then it turned into large expanses of falling snowflakes.
During this precise moment, the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor abruptly showed up right in front of the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Its gigantic palm smacked downward at the Ice Demon Prefecture Master at lightning-quick speed.
“That’s more like it!”
A smile appeared on the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s countenance, and it promptly raised its right palm—which was formed out of ice—to meet the attack.
Crack!
Both palms collided with each other. The dimension exploded as an earth-shattering boom rang out.
The sky turned into a black hole that swallowed the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor in an instant. However, the two demons were unaffected, and they continued to fervently bombard each other with attacks.
Bam, bam, bam!
Crack, crack, crack!
Energy waves burst into the surroundings. The black hole in the sky continuously expanded. Air fluxes surged and churned as gales wreaked havoc. It was as though doomsday had come in the skies above Ice Demon City.
“H-how terrifying!”
“Given my strength, there’s no doubt that I’ll die if the resulting impact waves hit me!”
“So, is that what a Prefecture Master-level battle is like?!”
The demons in Ice Demon City were in a panic, for fear that the battle between the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor would implicate them and bring them death.
In truth, they weren’t the only ones feeling that way because even a Great Demon God like Meng Lei was filled with fear and trepidation in the face of the battle.
The clash between mid-level Great Demon Gods was too intense. Every hit was capable of causing grievous injuries to them.
“Dodola, I’ve finally come to understand why the gap between each cultivation stage is as wide as an insurmountable obstacle after one becomes a higher deity.”
Meng Lei was filled with great emotion. He had also become a higher deity by now and could totally sense how strong and powerful the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor were. Be it their speed, physical strength, or their reflexes, none of them was something that an ordinary Great Demon God could compare to.
“Duh!”
Dodola sighed and said, “At the Great Demon God stage, every step forward is filled with great difficulties. Not only must one consume a vast amount of treasures, but they also need to accumulate strength and resources over a long period of time. It’s no exaggeration to say that every step forward is countless times more difficult than a mortal becoming a god.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
Unlike deities, battles between demons were usually a clash of their demonic bodies. It was simpler, more straightforward, rougher, and crueler than battles between deities.
The one whose demonic body was stronger and the one that possessed greater physical strength would be the one to achieve victory!
In this aspect, even the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor, who were mid-level Great Demon Gods that stood at the pinnacle of the demon pyramid, were no exceptions.
Boom!
The clash between the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor was still ongoing. It seemed like the two Great Demon Gods’ levels of strength were infinitely close to each other. Neither of them could do anything about the other even after such a long confrontation.
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor let out furious roar after furious roar as its attacks became more and more ferocious. The Ice Demon Prefecture Master discarded its previous sleepy demeanor and started to take the battle seriously.
Boom, boom, boom!
The skies became dim and overcast as the light from the sun and moon was blotted out.
Another series of clashes later, the two Great Demon Gods finally briefly separated from each other. Both were breathing rather heavily. Evidently, the battle had taken a huge toll on both of them.
“I’ve surprisingly underestimated you.”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s eyes bore into the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor as it said, “A powerhouse like you can’t possibly be a nameless nobody. Why haven’t I seen you before?”
“To tell you the truth.” The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor said with an icy snort of laughter, “I came from Hell!”
“Hell? I see.”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s pupils constricted slightly as it nodded slowly. “It’s time to end the warm-up exercises. Show me your true strength!”
“As you wish!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor let out a deep roar. Then, as though an inflating balloon, it began to expand. A few breaths later, it had become an enormous monster.
Standing at 7,000,000 feet tall, waves of corpse aura churned all around it and shrouded the whole area within a million miles of where they were. All the demons within Ice Demon City felt their bodies going cold and chills running all over them.
Roar!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master no longer held back, either. It transformed straight into its true form—a massive, 7,000,000-feet-tall Ice Demon fully made out of ice.
7,000,000 feet = 2,100 kilometers!
Even the moon’s diameter was no more than just 3,400 kilometers!
From this, one could tell just how massive the two Great Demon Gods were!
Boom!
After transforming into its true form, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor started a new round of clashes.
The impact waves resulting from their clash became even fiercer and even more fearsome. The powerful energy waves had even affected Ice Demon City itself.
Innumerable buildings were destroyed, high-rise buildings collapsed, and huge rocks rolled and fell off. Many unlucky demons also became collateral damage.
“Run! Run!”
“A battle of that level isn’t something that we can watch at all! We’ll end up being killed!”
“O Sloth Demon forebears, please save your pitiful and lowly descendants…”
Ice Demon City was into total chaos. Innumerable demons fled the area in fear and panic, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs as they did so.
Boom, boom, boom!
Ice chips flew about as corpse aura churned and surged.
The two Great Demon Gods showed no signs of stopping at all, and the clash between the two continued all the way till evening fell.
Wheeze!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master panted heavily like an exhaust fan. Riddled with wounds all over, the aura around it had weakened significantly compared to what it was like in the beginning. Not only had it exhausted a large amount of stamina, but it had also sustained considerable injuries, resulting in a significant drop in combat power.
As for the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor, its aura had also greatly weakened. Its corpse aura that had been running rampant had also substantially weakened. It was also bleeding profusely, evidently heavily wounded. Similarly, its combat power had also dropped considerably.
“You’re the first person in 40,000 years to drive me into such a state. However, unless you wish to see a situation where both sides suffer, you won’t be able to defeat me!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master barked, “I’d advise you to stop here. If we continue this intense battle, both of us will only end up suffering. There’s nothing in it for you.”
Upon hearing what he said, the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor’s gaze swept across the many Great Demon Gods around them who were watching the battle, as well as the 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards. A look of indignation surfaced in its eyes.
Though unwilling to admit it, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was indeed right. The two of them were evenly matched. If it wished to defeat the other party, both parties would only end up suffering great losses.
A situation where neither side won wasn’t a positive outcome in the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor’s case. The 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards covetously watching them aside, just the many Great Demon Gods watching the battle alone would probably never let it off. It was likely that all the Great Demon Gods would try to kill it while it was injured.
As a veteran Great Demon God, the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor didn’t doubt that at all!
“Count yourself lucky this time, Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
The Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor stared hard at the Ice Demon Prefecture Master before it turned and transformed into a streak of light that shot swiftly into the far distance. It would only end up putting itself in harm’s way if it continued the battle, and that was something that it would never do.
“Upon realizing that things were not to be, it promptly decided to leave.” A smiling Meng Lei marveled, “What a wise fellow!”
“There are no fools among those who could survive in the bloody and cruel world of demons.” A smiling Dodola then added, “Because all the fools have already been eliminated a long time ago!”
“That is certainly so!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, a shrewd glint flashed across his eyes, and he said, “It’s my turn now.”
“You intend to fish in troubled waters?”
Dodola cocked an eyebrow.
“So what even if I do? This is the demon world, after all!” Meng Lei let out a derisive chuckle and said, “Surely you do not intend to persuade me to be a man of honor?”
“What ‘man of honor’ nonsense is that? Hurry up and attack!”
Dodola said dryly, “Don’t worry, you can fight head-on at the frontline while I help you out in the background. With the two of us joining hands, there won’t be much of a problem killing the half-dead Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
“Okay!”
…
“It’s finally left!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master heaved a sigh of relief as it watched the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor leave. It had really been worried that the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor would have a one-track mind and insist on fighting it to the death.
If that happened, it would be hard to tell just how things would end.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master swept its gaze across the Great Demon Gods, watching the battle in the surroundings, a look of warning flashing across its eyes.
One mustn’t be fooled by how docile and submissive those guys looked—the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was well aware that they would definitely pounce forward and rip it into shreds the moment something untoward happened to it.
Demons had never been one to speak of comradeship, after all!
The truth was indeed so, as well. The dozen or so Great Demon Gods watching the battle could hardly hide the disappointment in their eyes upon seeing the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor leave.
How they wished that the Purgatory Behemoth Corpse Emperor had fought the Ice Demon Prefecture Master to the death and concluded the battle with an outcome where both sides suffered great losses! That way, they would be able to profit from their losses and replace them.
What a shame…
“What a piece of trash!”
The Great Demon Gods cursed inwardly, though their countenances remained humble and reverent.
“Let’s go back!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master took a deep breath, and then it prepared to return to its residence to rest and recuperate.
However, it was at this point that an aloof voice suddenly rang out beside its ear.
“The challenge hasn’t ended yet, Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
“Who’s that?”
A huge jolt went through everyone the moment the person spoke. Be it the 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, the Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods watching the battle, or the Ice Demon Prefecture Master itself, they all looked toward the source of the voice in unison.
Upon which, they immediately spotted Meng Lei, who was taking step after step toward the Ice Demon Prefecture Master.
“It’s him!”
“It’s actually that guy!”
“Is he intending to challenge the Prefecture Master?”
“Who’s he?”
“Do any of you know who he is?”
“I don’t know who he is!”
“Never seen him before!”
“He’s awfully unfamiliar to the eye!”
Looks of perplexity couldn’t help but surface in the demons’ eyes as they gazed at Meng Lei. They were very clear on who the Ice Demon Prefecture experts were, yet they had never seen Meng Lei before.
Their understanding of Meng Lei was solely limited to how he had killed the Fire Demon God earlier. Aside from that, they knew nothing about him.
In spite of that, a lot of the demons were still greatly astonished when they heard that Meng Lei was going to challenge the Prefecture Master. In particular, those that had previously insulted and verbally abused Meng Lei even revealed looks of fear and horror.
How strong must Meng Lei be if he thought he could challenge the Prefecture Master?
Oh my goodness! They had even hurled such insults at Meng Lei just now. Weren’t they just courting death?
Disregarding the puzzled Great Demon Gods and fearful Demon Gods for now and focusing on the Ice Demon Prefecture Master instead, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master currently had an awful look on its countenance. Its eyes bore into Meng Lei, and killing intent shot forth from within them.
“You wish to challenge me?”
“That’s right.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “You seem extremely awe-inspiring as the master of a prefecture. It has tempted me somewhat, and so I wish to try what it feels like to be one.”
“Challenger, one must be strong enough if they wish to challenge someone!” The Ice Demon Prefecture Master let out a deep roar. “Without it, they will only throw their lives away in vain!”
“Is that so? Let’s fight, then! Show me how much power you, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master, have left,” said Meng Lei leisurely with a flick of his fingers.
“Die!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master let out a deafening roar and promptly launched an attack. It raised its huge ice palm and slammed it at Meng Lei, using its full strength right away.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master had launched a killing move right away. It wanted to end the battle quickly and use iron-fist means to take Meng Lei’s life so that it could intimidate the other thieves and rascals.
“Nice one!”
Meng Lei let out a long howl and vanished from where he was with a teleport. By the time he reappeared, he was already behind the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. As he glared hard at it, two bunches of black flames then burst forth from his eyes!
Boom!
" }, { "id": 332, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-332", "title": "Chapter 332 - The Netherworld Divine Fire Evolves, Besieging The Prefecture Master", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 332: The Netherworld Divine Fire Evolves, Besieging The Prefecture Master
Boom!
Meng Lei abruptly appeared behind the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Two bunches of flames manifested in his eyes and turned into a couple of fire pillars that sprayed onto the Ice Demon Prefecture Master.
The black flames blazed away right upon making contact and completely disregarded the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s body of ice.
“Netherworld Divine Fire!”
“That’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
At the sight of the black flames, the expressions of the Great Demon Gods among the Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, the dozen or so Great Demon Gods watching the battle, as well as the many Demon Gods all changed dramatically. The way they looked at Meng Lei immediately changed.
“To think he’s actually royalty!”
Disbelief filled the demons.
The Ice Demon Prefecture belonged to the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom, and the kingdom’s royal family was exactly the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes. However, the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ reproduction rate was extremely low, so pure-blooded Divine Netherworld Phoenixes were exceedingly rare.
However, it was exactly their rarity that made them elegant and noble!
Every Divine Netherworld Phoenix had a lofty and exalted status in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom. Everyone treated them with respect and deference wherever they went. Who would dare to slight them at all?
“To think he’s actually royalty!”
Some of the Demon Gods that had hurled insults at Meng Lei earlier sported grimaces on their faces. They’d initially thought Meng Lei a nobody, but little did they know that he was actually just pretending to be weak in order to take advantage of others.
Not only was he a Great Demon God, but he was even royalty! His posturing this time had caught everyone off-guard.
“You’re part of the royal family!”
Like the others, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had also discovered the Netherworld Divine Fire blazing away on its back. Though surprised, it wasn’t as shocked and horrified like the many Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods.
As a Prefecture Master, its status was just as respected as Meng Lei’s—in fact, it wasn’t inferior to most typical members of the royal family.
What it was truly wary of was that Divine Netherworld Phoenixes were terrifyingly strong. They were nearly invincible among opponents of the same grade as themselves. In particular, Divine Netherworld Phoenixes were even the Ice Demons’ natural enemy!
Should Meng Lei really turn out to be a mid-level Great Demon God-level Divine Netherworld Phoenix, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master wasn’t confident that it could beat Meng Lei at all.
“You’re losing for sure today!”
Meng Lei teleported a few times consecutively and furiously cast Netherworld Divine Fire. His divine body was far inferior to the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s. Fighting the Ice Demon Prefecture Master head-on was no different from courting death.
Therefore, being constantly on the move and teleporting about while casting Netherworld Divine Fire to burn the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was the best strategy.
“Defeating me? Dream on!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master let out a deep roar. Churning chilly currents arose around it and shook off all the Netherworld Divine Fire flames on it.
Right on the heels of it, it opened its mouth, and a white, chilly current sprayed out of it. The chilly current froze the air around it everywhere it passed through. Had Meng Lei not been fast enough with his teleportation, he would undoubtedly have been frozen to the spot.
Meng Lei teleported to a faraway spot and gazed at the frozen air, finding it an awfully thorny problem. It was one thing to watch someone else’s battle and something else altogether when he was the one actually battling.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was even more fearsome than what it had seemed.
“You’re surprisingly quick at fleeing!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master gazed coldly at Meng Lei before glancing at the Netherworld Divine Fire that it had cast off itself. A hint of an icy smile appeared at the corners of its lips as it said, “If my evaluation is correct, you’ve only gone through five rebirths at best, so your Netherworld Divine Fire can’t burn me to death yet!”
Meng Lei had certainly given the Ice Demon Prefecture Master a shock earlier. It had initially thought that since Meng Lei had dared to challenge it, then he must be a mid-level Great Demon God for sure.
However, Meng Lei’s Netherworld Divine Fire was a lot weaker than what it had imagined. Thus, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had basically judged that Meng Lei was just an ordinary Great Demon God.
He was just a mere ordinary Great Demon God, yet he had actually dared to challenge it? He was practically sending himself to death’s door!
“Haha! The Ice Demon Prefecture Master is looking down on you, Meng Lei!”
Dodola’s somewhat-gloating voice rang out in Meng Lei’s mind.
“Are you that happy that it’s looking down on me?” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “It’s fine if you don’t wanna help, but to think you’re cracking wise at my expense!”
Dodola toned down its grin and said, “There’s a huge gap in strength between you and the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Given your current prowess, you can only maneuver around it for a while at best. It’s impossible for you to kill it.”
Meng Lei fell silent upon Dodola’s response. Thanks to his teleportation ability, it was very hard for the Ice Demon Prefecture Master to kill him. However, his objective wasn’t to maneuver around it but to kill it.
By killing the Ice Demon Prefecture Master, not only would he earn vast amounts of Divinity Crystals, but he would also inherit the position of Ice Demon Prefecture Master and get his hands on the Ice Demon Prefecture’s treasury.
He must kill the Ice Demon Prefecture Master!
But the problem was—how was he supposed to achieve that?
Meng Lei couldn’t help but sweep his gaze across his stats interface. He asked, “System, how many Divinity Crystals does it cost to enhance my divine body?”
“Ding! The host’s Physical Body Constitution is currently that of a low-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a mid-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 60 million Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“60 million…”
Meng Lei was lost for words in an instant. What a ridiculous price that was! He wouldn’t fetch that sort of money even if they split him up and sold him in bits and pieces. How was he supposed to enhance his divine body?
Since I can’t enhance my divine body, what else can I enhance?
Meng Lei’s gaze continued downward.
Spirit, Power of Divinity, Laws of Nature Comprehension, Innate Special Ability… Wait a minute! Innate Special Ability?!
Meng Lei hurriedly asked, “System, can Innate Special Abilities be enhanced?”
“Dear host, Super Enhancement is capable of enhancing everything about the host.”
“How many Divinity Crystals does it cost to enhance Netherworld Divine Fire?”
“Ding! The host’s Netherworld Divine Fire is currently classified as a high-grade Innate Special Ability and will become a superior-grade Innate Special Ability after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 10 million Divinity Crystals.”
“10 million Divinity Crystals? Alright, do it!”
Meng Lei didn’t hesitate.
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly decreased by 10 million Divinity Crystals, leaving him with a balance of only 37 million Divinity Crystals.
At the same time, Meng Lei sensed a strange and fascinating warm current flowing into the deepest depths of his body. Netherworld Divine Fire flames involuntarily gushed out of the surface of his body and enveloped him within.
Black Netherworld Divine Fire flames wrapped around his whole body. Despite the lack of apparent changes on the surface, Meng Lei could clearly sense that his Netherworld Divine Fire’s temperature increased at a crazy rate!
500,000°C, 550,000°C, 600,000°C…
700,000°C, 800,000°C, 900,000°C…
His Netherworld Divine Fire’s temperature rose by leaps and bounds practically every second. At the end of it, it had actually broken through the 1,000,000°C milestone!
1,000,000°C?
What kind of concept was that?
Even the temperature of the sun’s surface was no more than just a mere 5,500°C!
One could imagine how just hot Meng Lei’s Netherworld Divine Fire was!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s sharp senses caught the changes in Meng Lei’s Netherworld Divine Fire, and its expression changed dramatically right away.
If Netherworld Divine Fire had posed no threat to it previously, then things were different now!
“His Netherworld Divine Fire has actually evolved?”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was rather horror-stricken. Every time a Divine Netherworld Phoenix was reborn, their Netherworld Divine Fire would also evolve along with it. Its temperature would rise even further, and the power it contained would become even more fearsome.
However, it only evolved after their rebirth. How could anyone just inexplicably evolve their Netherworld Divine Fire within such a short amount of time like what Meng Lei did?
That didn’t make sense at all!
“The Netherworld Divine Fire has evolved?”
Dodola, however, was already desensitized to such surprises by now. This wasn’t the first or second time that Meng Lei had inexplicably powered up—Dodola had already become used to it by now.
Meng Lei took a deep breath as he took in the changes in his Netherworld Divine Fire. Then, he said unhurriedly, “Didn’t you find my Netherworld Divine Fire’s temperatures too low for you, Ice Demon Prefecture Master? Come and give it a go again now!”
Meng Lei had already launched a casual attack before he was even done speaking. Several hundred black spears—all of them manifested from Netherworld Divine Fire—suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Go!”
Meng Lei stretched his arm out and pointed. At once, the several hundred black spears suddenly pierced through the air and shot toward the Ice Demon Prefecture Master at lightning-quick speed, reaching right in front of it in the blink of an eye.
Roar!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master opened its mouth, and a white, chilly current sprayed out from within. It formed an ice wall in front of it that blocked the black spears hurtling toward it.
Boom!
The black spears landed against the ice wall and burst into raging flames. In the span of a few short breaths, they had already melted the ice wall and burned it into ashes.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s expression involuntarily changed drastically. The Netherworld Divine Fire’s might had spiked dramatically after its evolution. Once struck by its flames, they would definitely have a shot at killing it!
“His Netherworld Divine Fire might have evolved, but his divine body hasn’t.” The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s eyes were cold and imposing as it told itself, “As long as I can seize the opportunity, I’ll definitely be able to kill him in one hit!”
“Again!”
The greatly-strengthened Netherworld Divine Fire gave Meng Lei a huge boost of confidence, and he transformed into a Divine Netherworld Phoenix whose wingspan exceeded 100,000 feet.
Every one of his black plumes stood on end like steel needles. His enormous form emanated a noble, cold, and aloof pressure. A fearsome aura spread from Meng Lei and swept through all directions.
Screeeech!
Meng Lei let out a cry. Great bursts of Netherworld Divine Fire shot forth like tornadoes with a flap of his wings and rushed toward the Ice Demon Prefecture Master with overwhelming momentum.
“Damn!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s expression changed at once, and it swiftly retreated with a burst of speed. It didn’t want the Netherworld Divine Fire flames to get onto it at all. Otherwise, things would be terrible.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei snorted and teleported behind the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Another great burst of Netherworld Divine Fire flames surged out of him as he let out another cry.
“Bastard!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master tried to flee from the side, but Meng Lei didn’t give it the chance at all. After teleporting a few times, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had become surrounded by Netherworld Divine Fire on its left and right, top and bottom!
For a while there, there was Netherworld Divine Fire to its top and bottom, left and right, as well as front and back. The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was completely surrounded by flames, leaving it no way out and nowhere to hide.
“Damn!”
The Netherworld Divine Fire flames reflected a fiery glow on the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s face, which had already become all distorted. Its heart sank as it stared at the Netherworld Divine Fire surging toward it from every direction.
The evolved Netherworld Divine Fire contained incredible might. The Ice Demon Prefecture Master didn’t want to come into contact with it at all if it could help it. However, now that things had come to such a pass, it could only fight back head-on.
Roar!
Surging, torrential white, chilly currents arose all around the Ice Demon Prefecture Master and formed a thick ice shield all around it as it roared.
Right after that, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master jumped right into the blazing Netherworld Divine Fire flames. A moment later, it charged out of the Netherworld Divine Fire encirclement.
The ice shield was already on fire and blazing away by now. Just as it was about to be fully burned away, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master shook itself hard all over, shaking off the ice shield and throwing it out.
“Phew! I’ve finally charged my way out!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master heaved a sigh of relief. However, before it could completely become at ease, a mocking voice rang out beside its ear.
“Ice Demon Prefecture Master, did you think it’s already over with just that?”
“Eh?”
The ice Demon Prefecture Master raised its head—only to see that an overwhelming number of black spears had surrounded it!
Densely-packed black spears occupied the heavens and the earth, its left and right, front and back, every direction…
There were as many as tens of thousands of them!
There was nowhere in and nowhere out!
It… had become surrounded again!
“Bastard!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was so furious that it was shaking all over. It had only just escaped from the encirclement after so much trouble and hadn’t even caught its breath yet, yet it had become surrounded again?
Just how goddamn *beep* was that?
Meng Lei resumed his human form and said, “Accept your fate, Ice Demon Prefecture Master. There’s nowhere for you to run anymore!”
“We’ll have to see whether or not you’re that capable if you want to kill me!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master let out a deep roar. White, chilly currents arose all around it again. Evidently, it was intending to use the same trick and escape using an ice shield.
“Shoot!”
The black spears covering the sky shot toward the Ice Demon Prefecture Master in a swarm like a rain of arrows.
“Block!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master bellowed. The white, chilly currents formed a thick ice wall around it. On top of that, the ice wall constantly increased in size and became thicker and thicker.
“Resistance is futile!”
Dodola flew over at this point and blew lightly at the ice wall. A huge dimensional vortex—through which one could see the Ice Demon Prefecture Master—bizarrely appeared on the thick ice wall.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei seized the opportunity right away. Dozens of black spears shot into the dimensional vortex.
“Ahhh!”
" }, { "id": 333, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-333", "title": "Chapter 333 - The Prefecture Master Self-Destructs, Rich Rewards", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 333: The Prefecture Master Self-Destructs, Rich Rewards
Dozens of black spears shot into the dimensional vortex. The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s shrill cries could be heard coming from within the thick ice wall at once.
The ice wall dispersed with a boom right after that. Netherworld Divine Fire wrapped around the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s abdomen and began to spread like wildfire to other parts of its body.
“Damn!”
Blood drained from the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s face. Chilly air reverberated around it, instantly shaking off a greater half of the flames at its abdomen. Nevertheless, quite a bit of Netherworld Divine Fire flames continued to stick to it like glue.
“Don’t struggle in vain anymore, Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Your fate has already been destined!”
A calm smile graced Meng Lei’s features as an overwhelming number of black spears shot toward it simultaneously.
Stab, stab, stab!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was unable to block the attack this time. The black spears bombarded it and turned into fierce, raging flames that began to blaze away furiously.
Boom!
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master instantly turned into a demon on fire. It tried desperately to spur the demonic aura inside it so that it could shake off the Netherworld Divine Fire and drive the flames away, but… It was of no use.
Within the short span of a few breaths, the fire, which was becoming increasingly bigger and fiercer, had completely swallowed it up.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master let out a shrill cry that sounded as if the wailing of vengeful spirits from hell. All the demons that heard it were incredibly alarmed and frightened and their hair couldn’t help but stand on end.
“Lord Prefecture Master has… lost?”
The 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards were trembling all over. They couldn’t believe the scene taking place before their eyes.
The grand Ice Demon Prefecture’s most powerful Lord Prefecture Master that was unbeatable in their eyes had… lost?
“Lord Prefecture Master has actually lost to him! This is truly unbelievable!”
The Demon Gods and Great Demon Gods watching the battle also had a complex look in their eyes and a look of disbelief on their faces.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master had sat firmly on the Prefecture Master throne for as long as 40,000 years. It had encountered innumerable challengers during this period and won them all, yet it had finally been defeated today.
“Ice Demon Prefecture… is in for a huge change! From now on, the whole Ice Demon Prefecture will be his!”
“Ahhh!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master was still screaming. The terrifying Netherworld Divine Fire flames continued blazing away, burning its demonic body into ashes bit by bit. The pain and agony involved were self-evident. Even a mid-level Great Demon God like the Ice Demon Prefecture Master found it hard to bear!
“Congratulations, Meng Lei!”
A smiling Dodola said, “From now on, you’re the newly-appointed Prefecture Master of the Ice Demon Prefecture!”
“You, too!”
Meng Lei returned the smile. Then, his gaze swept across the Demon Gods, Great Demon Gods, and Ice Demon Prefecture Guards around them. It was time to enjoy the fruits of his victory next.
“S-spare me!”
At last, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master couldn’t take it anymore. It begged for mercy hoarsely. “L-let me off! I… I’m willing… t-to submit to you!”
“Submit?”
Meng Lei shook his head. “It’s too late now!”
“Bastard!”
Hate filled the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. It, a lofty mid-level Great Demon God, was sincerely begging for mercy and offering submission, yet Meng Lei had actually rejected it. He was too much!
“Since you refuse to give me a way out, then you can forget about having a good time, too. We’ll go down together, you bastard!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master bellowed hysterically. Its gigantic demonic body suddenly began to inflate and expand furiously like an inflating balloon.
“Oh no! It intends to self-destruct!”
At the sight of this, the expressions of the dozen or so Great Demon Gods watching the battle all changed, and they immediately turned tail and ran.
The 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards, as well as the Demon Gods watching the battle, were scared witless. All of them turned and fled into the distance, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs.
However, they were ultimately still a tad too slow. As a deafening boom rang out, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s body also exploded with a loud bang as though a hundred million hydrogen bombs were suddenly going off.
Boom!
The dimension broke apart right away, and a gigantic black hole formed from the explosion. Additionally, the black hole was also expanding at a terrifying rate. In no time, it had expanded to a size that spanned a million miles in radius.
The Ice Demon City right underneath it was out of luck.
The black hole swallowed the buildings, the demons, the streets, the forests… It swallowed everything that it could possibly swallow!
The world became void of all sounds, color, life, and vitality in this instant. All one could see within their sight was just a constantly-expanding black hole.
One couldn’t tell how long had passed before the expanding black hole finally calmed down. A few minutes later, the black hole disappeared completely, and the sky resumed its original brightness once more.
However, when the surviving Great Demon Gods saw the sight before their eyes, all of them were stunned.
A gigantic deep pit that spanned a radius of 10,000,000 miles had formed in the center of the boundless Ice Demon City. As though a crater formed by a meteor crashing into the earth, there was no sign of life or any living being inside it. All there was in there was just charred soil and rocks that had turned into glass from the high heat.
As for the many Demon Gods and the 10,000,000 Ice Demon Prefecture Guards that had been floating in the air earlier—in fact, even the countless demons on the ground—all of them had vanished!
“H-how did this happen?”
One of the Great Demon Gods had a rather dazed look in its eyes. All the Ice Demon Prefecture Guards had died while the city center had also turned into a deep pit. How many demons had exactly died just now?
How many demons had died?
Meng Lei didn’t know, either. He was very displeased—terribly so—at the moment. Since the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had self-destructed, then that meant that he hadn’t killed it with his own hands. The money that had been about to enter his bank… was gone!
Just how f*cked up was that?
“That was a mid-level Great Demon God that rivaled a mid-level higher deity! Just how much money have I lost!?”
Meng Lei felt as if his heart was bleeding. Aside from that, there was also one other thing that he was worried about—the whole Prefecture Master residence had been caught in the explosion just now. Surely the treasury in there was fine, right?
Meng Lei’s heart couldn’t help but sink as he gazed at the huge pit whose diameter spanned as wide as 10,000,000 miles. The explosion had destroyed the Prefecture Master residence. In that case, the chances of the treasury surviving the explosion…
Meng Lei griped, “Why didn’t you stop it from self-destructing just now?”
“Stop it from self-destructing? Why don’t you do it yourself if you’re that capable?”
Dodola said huffily, “Who would be able to stop a mid-level Great Demon God from self-destructing? Not me, for sure! It’s already pretty impressive that one can come out of it alive!”
Meng Lei curled his lip grumpily. Then, he quickly teleported to the center of the huge pit. There was nothing in the pit at all, not even an ant, let alone the Prefecture Master residence.
This didn’t bode well for the treasury…
Meng Lei immediately urged, “Hurry, look for the Prefecture Master residence’s treasury for me, Dodola!”
All he could do now was hope that the treasury was on other half-planes instead and not in the Prefecture Master residence itself. Otherwise, everything they had done would really have been all for naught.
“Fine!”
Dodola agreed to his request. It released its divine cognition into the surroundings and started to look for it. Meng Lei also tried searching for it.
It was just a pity that…
There was nothing here and nothing there.
There was nothing in the east and nothing in the west.
“Eh? What’s that?”
Dodola suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise. Then, it took a white crystal out from the soil with a casual wave. The crystal emanated might that filled one with trepidation.
“This aura…”
Dodola burst into laughter at once. “Meng Lei, I’ve found the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s demonic core!”
“Its demonic core?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, and he hurriedly grabbed the demonic and inspected it. True enough, he could sense the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s divine spirit’s aura inside it. Meng Lei was overjoyed right away—the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was still alive!
“The destructive power of self-destruction may be great, but demonic cores are objects manifested from demonic power, one’s divine spirit, and the origin of laws of nature. They are firm and indestructible, so they won’t be broken by the power generated from self-destruction,” explained Dodola with a smile.
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly. Then, he released his divine cognition, sent it into the demonic core, and began to inspect it. The demonic core was undamaged. This meant that the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s divine spirit was definitely unharmed. At best, it might have sunk into a deep sleep.
True enough, as Meng Lei inspected the demonic core, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s divine spirit also gradually awakened. At once, it let out a mad, furious roar full of immense hatred. “You bastard! You forced me to self-destruct and destroyed my demonic body! I’ll never let you off even if I were to fall into the depths of hell!”
“Hehe! It’s great that you’re still alive!”
Meng Lei licked his lips. Then, the power of his divine spirit gushed forth and began to furiously attack the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s divine spirit in an attempt to thoroughly kill it.
To deities and demons, the true core of their existences were their divine spirits. As long as their divine spirit was still alive, then they would be considered alive. It was only when their divine spirit was destroyed and dissipated that they would truly be dead.
Therefore, Meng Lei wanted to kill the Ice Demon Prefecture Master once more.
“Argghhhh!”
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master roared furiously in pain and agony. However, without its demonic body, its divine spirit was as though a tree without its roots—it couldn’t withstand Meng Lei’s attacks at all. Gradually, it began to break down.
In the end…
“Ding! 1 Ice Demon God killed. 62 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Haha! One’s effort should always be rewarded. Now, this feels much better!”
" }, { "id": 334, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-334", "title": "Chapter 334 - New Prefecture Master, Ice Demon Shrine", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 334: New Prefecture Master, Ice Demon Shrine
Earning 62 million Divinity Crystals did not just make up for the 10 million spent on enhancing the Netherworld Divine Fire. It also meant a 52-million profit!
One word—way too satisfying!
“And the prefecture treasury, I have to find it! The wealth of a mid-level Great Demon God accumulated over its entire life must be plenteous!”
Meng Lei had Dodola continue the search while he started to read the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s divine spirit fragments.
Other than knowing the treasury’s exact location, the memory itself was a precious treasure which Meng Lei had to dig into.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As he continued reading, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s memory played out swiftly in his mind.
After over an hour, Meng Lei finally completed the reading process. He let out a long breath of pent-up air as a hint of a smile dashed across his face.
“Dodola, have you found anything yet?”
Meng Lei teased.
“Found what? There was not even the slightest trace of it.”
“Hahaha, that’s normal.” Meng Lei laughed. “The treasury wasn’t here in the first place!”
“Not here?” Dodola paused. “Then where is it?”
“The Ice Demon Prefecture Master wasn’t in the prefecture usually as it stayed in the Ice Demon Snow Mountain most of the time, cultivating in the extreme cold on top of the mountain,” Meng Lei explained. “All its treasures, collections, and wealth are stored there!”
“So where is the Ice Demon Snow Mountain?” Dodola asked.
“Follow me.”
Meng Lei smiled faintly as he was about to leave with Dodola. Just then, a dozen of the Great Demon Gods who were previously watching the battle surrounded him suddenly.
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
What are they trying to do? Perhaps they are trying to take advantage of the situation?
The reality proved that Meng Lei overthought it. These Great Demon Gods flew over and bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, Prefecture Master!”
It was an expression of goodwill.
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “Stand down the formalities.”
“Your prowess is unfathomable. Defeating Cador to become the new Prefecture Master is a blessing to the prefecture and also our great honor!”
A Great Demon God said respectfully, “Please allow us to carry out any orders you have, and we will bend our backs to the task until our dying day!”
The other Great Demon Gods also expressed their willingness to serve Meng Lei as his tools.
“Great!”
Meng Lei was satisfied with their attitude. He smiled and said, “I was born rapacious, and I have an eye for things like Laws of Nature Origin Crystals and Divinity Crystals. If you are free, you can help me find more of these treasures!”
Upon hearing that, the Great Demon Gods only had swearing and curses in their minds.
We expressed our goodwill only as a formality, not literally serving you! And you actually start ordering us around? Do you not know the way of the world, or you thought you’re an actual Prefecture Master?
The Great Demon Gods were dissing Meng Lei secretly in their minds. To be honest, the previous Prefecture Master had never ordered them around before—not for this one, though.
“Oh, one more thing, three days later will be my 25th birthday.” Meng Lei continued. “I’ll let you all settle the birthday feast. If I’m not pleased with the feast or the presents are undesirable, I’ll be furious!”
Having said that, Meng Lei left with Dodola, leaving behind the confused Great Demon Gods.
It’ll be your 25th birthday three days later?
25th birthday?
Who are you trying to fool?
If you’re not at least 1,000 years old, I’ll change my surname to yours!
“What the hell does he want?”
A Great Demon God’s expression was awful.
“He obviously wants to plunder more treasure!”
“Such naked greed! This bastard is even greedier than Cador!”
…
“The Ice Demon Snow Mountain is on the west side of the Ice Demon Prefecture. It’s 1,286,000 kilometers above sea level, with permanent snow throughout the year, making it suitable for ice demons to live in.
“The Ice Demon Prefecture Master stayed there most of the time for cultivation. It was the perfect place for it!”
The two of them chatted idly on the way. It took half a day for them to reach the Ice Demon Snow Mountain. The undulating white mountains were like countless Frost Colossal Dragons lying prostrate on top—magnificent and spectacular.
Among these countless snowy mountains stood out an extremely majestic white mountain that was way higher than the ordinary mountains.
It was the Ice Demon Snow Mountain!
The mountain was already covered by clouds halfway up as if it was a celestial realm that was separate from the world—holy, advanced, and majestic.
The two of them passed through the clouds and went up all the way. It took them half an hour to reach the top of the mountain. There were no layers of clouds here anymore.
The sky was azure while there was nothing in the vicinity except for a majestic icy palace on top of the mountain—the Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s shrine!
“We’re here!”
Meng Lei’s heart quickened uncontrollably as he knew how rich the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was after he read its memory.
The Ice Demon Prefecture’s territory was the size of over 1,000 of Heaven’s Vault Continent.
The Ice Demon Prefecture Master had been in charge for over 40,000 years and collected massive amounts of tributes!
How much wealth did it accumulate over 40,000 years?
Meng Lei was eager to open the treasury and feast his eyes on what was inside.
Roar!
A furious roar rang abruptly.
“Who? Who dares to trespass into the Ice Demon Shrine!
Meng Lei stopped and realized that there was a gigantic winged python chained by the door. Its body seemed to be made of ice as it coiled up its massive body. The python’s stared at Meng Lei as a cold glint flashed across its greenish eyes.
“Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths!”
Meng Lei recognized this python. It was a divine beast that the Ice Demon Prefecture Master had caught to guard the shrine. It was as powerful as a normal Great Demon God.
“Archibald!” Master looked at the python and said, “The Ice Demon Prefecture Master you knew is now dead. The one standing before you is your new master!”
“What? Master is dead?”
The Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths was shaken as disbelief filled its eyes.
“You’re lying! How would my master die? Master ruled the prefecture, and it was a mid-level Great Demon God! Who could’ve killed it?”
“I killed it!”
Meng Lei said calmly. “I killed your Prefecture Master, and the prefecture is now mine, including its wealth too. Well, seeing that you have guarded the shrine, I can let you live on the condition that you submit to me.”
“My master is the mightiest I’ve seen. How could it be killed? You dare to fool me!”
The Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths roared and opened its bloody mouth and bit toward Meng Lei.
“Presumptuous!”
Meng Lei frowned as he pointed his finger. A chilly current with a purple glint shot into the body of the python.
Crackle!
Ice formed on the Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths starting from its huge mouth. After a few moments, the enormous slithering body was frozen in light purple ice.
“Mysterious Ice of The Depths! This is the Mysterious Ice of The Depths!”
Dodola was a little shocked. “What the heck! How did you manage to use the signature Special Ability of the Frost Gods?”
“I accidentally awakened the Frost Gods bloodline a while ago,” Meng Lei laughed as he explained.
“Accidentally…”
Dodola did not know what to say. It sighed. “You’re really assembling powerful bloodlines into one body!
“The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline, Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline, the Frost Gods bloodline, and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline!
“Monster! You’re a monster!”
“Thanks for the compliment!”
Meng Lei laughed and walked straight toward the shrine with Dodola following closely behind.
The door was pushed open; it was empty. However, ice elements were extremely rich here, making it an ideal place for cultivation.
And at the center of the shrine, there was a gigantic magic circle. Meng Lei knew that this magic circle would lead him to the treasury existential plane.
Buzz…
Meng Lei activated the magic circle and disappeared with Dodola. When they reappeared, they entered another world.
As far as the eye could see, it was a vast expanse of white. Icefields and white snow were everywhere, and there was no wind which made the place terrifyingly quiet.
There were only ice-elemental laws of nature and ice elements here as this was an ice-elemental half-plane.
“Meng Lei, where are the treasures?” Dodola looked around and asked curiously.
“It can be as far away as being at the edge of the sky or as near as being right before your eyes.”
Meng Lei waved his arm as the snow under his feet rose into the air. What was revealed was not the bare ground but densely packed chests.
These chests crafted from solid ice were gleaming with a chilly glint, as colorful sparkles of the treasures could be seen through the transparent ice. The wealth of the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was in these chests!
“Wow!”
Dodola exclaimed softly as it flapped its wings and struck open an icy chest. It emitted a pure divine spirit wave as it contained Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts.
A chest that was full of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts!
Meng Lei had obtained them before, but they were always picked up one by one in the past—when had he ever seen a full chest of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts?
For a moment, Meng Lei’s eyes were immediately fixed. “So… So many Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract!”
“Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts are extremely rare resources which normal higher deities wouldn’t have much savings. Now there’s so many stocked up here!”
Dodola was rather stunned by the sight.
“Nice! Got to keep all these!”
Meng Lei kept this chest of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract and continued opening each chest as more treasures were revealed.
“So many Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?”
“Keep! Keep them!”
“Divinity Crystals this time!”
“Keep! Keep! Keep…”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Chests of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals vanished.
Chests of Divinity Crystals vanished.
Meng Lei’s wealth spiked rapidly once again. When the count finally paused, his Wealth had grown to an astonishing 397.6 million Divinity Crystals.
“Yes! I’ve struck a true jackpot today!”
Meng Lei spoke to himself as his speech became incoherent in excitement.
“Stop laughing foolishly and look at this!”
Watching Meng Lei’s silliness of an upstart, Dodola could not help but yell at him.
“What?”
Meng Lei flew over as he saw a chest of colorful crystals that gave off gushing laws of nature power. They were without a doubt, laws of nature fragments.
However, this chest of laws of nature fragments was very much different from those Meng Lei had collected in the past.
“These are fusion laws of nature fragments!”
Dodola’s eyes were shining brightly. “Two-colored ones are double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments, three-colored ones are triple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments, as such four-colored ones are quad-elemental.
“Of course, the four-colored ones are really rare as there are close to none of them.”
“Fusion laws of nature fragments?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
He did not think too much of the double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments since he had already assimilated so many of them.
He was looking for triple-elemental and quad-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments, especially the quad-elemental ones.
" }, { "id": 335, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-335", "title": "Chapter 335 - The Death Gods, The Grim Reaper'S Eye", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 335: The Death Gods, The Grim Reaper’s Eye
Meng Lei kept all the double-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments, and the triple- and quad-elemental ones were left in the chest.
Meng Lei picked out the quad-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments first and counted 11 of them of various colors.
These were special as they were assimilated from four different laws of nature, making them extremely valuable.
Meng Lei kept them cautiously for later use when he had the time.
The leftovers were triple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragments with over 300 pieces, which Meng Lei kept too.
Meng Lei carried on with the box openings with chests of demonic crystals, demonic cores…
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?” The system’s notification rang abruptly.
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Grim Reaper bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“Grim Reaper bloodline?”
A dash of shock flashed in Meng Lei’s eyes. Despite their rare numbers, the Grim Reaper was one of the most terrifying races in the universe.
“Assimilate it!”
Meng Lei did not hesitate.
Boom!
Unique gray energy surged into Meng Lei’s body within his limbs and bones, spreading throughout his entire body.
For a while, a gray mist came off Meng Lei’s body as if he had burst into flames. Dodola watched with concern.
“Meng Lei, what’s happening to you?”
“Nothing much, just accidentally awakening some Grim Reaper bloodline. It is part of the process.”
Meng Lei gritted through the intense pain across his body and gave Dodola a smile of reassurance. Although the assimilation process was painful, he could withstand it now at this stage.
“Grim Reaper bloodline?” Dodola gasped. “You awakened another one, and it’s the Grim Reaper bloodline this time? O great God of Time, what kind of freak are you?”
“Hehe!”
Meng Lei curled his lips and grinned.
A thick fog of gray mist spewed out steadily as Meng Lei emitted an aura of death, while his skin turned from yellow to gray.
Ten minutes later, the Grim Reaper bloodline had assimilated while Meng Lei’s skin color had turned gray completely. Other than that, his appearance remained the same.
No, there was one other thing that changed—a vertical-slit gray pupil on Meng Lei’s forehead!
There was nothing else that changed other than that.
“Dodola, so this is how the Death Gods look like?” Meng Lei was surprised.
When he assimilated other bloodlines, he would transform into the appearance of that race like the Gods-Slaying Rat, the Hundred-Armed Giant, the Divine Netherworld Phoenix, the Ancient Tree of Life, the Frost Gods…
The Grim Reaper bloodline was the exception. Other than the skin turning gray and a vertical pupil on the forehead, there were no other transformations, making it unique.
“The Death Gods have no fixed appearance.” Dodola had a complex look on its face. “The biggest feature would be the gray skin and the Grim Reaper’s Eye.”
“The Grim Reaper’s Eye?”
Meng Lei waved his hand as a water mirror appeared before him, reflecting his current look. “This extra thing on my forehead is the Grim Reaper’s Eye? What is the use of this?”
“What use? I must say it’s a huge one!”
Dodola explained, “Normally, whether it’s a deity or a demon, they’re either skilled in physical attacks or divinity attacks.
“The Death Gods, however, other than the two standard types of attack, possess a terrifying offensive ability—the divine spirit attack.
“That’s what the Grim Reaper’s Eye does!”
Dodola sighed as it continued. “The Grim Reaper’s Eye can attack the enemy’s divine spirit directly, and it can kill enemies of the same class in one strike. Plus, it can devour the enemy’s divine spirit to strengthen your own divine spirit without any side effects!”
“Damn! That’s crazy!”
Meng Lei could not help but gasp. Attacking the divine spirit directly, one-shot kill, and the ability to devour divine spirits to strengthen his own divine spirit!
That’s just crazy!
“It’s that insane.” Dodola sighed. “The reason why they’re known as the Death Gods is because of this crazy Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Crazy! That’s too insane!”
Meng Lei swept a glance at his stats interface. The assimilation degree of the Grim Reaper bloodline was only 32%. Meng Lei did not hesitate to raise it to 100% immediately.
68 Divinity Crystals were spent.
It was clear that the Grim Reaper bloodline was another powerful True God bloodline, not an Ancient God bloodline!
After that, Meng Lei continued with the loot. There were chests of demons and magical beast carcasses, including Fire Demon’s Heart, Succubus’s Eye, and limbs of powerful magical beasts…
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Underworld Ghost bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it.”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained…”
Meng Lei was not too interested in these carcasses as he sent them into the Tower of Time for the golden little tree’s enjoyment.
After consuming a massive amount of remains that Meng Lei had provided, the golden little tree grew taller by only a small margin. It made Meng Lei rather anxious—how long would it take for this tree to grow into an adult?
I guess there’s no choice but to grow this slowly.
After keeping the chests with the carcasses, there were the chests containing weapons. There were demonic weapons and divine weapons of good quality as the lowest graded ones were at least mid-tier weapons.
“These mid-tier divine weapons and demonic weapons are not useful to me, but I can give them to Ol’ Amos and the rest.”
Meng Lei kept these weapons except for a dozen high-tier divine weapons and demonic weapons, with each of them giving off divinity power (magic power) waves!
“These will be mine!”
…
After another round of looting, Meng Lei was overflowing with wealth. The Ice Demon Prefecture Master’s treasury did not disappoint after all as he made a great fortune.
It was time to spend his newfound fortune as Meng Lei chose to enhance his divine body. Even if he killed the Ice Demon Prefecture Master, Meng Lei knew that his absolute combat strength would only be on par with a normal Great Demon God. How was that acceptable?
Prefecture Masters were usually mid-level Great Demon Gods. How could he fall behind them?
“Ding! The host’s Physical Body Constitution is currently that of a low-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a mid-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 60 million Divinity Crystals,” the system informed coldly.
“Enhance!”
Meng Lei huffed.
I had no money previously, but it’s different now! A mere 60 million Divinity Crystals is still affordable!
Whoosh!
His wealth shrunk by 60 million while Meng Lei could feel that his divine body was strengthened at a skyrocketing speed, as a new round of enhancement had begun.
2 times, 3 times, 4 times…
10 times, 20 times, 30 times…
After the enhancement was complete, Meng Lei could feel that his divine body was stronger by 100 times. Endless power gushed within his body as Meng Lei had never felt such strength before.
“If the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was in front of me, I could absolutely go head to head with it!”
After leaving the ice-elemental half-plane, both of them returned to the Ice Demon Shrine. The Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths was still frozen within the Mysterious Ice of The Depths before Meng Lei released it.
Hiss!
Once the Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths went free, it tried to bite Meng Lei immediately. The Mysterious Ice of The Depths might have immobilized its body, but its divine spirit and consciousness were not as its mind was still active.
During the time that it was frozen, it was not frightened. Instead, it hated Meng Lei to the core as it swore to kill Meng Lei and avenge its master.
“You still dare to attack me?”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort. Then, his palm smacked toward the python.
Boom!
His iron fists hit the snake in the nose as it bent down instantly with a crackling sound.
Meng Lei appeared above the python’s head with a flash and stomped down hard. Its skull turned into a massive pit with a thunderous boom.
Hiss… argh!
The Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths let out a painful cry as blood shot out of every hole of its face. It then dropped dead onto the ground as its brain was blasted into pieces instantly.
Meng Lei waved his arm and summoned a demonic core from the corpse. Using the Grim Reaper’s Eye, the divine spirit of the python was dragged out and devoured.
“Ding! 1 Heaven Devouring Python of the Depths killed. 4.9 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“You overestimated yourself!”
Meng Lei sneered as he kept the carcass into the Tower of Time for the golden little tree to consume. He had finally understood that there was more value in using Super Enhancement than to upgrade his divine body through devouring life essence.
Although Super Enhancement was costly, it had the best effects without any repercussions, making it much more effective than devouring life essence.
“Dodola, let’s return!”
“Alright!”
The two of them went through the same way they came and returned to the Ice Demon City after a day.
From leaving the city until their return, adding the amount of time they spent at the treasury in the middle, it took them three days.
However, after Meng Lei returned, there were no signs of celebrations in the streets at all.
“Meng Lei, what happened to your birthday feast and celebrations?” Dodola watched the quiet city and tried to hold its laughter. “They completely disregarded you as their new Prefecture Master!”
“Isn’t this what I wanted?” Meng Lei said calmly while he seemed indifferent.
The 25th birthday? He was only using it as an excuse to be mad!
Things had gone in his favor as the dozen of Great Demon Gods did not bother to treat his words seriously.
Host a birthday banquet?
It was clear that they did not think much of it!
“Time to meet up with these audacious Great Demon Gods and see what they have to say.” Meng Lei spoke directly. “Great Demon Gods in Ice Demon City, get the hell out here!”
Boom!
Meng Lei’s voice rang across the entire city and caused a great stir. Demons ran out of their living spaces and saw Meng Lei hovering in the air with fear written all over their faces—they had not fully recovered from the disaster a few days ago yet.
Whoosh!
The dozens of Great Demon Gods responded to Meng Lei’s call actively and reached before him swiftly.
“You’re back, Prefecture Master!”
“Greetings, my Lord Prefecture Master!”
These Great Demon Gods seemed respectful as they presented their formalities.
“It seems that you all have been doing a great job, really great!”
Meng Lei was furious. “To be able to treat my orders like nonsense, how did you all manage to do that?”
“What do you mean, Lord Prefecture Master?”
The Great Demon Gods pretended to be shocked.
“You don’t know? Then let me remind you a bit!”
Meng Lei said coldly, “Three days ago before I left the city, I remember I had instructed something. So why is there nothing going on in the city?”
“You mean… the birthday banquet, my Lord?”
“Oh, you remembered!”
A Great Demon God explained, “Lord Prefecture Master, you should look for the guards on matters like birthday banquets, not us. It’s not part of our job scope!”
“Lord Prefecture Master, Cador Prefecture Master did not have such requests for us when he reigned. We are Great Demon Gods, after all. We aren’t lackeys of the Prefecture Master!”
“Exactly…”
These Great Demon Gods seemed to be respectful, but the disdain and mockery in their eyes were clear and obvious.
You might have defeated Cador to become the new Prefecture Master, but don’t think of ordering us around!
We’re the Great Demon Gods, not your lackeys. Why would we do such lowly work for you?
“Great! Awesome!”
Meng Lei smiled at them cheerfully. “Since all of you have disobeyed my orders, don’t blame me for being mad!”
“Hahaha!”
Upon hearing Meng Lei’s warning, the Great Demon Gods laughed out loud.
“You’re amusing, my Lord!”
“You’re great at making jokes, my Lord!”
“Joking? Who the hell is joking with you? Since all of you did not even give me the slightest respect, your existence isn’t necessary anymore!”
Meng Lei promptly became mad!
In his eyes, these Great Demon Gods were all walking treasuries. How could he let them off?
" }, { "id": 336, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-336", "title": "Chapter 336 - Killing All Of Them, Hosting A Birthday Banquet", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 336: Killing All of Them, Hosting A Birthday Banquet
“Since you show no respect for me, the Prefecture Master, then there’s no need for you to exist anymore!”
Meng Lei promptly flipped out. He said, “All of you can go to hell together with your Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
The dozen or so Great Demon Gods’ expressions darkened upon his statement. Hostility filled their eyes.
“Lord Prefecture Master, don’t go too far. You may be the new Prefecture Master, but don’t think that you can order us around. We, the Great Demon Gods, are not your servants!”
“Lord Prefecture Master, to put it bluntly, you’ll need our help if you wish to stabilize your position as Prefecture Master. Previously, it was also because of this same reason that Lord Cador had always treated us with civility, rather than adopting a haughty attitude like you and shouting at us.”
“We’re also bigwigs in the Ice Demon Prefecture. Without our cooperation, you won’t even be able to get your government ordinances out the door…”
“Are you finished yet?”
Meng Lei gazed at the Great Demon Gods.
Thinking that they had managed to convince Meng Lei, the Great Demon Gods’ tones also mellowed.
They said, “Lord Prefecture Master, Ice Demon City hasn’t ever been the Prefecture Master’s alone. As long as you treat us with civility, we’ll also be willing to revere you as the newly-appointed Prefecture Master. It’s good for you, good for me, and good for all of us.”
“Since this is Lord Prefecture Master’s first time here, perhaps you aren’t familiar with Ice Demon City’s situation yet. We express our understanding toward Lord Prefecture Master’s earlier insolence.”
“Yes, exactly—”
“So, are you finished yet?”
The smile on Meng Lei’s countenance gradually vanished.
At the sight of Meng Lei’s expression, the Great Demon Gods suddenly realized that things didn’t seem to be going the way that they had expected. At once, they barked, “What’s the meaning of this, Lord Prefecture Master?”
“Since you’ve finished, then go to hell!”
The aura around Meng Lei was strong and thriving. He said, “The Ice Demon City that’s free of your presences will only develop even better and even more steadily. Taking control of it will also become easier!”
A Fire Great Demon God, with an awful look on its countenance, asked, “Kid, are you really going to completely fall out with us?”
“Fall out with all of you? Do you even deserve such an honor?” Meng Lei let out a peal of laughter and said, “I’ll be honest with you—from the very moment I came to Ice Demon City, I’ve never intended to let any of you off!”
“Kid, you’re too full of yourself!”
“Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you’ve killed Prefecture Master Cador? I’ll tell you this—you’re imagining things! Thinking of acting presumptuously here? Dream on!”
“You succeeded in killing Prefecture Master Cador only because you had taken advantage of the difficult situation it was in. Had Prefecture Master Cador not been utterly exhausted, how could you possibly have killed it? Ha, do you really think you’re strong enough to be Prefecture Master?”
“You can’t beat someone on their own turf—”
“Die!”
How would Meng Lei possibly waste his breath on them? A pale violet chilly current burst forth from all over him and instantly spread 1,000 miles into the surroundings—he had cast Mysterious Ice of The Depths.
Crack!
The Mysterious Ice of The Depths looked just like featherlight, weightless violet mist. However, it rapidly froze over the moment it made contact with the Great Demon Gods’ bodies. At once, the dozen or so Great Demon Gods sensed their movements slowing down and showing signs of freezing.
“Damn it! Let go!”
Alarmed, the Great Demon Gods completely flared up.
Boom, boom, boom!
Flames rose, demonic aura ran rampant, black winds wreaked havoc, lightning flashed, and thunder boomed… It took only a brief moment for them to shake off the violet chilly currents on them. on
“Kid, you may want to kill us, but are you strong enough to? Everyone, let’s attack together and kill him! Ice Demon City is ours!”
The Great Demon Gods’ cold gazes swept toward Meng Lei—only to discover to their astonishment that densely-packed short black spears had filled the sky around them. They surrounded them from all directions—including above and below them—and sealed off every possible way out.
“Sorry,” A smiling Meng Lei floated in the air a short distance away, “But I made some Netherworld Divine Spears to prevent you guys from escaping while you were shaking off the Mysterious Ice of The Depths.”
“You bastard!”
The Great Demon Gods’ expressions darkened immensely as they gazed at the infinite number of black spears surrounding them. Never had they ever expected that Meng Lei would really try to wipe them all out!
“Kid, do you really think that you can kill this many Great Demon Gods all by yourself?” A Thunder Great Demon God roared furiously.
“How would I know if we don’t give it a shot?”
Meng Lei flicked his fingers and said, “Look out, I’m about to attack now!”
His placid voice was still echoing in the surroundings when he teleported in front of a Thunder Great Demon God. He revealed a smile and declared, “I’ll start with you!”
“So, you want to kill me? Not so easy!”
A huge jolt of alarm went through the Thunder Great Demon God. However, it fully exhibited its demonic nature during this moment of crisis. A dazzling flash of black thunder burst forth from it as it brazenly swung its fist at Meng Lei, its movements savage to the extreme.
“You think too highly of yourself!”
Meng Lei chuckled softly and swung his fist lightly at it.
Boom!
The two fists clashed against each other. As the crisp boom of something breaking rang out, the Thunder Great Demon God’s entire arm exploded, leaving behind only ghastly white bones.
“Ahhh!”
The Thunder Great Demon God let out a shrill scream. It couldn’t help but stare at Meng Lei in disbelief as it exclaimed, “W-why is your demonic body so powerful?”
“Haven’t you heard of the proverb ‘A separation of three days makes one a changed man’?”
Meng Lei shook his head leisurely. Then, he reached out and tapped the Thunder Great Demon God in between its brows.
Crack!
A bloody hole immediately formed in between the Thunder Great Demon God’s brows, and it stiffened all over. Then, the light in its eyes gradually dissipated, and all signs of life disappeared.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei then sent the Thunder Great Demon God’s demonic body into the Tower of Time for the golden little tree’s feeding pleasure. An ordinary Great Demon God’s life essence would be enough for it to grow a small section.
Everything had taken place in a flash from the point where Meng Lei had attacked till the point that the Thunder Great Demon God perished and vanished. This shocked and horrified all the other Great Demon Gods.
Having witnessed Meng Lei and Prefecture Master Cador’s intense battle with their own eyes, they self-professed to have understood how strong Meng Lei was. Apart from his Netherworld Divine Fire, Meng Lei only had an average demonic body that was about the standard of an ordinary Great Demon God.
That was why they didn’t fear Meng Lei and had dared to treat his words as mere hot air.
They had thought that no matter how strong Meng Lei was, he would never be a match for them if they joined hands against him.
However, they felt like they had severely underestimated Meng Lei at this moment. Given his capability of killing a Thunder Great Demon God with just a punch, just how frighteningly powerful must his body be?
He was definitely not just an ordinary Great Demon God!
“He’s at least a mid-level Great Demon God!”
“Damn it! We’ve been had!”
The Great Demon Gods were alarmed, furious, and filled with regrets. Had they known that Meng Lei was this strong, how would they possibly have dared to go against him? Wouldn’t they just be courting death that way?
“So, who’s next?”
Meng Lei turned to the remaining Great Demon Gods. Then, he very quickly locked on to the Fire Great Demon God as a target and said, “You raised the biggest clamor just now, so I’ll make you the second target!”
“No! Don’t!”
Frightened out of its wits, the Fire Great Demon God wanted to beg for mercy. Alas, it was too late.
Boom!
Its head was also pierced through with another tap of Meng Lei’s finger.
“Who’s the third?”
Meng Lei looked at the rest of the Great Demon Gods, frightening them out of their wits. Instantly taking out Great Demon Gods with one tap of his finger each—just how savage was he?
How many taps would they be able to withstand?
“Spare us! Spare us, Lord Prefecture Master! We were wrong. Please, have mercy on us! We were wrong…”
The rest of the Great Demon Gods all dropped onto their knees and kowtowed incessantly as they begged for mercy desperately.
“Begging for mercy on your knees? How can this do?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and said, “Hurry and get up. All of you are lofty Great Demon Gods, y’know. If you kowtow to me and beg for mercy, you might just reduce my lifespan[1]!”
“My lord…”
Meng Lei had never been a softhearted person, so how would he possibly let them off?
Jab! Jab! Jab, jab, jab!
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
The span of a few breaths later, yet another seven to eight Great Demon Gods perished. The last three remaining Great Demon Gods had already fled in fear a long time ago. How would they possibly dare to linger for even a moment longer?
They didn’t even fear the black spears that covered the sky anymore at this point. They lunged straight toward the densely-packed black spears and didn’t stop even when the Netherworld Divine Fire came into contact with their bodies.
“They’re just sending themselves straight to death’s door.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. The Grim Reaper’s Eye in between his brows slowly opened, upon which a gray light beam shot out from within and landed on the back of a Great Demon God’s head.
Boom!
The Great Demon God froze on the spot right away. The gray light beam extracted its divine spirit from its sea of consciousness before it was then sucked into the Grim Reaper’s Eye.
Gurgle~
A wave of pure divine spirit power flowed out of the Grim Reaper’s Eye and surged into Meng Lei’s sea of consciousness, rapidly enhancing his divine spirit flame.
“Mmm, this feels great!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but let out a long breath of air. It felt so great that he almost made a sound of pleasure. The Grim Reaper’s Eye was said to be capable of devouring divine spirits and converting them into pure divine spirit power to enhance one’s body. From the looks of it, it seemed to be indeed true.
Thud!
“Ding! 1 Sloth Great Demon God killed. 4,400,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
A system notification sounded in a timely manner.
Now that the Sloth Great Demon God’s divine spirit was no longer present to control its body, its demonic body started to go into free-fall mode and plummeted toward the ground.
Meng Lei sent it into the Tower of Time with a casual wave and handed it over to the golden little tree.
“Two left!”
Meng Lei looked at the two last Great Demon Gods. They had already passed through the black spears’ encirclement and fled into the distance. Despite Netherworld Divine Fire blazing away on them, they paid no attention to it and fled desperately for their lives, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs.
“What a shame!”
Meng Lei teleported behind one of the Great Demon Gods’ back. His Grim Reaper’s Eye opened once more and harvested its divine spirit, too.
The other Great Demon God was next.
“Ding! 1 Underworld Ghost Great Demon God killed. 3,900,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Wailing Great Demon God killed. 4,100,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“How exciting!”
Dodola flew over. It couldn’t help but rub its palms together and praised Meng Lei. “You wiped out 13 Great Demon Gods in under a minute! You can finally stand on your own now!”
“Haha!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter and sent the last two Great Demon God carcasses into the Tower of Time. Then, he brought out the 11 Great Demon Gods’ demonic cores that he’d killed just now and destroyed their divine spirits.
This was a very simple task for him. He only needed to open the Grim Reaper’s Eye, and he’d be able to extract their divine spirits from the demonic cores. Thereafter, he would need to crush them, kill them, and convert them into the purest of divine spirit power for his own use.
“Ding! 1 Thunder Great Demon God killed. 5,200,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Fire Great Demon God killed. 5,300,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Wind Great Demon God killed. 4,800,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding…”
After a series of actions, not only did Meng Lei gain approximately 50 million Divinity Crystals, but he had only gained a large amount of pure divine spirit power. His divine spirit received an immense enhancement boost and took a big step toward reaching the mid-level higher deity stage.
“I feel much better now!”
Meng Lei gazed at the sky that had resumed its original peacefulness and said, “Dodola, the Ice Demon Prefecture will be my territory from now on.”
“Congratulations, Prefecture Master Meng Lei!”
Dodola pretended to bow in greeting.
“You may rise, Steward Dodola!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. Then, his gaze shifted to the whole Ice Demon City, and his voice spread throughout the city like rumbling thunderclaps. He said, “From today onward, I… will be Ice Demon Prefecture’s newly-appointed Prefecture Master! It’ll be my 25th birthday three days later. All demons ranked Great Demon Lord and above are allowed to take part in the celebration!”
The rumbling thunderous sound of his voice spread throughout Ice Demon City, ringing out in every demon’s ears…
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 337, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-337", "title": "Chapter 337 - The Boundless King, The Dark Canopy Of The Heavens", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 337: The Boundless King, The Dark Canopy of The Heavens
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
All the demons ranked Great Demon Lord and above in Ice Demon City moved out and headed to the “new Prefecture Master residence” in the heart of Ice Demon City to take part in the newly-appointed Prefecture Master’s birthday banquet.
They didn’t dare to miss the celebration when the new Prefecture Master had already spoken.
Besides, they also had their own personal motives. Didn’t anyone see that all 10 million prefecture guards had been annihilated and that the new Prefecture Master didn’t have even a single subordinate?
This was a golden opportunity for them!
Should they win the new Prefecture Master’s favor and become highly regarded by him, they would be in for a huge profit!
Therefore, every demon who qualified to participate in the birthday banquet had all turned up in splendid attire. On top of that, they had even brought generous birthday gifts in hopes that their wishes would come true.
Currently at the new Prefecture Master residence…
The so-called “new Prefecture Master residence” was the Ice Demon Shrine that Meng Lei had especially moved over from the Ice Demon Snow Mountain. He had placed the shrine—which was fully made out of ice-elemental magic crystals—right in the center of the gigantic pit.
It was tall and majestic, stately and solemn.
Meng Lei sat on the holy throne and received the demon guests here to congratulate him on his birthday one by one. He also checked their congratulatory gifts as he did so, causing his bearing to come across as awfully tacky and vulgar.
However, not a single demon dared to mock him. In fact, a lot of them were secretly delighted. Since the new Prefecture Master was so fond of monetary possessions, things would be easier.
“I’m very pleased with your gift!”
Meng Lei turned to a Fire Demon God and asked, “What’s your name? Are you willing to become a prefecture guard?”
“My name is Dewater, and I’m willing to serve Lord Prefecture Master faithfully!”
The Fire Demon God dropped onto its knees with a thud, so excited that it kowtowed repeatedly.
“Wonderful!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. He said, “You can serve as the captain of the prefecture guards. How about this? I’ll make you the guards’ 1st Battalion leader.”
“Thank you, Lord Prefecture Master! Thank you! I’ll definitely be loyal and faithful to you and devote myself to my duty!”
Dewater, the Fire Demon God, was beyond itself with excitement as it kowtowed repeatedly. Envy filled the other demons’ eyes as they watched Dewater.
The new prefecture guards hadn’t yet been formed, so they weren’t sure what exactly their organizational structure would be like. However, based on their previous structure, one could say that Dewater had just had a meteoric rise in career.
The prefecture guards were grouped into ten battalions in total, where each battalion consisted of one million people. Not only did the battalion leaders hold command over one million guards each, but they were also directly under the Prefecture Master’s command.
Apart from the Prefecture Master, no one else in the whole Ice Demon City held a higher position than the ten battalion leaders. They could be said to be second to only one person!
“Next!”
Meng Lei dismissed Dewater, who then sat at the side with a wave and turned to the next demon in line.
“I wish the Prefecture Master everlasting longevity!”
The demon bowed in greeting and respectfully offered up the gift it had brought. Meng Lei immediately waved it off impatiently after taking a look.
“You may go!”
“Yes, yes!”
The demon backed off in trepidation.
“Next!”
Just like that, Meng Lei checked the guests’ gifts one by one with unflagging patience.
Those whose gifts met the benchmark were permitted to join the prefecture guards’ ranks.
Additionally, those whose gifts pleased him were appointed platoon leaders, company leaders, and battalion leaders.
Time went by little by little, and three days passed before he knew it. An endless stream of demons came to offer their well wishes for his birthday, but Meng Lei showed great patience.
The demons offered up birthday gifts of varying quantities, but as they say, “From small increments comes abundance”. Meng Lei’s Wealth had gone up to 900 million Divinity Crystals in just a short span of three days.
“900 million Divinity Crystals! I can do a lot with that! For example, I could enhance my divine body and bring it up to high-level higher deity stage, or I could also upgrade many of my special abilities.”
Joy secretly filled Meng Lei time and again.
Tsk, tsk. It simply feels too awesome just raking in the money while doing nothing!
Roar!
Just as Meng Lei was happily collecting birthday gifts, an aloof roar suddenly boomed above Ice Demon City like a deafening clap of thunder.
“Where’s the Ice Demon Prefecture Master?”
“What’s that sound?”
“Is someone challenging the Prefecture Master again?”
“…”
All the demons in Ice Demon City were alarmed the moment the voice rang out. Looks of alarm, fear, and worry adorned their countenances as they looked up.
The battle that had taken place a few days ago—including the scene where innumerable demons, including the 10 million prefecture guards, had died so tragically—was still fresh in their minds. Now that someone was challenging the Prefecture Master again, who wouldn’t be fearful or thrown into a panic?
“Someone’s here to make trouble right away when I’ve only just become Prefecture Master for a few days? The audacity of them!”
Meng Lei instantly vanished from the holy throne. By the time he reappeared, he was already in mid-air above Ice Demon City. The demon here to look for him entered his sight.
“Who are you?”
An unusual look flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he gazed at the demon standing before him. He could sense an extremely familiar aura coming from it.
“And who are you?”
The newcomer stared at Meng Lei and broke into a frown. A look of dissatisfaction appeared on its arrogant countenance as it said, “I’m looking for the Ice Demon Prefecture Master, not you.”
“Sorry, but I actually am the Ice Demon Prefecture Master himself,” replied Meng Lei aloofly with a flick of his fingers.
“You’re the Ice Demon Prefecture Master? What a joke!”
The newcomer snorted. “If memory serves me right, it seems like Cador’s the Ice Demon Prefecture Master. It’s an Ice Great Demon God, right?”
“That’s already a thing of the past.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “I’ve already killed Cador and become Ice Demon Prefecture’s new Prefecture Master.”
“You’ve killed Cador?”
The newcomer’s expression changed slightly, and a hint of astonishment surfaced in its eyes.
Each of the 108 Prefecture Masters of Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom was the most powerful expert of each prefecture, and all of them were at least mid-level Great Demon Gods.
Over countless years, the 108 Prefecture Masters frequently received all sorts of challenges, but those that could really succeed… were far and few!
Yet Meng Lei had actually succeeded, and on top of that, he had even killed the previous Ice Demon Prefecture Master. How strong must he be?
The newcomer sized up Meng Lei anew and adopted a much more pleasant attitude. Each Prefecture Master’s revered status aside, just their combat power alone was already worthy of it looking up to them.
“So, what are you looking for me for? Are you thinking of challenging me?” asked Meng Lei calmly.
“Esteemed Ice Demon Prefecture Master, I am August Hymans Bartholomew Holmes Cyril Lawrence Bart Hollis, the Demonic Kingdom’s special envoy,” said the newcomer in self-introduction.
“…”
Meng Lei, “…”
“You may call me Special Envoy Hollis.”
It went on and said, “The Dark Canopy of The Heavens will commence in the middle of next month. Please proceed to the Demonic Capital in a timely fashion and assemble with the other Prefecture Masters there.”
“The Dark Canopy of The Heavens?”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback. As information about the Dark Canopy of The Heavens rapidly surfaced in his mind, a light jolt couldn’t help but go through him. Then, he nodded slightly and replied, “I’ll be there punctually.”
“Since I’ve relayed the message, then I’ll take my leave now.”
The newcomer bowed slightly and quickly left.
“What’s the Dark Canopy of The Heavens, Meng Lei?” asked Dodola somewhat curiously.
Meng Lei took a deep breath and asked, “Have you heard of the Boundless King, Dodola?”
“The Boundless King?”
A huge jolt went through Dodola, and it exclaimed, “Are you talking about that great existence whose name is eponymous with the four juggernauts of the Void?”
“Yes, him!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. There were a total of four juggernauts in the vast universe. They stood above all deities, demons, Chief Gods, and Demon Grandmasters and were the true gods among the gods and demons among the demons.
They were supreme existences!
They dominated the universe!
They were the Life Dominus, the Sky Dominus, the Supreme God of The Underworld, and the Grim Reaper King.
It was no exaggeration to say that the four juggernauts were exalted beings that stood at the very pinnacle of the pyramid of power. They were also the four strongest existences in the vast universe, and even Chief Gods paled in comparison to them.
From how the Boundless King enjoyed equal fame as them, one could tell just how fearsome he must be, yet tragically enough, the Boundless King had actually oddly met his demise.
As to how he had fallen, public opinions were divided. Nevertheless, the Boundless King had indeed perished.
“Why are you suddenly bringing up the Boundless King? Is he related to the Dark Canopy of The Heavens?” asked a puzzled Dodola.
Meng Lei replied, “You should also be aware that the four juggernauts had emerged from the two supreme existential planes, the Celestial Realm, and the Netherworld. The Boundless King, however, was the only one of humble origins.”
“That’s true.”
Dodola nodded and said, “During those years that the Boundless King dominated the vast universe, all his deeds were spun into legends that innumerable beings delighted in talking about. The rumored Boundless King was indeed of humble origins and born in a low-end existential plane.”
“According to Cador’s memories, before the Boundless King became a Chief God or even a juggernaut, he was also once the master of a mid-end existential plane!”
Meng Lei explained, “The mid-end existential plane involved with the Dark Canopy of The Heavens is exactly the one that he had once owned. That existential plane is also known as the Boundless Plane.”
Dodola was astonished.
“I can’t determine the authenticity of this information, either. However, that’s exactly what it’s like in Cador’s memories. In fact, many of Dark Hell Continent’s experts also believe that the mid-end existential plane involved with the Dark Canopy of The Heavens is related to the Boundless King,” said Meng Lei with a wry smile.
A frowning Dodola asked, “In that case, the Dark Canopy of The Heavens is actually a space-time rift?”
“To be more accurate, it’s a dimensional gate.”
Meng Lei was rather excited. He said, “The Dark Canopy of The Heavens opens once every 30,000 years. When that happens, all the experts in Dark Hell Continent will gather in front of the Dark Canopy of The Heavens and compete against one another for a slot to enter, in hopes that they can enter the Boundless Plane.”
“You even have to compete to enter?”
Dodola was astonished.
“Only 36 people are allowed to pass through the Dark Canopy of The Heavens each time. Once 36 people have entered, it’ll close temporarily and forbid any more people from entering.”
Meng Lei said with a sigh, “Cador had gone to the Dark Canopy of The Heavens 30,000 years ago, but because it was of mediocre strength, it didn’t win the right to enter.”
“Only 36 people are allowed to enter?” A puzzled Dodola asked, “How intense must the competition be, then?”
“Yes, the competition is exceedingly intense.”
Meng Lei nodded and said, “Innumerable Demon Gods in the entire Dark Hell Continent take part in the competition just to fight for those 36 slots. You can imagine for yourself how stiff the competition must be!”
“It’s certainly very intense!”
Dodola nodded slightly and said, “Since competition is so intense, then there must definitely be some kind of priceless treasure on the Boundless Plane. Otherwise, it would never attract that many Demon Gods.”
“Treasure? While Cador had never seen it before, it’s said that someone had found Demon Grandmaster remains—and even Demon Grandmaster-level demonic weapons—on the Boundless Plane before,” said Meng Lei.
“Demon Grandmaster remains? Demon Grandmaster-level demonic weapons?”
A huge jolt went through Dodola.
Demon Grandmasters were beings equivalent to Chief Gods.
In that case, didn’t that make Demon Grandmaster remains Chief God remains, and Demon Grandmaster-level demonic weapons Chief God-level divine weapons?
“If that’s really the case, then the Boundless Plane is definitely no simple place!”
Dodola took a deep breath. Then, it asked, “Is there any other information about the Boundless Plane aside from that?”
“The Boundless Plane is a very dangerous place. Supposedly, apart from Dark Hell Continent, there are also experts from Hell, the Abyss, the Netherworld, and other existential planes there.”
Meng Lei added, “When the time comes, innumerable experts shall gather at the Boundless Plane, compete on the same stage, and hunt for treasure together. The Boundless Plane will surely become incredibly dangerous!
“Apart from that, there are also the natives on the Boundless Plane. They are the ones that are actually the most fearsome and most dangerous of all!”
" }, { "id": 338, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-338", "title": "Chapter 338 - The Three Major Rulers, Power Of Origin", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 338: The Three Major Rulers, Power of Origin
News of the Dark Canopy of The Heavens taking place soon had completely messed up Meng Lei’s plans. He had originally been planning on challenging all 108 Prefecture Masters, but it obviously looked like his plans were going to be held up now.
Meng Lei absolutely had to go to the Boundless Plane.
After a brief moment of consideration, Meng Lei said, “I’ll need to make a trip back home, Dodola.”
“Back home?”
Dodola cocked an eyebrow.
“Each round of Dark Canopy of The Heavens lasts for at least 20 years from the point of commencement to the end. This is too long a period of time. I need to properly settle all the matters in Heaven’s Vault Continent before I can leave with peace of mind,” explained Meng Lei.
“It’s certainly pretty long.”
Dodola nodded lightly.
20 years were nothing more than just a fleeting moment to the demons and deities of the Void, but to Meng Lei, it was instead an awfully long period of time. After all, he was only in his twenties at the very most.
After that, Meng Lei brought out his Fallen Angel alternate incarnation and got him to continue collecting birthday gifts on his behalf while he himself left Ice Demon Prefecture together with Dodola.
The duo returned to Light Continent a day later, which greatly surprised Ol’ Amos. It had only been ten days since Meng Lei’s departure, yet he had already gotten Dark Hell Continent under control?
“Something cropped up, so I had to make a trip back here.”
Meng Lei then brought out a couple of divine cores and more than ten Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts. He said, “Here’s a couple of higher deity divine cores and 16 Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts, Ol’ President. Take them.”
“What?”
Ol’ Amos shuddered all over and exclaimed loudly, “H-higher deity divine cores?!”
“Yep, higher deity divine cores. One has assimilated three types of laws of nature, while the other has assimilated two types.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “I’m giving them to you. You can decide for yourself whether or not you want to assimilate them.”
He had already given Ol’ Amos five lesser deity divine cores previously. Once Ol’ Amos assimilated them all, he would own five divine incarnations and become a pinnacle-level intermediate deity.
At that point, as long as Ol’ Amos could assimilate any two types of laws of nature contained within, he would be able to become a higher deity. If he could assimilate three types, then he would become a mid-level higher deity, and so on and so forth.
In other words, Ol’ Amos would still have a shot at becoming a higher deity even if his intermediate deity status had only come about through assimilating divine cores!
However, if Ol’ Amos directly assimilated a higher deity divine core instead, while he would experience a meteoric rise and become a higher deity right away, his road of cultivation would end up becoming completely sealed off after that.
Unless Meng Lei could find divine cores of even higher grade—such as Chief God ones—for Ol’ Amos, he would no longer have any chance at further progression.
“And these, too,” said Meng Lei as he took out another few higher deity-level divine weapons and a pile of other random treasures. “Take all these with you, and just use them whenever you need to. I have no lack of them.”
Then, he left with Dodola, leaving behind only a stunned Ol’ Amos.
…
Upon returning to Heaven’s Vault Continent, Meng Lei then went to Puhaman and the others and distributed divine cores, divine weapons, Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts, and random treasures to them.
“The divine cores must be assimilated, but the migration process must also be expedited.” Meng Lei instructed, “I hope to be able to see the migrations’ preliminary results upon my return.”
“We definitely won’t let you down, Master!”
Puhaman and the others bowed and gave their promise.
“Great!”
Meng Lei then went to the Magical Beast Village after that.
Thanks to the vast amount of resources the Magical Beast Village had received, the villagers’ combat strength had undergone a massive change during the last few years. Several Saint Domain experts had even emerged from the village, including Captain Hudders, Uncle Leo, Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew.
The older ones like Hudders continued to stay in the village, whereas the youths like Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew had headed to various corners of the continent to adventure and explore the world.
The village had undergone a great change. The shabby and primitive thatched houses of the past were gone. What replaced them were instead lavish, brand-new buildings.
Additionally, there were also a lot of new faces in the village. There were women that had married into the village, as well as children born during the recent few years…
Apart from the people whom Meng Lei knew, the rest of the village had undergone a tremendous change. Even Meng Lei himself found the place somewhat unfamiliar to him now. Both the people and environment had changed, indeed.
Meng Lei had initially wanted to catch up with Hudders and the others, but at the sight of the village in its current state, he lost the desire to. After leaving behind a few lesser deity divine cores, he prepared to quietly leave.
“Boss, is that you?”
Unexpectedly, an agitated voice suddenly rang out in Meng Lei’s mind at this point.
“Teddy?”
Meng Lei was surprised.
“It really is you, Boss!”
A flash of lightning whizzed across the sky, and then a Magical Beast appeared right in front of him. It stood at 100-feet-tall and had a pair of wings on its back, yet it also possessed a powerful and muscular giant ape-like body. It was Meng Lei’s very first Magical Beast pet, Teddy the Titanic Dragon-Ape!
“Boss, you’re finally back!” Teddy dived into Meng Lei’s arms at once, so worked up that tears welled up in its eyes. “Teddy missed you, Boss!”
“Don’t cry. You’re already a half-deity-level Magical Beast, so how can you still snivel like a child? Aren’t you afraid that the other Magical Beasts in the Magical Beast Forest would laugh at you?” said Meng Lei teasingly.
“As if they would dare to!” Teddy snorted and said, “See if I don’t pummel them dead if they dare to laugh at me!”
“Alright, alright! I get it. You’re super strong!”
Meng Lei stroked Teddy on the head and asked, “Weren’t you staying in the imperial palace all along? Why have you returned to the Magical Beast Forest?”
“The imperial palace was awfully boring without you around all the time, Boss, so I left.”
Teddy wrinkled its nose and added, “I’m a Magical Beast, so the Magical Beast Forest is ultimately still more comfortable for me. I bet you don’t know this, Boss, but I’m one of the four great kings of Magical Beast Forest now! I’m really impressive now!”
“The four great kings of Magical Beast Forest?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why isn’t it just ‘the king of Magical Beast Forest’ instead?”
A look of resignation came over Teddy’s countenance, and it replied, “I can’t beat the other three, so I can only take fourth place.”
“Who are the other three?” Meng Lei asked curiously.
“The Cerulean Ox-Flood Dragon, the Titanic Giant Gorilla, and the Golden Carp.”
A gloomy Teddy then added, “They are the three major rulers of Magical Beast Forest and have already dominated the forest since a very long time ago. Also, they’ve all already deified.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded in response. He couldn’t help but spread his divine cognition into the surroundings. It quickly spread to the Magical Beast Forest’s central region, where he then spotted a lake that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Occupying the lake’s bottom were a 100,000-feet-long Cerulean Ox-Flood Dragon and a sparkling, crystal-clear Golden Carp. Both emanated pure divine power and were actually lesser deity-level divine beasts!
A 100,000-feet-tall gorilla was snoozing away in the forest a short distance away from the lake. The trail of drool trickling down its mouth measured over a dozen meters long and was pretty much close to becoming a waterfall.
Meng Lei let out an emotional sigh and commented, “Never would I have expected presences like those three rulers to be in Magical Beast Forest’s central region.”
A puzzled Teddy asked, “What are you mumbling about, Boss?”
“Nothing much.”
Meng Lei gave it a smile, and then, he brought out a higher deity divine core and gave it to Teddy. He said, “Teddy, you’ll be able to beat them after you assimilate this.”
“This is…”
…
Meng Lei headed to the underground world after he left Magical Beast Village. There, he also gave a higher deity divine core to Little Gold, his other Magical Beast pet. He then went to New Dragon Island after that.
After several years, the Colossal Dragons had already settled down peacefully on New Dragon Island. They occupied volcanoes, lakes, deserts, forests, etc., and made them their dens.
New Dragon Island had completely become the Colossal Dragons’ homeland, and soaring Colossal Dragons could be seen everywhere.
As the Dragon Emperor, Fatty Hart had been leading a fairly comfortable life during the last few years. He held command over tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons and ruled over a whole continent, leading an extraordinarily free and unfettered life.
True enough, the moment Meng Lei arrived on New Dragon Island, he discovered the fellow fooling around in bed with a female Colossal Dragon whose hoarse cries resounded far into the distance.
“That dimwit!”
Rather lost for words, Meng Lei flicked a higher deity divine core over and left immediately. He had initially wanted to catch up with Fatty Hart, but that was clearly out of the question now.
Meng Lei was relieved of everything weighing on his mind after he was done, and he returned to Demon Ravine once more.
“I’m leaving, Ol’ President. I’ll leave Heaven’s Vault Continent in your care.”
“Don’t worry. You can leave with peace of mind.”
Ol’ Amos nodded heavily and said, “Everyone can forget about making any trouble on Heaven’s Vault Continent as long as I’m alive. I’ll definitely watch over it well.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly and turned to leave.
“Come back alive, brat!”
Ol’ Amos shouted after him.
“Don’t worry, I will!”
Meng Lei gave him a wave. Then, he leaped into the space-time rift and arrived at Dark Hell Continent once more.
“I’ve settled all outstanding matters, so I can head to the Boundless Plane with peace of mind now.” Then, Meng Lei looked into the far distance and murmured, “I’ll go to Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s capital and meet up with the other Prefecture Masters first.”
Having read Cador’s memories, Meng Lei naturally knew the way to the capital. However, he also left behind his Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnation before he set off.
With his Fallen Angel and Abyss Skeletal Dragon alternate incarnations protecting Ice Demon Prefecture, it was unlikely that anything would go wrong.
Besides, Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom had also mandated that it was forbidden for anyone to challenge Prefecture Masters during the duration that Dark Canopy of The Heavens was taking place. Thus, he surmised that it was unlikely for anyone to take the opportunity to create trouble.
“Let’s go, Dodola!”
After ensuring that everything was foolproof, Meng Lei and Dodola set off for the capital together.
There wasn’t much time left before Dark Canopy of The Heavens would commence, so Meng Lei couldn’t afford any delays on the way there. Otherwise, he would definitely have ransacked all the places he passed by while on the way there.
Meng Lei didn’t stay idle in spite of that, however.
“I have 940 million Divinity Crystals now. There are a lot of things I can do with that!”
Meng Lei scanned through his stats interface, looking for options that he could buy credit for. He wanted to do everything he could to improve his combat strength so that he could make it into the Boundless Plane.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <26%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat <Youth>, Divine Netherworld Phoenix <Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant <Youth>, Ancient Tree of Life <23%>, Frost God <Juvenile>, Grim Reaper <Juvenile>)
Wealth: 940 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Higher Deity (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Innate Special Abilities: Teleportation, Dark-Elemental Transformation, Transfer, Absolute Zero, Rise From The Ashes, Thunder-Elemental Transformation, Mysterious Ice of The Depths, Grim Reaper’s Eye
Others: Some increase
“I can’t buy credit for any of my bloodlines at the moment, so I won’t bother with them… Next up is my divine body.
“My metal-origin divine body… Raising its assimilation rate requires one million Divinity Crystals for every 1%, so if I want to boost it to 100%, I’ll need a total of 100 million Divinity Crystals.
“Here comes the problem—is there any purpose to boosting my metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate to 100%?”
Meng Lei fell into deep thought.
100 million Divinity Crystals was no small sum. He would be suffering a huge loss if he boosted his metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate to 100%, only to find out that it didn’t provide much help to his combat strength.
Meng Lei was somewhat in two minds about it. He asked, “System, how many Divinity Crystals would it cost to enhance my divine body with Super Enhancement?”
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a mid-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a high-level higher deity’s after enhancement,” the system replied coldly, “Thus, the enhancement cost is estimated at 900 million Divinity Crystals.”
“900 million?!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp.
Ascending from a limits-level intermediate deity to an elementary-level higher deity required only 3 million Divinity Crystals while ascending from an elementary-level higher deity to a mid-level higher deity required 60 million Divinity Crystals.
However, ascending from a mid-level higher deity to a high-level higher deity actually required 900 million Divinity Crystals!
What a ridiculous price!
“That’s too expensive.”
A wry smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance. In the end, he still ended up boosting his metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate instead.
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100 million Divinity Crystals in an instant.
At the same time, an incredibly sharp wave of power also instantly spread throughout Meng Lei. It flowed into his limbs and every part of his body.
Buzz…
A powerful surge of golden light suffused the area all around Meng Lei right away. Filled with an austere and razor-sharp aura, he looked just like an ultimate peerless weapon that had been unsheathed.
The sudden change in him alarmed Dodola, who turned to him with a look of astonishment on its face and exclaimed, “M-metal-elemental Power of Origin[1]!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 339, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-339", "title": "Chapter 339 - Metal-Origin Body, A Great Improvement In Strength", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 339: Metal-Origin Body, A Great Improvement In Strength
Power of Origin was the most fundamental and the most intrinsic form of power that constituted the vast universe itself. Power of Origin and laws of nature were complementary to each other, and they jointly formed the vast universe.
If laws of nature were the rules and guidelines by which all things in the universe operated, then Power of Origin was the very material that all things in the universe were formed from.
The former was intangible lines and frames, whereas the latter was a tangible form of energy and matter.
They were opposites but were just as powerful as the other.
Great waves churned in Dodola’s heart as it wondered to itself, “For such a surge of metal-elemental Power of Origin to suddenly erupt from Meng Lei, could it be that his metal-origin divine body has reached a level of Great Mastery?”
Origin divine bodies were extremely rare. How many among the trillions of living beings in the vast universe even owned origin divine bodies? Only a handful!
And yet, apart from being rare, origin divine bodies were also extremely hard to cultivate. From the point of awakening to the point where one reached Lesser Mastery and subsequently Great Mastery, every step along the way could be said to be fraught with great difficulties.
This was because one needed to constantly assimilate Power of Origin into themselves to enhance their bodies during the entire cultivation process. But where were they supposed to find that much Power of Origin to assimilate into themselves?
The process might be difficult, but once they could cultivate it to the point of Great Mastery, their divine body would then become one that was fully formed from Power of Origin and would be incredibly powerful!
Yet Meng Lei had actually cultivated his metal-origin divine body to the point of Great Mastery without showing even so much as a sign or two?
The metal-elemental Power of Origin around Meng Lei started to surge more and more fervently as Dodola’s mind ran wild. The sharp aura of slaughter emanating off him also became stronger and stronger.
Toward the end, Meng Lei’s entire self had become as though it was fully made out of gold. Every single cell, every internal organ, every fiber of muscle, every bone… All of them had turned into gold through and through.
Or, to be more accurate, they had turned into metal-elemental Power of Origin. His entire self was as though a peerless, powerful weapon!
“This sensation… It feels really miraculous!”
With a thought from Meng Lei, a dagger that looked as though it was made out of gold immediately appeared in his hand.
Plain and unremarkable, the dagger seemed just like any other ordinary golden dagger.
However, Meng Lei knew that this dagger that he had so casually made… was, in fact, incredibly sharp. Its degree of sharpness was in no way inferior to higher deity-level divine weapons!
On top of that, it was neither forged from metal nor manifested using metal-elemental power of divinity. Rather, it was formed from a type of fascinating material, though Meng Lei couldn’t tell what kind of material it was specifically, either.
“This is a dagger that’s manifested using metal-elemental Power of Origin!”
Dodola’s eyes bore into the golden dagger as it exclaimed, “This is the very first time in my entire life seeing a divine weapon made out of pure Power of Origin!”
“Metal-elemental Power of Origin?”
Something occurred to Meng Lei, and he asked, “Is this kind of fascinating material called metal-elemental Power of Origin, Dodola?”
“That’s right!”
Dodola explained, “Power of Origin is an extremely fearsome form of power. It’s the most intrinsic form of power that forms all things in the universe and is purer and of an even higher grade than Battle Aura (magic power) or power of divinity (demonic aura). It’s also more destructive, of course.”
Then, Dodola suddenly asked, “You’ve seen a Heart of The Existential Plane before, right?”
“Yes, of course I have,” replied Meng Lei as he nodded repeatedly.
“Hearts of The Existential Plane are manifested from the ten basic laws of nature and the ten types of Power of Origin. Thus, they are one of the toughest and sturdiest types of matter in the whole wide universe,” explained Dodola.
“In that case, is my divine body also manifested from metal-elemental Power of Origin?” asked Meng Lei.
“Yes, of course! Your metal-elemental divine body has already reached the point of Great Mastery, so of course it’s made out of metal-elemental Power of Origin.”
An excited Dodola said, “Every gene of yours, every cell, every internal organ, every fiber of muscle, every strand of hair, etc…. They are all made out of metal-elemental Power of Origin. It’s no exaggeration to say that you’re a walking mass of metal-elemental Power of Origin itself!”
Upon hearing that, Meng Lei hastily asked, “This… won’t affect the bloodlines in me, right?”
“Why aren’t you getting it?”
Dodola had become rather anxious. “Never mind, I won’t explain any further. Just try calling up the bloodlines within you instead. I guarantee that you’ll get a huge shock!”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei said no more and quietly initiated his Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei transformed right into a mighty, awe-inspiring gigantic phoenix. However, unlike in the past, the phoenix was no longer black in color but gold!
“I… This…”
Meng Lei was rather filled with disbelief as he took in his current appearance.
“Do you see it now? All the cells in your body have become completely made out of metal-elemental Power of Origin. Even if you initiate your bloodline and transform into a Divine Netherworld Phoenix, a change in your body has already taken place such that you’ve become totally different from other Divine Netherworld Phoenixes!”
Dodola burst into laughter and said, “The current you should be referred to as a Metal-Origin Divine Netherworld Phoenix instead. Without further ado, why don’t you give your other bloodlines a spin, too?”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei transformed into a Gods-Slaying Rat that was fully made out of gold upon activating his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline. Every strand of his fur stood on end like golden needles.
“So, that’s a Metal-Origin Gods-Slaying Rat!”
Dodola rubbed its palms together as it marveled.
Boom!
Meng Lei transformed into a dazzling, golden giant upon activating his Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline. Every inch of his skin, every muscle, every arm… It was as though they were made out of gold.
“A Metal-Origin Hundred-Armed Giant!”
Dodola burst into gleeful laughter once more.
Shortly after, Meng Lei went on to also activate his Ancient Tree of Life bloodline, his Frost God bloodline, and his Grim Reaper bloodline—they had actually all turned a golden-yellow color, too.
“A Metal-Origin Ancient Tree of Life!”
“A Metal-Origin Frost God!”
“A Metal-Origin Death God!”
Dodola was incredibly excited.
Astounded, Meng Lei asked, “Are the bloodlines within my body still the same bloodlines they originally were, Dodola?”
“The bloodlines are still the same original bloodlines. It’s just that the matter that had formed the bloodlines is now metal-elemental Power of Origin instead. Thus, your appearance has already changed along with it.”
Dodola was awfully delighted. It said, “In truth, this particular situation of yours isn’t an anomaly, either. The same thing also happens when people from other godly clans awaken their origin divine bodies.”
Meng Lei thought to himself, “The same thing?”
“Take the Fairy Goddess, for example.”
A smiling Dodola said, “She’s a Fairy, but because she has awakened her wood-origin divine body, she is green-skinned and not like the other ordinary Fairies.
“Another example is the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes. There was once a famous genius among them. Because it awakened its fire-origin divine body, it ultimately turned into a fiery-red color.
“And that Steel-Winged Angel from whom you got your metal-origin divine body, too!”
Dodola went on. “Steel-Winged Angels are originally silver in color, but because that guy had a metal-origin divine body, unlike the other ordinary Steel-Winged Angels, he was gold in color instead.
“It still goes back to the same thing—your bloodlines are still the same bloodlines as before, but the matter making up the bloodlines has changed. Thus, your appearance has also changed along with it.”
“I see,” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “So, my appearance has changed, but I wonder if my combat power has improved?”
“It definitely has. Give it a try if you don’t believe me,” replied Dodola very certainly.
“Alright!”
Meng Lei transformed back into his human form. Then, he balled up his fist lightly and threw a forceful punch.
Boom!
The power contained within the punch erupted, and the whole sky 10 million miles in front of them instantly turned into a black hole. Space-time fluxes wreaked havoc as gales stormed. Fear and unease filled all the demons on the ground as they stared at the sky that had suddenly turned into a black hole.
“What the heck! It’s horrifying!”
Meng Lei was shocked by the sight. The dimension on Dark Hell Continent was extremely stable, so it was much harder to break the dimension here than in Heaven’s Vault Continent. In the past, his punch would only have, at the maximum, broken the dimension hundreds of thousands of miles of where he was.
Yet his punch had created a black hole that spanned 10 million miles now! Just what level of strength was that?
“System, how many Divinity Crystals would it cost to use Super Enhancement to enhance my divine body?” asked Meng Lei at once.
The system responded right away.
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a high-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a Great Perfection-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 12 billion Divinity Crystals.”
“My divine body is actually on par with a high-level higher deity’s!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp—he knew he had profited greatly this time.
Previously, enhancing his divine body—which was also an improvement that would have gone from mid-level higher deity to high-level higher deity—via Super Enhancement had required 900 million Divinity Crystals.
As it was too expensive, Meng Lei had chosen to spend 100 million Divinity Crystals to boost his metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate instead.
He had initially thought that all that would happen was that his metal-origin divine body would achieve Great Mastery-level. Little did he think that the accompanying outcome would actually turn out to be an upgrade in his divine body that brought it up to high-level higher deity instead!
This was too dramatic!
However, one must admit that he had struck gold this time. He had spent only 100 million Divinity Crystals to hit a target that originally would have required 900 million Divinity Crystals to achieve!
In fact, it might even have a better effect!
" }, { "id": 340, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-340", "title": "Chapter 340 - Dark Hell Imperial Palace, Fire Demon Prefecture Master", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 340: Dark Hell Imperial Palace, Fire Demon Prefecture Master
“One punch can break the void within millions of miles!”
Dodola sighed emotionally. “Your divine body is now on par with high-level higher deity. Including the metal-origin divine body, you should be scarier than ordinary high-level Great Demon Gods right now!”
“This means that I can compete with the three most powerful Great Demon Gods of Dark Hell Continent already?” Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Why? You want to refine Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane?”
Dodola raised an eyebrow and shook its head. “Unless you don’t want to enter the Dark Canopy of The Heavens, please drop that idea for now. Given your current divine spirit, you’ll need a few hundred or even over a thousand years to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane of a mid-end existential plane.”
“So long?”
Meng Lei’s brows knitted together.
“If it wasn’t for this long period, Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane would have been secretly refined by someone. Why would they wait till now?”
Dodola shook its head again. “It’s because of the difficulty to refine it. It will take a lot of time and effort, so the three most powerful Great Demon Gods can deter each other!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei was slightly disappointed. “Then we’ll go to the Boundless Plane before coming back to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane. I believe that I’ll become stronger by then!”
“Sure!”
They started their journey toward the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s capital as they flew at their quickest speed. Still, it took them over half a month to reach the capital.
Compared to the Ice Demon City, the capital was even larger and prosperous. Countless live volcanoes stood within the city as billowing smoke and brimstones were everywhere.
“See these smoking volcanoes? They are the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s favorite place to live in. Though they are rare in numbers, mixed-breed descendants with their bloodline are common here as 90% of the volcanoes are occupied by them.”
“Sure!”
When they flew within the range of the capital, the city guards on patrol stopped them. They were demons with a pair of wings and a lion’s body.
“These are Netherworld Demonic Lions.”
Meng Lei smiled confidently. “They are the descendants of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix and the Dark Demonic Lion. They didn’t just inherit some Divine Netherworld Phoenix abilities; their reproduction rate is much higher than Divine Netherworld Phoenix. Naturally, they are Demon Gods after they become adults, hence making them extremely successful descendants of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix.”
“That’s not bad indeed.”
Dodola approved. Many powerful races chose to crossbreed with races that had great fertility rates to guarantee the size of their race. There were many types of descendants, with only a few that could inherit both races’ strengths.
It was similar to the Dragons in Heaven’s Vault Continent in the past. Of all the Drakes, the most successful ones were the offspring between Dragons and humans—the Dragon People.
“Who are you? Did you not know that it is forbidden to fly in the sky above the capital?” The leading Netherworld Demonic Lion questioned fiercely, staring at them with its savage eyes.
“I’m the Prefecture Master of the Ice Demon Prefecture!”
Meng Lei remained expressionless.
“Prefecture Master?”
The Netherworld Demonic Lions’ expression changed. Indeed, it was forbidden to fly in the capital. However, it only applied to ordinary demons, not mid-level Great Demon Gods like Prefecture Masters.
Prefecture Masters were allowed to fly here.
“Sir, since you are a Prefecture Master, why have I not seen you before?” The Netherworld Demonic Lion in charge frowned. “If I’m not wrong, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master should be Lord Cador…”
“That’s already a thing of the past. Lord Cador is dead, and I’m the current Ice Demon Prefecture Master.”
Meng Lei shook his head as he released an overwhelming aura upon the squad of Netherworld Demonic Lions.
Whoosh!
The Netherworld Demonic Lions went crashing toward the ground as if they were thunderstruck. Before they hit the ground, Meng Lei retained the aura, and they could finally steady themselves.
The looks on every Netherworld Demonic Lion were full of fear for a while.
The capital was where some of the most powerful demons congregated, where Great Demon Gods were aplenty. Yet, there were only a few that had such a terrifying aura as Meng Lei.
“He’s definitely a mid-level Great Demon God!”
The Netherworld Demonic Lions did not dare to obstruct Meng Lei anymore. “If we offended you just now, please forgive us! Please carry on!”
“Sure!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly as he flew straight towards the volcano where the imperial palace was located. The squad of Netherworld Demonic Lions watched Meng Lei’s back and wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads. They were still shaken up in fear.
“Who is this guy?”
“Didn’t you hear him say that he’s the Ice Demon Prefecture Master?”
“This is too scary. His aura was more overwhelming than our princes! When did such an expert appear in our kingdom…”
Meng Lei and Dodola carried on flying as their action caused a huge commotion. Demons of all kinds gesticulated and speculated wildly.
Weaker demons gave off reverent looks.
Stronger demons had intense fighting spirits.
Among these, the two arrived at the largest live volcano of the capital. Its height above sea level was not very high. Still, it was massive nevertheless, like a gigantic chimney shooting out thick black smoke incessantly.
The volcano’s body was embedded with black-red crystals, emitting dark elements and fire elements that almost manifested into a solid-state.
“Meng Lei, where’s the imperial palace?” quizzed Dodola.
It sized up the huge and vast volcano and could not find any trace of the imperial palace.
“You’ll know when you get down!”
Meng Lei answered as he brought Dodola toward the crater of the volcano. As they approached it, the crater became increasingly extensive while the temperatures were getting increasingly higher, getting up to a few thousand degrees Celsius.
A lava lake within the vast crater—it seemed boundless. The lava boiled as it released stunningly high temperatures. Among these, a grand palace stood above the lava lake like a resort built on a sea.
Meng Lei smiled as he said, “That’s the imperial palace.”
“Oh, it over here!”
Dodola suddenly realized.
“Who are you?”
A cold voice rang as a human figure came with the wind. Although it was in human form, the intense aura and scorching breath revealed its identity.
A Divine Netherworld Phoenix!
And it’s a pure one!
It was Meng Lei’s first time meeting a Divine Netherworld Phoenix other than himself. He could not help but size this person up, forgetting to reply in the process.
“Who are you?”
Seeing that Meng Lei did not answer, its voice became amplified. Meng Lei could not help but pick his ears and reply dryly. “I’m the new Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
With the previous experience, Meng Lei did not bother to explain further by adding the word ‘new’ to his introduction.
The Divine Netherworld Phoenix understood straight away as it took another look at Meng Lei. It then said respectfully, “Please follow me.”
It did not doubt Meng Lei’s identity since it was unnecessary. He would be meeting the other Prefecture Masters, princes and princesses, court officials, and even the Demon Emperor. If Meng Lei did not have the capability and impersonate the Prefecture Master, he would surely die a horrible death.
Meng Lei and Dodola arrived before the grand hall under its lead.
At present, the palace was full of demons. There was a strong, forceful aura around each of them, and they gave off a powerful demonic might—they were all savage devils.
“Please proceed… Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
The one leading Meng Lei stopped by the door of the palace hall and cued him to enter. It then shouted, “The Ice Demon Prefecture Master has arrived!”
Upon hearing this, a burst of hearty laughter sounded off. “Hahaha, my brother Cador you’ve finally come. I thought I would be meeting you on the way here, yet who knew that you would reach after I’ve been here for three days. You’re pretty slow this time!”
“Why would you think that Cador is as impatient as you. He’s an Ice Demon, not a Fire Demon…”
“Prefecture Master Cador?”
Meng Lei shook his head and giggled softly as he stepped into the hall.
Whoosh!
Many pairs of eyes looked over. When the demons saw Meng Lei, astonishment, puzzlement, and confusion surfaced on their faces.
Was that Cador?
“No! He isn’t Cador!”
“It’s a stranger!”
“Perhaps…”
After being stunned for a short moment, the demons came to their senses and started whispering among themselves. It seemed that they had realized what had happened.
“Who are you? Where’s my brother, Cador?” a Fire Demon bellowed. It was bathed in flames as it stared at Meng Lei coldly with its brass bell-like eyes.
Having read the memory of Cador, Meng Lei would naturally know this guy. Cato, the Prefecture Master of the Fire Demon Prefecture who had a lifelong brotherhood with Cador.
“Since I’m standing here, why would you still ask what happened to Prefecture Master Cador?” Meng Lei shook his head. “But if you want to know, I don’t mind telling you that I killed him.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a furor went through the entire hall!
Even if they had already guessed it, hearing the confirmation from Meng Lei still sent shockwaves across the hall.
“Cador had been in the Prefecture Master position for more than 40,000 years, plus he was one of the stronger one of the 108 Prefecture Masters. Who would have thought he was killed!”
“Do any of you know this guy?”
“I don’t know who he is!”
“Never seen him before!”
“Never heard of him at all!”
“That’s weird! To think that such a nameless guy could kill Prefecture Master Cador, it just sounds fishy…”
“Scoundrel! My big brother had been a solid Ice Demon Prefecture Master for over 40,000 years, proving his combat prowess! How could a little scoundrel like you defeat him head-on?”
Prefecture Master Cato’s demonic aura was surging as its eyes were bursting with flames of rage. “Own up now! How did you assassinate my brother?”
“Assassinate?” Meng Lei sneered, “Why do I need to plan an assassination when it’s just Cador? You’ve overestimated him.”
“How dare you disrespect my big brother!”
Cato was enraged further as his overwhelming aura attacked Meng Lei.
If it were an ordinary Great Demon God, it would have struck onto the ground. However, Meng Lei did not even move as if the suppressive aura was a breeze.
“In Dark Hell Continent, power speaks the loudest!” Meng Lei snapped his fingers and continued coldly. “Since Cador was weaker than me, isn’t it normal for me to look down on it?”
“Since power speaks the loudest,” Prefecture Master Cato’s eyes were spitting fire, “Do you dare to fight me?”
A hint of joy flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as they lit up. This fellow was a genuine mid-level Great Demon God, which killing it should at least earn him 60 million Divinity Crystals from the system.
Not forgetting the spatial ring it carried around…
“Why? So you’re afraid?”
As Meng Lei did not reply, Prefecture Master Cato thought Meng Lei was afraid as its voice became even bitter.
“What is there to fear?” Meng Lei hummed. “If you want a battle, we shall have one. Why would I be afraid of you?”
“Follow me then!”
Cato left these three words behind as it turned into a fiery beam that shot out of the palace. A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face as he followed suit.
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s go out and take a look!”
The various Prefecture Masters, princes, and princesses could not sit still as they got out of the palace. They all flew above the palace as they anticipated the battle that was about to start.
No-one stopped them!
And no one would ever think of it!
In the Demon’s world, only the strong were revered. Thus, they would settle any disagreement with a fight.
Conflict? Feud?
Fight it out, and it’s settled!
Just do it!
" }, { "id": 341, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-341", "title": "Chapter 341 - Killing Cato Instantly, An Assembly Of The Powerful", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 341: Killing Cato Instantly, An Assembly of The Powerful
Chilly winds blew as thick smoke roiled.
Meng Lei and Prefecture Master Cato stood facing each other with a great distance between them above the tall, magnificent volcano. They were at swords’ point and ready to fight any moment. A short distance away, the other Prefecture Masters, princes, princesses, royalty, and officials were also watching the battle with rapt attention.
A handsome and attractive youth with black hair and black eyes asked, “Dear Prefecture Masters, between the two of them, who do you think will win?”
He was the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s Eldest Prince and was also a Divine Netherworld Phoenix with the purest bloodline. His combat strength was in no way inferior to the many Prefecture Masters present.
“Prefecture Master Cador and Prefecture Master Cato were evenly matched. If that man had really defeated Cador by his own strength, then he would undoubtedly emerge victoriously,” replied one of the Prefecture Masters without hesitation.
“That is certainly so!”
The other Prefecture Masters nodded in agreement.
Everyone knew that Cador and Cato were brothers who were evenly matched. Since Meng Lei could defeat Cador, then he would be able to defeat Cato for sure. There was no doubt about that.
“However…!”
The same Prefecture Master suddenly changed the course of the conversation at this point. Suspicion filled its speech as it said, “That new Ice Demon Prefecture Master appears extremely unfamiliar to the eye. If memory serves me right, it seems like an expert like him has never existed in the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom—or even the Dark Hell Continent—before!”
“Prefecture Master Cyril, you mean—”
The astonished Eldest Prince cocked an eyebrow and prompted it to go on.
“No matter what, Prefecture Master Cador was undoubtedly still an old-timer mid-level Great Demon God. Up-and-coming rising stars are no match for it.”
A smiling Cyril said, “Perhaps Prefecture Master Cato was right, and that fellow had indeed used some kind of dishonest method to defeat Prefecture Master Cador.”
“That makes sense!”
“That kid looks awfully unfamiliar to the eye. He’s likely a young one that’s only just emerged during these recent few years. How could a mere junior have been Prefecture Master Cador’s match?”
“There are only a few experts in the whole of Dark Hell Continent who could kill Prefecture Master Cador, and it definitely doesn’t include that fellow who came out of god knows where!”
“Going by what everyone is saying, that newly-appointed Ice Demon Prefecture Master won’t be Prefecture Master Cato’s match, then?” asked the Eldest Prince with his eyebrows raised.
“That’s most likely the case!”
“It’s more likely than not that he was able to kill Prefecture Master Cador because he had used some kind of dishonest means!”
“Yes, that must be it…”
Meng Lei and Cato’s battle had already begun while the Prefecture Masters were still engaged in speculation. Fury burst forth from Cato as it roared deeply, “You despicable young one who knows no shame! I will avenge Big Brother Cador and make you pay a heavy price for your despicable actions!”
A flash of fire shot by immediately after it spoke, and then Cato was already right in front of Meng Lei. A fearsome punch then followed right after.
“Die, you bastard!”
The punch broke a hole into the dimension right away, and its fist went smashing toward Meng Lei’s skull alongside the hole—evidently, it intended to blast Meng Lei’s head apart with its fist!
“Can he deflect the attack?”
All the Prefecture Masters, princes, princesses, royalty, and officials’ gazes shifted to Meng Lei in this instant. All of them wanted to know whether or not he could deflect the attack.
“Thinking of killing me with just this bit of strength? You think too highly of yourself!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he reached out his right arm and made a light grabbing motion. A loud bam rang out, and Meng Lei immediately caught Cato’s earth-shattering punch in his palm.
“What?!”
This greatly shocked Cato, as well as the other Prefecture Masters, princes, princesses, and everyone else who was watching the battle. All of them were utterly astounded!
He managed to parry Prefecture Master Cato’s attack so casually?
“It’s my turn to attack now!”
Meng Lei disappeared in a flash and appeared behind Cato like a phantom. Then, he bent his fingers and flicked them lightly against the back of Cato’s head.
Crack!
As though a bullet was piercing through a watermelon, yet also like a steel bead passing through an egg, a crisp crack rang out, and a bloody hole immediately formed in between Cato’s brows.
Cato froze at once, its eyes widening to a size larger than even discs as a look of disbelief came over its features.
“H-how… could… this…”
Before it could even finish speaking, the light in its eyes was already beginning to gradually dim. Then, it plummeted straight down toward the ground.
Meng Lei easily froze Cato’s body in mid-air with a wave. Then, in front of the many Prefecture Masters, princes, princesses, royalty, and officials, he gouged out Cato’s demonic core and killed its divine spirit.
A system notification rang out.
“Ding! 1 Fire Great Demon God killed. 60 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Not bad!”
A satisfied smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips. Then, he slipped off Cato’s spatial ring and began to inspect the contents.
The smile on his face widened the moment he did, and he remarked, “Tsk, tsk! As expected of a Prefecture Master. Even the treasures it brings about on its body are of such a generous standard!”
“System, collect all the items that you can collect!”
A brief moment later, his Wealth had spiked by 40 million Divinity Crystals.
Added to this the other 60 million Divinity Crystals that he had just gained, they just so happened to make up a total of 100 million Divinity Crystals. In the twinkling of an eye, he had already made back the 100 million Divinity Crystals that he just spent to boost his metal-origin divine body’s assimilation rate.
Sweet!
Meng Lei only tossed Cato’s dead body to the little golden tree after he was done with all these. Then, he turned to the other Prefecture Masters, princes, princesses, royalty, and officials—only to discover that every one of them was in a state of astoundment, and all of them were staring at him as if they were staring at a freak.
The place… was filled with dead silence.
Evidently, everyone had received a shock.
Dodola chuckled and poked fun at Meng Lei as it said, “You’ve scared them all, Meng Lei!”
“What can I say? It’s all because I’m too strong!” Meng Lei returned Dodola a smile and flew toward the others.
“He’s coming over!”
A furor went through the demons.
A smiling Meng Lei asked, “Dear all, I’m sure no one doubts my combat strength anymore, right?”
The Prefecture Masters were rather embarrassed, especially Prefecture Master Cyril, who had passed judgment on Meng Lei without any restraint earlier. It wished even more than the others that it could bury itself into a hole somewhere.
Up-and-coming rising star?
Dishonest means?
What nonsense!
How many Prefecture Masters among those present could even instantly kill Cato in a flick of their fingers?
Given his frightening combat strength, would he even need to resort to dishonest means?
“I didn’t expect the newly-appointed Ice Demon Prefecture Master to possess such strength! One can say that this is a blessing for the Demonic Kingdom. I believe Father will be extremely pleased to know of this.”
