Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

With all the previous fights and chaos, the intersection where the arena was situated had very less number of civilians. The inflow of sect disciples gradually pushed the civilians completely out of the intersection.

The explosion on the arena made the last bunch of brave commonfolk to scatter into winds. Those that saw the inner sect disciples retreated to their crib. The arena and its surroundings were empty of any conscious being.

The archer girl tried to keep her female companion awake, but poison soon knocked out her. She came here with 15 of her fellow inner disciples, but she is now left to fight this monster alone. Her eyes focussed on Lee as she shouted at him-

"Okay, you are stronger. We admit defeat. But you will soon feel the wrath of our sect elders."

Lee did not like the last sentence and he pulled the bowstring. The female archer was dumbstruck to see him materialising the arrow from the thin air. Her senses were frozen and her limbs went numb as the arrow left the bow. The arrow flashed forward and approached her swiftly. Like a remote controlled toy, the arrow exploded when it reached right in front of her. She made a desperate retreat backward, but was already late to do so. The explosion threw her backward and onto the ground.

*thud*

Lee propelled himself at the flat roof of the building using Flight. With his enormous hindlimb strength, it looked like he was jumping onto the top of the building in one go. The bruised archer went pale as she saw him jumping onto the roof with a light thud. She tried to stand up, but witnessing Lee coming up on the roof of the building shook her mind and trembled the limbs.

"Then go and tell your elders that their dear disciples are under my custody."

Lee spoke as he walked towards the unconscious and paralysed disciples. He activated EsGen and absorbed disciples on the floor. The female archer say this and wanted to cry, but no voice came from her mouth. Her eyes almost fell off their sockets as she noticed the spatial ring on his finger.

"You might want to hurry. Placing living things in a spatial ring can be deadly as they can die after a short period of time!"

The same information came up in her mind even before Lee spoke it out. She mustered all of her strength to get away and reach the sect as fast as she could.

What Lee said about the Spatial ring was true, but he actually absorbed the disciples into his EsGen storage. There, living things can stay suspended for a very, very long period or time. The suspension inside EsGen is a special case as it allows the beings to age and perish while they cannot perceive hunger, thirst or the surroundings. Their physical activities are halted, but the indispensable passage of the time axis of the dimension is reflected here.

Lee went around leaping and collected the other 11 locked out disciples. When he descended from the buildings and neared the unconscious An, he asked D to show the most relevant current information.

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Time: 14 minutes to 2 P.M.

Quest progress: 204/450.

Time left: 21 hours 59 minutes.

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'Hmm...…. D, how much Essence can be generated from the 11 disciples I just caught?!'

[Two of them are 1st stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators and four others are in Elemental Binding realm. The left five range between peak stage Qi Accumulation realm to middle stage of Core Formation realm. So, a maximum of 2010 Essence can be harvested from them.]

*internal gasping*

'Really?!?! Then I look forward to the next hourly reminder!'

Lee picked An into his arms and dashed towards the inn. He quickly reached his destination and went inside at once. The reception was empty and he thanked fate for so. His hind limbs took him up the stairs. He could easily reach his room as there was no one in the corridor.

Lee locked the door behind his back as soon as he entered inside. He paced to the bed and placed An gently on it. Lee used 'Spotless' on her clothes as she was knocked out by the sedative previously. As he checked her health and had a discussion with D, the notification he looked forward to, came up!

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2 P.M.

3870 Essence harvested.

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Lee summoned the quest tab again to see the progress.

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Quest progress: 204/450

Time left: 21 hours 45 minutes

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[Lee, I have got a surprise for you. Take a look at the Map.]

Lee was curious as he heard D in his head. He peeked at the Map and was astonished.

'D…..I regret leaving her alive!'

In the Map, more than 50 red dots of varying sizes appeared. Some were normal sized ones while the radius and intensity of the dots slowly increased. There was a deep red dot bigger than anyone near it. Lee guessed that to be the Sect Leader. As his eyes scanned the aerial view, two more groups with almost similar dot patterns came to the site.

Lee was glad that he had escaped from there rather than waiting for them. It would have ended up as a suicide mission, if he kept on his arrogant self. Whenever Lee seemed to be at the verge of flipping the switch, D would give him a smack or a suggestion.

[The deep red dots are Sect Leaders for sure. Looks like the outer disciples are being mobilised to treat the wounded warriors in battle. The sect elders grouped near the leader seems to be calculating something. They are crooked fellows, I tell you!]

'If I don't fight these people now, they will make it hard for me to stay here. It will also affect An. So...….I am going to face them!'

Lee affirmed his decision as An began to squirm. It looked like the sedative had lost its effects. An slowly sat up as she recognised the room. She smiled wryly.

"Did you win?"

Lee leaned close to her.

"Well...'we' survived!"

An nodded at his statement and slowly leaned onto the pillow as she yawned out loud. Lee can guess that this is one of the after-effects of the sedative explosion. He pulled the blanket over her as she closed her eyes and slept.

Lee stood up and walked towards the window. He opened it and peered at the direction of the arena. The bow came out in his hand and he held it vertically as he pulled the string backward.

'For the ambush!'

He uttered inward as he let the string loose. The homing arrow flew up in the sky and drew a tall and enormous arc before descending. Seven more arrows were shot and they followed the first one's trajectory. A lot of people were about to cry out in pain seconds later!

The arena and its surroundings were filled with outer sect disciples of the three sects. The less bruised treated the more wounded. The inner disciples watched over the operation as they guarded the surroundings. The elders and leaders of the sect that were cooking up a plan to catch Lee glanced upward as they heard a faint and short whistling sound.

*whish whish...*

Before they could realise what came in like a meteor, the arrows struck the ground and intense lightning strikes spreaded out like a large web. Those that were treating and were being treated spasmed and cried as they fell down on the floor with numbness. The intense lightning strikes created a momentary tempest of about 2 seconds before vanishing into thin air. As the sight cleared, the object that landed and unleashed intense lightning was nowhere to be seen.

Two or three elders who thoughtlessly jumped to the ground as soon as the lightning dispersed got caught in the residual shock. They fell on their knees, but soon sprang up with vigor. They reached the spots where the objects were assumed to be landed, but could not find anything as they scanned the area. The confusion on the elders' faces as they were encountered by a strange event rose into troubled countenance as they saw their disciples all numb and down like a log.

Lee reaped an unforeseen benefit from this action. As per the quest, he needed to defeat 450 sect disciples in total. They quest did not specify that one disciple cannot be defeated again. Lee overlooked this loophole and came to realise it now. His happiness broke all sorts of restrains as the progress of the quest reached 452, which was 2 more than what was needed!

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Quest completed!

Rewards stored in the Inventory.

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The existence of the system and its associated abilities helped Lee to survive in this world of invisible threats. His contemplation on his achievements was disrupted by another unexpected quest tab.

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Quest generated!

'Destroy the underground slave trade center and free the slaves.'

Rewards: 2700 Essence, 'Taming' skill.

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