Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Mist churned through the gloomy gorge.
The surrounding beasts let out spine-chilling roars, yet moved with fearful hesitation. The unexpected intruders filled them with instinctive terror, and none dared provoke them.
Within the gorge, Zhou Ming reached for the God-Demon Orb, his heart pounding with excitement.
“Swoosh!”
The instant he touched it, dense dark light flared from the orb.
Zhou Ming’s blood surged without warning. Countless thoughts flooded his mind as every negative emotion within him swelled violently. Strange black light even burst from his pupils.
Endless wicked thoughts poured in one after another.
“The God-Demon Orb is mine!”
“With a treasure like this, wealth and glory are guaranteed!”
“No player can possibly rival me now!”
His expression shifted rapidly like a changing mask, greed one moment, arrogance the next.
His every emotion and desire had been magnified to the limit and spilled out beyond his control.
Zhou Ming fought with all his strength to remain rational and suppress those feelings, yet he was only a tiny boat in a raging storm, liable to capsize at any moment.
Smack!
When he came to his senses, Qianying had already knocked the God-Demon Orb from his clenched hand. It rolled across the ground.
“Hah… Hah…”
Zhou Ming was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, as if he had just escaped disaster.
Developing a custom-created class was not going to be simple after all!
Without Qianying’s help, his game character would probably have stopped obeying him entirely.
“Every person who touches the God-Demon Orb receives a completely different response, so I cannot advise you,” Qianying explained. “Mastering it depends entirely on your own ability. All I can do is wake you when the burden becomes too great.”
“I see.”
Zhou Ming nodded. Then he caught something important in her words.
“Many people possessed it before me?”
“Yes.” Qianying did not hide the truth. “Controlling the God-Demon Orb is no easy task. Most failed, and some even lost their lives. Only a tiny number succeeded by chance, found the path they wished to walk, and then…”
“And then?”
“They failed to reach the end and fell along the way.”
“So no one has ever truly succeeded?” Zhou Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“You could see it that way.”
Qianying’s expression became exceptionally solemn. “Whether you can control it determines whether you are qualified to develop a custom-created class and… whether you can become its master.”
As soon as she finished, a system chime sounded.
“Ding!”
[System: Congratulations! You have triggered the special quest [God or Demon at a Thought] (Difficulty: SS). Accept?]
[God or Demon at a Thought] (Difficulty: SS)
[Description: A woman of unknown origin has given you an orb of unknown origin. Whether you can master it will decide your fate.]
[Objective: Endure the God-Demon Orb’s trial and find the direction of your class.]
[Quest Reward: God-Demon Orb]
[Penalty for Failure: Recreate your character.]
…
Zhou Ming’s heart lurched.
What the hell!
Failure meant starting over from scratch?
Was the system trying to punish him?
“You may choose to give up,” Qianying said gently. “I let you touch it first so you could understand how difficult a custom-created class would be and have a chance to weigh the risks.”
Zhouyou Shijie had rescued her from Taoyuan Village. She would never repay kindness with harm.
A custom-created class was indeed an enormous opportunity.
Even those who had fallen along their paths had once been mighty figures whose names shook the world. Their brilliant lives were far more extraordinary than those of ordinary people.
“I want to try.”
Zhou Ming accepted the quest.
What was there to be scared of?
At worst, he would start over. Games were supposed to be fun!
“I wish you success,” Qianying said.
Without wasting more words, Zhou Ming opened the system panel and lowered his pain setting from 5% to the minimum of 1% to reduce the risk. Then he bent down and picked up the God-Demon Orb.
Boom!
The familiar tide of emotion and desire surged into him the moment they touched.
Zhou Ming gritted his teeth and endured.
Seconds later, intense pain erupted across every inch of his body, as if countless ants were tearing into his flesh and steadily grinding down his will.
A few seconds after that, his heart spasmed in agony.
“Ding!”
[System: For unknown reasons, your pain setting has increased to 100%!]
Oh, hell!
This was going to kill him!
Zhou Ming’s expression twisted instantly.
Realizing something was wrong, Qianying tried to knock away the God-Demon Orb and wake him.
“Wait!”
