Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406

by Panda Reunion, 团圆小熊猫

  Meng Lei’s whole body trembled. He looked around and then at the old man. He mumbled, “What was happening to me? What happened just now?”

  “I understand now!” Ol’ Amos frowned deeply, and a look of regret appeared on his aged face. “It’s all my fault. Actually, I should have thought of it early on!”

  “Ol’ President, what happened?” Meng Lei swung his head hard, feeling a bit of a headache.

  “All this is its fault!” The old man pointed at the little golden ant on the floor.

  “It?”

  Meng Lei looked at the little golden ant but found that it was very weak, like a leaking balloon. Its head dwindled, and its eyes were dull. It seemed like its body was emptied.

  Emptied? How did it get emptied out of nowhere?

  Meng Lei frowned in great confusion.

  “Brat, you were attacked by it!” The old man sighed. “Just now, you suddenly changed the contract array. I thought you decided to do it on a whim. Now it seems that this little fella used a spiritual attack and controlled you.”

  “It controlled me?”

  Meng Lei’s whole body shivered. He couldn’t help but recall the scene just now. That scene was too realistic and didn’t feel like an illusion at all.

  “I really suffered its spiritual attack?”

  “The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch is a non-elemental Magical Beast. If it has to be judged by elements, it is probably a strength- and spirit-elemental Magical Beast.”

  The old man’s eyes had a complicated look. “It has amazingly potent strength, and when it reaches adulthood, it will be no weaker than Saint Domain Magical Beasts! But its most terrifying means of attack is still its spiritual attack, or... spiritual magic!”

  “Spiritual magic?”

  Meng Lei frowned slightly.

  “Spiritual magic is very rare, so it’s not in the list of ten elements of magic. Nonetheless, spiritual magic does exist.” The old man explained, “Spiritual magic is a frightening type of magic because its attack target is the soul. Ordinary defense tactics are completely useless, and one can hardly guard against it.”

  The old man looked at Meng Lei. “Such as just now, in the blink of an eye, you’ve suffered its spiritual attack, but you yourself were completely unaware!”

  “Is it this terrible?”

  Meng Lei couldn’t help but look toward the little golden ant on the ground.

  “It’s beyond terrible!” Ol’ Amos sighed. “This little guy was just born, so its spiritual attack is still very immature. If it were an adult ant monarch standing before you, the split second just now would have been enough to shatter your soul from the shock and kill you right on the spot!”

  “Sss...”

  Meng Lei felt a chill coursing through his spine.

  “The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch, as a Magical Beast of the spiritual element, is the most skilled at spiritual attacks. Even if this little guy was just born, it still affected you, a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, without you knowing. You can imagine how terrifying it will become after it reaches adulthood.”

  Ol’ Amos shook his head slightly. “It was precisely based on such consideration that I made you sign a strict master-servant contract with it. It would be easier for you to control it in the future! I didn’t expect...

  “But it’s alright! After singing an equal contract, it will be your equal partner in life and death. It can also bring you great advantages.”

  “This little fella is actually so scary?”

  Meng Lei didn’t know what to say.

  Squeak~

  The little golden ant recovered a little now, it lifted its head and looked at Meng Lei, with a complex look in its two big ruby-like eyes.

  There was helplessness, unwillingness, relaxation, relief, and a slight trace of... intimacy?

  It seemed to know very clearly that after signing an equal contract, it would become the closest companion of this entirely strange and unfamiliar human being in front of it.

  It was beyond race boundaries!

  Beyond blood relations!

  Beyond the barrier of hatred!

  From then on, they would seek mutual benefits and stay together in life and death.

  “Little fella, you actually dared to use a spiritual attack on me!”

  Meng Lei squatted down, looking at the innocent-looking little golden ant, his facial expression was also a bit conflicted. Because of what happened just now, he didn’t like this somewhat thorny little fellow much.

  Squeak~

  The little golden ant squealed again and stretched its head to rub against Meng Lei’s hand. Its big eyes showed affection, and affectionate emotions also showed in the depth of its soul.

  “Sigh!”

  After observing the obedient-looking little fellow, Meng Lei gradually got over it. Anyone, faced with the fate of being enslaved, would fight back with all their might. The little fellow using a spiritual attack on him was completely logical.

  “Actually, this is good as well!”

  Meng Lei touched the little golden ant’s head and suddenly smiled.

  It is pretty good to have a completely obedient and loyal servant for sure. But isn’t it better to have a companion who shares all my successes and failures and has a great rapport with me?

  Does this world lack zombie-like slaves?

  No! Never! It can be done by one master-servant contract!

  But what is the point of spending time with such a slave every day?

  “I see that you are shiny with golden light like you’re covered with golden armor... Shall I call you Little Gold in the future?”

  “Okay! Okay!”

  Chapter 101: A Tragic Ant Monarch, The Reason for the Ant Tide

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Little Gold’s IQ was clearly higher than Teddy’s as right after the contract was signed, it could communicate spiritually with Meng Lei. It was far beyond Teddy!

