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2024-10-29 19:42:56A few minutes later.
Gary opened his eyes and found himself lying on the street. Next to him was his girlfriend.
“Leah!” He quickly got up and tried to wake her up. After patting her cheeks a few times, she opened her eyes.
“Gary…” she was saying, and she noticed the giant portal-like thing high in the sky and immediately sat up at once. “W-What’s that?”
“That’s not important,” Gary was looking around, but there weren’t any. There were only trees around them with blood-red leaves. Trees in the middle of the road. Trees growing out of the vehicles and buildings. A nasty revelation crossed his mind. “I think that the people… turned into trees.”
Leah covered her mouth in shock. “How can that be?” Even though she said that, she felt the same because some of these trees were almost the size of the human, though a little taller on average. Why would these trees be in the exact positions where humans were supposed to be? “What sort of magic is this? I’m not dreaming, right?”
Just then, they heard a growl. Something walked out of the restaurant. It was a cat that was walking upright and looked like a humanoid beast. It was almost four feet tall. “Humans… what in the meow did you do to me?” the cat furiously sprang toward them.
“Kyaa!” Leah screamed in horror.
Gary covered her.
The cat was about to claw at them, but a thunderbolt rang in the sky, causing the cat to be startled.
The cat flinched, then used Gary’s back as a footing and jumped over them and speedily ran away into the distance. It was so fast, it disappeared from their view in a couple of seconds.
“W-What was that?” Leah was visibly shaking. Her heart pounded against her chest like never before.
“That brown cat had a bell around its neck… I think one of the customers brought that pet to the restaurant,” Gary said. “But how did it turn so big, and it… talked.”
Leah was still shivering. She checked her mobile, but it was switched off, and it wasn’t turning on, even though the battery should be more than fifty percent. “Let’s go home. I want to see my dad.”
“Yeah.”
Their home wasn’t too far from there, so they hurried. As they were on their way, big worms the size of pythons began to break free out of the drainage holes. They came across a couple of humanoid dogs as well, but the dogs hid themselves quickly, terrified of the lightning bolts streaking all across the sky.
Soon, they reached Gary’s home first. Gary rushed in first and froze after seeing a tree grown out of the sofa, and another tree in the kitchen. Both of them were the same trees with blood-red leaves. “No, no…” he rushed upstairs to his sister’s room, and he couldn’t find her. However, the bathroom door was locked. He burst it open, and there was a tree that almost filled the space of the whole bathroom.
Gary fell to his knees in disbelief. Even his younger sister had turned into a tree.
Leah came into the room just now and was stunned to see a tree in the bathroom. “Sasha…” she couldn’t even breathe freely. “Gary..” she put her hands on his shoulders from behind while her lips trembled. “I’m sorry.”
Tears flowed down his cheeks nonstop, but he swallowed all the pain and got up. “Let’s check on your dad.”
“But… What about Sasha… and your parents?” she asked, her cheeks turning red from the overwhelming sadness gripping her heart.
Gary wiped his tears and grabbed her hand and pulled her away with him. (If they really turned into trees, what can I do with my strength? I must find out what’s going on first. But before anything, we should keep ourselves safe.) Once they went downstairs, he stopped at the door and told her, “You stay here, Leah. I’ll go and see your dad’s situation.”
“What?” Leah shook her head.
“Listen,” Gary grabbed her shoulders tightly. “It’s not safe out there! You should stay inside. If I don’t come within an hour… then, do whatever you want, understand?”
Leah’s eyes were clouded with tears. “No. Don’t do this. Let’s go together.”
“It’s too risky,” Gary said. “Stay here if you love me.”
Leah hugged him tightly. “If it’s that dangerous, then don’t go. We can… check on my dad later in the morning.”
“Your home is not far. It won’t take long, and I’ll be careful,” Gary reasoned with her and then grabbed a metal rod from the fence before leaving.
