Chapter 38: Arbiter and Lamp-bearer

Even though it was covered by fog, far away, Rover could sense an eye staring straight at him.

That eye radiated an extremely evil and chaotic aura. Even though it was only a single eye, the feeling it brought was like countless people were watching him.

“Ack!” Rover clutched his head, feeling a pain as if someone were repeatedly hammering it.

He gritted his teeth. The scene before him gradually became blurry, and his mind began sinking into darkness.

….

“Uhm…” Rover slowly woke up, his head feeling so heavy as if there were a weight pressing down inside it.

“Rover!”

“Master!”

At this moment, Nanoe and Selina stood beside the bed, looking at him anxiously.

Seeing them, Rover frowned and asked, “I… how long was I unconscious?”

Nanoe and Selina looked at each other. Then Nanoe explained softly, “Rover, as soon as you passed out, Selina and I carried you back to your room. Only a little over 2 hours have passed, but…”

“Heh?!” Hearing Nanoe hesitate, Rover immediately knew something was wrong. He tried to sit up. “Did something happen?”

Nanoe pressed her lips together, then opened the chat window and explained, “Rover, look at this first. If I try to explain with words, it’ll be very hard for you to understand.”

Rover received Nanoe’s message. Inside were three photos, but the moment he saw them, he jolted, his face filled with disbelief.

The angle was from the ground-floor lobby looking outside.

In the photo, it was nothing but fog, but you could clearly see black shadows like gigantic tentacles swaying.

In the second photo, the distance between the photographer and those tentacles was closer. You could see those tentacles were as thick as high-rise buildings, so tall they could reach the clouds above.

The third photo was even more terrifying. The distance between the photographer and those tentacles was even closer. At this moment, Rover could see that on those tentacles were eyes.

Countless eyes, large and small, uneven in size, but their pupils were all flat and diamond-shaped, like the pupils of a beast locked onto its prey.

And the most horrifying part was… all of those eyes were looking toward a single point. It was not the direction of the person taking the photo, but behind that person.

“Nanoe, this is…” Rover thought of something, but he still wanted to ask, to confirm it one more time.

Nanoe nodded, fear clearly showing on her face. “Rover, that monster seems to… be looking at you.”

Rover took a deep breath, his spine turning icy as if he were sitting in an ice cellar.

Nanoe continued, “When you just passed out, a sound like a screaming gale rang out, and then those tentacles appeared. I thought they might be related to the secrets of this world, so I took those 3 photos.”

“However, while taking them, I noticed something strange… those tentacles were moving toward here. The eyes on the tentacles were looking in one direction.”

“At first, I thought those eyes were looking at me, but no, Rover… those eyes were looking at you. They were completely focused on you.”

“Selina and I didn’t know what to do, so we could only carry you back to the room. Anyway, according to what the System said, the building can’t be destroyed, so we hoped that monster wouldn’t be able to find us.”

“But the System also issued a notice, saying that some [Arbiter] would intervene, and the event ’Zombie Raid’ has been temporarily suspended.”

After hearing that, Rover let out a sigh. He held his forehead, recalling the image he had seen before he passed out.

He saw darkness, and a gigantic eye, so huge it was hard to believe. That eye was exactly the same as the eyes on those gigantic tentacles in the photos.

“What is going on? Could that skill have some problem?” Rover muttered.

He opened the System notification panel. Indeed, there were 2 notices the System had sent him that he hadn’t read.

Rover tapped them, and two notification panels appeared before him.

[Notice: A -level monster has launched an assault. The event is temporarily suspended. All Survivors, please return to your private rooms. Door durability will be restored. Please do not go outside during this time.]

[Notice: The have begun participating in preventing monsters from invading the newbie zone. All Survivors, please return. The will kill anyone who obstructs them.]

Looking at the two notices, Rover felt the amount of information was truly overwhelming.

What was a [Calamity]-level monster? How strong was it?

What kind of existence was an [Arbiter]?

“Rover, are you alright?”

“Master, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

Hearing that, Rover gently shook his head. “I’m fine, it’s just a slight headache.”

He sighed, growing more and more confused inside. The skill [Intuition] was only a rank D skill. Even though he didn’t know how strong the monster with those tentacles was, the idea that a rank D skill could affect that monster was utterly ridiculous.

If [Intuition] were a rank S or A skill, then Rover might be able to believe that the monster had come because of that damn skill.

“Rover, did you notice the System’s notice mentioned a ’newbie zone’?” At this moment, Nanoe suddenly spoke up.

Rover nodded, frowning. “You mean…”

“That’s right.” Nanoe said, her face full of gravity. “If my guess is correct, in this world there isn’t just one building like this, and… we are not alone.”

