Legend of the Pinnacle of Online Games

Chapter 142 Symbiotic Totems

The source of the sound is unpredictable.

The members of the Heavenly Path Squad looked up and around.

But the other party only said one sentence and then stopped talking.

The elven settlement, now reduced to ashes, is now eerily silent.

There was nothing unusual within a fifty-meter radius of the soul's perception.

"Who is it?" Unable to find the target, Lin Hanchuan immediately turned to look at Roy and asked.

But at this moment, in his eyes, Roy was just trembling, his pupils swaying rapidly. It was uncertain whether he could even hear Lin Hanchuan's words, let alone answer them.

Clearly, Roy was quite frightened by the original owner of that voice.

Lin Hanchuan looked at Long Xiaochen.

Long Xiaochen nodded and then ordered the water spirit to cast a water healing spell on Roy.

Water-based mages or creatures possess some of the abilities of priests, and their skills can heal targets to a certain extent.

The water sprite reached out and gently touched Roy's forehead. A small water ball appeared in her palm, which spun close to Roy's forehead, releasing a faint emerald green light.

Driven by this light, Roy's fearful expression gradually eased, and his trembling pupils returned to normal.

After the water healing spell disappeared, Roy was still trembling slightly, but he no longer felt the madness of fear.

"Who made the sound?" Lin Hanchuan asked Roy the same question again.

Even now, the surroundings remain completely silent.

There was no sign of any wild monsters.

The elven settlement is very large, almost the size of a starting village, and searching it all would waste a lot of time.

Perhaps we should first try to get some key intelligence information from Roy.

"My parents!" Roy looked around nervously and answered Lin Hanchuan's question with a trembling voice.

"I mean the one that made the sound?" Lin Hanchuan added. The voice he had just heard was clearly only one, and it was neutral, making it impossible to tell the gender. "Is it your father or your mother?"

“My parents!” Roy gave the same answer as before, but then added, “They are one!”

"Huh?!" Lin Hanchuan looked puzzled, his mind already conjuring up the image of the male and female elves as one.

He had seen all sorts of elves.

But it is a union of men and women.

I've never seen anything like this before!

at this time.

The voice sounded again.

"Roy, you've brought back some excellent experimental material!"

I am still very pleased.

Roy immediately looked up at the stars.

"Tsk!! They've actually set their sights on the stars."

Lin Hanchuan clicked his tongue lightly. Although no target had appeared in his field of vision, he said loudly, "If you won't be an elf, you'll be a ghost! But even if you become ghosts, I'm going to send you to the afterlife today."

no respond.

“Roy, there are some things you need to make clear now!” Lin Hanchuan looked at Roy again and said bluntly, “From the moment we met, you have been hiding things from us.”

"You said you escaped using a teleportation token, but how could a teleportation token send out the sounds from here along with it?"

"You said there were no survivors left in the forest, but along the way we encountered earth spirits, giant flower monsters, forest dwarves, and now your parents. Aren't they all dead?"

"You say that the Treants went mad and were massacring your elven race, but judging from the traces at the scene, it's clear that both races were killed together!"

"You've been staring at the stars the whole way. Is there some other purpose behind it? For example, what's the situation with that experiment?"

Lin Hanchuan paused at this point.

Roy, standing in front of her, was looking away; she seemed to want to escape.

Lin Hanchuan looked at Roy's neck and saw that black lines had reappeared.

"Most importantly, what's this about totems? The enemies chasing you all have the same black flower totem on their bodies, and you also have a totem on your body."

"We've traveled dozens of kilometers to get to this scene; now it's time to explain things to us!"

When Lin Hanchuan made his point clear, Cao Renjie and the others carefully kept their distance from Roy; Long Xiaochen had the Earth Spirit stand in front of Xingchen, acting as a shield between her and Roy; Long Xiaoyue watched as the erhu in Roy's hand transformed into a golden flute, one of the final rewards of the Hell-level [Dawn] dungeon.

At this moment, the entire Heavenly Path Squad was looking at Roy with suspicion.

【Dawn】is just a level 15 Shura-level dungeon. The value of this dungeon is not even one percent of that of Star.

Roy seemed to sense this very obvious isolation as well, keeping his head down and remaining silent, not answering any questions.

"Roy, you still like to pretend to be a coward!" Roy's parents' voices rang out again.

This time, however, in addition to the sound, there was also a figure—the silhouette of a female elf—slowly rising from the ruins a hundred meters away.

The bright moonlight shone on her.

This allowed Lin Hanchuan to see the other person's face clearly.

