"Meria Flower Ball. That's its name."
Clearly noticing Fu Qian's movement, Yuan Shan made no attempt to deny it. She even pushed the bloodstained ball toward him.
"Teacher gave it to me before I came back. I didn't expect to use it on the very first day."
With a long sigh, Yuan Shan wore an expression of resignation at life's unpredictability.
"I'm sure you saw just now that it's difficult to control, and its properties are dangerous."
"When its restraints are removed, nearby divine targets greatly stimulate the flower ball's activity, turning it into something like a divine predator."
"Of course, it doesn't actually eat. What it enjoys is the process of destruction."
Her fingertip brushed over the sharp blade-like petals. Yuan Shan, who had just taken part in that same sort of behavior, still seemed shaken by their savagery.
"I noticed."
Sensing her feelings, Fu Qian was reminded of the feather that had cost him a little Sanity Value.
From what he'd seen later, when "Suffocation" hit Lord Laotian Pavilion, the feather's illusion clearly represented an attack on the body. So that nearly tangible state was probably like blood splattering out.
And the "flower ball" hadn't been interested in it at all, letting the feather fall right into his hand.
"If you leave its restraints undone for more than fifteen minutes without the flower ball damaging any divine target, it will turn on you, and you'll become its prey."
Yuan Shan continued explaining, even pointing to the wound it had left on her hand.
"Feeding it your own blood in the meantime won't change that, but—"
She stared straight at Fu Qian, clearly arriving at the main point.
"If a target withstands its torment for that entire period, it's said to bring out their latent potential and grant them