novelraw Chapter 172-2: Flesh-Modified Three-Headed Lion, Celestial Vault Key (2)
Chapter 172-2: Flesh-Modified Three-Headed Lion, Celestial Vault Key (2)
Two hours later, Lin Xun returned to his rented room.
He opened the game and clicked ‘Modify.’
[The Secret Codex of Fusion Transformation stirred without any wind, pages flipping open on their own. A blood-red light shot out, enveloping the Corrupted Three-Headed Lion…]
[Within the blood-colored glow, countless tiny particles of flesh were suspended, merging into the Three-Headed Lion’s massive body.]
[The Three-Headed Lion roared as its body, bathed in the red light, gradually began to transform…]
Earlier, Lin Xun had taken a taxi out to the mountain area on the outskirts, a place deserted for miles around.
It was late at night, and more than one taxi driver had refused the fare when they saw where he was going.
After becoming an Apostle, Lin Xun’s own power had grown immense, so he wasn’t the least bit afraid of venturing alone into the eerie, pitch-black wilderness.
Just reading the game text, he hadn’t felt the Three-Headed Lion was all that formidable.
But summoning it in reality, seeing a body the size of an elephant and three snarling beast heads, Lin Xun realized he had underestimated the combat potential of the shells in the game.Unlike the Valkyrie, the Three-Headed Lion didn’t have high intelligence and could only understand about half of what he said. After explaining for quite some time with the help of gestures, Lin Xun finally got it to understand.
And the result… was the Three-Headed Lion’s three heads nodding in unison.
[The blood-colored radiance faded away. The Secret Codex of Fusion Transformation dissolved into points of starlight and vanished…]
[You looked at the Corrupted Three-Headed Lion, seeing that its three savage heads were completely unchanged. Its huge, burly body was just as before.]
[You scrutinized it carefully but couldn’t spot the slightest trace of any modification…]
Lin Xun’s first reaction was that the modification had failed.
Since the Three-Headed Lion was neither a watcher nor a follower, Lin Xun couldn’t view its status panel.
With no changes visible on the surface, he had no way of knowing whether the modification had succeeded or not.
“Tsk. I’ll just find a monster to test it on, that’ll tell me soon enough.”
There were no living monsters left in the laboratory, so Lin Xun could only check his loot first, then go outside to gauge the Three-Headed Lion’s power.
Suppressing his curiosity for the moment, he looked to the next item.
[White Dwarf Star Elixir (Item): A glass vial filled with grayish-white liquid. Shattering the vial will instantly vaporize the contents, producing an unknown effect.]
[Using this item inflicts a severe Weakened status on starborn creatures. This item only works on ordinary, elite, and legendary creatures of the stars. It has no effect on demigods, pseudo gods, or gods of the Radiant Stars oath.]
An item specifically for dealing with starborn creatures.
As for why the president had such an item, Lin Xun could already guess the rough answer.
He turned to the President’s Experimental Notes he had just looted, letting out a faint sigh.
If the president hadn’t turned into a monster and he’d successfully possessed the president’s shell, this document item might have turned into a True Name item.
[President’s Experimental Notes (Document)]
[My path to godhood was obstructed by the Omniscient True Knowledge.]
[No, it shouldn’t be called the Omniscient True Knowledge. More precisely, it was His emissary.]
[Little did they know that by sending an emissary to hinder me, They only reinforced my conviction that the path to godhood is correct.]
[Forced by the gaze of the Omniscient True Knowledge, I had no choice but to hand over the Ring of the Radiant Stars and the Route Map to the Underground Abyss Cave to that despicable, feeble emissary.]
[But do They think that would be enough to stop me from becoming a god?]
[Rona was a devout believer of the Omniscient True Knowledge. Despite all my attempts to entice her, she never agreed to embrace the stars. Instead, she grew wary of me. She even looked coldly upon the other Grand Scholars who secretly pursued the stars.]
[Heh heh, when I inadvertently revealed the location of my secret laboratory to her, I was sure she would pass it on to that feeble emissary.]
