Chapter 183: Something Familiar

Chapter 183: Something Familiar

“Tch, so brutal!” Zheng Yichen, who had fully made his escape, reviewed the final information transmitted by the Alchemical Avatar. He found that the Saintess, discovering his stalling tactic, had outright dismantled that Alchemical Puppet. Probably because she was angry, even though this Alchemical Avatar hadn’t been set with any anti-theft measures—after all, it was just a low-grade spare he had put together along the way.

“…” Deya silently looked at the Alchemical Avatar now reduced to parts before her, her head aching a little. Considering that the Alchemical Puppets previously obtained by the Sanctuary Church were never intact, this one should have been the same. Yet, after she dismantled it in a fit of minor anger, it really just scattered into a pile of parts all over the ground. This was even more infuriating!

If she had known earlier, she would have simply crippled its mobility and had someone bring it to the Sanctuary Church headquarters. That would have made it easier for those trying to decipher this new style of Alchemical Puppet. But now… this pile of useless parts on the ground—because the materials were too inferior, Deya swore she only ‘lightly’ smashed it once, and it fell apart like this.

If she brought these scraps back, she would probably get scolded by those old guys who were obsessed with research, had low emotional intelligence, and dared to yell at anyone they caught. A perfectly good sample smashed into this state—would they speak nicely without yelling? What a joke!

Muttering to herself, she waved her hand. A pale golden flame attached itself to the ruined Alchemical Puppet, quickly burning it away until nothing remained. She swiftly returned to her mount’s back, ready to track Zheng Yichen. But just as she took off, a strange aura came from the direction of the Town, making her gaze sharpen. She no longer cared about Zheng Yichen, immediately turned around, and flew back.

“Huh!? What is this?” Zheng Yichen, who had already flown far away, suddenly felt a chilling, inexplicable coldness brush over him. Surprised, he looked back toward the Town’s direction. Did something happen there? Savoring this palpitation that came directly from his soul, Zheng Yichen muttered to himself. Could it be that the Saintess, realizing she had been tricked, was now so furious that she turned back to do something like slaughtering the village?

“This looks a bit familiar…” Reaching out and swiping at his dragon face, Zheng Yichen looked in surprise at a wisp of gray smoke he had clawed off. This smoke looked all too familiar, especially the distorted faces that appeared when the smoke churned chaotically. Unlike the smoke in the Stone Forest, this one was easily grabbed.

It took him quite a while to fully capture this wisp of smoke in his claw. Strange power. Zheng Yichen scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and suppressed his curiosity to go back and check the Town’s situation. Going back now seemed like a sure way to get himself killed no matter how he thought about it. Staring at this wisp of gray smoke, Zheng Yichen narrowed his eyes slightly and summoned the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Inside, he carved out an extremely small space for storing power and stuffed this smokelike power into it.

Hmm! I should develop a special container for storing various kinds of power. Pushing aside the impact the Town’s events had on his thoughts, Zheng Yichen muttered to himself. Considering the characteristics of his abilities and the inspiration from using Alien Energy—forget Magic—he could even use this captured energy himself. Moreover, influenced by his own abilities, if he didn’t let his Mana assimilate this power, but instead let his Mana become nourishment for it, then this power would naturally grow stronger…

A rather bright path had just unfolded before him, hadn’t it? The prerequisite was that he had a suitable container. Using the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was too inappropriate. After all, that thing wasn’t specifically for storing power; it was linked to Magic Arms. Zheng Yichen could temporarily carve out a small section to use, but this was temporary. As the Mana inside filled up, this space would soon be squeezed out.

Also, for now, Zheng Yichen was considering replacing all the power inside with Alien Energy under his control. That kind of energy inherently had strong assimilation properties. Combined with his own characteristics, the assimilating power would undoubtedly be even greater. But relying solely on the not-so-easy-to-use energy stored in the book wasn’t enough.

The real bulk was the portion he had swallowed earlier. That portion of Alien Energy inside his body had probably been subtly influenced, becoming closer to his Mana characteristics, yet it still wasn’t Mana. At least with this influence, Zheng Yichen still couldn’t spontaneously generate this power himself, to the point where he even wondered if he needed to first, say, cripple his own cultivation, or maybe his constitution simply wasn’t sufficient to produce this kind of power out of thin air?

What did Dan Marina say before? A knock-off version of Divine Power, but that still counted as Divine Power, right? So, in this world, how could he become a Dragon God?

Shaking his head, he tossed this unrealistic thought out of his mind. What Zheng Yichen pondered was: once this portion of Alien Energy inside him had the complete version of his own characteristics, he would use it as a catalyst to devour all other Alien Energy, including the Mana in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book!

Replacing it with this brand-new power, even if it was Pseudo Divine Power… heh, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book could become a so-called true Divine Artifact, couldn’t it?

“Hiss—! Can’t think about it anymore. The more I think, the more I want to find a place to quietly research this.” Tapping his own head, Zheng Yichen quickly straightened his mindset. He was on the run right now. Before the Prophecy Art was broken, he would have to maintain this kind of life for a long time. Wanting to quietly research something would have to wait for later.

Better to focus on the present.

In the Town, Deya looked with a grim expression at the townsfolk. They were still going about their business, completely unaware, not noticing at all that a stone-gray color, which they couldn’t perceive, had veiled their eyes. This color was continuously deepening. The eyes of some people with weaker constitutions looked almost completely turned to stone!

Soul extraction… a method often used by the Undying Witch. People subjected to this Magic would have no awareness of their own abnormality. Additionally, they would show some extra symptoms, like the petrification of their eyes now… More terrifying was that if left unchecked, these abnormal parts would later return to normal, and they would maintain the exact same life routine as before.

But these people could no longer be called human. They were collectively referred to as Corpse Puppets! They weren’t even Undead beings. At least Undead beings had a ‘True Spirit.’ Corpse Puppets, after having their Souls extracted by the Undying Witch, were merely moving, thinking flesh—with no Soul or True Spirit whatsoever. Without using Soul-detection type Magic, it was impossible to notice their abnormality!

If one really wanted to detect their strangeness through other means, it could only be discovered after these Corpse Puppets died… But they were already Corpse Puppets. Even though they seemed to eat and drink like humans, once nearing death, they would reveal a side even more violent than Undead beings—that was their true nature!