Looking at the image on the light screen, Ron's brow furrowed tightly. He sat up straight in bed, his eyes fixed on the screen.
His greatest fear had finally come to pass.
Well, what else could he expect from a Masked Fool?
The Masked Fools treat the entire world as their stage, telling side-splitting jokes and anticipating amusing plays, all in pursuit of the Elation that proves humanity's existence.
To achieve the Elation they seek, they are capable of anything...
After all, that is the philosophy of the Path of The Elation. Although Aha itself seems to have transcended it, not being severely bound by its own Path—or perhaps because The Elation is so broad in scope that even if Aha is bound by it, it can still act in a very human-like manner, mocking other Aeons as one-track-minded fools.
But ordinary Pathstriders certainly cannot achieve that... With the exception of the Mourning Actors, who were deliberately blessed by Aha and are completely exempt from its philosophy, normal Masked Fools are all framed within this concept. On a nine-box alignment chart, they would be textbook chaotic neutral.
Sampo was naturally no exception... It was entirely predictable that he would tamper with the Blessed Berries. But what did this "blessing that can devour everything" mean?
What exactly had Sampo done to mutate the berries?!
Ron stared grimly at the screen. The image had not paused and continued to play smoothly:
"Devour everything?"
The Ron in the image also frowned. He stood up from his simple throne and strode quickly to Natasha's side.
"Have you already tried studying these berries distributed by the Masked Fool... What were the results?"
Natasha's expression was grave. She sighed helplessly.
"You... you'll understand when you see this."
In her hand, she held a grotesque-looking Rock-Dweller Crab, clearly affected by the blessing.
The crab, its body entwined with tiny vines, waved its claws menacingly, repeatedly trying to snap at Natasha's hand. It was nothing like a normal Rock-Dweller Crab—
These crabs were typically gentle creatures. Most of the time, upon seeing a person, they would scurry into the cracks between rocks to hide. They would never dare to wave their pincers at someone so aggressively.
But because Natasha herself was a Pathstrider of The Abundance, protected by the power of her Path, a small crab was not enough to break her skin or cause her any harm.
She placed the crab on the desk. It swung its claws wildly, snapping viciously at the corner of the desk and immediately shearing off a piece of the sturdy, exquisite piece of furniture that had been in the Supreme Guardian's office for who knows how many years. The creature's aggression was palpable.
Natasha held the crab down to keep it from running wild, speaking earnestly as she did so:
"The Rock-Dweller Crab, one of the few arthropods in the Underworld. People usually see it either in the crevices of mine tunnels or on the dinner table during occasional celebrations. The meat is tender, fresh, and delicious—that's the entirety of most people's impression of it."
As she spoke, her other hand fumbled in the medicine pouch at her waist. "This crab always turns and flees when it sees people in the mines, immediately钻ing into rock crevices. It's terrified of humans."
"Its ancestor is the 'Tunneling Rock Crab,' another arthropod that moves through rock crevices. The Tunneling Rock Crab of the past was almost identical to the Rock-Dweller Crab of today, except the former was very fierce, while the latter is incredibly timid. That's the only difference."
"But did you know... in Belobog's history, the Tunneling Rock Crab was once a threat on par with a natural disaster, and it nearly destroyed the entire city."
"After Belobog was founded, the Underworld was excavated to mine geomarrow... But the greatest threat to our ancestors was not the various dangerous environments underground, but the rampant Tunneling Rock Crabs."
"These crabs were incredibly ferocious, always moving in swarms, rampaging through the mine tunnels, digging hole after hole, collapsing layer after layer of the mines..."
"If the threat of the Tunneling Rock Crabs could not be solved, the Underworld would have completely collapsed under their influence, taking the Overworld—the true, ever-standing giant city—with it, plunging it into a chasm, never to see the light of day again."
"It ultimately took several hundred years of being hunted by the people of the Underworld for them to gradually evolve into what they are today—timid and completely non-aggressive."
As Natasha spoke, her tone became more apprehensive. She took a dying cave newt from her pouch, gently placed it on the desk, and released her grip on the Rock-Dweller Crab.
The crab, entwined with tiny vines, immediately scuttled forward on its eight small legs, rushing towards the dying newt.
Even though the newt was lethargic from being stuck in Natasha's pouch for too long, it still showed fear in the face of the crab, writhing frantically in an attempt to escape...
But the crab reached its side, its pincers a blur as they viciously sliced the newt into several pieces.
The newt didn't even have a chance to scream before it collapsed in a pool of blood, reduced to chunks of flesh.
The Rock-Dweller Crab crouched over the bloody mess, using its claws to stuff the flesh into its maw, feasting heartily.
The tiny vines on its body also extended fine rootlets, stretching into the pool of blood. The blood flowed into the roots like fine threads, tingeing the vines red.
The crab's body began to grow, point by point, becoming visibly stronger. The vines on its body rooted themselves deeper into its shell, and more vines began to sprout, making the crab look even more grotesque...
Natasha looked at the crab, her expression extremely complex.
"Hundreds of years of fear ingrained in its very bones made the Rock-Dweller Crab timid and gentle. But just a single drop of juice from the berry brought by the Masked Fool turned it into this—"
"Irritable, aggressive... and incredibly greedy, its appetite as bottomless as an abyss."
