Chương 549: Chapter 517: First Night on the Wall

The soup tasted delicious and as a guard you really had the advantage of not needing to wait in line like everyone else. So with his little VIP privilege Thalion had simply walked past the line and taken the first seat in what seemed to be a rather large restaurant. He even got his own small table. Apparently it wasnt common here for people to eat together because everyone sat alone at tiny little tables with barely enough space for their bowl of soup. Not really Thalions style but oh the soup was delicious.

The insect meat reminded Thalion a bit of prime rib which in his opinion absolutely shouldnt have been possible but whatever. That Acquire Form worked from food alone was just plain stupid in his opinion and he observed the status screen of his new form, the Thornback Scarab. The insect was very simple and most of its points were invested in toughness and strength.

Acquire Form had another advantage because with the new status screen he now also had a distinct image in mind of how the creature would look should he decide to shapeshift. It was a legendary creature which sparked Thalions curiosity. He knew that the forms he acquired now had a higher rarity but was it just one rarity higher or maybe even more? The waiter looked hella confused when Thalion asked him whether the Thornback Scarab had been of epic or ancient rarity.

"The fuck do I know what rarity that thing was?" the waiter snapped back.

"What a fucking weirdo." Since the waiters didnt actually need to be nice in this world because the restaurant couldnt make profit anyway they simply werent. Thalion had to admit that he wondered whether waiters had always wanted to behave like this or if it was merely a side effect of the system. While eating the soup Thalion began to check the scarabs skills which were kinda useless but also funny. There were the typical skills like empowering its bite and a movement skill related to the wings.

Sadly it mentioned something about vibrating the wings which was why Thalion doubted it would work with his wyvern form. The more interesting skill was a passive ability that allowed the scarab to grow plants on its back. It even boosted the plants which meant they would grow a lot faster while attached to the creature. The skill itself was useless for his other forms but should Thalion ever find a much larger creature in the future he might actually make use of it.

All in all not bad and Thalion really appreciated how his new Acquire Form worked. Before he always got the feeling that a lot of things were missing whenever he took a beasts form. The fact alone that he could obtain a form from soup was funny enough. The soup itself was quite rich in flavor and Thalion was already full after slurping everything down. He still had half an hour left and there were a few other meals he wanted to try out. Partly to experience the taste but mostly to check out the forms.

In integrated space he was bound to make a few culinary stops. Everything else would feel like an utter waste. Thalion ordered pearlfin sushi and whatever a finarm salad was supposed to be. The food was great, the waiter annoying and Thalion a bit depressed by the forms he got from the meals. They had the typical skills and nothing special at all. He discarded those forms immediately, not even wanting such trash available in his collection.

The fish used for the sushi even looked a bit like a moonfish which really wasn't his type. Normally Thalion was a very good eater but for some reason the food was so rich that he really had to force down the last few bites. He even tried convincing the Primordial Bloodseed to absorb part of the food but it outright rejected him with such intense disgust that Thalion didnt bother asking again. While eating he had completely lost track of time and quickly left the restaurant.

He could almost visibly see the waiter breathe out in relief when he walked away. Back in the guard quarters William was already waiting while tapping one foot against the ground. He clearly had been standing there for quite some time.

"Almost too late." William huffed.

"Now sit down. We need to talk about what we are going to do should something happen. I rather explain everything now instead of when we are fighting for our lives." That sounded reasonable to Thalion and he sat down to let the other guard explain things and explain he certainly did. The dude just kept talking and most of it was William complaining about how unfair the situation was and how superior elves supposedly were. Something Thalion himself hadn't really experienced so far.

William went on about the hierarchy and how the Chosen and their generals could basically do whatever they wanted while he himself had to work shifts that prevented him from properly leveling. Hunting was also impossible for him since he was too weak and because there were elven assassins hiding in the forests.

"Did you ever encounter an elven assassin? Yeah probably not because otherwise you would be fucking dead. They just zoom around the battlefield with their little daggers cutting throats left and right."

"You try to hit them but its just impossible. They are so fast, so smooth, so good. How should anyone have a chance against them? Its not only the assassins but all the elves. They are just better at everything they do so dont even try to fight them. Normally you have a very good chance of killing everything below your level but not with elves. Nope they are simply better. How lucky for me to survive the tutorial only to get stuck defending a base against beings superior in every way."

William just complained and complained and complained for over an hour without making a single pause. The guards coming and going gave them weird looks. Some even looked at Thalion with a bit of sympathy when they saw him sitting there forced to listen to Williams endless rambling. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Thankfully it finally stopped once it was time to head toward the wall.

"God we are already late. Why didnt you say anything?" William shouted in the middle of another rant about how elves were apparently also smarter than humans before almost sprinting out the door. Thalion hurried after the lost man while internally hating this entire situation. There were so many more important things he could be doing instead of playing guard duty. He would have much rather hidden himself away in some cellar and worked on his blood or another form of body tempering.

The walls werent just tall but absurdly thick which at least meant you didnt have to worry about falling off. Stairs built into the inner side of the wall led upward and Thalion wanted to comment on how pointless they were since everyone should be able to simply run up the wall but William immediately started climbing the stairs and so Thalion swallowed the remark.

"We are here to replace you. Anything interesting happen up here?" William asked a small group standing atop the wall.

"Nothing special. Rico here swears he saw a huge monster deep in the forest but thats all." The first guard sighed.

