Can't I Raise Myself? Chapter 38

The AI actually managed to find the path for him.

The altar before him was a place where the terrain sloped downwards, with a raised platform in the center. It was like a deeper excavation of the underground space where 'Shally' was located, forming a massive hollow. The hollow was surrounded by channels, encircling the altar in the middle.

But the channels weren't filled with water; they were filled with a blinding crimson.

The area around the altar wasn't a stone platform either, but was made of countless piled-up skeletons, like steps leading to a throne.

At this moment, a figure stood at every point where the channels met the ground.

And in the center of the altar was a blood-red greatsword, embedded in a stone.

This was a ritual.

That being said, it was clearly not a normal ritual like the one at 228 Black Ding Street.

[You heard the echoes of war.]

[A maddening killing intent gradually overwhelmed your sanity. To avoid losing yourself, you slowly took a few steps back.]

The prompt only disappeared when the altar was no longer visible to the character.

Ryan clearly saw the blood in the channels earlier, continuously crawling up the carved patterns on the altar, as if flowing into that greatsword.

"Are they sacrificing to that sword?"

The Sword of Ares.

Ryan was certain that was the class-changing relic from the game.

However, in the game, this sword was obtained after defeating a powerful boss, and judging by its strength, that boss was at least Tier 4, a subordinate of the Blood God descended upon the mortal realm.

Otherwise, why would it only be unlocked after the main storyline? Going there without sufficient strength would result in a total party wipe.

Of course, players could choose not to fight it; it was a hidden class quest, after all, and didn't affect the game's progression.

But Ryan definitely didn't want to miss out, as this class was one of the top-tier hidden classes in the game, no worse than the Silent Nun.

"I'll wait and see for now."

There was still time, so Ryan wasn't in a hurry.

He made a cup of coffee, and after drinking it, he continued to wait with renewed vigor.

"Back to staying up all night grinding games, I really miss this."

Even though staring wouldn't achieve anything, Ryan kept staring until the wall clock chimed twice, marking midnight.

The red glow that had been subtly flickering on the character interface suddenly vanished. 'Shally' slowly moved along the wall, seeing the figures who had been performing the ritual begin to retreat.

There was an exit at each position. After everyone had left, 'Shally' emerged and followed a path to the channel.

She dipped her hand into the 'bloody water' inside.

[Blood]

The system's identification was always accurate.

As for whether it was human blood or the blood of cattle and horses... it probably didn't matter?

The skeletons were definitely human. Judging by the situation, the Blood Cult had been preparing here for a long time. It was hard to imagine those lunatics having that much patience.

[You heard the echoes of war.]

As 'Shally' stepped across the pool of blood and onto the altar paved with skeletons, the system message popped up again.

This time, 'Shally' didn't retreat but chose to continue climbing the skeletal stairs.

Since she was already here, Ryan was naturally unwilling to leave just like that. Although the situation was different from the game, the class-changing relic was right in front of him.

However, he soon noticed that as 'Shally' moved upwards, the interface became dominated by red, and her health bar began to drop bit by bit.

"A domain?"

[You have accepted the trial.]

"So this is what was waiting."

Ryan didn't hesitate and quickly fed 'Shally' some roasted chicken.

'Shally' had already reached level 11 these past few days, so her health pool was quite substantial; otherwise, she would have died after taking just a couple of steps.

The closer she got to the top of the altar, the faster she lost health. Seeing that her health regeneration was starting to fall behind the health loss, Ryan hesitated for a moment before taking out a Magic Scroll·Constitution from his inventory and applying it to 'Shally'.

Constitution was linked to health, and increasing Constitution by 20% with the magic scroll would also increase her health.

"Still not enough..."

'Shally' took out a small bottle from her inventory.

[Thousand Day Brew]

Ryan felt a pang of regret, but seeing 'Shally's' health slowly dwindling, he timed it perfectly and poured it into 'Shally'.

This was a bottle of wine that restored 60% of current health and provided a 10% damage increase.

