Chapter 185: Huo Yuanlong (1/2)

Chapter 185: Huo Yuanlong

Translator: YHEditor: Lis

“... His stone-cold eyes looked at us as though we were lambs sent to be slaughtered. He was supposedly one of the students from the academy, but I was pretty sure that his name had never appeared on the top two hundred lists. Perhaps he had some unique capabilities? Who knew! Regardless, he appeared to be a cold-hearted person, like someone who might send us to our deaths. I wished that the one leading us was the respectable Shi Xueman and not this nameless person.”

—— Taken from《Huo Yuanlong’s Diary》

The tender youths standing in front of Ai Hui reminded him of the coolie that he had been three years ago.

Without any trace of elemental energy, coolies out in the Wilderness were just like paper dolls and were meant to be treated as cannon fodder. In the face of the blood disaster, these relatively formidable yet inexperienced students were not much stronger than the coolies out in the Wilderness. They were pretty much just cannon fodder as well.

Winning with numbers alone wasn’t going to be possible anymore. Now was the time for experts to shine.

A Grandmaster would be much more useful than everyone in Central Pine City combined. If the city had just a Grandmaster, they probably would have escaped by now.

It was a pity that there weren’t any in Central Pine City.

Besides making use of numbers, the city had no other tactics available. It was as though the humans were mimicking the blood ants’ use of group tactics. In today’s Central Pine City, humans were not much better than beasts.

Newly formed groups of one hundred people each were gathered on the streets. The leaders were shouting at the top of their lungs and waving their arms in an attempt to drum up the troops’ morale.

Ai Hui could see the fear hidden beneath their impassioned faces.

Chaos and despair filled the air as the darkness of night engulfed the black smoke that was rising everywhere.

Collapsed walls and houses blocked parts of the streets while bricks were strewn all over. Dried bloodstains were everywhere and the air reeked strongly of blood and smoke. The jack-o’-lanterns that neatly lined both sides of the streets were now badly damaged and scattered about, making the street sides look like combs with missing teeth. The remaining lanterns radiated a haunting, feeble glow, casting shadows throughout their street. Central Pine City had undergone a drastic change.

He had never seen anything like this, not even in the Wilderness.

At the warehouse, Ai Hui queued for half an hour before he managed to meet the frantic officer-in-charge. The officer immediately recognized Ai Hui, who had left a deep impression the last time they’d met.

“Hardly anything good is left, although you can pick out two items. I’d advise you to hurry.”

The officer gestured towards the long line.

Ai Hui knew he didn’t have the time to slowly saunter in and pick out items. He directly replied, “Alright. I’ll need a weapon for a fire elementalist, something like a fire jug.”

“For that fatty?” the officer asked. The officer’s memory seemed to be very good, but he remembered Fatty because he too had left a deep impression when he’d put on the Steady Mountain.

“That’s right,” Ai hui answered, nodding.

“Ha, you guys are in luck,” said the officer, laughing. “There’re no more fire jugs, but we do have a fire vat. Nobody has taken it because it’s so heavy, but I think it’s very suitable for him.”

The officer brought Ai Hui to a corner of the warehouse and pointed to a huge vat that was almost as tall as he was. Ai Hui instantly understood why nobody wanted to use it, it was simply too big. The vats that fire elementalists used were more expensive the smaller they were. Fire gourds were one of the smallest types but were very expensive, so most fire elementalists used fire jugs.

Standing before Ai Hui was practically a wine jar.

“Is it useful?” Ai Hui asked skeptically.

“Of course,” the officer replied matter-of-factly. “It may be huge, but it’s good stuff. Besides being a little bit heavy, it doesn’t have any other shortcomings.”

Ai Hui almost rolled his eyes at the officer. Being heavier and larger were huge shortcomings. He pictured Fatty donning the Steady Mountain armor, raising the tower shield, and lugging this huge vat on his back. This getup would be a bit too… indescribable!

“This is really something good!” the officer exclaimed discontentedly as he noticed Ai Hui’s skeptical look. “The artisan who made this had intended to create a Heaven-grade weapon, but ultimately failed. He then used its core to forge this fire vat. If you look carefully you can see an inscription on it, it’s not something I made up.”

He pointed to the fine print on the side of the vat.

If it was someone else who had suspected him like that, he would’ve thrown that person out long ago; however, he remembered Ai Hui and understood that the two of them must be quite capable to have survived until now.

Upon hearing that it was a product resulting from a failed Heaven-grade weapon, Ai Hui immediately agreed. “I’ll take it!”

Heaven-grade weapons were high-grade arms created for elementalists to use. In order to distinguish them from treasures of the past, they were named as such because they were created in the Avalon of Five Elements.

Shi Xueman’s spear was one such weapon.

Heaven-grade weapons possessed mystical powers and were able to greatly enhance an elementalists’ fighting prowess. Wielding these weapons was, however, highly taxing on the user, usually requiring at least the completion of eight palaces. In other words, one pretty much had to be a full-fledged elementalist to use one.

Shi Xueman was unable to unleash even one percent of her spear’s true power.

The materials required for forging a Heaven-grade weapon had to be of the highest quality. This was why Ai Hui immediately agreed to take the vat after hearing that it had been created from a failed Heaven-gradel weapon.

The complex techniques and high-quality materials required to forge a Heaven-grade weapon were the reasons why their prices never fell. Ai Hui had seen many great elementalists in the Wilderness, but had only seen a handful of them wielding Heaven-grade weapons.

The warehouse officer was satisfied with Ai Hui’s quick answer. “What else do you need?” he asked.

“Spiderweb Iron Pellets, Wolftooth Heavy Arrows, and chillies.”

“Spiderweb Iron Pellets? For Miss Sang? She should be able to use them considering her ability with the bow.” The officer nodded. “There are around two hundred or so of them left, you can take them all. Trust you guys to think of something so unorthodox.”

Spiderweb Iron Pellets were about the size of a thumb and didn’t look very different from ordinary iron pellets. As their name suggested, the Spiderweb Iron Pellets, however, contained highly compressed spider webs within. Triggered by elemental energy, the spider web within each pellet would expand upon impact and restrain the target.

The officer was truly an experienced individual. Ai Hui had indeed requisitioned the pellets for Sang Zhijun. Although Sang Zhijun was more skilled with a bow than Jiang Wei, her fighting strength lagged behind his. As such, Ai Hui had thought of using these pellets to maximize her utility, but hadn’t expected the warehouse to actually still be stocked with them.