The system’s game guide was quite powerful. Instead of making Eugene slowly walk through the side quests, it directly provided him with all the information the cook knew about the North River forbidden zone.
“Sure enough, the magic scroll to open the magical path is hidden in the North River.” Eugene supported his chin with one hand while using a feather pen to write down the key clues on the parchment: “Break the riddle of the twilight, shake off the entanglement of the shadow, and light up knowledge with lukewarm warmth.”
He fell into deep thought, as if a brilliant flash of wisdom were flickering around him.
The next second, the unfathomable lord crashed headfirst onto the desk: [This is too hard!]
The system: […]
It really shouldn’t have any expectations for the host.
[System, help me out, I’m just a helpless little newbie.] Eugene clasped his hands together and begged pathetically: [This is all for our great cause of national collapse!]
The system: [Host, you asked for it, tee-hee.]
However, after he relentlessly harassed the system for half an hour, he finally received a hint.
Teleportation array.
Eugene’s eyebrows arched, and his innate photographic memory kicked in again.
He replayed the game promotional video frame by frame in his mind, finally pausing when the line “Explore the mysteries of magic” appeared:
The lord’s bony, distinct fingers gently pressed against an extremely blurry painting. The next second, his vision went black, and the gorgeous colors belonging purely to magic suddenly burst forth before his eyes.
Eugene sprang to his feet and pushed open the door.
Abel, who had been waiting at the door, was somewhat surprised and hurriedly followed his footsteps: “Do you have any instructions?”
Eugene paused in his steps, a critical gaze sweeping across the bare corridor, and asked: “How can there not even be a single painting in the castle?”
According to aristocratic aesthetics, castle corridors were often hung with family portraiture and various decorative paintings; it was impossible for them to be this empty.
He was obviously suppressing his anger, and the gaze he directed at the butler also carried a hint of distrust.
Knowing that the young lord suspected someone of stealing his belongings, Abel hurriedly explained: “Portraits, gems, and silks are all stored in the castle’s warehouse, waiting for you to appraise them.”
His heart beat like a drum: That was close. The last time they plundered the assets in the castle, they didn’t have time to fully restore everything, especially some blood-stained portraits that had only been cleaned up today.
The young lord nodded with reserved dignity, seemingly restraining his own greedy gaze: “Take me to see them.”
The treasure warehouse was in the attic on the topmost floor.
To reduce the lord’s suspicion, Abel handed the key directly to Eugene, stepped back a pace, and respectfully waited for him to inspect the warehouse without any intention of following.
Eugene was extremely satisfied with his self-awareness. He gently walked up the creaking stairs and entered the room reeking of decay.
This territory was truly dirt-poor. In the palm-sized attic, there was only a small box of gold coins, a string of pearl necklaces, and a ruby brooch smaller than a fingernail. Several silk robes hung there all wrinkled and lacking luster. However, there were quite a few portraits, mostly of past lords who all looked shifty and short-lived.
Choked by dust several times, Eugene finally rummaged out a dust-covered landscape painting from the corner.
He gently wiped it with his hand, revealing the gorgeous colors of the painting swallowed by time.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell upon the frozen long river, and more than half of the sky was already covered by night. Auroras pierced through the clouds, forming radial, colorful bands like a fairy’s drooping gown.
In the bottom right corner, the creator had named it “The Dance of the Gods.”
“Gods.” Eugene found it somewhat amusing.
The mages who were hostile to the gods had set up the teleportation array inside “The Dance of the Gods.” What a wonderful irony.
He reached out, his slender fingers completely covering the colorful radiance, and exerted a slight force as if trying to crush the glory of the gods, grab them by the collars, and drag them down from the altar.
Clap!
Eugene seemed to hear the sound of a mirror shattering, and felt a wave of dizziness. After the weightlessness subsided, he found himself stumbling and standing inside an ice chamber.
Lifting his head, Eugene realized he was in a secret chamber within the frozen North River, surrounded entirely by crystal-clear ice and snow: [Ooh, what a pity there is no aurora right now.]
The system urged: [The temperature is dropping. Please find the magic scroll as soon as possible.]
[It’s just one path and it’ll be quick,] Eugene replied perfunctorily, looking around in curiosity. [Is this teleported to the North River?]
His eyes suddenly lit up, and he squatted down, wishing he could press right up against the ice layer: [Yay! There are fish here. Come fishing more often in the future!]
The system stamped its feet: [Host, do you only have eating and drinking on your brain?]
