Year 609 of the Zhenguan Era, March 15th, 09:30:00
[Civilization Level: 2]
[Activation Requirement: System Level 1]
This door—nearly identical to the "Main World" gate but with glowing black text—stood unlocked before Matthew. The key difference? The timestamp beneath "Arms Realm" pulsed forward second by second.
Matthew had made his choice.
When life offered a chance to reclaim everything lost, only a fool wouldn't seize it. To return home. To exonerate his father. To undo a lifetime of suffering. He'd sell weapons. Sell war. Sell death itself.
The math was brutally simple:
Goal: Activate Main World door (Requires System Level 2)
Method: Earn 1,000 War Points
Means: Arm the armies currently staring at where he'd vanished
Peering through the doorframe, Matthew observed the frozen battlefield. Both factions—the Tianhua (天华) and Ocland (奥克兰) forces—remained locked in tense standoff, their commanders visibly unnerved by his disappearance.
[Detecting unlearned languages: Tianhua (Difficulty 3), Oclandish (Difficulty 3)]
[Language infusion initiated...]
A sharp pain spiked through Matthew's temples—
—then dissolved into comprehension.
Now the soldiers' whispers made sense:
Tianhua Grunt #1: "Big Bro, where'd that kid go?"
Tianhua Grunt #2: "How should I know? Use your damn head!"
Ocland Archer: "Did you see how he caught Peter's arrow?!"
Ocland Veteran: "Focus, idiot! We've got a battle to—"
Matthew's attention snapped to the Tianhua command group. A broad-shouldered general berated his scouts:
"Explain how a Tianhua child appeared undetected!"
A young lieutenant stammered: "Our outriders swept this area, General Zhao! There was nothing—"
"Enough!" General Zhao turned to a scholar in ink-stained robes. "Master He Chuan, your counsel?"
The scholar stroked his beard. "The question isn't how he appeared, but what his presence means for our battle plans..."
"Brother Ox! Did you see that brat catch an arrow mid-flight?"
"Our general could do that too. But throwing it back to kill the archer? That's some monstrous strength."
"Been a soldier twenty years—never seen a kid with arms like that."
"Imagine when he grows up..."
"Yeah... yeah..." (nervous swallowing)
"Hey, about that kid's face—clearly Tianhua blood, but those clothes?"
"Never seen that style. Looks expensive though—hidden noble family maybe?"
"Lao-San, lay off the folktales."
Ocland Soldiers:
"Jimmy! You saw that vanish act, right?"
"I'm blind, not stupid. Of course I saw."
"Then explain it!"
"Ask Bill. He reads books."
"Goddamn it! Peter's dead because of that little shit!"
"Idiot shouldn't have loosed without orders!"
"First battle jitters—his hand slipped on the bowstring."
"That kid was Tianhua, yeah Edward?"
"Face says yes, but the outfit... never seen cloth woven like that."
"Some backwater tribe maybe? Far southern borders?"
"Could be."
Matthew listened to the soldiers' murmurs with growing exasperation. While their chatter yielded fragments of intel about this "Arms Realm," most amounted to inane drivel. The low literacy rates here were painfully apparent—these grunts might as well be shouting "watermelon prices" for all the strategic value their words held. His attention shifted to the Tianhua command group, where actual decision-makers were conferring.
General Zhao—a broad-shouldered warrior with a scar cutting through his left eyebrow—barked at his subordinate:
"Wen Fang! How did a Tianhua child appear on the battlefield without our scouts detecting him?"
The young adjutant stiffened. "The reconnaissance cavalry swept this area three times, General. They found nothing—"
A dismissive snort.
Turning to a scholarly man in ink-stained robes, General Zhao's demeanor shifted to deference: "Master He Chuan, perhaps you can illuminate this mystery?"
The advisor stroked his beard, exhaling wearily. "General Zhao, the question isn't how he arrived, but what his presence means for our battle plans..."