Monster Paradise

Lin Huang did not expect that the reason why the middle era had perished was due to the crack from the Abyss Brink.

”Sir, could you tell me more about it?”

”At first, there was an odd energy change from the Abyss Brink that we ignored. By the time we found the source of the issue, the crack in the third layer of the Abyss Brink was unsalvageable. Even a virtual god could not seal it anymore. It was too late when we realized that. The only thing we could do was to watch the crack getting bigger day by day. Until one day, catastrophe struck when many monsters came out of the crack.

”Within seven days, everyone above imperial-level was wiped out by the monsters. 200,000 imperial-levels, 8,000 demigods, hundreds of virtual gods and two True Gods were killed within those fateful seven days.”

Lin Huang was shocked to hear that. The number of powerful people during the middle era was tens of times more than what they had in the new era. However, such a powerful era was obliterated by the monsters that had come out of the abyss, proving just how powerful the monsters were.

”What happened after that?” Lin Huang asked.

”Was everyone in the middle era killed?”

”Those who were trained in Witchcraft were killed.” Bai Gu shook his head sadly.

”Those monsters that came out of the crack could sense Witchcraft energy easily, so it was useless to hide. On the contrary, ordinary people who hid well managed to survive. The monsters weren’t interested in ordinary people anyway.”

”We managed to escape as our Sorcerer Goddess moved the entire land above the Peaceful Ocean. Another reason that allowed us to escape is that we transformed into how we look now, hence the monsters could not sense the Witchcraft energy.”

”So, it was your choice to transform into how you look now?” Lin Huang though they had been cursed to transform themselves from humans to their current appearance.

”Yes, the Sorcerer Goddess thought that it’d be the best way for us to survive. She transferred our souls into the bodies of different puppets. As long as we don’t use Witchcraft, we’re no different from an inanimate thing. Nobody could tell, not even the monsters. That’s how we survived.”

”After making sure that we were safe, the Sorcerer Goddess went back to the war. A white glow shot into the sky on the third day that the Sorcerer Goddess left. A defense layer then covered the sky above the land, and that was how we realized that she had passed on as the defense was her god relic, the Frost Fortress. It often snows here, and the snow is the Frost Fortress’ tears.”

After listening to Bai Gu’s story, Lin Huang finally understood what had exactly happened. He now realized the reason why the land was above the Peaceful Ocean and why all the people were in such odd forms.

”If that’s the case, there shouldn’t be many who survived. Is there any other foothold in the underground?” Lin Huang immediately realized that might be the consequence.

”There are other footholds here, but not many people are alive anymore,” Bai Gu said.

”What happened?” Lin Huang asked.

”Many people want to live forever, but it’s actually boring. We’ve paid the price for immortality by giving up our ability to grow or to increase our combat level. We’ve lived our life on a loop for the past tens of thousands of years every day. Many of them killed themselves as they couldn’t take how boring it was anymore. Some of them went crazy and started wars. We can’t bear offspring, which is why our population is dying out.”

”Why don’t you guys leave this land since it’s so boring?” Lin Huang thought that it was strange.

”There wouldn’t have been so many people going crazy if we could leave.” Bai Gu shook his head as he pointed at the sky outside the window.

”Not long after the Sorcerer Goddess passed away, the Frost Fortress shut down by itself. Although it’s protecting us, it’s also stopping us from leaving.”

”Shut down? Could that be a mistake? We’re able to get out of the layer when we want to.” Lin Huang thought Bai Gu must have been mistaken.

”I know. Any outsider that is below imperial-level can enter and exit as he or she wants. That’s the default setting considering that if humans discovered us after the war ended, they could come in and spread the news. But because outsiders might harm us, there’s a restriction on the outsider’s combat level,” Bai Gu explained.

”The only way for us to leave this piece of land is to get someone to activate the Frost Fortress.” Bai Gu then looked at Lin Huang imploringly.

”All of us here have tried, but none of us have managed to do it. We’ve had our hopes up on outsiders for a period.

”However, fewer and fewer humans came in through the layer the past tens of thousands of years. Most of them came in with the intention of wanting to benefit from us instead of wanting to help us. Moreover, none of them could activate the Frost Fortress. As time went by, we’ve since lost our faith in outsiders.”

What Bai Gu said helped Lin Huang understand why some of them had not welcomed him at first.

”Some of you even attempted to attack us, which caused us to see outsiders as enemies. That’s why some of the people came up with an evil plan towards outsiders, which is the spirit transfer.”

Lin Huang had goosebumps when he heard that. Even if Bai Gu was not a demigod, he was just as powerful as one. Lin Huang might not survive if Bai Gu were to attack him.

”If we carry out spirit transfer on outsiders like you, we can get out of the bodies that we’re currently in and be reincarnated into blood and flesh. As long as we have enough time to adapt to our new body, we’ll be able to train again. Although we still won’t be able to leave this land since our spirit is still in the body, at least we can train again.

”Since the suggestion came up, our tribe separated into two groups whereby some of the stubborn ones left and built their own footholds in other places. That’s also the source of our contradiction. As the time went by, more and more people got bored of their lives, so they started joining the other group which has been growing gradually.

”Many years later, since not many outsiders have been coming in, they started asking us to give them the outsiders that we’ve been contacting. They’ve started wars because of this. Since the first war, the two groups became enemies. Many wars have happened throughout the years, and the groups then proceeded to divide into more groups. From one tribe, we are now more than 30 tribes. Ours is just a small one.

”Nevertheless, you don’t have to worry as our tribe is friendlier to outsiders compared to the rest and we disagree with the idea of the spirit transfer,” Bai Gu added after explaining the entire incident which made Lin Huang feel relieved. Lin Huang forced out a laugh without saying anything. It had been a long time since Bai Gu had chatted with someone like that. He could not stop talking when he met someone like Lin Huang.

Lin Huang proceeded to banter with him, but his head was occupied with what had happened to the Abyss Brink. If the mighty middle era had perished from the monsters’ attack, the new era that he was in would not stand a chance at all.