Chapter 1374 - Local Residents

Hello there! Just here to announce that book 16 is out today on Kindle!

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSH4PXGM

As always, any support is appreciated, even if it’s just a quick free download if you have KU anyway (and perhaps a cheeky little rating if you’re feeling bold). I also want to give a little reminder about my upcoming summer break from the 10th-31st of August. There will be no chapters during this time. Also, dependent on when it makes sense to go on break (dependent on Hunter-tier Patreon chapter), I may or may not go on break a chapter early or something. We’ll see.

Anyway, that was about it. Please support the book release, and as always, thanks for reading!

Flowers, statues, gemstones, cool rocks that could be gemstones but looked more like granite, metal ores, and a myriad of other treasures were collected over the next many days as more and more people flooded into the garden after having made their way through the scorching desert.

The balance of people mostly avoiding one another became harder to maintain when one often ran into others purely by mistake while searching for treasures. With the total number of treasures rapidly dwindling, the situation only grew more tense.

Jake had noticed that treasure was actually spawning throughout the garden, but the speed at which it was harvested rapidly outpaced the spawning rate. Many would choose to avoid a fight if stumbling upon a treasure others were already going for, but there were just as many who chose to take advantage and launch a sneak attack.

Then there were, of course, also the treasures that more or less forced conflict. Treasures that, if one tried to claim them, would take one to a hidden space like the one Jake had encountered the Virtual Mind Devourer in. These spaces always posed challenges, and few were willing to let go of the treasure after enduring all the trials involved. Not to mention the times when the trial itself entailed fighting other people.

There were ways to avoid fighting, though. One of those ways was to be the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.

Whenever Jake showed up to a treasure, everyone stopped what they were doing, became overly polite, bowed, and promptly left, looking elated that they’d even survived the encounter. This had happened more than a dozen times, with not a single group willing to fight him.

Other times, Jake had been working on obtaining a treasure only for others to arrive. Jake had hoped within his heart that they would ambush him, but nope, they promptly turned around and fled, seeming more preoccupied with being scared of being detected by Jake than considering ambushing him.

Experiencing this made Jake question whether his time with Jasper and Sandy had really been necessary, as chances were Jake could just have shown up, and everyone else would have left. Not to say he had any regrets. It had been damn fun and a great bonding experience among the three of them.

Plus, it was way less boring than this. At least when no one knew it was Jake, they dared get mad at him, but now they could at most curse under their breaths about how unlucky they’d been to run into him.

Fortunately, this status quo didn’t have to continue for long, as soon there was a change.

Jake had been tinkering with a barrier, slowly unlocking it to get a cool-looking slab of metal within that would definitely turn into a good chunk of Prima Credits the second he touched it. He was just about to cross the barrier when something happened that taught him he’d been quite wrong about certain assumptions.

He had believed that the statues he’d gathered – which he still hadn’t even tried to make sense of – were meant to unlock the next area somehow. He hadn’t found any way to progress yet, and it turned out he’d failed to do so because there hadn’t been a way forward.

Halfway through his puzzle, Jake’s mental state was disturbed when a system message appeared to him, and no doubt every other person within the place he would soon come to know as officially named the Outer Gardens.

The residents of the Inner City have noticed the disturbance in the Outer Gardens and have come to investigate. Be warned that these residents are not to be trifled with and should be avoided or approached carefully.

Entrance to the Inner City has been granted to all Administrators capable of reaching it. The Inner City holds greater treasures than the Outer Gardens, but is also significantly more dangerous.

However, to reach the Palace of Abundance, one must navigate through the city and reach the Gate of Abundance.

Right as the system message came, a deep rumbling sounded, and the ground started shaking. Jake turned his gaze towards where one could normally see the Palace of Abundance and noticed that the shimmering wall of spatial distortion was slowly fading, being replaced by a gigantic wall surrounding what he now knew to be the Inner City.

On this wall was a gate that looked to be around four kilometers tall. It was absolutely gigantic, and as Jake stared at it, the gate slowly rose, first revealing massive boots before unveiling the so-called residents of this place.

They were a vaguely familiar kind of creature, though not one Jake could say he had much experience with. Especially not this variant of them, as he used Identify on the first one he saw.

