Echoes of the Past

Chapter 39's data volume is not large enough.

During the conversation, Nan'an confirmed by touch that the Rubik's Cube did not react to the remaining corpses.

He feigned curiosity and asked, "When you were dissecting it, you could see what level of the Nightmare power that had merged with the Living Erosion, right?"

"Of course," Coralina explained. "Potions, Windweed Crystals, and other items can all do it. Take the materials you provided this time, for example; they are all the most common and readily available Living Erosion materials, which are very friendly to us students."

Level 1 Living Eclipses are similar to low-level mages, belonging to the initial stage of awakening after comprehending magical power.

There are two generally known ways for a Living Erosionist to be promoted.

The first method is naturally to obtain the Divine Nightmare Fragment.

It can delve deep into the black fog to search, or it can be separated from its own kind.

However, unless they have no other choice, most living erosioners would rather risk entering the black fog.

In order to achieve their goals, many of them were even willing to cooperate with the Fog Breakers to a limited extent.

The reason is simple: fragments taken from other living bodies always retain the original owner's Nightmare Power imprint.

Insufficient purity results in reduced energy, and complete digestion requires a long time, making it far less pure than the original fragments deep within the black mist, which melt instantly in the mouth.

The second method is to immerse oneself in the black fog for a long period of time.

Just as magic nourishes mages, the black mist itself is the breeding ground for the power of the Nightmare God.

If you soak it long enough, getting stronger is almost a natural process.

However, the vast majority of living erosion creatures still choose the first path, willing to take greater risks, and travel back and forth between the black fog and Nora like the human fogbreakers.

There is a reason for this.

Prolonged exposure to the black fog, once the 12-day safety threshold is crossed, will cause reason to slip toward unpredictable madness.

The Elu's manual records many stories of those who broke through the fog and returned on the 12-day death line, hearing repeated whispers in their ears.

No one could understand what was being said, and the language did not belong to any language family that Nora knew.

Most of those who return will temporarily suffer from persistent heart palpitations after nightfall and feel an unfounded fear of the shadows.

They would repeatedly dream of returning to the black fog, waking up in the middle of the night in terror.

It takes about 6 days for such abnormalities to completely subside.

Because it has fused with fragments of the Nightmare God, the Living Erosion is more resistant to the erosion of the Black Mist than the human Mistbreakers.

Recorded cases show that their safety deadline can be extended to twenty to thirty days.

However, unless one is a god-like being attempting to challenge the limits of the Nightmare God's power with their physical body, it is virtually impossible to stay in the black mist for an extended period.

According to the Elu Manual, those living erosion beings who are born with "magic eyes" are almost all lucky ones who reach a high level immediately upon their first awakening.

Therefore, beings like Almahern can be considered nobles among the living.

They don't need to go through the long and arduous path of low-level Living Corruption, which is far more perilous than the advancement of a mage; once they awaken on their own, they can freely expend the power of the Divine Nightmare.

Nan'an's lips curled into a smile.

Coralina was describing a strange corpse that clearly bore traces of the power of the Nightmare God, yet was so faint as to be almost nonexistent.

Upon opening the shroud, they found the original owner of the Fly Mist, whose body had been drained by the Rubik's Cube.

"I think it is very likely that this is a newcomer who has just awakened the power of the Nightmare God and was swept up by other living erosion. This extremely weak but real remnant is actually a sign that the power of the Nightmare God is about to take shape but has not yet been condensed... She is very valuable for research and may reveal a new path for us."

Nan'an's smile faded.

If a single corpse causes Nora's scholars to make a misjudgment on the research path of the Nightmare Erosion, he will become a sinner!

"Her Nightmare Fragment was originally located on her wrist." Nan'an tried to keep his voice calm. "I cut off that hand during the battle and burned the fragment."

Upon hearing this, Coralina subconsciously touched her chin and pondered.

"Was it possible that the data anomaly was caused by the disappearance of the core part, given that it was killed the instant it gathered all the power of the Divine Nightmare into its palm? That's not impossible."

She couldn't help but sigh.

"I thought it was a major research project..."

Nan'an quickly changed the subject to prevent her from overthinking: "I've already decided, from now on you'll be in charge of collecting money and chasing debts for me."

"So, senior has agreed?" Coralina's eyes lit up.

"I will pay you a salary, so you are not allowed to deduct my 'headcount fee' anymore."

