603: Chapter 603: Mission Reward (Super-sized Chapter for Monthly Votes) 603: Chapter 603: Mission Reward (Super-sized Chapter for Monthly Votes) [Please choose one of the following three options:]
[1.
Replica of the Eternal Flower’s Stan:
A replica made in reference to the stan of the Eternal Flower.
This stan must be soaked in clear flowing water, and if it leaves the source of the flowing water for more than ten minutes, it will wither.
The clear water that has soaked a replica of the Eternal Flower’s stan will naturally possess the power to clear away resentful spirits and to clarify thoughts.
Long-term consumption of this water or extended activity in the vapor from its evaporation can gradually increase one’s ability to resist the erosion of resentful spirits, longing for sunshine, longing for daylight, and thoughts will gradually beco simple and pure.
Please be cautious, as long-term influence under the replica of the Eternal Flower’s stan can gradually make thoughts extre, and Transcendents with Talent Sequences may develop a strong rejection reaction over ti, leading to insanity.
The effects of the replica of the Eternal Flower’s stan are ineffective against Angels.]
[2.
Butterfly’s Dance Skirt:
A beautiful and sexy dance skirt that changes shape according to the wearer’s figure, outlining the wearer’s best physique.
One who dons this skirt will possess a unique charm, attracting the attention of all sentient beings around them.
The user of the Butterfly’s Dance Skirt can command sentient beings who fall at their feet, controlling their desires and thus their actions.
Please be cautious, as those who are deeply imrsed in desires are more easily captured by them.
Please be cautious, as those who manipulate desires will also be controlled by them, and non-desire related Talent Sequence holders may go insane due to desire.
The Butterfly’s Dance Skirt cannot control the desires of Angels.]
[3.
Contaminated chanical Core:
A chanical Core hidden deep within ruins, its constant contamination gives it an appearance of flesh interwoven with machine.
This chanical Core can change its shape to a certain extent and can connect with any chanical device, granting the holder control over the connected machinery for a short period.
Please be cautious, as the chanical Core has been eroded by unknown contaminants, and using it too frequently might draw terrifying scrutiny.
Please be cautious, and ensure that the device is offline before connecting, and avoid connecting the chanical Core to artificial intelligence that has beco sentient, as it may lead to unpredictable consequences.
Please be cautious, as unknown contamination accompanies the chanical Core, affecting the bearer’s ntal state, and if the bearer feels they are being watched, please stop using the chanical Core, as it may lead to unknown consequences.]
As all the reward introductions appeared in his field of vision, He Ao began to read them one by one.
The first was still a knockoff product reliably produced by the system’s counterfeit factory, a fake stan of the Eternal Flower.
With his past experience of the fake Book of Knowledge and the fake World Tree Branch, He Ao was no longer surprised by the appearance of replicas from the system.
However, though the system produced fakes, its standards were high, and it generally did not fake anything unrelated to Divine Beings.
The Book of Knowledge corresponded with a good friend, and the World Tree Branch with the Life Goddess.
And this Eternal Flower must also correspond with a Divine Being, but He Ao had not yet co across the knowledge of this particular Divine Being and did not know who it specifically corresponded to.
He Ao’s eyes swept over the introduction of the ‘Replica of the Eternal Flower’s Stan’.
Clearly, this was an item with area-of-effect abilities for Transcendents.
The water soaked with the stan, as long as one drank it or even just inhaled the vapor, would be affected by the power of the stan.
Short-term contact could repel resentful spirits and cleanse one’s thoughts, but long-term exposure could lead to extre thoughts and insanity.
Actually, looking at it this way, the power of the stan seed to be a weakened form of ‘contamination,’ which, when mild, had more positive than negative effects, but when intensified, it revealed the true face of contamination.
The system did not provide a clear distinction of the severity of this contamination, leaving it up to the user to explore.
However, this ti the level of the reward seed very high; it used to say what level the item was effective against.
This ti, it went straight to saying ‘ineffective against Angels.’
That is to say, it seed that the abilities of this item would be effective against anyone below the rank of Angels, as long as they had not beco Angels themselves.
