Against the Fate Chapter 24

Edited by: Nick Powell

Chapter 24: The First Contact

“I am a messenger of Silent Night City.” Cui Ming replied. Silent Night City was a territory that was more than just a city. It was the gathering place of the Mana Type cultivators. This place had the most famous library in the entirety of Eternal Planet, and it doc.u.mented thousands of years and varieties of magics and mage’s deeds. Rumor had it that Silent Night City even had an extremely rare ore called the Mana Stone, which had many great uses for Mana Type cultivators and was the best material to create a magic wand. At the same time, Silent Night City was a place that ordinary cultivators could not go to, as it did not belong to the Aura Alliance’s management. It was said that the city leader was a member of Aura Alliance a few hundred years ago and he could not stand the discrimination against Mana Type cultivators among Aura Alliance, so he left Aura Alliance and built Silent Night City.

   What Cui Ming said was purely nonsense, he only had a one-sided understanding of Silent Night City. Judging that the little dwarf was a Mana Type cultivator, Cui Minh fell back into his old habits, trying to trick opponent first. Haiz … I was too careless, this does not seem to be a test. North Luna, Ding Ze, where have you gone?

   “Messenger?” The dwarf looked at Cui Ming, dubious.

   Cui Ming saw the doubt on the dwarf's face and tried to alleviate them by explaining: “The city leader didn’t want to come into contact with non-Mana Type cultivators, but there are always some things to do with outsiders. You should see that my aura capacity is very shallow, because I am just an ordinary person. The city leader used magic to transform me into a cultivator, and there will not be any consequences like a normal savage. My name is Laceory.” The last sentence wasa probe to test out the dwarf's suspicion of him, and then Cui Ming would know what lie he should tell next.

   “My name is Vire,” replied the little dwarf.

   Bingo! Cui Ming extended his hand: “Great, it's you! The city leader ordered me to give you this.”

   Vire went one step further and reached out to take the object. As he came close, Cui Ming pressed the lighter and a flame rushed directly at Vire. Cui Ming was already sprinting through the door before Vire realized what was happening. Then, he jumped out of the doorway and threw a poker card. The card sliced into Vire's body and left a b.l.o.o.d.y wound.

   After successfully learning Envelop, aura would form a protective layer around cultivators' bodies. Under normal circ.u.mstances, as long as they did not use Null, aura would protect the body. There were two kinds of damage that could cause them to be injured. One kind was blunt trauma, like the time when Cui Ming was smashed down upon from a height of more than 10 meters. This caused the aura shock and to scatter, which may also cause paralysis for a moment. Another kind of damage was slash, such as Cui Ming's sharp poker card damage, which could tear the aura’s protection, causing harm to the body. Slas.h.i.+ng damage would not cause aura shock. However, the resilience of aura was strong and could heal the wounds with a rate that was visible to normal eyes.

   Vire's face distorted due to anger. He waved his magic wand to cast a hexagram formation behind Cui Ming. Cui Ming was already retreating, and he happened to fly over the top of the six-pointed star formation. The hexagram formation glowed, and Cui Ming was dragged by a huge pulling force into the center of the hexagram formation. He was bound and unable to move.

   Feeling Vire’s murderous intent, Cui Ming said urgently: “Wait, that was just a test to verify whether you are eligible enough to become a member of Silent Night City.”

   Willet stopped in mid-air, glaring at Cui Ming for a while: “You’d better not be lying to me, or else I will let you know what real cruelty is.”

   “This is the basic requirement to enter Silent Night City.”

Vire waved his wand and the hexagram formation disappeared, letting Cui Ming fall down.

   Vire walked toward Cui Ming and stopped when he was five meters away from the latter, coldly said: “I can kill you just by moving one finger.”

   “Do not attack, I’ll give you the access formation.” Cui Ming hurriedly said, trying to talk Vire into stopping. His left hand flipped and he activated Fortune Teller… d.a.m.n it, it's a trash card. Why am I so unlucky today? Cui Ming’s expressions didn’t change, but he suddenly threw the card towards Vire.

   The card flew at Vire, but he simply waved his wand, creating a green energy barrier surround him. The card hit the barrier and was broken into pieces, Vire waved his staff: “Go to h.e.l.l.”

   Cui Ming rushed to the left, but suddenly stomped his foot and changed his direction to the right, causing the left hexagram formation to miss. He then threw another poker card out. Vire actually did not have much ability in dodging and was. .h.i.t again. Another hexagram formation appeared, but Cui Ming changed the direction, once again evading. Cui Ming smiled proudly: “Little dwarf, I see right through your trick.” Vire could create the hexagram formation anywhere in his sight, but it had a certain trigger time, so he needed to predict his actions in order to catch him.

   Vire sneered, raised his staff, and endured Cui Ming’s poker cut. Dozens of dark vortexes immediately appeared above his head. Vire chanted and from a dark vortex came a ball of dark matter, Cui Ming hid behind a large rock, but the ball of dark matter hit it and it instantly turned into dust.

   Cui Ming was sweating at this point and exclaimed: “Please stop.” Subconsciously, Vire actually stopped for a brief moment. Cui Ming changed direction, and then threw another poker card, making Vire roar in rage.

   They quickly fell into a game of cat and mouse in the rockery garden. Vire’s magic was very aggressive, but his evasion ability was very poor. He simply could not avoid Cui Minh’s flying cards. However, Cui Ming had just  started practicing the six Principles, and combined with the fact that Enhance Type was just his secondary type, the damage was extremely limited. So, Vire could hold against the poker and played hide and seek. If Cui Ming was neglectful, he would be killed on the spot. In addition to summoning black matter, Vire’s formation placements were random, just like a gambler.

   Being able to cultivate didn't mean you were smarter than normal people. Cui Ming seemed helpless, but in fact he was at ease. The battle was decided by the mind. Vire was using two types of magic, the first was the shackles of the hexagram formation. This move would always launched from Vire’s predictions, but the time from casting to the appearance of hexagram formation was 1 second. Why did Cui Ming choose to hide in the rockery garden, but not to escape? The reason was that inside the garden, he could use the rocks as fulcrum to change his route within half a second. Vire’s second skill was to call upon a dark matter ball which was non-targetable. Thus, as long as he was dynamic enough, he could not be hit.

   While dodging, Cui Ming thought about what Ding Ze said. There was no absolute strength, a veteran cultivator may also be defeated by the hands of a rookie. Ma.n.u.scripts have said that the Mana Type generally have two kinds of attacks: directional and non-directional. Directional magic will always chase you, and will be difficult to evade, but the power is low. Non-directional magic could not guarantee you hit the target, but once it hit, it dealt huge damage.

   Vire is quite powerful, once trapped by the hexagram formation, he will summon a dark matter ball, and I’ll meet my demise here. But… you have to catch me first.

   However, it seems that where is wrong …

   Cui Ming quickly understood that the rocks in the rockery garden were, after all, limited. And Vire’s aura capacity was higher than he had expected, as he was almost endlessly releasing magic. The constant attacks even resulted in turning the rockery into a flat. His tactic of using the rockery to change directions slowly was becoming useless. Maybe Vire isn't so stupid. Now that I think about it, if he is using this approach to defeat me…

   Run? Vire and I almost match our own speed, once I run backwards, there will be an empty area, and I would inevitably be caught by hexagram formations.

   What should I do? North Luna, Ding Ze, where have you gone?