Ron listened quietly to Natasha's words. He took a long, deep look at the Rock-Dweller Crab on the desk, which had just finished devouring the newt and had grown to the size of a human head. Without hesitation, he threw a punch, smashing right through the crab, which had turned its attention to him the moment it finished its meal, as if intending to satisfy its hunger with him next.
The vines on the crab's body were scattered by the heavy blow, and many of them snapped.
But they immediately began to grow back rapidly. More and more vines surged out from under the shell, trying to pull the shattered crab back together, as if attempting to restore its previous form.
But Ron gave it no chance. He threw several more punches, reducing it to a pulp. Golden-tinged vines grew from his hand, completely enveloping the paste, devouring it and breaking it down into the most basic nutrients, leaving no possibility of regeneration.
Ron was silent for a long time. He casually wiped the blood and gore splattered on his face and asked Natasha:
"A Rock-Dweller Crab is usually no bigger than a palm... How long did it take to grow that large?"
A flicker of fear appeared on Natasha's face. She wasn't afraid of the crab, but of the blessing that had been tampered with by the Masked Fool.
"After it consumed the drop of juice, I only fed it two newts for the experiment before I came here..."
"So... three newts turned it into that?"
Ron closed his eyes with a sense of helplessness. He rubbed his brow, walked back to his throne, and collapsed into it with a weary sigh. He sat there quietly, his voice low.
"How can this still be called a Blessed Berry..."
"This is clearly the Seed of Calamity... a terrifying disaster that, once it grows, will cast a shadow over the entire empire and plunge Belobog into eternal darkness!"
The image on the screen paused, and new text appeared:
[Natasha has shared her research on the Seed of Calamity with you. You now fully understand its effects.]
[You don't know what Sampo did to it, but its various effects have been greatly enhanced. It is no longer the minor blessing that merely granted immunity to the Fragmentum and slightly enhanced the consumer's physique and appetite.]
[Creatures that consume the Seed of Calamity will gain extremely formidable power. Vines, blessed by Yaoshi of The Abundance, will sprout from their flesh and form a complete symbiosis with the creature itself.]
[The creature's survivability will be greatly enhanced. Not only will it be immune to the Fragmentum, but it will also begin to evolve without limit.]
[With a sufficient supply of food and energy, they could eventually evolve into the terrifying behemoths that are designated as high-priority targets by the Xianzhou, monsters that would even cause Lan of The Hunt to draw his bow, creatures that devour all things.]
[But precisely because they can evolve without limit, they will immediately consume the energy they have just replenished... In other words, no matter how much they eat, they will only grow stronger while simultaneously becoming hungrier as their energy consumption and appetite increase.]
[If they cannot control their hunger, cannot restrain the biological instinct to eat, they will become eternally insatiable devourers, completely abandoning all rationality and descending into a path of gluttony built on desire.]
The text faded, and a crimson text box appeared.
The words in the box appeared one by one:
[You know that if that one-third of the population truly consumes the Seed of Calamity, everything will immediately fall into darkness.]
[The growing empire will immediately devour the entire empire, turning all dreams into illusions, even as they are right before you, almost within reach.]
[Faced with this crisis, your heart is in turmoil.]
[Which path should the empire take? How should this crisis be overcome? Should you give in to despair and play your trump card, or trust in humanity and continue to fight?]
[It is time to make a choice—]
[1. Trust the people. For the future of the empire, they can suppress their human greed. You can only trust the people. To prevent the empire from collapsing, and to overcome this crisis that is still in its infancy but could become far more terrifying than the Anti-Matter Legion and the Stellaron, you must unite all forces. You must enter your choice in the text box below, but you can only make a choice that aligns with the prerequisite of "trusting the people."]
[2. The depravity and greed of humanity are far more terrifying than any disaster. You must find another solution. You cannot trust the people. To save this world and overcome this inevitable catastrophe, you must abandon all illusions. You must enter your choice in the text box below, but you can only make a choice that aligns with the prerequisite of "not trusting the people."]
Below these was a deep red option box, different from the crimson one before—
[3. (Permanent) "It's all over..." The empire, with its current capabilities, cannot solve this crisis. This is a trial for civilization, a test of whether humanity will cause its own collapse due to its desires... But it is a trial that is destined to be failed, because to follow desire is humanity itself. You know the empire will inevitably crumble before this trial. Why waste time thinking about it? All danger and fear stem from a lack of firepower... It is time to pray to Yaoshi of The Abundance and receive a blessing that is yours alone. Things cannot possibly get any worse.]
Looking at the options on the screen, Ron couldn't help but fall silent.
For the first time, he felt... perhaps, there was no need to struggle anymore.
Choose the third option, receive the Apothecary's blessing, and solve everything once and for all...
But he remained silent for a long time before finally sighing and giving up on the idea.
That option was like cheating in a game. After cheating, your account gets taken over, and your actions are influenced by the Apothecary's blessing. Until it was the absolute last resort, Ron really hated that choice.
Although the situation was now extremely dangerous, it wasn't the final moment just yet...
He still had to try his best.
With this thought, Ron considered for a moment and clicked on the first option.
To solve this disaster, he alone, without praying to the Apothecary, had no chance of success... Even if he didn't trust humanity, he could only choose the first option and use the power of the empire to solve this mess.
A blank text box appeared on the screen. Ron pondered for a long time, then, bit by bit, he typed out his choice...