Chapter 126: Manger Arena
Chapter 126: Manger Arena
Ash blocked out the whispers and raised his eyebrows, saying, "I've been paid. I want the position of the chosen one of Nurgle."
Among the five evils, only Nurgle has not been killed yet.
"it is good."
A string of coordinates suddenly appeared in front of Ash. Using his knowledge of space science to translate them, he concluded that it should be in the northern part of the continent, the area controlled by the dwarves.
"Are you interested in taking another deal?"
"What deal?" Ash asked.
"Be my messenger of revenge."
"Not appropriate." Ash refused without even thinking about it.
Ash's refusal was within the expectations of Abomination: "Then let's change the way. If you kill one more person, I will give you another position as a favored god."
"No, stop it." Ash cut off the communication forcefully. He was still able to do that.
Every deal given by the Abomination has pitfalls. The Messenger of Vengeance, although it sounds nice, is actually the Chosen One of the Abomination.
As for exchanging one life for another, it is probably with the intention of slowly leading him to depravity.
If he didn't really need a position as a favored one of Nurgle's, he wouldn't even want to make the Ford deal.
But the North?
Ash looked towards the north. He remembered that the direction of the Seven Sins: Gluttony when it solidified was towards the north.
After confirming that all the royal family members were dead and their property was looted, a message popped up in front of Ash:
{Achievement: [Wealthy Enough to Rival a Nation VII] Achieved, Reward: Achievement Points*64}
{Activate achievement · [Wealthy enough to rival a country VIII]: Earn 2345432/10000000 gold coins.}
{Achievement: [Disaster Incarnation II] achieved, reward: Strengthen inherent skill: [Disaster]}
{激活成就·【灾祸化身Ⅲ】：覆灭0/5个中型势力（1个超型=3个大型=9个中型=27个小型=81个微型，向下可分解，向上不可合成）}
Ash received the reward.
Enhancement: Disaster number, Blessing number
Ash chose the number of disasters, as his fighting skills had already been integrated, so it was useless to increase the number of blessings.
[Disasters befall you]: You can specify two types of disasters to bless one of your own skills. The extent of the blessing is affected by the absorption of disaster energy.
Looking at the disaster energy in his sight, Ash chose the plague this time. After all, he would have to face the favored gods of Nurgle in the future, and the relevant resistances would have to be stacked up. Disease was not within the scope of spell resistance.
After absorbing the disaster energy of the plague, Ash felt that his [Sword Energy of Heaven and Earth] had gained a new special property, which was to absorb the disease energy and carry it with his fighting spirit.
It seems to overlap with the ability of [Disaster Befalls], but they are actually two directions. [Disaster Befalls] absorbs the disaster energy in the environment, while [Sword Energy of Heaven and Earth] can absorb the disease energy in the human body.
"He became a doctor."
Ash joked to himself, and then continued to look at the disaster energy in the environment. Just because he couldn't absorb [Disaster], it didn't mean he couldn't make use of it again.
He was still worrying about how to hone out special traits, but this sudden [disaster] actually reminded him to use the disaster energy.
Leaving this matter to one thought, Ash created four clones and rushed in four directions.
This country no longer has a king, and even the royal family has been massacred by him. If he leaves like this, I'm afraid this place will fall into war.
Therefore, before leaving, he had to support someone who could control the situation. The simplest choice was to choose one of the four great nobles here to be the king.
Just as the clone went to invite the nobles here, Ash also arranged a ceremony with the materials accumulated by the royal family.
After putting away materials such as light gems and prayer crystals, Ash let Dart stand in.
Dart's foundation is not as good as Caigou's. After all, Caigou has been with him since he was weak and has eaten much more good food than Dart.
If the ritual is not used to assist, there is a possibility of failure.
Ash flicked his finger, and the flame obtained from killing the Black Wind Thief flew out and sank into the dart.
This was like a trigger, causing the materials on the ground to resonate and infuse energy into the darts.
