area51novel Chapter 49 Take a few steps, even if you're not sick.
Chapter 49 Take a few steps, even if you're not sick.
"Ah Cat, what happened to the Rift Ruins?"
The ragdoll cat sat on the ground, its deep blue eyes shimmering with fine, shimmering light.
"Note: The concentration of chaotic energy is still rising."
The neutral synthesized voice rang in Luo Lan's mind again.
"Prediction: The Rift Demon Tide has not yet reached its peak, and the Chaos Mist's blockade of the roads has lasted longer than expected, possibly for about 20 planetary rotation cycles."
[Twenty days?!]
Luo Lan inwardly cried out in alarm.
Feeling the urgency of time, Luo Lan had no intention of lingering in this remote town on the border of the Holy Kingdom.
Unfortunately, bad luck struck. A certain [rift] on the road ahead was experiencing a demonic tide, and chaotic energy overflowed from the rift, turning into chaotic mist that sealed off the mountains like purple miasma.
Based on common sense, without extraordinary strength at the Diamond level or even higher, recklessly venturing into "Beyond the Mist" would be even more dangerous than forcibly entering a low-level Rift Ruins. For Luo Lan at present, this would be tantamount to courting death.
But if we really spend another twenty days in this small town, the risk would be too great.
If, by chance, a member of the Holy Church happens to pass by and discovers the [Mark of Sin - Remnant] on Luo Lan's body, then what awaits Luo Lan is only a large-scale roundup and capture.
However, forcing their way into the mountains outside the town, which were shrouded in a chaotic mist, was absolutely unrealistic.
[What should I do?]
At present, it seems that there is only one way left – to actively enter the Rift Ruins and seize its core.
Each rift has its corresponding core.
Once the [Ripples Core] is removed, the Ripples will lose its activity, gradually collapse and dissipate, and the chaotic energy it spews out will also dry up, naturally mitigating the adverse effects on the surrounding landscape and ecological environment.
The fact that the rift in the underground palace where the old mage Ers conducted his experiments was because Roland used unknown methods to dismantle the [rift core] allowed the rift to continue existing.
Luo Lan looked down at himself. The "panel" rated him as Silver, but his actual strength was definitely higher.
This level of strength, placed within the Adventurers' Guild, means they've already moved beyond the cannon fodder novice stage and can be considered seasoned adventurers.
Furthermore, with the [Condensation] ability, Luo Lan was confident that he could sustain himself through battle and single-handedly conquer an entire low-level Rift Ruins.
However, being able to solo is one thing, being able to speedrun is another.
If it takes the same amount of time as when soloing the Rift of the Underground Palace, it would be far too long for Luo Lan, who is in a hurry to get there.
After a moment's thought, Luo Lan made up her mind.
Rather than waiting to die in this small town where they could be exposed at any moment, they decided to take the initiative and fight.
Luo Lan turned her head and looked intently at the ragdoll cat yawning with its mouth wide open to the side:
"Victor, let's begin today's skills training."
Upon hearing the formal title "Victor," the Ragdoll cat immediately abandoned its previous languid demeanor. It straightened up, its voice becoming more rational and hard:
"Focus. Let me reiterate the underlying logic of [Dead Remains Assembly]: Your left hand can absorb and purify Chaos derivatives, while you yourself possess a mutated form of Holy Light. The core of this technique lies in achieving a temporary balance between these two diametrically opposed energies in a specific medium."
Luo Lan nodded and reached out to pull off the cross pendant hanging in front of her breastplate.
【Name: Holy Kingdom Standard Magic Cross Pendant】
[Enchantment: Prayer Enhancement Lv.1, Identity Verification]
[Skill: Storage Space lv.1]
This thing was a big surprise left by Roland, in addition to a full ten cubic meters of [storage space lv.1].
After mastering the "panel", Luo Lan also discovered that it had the enchantment passive of [Prayer Enhancement lv.1].
Holding the magical cross pendant, Luo Lan's mind stirred.
"Splash..."
A series of chaotic and muffled noises echoed in the hotel room. A moment later, Luo Lan emptied a large pile of items from her [Storage Space]:
A goblin's withered little hand, a ghoul's head with half an eyeball attached, a piece of a stone lizard's tail that bleached white, a shattered claw of a carrion crab, several segments of a cave spider's limbs covered with barbs, and the carcass of a venomous wild boar exuding a foul stench...
