The Cruelest Punishment in the World
Inside the core control area of Laboratory, Su Luo and Song Shige were monitoring Ding Lexin's condition.
"Huh? He seems to have [Martial Will] as well, but it's only just awakened and ridiculously weak." Song Shige, standing to the side, raised an eyebrow.
Su Luo nodded as she modified the nuclear bomb.
"I've made some minor improvements. The [Vast Sea Scroll] can indeed awaken [Martial Will] and rapidly enhance it, but that's under the condition that the user cultivates the Vital Energy system..."
"... In short, a vessel was needed. I replaced the Vital Energy with 'Heart Fiend Blood Qi.' Although it was much less efficient and couldn't be maintained for long, as a temporary vessel, it was enough to help a person of decent aptitude to initially condense the 'seed' of will under the catalysis of the 'Vast Sea Scroll.'"
"Those glasses are the medium you created?" Song Shige asked, pointing at Ding Lexin.
"Yes, the lenses were ground by me using [Clear-Mind Forehead Ornament (Excellent)], and the frames have a flowing, Heart Fiend Blood Qi; they work quite well."
Su Luo finished her work and walked out of the core control area with Song Shige.
Su Luo's Laboratory didn't actually have many rooms. The rooms and corridors that Ding Lexin had just seen were just constant illusions Spell. He stayed in the main hall the whole time, and Song Shige and Su Luo watched his entire activity.
"Speaking of which," Su Luo's tone became somewhat subtle, "Have you considered what would happen if a special item like the 'Vast Sea Scroll' remained in the Survival World of the 'weirdo' from which it originated?"
"It can help Survivors in that area awaken their Martial Will. Awakening [Martial Will] is a crucial hurdle on the path of Martial Dao, and it seems very difficult to achieve. However, [The Vast Sea Scroll] can significantly lower this hurdle and help users grow rapidly during subsequent use..."
Song Shige had clearly thought about this long ago.
"It can even help Survivors below level 6 awaken [Martial Will] earlier, which is of great significance and can be compared to Han Song's Little Porcelain Bottle."
Su Luo chimed in, then continued:
"In the past two days, there have been some mentions of [special items] in the World Channel, especially after you forwarded Han Song's [Reference on the Requirements for Improving the Quality of Special Items] to the World Channel, the number of discussions about special items has increased significantly."
"You mean... each region might possess a 'growth-type special item' similar to the [Vast Sea Scroll] or the [Unknown Porcelain Bottle], which could greatly boost the overall strength of the region?"
"It's not necessarily available in every region. Based on the information currently available on the World Channel, those claiming to possess special items are mostly regions with relatively stable Order and a high level of development."
"There is almost no news about those chaotic areas where survival is a problem. Of course, there is another possibility—the owners of those chaotic areas chose to hide for self-preservation."
As Su Luo spoke, she seemed to remember something, and her mind stirred.
Song Shige nodded thoughtfully. "There's another point to note. Han Song obtained the [Unknown Porcelain Bottle] from the [Wishing Well] on the 18th day of his survival. The earliest recorded appearance of other [special items] mentioned in the World Channel is on the 20th day, with most appearing from the 28th day to the present, and the majority of them pointing to the [Wishing Well]... What are you doing?"
Just then, Song Shige stopped reading the data, suddenly raised his hand, and patted a wisp of black flame that had silently coiled around his arm. The flame Burn silently and did not Ignite his clothes.
"Your 'Heartfire'... does indeed have a significant, targeted Corrosion effect on [Martial Will]. But my Talent is still effective against it."
Feeling the subtle tremors emanating from his own Martial Will, and the faint burning sensation in his soul, Song Shige's expression was somewhat strange.
He could clearly sense that this strange attack method had an extremely strong destructive power against the highly condensed belief energy of Martial Will.
It seemed that Su Luo didn't need to continuously invest a lot of energy to maintain it. As long as the target's "will" strength was lower than or equal to Su Luo's own, it could continue to Burn like a bone-deep ailment until the target couldn't bear the burning anymore.
Oh, right, Su Luo said that what he said wasn't Martial Will, it just looked like it.
Is this... considered a martial arts special attack?
Su Luo casually applied another Ignite effect to Song Shige, who was almost immune to continuous damage, and then left it at that.
"The initial 'Heartfire' attack range was a weakness, requiring near-body energy contact to successfully attach. Later, I researched and incorporated some principles of advanced Curses, improving its mechanism of action and significantly increasing its effective range. This is also one of the reasons why the previous experiment went out of control, causing energy ripples to cover an area of several kilometers."
"No wonder the investigator sent back the message before he fell into a coma, suspecting some kind of large-scale Curse... What do you think of him?"
Song Shige naturally refers to Ding Lexin.
"Not bad, his Talent is a good fit. Let him try [Martial Will], and we'll see how to promote it after the District War."
Su Luo looked around, then said with some regret:
"It's a pity there are those 'Great Rift' outside the zone, and the gravity environment is unstable, otherwise I would have stayed outside the zone for a long time. It's too dangerous to do experiments inside the zone. I was even hiding underground, but an accident still happened."
"I'll handle this problem. We'll designate an area of approximately 10,000 square kilometers within the district, issue a public notice, and relocate any scattered Survivor Sanctuary that may exist, ensuring that there are no unrelated personnel or Sanctuary in that area," Song Shige said decisively.
"Oh, isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
"It's not for your convenience! It's to protect others!"
"... Alright."
"That's all for now, I need to go prepare for the District War. Oh, by the way, Han Song needs to talk to you."
"I know, it's a new experiment. See you in the District War later."
After saying that, Su Luo didn't linger. She entered the Laboratory, controlled the silver-white Laboratory, and silently transformed into a streak of light, leaving the open space.
"For me now, returning to reality is the most vicious punishment in the world!"
Ye Xu suddenly woke up from his bed, the cry that seemed to come from the depths of his soul still ringing in his ears.
He sat up blankly, rubbing his sleepy eyes, unaware that a few wisps of black flame, as thin as hair and existing between reality and illusion, were slowly disappearing from his body, vanishing into the air like the receding tide.
He was dreaming again.