Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1588: Chapter 315: Wealth and Willfulness

Many times, we find ourselves asking… who am I, why am I here, what am I going to do in the future.

But many times, such questions quickly fade away; philosophical questions about Life are obviously not something the average person keeps in mind at every moment.

Yet the confusion did not disappear from his heart; instead, like a bottomless abyss, it kept Devouring his reason.

Who exactly is he?

Is he that Tian Ji who, because he developed a sense of identification and attachment to the world of Jade Fantasy, no longer wished for this game world to be shattered, planned to stay in this world forever, and even secretly contacted the Upper Echelon Nobility, intending to conspire to wipe out all The Chosen Ones?

Is he that mediocre nobody who, once he entered the game world, turned the tides like a dragon rising in a storm, and eventually became the leader King Serpent of the Divine Land Battle Group, one of the ten great battle groups of the Great Alliance?

Whoever it is, whether Tian Ji or King Serpent, to him at this moment, it all feels like a previous life.

The mirror was just an ordinary mirror, merely an everyday item stored in King Serpent’s personal Space—looking at the reflection in the mirror, he fell silent.

Whoever it is… indeed, whoever it is, he had always shown himself to the world in the appearance of King Serpent.

If he were Tian Ji, then after inheriting all of King Serpent’s memories, he now deeply felt his own despicableness… faced with a King Serpent who had selflessly contributed to the battle group, who had even planned long ago to hand over his assets for him to inherit, he was now undoubtedly enduring a Mind-level condemnation.

If he were King Serpent, then faced with Tian Ji colluding with the Upper Echelon Nobility and attempting to murder all The Chosen Ones, he would feel incomparable pain and disappointment, as well as self-reproach.

Whoever it is… the pain turns out to be double.

He looked at the members of the Divine Land Battle Group, scenes of them fearlessly fighting the Endless Tree Demon playing out before his eyes, and yet he seemed to have lost all fighting spirit, his eyes Godless.

“Leader!”

Suddenly, someone behind him gave his back a hard pat; the strength wasn’t great, but it was enough to make him come back to his senses from his distraction.

It was a Mage, quite strong within the battle group; before entering the game world, he had been a formal low-level agent of the Management Bureau… whether as Tian Ji or as King Serpent, he possessed memories of this person.

“You okay?” the member asked with concern.

He subconsciously shook his head.

The member nodded, then took a Recovery Potion and drank it… his Mana was slowly recovering. “In a bit, don’t rush to the very front. Even with the Blue Sky Holy Maiden here, it’d still be bad if something unexpected happens. We came in together, and in the future we all have to get out safely together. You’ve already done a lot for the battle group—when it’s time to rest, just rest. Otherwise where are we supposed to put our faces as formal agents in the real world?”

He still silently nodded… the system’s prompts were constantly ringing in his ears; they were messages of concern from the other members, many containing words of respect.

—They even said… you will be respected by the members of the Divine Land Battle Group just as they respect King Serpent.

Those words, when they rang out back then, were so ironic… he clenched his fists tightly, his fingertips even piercing into his palms.

At this moment he could already foresee some things in the future—if he continued to carry out Tian Ji’s ideology and betray all human The Chosen Ones, then in the future he would definitely fall into madness-inducing self-reproach because of King Serpent’s memories residing in his mind—even now, just having similar thoughts made his heart feel unbearably painful.

This is all that so-called conscience-stricken remorse really is.

He even sorrowfully realized that Tian Ji’s traitorous thought, under King Serpent’s memories, turned out to be the weaker, vulnerable side; when he intended to abandon Tian Ji’s treacherous intent, he not only felt no unwillingness as Tian Ji, but faintly felt a… a sense of relief.

He suddenly understood something.

“Maybe, whether King Serpent or Tian Ji…” He raised his head, looking at the battle ahead, and murmured, “they… we all had the same longing—to become the brightest one, the one of Light.”

The Mage member who had fallen back to rest by his side had already gone back into the fight… he took a deep breath, once again lifted his sword, and muttered to himself, “I’m not King Serpent, but I am King Serpent… since I used a despicable method to replace you, then from here on out, I’ll make the name King Serpent be remembered in the annals forever—everything from now on, all glory, will belong to you, King Serpent… in this world, there will no longer be Tian Ji, no longer that despicable Tian Qiwen! This is also the greatest punishment for me.”

As he spoke, he let out a roar, not knowing whether it carried anger, sorrow, or regret—he turned into a streak of light, ferociously charging to the front of everyone and slashing toward the Endless Tree Demon—just as brave as King Serpent… as brave as the King Serpent people knew.