It was the silhouette of a female elf, over two meters tall, with her hair tied up and wearing a pure white robe, spotless. She stood amidst the ruins like a white flower blooming in the wasteland.

Bright and eye-catching.

She turned slowly.

Her face was equally stunning, with porcelain-white skin that appeared exceptionally delicate under the bright moonlight. Beneath her long eyelashes were a pair of emerald green eyes gazing at Lin Hanchuan and the others.

The only thing that slightly detracts from the aesthetic is the black lines that run down the skin from the eyes, from most of the face to the neck, and then down into the clothes.

Besides.

On her stomach, there was a huge white flower bud that covered the entire belly, as if it were growing out of it.

It is in the stage of budding and waiting to bloom.

“Roy, you’re still the same old you.” The tall female elf looked at the silent Roy, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. “We’ve killed so many people for you, and you’re still the same.”

She walked step by step through the ruins. With each step she took, Lin Hanchuan saw a shadow, like a vine, being pulled up, connecting the ground to her feet.

"Boss, what's that?" Cao Renjie noticed it too and quickly turned to look at Lin Hanchuan, asking.

“That’s the connection between the main totem and the servant totems!” Lin Hanchuan replied in a deep voice. “She used that to control the wild monsters with servant totems on her body.”

The main totem has been found.

It's that female elf.

Roy's mother?
Lin Hanchuan has not seen her father yet.

As she approached.

Lin Hanchuan noticed that a deep black line began to crawl from behind Roy's ear toward her face, like a twisting, winding snake, leaving black lines on her face.

The shape of the patterns gradually began to resemble the one on the female elf's face, rather than the flower-like totems on the faces of the wild monsters that were needed before.

Totem symbiosis?

Or is it a totem inheritance?

Two words suddenly popped into Lin Hanchuan's mind.

The existence of totems can be categorized into many states.

One type is totem symbiosis, where two or more organisms share a totem, maximizing the development of that totem. Only by continuously killing the organisms that possess that totem can the totem's effect be reduced.

One type is totem inheritance. High-level totems can be inherited. If there is a blood relationship between the inheritor and the inheritee, then forced inheritance can be carried out. The inheritee can directly inherit the inheritor's current development progress of the totem. After the inheritance ends, the inheritor will lose the totem forever.

Based on the current situation, Lin Hanchuan is still unable to determine what type of totem state Roy possesses.

"Captain, should we wait until she's covered in totem patterns before making a move, or should we act immediately?" Long Xiaochen asked with concern.

The issue of totems has nothing to do with them.

The main quest for this Shura-level [Dawn] dungeon is to protect Roy.

As long as she's alright and holds on until dawn, the first clear of the Shura-level [Dawn] dungeon will be considered complete.

Conversely, failure means doing the opposite!

"Let's wait and see!" Lin Hanchuan replied.

No matter how powerful Roy's mother is, she's still a level 15 BOSS. That's her limit, so Lin Hanchuan isn't worried.

If you kill him now, you'll most likely miss out on the side quest, which will lower your completion rate for the first clear of the [Dawn] dungeon and affect your final rewards.

At the current stage of the story, Roy's mother has not yet made any obvious move to kill Roy.

Whether it's totem symbiosis or totem inheritance.

Neither of them will let Roy die.

“Okay!” Long Xiaochen nodded.

At that moment, Roy's mother, who was standing about seventy or eighty meters away from Lin Hanchuan and the others, suddenly stopped. Looking at Roy, whose face was now covered with totem patterns, she opened her arms and said expectantly, "Child, come on!"

At this moment, the flower bud on Roy's mother's belly slowly bloomed, gradually revealing its face.

It was the face of a male elf.

That face was covered with the same totem patterns as Roy's face at that moment.

Long Xiaochen was startled. "My goodness, is he Roy's father? What a bizarre entrance!"

Lin Hanchuan's expression remained largely unchanged.

When Lin Hanchuan saw the flower bud, he already knew that Roy's father would be inside.

Roy, Roy's mother, Roy's father.

The three elves have identical patterns on their faces.

They are all blooming flowers.

"So, this is totem symbiosis?"

Lin Hanchuan muttered to himself.

"Roy, come on!" Roy's father called out to Roy expectantly. "The energy provided by the death of the servant totem is enough to make you and us one, so that the three of us can stay together forever."

"I don't want to!" Roy covered his ears and shook his head frantically.

A series of chaotic images flashed through my mind.

In the dimly lit basement, the mother used Roy's blood to break a hidden array, revealing a dilapidated box. Inside, she found a scroll. The moment the scroll unfurled, a black light entered the mother's body. Roy retrieved a teleportation crystal from the box.

