Chapter 230: Chapter 230 – “The Mage Under the World Tree” Begins

On July 24, Ren Suo sat in the moving cabin of train number D3131. He was amongst a group of other personnel clad in black vests. Ren Suo looked down and reflected on what he gained over the past two days.

First of all, it was Ren Xingmei’s key. After Ren Xingmei left, Ren Suo had taken a glance, and it was indeed a 1-star key, as he had expected.

[1-Star Talent Key: +10% chance of receiving bonus ability-type rewards.]

Ren Suo could not deduce what Ren Xingmei’s actual Awakened Ability was just based on the description of the key alone. However, after Ren Xingmei left, the information from the Coupling System emerged in Ren Suo’s mind like a stream of water—

[Ren Xingmei, Level 1 Coupling, Coupling Ability ‘A Thousand Miles A Day’: Understanding +10%.]

Ren Suo thought, ‘It seems that Sister’s Awakened Ability is a permanently-active passive ability. She might not even know about it herself… Since I am able to get a 10% increase in Understanding, Sister’s must be more than 30%.’

Ren Suo estimated the effects of the abilities that he acquired from Level 1 Couplings to be only 10~33% of that of the Coupling targets.

Ren Suo knew how terrifying Li Dan’s ability “Insights of the World” was. According to what Li Dan himself said, the reason why he was unable to sleep was due to his Awakened Ability, which was activated permanently. As such, he could still hear the sounds around him at night even when he put on earplugs—whether it was the sound of cars in the distance, the movements of those living upstairs and downstairs, or the gusts of wind blowing in from the window…

However, the Coupling Ability which Ren Suo acquired merely enhanced his five senses slightly. It was equivalent to the acuity of his senses being raised to the highest standards: his eyes were as sharp as that of pilots, his tongue was as sensitive as that of gastronomes, his ears were as sharp as that of gossipers…

There was a huge difference in comparison to Li Dan’s ability.

Ren Suo found out from the intranet that Li Dan’s permanently-activated passive ability was considered a type of ‘Partial Awakening’: the Reiki channels for the ability existed in his body, but he did not have relevant Awakening knowledge of the ability, and yet, the ability formed from the Reiki channels had already taken effect.

It was precisely because Li Dan did not have the Awakening knowledge that he was unable to control the activation of his ability at will.

It seemed that such passive Awakenings were not common within the nation. After all, the Awakened person would not know that he/she had Awakened, and could instead think that he/she had suddenly developed a natural talent. It was only when an Awakened person experienced major side effects, such as in Li Dan’s case where he could no longer dream to fulfill his ‘desires’, that the person would be recognized as having a passive Awakened Ability.

Fortunately, the activation of Ren Suo’s Coupling System could be controlled. If Ren Suo did not need a particular Coupling Ability, he could deactivate that Coupling Ability temporarily.

“Up till now, only Sister’s Coupling Ability has appeared. It looks like the Coupling with the rest of them was unsuccessful.”

In the name list of the Coupling System, there were only two names: ‘Li Dan’ and ‘Ren Xingmei’. That meant that Ren Suo’s plan of “solving all the troublesome matters together” had failed completely—after that day’s ‘mission’, apart from Ren Xingmei who turned into Ren Suo’s Coupling, none of the other four Awakeners activated the Coupling System.

Ren Suo tilted his head to one side as he thought, “Was it because I did not participate sufficiently? Or was it because there was insufficient interaction? Or was it because… the relationships were not close enough?”

Qiao Muyi, Dong Chengling, Gu Yueyan, and Lin Xianyu…

‘We are friends… right?’

At that juncture, Ren Suo suddenly felt pressure on his right hand. He turned his head and realized that he had unconsciously placed his right hand such that it took up the space of two handles. Gu Yueyan, who was sitting to the right of Ren Suo, appeared extremely unhappy about it and was glaring at him with a red face. She slanted her body to the side, causing her center of gravity to fall to her left, such that her left hand was pressing down heavily on Ren Suo’s right hand.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ren Suo said as he quickly withdrew his hand.

Ren Suo sighed. ‘It looks like I still have a long way to go to be able to form a Coupling with someone.’

“What’s wrong?” said Dong Chengling, who was sitting to the right of Gu Yueyan, as she turned her head to the side.

“It’s nothing,” Gu Yueyan replied hurriedly. She quickly withdrew her hand, and let out a forced smile.