A bright and hearty smile appeared on the Eldest Prince’s countenance, and he said, “Dear all, Father will summon us for an audience soon. Let’s return to the conference hall for now.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Everyone returned to the same palace as just now. Meng Lei had originally planned on just taking any random seat, but unexpectedly, the Eldest Prince instead arranged for him to take the seat of honor at the front.
The other Prefecture Masters didn’t say much about it—evidently, they had all acknowledged Meng Lei’s strength.
The strong was revered in the world of demons. Since Meng Lei was stronger than them, his status would also be more venerable than theirs.
The Demonic Emperor of Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom showed up shortly after they took their seats. The Prefecture Masters present felt immense pressure the moment it took its seat.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
“You may dispense with the formalities, my beloved subjects.”
The Demonic Emperor gestured to everyone to take their seats. His gaze swept across everyone before it quickly landed on Meng Lei, who was seated in the seat of honor below. He couldn’t help but be slightly surprised.
At the sight, the Eldest Prince quickly leaned over and whispered softly in his ear. The moment he did, a light burst forth in the Demonic Emperor’s eyes, and he declared unhurriedly, “To be able to instantly kill Prefecture Master Cato with just a flick of his fingers shows that the newly-appointed Ice Demon Prefecture Master boasts pretty impressive strength. This is the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s good fortune!”
“You flatter me, Your Majesty.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
“Hearing such great news just as the Dark Canopy of The Heavens is imminent foretells great rewards for the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom during the Dark Canopy of The Heavens this time!”
It seemed like the Demonic Emperor was indeed very pleased. He turned to Meng Lei and said, “Ice Demon Prefecture Master, I’m counting on you and all the other Prefecture Masters for this round of Dark Canopy of The Heavens!”
“You’re too kind, Your Majesty. I’ll definitely do my very best!”
Meng Lei adopted a fairly humble stance.
“Dear all…”
After giving everyone another pep talk, the Demonic Emperor then led everyone to the Dark Canopy of The Heavens. None of the three most powerful experts, such as the Demonic Emperor, entered the Dark Canopy of The Heavens every time it opened. The reason behind this was obvious—they were worried that someone would take Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane for themselves and refine it.
Though they themselves didn’t go in, the three emperors nevertheless didn’t hold back at all when it came to the treasures brought out by those who had gone in.
In other words, the three emperors had priority in taking anything that the others brought out, no matter what it was!
If the others refused to hand it over?
Then they could just go to hell!
No one would bother reasoning with anyone here!
The group made their way to the Dark Canopy of The Heavens three days later.
The Dark Canopy of The Heavens had yet to open at the moment. Thus, what appeared in their sight was instead a steep, 1,000-feet-tall cliff. There were innumerable amazing sights and sceneries of cliffs to be found in Dark Hell Continent, so a 1,000-feet-tall cliff was actually nothing impressive. However, the cliff currently standing before them was no ordinary cliff because it was where the Dark Canopy of The Heavens would be opening.
For countless years, a great number of powerful demons had visited the area on account of its reputation in hopes that they could catch a glimpse of the amazing Dark Canopy of The Heavens. Thus, all the more demons would gather on the day that the Dark Canopy of The Heavens would open every time.
True enough, the place was packed full of and teeming with demons as far as the eye could see. They came from every part of Dark Hell Continent, and they were all here in hopes of witnessing the upcoming battles.
“What the heck! There are so many demons here!”
Dodola let out exclamation after exclamation. “And none of them are weaklings! Even the weakest among them is a Demon God!”
“The Dark Canopy of The Heavens, which opens once every 30,000 years, is a grand affair that sweeps through the whole Dark Hell Continent. It attracts innumerable experts.”
Meng Lei smiled and went on. “Naturally, they aren’t eligible to fight for a slot, so their only purpose in coming is just to watch the battles among the three great empires as they contest for slots to enter.”
“All the experts of Dark Hell Continent must already have congregated here, right? Tsk, tsk! That’s a lot of ordinary and mid-level Great Demon Gods. What shocking numbers!”
Dodola clicked its tongue as it marveled. “As expected, Dark Hell Continent indeed has an extremely strong and profound cultural heritage. Out of all the mid-end existential planes I’ve seen, they definitely rank among the top few!”
“An extremely large part of this is due to the Boundless Plane.”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Even though the Boundless Plane is an extremely dangerous place, and a greater half of the 36 experts that enter each time usually perish within, they bring out an extremely generous number of artifacts every time. After so many years of accumulation, they have significantly improved Dark Hell Continent’s combat strength standards.”
While the two of them were chatting away idly, everyone had already arrived in front of the cliff. A person-in-charge from the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom had already hastily come forward to receive them a long time ago.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
“You may rise.”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor waved lightly and asked dispassionately, “Are people from the other two countries here yet?”
“People from the Fallen Empire and the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom have yet to arrive, Your Majesty.”
The person-in-charge bowed and answered. However, it was at this moment that several exclamations suddenly rang out around them.
“They’re here! People from the other two empires have also arrived! The show’s finally starting! How exciting!”
Meng Lei turned and looked over. True enough, two groups of people were traveling toward them at high speed from afar. In no time, they arrived in the sky above the cliff.
“Isaiah, you’ve surprisingly reached first.”
“So what even if he arrived first? What ultimately counts is still combat prowess!”
Meng Lei followed the source of the voices and looked over at the two people in the lead.
One was a sexy and sensual beautiful woman with a head of red hair, while the other was a cold and austere Fallen Angel with eight wings on his back.
They were none other than the other two most powerful experts of the continent—Euphemia Foster, the Empress of the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom, and Alec Houdini, the Emperor of the Fallen Empire.
“You’re both here!”
" }, { "id": 342, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-342", "title": "Chapter 342 - A Chaotic Melee Breaks Out, At Least You Know What'S Good For You", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 342: A Chaotic Melee Breaks Out, At Least You Know What’s Good For You
The competition started right away after the three parties exchanged their greetings with one another.
The rules of the competition were very simple. All three parties could dispatch an unlimited number of experts to take part in a chaotic melee battle. It would do as long as 36 victors remained standing in the end.
The rules were very simple.
To sum it up, it was a melee.
Of course, while they could theoretically send an unlimited number of experts, only a few truly qualified to take part in the melee. Weaklings would just be throwing their lives away if they entered the battle!
“A melee? Tsk, tsk. As expected of the demons. Even their process of filtering people for entrance slots is done in such a simple and crude way!”
Dodola couldn’t help but marvel after hearing the competition rules.
“The demon world is exactly a simple one like that!”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “The strong ones will last till the end, while the weak ones take the initiative to withdraw or lose their lives mid-way. This will continue until only 36 candidates remain.”
After a moment’s thought, Dodola said, “All of you are mid-level Great Demon Gods, so the difference in strength among everyone isn’t very great. As long as you keep your guard up, you’ll be able to get out of there safely, even in the worst of scenarios. The likelihood that someone will kill you isn’t high.”
“That’s true.” Meng Lei nodded and said, “Only three unlucky fellows died during the last melee.”
“Only three? As expected, indeed!”
Dodola shook its head. Then, its eyes suddenly swiveled, and it wondered aloud, “I wonder how many will die this time?”
“If it’s possible, I hope they all die!”
Meng Lei licked his lips, the burning heat in his eyes barely concealed. A mid-level Great Demon God was worth 60 million Divinity Crystals, so that meant 10 of them would be worth 600 million Divinity Crystals.
100 of them would be worth six billion Divinity Crystals…
And 300 of them would be worth 18 billion Divinity Crystals!
It seemed like the amount of rewards he would get would be enough for him to ascend to Great Perfection-level if he could kill all those mid-level Great Demon Gods!
Meng Lei was so excited that he couldn’t quite suppress the overwhelming power inside his body anymore. He was ready to run wild!
“Everyone, I’m leaving everything in your hands!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s gaze swept across Meng Lei and the other 107 Prefecture Masters as he gave them one last bout of encouragement. He said, “The Boundless Plane is the place that the Boundless King had used as his base before he became a Chief God. The Boundless King had managed the place for countless years, and an infinite number of treasures is contained within.
“Among which, there is no lack of supreme treasures such as Demon Grandmaster-level demonic weapons, and Demon Grandmaster remains. Whether or not you can go in there and bring those treasures out will depend on yourselves!”
All the Prefecture Masters’ eyes burned with passion at the mention of Demon Grandmaster-level demonic weapons and remains, their inner desires barely concealable.
If they could obtain those treasures and successfully refine them in the Boundless Plane, their strength would undergo a tremendous change!
When that happened, perhaps they would be strong enough to contend against the three rulers upon their return to Dark Hell Continent?
The Prefecture Masters hastily promised, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty! We’ll definitely do our very best!”
“Great!”
Highly satisfied with their responses, an unusual glint flashed across the Demonic Emperor’s eyes, and he said, “Go on your way!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
All 108 Prefecture Masters then took flight into the sky.
At the same time, the many experts from the Fallen Empire and the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom also rose into the air. Upon reaching the skies, all three parties got into a triangular formation and stayed there.
All set for a showdown, they gazed at one another.
“It’s starting!”
“The battle’s right about to start!”
All the demons here to watch the battle got into a state of excitement. Their eyes brimmed with anticipation and shone brightly.
“The melee’s about to begin!”
Euphemia, the sensual Three-Headed Hell Kingdom Empress, asked with a bright smile, “Which country do you think will be the one with the highest number of candidates remaining this time?”
The Fallen Empire’s emperor replied aloofly, “It’s still unclear at the moment which country will have the highest number of candidates remaining, but the one with the fewest remaining is undoubtedly the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom. There’s no doubt about that.”
“Hehe, don’t say that out loud. Isaiah won’t be happy to hear that!” Euphemia held her hand over her sexy ruby-red lips as she giggled.
Had he been mocked like that in the past, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor would already have dissed them back a long time ago. This time, however, not only did he not get mad, but he even gave them a somewhat profound smile and said, “There’s no point in saying that much. We’ll just wait and see!”
Both Euphemia and Alec were slightly taken aback at the sight of the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s expression. What was the matter with Isaiah? Why was he behaving somewhat differently from before?
Boom!
The battle in the sky had broken out.
“Attack!”
“Kill!”
“The Boundless Plane is ours!”
People from all three factions clashed with a great boom, and a shocking grand melee thus began.
Boom, boom, boom!
It took only a mere instant for the sky above to break and form into a black hole. The whole place within millions of kilometers of where they were was completely filled with havoc-wreaking rushes of energy waves and space-time fluxes.
The scene was as though doomsday had come. The hearts of the demons watching the battle pounded with fear and trepidation. Some even developed the urge to make a run for it. They were really afraid that they might become collateral damage if they stayed there any longer!
There were a total of over 300 mid-level Great Demon Gods from all three factions. Every one of them was brimming with bloodlust. They attacked anyone who dared so much as to go near them without any questions.
True enough, Meng Lei was besieged by a Thunder Great Demon God and a Wind Great Demon God the moment the melee started. The former was bathed in lightning while the latter rode the winds, and they lunged toward him with fierce momentum.
“You’re new, aren’t you, kid?”
“Kekeke, offer up your life!”
The two demons knew right away that Meng Lei was a newbie the moment they took a look at him. Immense bloodlust welled up within them, and they charged toward him at once.
“Have I been taken as an easy target?”
Meng Lei rubbed his nose lightly.
“Keke! Newbies will be newbies. He’s already scared witless! Now, die!”
A lightning whip appeared in the Thunder Great Demon God’s hand and lashed right at Meng Lei. Unlike ordinary electricity currents, the lightning whip was formed from Black Lightning of Destruction instead.
Black Lightning of Destruction was a special ability exclusive to Thunder Demons. On top of that, it was a skill that boasted extremely fearsome might, and only Thunder Demons that had cultivated to the point of Great Demon God stage could awaken the ability.
The Thunder Great Demon God had absolute confidence that the lashing from the whip could maim, if not kill, most mediocre mid-level Great Demon Gods, so how would a newbie possibly be able to withstand it?
However, what happened next was completely out of their expectations. Despite being up against a destructive lightning whip capable of destroying all in the world, Meng Lei easily caught the lightning whip in his hand in one grab.
“Huh?”
The Thunder Great Demon God’s jaw dropped, unable to believe what it was seeing. He had actually caught it so easily?
“Come over here!”
Meng Lei took the opportunity while it was still staring blankly to tug at the lightning whip, easily pulling the Thunder Great Demon God over to him.
“Die!”
Meng Lei bent his fingers and flicked them, his finger tapping the Thunder Great Demon God in between its brows.
“Ugh!”
A soft sound rang out. A stream of blood spurted from the back of the Thunder Great Demon God’s head, and then a bloody hole as wide as a fingertip appeared at the back of its head.
The Thunder Great Demon God stiffened at once. The light in its eyes gradually dimmed until, at last, it died completely.
Meng Lei gouged out its demonic core and tossed its dead body into the Tower of Time. Then, he turned to the Wind Great Demon God, who was so frightened that it just stood on the spot.
“It has already died. You can go on your way now, too!”
Meng Lei teleported right in front of the Wind Great Demon God. A golden dagger appeared in his hand and slashed lightly across the Wind Great Demon God’s throat.
“Ugh!”
Streams of blood spurted from the wound as a huge head rushed into the sky. Meng Lei then sent the flying head and body into the Tower of Time with a casual wave.
“Who’s he?”
With a few hundred Great Demon Gods fighting it out, the battleground was naturally an incredibly chaotic one. While Meng Lei killing two Great Demon Gods in a row had gone unnoticed by the other Great Demon Gods in the battle, some of the spectators had noticed it.
“What the heck! That guy’s so savage! He’s killed two mid-level Great Demon Gods just like that?”
“Who exactly is he? Isn’t he too powerful?!”
“Isaiah, if memory serves me right, he should be one of your men?” Euphemia, the Three-Headed Hell Empress, had lost her calm composure, and her expression had turned rather awful-looking.
The Thunder Great Demon God and the Wind Great Demon God that Meng Lei had just killed were from the Three-Headed Hell Kingdom.
“Not bad!”
Highly satisfied with Meng Lei’s combat power, a slight smile appeared on the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s countenance. He said, “He’s from the Ice Demon Prefecture and is the newly-appointed Ice Demon Prefecture Master of Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom.”
“The Ice Demon Prefecture Master?”
Euphemia said gravely, “Little did I think that a fellow like that had actually emerged under your command! I’ve underestimated the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom.”
“Underestimate? We haven’t even gone that far yet.” The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor shook his head and chuckled softly. He said, “Just watch on. My Ice Demon Prefecture Master will definitely give you guys a great surprise!”
“Hmph!”
Euphemia couldn’t be bothered to pay any more attention to the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. Instead, she shifted her gaze to Meng Lei, who was in the sky.
Alec, the Fallen Emperor, was also paying close attention to Meng Lei. For him to be able to instantly kill a mid-level Great Demon God, such combat strength was practically too fearsome. Even if he wasn’t a high-level Great Demon God yet, he wouldn’t be that far off, either.
“120 million Divinity Crystals into the pocket! Sweet!”
Earning 120 million Divinity Crystals so easily had totally ignited the greed dwelling within Meng Lei’s heart.
In his eyes, the Great Demon Gods currently battling it out were no longer Great Demon Gods but heaps of gold and silver awaiting his harvest!
As the saying went, “If one doesn’t take what the heavens bestow upon them, misfortune brought about by it would instead befall them”!
If he left that many Divinity Crystals as they were instead of collecting them, even the heavens wouldn’t be able to stand it!
“Kaka, Big Bro’s here!”
Meng Lei had brazenly gone on the offensive.
Whoosh!
He teleported right in front of a Bloodseeker and gouged out its heart in one smooth motion. Then, he casually tightened his grip around it and crushed it.
“What?!”
A Cerberus that had originally been battling the Bloodseeker was so frightened by the sight that it shuddered all over. Its eyes, as it gazed at Meng Lei, were filled with shock and fear.
He had instantly killed its opponent with just a punch?
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
Filled with fear and trepidation, the Cerberus was all ready to run. But before it could even run far, Meng Lei had already shown up behind it. A fist went flying out with a flip of his wrist.
Bam!
The Cerberus’ head was blasted straight into smithereens. Blood mixed with white and red brains and fluid sprayed about, and the Cerberus died on the spot.
“That bastard!”
Euphemia, the Three-Headed Hell Empress, was so furious that she couldn’t help but stamp her foot. The Cerberus that Meng Lei had killed was her offspring, yet Meng Lei had killed it just like that. How could she not be furious?
“Calm down, Euphemia. This is just the beginning!” The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was full of elation.
“Damn!”
Euphemia gnashed her teeth in a fury. Had the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor not been around, she would definitely have lunged forward and killed Meng Lei without any hesitation. Contesting for slots? Rules? They could go to hell!
“That bastard!”
Alec, the Fallen Emperor, suddenly broke into expletives at this point. Veins bulged from the surface of his skin, and he almost went berserk.
“Eh?”
Taken back, Euphemia quickly raised her head and looked over to see that Meng Lei had killed another Fallen Angel and gouged out its demonic core from its head.
Euphemia heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of that, and a large part of her fury dissipated right away. She felt a lot more comfortable after seeing a rival being down on luck.
However, she became furious again the very next moment—Meng Lei had actually set his sights on another Cerberus and was charging toward it…
“That fool! Hurry, duck!”
Euphemia hastily shouted a warning. How could the Cerberus possibly be Meng Lei’s match in a one-on-one battle?
“You’ve broken the rules, Euphemia,” said Isaiah coldly.
“Damn the rules! I am the rules themselves!”
Euphemia snapped furiously, “If that bastard dares so much as to kill another Great Demon God under my charge, I’ll definitely give him a tragic death!”
“Isaiah, the main objective today is placement selection, not for them to kill their opponents!”
A cold Alec warned, “Warn your subordinate and make him cease his slaughter. Otherwise…!”
“…”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was secretly furious, but he also understood that should Meng Lei continue his slaughter, given Euphemia’s and Alec’s personalities, they would definitely come to blows. If they joined hands, he definitely wouldn’t be able to stop them.
Thus, he had better just quit while he was ahead.
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor suppressed his feelings of frustration and gave Meng Lei a warning. He said, “Cease your slaughter, Ice Demon Prefecture Master. Just defeating them would do!”
“Hmph!”
Euphemia and Alec snorted lightly, both thinking to themselves, “It’s good that you know what’s good for you!”
It was just a pity that…
" }, { "id": 343, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-343", "title": "Chapter 343 - Divine Fire Suppression, Ultimate Special Ability", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 343: Divine Fire Suppression, Ultimate Special Ability
Every mid-level Great Demon God was a pillar of the kingdom. Thus, any deaths would be a great loss. As they watched Meng Lei slaughtering their mid-level Great Demon Gods, the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor could not stand it anymore.
They promptly threatened the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor to order Meng Lei to stop the killing spree. Although he was unhappy with it, he was forced to follow.
However, what the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor did not expect was that Meng Lei carried on his onslaught of mid-level Great Demon Gods as if he did not hear his order.
“Bastard!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was quite embarrassed as he yelled, “Ice Demon Prefecture Master, have you heard my orders? Cease your killings at once!”
Meng Lei turned a deaf ear and continued slaughtering.
Boom!
He blasted an Ice Demon with a punch.
Splurt!
He jabbed a Wind Demon to death with one finger.
Crack!
He snapped a Fallen Angel’s neck.
“Ugh!”
His blade sliced off a Cerberus’ head.
In a matter of seconds, another four mid-level Great Demon Gods died in Meng Lei’s hands. He earned 240 million Divinity Crystals.
“Isaiah, it seems that this Prefecture Master under you couldn’t care less about you!” Euphemia said mockingly.
Fallen Emperor Alec had something to say too. “Isaiah, if you can’t control your subordinate, I can help you with that!”
“Damn it!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was furious as it was a challenge to his authority. A mere Prefecture Master ignoring it meant that Meng Lei simply disregarded the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor!
Whoosh!
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor joined the battle zone with a flash. In an instant, a massive surging demonic aura swept the entire place.
Buzz…
The dimension around was locked instantly. The 300 over mid-level Great Demon Gods were imprisoned on the spot; even the battle’s energy waves had stopped moving.
It was as if… everything became still!
“What’s going on?”
The demons watching the battle were stunned and confused.
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor walked toward Meng Lei as his demonic aura gushed out incessantly. “Ice Demon Prefecture Master, why did you not obey my orders?” he asked, his cold eyes staring at Meng Lei.
“Obey your orders? Why should I obey you?”
Meng Lei broke out of the demon’s domain imprisoning him, and looked back at the icy stares of the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. “Oh, don’t tell me you thought that I’m your subordinate?”
“How impudent!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s expression turned icy-cold. “Ice Demon Prefecture Master, do you know what you have just said?”
“Hehe!”
Meng Lei smiled as he shook his head. Since things had gotten ugly, there was no need to keep his disguise.
“Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, I am from another existential plane. The only reason I’m impersonating the Ice Demon Prefecture Master was for the Dark Canopy of The Heavens that’s taking place soon!”
“So that’s why! Now you shall die!”
A hint of murderous intent flashed across the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s eyes as he slapped toward Meng Lei. He believed that with the strength of a high-level Great Demon God, he could kill Meng Lei with that strike.
“Nice!”
Meng Lei met up with his punch.
“What the! Why did the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor start a fight with that guy?”
“If I remember properly, that savage guy was brought here by the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, right? Then why did the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor attack him?”
“What exactly is going on?”
The unknowing onlooking demons were stupefied. The battle was going on a moment before, and suddenly this happened? That did not make any sense!
Boom!
Just as the onlookers were bewildered, Meng Lei’s fist met the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s palm. It was almost as if Mars had hit Earth, and the duo’s raging shockwaves blasted off with a deafening boom.
Meng Lei and the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor flew backward at the same time. What shocked everyone was that Meng Lei only retreated for a few meters while the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor backed off by dozens of meters.
It was clear who was superior after one move!
“What!?
“How can that be?”
“I’m hallucinating! I must be hallucinating!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor were shocked, same with the countless other spectators.
Who was the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor? That was one of the three most powerful beings on the Dark Hell Continent, a high-level Great Demon God standing on the pinnacle of the pyramid of lifeforms in the continent for countless tens of thousands of years!
But Meng Lei?
No one knew where he popped out from!
Yet, this unknown nobody was evenly matched with the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, or even a notch higher.
“You actually have such power!”
As his right palm was getting numb, great waves of shock and astonishment churned in the heart of the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. He looked at Meng Lei in complete disbelief.
The Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor flew to the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor and asked somberly, “Isaiah, this guy seemed like a tough nut to crack. Need any help?”
“No one shall interfere!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor rejected the offer coldly. “I brought this scoundrel here, and I’ll kill him myself to vent my anger!”
“Alright!”
Both the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor agreed and said nothing else.
“Little fellow, I didn’t expect you to possess such power. I must say I underestimated you. But everything ends here. I’ll kill you myself!”
His aura began to surge as if he was a volcano stocking up its energy, awaiting the moment to erupt.
“Kill me? To be honest, I want to take you out as well!”
Meng Lei licked his lips as his eyes shone—a mid-level Great Demon God was worth 60 million, while a high-level Great Demon God was worth at least 900 million!
900 million!
Such a huge sum!
“Die!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor bellowed as densely packed black spears appeared around his body before they shot toward Meng Lei like a rain of arrows.
“Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The spectators exclaimed as they looked in the same direction almost instinctively. It was the famous Netherworld Divine Fire, which was incredibly powerful.
In particular, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s Netherworld Divine Fire was incomparably destructive—the slightest contact with it would most definitely burn one into ashes.
“Isaiah has gone through eight rebirths, meaning his Netherworld Divine Fire has evolved eight times, with temperatures up to ten million degree Celsius. Even we wouldn’t dare to take it head-on!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor’s expressions changed slightly upon the sight of the overwhelming rain of spears. They dared not underestimate the destructive capabilities of the Netherworld Divine Fire. A hint of graveness flashed across their eyes.
“I’ll see how you die, scoundrel!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor snapped as the rain of spears surrounded Meng Lei, blocking any route of retreat.
There was no space for him to escape!
“Meng Lei, wasn’t this your standard move?”
Dodola’s voice rang while poking fun at Meng Lei. “Now that your own attack is being used against you, does it feel frustrating?”
“Nope. I actually enjoy this feeling.”
Meng Lei neither dodged nor evaded as he let the spears flood him. Given Meng Lei’s divine body’s degree of sturdiness, these black spears would not harm his divine body at all.
Once they came into contact with him, the rain of spears turned into countless black flames, which devoured Meng Lei in an instant. Meng Lei turned into a black human torch as the fire burned incessantly.
“He’s dead for sure! Even if he has the strength to rival Isaiah, being devoured in the Netherworld Divine Fire means that he’ll never come back from this!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress had already given Meng Lei the death sentence.
“I wonder where such a crazily strong fellow popped out from.” Alec, the Fallen Emperor, frowned with puzzled eyes.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters now is that he’s about to be burned to death, and that’s good enough!”
Euphemia shook her head and smiled. To be honest, the Dark Hell Continent had been the trio’s territory. Hence, the sudden appearance of someone whose powers matched theirs frightened them.
Fortunately for them, this fellow was about to be burned to death while anything else would not matter.
However, as the burning process continued, Euphemia’s eyebrows raised eventually. Meng Lei seemed fine in the flames of the Netherworld Divine Fire?
He stood within the raging black fire like steel in normal flames. No matter how the fire burned, there was no injury on him!
Euphemia frowned and asked, “Isaiah, there seems to be something wrong?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor did not reply. He glared at Meng Lei with crashing waves churning in his heart.
This guy… seems unafraid of the Netherworld Divine Fire?
“No! This isn’t possible! The Netherworld Divine Fire is everlasting and burns everything. Mine has already been enhanced to a great level!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor shook his head repeatedly. “It will burn him! I’ll wait! I’ll just wait…”
He waited and waited.
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Three minutes passed.
In the blink of an eye, five minutes passed. Meng Lei stood among the flames and let the flames burn while he remained firm and motionless.
“How did this happen?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was stunned once more.
It was the same for Euphemia and Alec as the Netherworld Divine Fire was useless against Meng Lei.
“Your Majesty, so this is your Netherworld Divine Fire? It doesn’t seem that great after all.” Meng Lei shook his head slightly and continued. “I thought that Your Majesty’s Netherworld Divine Fire would be incredibly powerful and burn anything. After seeing it today… it’s nothing impressive.”
“Why? Why aren’t you afraid of my Netherworld Divine Fire?” The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor seemed to be dealt with a huge blow upon seeing that his signature move was useless against Meng Lei.
“Why?”
Meng Lei shook his head and grinned. He pointed a finger, and a golden flame appeared. “That’s because I have the Netherworld Divine Fire too!”
“Netherworld Divine Fire?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor paused for a moment before laughing. “You call this the Netherworld Divine Fire? Who are you trying to bluff? Who doesn’t know that the Netherworld Divine Fire is black!”
“Don’t believe me? Let’s try it out then!”
Meng Lei flicked the golden flame on his fingertip into the black flames. Once both met, they started to burn each other madly.
At the start, the size of the black fire was ferociously huge, while the golden one was only the size of a finger.
It seemed that both were at a different level. However, the strange thing was that the golden flame became more and more intense as its size swelled swiftly.
On the other hand, the black fire became smaller and smaller. It could not suppress the growth of the golden fire, and it was gradually engulfed in golden flames.
In the end, only Meng Lei’s golden flames remained!
“T-this… How… How is this possible?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor could not believe his eyes. The Netherworld Divine Fire that he had evolved from the eight rebirths was completely suppressed!
No matter how strong your Netherworld Divine Fire is, how would it match against my Metal-Origin Netherworld Divine Fire? Meng Lei thought triumphantly.
After his Metal-Origin Body was upgraded to Great Mastery, his Netherworld Divine Fire was enhanced into the Metal-Origin Netherworld Divine Fire. However, the increase in power was not too much. Thus, it was still slightly inferior to the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s Netherworld Divine Fire.
It was not a big deal since he could continue enhancing it.
Hence, Meng Lei spent 100 million Divinity Crystals to enhance the Netherworld Divine Fire again until it evolved into the Ultimate Innate Special Ability!
Ultimate Innate Special Ability!
What did ultimate represent?
Ultimate represented the extreme. It represented that there were no Innate Special Abilities stronger than the Ultimate Innate Special Ability. It also represented that Meng Lei’s Netherworld Divine Fire was enhanced to the limit, and it would never evolve again no matter how many times he underwent rebirth again.
Of course, it meant that Meng Lei’s Metal-Origin Netherworld Divine Fire now was at the same level as a normal nine-rebirth Netherworld Divine Fire, while Meng Lei’s divine fire might be slightly stronger too.
“What kind of fire is that?” muttered the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor.
“You still can’t tell? What a foolish demon!”
Meng Lei shook his head as he transformed into a shining Divine Golden Phoenix.
“This aura!”
" }, { "id": 344, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-344", "title": "Chapter 344 - The Grim Reaper'S Eye Evolves, Killing The Demonic Emperor", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 344: The Grim Reaper’s Eye Evolves, Killing The Demonic Emperor
Boom!
Dazzling golden light burst forth from Meng Lei. It shone with such radiance and resplendence and dazzled the eyes so much that one couldn’t even look directly upon it.
At the same time, a terrifying force that reached into the heavens and deep into the ground engulfed the area and swept through every inch of land, crushing everything in all directions.
Dazzling golden light, a sharp aura of slaughter… Added to this that familiar appearance of a cockatoo-like head, a snake-like neck, a strong jaw, a raised back, and a fishtail…
“That aura… And that appearance…”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s eyes widened big and round as he exclaimed, “Why does it resemble a Divine Netherworld Phoenix so much!?”
“No, it’s not so much that it ‘resembles’ one as it IS one!” The Three-Headed Hell Empress’ eyes bore into Meng Lei as she declared, “It is a Divine Netherworld Phoenix just like you are!”
“No! That’s impossible! How can a Divine Netherworld Phoenix possibly look like that?” The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor shook his head forcefully, though a tiny theory had already formed in his mind.
“That’s a metal-origin divine body!”
The Fallen Emperor murmured to himself, “It’s a Divine Netherworld Phoenix with a metal-origin divine body! Never have I ever thought that I would see such a rare divine body during this lifetime!”
“A metal-origin divine body?!”
A huge jolt went through the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor.
“That… That’s…”
The idle demons watching the battle were also stunned. Even their brains had somewhat short-circuited as they stared at the enormous creature suspended proudly in the sky.
Its appearance and the aura around it bore a striking resemblance to that of a Divine Netherworld Phoenix, yet it was golden in color. Was that really a Divine Netherworld Phoenix?
“Do you see it now, Your Majesty?”
The Metal-Origin Divine Netherworld Phoenix spoke the human tongue and said, “I’m also a Divine Netherworld Phoenix, and my divine flames are also Netherworld Divine Fire. That is why you can’t burn me to death!”
“Well done! Well done, indeed!”
After a brief moment of astonishment, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor finally regained his senses. His eyes shone with fervency as he said, “Never have I ever thought that you would actually be a Divine Netherworld Phoenix with a metal-origin divine body. If I destroy your divine spirit and occupy that body of yours, I shall own a Metal-Origin Divine Netherworld Phoenix alternate incarnation, too!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s eyes turned incredibly scorching hot at this point. He said, “I must thank you for coming here and bestowing such a golden opportunity upon me, kid!”
“Occupy my body?”
As though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, Meng Lei burst into laughter and said, “Your Majesty, you overestimate yourself!”
“Is that so?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor let out a snort. Then, a terrifying wave of Demon’s Domain swept out from him, instantly locking down the dimension around Meng Lei and trapping Meng Lei himself along with it as well.
“Kill!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor appeared right in front of Meng Lei like a phantom the very next moment and quietly took out a blood-red dagger stained with blood.
Rather than a dagger, it looked more like a razor blade.
Slash!
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor slashed right at Meng Lei’s throat with the blood-red razor blade in hand.
Had it been any other ordinary attack, Meng Lei wouldn’t have thought much of it at all. However, he could feel a strong sense of danger coming from the tiny little razor blade in this instant.
That razor blade… is capable of taking my life!
Meng Lei felt an intense tingling sensation on his scalp, and he promptly teleported and vanished from where he was, causing the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s razor blade to miss.
“He actually dodged it?”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor found this rather unbelievable. By right, Meng Lei would have needed some time to shake off his Demon’s Domain, and this pocket of time would have been sufficient for his attack to land on Meng Lei.
Yet the reality was that… Meng Lei had actually evaded the attack!
How did he manage to escape?
“What kind of weapon is that, Your Majesty?”
Meng Lei’s eyes bore into the blood-red razor blade in the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s grip as he barked the question gravely.
“You’re surprisingly quick at fleeing.”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor didn’t answer Meng Lei. Instead, he turned to the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor and said, “Aid me in taking him down, and the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom shall not take part in the Dark Canopy of The Heavens journey this time!”
Both the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor knew exactly what the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor had in mind. It was very evident that he had set his sights on Meng Lei’s body.
Even they coveted the metal-origin divine body, let alone the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor who was a Divine Netherworld Phoenix. It was just that the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor undoubtedly desired the body even more desperately than them.
The Three-Headed Hell Empress said, “Isaiah, the other party is a Divine Netherworld Phoenix with a metal-origin divine body of Great Mastery-level that possesses unlimited potential. We can aid you in taking him down, but the conditions you’ve offered are simply too lacking in sincerity.”
The Fallen Emperor also said, “The Boundless Plane is fraught with great danger, so the chances of people successfully bringing out priceless treasures are simply too low. If you’d like us to aid you, then you’ll have to offer up treasures of similar value, too.”
“These two greedy fellows!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor had an awful look on his countenance, though he then said coldly, “Aid me in taking him down, and I’ll give you two high-level Great Demon God dead bodies!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress’ eyelid twitched a little, though she still shook her head. “It isn’t enough!”
“I’ll throw in another two high-tier demonic weapons!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor continued to make an offer.
“Isaiah, be it high-level Great Demon God dead bodies or high-tier divine weapons, they are nothing but icing on the cake for you and me. There isn’t much practical value in them.”
The Fallen Emperor shook his head and said, “Your level of sincerity is too low. We can’t help you like that.”
“That bastard!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was so furious that he had broken into expletives. “Alec, you’re too greedy!”
“Compared to a Metal-Origin Divine Netherworld Phoenix alternate incarnation, the sincerity you’ve shown is not up to snuff at all.” The Fallen Emperor let out a derisive snort of laughter and said, “If you want us to help you, then show some sincerity, Isaiah!”
“Damn it!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor took a deep breath. He suppressed the fury within him and said unhurriedly, “We’ll cancel the previous offer. Would two Great Perfection-level demonic weapons suffice?”
“Alright!”
“Deal!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress’ and the Fallen Emperor’s eyes brightened a little. This time, they took up the offer right away.
“Since you’ve agreed to it, then cut the crap and help me to take him down!” The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor barked stiffly, feeling as though his heart was bleeding as he spoke.
“No problem!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor appeared right in front of Meng Lei with a flash of their forms. For a moment there, the trio formed a triangular formation and surrounded Meng Lei on all sides.
“Give up and surrender, kid! There’s no way you’ll be able to escape. Extending your neck in preparation for execution is your final outcome!”
“Ganging up on me just because you can’t beat me one-on-one? This certainly matches your demonic natures very much!”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across all three of them one by one. “But with the likes of the three of you, I don’t think you can kill me just yet?”
“We’ll see about that!”
“Attack!”
“Demon’s Domain!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor let out a deep roar while the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor promptly cast Demon’s Domain. Evidently, they were intending to suppress Meng Lei so that they could take him down thereafter.
Buzz…
The imprisoning force from a stack of three Demon’s Domains cast by three high-level Great Demon Gods was incredibly strong. Meng Lei could totally sense how fearsome the imprisoning force was—it was enough to suppress any high-level Great Demon God out there!
“Die, you worm!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor let out a furious roar. The blood-red razor blade in his hand drew a blood-red slash across the air as it went straight for Meng Lei’s throat. Given how sharp it was, it would undoubtedly slash Meng Lei’s throat open if the attack landed.
One strike would be all it needed to take his life!
“It’s a good weapon, and the imprisoning force from your Demon’s Domains is also extremely strong. What a shame…”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. A thought flashed across his mind, and then he vanished right away from where he was. By the time he next appeared, he had already bizarrely shown up behind the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor.
“Hey.”
Meng Lei patted the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor on the shoulder and asked with a smile, “Do you have the guts to look at me?”
“Die!”
A jolt went through the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, and he immediately smashed his elbow into Meng Lei without even so much as a thought. Meng Lei dodged the attack and kept his gaze on the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor.
Meanwhile, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor also turned around to look at him.
Two pairs of eyes gazed at each other.
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re doomed!”
Just as the puzzlement filled the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, a golden eye slowly surfaced in between Meng Lei’s brows before it snapped open forcefully.
Whoosh!
A golden light beam shot out of it, striking the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor in between his brows in a split second.
Boom!
As though he was thunderstruck, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor instantly froze where he was and became completely still.
“That’s—”
A short distance away, a violent jolt involuntarily went through the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor upon seeing what had happened. They couldn’t help but exclaim, “T-the Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Damn it! That’s the Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Stop him! We mustn’t let him get his way!”
The two rulers brazenly launched their attacks. As demonic lifeforms, they were all too aware of how frightening the Grim Reaper’s Eye was. Once they gave Meng Lei enough time, the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor would be doomed for sure.
And once the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was dead, they definitely wouldn’t have it any better, either. Therefore, they absolutely had to stop Meng Lei.
“Stop me?”
Meng Lei let out a derisive snort of laughter. Then, he grabbed the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor and vanished from where they were, his whereabouts unknown.
“Where’s he?”
“Where are they?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor’s attacks landed on empty air. They looked around, but there was no one around, let alone Meng Lei and the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor.
“Damn it! Where has that bastard brought the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor?”
The two terribly enraged rulers’ expressions were exceedingly grim and sinister.
When had they ever been played like fools like this during all this time that they dominated the Dark Hell Continent?
What a great insult to them this was!
“Find him! We must find him no matter what!”
Find him?
It was naturally impossible for them to find him because Meng Lei had already teleported millions of kilometers away with the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor in tow.
One must admit that the teleportation special ability was simply too powerful. As Meng Lei’s divine spirit powered up, the range that his teleportation special ability could cover had also increased along with it.
He could cover at least 10 million kilometers with each teleportation attempt!
Therefore, finding him was practically just a pipe dream for the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor. They wouldn’t even be able to catch a glimpse of his shadow, let alone actually finding him.
However, Meng Lei had also encountered some difficulties—he was experiencing great resistance from the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. For a while, he actually couldn’t extract the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s divine spirit from his body!
Dodola reminded him loudly, “Meng Lei, your Grim Reaper’s Eye isn’t strong enough.”
“Not strong enough?” Meng Lei snorted coldly and ordered, “System, enhance my Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Ding! The host’s Grim Reaper’s Eye is currently classified as a superior-grade Innate Special Ability and will become an ultimate-grade Innate Special Ability after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 100 million Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100 million Divinity Crystals in an instant.
Meng Lei then felt a fascinating warm current flowing into the Grim Reaper’s Eye in the middle of his brows and furiously enhancing it.
“Since I’m going to enhance it anyway, then I might as well go all the way. I have the cash for it anyway.” Meng Lei barked coldly, “System, enhance my divine spirit, too!”
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to an elementary-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a mid-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 60 million Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
A few minutes later, when both the Grim Reaper’s Eye and his divine spirit’s enhancements were complete, Meng Lei restarted his attempts to extract the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s divine spirit.
The resistance he encountered was still just as strong, but it didn’t amount to anything at all this time.
“Damn it!”
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor let out a wretched cry, and then his divine spirit flew uncontrollably toward the Grim Reaper’s Eye.
Upon being sucked into the Grim Reaper’s Eye, a fearsome destructive force manifested and began to furiously crush the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s divine spirit.
“Aaahhhh!”
Despite the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s powerful divine spirit, he nevertheless couldn’t withstand the Grim Reaper’s Eye’s insane destructive force. Ultimately crushed into smithereens, he was then turned into the purest of divine spirit power that surged into Meng Lei’s own divine spirit.
“This feels awesome!”
Meng Lei was in such a fantastic mood that he was even making snot bubbles.
“What the heck!? You’ve killed even the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor!” Dodola let out a strange-sounding squawk. “Impressive, impressive! I’m not even impressed by anyone else other than you now!”
" }, { "id": 345, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-345", "title": "Chapter 345 - The Boundless Giant, Taking Out All The Enemies In One Fell Swoop", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 345: The Boundless Giant, Taking Out All The Enemies In One Fell Swoop
“Ding! 1 Divine Netherworld Phoenix killed. 930 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
The system’s icy voice notification subsequently rang out within Meng Lei’s mind. As though he had just downed a glass of iced watermelon juice on a hot sweltering summer day, he felt a sense of comfort from the top of his head all the way to the tips of his toes. One couldn’t even begin to describe how fantastic it felt.
“Tsk, tsk. 930 million Divinity Crystals? What a windfall! Adding this to my previous gains, my Wealth must already have broken through the 2 billion milestone by now!
“Tsk, tsk. Money comes much faster when you kill high-level Great Demon Gods like the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor after all!”
Of course, Meng Lei didn’t forget about the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s spatial ring, either. The blood-red razor blade from just now had left a fairly deep impression on him, so he had to take it out for a look for sure.
“System, collect all the things you can collect first.”
Whoosh!
His Wealth increased by 400 million Divinity Crystals in no time. It wasn’t a very great increase—the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor was a demon, after all, so he hadn’t been that interested in Divinity Crystals and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
What the spatial ring contained the most were instead various types of demon carcasses and weapons.
Among which, even the most inferior of the lot was a mid-level Great Demon God carcass. There were also quite a few high-level Great Demon God carcasses.
“No, these aren’t high-level Great Demon Gods but other lifeforms!”
Meng Lei took out one of the “high-level Great Demon God” carcasses. It was a bronze-colored, demi-giant-like creature with intertwining muscles.
Unlike Demigiants, however, it had six arms, and its muscles were incredibly hard like rocks and filled with explosive power.
“A Boundless Giant!”
Dodola flew out of the Tower of Time and gazed at the Giant’s dead body in astonishment. It said, “That form… It’s definitely a Boundless Giant. There’s no mistaking it!”
“A Boundless Giant?”
Meng Lei perked up.
“There are many Giant races, among which the most well-known is naturally the Titans. However, apart from the Titans, many other types of Giants are well-known for their savagery. For example, the Boundless Giants, the Golden-Horned Giants, the Wild Giants, and so on.”
Dodola explained, “The Boundless Giants were initially nobodies, but following the Boundless King’s emergence, the Boundless Giants also emerged along with him and made a mighty and illustrious name for themselves.
“It was just a shame that while they had emerged thanks to the Boundless King, they also died out along with him. Following the Boundless King’s demise, the enormous Boundless Kingdom collapsed and crumbled, and the Boundless Giants also faded into silence.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded repeatedly and added, “Perhaps it’s exactly because of the Boundless Giants’ existence that many Dark Hell Continent experts believe that the Boundless Plane had been refined by the Boundless King before.”
There was no smoke without fire. From the looks of it, the Dark Hell Continent experts weren’t just making things up when they gave the Boundless Plane its name.
Dodola sighed and said, “I can only say that there’s a certain chance that that’s the case. As for whether or not it’s true, it may not necessarily be the case.”
Meng Lei continued to look through the spatial ring’s contents after that.
Apart from an astonishing number of Boundless Giant dead bodies, there were also a lot of other types of dead bodies and remains. They were basically all extremely powerful existences. Meng Lei wasn’t very interested in these dead bodies, so he picked a few of the strongest for himself and sent the rest all into the Tower of Time.
Without those dead bodies, the spatial ring became incredibly spacious right away, and each and every weapon in there entered his sight. Almost every single weapon emanated a fearsome and savage aura that made one’s heart pound in trepidation.
“So many high-level demonic weapons! And this one, too!”
A blood-red razor blade that seemed as if it were forged from blood appeared in Meng Lei’s hand. The sharp aura it gave off turned Meng Lei’s scalp numb.
He knew that the tiny little razor blade was definitely capable of easily slicing open his divine body!
Meng Lei asked unhurriedly, “What grade is this weapon, Dodola?”
“Let me take a look.”
Dodola observed it closely for a moment and said, “Its degree of sharpness has already exceeded that of a Great Perfection-level divine weapon. In fact, it’s even comparable to a Chief God-level weapon.
“Yet it evidently isn’t equipped with the various Chief God-level weapons’ might and functions. On top of that…”
“What is it?” Meng Lei quickly asked.
“This blade is obviously incomplete.” A shrewd glint appeared in Dodola’s eyes as it said, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be a Chief God-level weapon’s spare part.”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei as he exclaimed, “No wonder it’s so sharp! So it’s a Chief God-level weapon’s spare part!”
Dodola said slowly, “I wonder where the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor had gotten this from. If he had gotten it from the Boundless Plane, then it’s highly likely that the Boundless Plane is related to the Boundless King.”
Meng Lei suddenly asked, “Dodola, do you think anyone owns the Boundless Plane? If it is, wouldn’t I be courting death if I enter it?”
“It probably doesn’t.”
Dodola shook its head and said, “If someone already owned the Boundless Plane, then how would they possibly allow people from Dark Hell Continent and other existential planes to go in and out at will?”
“That’s true!”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go. It’s time to dispose of those two fellows.”
Dodola said with a shake of its head, “Get rid of them first so that you can completely eliminate all possible future threats.”
“Alright!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily. By the time he next appeared, he was already back at the Dark Canopy of The Heavens.
The many demons watching the battle were still there, as were the mid-level Great Demon Gods who had been fighting it out in the melee. The only ones missing were the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor.
“They aren’t here? That works in my favor, too!”
Meng Lei turned toward the 300-odd mid-level Great Demon Gods who had already ended their melee and were currently staring at him. He licked his lips and dived straight in.
“Damn it!”
“He’s coming over!”
“Run!”
Although they had been imprisoned for a short while, the mid-level Great Demon Gods had nevertheless witnessed the whole battle that had taken place between Meng Lei and the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. Thus, they were well aware of Meng Lei’s great strength.
Upon noticing Meng Lei charging toward them at the moment, the group of Great Demon Gods was almost scared out of their wits, and they made a run for it without any hesitation—they didn’t have the guts to battle Meng Lei at all!
“Thinking of fleeing?” Meng Lei sneered. “God’s Domain!”
Buzz…
Fearsome power from God’s Domain spread into the surroundings, instantly enveloping the whole area 10,000 miles of where they were and also trapping the 300-odd mid-level Great Demon Gods on the spot.
Trapping over 300 mid-level Great Demon Gods singlehandedly—this was exactly what made a high-level Great Demon God so fearsome. It was also representative of the huge difference in strength between a mid-level Great Demon God and a high-level one.
The difference was truly an insurmountable obstacle.
Battling past one’s own level?
One could dream on!
“Netherworld Divine Fire!”
Over 300 golden spears formed in front of Meng Lei with a wave from him—they were spears of flames manifested from Netherworld Divine Fire.
“Go!”
The 300-odd golden spears shot out swiftly with a wave of Meng Lei’s hand. They unsurprisingly pierced right through the 300-odd Great Demon Gods’ heads and shot them dead on the spot.
After gouging out their demonic cores and taking their spatial rings, he then sent their dead bodies into the Tower of Time and tossed them to the golden little tree for its feeding pleasure.
“Perfect!”
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his gains. Then, as though there was no one else in the vicinity, he sat cross-legged in front of the cliff and began to destroy the mid-level Great Demon Gods’ divine spirits one by one.
“Ding! 1 Cerberus killed. 61 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Eight-Winged Fallen Angel killed. 61.5 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Divine Netherworld Phoenix killed. 62 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
Meng Lei listened to the system’s constant ringing notifications and watched his continuously-increasing Wealth value in a fantastic mood as if he had eaten a jar of honey.
On the other hand, the many demons here to watch the battle were utterly frightened out of their minds because he had annihilated more than 300 Great Demon Gods in just the span of a couple of breaths.
Just what kind of combat strength was that?
And what level of savagery was that?
“All… All three demonic kingdoms’ mid-level Great Demon Gods have been taken out in one fell swoop?”
“Oh my god! How did that happen?”
The demon onlookers shook in their boots, feeling as if the sky had fallen on them. However, what made them even more horror-stricken was yet to come. Following a couple of whizzes, the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Fallen Emperor returned to the scene once more.
The Three-Headed Hell Empress asked fiercely, “Where’s Isaiah, kid? What have you done to him?”
“What have I done to him? I killed him, of course!”
Boom!
" }, { "id": 346, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-346", "title": "Chapter 346 - Death Roar, Fighting With Each Other To Submit", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 346: Death Roar, Fighting With Each Other To Submit
Boom!
Meng Lei’s words were nothing less than a million-megaton hydrogen bomb going off. Explosions went off in all the demons’ minds, and they couldn’t believe their ears.
The Dark Hell Demonic Emperor who had stood strong and dominated Dark Hell Continent for tens of thousands of years was actually dead?
How could that be?
“No, that’s not true! His Majesty is one of the three most powerful experts in Dark Hell Continent. How immensely powerful is his battle prowess? How could he possibly have died?”
“That’s right! It must be fake!”
The demons watching the battle couldn’t accept the news at all.
“H-have you really killed him?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress’ voice was shaking somewhat.
“Not only have I killed him, but I’m also going to kill you.”
Meng Lei appeared in front of the Three-Headed Hell Empress like a phantom. Then, his Grim Reaper’s Eye abruptly opened, and a golden light beam suddenly struck the Three-Headed Hell Empress in between her brows.
“Duck!”
The Fallen Emperor suddenly attacked in the nick of time. He stomped on Meng Lei’s face and sent him flying with a kick.
The Three-Headed Hell Empress felt as if she had just had a near-death experience. The sensation of the Grim Reaper’s Eye enveloping her divine spirit and immobilizing her just now had simply felt too awful.
“If you don’t want to die, then keep your guard up!” The Fallen Emperor said coldly, “Show even a moment of carelessness, and we’ll end up just like Isaiah!”
“Thanks, Alec!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress cast a grateful glance at the Fallen Emperor. Then, she turned to Meng Lei with immense killing intent in her eyes and said, “You deserve death for that!”
Roar!
The Three-Headed Hell Empress let out a furious roar and transformed into a huge, 8,000,000-feet-long, three-headed hound bathed in blood-red flames—it was none other than the Three-Headed Hell Empress’ true form, a Cerberus!
Boom!
At the same time, an incredibly violent, bloodthirsty, and savage aura also swept through the surroundings. All the demons that had come to watch the battle trembled in fear and prostrated on the ground, unable to even stand.
“Die!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress opened all three of her large, cavernous jaws and three energy torrents sprayed from within.
One was a torrent of crimson-red flames, one was a torrent of thick, black smoke, and one was a torrent of green acid.
The three torrents traveled across the distance and rushed toward Meng Lei almost unreasonably quickly, intending to burn him into ashes, smoke him into dried bones, and corrode him into a pool of liquid.
However, Meng Lei easily evaded the three torrents of energy coming at him with fierce momentum with a teleport, all the while keeping his gaze fixed on the Fallen Emperor.
“How dare you kick me in the face! Well done! Well done, indeed!”
Murderous intent emanated wantonly from Meng Lei, who had an awful look on his countenance.
The Fallen Emperor remained expressionless. A long black sword appeared in his hand, and he turned into a black streak of light that rushed straight toward Meng Lei with a light flap of his eight black wings.
He was incredibly fast, even more so than the Three-Headed Hell Empress and the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor. He arrived right in front of Meng Lei in an instant and cleaved his sword down.
“Judgment of Sin!”
The jet-black sword gave off an incomparably unholy aura. The blade hadn’t even reached Meng Lei, yet its unholy aura was already assaulting Meng Lei’s senses and messing with his divine spirit.
“That’s a good sword. It’s just a shame that…”
Meng Lei neither ducked nor evaded the attack. Instead, he abruptly vanished in the very instant that the black sword cleaved down at him. The Fallen Emperor’s expression changed at once, and he tried to duck and get out of range without a second thought.
“It’s too late!”
A cold and aloof voice rang out beside his ear, and then he felt a piercing pain in his abdomen. The Fallen Emperor looked down to see that a blood-red blade had pierced right through his abdomen to stab into his heart.
“You’re actually holding on to this blade!”
The Fallen Emperor was astounded. His attention had been fully on the Grim Reaper’s Eye just now, so it hadn’t occurred to him at all that the blood-red blade might actually have fallen into Meng Lei’s hands.
That was too careless of him! He should have thought of it earlier!
“No one on the same level as or below me is my match!”
Meng Lei stood right behind the Fallen Emperor and said dispassionately, “With this blood-red razor blade added to the combination of teleportation and the Grim Reaper’s Eye, how are you gonna fight against me now?”
“So, that’s teleportation!” A huge jolt went through the Fallen Emperor. “Little did I think that you’d actually own a special ability as fearsome as that! However—”
Whoosh!
The Fallen Emperor suddenly transformed into a cloud of black fog. He swiftly vanished from where he was before resuming his previous form several hundred meters away.
“Dark-Elemental Transformation!”
Meng Lei was slightly taken aback. He couldn’t help but become puzzled. He asked, “Do Fallen Angels also possess that Innate Special Ability, Dodola?”
Dodola explained, “Low-level Fallen Angels do not possess that ability, but they’ll gain it once they cultivate into an Eight-Winged Fallen Angel.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
“Euphemia, let’s attack together!”
Although the Fallen Emperor had managed to escape, the blow just now had given him a sense of impending death. He said, “Stop holding back. Attack with all you’ve got and kill him!”
“Alright!”
Holding back?
She no longer dared to hold back anymore, of course. Meng Lei’s immense combat prowess had deeply astounded the Three-Headed Hell Empress. Should she continue to hold back, she would undoubtedly die in one of the worst ways possible.
“Death Roar!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress opened her cavernous jaws again and roared furiously into the heavens. Deafening booms rang out as raging sound waves swept into the surroundings and assailed Meng Lei.
As a canine, her roars were already very loud from the start, let alone when she was a Cerberus. Barking had even become one of their Innate Special Abilities.
Boom!
The violent sound waves instantly engulfed Meng Lei, causing him to lose his sense of hearing. Loud ringing rang out in his ears, and his mind slipped into a temporary state of blankness.
“Here’s my chance!”
The Fallen Emperor wielded the black sword in his hand and slashed right at Meng Lei’s throat. Although the black greatsword wasn’t as good as the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor’s blood-red razor blade, it was still a Great Perfection-level demonic weapon and boasted an incredible degree of sharpness.
The Fallen Emperor believed that as long as his attack landed, the greatsword would definitely be able to slash open Meng Lei’s throat and behead him, thereby taking his life with one hit!
“Ugh!”
The black sword cleaved down at Meng Lei’s throat. This time, however, Meng Lei evidently didn’t dodge the attack, and the Fallen Emperor couldn’t help but reveal a smile—he had finally succeeded!
However, before he could stay delighted for long, Meng Lei’s throat surprisingly turned into a cloud of black fog. On top of that, the rest of his body below the throat also turned into black fog. His head was the only part of him that remained in his human form.
“W-why…”
A huge jolt went through the Fallen Emperor.
“Do you think that you’re the only one who can transform into dark elements?” A hint of a smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face as he slowly uttered three words, “Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
The third eye in between Meng Lei’s brows slowly opened the moment he spoke. At the sight, the Fallen Emperor transformed into a cloud of black fog without a second thought again, all ready to run.
“Ha, that move again?”
Meng Lei let out a derisive scoff of laughter and pointed with his finger.
Buzz!
A golden chilly current shot out of his finger, instantly engulfing the black fog that was the Fallen Emperor and freezing him into a golden lump of ice.
“Damn it!!”
Blood drained from the face of the Fallen Emperor within the ice lump. Not only had the hard and tough ice lump sealed his movements, but it also prevented him from exiting his state of elemental transformation.
He… couldn’t transform back to his original form anymore!
“Save me, Euphemia!”
The anxious Fallen Emperor shouted and released roiling waves of divine spirit energy.
Roar!
At the sight of the Fallen Emperor’s predicament, the Three-Headed Hell Empress hurriedly let out a roar. Roiling sound waves abruptly rushed toward the Fallen Emperor, who was encased within the ice lump with a great blast.
“Go ahead and hit it! I’ll let you off today if you can break it.”
Meng Lei didn’t stop the Three-Headed Hell Empress. Instead, he watched her with a big smile and allowed her to attack the ice lump.
Boom!
Violent sound waves crashed against the golden ice lump, yet it was as though torrential tidal waves were crashing against hard and solid coral reefs—they couldn’t leave even a scratch on the golden ice lump!
“I can’t break it?” The Three-Headed Hell Empress was astounded. “What kind of ice is that?”
“That’s Mysterious Ice of The Depths, the Frost Gods’ Innate Special Ability.”
Meng Lei gave her a slight smile and added, “Of course, I’ve also spent a bit of money and evolved it into an ultimate-grade special ability, so it’s impossible for you to break it.”
Though the Three-Headed Hell Empress was confused by his explanation, she managed to catch the gist of it, nonetheless. Firstly, the ice was made from the Frost Gods’ Mysterious Ice of The Depths. Secondly, the Mysterious Ice of The Depths had become an ultimate-grade special ability.
Mysterious Ice of The Depths!
An ultimate-grade special ability!
“What kind of freak are you, exactly?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress was close to having a mental breakdown.
“You’re the freak! Your entire family is a freak!”
Meng Lei took a step forward, immediately arriving right in front of the Three-Headed Hell Empress, who was currently in a mental state of turmoil.
Mysterious Ice of The Depths sprayed from his finger as he pointed at the Three-Headed Hell Empress, freezing her body and the two heads on her left and right. Only the head in the middle was left unfrozen.
“Damn it!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress struggled fiercely, but she simply couldn’t break free of Mysterious Ice of The Depths’ hold on her, let alone break the ice itself. That thing was simply too tough; it had exceeded what her abilities were capable of.
“What’s your preferred way to die, Your Majesty?” asked a cheerful Meng Lei as he stroked the Three-Headed Hell Empress’ head.
“You… What do you want?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress was in such a panic that even her voice was trembling.
“I had initially wanted to kill you, but the Dark Canopy of The Heavens is about to open. Things will definitely go wrong in Dark Hell Continent if I go to the Boundless Plane just like that.”
A glint flashed in Meng Lei’s eyes as he went on. “Therefore, I’d like to give you a chance—hand over your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me, and I’ll spare your life.”
No matter what, it was definite that Meng Lei would have to make a trip to the Boundless Plane. The problem was—what was he supposed to do about Dark Hell Continent after he left?
Even with the three major rulers of the continent and most of the mid-level Great Demon Gods dead, a fair number of mid-level Great Demon Gods remained hidden in Dark Hell Continent’s various nooks and crannies.
Those mid-level Great Demon Gods were exactly what Meng Lei was greatly concerned about.
He would be totally screwed if some guy secretly refined Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane while he was in the Boundless Plane.
Thus, he needed someone to watch over Dark Hell Continent and help him to look after things there.
“Submit?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress’ expression changed greatly. She was one of the three lofty powerhouses of the continent and had enjoyed a high and mighty status there for tens of thousands of years. Submission? How would that do!?
“If you don’t submit, then you can go straight to hell,” said Meng Lei icily.
“I submit! I’m willing to submit!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress was still hesitating when the ice-encased Fallen Emperor at the other side took the initiative to speak up first. He sent a telepathic message via his divine spirit. He sounded extremely desperate and anxious as he said, “Sir, I’m willing to submit! I’m willing to do anything for you and serve you faithfully!”
“Oh?”
Meng Lei cocked an eyebrow as a hint of a smile appeared on his lips. He remarked, “Wise people still exist in this world, don’t they? It seems like you’ve let your opportunity slip by you, Three-Headed Hell Empress.”
“Alec, you despicable bastard!” The furious Three-Headed Hell Empress broke into a rant. Then, as though she had finally ditched her noble bearing, she said, “Sir, I’m willing to submit to you. I hope you can take me in.”
Then, she hurriedly released her divine spirit origin energy and offered it up to Meng Lei. She was now the very picture of someone willing to accept whatever was done to her and would even cooperate in every way possible.
“Oh dear, things have become rather difficult now.”
Meng Lei glanced at the Three-Headed Hell Empress and then at the Fallen Emperor. Awfully troubled, he said, “Both of you are willing to submit, but who exactly should I pick?”
“Pick me! Sir, pick me!”
The Fallen Emperor pleaded, “I’m a Fallen Angel, so I have great strength. On top of that, I’ll also be absolutely loyal to you. I will do exactly as you say and will never defy your orders! Your will is my direction in life itself—”
“Alec, you dirty, evil, and cunning Fallen Angel! Is there anyone who isn’t aware that Fallen Angels like you are the most adept in lying and going against their word?”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress broke into a rant. “When it comes to loyalty, no one is more loyal than us canines! Sir, I’m a Cerberus. Once I acknowledge someone as my master, I’ll never go against my word for life!
“Besides, Alec, that bastard, even stomped on your face just now, Sir. That’s so treacherous of him! Sir, you’d better just pick me…”
" }, { "id": 347, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-347", "title": "Chapter 347 - Boundless Great Beasts, The Titans", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 347: Boundless Great Beasts, The Titans
In the end, Meng Lei chose to accept the Three-Headed Hell Empress while he finished off the Fallen Emperor.
In this universe, no one had survived after kicking Meng Lei’s face!
“This guy is pretty wealthy!”
Meng Lei checked the spatial ring left behind by the Fallen Emperor, and he was satisfied with the treasures within.
After that, he looked at the Three-Headed Hell Empress and said, “Give me your spatial ring.”
“Yes, Master!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress was reluctant, but she still gave away her spatial ring immediately.
Meng Lei took everything inside…
After a round of collection, Meng Lei returned the spatial ring to the Three-Headed Hell Empress. She checked the ring with her divine cognition and almost coughed up blood as the ring was almost empty.
That was too harsh!
He only left a few Demonic Crystals, the rest all gone—that was what an evil tyrant would do!
“This bastard!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress felt that her heart was bleeding. She wished that she could smash Meng Lei with a hammer to vent her anger.
Yet, she knew that she could not do so since Meng Lei controlled her divine spirit origin energy. Thus, there was only one word if she dared to provoke him—death!
“You’re scolding me?”
Meng Lei had a ghostly smile.
“N-no!” The Three-Headed Hell Empress trembled in fear and shook her head repeatedly in denial.
“This is my first and final warning.” Meng Lei swept a glance at her. “Carry on, bring me the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s, Fallen Kingdom’s, and your Three-Headed Hell Kingdom’s treasury to me. Remember, if you dare to steal any treasure, I’ll make you understand why flowers are red[1]!”
“Yes, Master!”
The Three-Headed Hell Empress quivered and went to execute the order.
“To think the great Three-Headed Hell Empress would actually end up like this. That’s just sad.” Dodola watched the Three-Headed Hell Empress’ back and sighed.
“In a world where the strong are revered, anything can happen. We’ll just get used to it.”
Meng Lei found a place to sit down where he would wait for the Dark Canopy of The Heavens to start while destroying the divine spirits of mid-level Great Demon Gods to earn more Divinity Crystals in the meantime.
“Ding! 1 Ice Great Demon God killed. 6,300,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Cerberus killed. 6,250,000 Divinity Crystals gained!”
“…”
The system’s notification sounds kept ringing as divine spirits were getting destroyed one by one within each demonic cores, while Meng Lei’s wealth continued to skyrocket. While Meng Lei destroyed the last of the 300 divine spirits, something happened at the cliff in front.
Buzz…
Dark beams of light radiated from the middle of the cliff. A 100-feet tall, 100-feet wide black portal appeared as it seemed like a stage’s curtain.
“The Dark Canopy of The Heavens has opened!”
Meng Lei perked up and looked toward the portal in the middle of the cliff. At the same time, a commotion erupted among the onlooking demons.
“It’s open!”
“The Dark Canopy of The Heavens has finally opened!”
“Who can enter this time?”
“Every mid-level Great Demon God is dead. Even among the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, the Fallen Emperor, and the Three-Headed Hell Empress, two died while one submitted. So the one who can enter this time…”
“This is the Dark Canopy of The Heavens!”
Dodola appeared on Meng Lei’s shoulder, its eyes shining brightly. That was the existential plane the Boundless King had refined before!
Just the Boundless King itself was enough for Dodola to look forward to the trip.
“Dodola, are you sure the Boundless Plane doesn’t have a master?” Meng Lei contained his excitement and confirmed again.
“I’m not too sure, but the possibility is quite high.” Dodola smiled. “Trust me. My instincts are normally accurate!”
“What if it’s not accurate this time? Wouldn’t that force me into a precarious situation?” Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
Why would I trust instincts for such an important matter when my life might be at stake?
It’s way too naive!
“Don’t worry! If the Boundless Plane has a master, I can guarantee your safety. You might have forgotten that I knew how to use the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique!”
Dodola smiled faintly. “At most, we escape immediately. What can the master of an existential plane do to us?”
“How could your Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique work and help us escape the imprisonment of a mid-end Power of Existential Plane?”
Meng Lei was quite astonished.
“So you think the name ‘World-Breaching’ is a joke?” Dodola snorted. “Other than the power of Chief Gods, the mid-end Power of Existential Plane is useless against the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique!”
“Alright, I’m relieved to hear that.” Meng Lei let out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, enough blabbering. Are we going in or not?” Dodola could not help but urge.
“Here we go!”
Meng Lei stood up and entered the dark portal.
“He went in!”
“That expert went in!”
“He didn’t care about us!”
“This means that…”
The onlooking demons were not stupid, so they charged toward the portal once Meng Lei entered the Dark Canopy of The Heavens.
In the past, the Dark Canopy of The Heavens used to be controlled by the three kingdoms. They were never allowed to enter while they could only act as spectators outside.
It was different today, however.
When the opportunity presented itself, who would let it slip?
“Mine! The slot is mine!”
“Get lost!”
“I’ll kill anyone who dares obstruct me!”
“Ahhh!”
The crowd of demons plunged into madness as they fought for the 35 remaining slots to enter in a bloody, brutal competition…
Of course, Meng Lei would not have known about these. He had appeared in a dimensional channel after he entered the Dark Canopy of The Heavens. It was different from the space-time rift between Light Continent and Dark Hell Continent. This channel was very stable, while it was like a dreamy, colorful corridor.
As Meng Lei walked inside, there were neither time-space fluxes nor dimensional gales. It was steady and silent, as if he was walking in a tunnel from his past life.
“Meng Lei, this dimensional channel doesn’t look like it’s formed naturally,” Dodola quickly concluded. “It seems to be artificial!”
“Artificial?” Meng Lei was amazed. “Who was capable of creating an artificially made dimensional channel?”
“Far and few.” Dodola sighed. “I’m now convinced that the Boundless Plane was once refined and owned by the Boundless King!”
“Okay!”
Meng Lei hastened his pace. After around ten minutes, they finally reached the end of the channel. Light flashed into their eyes as they entered a new world.
Grayish skies, grayish earth, grayish plants, grayish hills…
Everything in their sights was gloomy and gray; even the rolling rivers and the vast plains were painted in gray.
Meng Lei could not help but comment, “Such a dull world!”
“Don’t just look at the surface. Just sense the magic elements and the laws of nature in this existential plane,” said Dodola.
“Eh?”
Meng Lei sensed the surroundings and came to a realization. “The magic elements here are much richer than Dark Hell Continent’s. It must be richer by at least ten times, right? And the laws of nature, this is so clear! Cultivating here might even turn a pig into a Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
Since he had just come from Dark Hell Continent, Meng Lei compared this plane to Dark Hell Continent instead of low-end existential planes like Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Hence, Meng Lei was surprised that the magic elements were richer by at least ten times while the laws of nature were far clearer compared to Dark Hell Continent’s.
“They’re both mid-end existential planes, so why is there such a massive difference?” Meng Lei asked.
“This is very normal.” Dodola continued. “There aren’t any identical existential planes, and massive differences exist even between mid-end existential planes.”
“Okay.”
Meng Lei did not mind that issue as he continued his exploration of this new mid-end existential plane. Other than the magic elements and the laws of nature, there was not much difference in gravity, dimensional stability, restraint to divine cognition, and so on.
After he had a brief understanding, Meng Lei decided to find out more useful information. The most straightforward method was to ask this existential plane’s natives.
Meng Lei’s divine cognition spread across millions of kilometers as every detail within this area was shown clearly in his mind.
“That’s weird. Why are there only Boundless Great Beasts here?” Meng Lei frowned. “Never mind, I’ll just get my information from them!”
Meng Lei teleported above the nearest group of Boundless Great Beasts with a thought.
The Boundless Great Beast was the name given by Dark Hell Continent’s experts to the wild beasts in this world. They had the same nature as the beasts from other existential planes.
What appeared before Meng Lei was an ox-type beast. It floated at 100,000 feet with six legs and nine horns.
There were around 100 of them, the numbers were small, but they were all-powerful creatures. The weakest ones were at the Great Demon Lord level, while the best was a Demon God.
“A bunch of ox-type beasts is already this strong, as expected from the Boundless Plane,” Meng Lei commented.
He then caught the strongest one from the bunch and prepared to read its memory.
Buzz…
Just then, a dimensional gate appeared not too far away. A group of experts swarmed out of the gate.
These were 100,000-feet-tall firm muscles all over their bodies; some were showered in lightning, some were bathed in fire…
“Titans?”
Meng Lei recognized them immediately when he saw them and sensed their aura.
They were Titans, or to be exact, the Titan Gods!
“This is the Boundless Plane?”
“The air is so filthy!”
“The magic elements here are too poor!”
“And the laws of nature… so indistinct!”
Obviously, it was their first time at the Boundless Plane as they sized up the Boundless Plane with contemptuous, critical comments.
A Titan shrouded in purple lightning at the front chastised. “Stop complaining and think of getting more details of this existential plane!”
“Yes, Elder Gregg!” The rest of the Titans replied as they looked around. It only took a few moments for them to notice Meng Lei not far away.
“Hmm? There’s someone here?”
“Perhaps he’s a native from the Boundless Plane?”
“We’ll surely find out something useful from this guy.”
“Eric, bring him over. Remember, don’t kill him by accident.”
“Yes, Elder Gregg!” a Titan shrouded in flames answered and flew toward Meng Lei.
“Little fellow, come with me!”
Without another word, the Titan called Eric grabbed toward Meng Lei as if he was catching a chick.
“…”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 348, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-348", "title": "Chapter 348 - The Sky Titans, I'Ll Fight The Hundred Of You", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 348: The Sky Titans, I’ll Fight The Hundred of You
“Little fellow, come with me!”
As though a hawk swooping down on a little chick, Eric reached out his massive hand and grabbed at Meng Lei. Bathed in flames and giving off mighty divine power, he was as though a God of Fire from the heavens that had descended upon the world.
His action badly frightened the 100 “wild oxen” and sent them into a panic. They raced into the distance as though they had gone mad, causing the ground to shake and dust to swirl about everywhere.
“I’ve been looked down upon again,” lamented Meng Lei with a slight shake of his head.
He evaded Eric’s enormous hand with a flash of his form and said, “My friend, what’s the meaning of coming to blows the moment you have a disagreement with someone else?”
“He actually dodged it!”
Eric, the Fire Titan, was a little taken aback. A hint of ire came over his features right away, and he shouted, “Lowly native, die!”
Eight fire dragons rose into the air around him and lunged at Meng Lei with their claws brandished and their fangs bared. Then, they came together to form a prison of flames that trapped Meng Lei within.
“Come over here!”
Eric snorted and grabbed the prison of flames—together with Meng Lei inside—over to himself with a casual swipe. He warned, “You’d better behave, or else!”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown and asked, “Who exactly are you guys? Why are you capturing me?”
Eric didn’t pay Meng Lei any heed. Instead, he flew toward the other Titans with the prison of flames in tow.
As though they were looking at a cheap and lowly ant, looks of aloofness, contempt, and high-and-mightiness adorned the Titans’ faces as they gazed upon Meng Lei.
“Answer my questions,” Gregg said aloofly, “If you dare utter so much as a lie, I’ll make you wish you were dead. The first question—what is this place?”
“I don’t know,” answered Meng Lei.
“You don’t?”
Gregg broke into a frown and said coldly, “Aren’t you a native of this world? How could you possibly not even know what this place is?”
“Who said I’m a native?” Meng Lei rolled his eyes and said, “Alright, you’ve asked your question. It’s my turn to ask mine now. Listen up, if you dare utter so much as a lie, I’ll kill all of you right away.”
“…”
The Titans stared at Meng Lei in astonishment. They hadn’t expected a native to actually have the nerve to talk to them like that. That guy was too full of himself!
Meng Lei didn’t bother himself with what the Titans thought at all. He asked, “Tell me, where are all of you from?”
“You worm, you’re courting death!”
Gregg’s countenance turned icy-cold at once, and a surge of pressure weighed down upon Meng Lei right away. The wave of pressure was exceedingly powerful, so much so that even most typical Great Demon Gods would find it hard to bear. However, it was as if it were non-existent to Meng Lei.
“How dare a mere high-level Sky Titan behave so audaciously in my presence? Who gave you the guts to do so?”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort, upon which an even more violent force crushed down upon Gregg.
Boom!
A huge jolt went through Gregg, and a shrewd glint shone in his eyes as he exclaimed, “You’re a high-level Sky Titan!”
“What?”
“He’s a high-level Sky Titan?”
His exclamation raised a great furor among the Titans.
Gregg’s words were tantamount to a hydrogen bomb going off with a thunderous boom in the Titans’ minds, causing loud droning in their minds as the blood drained from their faces.
The contempt, aloofness, and high-and-mightiness in their eyes disappeared in a split second. They were replaced with disbelief and a deep sense of fear and reverence.
High-level Sky Titans were absolute powerhouses even in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, where experts were aplenty. They couldn’t not respect and revere them!
“I’ve surprisingly made a lapse in my judgment!”
Gregg had an overcast and sinister look on his countenance. His eyes bore into Meng Lei for a moment before he finally said, “Let’s go!”
Gregg was a high-level Sky Titan himself. However, he didn’t have the confidence to beat Meng Lei in a fight.
Rather than coming to blows with Meng Lei, only to gain nothing in the end, he might as well just leave at this point. Exploring the Boundless Plane at the fastest speed possible was what he should be doing at this moment instead.
Therefore, he made the prompt decision to leave.
“Go? Did I allow you to?” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
“What do you want, mister?”
Gregg gazed coldly at Meng Lei.
“You may leave, but not before answering my question,” said Meng Lei. “You may leave once you’ve answered it.”
“Surely you don’t think we’re afraid of you, mister?” Gregg’s voice was deep and low as he threatened, “I’d advise you not to make any trouble. Otherwise, the consequences are beyond what you can bear!”
“Hah!”
Meng Lei let out a peal of laughter. Then, he abruptly appeared right in front of Gregg and threw out a punch.
Boom!
Unable to react in time, Gregg took Meng Lei’s blow right on the chest. As a crisp snap rang out, Gregg’s chest also sank inward right away. One couldn’t even tell how many ribs he’d broken.
“Ugh!”
Blood spurted from Gregg’s mouth. A look of alarm and anger came over his countenance at once.
What alarmed him was the fact that Meng Lei actually possessed such strength, while what angered him was naturally the fact that Meng Lei had actually dared to attack him. He was an elder from the Theodore Titan Gods of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm! Just how revered was his position?
“Elder Gregg!”
“Are you alright, Elder?”
The other Titans were greatly alarmed.
“A difference in strength lies even among high-level Great Demon Gods.” Meng Lei blew the non-existent dust off his fist and said, “And I can beat 100 high-level Great Demon Gods like you!”
“You bastard!”
Gregg gnashed his teeth in a fury. However, Meng Lei’s strength had certainly astounded him. For Meng Lei to crush his ribs with a single punch, it meant that his physical strength surpassed his own.
However, what filled him with shock and horror the most was that he hadn’t even seen how Meng Lei had appeared before him.
“Can you answer my question now?” asked Meng Lei calmly.
Gregg took a deep breath as he suppressed his fury and compromised. “Go ahead and ask!”
“Forget it. Asking questions is too troublesome. I’ll just search your soul instead,” said Meng Lei with a shake of his head. He couldn’t be bothered to ask anymore.
Search his soul?
Gregg’s expression changed dramatically upon hearing what he said. He shouted hoarsely, “Mister, I’m Gregg Theodore, an elder of the Theodore Titan Gods from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm. Are you certain you want to go against us so utterly?”
“The Theodore Titan Gods from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm?”
Meng Lei chuckled. “What the heck is that? Sorry, but I’ve never heard of them!”
“You bastard!”
Gregg gnashed his teeth in a fury.
“Die!”
Since he had already decided to kill them, Meng Lei naturally didn’t hold back. Mysterious Ice of The Depths burst forth as he teleported in front of Gregg.
Crack!
Gregg, a high-level Great Demon God, was frozen where he was in an instant. He turned into a glittering golden ice sculpture and became still and motionless.
“It’s just the rest of you now!”
Meng Lei turned to the other Titans.
“Damn it!”
“Run!”
Scared witless, the Titans immediately turned into a dozen or so streaks of light that fled into the distance without any hesitation whatsoever, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs.
“That’s nothing more than just futile struggling.”
God’s Domain spread into the surroundings, instantly enveloping the whole area 10,000 miles of where they were. All the Titans were mid-level Sky Titans, and they moved at incredibly high speed. However, no matter how fast they moved, they would never reach the speed at which God’s Domain spread.
All of them were trapped where they were in an instant. They couldn’t move even though they wanted to and couldn’t escape even though they wanted to. They couldn’t even bat an eyelid!
Snap!
The Titans’ heads suddenly exploded with a light snap of Meng Lei’s fingers. Brain fluids shot out, and bits of flesh splattered everywhere as several divine cores flew over to Meng Lei.
“You devil! How dare you kill us! The Theodore Titan Gods will never let you off! You can just wait for their frenzied revenge to befall upon you!”
The Titans’ roars of fury and hatred rang out from within the divine cores. They practically couldn’t get any more f*cking unlucky! Having been sent to the Boundless Plane to carry out a mission, they had initially thought that they would be able to show their skill and shine and return with a bountiful haul this time.
Who would have thought that they would all be wiped out right after they had passed through the dimensional channel? This was practically enough to drive one mad!
“Revenge? I’m ready for it anytime!”
Meng Lei let out a peal of laughter. Then, he opened his Grim Reaper’s Eye and destroyed all the divine spirits in the divine cores.
It was Gregg’s turn after that…
" }, { "id": 349, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-349", "title": "Chapter 349 - Ambrose, The Fairy Goddess", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 349: Ambrose, The Fairy Goddess
“A Chief God grandmaster! And a Great Perfection expert!
“The Theodore Titan Gods are really as powerful as I’ve expected!”
Many fearsome forces existed in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm. The Theodore Titan Gods were exactly one of them.
As one of the most powerful forces in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, the Theodore Titan Gods were extremely influential. There were innumerable Sky Titans in the clan, and only high-level ones qualified to become clan elders.
There were a total of 127 elders in the Theodore Titan God clan. Apart from them, they also had a Great Perfection expert as well as a Chief God among their ranks.
A Great Perfection expert was one that had fused five types of laws of nature into one, while a Chief God was a supreme god among the gods—one could easily imagine just how fearsome the Theodore Titan Gods were.
“The foundation that these juggernauts that have been in existence for countless years have built up is simply too solid!”
Meng Lei lamented, “I’d better stay away from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm before I gain enough power to contend with a Chief God. It’s too dangerous there.”
“While you’re right in not underestimating your enemy, you needn’t put yourself down.”
A smiling Dodola comforted him and said, “You’re already a huge monster for possessing power that’s great enough to kill a high-level higher deity at such a young age.
“Besides, I believe you’ll become capable of contending with a Great Perfection expert in no more than another few days’ time!”
“Do you really have that much confidence in me?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!” Dodola was full of confidence.
“Haha, you’re mistaken!” A laughing Meng Lei said, “I don’t even need a few days’ time to do that. As long as I’m willing, I can attain strength that allows me to contend with a Great Perfection expert anytime I want!”
“Uh…”
Taken aback, Dodola asked, “Are you really that impressive?”
“What do you think?”
Meng Lei gave Dodola a smug smile. Then, he went behind the dimensional gate and hid. According to Gregg’s memories, apart from them, other forces from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm would also be making their way to the Boundless Plane.
For example, the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, the Kurud Frost Gods, the Gabriel Angel Gods… All those godly clans had also dispatched men over.
Unlike the 36 slots that Dark Hell Continent had, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm had as many as tens of thousands of slots. This meant that there would be large groups of experts arriving from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.
Experts?
In Meng Lei’s eyes, all of them were his prey instead.
A mid-level higher deity was worth 60 million Divinity Crystals, while a high-level higher deity was worth 900 million Divinity Crystals.
Meng Lei did his math—as long as he could kill all those experts from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, he would gain enough Divinity Crystals to strengthen himself.
Not only would he be able to enhance his divine body and his divine spirit, but he would also be able to enhance his many bloodlines. From this, one could tell just how big a sum of money he would receive.
One must know that bloodline enhancement alone would already require a huge sum of money. For example, enhancing the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline into an Ancient God Bloodline would cost him 10 billion Divinity Crystals.
Enhancing the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline into an Ancient God Bloodline would also cost him 10 billion Divinity Crystals while enhancing the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline into an Ancient God Bloodline would cost him another 10 billion Divinity Crystals.
Similarly, enhancing the Frost Gods bloodline into an Ancient God Bloodline required 10 billion Divinity Crystals, as did enhancing the Grim Reaper bloodline into an Ancient God Bloodline.
On top of those, he also had another two Ancient God Bloodlines—the Primordial Human and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodlines. Boosting their assimilation rates to 100% would also cost him more than 10 billion Divinity Crystals!
While it seemed like he would need a ton of money to enhance them all, in actuality, he needed only to wipe out the many experts from the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, and all his problems would be easily solved.
“As long as I can kill them, my combat strength shall undergo a tremendous change!” Meng Lei’s eyes shone brightly. “And when that happens, even a Great Perfection expert would be nothing to me. I can smash them into a pulp with just a smack of my palm!”
Whoosh!
Meng Lei didn’t wait in vain. People rushed out of the dimensional gate after just a short while. Upon taking a closer look, however, Meng Lei couldn’t help but become slightly taken aback.
“They… are all goddesses?”
There were only about 20 newcomers, but every one of them was charmingly graceful and possessed peerless beauty. They were either hot and burning with passion, elegant and tranquil, dignified and steady, lively and quick-witted, or valiant and heroic…
The air around each of them was entirely different, but every one of them was a beauty that could fall even kingdoms and cities. What astonished Meng Lei even further was an elegant and tranquil green-haired goddess among them—the Fairy Goddess!
That goddess was none other than the Fairy Goddess whom the Heaven’s Vault Continent Fairies worshiped!
“What the heck? Even the Fairy Goddess has come!”
Meng Lei was rather dumbstruck.
“Tsk, tsk. You sure are in luck, kid!” Dodola snickered and said, “They are goddesses from the Nature Gods clan, and every one of them is a peerless beauty. You’ll graduate from bachelorhood if you can hook up with any of them!”
“Graduate my ass!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
“This is a great opportunity for you to graduate from bachelorhood, kid!” Dodola was highly dissatisfied with Meng Lei’s attitude, so it chastised him. “Which among the many goddesses of the Nature Gods isn’t a target of admiration and desire among the gods of the Void? Yet a kid like you is so indifferent toward them!”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. He said, “How many times have I told you that I’m a man with a wife and a child? What kind of bachelorhood am I supposed to graduate from?!”
“Tch! A bachelor who’s forever alone!”
Dodola stuck its middle finger at Meng Lei.
Although Meng Lei didn’t harbor any illicit thoughts, one had to admit that the goddesses were indeed very beautiful. Moreover, the air around them differed from goddess to goddess, and they oozed great allure.
“So, this is the so-called Boundless Plane?”
“As expected, the magic elements and laws of nature here are far inferior to the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s!”
“Lava Goddess, which direction should we go in?”
“The dimensional gate opens in different locations each time, so I don’t know which region we’re currently in, either. Let’s just walk around and decide again later.”
“Let’s go, then…”
The 20-odd goddesses decided their next course of action in no time. They were just about to set off after they picked a random direction to go in when another group of people rushed out of the dimensional gate.
Each of them had a pair of horns on their heads and gave off majestic dragon might—it was evident that they were Colossal Dragons. In particular, Meng Lei’s eyes even lit up at the sight of a familiar face among them—it was Ambrose!
“Tsk, tsk! Even Ambrose has made his way here. Things are gonna be fun now!”
“Goddesses, please wait a moment.”
Ambrose called out to the goddesses.
“Mr. Ambrose, is something the matter?”
The goddesses turned around and gazed at Ambrose and the other Dragons in puzzlement.
“Goddesses, the Boundless Plane is a fairly dangerous place. Why don’t we move around together instead?”
Ambrose stated his purpose as he looked at the goddesses. In particular, admiration and desire even filled his eyes when his gaze fell upon the Fairy Goddess.
The Fairy Goddess, the owner of a wood-origin divine body, was an outstanding existence among the Nature Gods’ younger generation. On top of that, she had also been selected as a target of priority grooming by the Natural Goddesses System, thereby making her someone with an extremely promising future.
Coupled with her elegant and tranquil demeanor and her peerless beauty, she had become the target of love and admiration of many deities in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm and even the Void. It was rumored that quite a few Chief Gods lusted after her beauty and wished to bring her into their bedrooms and make her one of their divine consorts.
Ambrose was exactly one of the millions of deities that secretly admired the Fairy Goddess.
“Move around together? It’s not necessary.”
The Lava Goddess, who boasted a sensual figure, firmly rejected his invitation. “Our purpose in coming to the Boundless Plane this time is just to complete a small mission. We can easily get it done ourselves.”
The Lava Goddess was the Nature Gods’ team leader this time and also the only goddess among them that had already fused four basic types of laws of nature. She was someone that possessed fearsome strength and a revered position. Thus, the other goddesses naturally wouldn’t oppose her decision.
Besides, none of them was willing to move around together with the Colossal Dragon Gods, either. Those fellows were too lustful. It would be more dangerous moving around together with them instead.
“What a real shame that is!”
Ambrose, who looked utterly disappointed, forced a smile and said, “In that case, I wish the goddesses success in perfectly completing your mission.”
“Thanks!”
After giving a word of thanks, the Lava Goddess got ready to leave with the rest of the goddesses. However, the Fairy Goddess was staring hard in a certain direction with a look of puzzlement.
“What’s the matter, Diana?” asked the puzzled Lava Goddess.
“There’s someone over there.”
The Fairy Goddess pointed at the sky behind the dimensional gate.
“There’s someone over there?”
The Lava Goddess raised an eyebrow. However, before she could say anything, Ambrose had already shouted, “Who’s skulking around and hiding over there? Get the hell out here!”
He threw a punch as he spoke, causing the dimension to break and revealing someone’s form.
“It’s you!”
“It’s you!”
" }, { "id": 350, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-350", "title": "Chapter 350 - Enemies Meet, The Goddess Is Stunned", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 350: Enemies Meet, The Goddess Is Stunned
“It’s you!”
“It’s you!”
Ambrose and the Fairy Goddess simultaneously let out an exclamation, and a look of surprise flashed across their eyes. Neither of them had expected Meng Lei to show up here.
However, their expressions became completely different the next moment. Ambrose’s countenance became incredibly savage as he burst into unrestrained laughter.
“I searched far and wide to no avail, only to obtain it so effortlessly in the end! What a surprise! Who would have thought that I would actually run into you here? Even the heavens are on my side!”
The puzzled Fairy Goddess asked, “Elder Ambrose, do the two of you know each other?”
“Know each other? It doesn’t stop at just that!” Ambrose let out a sinister laugh and said, “That kid once destroyed my alternate incarnation, robbed me of my wealth, and searched my divine spirit in the past by leveraging on his status as the master of the existential plane. There’s a death feud between the two of us. I swear I’ll never give up until I kill him!”
“This…”
The expression on the beautiful Fairy Goddess’ countenance changed slightly as she said, “Surely not, Elder Ambrose? He’s probably just an intermediate deity. How could he have possibly destroyed your alternate incarnation?”
The Fairy Goddess hadn’t paid any more attention to Heaven’s Vault Continent giving the Heart of The Existential Plane to Meng Lei, so she wasn’t aware of anything that happened thereafter.
Thus, she naturally had no way of knowing about the battle that had taken place between Meng Lei and Ambrose. But as far as the Fairy Goddess knew, Meng Lei was indeed just an intermediate deity.
“An intermediate deity? That kid suddenly broke through to become a higher deity in the midst of our battle! It was only because of that and the fact that he’s the master of the existential plane that I lost the fight!”
Ambrose gnashed his teeth in fury as he said, “I swore to the heavens then that I’ll definitely rip him into a million pieces someday to vent my anger! However, I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to do anything about him if he chose to keep hiding in his existential plane.
“Never would I have ever expected myself to actually run into him here. It looks like even the heavens are helping me out!”
Ambrose looked at Meng Lei with undisguised delight and excitement in his eyes at this point. Obviously, he thought of Meng Lei as prey that was already within his grasp and an ant that he could squash dead anytime he wanted.
“Are you full of desperation, kid? Full of fear? Full of frustrations? Full of regret at what you did once upon a time?”
Ambrose said with a sinister laugh, “It’s just a shame that it’s too late. There’s never been any cure for regrets in this world! Men! Take him down!”
The Fairy Goddess hastily interrupted and said, “Elder Ambrose, he’s my friend. Let’s talk things out instead!”
“Your friend?”
Ambrose was taken aback for a moment. He hadn’t expected Meng Lei to actually be the Fairy Goddess’ friend. However, he was determined to kill Meng Lei. It was useless no matter who it was that pleaded for mercy on his behalf.
“Ms. Diana, I have a death feud with that piece of cheap trash. I have to kill him no matter what. Don’t speak up for him anymore. He’s not worth your time and effort!”
Ambrose brooked no refusal. Even though he held feelings of admiration for the Fairy Goddess, compared to killing Meng Lei, those feelings didn’t count as much. Besides, the Tower of Time was even still in Meng Lei’s hands…
“Elder Ambrose—”
Nevertheless, the Fairy Goddess continued to try to intercede for Meng Lei. Next to her, the Lava Goddess broke into a frown and said, “Diana, you’ve been cultivating in the clan’s sanctum the whole time all these years. How did you become friends with him? There’s no need for you to intercede for him any further if he’s just a mere acquaintance.”
“That’s right, Diana. There’s no need to offend Elder Ambrose for the sake of an acquaintance.”
The other goddesses also spoke up and tried to dissuade the Fairy Goddess. After all, Ambrose was an elder of the Colossal Dragon Gods and didn’t hold just any ordinary status.
“I appreciate your kindness, Your Holiness,” Meng Lei also spoke up at this point. He said, “It’s alright, you don’t have to intercede on my behalf anymore. That old lizard doesn’t amount to much in my eyes!”
The Fairy Goddess was slightly taken aback by his words, whereas a hint of distaste flashed across the rest of the goddesses’ eyes. Ambrose didn’t amount to much in his eyes? Who did he think he was?
“Hahaha! You’re really an egotistical and cheap piece of trash, indeed! To think you’re still being so stubborn even in the face of death. But it’s alright. Your stubbornness is exactly what I like. The more stubborn you are, the better it is!”
Ambrose guffawed and said, “Your haughtiness had enraged me in the past, making me wish I could rip you into a million pieces, but it pleases me greatly instead now.
“It’s just like watching a grasshopper that’s hopping joyfully and jumping energetically in my palm, yet little does it know that I can squash it dead anytime I want. Haha, this feeling is simply too wonderful!”
“What a dumbass!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he said, “Since you’re asking for a fight, then hurry up and get to it. I’m in a rush!”
“In a rush? So that you can reincarnate?” A sinister smile appeared on Ambrose’s countenance, and he ordered, “Men! Take him down!”
“Yes, Elder!”
A youth with black horns on his head responded loudly before lunging right at Meng Lei. He was a Colossal Dragon of Darkness and was a mid-level higher deity.
“Sigh!”
The Fairy Goddess didn’t say any more. She knew that Meng Lei was finished. He wouldn’t have any chance of survival after he fell into Elder Ambrose’s clutches.
“What a shame! A genius who owns a metal-origin divine body is going to perish soon…”
“You cheap trash! How dare you offend Elder Ambrose! You really have a death wish, don’t you!” The Colossal Dragon of Darkness youth snorted—he didn’t think much of Meng Lei at all.
He was a Colossal Dragon of Darkness at the mid-level higher deity stage. Someone who had only just broken through to become a higher deity a few days ago was nothing in his eyes.
“Hah!”
Meng Lei neither ducked nor evaded. Instead, he allowed the Dragon youth to grab at him. Just as the Dragon youth’s right claw was about to land on his shoulder, Meng Lei gave a slight shrug.
Boom!
A forceful wave of energy burst forth from him. As a loud crack rang out, the Dragon youth’s right claw—together with the rest of his right arm—turned into a bloody pulp, causing bits of flesh to fly about.
“Ahhh!”
The Dragon youth let out a shrill scream.
“Die!”
Meng Lei smacked his palm down.
Bam!
As though a hammer had struck a watermelon, the Dragon youth’s head was blasted apart with a great boom. Smashed brains splattered into the surroundings, turning the scene incredibly bloody.
“What?”
A huge jolt went through everyone at the sight. They couldn’t believe their eyes!
A Colossal Dragon of Darkness at the mid-level higher deity stage… had just had his head blasted apart?
How… could this be?
Of course, the most astounded ones were none other than those that were the most familiar with Meng Lei—Ambrose and the Fairy Goddess themselves!
“Denton’s combat strength among those of the younger generation might only be mediocre, but no matter what, he’s still a mid-level Colossal Dragon King. Yet that guy has actually killed him just like that?”
Ambrose was flabbergasted. “How long has it only been since that cheap piece of trash had broken through to become a higher deity? Yet he can already kill Denton? How did he manage to do that?”
“He’s actually… actually…”
The Fairy Goddess clapped her hand over her mouth. Astoundment filled her beautiful eyes. Wasn’t Meng Lei an intermediate deity? Why was he so strong now?
“Mr. Ambrose, are you sure he’s only just broken through to become a higher deity?” asked the frowning Lava Goddess, who was sporting a look of disbelief and incredulity on her countenance.
Ambrose didn’t answer her. Instead, his eyes bore into Meng Lei as he said, “Little did I think that you’d have gotten stronger again during this brief separation. I’ve surprisingly underestimated you!
“But do you really think you can escape death today? That’s nothing but just a daydream! I will kill you with my own hands and rip you into a million pieces and make you pay a heavy price for your foolishness and ignorance!”
“I’m afraid you’re gonna be disappointed, “Meng Lei gave him a noncommittal smile as he said, “Because I don’t plan on letting you off, either. Don’t worry. I won’t kill you right away. I’ll wipe them out first and then let you die amid your fear and fury!”
“Die!”
Ambrose charged brazenly toward Meng Lei.
Whoosh!
He moved extremely quickly. A phantom-like image flashed by, and he had already charged right up to Meng Lei. His fist that carried fierce and vast force blasted right at Meng Lei with overwhelming momentum.
Whoosh!
Meng Lei bizarrely vanished from where he was, easily evading Ambrose’s full-powered punch.
He subsequently appeared behind one of the Colossal Dragons and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
“Who’s there?”
This was a Green Dragon who was currently closely watching the battle taking place in front of him. Before he could even react, Meng Lei’s fist had already smashed down upon him.
Boom!
His head broke apart, and smashed brains spurted.
“The second one!”
Meng Lei turned to the remaining Colossal Dragons there.
“Damn it!”
“O Dragon Grandmaster above!”
“He’s over here!”
“He’s killed Dampier!”
The Colossal Dragons were thrown into a huge panic. Ambrose was fuming mad. Not only had he not managed to kill Meng Lei, but he had even allowed him to kill Dampier!
How hateful!
“Die! Die!”
On the verge of becoming hysterical, Ambrose roared again and again. “God’s Domain—imprison!”
God’s Domain spread into the surroundings, locking down the whole area 10,000 miles of where they were. Yet despite that, it couldn’t imprison Meng Lei at all, and he showed up behind another Colossal Dragon.
Bam!
His head broke apart, and smashed brains spurted.
“The third one now!”
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
Ambrose was close to being sent over the edge, but it didn’t do anything to help the situation at all. He couldn’t catch Meng Lei at all!
Bam!
“The fourth one!”
Bam!
“The fifth one!”
Just like that, Meng Lei moved about like a phantom, sending a Colossal Dragon on its way and reaping its life every time he appeared.
The remaining Colossal Dragons were so frightened that they took off at once but to no avail. No matter how quickly they ran, they would never be as fast as Meng Lei’s teleportation. On top of that, the further they ran, the harder it was for Ambrose to protect them.
A span of about a dozen or so breaths later, Meng Lei had killed all 20-odd Colossal Dragons, leaving behind only the battle-crazed Ambrose and the dumbfounded goddesses.
“That guy… He’s practically nuts! He’s actually killed all 27 Colossal Dragons!”
“A lunatic! He’s a total lunatic! Ambrose will never let him off! The Haber Colossal Dragon Gods will never let him off, either! He’s finished!”
“Moving about elusively like a phantom… That’s… Teleportation? O Nature Goddess above, someone has actually mastered that special ability…”
The goddesses were utterly stunned. It wasn’t so much that they hadn’t seen powerful experts before, but they honestly hadn’t seen anyone that dared to kill the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods without any restraint. What he was doing was no different from making enemies with the entire Haber Colossal Dragon God clan!
“I’ve raked in more profits!”
Meng Lei was elated at his newly-gained profits of almost 1.5 billion Divinity Crystals. He then reappeared in front of Ambrose.
The current Ambrose was as though a gambler who had lost everything he had, right down to even his underwear. His eyes were blood-red, and he was hysterical. He had totally lost it.
“You… Should… Die!”
When Ambrose, with his repressed immense fury and hatred, saw Meng Lei showing up in front of him, he lunged straight at him without any hesitation at all.
“Nice!”
This time, Meng Lei didn’t teleport away. Instead, he threw a punch at him.
Boom!
Raging impact waves blasted the surroundings as their fists clashed against each other. The dimension within 10 million kilometers of where they were instantly broke and became a black hole. Ambrose and Meng Lei, who were both in the middle of the black hole, each retreated a few steps simultaneously.
“A draw!”
A huge jolt went through the goddesses at the sight. In spite of how Meng Lei had slaughtered the Colossal Dragon youths and exhibited his fearsome strength just now, none of them had expected him to actually possess strength capable of contending with Ambrose!
“When did you become this strong?”
Ambrose regained some clarity of mind upon feeling the ache and numbness coming from his right arm. He couldn’t help but stare at Meng Lei with a look of alarm and fury.
“Is this already what you call ‘powerful’? We haven’t even gotten started yet!” replied Meng Lei with a derisive scoff of laughter.
" }, { "id": 351, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-351", "title": "Chapter 351 - Heated Clash, Sending Goddess Flying", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 351: Heated Clash, Sending Goddess Flying
“Is this already what you call ‘powerful’? We haven’t even gotten started yet,” replied Meng Lei with a derisive scoff of laughter.
Meng Lei sneered. “Last time, you descended upon Heaven’s Vault Continent and attempted to kill me. Now we shall settle the scores today, and this is where you will perish!”
“Kill me? I think you’ll die first!”
Ambrose revealed his true form as he became an 8,000,000-feet-long Golden Colossal Dragon, which was like the blazing sun that shone brightly in gold throughout.
To be more accurate, it was a Golden Primordial Colossal Dragon King!
Among the Dragons, the Ancient Colossal Dragon was comparable to a true god, the Ancient Colossal Dragon King was comparable to a lesser deity, the Primordial Colossal Dragon was comparable to an intermediate deity, while the Primordial Colossal Dragon King was comparable to a higher deity.
Ambrose was now a high-level higher deity, a high-level Primordial Colossal Dragon King!
Boom!
An intense surging dragon might expanded into the surroundings, reaching millions of kilometers away. Every living thing within this area was alarmed.
Roar!
Ambrose roared furiously at the sky as soundwaves blasted across the sky. The skies could not withstand it anymore as it began to break up and separate into pieces.
In an instant, a black hole formed in the million-kilometer radius with Ambrose at the center. Ambrose stood in the middle of the black hole and glared at Meng Lei with murderous intent and overflowing hatred rolling in his eyes.
“I’m going to rip you into a million pieces, worm!”
Ambrose raised his claw larger than Mount Everest and crashed it down with the momentum to turn Meng Lei into a bloody mess.
“Retreat! Everyone retreat at once!”
The Lava Goddess’ delicate face turned pale. “Retreat to a safe distance at once!” she yelled.
The goddesses flitted afar immediately. They were only mid-level higher deities, and if they were too close to Ambrose that had gotten serious, they might die in vain as collateral damage.
“Ambrose has gotten serious now. He’s completely enraged!” The Lava Goddess said coldly, “This fellow is in deep trouble now! He’ll get killed for sure!”
“I hope that he’ll be fine!”
The Fairy Goddess sighed and flew away swiftly.
“Haha, good one!”
Watching the dragon claw crushing toward him like a great mountain, Meng Lei neither ran nor dodged. Like an inflated balloon, his entire body expanded rapidly.
“What’s going on?”
The goddesses flitting away could sense a gigantic figure towering behind them as the shadow enveloped them.
They turned their heads in horror and saw an indomitable giant that towered between heaven and earth!
It stepped on the earth while the head was up in the skies. It was 8,000,000-feet-tall with 100 muscular arms.
What shocked the goddesses the most was that the glow emanated from this giant was more eye-catching and dazzling than Ambrose’s true form!
“Hun… Hundred-Armed Giant?”
The goddesses gasped together.
“No! That isn’t a normal Hundred-Armed Giant! Just sense his aura carefully!”
The Lava Goddess’ countenance became interesting as horror, confusion, disbelief, and various other expressions appeared from time to time. Her feelings were very mixed.
“Metal-elemental Power of Origin!
“This must be the aura of the Metal-elemental Power of Origin!”
The aghast Iron Goddess looked at the Fairy Goddess. “Diana, so this is the aura of the Metal-elemental Power of Origin? He has the metal-origin divine body?”
“Indeed!”
The Fairy Goddess was in disbelief as well. “He does have the metal-origin divine body, but I did not expect that it was already at the level of great mastery!”
“That’s really a metal-origin divine body!” The Iron Goddess muttered, “And it’s cultivated to Great-Mastery level! Incredible! That’s just unbelievable!”
“Metal-origin divine body of Great-Mastery level!”
The rest of the goddesses were aghast as well.
The origin divine body was extremely rare to start with. Throughout the entire Natural Goddesses System, only the Fairy Goddess possessed the wood-origin divine body, which was only at Lesser Mastery.
However, a Great-Mastery metal-origin divine body was now in front of them. How shocking was that? How unbelievable was that?”
“Just how did he manage to do that?” muttered the Fairy Goddess.
Boom!
On the other hand, Meng Lei raised his left fist to meet the dragon claw coming down on him. Along with a thunderous boom, impact waves exploded across the area while dragon blood spurted about.
Argh!
Ambrose let out a miserable cry. His claw was riddled with holes from the impact while golden blood gushed out profusely.
“Metal-origin divine body?
“You have the Metal-origin divine body!”
Ambrose could not believe it.
“It’s too late to realize that, though!”
Meng Lei burst into laughter. “Today, I’ll show you just how powerful the metal-origin divine body is!”
“Metal-Origin Divine Technique: Ultimate Alchemy!”
A sparkling golden light beam descended from the sky and fell upon Ambrose in an instant. Once it landed, the area started to transmute into gold!
This was truly a gold transmutation, or rather, metal-origin transmutation. It meant that Ambrose’s body part under the beam had turned into the metal-elemental Power of Origin!
For Meng Lei, his divine body was made out of metal-elemental Power of Origin, so he was unaffected by the transmutation. However, it was completely different for Ambrose.
His body was flesh and blood. Thus, once the divine body started to go through metal-origin transmutation, it would cripple Ambrose completely.
Roar!
Ambrose’s face turned pale. He swung his tail away to avoid the golden beam from the sky.
“Behave!”
Meng Lei appeared before the dragon’s head and punched rapidly with his 100 arms. After some battering, Ambrose’s scales were broken up into bits while he bled from all seven of his facial orifices.
“Ultimate Alchemy!”
Meng Lei caught hold of Ambrose’s head as another golden beam of light came down, enshrouding Ambrose’s head completely this time.
Buzz!
Ambrose struggled desperately with all his might, but it was in vain. Meng Lei was holding him tightly.
No matter how much force he used, and however he tried to move, Ambrose could not move. He could only watch the golden beam enveloping him completely.
“Perfect!”
Once Ambrose’s head had gone through the metal-origin transmutation process, Ambrose became useless. His brain had just transmuted into gold, after all.
“Mr. Ambrose, you just never dreamed of reaching this stage today. Am I right?”
Meng Lei reverted to his human form and stood on top of Ambrose’s skull.
“I won’t let you off even if I become a ghost!”
Being unable to speak normally, Ambrose could use his divine spirit to communicate his endless hatred.
“Become a ghost? That can only happen if you even get the chance to!”
Meng Lei sneered. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that your divine spirit dissipates. By then, you won’t even get to become a ghost, not to mention taking any revenge!”
Ambrose was shaking as chills coursed down his spine. If it were anyone else, they would probably show mercy due to his status.
Yet, as for Meng Lei…
Ambrose was not confident with that at all!
“What, are you scared?” Meng Lei chuckled. “I did not expect an elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods to be afraid of something now!”
“You… What do you really want?” bellowed Ambrose. He felt an immense feeling of shame and frustration.
“Nothing much, just some questions!” Meng Lei continued. “Are you full of desperation? Full of fear? Full of frustrations? Full of regret at what you did once upon a time?”
It was what Ambrose had said before, which Meng Lei returned back to him word for word! Resentment and hatred brewed within Ambrose upon hearing those words!
“Why? Why aren’t you talking? Playing dead now?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. “Do you believe me when I say that I’ll make sure you die a complete death?”
Complete death?
Ambrose shivered and roared, “Sir! I’m an elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods. You can’t do this to me!”
At this point, there was nothing he could do other than an attempt to use the name and prestige of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods to intimidate Meng Lei. He hoped that Meng Lei would become daunted by that name and let him off. Ambrose could not care about maintaining his prestige anymore.
“Using the name of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods to intimidate me?” Meng Lei shook his head. “If I remember correctly, I think I killed a bunch of Titans along with the leader. He was called Gregg Theodore!”
“You killed Gregg?!”
A huge jolt went through Ambrose’s body.
“Of course I did,” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
“Lunatic! You’re a lunatic!”
Ambrose’s voice became hoarse. “Gregg was the child of Lord Gaianos! He’ll never, ever let you off!”
“Gaianos?”
Meng Lei had assimilated Gregg’s memory, and thus he knew who Gaianos was—the only Great Perfection-level higher deity of the Theodore Titan Gods.
Great Perfection!
The existence that was even rarer than Chief Gods!
Although most of the Great Perfection-level higher deities were still weaker than Chief Gods, their status, social standing, and deterrence were no less inferior to Chief God
As Gaianos Theodore’s child, Gregg Theodore had a venerable status among the Theodore Titan Gods.
To Ambrose, the audacity of Meng Lei killing Gregg was beyond his understanding!
“Meng Lei, you’ve offended the Theodore Titan Gods. So don’t mess with us Haber Colossal Dragon Gods!” Ambrose’s voice was deep. “Or else, you’ll never be able to endure the wrath of both the Theodore Titan Gods and our Haber Colossal Dragon Gods!”
“Offending one is an offense. Offending two only means another offense. Where’s the big difference?” Meng Lei shook his head a little and continued. “Well, since it’s enough talking from you, it’s time to go!”
Ambrose shivered all over as he cried out loudly, “What do you want? You can’t kill me! I’m the elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods! If you dare kill me, they won’t let you off the hook at all!”
“Your time has come, and you won’t be alone!”
Meng Lei took out the Grim Reaper Scythe. Ambrose screamed in extreme horror in the face of death—Meng Lei was about to slice off his head!
At this moment, he saw the Lava Goddess and her party not far away, so he cried for help, “Eugina, save me! Diana, help me!”
“What’s this…”
A group of goddesses flew over hurriedly.
The Lava Goddess frowned. “Mister, Ambrose is still the elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods. You can’t kill him as you won’t be able to bear the consequences!” she said.
“So are you pleading for mercy on his behalf?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
The Lava Goddess yelled coldly, “This isn’t an appeal, but a warning!”
“You’re warning me? Who do you think you are?” Meng Lei swept a glance at her before he said coldly, “Get lost! Such an eyesore!”
“Insolence!”
The Lava Goddess was enraged.
“What’s your issue? You want to die too?”
Meng Lei appeared in front of the Lava Goddess while the Grim Reaper Scythe was already up against her snowy-white neck. He could slice off her head anytime.
“You bastard!”
“Let go of the Lava Goddess at once!”
“Meng Lei, please don’t!”
The goddesses erupted into a frenzy instantly.
“Meng Lei, please don’t harm the Lava Goddess!” pleaded the Fairy Goddess.
“Fine! For the Fairy Goddess’s sake, I won’t kill you. Now get lost!”
Meng Lei let out a cold snort before punching the Lava Goddess’ abdomen. Blood spurted madly out of her mouth while the Lava Goddess flew backward as if she got struck by thunder.
Immediately after, Meng Lei raised the scythe and swung it down, beheading Ambrose!
" }, { "id": 352, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-352", "title": "Chapter 352 - Wood-Origin Divine Body, The Ancient Tree Of Life", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 352: Wood-Origin Divine Body, The Ancient Tree of Life
As a great expert at the high-level higher deity stage and an elder of the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, Ambrose enjoyed extremely revered status in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.
For people like him, they were usually the ones taking others’ lives. Who would dare to take his life?
Yet someone had beheaded him and slain him on the spot, giving him an extremely terrible death!
The sight was honestly as though a superbly huge earthquake that erupted with a great boom in the goddesses’ hearts, causing their faces to turn pale from tremendous shock and horror.
Just how bold and audacious must he be in order for him to do the absolutely forbidden and slay Ambrose?
Inconceivable!
Unbelievable!
Unacceptable!
Yet Meng Lei, the person involved himself, was acting as though he had done something that wasn’t even worth mentioning. He gouged out Ambrose’s divine core, destroyed his divine spirit, scanned through his spatial ring, collected his Dragon carcass… He did all these so calmly that it was almost perverse!
“A lunatic! He’s a total lunatic!”
The goddesses were screaming madly inwardly when they suddenly noticed Meng Lei walking over to them at this point. All of their expressions changed at once, and they instinctively retreated a few steps.
“W-what do you want?”
The Ocean Goddess’ voice trembled as she asked.
“Don’t be afraid. I just want to speak to the Fairy Goddess,” replied Meng Lei as he motioned to them to calm down. Then, he turned to the Fairy Goddess and said with a smile, “Your Holiness, I’m very happy to have run into you here!”
“Yes!”
The Fairy Goddess had a complex look in her eyes.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to thank you for giving me Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane yet. Please excuse me for that.”
With an apologetic smile on his face, Meng Lei then took out a piece of green armor and a green sword. He said, “As a token of my gratitude, you can have these weapons.”
The green armor was forged from exotic mutant beasts’ scales and gave off a strong life force, while the sword gave off a heart-pounding chill.
Although the Fairy Goddess couldn’t tell what grade the divine weapons were, she could nevertheless sense that both of them, no matter which, were more precious and valuable than all the ones she owned.
“No, these are too precious.”
The Fairy Goddess shook her head repeatedly and declined them firmly. She said, “It’s just a mere existential plane and cannot compare in any way to these divine weapons at all. I can’t accept them.”
At the sight of her firm and resolute expression that brooked no refusal, Meng Lei had no choice but to keep the divine weapons away.
The Fairy Goddess heaved a sigh of relief. Then, the puzzled goddess asked, “Why are you in this place?”
“I found a space-time rift in Light Continent that was directly connected to another existential plane. After I arrived at that existential plane, I got to know of the Boundless Plane and its related matters, so I came over after that,” explained a smiling Meng Lei.
“I see.”
The Fairy Goddess nodded slightly. She had a somewhat complex look on her countenance as she said, “Your speed of improvement is simply too fast. If memory serves me right, you’re only 25-years-old, right?”
25-years-old?
Seriously?
A huge jolt went through the other goddesses upon hearing the Fairy Goddess’ words, and looks of incredulity adorned their faces. Which among them hadn’t had to cultivate for a few million years before they became higher deities?
And yet that guy… was only 25-years-old?
What kind of joke was that?
However, what gave them a mental breakdown next was that Meng Lei actually acknowledged it. He replied, “I’ve just turned 25, I guess.”
Hiss!
The goddesses gasped sharply at once. In particular, the Lava Goddess’ face even flushed red.
I’ve been defeated by a little brat who’s only 25-years-old?
“To think you’re already this strong when you’re only 25 years old! I really don’t know how you managed to do it!”
The Fairy Goddess chuckled wryly, feeling as though she had lived her life in vain.
“To tell the truth, even as of now, I actually haven’t deified yet,” Meng Lei rubbed his nose and said, “My physical body is just a little stronger than most, that’s all.”
“You haven’t deified yet? How can that be?”
A huge shudder went through the goddesses again. However, the Fairy Goddess instead replied, “You haven’t deified yet? I’d thought that you would choose to do it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Meng Lei shook his head.
The goddesses didn’t know what to say anymore. He was already this strong when he hadn’t even deified yet? How the heck did he exactly cultivate?
Was he cultivating his divine body instead?
Oh my goodness!
Was there anyone who didn’t know that it was a million times harder for one to cultivate their divine body than to comprehend and fuse laws of nature?