The dart let out a cry, accepting the baptism, and the light of evolution bloomed in its body.
From early morning to afternoon, the light of evolution converged again, and a white eagle as tall as a person with a golden crown on its head appeared in front of Ash.
The eagle spread its wings, revealing two pairs of wings, and let out an excited cry.
"Hey!"
Ash sighed, and the sound of his voice was really not domineering at all.
But it doesn’t matter. It’s just a falcon anyway. It can just help catch prey.
Another day passed, and the four great nobles of the country of Itamar gathered in the capital to meet Ash, the king-killer.
"Good morning, everyone. I've made you come all this way." Ash stood up from the broken throne. "Let's not waste any more time. After all, I have things to do."
"I called you here to discuss the throne." Ash patted his butt. "Cogiel III allowed a locust plague to sweep across the country in order to prolong his life. He deserved death, so I killed him."
"But I didn't expect him to perform a soul-stealing ritual on the royal bloodline. I had no choice but to kill them all. Otherwise, you should be here today to celebrate the birth of a new king."
"Of course it's the same now." Ash raised three fingers. "I'll give you three choices now. One, I'll choose one of you to be the king. Two, we'll implement a king selection system, which means you'll take turns being the king. Three, you'll discuss the territory and divide it up to become your own countries, and that'll be the end of it."
"Now, choose one to stand on my left, two to stand in front of me, and three to stand on my right. You only have five minutes to think."
Looking at Ash standing calmly in front of them, the four great nobles did not dare to move. The reason why Coggil III could suppress them and hold power was naturally because his strength far exceeded theirs.
Now, all these kings are dead, and even if the four of them attack together, they probably won’t be able to defeat Ash.
What's more, they had no intention of avenging Kojir III, even though they were more or less related to Kojir III by marriage.
Talking about feelings with nobles is really a joke. It is undeniable that there are nobles who value love and friendship, but they are only a very small minority. The vast majority of them are motivated by interests.
In the face of huge interests, even parents have to be put aside, let alone a dead person.
They discussed in a low voice, and finally all chose the king selection system. They knew that firstly, they would never be able to cooperate sincerely, and thirdly, they would never be able to deal with the jackals around them alone.
Only the second one is most suitable for them.
Ash nodded silently. He also hoped that they would choose the second option. After all, this would save him the most effort.
Throwing the crown to them, Ash said, "Since it's a king election, you guys decide for yourselves. I won't get involved."
Ash walked towards the entrance of the hall, but when he reached the entrance, he suddenly stopped and turned his head and said, "Oh, I almost forgot one thing. Before the king is chosen, you must suppress this famine for me, otherwise, heh."
With a light laugh, the four great nobles felt a chill down their spines, as if a sword was pressing against their scalps, ready to chop into them at any moment.
They all nodded and said they would get the job done.
Ash didn't comment, but at least a lot of people would definitely die from the famine.
Accompanying Cai Gou, Fei Dart and Ye Lin, Ash set out again for the Principality of Blazing Flame.
On the way, Ash began to feed materials to Du Yi. He looted a lot of rare materials from the royal room of Itamar. It would be a bit of a waste if he ate them all, so he used them to upgrade Du Yi.
The Fire of Heaven's Punishment burned fiercely, melting the materials and causing their essence to drip onto the One Sword.
Du Yi greedily absorbed the essence, and the dark sword body became more and more restrained, as if it could even absorb the light.
{Achievement: [Natural Weapon VIII] achieved, reward: characteristic extraction once.}
{Activate achievement · [Nativity Weapon IX]: The destiny weapon reaches the ninth level.}
Ash receives the reward.
Features: Refined, linked, and swift.
Ash thought for a moment and chose the link.
Refining is unnecessary, needless to say; Agility can increase the attack speed of sword-wielding moves, and Ash is also quite interested in this, but in the face of Link, he'd better put it aside for a while.
The mind was connected with the One, and the One floated into the air by itself without anyone holding it. Then with a hum, it appeared a thousand meters away in the blink of an eye, and the air waves stirred up an obvious path on the ground.
