An abstract trainer who taught Charmander the Incinerate move

Chapter 219 Dream Trait: The Path to Death (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
This is not a dream!

Several silver grasses, resembling living snakes, sprouted from the ground.

The fine scale patterns on the grass stem, and the sense of resilience and power contained within them, are exactly the same as the Silver Grass, the martial spirit awakened in the dream!
An indescribable ecstasy instantly overwhelmed all the loss and grief, and Tang Snake's entire body trembled violently due to extreme excitement!
"Hiss... Hiss-ha—!!!"

It's real! It's all real! It's not a dream! My power... the path of the God-King... is real!!!

With an barely suppressed, excited hiss, Tang Snake's thoughts connected to the few silver grasses that had broken through the soil, like invisible threads.

Wherever its thoughts lead, the silver grass seems to become an extension of its limbs!

The resilient silver grass instantly straightened, its tip extending out like a serpent, precisely wrapping around a heavy, rotten railway sleeper beside it!

"rise!!!"

Tang Snake let out a silent roar in his heart.

Swish swish--!
The thought moves again!

Suddenly, the silver grass exerted its strength, and the huge sleeper that required two or three laborers to move was easily lifted off the ground by a few seemingly slender silver grasses, drawing a heavy arc in the air as if wielding a light wooden stick!

The sleepers tore through the air with a dull whistling sound, and the strong wind they generated even blew away the dust on the ground.

Tang She felt the feedback of the perfect fit between the silver grass and himself, and the sense of control that made him feel as if he were his own arm was incredibly real!
It's done! It's done! I've succeeded! Hahahaha!!!
A surge of immense excitement overwhelmed Tang Snake's consciousness, prompting it to pop open a bottle of champagne in celebration!
puff-

Tang She was suddenly knocked to the ground by the torrent of champagne, lying sprawled on the cold gravel.

But it didn't care about its disheveled state at all; its snake eyes were filled with almost burning ecstasy!
Sure enough! Everything I experienced was not a dream!

That is a supreme opportunity that can truly change one's true self; it is the divine king's legacy imprinted deep in one's bloodline!

As the aftershocks of ecstasy subsided, the Tang snake's emerald green body coiled up once more.

It closed its serpentine eyes, and its astonishing wisdom began to operate at an unprecedented speed, its cold chains of logic starting to unravel the bizarre and fantastical experiences.

A completely unfamiliar continent of fighting spirits, a power system called "Martial Soul", a human master with squinty eyes, and distorted projections of familiar faces.

Blue-skinned security guard Luca, pink dwarf Tang Ritian, and abyss-sized mouth Xiao Wu...

They play vastly different roles on that continent, yet their core carries a strange sense of familiarity.

Tang She began to analyze this incredible situation with absolute rationality.

Clues are being pieced together, and the fog is gradually clearing!

Tang She's snake eyes suddenly opened, gleaming with a sharp light!
A groundbreaking conclusion was born from its astonishingly intelligent calculations!

That's right, it was all a dream. I never actually entered the so-called Battle Spirit Continent!

But this is no ordinary dream; this is... this is the [God King's Secret Realm], uniquely mine, opened by the dormant God King bloodline within me!

The legend of the Battle Spirit Continent, the journey of acquiring martial spirits, absorbing spirit rings, and battling powerful enemies...

It is clearly an epic of enlightenment, imprinted deep within the bloodline of the God-King, belonging to the great ancestor!

And here I am, within this divine king's secret realm, retracing the path once trodden by His Majesty the God King, embarking once more on this supreme [Path of the God King]!
The so-called Master Xiao Gang must be an important guide for the God King on his path to enlightenment. His image is merely a manifestation of the Secret Realm's subconscious concept of a "knowledgeable guide"!

Because dreams are a distorted projection of reality, when experiencing the path of the God King, I unconsciously brought those damned familiar faces from reality into the secret realm, which made me feel like I was seeing those lingering beasts!
Yes! That must be it! Everything makes sense now!