[After being in a coma for a month, the mother awoke to find her body covered in fine, long black lines that converged into a black flower on her stomach. The mother told her—this was the Puppet Flower Totem, capable of controlling everything!]

One by one, the tribespeople began to feel lost. They obeyed their mother's every word, and Roy knew they were being controlled by her. Every time his mother walked, a thin line seemed to connect her to the earth beneath her feet, following her like a shadow. His father also began to act strangely, developing the same markings as his mother.

One day, a tiny flower bud bloomed on Roy's mother's belly. Roy asked her, "Where is Father?" His mother touched the bud, smiled, and didn't answer. But later, the bewildered tribespeople began to die, and the flower bud on his mother's belly began to grow larger. Roy began to be afraid! Afraid that he too would die.

As more and more elves died within their tribe, the tribe began to attract the attention of other races in the forest. Forest dwarves and treants came to inquire about what was happening within the elven community, and Mother began to focus her attention on them.

The surrounding tribes were also beginning to be affected, especially during the full moon. Countless black shadows would swarm along the earth, spreading throughout the forest, silencing its usual clamor. Sometimes, Mother would even say—half-elves were the best nourishment!

……

One day, the flower bud on Mother's belly suddenly bloomed, revealing Father's face. Roy saw her, and Father saw her too. He invited her to live in Mother's belly, saying to Mother, "She is a rare Dawn Elf. With her integration, we can use the power of the totem even during the day!"

[Her mother imprisoned her in a room, and every night, she would stroke her face, leaving dark lines that, like cold, venomous snakes, spread from her mother's palms to Roy's face. Her father, still in her mother's womb, would comfort her at these times. Panic gripped Roy's mind; imprisoned, she constantly longed to escape the forest.]

That night, Mother herself malfunctioned. The elves, forest dwarves, treant-men, and all the other races under her control, though their eyes remained dazed, regained some of their reason. They wanted to kill Mother, to kill Roy.

[A battle has broken out in the burning elven settlement. The elves, allied with the giant treants, are besieging the mother. She manages to escape, the roars of the giant treants echoing behind her!]

At the crucial moment, Roy used a crystal—the one she found in the box. The crystal's light enveloped Roy, the giant tree-man chasing her, and all the sounds around her, teleporting her to the edge of the forest.

Hunted by giant treants, Roy thought she was going to die, until she broke through the flames and saw four humans and a half-elf. The humans rescued her, but she dared not tell them the details for fear of being abandoned, so she made up a lie, hoping only to stay with them.

She was also curious about half-elves. Her mother had said that half-elves were the most suitable creatures to possess totems, and she wanted to transfer the totem she possessed to her.

The human asked him if any of his people were still alive in the forest. Roy shook her head, certain that no one had survived the fire. She hadn't expected him to then insist on entering the elven settlement. Roy tried to stop him, but also wanted to see her people and parents one last time.

Not long after entering the forest, Roy unexpectedly encountered an earth spirit. After killing it, she clearly felt the totem power within her growing uncontrollably. According to her mother, this meant that servant totems were merely nourishment they nurtured; when they died, the totem elements were recycled to enhance the totem's power and increase its development. Roy was a little scared; she feared being discovered by humans.

……

Scenes flashed by.

The voices of humans reached my ears.

"Boss, Roy's acting a bit strange!"

"I see it! Let's get moving! Kill that elven mage!"

"Alright!!"

"Holy crap, there are so many forest dwarves hiding here! Old Cao, get the shields up!"

"What are you panicking for? They're all level 15. You're almost 10 levels ahead of them. It'll be an easy crush!"

"Isn't this just taking precautions?" "Captain, your sword flight is really cool!"

Bang bang bang! !

"Roy! Roy! You must live well from now on!"

"Roy! I want to hug you one last time!"

It was the voice of my father and mother.

Roy suddenly opened his eyes.

Not far away, the mother lay in a pool of blood, staring intently at herself, surrounded by the corpses of forest dwarves.

Immediately afterwards, a giant sword fell.

boom! !

They were reduced to blood in the explosion.

"Ding! Successfully defeated the level 15 general-level BOSS, the Elf Mage, gaining 1.6 experience points. This kill is the first kill of this Elf Mage in this level dungeon, so an additional 1.6 experience points are gained. As a team, the experience points are increased by 50%, resulting in an additional 8000 experience points!"

"Ding! You have gained 1.6 experience points!"

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully reached level 22, triggering the Berserker Archmage class trait: base attributes +3, free attributes +6, and intelligence +1!"

In the system message notification sound.

Lin Hanchuan looked at Luo Yi.