[Abundant Cyclops Guard – lvl 400]

Cyclopes were not creatures with a huge presence throughout the multiverse. At least not real cyclopes. Jake had just often personally referred to big one-eyed monsters as cyclopes, even if they technically weren’t. Same as how one could refer to a giant bipedal monster as a giant, even if it wasn’t actually of the giant race.

As for what the traits of cyclopes were, Jake couldn’t fully remember, but he did believe they tended to either fall into the camp of having great or absolutely horrible Perception. This group seemed like they’d be somewhere in between, though it was hard to tell, as these definitely weren’t regular cyclopes. Case-in-point?

They were wearing armor and wielding weapons. Oh, and they were apparently all living together in a massive city.

While Jake didn’t know much about this race of giant creatures, he did know that they tended to be solitary, at most living in small groups. Plus, their intelligence tended to be a little lacking.

In other words, the exact opposite of these creatures that appeared organized while living within a civilization of cyclopes. Their weapons and armor weren’t simple either, as Jake inspected one of them from bottom to top.

They all wore full metal and leather armor and wielded spears that were each taller than the grandest building Earth had ever constructed before the system. The cyclopes were themselves roughly a kilometer tall, making their environment seem totally regularly sized to them, with Jake and the others exploring this place seeming like small, annoying bugs to be squashed.

Jake kept watching as the cyclopes appeared to talk to one another before walking through the gate and into the Outer Garden. Having been semi-close to the shimmering wall of spatial distortion before the Inner City opened up, Jake had a great view as the cyclopes started flooding into the gardens, and as he did so, he was pretty certain of one thing.

Should not attract too much attention.

Looking at the giant monsters, Jake could tell they weren’t that weak variants of B-grades. They weren’t top-tier creatures either, but the system had been right when it warned every Administrator not to underestimate them. However, worse than their individual power was their sheer numbers.

He watched as hundreds started walking into the garden, quickly spreading out and scouring it for these so-called disturbances, and it didn’t take long for one to be discovered. One cyclops locked onto something in the distance, making Jake turn to see that a group of flying beasts was stupidly soaring above the safety of the flowerbeds.

Perhaps their Perception was shit, or maybe they’d been too overconfident and hadn’t taken the system’s warning seriously... either way, they became brilliant examples of why one should try to stay hidden.

The cyclops that had spotted them stepped down hard before charging forward with speed that gave Jake pause as he crossed over two hundred kilometers within a few seconds and swept down with his spear towards the flying beasts.

As could only be expected, the Administrators defended themselves, resulting in a giant explosion from the clash of energy. Two beasts moved to attack, flying towards the cyclops’ chests where they left long bloody gashes before getting smacked down towards the ground once more.

Lifting his spear yet again, the cyclops pierced it into the ground, resulting in yet another explosion, and when the beasts tried to dodge, he followed up with a strike to the side, sending out a shockwave of force that carved a deep fissure across the Outer Garden... only adding to the chaos further as this attack caught several other people who’d been hiding in the shockwave.

They were sent flying into the air or had their hiding spots destroyed, forcing them to be revealed. By now, the commotion had also caught the attention of more cyclopes, making them charge over.

Jake frowned, fearing this could start a chain reaction. The cyclopes were not subtle with their large attacks, and due to their size, counterattacking also required big moves, resulting in drawing way too much attention. Plus, given that the cyclopes were so large, they could easily see everything that was happening a few thousand kilometers away from where they were standing.

Will this result in an all-out war? Jake questioned as more and more people got involved in a grand skirmish between Administrators and the natives of the virtual world. He could see a world where they all just worked together and slaughtered all the cyclopes. Not intent on getting involved yet, though, Jake retreated away from the fighting and closer to the massive wall with the Inner City as his goal.

He kept an eye on the fight as he moved, primarily to see if anyone he knew was involved. By now, several hundred Administrators were fighting fifteen cyclopes, and while the giants did have an individual advantage, they were outnumbered, and it wasn’t like they were only fighting weaklings. Among the Administrators, there were some powerful individuals, including three True Dragons, someone who looked like a high-ranking Templar from the Holy Church, as well as a party whose origin Jake didn’t recognize, who were really holding their own and had already heavily injured one cyclops.

It was utter chaos with more cyclopes and more Administrators joining as the size of the battlefield expanded. He was fairly confident the Administrator side was winning, but that only meant he should hurry to enter the Inner City more before the fighting finished and everyone rushed to the next area of the Central Domain.

