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ArabicArknights: Soul Knights of Terra — Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Four-Person Meeting
Senses were violently pulled, as if space itself had been crushed and haphazardly reassembled by an invisible giant’s hand.
The next moment, the heavy, suffocating weight of his lava body suddenly felt incredibly light. The acrid, scorched scent of the ruined Rhine Lab vanished, instantly replaced by a tranquil, nostalgic atmosphere. The Boss’s perception snapped back into focus. What materialized before his eyes was the incomparably familiar lobby of the Vitality Hall.
Aside from the glaring absence of the usual pixelated NPCs standing at their respective stations, every single detail was exactly as it had been when they played online in their dorm.
“Boss, you’re awake? You’re already a pretty girl!” A voice dripping with an annoying, cynical tone rang out through their mental link.
The Boss turned his massive, craggy head toward the sound. Standing before him with hands planted firmly on his hips was a striking figure. He wore a dark red and black hunter’s outfit, a mocking smirk plastered across his unnaturally pale face. Scarlet pupils gleamed faintly in the dim light of the Vitality Hall, and one hand casually gripped the haft of a massive, exaggerated scythe.
It was the exact appearance of the Vampire’s Crimson Shadow Judgment Vane skin. Only right now, the soul piloting this gorgeous, bloodsucking avatar was their chaotic Fourth brother.
The Fourth casually reached out, gently poking the Boss’s rock-hard lava chassis with the butt of his scythe.
“Boss, your new look is certainly unique. Can you still feel the existence of your… y’know, ■■ right now?”
The Boss instinctively opened his jaws to scold the idiot, but the only sound that rolled out of his molten throat was a deafening, guttural roar.
The Fourth blinked, momentarily stunned. “Wait, can this skin not even speak human language?”
At that moment, another voice drifted over from the side, carrying a heavy sense of hollow exhaustion.
“He might have just said it, but our ears simply can’t process the frequency.”
The Boss turned his head and froze. The person speaking was a tall, striking woman. She was dressed in a revealing crop top and ripped black stockings that perfectly outlined a dangerously alluring, hot, and sexy set of curves. Floating beside her, wrapped in an ominous, dark aura, was the Staff of Sorcery.
It was the Necromancer’s Orange Flame Demon Eye Vera skin.
“You are… the Second!?”
The Boss’s shocked voice exploded across their mental link, the sheer surprise causing a few fragments of cooling magma to chip off his chin and clatter against the floor.
“Hahahaha!” The Fourth threw his head back and laughed wildly, nearly dropping his heavy scythe. “I told you the Boss would lose his mind! Second, this skin of yours… tsk, tsk. It’s a certified nerd’s dream!”
“Shut up!”
The Second’s voice cracked with obvious embarrassment and intense annoyance. She instinctively reached up to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose—glasses that no longer existed—before awkwardly dropping her delicate, manicured hand back to her side.
“Is now really the time to discuss this? Boss, how is your injury?”
Reminded by her words, the Boss suddenly recalled the agonizing, tearing pain of being impaled by Saria’s calcified crystal cone. He immediately looked down at his waist and abdomen. The massive, gaping hole he had brutally dug out of his own body was completely gone, leaving his jagged lava shell perfectly intact.
“I’m fine… it should be the lingering effect of my skill…”
The Boss slowly pushed himself up to his full, towering height and surveyed the room. The materialized Vitality Hall felt eerily empty.
“Where is the Third? Why don’t I see him?”
“I’m here…”
A timid, trembling voice interjected through the link.
Only then did the Boss notice a massive silhouette cowering in the deep shadows of the Hall’s corner. It was a towering monster with a majestic, skeletal deer head. Its entire body was pitch-black, and eerie candle flames flickered silently across its dead-wood-like antlers.
It was the Druid’s Forest Emissary Gusi skin.
Right now, this terrifying, massive wendigo-like creature looked entirely lost and pitiful.
“Third, why are you standing all the way over there in the dark? Come over here,” the Boss called out gently in the link.
The Third hesitated for a long moment before taking heavy, thudding steps, slowly walking out of the shadows.
As he stepped completely into the warm light of the lobby, the four roommates could finally get a clear, unobstructed look at each other’s current states.
A hideous, towering Fire Demon. A hot, scantily-clad Necromancer. A gorgeous, aristocratic Vampire. And… a bizarre, terrifying deer-headed monster.
