Chapter 6: Chapter 4: The Choice

[Combat Ended]

[You have unlocked Combat Specialty: Basic Fighting Level 1.]

[You have unlocked Combat Specialty: Basic Equipment Level 1.]

Finally, I have gained combat specializations, even though they are just the most basic Level 1 ones.

Bai Pu exhaled lightly; compared to those well-prepared Trial Takers, there was still a significant gap. Trial Takers usually train at least one combat specialty to Basic Level 5, a level ready for advancement, before entering the Spirit Realm to start the trial.

[Based on your spirit, you have obtained partial information about the Dead Plague.]

[Dead Plague (Ordinary Level 1)]

[Species: Humanoid/Mutant Monster]

[Attributes: Power 6, Agility 5, Endurance 7, Spirit 3]

[Skills: Claw Strike, Corpse-like Body, ???]

[Claw Strike: The Dead Plague attacks the enemy with sharp claws, causing sharp damage, with additional minor bleeding and corpse poison effects.]

[Corpse-like Body: Passive, the Dead Plague’s body is rigid, movement speed -2 (equivalent to the movement speed brought by 2 agility points), Basic Armor +4 (equivalent to the Basic Armor value brought by 4 endurance points), immune to bleeding effects.]

Bai Pu suddenly understood why it was so difficult to fight; this guy has 7 points of endurance, meaning it has 70 life points. The passive effect of the Corpse-like Body adds +4 to Basic Armor, equivalent to 11 armor, pretty much a small tank.

Fortunately, the passive ability of [Corpse-like Body] reduces movement speed by 2 points, otherwise, with the Dead Plague’s 5 points of agility, it would surely catch up with the injured Bai Pu.

If he couldn’t manage it himself, it would have been difficult for Bai Pu to lure the Dead Plague to the trap location.

A slightly phantasmal white treasure chest hovered over the body of the Dead Plague.

“A treasure chest dropped!” Bai Pu was delighted; the probability of a Spirit Realm monster dropping a chest upon death was not high.

This Dead Plague wasn’t difficult to deal with, probably just an ordinary small monster, yet it dropped a spoils treasure chest; his luck was indeed good.

Bai Pu pressed his hand on the chest, directly choosing to open it.

With a crisp sound of gold coins clashing, amid the flashing white light, 6 white cards were neatly arranged in two rows, hovering in front of Bai Pu, with their backs facing him, making it impossible to see their front side.

[You have received 12 Spiritual Points.]

[You have gained the opportunity to draw spoils cards, current draws available: 2.]

Here it is, the legendary card draw!

Bai Pu had seen some videos of Awakened streamers drawing cards, so he was not unfamiliar with it. First, he walked half a circle around them, glanced at the front of the cards, and found that the cards’ fronts were shrouded in a layer of white mist, completely obscuring them.

No wonder Awakened streamers don’t look at the front side when drawing cards.

Bai Pu didn’t hesitate anymore and directly clicked on the first card on the left-hand side of the upper row.

Swish!

The light flashed, the card flipped, and the image eventually froze on a thick, short stick-like object.

[You have acquired equipment: Gleaming Bone Hammer.]

Got equipment! And it’s a relatively valuable weapon!

Bai Pu was delighted in his heart and went to check the equipment’s attributes immediately.

[Gleaming Bone Hammer (Sealed)]

[Quality: Ordinary (White)]

[Equipment Position: One-Handed]

[Equipment Requirement: Basic Power 4]

[Attributes: Attack Power 1~4]

[Additional Skill: Silk Smooth: Passive, when using this equipment to attack, attack speed +3 (equivalent to the attack speed brought by 3 agility points)]

[Durability: 18/20]

[Explanation: A bone hammer made from the mutated bones of the Dead Plague’s remains, solid and durable.]

Bai Pu thought his luck was quite good. He gripped the end of the bone hammer, feeling a silk smooth texture, like ivory. The knob-shaped handle at the end provided a good anti-slip function, preventing it from slipping away.

[Reminder: This equipment is in a sealed state. To use it, you need to open the seal and complete the Spiritual Ability Resonance.]

[Warning: Opening the seal will render this equipment unusable by others.]

[Would you like to open the seal?]

Bai Pu chose yes without hesitation. With a flash of white light, the Spiritual Ability Resonance was completed. When Bai Pu held the bone hammer, he felt a sense of bloodline connection, as if the bone hammer was an extension of his arm.

The second spoils card dropped a blood sample.

[Mutated Blood Sample of the Dead Plague: Unknown item. Please seek professional identification.]

After completing the two card draws, the remaining 4 white cards, along with the white treasure chest below, turned into a stream of light smoke-like particles, dissipating between heaven and earth.

Bai Pu stood up, felt some itching in his chest, and when he looked down, he saw that the area scratched by the Dead Plague had developed azure-colored swelling.

“The Dead Plague’s claw strike contains toxins…” Bai Pu frowned, but fortunately, the bleeding effect had ended, his life value was gradually recovering, and the chest wound didn’t affect his actions.

He could only keep moving forward, searching for settlements in native villages or towns, where he might find a way to detoxify.

Crash——

The sound of water came, and Bai Pu looked up to see a dark, wide river, immediately feeling a boost in spirit.

“This is 17th-century Europe, where human towns rely on rivers to exist! Walking along the river increases the chance of encountering natives.”

Bai Pu identified the direction of the water flow and walked downstream along the river.

After walking for about an hour, the trees along the way gradually became denser, and he could see patches of desolate land, as if they were abandoned farmlands, between the plains and valleys.

From the mouth of the valley ahead, sounds of battle and killing faintly reached him. Bai Pu was slightly startled, and quickly climbed onto the outer ridge, crouching to peek ahead.