However, as Jake got closer to the gate, wondering if he could sneak through, he suddenly stopped and focused on his Unseen Hunter as his instincts warned him. For good reason, too, as a moment later, a lone cyclops walked out of the gate with heavy, measured steps, carrying a two-handed sword over his shoulder that looked large enough to crush smaller countries. Using Identify, the cause of Jake’s instinctive reaction became evident as an icy chill ran down his back.

[Abundant Cyclops Blademaven – lvl 475]

Jake even stopped breathing, doing nothing but focusing on staying undetected, as every fiber of his being screamed not to fight this cyclops. His level alone made it a non-starter, but even then, he was far from a weak variant. Quite the opposite. This was the kind of B-grade that could even give some weaker A-grades a bit of trouble.

Needless to say, this was not the kind of opponent anyone within this virtual world could even imagine handling.

The cyclops in question slowly walked into the garden before stopping a few steps in front of the gate. Jake was off to his side, close to the wall and hidden entirely by the tall foliage leading all the way up to the massive construction of stone.

No one who was fighting seemed to have noticed the massive cyclops, but very soon they would. The high-tier B-grade looked almost annoyed as he raised his blade towards the sky before unleashing his energy, finally making everyone even remotely nearby fully aware of his presence.

Sheer destructive energy created a sky beam as all the fighting stopped, and even the cyclops looked alarmed before they all suddenly did something very weird. They dropped their weapons and spread their arms, standing almost in a T-pose while staring directly into the sky as they began humming an odd chant.

Less than a second later, the blade descended, and with it, the Outer Gardan shook and was consumed by destruction. A massive explosion erupted, sending a blast wave washing over Jake’s stable arcane barrier that barely held on as he watched the sheer devastation. Everything was destroyed in an instant, and before the crackling energy in the air and the warped space even had time to recover, the Cyclops Blademaven had already turned around and started walking back to the Inner City.

Behind the cyclops, a scar had been carved all across the entire Outer Garden, in a straight line from the wall to the desert. It was only a few hundred meters deep, but everything in its path had been destroyed, besides a few exceptions... which included all the cyclops guards.

To Jake’s utter shock, all the chanting cyclopes were completely unharmed despite now standing in the scar left by the slash. Meanwhile, Jake saw the remnants of blue energy fading as every Administrator had been slain, including the True Dragons and high-ranking Templar.

Wait, not everyone.

Jake barely saw it as the energy was still fading away, but the group of five had all managed to survive and had hidden themselves once more. One of their members appeared to be unconscious, though, having likely paid a heavy price to allow their escape out of that utterly devastating attack. Jake knew from just having watched it that simply moving out wouldn’t even have been an option, as the sheer energy pressure would’ve been enough to suppress someone barely in B-grade.

A few seconds later, all the cyclopes stopped chanting, and after looking around a bit, they all started walking back towards the gate while supporting their injured comrades. They all needed to recover and also get new weapons, seeing as the slash had destroyed all their discarded arms. Their armor was unaffected, though, making it clear that whatever they had done made them immune to the Blademaven’s attack.

He also didn’t doubt that other scenes like this had played out elsewhere in the Outer Garden, as the place was shaped like a donut with the Inner City in the center. Naturally, he had no way of knowing, but for this area, things had instantly calmed down.

All that everyone could do was give silent thanks to those who had been sacrificed to show what would happen if one decided to fight it out with the cyclopes. It was fortunate that the Blademaven didn’t bother to go further and start scouring the Outer Gardens himself, but it was probably by design. The Blademaven was more of a warning than an active threat they were meant to actively be dealing with, as there was no fucking way the Administrators were taking on that monster.

After taking a few more moments to gather himself, Jake redirected his attention towards his current goal:

Getting to the Inner City.

He’d originally planned to go through the gate, but now, he wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. Despite the Inner City now being open, there was still a lot of spatial distortion going on with the gate and wall, making it impossible for Jake to get a good look at what was on the other side, which was also why he’d been surprised over and over again when more cyclopes had appeared. Given that, he didn’t want to gamble on the gate entrance having no guards, and from the looks of it, neither did anyone else.

Approaching the wall, Jake did get an idea, though, as he smiled and placed a hand on the solid rock-like material.

Yeah, that seems doable.