Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Ji Ye returned to the mountain peak following the original trail. There, he saw the lifeless Black Serpent; dead for sure this time. The fire had gone out, and there were several glowing spheres hovering around different parts of its body, such as a dagger-like fang and the exposed spine that remained almost intact after receiving a direct hit from a heavy crossbow bolt.
Since snakes didn’t have eyelids, those large, yellow eyes were still glaring in a random direction with an unyielding thirst for blood. A little farther away, another sphere stayed afloat above a puddle of poison, which seemed to be absorbing more energy from all the scattered poison around the area.
Ji Ye found a total of four orbs in his view, which was more than what he had imagined. Though this was to be expected since the Black Serpent was supposed to be of a higher level than himself. As he had already learned so far, killing something stronger meant earning more rewards.
He went ahead and took the first orb. After reading the “description” with a strange look, he immediately broke the orb open and revealed its content—a black, moderate-sized revolver handgun with a beautiful wooden grip.
[Colt ‘King Cobra’ Revolver]
[Level: Extraordinary Rank-1]
[Rarity: Common]
[It is said that revolvers were first invented by a man named Colt, who then founded a firearm company who continuously manufactured many masterful and elegant revolver firearms, one of which is this “King Cobra”.]
“A firearm...” Ji Ye checked the familiar weapon with a surprised look.
The weapon looked nice, but it was actually not very useful to him because he currently had no way to replenish his ammunition. If he emptied all six bullets in its cylinder, the gun would become a useless chunk of metal. Perhaps he could later use it to surprise enemies as an improvised throwing weapon.
Compared to his heavy crossbow, the only advantage about the gun was its handy size that allowed him to hide it in his pocket.
Still, as someone who grew up in a country where firearms were completely off-limits to civilians, Ji Ye quite liked his new toy.
The point was, since he had successfully found a revolver, it was safe to assume that more modern weapons would show up soon, such as machineguns, large-caliber rifles, rocket launchers and even land mines.
Curious about the remaining items, he placed the gun aside and went to check the second “loot orb,” which seemed brighter than the last one. According to player discussions, the brightness of those orbs usually suggested the quality of the items within. Just as he thought, the second item was of a higher level.
[Black Serpent Sword]
[Level: Extraordinary Rank-3]
[Rarity: Superior]
[Forged using the hardest bone and the sharpest tooth found from a Black Serpent. This weapon possesses several magical properties by itself. Please handle with care and do not cut your fingers with it.]
Despite its name, the sword was mostly pale white since it had been made out of bones. Whereas its blade was so sharp that it was almost transparent.
Ji Ye grabbed the cold handle in his hand and almost felt the merciless killing intent of a predator flowing in his veins. The weapon was a lot heavier than it appeared to be. Though this wasn’t surprising because it contained the sturdiest part of the Black Serpent’s bone structure. It would probably be too heavy to be lifted by an untrained man.
Luckily, Ji Ye’s Bulldozing Force skill allowed him to wield the sword just fine.
“But why did it ask me to be careful and not cut my fingers?”
Such a message produced the opposite effect; Ji Ye wanted to try this out and see the outcome. But his rational self soon got the better of him; he could more or less guess what kind of “magical properties” were contained inside the weapon. He didn’t want to contract anything dangerous.
“An Extraordinary Rank-1 enemy dropped an Extraordinary Rank-3 reward. Could it be that a Commander-level creature can drop spoils that are higher than its level??” Ji Ye muttered and looked at the next orb.
That one was also bright, but it was a lot smaller than the last two orbs. Upon a closer look, Ji Ye also noticed a red sheen blended inside the light. Also, this was the only orb that didn’t appear directly on the snake corpse. It had been generated by a poison puddle left behind.
While trying not to step into the deadly liquid, Ji Ye reached and grabbed the ping-pong-sized orb.
[Black Serpent Blood]
[Level: Special]
[Rarity: Common (Rare)]
[The condensed essence extracted from a Black Serpent’s life force. It contains a small fraction of a dragon’s power, which was degraded by the serpent’s taint. Note: when consumed, the blood will grant the user the power of a Black Serpent. There is a small chance of the blood transmuting to different levels upon use. In extremely rare cases, it will reach the legendary rank and become the true bloodline essence of a dragon.]
A legendary bloodline... Ji Ye widened his eyes. Well, the mission mentioned something about the serpent carrying the blood of a dragon. So can I absorb this ‘bloodline’ in the future? That sounds like some kind of god-tier starter bonus one can find in a foreign world.
He had not heard of anything of the legendary rank yet. Though he was sure that it was several ranks better than “superior”, thus explaining the “extremely rare” part.
However...
It’s not that useful, even if it does sound pretty good. Ji Ye frowned. He was expecting something helpful from the particular orb, but he was left disappointed.
According to the description, the serpent blood would only end up as... serpent blood, if he wasn’t favored by good luck. That Black Serpent might appear strong and unrivaled on this mountain, but it was only a “Extraordinary Rank-1” creature, which meant that it was the weakest kind among all superior creatures. The boost brought by its blood would only be equally disappointing.
Besides, he had not found a “reset” function in the Land of Inheritance yet. He didn’t want to carelessly place such a weak bloodline inside his body and get stuck with it forever. The “rare transmutation” was only appealing to people who loved gambling.
“Wait, a special level...” Ji Ye read the description and remembered something. “My inheritance skill can now fuse certain ‘special items’, while this serpent blood has a level of ‘special’.”
He checked the Fusion skill, which was ready to be used, and decided to try it later. Before that, he wanted to look at the last item orb first.