Scourge Messenger

Chapter 295 is about Pokémon!
Upon entering the Demon Gathering Land, Yan Qing did not see anyone else.

The Guiding Lands may look like an amusement park, but it covers an area comparable to a town. However, apart from the uniquely styled amusement park rides, most of the buildings are monotonous and almost identical. This is a very common dungeon design approach, which creates an atmosphere at a low cost without making the dungeon too empty. Moreover, in the event of combat, these destructible buildings greatly enhance the player's sense of impact.

After all, no matter how powerful the skill description is, capable of obliterating the eternal Dao, it can't compare to the sheer impact of Shinra Tensei, which directly destroys a village. True power always needs destruction to truly shine.

Such a vast and complex secret realm was so impenetrable that even with two hundred messengers participating, they vanished without a trace, like salt in clear water. Seeing that it was unlikely he'd encounter anyone else in this realm, Yan Qing felt relieved. He had no interest in meeting other messengers, even if they were local Muggles weaker than him. Strangely enough, Yan Qing enjoyed using alternate accounts to show off to strangers, and he liked boasting to Shang Xinlei, the Pharmacist, and even the White Fox, but he particularly disliked showing off to strangers.

The thought of others looking at him with admiration or envy made Yan Qing scratch his head. If someone asked him for help with high hopes, would he help them? If someone was plotting against him, would he kill them?

Before anything even happened, Yan Qing was already imagining all sorts of possibilities and filled with anxiety about the trip. He didn't consider himself socially awkward, just a little sensitive. After all, even when reading novels, he would feel sorry for the protagonists in particularly embarrassing parts; the real misery and malice made him feel that life was exhausting.

There's a road sign not far from the entrance, pointing to four roads:
"The Path of Dragon Blood", "The Path of the Wilderness", "The Path of Immortality", "The Path of Demons"

Choosing either path doesn't really matter much, because the demons in the Demon Gathering Land are distributed from weakest to strongest. When you first enter the outer perimeter of the Demon Gathering Land, you will only encounter the weakest first-tier demons.

Yan Qing chose the "Path of Dragon Blood," and encountered his first demon after taking only two steps.

A chubby baby dragon was wandering along the road. Although it was oddly shaped and barely taller than a chicken, its lower limbs still had a ring of eggshell, making it look like it was wearing open-crotch pants from a distance—both fierce and adorable. Even when Ye Si stood right in front of it, it didn't react at all, and would even take a detour to avoid him!

Quite polite.

"You're the one!" Ye Si drew his Flame Pattern Seven Star Sword and slashed at it!

The fledgling dragon had a protective barrier around its body, which Ye Si easily shattered with a single sword strike. This was likely a shock-resistant shield, capable of withstanding an attack regardless, and simultaneously signaling that it had entered battle mode. It let out a roar, its open-crotch eggshell shattered, and its size swelled from a chicken to that of a bear!
However, it was ultimately just an outer demon. Facing the fully armed Ye Si, Yan Qing didn't even bother to dodge, killing it before the defensive barrier had even fully collapsed. The little dragon didn't drop any loot after its death, but a stream of light pierced into Ye Si's Flesh Prison Bracelet.

Ye Si raised his right hand and saw that the bracelet had two columns, one above the other. There was a card in the bottom column and a blank space in the top column. The card was called "Newborn Dragon".

"First Reincarnation of the Dragon Clan - Newborn Dragon Hatchling"

Attack Power: 50

Health: 100

"Trait - Growth: Grows up when a battle is triggered, gaining attack power and HP bonuses. The bonuses double for each day that passes."

"Ascension: Gain fifty identical Puppet cards".

Next to the card are several prompts: "Place the card in the puppet slot to activate the puppet card."

The number of puppet slots increases by one each day, until it expands to a maximum of seven.

All puppet cards are cleared at midnight the following day; only activated puppet cards are saved.

Place the new card into an existing slot in the puppet slot; the old card will disappear.

Yan Qing activated "Newborn Dragon Hatchling," and a hatchling dragon appeared behind Ye Si, following him wherever he went. Only then did Yan Qing understand why the Demon Gathering Land was so vast and the roads so wide; it seemed that every player could assemble a team of Pokémon. If tens of thousands of players participated in this event, this place would surely be incredibly crowded.

He roughly understood that the core gameplay of this event involved capturing other demons by eliminating them. However, only one demon could be captured on the first day, and any additional demons could not be carried over to the second day. Theoretically, the goal should be to capture the strongest demons to build a team, but Yan Qing estimated that the powerful demons were likely all Foundation Establishment demons above level 40, which players could not possibly defeat on their own and would have to rely on the power of the puppet cards.

Collect weak golems, destroy powerful golems, and then use the powerful golems to destroy even more powerful golems... I get it, it really is Pokémon!

Further on, they encountered wild dragon hatchlings again. After triggering a battle, Yan Qing noticed a detail: although both Ye Si and the puppet dragon hatchlings were attacking, the wild dragon hatchlings only attacked the puppet dragon hatchlings. This meant that the demons would not attack the trial participants until all the puppets were dead.

After defeating the second fledgling dragon, the Blood Prison Bracelet absorbed the flowing light again. Yan Qing noticed a small circle appearing next to the "Newborn Fledgling" card. The circle's progress increased slightly, meaning that Yan Qing only needed to defeat forty-nine more fledgling dragons to make this puppet card ascend.

Killing fifty hatchlings wouldn't be difficult for him, but it wasn't necessary; he had no interest in using hatchlings as his main force. Night Four continued forward and discovered a new dragon, defeating it to obtain the "Solid Shield Dragon" puppet card.

"First Rebirth Dragon Clan - Solid Shield Dragon"

Attack Power: 0

Health: 200

"Trait - Shield Bash: Permanently gain 20 attack power each time you are attacked by the Flesh Golem".

"Ascension: Gain fifty identical Puppet cards".

Compared to hatchlings whose attributes can grow linearly, the Shielded Dragon is undoubtedly weaker in the early stages. However, as long as enough battles are triggered, players can stack the Shielded Dragon's attack power to a very high level, making it undoubtedly a dragon with great potential for development.

But this still wasn't the puppet Yan Qing wanted. Both dragons in a row were of the 'self-growing' type, and Yan Qing guessed that all puppet dragons were like this. When Ye Si reached the fork in the road, Yan Qing randomly chose the "Forest Path" and went in. He had only taken two steps when he encountered a new demon: a giant mosquito.

The mosquito was surprisingly weak; Ye Si killed it with a single sword strike. But its dead body, lying on the ground, suddenly began to stir, and a gigantic insect with scythe-like tentacles emerged, its strength comparable to a fledgling dragon. Yan Qing's eyes lit up; after obtaining the puppet token, he confirmed that this was exactly the type he wanted.

"First Transformation: Beast - Parasitic Mosquito"

Attack Power: 10

Health: 10

"Trait - Deathrattle - Taunt: When a mosquito dies, it summons 100/100 parasites from its corpse. Enemies will attack this golem first."

Yan Qing's eyes lit up, and he immediately switched to the puppet card, then used the Aberration [Resurrection] on the puppet card!
A blue arc of light emanated from the edge of the puppet card, but there was no immediate reaction until Yan Qing triggered the second battle, at which point this anomaly truly revealed its power.

The mosquito died the instant the battle began, turning into a corpse that triggered its deathrattle, summoning a giant parasite. Then, with a flash of blue light, the dead mosquito revived and appeared in front of Night Four.

When the resurrected mosquito is defeated by the demon again, its deathrattle is triggered once more, and a second giant parasite appears.

Sure enough!

(End of this chapter)