Chapter 101 100 Conversations between men are meant to be so frank!
Chapter 101 100.Conversations between men are meant to be so frank! 4060]
(Extra for brother ‘Summer’s Indulgence’ [5/5])
“Even if you guys brush your posts to explode the forums, the game time can’t be extended just can’t! I’ve said that I’m not a god of creation, so how can I change the real world according to your ideas?
Although you little players are cute, but please don’t be so unreasonable, okay?”
In the dark river secret passage of the Blood Wyvern Cloister, Murphy grabbed the Core Treasure Pearl and listened to the ghostly complaints of the small players coming from inside.
He sighed himself.
If possible, he would have preferred that the cute and nice little players could be online 24 hours a day, not only would he be able to get good help at all times, but the lack of manpower could also be solved.
One wouldn’t even feel the emptiness and loneliness of being alone in the Otherworld.
However, he was just a mediocre test administrator now, and the unlocked functions of game time and helmets would not be unlocked immediately at his behest.
It all depends on the “game progress” to advance, so in the end, the small players instead of complaining here should work harder for the vampire ah mouth teeth!
“What are you doing there? A person who is talking in a strange way is planning to show me the face art? The expression on your face just now is just like seeing a debt collector.”
Old Knight Finok’s disgruntled voice resounded from the front.
This gold ranked white knight was currently standing in a pile of ghostly ruins that had been incinerated by the ethereal blue purifying fire.
At the same time when the young players challenged the number two BOSS Protection Officer Kudel just now, Murphy and the Old Knight also cleared out this ghost spirit camp that had existed for at least 300 years.
The specific cleanup process was that the Old Knight greeted a whole bunch of elite ghost spirits and killed them randomly in the front, while Murphy crunched in the back.
It wasn’t that he was intentionally lazy.
The main reason was that he, a small rookie of the Black Iron rank, when facing these hateful ghost spirits that were also of the Black Iron rank and had a number of 50 or more, and were known for being difficult to deal with, tsk, there was indeed still a slight disadvantage on the level of combat power.
But Murphy did participate in the battle.
When a bunch of ghosts pounced on him, he also single-handedly killed three of them, making his experience bar of Grave Sword Guards Sword Art climb up one section with difficulty, if it wasn’t for the Old Knight’s use of wide-range Nature Spirit Energy Advanced AOE technique, which made Murphy not dare to get too close to the battlefield lest he would be “mistakenly injured by a friendly party”, then his Sword Art would probably be able to improve by a further cut.
That being said, the improvement of this advanced swordsmanship was really difficult, not at all as smooth as the previous Blood Vulture swordsmanship that went from beginner to master in half a month.
“Why are there so many elite ghost spirits here? It’s also right in the secret tunnels of your Blood Vulture Sanctuary, are all you vampires this casual about running your own lair?”
The old knight walked past the ethereal ashes sprinkled all over the place, the ashes left over from the purification of the ghost spirits and the casting props for some dark psychic energy spells.
Therefore Murphy was using a psychic energy bag to put these ashes away at this moment, and circled around this dark ruin again, with nothing but a bag of ancient gold coins.
Facing Finok’s inquiry, Murphy rolled his eyes and said:
“Who do I ask if you ask me? It’s also my first time entering the Blood Wyvern Cloister, I don’t know more about this place than you do, but if I have to ask for a reason, I guess these should be the pioneers before the establishment of Cadman City 400 years ago.
Tris told me one day when she was drunk that she had been involved in the design and construction of Cadman City, and she said that there used to be some mysterious relics from before the Era, and that there was no shortage of strange powers in certain places.
Initially, Salokdar had thought of bulldozing those ruins, but then there was a shortage of manpower due to the Black Plague, so he simply built Cadman City on top of the ruins.”
Murphy traversed the dead ruins and explained to the old knight:
“This is probably one of the remaining traces of those civilizations before they were born, and the souls of these unlucky people from hundreds of years ago were obviously trapped here.”
“Hmm, makes sense.”
