Chapter 26: An Unexpected Day Selection Ritual

[Ritual Can Be Initiated]

Yan Jing looked at the prompt, hesitating over whether to use the Order Badge directly as a Rite to initiate the Day Selection Ritual.

But the system prompts didn't end there; they continued to appear.

[Now issuing the Stage A mission for the next Dungeon]

[Mission Location: Sun-Swallowing Tower]

[Mission 1: The Perfect Waiter]

[Mission Description:

As the most popular dining establishment in Old Sin City, the owner of Sun-Swallowing Tower is very fond of recruiting human Players as temporary waiters.

Please serve at least five customers as a waiter.]

[Mission 2: Dining is a Test of Hand Speed]

[Mission Description:

Beyond a hefty sum of Eerie Coins, the reward for being a waiter is the chance to enjoy a Gluttonous Ghost Banquet at Sun-Swallowing Tower.

You will be permitted to share a table and dine with Inner World Residents once. Please consume as much food as possible during this meal (at least two types).

Otherwise, your resulting hunger might make it impossible to take a single step inside the Tower.]

[Note: Compared to the Novice Dungeon, the difficulty and danger of official Dungeons will drastically increase!!! Please prepare as fully as possible before entering the Dungeon!!!]

[The next Dungeon will officially begin in two weeks.]

[Countdown to Dungeon exit: 00:10:00]

With that, the system prompts finally concluded.

"Sun-Swallowing Tower..."

Yan Jing blinked in surprise. Wasn't that the tall building right across from the market?

In that case, he wouldn't need a new character; he just had to find a way inside that Tower before the Dungeon started.

He had been worrying that failing to fulfill the Cameraman's dying wish meant he couldn't fully unlock the role, leaving him unable to draw his next character.

Now it seemed he could set that concern aside for the time being.

"That's good news."

Yan Jing shifted his attention back to the Day Selection Ritual.

He checked his Inventory. Before obtaining a Tier, his Inventory only had five slots. After advancing to the First Tier, it had gained two more.

[Order Badge (Special), Dreamland Deputy Mayor's Pillow, Mysterious Skull, Item Quality Appraisal Ticket, Ritual Blessing Coupon (Bound Item), Mental Immunity Potion (Bound Item), Eyeball-Loving Dagger]

Due to a lack of Inventory space, he had taken out An Ranran's bread and set it aside.

First, he inspected his two newly acquired rewards.

[Item Name: Ritual Blessing Coupon (Bound Item)]

[Quality: Green transitioning to Yellow]

[Tier Requirement: None]

[Effect: Used when conducting a Ritual. Increases the probability of the Ritual's success and has a chance to raise the quality of the selected Rite.]

[Description: An extremely rare reward from the Inner World given to Players with high Dungeon completion ratings. Cannot be transferred, gifted, or used as a Rite.]

This had to be the greatest reward he had earned for clearing the Dungeon with an S-rank rating.

Even if he didn't grasp its exact value, seeing that it had a chance to improve the quality of a chosen Rite told him it was definitely a good item.

Next was the Item Quality Appraisal Ticket.

[Item Name: Item Quality Appraisal Ticket]

[Quality: White transitioning to Green]

[Tier Requirement: None]

[Effect: Appraises mysterious items, revealing their effects and quality.]

[Description: A reward from the Inner World for high Dungeon completion ratings. Highly useful for progressing through Dungeons.]

Compared to the other two rewards, this Quality Appraisal Voucher was slightly inferior.

Since it wasn't a bound item, it could be gifted or sold.

Yan Jing remembered seeing someone sell a Quality Appraisal Voucher on the Player forums. The final price had been around 200,000.

Even then, it had been bought the moment it was listed.

Like most Inner World items, these things were in high demand but rarely available for purchase.

After all, every Dungeon was a life-and-death gamble; no one ever complained about having too many trump cards.

The item had limited value to Yan Jing, as he could use his alternate identities to ask around about an item's effects.

But after mulling it over for a moment, he suddenly realized there was one place where this ticket would actually come in handy.

He stood up from the bed, put on his shoes, and walked over to the small tree at its foot.

