[You stepped forward to touch the Resting PageâŠ]
[You chose to take a brief restâŠ]
[Your shellâs injuries and fatigue are fully restoredâŠ]
Lin Xun exited the Transplant Clinic with the Valkyrie.
During the second time he cast Falling Starlight in the Presidentâs shell, the game text had displayed [You feel somewhat fatigued].
Afterward, he refreshed to recover from fatigue and tested Pleasure-Hazed Sight on a behemoth to measure the skillâs control duration and mana consumption.
Since the behemoth was an aggregate monster that had devoured countless eyeballs, its mental strength was extremely powerful.
The control duration of Pleasure-Hazed Sight was rather short, not enough to hold the creature long enough to cast Falling Starlight.
Most importantly, this special skill consumed a significant amount of mana.
According to the wretched gameâs mechanics, after âsomewhat fatiguedâ came âvery fatiguedâ, and then âutterly fatigued to the point of faintingâ.
Based on this, Lin Xun estimated that the Presidentâs mental strength allowed for five casts of Falling Starlight. By the sixth, he might not even be able to finish channeling the skill before exhausting his mental strength and blacking out.
Through his testing, he found that the mana cost of Pleasure-Hazed Sight was nearly equal to Falling Starlight!
âWhat a shameâŠPleasure-Hazed Sight consumes just as much mental power as Falling Starlight. Otherwise, I could have chained control skills to keep the monster immobilized. With the President controlling and attacking, maybe I wouldnât even need the Valkyrie and could solo the monsters.â
âBut this way, Iâd have to use a Resting Page to recover after every single fight. Thatâs just too tedious.â
Lin Xun thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered he still had several other shells.
âCould I transplant the eyeball into the Yellow-Robed Bishop or the Grand Scholar, and have them do the controlling?â
But thinking it over, he realized those shells werenât as high-quality as the Presidentâs, and their mental stats were probably much lower.
Besides, constantly switching shells back and forth would be cumbersome and inconvenient.
âSighâŠwhatâs a mage supposed to do about mana shortages?â
In the Blood Sun World, there were merchants who sold items to restore fatigue. In the library, similar items were also sold.
But those consumables were just like the Corrupted Red Sorrel heâd obtained before, only effective on shells belonging to specific worlds, and not universally applicable.
He still had a Corrupted Red Sorrel in his inventory from the Blood Sun World, but the Earth Giant shell was as sturdy as a bull, practically an untiring killing machine, and never needed fatigue recovery itemsâŠ
âThatâs whatâs great about the Blood Sun Paladin⊠Anyway, Iâll just look around the library more when I get the chance. Maybe Iâll run into someone selling a fatigue recovery item that works on any shell.â
There were plenty of Resting Pages in this chapterâs world, nearly every location had them, so the mana shortage wouldnât be too troublesome for now.
[You returned to the trashed first floor of the clinic with the Battle Angel â Valkyrie and were about to leaveâŠ]
[Heavy, oppressive footsteps gradually sounded in your ears, growing louder, approaching from far awayâŠ]
Lin Xunâs heart leapt with delight.
âSitting here waiting and still managing to snag a behemoth, what luck!â
[A massive clawed foot landed at the clinicâs doorway. With a tremendous crash, debris scattered everywhere, triggering the defensive Knowledge Barrier around the clinicâŠ]
[The behemoth in the mist paid no attention to the barrier and kept moving swiftly in a certain direction.]
[You were puzzled. Normally, when a behemoth stumbled across the clinic, it would attempt to attack it, and only leave after failing to break through the Knowledge Barrier.]
[Yet this behemoth had clearly noticed the clinic but still continued on its way, as though something in the mist was summoning it.]
[Your insatiable curiosity sparked within youâŠ]
[Would you like to follow the behemothâs footsteps and explore the unknown in the mists?]
âSpecial event!â
Those two words flashed across Lin Xunâs mind.
[You boarded the Refined Copper Carriage parked at the clinicâs entrance with the Battle Angel â Valkyrie, intending to follow the behemoth, but discovered that the carriage could only follow predetermined routes from the route map and could not track the creature freely.]
