7 PM.
After "Dizzy" and a few others died and logged off, they finished dining in the bustling college street, only to suddenly discover that a game group friend from the "Sword Casting Competition" had messaged them:
"You actually lied to me, you didn't die at all."
"Who's lying to you? Boring." Dizzy felt speechless, this message was utterly baffling.
What do you mean I didn't die?
My four brothers lived and died together, okay!
Died neatly, with corpses lined up together.
"You clearly faked your death, ran pitifully back, I opened the door for you, and you're pretending to be clueless, right?" The other party was very angry and sent several furious emojis.
?
You opened the door for me?
Did you open the gates of hell or something?
Crazy!
Dizzy felt like they were on completely different wavelengths, as if they had logged off already! What kind of 'me' is still chatting with him?
Are you telling ghost stories? Is it a ghost chatting with you??
Too lazy to bother with him, Dizzy closed the chat box and opened another friend's chat box:
"Boss, did you finish organizing the Sword Casting Manor's surrounding map information I sent you?"
The four of them discovered several special semi-transparent crystals while mining, which they melted and polished at the smithy to create makeshift lenses, crafting a simple telescope.
They took advantage of the opportunity to build defense towers, climbing to heights and observing from various players' defense towers.
Continuously photographing the scenery and topographic maps of the mountain and distant areas.
Hoping to create a 3D map encompassing the environment surrounding the manor.
The other party replied:
"Various images are mostly sufficient; after all, your manor is the highest peak, measured at a whopping 4,700 meters, overlooking many mountains nearby that aren't as high, so the shots were quite complete."
This boss works at a map navigation company and can create a hologram from these multi-angled images.
The other party said: "However, I found the terrain organized through software seems a bit strange."
Dizzy was a bit surprised: "Strange? What's up with it?"
"The base of the manor mountain seems surrounded by a circle of villages with people living there, but only corners of some buildings were photographed, not very clear, mainly because the forest is too dense."
"But, it seems like there are some lanterns, bustling streets, and stalls being set up? It seems like festival preparations? A bit like the New Year market."
There are villages below Sword Casting Manor?
Dizzy found this information crucial.
No wonder the old steward left; he was enjoying retirement, living down the mountain, reunited with his family, delightfully participating in festival activities?
But the maze kept them isolated.
The festivities are theirs, and we have nothing.
Perhaps after this Crow Disaster quest, we can try launching rockets and set the mountain afire.
Burn the mid-mountain and foothills bare, opening up visibility to see the bottom of the mountain.
Since it's New Year, lighting up the fire brightens the upcoming year, celebrating a bit, isn't it nice?
Of course, this is just a thought.
It's more likely the distant map is merely a false image, a backdrop wall, and doesn't exist.
The other party continued:
"Next, the entire map of the manor, hmm, rather the entire game terrain map is quite odd."
"Nearby mountain shapes resemble a keyboard, with peaks like keys, arranged in a crooked grid pattern, not very neat."
Dizzy was taken aback, only reacting after a little while: "Are you saying the terrain is too orderly, with traces of artificiality?"
The other party said: "Hmm, it's like someone used a comb, combed horizontally and vertically, forming a grid of peaks?"
"Human? How big a human would that be? Why don't you say Zhu Bajie used his Nine-toothed Nail Rake to rake over it."
Dizzy quipped: "Right, right, the Giant God Zhu Bajie was just farming at Gao Village, we little smiths are merely pests in the fields of Gao Village, disrupting his farming income, marrying Gao Cuilan."
Though somewhat surprised by the mountains possibly being manmade, as a modern person, why would he be astonished?
Let's emphasize being knowledgeable!
Read enough novels and you'd know.
These great powers fighting, mountains shattering, seas leveled in combat.
And with so many years passing, the original landscapes are certainly long gone, someone washed over them, reshaped the terrain anew, providing residency for mortals, isn't that normal?
Can only say mortals in these high-energy worlds are truly miserable!
