Chapter 168: Why Didn’t You Say So Earlier!?

Chapter 168: Why Didn’t You Say So Earlier!?

“Tch, it failed!” Zheng Yichen stared at the mana in his hand, which had completely scattered. This portion of mana had indeed fully assimilated that wisp of Alien Energy, but the nature of the mana hadn’t changed at all. It was as if it had merely obtained extra nourishment.

It was like a red date tree remained a red date tree. Even if you used heaps of fertilizer, you wouldn’t end up growing an apple tree…

Inside the small house, Dan Marina examined a trace of ‘Divine Power’ that had materialized above the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. She didn’t reach out to touch this power , but studied it carefully instead. After watching it for quite a while, she curled her lip slightly. “Hah! I really thought it was Divine Power, but it’s just a Mountain Stronghold knock-off.”

It definitely carried the aura of Divine Power, but it wasn’t complete Divine Power. You could only say it was a power somewhere between mana and Divine Power. It had broken free from mana but hadn’t crossed the threshold to become Divine Power, stuck in a very awkward place, unable to advance any higher.

“This is just a product of the Sanctuary Church’s secret method,” Loris said calmly. Divine Power? It didn’t exist. Beings called gods had been extinct for who knows how long. Only those cults would go around creating stuff like Evil Gods and the like. Although those Evil Gods called themselves gods, their power levels varied wildly. Some didn’t even have physical forms.

“Even so, it’s still a pretty good kind of power, isn’t it? Little Dragon is researching this power too, right?” Dan Marina closed the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. The trace of Alien Energy displayed on it was immediately forced back inside.

“Mn, we can’t help with this matter,” Loris said with her usual calmness.

“Hey! Let’s try it like this!” Outside the small house, Zheng Yichen watched the two balls of energy spinning rapidly in the center of his claw. Because they were spinning so fast, the two energy masses took on a Tai Chi shape. Yet the result remained just as cruel. It ended in failure once again. It made Zheng Yichen feel like just shoving a ball of Alien Energy directly into his own body…

“Ah-hey, don’t try it that way. If you want to master this kind of power, you’ll need to start with the Sanctuary Church. You have to get the secret method they use to release this power.”

Dan Marina’s voice came from behind Zheng Yichen. Zheng Yichen twisted the corner of his mouth, looking at the ball of power in his hand. Wring the secret method out of the Sanctuary Church’s hands? Why not just deliver his own head to them instead? Malice surged! He went “Awoo!” and stuffed it into his mouth, gulping it down in one bite… The Alien Energy acting inside his body offered no resistance at all as it was pushed aside by the mana already within him…

“…”

“…Did it work?” Seeing Zheng Yichen’s stunned expression, Dan Marina asked with some surprise.

“Uh, pretty much. Thinking too much about things really does make them troublesome,” Zheng Yichen nodded. It really was like they say, sometimes things are actually very simple, but they become complicated precisely because you overthink them. Now that he thought about it carefully, the fact that he could capture that Alien Energy in his hand meant it already counted as his power. Under that premise, why was he insisting on changing the nature of the power? There was no need for that at all!

“It really is possible!?” Dan Marina looked at Zheng Yichen with a somewhat tangled expression, wondering if she should try it his way. Well, the consequence of copying Zheng Yichen would probably just be an upset stomach.

“Not entirely complete, though.” Zheng Yichen observed the clump of Alien Energy that had been pushed aside inside his body. The reason it was just shoved to the side was that its proportion was too small. It couldn’t occupy much space. Moreover, its existence wasn’t like mana, which could recover and grow autonomously after being consumed. It was constant. The amount he had just swallowed down was exactly how much remained, not changing one bit.

Unless Zheng Yichen was willing to feed this clump of Alien Energy with mana or other types of power.

He glanced at Dan Marina. Thinking that Witches were the type to have seen much after living so long, and since she came out of Loris’s house unscathed, there shouldn’t be a problem, right? Might as well ask…

He voiced his doubts to her. Dan Marina didn’t answer Zheng Yichen’s question right away. Instead, she looked at him with considerable amazement, making clicking sounds with her tongue. “Your abilities… even a Witch like me is incredibly envious. Mm~ It’s perfectly normal that that power doesn’t grow. After all, you’re just a Little Dragon, not a god.”

“A god!?”

“This is incomplete Divine Power, lacking some core aspects of existence,” Dan Marina shrugged. “But even so, it’s still way more potent than regular mana.”

“Tch! I thought I’d have to struggle for a while, but it turned out to be this simple.” Zheng Yichen waved his claw, his face full of boredom. If only he had known it was this easy, he would have done this back in the Forbidden Zone. Of course, the main gain would have been transferring the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s ‘Divine Power’ into his own body. If he didn’t use it all up, he could just keep feeding it mana as nourishment to increase the amount of Divine Power.

But if he used it all up without leaving behind even a single Seed of Power, he would basically lose this power for good. That didn’t seem very useful. At least with something like mana, even if you used every last bit, it would recover after some time.

“Simple, huh…” Dan Marina lightly kicked Zheng Yichen’s shin. It was easy to talk without being in the other person’s shoes! Did others wanting to master this kind of power like him stand a chance? Don’t make me laugh! “What’s that sound?”

“Hmm~ My delivery is here.” Dan Marina heard the approaching sound, and of course, Zheng Yichen heard it too. He looked up at the small black dot descending from the sky. It was clearly the Transport Aircraft he had made a few days ago arriving here. This world had no concept of air routes. If you could fly, you could fly wherever you wanted. You just had to hope you didn’t have the bad luck to crash into some especially powerful Flying Magical Beast.

As for airspace blockades, some big cities had those, covering areas of hundreds or even thousands of miles. That kind of Magic was like radar. Any foreign flying object entering it would be detected quickly.

Zheng Yichen naturally wouldn’t foolishly send the Transport Aircraft flying into those kinds of places. With this batch of materials, Zheng Yichen could pretty much start serious construction here. The two Alchemical Puppets made earlier could now get a new body replacement for one of them.

“Oh, right. I forgot to mention something earlier.”

“Huh? What?” Hearing Dan Marina’s words, Zheng Yichen’s expression suddenly stiffened. He asked a bit unnaturally.

“The Prophecy Art cast on you hasn’t been dispelled yet. I made some preparations before leaving, blocking part of its effects. Calculating the time now, that block should be wearing off soon. Which means… you’re about to have a huge stroke of bad luck again!”

Dan Marina hadn’t played any tricks with the Prophecy Art’s effects itself back then, but she could certainly do something about the process. For example, it was true the Sanctuary Church would capture Zheng Yichen, but it didn’t specify who would capture him. She just needed to tweak it a little, designating a specific target. The chosen one just couldn’t be too weak!

An Archbishop was definitely out. They were all old-timers, sharp as tacks. The best target, sufficiently powerful and suitable, would be a Saintess. The lockdown over at the Lockdown Zone should be lifting around now. The power of the Prophecy Art would soon take effect again!

“…Why the heck didn’t you say so earlier!!”