Dong Chengling grabbed Gu Yueyan’s hand and smiled gently. She said, “It will be fine, I will be following you.”

Qiao Muyi, who was sitting in the front row, turned around and said, “With us around, you will not be in any danger.”

“You guys are from the Institution and are protected targets. You are assisting the Countermeasure Division in our investigations this time, so we will not let you be in any danger.”

“This time, there are four team leaders leading their teams, so you may rest assured.”

The cabin of the moving train was occupied with Practitioners from the Countermeasure Division who were all clad in black vests, including Li Dan, Yao Fei, Yi Zhao, and Qiao Muyi, who were the team leaders of team 1, 2, 4, and 7 respectively. All of the members of their respective teams were all present as well.

In addition to the personnel from the Countermeasure Division, there was also Ren Suo, Dong Chengling, Qiao Muyi, and a few scholars in the train cabin. Their destination—Xiang City.

Indeed, it was the Xiang City where Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan were dragged into the lake and had almost drowned.

Upon disembarking the train, Ren Suo and the rest of them were immediately picked up by a car. They were escorted by police cars throughout the journey and swiftly arrived at Island Lake in the northern part of Xiang City. At present, road traffic controls were in place in the area surrounding Island Lake, and roadblocks had been set up. Ordinary citizens were no longer allowed to go near Island Lake.

“We have arrived at Island Lake.”

After passing through numerous checkpoints, Ren Suo and the others finally arrived at their destination.

More than ten days had passed, and Island Lake had changed significantly—the woods by the lake had been cleared, and temporary tents had been erected in its place. Ren Suo also saw engineer troops building a barricade around the area, seemingly in preparation for completely restricting access to Island Lake.

On the other hand, the clear waters of Island Lake had also turned into a fairytale-like world—the sparkling lake was completely enclosed within a rainbow, and the colorful light rays of the rainbow were weaved into a huge, exquisite marshmallow that looked soft and gorgeous, completely enticing people.

Ren Suo had relatively good eyesight and apart from numerous powerless academics who were meddling with some equipment on the perimeter of the marshmallow, he also saw many troops setting up their positions in the forest. A temporary camp had already been set up on the shore using sandbags and soil, and even the heavy firearms like light machine guns and mortars were in position and ready!

Ren Suo noticed that the ones who were closest to the marshmallow were a group of heavily armed soldiers standing not too far away. Although they were also clad in similar black vests, they were armed with rifles, and Ren Suo’s heart trembled slightly.

Li Dan and the rest went forward to talk to the person-in-charge there. Very quickly, they returned and said to them, “Ren Suo, Gu Yueyan, both of you would have to move slowly towards the special mystery realm later, under the protection of the Changjiang Forces and the few of us. If anything happens, please let us know immediately and move away from the mystery realm.”

“The Changjiang Forces?” Ren Suo asked aptly, raising his doubts.

Li Dan pointed at the soldiers not too far away, who looked to be part of some special forces, and said, “The Changjiang Force is a military unit comprising Practitioners. Unlike the Countermeasure System, the troops would receive special firearm training suited for Practitioners and catered to the physique and abilities of Practitioners. In small team combat, their damage capabilities are no weaker than that of higher-tiered Practitioners.”

“With them, in addition to the few of us, your safety is assured.”

Li Dan glanced at Dong Chengling who was behind Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan. He asked, “Practitioner Dong Chengling, if something unexpected really happens, would you be able to relocate them to a safe place?”

Dong Chengling replied, “As long as it is within a visible distance with the naked eye, I can guarantee that they will not be injured. That is exactly the reason why I’m here.”

After they completed their discussions, the Changjiang Force immediately dispatched 12 people to surround Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan, and the four team leaders, including Li Dan, also surrounded them. They were not more than one arm’s length apart from one another, almost like canned sardines. Slowly, they approached the rainbow marshmallow.

It was only as they got closer to the marshmallow when Ren Suo had an awareness of how big the marshmallow was—it was five or six stories high. When he went closer to it, he felt as if he could be swallowed by the marshmallow at any time.

However, there was not a trace of fear in Ren Suo’s heart. Instead, he felt like running directly into it and letting his body sink into its softness and fluffiness.

It was the first time Ren Suo saw the outer appearance of the mystery realm. He could not help but exclaim to himself, “Is this how… the mysterious realm looks like on the outside?”

“The Mage Under the World Tree” had finally begun.