In the magnificent and empty dream arena, the mythical three-headed lizard stood quietly in the center of the venue, with three pairs of jewel-like eyes reflecting Vertok's gradually forming body.
Vertok regained his sight, first looked up at the deep and distant dark sky above the arena, and slowly exhaled. Every time he came here he would be afraid of the boundless darkness that shrouded the arena.
The dream arena is a manifestation of his soul, and the darkness surrounding the arena represents the chaotic nature of the ocean of pan-consciousness.
Wiltok is always worried that the Dream Arena will be completely swallowed up by darkness. This is actually the natural fear of the soul consciousness towards the origin of chaos.
Fortunately, dozens of flame towers bloomed with light, resolutely driving away the darkness and protecting the Dream Arena.
Wiltok wanted to know what the flame tower in the arena represented. He could briefly recover his memory by winning five rounds. At that time, he should understand the nature of the flame tower, but he would inevitably forget these memories after waking up. This greatly annoyed Vertok.
Recovering his memory and finding himself is Wiltok's strongest desire. He has always had a bad premonition that if he cannot find himself again, the flame tower in the Dream Arena will eventually go out, which means that his soul will be swallowed by the origin of chaos, and then he will be doomed.
The problem is that Wiltok doesn't know what triggers the flame tower to go out, and how much time does he have left?
This time he entered the Dreamland Arena and clearly noticed something strange.
Portanos, the manager of the arena, did not immediately invite him to participate as usual.
After Vertok stood there and observed for a moment, he cautiously approached the manager and asked carefully, "Portanos, is there something wrong with the arena?"
The mythical three-headed lizard made of smoke did not respond.
Wiltok thought for a while and then took the initiative to test: "I want to participate in the arena trial."
The manager of the arena finally moved, and three slender snake heads circled and danced in front of Wiltok. He said: "The Dream Arena is undergoing transformation, and the competitive trials are suspended."
Vertok was shocked and asked eagerly: "Transformation? Why transformation?"
"Challenger Wiltok has completed two trials, and his mental attributes have increased by a total of 11 points. I also gained additional spiritual power. Therefore, the Dream Arena began to transform. Before the transformation is completed, the challenger cannot participate in the trial."
The ocean of pan-consciousness is a manifestation of the elemental ocean of fire. The Dream Arena draws samples from the ocean of pan-consciousness for challengers to participate in trials. It is also a process of drawing spiritual power from the sea of fire elements.
The main personality, Victor, does not want the sub-personality to grow too fast. On the one hand, the sub-personality's experience and wisdom are not enough to control too powerful a force, but it can easily attract opponents of equal strength. On the other hand, the dream arena starts from the fire element sea. While extracting spiritual power, it is also contaminated by the memory of the sample.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Due to the memory isolation between the main personality and the secondary personality, Wiltok did not know that while he was improving his abilities through trials, his soul was bearing the burden and it took time to eliminate the contamination of the sample memory on the will side of the soul.
However, Vertok intuitively believes that it is a good thing that the Dream Arena can automatically close the trial. He was inexplicably relieved and asked: "When will the transformation end? What will the Dream Arena transform into?"
"The time when the Dream Arena will complete its transformation cannot be determined. After the transformation, the Dream Arena will resume trials and gain some new features."
"This transformation of the Dream Arena is divided into three stages. At present, the first stage of transformation has been completed."
"First of all, the time flow rate ratio between the dream world and the outside world becomes 15:1. The 15 days that the challenger Wiltok spent in the dream world arena is equal to 1 day in the outside world."
"Secondly, challenger Wiltok can manifest items in his memory in the dream arena, and the number of embodied items does not exceed ten. The better the challenger understands the characteristics of the items, the higher the success rate of manifestation."
"Finally, challenger Wiltok can repeat the challenge to those contestants who have been defeated. However, there is no winning reward for repeated challenges."
"The second phase of the dream arena's transformation will be completed 60 days later in external time."
Wiltok roughly understood that the Dream Arena was also growing, which was called transformation. There will be no new trials until the transformation is complete, but the Dream Arena can be used as a place to practice skills. As long as Vertok sleeps, he can hone his skills.
