Can't You Raise One Yourself?

After leaving the General Bureau, Ryan drove to Berman University, and not long after getting out of the car, he was stopped by someone.

"Buddy, have you heard of the 'Blood Sacrifice to the Blood God'?"

Chapter 40: Legendary Item, Ring of Death!

What sacrifice to what god did you say?

Those damned Four Fiends were still chasing him!

Ryan instinctively wanted to blow this heretical element away with a single shot, but a second glance revealed that the other party seemed to be just an ordinary person.

The young man before him was around twenty years old, about the same age as Jack, and was undoubtedly a college student.

As for whether he was a Supernatural Being, having seen enough of them, he could still tell a wild boar from a domestic pig.

A zealot?

Nowadays, there was no shortage of young people corrupted by strange ideas, and at least thirty percent of the cases handled by the Bureau of Governance every day were related to heretical disturbances.

These heretics were not true Supernatural Beings; they merely came into contact with related beliefs for some reason. Milder cases were probably just cases of chūnibyō suddenly breaking out with a desire to destroy the world or something, and after making a huge fuss and being caught and taught a lesson, they would roll back and continue living honestly.

As for serious cases, some were eroded by the power of Outer Gods by a twist of fate. Although they were not Supernatural Beings, their minds were polluted, and that was dangerous.

Such people's propagation of the Outer Gods' faith often easily corrupted those around them, making their influence larger and larger. Among the current expansion of Outer Gods' religious forces, this situation was the most common.

However, no matter how he looked at it, this fellow in front of him belonged to the former.

Ryan crossed his arms and nodded. "Go on, I'm listening."

"The great Blood God Doklodus, He is the god who rules over war and glory, do you know? When the enemy's iron cavalry tramples into the empire's territory, when the citizens die tragically under firearms, when we have all lost hope for victory, only the Blood God can save us!"

The young man said with an excited expression, "If you have also heard of His name, come, please say it with me-Blood Sacrifice to the Blood God!"

"Uh-huh, and then?" Ryan took out his portable work notebook and recorded the words he had just heard. "Is there more? How many people are in your gang?"

"Wow, you're also interested, right?" The young man didn't seem to think anything was wrong. He lowered his voice and said, "But this isn't the place to talk. Follow me, and I'll introduce it to you slowly!"

Ryan was just about to say no need, I'll take you to the bureau to introduce it, when he suddenly remembered something.

"Berman University... Wait, now that I think about it, isn't this a side quest in the game?"

He looked at the university gate, feeling more and more familiar. He hadn't reacted when he heard Jack mention Berman University earlier, but standing here now, the dead memories kept rushing toward him.

A side quest, a super item!

There was no help for it; he had lived in this world for more than twenty years. Although he had only recently awakened his past life's memories, his past and present lives were ultimately the same person, and too many mixed memories made it difficult to remember some things so clearly.

Like the side quests in the game, he really wouldn't have remembered them without seeing them with his own eyes.

"Young man, does your school have an old campus?"

The young man was startled. "You're not from our school?"

"No, my younger brother is, and I'm here to find him."

"I see. Well, that doesn't matter. Our Blood God Cult never looks at status. As long as you also devoutly believe in the Blood God, we are sworn brothers of different fathers and mothers!"

Who the hell was sworn brothers with you? Ryan internally complained.

"As for the old campus you mentioned, hehe~ Not only is there one, but it's also the secret base of our Blood God Cult... Let's go, let's go, I'll take you there!"

The college student was very enthusiastic.

Ryan had originally thought he would need a student ID or something, but the old man guarding the gate didn't even glance at him.

Entering the gate was a main road, with lush camphor trees on both sides. It was evening, and students were coming and going, bathing in the setting sun and laughing. With the June weather, flying skirts lined the roadside, making Ryan sigh inwardly-university life really was great.

"Huh? Captain Ryan? Why are you here?"

Just as Ryan was enjoying his youth, Jack walked toward him from the opposite direction, carrying a schoolbag and preparing to go home.

Berman University allowed students to return home in the evening.

"Captain?" The college student beside him cast a puzzled gaze.

Ryan smiled faintly. "This is a special nickname among us brothers. Kid Jack, of course I'm here to find you."

As he spoke, he cast a glance at Jack.

"Ah, I'm... um, I'm Kid Jack. Captain, do you have something for me?"

What a strange nickname; Captain Ryan's ability to name things really wasn't very good.

"Calling you back to eat, but this brother says he wants to take me to experience the greatness of the Blood God... Brother, my younger brother is also very interested in these things, let's take him along too?"

"That would be great!"

The college student had no suspicions; he was happy to recruit another person for Ryan. "Come, follow me, we'll be there soon. We happen to have a ritual at seven o'clock!"

"That would simply be fantastic."

Ryan wrote the words 'illegal gathering, heretical rituals' in his notebook.

The college student leaned over. "What are you writing?"

Ryan calmly closed his notebook. "Nothing, just recording your famous quotes, and I'll tell them to my brothers later."

"Hehe, I didn't say any famous quotes. Later I'll introduce the priest of the Blood God Cult to you; he's the greatest orator!"

Unable to wait, the college student quickened his pace.

Jack glanced at Ryan and very intelligently didn't say much.

Security Officers, after all, investigated cases, but when did so many heretical zealots pop up in their school?

In about ten minutes, the three of them arrived at the old campus of Berman University.

The setting sun fell, and the street lamps emitted a pale light. The entire old campus was completely out of use, looking eerie and gloomy under the cover of night.

