Chapter 4: The Indefatigable One
Karma, or rather fate, exists. If there is no external influences, the apple would eventually land on the floor, rot and eventually become the seed for the next harvest.
If a farmer were to come and harvest the apple, then for the garden and the apple itself, it is still a part of fate because the farmer is still considered part of the garden and the act of harvesting is a fixed route of fate for the apple.
But if a tourist from overseas were to walk through the garden and casually picks an apple, then the apple will leave with the tourist and the farmer will be unable to pick the apple. Everyone’s fate would change along with the tourist.
The otherworldly visitors, by their casual actions, change what fate has in plan for everyone.
His actions aren’t in line with what the world planned out, he changes the originally rigid fate and eventually triggers a series of effects known as the Butterfly Effect.
Every injustice in the world has someone responsible for it, every debt in the world has a creditor. The effects of karma would be something the Transcenders would have to bear.
That system of mine collects Evil/Kind Points and following my will, the system acts something like a wish granter and causes something that create ripples of effect on the world.
Of course, this is only my own research. It could be correct, it could be wrong but following a fortuitous event, a game walk-through book coming from another world made me more convinced about the possibility of the theory.
“The Great Eich Purgatory War, this is the name of the game. The book which I drew from the system’s gachapon have recorded the every single happening in this classic game in its 30 years of operations.”
And the current world I am in is called… Eich.
So the world that we live in is only a game in another world? I wasn’t surprised or shocked. From a rational viewpoint, there is a history of those who dream about other worlds and seers who break through the confine of time and space in the great world of Eich. In fact, this is common knowledge here and this is sufficient to explain everything.
As for the purgatory… There have been 7 large-scale updates, which means that the order in this world will be overturned 7 times.
In the 7 crisis that almost destroyed the world, the continent became a land of living hell, and the confident me then who believed that I was a hero blessed by gods capable of changing all of these realized that after the 3rd update, Roland.Mist is actually the name of the final boss.
“The Demon Overlord Roland.Mist, returns from the depths of the Abyss. Bringing along his army of demons, he swore revenge against all of the living. Endless army of undeads and demons swept the world into chaos, countless countries have been destroyed, countless life have been lost.”
Roland.Mist? Isn’t that my name? I actually became the final boss destined to destroy the entire world!?
But reality isn’t a game. Demon Kings don’t always fall. Or rather, the me who was then known as The Son of Light had no reasons to become an evil demon of chaos.
But then, everything still happened. The darkness hidden within the depths of the Holy Church, the betrayal from people I trusted, the nobles and royalties who added insult to injury caused me, who was a heroic Holy Knight to gradually walk away from the faith and step into the darkness.
But since I knew about the plans fate had in store of me, as a Transcender with control over his own life, how can I simply allow all these to happen.
Thus, I did many things in an attempt to overcome fate.
As a Transcender with the power of karma on my side, changing my personal fate isn’t difficult. But, changing the fate of the entire world isn’t such an easy thing after all.
After a series of ‘coincidence’, all my hard work became for naught. I failed and the current of fate easily crushed me, causing everything to walk the path it paved out originally.
The current me, after dying again and again, is barely living in this world as a Lich and thus, I am unable to become the Demon King who tried to destroy the world. But a pity, my foolish twin brother, Karwenz.Mist, replaced this useless brother of his and done many mind-blowing great things and eventually walked into the gates of Purgatory.
Maybe, before long, I would need to face the Demon King named Karwenz.Mist.
Thus, no matter what, I must live on. Even with this incomplete and damaged soul of mine, I must still live on until the day Karwenz returns to the surface.
Therefore, no matter what, I need strength, regardless of which world it came from, or whether is the strength holy or not…
“This is a solemn promise from me Roland.Mist. I will settle the problems I created! Thus, even if I have to soil my own hands, even if I must become unscrupulous, I will gather sufficient Evil Points to revive myself, become stronger and settle that foolish brother of mine.”
“Master Lich, just interrupting for a moment, what does what you just said have to do with the current situation? Before you continue with your impassioned speech, please return to reality and look behind you.”