After thoroughly analyzing all the causes and consequences, Tang She felt an unprecedented clarity of mind, as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining through, bringing sudden enlightenment!
Although the specific experiences in the Doujing Continent are the evolution of a secret realm, the power, knowledge, and even the transformation of martial souls gained there are truly reflected in reality without any deviation!

Thinking of this, Tang She felt a surge of pride and almost wanted to roar to the sky!
With the help of this divine king's secret realm that can reflect reality, what are those red-suited beasts, blue-skinned bitches, canned peaches...?

All of them are stepping stones for it to ascend to godhood; the throne of the god-king is just around the corner!

call--

Tang She exhaled a long breath of pent-up turbid air, forcibly suppressing the surging excitement that was rising again.

Having experienced the life-and-death transformation in the secret realm and comprehended the path of death, its temperament has indeed matured considerably.

It did not let the flames of revenge overwhelm it because of this initial increase in power, nor did it rush to seek revenge on its former enemies.

The God-King's revenge is never too late, even after ten thousand years!

The most important thing right now is to make full use of the enlightenment brought by the God King's Secret Realm, steadily and solidly consolidate one's own foundation, and completely transform potential into strength!

Recalling Master Xiao Gang's final teachings, Tang She clearly knew his most urgent task—to level up to level 20!
At that time, he will have the opportunity to absorb a spirit ring for the second time, allowing his Silver Grass Martial Soul to transform once again and his strength to leap forward!
However, in this ordinary real world, relying solely on natural recovery and slow accumulation, it would take anywhere from ten days to half a month, or even two or three months, to increase one's soul power by two levels.

It must find a shortcut to rapid improvement!

As his thoughts sank into his mind, the supreme cultivation method [Xuantian Gong] from the unparalleled secret manual obtained from the Tang Sect's secret realm—the "Xuantian Treasure Record"—emerged as if it had been waiting for a long time.

Internal strength, soul power, life energy.

The three have different names and different systems, but in the secret realm, Tang Snake had a vague feeling that there was some kind of commonality in their origins!
As the supreme method for cultivating internal strength in the Tang Clan, the core of the "Mysterious Heaven Skill" lies in its unique practice route and breathing techniques, which efficiently refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into internal strength.

So, in this world, can it refine the elemental energy of heaven and earth and transform it into its own life energy to achieve rapid level advancement?
In the secret realm, it started with innate full soul power and was in a hurry to obtain its first soul ring to break the shackles, so it naturally had no time to verify the effects of this technique.

But now, the real-world dilemma of level advancement has provided it with the perfect opportunity to verify this startling conjecture!
Without further hesitation, the Tang snake coiled its emerald green body into a perfect meditation posture on the cold, broken stones.

It closed its snake eyes, calmed its mind, and abandoned all the noise of the construction site. It focused its thoughts into its dantian and began to guide the flow of its soul power slowly according to the first level of the "Mysterious Heaven Skill".

At the same time, it adjusts its breathing, attempting to capture and inhale the free-floating grass-like energy in the air and the essence of the sun and moon between heaven and earth at a peculiar frequency.

The cultivation technique is activated, and soul power flows through specific meridians.

Once a full cycle was completed, Tang Snake suddenly opened his snake eyes, which were filled with unbelievable ecstasy!
It works! It really works!
In just one cycle, it clearly felt that the total amount of life energy stored in the energy core was actually a bit more solid and abundant than before it started practicing the technique!
Although it was extremely slight, it was indeed an increase!

This efficiency far exceeds its natural growth rate!

Indeed, the power systems of all worlds are fundamentally the same!

In this world, the "Mysterious Heaven Technique" remains an unparalleled secret method for cultivating soul power!
Overjoy surged through it once more. Just as it was about to calm its mind and fully circulate the Mysterious Heaven Technique to break through the level 20 bottleneck...

"Damn it! You lazy, good-for-nothing! The sun's already high in the sky and you're still lying here sleeping like a corpse? I think you're itching for a beating, aren't you?!"

The overseer's harsh shouts rang out at an extremely inopportune moment, interrupting its cultivation.

Immediately afterward, the stunner who had been waiting on the side could no longer contain himself, and his arm crackled with blinding lightning.