"Link? I didn't expect that your innate weapon could condense this feature." Ye Lin was a little surprised.
Link is one of the features that warriors most want their weapons to have. With this, they will not be completely defenseless when facing mages at a distance.
This characteristic is just like what Ash is showing now. By connecting with his mind, he can move and attack quickly within the range of his sight as if he were waving his arm.
Moreover, it is faster than ordinary arrows, which makes it one of the most useful features for assassinations and sneak attacks.
Yi Yi quickly rushed back to Ash, and then Ash pushed himself up with both hands and landed on Yi Yi's sword.
The One sank rapidly, but quickly rose again, and Ash increased his mental effort.
"Wuhu!"
As Ash's mind moved, the One and Only carried Ash at an angle of eighty-nine degrees and rushed straight into the sky.
Looking at this scene, Ye Lin showed a trace of speechlessness on his face. Is this how this feature is used?
But for Ash, this is how it should be used.
Didn’t he choose this just to fulfill his dream of becoming a swordsman in his previous life?
Staying in the air, Ash asked Yi Yi to carry him and follow behind Cai Gou until nightfall, when they came down from the sky.
"We have arrived at the territory of the Blazing Principality. What should we do next?" Ye Lin said to Yaxiu while eating dinner.
"Help the dragon." Ash took a bite of the roast meat, "Then kill him when the ritual is complete."
Ye Lin paused as she held the rice spoon: "I'm afraid this won't work. This country has finally come close to unification. If you do this, we'll be back to war again."
"I know." Ash shook his head slightly, "Don't worry, I will prepare the candidate for king before then."
"It's enough for you to understand." Ye Lin didn't say anything more. At least she was confident in Yaxiu's work.
The clones spread out and entered various towns at an extremely fast speed.
He is looking for a good partner.
First of all, this person cannot be too good, otherwise he may not be able to kill him when the time comes. Secondly, he cannot be too bad, otherwise he may not be able to control himself and kill him first.
Finally, they have to have potential, otherwise it would be too troublesome to support them, and they would easily be noticed by the cultists who presided over the ceremony. In various taverns, Ash's clones eavesdropped on various information and analyzed the current situation of the Blazing Principality.
The most powerful ones now are definitely the princes and princesses from the old royal family, after all, they have the most orthodox title.
But it is hard to say whether this title is good or bad. After all, when the previous Grand Duke Orel was alive, he was an absolute tyrant who was arrogant and extravagant, and the world suffered from him for a long time.
Otherwise, after his death, rebellions would not have broken out one after another in various places, and these princes and princesses would not have naturally lost the support of the people.
The people's hearts here not only refer to the common people, but also the nobles. The former is not a big deal, after all, this is an extraordinary world where one person can be worth ten thousand people. The latter is very troublesome, because most of the people who can be worth ten thousand people come from them.
Next came the great nobles. What was hilarious was that they also fought for supremacy in the name of their grand ducal bloodline.
Finally, there are the sons of great princes who came from minor nobles or commoners.
Because Grand Duke Chiyan died two years ago, up to now, there are a total of twenty-seven princes who can be named and survived.
Ash picked and chose, and finally chose a prince named Drey because he perfectly met Ash's requirements.
As a leader, he was undoubtedly qualified. He clearly distinguished between rewards and punishments, rewarded those who had made contributions, and punished those who had made mistakes. But as a person, he was undoubtedly a scumbag. He seized other people's wives and daughters, was unkind and ungrateful, and condoned his soldiers' looting. Without a doubt, he deserved to die.
But these crimes can still make Ash turn a blind eye temporarily. As long as they don't happen in front of him, he won't intervene.
His power is also ranked in the top ten among the twenty-seven princes, which means he has great potential and indeed has the hope of winning over the Principality of Chiyan.
Moreover, this person has offspring. After killing him, we can just push one up, saving time and effort.
