HBWnovel Chapter 9 Divine Mark
Chapter 9 Divine Mark
"There are divine marks there." When Hil said this, her tail unconsciously tucked in, and a clear fear flashed in her sky-blue eyes.
"Divine marks? What are those?"
Hilu frowned and thought for a moment, seemingly unsure how to describe it: "It's... it's a light that eats people. The priest said it's a punishment from the goddess, and touching it will kill you."
"Are there really gods?" Jiang Yuan asked.
Hilu looked at him strangely: "Yes."
"Take me there and let me see," Jiang Yuan said.
Hilu hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Then, with a nimble leap, she landed beside the gray-scaled lizard's massive head, pressed her small hand on the dagger, stirred it a few times, and then made a clean cut along the seams of its scales.
She placed the dagger aside, and her fair hand reached into the wound, groping for something.
After this monster died, its blood lost its corrosive properties? What is she doing?
Jiang Yuan, who had never even killed a chicken, felt somewhat uncomfortable watching this.
Soon, the girl pulled her hand back, clutching something in her palm.
It is an irregularly shaped lump, only slightly larger than a thumb joint, with a translucent grayish-brown surface and a faint, slowly flowing dark yellow filament inside, as if it were alive.
With each surge of light, a layer of dark patterns appeared on the surface of the bead, faintly exuding an earthy smell.
"Here, take this." Hilu handed over the bead, her hands still stained with green blood.
Jiang Yuan took a step back: "What is this?"
"A magic core." Hillu pushed it forward again. "You killed this big guy, here you go."
Jiang Yuan's heart tightened, but his expression remained unchanged: "Didn't you kill this demonic beast?"
Hil tilted her head, her cat ears tilting slightly as well, her expression serious.
"Hilu delivered the final blow, but without your arrows piercing its belly, I wouldn't have been able to defeat it at all."
Her sky-blue eyes were innocent and pure. "So you killed this big guy."
Jiang Yuan stared at the girl in front of him: "You saw it?"
He confirmed again that perhaps the girl only saw the crossbow in his hand, which was why she said that.
"Yes, I saw it." Hilu nodded, her ears bobbing up and down.
"You just disappeared suddenly, just like that, vanished in a flash. Your ability is amazing, even better than Hilu's stealth."
"You can too—" Jiang Yuan didn't finish his sentence before the petite figure in front of him suddenly faded away.
The outline gradually lost its boundaries, until finally only a very faint transparent trace remained.
Has it become invisible? Jiang Yuan's fingers, holding the crossbow, tightened slightly involuntarily.
If this cat-eared girl wanted to attack him, he probably wouldn't be able to defend himself at all.
Hil reappeared, her cat tail swaying lightly behind her: "How about it? Let Hil see your abilities too."
Jiang Yuan said, "My ability has conditions for use; I can't use it casually."
"Oh," Hilu responded, "It can even completely mask scents; it's much better than my stealth."
It seems the girl had no idea what happened with my sudden disappearance… Jiang Yuan was trying to figure out how to smooth things over when a small, fluorescent blue text suddenly popped up in front of him:
[Absorbable magical energy detected - Extract?]
He froze for a moment.
There was no reaction when I first got the Gloom Grass, but this thing caught the finger bone's attention?
"Yes!" Jiang Yuan silently recited in his heart.
A sudden warmth surged up from my finger bones, as if the bones themselves were burning.
Immediately afterwards, he felt the magic core in his hand become lighter, the translucent grayish-brown outer shell gradually lost its luster, and the dark yellow light filaments sealed inside flowed faster, as if something was drawing them away from the inside.
Jiang Yuan abruptly shoved the hand holding the magic core into his pocket.
The warmth in his palm quickly dissipated, the weight lessened, and finally his fingers grasped nothing.
Immediately afterwards, a warm current seemed to surge out from the little finger of my left hand, flowing up my arm to my shoulder, and then down my spine to my limbs.
It felt like countless tiny warm currents were flowing through my veins.
Wherever the heat flowed, the muscles there trembled slightly, and a very subtle tingling sensation arose deep within the bones.
Jiang Yuan's spirits lifted.
It felt like I had slept for a whole day and night after pulling several all-nighters, and when I woke up and washed my face with cold water, the deep blue light in my vision was even brighter than before.
He froze in place.
Hilu looked at him strangely: "Human, what's wrong with you?"
