Chapter 128-2: Giant Doll Artisan (2)

He quickly switched back to the Earth Giant Shell and commanded the Three-Headed Lion to brace for combat.

Then opened the skill panel and activated the newly acquired eye skill: Weak Point Insight! An Epic+ tier skill, this was the perfect moment to test it out on a newly encountered boss.

[You have activated the special skill Weak Point Insight!]

[While this skill is active, you will have a certain chance to perceive the enemy’s weak points. The success rate is proportional to your Knowledge cap. Each successful perception will consume the Shell’s stamina.]

[The massive shadow was a half-bodied giant formed of flesh and refined copper. Its upper half was a humanoid torso, at least if you ignored the partially exposed copper plating and its immense size.]

[Its lower half was a massive refined copper self-propelling base mounted with treads. As it occasionally turned or shifted, scorching jets of steam hissed from its joints.]

[One hand clutched a half-finished doll, the other pinched together refined copper parts in the process of assembly. In front of the Refined Copper Half-Body Giant were many colossal lathes and scattered refined copper components.]

[Sensing your arrival, the four eyes on its massive head all turned toward you, two of them, strikingly, were enormous copper-crafted eyes.]

[You have discovered the Knowledge-Seeking Doll Artisan!]

???

Lin Xun slowly typed out three question marks.

This was the Doll Artisan?

Its appearance was… quite different from what he’d imagined.

[Upon first witnessing the form of the Knowledge-Seeking Doll Artisan, the sight of its four eyes sends chills down your spine. You feel dizzy, as if your soul is being flooded with disordered knowledge.]

[You have acquired knowledge. Your Knowledge increased by 200! Current Knowledge: 635/600]

Crap!

Knowledge capacity exceeded!

[You have surpassed the critical threshold of understanding and touched the extraordinary. Once again, you glimpse the Omniscient True Knowledge…]

[Your Knowledge cap is too low. You cannot respond to the mysterious summoning or enter the Temple of Knowledge…]

[Chaotic, disordered knowledge continues to pour into your soul. You begin to lose yourself in the sea of knowledge.]

[Sanity flees from you as madness consumes your mind.]

[Your head explodes…]

[You are dead!]

Staring at the blood-red text on the screen, Lin Xun felt utterly insulted.

He hadn’t been killed by a monster’s attack, but by getting stared to death by an NPC.

Lin Xun noted that not every encounter with a monster or NPC increased Knowledge.

Cross-referencing previous monsters he had seen, he deduced three likely conditions. First, you only gain knowledge from seeing a monster or NPC’s form for the first time. Second, their name must carry the prefix Knowledge-Seeking. Third, they must have eyes, either in large quantity or of high quality.

It seemed that only when all three conditions were met could a sighting increase Knowledge.

[The ordinary wandering soul is reborn in the chaotic factory…]

[The ordinary wandering soul is overwhelmed with disordered knowledge and cannot move freely.]

[Would you like to consume 1 point of Soul Strength to purge the chaotic knowledge from your soul?]

[You have consumed 1 point of Soul Strength. The disordered knowledge in your soul is cleared.]

[Current Soul Strength: 1/3]

[Your Knowledge cap has increased. Current Knowledge: 0/1100]

Lin Xun’s eyes lit up. His Knowledge cap had risen from 600 to 1100, a gain of 500 points.

Excluding the inherent +100 boost from knowledge overload, the skill Blessing of Knowledge +2 could now increase Knowledge cap by 400 in one go.

With Knowledge entering four-digit territory, he wondered whether he had reached the minimum requirement to enter the Temple of Knowledge.

The remaining 1 point of Soul Strength wasn’t enough to Reshape the Earth Giant Shell.

Lin Xun put down his phone.

It was almost midnight.

After a quick wash, he returned to his bedroom and fell asleep.

—

On a summer night under a starry sky, cicadas chirped in chorus from the mountain woods.

In a secluded mountain inn.

“Lord Amos, I have handed the Source of the Apocalypse to Blood King.”

Fighter stood respectfully nearby.

A hooded figure in black robes obscured his face.

“Good. What do you think of Blood King?”

“I believe he is ruthless and stops at nothing to achieve his goals. For the organization, he is a rare talent.”

The black-robed man was slightly surprised. Fighter had only met the Blood King once and was already offering such high praise, quite unusual.

Given that he had promoted this newcomer Blood King to the position of proxy agent, he had expected some resentment from the fighter. Yet not only was there no complaint, there was high commendation instead.

That alone proved the Blood King truly had a way with people.

“So, it’s almost certain he’s not a mole from the Apostle Security Council…”

The nearby Fighter heard it and couldn’t help muttering in his heart.

The Apostle Security Council had indeed tried various methods to infiltrate the Disciple Sanctum, but not one had succeeded.

Those without a Seat Pass were slain by the guards on sight, and anyone lacking a soul brand on their Shell was executed immediately.

Lord Amos was being overly cautious. The Disciple Sanctum was a fortress, who could possibly infiltrate it?

The black-robed man pondered for a moment, then dismissed the fighter.

Now alone in the guest room, Amos murmured to himself, “Sending someone like that to assault the base of the official Apostles is a bit risky. Perhaps I should give him a defensive item… just in case.”

“It would be a real loss to the organization if someone of his caliber were to die…”

“He did use up a rare item killing that Transmitter last time. It wouldn’t hurt to compensate him.”

“Can’t have someone that talented feeling disheartened and switching allegiance to another Disciple…”

—

Lin Xun hung up the phone.

He shut the window of his rental apartment, cutting off the sunlight and the honking city traffic. The room fell silent.

The black stocking lady had already reported the situation to Apostle Security Council Headquarters, but there had been no response yet.

There were still two days left until Amos’s mission deadline.

Who knew what the Council’s plan would be?

It was nearing noon.

His Soul Strength had recovered to ⅔, just a few more hours until he was fully restored.

Lin Xun opened his computer and was just about to start writing.

[The Lower-Tier Seat Pass for the Disciple Sanctum you possess has begun summoning you…]

[Please teleport to the Disciple Sanctum as soon as possible!]

A new line of text abruptly appeared before his eyes…