With Corella's status as a middleman confirmed, her ability to resell smoothly means that even with a fixed salary, she can occasionally earn some extra income.

With absolutely no reason to refuse, she happily nodded in agreement.

The money problem has been temporarily resolved; apart from Corella's small group, the other students should be able to get money from their families.

According to Corella, the funds would arrive from the Twin Crowns within 10 days at most.

"I need the Demon-Suppressing Dust. Find a way to get me some."

"These are scarce resources," Coralina, now an accomplice, analyzed skillfully. "Bartering is a much easier way to obtain them. Since you have the ability to deal with the Living Erosion, it shouldn't be difficult to extract the remaining fragments of the Nightmare God from their bodies. How about this: you process more, take some fragments, and keep some. This way, we can use them as a control group for dissection and research, and you can also gain leverage in the trade."

Nan'an suddenly felt that those living erosions wandering in the dark ditch were like small, mobile vaults.

"Can fragments of the Divine Nightmare be sold at will?"

"It's officially forbidden, of course," Coralina said in a low voice, "but in private..."

"Go on."

"Whether they are potion makers, alchemists, puppeteers, or engravers, they are all very interested in new materials. They have no intention of becoming living erosions; they are just collecting and researching non-polluting fragments of the Divine Nightmare."

Clara licked her lips: "These rights belong exclusively to organizations that issue official licenses, but as you know, once demand increases, the market will spontaneously form."

As Corella recounted the details, Nanan unlocked another group of people not mentioned in the El Deer Handbook.

The fog thief.

They are similar to the Fog Breakers in that they both venture deep into the black fog to explore.

The difference is that this group chose the unsupervised border region of the Black Fog, infiltrating silently.

The encirclement of the remnants of the Nora civilization by the black fog meant that it was impossible to defend every part of the long border.

As long as you are bold enough, you can live up to the belief that "life and death are preordained, and wealth and honor are determined by fate."

The Senate was well aware of this, but its limited administrative power could not be wasted on dealing with these rats.

Historically, the underworld has only been cleaned up periodically. At other times, as long as the circulation of the Nightmare Fragments does not exceed a certain threshold, whether it is strictly controlled depends entirely on the ability and willingness of the local rulers.

Pirion was like that; as long as they didn't appear in front of him and didn't affect the overall security of Kren, he wouldn't bother to care.

But what if the Living Eclipse sold the Nightmare Fragments to someone with Kren citizenship, rather than a self-taught scholar, causing that citizen to become a Living Eclipse...?

kill!

He worked hard to cultivate the land, and the population was his tax revenue.

Anyone who touches his tax base, he'll kill them!

This is why citizenship is especially precious in Karen, a border city-state.

People from the surrounding decaying city-states were all scrambling to get into Keren and get a share of the spoils.

So much so that one can occasionally hear sarcastic remarks filled with a sense of regional superiority on the streets of Nan'an.

It's basically something like, "You stinking outsider, coming all the way to Karen to beg for food?"

"Do you know how to connect with these people?"

"certainly!"

Clara stood tall and proud, then realized she was speaking too loudly. She quickly turned around, and sure enough, all her classmates were looking in her direction.

She blushed with embarrassment.

"I never imagined that one day I would see a noble family's Sister Xia bragging about personally intervening in the order of the underworld, and even bragging about it so arrogantly," Nan An muttered to himself. "Back in the Gray Star era, nobles used butlers and servants to isolate themselves from the outside world."

"My family has fallen on hard times, so I have to do everything myself." Clara scratched her cheek, leaving faint red marks where her fingertips had traced. "Anyway... I know the ropes very well."

"Would you mind if I asked why you're getting involved with those people over there?"

"Senior," Clara suddenly raised her eyes, a sly smile curving her lips, "everyone has their own little secrets, you know."

Nan'an also felt that he shouldn't ask any further questions.

If things end up dragging on and involving Coralina's clique, and it turns out her purpose was to admire the Yellow River's waters falling from the sky, or something like artificial rain, then she'll be the one in an awkward position.

This girl's shyness is all an act. Only an inexperienced young man like Xiao Chu Nan would be fooled by her seemingly lively and cute side. If it really came down to it, even the locals of Mount Akina might not be her match.

To bring the conversation to a natural close, Nan'an calmly walked towards the dissection table.

Suiyue had already slipped away over there at some point and was now mingling among the members of the Tearfire Squad, observing the dissection process.

