Chapter 48: Justice from the Heavens

An overwhelming sense of deep foreboding washed over Mo Tan. Without the slightest hesitation, he tossed the wooden plank and paste he was holding, slammed his feet hard against the ground, and leapt backward about four or five meters. Right after that came a deafening crash as a heavy object slammed into the earth, followed immediately by...
Being crushed to the ground by a heap of stones and timber tumbling down from all directions!
A full twenty percent of his health bar was instantly wiped out by the impact! Moreover, he was afflicted with a dizzying status ailment that lasted for more than ten seconds, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't crawl out...
Leaving aside what manner of bizarre object had suddenly plummeted from the heavens, at least one thing was certain now: the prototype of the main cottage that Mo Tan had toiled over for the better part of the afternoon had collapsed once again. Although it wasn't a destructive meltdown of the apocalyptic variety caused earlier by Jaddaka and Yaya, it could still essentially be written off as an afternoon's work down the drain.
"Caw!" Far away, the old orc, who had just been startled out of his sweet slumber, opened his eyes, took one look at the scene, and promptly passed out again.
It was a miracle that the old codger still had a relatively sturdy constitution; otherwise, given this kind of psychological resilience, he probably would have been scared to death several times over...
Having finally dragged himself out from the ruins, Mo Tan had no immediate intention of waking up his employer. First, because he wasn't sure if the man would faint all over again upon regaining consciousness, and second, because he intended to check whether that sky-falling nuisance who had just cursed the heavens was still among the living.
Under any other circumstances, seeing the fruits of his hard-earned labor reduced to ruins in an instant would have made Mo Tan want to find a way to murder the guy who crashed down, even if he were still breathing. However, he was currently in a Lawful Good alignment state, and crafting things in this game wasn't quite as arduous as in reality (roughly setting up the prototype and structure was enough for the system to provide a degree of correction). Therefore, although somewhat displeased, he still harbored a lingering hope that the person had survived in one piece...
As the dust and smoke cleared, a tall, half-crouching silhouette slowly materialized. The scene looked uncannily like that certain old sci-fi movie from long ago featuring the Terminator—I mean, the T-800...
Crack... crunch!
The figure slowly stood up and stretched his body lightly. A series of crisp, muffled pops echoed through the air before he let out a long sigh: "I bloody thought I was gonna die again..."
With that, the fellow who had dropped from the sky slowly turned around, flashed Mo Tan a slight smile with a magnetic voice carrying a faint mechanical resonance, and said, "Hello there, I've come to collect my kidney~"
"Huh?" Mo Tan blinked in bewilderment, then carefully scrutinized the individual standing before him who supposedly passed for a human.
There was no doubt the newcomer was a humanoid creature, but upon closer inspection, he diverged somewhat from a normal human being. Numerous faint, glowing blue light ribbons rippled across the surface of his skin, though they didn't resemble magic or anything of the sort. Not only that, while this brother had a face remarkably similar to a human's, a closer look revealed it wasn't true flesh or human anatomy, giving the overall impression of a highly anthropomorphic robot.
Though it felt a bit strange to describe him that way, his ceramic-textured visage, the numerous glowing crevices lining his neck and arms, and his slightly stiff movements really didn't look much like a pure 'living organism'.
"What... are you?" Mo Tan asked awkwardly, "What did you just ask me for?"
"My name is Cordova~" The other man smiled at him, then pointed a finger at his own lower back. "I'm here to fetch my kidney."
The moment those words fell, a system notification chimed in Mo Tan's ear.
[World Quest 'Escort the Eternal Crystal' objective updated: Hand over the Eternal Crystal to Cordova]
His expression instantly turned very amusing. He promptly retrieved the crystal prism he had previously obtained from the Wood Sprite elder from his inventory, tilted his head, and gestured with it. "This?"
"That's the one. It's my kidney." Cordova smiled, extending a hand toward Mo Tan. "Thanks."
"If possible..." Mo Tan didn't hand it over right away. Instead, he swept his gaze across the surroundings and said, "I'd like you to help clean up this mess first. Well, at least lend a hand a bit~"
Cordova paused, then surveyed the surrounding wreckage, pointed at himself with a dumbfounded look, and stammered, "This... all of this was caused by my landing?"
"Well, not entirely. You only smashed a small portion," Mo Tan said truthfully. "Most of it was my fault... and my companions'. But if you aren't in too much of a rush, helping to tidy up would be fantastic. Of course, I'll give this to you first."
With that, he handed the Eternal Crystal in his hand over.