With a thought in his mind, the phantom image of the weapon appeared in his hand, and gradually turned into reality. It was a five-foot-long sword and gun. Its size, pattern, and material weight are exactly the same as Captain Rhode's adamantine sword and gun.
The content of the Vientiane Original Method does not include the breaking method of swords and guns. It was the first time for Wiltok to use a sword and gun. He had enough time to explore the skills of swords and guns in the Dream Arena and try to integrate it into the Vientiane Original Method.
After wielding his sword and gun continuously for more than two hours, Wiltok said confidently: "Manager, I want to replay the second fifth round."
"As you wish, Huor, King of the Gnolls from the Unknown Place, will accept Vertok's challenge."
The thin and lean figure of the Storm Gnoll appeared in the arena. When it saw Wiltok holding a weapon, its green wolf eyes suddenly shrank, arched its back and took a few steps back, asking: "What is this place? Are you what?"
Vertok smiled coldly. He had heard this jackal yell like this every time he started. However, Huor, the gnoll, was always unfamiliar with everything here.
Vertok's shoulders did not move, he slid forward without warning, raised the sword and gun in his hand, and aimed a standard lunge at the ferocious wolf man.
The original method of all phenomena circulates internal and external breathing, mobilizes internal latent and external forces, and integrates wind and blood. Wiltok's thrust is impeccable and has reached his peak level. The sword and gun turned into a straight purple stream of light, like a flash of lightning. , to the extreme.
The storm gnoll's reaction speed was higher than that of its kind, and he couldn't dodge in time. In an instant, he was pierced through the chest by the sharp sword and gun.
The sword blade, with a hint of bright red, penetrated the back of the jackal Huo. Vertok was very satisfied with his sword. He did not use the title of Gnoll Killer. The combat intuition of the ferocious Gnoll lost its meaning in the face of the lightning-quick thrust. If its body movements couldn't keep up with its own prediction, it would inevitably end up with a sword piercing its chest.
However, before Vertok had time to be happy, the Storm Gnoll advanced instead of retreating, letting the blood-stained sword edge completely pierce his body, pounced in front of Vertok, and opened its bloody mouth full of fangs. , biting him viciously on the face.
Victor's vision suddenly went dark, and then became bright again. In the arena, the Storm Gnolls had disappeared.
He knew he lost, because the sword just pierced the jackal's heart. Before dying, the jackal activated his bloodthirsty talent and tried his best to die with him.
This was undoubtedly a failed exercise. The purpose of fighting is to protect yourself first and then destroy the enemy. Wiltok's combat skills could completely suppress the third-level ferocious gnoll, but he still lost.
Most orcs have strong vitality. They will not be killed immediately if they are stabbed in some vital parts. They can still maintain relatively intact combat effectiveness and carry out the most ferocious counterattack.
This is actually a very terrifying ability. There are many adventurers who thought they defeated the orcs, but ended up dying from the orcs' dying counterattack.
Wiltok heard that Bottom, Huck and others had just joined the adventure group, and there was a companion with excellent sword skills in the team. In his first battle, he stabbed the gnoll seven times with a long sword in an instant. The gnoll couldn't even dodge the sword, so it simply stopped hiding and knocked the half-elf down with serious injuries, then bit his face off.
Vertok has not yet ignited the fire of his soul. Without overwhelming advantages in vitality, explosive power and reaction speed, he can only deal with the dire orcs' desperate counterattack by improving his martial arts level.
In fact, the intermediate Wanxiang Original Method still has a lot of potential to be tapped, and the Dream Arena can help him explore a set of targeted combat skills based on the Wanxiang Original Method.
Wiltok waved his sword and gun and shouted with burning eyes: "Manager, I want to compete again!"
*********************
In the afternoon, Wiltok, who was immersed in a spiritual dream, was shaken awake.
"My lord, wake up. My lord, wake up..."
Huck's anxious face caught Wiltok's eyes, "Huh?"
"Sir, those orcs are here again, and there are hobgoblins... Look!"
Wiltok jumped up from the cushion of branches, turned around and looked around, and immediately found a large group of goblins and ten ferocious gnolls gathering right in front of the low hill camp.