The sheer absurdity of the scene caused the air in the room to stagnate for a long, heavy moment.
Abruptly, the Second’s voice echoed gloomily in their minds. “So… we really transmigrated…”
Hearing her confirmation, the Third instinctively lowered his massive head, staring down at his sharp, terrifying claws covered in thick black fur and his hard, armored hooves. His voice trembled with undisguised fear. “And we turned into monsters…”
The Boss let out a long, heavy sigh, exhaling a small cluster of sparks that carried the thick, acrid scent of sulfur.
The group’s collective gaze slowly drifted toward the Fourth. He was currently ignoring the existential dread entirely, violently yanking on the handle of the pixel-style refrigerator sitting in the corner.
“What the hell, why is there absolutely nothing in this fridge?”
He slammed the door shut in frustration and knocked the handle of his massive scythe against the metal casing, producing a hollow clanging sound.
“…” x3
The Second helplessly dragged a hand down her beautiful face. “Why would there be anything in there…”
Yet, thanks to the Fourth’s brainless interruption, the heavy, oppressive atmosphere weighing down on them had dispersed significantly.
The Second took a deep breath. She clapped her hands together in front of her chest, the crisp sound instantly drawing everyone’s attention back to her.
“Alright, enough moping. It’s utterly useless to complain about heaven and earth at this point.” Her voice had regained its usual calm, analytical edge. “Right now, we need to properly organize our information.”
She looked around at the three of them, her tone clear and authoritative. “First, what we can definitively confirm is that we have physically become the characters we controlled in Soul Knight. We possess the exact appearances, the powers… and quite possibly the background lore associated with our respective skins.”
She turned her glowing gaze to the Boss. “Boss, your fire manipulation clearly stems from the Hell Axe Gregor skin.”
The Boss nodded silently. He opened his massive, craggy palm, and a small, scorching sphere of liquid fire bloomed quietly in the center, proving her point perfectly.
“I have a question!” The Fourth suddenly shot his hand into the air, his pale face set in an expression of utmost, scholarly seriousness.
The Second looked at him, a hint of exhausted helplessness flashing in her eyes. “Speak.”
The Fourth pointed a pale finger directly at the Second’s current hot, sexy Necromancer body, his tone brimming with genuine academic inquiry. “The way you look right now… uh, that thing of yours… is it still there?”
The air in the Vitality Hall froze instantly.
The Second’s slender body trembled violently, and her floating Demon Eye suddenly flared with a highly dangerous, murderous red light.
“This kind of question… is not important at all!”
The Fourth seemed completely oblivious to his impending doom, nodding thoughtfully to himself. “Oh, so that means it’s gone.”
“I am going to smash you into a bloody pulp right now!”
The Second roared, her usual calm shattering. She hoisted the Staff of Sorcery—which looked deceptively heavy—and prepared to charge directly at the Fourth.
The Fourth let out a weird, terrified shriek, hurriedly mimed zipping his lips shut, and dove behind the Boss’s burly, lava-armored body for dear life.
“Alright, stop messing around,” the Boss’s low, rumbling voice echoed in the link as he casually raised his arm, blocking the staff that the Second swung symbolically at the cowering vampire.
The Second withdrew her weapon with a huff, though her glowing Demon Eye continued to glare daggers at the Fourth.
Despite the chaotic farce, the initial panic and heavy dread that had gripped the group was largely dispelled.
The Second forcibly reigned in her emotions, steering the topic back on track. “Back to the main point. Besides our appearances and innate powers, we also retain our active skills from the game.”
“The Boss just used [Energy Shield] back in the ruins, and the Third summoned… uh, a deer-headed monster?”
The Third chimed in softly, his voice rumbling from his skeletal jaws. “It’s [Summon Giant Bear], the Druid’s third skill.”
“Right,” the Second nodded. “My skills and the Fourth’s haven’t been tested yet, but theoretically, they should all be fully functional. This is our most important capital for surviving in this world.”
Hearing the mention of skill testing, the Fourth immediately perked up, peeking out from behind the Boss. “Should we try them out right now? We happen to have some ready-made targets right here!”
“Don’t rush,” the Second sighed, rubbing her temples.
The Boss reached out his massive palm and clamped it down onto the Fourth’s shoulder, intending to pull the idiot back into line.