Evidently, the "artificial terrain" is a historical inevitability developing over time, everywhere a powerhouse will have fought, right?
One place reshaped after another, it's certainly like this.
Thinking of this, Dizzy felt a bit happy internally.
Finally getting hands on some substantial intel, 3D terrain maps released as strategy guides, riding waves, earning clicks.
The other party said: "Actually, I have another terrain hypothesis, it wasn't combed over."
Dizzy felt a bit excited, wondering if the boss had better intel still: "Not combed over? So how was it cleared? Washed with water?"
The other party said: "Like a palm print."
Dizzy fell silent for a moment.
The other party sent a video.
On the table was the finest flour imaginable.
The person suddenly pressed a palm horizontally, then vertically, crisscrossing palm prints, leaving behind intricately detailed micron protrusions of hills and main rivers in the flour.
"Just like that terrain."
The other party typed a line: "Like observing lines on a palm, they press out towering mountain ranges, wide long rivers."
Dizzy was completely stunned, his mind buzzing: "It's that big, how does our smithy still sell weapons to it?"
The other party: "..."
This guy, he's crazy!
You live among the creases pressed between palm ridges, are you all that inflated?
Mentally picture this, a bacterium raises a flagellum, asking humans if they want to buy this flagellum?
Hmph, blacksmith, you've successfully piqued my interest.
You think the entity would say that, but it's not some overbearing president's sweet little wife type.
Dizzy being straightforward, really didn't mind:
"Relax, there's a divine technique called Dharma Aspect Heaven and Earth, isn't Sun Wukong's and Erlang God's moves bizarre? There's a technique called Tathagata Divine Palm, isn't that odd either?"
"In the Immortal Martial World, if it weren't for these moves clearing ground for mortals, it'd just be called martial arts! After great powers battle, could those Court governmental constables be using mops to clean up blood, does that make sense?"
...
...
After finishing dinner, Ning Zheng returned to his room, kicked off his shoes, and lay on the bed, intently holding a frog.
He took a needle to prick it.
One prick.
Two pricks.
...
Ten pricks.
A miniature Ning Zheng, the size of a fingernail, suddenly appeared beside the frog.
And after the frog was subjected to a wave of parasitic splitting, it immediately wilted significantly.
"Still unstable."
He sighed.
Inspired by the war that took place during the day, he began experimenting to develop a spell for his own Spiritual Root System: Shadow Parasite.
The technique's principle is:
It parasitizes an avatar hidden within the opponent's body, when about to dissipate, secretly making ten hits, then a new avatar appears to replace oneself, continuing to parasitize secretly in the opponent's body.
Endlessly cycling, to achieve perpetual parasitism!
This spell requires a very high precision of one's power.
The ten strikes need to be extremely light, controlling the toxin's injection to form a suitably sized micro parasitic body, to hide within the opponent's body.
Even so.
The opponent's mental consciousness is continually seeded, split, would endure persistent mental fatigue.
It's like being infected by a virus.
This indeed is poison.
Ning Zheng is mentally poisoned, akin to a virus laying in wait, absorbs the host, spreads, ultimately sweeping over various areas.
"This perpetual parasitism spell, even if successful, the parasitic host body can't be too weak."
Ning Zheng pondered, "If the host is too weak, even my minimal energy consumption split sustainment would overwhelm their mental state, slowly leading to mental exhaustion to death, the soul being mercilessly drained by me!"
This move has little use in direct combat.
But its functionality is very strong!
For example, protection.
Parasitize one on Ning Jiaojiao, although continuously absorbing her spiritual energy, if encountering danger, my avatar will launch attacks, start frenzied reproduction, assisting Ning Jiaojiao in combat.
Simultaneously, it can leave hidden tricks on other persons.
For instance, interacting with an enemy, having a conversation, secretly planting toxins, to let them erupt after returning home.
To ambush, kill people around them, causing a toxin outbreak, resulting in numerous avatars, frantically infecting surroundings, sweeping over his locale.