Adventure World Online (AWO)

At this time, Chang Long's group had eight members. Each member was beginning to coordinate and understand each other more and more. If they encountered higher-level beasts, it was not a problem to synchronize their attacks. But for the most part, they would split up to fight one-on-one, in order to kill more beasts—except for Brownie, who often went to help Anya fight. And it seemed the fairy girl really liked that a lot too.

What was even better was that both Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, and Fluffy Head-chan, who were spirits, did not require experience points to level up. They could still join the fight, saving effort and time for the others very well. As for Anya, her level was still tied to Chang Long, so she did not count as sharing experience either. Therefore, the levels of Chang Long, Kitsune, Flatear, and Brownie kept alternating upwards every one to two hours.

Then, before Chang Long logged off from the game, while everyone gathered together to sit and rest after battling beasts in the Dark Forest for quite a while, the system announced what she most wanted to hear:

"The pure-blooded sacred beast, Flame Fox Kitsune, has reached the threshold for evolution. Does the player Chang Long wish to begin the evolution process?"

Chang Long knew she did not have enough time left to wait for the evolution process to finish. So she had not replied to the system yet. Anyway, if she kept quiet, the system would keep asking until she either accepted or declined. The young woman reached out her hand to pet her beloved pet and spoke to it:

"Well done, Kitsune. Wait a little longer, and I'll come back to start the evolution process."

The small fox with fluffy golden-orange fur barked happily in response. Then all of Chang Long's companions were automatically sealed away. Not long after that, Chang Long's body glowed before fading away.

One hour passed in the real world. Chang Long came back online into the game. The game system asked again about Kitsune's evolution. She summoned and unsealed all her pets and spirits. Then she accepted the evolution process. Everyone stepped away from Kitsune's body to give him enough space. Golden flames were spewed from the little fox's mouth and swirled in a circle to envelop his body.

The light from the evolution attracted the attention of the Dark Forest dwellers who came to watch. The little fox's body floated higher into the air. The swirling flames erupted furiously, surprising and startling the dark elves quite a bit. And then, when the fireball reached its brightest intensity, all the light was swallowed away. Everyone looked for Kitsune's body but saw nothing. While they were still wondering, a radiant light appeared again. The sleek golden-orange-furred fox in his first evolutionary form was descending from the sky in a graceful manner. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the system announced the evolution was complete. He also received the transformation skill, the illusive leaf skill, and even received the demonic god flame skill.

'Master.'

Kitsune telepathically greeted Chang Long while nuzzling her affectionately.

"Yay. Congratulations, Liege Kitsune!"

Brownie cheered, leaping and dancing with joy.

'Congratulations, big bro.'

Flatear slightly bowed his head and conveyed his congratulations telepathically to Kitsune.

"Congratulations, Kitsune. It won't be long before you become a full-fledged demonic god."

Fluffy Head-chan spoke solemnly. He knew somewhat about the legend of the divine fox, which could be both god and demon. And once the evolution reached its final stage, this divine fox before him would become a god capable of using demonic power.

"At last, everyone is starting to make progress."

Devi-chan spoke happily. Chang Long was able to level up to almost her pre-death level. Brownie, Anya, and Kitsune had also undergone evolution. Flatear too seemed more enthusiastic upon seeing his friends evolve, even though he had already evolved once.

The waiting time of the dark elf warrior tribe was spent hunting beasts to level up. Eventually, nearly two months passed. Chang Long's level increased to seventy-two. Kitsune's to fifty-five. Flatear's to seventy-seven. Brownie's to thirty-nine. And Kitsune's tails increased by two more, now totaling seven tails. This gave him power equivalent to a sorcerer.

"Lady Chang Long, the Emperor sent me to summon you."

One day, while Chang Long's group was out hunting beasts as usual, a dark elf man walked up to her and informed her of his arrival.

"Oh, let's go. By the way, what is it about?"

Chang Long asked, while packing her belongings, preparing to travel back into the dark elf city.

"The warriors you wished to meet, they have arrived."

The man replied. Chang Long's eyes widened with excited joy. At last, the moment she had been waiting for had finally come. The moment to take another step forward in Devi-chan's vision, making both the Pirate King and the heir smile from cheek to cheek without realizing it.