[Did Rona never wonder why I built the laboratory beneath the ruins of the Starvault Tower? Hahaha…]
[As long as I remained beneath the ruins of the Starvault Tower, which had been blessed by the stars, I could evade the gaze of the Omniscient True Knowledge. Once Their emissary arrived, both items could be reclaimed.]
[With Rona’s personality, she would most likely join forces with the Omniscient True Knowledge’s emissary. And even though, with my current strength, I could kill them both, it would come at no small cost…]
[I was forced to begin the fusion transformation experiment ahead of schedule…]
[The newly modified fused shell was slightly different from what I had envisioned. It wasn’t that the shell’s appearance or power displeased me, but rather that I was unable to perfectly merge with the experimental shell.]
[My path to godhood cannot be wrong. It must be because the experimental shell is still not perfect enough!]
[Once I kill Rona and the emissary of the Omniscient True Knowledge, I will take back both items and continue my road to becoming a god.]
[For this purpose, I also prepared the White Dwarf Star Elixir to deal with any starborn creature summoned from the Ring of the Radiant Stars.]
[As for the ancient demon in the abyss, even though I currently cannot perfectly merge with the experimental shell, with the shell’s strength, I believe subduing the ancient demon will not be a problem.]
[Yes, once I acquire the ancient demon’s body, the shell of the experimental body will not be wasted. The Secret Codex of Fusion Transformation can extract its flesh essence to further strengthen my divine body…]
[You have gained knowledge. Your Knowledge has increased by 600! Current Knowledge: 600/5200]
Lin Xun let out a long breath after reading the document.
The president of the Multivision Association had schemed endlessly, yet in the end, a single misstep had cost him everything.
If it had been any other Apostle who came here, the one to triumph would almost certainly have been the president.
His acquisition of the Eye of the Death-Telling Sea Serpent and the President of the Direct Vision Association’s Shell had relied heavily on unexpected circumstances.
That didn’t mean he had simply lain down and received such powerful assets without effort.
Back at the Direct Vision Association, the Veiled Aberration Overlord had been there. He had saved the Grand Scholar beneath the Overlord’s very nose, thereby gaining the Mystic Eye of Instant Death special skill.
As for the president’s shell, he had sacrificed the Three-Headed Lion, enlarged the Earth Giant’s shell to clear the ruins, and then ambushed and killed the president to claim it.
Both gains had followed the unspoken rules of this cursed game, and were the result of his own choices.
Just imagine, if the Three-Headed Lion had bought even a moment less time against the Overlord, he would have wasted two points of Soul Strength and lost both the Direct Vision president’s shell and the Eye of the Death-Telling Sea Serpent.
Lin Xun shook his head and carefully stored away the document item.
If Rona were to see its contents, she would surely be overcome with guilt.
The last item was the Celestial Vault Key. The president’s notes hadn’t mentioned it at all.
[Celestial Vault Key (Item): A shimmering five-pointed star, buried beneath the ruins for countless years and acquired by the president purely by chance. Unfortunately, until his death, he never managed to use the item’s function, or perhaps he no longer had any need of it.]
[Using this item at a specific location will trigger an astonishing and unexpected event.]
Lin Xun frowned.
Yet another riddle item?
He rubbed his chin and carefully examined the item’s description text.
“The Celestial Vault Key… it must be related to the Starvault Tower.”
Lin Xun planned to try using the Celestial Vault Key amid the ruins of the Starvault Tower once he left the laboratory, to see whether he could trigger any related events.
[Rona, after a long rest, finally recovered. She stood up and walked toward you…]
[Do you wish to hand over the President Badge of the Multivision Association to Grand Scholar Rona as agreed?]
Lin Xun was momentarily stunned.
Rona had once told him that after killing the president, he would take the president’s shell while she would take the president’s identity.
After that, Rona would use the president’s status to continue her studies in the Imperial Capital.
To give Rona the President Badge meant that the moment of parting… had arrived.