Just as I was getting more and more riled up, my companion ruined my moment.
I turned back and look, all the Dark Elves that were chasing me were cutting close. Their eyes were blood-red from their lack of sleep and their originally beautiful oval face were wretched with looks of hatred. Seeing how deep their hatred was, now doesn’t seem to be the correct time to reason with them.
“Don’t run, you bastards!”
“I will skin you alive.”
“Hehehe… Hand those bones to me, hand it to me! My dowry, my 30 years of hard work, gone in a single night!”
“Momo have already bought seaweed and chili, tonight I am going to eat pork ribs soup… The pork ribs in front, are you listening? You are going to be the main dish tonight! Stop!”
It seems that the grudges from yesterday’s explosion really wasn’t trivial, I would be a fool if I stop now. Thus, I cast a Floating Spell on myself and hasten my footsteps.
This time, I overdid it a little. If I were to be caught by the Town Security troop who are well-equipped for war, even though I am just bones and can’t be skinned, I might just end up broken apart and fed to dogs.
But the ones being chased weren’t only me.
“The Beyar brothers, why are they chasing you too? Were you selling counterfeit goods again?”
The Beyar brothers were well-known dishonest merchants even among the greedy Gnome tribe. As long as you pay sufficient money, drugs, counterfeits etc, they have it all. Furthermore, to save money from paying taxes, they didn’t even bother applying for license.
Naturally, this kind of dishonest merchant would often come head to head with the Town Security army. Through these clashes, we forged a deep bond of friendship through revolution.
“Who knows what is wrong with those bitches. It seems that some fool have really offended those crazy bitches badly. From yesterday afternoon, they conducted a full-scale search on the entire city, proclaiming that ‘Swiftly and heavily, we shall severely punish those committing crimes’ ‘Destroy those illegal traders and **’ ‘Return Liu Huang City its blue sky’, tsk!”
The Master Engineer Jinya.Beyar (Gold Teeth.Beyar) is the older brother and at this moment, his thick lush hair have been shaved and he was extremely pissed.
In my current vision, although his looks were so-so, he was already a LV59 Gnome Master Engineer, just a step away from the LV60 Gold rank.
“This bunch of lasses are incredible, although the Town Security army is lacking in personnel, to think that all their members are Holy Knights. Holy Knight is a tanker job which make them resilient to attacks. Not mentioning their Dwarf-made mithril chain mail, Dark Elves are blessed with strong magic resistance and physically resilient like a steel can. Some of their team leaders are even armed with godly weapons. With this kind of equipment and personnel, they could be pulled to fight a war between Gods and Demons, needless to say Town Security.”
Yingou.Beyar (Silver Hook.Beyar) is the younger brother. His clothes were burnt and during the search and arrest and his tools were destroyed, causing him to be extremely pissed as a result.
LV57 Master Alchemist. Normally, he would be specialised in treating patients but those who are related to Gnomes are often unreliable.
At least in my memory, half of the medicine that Yingou that lad made explode when consumed. The other half? Even if you don’t consume them they will also explode.
“Endure it, Liu Huang City’s dominance by its 3000 Town Security army hadn’t just been for a day or two. Accursed gold coins, the equipment weren’t so advanced in the past! Wait until I find out who was the one who betrayed us and sold such good equipment to them for a nifty profit, I will definitely make him unable to survive in Liu Huang City.”
“Other than the gingerhead Dwarf in Flower Street, who else can it be? Other than an armor expert Master Smither like him, who else can make a mithril chain mail of such level. When I finally get free, I will smash his shop. Who asked him to bring harm to his brothers!
Thus, I remained quiet. If my comrades were to know that their Holy Swords were bought from me and that I was the intermediary for the sale of the chain mails and even made a deal with them to let me off for magic armors…
“Old cow, what happened? Normally, they would just overlook you. Why, did you do something recently?”
Running beside us is a tall Tauren warrior, his square face flashing an honest smile, his innocent eyes were filled with righteousness and bewilder, as though he was ignorant of the reason why he was chased to such an extent.