[Quest: Escort the Eternal Crystal, Completed]
"Thanks." Cordova took it, immediately jammed it into a square slot on the side of his waist (presumably a spatial item), and nodded at Mo Tan with a smile. "I'd be happy to help, pal. Besides, due to some unexpected accident, I can't leave for the time being anyway."
With that, he took two strides forward, effortlessly scooped up two long timber beams intended for support, and began humming a little tune as he prepared to go to work...
Meanwhile, Mo Tan stared in slack-jawed astonishment at the fellow's arms, which seemed completely oblivious to any weight, remaining frozen in place for a long time.
...
New Gateway, around 7:00 PM
"Heave-ho~" Cordova drove several wooden fence posts securely into the ground with the speed of a pile driver, glanced back, and winked at Mo Tan. "Take a break. I'll have this perimeter sorted out in just a moment."
At this moment, he was carrying a towering stack of wooden stakes on his shoulder that rose a good half-head higher than he did, while not far behind him stood the farm's main cottage, now seventy or eighty percent reconstructed.
"Really appreciate your help." Mo Tan smiled sheepishly, sitting down heavily on the spot and panting softly. "I suppose I do need to rest a bit..."
Over the previous period, their joint efforts had completed nearly seventy percent of the farm's restoration work. The Adventure Guild had delivered the construction materials along with the compensation late in the afternoon, and by now, barely any were left.
This guy named Cordova was simply a monster; his individual work efficiency was easily more than ten times that of Mo Tan. Thanks to him, the reconstruction work that originally would have taken at least two days to show initial results was now practically finished.
The farmer was still lying on the ground, covered with some scraps of fabric Mo Tan had fished out from somewhere, sleeping soundly.
Actually, the man had woken up once in the middle, but Cordova had promptly knocked him out cold again. In the latter's words, it was 'to give the old orc a pleasant surprise.'
Though basing the premise of a pleasant surprise entirely on unconsciousness left Mo Tan somewhat speechless, he figured it didn't really matter...
...
"Speaking of which," Mo Tan suddenly asked Cordova, who was still bustling about, "why on earth did you fall out of the sky earlier?"
He hadn't brought it up before, but after toiling together for a good while, Mo Tan sensed that this fellow had an extremely optimistic personality and wasn't one to fuss over such details, which prompted him to finally ask.
"Ah~ that matter." Cordova shrugged. "It's a long story~~"
Let us rewind time just a little bit...
Five minutes before Cordova's descent, south of the Anka Bazaar, high in the sky
An ice-blue giant dragon was leisurely spiraling above the cloud layer. Its body was covered in magical runes radiating cyan light, and ripples of near-tangible pressure pulsed around it. Judging by its appearance, this should be an Azure Dragon hailing from the northeastern reaches of the continent, and an adult one at that. Both its unique ice-attribute dragon-language magic and physical prowess were of the highest caliber. If it flew into a rage, it could easily wipe out a small-scale city—though, naturally, against a place like the Anka Bazaar, it still lacked the capability... even if several adult dragons banded together, it would be a stretch...
However, it hadn't come here to cause trouble. If one zoomed in closer, they would discover that sitting right upon the broad spine of this Azure Dragon was a person.
A humanoid creature with an expression of unadulterated excitement!
"I'm telling you for real, Femigel!" Cordova shouted, gesticulating wildly. "If I hadn't let out that roar back then, that senior who looked just like a goblin would have definitely sliced me into carpaccio! It was terrifying, but we've finally weathered the storm and tasted the sweet after bitter~~ Ah haha, oh hahahaha~"
The dragon carrying him rolled its giant eyes, exhaled heavily with a huff, and said, "Alright, we've arrived. I have things to attend to after I drop you off. Once you get the Eternal Core, immediately activate the teleportation crystal to return to the Pillar of Heaven, and then... Hey! Cordova, are you listening to me?"
"I'm listening." Cordova pinched a silver crystal, turning it over to inspect it closely as he muttered, "But how on earth do you use this thing? There isn't even a manual."
The dragon sighed, fixed itself in mid-air using magic, and said helplessly, "Throw it down to me, I'll teach you."
"Oh." Cordova obediently tossed the crystal downward.
"Listen carefully." The Azure Dragon named Femigel caught the crystal with its front claw and instructed earnestly, "First, you need to channel the primordial force within your body..."
Cordova nodded.
"Then, concentrate that primordial force into the hand holding the crystal until it glows. See? Just like this."
Cordova nodded.
"Lastly, silently recite the location you want to go to in your heart. This crystal only records a single destination, so you just need to think of the Heavens—"
Whoosh!!!
A blinding silver radiance abruptly enveloped Femigel.
