“Secret Poison Diary”
“One-Winged Sorcery Spirit”
“Requirement: The sorcerer must possess the ability to write.”
“Basic Effect: Summons a diary in which you may write freely. Once you record complete intelligence regarding a secret poison, you will become immune to all effects caused by that secret poison. Current secret poisons recorded: 0/1.”
“Passive Effect: A replica of your notebook will appear in the Void Realm. When the replica's reading count exceeds 500, this sorcery spirit will automatically advance to Two Wings. Current reading count: 0/500.”
“‘What you write for yourself is a diary; what you write for others is a biography.’”
With resources to spare, Yaxiu could hardly resist purchasing this diary—it was the only sorcery spirit he currently knew of capable of resisting the effects of secret poisons!
To a sorcerer, secret poisons were much like pulling all-nighters, smoking, or holding down a grueling job: you knew full well it took a severe toll on your physical and mental health, but because the consequences wouldn't manifest until the distant future, no matter how anxious you were, you could only grit your teeth and bear it to make a living, lying flat and taking the beating.
Although the Secret Poison Diary could currently record only one secret poison, it at least offered a glimmer of hope for someone like Yaxiu, who fell into the sub-healthy demographic plagued by several chronic ailments.
Moreover, if Yaxiu wasn't mistaken, he should be able to modify the recorded secret poison intelligence at any time. In other words, if an outbreak occurred and the infection count of a particular secret poison surged dramatically, he could promptly record that flared-up poison. Once the other infected victims gradually dropped dead, the poison's destructive potency would fall back to a tolerable, normal level.
As long as multiple secret poisons didn't erupt simultaneously, Yaxiu's life would basically be out of danger.
*Every single operator needs one of these,* he thought. He just didn't know which event would offer them next. Still, long-term disease prevention wasn't something to rush.
Another thing that rather surprised Yaxiu was that the Secret Poison Diary was actually a sorcery spirit, yet its effect far exceeded the scope of a standard one-winged sorcery spirit, and its function was exceedingly niche.
If a sorcerer who knew nothing about secret poisons got their hands on it, it would essentially be worthless.
However, this wasn't the first time Yaxiu had encountered a low-rank sorcery spirit with such comprehensive yet tricky capabilities. Compared to the zero-winged sorcery spirit Soul Summoning, the Secret Poison Diary showed a bit more restraint, not breaking the game quite as outrageously.
After buying the Secret Poison Diary, Yaxiu didn't have many dream fragments left, but there were still plenty of strange and quirky prizes available for purchase.
For instance, “Sorcery Spirit Relationship Intelligence” provided information on a secret relationship between sorcery spirits unknown to anyone else. Utilizing that connection, a sorcery spirit's Gate of Truth would designate a passage leading to a safe zone of approximately fifty square meters within the Void Realm. Simply put, this intelligence granted a sorcerer a fifty-square-meter mobile storage space.
It sounded great, but the Void Realm only permitted souls to enter. Storing physical items there required another special oddity or an auxiliary miracle. Yaxiu lacked both of those far more crucial elements—it was like buying a sweetheart cake without a sweetheart to share it with.
In the end, Yaxiu chose to buy one Swordsmanship Orb and one Fist-Claw Orb. Naturally, these two Experience Orbs weren't for his personal use; to maximize the shared experience from their bond connections, the Experience Orbs had to be fed to the Witch and the Sword Princess.
Just as Yaxiu was about to close the exchange, his eyes caught a prize at the very bottom of the redemption list that he hadn't seen before.
“Witch's Dream: 10 dream fragments. Consumed immediately upon exchange. Temporarily elevates your mind faction realm to Gold rank for 24 hours. Can only be redeemed once.”
Witch's Dream? Yaxiu blinked. Because he had chosen the Witch's mode of operation during the Dreamscape Expedition, this extra reward had appeared?
