1 Qin Meng

Qin Meng crawled with tattered clothes and wounded body towards a corpse of the wolf in the darkness. The fatigue pressed over his shoulders and the beads of sweat dripped down his face. He grabbed the dagger and pierced the skull of the monster, digging out a gem.

Then he stumbled on his feet and strolled towards a group of youngsters. Three men and two women were chatting when Qin Meng arrived. He placed the gem on the ground like numerous others and said, "I have already extracted all the gems, sir."

"Good," said the tall and sturdy-looking man—Hemp—Qin Meng remembered his name, the captain of the team. "You can take one."

"But—" Qin Meng was shocked, as he didn't expect such a response. "You agreed to give me—"

"Five 1-star gems?" a blonde scowled at Qin Meng. "A porter like you dared to demand five gems?"

"That's what we agreed on, previously, Miss Ligh," Qin Meng argued.

"We indeed agreed," Hemp nodded. "However, now the situation has changed. We didn't know—as it is our first time—it was so hard to kill the beasts; but now we know, it is a bit difficult for us to pay such a number to a mere porter."

"So how much are you willing to give me, sir?" Qin Meng knew it was impossible to win an argument against five people, and it was even more so to defeat them in battle. The only thing remaining for him was to compromise.

Hemp tossed two gems towards Qin Meng. "Here. It should be enough, for a mere porter, right?" Others chuckled, staring at Qin Meng, eager to see his response.

Qin Meng caught the gem and lowered his head. "Thank you, sir."

"Ptf, what a coward," Ligh sneered. Not that it was the first time someone called him a coward. But was he, really? Did he need to resist five people—each of them stronger than him—to get the tag of brave? He wondered if he would get the tag of dunce, instead.

"I thought, at least, he would resist to some extent, and then I could beat the shit out of him," another man said. Though Qin Meng knew him by face, he couldn't recall his name.

"Pack the gems," said Hemp, "and take us to another hunting ground. Didn't you claim that you know quite a few hunting places? How many gems you can earn would depend on your performance."

"Oh, of course, sir. I have been working as a porter for about a year, after all," Qin Meng smiled fawningly as he took the bag of gems that a long-nosed man—who said he wanted to beat the shit out of Qin Meng—was carrying, and loaded the gems lying on the ground.

The group exchanged a few disdainful glances, seeing the flattering smile on Qin Meng's face. After packing, Qin Meng turned towards Hemp and others. "Let's go. I know a great hunting ground."

Though he was tired, he didn't ask for rest. It was nothing; he could endure worse.

"Good," Hemp nodded, satisfyingly. "Lead the way."

Qin Meng walked briskly at the front of the group, leading towards their destination, in the darkness. "It is called Charmed Basin," Qin Meng informed. "You can find enough monsters to hunt there."

"How much time do we need to reach there?" Hemp asked.

"Two hours. At most two and a half," replied Qin Meng.

They nodded and continued to follow him. The darkness obscured their sight, making them incapable of perceiving their soundings. A specialty of Misty Pine Grove. It was hard to see beyond ten meters even at noon.

Qin Meng walked seven to eight meters before them.

"Would he play a trick on us?" whispered Rahni—another woman in the group—peering at Qin Meng's back with a frown.

"How is that even possible?" said the long-nosed man. "He is just a lowly porter. He lives by licking the arses of others. Would he dare to play tricks?"

His companions nodded, thinking along the same line as the long-nosed man. Though Rahni looked unconvinced.

"The poor are no different than dogs," said Hemp, his face still had his usual smile. "You just need to show them a bone, and they will wiggle their tails to amuse you, and lick your feet to please you."

The group snickered, staring at Qin Meng's back. They couldn't see his expression, but they knew he heard what they had said just now. After all, the surrounding was too quiet—except for the occasional roars of the monsters—even the sound of their walking could be heard, much less their voices, even if they were just whispering.