During the fight, she kept her eyes closed, covered her ears, and looked extremely pained.

To prevent accidents.

Lin Hanchuan immediately took action.

Roy's mother is a level 15 general-level boss with a totem, and she also controls hundreds of forest dwarves.

Their overall strength is quite impressive for a dungeon of the same level, but unfortunately they encountered Lin Hanchuan and his group.

Three hidden professions, a top-tier musician, and the support of the stars, plus a significant level advantage.

From the very beginning, the battle was a one-sided massacre by the Heavenly Dao Squad against them.

The entire battle lasted less than five minutes.

But Roy seems to have gone mad.

"what!?"

"Ahhhhh!!"

Roy stared wide-eyed, his mouth half-open, uttering a meaningless shout as he stared intently at the pool of blood beside Lin Hanchuan, its body covered in dense, black streaks.

A pale white hue appeared on the distant horizon.

The moon in the sky had already fallen behind us without us noticing.

"Holy crap, what's going on?" Long Xiaochen was also a bit confused looking at Roy's current state.

All the monsters were killed.

Has Roy gone mad?

"He might not be able to withstand the blow and will go crazy!" Lin Hanchuan glanced at Roy, then at the sky, and said.

"Dawn is almost here!"

"Control her emotions. Roy can't die before sunrise!"

"Okay, okay!" Long Xiaochen immediately instructed the water sprite to act.

When the water spirit cast a water healing spell, the healing light touched Roy and calmed her emotions for a short while.

Ahhhhh! !
He quickly started shouting again.

The totem patterns on its body became clearer and clearer, and even began to show signs of growing wildly. The surface of its skin began to slowly crack open, like the bark of a tree.

The water spirit unleashes a powerful water healing spell.

"I'll do it! I just learned a piece that can reduce negative effects."

Long Xiaoyue took out her harmonica, looked at Roy, sighed, and then began to play.

“la_la_do_do…”

The melodious and soothing music flowed from Long Xiaoyue's harmonica, like a gentle stream flowing into Luo Yi's body.

Even Lin Hanchuan and the others, who were not the primary targets of the skills, inexplicably felt a sense of inner peace.

Roy, who was in a frenzy, gradually calmed down. His bloodshot eyes stared at the pool of blood in front of him, his mouth half open, but he no longer made a sound.

Emotions are being suppressed, and sadness is being soothed.

The totem patterns on his body began to fade slowly.

The distant horizon was already filled with white light, and a faint, dim yellow light began to bloom there.

The sun is about to rise!

Lin Hanchuan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The previous methods of clearing the game, or the timing of the attacks, had major problems. If it were any other player, Roy would probably explode and die if he continued to go crazy like that, ultimately leading to failure.

Fortunately, there was Long Xiaoyue, who could use music to forcefully suppress Luo Yi's inner emotions, at least preventing her from going crazy again.

You can force your way through.

"What's the name of this piece?" Cao Renjie asked Long Xiaochen curiously.

Long Xiaochen replied speechlessly, "We're both equally talented in music. What's the difference between you asking me and you asking yourself?"

"The captain should know! Go and ask him."

Upon hearing their conversation, Lin Hanchuan immediately closed his eyes, appearing to be enjoying the music, while Cao Renjie's sigh echoed in his ears.

"Look at how much the boss is enjoying himself. I have to say, he's really amazing. He even understands music so well. If it weren't for the future development of our team, he probably would have already chosen the version's chosen one in the ninth district—the musician."

Long Xiaochen agreed, "That's what you call vision! We both need to learn from that."

Cao Renjie and Long Xiaochen, who couldn't understand, took the initiative to pick up the fallen items on the ground.

To the accompaniment of melodious piano music, a yolk slowly began to emerge on the horizon.

"The sun is out! The sun is out!!"

"Long Xiaochen shouted."

The totem on Roy's face began to slowly emerge, and he began to make low moaning sounds.

Anyone who has seen a sunrise knows this.

As soon as the sun peeks out.

Then it will be quick.

As the sun fully rose above the horizon, Long Xiaoyue's song came to an end.

The system notification sound rang in Lin Hanchuan's mind.

"Ding! Congratulations to the Heavenly Dao Squad for successfully completing the Asura-level main quest [Dawn] - [Protect Roy]. Quest completion rating: C!"

Ahhhh! !

As the system notification sounded, Roy beside him began to shout to the sky.

The skin on my body was bubbling up uncontrollably.

Long Xiaoyue covered Xingchen's eyes.

The next moment, under the sunlight.

Roy is dead.

The system notification continued to ring in Lin Hanchuan's mind.

