Chapter 961: Perhaps We Are Not Enemies
After confirming the arrow, I instinctively looked in the direction it had been shot from.
In the dense woods, beneath the cover of tree trunks, I quickly spotted a figure that swiftly vanished into the trees.
“Dynamic vision is impressive… Is this what elf vision is like?”
I involuntarily remarked, then pulled the arrow from the tree beside me.
I noticed that during this time, I seemed to have a peculiar connection with arrows.
Previously, the fallen elf had been shot by Ming Xueming in the Ice Snow Throne secret realm, and it was the same here.
The other party had run off; I didn’t know if it was to withdraw or to wait for the next opportunity to ambush.
Taking advantage of this pause, I noticed that I was currently standing on a side branch of a tree, even though it was a side branch, it was quite thick, sturdy enough for an adult elf to stand on.
This was also related to the fact that elves weigh very little.
Next to me was the vine bow I carried, and a woven quiver. There weren’t many arrows, just three or four, and from the marks on them, they appeared to be arrows that had been used repeatedly.
“More arrows?”
As I stored this arrow in my quiver, another arrow shot toward me.
To ensure the arrows wouldn’t be wasted, the angle at which the other party shot wouldn’t show an elevation angle, and they would carefully consider their target to ensure that even if they missed, the arrow would land nearby.
After the second arrow was shot, I had already gathered a lot of information. From the game description, the elf opposite me was likely from a resource or manpower-depleted elf tribal colony; otherwise, there would be no need to be so… frugal when facing an enemy.
“The restrictions of the game are too great,” I analyzed with a frown.
At this moment, my character was even less useful than a clone, like being separated by a barrier. Although for a game, the freedom had been maximized, the framework of the character game was still too limiting for me.
At this moment, I lost track of the position of that attacker again.
If I had Mental Power, if the power of my Five Senses Body Cultivation could reach my character, if I could interfere with Extraordinary Power for the most basic reconnaissance, I wouldn’t be in such a predicament.
But there was no ‘if’, especially since the one controlling the character was just a clone!
It was time to try real skills!
At this moment, memories of past battles and combat consciousness echoed in my mind, crushing… crushing… still crushing.
Fighting and winning is a process of oppression; when you have no way to suppress your opponent, winning is impossible.
When you defeat your opponent with an absolute disadvantage, trying to refute this by doing so may lead you to wonder at the moment of victory what exactly you used to crush your opponent.
Maybe it was caution, maybe calculation, maybe prediction, or even luck.
As the many clones I had, experiences of fighting as a goalkeeper in the arena, and the memories of failures rolled in my mind, a uniquely shaped spear suddenly emerged from my side.
There were no flashy spells, no Extraordinary Power, not even Body Techniques—just pure combat skills combined with an exceptionally flexible body, instinctively reacting under my bodily reflexes, quickly disarming the hand holding that spear.
When the other party realized they were no match, they had already lost all means of retreat.
With a decisive strike, I sent the elf, who had no point of leverage in mid-air, crashing down.
I followed closely behind, using my agile body to land softly at nearly the same time as the helplessly falling elf.
“Stop struggling.” I held the spear against her throat, seeing a mix of fear and confusion in her eyes.
I also noticed that my words had been translated into a language I had never learned.
This should be the language of the Verdant Forest elves.
“Pah! You damned outsiders! Invading our people’s bodies! You want to violate our kin to satisfy your lowly, filthy, dirty desires! Using our elf bodies…!”
“……” As I listened to her words, they translated into a language I could comprehend in this game world.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure whether it was a translation issue or an issue with the elf language; even under the threat of death, the language spoken didn’t even need to be censored to that degree.
“Have you finished cursing? I have no ill intentions; can we converse?” I asked.
I could naturally guess why she hated me so much; her words had already indicated she recognized my identity as a player.
As for how she guessed, perhaps it was some kind of detection device or simply my actions when I first arrived that betrayed me.
But I leaned more toward the latter.
After all, the former detection of players wasn’t even possible in the Main World.
Of course, this is under the premise that the Extraordinary doesn’t act.
“You! You… how can you say such a thing! No ill intentions… if you have no ill intentions, then return my teammate to me! Aier is dead! You are not Aier! You are not… umm…”
Before she could finish her sentence, I struck a heavy blow to the back of her neck.
“It hurts… hey…”
“You need to calm down,” I said.
I wasn’t surprised that my strike didn’t knock her out.
I can kill, but not killing and merely knocking someone out is somewhat difficult; it’s perfectly normal to have differences between races.
A few more hits should suffice.
Looking at the already unconscious elf, a glimmer shone in my eyes.
Then what should I do next?
This game had no guidance at all, but such situations were already familiar to other players, and they referred to this as immersion, freedom, and authenticity.
After some thought, I decided to look for something to bind this elf.
Not to sell her, but to prevent her from escaping or committing suicide.
I wanted to understand more about this world through this means and reach a cooperation with the elves of this world.
After all, I was currently just a player, isolated from the Extraordinary Power I could control, and I couldn’t draw summoning runes related to my original body.
Therefore, I needed to draw on the power of the elves.
Elves themselves are a race that is attuned to Extraordinary Power; although they are not the starting Extraordinary race, they undoubtedly receive blessings of extraordinary power during their growth.
Moreover, this elf seemed to be a branch of the larger elf system known as Forest Elves; I wasn’t sure what specific kind of elf she was, but calling her a Forest Elf wasn’t wrong.