In any case, Meng Lei had astounded the whole group of goddesses. They felt as if they were dreaming.
“I knew you were a strange one the moment I took notice of you back then. Little did I expect that you’d be even more of a monster than what you had shown in the past, though!”
The Fairy Goddess could only chuckle wryly. “What are your plans now? Are you going to explore the Boundless Plane?”
“I’m just here to have fun,” replied a smiling Meng Lei with a nod.
Then, he suddenly said rather embarrassedly, “Your Holiness, I have a favor to ask of you. I hope you can fulfill it for me.”
The Fairy Goddess was taken aback for a moment before she replied, “Tell me about it.”
“I’d like a drop of your blood!”
Meng Lei’s eyes shone brightly as he spoke with a look of anticipation. The Fairy Goddess had a wood-origin divine body. Since he’d bumped into her today, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, of course.
“What do you want my blood for?”
The Fairy Goddess was bewildered.
“I have great use for it!”
Meng Lei feigned a mysterious smile and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t take it for free.”
“Alright, I guess!”
Although the Fairy Goddess was puzzled and confused, it was just a drop of blood anyway. It wasn’t a big deal.
Meng Lei brought out three divine weapons after he took the drop of blood from her. Apart from the armor and sword from just now, there was also a ring that gave off divine spirit energy waves.
“These three divine weapons come as a set. One defends against physical attacks, one defends the divine spirit, and the last one is an offensive weapon. Additionally, they are all high-tier higher deity-level divine weapons.”
A set of three high-tier higher deity-level divine weapons!
The expressions on all the goddesses’ countenances changed at once. Their eyes, as they gazed at the set of three divine weapons, were filled with a huge sense of astoundment. After all, a set of high-tier higher deity-level divine weapons was comparable to a Great Perfection-level divine weapon!
It was invaluable!
“No, these are too precious. I can’t take them!” The Fairy Goddess declined the gifts.
“Your blood is very important to me. It’s worth much more than just three divine weapons.”
Meng Lei brooked no refusal. He teleported and left immediately after stuffing the three divine weapons into the Fairy Goddess’ arms. Now that he had gotten his hands on the blood, it was time to plunder the wood-origin divine body!
“Meng Lei!”
The Fairy Goddess called out to him twice, but Meng Lei was already nowhere in sight a long time ago. She stared at the divine weapons—it didn’t feel right no matter whether she took them or left them, and she felt rather troubled for a moment there.
“Just take them for now, Diana.”
The Lava Goddess sighed.
“Alright, I guess!”
The Fairy Goddess shook her head slightly and kept the three divine weapons away.
“Who exactly is that guy, Diana?”
“Is he really not even 25 yet, Diana?”
“He’s so nice to you, Diana. Is he interested in you…”
The goddesses surrounded the Fairy Goddess right away and peppered her with questions noisily.
“It’s not what you’re imagining…”
…
Somewhere 10 million kilometers away, Meng Lei had already given the plundering order a long time ago.
“Ding! Plunder successful. Will you assimilate it?”
“Assimilate it!”
Whoosh!
Rich wood-elemental Power of Origin surged and spread into every part of Meng Lei’s body, including his limbs and every nook and cranny…
The assimilation process came to an end half an hour later.
Meng Lei balled up his fists. His physical strength had become greater, and his defenses stronger. His life force had also become more vigorous, and his cells even more active.
Upon looking at his stats interface, what Meng Lei didn’t expect to see was that two of his attributes had changed.
His Ancient Tree of Life assimilation rate had risen by 10% and gone from 26% to 36%—this had come unexpectedly to Meng Lei.
However, it wasn’t hard to understand why.
The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline was ultimately a botanical bloodline. It was completely within logic and reason that assimilating the wood-origin divine body would end up increasing the bloodline’s assimilation rate.
The second change was in his Physical Body Constitution attribute.
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (Great Mastery), Wood-Origin Divine Body (1%)
This particular change didn’t come as much as a surprise, though.
“1% assimilation rate? System, raise it to 100%!” Meng Lei ordered.
Whoosh!
His Wealth decreased by 100 million Divinity Crystals.
A strong, torrential surge of wood-elemental Power of Origin immediately erupted from him. It gave off rich life force, causing the plants around him to grow in a frenzy as if they had been injected with steroids.
A look at Meng Lei again revealed a green glow circling around him. Wood-elemental Power of Origin fused into his cells in a frenzy, flowing into his limbs and every corner of his body.
That was what it looked like from a macroscopic view.
From a microscopic view, the golden cells—that had previously been fully formed from metal-elemental Power of Origin—were currently gradually vacating half the space they had taken up and allowing a green color to take over!
Like a bi-colored billiard ball covered in gold and green, each cell was half-golden and half-green in color.
The colors were like gold, yet not gold; like green, yet not green.
They brimmed with a sharp aura of slaughter yet also emanated a rich sense of vitality.
Meng Lei reached out his palm, upon which two bunches of flames manifested. One was golden in color, and the other was green in color.
The aura around them was completely different from each other—the former was sharp and deadly while the latter was filled with life and vitality.
Additionally, following Meng Lei’s mental command, the two bunches of flames safely and successfully fused together. Half of it was golden, and half of it was green; it was sharp and deadly, yet also full of life and vitality.
“It seems like it’s become even mightier!”
Meng Lei casually extinguished the Netherworld Divine Fire and looked at his stats interface again—the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate had increased again. This time, it had increased by a whole 30% and gone from 36% to 66%.
What an astonishing increase this was!
One must know that because the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline was an Ancient God Bloodline, boosting it by every 1% required 100 million Divinity Crystals. Now that it had increased by 30%, this meant that Meng Lei had managed to save 3 billion Divinity Crystals!
What a huge bargain that was!
“I feel like my divine body has also strengthened greatly. I wonder how far it has gone?”
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “System, how much does it cost to enhance my divine body?”
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a high-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a Great Perfection-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 4 billion Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
Meng Lei was a little disappointed upon hearing the system’s response. To think his divine body still hadn’t reached Great Perfection-level yet even though his wood-origin divine body had already attained Great Mastery-level!
However, the enhancement cost had certainly decreased from the previously-quoted 12 billion Divinity Crystals to the current 4 billion Divinity Crystals. From this, one could see that Meng Lei’s divine body had indeed improved by a great deal.
Meng Lei was just about to give the order for enhancement when he suddenly noticed the 66% Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate out of the corner of his eye. A thought involuntarily occurred to him.
If I raise the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate to 100%…
Meng Lei gave the order right away. “System, raise my Ancient Tree of Life bloodline to 100%!”
Whoosh!
His wealth decreased by 3.4 billion Divinity Crystals in an instant.
Boom!
A strong, torrential surge of green fog instantly gushed out of Meng Lei, and he involuntarily transformed into an Ancient Tree of Life.
Then, as though he was riding a rocket, Meng Lei entered a frenzied growth spurt!
8,500,000 feet, 9,000,000 feet, 9,200,000 feet, 9,500,000 feet…
In no time, Meng Lei had broken through the 10,000,000-feet-tall mark and grown into a massive tree that towered in between the heavens and earth. Green fog rose around him while golden and green glows circled around him, lighting up the whole area a million miles of where he was.
“What a terrifying aura!”
“A huge treasure has emerged into the world over there! Quick, let’s go over!”
" }, { "id": 353, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-353", "title": "Chapter 353 - A Mid-Level Ancient God, On Par With A Chief God", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 353: A Mid-Level Ancient God, On Par With A Chief God
What kind of concept was a height of 10,000,000 feet?
10,000,000 feet = 3,000 kilometers!
The linear distance from Harbin to Yunnan was just a little more than 3,000 kilometers. From this, one could see just how tall Meng Lei currently was! Coupled with the bi-colored gold and green light he was giving off, it was as if the multicolored radiance of the sun was circling around him during this majestic and phenomenal scene!
It was the very picture of a great treasure emerging into the world, as well as an unusual natural phenomenon when viewed from afar. Not only did it attract the Boundless Plane’s native beings, but it also attracted a fair number of experts from other existential planes.
All the experts raced toward the area without even a moment’s pause, wishing they had been born with two extra legs!
Meng Lei didn’t notice any of these—he was currently taking in his divine body changes. His divine body’s hardiness had obviously improved substantially. On top of that, his life force had also become thousands of times more vigorous.
“What a powerful presence! And what a robust life force!”
Dodola was so shocked that it simply had to fly out of the Tower of Time. The astoundment in its eyes was barely concealable as it exclaimed, “Kid, you’ve actually really broken through to become a Great Perfection deity! How unfathomable!”
Dodola’s words caught Meng Lei’s attention, and he asked, “Has my divine body already become comparable to that of a Great Perfection deity, Dodola?”
“There’s no mistaking that presence of yours!”
Dodola nodded repeatedly and said, “Even though I’ve long since been acquainted with your ability to inexplicably power up, I still can’t help but become astounded as I watch with my own two eyes you grow step by step into what you are now!”
“Hahaha, haven’t you gotten used to it yet?”
Meng Lei then looked at his stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <36%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat <Youth>, Divine Netherworld Phoenix <Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant <Youth>, Ancient Tree of Life <Juvenile>, Frost God <Juvenile>, Grim Reaper <Juvenile>)
Wealth: 22.5 billion Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (Great Mastery), Wood-Origin Divine Body (Great Mastery)
Spirit: Higher Deity (Mid-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Laws of Nature:
Triple-Elemental Fusion: Wind-Light-Dark (0.1%), Metal-Wood-Earth (0.1%), Earth-Wood-Thunder (0.1%), Metal-Dark-Ice (0.1%), Earth-Water-Metal (0.1%)
Quadruple-Elemental Fusion: Ice-Metal-Dark-Fire (0.1%), Earth-Water-Fire-Light (0.1%)
Innate Special Abilities: Teleportation, Dark-Elemental Transformation, Thunder-Elemental Transformation, Transfer, Absolute Zero, Rise From The Ashes, Mysterious Ice of The Depths, Grim Reaper’s Eye (Ultimate-Grade), Netherworld Divine Fire (Ultimate-Grade)
“My personal attributes can be said to be extremely extravagant now!
“I have the Ancient God-grade Primordial Human bloodline, Ancient Tree of Life bloodline, as well as many other bloodlines;
“A metal-origin divine body and a wood-origin divine body;
“A powerful and robust body that rivals that of a Great Perfection-level deity;
“As well as great riches that amount to 22.5 billion Divinity Crystals, fairly excellent laws of nature comprehension, and many different types of special abilities!
“I’ve become even more powerful!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but think back to his shabby-looking personal attributes back when he had first obtained the system.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 0
Physical Body Constitution: Normal Human Being (0.5/10)
Spirit: Normal Human Being (1/10)
Others: None
The two were practically as different as night and day. There was no comparability between the two at all!
“I was totally a 5-point fighter[1] back then!
“Yet ten years haven’t even gone by, and I’m already standing at the pinnacle of the gods and possess strength capable of contending with Great Perfection-level higher deities!
“The whole journey has been like a dream, but it’s still not enough yet. Far from enough!
“I will become the most powerful existence in the whole universe!”
As he returned his attention to the stats interface, he realized that there were still a lot of things that he needed to spend on. After all, every attribute enhancement required him to spend Divinity Crystals by the billion now.
For example, if he wanted to enhance his bloodlines, then each would cost him 10 billion Divinity Crystals. The 22.5 billion Divinity Crystals he currently had were only enough for him to enhance two bloodlines.
Or, for example, if he wanted to enhance his Physical Body Constitution…
Meng Lei asked curiously, “System, how many Divinity Crystals would it cost to enhance my body?”
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a low-level Ancient God and will rival that of a mid-level Ancient God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 1 trillion Divinity Crystals.”
“1… trillion?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “What a crazy number! It’s understandable, though—mid-level Ancient Gods are existences that can contend with Chief Gods after all.”
Great Perfection deities were also known as Ancient Gods.
This was an amazing and miraculous cultivation stage because powerful Ancient Gods were capable of contending with Chief Gods.
Mere Ancient Gods were definitely no match for Chief Gods. However, things would be completely different for Ancient Gods who had comprehended supreme laws of nature. They were fully capable of contending with Chief Gods!
Take the Chief God of Time, for example!
Although the Chief God of Time had only comprehended some time-based laws of nature, he had been able to contend against the weakest Chief Gods—and the “weakest” in question here was referring to lesser Chief Gods!
If the Chief God of Time’s prowess in time-based laws of nature had become higher and higher, he would also have become more and more powerful, and he would have been able to contend against an intermediate Chief God!
In fact… He would have been able to contend against a higher Chief God!
To be more accurate, the power comparison between an Ancient God and a Chief God was as follows:
Low-level Ancient God (Zero) < Chief God;
Mid-level Ancient God (Superficial) == Lesser Chief God;
High-level Ancient God (Half) == Intermediate Chief God;
Supreme Ancient God (Full) == Higher Chief God;
The “zero”, “superficial”, “half”, and “full” terms here indicated the Ancient God’s degree of comprehension in supreme laws of nature. “<” indicated “weaker than” while “==” indicated “on equal terms with”.
Strictly speaking, the Ancient God system was actually the true cultivation system that all the deities in the Void had to go through.
In ascending order, the system went as such:
Mortal, Saint Domain, half-deity, true god, lesser deity, intermediate deity, higher deity, low-level Ancient God, mid-level Ancient God, high-level Ancient God, Supreme Ancient God.
As for Chief Gods…
Ha!
They were but just a group of lucky ones that had the fortune to obtain a Chief God divine core. It was because they had assimilated Chief God divine cores that the Chief Gods managed to climb on top of all the deities. That was how the “Chief God” stage that stood on top of all the deities in the Void had forcibly come into existence!
But in reality, it was impossible for one to attain Chief Godhood through cultivation. No matter how hard deities cultivated, the most they could ever be were just Ancient Gods and not Chief Gods. Only those that had assimilated Chief God divine cores could become Chief Gods.
“My current body is comparable to that of a low-level Ancient God—in other words, an ordinary Great Perfection higher deity. If I go through another bout of enhancement, it’ll become like a mid-level Ancient God’s!”
Meng Lei muttered to himself, “A mid-level Ancient God is comparable to a lesser Chief God… Tsk, tsk. A lesser Chief God, y’know! That’s an existence that truly stands at the pinnacle of the gods!”
Therefore, although the 1 trillion Divinity Crystals price was certainly ridiculous, it was also completely understandable. After all, this was a Chief God they were talking about here!
Of course, while understandable, this didn’t mean that Meng Lei was willing to fork out that much money. Perhaps attaining the same result via comprehending supreme laws of nature instead would be much cheaper?
Meng Lei suddenly asked, “How many Great Perfection experts are there in total in the vast universe?”
“Not many,” Dodola shook its head slightly and said, “There are no more than 100 real Great Perfection deities in the vast universe. They are rarer than even Chief Gods!”
“‘Real Great Perfection’?”
Meng Lei was puzzled by Dodola’s answer.
“By ‘real Great Perfection’, I’m referring to the higher deities that have comprehended five basic types of laws of nature and fully fused them into one.”
Dodola emphasized, “There are no more than 100 of such Great Perfection deities. Of course, if we’re talking about pseudo-Great Perfection deities like you instead, then there are a ton of them out there!”
“Pseudo-Great Perfection deities?”
Black lines filled Meng Lei’s forehead.
“The so-called ‘pseudo-Great Perfection deities’ are higher deities that possess Great Perfection-level combat power, but do not possess the corresponding state of cultivation.”
A smiling Dodola said, “For example, those whose bodies are comparable to Great Perfection deities; those who own Chief God-level divine weapons and equipment; or other existences whose combat power is comparable to a Great Perfection deity’s.
“To sum it up, there are many pseudo-Great Perfection deities that lack the Great Perfection state of cultivation itself but possess combat power comparable to a Great Perfection deity’s in the Void!”
“I see.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he asked, “What about Great Perfection deities that have comprehended supreme laws of nature? How many are there?”
“That’s simply too rare!”
Dodola shook its head and said, “I told you, there are no more than 100 real Great Perfection deities in existence, among whom there are even fewer that have comprehended supreme laws of nature.
“Aside from the fact that it’s extremely difficult to comprehend supreme laws of nature, another important factor is that the five basic types of laws of nature that they’ve comprehended—because of their natural aptitude—are not the right ones.”
Meng Lei had no words for that.
Choosing any five of the ten basic laws of nature to fuse together would lead to a total of 252 fusion combinations. This meant that there were theoretically 252 types of Great Perfection deities.
However, only five fusion combinations led to the formation of supreme laws of nature at the moment:
Time-based laws of nature: Thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark;
Spatial laws of nature: Metal, wood, earth, water, and fire;
Life laws of nature: Earth, wood, thunder, light, and water;
Destruction laws of nature: Thunder, ice, metal, dark, and fire;
Death laws of nature: Metal, dark, ice, wind, and earth;
As of now, it was still unknown whether or not supreme laws of nature could form from other fusion combinations—because no one had attempted it yet.
After all, there were only no more than 100 real Great Perfection deities in existence!
However, it wasn’t hard for one to imagine that it must definitely be impossible to comprehend supreme laws of nature through most of the fusion combinations. Had it been possible, people would already have comprehended them a long time ago.
This led to many Great Perfection deities’ inability to comprehend supreme laws of nature at all, simply because the five basic types of laws of nature that they had fused together was incorrect in the first place…
Something worth mentioning here was that aptitude was something necessary for a deity to comprehend laws of nature. Without the corresponding aptitude for laws of nature, it was useless no matter how hard one tried to comprehend them. One couldn’t just comprehend whichever laws of nature they wanted to!
It was apparent from this that it was very difficult for anyone to attain Great Perfection level. As for comprehending supreme laws of nature, it was even harder. Not only did it require hard work, but it also required talent.
Or rather… It required luck!
These reasons led to the situation where only a pitiful few Great Perfection deities had comprehended supreme laws of nature. Exceptionally talented deities like the God of Time that possessed a talent for the five types of laws of nature—thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark—and had fully comprehended and fused them together were simply too rare!
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 354, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-354", "title": "Chapter 354 - Three Sets Of Wealth, Quintuple-Elemental Fusion", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 354: Three Sets Of Wealth, Quintuple-Elemental Fusion
Most of the people did not have any magic talent.
Those that possessed such magic talent were in the minority, mostly single- or double-elemental.
Triple-elementals were extremely rare, less the quadruple-elementals. As for the quintuple-elementals… they were one in a billion.
And those that possessed the required five elements for the supreme laws of nature were even rarer.
Of course, there were also other reasons like possessing the talent, but they had no chance to cultivate, or dying prematurely, and so on.
These reasons made higher deities of Great Perfection-level who could comprehend the supreme laws of nature so rare. They could be counted by one hand.
Dodola sighed. “They said there is always a way out. The heavens allowed ordinary living things to cultivate to Great Perfection level, but this opportunity is way too slim.”
“Indeed, that’s just almost impossible.” Meng Lei nodded. “This shows how great the God of Time truly was!”
“Duh!”
Dodola snorted, looking as though it said, “I told you that the God of Time was impressive, but you refused to believe it. What else can I do?”
Meng Lei snickered. “Dodola, now that I’m at the level of Great Perfection isn’t it time to pass whatever the God of Time had to me?”
“You haven’t completed the test—”
Dodola did not hesitate to reject that proposal, and Meng Lei cut it off quickly. “It’s better to offer timely assistance than to put the icing on the cake. By the time I become a Chief God, I might not appreciate your gift if you decide to hand over that wealth.”
That was true—no matter how impressive the God of Time was, it was only on par with a lesser Chief God. How much wealth would it possess?
It was at most approximately the same as a lesser Chief God, which would be a lot for Meng Lei currently.
However, as Meng Lei advanced further, this wealth would depreciate infinitely. If Meng Lei became an intermediate Chief God, or further up to a higher Chief God, he would no longer be satisfied by that wealth of the God of Time…
An icing to the cake was not comparable to providing timely assistance. Hence, now was the best time to give him that wealth.
Dodola was smart as it understood the key to it immediately. “Wow, so now you’re starting to dare threaten me already!”
“Threaten? How was that threatening?” Meng Lei waved his hands. “I’m just stating the facts.”
“Hmph! Stop bluffing me!” Dodola rolled its eyes and continued, “Though I’m not pleased with your threat, I must admit that what you said made sense! So…”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“So, I’ve decided to hand over the wealth of the God of Time!” Dodola showed a strange smile. “But before I hand it over, I must tell you that the God of Time controlled the time-based laws of nature. What he did best was finding treasures and looting treasuries. Thus, his wealth will be beyond your imagination!”
“Hehe, the more, the merrier!”
Meng Lei’s eyes shone even brighter.
Dodola curled its lips as an opening split open on the grass patch it was stepping on. A secret compartment appeared with a delicate little box inside.
Meng Lei grabbed the box in its hands and could not wait to open it. With the sound of a click, the box opened. A spatial ring sat quietly inside as Meng Lei picked it up and released his divine cognition…
“What the heck!?”
Meng Lei was stunned at once.
“See? Are you shocked now?”
Dodola had an expression as if its evil plan worked.
Meng Lei kept quiet for a while before glaring at Dodola.
“Dodola, you tricked me!”
“What trick? That’s gone too far!” Dodola got a little angry.
“Weren’t you the one?”
Meng Lei took out the spatial ring’s wealth—there was only an irregular crystal emanating glows of five different colors.
Meng Lei became angry. “That’s all there is for the God of Time’s wealth? One laws of nature fragment? What are you trying to do?”
“Er…”
Dodola paused and smacked its head. “Oh, look at my memory. How could I forget such an important matter? I deserve to be beaten up.”
“What else do you have to say?”
Meng Lei’s expression turned sour as he felt he was played like a fool.
“Listen carefully.” Dodola became serious. “The wealth that the God of Time had left for you definitely wasn’t just this laws of nature fragment. It’s just that the other riches are not with me.”
“Not with you? What do you mean?”
Meng Lei was stunned.
“In those years when that powerful existence was hunting the God of Time, due to the worry of his wealth might fall into that existence’s hands, he split it up and hid it away.”
Dodola said solemnly, “The wealth was split into three groups hidden in three different places. Every single one of them was worth an intermediate Chief God’s lifelong savings!”
“There’s so much?”
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up again.
“Do you know why the God of Time was being pursued in the past?” Dodola snorted. “That was because other than stealing the high-end existential plane seed, the God of Time also looted that existence’s treasury. And that was a higher Chief God!”
Gasp!
Meng Lei gasped. “The God of Time had the guts to steal from a higher Chief God? That was a little too bold!”
“That was why he died!” Dodola got a little emotional. “You must learn that lesson and never end up the same way as him!”
“No need to worry, I’m really afraid of death. Without enough capabilities, I’ll never instigate something with anyone more powerful than me.” Meng Lei shook his head. “Oh yes, where were the three sets of wealth hidden?”
“Two are pretty far. Let’s not mention them yet,” Dodola said. “The nearest from here is in the Opus Mountains in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.”
“Thunderbolt Divine Realm!” Meng Lei frowned in an instant. “It’s over there… Now, this is rather troublesome. But it should be fine if I do a makeover and leave with that set of wealth.”
“It’s not much of an issue for you.”
Dodola nodded. Meng Lei had many bloodlines. As long as he could enter the Thunderbolt Divine Realm secretly, who would recognize him?
“Once this trip in the Boundless Plane is over, I’ll head to the Thunderbolt Divine Realm and retrieve those treasures.”
Meng Lei’s eyes were sparkling. The wealth was similar to an intermediate Chief God, so it was too much for him to miss out on.
“Before you go, you must comprehend the time-based laws of nature first.” Dodola pointed to that piece of laws of nature fragment and continued. “The three sets of wealth are hidden in time fluxes. If you have not yet comprehended the time-based laws of nature, you won’t get those riches.”
“Comprehend the time-based laws of nature?”
Meng Lei looked at the laws of nature fragment, which emanated glows of five colors—it was clearly a quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragment. Meng Lei could tell it was the five elements, Thunder, Fire, Wind, Light, and Dark, which were required to comprehend the time-based laws of nature.
“This quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature fragment is the key to those riches. It will only be possible to obtain that wealth once you have completely understood the time-based laws of nature,” Dodola said slowly.
“As long as I have the laws of nature fragment, anything would be easy!” Meng Lei chuckled as he ordered, “System, plunder the quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature.”
Of course, he could slowly comprehend the laws of nature within this fragment, but that would have been too slow. Hence, he opted to plunder directly. He believed that it would work since Super Plunder could steal anything.
“Ding! Plundering target: Quintuple-elemental Fusion Laws of Nature Fragment. Target substance: Quintuple-elemental Fusion Laws of Nature.”
The system said coldly, “Ding! Plunder cost: 6 Divinity Crystals. Will you plunder it?”
“Plunder it!”
Whoosh!
Strange energy shrouded the laws of nature fragment. Within a blink of an eye, the five-colored glow was gone while the laws of nature fragment became white dust. The fragment then turned into white dust, sliding off Meng Lei’s fingers like white sand.
At the same time, a deluge of information flooded Meng Lei’s mind like a movie being played.
Meng Lei quickly started to comprehend the information.
Speaking of prowess in the comprehension of laws of nature, Meng Lei was a weirdo who understood ten basic laws of nature. With just that, he was the only one in the entire universe who could do it.
Other than that, he comprehended a few dozen double-elemental fusion laws of nature, four kinds of triple-elemental fusion laws of nature, and two kinds of quadruple-elemental fusion laws of nature.
However, after comprehending so many laws of nature, Meng Lei had not yet been introduced to the quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature. Since he met one here, he would naturally become serious in comprehending it.
“Quickly! The priceless treasure is over there!”
“Faster! Before others beat us to it!”
At that moment, a bunch of uninvited guests arrived. They were a thousand feet tall, wearing golden armor and holding giant axes or hammers, while they appeared to have elephant heads and a human body.
Each of them emitted a savage, violent aura, just like gigantic humanoid elephants.
“Where’s the priceless treasure? Where is it?”
These Elephant-Men moved around swiftly, but they could not see the priceless treasure. Instead, they saw Meng Lei, who had returned to his human form, making them mad.
“Damn it! No matter how much we rushed, someone still beat us to it!”
“Kill him! Snatch the priceless treasure back! Then leave at once!”
“Kill!”
The current Meng Lei was focused on comprehending the laws of nature, and thus his aura became as ordinary as an average Joe—there was absolutely no sense of power.
Hence, the Elephant-Men attacked.
They drew their giant axes and war hammers and swung at Meng Lei, aiming to end things quickly by killing Meng Lei and leaving immediately.
Bam, bam, bam!
Heavy weapons like axes and hammers landed on Meng Lei’s body without any damage done, but it woke up Meng Lei.
“Ugh! Damn it!”
Meng Lei was immersed in the complex quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature. Once he completed this comprehension, he could buy credit to upgrade it to 100%.
By then, he would have completely comprehended the quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature and achieved a Great Perfection-level domain.
A Great Perfection-level divine body and a Great Perfection-level domain would make Meng Lei a true Great Perfection expert!
Such a wonderful thing… interrupted as he was woken up.
Meng Lei suddenly had a feeling of destroying everything. “You f*cking bastards! How dare you all spoil my comprehension process! Die! All of you deserve death!”
A raging aura exploded like huge tidal waves. Rumbling sounds echoed as the Elephant-Men who attacked him were thrown away instantly.
“Ugh!”
All of them were coughing up blood incessantly as horror peaked among them.
“W-what a terrifying aura!”
“Sh*t! We’ve run into the wall this time!”
“Run! Just run! He’s too powerful!”
At their cultivation level, they were not dumb. They knew that Meng Lei was not someone they could mess with once they finally sensed Meng Lei’s true aura.
And so they ran.
“Escape? Come here!”
The God’s Domain spread out and imprisoned every Elephant-Man. Meng Lei raised his palm and slapped each of them like flies.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
All the Elephant-Men exploded…
" }, { "id": 355, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-355", "title": "Chapter 355 - Contest Between Two Sides, Angels And Behemoths", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 355: Contest Between Two Sides, Angels and Behemoths
A commoner’s rage would lead to blood splattering three feet away.
An emperor’s rage would lead to a flowing river of blood with floating shields.
Meng Lei’s rage would lead to the heaven fall and the earth rend.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Each Elephant-Man was smashed into a bloody pulp as over 30 clouds of bloody mist combined for an incredibly bloody scene.
“A bunch of trash!”
Meng Lei kept the Elephant-Men’s bodies and separated their divine cores before he destroyed their divine spirits amidst petrified begging sounds.
“Ding! 1 Giant Elephant-Man killed. 920 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Giant Elephant-Man killed. 64 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Giant Elephant-Man killed. 62.5 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding…”
The Giant Elephant Gods were one of the ten great godly clans who enjoyed the same status as the Colossal Dragon Gods, the Titan Gods, the Angel Gods, and the Frost Gods.
Meng Lei might be cautious in the past, but he would not think much of them now.
At present, Meng Lei held his breath in concentration before he continued comprehending the laws of nature flooding into his mind.
However, like a leaking house caught in an overnight rain, misfortune rarely came singly as another group of uninvited visitors arrived shortly.
They wore milky-white armors, with huge swords of light and four pairs of snowy-white feathered wings. They emanated a holy aura—angels, they were all eight-winged angels!
“Where’s the great treasure?”
“The phenomenon disappeared too!”
“He must have taken the treasure!”
Whoosh!
The eight-winged angels swept their glances toward Meng Lei as murderous intent flashed across their eyes. That unusual phenomenon was so mythical that the treasure must be extraordinary. Hence, it attracted them here.
Yet now, the treasure was nowhere to be seen. Meng Lei’s presence here must have meant that he got that treasure.
“Kid, hand the great treasure, and we can let you live!”
The leading eight-winged angel bellowed coldly. That was Rodd Gabriel, an elder of the Gabriel Angel Gods in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm. He was also a Highest Order Angel—Seraph.
However, Meng Lei ignored him as he focused on understanding the quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature.
Rodd Gabriel’s face became awful. Just as he was about to get mad, another eight-winged angel said suddenly, “Oh no, someone else is here!”
“Mm?”
Rodd Gabriel looked in another direction and saw a group rushing toward their direction. He recognized them instantly. “Damn it! It’s the Bahamut Behemoth Gods! These smelly chimpanzees are attracted here too!”
“The Bahamut Behemoth Gods!” A commotion erupted among the angels. “Elder, what do we do now?”
“The great treasure is ours, and no one shall snatch it away from us!” Rodd Gabriel yelled. “Protect him, and don’t let these monkeys take him away no matter what!”
“Yes, Elder!”
The other angels replied with an affirmative as they surrounded Meng Lei to—yes—protect him.
“It’s you!”
The behemoths of the Bahamut Behemoth Gods arrived shortly. They frowned once they saw the Gabriel Angel Gods.
They were a thousand feet tall, their golden fur stood up like steel needles, and their solid muscles were bulging like rocks that were full of explosive strength.
“So it’s the hypocritical birds!” The leading golden behemoth had a sour face. “And it seems that the priceless treasure has fallen into your hands?”
His name was Ludwig Bahamut, an elder of the Bahamut Behemoth Gods in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm, a powerful high-level Primordial Behemoth King!
“Of course!”
Rodd Gabriel sneered. “The great treasure is already ours, Ludwig. Why don’t you leave since you came late?”
Ludwig’s heart sank a little—the unusual phenomenon that came with the arrival of the treasure happened not long ago, yet, these birdmen were quick to beat them to such an extraordinary treasure.
But, since we’re here, why should we return empty-handed?
With that thought, Ludwig replied coldly, “Rodd, since the commotion over it was huge, the treasure must be extraordinary. Why don’t you show everyone?”
“The great treasure is ours. And it has nothing to do with you. If you don’t wish to sever our relations, leave immediately!” Rodd Gabriel said coldly.
“All I wanted was to have a glimpse of it. Why so nervous?” Ludwig said indifferently, “There’s a saying that, ‘All that catches sight of it should be entitled to a share’. Since we’re here already, we can’t just leave empty-handed, right?”
“What do you want?”
Rodd Gabriel’s face darkened.
“Bring out the treasure, and we’ll split evenly!” Ludwig let the cat out of the bag. “How about that?”
“You really want a fight, do you, Ludwig?” Rodd Gabriel said as rage mounted.
“Rodd, if you know what’s good for you, hand the priceless treasure immediately!” Ludwig’s true intentions revealed themselves. “Or else, I don’t mind leaving all of you lying around here!”
“You foul monkey, you’re too much! If you want the treasure that bad, let’s see if you have the capabilities to snatch it from us!” Rodd Gabriel bellowed as a gigantic holy sword appeared in his hand. He pointed the tip at Ludwig, a cold glint flashing across the blade’s surface.
“We’ve not met for so long, and you’ve grown to be aggressive. Fine, I’ll play this game with you today!”
Ludwig waved off the rest of the behemoths before he shot forward. “Come on, Rodd! Let me see whether you have improved after all these years!”
“You’re going too far!” Rodd yelled.
He prepared to meet Ludwig with his sword. Just as a fierce battle seemed inevitable, Meng Lei opened his eyes suddenly.
“Are you guys done already?”
Meng Lei’s voice was not too loud, but it was clear enough to be heard by everyone. The angels and behemoths looked toward him.
“Who’s there?”
Both Ludwig and Rodd stopped at the same time before their battle started, and they looked at Meng Lei with surprised looks.
Meng Lei was furious, like a volcano ready to erupt anytime. He swept a glance over the bunch of angels and behemoths and demanded, “If you all don’t come up with a plausible explanation, I’ll make sure you stay here for eternity!”
“Little fellow, who are you to speak to us like that?” Ludwig snorted coldly. “If the priceless treasure is with you, hand it over! Or else, I’ll devour you alive!”
“Eat me? Aren’t you afraid that you’ll break your teeth?”
Meng Lei scoffed.
“You have a death wish!”
A terrifying aura emanated from Ludwig, sending the eight-winged angels surrounding Meng Lei flying. Ludwig took only a step to reach before Meng Lei.
He then swung his gigantic hairy palm toward Meng Lei’s head. Any ordinary person would have been crushed by it.
As usual, though, Meng Lei did not attempt to dodge at all as he watched the gigantic palm crashing on his head.
Bam!
With a muffled bang, Ludwig’s hand bounced off Meng Lei’s head. The head seemed perfectly fine as Meng Lei stood casually in the same spot.
“How can this be?!”
Feeling the numbness from the palm that struck Meng Lei, Ludwig’s eyes were wide open as if he had seen a ghost. Horror and inconceivability filled his eyes.
How was it possible that he could not even move Meng Lei’s head with his strike? What kind of joke was that?
“Only this little strength?” Meng Lei mocked. “It’s not even enough to tickle me, and you wanted to eat me? Maybe you don’t mind becoming the joke of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm!”
Ludwig would have become terribly enraged by now after being mocked like that. However, cold sweat broke out of Ludwig’s back while his heart sank.
“W-who are you?” Ludwig asked in a low voice. He had a bad feeling that he might have run into a wall this time.
“The dead don’t have to know!”
Meng Lei shook his head as he appeared right in front of Ludwig like a specter and poked a finger on Ludwig’s forehead.
Splurt!
A bloody hole appeared.
" }, { "id": 356, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-356", "title": "Chapter 356 - Fusing Them Into One, Time-Based Laws Of Nature", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 356: Fusing Them Into One, Time-Based Laws of Nature
“Noooo!”
Ludwig froze on the spot as indignation and despair filled his eyes. No matter what, he’d never have ever thought that he, an elder of the Bahamut Behemoth Gods and a powerful high-level Primordial Behemoth King, would actually die in such a way in a place like this!
Just how miserable was that?
He couldn’t accept it!
“How dare you bark madly like a dog in front of me? How presumptuous!” Meng Lei gouged out Ludwig’s divine core and took his spatial ring before tossing his dead body to the little golden tree in the Tower of Time.
A system notification rang out at this point.
“Ding! 1 Primordial Behemoth King killed. 920 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
“920 million? Not bad!”
Meng Lei smiled in satisfaction. Then, he took out Ludwig’s spatial ring and ransacked it, earning another 800 to 900 million Divinity Crystals in the process. Sweet!
It was only after he was done with all that that Meng Lei finally turned to the other Behemoths and Angels.
“Is there anyone that’s still looking for the great treasure now?” asked Meng Lei aloofly.
All the Behemoths and Angels had long since been scared witless. They shook their heads vehemently at his question.
“No, I don’t want it anymore!”
“We don’t want the treasure anymore! We were blind to have affronted you just now, sir. Please be magnanimous and let us off!”
“You don’t want it anymore? I’ve already prepared a treasure for you, yet you actually don’t want it? What a waste of my painstaking effort! You should die for that! All of you!”
Meng Lei let out a cold snort. Innumerable green-gold spears of fire appeared out of nowhere and turned into a storm of arrows that shot toward them from every direction.
“Noooo!”
“Spare me, sir!”
A round of arrows later, be it the 20-odd Behemoths or the 30 or so Angels, all of them had turned into swiss cheese. Even Rodd Gabriel, the Seraph and Highest Order Angel, was no exception.
Gouging out their divine cores, collecting their bodies, destroying their divine spirits, ransacking their spatial rings—the whole procedure was a walk in the park for Meng Lei, who made a net profit of 400 million Divinity Crystals. He had earned yet another sum of money!
“Awesome!”
Meng Lei, who was in a fantastic mood, then discovered that a group of people was currently staring at him with visible shock and horror in their eyes—it was the Fairy Goddess and the others.
Evidently, the “treasure emergence” phenomenon had also attracted them over.
Meng Lei smiled at the Fairy Goddess in greeting and then teleported and left. The goddesses heaved long sighs of relief as they watched him leave, fear lingering in their hearts.
“A lunatic! That guy’s a lunatic!”
“First, he slaughtered all 28 people from the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, and now he’s killed 31 people from the Gabriel Angel Gods and 29 people from the Bahamut Behemoth Gods!”
“Isn’t he afraid that he’ll become the Divine Realm’s public enemy and attract all the major godly clans’ mad revenge on him?”
“So bold! So audacious! So perverse! That guy’s no different from a madman!”
The goddesses had received quite the shock.
The three major godly clans!
Those were juggernauts that stood at the pinnacle of Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s pyramid of power and had Chief Gods protecting them!
Who would dare to offend them?
Nobody!
Yet not only had Meng Lei offended them, but he had even so wantonly slaughtered the three major godly clans’ pillars of support. Just how bold must he be in order to do something so crazy?
“Is he really only 25, Diana?”
…
Laws of Nature:
Double-Elemental Fusion: …
Triple-Elemental Fusion: …
Quadruple-Elemental Fusion: …
Quintuple-Elemental Fusion: Thunder-Fire-Wind-Light-Dark (0.1%)
“System, raise my Thunder-Fire-Wind-Light-Dark quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature assimilation rate!”
“Ding! Raising a quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature’s assimilation rate by 1% requires 120 million Divinity Crystals,” the system asked coldly, “May I know whether you’d like to raise it?”
“In other words, raising it to 100% requires 12 billion Divinity Crystals? Say no more, raise it!”
Whoosh!
His wealth decreased by 12 billion Divinity Crystals in an instant.
At the same time, a surging torrent of data gushed into Meng Lei’s mind like waters from a breached dam and lashed furiously against his divine spirit flame.
Fortunately, Meng Lei’s divine spirit was powerful enough, and its storage capacity and operational capacity far exceeded what they had been in the past. Otherwise, he really might not have been able to withstand the impact and end up becoming mentally disabled.
Even so, Meng Lei still felt giddy and dizzy as though back when he had stayed at an Internet cafe for three days and three nights straight and ended up mentally exhausted to the extreme.
“Damn! To think there’s actually such a vast amount of data! I can’t handle it anymore!” Meng Lei turned pale with fright and hastily barked, “System, enhance my divine spirit!”
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to a mid-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a high-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 900 million Divinity Crystals,” the system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Upon his command, a wave of golden energy flowed into his sea of consciousness and toward his divine spirit flame. The moment the two made contact, the intensity of his divine spirit flame instantly surged as though it had been doused with a bucket of petrol.
It doubled, tripled, quadrupled…
At the same time, Meng Lei also felt his exhaustion clearly ebbing away. His consciousness became clearer and clearer, and his woozy mind also gradually regained clarity…
“Whew~”
Meng Lei rubbed his temples as he remarked, “No wonder only Great Perfection-level divine spirits can fuse five types of laws of nature together. There’s simply too vast an amount of data involved in the fusion!”
Meng Lei took some time to have a quiet rest. After a long while, when he had more or less recuperated, he finally began to look through the laws of nature information in his mind.
Meng Lei wasn’t disappointed—the five types of laws of nature had fused together perfectly!
This was a true blue fusion!
It wasn’t like a simple intertwining of five different strings. Rather, it was a perfect blend that made no distinction between one and the other and no longer displayed five different colors!
They had ultimately come together to form an all-new… golden color—or rather, an all-new type of golden laws of nature!
The all-new type of golden laws of nature was not as dazzling, resplendent, ostentatious, and sonorous as metal-elemental laws of nature. Rather, it brimmed with an aura that was eternal, immortal, detached, and noble.
“An all-new type of laws of nature was born after the five types of laws of nature—thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark—were perfectly fused together. So, are these golden laws of nature time-based laws of nature?
A thread of golden chains made out of laws of nature formed at Meng Lei’s fingertip with a thought. It gave off a profound and enigmatic aura of time.
Dodola had always paid close attention to Meng Lei at all times. At the sight of the golden laws of nature chains at his fingertip, it flew right out of the Tower of Time.
“Time-based laws of nature! That’s time-based laws of nature!”
Dodola could hardly suppress its surprise and elation. It was so worked up that it nearly broke into tears. “How many years has it been? I’m finally seeing time-based laws of nature…”
“Is this time-based laws of nature, Dodola?” murmured Meng Lei softly, his agitation barely concealable.
“The dimensions rule over all, while time is honored above all; when life and death are absent, destruction shall reign!”
Dodola couldn’t get any more agitated. It said, “Back then, Master had fused thunder, fire, wind, light, and dark-elemental laws of nature into one and successfully gave birth to time-based laws of nature. It was exactly this type of subtle and understated eternal gold. I’ll never mistake it for anything else!”
“Time-based laws of nature…”
Meng Lei murmured as he glanced at the stats interface. The Laws of Nature comprehension column had indeed changed.
Laws of Nature:
Double-Elemental Fusion: …
Triple-Elemental Fusion: …
Quadruple-Elemental Fusion: …
Quintuple-Elemental Fusion: Thunder-Fire-Wind-Light-Dark (100%)
Supreme Laws of Nature: Time-Based (0.1%)
Time-based laws of nature had been added to the stats interface!
“System, how many Divinity Crystals does it cost to raise my time-based laws of nature comprehension rate?” asked an excited Meng Lei. After all, an Ancient God that had fully comprehended supreme laws of nature would become comparable to a higher Chief God!
A higher Chief God!
Just the thought alone was enough to make one unable to stop themselves!
“Ding! Raising time-based laws of nature assimilation rate by 1% would cost 50 trillion Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
50 t-trillion?”
Meng Lei sucked in a breath of chilly air.
“Raising it by 1% would cost me 50 trillion Divinity Crystals? Oh my god, doesn’t that mean that I’ll need 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals to raise it to 100%?!”
Meng Lei could only laugh wryly in response. Even though he had already expected buying credit for supreme laws of nature to cost an astronomical price, he nevertheless didn’t expect it to be such a ridiculous price.
1 trillion = 1,000 billion!
This meant that 5,000 trillion would be… 5,000,000 billion!
5,000,0000 billion Divinity Crystals!
Meng Lei currently only had 16.5 billion Divinity Crystals. It couldn’t even count as spare change for the sum of 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals!
Buying credit?
To hell with buying credit!
He had better just hurry up and make more money instead!
“But I’m already very satisfied right now after I managed to comprehend time-based laws of nature!” Meng Lei let out a pent-up breath, his eyes filled with joy.
“I really didn’t expect you to comprehend time-based laws of nature so quickly!” Dodola had a complex look in its eyes, though it could hardly conceal its joy, too. “Nevertheless, I’d still like to congratulate you!”
“Haha! This is all thanks to the laws of nature fragment that the God of Time left behind.” An awfully delighted Meng Lei said, “Thank you, o noble God of Time!”
“You can skip the thanks,” Dodola shook its head and said, “All I hope for is that you can do something for me when you’ve fully comprehended time-based laws of nature in the future!”
“Revive the God of Time?” asked Meng Lei as he raised an eyebrow.
“How did you know that?”
Dodola looked absolutely surprised. It had never brought up the matter to Meng Lei before in the past!
“I guessed it,” Meng Lei smiled and said, “Don’t worry. If I really can revive the God of Time, I’ll definitely do it!”
“Thank you!”
Dodola said sincerely.
“You’re standing on ceremony too much.”
Meng Lei waved.
“Is it time you deify now, Meng Lei?” asked Dodola all of a sudden.
“If you split off a time-based divine incarnation from yourself by using the time-based laws of nature that you’ve comprehended as a source of nutrition, that divine incarnation shall possess strength capable of contending with a lower Chief God.”
“Deify?”
Meng Lei was stunned at the suggestion. After a long while, he finally said, “Now that I’ve comprehended time-based laws of nature, it is indeed time that I deify.
“And with a divine incarnation, I’ll be able to convert power of faith. However, I feel that it’s still not the right time for me to deify just yet.”
“You mean…”
Dodola’s brows drew together slightly.
“I’ll deify when I’ve fully mastered time-based laws of nature instead!”
Meng Lei had his own concerns, too. What if the time-based divine incarnation wasn’t entitled to the system’s benefits after he split it off from himself? How was he supposed to buy credit for his time-based laws of nature, then?
Therefore, he’d better put it off a little further. It didn’t affect much anyway.
“It’s your call!”
Dodola didn’t persuade him any further. Meng Lei was already stronger than Dodola and had his own views now.
“It’s time to go out and make some money now!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and said, “I’m very poor and am a total pauper from head to toe right now. I need Divinity Crystals! Lots and lots of Divinity Crystals!”
He was certainly very poor!
The terrifying 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals price tag weighed down on Meng Lei’s heart like a heavy mountain. The only thing on his mind at the moment was making money, lots and lots and lots of money!
“Let’s go!”
The moment the thought occurred to him, Meng Lei promptly went to the area where the dimensional gate had appeared. He intended to hunt the experts who were coming from Thunderbolt Divine Realm to the Boundless Plane.
Unfortunately, the dimensional gate had actually vanished. This meant that everyone from Thunderbolt Divine Realm had already entered the Boundless Plane and had already split up and gone to various unknown areas of the plane.
“Damn it. I was too late!”
Meng Lei cursed under his breath. Then, he released his divine cognition into the surroundings and began to search for targets whom he could hunt.
“Eh? There’s a melee going on over there!”
Meng Lei teleported over at once, upon which a huge volcano then appeared before his eyes.
The majestic volcano was spewing boiling hot lava and thick, roiling smoke into the vicinity while an intense battle took place above the bubbling lava.
A group of pitch-black Divine Netherworld Phoenixes was currently besieging a crimson-red, Qilin-like[1] beast that had eight horns on its head and six legs below its abdomen!
Dodola explained, “That’s an Eight-Horned Fire Unicorn, a type of fire-elemental divine beast. An adult Nine-Horned Fire Unicorn is extremely powerful and possesses strength capable of contending with a high-level Great Demon God!”
“No wonder those Divine Netherworld Phoenixes are besieging the Nine-Horned Fire Unicorn. So it’s a fire-elemental divine beast!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. However, just as he was about to attack, another group of people charged over.
“The Fire Phoenix Gods?”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 357, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-357", "title": "Chapter 357 - An Intense Clash, Thunder-Origin Divine Body", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 357: An Intense Clash, Thunder-Origin Divine Body
Like the Titan Gods, Giant Elephant Gods, Behemoth Gods, and Nature Gods, the Fire Phoenix Gods were also one of the ten great godly clans in the deity faction.
Although the Fire Phoenix Gods’ base was located in the Flaming Divine Realm, traces of them could nevertheless be found throughout the vast universe, and they held astonishingly strong influence and power.
The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes didn’t need any further introduction. As a powerful race that dominated Hell, be it their strength or their savage reputation, they weren’t any bit inferior to the Fire Phoenix Gods at all.
By right, since the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and the Fire Phoenix Gods were both phoenixes and had similar bloodlines to each other, the two should have a close relationship with each other. However, that was not the case at all. Instead, the two races were mortal enemies!
The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes held great animosity toward the Fire Phoenix Gods, while the Fire Phoenix Gods themselves also wished that they could kill the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes!
The two parties would undoubtedly come to blows and cause a huge battle to break out the moment they ran into each other.
And true enough, upon discovering the approaching Fire Phoenix Gods, the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes currently besieging the Eight-Horned Fire Unicorn quickly ceased their actions and shifted their hostile gazes toward the Fire Phoenix Gods flying toward them instead.
“So it’s that bunch of evil fallen ones!”
“You hypocritical Fire Phoenixes!”
Intense sparks flew everywhere the instant the two parties made contact with each other, and they watched each other with feelings of animosity in their eyes.
“Tsk, tsk! Those two races have actually bumped into each other!”
Dodola said with great interest, “Once the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and the Fire Phoenix Gods run into each other, they’ll never stop until one party is dead. We’re gonna have a good show now!”
A smiling Meng Lei asked, “Which of the two races is stronger, Dodola?”
“Both of them are fire-elemental divine beasts. The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes have their Netherworld Divine Fire, but the Fire Phoenix Gods’ Inextinguishable Phoenix Flames are also in no way inferior to the Netherworld Divine Fire.”
Dodola clicked its tongue and concluded, “I reckon it’s likely going to be a lose-lose fight!”
“Both are powerful divine beasts, after all!”
Meng Lei marveled at them, only to realize that both parties were already duking it out by now. Energy blasts shot about, and flames sprayed everywhere as blood spilled and feathers flew all over the place…
“They’ve already gone straight to duking it out without even so much as foreplay. Just how great is the enmity between the two of them?” Meng Lei was taken aback. “I thought they would have had at least a brief showdown!”
“Those two races are exactly like that. You’ll get used to it,” Dodola laughed as it watched the show and remarked, “Tsk, tsk. I haven’t seen such an intense sight for so long!”
The sight was indeed extremely grand. The intense clash among the 60-odd divine beasts was practically earth-shattering—the sky within a million kilometers of where they were broke and formed a black hole. Like a great fog, black and red flames suffused the area within 10,000 miles of where they were. It was truly an apocalyptic scene that looked as though doomsday had arrived.
The terrifying sight badly frightened the Eight-Horned Fire Unicorn occupying the inside of the volcano. No matter what, it was still a divine beast that was comparable to a high-level Great Demon God, yet it was so frightened that it was hiding within the lava, too scared to even show its face. What a coward!
“They sure are ruthless!”
Meng Lei noticed that an Immortal Fire Phoenix had grabbed a Divine Netherworld Phoenix by its neck and was using its sharp beak to peck relentlessly at the other party’s head. It was as if it wished it could thoroughly mash the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s neck into a pulp with its beak!
Dodola laughed and replied, “This is exactly what it’s like whenever those two races run into each other.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. After watching the battle for a while more, he promptly decided to attack. He was very poor at the moment, so he didn’t have the time to waste on any delays here. He had to make full use of the time he had to make money!
“Freeze!” Meng Lei uttered.
Buzz!
God’s Domain instantly spread into the vicinity and locked down the dimension. The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes and Immortal Fire Phoenixes that were originally engaged in fierce battle instantly froze on the spot.
“Go!”
Green-gold spears that filled the sky shot out with a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers and harvested all the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ and Immortal Fire Phoenixes’ lives. As usual, the carcasses were given to the little golden tree while the divine cores went to Meng Lei himself.
“Ding! 1 Divine Netherworld Phoenix killed. 67 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding! 1 Immortal Fire Phoenix killed. 66.5 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding…”
“And you, too, Eight-Horned Fire Unicorn!”
Meng Lei didn’t forget about the Eight-Horned Fire Unicorn hiding in the lava lake and also took its life.
During the next few days, Meng Lei traveled about everywhere and hopped from battle to battle in various Boundless Plane regions.
Boundless Great Beasts… Kill!
Visitors from foreign existential planes… Kill!
Over the span of a few days, Meng Lei had already harvested an unknown number of lives. His Wealth value skyrocketed at an insane speed and reached a shocking 100 billion Divinity Crystals.
100 billion!
This was an extremely excessive number!
Yet relative to the astronomical sum of 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, this bit of money was clearly rather inadequate.
Meng Lei didn’t dare to slack off, and he continued to hunt. Of course, his expectations had also risen by now. He couldn’t be bothered to hunt those who were weaker than higher deity-level because he wouldn’t earn much from those.
After all, even an ordinary higher deity was only worth 3,000,000 Divinity Crystals, while those weaker than that were worth even less. Hunting them was a complete waste of time.
Harvest!
Harvest!
Harvest!
Meng Lei was just like a hardworking farmer. He hunted tirelessly despite the hardships as if he didn’t know what fatigue was. This gave the little golden tree in the Tower of Time a huge treat.
Although the golden little tree’s growth was very slow, it nevertheless showed visible growth after devouring innumerable powerful dead bodies.
True enough, it had already grown from the initial two meters to its current height of more than 20 meters!
This was a tenfold growth!
However, what filled Meng Lei with a sense of resignation was that aside from having a richer life force, the little golden tree still looked the same as ever and didn’t show much of a difference.
…
Meng Lei appeared in the sky above a tribe on this day. The extremely big and tall buildings, which were formed from stacks of rocks, gave off a raw and unrestrained air.
This was a tribe of Giants, but unfortunately, the tribe had encountered a massacre.
Dead bodies littered the wilderness. Buildings and houses had collapsed, leaving behind only rubble. Blood was everywhere, and the place was an utter mess.
“Yet another tribe of Giants has been slaughtered!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shake his head as he overlooked the wreckage that was the tribe from above. Like the humans on Heaven’s Vault Continent, the level of strength among Boundless Giants was not a uniform one.
Powerful Boundless Giants could rival high-level Great Demon Gods, while weak ones were barely even Saint Domain-level. In a small tribe, even the most powerful person there was just intermediate deity-level or thereabouts. It was only in mid-range tribes that one could find higher deities…
This was obviously a small tribe with few tribesmen and low overall combat power. When faced with the ferocious experts from foreign existential planes, it would be stranger if they had managed to avoid the fate of being slaughtered instead.
“In a cruel world like this, being weak and powerless is an original sin itself. You’re destined to be slaughtered by others if you’re weak and powerless.”
Meng Lei sent the dead bodies in the ruins into the Tower of Time. Then, he continued to teleport and move ahead. Before long, he arrived at yet another tribe.
Like the previous one, this particular tribe had also been massacred. All 10,000-odd Giants in the whole tribe had been killed, leaving behind not even a single survivor.
“H-help!”
Just as Meng Lei was about to collect the dead bodies, he suddenly heard a weak cry for help.
He hurriedly looked toward where the voice had come from and detected a weak life force underneath a pile of straw.
“A survivor?”
Meng Lei was rather astonished. The straw was reduced to dust with a casual wave from him, revealing a small Giant underneath.
The term “small” was only in relation to adult Giants because he was actually over two-meters-tall.
He was a Giant child!
Or rather… A toddler!
However, there was a life-threatening wound on the child’s abdomen. It started on the left of his chest and went all the way to his right hip, almost severing him in two.
The amazing thing, however, was that violet electric currents were constantly forming at the fatal wound and healing it, allowing the child’s life to be preserved.
“That’s—”
Meng Lei felt an extremely familiar sensation at the sight of the violet electric currents on the child, whereas Dodola had already let out an exclamation.
“O God of Time above! This, this, this… This is a thunder-origin divine body!”
“So it really is a thunder-origin divine body!”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei all over. As someone that also owned an origin divine body, he was extremely sensitive to Power of Origin. The moment he saw the violet electric currents, he had already realized that it was definitely also a form of Power of Origin. Little did he think that it was really true!
At once, Dodola suggested, “Meng Lei, that child is definitely a genius. Quick, save him!”
“Alright!”
The child was someone that owned an origin divine body, after all. Meng Lei didn’t wish to see him perish. At once, he took out a tree branch, squeezed out the life essence in it, and fed it to the Giant child.
The branch was an Ancient Tree of Life branch that Meng Lei had obtained in the past. It contained strong, rich life essence, so its healing effect was much stronger than the Tree of Vitality’s.
True enough, the wound on the child’s abdomen started to wriggle non-stop after he consumed the few drops of life essence. Then, it started to visibly close and heal.
In the short span of just a few minutes, the wound had completely healed. It was as if it had never once been there. The child opened his eyes, upon which he then noticed Meng Lei.
“D-don’t kill me! Sob…”
Badly frightened, an incredibly fearful and horror-stricken look appeared in the child’s eyes, and he sobbed and whimpered.
“Don’t be scared, little boy. Uncle here isn’t a bad person!”
Meng Lei gave him what he thought was a smile brimming with kindness and took out a divine fruit. Then, with a smile that looked like the big bad wolf’s, he said, “Here, have a fruit. Uncle won’t hurt you…”
" }, { "id": 358, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-358", "title": "Chapter 358 - A Monarch'S Treasure, Congregation Of Experts", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 358: A Monarch’s Treasure, Congregation Of Experts
Faint clouds hang high in the sky, southbound geese yonder fly—autumn.
Two figures—a big one and a small one—raced across the boundless plain in low altitude before they finally arrived above a tribe.
It was a large tribe with tall structures, occupying vast land, which contained countless herded Boundless Great Beasts and dried meat being hung around.
It was a rare tribe in the Boundless Plane, where resources were aplenty while buildings were magnificent.
Tragically, like other tribes, dead bodies littered the wilderness while most buildings had collapsed. It was evident that it had gone through a massacre.
“These damn devils!”
A giant gnashed his teeth as hatred was written all over his tender face. He was the giant child Meng Lei just saved—Samo.
A cute name indeed.
“Men or women, old or young were all slaughtered mercilessly. This is tantamount to the devil’s descent!” Meng Lei had great emotions.
“Uncle, can you help me take revenge?”
Samo looked at Meng Lei with hopeful looks in his eyes.
“Revenge?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow before saying righteously, “I have descended upon the Boundless Plane to destroy these extraterrestrial demons and save your world!”
Samo possessed the thunder-origin divine body, and Meng Lei planned to bring him under his control. Hence, he needed to establish an image as a symbol of justice in Samo’s heart.
“Thank you, Uncle! You’re such a nice person!” Samo said gratefully.
“I’m not that nice. I just hate to see the atrocities committed by those evil extraterrestrial demons!” Meng Lei felt more and more guilty the more he said those. “Let’s move on and keep going. We must catch up to them as soon as possible!”
“Yes!”
Meng Lei kept the bodies with a wave of hands and continued his journey with Samo.
After hurrying for the entire trip, they finally reached another tribe of Giants. However, this tribe was suffering from the most horrific disaster in their history at that very moment.
A bunch of Colossal Dragons had descended upon this tribe, carrying out their inhumane massacre.
These Dark Demonic Dragons—other than one high-level Great Demon God—were all mid-level Great Demon Gods.
They were spitting black flames to burn the tall structures, massacring the Boundless Giants.
Despite this tribe’s strongest giant’s best efforts, there was nothing he could do as he got trampled on by the Dark Demonic Dragons like a toy.
The other Boundless Giants were either trembling as they awaited their inescapable fate or getting burned into blackening dry corpses. It was a horrific sight to behold.
“Uncle!”
Samo looked at Meng Lei and begged.
Meng Lei took a step into the skies above the tribe, with his voice thundering across the place.
“You damned extraterrestrial demons, how dare you kill the innocent and slaughter the weak!”
The Dark Demonic Dragons who were ravaging the tribe were taken aback slightly as they looked up in the sky to see Meng Lei towering over them. They were amused immediately.
“Where did this worm come from to be a busybody? Die!”
A Dark Demonic Dragon roared and sprayed out a black dragon breath.
“Be careful, Uncle!”
A frightened Samo screamed as he could sense the threat of the deadly dragon breath from afar. It contained terrifying destructive powers as it was just like boiling lava plus poisonous acid—blazing hot and highly corrosive.
A drop of that would burn and corrode Samo into nothing in which not even the bones would remain.
“Hah!”
Meng Lei calmly extended his right hand with a light clap. A gigantic palm a few million feet long appeared out of nowhere and pressed toward this Dark Demonic Dragon.
Boom!
The gigantic palm crashed down and decimated the black dragon’s breath in an instant before crushing this Dark Demonic Dragon and turned it into a meat sauce.
“Yay! Uncle is so mighty and powerful!” Samo shouted in great excitement.
“No! Bartulu!!”
“He killed Bartulu!”
“Die!”
Meng Lei’s action opened Pandora’s box as he enraged the rest of the Dark Demonic Dragons.
They bellowed and roared as they charged at Meng Lei, trying to tear him into pieces.
“You all have overestimated yourselves!”
With a wave of the hand, thousands of spears shot out and flooded more than 30 Dark Demonic Dragons, turning them into swiss cheese.
“Ding! 1 Dark Demonic Dragon killed. 61 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Dark Demonic Dragon killed. 63 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding…”
“S-so powerful!”
Samo widened his eyes in disbelief—the ability to wipe out over 30 powerful extraterrestrial demons. How powerful was that?
“Uncle, you’re so incredible!”
Samo’s eyes were brimming with idolization.
“Work hard with your cultivation, and you’ll be as great!” Meng Lei patted Samo’s head and smiled. “Let’s proceed down and check it out!”
“Yeap!”
The two landed on the ground. The Boundless Giants that survived looked at Meng Lei with terror-stricken faces, while that strongest giant of the tribe hurriedly dragged his body to block off Meng Lei.
He was known as Pico. After getting trampled on previously, he was already heavily injured. However, his resilient eyes still stared at Meng Lei and Samo vigilantly.
In Pico’s eyes, Meng Lei was an enemy much more terrifying than the Dark Demonic Dragons!
“Don’t be nervous. I’m not here to hurt you.” Meng Lei signaled for them to calm down.
“Hey, Mister, this uncle is here to help protect us!
“It was he who saved me and killed every extraterrestrial demon along the way to save us Boundless Giants! Uncle is a good person!”
“Good person?” Pico was taken aback for a moment as he looked at Samo with a puzzled look. “You’re a Boundless Giant!”
“Yeap!”
Samo nodded.
“Kid, he fooled you!”
Pico looked at Meng Lei with hostility. “He’s different from us! He’s an extraterrestrial demon like those dragons who will only slaughter us. He won’t help us!”
“Fool you?” Meng Lei scoffed. “Why do you think I need to lie to all of you?”
“Hmph! Who doesn’t know that all of you demons will do anything for the Monarch’s treasure?”
Hatred filled Pico’s eyes. “Let me tell you this, I have no clue where the Monarch’s treasure is! Even if I knew, I wouldn’t ever say it! You disgusting demons!”
“Monarch’s treasure?” Meng Lei perked up. “What’s the Monarch’s treasure?”
“Stop acting!” Pico said coldly, “You thought I’d tell you where it’s hidden just like that? You can stop daydreaming!”
“I don’t care whether you believe it or not.” Meng Lei sneered. “Samo, I’m going to continue hunting those extraterrestrial demons down in other places. Are you staying here or leaving with me?”
Samo took a glance at Pico and shook his head. “Uncle, I’m leaving with you!”
Although Pico and the rest were all Boundless Giants, he did not know any of them. Hence, he would prefer to follow Meng Lei.
“Let’s go then.”
Meng Lei smiled in satisfaction and disappeared from this tribe along with Samo.
“…”
…
“Samo, what’s the Monarch’s treasure?” Meng Lei asked on the way.
Samo did not doubt him, so he explained, “The Monarch’s treasure is the treasure left behind by the greatest, strongest ever Boundless King in the legends. It’s said that it was the Boundless King’s lifelong riches!”
“Then do you know where it’s hidden?” Meng Lei asked casually.
“I don’t know,” answered Samo as he shook his head.
“The Monarch’s treasure is just a legend. Naturally, no one would know its exact location. Wait! Maybe the Great Prophet might know something about it!”
“Great Prophet?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“The Great Prophet is the greatest Boundless Giant on the Boundless Plane. He lives in the Monarch Mountain, guarding the statue of the Boundless King for his entire lifetime!”
Awe flashed across Samo’s eyes. “The legends said that the Great Prophet’s ancestor was the Boundless King’s right-hand man, following the Boundless King in his domination over the vast universe!”
“I see.”
After half an hour, they arrived in another tribe. Still, Meng Lei and Samo were a step too late.
This huge tribe did not survive the disaster as it was massacred. Meng Lei kept the bodies with a wave of hands and continued forward.
Onward…
Kill…
Onward…
Kill…
Of course, Meng Lei did not travel forward blindly as he moved in the direction of the center of the continent.
After some devious questioning around the continent, he already had the rough idea that the Monarch Mountain was in the middle of the continent.
Meng Lei believed that the experts of each existential plane were heading to Monarch Mountain as well. After all, no matter how tough the Boundless Giants were, they could not withstand the harshest questioning of all—reading their spirit memory!
Anything the giants knew or not would have been known to the experts of other existential planes. Hence, the Monarch Mountain would be unavoidably exposed to everyone.
The truth spoke itself as Meng Lei had expected. Experts from each existential plane had gathered at the Monarch Mountain. By the time Meng Lei reached the mountain, most of the experts were there already.
Contrary to what he had imagined, the mountain was unlike the undulating nature of other divine mountains. Instead, it was like a holy sword straight in between heaven and earth.
In summary: it was thin and high.
Standing at the mountain foot was like standing under the Korin Tower, where half of the mountain was covered up by thick clouds, while the top of the mountain was not to be seen.
At the moment, two sides were in a standoff.
One side was the massive numbers of Boundless Giants—they formed a densely-packed blockade around the mountain as they guarded the Monarch Mountain firmly.
Opposite them were experts from other existential planes—Colossal Dragons, Angels, Giant Elephants, Behemoths, Immortal Fire Phoenixes, Frost Gods…
Divine Netherworld Phoenixes, Fallen Angels, Abyss Demons, Purgatory Kings, Dark Demonic Dragons, Hell Dragon Gods, Necromancers, Fire Demons, Dead Souls, the Undead…
The sheer numbers were no less than a million.
The weakest ones were mid-level higher deities and mid-level Great Demon Gods. High-level higher deities and high-level Great Demon Gods were aplenty as well.
And, of course, the Fairy Goddess and other goddesses were there as well. They joined up with goddesses from other Divine Realms to make up over 300 goddesses.
At that moment, the experts of different existential planes surrounded and jammed up the Monarch Mountain. Cold, greedy eyes wished they could devour the mountain immediately.
“This massive formation is unprecedented!” Dodola commented. “Meng Lei, have you seen so many experts on the same stage?”
“Not really!”
Meng Lei licked his lips as he swallowed his saliva. His eyes were overt and filled with greed, as though they had seen a bunch of portable treasuries.
What about the Monarch’s Treasure?
In Meng Lei’s eyes, a million experts in front of him were the richest treasure.
Just think about it!
A mid-level Great Demon God was worth around 60 million Divinity Crystals. 10 of them would be 600 million, 100 of them would be 6 billion, 10,000 of them would be 600 billion…
1,000,000 of them would be 6,000 billion, which was… 6 trillion.
6 trillion Divinity Crystals!
That was already a lot.
“Foolish Boundless Giants, you are surrounded! If you know what’s good for you, get your Great Prophet to come out at once! Or else, we don’t mind helping you flatten the Monarch Mountain…”
" }, { "id": 359, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-359", "title": "Chapter 359 - The King'S Providence, The Heart Of The Existential Plane", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 359: The King’s Providence, The Heart of The Existential Plane
A million experts from foreign existential planes stood proudly in the sky and gazed upon Monarch Mountain with utmost greed. They clearly thought that they already had the Great Prophet in the bag.
And, of course, the Monarch’s treasure, too. They were determined to get their hands on it!
As for the innumerable Boundless Giants guarding Monarch Mountain, they didn’t think much of them at all.
While it seemed like there were numerous Boundless Giants there, their overall combat strength was far from ideal. There was a world of difference and no comparability between the two parties at all.
“You foolish giants!”
“If you know what’s good for you, then get the Great Prophet out here at once!”
“Otherwise, we don’t mind filling this place with blood!”
The experts from foreign existential planes shouted and clamored for their demands, their demeanors arrogant and conceited. The innumerable Boundless Giants in the vicinity of Monarch Mountain gnashed their teeth in fury, wishing they could fight to the death with them.
“Those evil extraterrestrial demons! They are too much! I’m going to fight it out with them!”
“That’s right! Fight it out with them!”
“Fight it out with them? You fools! Our mission is to guard the Great Prophet and ensure his safety, not to fight it out with those extraterrestrial demons. Get it?”
The strongest Boundless Giant among them barked fiercely at them. His name was Olio, and he was the strongest existence on the Boundless Plane itself. He was also the Great Prophet’s guardian and held absolute authority on the Boundless Plane.
The riled-up Boundless Giants quietened at once the moment he spoke. There was trust in their eyes. As long as Big Brother Olio was around, they had nothing to fear. Big Brother Olio was the strongest!
Yet what they didn’t know was that Big Brother Olio, whom they thought of as the strongest, was currently in a huge panic. He wasn’t confident in beating them at all!
Olio could sense that the extraterrestrial demons were unprecedentedly strong this time. They were far, far stronger than the ones that had descended upon the continent in the past, especially when there were even quite a few among them who weren’t any weaker than himself!
What… were they supposed to do this time?
Olio’s countenance remained stoic, but he could hardly conceal the despair in his heart. He knew very well that they, the Boundless Giants, were currently facing the most terrifying catastrophe that they had ever had!
Show even a moment of carelessness, and they, the Boundless Giants, would completely become history itself!
O Great Prophet, I beg you, please give me a sign! Olio cried inwardly.
“Is the Great Prophet coming out or not?”
“If he’s not coming out, then we’re going to charge in there!”
“So, it seems like you want to do this the hard way! Let’s attack together, everyone! Once we wipe out those foolish Boundless Giants, we’ll naturally find their Great Prophet!”
“Attack!”
At last, the million experts from foreign existential planes could no longer hold back, and they launched their attacks. The strongest deities and Great Demon Gods among them took the lead and charged brazenly toward the Boundless Giants.
“Damn it!”
“They’re coming!”
“We’ll protect the Great Prophet even if we must die!”
“Fight to the death and protect Monarch Mountain!”
Boom!
Like huge, raging black waves, the million experts surged toward Monarch Mountain as though they were going to drown out the Boundless Giants and Monarch Mountain itself.
Against such attacks, the Boundless Giants naturally didn’t just sit and await death to befall them. They forged ahead in the face of the crisis, and both parties clashed against each other with a great boom.
Boom!
As though two huge waves had clashed against each other, vast and mighty shockwaves that shook the world erupted and spread into the surroundings. The dimension around them broke into pieces. Energy blasts ran rampant, strong gales wreaked havoc, and blood splashed everywhere…
The area around Monarch Mountain instantly became Hell itself. Vast numbers of Boundless Giants died tragically. The two parties weren’t in the same league at all!
One could easily envisage that the Boundless Giants would all be killed before long. Against the ferocious and terrifyingly strong experts from foreign existential planes, they didn’t have a chance of victory at all.
“Save them, Uncle!”
Anxiety and worry surfaced in Samo’s eyes. He turned to Meng Lei with a pleading look, hoping that he would render his assistance.
“Don’t worry. Uncle will definitely do something about it.”
Meng Lei gestured at Samo to calm down. Then, he said with a smile, “Before that, though, Uncle’s gonna bring you somewhere first.”
“Where are we going?”
A puzzled look came over Samo’s face, and then he realized that he had already arrived somewhere new.
“This is… The peak of Monarch Mountain?”
Samo was stunned.
“Yes, we’re at the peak.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
Monarch Mountain was tall and narrow, so the peak wasn’t very wide or spacious. In spite of that, a majestic shrine stood tall on the cramped and narrow peak.
The shrine was gray in color, and it was of an identical color palette to the Boundless Plane. Simple and boorish in style, it matched the Boundless Giants’ architectural style very much.
“The Monarch Shrine!” Samo exclaimed in a low voice.
He was incredibly excited, as though he had just seen something that existed only in legends.
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
Meng Lei gave him a smile and walked toward the Monarch Shrine while Samo hurriedly followed after him.
However, before they could push the doors open and enter, the Monarch Shrine’s doors slowly swung open by themselves. A deep, aged voice then floated out from within.
“You’ve come?”
“Uh…”
Meng Lei was stupefied for a moment there. He didn’t quite know what was going on. Nevertheless, he continued into the shrine, where the majestic statue of a Giant stood.
Clad in beast hide, the Giant held a gigantic axe.
His eyes were sharp and his countenance stern and awe-inspiring.
Meng Lei had never seen the Boundless King, but he could guess that that must be a statue of the Boundless King himself.
Of course, the statue wasn’t the point here. Rather, the target of Meng Lei’s attention was a white-haired elderly man seated cross-legged at the foot of the statue.
Short and small and as skinny as a stick, he was vastly different from the big, tall, strong, and muscular Boundless Giants.
“You’ve finally come, o he who is favored by the King!” The old man slowly lifted his head, revealing an aged visage covered in age spots.
“Are you the Great Prophet?”
Meng Lei looked the old man up and down with a puzzled look on his face. He asked, “What did you mean when you said what you did just now? It sounds as if you knew that I’d be coming?”
“Cough, cough!”
The Great Prophet started to cough badly. Then he replied, “Though the great Boundless King has perished, his brilliance continues to watch over and bless his descendants. It’s just a shame,” the Great Prophet sighed softly and said, “That the descendants were unfilial and ultimately couldn’t fulfill his dying wishes. I am truly ashamed!”
“Why is your explanation confusing me more and more, Great Prophet?” Meng Lei picked his ears and asked, “Can you be a little clearer?”
“Haha, you’ll understand right away!”
The Great Prophet gave a raspy laugh and slowly got onto his feet with his walking stick’s help. Then, he turned and walked right up to the statue and shifted one of the statue’s thumbs.
Crack!
The floor in front of the statue suddenly cracked and revealed a magic circle.
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and immediately recognized with just a glance that it was just a regular teleportation magic circle. There was nothing complex or profound about it.
The Great Prophet activated the magic circle and said to Meng Lei, “Go ahead and enter, he who is favored by the King. You will receive the answers you are looking for within!”
Meng Lei asked with a frown, “Where exactly does this teleportation magic circle lead to, Great Prophet?”
“The place where you wish to go!”
After uttering these few words, the Great Prophet retreated to the side and stayed there. As though an old monk that had entered a state of meditation, his head was hung low, and he didn’t speak anymore. No matter how Meng Lei tried to probe him, he was as if a woodblock and simply didn’t say even a word more.
“I can’t help but find the whole thing rather strange, Meng Lei.” Dodola said gravely, “You’d better think carefully about whether or not you really want to go in.”
“I’ll go! There’s nothing much to really think about.”
Surprisingly, Meng Lei didn’t hesitate much. He said, “The metal-origin divine body, wood-origin divine body, and thunder-origin divine body are all in me now, so my body is even stronger than the average Great Perfection deity now. Added to this my time-based laws of nature, I’m confident that I can put up a fight even if a Chief God makes an appearance!”
Meng Lei then said to Samo, “Stay here and wait for me to return, Samo. I’ll be back in a jiffy!”
“‘kay, Uncle!”
Meng Lei stepped into the teleportation circle and vanished from where he was. Only then did the Great Prophet raise his head, a bright gleam flashing across his murky eyes.
Whoosh!
The world spun for a while, and then, Meng Lei arrived somewhere else.
Dazzling and eye-catching light of ten colors filled the whole world. There was eye-catching metal, burning fire, heavy earth, vitality wood, flashing thunder, gentle water…
Rich laws of nature auras rippled throughout the place at will. Apart from that, there was also pure, unadulterated Power of Origin enveloping Meng Lei!
Floating quietly in the center of this whole world was a crystal that shone with light of ten colors. As though the sun, it reigned over the whole world.
“The Heart of The Existential Plane!”
Meng Lei recognized the crystal at first glance.
“You’re here.”
It was right at this moment that a deep and boorish-sounding voice abruptly rang out beside his ear.
" }, { "id": 360, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-360", "title": "Chapter 360 - Reviving The King, Greetings, My Master", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 360: Reviving The King, Greetings, My Master
“You’re here.”
A boorish voice abruptly rang out.
Meng Lei suddenly swung his head to the side to see several rays of light shooting out of the Heart of The Existential Plane’s surface. Then, they converged into a big burly man clad in beast hide and holding a gigantic axe. Boorish and heroic, he had an air that overlooked the whole world around him.
“The Boundless King!” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, who couldn’t help but exclaim, “You’re still alive?!”
“No, he’s dead! Take a closer look—the one in front of you right now is just a fragment of his divine spirit.”
Dodola’s voice rang out. “The Boundless King is a supreme, juggernaut-class existence. If he really were still alive, you’d have been flattened a long time ago.”
“That’s true!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei. He wasn’t afraid of anyone in the whole Boundless Plane, and this remained true even if the Boundless Plane already had a master.
However, the Boundless King was the only exception. After all, that was a computer bug-like existence!
True enough, the Boundless King gave a hearty laugh and said, “You don’t need to be so nervous. I have indeed already met my demise. This is a divine spirit fragment that I left on the Heart of The Existential Plane.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly in response, but puzzlement filled him the next moment. He said, “Since you have a divine spirit fragment here, then why don’t you seize someone else’s body and be reborn? I believe you definitely have the capability to do so!”
Even a half-deity’s divine spirit fragment was near-immortal and near-indestructible. Should a half-deity die, they could totally just seize someone else’s body and come back to life. This was also the reason why so many evil deities had managed to reincarnate.
Of course, the rebirth process would definitely be fraught with great difficulties. It could only be said to harbor a chance of being reborn. It couldn’t guarantee that one would fully be brought back to life.
That was already the case for even half-deities, let alone the Boundless King. Meng Lei believed that as long as he was willing, he could totally seize someone else’s body, come back to life, and make a name for himself once more.
The Boundless Plane shook his head and replied, “You’re not wrong. I can indeed make use of the divine spirit fragment that I left on the Heart of The Existential Plane to come back to life, but I’m above doing something like that.”
“Why?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“My divine spirit origin energy has already been destroyed. I won’t be able to return to my peak condition even if I seize someone else’s body and come back to life. I’ll only be able to reach the Great Perfection stage at the very most.”
The Boundless King smiled disdainfully and said, “That is but just mere Great Perfection. I’m above doing something like that!”
His words, however, puzzled Meng Lei all the more. The Boundless King had been a great Juggernaut-class existence before he had died.
Juggernaut?
What was a Juggernaut?
A Chief God that had 100% comprehended a type of supreme laws of nature… That was what a Juggernaut was!
Since he could cultivate and reach the Great Perfection stage, then he could continue to cultivate further, couldn’t he? With his memories from the past, comprehending supreme laws of nature shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
He shouldn’t have any problem returning to his peak.
“Meng Lei, the rumors say that the Boundless King didn’t cultivate laws of nature but just his body.”
Having seen through Meng Lei’s puzzlement, Dodola explained, “He’s said to be the only existence that had ever managed to cultivate his body to the Juggernaut stage!”
“A Juggernaut-level body? No wonder!”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei as realization dawned upon him.
“My circumstances are unique, so it’s extremely difficult for me to return to my peak. It’s impossible unless I can find my divine body from back then!”
The Boundless King sighed.
“I see.”
Meng Lei let out a small sigh, too.
“But I’ve seen hope now!”
The Boundless King looked at Meng Lei and said, “Although it’s just a tiny sliver of hope, compared to the huge returns that rebirth would bring, I’m willing to stake everything on it!”
Meng Lei perked up.
The Boundless King’s eyes were bright and intense as he asked, “Little fellow, you’ve comprehended time-based laws of nature, haven’t you?”
“Yes!”
Meng Lei didn’t keep it a secret. Besides, he couldn’t, anyway. As the master of the existential plane, nothing that happened on the Boundless Plane would escape the Boundless King’s control. As such, he must also have witnessed him fusing five types of laws of nature together and comprehending time-based laws of nature.
“Can you let me feel it?”
The Boundless King had a fervent look on his countenance.
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he reached his arm out, pointed at the Boundless King, and commanded, “Freeze!”
Buzz!
A ripple of energy that contained time-based laws of nature quietly spread into the vicinity, enveloping the Boundless King and the air 100 meters around him.
Whoosh!
The Boundless King became still, as did the air around him.
To be more accurate, they didn’t become “still”. Rather, time had stopped temporarily—the time within 100 meters of where the Boundless King was had stopped temporarily!
A brief moment later, Meng Lei dismissed the time-based laws of nature, and time within those 100 meters began to flow once more.
“The stopping of time!”
A glint appeared in the Boundless King’s eyes. “It is indeed true blue time-based laws of nature! Never would I have thought that someone would actually be able to comprehend time-based laws of nature in this wide universe!”
The Boundless King exclaimed with admiration, “We actually all know that apart from the four major supreme laws of nature, there’s also another type of supreme laws of nature that can control time in this world. Even so, knowing is one thing, while discovering and comprehending it is another thing altogether.
“You’re the first person to have comprehended time-based laws of nature. You can definitely be said to be amazingly gifted and extraordinarily talented!”
Dodola was displeased at his comment right away. It immediately raised its voice and said, “What kind of nonsensical ‘first person to have comprehended time-based laws of nature’ is that?! The God of Time was the first!”
Rather amused, Meng Lei replied, “The Boundless King died before the God of Time. It’s very normal that he would misunderstand. Don’t hold it against a dead man!”
“Hmph! You’ve already become the first person to have comprehended time-based laws of nature. Of course you wouldn’t argue about it. Hypocrite!” said a displeased Dodola sulkily.
Meng Lei rolled his eyes.
The Boundless King went on. “Time-based laws of nature can manipulate time itself, so it has a chance of reviving me, albeit the chances are slim and close to non-existent.”
The Boundless King turned to Meng Lei and asked, “Little fellow, are you willing to revive me?”
“I’m willing to give it a go, but you should also understand that with my current abilities, I can’t even revive a mortal, let alone someone like you. After all, you’ve already been gone for such a long time, too,” replied Meng Lei with a shake of his head.
“I understand, naturally.”
The Boundless King nodded lightly.
“Secondly, nothing is free in this world,” the corners of Meng Lei’s lips curled upward, “If you want me to revive you, then you’ll have to show me enough sincerity!”
“Hahaha, of course!”
The Boundless King let out a hearty laugh and said, “Disregarding the fact that I couldn’t possibly have you help me for free, regardless, I would still invest in you with everything I’ve got and help you to grow faster if only to have you become capable of reviving me as soon as possible!”
Light flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes.
“Although I’ve already perished, I still have the riches that I saved up when I was still alive.”
The Boundless King said with a big smile, “Little fellow, as long as you swear a divine oath and promise to revive me, I’ll give you all my riches!”
All the wealth that he saved up in his whole lifetime!
Meng Lei’s eyes lit up brightly, and he swore the divine oath without hesitation.
“As long as the Boundless King gives me all of the riches that he had accumulated when he was still alive, I’m willing to revive the Boundless King…”
An inexplicable force from an unseen world enveloped Meng Lei in the instant that the divine oath was successfully made. Meng Lei knew intuitively that this was the power of the oath. Should he go against his oath, then…
“Great!”
The Boundless King laughed heartily. Then, he reached out and pointed at Meng Lei, upon which a golden beam then entered the area in between his brows. Meng Lei closed his eyes and swiftly took it in. After a brief moment, he couldn’t help but laugh wryly.
The Boundless King’s riches were indeed vast and enormous, so much so that Meng Lei could hardly imagine it. However, just like the God of Time, that guy had actually divided them into quite a few batches and stored them in different places!
If Meng Lei wanted to get his hands on the riches, then he’d have to look for them one by one. Tedious and troublesome, this was totally a scam!
“Dammit, why do I feel like I’ve been had?”
Meng Lei felt a headache coming on. He’d initially thought that the Boundless King’s riches were all stored and hidden on the Boundless Plane. How convenient would that have been? Yet…
“It’s up to you now, little fellow!” The Boundless King was full of anticipation. “If you succeed, we’ll naturally meet again!
“Oh, and by the way, do help those descendants of mine out a little if you can. Thanks!”
Then, his big and tall body dispersed with a boom, turning into countless multi-colored light particles that dissipated into nothingness and vanished completely into the universe.
The Boundless King… had fully departed this time!
“He’s gone?”
Dodola appeared out of nowhere.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Meng Lei then looked at the Heart of The Existential Plane a short distance away. The divine spirit mark left on the Heart of The Existential Plane had completely disappeared, rendering it a master-less object now.
“The Boundless King sure is big-hearted and unrestrained!” Dodola sighed and said, “He dispersed his divine spirit fragment and erased himself right away after you agreed to his request. His courage and boldness are not what the average man can compare to.”
“He’s the Boundless King, y’know!” Meng Lei sighed emotionally. Then, he said, “It’s time to go, Dodola.”
“Go? Aren’t you going to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane?” asked a puzzled Dodola.
“All the Boundless Giants would be dead by the time I’m done refining the Heart of The Existential Plane.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Let’s go. Let’s take care of the foreign existential plane experts first.”
“That’s true.”
Dodola said no more.
Meng Lei left his divine spirit mark on the Heart of The Existential Plane so that he could locate it again next time. Then, he returned to the Monarch Shrine with Dodola.
“You’re out?”
The Great Prophet looked at Meng Lei and asked agitatedly, “Have you met the great Lord Juggernaut?”
“Yes, I have.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
“Greetings, my new master!”
The Great Prophet dropped onto his knees with a thud and prostrated before Meng Lei with a face full of piousness.
“Your new master?” Master raised an eyebrow. “Why do you address me so?”
“The Lord Juggernaut has issued a holy decree just now,” the Great Prophet replied respectfully, “From this point on, you shall be the new master of us Boundless Giants!”
“I see.”
Meng Lei waved and said, “Rise!”
“Thank you, Master!”
The Great Prophet rose to his feet respectfully.
“How’s the situation outside?” asked Meng Lei dispassionately.
“My clan’s children have nearly died out.”
A hint of grief flashed across the Great Prophet’s eyes. The Boundless Giants that guarded Monarch Mountain were the strongest and most elite men on the whole of the Boundless Plane.
Now that all of them had been wiped out, the blow to the Boundless Giants could be said to be extremely great. Without tens of thousands of years of recuperation, they could forget about recovering and getting back on their feet.
“Let’s go. We’ll go out and take a look.”
Meng Lei took the lead and started to walk out of the shrine. The Great Prophet hurriedly followed after him. The current Great Prophet was quick on his feet and walked smoothly. Which part of him even looked like he was about to croak?
That old coot!
Like what the Great Prophet had said, nearly all the Boundless Giants guarding Monarch Mountain had been wiped out. Only Olio, the strongest among them, and a handful of others were still putting up a resistance.
Even so, they had already been pushed back to the area right in front of the shrine and were stubbornly defending the Monarch Shrine. On top of that, every one of them sported injuries all over themselves and was riddled in wounds. They were already close to breaking down.
“The losses sure are great…”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he said dispassionately, “That’s enough.”
Boom!
He wasn’t particularly loud, yet his voice boomed right next to everyone’s ears like a clap of thunder. It shocked everyone into halting their motions, and all of them looked over at once.
“Who’s he?”
“Great Prophet?”
All the experts from each major existential plane turned to Meng Lei with a hint of burning fervency in their eyes. So, he was the Great Prophet, the one that knew about the Monarch’s treasure?
“Who’s that guy?”
On the other hand, Olio and several other Boundless Giants’ expressions changed drastically, and they looked at Meng Lei with hostility. “Who are you? Why are you in the Monarch Shrine?”
“Olio, don’t you show any disrespect now!” The Great Prophet barked, “This is our, the Boundless Giants’, new master!”
“Our new master?” Olio was stunned. “What do you mean by that, Great Prophet?”
“The new master has already met Lord Juggernaut. Lord Juggernaut has personally appointed him as his heir, so he’s naturally the Boundless Giants’ new master!”
The Great Prophet’s countenance darkened, and he barked, “Hurry and pay your respects to our new master!”
“Greetings, my new master!”
Even though Olio’s head was reeling from the news, he didn’t dare to question the Great Prophet and hastily bowed in greeting.
“Greetings, my new master!”
The other surviving Boundless Giants also knelt and kowtowed. Even Big Brother Olio had gotten onto his knees, so how would they possibly dare to raise any objections?
“The master is the master himself. Why is there a distinction between the old and the new? Remove the word ‘new’ in the future.” Then, Meng Lei said dispassionately with a wave, “Rise, everyone.”
“Yes, Master!”
“Master?”
" }, { "id": 361, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-361", "title": "Chapter 361 - Smashed In A Strike, One Man Army", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 361: Smashed In A Strike, One Man Army
“Master?”
As they witnessed this sudden event, the experts from each existential plane were bewildered—since when the Boundless Giants had a master?
Wait!
What did that old man say?
‘The new master has already met Lord Juggernaut. Lord Juggernaut has personally appointed him as his heir, so he’s naturally the Boundless Giants’ new master!’
“Perhaps…”
A jolt went through the foreign existential planes’ experts as they looked at Meng Lei together.
“He met the Boundless King?”
“The Boundless King is still alive?”
“Damn it! The Boundless King is still alive!”
A furor went through the experts. A person’s name was like a tree’s shadow[1], the Boundless King was the supreme Juggernaut. If he was not dead, the experts would be dead in no time!
“Wait! The Boundless King is surely dead, or else we would all be dead by now! Plus, this fellow wouldn’t become the Boundless Giants’ new master!”
“Oh, you’re right! That makes perfect sense. He must’ve seen the divine spirit fragment of the Boundless King. A supreme Juggernaut like him must have left behind some divine spirit fragments!”
“That makes sense…”
The various experts heaved a sigh of relief before they looked toward Meng Lei. “So, this means he has inherited everything from the Boundless King?”
“Yes, he must know where the Monarch’s treasure is hidden!”
“The Monarch’s treasure…”
Their eyes were now gleaming with hunger, like starving wolves staring at Meng Lei greedily.
“Little fellow, you must know where the Monarch’s treasure is hidden, right?”
An eight-winged angel threatened, “You better spit it out now! Or else, I’ll torture you with the cruelest methods ever known!”
“Yeah! Tell us the hidden location, and we’ll be merciful to spare your life! Otherwise, don’t blame us for being ruthless!”
“A bunch of fools! Why waste time talking when we can kill him straightaway and search his soul’s memory?”
Search his soul?
“He’s mine! Don’t any of you dare fight me for it!”
Just as everyone was arguing, a black figure flashed across the crowd and shot toward Meng Lei at top speed.
“Damn it!”
“Despicable Dark Demonic Dragon!”
The experts were fuming, but they made no further delay as they joined in to charge at Meng Lei.
“Protect our Master!” the Great Prophet commanded.
“Yes! Great Prophet!”
Olio and the remaining Boundless Giants rushed in front of Meng Lei, prepared to fight the incoming enemies.
“All of you stand down.”
Meng Lei waved the giants off.
“But, Master—”
“Stand down!”
Meng Lei brooked no refusal.
“Yes, Master!”
Olio and the rest could only retreat obediently. Still, they prepared to defend Meng Lei anytime the experts started their attacks. They did not think that their new master could stop the extraterrestrial demons.
“You’re mine, kid!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon looked at Meng Lei, who was becoming larger and larger. Its eyes were firm and scorching hot as it had decided to swallow Meng Lei directly, and it would leave promptly.
After shaking those annoying competitors off, it would find a safe place to search through Meng Lei’s memory to find out the Monarch’s treasure’s location.
The Monarch’s treasure is mine. No one shall snatch it away from me! The Dark Demonic Dragon exclaimed in its mind.
It was getting nearer and nearer!
50 meters, 30 meters, 10 meters…
“Come here! Kid!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon opened its huge mouth. Upon seeing this, the experts chasing behind were shocked. “Ugh! It’s going to devour that little fellow for itself!”
“Greedy fellow! That’s too despicable!”
“Quickly! Stop that dragon!”
“Damn! It’s too late!”
The Dark Demonic Dragon was a high-level Great Demon God, after all. It was one of the fastest among the experts, especially when it had gotten the head start. It had pulled away from the rest behind it in a few moments.
The countless experts could only watch helplessly as it was about to devour Meng Lei.
However, just as everyone thought Meng Lei was about to be swallowed, something unbelievable happened the next moment.
A gigantic hammer appeared in Meng Lei’s hands, and he swung it up ferociously, smashing the Dark Demonic Dragon.
Bam!
The Dark Demonic Dragon’s mouth had an intimate moment with the hammer. Everyone else could only hear the crisp crackling sounds of broken bones as they witnessed the dragon’s head explode into pieces in front of them.
The confident Dark Demonic Dragon the moment before was now dead.
“Ah!”
The sight put the brakes upon the wave of experts. They could not help but gasp when they saw the Dark Demonic Dragon’s lifeless body.
The Dark Demonic Dragon was at a level on par with a high-level higher deity, only a few among the experts were more powerful!
If such an expert was smashed in the head easily with a hammer, how powerful was Meng Lei?
For a while, all eyes on Meng Lei were filled with cautiousness. The experts knew that Meng Lei could do the same to any one of them.
They had to be careful now.
“So our new master possesses such capabilities?”
The Great Prophet, Olio, and the remaining Boundless Giants were shocked too. Meng Lei’s power was beyond their imaginations, much stronger than they had expected.
“Who else?”
Meng Lei swung the hammer around to shake off the blood and flesh on it before looking at the experts in a calm and composed manner.
They did not reply as they were all astounded, and nobody dared to make a move.
“Everyone! No matter how strong he is, he is just one person. While there are so many of us!”
A Primordial Behemoth King yelled suddenly, “It’s difficult for two fists to beat four hands. Even a hungry tiger could not deal with a wolf pack. I refuse to believe that we can’t take him down with so many of us!”
“That’s right! Once we charge together, he’ll be no match against us!”
“The Monarch’s treasure is with him. So if we take him out, we’ll obtain the treasure—the Boundless King’s lifelong savings! How can we miss out on it?”
“We better make use of this great opportunity! If we miss this, we’ll have to wait another 30,000 years!”
“Kill!”
The experts moved at the same time. They were like a ferocious tiger emerging from the mountains, swarming Meng Lei from every direction with various attacks relentlessly.
“Protect our Master!” the Great Prophet bellowed immediately.
“Stay back!” Meng Lei said indifferently, “Don’t ruin the show.”
As he spoke, Meng Lei switched the hammer for the Grim Reaper Scythe before he charged out.
Since there were too many enemies, he did not need to aim his strikes at all.
Moreover, Meng Lei’s speed was far superior to the experts’, and his teleportation ability reinforced it. He was like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep. Similar to when Madara Uchiha charged into the Allied Shinobi Forces[2]. It was not a battle at all—it was an outright one-sided massacre!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Splurt!
Blood sprayed across as heads flew around.
Experts were getting killed constantly.
“Damn it!”
“He’s too fast!”
“We can’t even touch him!”
Although the battlefield was in a mess, the experts knew—as Meng Lei killed another dozen deities—that they would get wiped out at this rate.
“God’s Domain! Use God’s Domain to restrain him!” yelled someone.
“Yes, yes! God’s Domain!”
Buzz!
Various God’s Domains shrouded the area within 10,000 miles in an instant. As many God’s Domains stacked up, the power of imprisonment was enough to suppress anything.
The problem was… how could so many domains stack up together perfectly?
As such, a tragedy followed.
It was not Meng Lei who got imprisoned. Instead, it was the experts who got trapped by their own temporary allies!
“Sh*t! I can’t move!”
“Me neither!”
“Bastard! Whose God’s Domain is this…”
“Haha! You all went for wool and came back shorn!”
Meng Lei almost died in laughter. He would surely not miss out on this perfect opportunity. And so, a bloody massacring feast ensued.
Splurt!
Splurt!
“Idiots! Remove your goddamn domains!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
[2] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 362, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-362", "title": "Chapter 362 - Primordial Human, Packed Up For Enhancement", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 362: Primordial Human, Packed Up For Enhancement
The group of experts around a million-strong was from different factions, so commands would naturally never be standardized, not to mention stacking up God’s Domains in sync.
The result was disastrous.
Before Meng Lei could attack them, the experts imprisoned each other, and they could barely move. It was utterly miserable!
“Kill!”
Meng Lei would not let this chance slide pass, so he started a one-sided massacre with heads flying around in the air.
“Remove your God’s Domains, you bastards!”
Some of the experts bellowed angrily. For once, the commands were standardized as various God’s Domains were finally removed at the critical moment. The imprisonment disappeared.
After regaining mobility, the experts charged at Meng Lei furiously, trying to vent out all their rage on him.
“Damn it!”
“Kill him!”
“Kill this bastard!”
“The Monarch’s treasure is ours!”
“You’re still thinking of the treasure?” Meng Lei could not hide his smile as he uttered, “Time Freeze!”
Buzz!
A strange aura of time spread out with Meng Lei as the center, covering the entire battlefield. Time had frozen within this area.
The experts froze.
The dropping bodies and splattering blood froze.
The broken void and its energy waves froze.
It was as if a pause button was pressed, and everything went still.
“That’s—”
Outside the affected battlefield, the Great Prophet, Olio, and the remaining Boundless Giants, as well as the Fairy Goddess and the ones who had not joined in the battle, looked at the frozen void, their mouths wide open in disbelief.
“To imprison the entire void and a million experts, how could his God’s Domain be that strong?”
“No, this isn’t God’s Domain!”
“Not God’s Domain? Then what is it?”
“No idea, but it’s definitely not God’s Domain!”
“Your fates were sealed from the very start!”
Meng Lei lifted his right hand. He could have used mass destructive skills to wipe out everyone, but he did not do so.
Meng Lei just wanted to kill everyone slash by slash, strike by strike. He enjoyed the feeling of being in absolute control!
Spurt!
Spurt!
Spurt!
Heads flew upwards one by one, and blood sprayed all across the field.
Those watching the battle could only tremble in deep fear as they witnessed Meng Lei’s massacre.
Other than Meng Lei, the only one excited was none other than Dodola as it laughed and cried.
“See that? That’s the time-based laws of nature! That’s how powerful it is! Sob… Time-based laws of nature are the most powerful…”
A minute passed.
The massacre continued.
Ten minutes passed.
It was still the same.
Half an hour had passed.
Meng Lei finally stopped.
A million experts perished, becoming headless bodies.
The hundreds of thousands of headless corpses floating in the void were absolutely shocking, especially when these corpses were mid-level higher deities, high-level higher deities, mid-level Great Demon Gods, high-level Great Demon Gods.
The only fortunate thing was that these experts did not suffer any pain or fear at their life’s final moment and died quietly.
When time froze, their minds were in a paused state. Hence, their deaths were painless.
“Collect!”
Meng Lei waved his arm and stored all these headless bodies into the Tower of Time. Once the little golden tree devoured these carcasses, it would surely grow to a great extent.
Meng Lei then stored all the heads from which he would dig out the divine cores, demonic cores, and spirit cores later to diminish their divine spirits and earn his rewards.
After doing all these, Meng Lei returned to the mountaintop.
“Greetings, Master!”
The Great Prophet and the rest bowed hurriedly once they saw Meng Lei. Their eyes were brimming with awe.
They had just fought with those demons, so they knew how scarily powerful the enemies were. They thought they were goners before Meng Lei wiped out the million-strong enemy force. That was an unbelievable feat!
“Stay on guard outside. I’ll be refining the Heart of The Existential Plane of the Boundless Plane.”
“Yes, Master!”
The Great Prophet and the rest of the giants answered affirmatively and surrounded the Monarch Shrine tightly, surveying the remaining foreign demons vigilantly.
The Fairy Goddess and the other goddesses were the only other experts left.
“W-what do we do now?” a goddess asked in a trembling voice.
“What else can we do? We’ll just find somewhere to stay for around 20 years. When the dimensional gate reopens, we’ll leave this nightmarish place!”
“Indeed! Leave as soon as possible!”
The goddesses had no objections. How could they muster up the courage to mess around after an event like that? All they wanted at this point was to wait for 20 years before they could leave quietly.
As for the Monarch’s treasure… screw that! They would never think of such life-threatening things ever again as it would be tragic if they died here.
“Sister Ukana and all, thank you so much. If it weren’t for your earlier advice, we would have died by now!”
“We’re lucky to have Ukana and all today…”
The other existential planes’ goddesses looked at the Lava Goddess and Fairy Goddess with eyes full of gratefulness.
“Everyone’s from the Nature Gods. We wouldn’t watch you all die in front of us!”
The Lava Goddess looked at the Monarch Shrine and sighed. “Well, this guy is just incredible with such a level of power!”
“Indeed, those were a million experts including so many higher deities and Great Demon Gods of a high level. He killed all of them all by himself…”
The goddesses’ expressions were hard to read.
It was the same for the Fairy Goddess, but she was worried about something else. Since Meng Lei had killed so many experts of different backgrounds, he would surely offend the various gods, demons, and many other races.
These enormous clans would not let him off. What awaited Meng Lei would be an endless rain of enemies seeking revenge. This would not be far in the future.
The day that the dimensional gate would reopen 20 years later would be the day of revenge.
“Sigh, take care!”
…
“Ding! 1 Eight-Winged Fallen Angel killed. 61 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Behemoth killed. 920 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding! 1 Cerberus killed. 60.5 million Divinity Crystals gained!”
“Ding…”
The system notifications kept ringing. They were music to Meng Lei’s ears, and he became even more pumped up to destroy the divine spirits. His Grim Reaper’s Eye opened, extracted, and devoured over and over…
After over an hour, the million deities and demon gods were completely dead. Meng Lei took a peek at those staggering numbers on his stats interface. One word—satisfying!
Host: Meng Lei
Wealth: 64 trillion Divinity Crystals
“That’s how you make a fortune! It is always the fastest way to earn Divinity Crystals!”
Of course, Meng Lei did not forget about the spatial rings the experts carried with them. Although many had left their wealth behind before coming to the Boundless Plane, there were bound to be exceptions.
After a round of looting, Meng Lei earned another 6 trillion Divinity Crystals, which added up to a staggering 70 trillion Divinity Crystals.
“70 trillion Divinity Crystals should be enough to raise the time-based laws of nature assimilation rate by 1%. But, that can wait a while longer.” Meng Lei set his sights on his various bloodlines. “It’s time to improve my bloodlines!”
“System, raise my Primordial Human bloodline assimilation rate!” Meng Lei gave his first command.
“Ding! Raising the Primordial Human bloodline by 1% requires 100 million Divinity Crystals. May I know whether you’d like to raise it?” replied the system coldly.
“Raise it to 100%!”
Meng Lei did not hesitate at all.
Whoosh!
His wealth decreased by 6,4 billion Divinity Crystals in an instant.
6,4 billion Divinity Crystals was a huge sum. Normally, Meng Lei would have been in pain to part away with so many Divinity Crystals. However, Meng Lei remained unfazed this time for obvious reasons.
Boom!
A great, deafening sound rang within his bloodline. Meng Lei could feel a heavy, inclusive, and gentle energy envelop his body while he emanated an iridescent, divine glow.
At that moment, a warm sensation coursed through Meng Lei’s body. It was as if he had returned to his mother’s embrace—sweet, comfy, warm, peaceful…
This was a kind of comfort that was felt from head to toe, from inside out, spreading from the deepest part of his bloodline. This experience was unrivaled. Meng Lei could not find more words to describe this satisfying sensation.
The entire process did not last too long, and Meng Lei opened his eyes slowly. His dark pupils were as pure as a baby’s eyes. Meng Lei’s skin was fair and tender like a baby, without any pores or dirt visible. His body was pristine without any form of filth. At present, any of those popular fresh meats and delicate ladies would pale in comparison to him.
However, Meng Lei knew that even if his skin was tender and soft, it was incredibly tough. Even if a Great Perfection-level higher deity attacked him the best it could, Meng Lei would not be harmed the slightest bit.
And the muscles!
His muscles weren’t bulging like a bodybuilding champion. Instead, they were ripped and toned enough, containing an endless amount of power that was much more potent than before.
“My Primordial Human bloodline is now fully awakened!” Meng Lei lets out a sigh. “Now I should be a complete Primordial Human, right?”
“Impressive! You’ve gotten stronger yet again!” Dodola appeared on Meng Lei’s shoulders. “And your divine body is so perfect right now. Tsk, tsk. You’re getting pretty handsome, young fellow. If I were a female, I would definitely lick your toes!”
“Handsome?”
Meng Lei waved casually to form an ice mirror. Looking at the person in the mirror, he finally understood what Dodola meant.
Six-feet tall, physically trim, charming face, tender skin—everything about Meng Lei’s features was perfect. He was really matching Pan An and defeating Song Yu[1].
“If I returned to Earth now, I would mesmerize so many fangirls with this face!”
Meng Lei marveled as he gave his next order. “System, enhance the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline!”
“Ding! The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline. After enhancement, it will become an Ancient God Bloodline—Primordial Gods-Slaying Rat Bloodline. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals,” the system replied coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
“System, enhance the Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline!”
“Ding! The Divine Netherworld Phoenix bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline. After enhancement, it will become an Ancient God Bloodline—Netherworld Ancestral Phoenix Bloodline. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals,” the system replied coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
“System, enhance the Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline!”
“Ding! The Hundred-Armed Giant bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline. After enhancement, it will become an Ancient God Bloodline—Hundred-Armed Giant King Bloodline. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals,” the system replied coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
“System, enhance the Grim Reaper bloodline!”
“Ding! The Grim Reaper bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline. After enhancement, it will become an Ancient God Bloodline—Grim Reaper King Bloodline. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals,” the system replied coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
“System, enhance the Frost Gods bloodline!”
“Ding! The Frost Gods bloodline is classified as a powerful True God Bloodline. After enhancement, it will become an Ancient God Bloodline—Frost King Bloodline. The enhancement cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals,” the system replied coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 363, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-363", "title": "Chapter 363 - A Chief God'S Mighty Aura, A Powerful Enemy Attacks", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 363: A Chief God’s Mighty Aura, A Powerful Enemy Attacks
By the time all the enhancements were complete, Meng Lei felt as if his divine body had improved in quality by a whole notch again.
He didn’t know concretely what kind of standard it had reached, but… it really was very powerful!
Meng Lei had a feeling that the current him could kill ten of his previous selves with a single punch. The difference between then and now was like night and day—there was no comparability between the two at all.
“I currently own six types of Ancient God Bloodlines. This is definitely a groundbreaking first. Is there anyone in the whole wide universe that’s as impressive as I am?”
The Primordial Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline!
The Netherworld Ancestral Phoenix bloodline!
The Hundred-Armed Giant King bloodline!
The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline!
The Frost King bloodline!
The Grim Reaper King bloodline!
Added to this the fact that Meng Lei himself was a Primordial Human, that made it a total of seven Ancient God Bloodlines. Meng Lei was undoubtedly the one and only person like that in the whole world!
“System, how many Divinity Crystals does it cost to enhance my divine body?”
Meng Lei wanted to know how strong his divine body currently was. Asking the system was the simplest way to find out.
“Ding! The host’s Physical Body Constitution is currently that of a mid-level Ancient God’s and will rival that of a high-level Ancient God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 100 trillion Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“Will you enhance it?”
“A mid-level Ancient God? Tsk, tsk. That’s a lesser Chief God-level divine body!”
Meng Lei let out a long breath of air. “Calm down, calm down! This is to be expected!”
He had already assimilated his metal-origin divine body, his wood-origin divine body had reached Great Mastery-level, and his Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate had been raised to 100%.
By this point, his divine body was already comparable to a Great Perfection deity’s—in other words, a low-level Ancient God’s!
He had then also assimilated the thunder-origin divine body and boosted it to Great Mastery-level, thereby strengthening his divine body even further.
After that, he had also boosted the Primordial Human bloodline and strengthened several bloodlines today. Thus, his divine body had undergone another round of furious enhancements.
Thus, it was completely understandable that his divine body had reached the mid-level Ancient God stage after the series of enhancements!
“But…” Meng Lei marveled, “My divine body has only become comparable to a mid-level Ancient God’s, even though I’ve enhanced so many attributes one after the other. It’s apparent for this just how vast the difference between a low-level Ancient God and a mid-level one is!”
(Note: Mid-level Ancient God = Lesser Chief God)
“Given my mid-level Ancient God body and the time-based laws of nature that I’ve comprehended, my current self is already completely in a position to fight a lesser Chief God head-on now!”
Meng Lei murmured, “If I must pick out a shortcoming, then it would be my divine spirit that’s at the high-level higher deity stage. How can I, someone who’s comparable to a Chief God, allow myself to have any shortcomings?”
“System, enhance my divine spirit!”
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a high-level higher deity’s and will rival that of a Great Perfection-level higher deity’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 12 billion Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
As his Wealth decreased by 12 billion Divinity Crystals, his divine spirit also reached Great Perfection-level as desired.
It wasn’t over yet, though!
Meng Lei glanced at his Wealth value of 70 trillion Divinity Crystals and gave the order for enhancement again.
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a Great Perfection-level higher deity and will rival that of a lesser Chief God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 1 trillion Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth went down by 1 trillion Divinity Crystals again.
Boom!
After a long while…
Meng Lei slowly let out a pent-up breath. His eyes gleamed brightly, and fearsome divine spirit energy waves emanated from him and swept into every direction.
Boom!
Outside the hall, the Great Prophet, Olio, the other Boundless Giants, the Fairy Goddess, and the other goddesses that hadn’t yet left were all flattened onto the ground.
Cold sweat drenched everyone. The divine spirit force coming from the shrine was simply too fearsome. They didn’t have any means of resisting it at all.
“A… A Chief God!”
“That’s Chief God-level divine spirit force!”
“Has he actually broken through to the Chief God stage?”
“A Chief God? What kind of joke is that? How can he possibly have a Chief God divine core?”
The goddesses were indescribably horrified. They didn’t believe that Meng Lei could break through to the Chief God stage. After all, he didn’t have a Chief God divine core at all, so how could he possibly attain Chief Godhood?
Yet, these were true blue Chief God-level divine power energy waves!
So, here came the problem—how exactly did Meng Lei manage to achieve that?
Horrified!
Perplexed!
Disbelieving!
Inconceivable!
Of course, while the Great Prophet and the others were certainly astounded, they were naturally also overjoyed. Meng Lei was the Boundless Giants’ new master. The stronger he became, the safer they would be.
“Congrats, Meng Lei!”
Dodola circled and fluttered around Meng Lei as it let out an emotional sigh from the bottom of its heart. It said, “Apart from your comprehension of time-based laws of nature that’s still slightly inferior to the God of Time, you’ve already completely surpassed him in every other aspect. He’d definitely be greatly comforted if he knew!”
“You’ve finally said it!” A beaming Meng Lei said, “It sure wasn’t easy to gain your approval!”
“Work hard, Meng Lei!” An encouraging Dodola said, “You’ll definitely stand at the pinnacle of the world someday!”
“Haha, I hope your wishes come true!”
Meng Lei then broke into a smile and said, “It’s time to refine the Boundless Plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane.”
“Yeah!”
After that, Meng Lei teleported to where the Heart of The Existential Plane was. He enveloped the Heart of The Existential Plane in his divine spirit power and started to refine it furiously.
Had it been the Dark Hell Demonic Emperor, the Three-Headed Hell Empress, or the Fallen Emperor instead, they would never be able to refine a mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane in under several hundred—or even 1,000—years.
But Meng Lei was different. He had a lesser Chief God-level divine spirit, so refining it was a much easier task and naturally also took less time.
Time passed rapidly during the refinement process. Before he knew it, 20 years had passed.
…
On this day, the Fairy Goddess and the other 30-odd goddesses eagerly went over to where the dimensional gate was and waited for it to open.
“I’m finally leaving this goddamn place!”
The Iron Goddess was rather agitated. She lamented, “My goodness! The last 20 years were the most arduous 20 years of my entire lifetime. I spent every moment in fear and trepidation, deathly afraid that that guy would have a screw loose in his head and come over to kill us all!”
“Spending every day in that guy’s shadow was certainly an ordeal. Fortunately, our term here ends today, so we can finally leave!” added the Ocean Goddess.
“I swear I’ll never step into the Boundless Plane ever again…”
The goddesses chatted noisily with one another as they vented their feelings of repression and frustration that they had accumulated over the last 20 years. Only the Fairy Goddess remained quiet, her delicate brows tightly knitted together.
“What’s wrong, Diana? You don’t seem to be in a good mood,” asked the puzzled Lava Goddess as she gazed at the silent Fairy Goddess.
“It’s… nothing.”
The Fairy Goddess mustered a smile.
“Are you worried about that guy?” asked the Lava Goddess with a frown.
“N-no!”
The Fairy Goddess hastily shook her head.
“Don’t bother hiding it. You’re not good at lying.”
The Lava Goddess shook her head and sighed. She said, “Although that guy’s prowess is unfathomably deep, he’s made too big a mess this time. Even if we disregard everything else and just focus on the Thunderbolt Divine Realm alone, the number of experts that he’s killed is no fewer than 10,000-odd. The godly clans behind their backs will never let him off!
“Sigh, he can only count on his luck now.”
The Fairy Goddess also sighed and said, “I had intended to bring him into the Goddess System because he has a metal-origin divine body, but now…”
“Bring him into the Goddess System? I think you’d better just forget about it.”
The Lava Goddess shook her head resolutely. “With that murderous, ruthless, and vicious nature of his, he’ll totally be a misfit in the Natural Goddesses System. Besides, he’ll have to overcome his current trials first. He’s already become the number one public enemy of all the gods and demons in the Void.”
“That’s true…”
The Fairy Goddess let out a soft sigh.
“It’s open!”
“The dimensional gate is opening!”
The goddesses started to cheer at this point. The Fairy Goddess raised her head and looked over—true enough, the dimensional gate was slowly appearing and opening in mid-air.
“I can finally leave this goddamn place!”
“C’mon, let’s hurry and leave. I don’t want to stay here for even a moment longer!”
