Translator:
SaltyTank
Editor:
SaltyTank
Soran saw a woman. To be accurate, a bewitching woman with revealing attire. She had light blonde hair and extraordinarily pale skin, and she was leaning back against a tree. A young man buried his head in her bosom, kissing and pinching the exposed snowy mounds. Her blue veins were visible under the icy moonlight. Soran’s sight was strong; he could clearly see that the young man was sucking a dark red grape, licking and nibbling it, while his hand rampantly ran over her voluptuous body, making its way toward Eden.
Soran’s footsteps were light, but the bewitching lady still easily discovered the lurker, looking straight at him with her jade eyes. Her tongue ran over her dark red lips, and she said teasingly,
This must be my lucky day.
The young man at her chest was completely unaware of Soran; he was totally absorbed in the pair of busty peaks.
Soran stopped and looked at the woman. She remained unmoving, and so did Soran.
She was a blood descendant.
Blood descendants were servants of vampires, and they were much stronger than ghouls. Although talk and rumor beautified these creatures, they remained dangerous and evil to adventurers. True vampires were of the Silver Race and had powerful spell-like abilities, thus they had a challenge rating of Level 8 and a monster level of 16. Blood descendants, on the other hand, were only rated as Level 6 and Level 12 respectively, and they only had a portion of true vampires’ abilities.
Vampires were masters at controlling negative energies. They had strict rules when it came to breeding, and most of the ‘vampires’ discovered by mankind were actually blood descendants, which were of a lower rank. Even though the vampires had been controlling countless poets and scholars, making them beautify the process of having their blood sucked out, it was still insufficient to hide the fact that the victims of vampiric creatures would be gradually corroded by the toxins released from their fangs after experiencing temporary pleasure.
Their toxins would change humans into half-undeads and gradually corrupt their minds, finally turning them into brainless ghouls whose sole purpose was to supply blood.
In short, they were extremely dangerous and lethal monsters.
It was not the first time Soran came across vampiric creatures; he had met them countless times as they were one of the most active types of monsters. They could be found in basically every single city, with the high-ranked ones disguising themselves as human nobles while the low-ranked ones hid in underground chambers, sewers, and graveyards.
A short silence followed after Soran’s eyes met the erotic woman’s.
The young man who had his mind dominated by his sexual desires failed to notice the heavy atmosphere. He had fallen victim to the spell Charm Person, and his consciousness had long been swept away by his raging desires.
Willpower was also a type of strength—people with strong willpower could even disturb the elemental energies in the Realm of Nature.
Soran couldn’t care less about the poor victim; he was calculating his chances of winning against the blood descendant. The enemy most likely had higher Dexterity and Strength than he did, not to mention their innate sixth sense for dodging incoming attacks. Blood descendants were by no means weaker than the snake demon he fought recently, and Soran could only come to the conclusion that he would lose no matter what because his thigh was still recovering.
There was only one way out of this situation now.
Soran bowed toward the blood descendant, clenched his left fist, and placed it on his right collarbone as he slowly said,
May the shadows enshroud the world!
The Faceless Envoys are watching us!
Glory…
Belongs to the formless Lord!
The woman knitted her brows as she removed the teasing smile from her face, glared at Soran, and said in a low voice,
Our fates lie with the dark night!
The ancestor’s will shall lead us forward.
The Night Baroness…
Protects her believers!
It worked.
Soran felt relieved as he somehow managed to avoid a fight, but his expression remained unchanged as he stepped backward and lowered his head.
Respectable lady.
May the dark night watch over you. Please enjoy your dinner; no one will disturb you.
The blood descendant looked at Soran as he turned and left the place, showing hesitation on her delicate face. In the end, she gave up the thought and focused on the young man who was rubbing all over her body right now. Her sharp fangs could be seen as she widened her jaws, and she could not hide her greed while puncturing her fangs into the man’s subclavian artery. The victim, who was still overwhelmed by sexual pleasure, was oblivious to the blood descendant’s actions, and he continued caressing the voluptuous body in front of him without realizing he was at death’s doorstep.