Ryan remembered that a major fire had broken out in this old campus many years ago, the fire covering a third of Berman University's original territory. Later, the area with the most severe core damage was sealed off, and as time passed, it became the old campus.

For some unknown reason, the college leadership never dared to renovate the old campus, leaving it as it was until now.

It was mentioned in the side quest that that fire was actually a cult ritual operation, at the time killing hundreds of students and causing a sensation throughout the city.

And the supernatural relics that descended during the ritual attracted a large number of Supernatural Beings to compete with each other, but their whereabouts ultimately remained unknown.

"Our turf is right there!"

The college student pointed to an abandoned building not far away.

That place was located on the outskirts of the old campus, so it was relatively well preserved.

"Are everyone else there?" Ryan asked.

"Of course, we agreed to gather at seven o'clock, so people should be almost here by now."

"That'll do." Ryan walked toward a public telephone booth not far away, inserted a copper coin, and dialed the duty phone of the General Bureau of Governance. "It's me, Ryan. Bring some people to the old campus of Berman University... Um, a dozen or twenty should be enough."

The college student stood to one side, completely dumbfounded.

What was going on here?

Jack patted his shoulder to comfort him. "It's fine, it'll pass soon."

"Ah? What do you mean?"

"Wait a moment, some of my brothers are coming over too... Jack, you wait here, don't let him wander off."

"You got it, leave it to me!"

"Eh??? What's going on? What are you holding me down for???"

After handing the college student over to Jack, Ryan crossed the blockade network of the old campus and walked toward the depths.

He walked all the way along a path overgrown with weeds.

He had a pretty deep impression of this quest. After all, it was a campus, an old campus, and he had also entered at night back then, maximizing the horror elements.

However, he was now also a Supernatural Being, and he still had a Character Card, so he didn't need to worry even if he encountered an attack by evil spirits.

It was just that he wasn't quite sure where the item actually was.

Pitch black and dark, it was definitely different from game operations. If he hadn't happened to be right here, letting 'Shally' come over would probably have been more suitable.

"Hmm?"

"This place should be where the ritual took place. I seem to remember it being on the west side... Got it, it's that one."

A house burned into ruins appeared within his field of vision, and the western direction was a barren ruin with only a few burned-down walls. The house had collapsed, turning into broken walls and remnants.

Ryan found an inconspicuous door handle from beside one of the walls. After pulling it hard, what came into view was a downward-sloping staircase.

This was a basement.

Because the place was extremely hidden, Ryan had searched for quite a while back then.

The basement was pitch black. He took out the pre-prepared hurricane lamp from his game inventory-this gadget was originally meant for 'Shally', but he hadn't expected to use it himself.

The hurricane lamp illuminated the stairs, the ancient gray ground covered in dust. Ryan cautiously tested his way down, observing the surrounding situation.

The reason he dared to enter alone was because this side quest belonged to the early game, and the monster levels encountered in the game were not high; even if he ran into them, there would be no danger. The worst-case scenario would just be using up a Character Card.

However, that supernatural item was quite good, belonging to 'upgradable' equipment that could be used all the way to clearing the game.

The basement wasn't wide. After walking down the stairs, to the right was a room of less than thirty square meters, which contained bookshelves, desks, and various daily necessities.

On the inner side was a bed, and on the bed lay a skeleton.

Wuu-wuu~

A gust of eerie wind swept over.

It blew the hurricane lamp and made it sway twice.

The basement-where did the wind come from?

Ryan stared at that skeleton frame.

[The trespasser never stops their offending footsteps, and we all know this thing is heinous to the extreme. I have exhausted my lifetime to bury it. Dawn, grant me the eternal power of protection!]

The voice sounded like the low shout of an old man. To be honest, suddenly hearing someone speak in the gloomy basement still made Ryan feel a bit creeped out.

Kaka-ka~

Just as he had expected, the skeleton suddenly began to move.

This side quest could only be accepted at low levels. Once it passed, it could no longer be obtained. The overall difficulty was not high, but for a low-level character, fighting it was still somewhat strenuous.

The skeleton held an axe, burning with golden flames upon it.

The dawn, the golden fire, these were all symbols of the Son of the Sun, and Ryan was somewhat curious about the method the other party had used to endure for so many years.

"Let's test it first."

He was not in a hurry to use the Character Card, extending his right hand as the silvery-white Cross Sword extended from within his body and was gripped in his hand.

Because there were no outsiders around, there was no need to worry about being discovered.

Ryan also wanted to see just how formidable this gadget truly was.

"Come on!"

Swish!

Ryan slashed down with a sword.

And then, the silvery-white flames burst forth with a dazzling light, and under Ryan's surprised gaze, the Cross Sword slid diagonally down the skeleton's body, severing the axe it used to block, and along with it, splitting the entire body in two!

Clatter~~

The skeleton instantly turned into a pile of bone frames.

"Holy shit, so fierce?!"

A single sword stroke, and it died?

This skeleton was at least level fourteen or fifteen, and it was also a minor boss, right?

Amidst his surprise, Ryan felt a wave of exhaustion wash over his body, his internal magic power feeling like a drained pool... not a single drop was left!

"Hah!"

He dropped straight down onto the ground, resting for quite a while before recovering.

"This sword... is outrageously strong, but it can only be used once, completely losing all combat capability after a single strike. If it kills the target that's fine, but if it fails to kill them, you're bound to die."