Chapter 543: The Strange Consciousness Battlefield
“Boom!”
“Gurgle...”
It sounded as if Chen Chen was crashing into the water and he felt like he had fallen into the deep sea. His consciousness was slowly sinking, wafting down bit by bit, and there was a clamorous buzzing sound in his ears.
The water around his still body seed to reverberate with the babel of countless people.
The light in front of him was getting dimr and the pressure on his body was getting stronger but he realized that he still had not sunk to the bottom of the sea.
He did not know how long it took but just when Chen Chen thought that his consciousness would completely dissipate, he woke up again.
Chen Chen quivered all over and slowly opened his eyes.
Ten ters away in front of him, there was a huge ball of light. The light was soft and not blinding. The strands of light shone on Chen Chen’s body and made him feel an inexplicable warmth.
In contrast, his back which was beyond the reach of the light ball felt a wisp of chill.
Chen Chen looked around but saw nothing around him. He tried to walk forward but he could not reach the ball of light, though it seed to be close at hand.
At this point, Chen Chen was sure that he had been placed in a void.
Where was this?
Chen Chen was a little confused. His consciousness remained at the mont he got into the cryogenic chamber.
“Welco to the ‘Consciousness Battlefield’!”
However, when he was feeling mystified, the ball of light in front of him rang out resoundingly. This sound passed into Chen Chen’s mind with repeating echoes, making him imdiately understand the aning of the ball of light.
The weirdest thing was that this ball of light did not seem to speak Chinese or even English or other known languages but directly communicated on a conscious level.
“Two candidates have been detected. Starting data quantification test... Data quantization is running...”
The booming voice continued. “Data quantization is complete, creating character cards... Character cards are being created...”
Imdiately, an apparition appeared in front of Chen Chen.
“Na: Chen Chen.
“Sex: Male.
“Age: 27.
“Race: T-virus modified human (scientific na: Tyrant).
“Alignnt: Lawful evil.
“Attributes [3D6]: Strength 21 (non-human strength), Physique 24 (close to the vitality of a troll), Size 11 (standard human size), Agility 20 (more flexible than a cat), Appearance 10 (plain and average), Intelligence 18 (human limit), Perception 31 (perception only available to gods), Willpower 17 (close to the human limit).
“Occupation: Biologist, capitalist, secret manipulator, guardian of civilization.
“Professional skills [5D20]: Biology 95, dicine 95, Psychology 77, Archaeology 12, Occult 10, Shooting 99, Reconnaissance 99, Listening 99, Fighting 65, Tracking 99, Defense 99.
“Special skills: Field power (Defense 99, Shooting 99, Reconnaissance 99, Listening 99, Tracking 99).”
Seeing this data, Chen Chen looked bewildered. What was this, a tabletop role-playing ga?
However, before he could react, Chen Chen faintly saw another apparition moving. His opponent was less than two ters away beside him, like a black lump of at, and in front of the atball, there was also a character card—
“Na: Alosorthoth [newborn form].
“Gender: None.
“Age: 0.1.
“Race: ???
“Alignnt: Chaotic evil.
“Attributes [3D6]: Strength 15 (you are as strong as a cow), Physique 35 (the vitality of a god), Size 10 (still a baby), Agility 5 (you move like a snail), Appearance 3 (aesthetic ans nothing to you), Intelligence 5 (a pig is smarter than you), Perception 20 (you have an intuition that mortals don’t), Willpower 30 (too-low IQ prevents your brain from working sharply).
“Occupation: None.
“Professional skills [5D20]: Defense 80, Mind Reading 99, Mind Devouring 99, Body Regeneration 99.
“Special skills: psionics (Mind Reading 99, Mind Swallowing 99).”
Seeing this weird character card, Chen Chen’s pupils suddenly shrank.
What the h*ll was this? Was this the body of the monster that had co from beyond the skies?
Just when Chen Chen was shocked and uncertain, the loud voice ca again. “‘Consciousness Battlefield’ is activated and the module is being created based on the character cards of both parties. Both candidates, please get ready...
“The dice system is starting...
Chen Chen only saw the light from the ball in front of him getting brighter and finally, he could not help but close his eyes...
