Chapter 27

Lumian didn't dare to rest for too long, fearing that other monsters might come. After a brief respite, he endured the pain in his neck and back, as well as some internal discomfort, and squatted beside the monster's corpse.

He still held the axe in his right hand, worried that the prey might not be completely dead and could suddenly jump up like the skinless monster before.

Using only his left hand, he felt around the monster's body and found three 5-copper-coin pieces called "Rik" and an empty cloth bag.

"Is that all?" Lumian was disappointed not because of the small amount of money, but because he found no items related to extraordinary powers.

If it weren't for the latter, why would he have fought the monster to the death for no reason?

If it weren't for the special abilities he possessed in the dream, he would have already become the monster's food.

Lumian propped himself up and looked at the monster's head that had rolled to one side, praying that what he wanted was there.

At that moment, he saw a faint deep red light emanating from the monster's body, which was full of penetrating wounds.

They were like fireflies, slowly flying to the same place in an unstoppable manner.

Lumian's eyes widened, and a sense of joy gradually welled up in his heart:

This phenomenon is definitely closely related to extraordinary powers!

Before long, a sticky deep red patch appeared on the monster's chest, and no more light points emerged.

Lumian carefully bent over and reached for the object.

The object was slippery, and he dropped it twice before successfully picking it up. He weighed it in his palm:

It was light, with a certain texture and elasticity, and a very smooth surface...

"What is this thing?" Lumian realized again that he was truly a layman in the field of mysticism.

In the silent whisper, he faintly smelled the pungent odor of blood from the strange deep red object, and he quickly became restless, with an indescribable sense of aggression growing inside him.

For a moment, Lumian wanted to raise the axe and chop the monster's corpse a few more times to vent his inner violent emotions.

Fortunately, Orol had always emphasized that pursuing extraordinary powers was very dangerous, and he was prepared for it, always monitoring his own condition and not letting his guard down due to joy. He noticed something was wrong in advance.

"Does it affect my mental state?" Lumian threw the deep red object into the cloth bag he found on the monster.

As soon as they lost direct contact, he immediately regained the calm and slight excitement after the fierce battle.

His body still trembled a little.

"Indeed!" Lumian whispered happily after returning to normal.

He then tied the cloth bag and hung it on his belt buckle.

After some thought, Lumian took the cloth bag off and put it in the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

This way, it was less likely to be lost and made him feel more secure!

As he undid his clothes, a book fell from Lumian's back.

Its surface was already pitted and worn out.

This was the exercise book that Orol had compiled for Lumian, called "Unified Entrance Examination Simulation Training Set for Higher Schools." It had a soft cover and a large format, which could be used as outer protection and to fill gaps.

Today, it had protected Lumian from a gunshot at a critical moment.

Of course, it wasn't just the book's merit.

Lumian picked up the exercise book, walked back to the monster's corpse, and chuckled at the dead prey:

"See, knowledge is indeed power!"

After saying this, he intended to throw the exercise book onto the monster's face, but thought of the effort his sister had put into it and couldn't bear to.

He put the exercise book back in his belt and bent down to drag the monster's body to the trap, threw it in, and then kicked the monster's head down.

After a simple cleanup of the battlefield, Lumian endured the pain and discomfort, sheathed his axe, and picked up the empty hunting rifle, his steel fork, and iron shovel, retreating toward the wilderness.

He kept an eye on his surroundings as he walked, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

Finally, he crossed the wilderness, returned home, went upstairs, and entered his bedroom.

Only then did Lumian truly relax, and the pain in his body, the obvious discomfort, and the intense fatigue all erupted at once.

He sat on the edge of the bed and took a while to regain some energy, but didn't rush to sleep. Instead, he took off his clothes, put away the book, and walked to the full-length mirror attached to the wardrobe to check his injuries.

His neck was already swollen, with five blood-red finger marks on the bruised and blackened skin. His back was covered with obvious bruises, and minor scratches and bumps were too numerous to count.

"Even a bit like the internal injuries Orol mentioned. I wonder if they will heal the next time I enter the dream?" Lumian couldn't help but recall the previous battle and evaluate his performance: "Failing, but not by much."

Actually, in the first half of the battle, he could give himself a high score because he not only took full advantage of the monster's low intelligence, successfully guiding it into the second trap, but also strictly followed the plan, skillfully engaging the target for a long time, dragging it to the point where its injuries were about to fully erupt. The only shortcoming was that he lacked sufficient experience and chose to use the steel fork to stab the monster at the bottom of the pit instead of finding some heavy stones to throw in.