He Ao moved his gaze away from the ‘Replica of the Eternal Flower’s Stan,’ and looked at the next reward.
Then his eyes paused,
“Butterfly’s Dance Skirt.”
This skirt seed to be an item related to the Witch of Desire, with abilities that quite fit the temperant of the Witch of Desire; it could control others through desire, thereby enhancing the wearer’s power.
Actually, in He Ao’s tiline, the Witch of Desire and the Witch Church were characters that spanned the entire Gene Potion storyline.
The first ti He Ao ca into contact with Gene Potion was in the third official Copy World, where the character Roy was being pursued by the Witch Church.
It was in that Copy World that He Ao, with the help of a good friend, killed a sub-body of the Witch of Desire.
This ti, He Ao had used the Witch of Desire’s lightning to destroy Wells, the instigator behind the Gene Potion incident, pushing the secretive entity behind Wells back into the coffin.
What started there, ended there.
Perhaps this was the reason why the system generated an item related to the Witch of Desire.
The ability of this “Butterfly’s Dance Skirt” was ineffective against angels and would repel all Talent Sequences not related to desire, driving its holder into madness.
The previous “Eternal Flower’s Pistil (Replica)” also repelled Talent Sequences, but it was not specified whether it was partial or total.
It seed that as one approached the rank of angels, the mutual repulsion between transcendent powers grew stronger.
He Ao’s gaze continued downwards to the “Contaminated chanical Core.”
The way this chanical Core manifested its power was entirely different from the other two transcendent items.
Both the “Eternal Flower’s Pistil (Replica)” and “Butterfly’s Dance Skirt” were cases of very definite direct manifestations of transcendent powers, and ineffective against angels.
This chanical Core, on the other hand, could “control all chanical objects.”
That is to say, its power depended entirely on the strength of the machinery it could find.
If He Ao found a C-level Blazing Angel ch, it would exhibit C-level power, and if He Ao found a B-level Supersonic Levitating Warplane, he would exhibit B-level power.
Well, if one could find an angelic level machine…
Imdiately after, He Ao shook his head, expelling the thought from his mind.
Even in Copy World, He Ao had never heard of the Federation manufacturing angelic level machinery; that seed to be a domain unreachable by human technology.
However, this chanical Core had its limitations, which were “artificial intelligence” and the “network.”
The system seed to be cautioning He Ao not to let this thing co into contact with artificial intelligence and networks, or it might cause unknown consequences.
If it were just a simpler machine, integrating artificial intelligence might have an effect, but He Ao couldn’t imagine what connecting it to a network could cause.
So, since the issue doesn’t lie with the “machinery,” it must lie with the “contamination.”
The na of this transcendent item was “Contaminated chanical Core.”
The focus of the entire item is probably not on the chanical core, but on the contamination.
He Ao looked at the three items, pondered for a mont, and made his choice.
[You have selected “Contaminated chanical Core”]
[Reward has been issued, please check.]
The reason for choosing the “Contaminated chanical Core” was not complicated.
He Ao had just triggered the achievent “Silent Night Coffin Nail.”
According to the effect of “Silent Night Coffin Nail,” the refreshed reward might include items of “higher rank.”
The previous two items, “Eternal Flower’s Pistil (Replica)” and “Butterfly’s Dance Skirt,” were clearly below the angelic rank; only this “Contaminated chanical Core” did not have a clearly stated rank limitation.
This indicated that the chanical Core could be that item of a higher rank, and even if not angelic, it would certainly be higher than B-level.
rely so contamination could lead this chanical Core to reach beyond B-level, which proves that the source of this contamination might co from an existence higher than angels.
For instance, Divine Beings.
This was an artifact inherently contaminated by a Divine Being.
Moreover, the system specifically emphasized that excessive use of this artifact could attract unknown attention, which ans, in a sense, it was an artifact that carried the gaze of an unknown Divine Being.
There was much to work with here.
After all, the more friends, the rrier.
Of course, just this point alone was not enough to make He Ao choose it.
