novelraw Chapter 133-1: Refined Copper Essence, Grand Scholar Rona (1)
Chapter 133-1: Refined Copper Essence, Grand Scholar Rona (1)
[The Refined Copper Monstrosity opened its massive jaws and let out a metallic, grinding laugh, as if mocking your incompetence.]
Lin Xun took a deep breath.
He stepped forward and attacked again.
[…]
[With a thunderous crash, your Ancient Dragonfang Greatclub slammed into the barrier of light!]
[The light screen rippled like water…]
[Then stilled. The barrier returned to its original form. Your attack failed to strike the Refined Copper Monstrosity, and dealt no damage.]
The Earth Giant’s brute-force assault couldn’t break the barrier, nor could it penetrate through to hit the monster.
Lin Xun frowned.
If the light barrier could block physical attacks, maybe spell-based attacks would fare better.[You possessed the shell of the Corrupted Yellow-Robed Bishop of the White Moon Church!]
[You raised your Thunder Dragon Staff-Spear and began chanting…]
[Scarlet lightning flickered through the air…]
[The light screen rippled like water…]
[Then stilled again. The barrier returned to normal. Your spell failed to strike the Refined Copper Monstrosity, and dealt no damage.]
Lin Xun repeatedly tried various forms of attack against the barrier. But the results were always the same, the screen couldn’t be breached.
“This light grid is even more ridiculous than the safe zone barrier…”
He furrowed his brow in thought.
The Refined Copper Monstrosity was clearly being imprisoned here by the Plant Owner, which meant the barrier must have been set up by the owner.
If he wanted to disable it, the key might lie with the Plant Owner himself.
Lin Xun exited the basement and returned to the door of the Plant Owner’s office.
He switched to the Technician shell, hoping to trigger some new dialogue that might yield information.
[You push open the door. The Knowledge-Seeking Smelting Plant Owner is seated in a leather chair, reading a list.]
[It asks whether you’ve completed the feeding task.]
[You shamelessly nod and affirm that the Refined Copper Monstrosity has had a satisfying meal.]
[The Knowledge-Seeking Smelting Plant Owner is pleased with your report. It tells you that you can now clock out and go rest, or stay in the factory and accompany the visiting client.]
[You bow and quietly exit the office.]
Next, Lin Xun switched to the Dancer shell.
He re-entered the office once more.
But the game only displayed the trade interface with the Plant Owner, nothing new, nothing useful.
[You gesture that you still need time to consider, then exit the office.]
So, switching shells and talking with the Plant Owner wouldn’t yield the method to disable the light barrier.
Which meant only one path remained, become the Plant Owner himself.
Maybe the shell or its memories held the answer to disabling the barrier.
After a moment of deliberation, and seeing no other way forward, he decisively opened the Shell Panel.
[You possessed the shell of the Corrupted Earth Giant!]
[You kicked the office door off its hinges and charged in, swinging your Ancient Dragonfang Greatclub at the frail-looking figure inside…]
[The Knowledge-Seeking Smelting Plant Owner showed no fear. As the unfamiliar attacker approached, it let out a cold laugh. The countless eyes across its face all snapped open at once, glaring at you…]
[Suddenly, you saw countless chaotic characters flood toward you…]
[You are struck by Infusion of Illusory Knowledge! You feel dizzy and lightheaded, your blood rushing to your head, you collapse to the floor.]
[A torrent of disordered knowledge floods into your soul. You begin to lose yourself in this chaotic sea.]
[Sanity slips away. Madness consumes your mind.]
[Your skull explodes with a thunderous pop…]
[You are dead!]
???
Lin Xun’s mouth twitched slightly.
The Earth Giant got stared at and immediately overloaded on knowledge… and died like a dog?
[An ordinary wandering soul respawns in the chaotic factory…]
At this point, night had already fallen, and Lin Xun’s soul strength had just recovered to two-thirds.
With practiced ease, he spent 1 point of soul strength to reshape a shell.
[You have possessed the shell of the Corrupted Earth Giant!]
Lin Xun was just about to leave the Doll Factory and return to the Smelting Plant.