Despite her obvious discomfort, she stubbornly stood there, her lips tightly pressed together, her gaze fixed on the dissecter's hands.

I don't know why she wanted to join in this fun. Her face was clearly awkward, but she just forced herself to watch.

"If you need anything, contact me through Corella."

Having confirmed Corella's identity as the middleman, Nan'an had just turned to return to the deep cave area when a figure rushing over blocked his way.

"Miss Suizuki, Miss Suizuki."

Pirion's butler smiled and said, "A caravan from the Rostarec region has brought you some goods, which are now stored in the warehouse."

Suiyue clapped her hands: "It's a gift from Nilar."

Inside the warehouse, Suiyue skillfully untied the hemp ropes binding the goods.

The moment the cloth slipped off, two enormous black pigs were revealed.

Their fur was glossy black like satin, and their curved fangs gleamed with a cold, hard sheen in the dim light.

There were also several small cloth bags stuffed in the cloth bag next to it.

Suiyue picked one up and untied it. Inside were several dried herbs, their leaves curled up, veins clearly visible, and emitting a light, bitter plant fragrance.

A pen pal sending a gift—a scene both distant and familiar.

Before Nan'an traveled through time, he had heard his senior tell stories about it. But in his time, communication was already highly developed, and this relatively romantic approach had lost its context because it was too slow.

Unexpectedly, Nora was able to fill the missing link.

After the two black-bristled wild boars were carried back to the Kren Cave, they immediately attracted the attention of Cat Food.

He paced back and forth around his spoils, a kitchen knife already silently in his hand, eager to make the most of the good ingredients.

"This is a certified good product from a cat food vendor, so let's freeze it..."

"Meow!"

The cat food vendors protested fiercely.

His pronunciation is always changing; it was "gu" before, then "miao," and now "miwu."

Nan'an had no doubt that he would hear familiar sounds such as "Awoo," "Moo," and "Great Chu will rise, Chen Sheng will be king" in the future.

Cat Rice stood firmly in front of the two black pigs, preventing Suiyue from getting any closer.

"Let me try to understand... This is excellent ingredient, but transportation has made it less fresh, so it must be processed immediately. Freezing it would be a waste, wouldn't it?"

Cat Fan nodded vigorously, feeling a sense of warmth like meeting a kindred spirit in a foreign land, and couldn't help but come up and hug Nan An.

Suiyue was taken aback: "Old man, you can read minds?"

"The Evil Deer Code forbids the use of mind-reading mental magic on Nightmare Gods," Nan'an said. "I call this mutual appreciation among food lovers."

Nan'an found that understanding the cat's thoughts was not difficult at all; Erlu still needed to try to find a suitable way to read and understand.

He only needs to apply his own way of thinking... no, the way an old Chinese man loves food, and he can guess pretty accurately.

"Let's start processing it now, and we'll have a late-night snack."

The nightlife in the Kren Caves is about to transition into late-night snack time, and in the vast mountains of Kren, Elmarhern is struggling to catch the sparrows around the campfire.

Her cooking skills were appalling. The sparrows were either burnt or their internal organs were not properly removed, making her suffer from the pain. She would often recall the delicious food in Kren City—she often sneaked into Kren City just to indulge in a lavish feast.

She wholeheartedly agreed that the Living Eclipse was an anomaly with one foot in the black mist.

Even with the powerful Nightmare Eye of Aging, what she longed for was everything that the normal Nora still possessed.

If she could both squander the power of the Nightmare God and enjoy the existing resources of the Nora civilization, how wonderful would that be?

Thinking of this, Almahern suddenly became rougher when she bit the sparrow, the bone fragments scraping in her mouth, making her wince in pain.

"Nan'an!"

"Nan'an!"

This was the second time; both times she suffered greatly at the hands of Nan'an.

His proud power of the Divine Nightmare was not only useless, but the summoned Living Devouring Fish were also defeated in just a few breaths, dying miserably.

This guy is practically the natural enemy of the Nightmare God. She still can't understand how someone can resist the power of the Nightmare God with their physical body and remain unharmed.

Is it simply because he is a summoned creature?

This is utterly absurd!

Almahern grew increasingly angry: "No, the data volume isn't large enough. I need to find more people to test it out!"

"But the Eclipses around here have probably already heard about Suiyue Nan'an's exploits, and they probably won't listen to me and go to their deaths..."

"Perhaps we should bring some people from other city-states."