Compared with the attack in the early morning, the Bone Collector Orcs were obviously more organized this time. They set up a circular formation 300 meters away from the low hill camp. A dozen strong bugbears were at the front of the formation, acting as attackers; more than 200 clawed goblins were divided into two layers as the main force of the attack. The first layer holds daggers and bucklers, while the second layer holds slinging bows and simple spear throwers; while the agile and ferocious gnolls roam around the outside of the formation to provide support.
It is conceivable that once the Bone Collector orcs launch an attack, the circular formation they arrange can just wrap up the low hill camp. In this case, the front and both wings of the half-elf professionals are enemies, and their weakness of insufficient manpower is undoubtedly exposed. They can defend the front, but they cannot defend the left and right wings. Either side may be broken by the orc bone collectors.
Huck and others looked nervous, but their emotions were relatively stable. The Orc Bone Collector attacked the camp for the first time, but was defeated inexplicably. Although Wiltok did not explain the reason, the half-elf professionals had some guesses.
However, Wiltok's expression was particularly stern, and he stared at the back of the orc group with his eyebrows furrowed. There was also a small group of orcs there, and they protected a hobgoblin tightly.
Each Bone Collector gang will have 2 or 3 hobgoblin leaders. After their attack was thwarted this morning, it was not surprising that the hobgoblin personally directed the subsequent battle, which was completely expected by Wiltok.
However, the orc bodyguards around the hobgoblin aroused Vertok's high vigilance. In addition to the most common bugbears, there are also more than a dozen half-human, half-goat monsters.
Their humanoid bodies have a head that looks like a ram, with an average height of more than 2 meters. Their plump and knotted muscles seem to burst their fur. They also hold bright long knives in their hands, which feels oppressive. Full.
These are goatheads!
Fauns are gentle-tempered orcs. They unite around the four-horned sheep mother to form a faunus clan and make a living by growing grass. The sheep-headed monster has no fighting talent, but it is physically strong and has amazing strength. Coupled with its plant-eating talent, it can fully absorb the medicinal properties or toxins in plants and store them in the body. The goat-headed monster can actively release the plant medicinal properties and toxins accumulated in the body, and obtain effects such as excitement, madness, poisonous blood, self-healing, and pain numbness.
Predatory orcs especially like to hunt sheep-headed monsters, but when the number of sheep-headed monsters reaches a certain scale, they can protect themselves. Even the most powerful centaurs and wilderness trolls must carefully weigh the gains and losses of attacking the goat-headed clan. They tend to hunt lone goatheads in secret, but avoid direct conflicts with the goathead clan. Because the stubborn goathead is capable of causing heavy losses to the invaders.
The main infantry of the Goblin Kingdom is the goat-headed monster. It can be said that the Goblin Kingdom without the goat-headed infantry is not worthy of being called a kingdom.
The hobgoblin's most powerful bodyguard is the wild troll. But after these days of observation, Wiltok concluded that there were no wilderness troll bodyguards among this group of bone gatherers.
The reason is simple. The wilderness trolls have an incredibly large appetite. When they are hungry, they will give priority to eating their companions around them. Even the leader of the hobgoblin cannot stop them. It's hard for a hungry gang of bone collectors to support a troll bodyguard. Perhaps, before they could collect enough treasure, the number of clawed goblins in the gang had been reduced by half.
Wiltok did not expect that this group of orc bone collectors would have vegetarian goatheads as bodyguards.
The goat-headed monster is naturally dull and not good at fighting. A dozen goat-headed monster bodyguards actually do not pose much of a threat to half-elf professionals.
However, Wiltok's "Goblin Slayer" and "Gnoll Slayer" two types of spiritual touch will definitely have no effect on the goathead.
He could scare the goblins, but not the stubborn and dim-witted goathead.
If the leader of the hobgoblin throws all the goathead bodyguards around him into the battlefield, even if Wiltok scares away the clawed goblins, the ferocious gnolls will give it a go under the cover of the goathead.
While Vertok was thinking about how to deal with the goat-headed monster, the leader of the hobgoblin over there began to organize an attack.
