Chapter 416: Island of the Sacred One
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Xu Lan smiled. She did not drop her professional demeanor, since the two of them were surrounded by their own staff members. Moreover, they were both in public. "I finally see the reason why during each First Kill announcement, Lone Desert Smoke would put up an advert for Silky Soft Holdings. Even the name of your battle team is Silky Soft Battle Team. You’re the C.E.O of Silky Soft Holdings!"
"You flatter me too much. I’m but a sheep in wolf’s skin. Who would have thought that it was a good idea to make me a C.E.O?" Zhang Yang laughed. "Speaking of which, who would have thought that we were allies in the game, and business partners in the real world!"
"It must be fate. I hope that Mr. Zhang would show a little leniency! You have already hoarded so much in the game!" Xu Lan grinned happily. Zhang Yang had always admired Xu Lan, or rather, Snow Seeker because of her mature methods of handling any kind of situation. There was something attractive about it.
Luckily, Zhang Yang had been through much worse. Over the past few months, Zhang Yang had always been played, teased, and been through the temptation of the devil himself, as he stayed over at Han Ying Xue’s house. That woman would always find some method to sexually trigger the poor man. Case and point, Han Ying Xue had always worn thinly-layered clothing that would reveal her voluptuous curves. That, and the six, super-hot and sexy secretaries in his office who would always try their best to bring their "A game" for Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang had been through so much that it was even possible for him to walk through the valley of shadow and death, and he would fear no temptation from anyone! A simple skip of his heart would suffice to satisfy his lust, which would only calm down after that one beat.
"That’s a manner of etiquette. Business is business, private is private. What I do in my own free time is a whole other matter. Still, I’m just a man wearing the title. Silky Soft Holdings is not mine to throw about. But, if I did have my own company, I wouldn’t mind giving you the company itself!"
"You sneaky fox!" Xu Lan snickered shyly.
Everyone in the company was shocked to see how the timid little woman had become so friendly with another in their own ground! It seemed like Xu Lan had never been seen behaving in such a manner, that everyone had thought her to be the typical workaholic.
The business meeting went off smoothly since there were two higher ranking officers on the table who were allied guild masters in a highly regarded game. Even though there were slight conflicts in the agenda, both sides had come to an agreement easily, without the need of slamming the table top, or flipping it.
Zhang Yang was completely oblivious of the content of the minutes of the meeting. Out of habit, Zhang Yang had invited Xu Lan for a one-day fun trip in Jing Tian City. Since she had already come over, and that the meeting was already over, might as well spend the rest of the day leisurely. Even though they had plenty of opportunities of adventuring in the game, the experience of walking in town with someone was a whole different experience.
The three other secretaries who had accompanied him had not left his side. They had joined the fray and had made the entire situation rather awkward. Xu Lan had been throwing weird glares at Zhang Yang.
The meeting agenda was unsurprisingly dragged out longer than planned. From three days, it was extended to 6 days! However, the discussion was fruitful and had ended with a final decision that led to them collaborating together to produce a new line of products. At the end of the meeting, after discussing and arguing for 6 days, both companies had finally reached a final agreement, and left, satisfied with each other. The fruitful meeting had ended with a decision to have a celebration at a hotel where Zhang Yang was forced to drink to a point where he was taken into uncharted waters in terms of drunkenness. In the morning, with a throbbing skull, Zhang Yang found himself buried under a pile of half-naked women.
Luckily, after crawling out of the steaming heap of womanly flesh, Zhang Yang had checked out Zhang Yang. Jr. and was delighted to see that he had not been inside any woman! Or rather, no one had taken a chance to taste junior!
After hanging out for a few days with Xu Lan, Zhang Yang had gotten a clearer understanding of what kind of person Snow Seeker was. The beautiful dame was still, surprisingly without a partner. It was not that she was asexual or something like that. Contrary to popular belief, Xu Lan had a love interest back when she was still in university. She had made a move and even got to discuss marriage. However, right after graduation, the boyfriend was involved in a freak car accident which took his life. If there was anything odd about Xu Lan, it was her extreme loyalty. After the accident, she had never searched for a new life partner which had ended up with her placing all her attention on work.
