Nawa took out a roll of sacred thread from his dimensional storage. It resembled a thin white rope neatly coiled into a ball.
Besides the dragon scale armor and the iron armbands, this was another important item Nawa had obtained from the wizard Alfor in the Himmapan forest.
He stretched the sacred thread around his tent. When the ends of the thread touched, a slight vibration occurred, and small rune patterns appeared on the surface of the thread.
Soon, a formless force field began to form from the thread, becoming a translucent dome that encompassed everything within its radius.
This force field, which looked like a thin sheet of water, was actually strong enough to withstand a relentless attack from a Pro-level monster all day without breaking, and even an Elder-level monster couldn't easily break through it.
Furthermore, the area within the force field was invisible from the outside, similar to a protective barrier at a save point.
Once he was sure the protective barrier was functioning correctly, Nawa went to rest in his tent, pondering how to obtain the wool to complete the quest.
After much deliberation, the most plausible method Nawa could think of was to sneak in and eliminate the sleeping sheep while they were unprotected.
The only problem was that the operation had to be completed in one swift and silent maneuver. If the sheep panicked, not only would Nawa lose his chance, but his own life would also be in danger.
This made Nawa think hard. While the quest reward was tempting, the risk was too high. More importantly, assassinating the snail-shelled sheep required a powerful weapon, and the only weapon Nawa had was his Iron Gauntlet.
Although strong and durable, it had lost its offensive power, rendering it unsuitable as a weapon.
After carefully considering the pros and cons, Nawa decided against the quest reward. Even though it would cost more energy crystals, buying a set of protective gear directly was a safer option.
Having made his decision, Nawa lay down on the thick wool mattress. Though old, it still felt comfortable. Soon, Nawa closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Nawa regained consciousness to find himself no longer inside his tent. Above, he could see the stars twinkling, causing his heart to pound.
He quickly looked around, only to find his tent gone, replaced by towering blades of grass that reached above his head.
This bizarre landscape made Nawa think he was dreaming, but he knew he wasn't. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him.
Sometimes, while Nawa slept or in a trance, his consciousness would inhabit the body of White Snake. More accurately, he was now seeing and hearing through White Snake's eyes.
Nawa recalled the connection with demonic spirits he had read about in Alfor's wizarding book. It stated that when a human connects their spirit with that of a demon, the two spirits merge, allowing the human to control the demon or even transform their own body into a demon.
But no book described Nawa's current state, nor the fact that White Snake and his own body seemed to be growing together. These things raised many questions in Nawa's mind.
He didn't know what White Snake was doing to his body. Was it merely inhabiting his body to grow, or was it transforming his body into something else?
Nawa even wondered if he was still human. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer. The only thing Nawa could confirm was that without White Snake's spirit, he couldn't return to his family.
No, he might even have died already, having reopened a dimensional portal to the world without sufficient power.
"Sigh..."
Nava sighed deeply, shaking off his worries. He told himself that what was past was past; he couldn't change anything. The most important thing was the present. Whatever the future held, let it be.
Since he still had power and opportunity, he would dedicate all his strength to finding a way to help his father recover and make his mother and younger sibling happy.
With his worries gone, his mind cleared. He decided to learn from his current predicament. Nawa began to experiment with moving in White Snake's body.
Even though a snake's body lacked limbs, Nawa didn't feel any resistance. On the contrary, he controlled it as if it were his own body, just like he would at will.
Nawa also noticed that while in this White Snake form, gravity seemed to have very little effect on him. He could move through the air as if swimming, without using any of his psychic powers.
Nawa floated higher into the air. He saw the distant Matterhorn mountain. Closer up, he could see a large lake. It seemed not far from the Taiban village the guards had mentioned.
After surveying the landscape for a while, Nava began to look for his campsite. He soon found it, though he couldn't see it clearly because it was obscured by the force field. However, Nawa could feel his own body.
As he was heading towards the campsite, Nava caught sight of a flock of sheep huddled together on a cliff face. Near the cliff, a river flowed down as a waterfall.
The sheep looked like giant clouds against a green background that had now turned gray with the setting sun. It was a strangely beautiful sight.
Suddenly, an idea struck Nawa. With his current White Snake form and the concentrated acid creation skill he gained from eating the slime core, he could easily assassinate those sheep.
While the sheep slept, they huddled together for protection, but it was useless. White Snake's body was small, concealed by the grass, and his demonic spirit was odorless.
As long as Nawa didn't release too much killing intent, the flock wouldn't know his presence.
Soon, Nawa, in his White Snake form, slithered to the neck of one of the sheep. Just as he was about to sink his fangs in and activate his Acid Concentrate skill to inject highly concentrated acid into the sheep, a deafening explosion occurred, shaking the ground.
"Boom…boom!"
The sleeping sheep woke up instantly, panicking and scattering in all directions, like a swarm of bees. Most ran into the forest, but many fled into the water. Those who fled into the water were swept off the cliff by the current.