The electric monster's arm, accompanied by a fierce wind and lightning, crashed down at an incredible speed!

However, the Tang snake, which was sitting cross-legged on the ground, showed no panic in its newly opened emerald green snake eyes. Instead, it displayed a kind of indifference as if it were looking at a dead object.

Just as the lightning was about to touch its head...

Phew—pop!

A silver afterimage, like a lurking venomous snake, suddenly struck, arriving faster than anyone else, its speed so great that it even created a sharp sonic boom!
It was a silver grass vine, striking the trajectory of the electric monster with unparalleled precision, like a steel whip!
"Gurgle—!!!"

The electric monster's charging figure was sent flying backward at an even faster speed than it had come, like a baseball hit by a home run, screaming as it traced a beautiful arc in the air.

Finally, it slammed heavily to the ground with a thud, its body convulsed violently twice, and then it fell completely silent, fainting like a dead pig.

The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that the sneer on the foreman's face didn't even have time to turn into astonishment.

Tang She maintained his cultivation posture, as if he had merely swatted away a buzzing fly.

A deathly silence enveloped the construction site. The foreman's facial muscles twitched stiffly as he watched several Tang snakes, their vines swaying slowly like silver serpents, coil around him. A chill instantly ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

"Ugh... Help! Someone help! Help! There are snakes... There are snakes rebelling!"

He suddenly came to his senses, let out a distorted howl, and scrambled backward.

The commotion here immediately attracted even greater chaos and attention.

"Who goes there? What's all the noise about! Who's rebelling?!"

With a commanding shout, foreman Dick, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, led a group of imposing old construction workers and tough guys, pushing aside the onlookers and striding over.

Dick's rugged face was etched with impatience.

However, when he saw the scene clearly, he was stunned.

The emerald green vine snake was coiled up in place, exuding an inexplicable aura of composure.

Beside it, several thick, gleaming silver vines, like an efficient and tireless construction team, orderly rolled up the heavy sleepers and precisely laid them onto the roadbed.

Their movements were fluid and incredibly efficient, several times faster than the laborers and elves around them who were huffing and puffing!
On the other side, one foreman was so frightened he wet himself, while another electric monster lay dead in a pile of rocks, its fate unknown.

Dick stroked his chin, his thick eyebrows twitched, and a hint of surprise and...admiration flashed in his eyes?
"Oh? A vine whip... it can be used like that? This guy is truly born with an innate divine physique! One snake is worth at least twenty people!"

After briefly understanding what had happened, Dick glared at the trembling overseer and launched into a tirade of angry words.

"You clueless idiot! They're focused and dedicated to creating value for the company! If you go and disturb them like that, they're bound to beat you up!"

He pointed at the efficient silver vines and roared.

"Look at this efficiency! Look at this attitude! Every single one of you, you better learn from me!"

As he spoke, he kicked the overseer.

"Go! Make sure this model worker is well-fed and cared for. If he delays the railway laying targets, you'll be in big trouble!"

Faced with the foreman's completely different attitude and a barrage of insults, the supervisor was utterly dumbfounded, his mouth agape for a long time before he could only slink away and do as he was told.

At this moment, the Tang snake, coiled in place, had a hint of wisdom in its eyes.

With its current strength in controlling the Silver Grass Martial Soul, even though it's only its first Soul Ring, it wouldn't be difficult for it to fight its way out of this construction site.

But it did not do that.

Because it firmly keeps in mind Master Xiaogang's last words, it has great ambitions!
A small leak will sink a great ship!
Now it needs to lie low and wait at this construction site to obtain its second soul ring!

For the second spirit ring, Master Xiao Gang said that it's best to choose a water-type magical beast with the ability to entangle and bind, and preferably with the ghost or super attributes as well...

While maintaining the operation of the "Mysterious Heaven Technique" and absorbing the sparse energy around him, Tang She also distracted himself by manipulating the Silver Grass to efficiently move the sleepers. His cold gaze silently swept across the noisy construction site.

