According to Arno, the reason the bone dragon they encountered last night didn't dare to come over was due to "Environmental Adjustment." In its own world, the bone dragon was very formidable, and a vast amount of firepower couldn't bring it down.
But once the bone dragon came to Hazy City, it was a different situation. Roy also said that if they went directly to it, it would be a giveaway, yet although their firepower at the time couldn't kill the bone dragon, holding it off was possible.
Casualties could be ignored; the focus was to hold it back.
As long as they held back the bone dragon and didn't let that thing return, Hazy City's backup forces would hurry over and teach that bone dragon a lesson.
Unfortunately, the bone dragon never came over from start to finish.
"So a strong entity could become very weak after entering an anomaly and coming into contact with another world, while a weak entity could likewise become very strong?"
"That's only half right," Arno shook his head: "A strong entity might become 'weakened' due to Environmental Adjustment, but an inherently weak entity, even affected by Environmental Adjustment, won't become very strong."
"A normal person would still be a normal person in a new environment. The key factor is the nature of the individual's existence."
Okay, so a normal person remains ordinary in another world. Does that mean a martial arts master, when in a world with less restrictive forces, becomes like someone who goes from being able to break bricks with a palm strike to unleashing a few dragons with one?
Arno didn't go into detail on this subject. In his eyes, Zheng Yichen was still an "outsider" who hadn't truly experienced entering an anomaly. The reason he spoke of these matters at all was because of the events Zheng Yichen went through last night; not everyone who qualifies as a Hunter could enter anomalies.
Arno had seen those stronger than him; wanting to enter an anomaly was not so easy. That kind of pressure disregarded "resistance"; entry was possible only through certain special methods or pathways.
Because of the influence of Environmental Adjustment, even if some anomaly-related worlds were wonderful, be it for living or for vacations, and the experience could be maximized, for some people it was not possible to stay there indefinitely.
There's no other reason; in such worlds, they could enjoy life, but the cost was that their nearly invincible status in their own world would be reduced. The possibility of being killed in such worlds was quite high, and they could even be taken out by a native with a gun.
This sounded as absurd as a Saiyan being taken out by a laser gun, yet such things had indeed happened.
"Brother Arno, you've entered anomalies before, right? What was it like?" Zheng Yichen asked this because he thought of some items Arno had displayed earlier, which might have been obtained from other worlds, right?
How to describe this world... anyway, Zheng Yichen felt it was quite special; things like traveling between different worlds weren't some top-secret matter. Ordinary people might not be aware, but outside the circle of ordinary people, getting to understand these matters wasn't very difficult.
They wouldn't be exclusively guarded as a very unique secret. As long as one from outside the circle of ordinary people made contact on their own or came to understand some information, they could then learn more related information, provided they could find someone agreeable to talk to.
"... After getting used to it, there aren't too many feelings left," Arno shook his head. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "If you want to understand more about this aspect, you can talk more with the nuns here."
"That's possible?" Although Zheng Yichen had felt from the beginning that Dusk Cathedral was out of the ordinary, with Arno saying so, it completely confirmed Zheng Yichen's guess.
"Of course, it depends on whether the nuns are willing to talk to you about this topic. However, before you do that, I recommend you first improve your strength. Enhancing your body might be difficult, but improving combat skills can be effective anywhere."
When it came to improving combat skills, Zheng Yichen wanted to learn a thing or two from Arno, but Arno shook his head, indicating his combat style wasn't suitable for Zheng Yichen. He looked at the firearms Zheng Yichen had chosen and said that those guns were good and suited someone as physically strong as Zheng Yichen.
At the same time, he also reminded Zheng Yichen not to try entering the anomaly center just because he had learned so much information.
He had only a preliminary understanding of this aspect, and what lay behind those anomalies might not be safe. Even if nothing emerged, the other end might have natives lying in wait; as soon as he went there, he would be immediately caught...
The probability of such incidents wasn't very high, but they weren't non-existent. He could try it when he became stronger in the future, but he should be fully prepared. After passing through the anomaly, he should leave its center as quickly as possible. Some people could withstand the pressure of the anomaly center, but adaptation did not mean the pressure ceased to exist.
People who can function on high altitudes may not feel comfortable or ensure they are at their peak performance; the pressure generated within anomalies has a similar effect on people.
This kind of reminder made Zheng Yichen realize Arno had seen through certain information, such as the fact that Zheng Yichen could enter the anomaly center.
As for the part about pressure that Arno mentioned, Zheng Yichen pondered for a moment—the effects on him seemed quite minimal, didn't they?
