Picking Up Attributes From Today

Panda Novel

The Great Dragon Blood Wall stretched on for several thousand kilometers.

A pass was set up every 50 kilometers. Just the number of passes in the whole of the Great Dragon Blood Wall alone totaled up to almost 100, and the North River Pass was one of them.

The North River Pass was named as such due to its proximity to the North River.

The North River flowed from the west to the east. Starting from the Titan Plateau where the Titan Empire was, it cut all the way through the Magical Beast Forest and Dragon God Empire before finally flowing into the deep, boundless East Oceans. It was one of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s biggest rivers and nurtured countless lives.

The whole North River was currently surging turbulently with churning waves, however. Crimson-red Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants marched across the river toward the pass, advancing upon North River Pass as though a great army.

“The ant tide… It’s here!”

Hoooonk!

Hoooonk!

Hoooonk!

“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”

“Attention, everyone! The ant tide is here!”

The loud and clear air horn blasts cut through the sky, startling all the military personnel in North River Pass. Soldiers, archers, arbalists, and guarding Magicians all got into their positions one by one.

A black-robed elderly man, Dirk Norway, also led dozens of magic academy students and raced up to the top of the city walls. Then, he went up to Cesia Dodgson, the general in charge of guarding the pass.

“Marchioness Cesia, all the Magicians from Fire Dragon Magic Academy have assembled and are awaiting your orders!”

Dirk Norway looked at the female general in front of him with a vague hint of respect in his eyes. Many of the students also looked at her with idolizing expressions.

Cesia Dodgson, a Dragon Person Warrior with Green Dragon blood, the general in charge of guarding North River Pass, and the only female general among more than 100 frontier generals!

Not only was she strong, but she also protected the kingdom and guarded the borders. Even as a woman, she didn’t lose out to a man in terms of her abilities and bravery. She could be said to be the role model for all women and was also an idol that innumerable teenage girls pursued and idolized.

“Mr. Dirk, we’re in a critical situation now, so I won’t stand on ceremony with you anymore!”

Marchioness Cesia had green wings on her back and green curved horns on her forehead. She wore a suit of green armor that brought out her tall, slender figure and made her look valiant, brave, and very heroic.

Her eyes were cold and chilly as she looked straight at the dozens of student Magicians from Fire Dragon Magic Academy. “Sixth-Grade Magicians, step forward!”

Whoosh!

Seven to eight sixth-grade seniors stepped forward in response to her command. They were all Sixth-Grade Magicians that would be graduating this year.

“Soldier, bring them to the mid-grade mage towers!”

“Yes, my lady!”

“Fifth-Grade Magicians, step forward!”

“Soldier, bring them to the low-grade mage towers!”

“Yes, my lady!”

In the blink of an eye, a good half of the students Dirk Norway had brought here were led away, leaving behind only about a dozen Fourth-Grade Magicians who hadn’t received any instructions yet.

Amongst them were the fully-armed Hart dressed in a suit of golden armor—he was fully and completely wrapped—and carrying a golden magic staff, the expressionless Abbe, as well as the porcelain-skinned Dragon Person teenage girl, Tanna.

Fatty Hart and the others looked at Marchioness Cesia in anticipation, hoping that she’d arrange for them to enter the mage towers too. However, they were sorely disappointed.

Marchioness Cesia said, “One must be a Fifth-Grade Magician at the minimum in order to control the mage towers. All of you are too weak, so you can only fight against the enemies at the top of the city walls.”

“…”

Fatty Hart and the others exchanged looks in silence.

As Magicians, they naturally knew of amazing tools like the mage towers. They had just been thinking of going in to take a look and broaden their horizons, but little did they expect that things would turn out like this…

However, Marchioness Cesia didn’t have the leisure to be sensitive to their feelings because the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants covering every inch of the wilderness had already come engulfing toward them like a red deluge.

One couldn’t see to the end of the flood of ants, nor could they see the edges. They stretched on for several hundred kilometers!

There was no end to them, whether from the left and right or from the front and back.

At the sight of the ant tide’s terrifying scale, Dirk Norway’s countenance was extremely grave. “Marchioness Cesia, the ant tide is actually invading with such a fearsome momentum? It’s more terrifying than any of the past beast tides!”