“Let’s go, Diana,” said the smiling Lava Goddess.
“Yeah!”
The Fairy Goddess nodded slightly. After casting a glance in the Monarch Mountain direction, she got ready to enter the dimensional gate.
Unexpectedly, right at that moment…
Whoosh!
A figure suddenly charged out of the dimensional gate. He stood at 10,000-feet-tall, had intertwining muscles, wore golden armor, and emanated immense divine power.
Strong, surging, and fearsome divine power emanated from the figure the moment he appeared, weighing down on the goddesses so strongly that their expressions couldn’t help but change greatly. They exclaimed, “A G… Great…”
" }, { "id": 364, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-364", "title": "Chapter 364 - Six Great Perfection Deities, The Moon Goddess", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 364: Six Great Perfection Deities, The Moon Goddess
Terrifying divine power engulfed the whole place, crushing down wantonly on the goddesses’ souls. It weighed down on them, causing their petite forms to shake like leaves and filling their hearts with extreme fear.
“A Great Perfection deity!”
“That’s a Great Perfection deity!”
At that moment, another terrifying figure rushed out of the dimensional gate and appeared in the air.
He had an elephant head and a human body. Standing at 1,000-feet-tall, he held a gigantic axe and was covered from head to toe in golden armor. He gave off immense divine power that was in no way inferior to the previous figure’s.
This wasn’t the last of them, however. Right on the heels of his appearance, a few other figures also charged out of the dimensional gate. As though someone had stirred a hornet’s nest, people rushed out of the dimensional gate one after another.
Every one of them gave off vast, majestic divine power, their powerful auras reaching far beyond the clouds.
“O Nature Goddess above!”
“S-so many Great Perfection deities!”
“There are as many as six Great Perfection deities there!”
“How incredible!”
“How unbelievable!”
“How inconceivable!”
The goddesses were horror-stricken.
What kind of existence were Great Perfection deities?
They were supreme existences second only to Chief Gods in the vast universe! They possessed unrivaled strength and exalted social statuses unmatched by others.
Think about it, once a godly clan produced a Great Perfection deity, they would become eligible and be in the position to dominate a whole region. As long as they didn’t mess with a Chief God, the clan would be able to live on for generations and prosper for eternity!
Existences on a level like that were usually elusive and nowhere to be found, yet six had appeared in one go. This was practically a sight that could frighten one to death!
“He’s doomed!”
“That guy’s doomed for sure!”
“Those six Great Perfection deities are going to rip him into shreds and thoroughly kill him!”
The goddesses murmured under their breaths. They had realized that the major godly clans’ revenge had come. Now that six Great Perfection deities had personally come over, there was little chance that Meng Lei would survive.
“Ebenezer, Adolphus, Burnside! You’re here!”
Gaianos, the lofty figure that had been the first to appear, swept his gaze across the five Great Perfection deities. His voice was as though thunderclaps were exploding in the air.
“Yeah!”
The five other deities made sounds of acknowledgment. Then, their gazes fell onto the Fairy Goddess and the others, and they asked aloofly, “Are all of you part of the Nature Gods?”
“Y-yes, sir!” answered the Lava Goddess with a bow.
“I heard that everyone that entered the Boundless Plane is dead. Why are all of you still alive?” asked Gaianos with a frown.
He was the only Great Perfection deity among the Theodore Titan Gods in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm and was also Gregg Theodore’s father.
“Sir, t-this…”
Lost for words, the Lava Goddess was filled to the brim with fear. Indeed, all the experts that had come to the Boundless Plane were dead, yet they were still alive and unscathed.
How were they supposed to explain this?
Were they supposed to say that Meng Lei had let them off on account of Diana, the Fairy Goddess?
Should they say that, the six Great Perfection deities would probably take it out on Diana. It was likely that she would be in danger.
“What’s the matter?”
Gaianos’ expression darkened slightly.
However, it was right at that moment that a soft and gentle voice rang out. “Gaianos, are you trying to vent your anger regarding your son’s death on us, the Nature Gods?”
A huge jolt went through the Lava Goddess’ petite form, and she turned to the newcomer agitatedly. “Greetings, Lady Elune!”
“Greetings, Lady Elune!”
The other goddesses also bowed in greeting.
The newcomer wore a white chiffon dress. The incredibly beautiful woman carrying an elegant and tranquil air around her was none other than the Nature Gods’ Great Perfection deity—Elune, the Moon Goddess.
Elune’s gaze swept across all the goddesses. Upon seeing that they were all safe and well, she heaved a sigh of relief and said, “I’m glad all of you are alright. Rise, everyone.”
“Thank you, Lady Elune!”
The goddesses thanked her and got back up. Then, all of them flew behind the Moon Goddess. It was as though they would only be able to gain a sense of security by staying behind her.
“Lady Elune, why have you come, too?” asked the puzzled Lava Goddess.
“I had no choice but to come. The Divine Realm is in a huge uproar!” The Moon Goddess shook her head lightly and said, “News of how the experts that the major godly clans had dispatched to the Boundless Plane have all been killed spread throughout all the major Divine Realms a long time ago. The great Chief God is worried about your safety, so they instructed me to hurry over. Fortunately, all of you are alright!”
Her words touched the Lava Goddess. She wasn’t surprised in the least that commotions had broken out in all the major Divine Realms. After all, this incident was simply too astounding.
Given the huge incident, it would be stranger if the major clans could keep their calm instead!
“My son was killed! The murderer is truly perverse and arrogant to the extreme!”
An expressionless Gaianos said, “All I want now is to find that knave and rip him into a million pieces to vent my anger! Elune, I won’t make things difficult for those young ones, but they must answer a few of my questions. Surely I’m not going too far with this request?”
“To be honest, I have a lot of questions on my mind, too.”
The Moon Goddess nodded slightly. She turned to the Lava Goddess and asked in puzzlement, “Ukana, I heard that the murderer is a bloodthirsty and ruthless one that killed all the experts that had come to the Boundless Plane, including deities from each of the major Divine Realms, as well as demons and the Undead from the unholy faction. Why were all of you the only ones that he spared?”
The moment the question left her mouth, Gaianos, Ebenezer, Adolphus, the other few Great Perfection deities also turned to the Lava Goddess with puzzlement in their eyes.
The Lava Goddess felt immense pressure from having seven Great Perfection deities staring at her. However, she had no choice but to press on and reply, “My lady, Diana may have something to do with it.”
“Diana?”
The Moon Goddess was slightly taken aback by her answer. She turned to the Fairy Goddess in puzzlement and asked, “What does this have to do with you?”
A wry smile appeared on the Fairy Goddess’ countenance as she replied, “Lady Elune, Meng Lei is from a low-end existential plane that was under my control called Heaven’s Vault Continent. At that time, I noticed that he has a metal-origin divine body and thought of inviting him to join the Natural Goddesses System, so I gave him Heaven’s Vault Continent as a welcome gift. Perhaps it was on account of this bit of friendship between us that Meng Lei hadn’t made things difficult for us.”
The Moon Goddess nodded lightly.
Although the Natural Goddesses System was named as such, it didn’t mean that there weren’t any male deities among them.
In truth, the Natural Goddesses System also took in talented male deity geniuses in order to strengthen itself.
If Meng Lei really had a metal-origin divine body, then he would indeed be a rare genius. It would also make sense why Diana had intentions of bringing him into the Natural Goddesses System.
“Since he’s a genius that owns a metal-origin divine body, then why haven’t I heard you mention it before, Diana?”
The puzzled Moon Goddess raised another question. It was undoubtedly the most suitable to have geniuses join a faction while they were still weak. After all, the weaker they were, the easier it would be to bring them in.
But Meng Lei?
He was already capable of slaughtering high-level higher deities at will now. Given his strength, why hadn’t Diana mentioned him before? She should have referred Meng Lei to the organization a long time ago instead!
“Lady Elune, it’s not that I wasn’t willing to refer him to the organization. Rather, it’s because his growth was simply too fast!”
The Fairy Goddess could only chuckle wryly as she said, “His growth rate was so fast that it had gone beyond my expectations. It was to the extent that he had already reached what he is now before I could even refer him to the organization.”
“Is it that fast?”
The Moon Goddess was taken aback. How fast were they talking about? Three seconds?
“Lady Elune, he’s not even 45 years old yet this year,” replied the Fairy Goddess with a wry smile.
“45 years old!?”
“What nonsense!”
“That’s utter bull!”
Before the Moon Goddess could even speak, Gaianos and the other Great Perfection deities were already sneering.
“How can that knave possibly be younger than 45 years old when he can slaughter high-level higher deities and high-level Great Demon Gods at will? Are you insulting our intelligence?”
“Diana, you can’t just joke about something like that,” chided the Moon Goddess, whose brows were also lightly drawn together.
The Fairy Goddess hurriedly said, “Lady Elune, why would I joke about something like that with you? Meng Lei indeed hasn’t yet reached 45 years old this year. I swear this upon my divine spirit!”
Making an oath upon one’s divine spirit…
The Moon Goddess fell silent, as did the other six Great Perfection deities.
" }, { "id": 365, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-365", "title": "Chapter 365 - Stopping Meng Lei, Violent Soul Reading", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 365: Stopping Meng Lei, Violent Soul Reading
Before they arrived at the Boundless Plane, the seven Great Perfection deities understood from the deceased’s divine incarnations that the murderer was powerful, really powerful!
One hammer to thrash a high-level Great Demon God!
Massacring a million experts!
The Great Perfection deities thought that such a human was a reclusive ancient freak.
Otherwise, Meng Lei must be a Pseudo-Chief God, who had refined the Boundless Plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane.
No matter how they cracked their brains, they never thought that the million experts’ murderer was a human who was under 45 years old!
Not yet 45… Was he really human?
Gaianos said gravely, “Fairy Goddess, I want to know everything about him!”
“Yes, Lord Gaianos!”
The Fairy Goddess did not hide anything as she explained Meng Lei’s past thoroughly. “45 years ago, Meng Lei was only an ordinary villager from the Magical Beast Village of the Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Fire Dragon Kingdom…”
After the Fairy Goddess finished speaking, the seven Great Perfection deities went silent yet again. The Moon Goddess mumbled, “In less than ten years, how could a human become a super expert!? It’s just fantasy!”
“It’s not just a fantasy. Even a Juggernaut’s reincarnation could not do it!”
The Great Perfection deity Ebenezer’s eyes lit up. “There must be some huge secret behind this fellow. Otherwise, he would never have improved so quickly!”
Huge secret?
A jolt went through everyone. Their eyes lit up as they became hugely interested in Meng Lei’s secret.
After cultivating to their level, unless they encountered some incredible opportunity, cultivating further was almost impossible.
If they got their hands on that secret, they might have a chance to cultivate further!
“Where is that knave!”
Adolphus, the Great Perfection deity of the Colossal Dragon Gods, bellowed as it could not wait any longer.
The Fairy Goddess was conflicted. Even though it wouldn’t affect Meng Lei if she talked about his life, telling where Meng Lei was would put him in danger!
She simply couldn’t do it.
“Mm?”
Adolphus’ expression turned grim as he seemed displeased. The Lava Goddess noticed that and answered quickly, “That fellow is currently in the Monarch Mountain, and he seemed to be refining the Boundless Plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane!”
“Damn!”
“We can’t let him get his way!”
“Damn it! We must stop him!”
The six Great Perfection deities’ expressions changed dramatically.
Meng Lei was a powerful presence who broke through to high-level higher deity with ease. If he was allowed to refine the Boundless Plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane, he would become a Pseudo-Chief God.
Not just them, even if Chief Gods descended upon the plane, they could not do anything to Meng Lei. By then, let alone digging up Meng Lei’s secret, revenge would be impossible.
“Stop him!”
“We must stop him immediately!”
“Where’s the Monarch Mountain?” barked Gaianos.
“That direction!” The Lava Goddess pointed away.
“Here we go!”
Gaianos went along with the other five Great Perfection deities to speed to the Monarch Mountain immediately.
“You may return to the Divine Realm now,” the Moonlight Goddess said to the goddesses.
The Lava Goddess answered respectfully, “Yes, Lady Elune!”
The Fairy Goddess then asked, “Lady Elune, what will happen to Meng Lei?”
“Since you knew the outcome, why should you even ask further?”
The Moonlight Goddess left these words before she left without looking back.
“Diana, let’s go. He’ll die surely!” The Lava Goddess shook her head. “Killing a million deities and demons, offending almost every possible faction? He won’t have a good ending at all!”
“Sigh…”
The Fairy Goddess sighed quietly.
At the Monarch Mountain…
The Great Prophet, Olio, and the rest continued to guard the Monarch Shrine as they talked among themselves, leaving the Monarch Mountain rather peaceful.
“Great Prophet, is our Juggernaut still alive?”
“Lord Juggernaut died long ago. What’s left are his divine spirit fragments!”
“Great Prophet, do you know what kind of person our new master is? How did he inherit everything from the Juggernaut and become our master?”
“It was all the will of the Great Juggernaut. All we have to do is follow any of their orders!”
“Since we are talking about that, our new master is really powerful! He can slaughter a million extraterrestrial demons single-handedly, similar to the Boundless King’s style!”
“Ah yes! Our new master is too powerful—”
Just as the Boundless Giants were talking casually, a terrifying divine power came from across the horizon. Although the divine might was not as powerful due to the distance, the pressure it contained made everyone’s heart pound in trepidation.
The Boundless Giants raised their heads and saw a few figures shooting in their direction at unbelievable speed. In a blink of an eye, those figures skit passed a great distance as they appeared in the skies not far away.
“That’s…”
“Extraterrestrial demons!”
“Damn it! Those extraterrestrial demons are back!”
The Great Prophet’s countenance changed greatly.
Damn it! Why were they here again? These extraterrestrial demons linger around too much!
Olio cursed inwardly before he shouted his commands, “Guard the Monarch Shrine, don’t let them disturb Master!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Boundless Giant answered cohesively as they went on standby, staying alert to the figures closing in on them.
However, as those figures approached, the divine might became more and more powerful, which almost turned into a solid suppression over the Boundless Giants on the mountain. The overwhelming aura pressed everyone like a primordial divine mountain up in their hearts, as all the giants could no longer muster the courage to battle.
“Great Perfection deities! They’re all Great Perfection-level extraterrestrial demons!” The Great Prophet’s face became especially awful, his voice trembling.
“What? Great Perfection?” Olio exclaimed as his heart sank to the bottom.
Across the entire Boundless Plane, Great Perfection was a mythical concept which most Boundless Giants dreamed of achieving, but it was a domain they could never ever enter!
At that moment, however, there were already a few Great Perfection-level extraterrestrial demons that spelled disaster. Who could stop their attacks?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as the Boundless Giants’ morale sank to the very bottom, shrill air-piercing sounds rang—the six Great Perfection deities arrived above the mountaintop.
They looked down from above, sweeping their glances at the Boundless Giants. They did not hide their divine power as they overwhelmed the giants’ minds incessantly.
“This is the Monarch Mountain?”
“It must be it!”
“Where’s that knave?”
“I’ll grab someone to ask!”
Gaianos grabbed in the air and caught a giant.
Extreme terror overwhelmed this giant while he struggled madly.
It was pointless.
Any struggles were in vain. Gaianos did not hesitate to crush this poor giant’s skull and took out his divine core.
“Bastard!”
After watching that scene, Olio and the rest widened their eyes to the point of splitting, and they shot themselves toward Gaianos. However, a glance was all it took for Gaianos to repel Olio and the rest. They flew off, coughing up blood.
The difference was really too big!
One glance, and they were heavily injured!
“Trash!”
Gaianos held the divine core and searched the soul violently. Shrill, horrific screams of that giant rang. The suffering from the violent soul-reading was too unbearable.
“Ugh!”
With blood at the corners of his lips, Olio wanted to charge again before the Great Prophet stopped him.
“The difference is power is too huge! All you will achieve by doing that is dying aimlessly!”
“Then what do we do? Are we going to stand and watch this go on?” Olio bellowed, his eyes bloodshot. He had never been this furious before.
“Just wait. Once Master refines the Heart of The Existential Plane, that’s the time they perish!”
As the wisest, oldest Boundless Giant, the Great Prophet saw things crystal clear.
“Ugh!”
Olio held his fists tightly.
The whole soul-reading process did not take long. Gaianos threw away the divine core casually and looked at the Monarch Shrine.
“How was it, Gaianos? Where’s that knave?” The other Great Perfection deities asked impatiently.
Gaianos did not answer. Instead, he raised his right hand and swiped down his palm pointed at the tall, lofty Monarch Shrine. The shrine collapsed in an instant.
Gaianos swung his sleeves as the ruins went away with the winds.
The Monarch Shrine disappeared.
“No one?”
“Where’s that knave?”
“If he’s not in this shrine, then he should be in the Boundless Plane’s Land of Origin!”
Gaianos’ expression turned awful.
“The Land of Origin?”
The other five Great Perfection deities had similar expressions.
The Land of Origin was the land where the Heart of The Existential Plane was in. The mid-end existential plane was huge, so the Land of Origin was never easy to find. Even if they were Great Perfection deities, they still needed to put in the effort.
“Search at once! We must find him before he completely refines the Heart of The Existential Plane! Otherwise, we’ll be in trouble! We’ll split out now!”
The six Great Perfection deities looked at each other as they were about to search for the Land of Origin. Just then, a soft sound of the slicing of air echoed.
Gaianos’ expression changed slightly. He tilted his head to the left instinctively. A three-colored spear flew right past his temple.
“How dare you act so presumptuously in my territory! How bold of you!”
" }, { "id": 366, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-366", "title": "Chapter 366 - Destruction Laws Of Nature, Killing Great Perfection Deities", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“How dare you act so presumptuously in my territory! How bold of you!”
An aloof voice rang out, and right away, someone else had already appeared in the sky. He had a head of black hair, a pair of black eyes, handsome looks, and a proportionate figure with perfect contours. His looks were perfect and flawless, easily giving Pan An a run for his money and firmly surpassed Song Yu’s.
“Master!”
At the sight of the newcomer, the Great Prophet, Olio, and the others could hardly keep their feelings in control. They had never longed for Meng Lei to show up as much as how they currently did.
“He’s finally appeared!”
Gaianos, Ebenezer, Adolphus, Burnside, and the other two Great Perfection deities also turned to Meng Lei, light flashing across their eyes.
“One, two… Five, six!”
Meng Lei’s gaze flitted past the six Great Perfection deities one by one. Disappointment filled him at once.
Why are there only six of them that came? What a disappointment!
A Great Perfection deity was worth 12 billion Divinity Crystals. Even with six of them, the total value would never exceed 80 billion Divinity Crystals, even at the maximum!
How disappointing!
This bit of money wasn’t even enough to fill in any gaps!
“Eh?”
However, at this exact moment, Meng Lei suddenly noticed a five-colored light ball falling from one of the Great Perfection deities. A system notification rang out right away.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“A five-colored light ball?”
Meng Lei perked up, and he ordered, “Pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?” asked the system.
“Assimilate it!”
Boom!
A torrent of data instantly gushed into his mind, flashing swiftly across his eyes as though it were a movie that was being played. Meng Lei hurriedly checked it out.
Immense joy then filled Meng Lei right away.
“Thunder, ice, metal, dark, and fire elements! Tsk, tsk! To think it’s a fusion laws of nature fragment that’s actually made up of these five elements!”
Meng Lei was extremely excited.
“I searched far and wide to no avail, only to obtain it so effortlessly in the end! Never would I have ever thought that I would actually obtain destruction laws of nature like this! Even the heavens are on my side! Hahaha!”
Thunder, ice, metal, dark, and fire—these were exactly the five elements corresponding to the destruction laws of nature!
Destruction laws of nature were one of the five supreme laws of nature, yet he had obtained it so easily! One could easily imagine just how excited Meng Lei must be.
“Hahaha!”
Wild laughter boomed in the sky like thunder, its reverberations breaking the dimension around them and causing it to vibrate and shake. Everyone looked absolutely stupefied.
He had suddenly burst into raucous laughter?
He could actually still bring himself to laugh when six Great Perfection deities surrounded him? Had his brain been caught in between Sister Feng’s 1 a*s?
The six Great Perfection deities’ expressions darkened, feeling as though they had been insulted. How dare he laugh when they were standing right in front of him?
Gaianos barked in a deep voice, “I’m going to tear you into a million pieces for killing my child, you knave!”
Before he even finished speaking, he had already raised his right palm and smacked it down at Meng Lei.
Boom!
As though Buddha’s Palm, a massive palm that blotted out the sky appeared above Meng Lei.
The Great Prophet and the others’ expressions changed greatly upon sensing the massive palm’s terrifying might, and they hastily shouted a warning, “Look out, Master!”
“Insignificant tricks!”
Meng Lei’s smile disappeared. He couldn’t help but shake his head lightly as he looked up at the huge palm crashing down upon him. Then, he formed a sword with his index finger and middle finger and slashed lightly across the air. The sound of something ripping apart rang out, and the massive palm that carried with it boundless destructive might and blotted out the sky was instantly cleaved into two, disappearing into nothingness upon being destroyed.
“What?”
A huge jolt went through Gaianos, whose eyes were filled with incredulity. Although that palm strike was just a casual strike from him, it was in no way an attack that an ordinary higher deity could fight against. Yet Meng Lei had casually cleaved it apart…?
“Kid, are you also a Great Perfection deity?”
Gaianos was rather alarmed and unsettled. Since the other party was able to slaughter high-level higher deities and high-level Great Demon Gods at will, it was evident that he was infinitely close to the Great Perfection stage!
And now, he had even countered his attack so effortlessly. This was something that only Great Perfection deities could do.
“He’s a Great Perfection deity?!”
A shock went through Ebenezer and the other Great Perfection deities. At once, a hint of incredulity surfaced in their eyes that were fixed on Meng Lei. A 45-year-old Great Perfection deity?
What kind of joke was that?
“Great Perfection? No, I’m not.”
Meng Lei shook his head and denied the statement.
Whew~
It’s a good thing he isn’t one! That gave me a fright!
Gaianos and the others secretly heaved sighs of relief. Things would become rather tricky if Meng Lei were really a Great Perfection deity. Even with the six of them joining hands, it would still be a lot of work if they wish to kill a Great Perfection deity!
After all, a Great Perfection deity… wasn’t that easy to kill!
“You worm, how dare you slaughter the experts from the major godly clans! You practically can’t get any more perverse than that! Today, I shall give you a terrible death!”
Ebenezer, the Great Perfection deity from the Giant Elephant Gods, let out an icy snort and brazenly went on the offensive.
He vanished from where he was in the blink of an eye. Then, he raised his car-sized fist and smashed it toward Meng Lei.
The Giant Elephant Gods were naturally blessed with Herculean strength and cultivated only their physical body. Among those of the same grade, only the Behemoth Gods, the Titan Gods, and the Scarab Gods could contend against them.
As a deity with a Great Perfection-level body, Ebenezer was undoubtedly top-class among the Great Perfection deities when it came to one’s divine body’s level of sturdiness and physical strength. As such, one could easily imagine the destructive power contained within his fist.
It was just a shame that Meng Lei merely gave a light shake of his head even when he was faced with such an earth-shattering punch. He reached out a finger and pointed lightly at the powerful punch intending to smash him into a bloody pulp.
“He’s using a finger to counter Ebenezer’s powerful punch head-on?”
“How arrogant!”
“How presumptuous!”
“He overestimates himself!”
“I’ve never seen such an arrogant person in my whole life! Just you watch—he’ll definitely die in a very, very tragic manner…”
The five Great Perfection deities gnashed their teeth in fury at the sight of Meng Lei’s actions, which had significantly angered them.
“You’re courting death!”
Ebenezer, who felt that his pride as a Great Perfection deity had been immensely insulted, also flew into a rage. He couldn’t help but apply even more force in his punch, causing the punch’s might to spike.
Spurt!
Meng Lei’s index finger and Ebenezer’s powerful punch clashed against each other. The very next moment, something that none of them ever imagined would have happened took place—their finger and fist clashed against each other like a watermelon and a nail colliding with each other. Following a spurt, Ebenezer’s fist was pierced right through—Meng Lei’s finger… had jabbed deeply into it!
“Ugh!”
Ebenezer let out a muffled grunt, his face as though he had just seen a ghost.
His finger has actually pierced right through my fist? How can that be?!
“How did that happen?”
The five other Great Perfection deities were stunned by what they saw.
“Thinking of taking my life with just that bit of power you’ve got? You’re a far ways off!” Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he said, “Just as well. Since you’ve come to seek your death, then I’ll send you on your way.”
As he spoke, Meng Lei came right up to Ebenezer in a flash. Ebenezer was several thousand feet tall, and his face was even bigger than a bus. The 1.8-meter-tall Meng Lei was no different from a child when he stood right in front of his face.
“Go on your way, Mr. Great Perfection!”
Meng Lei bent his fingers and flicked them lightly against the area in between Ebenezer’s brows.
Crackle!
The sound of something breaking rang out. At once, as though thunderstruck, Ebenezer’s eyes widened to a size even larger than millstones and became bloodshot, the interweaving veins of blood causing his eyes to look like broken glass.
Right on the heels of it, the area in between Ebenezer’s brows started to crack and break into little pieces like a broken mirror. The cracks spread through the area in an instant, and then… A huge bloody hole formed in between his brows.
Golden blood gushed from the wound like a waterfall, instantly dyeing Ebenezer’s face, chest, and the lapel of his clothes gold. He stumbled a couple of steps backward, pointing at Meng Lei as he sputtered, “You, you…” Then, he collapsed onto the ground.
Boom!
His body crashed onto the mountain peak, causing the earth to quake and throwing an infinite amount of dust into the air. In spite of that, the whole place was dead silent as though someone had pressed the pause button in this instant.
The dimension had been locked down.
The air had congealed.
Time had stopped.
The five Great Perfection deities’ acupoints had also been sealed.
Only the Great Prophet, Olio, and the others were in such a state of excitement that their faces were all red. They were so agitated that they shook all over and burst into loud, unrestrained laughter.
“Great Perfection deities are nothing more than just that!”
" }, { "id": 367, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-367", "title": "Chapter 367 - Besieged By Five Deities, Weapon Enhancement", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 367: Besieged By Five Deities, Weapon Enhancement
Dead silence filled Monarch Mountain.
Gaianos and the other four deities stared at Ebenezer’s corpse, feeling as though an extra-powerful tsunami with huge, rolling tidal waves rising to the heavens had struck their hearts.
Ebenezer!
A Great Perfection-level Giant Elephant God!
He had died just like that?
How could that possibly have happened?
How could that be?
One must know that he was a Great Perfection deity!
An existence second only to a Chief God!
How did he die?
How could he die?
Extreme astoundment filled the five Great Perfection deities in this instant. All along, lesser deities and intermediate deities had always frequently perished while only a very small number of higher deities lost their lives.
As for Great Perfection deities…
Unless a war between gods and demons broke out, no Great Perfection deities would perish at all!
Over time, this had given the gods the impression that Great Perfection deities would never die.
Yet Ebenezer had perished! The resulting astoundment was no less shocking than a hydrogen bomb going off!
However, what shocked and horrified them even more was that Meng Lei acted as if all he had killed was just a mere chicken and nothing more after he killed Ebenezer. Calm and tranquil, he wasn’t excited or agitated in the least.
“That guy… Who exactly is he?”
A bone-deep chill ran down the five Great Perfection deities’ spines as they stared at the calm Meng Lei.
They had suddenly realized that they couldn’t tell how strong or weak Meng Lei was at all. He was just like an ordinary person that didn’t give off even a hint of any aura.
This was what alarmed and frightened them the most—because it meant that there was an incredibly huge gap between Meng Lei and themselves!
“Now that one’s dead, there are still five left.”
Meng Lei turned to Gaianos and the other four deities and asked calmly, “So, who’s next?”
Meng Lei’s gaze greatly alarmed the five Great Perfection deities and gave them incredible pressure. They hastily began to communicate with one another via their divine spirits in search of a solution.
“What should we do, everyone?”
Marshall, the Great Perfection-level Angel God, said, “That guy is unfathomably strong. If we continue to engage in fierce battle with him, it’s very likely that we’ll end up like Ebenezer. Why don’t we… Retreat instead?”
The other Great Perfection deities fell silent at once. They couldn’t accept such an outcome at all. They were Great Perfection deities; how were they supposed to face the world if they retreated just like that?
Yet if they didn’t…
They really didn’t have the guts to battle Meng Lei!
Just as the five Great Perfection deities were caught in a dilemma, Meng Lei spoke once more. He looked at Gaianos and said calmly, “You made the most noise just now, so you’ll do.”
Gaianos’ eyelid twitched, and he instantly tensed up. However, before he could respond, Meng Lei had shown up right in front of him like a phantom.
They made eye contact.
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile.
A huge shudder went through Gaianos.
The next moment, a blood-red glint flashed across, and the Grim Reaper Scythe instantly cleaved onto Gaianos’ neck with a crisp clink.
Then, something awkward happened:
Apart from causing a series of sparks, the Grim Reaper Scythe wasn’t able to slice open Gaianos’ skin at all. In fact, the blade even curled somewhat.
“(⊙o⊙)”
Meng Lei was stunned for a second before an embarrassed smile formed on his face. He said, “Sorry, I forgot to enhance it!”
No matter what, Gaianos was a Titan with a Great Perfection-level body. Not only did he possess Herculean strength, but his body was also incredibly strong and powerful. How could his divine body’s defenses possibly be sub-par?
On the other hand, the Grim Reaper Scythe was just an ordinary high-tier divine weapon. While it would do if one were just trying to slice open a higher deity, it was somewhat inadequate if they were trying to slay a Great Perfection deity instead.
But no matter, he could just enhance it.
“Ding! The Grim Reaper Scythe is currently an intermediate high-tier divine weapon and will rival that of an advanced high-tier divine weapon after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 6 million Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
A blood-red glow flashed across the Grim Reaper Scythe, causing the aura around it to become even more unholy. As the blood-red glow intensified, the blade’s curled edge also returned to being straight and level, becoming even sharper and chillier than before, as well as receiving an upgrade in level.
“This isn’t enough, though. Enhance it further!”
“Ding! The Grim Reaper Scythe is currently an advanced high-tier divine weapon and will rival that of a Great Perfection-level high-tier divine weapon after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 1.2 billion Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
Another blood-red glow flashed past…
Just as Meng Lei was in the midst of enhancing the Grim Reaper Scythe, Gaianos finally snapped back to reality.
“Die!”
He raised his gigantic fist and smashed it toward Meng Lei without a second thought. Although he didn’t know why Meng Lei had suddenly frozen in mid-air… It didn’t matter as long as he could kill him!
Boom!
Gaianos’ punch was filled with incredible might. It smashed ruthlessly into Meng Lei, sending him flying like a launched cannon.
“Attack!”
Adolphus, Burnside, and the other two hurriedly launched into a flurry of attacks at the sight.
“Holy Judgment!”
Marshall, the Great Perfection-level Angel God, roared furiously. A huge light sword that flashed with platinum-silver light descended from the sky, stabbing right at Meng Lei’s head.
“Dragon Breath of Destruction!”
Adolphus, the Great Perfection-level Colossal Dragon God, also let out a loud and sonorous dragon roar. He opened his mouth and sprayed out a wave of violet-red dragon breath that blasted Meng Lei mercilessly.
The violet-red dragon breath contained extremely great destructive power capable of wrecking everything in the world. The moment it appeared, it destroyed the dimension around it without any prior warning whatsoever.
“Berserk Punch!”
Burnside, the Great Perfection-level Behemoth God, let out a bellow. His divine body started to furiously expand, instantly becoming as big as 1,000,000-feet-long, and he threw a punch.
“Inextinguishable Phoenix Flames!”
Roald, the Great Perfection-level Fire Phoenix God, emitted a crisp and clear cry as he transformed into his true form, the Fire Phoenix. Crimson-gold flames burst forth with a strong flap of his fiery-red wings as he tried to burn Meng Lei into ashes.
“Ten Thousand Thunderbolts!”
Gaianos didn’t stay idle, either. He knew very well the true essence of the saying “Kick a man when he’s down”. He brought out a pair of hammers with a flip of his wrists and smashed them viciously against each other.
Crackle!
The two hammers crashed against each other, producing dazzling violet thunderbolts that struck mercilessly at Meng Lei.
For a moment there, a gigantic light sword, Dragon Breath of Destruction, Berserk Punch, Inextinguishable Phoenix Flames, and violet thunderbolts came blasting from five different directions, their terrifying might seemingly going to crush Meng Lei and reduce him to dust.
“Look out, Master!”
The tremendous might flattened the Great Prophet, Olio, and the others to the ground, rendering them limp and unable to even speak. All they could do was shout furiously in their hearts and watch helplessly as the series of attacks engulfed Meng Lei.
Boom!
A destructive force capable of wrecking the world erupted as the five attacks landed on Meng Lei. The place where he stood instantly became a black hole. Violent, raging energy waves shot into the surroundings. Even the five Great Perfection deities became somewhat unsteady on their feet as the force pushed them back.
The energy waves continued to spread. True to expectations, Monarch Mountain was turned into dust. As for the Great Prophet, Olio, and the others at the summit, they were sent flying right away like leaves drifting in the wind.
In this instant, the sky within 10 million kilometers of where they were… was turned into a black hole. The whole area had completely become a doomsday scene right out of hell.
The skies became dim and overcast as light from the sun and moon was blotted out.
This was exactly what a battle among Great Perfection deities was like!
“Is he dead?”
“I should think so?”
“He’s doomed for sure after suffering all-out attacks from the five of us!”
The five Great Perfection deities steadied themselves and watched the center of the black hole nervously, waiting for the outcome of their attacks.
“How is he?”
“How’s Master?”
The Great Prophet, Olio, and the others who had been sent flying into the distance were also watching the center of the black hole nervously. Since they were able to survive a siege by a million experts, they were naturally also very strong.
That was why they had been able to survive the residual shock waves just now. Otherwise, they’d have been destroyed a long time ago!
“I hope Master’s safe. Otherwise…”
An incredibly nervous Olio clenched his fists.
“Master is the heir whom our great Juggernaut has selected. How would he possibly perish here?”
“He’s alive! He’s definitely still alive!”
The residual shock waves gradually faded away, and the broken dimension slowly recovered.
When everything had been restored…
“How can that be?!”
“I knew it!”
" }, { "id": 368, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-368", "title": "Chapter 368 - He'S A Chief God, Perfect Divine Core", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "As the residual impact receded and the sky returned to normal, a jaw-dropping scene occurred.
Meng Lei stood in the sky, nothing had happened to him, and even his robes were untouched. The attacks just now could not even damage the corners of his clothes.
“How is this possible?!”
The five Great Perfection deities were dumbfounded, disbelief written all over their faces. Their combined best shot should have obliterated anything other than Chief Gods—how did Meng Lei survive it unscathed?
“How could this be? Perhaps he’s a Chief God?” Gaianos was shocked and horrified.
“Chief God?”
The other four Great Perfection deities’ hearts quivered before shaking their heads in disbelief. “No! There are only so many Chief Gods in the Void. There should be no other extra Chief God divine cores for him to become one! He can’t be a Chief God!”
“If he’s not a Chief God, then how could he be so powerful?”
Horror!
Perplexity!
Disbelief!
The five Great Perfection deities began to question their own life.
On the other hand, the Great Prophet, Olio, and the rest of the Boundless Giants were delirious with joy.
The terrifying aura of the combined strike by the Great Perfection deities almost frightened them to death. They were worried that Meng Lei could not withstand it and get killed.
“I knew it!” Olio almost jumped in excitement. “How could we try to fathom our Master’s power? How could five extraterrestrial demons be his match? He’s the great Juggernaut’s appointed heir. How could mere demons kill him…”
On the other side, Meng Lei was in awe. “Dodola, the time-based laws of nature really defy natural orders! As long as my divine spirit is not damaged, I can turn back time by a few seconds anytime! Now, who in this world can kill me?”
The combined attack of the five Great Perfection deities was formidable, and Meng Lei’s divine body was almost indestructible, but the clothes were not as great.
After that strike, Meng Lei’s clothes had evaporated, leaving him naked for a moment!
That was not an issue for Meng Lei as he used his time-based laws of nature to return to a few seconds ago. Hence, he looked the same with his clothes intact as before.
“The time-based laws of nature are indeed powerful, but they aren’t all-powerful.” Dodola snorted and remarked, “Or else, the God of Time wouldn’t have perished!”
“Erm… That’s true!”
Meng Lei smiled and shook his head before his gaze returned to the five Great Perfection deities. “Since you have attacked, now it’s my turn!
“First one, you!”
Meng Lei leaped forward and teleported before the Titan Gods Great Perfection deity, Gaianos. The Grim Reaper Scythe came down, and a flash of blood was seen.
Splurt!
Gaianos’ body stiffened as a narrow line of blood appeared on his throat. The Grim Reaper Scythe had been enhanced to a Great Perfection-level high-tier divine weapon, so coupled with Meng Lei’s immense power, a strike was enough to kill any Great Perfection deities.
“H-how can that be?” Gaianos murmured in nonacceptance. His head slowly slipped away from the neck and fell off toward the mountaintop, leaving a headless body floating around.
“Collect!”
Meng Lei swung his arm and threw the body to the little golden tree. He then grabbed the head to use his Grim Reaper’s Eye.
“Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Ding! 1 Sky Titan killed. 12 billion Divinity Crystals gained!”
As he listened to the system’s icy voice notification, Meng Lei let out a long breath.
Once upon a time, the Titan Spiritual God and others were godly beings that he had looked up to before. Now, however, even the Great Perfection deity of the Theodore Titan Gods was killed by him.
How things had changed with time, and how people had changed, despite the environment remaining the same.
“Gaianos was k-killed by him?”
The four Great Perfection deities were on the edge of breaking down. If they counted themselves fortunate when Ebenezer was killed, they only realized when Gaianos got killed—Meng Lei really was capable of killing a Great Perfection deity in an instant!
As for whether he was a Chief God or not…
It was no longer of any importance.
The key was that he could kill any one of them!
“Run!”
With this clear understanding, the four remaining Great Perfection deities did not hesitate as they turned into four beams of light and sped off.
They needed to escape as far as possible!
Away from Meng Lei!
Away from danger!
At this moment, whatever pride and prestige as Great Perfection deities were nothing compared to their lives as they just wanted to stay alive.
“Escape? You think you can do so?” Meng Lei shook his head lightly as one word came out. “Immobilize!”
Once that word came off, the four Great Perfection deities were stopped on the spot as if their acupoints had been sealed, completely immobilized mid-air.
“Power of Existential Plane?!”
“Ugh! This is… the Power of Existential Plane!”
Marshall, the Great Perfection deity of the Angel Gods, was aghast. “He had actually refined the Heart of The Existential Plane! Damn it! How did he refine it in such a short time?”
It was not just him who was horrified.
Adolphus the Great Perfection deity from the Colossal Dragon Gods. Burnside the Great Perfection deity from the Behemoth Gods and Roald the Great Perfection deity from the Fire Phoenix Gods were horrified.
20 years!
Meng Lei had only taken 20 years to refine the Boundless Plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane?
Just how fast was that?
That was a mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane, and he had already refined that?
Horror!
Shock!
Disbelief!
“He’s Great Perfection-level?”
“No! No way he’s a Great Perfection deity!”
“The strength of his divine spirit is definitely comparable to a Chief God! Only a Chief God can refine a mid-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane!”
The four Great Perfection deities had desperation written all over their faces. They would be the supreme gods when they face normal deities, but against Chief Gods, they would be the little ones…
They were currently so full of regret that they were beating their chests. If the heavens gave them another chance, they would never have come to the Boundless Plane. Even if there were greater secrets and treasures, they would not come either.
What a goddamn scam!
It was just a shame that there was no cure for regrets in this world. The moment they had stepped into the Boundless Plane, their fates had been sealed.
“Get over here!”
With Meng Lei’s thought, the Power of Existential Plane pulled the four Great Perfection deities back to the top of the Monarch Mountain. As he looked at the terrified deities, Meng Lei smiled faintly. “Do you want to live? Or do you want to die?”
“What do you want?” Marshall of the Angel Gods asked somberly.
“Nothing, just that you all are Great Perfection deities after all. It would be a pity to kill you all, so I’d like to point you in the right direction,” Meng Lei said plainly.
“You want us to submit to you?” Marshall asked softly.
“It’s always easy to speak to smart people.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “Give up your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me, then you’ll live. Or else, death is imminent!”
“You’re too much!” Adolphus of the Colossal Dragon Gods roared furiously, “We are the prestigious Great Perfection deities. How can we submit it to you? Dream on!”
“Not going to submit? Then prepare to die!”
Meng Lei sneered as the Grim Reaper Scythe swiped down to cut off Adolphus’s head.
Looking at Adolphus’ widened eyes, Meng Lei said lightly. “You know? Of all Great Perfection deities, I care less about your life the most!”
Adolphus could not accept his fate as he replied with the last of his breaths, “W-why?”
“It’s because the others are all Great Perfection-level in their physical body, while their divine cores are only at the level of normal high-level higher deities. Even if I killed them, what I would obtain would still be higher deity’s divine cores,”
Meng Lei looked at Adolphus. “Yours was different since you are the true Great Perfection who successfully assimilated thunder, ice, metal, dark, and fire into one!
“Killing you will give me the true Great Perfection divine core. And with your divine core, I can create a Great Perfection-level incarnation!”
As he spoke, Meng Lei dug out Adolphus’ Great Perfection divine core, activating his Grim Reaper’s Eye to crush Adolphus’s divine spirit.
Dodola said in excitement, “Meng Lei, give me this divine core, please!”
“Take it then!”
" }, { "id": 369, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-369", "title": "Chapter 369 - Super Plunder, Life Laws Of Nature", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 369: Super Plunder, Life Laws Of Nature
Adolphus’ death was a massive blow to the remaining three Great Perfection deities. Given their Great Perfection statuses, even Chief Gods would treat them courteously.
It was a different story for Meng Lei, who wanted them to surrender to him. Objections? Immediate death!
That was brutality at its peak!
Still, to be fair, this cruel treatment’s effects were well received as Marshall, Burnside, and Roald were petrified.
As Great Perfection deities, they stood above most deities and enjoyed a lofty status, possessing eternal life. Who would want to die?
No one!
Yet, forcing them to hand over their divine spirit origin energy to become Meng Lei’s slaves was more unacceptable than killing them.
Even if I die, get smashed into pieces, or perish in this Boundless Plane, I won’t lower myself to become his slave!
The three Great Perfection deities were determined as they swore to themselves. Rather than losing their dignity, freedom, and becoming Meng Lei’s slaves, they would rather die!
“What about the three of you?” Meng Lei looked at the remaining Great Perfection deities and asked, “Live or die?”
“We’re willing to submit!”
The three Great Perfection deities did not hesitate to hand their divine spirit origin energy.
Honor was dear, but life was dearer. To live was better than to die—it was simple logic that even elementary school children would know how to choose after all.
“You’ve made the right choice!”
Meng Lei gave them a meaningful look before refining their divine spirit origin energy to take complete control of their life and death.
“Come on, do an introduction.” Meng Lei looked at the expressionless trio and smiled faintly. “Speaking of which, I still don’t know what your names.”
“Marshall Gabriel!” the Angel Gods Great Perfection deity said in a deep voice.
“Burnside Bahamut!” the Behemoth Gods Great Perfection deity said with some unwillingness.
“Roald Tomas!” the Fire Phoenix Great Perfection deity said slowly.
“Marshall, Burnside, Roald.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “From now on, follow me and work hard. In the future, you’ll be glad about your decision today.”
Glad my *ss!
My reputation has just been thrown out of the window. I just want to kill myself by eating sh*t now!
The three of them scoffed in their minds while their faces remained blank.
Meng Lei did not say anything else as he turned to the sky not far away. He said, “After watching for so long, isn’t it time to show yourself?”
“Eh?”
Upon hearing this, Marshall and the other Great Perfection deities, plus the Great Prophet, Olio, and the rest, looked in that direction, but they saw nothing.
“Great Prophet, is there someone there?” a puzzled Olio asked.
The Great Prophet said calmly, “If Master says there’s someone, there must be someone there.”
“Why? Do I have to drag you out?”
Seeing that nothing had happened there, Meng Lei looked on coldly as his tone turned bitter.
A rippling wave appeared in the air, revealing a beautiful feminine figure. She was dressed in moon-white robes, elegant and stunning. It was the Great Perfection deity of the Nature Gods, Elune.
“Lady Elune!”
Marshall and the other two looked at the Moon Goddess and wished they could bury themselves in a hole.
That was awkward.
“Who are you? What are you doing sneaking around here?” Meng Lei swept his gaze at Elune as a sharp glint flashed across his eyes.
“Your Esteemed Highness, I am Lady Elune, the Moon Goddess of the Nature Gods.”
The Moon Goddess was tense inside, but she did not show it in her expression as she bowed gracefully. She said respectfully, “I’m here in the Boundless Plane to search for the goddesses.”
“So have you found them?” Meng Lei asked.
“I’ve found them, Your Highness,” the Moon Goddess replied respectfully.
“Since you’ve found them, why didn’t you leave the Boundless Plane?” Meng Lei asked further. “Don’t tell me that you’ve set your sights on me just like them?”
“Erm…”
The Moon Goddess was rendered speechless.
“Well, it seems that my charm is so great that even such a beautiful goddess have worldly affections for me. Should I be proud of myself? Or be proud of me?”
Meng Lei snapped his finger and smiled leisurely.
The Moon Goddess explained quickly, “Your Esteemed Highness, I bear no disrespect…”
Thinking back on what state Marshall and the rest were in, she could not help but shiver. It was simply tragic, and she did not want to end up like that no matter what.
“Enough! There’s no need to speak any further. You should know the truth better than anyone!” Meng Lei waved his hand to cut off the Moon Goddess’ excuses. “On the Fairy Goddess’ account, I can let you off.”
The Moon Goddess was surprised and joyous before Meng Lei added, “But, you have to leave behind something in exchange for your life and freedom!”
“What would that be?”
The Moon Goddess’s expression tensed up.
“Don’t be nervous. You do have it.”
Meng Lei had a strange smile as he teleported in front of the Moon Goddess and activated the other chargeable function—Super Plunder.
“System, plunder the supreme laws of nature comprehended by the Moon Goddess,” Meng Lei ordered coldly.
“Ding! Target item: Supreme Laws of Nature! Plundering target: Moon Goddess of the Nature Gods, Elune. Plundering cost is estimated at 10 billion Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you plunder it?”
“Plunder it!”
Whoosh!
An unknown wave of great strength descended upon the Moon Goddess, and it started to plunder her supreme laws of nature.
At the same time, a surging wave of information gushed into Meng Lei’s mind—the supreme laws of nature plundered from the Moon Goddess.
Meng Lei closed his eyes as he quickly comprehended the knowledge. After quite a while, he exhaled a long breath as the corner of his mouth quirked up. “As I had expected!”
Although they were all Great Perfection deities, the Moon Goddess was very much different compared to Marshall, Burnside, and Roald, who had Great Perfection-level bodies. She and Adolphus of the Colossal Dragon Gods were both true Great Perfection deities—they had assimilated five basic laws of nature to comprehend the supreme form of laws of nature.
The difference between the two of them was that what Adolphus assimilated was the elements of thunder, ice, metal, dark, and fire, comprehending the destruction laws of nature.
While the Moon Goddess had assimilated the elements of earth, wood, thunder, light, and water to comprehend the life laws of nature.
“So much for the Monarch’s treasure. In my eyes, these Great Perfection deities are the true treasures!”
The stats interface changed naturally.
Others: Some increase
Quintuple-Elemental Fusion: Thunder-Fire-Wind-Light-Dark (100%), Thunder-Ice-Metal-Dark-Fire (100%), Earth-Wood-Thunder-Light-Water (100%)
Supreme Laws of Nature: Time-Based (0.1%), Destruction (0.1%), Life (0.1%)
“Time-based laws of nature!
“Destruction laws of nature!
“Life laws of nature!
“Of the five supreme forms of laws of nature, I have acquired three! Now I only need more Divinity Crystals!
“I will then leap on to become truly the most powerful experts with enough Divinity Crystals!”
Meng Lei was motivated upon thinking of his bright future. Once he comprehended one of the supreme laws of nature to 100%, he would be comparable to a higher Chief God!
What about the three of them?
Could he match the Juggernaut?
" }, { "id": 370, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-370", "title": "Chapter 370 - Spatial Laws Of Nature, Gaiazeus", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“What have you done to me?”
The Moon Goddess looked at Meng Lei in horror. All of a sudden, she felt that her powers had been reduced massively, from a Great Perfection deity to a higher deity.
Her quintuple-elemental fusion laws of nature was gone.
Her life laws of nature was gone.
Was she actually pushed down from the level of Great Perfection?
It was inconceivable!
“You may go now.”
Meng Lei naturally did not explain further as he issued an eviction order.
“A devil! You’re a devil!”
The Moon Goddess was shaking with rage.
“Mm? Don’t want to go?” Meng Lei sneered. “If you won’t go, then you’ll stay here forever!”
“You bastard!”
The Moon Goddess almost went berserk, but her last vestige of rationality helped her make the right choice.
She knew that if she did not leave, she would likely die over here since the devil in front of her did not possess any protective feelings for the fairer sex at all.
As Marshall, Burnside, and Roald watched the Moon Goddess’ back, their eyes betrayed complicated feelings while astonishment churned in their hearts.
The moment that the Moon Goddess had fallen from the Great Perfection level, they had felt it clearly.
It was exactly because they had felt it that caused them to be even more shocked. What had Meng Lei done to make the Moon Goddess’ cultivation level drop?
Horror!
Perplexity!
Incomprehensible!
Meng Lei looked at the three of them and said, “The three of you can return now.”
“You… You’re willing to let us return?”
The three Great Perfection deities looked at Meng Lei in astonishment.
“Of course.” Meng Lei nodded. “But, I wouldn’t let you off with nothing to do. There’s something I need you all to accomplish.”
“We await your instructions!” the trio said hurriedly.
All they desired now was to leave this place, far away from Meng Lei.
“Collect as many Divinity Crystals as possible. If you can, bring everything in the treasuries of your godly clans to me,” Meng Lei said with a smile.
“P-plunder the clan treasuries?”
They almost planted their heads into the ground. “This… This might not be possible. Those treasuries are important places. Once they get plundered, our Chief Gods will notice, and we’ll be dead for sure—”
“It’s an order!” Meng Lei said coldly. “All of you are Great Perfection deities who can probably enter the treasuries and clean them up with ease.”
“But—”
“No buts! Remember, all of you are my slaves now, not the lofty Great Perfection deities of the past. You must carry out my orders.” Meng Lei huffed. “After emptying the treasuries, come to the Boundless Plane immediately. I’ll open the dimensional gate for you all.”
Although the Boundless Plane was a mid-end existential plane, it had a huge difference when compared to other mid-end existential planes—the dimensional gate connecting each existential plane.
After the Boundless King’s rise, he had paid a huge price in creating the dimensional gates that connected every kind of existential plane.
High-end existential planes like the ten major Divine Realms, the Abyss, and Hell became accessible, while other mid-end existential planes could be accessed too through these dimensional gates.
It could be said that it was extremely convenient.
Under normal circumstances, these dimensional gates would open every 30,000 years. However, since Meng Lei became the master of the Boundless Plane, he could open and close these dimensional gates anytime he wanted.
“Yes, sir!”
The three Great Perfection deities answered with a wry laugh and left as though they were fleeing.
Meng Lei laughed as he watched the departing deities. He felt that he was too smart.
Those were the treasuries of the three major godly clans.
What was collected within must be invaluable. If all of those treasures were emptied into his pockets, he would most definitely earn another fortune.
“Meng Lei, do you really trust them that much?”
Dodola appeared on Meng Lei’s shoulder.
“Of course I don’t trust them, but their divine spirit origin energies are in my hands. If they ever dare to betray me or defy my orders, I’ll let them know why flowers are red 1 ,” Meng Lei said coldly.
“Anything you say, but don’t be complacent.” Dodola reminded as it continued. “Now I’m going to assimilate that Great Perfection divine core!”
“Very well, carry on then.” Meng Lei waved his hand. “I hope by the next time I see you, you have already successfully assimilated that Great Perfection divine core to become a true Great Perfection deity.”
“Yeah!” Dodola then casually tossed out something. “Oh yes, and this!”
“What’s this?” Meng Lei caught it in his hands. When he saw what it was, he was surprised. “S-spatial laws of nature fragment!”
“Yeap! That’s the spatial laws of nature fragment you’ve been longing for. Now I’m handing it over to you.”
Dodola smiled faintly as it snapped its fingers. A golden beam of light entered Meng Lei’s head. “And this too, you can have it.”
Meng Lei absorbed the incoming information and became overjoyed.
“It’s the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique! Tsk, tsk, Dodola, how can you bear to give it?”
“You’ll have use for it,” Dodola replied casually before returning to the Tower of Time to refine the divine core.
“Tsk, tsk, it’s the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique! The best way to escape, plus travel! I must quickly grasp such a great technique.”
Meng Lei could not wait any longer. He activated the Super Plunder function straightaway to plunder the spatial laws of nature within the fragment. He was not going to comprehend it diligently.
That would be too slow.
Boom!
A massive wave of information crashed into his mind like a breached dam, lashing against his divine spirit. If it was before, Meng Lei would have become mentally unstable from the impact.
Now though…
He took them all in.
After a long while…
Meng Lei spat out a long pent-up breath. It was only a laws of nature fragment. After all, the spatial laws of nature encompassed within were so little that it was nothing but a drop of water in the vast sea.
However, it was already enough for him to cultivate the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique, a special spatial ability exclusively under the spatial laws of nature.
“According to the descriptions of the ability, the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique and the comprehension of the spatial laws of nature are closely linked together.
“The better the comprehension of the spatial laws of nature, the further the maximum teleportation distance of the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique. If I can comprehend it to 100%, I’ll be able to travel anywhere, just like it’s my own backyard.
“To be able to travel everywhere in the universe is simply insane!”
After that, Meng Lei stayed at Monarch Mountain to cultivate the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique. As for the rest of the Boundless Giants, they were sent off.
After the arrival of experts from other existential planes, the Boundless Giants had suffered great losses that required much support. Meng Lei delegated these duties to Olio and others to deal with.
The Boundless Giants were born with Herculean strength. If they were nurtured properly, they would not pale in comparison to clans like the Behemoth Gods, Titan Gods, and Giant Elephant Gods.
Such powerful fighters should be properly groomed. Luckily for them, Meng Lei had nothing but countless treasures of a huge variety, resources which his subordinates could utilize for cultivation.
…
Just as Meng Lei was busy with cultivating the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique, the outside world was in a furor.
A million experts from each significant existential plane had fallen.
Such a horrific incident had not occurred for over a million years. Thus, this event was no less than a super earthquake.
The Thunderbolt Divine Realm was shocked.
The Forest Divine Realm was shocked.
The Earth Divine Realm was shocked.
…
It shocked the Demon Realm.
It shocked the Abyss.
It shocked Hell.
…
To sum it up, every existential plane that had sent experts to the Boundless Plane was duly stunned.
The various godly clans, demons, races, and other influences were enraged for a while.
It was only the Boundless Plane.
How weak was a mere mid-end existential plane?
They had sent some of their best experts to descend upon the Boundless Plane just for the gold rush.
Indeed, a mere gold rush.
And now, they were completely annihilated!
There were some things that one could tolerate and some things that one couldn’t!
…
If the fall of a million experts was nothing, would the fall of Great Perfection deities be nothing?
As one of the ten major Divine Realms, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm had almost boundless and incredibly vast boundaries.
A tiny mountain in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm was already larger than a mid-end existential plane, while a small pond was the size of a low-end existential plane.
The Theodore Titan Gods’ headquarters was situated in the Theodore Titan Mountain Range.
As its name suggested, the Theodore Titan Mountain Range was one of the largest mountain ranges in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm. The undulating mountains were like Colossal Dragons lying around the vast land. Every offshoot of the mountain range was huge, not to mention the sub-branches and the main branch.
The Theodore Titan Gods Mountain was on the main branch of the mountain range. This sky-high mountain towered through the clouds, barely visible like a primordial heavenly court.
The Theodore Chief God Shrine was located on the mountaintop.
As the name suggested, the Chief God Shrine was the place to worship the Chief God’s statue and the place to conduct meetings among the high-ranking titans of the Theodore Titan Gods.
At this moment in time, the shrine was overcrowded.
The elders holding the Theodore Titan Gods headquarters were all gathered in the Chief God Shrine. They were panic-stricken, all frightened by something.
“How did that happen?”
“How could such a thing happen?”
“How was it possible for him to perish?”
“The Clan Chief has arrived!”
Just as the chaotic situation continued, a massive titan walked into the hall. As if they had found their leader, the elders welcomed him immediately.
“Greetings, Clan Chief!”
The elders bowed.
“Rise, everyone!”
The burly titan waved his hand and walked to the seat in front of the Chief God Statue. He sat down and swept an authoritative look at the many elders in the hall.
Gaiazeus Theodore.
He was the Clan Chief of the Theodore Titan Gods, son of the Theodore Chief God. His status was only below the Theodore Chief God, and same as the Great Perfection deity, Gaianos.
“What’s the urgent matter which required me to rush here?” Gaiazeus asked.
“Something terrible has happened, Clan Chief!” The Grand Elder stood out and said in an unsettling voice, “The executive in charge of guarding the Soul Jades reported that Lord Gaianos’ jade has shattered!”
“What!?” Gaiazeus’ expression immediately changed as he stared at the Grand Elder and demanded fiercely, “This is no joking matter, Grand Elder!”
“I would never dare to joke about this, Clan Chief.” Terror was written all over the Grand Elder’s face as he continued. “After receiving the report, I went to check it myself. And it was true, Lord Gaianos’ Soul Jade had shattered into pieces. He has… He has passed away!”
Gaiazeus’ vision blackened, but he refused to believe it. “You must be lying! 88th Younger Brother is a Great Perfection deity, someone invincible below the level of Chief God! Who could have killed him? You better not sprout such nonsense here, Grand Elder!”
“Clan Chief…”
The Grand Elder had a bitter smile as he called in someone—the executive responsible for guarding the Soul Jade Hall. He was holding on to a tray that showcased the bits and pieces of a broken Soul Jade.
Gaiazeus recognized it immediately. He could tell the remaining aura on the Soul Jade was left behind by Gaianos.
“88th Younger Brother… He’s really dead?” Gaiazeus’ body quivered slightly. “Who? Who killed him? Which Chief God attacked and killed my brother?”
“Clan Chief, Gaianos perished in the Boundless Plane!” exclaimed the Grand Elder.
“The Boundless Plane?”
" }, { "id": 371, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-371", "title": "Chapter 371 - Black Cloud Continent, Earth Divine Realm", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 371: Black Cloud Continent, Earth Divine Realm
“The Boundless Plane?”
Gaiazeus was greatly surprised. He asked, “Isn’t the Boundless Plane an ordinary mid-end existential plane? How did 88th Younger Brother die in a place like that?”
“We don’t know the concrete details yet,” the Grand Elder shook his head, “But according to the news we’ve received, a super expert has made his appearance in the Boundless Plane. He’s likely connected to Lord Gaianos’ death.”
“A super expert? Who’s he?” asked Gaiazeus with a frown.
“We don’t know what his name is yet, but he’s definitely in the Boundless Plane.”
The Grand Elder said unhurriedly, “During this period of time when you were heading to the Chaotic Star Ocean, the dimensional gate leading to the Boundless Plane opened. The clan dispatched Elder Gregg to the Boundless Plane…”
The Grand Elder recounted everything that had happened. In the end, he finally said, “Lord Gaianos isn’t the only one. From what I know, the Colossal Dragon Gods’ Lord Adolphus, the Angel Gods’ Lord Marshall, the Behemoth Gods’ Lord Burnside, etc. A total of seven Great Perfection deities have entered the Boundless Plane, but to date, not a single one of them has come out alive.”
“Do you mean to say that all seven Great Perfection deities have perished in the Boundless Plane?” A huge jolt went through Gaiazeus. He practically couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“That’s right, Clan Chief.”
“Clan Chief!”
Right at this moment, someone hurriedly entered the hall. He said, “We’ve received news from the people stationed at the dimensional gate. Four of the Great Perfection deities—Lady Elune from the Nature Gods, Lord Marshall from the Angel Gods, Lord Roald from the Fire Phoenix Gods, and Lord Burnside from the Behemoth Gods—have returned!”
“They’ve returned?”
Surprise came over the Grand Elder’s features. He asked, “How is it possible that the four of them have returned alive? Didn’t they also perish like Lord Gaianos?”
The newcomer quickly replied, “Grand Elder, the four Great Perfection deities have indeed returned.”
“They’ve actually returned!” murmured the Grand Elder to himself.
A glint flashed across Gaiazeus’ eyes, and he barked, “Send my orders—ready the teleportation magic circle right away! I’m going to personally make a trip to the Behemoth Gods and find out what’s going on!”
The Grand Elder said, “Clan Chief, why don’t you send someone there instead? There’s no need for you to personally make the trip yourself.”
“My mind is set. Say no more!”
…
Similar events were also taking place among the Colossal Dragon Gods and the Giant Elephant Gods. A Great Perfection deity clansman’s demise was undoubtedly a shocking major incident in the clan!
But no matter how turbulent things were in the outside world, it had nothing whatsoever to do with Meng Lei. He remained in the Boundless Plane and concentrated on cultivating the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique instead.
Now that his divine spirit had become comparable to a lesser Chief God’s and he had even comprehended some spatial laws of nature, cultivating the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique didn’t pose much difficulty for him.
In under half a year’s time, he had already successfully mastered it.
Whoosh!
On this day, Meng Lei, who had been staying on Monarch Mountain, suddenly disappeared. By the time he reappeared, he was already in the Void outside of the Boundless Plane.
There was nothing in the icy-cold and dead silent outer space except large numbers of meteors and floating continents that orbited irregularly around the Boundless Plane.
Meng Lei disappeared again the next moment—he had actually arrived in front of an existential plane a few light-years away.
This was a fire-elemental existential plane filled with only one type of element—fire elements!
The existential plane wasn’t particularly big and was roughly the size of a low-end existential plane. However, the fire elements in there were extremely rich.
At the sight of the existential plane, Meng Lei couldn’t help but think of Salamanders, the fire-elemental life form.
That little fellow whom he named Wahaha had been residing in the Tower of Time’s 97th level all this time. In the beginning, the rich fire elements in the 97th level had made the place its paradise and had been enough for its growth, but as it became stronger and stronger, the 97th level could no longer satisfy Wahaha’s growing needs.
Simply put, the Tower of Time was starting to impede its growth.
It was just that Meng Lei didn’t have any better alternative, so he could only let it stay inside the Tower of Time all this time.
Now that he had found the fire-elemental existential plane, Meng Lei thought it a good place and immediately released Wahaha from the Tower of Time.
“Eh? What is this place?”
A puzzled look came over Wahaha’s countenance when it realized that it had suddenly appeared in the pitch-black outer space. Upon noticing Meng Lei, however, a happy smile immediately appeared on its face, and it asked, “What are you doing here, Meng Lei?”
Meng Lei then pointed at the existential plane a short distance away and replied, “I just found a fire-elemental existential plane. I think you’ll like it very much!”
When Wahaha looked at where Meng Lei was pointing, it immediately started to jump up and down in excitement and exclaimed, “What rich fire elements! That’s a fire-elemental existential plane!”
“You can go over if you like it!”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “You can stay there from now on. I’ll come back and visit someday.”
“Thank you, Meng Lei!”
Wahaha could already barely contain itself. It transformed into a burst of flames that shot right toward the fire-elemental existential plane, pierced through the dimensional wall, and dived right in.
“Haha!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh at the sight and left the place.
As a fire-elemental Salamander, Wahaha possessed enormous potential and would likely provide great assistance to him once it grew to a certain level. However, that day was too far off. Meng Lei couldn’t afford to wait that long.
Thus, he decided to just let it go and allow it to grow freely. He would like very much to see how it would develop!
After that, Meng Lei began to experiment with the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique in the Void.
As expected, it was indeed a top-class spatial special ability that allowed one to teleport across an extremely great distance.
After a series of experiments, Meng Lei discovered to his delight that the furthest he could currently teleport to was 10 light-years away. This meant that he could cross a distance of 10 light-years in an instant! How incredibly crazy was that?!
After that, Meng Lei returned to the Boundless Plane before he then went back to Dark Hell Continent.
Meng Lei also made a trip back to Light Continent before he refined Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane.
After being away for such a long time, it was time for him to return. There was no need to hurry to refine Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane, anyway.
Light Continent was just like what it was before.
It was apparent that Ol’ Amos’ faith had already spread throughout the continent and become deeply entrenched in every intelligent life form during the last 20 years while he was away, allowing them to continuously provide him with power of faith.
“Strange, where’s Ol’ President?”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across Light Continent, yet he didn’t find any trace of Ol’ Amos at all. His divine cognition passed through the Endless Oceans and came to Heaven’s Vault Continent, where he finally found Ol’ Amos.
“The others are actually there, too!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance, and he teleported over right away.
…
In the Meng Lei Empire’s imperial palace on Heaven’s Vault Continent…
The conference hall was packed with people at the moment.
Ol’ Amos and Amolin, his younger sister, were also present.
All of Meng Lei’s subordinates—Puhaman, Thaniel, Bubbles, Mervyn, Pursuer, Nadja, Seisia, Galen, the Spider Goddess, the Dark Fairy Empress, and Sacas—were also there.
Amazingly enough, even Fatty Hart, the lascivious Colossal Dragon, was there!
The group of them had congregated and were arguing over something. None of them seemed to be able to convince anyone else, resulting in a persistent argument.
“Everyone, we mustn’t let such an opportunity slip by us. It’s now or never! This is an excellent opportunity for us to expand our territories. If we seize it, we’ll be able to conquer a vast amount of territory!” Puhaman patiently and earnestly persuaded them. “If Master were here, he’d definitely support my view!”
“Expanding our territories is certainly great and all, but don’t you forget something,” the Spider Goddess said coldly, “The other party we’re talking about is the Earth Divine Realm! One of the ten major Divine Realms, the Earth Divine Realm! Just how powerful are they? We may be higher deities, but this bit of strength we have is nothing in the Earth Divine Realm. To put it nicely, we’re ‘expanding our territories’, but otherwise, we’re just sending ourselves to death’s door!”
“I beg to differ, Rose!”
Galen, the Swirling Snow Sword Saint, rebutted, “While the Earth Divine Realm is certainly filled with experts, the place itself is also vast and boundless. After scattering them around, the number of experts in the Earth Divine Realm in each area will definitely be very sparse. We may not be top-notch in strength, but occupying a few mountains is completely within our means!”
“What Galen says makes sense!”
Bubbles said, “A single mountain in the Demon Realm is already bigger than all the existential planes that we currently own put together. I’m sure it’s also the same in the Earth Divine Realm. As long as we can occupy a mountain range in the Earth Divine Realm, it’ll be enough for us to spread our faith.”
“Experts are aplenty in the Earth Divine Realm. It’s highly likely that we’ll put ourselves in peril if we enter so recklessly,” said the Dark Fairy Empress with a soft sigh.
“Nothing good comes without risk! An excellent opportunity for us to enter the Earth Divine Realm is right before our eyes now. If we miss it this time, we may just miss it for good!”
Puhaman said gravely, “Everyone has already become a higher deity by now. Surely it doesn’t feel good to lack power of divinity? But an excellent opportunity for us to spread our faith sits right before our eyes now. We absolutely mustn’t let it slip by us!”
The Spider Goddess didn’t know how she should rebut his words anymore. Lack power of divinity? How could the word “lack” even cut it? It was practically an extreme deficit!
They had successfully refined the higher deity divine cores that Meng Lei had bestowed upon them and thereby became powerful higher deities. This was naturally something to be happy about, but the blemish in this otherwise perfect situation was that while they had the title, they didn’t have an abundance of power of divinity. This caused their combat power to become significantly impaired.
This was tantamount to someone being equipped with tanks and cannons yet didn’t have enough gunpowder with them. While they had the weapons, they couldn’t use them!
How torturous!
Therefore, everyone wanted to do something about the situation. The best way to replenish one’s power of divinity was to spread their faith and collect power of divinity.
Unfortunately, they evidently didn’t own enough existential planes at the moment. Even though the migration process for the 48 existential planes had long since concluded, and the populations on all 48 existential planes were multiplying dramatically every year, this still wasn’t enough!
The amount of power of divinity that a higher deity needed was simply too harrowing. 100 existential planes’ worth of power of faith domains could only barely provide a higher deity with the amount of power of divinity they needed.
Yet, they had so many higher deities among them. How would 48 existential planes possibly be enough? Therefore, they needed to expand their territories and extend their reach beyond what they currently had arisen. But the problem was…
“What are all of you arguing so intensely about?”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out in the hall in the midst of their heated debate, causing a huge jolt to go through everyone.
“Master!”
“Meng Lei!”
“Boss!!”
Meng Lei quietly appeared in the hall and gazed at all of them with a big smile.
“Greetings, Master!”
Overjoyed, everyone quickly bowed in greeting. Even Ol’ Amos was so elated that he kept stroking his beard.
“Rise, everyone!”
Meng Lei dismissed them with a wave and asked with a smile, “What were all of you arguing about just now? What is it about the Earth Divine Realm?”
“This is what happened, Master,” Puhaman suppressed his feelings of agitation and answered with a bow, “A space-time rift suddenly appeared above Black Cloud Continent half a month ago. Upon investigation, we’ve found out that the space-time rift leads to one of the ten major Divine Realms, the Earth Divine Realm.”
“The Earth Divine Realm?”
His response surprised Meng Lei. Black Cloud Continent was one of the 48 existential planes he had seized previously, so he naturally aware of its existence. Even so, little did he think that the space-time rift above Black Cloud Continent actually led to the Earth Divine Realm!
“Yes, Master!”
Puhaman continued his explanation and said, “Upon investigation, we’ve confirmed that the space-time rift does indeed lead to the Earth Divine Realm. On top of that, we’ve also exchanged blows with some of the experts from the Earth Divine Realm…”
" }, { "id": 372, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-372", "title": "Chapter 372 - Arriving At The Divine Realm, Pronouncing The Death Sentence", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 372: Arriving At The Divine Realm, Pronouncing The Death Sentence
Earth Divine Realm, Double Realm Mountain.
The undulating Double Realm Mountain stretched on for several light-years. Dense forests filled the mountain grounds, the sight completely one of primeval forests covering the area.
Added to this the rich magic elements and distinct laws of nature there, Double Realm Mountain was undoubtedly a cultivation sanctum for both Magical Beasts and cultivators.
Yet a perfect cultivation sanctum like that had instead been taken over by a den of bandits. They acted like the kings of the mountain, robbed deities and trade caravans passing by, committed various acts of arson and pillage, and acted without any care or restraint. All the Divine Realm residents within dozens of light-years of the area were severely troubled by them, yet they didn’t dare to speak up despite their fury.
On this day, the Double Realm Mountain bandits were hiding in their den, drinking and enjoying themselves as usual. They admired the singers and dancers whom they had looted and abducted from the vicinity as they sang and danced, totally leading the good life.
“C’mon, let’s drink!”
“Bottoms up, my brothers!”
“You first, my lord!”
“Reporting!”
A piercing shout suddenly rang out, and then, a bandit carrying a large saber rushed into the room. He said, “My king, we’ve found the cause for our brothers’ recent unexplained disappearances!”
The bandit chief sitting on the throne gave a small wave and dismissed the singers and dancers. Then, he said, “Tell me, why have our brothers gone missing?”
“My lord, the brothers have discovered a space-time rift at the bottom of Heartbroken Cliff. Our missing brothers likely entered the space-time rift,” replied the bandit respectfully.
“A space-time rift?” The bandit chief’s eyes lit up at once. A shrewd glint flickered in his eyes as he asked, “Have you investigated where the space-time rift leads to?”
All the other bandits were also looking at the reporting bandit excitedly. A space-time rift! The Divine Realm’s dimension was incredibly stable, so space-time rifts typically didn’t form there.
This also meant that once one entered the Divine Realm, they could basically forget about ever leaving.
Thus, the appearance of a space-time rift had naturally piqued the bandits’ interest. In the event that the space-time rift led to other existential planes…
“My lord, none of the brothers that entered have returned, and neither did we hear anything from there.”
The bandit shook his head and said, “But what we can be sure of is that the other end of the space-time rift lies a low-end existential plane. However, that existential plane is fairly a dangerous place. There are existences that are at least an intermediate deity there.”
“A low-end existential plane?”
The bandits let out a soft exclamation. While the Divine Realm was known to be a beautiful place, it was simply too dangerous there, especially for bandits like them. If they could find a low-end existential plane and use it as a hiding place, then life would practically be perfect!
The bandit chief got to his feet and ordered, “Ready the horses and our men! I’m going to take a good look at what kind of world the existential plane on the other end exactly is!”
“Yes, my lord!”
A flurry of activity immediately went through the whole den upon his orders. In no time, the bandit chief had already led a group of underlings over to the Heartbroken Cliff.
They moved with great momentum, the lines of men stretching on and undulating for miles.
The masses of men were densely packed and could practically blot out the sun.
One must admit that the Double Realm Mountain bandits did indeed hold great influence. They had as many as a million members, and even the weakest among them was a lesser deity.
With strength like theirs, they could pretty much wipe every low-end existential plane out there!
“So, that’s the space-time rift?” asked the bandit chief with some excitement as he gazed at the deep, dark fissure at the bottom of Heartbroken Cliff.
“Yes, my lord!”
“Old Third, bring some men with you and go check it out,” said the bandit chief to another bandit with a python head and human body.
He was ranked third among the bandits and was a pinnacle-level intermediate deity.
“Yes, Big Brother!”
The python-headed third-in-charge assembled a small team right away and prepared to enter the fissure. However, it was at this exact moment that a figure unexpectedly darted out of the fissure. Then, as though someone had stirred a hornet’s nest, people started to dart out of the space-time rift one after another.
“That’s—”
The bandit chief and the rest of the bandits stared blankly at the dozens of figures that had just darted out of the space-time rift.
We haven’t even gone over, yet you’re already coming over so eagerly? Aren’t the lot of you afraid of death?
“So, this is the Earth Divine Realm?”
The group of people that had just come out of the space-time rift was naturally Meng Lei and the others. They stood proudly in the sky and sized up their surroundings with curiosity and novelty in their eyes. Come to think of it, none of them had ever been to a high-end existential plane yet!
“What rich magic elements!”
“It’s at least 10,000 times richer than Heaven’s Vault Continent’s!”
“And the laws of nature, too!”
“They are simply too distinct!”
“As expected of the Earth Divine Realm! Surely even a pig can break through to become a half-deity here…”
All of them were totally astounded.
Meng Lei was also astonished. This was also the first time that his real body had stepped into a high-end existential plane. One must admit that be it magic elements or laws of nature, the Earth Divine Realm wasn’t something that mid-end existential planes like the Boundless Plane or the Dark Hell Continent could compare to, let alone low-end material planes like Heaven’s Vault Continent.
There was practically a world of difference between them!
There was no comparability between them at all!
“Feh! Where are those aboriginals from?”
A furious shout suddenly rang out next to their ears while everyone was admiring the environment around them. At once, they noticed a group of people shooting into the sky and surrounding them on all sides.
“Eh?”
Aside from Meng Lei, everyone else’s expressions changed dramatically. With a wary look on their faces, they watched the Double Realm Mountain bandits, who were all deities. There were a fair number of intermediate deities among them. As for higher deities…
Where were the higher deities?
Everyone’s gazes swept across the bandits, only to realize in the end that there was only one higher deity there!
“Only one higher deity?”
Ol’ Amos, Puhaman, Bubbles, and the others exchanged looks with one another, all of them not quite knowing whether to laugh or to cry.
And here they were wondering just what kind of powerful experts had surrounded them, too. As it turned out, it was just a bunch of unsavory thugs!
It was just a false alarm!
“How bold of you, you lowly aboriginals! We haven’t even gone to you, yet you’ve come all the way to us instead. You’re courting death, indeed!”
The third-in-charge pointed at Meng Lei and the rest with his saber and shouted furiously, “Come on, kids! Take down those foolish aboriginals!”
“Yes, Third-in-charge!”
The bandits let out a shout and lunged toward Meng Lei and the others right away. At the sight, Puhaman couldn’t help but snort and released the aura around himself.
Boom!
A surging wave of pressure swept through the surroundings like tidal waves, instantly weighing down on the bandit chief, the third-in-charge, and every single bandit’s hearts. Apart from the bandit chief himself, all the other bandits unsurprisingly… fell onto their knees!
Thud, thud, thud!
Horror-stricken, all the bandits were shaking like leaves. “A h-higher deity! That’s a higher deity! Oh my god! Why is there a higher deity among them?”
It was then that the bandits realized that they had run into a wall this time. This wasn’t the end of it yet, however, because Bubbles and the others also followed suit and released their own auras.
Boom!
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Tremendous divine power overlaid on top of one another and wantonly ravaged the bandits’ fragile souls. The weak ones passed out from fear right away, while the slightly stronger ones sank into despair as fear and horror took over them.
“H-higher deities!”
“They are all higher deities!”
“Oh my god! To think they are all higher deities! How are we supposed to fight them?”
Despair came over the bandits. Realization also dawned upon the bandit chief who had stayed silent all this time in this instant. No wonder he had felt like he couldn’t tell how strong the group of people were from the very moment he laid eyes on them and was being totally perplexed!
Little did he think that… They were all higher deities!
He understood everything now, but he had also lost all hope.
The bandit chief knew that with the Double Realm Mountain bandits’ combat strength, they were no match at all for so many higher deities.
“How should we handle those people, Master?”
Puhaman bowed and requested for further instructions.
“Kill the weak ones and subdue the strong ones.”
With a single sentence, Meng Lei had pronounced the death sentence upon the Double Realm Mountain bandits.
“Yes, Master!”
" }, { "id": 373, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-373", "title": "Chapter 373 - Divinity Crystal Mine, A Change Of Mindset", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 373: Divinity Crystal Mine, A Change of Mindset
With a single sentence from Meng Lei, the Double Realm Mountain bandits became total history. All one million bandits died, leaving behind only the bandit chief dragging out an ignoble existence.
“Kill the weak ones and subdue the strong ones.”
Puhaman and the others carried out Meng Lei’s order excellently. In their eyes, only the bandit chief, who was a higher deity, counted as someone strong by a stretch.
The rest… They were all weaklings!
“Thank you for sparing my life! Thank you for sparing my life!” The frightened bandit chief kowtowed incessantly and said his thanks loudly.
“Tell me, what is this place?” Meng Lei ordered, “Tell me everything you know, and I’ll consider sparing your life.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll definitely tell you everything I know and withhold nothing at all!”
How would the bandit chief possibly dare to keep anything a secret from Meng Lei? He quickly told him everything he knew, wishing that he knew more so that he could continue speaking.
“Double Realm Mountain?”
“Dragon-Elephant City?”
“The Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods?”
As the bandit chief narrated everything he knew, Meng Lei and the others gradually also got to know about the area.
This particular mountain range was known as the Double Realm Mountain and was a small mountain range near Dragon-Elephant City, while the Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods built Dragon-Elephant City itself.
The Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods!
The Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods were a third-rate godly clan in the Earth Divine Realm. Said to simultaneously possess both the Giant Elephant and the Colossal Dragon bloodlines, they occupied territories that stretched for a radius of 10,000 light-years. The clan boasted innumerable experts where just higher deities alone already numbered as many as over 10,000. They were the most powerful force in the vicinity.
“What do we do next, Master?” asked a slightly uneasy Puhaman for further instructions while the others also gazed at Meng Lei. All of them felt immense pressure after understanding the situation.
The Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods!
They were just a small, third-rate force in the Earth Divine Realm, yet they boasted over 10,000 higher deities among the clan and occupied territories that spanned 10,000 light-years in the surroundings.
With even a third-rate force being this powerful, what more the second-rate forces, first-rate forces, top-class godly clans, and the ten major godly clans? How powerful must they be?
“What do all of you think?”
Meng Lei asked instead of replying.
“I think we should go about things steadily and surely, and do things step by step.”
Puhaman said respectfully, “I’d suggest that we use Double Realm Mountain as our base for now and manage these few light-years of territory around Double Realm Mountain well before we then extend our reach to the outside step by step and take over more territories.”
The others nodded upon hearing his suggestion.
The Earth Divine Realm was simply too big. Just the Double Realm Mountain alone was already bigger than all the existential planes that they currently owned. They mustn’t let such vast territories go to waste! They had to manage it properly.
Expansion?
They had better just manage this bit of land properly before talking about anything else!
“Oh, you guys, your mindset has become too fixed.” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “To think you’re still thinking of managing territories, spreading your faith, and slowly harvesting power of faith!”
“Uhh… Shouldn’t we?”
Puhaman scratched his head, somewhat sheepish.
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he pointed at the bandit chief in front of them and said jokingly, “All of you are stronger than this guy, yet your mindsets aren’t even as quick-witted as his. Why don’t you ask this guy whether or not he’s ever spread his faith?”
Perplexed, all of them turned to the bandit chief.
“S-sir…!”
Frightened, the bandit chief braced himself and said, “You’re awfully astute indeed, sir! I’ve never spread my faith before. All the power of divinity that I needed were… were… stolen from others!”
“Stolen?”
Everyone was taken aback.
“Sirs, you may not know this, but the common currency in the Divine Realms are Divinity Crystals.”
The bandit chief had no choice but to press on and explain, “The deities and trade caravans passing by here carry a substantial amount of Divinity Crystals on themselves, so you need only to just snatch them and use them for yourselves. W-who would spend so much time and effort to spread their faith, collect power of faith, and slowly form power of divinity?”
“Snatch and use them straight away?”
“You can actually do that?”
Puhaman and the others widened their eyes in shock. They suddenly felt as if poverty had limited their imagination. All they had in mind was spreading their faith, but little did they know that there was also such a method of obtaining power of divinity.
Ol’ Amos suddenly raised a question. He asked, “If everyone relies on robbery to maintain their day-to-day power of divinity needs like you, then where do the Divinity Crystals come from?”
“There’s more to it than meets the eye, sir!”
The bandit chief hastily explained, “As the Divine Realms’ common currency, Divinity Crystals are also the most common and most important strategic resource in the Divine Realms. All the deities naturally come up with all sorts of ideas and ways to obtain Divinity Crystals. There are typically two ways to obtain Divinity Crystals.
“The first way is to spread one’s religious faith. All of the major godly clans and forces have their own power of faith domains. They also have laborers that specialize in manifesting power of divinity and purifying and refining Divinity Crystals. These laborers are essentially the farmers and workers of low-end existential planes.”
“You can actually do that?”
Everyone found this a huge eye-opener.
“The second way is mining the Divinity Crystal mines.”
The bandit chief went on. “There are innumerable Divinity Crystal mines of various sizes in the Divine Realms. These mines are rich in mineral deposits and contain an ample amount of Divinity Crystals. You need only to extract them, and you’ll be able to refine and use them. It’s simple, convenient, and quick!
“For the same reason, every Divinity Crystal mine is worth a lot. In particular, large ore veins with astonishing amounts of mineral deposits are even priceless in value! However, such ore veins are typically controlled by large godly clans and large forces. Ordinary deities can’t get a share of the action at all.”
“Divinity Crystal mines!”
Everyone’s eyes lit up. Compared to spreading religious faith, this method was practically way too convenient.
“Did you hear that?” Meng Lei smiled and said, “Divinity Crystals are aplenty in the Divine Realms. Relying on spreading faith to convert power of faith into power of divinity is too inefficient.”
“What a huge eye-opener!”
Ol’ Amos said with a sigh, “Little did I think that one can also obtain Divinity Crystals this way. We’re simply too ignorant and ill-informed!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
Puhaman and the others nodded repeatedly.
“Our level of strength is constantly changing, as is the environment that we’re in. Therefore, our mindsets must also keep up with these changes,” said a smiling Meng Lei.
“In that case, what exactly should we do, Master?” asked Bubbles.
“Ask him!”
Meng Lei turned to the bandit chief. He said, “In the Divine Realm, how exactly do ordinary deities obtain Divinity Crystals? After all, I believe bandits that rob others like you are a minority.”
The bandit chief blushed in embarrassment and replied, “To obtain Divinity Crystals, ordinary deities typically choose to join any of the forces and earn their income through labor.
“Experts like all of you can also join a small clan somewhere and become their retainer or foreign minister[1]. You’ll be able to receive a handsome amount of Divinity Crystals every year.”
“Earn income through labor?”
“Become a retainer or a foreign minister?”
All of them looked at one another before turning to Meng Lei with queries in their eyes.
Meng Lei, however, shook his head lightly and said, “In comparison, I still prefer your method.”
The bandit chief was stupefied for a moment before he said disbelievingly, “Sir, you mean…”
“Didn’t you say it yourself just now? Divinity Crystals can be found everywhere in the Divine Realm, so wouldn’t everything be solved if you just take it and use it directly?”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile.
The bandit chief was instantly rendered speechless.
Take it and use it directly? That’s even more goddamn shameless than what I’m doing!
Sheepish looks came over everyone else’s countenances, and they kindly reminded him, “This is the Earth Divine Realm, Master. Shouldn’t we exercise a bit of restraint here?”
“Restraint?”
A bewildered Meng Lei stared at them. “Since we can afford to be willful, then why should we exercise any restraint?”
-_-||
Everyone was rendered completely speechless.
“Let’s go to Dragon-Elephant City.”
Meng Lei held his hands behind his back and said, “In the Divine Realm, the strong are revered, and they can wantonly strip everything from the weak. This is a truth that’ll never change for eternity. You’ll be on the losing end if you’re too embarrassed to do it!”
“Yes, Master!”
The others could only follow after him in resignation.
“As for you, on account of how you’ve provided quite a bit of information, I’ll spare you for now.”
Meng Lei turned to the bandit chief and ordered, “Lead the way!”
“Thank you, sir!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 374, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-374", "title": "Chapter 374 - A Chief God Bandit, Mysterious Black Fog", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "The Earth Divine Realm was indeed inconceivably huge. It took them a whole week just to get out of Double Realm Mountain.
Of course, this was also partially due to Meng Lei. In order to “take” all the Divinity Crystals lying in abundance everywhere, Meng Lei had refrained from using the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique, leading to their slow progress.
As the saying went, “From small increments comes abundance”. After a series of ransacking, he had collected a fairly impressive amount of riches. Going by a rate like that, Meng Lei believed that he’d be able to put together enough money very soon for the 5 trillion Divinity Crystals that he needed in order to buy credit for one of his supreme laws of nature!
The path ahead was a smooth and level one!
Thus, Meng Lei was naturally filled with motivation.
Half a month later, they finally arrived at Dragon-Elephant City. This was a city so massive that it was pretty much boundless. In comparison, Double Realm Mountain was just like a little pond sitting next to the boundless oceans.
There was no comparability between the two at all!
“It’s huge!”
“How many light years does this city stretch on for? Are all the cities in the Divine Realms so excessive?”
Terribly astounded, the group of them floated in mid-air and overlooked Dragon-Elephant City that stretched on far beyond one’s line of vision.
“Dear sirs, Dragon-Elephant City stretches on for 200 light-years from the east to the west and 180 light-years from the north to the south. It’s one of the 66 cities under the Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods’ command.”
Upon seeing their astounded reactions, the bandit chief, a Divine Realm native, actually felt a small sense of smugness come over him. He explained with a smile, “Dragon-Elephant City has a resident population of 98,000 quadrillion people, among which the number of higher deities has reached as many as over one million, and more than 10% of the population are intermediate deities. It’s considered a fourth-rate city in the Divine Realms.”
Everyone couldn’t help but gasp upon hearing his explanation.
A distance of 200 light-years from the east to the west!
A distance of 180 light-years from the north to the south!
A resident population of 98,000 quadrillion people!
Higher deities that numbered as many as a million of them!
Huge!
It was too huge!
It was to the extent that one could no longer imagine how big Dragon-Elephant City was just by their imagination alone!
Meng Lei was also astounded. Even if he were to use his Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique, he’d have to spend quite a long time before he could get out of Dragon-Elephant City. This was simply too excessive!
However…
“The bigger it is, the better it is!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips curled upward, and his divine cognition gushed down like flowing mercury, instantly enveloping the whole area within a billion kilometers beneath them. Then, he cast his special ability—Transfer!
Transfer was a special ability that he had plundered from the Dark Mother Tree back then. He could disregard all obstructions and spatial barriers and transfer anything to his target location with this ability.
Meng Lei rarely used Transfer in battle because it wasn’t very suitable for use in battle. Its biggest functionality was emptying treasuries and ransacking safes…
“Collect!”
With a thought from Meng Lei, all the Divinity Crystals, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and even spatial rings that he detected during his scan—be it hidden in treasuries or hidden in the soles of one’s shoes—were all transferred over to him!
“Collect them all, system!”
Whoosh!
An insane spike went through his Wealth value in the system. By the time it came to a stop, it had actually increased by a terrifying 7 trillion Divinity Crystals. This was simply too dramatic! One must know that Meng Lei had only looted all the Divinity Crystals within a billion kilometers of where he was!
How big was Dragon-Elephant City?
How many billion kilometers must it be?
“To hell with the Monarch’s treasure and the God of Time’s riches!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but let out an emotional sigh. “The Divine Realms’ deities’ riches are the true and biggest treasure of all!”
No matter how much riches a person had, there was ultimately still a limit to it simply because they were just an individual. This was true even if the person they were talking about was a mid-level Ancient God like the God of Time or a Supreme Juggernaut like the Boundless King.
Conversely, no matter how poor the masses were, once their riches were put together, it would come together to form a dramatic number.
Was Bill Gates rich?
Yes, he was!
But did he have as much as the total savings of 1.3 billion common people?
Of course not!
This was exactly what was so fearsome about a huge base number!
“Let’s continue!”
Since he’d already gotten a taste of the benefits, all the more, Meng Lei would never let the opportunity slip him by. Even though his actions were very shameless and had crossed the line and even caused innumerable deities to lose everything they had, what did it matter?
As the saying went, “If one doesn’t take what the heavens bestow upon them, misfortune brought about by it would instead befall them”. In a dog-eat-dog world like the Divine Realm, one’s strength was what was the most important instead. Who would care about the weak’s mad barking?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Meng Lei looted the wallets and assets of all the deities in Dragon-Elephant City without any limit. Wailing and lamenting followed in the wake of everywhere he went.
“Damn it!”
“Who stole my wallet?!”
“My spatial ring! Where’s my spatial ring?!”
“That goddamn thief! How dare you steal my treasures!”
The large-scale theft naturally caught the city governors’ attention. The Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods’ higher management officials in charge of Dragon-Elephant City deployed the city guards at once and began a search for the thief.
However, it was destined that they would never find him.
Who would be able to find Meng Lei when he had already mastered spatial laws of nature and was hiding in the sky with the others?
It was nothing more than just a futile struggle.
“How strange!”
“Why are there suddenly so many people in Dragon-Elephant City?”
“What are they ranting about?”
“What a mess…”
Meng Lei and the others were standing right above Dragon-Elephant City, so the ongoings in the city naturally didn’t escape them. All of them looked absolutely puzzled when they noticed the chaos in the city. Everything had been perfectly fine just now. Why had the city suddenly gone into utter chaos?
What exactly had happened in Dragon-Elephant City?
“Haha!”
Meng Lei merely chuckled in response and continued his shameless actions. If one were to say that he had the decency to feel a little embarrassed about his actions, in the beginning, all sense of shame and guilt had been tossed out of his mind by now at the sight of his currently rapidly increasing wealth.
Embarrassment?
All I want is Divinity Crystals!
In the city governors’ residence…
“A bunch of good-for-nothings!”
Dowa Caesar, a man with a dragon head, a human body, and a pair of horns on his head, yet also an elephant’s trunk on his face, was so furious that he smashed the table into pieces with his fist. With his finger pointed at a group of subordinates, he broke into a huge rant.
“There are so many of you, yet you can’t even catch a single thief! What’s the point of having all of you here?!”
“My lord, please calm down!”
“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down?”
Dowa Caesar was fuming mad. “With so many deities robbed, everyone in the city is fearful and in a panic. If this goes on, Dragon-Elephant City will become totally destroyed!”
“My lord, that thief is simply too arrogan—”
“Cut that useless crap and find that goddamn thief at once! Otherwise, there’s no point in your existences anymore!”
“Yes, my lord”!
“A bunch of good-for-nothings!”
Dowa Caesar took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down as he stared at the now empty hall. However, he simply couldn’t.
Theft was actually just a trivial matter, but with so many deities robbed—especially when innumerable higher deities had been robbed of everything they had—this was no laughing matter!
One must know that a million higher deities were residing in Dragon-Elephant City. In contrast, there were no more than just a mere total of 100,000 higher deities in the whole of the Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods!
If all one million higher deities came together to create a fuss, the Caesar Dragon-Elephant Gods wouldn’t be able to handle them at all!
Therefore, they absolutely had to find the thief and take back the treasures that the residents had lost.
Otherwise, Dowa Caesar had no guts to even imagine what might happen next!
“Kekeke, you’ve run into trouble, haven’t you?”
A series of piercing, owl’s hoot-like sounds rang out, and then, a black fog arose and started to circle and dance around Dowa Caesar.
“You bastard, who let you out?”
Dowa Caesar took a few furtive glances around him like an alarmed little rabbit. After ascertaining that no one had discovered them, he heaved a sigh of relief before shouting furiously, “Are you worried that no one will find you or what? Hurry and go back!”
“What’s there to be scared of? Everyone has already left.”
The black fog let out a couple of strange cackles and asked, “It seems like you’ve run into some trouble, and on top of that, it’s pretty serious?”
“It’s just a few petty thieves. It’s not much of a problem!” Dowa Caesar snorted and ordered, “Go back for now. Let’s communicate via telepathy instead.”
The black fog was unmoved. Instead, it replied, “A few petty thieves? You’re oversimplifying things. Do you know who the one that stole those innumerable deities’ riches is?”
“You know who it is?”
Dowa Caesar was puzzled.
“I’m afraid it would frighten you to death if I say his name!” replied the black fog mockingly.
“Who exactly is it?”
Dowa Caesar gnashed his teeth in fury.
“A Chief God,” uttered the black fog leisurely.
“A Chief God?”
A shudder went through Dowa Caesar’s entire body, and he almost wet himself in fear.
" }, { "id": 375, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-375", "title": "Chapter 375 - A Chief God'S Remnant Soul, The Great Reincarnation And Destruction", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 375: A Chief God’s Remnant Soul, The Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process
What was a Chief God?
That was a supreme existence! Even the mere mention of a Chief God itself was enough to make Dowa Caesar tremble all over. He said, “Stop joking around, Moro. It’s not funny at all!”
“Joking? Who’s joking with you?”
The black fog cackled and said, “I’ll just tell you the truth. The thief that stole the Dragon-Elephant City deities’ treasures is none other than a Chief God, albeit I have no idea why he’s doing something like that.”
A Chief God stealing other deities’ treasures?
It might sound awfully incredulous, but an inconceivable thing like that had indeed happened!
The black fog was also utterly puzzled.
“The thief’s a Chief God? Oh my god!”
Dowa Caesar was dismayed. He knew Moro was no decent fellow, but Moro had never lied to him during this long period that he had known him.
Whatever Moro said was definitely true. Innumerable incidents in the past had already proven this.
“Why is that Chief God doing something like this, Moro?” Dowa Caesar muttered to himself, “What kind of treasure is there that a supreme and lofty Chief God like him can’t get his hands on? Why did he steal the other deities’ belongings instead?”
“Who knows? Maybe he’s looking for something in particular.” The black fog cackled and said, “You can only count yourself unlucky to have encountered something like this because there’s no way you could’ve prevented it at all. What a pitiful fellow!”
Dowa Caesar shuddered and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be invincible, Moro? Can you stop that Chief God? Help me out here and stop him!”
“Had I been in my prime, I naturally wouldn’t have feared him, but now… We’d better just forget about it instead!”
The black fog rejected his request right away. It said, “I have no desire to mess with a Chief God-class existence at all. Even though he’s only a lesser Chief God… Eh? He’s coming over!”
As though it had detected something, the black fog instantly disappeared into Dowa Caesar and vanished from sight as though it had never once appeared.
“Moro! Moro!”
Dowa Caesar shouted his name twice.
“Stop calling for me, you fool! He’s already noticed us!” The black fog berated him furiously.
“Uh…”
Dowa Caesar hastily took the hint and shut up. One must know that Moro was his cheating device. The reason why an unvalued descendant from the clan’s branch family like him could mature into what he currently was was all thanks to Moro. He didn’t dare to even imagine how things would go if he were to lose Moro!
“What was that just now?”
It was at this moment that a leisurely, unhurried voice suddenly rang out by his ear.
“Mo—”
Dowa Caesar was about to answer out of habit when he suddenly realized something amiss. He hastily raised his head to see that someone had appeared in front of him.
He had black hair and black eyes and was as handsome and attractive as a celestial being. Dowa Caesar swore he had never seen such a good-looking human before. He was so dazzled by his beauty that he became dazed for a moment there.
“Where did that fellow from just now go?”
The newcomer was none other than Meng Lei, who raised the question again.
“W-who are you?”
Dowa Caesar snapped back to reality in shock and stared at Meng Lei in fear and horror.
“You don’t need to know who I am,” Meng Lei said dispassionately. “You need only to tell me where that fellow who was with you just now has gone.”
“W-what are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re saying!” stammered Dowa Caesar with a face full of fear.
“Hah! It’s fine even if you don’t tell me.”
A soft chuckle escaped Meng Lei as he shook his head. Then, he reached out his right hand, pointed lightly at Dowa Caesar, and slowly uttered, “Time Replay!”
Buzz!
Time-based laws of nature instantly enveloped Dowa Caesar. The time around him slowly came to a halt and started to turn back. It went back 0.1 seconds ago, one second ago…
“W-what are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re saying!”
“W-who are you?”
“Moro! Moro!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be invincible, Moro? Can you stop that Chief God? Help me out here and stop him!”
“What kind of treasure is there that a supreme and lofty Chief God like him can’t get his hands on? Why did he steal the other deities’ belongings instead?”
The time around Dowa Caesar went back to a dozen or so seconds ago, but oddly enough, Moro, who had been talking to him just now, didn’t show up at all from start to finish. It seemed like Moro was completely unaffected by Time Replay.
However, Dowa Caesar’s speech had completely sold it out.
“His name is Moro?”
As Meng Lei stopped Time Replay, he looked at Dowa Caesar and remarked with a smile, “To think he’s actually unaffected by time-based laws of nature. His abilities have exceeded my expectations.”
“What did you do to me?”
Dowa Caesar was incredibly fearful.
“You’re too noisy!”
Meng Lei gave a casual wave of his arm, and Dowa Caesar’s eyes rolled up into his head, and he passed out completely. It was best that he went to sleep at a time like this anyway. Perhaps he might still be able to keep his life this way.
“What? Aren’t you coming out?” A smiling Meng Lei then added, “To act so sneakily and secretive despite being a great Chief God, aren’t you just degrading yourself?”
“I only came out for a breather, yet you’ve discovered me right away. You sure have a sharp nose!”
A cloud of black fog arose from Dowa Caesar and manifested into a human. He was bald and had an ordinary human’s appearance, except for an extra eye in between his brows.
“A Death God?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but be somewhat taken aback as he stared at the vertical eye in between the other party’s brows.
“I’m no Death God. Don’t you dare lump me together with those low-end undeads with impure bloodlines!” Moro retorted icily.
“Your name is Moro?” asked Meng Lei.
“That’s right,” replied Moro dispassionately.
“Who exactly are you?”
A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “Despite being just a divine spirit, your divine spirit is as strong as a lesser Chief God’s. Your combat prowess can be ranked among the top even in the vast universe, so why would you be in a place like this?”
“Why should I tell you?” scoffed Moro, who was completely unafraid of Meng Lei.
“Sir, for your own safety, I think you should tell me everything you know instead.” Meng Lei gave him a calm smile and added, “That’s if you’re wise enough, of course.”
“You can’t kill me.” Moro shook his head and said, “Although I’m just a remnant of my soul, this remnant soul has already gone through the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process’ purification. Nobody can kill me even in this whole world!”
The Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process!
Meng Lei quietly took note of the term. Then, he remarked, “I’d initially thought that you were just an ordinary Chief God’s remnant soul, but little did I think that you actually also harbor other secrets on you.”
He had really only been looting Divinity Crystals just now, but little did he expect that he would detect a Chief God’s aura when he unintentionally cast a glance in this direction. He then discovered this place when he followed after the aura and teleported over.
At the sight of Moro, Meng Lei suddenly realized that it was highly likely that he was about to strike gold!
“I certainly have a lot of secrets, but what has it anything to do with you?” scoffed Moro.
“I can’t be bothered to say any more meaningless crap.” Meng Lei said dispassionately, “Tell me everything you know, and I’ll consider letting you off.”
“Are you revealing your true intentions so quickly? I had thought that you would take a more indirect approach and only show your true colors after you’ve received more information from me.”
Moro shook his head and chuckled. “What an anxious little fellow. Speaking of which, are all the little fellows from this era of yours this impatient?”
“Come clean, Mr. Moro.” A smiling Meng Lei said, “Tell me everything about yourself!”
“Why should I tell you?” Moro stared at Meng Lei as though he were staring at a mentally disabled person. He said, “There’s no way you can kill me, so don’t bother threatening me with my life. It won’t work.”
“I can’t kill you?” Meng Lei shook his head. “How would we know for sure if we don’t give it a try?”
“Give it a go, then!”
Moro uttered an “oh”.
“Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
Meng Lei opened the vertical eye in between his brows.
Whoosh!
A tricolored divine light burst forth from his Grim Reaper’s Eye and instantly fell onto Moro. A terrifying devouring force swept out of the eye and furiously tried to devour Moro’s remnant soul.
Then, an amazing sight happened…
" }, { "id": 376, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-376", "title": "Chapter 376 - The Previous Era, Genesis Laws Of Nature", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Upon activation, the Grim Reaper’s Eye started to furiously devour Moro’s remnant soul. Something amazing then occurred at this point.
The ever-victorious Grim Reaper’s Eye had actually run into a wall! No matter how it tried, it simply couldn’t do anything about the remnant soul standing in front of it!
This shocked Meng Lei!
His divine spirit was already comparable to a lesser Chief God’s, and his Grim Reaper’s Eye had already been enhanced to an ultimate-grade special ability.
Moreover, the Grim Reaper bloodline in his body had also been enhanced to become the Grim Reaper King bloodline.
There were few in the vast universe under such circumstances who could resist the Grim Reaper’s Eye’s devouring power, let alone a mere remnant soul.
And yet, this guy currently standing in front of him had somehow managed to!
“Who exactly are you?” Meng Lei narrowed his eyes and asked seriously.
“I told you, you can’t kill me.” Moro shook his head and chuckled. “Stop those pointless actions of yours. In any case, it’s nothing but just futile efforts.”
“Futile efforts? Aren’t you being overconfident here?”
Meng Lei snorted lightly and ordered, “System, plunder that guy’s memories. I want to know who he is!”
“Ding! Target Item: Moro’s memories. Plunder Target: Moro’s remnant soul. Plundering cost is estimated at 100 trillion Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you plunder it?”
“100 trillion Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei almost broke into expletives.
I’ve only managed to gather 100-odd trillion Divinity Crystals after going through so much trouble and pain, yet now I have to pay 100 trillion Divinity Crystals just to plunder a remnant soul’s memories? Is there any justice in this world?
“System, what exactly is that guy? Why does it cost so much to plunder his memories?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
However, the system didn’t even make a peep in response.
“…”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless at once.
“Leave, young Ancient God.” Moro spoke again. “You can’t kill me, but neither can I do anything about you. Besides, there are no feuds between the two of us. There’s no need for us to fight to the death.”
“I certainly can’t kill you.” Meng Lei was awfully displeased. “But it doesn’t mean that I can’t do anything about you!”
“Oh?”
Moro raised an eyebrow.
“Mysterious Ice of The Depths!”
Meng Lei uttered five words. At once, a tricolored icy current shot out of his fingers and enveloped Moro before freezing him into a large ice lump.
“Even if I can’t kill you, do you think I can’t trap you?”
Meng Lei let out a cold snort. As he watched Moro’s remnant soul that had been sealed within the Mysterious Ice of The Depths, he said, “Since I’ve already discovered your existence, then you can forget abou—”
Before Meng Lei could even finish, Moro, who had been sealed in ice, suddenly transformed into a cloud of black smoke, darted out of the tricolored ice lump, and reappeared in front of Meng Lei.
“Mysterious Ice of The Depths! Tsk, to think you can use the Frost Gods’ Innate Special Ability. How unexpected!”
Moro watched Meng Lei with a big smile, clicking his tongue in wonder as he remarked, “What a mysterious little fellow! I’ve suddenly taken a huge interest in you!”
“…”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and launched another of his special abilities. “Netherworld Divine Fire!”
A tricolored burst of flames burst forth and manifested into a fireball that trapped Moro within. Before long, Moro darted out of it again, however.
“First Grim Reaper’s Eye, then Mysterious Ice of The Depths, and now Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The way Moro was watching Meng Lei had changed. He said, “If my senses aren’t deceiving me, you also own three great origin divine bodies—a metal-origin divine body, a wood-origin divine body, and a thunder-origin divine body—at the same time. What kind of mutant are you, exactly? Why do you have so many abilities all gathered in one place?”
“You’re the mutant! Your entire family are mutants!”
Meng Lei was going rather crazy. He said, “Grim Reaper’s Eye is useless on you, and neither do you fear Mysterious Ice of The Depths or Netherworld Divine Fire. I want to know who you are exactly?”
“I told you,” Moro replied leisurely, “My divine spirit has already gone through the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process’ purification and has become immortal and indestructible. Your ways are ineffective on me!”
“What’s effective on you, then?” asked a vexed Meng Lei.
“Genesis laws of nature.” Moro shook his head and said, “In this whole wide world, only genesis laws of nature, which are equipped with the power to create a world, can destroy my remnant soul and thoroughly kill me.”
“Genesis laws of nature?”
Meng Lei was stunned. “What are genesis laws of nature?”
“They are primordial laws of nature that create the universe. There are three types in total—space-time laws of nature that dominate the top, bottom, and all four other directions and the flow of time from the past to the present; destiny laws of nature that controls the birth, existence, and death of all things in the world; and order laws of nature that maintains the universe’s balance.”
Moro said dispassionately, “These three great genesis laws of nature come together to form the whole universe and are also the basis and foundation of the vast universe. Only genesis laws of nature can erase my immortal divine spirit.”
“Genesis laws of nature…” Meng Lei murmured under his breath.
“Little fellow, because you’ve already comprehended time-based laws of nature, there’s certainly a chance that you may also comprehend space-time laws of nature. Of course, it’s just a very tiny little chance.”
Moro went on and said, “Space-time laws of nature include two different parts—time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature. When you’ve 100% comprehended these two supreme laws of nature and merged them into one, you’ll be able to comprehend space-time laws of nature.
“As for now…”
Moro shook his head and said, “You’d better just concentrate on properly comprehending time-based laws of nature instead. Your level of comprehension with regard to time-based laws of nature is simply too poor!”
“Is it that terrible? You must understand that I’m the one and only person to have comprehended time-based laws of nature in this whole wide world!” retorted a somewhat displeased Meng Lei.
“Is that so? In that case, lifeforms from your era sure are inferior!”
Moro chuckled and said, “The current era looks like it’s already almost half-gone, yet it has only just birthed someone that can comprehend time-based laws of nature? How lousy! Lousy, indeed!”
“You’ve been mentioning the word ‘era’. What exactly is an ‘era’?” asked a frowning Meng Lei.
“Trees go through summer and winter, and people go through aging, weakening, and death.”
Moro said dispassionately, “There’s an end to the lives of all things in this world, and the universe itself is no exception.
“Every certain period, the universe will die out and be reborn—this is reincarnation. Every reincarnation cycle is an era.”
“You’re someone from the previous era?!”
A jolt went through Meng Lei, and he couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
“That’s right.”
Moro gave him a dispassionate smile and said, “Thus, you’re no different from a little fellow in my eyes—or rather, all the living things in your era are little fellows to me.”
“So you’re that kind of old fart!”
Meng Lei clicked his tongue in wonder. Then, he suddenly looked Moro up and down and wondered aloud curiously, “Given how your remnant soul alone is already this powerful, how strong were you during your prime?”
“Hah, that’s a secret!”
The corners of Moro’s lips quirked upward.
Pooh!
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully and said, “I’ll rephrase this, then—what class of lifeform must one be in order to survive the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process like you?”
“What a quick-witted little fellow!”
Moro shook his head and smiled as he replied, “The Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process is the end of the whole universe. Even the high-end existential planes that you think are eternal and immortal will also be destroyed, and all lives in the universe have to die.
“That’s what a real disaster is.”
Moro’s voice became low and deep as he said, “Watching helplessly as existential planes crumble, dissipate, and turn into energy torrents; watching masses of lifeforms die out in an instant; watching lifeforms at the pinnacle of the power pyramid fleeing in a panic before ultimately being utterly destroyed amid their despair… These are enough to make one break down!”
Meng Lei felt his throat going dry and parched from Moro’s words. He asked, “So, what class of lifeform must one be in order to survive the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process and become immortal like you?”
“Immortal?”
Moro said mockingly, “Can this even be considered ‘immortality’? It’s just dragging out an ignoble existence at best!”
Meng Lei listened quietly and waited for his follow-up.
“As of now, I’ve not seen any lifeform that can truly safely survive the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process. Perhaps only the legendary Primordial World Genesis Gods are able to,” said Moro sorrowfully.
“The Primordial World Genesis Gods?” Meng Lei quickly asked, “What class are these lifeforms?”
" }, { "id": 377, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-377", "title": "Chapter 377 - Immortal Essence, Power Of Genesis", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "The conversation with Moro had a great impact on Meng Lei. Once upon a time, he had always thought that becoming a god would mean immortality.
However, even existences far above like a Chief God would only live till the end of an era. Once the reincarnation cycle ended, and the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process restarted, even a Chief God would be finished.
Immortality?
Eternal life?
It’s all a joke!
“Divinity Crystals! I need more Divinity Crystals!” Meng Lei clenched his fists. “Only with enough Divinity Crystals can I comprehend the supreme laws of nature or even the Genesis laws of nature. Only then I might be able to survive the destruction of the universe.”
Divinity Crystals!
Meng Lei let out a long breath as he looked at Moro again. “What are your plans? Are you going to follow this guy all the way?”
Meng Lei glanced at the unconscious Dowa Caesar with some disagreement.
“Why? You want to take me away?”
Moro raised an eyebrow with a ghost of a smile.
“You won’t have a future following him.”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
“Future? I’m only barely alive. What future can I have?” Moro gave a self-mocking smile. “If I knew then that I’d turn out like this, I would rather be buried with the last era!”
“There’s a saying back home, ‘To live is better than to die’.” Meng Lei laughed. “Plus, so what if it’s a remnant soul? There will always be a way to restore it.”
“You don’t even understand!” Moro shook his head. “Without enough immortal essence, my remnant soul will never be restored!”
“Immortal essence?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown.
“Do you know what’s that? That’s a kind of substance that will never decay, get destroyed, and not even the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process can erase it.” Moro said slowly, “Across the entire universe, there are only three types of immortal essence that I know of, the three great powers of genesis. Yes, the powers relating to the three great genesis laws of nature.”
Meng Lei fell silent.
The three great powers of genesis are part of the immortal essence?
Now isn’t this too difficult to obtain?
“So you can imagine how rare and precious the immortal essence is.” Moro continued self-mockingly. “Therefore, I’m destined to never restore my soul!”
“Indeed, the immortal essence is extremely rare. But, there’s still a chance.” Meng Lei suddenly smiled. “Once I comprehended the genesis laws of nature, wouldn’t I possess the immortal essence by then?”
“You? Comprehend the… genesis laws of nature?”
Moro clutched his belly as if he had just heard a superb joke and laughed out loud for quite a while. When he had enough laughing, he cut his smile.
“You? The genesis laws of nature? Are you an idiot sent by a monkey?
“So you’re looking down on me?”
Meng Lei smiled.
“Stop joking. If it’s those four Supreme Juggernauts who have already comprehended one supreme laws of nature, I might believe them. After all, they do have hope for the genesis laws of nature. As for you…”
Moro sneered. “Forget it!”
“What if I tell you that I had comprehended the spatial, destruction, and life laws of nature? Though it’s just superficial knowledge for now.”
Meng Lei chuckled.
“Gah…”
Moro was in a daze as he looked at Meng Lei. “Kid, you sure you’re not joking?”
“Where’s the need to?”
Meng Lei laughed softly and opened his right palm. Three laws of nature chains appeared in his palms—a gray one, a purple one, and a green one.
Gasp!
A jolt went through Moro as his eyes widened, and he stared at Meng Lei as if he had seen a ghost. “S-spatial laws of nature! Destruction laws of nature! Life laws of nature! You really comprehended the three great supreme laws of nature!”
“Not three, it’s four, there’s still the time-based laws of nature,” Meng Lei corrected.
“Ah yes, four! Oh gosh! How could someone manage to simultaneously comprehend four great laws of nature? How is that even possible? This is too inconceivable!”
Moro was frightened. He gasped and looked at Meng Lei as if he was a monster.
“Okay, okay, stop gasping already. This is nothing,” said Meng Lei. “Once I completely comprehended the genesis laws of nature, you can be excited all you want, okay?”
“Oh, you don’t understand, young fellow.”
As an existence that stood at the very pinnacle once, Moro calmed down soon enough.
He looked at Meng Lei with a complicated look and explained, “The supreme laws of nature are extremely complex and profound. This makes them really difficult to comprehend.
“Don’t mention comprehending one supreme laws of nature for a normal deity since they don’t even have the talent to comprehend five basic laws of nature. These things require lots of talent, after all!
“One type of supreme laws of nature is already so difficult, let alone four types? Who knows how you managed to do it!”