“I didn’t do anything, it is just that I was thirsty and wanted some milk. Their breasts are so big, so they should have quite a bit of milk in them. Isn’t Taurens wanting to drink milk a normal thing? For a nature-loving Tauren, being naked is normal, isn’t it? Then, why are they chasing me with weapons?”
TL: Taurens have cow heads and human body.
Although the square face brings such about such an honest aura and the pure voice was tinged with the grief of being falsely accused, he is a pervert. Even though he has such an honest face, he is still is a pervert and a nudist.
At the current moment, he is still completely naked. The fit and wild body caused the females by the roadside to scream non-stop and he waved his hands in sync with the movement of some object…
“The ** Bull Demon King is here!”
TL: Journey to the West reference
“Mum! It’s so scary! I can’t get married anymore!”
“Where? Where? Let me see how long is that toothpick, to actually be waving it around. Hohoho, as expected of a Tauren, so it is not a toothpick but a mace. The Tauren in front please hold on, let me give it a try.”
The sounds of screaming behind made him even more complacent, making him to do bodybuilder poses while running, generating all kinds of screams.
Even though he is a pervert and other people may not be aware of it, but in my eyes, the Tauren Xueti (?? Winter Hoofs) is actually a LV89 Legend Warrior, and even in Liu Huang City where many strong people are gathered, he can be considered the cream of the crop.
But no matter how strong he is, he is still a pervert… I had to say it twice because it is very important.
“Damn! They have blessed silver arrows! Emperor Alosso’s Sacred Sword, The Angel Reaper. Shit, to even have dozens of nameless evil-slaying holy swords, even the extravagant Auland Kingdom aren’t as outrageous as them.” (Lily)
At the forefront of those chased is Lily.Milan (???.??), known as the Prince of the Night. She has a reputation of being a passionate Casanova in the entire city and is the dream of countless rich young ladies in the underground world.
Just that, for someone who views demeanor as important as her life, her attire is battered now. Even for a LV72 Gold rank Blood Tribe Assassin, in the presence of such a powerful army, she could only run away frantically.
That’s right, a her and not him… Her other nicknames include The Frenzied Wild Lily, The Sentimental Milan, The Moving Obscenity, Female **.
Due to being the common fate of being stifled by the Town Security, we created the Freedom Gentlemen Alliance (Better known by the world as Gentlemen Alliance). For the Nudist Tauren, The Moving Obscenity and the Explosion Maniac Brothers, the Gentlemen Alliance is just another name for us.
As our comrades are being captured by the operation ‘Swiftly and heavily, we shall severely punish those committing crimes’, the only survivors of this operation are the stronger top brass of the alliance.
“The Lich who have his head dunked in water! Even the weakest Lich is of Legend-rank, so turn back and cast a Great Cleavage on those bitches.” (Lily)
“If it is still 300 years ago I could give it a try… But, my horcrux is damaged now and my control is unstable. I could try casting Great Cleavage but if I can’t control it properly. Well, I can’t die again, but are you sure?” (Roland)
Great Cleavage is a top-level spell used by the best Mages. Legend has it that it can destroy anyone it is aimed at. However, I have no interest in classic spells and even more so, my horcrux is destroyed so naturally, I would be unable to use it. However, even if I lose to them in fighting prowess, I can’t lose to them in our verbal war. Thus I won’t go easy with my mouth.
“Tsk, useless!”
As expected, once I mention the possibility of the spell going out of control, they, afraid of death, won’t allow me to use it.
However if this goes on, my good person reputation would go to drain. Thus, I started making my move.
“Slippery Oil Magic!”
I instant-casted a 1-circle magic and a large area of oil appeared in front of us. As a Lich, using magic to float is a just basics, thus I immediately floated across the oil.
“…What is the use of a 1-circle magic? Even the weakest among the fellows behind us are a Bronze rank.”
In the eyes of the pissed off Jinya, a 1-circle is useless to any Warrior that can fight.
