Nolan manipulated an Cryo Element arrow, weaving threads of frost to bind Baron Bunny onto it—thus, an intercontinental missile was completed.
He pulled the bowstring taut, aimed for a dense patch of insect swarms, and let it fly.
Blessed by Flowing Sky Shot, the ice-white arrow streaked across the sky like a meteor, crossing dozens of kilometers in an instant and striking the heart of the clustered horde.
First came the burst of Cryo Element, then Baron Bunny detonated under Nolan's remote command. A massive surge of Pyro Element erupted outward, colliding with the melting Cryo Element.
Such an attack was no different from a natural disaster. Everything within a radius of ten or so square kilometers was instantly reduced to ash.
The shockwave swept across tens of kilometers beyond, annihilating the weaker insects outright. Only the stronger ones barely clung to life within the blast zone.
Meanwhile, Nolan's character panel frantically popped up with Experience notifications:
- Adventure EXP +4265
- Adventure EXP +2371
- Adventure EXP +3547
The flood of prompts lasted for a long time before finally stopping. When he glanced at his panel, he saw that in just one strike he had gained more than two million Adventure EXP:
[Adventure EXP: 6,715,572]
If the swarm had been denser, he would have earned far more than two million.
The sheer destruction caused by the blast stirred the hive into chaos. The insects frantically searched for the enemy.
Because Nolan wasn't flying especially high, they spotted him quickly.
The swarm roared up toward him, wings buzzing furiously. But Nolan slipped away with Spatial Blink, reappearing tens of kilometers away.
Another Baron Bunny was summoned. Another Ice Arrow was notched to his bow, fired back toward the place he had just been.
The point of avoiding the swarm head-on wasn't fear—it was to avoid alerting the colossal Great True Stinger Worm lurking in orbit.
If it recalled the swarm, there would be no more farming Adventure EXP. As for combat, Nolan wasn't concerned.
Even at level 130, terrifying as it sounded, Nolan had never witnessed such power firsthand. He didn't fully know how strong that tier was.
But no matter how strong, he had plenty of life-saving skills. No single blow could erase him.
If things turned bad, he would just run. The only real problem was if the worm pulled the swarms away.
So, his next moves had to be fast and discreet, making sure not to alert the swarm enough to signal the colossal worm.
The second arrow fell where he had once been. Fire erupted again, transforming the area into a sea of flames for tens of kilometers.
Once more, his panel filled with notifications:
- Adventure EXP +6421
- Adventure EXP +5217
- Adventure EXP +6562
[Adventure EXP: 9,881,223]
By the time the messages stopped, his Adventure EXP had nearly reached ten million.
At this rate, he was confident he'd have enough points to level up before the night was through—maybe even jump two levels in one go.
That would be the upper limit though. Last night, after wiping out swarms by the thousands, he had only managed to gain two levels.
A day later, while the swarm had somewhat recovered, the planet wasn't crawling with them again.
Nolan shifted locations, repeating the same cycle—summoning Baron Bunny, conjuring Ice Arrows, loosing them to create massive Meltdown reactions.
Each time, waves of Adventure EXP poured in.
After about twenty minutes, his Experience had already exceeded twenty million:
[Adventure EXP: 22,140,893]
With more than enough points, Nolan considered resting a bit, maybe even leveling up.
But at that moment, his spiritual perception caught something vast approaching from orbit—
The colossal Great True Stinger.
He let out a quiet sigh. So, it had noticed the disturbances after all.
His Baron Bunny plus Frosted Arrow combo was devastating against swarms, but against this creature? Not necessarily useless, but…
Its outer shell looked absurdly tough. Meltdown reactions only spread over a dozen kilometers.
Against a worm thousands of kilometers long, such attacks might not even scratch the surface.
His Sword Intent carried the trait of "Sharp Intent." With the "Sword God of Lumine," maybe he could penetrate its defenses.
But the sheer difference in scale… His attack might feel no more than a mosquito bite.
Even though he had already cursed it with a "Death Spell" while inside its stomach, the gap in power meant the effect was slow to take hold.
Buzz!
A wave of invisible sound fell upon him. From midair, Nolan saw the ground below shatter in an instant, the destruction spanning over a hundred kilometers.
This planet had no atmosphere, no medium to carry sound—yet the worm had used sonic waves as a weapon, packed with terrifying energy.
Even so, his "Wholehearted Guardian Shield" absorbed the attack entirely. Not even a tremor got through.
So its attack wasn't as fearsome as he had imagined.
Nolan summoned another Baron Bunny, ready to give it a shot. After all, it had attacked him—it was only polite to return the favor.
Baron Bunny was once again tied to the Ice Arrow. He pulled the bowstring back, just about to release—
When suddenly, a voice rang out beside him:
"Please wait."
Nolan blinked, tightening his grip on the arrow.
If he remembered correctly, this planet was supposed to be lifeless. So why was someone suddenly telling him to wait?
And just now, he hadn't sensed a single presence nearby.
Able to suddenly appear at his side, the other party was clearly no simple figure—their mastery of spatial teleportation was at least on par with his own.
Nolan instinctively turned his head. About five or six meters away stood the figure, who gave him a polite nod.
"...A robot?" he blurted out in surprise.
Indeed, the one who appeared was a robot—humanoid in shape, wearing a black top hat.
Its head was metallic, mainly black, with the face and ears crafted in a metallic teal sheen.
Its eyes were round—pupils, or at least what looked like pupils—glowed faintly teal. On its right eye perched a golden monocle.
