parentshiftbook Chapter 636 The Night and the First Contact
Chapter 636 The Night and the First Contact
Across the crack lay a desolate wasteland shrouded in darkness.
On the distant horizon, there was no trace of human activity, only endless wilderness, sparse bushes, and withered grass rustling in the wind.
There were no stars or moon in the sky, only a pure, thick darkness.
Standing on the wasteland, Jemin raised his hand and condensed an energy ball in his palm.
The orb of light emitted a soft white glow, illuminating an area of several dozen meters around him.
The instant the orb of light illuminated, he felt something shrink back from the darkness.
It feels like turning on a light in a dark room, and all the rustling sounds hidden in the shadows suddenly quiet down.
"This is what makes the night so eerie," Jemin said, looking around at the darkness with curiosity.
He did not attempt to use his mental powers to track and explore the depths of darkness.
Austin is right. This weirdness doesn't need to be dealt with; you just need to "avoid it."
His gaze swept around, searching for the other eight wizards.
Not far away, several points of light can be seen moving.
Those were light sources lit by other wizards, the points of light scattered in different directions, it seemed that everyone was moving in the direction that interested them.
Jemin chose a direction without any light and stepped into the darkness.
The night wind on the wasteland carried the dry, cold, earthy smell, surging in from all directions.
Jemin carried the energy orb and moved slowly forward in the darkness.
He didn't seem to be in a hurry; it would be unwise to act rashly after arriving in a new dimension.
It would be best to gather some intelligence before taking action... just like what he's doing now.
The brightness of the light sphere was deliberately kept to a minimum by Jemin, just enough to illuminate an area three steps away from his feet, not an inch more.
Jemin wanted to test just how sensitive he was to the "eerie darkness of the night".
The moment the brightness decreased, that feeling came.
It felt like something was pressed against the back of his neck, cold and wet, or like countless eyes staring at him from the darkness, each gaze carrying an indescribable hunger.
Just being "watched" is enough to make one feel nauseous.
"An average-level organism, if kept in this environment for an extended period, would probably suffer a mental breakdown very quickly..."
Jemin didn't turn around; he simply calmly increased the brightness of the light sphere by one level.
Those gazes instantly recoiled, like octopus tentacles that had been burned.
The surroundings became empty and quiet again, with only the rustling of the wind blowing through the withered grass.
He tried again.
Turning down the brightness immediately restores the feeling of being spied on.
Increase the brightness, and the feeling of being spied on disappears.
"The threshold is roughly around this level." Jemin stabilized the light sphere at a medium brightness.
This brightness is just right to completely eliminate the feeling of being spied on, without being so bright as to attract the attention of half the wasteland like a lighthouse.
He silently noted down the parameter and then continued on his way.
He has no intention of continuing to probe further for the time being.
Austin has made it very clear: the night is eerily connected to the entire plane, and excessive resistance will cause irreversible damage.
It's like entering a wildlife sanctuary; even if you get scratched by monkeys, you can't just bomb the hilltop flat with missiles.
We have to follow the rules: use tranquilizer guns to catch them, put them in cages, instead of overturning the table.
Jemin agreed with this line of thinking.
A plane that can continuously produce bizarre phenomena is far more valuable than a plane that has been violently crushed and left with nothing.
He is a researcher, not a vandal.
"However... the most troublesome thing about this eerie night is not that you have to keep yourself in the light at all times."
Jemin looked up at the empty wilderness around him and couldn't help but frown.
Keeping yourself in a state of constant light during the dark can indeed make you an easy target for the enemy.
But considering that everyone is in the same situation, this is not a major problem.
The bigger problem is that in this plane, at least at night, he cannot freely use his mental power for wide-area reconnaissance.
As he walked, Jemin compressed the range of his mental perception to within ten meters of his body.
After all, "night" itself is eerie.
He wasn't sure what would happen when his mental energy swept through the night, nor did he intend to verify it.
However, judging from the two strange situations he has encountered so far, soul energy can easily influence the strange.
Austin's "warning" was very clear: do not damage this plane.
Whether mental detection will trigger strange stress reactions in the dark is anyone's guess.
If the other party is triggered to react and their mental energy is automatically resisted, it could potentially harm the entire plane.
In such uncertain circumstances, the safest approach is to avoid using mental perception.
"Just in case, let's abandon all reconnaissance methods related to mental power, and temporarily disable all kinds of wide-area reconnaissance magic that actively spreads, to prevent too much damage to the dimensional environment."
"Just in case, let's abandon all reconnaissance methods related to mental power, and temporarily disable all kinds of wide-area reconnaissance magic that actively spreads, to prevent too much damage to the dimensional environment."
Although it's a pity to give up the most convenient means of scouting from the side, it doesn't matter much to the wizard.
