novelraw Chapter 164-2: Disappearing Veiled Aberrations (2)
Chapter 164-2: Disappearing Veiled Aberrations (2)
[You stepped forward to touch the Resting Page…]
[You chose to take a brief rest…]
[Your shell’s injuries and fatigue are fully restored…]
Lin Xun exited the Transplant Clinic with the Valkyrie.
During the second time he cast Falling Starlight in the President’s shell, the game text had displayed [You feel somewhat fatigued].
Afterward, he refreshed to recover from fatigue and tested Pleasure-Hazed Sight on a behemoth to measure the skill’s control duration and mana consumption.
Since the behemoth was an aggregate monster that had devoured countless eyeballs, its mental strength was extremely powerful.
The control duration of Pleasure-Hazed Sight was rather short, not enough to hold the creature long enough to cast Falling Starlight.
Most importantly, this special skill consumed a significant amount of mana.
According to the wretched game’s mechanics, after ‘somewhat fatigued’ came ‘very fatigued’, and then ‘utterly fatigued to the point of fainting’.Based on this, Lin Xun estimated that the President’s mental strength allowed for five casts of Falling Starlight. By the sixth, he might not even be able to finish channeling the skill before exhausting his mental strength and blacking out.
Through his testing, he found that the mana cost of Pleasure-Hazed Sight was nearly equal to Falling Starlight!
“What a shame…Pleasure-Hazed Sight consumes just as much mental power as Falling Starlight. Otherwise, I could have chained control skills to keep the monster immobilized. With the President controlling and attacking, maybe I wouldn’t even need the Valkyrie and could solo the monsters.”
“But this way, I’d have to use a Resting Page to recover after every single fight. That’s just too tedious.”
Lin Xun thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered he still had several other shells.
“Could I transplant the eyeball into the Yellow-Robed Bishop or the Grand Scholar, and have them do the controlling?”
But thinking it over, he realized those shells weren’t as high-quality as the President’s, and their mental stats were probably much lower.
Besides, constantly switching shells back and forth would be cumbersome and inconvenient.
“Sigh…what’s a mage supposed to do about mana shortages?”
In the Blood Sun World, there were merchants who sold items to restore fatigue. In the library, similar items were also sold.
But those consumables were just like the Corrupted Red Sorrel he’d obtained before, only effective on shells belonging to specific worlds, and not universally applicable.
He still had a Corrupted Red Sorrel in his inventory from the Blood Sun World, but the Earth Giant shell was as sturdy as a bull, practically an untiring killing machine, and never needed fatigue recovery items…
“That’s what’s great about the Blood Sun Paladin… Anyway, I’ll just look around the library more when I get the chance. Maybe I’ll run into someone selling a fatigue recovery item that works on any shell.”
There were plenty of Resting Pages in this chapter’s world, nearly every location had them, so the mana shortage wouldn’t be too troublesome for now.
[You returned to the trashed first floor of the clinic with the Battle Angel – Valkyrie and were about to leave…]
[Heavy, oppressive footsteps gradually sounded in your ears, growing louder, approaching from far away…]
Lin Xun’s heart leapt with delight.
“Sitting here waiting and still managing to snag a behemoth, what luck!”
[A massive clawed foot landed at the clinic’s doorway. With a tremendous crash, debris scattered everywhere, triggering the defensive Knowledge Barrier around the clinic…]
[The behemoth in the mist paid no attention to the barrier and kept moving swiftly in a certain direction.]
[You were puzzled. Normally, when a behemoth stumbled across the clinic, it would attempt to attack it, and only leave after failing to break through the Knowledge Barrier.]
[Yet this behemoth had clearly noticed the clinic but still continued on its way, as though something in the mist was summoning it.]
[Your insatiable curiosity sparked within you…]
[Would you like to follow the behemoth’s footsteps and explore the unknown in the mists?]
“Special event!”
Those two words flashed across Lin Xun’s mind.
[You boarded the Refined Copper Carriage parked at the clinic’s entrance with the Battle Angel – Valkyrie, intending to follow the behemoth, but discovered that the carriage could only follow predetermined routes from the route map and could not track the creature freely.]