  “Little Gold, why are you here?” Meng Lei asked his first question, a question that he and Ol’ Amos were both concerned about.

  By right, the ant monarch should stay underground. A new and young ant monarch like Little Gold should stay in its home even more.

  Coming out to run around? What if it got caught by bad guys?

  You see, you see, didn’t I catch it now?

  Sob, sob~

  Little Gold started sobbing. Its tears dropped continuously, and it looked like a young wife who had suffered great grievances.

  It really was the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarch. But, tragically, less than one month after it had inherited the ant monarch’s position, it had suffered an attack from another race of the underground world—Underground Cave Magical Spiders!

  They were Seventh-Grade Magical Beasts that lived underground. Their individual strength was much stronger than the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’, but their numbers were relatively smaller.

  Therefore, the overall strength of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants race and the Underground Cave Magical Spiders race was comparable, and both were powerful races that dominated the underground world.

  However, the two races couldn’t get along since the beginning of time.

  Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were large in numbers and occupied large swaths of land. Underground Cave Magical Spiders were smaller in numbers, yet they hunted Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants for food.

  Over hundreds and thousands of years, the two races kept clashing, with countless wars happening, and they both wanted to eliminate the other.

  Unfortunately, the two races were similar in strength, and neither could overcome the other.

  This status quo remained as such until one month ago.

  The old ant monarch passed away from old age one month ago, and Little Gold had to be crowned as monarch at its infant age.

  However, the Underground Cave Magical Spiders, which had gotten the message, did not pass on this extremely rare opportunity. A great war that
determined the fate of the two races had broken out like this.

  The results were predictable. The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were badly defeated. Not only did the Underground Cave Magical Spiders broke through their home base, but also Little Gold, the new ant monarch, was chased out of the “royal halls” before it could stabilize its rule. Under the protection of a group of followers, it had escaped the underground world in fear.

  Eventually, it met Meng Lei.

  “...”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos looked at each other and didn’t know what to say. Little Gold’s fate was really too bad. It had suffered such a great tragedy right after becoming the ant monarch and finally broken out of the siege, only to almost become Meng Lei’s slave...

  For a proper ant monarch to come to such a sad situation, it was really... sad!

  Sigh, poor child.

  “Little Gold, don’t cry!” Meng Lei stroked its head and comforted it. “When we have more strength next time, we’ll go back to the underground world and kill the Underground Cave Magical Spiders for revenge!”

  “Okay!”

  Little Gold nodded its golden head hard, and a firm look filled its eyes. It was an ant monarch, so it had to slaughter its way back to the underground world and take back everything that belonged to it. This was its mission!

  “So, what you have to do now is to work hard to improve your strength. Become strong as soon as possible to seek revenge!” Meng Lei encouraged it.

  “Got it!”

  “That’s right!”

  Seeing that Little Gold’s mood improved, Meng Lei felt relieved. After taking care of Little Gold, it was time to continue killing the ant tide to earn gold coins.

  “Wait!”

  Meng Lei froze, suddenly realizing that the matter was a bit embarrassing. Since Little Gold was the ant monarch, was it really good for him to slaughter so many of its kind?

  “It’s not right! Since Little Gold is the ant monarch, why do I still have to kill the ant tide? They are my army now!”

  Meng Lei’s eyes widened!

  Kill?

  To hell with killing!

  After killing them, how else could he find such a mighty ant tide army? Wasn’t it better to keep them? They could do many things!

  Meng Lei immediately became excited at that thought. “Little Gold, you should be able to control the ant tide army, right?”

  Upon hearing that, Ol’ Amos’s eyes shone. If Little Gold really could control the ant tide army, this disaster would be resolved right away.

  Unfortunately, the two were meant to be disappointed.

  Little Gold shook its head. “I only just recently became the ant monarch. My spiritual power is still very weak. Without using the race-ruling divine weapon, I can control at most 2,000 subjects!”

  (⊙_⊙)

  “Huh? What!?”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos were stunned.

  Without using the race-ruling divine weapon, it could only control 2,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants? For real?

  “Juvenile ant monarchs are generally weak in spiritual power, and they are totally unable to control their massive subjects. To resolve this problem, the greatest ant monarch of our kind specially made a race-ruling divine weapon—the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest!”

  Little Gold explained, “Making use of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, the juvenile ant monarch can indirectly control all the subjects. Unfortunately, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest is connected to the ant nest, and there was no way for me to take it away.”

  “So, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest is left in the underground world?”

  Meng Lei slapped his forehead and felt completely speechless.

  Little Gold, Little Gold, you are such a failure of an ant monarch. You not only got chased out of your home, you even lost your race-ruling divine weapon!

  This is honestly too...

  Ol’ Amos thought of another matter. “In this case, the ant tide in the Magical Beast Forest has completely lost control?”

  “Yes! I can’t control them, and they can’t go back underground. Thus, they can only travel aboveground! They are done for, they will be killed sooner or later!”

  Little Gold shook its head and sighed.

  “They are done for?”