Leah clenched her fists. She wanted to go with him. The sky outside was still rumbling with hundreds of lightning streaks lighting up the sky like never before. It was so scary to behold. “Please be safe, Gary. Please be safe, Dad,” her hand was still slightly shivering.
About five minutes later, Gary reached Leah’s house. It was a smaller house compared to his house, so it didn’t take him long to find her dad who had become a red-leaved tree in the swinging chair in the back verandah. Only Leah and her father Jericho lived here, so it couldn’t be anyone else but him.
Gary touched the tree emotionally and leaned on it. “Sorry, Uncle. I’m sorry, Leah. Your dad…” He had a few fond memories with Jericho, so his heart ached even more.
Thunderous explosions shook the sky, and two streaks of light—one bright and another dark—came shooting and spinning down at a great speed. The bright streak of light crashed on the lawn in front of Jericho’s house and created a massive crater. The shockwave sent Gary flying back into the wall. “AHHH!” This was much more physical and destructive compared to the shockwave he had experienced not long ago.
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Gary coughed blood. His sight turned bloody. His head felt utterly dizzy. The ringing noise in his ears made it all the more worse. It was more intense than any headache he ever had. But luckily, it didn’t stay for long.Gary was able to get back to his feet and look at the crater with a forty-feet diameter. At the center of it was an old man who looked like he was cosplaying some kind of fantasy cultivator character from one of the games he used to play. His body was leaking lightning every other second.Naturally, Gary didn’t dare to approach.But, soon, the lightning shrunk and eventually dissipated. The old man was making a pain-filled noise. He seemed badly wounded and was not in a position to get up.“Come here, Boy.”A voice rang in Gary’s head. Somehow, he knew that it was the old man calling him.“W-Who are you?” Gary asked in a shaky voice. “Did you crash down from an airplane?” even though he asked that, would people who fell from airplanes create craters like this old man
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 04
Gary was leaving Leah’s house in a hurry, but then something appeared in his path. With a rotten physique and disgusting smell, this humanoid creature with gray skin looked scary, to say the least.“What the hell is this?” Gary found his heart beating faster with every fraction of a second.[It’s a ghoul.] Ai quickly responded. [People who have eaten human flesh when they were alive will become ghouls when they are woken up.]“A-Are you saying the dead are being brought out of their graves right now?” Gary was stunned to hear that. His heart pounded against his chest as the ghoul screamed and jumped at him.Knowing and believing that he was now strong, Gary instinctively threw his fist at it.His fist and the ghoul’s claws clashed. A shockwave of translucent energy leaked out of Gary’s fist and destroyed the ghoul’s claws and hand, but the ghoul didn’t care much. It greedily bit on his shoulder and dug its sharp teeth into his flesh.“Ah! Let go of me!” Gary pulled the ghoul’s head by
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 05
Gary looked around for Leah in that neighborhood but didn’t find her. He waited for a few hours at his house, hoping Leah would return, but she didn’t. So, he had no other choice but to go looking for her. He roamed the streets which were already getting quite dangerous at this point. He saw a dead dog rise out of the tar road and madly growl like a maddened zombie beast.He couldn’t help but greatly worry for Leah, not knowing what she was doing or where she went, let alone how she’d survive in this doomsday-esque day, where anybody could kill anybody without giving any reason whatsoever.There were trees everywhere, and he was yet to meet a single human even though he had walked many miles.“Everyone seems to have turned into trees, so why didn’t Leah and I turn?” Gary voiced his mind, not at all expecting that the system would answer his question.[You’re wearing an energy crystal, aren’t you? That thing saved you and your girlfriend.] Ai responded.“What?” Gary was pleasantly surp
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 06