"I swear it was there. Iam not imagining things." the guard who was probably Rico exclaimed, clearly offended that the others didnt believe him. Thalion was already bored listening to the banter. He was stuck on this stupid wall while all the other Chosen were getting further ahead. There were so many tasks waiting for him. Finding the teleportation formations to integrated space was only the first part of the plan.

Then he would need to take part in one of the great trials and win them in order to gain rewards that hopefully would make it easier for him to break free from the systems control.

"This will just be another horrible night. Either nothing happens and you wasted your time or an attack comes and we might die. Really no matter how you look at it this sucks." William muttered after the others finally left.

"You know we sometimes even spot large beasts nearby and then its our job to either kill them or alert a hunting party. Eh what am I talking about you probably already know that already but let me tell you if we spot something in the distance I will yell so loudly for a hunting party that the whole stronghold wakes up."

"Alright." Thalion sighed before sitting down on one of the battlements that were nearly as tall as he was. He stared out toward the forest. They were on guard duty after all. William possessed this magnificent ability to become enraged by literally everything. He hated the night because there wasnt enough light to properly see. The night was also colder than the day and according to him it was the preferred hunting time of assassins. As a mage he naturally despised assassins.

They were too fast and way too deadly in his opinion. At this point Thalion wasnt even sure if William liked a single class. Heavy warriors were too tanky so blasting them with spells wasnt satisfying, healers always hid behind everyone and supposedly did nothing and so on. William reached another crescendo when a nearby shift change happened and guards in green and brown uniforms entered another section of the wall roughly a hundred meters away from them.

"Oh look at those Kevin." William immediately began another tirade in a rather loud voice.

"The rangers from Ethan. Uh look at me Iam so awesome, look how my arrows fly isnt it amazing? Uh Iam a ranger I need to always stay in the back, miss all my arrows and then kill steal with a dagger while the hardworking mage is busy recovering mana. Those idiots probably even got baptised too. Thats basically the same as burning money. Why not just bless a hamster or a rooster while youre at it?" That of course was something the rangers couldnt just ignore.

"Ey is this guy begging to be thrown over the wall or am I hearing things?" one of the rangers shouted back.

"No Ramo he definitely wants to take a little jump."

"Dont forget the beating. Cant throw them over before breaking a few bones first." The three of them quickly changed direction and began marching toward William and Thalion. That would have been fine for Thalion if they werent Ethans rangers. What if they filed an official complaint and Ethan somehow smelled Thalion on their clothes? The illusion mask would also deactivate the moment it got punched. There was absolutely no way it would hold once someone actually hit it.

"Oh yes how brave you are. Three against two." William continued provoking them. Thalion was currently considering simply ditching William and claiming he had nothing to do with this but then he met the gazes of those rangers. They clearly didnt want to let this opportunity slip away.

"Why dont you make this some sort of rap battle? If we fight up here someone might ring the alarm and then other guards get dragged out of their well earned free time. Is that really what you want?"

"Eh wouldnt be our fault but yours. Should have kept your mouth shut from the start." One of the rangers grinned smugly. Thalion sighed. This was simply too annoying. So he did something he hadnt done since childhood. He turned toward the tower on his left and shouted loudly.

"Help! Ethans rangers are threatening to throw us off the wall!" The rangers and even William stared at him strangely. It only took a second before a head appeared atop the tower while looking down at the five. Thalion continued waving his arms around so it would be very clear who had called out.

"Seriously? You three get back to your side of the wall. And what are you standing there with your mouths open for? Waiting for grass to grow or what? Good lord we could be attacked by elves at any moment and you idiots seriously want to throw someone off the wall?" The voice was loud enough to carry far across the walls and the three rangers quickly abandoned their plan of messing with William and Thalion.

Even though the situation had turned out rather well with the rangers on their way back William still continued complaining.

"Yeah and there is the authority speaking. Man life must be hard sitting high in that tower, staring at the forest while getting all the big bonuses and a baptism. Kevin did you know that most of those guys are borderline stupid? I swear thats like ninety percent of them. Everyone strong today just got lucky early in the tutorial. Everyone else has to take insane risks just to even catch up and thats not even counting those Chosen. Man I dislike those.

Why couldnt it have been me who woke up with some overpowered bloodline that made me stronger than everyone else? Instead my bed and pillows vanished and I had to run through a jungle for weeks." Thalion was beginning to think William might actually be the lucky one. To still be alive with such an attitude after all this time was honestly impressive. Those from integrated space who had fought for centuries just to reach E grade would probably foam at the mouth if they heard him speak.

"Then there is the equipment. Yeah you probably thought skills were everything but no no no. Equipment plays a huge role in someones power and those Chosen or the fatass up there in the tower just got handed everything right away. Here please mister officer is there something else I can shove up your ass? You still feeling like you are working too much? Oh no wait why dont you try this legendary weapon and if you dont like it just come back and I will hand you an even better one."

Thalion assumed the large man in the tower simply wasnt listening because otherwise William would already be toast but luckily that didnt seem to be the case. Of course there was also a downside because without anyone shutting him up the man simply kept talking and talking and talking.

"Good lord what a first night. Hopefully those elves stop wasting everyones time and just attack already. I dont know how many more nights I can survive like this." Thalion thought while trying to focus on empowering his soul to at least get something done.