It was the only bottle 'Lin Qi' had managed to obtain while leveling up these days. The incredibly high 60% recovery was practically a life-saving elixir, and using it on a low-level character like 'Shally' was truly a waste.

Furthermore, the accompanying damage increase effect couldn't be utilized.

But now that it had come to this, giving up would only mean watching 'Shally' die. It was better to give it a try.

With her health restored by more than half, 'Shally' continued to gnaw on the roasted chicken. She finally stepped onto the altar before her health dropped to zero and reached the Sword of Ares.

Boom~

At this moment.

A bloody hue suddenly enveloped the entire character interface. Blood red filled the ground, the ceiling, and the air. The skeletons that had been lying around the altar had, at some unknown time, transformed into ghoul-like beings, scrambling to crawl towards the center of the altar!

The shadow of an immense demon, invisible yet palpable, coiled above the Sword of Ares, as if tearing a rift between the illusory and the real to descend.

[The fires of war have been lit, burning from ancient times to the present, never extinguished. The Authority of the Old Days hangs high, and you glimpse supreme greatness. From a throne of blood and bones, glory shall belong to the ultimate victor.]

The blood-red interface reached its peak, but at this moment, 'Shally's' health was locked, with only the last drop remaining, preventing her from falling.

"Did the job change quest trigger?"

Ryan's brow furrowed, then his expression shifted to one of astonishment.

[To obtain the power of the Chosen of the Old Days, please achieve the following goals—]

[1: Step forward and draw the sword from the stone.]

[2: Blood sacrifice eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight lives.]

"Holy crap, what kind of god-slaying profession is this???"

Author's Note (A Few Words)

This newbie is finally going to be on the shelves!

This book has truly been through a lot. Because of the original environment on Ciwei Mao, I was hesitant about writing an original story before, and it took me a long time to decide to go for it.

Then, for a while after the book started, things were fine. But this week, when I pushed for the click rankings, all sorts of problems arose.

Since the protagonist's cheat is to create and raise alt accounts in the game, the issue of gender naturally comes up. I actually explained it very clearly in the synopsis. The 'loyal' and 'capable' people standing in two rows beneath the protagonist's throne, I wrote them as 'she,' clearly referring to female characters. Additionally, I mentioned in the synopsis that I was playing a female character.

I don't know if some people didn't see it or saw it and deliberately stirred up trouble. They're always bringing up things like 'gay' or 'lesbian' or 'marriage' in separate posts. If I had even hinted at such plot points, I could understand you saying that, but where did I write anything like that?

Recently, some people have even been adding tags like 'yuri' and 'marriage' randomly. It feels like a group of people stirring up trouble to get attention. I was too lazy to explain at first, but seeing that some readers in the comment section were being misled, I posted a pinned comment separately to explain.

So, I'll say it again here: this book involves raising female characters. There's no gay, no lesbian, no marriage, and certainly no giving away women. Alright, explanation complete. If anyone brings this up again, I'll have to issue a mute.

Sigh, sometimes I feel like writing a book is a dead end. The environment is getting worse and worse. People with extreme ideas tend to lash out at the slightest dissatisfaction, and it easily affects normal readers, messing up the atmosphere of a good book.

I'm really anxious, and some content is criticized without even reading it carefully.

Everyone is anxious, anxious, anxious, anxious, anxious. I'm the King of Anxiety, too. It's fine to relax online.

Having written full-time for seven or eight years, this is something I've personally experienced.

I'm saying all this just to let everyone know that I don't want to deal with all that messy stuff. Just let me be a handsome man quietly typing!

I'd rather be handsome forever, have my wife young and beautiful forever, be rich forever, and write books happily!

I wish you all good luck with your gacha pulls getting ten consecutive gold cards, winning the lottery, being handsome men and beautiful women, having good health, living forever, and eating well. Thank you!

Oh, and by the way, the book will be officially available tomorrow at noon, and I'll be updating on time. Please subscribe~