Gary DID NOT like the way Ai was threatening him.“Fine. If I’m not able to find Leah within 24 hours, then you can go where you want,” Gary bluntly said. “I’m not going to think about anything else until I know what happened to Leah.”Ai liked his resolve, but she blurted. [You misunderstood me, Gary. If Leah had actually touched the dark witch’s body, then she’s probably already being infected by parasitic energy. If you don’t find her within 24 hours, then she’ll have completely gone crazy or will have become a completely different person. Then, you won’t be able to save her, not with the strength you have now. Maybe, if Chun Fu was alive, he would have done something, but Chun Fu is no more. Do you get what I’m saying?]“You are not lying to me, are you?” Gary inquired. “If you have the ability to do a wide-radius search, then do it right now and find where Leah is.”[For me to be able to do that, you should at least cross level 100 as your senses will sharpen from then on.] Ai an
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The sky was still bright with the thunderbolts criss-crossing crazily with no end in sight. A brother was carrying his wounded sister of 16 and brought her to the hospital, hoping someone would be there to help her.But what awaited him were zombies that jumped onto them and devoured them alive. Soon, the siblings soon turned into zombies as well. And they roamed the neighborhood with half-eaten bodies. Both of them still had energy stone pendants hanging around their necks.Hearing the sound of footsteps, they ran toward the source, and what awaited them was Gary.With his fists, he destroyed their heads. The brother and sister were killed with one punch as their levels were weak, whereas the higher leveled zombies required multiple punches.One of the other zombies managed to bite on Gary’s fist, but having already absorbed the energy of zombies, he had developed the resistance to the parasitic virus flowing through zombie’s saliva as well as their sweat and their very breath.He di
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There were many reasons why Gary ran away after seeing the tiger zombie. Ai had told him that he would be able to level up faster than others, so when he himself was level 18, how could there be a level 25 tiger zombie?Did this mean that the levels of animals were built differently compared to humans? Or was there something else that Gary didn’t know about.There were so many questions running through his mind, and the downright scary appearance of the tiger zombie didn’t help that either.Despite how he felt, he had to attack this monster for the sake of reaching his goal. He jumped and kicked up at the tiger as it came down at him.Before his leg could hit the tiger, its long paw struck his chest and sent him packing down to the ground. The tiger zombie landed on the ground and sprang forth to pounce upon him while he was still on the ground.[Get up!] Ai shouted. [You can’t fight that monster on the ground!]Gary, however, clenched his fist and readily threw his fist at the tiger
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 09
After defeating the tiger zombie, Gary received 20 free stat points. He didn’t use them but kept them as available so he could use them all when needed.[Name: Gary Lennon.Title(s): Zombie Killer.Age: 27.Level: 20XP: 110/200HP: 1204/2100STR(Strength): 759STA(Stamina): 380DEF(Defense): 330SPD (Speed): 352AGL(Agility): 301Available stat points: 20Energy Pot: Ghoul, Spider beast, lizard, zombie]Though he killed more types of beasts, he didn’t absorb their energy as per Ai’s advise.“I lost more than sixty percent of my health in the fight,” Gary thought. “After I leveled up, some of my health recovered, but it’s not much. Still, I can’t believe that even with my abnormally high strength stat, I was still overpowered by the tiger. If I hadn’t striked the spots that you told me to, I probably would have lost. The zombie’s defense was also stronger than me, how did I exactly win?”[Simple. The thigh has joint points, and I made you strike there from the side, and the tiger zomb
HEAVEN'S GATE CHAPTER 10
[You fucked up! Run!]“Where to?” Gary asked. As far as his eye could see, the streets and rooftops were full of monsters of all kinds. “Running away will not help me find Leah. Didn’t you say I shouldn’t run away if I want to think about saving the world?”[That’s…] Ai couldn’t find words at the moment.Gary turned around and walked to the center of the rooftop. It was a building with a little over 10,000 square feet in area, so there was plenty of space on the rooftop. It should be enough for a battleground.Gary stood there and waited for the monsters to come to him. The first monster that came upstairs was a land bird that resembled both ostrich and kangaroo, but it looked very terrifying.Gary instantly remembered the Terror Bird he saw in games. This was like a terror bird with arms as well. And its scream was ear-piercing.[It’s level 31!] Ai hurriedly said. [If you get hit by its beak once, you’re dead!]Gary clenched his fist as the monster bird furiously flapped its little w
