Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406

by Panda Reunion, 团圆小熊猫

  He directed spiritual power rapidly to his stomach. However, even after staring at it for half a day, there wasn’t even a speck of dust there.

  His stomach was still the same size as ever. It was close to becoming unable to fit even the roasted pig trotter he had just eaten, much less the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor’s carcass.

  Meng Lei’s lip corner spasmed for a moment there. All that joy had been for nothing.

  “I’ve stored all of it!”

  Little Gold let out a burp and crawled over joyfully.

  “You’re so awesome, Little Gold!”

  Meng Lei readjusted his frame of mind. Then, he fondled Little Gold’s head and asked smilingly, “Do you want to go home Little Gold?”

  “Go home?”

  Little Gold was taken aback by his question. Then, a look of dejection came over its face, and it replied, “Of course I want to, but I can’t. The Underground Cave Magical Spiders have taken over the ant nest, and even the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest has…”

  “It’s fine as long as you wish to go back.” Meng Lei reached out and carried it in his arms. “You should know the way back home, right? How about we go to your home now?”

  Little Gold’s eyes lit up at once, hope and anticipation filling them. “Really?”

  “Of course!” A smiling Meng Lei replied, “The Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor is already dead. Its remaining henchmen are just useless nobodies. They can’t stop us.”

  “Yes, yes!” Little Gold was terribly worked up. Tears of joy trickled from its eyes.

  “Haha, let’s go,” Meng Lei replied with a laugh.

  Then, with Little Gold in his arms, he charged into the dense and dark forest.

  …

  Be it to humans or to Magical Beasts, the current Magical Beast Forest was an absolute forbidden zone. The ant tide wandering about everywhere ripped every lifeform it encountered into shreds.

  Meng Lei, however, advanced unopposed and moved about unrestrained. Under Little Gold’s guidance, he found an entrance in no time and entered the underground world.

  The so-called entrance was actually a cavern leading to the underground. Deep, quiet, and dark, it was as tall as a few people and dead silent.

  Meng Lei found it especially novel. He looked around everywhere while Little Gold introduced the underground world to him.

  “The underground world is shrouded in mystery and is even more complex than the world aboveground. There are numerous layers of space sandwiched in between one another, and many underground lifeforms live in these spatial layers.

  “These spatial layers pass through innumerable caverns and are linked to countless tunnels. It is just like an underground maze. It’s very easy for one to lose their way if they don’t have any underground lifeform leading them.

  “Once they are lost, they’ll be trapped underground. When that happens, they’ll be doomed for sure.”

  “Lost?” Meng Lei was startled.

  “Yes, lost!”

  Little Gold nodded. “Take us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, for example. With our headquarters, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, as the center, the whole area within a radius of several dozen million square kilometers, belongs to us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!

  “And distributed within this area are a total of several billion underground caves, burrows, passages, and tunnels of various sizes. Just like tree branches, they are scattered about in every corner of our turf.

  “Dense, packed, and countless.

  “The entire ant nest can be said to be a gigantic maze. Without any guidance, outsiders can forget about finding the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest. It is also the home that we, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, depend on for survival and our habitat that we rely on for self-protection.”

  Little Gold’s head was raised, its eyes brimming with pride. However, it hung its head again very soon. “It’s just a shame that the Underground Cave Magical Spiders are an exception. They have been enemies with us, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, for generations and have a very thorough understanding of the ant nest’s distribution. That was why…”

  Chapter 117: Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, The Ant Tide Concludes

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  The Underground Cave Magical Spiders and the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants had been at war for tens of thousands of years. Ultimately, it was the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had lost in the end, and it had been a terrible defeat at that.

  If not for Meng Lei, even Little Gold, the current ant monarch, would have been wiped out by the Underground Cave Magical Spiders. This could be said to be an utter defeat for them.

  With regard to this, Little Gold was filled with dejection.

  “Little Gold, you’re still young. This isn’t your fault.” Meng Lei patted Little Gold on the head. “Besides, the final outcome is that you’re still alive, while the Underground Cave Magical Spider Emperor is dead. That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, yes!” Little Gold repeatedly nodded, its grief turning into joy.

  Yes, I’m still alive! It’s only when I’m alive that there’ll still be hope.

  They went down the meandering path.

  Sometimes it was spacious, and sometimes it was narrow.

  Sometimes it was filled with jagged, strangely-shaped rocks, and sometimes it was surrounded by cliff and precipitous rock walls.

  Sometimes there were undercurrents and corridors, and sometimes there were bottomless pits that stretched all the way down.

  The terrain was very irregular, and it was dark and lightless. If not for Little Gold guiding him, Meng Lei really wouldn’t have the guts to continue forward.

  One would lose their way going about in a place like this the moment they got a little careless, and once they lost their way, only death awaited them. There was no way they would survive at all.

  “Ol’ President, have you ever been to the underground?”

  “No…”

  They chatted idly as they walked.

  At last, an especially spacious underground cavern finally appeared ahead of them. Little Gold introduced the place and said, “This is one of the spatial layers.”