Normally, she did not have the tendency of going out or hanging out with what normal girls of her age would. Inversely, she had gotten hooked up in online gaming, which had also poisoned most of the top-rated product models into playing the game as well. As such, Xu Lan was rather proud of her doing. From what she heard from her peers, the life of a model in the entertainment world was extremely unfair. If they wished to be on the news, they would have to make a deal with the photographers, with their own bodies. If they wished to have a good position in the company, they would have to ‘deal’ with the company’s top brass. Compared to that sort of life, all the models had to do to get to Xu Lan’s good side was to behave nicely, and perform admirably in the game!
Zhang Yang understood why there were so many rotten female players in the guild. They had been involved in the entertainment circle for a while, and were well-versed in the ropes! Even their speech patterns…
All in all, the meeting was adjourned and brought to an end. Everyone bid each other farewell, and Zhang Yang returned to his own headquarters. Back at Silky Soft Holdings main branch, it was another round of celebration with Han Yang Xue, Wei Yan Er. Even Li Ru was there. Li Ru had taken some courage from a few cans of beer and had made a move on Zhang Yang. Han Ying Xue was there to interfere with her, fortunately. Han Ying Xue had "foiled" Li Ru’s plans of "attacking" Zhang Yang when he was in the bathroom.
On one end, Zhang Yang was quite pleased with how Silky Soft Holdings had turned up to be. Even though Liu Wei was taking a lot of heat, he had not taken much damage. There was still the Liu’s family "mothership", backing up his ventures. For the past 2 months, as ‘God’s Miracle’ progressed, the Lius had pushed their business module in the game.
Judging on how much has Zhang Yang amassed, he was still far from where Liu Wei was standing. Although he may earn much more than he could in the game, there were still things that could not be settled with money. It had to be either power and position. As much as he could admit it, Silky Soft Holdings had become his stronghold, allowing him to interact with the business world and engage in monetary battle with Liu Wei.
Zhang Yang went back to his usual lifestyle and started to madly grind. As swiftly as he could, he had successfully become the first player in China to reach Level 90.
"Zhan Yu, I have to say. Among all the warriors under the stars in the sky, you sure have grown fast!" said Warrior Instructor Ani. As usual, her attractive body had permanently drawn in many perverted men.
"Sigh…" Ani sighed sadly. "Looks like I can no longer instruct you! You have grown so strong, that I have nothing left to teach you!"
After paying 200 gold coins, Zhang Yang had picked up a Level 90 Warrior class skill, which was also the last skill available from Ani.
[Last Vigor]: Increase your HP limit by 30% and heals 30% of your maximum HP. Extended HP limit will last for 15 seconds.
Cool Down Time: 5 Minutes.
For a tank, this skill worked as the name suggested. A final push, to determine the outcome of the match. Be it a boss fight, or a PvP battle, it would serve as a lifesaver. The Mythical Turtle had also reached Level 90. The HP of the pet, after receiving the Vitality Aura would push the turtle’s HP to 65,790! With the both of them combined, the HP limit would reach 144,460! It did not stop there, with the activation of the skill {Last Vigor}, the HP limit would be boosted up to 187,790! Besides that, there was a healing effect of 56,337! It was a powerful life-saving skill!
Like Warriors, other classes would stop learning new skills after Level 90. Adversely, after the Level 100 threshold, players could only get new skills through skill books.
Moreover, Zhang Yang had reached Level 90! He could finally finish the quest in search of the last Dimensional Key Fragment!
With a long sigh of relief, Zhang Yang stretched his body and summoned the bear. Brimming with great excitement to finally finish the quest, Zhang Yang rode to the only Level 90 map in the region of China, the Ten Barren Seas. Although it was the only Level 90 map in the entire region, it was much bigger and wider than all three Level 80 maps combined together. As the name suggested, Ten Barren Sea’s was an ocean. The entire map region was considered to be mostly ocean waters, with plenty of islands scattered all over the ocean. The islands themselves were huge; as vast as a Level 60 maps! It’s safe to say that the entire map was like the stars in the night sky; an endless sea, with countless big islands. Among all the islands in this biome was an extremely small piece of land which housed a gateway to the Chaos Realms, only usable for players who have reached Level 100.