If he had chosen the Sword Princess, would the exchange have offered “Sword Princess's Dream” to boost his swordsmanship faction to Gold rank for twenty-four hours?
Letting his imagination wander, Yaxiu redeemed the Witch's Dream. It was only ten dream fragments anyway—no sense leaving free value on the table.
Whether it was an illusion or not, after redeeming the Witch's Dream, he felt as though his mind faction really had elevated. If before he could only convey a short essay of under a hundred and forty characters through a look in his eyes, now Yaxiu felt he could defend an entire academic thesis with a single glance.
Closing *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*, Yaxiu opened the Book of Gospel and inquired, “Open the Funeral Agency chat group.”
Because these past few days had been entirely free time, Annan had spent a few Gospel points to create an exclusive chat group for them, allowing them to communicate whenever something came up. Although civilian alternatives existed, nothing could match the immediacy and confidentiality provided by the Gospel's communication services.
There weren't many records in the chat group—mostly notices from Annan followed by orderly lines of “Acknowledged.” With their boss in the group, many things couldn't be spoken freely, so the silence was only natural.
Right now, however, the chat was bustling with activity—
“Mr. Bogin: I'm heading to meet up with Yaxiu. Where are you guys?”
“Death Artist: I'm on my way to Yaxiu as well.”
“Butler: Same here.”
“Butler: Young Lady? Young Lady?”
“Butler: Why hasn't the Young Lady checked the group?”
“Mr. Bogin: Can the Eldest Miss not handle her addiction flare-up on her own?”
“Butler: Impossible.”
“Mr. Bogin: Why hasn't Yaxiu checked the group either?”
“Death Artist: Yaxiu, run.”
Yaxiu froze. It suddenly dawned on him: if the enemies behind Fanmula's anomaly were truly coming after them, their very first target had to be the criminal currently wanted by the empire, the villain suspected of causing the apocalypse on the Art Board, the target whose death wouldn't even earn the killer a red name—
*Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!*
The windows of the gaming floor shattered one after another. Red Hats, representing the Gospel's armed force, breached the interior using their aerial balance boots. Leading the charge, Cleios held a short firearm in her left hand and thrust forward a document with her right. “Cross-district search warrant! Commencing raid!”
“Found him.”
Wright raised a bolt-action sniper rifle with one hand, aiming directly at the black-robed Yaxiu tucked behind the front counter. “I am Wright Rex, Red Hat Captain of Modora. You are suspected of being the fugitive from Wanted Notice 69-165. Raise your hands high, face the wall, and submit to inspection immediately.”
“How did you know I was here?” Yaxiu pulled out a mask and donned it. “The Distortion Mask should block the Book of Gospel from locating me.”
Among the weaving rewards from the Art Board, the Fiend Trench Coat could inflict a mental shock, while the Distortion Mask enhanced focus and distorted scrying effects.
Annan and the others had tested it: whenever they tried using any method to pinpoint Yaxiu's location, the feedback from the Gospel was distorted to an absurd, off-key degree.
This was also why Yaxiu hadn't been abandoned. After all, he always carried the Fiend Trench Coat and the Distortion Mask. If his location could be easily pinpointed through special items, Annan keeping Yaxiu around would have been no different from turning herself in.
“The Gospel indeed failed to provide your location,” Wright said with a chuckle. “However, we found your gaming account at Annan's residence. While you didn't log into that account here, using the Gospel to search for two players with identical behavioral patterns is hardly difficult. After all, I only searched for your player account, not for you yourself. The Distortion Mask doesn't appear to be that smart.”
“Once we identified your login address, infiltrated your gaming party, and confirmed your play schedule, it was obvious you would be right here at this exact time.”
Yaxiu froze. “You...”
“Didn't I tell you? I had work tonight.”
Wright's muzzle leveled squarely at Yaxiu's chest. “Party leader, you should feel honored. I'm an Ultimate raider; babysitting a scrub like you through an Extreme raid was absolute agony.”
Chapter 343