“Aww—!! Hot, hot, hot, hot!! Boss, I’m on fire! Your hand! Take your hand away!” The Fourth immediately unleashed a series of shrill, agonizing screams, frantically slapping at the fabric of his cape, which now bore a glowing, smoking handprint.
The Boss hastily withdrew his hand, feeling a pang of guilt. He stared at his steaming palm and coughed awkwardly in the mental link. ‘[Sorry, I didn’t pay attention to my surface temperature.]’
The Second completely ignored the burning vampire and continued her calm analysis. “According to the lore information the Fourth provided earlier, that woman, Saria, possesses a combat power that places her firmly in the Overworld tier of this world.”
“So, judging by the fact that the Boss was actually able to go head-to-head with her and survive… we should possess a decent amount of self-preservation ability here.”
“However, survival isn’t just about fighting.” The Second looked around at the three of them, her tone growing incredibly serious. “Now, we have to consider other, far more basic, but equally deadly problems.”
Almost the exact moment her words fell, the four of them—driven by their respective personalities and immediate circumstances—blurted out completely different answers in unison.
Boss: “Language.”
Second: “Information.”
Third: “Food…”
Fourth: “Girls!”
“…” x3
The Second’s Demon Eye narrowed dangerously, locking onto the Fourth, who was currently trying his best to look innocent.
“Uh,” the Fourth hurriedly stammered, desperately trying to salvage his answer. “I mean… a reliable local guide! Right, a guide! Preferably a pretty one, just to make it easier for us to integrate into local society faster…”
The Second slowly raised the staff in her hand, her voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm whisper. “I think, before we even begin to discuss food, language, or information, it would be best to incinerate the harmful trash inside our team first.”
“Boss, save me!” the Fourth shrieked, instantly diving back behind the Boss’s burly lava body.
The Boss sighed, feeling a headache coming on despite his lack of a biological brain. “Alright, everyone be serious… the guide issue can be postponed indefinitely.”
“Our current priorities are: language, information, and food.”
He looked down at the Second. “The language barrier requires systematic learning. Do you have any ideas?”
The Second merely shot a sideways glance at the Fourth, signaling the lore-nerd to explain.
Fourth: “Ahem! Most of the nations in this world are heavily based on real-world countries, and Yan—which represents China—is among them.”
Third: “So speaking Chinese is fine?”
Fourth: “No, Victorian… or rather, English is the universal common language across Terra.”
The Boss nodded slowly. At the very least, they were all university students; they should be able to scrape by with normal English conversation, right?
He turned his gaze back to the Third. “As for food… do these new bodies of ours even need to eat? And if they do, what exactly are we supposed to consume?”
The Third was stunned by the question, instinctively reaching down to rub his furry, armored belly.
“Now that you mention it, I don’t feel any sense of hunger at all…”
The Second offered a hypothesis. “Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we are game characters. After all, there is no hunger meter in Soul Knight.”
The Boss looked down at his own molten, rocky chassis. “If I really had to eat, I can’t even fathom what I would consume. Lava? Coal?”
Shaking his heavy head, the Boss steered the conversation forward. “Regardless, we need to understand this world better—which brings us to information. Fourth, you are our primary source of intelligence.”
The Fourth poked his pale face out from behind the Boss’s shoulder. “Ahem, about the information… what I actually know is strictly limited to the game’s main plot and lore text. I can’t remember every tiny detail, but I do remember the general gist of it…”
As the Fourth finished summarizing the grim reality of Terra, a heavy silence fell over the group.
The Boss spoke up, his voice grave. “Isn’t this world a little too dangerous?”
The Fourth nodded solemnly, dropping his usual cynical smile. “Who says it isn’t? After all, there is never a shortage of suffering on this land.”
Shaking off the grim mood, the Fourth changed the subject, gesturing broadly around the Vitality Hall. “Alright, we’ve got a grasp on the information… next up, shouldn’t we figure out what this safe house is actually capable of?”
“Besides acting as a panic room where we can shout ‘go home’ and hide, does it have any other functional mechanics? For example… can we fast-travel directly to other locations from here?”
“Or, just like in the game, can we use the workshop to craft weapons, plant buffs in the garden, or something?”
The Fourth’s rapid-fire questions instantly snapped everyone to attention.
This Vitality Hall had just saved them from mortal danger, but it might very well hide even more secrets—secrets that could be the key to their long-term survival and future on Terra.