The person Zhang Yang was supposed to look for, was called Madran. In the quest log, it was mentioned that the NPC was living in the Ten Barren Sea’s, Island of the Sacred One. Again, the most annoying part was the fact that the quest description never revealed the NPC’s location. As such, Zhang Yang hoped that the island in which the NPC resided in would be smaller than the usual big*ss ones. If not, god knows how long it would take him to find that one NPC!
Zhang Yang rode through the darkness in the Grand Canyon of Eternal Night and ventured towards the Ten Barren Sea. As he slowly left the cany`on, the dark, gloomy clouds had started to scatter wider, away from each other. Rays of light seeped through the clouds and onto Zhang Yang’s skin. Zhang Yang felt a new warmth like never before, as if he had just transcended into a new realm.
The map changed drastically. From the hard, lifeless dirt on the ground, to soft sandy beaches that sunk beneath the paws of the bear. One vast sunny beach appeared in his sight. Everything about it screamed about summer! The blue emerald water of the sea, gushing onto the golden sands of the beach. The big looping waves that rolled themselves up like blankets! Sun, sand, sea!
Zhang Yang felt like he could just sit back on a recliner and enjoy a sip of red wine by the seaside, as if he was on a holiday. That was, not accounting for the huge lobster monsters walking around the beach.
Zhang Yang walked closer to the sandy ground and tried to find someone to ask for the exact location of the Island of the Sacred One. Within a few kilometers, he found a small fisherman’s village, with more than 10 houses around. The number of people around this small village was scarce, but enough to set sail on the seas.
Zhang Yang rode to the edge of the village and approached a middle-aged man who was smoking a pipe. "Excuse me, sir, I’d like to ask about the whereabouts of the island called Island of the Sacred One.
"Ho ho. Now aren’t you a religious lad?" the man put down the pipe and turned to Zhang Yang.
Religious?
Zhang Yang smiled and continued, "No sir, I’m just a messenger, seeking a man named Madran…"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the man yelled abruptly. He quickly turned sideways rapidly to search for something that would suddenly jump out and kill him.
"What’s wrong?" Zhang Yang was genuinely surprised at the man’s reaction.
"Are yer daft? If those god-loving-good-for-nothing-fanatics heard you speak of the Sacred One’s name directly like that, they would hang yer head off like a tuna!" the middle-aged man warned.
Madran? The Sacred One?
Zhang Yang laughed in his mind. It was Eins Brook all over again!
Zhang Yang asked again, "Sir, could you tell me more about Ma---I mean, the Sacred One?"
"Hm…Let’s see. I think it’s best for yer to know about the situation eh." The man drew in a deep puff smoke and blew it into the air above him. "I’d say, about 17 years ago, the Sacred One brought 12 disciples and had spread his religion throughout the land. He claimed to be the son of the God Zolanor, which had descended onto these plains to be messiah. After several years, almost half of the population of Ten Barren Sea had turned to him to seek for his teachings. Every year, at this time, there will be a huge number of people visiting the Island of the Sacred One."
"I see. No wonder you thought I was one of Madran’s followers!"
"Right on. Lower your voice!"
Zhang Yang nodded and looked towards the endless horizon of the sea. "How do I get to the island?"
"Everyday in the afternoon, there will be ships docking in the harbor by the sea. That ship will transport you to the Island of the Sacred One. If you wish to head there, just wait for a little while. A ship will be arriving soon!" as the man finished his sentence, he returned to his pipe, filling more tobacco in it, and spoke no more.
Zhang Yang did not bother to bid farewell to the NPC, and headed straight towards the harbor. There was nothing to do there, besides waiting. Thus, Zhang Yang had summoned the Mythical Turtle and dived into the waters to farm for some [Devil's Algae].
The moment the Mythical Turtle was summoned out, it had jumped into the waters and started to chase after the fishes around, before Zhang Yang could even get the chance to ride it. Half an hour later, Zhang Yang had already picked more than 20 counts of [Devil’s Algae]. The mastery of Herbalism, which had been stagnant for quite some time was finally growing towards the level of Master.
Fwosh!
