The Dragon Ruins was a magnificent city surrounded by a dead forest. Currently, over 3 teams have gathered in front of the magic barrier that surrounded the dead forest. Every one of these teams had at least 100 members, with only one having up to 200 members.
Moreover, even the weakest player was equipped in armor that would leave the professors of the top academy themselves drooling over them, while the strongest was fully equipped in an unknown set foreign to everyone here.
When Lin Derik and the others first arrived at the dead forest, they immediately felt an oppressive feeling enveloping their bodies. Right now, even a fool could tell that their group of students did not belong in this place. They stood out like a sore thumb when they stood among these expert players.
Meanwhile, the arrival of Lin Derik's group also attracted the attention of the many expert teams present. This was especially true for one particular 200-man team.
After taking a glance at Lin Derik's group, a woman clad in an exquisite robe and wielding a crystalline Staff sneered and said, "What's a bunch of children like them doing here? What is their leader even thinking? Didn't they just hear the Empress of War regional warning of closing on region 14? Even in regular days such a thing shouldn't be done by them, much less now."
The words of the woman attracted the approval of many of her team members. Like the woman, these people also looked at Lin Derik's with eyes full of contempt.
While it was true that any player who met the necessary strength could enter the dead forest and farm beast cores inside, it didn't mean anyone who met the strength requirement should enter the dead forest. After all, it wasn't without reason that dead forest became a broken gate.
There was no possibility that Lin Derik and his teammates were experts disguised to look like university students, either. Which only means that these bunch of kids were too arrogant to know their limits.
The woman was about to move and approach Lin Derik to warn him out before a notification reached her ears through her communication device. Instantly, the serious face and worried look she had vanished completely as though it never appeared, instead replaced by a rather relaxed look.
With a wave of her hand, the woman uttered in absolute authority," The Empress of War has called the threat off; everyone is to immediately go back to their posts and never speak of this incident. Further information and rewards of participating will be delivered accordingly."
Without even bothering to check the reactions of the over 500 people in the group, the women continued to approach Lin Derik.
***
The sound of voices grew clearer as Shen moved closer.
'I'm sure of it. Those are humans,' Shen said, almost beginning to sing a song of joy.
Earthling Humans...
Shen exhaled quietly.
As he pushed the last cluster of bushes and stepped out, dozens of eyes snapped toward him as his foot touched the ground.
'This should work, or else...' Thinking this much, Shen began the method that had saved countless lives in chaotic eras!
A young man stood there, clothes torn and stained with dirt, long black hair hanging loosely over his shoulders. His face was pale, his lips dry, and his posture unsteady, as though standing itself required effort, and he would drop to the ground at any given moment.
Shen swayed slightly.
Several people instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons seeing that scene.
"Who are you?!" someone couldn't help but bark.
Shen raised one hand slowly, his palm open.
With a hoarse and low voice, Shen uttered difficulty,"...Don't panic...I'm...I'm not armed."
Although everyone could clearly see that it was indeed the case, no one believed it!
This was the dead forest, and powerful people need no weapons to slit one's throat in this era. Adding the fact that the dead forest was on lockdown just a minute ago, everyone was tense seeing this situation.
The woman with the crystalline staff narrowed her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Shen from head to toe as though his entire being was naked in her eyes.
'So just like Murim, strong people here can measure your strength through mana resonance...crude. but kind of effective if you are stronger.' Shen thought,' If I leak even a bit of internal qi, she would most likely notice.'
Shen let his shoulders tremble, his breath growing uneven.' Is this too sharp?' he thought calmly.
'This woman is scanning deeper than expected. So maybe this will be enough?'
He forced more instability into his stance, letting his knees soften just enough to appear on the verge of collapse.
Azona's eyebrows rose for a split moment before they went back to normal,' Did he just?'
'No, no. I must have been too paranoid about the threat level the Empress of War has issued; there is no way this kid is reading where I'm scanning and adapting to it.'
"Lady Azona, please refrain from scaring the gate survivor any longer; he can be a potential asset to our Sector 1 and become one of those who succeed in that."
'Gate survivor?' Shen felt he had found that rope to hold on to and greatly relaxed. The system messages of errors greatly annoyed him, and he knew that the timeline was vastly different, even though he was on the same earth. However, hearing about the gate survivor and a way to integrate made him drop all of his previous plans.
Upon hearing Lin Derik's words, hushed discussions began occurring all over the place, but could only last for a brief moment before Azona shut all of them down.
"Haven't I told you all to head back to your spots? Have I maybe gone senile and imagined saying these words, or?"
In but a few seconds, all of the people who were waiting to see some action between Azona and Lin fled the place without even bothering to look back.
"The great commander is truly scary, no wonder you got..." Lin Derik couldn't even finish his sentence as he felt goosebumps run all over his body. Instantly, his smile stiffened as he looked away towards the young man.
He then exmained Shen for a brief moment before commanding his group to enter the dead forest.