Chapter 55: Knight and Toad
Void, Black Abyss Shallow Layer.
On a black gobi covered with strange rocks, a harsh wind carrying large black sand particles blew past. A bone-eating rat that had just crawled out of a burrow was swept into it.
The harsh wind instantly tore through the rat's fur and skin, stripping away its flesh and leaving behind a skeleton stained with red bloodstains.
With a crash, the bone-eating rat's skeleton shattered and drifted away with the wind.
Thump, thump, thump...
A giant beast with bone spurs all over its back, resembling a rhinoceros, walked across the black gobi. It stood at least ten meters tall, over thirty meters long, its hooves covered in black patterns, and its body surface wrapped in pieces of black bone armor.
"Ooo~"
The beast raised its head and let out a low roar, seemingly calling out to its kind.
Near a black rock not far from the giant beast, there was a black bulge on the ground. It wasn't very noticeable, but upon closer inspection, one could see it was the skin of some animal spread on the ground, covered in black scales.
Something hidden beneath the scaled skin stirred. Soon, a fair arm emerged from the skin, with dried blood still visible on it.
"Slept... about three hours. Haven't had such a full rest in a long time."
A female voice came from within the skin. After a moment, the owner of the voice sat up. She had a head of golden hair, slightly tousled, with a single cowlick sticking up.
Judging by her appearance, the golden-haired girl had just woken up, her expression very dazed, as if silently asking, Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?
The reason for the golden-haired girl's state was an encounter three days ago. She had stumbled upon an exile who was starving and had lost all reason. The girl couldn't tell what race the other party was; she could only judge from their form that they were a demi-human.
At the time, the golden-haired girl had two choices: one was to draw her sword and kill the demi-human, who had no grudge against her, and the other was to be eaten completely, gnawed down to a pile of white bones.
The result was that the golden-haired girl killed the demi-human, but she took a heavy blow to the head, leading to this scene upon waking up. Her current dazed state was entirely a side effect of the head trauma.
After a moment, the girl's emerald eyes regained their sparkle. She grabbed the sword hilt beside her and leaped up from the ground.
The girl held her sword with both hands, instinctively lowering her center of gravity. This was different from her previous combat style; she used to keep her center of gravity at her waist. But after going through hellish practical combat, her fighting style had changed slightly.
"So it's you."
The golden-haired girl let out a long sigh of relief after seeing the giant beast staring at her.
"Ooo~"
The beast raised its head and let out a long cry, as if greeting the golden-haired girl.
"Did you get separated from your kind again?"
"Ooo!"
Although the beast looked fierce, it was actually an omnivore. When vegetarian options were available, it generally didn't eat meat.
"Three days ago, I saw your herd in the Valley of the Dead. Follow me."
The golden-haired girl closed her eyes tightly. After a moment, they suddenly snapped open.
At that moment, the scene in the golden-haired girl's vision changed drastically. The world around her turned gray, and footprints of various colors appeared on the ground. Red footprints were left by very dangerous creatures, white footprints indicated huntable creatures that could be used as food, and black footprints were left by creatures she couldn't fight against.
The golden-haired girl held her knight sword and walked in one direction, with the giant beast following behind her.
Not long after the golden-haired girl left, a spatial fluctuation appeared, and a blue toad emerged from the space.
With a splat, the blue toad plopped down on the ground. This blue toad wore a crown, held a quill pen in its right hand, and a thick notebook in its left.
"Looks like progress is good. Continue the trial for 107 more days, and she'll be qualified to become an Arbiter. But there are still some issues with her personality. She still reaches out to help the weak. An Arbiter needs absolute impartiality, which doesn't quite align with her knightly spirit. All the other participants in the same batch of trials are dead, and the only survivor left has personality issues. This is driving this frog crazy."
The toad scratched its head with the quill pen. It was planning to do something. If not a single formal Arbiter emerged from a batch of reserve Arbiters, it would definitely be in for a rough time.
"She seems to have a good relationship with the Lelesno clan in the Black Abyss. Those little mole-people living underground have helped her many times. In that case..."
The toad let out a sinister laugh and tapped its notebook with the quill pen.
"Number 1045."
The toad spoke into the thick notebook in its hand.
"What is it? I'm busy right now."
A rough male voice came from the notebook, accompanied by faint sounds of battle.
"Which race are you slaughtering now? How many times have I told you, don't casually slaughter races on those remote planets."
The toad was a bit exasperated. The Number 1045 it mentioned was practically a butcher.
"Killing... is my only joy. Only in killing do I feel that I'm still alive..."
"Stop, stop, stop. As expected, you being sealed was entirely your own doing. I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"Come to the Black Abyss."
"To kill?"
"No, just to scare someone. A certain girl who's gotten a bit too used to this place has been too comfortable lately. Just make her recall the taste of despair."
"Despair... sounds good."
"Then hurry up and come. This place is more interesting than you think, though the wind is a bit strong."
The toad stood in the harsh wind, opening its wide mouth to yawn. The wind that made some creatures in the shallow Black Abyss tremble in fear was merely a slight coolness to it.
...
[Teleportation complete. Hunter has returned to exclusive room.]
[Exclusive room is an absolute safe point...]
[Hunter has returned to Reincarnation Paradise. Beginning settlement of derivative world rewards.]
Derivative World: Hunter x Hunter
Difficulty: 5~?? (Semi-open world)
World Source obtained: 9%
Tasks completed: (Main task x1, Hunt task x1, Hidden task x1)
Comprehensive evaluation rating ranges from E- to S+. Comprehensive evaluation is calculated based on total World Source obtained and number of tasks completed.)
Beginning collection of World Source...
World Source collection complete. Beginning reward calculation.
Rewards obtained: 7 True Attribute Points (including those obtained in the derivative world), 31,000 Paradise Coins.
Comprehensive evaluation: S-. Current Hunter level increased to Hunter level +3 (Derivative world rank x number of tasks completed + comprehensive evaluation - task completion time). Hunter level has been raised to Lv.78.
Settlement complete. Rewards have been automatically deposited into the Hunter's mark.
...
Su Xiao sat on the carpet in his exclusive room. He closed the reward settlement list. Based on his experiences in the Naruto World and the Hunter World, he found that obtaining True Attribute Points was harder than he had imagined.
In the previous Naruto World, he had obtained an S evaluation but only received 8 True Attribute Points. The reason he got 7 points this time with an S- evaluation was mainly because he had obtained more True Attribute Points during the tasks, a full 4 points.
Although 7 True Attribute Points seemed few, they were actually equivalent to the enhancement effect of 35 regular attribute points, a very significant improvement.