Chapter 31: Fortune and Misfortune
Olivia and his group of twelve people entered the restaurant and chose three round tables in the corner to sit around.
“Captain, you got a violet crystal. Don’t be stingy!” someone called out.
“Same as always!” the bearded captain laughed heartily. “One bottle of Nossa per person. If you want more, buy it yourself.” Then the bearded captain shouted loudly, “Hey, hurry up! Bring us twelve bottles of Nossa!”
Nossa was considered a decent wine, costing ten mo stones per bottle. Twelve bottles would be one hundred and twenty mo stones.
Usually, whenever one of them obtained a violet crystal, they would treat everyone to celebrate. After all, collecting violet crystals required luck. With good luck, you could get one in a few days. With bad luck, you might not get a single one in a thousand years.
Gripping the wine bottle, Olivia took a sip, his brows slightly furrowed.
“Almost thirty years, and I haven’t gotten a single violet crystal!” Olivia felt deeply frustrated. He tilted his head back and took another big gulp.
When he first arrived in Hell, Olivia’s luck had been decent. He reached the Demigod level, scraped together ten thousand mo stones to participate in the Demon Trial, and fortunately passed, becoming a one-star demon. But he never expected to fail on his very first mission.
Moreover, in his panicked escape, he had unintentionally been separated from his friend Bachelor.
Back then, Olivia and Bachelor had painstakingly pooled their funds to take the Demon Trial, then immediately accepted a mission. But that first mission was a failure. In reality, Olivia had no income at all. After the mission failed, he had only a pitiful few hundred mo stones left.
With just a few hundred mo stones, wanting to return to the city? Dream on!
Fortunately, the mission location wasn’t too far from the Violet Crystal Mountain Range. He had heard of this place before, so he carefully spent several years sneaking his way here. According to the rules, those who couldn’t pay five thousand mo stones had to hand over three violet crystals when leaving.
“Forget three violet crystals—I don’t even have one yet, and it’s been almost thirty years.” The more Olivia thought about it, the more miserable he felt. He tilted his head back and drank more than half of the remaining wine in one gulp. “In this damn place, I can’t even take on missions.”
To return safely, he had to earn enough money.
To earn money, for Olivia, who was still only a Demigod, the only option was to collect violet crystals.
“Olivia, hey, you’re not the only one who hasn’t gotten a violet crystal,” someone beside him said. “Don’t lose heart. Remember that unlucky guy we ran into last time? He went ten thousand years without collecting a single one.”
Olivia forced a faint smile.
He had to maintain good relations with these people.
Collecting violet crystals in the Violet Crystal Mountain Range wasn’t safe either. This wasn’t a city after all!
In the Violet Crystal Mountain Range, if someone was lucky enough to find a pile of violet crystals at once, many people would be tempted by greed, kill them, and take their treasures. This was very common. So, many Demigods formed small groups.
Olivia and his group of twelve were one such small group. At least, they could protect themselves.
Several tens of thousands of miles away from Olivia, Linley and his three companions were at the edge of the Misty Sea. They hadn’t come to collect violet crystals, just to take a look.
“Jenkin, you don’t need to follow us. Go collect your violet crystals. We’ll just wander around the Violet Crystal Mountain Range for a day or two, and then we’ll probably leave,” Linley said casually, turning to glance at Jenkin.
Jenkin was deeply grateful to Linley and the others.
“Lord Linley, the three of you have shown me, Jenkin, such great kindness that I don’t know how to repay it. Besides, after you leave, who knows when we’ll meet again? And collecting violet crystals is all about luck. Maybe, by staying with you, Lord Linley, I’ll actually find some,” Jenkin joked.
“Kid, not bad. You’ve got loyalty,” Bebe said, patting Jenkin’s shoulder in a mature manner.
Linley smiled and nodded. “Alright then. I’ll accompany you to collect violet crystals too. Let’s see if I can get lucky and find one in a day or two.”
White mist billowed around them. Linley looked at the endless fog ahead. “Let’s go into the mist. Everyone, remember to keep an eye on the outside and make sure you can see it.” With that, Linley, Delia, Bebe, and Jenkin flew into the white mist.
Linley was surprised as he observed the mist. “This mist is so clear and cold.” The mist had a very low temperature, feeling like ice against his skin.
But Linley and the others didn’t mind.
“Boss, hurry up!” Bebe was walking backward, keeping his eyes on the outside. “I can still see outside. Keep going—” Bebe laughed and kept flying deeper, with Linley and the others naturally following.
They flew very slowly. After going about eighty meters, Linley and the others couldn’t help but stop.
“Hmm? How strange!”
Linley frowned.
“Hoo, hoo—” In the boundless white mist, a very faint wind sound could be heard. But even that faint wind made Linley’s head start to spin. Linley shook his head violently, struggling to maintain a shred of clarity.
Delia and Bebe were also struggling to stay awake.
As for Jenkin, he was already dizzy and disoriented. Linley immediately grabbed him and pulled him back a bit.
Only then could Jenkin regain his clarity. Once clear-headed, he was shocked. “What just happened? I heard a ‘hoo, hoo’ wind sound, and then I felt like the world was spinning. I was completely confused.” Jenkin was both shocked and terrified.
“This Misty Sea is really eerie,” Bebe said with admiration.
“Linley, let’s be careful. We’re just here to look around, not to collect violet crystals. Let’s not get into any trouble,” Delia said, grabbing Linley’s hand.
Linley held Delia’s hand and looked into her worried eyes. After the incident at the golden lava lake, he didn’t want to put Delia in danger again. He smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry, we won’t go deeper into the Misty Sea.”