After all, in addition to proactive, dissemination-based reconnaissance, there are various reconnaissance methods that can enhance one's own capabilities.
For Jemin, it was even simpler: he used his five senses directly.
With the blessing of his perfected Void Refinement True Body, Jemin's five senses even surpassed the effects of many level six wizards casting blessing spells.
In addition to the five senses, there are other methods.
Jemin stopped and closed his eyes briefly.
A faint golden light shone on his forehead.
Destiny System, activated.
A golden light shimmered slightly on his forehead, as if some invisible sense had been awakened.
The scene before Jemin's eyes changed.
Countless thin rays of light, some bright and some dim, appeared on the ground of the wasteland.
Some stretch straight into the distance, while others entangle and intertwine at a certain point, forming one "knot" after another.
That's the line of fate.
Each "knot" represents a crossroads of fate, usually signifying human habitation, the occurrence of an event, or the presence of some kind of anomaly.
He did not manipulate these threads of fate.
In this bizarre and deeply intertwined plane of existence, actively manipulating the causal network is like flying a kite in a thunderstorm—it could very well invite unnecessary trouble.
He wasn't sure what level of trouble those "unnecessary troubles" were, nor how deeply they were connected to the world. Until he figured it out, it was wisest to avoid them.
But if it's just "observation" and used to provide information for oneself, there's no problem.
Jemin's gaze swept over the "knots," searching for those that met two conditions: first, they were highly entangled with the supernatural, and second, they involved a relatively small number of people.
He needs intelligence.
Language, writing system, social structure, and unusual distribution... all these things need to be obtained from the locals.
He quickly identified a direction.
About two hundred kilometers to the northeast, there is a knot in the fate line that is not very noticeable.
The light intensity there is much lower than the surrounding area, and the colors are darker.
Moreover, the texture of those lights exhibited an unnatural distortion, as if they had been forcibly twisted together by some external force.
Jemin opened his eyes, and the golden light on his forehead disappeared.
He changed direction and headed northeast.
However, he still did not fly, but walked on foot.
Flight generates energy fluctuations, which may be eerily perceived by the darkness or detected by other beings in this plane.
Before acquiring any information related to this dimension, we must proceed with extreme caution.
"Ah! I really miss that feeling."
Jemin suddenly couldn't help but laugh.
Because of the addition of elite combat units, Jemin hadn't experienced the kind of behavior that required him to cautiously probe new dimensions and find ways to obtain new intelligence in a long time.
"The last time I was this careful was probably when I participated in the graduation trial with Victor and Amy... It's been almost two thousand years since then..."
The wasteland beneath my feet "slowly" receded into the darkness, leaving only a sigh drifting in the wind.
Jemin’s pace may not seem fast, but each step covers a hundred meters, which is the passive enhancement of his physical body by his true form.
It requires no energy output; it is purely a reflection of physical fitness.
After walking for about half an hour, the terrain ahead began to change.
The flat ground of the wasteland began to undulate, and some low hills outlined vaguely on the horizon.
Between the hills, some regular geometric shapes can be vaguely seen, which appear to be man-made structures.
Jemin slowed his pace and turned down the brightness of the light sphere a little more.
The buildings are getting closer.
With Jemin's eyesight, he could clearly see that it was an abandoned settlement.
Most of the stone wall had collapsed, and the wooden roof had long since rotted away, leaving only some crooked beams creaking in the night wind.
Narrow alleyways between the buildings are filled with rubble and dead branches.
But deep within the settlement, there are several relatively well-preserved buildings, from which a faint orange-red light shines through the cracks in the stone walls.
It's a campfire.
There are people inside.
Jemin made no attempt to hide himself and walked straight toward the firelight.
His steps were light, but in the stillness of the night, the sound of the gravel being trampled could still be clearly heard.
The white orb of light surrounding him made his location crystal clear.
Jemin walked into a narrow alleyway with half-collapsed stone walls on both sides.
The fire was less than fifty meters ahead, and through a dilapidated stone window, he could see several figures moving about.
Then, a crisp sound.
Something flew out of the darkness, moving so fast that ordinary people couldn't react at all.
Jemin glanced at the bullet head, then looked in the direction from which it had come.
Behind a stone window next to the firelight, a figure was holding up a thin metal tube, the tip of which was still smoking.
gun.
Jemin's eyes lit up slightly.
Judging from the bullet's caliber, initial velocity, and the material of the bullet head, the level of technology in this dimension is roughly equivalent to the world he came from before he transmigrated.
interesting.
Jemin casually tossed the warhead to the ground and continued walking forward.
The gunman behind the stone window was clearly stunned.
He couldn't see Jemin's face clearly from that distance.
All I saw was the bullet disappear before the other player even dodged it.
Did they miss? Did they have a bulletproof vest or something else?