Zhou Ming stopped her. Veins bulged across his forehead and his face burned red, but he kept a death grip on the God-Demon Orb.
Time waited for no one!
If he dragged this out, someone else might snatch away the reward for the first class advancement.
Perhaps holding the God-Demon Orb had magnified his desires. Even knowing that developing a custom-created class would be extraordinarily difficult and mattered far more than anything else, Zhou Ming still refused to compromise on either goal.
“You won’t be able to endure it!” Qianying said anxiously, her voice full of concern.
She had never expected him to risk his life so recklessly on his second attempt.
“The God-Demon Orb hasn’t sent any energy into me. It only magnified my emotions. So why should I be unable to endure it?”
A flash of insight struck Zhou Ming.
Qianying fell silent.
She could not answer.
As she had already explained, the trial differed for every person who touched the God-Demon Orb. No one else’s solution offered any useful reference.
“Maybe instinctively resisting my negative emotions is what’s damaging my mental state!”
Zhou Ming sensed the outline of an answer. He did the exact opposite, abandoning rational resistance and letting every emotion and desire drown him.
The pain vanished from his entire body. In its place came almost perfect comfort.
“Greed, arrogance, and every other negative emotion are all part of me!”
Zhou Ming stared directly at Qianying. His gaze swept over her exquisite face and sensual figure. His mouth went dry, and flames almost seemed to burst from his eyes.
Under the assault of overwhelming desire, he wanted nothing more than to tear away the silver-haired beauty’s clothes, press himself against her, and take whatever he wanted.
Fortunately, even as countless stray thoughts and malicious impulses surfaced, he did not lose himself to them.
This was how he chose to pass the trial.
He would accept every part of himself, even the emotions the world demonized as evil and taught people to resist or conceal.
Of course, he was not acting blindly.
The quest asked him to endure the God-Demon Orb’s trial, and every trial had some form of correct answer.
If resistance failed, he had to find another path.
“I understand!” Qianying murmured thoughtfully. “Your class may be intrinsically tied to powerful negative emotions!”
Hum!
The God-Demon Orb suddenly trembled violently. Its dark glow dimmed and vanished, replaced by dazzling crimson flames that threatened to erupt from within.
An instinctive understanding arose in Zhou Ming.
The elemental power he was meant to command was connected to fire.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
About a dozen seconds later, dense fire energy poured from the God-Demon Orb and spread across Zhou Ming’s entire body. He felt no pain. Instead, it was as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.
“To think it would go this smoothly…”
Qianying could not help marveling in disbelief.
She had trusted that he would succeed, but never imagined it would take so little time.
“Did I pass?” Zhou Ming looked uncertain.
As the person undergoing the trial, he was naturally delighted by his smooth progress.
But God or Demon at a Thought was a Difficulty SS quest. Could it truly be completed this easily?
…
Meanwhile, in Qingshui Town, the old man in blue waited beside the teleportation array with his disciple.
“Swoosh!”
At a certain moment, the array activated.
“They’re here!”
Lin Tao’s nerves tightened. He quickly lowered his gaze, buried his arrogance, and adopted an impeccably respectful manner.
Those about to arrive were on the same level as his master, far beyond anything he could currently approach. He could not afford the slightest disrespect.
Seconds later, three people emerged from the array.
“You are late!” the old man complained.
“We crossed national borders and came to the Eastern Region the moment we heard.” A handsome blond man in silver armor spoke first. “The journey was long. Arriving this quickly was no small feat.”
“I have already encountered the Divine Ember Queen,” the old man said directly. “She cannot run much…”
Boom!
The ground abruptly trembled.
The experts’ faces tightened as they all looked into the distance. A magnificent blaze of scarlet had appeared in the blue sky, so brilliant that the clouds themselves seemed to burn.
“Move!”
They exchanged glances and raced toward the source of the energy disturbance in perfect unison.
“Master, what is that?” Lin Tao asked, baffled as his master carried him along.
The old man looked down at the place where firelight raged. Astonishment and killing intent mingled in the depths of his eyes.
“That boy… actually succeeded in developing a custom-created class!”
Lin Tao froze.
…