"Boom! Boom!"Sounds like thunder and earth collapse continued, getting closer and closer to where Nawa was.
Nawa no longer cared about the flock of sheep. He hurried back to the tent in his White Snake form. There was a protective force field made of sacred threads there.
Inside this field was considered the safest area; even if a volcanic eruption or earthquake occurred, Nawa was confident he would be safe.
What Nawa worried about was whether his White Snake form could pass through the force field. Normally, only those who had been within the field or those who knew the password could enter.
Nawa hadn't set a password yet, so there was a possibility the field wouldn't allow him in his White Snake form to pass through.
Fortunately, that didn't happen. Nawa, in his snake form, passed through the force field as if walking through a waterfall. There was no resistance; he entered directly into his unconscious body. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his human form.
Nawa didn't have time to celebrate. He quickly got up and stepped out of the tent, turning to look in the direction of the explosion. Soon, Nawa understood the cause of the earth-shattering sound. It left him utterly stunned and surprised.
It wasn't a natural disaster or a high-level monster, but a group of people fighting with powerful skills.
Nawa saw a man shoot an arrow into the sky, and hundreds of arrows rained down like a storm. Each arrow was incredibly fast and powerful.
The moment they hit the ground, they exploded violently. The destructive power of such a single arrow could easily take down a Pro-level monster.
Another giant man wielded a massive hammer, over eight feet long. Each strike caused the ground dozens of meters away to explode, as if the earth had been hit by a cannonball.
In the sky, a man in a green robe was flying at high speed like a bird, unleashing violent gusts of air from his staff. The force of the wind was even greater than a level 5 storm on Earth.
"Boom! Boom!"
Dozens of large trees… Trees were toppled, some uprooted and blown into the sky. Even a monster would struggle to survive in such weather.
Not far away, a burly man in ancient Thai warrior attire, dressed in black, wielded a pair of long swords over five feet long.
He unleashed a barrage of swift and ferocious attacks, far more powerful than the attacks Singkhon had used against the Future Guild president.
From what Nawa could see, the four men were at least high-ranking players. But what was even more shocking was that they weren't fighting each other, but were ganging up on one person.
That person wore a brown cloak with a black mist covering their face. Even under attack, the cloaked figure was no less formidable than Nawa assessed. Their power level was certainly no less than his own when he was in the Himmapan Forest.
Amidst the strong winds, the man in the brown cloak moved effortlessly, as if he could read the direction of the wind, allowing him to dodge the earth-shattering explosions caused by the large man wielding a giant hammer.
Not only that, he also deflected hundreds of arrows raining down from all directions with the dagger in his hand. While not 100% effective, none of the arrows inflicted serious injury.
The moment the attack paused, the cloaked figure seized the opportunity to break through the encirclement. His target was the edge of the nearby forest. If he could get into the dense woods, he would escape the pursuit of the mages in the sky.
Unfortunately, just a few steps before reaching the forest edge, the black-clad warrior unleashed a burst of red aura and shot off like a shooting star.
Nawa immediately recognized this as the Berserker skill, a B-level skill that increases the user's attack power and speed many times over.
The black-clad warrior unleashed a barrage of swords at the cloaked figure like a storm. The cloaked figure, not to be slow, countered the dual swords with his single dagger in hand in a close battle.
"Bang…bang…bang!"The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the area.
Nawa watched the battle intently. It wasn't often he witnessed a fight of this caliber. The dual-sword wielder, upon activating their Berserker skill, experienced a significant increase in both power and speed.
Even so, the cloaked figure, wielding only a single dagger, could counter without being at a disadvantage and even exert pressure on the black-clad warrior.
"This level of skill is no less than that of the Guild President of The Future," Nawa thought to himself.
Unfortunately, the man in the cloak seemed to be pre-existing injuries, preventing him from winning in a short time. Furthermore, as the fight dragged on, the three men who had joined earlier joined, putting the brown-cloaked man at a disadvantage.
"Boom!"A resounding clash echoed as the brown-cloaked man used his short knife to block a giant hammer attack from behind.
Although he managed to block it, the immense destructive power of the giant hammer instantly knocked the knife from his hand.
The man wielding dual swords seized the opportunity, slashing his long swords in a cross pattern, aiming to cut the cloaked man in four. But the cloaked man was quick enough to leap into the air, dodging the attack.
"You fool! How can you dodge my Guillotine Slash in mid-air like that? Go to hell!"
The mage in green robes, who had prepared his spells beforehand, roared, unleashing immense power from the tip of his staff.
Dozens of sharp blades of wind slashed through the air like demons from the depths of hell. The blades of wind lashed towards the cloaked man like the claws of the Grim Reaper.
The cloaked man dodged in mid-air with incredible agility, evading most of the attacks, but not completely.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The sound of sharp blades of wind clashing against the cloak rang out repeatedly, sending the cloaked man flying like a kite with a broken string before crashing heavily to the ground. Blood streamed from his body like a river, turning the surrounding ground red.