“Hum...”
There was a soft sound in his ear and then Chen Chen only sensed that the light instantly softened again.
He tried opening his eyes, only to find that he was standing above a city.
The city below his feet was only about the size of a small city, with an area of no more than ten square kiloters. There were countless ruined farmhouses scattered throughout. In the center of the city, there was a small five- or six-story castle.
This seed to be a desolate and run-down European dieval city.
“Module has been created...”
The mighty voice continued. “Both parties, please roll the dice to determine who moves first.”
Chen Chen’s heart jolted. He felt that a few cool objects had appeared in his right hand. He lifted his hand and saw that, as expected, five golden icosahedral dice were in his hand.
Chen Chen thought for a while. He raised his right hand, with the palm raised flat, and then opened his fist lightly.
“Clink, clink...”
After a few tinkling sounds, the five dice fell upon thin air and stopped imdiately after rolling for a while.
“15, 6, 18, 1, 5, Candidate Chen Chen has rolled 45 points.”
The voice continued. “Now, Alosorthoth, please roll the dice.”
“Clink, clink...”
Chen Chen looked in all directions but did not see the figure of the Consciousness Stealer, only those five dice were thrown near him.
Furthermore, those five dice were all blood red.
“20, 19, 15, 20, 13!”
The voice continued to speak in a non-emotional voice, “Alosorthoth threw 87 points, Alosorthoth shall begin first!”
Chen Chen frowned slightly. Although he did not know what “begin first” ant, he knew those who threw more points must have an advantage.
Sure enough, the voice continued. “The module is about to start. Era: Middle Ages, region: William Castle, duration: 24 hours.”
“Whoosh...”
It sounded like a gust of wind brushing past Chen Chen’s ear and his vision turned blurry. When he regained his sight, he realized that he was standing in a room at the top of a castle.
What he saw was a place full of dilapidated, decayed furniture, walls filled with cracks, and a layer of dust half-a-finger thick.
The sunlight shone in through the extrely dirty glass and illuminated Chen Chen’s body, inducing a sense of discomfort in Chen Chen.
“You’re a vampire count.”
Suddenly, that booming voice beca a lot softer as if it was murmuring in Chen Chen’s ears. “Today is the first day you wake up in the castle and the reason you woke up is that a group of adventurers had strayed into your territory. You don’t know why they ca. All you know is that you want to keep them here and use their flesh and blood to fill your growling stomach.
“Goal: Destroy the invaders and survive successfully. The most important thing is to find the most special adventurer as it’ll be your most delicious dinner tonight...”
The voice disappeared quickly. It was only then that Chen Chen realized that he was able to move. He looked around in confusion, only to find that he was wearing a loose white shirt and there was even a circle of gorgeous lace around the cuffs and neckline of the shirt.
“Is this dieval European aristocratic dress?”
Chen Chen murmured in a low voice. He turned his head slowly but saw a line of footprints extending from the door to his feet.
“Those are my footprints.”
Chen Chen imdiately realized that. He turned around, followed his footsteps, and went downstairs step by step, heading down six floors until he ca to the first-floor hall of the castle.
The hall looked huge, but all the furniture and decorations were covered with dust, and it had long been dilapidated. He did not know how many years it had been since anyone ca here.
Chen Chen continued to look at the footprints but saw that his footprints led to the front of the fireplace and disappeared in that direction.
Chen Chen imdiately wore a thoughtful look. He walked to the fireplace step by step, touched the inside, and expanded his Field at the sa ti.
Under the observation of the Field energy, he noticed sothing off at once. Naly, there was a slight gap in a brick next to the fireplace.
He touched the brick, then pushed it slightly!
“Rumble, rumble...”
There was a soft noise and the wall behind the fireplace slowly slid open, revealing a deep and dark passage behind it.
Chen Chen’s Field energy continued to explore inward, only to find that the passage was in the shape of a circular stairway, extending to a depth of over 50 ters. Even the Field energy could not reach the bottom.
Seeing this, Chen Chen did not hesitate anymore. He went into the tunnel. After walking a few steps, the wall that had slid away closed again behind him and the entire passage beca completely dark.