Fortunately, this game focused on management and infrastructure development rather than exploration and combat, so after completing tedious side quests and puzzle-solving, the player lord could simply watch a cutscene and obtain the target item.
Having crossed over and cheated his way through the prerequisite tasks, Eugene also met the magic scroll after enjoying the scenic, picturesque ice chamber corridor.
It was a roll of yellowed parchment tied with a red ribbon, quietly suspended above an altar carved with intricate magic arrays, with fine specks of light constantly showering down from it.
The system: [Please complete the side quest as soon as possible.]
Eugene acknowledged it. Without needing any urging, he had already stepped onto the altar.
From the very first moment he laid eyes on the magic scroll, his gaze could not pull away from it. He heard the blood all over his body surging, roaring, and urging him with craving to obtain this tiny scroll.
That was a predestined attraction.
The parchment fell into his hands. Eugene tried to unfold it, but was stopped by a strange force.
He habitually took advantage of the system for a freebie: [What does “light up knowledge with lukewarm warmth” mean?]
The system did not respond.
The small red dot in his field of vision mysteriously disappeared.
A sense of crisis suddenly welled up in Eugene’s heart.
He vaguely felt that some terrifying, massive entity had silently descended upon this place.
Right beneath his feet.
With his left hand tightly grasping the scroll and his right hand drawing the dagger given by King Dad, Eugene cautiously lowered his head to look. His mind raced as countless possibilities emerged in his head.
He still didn’t give up on calling the system: [System! Big Brother System! Your host is about to die, where are you?]
No response.
Only shadows spread from beneath his feet, like ink dropped into water, covering most of the ice surface in an instant.
The shadow quickly surfaced from the ice, forming a tentacle that wrapped around Eugene’s ankle.
The cold, slimy texture triggered a bout of goosebumps. Reacting extremely quickly, Eugene realized this was the abyss monster that had appeared in the promotional video.
With a swift flash of his blade, a golden holy seal flickered on the dagger, rapidly slicing off a small section of the tentacle.
The short section of tentacle just emerging from the ice instantly froze, tentatively moving forward a bit before pulling back, as if frightened by his decisiveness, genuinely exuding a sense of helplessness.
Ignoring his own momentary odd feeling, Eugene pressed forward step by step now that he had confirmed this thing could be chopped, aiming to farm some combat experience.
No!
Through the reflection of the ice, he shockingly discovered that a sky-blocking dark shadow had appeared behind him out of nowhere!
The instant he noticed it, dozens of twisting, writhing tentacles lunged forward abruptly!
The thickest and toughest tentacle directly wrapped around his waist, lifting him up, while countless smaller tentacles followed closely behind, coiling like snakes around the young lord’s slender, fair wrists and ankles. They rubbed against his protruding joints, leaving shallow red marks and slick mucus. Several more bypassed his slender waist, probing eagerly into the hem of his clothes.
Eugene confirmed he was not buying an R18 game. Reluctantly letting out a breath of relief and abandoning the system that had dropped offline once again, he calmly recalled the details.
Finally, effective information surfaced.
The narration of the game promotional video echoed in his mind: “Here, take blood as a covenant, and sign a contract with the abyss…”
He extended his thumb and pressed hard against the blade edge.
A single drop of blood fell into the shadow.
In the metaphysical realm, a connection was established.
Gritting his teeth, Eugene let the blade embed itself viciously into his flesh.
As the blood dripped, the originally weak and blurry connection gradually grew clear.
Eugene took a deep breath. His voice was unusually weak from blood loss, yet carried an irresistible will: “Get away!”
The tentacle trembled, and after Eugene scolded it once more, it finally swallowed its reluctance and slowly put him back down onto the ice surface, lingeringly and affectionately hooking around his trouser leg.
“I don’t like this.” Eugene rarely darkened his face. He lifted his foot, stepped on the tentacle that hadn’t fully moved away, and ground down forcefully. Lifting his chin, his sharp gaze stared straight at the massive, hill-like shadow monster.
All the tentacles immediately curled up pathetically. Even though it had no face, it still gave off a nakedly aggrieved vibe.
Eugene coldly loosened his wrist, testing his authority: “Sit.”
The dark shadow abruptly shrank by a head.
Eugene opened his palm: “Shake.”
The largest tentacle happily clapped onto it, contracting rapidly as if struggling hard to suppress the urge to wrap around Eugene’s wrist.
“Switch to another one.”