“The Endless Tree Demon’s Health Points are bottoming out! Everyone, push harder! Today we’re gonna butcher this new floor boss!” He let out a sky-shaking roar that, in an instant, pushed the fighting spirit of all the members of the Divine Land Battle Group to its peak!

“What’s with this guy, did he take the wrong meds?” Qian Yu Xian Rou, who had been thinking about how to increase damage output, couldn’t help but secretly click her tongue.

Just then, a sword light suddenly shot up into the sky—from within that Monster’s Nest, the place where the Endless Tree Demon’s Roots emerged!

That sword light directly chopped off one of the Endless Tree Demon’s gigantic branches; then the sword light dispersed, and they saw the Azure Sky Sword Saint of the Great Alliance floating in midair, a pair of energy-formed wings spread out behind him.

Those wings had a name: Battle Qi Wings.

“It’s the Azure Sky Sword Saint! He’s here!”

“As expected, how could there be a place with the Blue Sky Holy Maiden but without the Azure Sky Sword Saint!”

“This wave’s stable!”

In an instant, the people on the side of the few great battle groups all had their spirits lifted… as for the butchers and the other few battle group leaders who had known for some time that the Azure Sky Sword Saint and the Blue Sky Holy Maiden were roaming nearby, they weren’t especially surprised; instead they were puzzled as to why the Blue Sky Holy Maiden appeared first, and the Azure Sky Sword Saint only showed himself now.

“That guy just now seemed to have rushed out from inside the Hive… could it be he discovered something in there?”

“Even if he did, what can you do about it? Planning to gang up on the Azure Sky Sword Saint, or piss him off so he solos your entire battle group? My money’s on the Azure Sky Sword Saint, you know?”

“Screw your rations!”

“If you’ve got that kind of ability, I’ll even call you dad, as long as you take me out of here.”

“Quit yapping! With the Sword Saint here, the floor boss’s fall is guaranteed. We should be thinking about how to boost our damage percentage so we can grab more rewards after the boss dies!”

At the edge of the battle circle, the conversation between the few battle group leaders was obviously private… but in the center of the battlefield, the conversation between the Azure Sky Sword Saint and the Blue Sky Holy Maiden wasn’t concealed at all.

They had no need to.

“Honey, this tree demon’s hide is kinda thick, I’m exhausted over here!”

“It’s fine, leave the rest to me.” Qianxiu shook his head, reached out and rubbed Qian Yu Xian Rou’s head, then casually took out a Lizi and bit into it.

This was something given by a benefactor, used to restore energy—Qianxiu certainly didn’t care much about the effect of this kind of pear picked by the roadside; mainly, this sort of thing had a shelf life too, and it would still go bad if kept in his private Space for too long.

If it was something he’d casually picked himself, then spoiling would just be spoiling, but since it was a gift kindly given by a benefactor, throwing it away would naturally feel wrong; and leaving it in his private Space would take up room, so he might as well just eat it himself.

He certainly didn’t think this Fragrant Pear (with a pretty good effect) would be all that amazing, so while gnawing on the pear, he also took out a few bottles of Advanced Recovery Potion.

“Wait… what the hell?!”

But right now, Qianxiu’s eyes suddenly went wide—his Energy Value was recovering at a downright terrifying speed! His Energy hadn’t actually been spent that much, but his base pool was insanely huge; even with high-grade Recovery Potions, it usually took at least three bottles, slowly poured in, to refill what he’d burned.

But this time…

“What’s wrong, hubby?”

“Yuer…” Qianxiu checked his character status, stared at that 20-minute buff created after eating the Fragrant Pear (works great), and forced himself to say, “I think… I’ve got twenty minutes of Infinite Blue…”

“Huh?”

Qianxiu didn’t answer. The light-wings behind him suddenly snapped once, and his whole body shot straight into the sky. His Black and White shoulders clashed together, and a terrifying Power was gathering between his crossed twin swords.

Qian Yu Xian Rou blinked. Why did this guy run off into the air like a lunatic halfway through his sentence, and open with his strongest ultimate?

The killing move of the [Azure Sky Sword Saint] was so strong it had once blown the castle of the old [Demon King Castle] to pieces in one hit. Qian Yu Xian Rou of course recognized it. But this thing could only be released because Qianxiu’s Energy base was inhuman; anyone else, even if they learned it, would basically just be putting it on display.

“Are you stupid! Blowing all your Energy right from the start? I don’t have that many Instant Blue sticks left!” Even Qian Yu Xian Rou couldn’t help getting anxious now!

In this game, the Recovery Potions—especially the ones for Energy—were so weak it made you want to swear… Those Instant Blues in her stash were from a one-time, tens-of-millions-level whale recharge bonus back in the day; she’d been using them super sparingly all the way till now!