Because he had watered it with fresh blood yesterday, the tree had already sprouted several vibrant new branches.

On the two thickest branches hung two fresh, juicy red apples.

Yan Jing leaned in for a closer look. At the bottom of each apple squirmed a fat worm.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he noticed a faint trail of black mist lingering around one of the apples.

It looked very similar to the black hue on Lin Mian's single horn.

"Let's see what you're really made of..."

Yan Jing took out the Quality Appraisal Voucher.

He had always been fascinated by this Sapling. The Cameraman's memories contained nothing about its origins, but since it could produce such high-grade destiny meals and even extract the power from others' bodies, it clearly wasn't low-tier trash.

Perhaps it hid secrets related to the Cameraman's dying wish.

The Quality Appraisal Voucher looked like one of those small calling cards slipped under hotel doors in the Surface World, only far less colorful. It had a white background bordered by a ring of black patterns.

It was simple to use: with a hard pinch, the card automatically dissolved into a cluster of glowing mist that clung to his hand. To appraise an item, he merely had to touch it.

Yan Jing slowly reached his glowing, mist-wreathed hand toward the small tree's trunk.

The moment they made contact.

The item description appeared.

[Item Name: Fear Tree Seedling]

[Quality: Yellow transitioning to Purple]

[Tier Requirement: None]

[Effect: When watered with the blood of others, it absorbs the fear contained within the blood and generates an apple of corresponding power. The more fear in the blood, the higher the apple's quality.]

[Description: An accidental byproduct of an experiment. Its original owner likely never even knew its true name or function, having only obtained it through sheer coincidence. If you walk the path of Fear, do not miss this.]

Yan Jing stared at the description, almost convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Yellow transitioning to Purple! Tier requirement: None!

Those two traits combined were enough to prove the value of the Sapling before him. It surpassed even the first-place prize awarded by the Order Management Bureau.

He had never expected the Cameraman to have something this incredible in his possession.

After all, the Cameraman's own character quality was only Green.

According to the description, the Cameraman had only stumbled upon it by chance and had no idea of its true origins.

"I'll have to change my choice for the Day Selection Ritual."

Suppressing his rising joy, Yan Jing made his decision.

Even though he had no idea what this so-called path of Fear meant as an Inner World Pathway or what abilities it would grant him, there was a massive difference between a Yellow item and one transitioning to Purple. More importantly, he still had a Ritual Blessing Coupon that could elevate the quality of a Rite.

This meant that if his gamble paid off, he would achieve a purple Day Selection Ritual—something rumored to be coveted even by the peerless geniuses of the Fifth Ring Domain.

Under these circumstances, it was absolutely worth the risk.

He glanced at his status bar.

[Player Name: Yan Jing]

[Player Title: None]

[Player Level: First Tier, EXP (30%/100%)]

[Ritual: Can be initiated]

[Mental Immunity Value: 70]

[Eerie Coins: 77,184]

The Ritual tab flashed with red light, signaling that he could choose to initiate it.

Seeing that only two or three minutes remained on his Dungeon timer, Yan Jing decided to return to the Surface World before starting the Ritual.

The Rite required for the Ritual wasn't as simple as he had thought. The Player forums mentioned there was a certain probability of failure.

As for what exactly determined that failure, Yan Jing still wasn't quite sure.

This was also why he was so desperate to find an Investor.

Right now, his grasp of advanced knowledge regarding the Transcendent Tier was simply too lacking. Spending huge amounts of time gathering information before every Dungeon dive was incredibly inefficient.

He took Lin Mian's Dagger out of his Inventory, stored the Sapling inside, and then plucked the apple that lacked the lingering black mist. Shifting back into the Cameraman's appearance, he walked out the door.

Only after handing the apple to Mantou and telling her he had business and would be gone for a day did he exit the Dungeon.

The moment he emerged from the Dungeon, he sent a quick message to Xu Weizhou, then directly opted to initiate the Ritual.

This was one difference between the Inner World Player system and the Ghoulish Life Role-playing Game: the Player system's missions, items, and status bar could all be accessed in the Surface World.

