Book 3: Chapter 6: Initial Experience of the Hidden World
Chen Heng hadn’t anticipated that gaining an ability would cause a commotion. Therefore, he decided only then to go to a desolate area.
The basement? The basement was not sufficiently safe. After all, this ability was Electromagnetic Control. Since it involved electricity, going into a wilderness where there were no metal objects would be better.
Chen Heng informed Sirin and changed into dark clothes with no distinctive marks before leaving.
After he exited Fantasy Sea Villas, he searched for an isolated place with no one around and flew there. He did not dare to spatial jump, as the commotion caused by it would be greater than using attraction to fly. He feared catching the attention of the Special Affairs Bureau or the people of the hidden world rather than failing to spatial jump.
It also was not a fear of danger but that he shunned trouble.
Chen Heng rushed to the southeast of Fantasy Sea Villas, where there was a forest near the beach. As it was night, practically no one went there.
Along the way, Chen Heng checked the portable spatial storage left by Reincarnator 9527.
As Chen Heng flew, he discovered many things in the portable spatial storage.
That illegal reincarnator had died a wronged death. First, Amadeus’s Noble Phantasm had lowered his defense and offense and added a curse. Next, the reincarnator had blocked the fire dragon’s attack with a wall of iron sand—which failed to block Elizabeth’s sound-based Noble Phantasm, so his defensive equipment broke.
He had succeeded in using his spatial jump to sneak-attack Jeanne d’Arc Alter but had not expected Chen Heng to affect space. In the end, he had lost his hand. After all, space possessed an extremely great shredding force. Then his mind had gone blank from the pain.
Following that, Chen Heng had used his untried spatial jump to mount a sneak attack. One-thousand-year-old Ghost Energy had stunned Reincarnator 9527, rendering him immobile. Finally, five offensive Noble Phantasms landed and did not leave even ashes behind.
Reincarnator 9527 had failed to use many of the good stuff in the storage space, and Chen Heng reaped the benefits.
Chen Heng saw many defensive tools in there. The Ghost Energy had stunned Reincarnator 9527, preventing him from using any of them. It was truly unfortunate for him.
Chen Heng could not help smiling at this. Although Illegal Reincarnator 9527 had indeed been pitiful, the more pitiful he was, the more Chen Heng wanted to laugh.
The portable spatial storage was very large, so large that he still had not gone through all its contents when he reached his destination. He set it aside for now, planning to continue going through it later. At the very least, he wanted to receive the ability first.
Chen Heng descended slowly, landing where the beach met the forest.
The forest was very near the sea, just dozens of meters away. He walked to the edge of the forest, used a sword to chop down a large tree, then sat on the stump and looked at the sea. The sea was calm, reflecting the moon above. He immediately felt relaxed.
He maintained this posture as he received the Lvl 5 Electromagnetic Control ability.
When Chen Heng received the Electromagnetic Control ability, an electric light poured out of his body and spread out. This light grew increasingly brighter, nearly spreading to the sea.
Chen Heng thought that this was all the commotion amounted to. Who would have imagined that as time passed, lightning would start falling? Furthermore, it happened more than once, practically a constant barrage of lightning bolts bombarding everywhere within ten meters of Chen Heng.
Damn! How is this just a large commotion? This is no different from undergoing a tribulation! Such a commotion will definitely startle the people of the hidden world. The Special Affairs Bureau might come too.
This commotion continued for five minutes before abating slowly. Chen Heng successfully obtained the Lvl 5 Electromagnetic Control. He was delighted with this ability. However, there was plenty of spiritual perception and Will Energy arriving in the surroundings.
A wizard-type ability user like Chen Heng cultivated Will Energy, so he could roughly sense spiritual perception and Will Energy.
Nevertheless, it was still fine. The first thing Chen Heng did when the commotion started was take out a wooden mask from his spatial storage and wear it. This was no ordinary mask; it could block the spiritual perception of cultivators and the Will Energy of ability users. Such masks were not rare; practically everyone in the hidden world had one.
Seeing that none of these people planned to show themselves, he thought about leaving. However, a person flew over from the horizon as he stood up.
“Little friend, please wait for a while.” This person flew very quickly. Chen Heng had taken only two steps forward when this person arrived before him.
This person was a middle-aged man wearing Daoist robes. He was probably a cultivator, but only at the Nascent Soul Realm, at best. Although Chen Heng had not begun immortal cultivation, he still could tell.
“What’s the matter?” Chen Heng showed some impatience on his face. However, that person could not see this because of the mask’s concealment.
“Little friend, you learned to control electricity just recently, right?” The commotion caused by Chen Heng receiving the ability appeared like a recently obtained ability—and an inexpert use of it at that.
“That’s right. What’s wrong?” Chen Heng suddenly felt some interest in this Daoist’s motive.
According to Chen Heng’s experience (the period he worked in the Special Affairs Bureau, which he observed using the Absolute Precognition), this person might be from a hidden world faction trying to expand. Of course, such factions were split into regular and irregular.
Regular factions functioned by getting one to work for them. The superiors would provide resources and rewards, no different from a normal job. Irregular factions would use certain things, like drugs or machines, to control one, making one work hard for the rest of one’s life—no different from kidnapping an ordinary person to work in the mines as a slave.
Another possibility was that this person had recognized Chen Heng to be a new ability user and wanted to trick him into getting imprisoned in a lab, where they would perform human experiments on him. Electromagnetic-type ability users like Chen Heng were well worth studying in this age when electricity was widely used.
“Little friend, this world is not as simple as you think. People with special powers like us are actually plentiful. The world people like us live in is collectively called the hidden world. By the way, have you come in contact with the hidden world before?” This middle-aged Daoist rambled on at Chen Heng.
“I’ve heard of it but never come in contact. An expert gave me this mask. It was he who told me about the hidden world. However, he did not go into detail. He only gave me this mask and told me not to trust anyone.”
Chen Heng did not lie. At the very least, the current him had not truly contacted the hidden world. What he experienced with the Absolute Precognition did not count. Simultaneously, he used this as an excuse for his mask.
After Chen Heng said he had never contacted the hidden world, the middle-aged Daoist spoke even more animatedly. Chen Heng could feel his excitement.
“The hidden world is not as wonderful as you think. It is the law of the jungle. Newcomers like you find it hard to survive if you do not join a group.”
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