Chapter 34
Chapter 34
“You’re back?”
Inside the Anomaly Hunter Bureau lobby, Lu Xingshan relaxed slightly after receiving Qin Lan’s message.
Not long after he ordered Qin Lan to return, the young man’s signal had vanished in the Fallen Zone, giving Lu Xingshan a serious fright.
Now, however, it appeared that Qin Lan had merely encountered a low-star instance by chance.
“That makes sense. His signal vanished quite close to the Safe Zone. He couldn’t possibly be that unlucky… Even an unsolvable instance that’s gone out of control rarely opens an entrance in that location.”
Lu Xingshan nodded and put the matter from his mind.
Then his communicator sounded again with a notice from another Anomaly Hunter Bureau branch.
The contents surprised him.
“The alert has been canceled? The instance has stabilized again?”
“That kid’s luck is impressive. He happened to enter a low-star instance and avoid the danger, then emerged just as the runaway instance stabilized.”
Even though Lu Xingshan knew Qin Lan had tremendous potential, the possibility that Qin Lan had cleared the unsolvable instance never crossed his mind.
What kind of joke would that be?
Even 4-Star Anomaly Hunters might not survive a place like that. Only monsters with extraordinary strength and resurrection methods dared risk themselves inside.
A novice Anomaly Hunter?
What difference would there be between entering and throwing his life away?
Meanwhile, among the ruins 2.7 kilometers from an entrance to Safe Zone 088, Qin Lan examined the black pattern on his wrist and smiled in satisfaction.
“Backup Reaper… It certainly sounds impressive.”
——————–
Class: Backup Reaper
Quality: Unique Hidden Class
Description: You are the sole successor personally appointed by Death, holding a position second only to Death itself–though until the one in charge finally expires, you will always remain the backup.
Class Ability 1: You possess a unique understanding of death. Every enemy you kill will become a source of strength.
Class Ability 2: You can see the trajectories of death. Every time you escape from the brink of death, you will grow stronger.
Class Ability 3: You can govern the life and death of mortals. You may use Death’s power to place curses upon enemies, weakening their strength or even writing their deaths.
——————–
A special class was something every Anomaly Hunter coveted.
In terms of rarity, they could generally be divided into four grades: Common, Superior, Hidden, and Unique Hidden.
Qin Lan’s [Backup Reaper] belonged to the highest grade.
“Unique” meant that no second person could obtain the position of [Backup Reaper] before Qin Lan died.
“Hidden” meant that the method of acquisition was extraordinarily difficult and its triggering conditions deeply obscure.
On closer consideration, obtaining [Backup Reaper] truly bordered on impossible.
First, one had to escape the fate of death repeatedly through a continuous series of designs created by [Death].
Second, one had to find Death’s incarnation within an enormous world.
Finally, one had to win a wager that was almost impossible to win by luck.
The first requirement alone would likely have defeated even a 4-Star Anomaly Hunter like Luan Zimo while her strength was suppressed.
Her stamina was limited. No matter how many cursed artifacts she carried, there would always come a point when her power ran dry.
Finding Death’s incarnation only appeared simple. In reality, it was exceptionally difficult.
Had Han Chan not been there, able to “see curses” and “see death” while guiding Qin Lan, finding Death’s incarnation hidden among humanity would have been like searching for a needle in the ocean.
As for the final requirement, Qin Lan had repeatedly reloaded and reset the timeline at the points separating one death trap from the next. Only then had he uncovered the wager’s secret.
Even compared with other Unique Hidden classes, [Backup Reaper] unquestionably ranked among the most difficult to obtain.
It was also worth noting that a 5-Star instance did not mean [Death] itself possessed only 5-Star strength.
After all, Death had never personally attacked anyone in this instance–aside from those few times it struck back after Qin Lan infuriated it.
Ordinarily, it only altered the script and assembled death traps from factors already present within that world.
With sufficient strength and quick reactions, a person could still evade several of them.
If the objective for clearing the instance had not been [Every Participant Must Experience One Death], but instead [Kill That Arrogant Death]…
It was difficult to imagine what level the instance’s difficulty would have reached.
Naturally, the rewards were proportional to the danger.
Each of [Backup Reaper]’s three class abilities was more outrageous than the last.
The first ability essentially caused every enemy Qin Lan killed to increase all his attributes.
The amount gained decreased according to [Backup Reaper]’s current strength and increased according to the enemy’s strength.
In other words, the stronger the enemy Qin Lan faced, the more attributes he would gain. Bullying the weak would earn him nothing.
The second ability increased all his attributes whenever he escaped death.
But what qualified as escaping death?
According to Qin Lan’s own perception, the criterion was somewhat vague. Avoiding danger from afar or taking a detour clearly did not count.
The ability would trigger only if he walked the boundary between life and death and escaped by the narrowest margin.
Qin Lan had also discovered that he could now see death.
He could see it in the most literal sense.
“What a strange sensation…” Qin Lan marveled.
Unlike Han Chan, who witnessed images of future death scenes, Qin Lan saw countless gray threads.
They ran between every object, weaving together in an impossibly dense web.
Some threads were thick and some thin. They appeared perfectly clear, yet could not be touched.
“They don’t physically exist. They’re being presented to my eyes in a special form so I can observe them…”
Qin Lan pondered this, then gazed into the distance.
Wherever the threads gathered most densely, the aura of curses was especially strong. An anomaly was clearly entrenched there, marking the entrance to an instance.
“Interesting… The more dangerous an anomaly is, the more likely it is to cause death. Is that why the threads are denser?”
Intrigued, Qin Lan felt he had grasped part of the principle.
But the threads clearly had uses beyond this. He would have to explore them gradually in the future.
“The third ability is curses.”
Qin Lan read the class description in quiet amazement.
Previously, he had been capable of only rudimentary applications of his curse energy, such as coating a weapon with it or enhancing the power of [Baton Secret Art: Three Strikes, Three Guards].
Now, however, he had mastered a far more sophisticated use.
Qin Lan could place true [curses].
With sufficient curse energy, he could suppress one of an enemy’s abilities or weaken one of their attributes.
He could even…
Like [Death] inside the instance, weave a person’s fate and guide them toward death.
Naturally, that required an enormous amount of curse energy. Qin Lan certainly could not achieve it in the near future.
“Even so, it’s a terrifying method… So the extreme suppression inside the instance came from a curse cast by Death.”
Qin Lan finally understood.
He stretched, feeling tremendous power surge through his body.
“I really did get much stronger.”
Qin Lan grinned.
After he left the instance and escaped Death’s suppression, the attributes accumulated through his repeated deaths stacked together in an instant, raising his strength to a terrifying level.
——————–
Name: Qin Lan
Race: Human
Class: Backup Reaper (Unique Hidden)
Strength: 16
Constitution: 15
Speed: 15
Spirit: 14
Curse Energy: 75
——————–
Although his many deaths inside the instance had produced severe diminishing returns, their combined gains remained astonishing.
Every one of Qin Lan’s attributes had more than doubled compared with when he entered Final Destination.
A 2-Star anomaly?
Even without a weapon or [Baton Secret Art: Three Strikes, Three Guards], it might not withstand more than a few of his punches.
After taking stock of his new strength, Qin Lan suddenly remembered something.
A thoroughly malicious smile spread across his face.
“I suddenly feel like eating beef noodles…”