But this common sense is only limited to normal Mages, I am no normal Mage, you know.
“Peng!”
Right after he stopped speaking, Jinya steps on the ground and falls uncontrollably, unable to stand up anymore.
“Jinya, I guess the only powerful about you is your mouth. See how I… It can’t be, how can it be so slippery!!”
Following him, his younger brother Yingou, right after laughing at his big brother, follows in his footsteps.
“I improved it.”
Improvement? More like reshaped the spell.
Normal Slippery Oil Spell only uses oil made from animal fats for the spell and as for me, I use the top grade oil used for machinery and at the same time, I adjusted the friction on the road, guaranteeing zero friction.
After my rank has been locked and I was unable to use higher circle spells, I naturally spent my efforts on improving my current spells.
For the normal Slippery Oil Spell, even slightly veteran Warriors can ignore it altogether. But for my improved Slippery Oil Spell, even though it is just a 2-circle spell, Gold-rank Warriors must be careful of it.
But my pride immediately crumbles in the face of reality.
“Ha!”
The cow, using his hoofs like a skateboard, skates across the eyes while throwing glances at me. Despite his seemingly clumsy heavy body, he actually have excellent balance.
“Well done, I see that the crazy Lich’s brain can function properly occasionally.”
The sly vampire lady jumps on the back of the stupid cow and hitches a ride.
“Hurry, let’s go!”
Seeing that the Town Security army was getting close, we ignore the Beyar brothers who were still struggling in the oil and swiftly left.
As expected, the Dark Elves Town Security knights, equipped in heavy armor, fell down one by one on the oil, creating a huge mess.
“Damn it, why is it so slippery!!”
The vice-captain Victoria, who finally got up with much effort, after her complaint, immediately slips again.
“Save me!” The shouts of help from the Beyar brothers drifts to us.
That cow-head actually still intends to head back to save them while showcasing his muscles at the same time, but he was pulled back to the track by Lily to continue the escape.
“Those guys are wearing heavy armor, they can’t reach us…”
“I am not worried about them. If they realized that they are unable to escape… What the Beyar brothers have on their body, surely you wouldn’t have forgotten?”
The cow-head has a slow reaction, but he definitely isn’t a fool. After patting his head in realisation, he lowers his head and continues to run forward.
“Boom!!” Sound of explosions resound behind us, proving that our judgement was correct.
Engineers and Alchemists were originally experts at causing explosions. If we were to add the prefix ‘Gnome’ in front, the probability of an explosion occurring increases by 10 folds. Ignoring the fact that when the Beyar brothers would choose mutually assured destruction when they realise that they are in a dire situation, they have many messy toys on them and just by bumping a few times and falling a few times, they may just explode if your luck isn’t that good
“Bastard, grab hold of those two fools.”
“They’re running, hurry up and chase them!”
A cloud of smoke rises from the background, the Slippery Oil Magic even caused the fire to intensify. But judging from the curses and shouting behind, this kind of unplanned small scale explosion can only be considered a small trouble to the great Knights fully dressed in mithril.
However…
“Slippery Oil! Slippery Oil! Slippery Oil!”
Thus, the entire ground behind us gleamed with the shine of oil. Foolish Elves equipped in heavy armor, slowly train your balancing abilities in my oil.
“Prepare to die!!”
Hearing that yell, my happiness was short-lived.
Appearing from the corner of the street is the captain of the Town Security Diana. On her hands is the sacred sword, Silver Avenger, the one that I sold to her.
We immediately change directions and from the other corner, another group of Dark Elf Knights dash out and the one leading them is the vice-captain Yawen.
“Damn it, it is a trap!”
As the 3 groups converge together, we are trapped!
“Bastard! I thought that you were really a good person but… The dress I just bought was completely wasted!”
“And my tidbits!”
“My cosmetics!”
“And Momo’s mimi!”
TL: Mimi is also used as a slang for breasts
“Isn’t your mimi originally this small?”
“No! It is my pet cat Mimi! And, my breasts is at least bigger than yours.”
