A Core Ship From The Start

However, Duanmu Huai still had some minor questions.

It was about that legend.

He still remembered, when he first climbed the mountain, he learned from the accompanying knight that the Green Knight, Guardian God of Bartonilla, had once gone to Sky City under the guidance of the Lake Goddess. Duanmu Huai also asked Mia, who confirmed that hundreds of years ago a player had indeed come Sky City to challenge, but unfortunately, he was unable to break through the final level, and thus only received a set of armor and weapons as a consolation prize…

Well, a consolation prize was indeed unexpected. The Green Knight’s armor and weapons were originally just consolation prize, if the people of Bartonilla knew the truth, what would they say?

However, Duanmu Huai could understand, after all, the location of the final BOSS was absolutely disgusting. He had no idea what was going through the heads of those who designed that level, it was completely like they didn’t intend for people to clear it. You might say that the more people there were, the better the chances, but Mia said that this also limited the number and strength level of people. Where the hell was he supposed to hit then?

Wasn’t it suicide to form a five-person team to challenge a twenty-five-person dungeon?

It was already rather good that the Green Knight could return alive.

In fact, Duanmu Huai suspected that the designer of this Sky City didn’t even intend for anyone to clear it, just like those businesses who claimed that their top prize is a Ferrari – even if you did win, they would only give you a model of a Ferrari…

All capitalists in the universe are like this.

However, Duanmu Huai had another question about this.

That is… how did the Lake Goddess know about Sky City?

According to legend, the Green Knight went to Sky City for trials under the guidance of the Lake Goddess, which means the Lake Goddess knew about the existence of Sky City. So the question is, is the Lake Goddess a survivor of the civilization that created Sky City? Or did she just know about this thing, but didn’t know what it was?

Duanmu Huai thought it should be the latter, after all, the Lake Goddess was a deity and it wouldn’t be strange for her to discover an amusement park hidden on her own territory. It’s very likely that the Lake Goddess herself had entered it, got beaten badly and ran out, then had no choice but to find others to help clear the level, all under the pretense of ‘trial’…

Since at present, there was no trace of any connection with Sky City in Bartonilla, even the architectural styles were completely different. If the Lake Goddess was indeed a survivor of the civilization that built Sky City, at least her temple and architectural style should be similar to Sky City. Duanmu Huai hadn’t seen any buildings in Sky City that resembled the architectural style of Bartonilla, so this could also practically be ruled out.

Of course, these were just conjectures and Duanmu Huai didn’t pay much attention to them. Right now, he was riding his motorcycle at high speed on the grassland – the feeling of having a vehicle was great, especially after no longer having to ride the number 11 bus, Duanmu Huai felt extremely refreshed.

And with this vehicle, he could consider going to some faraway places to find Holy Artifacts…

“Screech—————!!”

However, just as Duanmu Huai was thinking about which place to go for Holy Artifacts next, a flash in front of his eyes suddenly caught his attention and he abruptly stopped his motorcycle. He then looked straight ahead – at the entrance to the forest path, a figure was blocking his way.

Although Duanmu Huai didn’t recognize him, the green helmet, green armor, green longsword, and green war horse… Wasn’t this the legendary “Love is a light that scares you when it’s green” Bartonilla Guardian Spirit, the Green Knight?

What was he up to, stopping him? Planning a robbery?

Just as Duanmu Huai was watching him with bafflement, the Green Knight drew his sword, placed it on his chest, and then pointed it at Duanmu Huai. At the same time, a system notification floated in front of Duanmu Huai.

[Activated Time-limited special mission “Challenge”]

[Mission Objective: Defeat the Green Knight]

[The Bartonilla Guardian Spirit Green Knight challenges you. Now, it’s time for you to prove your strength to him!]

Yo, want to fight?

Seeing this scene, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow and swept the words above the Green Knight’s head.

The words “LV40 (Hero)” were clear, so green it touched the heart. It made one tear up just looking at it, wondering just how many times he had been “greened” to make even the mark above his head green.

“Awaiting a lucky break, and a shock, what a wonderful encounter. Over the mountains and amongst the layers of clouds, the green light is there…””

Humming a tune, Duanmu Huai looked at the Green Knight, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

Well then, let’s see just how formidable you, the guardian spirit of the nation, really are!

My turn, draw…!

Summon three each of the Analyzed Creations and Ancient Creations! Then summon one each of the Mysterious Creators and Gorgeous Creators! Summon five Large Mechanical Soldiers!