  “One of the spatial layers?” Meng Lei turned to look.

  The spatial layer was very big, and one couldn’t see to the end of it at one glance. It was also 1,000 feet tall and appeared exceedingly wide and spacious.

  The amazing thing was that there were patches of glowing plants growing on the ground, walls, and ceilings, making it look as if it was a forest, and they lit up the spatial layer very brightly.

  “It’s gorgeous!”

  Meng Lei was astounded by the sight. The glowing forest in front of him was as if twinkling, brilliant jewels. They gave off a dreamy glow and looked splendid and magnificent.

  “Even the scenery in Pandora’s night forest in the movie Avatar is nothing more than this,” Meng Lei murmured to himself.

  “Who would have thought that a beautiful place like this would actually exist in such a dark and quiet underground? The Creator is amazing, indeed!”

  Ol’ Amos was also pretty astounded. He stroked his beard as he gazed at the glowing forest, his speech full of admiration.

  Rustle, rustle!

  Just as the two of them were immersed in their feelings of astoundment at the beautiful scenery in front of them, dozens of grayish-white Underground Cave Magical Spiders suddenly emerged. They trampled freely on the glowing forest, plowing several deep ditches in the forest.

  What a blot on the landscape!

  “Underground Cave Magical Spiders,” shouted Little Gold, its eyes full of hatred and fury.

  This particular spatial layer had originally belonged to them, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants and Underground Cave Magical Spiders were forbidden from entry. Yet these vile invaders were actually walking about in here unbridled now. It was simply too infuriating!

  “Underground Cave Magic
al Spiders?”

  Meng Lei’s objective in coming underground was exactly to annihilate the Underground Cave Magical Spiders. Upon the sight of them now, how would he possibly stand on ceremony?

  “Go!”

  The Gods-Slaying Spear hurtled out at once.

  Stab, stab, stab!

  The Gods-Slaying Spear formed an illusory arc in the air. Amid crisp, melodious sounds, before the dozens of Underground Cave Magical Spiders could even react, the Gods-Slaying Spear had already pierced through their heads. All of them fell to the ground, dead.

  “A bunch of detestable killjoys.”

  Meng Lei kept the Gods-Slaying Spear away. His gaze swept across the Underground Cave Magical Spiders carcasses, too lazy to even bother with their magic cores. The hundred thousand or so gold coins were simply too beneath his taste.

  “Let’s continue forward.”

  After cutting through the spatial layer, they entered another dark, quiet tunnel and continued advancing. The beauty and wonder of the underground world revealed themselves bit by bit to Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos’ eyes.

  All the spatial layers! All the expanses of glowing forests! They were gorgeous, magnificent, and glowed brilliantly!

  As Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos enjoyed the visual feast, they also finally arrived at an entirely different spatial layer—it was gold in color.

  This was a golden dimension.

  Golden lands!

  Golden skies!

  Golden walls!

  Golden plants!

  Everything was gold in color!

  Dazzling golden light lit up the entire world, and scattered all over the wide and flat golden lands were several holes.

  There were up to a million of these well-sized holes. They were distributed evenly on the ground in a dense, packed, and tidy manner. All the holes were identical in size and the spaces between each hole less than 10 meters wide each.

  It looked like a hornet nest, yet also like a beehive.

  Honey-like golden liquid filled the holes, and there were even white, round ant eggs soaking in some of them.

  “That’s…”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos’ eyes widened big and round.

  “That’s my clan’s divine weapon—the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest!”

  Little Gold was awfully excited. “All my subjects are born here, so they have a mysterious connection with the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest. A young ant monarch can command all its subjects through the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest.”

  “I see.”

  “That’s so amazing!”

  Meng Lei and Ol’ Amos were greatly astounded. However, a look of grief surfaced in Little Gold’s eyes as it gazed at the quiet Bloodthirsty Golden Nest.

  “Before the Underground Cave Magical Spiders’ invasion, the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was very lively and bustling. The queen produced eggs every day, and the worker ants went in and out of the nest. But now…”

  There was only dead silence.

  There was no ant queen here, and the worker ants were nowhere in sight.

  The Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was frighteningly quiet. Even the ant eggs soaking in the holes were still and motionless—clearly, they had already been dead for a long time.

  The Bloodthirsty Golden Nest was in a bleak and desolate state.

  “Cheer up, Little Gold. As long as you, the ant monarch, are still alive, reviving your past glory won’t be a problem.” Meng Lei said with a smile, “The most pressing issue now is to take control of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest and summon back all the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants wandering outside now so that they won’t continue to wreak havoc outside.”

  “Yes, yes! I understand!” Little Gold nodded.

  Then, it flapped its little wings and dived into the center of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, a hole about two-meters-wide.

  Before long, a mystical, desolate horn blast traveled out of the Bloodthirsty Golden Nest, sending out some kind of mysterious and unknown message.

  “Ol’ President, do you understand what the horn blast is saying?” asked Meng Lei as he looked at Ol’ Amos.

  Ol’ Amos shook his head, indicating that he didn’t, and replied, “It’s probably the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ unique way of communication.”

