I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords-Chapter 23 - 0. One Night at the Theater_1

Chapter 23: 023. [One Night at the Theater]_1

Chapter 23: 023. [One Night at the Theater]_1

Lu Ban awoke once again to an unfamiliar ceiling.

Lush climbing plants, a dilapidated European dome, the stagnant air carrying the scent of decay.

A strand of golden, warm sunlight pierced through the spacious hole, shining onto Lu Ban’s face and prompting him to slowly open his eyes.

“Hmm…”

Lu Ban sat up.

He found himself holding a suona in his right hand, a flashlight lying on the ground, the stage old and dusty, filthy and stained.

The piano next to him was devoid of strings, leaving only the heavy, immovable frame which, due to years of rain, had rotted and sprouted mushrooms and moss.

For some reason, Lu Ban had survived.

“The effect of a great success?”

With clear memories of the previous night, Lu Ban recalled the 1 point he had thrown with “All-In”, which seemed quite successful under these rules.

Under extreme luck, Lu Ban was able to maintain his last shred of sanity, picked up the suona, and began to play.

Although he didn’t know the power behind the suona, it seemed that it did not sit well with that being who had confronted Du Danping.

Perhaps it was this final stroke of luck that allowed Lu Ban to survive.

As he pondered, the dust accumulated on the stage moved as if it had its own consciousness, forming the indifferent text of the System.

[Congratulations on completing your mission]

[Now, the settlement process will begin]

[Mission Exploration Degree: 90%]

[Mission Completion Status: Stunning]

[During your one night at the theater, you witnessed a martyr who concealed his name, and you have etched his melody in your heart. There are always some people in this world who will play these tunes when they’re most needed. Everything seems wonderful, but the seeds of disaster have long been sowed.]

[You have earned Silence Points: 700 points]

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

[You have received a career reward: Skill: Midnight Melody]

[You have received a career reward: Item: One Night at the Theater]

[Settlement completed]

[Maintain a high passion for creation, for continuing to create is the foundation of a creator’s existence]

[Choose to complete career development tasks to receive career rewards]

[The tutorial has been completed, and free-choice mode is now open]

[Welcome back to the Silent Lands]

“700 points…”

The first thing Lu Ban noticed was the reward.

Last mission, his exploration degree was only 30%, and the evaluation was “Mediocre”. But this time, it soared to 90%, earning a higher acclaim of “Stunning”.

However, the increase in Silence Points wasn’t as high as he imagined.

Probably because Lu Ban had grown accustomed to the two thousand Silence Points he’d earned through short videos.

He had struggled so hard, nearly blown his brains out facing some alien creature from who knows where, and all for just seven hundred Silence Points, not even enough to recoup the cost of a crowbar.

The System really is stingy.

“Perhaps it’s because of the task’s difficulty level?”

Lu Ban speculated.

This task was rated [Mortal], which seemed the simplest level. In fact, if Lu Ban hadn’t had so many useful items, unable to break free from the melody to smash Du Danping’s head, he might have ended up just a puppet for the night, helplessly watching those mannequin models walk back and forth in front of him, slightly scary, but at least not that dangerous.

So, it’s possible that the maximum reward for this difficulty level tasks is a thousand Silence Points.

Compared to that, making videos to earn points seems better.

Lu Ban suddenly found it ironic.

It oddly resembled today’s society, where one might earn less from diligently conducting research and exploring the world than an entertainer pocketing more for a single advertisement endorsement.

Regardless, seven hundred points were still seven hundred points, at least it was some consolation.

Lu Ban wasn’t a greedy person, and he had no intention of questioning the System.

Contentedness brings happiness, after all, he is just an ordinary Mortal.

He checked his other gains.

[One Night at the Theater] was video material, all on his phone, almost causing Lu Ban’s phone memory to burst.

He flipped through it casually, and it was basically multi-angle footage of his activities throughout the night. It was a long duration and required editing to watch.

According to the career plan set by the System, this should be the material he needs for his next phase of short film production.

As for [Midnight Melody], it was a piece of music.

It didn’t exist in Lu Ban’s cell phone, but in his brain.

Unlike the skills that clung to the cerebral cortex like cobwebs, brought by the crowbar and the suona, this melody was directly engraved into the brainstem and spinal cord, etched into the DNA.

That is to say, Lu Ban could play this melody anywhere, using anything capable of producing sound.

He picked up his phone and turned on the keypad tones.

Drip drop tap tap—

His fingers moved faster than Lu Ban could comprehend, playing out this melody filled with discordant notes and complex variations.

If there were a piano now, even if Lu Ban had no idea how to play, he could perform it instinctively.

More than astonishment, this feeling brought a sense of fear.

This sudden acquisition of knowledge he had never encountered made Lu Ban feel an uncomfortable sense of his brain being scrutinized.

And this melody…

Although he hadn’t experimented yet, the knowledge in Lu Ban’s mind told him that this melody had some kind of resistance to those unclean beings, also commonly known as an exorcism tune.

Perhaps if he played it with his own suona, the effect would be doubled?

Lu Ban pondered.

He put down his phone, closed his eyes, and recalled what he had seen and heard last night.

When his eyes fell upon that dark yellow planet and the strange glow of Aldebaran, Lu Ban knew that certain knowledge he shouldn’t have obtained, like the melody, had likewise flowed into his brain.

But this knowledge was fragmented and disorderly; he could only vaguely discern that those two indescribable great entities were currently inactive, only able to interfere with the outside under extremely special circumstances.

Thinking this, Lu Ban materialized that silver revolver in his right hand.

He saw that one of the six bullet chambers contained a dark yellow Speech Bullet.

“It actually recorded.”

Lu Ban was somewhat surprised; he had only instinctively filled the last empty slot of the bullet chambers with gibberish, and didn’t actually remember what he had done.

But he didn’t expect it to be successfully recorded.

Raising “Testament,” Lu Ban pulled the trigger against his temple.

Then, opening his mouth, he attempted to make a sound.

“■■■■■■”

A sound that didn’t belong in this world resounded, a sound that no creature on Earth could or should make, a vast, indifferent, distant lullaby from a Foreign Domain echoed through the theater’s hall.

The moment he heard the sound, Lu Ban’s own brain buzzed as if exploding; that sensation of a red-hot iron stirring inside his head surged once more, but soon, the feeling subsided, and Lu Ban began to find the sound as pleasant as heavenly music, even wanting to follow it like the melody of a Christmas carol.

Lu Ban closed his mouth and stopped the repetition.

“…Terrifying, just listening to this makes you feel like you’re losing your Sanity… right.”

Though he said it was terrifying, the expressionless Lu Ban suddenly remembered that he should have lost a lot of Sanity after last night’s events and wondered what his status was now.

He opened his personal panel.

[Name: Lu Ban]

[Occupation: Director]

[Education: Bachelor’s degree]

…

[Strength: 55]

[Constitution: 65]

[Size: 60]

[Dexterity: 70]

[Appearance: 90]

[Intelligence: 65]

[Will: 80]

[Education: 70]

[Luck: 20]

[Sanity: 0]

*

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