At the throne of the Emperor and Empress, a group of over a hundred dark elves, men and women, dressed in tight-fitting, agile outfits, stood in orderly formation. They turned to look when new arrivals appeared. Upon seeing who the newcomers were, they were all astonished and nearly collapsed to their knees one after another.

"Oh warriors, this is the one who requested your forces to launch an assault on the kingdom to the northeast, the land at the heart of the Cliff of Death."

The Emperor introduced Chang Long to the warriors of the tribe. They bowed their heads in respect to Chang Long without any hesitation.

"Is the request too much?"

Chang Long asked, seeing that the warriors of the tribe did not say anything, as they were still stunned by her arrival.

"Not at all. That is a very small request. But there is a formidable overseer there, extremely skilled in battlefield command. More importantly, the soldiers there seem to keep coming endlessly, without ever depleting."

A well-built man, with white hair and beard, spoke solemnly.

"Our army doesn't consist of only these one hundred twenty people. Prepare yourselves. Tomorrow, I will return with more warriors."

Once Chang Long finished speaking, she excused herself and left.

"Your Majesty, is that person the Reaper King? How fearsome indeed."

The same well-built man asked.

"Yes, Herod. That very person."

The Emperor nodded in reply.

"It's not just that person who is formidable. Her companions clearly aren't ordinary beasts either. Especially that seven-tailed fox—there's a record of it in the demonic god texts. And that rainbow-scaled unicorn—if I'm not mistaken, it's a sacred Rainbow Kirin, isn't it?"

Herod spoke with a feeling of awe.

"That's true. If you say it is, then I agree. We are truly lucky to have that person join our race, aren't we?"

The Emperor replied with hidden meaning, but also smiled proudly.

"Truly, my liege."

Chang Long set off to return to the Mirror of Truth, to meet with The Judgement. In truth, she was still concerned whether the number of resurrected dead would be enough to form an army. Many guilds that stormed special territories had no fewer than five hundred members joining the battle.

Even Duncan's guild, the one she had helped in battle, had barely survived even with over three hundred members in the fight. If she had not managed to defeat the AI commander first, that time everyone would have ended up going back to their maker for sure, before they could even succeed in conquering the special territory.

At the very least, Chang Long was reassured that the dark elf warriors were all over level eighty. One could say that if any players came face-to-face with them, they would probably meet their end before even drawing their swords to fight. Come to think of it, Chang Long had just learned that the dark elves were high-level beings, although they could not compare to gods in the game like Inari or the goddess Veritas.

Judging from the races of the creatures she had encountered—like elves and orcs—the average town dweller's level was no more than seventy. There might be demon races she did not know of, but she knew well that those were so high-level that it took three players to take on even one of them.

"Master, are we really going to assault that special territory?"

Kitsune, in transformed form, asked. He seemed quite excited to fight against a large group of people again.

"Of course. At the very least, I should act like a good heir to make Devi-chan proud, right?"

Chang Long replied with a laugh. When she saw Devi-chan glaring at her, she immediately stopped smiling.

"I'm so excited. It'll be my first time fighting humans."

Anya spoke up. Her excited demeanor drew quite a few laughs from the others.

"You guys have fought with groups of humans before, haven't you Kitsune? You don't look excited at all."

Anya turned to ask Kitsune and Flatear in their transformed forms.

"Not really. I've fought things that were kind of like humans. They came in swarms, nonstop. It was pretty exhausting." Kitsune turned to answer the fairy girl.

"Huh? What kind of creatures are like humans, big bro?"

Flatear asked curiously.

"Goblins. But they just walk on two legs and have two arms like humans. Their faces are ugly as sin, love to kill, love to eat raw meat, and they enjoy savage ways of killing too."

Devi-chan explained. Anya made a grimacing face, clearly repulsed.

"Eww! I'd rather never encounter goblins in this lifetime. Just imagining them is horrifying enough."

Anya's creeped-out reaction drew laughter once again.

During their journey, Chang Long's group encountered beasts from time to time. But with her and her companions' ever-increasing levels, they were able to take care of them easily. Eventually, after about half a day's time, they arrived at the entrance to the Mirror of Truth.

The Judgement sensed Chang Long's arrival, so he dispelled the illusion spell and came out to welcome her himself. He looked quite surprised to see her return to him once again. But when Chang Long asked about the number of loyal souls, The Judgement broke into a smile.