“Hehe, that’s just talent, nothing else,” Meng Lei said in a showy manner.
“Indeed! This is true talent!”
Moro nodded slightly and continued. “Still, I just couldn’t get over the fact that you comprehended four types of supreme laws of nature. It’s simply too wasteful of your time. An era may seem long, but when it compares to comprehending the supreme laws of nature relatively, it’s still too short.
“I’ll suggest that you choose two among the four. Either you choose time and space for the route of space-time laws of nature or choose life and destruction towards the destiny laws of nature.
“If you were able to comprehend a type of supreme laws of nature before the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process, you should be thankful already!”
“You don’t have to worry about this.” Meng Lei had a confident smile. “I won’t give up any of the three great genesis laws of nature. My target is to become the legendary Primordial World Genesis God!”
“You’ll regret it, young fellow.”
Moro was rather displeased, but as he thought back on his relations with Meng Lei, his anger was suppressed. Still, he reminded, “Coming from experience, I don’t want to see you waste your talent like this. Just do as I say, and you’ll thank me later.”
“Perhaps!”
Meng Lei was not too hung up over it, so he returned to the previous topic. “Now tell me your plan. Are you continuing with him or coming with me?”
Meng Lei would not care about any other ordinary beings, but the person before him was different. That was an old antique that had survived that previous era! His experience, cultivation knowledge, comprehension in laws of nature…
That’s a treasure right there.
He had to bring him along.
This time, Moro did not reject directly as he fell silent.
“Why? Still hesitant?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow. “You should know clearly that there’s no future if you follow this hopeless chap.”
“And that means following you has a brighter future?” Moro asked with a bored voice.
“Of course!” Meng Lei gave him a proud smile. “I am confident that I can completely comprehend the time-based laws of nature within ten years and all four supreme laws of nature within 100 years.”
Moro was startled and could not help but laugh. “Kid, what do you treat the supreme laws of nature as? Elementary school multiplication table? Ten years to comprehend time-based laws of nature? I’ll say you’ll be good enough when you fully comprehend it in ten million years!”
“Ten million years? That is way too long.”
Meng Lei laughed. “You might not believe what I’m about to say, but I’m not even 45 years old yet!”
(⊙_⊙)?
Moro was dazed. “45 years old?”
“Hehe, you can ask around if you like.”
" }, { "id": 378, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-378", "title": "Chapter 378 - A Heaven And Earth Phenomenon, Appearance Of Chief God Divine Core", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "In the Dragon-Elephant City’s Governor Residence…
Dowa Caesar woke up leisurely. He then realized that the hall was empty and that Chief God, who had suddenly visited, was gone. Dowa Caesar had lingering fears as he felt that he had almost died.
“Oh gosh! Did I just meet a Chief God? That’s just hard to believe!”
Dowa Caesar patted his chest. His heartbeat had never been pounding so intensely before. “Moro! Has that Chief God left? Did he do anything to you?”
There was no response.
“Moro? You there?”
Dowa Caesar called out again, but there was still no response.
“Moro!
“Moro?
“It can’t be! Moro!
“My cheating device…”
…
Moro was gone.
It plunged Dowa Caesar into total desperation as Moro was his everything. He was only a piece of turd without Moro. He just could not imagine what he would face next.
Moro had left with Meng Lei. After learning Meng Lei’s actual age, Moro did not hesitate anymore and promptly followed Meng Lei.
Seriously!
He had already comprehended four supreme laws of nature by the age of 45 years old.
Was he really human?
He was an absolute freak!
Even if the Primordial World Genesis God had a reincarnation, it would be nothing more than that.
In Moro’s eyes, Meng Lei’s probability of comprehending the genesis laws of nature and controlling the Power of Genesis was great.
Whether Meng Lei would save him in the future could be left for another time.
Yes, I must build good relations with him first! As for the rest, I’ll take one step at a time!
Meng Lei continued his search for Divinity Crystals as loads of them entered his spatial ring, expanding his wealth massively. This act greatly puzzled Moro.
“You’re already a mid-level Ancient God, so why do you need to steal treasures from normal deities? These treasures shouldn’t be valuable for the current you, right?”
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t?”
“You really won’t understand!”
Moro was fuming, but he could not do anything to Meng Lei.
Plunder!
Plunder!
Plunder!
Despite Meng Lei’s unprecedented looting speed, the Dragon-Elephant City was just too huge.
A month passed…
Two months passed…
Three months passed…
The plundering continued.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Moro was fed up upon seeing how ‘frivolous’ Meng Lei was.
“Kid, we are almost halfway past this era, and you’re still over here wasting time. You’re simply wasting your life away!”
“Wasting my life?”
Meng Lei took a peek at his Wealth on the stats interface and revealed a satisfied smile. The massive wealth he had was worth his hard work.
“Kid, what you need to do now is to find a place to comprehend the supreme laws of nature properly, not wasting your time like this. Understand?” Moro tried to persuade him.
“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “You can relax, old man. Rather than idling with so much time, why don’t you help me guide my subordinates?”
Meng Lei glanced at the bored subordinates following behind him. They were like frozen eggplants, withered and spiritless 1 .
“A bunch of fellows who refined divine cores to become higher deities, there’s nothing more to their future. Guiding them would be the actual waste of time!” Moro huffed. “I still believe you must find a quiet place to comprehend the supreme laws of nature—”
“Enough, enough. You better return to the Tower of Time since I’m going nuts because of your nagging!” Meng Lei shooed Moro back into the Tower of Time.
“Disaster is nearby if you don’t listen to your elders, kid. You’ll regret it later!”
Moro was so angry that he wanted to put a bomb in Meng Lei’s groin.
Boom!
Just then, a terrifying wave of pressure coming from afar swept across, along with dazzling multi-colored light beams.
The air in some distance away was painted in rainbow colors; even Dragon-Elephant City glowed colorfully.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei looked toward the beams’ direction.
Ol’ Amos, Puhaman, Bubbles, and the rest shuddered as they regained their spirits, each of them looking at the air in the distance.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The deities in the city were alarmed by it, and they flew into the sky to check the situation.
“What has happened over there?”
“Did you all sense that? Such… Such pressure!”
“I felt that. Even from afar, it makes me palpitate.”
Meng Lei frowned and looked into the distance with a solemn look. If Puhaman and the rest could sense it, he felt it even clearer.
Somewhere far away, someone or something emanated a terrifying aura, which even made Meng Lei feel pressured.
That was incredible as he was a mid-level Ancient God. What could have pressured him?
“This aura… Tsk, another bloodshed is coming!” Moro flew out of the Tower of Time and gloated.
“Do you know what’s happening over there?”
Meng Lei looked puzzled as he looked at Moro.
“Hoho, across the vast universe, nothing can be hidden from me!” Moro boasted.
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. “Then tell me what can give off such a powerful aura?”
Moro asked instead of replying, “You’ve refined a Heart of The Existential Plane, right?”
“Of course!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
Moro chuckled and asked, “If you sense it carefully, isn’t this aura similar to one of a Heart of The Existential Plane?”
“The Heart of The Existential Plane?”
Meng Lei sensed the aura for a while before he exclaimed, “Indeed, this aura is pretty similar to a Heart of The Existential Plane. Perhaps it’s coming from Earth Divine Realm’s Heart of The Existential Plane?”
“If it’s the complete Earth Divine Realm’s Heart of The Existential Plane, you’d be lying on the floor right now. There would be no way you could still be standing here.” Moro shook his head. “If I’m not wrong, this aura should be coming out from a fragment of the Heart of The Existential Plane.”
“Fragment?” Meng Lei was surprised. “The Heart of The Existential Plane can be broken?”
The Heart of The Existential Plane was made up of ten basic laws of nature and ten kinds of Power of Origin, which was indestructible. Even at Meng Lei’s level, he could not simply break low-end existential planes’ Heart of The Existential Plane, not to mention Earth Divine Realm’s Heart of The Existential Plane, a high-end existential plane’s.
“Young man, across the entire universe, other than the immortality essence, there’s nothing else that can be everlasting!” Moro shook his head slowly. “Plus, it’s different from those of low-end and mid-end existential planes since it’s almost never complete.”
“Never complete?” Meng Lei was surprised. “Why so?”
“Who knows? They were never complete, that’s for sure!” Moro smiled slightly. “Oh yes, I think there’s a name for the Heart of The Existential Plane of a high-end existential plane.”
“What?” asked Meng Lei.
“Chief God divine core.”
Moro looked at Meng Lei with a ghost of a smile.
“Chief God divine core!” Meng Lei was utterly shocked. “You mean, the thing that emanated such aura is a Chief God divine core?”
“That’s right,” Moro replied with a smile. “If I’m not wrong, it’s an unowned divine core that just came into existence. Or else, it wouldn’t have caused such a ruckus.”
“Since it’s a Chief God divine core, why didn’t you say it earlier?”
Meng Lei was mad as he placed Ol’ Amos and the rest into the Tower of Time before activating the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique to shoot toward the direction.
A Chief God divine core!
That was something that could give him a meteoric rise!
Even if he did not assimilate it for himself, he had to obtain it first!
" }, { "id": 379, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-379", "title": "Chapter 379 - The Manro Empress, Man And Wife Become Enemies", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "This was a desert that stretched far beyond one’s vision. The endless sea of sand gave off an aura of desolation, dead silence, and sweltering heat and stretched on to the end of the skies.
The Great Pompeii Desert!
This was the biggest desert in the Earth Divine Realm and the whole wide universe!
None could compare to it!
A ten-colored “sun” hung high above the Great Pompeii Desert.
The sun radiated an infinite number of multi-colored rays of light that fell upon the land, dyeing the boundless yellow sea of sand in colors and turning it into a sea of colored lights.
The people living in the desert were the first to notice the natural phenomenon. Among them, the strongest faction to have occupied the Great Pompeii Desert for years on end was the Desert Manro Nagas.
The Desert Manro Nagas were half-human and half-snake. They had a human’s upper torso but a snake’s lower body. Due to being extraordinarily gifted and having a strong reproductive ability and owing to the Great Pompeii Desert’s naturally favorable living environment, Desert Manro Nagas tribes could be found all over the desert.
Apart from that, as innumerable desert divine beasts inhabited the Great Pompeii Desert, the desert was also heaven for the adventurers. Every year, innumerable adventurers ventured to the Great Pompeii Desert to hunt divine beasts and earn Divinity Crystals.
Thus, the multi-colored sun immediately caught the attention of the Desert Manro Nagas and innumerable adventurers the moment it appeared. They came from various corners of the desert and converged in hopes of getting a glimpse of the truth behind the multi-colored sun.
Unfortunately, the closer they went to the multi-colored sun, the stronger the force of its presence. Many deities had no choice but to give up mid-way, and only the strong could continue to forge ahead.
Toward the end, the only ones that could truly go near the multi-colored sun were the elder-class high-level higher deities. Everyone else was powerless to do so despite their desire to.
“A Chief God divine core!”
“It’s definitely a Chief God divine core’s aura!”
A gorgeous, sensual beauty with a golden snake tail arrived at the bottom, gazing at the multi-colored sun hanging high in the sky with white-hot fervency in her beautiful eyes.
She was the Manro Empress, the empress of the Desert Manro Nagas, and also the most powerful among them. She was far stronger than a high-level higher deity and was infinitely close to becoming a Great Perfection deity.
Behind her were two elderly Nagas, one an old man and the other an old lady. They were elders of the Desert Manro Nagas and had come along to protect the Manro Empress.
“Once I assimilate that Chief God divine core, I shall rise to become a lofty Chief God in a single step! I’ll be able to lead us, the Desert Manro Nagas, out of the Great Pompeii Desert and make a thorough emergence!
“Mine! The divine core is mine!”
Whoosh!
Unable to suppress the greed and desire in her heart any longer, the Manro Empress turned into a beam of light that shot straight toward the multi-colored sun. In spite of that, there was someone else that moved even faster than she did.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
At practically almost the same time, two other light beams also shot simultaneously toward the sun in the sky.
The sight of the other two made the Manro Empress fuming mad. She snapped, “The audacity of you, elders! How dare you snatch what belongs to me!”
That’s right!
The ones trying to get ahead of the Manro Empress were none other than the two elders whom she had brought with her!
Never had the Manro Empress ever imagined that those two old farts that usually obeyed her every order and were incredibly loyal to her would betray her in this instant!
This greatly infuriated the Manro Empress.
Boom!
The Manro Empress displayed her full power, and her speed abruptly went through a sharp increase. She instantly caught up to the two elders and stood in their way with an icy-cold expression.
“How dare you betray me! You should die for that!”
The two Naga elders’ expressions changed greatly upon sensing the cold, sharp killing intent around the Manro Empress. They said, “Please pardon us, Your Majesty! We were just trying to fetch the divine core for Your Majesty!”
“That’s right, Your Majesty. We’re loyal and devoted to you and have never once thought of betraying you. Your Majesty, I hope you can look into the matter and show understanding for our difficulties!”
“What empty rhetoric! Do you really think I’ll believe that?” scoffed the Manro Empress with an icy look on her face as she raised her palm, ready to kill the duo.
Unexpectedly, the Naga old man suddenly shouted, “Wait a moment, Your Majesty! Someone’s rushing toward the Chief God divine core!”
“What?”
The look on the Manro Empress’ pretty face changed drastically, and she hastily turned to look at the multi-colored sun.
“Die!”
A savage look came over the Naga old man’s countenance, and his fist went smashing out. A murderous gleam similarly surfaced in the Naga old woman’s eyes, and she threw a punch with everything she had at the Manro Empress.
The pair attacked with incredible swiftness. Even though the Manro Empress was a notch stronger than the two of them, she was still caught off-guard and fell for their tricks.
Boom!
Boom!
The two punches struck the Manro Empress, causing her to cough up a mouthful of blood. She let out a tragic cry as the attacks sent her flying like a broken kite.
The two elders exchanged a look after they sent the Manro Empress flying, and then they shot toward the multi-colored sun once more.
“Traitors! Goddamn traitors!”
The Manro Empress coughed up another few mouthfuls of blood as she steadied herself. Her features were all contorted as she watched the two elders in the sky, the look on her face as if she wanted to tear them into halves with her own hands or shoot those two motherf*ckers down with a gun from 800 miles away.
They were getting nearer and nearer! Nearer and nearer!
As super experts, the two Naga elders gritted their teeth and tried their best to endure the terrifying pressure given off by the multi-colored sun as they went nearer and nearer to it.
At last, only a short few meters stood between them and the sun!
The two elderly Nagas could already see the irregularly-shaped Chief God divine core, as well as the multi-colored patterns characteristic of a Chief God divine core on its surface. The two elderly Nagas’ hearts started to pound intensely for a moment there.
A stone’s throw away!
This was truly what “a stone’s throw away” was!
They were only a step away from becoming a supreme Chief God and rising to become one of the greatest existences in the Earth Divine Realm and even the whole wide universe!
“It’s mine!!”
The two of them shouted in their minds and used every last ounce of strength they had to grab at the divine core. In that instant, they had even forgotten about each other’s existence. The only thing they had in their eyes was the divine core itself!
Thud!
The two of them caught hold of the Chief God divine core at the same time. A warm and soft sensation spread throughout their palms, causing their hearts to tremble. Catching hold of the Chief God divine core was tantamount to catching hold of everything in the world!
The true blue meaning of “everything”!
“I’m about to become a Chief God!”
“I’m about to become a Chief God!”
The two of them were so excited that they were beside themselves with delight. They then applied force at the same time, both wanting to pull the Chief God divine core to themselves—only to discover that they couldn’t move the divine core at all. It was only then that they noticed each other’s presence.
“Old woman, hurry and let go!” The Naga old man shouted, “The Chief God divine core is mine!”
“What nonsense! The Chief God divine core is mine! Mine!” The Naga old woman remained firm. “You’re the one that should be letting go! I’m the one that’s going to become a Chief God!”
“Old woman, I’ve yielded to you my whole life. Can’t you yield to me this one time today?”
The Naga old man had a hint of pleading in his eyes as he said, “The Chief God divine core has created too great a commotion. Numerous experts must be hurrying here right now. We don’t have much time anymore. Hurry and let go!”
“Hmph! Since you’ve already yielded to me your whole life, what’s the harm in yielding to me one more time?”
The Naga old woman let out an icy snort. Then, her voice suddenly turned exceptionally gentle as she said, “Old man, why don’t you think about whether there’s any difference as to whether it’s you or I that become a Chief God? Besides, I can swear a divine oath that I’ll never leave you and will always protect you even if I become a Chief God!”
“Old woman, I’ll never leave you, either, I swear!”
The Naga old man said anxiously, “Large numbers of experts are about to rush here now. We don’t have much time anymore! Are you going to watch as the Chief God divine core ends up in someone else’s hands?”
“I’m not letting go! The Chief God divine core is min—”
“Alright, you guys. Make way, please!”
" }, { "id": 380, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-380", "title": "Chapter 380 - Supreme God Divine Core, Destruction With A Flick Of One'S Fingers", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "No one could take the allure of a Chief God divine core in stride. It was normal for father and son to turn against each other or for man and wife to become enemies because of a Chief God divine core. This particular Naga couple was the clearest example of that.
Despite having accompanied each other for so many years and braving through countless hardships and obstacles together, none of it was as important as the Chief God divine core in this instant!
“Alright, you guys. Make way, please!”
Just as the two elderly Nagas were embroiled in a persistent argument, someone finally couldn’t stand to watch it anymore. They appeared bizarrely in between the two of them and grabbed the Chief God divine core over to themselves.
The two Naga elders’ expressions changed drastically, and they quickly turned to the newcomer. Fire was practically blazing in their eyes, and the looks on their faces were as if they wished they could stuff a bomb into the crotch of the newcomer’s trousers.
“You goddamn thief! Give the Chief God divine core back to me!”
The two Naga elders flew into a thundering rage and blatantly dealt the newcomer palm strikes. The wind impact from their palm strikes was so fierce and forceful that it was as if they wanted to smash the newcomer into a bloody pulp before they could fully vent their fury.
“The two of you have already turned on each other just because of this Chief God divine core. This is truly a huge tragedy of life! For your sakes, I shall confiscate this Chief God divine core instead!”
The newcomer was none other than Meng Lei. He teleported a few kilometers away in a flash, and then he started to inspect the Chief God divine core, his eyes gleaming brightly all the while as he did so.
“Its composition and quality hold several similarities to low-end and mid-end existential planes’ Hearts of The Existential Plane, but its might is much more powerful than theirs,” murmured Meng Lei.
“Of course. Apart from the ten basic laws of nature and ten types of Power of Origin, a high-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane’s composition also includes the five supreme laws of nature and their power.”
Moro manifested beside Meng Lei and said, “You can try imagining for yourself how mighty the substance formed using 15 types of laws of nature, and 15 types of power must be! It’s said that…”
“What?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
“It’s said that a complete high-end Heart of The Existential Plane is comparable to a Supreme God divine core. Anyone that assimilates a complete high-end Heart of The Existential Plane will possess strength comparable to a Supreme God of The Universe’s,” replied a smiling Moro.
“A Supreme God of The Universe!”
Meng Lei perked up.
What came after a lesser Chief God, an intermediate Chief God, a higher Chief God, and a Juggernaut was the Supreme God of The Universe. From this, one could imagine just how powerful a Supreme God was!
A complete high-end Heart of The Existential Plane was comparable to a Supreme God divine core? A gleam flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes.
“It’s just a shame that a complete high-end Heart of The Existential Plane can’t exist. Therefore, this also implies that it’s impossible for Supreme Gods to exist in the universe.” Moro then added with a smile, “I guess this can also be considered a balance in another way.”
“Perhaps!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile. Then, he asked, “Moro, do you think this is a lesser Chief God divine core, an intermediate Chief God divine core, or a higher Chief God divine core?”
“No, no, you’re mistaken,” Moro corrected him and said, “While there’s a difference in strength among Chief Gods, there isn’t a difference in grades among Chief God divine cores.
“Every Chief God divine core’s composition and size are exactly the same. A Chief God’s level of strength is instead determined by their degree of comprehension of supreme laws of nature. This is how it works concretely:
“Chief Gods that have only assimilated Chief God divine cores but are completely ignorant of supreme laws of nature are lesser Chief Gods and are the weakest among the lot.
“Chief Gods that have assimilated Chief God divine cores and also comprehended some supreme laws of nature are the slightly stronger intermediate Chief Gods, while those that have great prowess in supreme laws of nature are higher Chief Gods.
“As for Chief Gods that have both assimilated Chief God divine cores and also fully comprehended a type of supreme laws of nature, they are Juggernauts.”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei curled his lip disdainfully in response. He had already known since a long time ago that a Chief God’s level of strength was related to their degree of comprehension of laws of nature, but what he hadn’t expected was that it was actually… completely unrelated to the Chief God divine cores!
All Chief God divine cores were completely identical!
“You’ve already started to comprehend four types of supreme laws of nature. Although you’re just scratching the surface of the subjects, it’s at least still something. If you assimilate this Chief God divine core, you’ll become an intermediate Chief God right away.” Moro licked his lips and said cheerfully, “So, hurry and assimilate it!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. Then, he asked, “Can someone that hasn’t deified yet assimilate a Chief God divine core?”
Upon his question, Moro replied without any hesitation, “Someone that hasn’t deified yet wouldn’t possess a divine core. Since they don’t even have a divine core, then, of course, they can’t assimilate a Chief God divine core.”
“What a real shame! I can’t assimilate this, then,” replied Meng Lei regretfully.
“You can’t? What do you mean?”
Moro was rather stupefied. A moment later, he finally realized the meaning behind Meng Lei’s words and asked, “Y-you can’t be saying that you haven’t deified yet, right?”
“Yeah!”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
“…”
A stunned Moro stared at Meng Lei in stupefaction as though he were staring at a freak. After a long while, he finally uttered, “Just what kind of freak are you, exactly? To think you haven’t deified yet!”
“I am what I am, the fireworks of a different color 1 !”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile and kept the Chief God divine core with a flip of his wrist. It was right at this moment that he suddenly assailed by a swift and fierce wind, to which Meng Lei immediately dodged.
He turned over to find out that it was actually the Manro Empress!
“Hand over the Chief God divine core!”
The corners of the Manro Empress’ lips were stained with blood. Not only had her fighting spirit and the killing intent in her eyes not weakened, but they had even intensified. She stared coldly at Meng Lei.
“Hand over the Chief God divine core!”
The two Naga elders also charged over to Meng Lei.
“You traitors! I’ll deal with the two of you after this!”
The Manro Empress gave the two of them an icy glare before her line of sight returned to Meng Lei once more. This was exactly how strong a Chief God divine core’s allure was—it could even compel the Manro Empress to temporarily put aside her grudges.
The two Naga elders were rather embarrassed, but now that things had come to such a pass, they couldn’t afford to be bothered about so much anymore. They watched Meng Lei with fierce and savage looks in their eyes, their killing intent so strong that it had almost solidified.
They practically hated Meng Lei with every fiber of their being right now. They had obviously already gotten their hands on the Chief God divine core, yet Meng Lei had snatched it away from them in the end and caused them to get their hopes up for nothing.
This feud between them was simply too great!
“You want the Chief God divine core? Why should I give it to you?”
Meng Lei watched the three of them with great interest.
“The Chief God divine core is ours, the Desert Manro Nagas’! Hand it over at once if you know what’s good for you! Otherwise, I’ll see that you die in the Great Pompeii Desert and rest forever in this desolate land!” replied the Manro Empress coldly.
“Hah, it’s yours just because it appeared in your territory? Although you’re making quite the domineering claim, it does seem to make a bit of sense.”
Meng Lei said with a smile, “Since that’s the case, then let me hereby formally announce that the entire Great Pompeii Desert is my territory from this moment onward. Do you have any objections?”
“What insolence!”
“You’re courting death!”
“You bastard!”
The trio flew into a thundering rage the moment they heard what Meng Lei said, and they attacked right away.
“Snake Rules The World!”
A huge, majestic hologram of a large golden snake arose from the Manro Empress as she let out a low roar. Then, its form solidified, and its jaws snapped at Meng Lei.
“Shadow Snakes!”
The Naga old man’s right arm extended and transformed into a huge purple python that lunged at Meng Lei.
“Snake Flurry of Destruction!”
The Naga old woman clapped her hands together, upon which innumerable poisonous snakes hurtled out of her sleeves like laser guns and bit viciously at Meng Lei.
“Insignificant tricks!”
Meng Lei slowly raised his right hand and gently tapped the air with his finger. A tricolored chilly current burst forth from his fingertip, instantly spreading into the surroundings and shrouding the whole area within it.
Crack!
The tricolored chilly current appeared plain and unremarkable, but it exhibited incredibly fearsome might the very instant it made contact with the massive golden snake, the huge purple python, and the innumerable poisonous snakes.
The massive golden snake, the huge purple python, and the innumerable poisonous snakes were sealed in ice in a mere instant, turning into several ice sculptures that stood frozen in mid-air, still and motionless.
“What?”
“How can that be?”
The Manro Empress and the two Naga elders’ expressions changed dramatically as disbelief filled their eyes. One must know that they were super experts that were infinitely close to becoming Great Perfection deities! Who could withstand their attacks with the three of them joining hands?
Yet Meng Lei had negated their attacks so casually! Just how strong was he?
“To think the three of you actually dare to covet the Chief God divine core with your meager capabilities. Aren’t you afraid that you’ll end up dying a terrible death and your clan annihilated?”
" }, { "id": 381, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-381", "title": "Chapter 381 - The Frost Gods, Authentic Mysterious Ice", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“You dare put your hands on the Chief God divine core with such meager abilities?”
Meng Lei was not underestimating these three fellows. Even if they didn’t encounter him, they had no chance against others too. In fact, they might end up worse.
“Stop blabbering and hand over the Chief God divine core!”
The Manro Empress bellowed, “The Chief God divine core belongs to us!”
So what if he was powerful?
That was a Chief God divine core—the step to a meteoric rise that she would never give up on.
“Hand over the Chief God divine core at once!”
The two Nagas yelled as well.
“Seems like you want to do this the hard way!”
Meng Lei sneered as he appeared before the Manro Empress in a flash.
“So fast!”
The Manro Empress’ expression changed quickly, but a sharp, throbbing pain came from her abdomen before she could react. In the very next moment, she flew off backward.
Meng Lei moved about like a ghost as he appeared before the two old Nagas consecutively and kicked them hard, sending them flying out into the distance.
“Peasants who overestimate themselves.”
Meng Lei snorted softly and prepared to teleport away. Just then, a shrill sound sliced across the air, and a figure shot in front of Meng Lei.
It had a pair of sharp horns, a long tail, round ears, blood-red eyes, purple-black lips, and pale-white skin.
Meng Lei was startled to see this person—it looked exactly like Frieza from an anime, almost as if it was the actual one.
They look so similar!
Frieza was just a fictional character who could not have appeared here. The one in front of him should be a Frost God deity, a Great Perfection one.
“Where’s the Chief God divine core? Where is it?”
Frieza gazed upon Meng Lei and the three Nagas with its blood-red eyes, full of thirst and desire. He was already a Great Perfection deity at the end of his cultivation progress with no chance of progressing further. However, everything would change if he obtained a Chief God divine core. He would be able to make that leap to become a supreme Chief God, standing at the top of the universe. Hence, the Chief God divine core was a great temptation.
“Great Perfection deity!”
The three Nagas looked incredibly awful. They knew that their hopes of getting the Chief God divine core was diminishing quickly with the appearance of the unfathomable expert Meng Lei, and now a Great Perfection deity.
“Look at what you’ve done, old man!” snarled the Naga old woman. “The Chief God divine core was already in my hands. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have ended up in this state.”
“Hmph! You still have the cheeks to blame me?” retorted the Naga old man. “I’ve given in and tolerated you for my entire life, and in the end, you’re treating me like this. I’m absolutely blind to be with you!”
“You—”
The two old Nagas complained about each other, and ‘Frieza’ was annoyed. He snorted, and a terrifying aura that reached into the heavens and went deep into the earth pressed over.
“Say it! Where’s the Chief God divine core?” Frieza said coldly.
“He snatched the Chief God divine core!”
The Manro Empress coughed up a mouthful of blood as she pointed at Meng Lei. Her sparkling eyes were suppressed with rage.
If I can’t have it, I won’t let you get it either!
“Yes! He indeed snatched the Chief God divine core!” The Naga old man spoke too.
“The Chief God divine core is with you?” Frieza looked at Meng Lei immediately with greed in his eyes. “Quickly! Give it up now!”
“The Chief God divine core is in my hands, but why should I give it to you?” Meng Lei said calmly, “You’ve got to come up with a valid explanation, right?”
“Explanation? Bwahaha!” Frieza let a peal of boisterous laughter. “Hand over the Chief God divine core, and I’ll spare your life! Or else, you’ll die a tragic death!”
“Kill me? You might not have the capacities for that!”
Meng Lei scoffed, took a step, and appeared before Frieza. Their eyes met, and Frieza was stunned by Meng Lei’s speed.
So fast!
In the next moment, Meng Lei’s fists struck his abdomen.
Boom!
Boundless power spread throughout Frieza’s body, and he was sent flying with a muffled grunt. A figure flashed behind him like a ghost, and Meng Lei stomped Frieza’s head.
Meng Lei sneered and shook his head as he looked at Frieza. “Everyone can talk the talk, but you’ll only end up as a miserable joke without enough capabilities!”
Gasp!
The three Nagas were traumatized. They stared at Meng Lei as if he was a monster. That was a Great Perfection deity, yet Meng Lei had completely dominated him.
Who the hell is he? The Manro Empress thought quickly, The only ones who can suppress a Great Perfection deity would be a Chief God. Perhaps he’s one of them?
Chief Gods were the existence far above, elusive, and nowhere to be found. Those who could see them were far and few. Yet, they were great beings, and there would always be statues, drawings, and others to know of their appearances.
Hence, many experts had ‘seen’ Chief Gods. At that moment, however, the Manro Empress could swear that she had never seen a Chief God like Meng Lei.
“Curse you! Curse it all!”
Frieza steadied himself and glared at Meng Lei dead in the eye. His murderous intent was clear—since when had he ever been humiliated like this?
It was utterly unacceptable!
“Die!”
Frieza roared, and a cold purple current burst off, turning into a majestic purple frost dragon that crashed toward Meng Lei.
It was the Frost Gods’ Innate Special Ability, Mysterious Ice of The Depths!
There was nothing more to mention about the power of the Mysterious Ice of The Depths. Other than its extremely low temperatures, it could freeze virtually anything, including dimensions.
As expected, the purple frost dragon emanated incredibly low temperatures, which froze and imprisoned everything in its path.
“Damn!”
Upon detecting the purple frost dragon’s terrible might, the three Nagas’ expressions changed dramatically, and they retreated a distance away. This frost dragon was too terrifying, so they did not want to be embroiled.
“I’ve finally met the authentic Mysterious Ice of The Depths!” Meng Lei did not dodge. Instead, a smirk dashed across his face. “It’s just a pity…”
With that said, Meng Lei pointed his finger and tapped on the frost dragon’s nose. The purple frost dragon broke in pieces with a crackle as if it was hammered hard.
“You think that’s it? Think again! Freeze!”
Frieza seemed to have expected the outcome. Innumerable broken pieces of ice swarmed Meng Lei and closed in on him swiftly.
Crack, crack, crack…
An icy purple prison was formed, sealing Meng Lei within. Frieza let out an icy snort, and purple currents shot out to reinforce the block of ice.
After quite a while, the icy prison was enhanced, and Frieza breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t think about getting out when you’re locked into my Mysterious Ice of The Depths! Now, time to leave this place before anything else!”
As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on the Manro Empress and the two Nagas with vicious intent.
“Damn!”
“He’s going to silence us for good!”
The three Nagas were terribly frightened and fled immediately. They had no courage to face a Great Perfection deity since they were simply inferior to him.
“Thinking of fleeing? It’s too late!”
Frieza sneered and snapped his fingers. Three purple ice needles shot off, and they pierced through the back of three Nagas’ heads, killing them instantly.
Their outraged eyes were widened big and round, filled with resentment and chagrin. They only wanted to snatch the Chief God divine core, so how did they end up losing their lives…
" }, { "id": 382, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-382", "title": "Chapter 382 - Death Laws Of Nature, Assimilating The Divine Core", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 382: Death Laws of Nature, Assimilating the Divine Core
Frieza brought Meng Lei away with him.
Shortly after they left, several streaks of light shot to where they had previously been. Every one of them had a strong and forceful aura around them and gave off vast and mighty divine power—they were evidently all high-level higher deities and Great Perfection super experts.
“Three Naga dead bodies!”
“And the aura of residual power of divinity!”
“It’s likely the Frost Gods!”
“The Frost Gods have taken the Chief God divine core!”
“Find them! The Chief God divine core has to be…”
The group of experts immediately launched an inch-by-inch search, vowing to find the Chief God divine core no matter what. After all, they would never give up something like a Chief God divine core!
However, what none of them knew was that Frieza hadn’t really left. Instead, he had taken Meng Lei with him, hiding dozens of millions of kilometers underground.
“The most dangerous place is usually also the safest place. I’ll stay right here and hide within plain sight. Who would be able to find me that way?
“When I’ve assimilated the Chief God divine core and become a supreme Chief God, everything will be set in stone, and all of you shall prostrate at my feet!”
Frieza brought out the ice cell imprisoning Meng Lei, intending to kill him, but before he could do anything, the ice cell broke on its own.
“How can this be?”
Frieza was stunned.
“What? Are you very surprised?” Meng Lei had a big smile on his face as he said, “Surely you didn’t think that you really could trap me? What the heck, someone the likes of you actually thinks he can trap me? What were you thinking?”
“Mysterious Ice of The Depths!”
Frieza snapped back to reality in no time and brazenly launched an attack. However, before he could cast his Mysterious Ice of The Depths, Meng Lei had frozen him to the spot.
Meng Lei was also using Mysterious Ice of The Depths, but the difference lay in the fact that not only was his Mysterious Ice of The Depths tricolored, but it was also a powerful ultimate-grade special ability. Frieza struggled desperately after he was sealed in ice by Mysterious Ice of The Depths, but he couldn’t do anything about it at all.
“Why did you capture him, kid?”
Moro appeared out of thin air and stared at Meng Lei in puzzlement. In his opinion, there was no need for Meng Lei to go to the trouble of pretending and allowing Frieza to capture him.
It was too much trouble!
He could easily just kill Frieza instead. After all, the two of them were in two completely different leagues in terms of combat power.
“I naturally have my own motives in doing so,” replied Meng Lei with a hint of a smile.
“Your motives? What motives?” asked Moro curiously.
“Because he has the fifth type of supreme laws of nature on him!” Meng Lei could hardly hide the greed in his eyes as he said, “Didn’t you sense it? This guy’s a real Great Perfection deity. He’s already comprehended a sliver of death laws of nature!”
“So what even if that’s the case? It’s ultimately still just a mere sliver. It isn’t enough to cause a qualitative improvement in his combat power, so he’s just a notch stronger than most average Great Perfection deities, that’s all,” scoffed Moro.
Given Moro’s perceptiveness, he could naturally tell that Frieza had already assimilated metal, dark, ice, wind, and earth laws of nature and started to comprehend death laws of nature.
But so what even if that was the case?
It wasn’t like they could make use of it anyway!
“You’ll understand in no time!”
Meng Lei chuckled, and then he gave the order to plunder.
Boom!
A wave of information about death laws of nature instantly gushed into Meng Lei’s mind. He hurriedly gathered his thoughts and began to digest it quickly.
A long while later, Meng Lei slowly let out a pent-up breath, and a joyful smile formed at the corners of his eyes.
“Haha! It’s complete! I’ve completed all five types of supreme laws of nature!”
“What are you talking about?”
Moro stared at Meng Lei with a puzzled look on his face.
“How many types of supreme laws of nature are there exactly, Moro?”
Meng Lei threw him a question instead of answering him. He asked, “Aside from the five great supreme laws of nature—time, spatial, life, destruction, and death—are there any other types of supreme laws of nature?”
Although Moro was awfully puzzled as to why Meng Lei would suddenly ask such a question, he nevertheless shook his head and denied the possibility. He answered, “There are only these five types of supreme laws of nature. There isn’t any other.”
“That’s great!” Meng Lei exhaled and said, “This also means that I’ve already started to comprehend all five types of supreme laws of nature, so what I need to do now is to earn Divinity Crystals, buy credit, and bring them all up to completion!”
“What exactly are you mumbling about, little fellow? Why is it that the more I hear what you’re saying, the more confused I am?” asked a somewhat displeased Moro.
“Haha!”
Meng Lei chuckled lightly. Then, a laws of nature chain suddenly formed at his fingertip. It gave off a ghastly white glow like that of a dead man’s pale, bloodless complexion.
“D-death laws of nature!”
A huge jolt went through Moro. He rubbed his eyes hard, unable to stop himself from exclaiming, “You… How come you’ve comprehended death laws of nature?”
Meng Lei pointed at Frieza and replied, “I plundered it from him.”
Gasp!
Moro couldn’t help but gasp at his response. “You actually have that kind of ability? Could it be that… This was also how you had obtained the other four types of supreme laws of nature that you’ve previously comprehended?”
“Well, I guess so!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he casually killed Frieza, sent his carcass into the Tower of Time, and tossed it to the little golden tree. As for its divine core, he also tossed it into the Tower of Time after he erased its divine spirit.
Ol’ Amos, Puhaman, and the others were currently chatting idly in boredom with one another on the Tower of Time’s 99th level. They could swear that these few days since their arrival at the Earth Divine Realm were the idlest and most leisure period they had ever spent after becoming Meng Lei’s followers. With nothing to do all day, they were utterly bored to tears!
They sorely lacked power of divinity, so they didn’t want to stay idle like this. They wanted to get down to work, to spread their faith, to enrich their power of divinity, but unfortunately…
Whoosh!
All of a sudden, a ghastly white divine core suddenly fell from the sky and landed in Ol’ Amos’ palm.
Just as puzzlement came over everyone, Meng Lei’s voice abruptly rang out. He said, “Ol’ President, this is a Great Perfection divine core. Why don’t you assimilate it?”
“What?”
“A Great Perfection divine core?!”
His words caused a great furor to go through the deities.
Everyone’s gazes fell onto the divine core sitting in Ol’ Amos’ palm at the same time, the look in their eyes one of open hunger. A Great Perfection divine core! That was a Great Perfection divine core!
As long as one assimilated it, they would be able to rise and become a Great Perfection deity in a single leap!
A Great Perfection deity!!
“Mine! This is mine!”
Ol’ Amos snapped back to reality and hastily held the divine core close to himself as he watched the others warily, the look on his face as though an old mother hen protecting its chicks.
Snatching it from him?
He wasn’t worried about the others snatching it from him, of course. This was purely just instinct. After all, a Great Perfection divine core was simply too precious, so much so that he couldn’t help but act with extreme caution.
Everyone quickly urged, “Hurry and assimilate it, Ol’ President!”
Although they also desired the Great Perfection divine core, none of them tried to snatch it from Ol’ Amos.
That was something that Meng Lei had specifically handed to Ol’ Amos. How would they possibly have the guts to snatch it from him? Wasn’t that tantamount to committing suicide? It wasn’t as if they were tired of living!
“You don’t need to envy him, guys. Everyone that deserves one will eventually get one!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang out once more and put their hearts at ease once and for all.
Everyone’s hearts began to burn with fervency at once. First a lesser deity divine core, then a higher deity divine core—Master had never disappointed them before!
And now, a Great Perfection divine core… He wouldn’t disappoint them this time, either, of course. Now that the first one had come, next would be the second, the third…
Everyone was filled with anticipation the moment they thought of that.
Suddenly, a puzzled Fatty Hart asked, “How strong exactly is old bro when he can get his hands on even a Great Perfection divine core?”
“Uh…”
Everyone looked at one another and hazarded a guess.
“Great Perfection-level?”
“That seems a little off! How can Master hunt and kill Great Perfection deities and obtain Great Perfection divine cores if he’s only Great Perfection-level himself?”
“That seems to make sense!”
“Could Master be… a Chief God?”
“A… A Chief God?”
“S-surely not?”
" }, { "id": 383, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-383", "title": "Chapter 383 - Assembly Of The Great Perfection Deities, Divine Core Ownership", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 383: Assembly of The Great Perfection Deities, Divine Core Ownership
“Deep as the oceans, the path of divine core assimilation reaches once begun; from here on out, ascension is all but a stranger”—this saying was no joke.
The moment once one deified by assimilating a divine core, it was basically impossible for them to ever break through their current cultivation stage and ascend to a higher stage by their own efforts. Only by continuing to assimilate even higher-grade divine cores could they become more powerful.
This was exactly the situation that Puhaman and the others were currently in.
They had become lesser deities by assimilating lesser deity divine cores and subsequently became higher deities by assimilating higher deity divine cores. As a result, ascension had become merely an extravagant wish for them now.
If they wished to strengthen themselves further, then their only choice was to assimilate even higher-grade divine cores such as Great Perfection and Chief God divine cores. Only then would they go on to further success and move on to the next level.
For the sake of his subordinates’ Great Perfection divine cores and also to earn more Divinity Crystals at the same time, Meng Lei had developed a hunting plan…
Whoosh!
He got right down to work the moment the thought came to him. A crystal glittering with a ten-colored divine radiance suddenly flew out of the underground and reappeared in the sky. Its fearsome divine power and dazzling divine radiance immediately spread into the surroundings the moment it appeared, forming a great weather phenomenon.
“The Chief God divine core!”
“The Chief God divine core has reappeared!”
The sight naturally caught many experts’ attention. They had been searching for the Chief God divine core everywhere, so how could the Chief God divine core’s sudden reappearance possibly escape their notice?
“The Chief God divine core is over there!”
“Mine! The Chief God divine core is mine!”
“Don’t anyone dare fight with me for it!”
Whoosh!
Innumerable experts raced desperately toward the Chief God divine core with everything they got, wishing they had been born with an extra pair of legs in case others got there ahead of them.
If someone were to overlook the area from a high vantage point right now, they would realize that innumerable streaks of light were currently converging from all directions at terrifying speed. The situation was much like innumerable crocodiles swimming toward a zebra that had appeared in the center of a small stream upon detecting the smell of blood.
Soon, hundreds of high-level higher deities arrived within the vicinity of the Chief God divine core. Among them were also numerous super experts that were already infinitely close to becoming Great Perfection deities.
“It’s mine!”
The group of super experts became even more fervent at the sight of the Chief God divine core. Their speed spiked dramatically, and they grabbed brazenly at the divine core.
Boom!
A fearsome attack suddenly came from afar and struck them mercilessly.
Several shrill cries rang out as the hundreds of experts were sent flying.
The less severe cases suffered injuries and coughed up blood, while the severe ones were maimed and paralyzed.
One could say that they couldn’t get any unluckier than that!
“Hmph! How dare a bunch of weak, lowly ants harbor designs on the Chief God divine core, too! You overestimate yourselves!”
A contemptuous snort rang out, and then someone appeared out of nowhere and came right up to the Chief God divine core.
The man had a pair of horns on his head, a pair of wings on his back, a pair of tails on his bottom, and gave off vast, majestic dragon might.
“Armand Nidhogg!”
Initially, the masses had naturally been furious at being ambushed, but when they saw the person that had appeared out of nowhere, fear and alarm filled them at once, followed by despair.
The newcomer was actually Armand Nidhogg, a Great Perfection deity from the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods!
“How are we supposed to even goddamn fight for the Chief God divine core when even a Great Perfection deity has come!?” shouted someone indignantly.
“A bunch of good-for-nothings!”
Armand Nidhogg cast a contemptuous glance at the masses. Then, he grabbed at the Chief God divine core and declared, “Mine! The Chief God divine core is mine now! Once I assimilate it, I shall becom—”
Boom!
A massive hand that blotted out the sky abruptly appeared right at this moment and grabbed at the Chief God divine core. It moved at an even higher speed and was even nearer in proximity to the divine core.
“How bold of you to actually set your sights on my Chief God divine core!”
Armand Nidhogg flew into a thundering rage at the sight. He opened his mouth and released a wave of silver dragon breath at the massive hand, evidently intending to burn and destroy it.
“Hmph!”
Another cold snort rang out as the massive hand hastily drew back and avoided the silver dragon breath. Then, it grabbed at the Chief God divine core floating in mid-air once more.
This time, before Armand Nidhogg could launch another attack, a dazzling red fireball appeared out of nowhere and shot straight toward the massive hand.
Bam!
Unable to avoid the attack in time, the massive hand clashed against the red fireball. Sparks flew everywhere as an earth-shattering explosion broke out.
Another figure then showed up in mid-air. He had a head of crimson red hair, crimson red brows, and even the robe he wore was crimson red in color. He was just like a ball of flames, ready to burn everything into ashes.
Armand Nidhogg’s expression immediately changed at the sight of the newcomer, and he let out a deep roar. “You’ve actually come as well, Miles!”
The newcomer was Miles Dougherty, a Great Perfection deity from Earth Divine Realm’s Dougherty Fire Phoenix Gods!
“Another Great Perfection deity!”
“Oh my god! That’s two Great Perfection deities now!”
“Do we even still have any hope of getting the Chief God divine core?”
The experts were filled with even more despair now.
“Why can’t I come when you’re already here?”
Miles Dougherty looked up, a hint of unconcealable greed and fervency flashing across the depths of his eyes as his gaze swept across the Chief God divine core above him. Then, he let out an icy snort and said, “Chester, aren’t you acting beneath your status if you continue to hide in the shadows when you’re already here?”
The air shifted slightly, and then a burly, muscular man dressed in golden armor appeared.
The many experts became even more filled with despair at the sight of the newcomer. A Great Perfection deity! Yet another Great Perfection deity!
Chester Dawson, a Great Perfection deity from Earth Divine Real’s Dawson Titan Gods!
That was three Great Perfection deities now!
How the hell were they supposed to do this now?
However, subsequent events proved to the many experts there that their imagination was still too lacking, after all, because more and more Great Perfection deities started to arrive as time went by.
A Great Perfection deity from the Angel Gods…
A Great Perfection deity from the Giant Elephant Gods…
A Great Perfection deity from the Nature Gods…
A Great Perfection deity from the Behemoth Gods…
A Great Perfection deity from the Scarab Gods…
The number of Great Perfection deities there had reached a shocking total of eight!
Eight Great Perfection deities! They represented the highest form of combat power apart from Earth Divine Realm’s Chief Gods.
Their presence filled the masses of experts that were constantly growing in numbers with fear and trepidation. It also completely robbed them of their courage in coveting the Chief God divine core, turning them into idle onlookers here to watch the show instead.
“That’s eight Great Perfection deities over there!”
“To think they’ve all shown up!”
“This is the allure of a Chief God divine core!”
“We’re just missing Great Perfection deities from the Frost Gods and the Eternal Gods now! If they show up, this will become a full assembly of Great Perfection deities from all ten major godly clans!”
The many experts surrounded the area, filling up every corner of the place. They watched the eight figures in the center of the battleground, their eyes filled with astoundment.
Great Perfection deities!
Elusive and mysterious Great Perfection deities!
They could hardly even find one usually, let alone eight?
The experts were watching the eight Great Perfection deities, but the eight deities’ gazes were on the Chief God divine core from start to finish—or rather, they kept their attention constantly on the Chief God divine core lest someone snatched it away.
“Everyone, what should we do with this Chief God divine core?”
Jager Raphael, the Great Perfection deity from the Raphael Angel Gods, broke the silence.
“The Chief God divine core is the key to us breaking through our current cultivation stage and moving on to the next level. None of us will leave the matter at that and allow someone else to take it!”
Armand Nidhogg, the Great Perfection deity from the Colossal Dragon Gods, said calmly, “How about this? We’ll let our skills speak for themselves after all and use our fists to decide who the Chief God divine core goes to.”
“That works.”
“I guess that’s the only way.”
The other Great Perfection deities naturally didn’t have any objections. With the Chief God divine core sitting right in front of them, none of them would ever give up. There was bound to be a great fight to the death—this was something undoubted.
“We need to clear out the battleground before the battle, though, lest a third party profits from the situation. Should that happen, we would end up thoroughly embarrassed!”
A hint of killing intent flitted across Armand Nidhogg’s eyes as his gaze swept across the experts in the surroundings.
By a stretch, he could somewhat accept the Chief God divine core falling into the seven other Great Perfection deities’ hands, but he absolutely would not allow that bunch of lowly ants to reap the benefits instead at the end of their battle.
The seven other Great Perfection deities were also on the same page. They unanimously looked in the direction of the onlooking experts in the distance.
“Damn!”
“They’re thinking of killing us!”
“Quickly! Run!”
" }, { "id": 384, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-384", "title": "Chapter 384 - Clearing Out The Battleground, Negotiation", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 384: Clearing Out The Battleground, Negotiation
The eight Great Perfection deities’ conversation frightened the convergence of experts so badly that their insides were close to rupturing. Not daring to tarry, they made a run for it right away, afraid that they would be in deep trouble should they be even a moment too slow.
“Bastards!”
“Those eight goddamn bastards!”
The experts were truly filled with both fear and hatred. They had clearly already stayed a great distance away and had clearly already given up the fight for the Chief God divine core, yet the eight Great Perfection deities still didn’t intend to let them off. They were simply too vicious!
But now that things had come to such a pass, grumbling was already no longer of any use. All they could do was flee desperately, escape from this place as fast as they could, and secure their lives.
However, subsequent events proved that fleeing for one’s life while being pursued by eight Great Perfection deities was practically a mission on hell-mode.
The eight Great Perfection deities went on the offensive right away. They didn’t bother casting highly powerful, trump card-class attacks. Instead, they merely released their God’s Domains.
Buzz!
God’s Domain spread swiftly into the surroundings, instantly enveloping the whole area within ten million kilometers of where they were and directly trapping the fleeing experts within.
All the experts were trapped where they were, unable to move even a finger. No matter how fiercely they struggled or how hard they tried to launch powerful skills, it was simply futile!
Inside the Great Perfection deities’ God’s Domains, all of them had become lambs awaiting slaughter. The difference in strength between the two parties was simply too great!
“Spare me, sir!”
“Spare my life, sir!”
“Please let me off…”
The experts constantly begged for mercy. Among them were even people from the Angel Gods, the Colossal Dragon Gods, the Titan Gods, and the other few major godly clans, but… It was of no use.
So what even if they were fellow clansmen?
They were nothing in comparison to a Chief God divine core!
Once they became a Chief God, it wouldn’t matter in the slightest, even if the entire clan was wiped out. They could simply just create a whole new clan themselves!
“Die!”
The eight Great Perfection deities didn’t hold back at all. A thought flashed past their minds, and all the trapped experts exploded one after another into mists of blood.
Thousands upon thousands of experts perished in an instant!
The most astonishing thing was that every one of those that had managed to make it here was at least a high-level higher deity or an even stronger super expert. It was truly flabbergasting for so many powerful existences to perish in an instant!
“Isn’t that too vicious of them? They didn’t even spare their own kind!”
Meng Lei, who was hiding in the shadows, was secretly dumbstruck. The eight Great Perfection deities’ ruthlessness had astounded him. Their actions were practically perverse to the extreme!
An unconcerned Moro replied, “They are all Great Perfection deities. These are existences that truly stand at the pinnacle of the power pyramid. They act without reservations and are not inhibited by anything. What’s the big deal about killing a few fellow clansmen?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown and asked, “Won’t the Chief God of their clans punish them?”
There were quite a fair number of people from the ten major godly clans among the fatalities. Those were elder-class experts, after all. Wouldn’t the Chief Gods be furious that Great Perfection deities from the same clan had killed them just like that?
“Little fellow, a Chief God is a lofty presence high up above. Why would they bother themselves with such trivial matters?” Moro scoffed. “Besides, only the Great Perfection deities can truly catch the Chief Gods’ attention. To the Chief Gods, those so-called elders aren’t even good enough to be considered lowly ants!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, his divine cognition quietly spread into the surroundings… All the super experts that had just been killed vanished the very next second.
Meng Lei had sent them all into the Tower of Time. That was a total of almost 10,000 super experts, after all. Their lives and assets were undoubtedly a hefty sum of riches. He mustn’t let them go to waste just like that.
“Who’s there?”
Such a large number of corpses disappearing right under their noses naturally caught the eight Great Perfection deities’ attention.
They weren’t concerned about the corpses. Rather, what had truly made them wary was the fact that someone had actually collected so many corpses without them even realizing anything. How strong must the intruder be, then?
Would they pose a risk to the Chief God divine core?
The Chief God divine core was the only thing that the eight Great Perfection deities were concerned about!
“Is it Coola? Or Noah? Since you’re already here, then stop skulking around!” said Armand Nidhogg, the Great Perfection Colossal Dragon God.
There were only a total of ten Great Perfection deities in the Earth Divine Realm, and it just so happened that each of them was from one of the ten major godly clans. Eight of them were already present, so Noah of the Eternal Gods and Coola of the Frost Gods were the only ones not there yet.
Therefore, Armand’s guess was that the newcomer was more likely than not the two of them. It was just a shame that no one responded to him.
“What? Not coming out? Are you still thinking of hiding in the shadows and profiting from the situation as a third party?”
Armand was rather displeased now. He said, “I’ll give you one more chance. Get the hell out here now. Otherwise, don’t blame us if we team up against you!”
Buzz!
The air trembled lightly, and then someone quietly appeared. The eight Great Perfection deities’ electrifying gazes instantly fell onto the newcomer, but what surprised them was that said newcomer was neither Coola nor Noah. Rather, it was a fresh face that they had never once seen before.
“Who are you?” asked Jager Raphael, the Great Perfection Angel God.
He had sixteen pairs of wings of light on his back, and he gave off a gentle and peaceful holy glow all around him.
“Sorry to disturb you, everyone!”
The newcomer was none other than Meng Lei. He said, “I’m just an idle onlooker passing by the area. Go ahead and fight for whatever it is that you need to fight for. You don’t need to bother yourselves with me.”
“Die!”
Armand didn’t bother saying any superfluous nonsense after hearing what Meng Lei said. He dealt a palm strike in mid-air, intending to wipe out Meng Lei straight away.
An idle onlooker?
They didn’t need idle onlookers here!
So, he could just go to hell!
“Hah, coming to blows the moment you have a disagreement? What a foul temper you have!” Meng Lei shook his head with a soft chuckle. Then, he casually dealt a palm strike with his right palm and met Armand’s attack head-on.
“You’re courting death!”
Armand let out an icy snort inwardly at the sight of how Meng Lei had so effortlessly parried his attack. A hint of anger flashed across his eyes. Apart from the lofty Chief Gods high up above, no one in the whole of the Earth Divine Realm had ever dared to look down on him like that before. Meng Lei was the very first!
“Go to hell!”
Armand increased his attack force, determined to smash Meng Lei into a bloody pulp with one palm strike. However, as the two palms struck each other, Armand felt as if he had crashed right into a primordial divine mountain. Intense pain traveled up his arm from his right palm, and then his entire right arm was blasted apart.
“Aahhh!”
Armand let out a shrill scream as he was sent flying right out like a launched cannon. To the seven Great Perfection deities’ horror, they saw that all that was left of Armand’s right arm now was just ghastly white bones. All flesh and blood on the arm had been completely blasted into a mist of blood!
“How can this be?”
“Who exactly is he?”
“Since when was there an expert like him in the Divine Realm?”
For a moment there, shock and horror filled the seven Great Perfection deities’ eyes as they stared at Meng Lei. As a Great Perfection deity of Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods, Armand’s body was incredibly strong and robust. Yet in comparison to that fellow currently standing in front of them, it seemed like even his body was far too inadequate?
“I’d thought that you were much stronger than that because of how arrogantly you had spoken! You aren’t that strong, after all,” remarked a fairly unimpressed Meng Lei with a shake of his head.
“W-who exactly are you?”
Alarm and fury came over Armand as he steadied himself, his eyes fixed on Meng Lei.
“An idle onlooker passing by,” repeated Meng Lei. Then he said, “So, are you guys fighting or not? If you aren’t, then I’m leaving.”
What does whether or not you’re leaving have anything to do with whether or not we’re fighting?
The eight Great Perfection deities couldn’t help but diss Meng Lei inwardly. However, none of them answered him. At the sight, Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Since you aren’t fighting, then I’m leaving.”
Then, he teleported in front of the Chief God divine core, took it, and got ready to leave. This greatly enraged the eight Great Perfection deities, and they roared, ” You can leave if you want, but leave the Chief God divine core behind!”
Whoosh!
The eight Great Perfection deities instantly fanned out and surrounded Meng Lei on all sides, preventing him from leaving.
“What’s the matter?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Mister, you may leave, but you have to leave the Chief God divine core behind.”
Miles Dougherty, the Great Perfection Fire Phoenix God, said icily, “That’s ours!”
Chester Dawson, the Great Perfection Titan God, also barked, “Put down the Chief God divine core!”
“Yours?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. He said, “I was clearly the one that placed this thing here as bait. How come it has become yours now? What a joke!”
“You placed it here?”
“As bait?”
“Could it be that—”
The eight Great Perfection deities’ expressions changed drastically.
“Forget it. I’ll drop the act and negotiate with you instead.”
" }, { "id": 385, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-385", "title": "Chapter 385 - Full Annihilation, Colossal Dragon Continent", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "“Forget it. I’ll drop the act and negotiate with you instead.”
Meng Lei tossed the Chief God divine core in his hand up and down and said dispassionately, “I’m actually the one that had placed this Chief God Divine core here to attract cash cows like the lot of you.”
“Why did you do that?”
The eight Great Perfection deities’ expressions changed drastically. An awful sense of foreboding suddenly came over all of them.
“To kill all of you, of course!” Meng Lei broke into a grin and said, “My finances have been rather tight recently, so I can only make you guys the sacrifices now.”
“To kill us?”
As if they had just heard the funniest joke in the universe, the eight Great Perfection deities burst into raucous laughter upon hearing Meng Lei’s reply.
“Kill us? Who do you think you are? A lofty Chief God high up above?”
“That’s right!”
“You have certainly heavily wounded Armand, but so what even if you have? If the eight of us Great Perfection deities team up, we’re confident of contending even against a Chief God, let alone someone like you?”
“Kid, hand over the Chief God divine core immediately and leave right away if you know what’s good for you. Otherwise, I’ll destroy your soul and let you die a terrible death!”
“Haha!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh. Then, he no longer restrained his divine power.
Boom!
Vast and majestic terrifying divine power that reached high into the heavens and deep into the ground erupted from Meng Lei. Like smoke signals rushing into the sky, yet also like great 100,000-feet-tall tidal waves capable of toppling the mountains and overturning the seas, it spread into the surroundings and crashed down on the area, as well as every Great Perfection deity present.
Boom!
As though a 100,000-feet-tall mountain was weighing down on their hearts, the eight Great Perfection deities felt a force unmatched by any other pressing down upon them. Fear and trepidation welled up within them from the pressure, rendering them unable to muster the will to fight.
“What fearsome divine power!”
“That’s a Chief God’s divine power!”
“He’s a Chief God!”
“Oh my god! He’s actually a Chief God!”
The eight Great Perfection deities were shocked and horror-stricken by the revelation. As Great Perfection deities, they might be the strongest entities next to Chief Gods, but they simply couldn’t compare to Chief Gods at all.
They might claim confidence in teaming up against a Chief God, but that was nothing more than just them flattering themselves.
A Chief God wasn’t an entity that they could rival!
“It’s time for you to go on your merry way, esteemed Mr. Great Perfections!” Meng Lei slowly raised his right palm and said, “Bon voyage. The gates of Heaven have opened for you!”
Boom!
He had only just spoken when his right palm went smacking downward.
“Spare us!”
“Spare us, Your Holiness!”
“Noooo!”
Meng Lei’s palm strike descended from above and instantly engulfed the eight Great Perfection deities, crushing everything in its path before crashing onto the ground in the end.
The mountains and the ground shook intensely, and dust swirled about everywhere as a deafening boom rang out.
By the time Meng Lei retracted his palm, a massive, 100,000-feet-long pit that reached several thousand meters deep had formed on the ground.
All eight Great Perfection deities laid quietly at the bottom of the pit, bathed in blood and with their bones and tendons all broken. They had died on the spot and were all deader than dead.
“Fighting a Chief God when you’re just ordinary Great Perfection deities? What were you even thinking?” Meng Lei remarked with a shake of his head.
He then lifted the eight dead bodies with a casual wave of his hand and went through the familiar process of gouging out their divine cores, destroying their divine spirits, and tossing their dead bodies to the little golden tree.
“What a shame that there are only two Great Perfection divine cores out of all eight Great Perfection deities!”
Meng Lei fiddled with the eight divine cores in his hand, feeling somewhat regretful about the situation. “On top of that, one of them is even an ordinary Great Perfection divine core without any ascension potential.”
Whether or not a Great Perfection deity could continue to further themselves was determined by the five types of basic laws of nature that they had assimilated.
If these five types of basic laws of nature happened to correspond with any of the five types of basic laws of nature needed to comprehend a type of supreme laws of nature, they would naturally progress further.
If not, it would become impossible for them to ever progress any further in their entire lives and would forever only be a Great Perfection deity.
“Never mind, I’ll just keep them for now.”
Meng Lei didn’t bestow the two Great Perfection divine cores upon his subordinates right away but chose to keep them with him for now. He would distribute them again when he gained more Great Perfection divine cores in the future instead.
“To think eight Great Perfection deities have died just like that!”
Moro sighed emotionally as he remarked, “They’ve probably never ever thought that they would end up remaining here for all time in such a manner.”
“Greed blinds the eye of judgment. Who can they blame other than themselves?”
Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll empty the Desert Manro Nagas’ treasury first and then leave this place after that.”
“Do you know how to get there?” asked Moro as he raised an eyebrow.
“Yup!”
Meng Lei started teleporting in the direction of the Nagas’ den right away. He had read the Manro Empress’ memories, so he naturally knew how to get there.
Half an hour later, Meng Lei arrived at the Desert Manro Nagas’ palace area and easily found the treasury after that.
“Transfer!”
Whoosh!
A short while later, he had emptied the entire treasury.
Meng Lei collected everything that the system could collect—such as Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Divinity Crystals, and so on—and gave the rest to Puhaman and the others.
Wealth: 2,198 trillion Divinity Crystals
He currently had riches totaling 2,198 trillion Divinity Crystals!
This was the total amount of riches that he had gained after his series of actions like ransacking Dragon-Elephant City, killing the eight Great Perfection deities, and emptying the Desert Manro Nagas’ treasury. He wasn’t far from reaching the 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals he needed to buy credit for a type of supreme laws of nature now!
“I’ll keep up the good work!”
Meng Lei determined the correct direction to go in, and then he started to fly toward the nearest city.
As he flew, he also began to clean up the divine cores and spatial rings he had previously gotten. These were left behind by the deity masses that the eight Great Perfection deities had killed when they were clearing out the area.
Their divine spirits were still in the divine cores, while the spatial rings housed their financial assets.
On top of that, all of them were super experts that were high-level higher deities, even at the weakest. Therefore, he could safely earn a pretty sum no matter what, be it through destroying their divine spirits or ransacking their spatial rings.
“Ding! 1 Eight-Winged Angel killed. 900 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding! 1 Primordial Behemoth King killed. 1.02 billion Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding! 1 Giant Elephant killed. 910 million Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding…”
By the time Meng Lei destroyed all the divine spirits in the divine cores, he had already gained an additional 11 trillion Divinity Crystals and gained a small windfall. Then, he began to go through the spatial rings…
Three days later, Meng Lei arrived at the nearest city.
According to the Manro Empress’ memories, this particular city was known as the Venus Colossal Dragon City. Located at the Nidhogg Continent periphery, this was a third-rate city that the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods had built.
The Nidhogg Continent?
That’s right!
This particular continent currently in front of him was part of the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ territory. The entire continent was the Colossal Dragon Gods’ fief, and they were the worthy masters of the continent.
“Little fellow, you’ve entered the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ territory now. You’d better not behave in the same unrestrained manner as you had previously.”
A mirthful Moro said, “You’d better tone it down a little. If you dare so much as to create any trouble here, the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods definitely won’t let you off.”
“The Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods are one of the most powerful godly clans in the Earth Divine Realm!”
Meng Lei had an extremely bright smile on his face as he said, “And being powerful means that they’ll also be rich. If I ransack the Nidhogg Continent, surely I’ll gain a lot of money?”
“I really don’t understand what you want that much money for.”
Moro shook his head and added, “I have to remind you once more—the Nidhogg Chief God resides in the central region of this very same continent. You’d best tone it down!”
“Haha!”
Meng Lei went straight above the Venus Colossal Dragon City and repeated the same trick he had previously used—using his powerful Transfer ability to loot Divinity Crystals.
As expected of a third-rate city, it was larger in scale, housed more experts, had an even more flourishing economy, and naturally even more Divinity Crystals. In the short span of a morning’s time, the number of Divinity Crystals that Meng Lei had looted could already rival the total amount he had gotten from Dragon-Elephant City over a span of three days. The difference was extraordinary.
But as he looted the city, Meng Lei suddenly discovered in the afternoon that large numbers of higher deities had actually left the city.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei looked stupefied.
Now that I’m here, you guys are actually leaving?
" }, { "id": 386, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-386", "title": "Chapter 386 - Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni, Son Of A Chief God", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 386: Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni, Son Of A Chief God
It was fine just now, and then they fled once I arrived?
What’s going on?
Puzzled, Meng Lei grabbed a higher deity for an interrogation.
“Sir, it was said that a Divinity Crystal mine was discovered in the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range. Rumor has it that its reserve isn’t low. It’s estimated at around a trillion tons!”
The higher deity was frightened as he told Meng Lei everything he knew and withheld nothing. “The lord deployed the city guards to find out more. I’m just watching the show!”
“A Divinity Crystal mine worth a trillion tons?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, and a sharp glint flashed across his eyes. “Moro, how many Divinity Crystals can be mined from that trillion-ton mine?”
“A ton of Divinity Crystals would be approximately 10,000 Divinity Crystals,” Moro said dispassionately. “A trillion tons would naturally be 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, but it’s only a small mine.”
“10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals!!” Meng Lei was shocked. “If a small mine can produce 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, then what about those bigger and richer mines?”
Suddenly, Meng Lei realized that he had entered a pitfall. The deities did possess loads of Divinity Crystals, but how could they compare to Divinity Crystal mines?
Thus, the best place to loot Divinity Crystals was not the deities but the rich mines!
“Sigh… My mindset was too fixed.”
Meng Lei smacked his head as he spoke to that higher deity, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Emery Philmore, sir.”
“Bring me to the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range.” Meng Lei took out a Great Perfection-level divine weapon casually. “After reaching the place, this will be yours.”
A jolt went through Emery Philmore.
“Yes, sir!”
“Lead the way.”
…
The Coiling Dragon Mountain Range was situated in the northeast of Venus Colossal Dragon City. The two places were separated by a distance of 200 lightyears, the furthest mountain range from the city. Due to its enormous size and remote nature, few deities would visit the mountains here.
Today, however, the news of the discovery of a new Divinity Crystal mine in the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range spread around. The entire Venus Colossal Dragon City was buzzing as the city guards, godly clans, and other deities were on the move to gather at that mountain range.
They were either there to probe the situation, watch the show, or take a share of the riches…
For quite a while, various types of flying transportation vessels blotted out the skies and moved formidably toward the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range.
Meng Lei released a flying vessel before getting Puhaman and the rest inside the ship to travel toward the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range.
This flying vessel was what he had looted a while ago. Currently, he had nothing but divine weapons of various kinds.
He could convert all the Divinity Crystals and Laws of Nature Origin Crystals into numerical values in the system, while carcasses could be thrown to the little golden tree in the Tower of Time. The only exception was the divine weapons, which he could only stockpile in his spatial ring. After years of collecting them, the number of divine weapons that Meng Lei had was enough for him to open a shop.
Two days later, the big group of traveling deities reached the destination. The huge mountain range was like a prostrating Colossal Dragon spanning into the horizon.
A massive group of deities gathered in a valley of the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range. Meng Lei and his subordinates were here with the group, and they could see that the valley had been dug.
A thick divine aura came from the huge hole, and everyone in the flying vessel perked up.
“Such a thick divine aura!”
“So this is a Divinity Crystal mine?”
Puhaman and the rest poked their heads out curiously to have a good look.
“This is the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range, sir,” Emery Philmore said respectfully.
“Let’s go down and have a look,” Meng Lei said.
He kept the flying vessel with a wave of a hand and led his subordinates toward the valley. At the same time, the massive traveling group rushed over as well.
As they got nearer, they could see the iridescent glow coming out of the hole, like the stunning, dazzling reflections of diamonds.
It was obvious that there was a mine in that hole.
“A mine!”
“The Coiling Dragon Mountain Range does have a mine!”
The various deities were excited, and a commotion broke out among them. Even though they did not own the mine, they could still benefit from it indirectly.
There must be someone to mine these crystals, right?
They could become miners and indirectly earn from it!
“The news was true, sir!” Emery Philmore could not contain his excitement. “There really is a mine in the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range! That’s a trillion tons of Divinity Crystals. How rich is that!?”
“That’s good news for me.”
Meng Lei was delighted. However, just as he was about to observe from a closer distance, the valley’s guards stopped him. “This is a mining area. Anyone unrelated is forbidden from entering!”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown.
“They’re the city guards, sir.” Emery Philmore hurriedly explained softly, “The city guards are the minions of the Venus Colossal Dragon City Lord. They are responsible for the security and management of the city. It’s obvious that the city lord wants to hog the Divinity Crystal mine for himself.”
“Hog for himself? Hehe!”
Meng Lei laughed. At this moment, a loud, sonorous dragon roar came from afar as nine magnificent-looking beasts flew over.
They had a lion’s body, golden dragon scales, six-legged, and a pair of golden wings. Their shrill roars were majestic and domineering.
Meng Lei knew what these divine beasts were—Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni[1]!
The Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni had both the blood of a dragon and a lion. It possessed colossal strength and was lightning quick, the most elite mount one could have.
It was a pity that they were powerful beasts. Without enough capability, one might get killed, much less subduing them as mounts.
Hence, these majestic beasts were extremely rare, not to mention the nine that appeared suddenly. However, the most unbelievable part was that there were nine metal chains on the nine Six-legged Golden Suan Ni’s necks, linking to a golden dragon carriage.
Nine Suan Ni were pulling a carriage!
“Who’s this with such a grandeur introduction?” asked Bubbles.
“Yeah! That’s way too grandeur!” Puhaman spoke as well. “But you got to admit that it’s cool to have nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni pulling your carriage! It’s really impressive!”
“You don’t say…”
The rest were amused, while Emery Philmore was badly frightened. “Everyone, tone down the volume. If someone hears this, we’ll be finished!”
“Emery, who is this guy you’re so afraid of?” everyone asked quizzically.
“In our Venus Colossal Dragon City, other than the city lord, who else could have such ostentation?” Emery gave a wry laugh.
“That’s only a lord of a city. What’s the big deal?” Bubbles scoffed. “Compared to our Master, he’s nothing at all!”
“To be honest, Master should snatch these Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni since they suit him more. They’re simply wasted on a city lord!”
“Exactly…”
The rest were unhappy as well. Their master, an expert beyond the Great Perfection deity level, kept such a low profile. Yet, a fellow who was not even a Great Perfection deity was being so pretentious. That was infuriating.
Emery Philmore could not help but laugh wryly.
“Everyone, you might not know that our city lord isn’t any ordinary deity.”
“Not ordinary?”
“Really powerful?”
“Some bigshot from the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods?”
Everyone was puzzled.
“His name is Venus Nidhogg. He isn’t that powerful as he’s only a mid-level higher deity. However, he’s the great Nidhogg Chief God’s little son. Though he isn’t favored, he still enjoys a supreme status amongst the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods,” Emery Philmore explained.
“What the!”
“Son of a Chief God!”
“No wonder he’s so high profile!”
“Impressive!”
“You got me!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 387, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-387", "title": "Chapter 387 - Discovery Of Crystal Marrows, Threatened", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 387: Discovery of Crystal Marrows, Threatened
Second-generation descendants were always a special entity, no matter which world one was in. They might not be very strong, and they might only know how to enjoy a lavish life or womanize…
…But even so, no one dared to mess with them because they had a cheating device—A father named Li Gang[1]…!
That was what they relied on the most to freely womanize, patronize nightclubs, act obnoxiously without any restraints, behave arrogantly and unreasonably, hold themselves above others as though they were the most important person in the world, and think that their fathers could dictate law and order instead of the heavens!
In this world, second-generation descendants were also just as impressive, especially the offspring of Chief Gods. They were even more so the most impressive second-generation descendants in the vast universe. Everyone that saw them had to worship them, keep them in good spirits, and pamper them.
Should anyone dare to show them any disrespect, they would undoubtedly make sure they disappear from the face of the earth!
And wasn’t that so? Because this particular second-generation descendant in front of Meng Lei and the others, as the son of the Nidhogg Chief God, was exactly adopting such an extremely high profile. Just the way he had made his appearance alone was already incredibly cool!
“My lord!”
“The lord of the city is here!”
“My lord, you’re so handsome!”
Shouts and exclamations rang out all around. On top of that, some of the female deities’ beautiful eyes even glittered brightly with overflowing feelings of worship and adoration. Those infatuated expressions of theirs were as though they wished they could strip off all their clothes and climb into the lord of the city’s bed, with the only thing potentially stopping them being the lord’s lack of interest in them.
At the sight, Puhaman and the others couldn’t help but snipe sourly, “Isn’t he just a rich, spoiled second-generation brat showing off and pretending to be cool by relying on his status as a Chief God’s son? What’s the big deal about him? He’s not even worthy of becoming Master’s servant…”
“Exactly…”
This was nothing but just sour grapes, but it couldn’t be helped. Bearing grudges against the wealthy and the ones with authority had never been the mortals’ exclusive right. Deities also had feelings and emotions; they were also capable of jealousy, hate, and bearing grudges against the wealthy and the powerful.
Meng Lei didn’t say anything, choosing instead to observe quietly.
Roar!
The nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni gradually came to a stop before roaring into the heavens as one. Roiling sound waves erupted into the surroundings, seemingly announcing the son of the Chief God’s arrival.
When the sound waves dissipated, a handsome youth dressed in golden armor and bearing purplish-gold dragon horns on his head flew out of the carriage and showed up in front of all the deities.
“Wow! The lord of the city has come out!”
Several goddesses screamed in excitement at the sight of Venus. They were as though veteran fujoshi[2] that had just caught sight of fresh, young male idols and were so excited that they almost couldn’t catch their breath.
Among them was one particular goddess whose behavior was the most dramatic. A look of infatuation adorned her face as she clenched her fists and said, “As expected of the man I’ve set my sights on! You’re so cool that no matter where you are, you’re just like the firefly in the dark, so bright and so outstanding!
“Your handsome looks, arrogant stubble, cool and flashy way of making your appearance, and those nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni have deeply captivated me…”
When one reached a cultivation stage like Meng Lei’s, their ears would already have become extraordinarily sharp. He naturally overheard the goddess’ infatuated love confession, which rendered him totally flabbergasted. He could only say, “What a goddamn talent she is!”
Of course, the esteemed lord of the city definitely wouldn’t be able to hear the infatuated goddess’ wishful love confession. He overlooked the world, his eyes aloof and distant as his gaze swept across all the deities that had hurried over. The corners of his lips couldn’t help but quirk upward as a scornful look surfaced in his eyes. After that, he descended onto the area in front of the valley.
“Greetings, my lord!”
The city guards in charge of sentry duty at the valley dropped onto one knee in greeting. Their actions were neat and uniform without even a bit of sloppiness. It was evident that all of them had undergone professional training before.
“Has a thorough check of the mine been carried out?” Venus asked dispassionately, “How many mineral resources are there?”
“My lord, we’ve already carried out a thorough investigation.”
One of the city guards that appeared to be the captain replied respectfully, “The total amount of mineral reserves is estimated at 1.6 trillion tons to 2.3 trillion tons. They are of superb quality and can be classified as high-grade Divinity Crystals. On top of that…”
“What is it?”
Venus raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve detected crystal marrows in the center of the mine. We have yet to determine the concrete quantity, but there’s likely a reasonable quantity in there,” said the captain respectfully.
“Crystal marrows!”
Joy came over Venus’ countenance, and he said, “Not bad! It just so happens to be Father’s birthday in another two years. I was just feeling troubled over the lack of a suitable gift, but all’s fine now that there’s the crystal marrow. Father will definitely like it!”
The captain went along with the flow and quickly said in flattery, “Congratulations, my lord!”
“Hahaha! It’s worth congratulating, indeed!”
Venus then gave a grand wave and declared, “All of you deserve credit for finding the Divinity Crystal mine and discovering the crystal marrows this time. Everyone shall be rewarded!”
“Thank you, my lord!”
The captain was overjoyed.
“Yeah!”
Venus then nodded slightly and said, “Start working on it right away. I can’t wait to see the crystal marrows!”
“Yes, my lord!” Then, the captain shouted, “Men, get down to work and begin the mining process at once!”
“Yes, sir!”
Following his order, miners immediately entered the valley and got down to mining. Venus broke into a slight frown as he observed the number of miners. He asked, “When will you be able to extract the crystal marrows when there are only so few miners?”
The captain bowed and replied, “The crystal marrows are estimated to be extracted in two months’ time, my lord.”
“Two months? That’s too slow.”
Venus shook his head and ordered, “Recruit miners immediately. I want to see the crystal marrows in three days’ time. Remember, I want to see them in three days’ time. I won’t accept even an hour of tardiness.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Beads of perspiration formed on the captain’s forehead at once. It was practically a project from hell, having to complete two months’ worth of work in three days. Even the captain wanted to flip the table and quit…
…Except he didn’t dare to.
Although he was a powerful high-level higher deity and was also an important figure among the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods, he didn’t dare to provoke Venus at all.
The son of the Chief God was by nature brutal, vicious, cruel, and ruthless. Should he utter even a single word of defiance, he would undoubtedly welcome a very tragic end.
But the problem was, where was he supposed to find that many miners within the short span of three days?
One needed two days just to travel from the Venus Colossal Dragon City to the mine, and the back-and-forth journey would require four days. That was way past the three-day deadline!
The captain’s line of sight couldn’t help but fall onto the deities that had hurried over to the mine. Then, he shot into the sky, went up to them, and asked, “Dear all, is there anyone who’s willing to help with the mining? We’ll give a reasonable pay of 10 Divinity Crystals per day!”
Becoming miners?
The reason why some of the lesser deities and intermediate deities had come here in the first place was precisely to sign up as miners and earn some income. They naturally didn’t reject the opportunity and happily agreed.
However, the captain’s brows were tightly drawn together. This bit of manpower was still not enough. In fact, it was far from being enough. He still needed more miners!
“Anyone else?”
The captain continued to inquire.
The other deities clearly weren’t interested. They were either here to watch the show or here to see whether they could profit in any way from the situation. They weren’t interested in mining at all.
Besides, the pay of 10 Divinity Crystals a day was too miserable for the amount of hardship involved in mining. Only the lesser deities and the intermediate deities could accept such a pay rate. They were above that scant bit of money.
“What? No one else?”
The captain’s expression darkened, and he said, “This is the first Divinity Crystal mine that we, people of the Venus Colossal Dragon City, have discovered. There is great significance to the discovery. I hope everyone can chip in and help to mine the Divinity Crystals. You can consider it as making a contribution to the Venus Colossal Dragon City.”
A few higher deities were convinced this time, and they agreed to help with the mining. However, it was obviously still far wayoff than the number of miners the captain needed.
This greatly infuriated the captain.
Great! The nerve of you to not appreciate the courtesy I’ve shown you. I tried so painstakingly to persuade all of you, yet you won’t even help me out. This is too much!
The captain promptly flared up. Terrifying divine power exclusive to a high-level higher deity erupted into the surroundings and weighed down at will on the deities standing in front of him. He asked once more, “Is there anyone else that’s willing to help?”
This was a blatant threat by now. Though despicable, it achieved surprisingly good results. Unable to bear the captain’s tyrannical might, a greater half of the higher deities who were of mediocre strength and without any authority or power slunk into the valley to mine the crystals.
Only a small number of strong deities who were also part of a large godly clan remained unmoved and didn’t take the captain’s threat to heart.
The captain didn’t dare to offend those experts, either. His gaze flitted across those experts before finally stopping at Meng Lei and the others. Now, these guys looked awfully unfamiliar. He didn’t know who they were at all!
The nerve of you! Those nameless nobodies that came out of god knows where actually dare to defy my orders? You have a death wish, don’t you!
“Everyone else has a very strong sense of self-awareness, but you’re the only ones that are still standing there like wooden blocks. Are you unwilling to contribute to the city?” asked the captain sinisterly as he stared at Meng Lei and the others.
“Yes, I’m unwilling to!”
[1] [Annotation text missing]
[2] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 388, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-388", "title": "Chapter 388 - Killing Boris, Ignoring The Lord Of The City", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 388: Killing Boris, Ignoring The Lord of The City
“What are the few of you standing around there for? Are you not willing to contribute to the city?”
The captain stared sinisterly at Meng Lei and the others with a threatening look in his eyes. He had already made up his mind—if Meng Lei and the others didn’t take a hint again, then he didn’t mind taking their lives!
Those were just a few nameless nobodies. It was no big deal even if he killed them. It didn’t pose any psychological burden to him at all. Instead, it could even serve as a warning to others and encourage them to mine more diligently.
“Those few people are out of luck!”
“They honestly don’t know how to read the situation at all!”
“Didn’t they see that Boris was already threatening them? Yet they actually still dared to remain unmoved. Such fools!”
The other deities watched Meng Lei and the others with mockery and gloating in their eyes. They were from the Venus Colossal Dragon God clan, so they naturally could ignore Captain Boris’ threat, but what did those few people think they were? How dare they imitate them!
They were clearly thinking too highly of themselves!
“If those few haven’t become utter fools yet, then they should go into the mine right away. Otherwise, that wicked Boris will never let them off…”
However, what none of them expected was that Meng Lei had rejected Boris’ request without even a moment’s hesitation. Meng Lei said, “We’re just here to watch the show and not here to labor for you. Telling us to mine? Are you suffering from brain damage?”
Everyone stared at Meng Lei and the others as if they were staring at freaks the moment the words left Meng Lei’s mouth. What an arrogant fellow! He actually dared to speak to Boris like that?
Boris was the Venus Colossal Dragon City guard commander, as well as the strongest deity under the Venus Colossal Dragon City lord’s command. On top of that, he was also a scoundrel that killed without even batting an eyelid. He was the one in charge of getting all the wicked deeds that the lord of the city wanted to do done.
Killing people like flies, vicious and nefarious…
These were no longer enough to describe Boris.
Yet that guy in front of them had…
A nobody that had popped out of some godforsaken place had actually dared to speak to Boris like that! Wasn’t he afraid of suffering Boris’ wrath?
Venus, the son of the Chief God, had kept his attention on the valley the whole time and hadn’t bothered focusing on the ongoings on the other side. To him, only the crystal marrows in the mine were worthy of his attention. Everyone else… wasn’t even worth a mention.
But upon hearing Meng Lei’s reply, even Venus couldn’t resist turning around and taking a look. His brows furrowed lightly, feeling a little surprised.
That guy… What arrogance!
“W-we’re finished! We’re doomed now!”
Among the crowd, Emery Philmore nearly fell limp onto the ground. Fear and despair had completely taken over him. Meng Lei must be sick of living to talk back to Boris like that!
“That bastard! He’s going to get me killed!” Emery Philmore groaned inwardly.
True enough, fierce flames of fury started to rage in Boris’ eyes, and fearsome, torrential divine power erupted around him. He was so furious that he couldn’t help but laugh instead.
“Well-done! Well-done! How bold of you to actually speak to me like that! Go to hell!”
Boris roared furiously and threw a powerful punch. He didn’t hesitate to put his full power into the punch, evidently intending to kill Meng Lei and smash him into a bloody pulp with it.
“It’s all over!”
At the sight, Emery Philmore couldn’t help but shut his eyes—only to hear Puhaman’s mocking voice next to his ear.
“What are you closing your eyes for? Aren’t you a little too cowardly? Open your eyes wide and watch properly!”
“(⊙o⊙)”
At his words, Emery couldn’t help but open his eyes. Then, he saw something incredible:
Meng Lei neither ducked nor avoided Boris, who was coming at him with fierce momentum. Instead, he made a casual grabbing motion with his right hand.
Thud!
Meng Lei easily caught what everyone had thought was a destructive punch in his own hand. The destructive force around it died down, and its momentum completely disappeared. And then… There was nothing else.
“How can this be?!”
Emery Philmore was stunned.
The deities watching the fight were stunned.
Boris himself was also stunned.
A look of surprise also surfaced on even Venus’ countenance, seemingly not having expected a nobody to actually negate Boris’ attack so easily.
“There are too many people out there that want me dead. Who do you even think you are?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and casually tightened his grip, crushing Boris’ fist.
“Aahhh!”
Boris let out a shrill scream and looked at Meng Lei with fear and shock. His voice trembled as he asked, “W-who exactly are you?”
“Who am I? You’re not qualified enough to know that.”
Meng Lei then reached out his right arm and dealt a palm strike.
Boom!
A massive palm about 100,000-feet-long abruptly appeared in the sky and crashed down onto Boris. Its terrifying might and momentum were as if they were going to destroy everything in the world.
“Noooo!”
Fearful and horror-stricken, Boris cried out desperately, “My lord, s-save me!”
“Stop!”
Venus hastily spoke up and tried to stop Meng Lei. Boris was his lackey; he mustn’t die just like that.
Meng Lei didn’t pay him any heed at all, however. The massive palm’s downward momentum made no move to slow down and engulfed Boris amid his screams of despair.
Boom!
The massive palm descended from above, ultimately landing on the summit of Coiling Dragon Mountain Range. A deafening explosion rang out, and even the whole mountain range itself shook a little.
Dust swirled everywhere as the ground and mountains trembled.
“What’s the matter?”
“What happened?”
“An earthquake! It’s an earthquake!”
“Hurry and get out!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The sudden tremors frightened the deities that had entered the valley, and they scrambled out of the valley like frightened little rabbits.
“What happened just now?”
“Look over there!”
Following the shout, everyone quickly looked over to see a gigantic deep pit forming at the summit. The pit was palm-shaped, and one could nary see to the bottom of it.
“How strange! Where did that palm-shaped pit come from? I seem to recall it wasn’t there when I first arrived here…”
All the deities were terribly puzzled. Then, a chilling voice rang out. “Why didn’t you stop when I told you to just now?”
“That’s… The lord of the city’s voice?”
Everyone quickly looked over to see the lord of the city sporting an icy look on his face. His eyes were practically spitting fire, and his countenance was as cold as the Antarctic ice as he gazed coldly at a young man.
“What’s the matter with the lord of the city?”
“Why is he suddenly flaring up at a deity?”
“Who’s that?”
Questions filled the deities’ minds.
Venus was raging mad. Although he was certainly mad that someone had killed Boris, that wasn’t enough to anger him this badly yet. The main reason for his anger was instead Meng Lei defying his order.
One must know that as the son of the Chief God, aside from a small handful of people, no one, even those among the clan’s inner circle, had ever dared to refuse Venus anything.
Not even the clan elders!
Moreover, he enjoyed an even loftier position and was someone with absolute authority in Venus Colossal Dragon City. His orders were the golden rule, his will the highest decree, and his word the law itself!
Who would dare to defy his orders?
Nobody!
Those that did… would die!
Yet that fellow that had popped out of god knows where had actually defied—or perhaps completely ignored—his order just now!
This was unforgivable!
And inexcusable!
Fear and panic took over Emery Philmore as he gazed at Venus’ icy eyes. Even Puhaman and the others also felt immense pressure. That guy wasn’t particularly strong, but he was a Chief God’s son!
A Chief God!
Those two words alone were already capable of applying an infinite amount of pressure on anyone, crushing down on them and rendering them unable to breathe.
“Am I supposed to stop just because you told me to? Who do you think you are?”
" }, { "id": 389, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-389", "title": "Chapter 389 - Get On Your Knees, Killing The Son Of The Chief God", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 389: Get On Your Knees, Killing The Son of The Chief God
Dead silence filled the whole place.
The air felt like it had been locked down.
Even time itself seemed to have stopped.
All the deities gazed at the black-haired young man standing proudly in the sky, every one of them flabbergasted and dumbfounded.
“Who’s that guy? To think he’s actually speaking to the lord of the city like that! Isn’t he afraid that he’ll be killed?”
“Tsk, tsk! How gutsy!”
“Such toughness! This is the first time I’ve seen such a stubborn fellow!”
After a momentary silence, the deities went into a furor. They pointed and gestured at Meng Lei, either mocking him, marveling at him, or watching him with a sympathetic look on their faces…
The most dramatic one was the infatuated goddess from earlier. She actually jumped in front of Meng Lei furiously and chastised him, “Where did a country bumpkin like you come from? Do you know who you’re talking to? I demand that you apologize to the lord of the city! At once, right away, immediately!”
Varying expressions came over the deities’ countenances at the sight of the goddess. That goddess was no simple deity. She was a member of the Nature Gods and was also well-known in Venus Colossal Dragon City. As she naturally bore a fragrance on herself and was also a huge beauty, she was hailed as the Hundred Flowers Goddess.
She had a great many pursuers, so many that they could form a line from one end of Venus Colossal Dragon City to the other end. There was no lack of people of high status from various major godly clans among them. It was just that the Hundred Flower Goddess wasn’t interested in them at all.
Everyone knew that the only one she was in love with was Lord Venus. Thus, no one found the sight of the Hundred Flower Goddess standing up for Lord Venus strange.
“Apologize? Who do you think you are?”
Meng Lei only had a very simple response for an extremely narcissistic and exceedingly self-centered idiot like her—he gave her a tight slap across the cheek right away.
Smack!
A dozen or so bloody teeth flew about as a crisp smack rang out, and the Hundred Flower Goddess was sent flying with a shrill scream.
The deities were dumbfounded yet again at the sight of that.
He had sent her flying with a slap across the cheek?
Wasn’t that a little too boorish of him?
“Nice!”
“How formidable, Master!”
On the other hand, Puhaman and the others were cheering in excitement instead. They didn’t give two hoots about whether she was a goddess or not. This was what she deserved for showing their master disrespect!
“Great, great! Fantastic!”
Venus, the Chief God’s son, had an icy, sinister look on his face. He said, “I’ve never seen anyone as arrogant as you in my whole life!”
“Is that so? Should I be honored, then?” scoffed Meng Lei, who didn’t think much of the so-called Chief God’s son at all.
“I’ll show you that those who dare to act so brazenly in front of me would pay the price for doing so!” Then, Venus coldly ordered, “Men, take him down!”
All the city guards around him became rather hesitant upon his order. That guy was someone who was capable of killing even Captain Boris with just a single smack of his hand. Weren’t they just having a death wish if they charge right up to him?
Yet if they didn’t…
Just as the city guards were hesitating over what they should do, the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni that had accompanied Venus here let out a loud and sonorous roar in tandem. Then, they transformed into nine streaks of light that shot over to Meng Lei, arriving right in front of him and surrounding them from all sides.
Nine murderous pairs of dragon eyes bore right into Meng Lei. Then, right on the heels of it, they let out a furious roar, causing thunderous roiling sound waves to explode and spread into the surroundings.
“Roar! Get on your knees!”
Boom!
Overwhelming waves of divine power erupted from the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni, striking Meng Lei as though they were torrential tidal waves capable of toppling the mountains.
“Get on your knees!”
They roared yet again.
“W-what terrifying divine power!”
Despite only being subjected to the divine power’s residual impact waves, Puhaman and the others nevertheless found it hard to breathe. They felt as if they would be flattened to the ground any moment.
The divine power that had erupted from the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni was simply too fearsome. Even high-level higher deities could barely withstand it!
And indeed, it was certainly very fearsome!
Every one of those Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni was infinitely close to Great Perfection-level, and their combined divine power had actually reached Great Perfection-level after stacking on top of one another’s.
Puhaman and the others naturally wouldn’t be able to withstand Great Perfection-level divine power.
However, this bit of divine power was nothing to Meng Lei. He sized up the nine divine beasts and repeatedly nodded in a highly satisfied manner.
“They certainly look pretty good. It’s pretty cool to have them pull one’s carriage!”
The nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni flew into a thundering rage at his words. As divine beasts that had especially been captured to serve Venus, their master, they simply knew that expression too well.
Roar!
“Damn it!”
“Get on your knees!”
The nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni roared incessantly. They raised their powerful, sharp claws and swiped ruthlessly at Meng Lei, intending to flatten him onto the ground.
“You’re too noisy! Keep it down!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly.
Boom!
An incomparably wild and violent aura erupted from Meng Lei and crushed down on the Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni like surging, torrential waves. Now, this was a Chief God’s true blue might, so how could the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni that weren’t even Great Perfection-level yet possibly withstand it?
Spurt!
Blood spurted from their mouths at once, and they were sent flying while crying out as if they had been hit by a train racing toward them at high speed.
“What?”
Venus’ expression changed at once when he saw what had happened. The nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni were super divine beasts that were infinitely close to becoming Great Perfection-level and were even capable of contending with a Great Perfection deity if they teamed up. They were also a means of protection that the clan had given him.
Yet that guy that had popped out of nowhere had actually sent the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni flying just by releasing some of his aura?
Just how strong was he?
“Come back!”
Meng Lei suddenly made a grabbing motion at this point, upon which the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni that were in the midst of being thrown back suddenly froze in mid-air before they then flew toward Meng Lei.
“Get down!”
Meng Lei slowly uttered two words. Then, with a flip of his wrist and a press of his hand downward, the nine Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni were flattened right onto the ground such that they prostrated right in front of him.
“Animals will be animals!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he turned to Venus and said, “You’re holding on to the Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni’s divine spirit origin energies, right? Hand them over!”
“What do you want?”
Venus’ expression changed drastically.
“Say the word, will you hand them over or not?” said Meng Lei dispassionately as he cast a glance at him.
“The Six-Legged Golden Suan Ni are mine. I’m their one and only master!”
Venus barked grimly, “Nobody can take them from me!”
“Not handing them over? Just go to hell, then!”
Meng Lei remained expressionless.
“Go to hell?”
Venus burst into loud laughter as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
“Kill me? With the likes of you? Who do you think you are? Let me tell you something, it’s not that there isn’t anyone in the world that dares to kill me, but you’re definitely not one of them!”
“Had the one saying that to me been the person that had spawned you back then, perhaps I would have shown a little fear and reverence. As for you… Hah, what a joke!”
Meng Lei shook his head with a laugh and made a grabbing motion in mid-air. A large, intangible hand instantly wrapped around Venus’ throat and dragged him over.
“L-let go of me!”
Venus could hardly breathe with someone constricting his throat. His face flushed red, and he struggled fiercely as he threatened, “I… I’m the great Nidhogg Chief God’s son! H-how dare you treat me like this! My f-father will never let you off!”
“Let him come, then. Just as well that I can take the opportunity to meet a so-called Chief God, too.” Meng Lei chuckled and said, “As for you, it’s a real shame that you’ll never live to see that day anymore.”
Crack!
" }, { "id": 390, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-390", "title": "Chapter 390 - The Chief God Descends, Strongest In The Universe", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 390: The Chief God Descends, Strongest In The Universe
Crack!
A crisp crack rang out, and Venus’ throat was crushed into bits. His eyes widened big and round as fury and disbelief filled them.
His fury was because Meng Lei had actually killed him, while his disbelief was because Meng Lei had actually dared to kill him.
Who was he?
He was the Nidhogg Chief God’s son!
The Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ young master!
A second-generation descendant publicly acknowledged as the most impressive people around!
Yet he had actually died in the hands of a nameless nobody that had popped out of some godforsaken place!
He couldn’t tolerate this!
Neither could he accept it!
Indignation filled Venus, but what could he do?
As the saying went, “A man dies the same way that the light goes out”.
Once he was dead, he would be dead through and through. Meng Lei casually tossed Venus’ corpse aside, gouged out his divine core, and read his memories.
Venus was the Nidhogg Chief God’s son and the lord of Venus Colossal Dragon City. Thus, he must know a lot.
“How dare you kill me!”
“How dare you kill me!”
“You knave, Father will never let you off! Neither will the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods! They’ll rip you into a million pieces to avenge my deat—”
Venus roared again and again, his divine spirit energy waves brimming with immense hatred. Oh, how resentful he was!
“You’re too noisy!”
Meng Lei turned up the firepower of his attacks on Venus’ divine spirit, causing Venus to scream. At once, his divine spirit was destroyed and reduced to broken bits and pieces. And then, all was silent.
“The Nidhogg Chief God… A lesser Chief God… Venus Colossal Dragon City’s treasury…”
Various pieces of information flooded Meng Lei’s mind, among which were some about the Nidhogg Chief God, some about the Nidhogg clan, as well as some about Venus Colossal Dragon City itself…
“He’s killed the lord of the city!”
“Oh my god! He’s actually killed the lord of the city!”
“What do we do? What do we do now?”
All the deities were scared witless while Meng Lei continued to read Venus’ memories. Looks of fear and panic came over their countenances, and all of them looked as if a calamity was about to befall them.
Yes, calamity!
After all, Venus was the Nidhogg Chief God’s son!
But now… He was dead!
What was going to happen next?
Nobody dared to even think about it!
But what they could be sure of was that the Nidhogg Chief God definitely wouldn’t take things lying down, and neither would the Nidhogg clan. A bloodbath was sure to come!
Would the bloodbath implicate them? Nobody could say anything for certain, but as witnesses to Venus’ death, they were undoubtedly going to be in for a rough ride.
“A lunatic! He’s a total lunatic!”
“That bastard! He’s totally screwed us over…”
For a moment there, resentment and rancor filled the deities’ eyes as they watched Meng Lei. If looks could kill, they really wished they could rip Meng Lei into a million pieces!
Elsewhere, Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile upon successfully reading all of Venus’ memories.
Venus was just a mid-level higher deity, but as a Chief God’s son, the number of riches he had accumulated over the years and the secrets he was privy to were in no way little.
This bout of soul reading was no loss at all!
“Why did you kill him, sir?!”
Emery Philmore looked fearful as he said, “We’re doomed now. The Nidhogg Chief God will definitely kill us all! He definitely will!”
Puhaman and the others were also in somewhat of a panic. The other party was the son of a Chief God, yet their master had killed him!
What were they to do now? How were they supposed to bear the Nidhogg Chief God’s endless fury now?
They knew that their master was very strong, to the extent that he was even stronger than a Great Perfection deity. But the one they had messed with this time was a Chief God! No matter how strong their master was, was he stronger than a Chief God?
“If the Nidhogg Chief God comes, then that would be great. I’d long since wanted to meet him!”
Meng Lei gave them a slight smile, his demeanor calm and unruffled. He wasn’t bothered about the Nidhogg Chief God in the least.
“Old bro, what are we supposed to do now?”
Fatty Hart had a rather awkward look on his face as he suggested, “How about… We leave this place for now? It’s too dangerous here.”
“That’s right, that’s right! Let’s hurry and leave. A man doesn’t put himself in harm’s way. It’s better that we leave instead!”
“I also think that it’s for the better that we leave. It’s best if we can go back straight to Heaven’s Vault Continent. It’s the safest there…”
The others also spoke up one by one. They didn’t want to stay for even a moment longer. All of them could feel chills running down their spines for fear that the Nidhogg Chief God would suddenly charge right over and take their lives.
Thus, they’d better just slip away!
“A bunch of cowards!”
A contemptuous Meng Lei said, “I’m the one that killed Venus, yet I’m not even afraid, so what’s there for you to be afraid of? Besides, do you think you can even get away?”
Meng Lei’s words made all of them feel ashamed of themselves. However, when they heard the last part of his response, their expressions changed slightly, and they asked, “What do you mean by that, Master?”
Meng Lei then raised his head to the sky with the corners of his lips slightly curled upward. “He’s already here!”
“He’s here? Who’s here?”
Everyone was a little stupefied.
Then, they sensed the abrupt appearance of an incredibly terrifying aura shooting toward them at an unimaginably high speed.
Fast!
It was simply too fast! One could no longer use “speed” as a descriptor anymore. Rather… It was teleportation!
Yes, teleportation!
The terrifying aura reached them a brief moment later. Upon arriving, it erupted into the surroundings with great momentum, sweeping through all directions and wantonly ravaging the people’s hearts and souls.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Unsurprisingly, everyone aside from Meng Lei was flattened to the ground.
The city guards watching over the valley, the deities that had assembled here, and even the divine beasts inhabiting the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range were all flattened to the ground!
“W-what fearsome pressure and might!”
“A Chief God’s aura!”
“Oh my god! This is a Chief God’s aura!”
“A Chief God!!”
All the deities became incredibly fearful at once—they had already guessed who the Chief God that had just arrived was. Who else could it be other than the Nidhogg Chief God whose son had just been killed?
“He’s doomed! That guy’s doomed! The Nidhogg Chief God is going to rip him into a million pieces!”
“I just hope he doesn’t take his anger out on us innocents…”
Filled with fear, everyone started to pray inwardly.
“What do we do now, everyone?”
“What else can we do? Nothing!”
“Now that things have reached such a pass, we can only pin our hopes on Master!”
“Please watch over us, Master…”
Puhaman and the others were also incredibly alarmed and panic-stricken, but they were more nervous and uneasy than terrified in comparison. They knew that their master was very strong and that he was even stronger than a Great Perfection deity.
However, they had no idea exactly how strong he was and whether or not he could rival a Chief God—this was exactly what they were uneasy about.
“Is Master a Chief God or not?”
Puhaman and the others were constantly wondering to themselves.
“You sure came really quickly. As expected of a Chief God!”
Meng Lei slowly raised his head. The corners of his lips curled upward slightly into a smile as he gazed at the muscular entity currently unleashing his fearsome aura without any restraints.
“A Chief God divine core is a fragment of a Heart of The Existential Plane. In some sense, those that become Chief Gods by refining Chief God divine cores can also be considered an existential plane’s master,” Moro’s voice sounded in Meng Lei’s mind as he said, “And in their own existential plane, a Chief God will naturally be able to manipulate Power of Existential Plane to teleport to places.”
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly in response. He didn’t know where the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ base was, but he surmised that it must be a great distance of at least several hundred, or a thousand, light years away from where they currently were.
Yet the Nidhogg Chief God had hurried over in just the short span of a few minutes. From this, one could tell just how fast his traveling speed had been!
“Who… was the one that killed my child?”
A voice imbued with boundless awe-inspiring might rang out. It wasn’t loud and even sounded very calm and peaceful, but in spite of that, no one could muster any thoughts of putting up any resistance at all.
This was… The sound of a Chief God!
The most powerful sound in the universe!
" }, { "id": 391, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-391", "title": "Chapter 391 - Taking On A Chief God, Death Deserved", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 391: Taking On A Chief God, Death Deserved
“It’s… It’s just as expected!”
“The Nidhogg Chief God has descended!”
“He’s here for revenge!”
“He’ll kill this bastard!”
After they heard those powerful words spoken with absolute authority, the deities went into utter silence as fear overcame them.
The pressure coming from the aura was too frightening. It was as if innumerable metric tons of force were pressing onto their hearts. Now, they could not even lift their heads and could only prostrate on the ground.
“Who… killed my child?”
The colossal Nidhogg Chief God spoke once again. His voice was like deafening claps of thunder that blasted into everyone, leaving behind painful, buzzing noises in their ears.
“I killed him!”
Meng Lei soared up into the sky and came face to face with the Nidhogg Chief God. He sized up this existence far above, who ruled the heavens and earth, with some interest.
A Chief God!
The king among gods!
That was the supreme existence standing at the top of the pyramid, and it was Meng Lei’s first-ever meeting with one.
“How bold to kill my child! Die!” The Nidhogg Chief God had no expression as he swung his hand.
Boom!
A gigantic palm made of colorful light beams appeared in thin air, crashing down with destructive might toward Meng Lei. The terrifying aura and incomparable speed it gave off seemed to be crushing Meng Lei into dust in no time.
“Oh no!”
The area this palm covered was too large. Meng Lei was in the center of the palm, while all the other deities, city guards, and even the entire Coiling Dragon Mountain Range was within range. If this strike landed, everyone… would die!
Survival was absolutely impossible!
Survive?
It was the most foolish thing to think about when a Chief God attacked.
“It’s over! We’re dead meat!”
“I knew it would come to this. The collateral kills beneath a Chief God’s fury was nothing to him! This goddamn bastard, I’m going to die because of him!”
“I won’t let you off even if I have become a ghost!”
Desperation filled the hearts of the deities, while their hate for Meng Lei had never been higher. If they could turn back time, they would definitely take out Meng Lei’s grandfather when he was nine years old.
“So this is a Chief God?”
“It’s simply unrivaled!”
“Are we going to die?”
“Master! You must hold him off!”
Puhaman and the rest were equally desperate. In the face of such a powerful attack, they realized that they were as weak as tofu that could become squashed into pieces. Their only hope of survival was their Master, Meng Lei.
“Kill me?”
Meng Lei looked relaxed as if the attack was nothing. The strike was created from a high-end Power of Existential Plane that was highly destructive.
Even Great Perfection deities would become heavily injured from the strike. As for ordinary deities, they would simply disintegrate.
That was known as the Power of Chief Gods—the combination of divine power and high-end Power of Existential Plane to morph into a new form of power of divinity. The main reason Chief Gods were unrivaled was due to the high-end Power of Existential Plane.
High-end existential planes were too vast and almost boundless. One could imagine the power level of the Power of Existential Plane they could generate.
It was a pity, after all. When facing such an attack, Meng Lei still did not make the slightest attempt to avoid it. He stood his ground. Before the gigantic palm struck his head, Meng Lei used his fingers as a sword and swiped up gently.
Slash!
The vibrant gigantic palm was slashed from the middle into half. The two halves of the palm continued smashing down toward the two sides.
Boom!
Many deities were within range of the two halves of the gigantic palms. They were crushed into a bloody mist, unsurprisingly.
Only Puhaman and the rest who were standing beside Meng Lei and some deities who were closer survived the attack. Their horror-stricken faces were ghastly pale.
“Interesting.”
The Nidhogg Chief God squinted his eyes. The strike just now was not his best, but with his power level as a lesser Chief God, even a Great Perfection deity would not be able to resist it. However, he did not expect the fellow in front of him to deal with it with ease…
The Nidhogg Chief God asked with a cold voice, “Who are you exactly? There’s no expert like you that I know of in the Earth Divine Realm, other Divine Realms, or in the Celestial Realm.”
“Who I am isn’t important!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly.
“Agreed!” The Nidhogg Chief God replied aloofly. “Your fate was sealed at the moment you killed Venus. I shall vanquish your soul!”
As he finished his sentence, the Nidhogg Chief God blasted off a punch. Instantly, a ten-meter large colorful fist shot out as it smashed toward Meng Lei.
The Nidhogg Chief God used 80% of his power on this blow. The air in its path was instantly engulfed in a dark tunnel, and the gigantic fist came as if it had teleported.
“These boring moves again!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly and responded with a casual punch—an invisible punch meeting the destructive colorful punch.
Boom!
The two fists collided, and a terrifying might exploded, sending tidal shockwaves across the vicinity like a tsunami.
The remaining deities were unlucky.
Spurt!
Spurt!
Spurt!
Anywhere the shockwaves passed through, crackling sounds of exploding heads followed. Deities exploded one by one as if a road roller was rolling over a watermelon field.
Other than Puhaman and those protected by Meng Lei, the remaining deities turned into a bloody mist in that brief moment. Not a single one survived.
“D-dead? All… dead?”
Puhaman and the rest were in a protective shield as they watched the deities burst into clouds of bloody mist. They swallowed hard, scared witless.
Indeed, scared witless.
All the lively deities just now were dead, sacrificing for the battle between their master and the Chief God.
How tragic!
He’s caught another one?
The Nidhogg Chief God broke into a frown. If the first attack had been understandably blocked, he could not believe that the second one, which he had used 80% power on, had been caught with ease as well.
“You’re a Chief God?”
The Nidhogg Chief God glared at Meng Lei with his razor-sharp eyes as if he was trying to see through all his secrets. “You assimilated that Chief God divine core in the Great Pompeii Desert, didn’t you? No! That’s not right!
“That Chief God divine core was only just born. Even if you obtained it, you could never assimilate it in such a short period! Or maybe…”
The Nidhogg Chief God thought of another possibility—a Supreme Great Perfection deity.
Supreme Great Perfection deity—a Great Perfection deity who comprehended the supreme laws of nature and a deep prowess in it.
This type of Great Perfection deity could surely match a Chief God.
“Chief God?”
Puhaman and the rest heard the term, and expressions of joy followed.
“Our Master is a Chief God! He really is a Chief God! I knew it, if our Master can kill Great Perfection deities, how can he not be a Chief God?”
“Hahaha, Master is a Chief God as well…”
“He’s a Chief God?”
Emery Philmore gazed at the back of Meng Lei. His mind was buzzing with only one thought.
He’s a Chief God!
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m a Chief God or not!” Meng Lei held his hands behind his back. “What’s important is that I am fully capable of matching your power. Hence, since your son dared to provoke me, he got the death he deserved!”
The Nidhogg Chief God changed his previous remark. “Provoking a Supreme Great Perfection deity, he got what he deserved indeed!”
" }, { "id": 392, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-392", "title": "Chapter 392 - Mining Divinity Crystals, A Surprise Attack", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 392: Mining Divinity Crystals, A Surprise Attack
A Chief God… was not to be humiliated.
That was the consensus among all deities. It was not just because Chief Gods were the most powerful beings in the universe—they represented the status of the highest order.
As for Supreme Great Perfection deities, the only existences that could rival Chief Gods and enjoyed the same status, they were secretly regarded to be superior over Chief Gods among the deities.
After all, the deities were somewhat indignant toward Chief Gods, who were the lucky few. Everything that they possessed currently was all due to luck.
The Supreme Great Perfection deities were completely different. They ground their way toward the power they possessed with their talent and hard work, proving their capabilities.
Hence, a Supreme Great Perfection deity… was not to be humiliated even more.
Provoking a Chief God… deserved death!
Provoking a Supreme Great Perfection deity… deserved death even more so.
The Nidhogg Chief God understood this point very well. Thus after guessing that Meng Lei might be a Supreme Great Perfection deity, his attitude took a 180-degree turn.
“Provoking a Supreme Great Perfection deity, he got what he deserved indeed!”
With that said, he turned around. He knew that he was only a lesser Chief God who could not harm a Supreme Great Perfection deity. Rather than humiliating himself, he would prefer to retreat for now.
A Chief God thought highly of their pride.
Meng Lei gazed at him from the back and did not say anything else. Though he was not afraid of the Nidhogg Chief God, he was not confident that he could kill him.
Moreover, in his own existential plane, a Chief God could utilize the Power of Existential Plane, making them extremely difficult to kill.
Since that was the case, Meng Lei did not obstruct the departure.
“He’s gone!”
“The Nidhogg Chief God has descended!”
“Master has won! He’s won!”
“Hooray! Long live our Master!”
“Long live our Master…”
As they watched the Nidhogg Chief God leave, Puhaman and the others were delirious with joy. They surrounded Meng Lei and cheered in pure excitement.
At this moment, they were the most euphoric ones. If their Master was a Chief God, it meant that they could cozy up to someone powerful enough to do whatever they wanted.
Who wouldn’t be jubilant?
Who wouldn’t be euphoric?
Who wouldn’t be worked up over it?
“Go now, recover the divine cores and carcasses. I shall begin the extraction of this mine,” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
“Yes, Master!”
Puhaman and the others complied, and they worked to collect the divine cores and dead bodies.
Other than them, the rest of the deities had not survived.
Although most deities were crushed to powder or turned into a bloody mist, their divine cores and spatial rings were intact.
These were all treasures.
“Next up, this Divinity Crystal mine!”
Meng Lei gazed at the undulating mountains with a shrewd glint in his eyes. A mine with a reserve of a trillion tons, which possibly contained 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals.
10,000 trillion!
That was an enormous sum of wealth.
As long as he extracted all of these Divinity Crystals, he could buy credit for two supreme laws of nature and become an existence comparable to a higher Chief God!
A higher Chief God…
The more Meng Lei thought about it, the more agitated he became. His divine cognition spread out instantly and shrouded the entire Coiling Dragon Mountain Range, continuing beneath the ground.
It continued all the way 300,000 feet underground before Meng Lei finally detected the presence of Divinity Crystals. He immediately activated an Innate Special Ability—Teleportation.
Whoosh!
A large piece of Divinity Crystal disappeared from underground. By the time it reappeared, it was in the skies.
It was a red crystal that was more than 50 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide, like a towering fire dragon hovering in the air. The crystal reflected a fiery red glow in the sunlight, bright and dazzling.
“The Divinity Crystal ore!”
Puhaman and the rest turned their heads to the crystal as astonishment filled their eyes. How did their master extract such a huge ore in a matter of seconds?
That was too impressive!
However, once the thought that their master was a Chief God sprung into their minds, they were able to reconcile themselves with the idea. A Chief God was omnipotent after all.
“Collect them all, system!”
Meng Lei suppressed his excitement as he gave a prompt command.
Whoosh!
A strange, great force appeared in thin air and engulfed the entire ore. In the very next second, the enormous ore vanished.
At the same time, Meng Lei’s Wealth value skyrocketed at an insane speed, stopping only after a dozen seconds.
“Haha!”
“Hahaha!”
“Hahahaha”
Meng Lei stared at that massive figure, no longer able to contain his excitement and agitation. He laughed loudly into the sky. His laughter was like a clap of rolling thunder that reverberated throughout the sky.
(⊙o⊙)?
“What’s the matter with Master?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed at Meng Lei with puzzled expressions.
Emery Philmore went closer to Puhaman and asked softly, “Big Brother Puhaman, what’s going on with our lord?”
“Delight, I suppose!” Puhaman gave a couple of dry coughs. “Every time our Chief God is happy, he’ll laugh in this manner. You’ll get used to it!”
“Get used to it?”