The old knight nodded and said:
“The conditions for the formation of resentful spirits aren’t too harsh, but a large-scale gathering of ghostly spirits is another concept, and it’s also true that Transylvania isn’t an area where deathly psychic energy converges. I felt a change in psychic energy, and the exit is probably just up ahead.
That’s a long way to go, and it’s no wonder the vampires aren’t doing anything about it.
Just this group of ghostly spirits standing in the way is more than enough to stop any unprepared intruder.”
“Yeah, who would have thought that a gold powerhouse would actually climb the sewers to stage a sneak attack?”
Murphy said in a teasing tone:
“Are all the other gold powerhouses on the continent as easygoing as you? Old Lord Fenok.”
“You could ask them yourself, think they’d be willing to patiently answer your strange questions as a delightful little vampire before they get you killed in any way they can.”
The old knight returned in the same relaxed tone.
At this moment the two were less like hunter and prey and more like venomous strangers who had partnered on an adventure and were gradually getting to know each other.
They continued to trek through the darkness, and after crossing a 90° vertical section of the dark river waterfall, the thick walls of the Blood Wyvern Cloister reappeared in front of them.
This represents the end of the journey through the secret passage.
“We should rest for a while.”
Murphy suggested:
“My warriors need to rest, and your witch hunters have been fighting for most of the day, so it’s better if we don’t make a move until they break through the middle of the cloister and enter the hall.
I trust your fighting prowess.
But I also believe that Salokdar will not be so well-behaved as to wait alone in the depths of the hall for your beheading.”
“Makes sense, then take a short break and go scouting afterward.”
The old knight had also consumed quite a bit of psychic energy from exterminating the group of ghost spirits just now.
Although the rank crushed but his own loss was real, so he did not reject Murphy’s proposal.
He took out a few pieces of wood at the edge of the underground dark river and casually called for the purifying fire to fall, and a simple traveling bonfire was made.
But then, in the old knight’s astonished gaze, as a vampire should be averse to the light of the Murphy but greatly fly over and landed on the opposite side of him, and also took out some long-prepared “bento box”, put it on the bonfire to heat up.
Along with the aroma of the meal gushed out, the old Fennec’s eyes even more strange.
He said:
“These things . Did you make them yourself?”
“What? Never seen a vampire who cooks as well as I do?”
Murphy let out a laugh and threw a few of the boxes to the old knight, saying:
“I specially prepared vegetarian food, don’t worry to eat it, there’s no poison inside.”
“I’m sure, after all, no one would be stupid enough to poison a high-ranking member of the Church of Avalon, being sheltered by nature we are basically immune to the vast majority of biological and plant toxins. In fact, if your toxin ratios are creative enough, I’d even commend the flavor as unique.”
Finok said quietly, following Murphy’s example of heating these lunchboxes over the fire, and removing his own oak barrel helmet to fetch water from a nearby river, and purifying these underground water sources with natural psychic energy.
He then saw Murphy across the campfire with his hands and feet removing fruits and peeling them to make himself a salad.
After watching carefully for more than ten seconds, after seeing Murphy actually ceremoniously take out a wooden fork, he finally couldn’t help but say:
“Murphy, you really don’t look like a vampire! Not like it in every way. Were you a human cook before you were first embraced by Tris? Or a good traveler?”
“Geez, those things are so far back it seems like a lifetime ago, let me think.”
Murphy held up a plate and used a wooden spoon to bring a mixture of fruits into his mouth, eating as he reminisced:
“I would have been born into a small noble family in a small town in the southern part of East Prussia, bordering the Cato region, and I remember the family had a nice manor and windmill mill coming up. My parents wanted me to grow up in the traditional and classical aristocratic lifestyle, and when I was old enough they wanted to send me to the Bourbonite Military Academy in the Kingdom of the Golden Flower to make a career out of it.
And then.”
The vampire dropped a handful of nuts into his mouth and slurred:
“The Ten Years’ War broke out! Suddenly everything that had been planned was just gone with the wind, the Old Order rebels entered East Prussia, and my father took his family to move toward the Bosian Confederacy but had the misfortune of encountering a band of jackal banditry on the way.
