Chapter 464
Chapter 464 - 444 Explorer’s Diary
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9 min read
"Lu Ping’an’s Explorer Journal"
"Sometime in 1998 (Forgot which Earth day, I’ll ask Xia Qin later), the third day since we arrived in Schlei Domain. I have to say, trading directly with the lord is indeed a good idea. With official support, it’s much more convenient for us... We don’t have much time, let’s just skip those time-consuming stuff."
"Catherine and her wizard assistant showed us their abilities – ’Holy Fire Knight’ and ’Radiant Wizard’, both belonging to the Sanctuary Path battle-profession under the Sun God. Quite interesting, quite..."
"Catherine’s actual combat power is probably slightly weaker than Xia Qin’s, but if equipped with full armor for a duel to the death, it’s hard to tell who would win or lose. Her abilities are more suited for dealing with various large magic monsters. As for the knight commander and deputy commander above her, there are three others in this territory...the guards of the Lord’s Mansion, who are said to be no worse than them. We need to be careful when dealing with such foreigners who were able to launch a successful attack."
"For our exploration work, the lord generously provided thirty knights, whose strength is roughly around 2-tier to third-tier battle-profession, but they rely heavily on equipment. In return, after signing a confidentiality agreement with him, I took him to the ’Courtyard’. At that time, the fat man cried, asking if I could bring more people."
"I said I’m not a devil, as long as they are useful and willing to pay, for example, those knights. If our cooperation this time yields results and I really gain rule-level benefits, I might consider giving you ten slots to bring trusted aides... He didn’t speak, apparently, he didn’t want to bring those people."
"I remembered that he seemed to have dozens of wives, so I asked if he wanted to bring women. He laughed and said ’I just want to bring thirty-something sons and grandsons’. How stupid, even if they get there, how would you live without manpower and capabilities, relying on those useless rich children and grandchildren like you."
"How many is the maximum limit for the Courtyard? I’m not sure, actually. Next time, we can try it out. When it was used as a trading land in the past, there were periods of overloading. Only when one went out could another come in. It seems that the current limit is a few thousand? That should be enough. But looking at this situation, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Anyway, let’s fill it up before we leave."
"After signing the supplementary agreement, I also received his full authorization and recognition. Under his command, Catherine kneeled before me in loyalty... At first, her face was full of unwillingness, shame, anger, and indignation, followed by alternating resentment and rage, finally becoming numb and desperate. It was quite amusing, so I recorded it, planning to show it to her later."
"With the lord’s help, the early preparations for the team have been fully launched. Baman Zhen and the others are hunting wolves when they’re free, beating up knights when they have time, even helping them complete several patrol tasks along the way, at least winning the respect of the knights. It’s just that the villagers still look at us with hostility. The wound of betrayal needs more time to heal... Heal what, don’t care, it doesn’t matter to us either."
"With the lord’s help, there are indeed many magic plants native to this land, although their ranks are not high, and the Courtyard has returned several dozen points for me. Thanks to the material advantage, Miss Rou developed two new magic potions, which came out of thin air so quickly, truly a genius... It would have been even more genius if we didn’t have to send those who tried the potions to have their stomachs pumped."
"Little Madele, our translator, seems to have discovered something and is now preoccupied all day... Brother Guan and Su Zhizhu have also learned the local language, and with Catherine, who’s been blocking our way every day, he’s not that important anymore. But in a few days, let Catherine, a local, communicate with him; they share similar positions, so they should know how to choose."
"In the past few days, I’ve been trying to study the ’Purifying Flames’ ability of the Holy Fire Knights. I must say it’s quite creative to seal the Sun Holy Fire within the body. Perhaps if Catherine takes another step forward, she would turn into a humanoid flame creature. In their church, these people are called Purifiers. Huh, a humanoid controllable nuclear fusion, huh..."
"Ah, the research failed, and it exploded; it was so hot. Taking a day off."
"The research failed again, but this time, no one was injured. It’s not that we didn’t gain anything this time; Fang Wen was quite helpful and got us some good stuff that we can test in the forest..."