Then, he suddenly sensed that something was off.
After a knowledge overload, a wandering soul should enter an uncontrollable state and would normally need to spend 1 additional point of soul strength to purge the chaotic knowledge in the soul before it could act or possess again.
Moreover, after cleansing the knowledge, a system message should appear indicating that the knowledge limit had increased.
So why had those steps been skipped entirely?
Lin Xun checked the previous game logs.
The Earth Giant was supposed to smash the Plant Owner to death with a single swing, but instead got filled to the brim by a skill called Infusion of Illusory Knowledge, causing a knowledge overload.
Wait, something was wrong!
The combat log at the time didn’t show any gained knowledge value.
After the overload, he had also not received a summons from the Temple of Knowledge.
Even after death, he didn’t need to spend extra soul strength to purge any residual knowledge.
He opened the status panel. His knowledge stat was still 800/1100.
He checked the combat log again.
That Infusion of Illusory Knowledge, judging from the name, the Plant Owner’s skill forcibly injects illusory knowledge into the target.
So after his head exploded from overload, he hadn’t actually received any real knowledge points.
His knowledge had originally been 300. Upon first meeting the Plant Owner, it increased by 500, reaching the current 800.
Lin Xun suddenly remembered something.
He scrolled back to the log from his first encounter with the Plant Owner.
[…You have acquired knowledge. Knowledge +500! Current knowledge: 800/1100]
[The Knowledge-Seeking Smelting Plant Owner asks about today’s smelting operations.]
[As an Apostle pretending to be someone else, how do you respond…]
Back then, he had been using the Technician shell.
He hadn’t yet used the Earth Giant’s new eye’s knowledge amplification skill. And still, just by seeing the Plant Owner, he gained 500 knowledge.
If he had used the Earth Giant’s shell instead, with its severalfold knowledge gain buff, he definitely would’ve exploded on the spot just from looking.
“Even without any boost, it gave me 500 knowledge points. This Plant Owner’s power is… terrifying beyond belief!”
No wonder the Earth Giant died from a single glance.
Lin Xun controlled the Earth Giant and left the Doll Factory.
Once he possessed the Brass Carriage’s Beacon, the Brass Carriage would automatically head to the nearest pick-up location.
He waited quietly at the factory entrance, it felt kind of like waiting for a bus.
While waiting, he pondered.
He now understood why the Plant Owner was so outrageously strong, and also that his method of attack was flooding the enemy with illusory knowledge, causing a knowledge overload that led to instant death.
But the real question was, how the hell was he supposed to kill the Plant Owner?
The Earth Giant dies from a single look.
The Dancer’s stealth gets seen through instantly.
And the Yellow-Robed Bishop? That guy would probably be struck down before he even finished chanting his first incantation.
Lin Xun had been brute-forcing his way forward using the Earth Giant’s overwhelming strength for quite some time now.
This was the first real roadblock he’d hit in a while.
He set his phone down and began to think seriously.
The Plant Owner’s method of killing was through knowledge overload, filling his target’s mind until it exploded.
There was fundamentally no way to resist such an attack.
Unless…
What if he could kill the Plant Owner before it looked at him, or make it so it couldn’t see him at all?
His mind involuntarily drifted back to the Dancer’s stealth skill.
“If only I could enhance the Dancer’s stealth ability…”
Lin Xun opened his inventory.
Among the items were two Epic+ Grade tools.
[High-Energy Particle Shield Generator (Epic+ Item)… Using this item grants full-body protection. Until the device’s energy is depleted, you will not take damage.]
[Storm Scroll of Thunder from the Cloudless Wastes (Epic+ Item)… This item offers two attack modes… The second is a single-target strike, guaranteed to hit the enemy, focusing the entire force into a devastating blast that also inflicts extended paralysis.]
Although both of these items had been acquired for free, their strength and utility were undeniable.
Using either of them now would surely solve the current dilemma.
But… using such powerful trump cards here would be a massive waste.
Just as he was about to close his inventory and brainstorm another strategy, his eyes landed on a long-forgotten Special Equipment item.