On the fringes of the Dark Plain, in front of the long-dead ancient tree, stood two silhouettes. Amanda had mostly recovered her strength, still draped in her vibrant red cloak, her back bearing the exaggeration of an axe and a double-barreled shotgun powerful enough to shatter the skull of any monster.
At the sa ti, she also clenched a gray-white, eerie mask in her hands.
On her cool, youthful face, a hint of conflict and concern appeared as she turned to look at Tang Qi, hesitating to say, "Why not let be...?"
Amanda was cut off before she could finish by Tang Qi shaking his head in refusal.
He could sense Amanda’s worry, and he also understood that this young girl probably saw him as the only hope for saving this world.
Hmm? It feels like I’ve beco the sole hope of the village.
Muttering a complaint to himself, Tang Qi smiled and pointed to the "Existence Mask," saying, "If both of us are to cross the Dark Plain, we must establish a relationship between hunter and prey. This Existence Mask is the perfect tool for that."
"Playing the role of a hunter carries so risks, but overall it’s safe, making it well-suited for you."
"And I will play the role of the prey, where higher-level manifestations might try to snatch your prey. Don’t intervene... wait for to counterattack."
...
"Wait for you to counterattack?"
As Tang Qi’s last sentence rang in her ears, an intense domineering aura inexplicably seized Amanda, forcing her prepared retort back down her throat.
What the pair were about to enact was a crude plan devised by Tang Qi based on known rules and the "Existence Mask" he had just acquired from slaying monsters and collecting loot.
"Within the Dark Plain, ’Desire Manifestations’ roam everywhere at all tis. They vary in strength, but share one thing in common: before completing their final hunting procedure, all manifestations exist in a ’Nihility’ state."
"Not only are physical attacks useless, but even skills like ’Judgnt’ cannot inflict damage. Moreover, due to Nihility, potential bugs such as first using a ’Life Spell’ to turn the manifestation into a life form, then killing it with Judgnt... such thods are also ineffective."
"The casting target of the Life Spell also needs to be tangible. Aid at air and Nihility, no life can be created."
" taking on the role of prey and Amanda as the hunter, entering the Dark Plain in this manner, the most likely danger we might encounter is that so high-level manifestations may break the limits to snatch the prey. According to information left by rlin, there’s a certain probability of this occurring."
"At that ti, the natural target would be the prey. My strength is best suited to launching a counter-attack on the snatcher in an instant."
"This involves another piece of an Information Fragnt I’ve discerned with a Special Ability: all manifestations need one touch to complete their hunt... With Diana’s protection, even higher-level manifestations wouldn’t be able to rob of my self in the instant of touch."
"That brief ti difference is the critical mont for my Counterattack."
"Once stripped of the ’Nihility’ state’s protection, even those manifestations of very high levels recorded in the rlin Catalog might find it difficult to withstand my counterattack."
"Of course, there are bound to be unexpected risks, so I should also prepare so final Defense strategies."
As the last thought crossed his mind, Tang Qi suddenly envisioned five suns shining with eternal Radiance.
Surging forth was a vast torrent of Knowledge.
Had Tang Qi not been of the Molten Furnace Wizard lineage, the revelation of knowledge from the Master of the Furnace Projection would have been enough to drive him instantly mad, to self-immolation.
Now, he did not need to succumb to madness; he could make an exchange.
During his last adventure aboard the "Black Prophet," aside from retaining a hint of Divinity in the eyes of the God of Wisdom, he also garnered a far richer benefit.
Sun rits!
It was Sun rits that made the Molten Furnace Wizards of old into a group of madn who defied heaven and earth. The root reason was their ability to exchange for almost anything from the Master of the Crucible, terd as "rits."
The Wizards who made themselves walking crucibles had slogans more extravagant than the Church.
Their motto for handling affairs: Exchange with rits, enjoy promptly, advance promptly; after all, there’s ample ti to waste, and plenty of Evil Gods to burn.
Tang Qi clearly was not as "bold" as his predecessors. Having painstakingly saved five rits, he had been hesitant to make an exchange.
Until now, he decisively exchanged for a Skill he had long decided upon.
As his mind withdrew, he witnessed a scene that pained him greatly. His five shining Sun rits, in a flash, were reduced to three.
Yes, the Skill he exchanged for was costly, prohibitively so.
"If rits are considered akin to Divine Grace, then I can sowhat understand Selma’s miserly mindset. And finally, it seems I’m a bit impoverished."
Tang Qi mused as he felt the security brought by the exchanged Skill, uttering a few sighs.
Then, he looked towards Amanda.
The young girl, having ultimately accepted Tang Qi’s plan, turned her head, gazing into the dark Plain shrouded in thin mist.
Afterward, she held the gray-white, strangely textured mask in both hands, slowly placing it over her face.
Almost instantly, unimaginable changes occurred to Amanda.