After searching, I couldn’t find any binding ropes, so I made do with tearing down some vines hanging from the trees in the woods to substitute.
Though it was a plant, it had excellent toughness.
To prevent any accidents, I wrapped it around her numerous times, binding her hands and feet as tightly as a dumpling.
After doing all this, I leaned against a large tree to take a break; after all, this body was not my original body, and it fatigued quickly, with sensations feeling very real.
When I had time to relax, I also began exploring the various functions of this game.
I discovered that this game also had an identification function, but the information was very sparse, seeming to be only a recognition type of identification.
For example, the bow I carried only had a name; the rest was a combat strength rating and a few trivial remarks.
It was something like this:
[Weapon: Hard Vine Bow]
[Combat Strength Rating: 5]
[Remarks: Initial equipment of the elves; any hot weapon can overshadow its combat strength, not recommended for equipping.]
The notes had more information than the attributes.
From the remarks, one could see how the game’s world looked down on such weapons.
Perhaps this was the sorrow of the elves?
The reason this world had not been completely conquered was likely due to the method of soul material harvesting through population exploitation.
Letting the corresponding combat strength enter the corresponding world layer, so the world I randomly ended up in was likely not a coincidence.
I vaguely remembered entering this game seemed to come with combat strength limitations; if exceeded, one could not enter.
Otherwise, uncontrolled average players wouldn’t take long to wipe out all the elves in this world.
In a sense, the game world had a good understanding of “sustainable development.”
However… I still had ample patience for this new world; no matter how the elves fought back, it was still a small matter—not to the point of confronting these elves with: “drinking no wine but still facing punishment.”
After waiting for a while, I finally became familiar with this world, this character, and the identity I was portraying as.
Aier, the name that the previous elf had just called “my” name, was that of the original owner.
Unfortunately, the character could not inherit the original owner’s memories.
After all, at the moment of becoming a player, from the soul material perspective, it no longer belonged to that individual life; it became a medium for the player to take over this body.
Even the general Resurrection Spell couldn’t revive it.
Or rather, conventional Resurrection Spells wouldn’t be effective; it required a fundamental reshaping of life.
Soul material reshaping… even reincarnation rebirth spells are challenging; while it’s not impossible, it’s super troublesome to reshape.
It would be better for me to use Soul Drawing to reshape it as a life of soul.
Elves’ self-healing ability is far stronger than that of humans; although this elf once existed, it was truly temporary.
Now she had awakened; upon realizing her situation, she immediately pretended to faint again, thinking I hadn’t noticed, but for me, such small actions were too obvious.
After all, it was merely the weak me of the game character, not the me controlling it.
“Get up; I know you’re awake. I won’t kill you.”
This familiar voice reached the elf’s ears, causing a solitary tear to flow down.
After all, not long ago, that kin, comrade, and friend she wished to communicate with using that voice… was no longer alive.
“Not killing me… so you plan to sell me, let me be humiliated, and slowly die under your torment? Have the guts to kill me now!”
“Do you know the concept of players? How do you refer to our group?” I asked.
When I asked, my words didn’t contain any censored terms; it seemed in the face of such a world, those Game Architects were even too disdainful to hide this information.
“I certainly know! You should be called demons!”
“I’ve seen demons; their methods are more brutal than players, but if we’re talking about disgust, players are certainly no less than demons.”
With my words, this elf understood again; after all, what I said was somewhat… unconventional?
But players do seem to be like that; the words that come out of their mouths are perplexing to elves.
“I am not someone from the game world; I merely borrowed their means of descent to arrive in this world. I can save your world.”
“What you say is the grudge, even a newly born elven child wouldn’t believe it!” The elf scoffed at me, as if I had told a joke, her tone filled with disdain.
“Well, you should also see that I’m different from other players, right? At least I didn’t kill you, did I?”
“Maybe you’re brewing a bigger conspiracy!”
“Then how about you take me to your tribe? Once we reach your home ground, you should be able to witness my sincerity, right?” I continued to ask.
“Hmph! Revealing your motives… you just want to find out the location of our tribe. You will die! I have already made preparations for death; what you’ll ultimately gain will only be a corpse!”
“I’m not one of those elves who, in order to survive, give up their nobility and dignity!”
Hearing her words, I suddenly realized some of my previous thoughts had been somewhat naive; the trust between us seemed to be more shattered than I had expected.
And at that moment, I actually had no means to prove anything.
The atmosphere became heavy; I had no further questions to ask, and the other party didn’t seem inclined to talk to me.
“The power of the game world far exceeds your elves’ imagination; they do have the ability to capture all of you; it’s just that they don’t do so. All that seems evenly matched is a façade created through continuous harvesting.” At this moment, I took the initiative to break the silence and spoke to myself.
Regardless of whether the elf in front of me could understand, she was already bound hand and foot, her weapon had been disarmed, and she had to listen, whether she wanted to or not.
“The game world, those enemies invading you, didn’t just invade your one world, but many worlds.”
“But not every world is one they can afford to provoke; at this stage, this game world has created a powerful world, causing their own world to fall into a huge crisis, and I am one of the factors causing this crisis.”
“I need to add trouble for this world, and disrupting the world they are invading is enough to give them headaches.”
“I am descending into this world for the first time through their means; perhaps this method is not what you expect, but to reach your world, I can only use this means.”
“Or perhaps we are not enemies. If those doomed to sacrifice perish and it brings hope to this world, will you choose to persist in your stubbornness, watching the world gradually perish, or will you take that hope gained through the sacrifice of your kin to fight back against these wretched players?”