This is the exploration journal written by Lu Ping’an, imitating the captain’s journal, mainly to help himself sort out his thoughts and focus on the current goals.
In fact, after completing a journey, explorers do need to write a journal to submit to the Bureau of Anomaly Management... Of course, no one would be completely honest. The actions of some people would probably directly test the lower limit of human morals, so it’s impossible to truly record them.
This journal of Lu Ping’an is mainly for his own reading; when the time comes, he can just cut and paste a bit and submit it.
But even so, it’s still precious information, and it can even be sold as a precious Otherworldly travelogue in the market... Lu Ping’an bought quite a few before coming here, at least knowing more than nothing at all.
He also bought many of these things when trying to reach the scholar level before. These things often had slight contamination, but they wouldn’t contain any extremely dangerous planar knowledge. As a result, they’ve now become his guidance for exploration.
At that time, he thought everything inside was true, but now in retrospect... it’s impossible. Just swapping glass beads for gold is something every Exotic Realm Traveller does often. They wouldn’t leave any "trade route" information in there, that could only be passed on to their most trusted people.
It’s been three days since they arrived in the Schlei Domain. The small team scattered to search for useful information, but the results were quite pathetic... Apart from hostile gazes, the foreign guests got nothing at all.
"The seniors" really went too far, causing the factory and workshop unemployment, and the disaster victims who relied on "relief" to survive, to blame their misfortunes and anger on all the foreigners.
Even they tried to attack Lu Ping’an and his party simply because they were also foreigners... Don’t expect them to have any discernment, and don’t bother reasoning with the irrational and starving enraged.
If it weren’t for the protection of the Knight Corps, there would have been a bloodshed incident that day... don’t get it wrong, the ones who wouldn’t have been bleeding would be Lu Ping’an’s party.
The local lord sent a message, offering to give the factories built by "seniors" along with the land to Lu Ping’an and his party, as long as they could stabilize the situation.
Lu Ping’an, without any hesitation, refused. Time was running out, and investing couldn’t wait until the day of return. Moreover, keeping a distance from the local residents was the strategy from the very beginning.
Perhaps, when there is no way to save from the start, maintaining a safe distance might be good for both sides.
The team was still too young, and some were already getting unstable. Some asked privately if there was any way this world could still be saved.
"...If it were three days ago, I would tell you that anything is possible, there are no absolutes in any world... But now I can say for sure that this world is soon going to end, or it has already ended."
Lu Ping’an had already found the reason for the world’s impending end and knew why the "informed-person" didn’t announce it widely.
"It’s indeed a despairing scene. Knowing is meaningless; it would make the whole world collapse in an instant. Let’s hurry up, for our world won’t turn into this..."
Perhaps, the "seniors" had taken these steps due to the desperate reality.
"...The root of this world has rotted. Huh, it’s ironic that the very thing that’s been protecting this world is causing all this..."
In an internal meeting, Lu Ping’an briefed everyone on the situation, and they all hastened their progress in silence.
The forest intelligence had become more detailed. Exploration teams led by Baman Zhen and others had entered the forest two or three times, getting used to the forest scenery and probing its situation.
"A wolf god? That’s an intriguing feeling."
What had fallen in the forest was a canine Beast God. Their own big cat seemed quite excited, but they didn’t have a Beast Tamer. Otherwise, just the possibility of god-blooded wolf cubs would be a huge gain.
What? Meow? She probably doesn’t even remember that she’s a Beast Tamer anymore.
"Too bad. If there were a third-tier Beast Tamer, we could’ve taken off in this wave." The mercenaries saw large numbers of wolves in the forest, many of a high rating.
But these things were inconvenient to carry, besides Beast Tamers, no one else would have the valuable Hibernation Space items.
Hearing this, Lu Ping’an hurriedly asked Fang Wen... to make more cages.
Fang Wen would not be released, at least not now.
So, on the fourth day of arriving in the Schlei Domain, the team entered the forest with thirty-seven escort knights.
— End of Chapter 464 —