  What the two of them didn’t know was that the bleak and desolate horn blast passed through the golden world and the thick rock layers to finally reach the Magical Beast Forest’s surface.

  Then, an amazing sight happened:

  All the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants, no matter which part of Magical Beast Forest they were in, no matter where they were, and no matter what they were doing—without any exceptions, all of them came to a stop!

  They miraculously froze on the spot, as if all of them had their movements sealed. All of them turned still and motionless, their actions neat and uniform.

  The ones pursuing Magical Beasts… came to a stop.

  The ones attacking cities… came to a stop.

  The ones wandering about… came to a stop.

  “What’s going?”

  “Why has the ant tide stopped moving?”

  Countless people and beasts under the ant tide’s threat were utterly baffled. Then, under their even more bewildered gazes, the ant tide withdrew like the receding tide.

  In the blink of an eye, all of them had cleanly withdrawn.

  If anyone were to be looking down from the sky at this moment, they would see an unbelievable sight—countless ants surging from all directions and converging at the same place, the entrance to the underground world!

  At last, all of them dived right into the entrance and returned to their world!

  Chapter 118: Returning To The Academy, Ten Superior-Grade Elemental Affinities

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  With the rise of the morning sun, the rays of dawn shone upon the land.

  In front of the solemn and stately academy gates, an endless stream of horses, carriages, and people flowed to and fro. Guards in golden armor swept their eyes over the students going in and out of the academy, their eyes cold and sharp as though hawks.

  “Tell me honestly, Alex. How many cute, gentle, little maidservants did you defile this winter break again?”

  “Get lost, get lost! Don’t spoil my reputation!”

  “Pooh! Who doesn’t know that you, Alex, are a famous lustful fiend? After holding it back for half a year in the academy, wouldn’t you let loose after you go home?”

  “Bastard! Would it kill you to stop talking that much...”

  As Meng Lei stood in front of the majestic and awe-inspiring gates and listened to the laughter and bantering around him, a brand-new sense of vigor and spirit shone in Meng Lei’s eyes.

  The Underground Cave Magical Spiders had been annihilated, and Little Gold had stayed behind in the underground world.

  After spending a day settling the arrangements for the Magical Beast Village villagers, Meng Lei also left. A night’s journey later, he was finally back at the academy.

  He had undergone astonishing changes during this month or so away from the academy. It felt rather as though things had changed, but it was also a brand-new beginning.

  Meng Lei had a lot of plans in mind, so he was looking very much forward to the future.

  In comparison, the old geezer next to him was in a completely different mood—his body trembled, his eyes were red, and he was beside himself with agitation.

  This was something understandable, though.

  Ol’ Amos had still been this academy’s president and a high and mighty Saint Domain Great Magician when he had left back then. Yet upon his return 20,000 years later, he had become a wandering ghost instead.

  How times had changed and how things had changed!

  “Never would I have thought that I’d be back.” After gazing at the academy for a long while, Ol’ Amos sighed softly and said, “During those 20,000 years when I was trapped underground, I had wanted to come back and take a look even in m
y dreams. My wish has finally come true today.”

  “There’s nothing much to see outside the gates, Ol’ President. Let’s go, I’ll bring you around inside.”

  Meng Lei smilingly took his magic badge out of his spatial ring and pinned it on his chest. Then, he walked toward the academy gates.

  The golden-armored guards’ line of vision landed on Meng Lei. When they saw the magic badge on his chest, they provided no obstruction and allowed Meng Lei in.

  “Ol’ President, let’s go and take a look at the Saint Dragon Square first.”

  “The Saint Dragon Square? What’s that?”

  “You’ll see when you get there.”

  They passed through the cooling, quiet sycamore tree-lined little path. Then, dozens of different statues entered their sight.

  Meng Lei pointed at the Saint Domain statues and said cheerfully, “This is the Saint Dragon Square, Ol’ President.”

  “Why did they put so many statues in such a big area here? What a waste of space!”

  Ol’ Amos frowned lightly, a look of displeasure surfacing in his eyes. Nevertheless, he still walked over to the statue nearest to him and began to inspect it closely.

  “Fred Flit, the 348th, and current academy president. A noble and powerful thunder-elemental Saint Domain Great Magician, his forte is thunder-elemental magic and thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic. He is the first person to successfully unravel the secret of the Titan Holy Thunder...

  “...created a total of 1,058 thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic spells and normal spells, and made the most outstanding contribution to the research and development of thunder-elemental magic...

  “Eh?”

  Ol’ Amos was mildly taken aback when he read the history of this Saint Domain statue. “The current academy president is pretty impressive. He has actually managed to unravel the secret behind the Titan Holy Thunder. Impressive, impressive!”

  “The Titan Holy Thunder?”

  Meng Lei was rather puzzled.

  “The Titan Holy Thunder is the Titan Empire royal family’, the Thunder Titans’ exclusive thunder-elemental spell. Its might is several times, even up to dozens of times, that of ordinary thunder-elemental spells. Even thunder-elemental Dragon-Language Magic pales in comparison to it.”