[Would you like to disembark and pursue the behemoth on foot?]
Could he even keep up on foot?
If he switched to the Earth Giant, with its enlarged body, he might barely be able to match the behemothâs pace at a full sprint.
But if he followed in the Earth Giant shell, he would make far too much noise.
The fact that the behemoth ignored the clinic protected by a Knowledge Barrier didnât mean it would ignore an Earth Giant thundering along behind it.
To ensure the pursuit remained hidden and the behemoth wouldnât detect him, Lin Xun selected the Valkyrieâs âMountâ command.
[The Battle Angel â Valkyrie stepped behind you, reached out, and wrapped her arms around your waist. With a beat of the refined copper wings on her back, she whipped up a fierce wind and lifted you into the airâŠ]
[She carried you through the thick layers of white mist, trailing the vast silhouette in the distance from afar.]
[After flying for a while, the massive creature ahead abruptly stopped in its tracks, as if it had sensed something. It slowly turned its colossal body, and with deafening footfalls, began approaching youâŠ]
[Regrettably, your pursuit has failed!]
[Do you want to step forward and battle the behemoth, or quickly retreat back to the clinic?]
âDamn it! Thatâs it? I already failed?â
Lin Xunâs goal was to follow the behemoth and trigger the special event, not to fight it head-on.
If he killed it now, heâd just waste the opportunity to unlock the event.
What puzzled him was that the Valkyrieâs flight was quiet, and they had been following at a distance, how had he been discovered?
Suddenly, Lin Xun slapped his forehead. I completely forgot about the eyeball scent!
The Valkyrie, being a refined copper construct, carried no eyeball scent. The one exposing them was the Presidentâs shell he was currently possessing.
Lin Xun frantically operated the interface, quickly switching shells in an attempt to salvage the situation.
[You have possessed the shell of the Corrupted Ancient Theater Dancer!]
[The behemoth paused its steps for a moment, then resumed moving toward you!]
The Dancer only had two ordinary eyeballs and none of the Presidentâs special abilities, so it should have been far less enticing to the behemoth.
But even so, the fresh scent of eyeballs still couldnât stop the creatureâs advance.
Thinking fast, Lin Xun opened his inventory and tossed down two junk-grade eyeballs.
Heâd use those first to draw the behemothâs attention⊠and gritting his teeth, he clicked on that long-unused special item, the Eyeball Extractor!
[You used the Eyeball ExtractorâŠ]
[You endured excruciating pain and gouged out your own eyes.]
[You obtained Unknown Creatureâs Eyeball (Junk) *2]
[The Valkyrie watched as a slick, thick tentacle reached out from the mist, scooped up the two eyeballs on the ground, and retracted back into the fogâŠ]
[The giant figure ahead resumed moving. This time, it did not approach you, but instead drew farther and farther awayâŠ]
[The Battle Angel â Valkyrie continued to carry you, following the behemoth from a distance.]
[Your vision was now total darkness. Flying through the mist, you had no idea where you wereâŠ]
To pursue the behemoth, the Dancer had selflessly sacrificed its own eyes.
âNo big deal. Next time Iâll get you a pair of titanium-alloy eyes. Guaranteed to be several grades better than the originals.â
In this chapterâs world, transplant technology had already reached an absurd level. Even reinstalling the Dancerâs original eyeballs intact would be easy.
[You didnât know how long youâd been flying when you felt the cold wind gradually ease. You guessed the Battle Angel â Valkyrie was slowing her flight.]
[Soon, your feet touched solid ground, and the arms holding you released their grip, seemingly, you had arrived at your destination.]
With no vision, Lin Xun couldnât tell what was here.
He was intensely curious and was about to switch to a normal shell, when the game text suddenly appeared.
[A deafening roar thundered from somewhere not far ahead of you. The sound was several times louder than the screech of any Veiled Aberration!]
[Your eardrums throbbed with pain. You saw stars, your head spinning.]
Lin Xunâs heart clenched.
[You have possessed the shell of the Knowledge-Seeking President of the Direct Vision Association!]
[Your vision returned to normal, everything before your eyes sharp and clear, but the sight in front of you left you utterly stunned!]