These were all "monster junk" that Luo Lan picked up along the way during his escape.
Besides the monsters of the Rift Ruins, there are of course other monsters in this world that can live outside the Rift Ruins. However, since these monsters do not depend on the chaotic environment for survival, they naturally cannot extract the Chaos Essence.
The air in the hotel room, which was originally damp and musty, was now filled with an extremely pungent stench of corpses.
Rotting fat, fermenting pus, swollen flesh...
If a sheriff from the Holy Kingdom were to walk in right now, he would immediately arrest Luo Lan as a perverted heretic with a peculiar necrophilia.
The scene was so nauseating that it would make most people want to vomit, but Luo Lan knelt on one knee before the pile of stinking monster remains, extending his left bone claw and suspending it in mid-air.
The chaotic aura that drifts around the Rift Ruins is not enough to condense into Chaos Source Essence, but it is just right for use as skill consumption.
Wisps of purified chaotic energy seeped out from the gaps in the bone claws and precisely entered the jumbled pile of monster corpses on the ground.
"Chaotic aura, essence: entropy-increasing particles. Use: to give life to inanimate objects."
Victor offered Luo Lan a timely theoretical hint.
The moment they came into contact with this black aura, the tangled, rotten flesh and bones immediately went berserk.
The ghoul's half-head opened its jaws; the rotten crab's broken claws clicked and rattled, trapping air; the rotting flesh of the poisonous boar rolled and wriggled restlessly; the cave spider's legs pawed wildly at the ground; and the stone lizard's severed tail twitched erratically.
Upon seeing this, Luo Lan immediately gripped the magic cross with her right hand, closed her eyes, and began rapidly muttering to herself in her mind.
A moment later, a blinding white light burst forth from Luo Lan's right palm.
"Pale Holy Light, essence: anti-entropy radiation. Purpose: to maintain morphological stability."
Victor's prompt followed immediately.
Luo Lan focused intently on guiding this pale holy light, like an invisible net, precisely targeting the ripping corpses on the ground.
Under the forceful suppression and stitching of the white light, the monster's body parts of varying lengths began to connect.
Centered on the rotting flesh of the thorny boar, the goblin's arm was wedged into the gap between its ribs, the ghoul's head was shoved into the gaping hole in its abdomen, and six spider legs were haphazardly stuck on either side of its chest cavity in an extremely asymmetrical manner...
The energy fluctuations gradually subsided, and the pale holy light and chaotic black mist merged on its body into blue flames. An extremely ugly "little monster" stood up unsteadily.
To its left is a thick but half-broken tail of a stone lizard, and to its right is a shrunken goblin arm serving as support. Its torso is a mass of rotting flesh emitting blue flames. The ghoul's head is tilted above its abdomen, and a row of spider legs are still clattering up and down, with broken pincers making a teeth-grinding "clattering" sound.
It was a visual disaster.
But it can move!
Luo Lan could clearly feel a faint connection between herself and the little monster, and tried to issue the simplest command:
"Take a few steps, even if you're not sick."
The little monster immediately dragged its unevenly long limbs forward two steps.
"It's a success!"
Luo Lan couldn't help but cheer softly.
One bug is a bug, but a bunch of bugs can make it work!
Luo Lan had tried this process more than a dozen times during his travels, but all of them ended in explosions and disintegration. This was the first time he had managed to piece together an entity that could maintain a stable form.
Luo Lan couldn't wait to focus her attention on herself.
Three seconds later, the "panel" of [True Sight lv.1] appeared.
Sure enough, at the very bottom of the skill bar, there was an inconspicuous line of small text: [Dead Remains Assembly lv.1].
[Undead Assembly Lv.1: Infuse inanimate objects with chaotic activity, using ordered energy to assemble and solidify them, creating and driving undead creations. The higher the skill level, the more refined the creation and the more complex the executable commands.]
This is the first time Luo Lan has learned a skill through his own efforts without using [Condensation]!
[With this skill, you might actually be able to quickly clear the Rift Ruins!]
The "panel" is definitely more useful than anything else. Luo Lan let out a long breath and plopped down on the wooden bed next to her.