They continued as they chattered among themselves, not paying any attention to the porter. Soon two hours passed. Hemp frowned and said, "We must be already there."

"Yes," Rahni said, then narrowed her eyes. "Where is the porter?"

"Huh?" Others also peered ahead of them, noticing Qin Meng had vanished. They were too busy talking, previously, and continued to walk in the same direction Qin Meng was leading them, not realizing their guide had already disappeared.

"Did he get eaten by some beast when we weren't paying attention?" said the long-nosed man after a brief silence.

"You know what," Ligh chuckled, "you might be right."

The group burst into a peal of laughter.

"I don't think he was eaten by a beast," interrupted Rahni. "Do you think a beast can be so stealthy that we failed to notice it? No shout for help, no sign of struggle. Tell me. Is it possible?"

"Then what could have—" Hemp trailed off, his eyes turning wide in terror, his body trembled, and his face grew pale. Others appeared confused by his abrupt change, so they followed his gaze and their legs almost collapsed in sheer terror.

"Ho—how could the—there be so many of them?" The third—unnamed—man of the group voiced. Then he turned in another direction and realized that they had been surrounded from all sides. There was no way to escape.

Over a hundred blue eyes peered at them from the darkness.

"I—it must be that porter!" said the long-nosed man. "I will skin him alive! This bastard!"

"It isn't a time to talk about it," said Rahni. "Let's try to make it out of here alive. Then we can think about other matters."

They nodded and stood against each other's backs.

'Roar!'

The beasts roared and then leaped towards the group from the shadows with greedy eyes as saliva dripped from their ugly mouths.

"Aurataurs!" the group screamed in terror. Their blue eyes shone in darkness like the pupil of a devil; their long fangs glinted with an evil metallic luster; but their bodies weren't much different from ordinary dogs, just about two times larger.

"I—I heard th—they love to eat hu—human flesh," said Ligh with her trembling voice. "Th—they are going to eat us!"

Others were also freaking out. Aurataurs were terrible creatures. None of them had the strength to take down so many beasts.

"Attack or we're going to die!" Rahni shouted, unsheathing her sword, and dashed towards one of the beasts. Her velocity reached an eye-popping rate, impossible for an ordinary human to achieve, but she was no ordinary human.

Second to rush was none other than Hemp. He took a step forward and a mysterious pattern sizzled on his wrist, and then his entire body transformed, enlarging. Then leaves and branches expanded from his body. His entire frame shaped into a tree monster.

"After I kill these beasts," shouted the long-nosed man, and his hands set aflame, "I'm going to hunt down that bastard!"

Ligh gritted her teeth and clenched her fist and then released it, nails extending, growing over ten centimeters, dazzling, as if they were made of diamond. Her speed increased to a great degree.

The last unnamed man was a little slow, and when he came to his senses, one Aurataur had already lunged at him. The boy tried to dodge but the claw of the beast still grazed past him. He grunted as the blood dripped from his hand, but didn't let himself fall. He jumped back and eyed into the Aurataur's pupils. He lifted his hand and then shouted, "Stop!"

And the beast stopped.

The lad pulled the dagger out of his sleeve and plunged into the beast's right eye. The monster roared furiously and tumbled back, but the boy didn't let go of the dagger. He pulled it out and punctured its another eye.

'Slash!'

Rahni hacked at the beast with her sword, slicing its head clean from the body. No beast could match her speed. In just a matter of a few minutes, she had taken down over five monsters; but as the time passed, beads of sweat gathered over her temple.

The long-nosed man punched towards the nearing beast and a ball of fire discharged from his fist, plunging the creature on the ground like a sack of rice. It wriggled for a moment and then stopped. Dead.

Hemp waved his hands that had transformed into branches and smashed the dashing monster into a bloody pulp. His killing rate wasn't any slower than Rahni. Though as the time passed, he started to lose his momentum—if the beasts continued to fight frantically, as they were doing now, it wouldn't take long for the situation to turn dangerous.

