BXBX NOVEL Chapter 767 - Free Time
Chapter 767: Free Time
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
“Actually, it’s not that I wanted to grind points, it’s that the points wanted to grind me...”
I truly was feeling quite helpless. I hadn’t waned to come to the Forest of Dreams to grind points. It was that the moment that I appeared on the outskirts of the battlefield, all devils and demons would go crazy and start charging towards me, making it impossible for me not to grind points.
1This was even more ridiculous than a map-wide AOE taunt. It was just like someone was shouting into the world chat channel about my location every time that I appeared.
“The boss Roland has just refreshed at ———, so everyone hurry and come grind him!”
And then every single devil and undead “player” in the “server” would set aside everything else that they were doing and team up to fully focus on trying to grind me.
I hadn’t even voluntarily come over to the Forest of Dreams. It was just that once I finally recovered a certain amount of combat strength and left my personal Hell world, the humans and devils had already begun a bloody meat grinder battle.
However, it seemed like neither side had forgotten about me...
Asolivis was surrounded by several dozen layers of defenses. A patrolling ghost saw me not long after I exited my personal Hell world.
The moment that my location was exposed, devil thanes and Undead Lords started partying to take down the raid boss. I killed the ones who came alone or only in a group of two, but I really wouldn’t be able to handle 40, 80, or 120 at a time, even if I was a big boss. And as I fought, more and more lord-level cannon fodder would start gathering around me. They would also have cannon fodder underlings to deplete my stamina with. This was so shameless!
I could only helplessly run away after casting a few ultimate skills. The end result was that my enemies kept trying to hunt me down.
I did want to run towards the human allied army, but I discovered that not only would Undead Lords and powerful devils hunt me to the end on the battlefield, there were even long-range AOE spells aimed directly at me coming from Asolivis whenever my coordinates were locked on.
This meant that all the human forces and defense lines resisted my joining them. What happened next was that all the humans started running away whenever I appeared near them... They really did have to run as I would have several hundred boss-level devils and undead chasing me, so no human force would be able to handle it.
Alright then, I admit that I accidentally truly became a jinxer who brought misfortune everywhere that he went. I pulled an aggro train everywhere with me... it was a pity that the Holy Church’s people weren’t here, as there would have been a fun show to watch then.
I didn’t know just how much Sarwenstan and Shupnus hated me, but the bosses chasing me right now were definitely more than 70% of the high-level combat strength of the undead and devil forces. All of this combat strength was being used solely to hunt me down, which seemed so illogical and overboard to me.
“Overboard? You’re the one who’s really illogical not to die even with so many lord-level existences hunting you down.”
Harloys had canceled her clone and was watching the show as if it had nothing to do with her.
I could only helplessly choose to go towards the west as everyone knew that the Forest of Dreams was the most solid fortress of all. Even the Undead Lords and powerful devils wouldn’t be foolish enough to enter this forest which would only give them certain death.
I truly couldn’t guess just how much of a reward had been posted for my head. These Undead Lords and powerful devils should have been really busy, yet it seemed that they far preferred to camp outside the Forest of Dreams rather than go do anything else.
The result was that I would always be spotted instantly and surrounded the moment that I tried to leave the Forest of Dreams...
“Something’s wrong with this scenario. Other protagonists clearly defeat all the powerful enemies in their path after obtaining their ultimate ability. These protagonists get to defeat gods and everyone else while reaching the top of the world. Yet, why am I even more pitiful than before even though I’ve clearly become stronger and obtained an ultimate weapon?”
“...Perhaps, from a certain standpoint, it’s exactly because of the ultimate weapon you possess. Nobody wants to mysteriously be half killed like the unfortunate Sarwenstan and Shupnus. That’s why they want to kill you first at all costs.”
I instantly understood after hearing Harloys’ assessment.
To use an analogy from my original world of Earth, if a powerful country had nuclear weapons, then that would be a threat. But, if a small country had nuclear weapons yet wasn’t able to prove their dominance, then others would try to suppress that country before it could do anything.
“It seems that I need to think of some idea for something even more major.”
“...Of course, it’s probably even more because of the devils and undead’s personal grudges against you. It would be strange for them not to want to hunt you down after getting into such a wretched state because of you. Sarwenstan and Shupnus will definitely come to personally hunt you down once they’ve recovered.”
Harloys’ words now made me suddenly feel like my earlier thoughts had been meaningless. As expected, personal grudges were the main reason why I was being hunted down.
Since I was unable to leave the Forest of Dreams, I could only spend my free time here.
I had killed a significant number of devils and undead recently. When I went to the local church in charge of exchanging combat achievements for points and updated my data, I suddenly and unexpectedly became the #1 points holder in the Forest of Dreams.
The person in charge at the church asked me if I wanted to publicize my #1 points holder status or not. I figured that I might as well publicize it since the entire world knew that I was here regardless.
Since I had earned so many points, I naturally wanted to spend them all on things I needed.