Still, this kind of darkness without any light source made no difference to Chen Chen. He used Field energy instead of his vision and walked down step by step.
After he went down to a depth of more than one hundred ters, finally, he ca to a basent.
This basent was about 100 square ters, but there were no extra furnishings. Only in the center of the basent was there a solid wood coffin with a gold rim.
The lid of the coffin was opened and inside was a soft dent. In the soft dent was a dark box and nothing else.
Chen Chen took out the box and suddenly, a feeling of connection to his bloodline washed over him.
“This is...”
Chen Chen frowned. He seed to have faintly understood sothing.
“Lich? Vampire?”
Chen Chen was a little puzzled. Castles, coffins, and Western nobles were all elents of vampires, yet this weird black box signified a lich in Dungeons and Dragons.
In D&D, the lich was a kind of undead creature. It was immortal and had extrely strong power. Its only weakness was its phylactery. As long as the phylactery was destroyed, the lich would die.
Now it seed that Chen Chen had beco a combination of lich and vampire.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen seed to realize sothing. He took the black box and turned upstairs, but he had barely taken a few steps when unusual heart palpitations suddenly struck him. It seed that if he continued to walk up, sothing bad would happen.
“Can’t I take the phylactery away from here?”
Chen Chen had to walk back to the basent. He looked at the lines of footprints under his feet. With a sudden wave of his hand, endless dust rose and piled up in the corner of the basent. It was only then that Chen Chen could see the floor under his feet. There was a magic circle like a six-pointed star.
Now he understood...
Chen Chen fully grasped that this magic circle was closely related to him. If the phylactery was taken away, this magic circle would also lose its effect.
“In other words, this phylactery is the key to defeating . It’s forcibly placed here and isn’t allowed to be taken away by . What I have to do is not only find the group of intruders but also pay attention in protecting my phylactery...”
Thinking of this, Chen Chen could not help frowning. If he had not noticed the footprints before, he would have given those adventurers a chance to find this place.
Chen Chen thought for a while, then simply threw the phylactery back into the coffin. Following that, he waved his hand and the coffin lid that had been cast to the ground was placed back. After doing all this, he returned to the surface and walked out of the fireplace.
Looking at the footprints under his feet, Chen Chen activated Field again and all the dust in the hall on the first floor imdiately flew out. The footprints leading to the fireplace had disappeared.
He was not done. Chen Chen went upstairs again, casting out all the dust layer by layer and soon, the entire castle was spotless. If it were not for the furniture that had been worn out and ruined, showing the traces of ti, outsiders might still think that this was an inhabited castle.
Chen Chen returned to the position where he had awakened. This was the top floor observation deck of the castle, surrounded by glass windows, and this place was also the highest position in the entire city.
At this ti, it seed that it was already ti for the sunset and the scorching sun had already turned dark red. At the sa ti, it was slowly sliding down toward the skyline.
The sunlight outside the window ca in and this ti, Chen Chen got that uncomfortable feeling again.
“Sure enough, vampires are afraid of the sun...”
Chen Chen thought for a while. He tried to crack the window open. Suddenly, a ray of sunlight shone on Chen Chen’s arm, causing a sharp burning sensation in his arm.
Seeing this, Chen Chen closed the window again.
Now there was a string of blisters on his arm.
“It’s ultraviolet light...”
Chen Chen imdiately surmised. “Ultraviolet rays cannot penetrate the glass, so I’m not afraid of the sunlight coming through the windows, but once there are no windows, the ultraviolet rays will harm .”
Thinking of this, Chen Chen looked out the windows on all sides but saw that the far ends of the city were surrounded by a towering wall. At the sa ti, there were four gates, one each in the east, south, west, and north.
“Gates? Can they get out of here then?”
Chen Chen wore a thoughtful look. “The voice in the consciousness battlefield only told that a group of adventurers broke into my territory and my task is to eliminate them and find the most special adventurer... In other words, the Consciousness Stealer is mixed in with that group of invaders? So, who are the other invaders, NPCs?
“The number of intruders is unknown, the situation outside the castle is unknown, the motives of the adventurers are unknown... It seems that I need more clues...”
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