From where Zhang Yang was, he could hear the sound of water crashing. He looked up and saw a huge turtle-shaped like boat sprinting on the surface of the water at the speed of a torpedo! Within a few moments, the boat slowed down and docked at the harbor.
Zhang Yang stopped his actions and carefully observed the boat. There were more than 10 elite guards with weapons, stationed at the head of the ship, as well as the rear end. They were all Level 92, and were guarding a few weirdly dressed humans in the middle of the ship, with name tags saying "Loyal Followers".
Zhang Yang immediately shot up to the surface and swam back to land, and onto the boat.
The elite guards did not even glance at Zhang Yang and allowed him to walk past them, and onto the ship. On the other hand, it was the followers on the ship who had greeted Zhang Yang by cheering, "Hail the Sacred One!"
Zhang Yang had said nothing else but replied the exact same words.
The ship docked for just a few moments before it started to take off. Instead of heading directly to the Island of the Sacred One, the ship traveled along the land and circled around the coastline. After it had picked close to a hundred more followers, the ship finally left the shore and headed into the deep sea.
Zhang Yang was greatly impressed at the speed of which the ship traveled on water. If Zhang Yang had right, the ship would be at the same speed as a flying mount! After only half an hour of traveling on waters, the ship started approaching an island. At first, Zhang Yang did not know that the island was the Island of the Sacred One, until all the followers on the ship started to stare at it, as if they were finally returning home after 10 years of separation.
Just as they were about to reach the coast, something happened.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Waters around the ship had exploded as if someone had detonated a bomb. The explosion of water was not an attack, but the surfacing of a three-story-tall lobster monsters! Close to 10 of them surrounded the ship. Riding on top of the lobster monster were Naga warriors. They had human bodies but a snake’s lower half, with a menacing look on their face that clearly spelled hostility.
They were all Level 92 elite monsters, except for the one that was blocking the huge ship upfront. The Naga that was riding the lobster monster was a Yellow-God tier Naga.
[Ankhdorea] (Yellow-Gold, Humanoid)
Level: 93
HP: 1,860,000
Defense: 1,700
One of the elite guards on the ship had immediately rushed to the front and had pointed his sword at the Naga and had screamed from the top of his lungs. "Curse you, seamen! The Island of the Sacred One is just right ahead, you dare to show your blasphemous faces here!?"
"Hahaha!" Ankhdorea laughed. His voice gargled as if there was still water in his mouth. "You, humans of the land, we Naga thrive where there is water! If not for Island of the Sacred One being there, I would be glad to deliver damnation to where hope is just around the corner!"
"Seamen! If the Sacred One finds out about your attack on his beloved followers, the wrath of his holiness shall befall on you! Heed my words, wretched ones. For the wrath of the Sacred One shall be the end of you seamen!" said the guard with confidence.
"Piss off! Do not mention the Sacred One. He is nothing but a slaughterer who has killed many of my brethren. Now, we will return the favor! A bloodbath is what he delivered to us, and a bloodbath is what we shall return to him! All you people here best pray that Madran will tame his raging heart!" Ankhdorea brandished his trident and bellowed, "Kill them! Spare not one!"
It did not take long for the Nagas and their lobster monsters to capsize the ship and kill everyone. Be it the followers or the elite guards, all of them were screaming helplessly as they drowned in the water.
The Naga initiated the bloodbath quickly and efficiently. They were indeed stronger at sea, as they killed the people with such speed and agility. As easily as a human could move on dry land, the Naga had done the same with the humans in the water. In an instant, the emerald water of the sea was dyed crimson red.
Right after the ship was overturned, Zhang Yang was dragged away by the raging waves and was sent violently to a nearby land. Zhang Yang had no chance to swim, the water current was just too strong.
The Naga had appeared with a flash and had disappeared in the same manner. With Ankhdorea leading the party, the Naga had ridden their lobster mounts and descended into the water.
After the ordeal, Zhang Yang went back to where the ship was sunk and received a system notification.
‘Ding! You have survived a mass slaughter. Perhaps you should report this unfortunate turn of events to someone!’
‘Ding! You have received a quest: The Lone Survivor. Will you accept it?’