He indeed had felt pressure, but that kind of pressure really wasn't any kind of altitude sickness, though since his transmigration, he had never experienced any altitude sickness.
So when encountering an extraordinary event, the issue of pressure somehow wasn't what he needed to be concerned about. What he needed to pay attention to was whether the other side of the anomaly was safe, and whether he would be ambushed and captured by a group of axe-wielding assailants as soon as he crossed over.
No, if he himself felt little pressure, he could definitely jump back and forth repeatedly. For others, such jumping back and forth would mean continuously bearing the pressure produced by 'Environmental Adjustment', accumulating a great burden. But for him, that didn't exist.
Then the biggest problem was, how could he find an anomaly that he could contact?
The law enforcement strength of Hazy City was quite robust, after all, the Hunters were armed, and ordinary people could also get their hands on firearms through certain channels. Without discussing whether it was illegal or not, since it was through some special means, it was certainly illegal.
So, how could the law enforcement of Hazy City be lacking? Moreover, with the existence of those anomalies, the support received by the security forces naturally rose with the tide.
If an anomaly appeared anywhere in Hazy City, and he couldn't get there within twenty minutes, the scene would definitely be sealed off.
Then there was chatting with the nuns of the Dusk Cathedral about topics from 'alien worlds.' How exactly should he go about that conversation? Arno wasn't about to become some sort of riddle master, but when it came to storytelling, he wasn't always complete; The Dusk Cathedral was no ordinary place—so, what was Hazy City official's stance towards it?
Would the nuns seek him out proactively after he increased his strength?
Arno pulled out a deck of cards with a dark golden background: "Fancy a game of cards?"
"Sure." Zheng Yichen nodded. This world had cards as well, although they were different from the ones Zheng Yichen was familiar with. Zheng Yichen had thought about creating some playing cards and mahjong, but back then his body was too young, so he had never gotten around to it.
Now that Arno had brought out a deck of cards, Zheng Yichen had some ideas. The cards he brought out weren't playing cards, but a kind of Combat Beast Card, somewhat similar to playing cards. Zheng Yichen had never heard of them before; they must be something Hunter Arno got from another world.
After Arno explained the basic rules, Zheng Yichen understood. "Does this mean each person gets their own set and we can have a 'my turn, draw!' moment?"
"You're quite talented," Arno said after they played a couple of rounds. The Combat Beast Cards were not too difficult nor too easy to pick up.
"I've played card games before, too. Next time we meet, I'll show you what I know."
"I'm looking forward to it, it's your turn to play," Arno nodded.
As time passed, the numbers inside Dusk Cathedral gradually increased and then started to dwindle again. Zheng Yichen was about to leave, and Arno, collecting the cards, seemed unwilling to end the game: "Once you've encountered more, we can spice up our card games when we play."
"See you another day." Zheng Yichen left behind all the snacks in his bag. Although Arno said his combat style wasn't suitable for others to learn, he still shared many of his experiences with Zheng Yichen during their card game.
The stories were all about Hazy City, and Zheng Yichen really wanted to hear about other worlds, but thought it would be rude to say so.
However, the stories Arno told were very enlightening for Zheng Yichen, mentioning many extraordinary entities. If Zheng Yichen encountered them, he wouldn't be utterly ignorant about them.
As for guns, he had directly stored them at the cathedral. He would go to the suburbs the next day to find an appropriate place to practice.
On the journey back, the closed subway lines had already reopened. The number of passengers on the subway was still very high; yesterday's events hadn't affected the people in Hazy City. Or perhaps the people of Hazy City had grown accustomed to such things, and he safely returned to his residence.
After exercising with the equipment and taking a bath, Zheng Yichen thought about the dream he had in the Dusk Cathedral that day... More than six hours had passed since then, there shouldn't be a problem now, right?
He slept till dawn the next day, and as he stared at himself in the mirror, he touched the skin on his chest and felt a slight roughness like the feeling of peeling skin after a sunburn.
It was time to find a new extraordinary creature. Low-level—or rather, core earth level—creatures like giant rats couldn't improve his own anomaly anymore. He needed to find some tougher challenges. As for attacking people, he hadn't tried it and didn't want to.
After all, the black spear that manifested from his extraordinary abilities was bloodthirsty; it was fine to stab someone if the situation was critical, but without such urgency, he was somewhat mindful. Moreover, he hadn't encountered an enemy with extraordinary abilities so far.
Normal people, well-behaved as they were, weren't going to go out of their way to trouble him, and Zheng Yichen would certainly not attack people just to test things out.
"First, to the Night Banquet Bar..."
The bars in the lower city district didn't have many rules; they were the kind that could operate 24/7.