Because compared to the previous two items, this chanical Core had a significant disadvantage; it was limited by the technological level of the place where He Ao was located.
After all, although it could manipulate any machinery, there first needed to be machinery for it to operate.
In the main world, it was very difficult for He Ao to obtain powerful machinery, and because it couldn’t connect to the network, this item could not assist He Ao with any online processing like Eve could.
Moreover, manipulating other people’s machinery could potentially be illegal.
But there was one place that could eliminate these disadvantages.
That place was the relics.
As remnants of a once-destructed high civilization, they were filled with a large number of powerful, uncontrolled, and unclaid machinery that He Ao could use at will; and if any were damaged, it wouldn’t be a pity, as they were everywhere, and he could simply pick up another one.
From this perspective, the chanical Core was more useful than those chas and warplanes that could neither be maintained nor find a power supply, which the system had previously scrounged together.
Moreover, the high tower inside the relic that He Ao had previously entered, which contained items related to ‘Super mory,’ seed to be a powerful machine in itself.
He Ao now already possessed a B-level item that could enhance his own strength, ‘The Fake Master Bracelet,’ so he needed a B-level item that was more auxiliary in nature.
‘The Pistil of the Eternal Flower (Replica)’ and ‘Butterfly’s Dance Skirt’ were both indirect-acting auxiliary Transcendent items.
However, the effect of ‘The Pistil of the Eternal Flower (Replica)’ took too long to activate, it could not deal with ergencies, and it was obviously intended for short-term group benefits or long-term group poisoning, neither of which was particularly helpful for He Ao’s current situation as a lone traveler.
As for ‘Butterfly’s Dance Skirt,’ it required manipulating others through their desires to help oneself, and He Ao did not like this kind of direct control that could potentially be illegal, plus this skirt could easily lead to cognitive errors, where the risks far outweighed the benefits.
Therefore, all things considered, ‘The Contaminated chanical Core’ was the most suitable item for He Ao at the mont.
And unlike the previous two Transcendent items, ‘The Contaminated chanical Core,’ being rely a core, did not have the effect of repelling Talent Sequences; the ntal influence was only from the corruption of the unknown Divine Being it carried.
And He Ao had a bit of experience and resistance when it ca to dealing with the corruption of Divine Beings.
In the next second after He Ao made his choice, a faint gray glow appeared in front of him, covering his vision.
Then, this glow converged and transford into an object the size of a thumb.
Half of this object looked like half of a dodecahedral piece of machinery, pitch-black and flickering with a faint blue glow, while the other half was covered with irregularly shaped, throbbing flesh.
The flickering light and pulsing flesh expanded and contracted at the sa rhythm, as if playing a strange symphony in the depths of space.
He Ao reached out and touched the object.
A twist of chaotic, machine-like murmuring suddenly exploded in his mind, as if these whispers ca from the depths of distant space, but also as though they emanated from every corner around him; they entwined, scread, advising He Ao to abandon the shackles of flesh and descend into the eternity of machinery.
He Ao’s movents paused slightly and then, unimpeded, he picked up the object.
Originally, he had so anticipation for these murmurings brought about by the contamination, but it seed, not very impressive.
Not to ntion the murmuring during the outbursts of good friends like the Witch of Desire, nor the whispers from the tomb of the War God.
Perhaps because of the distance, the quality of these murmurs did not even match the chaotic thoughts brought by the hidden presence in the depths of the sea in the last Copy World.
Well, all things considered, indeed, not so great.
Felling the seemingly unaffected response from He Ao, the murmuring infiltrating his mind seed to be provoked, becoming even more distorted and noisy.
He Ao toyed with the chanical Core in his hand, feeling the information conveyed to his mind by this object.
This information was concise: it could control all machinery and also transform its shape to a certain extent.
There was nothing about networks, artificial intelligence, or contamination.
At the thought from He Ao, thin black tendrils, like tiny tentacles, extended from the chanical side of the chanical Core into the air, undulating and flitting about.
These tendrils seed to be the ‘interface’ through which the chanical Core connected to other machinery.