"Ding! Congratulations to the Heavenly Dao Team for successfully completing the first clear of the Asura-level [Dawn]!"

"Ding! Please note that according to the reward distribution method before entering the dungeon, you will receive all the rewards for the first clear of the Shura-level [Dawn] dungeon!"

"Ding! Congratulations! You have obtained the first clear reward for the Shura [Dawn of Time] dungeon: 3 experience points, 1 gold coins, 500 reputation points, and the right to the rewards of the [Dawn of Time] dungeon."

Looking back on this instance, the side quests were not completed, and many questions remain unanswered.

This resulted in a very low completion rate for the main quests, and the rewards were all basic.

Fortunately, Lin Hanchuan had come for the first clear of the [Dawn of the Day] dungeon from the start, and he managed to get it without any major incident, which was some consolation.

"【Rights to Gains from the Dawn Dungeon】- In the future, all gains obtained by players in the 【Dawn Dungeon】will be evaluated by the system, and 10% of the total value will be automatically deducted from the gains. These gains will be converted into Descent Currency and directly deposited into the account of the right holder."

Friendly reminder: The right to dungeon rewards is not a bound right; it can be freely bought and sold, traded to other players, or traded to the system.

Reference price for the right to income: 420,754 gold coins!

Lin Hanchuan then directly sold the rights to the [Dawn of the Day] instance to the system.

"Ding! Please note that you are currently applying for the right to the [Dawn] income. The system estimates the value at 420,754 gold coins. Do you agree to the selling price?"

Lin Hanchuan: "Yes!"

42 gold coins, which is slightly more than the [Endless Beast Tide] dungeon reward.

Its main value is estimated to be due to the fact that Dawn is the main source of gemstones.

Unfortunately, the gem's grade is too low.

Otherwise, Lin Hanchuan wouldn't have sold it.

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully sold the profit rights to the [Dawn of the Day] dungeon and received 420,754 gold coins. The currency has been transferred to your personal account. Please check it."

As the protagonist of the Shura-level [Dawn] dungeon, Roy did not drop any loot upon his death.

However, the forest dwarfs and Roy's parents, whom they killed during the previous battle, still dropped a lot of items.

"Let's clean up the debris!"

Lin Hanchuan said directly.

While cleaning up, Long Xiaochen casually asked Long Xiaoyue, "Xiaoyue, what was the name of that song just now?"

Long Xiaoyue: "The Sound of Silence".

Twenty minutes later.

The moment the entire Heavenly Path Squad emerged from the [Dawn] instance.

"They're out! They're out! The Heavenly Dao Squad is out!"

"Why are you out so late? Is the Asura-level [Dawn] really that difficult?"

"As expected of the legendary Arakawa White Owl, he achieved a first-time clear of the Shura-level [Dawn] dungeon on his very first visit!"

"I really want to know how the Musician class is played. I can understand why Moonlight Chill is number one on the level ranking, but I'm confused about being number four on the combat power ranking. Isn't the Musician a support class?"

"Don't ask me, I don't know either. I have a few musician friends, but they've all deleted their accounts now. Understanding sheet music is just the beginning."

Under everyone's gaze, the system notification sounded in Lin Hanchuan's mind.

"Congratulations to the Heavenly Path Team for becoming the first team in the Ninth District to achieve two first-clears of a dungeon!"

Currently, the only existing team in the entire Ninth District is still Lin Hanchuan's Heavenly Dao Team.

Therefore, this record of completion is still being maintained and broken by the Heavenly Path Team.

"The Heavenly Path Squad has received the following rewards: 200 points, 1000 gold coins, and 500 reputation points for all members. A city-wide announcement will be made next!"

The team's score is 100 points higher than last time.

This is very important. Once the team rankings are launched, the rankings will be based on points.

The entry criteria for the future national team competition will also be based on team points.

The system notification sounded in the minds of all players in the entire Ninth District.

"Ding! Attention all players in District 9! Congratulations to the 'Heavenly Path Team' from Wangyue City for achieving the first clear of the [Dawn of Dawn] dungeon, becoming the first team in this district to achieve two first clears of the dungeon!"

"Ding! Please enter District 9..."

Lin Hanchuan looked up at the [Dawn] recording stone.

A new record has been added above.

First place: Heavenly Path Team (Arakawa White Owl)
Difficulty: Asura level
Completion level: C

Clearance time: 3 hours and 12 minutes

Records for story-driven dungeons at the Shura difficulty level will have one more completion point than other dungeons.

The completion rate is based on the completion rate of the main quest.

Those with higher completion rates rank higher.

With the same level of completion, the shorter the completion time, the higher the ranking.

(End of this chapter)