Chapter 26: Deduct 0.5 Points to Keep You from Being Too Proud
The feeling of weightlessness rushed in, accompanied by the howling wind in his ears.
Rast adjusted his posture in mid-air, and then the cold touch of seawater quickly engulfed him.
At the moment he made contact with the water’s surface, Rast felt that both his hands and feet lost sensation simultaneously.
He had practiced swimming in the past cycles; although he wasn’t as proficient as with his shooting skills, he was at least competent… However, the turbulent sea in the evening could scare even the most skilled fishermen from entering the water, and Rast’s physical condition was indeed not very good.
The impact from entering the water from several dozen meters up shattered his metacarpals and metatarsals, and once the serum’s effects wore off, the side effects and aftereffects of the beast medicine began to surface.
Weakness surged through his limbs and bones, his organs were in excruciating pain; if it weren’t for Hiltina’s earlier use of a healing crystal to extend his life, Rast might have already succumbed to organ failure due to the aftereffects of the medicine.
He had lost the strength to struggle, his body continuously sinking, as though falling into an abyss.
The light in his vision gradually dimmed.
The glimmering surface of the sea was now out of sight, and only a hint of dim light penetrated the pitch-black water, illuminating this silent world.
The seawater in late autumn was extremely cold, chilling to the bone.
All of Rast’s senses were rapidly fading, then dissolving into the void.
In past cycles, Rast had died many times, but compared to being burnt to ashes by molten iron in a steel mill, being devoured by the Iron Crosses, or exploding from taking too much beast medicine, drowning in the sea was a relatively uncommon and peaceful way to d*e.
But just then, Rast felt a slender hand grasp his collar, pulling him toward the sea’s surface.
A few seconds later, Rast heard the sound of waves again and saw the sky stained crimson by the setting sun.
“What time is it now?”
Someone whispered in his ear.
“What?” Rast’s consciousness was still a bit hazy.
“Do you remember what you said to me when we first met? Something about an eight-point dancing troupe’s black silk lead dancer and beautiful councilors.”
“At that time, you said my appearance before makeup was on par with theirs, so how about now?”
Hiltina’s voice echoed amidst the sound of the waves: “What time is it now?”
Rast blinked, the blurred water mist faded, and only then did he clearly see the girl in front of him.
The seawater washed away the disguise she had used to conceal her identity, revealing her true appearance. The intricately woven princess braid was undone, and chestnut strands clung to her cheeks, dripping water.
At that moment, Rast remembered why he felt an inexplicable familiarity when he first met Hiltina… He had seen this beautiful girl on the cover page of the design draft for the “Snow Moon Emblem” game.
That design draft did not label her name, only a future title—
“Silver Sword Saint.”
In the distance, a roar was heard; it was a timed bomb set by Hiltina that had exploded. The first thing to shatter in the explosion was the steam boiler, and the leaking high-temperature steam ignited the tons of gunpowder scattered across the harbor area, along with coal and nitroglycerin.
A towering fire and wind shot up into the sky, engulfing the entire port area. For the Iron Crosses within the harbor, it was a hellish inferno, but from a distance, it appeared like the sun rising and setting in the twilight, with the burning Deep Blue Harbor at its center.
Hiltina stood in the firelight like a sunrise, beside the shimmering surface of the water, radiant and indescribable.
The city was reflected in her eyes, resembling a dim yellow sea of stars.
“9.5 points.” Rast murmured, his voice swallowed by the explosion’s roar.
Deducting 0.5 points is to keep you from being too proud.
A few seconds later, the shockwave from the harbor explosion reached the sea, stirring up giant waves nearly ten meters high.
Hiltina held onto Rast’s arm, guiding him through the tumultuous waves, never letting go no matter how fierce the surge was.
It was unclear how much time passed, but eventually, the raging waves slowly calmed, and the sea returned to tranquility.
Hiltina found a piece of driftwood on the surface of the sea, and Rast, whose bones were crushed with half of his skeletal structure shattered and whose body was losing warmth in the cold water, lay on it. She kept the driftwood balanced in the water.
Rast’s expression stiffened: “I just feel like the script for the male and female leads is a bit off.”
“If you want to follow a movie script, you might be disappointed.” Hiltina smiled: “I’m not as weak as the male lead in a movie; I won’t just lose strength and sink into the sea like that.”
She gazed toward the still-burning Deep Blue Harbor: “So have we succeeded…”
“We successfully altered a world line, preventing the Evil God from descending upon Deep Blue Harbor.”
Rast shook his head slightly: “The trend of history isn’t so easily changed.”
“The fisherman happened to fish out the Evil God’s sculpture, and all this is not merely coincidence; it’s already been secretly predetermined by fate.”
“Our actions, at best, only slightly deviated from a world line long since determined by great figures.”
“Even so, it’s still an extraordinary deed.”
Hiltina smiled: “In the echoes of the Night World I’ve entered, this is the first time history has been rewritten.”
The two drifted aimlessly on the sea, chatting idly. Their watches had been damaged and lost during their escape, so no one knew how long they would continue to drift.
In the distance, the sun gradually sank below the surface, half the sun and its reflection forming a complete circle, the last glow burning the clouds in the sky into flames.
When the last wisp of sunset faded from Hiltina’s eyes, night fell.
The gauzy night enveloped Rast and the entire shattered world gently, like a night sky.
In the increasingly thick night and his fading consciousness, Rast saw lines of deep blue text flashing through his mind.
[Night World Mission — “Echoes of Deep Blue Harbor” Completed]
[Current Mission Rating: EX]
[New Night World compatible traveler detected, generating new information panel and traveler identity.]
[Your Arcana Sequence Length: “Tower”]
[Your Position Level: 19 (First Tier)]
[Matching “Night Blade” for the new traveler based on your soul source and mental landscape.]
[Detected that “Night Blade” is already bound in the traveler’s mental world, matching process interrupted, reverting to reshaping the old Night Blade.]
[Night Blade reshaping completed.]
[Your Night Blade: “Library of Fools”]
[Mission rewards distributed.]
[Since your level has reached the limit of the current tier, sequence experience has been stored.]
[You have acquired the inherent skill: “Heart of Iron.”]
[You have obtained the Emblem Armor: “Iron Pattern Moon,” “Seven Layers of Vision.”]
(End of Chapter)