Then He Ao controlled the chanical Core to retract these tendrils and under his will, the small core slowly shrank, compacted, transford, and ultimately beca a chanical ring adorned with twisted red lines.
Inspired by an aesthetic sense from the mories of Vian, He Ao adjusted so parts of the ring’s structure, placing the flesh portion inside the ring bezel and the chanical part on the outer rim, while altering the proportion of flesh to form special patterns on the bezel.
The parts that could not be compacted ford a chanical, angular ring surface above the bezel.
The final ring embodied a beauty that lded both chanical and eerie elents.
With the status of this ring, it could not be placed inside a Pirate Treasure Box.
He Ao slipped the ring onto his right little finger.
Since the inside of the ring’s setting was all flesh, the ring felt quite comfortable and didn’t constrict his finger too much.
He Ao picked up the Miracle Wand at his waist and cast a “Silence Concealnt” on the ring.
The “Silence Concealnt” from the Miracle Wand could be applied to up to three transcendent items simultaneously, and the three items He Ao had chosen were the Pirate Treasure Box, the Miracle Wand, and this chanical Core Ring.
At this mont, the polluting power roaring in He Ao’s mind seed to have finally tired out; its mumbling beca a lot quieter, subsiding to banality.
He Ao skillfully adjusted this pollution to align with the cognitive pollution brought by “The Fake Master Bracelet.”
The two different pollutions quickly produced an offset, and once again, the pressure on He Ao was greatly alleviated.
Then He Ao looked at his field of vision, where the last subtitle was currently displayed,
[Super Exchanger task current progress: 9/12]
It seed the Super Exchanger task was related to Exchange Stars, and He Ao had accumulated a total of 9 Exchange Stars to date; thus, the task progress was 9/12.
He Ao didn’t know what the outco would be once the task was finished.
That line of text slowly disappeared from He Ao’s line of sight, signifying that this settlent had fully concluded.
He Ao glanced at the bottom right corner of his field of view at the remaining ti for the next copy world,
161:08:09.
Over one hundred sixty hours had vanished, and the ti interval remained seven days.
The system hadn’t refreshed to bring martial arts-related rewards for two consecutive tis.
He Ao then brought up his personal attribute panel.
[He Ao]
[Authority level: Advanced Player]
[Physical Condition: 1194]
[Skills: Talent Sequences 272: Super mory (C-level), Basic Firearms Mastery, Talent Sequences 72: Secret Art Mage (C-level)]
[chanical Modification: None]
[Martial Arts: Qi Refinent and Spirit Transformation (C-level)]
His basic physical condition was still 1194.
He briefly activated and then deactivated Super mory, because during this copy world, the level of mastery he achieved with Super mory raised the additional physical condition from 540 to 576.
With Super mory activated, He Ao’s physical condition soared to 1770, a number that was far beyond the C-level limit.
The cooldown period for marking with Super mory was further reduced.
The cooldown ti needed to upgrade to B-level had dropped from thirty days to twenty-one days and this ti it fell to around sixteen days.
The reduction had beco smaller, indicating that it was becoming increasingly difficult to decrease the cooldown ti further on.
He Ao had marked Wells during his last modification in the copy world; one of the marks went into cooldown.
After the reduction of the cooldown and soul enhancent at the end of the copy world, the cooldown ti for this mark was now only two days.
Knock, knock, knock—
Just then, a slow knock sounded at the door, “He Ao, are you there?
It’s , Li Cheng.”
“Coming,” He Ao replied and turned around, walking to the door.
He unlocked the security lock and opened the door,
“Director, what’s the matter?”
He looked at the gentle middle-aged man in front of him, who even had a bit of a student’s air about him.
This was Li Cheng, the director of the Research Institute and the strongest transcendent in the main world.
Li Cheng lived in the hotel room next to his.
“So good news and so bad news,”
Li Cheng’s gaze swept over He Ao, and he smiled gently, “Regarding the news about this relic opening, looks like we’re going to have to work overti and hold a eting tonight.”
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