In the second half of the battle, the joy of approaching victory, lack of combat experience, and underestimation of the monster's intelligence led him to fall for the monster's trick, nearly getting killed.

Such a performance was definitely failing, but fortunately, his earlier success had pushed the monster to its limits, preventing it from quickly killing him and giving him the chance to meditate and summon the "Special."

To be honest, before this, Lumian had never imagined that the "Special" would have such a significant effect, making the monster fall into an uncontrollable fear and unable to escape even when attacked.

He had originally been worried that the near-death state caused by summoning the "Special" would make it easy for the enemy to finish him off.

"It's really special and powerful..." In his amazement, Lumian suddenly had an idea.

The reason the monsters in the ruins didn't enter his house, making it a "safe zone," was that there was something even more terrifying inside, like the mysterious voice he heard when summoning the "Special"!

Sigh, thinking about this, Lumian couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

His instinctive reaction was to quickly search every corner of the house to find the terrifying thing, but he quickly dismissed this idea.

A person who couldn't even defeat a hunting monster shouldn't provoke something that could scare the hunting monster into submission!

Since the house was peaceful, he shouldn't uncover the veil and try to maintain the current "safe house" status.

One day at a time.

As for future dangers, he would face them when they came.

"No, not in the future, but when I become an extraordinary being and am strong enough." Lumian cast his gaze on the cloth bag in his left hand.

—Even while checking his injuries in front of the mirror with his upper body bare, he didn't want to let the source of the extraordinary power he had obtained slip out of his control.

"What should I do with this thing?" Lumian opened the cloth bag and looked at the deep red object.

It lay quietly at the bottom of the bag, its shape not very fixed, but clearly without any life.

Lacking knowledge of mysticism, Lumian didn't know whether to eat it directly, perform a ritual to merge the deep red object with himself, or offer it as a sacrifice to some hidden entity.

The latter two methods were only possible because he had read "The Veil of the Hidden" magazine; otherwise, he would have only thought of one word:

"Eat!"

Lumian didn't rush to make a decision and planned to consult the mysterious woman in the old tavern first.

He felt that she would guide him on how to use the deep red object to gain extraordinary power.

Although he didn't know why she would be willing to do so, he had such an intuition.

If that didn't work, he could still try to get information from his sister.

After dressing slowly, Lumian put the deep red object and all the money he had obtained into his inner pocket.

After doing all this, he lay down on the bed.

Intense fatigue overwhelmed the pain in his neck and back and the discomfort in his body, making him quickly fall into a deep sleep.

...

When Lumian woke up, the sunlight had already penetrated the curtains and illuminated the entire room.

He slowly sat up, feeling sore all over, as if he had been beaten up in a dream.

Indeed, he had been beaten up... The injuries from the dream had reflected in reality, but with a noticeable reduction... Lumian tried some movements and, apart from sore muscles, felt no other effects.

This reassured him.

Next, he checked every pocket on his body.

"Nothing... Nothing!" Lumian couldn't find the deep red object.

This made him look serious, with a furrowed brow, unsure of what to do.

As an item related to extraordinary powers, the deep red object had not followed him to reality, which was different from what the mysterious woman in the old tavern had said!

Lumian calmed himself, quickly changed his clothes, and left the room.

The bathroom door was open, and Orol was facing the mirror, brushing her teeth seriously.

"Morning." Lumian greeted her.

"Not early, you're too late..." Orol mumbled.

Gurgling, she spat out the mouthwash as her ponytail swung.

Then, she turned her head to look at Lumian:

"What bad things did you do last night?"

"That owl outside, how could I go out?" Lumian was very calm.

"True." Orol didn't continue the topic and instead said, "Remember to take 5 Ferikin to the administrator to send a telegram later."

Lumian nodded.

This was the key to him and Orol escaping from Cordu Village, and he couldn't afford to forget it for a moment.

After breakfast, Lumian headed straight to the village square, where the administrator's office was located in a two-story building.

When he arrived, the administrator Beost was still at home, but other staff had already started their day's work.

After paying the fee and sending the telegram, Lumian turned and headed for the old tavern.

Although the mysterious woman was probably still asleep, he was willing to wait.

In his pursuit of extraordinary powers, he had waited for a long time and didn't mind waiting a bit longer.