Emery Philmore perked up. “Big Brother Puhaman, do I really have a chance to get used to it? What if our Lord couldn’t care less about me?”
Anxiety overcame Emery Philmore. After knowing that Meng Lei was a Chief God, Emery was shocked, horrified, dumbstruck, in awe…
Now, all he desired was to join them and become Meng Lei’s follower.
How honorable would it be to be a follower of a Chief God?”
He was only a normal higher deity—no authority, power, Divinity Crystals, nor the capability—a nobody in the Earth Divine Realm.
If he could become Meng Lei’s follower, his status would undergo a tremendous change. He would leap into a bigshot instantly.
Hence, he wanted to be part of the team, only afraid that Meng Lei would look down on him.
Emery Philmore was very anxious about it.
“There are still opportunities. It’s all up to how you perform.” Puhaman feigned a deep voice.
Emery Philmore had been a deity for ages. How could he not understand the meaning of Puhaman’s words. He quickly took out a spatial ring and offered it up sincerely. “Big Brother Puhaman, this is just a little gift to show my gratitude!”
Puhaman released his divine cognition to take a peek inside.
What the!? So many Divinity Crystals!
He handled the spatial ring with an indifferent expression and said. “We are all friends. How can I take this?”
“Big Brother Puhaman, it’s just a small token of appreciation!” Emery Philmore smirked.
His gratitude satisfied Puhaman. He smiled and said, “Although Master is a man with power beyond your imagination, an elegant man, an aristocratic-looking and handsome man, a man of great talent, a knowledgeable man, an eloquent person who have chapter and verse at his tongue’s tip, a man with colossal strength… he is actually a down to earth person!
“As long as you offer your loyalty and serve Master whole-heartedly, Master will consider keeping you by his side…”
As an experienced person, Puhaman instructed in earnest.
Emery Philmore listened to the advice modestly, as if listening to this speech benefited more than studying for ten years.
Just as one of them was warming up to his speech while the other was listening modestly, a shrill whiz rang out. A dazzling spark pierced through the air and almost blinded everyone on the scene.
In the next moment, violent shockwaves blasted off. Puhaman and Emery Philmore felt an immense force crashing into them, crushing them instantly.
Then… There was nothing else.
" }, { "id": 393, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-393", "title": "Chapter 393 - The Three Great Chief Gods, Time Freeze", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 393: The Three Great Chief Gods, Time Freeze
Blinding flames filled the sky as violent and raging energy waves turned the void itself into a viscous, glue-like state. Everyone within the area was blown into smithereens.
Puhaman, Emery Philmore!
Fatty Hart, Sacas!
Bubbles, Galen!
All of them were dead!
…
The flames gradually died down, and the glue-like void slowly returned to its original state.
By the time the sky had resumed its original clarity, and everything had returned to what it was like before, Meng Lei had become the only one left in the sky. Everyone else… had vanished.
Numerous divine cores floating in the air were the only things left behind.
“Well done! Well done, indeed!”
Meng Lei’s expression was so cold and sinister that it could almost freeze. He shouted, “Get the hell out here at once since you’re already here! Can you really call yourself a Chief God when you’re sneaking around like that?!”
Buzz!
A series of ripples went through the air as three figures revealed themselves.
The first was burly and muscular and sported a pair of horns on his head—he was none other than the Nidhogg Chief God that had just left a short while ago.
The second was a 100,000-feet-tall Titan Chief God dressed in golden armor, while the third was a sixteen-winged Angel Chief God enveloped in mighty holy light.
A Colossal Dragon Chief God, a Titan Chief God, an Angel Chief God—that made a total of three great Chief Gods! And they had all descended upon the world together!
“Give me a reason why!” Meng Lei demanded icily.
“Allow me to do the introductions.”
With an aloof look on his face, the Nidhogg Chief God gestured to the other two Chief Gods beside him and said, “This is Dawson, the Titan Chief God, and this is Raphael, the Angel Chief God.”
Then, he pointed at Meng Lei and said, “Dawson, Raphael, that’s the Supreme Great Perfection deity that I mentioned. It’s highly likely that the Chief God divine core that had just emerged in the Great Pompeii Desert is in his hands because he’s the one who’s both the strongest and closest in proximity to it!”
The Titan Chief God and the Angel Chief God nodded slightly in response. Their awe-inspiring and aloof gazes then fell on Meng Lei, and they ordered, “Hand over the Chief God divine core, and we’ll spare your life!”
“The Chief God divine core?”
Meng Lei stared at the Nidhogg Chief God and asked, “You left and came back again, and even brought two other great Chief Gods with you along the way, just for the Chief God divine core in my possession?”
“So, you admit that the Chief God divine core is in your possession?”
The three great Chief Gods’ eyes brightened significantly, and their eyes bore straight into Meng Lei. They had guessed that the Chief God divine core was with Meng Lei, but a guess was ultimately nothing more than just a guess. They couldn’t make an accurate judgment as to whether it was true or not.
Now that Meng Lei had admitted to it, this proved that their guess was indeed correct. How could they possibly not be delighted?
With a flip of Meng Lei’s hand, an irregularly-shaped crystal that glowed with ten different colors appeared on his palm—it was exactly the Chief God divine core that had caused such a huge commotion in the Great Pompeii Desert earlier.
“The Chief God divine core!”
“The Chief God divine core is indeed with you!”
Intense shudders went through the three Chief Gods, and looks of greed and desire burst forth from their eyes. The looks in their eyes were as if they wanted to gobble Meng Lei up and take the Chief God divine core sitting on his palm for themselves.
“Give it to me!” The three Chief Gods barked in unison.
“All of them are already Chief Gods, so why do they want this Chief God divine core so much, Moro? This thing shouldn’t be of much use to them, isn’t it?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“No, you’re mistaken. Not only are Chief God divine cores of use to them, but they are even of great use at that.”
Moro’s voice surfaced in his mind. He explained, “You should also know that a Chief God divine core is essentially a fragment of a high-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane and not an ordinary divine core. In other words, a Chief God is able to assimilate multiple Chief God divine cores.”
“They’re able to assimilate multiple Chief God divine cores?”
A mild jolt went through Meng Lei as enlightenment dawned upon him.
That’s right!
A person could only assimilate a maximum of one divine core for divine cores of the same grade. If they wanted to assimilate more, then they would have to assimilate divine cores of higher grades.
However, this wasn’t the case for Chief God divine cores.
Strictly speaking, a Chief God divine core wasn’t even a divine core at all but a Heart of The Existential Plane fragment instead. Therefore, one would naturally be able to assimilate many of them.
On top of that, the more there were, the better it was. The more one assimilated, the more Power of Existential Plane they would be able to manipulate, thereby making the Chief God even stronger!
Moro smiled dispassionately and said, “Those three fellows were very likely ordinary deities with mediocre aptitudes before they assimilated their Chief God divine cores. Thus, despite having become Chief Gods for many years, they still haven’t comprehended any supreme laws of nature and are still just lesser Chief Gods who are the weakest of the lot.
“Therefore, for them, becoming stronger by relying on comprehending supreme laws of nature won’t work at all. They can only strengthen themselves by assimilating more Chief God divine cores.
“But there are only so many Chief God divine cores out there. Moreover, they’ve basically all been assimilated by other Chief Gods, so how can there possibly be any extras? Now that they’ve seen the one you have, it would be stranger instead if they didn’t go crazy for it!”
Meng Lei nodded slowly. He had already understood why the Nidhogg Chief God had left and returned, as well as why he had brought the other two Chief Gods here to besiege him.
Everything was for the sake of obtaining the Chief God divine core he had!
“Give it to me!”
The three Chief Gods’ expressions darkened at the sight of Meng Lei’s indifference. They barked another command fiercely, unable to hold back anymore.
“And if I don’t?” Meng Lei sneered coldly.
“Not handing it over? Then you can go to hell!”
The Nidhogg Chief God said icily and sinisterly, “I certainly can’t do anything about you by myself, but killing you is no difficult task with the three of us!”
“Hand over the Chief God divine core! Otherwise, you’ll die!” ordered the Titan Chief God in an icy-cold voice.
“We’ll spare your life as long as you hand over the Chief God divine core,” said the Angel Chief God gently as holy light suffused the air around him.
“You’re going to kill me? With the likes of the three of you?”
Meng Lei burst into laughter as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the whole universe. His voice reverberated throughout the sky like a tsunami toppling the mountains and overturning the seas.
“You’re courting death!”
“What insolence!”
“How presumptuous!”
The three Chief Gods’ expressions darkened right away. Roiling waves of the Chief Gods’ might arose around them and crushed down upon Meng Lei from everywhere, intending to flatten him.
“All of you can forget about leaving this place today!”
Icy harshness took over Meng Lei’s eyes as he gradually curbed his laughter. He said, “I will gouge out your Chief God divine cores, destroy your divine spirits, and enslave your bodies. I will destroy your souls and thoroughly wipe you off the face of the earth!”
“You’re going to kill us? Why don’t you die first, then!”
The three Chief Gods moved at the same time.
With a forceful grab from the Nidhogg Chief God, a gigantic multi-colored dragon claw formed completely from ten-colored lights instantly rushed forward and grabbed at Meng Lei.
“Go to hell!”
The Titan Chief God clenched his right fist and threw a powerful punch. At once, a heavy, multi-colored punch that carried fearsome, earth-shattering might went hurtling out.
“Holy Light Judgment!”
The Angel Chief God flapped the 16 wings on his back. Several rays of holy light converged to form a gigantic multi-colored sword that dazzled with the light of ten different colors. Then, the sword cleaved forward.
A dragon claw!
A powerful punch!
A gigantic sword!
The attacks drew three arcs across the sky like rainbows piercing through the sun and crashed down upon Meng Lei. The three Chief Gods had attacked with their full power when they launched these attacks; even ordinary Great Perfection deities would be crushed into dust if they were even so much as hit by the residual impact waves, let alone struck squarely by the attacks themselves.
“These attacks will at least maim him if they didn’t already kill him. I’ll have to strike first and snatch the Chief God divine core as soon as possible later. Once I get the Chief God divine core…”
The three Chief Gods might have their gazes fixed on Meng Lei, but their minds were already working at top speed. They were already thinking about how they could snatch the Chief God divine core in Meng Lei’s possession.
Despite being up against such terrifying attacks, Meng Lei neither ducked nor dodged. In the instant the claw, the punch, and the sword were about to reach him, he slowly uttered two words, “Time Freeze!”
Buzz!
Two soft and gentle rays of golden light shot out of Meng Lei’s eyes. Everything in the golden light’s path froze in time.
The fluctuating space-time had become still!
The flowing air had become still!
The wild, violent attacks had become still!
Everything… had become still!
The three Chief Gods were no exceptions, either. They froze on the spot with looks of greed still on their faces.
Meng Lei took step after step toward the three Chief Gods. Soft, gentle golden light spilled from his eyes as he scoffed, “So, you’re going to kill me? In the face of the full and complete version of time-based laws of nature, how are losers that haven’t even comprehended any supreme laws of nature like the lot of you going to kill me?”
" }, { "id": 394, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-394", "title": "Chapter 394 - Killing The Chief Gods, The Chief God Treaty", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 394: Killing The Chief Gods, The Chief God Treaty
Meng Lei’s wish had come true, and he had gained 12 quadrillion Divinity Crystals after extracting Divinity Crystals from the mine.
Added to this the 2.209 quadrillion Divinity Crystals he already had, this came up to a total of 14.209 quadrillion Divinity Crystals!
In other words, he now had… 14,209 trillion Divinity Crystals!
Buying credit for any one type of supreme laws of nature required 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals.
With 14,209 trillion Divinity Crystals, Meng Lei now had enough to buy credit for two types of supreme laws of nature.
Without any hesitation, Meng Lei had promptly bought credit for his time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature and boosted his comprehension rates for both to 100%, thereby fully comprehending these two types of supreme laws of nature.
It was an extremely strange and wonderful feeling when one had fully comprehended a type of supreme laws of nature. As far as the eye could see, the air was filled with densely packed time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature chains. They enveloped every corner of the void in a haphazard and disorderly manner, leaving no area untouched.
Meng Lei could usually vaguely see these laws of nature chains, too. But he was just like an illiterate looking at a dictionary—able to clearly see every single word, yet couldn’t recognize any, let alone understand what they meant, of course.
He could see them, but he didn’t know what they meant—Meng Lei had exactly been in that state previously.
However, things were different now!
Now, Meng Lei clearly understood what each single laws of nature chain meant, what kind of function each represented, what kind of effect each would bring… It was as if he had known all these all along.
This was a very peculiar experience. It felt very magical, very mysterious, and also… very powerful!
Yes, powerful!
The two supreme laws of nature were simply too powerful, so much so that Meng Lei felt as if he were under the misconception that he was the strongest entity in the whole of the universe!
“In the face of full and complete versions of supreme laws of nature, people who haven’t even comprehended any supreme laws of nature like the lot of you are no different from a bunch of total losers!”
Soft, gentle golden light—in other words, time-based laws of nature chains—spilled from Meng Lei’s aloof, dispassionate eyes. Wherever he looked, time stopped and went into an absolute state of stillness.
Even if one were a Chief God, and even if one were the most fearsome and strongest entity in the vast universe, they would still have to obediently stay still on the spot, no matter what.
Their divine bodies, as well as their minds and consciousness, had all entered a state of stillness! This was exactly what made time-based laws of nature so powerful!
Meng Lei took step after step toward the Nidhogg Chief God. Then, he reached out three of his fingers, slowly pierced them through the area in between the Nidhogg Chief God’s brows, and gouged out a crystal that shone with dazzling lights of different colors—it was none other than the Nidhogg Chief God’s Chief God divine core.
The Nidhogg Chief God didn’t put up any struggle during the whole process. Neither did he show any look of pain or agony. In fact, he didn’t even frown.
Wasn’t he in pain?
Of course not!
Time was needed in order for pain receptors to pick up pain and send the relevant signals through the nerve endings. Similarly, time was also needed for one’s thoughts and consciousness to run and operate. However, the Nidhogg Chief God’s time had already reached an absolute state of stillness, so he naturally wouldn’t feel any pain—or to be more accurate, he wasn’t in time to feel the pain yet!
After that, Meng Lei also went on to gouge out the Titan Chief God’s and the Angel Chief God’s Chief God divine cores, thereby completely taking for himself what the three great Chief Gods had depended on the most to become the strongest entities in the universe and to stand above the rest of the world.
“You can actually lock down the time around a Chief God, kid?”
Moro had been dumbstruck throughout the whole process. He asked, “How did you manage to do that? Could it be that… Your comprehension of time-based laws of nature has undergone a qualitative breakthrough?”
Meng Lei had successfully locked down the time around a Chief God! On top of that, he had even locked down the time around three Chief Gods at one go!
Now, this was simply too dramatic!
Although all three Chief Gods were just lesser Chief Gods and had zero comprehension of supreme laws of nature, their divine bodies and divine spirits were incredibly strong and powerful. Moreover, they also possessed Chief God divine cores. Thus, they had an exceedingly great influence on the time and space around themselves.
Locking down the time around them… This was simply too difficult a task!
Yet Meng Lei had achieved it, nonetheless. On top of that, he had even done it skillfully, easily, and effortlessly. This was simply too shocking. Moro couldn’t help but be astonished!
“I’ve already fully comprehended time-based laws of nature,” replied Meng Lei unhurriedly.
The gentle golden light in his eyes gradually faded, and the time around them resumed its flow. The three great Chief Gods’ shackled thoughts and consciousnesses also began to function once more.
At once, the sight of their divine bodies, the bloody holes in the areas between their brows, and Meng Lei, who was standing right in front of them, entered their line of vision.
“What’s going on?”
The three Chief Gods were rather bewildered. They hastily released divine spirit energy waves to check the surroundings, and the moment they did, they turned pale with horror—Meng Lei was actually holding their Chief God divine cores in his hand!
“What exactly is going on ?”
“Why are our Chief God divine cores in his hands?”
The three Chief Gods were utterly flummoxed. They had clearly been attacking Meng Lei just now, yet Meng Lei had already gotten hold of their Chief God divine cores the very next moment. They were absolutely certain that nothing had happened during this entire process!
Perplexed and horrified, they couldn’t understand what had happened and found it hard to accept the current situation.
“Are you very surprised?” asked Meng Lei calmly as he played with the Chief God divine cores he was holding.
“What exactly did you do to us?!” shouted the Nidhogg Chief God.
“I suppose there’s no harm in telling you,” Meng Lei said calmly, “I cast Time Freeze just now and stopped your flow of time. However, my flow of time remains active in the meantime. Get it?”
“T-Time Freeze!”
Realization dawned upon the three Chief Gods, and they instantly understood what had happened. The Nidhogg Chief God couldn’t help but exclaim, “The laws of nature that you’ve comprehended are actually time-based laws of nature?!”
“That’s right.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly.
The Angel Chief God’s voice trembled as he asked, “For you to be able to instantly lock down three Chief Gods’ flow of time, to what extent has your comprehension of time-based laws of nature exactly reached?”
“I’ve already fully comprehended time-based laws of nature.”
Meng Lei didn’t hold back any information. There wasn’t any need for him to do that anyway.
“Y-you’ve already fully comprehended it?!”
The three Chief Gods were thunderstruck.
A Great Perfection deity could already contend with a lesser Chief God after comprehending a bit of supreme laws of nature. Upon reaching a 50% comprehension rate, they could even contend with an intermediate Chief God. When they reached a full comprehension rate, they could contend with a higher Chief God!
Since Meng Lei had already fully comprehended time-based laws of nature, then that meant that he could already contend with a higher Chief God, whereas they were only lesser Chief Gods at the bottom of the tier. How could they possibly contend with Meng Lei?
The Titan Chief God broke into curses and shouted, “Nidhogg, you fool! You’ve totally screwed us over!”
He hated the Nidhogg Chief God with practically every fiber of his being right now.
He really wished he could go back in time and brutally kill the Nidhogg Chief God’s grandfather when he was only nine years old. This way, the frightening situation he was currently in would never have happened.
“F*ck you, Nidhogg!”
The Angel Chief God, who was just as furious, looked as if he wanted to tear Nidhogg into two with his own hands.
“Is there any use in complaining now? Hurry and think of something!” The Nidhogg Chief God was close to a mental breakdown by now.
Never in his wildest dreams would he have ever thought that there would come a day where he, a great Chief God, would end up in such a predicament. He was a Chief God! How could he let himself die?
“You bastard!”
Despite being so furious and hateful that they were practically gnashing their teeth, both the Titan Chief God and the Angel Chief God knew that no amount of complaining or verbal abuse would help the situation in any way right now. The most pressing matter at the moment was to return to their divine bodies as soon they could. This way, they would survive!
At the very least, they would still be able to retain their positions as Chief Gods!
“Mister… No, sir, esteemed sir!”
The Angel Chief God did a huge 180-degree reversal and adopted the sincerest attitude he could ever adopt.
He said, “We were blind to have affronted you earlier. Please be magnanimous and let us off, sir! You’ll definitely have our gratitude!”
“That’s right, sir, please let us off! As long as you’re willing to spare our lives, we’ll satisfy any of your requests!”
The Titan Chief God also spoke up, his tone of voice fearful and panic-stricken to the extreme.
“Sir, I have innumerable precious and exotic treasures and existential plane fiefs. As long as you let us off, I’m happy to offer them up on a silv—”
“Do you actually think that your treasures and everything else you own will fall into someone else’s hands after your deaths?” Meng Lei let out a contemptuous scoff and said, “Dream on!”
“No, you can’t kill us! By the Chief God Treaty’s rules, Chief Gods are prohibited from killing one another. Otherwise, they’ll become all Chief Gods’ public enemy…”
" }, { "id": 395, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-395", "title": "Chapter 395 - Time Replay, The Godly Clans' Treasuries", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 395: Time Replay, The Godly Clans’ Treasuries
“No, you can’t kill us! By the Chief God Treaty’s rules, Chief Gods are prohibited from killing one another. Otherwise, they’ll become the public enemy of all Chief Gods! The four great juggernauts will never let you off!”
The three Chief Gods were in a total panic—or rather, they were close to despairing.
They were lofty Chief Gods. They still had a long, great life ahead of them. They still had innumerable rare and exotic treasures that they had yet to enjoy…
They didn’t want to die!!
But they were utterly powerless against a Supreme Great Perfection deity that rivaled a higher Chief God. Thus, they could only pin their hopes on the Chief God Treaty right now!
“The Chief God Treaty?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“The Chief God Treaty is a set of laws used to restrict all Chief Gods.”
A smiling Moro explained, “There are as many as a total of 144 Chief Gods in the ten major Divine Realms and the supreme Celestial Realm. I mentioned this just now, but assimilating Chief God divine cores is the fastest means for a Chief God to strengthen themselves. To prevent powerful Chief Gods from hunting and robbing low-level Chief Gods of their Chief God divine cores, the four Juggernauts had jointly proposed the Chief God Treaty.
“The treaty prohibits Chief Gods from killing one another and robbing one another’s Chief God divine cores. Once discovered, the four juggernauts are free to unite all the Chief Gods and jointly strike them down.”
“I see,” replied Meng Lei with a slight nod. “I didn’t expect such a rule to exist.”
“What, are you scared now?”
Moro watched Meng Lei mockingly and said, “There’s nothing wrong even if you’re scared. After all, we’re talking about the four juggernauts uniting all the Chief Gods to jointly suppress someone. Anyone would be scared!”
“Scared? That word has never existed in my dictionary!” Meng Lei gave Moro a calm smile and said, “There isn’t anyone in this whole wide world that scares me just yet!”
“Tsk, tsk! Gutsy, aren’t you!”
Moro burst into loud laughter.
Meng Lei chuckled in response as well. Then, he attacked furiously with his divine spirit power and destroyed the three Chief Gods’ divine spirits. He could also have used the Grim Reaper’s Eye to kill the trio, but he chose not to do so.
Divine spirits destroyed by the Grim Reaper’s Eye would be broken down and directly turned into the purest of divine spirit power. Should that happen, Meng Lei wouldn’t be able to read the other party’s memories.
A Chief God’s memories was a treasure trove itself. Meng Lei didn’t want to let it slip by him!
“No, no! You can’t kill me!”
“I’m a Chief Go… Aaahhh!”
“Without your Chief God divine cores, all of you are nothing!”
Meng Lei crushed the three Chief Gods’ divine spirits and began to read their memories in no time. Information began to flood his mind…
A long while later, Meng Lei finally released a pent-up breath. True to his expectations, a Chief God’s memories was indeed a treasure trove. It didn’t let him down at all.
The three major godly clans’ treasuries!
And the three Chief Gods’ personal treasuries, too!
These two types of treasuries alone would already contain an infinite amount of riches!
“I currently have 4,209 trillion Divinity Crystals. With another 800 trillion Divinity Crystals, I’ll be able to buy credit for the third type of supreme laws of nature. By the time I fully comprehend three types of supreme laws of nature, who would be able to kill me?”
Meng Lei could no longer wait to ransack the three godly clans’ treasuries!
But before that, I’ll have to revive Puhaman, Fatty Hart, and the others first!
The moment the thought occurred to him, gentle golden light began to spill from Meng Lei’s eyes once more, reversing the flow of time in the surroundings. As though a movie being played backward, the scenes in the void around him swiftly rewound. Soon, it returned to the moment before Puhaman, and the others were killed.
Only then did Meng Lei stop.
“Whew~”
Meng Lei panted heavily, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. His complexion had also turned rather pale. Evidently, turning back time just now hadn’t been easy.
Indeed!
Despite having fully mastered time-based laws of nature, manipulating such supreme laws of nature nevertheless took a huge toll on his divine spirit, his power of divinity, and his divine body.
Meng Lei could sense that just that momentary usage of his powers just now had already taken an exceedingly great toll on his divine spirit power, his power of divinity, and his divine body. His body and his soul felt as if they had been emptied!
“My divine body and my divine spirit are still too weak.”
Meng Lei muttered under his breath, “I must improve my divine body and my divine spirit when I’ve accumulated enough money. This way, it’ll be a lot easier to manipulate supreme laws of nature.”
Since time had returned to those few seconds before the three Chief Gods launched their ambush, Puhaman and the others naturally also came back to life.
However, their consciousnesses and their thoughts were still stuck at this moment. Therefore, they were completely unaware that they had died once. Neither did they have any knowledge about what had happened after that.
Meng Lei couldn’t be bothered to explain, either. When all of them had picked up the scattered divine cores and spatial rings, the group embarked on their journey once more.
“Where do we go next, Master?”
Puhaman bowed as he asked. There was joy on his face—he had picked up a total of 29 divine cores and 37 spatial rings just now.
The divine cores aside, every single spatial ring contained vast amounts of Divinity Crystals. This was undoubtedly an amazing windfall, so how could he possibly not be overjoyed?
“We’ll head to the Venus Colossal Dragon City first,” replied Meng Lei.
Then, he cast the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique straight away. The void was torn apart, forming a pitch-black dimensional channel that Meng Lei went straight into.
Whoosh!
By the time they reappeared, they had already crossed a great distance spanning a few hundred light-years and arrived right above the Venus Colossal Dragon City.
“This is… Venus Colossal Dragon City?”
“Weren’t we in the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range just a moment ago? How come we’ve already reached Venus Colossal Dragon City in the blink of an eye? This… Am I hallucinating?”
Astonished, Puhaman and the others rubbed their eyes hard, unable to believe their eyes.
Fatty Hart even pinched himself hard on the thigh, causing him to grimace in pain.
“Hiss! It really is Venus Colossal Dragon City!”
“How did you do that, old bro?”
“Oh my goodness! We’ve crossed a distance of over 200 light-years in just an instant…”
“It’s the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique,” replied Meng Lei casually, “You’ll also be able to do it after you’ve comprehended spatial laws of nature.”
“The Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique?”
“Spatial laws of nature?”
“Let’s just forget about it!”
“It’s impossible for us!”
Everyone was rendered speechless at once. One must know that spatial laws of nature was a type of supreme laws of nature. Comprehending spatial laws of nature? Them?
That was too big a fantasy. They didn’t even dare to dream of something like that. They’d better just wash up and go to bed instead.
“A bunch of slackers!”
Meng Lei shook his head. Then, he went to the city lord’s residence and ransacked the treasury there. His Wealth spiked by 500 trillion Divinity Crystals, bringing the total to 4,709 trillion Divinity Crystals.
“Next up is the Nidhogg clan’s headquarters!”
Meng Lei cast the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique and made his way there with nary a moment’s pause. As he had already fully comprehended spatial laws of nature, his Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique’s Transfer distance limit had greatly increased. Thus, he could cross a distance of thousands, even 10,000, of light-years in an instant.
If not for the fact that too great a distance would result in too huge an amount of power of divinity consumed, even crossing hundreds of thousands, or even a million, of light-years in an instant, wouldn’t be any issue for Meng Lei!
This was what made the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique so fearsome!
Or rather, this was what made spatial laws of nature so fearsome!
More than an hour later, Meng Lei finally arrived at the Nidhogg clan’s headquarters, the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains.
The enormous mountain range, which stood in the Nidhogg Continent’s very center, stretched on and undulated for light-years. Several mountain peaks reached high into the clouds, their stature majestic, tall, and straight.
Nidhogg clansmen inhabited every single mountain. After thousands upon thousands of years, the Nidhogg clan population had ultimately developed to an exceedingly dramatic state, and almost all of these people were living in the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains.
After reading the Nidhogg Chief God’s memories, Meng Lei now knew that there were a total of 70,824,987 mountain peaks of varying sizes in the whole mountain range. Every mountain peak stretched on for a few light-years.
The Nidhogg Chief God occupied the highest peak. The clan treasury was also located there. As though he knew the place like the back of his hand, Meng Lei easily found the treasury.
When he arrived in front of the cave where the clan treasury was, he cast his Transfer Innate Special Ability straight away. For a while, the treasures in the treasury vanished into thin air one by one.
At the same time, his Wealth attribute in his stats interface also began to increase at an insane rate, breaking through the 5,000 trillion mark in no time and continuing to grow at high speed…
" }, { "id": 396, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-396", "title": "Chapter 396 - Higher Chief God, The Chief God Tribunal", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 396: Higher Chief God, The Chief God Tribunal
The Earth Divine Realm was boundless, with the ten godly clans ruling vast territories. The place ruled by the Eternal Gods was known as Eternal Island.
Although it was called an island, the Eternal Island’s size was no less than any continent. It was surrounded by the sea, rich in magic elements and clear laws of nature, which were superior over any other places in the Earth Divine Realm.
In the center of Eternal Island sat a lake. There was a small island inside the lake, which was home to an extravagant palace.
Birds sang amid the fragrant, blooming flowers. The refreshing fragrance of flowers suffused the air around; it was the perfect paradise.
The doors of the palace were wide open. Deep in the palace sat a gorgeous lady with two tender antennas on her forehead. It was similar to those of a Namekian[1]. Other than that, she was no different than an ordinary person.
This beautiful lady was the Chief God of the Earth Divine Realm’s Eternal Gods—Chief God Vados.
There were ten Chief Gods in the Earth Divine Realm—six lesser Chief Gods, three intermediate Chief Gods, and one higher Chief God.
Chief God Vados was that higher Chief God and probably the strongest and most talented. She enjoyed the most venerable status in the Earth Divine Realm.
It was common knowledge that for a Chief God to progress, they would need to either assimilate Chief God divine cores or comprehend the supreme laws of nature. Since the Chief God divine cores were near-impossible to obtain, comprehension of supreme laws of nature became the only route to the next level.
A lesser Chief God only needed to comprehend a fraction of the supreme laws of nature to become an intermediate Chief God.
An intermediate Chief God only needed to comprehend half of the supreme laws of nature to become a higher Chief God.
Hence, a lesser Chief God had no comprehension of supreme laws of nature, an intermediate Chief God comprehended some supreme laws of nature, and a higher Chief God comprehended half of the supreme laws of nature.
This was different from Ancient Gods—a low-level Ancient God had no comprehension of laws of nature, so they were weaker than a Chief God. A mid-level Ancient God comprehended some supreme laws of nature, thus matching a lesser Chief God. A high-level Ancient God comprehended half of the supreme laws of nature, thus matching an intermediate Chief God. A Supreme Ancient God had a complete comprehension of the supreme laws of nature, thus matching a higher Chief God.
Hence, the difference a Chief God divine core could make was immense. It could either level the difference between a Chief God and a Great Perfection deity or pull away from that distance between them.
As a higher Chief God, Vados was an extraordinary prodigy who was already halfway through in her comprehension of the supreme laws of nature. She was an incredibly powerful existence amongst the Chief Gods.
If she could completely comprehend the life laws of nature, she would become the fifth ever Juggernaut of the universe, on an equal footing with the other four Juggernauts.
For this day to come sooner, Vados stayed in the Eternal Lake all year round to comprehend the tremendous life laws of nature. Without any accidents, she rarely stepped out of the Eternal Lake while no one dared to disturb her.
This day, however, Chief God Vados was disturbed as colorful light beams dazzled from a mural in the palace abruptly.
In the next moment, a burly figure stumbled out of the mural and dropped onto his knees in front of Chief God Vados.
“Greetings, Your Holiness!”
Vados opened her eyes slowly. Her sapphire eyes were like a mysterious sea gleaming with deep secrets. She broke into a frown as she gazed at the burly figure kneeling on the floor.
“Nidhogg, what matter made you lose your cool like this? You’re a Chief God. There’s no need to bow to me.” Her voice was slightly hoarse.
“Your Holiness, you have to avenge me!” Nidhogg looked in pain. “I was killed brutally by a knave, and he took away my Chief God divine core. Now, I’m only left with this remnant soul. How am I still a Chief God?”
“You were killed?” Vados sprung up as a gleam flashed in his eyes. “Who dared to hunt down a Chief God?”
“It was a Supreme Great Perfection deity!”
Nidhogg’s eyes were blood-red as he recounted everything that had happened and ended off by saying, “That knave has completely comprehended the time-based laws of nature, so he’s really strong! I hope Your Holiness can report this to the four Juggernauts to open the Chief God Tribunal to take this knave down and do justice for us!”
“Completely comprehended the time-based laws of nature?”
Vados’ expression changed quickly. “How is this possible? The time-based laws of nature are the publicly acknowledged hardest of the five supreme laws of nature. Even the cultivation method is unknown to this day. How could he comprehend it and even in its entirety?”
“It’s true, Your Holiness!”
At that moment, two other figures dashed out of the mural—the Titan Chief God and the Angel Chief God killed by Meng Lei previously.
Although they were not like Nidhogg, whose face was full of tears and snot, their eyes were red as well. “This knave has indeed comprehended the time-based laws of nature!”
“…”
Vados went silent as torrential waves surged and churned in her heart. She could never have imagined that someone could comprehend or even fully comprehend the time-based laws of nature. It was simply ridiculous.
After a long silence, Vados finally said slowly, “To be able to completely comprehend the time-based laws of nature means that the opponent’s capability has reached unbelievable heights, which I cannot handle alone. Since it’s come to this, I can only report to the four Juggernauts and open the Chief God Tribunal.”
“How wise, Your Holiness!”
…
As the Divinity Crystals, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and other things that the system could receive were collected from the treasury, Meng Lei’s wealth surged once again.
Meng Lei swept a glance at the stats interface and put up a satisfied smile.
Afterward, he started collecting a dazzling array of items like divine weapons, precious herbs, and medicines, and other treasures as Puhaman and the rest watched on.
Many treasures were immensely valuable to their cultivation, like the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts and Soul Ice Marrows that could enhance their divine spirits.
These things were useless for Meng Lei, thus benefiting Puhaman and the others. Meng Lei waved his arm and split these treasures among them.
“Thank you, Master!”
“Thank you, Master!”
Puhaman and the rest were ecstatic as they kept the treasures and divine weapons while they directly consumed the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts.
Boom, boom, boom!
They were higher deities with powerful divine spirits. Thus the effect of the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extract was not obvious. It was overwhelming due to the quantity nevertheless.
As large amounts of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts were consumed, their divine spirits were enhanced at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Elementary-level higher deity…
Middle-level higher deity…
High-level higher deity!
Once all the Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts were finished, Puhaman, Fatty Hart, Thaniel, Bubbles, Mervyn, Pursuer, Nadja, Seisia, Galen, the Spider Goddess, the Dark Fairy Empress, the Dark Snapping Turtle King, and Sacas had all enhanced their divine spirits to the level of a high-level higher deity.
They were all high-level higher deities!
This was normal since it was the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ accumulation of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts for the usage by tens of thousands of their clans’ experts. It would be natural to possess an unimaginable amount of them.
Emery Philmore watched quietly from the side. He was so full of envy and jealousy that his features became distorted.
He wanted to become one of them badly and receive the same rewards. It was only a pity that Meng Lei had not yet seen Emery as his follower. Hence, these treasures were naturally not meant for Emery.
“Haha, I feel so powerful!”
“My divine cognition can now spread to 10 million kilometers easily!”
“This enhancement is really great…”
Everyone had a sense of their divine spirit as they were enhanced by many times, a cause for their increasing excitement.
The way that they released their divine spirit energy waves in an unbridled manner attracted the attention of the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods. Numerous figures shot out from everywhere around the mountains to surround the group.
“Who are you?”
“How bold of you to trespass into our Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods headquarters!”
“Come! Take down these knaves!”
This was the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Gods’ headquarters, where almost all of the clan’s experts were gathered. Out of which, there was no lack of high-level higher deities and even super experts, who were extremely close to Great Perfection deities.
Tens of thousands of experts surrounded them, blotting out the sky and covering the earth!
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 397, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-397", "title": "Chapter 397 - Space Exchange, Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 397: Space Exchange, Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent
Fury filled the Nidhogg clansmen! Immense fury!
This was their, the Nidhogg clan’s, headquarters, a place that even people from the clan such as themselves didn’t dare to enter so casually, let alone a bunch of thieves.
Yet that same bunch of thieves that had popped out of nowhere was doing as they pleased in the Colossal Dragon Mountain and burglarizing their Nidhogg clan treasury! This was unforgivable!
“Kill them!”
“Kill those thieves! Show them the consequences of making trouble here!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Trillions of Nidhogg clansmen attacked at once. Various attacks pelted Meng Lei and the others from all directions as though meteors shooting across the sky.
The attacks’ terrifying might and momentum, as well as their fearsome, all-engulfing destructiveness, made Puhaman and the others’ expressions change greatly.
They cried out in their minds, “Help, Master!”
Although they had become significantly stronger, they nevertheless had no chance of withstanding attacks from trillions of people. Thus, they could only pin their hopes on their noble master.
Meng Lei did not disappoint. Two soft, gentle golden light rays surged forth from his eyes, sweeping across the terrifying attacks that filled the sky. He uttered, “Time Freeze!”
Buzz!
Time instantly froze for everything that entered his sight. The attacks also froze in mid-air and became completely still.
“Here, I’ll return these attacks to all of you!”
Meng Lei toned down the gentle golden light in his eyes. What replaced them was instead an incredibly bright and dazzling silver light. Then, he uttered, “Space Exchange!”
The very next second, Meng Lei and the others instantly vanished from where they were, whereas the trillions of Nidhogg clansmen instead bizarrely showed up at where Meng Lei and the others had previously been.
The two parties… had exchanged positions!
Meng Lei then dispelled Time Freeze, upon which the waves of attacks continued to sweep forward at once.
“What’s going on?”
“No… No!”
“Run!”
Boom!
Run?
There was no way they could, of course!
The avalanche of attacks instantly engulfed the Nidhogg clansmen, and they bore the full brunt of their own attacks amid despair, fear, shock, and indignation.
Smoke and dust swirled about as fiery sparks flew.
Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed as chilly ice twinkled in the light.
“This…”
“How did that happen?”
“How did you do that, Master?”
Stupefied, Puhaman and the others stared dazedly at the Nidhogg clansmen who were currently being engulfed by their own attacks. Why were the other party’s attacks blasting themselves instead?
“Through the use of spatial laws of nature.”
A calm smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips as he said, “I need only to switch the space we occupy with the enemy’s and exchange our positions, and they’ll unavoidably suffer their own attacks.”
“Spatial laws of nature!”
“No wonder it’s so powerful!”
“So, it’s actually spatial laws of nature!”
Realization dawned upon Puhaman and the others, and their admiration and worship of Meng Lei grew even stronger. First time-based laws of nature, and now spatial laws of nature. To think their master had actually comprehended two types of supreme laws of nature! He was simply too impressive, too grand and noble.
The smoke and dust gradually dispersed, and the sky returned to its original state.
Puhaman and the others were stunned at the sight before their eyes. Countless Nidhogg clansmen had perished. They were either blasted into dust, blown into pieces, left with half their body, or missing an arm or a leg. The minority whose bodies were still intact were also riddled with wounds.
The battlefield was an extremely tragic sight.
60% of them had died on the spot, while 39% of them were maimed.
The remaining 1%, who were the strongest of the lot, was more or less unscathed, but all of them had already been taken over by shock and horror in this instant.
They had clearly been attacking Meng Lei and the others, yet they had ended up being engulfed by their own attacks in the end.
This was simply too horrifying, too frightening, and too bizarre!
“How did this happen?”
Shock and horror filled the bloodshot eyes of a super expert who was infinitely close to becoming a Great Perfection deity. His shock was because the situation with the attacks just now had been simply too bizarre, while his fury was because the Nidhogg clan had suffered immensely great casualties and fatalities.
Indeed!
The clan’s many experts were the mainstays of the clan that they had accumulated over a long passage of time. They were an important military force that they, the Nidhogg clan, had depended on in order to dominate the Earth Divine Realm.
Yet, they had almost been annihilated. How could this possibly not shock or anger him?
“Who exactly are all of you?!”
The super expert glared furiously at Meng Lei and the others. He demanded, “Aren’t you afraid that our great Chief God will seek revenge upon you for provoking and humiliating the Nidhogg clan like this?!”
“The Chief God’s revenge? Hah!” A slight smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance as he said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you because it’s impossible for your great Chief God to ever return.”
“What?”
The super expert was taken aback by Meng Lei’s response.
Meng Lei, however, couldn’t be bothered to explain. A Netherworld Spear shot out of nowhere, instantly piercing through the area in between the super expert’s brows and killing him on the spot.
“Grand Elder!!”
At the sight, immense fury filled the remaining Nidhogg clansmen. Their eyes were full of hatred as they glared at Meng Lei. They shouted, “We’ll fight it out with him! We must avenge the Grand Elder!”
It was just a shame that before they could even charge toward Meng Lei, they instead welcomed an overwhelming number of Netherworld Spears. Countless tricolored spears engulfed the remaining experts like a densely packed rain of arrows.
Stab, stab, stab!
A round of spears later, all of them were dead.
“I’ll leave the rest to you guys,” instructed Meng Lei before he left.
“Wahaha!”
Puhaman and the others exchanged looks, and then, they got down to work right away. All the Nidhogg experts might be dead, but their divine cores and spatial rings were still around. These were treasures!
“Stop grabbing them!”
“Don’t anyone dare fight with me for them!”
“I’ll fight whoever fights me for them!”
Thus, a grand treasure-grabbing party ensued while Meng Lei headed toward the highest point of the mountain peak where the Nidhogg Chief God’s personal treasury was.
A majestic palace stood erect at the mountain peak—it was none other than the Nidhogg Chief God’s shrine. Fully crafted from the most expensive Divinity Stones in the Divine Realms, the hall was grand and lavish, extravagant and eye-dazzling. Dozens of divine beast statues lined the sides while a grand throne sat in the deepest depths of the place.
The entire shrine was incredibly lavish and extravagant, but Meng Lei wasn’t interested in these in the least. Instead, he walked straight toward the throne, stopped right in front of it, and pressed a switch on it.
Krak, krak, krak…
The area in front of the throne lit up to reveal a teleportation magic circle. Meng Lei stepped into the magic circle and disappeared from the shrine. By the time he reappeared, he had arrived in an odd and unusual dimension.
The dimension wasn’t very big, stretching only for roughly 100 kilometers or so. One could see right to the end in one glance. The place was empty and didn’t house any lifeforms at all.
This particular dimension could only be considered an alternate dimension at the very best. It didn’t even count as a half-plane. However, it was in no way ordinary because the Nidhogg Chief God’s personal treasury was located right here.
As a Chief God, one of the loftiest existences in the whole wide universe, not a lot of treasures could make the cut in the Nidhogg Chief God’s eyes. Thus, there weren’t a lot of treasures in the alternate dimension. Dozens of boxes of varying sizes were placed on top of one another in stacks, making the place appear exceptionally shabby and dowdy.
Meng Lei was a little disappointed. Nevertheless, he still walked over to the first box and began to check it out. He opened the box, revealing a crystal ball within.
“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
The system’s notification abruptly rang out at this point.
Surprised, Meng Lei then noticed a grayish light ball sitting quietly in front of the crystal ball.
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“The Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent bloodline?”
" }, { "id": 398, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-398", "title": "Chapter 398 - The Void Beast, The Boundless Great Beast", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 398: The Void Beast, The Boundless Great Beast
“What kind of creature is the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent, Moro?”
Knowing that it was pointless to pose questions to the system, Meng Lei decided to consult Moro instead. There was nothing that that old antique that had survived the last era didn’t know.
“The Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent bloodline?”
Moro turned into a wisp of black smoke and manifested in front of Meng Lei. He remarked in surprise, “Where did you hear about the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent from? Most people aren’t aware of an ancient creature like that.”
“If I’m not wrong, this crystal ball here is likely some kind of organ from the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent. It’s most likely its eyeball,” explained Meng Lei.
Other creatures would never drop the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent bloodline. Only the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent itself or any of its organs would drop its bloodline.
There was no doubt about that.
“You can actually conclude that this is the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent’s eyeball when you don’t even know what it is? You’re seriously a riot!” mocked Moro teasingly.
Then, his gaze fell onto the crystal ball in the box, and he said, “Your blind guess is actually correct, though! This really is the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent’s eyeball.”
What’s there for me to make a freaking blind guess about? I gained that knowledge through my own abilities, alright?
Meng Lei urged huffily, “C’mon, stop saying these useless things and tell me about the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent instead!”
Moro chuckled and started to explain. He said, “You should know that the vast universe has birthed countless powerful lifeforms such as deities, divine beasts, demons, devils, the Undead, and so on. No matter whether these lifeforms are powerful or not, they are all entities produced by the existential planes. Therefore, we also call these creatures Existential Plane Lifeforms.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Be it deities, demons, or even mortals, it was the existential planes that gave birth to all these lifeforms. There was no doubt about that.
“However, there’s also one particular life-form in the vast universe that isn’t produced by existential planes but born to the vast Void itself instead,” added Moro.
“Born to the vast Void itself?” A surprised Meng Lei asked, “Can the Void give birth to lives, too?”
What was there in the Void?
There was no air!
No magic elements!
No animals or plants!
There was nothing at all!
There was only endless, boundless darkness, the freezing cold, dead silence, and… Nothingness itself. Can a world like that, one that didn’t have anything at all, actually also give birth to lives?
“Nothing is absolute in this world.”
A lofty smile appeared on Moro’s countenance, and he said, “Even though the Void is a world of nothingness, where it’s immensely difficult to give birth to life, there is a lifeform that exactly originated from the Void itself.”
“What kind of life-form is that?” asked Meng Lei curiously.
“The Void Beast!”
Moro, who was all smiles, explained, “The Void Beast is a fearsome life-form born to the Void. There are very, very few of them, but every single Void Beast possesses incredibly strong and vigorous life force and terrifying power.
“You should know that the Void is a world of nothingness. Food is extremely scarce there, and the environment is also exceedingly terrible. Even people like the Chief Gods greatly dislike the environment in the Void. Thus, you can imagine for yourself just how fearsome the lifeforms such an adverse environment gives birth to are!”
“Exactly how fearsome are the Void Beasts?” asked Meng Lei curiously.
“Void Beasts do not cultivate laws of nature but just their bodies, so they have extremely strong and powerful bodies. There are many types of Void Beasts, though, and there are great differences in strength among the various types of Void Beasts. Among them, the most powerful ones are fully capable of contending with the Supreme Juggernauts.”
A smiling Moro explained, “Of course, Void Beasts capable of contending with the Supreme Juggernauts are extremely rare. There are only a few of them even in the entire universe.”
“They can contend with the juggernauts?” A huge jolt went through Meng Lei as he asked, “How strong must their bodies be?”
“Very, very strong! Unimaginably strong! Compared to the Void Beasts, the Titans, Behemoths, and Giant Elephants are practically babies!”
Moro sighed emotionally and said, “You haven’t seen much of the world, so you wouldn’t know how strong a Void Beast is. Even so, you should have heard of a certain man.”
“Who?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“The Boundless King!”
Moro said, “Surely you must have heard of this name before? I’m going to seriously look down on you if you don’t even know this name!”
A wry smile came over Meng Lei’s features at once, and he replied, “Of course I have. I’ve even met his divine spirit fragment and received all the treasures that he’d accumulated throughout his entire life!”
“Eh?”
Taken aback, Moro asked, “You can’t be that savage murderer that obtained the Boundless King’s treasure and even slaughtered a million gods and demons, can you?”
Meng Lei was also taken aback. He asked, “How did you know?”
“Duh! Your notoriety has already spread throughout the whole wide universe after that Boundless Plane battle!”
Moro clicked his tongue in wonder as he marveled, “I was even pretty puzzled at that time and had wondered whether the Boundless King had come back to life. Otherwise, how could the gods and demons possibly suffer such a great loss?”
“That’s because those gods and demons were too weak,” scoffed Meng Lei.
“True! Compared to you, they are certainly weaklings.”
Moro nodded in agreement. Then, he asked, “Since you’ve come into close contact with the Boundless King before, then you should be aware of how fearsome that guy is, right?”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and replied, “His body rivals a Supreme Juggernaut’s. It’s certainly terrifying.”
“Well, do you know that the Boundless King is actually a Void Beast, then?” asked Moro leisurely.
“(⊙_⊙)”
A look of stupefaction came over Meng Lei’s features, and he asked, “The Boundless King is a Void Beast? What kind of joke is that?”
“I suppose that’s not quite right, either. To be more accurate, he’s a deity that took over the body of a Void Beast.”
Moro corrected himself and said, “The Void Beast whose body he had stolen is known as the Boundless Great Beast. Boundless Great Beasts are one of the strongest Void Beasts, and an adolescent or younger is already capable of contending with a juggernaut.”
“The Boundless King… had stolen a Boundless Great Beast’s body?”
Meng Lei was somewhat filled with disbelief.
“Every powerful life-form starts out weak and only becomes stronger one step at a time. Void Beasts are no exception, either. The Boundless King was lucky enough to find a juvenile Boundless Great Beast. He successfully stole its body and ultimately matured into someone that reached the heights of a Supreme Juggernaut.”
Moro shook his head with a smile and went on. “It’s just a shame that his emergence ended up threatening the four Supreme Juggernauts’ positions, so they used his Void Beast identity as an excuse to unite all the Chief Gods and killed him. It could be said that both his success and defeat were built upon the Boundless Great Beast.”
“The four Supreme Juggernauts are so shameless!”
Meng Lei was rather indignant.
“They wouldn’t be the four Supreme Juggernauts if they weren’t!”
Moro chuckled lightly as he shook his head. Then, he went on and said, “They didn’t kill the Boundless King solely because he had threatened their positions, though.”
“Did other factors also play a part?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“Void Beasts are different from divine beasts.”
Moro explained, “Divine beasts don’t fear thirst and hunger, but that’s not the case for Void Beasts. No matter how strong they are, they still need to constantly feed in order to secure the energy that their powerful body needs to function. The Boundless King, who had stolen a Boundless Great Beast’s body, is no exception to this.
“You can’t possibly imagine how voracious an appetite an adult Boundless Great Beast has. If they had allowed the Boundless King to feed as he pleased, the whole universe would have been eaten by him a long time ago! Therefore, he had to die.”
“To think there’s also a reason like that!”
Meng Lei found this rather inconceivable.
“Every Void Beast has a voracious appetite. They usually leave behind an expanse of nothingness in their wake. Thus, they are also known as the Beasts of Destruction.”
Moro said with a sigh, “As a result, Void Beasts are the common enemy of both gods and demons. It’s entirely possible for gods and demons to team up and fight against Void Beasts.”
“Beasts of Destruction…”
Meng Lei was rather astounded.
“In comparison, the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent is a relatively common Void Beast species.”
Moro explained, “An adult Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent’s body is as enormous as a low-end existential plane. It has 10,000 heads and 10,000 tails and is thus known as the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent.”
“As big as a low-end existential plane?!” Meng Lei gasped, “Isn’t that a little too big?!”
“Big? Ha, you call this big?”
Moro let out a contemptuous scoff and said, “That’s only because you haven’t seen a truly colossal Void Beast yet. When you do, you won’t say that the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent is big anymore!”
" }, { "id": 399, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-399", "title": "Chapter 399 - Breaking The Seal, Black Phoenix Demon Grandmaster", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 399: Breaking The Seal, Black Phoenix Demon Grandmaster
The Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent had the size of a low-end existential plane.
10,000 heads and 10,000 tails; how huge was that?
Yet, in Moro’s eyes, the Ten Thousand-Tentacled Serpent was still nothing worth mentioning. Meng Lei simply could not imagine how the strongest Void Beasts would look like.
“In the future, I hope to get the chance to witness the true appearance of the Void Beast.” A look of longing appeared in Meng Lei’s eyes.
“That chance will come.”
Meng Lei started to check the second box.
As the box was opened, a meter-long broken sword entered his sight. It was three inches wide, while its surface gave off a chilly glint. Even Meng Lei could feel a biting chill that went all the way into his bones.
Unfortunately, it was broken in half.
Meng Lei held the broken sword in his hand and sliced across his finger gently. A nail came off with ease.
Meng Lei was shocked.
His divine body was comparable to a lesser Chief God whose nails were incredibly tough. He did not expect that the broken sword could slice through his nail so easily, proving its sharpness.
“This is an incomplete higher Chief God-level weapon! Even though there’s only half of it, its sharpness is still at the level of a higher Chief God-level weapon!” Moro exclaimed.
“Good!”
Meng Lei kept the broken sword and opened the next box.
Whoosh!
Just as the box opened, a blinding red light shot out from within. At the same time, an incredibly bloodthirsty, evil, horrifying aura spread around quickly, ravaging the entire alternate dimension. Only those powerful enough like Meng Lei could withstand such aura. If it were Puhaman and the rest, they would have been infatuated by this bloodthirsty aura… entering the path of evil!
“That’s—”
Meng Lei looked inside and saw a beating heart lying in the middle of the box. The amazing thing was that even if it was by itself, it was beating like normal.
It was… alive!
“That’s a Demon Grandmaster’s heart.” Moro took a glance. “From its aura, it should be the heart of the Bloodseeker’s ancestors, likely cut down during the war between gods and demons.”
A Demon Grandmaster was the Chief God of Demons.
The Bloodseeker ancestor would naturally be a Bloodseeker Demon Grandmaster.
“No wonder it could become a part of the Nidhogg Chief God’s collection. It’s the Bloodseeker Demon Grandmaster’s heart, after all,” Meng Lei remarked.
The third box was opened.
A scythe that was fully blood-red in color and emitted a deathly aura entered his eyes. Meng Lei recognized it immediately.
“This is a Grim Reaper Scythe,” Moro explained with a smile. “It’s a Chief God-level Grim Reaper Scythe, so it should be useful for you.”
“Indeed.”
Meng Lei took out the Grim Reaper Scythe and refined it directly, turning it into his weapon. He then threw the previous one into his spatial ring. It was too weak, and it was time to eliminate it.
The surface of the fourth box was densely packed with laws of nature runes inscribed all over it. Given his understanding and comprehension of the laws of nature, Meng Lei knew the sole purpose of these laws of nature runes—a seal.
“What is sealed inside exactly?”
Meng Lei broke the laws of nature seal.
Boom!
The box shook vigorously, and it intensified further and further as if something was smashing the box from inside in an attempt to break out of the seal.
“Eh?”
Meng Lei and Moro exchanged a look, both seeing the astonishment in each other’s eyes. “What’s sealed within this box?”
“Must be something extraordinary!”
“Duh! How can something sealed by a Chief God be ordinary—”
Boom!
The box could no longer hold what was inside without the seal. The box exploded as black flames shot out of it.
“Kekeke! I’m out! I’m finally out! Kekeke!”
The black flame jumped up and down, spreading out and gathering from time to time. It laughed out loud, venting out its joy and excitement like a lunatic.
“What the heck is this?”
Meng Lei looked at Moro.
“Judging from its might, that must be a Chief God.” Moro smiled faintly. “It should be a Black Phoenix.”
“Dark Phoenix?” Meng Lei paused. “You mean the Black Phoenix of the demons?”
“That’s right!”
The truth was as Moro expected. After a bout of excitement, the black flame finally calmed down and transformed into a five-meter-high black phoenix.
Its appearance was extremely similar to a Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s, but its aura was entirely different.
The Divine Netherworld Phoenixes were mighty and imposing, but this Black Phoenix had the aura of bloodlust and evilness.
It was evident from their flames. The Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s Netherworld Divine Fire was the flame of extreme heat that could burn enemies till their death. As for the Black Phoenix’s fire, extreme cold would be the fitting description.
One was hot.
The other cold.
They were two absolute extremes.
There was another difference between them. Although the Divine Netherworld Phoenixes’ habitant was the Netherworld, it was a divine beast with the same cultivation methods as other deities and divine beasts. On the other hand, the Black Phoenix was a demon that mainly devoured other demons for its cultivation.
One was a divine beast.
The other a demon.
“So you’re the one who released me?” The Black Phoenix flew in front of Meng Lei as it sized him up with its blood-colored eyes. A hint of surprise flashed across its eyes. “Why are you here? Where’s that Nidhogg?”
“I’m the one who released you.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “As for Nidhogg, he’s dead.”
“He’s dead?”
A jolt went through the Black Phoenix as it exclaimed, “How did that fellow die? He’s a Chief God. Who could’ve killed him? Was there another war between gods and demons?”
“No wars, I killed him,” Meng Lei answered casually. “Since I’ve saved you, how are you going to repay me?”
“You killed that fellow?”
The Black Phoenix looked shocked as it stared at Meng Lei. “You’re lying! You’re merely a lesser Chief God, so how could you kill that Nidhogg fellow? Just spit it out! Who are you, and why are you here?”
“I don’t care whether you believe it or not.” Meng Lei did not plan to explain himself. “Now tell me how you’re going to repay me. If your answer isn’t satisfying enough, I don’t mind putting you back in that box!”
“Hehe! Repay you? You’re asking a demon to repay you?” The Black Phoenix let out a cold snort. “Since you’re asking for repayment, let me repay you properly then! Arctic Flames!”
It sprayed a black dragon-shaped flame out of its mouth, and it pounced at Meng Lei. It was clear that it wanted to ‘burn’ Meng Lei to death.
“You’re courting death!”
Meng Lei sneered as a silver glint flashed across his eyes. The black dragon flame paused mid-air in an instant.
Immediately after, Meng Lei snapped his finger as a Netherworld Spear shot toward the Black Phoenix.
“The Netherworld Divine Fire! So you’re one of those damn bastards!”
The Black Phoenix snorted as it was about to counter with its wings. However, it realized that its body could no longer move—its wings could not flap, its mouth could not open, its brain could not work…
“What’s going on?”
The Black Phoenix was stunned.
“How dare a mere lesser Demon Grandmaster to behave so audaciously in my presence!”
Meng Lei scoffed as he waved his arm. The Netherworld Spear pierced right through the chest of the Black Phoenix, turning into raging flames that burned intensely.
“Aahhh!”
Meng Lei’s Netherworld Divine Fire had already evolved into its ultimate form. Plus, as his metal-origin, wood-origin, and thunder-origin divine body reached the Great Mastery level, the Netherworld Divine Fire was further enhanced.
The current Netherworld Divine Fire was way more powerful than one from a Divine Netherworld Phoenix that had risen from its ashes nine times. How could a Black Phoenix withstand that?
" }, { "id": 400, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-400", "title": "Chapter 400 - That Thing, Becoming A Mount", "volume": 4, "volume_title": "Volume 4", "text": "Chapter 400: That Thing, Becoming A Mount
“Aahhh!”
The Black Phoenix let out a shrill cry that chilled one to their bones. From this, one could tell just what kind of intense ordeal the Chief God-level Black Phoenix was currently experiencing.
“Your Netherworld Divine Fire is so powerful!” Moro couldn’t help but give praise. “To think even a lesser Chief God-level Black Phoenix can’t withstand it!”
“Of course!”
The Netherworld Divine Fire blazed more and more fervently as time passed. Its might also grew increasingly terrifying, causing the Black Phoenix’s cries to become increasingly shrill and tragic.
“Stop it! Hurry and stop it!”
Finally, the Black Phoenix could no longer take it anymore, and it began to cry out loudly and hoarsely.
“Stop? Give me a reason why I should?”
Meng Lei chuckled.
“Damn it!”
Immense resentment filled the Black Phoenix. It was the Black Phoenix grandmaster, the ancestor of all Black Phoenixes. When had anyone ever tormented it like that before?
But when one was under someone else’s eaves, how could they not bow to their circumstances?
“I’m the ancestor of the Black Phoenixes! You’re not allowed to kill me! I have something that you want!”
The Black Phoenix shouted, “The reason why that Nidhogg fellow hadn’t killed me back then was precisely because he wanted me to tell him that thing’s whereabouts!”
“That thing?”
Meng Lei cocked an eyebrow and said, “Well, why don’t you tell me what that thing is, then?”
“I’ll tell you as long as you agree to let me off!” replied the Black Phoenix in an attempt to bargain.
“You actually dare to bargain with me?”
Meng Lei let out an icy laugh. He wasn’t concerned about that so-called object at all. When one reached a cultivation stage like his, there was pretty much nothing that could move him anymore.
“You—”
Lost for words, the Black Phoenix was infuriated. That goddamn bastard! To think he actually didn’t fall for it! That was too much of him!
“What must I do before you release me?”
The Black Phoenix barked in a low voice, “I’ll say this upfront—I was heavily injured during the previous war between the gods and demons by a few Chief Gods who had teamed up against me. All the treasures on me have been cleanly looted. I don’t have anything else apart from that thing anymore!”
“Now, that’s more like the attitude that someone who’s pleading for mercy should have.”
Meng Lei dispelled the Netherworld Divine Fire scorching the Black Phoenix with a wave and said, “You certainly have nothing except yourself now, but I feel that you still have something that’s most precious.”
“What?” The Black Phoenix was slightly taken aback by Meng Lei’s words.
“Your life.”
An aloof smile appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance, and he said, “You’re pretty strong, and your appearance would somewhat do. I just so happen to lack a mount, so I can give you a chance.”
“What? You want me to become your mount?!”
As though it were a cat whose tail had been stepped on, the Black Phoenix roared hysterically, “You actually want the great, honorable Black Phoenix grandmaster to become your mount? You’re humiliating the great Black Phoenix grandmaster and antagonizing the demons by doing that!”
“Are you unwilling? In that case, you can just go to hell!”
A cold look came over Meng Lei’s visage, and he said, “No matter how noble you once were, everything is gone with the wind and will cease to exist once you’re dead.”
Screeeech!
The Black Phoenix transformed into a black streak of light that shot straight toward the alternate dimension’s boundaries—evidently, it was intending to escape the alternate dimension while Meng Lei’s guard was down.
There was an extremely high chance that the Black Phoenix would succeed. With its—the ancestor of all Black Phoenixes—speed, there was no way the average Chief God would be able to stop it. Thus, it could escape successfully.
“Thinking of fleeing?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. He remarked, “It’s trying to flee, Moro.”
“Indeed it is!” Moro also broke into a smile. “It’s just a shame that it’s going to find itself disappointed.”
“It can’t be helped. Ain’t nothing we can do if it’s completely ignorant about the concept of speed itself.”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly and took a step forward. The Black Phoenix had reached the alternate dimension’s boundaries by this point. Unable to withstand the Black Phoenix’s immense power, the fragile dimensional walls broke and formed a black hole.
The Black Phoenix dived right through it and entered the boundless Void.
“I did it!”
As though a weight had been lifted off its shoulders, the Black Phoenix completely relaxed upon noticing that it had entered the boundless Void. It would be safe once it left the alternate dimension and came to the Void. It was confident that no one could stop it once it had entered the Void.
“That damned Nidhogg! And that bastard, too! This grandmaster will never let you off! Hmph!”
Upon sensing where the supreme Netherworld was, the Black Phoenix flapped its wings and began to race in that direction at the highest speed it could muster. It had been sealed for too long a time, and now it wished only to return to the Netherworld, to the Black Phoenixes, and to the home it had been away from for so long as soon as possible.
Yet it was exactly at this moment that a mocking voice suddenly rang out beside its ear.
“Black Phoenix grandmaster, where do you think you’re going?”
“Back home, of cou—”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster replied without even a second thought, only sensing something amiss while in the midst of doing so. It hastily swerved its head to the side to see a seemingly amused Meng Lei watching it with his arms folded. Meng Lei stayed securely beside it as he followed the Black Phoenix, though it seemed that he wasn’t even really flying?
He isn’t flying? Yet he can keep up with me?
“Damn it!”
Frightened witless at the sight of Meng Lei, the Black Phoenix grandmaster flapped its wings desperately. Its speed instantly spiked, and it left Meng Lei in the dust as it raced forward.
But before it could heave a sigh of relief, Meng Lei appeared beside it once more. He said, “Black Phoenix grandmaster, cease your struggling. There’s no way you can escape.”
“You bastard!”
Almost driven nuts by Meng Lei, the Black Phoenix grandmaster promptly burned its magic power, causing its speed to spike again.
It was just a shame that it was all in vain, however.
“You sure are risking it all!”
Meng Lei appeared again.
“You bastard! Knock it off!”
With that, the Black Phoenix grandmaster went completely berserk. It turned around and attacked right away, its sharp claws and beak furiously going after Meng Lei.
Meng Lei had only one move in response—Space Confinement!
Buzz!
Spatial laws of nature energy waves manifested, instantly confining the Black Phoenix grandmaster to the spot. Its attacks were but just mere inches away from Meng Lei at this moment.
“Damn it! I can’t move!”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster turned pale from shock. It struggled fiercely, but it couldn’t even budge an inch while confined by spatial laws of nature.
“These are… Spatial laws of nature?” The Black Phoenix grandmaster stared at Meng Lei in disbelief. “You’ve comprehended spatial laws of nature? You’re an intermediate Chief God?”
“No, I’m a higher Chief God.” An aloof smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face as he said, “Therefore, you’re no different from a weak, lowly grasshopper that’s hopping here and there in front of me. You believe that you’re spirited and full of vigor while you hop about, but little do you know that I can easily squash you dead like a bug with just a fingertip.”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster’s face turned completely sullen at Meng Lei’s words.
“What exactly do you want?”
“Be my mount. Otherwise… Die!”
Meng Lei stated coldly.
“Ever since the birth of the vast universe itself, not a single Demon Grandmaster has ever served as someone else’s mount!” The Black Phoenix grandmaster’s voice was deep and grim as it said, “If you persist, the demon clan’s experts will never ever let you off, and neither will they let me off. The consequences aren’t something that we can bear!”
“That’s for me to deal with. You don’t need to concern yourself with that.”
Meng Lei gave an impatient wave and said, “I’ll give you one last chance. Either you become my mount, or… You die!”
The Black Phoenix fell silent, caught in an intense internal struggle. If it had the liberty of choosing, it didn’t want to become Meng Lei’s mount at all.
The consequences of becoming Meng Lei’s mount alone were already enough to deter it, let alone its pride and self-esteem as a Demon Grandmaster.
A great, lofty Demon Grandmaster becoming a Chief God’s mount?
If news of this got out, would the experts in the demons’ faction let it off? Would the great Supreme God of The Underworld allow this? The Black Phoenix grandmaster didn’t even dare to think about it!
Yet if it didn’t agree to it, it would die right away!
“I’ll do it!”
Under the threat of death, the Black Phoenix grandmaster finally pledged its allegiance.
“You made a wise choice.”
" }, { "id": 401, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-401", "title": "Chapter 401 - The Flaming Star Beast, The Abyss Of Darkness", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 401: The Flaming Star Beast, The Abyss of Darkness
The Black Phoenix grandmaster handed over its divine spirit origin energy and became Meng Lei’s mount in the end.
Yep, that’s right, a Chief God-class mount.
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “You can now tell me what that thing is, right?”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster looked absolutely miserable as it replied, “That Nidhogg guy teamed up with a few other Chief Gods to seal me back then, and I was brought here after that. Originally, Nidhogg could’ve killed me, but that thing saved me at the critical juncture.”
“Go on,” urged Meng Lei.
Its voice muffled, the Black Phoenix said, “Barring any unexpected events, a lucky fellow like Nidhogg would never be able to comprehend supreme laws of nature and ascend to become an intermediate Chief God even in his entire life. In other words, he had already reached the end of his cultivation journey.”
Meng Lei nodded lightly to that.
“But Nidhogg naturally wasn’t content to stay a lesser Chief God for life. Thus, when I told him about that thing, he easily took the bait.”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster said mockingly, “True enough, he didn’t kill me. Instead, he tried various ways and means to find out about that thing’s whereabouts from me.”
“What exactly is that thing?”
It had also piqued Meng Lei’s interest by now. For Nidhogg, a great Chief God, to actually put so much effort into it, what exactly could it be?
“A Void Beast young!”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster dropped a verbal bomb.
“A Void Beast young?”
A mild jolt went through Meng Lei.
“To be more specific, it’s a Flaming Star Beast’s young!”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster had also become rather excited. It said, “I bumped into that little fellow when I went to that place to collect objects of extreme cold before the previous war between gods and demons had broken out. It seemed like it had been sealed, but it’s also possible that it was trapped in that place. In any case, it couldn’t get out.”
“You didn’t capture it?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
“I wanted to! I wanted very much to!”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster didn’t bother concealing its desire and greed. It said, “The Boundless King’s emergence had shown us gods and demons a whole new way of cultivation. It didn’t require Chief God divine cores or Chief Demon demonic cores, nor did it require one to comprehend supreme laws of nature. All you need is just a Void Beast young!
“But unfortunately, I entered the battlefield in a hurry after that, and that was the end of it.”
Its voice full of indignation and regret as the Black Phoenix grandmaster said, “If I had gotten my hands on that Flaming Star Beast young and taken over its body, perhaps I would also have achieved the same heights that the Boundless King had reached… Sigh! But it’s too late now!”
Meng Lei hurriedly asked, “Where has that Flaming Star Beast been sealed?”
“The Abyss of Darkness,” answered the Black Phoenix grandmaster.
“The Abyss of Darkness? What kind of place is that?”
Meng Lei was rather puzzled.
“(⊙o⊙)”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster looked utterly stupefied. It asked incredulously, “You don’t even know about the Abyss of Darkness?”
“Duh, would I need to ask you about it if I did?” replied Meng Lei with an eye-roll.
“Kid, aren’t you a little too ill-informed?”
Moro was rendered somewhat speechless, but nevertheless, he still explained, “The Abyss of Darkness is a terrifying space-time rift in the Void. Some say it’s a dimensional channel, while some say it was left behind during a battle among a few juggernaut-class experts… Opinions vary on the topic of what exactly it is.
“However, one thing’s for certain—magic elements, as well as basic laws of nature, do not exist in the Abyss of Darkness. Additionally, it’s also an extremely dangerous place. Even Chief God-class experts wouldn’t have any chance of survival if they were to enter its depths. There’s no way for them to escape at all.”
Moro let out an emotional sigh and said, “There’s a mysterious force inside the Abyss of Darkness that constantly destroys the laws of nature around it. This leads to the universe’s Power of Origin’s inability to repair the rift. As a result, it continues to exist to this day.”
“So that’s what the Abyss of Darkness is!”
Enlightened, Meng Lei then asked, “How do you find the Flaming Star Beast, Moro? How is it in comparison to the Boundless Great Beast? Can it grow to become a Supreme Juggernaut?”
“What, are you thinking of finding that Flaming Star Beast young?”
A mirthful Moro said, “Millions of years have passed since the war between the gods and demons. That Flaming Star Beast young has probably already fled a long time ago. Even if it hasn’t, it must be dead by now.
“However, the Flaming Star Beast is indeed very powerful. They are fearsome monsters that possess pinnacle-level Void Beast blood in them. They feed on the sun and are also creatures of extreme heat and Yang energy[1]. Thus, they are known by the name of Flaming Star Beasts. In terms of their bloodline, they are in no way inferior to the Boundless Great Beasts.”
“Is the Abyss of Darkness far from here?” asked Meng Lei.
“Not really.”
Moro said, “The Abyss of Darkness happens to be located right in the center of the universe, while high-end existential planes such as the Earth Divine Realm are in extremely close proximity to the center of the universe.”
“It’s great that it’s not far away!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and said, “In that case, let’s head over to the Abyss of Darkness and take a look.”
“I reckon you’re going to return empty-handed this time, though!”
“We’ll just take it that we’re touring the Abyss of Darkness!”
After that, Meng Lei returned to the alternate dimension with the Black Phoenix grandmaster and continued to look through the boxes. The Abyss of Darkness was a trip he must make, but it would have to wait a little longer.
The fifth box was relatively bigger, measuring 10,000-feet-long but only 100-feet-wide. Long and thin, it looked exceptionally strange. Meng Lei opened the lid—a crimson-red pillar with several spiral patterns of fire circling around it engraved on its surface laid quietly in the middle of the box.
“What’s this?”
Meng Lei reached into the box and grabbed the crimson-red pillar. It felt incredibly heavy—it actually took extremely strenuous effort for him to hold it despite his lesser Chief God-level body.
“This is just a 10,000-feet-long, 100-feet-thick pillar, yet it’s so heavy?” Meng Lei was rather astonished. “What is this thing made out of?”
“Hehe! Didn’t you intend to head to the Abyss of Darkness to look for the Flaming Star Beast just now? If I’m not wrong, this thing right here is the Flaming Star Beast’s horn itself!” said Moro as he clicked his tongue in wonder.
“The Flaming Star Beast’s horn?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Nidhogg made efforts to collect things related to the Flaming Star Beast after he got to know about the Flaming Star Beast young from me back then. This horn is likely something that he had specially obtained,” said the Black Phoenix grandmaster in a muffled voice.
“No doubt about it, then!”
Moro nodded slightly and said, “Any normal person would end up displaying all sorts of obsessive behavior when they simply can’t get a treasure that they could have gotten. What a shame, though, that a horn is ultimately still just a horn. It can’t compare to a living, breathing Flaming Star Beast at all.”
Moro shook his head before he floated over to the sixth box and waited for Meng Lei to open it. What puzzled him, however, was that Meng Lei didn’t move at all. Instead, he continued to stare hard at the Flaming Star Beast horn.
“Don’t bother looking at it anymore. It’s just a broken horn.” Moro urged, “Hurry and open this box instead!”
“Just… A horn?”
Meng Lei’s lips curled up into a mysterious smile. A bunch of blazing hot tricolored flames suddenly burst forth from him. Then, more and more flames started to gather, instantly turning Meng Lei into a man on fire.
“(・◇・)?”
“(⊙o⊙)”
“What’s going on?”
“What’s the matter with you, kid?”
Looks of stupefaction came over both Moro and the Black Phoenix grandmaster’s faces.
He was fine and dandy one moment, and then he had burst into flames the next?
Crackle, crackle!
Just as the two of them were utterly baffled, tricolored scales suddenly started to form one by one on Meng Lei’s skin, and three horns emerged from his head. The one in the middle was straight and sharp, while the other two at the sides curved outward slightly. Tricolored fire spiral patterns covered their surfaces.
Splurt!
Right on the heels of it, Meng Lei’s clothes suddenly split open at the back. A pair of wings covered in hard, tough, scaly armor emerged from within, and they turned into gigantic wings that blotted out the sky in the blink of an eye.
His body hunched over slightly, his hands turned into sharp claws, his feet turned into clawed hooves, his neck lengthened, and a long tail grew from his bottom. His body shape was well-proportioned, and his muscles clearly defined…
“This, this…”
Flabbergasted, both Moro’s and the Black Phoenix grandmaster’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
[1] [Annotation text missing]
" }, { "id": 402, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-402", "title": "Chapter 402 - Chief God Bloodline, Supreme Divinity Crystals", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 402: Chief God Bloodline, Supreme Divinity Crystals
There was no way Moro and the Black Phoenix grandmaster wouldn’t be astonished. It wasn’t that big of a deal if Meng Lei had transformed into something else, but what was that currently standing in front of them? A Flaming Star Beast!
That’s right, a Flaming Star Beast!
Although its color wasn’t quite right, its form and characteristics completely matched!
“He… He’s a Flaming Star Beast?”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster’s voice was trembling somewhat.
“It must be that ability of his!”
Moro, however, thought of another possibility—Meng Lei’s plundering ability. He had previously personally witnessed Meng Lei stealing supreme laws of nature that two Great Perfection deities had comprehended. What’s so impossible about plundering bloodlines when he could plunder even laws of nature?
“That ability is too scary!”
Moro could only sigh emotionally. He thought to himself, “Not only can it plunder laws of nature, but it can also plunder bloodlines! I really want to know whether there’s anything he can’t plunder?”
Roar!
Just as feelings of astoundment occupied the duo, Meng Lei’s transformation finally ended. The current Meng Lei had turned into a monstrous beast covered in tricolored scales and with three sharp helix horns on its head, a pair of wings on its back, a long tail at its bottom, and well-proportioned muscles all over its body.
Hard, tough, scaly armor;
Toned, taut muscles;
Razor-sharp claws;
Piercing eyes;
A wild and violent-looking form;
And a powerful, surging aura.
All of these were testament to Meng Lei’s great strength!
“So, this is the Flaming Star Beast bloodline? It’s extraordinary indeed!”
Meng Lei could sense the changes in his divine body even if he didn’t look at the stats interface.
Power!
An endless supply of power was gushing out of his body. Meng Lei felt as if he could smash the Nidhogg Continent into bits and pieces with a single punch! This power in him was simply too strong!
One must know that as Meng Lei continued to assimilate more and more powerful bloodlines into himself, his divine body had also been constantly becoming stronger and stronger. The later the bloodlines he had assimilated, the smaller the enhancement they brought to his divine body. It had been a very long time since he had undergone such a dramatic enhancement. From this, one could tell just how fearsome the Flaming Star Beast bloodline was!
He then checked his stats interface.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Primordial Human (Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat <Adult>, Netherworld Ancestral Phoenix <Adult>, Hundred-Armed Giant King <Adult>, Ancient Tree of Life <Adult>, Frost King <Adult>, Grim Reaper King <Adult>, Flaming Star Beast <38%>)
Wealth: 12,709 trillion Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body, Wood-Origin Divine Body, Thunder-Origin Divine Body
Spirit: Lesser Chief God (Mid-Level Ancient God)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Laws of Nature: Time-Based (100%), Destruction (0.1%), Life (0.1%), Spatial (100%), Death (0.1%)
Wanting to know how strong his divine body currently was, Meng Lei asked, “System, how much does it cost to enhance my divine body?”
“Ding! The host’s divine body is currently on par with that of a pinnacle-level lesser Chief God and will rival that of an intermediate Chief God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 100 trillion Divinity Crystals.”
The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“100 trillion Divinity Crystals? That’s not cheap!” Meng Lei shook his head and asked, “How many Divinity Crystals does it cost to boost the Flaming Star Beast bloodline to 100%?”
“Ding! Raising the Flaming Star Beast bloodline by 1% requires 1 trillion Divinity Crystals. Raising it to 100%, therefore, requires 62 trillion Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“I’ll buy credit for the Flaming Star Beast bloodline!”
Meng Lei made his choice.
Whoosh!
62 trillion Divinity Crystals instantly went poof from his Wealth.
At the same time, an incredibly wild and violent warm current also gushed into his body. The Flaming Star Beast bloodline in the depths of his blood began to furiously grow and strengthen. This, displayed externally, was that Meng Lei’s body started to become stronger and stronger. His scales became brighter and brighter, and more and more vibrant, while his body expanded further and further…
10,000,000 feet, 20,000,000 feet…
Boom!
The alternate dimension could no longer contain Meng Lei. At last, unable to hold Meng Lei’s expansion any longer, the alternate dimension exploded with a grand boom.
Meng Lei became exposed in the boundless Void straight away. Even so, his body continued to expand.
30,000,000 feet, 40,000,000 feet, 50,000,000 feet, 60,000,000 feet…
At last, by the time Meng Lei stopped expanding, he had reached 66,600,000-feet-tall!
He had totally become a whale of a monster!
19,980,000 meters!
19,980 kilometers!
That was approximately 20,000 kilometers!
This meant that the current Meng Lei was 1,000 Himalaya mountains taller than even Earth itself! It was clear just how majestic his current form was!
Roar!
Terrifying sound waves exploded into the surroundings as Meng Lei let out a roar into the heavens. As though they were eggs, all the meteors and floating continents nearby exploded simultaneously.
One could tell a thing or not about Meng Lei’s current strength just by the might of his roar.
“This, this…”
Moro and the Black Phoenix grandmaster were stunned. If one were to say that Meng Lei had just been a weak Flaming Star Beast young in the beginning, then the current him was a Flaming Star Beast adolescent that was starting to shine!
Leaping an infant into an adolescent in just a short few minutes… Wasn’t his growth rate a little too dramatic?
“Just what kind of freak is he, exactly?”
The Black Phoenix grandmaster exclaimed in a low voice. It completely couldn’t figure out its master anymore.
“A freak? Yes! He’s a freak!” replied Moro, who was also astounded.
“What a fearsome body!”
Meng Lei stretched his limbs and claws and moved his head and wings, taking in the sensation of his body that had become even stronger. A satisfied smile couldn’t help but form.
Just as he had expected, his divine body had become comparable to an intermediate Chief God’s after he bought enough credit to boost the Flaming Star Beast bloodline to 100%.
It was just a matter of assimilating a single bloodline for him to ascend from a lesser Chief God to an intermediate Chief God. From this, one could tell just how powerful the Flaming Star Beast bloodline was!
Meng Lei asked curiously, “System, what grade is the Flaming Star Beast bloodline?”
“…”
There was no response.
“That inflexible system!”
Meng Lei rephrased his question. “System, how many Divinity Crystals does it cost to enhance the Flaming Star Beast bloodline?”
This time, the system answered readily.
“Ding! The Flaming Star Beast bloodline is classified as a Chief God Bloodline and will become a Supreme Bloodline after enhancement. The enhancement cost is estimated at 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.”
“500… Supreme Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei blinked twice and asked, “Are Supreme Divinity Crystals a new unit of measurement? How many Divinity Crystals is one equivalent to?”
“Supreme Divinity Crystals are energy crystals formed from Supreme Power of Divinity. 1 Supreme Divinity Crystal = 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals,” replied the system icily.
“In other words, 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals equals 5,000,000 trillion Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “What a ridiculous price! Can’t mess around with something like that! Nope!”
Although the horrifying price tag gave him a shock, Meng Lei had gotten to know the Flaming Star Beast bloodline’s grade—a Chief God Bloodline—like what he had wanted. However, in Meng Lei’s opinion, since Chief Gods were classified into the strong and the weak, Chief God Bloodlines were likely also a broad classification like True God bloodlines.
True gods were classified into lesser, intermediate, and higher deities. Similarly, True God Bloodlines were also classified as low-grade, mid-grade, or high-grade bloodlines.
This was probably also the case for Chief God Bloodlines.
The fact that Flaming Star Beasts would become comparable to Juggernauts upon maturation showed that the Flaming Star Beast bloodline was likely the most powerful grade of Chief God Bloodlines.
After that, Meng Lei familiarized himself with his Flaming Star Beast form before he resumed his human form and returned to where Moro and the Black Phoenix grandmaster were.
Astonishment and incredulity filled their eyes as they stared at Meng Lei as though they were staring at a freak.
“Kid, you’ve… become stronger again!”
Moro clicked his tongue in wonder as he marveled, “Now that you have gained a powerful body that rivals an intermediate Chief God’s and also comprehended two types of supreme laws of nature, even I find it tough to judge just how strong you are now!”
Indeed, it certainly wasn’t easy to judge something like that now!
A lesser Chief God would become comparable to a higher Chief God once they reached a 50% comprehension rate for any type of supreme laws of nature.
When a lesser Chief God fully comprehended any type of supreme laws of nature, they would become comparable to a Supreme Juggernaut.
But what about Meng Lei?
He owned a body that was comparable to an intermediate Chief God’s, and on top of that, he had fully comprehended two types of supreme laws of nature!
Just how strong was he currently? Higher Chief God-level?
No, he was definitely stronger than a higher Chief God. There was no doubt about that!
Yet if one were to say that he was comparable to a Juggernaut…
Was he that strong?
Moro was rather dubious.
“No, not just two,” Meng Lei chuckled and said, “I can fully comprehend another two types of supreme laws of nature any time I want.”
“What did you just say?”
Moro was stunned.
As for the Black Phoenix grandmaster, its current expression was as such: o((⊙_⊙))o!
" }, { "id": 403, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-403", "title": "Chapter 403 - The Tragic Fate Of Being Soul-Searched, Fatty Hart Is Dead", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 403: The Tragic Fate of Being Soul-Searched, Fatty Hart Is Dead
Nidhogg clan headquarters, Earth Divine Realm…
The Nidhogg clan had suffered terrible losses after the battle just now. Almost all the higher deities had been wiped out, leaving behind only a few insignificant nobodies of varying levels of combat power.
The enormous Nidhogg could be said to be finished. There was no chance of them ever making a comeback.
The ten great godly clans of the Earth Divine Realm would now become the nine great godly clans from now on. Once the news spread, it would surely spark an unprecedented super earthquake, shake up the entire Earth Divine Realm, and trigger an incomparably frightening storm.
Of course, all of these would only come later.
Nobody knew of the events here yet.
If one wanted to know who the ones currently the most excited were, then they were none other than Puhaman and the others.
The riches that a trillion experts’ deaths left behind was astonishing. Even if every person were to leave behind only 100 Divinity Crystals each, it would nonetheless total up to 100 trillion after putting them all together!
100 trillion Divinity Crystals was no small sum to even someone like Meng Lei, much less higher deities like Puhaman, Bubbles, and the others who were flat broke!
“I’ve struck gold!”
“I’ve struck gold now!”
“Hahaha! With so many spatial rings here, I’ve instantly transformed into a billionaire!”
“This is awesome! Being Master’s follower is awesome! The wisest decision that I’ve ever made in my life is to become Master’s follower!”
“Sigh! I’m going to die of envy!”
Emery Philmore watched as Puhaman and the others picked up the divine cores and spatial rings littered all over the mountains, immense envy filling him. How he wished he were also one of them!
It was just a shame that he wasn’t!
Puhaman and the others happily collected the divine cores and spatial rings, filling up their coffers as though they were hardworking little bees.
Just as they more or less collected all the spatial rings in the mountains, a fearsome wave of pressure suddenly descended upon them, followed closely by the second, the third, the fourth…
Boom!
Boom!
Seven strong, surging auras descended from above in a split second, instantly bearing down heavily on everyone. Unable to put up any resistance at all, Puhaman and the others were flattened right onto the ground. Their faces flushed a crimson red, the pressure weighing down on them so heavy that they felt as if they were carrying a primordial divine mountain on their backs.
“Chief Gods!”
“This is the force of a Chief God’s presence!”
“Oh my god! How many Chief Gods must there be in order for them to exert such pressure?”
Puhaman and the others had seen Chief Gods before, so they had naturally also felt the force of a Chief God’s presence before. These seven terrifying waves of pressure were undoubtedly that of Chief Gods’!
To make things worse, they were even more fearsome, more powerful, and more horrifying than what they had felt in the past!
“The other Chief Gods have come!” Shock and horror filled Emery Philmore. “The other Chief Gods must have come!”
“The other Chief Gods?”
It also hit Puhaman and the others by now—how could the other Chief Gods in the Earth Divine Realm possibly stay indifferent after their master went on a killing spree and slew three Chief Gods?
Now… They had come!
Their guesses were right—the other Chief Gods of Earth Divine Realm had indeed descended upon them, and on top of that, there were seven of them!
The seven Chief Gods stood proudly in the air. They made no effort to constrain their strong, surging, and terrifying force of presence, such that the entire Nidhogg Continent could clearly sense the pressure they gave off.
Their leader was stunningly beautiful—it was none other than the holy and cool beauty, Chief God Vados.
Chief God Vados overlooked the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains, her delicate brows drawing together into a frown—there actually wasn’t even a single higher deity left in the enormous Nidhogg clan.
“How tragic!”
“That knave is so hateful!”
“The Nidhogg clan is pretty much finished!”
The group of Chief Gods shook their heads. Just how powerful had the Nidhogg clan once been? Yet not only had the Nidhogg Chief God himself perished, but even the experts in the clan had all but been wiped out. The enormous clan existed merely in name now. This simply made one heave emotional sighs too much.
“Where’s that knave?”
Chief God Vados ordered emotionlessly, “Find him at once and bring him back to stand trial in the Chief God Tribunal. He is to be tried by the four great Juggernauts and the Chief Gods.”
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
The other six Chief Gods bowed slightly. Then, they spread their divine cognition into the surroundings in an attempt to locate Meng Lei. However, the puzzling thing was that they simply couldn’t find anyone despite searching the whole area.
“How strange!”
“He isn’t here?”
“What’s going on?”
“Grab one of his accomplices and question them!”
The Chief God from the Frost God clan casually grabbed someone, who just so happened to be Emery Philmore, who had been flattened to the ground. The Chief God asked apathetically, “Where’s the knave that killed the three Chief Gods?”
“O g-great Chief God!”
Emery Philmore had been scared witless a long time ago, so how would he possibly dare to keep things a secret? He said, “I-it seems that L-lord Meng Lei has gone to the peak!”
“There’s no one at the peak at all. Bold of you to actually try to deceive a Chief God!”
The Frost Chief God declared coldly, “Die!”
Boom!
As though he had been struck by lightning, Emery Philmore’s head blasted apart, and he died on the spot.
“Emery Philmore!”
“It’s over! We’re dead meat!”
The sight of Emery’s death scared the wits out of Puhaman and the others. Given how ruthless the Frost Chief God was, they probably weren’t going to survive the ordeal today!
The Frost Chief God then casually grabbed another person from the crowd—Fatty Hart this time—and ordered, “Tell me, where’s that knave?”
“Just kill me instead!”
Despite how he was trembling all over from fear, in response to the Frost Chief God’s question, Fatty Hart actually raised his chin and sneered, “I, Fatty Hart, admit that I’m no match for you, so there’s nothing I can say even if you kill me. But mark my words, old bro, will definitely kill all of you and avenge me! Heh, to be able to drag a Chief God down into hell with me, I, Fatty Hart, have lived a worthy life! Hahaha!”
“You want to die? Not so easy!” With an icy, severe look on his face, the Frost Chief God scoffed, “Do you think I have no way of finding out even if you don’t tell me? How naive of you!”
Then, the Frost Chief God released his divine spirit power and began to forcibly search Fatty Hart’s soul, causing poor Fatty Hart to emit shrill, miserable screams right away.
“Fatty!!”
“You bastard!”
The sight filled Puhaman and the others with immense fury at once. All of them had chatted, bantered, bragged, and talked about all kinds of nonsense with one another during all these years of following Meng Lei around. They had already formed fairly deep friendships with one another a long time ago. How could they possibly not be distressed or anguished at the sight of Fatty Hart’s current pain and agony?
Fatty Hart’s screams didn’t last long. However, Fatty Hart, who had stopped struggling by now, now had empty, lifeless eyes. There was no life in his eyes, and it was as if he had become a puppet.
Evidently, the rough and violent soul-search had killed his mental capabilities, turning him into an idiot!
Rough soul-searches damaged one’s divine spirit the most easily!
“Nothing but a lowly ant!”
The Frost Chief God let out a snort. A chilly current gushed out of his palm, instantly turning Fatty Hart into an ice sculpture. Then, with a light knead of his hand, the ice sculpture shattered into a million ice chips that scattered all about.
“Fatty!!”
Fury made Puhaman and the others shake all over. Even their eyes had turned red. Yet as if all he had done was just something trivial that wasn’t even worth a mention, the Frost Chief God merely shifted his gaze to Chief God Vados and said with a frown, “Your Holiness, we must find that guy and kill him as soon as possible. Otherwise, there’ll be endless trouble to come, and the Boundless King disaster shall come to pass once more.”
The Boundless King disaster?
The Chief Gods raised an eyebrow at his words. The haughty Giant Elephant Chief God, who didn’t quite agree with him, remarked, “Aren’t you just fearmongering now, Chilled?”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew that guy’s background, Helsa!”
The Frost Chief God slowly asked, “Do you know that guy has already comprehended both time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature even though he isn’t even 50 years old yet?”
“What did you just say?”
“He isn’t 50 years old yet?”
“He’s comprehended both time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature?”
Huge jolts immediately went through the six Chief Gods, and looks of shock and horror surfaced in their eyes. They had no problem believing that someone could become a deity before they turned fifty, but a Great Perfection deity under the age of fifty?
They couldn’t accept that no matter what! Let alone when said Great Perfection deity had even comprehended two types of supreme laws of nature!
That was practically a fantasy story!
“I know it sounds very unbelievable, so I don’t intend to bother convincing you guys, either.”
The Frost Chief God then reached out and grabbed Puhaman, Thaniel, Bubbles, Galen, Sacas, and Mervyn.
“Search their souls yourself. You’ll get the answers you want!”
" }, { "id": 404, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-404", "title": "Chapter 404 - Life Dominus, A Graveless Death", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 404: Life Dominus, A Graveless Death
“Aahhh!”
“Aahhh!”
“Aahhh!”
Shrill screams rang in the skies above the Colossal Dragon Mountain as Puhaman, Sacas, and the other four grimaced from the inhumane suffering of the soul searching.
Pain!
It was too painful!
“Puhaman!”
“Galen!”
“You bastard!”
Nadja and the rest looked on as they widened their eyes to the point of splitting. They wished they could charge and fight those six Chief Gods with their lives, but they were all suppressed to the ground, completely immobilized.
After a few minutes, the soul searching ended while the screams of horror died down. They had the same fate as Fatty Hart as their eyes turned blank and lifeless. They had clearly turned into idiots from the violent soul searching, and they would never return to normal.
Vados and the six Chief Gods threw the six mentally disabled deities to one side and looked at each other, seeing the alarm and shock in each other’s eyes.
“So this is the answer we’re looking for?” the Frost Gods Chief God asked somberly.
“Die!”
“That fellow must die!”
“If he doesn’t die, the Boundless King disaster will repeat itself, and a catastrophe will engulf the entire universe!”
“We must find him and bring him to the Chief God Tribunal to be executed. Or else, he will be the next Boundless King, or much worse!”
Chief God Vados waved her arm and bellowed, “Find him! No matter what, we must find him!”
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
The six Chief Gods bowed slightly and began their search. Vados flipped her hand as a pale golden leaf appeared on her palm.
The power of Chief God entered the golden leaf as it started to shine brightly. Golden rays of light shot up the sky and combined into a towering figure.
She had a head of green hair that cascaded like a waterfall and a terrifying aura reaching into the skies and deep into the ground. She was like heaven and earth, ruling everything and in control of anything.
“O great Life Dominus!”
Vados bowed slightly with reverence.
“Have you found that murderer?” The Life Dominus spoke slowly. Her voice was like a spring breeze in march, warm and pleasant. It was like a hot spring that could cleanse souls.
“My great Dominus, we have not found him yet, but…”
Vados spoke respectfully. “But I obtained reliable information. That person’s potential threat is unprecedented, possibly more than the Boundless King in the past. I request to send out all the Chief Gods to find that man and execute him immediately!”
“Is it that serious, Vados?”
The Life Dominus was rather surprised.
Who was the Boundless King?
That was someone who had stolen and occupied a juvenile Boundless Great Beast and grown into an adult Boundless Great Beast, whose capabilities were no less than the four Juggernauts. If it was not for the combined effort of the four great Juggernauts and over 100 Chief Gods, no one could be certain that they could be exterminated.
Who could be associated with such a powerful being?
“My great Dominus, that fellow has not yet reached 45 years old, but he has already comprehended the time-based and spatial laws of nature. We are dealing with a freak of an unprecedented level!”
Vados bowed and replied, “If we let him progress any further, he will surely be more disastrous than the Boundless King!”
“Is that the truth, Vados?”
The Life Dominus raised her voice by a notch.
“I spoke no lies,” Vados replied respectfully.
The Life Dominus went silent for quite a while before she said, “This is a different situation from the Boundless King. We cannot conclude over such a matter until we meet him in person. Vados, find him immediately! I’ll make my way there with the other Juggernauts and Chief Gods.”
“Yes, my great Dominus!”
With that said, the Life Dominus dissipated into the air. Vados did not dare to make any further delay as she began her search quickly. With the capabilities of her powerful divine spirit as a Chief God and the Power of Existential Plane of the Earth Divine Realm, her divine cognition could cover an astonishingly extensive range.
It could not be any more simple to find someone.
Unfortunately, as most of the day had gone by, she could not find Meng Lei at all. Vados became furious. “This damned bastard! Where the hell is he? Perhaps he had already left the Earth Divine Realm? If so, that’s a huge problem!”
“Any news over there?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“He’s not here.”
“He doesn’t even exist here.”
“It’s like this fellow has vanished without a trace.”
Knowing that nothing turned up for the other Chief Gods, Vados was raging even more.
“Keep searching! We must find him before the four great Juggernauts descend upon this realm with other Chief Gods!”
Where was Meng Lei right now?
He was in the Void.
The alternate dimension had dissipated, and the teleportation magic circle linked to the shrine was destroyed. Thus, he had been exiled into the Void. He had to find a way himself to return to the Earth Divine Realm.
It would not be an issue for Meng Lei.
As long as he could sense the Earth Divine Realm, he could tear open the Void to teleport back instantly.
The step to sense the Earth Divine Realm was much easier. Since the divine spirit origin energies of Puhaman and the rest were in his hands, he could use the link between them.
A moment later, Meng Lei sensed the location of the Earth Divine Realm and teleported into the sky above the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountain.
“Mm?”
“Such a powerful aura!”
“All of a sudden?”
“Is this that fellow?”
“Let’s head over and take a look!”
Once Meng Lei appeared, he was discovered by the seven Chief Gods.
Whoosh!
The seven Chief Gods appeared instantly to surround Meng Lei entirely.
“Seven Chief Gods?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow, as he was not too surprised about it.
He had killed the Titan Chief God, Nidhogg, and the Angel Chief God. It would only be natural for these Chief Gods to come for revenge.
Meng Lei looked at the seven Chief Gods while they sized him up too. Curiosity, puzzlement, and disbelief could be seen from their faces.
“Master!”
“Our Master, he’s back!”
Once he saw Meng Lei, Nadja, and the Spider Goddess were jubilant as they were overwhelmed in excitement. They had never longed for Meng Lei to show up as much as how they currently did.
“Why are all of you in such a state?”
Meng Lei’s face darkened as he looked at Nadja and those immobilized on the ground, especially so when he saw the six puppet-like subordinates lying around on one side. “Wait, where’s Fatty Hart?”
“Fatty Hart was killed by him, Master!”
Nadja pointed at the Frost Gods Chief God, Chilled, and replied angrily, “He searched Fatty Hart’s divine spirit and turned him into a fool before brutally killing him! And Puhaman, Bubbles, and the other four were searched as well, becoming mentally unsound too!”
“Master, you must avenge them!”
“Master, kill these Chief Gods! They’re too wicked!”
“Well done! Well done, indeed!”
Meng Lei looked at the seven Chief God with a cold stare.
“Nidhogg, is he the murderer?”
Vados ignored Meng Lei as she released Nidhogg and the other two Chief Gods’ remnant souls.
“That’s him, Your Holiness!”
Upon the sight of Meng Lei, Nidhogg’s eyes were filled with resentment and bitterness. “It was him who killed me, Dawson, and Raphael! Please avenge us, Your Holiness!”
“Curse you, knave! How I ought to feast on your flesh, rip out your skin…”
The Titan Chief God and the Angel Chief God started cursing hysterically.
“How dare mere remnant spirits bark here?”
Meng Lei scoffed as a divine cognition blast wave ravaged the vicinity, instantly decimating the three remnant souls. The three great Chief Gods were now gone eternally.
“What insolence!”
Vados was enraged. “Knave! How dare you murder the three great Chief Gods! It’s insanity and perverse to the extreme! Return to the Chief God Tribunal immediately to stand trial before the four great Juggernauts if you know what’s good for you! Or else, you’ll die a graveless death!
“Graveless? Hehe, I’ll show you what it means to die graveless!”
" }, { "id": 405, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-405", "title": "Chapter 405 - Blasting A Juggernaut Into Smithereens, Meeting Their Demise One After Another", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 405: Blasting A Juggernaut Into Smithereens, Meeting Their Demise One After Another
Meng Lei was infuriated. It had been some time since he had come to this world. He had no family and was all alone by himself here, save for these few friends.
Yet even these few friends of his had been crippled. How could Meng Lei possibly not be furious or resentful?
“You should die! All of you!”
Meng Lei let out a low roar as bright silver light spilled from his eyes. Then, he uttered two icy words, “Space Confinement!”
Whoosh!
The dimensions in all the places that entered his sight were locked down at once. The seven Chief Gods discovered to their shock and horror that they had been immobilized. Their bodies no longer obeyed their command, and they lost control of their divine bodies.
“Damn it!”
“That’s spatial laws of nature!”
“He really has comprehended spatial laws of nature!”
“Quickly! Mobilize your Chief God powers!”
The seven Chief Gods hastily activated their divine cores and mobilized the Earth Divine Realm’s Power of Existential Plane. The Earth Divine Realm’s Power of Existential Plane naturally held extremely fearsome might in the Earth Divine Realm itself. By using Power of Existential Plane as a means of resistance, their immobilized bodies gradually started to move again.
But before they could heave sighs of relief, Meng Lei bizarrely showed up right in front of Chilled, the Frost Chief God. He asked, “Were you the one that killed Fatty Hart?”
“W-what do you want?”
The Frost Chief God turned pale, and he tried furiously to summon Power of Existential Plane so that he could put some distance between Meng Lei and himself.
Like Nidhogg, he was just a lesser Chief God. When faced with a devil like Meng Lei, who slew lesser Chief Gods as if he were slaughtering livestock, he feared him like how a mortal feared a ferocious tiger.
“You deserve to die a million deaths for daring to kill Fatty!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were icy-cold. He said, “I’m going to give you a full, thorough taste of the pain and agony that you inflicted upon Fatty!”
Before he even finished his sentence, Meng Lei had already pressed his palm lightly against the Frost Chief God’s forehead. Then, he gouged out his Chief God divine core with a forceful scoop. The poor Frost Chief God struggled fiercely, but he couldn’t do anything to Meng Lei at all. All he could do was watch helplessly in endless, intense pain as Meng Lei gouged out his Chief God divine core!
The sight scared the living daylights out of the other Chief Gods, while Vados shouted furiously, “Mister, slaughtering Chief Gods is a serious crime. You’ve already killed three Chief Gods, but you can pull yourself back from the brink if you do it now. Otherwise, the four Juggernauts will never let you off!”
“You’re too noisy!”
Meng Lei struck out with his palm right away. The expression on Vados’ pretty face changed at once, and she tried to duck, but it was as if she had sunk into a pool of mud. She found it difficult to even move a finger.
I’m a higher Chief God, yet I actually can’t resist his spatial laws of nature even when I use Power of Existential Plane?
Shock and horror came over Vados as she wondered, “Are complete spatial laws of nature really supposed to be this fearsome?”
How powerful were complete supreme laws of nature?
Vados didn’t know, either, because she only had a 50% comprehension rate of life laws of nature. She was halfway there, so she naturally wouldn’t know what the full picture looked like.
Thus, Vados found herself terribly shocked and horrified when Meng Lei’s spatial laws of nature imprisoned her. The life laws of nature that she had comprehended half of definitely weren’t this terrifying!
“What are you trying to do? Damn it! Let go of me! The four Juggernauts won’t let you off!”
Elsewhere, fear had utterly overcome the Frost Chief God after his Chief God divine core was gouged out, and he started to shout hysterically. He didn’t want to die! He didn’t want to end up like those three Chief Gods!
“Have a taste of Fatty’s pain, you idiot!”
Divine spirit power gushed out of Meng Lei and surged into the Chief God divine core. It charged around violently and shoved its way through left and right like a deluge from a breached dam, assailing the Frost Chief God’s divine spirit madly. His screams resounded throughout the sky at once, causing the other Chief Gods’ scalps to go numb from fear.
How much must it hurt in order to make a lofty Chief God scream like that?
“Aaaahhhh!”
The Frost Chief God’s screams lasted for a good ten minutes before they gradually died down. The duration was three to four times longer than what Fatty Hart’s had been. Only then did Meng Lei thoroughly erase the Frost Chief God’s divine spirit, completely killing him.
“You were the one that searched Puhaman’s soul?” asked Meng Lei emotionlessly as he appeared in front of Valdi, the Fire Phoenix Chief God.
“D-don’t kill me!”
The Fire Phoenix Chief God turned ghastly pale from fright and pleaded for mercy again and again. “I’m willing to do anything in penitence. Please give me a way out!”
“Pleading for mercy? It’s too late!”
Meng Lei gouged out the Fire Phoenix Chief God’s divine core like what he had done just now. Then, he started to attack his divine core and conduct a violent soul-search.
Shrill screams that lasted over ten minutes rang out once more…
“A devil! He’s the devil himself!”
“Isn’t he afraid of the four Juggernauts’ judgment and punishment if he kills Chief Gods so cruelly like that?”
“Your Holiness Vados! Hurry and inform the four Juggernauts! Get them to hurry over here at once! Otherwise, that devil is going to kill us all!”
Vados was also frightened. If she hadn’t been afraid of Meng Lei in the beginning, after experiencing the complete version of spatial laws of nature, she certainly was now. She knew she was no match for Meng Lei for sure. If she allowed Meng Lei to continue his slaughter, it was possible that she, a higher Chief God… might also be killed!
“Yes, that’s right! Inform the Juggernauts! Get them to hurry here at once! They are the only ones that can save us now!”
Vados hastily brought out the golden leaf. She imbued it with her Chief God powers and began to call for the great Life Dominus.
Buzz!
The majestic figure appeared again—it was none other than the Life Dominus.
Vados shouted, “O great Dominus, hurry and save us! That terrifying devil is slaughtering us!”
“Mm?”
The Life Dominus broke into a slight frown. Her gentle gaze swept to the side accordingly and fell onto Meng Lei, noticing right away that he was conducting a soul-search. A cold look came over her countenance at once, and she said, “How dare you slay a Chief God so brazenly? Cease your actions at once!”
“Who do you think you are?”
Meng Lei cast a glance at the Life Dominus.
“What insolence!”
Vados barked, “This is the great Life Dominus. How dare you show her disrespect!”
“The Life Dominus?”
Meng Lei sneered, “If it had been the actual Life Dominus herself who had come, perhaps I would show some restraint on account of her, but a divinity projection… Get lost!”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort after he spoke, causing wild, violent sound waves to erupt into the surroundings. The Life Dominus’ divinity projection exploded at once, turning into a million glimmering dots that vanished into the sky.
“This…”
Vados shook with anger. She had never once imagined that Meng Lei would actually be so bold as to blast even the Life Dominus’ divinity projection into smithereens. This was no longer something that could be described as mere “extreme audacity”—his actions were practically lawless and perverse!
That was the great, supreme Life Dominus!!
“Feel free to call for the four great Juggernauts.”
Meng Lei glanced at Vados and said, “It’s best if they all come over. Saves me the trouble of looking for them one by one.”
Meng Lei then continued to leisurely conduct his soul-searches. He thought nothing of the four great Juggernauts who were about to come and of the other Chief Gods. This greatly infuriated Vados, yet there was nothing she could do about it. Meng Lei was too strong, so much so that it filled her with despair!
“You were the one that searched Thaniel’s soul?”
“You were the one that searched Sacas’ soul?”
“You were the one that searched Bubbles’ soul?”
Following the Fire Phoenix Chief God and the Frost Chief God, the Giant Elephant Chief God, the Nature Chief God, the Behemoth Chief God, and the Scarab Chief God also had their souls searched by Meng Lei. Their deaths followed shortly after.
Be they lesser Chief Gods or intermediate Chief Gods, all of them perished in Meng Lei’s hands. At last, only one Chief God remained… Chief God Vados.
“You’re the only one left now.”
Meng Lei went over to Vados.
“You can just kill me, but the four Juggernauts will avenge me!”
Vados had personally witnessed the six Chief Gods’ deaths, and her emotions had run the gamut of panic, despair, fear, and indignation, and now it seemed like she had come to terms with it.
“Do you think I’ll be afraid of the four Juggernauts?”
" }, { "id": 406, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-406", "title": "Chapter 406 - Space Dominus, A Battle Of Space", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 406: Space Dominus, A Battle of Space
“Do you think I’ll be afraid of the four Juggernauts?”
Meng Lei stared at Vados as if he were staring at an idiot. He said, “There have never been any fools among those that can reach our level of cultivation—with the exception of Chief Gods like the bunch of you, of course. After all, you’re just a bunch of people who were lucky enough to assimilate Chief God divine cores.”
Vados’ expression changed drastically, and she exclaimed, “You’re capable of contending with a Juggernaut?!”
A slight smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face. Then, he pinched his fingers together lightly, easily gouging out Vados’ Chief God divine core. He couldn’t help but smile as he gazed at the dazzling, brilliant irregularly-shaped crystal.
“It seems like all 11 Chief God divine cores in the Earth Divine Realm are in my possession now! Say, Moro… Do you think I’ll become a Supreme God straight away if I assimilate these 11 Chief God divine cores now?”
“Theoretically, it’s entirely possible,” Moro gave an affirmative reply, “However, because you haven’t deified yet, you can’t assimilate Chief God divine cores, so you’d better think of a way to deify first. instead!”
“I can deify any time I want.” Meng Lei nodded slightly and said, “What I’m concerned about is whether it’ll affect my ability to comprehend genesis laws of nature after I assimilate them?”
“Of course it will, but in a positive way instead.”
Moro said without any hesitation, “Your divine spirit will become incredibly powerful once you deify. When your divine spirit becomes powerful, the level of difficulty involved in comprehending genesis laws of nature will naturally become lower. There’s no doubt about that.”
“In that case, I’ll just deify, then!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile. Suddenly, a blink of light flashed across his eyes, and his lips curled up into a faint smile, and he commented, “But it seems like I don’t have the time for it now.”
“Oh?”
Moro raised an eyebrow.
“The great Juggernaut… has arrived!”
Before Meng Lei could even finish his sentence, an incomparably terrifying aura traveled over from afar. The air rippled slightly, and then, someone appeared 100 meters away.
He wore a bright silver robe embroidered with supreme laws of nature runes. His bright silver eyes were distant and aloof, containing no hint of emotion at all. His gaze swept across the area and fell onto the Chief God dead bodies scattered about the surroundings. At once, his brows drew together into a deep frown. Even though he had sped the whole way here, was he ultimately still a step too late?
Then, his gaze landed on Meng Lei’s palm, where Vados’ Chief God divine core was.
“O great Space Dominus, s-save me! Save me!”
Vados’ fearful cries for help rang out from within the Chief God divine core.
“Chief God Vados!”
The Space Dominus’ expression turned incredibly dark and sinister. If even Vados had been killed, then what about the other Earth Divine Realm Chief Gods? Where were the other Chief Gods’ divine cores?
Sh*t!
The Space Dominus’ heart sank. He knew what would happen when all the Chief God divine cores in a Divine Realm fell into the same person’s hands, of course. That was something he absolutely didn’t want to and was reluctant to see!
Why did the Chief God Treaty come to be?
On the surface, it was to prevent Chief Gods from killing one another, but its main purpose was ultimately still to prevent the emergence of a super Chief God. If a super Chief God… or even the legendary Supreme God were to be born, it would threaten the four Juggernauts’ positions for sure!
This was something that the four Juggernauts didn’t want to see, so it had resulted in the Chief God Treaty.
Yet the exact thing that the Juggernauts wished to see the least had still happened!
“I have to kill him before he assimilates all the Chief God divine cores! Otherwise, the consequences would be unthinkable!”
The Space Dominus glowered at Meng Lei with a razor-sharp look in his eyes. “Do you confess to your crimes, lowly ant?”
“My crimes?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. He replied, “I’d like to know what kind of crime I’ve committed. If even something like killing Chief Gods is considered a crime, then I’d rather see this crime through all the way to the end!”
“What insolence!”
The Space Dominus flew into a thundering rage. “You’re a Great Perfection deity, yet you slaughter Chief Gods as you please. Your crimes are unpardonable! Surrender at once, otherwis—”
Meng Lei let out a contemptuous scoff and sneered, “O great Space Dominus, let’s cut all that crap and let our skills speak for themselves instead. Show me what it is that allows you to stand among the four great Juggernauts and overlook the rest of the deities in the world!”
“Since you refuse to wake up to the error of your ways, then go to hell!” With his eyes devoid of any emotion, the Space Dominus uttered icily, “Space Confinement!”
Buzz!
Spatial laws of nature instantly descended upon Meng Lei, locking down the space around him. It seemed like even Meng Lei himself had become trapped to the spot.
“Space Blade!”
The Space Dominus tapped his finger in the air. A blade that glittered a bright silver color manifested in mid-air and shot out, going straight for Meng Lei’s head.
“You’re attacking me with spatial laws of nature?”
Meng Lei almost burst out laughing. Then, he glared at the blade, causing the Space Blade originally shooting toward him to instantly dissipate into the air as though it had never once appeared.
Meng Lei then lightly shrugged his shoulders, upon which the imprisoned space around him was also freed.
The Space Dominus frowned slightly. “You actually have such a high degree of comprehension toward spatial laws of nature?”
All he had heard from the Life Dominus was that Meng Lei had already comprehended both time-based and spatial laws of nature, but he had no inkling about how far the extent of his degree of comprehension concretely went.
However, from the brief exchange of blows just now, the Space Dominus had come to realize that Meng Lei had an exceptionally high degree of comprehension toward spatial laws of nature—it had already reached at least 50%!
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “I’ve already comprehended everything that you have, as well as what you haven’t. So, don’t bother showing off in front of an expert anymore.”
“I’m showing off in front of an expert?”
The Space Dominus’ expression darkened right away, and he showed up in front of Meng Lei with a flash of silver light. His right hand transformed into a Space Blade that slashed forcefully across Meng Lei’s throat.
“You actually dare to come at me again?”
Meng Lei let out an icy snort and uttered, “Space Destruction!”
Boom!
Meng Lei had only just spoken when the dimension in front of him was suddenly destroyed. The air, magic elements, basic laws of nature, and even the dimension itself were crushed into a viscous, glue-like state, forming a black hole in the air.
The Space Dominus just so happened to dive right into the black hole, leading him to cry out at once.
He hurriedly retreated with a burst of speed, stopping only when he was a few kilometers away.
The robe that the Space Dominus was wearing was already gone, and even his eyebrows and hair had suffered a certain degree of damage. Had he not been the Space Dominus and possessed an incomparably powerful divine body, he would definitely have been in for it just now.
“How dare you!”
The Space Dominus was practically spitting fire from his eyes. Another robe quickly appeared on himself and covered his body from view. His eyes, as he glared at Meng Lei, brimmed with an endless amount of murderous intent.
“It’s been so many years since the last time someone had thrown me into such a pathetic state. You’re the first to do so since then. I’m going to rip you into a million pieces!”
Boom!
An incomparably violent, raging aura erupted from the Space Dominus., and the dimension around them cracked and broke into pieces like a fragile, brittle mirror. For a moment there, the whole dimension within 10 million kilometers of the Space Dominus was turned completely into a black hole.
The Space Dominus stood in the center of the black hole, his form glowing with a dazzling bright silver light. His entire self had become a bright silver color by now—this was the outward form that spatial laws of nature would take once physically manifested.
“Lowly ant, you shall understand how foolish it is to enrage a Juggernaut!”
