Chapter 424: Encounter
"Huu... where am I...?"
Ke Mu let out a long breath, then directed his attention to the military locator strapped to his wrist, its indicator lights blinking erratically.
Because the yellow mist shrouding the forest had yet to fully dissipate, the positioning system was still being interfered with, so he couldn't discern his exact location. All he had was a rather vague understanding of the area.
Unbeknownst to him, Ke Mu had already arrived at a place where no one had ever left a record.
With immense treasures in his possession, his only thought now was how to safely escape this environment, surrounded by wolves at his back.
Returning the way he came wasn't realistic, and if he were to forge his own path, he first needed to figure out where he was; otherwise, getting the direction wrong would simply be a pure waste of stamina.
The Secret Realm wasn't only dangerous due to mutated creatures; there were also greedy fellow humans. Adventurers who died at the hands of others were never fewer than those who perished for other reasons.
"Witchcraft Eye, Star's Whisper, activate!"
Seeing that the satellite positioning system was still unusable, Ke Mu had no choice but to endure a greater cost and use an auxiliary witchcraft spell within the Secret Realm to pinpoint his current location.
He attempted to temporarily block the sun's interference with star observation during the day, then, with the aid of his witchcraft vision, he pierced through the sunlight to perceive the almost imperceptible starlight.
Next, by precisely calculating the positions on the star map, he indirectly measured his current latitude and longitude coordinates.
"I should have diligently practiced these survival witchcraft spells instead of carousing with women at the Faceless Moon!" After seeing the calculated answer, one he himself couldn't believe, Ke Mu clutched his hair, filled with remorse.
Naturally, the Latin Alliance had established corresponding witchcraft training courses for these high-ranking officers to enhance their professional capabilities.
Unfortunately, Ke Mu had always disdained auxiliary witchcraft spells, often skipping classes during instruction periods and even spending his days and nights idling away at the famous high-end club, the Faceless Moon, in the capital city of Buenos Aires...
"Witchcraft, Resonating Mind's Eye!"
"Relic of a Bygone Age!"
"Path of Flames!"
......
Seeing this path was futile, and unable to recall the exact activation method for Star's Whisper, Ke Mu's brain once again went into overdrive, temporarily switching his body from "lower-body thinking" mode to "upper-body thinking" mode.
One witchcraft spell after another emanated from him, but with each successive failed attempt, Ke Mu couldn't help but feel a touch of discouragement.
The fighting spirit of those who are already satiated is usually the lowest, and he was undoubtedly in such a state.
As a pioneer, Ke Mu had profited handsomely all the way, and now he only wanted to land safely and transform the immense wealth he held into tangible power.
Lacking the advancement method for a Five-Tier Witch, he couldn't directly cultivate in the forest and instantly digest the spiritual materials around him.
Furthermore, even if he had the advancement method in hand, Ke Mu still wouldn't dare to undergo a breakthrough, which was critically important to him, in a place where someone could appear at any moment.
The concentration of Primal Force (Spirit Qi) was steadily diminishing, making breakthroughs even more arduous. Without complete preparations, no one would casually squander the opportunity of their first attempt.
A multitude of failed cases had taught them that the breakthrough with the highest success rate was undoubtedly the first attempt; subsequent tries offered only slim hope.
Although the Witchcraft system didn't carry as high a risk of death upon breakthrough failure as the Spirit Hub system, breakthrough was still not something to be treated casually.
Among Fourth-Tier Witches who chose to break through, roughly only one-tenth would perish due to the backlash of failure. Most of the remaining failures would end up with internal injuries requiring several months of recovery.
As for deducing advancement methods himself... Ke Mu, who had always been engrossed in wine, women, wealth, and status, didn't believe he possessed such talent.
"Little shrimp, what are you up to?"
Just as Ke Mu was racking his brain, a gigantic beast appeared behind him without warning or sound, gently nudging him with a claw thicker than a human thigh.
Of course, this "gentle" was from the giant beast's perspective.
Its light push directly sent Ke Mu flying several meters away. He crashed heavily into a small mound behind him, his throat sweetening as a surge of rebellious blood welled up.
"What... is that?"
Ke Mu, regaining his senses, swallowed the blood back down, and with difficulty, twisted his head to behold the colossal creature behind him.
A giant turtle, seemingly covered everywhere with bizarre tentacles, exuding an aura of extreme danger, and even comparable in size to a cargo ship, was staring down at him with an imperious gaze!
He almost thought he had stumbled into a fantasy world!
"How is this possible!"
Seeing the colossal turtle before him, Ke Mu felt as if the world had gone mad. How could a creature of such size, even with the existence of Primal Force, possibly appear on Earth!
A body the size of a football field—the energy required just to sustain such a physique would be an astronomical figure, let alone the disturbances it would cause to the surrounding environment.
"I reckon... the little shrimp thinks I'm a weakling who needs to eat to survive." The giant turtle, floating half a meter above the ground, spoke to the air in a strange manner of speech.
As it spoke, the myriad "tentacles" on the giant turtle's body continued to undulate, shifting colors on their surface, appearing much like sea anemones from the deep ocean.
Its translucent shell seemed to exist independently in another space, causing not the slightest disturbance to the dense forest. Yet, paradoxically, the tentacles extending from the shell's surface incessantly toyed with the leaves and branches of nearby large trees.
As Ke Mu gazed at the mutated creature before him, one that thoroughly surpassed the limits of his imagination, his eyes couldn't help but lose a little focus.
He couldn't conceive of any way to defeat such a monster, so he simply abandoned all resistance.
"Lis, Zuba, Hamilton, Schutz... I tried my best. Why did I have to encounter something utterly impossible to defeat..."
At this moment, the familiar faces of his lover, mistress, eldest son, and youngest son flashed rapidly through his mind. Even the chubby little face of his recently born illegitimate son flickered before Ke Mu's eyes.
Perhaps in the next moment, he would be casually devoured like a snack—the thought flashed through his mind.
"Five-Tier Witch... I'm not reconciled!" Ke Mu, who had always presented himself as a hard man, still let a tear of unwilling resignation slide from the corner of his eye in the instant he faced death.
He yearned for power, yet he was unwilling to abandon the pleasures of the worldly life for it. Compared to arduous and perilous exploration, Ke Mu would rather choose to scheme and use clever tricks to obtain everything he desired.
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