  The corner of the old man’s mouth twitched. He was afraid it wasn’t them, but others, who were done for. An ant tide beyond control was completely unimaginable.

  “Ol’ President, what to do now?” Meng Lei also realized the seriousness of the problem. “The ant tide has lost control, and it can’t go back underground.”

  The old man’s facial expression looked heavier than ever. “They will go around aimlessly like flies, eating away anything edible! After they finish with the Magical Beast Forest, they will rush out of the forest and go to other places!”

  “An ant tide outbreak... is already inevitable!” The old man took a deep breath. “Meng Lei, the ant tide this time is fundamentally different from the historical ones. It will be fiercer and more terrible than any of the past ones. You have to be mentally prepared!”

  “Understood!”

  Meng Lei’s heart chilled. Then, he looked at Little Gold apologetically. “Little Gold, to protect my fellow humans from being eliminated by the ant tide, I have to be unfair to you.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Little Gold shook its head. “Ordinary subjects’ lives are short. Even if they aren’t killed, they will die naturally very soon. They won’t live to see me reach adulthood!”

  “I’m assured then.”

  Meng Lei heaved a sigh of relief. So long as Little Gold didn’t hate him because of this, the matters were much easier. “Let’s go, Little Gold. We’ll go to... Well, the next place.”

  “Wait for me first.”

  Little Gold rapidly crawled to the side of the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ carcasses and did something that shocked Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos greatly.

  A golden ray of light suddenly shone from its two golden antennae, and circles of golden light spread out to cover a radius of a hundred meters.

  In the next moment, an inexplicable scene happened.

  The Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that were illuminated by the golden light actually quietly melted up like ice that met strong sunlight and turned into splashes of red liquid.

  Buzz!

  Little Gold opened its mouth to suck, and these red liquids strangely floated up. They then flew into Little Gold’s mouth like birds returning to their nests.

  Burp~

  Little Gold burped, and its aura actually... grew a little?

  “This...”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos looked at each other, both stunned!

  Chapter 102: Billionaire, Ninth-Grade Warrior

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Little Gold has such an ability?

  Meng Lei found this incredible.

  Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, and their entire bodies are as hard as steel. Even magical weapons enhanced with Battle Aura can hardly break their carcasses...

  But Little Gold... It melted them by releasing one ray of golden light? This is totally far more terrible even than the most concentrated sulfuric acid!

  “Ol’ President, what ability is this?”

  Meng Lei swallowed his saliva.

  “No idea!” Ol’ Amos shook his head. “Since ancient times, humans have known very little about Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarchs. Except that they are double-elemental Magical Beasts of strength and spirit, nothing else is known.”

  “Alright!”

  Within mere minutes, all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants carcasses had all turned into red liquid and got swallowed into Little Gold’s belly.

  Amazing...

  After eating thousands of kilos of carcasses, with the exception of Little Gold’s aura, which improved significantly, there was actually no change in any other aspect. Its body didn’t change at all!

  “Where did i
t put all those ant carcasses?”

  Meng Lei took a breath as it deeply shocked him once again.

  Ol’ Amos sighed slowly and said emotionally, “We still know too little about Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant Monarchs.”

  “That’s right!”

  After swallowing all the ant carcasses, Little Gold burped in satisfaction, and then returned to Meng Lei’s side. Its shiny golden head rubbed against Meng Lei, looking very affectionate.

  Meng Lei’s look was complicated. “Little Gold, you ate all those Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants... Where are they stored?”

  “In my belly!” Little Gold blinked its big eyes. ‘We Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants all have very big stomachs. Ordinary subjects can hold food up to 100 times their own weight. I’m the ant monarch, so I can hold 10,000 times my own weight of food.”

  “10,000... times?”

  Meng Lei’s whole body shivered, and he almost peed from the shock. Ol’ Amos also shivered from the shock, and his face turned white.

  They were both astonished!

  Yet this wasn’t all, as Little Gold added, “I’m still in the juvenile stage. I can only hold so much food! The former ant monarch was really great, as he could swallow a big mountain in one go!”

  When mentioning the former ant monarch, Little Gold’s eyes were full of reverence. Predictably, the former ant monarch had left an unerasable impression in its young mind.

  “A big mountain...”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos fell silent instantly.

  They were silent for a long while before Meng Lei finally sighed and said, “I finally understand why an ant tide army is so horrible. Every Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant is a moving extra-large spatial magical device. How can it not be horrible?”

  Ol’ Amos had more experiences, and his understanding was deeper. His eyes shone with bright light. “Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ stomachs should form a space of their own. The stomach space of the ant monarch is especially extraordinary. It seems that they are not just double-elemental Magical Beasts of strength and spirit!”

  “There’s still a space element!?” exclaimed Meng Lei said.

  “That’s right! There’s still a space element!” The old man nodded slowly. “In this world that we live in, apart from the most common and basic ten magical elements, there are some very rare magic attributes that are nonetheless real, or used to be real but have already gotten lost over time, such as Soul magic, Space magic, Dead Spirit magic, Time magic, and so on!”