“Hey, folks,” a blue-haired, burly man suddenly flew over and said with a smile, “Be careful. Don’t get trapped in there and never come out.”
“Brother,” Jenkin said with a smile, “I’m curious about one thing. Why can’t people come out once they go deep into the Misty Sea? If I leave my clone outside and go in myself, I can sense my clone’s direction and position. Shouldn’t I be able to come straight out?”
Linley’s eyes lit up at this.
That made sense.
If you left a clone outside, at least you wouldn’t lose your way. It should be fine.
“Hey, don’t ask me. I don’t know either. No matter what you say, the facts speak for themselves,” the blue-haired burly man said with a teasing smile. “If you’re not afraid, you can leave your clone outside and go in with your main body to try. But from what I’ve heard, no one who’s gone in has ever come out alive, no matter what method they used.”
After saying that, the blue-haired burly man added, “Alright, folks, good luck to you.” Then he flew off into the distance.
Linley turned back to look at the endless white mist.
Suddenly, Linley froze. “Hey, what’s that?” He saw a flash of purple light flying out quickly from afar. Linley immediately sidestepped, reached out with one hand, and caught the purple light. It was a violet crystal. Linley couldn’t help but smile.
He hadn’t expected to be so lucky.
“Boss, was that a violet crystal?” Bebe and the others quickly approached.
“Yes. Jenkin, here you go.” Linley casually tossed the violet crystal to Jenkin. Linley now had a huge stash of violet crystals, so he didn’t care about one or two.
Jenkin knew that Linley and the others were wealthy. Anyone who could afford a metal life form couldn’t be ordinary!
Jenkin didn’t hesitate. He took the violet crystal and said with a smile, “Lord Linley, you’re really lucky. You just got here and already found a violet crystal. I’ve heard that some people spend a thousand years without getting a single one.”
“That’s just bad luck. With good luck, getting one in a few days is possible,” Linley said casually.
“If you’re so lucky, Boss, I don’t believe I’ll be unlucky,” Bebe said, his eyes gleaming as he looked around. “I’m going to find a violet crystal too!”
“I’ll try my luck as well,” Delia said with a smile.
While Linley and his group were enjoying themselves at the Misty Sea, Olivia and his group also flew to the edge of the Misty Sea. The twelve of them spread out slightly, about a hundred meters apart, waiting quietly for a violet crystal to fly out.
“A violet crystal? Who knows when I’ll get one.”
Olivia was currently controlling his ‘Darkness God Clone’ in cultivation. His Light God Clone had already reached the Demigod level, but his Darkness God Clone was still a Lesser God. Olivia was eager to raise his Darkness God Clone’s level too.
“Right now, my darkness divine power is too weak. Once it’s raised to match my light divine power, with my ‘Light and Darkness’ fusion, how could an ordinary Demigod be a match for me?” Olivia thought to himself as he carefully watched the Misty Sea.
The Blood Sun set, and the Violet Moon rose.
When night passed and the Blood Sun hung in the sky again, a new day began.
Over the course of a day, Olivia and his group of twelve remained in the same spot, barely moving. Those who came to collect violet crystals had plenty of patience. Waiting in one place for a hundred or a thousand years was normal.
“Hmm?” Olivia noticed a faint purple light in the distance.
“Whoosh!” A purple light shot rapidly toward Olivia’s direction. Olivia was overjoyed. In an instant, he rushed inward. Having been in the Misty Sea for nearly thirty years, he knew the safe distance.
The others were too far from the purple light to match Olivia’s speed.
“What is this?”
As he got closer, Olivia was stunned. What was flying toward him wasn’t a single violet crystal, but a dense cluster of countless violet crystals gathered together—a small pile of violet crystals!
“At least ten thousand of them!” Olivia was dumbfounded.
Occasionally, a pile of violet crystals would fly out of the Misty Sea together. Once, a pile of a million violet crystals had flown out, sparking a massive massacre. After all, a million violet crystals were worth billions of mo stones.
For a Demigod, that was an enormous fortune.
“So many violet crystals?” Olivia waved his hand, immediately storing the pile into his space ring. As he did, he counted them—exactly eighteen thousand and some violet crystals, worth over a hundred million mo stones. This was a windfall!
“I hope they didn’t notice,” Olivia silently wished.
But when he turned around, his heart sank. All eleven people were staring at him!
“Olivia, you’re really lucky,” the captain said with a grin. “I couldn’t see clearly, but judging by the size, it must be around ten thousand violet crystals. Since we all saw it, shouldn’t you share it equally among the twelve of us?”
Olivia’s face changed. Split twelve ways?
This was his find.
Gritting his teeth, Olivia said, “Fine. I’ll give each of you eight hundred violet crystals. The rest are mine. You know it’s only about ten thousand or so. Twelve people, and I just get a little more.”
“Don’t bother dividing it yourself. Just remove the soul bond from your space ring, let us all check it one by one, and then we’ll split it fairly,” someone immediately suggested.
“Remove the soul bond?” Olivia knew what that meant.
These people who scraped by in Hell weren’t really fair.
“Alright, Jenkin, no need to see us off. You’ve come far enough. Go back to collecting your violet crystals. We’ll be on our way now.” A voice came from nearby, sounding familiar to Olivia.
It was the voice of an acquaintance!
“Lord Linley, safe travels,” another voice said.
Olivia was startled. “Linley?” He looked toward the source of the sound. Through the hazy white mist, he saw Linley, Delia, and Bebe flying. Bebe looked over and grinned, “Boss, look! A group of people surrounding someone. Hey, that person is... Ah, Boss, it’s Olivia!!!”