The Last Gentleman

[Old World – Surface]

At a certain sand field, a massive shift suddenly appeared, and three monks wrapped in scarlet robes emerged from the center.

A conical face mask embedded with thorns was worn on their heads,

and their backs were filled with iron hooks and chains, the other ends of which were connected to gigantic stone tablets, inscribed with their memorable experiences of suffering.

Their palms were evenly torn and fastened with iron nails, forming a geometrical pattern with the blood vessels and nerves positioned between the palms, seemingly a two-dimensional image, yet it gave a glimpse of the Blood Flesh Magic Cube.

Although these three figures looked similar, the one walking at the forefront was distinctly different.

From her physique, she appeared to be a woman, dragging a tablet behind her wrapped with thorns and a segment of her painful experiences etched in red, signifying the miracles of pain she had induced.

[Thorny Flower Sea]

Under her lead, the trio, dragging their stone tablets, quickly arrived at the location where the duke’s palanquin was situated.

The leading woman stepped forward, stopping in front of the palanquin.

Out of respect,

she held her conical mask with both hands and forcefully removed it!

Crack—sounds of skin tearing and bones grinding echoed.

The thorns inside the mask completely tore open her skull, and the spilling blood was absorbed by the robe, recycled for use.

The blurred mass of her head immediately underwent Superfast Regeneration, an inherent ability of the monks,

eventually forming a woman with thorny long hair and a completely torn scalp.

Her eyeballs were pitch black, like those of a demon,

“Greetings, Duke.”

“The Suffering Monastery’s Miracle Worker herself has come? What is the matter?”

“The Monastery sensed a ‘Pain Acceptance’ occurring on the Surface, someone accepted the pain named Thorn Chain, and we specifically came to welcome them; unexpectedly, it was at your location.

No wonder a segment of ‘Thorn Chain’ that went missing from the Monastery years ago was never found.”

The duke said little, simply throwing a bag of ancient, weighty coins to them.

“Consider this compensation. After all, I merely picked up a segment of an Iron Chain while passing by your Monastery and didn’t return it because I was in a hurry.

This price is enough to buy ten identical Iron Chains, take the money and leave.”

Faced with the duke’s expulsion order, the monks showed no intention of leaving nor did they pick up the money on the ground.

“The chosen one of the Iron Chain is a member of our Monastery, and our visit isn’t to pursue the Iron Chain but to embrace a new member; I hope the Duke will allow me to meet the recipient.”

This statement caused a slight twitch in the duke’s chubby cheeks, but considering he had indeed stolen from others, he did not immediately lose his temper.

“He’s engaged in an important ‘trade,’ and moreover, this lad isn’t a life form from our side; after the trade, he will return to his host planet as a human.

In my view, he’s not suitable for the Monastery; it would only ruin his prospects.”

“There’s no need for you to worry about this, Duke; our purpose is just to meet this person. Since he is currently engaged in a trade, we are willing to wait until it’s over.”

The duke was well aware of what ‘just to meet’ meant in the monks’ terms.

Eventually, there would be mental pressure and various inducements… Even if Yi Chen managed to hold out and choose to refuse, they would, under the flag of the Monastery, forcibly extract the Iron Chain from Yi Chen’s body, leaving him dead or maimed.

“Do you not understand what I’m saying? I’m in a good mood today; I’ve been quite polite.

I’m giving you three seconds to disappear from the Surface!”

His chubby hand heavily slammed down, and a terrifying airflow swept everything away.

Except for the female monk in front of him, the other two monks were thrown tens of meters away.

However, these monks still showed no intention of leaving, and the leading female monk continued:

“Without having undergone training in the Monastery, a human accepting the ‘Thorn Chain’ has drawn the attention of the High Priest. We also represent the will of the High Priest and the Monastery, and must…”

“Time’s up.”

The duke didn’t bother to listen to these words; his patience had been exhausted.

A rolling golden liquid seeped from his belly, constructing a golden balance in front of him.

A special domain now enveloped the monk before him,

unyielding, irresistible, inescapable.

“Forced Trade”

The safe hidden in the dark corner of the ancient castle had been opened,

a large, heavy bag filled with Holy Grails, jewels, and Old World coins was thrown onto one side of the scale.

Correspondingly, an equivalent item must be placed on the other side to maintain balance.

The last two monks in line disintegrated instantly, including the stone slabs they were dragging, all decomposed into usable materials and stacked on the other side of the scale via structural compression.

But that was far from enough,

The leading female monk was similarly dismantled,

By the time the scale was balanced, only half of the female monk’s head remained on the ground… the iron chains growing from the brain’s cut surface still trying to drag the head away.

Snap!

The Duke flicked a gold coin from his hand, gently landing it on the scale, swapping for the last half of the head.

“Ah~ It’s been quite a while since a ‘Forced Trade’ had been executed, can’t even estimate the price accurately? A deviation of over 1% is truly disgraceful.”

The trade ended.

The treasure used to exchange the three monks was instantly sucked into a special space channel,

Unknowingly far in the depths of the Old World, an area known as the Monastery was showered with a ‘Jewel Rain’ for three minutes.

In the innermost part of the Monastery, a pair of eyes pierced with endless pins opened, their mouth releasing visible living words.

“The new acceptor is actually related to the Duke.”

He sent no one, nor did He go personally to investigate, closing His eyes in disregard.

…

[Black Mountain Orphanage]

Yi Chen, completely asleep, was not disturbed by any night shift teacher,

He had a dream,

dreaming that his kneecaps were gouged out, crawling on a path covered with sharp thorns.

Alongside him were countless other ‘Sufferers’,

Many died on the path, devoured eagerly by the animate thorns, becoming nourishment.

When he reached the front gate of a pitch-black monastery, instantly, chains shot from inside, pierced his body, and suspended him in the air.

From the depths of darkness,

a mysterious man in a black leather coat, his body embedded with spikes, floated forth, checking every part of his body through a technique similar to acupuncture, eventually showing a satisfied expression.

As the mysterious man slowly opened his cavernous mouth, the flesh reliefs on the inside of his mouth resembled a map of Hell.

A special sharp needle slowly unrolled from his tongue, held in his hand, and with a slap, embedded it into Yi Chen’s crown.

The intense pain and an inexplicable tang collapsed the dream instantly, causing Yi Chen to sit up abruptly from the bed.

The day had just begun to lighten, the clock’s hands pointing exactly at 6:00.

Yi Chen tried to move, but the sound of dragging chains came from his back, clanking.

Turning his head to look,

the chains transmuted from organic material within his body had actually spilled out during his sleep, forming a butterfly pattern on the bed, quite meaningful.

It even made Yi Chen realize that his “Sensing” ability seemed to have increased during the just concluded dream.

“Awake now?” A voice came from the next bed.

“Lorrian, you woke up early too?”

“What do you mean by early? I never slept.

‘Sleeping’ only needs to be done by another part within my body while I need to focus on my reading time, once we leave this game, I won’t get the chance to read.”

“Did the night shift teacher not show up?”

“That level of patrol can easily be avoided with a little illusion technique~ Though, your physique seems to have become very special, becoming more and more interesting.”

At this, Moon Scar pulled a silver hairpin from her hair, placed it between the pages, and closed the book.

Raising her left eye of the New Moon, she looked intently at Yi Chen,

“Now that the feasibility of a quick clearance has been verified, shall we continue today?”

“We can.”