In any case, he reacted quickly.
Three more gunshots rang out in quick succession.
Three bullets flew in a triangular formation, two aimed at Jemin's chest and one at his head.
The shooting accuracy was very high, and the space for dodging to the left and right was deliberately blocked.
Jemin stretched out his right hand and drew an arc in front of him.
As if attracted by a magnet, the three bullets deviated from their original trajectories and were "sucked" into his palm, landing neatly in his hand.
He looked down at the three bullets, then looked in the direction of the gunman.
"Not bad," he said softly, his voice carrying far in the stillness of the night.
The person behind the stone window clearly heard it; the figure froze, and the hand holding the gun trembled slightly.
Jemin did not quicken his pace, but continued walking forward at his usual unhurried speed.
Since the enemy's weaponry posed no threat to him, he wanted to test the technological level of this world and see where the limits of these firearms lay.
Meanwhile, Jemin was also sizing up the group of people.
There were four people in total: three men and one woman.
He was wearing a rough leather jacket and his face was covered in dark paint, making his features unclear.
In addition to guns, their weapons included daggers and short swords, and their equipment looked like that of some kind of militia or hunters.
The one who fired was the tall man standing behind the stone window, with some kind of animal totem tattooed on his right arm.
The gun in his hand was a long-barreled rifle, crudely made but sturdy, with wear marks on the barrel indicating that it had been used many times.
The moment Jemin stepped into the firelight, all four of them could see him clearly: a young man dressed in simple dark robes, with delicate features, holding an energy ball emitting a soft white light in his right hand.
His left hand hung naturally at his side, and his steps were as leisurely as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.
Whether it was that white orb of light or the way the other party dealt with the gunshot, it all showed that this guy was definitely not someone to mess with!
The tall man pulled the trigger again.
This time, Jemin didn't catch the bullet.
He tilted his head slightly, and the bullet grazed his ear before hitting the stone wall behind him, sending up a spray of gravel.
"The accuracy is good." Jemin nodded slightly.
Jemin had judged the bullet's position based on the muzzle of the gun, and the bullet's grazed the spot exactly as he had predicted.
This indicates that the gun has a very stable trajectory and high accuracy.
Another shot hit Jemin's shoulder, but the bullet shattered into fragments the instant it touched his robes.
Another shot.
Jemin lifted his heel slightly, and a bullet flew past the sole of his shoe—the other man's composure was already wavering.
After four shots, the magazine was empty.
The tall man's face turned deathly pale in the firelight.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only a dry swallowing sound came from his throat.
The remaining three had already taken the opportunity to draw their guns, but seeing the situation, they didn't have the courage to fire again.
Jemin stopped less than ten meters away from them.
"Your guns are good," he said.
From the data from these shots, Jemin has concluded that the level of firearms technology in this dimension is roughly equivalent to that on Earth, but there are two obvious differences.
First, the weapon is more powerful.
The bullet of the same caliber has about 30% more kinetic energy than similar weapons on Earth, which should be due to the amount of propellant and the materials used.
Secondly, although the recoil is greater, the person firing the gun doesn't seem to have much difficulty using it, which suggests that the people in this world have good physical fitness.
Alternatively, they may have some means of improving their physical fitness.
The four people clearly couldn't understand him; their eyes showed no understanding, only fear and confusion.
The language barrier was to be expected.
Jemin’s gaze fell on the tall, thin man who was the only one not carrying a gun.
He could sense a strange energy within this person, an energy with a... eerie quality.
It's like the feeling emanating from salty fingers, but more subtle and understated.
The tall, thin man drew a short knife from his waist; the blade reflected a cold, sharp light in the firelight.
He took a deep breath, and the fear on his face was replaced by an almost insane determination.
Then he "exploded".
A strange aura surged from his body, a feeling that Jemin found very familiar, exactly like the curse-like fluctuations emanating from the salty fingers.
Then, a "snake" emerged from the tall man's chest.
It was a translucent, slippery substance, about the thickness of an arm, covered with fine scales that reflected an oily green luster in the firelight.
Its eyes were two dark red dots of light; just looking at those eyes would evoke an instinctive fear of snakes.
Jemin deliberately lowered his resistance and carefully felt the fear.
It feels like it's on a physiological level, ingrained in the biological genes, a fear of being entangled and devoured.
Unfortunately, this feeling only lasted for a moment.
Even though Jemin deliberately lowered his resistance, the Body Tempering Technique still instantly achieved evolutionary immunity to this mental attack.
The fear surged up like a tide and receded just as quickly, leaving no trace.
"Tsk, what a pity."
Thinking this, Jemin stretched out his right hand, spread his five fingers, and aimed at the "snake".
The strange creature that coexisted with the tall man seemed to sense the danger and suddenly sprang out from the man's chest.