“I am a male, to compare yourself with me, don’t you feel embarrassed?”
“I’m sorry, you really look to effeminate, I forgot that you are a boy.”
The noisy Dark Elf Knights surrounded us from all 3 directions. Ignoring the internal strife between the Dark Elf siblings, from the sight of knuckles rubbing against palms, it seems that they are prepared to strike.
Under such circumstances, the first thing I have to do is…
I did a cart-wheel and escaped from a strike from my back. Then, following up with a Floating Spell, I float a feet off the ground and escape from another slash.
“Bastard, so you were the one who pulled us down. How many times have it been?!”
As expected, the aggressors are the old cow who had an apologetic look on his face but nevertheless using his full force in his attacks and a crazy vampire who was busy castigating me.
… As expected, my foremost priority should be to get rid of these two foolish comrades who are used to betraying others. They are much more sly and difficult to deal with than the Dark Elves and after realising that the operation this time was my fault, they would not spare a second thought to betray me.
If I were to be captured this time, even if the Dark Elves don’t deal with me personally, my cellmates would surely take good care of me.
“Ah, I definitely mustn’t get caught!”
Under the combined attacks of two of the top 10 fighters in Liu Huang City, my movements were in a mess as I tried to dodge their attacks. As for the Dark Elves on the side, they were willing to watch the dog fight and some of them even brought out chairs to enjoy the show.
“An opportunity!”
But how can those bitches understand the solid friendship we forged under oppression. Just a single look among us and we understood what to do.
The cow-head grabs me and Lily with each of his hands and threw us out of the blockade.
“You bastards!”
When the Dark Elf Knights finally came to, we were already out of the blockade. The poor cow, despite having the strongest fighting prowess of all, due to his pointless principle of not hitting women, he was pushed down to the ground by a group of female knights.
“Old cow, we will remember your sacrifice!”
“Lich, what did you do!!”
“Yesterday, when they caught me, I burnt their barracks.”
“Well done! I have wanted to done that for a long time.”
I laugh for a bit, as though I was pleased with my action, and casually points a finger at her.
“Art of Truth.Incapacitate!”
Under my sudden attack, the unwary vampire’s movements were sealed.
Although my Art of Truth could only stop her for a few seconds, that was enough.
Her eyes were filled with incomprehension. We have already escaped from the Town Security, so she was unable to understand why I would still choose to betray her.
But the next instant, she understood. The mad Lich Roland, isn’t he known in the city as one who brings harm to other people for no apparent reason or benefit. Otherwise, as the incarnate of fear, why would he gain the glorious title of ‘head dunked in water’.
However, as the army drew closer, the incapacitated Lily Milan, despite her indignation and anger, could not do anything.
As she was pushed to the ground by the Dark Elf Knights, the system notice finally rang out.
“Daily quest: Betrayal is complete. Quest objective: Betray 3 comrades that trust you, the reward depends on the strength of the betrayed.
Quest progress: Jinya.Beyar, Yingou.Beyar, Lily,Milan, the average strength of the 3 is above Gold rank and above that of your current strength. As the quest was completed perfectly, you are rewarded with the 10 Evil Points.”
“As I thought, betraying all of you is worth it.”
Alright, since the daily quest is completed and I have received my reward, now is the time for me to really try to get away.
After turning into a quiet corner, I put on a special silver magic robe with golden linings and a faceless silver metal mask and stood there quietly, waiting for my pursuers to catch up.
“My…crap. Sorry, lord!!”
After turning at the corner, instantly, the furious Town Security army turns into obedient little girls.
Quickly, as Diana came over, she saw me and her smug expression disappeared totally and became as quiet as a hibernating cicada, not daring to talk, as though how one would act when looking at their superiors. Finally, as the captain, she bucks up her courage.
“Supreme Judge Lord Wumianzhe, why are you here?”
Yes, I, Roland.Mist, my other identity is the city’s top judicial officer Supreme Judge Wumianzhe. I am not their direct superior but their superior’s superior’s superior’s superior.