The Forest of Dreams had many local specialties. Right now, the most famous local specialties were the Dusk Fruits and Dawn Fruits which could make a person older or younger by five years, respectively. Of course, the great majority of people only desired Dawn Fruits in order to lengthen their lifespan.
I didn’t spend my points on these fruits, as I had previously eaten plenty of Dusk Fruits already. Lifespan didn’t hold any meaning to someone like me at all. I had yet to live a single life where I died naturally of old age. I had always died from outside factors.
The wood spirits had far more treasures than just these two types of fruit.
Long ago, the wood spirits had used the power of nature magic to create fruits which were capable of permanently raising one’s stats. This could foundationally increase a person’s Constitution, Strength, Dexterity, or other stats, making up for any natural insufficiencies.
In a way, this was a miracle that had reached the powers of the Creator Goddesses.
Ordinary people didn’t have access to a direct analysis of their physical stats like what my System could provide, but they could see for themselves that these miraculous fruits were capable of helping them to run faster, gain more strength, and react quicker, along with giving them a healthier and stronger body.
Newbie adventurers would really love so-called ultimate techniques and forbidden spells. However, the veteran adventurers who had been through true life-and-death situations before would know that the base stats were more fundamentally important than anything.
Adventurers who had reached a bottleneck due to lacking talent were also really overjoyed.
These precious permanent stat-raising fruits became immensely popular. However, the adventurers soon discovered the insufficiencies of these fruits.
Firstly, these fruits were incredibly expensive, and only a limited number of each type of stat-raising fruit would be sold each month. Secondly, the fruits’ effectiveness would rapidly decrease or they’d even be completely ineffective after eating a certain amount. Thirdly, the fruits’ effectiveness was rather difficult to guarantee. A certain warrior worked really hard to earn enough points to exchange for a single Strength fruit, only to eat it and discover that the fruit didn’t have any effect on his Strength stat at all. However, that same person ate three Speed fruits which all concretely worked to increase his speed, yet he was a pure tank-type warrior who wielded a heavy shield, meaning that he barely had any use at all for increasing his speed.
It would be impossible to choose a different path after going too far down one’s chosen job class path. This warrior had paid a tremendous price for these stat-raising fruits. Although he indeed gained some permanent stats, his gain made others not know whether they should laugh or cry.
How this worked was actually determined by the foundational principle of these stat-raising fruits. These fruits were the pure energy of life. They were capable of improving and buffing a living individual’s weaknesses. However, these fruits were also limited by the individual’s maximum stat capacity and natural talent.
For instance, the previously mentioned warrior was actually someone who would have been a highly talented thief. However, he had been born in a knight family, which was why he chose to become a heavily armored tanking warrior job class. He worked extremely hard, but then reached a point where talent was even more important than hard work to progress. The natural limitations of his talent determined already that he had reached the peak of what he could achieve as a tanking warrior job class. The stat-raising fruits wouldn’t be capable of giving him a chance to start all over again in a job class path more suitable for his talents. These fruits could only activate one’s true potential and provide a small increase in stats on top of one’s own foundation.
This meant that those who had trained themselves the hardest had already achieved most of their maximum potential, so such people eating the fruits gained only limited benefits. Rather, they would instead find that the fruits would often activate their potential in other areas that they had never trained in before.
But for me, I would almost certainly not reach any bottleneck any time soon while eating these permanent stat-raising fruits containing the energy of life.
“This is because I’m someone who just recently achieved Level 4.”
After a person achieved Level 4, their physical body would have already combined with their Myth-ranked weapon and evolved to the point of no longer truly being a member of the human species. This naturally meant that Level 4 individuals had already surpassed the limits and restrictions of humanity.
Although Level 4 individuals would still have restrictions of their own, these restrictions were far fewer than what ordinary humans would have.
Many years had passed already since the wood spirits started selling these permanent stat-raising fruits, yet it still remained a secret that these stat-raising fruits were capable of helping Level 4 individuals. This was likely because most powerful Level 4 individuals would think that they wouldn’t be able to receive help from outside objects anymore. Or, perhaps there were a few out there who knew this secret, yet they wouldn’t tell anyone else, because they wanted to have more fruits to themselves since the number of fruits that the wood spirits sold were only a limited number each month, after all.
However, the wood spirits suddenly produced 10 times the normal number of stat-raising fruits this month, yet these extra fruits all went to me rather than being sold on the market to the adventurers. Of course, this was all because of my connection to Amelia and the wood spirits.
Level 4 individuals who recently reached this power level would need a large amount of real battles and hard work at cultivation to improve even further after already having broken past their own species’ natural limitations. Yet, I could improve my base stats simply by eating some fruits.
I really was having a lot of fun these days. I went out every day to grind devils and undead for points to exchange for stat-raising fruits. This process kept repeating itself over and over... I felt like I couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere else until I maxed out my stats. Not a single one of these extra stat-raising fruits was being sold on the market, as they were all just for me.
“Eating fruits can raise my base stats? What a comfortable method of cultivation this is. It’s rare that I get to have such a fun vacation time...”
Unfortunately, I had jinxed myself yet again. New trouble came directly for me right after I said this.