[Would you like to disembark and pursue the behemoth on foot?]
Could he even keep up on foot?
If he switched to the Earth Giant, with its enlarged body, he might barely be able to match the behemoth’s pace at a full sprint.
But if he followed in the Earth Giant shell, he would make far too much noise.
The fact that the behemoth ignored the clinic protected by a Knowledge Barrier didn’t mean it would ignore an Earth Giant thundering along behind it.
To ensure the pursuit remained hidden and the behemoth wouldn’t detect him, Lin Xun selected the Valkyrie’s ‘Mount’ command.
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie stepped behind you, reached out, and wrapped her arms around your waist. With a beat of the refined copper wings on her back, she whipped up a fierce wind and lifted you into the air…]
[She carried you through the thick layers of white mist, trailing the vast silhouette in the distance from afar.]
[After flying for a while, the massive creature ahead abruptly stopped in its tracks, as if it had sensed something. It slowly turned its colossal body, and with deafening footfalls, began approaching you…]
[Regrettably, your pursuit has failed!]
[Do you want to step forward and battle the behemoth, or quickly retreat back to the clinic?]
“Damn it! That’s it? I already failed?”
Lin Xun’s goal was to follow the behemoth and trigger the special event, not to fight it head-on.
If he killed it now, he’d just waste the opportunity to unlock the event.
What puzzled him was that the Valkyrie’s flight was quiet, and they had been following at a distance, how had he been discovered?
Suddenly, Lin Xun slapped his forehead. I completely forgot about the eyeball scent!
The Valkyrie, being a refined copper construct, carried no eyeball scent. The one exposing them was the President’s shell he was currently possessing.
Lin Xun frantically operated the interface, quickly switching shells in an attempt to salvage the situation.
[You have possessed the shell of the Corrupted Ancient Theater Dancer!]
[The behemoth paused its steps for a moment, then resumed moving toward you!]
The Dancer only had two ordinary eyeballs and none of the President’s special abilities, so it should have been far less enticing to the behemoth.
But even so, the fresh scent of eyeballs still couldn’t stop the creature’s advance.
Thinking fast, Lin Xun opened his inventory and tossed down two junk-grade eyeballs.
He’d use those first to draw the behemoth’s attention… and gritting his teeth, he clicked on that long-unused special item, the Eyeball Extractor!
[You used the Eyeball Extractor…]
[You endured excruciating pain and gouged out your own eyes.]
[You obtained Unknown Creature’s Eyeball (Junk) *2]
[The Valkyrie watched as a slick, thick tentacle reached out from the mist, scooped up the two eyeballs on the ground, and retracted back into the fog…]
[The giant figure ahead resumed moving. This time, it did not approach you, but instead drew farther and farther away…]
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie continued to carry you, following the behemoth from a distance.]
[Your vision was now total darkness. Flying through the mist, you had no idea where you were…]
To pursue the behemoth, the Dancer had selflessly sacrificed its own eyes.
“No big deal. Next time I’ll get you a pair of titanium-alloy eyes. Guaranteed to be several grades better than the originals.”
In this chapter’s world, transplant technology had already reached an absurd level. Even reinstalling the Dancer’s original eyeballs intact would be easy.
[You didn’t know how long you’d been flying when you felt the cold wind gradually ease. You guessed the Battle Angel – Valkyrie was slowing her flight.]
[Soon, your feet touched solid ground, and the arms holding you released their grip, seemingly, you had arrived at your destination.]
With no vision, Lin Xun couldn’t tell what was here.
He was intensely curious and was about to switch to a normal shell, when the game text suddenly appeared.
[A deafening roar thundered from somewhere not far ahead of you. The sound was several times louder than the screech of any Veiled Aberration!]
[Your eardrums throbbed with pain. You saw stars, your head spinning.]
Lin Xun’s heart clenched.
[You have possessed the shell of the Knowledge-Seeking President of the Direct Vision Association!]
[Your vision returned to normal, everything before your eyes sharp and clear, but the sight in front of you left you utterly stunned!]