Eerie "gray-white gas" silently erged, and in a mont, Amanda vanished, replaced by the "Silent Beast" Tang Qi had slain earlier.
The mountain-sized body stood shoulder to shoulder with Tang Qi.
So parts like mouths and ears even fell directly onto Tang Qi, crumbling into a gaseous state, returning to Amanda’s body.
Tang Qi silently sensed the "Silent Beast" that was extrely close to him, indistinguishable from the icy aura he had encountered before, attempting to penetrate his flesh.
It was simply because this Silent Beast made no sneak attack.
Therefore, at this mont, Tang Qi could still talk and make various expressions.
As expected, the Existence Mask could transform into any object the Wearer desired, perfectly embodying its traits.
As the "Wearer," Amanda only needed a thought to beco the Silent Beast.
Of course, there was a hidden rule to the mask.
If the Wearer chose to transform into one of the many "Desire Manifestations," the only viable option would be the Silent Beast itself; all other options were unselectable and greyed out.
"It seems there are strict hierarchies everywhere. Within the Dark Plain, the Silent Beast is probably the easiest target to bully... but having it is better than nothing. It’s enough to make sothing like the Eyeless Snake Abnormality adhere to the rules and not harass us."
Watching Amanda, who had already adapted to her new body, Tang Qi took a silent breath and calmly said:
"Let’s go!"
As his words fell, Tang Qi imdiately stepped over the area where the dead tree stood, his body coming into contact with that indescribable "radiance" that seed to drift eternally like a thin mist over the plain.
In an instant, he looked at his raised arm.
The fair skin with a hint of life’s warmth was gradually covered by a cold hue.
The reflection in his pupils also beca grey, bleak, and lifeless.
If it weren’t for the fact that Tang Qi could still vividly feel the blood flowing in his veins, along with the warmth of life and the ceaseless surging of his Molten Magic, he might have thought he had beco a lifeless Abnormality.
At this mont, his figure was still that of a "Wandering Alchemist."
Holding onto the "Gluttony," which had beco eerily quiet upon entering this special environnt, Tang Qi took step by step into the depths of the plain.
By his side, the Silent Beast followed silently without a sound.
Although it had an incredibly large body, it was exceptionally fragile, moved soundlessly, and even possessed certain characteristics that made it easy to overlook, perfectly fitting the role of an inconspicuous entity.
It was uncertain how long they had been walking, as visibility had always been low.
Here, bereft of the Moon’s radiance and without any landmarks, almost all the orientation thods known to the Mysterious Side were ineffective.
The only viable thod was a phrase left by rlin:
"Keep the faith in your heart; each step is part of the journey ahead."
Although Tang Qi thought this was yet another one of the Old Wizard’s deceptions ant for "Middle Two Warriors," he couldn’t help but interpret it in a forceful manner.
In his mind, he silently affird: the path ahead is correct.
There was no need for further discernnt; he would follow his intuition.
This thod seed useful at first, as ever since he entered the "Dark Plain," for a long stretch of ti everything was quiet and uneventful. Excluding the sound of his footsteps on the cold, grey-white pebbles, no other disturbance could be heard.
Of course, he did not encounter any "Desire Manifestations" either.
It seed his plan was effective.
There were certainly many Desire Manifestations that had caught wind of Tang Qi’s scent.
But hindered by the delicious and tempting human already marked by the Silent Beast, they remained stagnant, not daring to attack.
These thoughts had just surfaced in Tang Qi’s mind.
It was at this mont that a series of weak, intermittent pleas suddenly echoed from not too far away.
Instantly, Tang Qi halted his steps.
But the fog ahead suddenly thinned out, revealing a scene often seen in deserts. In the next second, it ca into view for both Tang Qi and Amanda.
On a tall and desolate hill not far away, a human figure struggled to climb.
He was a middle-aged man in tattered clothes and covered in scars. His skin was cracked, his face appeared sunburnt from prolonged exposure and long deprived of water, weakly climbing towards the top of the hill.
All he could see were the cold pebbles that kept rolling down.
He murmured, "Water, I need water... give water!"
Just as he felt an overwhelming despair, all of a sudden, a clear, phosphorescent spring began to flow down from the top of the hill.
The abrupt appearance of hope sent him into an ecstatic frenzy.
Without any hesitation, he buried his face into the spring, drinking voraciously, oblivious to how bizarre and unthinkable this scene was.
...
Not far off, Tang Qi and Amanda, transford into the Silent Beast, were completely still, their gazes skipping the unfortunate man unwittingly brought to the Dark Plain from the real world and landing directly on the top of the hill.
There lay a figure Tang Qi was familiar with—a fearso, rotten fish.
The crystal-clear spring water was flowing out from its constantly opening and closing mouth, glowing with a disturbing phosphorescence, streaming into the mouth of the man below. As the man drank eagerly, a chilling transformation unfolded upon his body.
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