Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Resuming Exploration
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I shouted out my profound respect for my esteemed master.
"Sex!!!"
Thinking once wasn't enough, I yelled it three more times.
"Sex!! Sex!!! Sex!!!"
Fuck, this is the real deal!
"Finally, a ray of sunshine in my life!"
From a rough childhood to an absolute hellhole of an adulthood. Just when I thought I'd catch a break, the world went straight to shit. It felt like only yesterday I was lamenting, How the hell did my life turn out like this?
"Fuck yeah, this is it!! Even I deserve a premium moment in life once in a while!!"
I was so thrilled I started jumping up and down in place.
Of course, I kept a sharp eye out for any mutants drawn by the noise.
In that great mood, I glanced at the gallery.
Title: Bet that retard Newtard is jumping around like an idiot right now thinking he found Ether, hilarious—upvote if funny lololol
Author: Anger Control Expert
Anyway, me first lol
lololol
lolololol
lolololololololol
(Grin— Demon King con)
"????"
I blinked in confusion.
What the hell was this reaction?
I figured they'd at least be jealous...
Like, That bastard doesn't deserve to hit it big, fuck...
But this? It was like they couldn't care less.
I cautiously tapped at the keyboard.
...Guys? What's going on?
lol You seem way too happy about finding Ether?
Well, it is good, isn't it...
What a retard~
What the actual fuck?
Why were they acting like this!
Troll all you want, at least tell me why!
Then, the friendly high-favorability Black Sky left a kind comment.
Black Sky: Newtard. This fact might pose a pretty serious threat to your survival.
Why...?
The martial art you've learned, the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture, is one of the purest created by Martial Gods across dimensions. But even the Yin-Yang Qi cultivated through such a supreme art can't compare to pure Ether. Yet now, a race has appeared that accumulates Ether directly in their bodies. And they've completely exterminated your original species. Do you know what that means?
They... might have martial arts, or some equivalent system?
Exactly.
Ah.
The harsh truth reared its ugly head. My mouth hung open in shock as Black Sky followed up with more incisive advice.
Black Sky: When I first heard your explanation, I thought it was just a virus or pandemic ravaging the place. But even then, it seemed odd. No matter how lacking in martial arts a world might be, if it had advanced enough to form civilizations and evolve to claim dominion over a planet, could internal strife really wipe out the entire species?
Black Sky: Dimensions are infinite, and the possibilities within them are endless, so I let it slide at first. But seeing this case, I'm convinced.
Black Sky: The beings that exterminated your species aren't just some virus. Or maybe they started that way. But now, they've evolved into a group with such high racial perfection that we could call them a new humanity at minimum.
"No, what the fuck..."
I could almost hear the sadistic tutorial fairy's malicious chuckle in my ear.
Just moments ago, I thought my life was on a fair Hard mode. Now it felt like, "Hehe~ Your life was actually Lunatic Inferno Extreme Hell Half-Mode all along~"
My head throbbed so hard my limbs went numb and tears welled up, trembling.
"Fuck... fuuuck... Earth writer, is this the right power inflation patch?"
In other words,
"Finding spirit medicine isn't all good—it's that the enemies have organs for it in their bodies, and even these trash mobs carry the stuff, meaning..."
Newtard, you back to reality?
Those mutants that wiped out your species.
Their boss has gotta be at least touching the truth of martial arts lol
Way ahead of a scrub like you lolololololololololololol
"Gahk... guhkkk...."
I clutched the back of my neck, gasping for air.
I felt so wronged, so pathetic, so furious that hyperventilation hit and my nape cramped up.
Does this even make sense?
I thought my life was a standard zombie apocalypse story.
But the worldbuilding kept expanding.
Fine, expanding lore is cool and all.
But there's a limit.
"Fuck, a random zombie might know martial arts? Does that even make sense?"
What is this, some android SF wuxia screaming "Until I win!"?
As the world's brutal unfairness chilled me like a nuclear winter, blurring my vision,
Newtard...
My one salvation.
My one light.
My one target of revolution.
Master, the Color Emperor, had commented.
No need to think so negatively...
Really...?
Yeah. I've thought about what the others said, but there's something fishy when you dig into it.
Fishy...? What's that?
It's you, Newtard. Your very existence.
...Me?
Myself?
As you know, only one person per dimension can access the Martial God Gallery. If those mutants that wiped out your species are insanely strong and deeply understand the world's origin, it should've been their leader invited, not you.
Eh?
Yeah...?
Now that I thought about it, that was weird.
Me, who knew jack shit about martial arts, versus them, who already knew what Ether was and implanted it even in random mob bodies.
If a Martial God was to emerge from our dimension, it should be them.
So why did the gallery pick me?
The gallery's core rules are unknown even to Martial Gods. But at least, their criteria aren't based on conventional good vs. evil or justice. Even if they exterminated a species, if it followed the natural law of survival of the fittest between races, the gallery would see it as fair competition. So, their leader not being invited means there's a valid reason.
Why would that be?
Hmm... I don't really know either...
(Sulking... Demon King con)
(Clueless... Demon King con)
(Plagiarism! Demon King con)
Master apologized for not knowing more.
Of course, this wasn't her fault.
Hell, had Master ever done anything wrong here?
If anyone's to blame, it's our shit species for figuring nothing out until extinction!
Master! The shit humans are sorry!!
No, Master. You still gave me some positive news.
My disciple...!
Yeah, even in this shit situation, there's a drop of positive piss.
I don't know the gallery's selection criteria, but at least the mutants' leader isn't on the level of a Martial God like the gallery members.
If their boss sat among gods like Black Sky or Anger Control Expert, we could call it a freak god, but since it wasn't invited, that's slim but hopeful news.
Cranking hope circuits and brain farts to max: The opponents lucked into dominating by fishing in troubled waters during humanity's civil strife, discovered Ether as the primal essence, developed tech to implant it even in low-tier units, but haven't reached Martial God realm like the gallery folks.
"Yeah... that's enough."
It's barely good news, but what can you do.
No matter how fucked the world, there's always a hole to crawl through.
Reality's been trashed since a week ago or now, no difference.
Just yesterday, I was so hungry I planned to charge a mutant den for my final dead movie scene in my beggar state.
"Whatever, just focus on surviving for now."
Simplifying cleared the tangled thoughts and sharpened my mind.
Top priorities: secure food and resume live updates.
To live up to my "Unyielding" name, I decided to get moving again on exploring the city.