The Space Dominus let out a long howl and made a grabbing motion in the air with his right hand. A bright silver greatsword formed wholly from spatial laws of nature quietly appeared. Engraved on the greatsword’s surface were mysterious and profound spatial laws of nature runes.
“Cleave, Space Sword!”
The bright silver greatsword abruptly disappeared as the Space Dominus let out a deep roar. The next moment, the greatsword had already reached less than three inches away from the top of Meng Lei’s head.
The greatsword… had teleported!
“I told you, these attacks are useless against me!”
" }, { "id": 407, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-407", "title": "Chapter 407 - The Supreme Celestial Realm, Eternal Energy", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 407: The Supreme Celestial Realm, Eternal Energy
A black hole hung high in the sky like a gigantic sun that was black in color. Clearly seen even from countless light-years away, it caught innumerable deities’ attention.
“What’s that? A black sun?”
“There must be super experts fighting over there!”
“Isn’t that the Nidhogg clan’s…”
The deities speculated among themselves as they gestured at the black hole.
Elsewhere, the many Chief Gods led by the three other Juggernauts finally arrived at the Earth Divine Realm. As they weren’t in their own existential planes, the Chief Gods couldn’t teleport and could only rely on flying as a means of travel.
A Chief God’s flight speed wasn’t to be doubted. Unfortunately, the Earth Divine Realm was simply too massive. This caused the Chief Gods’ flight speed to appear relatively slow in comparison.
“That’s…”
Mid-flight, the Juggernauts, and the Chief Gods also noticed the battle taking place above the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains. Unusual looks flashed across their eyes.
“From the looks of it, Adela is already engaged in an intense fight with that knave,” remarked the Life Dominus whose green hair cascaded like a waterfall.
She had a rather displeased look on her face, especially upon her mention of Meng Lei. Her eyes were practically spitting fire.
The Chief Gods were overjoyed at her remark.
“With Lord Adela around, that knave is sure to surrender. The battle will probably already be over by the time we get there!”
“Exactly…”
The Death Dominus and the Destruction Dominus maintained dispassionate expressions on their countenances and refrained from commenting. Instead, they sped toward the Nidhogg clan headquarters.
“Let’s go over, too!”
…
“I told you, these attacks are useless against me.”
Meng Lei lightly shook his head as he gazed at the bright silver greatsword that appeared out of nowhere above him. A silver gleam flashed in his eyes, and a space-time rift formed right in front of him, swallowing the greatsword in one gulp.
Meng Lei looked at the Space Dominus and said calmly, “As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive. Here, have a taste of your own spatial greatsword!”
A space-time rift suddenly formed behind the Space Dominus before Meng Lei even finished his sentence. Then, the spatial greatsword that had just vanished a moment ago did a forward slash from within the rift and cleaved right at the Space Dominus.
“To think you’ve already fully comprehended spatial laws of nature!”
After exchanging a few blows, the Space Dominus had basically sounded out Meng Lei’s degree of comprehension toward spatial laws of nature. He couldn’t help but become alarmed and furious.
His alarm was because Meng Lei, a nobody, could actually fully comprehend a type of supreme laws of nature like the spatial laws of nature, while his fury was because the spatial laws of nature had originally been a domain exclusive to him. He had been the one and only person in the whole wide universe who fully comprehended spatial laws of nature, yet someone else had also comprehended them now. The Space Dominus felt as if someone had stolen something that belonged to him, and this filled him with extreme rage.
“It’s too late to realize that now, though!”
Meng Lei snorted coldly. The bright silver gleam in his eyes disappeared before it was subsequently replaced by an unusually soft and gentle golden divine glow.
“Do you think my own attack will hit me? What a joke!”
The Space Dominus didn’t even bother glancing at the spatial greatsword behind him. His eyes bore into Meng Lei like knives, and he said coldly, “Since you’ve already fully comprehended spatial laws of nature, then you must die. Only this Juggernaut is qualified to comprehend spatial laws of nature in this whole wide universe!”
As he spoke, he got ready to teleport from where he was so that he could dodge the spatial greatsword coming at him from the back.
However, it was at this exact moment that he suddenly felt a piercing pain on his back—the spatial greatsword had actually landed on the Space Dominus and cleaved a crack into that tough, virtually indestructible divine body of his!
“How can this be?”
The Space Dominus was flabbergasted. He knew very well how fast the spatial greatsword moved. According to his estimations, the timing should have been just right for him to dodge the spatial greatsword if he were to teleport now. But why had it struck him all the same?
“Go and read up a little on time acceleration!”
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “I forgot to mention this, but not only have I fully comprehended spatial laws of nature, but I’ve also done so for time-based laws of nature. Apart from those, there are also life laws of nature and destruction laws of nature. In other words, I’ve fully comprehended four types of supreme laws of nature. So, are you scared yet?”
“You’ve fully comprehended four types of supreme laws of nature?”
The Space Dominus was stunned for a moment before he sneered, “Quit bragging, you lowly ant. It’s rare enough that you’ve even managed to fully comprehend spatial laws of nature, let alone three other types of supreme laws of nature. Aren’t you afraid that others will laugh their heads off at your claims?”
It wasn’t so much that the Space Dominus was looking down on Meng Lei. Rather, supreme laws of nature were simply too complex and profound. He, the Space Dominus, had the biggest right to speak with regard to how difficult and time-consuming comprehending supreme laws of nature was!
There was a limit to one’s abilities, time, and talent!
It was almost impossible for someone to fully comprehend two types, let alone four!
“Believe what you will. In any case, it’s more likely than not that you’re going to die here today.”
Meng Lei shook his head with a laugh and said, “Come to think of it, I’ve killed Great Perfection deities and slaughtered Chief Gods before, but slaying a Supreme Juggernaut is the only thing that I’ve not done before. I must say that it’s really a form of regret! Therefore, I’m going to make you, the Space Dominus, the sacrifice today!”
“You’re going to kill me? With the likes of you?”
The Space Dominus burst into loud, unrestrained laughter as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the whole universe, and his laughter reverberated throughout the sky like roiling thunderclaps.
“Is it that funny?” Meng Lei cocked an eyebrow. “You can bring yourself to laugh when you’re already standing at death’s door?”
“I’m laughing at your idiocy and utter stupidity!”
The Space Dominus ceased his laughter and said, “I’ll tell you something—you can’t kill me even if you’ve comprehended all five types of supreme laws of nature. Do you know the reason why?”
“Why?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“It’s because of the supreme Celestial Realm.”
Moro’s voice rang out at this point. “Unlike the ten major Divine Realms, the supreme Celestial Realm is not a high-end existential plane but a supreme existential plane.”
“So what even if it’s a supreme existential plane?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“Why is a supreme existential plane acknowledged as such?”
As though he were answering his own question, Moro explained, “Apart from having vast territories that go far beyond a high-end existential plane’s and a near-limitless amount of Power of Existential Plane, it also possesses one other thing that high-end existential planes lack.”
“And what might that be?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
Moro explained, “Like what I’ve previously mentioned, ordinary existential planes’ Hearts of The Existential Plane are formed from a combination of the ten basic types of laws of nature and ten types of Power of Origin.
“Whereas high-end existential planes’ Hearts of The Existential Plane are formed from the ten basic types of laws of nature, ten types of Power of Origin, five types of supreme laws of nature, as well as their respective supreme law of nature powers. However, supreme existential planes’ Hearts of The Existential Plane differ from this yet again.”
“How so?”
Meng Lei was even more puzzled now.
“Apart from the 15 types of laws of nature and their respective law of nature powers, a supreme Heart of The Existential Plane also contains one other thing, and that is… Eternal Energy.”
Moro explained unhurriedly, “Like supreme laws of nature and their respective powers, Eternal Energy is also an undying substance. Eternal Energy will never deplete, disappear, erode, or be destroyed. Its immortality is absolute.”
“Eternal Energy!” Meng Lei murmured under his breath.
“As a supreme Heart of The Existential Plane contains Eternal Energy, the supreme Celestial Realm’s Heart of The Existential Plane is unlike the ten major Divine Realms’ Hearts of The Existential Plane. The Chief God divine cores of these Juggernauts and Chief Gods from the supreme Celestial Realm are thus also different.”
Moro said dispassionately, “Of course, to the Chief Gods of the supreme Celestial Realm, their Chief God divine cores are actually no different from the usual, either. This is because they can’t mobilize or use the Eternal Energy in their Chief God divine cores at all.”
“Why not?” asked a puzzled Meng Lei.
“Because they haven’t comprehended any supreme laws of nature yet.”
Moro chuckled and said, “You must understand that Eternal Energy is a kind of undying substance. One must therefore use another undying substance of equal level as a medium in order to mobilize and use it. However, none of the Chief Gods have fully comprehended any supreme laws of nature, so Eternal Energy is useless to them. Juggernauts, however, are different.”
Moro went on. “Juggernauts have already fully comprehended some form of supreme laws of nature, so they are able to use the power of supreme laws of nature as mediums. Thus, they can mobilize and use Eternal Energy.
“They’ll use Eternal Energy to remake their divine spirits and divine bodies, such that both become eternal and indestructible, thereby gaining the special characteristic of absolute immortality.
“Therefore, they can’t be killed at all!”
“They can’t?”
" }, { "id": 408, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-408", "title": "Chapter 408 - : Destroy My Divine Body, Take My Divine Core", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 408: Destroy My Divine Body, Take My Divine Core
Meng Lei could never have imagined that within the supreme Celestial Realm’s Chief Gods’ divine cores existed an imperishable substance like the Eternal Energy—never depleting, never disappearing, never eroding, an absolute eternal existence.
“It might be a little more of a hassle, but… this Eternal Energy seems like good stuff!”
Meng Lei’s gaze fell on the Space Dominus. “O great Space Dominus, I didn’t expect that your divine body and divine spirit were modified with Eternal Energy. Though that’s surprising, do you think there’s nothing I can do about you?”
“Cut your bluffs, little ant.” The Space Dominus said coldly. “Since this isn’t the supreme Celestial Realm, I can’t unleash my full power here and finish you, but holding you up won’t be an issue at all. Once the three other Juggernauts arrive, your time will come!”
“Hold me up? Isn’t that too low a target as a Juggernaut?” Meng Lei scoffed. “My objective has always been killing you!”
The Space Dominus sneered while he looked at Meng Lei as if he was an idiot.
If you already know that I’m enhanced by Eternal Energy, how are you still dreaming of killing me? Is your brain damaged?
“Open your eyes and watch closely. I’ll show you how you die!”
Meng Lei gave a faint smile as a gentle golden glow spilled from his eyes. “Time Freeze!”
Buzz!
The time-based laws of nature manifested as they engulfed the Space Dominus. At this moment, time had stopped for the Space Dominus.
His body had stopped.
His thoughts and consciousness have stopped as well.
Meng Lei walked step by step in front of the frozen Space Dominus and said, “In the Earth Divine Realm, you couldn’t use your Power of Existential Plane, so that divine core of yours is practically non-existent. Other than your divine body and divine spirit, you’re only just as good as an Ancient God who had fully comprehended the spatial laws of nature right now.
“That’s the limit of a Chief God, and even a Juggernaut.”
Moro’s voice rang. “They can only use the Power of Existential Plane in their own existential plane in order to display their best abilities. Therefore, under normal circumstances, Chief Gods rarely ever leave their own existential planes to travel to another Divine Realm. It’s simply too dangerous!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. A dazzling silver light beam shot off from his right hand to form a Space Blade before he slashed toward the forehead of the Space Dominus.
Ching!
The Space Blade struck the Space Dominus’ forehead as if it hit an indestructible metal, causing a series of sparks. Other than that, it did not harm the Space Dominus the slightest bit.
“Such a high-level defense!”
Meng Lei was dumbfounded.
“This is a Juggernaut, after all.”
Moro reminded him. “I’ve told you before, a Juggernaut’s divine body and divine spirit were modified by the Eternal Energy, making them indestructible. It would be exceptionally tough if you want to damage him!”
“His defense stats might be high, but…”
Meng Lei sneered. “If I’m not wrong, he was hurt from his own spatial greatsword!”
Meng Lei emanated a glittering bright silver glow while spatial laws of nature chains came out from the Void. It manifested into a sparkling silver spatial greatsword and slashed instantly.
Crack!
The power of the spatial greatsword did not need any further introduction. It slashed onto the Space Dominus’ head at lightning-quick speed, splitting his head in half, and revealed a dazzling irregular crystal silently hovering around.
Meng Lei gouged out the crystal casually. It was the Chief God divine core of the Space Dominus. “Without the Chief God divine core, you’re basically nothing!
“Although he’s modified by the Eternal Energy, the Space Dominus’ divine body isn’t completely made of it. It couldn’t block the spatial greatsword’s attack.”
Moro smiled and said, “After all, his spatial greatsword was manifested from the spatial laws of nature power that is pure immortality essence.”
“Exactly!”
Meng Lei nodded as he stopped the time freeze. The Space Dominus’s thoughts and consciousness started to run and operate, but he was horrified at what he saw.
He saw his own divine body.
He saw his head split into halves.
He saw the Chief God divine core in Meng Lei’s hand.
“How did this happen?”
The Space Dominus was shocked and horrified at the scene as he shouted hysterically.
“O great Space Dominus, let’s not be agitated and relax a bit!”
Meng Lei looked at the Chief God divine core in his hand and gave a sly laugh. “After all, no matter how agitated you are, it won’t change the fact that you’re going to die in my hands!”
“Knave, how dare you destroy my divine body and snatch away my divine core!” The Space Dominus widened his eyes to the point of splitting. “I’m a supreme Juggernaut, the highest order of existence in the entire universe! How dare you!”
“You might be honorable in the past, but not anymore!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “Without the Chief God divine core, you’re just a Supreme Great Perfection deity who comprehended the spatial laws of nature. Wait, you’re not even a Supreme Great Perfection deity since your divine spirit is still in my hands!”
“Knave! You treacherous, unforgivable, heinous—”
The Space Dominus broke down. He would never have imagined that an existence like him would end up in this state one day. He was a supreme Juggernaut, after all!
“You’re too noisy!”
Meng Lei frowned slightly with some annoyance. He knew that taking out the Space Dominus’ Chief God divine core was simple, but it would be really difficult to destroy the divine spirit within the divine core.
Apart from the fact that the Space Dominus’ divine spirit was imperishable, just the Juggernaut-class divine spirit was something Meng Lei could not kill at his current level. His divine spirit was only at the level of a lesser Chief God, so the gap between him and the divine spirit of the Space Dominus was almost insurmountable to close.
The Grim Reaper’s Eye?
It would be too tough now.
Meng Lei’s divine spirit was too weak after all.
“System, enhance my divine spirit!” Meng Lei ordered.
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to a lesser Chief God’s and will rival that of an intermediate Chief God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 100 trillion Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
“Again, system!”
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to an intermediate Chief God’s and will rival that of a higher Chief God’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“5,000 t-trillion?”
Meng Lei swept a look at the stats interface as he became stuck in a dilemma. He had 12,709 trillion Divinity Crystals left, but 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals were left for the comprehension of the destruction laws of nature and the life laws of nature. Hence, he would have 2,709 trillion Divinity Crystals left.
It’s not enough for 5000 trillion!
A gleam flashed past Meng Lei’s eyes.
How much can I earn if I kill the Space Dominus? 5,000 trillion should not be an issue, right? It’s a supreme Juggernaut, after all!
With such a thought in mind, Meng Lei promptly gave the order. “System, enhance it!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth went down by 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals.
An incomparable warm current surged into his sea of consciousness and started to enhance Meng Lei’s divine spirit incessantly. After a few minutes, the process finally came to an end.
At that moment, Meng Lei felt that his divine spirit was never so powerful before. It was as deep as the ocean and as vast and boundless as the starry skies. The range of his divine cognition could easily cover tens of thousands of light-years, making it terribly powerful.
“Kill! Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
" }, { "id": 409, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-409", "title": "Chapter 409 - Eternal Divine Spirit, Big Golden Tree", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 409: Eternal Divine Spirit, Big Golden Tree
The divine spirits of a higher Chief God and a lesser Chief God were entirely different. If Meng Lei had no confidence in killing the divine spirit of the Space Dominus, now he was 100% sure that he could finish off the divine spirit.
Why?
The difference between a Juggernaut and a higher Chief God was only half the comprehension of one supreme laws of nature, and Meng Lei already completely comprehended two.
“Kill! Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
Meng Lei opened the Grim Reaper’s Eye in between his brows as a tricolored divine light burst forth, aiming directly at the divine core of the Space Dominus.
Buzz!
The tricolored divine light penetrated the divine core and engulfed the divine spirit as it started to extract and separate it from the Space Dominus.
“Damn it!”
The Space Dominus was aghast as he struggled madly. Meng Lei let out a cold snort and used another Time Freeze on the Space Dominus, immobilizing him on the spot.
Whoosh!
Without resistance, Meng Lei extracted the divine spirit from the divine core effortlessly into his Grim Reaper’s Eye.
As the ‘pulverizer’ within the Grim Reaper’s Eye started to pulverize the divine spirit, Meng Lei felt the true extent of the strength of a Juggernaut’s divine spirit.
No matter how the ‘pulverizer’ tried to grind and crush it, the divine spirit of the Space Dominus was like a sticky candy that was too tough to swallow.
“A divine spirit modified by the Eternal Energy is that tough?” Meng Lei was dismayed.
“That’s a certainty!” Moro gave a faint smile. “The Eternal Energy is the same as the powers of supreme laws of nature. They are all undying substances that will never be destroyed. Divine spirits and divine bodies that were modified by Eternal Energy would share the same special attribute.
“See for yourself.”
Moro pointed to the Space Dominus’ divine core and said with a smile, “His head was slashed open by his spatial greatsword just now. But it only took a little while for his head to regenerate as if nothing had happened to it.”
Meng Lei looked over, and the head was indeed restored as before. It was sleek and smooth without any visible scars.
“That’s freaky indeed,” Meng Lei exclaimed. “But there’ll always be a way.”
“You know a way to destroy the Space Dominus’ divine spirit?” Moro raised an eyebrow as he asked.
“We’ll know once I try.” Meng Lei chuckled and ordered, “System, plunder the Eternal Energy within the Space Dominus’ divine spirit.”
“Ding! Plundering target: Divine spirit of the Space Dominus. Target substance: Eternal Energy. Plundering cost is estimated at 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you plunder it?”
“…”
Meng Lei had an urge to curse badly.
I didn’t let you plunder the divine core of the Space Dominus in the first place just to cut my expenses, thinking that the price was too outrageous.
Now great, I had already extracted his divine spirit, and the price is still so outrageous. You’re bullying an honest man, aren’t you?
I would rather not kill the Space Dominus’ divine spirit and rather let him go than to spend so much money just to plunder this Eternal Energy!
“Ding! Will you plunder it?”
“Plunder it!”
Whoosh!
An inexplicable force from an unseen world enveloped the divine spirit of the Space Dominus as it began to extract the Eternal Energy from within. The Space Dominus did not struggle and scream…
Time was frozen for him after all.
After around two minutes, the Eternal Energy within the divine spirit seemed to be gone as the cue tone of the system rang. “Ding! You’ve obtained Eternal Energy. Will you assimilate it?”
“Assimilate it,” Meng Lei perked up, “Into my divine spirit!”
Whoosh!
Meng Lei had only just spoken when colorless and odorless energy that was lukewarm was injected into his divine spirit.
Immediately after, his divine spirit underwent unknown changes. No strengthening, no compressing as nothing could be felt. The entire process was like water diffusing into alcohol silently.
“That’s it? That’s the whole assimilation process? There was no feeling at all!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly while pure, condensed energy rushed into his sea of consciousness and entered his divine spirit. It was only then that Meng Lei realized that the Grim Reaper’s Eye had already crushed the Space Dominus’ divine spirit…
“Ding! Space Dominus killed. 2 Supreme Divinity Crystals gained!”
Meng Lei smiled. Without Eternal Energy, the divine spirit of the Space Dominus was no longer imperishable, while the Grim Reaper’s Eye had done its job.
“This Eternal Energy is indeed dramatically good!
“But, I didn’t expect that I could obtain 2 Supreme Divinity Crystals from killing him.”
2 Supreme Divinity Crystals equaled 20,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, after all.
It did not just cover the 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals he had spent, but there were also another 10,000 trillion Divinity Crystals. He struck another fortune this time.
Meng Lei swept a glance at his stats interface.
Wealth: 22,709 trillion Divinity Crystals
“22,000 Divinity Crystals will be enough to comprehend the life, destruction, and death laws of nature. Killing is the one and only way to get rich!”
Meng Lei remarked as he kept the divine core and divine body of the Space Dominus.
He placed the divine core together with the other 11 Chief God divine cores while the divine body got thrown to the little golden tree in the Tower of Time.
If it was any other divine body, Meng Lei could not care less. However, the Space Dominus’ divine body was different as it contained Eternal Energy. He wanted to know whether this mysterious ‘little’ tree could devour Eternal Energy.
After devouring countless bodies of deities, it had grown into a big golden tree. Branches flourished from the tree, as the golden tree was like a luxurious art piece that emanated an aura of class.
Swoosh!
Upon sensing the presence of the Space Dominus’ divine body, the golden tree’s roots started to move over.
Stab, stab, stab.
The roots easily penetrated the indestructible divine body of the Space Dominus and started to absorb its life essence.
A Juggernaut-class divine body would naturally contain a massive amount of life essence as the golden tree absorbed and grew at a visible speed.
110 meters, 120 meters, 130 meters…
At the same time, the Space Dominus’ divine body dried up at a visible speed as well.
After around ten minutes, the body had become a piece of dried-up skin which dissipated into the air when a slight wind blew.
“The Space Dominus’ divine body is gone just like that? Isn’t it imperishable and absolutely eternal? What about the Eternal Energy within?”
Meng Lei looked dazed as he knew how great the defense of that divine body was—ignoring the fact that the golden tree could penetrate the body with ease, what happened to Eternal Energy and its special characteristic of indestructibility?
Nothing!
Nothing at all!
Or rather, it became useless.
“Why is the divine body of the Space Dominus no different from the bodies of other deities in front of the little golden tree?”
Meng Lei was getting increasingly curious about the background of the golden tree. It was a pity that no one could answer him, and he could only find it out himself.
“Never mind, I’ll look into it later.”
Meng Lei left the Tower of Time and gave orders to the system.
“System, buy credit for the life laws of nature.”
“System, buy credit for the destruction laws of nature.”
“System, buy credit for the death laws of nature.”
" }, { "id": 410, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-410", "title": "Chapter 410 - Fully Comprehending Them All, The Three Juggernauts Make Their", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 410: Fully Comprehending Them All, The Three Juggernauts Make Their Appearance
Buying credit for three types of supreme laws of nature one after another drained Meng Lei of 15,000 trillion Divinity Crystals right away. However, the move brought about an extremely astonishing effect.
Meng Lei’s field of view was currently filled with endless laws of nature chains.
There were purplish-red chains that represented destruction laws of nature; ghastly white chains that represented death laws of nature; jade-green chains that represented life laws of nature; and of course, golden chains that represented time-based laws of nature, and bright silver chains that represented spatial laws of nature.
Apart from these, there were also chains formed by the ten basic laws of nature. They were derived from the five supreme laws of nature, but compared to the supreme laws of nature chains themselves, the basic laws of nature chains were just like fireflies beside the radiant, blazing sun or little lakes at the edges of the vast ocean…
They weren’t in the same league at all!
These supreme laws of nature chains correlated well with one another and also combined with one another in an extremely harmonious manner. They filled up every corner of the vast universe, reigning over the almost boundless universe itself.
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the area quickly. These incomparably mysterious, profound, complex, and abstruse supreme laws of nature that—despite exhausting countless years of research on them—even the Supreme Juggernauts found hard to fully understand were, however, clearly visible to Meng Lei.
The meaning behind every chain segment and the profoundness of each chain—they were all as simple as 1+1=2 to him. They held no secrets at all.
It was no exaggeration to say that in this very instant where Meng Lei fully and thoroughly comprehended the five supreme laws of nature, it was as if the vast universe had become a naked young lady in his eyes—all of its secrets had been revealed!
In fact… Meng Lei could even see the powers of supreme laws of nature!
At the “tail” of every supreme laws of nature chain was a mysterious dimension filled with an endless mist made up of five different colors—soft, gentle golden mist; dazzling bright silver mist; jade-green mist brimming with life and vigor; purplish-red mist filled with the aura of destruction; and ghastly white mist containing an endless amount of aura of death.
This was another undying substance that corresponded to supreme laws of nature—the Power of Supreme Laws of Nature.
As long as Meng Lei wanted to, he could, at any time, mobilize and use these supreme laws of nature and Power of Supreme Laws of Nature to battle, modify, enhance…
“Supreme laws of nature! And Power of Supreme Laws of Nature!”
Meng Lei heaved a long, drawn-out sigh. Astonishment and marvel filled his eyes as he remarked, “These are two types of undying substances! Undying substances that I can totally mobilize and use!”
Mobilizing and using undying substances—what kind of concept was that?
Perhaps Meng Lei wouldn’t have understood in the past, but after chatting about so much with Moro, how would he possibly not understand what mobilizing undying substances meant?
It meant that he could extract these two types of undying substances to modify his divine body and divine spirit. This way, he would attain an immortal soul and an immortal divine body, thereby safely surviving the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process…
“What exactly are you doing, kid?”
Moro’s anxious voice rang out beside his ear at this point. He chided, “The three Juggernauts are already on their way here to kill you, yet you’re still spacing out? Are you tired of living?!”
Meng Lei snapped back to reality with a start to see anxiety all over Moro’s visage.
“What’s the matter, Moro?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow and asked.
“Goddamn it, you’ve finally come to!”
Moro heaved a long sigh of relief. Then, he barked, “Spread your senses and feel it for yourself. The three Juggernauts have already marched straight to the Earth Divine Realm. Hurry up and flee!”
“They are already here?”
Meng Lei slightly spread his senses into the surroundings, upon which he indeed sensed three incredibly fearsome auras. Deep as a chasm and bottomless like the ocean, their auras were in no way inferior to the Space Dominus’. On top of that, there were also about 100 other slightly weaker auras around those three auras—those were the auras of almost 100 Chief Gods.
“Tsk, tsk! They’re finally here!” The corners of Meng Lei’s lips curled upward as he commented, “They’ve kept me waiting for so long!”
“What are you spacing out here for? Hurry and run!”
Upon seeing Meng Lei standing idly on the spot like a wooden block, Moro became so anxious that he barked, “That’s three Juggernauts teaming up with almost 100 Chief Gods! You have no chance of winning at all. Hurry up and run! Otherwise, you’ll be dead meat for sure!”
“Run?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. “That’s nothing more than just three Juggernauts. They aren’t qualified enough to make me run upon hearing about their arrivals yet.”
“You won’t be able to fight a mob by yourself, kid!”
Moro berated him. “Perhaps you can kill a Juggernaut when they are alone, but there’s no comparing that with the joint destructive power of three Juggernauts and 100 Chief Gods. How can you resist them when you’re just a lone person? Hurry up and run instead. Where’s there’s life, there’s hope!”
“Save your breath, Moro.”
Meng Lei shook his head with a smile and said, “Be it three Juggernauts or a hundred, they are but just people who enjoy a reputation unwarranted by any real skill. My strength is far beyond what you can imagine!”
Exasperated at Meng Lei’s response, Moro said, “You’ve become too full of yourself, kid. To think you don’t even think much of the three great Juggernauts anymore!”
“You’ll see whether or not I’ve become too full of myself or not later!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile and said no more.
“Fine, I’ll wait and see, then!”
…
The three Juggernauts and Chief Gods that numbered almost a hundred of them moved at the same time. Moreover, they didn’t bother concealing the force of their presence at all. Thus, the resulting aura was naturally incomparably fearsome.
Everywhere they passed by, innumerable deities were left unable to even lift their heads in their wake. Their presence also alarmed innumerable experts, causing a great furor to go through the Earth Divine Realm.
“W-what fearsome pressure and might!
“What kind of experts are those, exactly?!”
“All of them must at least be Great Perfection deities!”
“Great Perfection? Even Chief Gods aren’t as powerful as that!”
Even though they couldn’t teleport in the Earth Divine Realm, the three Juggernauts and Chief Gods nevertheless moved at high speeds that far exceeded that of any other expert there.
A few hours later, they finally arrived in the sky above the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains.
“They’re finally here!”
Meng Lei slowly got up, a hint of a smile surfacing in his eyes as he gazed at the three Juggernauts and close to a hundred Chief Gods making their grand appearances.
Dressed in purplish-red robes, the Destruction Dominus had a head of long purplish-red hair and a pair of purplish-red eyes. The aura of destruction surged powerfully around him. It soundlessly wrecked the void around him, causing a barely-discernible black hole to form.
The Death Dominus was a skinny, haggard-looking elderly man. Hunched over and trembling all over, it seemed like even a gust of wind could knock him off his feet.
The Life Dominus was a raving beauty. Her long jade-green hair cascaded like a waterfall. There was a strong air of exuberance and vitality around her, and she gave off a rich aura of vitality and vigor.
The three Juggernauts’ stately and dignified gazes immediately fell onto Meng Lei the moment they appeared, looking up and down as if they were trying to see through him.
“Where’s the Space Dominus, knave?”
Killing intent showed in the Life Dominus’ eyes, and she gravely barked a question at Meng Lei. Her voice was originally very light and gentle, much like the March spring breeze that refreshed and invigorated one’s senses.
But in this instant, all everyone could feel was just an iciness that chilled one to the bones welling up in their hearts, and they couldn’t help but shiver. Her voice was simply too cold.
“The Space Dominus? I’ve killed him,” replied Meng Lei simply.
“What did you just say?”
“You’ve… You’ve killed him?”
Meng Lei had answered casually as if he were just touching on the subject lightly, but his words were no less impactful than a nuclear bomb explosion. They set off frightful billows and raging waves in the Juggernauts’ and Chief Gods’ hearts.
Who was the Space Dominus?
That was one of the four great Juggernauts of the vast universe! He was someone that truly stood at the very pinnacle of power in the whole of the universe! How could he possibly have died?
“Don’t talk rubbish, knave.”
The Life Dominus said coldly, “Not only is the Space Dominus immortal and undying, but he also wields the power of spatial laws of nature. Even if he is no match for you, he can very well leave easily. No one in the whole world can kill him!”
The Destruction Dominus, the Death Dominus, and the Chief Gods nodded. If one must pick someone among the four Juggernauts as the one who was the hardest to kill, it would be the Space Dominus.
He had comprehended spatial laws of nature and could easily cross a distance of endless light-years with a single teleport. His ability to flee for his life was undoubtedly the strongest in the world. Killing him?
Not even the three Juggernauts could do it even if they were to team up!
“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. What matters is that all of you are going to die!”
" }, { "id": 411, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-411", "title": "Chapter 411 - Time Prison, The Power Of Destruction", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 411: Time Prison, The Power of Destruction
Strong gusts of cold winds blew. An exceedingly stifling atmosphere filled the sky above the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains.
The three great Juggernauts from the supreme Celestial Realm and the 134 Chief Gods from the ten Divine Realms stood proudly in the air. Every one of them gave off a strong, surging aura that seemed as deep as the abyss and as bottomless as the oceans. Opposite them stood Meng Lei, a lone man.
On one side were the three great Juggernauts and 134 Chief Gods, while on the other was Meng Lei!
Judging from the lineup alone, the two parties were in two completely different leagues. There was no comparability between the two at all.
Anyone would be scared witless and lose every ounce of battle spirit if they were surrounded by the three Juggernauts and 134 Chief Gods, yet Meng Lei was calm and collected, his demeanor light and casual. It was as if he wasn’t facing the three great Juggernauts and 134 Chief Gods but a bunch of cats and dogs instead.
“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not,” Meng Lei waved lightly and said, “What matters is that all of you are about to die!”
“Die?”
The three Juggernauts and 134 Chief Gods were mildly taken aback for a moment when they heard Meng Lei’s words, but soon after, they let out contemptuous scoffs of laughter as looks of disdain and mockery came over their faces.
The Death Dominus cackled, his voice incredibly hoarse and ear-piercing. He said, “Kid, I don’t know what you’ve done to the Space Dominus, but… Killing us? Are you still in your dreams?”
“How arrogant and presumptuous!”
The Destruction Dominus let out a cold snort.
“You overestimate yourself,” said the Life Dominus coldly.
A Chief God with a pair of horns on his hand also ordered coldly, “The three great Juggernauts are standing before you, knave! Get onto your knees, kowtow, and own up to your mistakes! What are you still waiting for?”
“Get onto your knees!”
“Get onto your knees!”
“Get onto your knees!”
The other Chief Gods also spoke up one after another. Roiling sound waves converged and formed a majestic torrent of voices that surged brazenly toward Meng Lei from everywhere.
Boom!
Had it been anyone else facing these shocking and earth-shattering torrents of voices, the resulting reverberations would already have knocked them dead a long time ago. Even if they survived, their souls would also end up destroyed.
However, Meng Lei remained unmoved as though it was the spring breeze caressing his face. No matter how the torrent of voices pressed down upon him, he simply stood steadily where he was like a bastion of stability from start to finish.
“You want me to get onto my knees? With the likes of you?”
Meng Lei shook his head with a scoff and said, “I’m not looking down on you, but I just want to say that be it a Juggernaut or a Chief God, all of them are… Trash!”
“How dare you!”
The three Juggernauts’ expressions turned cold at once. Towering divine power gushed out of them and crushed down brazenly upon Meng Lei like great surging tidal waves, seemingly trying to flatten him onto the ground.
It was just a shame that Meng Lei still remained calm and unaffected even against such vast and mighty divine power. He said, “You said just now that I’ve become too full of myself, Moro. Open your eyes wide and watch this closely now, and see whether I’ve become too full of myself or not!”
“What are you intending to do?” asked Moro in a low voice.
“You’ll see right away!”
A dispassionate smile graced Meng Lei’s lips. Then, he reached out a finger and barked, “Where are you, time-based laws of nature?”
Buzz!
A golden laws of nature chain suddenly came from the sky above the moment he spoke.
The laws of nature chain emanated a vast aura of time. The sight of it gave different people completely different feels.
Ancient and decayed!
Prosperous and flourishing!
Distant and eternal!
While everyone was still immersed in their unique moments of enlightenment, the golden chain split into two, then into four, and next into eight. Then, the eight golden chains attacked the Juggernauts and the others from eight different directions.
“These are time-based laws of nature chains! Get back!”
The three Juggernauts retreated with a burst of speed. Their movement speeds were beyond comparison, and they went 10 million kilometers away in an instant, successfully evading the eight chains’ siege.
The Chief Gods, however, weren’t so lucky. Not only were they half a beat slower, but the eight golden chains also moved incredibly swiftly, and they ended up becoming surrounded by the chains.
Buzz!
The eight laws of nature chains instantly linked together to form a golden prison of chains that imprisoned the 134 Chief Gods.
“Damn it!”
“C’mon, break!!”
Greatly alarmed, the 134 Chief Gods turned pale, and they quickly began to attack the laws of nature cage. However, something that shocked and dismayed them happened—as though the laws of nature cage was just an illusory one, all their attacks passed right through the cage upon landing. They didn’t affect the cage in the least.
“I can’t attack it?”
“How did that happen?”
The Chief Gods found this incredible. The golden cage was clearly imprisoning them within, and they couldn’t escape from it at all, so why couldn’t they attack it?
“That’s Time Prison!”
“Based on how he can mobilize time-based laws of nature to attack at will, it looks like he’s already fully comprehended time-based laws of nature!”
“He’s… Fully comprehended time-based laws of nature?”
“It’ll… probably be very difficult for us to kill him!”
All three Juggernauts wore awful looks on their faces. Time-based laws of nature was a type of supreme laws of nature, and every type of supreme laws of nature possessed entirely different powers.
Destruction laws of nature ruled over destruction;
Death laws of nature ruled over death;
Life laws of nature ruled over life;
Spatial laws of nature ruled over dimensional space;
In the same vein, time-based laws of nature definitely ruled over time itself!
Time was intangible. Time-based laws of nature’s destructive abilities might not be as great as that of destruction laws of nature and death laws of nature, but their strange and peculiar nature made them highly elusive and enigmatic!
Most importantly, no one had fully mastered time-based laws of nature prior to Meng Lei. Therefore, none of the Juggernauts had any experience in battling time-based laws of nature.
This was what gave the three Juggernauts the biggest headache!
“Damn it!”
“I can’t attack it!”
“How did this happen?”
The 134 Chief Gods trapped in the Time Prison were unusually anxious. Their attacks couldn’t even touch the cage at all. How were they supposed to fight this?
“You actually want to punish me? With the likes of all of you?”
Meng Lei took step after step toward the Time Prison and went right up to it. A look of slight disdain surfaced in his eyes as he gazed at the panic-stricken Chief Gods.
“You knave! Release me if you dare!”
A Behemoth Chief God with firm, intertwining muscles and golden fur all over him shouted fiercely, “What’s so impressive about using this kind of weird method to trap us? Release me and fight me head-on if you dare!”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the Behemoth Chief God. His divine body was strong and powerful, and he gave off astonishing divine power. The aura around him was much more powerful than the Behemoth Chief God whom Meng Lei had previously killed.
He was evidently a higher Chief God!
“You want to fight head-on with me?” Meng Lei shook his head with a smile and said, “Sure, I’ll satisfy your request!”
Meng Lei gave a grand wave and sent the Behemoth Chief God out of the Time Prison. The moment he appeared, the Behemoth Chief God let out a roar and smashed its fist toward Meng Lei.
His divine body was strong and powerful, and he possessed Herculean strength. His punch was powerful enough to smash any intermediate Chief God dead, and even most higher Chief Gods would have to shy away from it.
Unfortunately…
Meng Lei shook his head a little. A purplish-red ball of energy formed at his fingertip, becoming bigger and bigger. By the time the Behemoth Chief God’s fist reached him, the energy ball had already become as big as a basketball.
“Go!”
With a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, the energy ball crashed full frontal into the Behemoth Chief God’s fist.
Buzz!
A shocking sight ensued—the iron fist that carried a fierce momentum and was mighty enough to smash the Nidhogg Continent into bits and pieces was instantly destroyed the moment it came into contact with the energy ball. As though it was a moth that had stumbled straight into bubbling lava, next was his forearm, his upper arm, and at last, his shoulder…
“How can this be?”
The Behemoth Chief God stared at his right arm that had soundlessly disappeared upon being destroyed, his eyes big and round. Shock and incredulity filled his eyes.
“No matter how powerful your divine body is, in the face of destruction laws of nature, it has no choice but to be destroyed and disappear!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly. This was what destruction laws of nature were like—they soundlessly destroyed and wiped out everything without needing much ado.
A couple of breaths later, the energy ball continued to float undamaged in the air, whereas the Behemoth Chief God had vanished—for life. The energy ball had completely annihilated him, leaving behind nothing at all.
At the sight of this, the other 133 Chief Gods trapped in the Time Prison felt their scalps going numb.
“The power of destruction laws of nature!”
“Damn! That’s the power of destruction laws of nature!”
" }, { "id": 412, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-412", "title": "Chapter 412 - Battling The Three Juggernauts", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 412: Battling The Three Juggernauts
Although supreme laws of nature were indeed unsurpassed and paramount to many Chief Gods, they weren’t actually that far off from them.
Intermediate Chief Gods and higher Chief Gods made up one-third of the 133 Chief Gods. Now, these were all entities that had managed to comprehend the existence of supreme laws of nature, and among them were no lack of Chief Gods that had started to comprehend destruction laws of nature!
This group of Chief Gods had recognized at first glance the purplish-red energy ball that Meng Lei had tossed out. That was destruction laws of nature—or rather, the power of destruction laws of nature!
Destruction laws of nature ruled over the domain of destruction. Only destruction laws of nature could soundlessly destroy a higher Chief God and render it into nothingness.
“Damn! Has that guy also comprehended destruction laws of nature?”
“He’s already comprehended time-based laws of nature, and now he’s also comprehended destruction laws of nature. Isn’t that a little too incredible?!”
“I really don’t know how that knave managed to do it!”
The 133 Chief Gods found it astonishing and incredible. As for the three Juggernauts, the shock and horror in their hearts were even stronger and more intense, especially the Destruction Dominus… He had an awful look on his face.
“He mobilized the power of destruction laws of nature to attack so easily!” The Life Dominus turned to the Destruction Dominus and asked, “Disaryl, to what degree has his comprehension of destruction laws of nature reached?”
“You know very well the answer, so why bother asking me?” Sharp killing intent permeated the Destruction Dominus’ eyes. “Die! He must die!”
“Yes, he must!”
The Life Dominus said with a frown, “But he’s already comprehended time-based laws of nature and destruction laws of nature. It’s very difficult to kill him.”
“Even so, he still has to!”
The Destruction Dominus snarled, “I am the only one in this vast universe that’s allowed to fully comprehend destruction laws of nature! Anyone else that comprehends destruction laws of nature… Must die!”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus nodded, neither of them saying any more.
Elsewhere…
“Fight head-on with me? You’re not tough enough!”
Meng Lei smiled aloofly. Destruction laws of nature were indeed fearsome. Even a lofty higher Chief God had been totally destroyed, leaving behind only a Chief God divine core!
Meng Lei casually grabbed the Chief God divine core and used his Grim Reaper’s Eye to blast the Behemoth Chief God’s divine spirit apart, thoroughly killing him. Then, he kept the Chief God divine core.
“Ding! 1 Behemoth Chief God killed. 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals gained.” A timely system notification rang out.
“Not bad!”
5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals was no small sum of money. A satisfied smile involuntarily appeared on Meng Lei’s face, and he turned to the other 133 Chief Gods. There were quite a few higher Chief Gods among them. He would definitely earn a nice little sum of money if he killed them all.
Upon sensing Meng Lei’s gaze, the 133 Chief Gods felt a pang of alarm arise within them, and a hint of bone-chilling iciness ran up their spines. Even someone as strong as the Behemoth Chief God had been instantly killed, so how could they possibly be Meng Lei’s match? Especially when he was looking at them as if he was looking at his prey?
“Your Holinesses, s-save us!”
“Juggernauts, save us!”
“O great Juggernauts, please, I beg you…”
The 133 Chief Gods cried out for help, their voices turning hoarse from shouting. At the same time, they also fervently attacked the Time Prison. They didn’t care even if their attacks couldn’t even touch the Time Prison, launching all sorts of attacks as if they didn’t cost a thing…
“Attack!”
“Kill him!”
“Attack with full power and suppress him!”
The three Juggernauts exchanged looks with one another. Then, they transformed into three streaks of light that shot toward Meng Lei, trapping him in the middle before launching their attacks.
“Descension of The Life Realm!”
The Life Dominus gave a light shout. Endless green chains formed out of thin air and transformed into innumerable green vines that extended toward Meng Lei in an attempt to bind him.
These were vines formed from life laws of nature. They could no longer be merely described as “tough, flexible, and indestructible”. It was impossible for one to destroy them unless the power of laws of nature on a similar grade was used!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As though they were ferocious poisonous snakes, several green vines wound swiftly around Meng Lei, trapping him within and wrapping him into a dumpling.
“I’ve caught him!”
The Life Dominus was delighted. She had been worried that Meng Lei would use time-based laws of nature, which would make him difficult to capture. But now that she had caught him, things would become a lot easier.
“Life Deprivation!”
With a glare from the Life Dominus, sharp thorns immediately emerged from the vines winding around Meng Lei, stabbing into him and absorbing his life force.
The vines boasted an extremely fearsome absorption rate and could suck a higher Chief God dry in just a few seconds.
The Life Dominus was sure that she could extract all of Meng Lei’s life essence as long as she could get a few seconds of time. When that happened, he would be doomed for sure!
“As expected of the Life Dominus! You’re so adept at using life laws of nature.” Marvel filled Meng Lei as he took in the vines’ fearsome devouring ability’s sensation. “It’s just a shame that this move of yours doesn’t work against me!”
“Quit bragging, knave!”
The Life Dominus snorted and said, “I’m about to turn you into human jerky, yet you still have the guts to speak such conceited nonsense. You practically don’t even know what you’re saying!”
“You’re about to turn me into human jerky? That’s not necessarily true!”
Meng Lei let out a chuckle, upon which the vines that had originally been furiously absorbing his life force quietly stopped. Then, they started to let go of Meng Lei, unwinding round by round…
“What?”
A huge jolt went through the Life Dominus at the sight, and her pretty eyes widened so huge that they almost popped out of their sockets. “H-how… did… you…”
“Surprised?”
Meng Lei smiled and lightly snapped his fingers. One by one, the vines left him and started to dance in the air around him.
This almost frightened the Life Dominus to death. She exclaimed, “Life laws of nature! You’ve actually also comprehended life laws of nature?!”
“Bingo! Unfortunately… It’s too late!”
Meng Lei reached out and pointed at the Life Dominus. The innumerable vines immediately switched targets and hurtled toward her.
Blood drained from the Life Dominus’ face, and she hastily used her life laws of nature in an attempt to take back control of the vines. However, it was at this point that she suddenly froze where she was and was rendered immobile.
Evidently, this was due to time-based laws of nature—they had confined the Life Dominus!
“Kill him!”
The Destruction Dominus’ and the Death Dominus’ attacks also reached at this point.
A purplish-red energy ball that emanated torrential power of destruction and a huge white bone claw formed completely from ghastly white mist rushed toward Meng Lei at the same time.
The purplish-red energy ball was formed completely from power of destruction and thus contained a fearsome amount of power of destruction. Even a higher Chief God like the Behemoth Chief God would be completely obliterated and suffer a bad end if the energy ball were to hit him.
The bone claw was manifested from the power of death, and an aura of death suffused the air around it. Should one come into physical contact with it, their vitality would undoubtedly be taken from them, and they would lose their life at once.
“Both your attacks are very swift and fierce. Unfortunately… It’s useless!”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly. Then, he raised his arms and made a light grabbing motion. At once, the energy ball and bone claw that contained fearsome power of destruction and power of death became as docile as lambs and ended up being held by Meng Lei.
“Damn it!”
“How can this be?!”
The Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus were horror-stricken. It still made some sense that Meng Lei could grab the power of destruction energy ball—after all, he had managed to comprehend destruction laws of nature—but what the heck was he grabbing the death claw supposed to mean? Had he comprehended death laws of nature, too?
“As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s lips quirked upward slightly as he said, “Here, have a taste of your own attacks, too!”
“Retreat!”
The Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus retreated with a burst of speed without a second thought. Yet before they could go far, they became frozen to where they were—it was time-based laws of nature again!
“The five supreme laws of nature are of the same grade. None of them are any more superior or inferior to another. If I hadn’t comprehended destruction laws of nature and death laws of nature, your attacks would totally have wounded me. But by the same reasoning, my time-based laws of nature can also wound you!”
" }, { "id": 413, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-413", "title": "Chapter 413 - The Supreme Celestial Realm, Semi-Supreme God", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 413: The Supreme Celestial Realm, Semi-Supreme God
Before Meng Lei had comprehended destruction laws of nature and death laws of nature, he definitely wouldn’t have dared to receive the power of destruction energy ball and the death claw with his bare hands. All he could do was avoid them—because destruction laws of nature and death laws of nature were entirely capable of causing harm to him.
By the same reasoning, Meng Lei’s time-based laws of nature were naturally also capable of causing harm to the Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus. Frozen to the spot, they couldn’t move at all.
“As they say, it doesn’t fulfill propriety if one doesn’t return as good as they receive! Here, have a taste of your own attacks, too!”
Meng Lei soundlessly appeared in front of the two Juggernauts. Then, with a light push of his hands, he returned the purplish-red power of destruction energy ball and the ghastly-white bone claw to them.
Buzz!
The power of destruction energy ball struck the Destruction Dominus.
Bam!
The huge claw hit the Death Dominus squarely.
The energy ball exploded soundlessly and engulfed the Destruction Dominus while the Death Dominus, whom the bone claw had hit, coughed up a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying.
It was clear within a single move who was superior to the other!
“(⊙o⊙)”
The 133 Chief Gods in the Time Prison became shocked and horror-stricken right away. Never in their wildest dreams would they have ever imagined that the two Juggernauts would actually be absolutely powerless against Meng Lei!
“How did that happen?”
“Those are the two Juggernauts! Yet they… they…”
“Atta boy! You’ve actually comprehended life laws of nature, destruction laws of nature, and death laws of nature! This is just… I don’t even know what I should be saying anymore!”
Like the others, Moro was also astonished. Meng Lei had displayed the life laws of nature, destruction laws of nature, and death laws of nature that he had comprehended during the brief exchange of blows just now. Together with the time-based laws of nature and spatial laws of nature that he had also comprehended, that was the full set of all five supreme laws of nature!
Meng Lei had… Fully comprehended the five supreme laws of nature? News of this could totally shock anyone to death!
Meng Lei asked casually, “Am I still too full of myself?”
“Yeah, right!”
Moro snorted and said, “By fully comprehending all five supreme laws of nature, your strength has completely surpassed a Juggernaut’s and can be even said to be a Semi-Supreme God. How can mere Juggernauts like those four possibly be your match?”
“A Semi-Supreme God? What a shame that I’m ultimately still not a Supreme God!”
Meng Lei shook his head with a laugh as a hint of longing flashed across his eyes. What was a Supreme God?
Someone that had comprehended genesis laws of nature!
To comprehend genesis laws of nature, one would have to fuse supreme laws of nature first!
Time-based laws of nature + Spatial laws of nature = Space-time laws of nature;
Life laws of nature + Destruction laws of nature = Destiny laws of nature;
Destruction laws of nature + Death laws of nature = Order laws of nature;
Space-time!
Destiny!
Order!
These were the three great genesis laws of nature!
Since Meng Lei had fully comprehended the five supreme laws of nature, there was hope for him in fusing the various pairs of supreme laws of nature, thereby comprehending genesis laws of nature and attaining the position of a Supreme God of The Universe!
But the problem was—how was he supposed to fuse these supreme laws of nature together?
Fusing basic laws of nature together was already an incredibly difficult task, let alone supreme laws of nature?
One could easily imagine just how high the level of difficulty involved in this was!
Could he rely on the system?
But where was he supposed to pick up genesis laws of nature fragments from?
Elsewhere…
The power of destruction energy ball had finally dissipated after his own attack struck the Destruction Dominus. However, the Destruction Dominus currently looked like he was in an exceedingly pathetic state.
A small half of his divine body had been obliterated, though, under the effects of Eternal Energy, his divine body was already swiftly repairing itself. His bloodshot eyes, which brimmed with endless killing intent and hatred, bore deeply into Meng Lei.
The Death Dominus wasn’t any better. The huge bone claw had nearly taken him apart. He might appear to be in much better condition than the Destruction Dominus on the surface, but the reality was that he was also heavily injured and wasn’t in any better condition.
“Damn it! That goddamn worm!”
The Death Dominus let out a deep bellow. It had been so many years since the last time he suffered any injuries, yet he had suffered such grievous ones today.
Meng Lei!
It was all thanks to Meng Lei!
“Let’s attack with our full power later, Disaryl. We must kill him!” shouted the Death Dominus.
“I also hate him to the core, but… It’s going to be very difficult to kill him!”
The Destruction Dominus bellowed deeply, “You saw that, didn’t you? He’s already fully comprehended your death laws of nature, my destruction laws of nature, life laws of nature, and time-based laws of nature! He has four great supreme laws of nature gathered all within himself. We can’t kill him at all!”
“That may not necessarily be the case!”
The Death Dominus spoke in a hoarse voice, “Although supreme laws of nature are unsurpassed and paramount, they are not impossible to fight back against. Don’t forget, we still have the supreme Celestial Realm!”
“The supreme Celestial Realm?”
A huge jolt went through the Destruction Dominus.
“That’s right, the supreme Celestial Realm!”
The Death Dominus lowered his voice and said, “The supreme Celestial Realm is one of the only two supreme existential planes in the vast universe. The supreme Power of Existential Plane it contains is strong enough to fight against supreme laws of nature. We need only to combine our efforts and transfer the supreme Celestial Realm’s power over, and we’ll be able to suppress him!”
“Indeed!”
Sudden enlightenment came over the Destruction Dominus upon the Death Dominus’ words, and he couldn’t help but curse under his breath, “We were too careless this time. Had we been in the supreme Celestial Realm, how would he possibly have been our match?”
“There’s no point in saying that at this point,” The Death Dominus shook his head and said, “Let’s do it!”
“Alright!”
The two Juggernauts quickly connected their senses to the faraway supreme Celestial Realm and started to transfer its power over.
Amidst grand, deafening explosions, a gigantic rip suddenly formed in the sky. Roiling waves of Power of Existential Plane gushed out of the rip, converging to form a massive existential plane hologram.
The existential plane was simply too huge!
It shrouded the entire sky in its shadow the moment it appeared. For a moment, the sky in the Earth Divine Realm became completely covered, and practically even the sun itself was blotted out.
The existential plane hologram gradually took form as the Juggernauts continued to transfer Power of Existential Plane over. Through the dimensional walls, one could see everything in the hologram. Birds, animals, insects, fishes, mountains, rivers, streams, forests, oceans… Every little thing, including everything that one could ever think of, was reflected!
That was the supreme Celestial Realm!
“What terrifying Power of Existential Plane!” Meng Lei’s expression changed slightly. “What existential plane is that, exactly? It can actually give off such rich Power of Existential Plane?”
“That’s the supreme Celestial Realm.”
Moro gazed at the existential plane hologram that was becoming increasingly solid and said, “Evidently, the Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus can’t do anything about you, so they could only remotely transfer the supreme Celestial Realm’s Power of Existential Plane to fight you.”
“The supreme Celestial Realm?”
Meng Lei broke into a frown. He said, “The Earth Divine Realm is extremely far away from the supreme Celestial Realm, yet they can still transfer such terrifying Power of Existential Plane despite the great distance separating the two. Were we in the supreme Celestial Realm, to what extent would the two Juggernauts’ combat prowess reach?”
“That’s why I say that you’re simply too lucky, kid!”
A smiling Moro shook his head and said, “The four Juggernauts can only fully exhibit all 100% of their combat prowess in the supreme Celestial Realm. The Juggernauts are only true Juggernauts when that happens! It’s just a shame that those four were too careless and actually came all the way to the Earth Divine Realm to punish you. This is simply so…”
Moro didn’t even know what he should say anymore. Juggernauts that displayed 100% of their combat prowess were extremely strong and powerful. It was no exaggeration to even call them Semi-Supreme Gods. Yet the four Juggernauts had dug their own graves and left the Celestial Realm…
To this, one could only say—the evil one brought upon themselves was the hardest to bear!
Meng Lei nodded slowly and asked, “Moro, to what extent would I reach if I assimilate the supreme Celestial Realm’s Heart of The Existential Plane and completely control the supreme Celestial Realm?”
Moro stared blankly at him for a moment before he replied, “You’ll become extremely fearsome if that happens. As for how strong you’ll become… Even someone like me can’t make an accurate assessment on that.”
One would become comparable to a Supreme God by completely assimilating a high-end existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane.
In that case, by completely assimilating a supreme existential plane’s Heart of The Existential Plane, how far would one be able to go?
To tell the truth, even Moro wasn’t sure—because no one had managed to achieve that in the last era!
“I’ll give it a go, then!”
Meng Lei licked his lips, his gaze flitting across the three Juggernauts and 133 Chief Gods. He said, “I’ll know the answer once I kill them all and take their Chief God divine cores!”
Moro nodded as a hint of anticipation flashed across his eyes as well. He was also looking forward very much to seeing how strong Meng Lei would become once he had both the supreme Celestial Realm’s whole and complete Heart of The Existential Plane and his five supreme laws of nature!
" }, { "id": 414, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-414", "title": "Chapter 414 - Power Of Celestial Realm, A Complete Wipe Out", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 414: Power Of Celestial Realm, A Complete Wipe Out
The huge existential plane hologram gradually solidified, almost becoming a reality as it hovered above the skies of the Earth Divine Realm like a juggernaut.
It caught the attention of the countless lifeforms in the Earth Divine Realm. At the moment, they were all flattened to the ground.
There were no exceptions from Great Perfection deities and high-level higher deities, down to Saint Domains, half-deities, and lesser deities. They all prostrated onto the ground as they trembled and found it hard to breathe, panicking as if the end of the world fell upon them.
“Oh god! What in the world is this?”
“Power of Existential Plane at a horrifying level! It’s more terrifying than the Earth Divine Realm’s own!
“Perhaps it’s…”
Disregarding the fear among everyone in the realm, the Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus stared at Meng Lei bitterly, their eyes filled with murderous intent.
“Today will be your death anniversary!”
“Oh really? Then try as much as you want!”
Meng Lei stood mightily in the air as winds blew across his robes, causing them to flap loudly in the wind. He seemed at ease as if the Celestial Realm’s hologram was nothing to him.
“Celestial Realm’s power! Suppression!”
Both Juggernauts let out a long howl as the terrifying Power of Existential Plane descended from the skies, covering millions of kilometers to lock down the area.
“Supreme laws of nature! Repel!”
Another roar rang as the supreme laws of nature in the area faded away like retreating tides. No, it did not just fade away—it was more like being forced to retreat.
Yes, that’s right!
The supreme laws of nature in the area could actually be forced away by the Celestial Realm’s power.
If nothing went wrong, it would take only a few seconds for this space to be left with the ten basic laws of nature while the supreme laws of nature would cease to exist.
“To be able to force off supreme laws of nature, the Celestial Realm’s power is great indeed.” Meng Lei’s face became solemn.
“Retreat at once, little fellow!” Moro hurriedly reminded. “Without the supreme laws of nature, you’ve already lost your best weapon at your disposal, like a toothless tiger. You won’t stand a chance against them!”
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly as his body shot backward.
“Thinking of fleeing? Dream on!”
The Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus sneered as the Celestial Realm’s power crashed toward Meng Lei like tidal waves.
The speed of the Celestial Realm’s power was unrivaled as it reached before Meng Lei in an instant and was about to overwhelm him.
At the sight of that, the two Juggernauts could not help with the smiles on their faces. They knew that once he became affected by the Celestial Realm’s power, Meng Lei would surely be suppressed, and by then, death would be certain.
However, just as the two Juggernauts were starting to think of how to torture Meng Lei, he disappeared suddenly and strangely on the spot.
(⊙o⊙)
“What’s going on?”
The two Juggernauts were bamboozled.
Gone in thin air?
How?
“Disappointed?”
Meng Lei’s voice rang as both Juggernauts looked in the direction. He was already more than millions of kilometers away. They were stunned. “How did this happen?”
“Forgot to mention that other than the time-based, life, destruction, and death, I comprehended the spatial laws of nature too.” Meng Lei gave a faint smile. “Thus, no matter how fast the Celestial Realm’s power is, it won’t suppress me at all!”
“…”
Both Juggernauts went silent, but waves crashed loudly in their minds.
It was logical that Meng Lei could comprehend the spatial laws of nature in the knowledge that he had already comprehended the other four. Still, that was the fifth one.
Time, Space, Destruction, Life, Death—how could there be such a freak who comprehended all five supreme laws of nature!?
“Kill him! We must kill him!”
The Destruction Dominus was rather hysterical. “If he doesn’t die today, we’ll surely be finished in the near future. He must die right now!”
The Death Dominus nodded in agreement. “We’ll save the Life Dominus and the other Chief Gods first!”
“Alright!”
The Celestial Realm’s power instantly extended to the Life Dominus and 133 Chief Gods, forcing the five supreme laws of nature away from that area. Without the influence of the time-based laws of nature, they were finally freed.
“Let’s join hands to kill that knave!”
“Alright!”
The three Juggernauts and the 133 Chief Gods stared at Meng Lei with an intense intent to kill. Everyone knew the meaning of the battle. Meng Lei had comprehended all five supreme laws of nature, and his capabilities were miles ahead of a Juggernaut. His very existence pulled everyone’s nerves.
Moreover, no one was certain whether Meng Lei could comprehend the genesis laws of nature. If he made it, no one could be spared.
Hence, he must die.
“Chief Gods of the Celestial Realm, utilize the Celestial Realm’s power with me!” the Destruction Dominus roared. “Chief Gods of the Divine Realm, surround that knave to create opportunities for us!”
Upon hearing that, the 133 Chief Gods split into two groups, including 43 Chief Gods from the Supreme Celestial Realm, to use the realm’s power. The Supreme Celestial Realm became more realistic with their help, and the Celestial Realm’s power became even more powerful.
90 Chief Gods of the nine Divine Realms charged at Meng Lei. It was a suicidal act, but their eyes were filled with determination.
One reason was the Destruction Dominus’ order. The other was that if Meng Lei did not die, they would become the ones who were dead.
Since they were dying either way, why would they not try their best?
However, it was a pity that they overestimated themselves.
“A bunch of ignorant fools. All of you thought you could drag me down?”
Gazing at the 90 Chief Gods coming for him, Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “Since you have a death wish, I shall grant that.”
After the first sentence, Meng Lei teleported in front of the 90 Chief Gods and threw out a Spatial Prison to immobilize them instantly.
Watching how things went, the three Juggernauts hurriedly used the Celestial Realm’s power to press onto Meng Lei. However, before the Celestial Realm’s power could go near, the 90 Chief Gods had disappeared.
Meng Lei had disappeared too.
“Damn it!”
“You bastard!”
“You sly worm!”
The three Juggernauts were too angry as they exclaimed furiously.
“Guess that’s another disappointment!”
Meng Lei’s voice rang from billions of miles away, with 90 Chief Gods standing by his side. In that split second, he had already brought those Chief Gods to appear with him.
“Damn it!”
“Spatial laws of nature are too annoying!”
“What should we do now?”
The three Juggernauts’ expressions darkened. At that moment, they missed the Space Dominus. If he was around, everything would be simple with his spatial laws of nature.
Yet now…
Elsewhere…
Meng Lei did not bother about the three Juggernauts anymore as he turned his attention to the 90 immobilized Chief Gods.
The 90 Chief Gods were trembling while their faces turned pale. It was a fact that they would want to kill Meng Lei and dice him up into a million pieces, but…
“You all are mere ants to me. If you didn’t provoke me, I wouldn’t even care about you. But since you’ve come to die, I don’t mind assisting you all with that!”
Meng Lei swept a glance at the 90 Chief Gods as a purple-red energy ball appeared on his fingertips, which he threw into the spatial prison with ease.
“Noooo!”
“Spare us!”
Looking at the darting purple-red energy ball, the 90 Chief Gods were aghast.
It was the power of destruction energy ball made from energies of destruction laws of nature. The slightest touch would obliterate that person instantly.
“Save us, my great Juggernaut! Please save us!”
“Aahhh!”
The destruction energy ball ravaged and devoured the 90 Chief God. Nothing was left behind except for 90 divine cores!
" }, { "id": 415, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-415", "title": "Chapter 415 - An Anti-Climatic End To A Strong Start, Leaving Pathetically", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 415: An Anti-Climatic End To A Strong Start, Leaving Pathetically
Even though they were hailed as Chief Gods, they were nonetheless weak and frail in the face of supreme laws of nature. A lone destruction energy ball massacred 90 Chief Gods straightaway.
90 Chief God divine cores floated quietly in mid-air as they gave off brilliant, dazzling light. If the masses of deities were to see this, they would go berserk with jealousy for sure.
Those were 90 Chief God divine cores!
They were things that could create 90 Chief Gods! If they could get their hands on them, they would definitely experience a meteoric rise and become one of the most supreme and unsurpassed existences in the universe!
“Dead? Are they all dead?”
A billion kilometers away, the three Juggernauts and 43 Chief Gods stared at the 90 Chief God divine cores floating in the air. Chills ran down their bodies so much that they were practically giving off cold air.
90 Chief Gods… had died just like that?
This was simply too astounding a sight!
One must know that these weren’t 90 pigs, 90 sheep, or 90 grams of cabbage but 90 Chief Gods they were talking about! These were 90 supreme entities that stood at the pinnacle of the universe!
Yet… They had died just like that?
The three Juggernauts weren’t in that much shock, but the 43 Chief Gods were shaking like leaves while their eyelids spasmed as fear and horror overcame them.
They had lost every ounce of battle spirit in this instant. All they wanted was to leave this place right away and get far, far away from Meng Lei. The further, the better.
But the problem was—where could they go? They had already offended Meng Lei to the point of no return, so where could they even go?
“Kill them, Grim Reaper’s Eye!”
“Ding! 1 Angel Chief God killed. 5,000 trillion Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding! 1 Colossal Dragon Chief God killed. 1 trillion Divinity Crystals gained.”
“Ding! 1 Behemoth Chief God killed. 100 trillion Divinity Crystals gained.”
System notifications rang out in close succession as the Chief Gods’ divine spirits were erased one by one.
By the time all 90 Chief Gods’ divine spirits were destroyed, Meng Lei’s Wealth had spiked by 47,754 trillion Divinity Crystals.
Nine higher Chief Gods, 27 intermediate Chief Gods, and 54 lesser Chief Gods had provided Meng Lei with 45,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, 2,700 trillion Divinity Crystals, and 54 trillion Divinity Crystals, respectively, bringing the total to 47,754 trillion Divinity Crystals.
Now, this was an exceedingly dramatic sum! One must know that Meng Lei had received only 20,000 trillion Divinity Crystals when he killed the Space Dominus!
A satisfied smile came over Meng Lei’s features after he cast a glance at his Wealth attribute. He kept the 90 Chief God divine cores with a grand wave, and then, he turned to the three Juggernauts and 43 Chief Gods.
“Surrender yourselves, Juggernauts.” Meng Lei said calmly, “Your outcomes have been set in stone. Don’t bother doing any more futile struggling.”
“How perverse of you to actually slaughter so many Chief Gods so wantonly, you knave! We won’t let you off!” A look of savagery appeared on the Destruction Dominus’ visage. How he wished he could tear Meng Lei into a million pieces!
“You won’t let me off? Hah!”
Meng Lei scoffed and shook his head. He didn’t take the Destruction Dominus’ threat to heart at all. Now that he had mastered spatial laws of nature, he had already become unbeatable.
Of course, due to the Celestial Realm’s power, Meng Lei couldn’t do anything about the three Juggernauts and the others at the moment, either. This greatly displeased Meng Lei, and he asked, “Is there any way I can deal with them, Moro?”
Moro shook his head. He replied, “The three Juggernauts have forced the supreme laws of nature into a retreat by using the Celestial Realm’s power. I can’t think of any better solution, either. Waiting is your only option now.”
“Wait?”
Meng Lei frowned.
“Yes, wait. Wait for the Celestial Realm’s power to recede.”
Moro nodded slowly and said, “The supreme Celestial Realm is extremely far away from the Earth Divine Realm. With such a great distance in between, even people as powerful as the three Juggernauts won’t be able to mobilize the Celestial Realm’s power for an extended period of time. They will eventually tire, and the Celestial Realm’s power will also eventually recede.”
“How long would I have to wait?”
Meng Lei didn’t have that much patience.
Moro sank into a brief moment of contemplation before he said, “I don’t know. At least a few hours, I guess.”
“I have to wait for so long?”
Meng Lei shook his head. Despite his displeasure, there was indeed nothing that he could do about the Celestial Realm’s power, so all he could do was just wait quietly for now.
How could the three Juggernauts possibly not understand what Meng Lei was planning when they noticed that he had ceased his attacks? This filled them with so much hate that they were close to going berserk, yet there was simply nothing they could do.
“What do we do? What do we do now?”
“That knave is obviously waiting—waiting for us to get tired, and waiting for the Celestial Realm’s power to recede! When that happens, he’ll definitely make a comeback and kill us!”
“Although it pains me to do so, now that things have come to such a pass, we have no other choice but to make a strategic retreat and temporarily leave the Earth Divine Realm.”
“Leave? How can we do that?”
“You don’t want to leave? Then you can just die!”
“Are we supposed to just leave like that with our tails between our legs?!”
The Destruction Dominus clenched his fists tightly.
“Disaryl, do you still not see the situation for what it is?”
The Death Dominus shouted hoarsely, “That knave has already comprehended spatial laws of nature. We can’t suppress him even if we mobilize the Celestial Realm’s power. He can run a few light-years away just by teleporting once. It’s too difficult for us to catch him!”
The Destruction Dominus fell silent, as did the Life Dominus.
“In addition, he has also comprehended the other four supreme laws of nature, thus making him far more powerful than us. Once we show any fatigue, he won’t let us off for sure!”
The Death Dominus went on. “The only thing we can do now is to make a temporary retreat. As long as we can return to the supreme Celestial Realm, we’ll have a million ways that we can deal with him!”
“Now that things have come to this, we can only resort to that.”
The Life Dominus nodded slightly in approval at the Death Dominus’ suggestion. She didn’t want to take any risks at all.
“Damn it!”
The Destruction Dominus clenched his fists. “I really can’t accept this!”
“Let’s just retreat!”
The Death Dominus shook his head slightly. Then, he mobilized the Celestial Realm’s power and swiftly flitted into the distance, showing no desire to linger at all. He was the Death Dominus, someone that ruled over death and was used to seeing deaths. He knew what death implied and was thus also the most rational among them.
The Life Dominus cast an indignant glance at Meng Lei. Then, she also turned and left.
The Destruction Dominus was the only one whose eyes bore coldly into Meng Lei, and he said, “I await your arrival in the Celestial Realm, you knave!”
Then, he left without even so much as a look behind him. The 43 Chief Gods naturally didn’t dare to linger, either, and they also turned and left.
“Are they leaving just like that?”
Meng Lei raised his brows slightly. He was just about to stop them when Moro spoke. He said, “Don’t bother. You won’t be able to stop the three Juggernauts when they are determined to leave.”
“I can’t?”
As it turned out, Meng Lei indeed couldn’t stop the three Juggernauts and the others. They were terribly sneaky, using the Celestial Realm’s power to wrap around themselves and constantly keeping up their guard against Meng Lei.
Should Meng Lei dare to go near them, they would attack with the Celestial Realm’s power, ready to suppress him anytime. Afraid of the Celestial Realm’s power, Meng Lei didn’t dare to go too near.
“The Celestial Realm’s power sure is fearsome!”
In the end, Meng Lei could only let them leave.
“You’ve repelled and beat back the three great Juggernauts, kid!”
As Moro watched the three Juggernauts completely disappear from his line of sight, he couldn’t help but marvel, “This achievement is practically unprecedented in history and never to be again seen in the future!”
“What a pity that I didn’t manage to kill them, though!”
An awfully indignant Meng Lei heaved a sigh.
“It’s very hard for you to kill them now, but you’ll have plenty of chances to do so in the future.” Moro gave him an odd smile and said, “Besides, there are also advantages to not killing them, y’know!”
“What do you mean?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown.
“Kid, you can plunder other people’s comprehension of laws of nature, right?” asked Moro instead.
“That’s right!”
Meng Lei nodded.
“That’s exactly it!” Moro chuckled and said, “I believe the three Juggernauts will give you a surprise the next time you meet them!”
“What exactly are you talking about, Moro?”
The more Meng Lei listened, the more confused he became.
“You’ll see!”
Moro didn’t provide any further explanation.
“Tch! I can’t believe you’re leaving me hanging!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he returned to the Nidhogg Colossal Dragon Mountains once more.
All the Earth Divine Realm Chief Gods, as well as all the Chief Gods from the other nine Divine Realms, were dead.
It could be said that all 100 Chief Gods from the ten major Divine Realms had been fully wiped out and annihilated!
However, their riches, as well as their clans’ riches, were still around, and these riches undoubtedly made up an astronomical sum of money. There was no way Meng Lei would let them go.
But Meng Lei had to first revive Fatty Hart, Puhaman, and the others before looting those riches. One must know that they were either dead or had become mentally disabled…
Reviving them wasn’t hard for the current Meng Lei at all. Fifteen minutes later, all of them were revived and back to being alive and kicking.
“Let’s go! We’ll go to the other godly clans!”
" }, { "id": 416, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-416", "title": "Chapter 416 - Looting Riches, Juggernaut-Class Divine Spirit", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 416: Looting Riches, Juggernaut-Class Divine Spirit
There were a total of ten Chief Gods in the Earth Divine Realm. Thus, there were also ten major godly clans there. Apart from the Nidhogg clan, Meng Lei had yet to “patronize” the other nine clans.
Those nine other clans were Meng Lei’s next targets. As he had fully mastered spatial laws of nature, he could cross countless light years just by teleporting once. Thus, despite how vast and boundless the Earth Divine Realm was, traveling was no issue for Meng Lei at all.
Meng Lei arrived at the Dougherty Fire Phoenix clan half an hour later. He ransacked the Fire Phoenix clan’s treasury first before going on to the Fire Phoenix Chief God’s personal treasury.
His Wealth spiked by 50,000 trillion Divinity Crystals after he ransacked the treasuries. Together with the 70,463 trillion Divinity Crystals that Meng Lei had, his total Wealth value reached an astonishing 120,000 trillion Divinity Crystals, the equivalent of 12 Supreme Divinity Crystals!
Of course, what the Dougherty Fire Phoenix clan’s treasury had the most in abundance weren’t Divinity Crystals but various kinds of precious herbs, medicines, and other treasures instead. These things weren’t of any use to Meng Lei, so they all went to Puhaman and the others instead. He bestowed upon them Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts, divine weapons, precious herbs, medicines, and various other treasures…
Puhaman and the others made a huge fortune in a split second and became the wealthiest deities in the whole wide universe in just a single leap. These, however, weren’t that impressive because Meng Lei then bestowed Chief God divine cores upon them as well.
Meng Lei had gained a total of 100 Chief God divine cores after he slaughtered the 100 Chief Gods from the ten major Divine Realms. Together with the one that he had previously obtained in the Great Pompeii Desert, that made a grand total of 101 Chief God divine cores.
Chief God divine cores weren’t of any use to the current Meng Lei at all, so he bestowed them to his subordinates. This made Puhaman and the others terribly excited and filled them with so much gratitude that they were close to shedding tears.
“Refine them well! I need you guys to watch over the ten major Divine Realms in the future,” instructed Meng Lei.
“Yes, Master!”
Puhaman and the others hurried back to the Tower of Time and started to refine the Chief God divine cores while Meng Lei went on to visit the other clans—the Helsa Giant Elephant Gods, the Raphael Angel Gods, the Chilled Frost Gods, the Vados Eternal Gods, and the Dawson Titan Gods.
…
A day later, Meng Lei left the Earth Divine Realm.
Apart from gaining vast amounts of riches, Meng Lei had also obtained two important items from his looting this time—a fire-origin divine body and an ice-origin divine body.
The fire-origin divine body was found in the Dougherty Fire Phoenix Chief God’s personal treasury. Meng Lei had discovered the carcass of a Fire Phoenix God that happened to be the owner of a fire-origin divine body when he was there, and he plundered it straightaway.
As for the ice-origin divine body, he had taken it from a Frost God. Like the Fairy Goddess from the Nature Gods, that fellow was a target of high-priority grooming because he had an ice-origin divine body, but unfortunately, he crossed paths with Meng Lei, so his fate was naturally already set in stone.
After plundering the fire-origin divine body and ice-origin divine body in succession, Meng Lei now possessed five types of origin divine bodies. They were respectively the metal-origin divine body, wood-origin divine body, thunder-origin divine body, fire-origin divine body, and ice-origin divine body. Undoubtedly, he was the groundbreaking first to ever achieve such a thing in the vast universe.
After Meng Lei left the Earth Divine Realm, he headed to the Forest Divine Realm, which was the Divine Realm nearest in proximity at that time, and carried out another bout of mad plundering and ransacking. Not only were the Forest Divine Realm’s ten major godly clans’ riches cleanly taken by him, but the ten clans also became history at the same time.
For a moment, Meng Lei’s total Wealth reached an astonishing 1,000,000 trillion Divinity Crystals. This was practically a number unprecedented in history!
Now that he had so much money, he naturally had to spend it. After all, Meng Lei was no miser. He instructed, “System, how many Divinity Crystals does it cost to strengthen my body?”
The system’s voice rang out coldly. “Ding! The host’s body is currently comparable to a Supreme Ancient God’s (Higher Chief God) and will rival that of a Supreme Juggernaut’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 10 Supreme Divinity Crystals. Will you enhance it?”
“10 Supreme Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei broke into a frown at once. 10 Supreme Divinity Crystals equated to 100,000 trillion Divinity Crystals. This was a huge sum of money. However, what displeased Meng Lei was that he had only gained 2 Supreme Divinity Crystals when he killed the Space Dominus, so why did he need 10 Supreme Divinity Crystals to enhance his own body?
The cost had increased by a whole five times. What the heck was that supposed to mean?!
“Will you enhance it?”
The system’s voice rang out once more.
“Enhance, my a*s!”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes. “I won’t enhance my body for now. I’ll go straight to enhancing my divine spirit instead.”
Meng Lei had his concerns. It was relatively easy to enhance the body—enhancing bloodlines, assimilating origin divine bodies, and other things like that were all capable of boosting the body.
This wasn’t the case for the divine spirit, however. It was too difficult if he wanted to enhance his divine spirit because he could only do so via the system’s enhancement function.
Moreover, Meng Lei would be able to use supreme laws of nature more easily, more effortlessly, and more fluently after he enhanced his divine spirit.
Therefore, he’d better enhance his divine spirit first.
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to a Supreme Ancient God’s (Higher Chief God) and will rival that of a Supreme Juggernaut’s after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 10 Supreme Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“Yes, enhance it!”
Meng Lei waved dismissively.
Boom!
A strong surge of icy aura gushed into his sea of consciousness, pouring straight into his divine spirit flame, causing the golden flame to furiously expand in size.
Boom, boom, boom!
It doubled, tripled, quadrupled…
20 times, 30 times, 40 times…
80 times, 90 times, 100 times…
His divine spirit flame went through a mad increase in size all the way until it became 100 times bigger before it gradually came to a stop. His current divine spirit flame hung suspended in his boundless sea of consciousness like a sun, releasing light and heat as much as it wanted and lighting up his entire sea of consciousness.
This was a visible increase!
Meng Lei could clearly feel the changes in his divine spirit. His thoughts were incredibly quick, his consciousness incredibly active, and his control of supreme laws of nature had become smoother!
Then, he spread his divine cognition into the surroundings…
1 light-year, 2 light-years, 3 light-years…
80 light-year, 90 light-years, 100 light-years…
His divine cognition had already spread 100 light-years into the surroundings, yet Meng Lei felt like he could easily go further. It was clear to him that he could spread it even further.
“Never mind, I’ll stop testing it.”
Meng Lei quickly retracted his divine cognition. Then, he continued to the next Divine Realm, the Tempest Divine Realm.
Two days later, Meng Lei left the Tempest Divine Realm. Apart from a spike in his Wealth, as usual, he also plundered and obtained a new type of origin divine body, the wind-origin divine body.
Next was the Oceanic Divine Realm…
While Meng Lei was making the rounds around the Divine Realms without even a moment’s pause, the three Juggernauts and 43 Chief Gods finally returned to the supreme Celestial Realm.
Upon sniffing the familiar air and taking in the omnipresent Celestial Realm power, be it the three Juggernauts or the 43 Chief Gods, all of them couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief.
“I’m back!”
“I’m finally back!”
Despite having left for only two days, both the three Juggernauts and the 43 Chief Gods felt like they had had a close shave with death, and they couldn’t help but feel like they had gotten a second chance at life.
They had personally witnessed the deaths of 90 Chief Gods!
They had seen with their own eyes Meng Lei’s fearsomeness and savagery!
Who wouldn’t be afraid?
Who wouldn’t be shocked and fearful?
Who wouldn’t have lingering fears?
“I’ll take my leave first, everyone,” said the Destruction Dominus before he teleported and left straightaway. The Life Dominus and the Death Dominus exchanged a look before they both let out a sigh and left as well.
They, the four Juggernauts, could be said to have thoroughly embarrassed themselves during their trip to the Earth Divine Realm this time. Not only had they not managed to punish Meng Lei, but he had even killed the Space Dominus while the three other Juggernauts fled with their tails in between their legs. Their dignity and prestige had reached rock bottom, and they had utterly disgraced themselves.
“Dear all, I’m leaving, too.”
“Let’s disperse.”
“Go back and have a good rest!”
“Everyone, let’s keep in contact at all times. If that knave comes to the supreme Celestial Realm, remember to inform all of us right away. We’ll teleport over!”
“Understood!”
“Of course!”
The 43 Chief Gods also left one after another. After experiencing such a calamity, they only wished to return to their dens and have a good rest now. They were simply too tuckered out.
" }, { "id": 417, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-417", "title": "Chapter 417 - The Gray Skeleton, Destiny Laws Of Nature", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 417: The Gray Skeleton, Destiny Laws of Nature
As a nearly boundless and endless place, the supreme Celestial Realm’s size far surpassed that of high-end existential planes like the ten major Divine Realms. Its territories were nearly 10,000 times that of high-end existential planes.
These vast territories were split among the four Juggernauts and 44 Chief Gods, with the Juggernauts occupying the smaller half of the Celestial Realm’s total territories.
The Destruction Dominus’ turf was located at the Destruction Mountains. The Destruction Mountains stretched for endless light-years and was a mountain belt formed from millions of mountain ranges. Sited in the east of the Celestial Realm, they were known as the Celestial Realm’s ancestral mountain ranges, meaning the origin of the supreme Celestial Realm’s mountains.
The Destruction Dominus didn’t return to his Destruction Shrine after he returned to the Destruction Mountains. Instead, he headed straight to the underground and started to weave his way about underground, diving downward the whole way.
After diving for some time, he actually arrived at a red expanse of space. Strong, surging destruction laws of nature filled the area around the space, completely destroying any living thing that dared to come close.
Floating in the center of the space was a purplish-red coffin. Odd and fascinating-looking laws of nature patterns were engraved on the coffin’s surface, and they gave off energy waves that made one’s heart pound in trepidation.
The Destruction Dominus gazed at the coffin and let out a faint sigh. “I didn’t expect myself to come to you so soon… Ah well! Never mind!”
Then, the Destruction Dominus gritted his teeth and erased the destruction laws of nature runes on the coffin’s surface.
The purplish-red glow on the coffin’s surface dimmed at once. The coffin lid rose into the air, and then a mysterious and incredibly ancient wave of energy began to emanate from within the coffin.
The Destruction Dominus took a deep breath as he took in the sensation of the incredibly frightening yet also unusually familiar mysterious wave of energy. A hint of anticipation flashed across his eyes.
“Kekeke~”
The sound of awfully sinister cackling rang out from within the coffin, followed by crisp-sounding clacks. At once, a grayish arm—no, not an arm. Rather, it was a grayish skeletal arm that reached out of the coffin.
Innumerable tiny and intricate mysterious patterns covered the grayish skeletal arm’s surface. These patterns were just like tiny little tadpoles, making it hard for one to see them clearly unless they took a close look.
Right on the heels of it, another skeletal arm reached out of the coffin, followed by a skull, a hollow ribcage, a skeletal upper torso…
At the end, a grayish skeleton crawled out of the coffin. A grayish will-o’-the-wisp shone brightly in its skull.
The gray skeleton gazed at the Destruction Dominus with its blank, empty eyes. Its dry, shriveled up skeletal mouth opened and closed as it cackled strangely.
“Dear Disaryl, I didn’t expect you to come to me so soon. This truly surprises me. I’d thought that I would have to wait till the end of the current era!”
“Hmph!”
The Destruction Dominus had an awful look on his face. He said grimly, “Stop being so sarcastic. I’ve met with a bit of trouble, and I need your help.”
“Trouble? Hehehe!”
The gray skeleton cackled a couple of times, its grayish will-o’-the-wisp also blinking twice, and it said, “If my observations are correct, you likely have already comprehended destruction laws of nature. On top of that, you’ve also assimilated a Heart of The Existential Plane and now possess Juggernaut-class strength. Yet you’ve met with trouble?”
“You may not believe this,” The Destruction Dominus went straight to the point, “But I’ve run into a freak. A freak who has fully comprehended the five supreme laws of nature and is comparable to a Semi-Supreme God. I hate to admit it, but I’m no match for him!”
“Mm?”
The will-o’-the-wisp in the gray skeleton’s skull started to flicker and dance agitatedly upon hearing what the Destruction Dominus said, indicating its similarly agitated emotions. It said, “He’s fully comprehended the five supreme laws of nature? Are you sure? You must understand that there wasn’t anyone that managed to fully comprehend the five supreme laws of nature even in our era back then!”
“I crossed swords with him just now,” said the Destruction Dominus grimly.
The puzzled gray skeleton asked, “What period are we currently in, Disaryl? How far has the current era developed?”
“We’ve just passed two-fifths of it and have yet to reach the midpoint,” replied the Destruction Dominus unhurriedly.
“…”
The gray skeleton couldn’t help but gasp. “Someone has already fully comprehended the five supreme laws of nature when we haven’t even reached the current era’s midpoint yet? What kind of joke is that?!”
“It’s true!”
The Destruction Dominus repeated.
“He must die!”
The gray skeleton’s voice turned low and deep as it said, “We failed during the era before the previous, as well as during the previous era. The current era is the only one we have left. This is our only chance. Anything that may possibly threaten us or stand in our way… Must die!”
The Destruction Dominus nodded forcefully and said, “That’s why I’ve come to you. I hope you can do something about it and thoroughly erase him!”
“No, I can’t make any move for now.”
The gray skeleton shook its head and rejected the Destruction Dominus’ request. It said, “We’ve yet to reach the halfway mark of the current era, so the world’s order has yet to collapse. It’s currently the point where the power of order is at its strongest. If I make a move, I’ll undoubtedly be erased!”
“What should I do, then?”
The Destruction Dominus frowned. “Am I supposed to just allow that kid to grow further? I have to remind you that that kid isn’t even 100 years old yet at this current point in time!”
“He isn’t even 100 years old yet?”
The gray skeleton was astonished yet again and couldn’t help but find the revelation incredible. It exclaimed, “Why has such a freakish existence come into existence during this era? This doesn’t make sense at all!”
“And yet he’s appeared!”
The Destruction Dominus sighed and said, “All lives can only survive for three reincarnation cycles at the most. We’ve already gone through two; this era is our only chance now. We cannot allow any mistakes! Hurry and think of a solution. We don’t have any time to waste!”
“We don’t have any other choice at this point!”
The gray skeleton let out a low roar. The grayish will-o’-the-wisp in its skull trembled lightly as if it might break free of the skull’s shackles any moment and leave the body.
“Aahhh!”
The gray skeleton let out a painful scream. Its grayish will-o’-the-wisp suddenly split into two, causing the gray skeleton to pant heavily and become incredibly weak in an instant. One half of the will-o’-the-wisp floated out of the skull and over to the Destruction Dominus.
“These are the destiny laws of nature that I comprehended.”
The gray skeleton said weakly, “It doesn’t contain any of my consciousness, thoughts, or will, and is just my comprehension of destiny laws of nature in its purest form. You can assimilate it with peace of mind without needing to worry about the power of order.”
“Got it!”
The Destruction Dominus could hardly conceal the white-hot fervency in his eyes. After all, these were destiny laws of nature! One must know that destiny laws of nature were a type of genesis laws of nature and something that was completely superior to supreme laws of nature!
“You and I originate from the same source, so you shouldn’t need to take too long to assimilate my comprehension of destiny laws of nature. As long as you can fully comprehend the destiny laws of nature that exist within, this will be sufficient for you to kill that freak of a guy!”
The gray skeleton instructed, “Remember, you must kill that kid while he has yet to comprehend genesis laws of nature. Otherwise, there’ll be endless trouble to come!”
“I understand!”
The Destruction Dominus nodded forcefully. Then, he assimilated the will-o’-the-wisp portion in front of him.
Boom!
A split second later, an endless torrent of information surged into his sea of consciousness like a breached dam, assailing the Destruction Dominus’ divine spirit.
“Aahhh!”
Even someone as strong as the Destruction Dominus couldn’t help but scream again and again from the terrifying information torrent’s assaults. A look of savagery came over his face as he endured the immense pain.
“Go on and assimilate it!”
The gray skeleton murmured to itself, “Once you’ve thoroughly assimilated my comprehension of destiny laws of nature, you shall have comprehended destiny laws of nature, and you’ll be able to make the leap to become a Supreme God. Even though you’ll only be a low-level Supreme God, the lowest grade of Supreme Gods, it’ll nonetheless be enough for you to wipe out any Juggernaut!”
" }, { "id": 418, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-418", "title": "Chapter 418 - The Nine Major Types Of Divine Bodies, A Mysterious Tentacle", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Chapter 418: The Nine Major Types of Divine Bodies, A Mysterious Tentacle
The Earth Divine Realm…
The Forest Divine Realm…
The Tempest Divine Realm…
The Oceanic Divine Realm…
The Flaming Divine Realm…
…
Like a hardworking little bee, Meng Lei hopped from one Divine Realm to another. In under half a month’s time, he had visited nine of the Divine Realms and was left with just the Thunderbolt Divine Realm in the end.
At the same time, Meng Lei’s Wealth also reached an unprecedented 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
500 Supreme Divinity Crystals!
That was the equivalent of 5,000,000 trillion Divinity Crystals!
This was practically inconceivable!
Of course, Meng Lei also plundered and took a few major types of origin divine bodies along the way. Following his fire-origin divine body, ice-origin divine body, and wind-origin divine body, Meng Lei also gained a water-origin divine body, earth-origin divine body, and light-origin divine body.
In other words, Meng Lei had assimilated a total of nine major origin divine body types and was only missing one last type now—the dark-origin divine body.
“I really don’t understand why you’re assimilating all these useless origin divine bodies for!”
Moro was greatly puzzled. He said, “Origin divine bodies may be powerful, but they are just things that sound precious but are of little practical value to you now. What you should be doing now is fusing supreme laws of nature together and trying your best to comprehend genesis laws of nature, and not wasting time doing these meaningless things!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile in response. He understood what Moro was saying—indeed, origin divine bodies were certainly very powerful. Any deity that owned an origin divine body would receive priority grooming privileges from their clans because all of them would ultimately be able to attain Great Perfection-level as long as their origin divine bodies weren’t killed.
Great Perfection deities!
To a godly clan, their significance was something self-evident. However, the Great Perfection level was nothing to the current Meng Lei. What he should be currently pursuing were genesis laws of nature and becoming a… Supreme God that stood above the Juggernauts!
Therefore, Meng Lei’s act of pursuing origin divine bodies was tantamount to neglecting the essentials to run after trifles and giving up a precious jewel to go after worthless rubble instead. This was exactly what Moro was thinking.
“You can just take it that I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, I guess!”
Meng Lei laughed and said, “Since I’ve already assimilated a few of the major origin divine body types, then why not gather them all? I just took them along the way anyway. It’s not like it takes much effort to do so.”
“Well, it’s your call, I suppose.”
Moro shook his head and didn’t continue to argue with Meng Lei over such trivialities.
“Next stop, the Thunderbolt Divine Realm!”
Meng Lei detected with his senses the direction in which the Thunderbolt Divine Realm was. Then, he cast the Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique and swiftly teleported over. His Great World-Breaching Transfer Technique held incredible might at his current level and could cross a great distance of hundreds of thousands of light-years just by teleporting once.
In fact, if he were to use it at his full power, even crossing a distance of millions of light-years wouldn’t be any problem. It was no exaggeration to say that the vast universe was no different from a mountain to the current Meng Lei. He could tour the entire mountain in just a few days.
A few hours later, Meng Lei finally arrived at the Thunderbolt Divine Realm.
The Thunderbolt Divine Realm was the first Divine Realm that Meng Lei had come into contact with. He had first gotten to know of it through the Titan Spiritual God. It was because that guy had received grooming from the Theodore Titan Gods that Meng Lei had come to know of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s existence.
In Meng Lei’s eyes at that time, just how immensely far away a target had the Thunderbolt Divine Realm been? And how strong and powerful the Theodore Titan Gods? In fact, even the Titan Spiritual God himself had been an incredibly strong and powerful entity to him back then,
Yet a short period of a few years later, Meng Lei had taken the life of even the Theodore Titan Chief God himself. A mere Titan Spiritual God didn’t even amount to anything anymore.
How things had changed with time, and how different everything looked now!
Meng Lei chose the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods as his first stop.
It hadn’t been long since the Earth Divine Realm battle, so news of the 100 Chief Gods’ deaths had yet to spread. As the storm had yet to reach the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods, the place felt incredibly peaceful and quiet.
People who should be cultivating were cultivating while people who should enjoy their beauty sleep were enjoying their beauty sleep. It was a sight of peace and harmony.
“Ignorance… Can also be a kind of happiness sometimes.”
Meng Lei appeared above the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods’ base. As he gazed at the clan currently still in a peaceful and harmonious state, he couldn’t help but shake his head a little. Then, he located their treasury and teleported into it.
Heaps and heaps of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
Heaps and heaps of Divinity Crystals!
Of course, because the Colossal Dragons loved shiny and glittery things like gold coins and so on, Meng Lei also noticed a fair amount of gold coins in the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods’ treasury.
Collect! Collect them all!
His Wealth spiked once more.
After collecting them all, various treasures were the only things that remained in the treasury. There were heaps of Crystallized Divine Spirit Extracts, innumerable divine weapons, and countless precious herbs and medicines. All of these were useless to Meng Lei, so he tossed them all into the Tower of Time, intending to give them all to Puhaman and the others after they were done with assimilating their Chief God divine cores.
However, one could easily imagine that they would have already made the leap to become great, supreme Chief Gods by the time they came out of seclusion, so they probably wouldn’t take a fancy to these ordinary treasures anymore.
Meng Lei subsequently found the Haber Colossal Dragon Chief God’s personal treasury.
It was pretty much more or less the same as all the other Chief Gods’ personal treasuries. There were no vulgar, temporal things like Divinity Crystals or precious herbs and medicines in the Haber Colossal Dragon Chief God’s personal treasury. The only things there were ancient artifacts like Void Beast body remains, Demon Grandmasters’ sharp teeth, Chief God-level divine weapons, and so on.
Meng Lei didn’t hold any interest in these things. He kept the ones that he should keep and tossed the ones that he should toss to the little golden tree. In the end, only one item was left.
This was a pillar whose thickness was that of someone circling their arms together. Measuring about a meter in diameter and ten meters in length, its surface was covered in tiny and dense scales. It appeared simple and unadorned and looked completely inconspicuous. In spite of that, Meng Lei nevertheless broke into a frown…
… Because he could feel an incredibly strong life force in the odd pillar.
It looks like a broken horn or tentacle from some kind of creature. But no matter what it is, isn’t the life force it contains a little too scary? It’s even scarier than the Space Dominus!
Meng Lei could hardly hide the astoundment in his eyes. At his level of cultivation, he was already a knowledgeable man with broad horizons. Hardly anything attracted his attention now.
And yet… This particular pillar had managed to do so!
But wasn’t this just an ordinary pillar?!
What kind of creature’s organ is this, exactly? A Void Beast’s? That’s not quite possible, though.
Even the strongest Void Beast out there was no stronger than a Juggernaut. No matter how fearsome their body was, their life force couldn’t get any much stronger than a Juggernaut’s.
Moreover, the pillar had a very peculiar body makeup and composition. It was unlike any other creature in the universe. To be more accurate, there was no sign of any laws of nature in it at all.
Now, that was incredible!
One must know that every creature that the universe birthed—including even the Void Beasts born in the Void itself—was deeply stamped with the mark of the universe’s laws of nature.
This was just like how all lives born on Earth were carbon-based lifeforms. Just like what the name suggested, they were lifeforms founded on the basis of carbon atoms.
By the same logic, all lives born by the vast universe were born and formed under the influence of the ten basic laws of nature, five supreme laws of nature, and three great genesis laws of nature. Thus, their body compositions were completely marked by the universe’s laws of nature.
Yet, that wasn’t the case for this particular pillar. One couldn’t see any sign of the universe’s laws of nature on it at all. Rather, it was a body composition that was entirely new and unfamiliar!
Now, that was incredible!
“Do you recognize this, Moro?” asked Meng Lei.
Moro had been staring hard at the pillar for a while now. His brows occasionally drew together and occasionally relaxed. It was as if he recognized it, yet also not. Upon Meng Lei’s question, he shook his head and replied, “I’ve never seen anything like that before, but I have some kind of vague idea in my mind.”
“Tell me about it,” said Meng Lei.
“That thing is obviously some kind of lifeform’s organ, but you can’t see any sign of the universe’s laws of nature in its composition at all. Therefore, my bold guess is that there’s a chance that it may originate from beyond the universe,” replied Moro.
“From beyond the universe?”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“Yes, from beyond the universe.”
Moro’s voice was low and deep as he said, “The universe is endless and boundless. As lifeforms born by the universe, we are unaware of what lies beyond the universe, but this doesn’t stop us from making bold conjectures.”
“Go on,” urged Meng Lei.
“Mortals that live in low-end existential planes have never been aware of the existence of mid-end existential planes, high-end existential planes, or even supreme existential planes.”
Moro said slowly, “By the same logic, is there an even more spacious and higher-grade world outside of the universe that we live in?
“As the saying goes, there are mountains beyond mountains and heavens beyond heavens. Perhaps we, who think that we are great, mighty existences, are also little turtles living in a tiny pond. Who’s to say for sure?”
A huge jolt mentally went through Meng Lei. What Moro said made sense.
" }, { "id": 419, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-419", "title": "Chapter 419 - : Primordial Kun, Sudden Change", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Meng Lei understood what Moro said more than anyone else.
Taking Earth as an example, ancient humans did not know that the ground they stood on was round, not knowing that they were living on a sphere. Beyond the Earth, they knew nothing about outer space, be it the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, or the entire universe. Even in the modern age, knowledge about space was limited.
That was the limitation of one’s cognition.
In this aspect, those lofty Juggernauts were the same. They lived inside the vast universe, and they had never stepped foot beyond it or received any information about it. Hence, their cognition had its limitations too.
What was beyond the universe?
No one knew!
Perhaps, it was a world of nothingness.
Maybe, it was an even larger world.
What exactly was it?
Who knew!
No matter what, no one could refute Moro’s speculations, especially after seeing this mysterious pillar. The possibility was very high.
“System, plunder the bloodline within this pillar,” Meng Lei ordered suddenly.
“Ding! Plundering target: Whisker of the Primordial Kun 1 . Target substance: The Primordial Kun bloodline. Plundering cost is estimated at 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you plunder it?”
“Primordial Kun?”
Meng Lei perked up. “System, what kind of creature is the Primordial Kun?”
There was no response.
Damn it! Playing dead again!
Meng Lei scolded in his thoughts, but he could not do anything to the system. Instead, he turned to Moro. “Moro, do you know a creature known as Primordial Kun?”
“Primordial Kun?” Moro paused a while before shaking his head. “Never heard of it.”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei turned his attention back to the whiskers of the Primordial Kun. Despite the lack of knowledge, Meng Lei believed that the price of plundering its bloodline alone was too outrageous.
“What kind of creature requires so many Supreme Divinity Crystals just to plunder the bloodline in its whisker?” Meng Lei muttered, “This Primordial Kun must be an incredibly fearsome creature!”
Of course, it might be fearsome, but Meng Lei was not stupid enough to spend 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals to plunder the bloodline of the Primordial Kun. 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals were worth his entire savings, which he could not bear to spend.
Meng Lei kept this whisker and left the Haber Colossal Dragon Gods base as he continued visiting the Titan Gods, Angel Gods, Fire Phoenix Gods, Frost Gods…
Lastly, Meng Lei arrived at the territory of Nature Gods.
The Nature Gods base was situated in the Nature Mountains. The gigantic structure could be sighted from a long way out as it towered on the mountain top. The tree crown covered hundreds of light-years with an enormously thick trunk like a heavenly pillar.
Enormous!
Lofty and majestic!
Tall and towering!
Blotting out the skies!
“So this is the Ancient Tree of Life?”
Meng Lei gazed at the gigantic tree that rose into the skies. He was at a loss for words since it was the largest lifeform he had ever seen.
The four Supreme Divine Trees—the Earth Divine Realm’s Mother Tree of Earth, the Oceanic Realm’s Deep Sea Coral Willow, the Light Divine Realm’s Fusang Divine Tree, and the Metal Divine Realm’s Golden Apple Tree. Comparing their size alone, the Ancient Tree of Life was the largest of all of them.
It was enormous in size and rich in vitality that could be felt from afar. A deep breath of the air around would energize a person immediately.
“As expected from the top of the five Supreme Divine Trees!” Meng Lei remarked as he flew toward the direction quickly.
Rustle, rustle!
Just as Meng Lei got nearer to the Ancient Tree of Life, the tree shook, and an aged voice rang. “Outsiders shall take no further steps forward!”
“Eh? They’ve discovered me?”
Meng Lei was surprised. He had plundered 99 godly clans of the ten Divine Realms before this, but no one had discovered his presence. He did not expect that the Ancient Tree of Life could detect him.
Interesting.
Meng Lei’s mouth quirked upward as he stopped to ask, “Ancient Tree of Life, why did you stop me here?”
“Outsider, the Nature Gods have closed off the mountain, forbidding anyone to step inside. Please leave at once.” The voice came from the Ancient Tree of Life.
“Closed off the mountain? Why so?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Please leave immediately, outsider!” the Ancient Tree of Life replied slowly.
“I’m not here today to worship or for the reputation of the Nature Gods. I’m here to take away my trophies!” Meng Lei said with a faint smile.
“Trophies?”
The Ancient Tree of Life became puzzled.
Meng Lei said dispassionately, “I’ve killed your Chief God. Her wealth and the riches of the entire Nature Gods are naturally my trophies! Any objections?”
“What did you just say?”
The Ancient Tree of Life trembled violently while an enormous face appeared on its trunks. It could no longer cover up the horror on its face.
Meng Lei was taken aback. “Do you know that the Nature Goddess is dead?”
“I nurtured the Nature Goddess myself, and I have a unique connection with her. I could sense that she had fallen half a month ago.” The Ancient Tree of Life stared at Meng Lei closely and continued. “As for how she had fallen, I knew nothing about it.”
“I see.” Meng Lei nodded. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you that I was the one who killed your Nature Goddess. Other than her, 99 Chief Gods from the ten major Divine Realms are dead too.”
“This…”
The Ancient Tree of Life was in utter shock as his gaze on Meng Lei was filled with terror and shock. It could never have imagined that Meng Lei had managed to wipe out 100 Chief Gods. It was simply… simply…
Horrifying!
“So, are you still going to block my way?”
An amused Meng Lei smirked.
Block you? No way I’m doing that!
The Ancient Tree of Life almost wet itself in fear as it answered in a trembling voice, “You first, sir!”
“Good!”
Meng Lei nodded his head as he flew toward the base of the Nature Gods. The Ancient Tree of Life was only a Great Perfection-level lifeform, so Meng Lei did not think much of it.
“My goodness! What is this guy?”
The Ancient Tree of Life watched the back of Meng Lei as it trembled in fear.
The divine cognition shrouded the entire Nature Gods Mountains as Meng Lei found the treasury of the Nature Gods and the Nature Goddess’s private treasury. He was in no rush to plunder them as he casually grabbed a cool, elegant goddess in black robes over.
“W-who are you?”
The Dark Goddess was cultivating inside her shrine when she was caught. The fact that she was powerless to resist made her fearful. She knew unquestionably that she had met a terrifying existence.
Normally, she would not be that afraid with the Nature Goddess around. Who would dare to cause trouble over here?
Times had changed, however, as the Mother Tree had said due to the Nature Goddess’ demise. The Nature Gods were faced with the greatest crisis in their history.
How could the Dark Goddess be calm when the powerful enemy caught her all of a sudden?
“No worries, I won’t kill you.”
Meng Lei gave a warm smile.
“W-what do you want?”
The Dark Goddess’s face turned pale.
“Borrow something from you!”
Meng Lei gave the order to plunder.
Whoosh!
The Dark Goddess felt an unknown great power engulfing her before she sensed that something was taken away from her. She became incredibly weak as though her divine body had been emptied.
“W-what have you done to me?”
Her face had turned ghastly pale by this point.
Meng Lei did not answer. It was not that he did not want to. Something unexpected happened the moment the dark-origin divine body assimilated into his body.
" }, { "id": 420, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-420", "title": "Chapter 420 - : Gray Substance, Primordial World Body", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "What was an origin divine body?
And what was the origin?
There were ten major basic laws of nature in the universe—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, light, dark, and ice.
The ten basic laws of nature corresponded to their respective laws of nature powers, which were also known as the “ten major Powers of Origin”. This was what the word “origin” meant in this case.
Origin divine bodies were divine bodies manifested from Power of Origin. For example, a thunder-origin divine body was a divine body manifested from thunder-elemental Power of Origin.
Similarly, wood-origin divine bodies were divine bodies manifested from wood-elemental Power of Origin. This was the same for fire-origin divine bodies, light-origin divine bodies, dark-origin divine bodies, and so on.
This was what an origin divine body was.
During the last half a month where Meng Lei had been going around the ten Divine Realms and plundering vast amounts of riches, he had also successfully plundered the ten major types of origin divine bodies along the way.
This had originally purely just been Meng Lei’s obsessive-compulsive disorder at play and was something that he had done in passing while he was at it. However, in the instant that he assimilated the last type of divine body he was missing—the dark-origin divine body—into himself, something completely out of Meng Lei’s expectations happened.
Although the nine preexisting types of Power of Origin inside Meng Lei’s body had combined with one another and come together to jointly form Meng Lei’s body, the way they were combined was just like a house’s cement, steel beams, tiles, and concrete—they were simply grouped together and assembled using a special method with nothing beyond that.
The nine types of Power of Origin had combined with one another, yet were clearly separated and remained independent of one another, each of them keeping to themselves. They were akin to nine men and women sleeping on the same bed. Although they were on close and intimate terms, they nevertheless remained as nine individuals.
However, in the instant Meng Lei assimilated the dark-elemental Power of Origin, the nine types of Power of Origin that had originally been clearly separated and existed independent of one another had actually bizarrely fused together, much like snow melting in hot water, candles flowing into lava or sodium hydroxide into hydrochloric acid…
The nine, no, ten types of Power of Origin swiftly fused together to form an ordinary-looking, simple, and unadorned gray substance.
The golden metal-elemental Power of Origin was rapidly vanishing.
The green wood-elemental Power of Origin was also rapidly vanishing, as was the blue water-elemental Power of Origin.
…
All ten differently-colored types of Power of Origin were rapidly disappearing while more and more of the ordinary-looking, simple, and unadorned gray substance was forming at high speed!
The ten types of Power of Origin were disappearing while a new substance formed and increased in quantity. This waxing and waning of substances formed a strange and peculiar sight in Meng Lei’s body.
“Why is this happening?” Meng Lei looked absolutely stupefied. “The ten types of Power of Origin… Have actually fused into an all-new type of gray substance? What the heck is this?”
As time went by, the ten types of Power of Origin rapidly decreased while the simple and unadorned gray substance swiftly increased.
Roughly half an hour later…
The ten colors representing the ten types of Power of Origin were completely gone, and in their place was instead the gray substance.
“My ten origin divine bodies… are gone?” Meng Lei was lost for words. “They’ve… become a gray divine body instead?
“What the hell!
“F*ck! What the hell are they doing!? What the f*ck is this!?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but swear.
Boom!
Suddenly, roiling soundwaves erupted and spread into the surroundings, followed by a low, dull explosion. The void in front of him was instantly destroyed and turned into a black hole.
(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was rather stunned. He muttered, “What’s going on?”
Why had the void suddenly been destroyed for no reason?
Meng Lei took a couple of quick looks around him, but there was no one around except him. In other words, he was the one that had caused the destruction of the void and the formation of the black hole just now.
“What did I do?” muttered Meng Lei as he scratched his head. Then, he frowned and cursed again, “What the f*ck!”
Boom!
Soundwaves from his curses erupted into the surroundings again, forming a black hole in front of him once more. The whole expanse of space had been destroyed.
“What the f*ck!!!”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened big and round. However, the moment the expletive left his mouth, the void in front of him broke into bits and pieces again…
“What the f*ck!!!”
“Goddamnit!”
“What the f*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!”
“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”
…
“…”
The Dark Goddess was pretty much having a mental breakdown at this point. Why was it so hard for her to just stay in the shrine and cultivate?
She wasn’t even going to talk about how someone had captured her for no reason anymore. And so be it even if they did, right? But the thing was, the fellow that had captured her was simply too terrifying, especially because the aura he gave off was actually constantly becoming stronger and stronger, ultimately reaching a horrifying extent.
The Dark Goddess swore that in comparison to that guy, even the Nature Goddess herself was no different from a light bulb in front of the blazing sun—there was no comparability between the two at all!
This was especially when even the void itself was destroyed with just a casual shout from that fellow. This frightened the living daylights out of the Dark Goddess. She could clearly sense the incredibly fearsome might contained in every word that Meng Lei uttered—it was so powerful that it could almost crush even her divine spirit into pieces!
Just who exactly is that guy?
The Dark Goddess was filled with fear and trepidation, so she swiftly retreated away from Meng Lei while his attention wasn’t on her.
She didn’t dare to linger any longer. Otherwise, she would be dead before she knew it.
“Break!”
“Destroy!”
“Break!”
Roar!
Meng Lei continuously tested his newly-gained “Verbal Attack” skill like an idiot. He didn’t expect that even a random shout of his would contain such fearsome might now!
The void was destroyed, causing black holes to form!
The mountains collapsed and turned into dust!
How frightening!
This was simply too frightening!
Even Meng Lei himself was shocked!
After his initial astoundment, however, Meng Lei gradually realized that he hadn’t actually gained a fearsome new “Verbal Attack” skill. Rather, it was because… His current body was too powerful!
That’s right, his body!
His current body that was formed from the mysterious gray substance was simply too powerful. Meng Lei couldn’t give a concrete judgment as to how powerful it was, either. However, he had a feeling that he could easily poke even the three Juggernauts dead with just one finger if they were to stand before him again!
On top of that, Meng Lei also felt like he had an unusual sense of control over the void around him. This sense of control was just like the sense of control that he had gained when he assimilated Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane and became its master.
But the problem was—Meng Lei clearly hadn’t assimilated the Thunderbolt Divine Realm’s Chief God divine core yet, so why would he develop such a sense of control?
Meng Lei couldn’t explain it, either, but he simply did possess such a sense of control over the void around him. He didn’t need its Heart of The Existential Plane nor a Chief God divine core, and neither did he need to cast God’s Domain, yet he was simply able to control the area, regardless.
Boom!
Meng Lei suddenly threw a punch. Strong, surging energy blasts exploded into the surroundings, instantly traveling dozens of light-years into the distance. In the blink of an eye, the whole area had been reduced to nothing. The dimension itself had been destroyed, the mountains had been destroyed, and billions of lives… had also been destroyed.
Every material substance in the area, be it tangible or intangible, powerful or weak, in liquid form or solid form… All of them had been destroyed and disappeared!
What was the most frightening was that even the supreme laws of nature chains and the power of supreme laws of nature enveloping the area seemed to also have… disappeared along with them?
“I-is it supposed to be this fearsome?” Even Meng Lei himself was shocked. “What exactly happened to me? What is this gray substance?”
The moment he wondered about that, Meng Lei couldn’t help but glance at the system’s stats interface—and he was stunned the moment he did.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Primordial World 1 Human
Wealth: 512 Supreme Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Primordial World Body
Spirit: Supreme Juggernaut
Laws of Nature: Time (100%), Destruction (100%), Life (100%), Spatial (100%), Death (100%)
“Primordial World Human!? Primordial World Body!?”
" }, { "id": 421, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-421", "title": "Chapter 421 - Advanced Energy, Destruction Of The Celestial Realm", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Meng Lei spaced out as he looked at his stats interface.
The Primordial Human bloodline… gone?
Every bloodline I had… gone?
Now it’s… Primordial World Human?
What kind of race is that?
And the Primordial World Body? What kind of body is it this time?
Meng Lei rubbed his temples as he felt a headache. The system probably would not come up with any answers, so he could only leave his questions aside.
“Not going to lie, this body is getting stronger!”
Meng Lei clenched his fist and felt an endless barrage of power running within. He was amazed.
This time, it was not an illusion whenever his strength grew exponentially anymore. It was now truly endless and boundless as Meng Lei finally possessed true infinite power.
One punch could not just destroy an entire continent. It was not a problem for him to smash a high-end existential plane like the Thunderbolt Divine Realm into smithereens.
That was not an illusion too.
“After assimilating all ten origin divine bodies, it actually became a Primordial World Body. That was unexpected, but it’s good news anyway.”
Meng Lei was in a good mood. What else could be happier than turning his body into a Primordial World Body?
“Meng Lei, what’s wrong?” Moro’s question rang in his ears. “How did your divine body become so strong that even I got a little fearful? And why couldn’t I feel the aura of your origin divine body anymore? What happened to you exactly?
“That’s a rather complex story,” Meng Lei shook his head. “Have you heard of the Primordial World Body?”
“Mm? Never heard of it.”
Moro shook his head slightly.
Meng Lei was not surprised. “Well, Moro, you might not believe this, but right after I assimilated the dark origin divine body, the ten major types of origin divine bodies assimilated to become an entirely new form known as the Primordial World Body!”
“Really?”
Moro was stunned.
“That’s right!”
Meng Lei nodded heavily.
“The assimilation of the ten major types of origin divine bodies would become a Primordial World Body?” Moro muttered. “Perhaps it means that the ten major Power of Origins can be assimilated to become the Power of Primordial World?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking!” Meng Lei nodded. “After assimilating the ten Power of Origins, it did turn into a new grayish substance, and my divine body’s composition is completely made up of this grayish substance!”
As he said that, Meng Lei opened up his palm as a seemingly simple and unadorned grayish energy appeared.
“So this is that new substance?” Moro stared at the grayish energy closely and murmured, “Looks normal and insignificant to me. How can it be so powerful?”
With that in mind, Moro released his divine cognition as he attempted to wrap in the gray energy to analyze its composition. However, once it came into contact with the gray energy, he felt that his divine cognition quickly melted as if an ice cube met lava…
“Ugh! Darn it!”
Moro cried as he removed his divine cognition while he looked at the gray energy with terror in his eyes.
