I Am the Lord in the World of Mist – CH39

Chapter 39: Who Else but Me?

The [Inspiration] attribute showed Xu Zhi a glimpse of possibility. She couldn’t shake the feeling that if this attribute could give rise to something like an “omniscient one,” and if she could obtain it, would her learning ability rise to a whole new level?

Xu Zhi mused vaguely, since she hadn’t actually seen an ability-user with the [Inspiration] attribute. But rather than obsessing over that, she was more troubled by how to increase her affinity with the [Forge] attribute.

Eating a core directly was out of the question—the narrator had already warned her not to attempt that. So what other methods were there?

After racking her brain, her own meager life experience yielded no answers. In the end, she decided to go with her usual approach—capture some mutant animals and run a few experiments when she had the time!

Practice reveals truth!

Most of the cores collected today were looted, so the attributes were all over the place. But Xu Zhi noticed that the most common ones were [Blade], [Winter], and [Moth].

After watching her three familiars fall asleep post-core consumption, Xu Zhi looked at the game console and asked, “When can I explore Midnight?”

The narrator slowly appeared:

[The time has not come. Please continue to strengthen yourself.]

Xu Zhi sighed. “Alright then.”

The next day, the three familiars formed a team and ventured into the mountains.

Cloud City covered a vast territory. Even among all the federal cities, its land area ranked in the top five. Located in the south, it boasted expansive, undeveloped forests—now a perfect haven for mutated animals.

The deep mountains of Cloud City weren’t quite as dramatic as a “ten-thousand-peak range,” but they were still vast and sprawling. The three familiars didn’t venture too far in at first and explored the outer regions of the mysterious range step by step.

Since it was the first time her trio was acting as a team in a more dangerous area, Xu Zhi, for once, didn’t bury herself in a book. Instead, she attentively watched the game screen.

Although the creatures moved fast, and the pixel-style graphics made it hard to follow clearly, Xu Zhi didn’t mind.

On the screen, her familiars dominated the outer forest with ease.

That was until they went deeper and encountered a bear—one so massive it defied common understanding.

Seeing the bear, which stood about six or seven meters tall when upright, Xu Zhi was stunned. “We actually have bears here?!”

She’d heard there were wild animals in the mountains around Cloud City, but she didn’t expect bears! And this one looked huge.

“I’ve read that bears are extremely strong, and their claws and teeth are incredibly sharp. Be careful,” she muttered, watching the screen with concern.

This bear had clearly mutated for some time and was extremely powerful. Upon seeing Yi, whose body size also defied expectations, it didn’t retreat—it let out a roar and showed signs of aggression.

“…Are bears usually this combative?”

From what she’d read, bears were normally quite mild unless threatened. So clearly, the mutation didn’t just alter the body—it changed their temperament too.

That made sense. Xu Zhi didn’t study animal behavior to understand their personalities—just to identify mutated species quickly.

While she was thinking, the battle had already begun on-screen.

The clash between two massive creatures was earth-shaking. Both possessed immense strength. Yi used its flexible, shifting body to dodge, while the bear roared again—this time emitting a different sound. Yi froze for a moment.

“Ability,” Xu Zhi immediately concluded.

“A bit like a battle roar? Interesting.”

She wasn’t too worried. After all, Yi wasn’t alone.

Sure enough, as Yi got caught in a stalemate, Gouzi—who had been lying in wait—leapt from the side, sinking its sharp fangs into the bear’s right leg. At the same time, the falcon swooped from above, its blinding speed and impact slamming directly into the bear’s face. The blow was so fierce it blinded one of the bear’s eyes.

The bear, enraged, swatted Gouzi away, sending it crashing into a tree. Xu Zhi frowned. As expected, the bear’s strength was terrifying. But the next moment, Gouzi sprang back up, still full of fight, showing the blow hadn’t done much damage. That eased her worry slightly.

Even with the teamwork of the three familiars, it took nearly half an hour to finally bring the bear down.

“…That thing had insane vitality.”

Two of the familiars were injured, but Zhen and Gouzi both leveled up to 15. After Yi dug the core out of the bear’s body and stored it in the warehouse, Xu Zhi ordered them to retreat for now. Yi would protect the other two while they leveled up.

Then Xu Zhi opened her warehouse to inspect the bear’s core.

From the moment Yi retrieved it, she’d sensed something was off. And she was right.

The core was pale yellow, meaning it belonged to the [Blade] attribute, but it was noticeably larger than all the others. Its color was also more vibrant—radiant, even. Holding it in her palm, she noticed a faint golden thread running through its center.

Suddenly, the narrator popped up:

[Congratulations.]

[You have discovered a higher-tier attribute core.]

[Not all cores are equal. Different levels of creatures produce different qualities of cores. Higher-tier cores contain purer energy and… origin.]

“Origin? What’s that?”

[Think of it this way: the essence of ability-user power. Or… the sun.]

[All ability-user beings aim to reach the far shore of the Great Dream—
—the home of the sun. There lies the origin of the world.]

“You’re being cryptic again. I don’t get it.”

[…]

“The previous low-level cores didn’t contain this ‘origin,’ did they?” Xu Zhi asked keenly.

The narrator hadn’t mentioned any such thing before.

[Low-level ability-user creatures have not yet formed a connection with the origin. They are merely basking in the light of the sun. They haven’t even stepped onto the real path. Their cores naturally contain no origin power.]

[Do you remember the first warning?]

[This is a lawless conflict with no taboos.]

There was a hidden meaning in the narrator’s tone. Xu Zhi pressed: “So there are only a few paths to the final stage? Not many make it that far?”

[Of course!]

[This is a brutal elimination game—survival of the fittest. The more origin power you have, the closer you are to the finish line!]

The question that had appeared on screen on day one now surfaced once again:

[Are you ready?]

This time, Xu Zhi fully felt the chilling weight behind those words.

But the girl only smiled faintly. A strange excitement flickered in her usually dull gray eyes as she replied:

“Of course. Something like this…”

“Who else but me?”

She was fired up!