A terrifying ultimate came crashing down, and under the storm-like sword light, the [Endless Tree Demon] had an entire layer of its bark and flesh shaved clean off!

Even though this new floor boss’s main body was a tree, everyone who saw its miserable state right now couldn’t help but feel a chill in their hearts!

But the next wave of terrifying sword light appeared again in the very next instant!

High in the sky, the [Azure Sky Sword Saint] was like a blazing Sun, spamming ultimates as if he’d toggled God Mode, one after another slamming down!

The crowd went from shock to numbness, and only when they finally heard the system prompt that the [Endless Tree Demon] had been slain did they snap back to reality like waking from a dream!

“BUG! BUG! Damn it, this is absolutely a BUG!” A Swordsman below who had watched the whole thing—also a Swordsman himself—stared wide-eyed. “Is this guy even human…”

Ultimate after ultimate fired off like they were free; never mind a newly promoted floor boss, even the current strongest country in the Great Alliance, the [Holy Light Kingdom], would be facing a national extinction event at this rate, okay?

No matter how shocked the people of the Extreme Battle Group were, the new floor boss was finally dead.

The battle zone vanished as a result… the major battle groups at last dodged the crisis of a full-team wipe.

Qianxiu slowly descended to the ground. Qian Yu Xian Rou walked straight up, grabbed him by the ear, and demanded, “Did you take the wrong meds? It’s just a floor boss, did you have to go that overboard? I’m confiscating your Instant Blue!”

But she was just saying that. In her heart she knew those few limited Instant Blue sticks weren’t nearly enough for Qianxiu to play like this… That kind of ultimate burned nearly eighty percent of Qianxiu’s Energy in one go, and he’d thrown how many of those at this floor boss already?

“I didn’t use Instant Blue…” Qianxiu shook his head.

“Then what did you eat?”

“A pear…” Qianxiu looked blankly at Qian Yu Xian Rou, opened his mouth, and said, “Works great.”

“Huh?”

Qianxiu shook his head, suddenly shivered, then asked, “Benefactor… where’s my benefactor?”

Only now did he realize that his party member, his benefactor [Little Mage], had somehow gone offline without him noticing.

While the two were still puzzled, members of the major battle groups came over one after another to thank them both for their help.

But Qianxiu’s expression turned serious as he said, “Everyone, I think this new floor boss’s appearance is probably an Upper Echelon Nobility conspiracy… I suspect that the Upper Echelon Nobility might have a way to evolve King-ranked monsters into floor bosses.”

And so Qianxiu recounted how he’d been ambushed by the Upper Echelon Nobility in the Hive.

The leader of the Divine Land Battle Group, [King Serpent], suggested they head back to the Expeditionary Camp and discuss it there, since everyone had just gone through a huge battle and were exhausted.

Sure, Stamina Potions could eliminate physical fatigue, but the weariness of the Mind wasn’t something any medicine could ease.

“Then let’s head back.”

Qianxiu nodded.

As the Human Alliance’s strongest Sword Saint had already nodded, naturally no one had any objections. They all gathered their spoils, then withdrew from the Endless Forest Sea.

…

After the battle, the Endless Forest Sea was scorched earth as far as the eye could see… but soon enough, this place would once again return to looking like virgin forests.

The earth would rebuild itself, and the trees would sprout anew.

The scent of flames still lingered over the scorched ground as the already-offline [Little Mage] walked slowly across it.

A soft, gentle little orb of light floated up and down in his palm.

[Little Mage] looked at the orb in his hand. This was King Serpent’s Soul—according to the rules, once someone died after using up all their allowed deaths in the game world, their Soul would become a Shop item.

It seemed to already understand its own destinies; its glow was gradually fading.

“According to the original story design…” Boss Luo suddenly spoke up. “When The Chosen Ones push their exploration of the upper floors to the Fifth Floor, a new battle system, [Star Spirit Descent], will unlock. Are you willing to become a [Star Spirit] and fight for your former comrades?”

That fading light suddenly grew a little brighter.

Boss Luo said calmly, “Go… You’ll have a chance to shine again in the future. I’m looking forward to a you that’s even more dazzling than now.”

That little light rose from Luo Qiu’s palm, rising, rising, until it vanished into the sky.

At last, sunlight broke through the clouds.

…

Boss Luo opened his eyes. The servers around him were still blinking; [Eve] was diligently carrying out her tasks… Luo Qiu glanced out the window.

Without realizing it, he’d played the game all night. He really did feel like one of those modern-day degenerate college kids now.