But even though he was Fulong, Ash had no intention of taking things slowly. It had only been a year and a half since he woke up, so how could he be willing to spend one or two years, or even three or four years waiting for a long war to end?
On this day, Red Mountain City, a famous adventurer city in the Blazing Principality, welcomed a wealthy adventurer who bought a small manor as a residence for himself and his pets.
On the other hand, a group of four people named Zonghengjia began to become active among the princes, and quickly emerged and gained the right to speak.
The Adventurer's Guild, because most of the guilds were withdrawn to form war groups, the majority of the commissions that were previously controlled were lost, and individual adventurers faced the days of having too many tasks to complete.
But most of them are not too happy because the exploitation has become more serious.
Hongshan City is a prosperous big city. As the war intensifies, taxes will naturally become heavier.
Ash walked in front of the notice, took a look, and accepted a third-level commission. There was no other way. The adventurer level was common to all guilds, but for adventurers at level seven and below, adventurers from other places who came to the local area to accept commissions had to first accept a commission of the same level and complete it before they were eligible to accept tasks at a higher level.
Of course, Ash can also take on high-level tasks that do not require completion, but these tasks are more or less troublesome, and Ash, who just wants to quietly achieve his achievements, does not want to be involved in any trouble.
The Red Mountain Range is the origin of the name of Red Mountain City. It is rumored that the Red Dragon of Fiery Flame who helped the first Duke of Fiery Flame to establish the country died here.
Whether this rumor is true or not, Ash doesn't know, but there are indeed more dragon species in Hongshan Mountain.
He let Dart and Rookie Dog complete the task, while he strolled through the mountains and forests, relying on [Mineral Vein Perception] to search for mineral veins.
[Mineral Vein Perception] comes from the achievement [Mining Master].
Because it started slowly, Ash had to stop and go.
Soon Ash found a miniature mineral vein, and his second body walked out of him, then quickly changed into a battle star form.
Then the second body of the War Star fell to the ground, split into several machines, and drilled underground.
Then Ash watched silently as the machines threw the mined ore into the second body that opened.
The second body quickly smelted the ores into batches of red iron ingots and piled them up nearby.
This is Red Flame Iron, the most abundant magical metal in the Red Mountain Range, and a military supply.
Because it was military supplies, Ash had to mine it himself. After all, he needed hundreds of tons of red flame iron, and such a large amount would inevitably attract the attention and temptation of the princes and secret agents.
He didn't want to attract their attention. He had nothing to do anyway, so he might as well pick the fruits himself and treat it as a game.
As for what he needed so much red flame iron for? To build ships.
He wanted to cross the dark sea between the east and the west and catch a fish weighing more than 100,000 kilograms, which required a big boat.
The large ships that can cross the Black Abyss Sea are all in the hands of big forces, and Ash has no power to give orders, so he simply builds one himself. As I said just now, he has nothing to do anyway.
He created another clone and found a valley. Ash transferred the red flame iron ingots into the valley and used his fighting spirit to slowly grind out a smooth hole, just to practice his control.
In the afternoon, Ash left one clone to carry out the transportation and the second body to continue smelting iron, while he himself went to the union to hand in the task with the darts and the task certificate brought by Cai Gou.
After completing the task, Ash looked at the reward in his hand and raised an eyebrow: "This reward doesn't seem right. It was supposed to be five gold coins, but why is there only two gold and fifty silver coins? Even after deducting the management fee, shouldn't it be four gold and seventy-five silver coins?"
The receptionist looked at Ash and asked, "Out-of-towner?"
"Yeah." Ash nodded.
"No wonder." The receptionist nodded, "The management fee here is 10% of the fee, plus 5% of the tax, 10% of the hunting fee, and 10% of the processing fee. Adding up, it's 20% of the fee."
After saying that, the receptionist raised his hands and told Ash to stop talking: "Don't ask why there are so many. The answer is that the city lord is happy. Do you understand?"
Ash had no intention of embarrassing the front desk, so he nodded and said, "I understand."