As Duanmu Huai extended his right hand, in next to no time, a flash of brilliance revealed five Ancient Creations levitating in the air and three distinctly large, massive mechanical soldiers materializing before him.

The Analyzed Creations and Ancient Creations have an energy expenditure of 1, but under the influence of the Subspace Armor, it’s reduced to 0. The Gorgeous Creators have an expenditure of 5, which gets reduced to 2, and both the Mysterious Creators and the Large Mechanical Soldiers have an expenditure of 3, reduced to 1. All thirteen summons combined only drain 80 Subspace Heat.

Right now Duanmu Huai’s intelligence is at 12 points, making his Subspace Heat limit 120. Adding to this the Genetic Prototypes’ Subspace Affinity (raising the heat limit/resistance by 10 points per level), Duanmu Huai, currently at level 23, now has a Subspace Heat limit of 120 + 230 = 350.

Even with the additional 30 points of Subspace Heat from Ogis, Duanmu Huai is presently sustaining an expenditure of 110, which is less than half!

Ah, Subspace Armor really is the most refreshing!

“….!”

Seeing Duanmu Huai summon the creatures and mechanical soldiers, the Green Knight trembled slightly and hastily pulled his steed back a step—it seems like he had a traumatic experience in the past, could this be his post-traumatic stress disorder?

But Duanmu Huai wasn’t bothered, the mission was simply a challenge, it didn’t stipulate a one-on-one fight. As a summoner, did he expect a fair duel?

Moreover, he certainly wouldn’t mind a one-on-one fight.

Are we challenging one person? Or is one person challenging us?

Isn’t it the same?

“Attack!”

At Duanmu Huai’s command, the mechanical soldiers at his side immediately rushed at the Green Knight. Simultaneously, the creatures in the air also began releasing beams of light towards the Green Knight in a blaze of glory, with the clear intention of annihilating him.

Facing Duanmu Huai’s onslaught, the Green Knight had no choice but to spur his horse forward. Of course, they were in a vast plain where he could run away if he couldn’t win the battle. But the Green Knight is a symbol of the knight’s spirit and the guardian spirit of Bartonilla. He was the one who challenged Duanmu Huai in the first place, if he ran away now, his knightly spirit probably wouldn’t survive.

And so, the Green Knight galloped forward, instantly entangling with the Large Mechanical Soldiers.

I must admit, the Green Knight’s attack power is truly astonishing. Duanmu Huai took advantage of the fight to check his stats, with an attack of 60, and defense of 50, which translates to 6 attack and 5 defenses in Soul Card terms, although not as high as Ogis’ 7 attack and 7 defense, but Ogis’ stats are post-awakening while the Green Knight is still in normal state, this would be even more impressive if he were to awaken.

However, awakening isn’t necessarily a good thing, because the stats after awakening are fixed. Like Ogis, her attack and defense can be locked at 7. But it’s different for the Green Knight, theoretically, if he were to continue to level up (assuming he can), his attack power will increase to 70 or 80, the attack and defense after awakening will be higher.

Unfortunately, there’s no potential for growth in Soul Cards, because they’re just the reflected images of souls in the subspace. They have no past, present or future and cannot level up by defeating monsters.

Faced with the Green Knight’s attack, the Large Mechanical Soldiers with only 3 defense points, naturally, weren’t a match. Not to mention, the enemy was mounted, far more agile than the Large Mechanical Soldiers. But Duanmu Huai had summoned the Mysterious Creators with the inherent skill “Guardian,” which can transform its defense into a shield to resist enemy attacks. Although it can’t hold up to a strike from the Green Knight, at least… it buys some time for another strike.

However, it is evident the Green Knight, as the guardian spirit of the nation, is not to be underestimated. Even though surrounded and attacked by creations and mechanical soldiers, he easily broke through the encirclement. A few swings of his sword and the Large Mechanical Soldiers were blown apart. Then the Green Knight spurred his horse, leapt into the air, swung his longsword—and in the next moment, the swarm of creatures in the air exploded. In just a moment, the entire battlefield was swept clean by the Green Knight.

Alright, this was rather expected.

Duanmu Huai was not surprised by the Green Knight’s combat prowess; he never thought he could defeat the Green Knight with just these summons. The reason for summoning these creatures was simple… the main event was yet to come!

Activate Mobile Armor!

Just as the Green Knight cleared the path of creations and charged towards Duanmu Huai, Duanmu Huai’s body shook. Following this, his power armor began to change once again. A shimmering purple light emerged, and the entire set of armor increased in size!

Then, Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the war hammer and charged towards the Green Knight!