A Farmer's Journey To Immortality - Chapter 408

Chapter 408: Holy Land Torel’s Guardian Spirit
“Oh? Does that mean the cave considered my rewards and trump cards when setting the difficulty level of the 5th stage?”

Aksai’s eyes widened slightly as he asked Yelia.

He found the cave’s mechanism troublesome. It was one thing for the cave to create difficult challenges, but it seemed that the more one accomplished in the earlier stages, the harder it would be to clear the later stages.

“Yes, my lord,” Yelia said. “This was why the cave gave you a notification before the start of the 5th stage’s battle. Not just your rewards; I believe the cave’s mechanism also took into account what you had stored in your storage ring as trump cards.”

“What? How could that be possible?” Aksai was shocked again.

“The spatial dimension of the storage ring can only be accessed by me—or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be. Plus this place is inanimate. Do you mean to say that the cave’s mechanism is so perfect that it has created computational logic through a precise algorithm?” Aksai asked, glancing at his storage ring.

“Computational logic? Algorithms?” Yelia was a bit confused about the terms Aksai used. However, she understood the gist of what Aksai was asking. As such, she provided an explanation that he could understand.

“My lord, it’s actually not that complicated. Just as artifact spirits reside within their bound artifacts, the Holy Land Torel has a guardian spirit. I believe its power exceeds the 4th order. It wouldn’t be difficult for a guardian spirit of that level to peer into your spatial storage ring without alerting you,” Yelia explained.

“A guardian spirit with powers beyond the 4th order?” Aksai processed the information with a blank expression before sighing. “It seems my preparations for the Duya Forest came back to haunt me,” he said, shaking his head.

“The cave’s mechanism—or rather, the guardian spirit of the Holy Land Torel—is actually fair. This arrangement ensures that the wealthy and influential disciples of the Holy Land Torel can’t use their resources to pass the trials unfairly.

It is designed to prevent the rich and influential from bullying the poorer disciples who lack a strong background. Otherwise, the cave’s rewards would have only fallen in the hands of those who could afford to buy them in the first place,” Yelia continued.

“The good news is you’ve almost exhausted your trump cards in the 5th stage. As such, the cave shouldn’t make things too difficult for you in the later stages.”

“I see,” Aksai said, dejectedly tending to his injuries. Although he understood why the 5th stage was so challenging, it had nearly depleted all his trump cards.

He hadn’t planned to use most of them during the cave exploration anyway. One could say that the guardian spirit’s preemptive measures had forced Aksai’s hand, making him use the cards he had intended to save. He couldn’t help feeling disappointed after learning about the guardian spirit’s so-called fairness.

“Another bad news. The woodland bear’s green core can’t be used anymore. It needs to be recharged with nature energy before it can be used again,” Aksai said as he examined the dulled green core in front of him with his nose scrunched in annoyance.

The woodland bear’s green core required an external stimulus to summon the giant bear. Aksai had destroyed the core during his earlier battle, but the cave’s mechanism had offered it as a reward, repaired, and charged with nature energy.

This was why Aksai could summon the bear for the 5th stage even after it was used in the 4th stage’s battles. However, Aksai wasn’t as powerful or resourceful as the guardian spirit of the Holy Land Torel, so he would need days or even a whole week to recharge the core.

“With most of my trump cards gone and the woodland bear’s green core in a dormant state, I can only rely on Bansi,” Aksai said as he summoned his Soul Weapon: the flute he had earned as a reward for clearing the 3rd stage with flying colors.

He ran his fingers over the flute’s intricate carvings, feeling an odd pulse of energy emanating from it. Aksai took a deep breath and brought the flute to his lips, unsure of what to expect.

Aksai wanted to play his Soul Artifact in peaceful times, possibly when he was back on Emerald Cove. However, it seemed that he couldn’t wait for that long anymore. Once he made up his mind, he didn’t hesitate and proceeded to play the flute according to the memories he had received from the artifact.

The first note was hesitant, wavering in the stillness of the cavern, but he continued, his breathing steadying as he adjusted his fingers over the holes.

He had memories related to the first three Melodies; he just needed to review and make them his own.

***

Here’s the revised version:

—

Two days later.

6th stage’s raised platform.

According to the notification Aksai received from the guardian spirit of the Holy Land Torel, one had only nine days to clear the 9th and final stage of the cave after they entered it.

As such, iff he took longer, he would be teleported outside and forced to start the cave exploration all over again.

Despite the notification, Aksai didn’t rush to clear the 6th stage. He stayed at the 5th stage, spending two full days practicing his flute-playing skills.

He used the neural link fabric to analyze the notes of the three melodies taught to him by the artifact spirit of his flute.

It didn’t take long for him to automate some of the actions related to playing the flute, which allowed him to achieve a basic skill level in a short time. Although Aksai hadn’t perfected his flute-playing skills, his current abilities should be enough to give him a significant advantage in his fight against the 6th stage’s opponents.

As for the rewards from the 5th stage, Aksai had received 12 green cores from the woodland bulls. Additionally, he obtained another druid bloodline potion, which would further refine his Spirit bloodline.

However, Yelia advised him not to use the potion immediately, as he had already used a similar potion not long ago.

Using the new potion too soon would severely diminish its effects.