章 11: Chapter 11 [Reaper of Death]
"The original owner" came to this manor in search for the ancient altar, to obtain that "S-class" superhuman talent through a ritual.
Su Lun did fulfill the original owner's last wish.
The difference now, though, was that he had awakened two talents.
Without a reference, Su Lun didn't know if this was good or bad, or even normal.
He had figured out some abilities of the All-knowing Eye, but he had no clue about the function of the Reaper.
The information left on the retina had nothing more to offer, the only useful thing being that map.
At least, he knew where the original owner came from, and he could follow the same route back to the "starting point."
Su Lun also planned to leave this place and find a human settlement to learn more about this world.
...
He looked around the basement carefully, nothing extra was there.
All five stone statues already had cobweb-like cracks that had spread to the altar, which seemed to have completely lost its function.
Su Lun didn't linger long and exited the secret passage.
Back in the ruined manor, Su Lun was already gasping for breath.
Heavy blood loss made his head feel dizzy.
And the items he had before crossing over had been taken away by Bald Ivan and his cronies. Now he desperately needed to find some food to fill his stomach and replenish his energy.
Otherwise, he knew he wouldn't be able to walk far alive.
"I don't even know what kind of entity Pestoia is, nor where that special space is..."
Staring at the ruined manor, Su Lun always felt as if everything before him was a dream.
According to what Marcus said earlier, Baldy and his group of more than a dozen all died in the manor; there should be bodies to be seen.
But now, after a walk around, Su Lun saw no bodies at all, and from the cobwebs in the passageway, he could deduce that nobody except himself had come here.
Su Lun didn't find anything in the house and walked out the front door.
Stepping into the yard, he then noticed the sky was murky, like night skies hidden behind heavy clouds, the surrounding scenery dim and fuzzy.
The manor seemed to be located halfway up a mountain, and with the "enhanced vision", Su Lun could finally make out the vague silhouettes of some large buildings in the distance.
It looked like a ruined ghost town.
There were no light sources in the town, shrouded in fog, and the shadows of some huge moving creatures could vaguely be seen within the mist...
Seeing this scene, Su Lun's gaze grew deeper as he muttered to himself, "The mysteries of this world are indeed becoming more and more intriguing..."
It felt like discovering an unexplored mysterious map in a game, his strong desire to explore making his heart flutter.
This was also one of the reasons he wanted to stay alive.
But if a dilapidated manor was so eerie and dangerous, it was clear that the ruined buildings in the distance were fraught with peril.
Su Lun didn't plan to explore the city ruins for now. He carefully checked the map on his retina, intending to find the route the original owner had come from and return the same way.
That map was even stranger, the route ran from top to bottom.
Meaning, if the scale on the map was not marked wrongly, Su Lun was now at least deep underground, hundreds of kilometers down.
Who would build such a massive city in such deep caverns?
This was the strange part.
Moreover, if this was underground, then what were those intermittent light sources in the sky about?
The cavern space was also oddly large...
However, having witnessed superhuman powers, Su Lun didn't dwell on these issues.
As strange as this world was, it was within expectations.
...
Su Lun double-checked the directions and planned to leave the manor.
But he had barely taken a few steps when, in the manor's derelict garden, he saw a bloodied man lying there.
The shiny bald head immediately made Su Lun alert.
Clearly, this man was the kidnapper leader from before, Ivan!
At this moment, his body's metal-scale armor had shed off, his skin was everywhere lacerated, as if he had been dismembered.
"This guy is still alive?!"
Su Lun looked at Bald Ivan's faintly heaving chest, slightly surprised.
He thought, with Pestoia's powers, killing this guy should have been easy.
"Could this also be a gift she deliberately left for me? Or perhaps Baldy had some life-saving means to escape that special space?"
Su Lun pondered for a moment, and instead of choosing to flee, he opened the wooden box and took out that rune puppet.
Then, he slowly walked towards Baldy.
It just so happened that he was in desperate need of life-sustaining supplies, and Baldy's arrival was well-timed.
Twenty meters, ten meters...
After reaching within ten meters, Su Lun also sighed in relief.
Even if Baldy still had the strength to resist at this point, the rune puppet should be able to control him.
Clearly, Su Lun's caution was somewhat superfluous; Baldy had already completely passed out there.
Facing the man who had almost killed him before, Su Lun didn't show the slightest mercy. He pulled out the dagger from his waist and then thrust it into the heart.
The sharp dagger stabbed precisely under the rib, instantly ending Baldy's life.
Su Lun looked at Baldy, now breathless, and then he sighed in relief.
At that moment, a bizarre scene occurred.
Su Lun focused his eyes and saw a grayish, glowing mist forming over Baldy's corpse.
He thought it was a "corpse transformation" or some sort of "evil spirit conversion," but before he could think further, he felt an intense desire inside him, unconsciously wanting to devour that "gray mist"...
It was like being extremely hungry and seeing food that you desperately crave.
"Could this be... a soul?"
Su Lun suppressed that craving, suddenly realizing something, then hesitantly reached out to touch the "gray mist."
The next instant, a series of images and messages flooded his mind.
"Obtained memory fragments of 'Ivan Adams'"
"You've gained some 'basic mechanical knowledge'"
"You captured a piece of information: 'Oh! Sabina that old lady's peaches are really big...'"
"Combat experience +5"
"Spiritual power +0.1"
...
"This 'gray mist' is actually Baldy's memory fragments!"
Su Lun found that suddenly there was something extra in his mind.
First, like watching a movie, he saw Baldy maintaining and modifying a mechanical arm and also saw Baldy fighting with other people...
However, after he devoured and assimilated the memory fragment, there was no barrier whatsoever; that memory felt as though it was his own "personal experience."
As for that erotic image that popped into his mind, compared to other surprising gains, it was naturally selectively ignored, although... it was indeed quite large.
Coming to his senses, Su Lun then realized, he seemed to have gained some of the skills that Baldy had learned.
He took another look at his own panel.
Sure enough!
His spiritual power had increased by 0.1, and there was an added skill in his skill bar: [Basic Mechanical Introduction].
The "Combat experience +5" gain made Su Lun estimate that even if he trained hard for three to five months, he might not be able to achieve such tremendous improvement.
He suddenly had an epiphany, understanding the wonderful use of this "S-class" talent ability: "This [S-004-Reaper] ability can actually strip memory fragments from the soul and then use them for oneself..."
Realizing the potential of this ability, he found it hard to believe: "Is this ability so incredible?"
This talent ability might not directly increase combat power, but it's absolutely a "god-level" ability for growth!
It can strip the memories from a dead target, thereby gaining some of the target's skills... no wonder it's called the "Reaper"!
The more Su Lun thought about it, the more he marveled at how impressive it was.
This also meant that as long as he had enough memory fragments, he could easily master more skills and abilities.
Magic, Alchemy, mechanical knowledge, combat experience, marksmanship... and so on. The skills that others need to spend a lot of time and experience to learn, he could master instantly.
His potential for the future was limitless!
Truly worthy of being an "S-class" talent!
Without a second thought, Su Lun noticed another problem.
Before Baldy was still alive, there was no "gray mist" on his body; it only appeared after he had been killed.
That meant, this [Reaper] ability seems to only strip the soul from the deceased?
"However, whether dead or alive, where are so many souls to reap..."
Thinking this, Su Lun's eyebrows slightly raised.
The next instant, he murmured something, as if speaking to someone: "Hey, hey, hey... don't get so excited, okay?"
At this moment, he hadn't yet realized that he had come to a brutal world where human lives were as cheap as grass.
Here, death was as common as the wind, always accompanying everyone.
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