"The number of loyal souls currently stands at one hundred, master. Though it's not yet enough to form a mighty army, with the base level of those selected by the guardians, they are a remarkably formidable group of the newly reborn, master."

The Judgement's answer brought great satisfaction to Chang Long. She asked him to open the path for her to return to the land of the dead. The Judgement then explained that the Mirror of Truth had, by nature, become the gateway for souls to pass through. If the living crossed into it, they would suffer misfortune multiplied upon returning. And Chang Long knew well—she definitely did not want bad luck at such a critical time as this.

"Then how should I enter?" Chang Long asked with doubt.

"Just kidding! Didn't Kearick tell you how to travel to the Land of the Dead, my liege?"

The Judgement asked in shock, not expecting that the Reaper King would not know the way to enter her own realm.

"There are three key mediums for traveling to the Land of the Dead, my liege. They are mirror, water, and thick fog. Spirits travel through the mirror with a guide. Half-spirits like myself and the four guardians can travel freely within the mirror, but each of us has a key to access the human world."

The Judgement explained while raising his own key for Chang Long to see.

"So I have to use a key too?" Chang Long asked with curiosity. Since receiving the position of Reaper King, she had not received any key that could unlock travelling through the mirror.

"No, my liege. In your case, if you wish to travel across realms via mirror, you can do so without a key. You only need to state your destination aloud. In your case, you would probably say, Throne Hall, Castle of Death."

Chang Long nodded in understanding, so The Judgement continued to explain.

"The final path that ordinary people can use to travel in and out is by boat—one that sails on the mist. Or if the mist is not thick, the medium becomes water. That is the mist that floats above the water surface. The route best suited for leading your army out should be this one. It is the most appropriate and safest way, my liege."

"Oh, like the time Captain Tautus led us into the Land of the Dead with Siegfried's group, right? But where am I going to find a boat?"

Chang Long looked troubled. If there was no other choice, she would probably have to build the boat herself. And it would likely take quite some time before she could bring her army out of the Land of the Dead. But if she were to purchase an entire boat, it would be too much—she would need a large amount of money. She had to conserve funds to build the city she was planning to conquer.

"Navigating through the mirror is also possible, my liege, if it's something urgent. But I recommend using the boat. I hope you'll consider this seriously, my liege."

The Judgement advised, making Chang Long recall the time when she and Siegfried's group led twelve humans out of the Land of the Dead. At that time, Kearick had opened a path through the mirror in the Throne Hall of the Castle of Death.

"That's right. But is there any way to get a boat without having to spend time building one or ordering one that's outrageously expensive?"

Chang Long pondered while pulling out a full-length standing mirror, the same size as a person, from her backpack. She had bought it from a furniture store in Longshan City back when she summoned Kearick to request the Key of Truth from him.

"My boat, of course!"

Devi-chan offered excitedly.

…..

Meanwhile, the twin brothers Killer and Murder had arrived at Dark Forest and secretly followed Chang Long all the way to the Cliff of Death. They were spying on Chang Long speaking with The Judgement from a distance, full of curiosity. When they saw Chang Long pull a full-length standing mirror out of her backpack, they became even more confused. After The Judgement took his leave to perform his duties, Chang Long did something that left both young men utterly speechless.

The young woman mumbled something in front of the mirror, then stepped into the mirror, followed by her companions. The two curious young men slowly approached to look at that mirror. It just looked like a regular mirror. What trick had Chang Long used to vanish into it along with her companions? Killer could not help but reach out and touch the mirror with curiosity.

"Hey! Mur, help me!"

Killer shouted in shock as the hand he used to touch the mirror was pulled inside. And it seemed like his entire body was being sucked into the mirror rapidly as well.

"Kil, what's going on!"

Murder quickly grabbed his twin brother's hand, hoping to pull him out of the sucking mirror. But instead, both of them were pulled into the mirror at once, caught completely off guard and overwhelmed with panic.

"Uaaahhhh!"

Thump!

The two twins collapsed onto the floor inside a strange place. It resembled a throne hall in a palace, but it was built from black bricks and filled with mirrors. Once the dizziness from the impact wore off, they found that multiple eyes were staring at them—that is, Chang Long and her companions.

"How did these guys pop out here?"

Devi-chan asked suspiciously while stepping forward to surround the two young men.