Chapter 166 – Florida Man Infiltrating Stranger's Storeroom Assaulted by Another Burglar. One Burglar Killed.
"Oh, a quest, finally?"
Leo rubbed his hands and waited for his system to show him the details.
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Fate Crystal Tutorial
Fate Crystals are profound artifacts that created the universe. By collecting at least seven fate crystals of the same quality, the collector can gain new strength, depending on the crystal's quality.
Earth Fate Crystals are useless to you. However, it will be nice to collect them for future usage. Maybe someone around you can find them useful?
Be warned. You are not the only one who searches for these crystals. There will be competitors, and they are not your run-in-a-mill pushovers.
Primary Objectives:
1 - Collect 7 Earth Fate Crystals (0/7)
2 – Assemble 7 Earth Fate Crystals (0/1)
Secondary Objectives:
1 – Kill 7 Immortals (0/7)
2 – Upgrade Humble General Store to Shopping Mall (0/1)
Primary Mission Rewards: Gnosis of Earth Fate, True Earth Fate Crystal, Ring of Entity Upgrade Feature
Secondary Mission Rewards: 7 Lucky Draws, 777 Free Tickets
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Leo paused for a moment. He silently screamed in his mind.
'A freaking tutorial?! NOW AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?!'
His bloodshot eyes stared at the floating window and his alien ring. He had a thousand words to curse at the system for giving him a random tutorial quest.
Leo had once wished for the system to give him quests when he was on Earth, yet it never responded to his call. Only after Leo started spending his lifespan for new features, quests appeared.
'Dammit! I should have stayed on Earth and played with the system instead of transmigrating! I could have established a solitude paradise while I watch some live Godzilla porn on a dusty beach.'
After coming to this world, Leo missed the days when he killed time by watching some random mutated monsters humping each other even though they were male. He still remembered how a male Godzilla excreted a massive egg of its offspring, which Leo proceeded to kill the parent and cooked the egg for dinner.
Aside from the hometown's nostalgia, Leo had another issue in life. He didn't have a proper hobby or a source of entertainment.
This quest came at a good time. Leo was interested in these new side missions and the lore of fate crystals. Although he had learned it from the statues at home, it felt nice to learn them from another place.
"I didn't know they could be merged. Welp, a new hobby, I guess."
Leo reached to grab the crystal on the pedestal. As soon as he touched it, it slipped from Leo's hand and vanished into his alien ring.
DING
<You have collected one Earth Fate Crystal!>
The quest window updated its quest progress.
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Primary Objectives:
1 - Collect 7 Earth Fate Crystals (1/7)
2 – Assemble 7 Earth Fate Crystals (0/1)
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It felt like a game. Leo was satisfied. Still, he realized a new issue.
He had no idea where the other fate crystals were. The system never provided him any hint.
"Erm, my system. Where is the second or third crystal?"
The system didn't respond.
Unable to get feedback, Leo stopped worrying about it. He turned around and prepared to leave.
As soon as Leo turned around, he noticed a shadow of an adult man, approaching the secret ladder passage. As the crystal was gone, the room was dark, and the mysterious man's shadow blocked all light from above.
The mysterious man jumped down into the secret room. After landing, he vanished and reappeared in front of Leo as if he could teleport.
Leo narrowed his eyes as he had seen this technique before. These movements were the same as Situ Nantian. However, this man looked different.
Before Leo could get a good look at the stranger's face, the latter swung his sword at Leo's neck.
CLINK
The sword hit, but it couldn't cut through his skin.
The assailant widened his eyes in shock. He pulled his sword and took two steps back. Then, he vanished again. This time, he reappeared behind Leo.
The assailant's body turned into an orange humanoid flame. His sword also merged with his body. Using his element physique, he reattempted to cut Leo's neck.
Without looking back, Leo raised his hand and blocked the flame sword.
CLANK
The flame sword hit Leo's palm. Again, Leo was unharmed.
"…"
Leo slowly turned around. He caught the sword and yanked the weapon forward.
The mysterious swordsman let go of his flame sword. It instantly vanished and reappeared in the swordsman's hand.
Leo blankly looked at his hand. He raised his eyebrows in confusion for a moment. Then, he turned around to face the guy.
"Dude, what's your problem?"
The swordsman didn't answer. He stared at Leo in solemn.
As Leo finally got to see the assailant's face clearly, he was slightly surprised. The swordsman looked like a fire elemental spirit in games.
"You…" The swordsman uttered, "Hand over the fate crystal, or else!"
Stunned, Leo raised his brow. Upon realizing that the guy was the "Rival" that system once mentioned, Leo smirked.
"Over my dead body. Come and get it."
"As you wish!"
The mysterious swordsman vanished again. A second later, he emerged from the ground below Leo. He flew up and thrust his flame sword at Leo's bottom.
Nothing offended Leo more than a low blow. He stomped on the stranger's shoulder.
Leo's right leg turned red, and black red cracked. As soon as Leo stomped the emerging guy on this shoulder, the flame physique of the swordsman shattered.