Heh, a Transylvanian specialty.
It was a truly bleak night, and for the first time in my life I was a deserter amidst my family’s wailing.
Memories after that are a blur.
I remember following a group of deserters all the way east, landing in Cadman City, being bullied by gangs in the outer city, doing odd jobs to support myself then being captured by starvation in the middle of some cold winter, and going to join my parents amidst the laughter of death.
It was Tris who saved me.
I still don’t know why she saved me, but after that she became my only family.”
“You seem to be telling someone else’s story.”
The old knight whispered:
“It seems the past isn’t something worth remembering or remembering for you, plus I’d like to warn you that you’re being affected by the bloodline contract! You clearly have an unnatural closeness to Tris, and the vampire’s persistent disease is eating away at your will. That will make you a loyal dog at Tris’s feet, wagging your tail only to gain her praise.”
“Spare me the prying eyes about me and Tris, that’s none of your business, and spare me the sowing of discord! Let’s talk about you instead.”
Murphy rolled his eyes as he opened the lunch box that had been heated up and held up a steaming pork chop and rice staring across the table at the older knight who was slightly disgruntled:
“Do you know the rules? I told my story you should tell yours, it’s only fair.”
“There’s nothing to tell about my story, it’s nothing more than what your story looks like when stretched out tenfold, especially since life after sixty is all just boring repetition until a surprise comes along one day.”
Old Finnock smiled, opened his own lunch box to hold up an aromatic vegetable mess over rice, picked up a spoon and purred.
The appetite of a mighty warrior was always as unstoppable as their strength, and soon both meals were wiped out, and the old knight wiped his mouth with satisfaction, taking out another wooden flask from his psionic bag.
Taking a sip for himself, he then tossed it to Murphy.
The vampire wiped the top of the flask with some disgust, before taking a drink for himself.
It wasn’t the hard liquor that Tris liked, just mellow fruit wine like a sweet and sour drink.
“What you really want to ask is the same question as before, isn’t it? My relationship with Natalie.”
As the fire danced, the old knight fumbled for a dwarven style pipe, filling it with some fine Chardonnay tobacco and lighting it by the campfire, the smoke billowing as he whispered:
“Well, she is my daughter .”
“Ahem, pfft!”
Murphy immediately choked, pounded his chest hard and took another sharp gulp of fruit wine before easing up.
He was truly surprised.
Eyes shining red in the darkness looked at the old knight and said incredulously:
“You’re two hundred years old! Natalie is 40 at the most”
“Thirty-five, and that’s just the beginning of life for a pure-blooded Caitian who generally lives to be 140.”
Old Finnock exhaled a smoke ring and shook his head:
“Don’t give me that dirty look or I’ll punch you in the face!
The truth isn’t what you think it is!
Natalie’s mother is also a Silver ranked Avalon Church Saint, and although she didn’t drink the water of the Holy Grail like me, her life form advancement and natural blessings allow her to easily live up to 200 years.
My wife is even 11 years older than me yet.
As for not having a daughter until the twilight of our lives, that can only be attributed to the blessings of Avalon manifesting.
With the power rank of the two of us it would have been difficult to produce an heir after our union, the limitations of power are such that they cannot be changed by human hands, and those things that are powerful are always rare, as is the law of nature.”
“Well well well, your god Avalon cares quite a bit, perhaps He has a priesthood to deliver children.”
Murphy spat out in a small voice.
At the old knight’s angry look, he added:
“But her relationship with you seems to be bad, I can see that she is treating you the way she treats her superiors, with very little personal feelings mixed in, so even a Gold ranked powerhouse would have family problems?”
“That’s my fault, it has nothing to do with Natalie.”
The old knight didn’t want to chat too much on this issue.