The instant he tapped "Initiate Ritual", Yan Jing's mind went blank for a fraction of a second.

In the next second, he felt everything around him crumble into dust and slowly dissipate, like a flower in the mirror and moon on the water. Before him appeared a colossal Great Curtain that blotted out the sky. Behind that Great Curtain stood an array of supreme, majestic figures.

They remained hidden behind the curtain like pitch-black silhouettes. One could only imagine their true appearances through their varying outlines.

The Great Curtain obscured the sky, completely dominating Yan Jing's field of vision. He glanced around and realized that at some point, those majestic, shadow-like figures had completely surrounded him.

"Bong!!! Bong!!! Bong!!!"

A great bell tolled, as if instantly pulling Yan Jing back into a vast, ancient era. Countless glittering stars materialized in the sky above the Great Curtain, weaving and orbiting around nine massive stars that radiated different-colored light.

Every one of these giant stars appeared several times larger than the sun in reality. They slowly revolved, their light mingling together to illuminate the space below, which was partitioned by the radiance into one distinct Domain after another.

In one Domain, a faint, ancient bronze palace could be seen. Towering figures akin to War Gods stood within, mounted on divine steeds and alien beasts that rose and fell amid swirling clouds of Chaos.

Beyond that lay a flourishing golden empire at its peak, a secluded Daoist temple standing atop high peaks, an opera house floating on a pitch-black sea, and a cyber city pulsing with flashing lights...

"Tick! Tock! Tick!"

The tolling bell was replaced by the crisp ticking of a clock. This time, an incense burner and a praying mat appeared before Yan Jing.

Three sticks of incense were already planted in the burner, all freshly lit. As soon as the ash fell, an unknown breeze swept it up and deposited it right in front of the old, yellowed straw mat.

"Select an auspicious day!!!"

"Choose a blessed hour!!!"

"Offer the first Rite!!!"

Faint light flickered where the ash had fallen, seemingly signaling for Yan Jing to place his chosen Rite down.

He quickly placed the Fear Tree Seedling into the designated spot. For good measure, Yan Jing also crushed the Ritual Blessing Coupon, letting it dissolve into a blanket of light that washed over the seedling.

Following the prompt of the voices, he sat down before the praying mat.

He closed his eyes.

"Hee hee hee—"

"Mine, mine, mine—"

"Slurp, slurp—"

A chaotic clamor of voices rang in his ears. Keeping his eyes shut tight, Yan Jing felt as if the figures behind the Great Curtain had leapt out into the open, violently scrambling over one another for the Rite he had offered. Their majestic facades crumbled away. Far from the divine gods and buddhas he had imagined, they acted like a horde of mutated Inner World Residents.

It was a very familiar feeling; he was certain he wasn't mistaken.

Only at the very end did the clamor finally cease.

Yan Jing sensed that the Sapling in front of him hadn't been completely snatched away by the figures. They had devoured certain invisible elements from it—things Yan Jing himself would never have been able to withstand—and what remained eventually merged into his body.

He couldn't see it with his eyes closed, but he felt it clearly. It was as if the absolute essence of the Sapling had climbed inside his body and was gradually intertwining with his very being.

His body began to heat up. His heart in particular felt like it was being roasted over an open fire, and sweat poured from his skin. Yet, at the exact same time, several currents of extreme, biting cold roved relentlessly through his veins, making him shiver.

Caught in this agonizing clash of scorching heat and freezing cold, he gradually found it too much to bear. Even with his teeth clenched, he was approaching his absolute limit, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Fortunately, after he endured for a while longer, a gentle wave of power emerged. It helped counteract the chaotic extremes of hot and cold, finally allowing him to pull through.

His expression slowly softened into relief.

"Beep—beep—beep—"

He didn't know how much time had passed when the bell rang once more. This time, it was replaced by the digital alarm of an electronic watch.

Yan Jing opened his eyes. At that exact moment, a brilliant purple light erupted all around him.

The projection of a pitch-black Sapling, heavily laden with apples, instantly bloomed into existence behind him.