It opened its mouth, revealing two rows of fine, inward-curving teeth, and lunged at Jemin's face.
But Jemin's hand was faster.
His five fingers drew an arc in the air, precisely gripping the snake's neck.
A slippery sensation came from his fingertips. The snake's body writhed violently, and its scales scraped against his skin with a screeching sound, but the scales couldn't even break through the first layer of his skin.
As their spiritual energy converged, suppression runes lit up and affixed to the snake's head.
The runes glowed with golden light, and the spell spread out from the disc like an invisible net, enveloping the entire snake.
The snake's struggles became powerless in an instant, its body began to shrink and collapse, and was eventually compressed into a dark green bead the size of a thumb, embedded in the central groove of the rune.
The tall man let out a muffled groan the moment he was eerily sealed away, his eyes rolled back, and his body went limp as if all the energy had been drained from him.
Dark liquid seeped from his mouth and nose, his breathing was rapid and disordered, and his pupils were dilated and unfocused.
"Soul backlash, huh? It seems your symbiotic relationship with this strange entity is quite deep."
Jemin looked at the tall man lying on the ground and tilted his head slightly.
He had a pretty good grasp of the extraordinary system of this plane.
Leaving aside technologies that enhance physical abilities, the mainstream supernatural power in this plane should be "coexisting with the bizarre."
These people seal the supernatural within themselves or coexist with it in some way, using its power to strengthen themselves and fight their enemies.
However, this approach carries extremely high risks.
After all, the supernatural are not docile livestock; they are dangerous and uncontrollable beings that may turn on their hosts at any time.
Moreover, in order to coexist with the supernatural, these people have also developed a deep symbiosis with it.
Just like now, he only sealed the snake, and the man suffered a severe backlash.
If it's a bizarre, unprovoked rampage, or if the host loses control during combat, the consequences could be even more severe.
Jemin took out another empty test tube, put away the dark green bead, and glanced at the remaining three people.
Those three people have completely broken down.
What did they see?
A stranger caught a bullet with his bare hands, walked up to them without batting an eye, and then casually crushed the "thing" inside their leader—the thing they both respected and feared—into a bead like he was crushing an insect.
The woman's lips trembled violently, and finally she let out a sharp scream.
She turned and ran, and the other two reacted and ran after her, stumbling and rushing into the depths of the ruins.
Seeing this, Jemin shook his head, raised his hand, and gently clenched his fist.
An invisible force surged from the void, like a giant hand, gripping the three fleeing people along with the air around them.
Their bodies froze in mid-air for a moment, then were slowly pulled back by that force, as if drawn by an invisible rope, and fell back in front of Jemin.
The three people collapsed to the ground, trembling and pale.
The woman had already started to cry, and large, silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
The two men stared intently at Jemin, their eyes filled with a mixture of fear, despair, and an incomprehensible bewilderment.
They started babbling incoherently.
He spoke very quickly, his voice trembling.
Jemin couldn't understand a single word, but even if he couldn't understand, he knew that these people were begging for mercy.
The three men became more and more agitated and desperate as they spoke.
The woman's tears flowed more and more, the man's voice grew hoarseer and hoarse, and one of them even began to kowtow, the sound of his forehead hitting the ground echoing through the ruins.
Jemin couldn't understand a single word, but even if he couldn't understand, he knew that these people were begging for mercy.
The three men became more and more agitated and desperate as they spoke.
The woman's tears flowed more and more, the man's voice grew hoarseer and hoarse, and one of them even began to kowtow, the sound of his forehead hitting the ground echoing through the ruins.
Jemin knelt down, reached out, and gently placed his hand on the forehead of the man who was kowtowing.
The man's body trembled violently, and then, under extreme stimulation, he suddenly drew his gun and fired several shots at Jemin's face.
Unfortunately, it was the man who ended up collapsing and groaning in pain.
Some of the bullet fragments that hit Jemin's face ricocheted back and struck him.
Jemin blinked innocently at the man rolling on the ground, then reached out and touched the other man's head.
Seeing his companion's fate, the man trembled, but dared not resist any longer.
His eyes were fixed on Jemin's face, the white light of the energy sphere reflected in his pupils.
【Soul Search】.
Jemin's mental power, like fine tentacles, seeped into the depths of the man's consciousness from his palm.
With Jemin's current level of mental manipulation, the effect of using Soul Search is much better than it was back then.
Not only has the efficiency of intelligence gathering increased significantly, but the harm to the victims has also been greatly reduced.
It's like an experienced librarian organizing bookshelves, not a robber ransacking the place.
Language, writing system, social structure, historical common sense, bizarre knowledge...
Information flooded into Jemin's consciousness like a tidal wave.
(This is a long chapter of 6000 words, so it's not good to break it into chapters. I'll just leave it like this.)