"...Nothing, my name is Jiang Yuan." Jiang Yuan came to his senses and pulled his hand out of his pocket.
My fingers were empty; the magic core had completely vanished.
He suppressed his shock and said to Hilu, "Take me to the place you mentioned earlier."
"Oh, Jiangyuan..." Xilu murmured as she got up and walked towards a narrow passage at the back of the cave.
She also wanted to leave this place.
The human in front of her is giving her something delicious, so it can't be bad.
My father also said that humans are the most cunning, so perhaps he can think of a way to take her out.
With this in mind, and having recovered quite a bit after eating, she walked briskly ahead, her fluffy, white tail swaying gently behind her.
Jiang Yuan followed behind, his gaze fixed on the fluffy cat tail swaying back and forth, but his mind was not on it at all.
He had only taken a few steps when he realized something was wrong.
The feeling of stepping on the stone ground has changed.
In the past, I had to consciously control every step I took, worried that stepping too hard would make a sound.
Now that my feet are landing, my muscles seem to automatically control the force, without any abrupt stops. It's as if I've lost several kilograms out of thin air, and my body's response is a beat faster than my brain's.
He stopped and tried to jump lightly on the spot. He landed silently, without the hard impact he used to feel.
He let out a soft breath and continued walking forward, whereupon a fluorescent blue panel popped up in front of him again.
[Name: Gangwon]
Occupation: None
[Level: 0→5]
[Abilities: Gate to Another Realm, ???, --]
[Magic Power: 42/60]
Jiang Yuan was shocked. His level jumped directly from 0 to 5.
Could it be that magical energy is my "experience points," and I can level up by absorbing magical cores?
A second-tier magical beast's magic core, though its value is unknown, was enough to instantly upgrade him, a level 0 blank slate, to level 5.
He clenched his fist, and when he tightened his knuckles, the force felt much stronger than before.
From a frail college student to someone who has just touched the threshold of becoming a "little superman," all that's separated them by a single magic core.
He then noticed something unusual about the ability section.
Behind that unknown ability filled with question marks, a faint glow appeared, and he could sense something being nurtured within it.
"This is a new ability," Jiang Yuan said, seemingly sensing something.
This is a new ability that will be awakened as his level increases. What kind of effect will it have?
He felt his body become lighter, calmed his excitement, and brought his attention back to the present moment.
Now is not the time to be immersed in change. He can't get out of this cave yet, and he doesn't know what else awaits him.
Jiang Yuan followed behind Xilu, asking as they walked, "You said that once that big guy is dead, this area will be safe. What do you mean?"
"Yes, this is its territory," Hilu nodded. "The other big guys all have their own territories and won't just wander in unless they find that one of the big guys is dead."
"What will happen if they find out?"
Hilu paused, her cat tail drooping slightly: "Then other big guys will come over, and it won't be safe here."
Is this equivalent to the territory of a mini-boss? Jiang Yuan asked, "Are there other big guys in the cave? Have you seen them?"
Hilu lowered her voice: "Yes, more than one. I sneaked over to check, but I didn't dare go any further than halfway there. You can smell those big guys from a great distance." She sniffed.
Jiang Yuan paused for two seconds: "How does the other big guy compare to this one-eyed lizard?"
"Hilu thinks the one-eyed giant is the easiest to deal with." Hilu's cat ears drooped down a little.
This is like a copy... This thought suddenly popped into Jiang Yuan's mind.
The Grayscale Lizard is the first boss monster in the dungeon. There are even stronger monsters lurking behind it, and the further you go in, the harder it gets to fight, and the closer you get to the core area.
In other words, once you defeat the boss in the core area, you can clear the game and exit?
If we follow this line of thought, the area in front of the Greyscale Lizard can indeed only be the entrance, not the exit.
After rounding a narrow fork in the road, Hilu stopped and pointed ahead with her finger: "That's it."
Jiangyuan looked over there.
The stone path ahead widened, but it ended in a dead end.
At the end of the stone surface, a layer of shimmering light was covered, like an oil film adhering to the stone wall, with colors slowly flowing between deep purple and dark green, like an iridescent rainbow spreading on the surface of water.
Even without a light source shining on it, it glows and wriggles on its own.
"Is this the divine mark?" Jiang Yuan asked in a deep voice.
"That's it." Hilu stood there, afraid to get close. "You'll die if you touch it. Don't go near it."