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“I asked for grape juice!” Sesi barked. “But what the hell is this?”“It is grape juice,” the innkeeper looked offended. “It’s fresh. If you drink it, you’ll know.”“You want me to DRINK THIS?” Sesi’s eyes turned red. Rowan grabbed her hand because he felt like she might slap the innkeeper out of anger. “Can a human even drink this? No, even monkeys won’t go near this shit!”Sesi’s words offended not just the innkeeper but also the other customers who loved the grape juice. After all, those grapes were harvested from the grape trees growing in the same village, the Newmere village. So, their pride was hurt when Sesi mocked the grape juice.“Sesi,” Leah intervened. “There’s no need to cause a scene if you didn’t like the drink.”“Leah, just look at this!” she pointed at the mug. “The grape skin and seeds are floating in the drink! How am I supposed to drink it? Uwwgh, I feel like vomiting just thinking about it!”“Maybe, they don’t add grapeskin and seeds in the drink, but we leave the
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The adult customers were in awe and disbelief, whereas the children were giggling and smirking from seeing Prince Liu personally serving drinks to a foreign group of four.From Liu, they came to know that the trees in the village weren’t giant a few decades back, but ever since cultivators began to bury the bodies of some beasts around the village, the trees absorbed the nutrients and grew in size and produced food all year, which improved the livelihood of the villagers very much.“You’re only twenty two years old?” Rowan’s eyes bulged in shock. “What the heck, man? You look like you’re forty years old!”Liu angrily smiled. “Yeah, some people say that to me, but all the girls in this village would die to marry me. It’s just that I haven’t found the right woman for me yet.” His eyes fell on Sesi.“Don’t even think about it,” Sesi retorted coldly. “You’re not at all my type. Too macho for me to even feel anything.”Liu then looked at Leah, but she was just fully immersed in talking wit
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If reality blended seamlessly with dreams, then it would look like what Gary and everyone else was staring at right now.The towering mountains and crystalline rivers aside, there were young children riding on big foxes and were plucking fruits off the trees. There were beautiful young ladies riding butterflies that flitted from flower to flower and helped the ladies collect honey in leather sacs.The small village that Gary and his friends had first been to was full of giant trees and animals, but the humans were of normal size.The village guards escorted them to the inn and said, “Don’t cause any trouble, or you’ll regret it.”Goya found their words offensive. “Should I just beat him up and show him his place?”“Don’t cause unnecessary trouble,” Wendevorr told her. “Did you already forget what Lord Gary told us? We’re not supposed to fight anyone unless it gets life-threatening.”Goya seemed disappointed. “But that’s boring.”After killing so many monsters, Goya was still in the sl
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By the time Gary and his team left the woods, having absorbed the crystal cores and boosting their stats and abilities, they felt more confident than ever.Goya was sitting cross-legged on top of Wendevorr’s head. She was at level 698, and he was at level 699.Rowan increased by ten levels and reached 612.Sesi increased to level 630.Leah went from level 700 to 703.Gary’s level was exactly 800 after defeating the mighty wolf Wynn. He felt much stronger than your average level 800 being would, but he still felt like his current strength was nowhere near enough to deal with all the seven keys, much less their boss, the Immortal King.Leah and Sesi were discussing a lot ever since Leah regained her memories. Sesi wanted to know their love story, so Leah kept telling her everything. Some of the details were a bit too embarrassing, so Gary kept his distance from the ladies.Rowan was leading the group in the front. “I’m still the lowest-leveled in the group, dammit. I know I should be ha
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CHAPTER 141