The swordsman's real body appeared from the shattering flame. His left shoulder and his left arm were missing after the strike. Despite the lost arm, he glared at Leo.
A second later, his left arm and shoulder regenerated. Again, an orange flame came out from the man.
"I see. You're an immortal, too."
Hearing the stranger's words, Leo widely grinned. As the quest demanded him to kill seven immortals, this guy came at the right time.
"Hey, dude. Don't ever think of fleeing. Come here."
"Tsk!"
The mysterious immortal kicked the ground and retreated toward the ladder.
Leo laughed and pursued. But instead of heading toward the ladder, he jumped and punched the ceiling, breaking the ground, and came out from the underground level.
The ground collapsed along with the palace. Leo's body pushed through the collapsing debris and emerged from the falling palace.
The mysterious immortal also managed to escape, but he floated 50 meters in the sky. He looked down on Leo.
"No matter what your real cultivation base is, you can't defeat me!"
The swordsman bellowed and transformed into a flame spirit again. He then shouted.
"DAO DOMAIN!"
An orange dome appeared and covered both Leo and the swordsman. It rose 100 meters high and sealed everything within a 300-meter radius.
Leo's system also warned him.
<Warning! Detecting Foreign Domain!>
<Identifying the domain…>
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Domain of Orange Flame
Effects: Burn everybody with orange tribulation flame except the caster. As long as the caster is within the domain, he can recover his health and injuries instantly.
Note: Due to the limitation of the mortal world, the flame's effectiveness is decreased by 90%.
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"Huh?"
Leo pursed his lips. This was his first time seeing the system's messages about an opponent's abilities. Reading the effects, Leo was fascinated and interested.
"Wow. This is like a game. It has a condition, too?"
The swordsman scoffed at Leo. He pointed his sword and taunted him.
"Summon your domain, old man! I know you're in disguise like me. Don't be a coward and use your dao domain!"
"…What?"
Leo was puzzled about the dao domain. He tilted his head and rubbed his alien ring to summon a certain someone.
Leo's dao avatar came out. The green spirit yawned and frowned at Leo.
'What do you want?'
Leo pointed at the immortal in the sky, "Teach me about the dao domain. What is a dao domain?"
The avatar deeply sighed. He taught Leo.
'Dao domains are the manifestation of one's dao. It's one of many abilities of immortals. For example, if your dao is related to lightning, you can manifest a "Domain Dome" that acts as your territory. In that territory, your dao will come to life and help you defeat your opponents.'
"I still don't get it."
The avatar shrugged, 'Fine. Lend me some Qi, a lot of Qi, actually. My power is related to evolution and mutation, so don't expect much.'
"Sure."
Not understanding what a dao domain really was, Leo transferred his Qi to the green spirit behind him.
Absorbing Leo's Qi and essence, the green dao avatar turned black. He merged with Leo, and a black dome overlapped with the orange one.
The black dome continued expanding until it was bigger than the orange swordsman. The latter widened his eyes and gazed at the black dome in shock.
"W-Wait a minute. You're not an Earth Celestial! You're a dei-"
The flame swordsman stopped speaking mid-sentence. His orange domain shattered, and he fell to the ground. At the same time, Leo received a system message.
<You have deployed Domain of Genes.>
<All hostile foes within the domain will mutate randomly. Regular plants, vegetables, and living organisms within the domain will either evolve or mutate depending on their traits and genes.>
"???"
The effects sounded strange and useless. Leo lowered his head in disappointment.
"I thought my domain would be something amazing, like getting nine million status points or something. What a letdown."
Leo didn't notice that the immortal swordsman squirmed in pain on the ground. His body swelled and disfigured as his muscle mass and fat expanded. His head bloated for five seconds and then exploded like a shattered balloon, scattering his brain and flesh everywhere.
A piece of white brain landed on Leo's left cheek. He clicked his tongue in disgust before he swatted the flesh away.
"Yuck! Dammit. I ain't Hannibal Lecter or zombies. I don't eat brains!"
Leo's dao avatar deactivated the domain. He came out from Leo's body for a moment and taught Leo.
'That was an effect of my dao domain. If you feed me more Qi, I can expand the domain range wider. Also, if you realize more dao, you can have more abilities.'
"Oh, neat. I thought I was OP AF, but I can still get stronger, eh?"
'…Don't be overconfident. Your martial art skills are dog crap. Learn some moves!'
The avatar vanished into Leo's ring afterward.
Leo blinked several times before he understood why his supporting spirit dissed him. He smacked his forehead.
"Welp. I guess I have to adapt to this world's culture. Anyway…"
Leo walked toward the squirming flesh. Even though it lost its head, the flesh was still alive.
"I guess I get another source of yin fluid. I hope Cat won't steal this from me."
Leo carried the bloated corpse on his shoulder even though it hadn't finished mutating. Black blood got on his suit and shirt, but Leo ignored it.
With a corpse in tow, Leo returned to the battle bus, heading home.
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DING
<You have killed an immortal!>
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Secondary Objectives:
1 – Kill 7 Immortals (1/7)
2 – Upgrade Humble General Store to Shopping Mall (0/1)