“How did this happen? My divine spirit had gone through the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process and possessed the special attribute of immortality. How could this gray energy dissolve away my divine spirit?”
“Oh, I forgot to remind you, Moro!” Meng Lei scratched his head and said with some embarrassment, “This kind of substance can even break down supreme laws of nature chains and power of supreme laws of nature!”
“What?”
Moro was stunned once again.
“It’s true!”
Meng Lei let out a breath and extended his left arm. He activated the time-based laws of nature chain and brought the warm golden chain toward the gray substance.
In the next moment, an amazing scene occurred.
The time-based laws of nature chain that Moro had dubbed as an ‘undying substance’ dissolved silently once it contacted the gray substance.
Meng Lei kept on extending the chain as it continued to dissolve until there was nothing left.
The gray substance remained to hover on his palm. It seemed as normal as it was, unadorned, harmless, insignificant…
“D-dissolved?
“The time-based laws of nature have dissolved? What the! How’s that even possible? Just how?
“The time-based laws of nature was an undying substance. How could it be dissolved like this!?”
Moro gasped as the scene he witnessed here was way beyond his knowledge on the undying substance.
The supreme laws of nature chain and the power of supreme laws of nature were undying substances, after all!
What was an undying substance?
It could never deplete, disappear, erode, or be destroyed even if it was the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process.
Yet what had just happened?
The time-based laws of nature getting destroyed was unheard of, so Moro could not help but become greatly stunned.
“If I’m not wrong, this kind of gray substance must be something more advanced than the supreme laws of nature.”
Meng Lei gave his verdict.
“That’s the only possibility,” Moro muttered. “But what kind of energy is this?”
“Who knows?” Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “For now, we’ll call it Power of the Primordial World.”
“Hmm, Power of the Primordial World,” Moro had a complex look on his face. “So, what will be your next move?”
“Let’s go to the supreme Celestial Realm to take care of those pesky bugs first.” A glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes.
“No!”
Moro did not think twice to stop Meng Lei. “The supreme Celestial Realm is ruled by the three Juggernauts, where they can maximize their full power. I strongly advise against the idea of entering the supreme Divine Realm before you comprehend the genesis laws of nature.”
The corner of Meng Lei’s mouth quirked up slightly. “Moro, I would have followed your advice if it’s in the past. But now… there’s no need for such a cowardly move!”
“You mean…”
Moro looked at Meng Lei in astonishment.
“You’ll see right away!”
Meng Lei gave an odd smile before teleporting out of the Thunderbolt Divine Realm into the Void, which was millions of light-years away. Moro was in utter shock. “You managed to leave the Thunderbolt Divine Realm just like that? How did you do that?’
“Well, Moro, you might not believe this.” Meng Lei gave a faint smile. “I have a feeling that the entire Thunderbolt Divine Realm, wait! No! Not just that, the entire universe has become my domain!”
Meng Lei teleported a few more times to travel countless light-years as he arrived before the supreme Celestial Realm.
The enormous supreme Celestial Realm was like a huge space battleship that floated in the Void, surrounded by innumerable meteors and floating continents.
Under the gravity of the supreme Celestial Realm, these countless meteors and floating continents orbited around the supreme Celestial Realm in a dense formation.
“We’re in the supreme Celestial Realm already?” Moro was stunned till he got a little numb. “Terrifying! This is too terrifying!”
“That’s nothing compared to what’s next!”
Meng Lei chuckled before he suddenly gave a punch to the dimensional wall of the supreme Celestial Realm. A gray aura shot off his fist with a loud blast and landed on the dimensional wall.
Buzz!
The strike blasted a huge hole in the dimensional wall while the gray aura continued to spread throughout the wall. The sturdy dimensional wall disintegrated quickly like how snow melted when one poured boiling water.
In the end, nothing was left of the wall.
For a while, the hole became larger and larger, expanding tens of thousands of light-years away, forming a huge black hole.
This black hole was like a giant scar on the surface of the supreme Celestial Realm. It was obvious and jarring…
“This, this…”
" }, { "id": 422, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-422", "title": "Chapter 422 - Chief God Divine Cores, Assimilating Them All", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "The Life Garden was a flowerbed that hung suspended high up in the sky. An endless amount of green foliage intertwined with one another to form a heavenly pillar covered in flowers. It supported the Life Garden, making it appear as if it was floating in mid-air.
The Life Garden wasn’t very big. Innumerable rare and precious flowers and plants grew everywhere inside it, giving off a rich and strong fragrance. In the center of the flowers and plants stood a shrine—it was none other than one of the Celestial Realm’s four Juggernauts, the Life Dominus’ shrine, known as the Life Shrine.
The battle in the Earth Divine Realm had nearly scared the living daylights out of the Life Dominus. When she returned to the Life Shrine, she had casually left behind some instructions and immediately entered seclusion.
She wanted to comprehend the supreme laws of nature further and become even stronger so that she would be able to respond to Meng Lei’s revenge anytime. She believed that Meng Lei would never let matters rest.
Boom, boom, boom!
At this exact moment, a series of booms suddenly traveled over from the sky, awakening the Life Dominus with a start. She lifted her head in surprise to see that a black hole—a gigantic black hole that was rapidly increasing in size and spreading—had formed in the sky a great distance away.
“What happened over there?”
The Life Dominus’ expression changed dramatically. She hurriedly flew out of the shrine and looked into the distance with the help of the Celestial Realm’s power.
What entered her sight was the supreme Celestial Realm currently under fierce attack. The attacks had even gone beyond the Celestial Realm’s dimensional walls’ endurance capacity, causing the dimensional walls to be swiftly destroyed.
This greatly astonished the Life Dominus.
As a supreme existential plane that surpassed even high-end existential planes, the Celestial Realm boasted a stable dimension, where its dimensional walls were incredibly tough and durable. It was very difficult for Juggernauts like her to deal large-scale damage to the Celestial Realm’s dimensional walls even if they were to borrow the Celestial Realm’s power.
Yet large expanses of dimensional walls were being destroyed and disappearing into nothingness. The Life Dominus couldn’t even imagine just what kind of intense attacks the Celestial Realm must currently be under in order for them to deal such an extent of damage to the dimensional walls!
“Who is it? Who exactly is attacking the Celestial Realm’s dimensional walls? Could it be Meng Lei? No, that’s impossible! He’s not that strong! In that case, who exactly could it be?”
The look on the Life Dominus’ face was rather volatile, changing from time to time. Had it been any other time, she would have charged over a long time ago if anyone dared to make any trouble in the Celestial Realm. But this time…
The Life Dominus was hesitating. The other party was unimaginably strong. She didn’t dare to take any risks with her life at stake!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ten figures appeared one after another at this point—they were none other than the ten Chief Gods under the Life Dominus’ command.
There were a total of 44 Chief Gods in the Celestial Realm, with ten under each of the four Juggernauts and the remaining four not under anyone’s command.
“O great Juggernaut!”
Fear, alarm, and anxiety filled the ten Chief Gods’ eyes. All of them had become fearful and jittery ever since the battle in the Earth Divine Realm. Now that the Celestial Realm’s dimensional walls had come under such attacks, how could they possibly not panic?
“O Juggernaut, it must be Meng Lei! He must be the one who’s attacking the Celestial Realm’s dimensional walls! He’s clearly trying to destroy the Celestial Realm by doing that! What should we do?”
“O Juggernaut, hurry and think of something! The consequences would be unthinkable if he really destroys the Celestial Realm!”
“O Juggernaut—”
“Shut up, all of you!”
The Life Dominus had a terribly awful look on her face. She barked grimly, “Let’s go to the Destruction Dominus and the Death Dominus first. We’ll deal with those powerful enemies together after that!”
Whoosh!
Someone teleported over at this point. The Chief Gods quickly turned over to the newcomer, upon which looks of joy immediately came over their faces. They chorused, “Greetings, Lord Death Dominus!”
The Life Dominus heaved a sigh of relief right away at the sight of the newcomer. She said, “You’re here, Hadas!”
“Mmhmm.”
The newcomer looked haggard and withered and was deathly pale. An aura of death also circled all around him. It was none other than the Death Dominus, one of the three great Juggernauts. His gaze swept across the ten Chief Gods before he subsequently looked at the Life Dominus. His voice was hoarse and sharp as he said, “Is Disaryl not here yet?”
“He’s not there?”
“No, he isn’t,” replied the Life Dominus with a shake of her head.
“Mmhmm.”
The Death Dominus made a casual sound of acknowledgment.
The Life Dominus nodded slightly. Then, the puzzled Life Dominus asked, “Why did you come by yourself, Hadas? Where are the ten Chief Gods under your command?”
“Them? They’re all dead,” replied the Death Dominus emotionlessly.
“They’re dead?”
Huge jolts went through the Life Dominus and the ten Chief Gods. Looks of incredulity filled their eyes.
“What did you say, Hadas? The ten Chief Gods under your command are dead? How can that be? How did they die? It can’t be that Meng Lei has killed them?”
“No, Meng Lei didn’t kill them.” The Death Dominus shook his head. “I did!”
“Y-you killed them?”
The Life Dominus and the ten Chief Gods’ expressions changed drastically. The Life Dominus shouted fiercely, “Why did you do that, Hadas?!”
“If they didn’t die, then I would have to!”
The Death Dominus spoke indifferently and apathetically as if he was just talking about something that wasn’t even worth a mention. He said, “Now that a freak like Meng Lei has been born in this universe, we, the three Juggernauts, are no match for him at all. I can only do my best to strengthen myself so that I can deal with him.”
“So, you decided to kill the ten Chief Gods under your command?”
The Life Dominus had an awful look on her face. She knew why Hadas had done something like that, of course.
Hadas must have killed the ten Chief Gods under his command, taken their Chief God divine cores, and then assimilated them to strengthen himself!
Indeed!
This was certainly a shortcut to quickly strengthen himself because the more Chief God divine cores he assimilated, the stronger Hadas’ control over the supreme Celestial Realm would become. By borrowing the Celestial Realm’s power, Hadas’ combat strength would increase rapidly—there was no doubt about that!
But how could Hadas bring himself to do that?
Those ten Chief Gods were already Hadas’ followers countless years ago, all trusted subordinates of his. How could he bring himself to do that?
“You’re out of your mind, Hadas!”
The Life Dominus gnashed her teeth in anger.
“Everything is for the sake of dealing with Meng Lei.” The Death Dominus remained apathetic as he said, “Meng Lei will eventually kill us all if we cannot fight back against him. Since we have to die sooner or later anyway, then why not let me kill them and strengthen myself instead?”
“You—”
The Life Dominus was at a loss for words.
What he says makes so much sense that I’m actually freaking lost for words?
“Take a look for yourself. Things have developed just like I expected. Meng Lei has indeed come, and on top of that, he’s become even stronger than before!”
The Death Dominus gazed into the far distance at the constantly enlarging black hole. He said, “We have to stop him. Thus, I need to gain even more power…”
The Life Dominus suddenly had a bad feeling. She asked, “What are you intending to do, Hadas?”
“Not much. Just borrowing their Chief God divine cores for a quick use!”
The Death Dominus turned to the ten Chief Gods with a look of absolute indifference on his deathly pale countenance. Then, he raised his right hand and made a light grabbing motion.
Boom!
A white bone palm suddenly appeared and grabbed at the ten Chief Gods.
“Noooo!”
“Dammit!”
“Spare us, Juggernaut!”
“Run!”
Upon hearing what the Death Dominus said and subsequently seeing the bone claw that suddenly attacked them, the ten Chief Gods under the Life Dominus’ command were frightened out of their wits. They ran at once, only to discover to their horror at the next moment that they had been completely trapped to the spot.
“The Celestial Realm’s power!”
“This is the Celestial Realm’s power!”
The ten Chief Gods knew what kind of power it was that was trapping them. They hastily activated their Chief God divine cores to mobilize the Celestial Realm’s power in an attempt to escape, but what they couldn’t accept was that the Celestial Realm power imprisoning them was far stronger than what they could mobilize!
They… were still immobile!
“Stop your futile struggles.” The Death Dominus said apathetically, “You can’t run from me.”
“Help!”
“O Juggernaut, save us!”
Terrified, the ten Chief Gods begged the Life Dominus for help. They could only pin their hopes on the Life Dominus at this point. She was the only one that could save them now!
“Stop it, Hadas!”
The Life Dominus let out a fierce shout. She wanted to disperse the Celestial Realm power that was imprisoning the ten Chief Gods, but what astonished her was that she had actually failed!
“How can this be?”
The Life Dominus tried once more, but it ended in failure again.
“I forgot to tell you something—not only have I killed the ten Chief Gods under my command, but I’ve also killed the 20 Chief Gods under the Space Dominus’ and the Destruction Dominus’ command, as well as those three that are not under anyone.”
The Death Dominus said dispassionately, “In other words, I’ve already assimilated 33 Chief God divine cores, and I’ve reached an unprecedented level of control over the Celestial Realm.”
“3… 33 Chief God divine cores?”
The Life Dominus almost lost her control over her bladder and wet herself in fear the moment she heard what the Death Dominus said.
33 Chief God divine cores! What kind of concept was that?
Legend had it that one could rival a Supreme God just by assimilating ten Chief God divine cores from high-end existential planes. In that case, now that the Death Dominus had assimilated 33 from the supreme Celestial Realm, how strong must he have become?
Boom!
The bone claw instantly engulfed the ten Chief Gods and thoroughly destroyed them in one move. Only ten Chief God divine cores remained at the spot where they had previously been.
At the sight, the Death Dominus couldn’t help but reveal a hint of a smile. Once he assimilated these ten Chief God divine cores, he’d have assimilated a total of 43 Chief God divine cores. When that happened, his combat strength would reach an incredible stage. Meng Lei… What was there to fear about him?
Whoosh!
Just as the Death Dominus was about to grab at the ten Chief God divine cores, the Life Dominus also moved. She teleported to the area right in front of the ten Chief God divine cores…
“Stop, you cheap slave girl!”
The Death Dominus’ expression changed at once. Powerful waves of Celestial Realm power emerged from him and went crushing toward the Life Dominus at once. He was dead set on taking those ten Chief God divine cores, so how could he possibly allow the Life Dominus to take them?
Boom!
As though they were torrential tidal waves, surging waves of Celestial Realm power attacked the Life Dominus in an instant, pouring down onto her all at once. The Life Dominus let out a cry and coughed up a mouthful of blood. The Celestial Realm power imprisoned her to the spot right away, and her face turned deathly pale.
“Hmph!”
The Death Dominus caught the ten Chief God divine cores in his hand and gazed coldly at the Life Dominus. He said, “That was a nice idea, cheap slave girl. It’s just a shame that… you’re too weak!”
“Hadas!”
The Life Dominus glared furiously at the Death Dominus, her expression one of savagery.
“As a Juggernaut, you’re too foolish.”
As the Death Dominus erased the Chief God divine spirits inside the divine cores, he also said apathetically, “To think you’re not even trying to strengthen yourself when we’re already in such a crisis. On top of that, you were even dreaming of protecting the Chief Gods under your command. There isn’t any Juggernaut who’s more foolish than you!”
“What do you want, Hadas?!” bellowed the Life Dominus.
“Why bother asking when you already know the answer?”
The Death Dominus let out an icy snort and began to assimilate the ten Chief God divine cores. It was very hard for ordinary deities to assimilate Chief God divine cores. They needed a very long time to do it, such as Puhaman and the others.
However, it was very easy for the Death Dominus to do so. After dripping his blood onto the Chief God divine cores to claim ownership over them, he stored them in his sea of consciousness one by one and successfully refined them.
Boom!
In the instant that the ten Chief God divine cores were successfully assimilated into his body, not only did the Death Dominus’ force of presence not become any stronger, but it even became barely discernible as though it wasn’t even there at all.
Yet the Life Dominus’ face turned even paler at the sight. In this instant, she felt as if the Hadas currently standing in front of her had already merged with the entire supreme Celestial Realm. It was as if… Hadas was the supreme Celestial Realm itself! And the supreme Celestial Realm was Hadas himself!
The Life Dominus knew that this was because Hadas had assimilated too many Chief God divine cores. It was to the extent that he had almost fully refined the whole supreme Celestial Realm!
“This is exactly the feeling!”
A hint of revelry appeared on Hadas’ face as he took in the sensation of the omnipresent Celestial Realm power.
“I feel even more like I’m about to become one with the supreme Celestial Realm now! Of course, I still need the last four Chief God divine cores if I really want to become one with the Celestial Realm!”
Hadas turned to the Life Dominus and said, “On account of how we’re both Juggernauts, why don’t you hand over your Chief God divine core yourself? I can spare your life.”
“Kill me if you’re that capable, Hadas!”
The Life Dominus’ voice was sharp and shrill as she said, “Hahaha, you can’t kill me! My divine spirit was modified by Eternal Energy a long time ago. It is immortal and indestructible and will forever exist. You can’t kill me at all!”
“I certainly can’t, but I can seal you for eternity!” The Death Dominus snorted coldly and reached out at once to gouge out the Life Dominus’ Chief God divine core.
Unexpectedly, it was right at this moment that a series of claps suddenly rang out beside his ear.
“Tsk, tsk! I didn’t expect that I would be in time to watch an entertaining show of people massacring one another. Looks like I’m not too late!”
" }, { "id": 423, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-423", "title": "Chapter 423 - Subduing A Juggernaut, An Unprecedented Feat", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Just as they were ready to fight any moment, the voice was like a thunderclap that blasted into the ears of the Life Dominus and Death Dominus.
They looked toward the direction simultaneously, as they saw Meng Lei hovering nearby smiling at them.
“Meng Lei!”
The expression of the Life Dominus changed dramatically.
“It’s you!” The Death Dominus raised an eyebrow. “Little fellow, how bold of you to pursue us all the way here! Since you’ve arrived, don’t think about leaving anymore!”
“You need not worry. I won’t leave anyway.” Meng Lei waved it off as he smiled faintly. “The supreme Celestial Realm seems like a nice place. I’ve decided to stay for a long time from now on.”
“Long stay? You mean long gone!”
The Death Dominus did not pay the Life Dominus any more attention as he used the supreme Celestial Realm’s power to suppress Meng Lei. “Stay here forever, little fellow!”
Boom!
The rolling pressure came like crashing tidal waves from all directions toward Meng Lei.
At that moment, the full potential of the supreme Celestial Realm could finally be showcased. This power had surpassed any other Power of Existential Plane and also surpassed the combined realm’s power used by the three Juggernauts with 43 Chief Gods.
“Prepare to be obliterated, little fellow!”
The Death Dominus let out a sinister laugh. “I’ve activated 50% of the realm’s power that no one can survive. Even if you’re halfway through becoming a Supreme God, you’ll surely be crushed into a flesh pie, a meat sauce, mwahaha!”
“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”
Facing the terrifying power, Meng Lei did not move as it enveloped him.
“You’re almost dead and still speak with such stubbornness!”
The Death Dominus sneered as he could imagine how Meng Lei would end up smashed into a meat pie. However, his smile stiffened at the very next moment.
Meng Lei was like an immovable force in the eye of the storm. No matter how the waves crashed and ravaged, Meng Lei stood there unharmed as he smiled calmly.
It was just like…
A breeze was caressing his face while he remained firm and unmoving!
“No way! This is impossible!!”
The Death Dominus could not accept what he witnessed while the Life Dominus looked like she had seen a ghost.
The supreme Celestial Realm possessed 48 Chief God divine cores, which created 44 Chief Gods and the four Juggernauts. Currently, other than the two that Meng Lei had obtained, and one each for herself and the Destruction Dominus, the rest had been assimilated by the Death Dominus whose control over the supreme Celestial Realm reached an unbelievable extent.
It could be said that the Death Dominus had almost refined the entire supreme Celestial Realm, and the supreme Celestial Realm’s power that he could activate was insane.
The Life Dominus could never have imagined the true might of such power, but it could surely match a Supreme God.
However, she could not believe that Meng Lei could remain unharmed as if the realm’s power was nothing to him…
“Maybe he has become a Supreme God?” The Life Dominus muttered, “Even so, how can a Supreme God be unharmed under 50% power?”
Just how strong was Meng Lei, exactly?
The Life Dominus could find no answer to that.
“See? Your biggest trump card couldn’t even hurt me. Now tell me, Death Dominus, how are you going to kill me?”
Meng Lei looked at the Death Dominus with a bright smile.
“Don’t get over yourself, little fellow!” The Death Dominus’ eyes were blood-red. “Since 50% isn’t enough, I’ll use 90% power then! I’m sure that you won’t be able to withstand 90% of the realm’s power this time! Die, die, die! Go to hell!”
The supreme Celestial Realm’s power surged up again. 60%, 70%, 80%, then 90% of the realm’s power flooded onto Meng Lei. Anyone else, including a Supreme Juggernaut, would be crushed indifferently.
That was not the case for Meng Lei.
He stood there unscathed as he allowed the pressure on him while he stayed in the spot—90% was no different from 50% of the realm’s power!
“Why is this happening?”
The Death Dominus’ head was trembling. He could not believe his eyes and the scene he was witnessing or accept what was happening.
“Is that all you got, Death Dominus? If so, then I’m sorry to tell you that your wish will never come true!” Meng Lei continued as he gazed at the Death Dominus, “By the way, let me remind you that the Celestial Realm’s power might be mighty, but it was never your own power. Hence, it might be stripped away, like… this!”
With that said, Meng Lei used his will to control the supreme Celestial Realm’s power around him to press toward the Death Dominus.
“You can activate the realm’s power? Damn it! You must’ve assimilated both the Space Dominus’ and the Behemoth Chief God’s divine cores in order to do such a thing!”
The Death Dominus let out a roar, “Still, you think you can strip away my control over the supreme Celestial Realm? You think too highly of yourself!”
He started to activate the realm’s power too. Yet, that was the moment he realized that he had lost control over the supreme Celestial Realm. He simply could not use it anymore!
“How can this be? How can this be?!”
The Death Dominus bellowed furiously as he repeatedly tried to activate the realm’s power through his divine core in his mind, but to no avail.
His divine core in his mind was like a flat battery, cutting its connection from the supreme Celestial Realm despite the Death Dominus’ attempts to activate it.
“Why is this happening?”
The Death Dominus went absolutely nuts.
Boom!
The violent, surging Celestial Realm’s power swept across as it landed onto the Death Dominus.
Under this horrible pressure, the Death Dominus bled from all seven facial orifices. His bones were fractured, his back was bent, and his leg was broken, putting him kneeling to the ground.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
The Death Dominus roared hysterically, but he could no longer get up.
“See? Death Dominus!”
Meng Lei walked toward the Death Dominus step by step as he looked down from above at him. “Powers that aren’t yours can be taken away easily!”
“Why…”
The Death Dominus glared straight at Meng Lei.
“Mm, the exact reason… I don’t really know how to explain it either.” Meng Lei shook his head slightly. “Maybe I’m just too overpowered!”
“Too powerful? Hehehe!” The Death Dominus gave a dismal laugh. Blood was spilling out from his nose, eyes, and mouth as it was a horrific sight to behold. “Before I die, can you answer this? What level are you at exactly? A Supreme God of The Universe? Or a Primordial World Genesis God?”
“I don’t know,”
Meng Lei shook his head again. “I don’t really know where I’ve progressed. Maybe I’m only slightly superior over a Supreme God. I just can’t put it into words.”
“You don’t know!?” The Death Dominus seemed unsurprised. “Go look for Disaryl. He’s an ancient freak who survived from the previous era, so he must know a lot about this.”
“Destruction Dominus?” Meng Lei turned to look in another direction. “Tsk, tsk. To be able to power up so quickly, this fellow must have some secrets up his sleeves. I’ll meet him properly later, as for you…”
Meng Lei turned back to look at the Death Dominus. “Taking your life or not isn’t important to me. Well, since you’re from this era, I can let you live. And you should know what to do, right?”
“You’re not going to kill me?”
The Death Dominus was stunned.
“Unless you want to die,” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
The Death Dominus was overjoyed as he released his divine spirit origin energy immediately, handing it over to Meng Lei respectfully. “I’m willing to submit!”
“Your divine spirit origin energy alone isn’t enough!”
Meng Lei stuck a finger onto the forehead of the Death Dominus. With a light sizzling sound, a dazzling crystal flew out.
This crystal was circular and covered with cracks all over its surface—it was the Chief God divine core.
To be more accurate, it was the Heart of The Existential Plane combined from 44 Chief God divine cores.
Meng Lei crushed the crystal in his palm to separate this crystal again into 44 Chief God divine cores. The Death Dominus spat out a mouthful of blood at the same time.
“This is yours.”
Meng Lei threw one of the divine cores to the Death Dominus before wiping off the divine spirit marks on the rest of the 43 divine cores and kept them.
Lastly, he refined the divine spirit origin energy of the Death Dominus.
“Such a large cake like the supreme Celestial Realm shouldn’t be hoarded by you alone, and it should be shared, am I right?”
Meng Lei looked at the Death Dominus.
“Yes, yes! How wise, my Master!”
The Death Dominus did not dare to have any objections.
“Good!” Meng Lei nodded slightly as he turned to the Life Dominus. “What about you?”
“I’m willing to submit as well!”
The Life Dominus did not hesitate at all to prostrate before Meng Lei and hand over her divine spirit origin energy.
“Smart move.”
Meng Lei refined the Life Dominus’ divine spirit origin energy before telling them, “Go now, bring me the treasuries of the 44 Chief Gods of the supreme Celestial Realm, and their godly clan treasuries as well. Of course, don’t forget your own treasuries too.”
“Yes, Master!”
The Life Dominus and the Death Dominus answered respectfully before teleporting away. One minute later, they returned with the spatial rings.
“Pretty fast, I see!”
Meng Lei remarked as he received the rings.
He kept whatever he needed and threw away whatever was unnecessary.
As expected from the 48 godly clans of the Celestial Realm, their wealth was beyond his imagination.
After collection, his wealth increased by 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals to an unprecedented 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals!
It was truly unprecedented.
With such massive wealth, he had to spend them.
“System, how many Supreme Divinity Crystals would it cost to enhance my divine spirit?”
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to a Supreme Juggernaut’s and will rival that of a Supreme God of The Universe after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?”
“500? Forget it!”
Meng Lei rejected it. Despite possessing a massive wealth of 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals, it came from plundering 148 godly clans to save up that many. To earn more would mean to scourge the Netherworld, Demon Realm, Hell, and the Abyss.
Or else, it would be difficult to obtain more from plundering.
Even if he ransacked the entire Netherworld and others, how much could he earn?
1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals?
2,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals?
It would not be much, to say the least.
Oh well, I’ll save up first then!
“Let’s go and meet the Destruction Dominus.”
" }, { "id": 424, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-424", "title": "Chapter 424 - Destiny Laws Of Nature, Lord Of The Universe", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "The Destruction Dominus sat cross-legged within an underground space of unknown depth and hovered in the middle while he quickly comprehended the destiny laws of nature. His aura was almost unchanged, but the divine spirit force he emanated was becoming stronger and more terrifying.
At the same time, his body exuded strings of elusive, erratic, and illusory aura, filling up the entire space. The gray skeleton stood in the coffin while its grayish will-o’-the-wisp blinked about, its thoughts unknown.
“Soon! You’re almost there!
“Once you’ve assimilated this bit of destiny laws of nature, you will ascend into a Supreme God. By then, you’ll be able to wipe off any unstable elements to buy time for us.
“This era is our only shot. We cannot fail no matter what…”
After an unknown amount of time, the Destruction Dominus opened his eyes suddenly. They were bottomless with glimmers of mysterious laws of nature.
“Have you succeeded?” asked the gray skeleton.
“I did it!” The Destruction Dominus nodded. “I’ve completely assimilated this bit of destiny laws of nature to step into an entirely different domain. I believe in due time, I’ll master it to become the Supreme God of Destiny!”
“Great! Destiny, order, and space-time laws of nature are the great genesis laws of nature that stood above the five supreme laws of nature. There’s nothing more superior than these laws of nature!”
The gray skeleton was delighted. “If we can obtain a cosmic embryo, you can create a complete universe. Then you can assimilate the universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe, like that legendary Primordial World Genesis God!
“Of course, there’s a universe here already. There’s no need to seek further to create another one when we can just eliminate any unstable factors here. Once this era ends and the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process arrives, assimilating this universe’s origin energy will do!”
Assimilate the universe’s origin energy!
Become the Lord of The Universe!
Match the legendary Primordial World Genesis God!
The Destruction Dominus’ eyes were scorching, while his voice contained endless murderous intent. “Meng Lei must die! And the Death Dominus, Life Dominus, Supreme God of The Underworld, and Grim Reaper King. They must all die!”
“Indeed, they must be taken down!” The gray skeleton continued. “Remember, this era is our only opportunity. If we miss this one, we’ll never make a comeback.”
“I understand!” The Destruction Dominus nodded slightly. “Carry on with your deep sleep. It’s time to finish off Meng Lei.”
“Go on then!”
The gray skeleton yawned and returned inside the coffin. The hovering coffin lid fell gently as it closed the coffin once again.
The Destruction Dominus swept a glance at the coffin before leaving the space in a flash. After more than an hour of traveling upward, he returned to the ground surface.
“Here I come, Meng Lei!”
The Destruction Dominus began to check the destiny lines to trace down Meng Lei.
Every person had their destiny, or rather, every form of life, and the existential planes had their own destinies. Destiny was like a line that kept on extending forward. Unless the lifeform died or the existential plane was destroyed, the destiny line would never stop extending.
Nevertheless, if the lifeform’s destiny line was cut off, it meant the end of its destiny, and death would follow.
Despite comprehending only parts of the destiny laws of nature, the Destruction Dominus could see the destiny lines of all lifeforms. As his gaze swept across the destiny world, densely packed destiny lines hovered around.
Some were like a sun glow that was extremely red till it was similar to purple, meaning that fortune would shine on this lifeform with ample opportunities.
Some were as precarious as a pile of eggs as if a gust of wind could break it, meaning that this lifeform was ill-fated with a lifetime of bad luck. In short, it would be a life of misery.
Of course, the destiny lines were not independent as most were intertwining with each other, meaning that these lifeforms were connected.
Although there were countless destiny lines, finding Meng Lei’s destiny line was not too difficult. Since Meng Lei was so powerful, his destiny line should be incredibly thick. Thus finding the thickest line would be the simplest option.
With that in mind, the Destruction Dominus found some of the thickest destiny lines he could. However, he discovered that none was Meng Lei’s destiny line after checking. The Destruction Dominus was flabbergasted. How was it possible that he could not find Meng Lei’s destiny line?
He continued searching.
After half a day had gone, nothing turned up.
However, the Destruction Dominus saw a wall. It was incredibly tall and majestic, spanning across the destiny world to occupy half of the space, making it hard to ignore.
The Destruction Dominus had seen the wall when he entered the destiny world, but he did not think much of it or even treat it as a destiny line. The wall was too huge and thick—how could it be a destiny line?
The search continued as the Destruction Dominus checked through every line, finding the destiny lines of the Death Dominus, Life Dominus, Supreme God of The Underworld, and Grim Reaper King. Yet, Meng Lei’s destiny line was still nowhere to be found.
“Does this fellow not have a destiny?” The Destruction Dominus was going mad when he noticed that the great wall was moving toward him. The Destruction Dominus was startled. “This wall can move too? What’s going on?”
Just as the Destruction Dominus was dazed, the wall finally reached him and intertwined with his destiny line. While hovering before the wall, the Destruction Dominus realized that his destiny line was like a firefly in front of the sun.
There was no comparability between the two at all!
The intertwining of destiny lines meant the crossing of paths between two lifeforms. A jolt went through the Destruction Dominus as he seemed to think up something. “P-perhaps—”
“Destruction Dominus, what are you standing around here for? Are you waiting here knowing that I’m coming?” A mocking voice rang.
This voice!!
The Destruction Dominus left the destiny world immediately while returning to reality.
“Y-you… You…”
The Destruction Dominus pointed at Meng Lei with an extremely complicated expression. It was like a mix of terror and shock that affected his articulation.
“What’s the matter?”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Meng Lei!”
The Destruction Dominus calmed down as he glared at Meng Lei with an intent to kill that had never been so intense. “Today, you’ll die! You must die!”
“Kill me? Just you?” Meng Lei shook his head with a smile as he mocked, “It’s not that I’m underestimating you, but you’re certainly just inferior to me.”
“Die!”
The Destruction Dominus bellowed as a punch shot out. Mysterious laws of nature aura burst off the fist while the punch blasted onto Meng Lei heavily.
Amazingly, the punch neither caused any spatial fluctuations nor expressed any form of might. Meng Lei did not dodge it either, as if the punch did not exist.
However, Meng Lei felt the brunt of the strike. Although it was not lethal, he could sense that he was weakened slightly. He could not explain how he was weakened, but it was the fact.
“What kind of attack is this?”
Meng Lei looked at the Destruction Dominus with eyes full of disbelief. Ever since he had manifested his Primordial World Body, no one could harm him at all.
Yet, the Destruction Dominus did just that with a mysterious power.
How could Meng Lei possibly not be startled?
“You bastard!”
Disbelief was also written on the Destruction Dominus’ face. He realized that his attack that was imbued with the power of destiny could not even move his destiny. Accurately speaking, it did shake a little, meaning that the wall representing Meng Lei’s destiny did shake a little.
Other than that, there was nothing else.
“Darn it! How can your destiny be so powerful to such an extent?”
Despite controlling a bit of the power of destiny, it was only a little bit after all. Meng Lei’s destiny was like a wall that was impossible to kill. Even if he had the perseverance of the Foolish Old Man who removed the mountains 1 , he still could not move such a great wall.
“Destiny? Is this the power of destiny?” Meng Lei’s eyes lit up while he asked intensely, “You’ve controlled the destiny laws of nature?”
“So what if it’s true?”
If Meng Lei asked him before that punch, the Destruction Dominus would have been proud of himself. The destiny laws of nature was one of the genesis laws of nature that were superior to supreme laws of nature. Controlling part of it meant that he had stepped into the level of Supreme Gods.
How impressive was that?
However, the Destruction Dominus could not lift his spirits anymore now…
“Destiny laws of nature! You’ve actually comprehended it!”
The Life Dominus was shocked as she looked at the Destruction Dominus in disbelief. The Death Dominus was not surprised as he said gravely, “Disaryl is an ancient fossil that survived the previous era. I think it’s only normal for him to comprehend the destiny laws of nature.”
“The previous era?” The Life Dominus was taken aback.
“The destiny laws of nature! Haha! Thanks, Destruction Dominus!”
Meng Lei laughed out loud with undisguised delight and excitement in his laughter. “Moro, you’ve told me that there would be a surprise for me the next time I meet the three Juggernauts. Is this the one?”
“You’ve guessed it right!” Moro smiled and said. “When you were fighting the three Juggernauts, I sensed a familiar aura from the Destruction Dominus. After close observations, I realized that I knew this fellow from the previous era!”
“You mean he’s an ancient freak like you from the previous era?” Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“No! It’s different.” Moro shook his head. “He appeared suddenly toward the end of the previous era. Plus, he was already at the level of a Great Perfection Supreme God. If it weren’t for my friend and me, this fellow’s scheme would have succeeded!”
“Scheme? What kind of scheme?”
A look of puzzlement came over Meng Lei’s features.
“The plot to assimilate the universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe!”
Moro said slowly, “The Lord of The Universe, as its name suggests, is the master of a universe. Legend has it that once you’ve become that, you’ll match the legendary Primordial World Genesis God and truly transcend the universe. You will also be unaffected by the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process!
“Plus, you can even control the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process!”
" }, { "id": 425, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-425", "title": "Chapter 425 - The Gray Skeleton: He Has To Die", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "“Refine the universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe, comparable to the Primordial World Genesis Gods!”
Meng Lei continuously mumbled this sentence, his eyes flashing brightly.
“When an era comes to an end, and when the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process happens, laws of nature retreat and the origin of the universe appears. This is the best time to assimilate the universe’s origin energy!”
Moro continued. “And it is because of this that many ambitious players would emerge, fight for the universe’s origin energy, and attempt to become the Lord of The Universe. Destruction Dominus is one of them. I fought with him years ago, so I will not forget his scent until the day I die!”
“Which means the Destruction Dominus is an ancient fellow from the era before the last?”
Meng Lei looked at the Destruction Dominus, and a strange look flashed across his eyes.
The longer one lives, the more one knows…
“Not bad!”
Moro reminded him, “Be careful. When the last era suddenly emerged, this guy showed strength comparable to Supreme Gods. Don’t let your guard down at all, in case it costs you unexpectedly.”
“Don’t worry, I know!”
Meng Lei licked his tongue and looked at the Destruction Dominus greedily. “I didn’t expect you were actually an ancient monster from the era before the last. And even lesser did I expect, that you actually sent over the destiny laws of nature. Destruction Dominus, I really have to thank you!”
Upon hearing the first sentence, the Destruction Dominus’ facial complexion changed slightly. “How did you know? Can you also be an ancient monster who survived from two eras ago? No! It can’t be, your scent is too strange. I have never seen you. Who are you after all?”
“It’s unimportant who I am!” Meng Lei smiled slightly. “What’s important is that I have to thank you!”
“Thank me?”
The Destruction Dominus was a bit stunned.
“Yes! Thank you for bringing the destiny laws of nature!”
Meng Lei smiled mildly and made the order to plunder immediately. “System, get out to work. Plunder the Destruction Dominus’ destiny laws of nature immediately!”
“Ding! Plunder target: Destruction Dominus. Target substance: Destiny Laws of Nature. Estimated plunder price: 50 Supreme Divinity Crystal!” The cold voice of the system sounded. “Would you like to plunder?”
“50 Supreme Divinity Crystals? It’s not expensive!” Meng Lei’s mouth curved upward. “Why do you ask? Plunder!”
Whoosh!
At that moment, the Destruction Dominus suddenly felt a mysterious force envelop him. He was in a daze, and then a melancholic, grievous feeling invaded his mind. The Destruction Dominus felt like he lost something, but he couldn’t say what exactly it was!
In the meantime, Meng Lei felt an extremely rich and powerful rush of information suddenly entering his mind and blending into the divine spirit flame. Meng Lei hurriedly restrained his thoughts and started rapid comprehension.
Destiny!
Every life has its destiny!
Destiny…
Information about the destiny laws of nature flashed across his mind like a movie. Meng Lei rapidly absorbed, read, and comprehended…
After an unknown period, maybe just an instant, a long while, Meng Lei finally mastered all of the destiny laws of nature.
Looking at the stats interface again, he saw that “Destiny Laws of Nature” was indeed added to the Laws of Nature comprehension column.
Laws of Nature: Time (100%), Destruction (100%), Life (100%), Spatial (100%), Death (100%), Destiny (0.1%)
“System, how many Supreme Divinity Crystals does it cost to improve destiny laws of nature?” Meng Lei asked the system.
The system answered without any hesitation, “Ding! 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals are required to improve Destiny Laws of Nature by 1%!”
“1… 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals?”
Meng Lei drew a cold breath. “1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals are required to improve a mere 1%, wouldn’t it require 100,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals to completely master destiny laws of nature!?”
Meng Lei felt a tingling on his scalp. After plundering the 10 Divine Realms and the 148 Divine Races of the Supreme Celestial Realm, he had only barely accumulated 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
And now!
The extremely costly destiny laws of nature actually required 100,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals. This is so f*cking ridiculous! Where was he to find so many Destiny Laws of Nature!?
“I’m sad!”
Meng Lei rubbed his temples and feeling troubled. “In this case, I can only go and make trouble at the demons’ camp!”
Speaking of which, Meng Lei looked at the Destruction Dominus again and said mildly, “In order to thank you for bringing me the destiny laws of nature, I have decided to leave you with a full corpse!”
As he spoke, Meng Lei reached out to directly grab at the Destruction Dominus.
“You wanna kill me? You can’t kill me!” The Destruction Dominus roared and immediately teleported himself out by manipulating Celestial Realm forces.
Upon seeing this, Meng Lei couldn’t help but shake his head slightly. “I just comprehended the destiny laws of nature. I will use you to try it out then,” he murmured.
Then, Meng Lei’s divine spirit plunged into the Void of Destiny, found the Destruction Dominus’ line of destiny, and then cut it gently. The Destruction Dominus’ line of destiny was instantly broken by a long length, with only a small strand barely attached.
At that moment, the Destruction Dominus, who teleported to the distance, suddenly felt a strong sense of weakness in his body. It was as if his divine body was emptied. His entire person was extremely weak, and he almost fell to the ground.
“What’s going on?”
The Destruction Dominus was shocked and scared. He hurried to examine himself, and to his astonishment, he realized that neither his divine body nor his divine spirit had been weakened. Yet, he just felt an unprecedented weakness, as though he had returned to his weakest period.
“Destiny laws of nature! This is the power of destiny!” the Destruction Dominus said with a hoarse voice. “Sh*t! Destiny laws of nature attacked me!”
His divine spirit hurriedly went into the Void of Destiny, meaning to check on his own line of destiny, only to find that he actually couldn’t enter the Void of Destiny.
“What’s going on? Why can’t I enter the Void of Destiny!?”
The Destruction Dominus was astonished, and then he tried madly. In the end, he discovered something even more tragic—his understanding of destiny laws of nature was… gone!
In other words, it was replaced with a blankness!
“How did that happen? Where is the destiny laws of nature I comprehended!?”
The Destruction Dominus felt like he was struck by lightning.
Meng Lei appeared quietly with the Life Dominus and Death Dominus.
The Destruction Dominus stared at Meng Lei. “What did you do to me!?”
“Nothing much, I just deprived you of your comprehension of destiny laws of nature,” Meng Lei said lightly, as though he was speaking of something totally insignificant.
Yet, in the ears of the Destruction Dominus, Life Dominus, and Death Dominus, the impact was no less than a bolt of thunder. Under shock, the three Dominuses’ bodies quivered violently, and their facial complexions changed significantly.
“Deprived him of destiny laws of nature!?”
“Master actually has such ability?”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus gave each other a look and saw shock and amazement in each other’s eyes.
“Y-you deprived my comprehension of the destiny laws of nature?” The Destruction Dominus was a bit hysterical. “No! It’s impossible! It’s impossible!”
“There’s no point saying more. Go to hell!”
Meng Lei made a casual grab, directly grabbing the Destruction Dominus in his hand. His divine spirit force rushed out wildly and submerged the Destruction Dominus’ divine spirit right away. It started a mad spirit search.
“Argghhhh!”
The Destruction Dominus roared hoarsely, struggled, and resisted madly, yet everything was in vain. He was weak and couldn’t fight against Meng Lei at all.
Eventually, Meng Lei finished reading the Destruction Dominus’ memory and learned all his secrets. Meng Lei’s eyes flashed right away, and he disappeared right where he was. When he reappeared, he was already in that mysterious underground space. That coffin quietly floated in mid-air.
Yet the coffin cover was open, and the one inside was actually gone. The gray skeleton… was gone!
“Sh*t! I actually let him run away!” Meng Lei cursed quietly. He knew who the gray skeleton was; that was the other Destruction Dominus.
In other words, he was the other body of the Destruction Dominus. They were the same person, to begin with.
Meng Lei also knew that the gray skeleton was indeed an old monster from the era before the last.
Because of this, after the start of the new era, he had been suppressed by the Order Laws of Nature. He couldn’t cultivate, absorb energy, or improve…
One could say that the new era was very hostile to lifeforms from the old era. In order to deal with such a situation, the gray skeleton had separated out a pure divine spirit origin, which didn’t contain his memory, consciousness, thinking, and divinity, and then dropped it into the new era.
This was pretty much trafficking, but he had succeeded in cheating the Order Laws of Nature. This divine spirit had eventually grown to become the Destruction Dominus. The gray skeleton had planned very well. He had been hiding there, studying the Order Laws of nature, while the Destruction Dominus was outside removing obstructions.
The two had been working together and planning to refine the universe’s origin energy once again when this era came to an end, and the Order Laws of Nature retreated; They would then seize the controlling power of the universe!
And it was because of that, when the Destruction Dominus had discovered Meng Lei, a factor of instability, the Destruction Dominus tried to erase Meng Lei at all cost.
All was well with his planning, but with all that planning, he hadn’t expected that Meng Lei was actually this strong. Even though the Destruction Dominus had a bit of comprehension of the destiny laws of nature, he had still been badly defeated by Meng Lei.
What was more tragic was that Meng Lei had even robbed him of the destiny laws of nature!
“Wait for it! You won’t escape from me!”
Meng Lei snorted, left the space, and returned to the external world.
“Master!”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus approached him.
“Let’s go! Off to the supreme Netherworld!”
Meng Lei gave an order right away.
“Yes, Master!”
Despite the thousands of questions the two had, they didn’t dare question and obediently agreed.
“Don’t resist, follow me!”
Meng Lei let out divine cognition to wrap the Life Dominus and Death Dominus and disappeared from the Supreme Celestial Realm. When they reappeared, they were already in the vast Void.
…
At the depth of the distant universe, in a far and unknown corner, a crack quietly appeared. A gray skeleton emerged from within. It was just the gray skeleton.
“This deserves death! Death!”
A ghostly gray fire flickered wildly inside the skull, showing how angry he was right now.
“Bast*rd! Wait for it, I won’t let you go!
“It’s mine!
“This era is mine!
“The universe’s origin energy is mine!
“The entire universe is also mine!
“Any existence that hinders me has to die!”
His cold roar filled up the surroundings. The gray skeleton gradually calmed down. “I didn’t expect this era to actually birth such an existence. He not only has the terrible ability to rob laws of nature, but his line of destiny is actually this strong too. This is troublesome!
“I have to find a way to kill him!
“If he doesn’t die, I have no chance!
“He has to die!”
" }, { "id": 426, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-426", "title": "Chapter 426 - Supreme God Of The Underworld, Grim Reaper King", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "The vast universe contained two supreme existential planes—the supreme Celestial Realm and the supreme Netherworld.
The former was owned by the deities, the latter by the demons.
In nature, the supreme Netherworld wasn’t different from the supreme Celestial Realm. They had the same laws of nature, space structure, energy constitution… The difference was only that the lifeforms that occupied them were different.
The supreme Netherworld was as vast and boundless as the Celestial Realm. Inside it lived countless dark creatures, such as the Dead Souls, the Necromancers, the Specters, the Undying, the Abyss Demons, the Fallen Demons, the Skeletons, the Purgatory Kings…
These dark creatures were extremely powerful. They didn’t cultivate a divine body nor the laws of nature. They grew simply by devouring their own kind. As a result, there weren’t many who could really grow to the pinnacle.
Up till now, only two Juggernaut-level existences had been born among the dark creatures—the Supreme God of The Underworld and the Grim Reaper King. They had divided up almost half of the realm of the supreme Netherworld, with the other half left to be ruled by the numerous Demon Grandmasters.
The Supreme God of The Underworld lived in the Netherworld Shrine, and the Netherworld Shrine was the source of the Five Great Rivers of the supreme Netherworld. One was sure to reach the Netherworld Shrine by going upstream following the Five Great Rivers.
On this day, Meng Lei’s party came to the Netherworld Shrine. Under Meng Lei’s lead, the three spent only one hour to cross through countless light-years, reached the supreme Netherworld, and then the Netherworld Shrine.
The Netherworld Shrine was on top of a mountain. This was a black snow-covered mountain. The snow melted to form five rivers flowing in five directions.
These were the Five Great Rivers of the supreme Netherworld—the River of Pain, the River of Sighs, the River of Water Scorpions, the River of Forgetfulness, and the River of Hatred.
Meng Lei looked around the Netherworld Shrine, laughed, and said, “I heard the Netherworld Shrine allows entries but no exits. It is the most mysterious forbidden ground of the entire universe. Have you two come to the Netherworld Shrine before?”
“No, Master!”
The Life Dominus shook her head slowly.
“I have come many times!” said the Death Dominus.
“Many times?” Meng Lei was shocked. “You dare to come to the Netherworld Shrine? Weren’t you afraid of getting killed by the Supreme God of The Underworld and the Grim Reaper King?”
“You may not be aware, Master, but the Supreme God of The Underworld is my younger brother!” explained the Death Dominus.
“Your younger brother?” Meng Lei was slightly stunned. “The Supreme God of The Underworld is actually your brother?”
“Yes, Master!” The Death Dominus said slowly, “Hadis and I are brothers by blood. It was only that he obtained the qualification of Chief God at the supreme Netherworld, while I obtained the qualification of Chief God at the supreme Celestial Realm. From then on, he became a Chief God at the Netherworld, and I at the Celestial Realm!”
“I see.” Meng Lei nodded. “Call him!”
“Yes, Master!”
The Death Dominus nodded slightly and then looked at the Netherworld Shrine on top of the snow-covered mountain. “Hadis, your master is here. Hurry over to greet him!”
A soft “Eh?” came from the inside of the Netherworld Shrine. A tall and strong body dressed in a black robe abruptly appeared in mid-air. He looked at the Death Dominus, frowned, and said, “Hadas, it’s all fine that you are here, but what are you bringing random people here for?”
His gaze fell upon Meng Lei and the Life Dominus. He directly ignored Meng Lei and looked toward the Life Dominus. His irises shark slightly. “Life Dominus? You actually dare to come here!”
“Hadis, watch yourself!” The Death Dominus scolded. “Are you not greeting Master yet?”
“Master?” The Supreme God of The Underworld frowned immediately. “Hadas, what’s up with you after all?”
“Let me tell you about it.” Master stepped forward. “I had a battle with your elder brother, and he lost. Thus, I became his Master, understood?”
“How dare you enslave Hadas!?”
The Supreme God of The Underworld was furious. The rolling powers of the Underworld condensed into a giant palm covering the sky and slammed toward Meng Lei like a huge mountain.
“Hadis, don’t be presumptuous!”
Upon seeing this, cold sweat emerged on the Death Dominus’ forehead. He hurried to speak to stop him. Meng Lei waved a hand to signal to him to stay calm. And then, he punched a fist right at it.
Boom!
The fist and the palm collided. Following a huge roar, the sky-covering giant palm was smashed and shattered. The Supreme God of The Underworld staggered back a few steps. Meng Lei stepped right up, approaching him in a ghostly manner, and pressed one finger against the center of his eyebrows.
“I only need to press down this finger, and you will surely die. Do you believe it?” said Meng Lei lightly.
“Who exactly are you?”
The Supreme God of The Underworld stared at Meng Lei, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He had only noticed the Life Dominus but not Meng Lei at the start because Meng Lei looked too ordinary, as ordinary as a normal human. But he really didn’t expect that ordinary-looking Meng Lei actually possessed such horrible battle prowess.
The power to break the Netherworld with one punch was simply terrible!
“You don’t need to know who I am. You only need to know that I have the strength to kill you any time, and that’s enough,” said Meng Lei lightly.
“You—”
The Supreme God of The Underworld’s tone sounded choked for a moment, and he said with a low voice, “What do you want?”
“Submit to me, be my servant,” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
“No way!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld looked like a cat whose tail got stepped on. He yelled with a stern voice, “I am the Supreme God of The Underworld. It’s impossible that I will submit to anyone!”
“Not going to submit? Then prepare to die!”
Meng Lei’s gaze chilled.
“Hadis, surrender to Master!” The Death Dominus hurriedly spoke. “Master has terrible strength, surpassing Supreme Gods. It’s totally impossible for you to defeat him!”
“Hadas, you have fallen!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld looked toward the Death Dominus. “You, a proper Death Dominus, actually willingly submitted to him. It’s my shame to have an elder brother such as you!”
“Hadis, you are just as stupid as ever!” The Death Dominus’ facial expression looked ugly. “Do you know how strong Master is? Let me tell you! Previously I merged the 43 Chief God divine cores of the supreme Celestial Realm and almost controlled the entire supreme Celestial Realm, but I still wasn’t able to beat Master. You think you can beat him? What a joke!”
“What are you talking about?” The facial expression of the Supreme God of The Underworld changed drastically. He said with disbelief, “Is this for real?”
“Hadis, you are my own brother, I can’t possibly lie to you!” The Death Dominus sighed and said slowly, “It’s a disgrace to submit to other people, but it’s a fortune to submit to Master! Hadis, don’t make useless struggles. There is no point at all!”
“Hadas, are you speaking the truth?” The Supreme God of The Underworld said through a telepathic message via his divine spirit. “Don’t lie to me!”
“Why should I lie to you?”
The Death Dominus similarly said through a telepathic message via his divine spirit. “You also know that I am a proud person, but after the battle previously, I wholeheartedly submitted to Master…”
After a series of communication, the Supreme God of The Underworld looked at Meng Lei differently. After mobilizing 90% of the powers of the Celestial Realm, he still couldn’t beat Meng Lei!
Just how strong was Meng Lei, exactly?
“Submit, Hadis,” Meng Lei said dispassionately.
“I submit!”
Hadis finally bowed his noble head. He was proud indeed but not so proud as to give up life for death. What was pride in comparison to life?
After that, Hadis gave up his divine spirit origin energy, and Meng Lei casually refined it.
“I will give you a task,” said Meng Lei lightly. “Collect all the gold, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and Demonic Crystals of the Supreme Netherworld!”
Dark creatures called Divinity Crystals, Demonic Crystals, and they were the same kind of things by nature.
“Yes, Master!”
Although the Supreme God of The Underworld felt confused by such an order, he dared not disobey and still took his orders and left. Meng Lei looked in one direction, his lips curving upward.
“Lord Grim Reaper King, since you are here, why don’t you show yourself? It’s not fitting for your position to hide!”
“Cough, cough!”
" }, { "id": 427, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-427", "title": "Chapter 427 - Ol' Amos Awakened, Blissful Old Man", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "“Cough, cough!”
Coarse sounds of coughing rang as the air shook slightly. A black figure covered in a dark cloak appeared before everyone. It was the other supreme Juggernaut of the Netherworld—the Grim Reaper King.
A cloud of black mist shrouded the Grim Reaper King’s face, and no one could have a clear view of his face, but that terrifying might it gave off was the real deal.
“Grim Reaper King, your voice is pretty thunderous.”
Meng Lei sized up the Grim Reaper King as an indistinct look flashed across his eyes. He had assimilated the Grim Reaper bloodline before, and he could be considered a Grim Reaper as well. Hence, his gaze at the appearance of the Grim Reaper King was inevitably complex.
The black mist shrouding the Grim Reaper King’s face rippled as a loud and clear voice rang.
“Sir, who are you exactly? Since when did an expert like you appear in this universe? Why haven’t I heard of you before?”
“I was only a nameless nobody a few months ago. Of course you wouldn’t have heard of me.” Meng Lei waved it off. “By the way, may I ask what’s your business over here, Grim Reaper King?”
“I got curious when I sensed the intense reverberation of the Power of The Netherworld, and it was broken up by someone violently. Therefore I arrived here to see for myself.” The Grim Reaper King looked at Meng Lei. “I didn’t expect to witness such an incredible scene. I wonder if I should be happy or sad?”
“You should be happy about it, of course.” Meng Lei chuckled. “It’s my great honor to meet the famed Grim Reaper King.”
The Grim Reaper King could not hide his smile. “I wonder what business you have in the Netherworld, sir.”
“It’s very simple. I’m collecting wealth.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “I’m a man who worships money like it’s my life. I’m here today in the Netherworld to collect all kinds of gold, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Divinity Crystals, and Demonic Crystals. Would you like to assist me?”
“Since you have such a need, I’ll do my best to help!” The Grim Reaper King nodded slightly. “May I proceed, sir?”
“You have my gratitude, Grim Reaper King.”
Meng Lei thanked him with a smile.
“Please wait for a moment. I’ll be back soon!” The Grim Reaper King disappeared on the spot as if he was afraid that staying a second longer would cost his life.
“You’re letting him leave just like that, Master?”
The Death Dominus was rather confused. In order to get them to serve him, Meng Lei had refined their divine spirit origin energy and enslaved them. On the other hand, the Grim Reaper King was much better off as Meng Lei only requested his help—the difference was too huge.
“Haha, I just feel like it.”
Meng Lei waved it off with an indifferent expression. What was so important about being enslaved or not?
“…”
The Death Dominus and Life Dominus looked at each other, speechless. That was discrimination…
“It’s time to visit the palace of the Supreme God of The Underworld.”
Meng Lei flew toward the shrine on top of the mountain. Upon entering the shrine, he sat on the throne of the Supreme God of The Underworld. The Life Dominus and Death Dominus stood on the two sides of Meng Lei like two guards.
Waiting was a source of boredom, so Meng Lei prepared to check on the destiny laws of nature he had obtained previously. However, an exclamation came from the Tower of Time to break the atmosphere.
“Hahaha, I’ve attained Great Perfection now!
“I’ve finally become a Great Perfection deity!
“Never in my lifetime have I ever thought that—
“Eh?”
Meng Lei appeared in the Tower of Time to see his Ol’ President red in the face as he burst into a peal of loud laughter while his clear voice spread around.
“Have you succeeded with the assimilation, Ol’ Amos?”
Meng Lei went over to greet with a smile.
“I’ve succeeded! I’ve finally succeeded!”
Ol’ Amos looked at Meng Lei with a face of gratitude. “Meng Lei, I cannot thank you enough! If it weren’t for you, I would never have gotten the chance to become a Great Perfection deity in my lifetime!”
“Ol’ Amos, you’re speaking like I’m an outsider.” Meng Lei smiled. “If it weren’t for your guidance in the past, how could I have accomplished what I have achieved today?”
“Oh, you’re too humble,”
Ol’ Amos smiled and shook his head. “Given your freaky talent, you’d rise up sooner or later, even without me. Oh yes, where are Puhaman and the rest?”
“Well… They’re all assimilating their Chief God divine cores,” Meng Lei said with great pleasure.
(⊙_⊙)???
Ol’ Amos was dumbfounded for a moment. “What? Wait what?”
“I’m saying that they’re all assimilating Chief God divine cores to become Chief Gods once they succeed,” Meng Lei repeated himself.
“Assimilating Chief God divine cores? Become Chief Gods?” Ol’ Amos jumped into the air when he heard that. “What the heck!? Where did their Chief God divine core come from? Or perhaps you’re powerful enough to hunt down Chief Gods!?”
Where did those Chief God divine cores come from?
Ol’ Amos could only think of Meng Lei as the answer.
“Yes!” Meng Lei smiled. “While you were away with the assimilation of your Great Perfection divine core, I accidentally broke through again and killed some Chief Gods along the way to obtain some of their divine cores.”
If anyone else told him that, Ol’ Amos would have scoffed at the idea of ‘accidentally broken through’. Killing Chief Gods at will? It would have been ridiculed.
However, if Meng Lei said that, it was completely normal to Ol’ Amos. He knew Meng Lei long enough to the extent that even if Meng Lei told him that he had become a Primordial World Genesis God, he would believe every word without any doubts.
“Where is mine? Where’s my Chief God divine core?”
Ol’ Amos jumped and grabbed onto Meng Lei’s shoulders. His eyes were bloodshot as they stared at Meng Lei fervently, overcome by excitement, greed, and desire. “I’ve known you well enough. You must have one for me, right?”
Meng Lei thought of joking with Ol’ Amos that there were no more Chief God divine cores. However, he did not dare to as he did not want the old man to snap his neck due to utter disappointment.
Meng Lei was rather amused and waved his arm to release over 100 Chief God divine cores. He sorted them into 11 stacks according to the supreme Celestial Realm and the ten major Divine Realms. “Here are more than 100 Chief God divine cores. 46 from the supreme Celestial Realm and over 80 from the ten major Divine Realms. Which one would you like to assimilate?”
“S-so many Chief God divine cores?”
Ol’ Amos was shocked as he gasped and began stuttering. “1… 100 Chief God divine cores? You… you’ve killed every Chief Gods of the supreme Celestial Realm and the ten Divine Realms?”
Ol’ Amos knew that there were 144 Chief Gods in the universe. Other than those that Puhaman and the rest had refined, there were around 120 left. Yet, the 120 divine cores were all here.
It meant that… Meng Lei might have killed them all!
“Well, I guess.” Meng Lei nodded. “Other than 144 Chief Gods, there’s two Juggernauts too.”
“T-two Juggernauts?”
Ol’ Amos froze instantly as if he was looking at a monster.
No! I shouldn’t be this shocked and overwhelmed. Just stay calm since anything that happens to him is normal!
Ol’ Amos tried desperately to restrain himself, telling himself to keep calm. Still, he could not help but ask, “Meng Lei, you… You’re so powerful to such an extent?”
“Well, I guess.”
“Oh god!”
After quite a while, Ol’ Amos finally calmed down slightly as he scanned the hundred-over Chief God divine cores available. He was dazzled by the choices while he could not take his eyes off them.
“Meng Lei, which one of these should I assimilate?” Ol’ Amos rubbed his hands excitedly.
“You got to choose from the supreme Celestial Realm.” He answered promptly. “The Celestial Realm’s size is ten thousand times the size of the ten Divine Realms, so the Chief Gods there are relatively stronger than those from the ten major Divine Realms.”
“Okay, supreme Celestial Realm it is!”
Ol’ Amos repeatedly nodded as he took one divine core from the pile belonging to the supreme Celestial Realm. He was about to find a place to refine it when Meng Lei stopped him. “Ol’ Amos, take these 22 divine cores to refine too.”
(⊙_⊙)?
Ol’ Amos was stunned once more.
“Take these 22 Chief God divine cores with you to refine all together,” Meng Lei repeated with a smile.
“Oh no, no, no. I can’t accept this.” Ol’ Amos shook his head vigorously. “I’m satisfied with this one. What is the use of so many divine cores? You should keep them for yourself!”
“These are useless to me now.”
Meng Lei gifted 22 divine cores from the supreme Celestial Realm to Ol’ Amos with a wave of his arm. “Alright, don’t waste time on refining these. I’m leaving.”
With that said, Meng Lei disappeared straightaway. Ol’ Amos watched him disappear before he tried to call him, but Meng Lei was nowhere to be seen. He could not help but let out wry laughs after wry laughs.
He had just been struck by bliss, but he did not expect more bliss to come. 23 Chief God divine cores were unimaginable!
Ol’ Amos hugged those 23 divine cores and fell into blissful trouble. “How am I supposed to refine all these? Sigh… Sometimes bliss can be a problem too.”
" }, { "id": 428, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-428", "title": "Chapter 428 - Destined To Buy Credits, Endless Darkness", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "The remaining 23 Chief God divine cores from the supreme Celestial Realm were saved for Dodola. Ever since his transmigration to this world, the ones closest to him were Ol’ Amos and Dodola. Naturally, he would leave the best for them.
Meng Lei arrived at the 100th level of the Tower of Time. Dodola remained to lie on the grass in the process of refining its Great Perfection divine core, showing no sign of waking up.
Meng Lei was rather perplexed. Dodola’s state was higher than Ol’ Amos, and it had started refining the Great Perfection divine core earlier than Ol’ Amos. So why had it not succeeded yet?
Just as Meng Lei was in doubt, Dodola’s eyes opened up with a sharp glint flashing in its eyes. “Meng Lei, why are you here?”
“To see you.” Meng Lei smiled. “Did you succeed?”
“Yes!”
Dodola stretched its body while it squealed in excitement. “And, I’ve comprehended the destruction laws of nature remaining in the divine core too!”
“I see.”
Meng Lei was cleared of his doubt.
No wonder it took longer than Ol’ Amos. It’s the comprehension of the destruction laws of nature, after all.
After that, Meng Lei brought out the 23 Chief God divine cores. Upon sensing the aura of the divine cores, Dodola could not take its eyes off them.
“C-Chief God divine cores?”
“Yeap!”
Meng Lei smiled. “These are the Chief God divine cores from the supreme Celestial Realm. 23 in total. You can take them to refine. Refining the first one might take some time, but the rest will be much easier.”
“Where did all these divine cores come from?”
Dodola could not believe its eyes as it knew the level of difficulty of getting one’s hands on Chief God divine core. Back when its old master had tried to obtain just one Chief God divine core, he had gone to the length of stealing a high-end existential plane seed, eventually costing him his life.
Why steal a high-end existential plane seed?
Stealing a high-end existential plane would be relatively easier than killing Chief Gods with lesser risk.
It was only a pity that it had failed.
After such an experience, Dodola knew how hard it would be to obtain a Chief God divine core. However, over 20 Chief God divine cores appeared before its eyes. Dodola thought that it was dreaming.
“There are only so many Chief God divine cores in the entire universe, so I guess you should know why.”
“You killed over 20 Chief Gods?”
Dodola was dumbfounded.
“Not just that, all the Chief Gods in the ten major Divine Realms and supreme Celestial Realm were killed by me. Now only two Juggernauts remain.” Meng Lei continued.
Gasp!
…
Meng Lei returned to the Netherworld Shrine. Before long, the Supreme God of The Underworld and the Grim Reaper King returned to present the wealth they had collected.
“Good job, everyone.”
After some collecting…
Meng Lei’s Wealth grew by another 1,500 Supreme Divinity Crystals, adding to the 1,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals for a total of 2,500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
It wasn’t enough, far from it. Buying credits for the destiny laws of nature required him to spend 100,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
What could 2,500 Supreme Divinity Crystals do?
“Master, are these riches not of satisfaction for you?” the Supreme God of The Underworld asked when he saw Meng Lei’s frown.
“Still far from it!”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“Please be patient, Master. I’ll leave at once to collect more from the untouched magic crystal mines in the supreme Celestial Realm,” the Supreme God of The Underworld replied quickly.
“Magic crystal mines?”
Meng Lei was surprised.
“What’s the matter, Master?”
The Supreme God of The Underworld was puzzled.
“Ah! How could I forget that!?”
Meng Lei smacked his forehead with some frustration. He had almost forgotten that no matter how much wealth each godly clan had amassed, they could not be compared to Divinity Crystal mines and Magic Crystal mines.
The ten Divine Realms and the supreme Celestial Realm had countless mines, and if they were fully mined…
Meng Lei could no longer sit still as he ordered. “Hadis, and the Grim Reaper King, mine all of them immediately! Oh, and gather all the Demon Grandmasters. They will take charge of mining and collecting the wealth from Hell, the Abyss, and the Demon Realm. Will you complete this task?”
“You have our guarantee!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld and the Grim Reaper King answered and left immediately.
“And you two,” Meng Lei looked toward the Life Dominus and Death Dominus, “I’m sending both of you back to the Celestial Realm. Do you need me to tell you what to do?”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus nodded their heads repeatedly. “We know what to do, Master!”
“Great!”
Meng Lei sent the two Juggernauts back to the Celestial Realm while he traveled to the ten major Divine Realms as he prepared for mining the Divinity Crystal mines over there.
Demon Grandmasters were alive in Hell, the Abyss, and the Demon Realm. Under the command of the Supreme God of The Underworld and the Grim Reaper King, these Demon Grandmasters would not dare to defy orders. They would surely work on mining in those realms diligently.
The ten major Divine Realms were different since all the Chief Gods were dead, so Meng Lei had to do it himself.
His method of extraction was simple. Find the mine, then use his special ability of teleportation.
In a short instant, the ore deep beneath the ground was teleported out through Meng Lei. It was simple and much faster and efficient than having Chief Gods do the job.
Meng Lei arrived in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm as his first destination.
After two days, every single mine in the Thunderbolt Divine Realm got emptied by Meng Lei.
After checking on the extra 700 supreme Divinity Crystal in his stats interface, Meng Lei could not help but laugh. “As I’ve expected, true riches come from mines.”
In the next half a month, Meng Lei went to the nine other Divine Realms to extract from more mines. On average, he would obtain 700-800 supreme Divinity Crystals from every Divine Realm. When he finally finished, Meng Lei obtained a grand total of…
Over 7,000 supreme Divinity Crystals!
Adding to the 2,500 supreme Divinity Crystals from before, his wealth had grown to a stunning 10,000 supreme Divinity Crystals as he got closer to 100,000 that he needed.
“If the ten major Divine Realms can bring me 10,000 supreme Divinity Crystals, I wonder how many more can they mine from the supreme Celestial Realm? Hope it isn’t disappointing.”
Meng Lei was full of anticipation as he went to the supreme Celestial Realm. Yet, the Life Dominus and Death Dominus were still mining, prompting Meng Lei to join in.
The supreme Celestial Realm did not disappoint. The size of its mine reserves and the number of mines were simply incomparable to the ten major Divine Realms.
They mined for another two months before they were finally done. After three months of hard work, the reward was gratifying as Meng Lei earned a total of 130,000 supreme Divinity Crystals.
130,000!
That was crazy!
This meant that Meng Lei’s wealth had reached a staggering 140,000 crystals!
“System, buy credit for the destiny laws of nature.”
100,000 supreme Divinity Crystals were gone. At the same time, a stunning torrent of data rushed into his divine spirit like a breached dam. Immediately after, Meng Lei’s divine spirit entered a magical world.
Countless information of destinies intertwined…
Countless destiny laws of nature in perfect harmony…
Countless destiny runes danced around…
This was the destiny world—or rather—the destiny-origin world.
It contained every destiny laws of nature, and the ultimate comprehension of destiny. Meng Lei did not need to spend too much time comprehending these as they rushed into Meng Lei’s divine spirit, allowing him to learn and master quickly.
“What’s going on with our Master?”
Seeing that Meng Lei was sitting down crossed-legged all of a sudden, the Life Dominus and Death Dominus were rather startled.
He was fine just a while ago… What’s going on?
“It seems like our Master has somehow progressed and broken through!”
“Broke through? Another breakthrough?”
They could not find any more words to describe this man. How did he break through to another level when he was already that powerful? How powerful would he become after breaking through to the next level?
Although they had tons of questions in their minds, the Life Dominus and Death Dominus did not dare to idle as they surveyed the surroundings to prevent any disturbance to Meng Lei.
…
Just as Meng Lei was busy with his comprehension of the destiny laws of nature, there was a dark fissure in the central region of the universe. It looked like a scar engraved on the Void. It also seemed like a giant mouth of a monster that could devour any lifeforms.
This fissure was the Dark Abyss.
No one knew how it came to be, no less what was exactly inside the depths of the Dark Abyss. All they knew was that it was an extremely cold, treacherous, and deathly silent domain. Even Chief Gods would not dare to enter…
This day, a gray skeleton suddenly appeared at the edge of the Dark Abyss before disappearing into the fissure.
The Dark Abyss was bottomless, and its visibility was zero. There were not even any references inside, which made it simple to lose one’s way within. However, the gray skeleton seemed to be familiar with the place as it traveled toward the deepest part of the Dark Abyss.
After traveling for some time, the gray skeleton finally stopped as it gazed at the empty dark void around him. “Darkness, my old friend. Why don’t you show yourself?”
There was no response from the dark void, but the gray skeleton waited quietly with patience. After quite a while, two gigantic red suns appeared abruptly in the empty void.
Wait!
Those were not suns.
They were two blood-red eyes!
The pair of huge blood-colored eyes was gleaming with a bewitching blood-red glow, and a deep, hoarse voice came across.
“Old skeleton, your days are limited. Why didn’t you live freely before the arrival of death and instead came here?”
“Hehe, I want to, but someone won’t allow that!” The gray skeleton shook its head as it spoke. “Never mind that, I’ll get straight to the point. A powerful being was born during this era with nothing known about him, but he’s capable of surpassing a Supreme God! You should know what this means.”
“Hehehe! Did you come all the way here just to joke with me, old skeleton?” ‘Darkness’ said mockingly, “It’s not even halfway past this era, so how is it possible for an expert like this to be born at this stage? And even surpass a Supreme God? Hehehe…”
“It’s all true!”
The gray skeleton did not waste any time to say everything about Meng Lei. When he finished, ‘Darkness’ fell silent.
“Although we don’t fear him, his growth speed is too alarming. When this era comes to an end, who knows what he’ll become?” The gray skeleton said, “We must kill him! Or else, we’ll be gone in this era!”
“Old skeleton, I’m different from you. I still have the next era,” ‘Darkness’ said slowly.
“Next era?”
The gray skeleton sneered as he spoke in a tone full of mockery. “By the time he finally refines this universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe, do you think the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process will still happen then?”
" }, { "id": 429, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-429", "title": "Chapter 429 - Black Hole, True Wealth", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "Time went by before Meng Lei finally awakened. There was a mysterious fluctuating aura in his eyes, abstruse and unpredictable.
“You’re awake, Master?”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus looked at Meng Lei at the same time. However, once their eyes met, a jolt ran through them as if they became obsessed. Their consciousness went blank and drifted away for quite a while until they eventually regained their senses.
“What happened?”
The two Juggernauts exchanged a look and saw the alarm in each other’s eyes.
Meng Lei let out a long pent-up breath while he could hardly stay calm. He would never have understood the profound meaning within the destiny laws of nature if he did not spend his wealth.
Complete mastery of the destiny laws of nature was another level compared to comprehension of the tip of the iceberg.
Previously, he could enter the Void of Destiny to see the destiny lines of lifeforms and cut them, meaning he could cut off their destiny and kill them instantly.
This time, Meng Lei could do much more than that.
He could change the direction of every destiny line and change the destiny of life itself!
He could see destiny lines from every existential plane, including the Celestial Realm and the Netherworld, to control their destiny.
He could see that the lines of destiny were not independent of each other as they originated from the same place. In fact, every line of destiny originated from there as well.
Meng Lei could not tell where it was, but he believed that it should be the place that contained the universe’s origin energy, which the Destruction Dominus was longing for.
“Destiny laws of nature are simply magical!
Now, changing someone’s destiny feels like a mere thought away.
Alright, time to try it out.
Meng Lei found Puhaman’s line of destiny and began to view Puhaman’s destiny.
One’s destiny had countless possibilities. The slightest tweak would cause an immense ripple effect on that destiny.
Puhaman’s destiny was the same, with many different possible futures. Meng Lei found the best future among them—Puhaman successfully assimilated the Chief God divine core to become a Chief God of the Earth Divine Realm, living a lofty and carefree life until the end of the era.
This destiny was the best of the lot, but Meng Lei was not satisfied with it. “Only a Chief God all your life? What a good-for-nothing.”
Hence, Meng Lei broke off other unrelated destiny lines until one remained.
The result was that Puhaman would eventually comprehend the destruction laws of nature and the death laws of nature to become a Supreme God.
He had basically locked Puhaman’s destiny as it was no longer full of other possibilities.
Puhaman would follow this path Meng Lei left for him to comprehend the destruction laws of nature and the death laws of nature…
Until he would become a Supreme God!
After that, Meng Lei started to change the destinies of others and wiped off those needless destiny lines.
After a series of adjustments, all of his subordinates could comprehend at least two supreme laws of nature to become a Juggernaut at the very least.
“Now, this is how to use the destiny laws of nature.”
Meng Lei let out a long breath. It was an unimaginable feat to change the fate of others, after all.
Immediately after, Meng Lei looked at the two Juggernauts. “Let’s go to the Netherworld.”
“Yes, Master!”
Meng Lei located the destiny line of the Supreme God of The Underworld to lock onto his position before he teleported with the two Juggernauts.
“Master!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld bowed upon the sight of his master. Meanwhile, 23 Demon Grandmasters were busy with the excavation in the mines.
There were a total of 46 Demon Grandmasters in the Netherworld. To mine every Magic Crystals here, he had assembled all 23 Demon Grandmasters under his charge to help.
Despite that, two months had passed, and they had not completed the mining, a stark contrast to Meng Lei’s mining speed.
“Not finished yet?”
Meng Lei broke into a slight frown.
“Not yet, Master!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld shook his head.
“Bring me what you have extracted so far.”
Hadis presented the spatial ring hurriedly.
After collecting the crystals in the ring, Meng Lei obtained another 60,000 supreme Divinity Crystals, which added up to a total of over 100,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
“Tsk, tsk! 100,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals!”
Meng Lei remarked before giving out some instructions to Hadis and left afterward.
“Who’s that, Lord Hadis?”
A group of Demon Grandmasters surrounded him as shock and puzzlement filled their eyes.
How could Lord Hadis refer to him as ‘Master’?
Master of Lord Hadis?
What kind of joke was that?
“Don’t ask questions that you shouldn’t be asking!”
The Supreme God of The Underworld gave a cold stare at his Demon Grandmasters. A chill went up to their spines as they went back to work in the mines.
Meng Lei found the Grim Reaper King and obtained around 50,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals from him. It added up to his wealth to a whooping 150,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
“It’s 150,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals already!”
Meng Lei read his stats interface. “I can buy credit for another Genesis laws of nature, but it’s just a pity that there isn’t any for me to do it now. How frustrating. Never mind, time to enhance my divine spirit first.”
“Ding! The host’s divine spirit is currently comparable to a Supreme Juggernaut’s and will rival that of a Supreme God of The Universe after enhancement. Enhancement cost is estimated at 5,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals.” The system asked coldly, “Will you enhance it?
“Yes, enhance it!”
Boom!
A cool energy wave surged into his sea of consciousness as if a celestial river was pouring down into his divine spirit flame.
For a while, the divine spirit flame that was suspended in the boundless sea of consciousness exploded into a ferocious flame that kept on growing.
2 times, 10 times, 100 times…
200 times, 600 times, 1,000 times…
3,000 times, 7,000 times, 10,000 times…
The divine spirit flame grew by 10,000 times until the end of the enhancement process.
After that, it did not expand further as it collapsed suddenly and shrunk madly toward its center.
10% to 1%…
0.1% to 0.01%…
The divine spirit flame continued to shrink, but at the same time, it was like a supernova explosion that released ravaging energy waves on a colossal scale.
Boom!
The raging energy waves ravaged their surroundings as a super hurricane was formed. It was fortunate that there was no form of life in the sea of consciousness as it would have completely wiped out everything in its path, and nothing could survive the terrifying hurricane.
0.001% to 0.0001%…
0.00001% to 0.000001%…
The divine spirit flame kept shrinking as if there was no end to it. In a matter of seconds, it had shrunk from the size of one million kilometers to the size of a taxi, then to the size of a basketball.
Size of a pomelo…
Size of an orange…
Size of a walnut…
Finally, the divine spirit flame became a little black spot that was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Just when Meng Lei thought that his divine spirit was going to disappear, a black hole appeared in his sea of consciousness.
Immediately after, the black hole expanded at the speed of light, from a hundred meters to ten million kilometers, to…
With that, a boundless black hole spanning across the sea of consciousness created a terrifying gravitational pull that could devour anything just like the black hole from reality.
“My divine spirit fire just became a black hole?”
Meng Lei stood in the boundless sea of consciousness as he gazed at that black hole with a dazed look.
A divine spirit can turn into a black hole? What kind of plot is this?
Although he was baffled, Meng Lei felt nothing of discomfort. The only difference was that his divine spirit had become immensely compressed with power, while his mind worked faster than a supercomputer with innumerable thoughts flashing across his mind.
“My divine spirit… It’s powerful!”
Meng Lei left the sea of consciousness and released his divine cognition that covered the entire Netherworld in just a few short breaths.
Meng Lei saw demons killing each other and the vast Skeleton Sea…
His divine cognition continued expanding until it reached the Void beyond the Netherworld. He saw countless meteors and floating continents; he saw dozens of material planes near the Netherworld; he saw…
At that moment, Meng Lei was still pretty relaxed, meaning he was more than capable of expanding his divine cognition further out. He chose not to as he retrieved his divine cognition.
“So this is how a Supreme God of The Universe’s divine spirit feels like? That’s unbelievable!” A sharp glint flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as he could not hide his joy.
Moreover, he found another benefit of strengthening his divine spirit—it made it easier for him to control the destiny laws of nature.
If Meng Lei was like a three-year-old playing with a hammer previously, he was now an adult using a wedge properly.
Simple and relaxed.
Easy and smooth.
“This feels awesome!”
Meng Lei took a long breath and looked at those around him. Only then did he realize that the Life Dominus, Death Dominus, and the Grim Reaper King were all on the ground, trembling like timid mice.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Lei was puzzled.
“M-master, your divine spirit force is too p-powerful!” The Life Dominus quivered as she said, “W-we c-can’t breathe!”
“Oh?”
Meng Lei came to a realization. “Please excuse me, I accidentally broke through to the next level just now, and I didn’t suppress my aura.”
“…”
The Life Dominus and Death Dominus rolled their eyes as they had a strong urge to curse. On the other hand, the Grim Reaper King was in shock and was glad that he had not fought Meng Lei previously. He would have died a horrible death if he had done so.
The aura alone was powerful enough. What would then be the extent of Meng Lei’s true capability?
Meng Lei had no time to care about their thoughts as he gazed at the vast Netherworld, revealing a smile suddenly.
“Since my divine cognition can cover the entire Netherworld, why not conduct some good old plundering?”
Thus, Meng Lei released his divine cognition once again.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Meng Lei’s divine cognition shrouded the entire Netherworld and activated his Transfer ability.
Immediately after, the Life Dominus and the rest saw something amazing—golden rain started falling from the sky!
Gold was everywhere. There were stacks of gold coins, chunks of gold nuggets, various gold products…
“What’s going on?”
The three Juggernauts were stupefied.
After half a minute, gold piled upon the earth they stood on, spanning an area of hundreds of billions square kilometers and a height of several thousands of kilometers.
The gold mountain dazzled and almost blinded the three Juggernauts’ eyes.
Gold was a mere ordinary object that was worthless to the Juggernauts. Still, despite having seen all kinds of scenes, the three Juggernauts had never seen such a gigantic mountain made up of gold objects.
“Collect!”
Meng Lei was satisfied with the gold mountain as he collected it into the system storage space.
After that were the Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, then the Divinity Crystals, and finally the Divinity Crystal ores.
At last, Meng Lei ransacked every piece of gold, Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, Divinity Crystals, Demonic Crystals there were in the Netherworld. Other than the special planes that divine cognition could not detect, he had truly plundered everything.
Thus, the haul was incredible.
Meng Lei obtained 167,000 Supreme Divinity Crystals. On top of the previous 14,500 crystals, his wealth had grown to 181,500 Supreme Divinity Crystals.
Wealth: 181,500 Supreme Divinity Crystals
That was simply unimaginable!
Hence, it was evident that true wealth neither lay in the treasuries of each godly clans nor lay in the mines—it was in the pockets of the trillions of ordinary citizens!
That was the meaning of ‘Hiding wealth among the people’.
“So this means that the Celestial Realm and the ten Divine Realms should have much more wealth waiting to be collected!”
Meng Lei’s eyes glinted sharply. However, Meng Lei sensed a familiar aura appearing in the air not far away at that moment.
“Mm?”
Meng Lei looked over there and saw a slight ripple in the air as a gray skeleton appeared gradually. Its grayish will-o’-the-wisp fluttered along with the wind while it stared at Meng Lei.
“Destruction Dominus!”
Meng Lei raised an eyebrow.
“Such an aura! He’s…”
The Life Dominus, Death Dominus, and the Grim Reaper King’s expressions dramatically changed when they noticed the gray skeleton and its terrifying aura.
“Aren’t you going to kill me, little one?” The gray skeleton’s skull opened and closed its mouth. “Come get me if you’re good enough!”
After that, the gray skeleton disappeared in thin air.
“Hmph, a boring trick of a feigned retreat!”
Meng Lei smiled and followed casually.
“Let’s follow them too!”
The three Juggernauts exchanged a look. Though they had many reservations, they began to catch up nevertheless.
The gray skeleton flew in front, while Meng Lei strolled behind while the distance between them remained the same.
The speed was not too fast as the three Juggernauts could keep up easily.
Soon, they flew out of the Netherworld and into the Void.
The gray skeleton quickened its pace all of a sudden while Meng Lei followed suit.
This time, the three Juggernauts could no longer keep up despite their best efforts as they got thrown off quickly.
" }, { "id": 430, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-430", "title": "Chapter 430 - Pinnacle-Level Strength And The Laws Of Nature", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "One flew, and the other chased.
The chasing battle between Meng Lei and the gray skeleton continued on for an unknown period before a black crack appeared suddenly in front of them. It was so deep that its bottom couldn’t be seen. The gray skeleton looked back at Meng Lei, let out two shrieking peals of laughter, and plunged right into it.
“Meng Lei, wait!”
Moro stopped Meng Lei. “This is the Dark Abyss. The gray skeleton purposefully lured you here. This should be one of his schemes!”
“This is the Dark Abyss?” Meng Lei raised his brows. “It’s actually my first time here!”
“The Dark Abyss is extremely deep and dangerous. I advise you not to go in, in case you fall into the gray skeleton’s traps!”
“It took the effort to lure me here. If I don’t go in, wouldn’t it disappoint?” Meng Lei shook his head slightly and went right into the Dark Abyss.
He wasn’t afraid of any schemes. In the face of absolute strength, any calculation and schemes were useless. Such was Meng Lei’s confidence.
“Alright! Be careful, then!”
Seeing that his advice was in vain, Moro advised no more.
After entering the Dark Abyss, his eyes suddenly went black, and he fell into absolute darkness. Without any object for reference, Meng Lei had no idea where to go.
Fortunately, the gray skeleton’s ghostly fire flickered and provided the sole source of light in the dark that guided Meng Lei to go forward. He went all the way in, and the surroundings got darker and darker, quieter and quieter, colder and colder, while the energy of the living world became thinner and thinner.
Most crucially, laws of nature became thinner and thinner, including even supreme laws of nature.
After an unknown period, the gray skeleton suddenly stopped, turned back, and looked at Meng Lei.
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Not advancing further? There’s no need to keep going deeper?”
The gray skeleton’s mouth opened and closed, letting out a shrieking, weird peal of laughter. “You are really bold. You clearly knew that I was luring you, yet you still dared to follow!”
“If you were a tiger, of course, I would have to be cautious. A pity that you’re not.” Meng Lei shook his head. “You are at most a sheep.”
“A sheep?”
The gray skeleton let out a few weird peals of laughter, not angered. “One can’t know whether someone is a tiger or a sheep without a fight, isn’t it so?”
“That’s true.” Meng Lei didn’t argue. “Call for people! Call out all your help. Let me see what you old fossils are capable of!”
“Before I kill you, please allow me to introduce this place to you. This is called the Dark Abyss. It is what remained of the battlefield after the descent of the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process of the last era!”
The gray skeleton smiled and said, “Although this place was mended over by the laws of nature after the new era arrived, the remnant laws of nature were too thick that even the new era couldn’t erase them. Thus, this place eventually evolved into this!”
“I see.” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “A battlefield that even the new era can’t repair. I can imagine how horrifying the battle back then must be for you all!”
“Of course!” The gray skeleton smiled and said, “In order to stop me from snatching the universe’s origin energy during that battle, all the experts of the last era were mobilized. A grand total of 9 Supreme Gods and 43 Supreme Dominus. They eventually successfully stopped me… at the price of their lives!”
“9 Supreme Gods and 43 Supreme Dominus!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but exclaim, “The powerhouses of the last era were really good!”
“The last era was special.” The gray skeleton explained, “In the middle period of that era, the carcass of a creature from the outer-universe unexpectedly appeared in our universe. Thi carcass led to the great evolution of species in the last era. That’s the reason 9 Supreme Gods and 43 Supreme Dominuses appeared in that era!”
“Carcass of a creature from the outer-universe?” Meng Lei’s entire body shook violently. “So there are really other creatures outside this universe?”
“Supposedly so.” The gray skeleton nodded slightly. “I’m not sure what exactly it is like outside the universe. Even someone as strong as I am can’t live outside of the universe. But this carcass can indeed reflect the situation outside the universe to a certain extent.”
Meng Lei continued asking, “What happened to that carcass?”
“Naturally, it was divided.” The gray skeleton said, laughing, “After obtaining the carcass, the strength of many experts of the last era improved rapidly. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to stop me!”
“Then your luck is really bad…”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but smile.
“My luck has always been terrible!” The gray skeleton sighed. “In the last era, I was ruined by the carcass of that creature, and in this era, a freak like you appeared. I’m probably the most unlucky being in the whole universe!”
“You are very unlucky indeed.”
Meng Lei chuckled.
“But, this is my final chance!” The gray skeleton’s tone suddenly grew cold. “I will not give up no matter what! I will definitely not allow anyone to ruin my plan!”
“Finally, the main topic after so much random chatter.” Meng Lei flicked his fingers. “To be honest, I would very much like to see what horrifying means you, who have lived for two eras, have.”
“You will see. Attack!” roared the gray skeleton.
Buzz…
Right after it finished speaking, a strange wave of laws of nature suddenly filled the entire void.
This wave was very strange. It was an entirely new type of laws of nature, and it was at a very high level, completely surpassing supreme laws of nature to reach another level.
Meng Lei was certain that these were genesis laws of nature. He couldn’t sense which type of genesis laws of nature it was, but he could be certain that it was definitely not destiny laws of nature!
“Meng Lei, this is order laws of nature!” Moro yelled, “Be careful of the powers of the order!”
“Order laws of nature!”
Meng Lei’s heart chilled.
This is the order laws of nature?
“Little fellow, did you feel it?”
The gray skeleton started laughing strangely. At the same time, its aura suddenly increased, and it surpassed the level of Supreme Dominus to reach the level of Supreme God.
Lower-level Supreme God!
Mid-level Supreme God!
Upper-level Supreme God!
Perfect Supreme God!
Boom!
The gray skeleton’s aura finally reached the level of a Perfect Supreme God, and a terrible power of suppression erupted, sweeping in all directions madly.
Even Meng Lei felt unprecedented terrible pressure.
“This is exactly the feeling!”
“This is exactly the feeling!”
The gray skeleton laughed. “Little fellow, did you know? The new era is very unfriendly to us, the old era’s remnants.
“We can’t consume the energy of heaven and earth, can’t mobilize the laws of nature, can’t cultivate to strengthen ourselves, and our strength is continuously suppressed at the level of Dominus!
“It is the Universal Order!
“Or in other words, the order laws of nature!
“Luckily, this is the Dark Abyss, the place where the Universal Order is the weakest. Furthermore, the presence of Darkness’ laws of nature directly cancels out the weak Universal Order!
“I am not suppressed now. My strength has completely returned to its peak condition—Perfect Supreme God!”
The gray skeleton looked at Meng Lei, laughed weirdly, and said, “Little fellow, do you feel the chill? Do you feel the fear? Do you feel scared?”
Meng Lei rolled his eyes before asking, “Just now, you mentioned the Darkness’ laws of nature, so that means your other companion is called Darkness, and he comprehended the laws of nature?”
“You—”
The gray skeleton was a bit angry upon seeing that Meng Lei completely disregarded it. Instead, he was more interested in Darkness. “Little fellow, you will pay a heavy and tragic price for your rudeness and pride!”
Yet Meng Lei paid him no heed at all. Destiny laws of nature spread out and filled the Dark Abyss instantly. Since the so-called Darkness released the order laws of nature, he must be near.
Find him!
He had to find him!
“Gotcha!”
A sharp light flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes, and he disappeared right where he was. When he reappeared, he was already deeper in the Dark Abyss, in front of a gargantuan creature.
This was a giant looking somewhat like a dragon and also a snake. It had the head, horns, and wings of a giant dragon, a serpent-like body that was covered in black dragon scales.
Its body was tens of light-years long, several times larger than even a mid-level existential plane.
“Void Beast… Dark Beast?” Moro’s voice sounded. “No! This aura… This aura… It’s him! It’s that guy! He’s actually also not dead!”
“That guy?” Meng Lei raised his brows. “Moro, you know this guy?”
“If I didn’t sense wrongly, he is probably a friend of mine, Dark Lord!” Moro flew out of the Tower of Time, condensed into a ball of black shadow, and stared at the black behemoth in front of him. “Darkness, is it you?”
“Moro!”
The Dark Lord spoke, making a thunder-like boom.
“It’s really you!” Moro immediately showed a trace of a smile. “I didn’t expect you were also alive. I had already said, back then, you were the strongest of us all, how could you possibly die off easily!”
“Moro, this is not the time to catch up!” Dark Lord’s voice rang like a huge bell. “Join us and get rid of this guy first!”
“No! Darkness, you can’t associate yourself with that schemer!” Moro shook his head immediately. “Did you forget? If not for that bast*rd, we wouldn’t have met such a tragic end. You should be dealing with him, not Meng Lei!”
“Moro, our era has passed, and now we are deadly suppressed by the new era, neither human nor ghost, without hope or an endpoint, only living out our pathetic lives hiding in a dark, remote corner!”
The Dark Lord said slowly, “If we let this continue, we are not only going to have to stick around until the end of this era but also until the end of the next era before we can finally end this tragic life in the shadows!”
Moro fell silent. Just like Darkness said, the era belonging to them had ended. Under the suppression of the new era, they had no more hope to speak of.
“To change all this, we can only integrate the universe’s origin energy, become the Lord of The Universe, and then rewrite the Universal Order!”
The Dark Lord continued. “Moro, this is our only chance. Do you understand?”
“Darkness, I understand everything you said.” Moro smiled bitterly. “But you won’t succeed. Even if you join forces with this damn skeleton, you won’t beat Meng Lei. He is the one who has the greatest chance of ending the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process! Darkness, listen to me and turn back now!”
“Moro, after all you’ve said, you would rather follow a little mortal than join forces with me?”
The Dark Lord’s voice turned colder.
“You are doing what you clearly know can’t be done. You are basically looking for your own death.” Moro sighed.
“Then say no more!” The Dark Lord said coldly, “Bow at the feet of your little master all you like, I will kill him myself!”
“Kill me yourself?” Meng Lei spoke, somewhat disdainful. “With only the half-baked order laws of nature you have?”
“Little thing, accept your death!” roared the Dark Lord. A pair of bloody irises larger than a star shone with a monstrous bloody light, and roaring waves of order surrounded Meng Lei.
“I say: in front of me, laws of nature must disappear!
“I say: you will be imprisoned by endless darkness!”
Following the Dark Lord’s words, Meng Lei just felt that the already weak laws of nature disappeared instantly, including even the supreme laws of nature.
Right afterward, an unknown restricting force came from the darkness all around him and squeezed onto Meng Lei instantly. Meng Lei struggled slightly and realized that this restrictive force was very strong, and he actually couldn’t untangle himself from it!
“This is the order laws of nature?”
Meng Lei was astonished. This was the first time he felt the powers of the order laws of nature.
Maybe order laws of nature didn’t have direct destructive power. Instead, they could change the laws.
For example, fire could burn one to death. But after using order laws of nature, fire could freeze one to death.
For example, force was the reason objects changed their state of movement. After using the order laws of nature, force wouldn’t be able to change the objects’ state of movement.
One could say that the Universal Order was omnipresent—it ruled everything in the entire vast universe.
How the Universal Order was made would determine the shape of the universe, whether it was planetary, an existential plane, a technological civilization, or a magical civilization. This showed the powerfulness of the order laws of nature!
The dark behemoth spoke again. “I say: You will be devoured by boundless darkness!”
Meng Lei immediately felt an extraordinary force come from the darkness, madly devouring his lifeforce.
The darkness originally couldn’t imprison a person, much less devour the lifeforce of a person, but after the order laws of nature’s changes, it was given imprisonment and devouring properties.
This was how powerful order laws of nature were!
They could change the existing laws of nature and make new rules!
“Such good order laws of nature!” Meng Lei looked at the Dark Lord in excitement. “Dark Lord, your order laws of nature are really awe-inspiring. It’s a pity though.”
“What pity?” asked the Dark Lord coldly.
“A pity that in the next second, they will be mine!”
Meng Lei chuckled and was about to order the system to plunder when a huge red ball of light suddenly fell from the Dark Lord’s body. The system’s cue tone sounded along with it. “Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”
Meng Lei was taken aback. “Pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained a Laws of Nature Fragment. Will you assimilate it?”
“laws of nature fragment? Could it be!?”
A mild jolt went through Meng Lei as a huge wave of information instantly rushed into his mind. Meng Lei gathered his thoughts and began to digest it quickly. After his comprehension, Meng Lei showed a smile.
" }, { "id": 431, "url": "https://newnovel.org/novel/picking-up-attributes-from-today/chapter-431end", "title": "Chapter 431(End) - Lord Of The Universe, Primordial World Genesis", "volume": 5, "volume_title": "Volume 5", "text": "That’s right!
Not only did Meng Lei pick up any other laws of nature, but it was also the giant black beast’s order laws of nature.
Meng Lei was in high spirits as he was about to plunder it before the order laws of nature fragment dropped out. It seemed that even the heavens would help him when he was that handsome.
After quite a while, Meng Lei reopened his eyes and looked at the giant black beast with sympathy.
How pitiful. I wonder how you’ll feel if you know that your order laws of nature got picked up by me?
“Right! Without further ado. System, buy credit for the order laws of nature.”
Boom!
Torrents of data about the order laws of nature surged into Meng Lei’s sea of consciousness while reinforcing his comprehension of the order laws of nature.
The vast universe was a massive system, one that ran in an orderly manner.
The birth of life…
The reproduction of various species…
Everything had their order with a fixed pattern.
What was the binding force behind such an order?
It was the Universal Order, in other words, the order laws of nature.
The universe worked under the Universal Order. Everything had to follow the laws and arrangements of the Universal Order as it controlled everything in the universe.
An unknown amount of time passed…
When Meng Lei finally reopened his eyes, the Dark Lord and the gray skeleton were attacking him incessantly.
The Dark Lord was using the order laws of nature to place a series of restrictions on Meng Lei. The gray skeleton’s attacks were simple—it activated its destiny laws of nature and repeatedly slashed onto Meng Lei’s line of destiny. Tragically, Meng Lei’s destiny line was too thick and strong. After a long while, the gray skeleton could only slice off the outermost layer of the destiny line like a fruit knife’s impact on tree bark.
“You bast*rd!” The gray skeleton was getting furious. “How could this fellow’s destiny line be so thick? Is this even a line of destiny? It should be called a destiny wall!”
“What exactly are you doing, old skeleton?” The Dark Lord urged, “Kill him right now! There are no better chances like this once he awakes!”
“Can’t you tell I’m trying to?” the gray skeleton bellowed instantly. “This bast*rd’s destiny line is too thick to cut through! Even after my best effort, I’ve only broken through the outermost layer. It’s impossible to cut it off completely without eight to ten years to spare!”
“Eight to ten years?” The Dark Lord was on the verge of breaking down. “Fool! We don’t have that much time! Find a way and kill him at once!”
“I… What can I do!?”
The gray skeleton was in desperation.
Indeed, desperation. As someone who had survived three eras and experienced enough to have a frame of mind as enduring as a rock, it had never been in such a desperate state before.
Yes, never.
The gray skeleton could not figure out how someone’s line of destiny could have such thickness.
What was the extent of Meng Lei’s power with such a thick destiny line?
Just how?! It makes no sense!
“Noooo!”
I can’t give up! He must die! No matter what! If he doesn’t, I don’t have any more chances!
It is my final chance!
As an ancient fossil that had survived three eras, the gray skeleton’s frame of mind was transcendental, so it readjusted its mindset and continued to attack Meng Lei’s line of destiny. However, it was right then when the gray skeleton realized something.
Meng Lei’s destiny line was expanding at a noticeable speed to the naked eye. Within a few short breaths, it had grown double its original size and continued expanding. As for the bit of outer layer he had broken, it had already been restored…
“What!?”
The gray skeleton was dumbstruck. “How is it still expanding when it’s so thick already? Does this mean that he has gotten even more powerful?”
“You… You’ve got to be kidding!”
The gray skeleton started to shiver as desperation seeped into its mind once again.
This time, it was in true despair, as it lost any hope possible.
The Dark Lord yelled, “What are you doing now, old skeleton?”
“Attack! Now! I can sense that he’s awakening soon. We don’t have much time—”
Before he could finish his sentence, an aged sigh echoed. “So this is the order laws of nature? It’s fascinating indeed!”
A jolt went through the Dark Lord and the gray skeleton as they looked up to see Meng Lei opening his eyes with a calm and peaceful expression.
“He’s awake!” bellowed the Dark Lord. “Old skeleton, stop holding back already!”
Me holding back!?
How am I holding back? I already did everything I could a long time ago, okay?
“Thank you, Dark Lord.”
Meng Lei opened his mouth.
He’s thanking me?
The Dark Lord was startled. “For?”
“Helping me comprehend the order laws of nature, of course.” Meng Lei smiled. “Why shouldn’t I thank you?”
“Y-you’ve comprehended the order laws of nature?” The Dark Lord paused before he sneered. “Stop speaking nonsense! The order laws of nature are the genesis laws of nature, which you’ll never comprehend!”
“Oh really?” Meng Lei shook his head and laughed. “The universe renews itself and alternates in the cycle. The Dark Abyss shouldn’t exist in this brand new era!”
Buzz!
As his words rang, a wave of the jurisdiction of the order laws of nature more powerful than what the Dark Lord had activated previously descended from the skies. Before long, it had spread everywhere to cover every corner of the Dark Abyss.
Immediately after, in the horror of the Dark Lord and the gray skeleton, a strong, torrential surge of the universe’s laws of nature gushed into every area of the Dark Abyss. It then built up a complete universe’s laws of nature chain web in the Dark Abyss, where the laws of nature were supposed to be weak.
The ten basic laws of nature and the five supreme laws of nature appeared and filled up every corner of the Dark Abyss.
After the appearance of the universe’s laws of nature, the powers of the five supreme laws of nature appeared as well. They quickly underwent conversion to become the ten major Power of Origin before converting into the purest ten magic elements.
In only a few short breaths, the Dark Abyss not only had the universe’s laws of nature, but it also possessed the powers of the five supreme laws of nature, ten major Power of Origin, and every magic element.
The drastic changes came to an end by this point. At the same time, the cosmic fissure, which was the Dark Abyss, began to disappear slowly.
It had dissolved into the Void.
Accurately speaking, it restored to the original appearance of the Void.
The gray skeleton and the Dark Lord stood in the Void as they sensed the universe’s laws of nature and the Power of Origin all around them. A chill went down their spines as they were stunned.
The Dark Abyss was gone!
The weakest location of the Universal Order had ceased to exist. The place where they could unleash their full potential was gone as well.
What means did they still have against Meng Lei?
“It’s over! All over!” the gray skeleton muttered to itself as its body staggered. Its aura had weakened significantly to the level of a Juggernaut due to the Universal Order’s suppression.
“Why is this happening?”
The Dark Lord could not accept the bare facts laid before him. He glared at Meng Lei. “You really did comprehend the order laws of nature!”
“That’s why I thanked you.” Meng Lei smiled with a calm expression. “Without you, I wouldn’t have comprehended it.”
“This deserves death! Death!”
The Dark Lord lets out another furious roar. The order laws of nature was his very core. It was his exclusive domain, and he would not allow anyone else to comprehend it.
“Die! Die!”
The Dark Lord attacked brazenly.
“Pointless struggles.”
Meng Lei shook his head slightly as he threw a Space Confinement at the Dark Lord. The current Dark Lord was not that powerful Supreme God anymore. He was now suppressed to a level of a Juggernaut, who could do nothing to escape the confinement.
“Let go of me! I’m going to kill you!” the Dark Lord bellowed repeatedly.
“What insolence!”
Meng Lei’s eyes gleamed coldly as a slap struck the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord seemed thunderstruck as his head became bashed and battered.
“Any more nonsense from you, and I’ll slaughter you!” Meng Lei said coldly as he turned his attention to the gray skeleton. “Is there anything you have to say?”
“The victor is king, while the loser is the knave after all.” The gray skeleton seemed abnormally calm, while its grayish will-o’-the-wisp went quiet as well. “There’s no injustice losing to you!”
“You’re gotten over it rather quickly, it seems.”
Meng Lei could not help to give it more respect.
“What’s so unacceptable about it?” The gray skeleton gave a faint smile. “I lived for three eras, and that’s long enough. My only desire was to assimilate the universe’s original energy to become the Lord of The Universe. It’s just a pity that this hope has just gone up in smoke. What lingering desires would I have?”
“Indeed!” Meng Lei nodded slightly. “But, don’t you feel that it’s a pity to just die like this?”
“Why? You’ll let me off?” The gray skeleton crackled. “You should just kill me. If I’m still alive, I’ll keep on scheming to assimilate the universe’s origin energy—”
“Nope. Not a chance.” Meng Lei gazed at the deepest part of the Void. “Didn’t you rack your brains to assimilate the universe’s origin energy? Come on. I’ll bring you there to take a look.”
“What did you just say?”
The gray skeleton was dazed.
Meng Lei did not explain further while releasing his divine cognition to cover the gray skeleton and the Dark Lord before disappearing on the spot.
When they reappeared, they arrived in an unfamiliar place. It was unfamiliar because it was different from existential planes and the Void. It was a world of nothingness except for a tiny black dot hovering there.
This black dot was extremely tiny. While no one knew its exact size, all three of them could sense its presence. At that moment, the gray skeleton and the Dark Lord got inexplicably excited.
Even Moro flew out.
“Sensed that?”
Meng Lei smiled as he looked at them.
“The universe’s origin energy! It is the universe’s origin energy!”
The gray skeleton stared at the black dot as it became incoherent with excitement.
“Indeed, this is the universe’s origin energy.” Meng Lei confirmed the gray skeleton’s speculation.
“So this is the universe’s origin energy? And it’s so small?” Moro was quite puzzled.
“You can say that the universe’s origin energy is small. It is smaller than the singularity at the center of the black hole, and no matter can enter through it.”
Then, Meng Lei changed the course of the conversation and said, “But, this is just the superficial aspect. The universe’s origin energy is enormous in a sense since it’s assimilated with the universe. It’s the very core of the universe, after all. Hence, there is no suitable unit of measurement to describe its literal size.”
Meng Lei glanced at the gray skeleton and the Dark Lord. “Let’s go in to take a look.”
“Can you enter the universe’s origin energy?”
The gray skeleton looked at Meng Lei in disbelief.
“Of course I can.”
Meng Lei raised both his hands slowly. A destiny laws of nature chain appeared on his left palm, while an order laws of nature chain appeared on his right palm.
With a light push, the two genesis laws of nature extended swiftly toward the black dot that represented the universe’s origin energy.
The black spot instantly lit up, and a terrifying gravitational force emerged.
“Don’t resist.” Meng Lei instructed as he allowed the pulling force to devour him into the black spot. The world spun before they arrived at a colorful world.
This world was filled with blurry colors that were like rainbows intertwining and suffusing everywhere. However, upon closer observation, the colorful beams consist only of three colors—red for order laws of nature, green for the destiny laws of nature, blue for the space-time laws of nature.
Three types of genesis laws of nature intertwined to form the laws governing the universe—the evolution of the universe, the structure of space-time, the birth of life, and the death of life.
Of course, other than the three genesis laws of nature, the power of genesis was everywhere as well.
The three powers of genesis and the three genesis laws of nature formed the universe’s origin energy.
The power of genesis and the genesis laws of nature combined to form the universe’s origin energy.
“It is the universe’s origin energy!”
The gray skeleton gulped as it trembled with rattling bones. After three eras, this was its closest time to the universe’s origin energy.
It was impossible for it to ignore this opportunity. It really wanted to charge and snatch the universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe.
It didn’t dare to, however.
It knew that it could never touch the universe’s origin energy with Meng Lei beside him. Moreover, its level was under the most suppression here in the world of the universe’s origin energy. Its level was suppressed to the Chief God level, so how was it supposed to rob it away?
The gray skeleton restrained itself.
It was a different story for the Dark Lord. Not everyone could stay rational with the universe’s origin energy at sight.
The Dark Lord’s eyes were blood-red while he flapped his wings to charge toward the core area of the universe’s origin energy. It was the spot where the three genesis laws of nature and the three powers of genesis intertwined the most to form a crystal—that was the Heart of The Universe!
“Refine!
“Once I refined the Heart of The Universe, the universe’s origin energy will be mine, and I shall become the Lord of The Universe!”
“Darkness!” Moro was terribly aghast. “Come back!”
“This fellow…”
The gray skeleton’s expression turned slightly.
“Idiot!”
Meng Lei sneered as he watched quietly without any intentions to stop the Dark Lord.
The Dark Lord was quick enough to appear before the Heart of The Universe. He could no longer hold on to his joy and excitement as he attempted to leave his divine spirit mark on the Heart of The Universe with his divine cognition.
It was a great dream, but in reality, once his divine cognition came into contact with the Heart of The Universe, a three-colored light beam burst off and struck the Dark Lord. In the next moment, the Dark Lord was vaporized, leaving no trace of him behind.
“Darkness!” Moro yelled.
A jolt went through the gray skeleton as well.
“He’s just been killed by the heart of the universe.” Meng Lei shook his head. “He got himself killed by the three powers of genesis. His destiny is gone, every reincarnation of him in all of space and time got wiped out, and the power of order blacklisted him. He’ll never revive ever again.”
The gray skeleton quivered in horror. Fortunately, it had resisted the urge. Otherwise, the Dark Lord would not have been alone.
“Darkness!”
Moro was dazed and despondent.
“Don’t get too upset over it, Moro.” Meng Lei consoled him. “Greed is what cost his life.”
“I understand.”
Moro sighed.
“Meng Lei, do you have a way to refine the universe’s origin energy?” The gray skeleton looked at Meng Lei eagerly.
“Me? Of course, I do!” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “Can’t you sense that the heart of the universe is calling for me?”
“Calling you?”
The gray skeleton was slightly taken aback. Meng Lei took a step forward and flew toward the Heart of The Universe. Moro hastily reminded, “Meng Lei! be careful!”
“I’ll be fine.”
Meng Lei approached the Heart of The Universe and released his divine spiritual power.
It was the same approach as the Dark Lord, and it almost made Moro’s heart pop. The gray skeleton stared at Meng Lei as it wanted to know whether Meng Lei would suffer the same fate as the Dark Lord.
Or would it turn out like how Meng Lei had said to successfully mark the Heart of The Universe with his divine spirit?
As the two watched nervously, Meng Lei’s divine spiritual power came into contact with the Heart of The Universe.
Boom! The same thing happened.
The three-colored light beam burst off the Heart of The Universe onto Meng Lei’s body.
The ending was completely different as Meng Lei did not dissipate instantly like the Dark Lord.
The three-colored light beams gathered toward Meng Lei’s body like birds returning to their nest. At the same time, the universe’s origin energy started to surge into Meng Lei’s body as if it had found a vent for it.
“Aahhh!”
Meng Lei roared into the sky as he could feel that the universe’s origin energy had split into two. The genesis laws of nature charged toward his sea of consciousness to enter his divine spirit. The power of genesis spread into his limbs to bind together as one.
“This… refinement?”
Moro was stunned.
“It’s the refining process!” The gray skeleton was astounded. “I could never have imagined that after all these years of hardships and planning to assimilate the universe’s origin energy, he would refine it right before me!”
“After refining the universe’s origin energy, Meng Lei will become the Lord of The Universe and the legendary Primordial World Genesis God?” muttered Moro. “My god! To think that I can witness the birth of a Primordial World Genesis God, it’s simply…”
The entire process was smooth and natural without taking up much time. For some time, all the power of genesis and the laws of nature surged into Meng Lei’s body and mind.
Even the Heart of The Universe rose gently to be engraved on Meng Lei’s forehead to become a three-colored rune.
Whew!
Meng Lei let out a long breath. At that moment, he could feel that the entire universe had become part of his body—every material plane, every mid-end existential plane, every Divine Realm, from as small as an ant to as large as the supreme Celestial Realm.
He could travel all across the universe with a thought.
He could travel back to the past and into the future with a thought.
“This feeling… It’s simply fascinating!”
Meng Lei was in absolute awe. When the universe became his body, looking at the universe now felt like an ordinary person observing a piece of leaf on a sandy beach.
Boom!
In the next moment, Meng Lei felt an incredible power getting injected into his body.
Meng Lei knew that the universe was enhancing and modifying his divine body and divine spirit after he had refined the universe’s origin energy to become the Lord of The Universe.
The Lord of The Universe must become a Primordial World Genesis God!
Hence, the universe helped in his evolution!
His divine body underwent insane improvements, his divine spirit was enhanced consistently, while his level of life started to evolve!
As time went by, Meng Lei’s evolution finally stopped, and he exercised his limbs. Boundless power swept across his entire body as his strength became way stronger than before.
“Am I a Primordial World Genesis God?”
Meng Lei asked softly as he checked his stats interface instinctively.
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Primordial World Genesis God
Wealth: A Primitive Universe
Physical Body Constitution: Primordial World Genesis Body
Spirit: Primordial World Genesis God
Laws of Nature: Destiny, Order, Space-Time
“So I am a Primordial World Genesis God!” Meng Lei murmured, “Even the space-time laws of nature that I lacked have just been comprehended! No wonder the gray skeleton did everything it could to assimilate the universe’s origin energy. The benefits are too great!”
“M-Meng Lei, you did it?” Moro asked carefully upon seeing no movements from Meng Lei for half the day.
Meng Lei reopened his eyes and nodded. “Yeap, I did it.”
A tremendous jolt went through Moro as he asked agitatedly, “You’ve really become the Lord of The Universe?”
The gray skeleton stared at Meng Lei as well.
“Haha!”
Meng Lei did not answer. Instead, he changed the Universal Order casually.
Boom!
The intensity in the aura of the gray skeleton and Moro skyrocketed until they stopped at the level of Supreme Gods.
“R-restored?” The gray skeleton was shocked. “I’ve returned to my peak level?”
“I’ve… I’ve recovered too?”
Moro was stunned as well.
“Did you change the Universal Order?”
The gray skeleton looked toward Meng Lei with an agitated look.
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “I’ve adjusted the Universal Order. From now onward, you can cultivate like any other normal lifeform without any worries of the suppression by the Universal Order.”
“I…”
The gray skeleton was overflowing with gratitude, which turned into just two words. “Thank you!”
“Work hard in your cultivation then.” Meng Lei smiled faintly. “From now on, the Great Reincarnation And Destruction Process will never happen again, meaning no more transitions into new eras. You’ll have enough time to cultivate yourselves.”
“Absolutely!”
The gray skeleton nodded heavily.
“Thank you, Meng Lei!” Moro said emotionally.
“Moro!” Meng Lei smiled. “You need to work hard to cultivate and try to become a Primordial Genesis God one day as well. You know, it’s crowded outside this universe!”
“You can see beyond the universe?”
Moro’s eyes lit up.
“I can’t see them, but I can sense them,” Meng Lei gazed at the sky. “I can sense a larger, more prosperous world beyond our universe. Plus, somewhere much further away from here exist three beings as powerful as me right now!”
“T-three Primordial World Genesis Gods!?”
…
—THE END—
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