Jiang Yuan stared at the streak of light: "This is a dead end. You appeared here in the first place?"
Hilu nodded:
"Hilu chased the Golden Horned Leaping Goat into the forbidden area, and in a flash, she was here. Father said there were divine marks outside the forbidden area, and if you ran in, you would be swallowed up. But I didn't see them, and then I just ended up here..."
Could it be that some kind of teleportation mechanism has been triggered? Jiang Yuan could only guess at that.
There's something like a teleportation device in the forbidden area of the tribe. Hil triggered it and was sent directly there.
He looked at the shimmering light, bent down to pick up a pebble, took a few steps forward, and threw it towards the light membrane.
The stone traced a parabola, and the moment it touched the flowing film of light, it rapidly dissolved from the edge, like ice thrown into boiling water, leaving not even a trace.
Jiang Yuan's gaze sharpened.
It seems we really can't get out of here.
Not to mention that this is a dead end, the "divine mark" blocking our way alone makes it impossible to get through.
However, this special light membrane also confirmed that this place was likely not simple at all, and as he guessed, it was very likely the starting point of the dungeon.
He stood motionless, his mind racing as he quickly reviewed the current situation:
There's no way out for now. Going deeper into the cave will lead to stronger boss monsters, while the area we're currently in, which originally belonged to the Grayscale Lizard, is a safe zone for now.
Just then, he suddenly realized that Xilu had somehow gotten close to him.
The sky-blue pupils were less than an arm's length away from him, the cat ears were standing upright and twitching, and the tail was swaying behind him.
Jiang Yuan took a half step back: "What are you doing?"
"I'm hungry." Hilu stared at him expectantly, her cat ears drooping limply.
"Don't compressed biscuits expand?" Jiang Yuan glanced at her lower abdomen with a puzzled and speechless expression.
I got hungry again in less than fifteen minutes after eating.
Since it wasn't anything valuable, he took out half a bag of biscuits.
Hilu quickly reached out and took it, skillfully tearing open the wrapper like Jiang Yuan, her cheeks puffed out, chewing quickly and swallowing it all in a few bites.
Then she stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, a satisfied expression on her face, and her cat ears perked up again.
Jiang Yuan watched as she regained her spirits and pondered silently.
This cat-eared girl named Hilu is quite powerful, as can be seen from the strike she delivered when she finished off the Grayscale Lizard.
Since they both want to leave, they are teammates in the current situation.
Giving her food is essential to strengthening our own forces.
"Let's think about how we can get out." Jiang Yuan sat down against the stone wall, placing the crossbow across his lap.
Hilu also squatted down, her cat tail coiled halfway behind her, and sat obediently.
"Tell me more about this cave. How many of those big guys left ahead have you seen? What do they look like? What are their abilities?" Jiang Yuan asked.
Hilu thought for a moment and said, "I've seen two big ones, but I don't know about anything beyond that."
"The closest one was a huge scorpion, its tail was so long, several times the size of a shiru..."
Jiang Yuan imagined a giant scorpion with a stinger several meters long.
"Hilu stealthily moved forward and saw a huge spider! It was much bigger than the small spiders..."
Hilu made a big gesture, "That place is almost entirely covered in its webs, and there are so many little spiders on them..."
No wonder we didn't go any further. Luckily, I didn't teleport there either... Jiang Yuan got goosebumps just thinking about it.
He then asked, "How much weaker are you than that one-eyed behemoth? You can't beat it?"
Hilu nodded and then shook her head: "The scales on that one-eyed giant are too hard. As soon as Hilu got close, it smelled my scent first..."
She paused, a hint of defiance in her voice, "Hilu is also a second-tier monster. If she had known that its belly was soft, she definitely could have beaten it."
"Second tier?" Jiang Yuan asked. "How is strength classified in your tribe?"
"It's divided by rank," Hilu said curiously, then squatted down, drew a few lines on the ground with her dagger, and said as she drew:
"First-tier, second-tier, third-tier... First-tier magical beasts, like little spiders, were something that Hilu could handle when she was just a few years old."
"Second-tier magical beasts, each one is thick-skinned and tough, or possesses other abilities..."
She sat back down in a duck-like squat, then, remembering something, added:
"Some magical beasts have high defense, some are fast, and some are poisonous. They're all second-tier magical beasts, so it's hard to say who would win in a fight because their abilities are different. This is what Grandpa Priest told Hilu."