Chapter 9

Ssshhhhh!
His body began to sink at a faster and faster rate, and the pressure of the increasingly strong wind made it impossible for Ming Hu to open his mouth, and he thought about the rapidly changing background in front of him.
“Oh, my God!
I thought I was alive. I never thought it would come to this. I just sighed. Even though it’s a game, I never expected to experience a crash.
“Whoa.
Ming Hu sighed deeply and prepared himself.
Chin! Sigh
But then I heard something snap and the background in front of me started to change from fast to slow.
Puddle
And just when the background in front of his eyes was completely fixed, it began to change again with a cracking sound. After swallowing hard for a moment, Ming Hu let out a small sigh and closed his eyes as the background changed again with the wind. It was then.
Puck!
[You have suffered a serious injury to your leg. Your movement speed is reduced by 70%].
“…?”
With a dull thud, the message appeared, and Ming Hu realized that the wind that had been pressing down on him was gone, and that the void below was no longer empty. Closing his eyes and preparing himself, Ming Hu soon realized that something was wrong.
Sigh
Ming Hu slowly opened his eyes. He looked around, seeing a still background in front of him.
κΈ°κΈ
Looking around, Ming Hu wordlessly swallowed his saliva.
“…”
He couldn’t say anything. He found himself on a ledge that jutted out from the cliff, with an endless drop below. Ming Hu quickly checked his life force.
“…250.
Sigh
Ming Hu looked up. There was a fairly large tree jutting out of the cliff and broken. It was clear that the tree had saved his life.
“Phew…!”
Ming Hu breathed a sigh of relief that he was still alive, then frowned at the thought that flashed through his mind.
“… How do I get out of here?”
I loved living here, but I had no idea how to get out of it.
Sigh
Ming Hu looked upward. It was impossible to climb. He looked down: a cliff with no end in sight.
“…”
Ming Hu looked up again and wondered what to do about the situation. No, to be honest, there was nothing to worry about. He knew how to get out of this situation. Jump back down, die, and return to the village.
Sigh
“Ha…”
Looking down again, Ming Hu sighed at the endless emptiness.
“It’s a game. It’s an experience. If it’s not a game, when are you going to do it?”
It was definitely not an experience he wanted to have, but Ming Hu gingerly turned and rose to his feet, only to be stopped dead in his tracks.
“…!”
There was a hole in the back that I couldn’t see from my back. The hole was fairly small, but I thought I could get through it if I got down on my stomach.
Sigh
Ming Hu looked down, then quickly looked up and looked at the hole. Ming Hu cautiously crouched down and began to move forward.
“That’s pretty wide, huh?
Once inside, Ming Hu still had to crouch down, but he smiled at how large the space was compared to the entrance and continued on his way. That was the moment.
[Last resort].
When he was fully inside, an unidentified message appeared. Ming Hu stopped crawling and read the message.
“…?”
After checking his messages for a while, Ming Hu shook his head. He had a feeling. The problem was, he couldn’t articulate it.
“Let’s go.”
Ming Hu muttered something to himself and started forward again.
“There’s something!
I wandered in, but the entrance to this place was in a ridiculous location. Add to that the “last chance” message, and it was clear that there was something to this place.
* * * * *
“…Ha.
After crawling for a long time past the entrance, Ming Hu sighed inwardly. At first, he was curious and excited to find something, but no matter how hard he crawled, there was only pale darkness ahead.
Swoosh
But Ming Hu, whose curiosity and excitement had long since faded, could only continue to crawl along, hoping that there was a path ahead.
“…huh?
Looking off into the distance, Ming Hu could only shake his head.
“I feel stuck…
It was dark, so it was hard to see, but it looked like the road up ahead was blocked.
‘I don’t think so…’
The anxiety was overwhelming, but Ming Hu shook his head and kept crawling.
‘…’
But Ming Hu’s anxiety began to grow as he approached, the closer he got, the more obvious it became, and soon he could see the wall that ended the path, though it was hard to see in the dim light.
“…No.”
Ming Hu stretched out his hand in front of him, thinking it was his eyes that were wrong, that he was seeing strangely in the dark.
Chin!
“No…”
But the hardness of his outstretched hand didn’t lie, and Ming Hu muttered in a frozen voice.
“…”
Ming Hu said nothing for a moment, just stared at the wall and thought.
“No way, they put the entrance in the middle of a cliff. And you’ve got a nice little message saying it’s your last chance!
Ming Hu didn’t think it was possible that all of them had been built simply to screw with anyone who would come here, but the wall in front of him made him think that, in the back of his mind, they had.
“That can’t be right, there must be some kind of device!
thump thump thump
Ming Hu pounded on the wall in disbelief, searching for some kind of device. That’s when it happened.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle
The wall began to slowly move with a strange noise.
“…”
Ming Hu looked at the slowly moving wall, then at his fist pounding against it. He hadn’t expected it to be a real device.
Siaaag
Soon, the wall disappeared completely and an exit appeared. From the exit, a blue light streamed in, dispelling the pale darkness.
“…”
The curiosity and excitement that had faded had grown back and filled his entire body. Ming Hu slowly began to crawl forward.
“It came out…”
Soon, Ming Hu was able to emerge into a fairly large space where he no longer had to crouch down. Once he was in the open, he stood up and looked around.
The interior was bathed in blue light and had a mesmerizingly beautiful and mysterious backdrop, with a book floating in the center of it all.
Jumbled
Ming Hu nervously walked toward the book.
“Whoa…”
Soon reaching the book, Ming Hu let out a short breath and reached for the still floating book.
[This is a belonging item, would you like to acquire it?]
Ming Hu hesitated for a moment at the message that popped up as his hand touched the book, but then picked it up as if he didn’t need to think about it.
[Skillbook: You have mastered the Source of Power].
Ssshhhhhh!
The moment he picked up the book, the blue light inside began to fluctuate with the message of mastery. Ming Hu was unnerved by the sudden fluctuation of the blue light, but was soon mesmerized by its beauty.
Grunt
Then one of the walls inside began to move with a sound. Ming Hu came to his senses and looked at the moving wall.
Grrrrr!
Soon, the wall disappeared completely, revealing a hidden space. A grayish crystal ball floated in the hidden space.
Ssshhhhhh!
Just then, the blue light that had been pulsating inside began to move at a rapid pace, absorbing into the crystal ball.
“…”
Ming Hu looked at the crystal ball, which glowed from gray to increasingly blue as it absorbed the endless blue light, and then at the skillbook in his hand.
“The source of power…
I haven’t gotten the skill, so I don’t know exactly what it is yet. But I had a very strong feeling that it was going to be a great skill.
Swoosh!
Soon the crystal ball, glowing with blue light, burst into a burst of light and then began to emit a steady stream of light.
Jumbled
Ming Hu put the skillbook back into his inventory and walked over to the crystal ball, his eyes filled with anticipation.
“What is this?
Ming Hu touched the floating crystal ball, his hands trembling with the excitement and curiosity that filled his entire body. It was then.
Saaaaaahhh
A tremendous burst of light erupted from the crystal ball and enveloped Ming Hu. As the light enveloped his entire body and filled his vision, Ming Hu felt a great sense of anticipation, knowing that something special was about to happen.
“…?”
But as the light slowly faded, Ming Hu couldn’t help but wonder at what he was seeing. Something extraordinary had happened.
“It’s a town, right?”
Ming Hu muttered to himself as he took in his familiar surroundings, the townscape.