“There may be countless other buildings, countless other Survivors like us. It’s just that… our area is meant for newbies, which means we’re far weaker than those other Survivors.”

“That’s why we have to be careful. The biggest danger sometimes doesn’t come from monsters, but from other Survivors.”

Rover nodded and said, “But we also have to become stronger quickly. If we keep staying in one place, even if those Survivors don’t find us, we’ll still be killed by monsters.”

Nanoe and Selina nodded.

At first, when they killed zombies easily, even Licker and Tanker zombies, Nanoe and Selina had started to become overly confident.

But after seeing that terrifying monster with those bizarre tentacles, their confidence was instantly smashed to pieces. Coupled with learning about the existence of other Survivors, they felt even more anxious.

They… were still too weak, not yet qualified to feel confident in this world filled with mysteries.

Rover asked silently in his heart, “System, how many Omni Points do I have left?”

[Currently, you have 802 points remaining.]

“Upgrade the bed.”

[Paid 150 Omni Points successfully. Remaining: 652 Omni Points.]

[Wooden Bed]

[Type: Structure]

[Level: 1]

[Durability: Eternal – Linked to the room door]

[Comfort: 30% – After sleeping, you can obtain 30 Omni Points.]

[Effect: For each hour you sleep on the bed, gain 10 Omni Points. This effect only lasts for 8 hours.]

[Upgrade: 400 Omni Points.]

[Description: Wider bed, with a self-cleaning function.]

“So that means after each full sleep, I can gain 110 Omni Points.”

He glanced at the door again. Upgrading the door required 250 Omni Points, but the door was still fine for now, and he didn’t plan to upgrade it.

Besides, he wanted to wait until the door was about to break. That way, when he upgraded it, its durability would be restored to full again, saving him a lot of repair costs.

Rover looked toward Nanoe and Selina again and opened their info panels.

….

[Name: Nanoe]

[Beauty: 85]

[Affection: 95%]

[Lust: 35% (Increase 35% Omni Points when harvesting)]

[Yield: 148.5 points (35% lust already applied)]

[Attributes: Physique 8 | Spirit 10]

[Skills:

Eagle Eye (Rank D18): Increases long-range vision and extremely precise aiming.Fireball (Rank D04): Allows you to shoot fireballs. Power depends on Spirit points.]

[Equipment: Pistol]

….

[Name: Selina]

[Beauty: 87]

[Affection: 97%]

[Lust: 40% (Increase 40% Omni Points when harvesting)]

[Yield: 168 points (40% lust already applied)]

[Attributes: Physique 10 (+4) | Spirit 8]

[Skill: Sword (Rank D24 – Level 1): Possesses perfect swordsmanship with 7 years of combat experience; capable of creating sword light for ranged attacks.]

[Equipment: Foil Sword]

….

Rover took a deep breath, thinking to himself, ’Looks like… the most reliable way to increase Omni Points is still to rely on the women around me.’

But what gave him the biggest headache was that his room could currently only allow 2 [Tenant] slots. He also didn’t know how to increase the number of [Tenant] slots.

At this moment, Nanoe suddenly sat down beside him, gently resting her head on his shoulder, tears flowing out.

“Just now, I thought you were never going to wake up again.” Nanoe said, her voice trembling slightly.

Selina also sat down on his other side, gently hugging his arm.

Rover could understand how they felt. After all, he was the pillar holding up this roof, and he was also the wall Nanoe and Selina leaned on.

If he suddenly died, not only would their emotions be hollowed out, they would also have to face the horror of this world.

By some miraculous twist of fate, Nanoe and Selina were both wonderful women, but now their psyches had completely become dependent on him.

Rover held them in his arms, and then…

[You slept with Nanoe successfully, obtained: 148.5 Omni Points.]

[You slept with Selina successfully, obtained: 168 Omni Points.]

[Total Omni Points currently: 968.5 points.]

….

While Rover was ’enjoying himself’, outside, a shadowy figure was moving through the fog. He wore black cyber-style armor, with a gigantic golden shield hanging on his back.

What was special was that one hand held a sword, while the other held a lamp, ancient in design like a medieval oil lamp, emitting a faint blue light.

That light wasn’t dazzling, but it forced the surrounding fog to part, revealing a space free of fog in a radius of about 5 meters around him.

The man raised the lamp high and looked toward the gigantic tentacles swaying, along with the figures around him who were fighting those tentacles.

“Ha…” A sigh rang out. The man in black armor muttered softly, “Working again. I hate working.”

After saying that, he walked toward the gigantic tentacles, his steps relaxed, as if he were taking a stroll through his own garden.

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