By not opening his mouth anymore he was implying that Murphy should not ask any more questions, so the vampire changed the topic with a twinkle in his eye and said:
“Tris told me that the witch hunters are in a bad situation now, and as a creation of the Church of Avalon, you are undoubtedly implicated in the rebellion of the old religion. In order not to be executed, you had to be commissioned as mercenaries in the Ten Years’ War in the Kingdom of the Golden Sparrow.
And from what I’ve heard, they used you all in a very brutal way.
As the leader of the White Oak Warband, have you ever considered the future for your subordinates?”
“Hmm?”
The old knight put down his pipe and looked at Murphy, who was holding the food box, with odd eyes.
He said:
“So what are you trying to say? Please don’t say something strange, Murphy, after all, I’ve only just turned around my slight impression of your fellow.”
“I mean, if you have nowhere else to go, why don’t you stay?”
The vampire said what was on his mind.
Old Finok reached up helplessly and covered his eyes as he said:
“O Avalon above, you still say it, almost like the ravings of a whimsical madman.
The number of vampires and bloodsuckers who have died at the hands of witch hunters in the Ten Years’ War has been uncountable, and our reputation in Transylvania is even more infamous.
I know you were born anti-bone and have little love for the Blood Wyvern Clan, but what kind of thinking did you go through, and what kind of mental state did you have to be in to come up with such an idea? What makes you think that witch hunters and vampires can shake hands and make peace?”
“But we’ve worked well together the last few times, haven’t we?”
Murphy grinned:
“Smuggler’s Woodland, Jed’s gang, and now the Blood Wyvern Cloister cleanup, it turns out that the two sides don’t even need to put aside their differences, they just need to have a common interest to join hands. The best part is that even if you bring back Salokdar’s head for King Louie, all you’ll get is a pardon.
But it’s been ten years since you were branded as rebels.
You can’t be so naive as to think that the king’s orders will allow you to live in peace in your homeland, can you?
The war has changed many things, and it will continue to bring change!
It is not something that can be shifted by your will.
Finnock, your subordinates have nowhere else to go, and the Transylvania I plan will open its arms to all the homeless.
If you are willing to start your new lives on this earth.
I know that my offer is not very attractive compared to King Louie and General Loren, but it is always good to have one more option for the current witch hunters.
Right?”
Murphy put down his lunch box and said quietly:
“Or are you more willing to trust the king who has used you as cannon fodder for the past ten years than a vampire who has opened his arms to you in friendship?”
“Listen to yourself what you’re saying, Murphy, your brain hasn’t probably been broken by Tris’ evil magic. Why do I have to choose between two lumps of um, why do I have to choose between two wrong answers?”
The old knight snorted and stopped talking.
Murphy also tacitly didn’t ask any more questions until nearly thirty minutes later, when the old knight put away his pipe and got up to move his body, he said:
“Let’s go, continue scouting.”
Murphy stood up to wear the Desire Ethnicity Blade on his waist, but just as they moved, the old knight suddenly said:
“Have you thought about it?”
“Hmm?”
The vampire looked over at the elder Finnock with a questioning look on his face.
Then he heard the old knight put on his own barrel helmet and say in a hushed voice:
“Why did the Church of Avalon suddenly defect without warning? As the state religion of the Kingdom of Goldfinch, and at what point did it make peace with that little poke of belligerent lunacy in the Confederacy of Portia that doesn’t have a brain the size of a walnut?
That rebellion was joined even by the Cesar barbarians far away in Ice Bay, and their beliefs were completely different from the old religion! The two sides were no less at odds with each other than the Old Religion was with the vampires.
Yet they seemed to have turned enemies into friends overnight.
Too much and too many irrationalities are hidden beneath the surface.
Murph, you’d have to look beyond this 10-year war to see what’s hidden.
You think you’re safe, but you’re not! The shadows that hide call for a storm, and the countless deaths that float before our eyes are but a light breeze.
War!
This ugly thing is just the tiniest link in the chain of all that is happening.
Remember to keep this in your mind, and tell Tris by the way, I think, she’ll understand what I mean, but remember, don’t go around with a big mouth, and don’t go probing for those truths, especially when you’re still weak.”
(End of chapter)