Source Material Seed

A high temperature of 1200℃.

It instantly ignited the Element Manipulator's clothes and skin.

Even though the excess flames are instantly sucked into the storm of the elemental vortex, the area around the Element Manipulator remains a safe zone.

The flames that had already been lit were still raging over him! "Ah, help!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The extreme pain overwhelmed the awakened one.

He roared and charged into the lake behind him, waving his arms.

"..."

On the other side, Linsey seized the opportunity, raising his Flame Flintlock Gun and aiming.

The Crosshair instantly locks onto the enemy, and the skill even calculates the trajectory of the opponent jumping into the lake.

Linsey will not give the enemy a chance to breathe.

But just as Linsey was about to fire, something unexpected happened.

The immense pain from the burns renders the Element Manipulator unable to concentrate, thus losing control of their skills.

The elemental vortex he created stopped spinning at that moment.

The immense force lost its power and then expanded rapidly outward from its compressed state, immediately triggering an even more exaggerated explosion.

Boom! A shockwave, visible to the naked eye, exploded from the lakeside, carrying fragments of various objects that slammed outwards like bomb shrapnel.

"Ah?"

Linsey immediately opened his bag, took out the materials, and built an earthen wall in front of him.

A series of rapid, pattering sounds immediately came from the opposite side of the earthen wall, as if raindrops were hitting it.

Just a moment later.

The heart of the Valley Secret Realm was left in a mess.

Soil, gravel, tree debris, and murky water droplets were splashed everywhere, interspersed with flames that burned the surrounding weeds and trees.

As for the Element Manipulator...

The guy was hit in the back at close range by the explosion of the elemental vortex.

He crashed into the lake like a cannonball, and then he was completely still.

"..."

Linsey emerged from behind the cratered bunker.

He opened the map and took a look.

All the nearby markers had been cleared, leaving only his own icon standing alone in place.

"This..."

Linsey's expression was somewhat subtle.

The Flame Bomb he threw were merely a preemptive strike in the battle; he had no intention of winning with them.

But there's a saying that goes...

Making the right choice in the right situation often yields the greatest results.

The situation just now fits this description.

So the chain reaction triggered by just a few Flame Bomb directly helped Linsey defeat the enemy.

With mixed feelings, Linsey arrived at the edge of the lake.

Not far from the shore, in the murky water, he saw a blurry figure lying there, motionless.

Whoosh—snap!

Linsey lashed out with her whip, pulling the Element Manipulator's corpse out of the water.

The opponent was first burned by fire, and then directly hit by the explosion of the elemental vortex. Countless bones were broken on the pitch-black corpse, making the whole person look like a building block toy with its joints broken.

"..."

Stare at this gruesome corpse.

Linsey scratched her cheek and subconsciously opened the Attribute Panel.

[Game Player] Treat all targets equally.

So in the Hunting Notes, Linsey also unlocked his first achievement of hunting humans.

Humans: 1/25.

Below is an elite kill count: 1/1.

"..."

Linsey suddenly felt nauseous.

He felt nothing when he saw the corpses of the enemies he had killed.

But the game panel records the number of humans killed, and you can even profit from it.

This feeling is quite strange.

"In short, this is the consequence of your aiding and abetting evil."

Linsey composed herself and shook her head slightly.

He turned his head and looked around.

Years of adventure instilled in Linsey very good and down-to-earth habits.

So he took out a wooden bucket from his bag, scooped up several buckets of lake water, and first put out the scattered fires around him to prevent them from causing a larger forest fire.

Once everything is properly handled.

Linsey carried the corpse of the Element Manipulator toward her companions.

Achievement rewards and collected materials can also be obtained along the way.

[Weapon: Guillotine Axe]

[An executioner's axe, stained with human blood. This weapon inflicts greater damage on humans; after killing a human, the next attack will deal increased damage for a short period.]

[Executioner Set - (1/5)]

[The price is reasonable.]

This is a simple, rugged axe, its surface stained with dark red blood. A twisted, murderous urge coils around its cold blade, making it extremely unsettling to look at.

Linsey held it in her hand.

It feels like I don't need to do any special makeup; I could immediately step into a horror movie and play a seasoned, deranged killer.

"..."

Linsey silently put the Guillotine Axe into her bag and examined the materials she had just acquired.

[Rare Item/Material: Source Material Seed]

[A special entity condensed from Essence; if ingested by ordinary people, it increases their chances of becoming an Awakened; it can also be used as a material to craft other items.]

[An extremely rare and valuable item.]

Linsey tried putting it in her Workbench as material.

[Source Material Seed * 3 = Source Material Emblem]

"..."

"Has it really turned into a dog-eat-dog world?"

Looking at the text on the Attribute Panel.

The first thing Linsey thought of was the common sense she had learned in the Hidden Borderlands.

Such an item possesses extraordinary value, both to oneself and others, and may even trigger unimaginable disasters.

"Tsk—"

Linsey shook her head.

If you kill an enemy and get this item from them, that's fine.

But he committed murder intentionally in pursuit of gain...

"It's not like we're actually fighting monsters and getting loot in an RPG, so let's stop here."

Linsey carried the body and continued forward.

Not long after, he heard footsteps coming from the front of the forest. He looked up and saw...

The adventurer was approaching.

Reze had obviously noticed the explosion. He was dealing with prisoners, but he immediately came to provide support.

I saw Linsey at that moment.

Reze breathed a sigh of relief before asking, "Linsey, I heard a very loud explosion over here."

Are you alright?

Linsey pointed to the corpse she had brought:

"The process was a little complicated, but I won."

Reze approached and examined the corpse.

First it caught fire, and then it was engulfed in an explosion.

The Element Manipulator's corpse was in disarray, making it impossible to identify him by appearance alone.

Gazing at the gruesome state of the corpse, the explorer asked in a subtle tone:

"How did he die like this?"

Linsey shrugged:

"The explosion just now was caused by him, and it was also a result of that explosion."

"..."

The two exchanged information and returned to the edge of the valley they had previously encountered.

The Exploration Team team had already cleared a space here, Formless Ones had just fallen unconscious, had also awakened.

He saw Reze and Linsey return.

His gaze immediately locked onto the latter, and his expression changed from calm waiting to frantic:

"You bastard, it's you! How did you find me?"

"Tell me, how did you do that!"

The Formless Ones's tone and actions were extremely frantic, his voice laced with intense longing. He struggled so violently that the ropes even tore through his skin, yet nothing could stop his efforts.

Reze shook his head beside Linsey, his tone somewhat wistful:

"It's understandable to have this reaction when someone sees through the skills you've honed your whole life."

"..."

Linsey's expression was also subtle.

He couldn't very well answer the other person by saying that he saw you running over from the mini-map, could he? And just then...

Flavi, the Perceptor who had been captured and had been behaving honestly, saw the corpse of the Element Manipulator.

He wanted to say something, but his actions were restricted by the merchant's contract.

Flavi could only awkwardly say:

"You... you killed him?"

Linsey turned her head away:

"In a life-or-death battle, you can't expect me to hold back, can you?"

"But...maybe..." Flavi's eyelids twitched uneasily.

He looked at the pitch-black body, and Flavi's keen senses allowed him to perceive some changes happening around him.

The perceiver spoke as much as possible:

"I think it might have been inappropriate for you to kill him..."