Facing an Ancient God for a Year

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[Mission Evaluation: Abyssal Walker]

Ignorance makes one akin to caged livestock, knowing too much, on the other hand, can lead to madness.

In the long process of cultivation, special individuals will always emerge, but it’s not certain whether the cultivator will realize their potential.

When the source of corruption and distortion finally vanishes, this land returns to tranquility.

People’s exploration of ancient secrets has never ceased, yet any ambition and confidence must be backed by commensurate strength.

Due to taking on tasks beyond their abilities, the Exploration Team met with disaster, and in the end, only two escaped.

The only consolation is that their employer too lay dead at the scene.]

[Kill Count: Snake Person, Singing Maiden, Corrupted Puppet]

[Special Reward: A Cup of Abyssal Mist]

[Current SAN Points: 178, Current Inspiration: 51]

[Play event recap?]

In the storage, Fu Qian listened to a series of prompts in his ear.

Upon returning to the storage, the abnormalities on his body had been restored, including the previously solidified demigod form.

The desire to kill disappeared, and his split personality healed, making his thoughts clearer than ever.

It seemed that this was still the first time he encountered a situation where SAN Points weren’t enough!

A Cup of Abyssal Mist?

This special reward immediately caught his attention.

The word “mist” made Fu Qian easily think of the gain from the pit earlier.

Quickly flipping back to the rewards section, he soon found the item named Abyssal Mist.

[Name: A Cup of Abyssal Mist]

[Type: Trait]

[Effect: After drinking, the demigod form will solidify into a Havoc Knight]

[Note: This process is irreversible]

It really is a cup, huh?

Fu Qian scrutinized the object that had appeared in his hand, a pure silver goblet with a narrow top, wide bottom and huge size, its surface covered with intricate and mysterious patterns.

Inside the cup, a dense, almost liquefied dark red mist swirled and intertwined, yet it never spread outside.

Merely glancing at it made one feel malevolence surging in the heart; it was obviously the same substance he found in the underground tunnel.

Just now, he was thinking the thirty-odd SAN Points were a bit of a loss, but to his surprise, they were given to him directly as a reward.

And according to the instructions, it seemed fairly simple to use—just drink it down.

Frankly, the combat power of that form was quite impressive, and even the flesh powers of the Thug had been preserved and even advanced.

But—

Fu Qian shook the goblet and decided not to rush it.

The reason was simple; it seemed that drinking this might lower one’s intelligence.

That ceaseless desire for slaughter left a deep impression on Fu Qian; he didn’t like the feeling of his emotions being manipulated.

It’s better to keep it as an option for now, as it seems there’s more than one type of trait available to him.

But storing this thing, that’s the troublesome part.

Having made up his mind, Fu Qian realized another problem.

If it warped the surroundings to such an extent when buried deep underground, keeping this at home… would literally be drawing a map of hell.

He couldn’t bring it back!

But to leave it here?

What if he couldn’t find it when he came back next time?

Speaking of which, if only there were some place to store things.

Fu Qian looked at the shelves not far away, considering whether he could clear a spot there.

No sooner had the thought occurred than the space beside him twisted.

The next moment, an elegantly designed long table appeared out of thin air.

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This… Fu Qian instinctively reached out to touch it and felt an ice-cold sensation.

Once he confirmed it was solid, Fu Qian tried placing a wine glass on top of it.

As he watched the wine glass sit stably on the table… it seemed like something was still missing, shouldn’t there be a chair?

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than an antique-looking armchair appeared in response.

This works too?

If I get a computer and plug in an ethernet cable, wouldn’t I be able to play games here forever?

Wishes, as it turned out, were beautiful things.

No matter how Fu Qian imagined it, he couldn’t conjure up even a mouse on the table.

Oh well, one can’t force everything; having this set of furniture was already quite convenient.

Fu Qian soon gave up trying and directly stimulated the mark on his hand.

Leaving the warehouse to return to the living room, Fu Qian took out Blasphemy’s Embrace.

He had always been worried about the safety of keeping such an item at home, but now he could store similar items in the warehouse.

Just as he was about to activate the mark to go back, a torrent of cries like a tsunami suddenly rang out next to Fu Qian’s ear.

“Are they going crazy?”

For a moment, Fu Qian thought he hadn’t taken off the Fool’s Tree Circlet.

Fu Qian had been mentally prepared for hearing voices, but why were these people behaving as if they had taken something today?

Putting down what he was holding, Fu Qian noticed that the loudest one was the long-absent Pei Yanqing.

Who would have thought that someone so quiet and demure on the outside could have such a wild heart?

Fu Qian focused his attention on Pei Yanqing’s orb of light and soon realized he had wronged her.

She seemed completely normal, leisurely sitting on the bed watching a show; she didn’t look emotionally agitated at all.

Something was not right!

Fu Qian furrowed his brow, realizing the issue was not as simple as it seemed.

Speaking of which, there were particularly many people today.

Among the flickering orbs of light around him, each voice was louder and clearer than before but the content wasn’t anything special.

But if they were fine, and this anomaly was happening, could the problem be with himself?

Fu Qian looked down at himself; he hadn’t drunk the Abyssal Mist and felt almost no different from earlier…

Wait, that might not be entirely true.

Fu Qian began to tally the rewards from this mission.

He hadn’t drunk any Abyssal Mist indeed; his SAN Points had even dropped, but at the same time, there was one thing that had increased—Inspiration.

This attribute, whose effects he hadn’t quite figured out, seemed to have been steadily increasing with every mission, and now it was over fifty.

In all of his actions so far, the effect of Inspiration seemed to be to occasionally let him see things others couldn’t.

Could it be that reaching a certain level begins to affect this world too?

That wouldn’t be good news!

After all, with each mission’s conclusion, the Inspiration almost always increased.

Wouldn’t that mean the noise would get louder and louder over time?

And with only increases and no decreases, it was even harder to manage than SAN Points.

After a moment of contemplation, Fu Qian grabbed Blasphemy’s Embrace from the table, ignored the multitude of calls, and directly activated the mark on his wrist.

…

Returning to the warehouse, what comforted him was that both the table and chairs were still there, and the silver wine glass was also securely placed on top.

Placing Blasphemy’s Embrace on the table, Fu Qian walked deeper into the warehouse and found the Emissary’s Mask.

Without wasting any time, he put the mask on his face.

There was something he needed to confirm.

The next moment, the scene shifted, and Fu Qian woke up on the second floor of the bookstore.

He didn’t get up right away but sat up in bed for a while.

After a full twenty minutes, Fu Qian still hadn’t heard any noise.

The increase in Inspiration did not make him hear the calls in this world.