"Hey!" Cordova cried out in dismay. "What do you mean by this!?"
The light grew increasingly intense!
"Roar!!! You mother—"
His response was a prematurely cut-off dragon roar.
And then...
Cordova plummeted downward.
Thus transpired the high-altitude exclamation of 'Bloody hell' that Mo Tan had heard earlier~
...
"So..." Mo Tan's expression at that moment was a masterpiece of mixed emotions, "The dragon that was supposed to drop you off teleported itself away, and then you just fell?"
Having finished the final section of the fence, Cordova nodded with a completely serene expression.
"Condolences." Mo Tan said sincerely. "You've really been through a lot."
"Pfft~ What's that compared to anything." Cordova shook his head and laughed. "My previous few liv... well, my previous lives were far more miserable, so I'm already quite content now. Yep, roughly speaking, can you follow?"
Mo Tan was stunned for a moment, then blurted out in astonishment, "You're a... player too?"
"Huh?" Cordova was equally taken aback. "You too?!"
Mo Tan nodded. He had all along assumed the other man was an NPC, especially given that he was tied to the world quest Mo Tan had accepted earlier, and Cordova possessed overwhelmingly formidable strength. Well, formidable strength made sense; after all, if it were him falling from that height, he would have died a hundred times over...
"How long have you been playing?" Thinking of this, Mo Tan couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "Your combat power feels a bit outrageously high."
"This character has only been played for a single day~" Cordova grinned. "As for the reason, it's not convenient to disclose at the moment."
However, even though Cordova had no intention of spilling the details to Mo Tan, we can still sneak a peek at his character sheet from a god's-eye perspective:
Cordova
Race: Runic Creation
Gender: Preset as Male
Level: Priest 1/1 (Hidden Class: Emissary 1/1)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Talents:
Never Die: Your urge to survive is overwhelmingly powerful! (Acquired after the second death)
[Note: Yes, this skill grants you no attribute bonuses whatsoever; it's merely a descriptive label.]
Indomitable: You will never feel despair! (Acquired after the fourth death)
[Note: A difficult life has forged your will into something as hard as a rock, but what bloody good does that do?]
Gifted: Your aptitude is exceptionally well-suited for practicing skills such as the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Tathagata Palm, Kamehameha, and Pegasus Meteor Fist. When learning the aforementioned skills, mastery restrictions are ignored (Acquired after the fourth death)
[Note: Such skills do not appear to exist in the game.]
Chosen One: You are LeBron James of the basketball world, Tiger Woods of the golf world, (data redacted) of the photography world, and Sister Feng of the entertainment world! Yes! You are that chosen one! Consequently, every failure of yours increases the world's corruption level by 1% (Acquired after the fifth death)
[Note: You'd best not fail. The penalty for failure is something you cannot bear!]
Transcendent: Your attributes are fixed, you cannot level up, you cannot accept conventional quests, you cannot use any standard equipment with bonus attributes, and you cannot learn any skills.
[Note: It's good enough already, what more bicycle do you want?]
Base Attributes: Strength 60, Agility 40, Wisdom 30, Constitution 60
Civilization Attributes: Eloquence 1, Charm 1, Scholarship 90, Leadership 1
Combat Attributes:
Runic • Iron: Your body is as hard as steel, reducing all physical damage taken by 25%
Runic • Might: Your strength attribute is twice the normal value
Runic • Tenacity: Your stamina regeneration rate is increased by 300%
Runic • Ward: Magical damage taken is reduced by 25%
Runic • Storm: Your speed is increased by 5%, your attacks are imbued with thunder effects, dealing an additional 10% damage
Hidden Flaw • Soul Fusion: Your soul is not completely compatible with your body, so negative effects from mental-type spells against you are increased by 25%
Hidden Flaw • Drain: Your power derives from pre-infused energy and is therefore finite. Please be sure to return to the Pillar of Heaven before the energy is exhausted!
Soul-Bound Equipment:
Emissary's Staff
Quality: Unique Epic
Attack Power: Medium
Attributes: All attributes +1%
Requirement: Runic Body
[Note: This massive staff looks more like a lance and possesses no distinguishing features. Its sole advantage is probably... being heavy enough? Inscribed on the staff shaft is a line of ancient text: There are many ways to protect a friend, such as skewering his enemies or crushing his enemies]
...
Since Cordova was reluctant to elaborate, Mo Tan naturally didn't press for answers, merely offering an exclamation: "Bro, your karma is truly something else~"
His response was a dry laugh tinged with bitter tears.
"Heh..."
Chapter 48: End