Marchioness Cesia’s pretty face was dark and somber as she replied, “The area that the ant tide covers has probably already exceeded 300 miles. In addition, there is still an endless stream of ants on their way here. I’m afraid…”

She didn’t voice the rest of her thoughts, but anyone could tell what she meant—”I’m afraid it bodes more ill than fortune. It’s going to be hard to defend the pass!”

“We won’t be able to defend the pass?”

Fatty Hart and the others tensed up at once. The ant tide army surged toward them like seawater, emanating a baleful aura that rocketed to the skies. The sight of them made chills run down their spines. How would they still have the courage to fight against them?

“Can we really fight against that many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants?” Blood drained from a few of the students’ faces, and they turned as pale as sheets.

“What nonsense!”

Dirk Norway barked coldly, “As Magicians guarding the pass, how can you let fear consume you before you’ve even begun to fight? Listen well, all of you are Magicians that my Fire Dragon Magic Academy has groomed!

“No matter where and no matter when, you mustn’t forget your identities as Magicians! Nor can you bring disgrace to the academy!

“So what even if you’re weak? You can still enter the battlefield and take out the enemies! Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, so as long as you can kill even just one, you’d have performed beyond expectations! Do you understand me?”

“Understood!”

A severe jolt went through Fatty Hart and the others, and the fear in their eyes faded slightly.

Dirk Norway nodded lightly. Then, he instructed, “However, killing the enemy aside, all of you must take utmost care to protect yourselves. I don’t wish to bring any of your corpses back! Do you hear me?”

“Yes!”

“Good!”

Dirk Norway let out a breath of air. All strong experts started out weak and feeble. Who hadn’t been nervous, scared, and fearful before?

The key was in adjusting one’s frame of mind and overcoming their fear, as well as to muster one’s courage after having a sense of shame and then strive to be better.

That way, they would definitely become powerful experts.

However, if experiencing just a bit of setback could frighten them so badly that they lost all of their courage and ended up becoming overly cautious, then no matter how wonderful their talent was, they would never amount to anything.

“Hear my orders! Arbalists… Fire!”

Upon seeing that the ant tide army’s vanguards had already charged right up to them, Marchioness Cesia waved the huge sword in her hand and gave the order to attack.

Boom, boom, boom!

Various ballista bolts with lightning, flames, storms, and ice frost circling around them shot out viciously and exploded with deafening booms among the ant tide. At once, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants suffered a great number of casualties, and quite a few voids appeared in the boundless ant tide.

“Alright!”

“Nice!”

Upon the sight of this, Fatty Hart and the others couldn’t help but become greatly enthused. Did they even need to worry about being unable to exterminate the ant tide with efficient weapons like these?

Unfortunately, the ants weren’t affected in the least. They stepped over their comrades’ carcasses and continued to surge toward them. The voids created by the explosions were filled in no time, and the situation returned to what it was like before.

“This…”

Fatty Hart and the others were stupefied. The deaths of so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants hadn’t actually had any impact on the ant tide at all? Weren’t they afraid to die?

1

“That is what makes ant tides more terrifying than ordinary beast tides.” Dirk Norway explained in a deep voice, “The beasts in beast tides are afraid to die, so it’s hard for them to become united. However, the ant tide is fearless and marches on courageously unless you exterminate all of them. Otherwise, they’ll never retreat!”

“Why is this happening?”

The group of newbies was frightened by the scene before them. However, what happened next told them that this was only the beginning.

“Fire!”

Boom, boom, boom!

The ballistae launched attacks in a frenzy. Dozens of bolts exploded in the center of the ant tide, yet there wasn’t even a bit of effect at all.

Wave upon wave, the ants continued to advance endlessly.

Even after killing the ones at the front, there were still those behind them.

There was no end to them at all, and it practically filled one with hopelessness.

“So this is what an ant tide is?”

Fatty Hart and the others sucked in a breath of chilly air.

In this instant, they finally understood a few things. For example, why the kingdom had issued a special-class beast tide warning, why the academy had assembled the seniors on a large scale to resist the ant tide, and why the kingdom was in an uproar as if doomsday had come.

With an ant tide as terrifying as this, what difference was there between this and doomsday?