"We can't beat all of them," Rahni shouted. Her breath had become rough, her face turning red. "We need to escape."

"I agree." Ligh pierced her nails into the neck of the beast. The blood sprayed into the air as the creature crumpled lifelessly, but another dashed towards her. "There is no end to them."

"Alright," Hemp said. "Let's get out of this god-damned place."

"I'm going to use my Illuminous Glyphtor," Rahni gritted her teeth. "Aurataurs live in darkness and they fear light; it would give us time to escape."

'Slash!'

Another beast fell.

Rahni took out a paper that was covered in weird patterns and crushed it inside her hand. Then the light burst out of it.

"Run!'' She dashed out of the encirclement of the beasts and others followed from behind. The monsters were dazzled and terrified when the burst of light appeared. They backed away as they hated the light most. It took around five minutes for the dazzle to fade. Enough time for people with super strength to escape.

After the ceaseless sprint of half an hour, the group slumped on the ground, covered in sweat and blood and dirt. Huffing and puffing, faces red. Though none of them were injured critically.

"We refused to give him the agreed number of gems," Hemp said when his breathing became even. "So he stole everything from us, and almost killed us. What a ruthless bastard."

"Don't let me find him, or he will die a miserable death!" said the long-nosed man, grounding his teeth.

"Screw all of this," interrupted Ligh. "I want to go home."

"Who would have thought our first experience would be like this," sighed the mind-controller guy.

"We escaped this crisis only because of Rahni," said Hemp. Others nodded, looking at the girl beside them gratefully.

***

It was already evening when the group reached Dalhu. All of them were covered in dirt and bruises. Although only the mind-controller had a wound on his hand.

They exchanged glances and sighed. They were embarrassed more than furious. They could never tell such an experience to others, or they would become a laughing stock of Dalhu.

"I'm going to the academy," said Hemp with a tired voice. "Anyone wants to tag along?"

The long-nosed man and the—unnamed—mind-controller agreed as they also had some work in the academy.

Ligh and Rahni had their own matters to attend to, so they parted ways with others.

The duo walked together for about fifteen minutes on the clean, concreted, and wide roads, passing towering buildings—and when the roads started to get narrow and filled with pits and buildings started to become small, they also separated.

Now Rahni sauntered alone towards the eastern district of the town. Rich people called it the Shithole of Dalhu. Not a bad name for a slum. Shithole, indeed, it was.

The stench of the sewer made her frown in disgust. The rubbish lay on either side of the narrow alley. She placed a kerchief over her face as she passed a drunk beggar, who murmured some kind of curse.

She spotted two children half-naked staring at her eagerly with their wide, innocent, and hopeful eyes. Maybe expecting something. But became disappointed when she passed them without batting an eye. Though the disappointment didn't last long as they rushed into another alley, laughing. How could these people smile in such a condition? She always wondered. Not that she sympathized with them or anything. That was the way of the world. If there were rich, there would be poor. Always.

After walking for half an hour, she arrived at a narrow and deserted alley.

"How was it?"

Rahni lifted her gaze and found Qin Meng standing in front of her. He was tall, face full of confidence, and his previous nervousness had vanished. His dirt-covered face was now clean and extremely handsome, and his blue eyes were like a deep ocean.

"I used the Glyphtor that you gave me to save them. They were furious, but I don't think they would dare to investigate you. It would ruin their image if others knew what happened in Misty Pine Grove," replied Rahni.

Qin Meng nodded and handed a bag to her. "I have already taken half of the gems."

Rahni looked at Qin Meng curiously and asked, "Why do you rob others? You are a Glyphteer—"

"See you," Qin Meng interrupted her and strolled away.

He could feel her gaze on his back, but he didn't care about it, as at this moment a voice sounded in his head. "The time is up. All the participants need to exit the Illusion."

Then, his surroundings started to become distorted, growing illusory; in the end everything vanished. What greeted him was a completely different world.