A dozen militiamen in simple leather armor were brandishing weapons like pitchforks and sickles in battle.

They faced four enemies in total.

Three of them were Dead Plague, similar in appearance to the one Bai Pu had previously defeated — all staggering with filthy, tattered clothing.

The last enemy of the militia was notably more robust than the Dead Plague, especially with two remarkably muscular arms like old tree trunks.

This guy was also armored, with a blood-red ring mark on his chest armor. He swung a heavy iron hammer with barbs, hitting a captain-like militiaman, who immediately spat blood and was sent flying, clearly severely injured.

Despite their numerical advantage, the militia was decidedly on the weaker side against the “Iron Hammer”! After the militia captain was seriously injured, the militiamen retreated one after another.

From a distance, the sound of horse hooves approached, and a knight was rushing to the battlefield. This knight’s armor and robe bore the same blood-red ring mark.

“Oh boy… it feels like just this one Iron Hammer is enough to kill all the militia, not to mention there are three Dead Plague as well. The distant knight rushing in seems to be on the same side as the Iron Hammer?”

The prompt of the Spirit Realm Will suddenly arrived.

[Main Quest I: Choice]

[Objective: Help the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors eliminate the Brandon Militia, or help the Brandon Militia eliminate the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors.]

[Quest Difficulty: B-level]

[Quest Time Limit: 12 hours.]

[Quest Reward: Join Blood Ring Fortress / Join Brandon Territory.]

[Failure Penalty: Exile. All spiritual items obtained in this plane, including equipment, items, and spiritual points will be deleted.]

[Warning!! If the main quest fails, you will be exiled into the chaotic time and space.]

[It has detected you are undertaking a trial task. If this main quest fails, it will be regarded as a trial task failure, with the failure penalty corrected to trial task failure penalty: Expulsion. You will be expelled back to the real world, and the difficulty of the next trial task will increase by an additional 30%, but the reward will not increase.]

[Choice Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7…]

The main quest has finally been triggered!

If the main quest fails, you will be exiled into the chaotic time and space?

Bai Pu had heard that chaotic time and space was a punishment that countless Awakened feared, with exile almost equaling a death sentence. He definitely didn’t want to be exiled, even being expelled back to the real world was not an option!

Bai Pu forced himself to calm down and started thinking about the main quest.

Obviously, the “Iron Hammer” represents the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors, belonging to the Blood Ring Fortress camp; while those dozen militiamen are the Brandon militia, belonging to the Brandon Territory camp.

Bai Pu watched the knight getting closer, went over the quest information in his mind, and without waiting for the countdown to end, determined his choice. He raised his bone hammer and strode towards the battlefield, shouting, “For Brandon!”

[Prompt: You have chosen to help the Brandon Militia eliminate the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors.]

[Your reputation in Brandon Territory +300, current reputation level: Friendly.]

[Your reputation in Blood Ring Fortress -300, current reputation level: Hostile.]

That’s right, Bai Pu chose to stand on the seemingly weaker side of the Brandon militia, against the strong Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors!

Before Bai Pu arrived, the knight had already charged into the battlefield.

The riding spear was raised high, wrapped in strong impact force, crashing towards… the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior!

The Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior was sent flying high, rolling several times upon hitting the ground, as if a tin can kicked into the air.

After rolling a few times, the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior stood up again, shook his head, and shouted at the knight, “Traitor!”

The knight ignored him, turned his horse, and once again raised the riding spear, charging forward.

Bai Pu showed a slight smile.

The reason he stood on the side of the Brandon Militia was because he had calculated that this new knight must be in opposition to the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors!

The reason is also simple, the main quest is called [Choice], meaning “careful selection”! The term is usually used only when there’s a dilemma.

In other words, according to the evaluation of the Spirit Realm Will, choosing to help the Brandon Militia or the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors is a dilemma, with no particularly easy option to complete the quest!

The auxiliary evidence is the quest difficulty rating given by the Spirit Realm Will.

The quest difficulty is B-level. According to the difficulty rating of D, C, B, A, S, a B-level quest is of medium difficulty.

If the new knight and the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors were on the same side, choosing to help the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors would be too low a difficulty, Bai Pu’s assistance wouldn’t even be needed, and the Blood Ring side could easily crush the militia ten times over!

A task that doesn’t even require action and is simply enjoyed can’t be justified as a B-level difficulty?

Therefore, the new knight must be part of the Brandon Territory camp. This would keep the difficulty balanced, making it B-level difficulty no matter which side is chosen.

As for why he chose the Brandon Territory camp over the Blood Ring Fortress?

The reason is simple: the knight wearing the Blood Ring Armor is from the Brandon camp. Such anomaly surely carries a storyline to explore.

While all these thoughts seem lengthy to narrate, Bai Pu’s thought process was incredibly brief, lasting less than 0.1 seconds. He continued to focus on the battlefield situation.

During the knight’s second charge, the proximity and lack of speed were noted.

The Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior suddenly spun, creating a steel whirlwind! The Qi Force swept across, causing the knight’s riding spear to lose its accuracy, barely grazing past, while they too were swept by the steel whirlwind, falling off the horse.

Bai Pu finally saw clearly, the knight had a tall posture, round and sturdy thighs, a highly raised iron chest armor — it turned out to be a female knight.

After landing, the female knight rolled and agilely leapt up, dodging the following smashing attack from the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior. She pulled down a shield from her back, drew her thrusting sword, and spun to stab at her opponent’s face.

Bai Pu didn’t intend to interfere in the battle between these powerful natives; his goal was simple, to first take down those three Dead Plague.

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