After shaking hands with dozens of tentacles one by one, Eugene was finally satisfied. With a smile in his eyes, he casually patted the largest tentacle: “Good dog.”
The entire monster happily expanded by a circle. The tentacles carefully pressed against Eugene’s lower leg once again, only to be stepped on mercilessly once more.
However, Eugene had no hobby of keeping dogs, and certainly didn’t plan on dragging such a massive fellow along while he was lying low and developing: “Stay here.”
He turned and left, walking along his arrival route toward the teleportation point.
[System?] Eugene called the system again.
Still no response, and the small red dot in his vision did not return either.
Realizing something was wrong, he turned his head: At some point, that pitch-black monster had been trailing step-for-step behind him.
The moment it was discovered, this fellow actually retreated a few steps, trying to hide its massive body.
Eugene was speechless: “Stealing a bell while covering one’s ears.”
The monster silently extended a tentacle, carefully pressing it against his palm.
“This isn’t something shaking hands can solve.” Eugene was almost laughing out of anger. He spun his dagger and sliced off the tentacle that had wrapped around him again, his tone gentle yet firm: “Be a good boy, sit.”
The monster shrank by another head.
Eugene patted the large tentacle: “Stay here and don’t move.”
“You’ll be a good dog, right?”
He turned and walked into the teleportation array.
When he opened his eyes again, Eugene had returned to the attic.
He shoved the magic scroll into his embrace and noticed the system’s small red dot had returned: [System, what were you doing? You didn’t even pay attention to me when I took the scroll just now. I even wanted you to take a picture for me as a souvenir.]
The system: [This system does not have that function.]
Eugene pestered it relentlessly: [Then aren’t you going to praise me? I went through untold hardships and eighty-one trials just to get this scroll!]
The system: […]
It finally couldn’t hold back: [Host, please have some shame. Taking a scroll and teleporting back does not fit the definition of untold hardships.]
Eugene’s gaze flickered, though he refused to concede verbally: [It was still very tiring. System, tell me how to open this scroll.]
Teasing the system casually, he pushed open the door.
Abel was still waiting in place. Seeing the young lord emerge, he wore a respectful smile without a trace of awareness: “Does my lord have any paintings you wish to have hung?”
“Yeah, hang all the portraits in the corridor.” Eugene walked down the stairs, giving instructions offhandedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another slave chasing a mouse into the shadows, instantly feeling a wave of mental exhaustion: “Inquire around and see if we can get a cat to raise.”
What’s so great about dogs? In a castle crawling with mice, only a big tabby cat can give me a sense of security!
“Understood.” Abel nodded, completely unaware that the shadow downstairs had fluctuated briefly for an instant.
The system could never out-argue Eugene’s crooked logic and was soon forced to tell him the correct way to open the scroll: magic scrolls need to absorb energy for a period of time before opening, and he could try using the heating holy seals.
Eugene decisively placed the scroll on the heating holy seal, tucked himself tightly into his small quilt, and fell soundly asleep to save his energy, waiting only for tomorrow to kick off his magical career.
In the middle of the night.
Half-asleep and half-awake, he froze awake and habitually reached out to grab the quilt.
There was none, only a cold, soft, slimy… big tentacle.
Eugene sat up abruptly. Sure enough, there was no system small red dot in his vision, only a massive, indescribable shadow monster.
This monster had squeezed in through the window, with half its body still lingering outside, hanging down like a waterfall.
“Sneaking over in the middle of the night.” Eugene said, his sleepiness flaring up as he poked the tentacle with his dagger one poke at a time. “Too big, can’t afford to feed you.”
The coiled tentacle coaxingly hooked around his finger. Following that, the monster’s hill-like body shrank down inch by inch.
Soon, the shadow was compressed to the size of a wooden barrel, eagerly dropping down by Eugene’s feet, rolling over, and exposing its belly: “Meow… meow-meow…”
If it weren’t for the fact that it had six legs and a bunch of disobedient tentacles occasionally popping out, it would simply be the cat of his dreams.
Eugene’s expression softened slightly as he ruthlessly scooped the monster up and put it back on the windowsill: “No, I don’t raise disobedient things.”
The monster meowed twice more and pressed against him again. Only this time, instead of exposing its belly, it coughed frantically, spitting out a ball of dark fur covered in mucus like a cat coughing up a hairball, and pushed it toward Eugene like an offering of treasure.
That was a dead mouse that still had its eyes wide open.