Wynn and Gary’s team parted goodbyes, but Gary and others didn’t leave the forest just yet because Wynn had asked them to kill the remaining demonoids as a favor.Because they had all used the fountain of life, they couldn’t reject his request. However, neither Gary nor Leah had to act for this mission.Sesi, Rowan, Goya, and Wendevorr took the task upon themselves and competed to see who’d find and kill the most number of demonoids. Goya and Wendevorr believed that they had an edge over the humans because of their superior sense stats.Goya went back to the Demon Range to sniff out the remaining demonoids and kill them. Wynn had told them a way to get past the curse that they’d obtain after absorbing the crystal cores. It was to wash these cores in the blood of another animal, and so that blood would take the curse away.Knowing this, everyone felt very excited to get the crystal cores and gain various abilities from that, though crystals that had been cleansed by blood would also be
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CHAPTER 140
Gary was talking with Wynn, the great wolf, which seemed to have calmed down now. “I was planning on returning to earth, but after hearing your words, I think we’ll need to stay here a little longer.”“If the opponent is someone who can kill Master Chun Fu, then your current strength is not sufficient,” Wynn said.Though it was a bit rude of Wynn to say that, Gary didn’t disagree with that. “I have to awaken my spiritual energy, too, before I return to earth. So, Leah and I will both be able to use spiritual energy in our group. Together, we can keep hunting those seven keys. And the rest of my group members will take down their minions. I think they’re strong enough to fend for themselves now.”“If you want to awaken the spiritual energy ahead of time,” Wynn said. “Then there’s a place where you can attain that.”“Oh… where is it?” Gary quickly asked.“The Absurd Woods…” Wynn said.“Absurd Woods?” Gary raised an eyebrow. “That’s the name?”“Yeah. It’s full of crazy creatures that har
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CHAPTER 139
As Gary approached the fountain, he saw Leah rising up as though the waters were lifting her up. A radiant glow came out of her body. It was warm and beautiful.“What’s going on?” Gary asked.[She’s been cured of the curse, and on top of that she’s awakened the spiritual energy.] Ai said.“A-Awakened?” Gary was startled. “Didn’t you say it’ll take at least level 900 for one to even think about awakening their spiritual energy?”[Yes, but her spirit has been contained by the negative energy of the Dark Witch.] Ai explained. [In order to forcefully release those restraints, the fountain of life had to awaken her spirit.]“So, it’s a byproduct of removing the curse put on her…” Gary’s eyes slowly widened. “Does that mean she gets her memories back?” He quickly scuttled toward the fountain with his heart swelling from hope.Leah was still floating above the fountain, and her eyes slowly opened. She could see everyone around her. Sesi, Rowan, Goya, Wendevorr, even the great wolf in the dis
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The great wolf coughed up a lot of blood into the air as his gaze turned blurry. He somersaulted through the air and managed to land on his feet.However, the pain in his diaphragm kept escalating, and it made him bleed some more. He was forced to get down on one knee.Gary was walking toward him confidently, and the great wolf wanted to get up, but the pain in his gut didn’t let him get up just yet.“You lost…” Gary uttered.“Not yet,” the great wolf growled, but that shouting made him cringe in pain.[Say these words to him…] Ai told Gary.Gary then said while looking at the great wolf who was still on one of his knees, “Even though I won’t be around you physically, my love will always be with you, Wynn.”The great wolf’s expression froze. Slowly but surely, tears began to swell in the great wolf’s eyes as he remembered Chun Fu saying those words when he was parting with him. And nobody knew his name except for his master, so this made it clear that Gary was indeed Chun Fu’s success
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CHAPTER 137
Many years ago.Chun Fu was teaching the great wolf. “There will come a time when you will need to fight beings that can’t be defeated with punches or slashes. That’s when you need to rely on things like spiritual energy or unique skills. Animals don’t have much spiritual energy, so you should depend on learning unique skills.”“What kind of skills, Master?” the great wolf excitedly asked, waving his tail left and right.“One that will help you fight all kinds of enemies,” Chun Fu said. “The ability to break space itself.”“Breaking space…” the great wolf’s eyes turned wide. “Is something like that even possible?”“Time, space, and matter are three constructs that the worlds are built upon by the Creator,” Chun Fu explained. “All those three constructs can be affected by us. We can break physical matter with our hands because we can interact with it. But space and matter needs different approaches. Skills that will require one to manipulate time are too complex for you to learn. Even