Dressed properly in a tailored suit and tie, it exuded the air of a refined gentleman. Despite the metallic head, the attire and demeanor felt so natural that there was nothing out of place—almost as though it was meant to be this way.
"Correction: In academic terminology, robots generally refer to metallic constructs that act according to programmed instructions. My kind should be called—Inorganic Life."
The robot in the black hat spoke in a gentle tone.
"Uh..." Nolan realized that he may have been unintentionally rude. He quickly apologized:
"Sorry, sir, I meant no offense."
The voice was calm, unmistakably masculine, and the demeanor was that of a gentleman. Nolan didn't know whether Inorganic Life had genders, but given the figure's presentation, "sir" seemed the safest form of address.
"No harm done. Those outside the scholarly or technical fields rarely distinguish between robots and Inorganic Life. Think nothing of it."
The elegant gentleman shook his head lightly.
Nolan let out a quiet breath. Fortunately, he hadn't angered him. Though courteous and refined, the man also carried an aura that was unfathomable—clearly far stronger than himself. He had no wish to earn such a being's displeasure.
For a moment, Nolan was tempted to activate his Golden Eyes of Judgment to appraise the being's level, but doing so would turn his eyes gold before the other's gaze. That would clearly be interpreted as probing into private information—grossly impolite.
Suppressing his curiosity, he instead asked:
"Mr. Inorganic Life, my name is Nolan Walker, an adventurer. May I know how to address you?"
"Oh, forgive my oversight, Mr. Nolan. You may call me Screwllum." The mechanical gentleman adjusted his monocle with a gloved hand as he spoke.
"Screwllum..." A strange name, though "screw" certainly evoked machines. Nolan smiled politely.
"Hello, Mr. Screwllum. May I ask, why did you stop me just now? And also—why can we communicate so seamlessly?"
When he first crossed into Teyvat, he had been able to converse effortlessly with Amber, likely due to some "transmigrator's perks." Perhaps he had unconsciously absorbed the world's linguistic framework, just as Lumine could communicate with locals despite being an outsider.
Or maybe it was a hidden ability granted by his character panel, simply never shown.
Or the 'Descender' Specialty.
Could it be that this ability worked not only in Teyvat, but across the universe with other civilizations as well?
"Allow me to answer your two questions in order." Screwllum's tone remained gentlemanly. Though his face was metallic, one could still feel the sense of a smile.
"First: the strike you witnessed earlier was the True Stinger probing the area. It has not yet pinpointed your location. If you counterattack now, you will reveal yourself and draw its full assault.
"As for why we can converse freely—it is because my body is equipped with a Synesthesia Beacon. This device is the foundation of interstellar communication.
"It was originally invented by No. 56 of the 'Genius Society,' Elias Salas. Forgotten for centuries, it was later refined and distributed galaxy-wide by the 'Interastral Peace Corporation' and the 'Intelligentsia Guild.'"
"Wait—hold on. Did you just say galaxy? And what are these groups—the Genius Society, Interastral Peace Corporation, Intelligentsia Guild?"
Nolan felt his head spin.
"Hehe. From your reaction, Mr. Nolan, I surmise you have not encountered interstellar society before. Hypothesis: an extraordinary individual from an undeveloped planet, who by his own power wandered into the cosmos."
Screwllum chuckled softly, folding his arms.
"You have no experience with the galactic community, and it would be difficult to explain fully here. I am currently a guest at the Herta Space Station.
"If you wish to learn of interstellar society, I could bring you along when I return."
As a gentleman, he didn't mind helping a newcomer to the universe save some time in adapting. In his mind, even if he didn't help, someone like Nolan—capable of traversing deep space with only his physical body—would inevitably encounter interstellar civilization sooner or later.
"Herta Space Station..."
It sounded like a hub of intelligent life, akin to a city. Such an opportunity was not one to refuse. Nolan's eyes lit up.
"Then I'll be in your care, Mr. Screwllum!"
"A trifling matter." Screwllum nodded lightly.
"By the way, Mr. Screwllum—you said you're visiting Herta Space Station. Then why did you come here? Is it because of this giant insect?"
Nolan asked curiously.
"Precisely," Screwllum replied. "I am a scholar, collaborating with Lady Herta, the station's master, on a certain project.
"Two days ago, Lady Herta suddenly noted that a Great True Stinger had jumped from twelve light-years away into this star system.
"She worried it might jump again—this time near Azure Planet below her station—bringing calamity to her mother world. She wanted to eliminate the 'disaster' beforehand.
"However, Lady Herta is willful by nature. She was unwilling to act herself, and so instructed me, her guest, to handle it."
Hearing this, Nolan could already picture the kind of person this "Lady Herta" must be.
How could someone push such tasks onto a guest? Truly bizarre.
"I see." Nolan nodded. That explained why Screwllum had intervened just as he was loosing arrows.
Looking at him curiously, Nolan asked:
"Mr. Screwllum, how do you intend to defeat this giant worm? Do you need my help?"
He himself could not handle the creature, so he was intrigued as to Screwllum's method. From the way he spoke, he didn't seem to regard it as troublesome.
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Nolan." Screwllum shook his head. "The Herta Space Station has no shortage of planetary annihilation-class warships. I borrowed one from the station master.
"With the power of a Starbreaker Cannon, a single strike should suffice to slay the Stinger Worm.
"The only issue is that it is currently too close to this planet.
"Though lifeless, I would still prefer not to reduce it to cosmic dust. Thus, I plan to lure the worm away before striking."
"...Planetary Annihilation Warship..." Nolan fell silent. Until now, he had only seen such terms in science fiction.
(End of Chapter)
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