"I understand. Just leave." The receptionist said, "If you can't stand it, go back. Don't hold on."
"Got it." Ash turned and left.
But just as he reached the door, an arm was placed on his shoulder, followed by a low voice: "Hey, young man, are you dissatisfied with the high fee? I have a way to recommend you, which can at least reduce the fee by half."
"Not interested." Ash simply moved his hand away and left.
The owner of the hand did not chase after him, but instead narrowed his eyes and looked at Ash.
"Boss, it looks like that kid isn't going to fall for it." A ruffian-looking young man brandishing a knife stood next to the owner of the hand.
The owner of the hand curled his lips as he looked at the honest man. "A third-level adventurer is at least a veteran. It's normal for him to be wary. As long as he's still here, there are some things that are beyond his control."
"Do you want me to take a look?" the young man asked, holding the knife. "Looking at his attire, he might be the offspring of a noble family."
The man nodded: "Be careful."
"Are you still not confident in my ability to do things?" The young man smiled confidently.
Then he was slapped to the ground by Cai Gou.
In front of him, Yazheng was carving a wooden root with a knife. As he carved, he asked casually, "What organization are you from?"
The young man knew that he had run into a tough guy, so he quickly admitted his weakness and said, "I'm with Boss Bully. We mainly trick some adventurers into joining the war group as soldiers, and then collect some head fees."
"That's it?" Ash asked without even looking up.
"That's it." The young man nodded, but a low growl came from above his head.
Ash said calmly, "Tear off one of his arms."
Before the young man could react, a sharp pain came from his left arm.
"Ah! Ugh!" The young man just let out a cry of pain when a claw pressed his head into the ground to prevent him from making any sound.
An emerald green light emerged from the dog's paw, stopping the young man's bleeding. The dog didn't care and moved his foot away.
As soon as the young man pulled his head out of the ground, he heard a cold voice coming from the side: "Anything else?"
The young man's teeth began to chatter, and he stuttered, "Also, we occasionally do human trafficking, kidnapping some good-looking people and selling them to slave traders as slaves, or selling strong people to the Manger Arena."
Manger Arena? Manger? This made Ash look up at the young man: "Are you sure it's called Manger Arena?"
"Yes." The young man nodded, as if he saw hope for his own survival, and hurriedly said, "Sir, if you want to go, I can recommend you. It's a membership system over there, and you can't get in without an old man to guide you."
Ash lowered his head and continued carving the wooden root: "No need, if a small fry like you can get in, it shouldn't be that hard to get a membership."
"My lord, my lord, I still have some."
Before the young man could finish his words, he heard a "whoosh" sound and a sharp claw pierced through his head.
Without Ash's instruction, Cai Gou cleaned up the murder scene consciously and then lay down next to Ash again.
As the last stroke of the carving knife came down, Ash raised the tree root in his hand and channeled his fighting spirit to rotate around the lines.
Soon the lines were filled with fighting spirit, forming a bright silver line.
"Not bad. I do have a talent for being an enchanter."
Ash threw the wooden root aside and picked up another one to continue carving.
He was practicing enchantment. After all, an ordinary ship, even an ironclad ship, could not withstand the challenge of a sea monster of level 200 or 300, let alone a sea monster of several hundred levels.
Therefore, it is necessary to enchant the ship to improve its defense and carrying capacity.
It just so happened that among the books he read in Saint Laurent College there were many books on enchantment, and there were also some exclusive secret techniques in the Quetzalcoatl heritage. As the saying goes, he had nothing to do anyway, so he might as well learn it by himself.
While carving the wooden roots, Yaxiu was thinking about the Manger Arena. Judging from the name, it should not be a coincidence. After all, Manger is not a very common noun.
'By the way, where is the Manger Arena?'
Ash fell into deep thought. Although he found Orel, the book did not mention anything about what happened before Orel came to the Blazing Principality.
"Perhaps we can find clues to the arena through the Colosseum."
Ash had a feeling that there was a feast waiting for him there.
Asking for a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)