Finally... the camera was fixed on the man in the distance, constantly searching for the right angle to capture Mo Zhen's disheveled moment—Xiu Di.

The path to its death had already appeared in its eyes.

My second spirit ring will be you!

……

On the other side, inside the temporary workers' shed.

Mo Zhen lazily sat up from the hard bed, stretched out her arms, and looked on with a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

His gaze swept past the dilapidated windows of the workers' shed and fell upon the silvery-white vines dancing and moving efficiently along the railway sleepers in the distance.

Seeing Tang She sitting cross-legged on the ground, a knowing, playful smile crept onto his lips.

In fact, he had already vaguely sensed the special existence of Tang Snake when he talked with Zhu Lan earlier.

After the other party entered the dream, Mo Zhen immediately activated his divine authority as the God of Illusions and began to investigate all the dreams around him.

When he sensed a bizarre dream about a green snake, he immediately used the dream projector that Xiao Mengzi had used before to review Tang Snake's experiences over the past few days.

"Hmm... This is truly a fascinating and dramatic story! Hehehe, so you've been looking for me all along? And by sheer coincidence, you've formed such a huge karmic bond with me... Very good! In that case, I shall bestow upon you a great fortune!"

Immediately afterwards, Mo Zhen used his extraordinary wisdom to tailor-make a script for the Battle Spirit Continent that blends the Douluo Continent setting with Pokémon elements.

In the dream theater, he guided this ambitious but fragile little female snake step by step into the game, convinced that he had embarked on some ridiculous "path of the god king".

After the dream theater ended, he had a slight thought, and the illusory panel belonging to Tang She appeared before his eyes.

[Race: Sniper (Mutated - Silver Grass Martial Soul Awakening)]

[Level: 18 (Master)]

[Attribute: grass]

[Skills: Wild Whip Technique (Mastery), Silver Entanglement (Beginner), Rain of Pear Blossom Leaves (Expert)...]

【Dream Trait - The Way of Death: All people (spirits) in the world have a way of dying. You can absorb the life energy/soul power of the targets you kill and extract 'soul skills' from them to pave your own path to becoming a god-king】

Upon seeing the feature descriptions at the bottom of the panel, Mo Zhen's playful smile faltered slightly, and he stroked his chin.

"Huh? This feature description... is quite interesting."

According to the original novel (Douluo Continent), one can only absorb one spirit ring every ten levels, with strict absorption limits.

But looking at this guy's description, it seems that this level restriction wasn't mentioned at all, either because it was omitted or because the description was incomplete!
Mo Zhen twitched her lips, a strange expression appearing on her face.

"Good heavens, this is outrageous... If this little female snake completely figurees out the details of my characteristics, I'm afraid it will really be a case of 'everyone has a way to die,' and I'll become a god-king by sucking up all the way up?"

However, Mo Zhen thought about it again and felt that this characteristic wasn't so outrageous after all...

"Leveling up by defeating monsters and gaining experience... Why does this sound so familiar? Oh right, isn't this the core gameplay of Pokémon games? Defeating wild Pokémon to gain experience and level up..."

This Pokémon world seems like a pure, child-friendly utopia, but upon closer inspection, it's actually quite terrifying...

He stroked his chin, a strange light gleaming in his eyes.

I wonder if if I defeat a similar Pokémon and absorb its spirit ring, will it release an extra huge amount of spirit power because it's known as the "Love Pokémon"...?

After thinking it over for a moment, Mo Zhen snapped his fingers, having already made up his mind.

It's still unclear whether this feature has any hidden limitations, such as absorption limits or cooldown times.

But just to be on the safe side, I have to imprint some kind of mental seal on this guy in the dream theater, so that it will obediently absorb a soul ring every ten levels according to the setting. I can't let it really kill anyone it sees without any scruples...

Otherwise, given the opponent's extraordinary wisdom, the world would probably be in complete chaos...

Right there on the construction site, Tang Snake underwent a transformative rebirth due to its dream-like nature, thus reaching the pinnacle of its snake life.

The truck driver, working beside the railway tracks, is facing the biggest predicament of his life...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)