A hungry blood descendant rarely allowed its prey to survive the night.
Throughout the entire ‘negotiation’ with the woman, Soran did not look at the young man at all. He breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the mass burial site, as if all the pressure was finally off his shoulders. What he said just now was a code used by the Faceless Envoys, an organization which controlled the Grey Realm and had countless dealings in the Dark Realm. As a Rogue player, Soran often came across and made deals with evil beings back in the game.
If the enemy failed to respond to the code, battle was inevitable. On the other hand, it was highly likely that he could avoid battle if the enemy responded, as it meant that the opponent knew of the existence of the Faceless Envoys.
Soran’s code consisted of two parts: the former, along with his gesture, indicated that he was a member of the Faceless Envoys, while the latter showed that he was a believer of the Shadow Lord. Only the core members of the organization knew that the Shadow Lord was a formless being, and the blood descendant could understand the implied meaning from Soran’s speech. She was about to prey on Soran as well, but in the end decided to let him go because of his ‘status.’
From the woman’s code, Soran understood that she was a blood descendant under a high-ranked vampire who had the blood of the Great Ancestor and that she was a believer of the Night Baroness, who was an ally of the Shadow Lord. The believers of the two deities rarely clashed with each other as the two had a good relationship, and the woman was concerned about Soran’s fake status as a member of the Faceless Envoys. Considering such, she could only let him off the hook.
More importantly, Soran clearly indicated that he was not going to interfere with her actions by telling her to enjoy her dinner. By taking a step back, he showed that he was not a hostile force and did not want to fight. His actions also implied that she should be satisfied with her current meal, and trying to kill a member of the Faceless Envoys, moreover a believer of the Shadow Lord, was not a good idea.
Of course, Soran was not a member of the Faceless Envoys, nor was he a believer of the Shadow Lord—he was lying the whole time.
However, that was the best solution he could come up with. Violence was not the only solution, and those who only knew how to fight their way out of problems undoubtedly could not survive long enough to become Legendary players.
In this world with both Saints roaming around the continents and numerous evil witches, there was always someone stronger than the players; they might even run into deities from time to time. Defeating strong opponents despite being weak was basically the last resort for smart players, and they would only do that when all other options were infeasible. For example, the demons of the chaotic evil alignment lacked reasoning and could not be negotiated with, leaving the players with no choice but to fight their way out. At the very least, players had to learn to avoid opponents that were impossible to defeat.
Soran only truly felt relieved after confirming he was far enough away and out of reach of the blood descendant. At the same time, he noticed there was something new on his attribute screen. It first appeared when he left the cave, but he had ignored the notification due to the encounter with the blood descendant.
Exploration successful!
After a tough underground exploration, you have improved your skills!
Sneak +1, Snare +1.
It was the first notification that appeared after Soran left the cave, and the next one appeared when he managed to avoid the battle with the blood descendant back at the mass burial pit.
Negotiations successful!
You have successfully deceived a powerful blood descendant and avoided combat!
Diplomacy +1, Deception +3, Perform +1.
Looking at his skill list, Soran realized that he had obtained some new skills.
Basic Skills: Sneak 103, Steal 35, Pick Lock 45, Snare 55, Diplomacy 1, Deception 3, Perform 1.
For real…?
Soran was awestruck by the unexpected turn of events.
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[advantage]: by having their erection in contact with her
[ cent bills]: China has cents in bills called jiao
[Guoshu]: Guo here means country and shu means technique
[ 190 centimeters]: Over 6ft tall
[Lake Cui]: Cui Hu, also means Green Lake
[hundred dyuan bills]: 100yuan is their biggest bill
[Daoist Fierce Tiger]: The author of this novel
[Noodles]: made of wheat
[Rice Noodles]: made of rice
[Zhang Tian Tian]: Tian means sweet
[Bajiquan]: Also known as Eight Extremities Fist, but Bajiquan sounds nicer to me
[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap
