Drip, drip, drip
It sounded as though water was dripping from the top of the cave into a dark pool, the regular, rhythmic sound echoing in his ears.
Liao Zixuan had never slept so comfortably. It felt as though he had slept for an entire century. He instinctively rolled over and yawned.
"Awoo."
Liao Zixuan was still hazy and failed to notice that his voice sounded strange. But in the next instant, another cry, like that of a frightened little girl, finally brought him fully awake.
"Ah!!"
The scream was immediately followed by the sound of someone falling. When Liao Zixuan opened his eyes, this was the scene that appeared before him.
Inside the dim cave, a girl who looked thirteen or fourteen had fallen to the ground and was curled up across from him.
She wore a very thin coarse hemp garment and seemed to have spent a long time outdoors. Her clothes were covered in mud, with scratches and tears visible everywhere.
At that moment, the girl was staring at him warily. Yet her trembling body still betrayed the fear in her heart.
"...?" Liao Zixuan's mind held only one enormous question mark.
Hadn't he just finished a paid training session for "Fall of the Gods," been exhausted to the point of collapse, and gone home to sleep soundly in his bed?
Then what was this cave, this skinny little girl who looked like a bamboo pole, and this—
Fuck!
Liao Zixuan lowered his head and saw a pair of "fluffy" hands. No, they were claws. He instantly cried out in fright, but the sound that came from his mouth turned into—
"Awoo!"
"..."
"Awuu? Awoo, awoo!? Awuu, awuu!! Whimper, whimper."
Carrying the last shred of hope, he ran to a pool in one corner of the cave. But after seeing his true appearance in the reflection on the water—
Fuck!
"Aw!!"
He cried out again, but this time it was not from fright. It was from delight.
Was this a Dark Flame Wolf?
The absolute hidden boss of Raging Fire in version 1.0 during the launch period of "Fall of the Gods," one of the two great forbidden lifeforms of the Flame Domain, alongside another phoenix called Cinder Flame, with each ruling over one side as a supreme monster?
As though in a dream, Liao Zixuan vigorously rubbed his eyes with his two little paws.
The reflection on the water showed him covered from head to toe in grayish-brown fur. His four limbs were short and stocky, his head was round, and the sides of his neck were wrapped in soft fluff.
At first glance, he looked exactly like a living young black puppy. He was even rather adorable.
But who was Liao Zixuan? As the top paid trainer in "Fall of the Gods," he still possessed a basic level of professional expertise. Dark Flame Wolves were indeed inconspicuous and difficult to distinguish during their juvenile stage. Only someone extremely familiar with them could identify them through a few details, and Liao Zixuan was one of those people.
Why? There was no special reason. Practice made perfect. Near the end of version 1.0 during the game's launch period, countless clients playing the "Summoner" class had spent exorbitant sums just to contract a "Dark Flame Wolf" as their Summoned Beast. Naturally, Liao Zixuan had taken on plenty of those jobs as a paid trainer.
The only difference was that the "Dark Flame Wolves" players could contract in the game back then were weakened and crippled versions. Even so, they still ranked among the top T0 creatures in terms of strength.
But his current self was clearly—
Reincarnated as a truly living, lively Dark Flame Wolf cub!?
Wait! No, that wasn't right!
Liao Zixuan had never heard of a Dark Flame Wolf being born in a broken cave like this. As though he had realized something, he swiftly looked toward the place where he had first woken up after "sleeping."
When he discovered a stone platform resembling an altar there, an ominous premonition instantly welled up in his heart.
Hold on. Could it be...
At that thought, Liao Zixuan suddenly turned his wolf head. His pair of dark-gold slit pupils fixed themselves on the other person in the cave, whom he had ignored until now.
That frail girl who seemed to have come from some shabby little village, looking just like a refugee.
When Liao Zixuan focused his attention, a familiar game panel began appearing before his eyes.
Vivian
Level: 5
Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Endurance 1, Constitution 1, Charisma 1, Luck 8, Elemental Affinity 1 (Current elemental affinity: Fire)
Affiliation: Flame Domain - Huodian City - Nuoqi Village
Local Reputation: -10 (Easy Prey for Everyone)
Legendary Reputation: 0 (Known by No One)
Status: Poisoned (???)
Main Class: Apprentice Summoner Lv1
Subclasses: Villager Lv2, Tailor Lv2
Skills: None
Talents and Specialties: None
Class Specialty: Soul Symbiosis—Can summon/contract monsters to become your Summoned Beasts. When a Summoned Beast dies, you will bear part of the damage. When you die, the Summoned Beast will dissipate as well. The number of monsters that can be contracted increases with class level.
Current Summoned Beast: (1/1)
??? (Unnamed)
Level: 15 (Juvenile)
Attributes: Strength 17, Agility 19, Endurance 15, Constitution 15, Elemental Affinity 35 (Current elemental affinity: Fire)
Race: Dark Flame Wolf
"..." If Liao Zixuan's expression could be humanized at that moment, it would surely have been that of the subway-riding old man staring at his phone.
Sigh.
Sure enough, it was like this.
The appearance of the game panel proved three things to Liao Zixuan.
First, this was indeed the game world of "Fall of the Gods."
Second, he had descended into the world of "Fall of the Gods" as the Summoned Beast of a native.
Third...
This native, his summoner, was absurdly weak!!
Her level was unremarkable, while her attributes were so miserable that she had five ones. In the game, she was absolutely the sort of battle-weakling, cannon-fodder NPC whom no one would bother looking at twice.
The only thing worth mentioning was probably her heaven-defying Luck attribute. Even Liao Zixuan, a professional player in his previous life, had never really figured out this attribute.
You could say it was powerful, but it did not seem as useful as the other basic attributes.
But if you said it was not powerful...
By now, Liao Zixuan had more or less sorted out what had happened. In short, this village girl had wandered into a Legacy Cave in the wilderness by accident. That was where they were now.
A Legacy Cave was a special way to obtain a "class" in the game. Players did not need to complete a series of prerequisite quests, nor did they need to spend money preparing any materials or items.
They received an extremely precious class scroll directly, along with several items inside the cave that benefited that class.
For example, the Warrior class came with a weapon of excellent quality, the Mage class came with a skill scroll below rank B, and the Summoner class came with one free summoning opportunity.
Clearly, this country girl whose clothes were even ragged had struck it rich by using a Legacy Cave to advance from "Villager" to the "Summoner" class, then used the free summoning opportunity that came with it to summon him.
What... what kind of heaven-defying luck was this?
If summoning was like drawing cards, then his Dark Flame Wolf was absolutely an SSS-rank, the best of the best among five-star cards. The odds were probably less than one in ten thousand!
Forget it.
A person had to accept their fate. No, now he was a wolf, so a wolf had to accept its fate.
In his previous life, Liao Zixuan had been known as a god-tier paid trainer. He had been able to turn clients who were dumb as rocks into the leaders of various super guilds. Surely he could still train a rustic village girl who clearly had never seen the world?
Heh, what a joke!
Growing crops was his specialty. Even if she was a sickly, scrawny seedling right now, he could still raise her into a plump, fresh cabbage!
With that thought in mind, Old Farmer Liao moved his little beastly limbs and began walking toward the girl step by step, while planning in his mind how he would "cultivate" her from then on.
Then, before he had taken more than a few steps, Liao Zixuan froze.
Because across from him, the village girl who was his summoner—the girl named Vivian—she... she...
After seeing her Summoned Beast walking toward her—
She simply turned around and ran!
Before you continue